"Hmm," Lesley mused. "Zorlond always was into science as well as sorcery -- science fiction, at least. Witness his creation of the future of Elvira's Imperium, not to mention the Z&K Dyson Sphere. Could we be seeing an echo -- a rather small echo -- of that interest now?"
"Maybe," said Dabbler. "And that car could reflect the setting in which he and Kiya raised Anna, I suppose, assuming D.J.'s dream wasn't set in New Hampshire. D.J.?"
D.J., who had been looking rather distant, jumped as if startled. "Huh? No, no, my dream had a midwest setting, Kansas to be exact. I'm trying to--"
She was cut off by the ghostly sound of two distant female voices, singing: Sisters... sisters... never were there such devoted sisters... Then they were gone.
"Another obsession," Lizzie muttered, "and an obvious one. But it all seems so ... distant, somehow. Odd, the strength of Zorlond's hang-ups are legendary. I'd have expected us to get hit over the head by them."
"Could it be he'd already done himself too much damage?" Lesley wondered. "Were we too late, or perhaps the straw that finally broke his mind? Is this the final dream of a dying brain?"
"Hardly that, son," D.J. said, sounding distant again. "Remember, this isn't his dream, it's mine. For his subconscious to have overshadowed the scenario so completely it must have been powerful indeed. I wonder where...." She trailed off.
"D.J.!" cried Lizzie, alarmed. "What's wrong with you? It's like you're not all here, all of a sudden!"
D.J. shook her head. "No, not that. I'm just seeking for the denizens of this dream, to put them out of harm's way if I can. But I can't find any, anywhere. It's almost as if they've ceased to exist. But there's something--"
Lizzie strode over and shook her. "Damn it, what's wrong with you? How can you be taking it so calmly? You're the one who endangered them, by bringing Zorlond -- and us -- here. Is this what happens when you find your 'character' self? You turn into just another heedless, arrogant Avatar? Denise--"
"What did you call me?"
"Your name," said Lizzie crossly. "So? What's the problem, you've heard it often enough!"
D.J.'s eyes were wide with apprehension. "Quick!" she cried. "Lizzie, tell me -- what's your last name? And the rest of you -- what are your names?"
"Is this some kind of joke?" Dabbler demanded. "If so, I'm missing the gag."
"You know good and well my last name's Frucosi, D.J.," Lizzie snapped. "Now--" She stopped, puzzled. "No, wait a minute, that can't be right."
"Why not?" asked Dabbler. "I mean, isn't that what it's always been?"
D.J. grabbed him by the shoulders. "What's your name?" she repeated.
Dabbler grinned. "Hey, touching me without hitting me or dragging me somewhere, D.J.? I must be finally getting somewhere with you--ow!" She was digging her fingernails into his skin. "David Abbler," he said, sulking. "Which you know as well as I do."
D.J. released him and staggered back as if overwhelmed.
"Hmm, interesting," said Lesley. "I seem to have acquired a new identity. On the one hand I know I'm Lesley Wu, and yet something in my mind denies it, telling me my name is Lester Wung, martial arts instructor. And unlike the rest of you I don't appear to have been reverted to childhood."
"Well, why should you be?" Dabbler asked. "I mean, I know you, I've taken your classes--"
"So have I," said Lizzie with a frown. "But how can this be? You're way older than us, but I know you're my son!"
"Great T!" D.J. cried. "I see it all now! How could I have made such a huge mistake?"
All eyes turned to her.
"What did you do, Denise?" asked Lizzie, quietly and yet dangerously.
"I knew better," D.J. muttered, as if to herself. "I knew better, and yet I went ahead anyway, acting like this dream I combed the reality out of was the real half, the one emptied of our counterparts -- maybe because that half was the one I had planned to step into, living my dream self's life. But it isn't, of course, it's the dream, and leached of its reality the dream's been strengthened, while we, entering in from the real, are comparatively weaker. Just as Zorlond has overshadowed the dream, so the dream has overshadowed us. No wonder I couldn't find our counterparts, we've been merged with our counterparts--"
"D.J.!" Lizzie screamed. "What did you do?!?"
D.J. gazed back hopelessly. "I don't know," she admitted. "But I fear I've doomed us all. Merged with our weaker, unpowered dream-selves we become weaker -- our powers, perhaps, unreliable. And we'll need all the power we can muster if we're to save Zorlond, and the rest of this dream's inhabitants, and ourselves...."
Dabbler laughed. "From what? I mean, it's not like Zorlond's doing anything here!"
Famous last words. No sooner were they uttered than the grating they were standing on shuddered as if in a massive earthquake, throwing them from their feet. And a vast distance below them, as far, perhaps, as the earth from the sun, an immense eye began to open. An eye filling the black void as far as their eyes could see.
Somewhere, there was the whisper of voices: Shit, Richards, look at the size of that thing, we really did it, didn't we, we really did call up an Elder God....
I dunno, Mr. James, that eye looks ... looks human....
And something deep within Lizzie, something she hadn't even realized was there, laughed quietly and darkly while her companions looked down at the great eye mesmerized, transfixed in horror.
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Thu Sep 09 23:39:52 2004
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