Box Set #3: The Serenity Deception: [The 4 book 3rd Adventure of Egg and the Hameggattic Sisterhood]

by Robert Iannone

  “Smart thinking.”

  “That’s not to say we didn’t find worlds where we couldn’t detect any signs of intelligent life. On some of those, we landed.”

  “And?”

  “We took a few pictures to show you. On this world, we came face to face with this thing . . .

  “Yuk. It looks like a giant spider.”

  “Can you guess why I made them leave?” asked Bl’azzz who had been bitten by something similar in the Seven Lands.

  Egg smiled. “No, nothing comes to mind.”

  “Here’s a picture of a . . . whatchamacallit.”

  “Ah, how cute.”

  “Jynxie thought so too. She morphed into one and they scampered off into the woods. That girl needs to learn how to be a lady.”

  That reminded Egg of her last visit. “Speaking of ladies, did you know that Meggy’s brother is engaged to that girl we brought here from earth?” And that started a long conversation that would only interest other girls. So, we’ll move on.

  The conversation returned to the space voyage and the weirdly beautiful sights to be seen. Regions where there are so many stars that they blended together into a sea of hot red gas.

  And places where light looked a lot like glowing strands of angel hair pasta.

  “Um, we did do something that we probably shouldn’t have.”

  “Just one?” teased Egg.

  “This was a big one,” answered Bree.

  Leave it to Sylvia to figure it out before she heard the answer. “YOU DIDN’T?”

  Egg scowled. “Didn’t what?”

  “They went to earth.”

  “YOU DIDN’T?”

  “Yeah we did. You were never going to invite us, so we figured we’d just have ourselves a look see,” replied Soo.

  “It was nice but no big deal,” added Bl’azzz who was obviously unimpressed.

  “Where did you land? Did anyone see you?” asked Sylvia.

  “We came out of hyper-space . . .,” began Spirit who stopped when she saw the look on Egg’s face. “It’s not important. Anyway, we materialized over one very big body of water. Then we followed the sun west until we found land. And there was an impressively large city. Lots of tall buildings and streets and people.”

  “Bet it was New York City,” said Sylvia.

  “So did you land?”

  “Uh, no. A bunch of small crafts came chasing after us. We thought it best to leave.”

  “Did they get any pictures of you?”

  “Have no idea.”

  “When was this?”

  “Actually, we just came from there. It was our last stop . . . maybe an hour or two ago. Why, Syl?”

  “I’ll be right back.”

  “Where are you going?” asked Egg.

  “To get a newspaper” and she touched her ring and disappeared.

  “Do those rings of yours work anywhere?”

  “No, Bree. Just here and on Earth. Why?”

  “Just curious.”

  And just that quickly, Sylvia reappeared . . . with a newspaper and a big smile. “They took your picture. Look” and she held up the paper.

  “That’s a cool space ship,” exclaimed Egg.

  “You can see the emblem on the side. How neat is that?”

  “Are we in trouble? Did we do bad?”

  Egg shook her head. “No. They print pictures of flying saucers all the time. Hardly anyone ever believes it.”

  “But it’s best if you don’t do it again. It’ll drive them crazy,” warned Sylvia

  Over the next hour, the four spacefarers finished their travelogue.

  “Egg, did you have something special planned for Aeri’elle?” asked Bl’azzz.

  “I’m open to suggestions. Did you guys want to take her someplace you visited?”

  “Not exactly. We did bump into another spaceship. It was pretty weird looking . . .”

  “. . . but the crew was really friendly. They told us we should go to Laff’Alott.”

  “You’re kidding, right?”

  “No. Why?”

  “Laff’Alott. What kind of a name is that?”

  “Actually, in this case, it’s very appropriate,” explained Spirit. “It is supposed to be an amusement world.”

  “The whole world? That’s pretty amazing.”

  “What did these people tell you about it?” asked Sylvia who was intrigued with the idea.

