<meta name="LineWrap" content="true"><TITLE>SR_Bk1 0113</TITLE><A HREF="SR_Bk1-0114.txt">Next (Page 114)</A><BR><P><P>The others all turned toward Daptin and Millicent, and the group quickly halted.<P><P>"Let me see," Daptin said, holding his hand out. Millicent gingerly gave him the doll.<P><P>And Daptin looked at it. It was a doll of a young woman with long brown hair. He knew immediately that it was Tavmatey Numblem. But this wasn't what gave Daptin such a wrenching feeling in his gut. The doll had a T-shirt on, a T-shirt with a face on it. And he recognized the face. It was the waitress he and Granticaine had met at the Hello Tarby. It was Sleap. It was her face. Her smiling face.<P><P>Granticaine came over to Daptin.<P><P>"What is it?" he asked.<P><P>Daptin showed him the doll.<P><P>"Huh. That's strange. Not another of your party, is it Coabler?" Grant said.<P><P>"We're all accounted for," Coabler said. "Maybe Millicent here had a friend?"<P><P>"No, I was alone," Millicent said, biting her lip.<P><P>"Recognize her?" Daptin said. "The one on the shirt."<P><P>Granticaine stared intently.<P><P>"Yes! Yes I do! Who could forget that hairdo. It's that waitress from the Tarby restaurant. Yes. But why?"<P><P>Daptin coughed.<P><P>"That's what I want to figure out," Daptin said. "Something about this feels so... I don't know. I feel like I'm on the verge of realizing something."<P><P>"Hey we should keep moving!" Fake said. "I don't want to get left behind here!"<P><P>"Okay," Daptin said, and the group continued forward.<P><P>And Daptin began to get light-headed.<P><P>"People--keep moving. I think it may be coming," Daptin said, holding his hand to his head.<P><P>"We're ready," Kesh said distantly.<P><P>They continued for a few moments, and then Granticaine put his hand on Daptin's back.<P><P>"Daptin--I have a confession. Back at that restaurant, that girl left a note for you," Granticaine said, taking his hand off Daptin's back and pulling the little business card from his sleeve, "And I kept it. At the time, I didn't fully trust you--and afterward, I just forgot about it."<P><P>Daptin had a very confused and upset look on his face as he took the business card from Granticaine and read it.<P><P>It read 'Greenie--every Faprintarb, Copanck Center Basement NE, occult meeting--try it! Hope I see ya there--Sleap Drassy.'<P><P>Daptin's head was swimming.<P><P>"Something's not right. It's happening," Daptin said, and he felt a chill and a surge of electricity all through his body. The image of the doll and the business card in his hands in front of him began receding.<P><P>"Everyone--I'm sorry if this doesn't work. Please believe me," Daptin said. But already, he knew that it wasn't going to work.<P><P>He felt himself--and all the rest of his cohorts--getting sucked faster and faster into a vacuum--into an empty space--into true nothingness. There were no weird images, no loss of consciousness, nothing like their previous cupslips.<P><P>Then things happened very quickly, in the blink of an eye. Daptin could sense the others around him, and he was painfully aware of the acceleration of their flushing down the drain toward oblivion. He knew in an instant they would all cease to exist. He knew there wouldn't be any cute saves by ultrapowerful friends, no world of nothingness they could escape from. He knew they would be completely and utterly obliterated. There was the power of the Cup and the power of whatever the kemig call had caused. And in-between these two powers was a place where no one reigned. They were headed for a total, irretrievably anonymous demise. So Daptin struck out.<P><P>He struck out into the gaping, horrifying void and felt a wellspring of resource fill him. Time didn't matter anymore, all this was happening in a single instant. He struck out, images of his wonderful flight with The Tracy Taciturn down Canyon filling his mind. Yes--it was this sort of power and substance filling him. Primal.<P><P>He struck out, and in wild release, Created.<BR><A HREF="SR_Bk1-0114.txt">Next (Page 114)</A>