<meta name="LineWrap" content="true"><TITLE>SR_Bk1 0155</TITLE><A HREF="SR_Bk1-0156.txt">Next (Page 156)</A><BR> They said that a whole bunch of Earths, maybe all of them, were somehow destroyed, and how they managed to salvage Red Alley Earth, but nothing else."<P><P>"And maybe this time it'll be only Timber Serious Earth that gets saved. Then I could never go home."<P><P>"Oh come on, Prince. Don't despair--this may not be the same sort of phenomenon at all--I was just saying. And remember--Fife created his Earth searching system and the whole Primate thing so that if something like this happened, there might be enough remarkable talents to find a solution. And remember--you are a Primate, and there is a reason for that. We're both Primates, the ones who got chosen over everyone else on our Earths."<P><P>"I wish I knew why. There are a lot of other royal families of my planet--why me?"<P><P>"I'm sure we'll find out, someday."<P><P>Ferrajalt nodded, but stopped nodding as they came to a big bend on the river. He carefully steered to the right, and it seemed that they'd start skidding and going out of control at any moment, but they didn't.<P><P>"Easy!" Treyess exclaimed.<P><P>"I know! I know!" Ferrajalt said, gripping the control unit and looking pale. "So how that hell is the boat supposed to make that goddamn corner?"<P><P>"We'll find some way."<P><P>"I don't see how! You know how big that thing is? It's big!"<P><P>"Ferrajalt--get a hold of yourself! This isn't a totally random situation--just look at this vehicle of ours! There has to be a higher structure to it. I have a gut feeling that we can get the boat around the corner."<P><P>"Well I hope so," Ferrajalt said, and then another curve came up, this one to the left. "Oh great! Another one!"<P><P>Treyess sighed and shook her head.<P><P>Ferrajalt was more careful with this curve, but it was more pronounced than the previous one. And they were going awfully fast.<P><P>"Ferrajalt--you say you don't like adventure, but look how fast you're driving down this frozen river toward a waterfall!"<P><P>"I know, I know! It's hard to make this thing go slow."<P><P>The two stopped talking as a huge hulking shape loomed ahead on the right riverbank.<P><P>"What the hell is that?" Ferrajalt asked.<P><P>"What? Yeah... Looks like a building maybe? A mountain? No..."<P><P>Then a sharp beeping started, and Ferrajalt looked down at the vector display--it showed the huge drop coming up--the waterfall. The Prince immediately hit the brakes.<P><P>"We're almost there!" he said, and the Warhome lurched to a halt. Treyess looked at him.<P><P>"I don't see it."<P><P>"I know! But I don't want to risk getting too close and not being able to stop."<P><P>"Huh," Treyess said, looking around. "So how are we going to see about that office complex and everything?"<P><P>Ferrajalt took a deep breath and let it out. His heart was racing.<P><P>"Um," he said, "let me think."<P><P>"Okay."<P><P>"Okay. I think... we should... take the biplane."<P><P>"What?" Treyess asked.<P><P>Ferrajalt looked at Treyess.<P><P>"That plane back there. We could fly it over the waterfall and get a close look at that office complex."<P><P>"Do you know how to fly?"<P><P>"Well--I flew a glider a few times. Besides--considering how easy this thing was to drive, how hard could the plane be?"<P><P>"Let me think this through--it sounds good at first glance, but I don't know..."<P><P>"The thing is," Ferrajalt said, "I just don't want to get this thing anywhere near the drop. We could walk it..."<P><P>"Oh no! I'm not standing on that slippery ice on the edge of a fatal fall."<P><P>Ferrajalt stood up.<P><P>"So you wanna take the plane?" he said. "You can fly it if you want to. I know I hogged the controls here."<P><P>"Oh--that's no problem. But you know, that plane looks like the sort of planes we have back home--real primitive. But there's no way it flies with the same mechanics. It's too small. But I will give it a shot," Treyess said, also getting up.<BR><A HREF="SR_Bk1-0156.txt">Next (Page 156)</A>