Friday, May 31, 2013

The Dealey Five: Prologue

The Dealey Five
Prologue (or, "Why Sarah Dealey Needs Saint Arbucks")


“Quintessential Works for Everyday Reasons To Yield, Lieutenant Sarah Dealey speaking.”

“Sarah, it’s --”

“I know it’s you, Mick. I was just trying to mess with you. What you got for me?”

“Well, it’s not really important, but...”

“You’re saying that it’s not very important MEANS that it’s important. You know me, Mick. I’m in charge of an entire quadrant here at QWERTY. And I don’t have time to play games on the phone while I’m filling out reports. Just give me the info.”

“Okay, okay, all right. Sheesh. You’ve been like this ever since the Bossman rejected your vacation request.”

“And I have good reason to be! We actually pulled off a successful run of Operation Colemak, despite not having a guardian for world B, and he STILL won’t let me go to the beach?” Sigh. “Good Lord! Hey, Mick, can you go to Carissa’s dimension? I need one of those coffee drinks from that Saint Arbucks place. Actually, make that a priority one. One of those sounds really good right about now.”

“Um...yeah...about that.”

Pause. “About what? Oh, no, Mick, don’t tell me you screwed something up. It’s been six months since Carissa Lopez saved her world and I’m still finishing up documentation from the entire shebang. Not to mention Dvorak’s disappearance. Goodness knows if he’ll ever show his face again or not, but I’m looking forward to the day where the entire Dealey Quadrant doesn’t get duped by the higher ups.”

“Sarah --”

“Not to mention the fact that as long as we don’t know where he is, we’re technically not done with world Y-MH-560-C --”

“SARAH!”

Silence.

“Would you please just listen for a second! I hate hearing you like this! You are overworking yourself trying to find Dvorak and get everything settled so you can move on with the next project. It’s always Project This, Project That. They SHOULD have awarded you with that vacation, BECAUSE YOU NEEDED IT!” Pause. “The past is the past. Carissa and Dvorak and their exploits need to be put on the back burner for now. But you’re right. We’re not done with Y-MH-560-C.”

Sigh. “Did you spill the coffee on the file folders again?”

“Worse. You know those five kids that we picked up after their world disappeared?”

Gasp. “Those five kids! The ones from Y-MH-560-B, the world that got swallowed up in Carissa’s. I remember. Isabel found them in limbo and was able to pull them out. They’ve been in that coma-like state since then, though, so they couldn’t start their training at the same time Isabel did...”

“You’re always thinking in military speak, Sarah.”

“And you love me for it.”

“So? I wouldn’t ask any less of the woman I’m going to marry --”

“Be nice, Mick. You know I’m still just a girl. Anyway. These five kids. These poor, unfortunate five kids whose world was swallowed up in Carissa Lopez’s world when she decided to keep her world instead. Only those five kids survived, and we may never fully know why...”

“You’re being dramatic.”

“I’m being ticked off. Did they wake up or not, Mick?”

“Kind of. Two of them are still in their comas, but Rue’s got some scans of brain activity. We’ll be able to get them up and interviewed within the next day, I guess.”

“I see. The other three still completely out?”

“They’re completely gone.”

“WHAT?!? Gone?”

“We did a thorough search of the entire Dealey building, complete lockdown.”

“Well -- well, why wasn’t I told we were on lockdown? I’m in charge of the Dealey Quadrant, I’m in charge of the building!”

“Because you’re still at QWERTY HQ, filling out those reports.”

“I hate you, Mick.”

“I love you too. But they’re not here at any part of HQ then.”

“Well, where would they be then? We put all five of those kids in that room so they wouldn’t get lost! How do three unconscious kids just magically uproot themselves and disappear?” Pause. “I don’t know, Mick, it blows my mind.”

“Actually, this happens quite frequently in QWERTY, Sarah. It’s just never happened to the Dealey Quadrant before.”

“...oh. Well, you seem to know what you’re talking about, Mick. What’s going on?”

“Something to do with the gravitational pull and the distribution of universe bending power between these five kids. It’s a natural weeding out process. During the merge of worlds, usually the strongest people stay with QWERTY and the weakest are spat back out onto the merged world. That’s what happened with these three kids.”

“Oh, so they didn’t disappear. Where are they, then?”

“In the last dimension we were in.”

“...They’re on Y-MH-560-C, aren’t they.”

“Yep.”

Sigh. “I can’t do it, which means you’ll have to. Just...one thing, Mick.”

“Yes, Sarah?”

“Do you promise you’ll stop by Saint Arbucks and get me one of those drinks?”

“I promise. I love you, Sarah.”

Pause. “I love you, too. Now get in there and get those kids initiated!”


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