| A week later all was in readiness. The palace of Quaz'hawad was festooned
with flowers and banners and flags. It looked every bit as the capitol
city of Ethiopia should. In the outer courtyard the Regent waited expectantly
for those who were coming from the far off cities of Panaras and Walants
and Aqualaria. With her was Dragon Sigin and Sigin Vulpine and Rosepaw
and Alicia2. There was also Fred3 and Astra3, Fred4 and Astra4, Fred5 and
Black Astra, Dragon Fred and his wife Malachi D'Honaire, Probe and Inquirer,
Demifox Synizn and Demifox Synizn2 and last and perhaps least a slightly
constipated Dragon Synizn.
They were waiting for two Alliance built shuttles which were now the property of the Manimals and Aqualaria respectively. The first to arrive was the 'Tarin's Terror' from Aqualaria via Walants. It was so named because apparently dwarves had a deathly fear of flying and somebody had thought it would be cute to play a prank on a certain Constable. After being released from the infirmary they admitted they had made a mistake. Once the shuttle landed in the yard, the doors slid open and the ramp descended. Queen Astra and King Willian gracefully stepped down into the courtyard. They were followed by Duke Dred and Lady Champlaine, Fred1 and Astra1, Fred2 and Para-Astra, Lady Fredrina and Natthias. Shortly thereafter the second shuttle arrived. It had been rechristened the 'Katie's Smile'. Disembarking from it were ManFox Fred and SheFox Alicia along with Carradene and Carradene2, Rafael and ManBear Synizn. They all proceeded into the main ballroom and the party was officially begun. After many hours of dancing and singing and music and drinking and drinking and music and dancing and drinking and a rousing game of spin the bottle between all the Fred and Astra analogs, the revelers gathered around the Regent Malachi and the room fell into a hushed whisper. This hushed whisper was then replaced by a slowly rising chant which began as a low hum and ended in a terrifying crescendo (mainly though because most of the Fred analogs couldn't hold a note). "Name Game, Name Game, Name Game" the chant went on and on. Regent Malachi smiled at her friends as they chanted and thought they were all such wonderful people and was so glad to have gotten to know them. "Name Game, Name Game, Name Game" the chant continued. Oh but they were cute when they were happy, the Regent thought and gently waved her hands at them so as to quiet them down. "Name Game, Name GAME, NAME GAME" they kept chanting, getting louder and louder. They're so exuberant and full of life, the Regent thought as she nodded her head at them and smiled, trying to get their attention. "NAME GAME, NAME GAME, NAME GAME" the chant droned on louder and louder. The Regent's hands were by now flapping like wings and she seriously began to think that having an open bar had been a bad mistake. "NAME GAME, NAME GAME, NAME GAME" the drunken partiers shouted out. "OH FOR CHRISSAKES, SHUT UP!" Malachi shrieked and stared at them The riotous chant was instantaneously replaced by a hushed silence that was even more hushed than the previous hushed whisper. The only sound in the room was Regent Malachi flapping her arms. "Um, I think you can stop flapping now, honey," Sigin whispered into her ear. She immediately dropped her arms to her sides, took a deep breath, pulled herself up regally before her assembled friends and said, "Now do you want to play the damn game or not?!" Everyone nodded their head and reached for a beer. "Hell Yeah!" Fred5 suddenly shouted. Black Astra smacked him in the back of the head. "All right then, will all of the Fred's please stand up and move over there," Regent Malachi said. Seven bodies stood up and moved. "Good. Now will all of the Astra's please stand up and move over here." Six bodies stood up and moved. "Thank you. Now will the Synizns stand, oh, right about there." Four bodies stood and moved. "And let's not forget the Sigins. Please come here." Two bodies gathered by the Regent. "And I know we have two Carradenes and two Alicias, so you all can sit by the bar." The Regent had noticed that of them all, the Carradenes and Alicias seemed the least tipsy of the group. "And I think that only leaves me and of course the other me." Malachi D'Honaire smiled wryly and stepped over to her 'twin'. It was at that moment that Dr.Vincent and the ghostly form of Belboz appeared. Vincent looked at all the people who had gathered in the ballroom, so many of whom were completely indistinguishable from the person standing next to them, and he shook his head. Ever since he had been pulled from his home universe and brought together with all these other-world analogs he had begun to suffer from very nasty migraines. "Oh my," Vincent said, feeling a headache coming on. "Excepting the manimals and the demifolk, I'd have a hard time telling any of you apart if it wasn't for what you were wearing." He then popped two white pills into his mouth and downed a shot of vodka. "And I must say, that of all the things I have experienced since coming to Earth-Prime, dealing with identically looking twin-analogs has been the most...well, challenging." "Annoying is more like it," Dragon Synizn muttered under his breath and was rewarded for his candor by an elbow in the ribs. "Well, I don't think anyone here wants a face change," the Regent replied, "but we do all agree that something can be done about it. It has been rightly pointed out that none of us are numbers and so we should not have to settle for anything less than a true and proper name. A name that tells people who we are. A name that points out how different we are from each other, even others who on the surface may look like an exact double. We have had a week to think this over, and now it is time to share the results. But before our new names are revealed, I think it best that the story of how we all came to be here and the troubles we have shared together be told once more." Carradene then stepped forward, took a swig of his beer and said, "This has all been one long, crazy ride. But in the end, we've learned the true meaning of friendship, loyalty and love. Especially the Fred and Astras. And while I have your attention, would you guys please keep it down at night. Some of us have to sleep!" The Regent coughed loudly and frowned at Carradene. He shrugged and continued. "Anyway, looking at all of you here, and especially at my own double who, though I don't know why, insists on living next door to me, well, it makes me think back to when this all started and how this all got so damn confusing. Parallel Earths, analog duplicates, alternate time-lines. Phooewy! But that's what landed in our lap and the best you can do is wear it like a man. Or a wolfman, I mean manwolf... whatever..." Regent Malachi suddenly felt very sure that Carradene was not as sober as she had thought he was. But she let him continue anyway because she was afraid that if he wasn't busy talking he just might pick a fight with Carradene2. "So this is the story I call... Confusion on Infinite Earths." Go Back
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