Patchwork Universe

Dr Jewel · Posted: Wed May 26, 2004 6:27 am Post subject: Following Arrows

[OOC : From Museum : Four Ropes but No Ale]

Jewel Hart looked around the English countryside with some pleasure. It was not Maypole Hill, but it reminded her of it. A noise above drew her attention to a blackbird flying overhead, heading to the north of the nearby village. Jewel started, then smiled to herself.

I won't be joining you, she thought.

She moved forwards a little and inspected the rope anchor that had been put in place during her last visit to the area. Everything still seemed secure.

She looked in the direction of the nearest village, aware that she would soon be travelling through it. She hoped that Dr Odom would cope with an open air walk for a half-hour or so, Jewel was not too sure how long a patch was from end to end, at least he knew what to expect.

Dr. William T. Odom · Good Joined: 01 Dec 2003 Posts: 220 Location: The Museum

[OOC: Follows Dr. Jewel from "The Museum: Four Ropes but No Ale"]

Dr. Odom stepped out behind Dr. Jewel and applied a match to his cigarette. He shook it to extinguish it while looking around at scenery he was beginning to accept as relatively normal, although he still felt misgivings.

On the verge of discarding the match, Dr. Odom was startled by a twinge of guilt. Uncertain what to make of it, he tucked the spent match into his watch pocket.

Dr Jewel · Posted: Wed May 26, 2004 9:18 pm Post subject:

"Supposing we head southeast so that we pass the front of the school?" Dr Jewel suggested. "That way we can check the arrow there just in case everything changes again. After all, we haven't moored the pub to anywhere and it could still move."

She began to trot towards the nearer village as she spoke.

"Also," she added, "I'll be interested to see how many visitors the school gets for its Open Day. Miss Mercury was saying that the indications were for a high turnout, suggesting that there is still movement between here and the rest of England. However, that hasn't been the case for Maypole Hill at all. As far as I recall, my village has had no contact at all with the rest of the country since the curse."

Dr. William T. Odom · Good Joined: 01 Dec 2003 Posts: 220 Location: The Museum

"For that matter, we have no information yet about whether the mooring actually works."

Dr. Odom kept up easily, especially once they reached the sidewalks, which were much more to the liking of Dr. Odom's indoor-bred legs.

"I also wonder at the lack of visitors to the Museum. It was my concern about that that led me to step outside yesterday morning. I have been wondering if there is a connection between this scattering of bits of landscape around the Museum and the lack of visitors or if the two are unrelated. I certainly didn't step outside the first day I noticed the absence.

"And speaking of yesterday morning, and by extension this morning, does it not seem to you that it must be rather late in the day for a school to be scheduling such extensive programming? I mean, it's . . ." Dr. Odom drew out his watch, careful not to dislodge the match, and eyed the face with frustration. "The d-d-darned thing has stopped. Anyway, we've certainly missed lunch, and I figure it must be late in the afternoon."

He tucked the watch away and eyed the bright sky, fighting vertigo but at least able to look up for a lengthy study.

"If this school is at a different longitude or latitude than the Museum entrance, I wonder by what mechanism we can step from one to another without crossing the intervening distance? If we can step from late afternoon in the Museum to -- what must this be? -- early afternoon, then could we not just as easily find outselves at the poles, or an equatorial desert, or the middle of the ocean? And from where could that last place, that hideous ruin, have come?"

Dr Jewel · Posted: Thu May 27, 2004 7:52 am Post subject:

"It would be odd for parents to still come here whilst the Museum became cut off from its own visitors." Dr Jewel replied to the earlier remark. "Unless everything else has been moved to England somehow. Or perhaps not all the pieces of places came here at the same time. By the way time is measure here I mean. If it is uniformly measured."

She looked up at the sky as they passed through the centre of the little village.

"I agree with afternoon as an estimate of the time here." She said. "But I think this should mean that the Open Day is in full flow. Afternoon tends to be the usual time for school Open Days in England. The later arriving parents should be here by now, whilst the ones who started first thing in the morning will not have left. Didn't Miss Mercury say that the whole thing started properly in the afternoon? I daresay they'll begin with a speech from her and then possibly a number of performances from the children. Music is usually a favourite option."

She glanced at her companion, then tore her mind away from Open Days to Odom's last, more worrying, point.

"I guess we could go almost anywhere, judging by what we have already seen." She said, slowly. "And I have no idea what that last place was. It looked like something from a movie. So far it has always been easy to come back again, but I suppose that need not always be the case. Come to that, I wonder if walking through the mist always deposits us on the other side of the mist. After all, if the pieces can be put together as they have been, could we not walk through the mist and find ourselves in the centre of another piece of land?"

