CK rummages for a bottle of water and some asprin in his pocket for speedy.

"You know, it's kinda odd that we're basically in the middle of nowhere next to a telephone pole when we want to go to a town meeting thing.'

Tossing the items to speedy (and hoping that she reacts fast enough to catch them), CK looks around at the others to see quite the trail mix of expressions.

"What? I'm just saying that it's a bit off."

He jumped down from the pole, rolling momentarilly as he landed to reduce injury.

"I didn't see any signs of this 'town' from up there, is it an ant city, or invisible, or am I missing something here?"

Speedy managed to catch the aspirin.
"CK, got any water?"
"I would need to check.... why?"
"Need it to swallow the pills. And you said you can't see any evidence of a city in the distance?"
"Yep, weird for a lone pole to be out here then, huh?" CK commented.
The three MN's looked up.
"Hey did you notice that there aren't any wires coming out of the pole, yet there is a transformer?" all three (somehow) managed to chime at one.
"Odd... why would we link here?" asked Sora.
"Because there is some sort of importance here," Marae stated. "I wonder how deep this pole goes..." she wondered aloud.
"What do you mean?" asked Toz.
"It must be a marker for something, and if there is nothing above ground, then we might as well see if we can get below ground," she explained further.
"We'll investigate!" the MNs chimed, and they promptly began to sniff around the pole.
Speedy chuckled at the sight.
Marae looked at her watched. "Odd..."
"What?" asked CK.
"Urdu should be here right by now with the coffee, "

Sora sighed, gazing around. "So it wasn't a mistake... there really isn't a city in sight..." He gazed up at the transformer. "I don't suppose anyone could get up there and look at it? Speedy, maybe?" He tilted his head. "It might be important... after all, why a transformer without power?"

"It's probably a different kind of power..." Speedy remarked.
"How so?" asked Sora.
"Could be solar for all I know... but honestly, I would like some sort of drink so I could swallow these pills," she remarked.
"Well Urdu will be linking in soon with some coffee, Speedy, so to make the time pass, go and check the transformer," Marae suggested.
With a grudging shrug, Speedy took flight and flew above the transformer. She nodded.
"It's a solar panel,"
"What? How can a solar panel generate enough electricity to power a transformer?" asked Toz.
"I don't know, but based on the size of this transformer, it seems like it only needs enough power to do minimal electrical word," Speedy commented from above.
"WE FOUND SOMETHING!" chimed the MNs.
"Where?" asked CK.
"Over here!" chimed 1000 posts.
"It's a mushroom!" added Cat.
"What's so special about a mushroom?" asked Marae.
"They taste good?" added Unlucky 13.
Everyone else
Suddenly, there was a linking in sound, followed by an "INCOMING!"
Toz looked up in time to see Urdu land on him. Urdu was holding on tightly to a large thermos.
"UG!" cried Toz.
"Ow,... hey you're comfortable," remarked Urdu.
Speedy landed while the others helped Urdu and Toz to their feet.
"Always be wary of the linking in area," CK stated to Toz.
Toz could only nod.
Speedy's eyes grew big. "Urdu, what is in the thermos?"
"Coffee,"
"Good! I can finally take the aspirin!" she cried happily.
The MNs looked at each other.
"Does the coffee counteract what the aspirin is supposed to be doing?" asked 1000 Posts.
The other two shrugged, and Speedy took her pills with a cup of coffee.
"Ok, what did I miss?" asked Urdu as he stepped forward, stepping on the mushroom the MNs had found.
And suddenly there was a long, loud "BEEP!"

After the loud BEEP, the transformer began emitting a loud whirring, and the pole slowly began to sink into the ground, stopping when the transformer reached ground level. A loud clank sounded, and then an automated voice began to speak.
"Welcome to the Central Switchboard. For English, please press 1. Para Espanol, apunto numero dos."

The group looked at each other.
"Anyone here know Spanish?" asked Marae.
"Nope,"
"Nada,"
"Sorry,"
"No,"
"If I speak it, people will go deaf it's that bad,"
"Ok, then we'll opt for English," Marae said, and she pressed '1'.

"Welcome to the Central Switchboard at Post #23940. To descend to the train station, press '1'. For train schedule, press '2'. To ask for train assistance, press '3'. For train fees, press '4'. To repeat all of the options, please press '9'."

The group looked at each other.
"TRAIN station?" asked Sora.
"But where is it?" asked Toz.
"It said descend, so I'm guessing it's downwards..." Urdu suggested.

"Where are we going to get funding for the train?" CK asked as he replaced the water bottle he had managed to find just as Urdu linked in.
The others started digging through pockets to find any change they had.

"Uh...guys...shouldn't we find out how much time we have and what the fees are first? For all we know it's something crazy like...um..."

"A shrubbery?"

