The elderly humanoid behind the counter looked up as they came in, and readjusted the glasses perched atop his hooked.. beak. He wore a large satin dressing gown, which was decorated with various stars and planets, and his nose was powdered.
"Can I help you?" he asked.
"I don't really know." said Speedy, inclining his head in recognition. "First of all, what year is this?"
"4045, of course." said he.
A rabbit groaned. How was it that every time they fell to earth, it was 4045?
"You see," said Speedy, "we come from another world, in another time." He halted; how much to tell? But surely there could be no harm in this.. mutant? Half-breed? "More specifically, we come from the fabled War Tavern. It was destroyed, and we were taken away in a truck to a factory, wherein we avoided death. There, we found a P.O.S.T.N.O.B.I.L.L.S., which directed us to take a few steps to the left. A few seconds later, we found ourselves in front of your building, here."
"Divine intervention, indeed." muttered the creature, rising. "Allow me to introduce myself. I am TDJPSO (The Director of Jurassic Park Something or Other, in case you've forgotten) #2. I replaced the old one after he was eaten by Isabelle Kettlesore, one of the dinosaurs of our movie. Nobody liked him anyway, so it's no big loss."
"We must be on quest!" said the rabbit with no nose, excitedly. "Tell us, what wouldst thou hast us do? What task preform?"
"Actually," said TDJPSO v2, "everything's perfectly fine. No hitches whatsoever. But is there anything I can do to help you?"
"I'd like to go home.. where there's no place like, you know." said the Irish rabbit.
"Naturally! The spaceships are all in Docking Bay 94... turn left when you leave the building, go on until 31st Street, turn right, and then straight on 'til morning... errr, until you reach the spaceships. Tell whoever's in charge that I sent you. But would you like some refreshments before you go?"
"I'd like a carrot cake.." said the noseless one, musingly.
"I don't really have any." said TDJPSO v2.
"THEN BEER!" shouted Tyf, jarring Speedy out of his reverie.
An hour or so later, having partaken of what to Tavernerns is as what Nectar and Ambrosia is to the Greek Gods, the five rabbits left the building, still lugging the Cherry Table with them.
"Nice fellow, wasn't he?" asked the rabbit with no distinguishing characteristics, once they were out of earshot.
"Yes...." said Speedy, musingly. "But the beak kind of threw me off."
They discussed what the beak might mean, with theories ranging from avian ancestory to godly ancestory, while walking along, looking for 31st Street. After a while they found it, but with some difficulty, as it was buried in six inches of mail addressed to "Santa Claus". The group decided not to ask, and just turned right.
Soon, they had reached Docking Bay 94. It was situated next to a large building with a sign reading "Mos Eisley Cantina" in some font or another. It looked like a most wretched hive of scum and villainy, so they instantly wanted to check it out, but Tyf reminded them they wanted to get back to Carrotus without mishaps, so they steered clear, and entered the docking bay, which was oddly enough without guard.
"Now... where's a suitable spaceship?" asked the noseless rabbit. He was the most technically wisened of them all, so in this they trusted to his judgement.
After several minutes of fruitless search, he turned up with the solution the rest had concluded within a few seconds of their arrival -- that there was but the one spaceship in the docking bay. It was round, with some weird stuff on the top, and the cockpit wasn't even in the middle of the front.
"What a piece of junk!" said Speedy.
However, they put their misgivings aside, and boarded the spaceship. Its pilot - a man named Han Soda - would not fly them to Carrotus - in 2002 - for nothing, however, so they agreed to pay him for it once they were restored to their home planet, where they might well be able to scrape up some money.
Along with Soda, the 'ship was copiloted by a large furry creature called "Gurgi", who eagerly agreed to assist in what he called "Trippings and Shippings".
However, the good luck, as it could be called, did not last long. Before they had gotten very far off the planet, nine black warships blocked their path.
"What are those?" asked the rabbit without a description.
"Nostrils. They know I have the ring."
A silence.
"I also have the ruby slippers."
Another silence.
"And the Force."
Silence repeated itself.
"And the golden crown that calleth unto me the power of the winged monkeys."
You get the idea.
"And the magic beans that grow a beanstalk even to the clouds."
Silence stuff.
"Along with the missing one of the two glass slippers."
Nothing said.
"The meaning of life."
They stirred in brief interest.
"The Uberoldershticken."
No sound was heard.
"The 1.25 patch."
A pin dropped.
"A countdown mechanism that doesn't stop at 1."
Quiet maintained.
"Really spiffy gun stuff that could take any starship out easily."
This time, a reaction was gained.
"Well, why don't you USE it, then?" said one of the five rabbits, which is not known.
Soda blinked. "I beg your pardon?"
"If you've got this really spiffy gun stuff, why don't you use it on the Nostrils?"
He looked aghast. "I never thought of that!"
The rabbit with no nose sighed. It was going to be a long trip....
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