Flipswitch Chronicles: Chapter 5, Draft 2
It was a stiff, long ride to the east coast. Brakes, the Biologist's horse expressed his exhaustion by grounding his hooves about a mile away from destination, refusing to budge any further. “Tempremental! Honestly! You're a horse, move it!” the Biologist shouted at Brakes in futile effort. She huffed, drove herself deeper into her seat, and with her right hand, grabbed a lever by the side of her seat. She pushed it down one notch till it clicked, which was followed by a deep rumble below her feet. The wheels of the cart started moving, pushing Brakes forward. The horse neighed, but followed the motion as if in obedience.
When she reached the mark on the map, she found Phil standing still, arms folded with a look of exasperation on his face. Bi laughed as she dismounted the carriage, carefully picking up her skirts in the right places. “I'm aware of my untimely arrival Phil, are you just going to stand there with that – what do you call that look-?”
Phil remained on spot, face unchanged. Now Bi wasn't quite sure Phil was as annoyed as he should be, and that was worrying. “I'm speaking to you, what's gotten in to you? I'm not apologizing, if that's what you're waiting for.”
“It's not that you're late Bi, I've well expected that.”
“Then what is it? Is it that time of month?”
Phil rolled his eyes. “Look at it, woman. This isn't what we're looking for.”
Bi was shocked, she was too absorbed in what Phil's face was called to notice what it is that didn't capture her attention in the first place. The rift they had come for was not in sight. “Are we at the wrong place?” she reasoned.
“No. Take a closer look from above that hill.” Phil pointed to his left, at a small mound of sand and grass.
Bi shuffled up and before long, she could look down and gasp. “Why in Galvations' armies are we at a common wormhole?” She questioned Phil, appalled at this notion. It was shortly followed by a realization of, “Oh that bleeding Traveller!! He switched the symbols? When did he do that?”
“I think he had several maps ready.”
WHACK. Out of nowhere, Bi's fist met Phil's cheek. In a split second she had managed to swoop down the mound to meet Phil. She shook her fist in pain from the blow – there wasn't much to go between Phil's skin and bones. It had hurt them both. “Why did I do that?”
“You're asking me that?! OW—” Phil held his cheek in his hand, rubbing it though it probably made the pain worst. “You stood too close, obviously. I had to hit myself when I was alone just now. Ow..”
“Right. Particles. What are they called? Nadgen?” Bi speculated while still nursing her knuckles.
“Nagdens' particles. Damned a handful here because of the wormhole. You got filter masks?” Phil asked calmly. Bi was going to hide the fact that she thought Phil handled being punched in the face very well. She'd expected a blow-back.
“Yeah, in the gray trunk.”
Phil came back from Bi's carriage carrying two heavy-duty gas masks and handed one to Bi. They fastened it below their eyes and then both made their way up again to look. It was a large swirling vortex in the ground, made of the colour of sand, grass and sky. Wormholes were a naturally causing phenomenon in their land, dating back to forever. They could only try to wonder when the first one was spotted, but would come back with that answer, 'since forever'. It was slightly unsettling every time Phil thought about it. It was one of those feelings that came with a sense of emptiness in the back of his mind. Unsettling, but those feelings were always overcome by thoughts that actually filled his mind. For example, what were they to do now that they were facing it, instead of a rift? Study it? Surely they'd have tonnes of book about them. “You think we should collect samples?”
Bi gave Phil a ridiculed glare that didn't show behind the mask, but chose not to argue. “I suppose you think we'd find something new that hundreds others missed.”
“We're here, aren't we?”
Bi sighed. She swept aside a bustle in her skirt to reveal a pouch of glass bottles. She lifted one in the air and uncorked the bottle. A soft gold glow appeared in the bottle, showing Nagdens' particles at high concentration. She corked it and placed it back into her pouch and used another bottle for more particles. With the other bottles, she collected samples from the surrounding; air, dirt, possible life forms, then labeled the bottles with its identity and source position relative to the wormhole. “It doesn't sit with me right, collecting samples. This is Travs doing.”
“You don't have to say it out, you know. Makes it worst.”