"Yeah! Or a killer rabbit, heh"

Sora shrugged. "Well, then..." He reached out and pressed '4'.
"Train fees," stated the voice calmly. "The price of travel is one dollar per passenger per stop. An alternate fee may also be bartered with the conductor on the train, but he has the right to refuse any barter so offered."
Sora shrugged. "Well, okay then..." He rummaged in his pockets, and then blushed. "Oh..." He pulled out a handful of 100-yen coins. "Well, I've got change... but it ain't in dollars..."

"Maybe we could work it out in the cool of the station," Toz offered.

Everyone agreed, aand so the Australian teen pressed 1. A pannel on the ground slid open and a mettal lift appeared.

'Thankyou for choosing the Central Switchbord for all your travel needs. Please keep all arms, legs, tails and other apendages inside the lift at all times. Thankyou.'

"Hey! I've got a knot on my head!" remarks Toz, as he feels his sore noggin.

"Is it a new one, or is one you've had all along?" snickers Urdu. "Let me take a look and see if I did any permanent damage."

As Urdu checked Toz's head for damage, the discusion about the nature of the transformer continued....

"Ok Toz. No permanent damage. No blood. No skull fracture. No dialation of the pupils. No concussion. I'd recommend you take two aspirin and keep off your head for at least a day."

Toz just .

"Hey Urdu! Toz! Get on the lift," says Speedy. "No dawdling this time!"

"Right away! Be there in a second!"

Urdu picks up some things he dropped when linking in, and joins the others on the lift

"Say Speedy... I was just thinking... If you power a transformer with a solar panel, wouldn't you have to store the energy generated, or could it be that the voltage is run through an inverter and then the voltage boosted through the transformer to produce high voltage? And if so, I wonder what it's used for?"

Speedy shrugged. "How would I know? I am new to this area, so I don't know how people deal with their electricity... I'm guessing part of that power is used for this switchboard and elevator system,"
"But transformers hold a LOT of electricity! What is the rest used for?" asked Urdu.
The elevator had stopped. They had reached the bottom.
As the forumites looked out, they saw a string of lights go on, one bulb at a time, down a corridor. There was a sign to their left, saying the following:
"Plains View Station,"
"Well, we know where we are now... but I wonder where the town is?" asked Marae.
"Let's see if there is a map down the corridor," said Toz.
And the MNs led the way, with all of their noses against the ground, sniffing it out.
"Nice construction," CK commented as he looked at the walls, "I wonder how much it would take to blow it up,"
Everyone else and continued walking.
They only walked for about a minute before they came to a wider entrance, where they could see the platform. The platform continued to their left and right for an additional 50 feet in each direction.
"Here's the station," said Sora.
"MAP!" chimed 1000 Posts, as he pointed to something on the wall.
"SCHEDULE!" chimed Unlucky 13.
Marae, CK, and 1000 Posts looked at the map, while Speedy, Urdu, and Unlucky 13 looked at the schedule.
"I guess we're going to Town," Marae commented as she pointed at the station labeled 'Town'.
"It looks like it's about five stops away... no wonder we couldn't see anything from above," CK stated. "Let's see.... GORGE, RIVER, FOREST, and HILL are all in between,"
"Gotta love the naming convention," Toz commented.
"Dang... who has a watch?" asked Urdu.
"TRAIN!" chimed Cat.
"Huh?" asked everyone else, and then they felt the wave of the train passing by.
However, the train stopped twenty seconds later.

Meanwhile on 'Cho's Age ...

Taking home the latest edition of the local rag, Zarnic scaned each page for the latest news about his old bar but found nothing. This isn't going to work .... Guess I might as well be there. Quickly scribbling a note for 'Cho telling him where he went and why, Zarnic zapped to the Spaceport's Linking Room.

Needed to edit this posting after I realized I had errored. One more 'opps' from me.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: zarnic1,

"Okay, so there's one...two.......eight of us, wait, nine, always forget to count myself..."

CK began rummaging, hoping to find something that might be at least a little appealing to the conductor.

"Anyone want to go first in bartering? I'm going to be a while myself..."

Speedy walked on ahead, "Hello? Anyone here?"

"Not so loud! I've got a spliting headache from this confounded thing!"

Confused, all of the forumites went onto the train to see who made that headache comment.
Just inside the train was a man in a purple and gold train conductor's uniform, sitting in one of the seats. He had a look of anguish on his face.
"Sorry, we didn't see you... sorry about the headache too..."
"It's this confounded hat... it's way too tight around my head and I can't see to get it off," moaned the conductor. "But I can't destroy the hat because it's a required part of my uniform and I would get fined if I did anything bad to it..."
"The headache is from the hat?" asked Toz.
"Yeah, I just said that! Oh wait, you just got on? Where you getting off? And have your fare money ready..."
The forumites all looked at each other. "Umm..."
"What? No money, no ride! Train policy," the conductor stated, and ended it with a wince.
"I got an idea: if we help you get that hat off without destroying or ripping it, can we get a free ride to Town?" asked Sora.

