Starship Cherry Cream
Allan, Terii and Dione stagger in to the Dragon Soul Frenzy clutch!
.
It was dark on that side of the Nexus. Strangely dark, like the kind of darkness that even deep space didn't see. Woodstock decided that the pall of thick sticky black over Dragon Soul wasn't much more than a tarp, as it seemed to be going through a little mysterious transformation and wanted a bit of privacy.
Woodstock wasn't often fooled by things like this. Allan, Terii and Dione on the other hand could barely distinguish one day from the next, so they were little more susceptable.
They stared, entranced, at the darkness and said things like "wow... wow..." and "deep, man."
"Okay," Woodstock said, trying to rouse the trio out of their daze, "you're going to need to be awake and aware for this so please forgive me." She punched a couple buttons on the console nearby, and the Improbability drive kicked in. They remained in exactly the same space-time frame, but the drive's 'prediction' engine found a reality level where the trio had suddenly become sober.
They stood around, looking a bit annoyed at this, but then remembered why they were there. Allan was the first to say, "Woodstock, how long will this... um, condition last?"
"Until you write another prescription, Allan," Woodstock muttered. "But I wouldn't recommend it, because you're going to be needed sober. Dragons and other hatchlings will need attention, you know. And lots of people will be watching your every move." She gave them the willies, paranoid parts of their still-soaked brains worked perfectly well.
"I've read up on the flight," Dione announced, "and it looks... weird. I mean, there are lots of wormy, squirmy types, and stuff that can't fly, and even some with too many heads..."
"Wow," Terii said, "that'd mean giving-"
"Don't even start," Woodstock said, cutting her off before she said something that everyone would regret. "So Dione, guys, would you like to be dropped the old fashioned way, or via the teleporter?"
"Teleporter!" They all chanted. They for some reason loved being teleported - even though there were sometimes mix ups in transport. A leg here, an organ there... Maybe that was why they liked it, they could experiment with being someone else, and be set back together easily enough.
So Woodstock sent them into the tport room, along with their baggage - which she'd helped pack - and some instructions pinned to their jackets. Without those, no one would know what to do with them.
"Don't forget to put the thumb up when you're ready to leave," Woodstock said, and figured they would in fact remember how to use the electronic Thumb she gave each of them. Multiple thumbs would give them a bonus to their chances.
They vanished from the tport room and showed up below the 'tarp' of Dragon Soul's extensive grounds. It didn't look very different from below than it ought to normally, someone had cleverly poked holes into it to let light in.
Kind of like a bug jar.
Only really big.
The trio wandered around looking in awe at the huge mountainside, the lovely sparkling lake, and finally at the underground caverns they located. It seemed mostly empty.
"There's no one here," Terii moaned, "now what?"
"There are people here," Dione said, "we just have to find them. Woodstock's coordinates can't be wrong."
"Okay," Allan said, "I think I hear voices over that way."
"You always think you're hearing voices," Terii snickered.
They went that way anyhow, because it seemed like the only lead they had. And soon enough they spotted what looked like a big, warm sandpit. There were a couple female dragons stretched out on the hot sands, and they saw a bunch of tiny, small, medium, large, extra large and 'double x-l' eggs on top and below the fine grains.
"Didn't Woodstock say that Zulda was there?" Terii asked, "and I think the other Bishen guys were there too, but they don't look like any are waiting with their eggs. What's up with that?"
"Maybe they had other places to be?" Dione pointed out. "Look, there's someone!"
"CRIKEY!" Yelled a man wearing khaki colored shorts and shirt, running away from one of the multiple-headed hydra who guarded the dimmer smokier section of the sands. He bolted toward the trio and stood gasping for breath. "That was close!"
"Yeah..." Terii said, "you almost ... um, what did you almost do?"
"Whoa, I almost got trampled, mate!"
"The hydra wasn't moving," Dione said flatly.
"She was all ovah' the place!" The man continued unabated, "Heads, arms, legs, tail," he waved his arms widely, "but she's a beaut'!"
Just then, as if to rescue the trio, a woman came walking into the sands area and pulled him aside. She chastised him for coming to the place without asking. Then, she noticed the threesome.
Stomping over to them, she took a look at them, and then saw the notes pinned to their lapels. "Ah. You're expected." She said, taking Dione's and reading it. Terii's was next, then Allan's.
"So, you three are going to want some accomodations, like our little explorer here," the woman tossed her head and gritted her jaw at the man who'd already gotten back onto the sands and was busy trying to dig through the smaller eggs. "There are a few rules to follow, so I would recommend not doing what this gentleman is doing. The sands are a dangerous place, especially with the hydra on them."
"Well, duh," Terii said.
"So where do we sleep?" Allan asked, "and do you have a good pharmacy?"