Chapter 1

It was a bar in one of the less safe parts of Teglico, a planet of near earth like ambience but populated by the natives who were notorious for their hatred towards their earthly not-so-near neighbors. The reason for such an aversion towards the species was never known. For a person viewing it from an outsider point of view, it would look like a hereditary feeling, passed on from one generation to the next. The fact that there was not one dissenter in the whole planet to this charade was in itself unsettling.

Two teglicans seem to be discussing the course that their career would take in one corner of the bar. What they ought to do and not to do, what the government should be doing and should not be doing, what they would do and would not do if given a free reign in running the establishment.

As the conversation trickled on and at last as it started veering , steered albeit cunningly by Ojwa, towards the sensitive aspects of Baromoi’s nature of work, the latter got up saying, “I have a meeting with our commander today; remember I am scheduled for the change in role duty today? Guess this is some sort of an orientation complete with brochures to let me choose, ok, ciao!”

With that Baro ambled away making little use of his rear tentacles. Ojwa was impressed in spite of his visible failure at his prying antics; he had tried to achieve that aristocratic gait many times in the confines of his hive but it was always accompanied with disastrous results, mostly at the cost of loosing a well tentakelcured (a vice he is not able to get rid of) tentacle, which was minor, but during some unfortunate instances, he had even suffered a wrick in one of his heads for which he couldn’t even meet a tinkerer. Being one of the low rung teglican, he was lucky to be acquainted with Baro. He didn’t want to jeopardize that by trying to ape the royal gait and getting caught. He was a fool but not a dimwit exactly. He occasionally did try to gather some information from Baro, always hoping that he would let slip some aspect of his job that would help Ojwa capitalize, he had no scruples about such a living, to him it was all a trade, a trade of information that is, he was a believer in the free trade pact!

In another part of the bar:

“Tomorrow is the draw … I am scared Karamoi, I cannot go on living like this, depending on a draw. Now I wonder, ‘why didn’t I study better?’, I could have at least been a bureaucrat of Teglico than serving as a watchercrop in that Gumba forsaken place.” Sageroloi was very easily the most human looking teglican around, only 2 heads and near limb like tentacles going on to prove the fact that sometimes even mutants are prized possessions; there was no doubt why he was chosen as the watchercrop. He was dreading meeting with the commander. It’s not everyday that the commander summons a low level teglican for a meeting. Little was he aware of the irony.

Sometimes the evil that we face could be as naïve as that of a kid’s boogeyman as compared to what we don’t know. Kind of reminds you of the verse “Heard melodies are sweet, but those unheard are sweeter!” with a bizarre twist of meaning!

Chapter 2

The commander’s concentration was broken by the knock on the door. He was finding it difficult to concentrate on the task at tentacle already, with all those worries about the trinket and the fast approaching deadline by which he ought to get it back. He does not deserve to be treated like this. He was a commander for Gumba’s sake. Also the secrecy that goes along with this trinket crippled him due to the loss of his resources.

“Trust is a sure shot way to lose the trinket”, they said. “It’s a valuable trinket” they said.

What a paradox! He knew his language to say that the sentence itself is flawed in its literal meaning. But he had seen the chief citizen’s face when he called the commander for the confession.

“The trinket is gone Grapo”, he said that fateful day when this whole bushel of grenades was dropped on his lap. Grapo was confused; he didn’t know what the chief was talking about. He has had enough meetings with the chief to know not to interrupt him when he was at the best of his moods, let alone now.

He could vaguely remember his granny talking about some jewel that apparently held the secrets about their origins and that if it fell in the wrong hands it would mean their doom. However, as he became a learned man, he began to realize that there was no such thing, that his evolution could be charted exactly. To think that his ancestors were still alive in another part of the galaxy, oblivious to the fact that they’ve already been contacted by the so called ET’s, but were too stupid in realizing the truth which is literally hobbling around in front of their eyes, was a nightmare.