The conductor thinks for a moment but says, "Fat lotta good that'll do me. I still need to wear the blasted thing. Part of the uniform and all..."

"What if we could resize the hat for you?" Cat suggests.

The conductor laughs, but that only increases the pressure on his hat band, and he resumes wincing and moaning. "Now, that would be some trick. If you can do that, I'll accept it as barter, not that we're supposed to accept barter anymore..." The last bit was mumbled.

Cat smiles when his suggestion is accepted, but he is immediately elbowed by the other forumites. "Oww! Quit it! Why is everybody being mean to me?"

"What am I, a seamstress?" Urdu mumbles.

"Do any of us look like we know how to resize a hat?" Toz demands.

1000 Posts shakes his head but declares, "First thing's first. We have to get the hat off before we do anything with it."

"Right," Unlucky 13 snickers mischievously. All three mogs approach the poor conductor.

"I don't like the looks in your eyes..."
"Don't worry, we're profressionals."
"Get off me! Oww! Not so hard!"
"Just grin and bear it."
"Stop pulling! Stop it!"
"Think happy thoughts."
"Aagghhh! Back! Back, you heathens!"

The scene ends with the conductor kicking at the MNs to ward them off. While the assualted conductor glares at the mogs with menace, they return to the forumites.

"It's on there pretty tight," 1000 Posts reports.

"We pulled really hard," Cat adds.

Unlucky thirteen flexes his claws menacingly and growls, "If we didn't have to worry about hurting the conductor or his silly little hat..."

"Did you three even try to loosen it first?" Speedy cuts the last mog off. All three just shrug. Speedy and turns to the others. "Do you have any soap, CK?"

"Hold on, I'll check," the dark one replies.

"Okay. What about you other guys? Urdu, Marae, Sora, Toz, know anything about sizing hats?"

"Well, usually they use steam to shape and resize hats..." thinks Urdu out loud. "But we might end up shrinking the conductor's head."

"No! No!" pleas the conductor, "No steam! No steam!"

"Or maybe we could just get you a new hat to replace that one?"

Everyone just looks at each other. The conductor, on the other hand, just looks .

"Do you have a hat for the conductor," say MN?

"Well... Not right here with me," say Urdu "But I could order you one! Won't cost you anything."

"You'd do that?" says the conductor.

"Sure. I can get it for you through my subsidiary, the Stuffed Hat Company. I can have it shipped overnight. It'll be here by morning before you even have to start your next shift."

"Naw. That'll never work down here."

"Why is that?," Urdu asks.

"Everything down here is delivered by train. It'd take weeks... ...oh my head hurts... any other suggestions?"

"I do have this hat here... says, Caution - Live Conductors."

The conductor, not amused, just glares at Urdu.

"Er... umm... ok. Perhaps not. Anyone else have any suggestions? I'm going to have to think about this some more."

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Urdu,

Sora shrugged. "Well, plenty of fish have pretty slimy bodies... we could probably extract some ink or something from..."
Speedy nudged him. "Where are we going to get fish, or whatever makes that ink you're talking about? We're underground!"
Sora shrugged again. "Well, all I can think of is to stretch it, or try steam once it's off..." He smiled. "Hey, my major is marine biology. Whaddaya want from me?"
He sighed, playing with a few of the coins from his pocket. "I don't have enough, even if he were willing to convert..." he muttered. "Darn it, why'd I have to come here right after playing the arcade?"

CK walks up to the conuctor, who starts backing up and preparing to ward off more unwanted actions.

"Hold still, I just want to take a look at the thing!"

Moving the conductor's head this way and that, CK closely examined the object.

"Well...I see one way of getting it off, but it involves taking out a seam a little..."

"CK, that won't work, it's his uniform!"

"But I can fix it afterwards! After ripping holes in so many of my pants, I learned how to sew...it ust won't look as nice as a profesional would do it..."

"But how would you get it streched out if it is ripped!" Protested the conductor.

"Well....is your employer picky about the colors of your uniform? I have an idea, but it depends on how...flexible your dress code is..."

"Or..." Toz interupted, "I could fix your hat for you if you allow us to tear it off. I'm a repairer, you know. But hey, someone else can be the hero here. I like CK's plan."

The conductor whimpered. "Well... as long as it looks very similar to how it looks now..." he said with a shrug.
"Great! Ok, here we go..." chimed CK, and he began his work.
Meanwhile, the other forumites sat down on other seats on the train. Urdu watched as lights went by in the tunnel.
"I wonder if CK will fix the hat by the time we reach Town?" he asked Marae.
"I bet he will," she replied.