WABBLAND pt.3 “Morbido”
1
Tasty opened the eyes and pushed himself to the mirror. He had a giant yellow melting blob in place of his head. “That’s odd” he thought but quickly gathered himself. “Is it a dream? I need to find Patsy”. Slowly he moved towards the exit of his room placing the fingers wherever he could, hoping it would help with the balance. “Ahhhh” the sudden scream from downstairs. Familiar voice. It distracted him from following his path and he bumped into the frame of the door with his new head. “Patsy?” he tried to call but wasn’t sure he was making any sounds. Strange, there was no fear or panic. The climb down the stairs was an easy endeavor, with no accidents. He saw Patsy lying on the sofa with the giant yellow blob on his head. “What the.. ” Tasty became surprised for a moment but quickly realised that the yellow blob wasn’t a novelty anymore, since he had one himself, so why bother. “Patsy”. “Yes!” Patsy answered quite angrily. He seemed being rather annoyed then shocked by the change. “I bet this is the Baby-devil jokes” he finally said. “Why did we have to pick him up.. My brain feels numb and everything is foggy”. “Same here if you would believe me. But i don’t see anything life-threatening, do you?”. “A consiberable amount of me believe this is just a dream. But the feeling evaporates quickly. Okay let me sit here. How do you do it with this thing..” Patsy tried to stand up, but fell back on the sofa. “Great. I’ll stay here. Where are we? I can’t remember anything again”. “This is a random house we’ve brocken in yesterday” with this statement Baby-devil appeared in the room. “Hey!” Patsy cried “What have you done to us!”. “Whoa, wait a second, when I went to sleep last night you guys seemed quite alright, quite as usual”. Baby-devil went to the kitchen and started reaching for an apple on the table, which was infinetely high for him. Tasty was observing a small creature for a while thinking about the chances of tumbling down himself in case of helping him. “Him?” he thought. “Baby-devil, are you a boy?” He finally came closer and passed the apple to his little friend. Baby-devil looked at Tasty’s big face, said “Don’t know really” and went to sit on the chair. Patsy stood up finally and approached the window. “Seems like the same planet. Maybe even the same city. Let’s go see Droopsie. She’s going to be surprised.”
2
Karo wakes up at the hospital. Quite. He shakes his head to see if there’s any pain left. Good enough. “Damn it, father, things that you make me do to get away from you..” “How do I get out of here..” “The plan was good..” “Something hit us in the back..” Karo made an effort to push the train of thoughts away so he could see the scene. “I need to go”. The bed was easy to jump off, what about the door. Unlocked. Great. Quick look into the corridor. Not busy, but.. “What if I just walk out. Doesn’t seem like anyone cares of me”. He gathered himself and walked out of the building. Hot. Stay in the shadows. City has enough of it. Karo didn’t know where to go so he decided to move towards the mountains. Streets were wide and some were narrow. Buildings were quite short. He could see the peaks. He liked the city. Wondered where he has found the time to notice that. Looking at all the signs. Language wasn’t familiar at all. Karo blended in well with the crowd despite looking very odd in shape compared to everyone else. “Thinking makes all the difference”. After sometime he found himself on the outskirts facing the lonely bizzare house. Adjacent to the main building was a garage with something making noises inside. Standing still for minutes didn’t stir up any descisive action. Finally the shadow appeared in the depth of the garage and turned to be a rather tall and friendly looking fellow. Karo froze even more realizing he got caught staring intensely. “Hey” the fellow broke the silence. “Name’s Besusie. You alright?” “I’m lost, mmm.. pretty much” Karo uttered after a few second of silence. “I have maps. If you think it might help you let me find them. Maps and routes and whereabouts. You’re not from here?”. “Oh.. what’s ‘here’?”. “Wabbland, man. Ever heard of it?” “Not until my father decided to destroy it” he wasn’t sure if to share this outloud would be safe, instead, Karo gave a ‘No’ head shake. Besusie looked at him with a strange attention and said “Well, let me show what it looks like and where we find ourselves in the universe”. They moved towards the house. “Oh, my name’s Karo”, prince introduced himself “And we’ve got a problem”.
3
Tobin and Cloover drive throught the desert. Cloover sits in silence while Tobin sings something uncomprehensively. The desert is alive althought it doesn’t seem that way. At any moment you would see a spine or a head of one of the giant cows visible through the clouds. To an outsider it would seem that the creatures grew on the surface of the planet. They move very slow, making one step could last for a handred of years. The scientists work to predict the movements of the giant animals so the authorities would be advised in time. “What are you thinking about” said Tobin. Cloover realized his leg became numb and tapped it for some time before answering. “I’m thinking of how we’re about to die. From starving. And who’s to blame”. “Cloover, your lack of patience is hilarious. Eh, well, we could definetely find something in those bushes. You want me to make a stop?” “I’m a city boy. Not sure I’ll be able to digest whatever is coming from those bushes” They don’t see it but the big shadow appeared to be following their car, maintaining the same speed. “I’ve spent a good bunch of years out here. I could tell you stories you wouldn’t believe” said Tobin. “You’ve told them, the stories. And I couldn’t believe so many of them. Which is what I love about it actually”. The shadow has caught up with the car blocking the sun for the passengers. Cloover turned and looked up. The giant blurred block of form was too annoying for him to witness. “Tobin, don’t look back”. Surely Tobin looked back at once and screamed instantly. Cloover screamed back at him, car wiggled for some time. Tobin took hold of it handling the steering wheel in freenzy. The increased speed didn’t seem to shake the shadow off. They continued to drive for some time. Nothing happened. Tobin saw the row of buildings on the left and decided to take a chance in hiding there. He squeezed the car into the next turn leading to the village. “Or whaterver it is” Tobin thought. “Eeehhhh” sound came out of Cloover. The ride was bumpy and all the Cloover’s thinking went to holding onto the car. The shadow felt thicker which meant the creature behind them has choosen to lessen the distance. Tobin didn’t like the idea of it which he showed with loosing his consciousness. The car went ahead into the barbed wired fence gradually giving up the speed. They tore through the fence loosing more of the momentum and smashed into the collection of garbage items making a connundrum of noises. The only thing Cloover could feel being midst slowly bouncing boxes, tires and metal chanks of something was a relief of seeing the shadow flying away.
