FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

CHAPTER 11

ELEVATORS (ME AND YOU)

Ozzy stood with his arm lifted, thumb still resting on the button of the remote. He lowered the object to eye level and stared at it, uncomprehending. It really was a strange thing. The material it was made of felt metallic, meaning that the device should have a reflective quality. Instead, it sucked light in, making the area around it seem to grow darker. Ozzy became aware that someone was laughing. There was no humor in that laughter, only desperation. It was Frank. Ozzy tore his eyes away from the remote to see the sheep, doubled over with laughter, kneeling on the fine Persian carpet with his hands on his head. He turned his head to May, searching for an explanation to what had just happened.

The doe no longer wore her ill-fitting jersey. In its place had appeared a beautiful, flowing dress, green like the ocean, with lace at the bottom worked in a manner meant to evoke sea foam. Turning to his side, he saw that Mary and Sara were dressed similarly, though the colors were different, with Mary's dress a navy blue and Sara's a purple that got lighter as it went lower, with the bottom almost white. Close up, Ozzy could see that the dresses had a strap for the right shoulder, while the left was more like a sleeve, covering to just above the elbow. The sleeves were embroidered intricately, with such detail as he had only seen on documentaries depicting ancient royals of Europe, each depicting what appeared to be the face of a holy figure in prayer, surrounded by a crown of roses with heavily emphasized thorns.

Mort and Adrianne were huddled together on one of the couches, though the couches were no longer a mismatch of green and plaid, having been replaced by three with matching brown leather upholstery, surrounding a carved wooden table with a glass center. Adrianne wore one of the dresses as well, colored yellow, while Mort wore a more normal-looking suit. The gray suit was open, revealing a pressed white shirt without a tie. The lapels were larger than was usual, most likely to accommodate the gold thread on the left side, showing the same face as on the women's sleeves. Beneath them, the faded carpet of The Homestead had been replaced by a finely woven rug of Persian style; orange, red, and gold covered the floor wall to wall. The walls themselves were made of thick glass, polished until it shone like a crystal, yet the area outside the room was too dark for anyone to make anything out.

For a long moment, all the resident of The Homestead stood or sat in a stunned silence, none of them knowing what to say. The only sound in the room was Frank's deranged giggling. It was Jeb who managed to gather himself first, walking over to the hunched form of Frank and grabbing him by the shoulders, forcing the sheep to stand. "What the hell just happened?" Jeb asked, his face mere inches from Frank's. The shorter man looked like he was going to start going hysterical again, and Ozzy felt like he might go right along with him if he did. Wanting to hang on to as much sanity as he could in this bizarre situation, the hyena muscled his way in between the two of them, staring Jeb in the eye. "You're not going to get anything out of him right now," Ozzy said, straining to take Jeb's arms away from the sheep. Work in construction had made the man strong, even when he was this old. "Let's step back and take a breath."

Ozzy could tell that Jeb's grip on his nerve was just as tenuous as his own, but the bear relented when he glanced past Ozzy to see Frank burying his face in his hands, obviously beyond talking to. Jeb took his hands off the sheep and stepped away, rubbing his forehead, and scanned the room for other changes, letting Ozzy see that he wore a suit similar in style to Mort's, only white. Looking down at himself, he saw his own suit was black. As he glanced down, Ozzy saw his hand, remembering that he still held that remote. He tried pressing the button again a few more times, to no effect. Upon further examination of the remote, Ozzy saw that its appearance had changed, too. Previously, there had been small letters, engraved in gold onto the back of the remote, reading, "When found, please give to Frank." Now, the letters said, "Win 5,000 5th star tokens." Not needing another mystery to solve, Ozzy stuffed the remote in a pocket.

"What the hell is this?" Ana asked, running a hand along her dress, a hot red that sparkled when it caught the light. "It feels like I'm wearing hand lotion." Mary bent down to pick her dress up by the hem, then let it fall. Despite her heavy muscles, the flowing attire suited her well, as if it had been custom made for her. That was important, somehow, Ozzy knew, but it was hard to think straight. Get it together, he told himself. You can't play a game without your poker face on. Ozzy forced himself to breathe slower, to think slower. He wouldn't figure out anything if his mind kept racing.

