Shelby and Shauna Kitt and the Dimensional Holes. P. H. C. Marchesi

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СКАЧАТЬ bring himself to utter a single word. Shauna glanced at her brother, and saw that his eyes had a distant expression, as if he had lost himself in a dream. She had never seen him look quite so ridiculous before, and it was with some effort that she stifled a laugh.

      “As you may have guessed,” said Lendox, pleasantly, “Novians are shape-shifters. They are in charge of picking up and delivering a roomix. In other words, they run most of the transportation on Miriax.”

      “That’s awesome,” said a dazed Shelby.

      Loola turned to him, and smiled so flirtatiously that he felt his cheeks burning.

      “You just become a ship?” asked Marina, who was clearly having difficulty accepting Loola as any method of transportation.

      “Pretty much,” said Loola, casually. “All you need to do is get into L’s roomix, and then I’ll take you to your destination.”

      “Do you call everyone by their first letter?” asked Shauna.

      “Uh-huh.”

      “What happens if you run into another person with a name starting in L?” insisted Shauna.

      “That’s obvious,” said Loola, looking at Shauna as if she had asked a very stupid question. “I’ll just use another L.”

      “One day, Shauna,” said Lendox, seeing Shauna’s confused stare, “I will tell you about the novian language. It is quite absurd, if you ask me.”

      Loola was about to retort, but Marina, who had been listening impatiently, stepped forward and showed Loola a piece of paper.

      “Explain to me one thing,” said the aerospace engineer. “How will you know how to take us to this address?”

      In response, Loola’s goggles became as dark as a pair of sunglasses, her emerald eyes disappearing completely from their view.

      “Loola has mappix goggles,” explained Lendox. “These goggles can translate any address, from any language, into a grid with coordinates that novians understand.”

      “Got it,” said Loola, handing the crumpled piece of paper back to the amazed Marina.

      Shelby was just thinking that Loola looked even more amazing with sunglasses – if that was even possible – when he suddenly realized she was gone. In her place hovered a silvery sphere that looked like a giant water drop.

      “Where did she go?” he asked, quickly scanning the room for any sign of the beautiful novian.

      “She is right in front of you,” said Lendox.

      “That’s her?” he asked, his entire face sagging with disappointment. “That’s what she looks like?”

      “All novians look like that, unless they are in social mode,” explained Lendox. “Perhaps it is a good thing.”

      “What do you mean?” asked Shelby, pretending that he had no idea why Lendox was smiling.

      “Novians have a type of paralyzing effect on those members of the opposite sex that are of similar age. It is a defense mechanism they developed over thousands of years against non-novians. Thankfully, it wears off eventually.”

      “I don’t feel anything,” said Shelby, shrugging as casually as he could.

      “Now,” said Lendox, picking Fran up in his arms as if she weighed nothing, “to get into the roomix, you need to connect to my energy field and form an energy chain. Marina, hold my arm, please. Shauna, you can hold Marina’s, and Shelby can hold yours. Ready?”

      “What about Tippy?” asked Shauna.

      They all followed Shauna’s gaze, and saw a whitish blob comfortably snoozing under the sofa.

      “A cat!” whispered Marina, sneezing as if that discovery had made her allergies worse. “You want to take a cat with you?”

      “I don’t have anyone to leave her with,” protested Shauna.

      “Don’t you have a neighbor who can look after her?” asked Marina.

      “Nope.”

      “What about a friend?”

      “We just moved here,” said Shauna. “We don’t really know anyone.”

      “But we’re going to a hospital,” Marina said, turning to Lendox as if begging for help. “Hospitals are not pet-friendly.”

      “Do you not think we can make arrangements when we arrive there?” asked Lendox. “It is, after all, a special set of circumstances.”

      Marina glanced at Shauna, and met with an expression that was so pitiful she simply had to give in.

      “Fine,” the aerospace engineer sighed. “Maybe while we’re there, I can get something for my allergies.”

      Shauna’s face exploded into a smile of gratitude, and she hurriedly grabbed Tippy, who complained adamantly about being woken up so rudely. Shauna awkwardly put the cat in her backpack, and then grabbed Marina’s arm to form the energy chain.

      “We are ready,” said Lendox. “Take a step forward with me.”

      A step later, Shelby and Shauna found themselves inside a bright round space bathed in blue light.

      “I’m feeling really sick all of a sudden,” moaned Shauna, dropping her backpack on the soft floor.

      “Me too!” cried Shelby. “Everything’s blurred!”

      Even Tippy, meowing in protest, wobbled dizzily out of the backpack.

      “You’ll feel better soon,” said Marina, quickly holding on to Shelby before he fell. “I think your body gets used to it – Shauna looks like she’s doing better already.”

      “Yeah, she always does,” complained Shelby, feeling nearly too sick to talk. “Nothing gets to her.”

      “I can see that,” said Lendox, placing Fran on the floor against a cluster of pillows. “How do you like the roomix, Shauna?”

      “It’s awesome!” she cried, sitting down next to her mother. “It’s like a super comfy living room.”

      “Except that everything’s spinning,” complained Shelby. “I feel like I’m gonna throw up!”

      “It will pass in a moment,” said Lendox, encouragingly. “It is normal to feel dizzy the first time one enters a roomix.”

      “I get motion sickness,” complained Shelby.

      “What you are feeling is not motion sickness, for one cannot feel motion in a roomix,” explained Lendox, helping Shelby to sit down. “Perhaps that is a good thing, as novians tend to be bumpy.”

      “You’re sure we can trust Loola?” asked Marina, somewhat uneasily. “She seems kind of flaky to me.”

      “Novians СКАЧАТЬ