Chapter 3

Elsewhere, on planet earth, Warthog was in dire straits. He was fleeing across the streets of the city. He was cursing himself for his callousness, he had no business showing his face in the bars, let alone getting drunk and babbling. He was sober now, nothing like a conned, grudging, dumb-head charging after you with bloody murder in their mind to make you feel human again. But he wasn’t to be blamed either. Being stupid and believing Warty’s word that he can get a place in the council was the poor dud’s mistake. God knows it had been tough to find a dud who would believe that he could bribe his way into the council. Ever since the anti-graft movement of that maniac Mathau Blinger - may he roast in hell - the very livelihood of Warty has been in peril. He knew only conning and that too was at peril now. He knew that he had to do something about it. He wouldn’t be able to afford Clementine anymore. Thinking about Clementine, even under these circumstances, made him feel better. Nobody like her, if he could, he would buy her off and run away to the mythical Teglico, but that was not to be and he knew he should consider himself blessed to be able to meet her once in a week.

There, an open door, he barged in. It had all the likeness of a dark tunnel with a light at the end of it. He suddenly remembered one of his favorite songs

Then it comes to be that the soothing light at the end of your tunnel,

Was just a freight train coming your way!!

He made sure that he heaved the bulky door to and started trotting down the tunnel. On reaching the end, he peered around. He felt he had walked into the sets of “Willie Wonka and the Chocolate Factory!!” or something. He had watched the movie on the sly, you were not supposed to own anything from AGO, but somehow he had found one in an alley overgrown with wild grass (need less to say, again hiding from another of his “customers!”)

The inside of the room was like nothing he had seen before. There were many islands of cylindrical capsules with one end tapered; these reminded him of the loo’s you find in the gas stations, except that they seemed to be illuminated from within, almost to the extent of becoming translucent and he could observe some man-like shapes inside. The only word he could think of was “Psychedelic!” Just then he heard a voice from somewhere near the vicinity of his elbow, “May I help you?”

Chapter 4

Now, something needs to be said about the way things were running on earth. It was the 28 LR (l'année de renaissance). Nobody knew exactly how it translated into AD and neither would they try. The important doctrine behind the LR theme was forget the past, we’d do better without the garbage of the past. God knows it had taken an immense effort to clean up the mess. If Mathau Blinger speared the cause for anti-graft, it was Romaasha Krichtov’s movement to bring in the changes that we are living in now. She spear headed the cause of cloning for the good and stem cell research for the betterment of the human race. She didn’t have a degree in psychology but she knew too well that it is next to impossible to coax or cajole or threaten men/women into mending their disgusting ways of procreation, which was the root cause of the HIV pandemic. They shouldn’t have let the virus pass around that much and then keep inventing medicines to tackle after the infection. Sort of like locking the barn a little late! The virus predictably mutated and went on to become a major flu like epidemic leading to a lot of horrible deaths. The rate of degeneration was exponential with only a handful of people surviving, the greatest minds of the century, who had been privy of this breakout - they had been predicting such a disaster for over a decade, but their dire predictions were faced with ridicule and in the totally degenerated society they didn’t care - had made preparations for their salvage. They had an underground network and all the people with similar thoughts had assembled just before disaster stuck, their pantries were well stocked with goods and they also had a good and healthy livestock. They had all the wealth and resources on hand. Nothing could be done about the virus raging outside, but they knew that if nature was let to run its course, sooner or later she would wipe the virus out of existence, no matter how many mutations it went through.

With so many great minds stacked together, and no self righteous groups crying “bloody murder” about their experiments, the scientists conducted a lot of researches on men and animals alike. They had perfected the method of isolating the gene sequence responsible for modeling the stem cell into the amygdala, the part of our Limbic System responsible for pleasure and pain. They found that on making this part underdeveloped, they could control the human predilection to reproduce obnoxiously and also some STD’s. This was a major breakthrough and thus was born a major chapter in the history of human kind, The New Connivance (NC), as it was called.