  “Not too much. Apparently, there are a couple of dozen cities and each one has its own particular personality. Don’t ask. They didn’t explain what that meant. Anyway, it’s usually very expensive and very crowded. But, if we could go now it wouldn’t be either. Luckily for us, they’re going through a major upgrade to all their technology. So every city but one is shutdown. We’ll practically have the whole place to ourselves.”

  “What’s the theme of this one city?”

  “The city is named Fair’Giggle and the theme is Fantasy Fandango.”

  “Wow and wow,” was Egg’s reaction.

  “I’m with her,” added Sylvia.

  “I think it sounds exciting. The four of us would love to go but it would be loads more fun if we had all seven sisters,” said BreeZee.

  Jynxie made a sound like . . . like nothing I could describe. Let’s just call it a growling burp.

  “No offense, Jynxie,” apologized the Wind’dancer. “I meant the eight of us.”

  This time she growled without the burp . . . her way of saying thank you, I’m guessing.

  “You can’t really understand her,” asked Egg.

  “Oh, sure. It only took a few weeks.”

  “You’re kidding me, right? It’s just a pet.”

  Jynxie looked at Egg and gave her a burping growl then it began to morph.

  “OH MY GOSH.”

  The other five began to howl. Even the Shamie joined in . . . which was really weird since it now looked like Egg the Wind’dancer.

  “Make it stop. It’s freaking me out.”

  “First, don’t call Jynxie an ‘it’. You’ll hurt her feelings. Second, just ask her nicely.”

  Egg figured she was just being teased but on the off chance she wasn’t, she said, “Jynxie, I’m sorry for calling you an ‘it’. Please stop imitating me.”

  “The word is mimic, not imitate” corrected Spirit. “Remember she’s a Shamie – it stands for Shameless Mimic.”

  Egg rolled her eyes. “Please don’t mimic me.”

  The Shamie growled then returned to her original shape.

  “Thank you.”

  “Grrrrrrr”.

  “She’s like having another J’azzz-min,” referring to the obnoxious cat that guided them through the Seven Lands.

  “You better not explain that to her,” warned Soo. “You’ll just make her mad.”

  “Good grief.”

  “Hey, that’s my line.”

  “So, what do you think?” asked BreeZee.

  “I think it sounds exciting,” answered Sylvia. “Let’s go to Laff’Alott.”

  “Then I guess it’s five to one”. Jynxie’s growl burp made her correct her statement. “I meant it’s six to one.” She looked at the strange animal and said “Happy?”

  “Grrrrrrr”.

  *****

  They decided to surprise Aeri’elle at Talon’s Perch. It was the first time for the two new sisters and they were deeply impressed . . . and terrified. The city was such a dark, gloomy sinister place. And the dragons flying in and out looked more like angry bees protecting their hive than friendly citizens traveling to and fro.

  Bl’azzz was transporting Spirit and Soo while Egg took Sylvia. BreeZee sailed on her own wings, as did Jynxie who now looked like Spirit but with the body of a Wind’dancer.

  “That’s one strange pet,” Egg said to her friend.

  “I think it . . . I mean she . . . is incredibly fascinating. I wonder if my mom would let me have one?” she teased.

  “Take her home with you and see what happens.”

&
nbsp; Sylvia turned more serious. “Egg, what are we going to do about finding a seventh sister. I’m not superstitious but I would feel a whole lot better knowing we had the right number.

  “Ditto and likewise. I’m guessing it’ll work out. It always does.”

  “Any goose bumps about going to Laff’Alott?”

  “Nope. Why? Do you think it’s a bad idea to go?”

  “No. I think it sounds like a great way to spend our vacation. But if it gave you goose bumps then I might have a different opinion.”

  “Glad you’re not superstitious.”

  “Just being cautious.”

  “Yeah, right.”

  *****

  They found the complex of buildings that were being renovated for the new university. A helpful dragon directed them to the administrative offices where they were most likely to find their sister.

  “I’m guessing it’s that one,” said Soo who pointed to a door with a placard that said “Aeri’elle, Head Mistress.”

  “Good guess, you slithering snake,” quipped Bl’azzz.

