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Authors: Geoffrey Arnold
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upset at the mess in her kitchen that she turned the clock backwards. Back upstairs Tullia adjusted her earrings, then the twins went downstairs, and the whole morning dissolved into chaos for the second time.
Time-travel was both theoretically possible and believed to be actually possible in the eighth dimension. In their worlds of the fifth and seventh, it was as though anyone that went back in time found themselves in a cocoon and unable to step outside of reality. Going forwards in time never happened.
In desperation, their mother reversed the clock again, further back in time. The twins awoke and this time Qwelby tried to help Tullia firmly fix the twistors in place. Try how they might, the family was unable to avoid what fate had in store for them that morning, and Mizena fled from the kitchen in tears.
Shandur sent the twins to Barn, correctly judging that the twistors could not go too far away from their homes in his daughter’s earrings. He needed them all out of the way whilst he thoughtsent to the Helping Hands Agency. In no time at all several “Pairs of Hands” as the young Apprentices styled themselves, arrived and helped clear up the mess.
When order had been restored, and Shandur had the earrings safely locked in a box, he patiently coaxed his wife out of yesterday and reminded the family they were going to Lungunu. As a treat, he said they would all fly their twistors and go the long way round.
Riding what looked like a permanently revolving, elongated corkscrew the size of a PowerSled required a very sophisticated saddle and a lot of skill. Twistors chose their own colours to reflect their personality. Against his father’s suggestions Qwelby had chosen his favourite: bright red with orange stripes.
CHAPTER 8
TULLIA LECTURES
As they were nearing Lungunu, ignoring his father’s thoughtsending, Qwelby swooped low over a forest, looking pretty with its mass of yellow winter berries standing out against the snow. Unfortunately, they were not berries but the crests of SentryBirds. Startled, the whole flock rose up, shrilling their alarm calls. The large aegiele with its bright red breast was their most feared predator. Seeing the bright red swooping down on them, they attacked, shooting streams of ochre coloured goo like semi-liquid chewing gum that they used to trap the small rodents that were their favourite diet. Qwelby and his twistor were covered in it.
As the family arrived at Lungunu and settled their twistors into the cradles, Lellia appeared with TAC, the third assistant cook. To Qwelby’s surprise, Lellia was happy. She was working on analysing the SentryBirds’s goo and was delighted to have so much to use. The downside was that he was not able to use the neutron shower for his clothes and helmet which would not be cleaned until much later in the day.
Qwelby was sulking. Like his twin, he had been wearing the flying suit given to him on their rebirthday three months ago: emerald green with bright vermilion slashes that looked like flames. With ‘one on him’, as Tullia described his childish moods, rather than go to their suite and find some more clothes, he stomped into the Gather Room wearing what any Tazian boy wore underneath a flying suit: snug shorts and a tank top. He consoled himself with the fact that the satchel with their uncle’s gizmos in it was clean, having been safely stored in the twistor’s saddle box.
Designed by Lellia, the Gather Room was a charming blend of furnishings in a modern angular style within a traditional room, the soft pinks and oranges of the gently moving colourscopes on the walls giving a feeling of warmth. Set against one wall which, with tiny lights twinkling against the deep blue represented the enormity of space, pride of place was given to a series of Living Statues of those Uddîšû whose genes were borne by the various members of the family. In any other setting that would have been ostentatious, but the Gather Room was used almost
Time-travel was both theoretically possible and believed to be actually possible in the eighth dimension. In their worlds of the fifth and seventh, it was as though anyone that went back in time found themselves in a cocoon and unable to step outside of reality. Going forwards in time never happened.
In desperation, their mother reversed the clock again, further back in time. The twins awoke and this time Qwelby tried to help Tullia firmly fix the twistors in place. Try how they might, the family was unable to avoid what fate had in store for them that morning, and Mizena fled from the kitchen in tears.
Shandur sent the twins to Barn, correctly judging that the twistors could not go too far away from their homes in his daughter’s earrings. He needed them all out of the way whilst he thoughtsent to the Helping Hands Agency. In no time at all several “Pairs of Hands” as the young Apprentices styled themselves, arrived and helped clear up the mess.
When order had been restored, and Shandur had the earrings safely locked in a box, he patiently coaxed his wife out of yesterday and reminded the family they were going to Lungunu. As a treat, he said they would all fly their twistors and go the long way round.
Riding what looked like a permanently revolving, elongated corkscrew the size of a PowerSled required a very sophisticated saddle and a lot of skill. Twistors chose their own colours to reflect their personality. Against his father’s suggestions Qwelby had chosen his favourite: bright red with orange stripes.
CHAPTER 8
TULLIA LECTURES
As they were nearing Lungunu, ignoring his father’s thoughtsending, Qwelby swooped low over a forest, looking pretty with its mass of yellow winter berries standing out against the snow. Unfortunately, they were not berries but the crests of SentryBirds. Startled, the whole flock rose up, shrilling their alarm calls. The large aegiele with its bright red breast was their most feared predator. Seeing the bright red swooping down on them, they attacked, shooting streams of ochre coloured goo like semi-liquid chewing gum that they used to trap the small rodents that were their favourite diet. Qwelby and his twistor were covered in it.
As the family arrived at Lungunu and settled their twistors into the cradles, Lellia appeared with TAC, the third assistant cook. To Qwelby’s surprise, Lellia was happy. She was working on analysing the SentryBirds’s goo and was delighted to have so much to use. The downside was that he was not able to use the neutron shower for his clothes and helmet which would not be cleaned until much later in the day.
Qwelby was sulking. Like his twin, he had been wearing the flying suit given to him on their rebirthday three months ago: emerald green with bright vermilion slashes that looked like flames. With ‘one on him’, as Tullia described his childish moods, rather than go to their suite and find some more clothes, he stomped into the Gather Room wearing what any Tazian boy wore underneath a flying suit: snug shorts and a tank top. He consoled himself with the fact that the satchel with their uncle’s gizmos in it was clean, having been safely stored in the twistor’s saddle box.
Designed by Lellia, the Gather Room was a charming blend of furnishings in a modern angular style within a traditional room, the soft pinks and oranges of the gently moving colourscopes on the walls giving a feeling of warmth. Set against one wall which, with tiny lights twinkling against the deep blue represented the enormity of space, pride of place was given to a series of Living Statues of those Uddîšû whose genes were borne by the various members of the family. In any other setting that would have been ostentatious, but the Gather Room was used almost
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