The Sketch Survivors: The Secret of Lint Corp

Return of the Native

Both Soal and George turned their heads to Soal's right. There, at the looming podium at the other end of the room, stood that man himself; the one who seemed to have started it all. This time he was dressed in an elegant frock coat rather than a cowboy outfit, but this Lint Corp worker still was very different from his peers. Surrounded by speakers and microphones, Gordon Gulley cleared his throat.

"Un-Characters," he raised his hands. "You have all gathered today in the Congregation Chamber with news of an important announcement. President Strallatropharh is currently in the Articulian Facility, so she permitted me to make the announcement myself. Well, that announcement is now- and that announcement is that that volunteers to go will be freed. Freed from Lint Corp and its affairs."

Murmurs fell through the hoard. Soal beamed. Gordon Gulley continued. "Of course, there's a catch. Those who volunteer to be freed will have to fight Articulus again."

The whispers stopped. Nobody- especially Soal- wanted to rematch their nightmares again. It was just too painful.

"This means Lint Corp will choose," Gulley was really narrowing his options here. "Six Un-Characters. Six Un-Characters who can defy the Sketches' reality, and brave their fears, and are simply strong enough to do so. Six, out of three hundred and twenty three. Of course, that doesn't end the exchange. We shall give you a purpose. Finally, you must think, a purpose besides serving as subjects for our experiments, our experiments to sort out blood samples and DNA to transfer from the strong to the weak, the contaminated public of today. Well, we will free you. Four at a time. This may seem like a long process, but six by six will work. There is always strength in numbers.

"So, your purpose will be based around a problem, as always. Of recent, well... first of all, we must address the terrible loss everyone has faced. Of course, there have been Un-Characters in the past who tragically... did not make it. Their Sketches fell apart and their worlds destroyed. Their Articuluses advanced into our own world. Do not worry- this is the purpose. We have been herding these stray Articuluses into a nearby Facility. They are confused, wondering why they do not have eternal fortune. We promised them they would get another shot, and we, as the supreme Creators, will send out you Un-Characters, six by six, to bring back the Articuluses who have escaped our Facility."

The audience gasped. They couldn't believe Articuluses were wreaking havoc upon their home world.

"They are dwelling in the Sketches, mainly the old crossroad Sketches which many Un-Characters come and go in and out. They are quite accustomed to them, and sometimes you can't even tell the difference, but there are always ways to know. Anyway, there are seven big cases. One Articulus down in Ruce Range, one of our older Sketches, has been haunting the land almost since we made it; Ransom must be cleansed of a new threat; Tycoonu has the creeping hand of evil over it,  Articuluses have crawled into Triggervew also, as well as Galactix and Asfen. Ruce Range and Asfen are some of our more troubling cases. We have selected the First Brigade of Un-Characters into action. They are..."

Soal huffed and puffed for breath, as he was sure many of the others were too. He hated war, and if he despised Articulus in his Sketch, he was sure the others would all sicken him; but with all these new Un-Characters around him, he felt strangely pompous, and wanted to show off all his battle skills. Of course, he highly doubted anybody he knew would come anywhere close to being in the First Brigade.

"Elijah Underfon... Lucille Grant... Emma Gildorn... George Hamilton... Marshall Linensant... and Samuel Lawrence."

Samuel Lawrence!?!?! Soal's mind burst as the audience went into an uproar. Why me?!?! I just got here, revolted several times, and now they're choosing me to go on some expedition with all these people I just met? This can't end well...

"Quiet down!" Gordon Gulley resumed by calming the hoard, "I know Mister Linensant here is not actually an Un-Character, and he could really use some adventuring, couldn't he? And I know that several of you have all just met within only the last few minutes. I have been watching all of you very carefully from up here. I can tell what makes good chemistry and what doesn't. They said I have an eye for telling who's going to be friends with who. So this First Brigade will be sent into the Articulian Facility a-ways south to deal with the problems in Ruce Range. Is that clear? We will be coming to your Dwellings at four o'clock tomorrow morning to gather you there. No waking up early required." Emma, nearby Soal, shrugged. She didn't seem like a morning person. "Thank you for listening." Then Gulley stepped off the podium and went back to his own business.

Meanwhile, the audience freaked out, cheering on for Emma, Soal, Marsh, and George who were right nearby. He could hear others calling for the other two somewhere on the far sides of the Congregation Chamber. Everyone was so glad that some people got a second chance to go back and do more. George, Marsh and Emma rushed up to Soal to meet each other.

"I can't believe it!" George exclaimed, shaking Marsh's shoulders. "We're going to go back to the Sketches and finish what we started!"

"You mean you didn't finish?" Marsh questioned, but none of his peers listened.

"Oh, but we get to fight again! For real!" Emma struggled to contain her energy.

"I understand," Soal solemnly said, "but it's sort of bittersweet to finally be coming back. I mean, we get to go back to the Sketches, and I understand I've only been here for a few weeks, and you have for months and beyond; but it isn't the same Sketch we originally came to, where my only friends are. Besides, what are those Dwellings Gulley talked about?"

"You haven't been assigned one yet?" Marsh said. Soal raised his eyebrows... again. He noticed he had been doing that a lot lately.

All of a sudden, a taller figure burst into the occasion- Flynnlecke, dressed the same as before, hands on his hips. "We've got to get you to your Dwelling first, Sam Lawrence. The Congregation is ending, the announcement has been made, and you need to get back to your comfy little room where you're going to be staying for quite a while from now on."

Soal waved to his friends as he was walked away by Flynnlecke, back through the giant crowd (which parted and made a path for them), up the stairs, through the concrete hallways, and into a hall with tons of doors on each side. Flynnlecke absentmindedly went up to one windowless door, labeled 5g.

Flynnlecke opened the door, and inside lay a relieving yet suspicious sight. It was a very comfortable room indeed. There was a squishy bed on one side, and open drawers full of clothes, and... his pack. The only thing he had had with him earlier. Everything he had had in the prison cell where Cheshire met him was there. It looked like paradise to Soal, who had been faced with unsanitary conditions in the boarding schools and army camps of his life.

Soal took in deep breaths as Flynnlecke asked him a question. "How do you feel about being a part of the First Brigade?"

"Excited," Soal replied simply. "And scared. Partially of Lint Corp."

"Never fear. Confront what you're afraid of. You'll need to have by tomorrow morning. You'll be sleeping here in the nights, tonight, and after you come back from the expedition for a few days before you go back home. Goodnight, sleep well." Flynnlecke slammed the door shut.

Soal never really thought about what would happen if he came back to the boarding school. He didn't really have time to, though, because he had plans. Big plans. And they weren't about the members of the First Brigade... it was another Un-Character he knew.

Soal plopped down in the bed and fell asleep automatically.