Lizzie and Sawyer, Part 3a: In the Sea of Troubles!

Unending BE - episode 146225

It was a stereotypical tiny island in the midst of a vast sea. The island was merely a mound of sand about fifteen feet wide, a single palm tree in the center. Bobbing against the shore was a bottle with a note in it. Lying on the sand before it, bony hand outstretched as if attempting to reach it, was a crumbling skeleton. There was not a cloud in the sky, not even the golden, swirling mists so favored elsewhere in the Backstage Ring, merely a high, hard sun perched unmoving at the zenith of the sky, beating down unmercifully on island and sea alike. The sea itself was of an almost glass-like stillness, save where it lapped slightly against the shore. Far to the south there was a hint of something on the horizon -- the immensely distant outer wall of the Backstage Ring. Far to the north a line of what looked like weathered rocks was visible -- the remnants of the Ring's inner wall, which had collapsed long before. In theory, the two walls were only a short distance apart. In practice, they weren't even as near as the horizons they seemed to define -- one could sail for ages without reaching either. The skeleton, which in life had tried thousands of schemes for getting off the island and back to civilization, could have attested to this, but it was dead. Oh well.

Anyway, there's your picture of the Isle of Despair in the midst of the Sea of Troubles. An isle that was about to receive visitors...

The visitors appeared beside the central palm tree, and looked around curiously. "Where are we?" asked one, a stunningly beautiful woman with red skin and almond-shaped eyes. Her skin was lightly scaled, and her name was Elizabeth Drake Fruitbat.

The other, a tall, thin charicature of a villain out of a B-grade cowboy movie, shrugged. His handle was Sawyer. "Don't rightly know, m'am, I just concentrated on reaching the loneliest, most inaccessible and easily defensible spot in the Ring. Guess this is it. Lemme do a little research..." The black hat waved his hand, conjuring up a computer. Sitting down before it cross-legged, he started tapping away on the keys.

"We're on the Isle of Despair in the midst of the Sea of Troubles," he concluded presently. Not bad, we've got a clear view of everything surrounding us, and I can set up proximity alarms against anyone trying to 'port in. 'Course, someone could get at us from the water, better fix that..." Another wave of his hands and the fringe of the isle turned cold. ice accumulated along the shore, spreading outward at an alarming pace until the whole Sea of Troubles was frozen solid, a smooth surface of milky, opaque ice as far as the eye could see. The island itself, oddly, was still hot.

Sawyer grinned. "Costs a bit a' effort to keep it like that, but as long as concentrate on it, even slightly, it'll stay frozen. Now for the alarm!"

Yet another wave, and a small copper bell resembling a cow bell in appearance, appeared, dangling from the palm tree. "All set!" Sawyer said.

Meanwhile, Elizabeth had been stealthily edging away. Catching sight of this, Sawyer halted her with a gesture. "None a' that!" he barked. "You're my captive, got it? You won't be able to move without my say-so!"

And indeed, Elizabeth found herself frozen in place. Sawyer strode over, a sadistic sneer on his face, and gave her head a hard slap. Then he turned his back to her and sat down again. His computer flickered from existence back where he had left it and reappeared before him.

"Now," Sawyer declared. "Time ta start spyin' out the opposition!"

  1. >His spying commenced with episode 144383, just after he had abducted Elizabeth from JigSaw's Lair. He watched as JigSaw gradually came to the realization that Elizabeth was apparently not going to keep her cleaning appointment. (Actually, she already had, but he didn't remember this, thanks to Sawyer...)

  2. >Searching down all threads leading from his abduction of Elizabeth, a sequence in which a mysterious stranger visited Dabbler at the Bar & Grill caught Sawyer's interest. He focussed in on it, but was unable to overhear their conversation. With a tight smile, he waved his hand, growing ears on the walls of the Bar and Grill. Ah, now it was coming in loud and clear... (We, however, tune in a bit before Sawyer, as the stranger first enters the Bar & Grill...)
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Dabbler

Fri Jun 1 14:14:01 2001

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