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| Missing Slider
Ryan Experienced Slider Posts: 445 (12/5/00 1:56:53 am) Reply  |
Epilogue Ten: DieselMickeyDolenz
The two weary auditioners raced to the poster to read the final tally. Yeontoo could hear the jingling of coins in their packs and smiled. Both scanned the poster then went over to the fire to warm themselves. *Man, I thought it would have been a closer vote,* thought DMD as he walked to the fire. "Who didn't vote? Hmm... probably MSR and S8 since they both slid, but S8 could have voted before he left since he voted for himself. Then who didn't vote then?* "Congrats, man. Good show," said DMD as he took off his pack and laid it on the ground next to him. "Thanks, dude. This was down to the wire, though I would ask Y if she recounted the votes. I'm glad it's over," SE replied warming his hands. "Me too. I might just do that. I wonder who voted against me. Hmmm... wonder if they would change their mind if I give them a little bribe," joked DMD blowing on his hands. *Yeah and when I find out who did vote against me, I'll show them the treasure I found then they'll try sucking up to me.* DMD's thoughts wandered for a few seconds. "Hehe. When you see them, tell them of our little treasure finding adventure." "That I will. Remember to write so I can partake of your sliding adventures too," added DMD. *Yeah, lucky guy. Hmm... maybe I should have made another alliance with someone. Nah. Looks like they'd turn against me in the end anyway. Man, I wonder if I can sign up for another game. I got a few ideas now of how things need to be run. And we had to leave some of the treasure behind. I wonder if I can coax that map from SE. Hmmm...* "You think we should share some of this treasure with MSR. It was her map that led us to it," suggested SE as he interrupted DMD's thoughts. DMD rolled his eyes. "Dude, you're crazy. She's the last person I want to see. She's probably angry that we voted her off and that the treasure isn't hers. That's the reason she didn't tell us about the last trap. If we both weren't on our toes, we'd be dead now." *Yeah, thanks MSR for withholding information. Not only didn't you not tell us about the last trap, but also forgot to mention that you had a way of starting fires other than using a match or my lighter. Jeez, I used my Zippo lighter for no reason and we could have used it later. Well, at least your rocks came in handy in getting the treasure.* DMD slicked his wet hair back. "You're probably right. If she was with us when we found the treasure I doubt we'd be here talking about it. Probably make up a believable tale about our demise. I can't believe that they didn't check into her background. Well, she's gone now and I hope I don't meet her again in the future." *Ditto that man. I bet she would have gotten the treasure, spun a fable then become the 5th Slider by default. I wonder if there were cameras down there. I wonder if I can watch what happened in the Omega camp at the Château. I'll have to ask later.* "Gentlemen, Vig and Pavel will be here soon. Vig is going to take DMD to the Château and Pavel will take SE to your new destination to learn about being the 5th Slider," said Y as she looked up from her clipboard. "Congratulations to you both for a job well done. Both of you showed that you were the best of the best and I would have been hard pressed to decide between the both of you. DMD, you'll enjoy a week's stay there and you can talk to the others. Don't worry about MSR, we tightened security here and have been watching her. She's no threat now. SE, congratulations and have fun sliding." Y left the two and ventured out into the sunlight to wait for Pavel and Vig. ======= September 13, 2000 DMD came up from the water. He had torn off a small strip of his shirt to bandage his middle finger. Slider8 asked, "What happened to your finger?" DMD smacked his lips together before responding. "Klly and I had a little disagreement about the most effective way to hook a fish. She demonstrated using my finger.... She won." Morpheus had just returned from setting traps out in the jungle. "Hey, man. The med unit's almost ready. I've found some very useful herbs in the surrounding jungle. Need me to take a look at that finger?" DMD glanced in his direction "Thanks, but no. It'll be fine." Morpheus replied, "Suit yourself." He pulled out some weeds from his pockets. DMD just smiled at him before walking away. DMD walked to the SE and S8 who were setting up a campfire. "Looks like you're well on your way to building the fire. Logs stacked properly. Kindling on the bottom. How are you going to light it?" "We were going to use one of the matches." SE showed him the waterproof container containing the two matches. DMD grabbed the container from SE and scolded the both of them. "Man, you and S8 both listed fire building as skills. Those two matches may be needed later. There's got to be another way." Slider8 suggested, "Well, the wood is rather dry. I suppose the old 'rubbing sticks together' method would do." "I suppose we can do that," added SE as he grabbed a couple from the bottom of the stack. S8 did likewise. The two looked at each other with a gleam in their eyes as they both knowingly acknowledged the fire-building competition between them. Klly came running up from the water's edge. "Help!" SE stopped and looked in the direction of Klly's shout. "What happened?" "I caught a fish!" exclaimed Klly before she stuck her tongue out at DMD. "So what do you need help