by The Eurostar
Edulcore Cicciotto:
I am running at superspeed in a vast prairie, tall grass everywhere, not very unlike my native Padanian plain, only here there are hundreds of rabbits jumping away in front of me.
The only thing rising above the flat horizon is a huge dome, a perfect half-sphere reflecting the surrounding meadow like a mirror. There is a marked path pointing to the Dome, and a wooden sign, carved by hand. It reads: "The Court of Twilight." I run toward it, and even if there are no gates over the curved wall, I enter it as if phasing through it.
Inside, there is a round table, with five beings sitting around it. Each one looks incredible. There is a big, ever-changing giant, a black-horned demon, an orange energy form, a metallic man, and a tall man in a white coat that, when it moves, shines like the colors of the rainbow.
The giant speaks, and his voice is loud as thunder: "THIS TIME WE WILL NOT INTERFERE. THE LAST TIME YOU HAVE SEEN WHAT HAPPENED. I WILL NOT PERMIT IT ANYMORE! SIGN THE AGREEMENT!"
A black-faced dwarf enters with a ball pen and a piece of paper. The giant writes something in a language I don't understand. But I can read the sign: Hypertime Entity. Then the others sign as well: Viper, Rhymer, Tempus. Then, the last signs only with a X; an illiterate cosmic being?
After the signing, the piece of paper catches fire and keeps burning at the center of the table. The Hypertime Entity takes a remote control and turns a giant screen on. Everyone sits in his chair and begins to watch.
On the screen are two men wearing lab coats standing in front of two computer monitors. The two are talking, but stop when another man in a lab coat, visibly older, crosses the room.
"It's quite the day for Knell," says one of the two men.
"Why? What's up with 'Doctor Clone'?" asks the second.
"I don't know. But he's smiling, and there's an army general waiting for him in his office."
The camera zooms toward one of the computer screens. A little Post-It Note loosely is loosely stuck to the monitor, with the handwritten name "BigBob." Over the desktop in the monitor, there is an icon named "Lexicon.exe." The face depicted in the icon is smiling.
The scene switches to Knell's office. The doctor shakes the hand of the medal-covered general across the desk. "General Forrest!"
"Dr. Knell! Or, should I say, 'Doctor Clone'?"
Knell chuckles. "So, you've heard my nickname. Well, I shouldn't even know about it, you know, but I'm actually quite proud of it. Well, let's get down to business. General, the experiment has yielded positive results. Cicciotto's metagene is of Alpha Class. We need him, and alive."
"Doctor, the MCCA is already on Cicciotto's tail. I've sent my best agent to capture him. Agent Turner."
And I awake in my bed, in a sea of sweat. The empty syringe has fallen on the floor. What a trip.
Then, a figure steps out from the darkness in the corner of my moonlit room.