The scientists then proceeded to cultivate human beings with altered personalities which accentuated their intellectual capabilities and downplayed their animal instincts. They were produced neutral of all the diseases that their now-dead shabby peers were prone too. The world became a better place to live in. After sending out probes to test the environmental conditions, they at last surfaced 28 years ago. Ever since, they’ve wiped out the past and have instituted a new year system LR - l'année de renaissance.

This system of LR and The New Connivance consisted of multitudes of such pockets of high scientific activities, on surfacing; they found that they were not the only techies who survived. During a common meeting, they founded The New Connivance. There were a few dissidents who did not agree to the autocratic rule. They believed in the right to live as per will and as they were outnumbered by the people who, blinded by their success at something as great as curtailing reproduction, silenced them by lures/threats. One such who was silenced was Togadierre Fralampine, the one whom Warthog bumped into!

Chapter 5

Warthog was stumped on seeing such an ugly excuse for a human being. Another thing that the NC abhorred was disfigurement, either congenital or accidental. Warthog himself was considered a freak. Owing to some bizarre incident in the lab, the computer which was sequencing and modifying his genes had run some errant sequences reserved for experimentation and not for large scale production. As a result he was born with a large wart on his left cheek, bow legs, stunted growth and gorilla like long arms. He was sort of an outcast, a Hässlich, as people call them. Clementine was also one, she was also a product of that mishap and another thing that the computer failed to alter was the amygdala growth and control. That itself should explain the camaraderie and kinship that Warthog felt for her. He was capable of emotion and was as close to what you call a normal human.

On looking down at Togadierre, he felt he himself must look like some handsome Adonis next to this stunted bonsai! “Hello there!! Who are you?” he asked.

“A bit tall don’t u think, barging into my domicile and asking me who I am? Anyways, I cannot miss a fellow Hässlich when I see him. Hello! My name is Togadierre Fralampine, how do you do, how do you do and how do you do again!” the stunted excuse of a human being said.

A sudden wave of surrealism swept over Warthog. He strangely felt love for this guy but his lengthy answer sounded rote! Having been constantly ribbed and taunted for his looks, never being accepted in the “sosayiteee”, to be welcomed into a house with such kinship was strange. Nobody but Clementine treated him as a human, for what he truly was! “Hello!” he said hesitantly, not knowing what to do, he proceeded to peer around the corner of the arch to see if the door was being opened, it would, any moment now if the NC’s watchercrops’s had gotten around to attending the dumbo’s call yet. They would appear in no time and they have the authority to break down any door or building or any head if it comes to that!!

He felt someone tug at his pants, he turned around, looked down at Togadierre and said, “Scoot fella, I’ll be outa here in no time. Just you mind your toesies and let me mind mine!” He was surprised to find that Togadierre was in fact smiling at him with just a hint of sarcasm.

“What do you think they’ll do to you buddy? You’ve been a thorn long enough and this time I think you’ll just be done away with! What is it? Your 53^rd dig?”

“Well, actually 56^th, but how do you know?”

“Well, I’ve been keeping a tag on you for sometime mon ami, what do you say to me helping you get away from here, with your Clementine of course” he added with a bit if a smirk, “To Teglico?”

“Teglico? The Teglico? You think I am loco senor? Forget it! Just think that I never happened ok? I’ll be leaving now!”

“No my friend, someone who enters my abode may not leave without my consent, one more step and you will never know what hit you. Being put to death by the watchercrops would seem like a lullaby to you compared to this!”

“Ha! In your dreams pal!”

With this Warty walked off towards the door, but just as he was about to set his hand on the door, he felt some huge force bind him, he felt crushed, as though he was caught between the jaws of a giant vice. Suddenly he felt the floor let go and he fell through a tube that looked like Plexiglas. He has skydived a few times and was a sucker for roller coasters, but this was too much for him. At a point almost 6G’s were acting on his body and he felt the suffocation, black dots danced in front of his eyes, his entire being was screaming for oxygen, he could feel his lungs burn, his extremities had become cold and he understood what Togadierre meant by painful alright!! “OK OK you damn it, I’ll listen to what you say, now let me go!”