4
“We need to clean it up before everyone knows!” Princess Ekuna screamed nervously. Luk tried to calm her down “It is not that bad really. And we have everyhing here to fix it”. “So then let’s hurry up!”. It was true. They’ve taken too much time thinking and talking about the situation already. A few days ago the lavra probe arrived to Wabbland and hit one of the cows. Which meant that with the time this cow might become a host to a monster. Or a few. No one knew how this works exactly. At the moment the lavra didn’t pierce the skin of the gigantic animal. It is preparing by making a slimy home for itself which, in turn, softens the skin of the cow. Otherwise the drill won’t be possible. “What’s worrying me, we don’t know how many probes has been sent” King Temu appeared in the doorway “Might be just one might be hundreds”. “We’re observing the cows, so far one was confirmed” Luk looked at him “Hey, just recently we didn’t know what the heck is this and now we’ve built the equipment to deal with it. So, cheer up a little bit”. “When we’re moving out?” Ekuna seemed relaxed and focused. Seeing that made Luk’s anxiety — which has been building up within him during the week — somewhat go away. A lab worker approached Temu for a short conversation. The king turned to his collegues and said “It’s ready. Are you sure we need to be there?”. He didn’t seem to be waiting long for an answer seeing the faces so determined. They followed the corridor into the enormously wast hangar. The machine looked ready, it looked robust. Despite knowing how little time went into making it they felt encouraged to take on the mission now.
5
“What are those?” Ugi’s looking out the viewport of the spacecraft. “Skyscrapers” said Bobby. “And what are those?”. “Looks like these are the lakes” said Bobby, adding after a while seeing that Ugi is not getting it “Lakes are the various amounts of water settled in the lowlands”. “Not much water on Wabbland for some reason”. “There’s water but due to the form of the planet it is situated in the upper layers of the atmosphere mostly. Have you ever seen those intricate constructions up in the air?” — Surprise has woken up after a long recharge with explanation. “Oh.. I get it” said Ugi.
The ship descended for a long time. They could see the City-Planet with a great detail. It was magnificient. The enormous city built on the rock in space. Shining with the miriads of lights. Something that Ugi wouldn’t ever imagine in his life was floating slowly in front of his eyes. They landed and soon arrived at the hotel. Ugi fell asleep right away. Bobby struggled with unpacking his bag but gave up quickly. Surprise sat in silence. No one would guess what kind of thoughts or dreams were brewing inside this creature. Night turned into the morning. Ugi opened the eyes and wondered what he was doing with his life, then snapped out of it and went to the shower. Bobby was already sitting on the balcony connected to the app. “He would burn badly there, the sun is harsh during the day” said Surprise out loud but there was no one in the room to appreciate his concern.
6
The air cooled down. Sun went behind the hills not long ago. The Parasite King stood in the alley frozen like a statue. Once in a while he moved his limbs erratically, not with a purpose. The street was empty. Only a small desert creature was visible near the corner. But it quickly jumped away when suddenly the alley became filled with light and rearing sound of a descending block of the shadow. Soon the legs of a creature touched the ground. The King came out of his meditative state and turned around. They stood in front of each other for some time, until the sound of the reactor inside the giant was barely heard. “It is done” said The Giant. The King stayed silent. It looked like he was chewing on the information which was useless to him. “This is great”. “Thanks for setting me free”. “It wasn’t me” the King looked down the alley. The Giant looked in the same direction. “I wasn’t really expecting you to be here since the accident on the City-Planet took place. How many probes did you plant?” “One”. “How many do we still have left in the capsule?” “Eh.. I found it crashed in the desert. There was only one probe alive”. Long seconds of silence. “Yeah, and I followed the car which was used to take your son to the hospital”. “My son..” “So, I followed the car but when we approached the military zone I.. I couldn’t risk being seen. Don’t think they had the probes”. “Why?” The Giant didn’t understand the question. “Why did you think so?” “After crushing the car through the fence they left empty handed”. “Okay. We don’t know if they know anything. It is quite possible that they have no clue”. “Yeah”. “Anyways, the plan is the same. The location device seems to be working. I expect Morbido to arrive here any day soon”. “Okay”. “You need to find her”. Standing behind the corner Baby-devil was puzzled by this conversation. The whole time he couldn’t move, terrified making a sound. Soon the street became empty again. Baby-devil continued his walk home.
7
Tasty and Patsy took the portal to the ‘Droopsies’. They couldn’t wait to see their friends. Celery was there too. Seemed like he has started hunging out more often at the cafe recently. Of course, Droopsie couldn’t recognise the unfortunate travellers right away since both of them had a huge yellow blob instead of their heads. It took Patsy some time to uplift the disbelief. Hearing their story Droopsie nodded understandably and then went in and out of the storage room bringing something and mixing it in the cups with some algae juice. “You should drink this”, she said “As far as I understand you’ve been intoxicated by spending more time then needed with the wild emojis”. They emptied their cups and practiced the faces of duisgust. Droopsie continued “You’re going to be looking normal tomorrow, I think”. “Eh, thanks. This drink was dirty, but I’m glad to be here with you still”. Celery looked at them. “Last week we met a strange persona. He looked unusual for this town.. But, interestingly, filled with some curious information”. “Ah, yes” said Droopsie “He was looking for his son”. “Exactly. And I do remember a mention of the portal. We think the portal have originated far from Wabbland, actually”. And it took someone very skillful to coordinate Ugi’s kidnapping. Someone trained for a long time to deal with the flying portals”. “Well, maybe we should go to the autorities to get help”. “The Kings?” “They will do”. Patsy looked at everyone “And above all that we have to deal with mass extinction of emojis”. “I heard it might be bad for the planet” said Droopsie. “Well” started Celery with enthusiasm “Cows poop. And the poop that gets on the ground becomes a home for a culture of those little creatures which we depend on in certain ways. The most important is they keep the cows clean of the parasites”. “What cows do?” asked Patsy. “Eh, they breath in the surplus of the toxic gases in the upper atmosphere. We need some of it tho”. “They also eat all the garbage — and the asteroids even — that get stuck up there” said Tasty. “Oh, I know a guy who lost his space house, because it has descended too low” it was Celery’s remark. He giggled briefly to himself after making it. ”I just wonder if the portals came from somewhere far from Wabbland why do we have a static portals system built in place here? And doesn’t it make you think — the situation with the wild emojis — that someone is trying to disturb our ecosystem? I know, sounds crazy!