With his head on as straight as it could be at the moment, he turned to the couple seated on the couch. "Sorry, Adrianne, but could I--" A chime sounded, cutting Ozzy off mid-sentence. "Hello!" came a pleasant female voice over an unseen speaker. "Welcome to the Stairway to Heaven! As always, our proprietor, Mr. Heartthrob, thanks you for choosing the Dials as your resort destination! Your lift will be departing shortly. This trip should take approximately

Three

hours. If you haven't already, help yourself to the complimentary drinks stored in the cabinet, located in the rear-left corner along with glasses and an ice dispenser. We look forward to welcoming you at the Dial that is your final destination! Please enjoy your trip."

With another chime, the voice was gone, adding more confusion to the already overloaded group. "What now?" Mort asked no one in particular, burying his head in his hands. "God, what now?" Adrianne sat back from Mort, giving him space and caressing his arm, giving Ozzy a good view of exactly what he was looking for. "There!" he said, pointing at the fox. "Adrianne, could you please stand up?" Mort lifted his face up to give Ozzy a questioning glance. Staring from the hyena to his wife, Mort's expression became guarded, as if what Ozzy had suggested might have been dangerous.

Adrianne didn't seem to understand why he had made such a request either, yet she still tried to stand up, crashing back down instantly. Mort stuck his hands out to catch Adrianne after she had already landed back down on the couch with a puff of air, while Mary started to come closer to check on her, nearly falling over herself in the process and having to grab onto the back of the couch for balance. Sara lifted a foot up from under her dress. "Heels," said the dark-furred wolverine. "We're all wearing heels." Mort got up and helped Adrianne to her feet. Now that she knew what to expect, she could stand fine. Mary was a different story, but that was less important right now.

What was important was that Adrianne's dress fit her as well as Mary's had, down to the fact that the right side of her dress had the chest altered so it lay naturally despite the lack of a breast. "You see that?" Ozzy said, drawing everyone's attention to Adrianne's chest and earning a heated growl from Mort. "Custom made, all of these." He spread his own jacket, showing how well it fit him. "Okay," said Adrianne, folding her arms over to indicate the show had ended. "What does that mean?"

Ozzy threw his arms up helplessly. He had no idea what it meant. He just hoped that finding one clue would have led them to another, then another, then this whole thing would be figured out and they could all go home. Someone asked if the remote worked, to which Ozzy explained that it didn't. The remote was passed from person to person, each of them doing their utmost to solve whatever was going on with it, except for Frank, who recoiled from the small object when it was offered to him. When no progress had been made, the remote came back to Ozzy, who stuffed it back into a pocket. Whatever this material was, it felt fantastic. Ozzy had never seen a suit this nice in person, not even for high school graduation, let alone worn one.

Ozzy felt the floor jerk, like he was standing in an elevator that had just started moving, then looked around for the cause. He saw a light pass by them through the glass, moving downward. A minute later, another one came. A few seconds passed, then another, then several more just after that. The room they were in seem to be moving upward, and with increasing speed. Was this an elevator? The whole room? The hyena got his answer a few seconds later when the room flew out of whatever structure it had been inside, millions of glittering lights showing through the giant glass walls. Ozzy and the others ran to the edge of the room to stare, awestruck, at the sight below them.

"A city?" Mort said breathlessly.

"It's not Wichita," observed Jeb. "Too crowded." It was true; the lights from this city went for miles in every direction, the residents of The Homestead having to spin around to take it all in. From this high up, it was hard to tell the size of individual buildings, yet they could tell that the one they had just exited was extremely large, taller at the halfway point than anything back home. It was dark out, so the lights shone clearly in the indistinct haze of the city growing smaller beneath them. With a feeling of nausea, Mort realized they were still picking up speed.

"Where are we going?" the polecat asked, doing a combination of craning his neck and pressing his face against the wall to try and see above them, but it was no use.

"Are we dead?" Ana inquired, sounding small for the first time that any of the residents had known her. "Did a bomb really go off when Oz hit that button? The lady said this was the stairway to heaven, right?"

"Don't be an idiot," Mary said. Having trouble navigating with heels but not wanting to walk around a strange room barefoot, she leaned against the wall with both hands for balance. "This is just--" Mary had to stop and think what it just might be for a while before continuing. "Aliens."

