Patchwork Universe

Trubshawe · Posted: 07 Apr 2004 12:47 pm Post subject: Bad News For Zookeepers

Bursting from the mists to the south of the patch comes Trubshawe. When he sees not the familiar sight he was hoping for but the strange edifice of the Museum, a wave of despair crashes over him and he falls to his knees.

"The boy was right," he mutters to himself. "No. Nooooooo!"

He keels slowly over forwards until his cap touches the alien ground, and dissolves into floods of tears.

Dr. William T. Odom · Good Joined: 01 Dec 2003 Posts: 84 Location: The Museum

[OOC: continued from Jones' "Out in the Fields : Missing a Museum"]

Dr. Odom stopped abruptly as he reached the wall of the Museum. If his relief at the notion of returning from Dr. Jewel's village had seemed visible it was a mere ghost compared to what he obviously felt to be genuinely back.

Turning to lean against the bricks, Dr. Odom dropped slowly to sit on the ground, only briefly concerned about the potential damage to the suit from scraping down the wall.

Sweaty, shaking fingers busied themselves with a rapidly ruined paper and tobacco. The crumpled mass fluttered to the damp grass and was replaced by more cautiously handled materials. The match snapped and when Dr. Odom tried to hold the shortened stub he burned his fingers, but he withstood the pain long enough to light the mishapen cigarette before dropping the truncated match and waving his scorched fingers in the air.

Eyes closed and head resting against the cool bricks, Dr. Odom enjoyed the first few long, deep draughts of smoke before he bothered opening his eyes.

A few yards away, lying near the wall, was the strange man in grey.

"Cheer up, man," Dr. Odom called, "it's the Museum."

He let his eyes close and his head fall back against the bricks. A door was near and as soon as his knees stopped shaking he would be inside.

Larkin Quickgrip · Good Joined: 21 Jan 2004 Posts: 77 Location: The Slums

Larkin stumbled out of the mist shortly after the doctor and sniffed. "This yer great museum" he asked "Dont look like much ter me. Just a great buildin. We have buildins in Peerblind." Looking upwards he added "Well not ones as big as this one I'll give yer."

Larkin then sauntered over and leaned against the wall next to the doctor. Noticing the crying zookeeper he whispered a little conspiratorially to Odom "Poor guy. I was talkin to him before, I think hes lost his zoo. Means a bit to him."

Larkin had yet to mention to anyone that he didn't actually know what either a museum or a zoo was, but he had an intense dislike of looking stupid in front of other people.

Dr Jewel · Posted: 09 Apr 2004 05:59 pm Post subject:

Dr Jewel stepped through the mist and looked around with some relief.

"Good." She said loudly.

As soon as the words were out of her mouth, she heard the sounds of distress. Looking around and down, she saw the man lying on the ground crying. Dr Jewel glanced from Larkin Quickgrip to William Odom, then dropped to a crouch next to him.

"What's the matter?" She asked.

Dr. William T. Odom · Good Joined: 01 Dec 2003 Posts: 84 Location: The Museum

Dr. Odom rose carefully and walked slowly over to stand behind Dr. Jewel. "Relief, I imagine," he murmured in an attempt to be helpful. "If he doesn't come around soon perhaps we should help him inside. We can get a drink into him, and if that doesn't work we can get him to the infirmary." His thoughts were rather fixed on a drink for himself, at any rate.

Larkin Quickgrip · Good Joined: 21 Jan 2004 Posts: 77 Location: The Slums

Larkin raised an eyebrow at Dr Odom. Had he been listening to anything Larkin had said? What did he mean relief? "Ummm." Larkin began "the mans lost his zoo, his chunk of land has gone an I don't think he can find it." Larkin, still leaning on the wall said "But yeah a drink sounds like a good idea for him."

Nodding towards the North he said "I'll shove off now shall I? Yerve clearly got this under control an dont need no more help from me."

Dr Jewel · Posted: 09 Apr 2004 10:25 pm Post subject:

"Thank you for the directions." Dr Jewel said to Larkin. "And good luck with finding your home quickly."

She glanced northwards.

"If it isn't where you think, then, you know where to find us." Although, even as she spoke, she wondered whether he would find the assurance remotely comforting.

She looked from the sobbing man on the ground to Odom.

"A drink would probably be a good idea." She said. "After that, I don't know. We haven't seen a zoo, but then we've not seen the slums either. Perhaps someone at that pub would have some ideas."

She looked at Odom again.

"But definitely that drink first." She finished.

