Episode 1: Exile
"That's it -- you're out, Thinly! You can't talk like that in here," the PeaceKeeper intoned from his perch atop the milepost sign.
"Eject 'im! Eject'im, PK!" slavered a shag-haired minion fawning at the post's base.
"I warned you, but noooooo, you had to keep on saying the 'b-word'," continued the PeaceKeeper boldly, hoping the crowd would think he was waving arms in emphasis rather than because he was about to fall off the post.
"Yeah! We've got standards here, you know," added a tarty-looking matron from the sidelines.
A bespectacled bald guy piped up primly with his two kreds' worth. "This is a G-rated world. Little kids come here and their parents don't want them exposed to foul language!"
The scruffy minion was screeching with anticipation. "Eject 'im! Eject 'im! Eject 'im! Do it now, PK!"
Thinly's mouth had been hanging open in dumbstruck astonishment so long his tongue had dried out. "Buth I thutht..."
"Ha, ha -- too late now, Thin," smirked a sleazy maroon-coated character next to him.
Thinly swallowed and tried again. "But I just said flamin' 'BLINKIN''! Since when has 'blinkin'' been the 'b-word'?"
The matron chortled in delight. "Ooooh! He's said it again! AND the 'f-word'!"
"What? 'Flamin''? But last week the 'f-word' was..."
"That's enough NOW!" The PeaceKeeper was windmilling his arms with irritation and refused to hear any more.
Thinly couldn't believe this was happening.
The last comment he heard on the matter was Maroon Coat's cackling: "Hasta la vista, baby, hehehehehe!"
Then the air around him shimmered as a sucking roar announced his undignified exit from the world.
Episode 2: Limbo
A wave of arguing voices pushed aside the darkness.
Thinly opened his eyes on a jumble of legs hanging in the air in front of his face. Three pairs of legs, in fact.
The ground he sat on stretched flat and inky black as far as he could see. Its only feature was a small cluster of gate-like standing stones nearby. The sky on the other hand was shockingly bright with sunset colors -- and vague antenna-shaped "things" waving along the horizon on all sides.
The voices continued their heated discussion above him.
"It's just plain wrong, IMHO," groaned one voice. "It's gettin' so you can't even sneeze anymore without being booted out!"
"Yeah, Kaws, but what can anyone do about it? Nuthin'. We're peons. We don't count for shit around here."
Thinly whipped his head around looking for the PeaceKeeper he expected to jump on the second speaker for uttering the "s-word". But none appeared. In fact, there seemed to be no one else in this place but the group above him.
A third voice spoke up. "Well, I'll tell you guys something you haven't heard about this situation. There's a group aiming to change things. Seriously! It's on the sly at the moment, an underground movement, so to speak. He he..."
Kaws scoffed. "Ah, come on, Eid. I've never heard of any such outfit. No one at the Covert Guilds' Conclave three days ago even mentioned it as a rumor. And if the Skulkers don't know of it, it doesn't exist! Ha ha ha."
Interesting stuff! Thinly started to stand up to hear better.
"Of course you haven't heard of it. When I said underground, I meant just that," smirked the one called Eid. "There are cells in lots of worlds, but the HQ is in Si..."
"Hey!" yelled the second speaker. "We've got a snoop here!" He pointed to Thinly and all three lasered such hostile gazes in his direction that he immediately sank back to the ground.
Before he could croak out reassurance that he wasn't a spy, the three flickered and disappeared.
Thinly stood up and looked around. Not a sound was heard, no movements seen in the darkness. Except...
...those "things" wiggling on the horizon...
As he watched, they rose higher, followed by mounds of...heads!. Vibrant eyes peered over the earth's edge. Bulging heads swayed on thin necks, snouts lifted skyward. Pointy mandibles flailed at the air in a scratch-and-sniff experiment. Suddenly all those heads bent their beady gazes in his direction.
Inwardly Thinly cursed the laziness that led him to forgo bathing for the past month.
Episode 3: Skulks
Arrrgh!
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