Ana turned to Mary with an expression of disbelief. "Aliens," she repeated flatly. Mary shook her head hard, fur flying out in every direction. "Fuck, I don't know! But I'm not dead! I can't be!" Mary put a hand to her head, feeling faint. Ana slumped her shoulders, not being used to seeing the older, tougher wolf loose her cool. Walking over, Ana gave Mary a hug and a shoulder to lean on, making getting around with heels a bit easier. "Come on," said the jackal. "The lady mentioned free drinks. Let's take care of those, then we can talk about how to get out of here." Ana and Mary began to limp off, with Sara trialing close behind.

With the rest of The Homestead comforting their spouses, Ozzy had a choice between following the girls for drinks or trying to get Frank out of his catatonic state, only one of which he had the energy to even attempt. Saying a silent sorry to Frank, both for not helping him now and for ignoring his warnings about the cane earlier, Ozzy went to the liquor cabinet. He was surprised to see Sara heading the other way, carrying two bottles of brown fluid. "Just grab a few glasses and bring them back to the table," she said as she passed him. "I don't think we'll have any trouble finishing these."

Grabbing what he could carry, Ozzy returned to the three couches to find a conversation already underway. "Are you sure?" Jed asked, examining the label of one bottle. Ana shrugged. "Complimentary means free, right?" Ozzy passed a glass to Mort, asking what was up as he did so. "Apparently, these are pretty nice brands of whiskey," he said with half a heart.

Jeb shook his head. "Only one of them is whiskey. The other one is whisky. A real classic, too, straight from the heart of Scotland." Ana threw up her hands at the old bear's wisdom. "Who cares? Just drink." Ana poured glasses of whiskey for all present, except Jeb, who insisted on trying the whisky.

Taking a sip of his drink, Ozzy found it to be a bit overly peaty, but otherwise fantastic, with a smooth texture and a warm, smoky aftertaste. "Shit, this is nice," he said, holding his glass up to the light, turning the liquid from brown to amber. "I mean, I think. I've only ever drank the cheap stuff." Jeb pointed to the bottle of whiskey, gesturing for Ozzy to bring it closer. Handing the bottle to the older man, Ozzy took a seat next to him, as his old seat next to Sara had been taken on either side by Ana and Mary. Squinting, Jeb read the small print of the label, then cursed under his breath. "What's going on?" Ozzy asked, taking another sip. Jeb tapped on the label thoughtfully. "I sure hope these bottles are complimentary, because I just remembered how much they cost. If I remember right, they're nearly-- " Ozzy held up a hand, forestalling what Jeb had been about to say. "Don't tell me," he said, resting a hand on the bridge of his muzzle.

The odd group of travelers sat drinking for a long time, heading inexorably to their unknown destination. Frank was no longer curled in a ball, but he didn't come to sit with the rest of the group, either. Standing by himself, Frank stared out the window, watching the world shrink away. Finishing his second glass, Ozzy felt more comfortable about going to talk to the sheep. He announced himself as he got closer, not wanting to startle the little man back into his earlier state. Frank turned at Ozzy's approach, taking one hand out of the pockets of his pants to give a wave, then went back to staring. Frank's suit was a deep blue, which made him blend in with the sea of stars in front of him, giving the impression of a floating head when viewed directly from behind.

Ozzy stood beside Frank without speaking for a moment, following his eyes down to the Earth below. They were very high up now, enough to see a whole continent. "Jesus," Ozzy breathed. "Where are we going?" Next to him, Ozzy heard the sound of cloth rustling, what he assumed was Frank shrugging. When he was a child, Ozzy had been told a rumor: the Great Wall of China was the only man-made object visible from space. Later, a friend had shown him a satellite picture on their computer, taken of America at night. A bright pattern of lights, each one representing a place where people lived. That had been merely a photo. Standing over it now, Ozzy felt tears welling up in his eyes. The dream of going into space, of seeing Earth from this angle, as only a select few over the course of history ever had, was for children, who eventually gave up dreams of space and meeting dinosaurs for more reasonable aspirations, such as having a home and a job. Well, at least those had been reasonable before the eighties. But here, now, something wholly unreasonable was happening to him. He was flying through space in a glass elevator, towering over the entire planet. Him, Ozzy, who had been too poor for even a community college. In another hour, the only home he had ever known would be the size of a boulder, then a bowling ball, then a grape. Soon he, like Atlas, would be able to carry the world on his back. He had to laugh at that.

