WARNING: What is not mine is not mine. This is especially important as the “Other Earth” and places like Cricitor, and characters such as Cloverbud, David, April, Lorraine, and Harold do not belong to me. They belong to Cloverbud Warsong, who also has an account on Fictionpress. Certain other things also belong to her. Anara, on the other hand, belongs to Showstopper, who’s also a friend and a great writer, and also has a Fictionpress account.

Two Earths?

Chapter 1 – Ai’a’ivea and Cricitor

            The Earth was in a time of healing, relatively speaking. The Decimation of August 23rd had left terror and destruction in its wake, as numerous evil forces tried to carve up the Earth. The Golden Glocks, Al-Harb, The Commonwealth of Crooks, and the Syndicate of Sin were all defeated, with many other lesser factions, although at great cost. Still, it seemed that there was new hope, with the forces defeated, thanks to many great heroes, such as the Enega Warriors, the Second City Enforcers, the Wrecking Crew, and the Beatdown Rage. But…what else lay in wait?

--

Nu’u Sara, Ai’a’ivea, April 2nd, 2026

            Two people were walking along a path through a garden. Well, “people” in the “intelligent life form” sense, not necessarily the “homo sapiens” sense. One of them was male, and covered in fur, and had enormous wings. His name was Bobby Yicola Ai’a’ive. His fur was brown, except around his nose and mouth, and his wings were red. He also had a ringed tail. He was of mixed origin. He was a Ya’a Naomi, which resembled a cross between a human and a raccoon, but was neither. His face was raccoon-like, and he had fur and a tail. However, his hands were human-like, and his feet were neither. Each had five toes of equal length. His wings were from his Ai’a’ive side. The Ai’a’ive were like humans, but with wings. He was wearing a Montreal Canadiens T-shirt and a grey and red patterned sarong, as well as an ula or lei or garland of flowers, and a stone amulet that he got from his father, around his neck.

            “Katherine, something’s not right. I had a strange dream!”

            “You’re just worried, you have cold feet. Everything will be fine, and our wedding will be wonderful, everyone will be there…sorry, I shouldn’t have…”

            “Kath, that’s ok,” replied Bobby. “My parents, and Kerenge, and many people you never even knew, they’ll be there in spirit. But there’s something that’s worrying me, I don’t know what it is!”

            “Don’t worry until you know what it is. Then you’ll know if you can worry about it,” replied Katherine. Katherine Ene Pikaku was a Pavonian girl. Pavonians look like humans, but with the head-feathers and tail-feathers of a peacock. Katherine’s korona and kula, as they are respectively known, were green but with some yellow and red, especially the eyes. Her tail eyes, or ocelli, had lids, and could see, as well as being used for lighting up or even channeling sarandra (or mana or chi or Force, if you prefer.)

            She was wearing a light blue skirt, a green blouse, and a wooden engagement necklace, and her hair was brown and her head-eyes were grey.

            The two hugged, before they walked through a door into a large living room, where many people were waiting.

--

            There is another Earth, where the technology does not yet exist yet for carnage on such a wide scale. But where an evil wolf and his army of cats still made an infamous name for themselves. A world where a handful of hamsters, guinea-pigs and rabbits were able to turn the tide. There was one who stood out in particular, a hero, a prophet, a savior, her name to always be remembered. Once the threat was gone, she settled down with the man she loved, and had a daughter. And all is well…or is it?

--

Muroidean Coast, Cricitor

            “April, wait for us,” shouted a woman, as a five-year old girl ran along a grass-covered hill by the sea. The girl, and both of her parents, could best be described as hamsters. Yet, not the small rodents kept as pets on the Earth more familiar to us, these hamsters were human-height and bipedal. And they have necks. Their hands and feet, however, are still pink. The five-year old girl in question, the “April” who was told to wait, had dark brown fur and blue eyes. The fur on her head was styled much like a human would style hair, in her case with some hair down the sides, and the rest running down the back. She wore a couple of red ribbons in her hair, and a blue dress.

            “Mommy, Daddy, you’re too slow!” she laughed at that. “Come or I’ll run across the water!”

            “You can’t, you’ll fall in,” said her father. He was a male hamster, and his fur and eye colors were similar to that of his daughter. But his “hair” was shorter, and in a ponytail. He wore a white shirt with cravat, as well as a vest, blue breeches, white hose, and a red banyan. “And where would you go?”

            “There!” She pointed to an island.

            “David, April…no, not there, it’s dangerous! It’s Satan’s Mine!”

            “Satan’s yours?” asked April.

            “No,” corrected David, “a mine is where you dig things. They say it’s dangerous because it’s full of Satan’s Rocks. Like that song about miners who try to dig it and they never come out, only their screams do.” He did a scream for comic effect.

            “Ohhh,” replied April, giggling slightly. “So that’s what that bridge is for?”

            “Bridge?” asked the woman. She had lighter fur than her husband or her daughter, except for her ears. She had long styled “hair” on her head. Around her neck was a medallion with a green clover insignia on it. The medallion had helped her many times. She also wore a light blue dress and a green shawl. She held one hand over her eyes and looked. “I don’t remember seeing that before.”

            “I thought they tore it down, Cloverbud. I know I would,” said David.

