Maralyte High: The Window in The Office

CHAPTER SEVEN: EMMELINE

Elves and lasers don’t mix.

 

    But, however, here is Emmeline, together with her newfound friend Dexter, inside the most bizarre of all shops in Merchant Isles: Iero’s Machine Gunno Bizzaro.

   

As they walked through the chrome-plated sliding doors that moved once they detected their footsteps, they saw a massive Rio De Janeiro carnival of business, as if someone stuck a large circus through this store.

   

The floor was a huge chessboard, with black and white squares alternately arranged. There were so many of them Emmeline thought her eyes would pass out.

   

The ceiling was like an inflated roof, as tufts of colors bulged out as if they have been stuffed with who-knows-what.

   

Then there were the racks of guns.

If you ever saw buildings built side by side, then those would resemble the Bizzaro’s gun racks. Each one was numbered and labeled according to their specimen (Emmeline thought so) and you can’t expect those racks to be empty. They were all filled with rayguns, ranging from the pistol-sized ones to those as big as bazookas that pack so much firepower they could blow the head of an elephant from its body to the farthest corner of the world.

All of a sudden, a giant walked in.

Oh wait, this guy’s not a giant. Emmeline thought. He’s not huge, he’s just tall.

 

And indeed she was right. The “man” who just walked in was ten feet tall, and was wearing a white polo that was open at the chest. His hands were the size of ride cymbals, and his feet were so huge it made Dexter and Emmeline look like civilized ants.

The “tower” leaned down on them. His face was like Elton John dragged and stretched into a much bigger form.

“Hello,” the man said. “Welcome to the number 1 gun store in Merchant Isles: Iero’s!”

“I am Iedalus Iero,” the man added. “I will be at your service today. Tell me, fellas. What is it that you seek here?”

I am too scared to speak. Emmeline murmured to herself. I pray Dexter realizes this.

 

        Finally, Dexter stepped forward and said.

“Mr. Iero,” Dexter said. “We need a BASIC Class Raygun for our school requirements in—

“Maralyte High?” Iedalus butted in, looking surprised. “How wonderful! A lot of Maralyte enrollees come in asking for this all the time. Follow me, kiddos!” And he rose up to full height again and walked.

They reached Rack Number 32, which was named BASIC Rayguns (all kinds of types in BASIC).

They stood in awe as Iedalus led them through the rack, showing them different rayguns.

There was one used by the Killjoys during the Battle at New California, another type used by space smugglers from planet Alderaan, another created by a gunner (which they didn’t know yet.), and many more.

They were about to grab a gun and buy it, but Iero snapped his large fingers and the racks immediately closed their glass sliding doors, barely missing their fingers by an inch.

Iero knelt down to talk to them again.

“Here in the Bizarro, we don’t just give out ray guns like a giveaway.” Iero told them quietly. (as if whispering quietly counts if you’re a tall man.) “Our customers take a high-class test only we can do to ensure you are a person who knows your guns.”

Just a few weeks of summer, and we answer a test?  Emmeline asked herself in her mind.

“Here in Iero’s, the gun picks the gunner. And through this test, we will scan your identity, and it will be the passcode of your own raygun, so you can use it to your own will.”

Iedalus snapped his fingers, and a machine the size of a Cadillac bus appeared from out of nowhere.

“Let us begin, shall we?”

        The salesman eyed them curiously for a minute, analyzing carefully, then he spoke:

“Ladies first! Into your test, dear girl!” Iero said, pointing to Emmeline.

Oh no. Emmeline thought as she was going inside the bus-sized contraption. She stopped in front of the door and hesitated.

“Come inside, m’dear,” Iero said. “It won’t bite.”

Let’s hope so. Emmeline thought. She opened the bus door and went inside.

   

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