“ said Tasty. He looked at his friends and reached for his pink cactus juice Droopsie just made for him. “Yeah” said Patsy and everyone submerged into the silence for some time. The cafe was quite busy. Table with people playing games. A girl with the green headphones looking through the window. A trio of babies occupied the corner with the big tree spreading its branches for a couple of the desert birds to pearch on. Tasty watched how the babies communicated with each other using just the simple sounds and glances and smiles. “It’s an old tree. From a different world” Droopsie noticed where his attention went “It can survive inside tho”. “I don’t think I paid attention to this tree ever. And now I cannot stop looking at it. It makes me think about the amounts of care we give to something this much different from what we accociate ourselves with”. Everything freezed for a moment or so it seemed. The time, it stepped aside to give the stage to the roaring sound from above. Something flew over them. Fast, but you could feel how heavy was an object, most likely a spaceship. Nobody moved but everyone looked up. The ceiling wasn’t trembling for long. It took a few moments for the ship to gain enough of distance and gradually all the cafe inhabitants turned back to their interrupted activities. “King’s ship?” Tasty looked at Patsy. He nodded. “Patsy was into learning all about the aircrafts when he was a kid” Tasty explained. “I wonder, where they are going. The kings were staying on the King’s Place up untill this time” said Celery. “We can’t sit like that!” snapped Tasty suddenly. You could feel his body becoming tense now. He seemed to be very frustrated in how the situation has been developing. First, they failed to find Ugi. Else, there’s an ecological catastrophe started taking place on their planet. He tried to call Besusie but he wasn’t available. “Let’s go to the Fantasy Flow” he finally said sitting down. Everyone looked at him, even some folks around the cafe. “What for?” said Patsy. “I’m not completely sure but it seems to be the right move”. “We don’t have a ship, pal”. “Okay, okay! Droopsie, would you lend us some money for the bus tickets?” “Oh, yes.. yes, of course.. Let me see..” Patsy looked at Tasty with his big unnatural eyes. “A bus to the Fantasy Flow just because it feels like it, huh?” “I knew you would love the idea. Thank you, Droopsie, for the tea and everything. Celery, are you coming?”. “No, I’ll stay. I need to take the roots. Good luck to you, my friends!” “Goodbye, Celery”. Patsy stood up with the clear confusion on his face and followed Tasty out the building. Droopsie went to clean the tables. Celery finished his drink, went outside. After a short walk he stopped suddenly on the corner of the street, looked around for the last time and closed his eyes to never open them again. From this moment he ceased to be what he always been. Something started to change inside him. The way his body used to function before wasn’t the case since this moment. The small dark green tentacles appeared to grow on the bottom of his body. They pierced into the dry soil only to dig deep down in search for the nutricious substances.
8
Besusie appeared from the kitchen bringing a couple of cups containing something hot. “This will calm your nerves” he said. Karo was sitting in the corner of the room looking around. His face didn’t say too much, but he seemed to be distacted from his worries now. He accepted the cup with some concern about it being too hot. “What all this stuff is? What are you doing?” “Well, what I’ve got here is some collection of the rare artifacts, the library and up there you can proceed to a small studio — sometimes a lab — where I go to have some fun ocassionally”. “Have fun?”. “Eh.. I’m a scientist. Yeah. I do a couple of researches currently. It’s a bit complicated.. but.. see.. there’s the objects we find in our world that seem to be originated somewhere else. Recently I was digging into this one piece.. but my colegues don’t share my suspiction. Actually all of them ain’t going to accept the idea! Eh.. So, that is my job, I guess” He moved to a different side of the room. “Else, I do some other types of work: building stuff, repairing stuff, inventing stuff. It was my grandpa’s thing. I accuired this from him, for sure”. Karo stop his eyes on one of the objects. “Eh.. I think I saw something like this when we went to the bazzar with my father one day”. “Huh.. you saw.. what did it look like? Did it have the holes and the tubes like that?” “I think so. But the one I saw was a bit more rectangular”. ”I see.. well, if you could tell me more later, I’d appreciate that. Because, enough about me! What’s.. Where are you coming from?” “Kumensul”. Besusie stayed unimpressed. “Have you heard of it?” “Not really, astronomy is not my thing I have to say”. “We are the parasites”. “Oh..” Besusie looked like he realised something he wished he didn’t. “But wait!” said Karo hurriedly “I didn’t do anything. I’m not able to do anything anyways. Only if I take another form.. You’re safe! All you need to know”. “OKAY.. Okay. You scared me, man”. “I know, everyone is scared of us. And you should be! Damn it. Let me explain..” “Sure”. Karo didn’t say anything for a while. He sipped his drink and looked out the window. “My father took me on the adventure. What he said.. it’s what he called it. It was exciting to leave the planet finally. I knew it would happen one day. I was looking for this to happen for a long time. He said an adventure! To see a planet or two. It was alright in the beginning. But one day he told me everything. We landed on the City-Planet and had a walk. He was talking like he never did before. I realised it was his dream, something he never ever mentioned to us. And the worst part is: I didn’t like his dream. Not a bit”. “What dream?” “To spread the parasites to other places. And to conquer Wabbland specifically”. Besusie stayed silent. “You know, my father is not the highest form of a parasite. I don’t even know what is the highest.. But he managed to find the resources and persuade many others to help him. Some folks believe we don’t have much time left as the species on Kumensul. Well, that’s what he made them to think, I suppose. But it is not an official endeavor. He’s risking his life executing this project”. Besusie finally could say “This is unprecedented. We need to let someone know..” “And we will! We certainly will. Let me tell you something else. My father, well, we came prepared heavily to infiltrate. The follow up ship with a Chondrite, and lots of lavrae on our own board. I listened to the plan and couldn’t believe my ears. I couldn’t accept the role I was about to play. The night after our conversation I jumped into the lavrae probe capsule and run. Only to be hit by the misile my own father have sent after me. Sure it was him! I tried to make it away from Wabbland, but with my engines corrupted it was hopeless. The gravity embraced me and I fell”. “What about the lavrae?” “Don’t know. Some might have survived the impact. They are harmless on their own and will kick the bucket soon if not taked care of. But the bigger problem is that someone turned on the device which starts sending the location to Kumensul. And we cannot let whatever is coming after the signal to land on this planet”. “Destroy the device!” “It wouldn’t matter..” ”Oh..” “One way to save our arses is to take it somewhere off the planet”. Karo closed his eyes and placed his hands on the belly. Besusie went to the kitchen and started cutting bread. He did cut it not thin nor thick. He seemed to be obsessed with it. “Done!” he said to himself. Karo heard him but didn’t move. All the thinking left him it appeared. “The only way we could deceive them is to bring the device to the King’s Place”, Besusie was looking at Karo from the kitchen. “It could be mistaken for a planet. Yes, we need it to resemble a planet, otherwise they might have some doubts. I’ll go with you because I know everyone there. And I be the one who they can trust. To tell the truth your story is dificult to believe really. We better start the evacuation procedures..” Karo looked at Besusie. He didn’t say a word but nodded slightly. “Okay, you can rest, I’m going to make a phonecall” said Besusie.