Dr. William T. Odom · Good Joined: 01 Dec 2003 Posts: 220 Location: The Museum

"Do you mean into the heart of a mountain, or neck-deep in some pasture? That would be unpleasant."

Dr. Odom shuddered. At least if it happened he probably would not have time to understand what was happening.

"But about the time . . . Doesn't it seem rather earlier than it ought to? By my stomache and by the amount of running around we have done today, not to mention what I suspect my watch would say if it was running properly, I feel it ought to be getting on toward evening. And yet the sun is reasonably high at the moment, isn't it? I was under the impression that meant if was fairly early in the day," he said in a voice devoid of sarcasm.

Miss Mercury · Posted: Thu May 27, 2004 9:52 am Post subject:

A man in a tan overall and fluorescent yellow jacket was sitting on a tree stump at the edge of a field full of cars.

A few people were visible in the village.

The only other sign of activity was in the distance - a couple of cars were making their way in a southerly direction, and some bicycles and pedestrians could just be made out heading towards the main school, and off towards the South-East.

[OOC - wasn't going to respond to this thread, as I was assuming that the visitors knew something of the layout of the patch, and would make their way towards some building or another without my intervention. But having read the game experience thread, I thought I'd put something in to acknowledge your presence!]

Dr Jewel · Posted: Thu May 27, 2004 10:21 am Post subject:

"Sorry, I've mislead you." Dr Jewel replied. "When I said afternoon, I meant early afternoon. But I agree that given the time that I feel has passed since we first left the Museum this morning, I would expect it to be much, much later."

She walked over to the man by the tree-stump and smiled politely.

"Excuse me? Could you tell me what the time is please?"

Miss Mercury · Posted: Thu May 27, 2004 11:28 am Post subject:

The man glanced at the watch on his wrist.

"Approaching two o'clock, Miss."

Dr Jewel · Posted: Thu May 27, 2004 11:41 am Post subject:

"Thank you." Dr Jewel said to him.

She returned to the Dr Odom.

"He said it's twoish." She said. "So definitely early afternoon. Do you remember what time it was in the Museum when we left? I'm afraid that I didn't think to look."

Dr. William T. Odom · Good Joined: 01 Dec 2003 Posts: 220 Location: The Museum

"Nor I. Of course we had just had a few thought-provoking experiences to distract us."

Dr. Odom set his watch at 2:00.

"As long as my watch is somewhere where it's twoish, let it say twoish. I shall reset it upon my return."

He shaded his eyes and studied the distant buildings.

"Now, then, which one marks the location of the arrow?"

Dr Jewel · Posted: Thu May 27, 2004 3:11 pm Post subject:

"The main entrance, where we spoke to Miss Mercury." Jewel said promptly. "I remember her saying that she wasn't sure where it had come from. Last time it was pointing east. Given that the Museum arrow also pointed east, hopefully it will still indicate the same direction."

Dr Jewel led the way at a brisk pace.

Dr. William T. Odom · Good Joined: 01 Dec 2003 Posts: 220 Location: The Museum

Unwilling to admit that all of these little buildings were difficult to tell apart, Dr. Odom trusted Dr. Jewel's judgment and trotted after her.

Dr Jewel · Posted: Thu May 27, 2004 4:44 pm Post subject:

"There." Dr Jewel stopped outside of the main entrance and pointed at the arrow. "Good. It still points east."

She turned to her companion.

"Are you happy to go on immediately?" She asked. "If not, we could probably find refreshments inside and take a break for ten or fifteen minutes. I don't think that the Juniper School is dangerous, although I will admit I am uneasy about those devices that Trubshawe was asking about."

Dr. William T. Odom · Good Joined: 01 Dec 2003 Posts: 220 Location: The Museum

While he considered the question Dr. Odom kept his eyes warily fixed on the arrow as if convinced it would swing wildly about if he looked away. (Which, he thought, is not entirely irrational.) He kept watching the arrow when he answered.

"I would like to press on. However I also feel I ought to speak with Miss Mercury, clarify that you are my only connection with Cambridge, perhaps invite her to take groups of students to the Museum at a reduced rate just so that there is some paying traffic. Do you realize that you and Mr. Trubshawe, Mr. Quickgrip and Mr. Liason are the first visitors I have seen in weeks and not one of you paid admission?" Dr. Odom smiled in proportion to his own thin joke.

"I'm sorry if that's not much of an answer.

"If you propose a ten- or fifteen-minute rest for my sake, then I say we ought to press on. If, however, you wish a rest for yourself or if you wish to linger out of curiosity, then let us stay."