Mr. Dove and the Pipes of Creation - Continued

[davedove]

Nooooooooooo. So many things left hanging.

Okay, I'll clean it up for you. With Mr. Dove gone, the Emperor of the North is successful with his plans. All the realities are conquered and merged into one under his rule.

All hail the Emperor of the North! May his rule be eternal! We exist only to serve him!Let us bring him tribute!

[Livingston]

[davedove]

Taking care to notice that no scene number was assigned to the below statements.

Okay, I'll clean it up for you. With Mr. Dove gone, the Emperor of the North is successful with his plans. All the realities are conquered and merged into one under his rule.

All hail the Emperor of the North! May his rule be eternal! We exist only to serve him!Let us bring him tribute!

[davedove]

Scene 70

The pain from my wound disappeared from my thoughts as air rushed past me. The small figure of Deena appeared and sped to me. Her hands grasped my clothing and I could see her struggling to stop me.

What could she possibly do? I was much too big for her to lift without even considering James’ weight. Even if her magic allowed such a feat, the magic would not work on me.

But it had too or I would be dead. I concentrated as hard as I could and I felt her magic flow into me. I suddenly felt lighter and I gripped James even harder. His weight seemed even lighter as our descent slowed.

I glanced up and the guards were watching us in disbelief. Slowly we drifted down and lightly touched the ground. Deena released her hold and our weight returned.

James and I stood supporting each other as we realized we were still alive. Even the ache of the wound on my thigh was a welcome sensation.

Our relief was short-lived as the Inquisitor joined the guards on the edge of the roof. “You idiots, they are escaping! Kill the witches!”


The leather-clad woman with pink-tipped hair pointed to the projection in excitement. “Did you see?”

“Yes indeed,” replied the woman in the tweed jacket.

“Amazing,” said the man wearing the robes and showing obvious cyber ware. “Although the reality of my realm resists magic and his own reality does not allow it, he was able to accept the magic of the pixie with little effort.”

Tweed Pleater nodded. “Yes, he has learned to bend the local reality to his own needs.”

Pink-tipped Pleater smiled in satisfaction. “He’s ready!”

[cryerelizabeth]

I'm excited!!!

[Livingston]

Saved by the pixie! Now we know there will be more new installments! <renewing popcorn subscription and setting delivery dates>

[davedove]

Scene 71

Gunfire again came our way and we hurried away as quickly as we could. Unfortunately, that was not fast enough to outrun the truck now coming in our direction. This truck wasn’t merely trying to stop us; the driver was trying to kill us. The truck’s speed increased as it neared.

But the truck never reached us. Just before it hit us, the large form of The Wrecker slammed into its side and the truck was thrown over.

Mike quickly came over to us, brushing flecks of paint from the truck off his jacket. “You need to be careful who you play with. These guys can get rough.”

“Tell me about it. Help me get James out of here.”

Mike slid under James’ arm on one side and mine on the other. He half assisted and half carried us across the yard. “We’ve got a truck waiting over here.”

A lone guard stood between us and the truck. As he raised his rifle to fire, a large dog jumped onto him and knocked him over. We scrambled into the truck and Mike started it.

As the truck began to move, I called out the window. “Gerald, let’s go!”

The large dog looked up from his kill and jumped to run after the truck. With an incredible leap, he landed in the bed.

I did my best to wrap my wound as I keyed the mike I wore. “Cynthia, Father Arnold was not in the prison, but we have rescued another person. We need a map to get away from pursuit. I do not want to get caught by that Inquisitor.”

Cynthia’s voice responded. “The map is being downloaded to your truck now.” She paused for a moment before continuing. “The Inquisitor will not be a problem.”



The Inquisitor attached the jack and his consciousness entered the Churchnet. Those fool guards had allowed the heretics to escape and he would have to report their failure.

He quickly walked to the administration building and the virtual guard waved him through. Once inside, he quickly walked up to the small door of his private area. He reached into a pocket and pulled out the key that represented his personal access code and inserted it into the large padlock.

Instead of opening, the padlock began to morph. Its now shapeless form began to flow over his virtual body covering him. The Inquisitor’s confusion turned to terror as he felt his virtual body begin to dissolve.

He was only able to let out a short scream before the substance covered his mouth.


The prison guard broke through the door to the Inquisitor’s office when he heard the scream. Inside he found the Inquisitor slouched in his chair, with a wire running from the computer to the neural jack on his hand.

The guard rushed up to examine the Inquisitor. The church official’s eyes were blank and unseeing and nothing the guard did could get a response.

Cold terror ran down the guard’s back when he looked at the terminal screen. Only a simple short message was displayed there:

“Subroutine completed. All files erased.”

[davedove]

Sorry it's been a while, but I've been busy, including a couple of weeks in Korea.


Scene 72

As we sped down the road, James tapped me on the shoulder. I glanced up at him and he pointed out the window. “What is that?”

I looked where he pointed and saw the cloud back approaching. “It’s the reality storm. Everyone get ready. It’s about to hit us?”

James looked at me with concern in his eyes. “What do you mean, ‘hit us’?”

“I mean we are about to get caught in the storm and things will change. We’re about to be transported to another reality. I suggest you strap yourself into a seat. Passage through these storms is not easy.”

James quickly went back to his seat and buckled in.

Deena settled on my shoulder. “David, what about Steven and Sister Cynthia?”

I shook my head. “I’m afraid they won’t be coming with us this time.”

As the storm approached we again heard the sound of pipes playing. Winds rocked our truck and heavy rain pelted the windows. Soon, the thumping of hail roared so loudly all other sounds were drowned out.

Even with the wipers at their fastest, sheets of water ran down the window, blocking our vision. An unseen hole caused Mike to lose control of the truck as we skidded across the road’s surface, only to suddenly stop as the truck collided with a tree.

The motor had died and Mike was frantically trying to get it started again. “It’s no good. I can’t get the engine to fire.”

I looked out the window into the storm. “We can’t go out in that. We’re going to have to ride it out in here.”

James called out from the back. “What’s happening out there?”

“The storm is the border between two different realities that are clashing. When it passes we will find ourselves in a new reality.”

“What new reality?”

I looked out the window, trying to see anything. “I don’t know.”