The Dimension Wanderer *HIATUS*

Chapter Twelve ~oh so rosy~

The engines of the Rosy Dumpster, as Hazen affectionately called his ship, neither roared nor quite purred to life, but instead sort of lazily belched, or really splurted awake. Aelia hadn't known that "splurting" was a noise in existence, but after hearing the Rosy's engines, there could be no other noise to describe it. Hazen was sitting at the control panel, which could hardly be called such a thing. It was a jumble of colorful wires and power boxes, as well as a giant keyboard, above which stretched a blank, blue screen. A window above the panel looked out onto the street, and headphones dangled from the ceiling- probably to block out the splurting more to relay any sound. An empty chips bag was abandoned on the keyboard, and balls of paper and various wrappers greeted Aelia's eyes. It wasn't a very appealing place, but still Kellan ogled at it with unabashed fascination. He loved it.

Aelia smiled. Of course he loved it.

She sat on a small stool next to some sort of workbench. She felt rather inclined to peek into the drawers(the amount of curious junk one could find in a drawer was endless, and the contents often tattled on the character who had placed them there. Empty drawers were boring.), but she resisted the urge and instead surveyed the rest of the Rosy's interior décor. The whole ship was only large enough for perhaps three (short) people to lay across the length of it, and two across the width. Though why people would ever be compelled to get cozy with the filthy floor was beyond her. The builder hadn't tried to hide that it had been made from any metal junk available, and welded together without expertise.

Kellan stroked the machine's wall rather reverently. "Did you make this ship?"

"It's all my handiwork, baby," Hazen said, and then laughed, briefly touching two wires together with gloved hands and such obvious glee in his eyes that Aelia nearly felt she should be concerned.

The ship jolted in its rise from the ground, and Sierra accidently stumbled against Aelia. The girls exchanged a look. Yup, Aelia was very concerned.

"Let's get somewhere safe- then we'll talk and sort out this mess!" Hazen shouted above the ongoing splurting. "Hang on tight! Rosy isn't the smoothest ride." He fiddled with wires, typed a few letters of code on the keyboard, and jammed the headphones over his ears. "Here we go!"

Hazen whooped for joy and Aelia gripped the workbench with white knuckles as the Rosy splurted up, and splurted forward. The only thing to be heard above the splurting was shrieking from Sierra, among various "Christian curse words," as she grabbed Hazen's chair for balance and proceeded to scream at him.

The next full three quarters of an hour consisted of splurting, Aelia holding on for dear life, Sierra unwillingly quieting down and clutching to the pilot's chair with stormy blue eyes and a barely contained fury, Kellan staring dreamily around the ship, Bongo standing passively underneath a stool, quiet and as inconspicuous as a fingered penguin can be, and Hazen grinning and rooting around the control panel for bits of wire like a madman enjoying his newest experiment. He'd enjoy that metaphor. Aelia did not. Experiment implied the ship was not fully tested or with all safety precautions.

They finally landed with a small bump in yet another alley, as far as Aelia could tell. Crumbling cement and street lamps whose bulbs had long ago burned out looked the same to her through the narrow window. The splurting sang itself a clumsy, unharmonious lullaby and the Rosy Dumpster grumbled itself to sleep.

Hazen spun around in his chair to face them, hands spread. "Sorry I couldn't land us in a more scenic place." He scratched the back of his neck awkwardly. "I'm not well-liked around here."

"You have to teach me how to fly this thing!" Kellan didn't seem to be concerned by much in his equal parts scientist and nerd mode. Not by the men in suits who had recently been holding a gun to his head, not by the fact they were in a different world. He could care less about the problems of life and death when science and cool flying ships were involved. Practically nothing could break him out of his trance of bliss now. "That was-"