Welcome back!

Turns out the Sagely Spaceman’s portal was indeed a happy one, for Dr. Garlic’s made it to a world with breathable air. He’s also made some new friends! I’ll let his journal entry relate the rest:

8.15.2013

I am in the world of Multera! The first day here I had been suffering from what I can only call “portal sickness”. Since I had nothing else to do, I decided to recalibrate my space-time communicator’s solar panels for the sun of Multera, which seems to be quite different from Earth’s sun.

The next day I had recovered from the portal sickness, so I set out in search of someone who might be able to tell me where I was.

I walked through beautiful forests teeming with unbelievably colorful flora. The plants were unlike any I had ever seen before.

Yesterday, I came upon a trail, so I followed it in hopes of finally finding someone. As I came to the end of a forest I’d been walking though, I began to hear loud thuds and crashing sounds. I advanced carefully, just in case it was a wild animal in search of a snack.

I rounded a corner, and to my surprise, discovered the sound had not been from a wild animal, but instead two dwarves!

One of them saw me, and pointed towards me with his axe. The second turned and said something I could not understand to the first.

They seemed debating whether I was dangerous or not, but they used a language I did not understand.

Seeing they weren’t reaching a conclusion, I cleared my throat and spoke up in the most non-menacing voice I could manage: “Uh, hi. I don’t mean you any harm.”

The two did not respond right away, and it crossed my mind that they spoke no English. Well, it was an incorrect thought.

“This accent of yours is… unfamiliar to us. Who are you, and from whence do you come, strange one?” asked the first, looking fairly fearsome with his huge bronze axe.

“My name is Typhon Garlic. I came here through a portal on Pluto, but I am originally from Earth.”

The name Earth had no meaning to either of them. At first they thought I was some kind of weird burrowing fellow, but I eventually was able to explain that I was from another world entirely. Now that got an interesting response.

“Sven, this man is a World-Embarker!” exclaimed Large Axe when he understood.

“But Corin,” began Sven, for the first time in English, “That would mean… he is a bedtime story!”

They debated for a while about this, and came to the conclusion that I was not a bedtime story, but rather that there had been some element of truth to their father’s nightly tales. They then informed me that the world I am now on bears the name of “Multera”.

They also told me there may be someone who would know how to get me back to Earth. He is a mystical hermit, but that’s about all I could extract from them, except for the fact that he is codenamed “The Thing that Should Never Have Been Given a Lemon Lollipop”.

It sounds pretty bizarre, but I can’t see that I really have much of a choice. Anyway, Sven and Corin Ironthread are pretty amicable once you get to know them, so I’ll probably be traveling with them until we find this anti-social mystic.

You know, I may need to take back my comment about the Spaceman’s portal being happy. I don’t think happy portals cause portal sickness…

By the way, if you read the adventures of Dr. Al Gene (I know I do!), you may have remembered that Multera is the homeland of Dr. Gene’s forest friends, the Founded Union. Not totally sure what the significance is, but the connection is pretty interesting.

Anyway, if you enjoyed the post, why not leave a comment? I’ll see ya next time!