Chapter 6: Exploring

Jo said, "I'm going to stay here. There's some things I'd like to get straight with Him/Her/It/Whatever."

"Whooo boy! I'm glad I'm not in your shoes!" Vickie said, "she's as bad as a mom."

Kurt, the Cheese and Vickie nodded like the wood bird on the edge of a glass of water ... nod nod nod. They stepped onto the carpet.

Cheese asked, "who is going to drive?"

"Not me," from Vickie.

"Nope, me neither," Kurt said.

"Don't look at me, I don't have a carpet license," denied the Cheese.

They all stepped off. They went into a huddle and whispered between them. Vick scuffed a little dirt at the Cheese. It got pretty loud and dusty for a little while. Finally, a decision was made. Vickie grinned, but Kurt didn't look at all happy.

"Two to one, Kurt. You're out voted," said Vickie. "Jo, we need Bill. He can drive anything. Besides, you can terrorize him."

"Yeah," grinned Kurt, "he spent his college money on that stupid hotrod, and he can't bring it with him."

Jo laughed diabolically. "The perfect punishment for an imperfect man!! We'll have to have Chione, too"

"Bill's Tits!!" shouted everybody.

He/She/It/Whatever argued against it but, in the end, the lab rats prevailed. Bill and Chione appeared on the meadow along with a big pile of supplies. Jo grabbed Chione. The others snatched Bill and sat him on the carpet.

"Drive," said the Cheese.

"Whoa! a magic carpet!" exclaimed Bill.

He thought for just a second, held out his hand flat, palm up. The carpet rose a few feet. He turned his palm down. The carpet settled. Palm up ... rise. He pointed a finger and the carpet moved forward. He shifted and pointed behind and the carpet slowed, stopped and backed up. He held up his hand palm out, the carpet stopped and hovered. "This is cool. Where didja get it?"

"Bill can drive anything," said Vickie.

Chione looked at Bill, then the carpet, then the four of them, then the pile of supplies, then at Jo, and fainted.

"Wow! did you see how big her eyes got before she passed out," commented Jo. "She'll be ok, I'll explain. You guys go explore." She made little pushing motions with her hands. "Shoo, shoo. We'll be fine."

Bill grinned, "where do you want to go?" and they all looked at the Cheese.

"What? What? Sheesh, we're here a couple of hours and I'm already the boss? I want to go everywhere." He pointed at the swampy looking place to the east. "I have an idea we're going to like what we find up there. Let's go there first."

Vick, Kurt and the Cheese climbed on the carpet and sat down. Bill pointed a finger at the swampy looking spot and the carpet started moving.

Pretty quick, they were going fast. Too fast! After overshooting the swamp a few times in both directions, Bill got it stopped, hovering just over the surface. It wasn't a swamp, it was a smallish pond. One side of the pond was hot, you could see the heat waves waving in the air. The other side was cold. There was a rock slab bottom and some convenient boulders that might make seats. There were cattails and reeds on the cold side and between the hot and cold there were small ledges that looked like steps.

Vickie stuck a hand in the water, "That's pretty hot but not burning, it feels wonderful. I don't see any fish ... I'm getting wet." She stripped off and jumped in. "Oh! This is wonderful. Come on in."