When she was done with the ground, she stood up, not three feet away from the whipping of the vortex wings. “Might as well categorize this one then.” She rolled up her left sleeve to reveal a device strapped onto her arm, one which shot a retractable sample collector into the vortex. After a count to five, she pulled back on the device and it came whirring back into her arm. She plucked out a glass sphere which contained the sample and studied it. “Vacuum. Lightyears away I bet. No use jumping into this one except for a sure-way suicide. Let's get out of here now and find ourselves a damn rift.”
When she reached the mark on the map, she found Phil standing still, arms folded with a look of exasperation on his face. Bi laughed as she dismounted the carriage, carefully picking up her skirts in the right places. “I'm aware of my untimely arrival Phil, are you just going to stand there with that – what do you call that look-?”
Phil remained on spot, face unchanged. Now Bi wasn't quite sure Phil was as annoyed as he should be, and that was worrying. “I'm speaking to you, what's gotten in to you? I'm not apologizing, if that's what you're waiting for.”
“It's not that you're late Bi, I've well expected that.”
“Then what is it? Is it that time of month?”
Phil rolled his eyes. “Look at it, woman. This isn't what we're looking for.”
Bi was shocked, she was too absorbed in what Phil's face was called to notice what it is that didn't capture her attention in the first place. The rift they had come for was not in sight. “Are we at the wrong place?” she reasoned.
“No. Take a closer look from above that hill.” Phil pointed to his left, at a small mound of sand and grass.
Bi shuffled up and before long, she could look down and gasp. “Why in Galvations' armies are we at a common wormhole?” She questioned Phil, appalled at this notion. It was shortly followed by a realization of, “Oh that bleeding Traveller!! He switched the symbols? When did he do that?”
“I think he had several maps ready.”
WHACK. Out of nowhere, Bi's fist met Phil's cheek. In a split second she had managed to swoop down the mound to meet Phil. She shook her fist in pain from the blow – there wasn't much to go between Phil's skin and bones. It had hurt them both. “Why did I do that?”
“You're asking me that?! OW—” Phil held his cheek in his hand, rubbing it though it probably made the pain worst. “You stood too close, obviously. I had to hit myself when I was alone just now. Ow..”
“Right. Particles. What are they called? Nadgen?” Bi speculated while still nursing her knuckles.
“Nagdens' particles. Damned a handful here because of the wormhole. You got filter masks?” Phil asked calmly. Bi was going to hide the fact that she thought Phil handled being punched in the face very well. She'd expected a blow-back.
“Yeah, in the gray trunk.”
Phil came back from Bi's carriage carrying two heavy-duty gas masks and handed one to Bi. They fastened it below their eyes and then both made their way up again to look. It was a large swirling vortex in the ground, made of the colour of sand, grass and sky. Wormholes were a naturally causing phenomenon in their land, dating back to forever. They could only try to wonder when the first one was spotted, but would come back with that answer, 'since forever'. It was slightly unsettling every time Phil thought about it. It was one of those feelings that came with a sense of emptiness in the back of his mind. Unsettling, but those feelings were always overcome by thoughts that actually filled his mind. For example, what were they to do now that they were facing it, instead of a rift? Study it? Surely they'd have tonnes of book about them. “You think we should collect samples?”
Bi gave Phil a ridiculed glare that didn't show behind the mask, but chose not to argue. “I suppose you think we'd find something new that hundreds others missed.”
“We're here, aren't we?”
Bi sighed. She swept aside a bustle in her skirt to reveal a pouch of glass bottles. She lifted one in the air and uncorked the bottle. A soft gold glow appeared in the bottle, showing Nagdens' particles at high concentration. She corked it and placed it back into her pouch and used another bottle for more particles. With the other bottles, she collected samples from the surrounding; air, dirt, possible life forms, then labeled the bottles with its identity and source position relative to the wormhole. “It doesn't sit with me right, collecting samples. This is Travs doing.”
“You don't have to say it out, you know. Makes it worst.”
When she was done with the ground, she stood up, not three feet away from the whipping of the vortex wings. “Might as well categorize this one then.” She rolled up her left sleeve to reveal a device strapped onto her arm, one which shot a retractable sample collector into the vortex. After a count to five, she pulled back on the device and it came whirring back into her arm. She plucked out a glass sphere which contained the sample and studied it. “Vacuum. Lightyears away I bet. No use jumping into this one except for a sure-way suicide. Let's get out of here now and find ourselves a damn rift.”
posted by Mizurei at
2:30 AM
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