OZVILLE

Go to Chapter: Cover 1 2
Chapter ONE: CYCLONE MACHINE

Dorthie lived in a world of corporate greed, with her Uncle Hendrichs who was a programer for Farmcorp, and her Aunt Emily, who was a Biocyber Tech for the same company. Their apartment was very small since on the ladder of life they existed close to the first rung. There were three rooms, a living area which was made up of a sitting area and a cooking area. The other two consisted of a sleeping area and a bathroom. In the sleeping area, Uncle Hendrichs and Aunt Emily had a large bed and Dorthie had a small cot. The apartment itself had no decorations or color.

The apartment had one window that Dorthie would stare out of when she was bored. The world outside the apartment was gray, dull and bleak. Not one sign of life, no birds, trees or flowers could be seen no matter how hard she would flatten her ten year old nose against the window pane. Even the sky was gray with dark gray clouds splattered here and there. The world that Dorthie knew was the apartment and the the children's area on the top floor of the complex. She very seldom went to it, with it's gray playground equipment and the soft yet ugly floor. It wasn't that she did not want to play, like any child her age she loved to swing on swings and slide down the slide, it was the fact that she was so much smarter than the other children. Her IQ was beyond belief by human standards and so the chitter-chatter of the boys and girls in the children's area was of no interest to her. Besides, they would make fun of her because she did not fit in.

Aunt Emily, in her youth, was a beautiful and bright lady but when the corporations banned together and forced the governments to bend to their will or be destroyed by economical warfare all of the population slowly became cogs in a machine of greed. Now in her mid fifties, the beauty and brightness was sucked dry. She was thin and gaunt, and never smiled nor laughed. When Dorthie, who was an orphan was assigned to her, Aunt Emily was reminded even more of how horrible her life had become. This child would laugh and squeal with happiness as she crawled and soon walk around the little apartment. She wondered how she could be so happy in this world, but of course this child never knew of a different life, the one that even she knew was now fading from her memory.

The corporations didn't dictate your life, nothing like that book 1984, but they did set limits. When one day a scrawny pup was found in the hallway outside of their apartment door, Dorthie pleaded and begged to keep it. Her Uncle Hendrichs, who was also worn to a stick and matched the world with his grayness, was against it but Aunt Emily, knowing that Dorthie had no other companions, talked him into it. They filled out the paperwork and sent it to the Central Division of their ward to allow it and was granted a license.

Dorthie named the dog Toto and they both would play in that little apartment, running around and laughing or they would go to the pet park so Toto could play with other dogs and to do his business. Toto helped Dorthie from becoming as gray and ugly as her surroundings and so Dorthie was saved from becoming like her Aunt Emily and Uncle Hendrichs. Toto was a mix. Her Uncle said he looked like part wolf and greyhound. He was golden in color and had one big canine tooth. Dorthie wondered what kind of fight the pup got into to lose the other. He was long, sleek and skinny. As the years rolled by, Toto became Dothie's friend and protector.

The other gift that Dorthie had to light up her day was Uncle Hendrichs computer. She would spend hours on the Corpnet system, researching ideas that flowed through her brain. It was during this time that she found the file that would change her life. She had bypassed security gates and found herself in the darkness of Farmcorp's most sacred crypt. Here she was shocked to find what the CWO (Corporate World Order) had planned for the world. When her Uncle Hendrichs and Aunt Emily came home she tried to make them understand the emergency of what she found, the grayness of this world had so blocked their interest that she was ignored, besides, genius or not she was looked upon as only a ten year old little girl. So she continued to delve deeper into this hidden treasure chest and as she did she grew even more frighten.

This day, however, Dorthie had gone to far. It was the monthly day of rest for Aunt Emily and Uncle Hendrichs. Uncle Hendrichs sat in the living area, reading virtual text while Aunt Emily prepared their lunch. Dorthie was on the computer which suddenly went blank except for the Corpnet logo which now was flashing red instead of the normal blue. She turned to her uncle. "Uncle Hendrichs, the computer isn't working!" she said with a little fear that she would be blamed for it.

Uncle Hendrichs looked over and saw the red flashing and suddenly stood up.

"We have been quarantine!" He shouted to Aunt Emily. "What have you done Dorthie?" He ran to the door but it refused to open at his command.

Aunt Emily dropped a plate and it shattered on the floor. "Quick Dorthie, go to the sleeping area and take Toto with you."

Dorthie and Toto sat on her cot in the sleeping area wondering what all the fuss was about. She could hear them arguing in the living area but could not make out what they were saying when suddenly two knew voices appeared. She could hear Aunt Emily pleading and crying as the two men burst into the sleeping area. Toto jumped at them immediately knowing they were after Dorthie. They stunned him and the biggest of the two grabbed the now unconscious dog and flung him over his shoulder. The other picked up Dorthie and both walked to the apartment door. The one carrying Dorthie turned to Aunt Emily and handed her a notice pad.

"This makes the child a ward of CWO, you have failed to maintain her by Corporate standards and allowed her to perform illegal acts against the CWO. You will be docked two weeks standard pay." He turned toward the door but before leaving he said. "You will not mention this to anyone or your punishment will be one that you would not like to experience.

Dorthie found herself in a room full of wondrous equipment. She was no longer crying and now marveled at what was going on. Toto was at her feet still knocked out from the stunner. She could hear the four men across the room talking. She knew now that what she did had been wrong and maybe they would slap her hand and let her go back to Aunt Emily. Suddenly she heard the word that she read about on the computer and became rigid with fear.

"We have no choice..." The tall man said pointing at Dorthie, "She knows too much and we are not some gangland mob that kills their enemies!"

"I agree." Said the portly man next to him, "At least she will be out of our hair."

"Okay, We all agree then." A mystery man said, sitting in a chair in the shadows. "We will randomly set the location and send her and her beast through the Cyclone."

Dorthie struggled with the straps that held her in place to no avail. As the tall man released her she kicked at him and struggled like a banshee. The portly man ran over and used a stunner on her.

They placed her in the middle of a platform along with Toto and two armed guards. The panels that filled the room began to light up in sequence, running around the room and the platform began to create an orb around the two men, Dorthie and Toto. With a loud pop the group was twisted and whirled like they were swept up from the ground in a cyclone. This went on for minutes until the group was now in another world. As soon as they appeared, they were confronted by an old and ugly hag that rushed at them waving some kind of stick. One of the guards shot her with his stunner from pure gut reaction. "I think you had your stunner on full force, Brad."

"She looked crazy and besides, we don't have time to play games, in two minutes they will bring us home." Brad placed Dorthie on the ground next to Toto. "Let's get out of here and I think it is best that we don't speak of this when we get back."

"She's dead Brad!" The man said feeling for a pulse. "Let's get back and my mouth is sealed."

They stood in the same spot that they appeared from and the orb grew around them and with another pop they were gone.




Click Here to go to Chapter Two