"What's so funny?" Frank asked, genuinely curious. Wiping away a tear, Ozzy shook his head. "I can't believe we're in space, that's all. Shouldn't we be floating?" Frank made a noncommittal gesture. Clearly, the thought of why their feet stayed on the ground wasn't of any interest to him. Ozzy stuck his hands in his pockets, staring out. He was about to start laughing again when his hand brushed the surface of the remote that had brought them here, sobering him. "I'm sorry I didn't listen to you about the cane," he said. Frank waved away his apology. "Why should you have believed me? A centipede-demon in my dreams, appearing as a button in real life. A button that takes us into space!" Frank spread his arms, enough space in that small gap to hold an entire country. "I still don't believe it." Ozzy nodded. A part of him was still convinced he was dreaming himself, though that might have just been the alcohol.

"What do you see down there?" Frank's gesture took in the whole continent. "Home," Ozzy said simply. "Shit, does everyone turn into a poet when they get this high up? Must be the lack of oxygen." Ozzy smiled at Frank. Surprisingly, the shorter man shook his head. "Look again," Frank commanded. "Tell me what continent that is." Smile fading, Ozzy shifted his attention back to the Earth. He followed the strands of light crossing the country, like the web of a spider, all the way to the edges. When the full shape of the country didn't form in his mind, he took a step backwards, to see more of it at once. When this failed to elucidate the issue, he began to see Frank's point. "That's not Earth." Ozzy felt like he should have been shocked after such a revelation. Maybe some part of him had already deduced that, as he would have heard of a space elevator being built on Earth. Maybe too much had happened in such a short span of time that he had grown numb to crazy shit.

A chime played and the voice of the woman from before take-off spoke once more. "Attention travelers! We regret to inform you that passing debris has damaged the part of the Stairway to Heaven leading from the third to the fourth Dial. The damage is minor and will be repaired quickly, but we must ask that any passengers travelling to either the fourth or fifth Dial to please step off at the third Dial terminal. If your destination was either of the top two Dials, we ask that you enjoy a stay at the third Dial resort. All accommodations will be seen to, free of charge, including dinner at the famous third Dial Hotel restaurant. In addition, a gift of ten tokens for the casino at the Dial of your destination will be provided, to show our sincere remorse. This offer is only open to those travelling above the third Dial. Once again, the Stairway to Heaven is grateful for your choosing us as your means of travel to the Dials. Have a nice stay." Another chime and she was gone.

"We should probably tell the others," Ozzy said, staring up at the ceiling. The voice came from everywhere at once, making it impossible to determine where the speakers were hidden. "About Earth, I mean."

Frank nodded, finally turning away from the window. "You got any more of those drinks?" he asked, forcing a smile. "There might be a bit left," Ozzy returned, smiling back, though his was more natural. Not because he was any happier about the situation; he'd just had more practice.

A short while later, the two men had joined with the rest of the travelers, who were talking about whatever came to mind to distract themselves from the anxiety of hurtling through space towards an unknown destination. Mary put forth another theory about alien abduction, which was dismissed just as quickly as the first had been, less out of a belief that she was wrong than a fear she was right. Ana wanted nothing more than to pretend that they were all still in the common room, talking about how she was expecting a new webcam in the mail and taking a heavy drink every time someone reminded her she was in space. Upon noticing that Frank had returned, Jeb had tried once again to get answers from him about the black object found in his wall, but the sheep was as ignorant as everyone else.Conversation died out when Ozzy brought up Frank's discovery. A few faces turned to stare up at the high ceiling of the glass elevator, wondering where the strange vehicle might be taking them. Ozzy's fist closed over the remote in his pocket. Frank had described it as a demon. Did that mean that their destination would be full of strange horrors from the depths of hell? Shuddering, Ozzy felt that he could stand no longer, coming to rest on the center couch and pouring himself another drink. Part of himself knew that he needed a clear head to deal with whatever insanity would be waiting when the elevator stopped, but a bigger part of him said that events had already gone far beyond his control, so there would be no harm in getting the little relief he could.

The strange planet floated behind his seat, impossible to see from this angle. The mere knowledge of it being there was enough to make Ozzy dizzy, even disregarding the fact that he was on his fourth glass of straight whiskey. Waves of emotion kept crashing into him, first fear, then excitement, maybe hope that whatever had brought them here was benevolent, then back to fear when he thought of how unlikely that was. With nothing else to do but wait until they got to wherever they were going, Ozzy raised his drink, watching the light dance around in the restless flowing of the amber liquid.