Student's Day Out
THREE: SETTING THE VCR
They made it safely to Neeku's room. A thing that Ese found almost a
miracle. She hadn't had much experience with stalkers before. In fact her
experience with them was non-existent because that usually required
boyfriends to be dumped first, or other relatives with a grudge. Neither
of which Ese had.
Inside they slammed shut the door and hurried through the house filled
with one-room dorms for students. Neeku's room was in a small building in
what had once been the yard, but now was a tiled square with two more
rooms in the back. The yard had been large by Leuven's standards and what
remained was still rather big. Neeku opened her door and closed it.
"Do you think they're still watching?" Ese asked.
"Let's just stay here for an hour or so and then go look again.
Stalkers usually aren't the patient type.
"I think that should be the realistic type."
"But which one would you rather have it be?"
Ese didn't have to think long, "The impatient type."
"Anything you want to talk about?"
"Nothing but stalkers comes to mind."
"Same here."
About five minutes past in silence before Ese broke it. "I know only
five minutes have past, but I'm rather impatient as well. If your cousin
was here we could go look out her window."
"But she isn't. And I'm not going to open that door to check."
"Ok."
"Let's stay in for another 10 and maybe then go check."
"Now who's impatient?"
But neither of the girls knew that it wouldn't take another 10 minutes to
find out what had happened to their followers. In fact, the two men were
already inside the building. A shadow passed above Neeku's sky window, but
neither of the two inside were looking up... and the day had been overcast.
The subtle change in light wasn't noticed by them.
The tap on the door however was.
"Who is it?"
There was no answer. Little did they know that whoever was outside had no
idea what was going on in the minds of two paranoid, oversensibilisized
young women who spoke another language.
"Stand back." Neeku said and approached the door.
"What are you going to do?"
"Fight them, of course."
"Ehh.... two grown men?"
"Only one can come in through the door at once. Besides I have the
element of surprise."
"And just how will the element of surprise help us?"
"I told you I do martial arts."
"You never told me how good you were. I only knew you demonstrated on
loud metal."
"I can stand my ground. I'm a red-black belt. Plus I was Belgian
champion for two years"
"You never told me that!" Ese shouted in surprise, "But I'll just be behind you with something to throw at them.... just in
case."
"Ok... I'm opening."
"Wait!"
"What?"
"Just one question. You can live with the idea of me breaking your
chairs right... I mean with my aim, I might slam them into the wall."
"I can live with it."
Again Neeku approached the door and opened it just a bit. Outside they
could see the contours of one of the men. Neeku inched back, let them open
the door, she thought. And indeed the men behind pushed open the door.
That put him in a rather uncomfortable position to wear of the first blow.
Neeku's kick hit him in the stomach. The second men saw what was happening
and tried to aid his companion. Something Neeku didn't really want to let
him accomplish.
But before she could really whip out more hard punches and kicks a loud
voice boomed through their heads. "Stop!"
Neeku jumped back as if struck by lightning and looked at the door. A
creature, blue and larger than any animal was squeezed in the small back
yard. It had just appeared out of thin air.
"Is that what I think it is?" Ese asked.
"A dragon."
"Then what do you think they are?" Ese continued, "Search
Riders?"
The second man, Philippe was his name jumped up when he heard the familiar
term, though pronounced strangely.
"Yes! We're search riders."
"Aheh. Neeku, are you sure we aren't unconscious on a floor somewhere
enjoying the bad consequences of drugs that someone slipped into our
drinks? Search Riders, the Weyrs... Pern. It's all just a story, right?"
She had switched to English and both searchriders, M'len recovering from
the blow to his stomach, could follow what she was saying.
"No we are quite real. We have been sent out to search for likely
matches for a clutch at Falas."
"Falas?" Neeku asked.
"Oooh, I must have told you about Falas." Ese said, "The
dragons are gorgeous... just look at that blue!"
"Hello, it's the first real dragon I see."
"But if Falas is real... could Lantessama be real too?" she
asked, more to herself than to the searchriders.
"We do not know this place. But we would appreciate it if you'd come
with us."
"To impress a dragon?" Neeku asked.
"That's the grand idea."
"Won't we be missed?"
"You can time it back here. Maybe next morning or after dark to be
safe."
"And no-one will notice that we suddenly have acquired dragons?
They're rather hard to hide." Ese said.
"Ahh, that's the beauty. The eggs are magically altered. The dragons
can change their size when they come here. No-one would know. Not if you
tried."
"I'm in." Neeku said.
" don't know... I'm in if you guys agree to one thing."
"And that is?"
"We go home to set my VCR, last episode of Charmed tonight and I'm
not missing it, even for a dragon." Ese said smiling, "Plus
Seena would kill me if I didn't let her get a chance to be searched as
well."
