Floozman: First Episode
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Part 11: The Sleeping Beauty
part 2 of 4 |
“With a scandalous abundance, he brings deliverance.”
In the entrails of the earth the column guided by the ghost wends its way. Suddenly, Jenny turns to Schtroumpf.
“This is useless. This flooded gallery is taking us right to the river. We’re not equipped for this, and we’re going to get nabbed by the police.”
“You forget they’re also behind us.”
“It’s time to question the dwarf. Dwarf, you’d better talk, now that the mummy has disappeared. What happened?”
From a few feet farther back, the dwarf answers. “The eternal counsel wanted the mummy to rest under the bed of the river. That’s why we’ve dug these tunnels. When the patrol told us about the industrial revolution, we decided to stop the work and keep the sarcophagus safe inside the mountain. You triggered the launching mechanism.”
“How come she’s still alive?”
“The banker’s curse dehydrated her instantaneously and homogeneously. It’s a miracle. She can come back to life, but it mustn’t happen. That’s what we’ve been taught.”
“The banker’s curse?”
“Let there be no fruit from thee henceforward forever!”
“According to the sensors, the corpse is not dessicated,” Schtroumpf corrects, from a few feet farther on.
“Hush! She began to regenerate when you touched the pieces of the treasure... The power that has claimed her can resuscitate us too. It can do everything! But the treasure should never have been touched! Woe! Woe!” the dwarf laments.
“Schtroumpf, as soon as we’re on Phobos, you’ll order a study of this power. It bothers me. We have to find an explanation...”
“The labs have made very disturbing observations about spatial fluctuations and the origin of matter. I’ll tell you about that. Certain hypotheses involve factors of a spiritual nature. Some models have already proposed answers to the question why something exists...”
“Something?”
“Something rather than nothing...”
“Will we have to rethink our strategy?”
“It’s too early to say. Not necessarily. It is possible that one of these new forces is aligned with the strategic objectives determined by the management... I mean by yourself, of course. I’ll send you a report as soon as possible...”
“I can help you; I have excellent references,” says the old consultant, somewhere.
“Okay, we’ll see. Dwarf, how do we get out of here?”
“You have to take Line Nine just two caves from here,” the dwarf answers with a sob. “At the end of the line, you’ll come out in a public toilet on the road to Basel.”
Coasting gently behind the dilated body of the ghost, the rebels join them.
“I’m with the partisans all the way. The fight goes on!” says the ghost. He looks Jenny straight in the eyes. “We will meet again. Please remember that we are in business together and that I trust you. You won’t die, will you? Neither will I, alas....”
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Copyright © 2005 by
Bertrand Cayzac
Dépôt S.A.C.D. 174 627