--

The Palace

            Bobby and Katherine entered. Seated on a loveseat were two people, a tall dark human, and his Ai’a’ive wife. The woman had light blue sparkling wings and black hair, and wore an emerald dress and a crown of leaves, flowers and jewels. She was the Matriarch and Masiofo (Queen) Lusi Le Lagi Tiamane Ai’a’ive. “I’m glad you’re all here, we have a situation. My sweet Jack can explain it!”

            Jack, her husband, stood up. He wore a white jacket and matching sarong. “Something ain’t right with the new subway expansion, the Enega branch of the Kerenge Aga-Sara line.” There was silence in the room. It was broken by an awkward laugh from someone who was smaller, had four arms, and covered in red fur.

            “Ok, so with things getting better, you want us to inspect a subway? I know that the Enega Warriors is more than just a hero outfit, but come on! Darryn and I could do it on our own.” With her upper right hand she fiddled with a nine-pointed star shaped amulet, the only thing she was wearing. Her face was cat-like, but her ears and tail were shaped like the petals of some flowers.

            “Well, it ain’t that simple,” corrected Jack. “Of course, part of the reason for this subway line being built is to give more jobs while this place recovers. But weird stuff has been happening! Mack, up here, show us what I mean!”

            “Yeah man, I’m here! Came a voice from the background. A hologram appeared, showing a map of Nu’u Sara. Superimposed on it were all the Aga (subway) and commuter train lines. A sonar-type “ping” appeared from a spot on the map. “Closeup!” It zoomed in on it. “We’ve been getting whack energy signals. And weird things have been goin’ down! We can’t get in touch with anyone there. And we think they’ve been stealin’ stuff and people for a few weeks. And the scans say it’s a rift, like what Katherine’s momma can do!”

            “A Bridge?” asked Katherine. “But why down there?”

            “That’s what you be findin’ out!”

            “Really,” said a young man who stood up. “So we’re doing a Mulder and Scully here?”

            “Yep, Sami!”

            Sami had pointed ears and short black hair in a pony-tail. He wore an eight-pointed star amulet, shades, a white jacket, and a light colored sarong. He sat back down and held the hand of a lady sitting next to him, who spoke.

            “This is just weird. What’s on the other side?”

            “I don’t know, Kuwachobee,” replied Sami.

            Kuwachobee Hialeah had long orange hair in six braids, and those braids could move like tentacles, as she was a Nuanua woman. She also had the pointed ears of a Nuanua. She wore a patchwork dress and a silver engagement necklace, and had feathers in her hair by her braids.

--

Cricitor

            Cloverbud, David, and April were walking along a path away from the coast as the sun started to set. “An Apple!” squealed April with delight, seeing a low-hanging tree. As she grabbed the apple off, a large metallic centipede-like creature was on it. She screamed. Her parents ran up to it. The metallic centipede scurried away, making clicking noises as it did so. April rushed to hug her parents. Cloverbud reassured her.

            “That’s the fourth I’ve seen this week,” mused David, “and I’ve never seen them before. I looked like it was wearing old armor!”

            “Why would bugs wear armor?” asked Cloverbud.

--

Nu’u Sara, That Evening

            The Enega Warriors walked along Enega Street, a new street that cut through what was a lightly used warehouse district before the decimation. Gleaming symbols of hope in the form of new buildings abounded. Most were not ready to be used. A wall of heavy wood stood at one place, with the Aga-Sara logo printed on it, along with that of several construction companies. A steel door was there. It had a notice on it. “Authorized personnel only, ring doorbell for admittance, observe safety regulations.” Katherine pressed the doorbell.

--

            A burly man in a hardhat, shades and jumpsuit unlocked the door and opened it, only to see the Enega Warrios barge in, led by Katherine and Bobby. Katherine was carrying an Enagi staff, which had the main shaft made of wood with a spiral fluting. The head had a metal part with jewels inlaid, and a pair of large golden rings, with many smaller rings on it that rattled when she moved the staff. Atop the head was a large light blue crystal, otherwise known as a tza crystal. Bobby was holding a piece of paper with a royal seal and Lusi’s signature on it. And in English and Ai’a’ivean, it said “Royal Warrant”, and the letters “S.E.A.” were stamped on it.

            “What’s the idea?” asked the construction worker.

            “Official business,” explained Katherine, “investigation, Bobby has a warrant!”

            “Hey, we saw the cops last week and…”

            “Read the warrant,” snided Bobby.

            “Interference, disappearance, suspected…what is this?”

            “It means out of the way!” he took back the warrant. Behind Bobby and Katherine came the rest of the Enega Warriors. First there was Sarona. Sarona Ranai Kokare Ai’a’ive wore a seven-pointed star amulet, and a purple and black yara (loose beltless Naomian dress), and her fur was dyed red. She also had blue wings, and walked in a manner that suggested training in martial arts, which she had lots of. She was also the sister of Bobby. Then came were Sami and Kuwachobee. Sami was carrying a couple of guns. Behind them were Vanessa Deyeog Gigure and Darryn Jemi Pikaku. Darryn was a Pavonian like his sister, but his feathers were dark blue and a couple of shades of brown. He had short black hair, and wore a t-shirt and lele (sarong), and carried a duffle-bag filled with scanning equipment. Behind them came a girl in a Tenchi Muyo t-shirt and a pair of cut-off shorts, and had long flowing black hair. She wore a five-pointed star amulet. At only eighteen, Suki Shika Ming Sira Fliria was the youngest of the Enega Warriors. She was once the daughter of a gangster, then a street girl, then an adopted princess…and now in the life she wanted, having a chance to beat people up. Finally there was Korrina Esther Kingston, who was of mixed race. She had dark purple fur covering her body, and a face that was cat-like, along with two bat-like wings on her back. She only wore a ten-point star amulet. They looked around as they passed through the passageway, and walked down a staircase.