9
“What a place, huh!” Ugi’s walking with the ice-cream in one of his hands pointing to his friends something interesting to look at with another. Bobby and Surprise follow behind. “So, what is our plan? We have been walking in the city aimlessly for a few days now” said Bobby. “I was hoping it would be easier to figure out when we arrive here. But..” “Oh, no!” It was Ugi who interupted the onversation. “Oh, no, it’s coming for me again!” Ugi ran into the nearby building. For a second he got confused whether to use the big window or the door but finally decided to use the latter. Everyone stopped and looked around confused. Surprise moved to the direction where Ugi went saying something to himself. Bobby looked around thoroughly only to find a Portal moving around in a big cage. “What kind of zoo is it” he thought. He needed to talk to the Portal all of a sudden. Surprise has appeared from the biulding with Ugi hiding behind him. “See! It’s in a cage, Ugi. It’s obviously not in a position to hunt you down at the moment, even if someone badly wanted it” said Surprise and moved slowly towards the Portal and Bobby having a conversation. “Conversation? How it’s even possible!” said Ugi staying in the doorframe sqeezing his eyes in the attempts to learn about the Portal’s intentions. He moved a little bit closer and after getting close enough Ugi stopped not willing to interrupt whatever was happening in front of him. Bobby stood near the cage with both of his hands holding the small bluish tentacles making the odd sounding noises Ugi and Surprise never heard of. Portal made the last move making the tiny tentacles covering all of his body dance in a repeating pattern and stopped. Bobby freed the hands and looked at his travelling partners. “If you’re wondering, this Portal is not the one I used to get Ugi to the King’s Place”. “You.. what!” said Ugi. “We’re going to talk later about your Portal control abilities, that’s certain!” said Surprise. “Now, what did it say?” “Oh, this portal ran away a while ago, when there was an accident on the parasite’s ship. Actually, a few of them were freed by the parasite Prince for the reason unknown”. Ugi didn’t move but seemed to be less panicking observing his friends talking peacefully in the presence of the Portal. “So, they docked in the Spaceport here? We can go..” “No, we don’t find anything there. The ship has left. The only thing you can investigate is why the Parasite King went to the Library”. “Something tells me that you want to stick here for a while” said Surprise. ”Yeah” said Bobby. “Good. Ugi will be happy to know we’re leaving”. “I’ll catch up soon”. “Aha”.
The Library was monumental. Surprise has never been here but some of his friends and collegues worked on the City Planet and were the often guests at this facility. Hence, it was easy for Surprise to get the acces to the building. You truly could get lost in here. “I must reconsider quitting my job at the King’s and come to the City-Planet. So many resources and so many things to learn!” Ugi was quite impressed as well. But soon became tired of walking, jumped on the sofa the second they arrived to the hall they were looking for. “So, yeah, our records tell that the Parasite King, as you call him, came here in search of something but he had to be taken away because he started destroying everything he could get his hands on — the books, the computers, the artifacts. We didn’t lose any critical information, but this room is in a state of some healing as you can see”. “Yeah. So, we see you later, right? I want to catch up, man” said Surprise. “How about we go to the Upload room? It’s fun! I know you don’t have any on the King’s. Besides, you certainly need an upgrade, pal”. “So true!” “Okay then”. said Taimo and left. Ugi was watching a documentary about the Kumensul planet half asleep. Surprise went to study the contents of their surroundings. Seeing the screens with the floating planets he clicked on Wabbland and zoomed out to see where it was located in the planetary system. One of the planets in the upper corner of the screen was highlighted. He clicked on it. “The Parasite Kingdom.. I wonder why have I never heard of it”. He checked on when it was discovered. “A couple of thousands years ago.. but.. huh.. interesting. It’s known to have been occupied by the parasites just recently”. He went on to read further. Suddenly he realised that the whole room was originally the treasuary of knowledge about the Kumensul world, its cultural and technological richness and long forgotten importance in the universe. But at some point it went into the oblicion after the Parasites’ takeover. “And no one is talking about it! Damn..” Surprise kept reading and clicking on the screens.
