Mission Accomplished!

The Never Ending Quest - Episode 26703

Betty

We stagger down the hallway. Talok, who seems to have recovered from his blow with no lingering ill effects (except possibly to his warrior's pride), carries an unconscious Stark over his scaly shoulder. I'm lending my own shoulder to a still-woozy Zhaan, somewhat hindered by the fact that she keeps wanting to go over and check whether Stark is all right.

We're almost past the door before I realize it. "Wait!" I shout. The others clutch nervously at their weapons. "I think this is it."

"Uh-huh," says John. The sarcasm in his voice makes me wince a little, but it's kind of hard to hold it against him. "You're sure this time?"

"Yeah." Well, I'm pretty sure.

"We're not gonna open this door and find, oh, say, a pack of hairy, rampaging werewolves? Maybe Freddy Kreuger?" He makes a Freddy-esque claw-slashing gesture, and, not for the first time, I honestly can't decide whether his smart-assed pop culture fixation is endearing or annoying when it's not just coming from a figure on a TV screen.

"Well, there's only one way to find out," I say, reaching for the doorknob.

"Allow me," says Talok. He carefully sits Stark down, leaning against a wall, then kicks the door down with one clawed foot. There's a shout from the other side of the door, and a guard appears, looking more than a little taken aback. While he's busy goggling at the lizard's sudden appearance, I phaser him into unconsciousness. Hey, it's easier than doing the sleep spell.

Inside, a dozen or so young female faces are turned towards us. They blink at us in mild curiousity, but, drugged as they are into a semi-stupor, they otherwise don't react.

"Hi, girls!" says Crichton with a sunny smile. "We'll be your liberators for today. If you'll kindly walk this way, we'll escort you to our beautifully appointed escape tunnel."

"What?" says one of them.

"But we're supposed to stay here," says another.

"Oh, by the goddess," says Zhaan. "We haven't time for this. You're being rescued, children, whether you've been left enough free will to appreciate the fact or not. Now... move!"

If life is but a Torg game, then Zhaan must have made her Persuation roll, because they move. They don't move very lively, though, and they want to keep stopping or drifting off in random directions, so our progress is very slow. The situation doesn't improve any when Stark regains consciousness and insists that Talok stop and put him down, either, but at least I'm relieved to see that he's OK.

We make our halting way out of the pyramid without encountering any more obstacles -- thank goodness! -- and, under the continuing cover of the distraction party, herd our newest rescuees as rapidly as possible towards our pre-arranged emergency exit point, where we're met by a consternated-looking mage shifting rapidly from foot to foot beside the mouth of a freshly dug tunnel.

"Hurry up!" he says, glancing nervously skyward. "Or we're all about to be cooked!"

I follow his gaze. The Death Sun is already rising.

"Oh, hell," says Crichton. "Right! Everybody into the tunnels! Now!"

The girls seem reluctant, but a few gentle prods from Talok's sword convinces them.

  1. We emerge from the tunnel just as the explosion sounds in the distance...

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ragan

4/27/2003 5:20:34 PM

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