with?" Morpheus shoved the plants back in his pockets. Klly explained, "You obviously haven't seen this world's idea of trout!" ======= October 11, 2000 DMD, SE, and S8 made their way back to what was left of the Alpha camp. The Alphas had found the spiders' nest and torched it with the help of some dried leaves and DMD's trusty Zippo, so they were once again spider free, but the camp still left much to be desired. SE looked around and remarked, "What a mess. It's time we turned this thing around." "Yeah, I heard about the Omega's camp. Sounds nice." S8 remembered the description of their camp and he wanted a little luxury too. DMD suggested "So lets do something about it. Gather everything up and put it back into the storage container. We're moving." SE was smirking during all this. Finally he spoke up, "Forget the trees. I found exactly what we're looking for upstream." S8 and DMD pressed Sabre for details, but he was being tight lipped. Only saying that we'd all be glad we'd moved. The three hoisted their gear and began making their way upstream. After about a half-hour of hiking DMD said, "how far are we going? This stuff is heavy. And we've got to be able to make it back to the challenge and knowledge discussion locations in a reasonable amount of time." "Relax. It's just around the next bend in the stream. The challenge site is 15 minutes that way What they saw was a set of ruins, similar in architecture to the challenge location. The ruins had actually been built so that the river ran through it and appeared to flow from underneath the foundation. Inside it was dry, if a bit cool. The stream could be heard flowing through the center of the building. There were strange markings on the walls. S8 asked, "Um, didn't Brit mention some markings on the walls of their cave? I wonder if they're connected somehow." ======= When Vig and Pavel arrived, SE and DMD gave each other a manly hug before going their separate ways. "Good luck to the both of you," said Y before going back to her apartment to finish up with her files and to get ready for the next set of auditioners. She didn't like goodbyes and she needed to feed her rainbow fish. "Bye Y," replied SE and DMD. "Till we see each other again," said DMD said as plopped himself on the comfy seat and opened up an ice cold bottle of water. "Yeah. Later dude and remember we're filthy rich now." A wide grin was on SE's face. "Hehe yeah." DMD chuckled as the boat sped away. He waved back and thought of the nice bed, jacuzzi and real food at the outpost. "Hey, Vig, what's good to eat over there?" DMD asked as he took a drank the cold water hungrily. "Hmmm... the spaghetti and meatballs is awesome," he replied as he turned back to DMD. For a split second, DMD thought he saw Vig's face shimmering. *Nah. It's the bright sunlight reflecting off the clear blue water. Man, it's so bright out here. We were underground for a long time.* He waved off the mirage as he found a pair of sunglasses and put them on. "Mmmm.... spaghetti." DMD laid back and closed his eyes with dreams of what lay ahead. About ten minutes later, they arrived at their destination. DMD was momentarily speechless when he saw the palatial Château Outpost. "Wow. This is beyond my wildest dreams," commented when he entered through tall ornately fashioned wooden doors." As Vig escorted an awestruck DMD to his room, he began to tell of the history of the palace. "According to legend, this was the king's palace. There was a lot of work done in the restoration of the rooms, tiles, walls, everything under the sun to bring back it's former glory. Many items are replicas of the originals. "Really? Well, MSR deciphered the drawings in the cave. I don't know how she did it. I guess a lot of educated guesses. It was hard enough trying to figure out the pictograms when we were treasure hunting." DMD stopped by the forty foot aquarium. "Whoa! I never saw these fish before. Totally cool. They change colors. Hmm... like a rainbow," he said as he tapped the glass. "Ah... yes. That's their nickname - rainbow fish. Only the scientists around here can pronounce the name. Well, here we are." Vig opened the door opposite of the aquarium. "Enjoy your stay." DMD turned around and thanked him. "Well, let's see what's in there." He walked through the door and his jaw dropped. He had dreamed of this many nights on Survivor Island, but this went beyond his dreams. "Y wasn't kidding when she said that we were treated like royalty." In the back, he saw a luxurious jacuzzi. "I'll be soaking in that for a few hours." He wandered to the bar and saw a bottle of champagne on ice with a red phone next to it. "I definitely feel like celebrating," he remarked as he picked it up in his left hand. He suddenly felt dizzy and grabbed the edge of the bar with his right hand, dropping the bottle onto the floor. "What's going on here?" He reached for the telephone and sent it to the floor as he lost his grip. Through blurry eyes, he saw the red phone in front of him. He dragged himself forward and reached out with his left hand, making a couple of deep gashes up his arm. "Crap," he muttered before passing out. Watching through the surveillance camera, Vig remarked, "He's one of the smartest ones. Time to move him to the lab." He hummed as he made his way to DMD's room, pushing a gurney in front of him. Vig stopped by the aquarium and watched the fish turn green before entering the room. "Ah... that's such a beautiful color." MSR |
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