Larkin Quickgrip · Good Joined: 21 Jan 2004 Posts: 77 Location: The Slums

Larkin looked at the wall of the museum, following it across all he could see was the wall leading right to the end of the patch. Turning and pointing he said to Odom "Is there any way round here? Cos I *really* want ter get North before the next move."

Trubshawe · Posted: 10 Apr 2004 10:57 am Post subject:

Trubshawe hauled himself with some difficulty to his feet and regarded the group balefully from his tear-streaked face.

"A museum? A museum, sir? Dusty artefacts of the past are all very well, in their place, but I rather think the infinite diversity of life in the here and now holds more value. You can't begin to imagine what your museum has cost the world, shoving my Zoo from its rightful coordinates to Dawkins knows where."

He tried to control the contradictory emotions that surged and tumbled in his breast. A disaster had occurred, to be sure, but there was no sense compounding it with antagonism.

"Nevertheless it does me little good to recriminate. If you would be so kind as to let me join your group for the time being, until I find a suitable base of operations from which to begin the search for my lost collection, I would be most grateful to you."

The idea that the zoo might be lost forever gnawed at the rope of his mind like an evil black rat, but he had to keep going for as long as he could before he finally snapped. He blew his nose and thrust his jaw out in a businesslike manner.

[OOC: Off till Monday, see Absences thread!]

Dr. William T. Odom · Good Joined: 01 Dec 2003 Posts: 84 Location: The Museum

Poor man, Dr. Odom thought, shaking his head over the miserable Trubshawe. He's certainly confused. He's speaking nonsense. Ah, well, I myself was rather distraught not so very long ago. But imagine! To think a mere zoological garden more important than the Museum! To consider anything more important than the Museum is absurd. Why, we have mounted specimens of any creature his gardens could possibly hold!

"I should be happy to find someone to take you to the other side, Mr. Quickgrip. Visitors are not normally allowed to use these doors, but then they are not normally so close together, either. If you would help Mr. Trubshawe to his feet, perhaps we can sort ourselves out to everyone's satisfaction."

Dr. Odom's self assurance was retuning now that he could touch his home, his world, now that it shielded him from at least half of the oppressive sky. He led the curious quartet to a plain black-painted wooden door. He ran a finger over evidence of recent repairs around the latch for a moment before grabbing the handle and thumbing it open to let the group in.

The pale walls and the omnipresent lighting drew so strongly at Dr. Odom that the seconds spent holding the door for the others seemed like hours. Once everyone was in, however, he set off at a brisk pace, the boots of the suit ringing on the tiles and nearly obscuring the echoes of Larkin's footsteps and Trubshawe's. He drew a deep breath and let it out with a little chuckle of delight. He knew exactly where he was. If he had smelled traces of sawdust, formaline, varnish and ether he would have been farther west, near the workshops. The smells here were wax, lemon oil, borax and an inexplicable hint of myrrh, the faint undercurrents in the air that told him that he was in the southeast corner of the first floor. He involuntarily repeated the delighted laugh and led the party around a bend in the hall.

"We'll be in the foyer in ten minutes or so," he announced, gesturing toward the end of the hallway, nearly invisible over a mile ahead. "You'll have some idea where we are from there, Dr.," he added for Dr. Jewel's benefit.

"Watch the wall to the left," he continued, starting to sound as if he were a Guide leading a party through parts of the Museum in which there was nothing to see, trying to fill the silence with more than footsteps. "You will notice that there are service doors concealed in the walls, through which a cleaning cart from Housekeeping or a Guide hurrying off to lunch could come hurtling at any moment. I'd be mortified if we had to clean floor wax off of any of you."

As if in response to Dr. Odom's warning, one of the panels flew open and slammed shut about fifty feet ahead, disgorging a young man in a linen suit. He hurried back the way Dr. Odom and his companions had come, flattening himself against the wall to edge past and raising his hand to his pomade-slicked hair as if tugging at an imaginary hat brim as he passed Dr. Odom. If he saw the others he did not acknowledge them.

Dr. Odom continued to comment every so often as they walked, pointing at indistinguishable and nearly invisible doors. "Mummies through there. Such an incredibly popular exhibit it hasn't been changed in living memory. Nobody seems to be as interested in the gold or the organic offerings found with them so the rest starts on the second floor, but the mummies themselves are immensely popular." "History of cold fusion through there. Nobody seems to want to visit it. Really must replace it with something more interesting." "Marine history through there. Very popular lately. We've got a piece of a pirate ship found on some tropical island and we can't keep the visitors away with sticks. Or, at least, we couldn't when we had any." "Ah, here we are!"

