Terr'an was sluggish to wake up. She was nice and cozy in the
bed. However, her mate's chainsaw snore woke her up the rest of
the way. She sat up and glared drowsily at Tarrg.
Tarrg awoke in a sudden start. (Possibly due to the fact that
Terr'an had lost her temper and kicked him.) He rubbed his sore
backside and yawned.
Tarrg smacked his lips. "Morning already?" he asked.
"Yes it is, Mr.-I-swallowed-a-chainsaw!", Terr'an grumbled as
she set about the task of untangling her blue dreadloks.
While Terr'an was preening, Tarrg opened the window shudders
and took a look at what was going on in the nearby ancient Shee
city. The sun was just peeking out from behind what was left of
the Purple mountains. Here and there, norns, ettins and grendels
were in the process of setting up shop or heading out to whatever
they did to pass away their day.
A thought occured to him, he had better check up on 'Nalana!
*******************************************************
The hand was quitely observing the half breed known as 'Nalana.
As always, a pang of sadness accompanied his secret check ups on
her. However, the pang was not for 'Nalana, it was for her
"parents". He remembered the day of her "birth" quite well.
Just then, he noticed that 'Nalana was most definatly not acting
normally for an average tinkering session.
*******************************************************
She had spent months on making the plans for her machine. A
machine that might help her find the answers she so despiratly
needed. Answers that the Hand did not want to give. She stepped
back to take a look at the first of undoubtedly many prototypes of
the machine.
It was large, very large. It was constructed of the
native silver, which had a blue tint to it, no matter what was
mixed with it. It rather looked similar to a couple of giant
glass cylinders with metal tops and bottoms connected together by
massive amounts of cording of all colors of the rainbow. In short,
it was a rough looking piece. 'Nalana hoped it would work despite
it's rough appearance.
'Nalana's machine had two purposes to it. One of them was to
send the person in the right tube back in time. Of course, she
would have to switch places with someone in order for that function
to work. So, she would get another person to stay in the left tube
while she was exploring back (or forward, possibly) in time while
they would keep their younger (or older) self, who was in the right
tube, company. The second purpose was to allow the person in the
left tube to go through the mind of the person in the right tube.
'Nalana made plans to use this on the Hand, but ONLY as a last
ditch attmept. She hoped to whatever higher beings there were
that she wouldn't have to use it one ANYONE.
Now came the hard part. She needed someone to test her
machine with, for either purpose. Being the recluse she was, she
hardly ever had any company and she couldn't very well just pack
up the thing and go pay a visit to a friend! She decided to find
a solution to that problem another day, as she had pulled an all
nighter. Yawning and bleary eyed, she went to her bed and
promptly fell asleep the moment her head hit the pillow.
*******************************************************
Tarrg had finally got on to the paddle boat that lead to the
largest Island, where 'Nalana lived. The trip across the ocean
was uneventful, as usual. He made his way through the many twists
and turns underground to get to the particular set of caves where
'Nalana made her abode. After grumbling about her overzealous
need to protect her privacy, Tarrg made it to the first entrance
of her caves.
He called out, "'Nalana, you there?"
No response.
He walked in the the greeting room of her main cave and tried
again.
"Heeeeeeeelllllloooooooooo? Anyone home?"
This time he heard a faint snoring. Ah, she was asleep on
the cot in her workshop. He had come across her in there asleep
at least half the time. He padded over to her workshop.
He saw the sleeping form of 'Nalana, deep purple circles
under her eyes and all. She looked exhausted. Most creatures on
Albia were wary of her because they could not interpret her facial
expressions or body language. Tarrg wasn't. He had been her
friend ever since she had first appeared on Albia as a small child.
Not being able to have any kids of his own, he more or less adopted
her. He had taught her all that he had known and then some. She
was undisputably the most intelligent creature on the world.
He was about to shake her awake when he saw a VERY large
machine from the corner of his eye. He stopped to gawk at it.
He wondered what she was up to this time.
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