“That’s talking some sense my friend, especially from someone like you!”

He heard the old man chuckle and all of a sudden he felt the pressure let up, he collapsed into a heap of clothes on the floor, floor? Now wait a minute, he was still in the place where he was standing, no floor opening, no Plexiglas. The innate curiosity in him was kindled.

“Just what in hell’s name have you got here Monsieur Frampy?”

Chapter 6

Baro ambled into Commander Grapo’s room after the cursory knock at exactly 36000 seconds from midnight as time is calculated in seconds, not in hours or minutes in Teglico. He was astounded by the commander's appearance. The teglican, usually the nattiest of all the court holders in the entire planet, had put on a disheveled look. His court livery, worn usually in an almost impeccable style, like a sheet of steel woven underneath, was sagging at places. His peremptory robes were arranged such a careless manner that the usual nine folds signifying his position in the echelon of power was not maintained. It infact numbered almost 16, not even the chief citizen had that many. It was reserved only for the great Gumba to wear folds beyond the magical number of 13. Baro himself had 5. When the commander walked around the desk to welcome Baro into his room, as is the usual teglican practice, he also noticed that he was not employing the royal gait; in fact he was staggering along, like a waif that hasn’t been weaned yet. Baro, somewhat of a head shrinker himself knew that the lapse was more due to anxiety or depression, when one would want more than ever to return to their innocent days than face the situation at tentacle, an escapist attitude that did not bode well. It reflected a deeply disturbed mind and furthermore, he also knew that the degree of lurch indicated how far gone the person really was. Commander Grapo looked almost gone!

“Hello there Baro! Thanks for stopping by. I was wondering when you would turn up coz as far as I can remember I didn’t mention any time!”

Baro who had to struggle to get himself under control, the initial shock was too much, smiled back saying, “Come on commander, being a teglican, if I don’t know the time for an official rendezvous, I am not fit enough to be in the legion!”

“Never mind the legion or official dictums Baro; if only you knew the reason why I summoned you to my office, these paltry things would hardly matter. Heck, there may not even be a Teglico to begin with, let alone the legion! OK, take a seat coz I don’t think your tentacles will support you if I tell you about your new charge!”

With such an ominous opening statement, Grapo stumbled back to his seat and Baro hesitantly took up a seat besides Grapo as is done in Teglico. It created a hell of a strain on his neck but that is how it’s done. He has often wondered as to why they can’t sit face to face and parle like the humans do, but then again, probably because the humans do it that way, it is not being done so, understandable. Nothing that the despicable humans can do should be attempted by a teglican.

Chapter 7

So, thus sitting beside Grapo did Baro with increasing but well concealed alarm hear about his charge. He, Baro, was to under all circumstances, at whatever risk, retrieve something called “the Jardine Trinket”. According to latest reports, the trinket had been smuggled to Earth, on their latest Ray Illume©. Although this was still under testing, as the initial testing with humans was over, Baro had to take the same Ray Illume© and reach planet earth. He was to leave at exactly 81000 seconds the same day. The suspect was a Hässlich. This would cover a lot of territory; nobody can forget the ghastly computer mis-sequence of a few years back which lead to the production of almost 150,000 Hässlichs before the error was corrected. Trouble always comes when you try to use something the humans had developed, even if they were improved upon by the teglicans. They should have developed it themselves from scratch.

