For starters, it was dark. Really dark. Pitch black, in fact. The mists hadn’t so much as cleared as let in the ink which swallowed all of them whole. It took only a moment for D.J. to summon up a little ball of light which forced the darkness back, but didn’t banish it completely. At best, she was able to increase visibility to about 15’. Actually, there wasn’t a whole lot within 15’ of them to see in the first place. Just a lot of open space and the grating beneath their feet.
The grating was steel, heavily rusted, but felt solid enough, and they could see support columns at regular intervals, extending downward to infinity. In three horizontal directions the grating extended into the black, out of sight. In the fourth it simply ended, offering no path that way. Looking around at their limited view, the four of them mulled things over.
After a while, D.J. spoke up. “Well, this is less than informative. Anyone recognize this place?”
Lesley, who’d just pulled a glowing ball similar to D.J.’s, spoke up as he attached it to the shoulder of his karate outfit. “Not entirely, though this flooring looks similar to one described back in the Marco Polo thread…”
“Uh, I think we might actually be ‘outdoors’…” Dabbler said, from where he had wandered over to. The other looked over and, as they approached, saw the car he had found. It was an old station wagon, dark blue with wood paneling down the sides. It was also mostly over the edge of the grating, having managed to wedge itself somehow into place by the rear axle. Stepping lightly, Dabbler peered at the rear bumper. “New Hampshire plates. D.J., where was this dream supposed to be happening, aga..?”
His question was cut off as whatever grip the station wagon had failed, and with a brief screech of steel against steel, fell downward, out of sight. The sudden event having caught them off-guard, they spent a few moments calming down again. Lizzie peered over the edge. “Shouldn’t it have hit by now?”
Lesley gave her a strange look. “It’s a dream, there doesn’t have to be anything down there to hit.”
Feeling a tad stupid, Lizzie straightened up. “Oh, right. Sorry… You hear something?”
Indeed they did, as a starship came into view from the direction of the edge, traveling obliquely across it. It was easily recognizable as an old Constellation-class ship from the Trek universe, other than the fact that it was a mere 3” long, and moving along at just over walking speed. The sound coalesced as a song, a chorus of tiny voices in unison…
Staaaar Trekkin’ Across the Universe
On the Starship Enterprise, under Captain Kirk
Staaar Trekkin’ Across the Universe
Boldly goin’ For-ward ‘Cause we can’t find Reverse…
And then it had gone out of sight too, off somewhere in the dark over the grating…
“Oookay…” Dabbler glanced around once more, then looked to his companinons. “Any ideas?”
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Wed Sep 08 13:34:31 2004
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