Ugi was asleep, sometimes waking up to look dully at the screen with the movie still going on. No one disrupted them in a while and Surprise caught himself wondering when he was enjoying this kind of silence and peace the last time. His quantum brain was busy working, as never before. “Why the king Kabla came here instead of just going straight to Wabbland if he had a plan to conquer it..” He found no clue so far. “Kumensul.. well, it’s interesting.. only 60% of the parasites, the rest of locals stay in their original form..” There was a sound of a door opening. Albeit it has appeared to be somewhat distracting, Surprise didn’t pay much attention to it. The small creature moved on the floor towards him from the back of the room. It raised when got closer to Surprise and stood tall behind him. Surprise couldn’t really feel the presence of someone being that close to him, but he noticed the shadows rising on the table. “Ohhh..” He just couldn’t move or turn around. In a while the shadow has spoken “Please.. I’m in no power to do any harm.” Surprise wasn’t sure why he felt the way he did. The sudden freeze could be explained if occured in the living creature. But he wasn’t alive. So to speak. The words of the creature changed the atmosphere in the room, Surprise faced the bluish colored creature standing shakingly on his week limbs. “Hi. It’s good to know. You.. you’re doing what now? I mean, do you work here?” “I’m the answer to your question”. “I had plenty of those today. Which is it?” “King Kabla was here in search for me. That’s the only reason. I’m the key.” Surprise held himself tight not to interrupt. “But I’m too weak. Too ancient. I couldn’t work now. I’m just an artefact to belong in the archives”. “Key to what?” “To the ancient world.. I..” The creature couldn’t stand anymore and fell on the ground. Surprise couldn’t do anything. Ugi woke up hearing the sounds and sprang up. He stood on the sofa looking at these two. The bluish creature spoke again “The Portal must be open. That’s my purpose. I didn’t live to fulfil it”. Suddenly the life force that held his dying body has left him. “Okay.. Okay..” Surprise tried to understand any of this, when Bobby ran into the hall with Portal hunging behind. “We have to go!” “What!” said Ugi. “I know where we need to go” Surprise said. “They are coming!” said Bobby. “What’s happening?” said Ugi. “I’ve stolen the Portal goddamnit! They are after us!” “I know where to go” said Surprise again with some clarity and realisation in his voice. “Then go!” Bobby touched the Portal and told something to it. “Wait” Surprise clicked on the screens “Give it the coordinates”. Bobby translated the digits to the Portal then turned to Ugi “You coming?” There was so much urgency in his voice that Ugi could’t resist and ran into the Portal, now opened. Bobby waited for Surprise to get in. The steps could be heard coming closer. The screams echoed through the hall. Bobby stepped in the last. The Portal started rotating fast floating in the middle of the spacious room and dissapeared into itself in a moment.
The new world. They’re sitting on the stones midst the warm and foggy forest. Portal is levitating above calmly. “Where did you take us” said Bobby turning to Surprise. “It’s Kumensul” said Ugi looking around “I just watched a documentary about it”.
10
Tobin opens his eyes. It’s dark. Only a few streetlights highlight the scene. Cloover sits on the passenger seat and humms a song. “Oh, hey, Tobs!” he said. Tobin looks at him and then around trying to remember what happened. “I’m up for a while. You know what place is that?” said Cloover. “Have you seen anyone?” “Not much from here, but I saw the lights turned on recently in that building”. “Well, let’s check it out. Seems like I can walk, although everything hurts” said Tobin. “You’re gonni be fine”. Tobin nods and gets out of the car. “Do we leave it?” said Cloover. “Not sure. Eh.. We can always come back”. They climb out of the pile of boxes and through the fence. The area is filled with buildings of various sizes. The electric noise is coming from the huge metal blocks, attached to the walls. They walk by the window and see someone sleeping on the coach, covered with the wires. “Okay, the place is not empty. But I’m sure everyone is at home for the night”. “Not those guys” wispers Cloover. They see a fast walking group in the end of the street. “Yeah.. move there!” Tobin points to the nearest entrance. They run into the pitch-darkness hoping not to hit anything. Cloover meets the wall with his head, groans. Tobin stops, looks around. There’s a dim light on the right. “There’s the light on the right”. “I don’t know what direction you’re looking at” says Cloover trying to figure out if he’s bleeding or not. “Just follow my voice” Tobin’s leaving. “Oh, yes, only if you could just keep talking”. They appear in the enormous hall. First thing they see is a gigantic aquarium filled with the wild emojis. They are asleep. Slowly floating, bumping into each other. One emoji opens his eyes and stares at Tobin. “This is beautifull, man” said Tobin. “Is it some kind of emoji jail?” “Might be a storage or farm or something”. “You bet”. They look at the emoji tank for a while. It’s hypnotising. “I feel like letting them go” said Tobin. “Do what you want” said Cloover and walked away to see the rest of the hall. He finds the fridge and remembers suddenly that he hasn’t eaten for some time. Searching the fridge for a while and fishes out a sandwitch wrapped in paper. “Yep”. Cloover eats the sandwitch sitting in the chair, looking at the another glass container filled with the trees. There’s a movement in the grass under a branchy bush with the pale yellow flowers. He stops eating. The face of a creature appeares and sticks to the glass. “Tobin!” Tobin finally steps off of the mesmerising view and approaches the kitchen area. He grabs a sandwitch from the fridge and sits nearby. “I see it. Maybe this guy is hungry”. Cloover is trying to locate any holes in a glass wall. There’s none. Tobin finishes his sandwitch quickly. They look at the face behind the glass. Suddenly the creature runs away, jumps on the tree and dissapeares into the deep green. “You know what” said Cloover “I haven’t seen any of these trees in the city”. “This is a strange place indeed” said Tobin. They walk around for some time seeing all kinds of wonders. “I have never felt this calm in my life” said Tobin. Cloover looked at him slightly nodding. They took an elevator downstairs. Another set of rooms. “Robots!” said Cloover. They see a sealed room filled with the red light. A couple of complicated looking metal figures stand close by the back wall. “Naah, these are the suits. Cool suits” said Tobin. He sees the panel with the buttons on the wall. Presses them one by one. High-pitched click. Doors open. “Whoah!” Cloover goes inside and touches the suits. “So cool!” “You’re thinking what I’m thinking?” “You mean, to steal these?” “Just to try it on!” “I don’t know.. I don’t feel comfortable..” “But, please!” said Cloover. “Damn it. You can be persuasive. But we’ll take them back”. They try to take on the suits. It takes some time to figure out how to turn them on. “This is chic, man!” said Cloover and steps out of the room. Sudden alarm and flashing lights jam their senses. They look at each other stupefied. “Okay” said Tobin. “I say we run. Eh?” “Oh, yeah”. Cloover goes off. They maneuver the halls and corridors back to the surface. It’s the early morning. No one is outside to confront them. They stand for a few moments deciding what way to go and run into the desert.