            Behind them, the worker went to a console. “Yes, we’ve got a leak at the front. The sea is spilling in, I repeat, the S-E-A is pouring in!”

--

            At the bottom of a spiral staircase, the group came to a pair of train tracks. Each track had four rails. Looking in one direction, they saw a tunnel that was mostly finished. In the other, heavy transparent partitions hung. Faint drilling and sawing could be heard from the other side.

            “Look,” said Vanessa. There was a sign on the wall. There was the words “Channel Drive” and an arrow pointing one way. And “End of the Line” and an arrow pointing the other. “So we’re past the last station. Methinks the end of the line is through a portal!”

            “Youthinks rightly, methinks,” joked Katherine. Someone came through the plastic. It was a worker pushing a wheel-barrow, flanked by a couple of security guards.

            “AUTHORIZED PERSONNEL ONLY!” shouted one of the guards, as the two aimed their side-arms.

            “Do you know who we are?” asked Katherine, as she held up her Enagi Staff and spread her kula.

            “Why are you here?” asked one of the guards. “Nothing is wrong!”

            “We’re just making sure!”

            “Don’t you trust us?” they asked defensively.

            “The way you’re saying it, no,” replied Sarona.

            “What, are the Enega Warriors now reduced to construction site inspections?” joked the worker.

            “There’s something not right, and Lusi ordered us to investigate!” explained Bobby. The guards shuddered, then re-holstered their guns.

            “Sure, just come through. There’s nothing. That’s right, plenty of nothing, you’re at the end of the line!”

            “Sure we are,” snided Sami, as the group filed past.

--

Cricitor, That night

            A couple of guinea-pigs, or at least, they were mostly like guinea-pigs, but bipedal and such, walked towards an elaborate iron fence. “Things have been strange lately,” said one of them, a female.

            “I’d say, Lorraine,” replied the other, a male. “It’s harder to find pinecones these days! And there are strange trees with nothing on them.”

            “I’ve seen a few of them, and every one has a house near it. And some of the houses have disturbing thoughts. Somebody is inside, but if I knock, there’s no answer.”

            “Could it be a ghost?”

            “Don’t be silly, Harold. It didn’t…feel like one.”

            Harold stood still, the moonlight reflecting off his white fur, with only some black around one eye. He wore black breeches, a light brown shirt and a tan-colored vest. “YOU SURE IT’S NOT GHOSTS? MAYBE IT’S…”

            “PINECONES?” screamed Lorraine.

            “How did you…”

            “I’m a Seer, have you forgotten?”

            “I is so squeedly sorry!” He squeaked. Lorraine slapped her dark brown furred face in disbelief.

            Lorraine got her dress snagged on a branch that was hanging near the fence. She pulled to get it off. As she moved the branched, it made a fluttering noise, and then banged the fence. She saw on the other side of the fence was a wooden walkway, and then a pair of mine car tracks. But none like any she’d seen before. They were wider. And there were four rails in each one. She saw someone walk along the walkway. It was a guard, who was covered completely in an outfit, with a helmet that hid his face. He carried an unusual musket. The end didn’t funnel, and it had a lantern and a dagger attached to it. The guard aimed the weapon. The gun and the chest of the outfit both had a large capital T with a small star at the top of it.

            “You will get away from the fence!” barked whoever it was, in a male voice.

            “I will, we won’t take the fence,” laughed Harold.

            “No wise cracks, no funny business. You aren’t welcome here!” He fired a warning shot into the air. Lorraine and Harold were frightened.

            “Ok, we will, Samuel,” replied Lorraine. The guard leapt over the gate. “Harold and I will leave!”

            “Yeah, there’s no pine cones here,” added Harold.

            “But you know my name, even though I didn’t tell it to you,” said the guard. He pointed his gun at them. “You must be one of them Seers!”

            “Yes I am,” said Lorraine. Then she knew what he wanted to say. “You were ordered to find at least one Seer, if possible, and bring her back, preferably alive, but if I resisted, you would turn me into…Swiss cheese…whatever that is! I know about cheese, but not…oh, you mean cheese with holes!”

            “Since you know so much, you overgrown rat…”

            “Guinea pig,” corrected Lorraine.

            “Whatever. The point is, you’re outgunned, and if that white furball tries anything funny I’ll just gun both of you down here and now! And since you know so much, you’ll know exactly what way to go, and how to do it!”

            Lorraine held both her hands above her head, and began marching.

            “Harold, walk like me, it’s ok, do it, or you’ll be in trouble!”

            “Listen to the girl, boy!” The man pressed something on the side of his helmet. “This is Pet Shop Boy number 42, we’ve got us a Seer, at Milepost Number Nine! Over!” There was a muffled response that seemed to come from within his helmet. “Roger, confirm delivering her to Orange Wall, over!” Another response. “Ok, will do, over and out!” The guard looked at the two guinea pigs. “MOVE IT!” A short distance later they came to a gate. He held his gun with one hand while getting out his key with the other. He unlocked the lock and kicked the door open. “You know what I’m gonna say, missy, so you say it!”