Baro was not supposed to let anybody in on whatever is happening. Anybody who gets to know about this accidentally will either be (a) terminated, bad or (b) mutated to a human, worse. If he, Baro, himself lets someone in on this, he was to be sent to earth without disguise where the humans are not known to tolerate a teglican and were known to wrought terrible tortures if one were captured. Baro suppressed a shudder. There were a million questions welling up, too many doubts, a lot of insecurities, a tank-load of curiosity, but he knew that commander Grapo preferred asking questions and handing out commands, he wasn’t one to answer any of either, except of course if from the chief citizen, which too was under speculation. The commander is known to have communications with the great Gumba himself. The careless way in which he handles any invitation from the chief citizen, the way he can interrupt him and talk him down and the way the chief citizen almost always cows down in front of Grapo were all indications of such a connection but nothing could be proved. All that the people knew were that Grapo was someone you don’t cross paths with, whom you don’t want to displease and whom you don’t want to be remembering your name at all!

“So then Grapo, what are you waiting for? Get on; go to the armory where you’ll find your livery for this particular travel ready accompanied by a few gadgets that are actually under testing but have been proven non-fatal to humans at least when they use them. You will be accompanied on this quest by one of our first level watchercrop by name Sageroloi! My meeting with him has been scheduled right after your briefing. After I’ve spoken with him I’ll send him to the armory where you should be waiting for him. No word about this trinket should be mentioned to Sageroloi. Suffice to say that you are on a covert operation to negotiate with the humans for the release of a certain Hässlich, who you suspect is helping the humans travel to Teglico. We do believe that there is one such so it wouldn’t be entirely false and we also believe that this Hässlich should be able to help you a bit. OK, I digress, am too keyed up about this mission that I am doing the entire briefing myself, no, go over to the armory where the technicalities and the scheme shall be explained to you by my second-in-command, Krakolin. Farewell then my friend, I wish you all the best in your adventure and may the great Gumba see to your path such that it is kept illuminated all the way through”.

As though this small discourse had tired him, Grapo settled back in his chair with a heart rendering sigh. Being thus dismissed, Baro left the commander’s chambers with his mind at a greater turmoil than he had ever imagined himself capable of.

He saw an almost human like teglican cooling off his heals just outside the door. ‘That must be Sageroloi’, he thought to himself and trooped over to the armory.

Chapter 8

On seeing the 5^th level watchercrop sauntering away, Sageroloi buffed up to make him self presentable to the commander. He was almost certain that he is going to Earth on a mission. Heck, he was even ready to accept it, what other choice did he have? He only hoped that it wasn’t something too dangerous. He wasn’t a coward by nature but he did draw a line when it comes to charges with a diabolical twang to them. Of what use would future expeditions be if the current one leaves you short of a limb or life? When the commander’s office entrée opened again Sageroloi entered, his left foot first, right hand behind his neck, and a bow to the waist level. On completing his official salute and straightening, he realized that the commander was not even facing him, in fact his chair was turned the other way around and he could see just the top of his head.

Sageroloi being a first level watchercrop - which meant that even nematodes and other lowly creatures would command a better welcome from the likes of the commander than him - knew that he wouldn’t be credited with the usual welcome gesture accorded to 4^th levels and above. Being a first leveler was like a brief trip in hell, but any journey starts off with the first step, he had his own personal vendettas to settle against many of his higher ups. He has vowed to get even with them on reaching a better position. He was still a living being for Gumba’s sake, not some squirmer out of the gutters. Yes, he had gotten into the watchercrops for want of money. He was from a very poor family. His mum and dad must have been neutered, heck, any person below the poverty line should be. Why should you copulate and give birth to kids whom you have no hopes of rising? What gives them the right to bring such kids to Teglico, screaming their heads off in vain, perhaps aided by their own natal serendipity of their life to come. He made a mental note to himself to add the commander’s name to the ever growing list and stood waiting for the commander to let him know of his charge when he saw fit.

After perhaps about 300 seconds, by which time he had let his mind wander over to all the possible ways in which he could inflict harm over his oppressors, he heard the chair creak.

The commander rose, walked over to him and to his surprise offered his hand to be escorted to his sofa.

