Story: 'Wordspace', VIII

(Part I , VII , IX)

Cloud, eager and apprehensive, moved ever upwards according to the enigmatic Space's instructions, until the Wordspace below lost all detail except perhaps for the vague outline of the the ancient Frontier surrounding the great mass of curiously patterned nonsense.

After staring down over Cloud's edge for a while, Mystery realised that they must be directly over the site of Sorpresa's surprise landing, assuming that the Point was stationary relative to the point that Space had been talking about. It seemed like a logical assumption since Sorpresa and his predecessor had both landed in nearly identical locations.

"How will we know when we're there?" Mystery wondered aloud from atop their insubstantial perch, and accidentally awoke Club with the wondering. That redoubtable protector shuffled to vertical, and surveyed their current surroundings from the edge next to Mystery. He looked unsteady.

"I had a dream." was what Club eventually said, utterly out of character. "It was the first one in a long time. A dream. We were all laughing and singing, happy to the point of bursting. All around there were happy words, but then our friend the Sky darkened, and Cloud was pushed aside, and something was coming that no-one had seen before." Club looked straight ahead. "Then you woke me up." I thank you.

"Do you think it was meaningful, Club?"

"There is no telling. My dreams have never been predictable in that respect." Cloud made a sudden course alteration and they stumbled briefly. "Simple things are more in my line."

"I've only dreamed once since Dream's departure." admitted Mystery. "It came true, of course, despite all our efforts." Dream had been a close friend, and colleague on the Council of Lesser Abstracts. Now she was one of the few words who had vanished but not without trace. Now all the words dreamed on occasion, just as Dream had. If only they could have kept her around. "I miss her."

Cloud rolled and tumbled to a halt, and Mystery realised that the trip was over. Before he and Club could wonder what to do, Sorpresa surprised them both and reached out to something he along could see. He twisted a particle of air and then the world vanished and was replaced by something entirely new. And the Silly Stone, who was unmistakeable.


There will be more...