            “Harold,” began Lorraine, “he wants us to know that if we jump off the wooden platform onto the tracks we will die because of nine hundred voles. I don’t see any here! And all the voles I know are very friendly! Oops, sorry, not voles. Volts, you idiot!”

            “Huh?” asked Harold.

            “Just saying what he wants to say.”

            “There’s enough juice down there to barbecue an elephant!” warned Samuel. He waved his gun at them, and they marched. “Now the one thing you should AAAA!”

            Lorraine shook, at the incoherent thoughts that vomited as he convulsed, before crumpling to the ground. There was someone else. The individual stepped forward. The first thing noticed was the outfit. A one-piece suit, almost like armor, but made of something softer. It was dark purple. And there were black boots, and a black beret and black gloves. And the individual had no fur, only blonde hair in a pony tail. And a body shape to suggest a woman. She also carried something funny that was shaped like a fork.

            “She will not hurt us, but we need to leave the platform,” filled in Lorraine, as the three ran to the nearest gate and left. They ran down a hill until they reached the bottom.

            “Who are you?” asked Harold. “And what are you? Where’s your fur?”

            “My name is Allison,” replied the person. “I’m a human, a homo-sapiens sapiens. But I have the powers of an ancient…”

            “Anara,” filled in Lorraine. “I can feel the presence. And you are wondering, yes, I am a Seer, I can do what you call…passive thought reading. To answer your question I cannot force just anything from someone’s mind, they have to think about it.”

--

The tunnel, Ai’a’ivea

            Past the first set of sheets was a dark tunnel. It widened. Katherine’s staff and ocelli were providing light, as were the ocelli of Darryn and the eyes of Vanessa. The tracks split up so that there were four. Columns were placed between the tracks at regular intervals.

            “AAAA!” screamed Bobby, as he felt a sharp pain. “Something shocked me in the leg.”

            “Probably static,” suggested Vanessa. “They turned off the power to the tracks but forgot to properly de-energize them. What rail did you touch?”

            “The middle one!”

            “Thank Purula. When energized it only has three hundred volts instead of the six hundred the other one does.”

            “Try to avoid touching the electric rails,” suggested Katherine. They inched forward when they came to a complex junction of tracks, and entered a large chamber with a high ceiling. Faint light blue light came from the corners.

            “Is anybody here?” asked Korrina.

            “It’s late,” retorted Sami. “They must have all gone home!” A little further they saw something else. Parked on a siding was a train of flat-cars, with construction vehicles from different companies mounted on all of them. Excavators. Cement mixers. Parts of a couple of tunnel boring machines. Spare parts. Dump trucks. Cranes. At the front was a large square-ended locomotive, that was purple and had “Veritas Excavation” on it. Beneath the logo, which had a V, were the Latin words “Veritas est Sicco Ibi.” “Well well well, are these the stolen goods.”

            “We’re not here to investigate stolen vehicles, that is for the police,” said Sarona. “we’re here to find what they’d need them for.”

            “Someone’s building an underground city!” laughed Suki.

            “Or, somebody is building on the other side of…the Bridge,” suggested Darryn. “But why?”

            “Oh, the real estate market,” laughed Bobby, “they want to get in before everybody else!”

            “But real estate companies seldom need to steal their equipment,” replied Vanessa, “especially since this area is being made accessible by rail.”

            “But WHY?” asked Bobby.

            “Because the sound of all those engines would cause noise and vibrations. They don’t want anybody knowing.”

            “But now we do,” said Katherine. “Do they know?”

            “Who can tell?” asked Vanessa. “Darryn, the bag please!”

            Darryn handed her a bag. Vanessa went into it, and took out a boom-box sized scanner, and a tripod on which to mount it. Darryn helped her set it up. She turned it on. A needle was swinging back and forth, and Vanessa turned a couple of knobs. Some lights flashed. “What is it, my dear?”

            “Readings, weird readings. The Saramatic is giving a focused reading and going haywire when pointed down the tunnel. Even if all the construction workers are Ai’a’ive who’ve fully mastered their natural abilities, they do not give readings like this. And there’s also radiation. Harmless, mostly. But it’s inconsistent. And there’s an electrical distortion as well. Something’s very odd.”

            Little did they realize what was on the ceiling, in a corner, hidden by false spiderwebs. A surveillance camera that was surveying them.

--

Somewhere

            A woman was watching a set of monitors. “DAMN!” she said, as she saw the Enega Warriors snooping around. “They’re getting too close. Why can’t they just leave their noses the hell out of this? The cops saw nothing, isn’t that good enough? Damn the Special Enforcers Act!”

            “Permission to speak frankly, Mother Goose,” asked a man in an army-like uniform standing by her.

            “Go ahead.”

            “Ma’am, the report says that they have obtained a warrant, signed by Lusi herself, ma’am!”

            “The Matriarch, eh? Just because Ai’a’ivea is her jurisdiction gives her no right to interfere. Our project will make Earth a better place!”