11
Baby-devil stood on the corner of the street for a long time. Seemed like he didn’t know where to go. Or maybe he got lost in his thoughts. The conversation he overheard made no sense. “What a damn situation! I don’t know what I am doing here and I have nowhere to go”. He knew it wasn’t fair to say considering he has made a couple of friends recently who took care of him. “Okay. I’ll try to find a place where they went to this morning”. He finally moved. Streets were busy now. He tried his best not to get kicked by, well, everyone. “Ha!” he cried seeing the name of a cafe situated in a modestly short building. He observed the facade of this cute architecture piece. Droopsie appeared out of the door. The cafe was closing. “Hey!” he run towards Droopsie. “Eh?” she turned around hearing the tiny voice and couldn’t resist a smile seeing the tiny creature running towards her in a funny manner. “Hey, you, boy!” “I am, actually, not a boy. I think.. I’m a baby-devil”. “Who called you that?” “Eh. The desert folks. They said it’s the way I’ve appeared in their land and my behaviour gave me that name. But I’ve changed”. They stood and looked at each other for a moment. “So, you know Patsy and Tasty?” Baby-Devil said. “Yes. They left some time ago. You missed them”. “How far?” “Eh” she was puzzled. “Quite far really. I’m not even sure they will come back. Ever”. “Oh, no!” Baby-devil put his fist into the other hand. “You had any business with them?” “They were the only friends I had in this place”. Droopsie appeared not knowing what to say. “If you need a place to stay..” “Shh!” Baby-devil uttered and pierced his eyes behind Droopsie. “I know this one. I don’t think he’s a good character!” Droopsie looked back. The big shadow was seen on the evening sky moving towards them. “Jump in the bag!” she said. There was little time to do anything but to help him to get into the bag before the creature grabbed them both in a snap and flew up swiftly.
12
The sounds of the desert in the evening. The wind has calmed down after the storm. Tobin and Cloover walked slowly kicking the sand. “The weight of this thing..” Tobin broke the silence. They stopped talking long ago. “Yeah, like it’s nothing”. “You want to go to the cafe?” “You know I have no plans but to follow you everywhere you go, apparently. Now, these suits, they’re awesome. But I’m tired of walking”. “Maybe we could fly”. “You think there’s a button?” Cloover looked once again all over his suit thoroughly. “There certainly should be a snack container”. “Computer!” Tobin yelled. “Actually.. Let me see” Cloover stopped Tobin. “Ah!” he turned him around and touched the hand sized panel. It moved aside revealing a touch screen. Numbers and letters appeared. “Got ye!” said Cloover. Tobin stood patiently while Cloover clicked and clicked. “Any progress?” “Eh.. yas.. We can manage the suits to fly. But first..” Cloover stood up in front of Tobin. “Look! A snack container!” He pressed the panel on the left of his chest, grabbed somуthing out of it and put it in his mouth. “Yeah, you could eat that” said Cloover, chewing and nodding to himself thoughtfully. Tobin found the snacks and started chewing as well. “I’ll need a toothpick” he said “This stuff is good tho”. They stood there for a while eating the snacks and looking at the horizon. “Is that the city?” Cloover said. “But wait.. we’ve got a map here”. He pressed a button and the holomap appeared in front of them. “Yes, this is the city”. “Okay, how about the flying?” Tobin said. “Ah, do this” Clover showed him how to activate the flying mode. They both levitated upwards for a few meters. “Just use your arms to maneuver”. Slowly they started moving towards the city and in a few minutes landed on the empty square. “Maan, what a day! Never had so much fun!” said Tobin. They turned to a street around the corner. “These are the fucking space magical robo suit! Of course it’s fun!” Cloover said looking at somehing in the sky. They made another turn and faced “Droopsie” located in the end of the street. There was someone in front of the cafe. “I wonder why have they placed the manual in such a bizzare place. On the back!” Tobin said. Cloover didn’t hear. He pierced his eyes into the sky following the shadow. “Tobs! It’s the fucking same thing, look!” “Eh?” Tobin looked around confused and scared. Cloover ran towards the cafe when he realised the trajectory of the shadow flight appeared to lead towards Droopsie standing by the door. He was too far. The Chondrite grabbed Droopsie and started gaining the height with the increasing speed. “Tobin, go!” They jumped into the air locked onto Chondrite in the pursuit.
13
“Yes! They’re after me, Kalbo!” Chondrite was on the call with the Parasite King. “I got her.. yes.. yes.. what?” A couple of moments of silence. “What?!” the wind was too strong making all the noise in the world. “Okay.. come again?” He looked back. Tobin and Cloover were far behind struggling to follow. “Fucking newbies! Haha. What? No! I’m taking to.. Forget about.. it.. I said..” He stopped talking. Seemed like he needed a breath. “Look, what do you want me to do? Okay. Okay. Send me the location”.
14
Besusie and Karo arrived to the spaceport. There was not much of a conversation, their attention went to see if they could manage everything on time. “Evacuation on its way” said Besusie. Karo nodded. Looking out the window all the way here placed him into a place of the spacious meditation. They had something to eat at the spaceport. There was no special attention to why all the shuttles to the King’s Place stopped going suddenly. Maybe because the traffic was usually not very busy. “Oh, you didn’t tell me there will be only two of us” Karo said when they boarded the ship. Besusie only looked at him with the smile in his eyes and seated somewhere in the middle. “I’m going to have a nap. Maybe you do too” Besusie closed his eyes. Karo sipped out of his juicebox and picked a seat near the window. A smoooth liftoff followed with the brutal turbulence when the ship pierced through the dense layer of water in the upper atmosphere. Besusie clinged on to the seat’s handles but didn’t open his eyes. No one could tell, whether he was sleeping or wanted to wait out the shaky part of the trip in the darkness. Total silence suddenly. “Feels like all the sensations left the body” Karo thought. “Curious”. He watched Wabbland, — once again — but this time he was moving away from the planet. Giant cows crawling on the surface looked like the fat flees. Seemingly, you could count them all, there was a plenty. “What’s their reproduction process, I wonder”. The form of the planet was nothing he has ever seen before. On the pictures, of course. He only travelled to a couple of planets yet. “Beautiful”. After this thought he never doubted the decisions he made recently.
“Hey. Hey, Karo!” Besusie was standing above him. “Oh” Karo looked up and around “We’ve arrived?” “Almost there, just wanted to wake you up in advance”. “Thanks”. They finished whatever food they had left. The King’s Place was a giant asteroid. Home to a few thousands. But it did looked like a plain piece of rock. Only when they started landing Karo could discern the shiny spherical structures here and there all around the surface. “Most of life hides inside” commented Besusie. “These domes you see is like the eyes of a rock. It would be incorrect, probably, to call them ‘eyes’ but.. Wait ‘till you enter one of them!” Voice on the speaker “We’ve just received a message that it’s not possible to dock due to some troubles on the ground. You’ll have to make a walk”. “That’s odd” said Besusie “But considering the state of evacuation they are in currently, I’m not surprised something went off”. The landing didn’t take long. After taking on the suits the two passengers took an elevator which descended them to the ground. The ship flew away. “They’re going to help with moving the locals” said Besusie. “How did they managed to transfer everyone so fast?” “It’s a work in progress really. Okay, thatmjho smaller sphere is ours”. He pointed to the dome in a few hundred meters. “Don’t jump too much”.
