<meta name="LineWrap" content="true"><TITLE>SR_Bk1 0161</TITLE><A HREF="SR_Bk1-0162.txt">Next (Page 162)</A><BR> Was this it? Was he gonna score with Treyess Arcomany in a few minutes?<P><P>After a minute or two, Treyess yelled for him to come back in, and there she was--stark naked on the bed--and man was she hot!<P><P>"Let's have some fun in this wasteland," she said.<P><P>--------------------------<P>CHAPTER 38<P>--------------------------<P><P>"Snoppy!" Enc Larabeth yelled. "Come on! We have a mission!"<P><P>They were on the playing field of the Winter Stadium.<P><P>Snoppy shook his head. Enc could see an intense, disturbed look on his face.<P><P>"What's going on?" Enc asked.<P><P>"I... I have to go to Marriage Town," Snoppy said.<P><P>"Snoppy... I know... but it can wait... we have a mission to go on! There's a crisis at the Lazy Colors of Corals Big Hobby Shop! We gotta go right away!"<P><P>Snoppy continued shaking his head.<P><P>"I can't... I..."<P><P>"What is it Snoppy?" Enc asked empathetically. "There's gotta be something more than Marriage Town bothering you!"<P><P>"I don't know what I just did..."<P><P>"What? What did you do?"<P><P>He looked her into the eyes.<P><P>"You know..." he said. "I... came from somewhere. I had a childhood. Before I got all folded into Rillekon's and all this... and Gnoboslast..."<P><P>Enc gritted her teeth.<P><P>"Look, are you gonna be able to come or not?"<P><P>"Enc--I did something. In the vault."<P><P>Enc expression changed. She breathed heavily, but said nothing.<P><P>"I..." Snoppy said, shaking his head. "I tried to help a trapped entity... I tried something I was curious about for a long time... I contacted the Yaut Pillow with topaz... you know, like The Stingy Girl wrote..."<P><P>"Snoppy! The Stingy Girl was insane when she wrote that! You know that!" Enc said.<P><P>"I know! But I... I was engulfed with empathy... with emotion... it was a Marrier Ball from Marriage Town. She was a unique entity, trapped in the group mind. I felt what she felt. I had to try it."<P><P>"So what happened?" Enc said, gesticulating forcefully and looking behind her. Evelyn Fangdoor and Darnazy Thonc were approacing from the far end of the field.<P><P>"I shot... I shot the Pillow with a topaz bolt. But... but something happened... there was... there was a dead body inside... of this god I knew about from my childhood... Fox... it was a fox... a god named Fox... I knew it was... I mean, I just knew it was him. And he was dead."<P><P>Enc shook her head in confusion.<P><P>"So," she said, looking down, "are we at crisis status with this? Is there a process happening with the artifacts? Does this supercede the Hobby Shop Crisis?"<P><P>Snoppy growled in frustration.<P><P>"Okay Enc," he said, taking a little red bottle from one of his pockets. "I'm gonna take some ract random to clear my head... my emotions are just overpowering me..."<P><P>With this, he opened the bottle and took a sip from it. He lowered the bottle, cleared his throat, and wiped his mouth. His eyes got red and teary.<P><P>Evelyn and Darnazy approached.<P><P>"What's going on?" Evelyn asked.<P><P>Snoppy held up his hand.<P><P>"It's okay--don't worry. I'm okay."<P><P>"Are you quite sure, my friend?" Darnazy asked.<P><P>"No, no, I'm fine. But I have a mission for you, Darnazy."<P><P>"Oh ho! A mission? There are lots of missions going round now, hey?"<P><P>"Yeah..." Snoppy said. "So anyway, look--Winter Stadium Them is needed--and we're going in a minute on our mission--but I need for you to go to Marriage Town and find a girl named Dizappacha, new to the Road. The Marrier Balls say she is a 92% match for me. But there are complications. You have to ask her if she knows anything about an entity called Soot Mary. But get out of Marriage Town with her first--do not say the words 'Soot Mary' in Marriage Town, okay? And don't communicate with any Marrier Balls if you can help it. Get her out of there, and bring her back here to the Stadium.<BR><A HREF="SR_Bk1-0162.txt">Next (Page 162)</A>