            “Mother Goose,” came another voice. She swiveled around on her chair, to see a tall spotted rabbit in a pair of miner’s pants. “We’ve lost contact with Pet Shop Boy number 42, and he was supposed to bring in a Seer.”

            “Well, Daiello Plumecotton, it’s time to escalate things. All local guards are to be put onto immediate duty. The current situation is not acceptable. THEM does not like that. You must not annoy THEM! We are THEM!”

            “As you command!” He left, and headed through a pair of sliding doors, with a large T symbol on either section. On a bulletin board pasted next to the doors was a scrawled message, “If you’re one of THEM you’re one of US!”

            The woman, “Mother Goose,” stood up and walked briskly across the room, the designer skirt and her blonde hair swishing as she moved across. There was a sudden chaotic turn of events. But not one that THEM wasn’t ready for. She went to a communications console, where a male guinea-pig was at the controls. There was a microphone and several screens, as well as a screen showing a diagram of the railroad tracks. “Oliver Darkwood, switch on the general emergency broadcast system.”

            “Ma’am yes ma’am!”

            “Attention. Escalation to condition orange in Orangewall Sector, repeat, escalation to condition orange in Orangewall Sector. Energize all subdivisions Tunnel and beyond. Execute Operation Snoop Railroad. That is all, have a nice day!”

--

The Tunnel

            The Enega Warriors continued, until they came to a dead-end against a metal wall. There were metal buffers on each track. “It ends here?” asked Korrina, in disbelief.

            “I don’t think so,” replied Vanessa. “The buffers look funny, there’s no sand or other retardation devices, the electric rails continue, and the buffers…” She reached to grab one of them. “Come off easily.” She flipped one over to the side. Sami and Kuwachobee did likewise to a couple of other “track-ends.” Darryn held up Vanessa and aimed her eyes upwards. The wall had several gear-like mechanisms attached to it. “If only we could reach there!”

            “We can,” reminded Sarona, as she, Bobby, and Korrina flew up to the devices, and pushed on them. With a bit of resistance and creaking, they moved, and the wall pulled out of the way, to reveal an eerie orange light.

            “A Bridge!” exclaimed Katherine. “But here? Why?”

            “Warning, Tunnel and Orange Wall sectors are energized,” announced an automatic voice.

--

Cricitor

            Cloverbud bolted upright in bed, panting rapidly. Her nightdress stuck to her sweaty body, and in her ears she heard her heartbeat. “Cloverbud,” whispered David beside her. “Cloverbud.”

            Cloverbud looked around, in what would be low visibility, but hamsters having better night vision, this was no problem. “David,” she replied.

            “You were shaking and I heard you scream.”

            “Dreams,” she said. “But they were so vivid, so real. And some dreams are more than dreams. I saw someone evil walk towards us, and take April.”

            “Redswish?”

            “No. It was our size. And covered in metal. Armor. And on the sides of its helmet were rings. And there was a small army of them! One of them said ‘you belong to us, you shall be like us’, in a low voice.”

            “Now I’d believe any thing. April found those bugs. And there’s now a bridge to Satan’s Mine. And the trees with no leaves, each one by a hut…”

            “Those were in my dreams also. They were talking to each other. Voices. Strange voices.”

            “I always said I’d protect you. And I will.”

            “But what will you protect me from? I don’t understand it. And I saw a strange woman. A woman who had a head with no fur, except styled hair. She carried a staff, and called herself an Enagi. She was the only one in my dream who wasn’t trying to kill me.”

            “Some kind of prophet?”

            “Maybe. I wish I knew. Oh, and I saw a female mouse. I tried to help her, but she was surrounded by the metal men.”

            “Whatever they are, they will stay away from you, and from April, or else…” began David.

            “But…what are they?”

            The couple soon drifted back to sleep.

--

The Tunnel

            An audible hum could be heard in the tracks. Bright light shone on the walls of the “bridge”, but there was a glass tunnel within it, lined with wires.

            “Stay to the side,” warned Vanessa, “the electric rails are away from the walls for safety reasons. Up against the right wall!” The group went there. Strange noises, whistling and chirping and crackling noises, emanated from around them.

            “This is a strange Bridge,” commented Darryn.

            They continued along in single file, Vanessa in front, and Kuwachobee in the rear. They continued for some time, before seeing the end.

            Bobby took a deep breath at the other end, savoring the night air. They looked around. It looked like Earth, but they weren’t sure where. They were on an elevated viaduct, with a walkway on either side of the tracks. Crickets were chirping, and lamps at regular intervals provided light. Suki peered over the wall of the walkway and saw fireflies and a river below. Soon they came to a grove of tall trees that was on either side of the viaduct.

--

Cricitor

            The dreams would not leave Cloverbud alone. All she had to do was try sleeping, and they were there. “Are you alright?” asked David.

            “David, I think I’ll go out.”

            “At this time of night?”

            “I’ll be safe,” assured Cloverbud. She got out of bed, and put on a loose outer-dress and a cloak over her nightdress. She also felt her medallion. She never left home without it.