The ceiling seemed to vanish as they trooped into the foyer and Dr. Odom's "grand display". A young lady sat atop a huge ladder, dusting the F-16 with a long pole reminiscent of a chimney sweep's brush, by her languid expression and her feet, kicking back and forth like a bored child's from out of the cloud of her petticoats, careless of the void beneath her. The cabinets gleamed with fresh polish and the velvet ropes around the islands of miscellany had been brushed recently.

Dr. Odom approached the ticket counter. The matronly woman within gave a little curtsy as he reached through one of the windows and selected a speaking tube from a rack beside the woman. He uncapped it, blew forcefully into it, and held it to his ear to listen for a response. Very soon, he spoke loudly into it, calling, "This is Dr. Odom. Please tell Dr. Eddison that I would like him to bring five . . . ah, four teacups and the contents of the broken coal scuttle to the cloak room. Please say that back." He listened for a moment. "No, teacups. Teacups. Please say it back again." He waited. "Right, thank you."

Capping the mouthpiece and putting it back, Dr. Odom waved his hand to invite the others toward the cloakroom. It was hardly a real room, being a small greenhouse-like enclosure of beveled glass and more of the omnipresent oak, about the size of a small chapel within the cathedral that was the foyer, filled with a forest of hat stands and lined on two walls with sturdy oak pews.

Dr Jewel · Posted: 11 Apr 2004 07:56 am Post subject:

"Yes, I recognise this." Dr Jewel agreed. "We're in the east entrance, the public one."

She turned to Larkin.

"We're probably halfway across." She said. "I've walked from the northern edge to just outside here, so it isn't too far."

She then looked at Trubshawe. His expression was mournful still. Also, Jewel was sure that he still felt they were responsible for the disappearance of his Zoo. Perhaps the people at the pub to the south might be able to help him. After all, according to Larkin, they had located the Museum.

She hoped that the pub was still to the south.

Larkin Quickgrip · Good Joined: 21 Jan 2004 Posts: 77 Location: The Slums

Larkin had spent most of his time during the walk listening intently and trying not to gasp at these new and incredible technologies. Especially that big chunk of floating metal the woman had been cleaning. He had wondered to himself what it actually did.

He was going to have to come back here sometime and look around properly, and if a few of the smaller, more expensive exhibits happened to go missing then he could just stroll out of the purpose built escape route that they had come in by. He reckoned he could find his way back if he concentrated.

Grinning at the thought he stood up and turned to Dr Jewel. "I'm gunna have ter go soon then. Only I'm not sure when the move is gunna happen again an if I dont get North by then Im gunna scream."

Dr Jewel · Posted: 11 Apr 2004 01:13 pm Post subject:

Dr Jewel nodded.

"I understand." She said. "Perhaps Dr Odom can point you to the quickest way north. If it's complicated then you could always step outside and follow the wall to the end.

"Good luck."

Larkin Quickgrip · Good Joined: 21 Jan 2004 Posts: 77 Location: The Slums

Larkin looked up and expectantly towards Dr Odom.

Dr. William T. Odom · Good Joined: 01 Dec 2003 Posts: 84 Location: The Museum

A tall man in his late fifties with a nose like a scythe blade sauntered down the length of the foyer and into the cloakroom. A finger of one hand was hooked through the handles of a brace of teacups. The other hand held a half-empty bottle of plum brandy carelessly by its stubby neck. A briar pipe that appeared to be smoldering slightly stuck out of the breast pocket of his machine oil- and coal dust-streaked coverall.

"There you are, Dr. Odom," the man said with a lazy sort of severity as he placed his burden on one of the pews. "Although I would like very much to know who has been snooping through broken coal scuttles."

"Thank you, sir, and I would like to remind you that I am Curator General and so know what is going on in my Museum."

Dr. Odom poured a couple of ounces into each cup. He handed one to Larkin and pressed another into Trubshawe's hand. He kept one for himself and, turning to offer one to Dr. Jewel, looked suddenly pained.

"Dr., do you have such a thing about you as a sample jar or the lid of a small tool kit? And if so, would it hold liquids poured into it?" He set the cup down near her.

"And Mr. Quickgrip, I would like to present Dr. Eddison, formerly Curator General, now of the boiler room. He will take you where you need to go before he returns for his bottle. Dr. Eddison, sir, this is Mr. Larkin Quickgrip. He wishes to leave through one of the northern service doors."

"A sevice door?" Dr. Eddison asked, taking the pipe from his pocket, filling it, and lighting it with a large match from a ragged pasteboard box. He glanced over Larkin from head to toe. "An archaeologist, is he?"