“Sorry for keeping you waiting Sageroloi, I was speaking with the Chief Citizen and I had to concentrate hard on the task, him being on vacation, the lines were quite bad”.

‘He is not such a gas bag after all’ thought Sageroloi, but he hadn’t heard any conversation, perhaps the Frontel© that he had heard about, linking the frontal lobes of the communicators and sort of a scary version of the everyday telephone that lets the people read each other’s thought, an enhanced EEG that translates the waves to information, was true!

He swallowed hard and said, “No problem Chief Commander Sir”.

“Well, it is a problem for me Sageroloi. The charge that I have for you is quite urgent. Of course I could have let my second in command brief you, but I wanted to see you myself so that I can impress upon you the urgency and the secrecy that should go along with this mission!”

‘Gas bag’ thought Sageroloi, but presented the commander with a sycophantic grin.

“You are to accompany a 5^th level watcher crop, who you would have seen on your way to my office, to earth. You are to take the Ray Illume©, which again I must add nobody outside our establishment knows.”

Sageroloi’s jaw dropped at the mention of the Ray Illume©, he scrambled to keep up with what the commander was going on about.

“This being a moderately dangerous mission, you will be fitted with quite a few weapons, the existence of which not even the fourth level watcher crops know. On returning, which I figure you will only if you succeed in the mission, you will be directly promoted to 5^th level without any appraisals and regimens.”

‘Moderately dangerous for you is suicidal for me but a promotion to 5^th level is something that I cannot even imagine in this life time, you are quite handy with the carrot and the stick trick Mr. Commander’ Sageroloi ruminated, he realized that the commander was waiting for his answer, he had to scuffle a bit mentally to realize the question.

“So, are you ready for this challenge my friend? It’s like one of those games you are interested in isn’t it? Only its not your penny ante anymore, its even higher stakes, only two cards dealt, all or none, glory or a gory end, life or death. What say?”

Sageroloi didn’t want to ask as to how the commander knew about his gaming preferences, if he was selected for this particular mission out of a possible gazillion 1^st levelers he must have gone through a fine sieve indeed. There wasn’t any hesitation in his decision, he knew a winner when he saw one, the stakes were high yes, but it would be worth the risk. Worse come worst, he will die, but then if he dies he needn’t put up with a life in penury isn’t it? Whatever choice he makes would lead to an end of life as he knew it; he simply nodded his head lest his voice betray the trebled beat of his heart.

“Very well then Master Watchercrop, run over to the armory where your charge will be explained to you in detail by Krakolin, there you will meet Master Baro too who will be your OIC in this mission. All the very best my friend, may the Gumba see to it that your path is illuminated till the end.”

With this greeting ringing in his ear, it had never felt as noble as it came out of the commander’s mouth, Sageroloi walked out. The commander did look a bit peaked, heck, a lot peaked, he wasn’t sure if he’d see the commander alive again, the man looked ready to cross over the river to the other shore. Another thought, this one more ominous sprang forth ‘You may not see him again if you die too old buddy, ever thought of that? Ever thought that it may be you who will be going on the river trip?’ He pushed that thought away and ambled towards the armory.

Chapter 9

Warty let out a low whistle, he needed that release! He had asked Frampy a simple question and whatever information he was hit with was too much for him to digest. He knew that there was something wrong with the establishment, but heck, don’t we all? Any person with even half a functional brain can find faults with the establishment. The opinionated of the lot would always oppose any of the brass’s decision as overtly partisan, blatantly nepotic or clearly non-favorable. Some such may be called disillusional, some may do all this just so their ego will be pacified and for people to applaud their sentiments. There is also a third kind, people belonging to this group are those that are shunned by such an establishment, those who find their entire livelihood obliterated just because they are a cause of acute embarrassment to those who run it. Needless to say, Warthog was one such. You can never get enough of the rack that the NC accords to Hässlich such as him. Nobody deems it fit to consider even for a moment that they could infact have been their brother/sister given the fact that they all are mass produced and the probability of two or more of them sharing the same batch of sperm or ova is indeed substantial.