            She slowly and quietly left the house, and let the moonlight and her night vision help her. She felt something. She walked along a rough dirt road, one that she’d been on many times. But things were not the same. She passed another one of the funny huts, a perpetually locked door and a single shuttered window being the only openings it had. And surely enough, next to it was one of the naked trees, with unbelievably straight branches. On one of the stones that made up the hut’s walls, she saw a strange symbol. Like a cross, but with the top part cut off. Or just a giant T. She wondered. She continued along the trail. She had a strange feeling. She’d heard about a strange bridge built on land, and strange mine-car tracks. And everyone on Cricitor was told to stay away. But she was compelled to draw closer. Sometimes an eerie wail came from there. Not the howl of a wolf, such as the Redswish who wanted her dead some time ago, but something…unusual.

--

The Communications Console

            “Alright,” declared Mother Goose, “Send the Intimidator!” She flipped several switches on the track diagram. “The Enega Warriors have no right to snoop around in THEM’s business. Besides, a couple of them have a father who got in our way.”

            Further along a corridor, a sable-furred hamster woman in a light blue dress knocked on a door. A human male in a shirt and jeans came out. “I’m ready,” she said. “It’s time for our break anyways!”

            “It couldn’t come sooner, Rose!” said the man.

            “Hush, we don’t need everybody knowing, Tom,” replied Rosebush Tendershoot. They gave quick hellos to Mother Goose as they passed her.

            “And they think we don’t know,” she said to Darkwood.

            The couple walked through a door and down a stone staircase. They stepped off a landing, and went through another door. The walls seemed old, and wires and lights were installed along them. A large cavern awaited them, with the walls and ceiling painted bright white. There were train tracks there, and parked trains.

            “I love you, Rose,” said Tom. “Let’s check out that train!” He pointed to what looked like a subway train, but with the windows darkened out. There was a single open door.

            “Is it safe?” asked Rose.

            “I’m sure it is. And I know my trains,” said Tom. He went in first, and inside was a maze of plastic sheeting hanging from the ceiling. An electric motorized humming was easily hearable. They were separated as they gazed at strange light coming through the plastic. “Rose, Rose….ROSE?”

            “Tom,” replied Rose, as she turned around. “Tom….where are you?” she went through sections of plastic that would give way. “Tom, this isn’t funny. We aren’t supposed to fall in love too soon, Tom?” She heard strange noises, and saw a silhouette. “Tom?” she rushed towards it. “Have you seen Tom, have you….AAAAA!” A metal hand reached out and grabbed her. She fainted.

--

The Viaduct

            The Enega Warriors heard a loud airhorn blare. Kuwachobee was the first to see it. A rail vehicle covered in lights. It had attached arms with saws and drills, which spread out so as to cover the width of the viaduct. It kept sounding the airhorn.

            “There are trees there,” pointed Katherine. “USE THEM! JUMP!”

            Everyone bolted towards the right side, and jumped onto the trees. They swayed and shook. “We’re too heavy,” warned Bobby. He and Sarona jumped off and flew down to the ground. The tree shook. Darryn and Sami reached for other trees, only to have their tree lurch one way.

            “Prepare for impact,” warned Vanessa.

            “HOLD ON!” screamed Katherine.

            Bobby and Sarona had to roll to miss the collapsing tree, that hit the ground with a loud bang.

            “Are you alright?” asked Bobby, to nobody in particular.

            “This is the crappiest roller coaster EVER!” said Suki, out of it.

            “Quiet, I hear something…or someone.”

            “So do I,” added Sarona.

--

            Cloverbud heard the bang, and thought she heard voices. She cautiously moved forward. Then she saw it, by the viaduct, a collapsed tree. And strange people on the ground. Most of them looked injured. One of them was red-furred and had four arms, and she seemed to be the first one to notice Cloverbud, before everyone else did.

--

            “We’ve been spotted,” said Vanessa, before trying to point at Cloverbud, but feeling dizzy and falling on her face. Cloverbud rushed towards them.

            “Who are you?” asked Bobby.

            “Cloverbud Weldsparr. And you?”

            They introduced themselves. “May I ask,” started Vanessa, “what you are? You appear to be a hamster, albeit larger, bipedal, and wearing a dress inspired by the 18th Century!”

            “I am a hamster,” replied Cloverbud, “and this IS the 18th Century! And what does ‘bipedal’ mean?”

            “Walking on two legs!”

            “All hamsters walk on two legs!”

            “Not where we come from. There they are small and walk on four!” Cloverbud laughed at that.

            “Where’s that?”

            “Earth!” Cloverbud laughed even more.

            “Can’t be. THIS is Earth!”

            “Another Earth?” asked Katherine.

            “There are TWO of them?” added Darryn.

            “So you’re not from here?” asked Cloverbud.

            Sarona filled her in on what happened, up to the collapsing tree.

            “What’s a ‘train?’”

            Vanessa scratched her head. It would take some time.

--

THEM Fortress

            Tom and Rosebush walked back. “Sorry we are late,” they said in unison to Mother Goose. Young love, she shrugged. She also swore there was a bump underneath the t-shirt of Tom and the dress of Rosebush, but wasn’t sure.

            Mother Goose watched a replay from the camera of the Intimidator. The Enega Warriors had escaped. Oh well, she thought, they’d leave the THEM railroad alone.

--

Elsewhere on Cricitor

            Allison, in disguise, led Lorraine and Harold.

            “What are those funny trees?” asked Harold, pointing to one of them, “no leaves, not even a pinecone!”

            “Communications towers,” replied Allison.

