Ugh! My chest! It felt like there was an elephant sitting on top of me. I reached over for my chair and felt nothing but air. Eyes snapping open I remembered everything that happened. I tried to move my legs, but could barely, only a small twitch. So it must have all been a dream. I looked around, and noticed I was sitting in a bubble of sorts, made of a thick, black, cloud-like substance, the mass that almost killed me. This was thinner though, and I could almost see out of it, but not clearly. So if this really was real, not a dream, why could I no longer move my legs. I knew it was too good to be true. Now what am I going to do? I'm stuck in this unknown place, and I don't even have my chair to get around. Defeated, I let my head fall back against the spongy, Jell-O-like prison. I stopped mid-sigh. What was that noise? I knew something was out there, I could feel it. What it was, I had no idea, and frankly it frightened me a bit. I turned my ear to the wall to try and distinguish what the noise could be. I heard a vibrating noise, growing larger and larger, until it sounded like a motor, it continued in one spot for a bit. I pushed my ear up harder trying to hear something more. My eyes crossed as not two centimeters from my face a metal claw broke through the surface and opened up a hole in the bubble just wide enough for me. I just sat there, as I could do nothing else and waited for whatever was to come.
A short freckled thing, I would have said man, as he looks just like a human, except that he is purplish and almost transparent looking, stepped into the bubble, saw me, and looked quite shocked. "Oing shein toup ol mew dojks feg. Nombu ulsk xen da." He motioned for me to step out of the bubble. I tried to show him I had no idea what he was saying and that I couldn't move.
"I don't understand." I tried just for the heck of it. He tilted his head to the side, looked at me, and then slapped him forehead and disappeared through the opening. A few moments later he stepped back through the hole holding something squirming in between his fingers. It looked like a fish. He then started motioning about something and kept pointing to the fish and then to me and then his ear. I was stumped, and honestly, too tired and scared to put in much effort. I flinched as he stepped forward. He reached out and I squeezed my eyes shut, expecting the worst. I felt a slimy, wet object being forced into my ear.
"There, now you should be able to understand me", said the man. "I am called Nombu and I mean you no harm." He turned and reached through the opening. I just barley caught the words, "I can say the same for too many others anymore." mumbled under his breath. "There's no need to be afraid. You are safe for the time being. Now, I've noticed that you haven't moved at all. Are you hurt?"
I just stared back at him. I was in complete shock. "Um...no...I mean...I've never been able to move my legs...well once, but I'm not entirely sure that was real yet...but no, I'm not hurt." I was in such a daze it was hard to even get an answer out.
"Alrighty then, may I help you up?" He was already reaching down to hook his arm underneath my armpits and lifting me up. He looked strong, but I was still surprised at how easily he lifted me up. Boy, how much it hurt though, I must have really done something to my lungs. He lifted me over to the opening and that's when I saw the ship. It was like something out of a science fiction movie mixed with a subway car. On top ran a wire that connected it to a floating track of sorts. Not really a train track, more of a pathway. He set me in a seat and I instinctively reached for a seat belt or something. There was nothing.
Nombu climbed into the front of the ship and started pushing buttons on a panel in front of him. "What is this thing?" Chuckling, he explained that it was called a Tpaivo, and it transports people and things from place to place through a track system, and went everywhere in Koohoc, except for special areas of Kevtpo, where only the royals special transportation ships were allowed to go. Those are called Eioikn, what the Royals and the privileged used.
