Veronica poured a cup of coffee and put
it on the counter. She then placed several fig newtons
on a plate and set them next to the coffee. Bizzy
continued to just stare and stare at her until finally
she bent down and picked him up and put him on the
countertop. The staring continued for several minutes as
each assessed the
other.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ I'm no longer
a danger to
society. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Thietris Professor Thietris Squirrel, CEO,
President and Managing Director, Institution of Advanced Exploration
of Myst Worlds
posted
Professor T reads the note taped to his
door.
"Hmmm. Nice headed notepaper. Ah! Hmmm. Oh!
Much older! Iron in the water! This is excellent stuff.
I wonder if there's an iron-extraction plant somewhere
... iron-smelting works ... a whole industrial complex?
Think of all the machinery they used. There must be
factories somewhere."
Professor leaves the note
pinned up for others to read, in the hope that it will
stimulate discussion.
Bizzy looked into Veronica's big doe eyes and wondered
how such a pretty girl ever got to be such a pain in the
tukass. Why, if he was only a few feet taller ...
nah!
"So, how's the burn?" he asks. The genuine
concern in his voice seeped through.
Veronica was so astonished by the
concern in Bizzy's voice that she inexplicably burst
into tears. "It doesn't...It only hurts..." she takes a
deep breath, "It doesn't hurt that badly." She excused
herself and went to find the burn
ointment.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ I'm no
longer a danger to
society. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Thietris Professor Thietris Squirrel, CEO,
President and Managing Director, Institution of Advanced Exploration
of Myst Worlds
posted
It's all right for some,
isn't it? Poor old Professor T is snowed under with
work, and there's his PA enjoying a round of golf!
What's your handicap, Cordelia? (Professor T, I
know.)
Bizzy watched Veronica limp off down the main aisle and
disappear around a corner. He remembered the words of
Yeesha ... about the Proud.
Just as he was
finishing the last Fig Newton, he heard a clang and a
clatter back in the back. He jumped from the counter
with surprising spryness for a gnome of his age and
raced to the scene.
He found Veronica covered in
tartan paint from head to toe. "I see you finally found
it. But I don't think it'll help much with the burn,
hon," he sighed. He walked back to the front to get the
mop.
Veronica looked around at the mess. "At
this rate, Grizz will be asking me to leave any day
now," she muttered and wiped her face, smearing the
paint across her cheeks.
She was angry that the
gnome had made her cry. She still did not understand it.
What was wrong with her
lately?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ I'm no longer
a danger to
society. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Elkae left her friends in the Egg Room
and headed back to the classroom. Seeing that the door
was still jammed, she decided to take a walk-about to
find the saddle bags she'd left in the care and keeping
of the stranger.
Kestryll finally makes his way back
from the sub levels. His pack is bulging with supplies.
He passes the tartan paint covered Veronica and bites
his tongue to keep from laughing. Then he passes the
little gnome dragging a mop and states a cheery, 'Good
morning! Or noon or whenever...' to it. At the
counter he pins the list of things to the spindle and
pays the tab and finally leaves a note.
Dear
Proprietor,
There is a cult of Orange Cones on
sublevel 4. Apparently they are creating some odd
space/time anomaly as the number of sublevels kept
changing. When I went down there there were 48 levels.
At the time I write this there are 79. I shall have some
of my employees take care of that for you.
Good
day,
Kestryll Kestryll &
Company Teledahn Winery & General
Delivery
Cordelia parked her golf cart back at
her Relto and changed into something more suitable. She
then linked back into the Institution.
Just as
she arrived she noticed Elkae who appeared to be looking
for something.
"Hi Elkae, have you lost
something?" she asked "Ah yes, I do have your bags in my
office, come with me and you can have them back. They
were left there by this very charming young man,
RW."
Cordelia blushed as she mentioned RW's name.
The pair of them walked back to Cordelia's office,
chatting all the while about Elkae's
adventures.