            “They are used for Internet, telecommunications and broadcasting, whatever those are,” explained Lorraine, reading thoughts from Allison’s mind. “There’s a thought from the hut!” She pointed to the hut attached to it. “It is strange, ‘All communications equipment optimal, wiretap 100 functional!’”

            “So somebody is watching, but who, and why?”

            “The pinecone fairy?” squeaked Harold.

            “You wish,” retorted Allison. They went through an archway of trees, along a weed-strewn path. Allison took out a device that had a swinging needle, like an old-fashioned metronome, with an attached s-shaped antenna. She flipped a switch, and the needle oscillated, while humming intermittently. A yellow light flashed. “This is a Spectometer, it will detect unusual supernatural energy. There is some this way.” They followed her further along the path, and passed an abandoned cottage. They came to an archway in the viaduct, and a pair of tough-looking men in dark blue jumpsuits waited there. They had short brown hair in an Arnold Schwarzenegger haircut and snarls on their faces. She put away her device, and led the guinea pigs behind her.

            “STOP RIGHT THERE!” said one of them, with a German accent. “What is your business?”

            “I have prisoners for Mother Goose. One of them is a Seer.”

            “Your names are Hans and Franz, the Brothers Grimm,” told Lorraine to one of them.

            “Are you the staff? I’d like a ginger ale and a pinecone,” laughed Harold.

            “Nein, this isn’t a hotel, but you will be staying here a long time,” warned the other one.

            “I’m escorting them,” insisted Allison.

            “Is that so? Franz, I don’t believe this girly-girl!”

            “You are acting un-professionally!”

            “Und you are acting very funny!”

            “You will let me through!” She flashed a card at them.

            They parted to let them through. Without warning, Hans and Franz spun around, and tackled the guinea pigs to the ground. They struggled, but had no success.

            “Let them go now,” warned Allison.

            “Or what, you girly?”

            Her eyes started to glow, and an aura surrounded her. “I have the power of Anara in me!”

            “Ja, I’m real scared!” The Brothers Grimm laughed at her.

            “You asked for it!” One of the men punched at her, and she grabbed the fist, and he shuddered as he felt his strength being sapped. Then she swung him around before throwing him across the hallway.

            “That doesn’t scare me,” laughed Franz, as he whipped out a strange gun and aimed it at her. The trigger was squeezed, and rainbow-colored beams jumped at her. She fell to her knees, before losing consciousness. “All of us at THEM have some psychic abilities. We could see you were a phony. Und we were told to look out for a guinea pig. We heard what happened to the man who really captured her. He went missing. He was a real girly-man anyways, but still one of THEM!”

            He touched an ear-piece on the side of his head. “I need some help, we have a Seer, an impostor mit powers, and a real girly-man!”

--

THEM Control Room

            Mother Goose checked her Rolex. She slipped on a piece of shades. “Alright everyone, it’s time for the Electric Slide!” She walked down a corridor, accompanied by THEM soldiers and scientists and engineers in labcoats. They came to a large room that had an enormous flat-screen TV, and a pair of oversized sliders, similar to faders found on much audio equipment. “RAPUNZAL AND SNOW WHITE, POSITIONS! FIVE, FOUR, THREE, TWO, ONE! PUSH!” A Nuanua female in a jumpsuit and a human female dressed the same way pushed on the two faders. The screen showed the tunnel through the Bridge, and the edges of the Bridge itself were glowing brightly. A loud motor hummed, along with several strange electric noises.

            “FADERS AT SEVENTY THREE! GAMMA COILS ACTIVATED, RIFT SEQUENCE ON LINE!” announced a female voice.

            The walls of the Bridge pulsated, and strange light in all colors flashed. A few moments later, Mother Goose spoke again. “ALRIGHT, ELECTRIC SLIDE ENDS!” The faders were pulled back to the “0” position, the light-show ended, and the noises faded away.

            “FADERS AT ZERO! RIFT BACK TO NORMAL!”

            “Well done!” She clapped her hands, and others did. “Three terrawats. Three terawatts was the peak power, way to go! Lord praise the Mayflower, Lord praise the Mayflower!”

--

            Elsewhere in the complex, a group of men were watching the event on a closed-circuit television. Rosebush walked into the room. “Hey guys, there’s something you just have to see!”

            “Better than this,” snided one of the men, pointing at the TV.

            “Yes, much better, guys, but you have to follow me!” She walked past them, and they followed her. She took them through the passageway, to the basement, and into the parked train. They were taken to a part of the car where there was a passage with small chambers on either side, with metal walls separating them, and plastic sheeting hung over the doorways. Above each doorway was a green light. “Go in there!”

            “What, in here?” asked one of the men.

            “Go in there!” repeated Rosebush, emphatically.

            “Ok,” said another one of the men. They all walked into the chambers. The green lights turned red. Suddenly, loudspeakers activated, playing the opening bars of Hal David and Burt Bacharach’s What’s New Pussycat?, as sung by Tom Jones. “OUCH! AAAAA!” screamed the men, as the voice of Tom Jones asked “What’s new, Pussycat?”

            Sparks cascaded out of the chambers and a few flashes of lightning flashed as a myriad of lights flashed, and the sounds of scraping, spraying, cutting scissors, buzz saws, drills, motors, and lasers echoed through the small space of the train car. Rosebush calmly turned around and left, as the music drowned out the screams of agony from the men in the chambers, their otherwise blood-curdling cries being drowned out by the “whoa-oa-oa-oa” that Jones belted out.