15
“You want to humm?” asked Besusie after they walked for a few minutes. “You want us to humm? A song?” “Yes, I don’t know how this usually works but..” “I don’t think there’s a song we both know, eh.. I’d love to!” “Quite a situation” said Besusie and it became quiet again for a few minutes. “Okay, what if I start humming and you join me when you’re feeling it?” “Sure!” “Give me a second” Besusie turned off his microphone. Looked like he tried a couple of different tunes. “Alright, this one” Besusie started. It was a simple tune, not fast, not slow. Karo introduced his voice without thinking for too long. Their walk started to be more upbeat and popping. Only to be interupted suddenly when Chondrite appeared in their view. A big shadow flew from behind the mountains followed by the thin — almost gentle — sound. He landed abruptly in a couple of handred meters from them. Chondrite kept looking into the sky, apparently not noticing Besusie and Karo. Two small dots were visible one the horizon as well, moving unevenly to their location, trying to catch up with each other. Chondrite barked “I’ve arrived!”, placing something on the ground. They couldn’t make a move since the moment they have seen the huge creature. Two dots soon appeared to be the humanoids, namely, Tobin and Cloover, who quite successfully landed nearby and moved towards Chondrite with the bursting intention within their spacesuits. “Okay, maybe, let’s get closer. I know those guys” said Besusie. Soon everyone gathered in the spot forming a circle. “Well, it’s you, huh!” said Karo to Chondrite. “Hey, Besusie!” said Tobin “Are you out of the house?” “Oh” Chondrite turned to a familiar voice, surprised pleasantly “How lucky!” Then to someone “He’s here as well, I can’t believe it!” “Tobin, I came here because there is an urgent situation I’m looking into personally” said Besusie. “Man! You wouldn’t believe the situation we’ve got ourselves into!” said Cloover. “What is lucky about that?” said Karo “Your plan is ruined and you’re surrounded. You call it lucky!” “He’s got Droopsie!” said Tobin. “I’m not sure If this gives me any trouble, my prince” said Chondrite. “Guys!” said Droopsie lying on the ground “I think I’m about to pass out”. “I don’t want to be a prince anymore!” “Hey!” said Tobin to Droopsie “Catch this!”, he threw an oxygen mask to her. “Tell it to your father” said Chondrite “Looks like everything goes according to plan”. To himself: “Maybe, I’m not supposed to say that.. Keep your distance or I’ll crush her in a second!” Chondrite cried. Everyone freezed for a minute having no clue about the next step. Droopsie managed to wear a mask and was looking around now. “Where’s the device, my prince?” said Chondrite. Karo gave him a look of disgust, then smiled “Not gonna tell you”. Cloover whispered to Tobin “What do we do? Could we take him out?” “If I wasn’t afraid for Droopsie I would’ve tried already”. “Droopsie, are you alright? You hurt?” said Besusie. “I’m glad I can breath” she said. “You’ve got balls I should say. We sacrificed a lot to make this mission happen! I think I’m allowed to hate you” said Chondrite. “Be my guest!” said Karo. “Please, stop doing whatever you’re doing. I don’t want to see him snap and go berserk on us” said Besusie. “Don’t worry! We’ve got a few things under our sleeves” said Tobin. Then to Cloover “Can you read the instruction on my back real quick?”. The small door of one of the Domes nearby has opened. A figure appeared to be moving towards the group. It was too far for everyone to make any guesses who it was. “Talking about the suspence, huh!” said Tobin. “Must be the King’s security. I hope so” said Besusie. Cloover said “One guard will be helpfull, yeah”. “Unless it’s a robot!” said Besusie. Chondrite, nervously: “Will you shut up!”. “Father” said Karo squeezing his eyes. “Good, good” nodded Chondrite, relaxing a little. “I don’t even know what to do” said Cloover. “Just stay calm” said Besusie “Let’s try to talk with this guy”. Soon Kabla joined the circle. “Karo!” the Parasite King said angrily “What the fuck was that?!” “You mean me destroying all the probes and fundamentally disrupting the mission? Sorry we haven’t talked about it in advance”. Kabla looked at his son with his eyes mouthfull. The desicion he was strugling to decide on lived a boisterous life in his body. The device beeped. Karo took it out, looked at the thing, then at Besusie “It beeped!” Besusie just stood there with his mouth opened. “What is this?” Kabla tried to look at what his son was holding. “I think this is our beeper” said Chondrite. “Is it?” demanded Kabla impatiently. Karo looked at him perplexedly. “I knew it!” Kabla raised his arms to the sky and started walking in a circle before placing the arms onto his head. “What?” Chondrite looked at him. Kabla stopped. “It’s just our plans have messed up badly, but then it’s kinda working, but all the time it’s getting out of hands again” Kabla looked up “He’s coming any minute now. Smart move, Karo”. He looked at everyone “I’m sorry but you’re all cooked!” after a pause ”But nice try!” “You’re delirious, man!” said Cloover. “Chill, everyone, please!” said Besusie. “What do we do..” said Karo to himself. Tobin was reading something on his armpad. “What do we do!” yelled Karo into the horizon. Everyone stopped talking and looked up. It was coming. “At least, we lured it here, Wabbland is safe!” said Besusie. “For now” said Kabla “And for the record, I do not mean no harm to your planet. By the way! Y’all a bit confused. You think I’m evil. What did he tell you?” said Kabla pointing at Karo. “That you want to spread the parasites to other planets and capture Wabbland particularly?” said Besusie. “Well.. you’re not wrong. It’s not wrong at all” said Kabla “But, anyways.. eh.. Look, there’s no other way. What do you want me to do. I was thinking for a long time how to deal with it, but there’s no way around. Decision is made!” then to Chondrite “Get ready”. “Yeah, get ready, Cloover” said Tobin. The creature bumped into the surface in the fair distance. After giving itself some time the dark blue blob moved towards the group accompanied with the sounds of rocks crushing underneath it. Nobody moved. Droopsie held onto her bag. Kabla seemed to be electrocuted with the excitment. “It’s big” said Cloover. “Yeah, we should have tried taking out these two before this thing landed” said Tobin. “Actually..” Tobin turned on the engines and in