<meta name="LineWrap" content="true"><TITLE>SR_Bk1 0146</TITLE><A HREF="SR_Bk1-0147.txt">Next (Page 147)</A><BR><P><P>Then she looked down to her left and saw a police motorcycle in a little dock. She moved to the right of the walkway, and looked down to see a nice little police speedboat. Whoever made this thing seemed to have all the bases covered.<P><P>She turned around and climbed down the ladder to a circular landing, and saw that there were five doors--one toward the back, two toward the sides, and two toward the front. All were made of wood, ornately carved and wonderfully finished. She tried the one facing the back and found it unlocked.<P><P>But before she opened the door, she gazed at an array of information panels and a large opening in the shaft at this level. There were what appeared to be indicators, arranged in a rough "periodic chart of the elements", appearing at first glance to show varying amounts of different elements. She raised her eyebrows, figuring the thing deserved more investigation in the future. Then she turned back toward the door.<P><P>As she opened it, a battery of lovely, soft lights came on in the room she now stood at the threshold of. And she took a sharp intake of air in surprise--it was a magnificent master bedroom sort of space. There was a lush black-and-white patterned carpet, a bar stocked with a variety of bottles, an enormous bed, a couch facing an electronic entertainment center, and an open door through which she could see a grandly-adorned bathroom. And everything was in the color scheme of the black-and-white police car, with the gold and multicolored police emblem.<P><P>A lit panel near the bed attracted her attention, and she walked over to it, noting how soft and comfortable the carpeting was. As she approached the panel, she saw it was comprised of about 20 or 30 little backlit photographs of a variety of locations--from forests to cities to deserts to tropical paradises.<P><P>Smiling, Treyess sat on the bed and reached out and touched the rain forest image, and all of a sudden the lights dimmed, and sounds of birds, insects, and other creatures filled the room. A few moments later, the walls and ceiling faded into view with images of trees and plants, and a pleasing, pungent smell came to her.<P><P>"How wonderful!" Treyess said under her breath, as the illusion of being in a rain forest began to swim in her mind.<P><P>After about a minute, a rumbling sound and vibration broke Treyess out of her relaxation, and she jumped up off the bed. Ferrajalt must have gotten the thing started.<P><P>Reluctantly, she started forward, but looked back at the control panel, wondering how to turn it off. But then she figured it wouldn't do any harm to leave it on, so she turned back and left the room.<P><P>As she climbed up the ladder, she saw Ferrajalt poking his head into the bay.<P><P>"Hey Treyess! I got the thing started--whoah!"<P><P>"I know, pretty cool, eh?" she said, stepping onto the main walkway from the ladder.<P><P>"Holy crap!" Ferrajalt said, looking up at the plane. "Look at that! A plane! I wonder if it can really fly?"<P><P>"There's also a submarine, a speedboat, and a motorcycle. And just wait till you see what I found downstairs."<P><P>"This is so cool," Ferrajalt said, staring wildly in wonder. "I can't believe it's so cool."<P><P>"I know," Treyess said as she approached Ferrajalt. "So at least something good has come of all this world collapse crap."<P><P>"Yeah," the Prince said distantly, as he withdrew back into the cockpit to allow Treyess to pass through the doorway.<P><P>"So you got it started?" Treyess asked.<P><P>"I sure did!" Ferrajalt responded. "And you know what--I think from what I've seen that this thing is powered by direct matter-to-energy conversion!"<P><P>"Yeah, I saw something down there which would point to that conclusion also. Some sort of atomic device."<P><P>"Awesome!" Ferrajalt said, easing back into the driver's seat. Treyess took one of the passenger seats beside him.<BR><A HREF="SR_Bk1-0147.txt">Next (Page 147)</A>