"Seena?"
"My sister." Ese answered.
The trip through Between was so
different from what she had always imagined it. But then, what do you
expect when you read it? Dark, Cold? Nights in Belgium never got that cold,
nor that dark with all the streetlights.
When they emerged on the other side it was dark. The field behind Ese's
garden, occupied by a single brown horse served as a landing spot -though
the horse didn't like it much.
Ese guided Neeku and the Searchriders through the field, onto the street
and then onto her own garden. Lights were burning inside, Seena had
already returned. When they entered through the fence two wild shadows
lunged from the shadows. One growling, one barking.
"Hey girls!' Ese shouted cheerfully when the two dogs swarmed among
them.
"Ehm... are they dangerous?" Philippe asked.
Ese looked at the two searchriders with a look of incredulity. The little
doggies, dangerous? She laughed.
"If you are scared to be licked to death maybe."
"Hey! Who are they?" A voice yelled from the open door, "If
you're bringing guys home, I'm telling mom!"
"Seena, when have I ever brought guys home?"
"This would be the first time...."
"These are our stalkers." Neeku replied.
"Ahah. Why are they here? And why are you here, Neeku?"
"Stockholm Syndrom." Neeku joked.
"They turned out to be searchriders." Ese added.
Seena looked at her sister with a rather worried look. There were
certainly things wrong with her. Firstly she had brought home guys. Never
ever would she have done that under normal circumstances... and then there
was the searchrider bit. Maybe her sister had finally lost her mind.
"Where is my sister and who are you?" she asked.
"I'm me." Ese assured her sister, "And the story is true!
Two blue dragons are in the meadow out back."
"This I've got to see!" Seena said, hurrying out on her slippers
and covered with a blanket.
Soon two pair of bright eyes lit up the night sky. The blue hide of the
dragons was vaguely visible against the faded orange of the streetlights.
"They're huge!" Seena sighed.
"They are... And we're searched!" Ese shouted.
"Me too?" Seena asked.
Three pairs of eyes were suddenly aimed at the two searchriders. There was
hope in Seena's eyes, blind faith in Ese's and a glare of 'if else' in
Neeku's.
"She is." M'len admitted. "Jesioth okayed it."
"Great!" Ese said, jumping up a bit. When people looked at her
she went completely serious again:
"What? It is cold out here! Can't a girl jump when she's cold?"
The three of them went up to pack while the two searchriders stayed
downstairs, enjoying a drink in the kitchen. It only took Ese and Seena
about 10 minutes too pack. A few trousers, some shirts and a few books for
the wait was all they needed along with their bathroom things. Soon the
girls came back down making sure their computers were shut down and the
windows were locked.
"Now... How will I get back tomorrow for school?" Seena asked,
"You guys don't have to attend, but I do."
"We'll be back tomorrow. Besides in two days our parents are coming
back, so we have to be here by then." Ese said, "Timing
apparently is real too, so getting home in time won't be that big a problem."
"Can I really leave this all behind, even for a day?" she asked,
looking at the dogs.
"They can come with if..." M'len offered
"If what?" Seena asked
"If they won't be scared of Jesioth and Faroth." Philippe finished
"Let's try it!" Ese said optimistic as always.
Of course the little dogs weren't all that keen on being transported by
the dragons. That became painfully obvious when Cayleigh started squirming
to get away when she saw them and Chance, blind from birth, hit one
dragon's leg and turned back to attack whatever had been in her way.
Guessing size never had been one of her strong-suits.
"I can't bear thinking of them in the claws of these dragons, gentle
as they may be. What if they squeeze just a bit too hard? Chance will be
killed!" Seena said, her primary concern with the dogs as usual. If a
human had to be carried she would make no objections, she would even do it
herself. But she needed proof before she let precious Chance come along.
"Faroth assures he won't drop or crush your pet." Philippe said.
"You can always hold her yourself." M'len suggested.
Seena looked tempting.
"No she cant! You know how they are, they'll be squirming to get
loose and we won't feel them. At least the dragon might be able to sense
their minds a bit and keep them calm." Ese quickly stated.
Seena reluctantly agreed to take the lesser of the two evils and helped
Faroth pick up and cradle her Chance. Ironically the husky seemed quite
comfortable in the dragon's arms.
15 minutes later they were on their
way. Huskies firmly grasped in dragon claws and urged to silence by
soothing voices while they passed through Between again. In the middle of
the passing Ese tightened her grip in astonishment.... She had forgotten
to set the VCR, again.
"...ats." was what came through on the other end, at Falas.
Neeku, Seena and Ese are Candidates at Isla
Weyr.
All Firelizards adopted at the FGPC at Isla
Lantessama
Isle
Font used is called 'Da
Bomb'
Background was found here