The Key to Jecondé

Chapter 2

Meanwhile, in a land far away...

"Critilina, have the girls arrived yet?"
"They're on their way. They won't be here until the next-" The woman, who looked different, with her long, thin arms and short legs, fumbled through her pocket and took a small, round, shiny device, glanced at it, then turned her attention back to the man opposite. "Quarter of a kraz. It suits me just fine. Do you want them tomorrow, once they have settled down?"
"Alright. I was hoping for them sooner but I forget about them being new to normality and all that. Anyway, I must be off. I have to prepare for their arrival." The similar looking man rose to his feet, which didn't make much of a difference in height, and turned to leave.
"Actually, Modulive?" Modulive stopped and looked at Critilina. "We'll both explain things first, then I'll show them around. And please don't scare them, even if you don't mean to."
Modulive chuckled and exited the room.

                     *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *

It was pitch black. All the girls were peacefully asleep. Tabitha stirred. "Oh. My. Goodness. WHERE ON EARTH ARE WE?"
"Earth?" a calm voice replied, "We are most certainly not on Earth, no. We are just entering Jecondé."
"And where in the galaxy is that?"
"Jecondé is an entirely different universe to your little-" the woman sounding voice broke off there.
"Your Earth must feel quite homely to you and your friends. Please excuse my manners. They are not 'up to scratch' as you Earthlings might say."
"By the way, unearthly person, please may you answer my first question? WHERE. ARE. WE."
"In a shoe, of course," she added the next bit rather proudly, "or rather, in a boot."
Tabitha muttered, "Don't worry Tabs, it's not real. We're not in a boot. This strange voice is not real. Your best friends are not dead. Hang on, why are all my friends in- this state?"
"Well, we tried to give you all three sleeping pills each, so you would be calm in the journey, but you kept wriggling all the time, so you only got two. It won't be of any use to try and wake them up, so we can either talk about stuff or you can go back to sleep."
"Oh, I wanna talk. Tell. Me. Everything."
"Jecondé is a beautiful world with no flaws. People grow up just like you, although they look slightly different. In fact we all look different."
"Alright next question. Why are we in a boot?"
"Isn't that the way humans travel?"
"If we were complete nutters. Normal people use boots to walk in."
"Oh. Well we use them to travel in."
"How?"
"We put them on and then we get shrunken to fit inside them. You're about a millimeter and a half tall right now, if you want it in human terms."
"How long till we get to- what was it called again?"
"Jecondé. About two lurs time."
"What is a lur?"
"A minute in human time. And a kraz is an hour. I'll explain lots of other stuff later. Like why you're here."

Mary, Lolly and, Joy woke up in a strange looking bedroom. The walls were painted red and gold and the bedsheets were a deep crimson.
"Where are we..."
"Mary! Wake up!"
"Huh?"
The big golden doors leading out of the room opened, and Tabitha came through.
"Hey, you finally decided to wake up. I thought you never would. You must be thinking this is all a bit weird. Trust me, it is."
Lolly sat bolt upright. "Tabitha... Do you know what's going on...?"
Tabitha walked towards the bed, sat down on it, and sighed, "It's a long story. But I guess I'm going to have to tell it to you. Listen..."
Tabitha went on to tell them where they were, but she couldn't tell them why they were there.
"The people here in Jecondé look really strange too. They have really long arms and teeny stubby legs. Don't tell them I said that though. Critilina will go mad. She said that when you woke up she was going to tell us all why we are here. Can we go now, please? I've been dying to know."

After Joy, Mary and Lolly had got dressed, they followed Tabitha out of the door and into the hallway outside. Mary took in her surroundings: a polished marble floor, glistening windows, and gold leaf dotted around the walls. Tabitha led them to a small, wide door, and knocked.
The door swung open immediately.
"Mary! Joy! Lolly! I've heard so much about you!"
The girls looked at each other disapprovingly, but Mary nodded. They followed the lady in.