an unnoticable movement placed his fists straight onto Chondrite’s face. Chondrite took a few steps back but was nothing more then surprised. Cloover followed by grabbing the Parasite King trying to submit him to the ground. “Ouch!” yelled Kabla. Chondrite did let go of Droopsie and smashed Tobin with his body flying him into the air. “How are you so strong” said Cloover. “Let go of me, damn it!” cried Kabla. Tobin was lying on the ground looking at the stars and guessing his best next move. After noticing Chondrite approaching he jumped to the side throwing a sizable rock towards the parasite. “Enough of a distraction” Tobin thought making a pirouette around the opponent and landing on his back with “Yahhhaaa!” exclamation. Meanwhile Cloover managed to entagle his limbs into Kabla’s legs and they both fell on the ground. “You dusty bitch!” yelled Kabla slapping Cloover with his weak limbs. Cloover didn’t expect that he was going to be under the parasite’s body after the thoroughly executed maneuver, so it took him a fair minute to readjust and finally grab Kabla’s arms. They looked at each other not being able to move nor make a significant strike. “Looks like a stalemate to me” said Kabla. ”Give me a second” Cloover mumbled, realizing he doesn’t have an idea what kind of ending this fight supposed to have. “Look who is here” Kabla smiled. Cloover raised his eyes only to see a thick tentacle reaching towards him. “Morbido!” said Kabla, standing up. Cloover hanged in the air with the tentacle sqeezing his waist. “Morbido, my boy” said Kabla again tapping gently the giant creature on the side. “Just so you know, this is my older brother” said Karo aloud. “Dedaaa!” roared the creature. “Oh, you missed me” said Kabla. Chondrite and Tobin were still fighting on the background. Since Tobin had found out he could move quicker they seemed to be even. “Just look at these two!” said Kabla while turning to the rest of the group. Droopsie was sitting on the ground alone, holding onto the bag. “Alright, are we done, everybody?” said Kabla. “Karo are you done?” “Don’t think so! Just so you know, I do like this place. Wabbland feels good. And what have you got anyways? One chondrite that gets his ass kicked and a slow moving soft blob.. I’m sorry, Morbido” said Karo. Morbido roared quetly. “It doesn’t look perfect, does it, father?” said Karo. Kabla made a deep inhale. “You know..” he looked at the horizon like there wasn’t anything there. You know, you just don’t get it. I understand it now. And I finally.. I finally see I wouldn’t get through this.. wall. The wall of your ignorance! And.. and.. this is bitter”. He looked at Karo. “You must serve your role, boy!” then to Morbido ”Bring to me Karo and that girl!” Morbido roared. Everyone stepped back. “Get them!” yelled Kabla. Morbido stretched his tenticles all around in a snap. “Oh..” said Karo “Imma run”. Besusie helped Droopsie to stand up “We have to move, you OK?” “I’m not sure the mask works properly” said Droopsie. “Must be low on the oxigen, okay, okay.. Look you need to make it to the Sphere” Besusie pointed his finger. “Go! We’ll try to slow them down”. Besusie looked around and picked a couple of rocks. Morbido moved qucker then anyone expected. He grabbed Karo right away. Besusie started throwing the rocks. “And one for you!” said Besusie hitting Kabla with one. It landed on the parasite’s shoulder forcing him move back, behind Morbido. “Enough!” Morbido wipped Besusie unconsiousness. “Where’s the girl?” yelled Kabla peeking out. Morbido looked around locating Droopsie pacing away from the scene. He speeded up catching with her shortly only to be hit on the side with something flying out of the cloud of dust he just made. “Tobin!” yelled Cloover, still in possesion of the creature. “Grab this!” said Tobin passing Cloover a shiny tube. “Press the red button” He said and dissapeared. Cloover pierced the tentacle he was the prisoner of and pressed the button. The tentacle fell lifeless on the ground, Cloover bounced up, leaving Morbido enraged, and soon leveled up with Tobin in a safe distance above the ground. They inspected the scene. Chondrite was lying paralized. Besusie sat on the rock holding his head in the arms. (23 nov, 2024, TBL, Okro)Droopsie seemed to be exhausted hardly moving forward. The cloud of dust spitted Morbido out and a miriad of small rocks along with him. Keeping Kabla and Karo in his tentacles he moved around looking for the girl. “There!” yelled Kabla. Morbido started gaining speed. Cloover looked at Tobin. “Follow me” said Tobin, clicking something on his armpad. “Activate the shield and check if the rockets are ready”. “There’s Karo, man” said Cloover. “It looks like the parasite wants to get Karo and Droopsie in one basket. I don’t know why but if anything bad is about to happen I don’t want Droopsie to be a participant of any of whatever it is. Go!” They dove towards the ground with the immense speed. “Now!” said Tobin and the rockets went away. Morbido must have heard him. He turned swiftly and stretched out all of the available tentacles in the attemps to kick off the rokets. A series of explosions have followed. A blast wave took Cloover to the ground. Tobin got through but couldn’t fight Morbido for long despite a good part of creature’s limbs rendered useless. Morbido roared in pain, grabbed a rock the size of a small car and made a perfect strike sending Tobin down with a picturesque series of sparks his suit made on the touchdown. Morbido then slided towards Droopsie, looked at her with the eyes wild and filled with agony. He grabbed her and along with Karo placed them into the oppening underneath his mouth, the jelly goo organ sucked them in, starting to prepare the bodies for the transformation. Droopsie’s bag fell and something rolled out on the ground. Morbido freezed, glancing at the tiny creature lying in front of him “Zirkon!”. Zirkon stood up and looked at the battlefield, then to Morbido. “Boo!” he said uncertainly. Morbido discharged two bodies out, jumped towards the closest pile of rocks then to another in a hectic manner, shrinking in size significantly and turning his skin into the rough rigid crust, dissapearing from the view mimicking the colour of his body with the surroundings. The silence dropped. There was no sign of Kabla. Droopsie could be heard grasping for air. Zirkon climbed on the nearest boulder and made a call. A call that once worked in his favor.
THE END