Cordelia Personal
Assistant to Professor Thietris Squirrel, CEO,
President and Managing Director, Institution of
Advanced Exploration of Myst Worlds
Elkae leaned in close to Cordelia and
whispered, "Cordie???? Do I smell chemistry in the
air??"
Cordelia straightened her blouse, adjusted
her glasses and plastered a surprised expression on her
sunburned face. "Why, whatever do you
mean?"
"Nothing," said Elkae with a wink. "Thanks
for stashing the saddle bags. They contain some
important stuff that I'd hate to lose." Elkae lifted a
bag in each hand and then, as if pretending to be a
scale, rocked them up and down. "Feels like everything's
here," she said.
"I'm going to take them back to
Relto and unpack. When you see Thietris, remind him I
want to speak to him in private later. Right now, I need
to get a few things together. I'll be back in a bit."
And with that, Elkae slipped the bags onto her
shoulders, touched the slender brown book and
vanished.
Bizzy managed to clean the mess better and faster than
Veronica could ever have imagined. She assumed it was
one of the advantages of being a magical
creature.
"There now," said the gnome. "Nobody
will ever know. Except Kestryll and I doubt he'll tell
on you." Bizzy left her to her pity party. He walked
back to the front, deposited the mop and bucket behind
the counter and went back to his garden to catch up on
his work.
Unfortunately, he forgot to rinse the
mop and bucket. Bizzy tends to forget things from time
to time.
After Elkae had left, Cordelia stood
thinking about what she had said. Chemistry in the air?
I wonder what she could mean by that?
Cordelia
blushed a little more and returned to her work, busying
herself to try and put thoughts of RW out of her
mind.
Once all the paperwork on her desk was
straight she headed over to the Professors office.
Pressing the blue button on the door, she was extremely
annoyed to find that it still didn't work
Just then noticed
something pinned to the door. Taking it down she stood
and read it.
"Mmmmm this all sounds very
interesting" she thought "Boatingirl is proving to be a
very useful member of the team, she's doing some very
good work here."
Cordelia knocks loudly on the
door.
"Professor, it's Cordelia. How can I get
into your office. It appears to be jammed and I'm blowed
if I am getting down on my hands and knees and crawling
through that little........"
Suddenly the little
door opened and the professors squirrelish face poked
out.
"Ah Cordelia, glad to see you are back from
your round of golf. I don't remember you asking
permission for the time off. Oh well never mind, I'm
afraid you are going to have to crawl through this
little door, the big one seems to be jammed and no-one
appears able to fix it."
Cordelia scowled, got
down on her hands and knees and looked Professor T
straight in the eye.
"Professor, did you realise
you have jam on the end of your
nose?"
Cordelia Personal
Assistant to Professor Thietris Squirrel, CEO,
President and Managing Director, Institution of
Advanced Exploration of Myst Worlds
Down under, in Coober Pedy, the stranger
went right to work, barging into every tunnel and dugout
he could get entry to, and taking pictures by the
score.
_______________________________ Prop. D'ni
Internal Supply Co. "If we don't have it, you don't
need it!"
Before linking away to her Relto for a
much needed clean-up and change of clothes, Veronica
wrote Grizz a note:
Dear Grizz, It was
necessary for me to go to my Relto and change clothes. I
promise to be back within the hour. By the way, someone
named Kestryll was here earlier and knocked over a can
of tartan paint. I was able to clean most of it up, but
I don't think he wrote it on the
spindle.
Sincerely,
Veronica
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ I'm no
longer a danger to
society. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
A
very pretty young lady wearing a pink hardhat links in
to the institute, she is carrying a pink clipboard. She
is looking for someone, but seeing no one at the moment
she sits near the fountain and waits.
Experimental Program
1
Bizzy looked into Veronica's big doe eyes and wondered
how such a pretty girl ever got to be such a pain in the
tukass. Why, if he was only a few feet taller ...
nah!
Supplier of umbrellas to the D'ni for
Centuries.
It's all right for some,
isn't it? Poor old Professor T is snowed under with
work, and there's his PA enjoying a round of golf!
What's your handicap, Cordelia? (Professor T, I
know.)