  “If you’re going to do the ‘s’ words, it takes three,” teased her friend.

  “I knew that. I just couldn’t think of another one.”

  “How about sexy?”

  “How about smelly?” countered the dragon.

  “Would you two knock it off. This is a place of higher learning not meaningless jibber-jabber.” It wasn’t clear if Sylvia was serious or just kidding.

  Egg knocked on the door.

  “Come,” came a familiar voice.

  “Hey, big bird”.

  “Egg. Oh, it’s the whole gang. Hi, guys.”

  “Shall we address you as Professor,” asked Spirit, “or Head Mistress?”

  “I’d settle for Sister . . . as long as it was accompanied by a hug.”

  And it was.

  “Come to inspect my new university?”

  “No”.

  “Egg meant yes.”

  “I did?”

  “You did.”

  “Syl said I meant yes.”

  “Well, in that case I have to disappoint you.”

  “Why?’

  “They’re just about to start the major renovation of one of the buildings. It’s going to be the School of Ethics and Integrity dedicated to my great grandfather.” She was talking about Storm, of course. “It’s going to get very noisy, extremely dusty and a little dangerous. So, I was just packing up to leave.”

  Egg smiled. “For how long?”

  “Oh, probably ten days, maybe as long as two weeks.”

  “Bingo.”

  “What’s a bingo?”

  “Not important. What is important is that we six . . .”

  Growl burp.

  “I mean we seven want to take you on one last vacation before you start to get too involved in your new job.”

  “Did someone growl?”

  “That would be her,” and Egg pointed to one of the two BreeZees.

  Aeri’elle hadn’t noticed that the number of Wind’dancers was greater than one. “I’m sorry. We haven’t been introduced. My name is Aeri’elle.”

  “Grrrrrrr.”

  “I beg your pardon?”

  The girls broke into hysterics.

  “What is going on?”

  “Sorry, Aeri’elle. This is Jynxie.”

  “Oh. The Shamie. How utterly fascinating.”

  “You want to see fascinating? Jynx, do the dragon fish” said Bl’azzz.

  “The what? Oh, my . . .”

  “Stop calling her a dragon fish,” demanded Soo. “I’m not a fish.”

  “Fish, serpent . . . what’s the difference?” kidded the Head Mistress.

  “Good grief, not you too?”

  “Jynxie, cease,” commanded Spirit and the Shamie returned to her natural shape. It sauntered up to Aeri’elle and gave her one of those disgustingly wet licks.

  “Friendly aren’t you? Spirit, promise to bring her back when the University opens. The students are going to find her irresistible.”

  “Absolutely. Jynx will love the attention. Won’t you, you silly thing?”

  “Grrrrrrr”.

  “So how about it?” asked Egg. “One last time with the Sisterhood?”

  “No bad guys, promise?”

  “Just us girls.”

  “Sounds wonderful. Any place particular in mind.”

  “Laff’Alott”.

  “Laugh a what?”

  “Not important. Just go pack a toothbrush.”

  “We’re going now?”

  “Unless you have something better to do.”

  “My apartment is one building over. You guys can hang out here. I’ll be back in a few minutes.”

  “Great.”

  She started to go then stopped. “You said we’re going to Laff’Alott, didn’t you?”

  “Yeah. Have you heard of it?”

  “No. It’s just that the last time we were together, Spirit said something about a mysterious girl who was going to ‘best you’ . . . then she was going to laugh a lot. That strikes me as a strange coincidence.” She shrugged. “Sorry, it’s my over active imagination. I just started this job but I definitely need a vacation.”

  Egg, however, felt the goose bumps rise on her arms.

  Chapter 10 – Laff’Alott

  Aeri’elle returned very quickly. “Okay, I’m ready. Spirit, I assume we’re going in your spaceship. Is there room for all of us?”

  Bl’azzz answered the question. “The thing is huge. We each get our own cabin.”

  “I presume it’s in orbit. You didn’t land it on Aerianna, did you?””

  “It is in a geo-synchronous orbit above Q’umulus.”