--

            Elsewhere, Lorraine woke up. She felt that her dress had been lifted up. There were straps on her legs, attaching her to a table. Her arms were also secured. She looked up, and saw a maze of wires and rods encircling her head.

            “Where am I?” asked Lorraine aloud. She saw above the contraption were bright lights. She was able to lift her head up to see that she was strapped to a bed, and that she was in a round room. There were two doors, one of them marked with the large T she saw before. A person in a radiation suit entered the T-door. A nametag identified him as Dr. Robert.

            “I see that you have awoken. This will make things easier for THEM!” said Robert.

            “THEM?” asked Lorraine.

            “You have not heard of us, and that is very good.”

            “You don’t have any thoughts!”

            “The radiation helmet provides shielding. We are going to examine your brain. Determine its composition, its reactions, its electrical and chemical activity. You are what the locals call a Seer. We wish to find out what makes you special, so that we may engineer it into the brains of all THEM members!”

            “My power is a gift from the Holy Spirit, a gift you musn’t toy with. It is a blessing and a curse. You cannot sieve out thoughts you do not like. There are many thoughts I wish I didn’t know.”

            “We do not care. The Penfield Prober will analyze your brain. Thanks to our technology, we do not need to cut open your head. You will be jabbed with a needle, however, in order to inflict pain, so as to gauge your response.”

            “Let me go!”

            “We will, once you have been examined.” Dr. Robert flipped a pair of switches. The metal rods lit up. “You may feel a strange sensation and a sense of disorientation. This is a regular occurrence when subjected to the Penfield Prober, and considered minor enough to do nothing about.”

--

Cloverbud’s Home

            David awoke, and felt around. Cloverbud was gone. He remembered her talking about dreams. Had she gone off, he wondered. This wasn’t like her. He left his bed, and quickly got changed. He opened a cabinet, and took out a musket. He lit a lamp, so that he could examine and clean the gun. Satisfied, he loaded it and held it up. “This is my musket,” he spoke to himself, “there are many like it, but this one is mine!”

            “Why are you so noisy?” asked April, as she woke. “It’s not morning!”

            “Sorry April, but we have to go!” He got a a cloak to put on April, and held her hand as she sprung out of bed.

            “Where?”

            “To find Mom!”

--

By the Viaduct

            “So where would we go?” asked Bobby.

            “I don’t know,” said Cloverbud. “This is so strange!”

            A low droning filled the air. A squad of VTOL (Vertical Takeoff and Landing) planes circled overhead.

            “I have a bad feeling about this,” said Sami. Doors opened in the flying machines, and ropes dropped down. Men in combat suits slid down, and fired warning shots.

            “Everybody who can transform,” shouted Katherine, “do so now. THROUGH THE SPIRIT OF THE…” She was cut short by her staff being shot out of her hands with a laser. She and Bobby were struck down by bolas. Cloverbud held up a glowing stone, and focused, and the stone and her medallion started to glow. She was zapped from behind by a stun-laser fired by another soldier. The rest of the Enega Warriors scattered, as they were outnumbered. The forces converged on Bobby, Katherine, and Cloverbud, and took off, using jet-packs to return to their planes.

            Sami held up his hands.

            “No,” said Sarona. “We can’t risk harming them.”

            “Bobby is my friend man, my FRIEND!”

            “We’ll have to play it safe,” suggested Vanessa. “These people knew what they were looking for.”

--

Inside a Mountain

            Amid dim light of torches and candles, a large crystal ball was showing what just happened. “More visitors,” mused someone who was watching it. Flickering flame-light showed just who it was. A relatively large wolf, with red fur. He wore a mask with fire patterns, and a heavy necklace. “This may serve us well. Satan uses all!”

            “SATAN ETERNAL!” came a chorus of shouts from around.

            “My lord,” said a robed chinchilla, “with all do respect, should we not wait for the Daughter to return?”

            “We could, but you said it is nine years from now. The prophecy did not say that it is the only way, did it?” The wolf, the size of a bus, looked menacingly at the furry one who dared question him. He was quivering.

            “I meant no disrespect, to either you or to Satan!”

            “Make sure that you do not. THEM has helped us, and the new visitors will also help us! THEM even built a temple around the Gift from Satan for our benefit! The other visitors have great powers. Powers that rightfully belong to our cause. The glory once known by my father shall return, the Holy Spirit worshippers will pay dearly!”

            “But there are some who use magic, and about the gift…”

            “Do not question, you, Coquito Dustfoot, being an acolyte of the Order of the New Inferno should know this already! The unknown Gift will be our way to victory! It must be! Satan’s fingers will rend the earth, and all who are opposed will die under the raging flames of oblivion! All of the visitors, they will be honored by witnessing our triumph, a monumental glory second only to Satan in all of existence! The dream of my father shall come to pass, I will not be denied, the Prophets will be exterminated, Satan will not be denied, SATAN ETERNAL!”

            The others shouted in agreement.

To be continued…

Special Thanks: Cloverbud Warsong, for agreeing to let me use her characters like this. Without her, “Two Earths” would not exist. And Showstopper. And everyone who reads this.