1-08 Sleepy Slug

Horatio stood in the center of the group holding his palm open. STEVE! and Augusta stood looking at the stopwatch cleverly disguised as Fligbug. The five-dimensional being, however, was cleverly disguised as a four-dimensional sleeping slug. This made it very difficult to do anything at all.   "Do you think they are asleep?" suggested Augusta.   Horatio shrugged. "He usually is. I mean, 'they' usually is. Are." He frowned. "This change in pronouns is very confusing."   The three of them stopped talking and looked at each other with very confused expressions as if they had all just experienced a small earthquake, but inside their heads.   "STEVE! WANTS TO KNOW WHAT THAT WAS."   Augusta nodded. "For a moment there, it was like we were outside of ourselves just now."   Horatio's eyes lit up delighted. "A fourth-wall distortion! You both felt it, didn't you?" He peered down into his hand. The concept of Fligbug and the idea of a sleeping slug merged right in front of their eyes. The trilling of the five-dimensional being vibrated chromatically again.   "I think they've found what they are looking for, Professor. You mentioned you needed a musician? Or was it a mechanic?"   "Ah, yes. I need an Orphic-tinker. You were right, my dear, concerning a need for some manner of vehicle of independent locomotion. Our dear Fligbug is rather hard to awaken at just the right time, and should our adventures require—hmmm—hasty departure, coaxing him into a wakeful state would not be ideal."   "STEVE! REMEMBERS THE PROFESSOR SPOKE OF A SWEET RIDE. STEVE! IS VERY INTERESTED IN THIS PART. HAVE YOU LOCATED SUCH A VEHICLE, HARRY?"   Augusta looked at them both suspiciously. "Why is there this feeling in the pit of my stomach that there is a dubious answer to that?"   Horatio's eyes twinkled as he shrugged. "Perhaps STEVE!'s cooking?"   Augusta frowned. "And your deflection of the answer isn't making me feel better in the least."   "First thing's first. I do believe we need to capture a consciousness before it extinguishes. The last I checked, the man of interest, a certain Biin Hejj of one of the outer unstable universes is about to die. Which is good for us but probably rather unpleasant for him."   "Die?" Augusta put her hands on her hips exasperated. "How in the world is that going to be 'a good thing' for anyone, especially this Bin guy?"   "Biin," Horatio corrected her. "Hejj. Like the bushes betwixt suburban properties."   "Whatever! We have to go rescue him before he dies!"   "Well, I do agree that he does need rescuing from that gawd-aweful 1½-dimensional universe, but he really does need to die."   Augusta groaned even more frustrated and she threw her hands up into the air. "Why can't you just give me a straight response sometimes?" She picked up her orange kitten, Itchy, and stroked him furiously. Itchy responded with an innocent and loud purr. "Alright. I'll indulge you, you egomaniac. Why must Biin Hejj die?"   "It's a dimensional thing, deary. He's been so used to living his whole life in just a scant 1½ of them, going up to a full third might make him go insane! Well... 'insaner', might be the more appropriate word. Is that a word?"   STEVE! shrugged at Horatio, who shrugged at STEVE!   Augusta let out a loud, frustrated sigh. "Fine. Regardless, it sounds like we need to get there soon. So...how do we do it?"   They all gathered around Horatio's open palm where sat a little elaborately etched stopwatch. Horatio tickled it, but it didn't respond.   A full minute passed as they all stared until someone finally spoke up.   "STEVE! IS HAVING DÉJÀ VU."