  “Hey, I said no techno-babble.”

  “She means it rotates at the same rate as the planet,” explained Sylvia. “It’s always in the same relative position.” Egg closed her eyes and pretended to snore.

  “How do we get up there?” asked the dragon.

  “The same way we got down. The ship obeys my commands. I just tell it to beam us up.”

  “Beam us up? What is this . . . Star Trek?”

  “Sorry, I don’t know the reference.”

  “It’s an earth story about the future. They have starships and they can beam themselves up, too,” explained Sylvia.

  “But that’s make believe,” added Egg. “Is this safe?”

  “Most of the time,” teased the Thought Weaver. “Let’s give it a try and see what happens.” Her eyes began to glow that strange red.

  “What’s she doing?”

  “Talking to her ship,” explained BreeZee.

  “Are you sure . . .,” but Egg didn’t finish. There was a flash of light and seven sisters and their pet Shamie disappeared. A moment later, they were on board a flying saucer.

  “. . . this is safe?” The flash faded away and Flying Girl’s mouth dropped open. “Oh my gosh.”

  “Welcome aboard the Seven. This is the bridge . . . the place where I fly this thing.”

  “Oh my gosh,” she repeated. This is so cool.” Flying Girl wasn’t easily impressed . . . but this struck a responsive chord in her. Somewhere deep inside her brain, the idea of piloting a spaceship appealed to her. That was more than a little strange since she could easily travel between the stars using her flying suit albeit a lot slower than the Seven could.

  “Glad you like it. As you can see, that’s Aerianna out the window. And that bright spot off to the right is Alcyone. So what I’m going to do is sit in the captain’s chair, program the ship to find the star that Laff’Alott circles and tell it to go. It’s really pretty easy . . . but only because the technology is so advanced.”

  “Why does it take more than an instant to get to our destination?” asked Sylvia.

  “We can’t engage the big space engines until we’re about a million miles away from Alcyone. Likewise, we can’t go directly to Laff’Alott. We have to materialize about a million miles from its sun. The engines won�
��t work any closer to a star. And don’t ask me why.”

  “Darn,” teased Egg, “I so wanted to hear every little detail of the science of this ship. But, I guess I’ll just have to live with my disappointment.”

  Missing the sarcasm, Spirit said “Not true. I have all that information in the computer. If you want to access it, I’ll show you how.”

  Egg pointed her finger at her head and made the sound of a gun going off.

  “What’s she doing?” Spirit asked Sylvia.

  “Reveling in her ignorance. Ignore her . . . maybe she’ll go away.”

  “Hey, I heard that.”

  “You were supposed to.”

  Spirit went to the big chair, sat down, fiddled with some controls then stood up. “Done. It will take about a day for us to make the trip. So I suggest that we go to our rooms, freshen up then meet in the galley . . . the kitchen . . . for some food and girl talk. Agreed?”

  There was a chorus of yeses and one “Grrrrrrr.”

  “Good. Egg, Sylvia and Aeri’elle . . . I’ll show you to your cabins.”

  “Aye, Aye, Captain.”

  Sylvia poked her friend. “You are such a goof.”

  *****

  “I don’t want to know. It works, that’s good enough for me.”

  “Eloise Graystone, you have the intellectual curiosity of a hamster.”

  “I thought you said no more ‘ham’ words.’

  “Oh, you’re impossible.”

  “Spirit,” said Aeri’elle trying her best to ignore the two earthling “I would like to understand how it works.”

  They were discussing the food dispenser. If you told it what you wanted, it created it. Just that simple . . . to the user. Obviously, the technology was super sophisticated and that’s what Egg didn’t want to hear about.

  “All foods are made from basic elements like carbon, oxygen and nitrogen. The re-sequencer (the food machine) just takes the raw material and rearranges it into whatever food you asked for. That’s it.”

  “Oh. Hey, I understood that.”

  “Egg-o, you are as whacky as K’ssss used to be.”

  “That’s not a compliment, is it?”

  “No. Not really.”