Frampy, or Doktor Togadierre as he wished to be called - a whim that Warty had no ideas of obliging - was one of those rare breeds of Hässlichs who are identified as Noetic when kept under observation after an abnormal batch run by the machines. This observation is mandatory for two cases. One, they turn out to be Schnooks, showing signs of progressing physically alone, albeit at an exponential rate with a malfunctioning limbic system, driving only the animal instinct of survival at all costs, he or she has to be terminated. These beings are a threat to the society and a danger to themselves as well. Two, are the likes of Frampy who are intellectual but of stunted growth. Their cognition surpasses that of the ordinary human, if you can call them ordinary, but they are also similar to the ex-human that was before the NC. Some how there seems to be a trade off between the physical and mental growths, a design fault that the NC is not able to rectify. These beings are also a threat to the institution because they are born with a free thought process and can look in to the mendacity of the NC. All of the Noetics are therefore brought up under controlled environ and each is taught a particular strain of technology. The noetic is then given free reign to a related laboratory after which the surprises never stop, they keep inventing things of greater use. Trouble breeds when these Noetics escape from their confinement and start learning more about their existence. The NC handles such breakouts ruthlessly, killing the Noetic as well as the watchercrop in charge besides all the other humans that they suspect were contacted by the Noetic. There are also a third type of Hässlichs, like our Warty, who resemble a human both physically and also mentally. Such beings, after initial observation, are let lose in the city bowels. They helped in maintaining the city cleanliness and were used for most of the blue collar jobs.

It has been almost five years since Frampy escaped and he had no ideas of getting caught in the near future either. On his escape he spent a few months underground living off the city dumps, survival being the only aim, revenge could wait. After those initial months, he befriended a certain Senor Gruakach. At the mention of this name Warty gave a start, he knew Gruakach very well indeed, he was Clementine’s mentor and through her he was fairly acquainted with him. Frampy went on, through Gruakach’s aid Frampy succeeded in setting up this place which was in one of those radiation hazard areas of the city, a place that the NCs avoided like plague. They both formed a deadly combination; Gruakach had all the money and Frampy all the brains. On learning about the existence of Teglico (“Into whose history and existence I will not go into now! It is another tale for another day Warty!”) They decided to build a contraption that would take people to Teglico, they knew of a certain higher up there who was willing to ... umm … help them with their mission of overthrowing the NC and establishing a new world order like it used to be. They had come across some knowledge source that sort of gave a whiff of how the world used to be. This so called higher up had promised them some more information and manpower support if they could travel to Teglico. The contraption was ready but they were short of a traveler or two. Frampy could not travel because a person was needed on the controls here at the substation, he had built it all alone and nobody could help in that. Gruakach couldn’t because he was an ailing man and would not survive the multiple G’s that his body would be subjected to.

“So that is why my friend, we’ve had our eye on you for sometime. Gruakach was able to monitor your actions quite closely given that you just couldn’t bear to stay away from Clementine for more than a week. You are quite intelligent and thrive well under duress. Handling this contraption is quite simple if you are the traveler, only the ground controls are complicated. As an added benefit, Gruakach is ready to loan you Clementine for the entire journey.”

He failed to mention the fact that each was to serve as a backup for the other, to take over the reins if the other dies.

“Of course, you can deny this offer just so that you can irk us, you can walk off freely and toil in whatever crap you call life, your choice, but that would be a short lived one. The moment you leave my abode, you will be dead, either in the hands of the Watchercrops or worse your fellow mates. They think you are missing because you tattled to the NC about their activities and that right now you are hiding from them. What’s your choice then Warty?”

“You seem to have all the loopholes covered Mr. Frampy, what choice do I have? I guess it’s a yes.”

- posted by Swetha @ 1/17/2005 11:04:00 AM 0 comments