Opus Path II

"I'm going to throw you into the deep end," Lesh said.  "Hope you're not too squeamish."

"I've literally seen people explode," Josh replied.

Lesh gave him an odd look, but then shrugged.  "Well, good.  Because you're going to be working in the slaughter area."

"Such fun," Samantha added, dryly.

"It's not as dangerous as it used to be."  He led them along the main walkway, which led up the middle of the warehouse, between many pits full of Beppo.  "However, it's not entirely risk free.  This lot aren't so big, so it's a good time to start."

"Yay," Josh muttered, looking down a pit with Beppo the size of suitcases.  They were all sitting still, which meant, according to what he had just learned, they'd eaten recently.  He wondered what they fed the big ones, possibly each other, he speculated, as there weren't so many of the creatures in this particular pit.

Before he could ask, Lesh gestured ahead, at a set of doors.  "We keep the slaughter area separate from the main area," he explained, taking a left turn along another walkway.
 
There was a pit, on right side, full of Beppo about the size of large dogs, moving sluggishly.  Unlike the other pits, this one had a metal gate of some kind set into the far wall. 

"The waiting area," Lesh explained.  Through the gate is a tunnel, which leads to, well, you'll see."

They followed him through the door, to a cleared area outside.  The main feature was a pit.  Not such a large one this time, and no more than half a metre deep.  It did, however, feature a cage, hanging above it from a sturdy rope, itself attached to a kind of mini-crane, made of solid, black, wood.

The pit had a small tunnel leading into it, which, Josh surmised, was the other end of the one that started inside.  An older man and a middle-aged woman were working on the far side, sorting through a large box of tools.

"Hey," Lesh waved at them.  "Have some trainees for you."  He nodded his head at Josh and Samantha.

"Excellent," the woman said, standing up and wiping her forehead.  Josh estimated she was about forty, with straggly white hair.  She was wearing a short, dirty, top, black trousers and boots.  Her exposed midriff was of Olympic athlete level fitness though, and her arms were pure muscle.

"Josh, Sam, this is Rinna and Gregg.  They'll show you the ropes."

"Yay," Samantha said, evidencing a lack of enthusiasm.

Gregg was a portly fellow, older, maybe sixty, wearing a once-nice suit, now ragged.  His hair was long and unkept.  For some reason he reminded Josh of a pirate.

"You're just in time," Rinna said.  "Come over here, let's show you how it's done."  She waved a hand in the air.  A signal, Josh assumed, as they made their way over to the indicated spot.  There was a grinding noise, and the cage on the rope lowered over the pit.

Rinna reached back into a pile Josh hadn't noticed before, and pulled a couple of handfuls of something from it, throwing it down into the pit.

"Bait," she said, winking at him.

The smell hit Josh then.  The same, musty kind of smell that was inside the warehouse, but more... raw.  More brutal, somehow.

He peered over at the mound Rinna had pulled the bait from, and realised it was just one of several piles.  It took a moment or two to realise what they consisted of, and when he did, he choked a bit.

"Are those piles..." Sanantha asked.

"Yes, Beppo."  Rinna grinned.

Beppo parts might have been a better description.  One, the pile that she had taken the bait from, was a kind of very dark red meat.  Beppo meat.  There were other piles too, of the same substance.  And a few different ones too.  Josh identified one pile as chitin, and another of their strange leg-tube things.  He was distracted from further examination by Gregg, speaking for the first time.

"Here one comes," he grunted.

Josh turned towards the pit.  Rinna and Gregg were standing on opposite sides of it, holding sturdy looking spears.  Both were made of the dark wood, and both were tipped with a shiny silver, lethally sharp, tip.  A rope was attached to the end of the spear, and lay in a coil on the ground behind them.

From the tunnel came one of the Beppo that Josh had seen in the 'waiting area' inside.  As soon as it was in the pit, a metal hatch dropped down behind it, cutting off escape.

The Beppo, ignoring everything else, slid over to the bait, and, using its front two tubetacles, began shoving the meat of its fallen companion into its mouth.

It didn't eat much.  With practiced ease, both Rinna and Gregg drove their spears into it. 

Gregg's penetrated the body of the creature, and Rinna's the head, both piercing the chitin at vulnerable joints with a gruesome crunching.

The Beppo let out a brief, high pitched, squeal, and collapsed. 
Both Rinna and Gregg pulled back on their spears, withdrawing them from the corpse.

"Here's where you have to be careful," Rinna explained. "They can be cunning, and incredibly resilient, these things.  Sometimes they'll pretend to be dead.  If they do pretend, and you let your guard down, things could go badly."  She prodded the creature with her spear again, near its mouth.

"Generally, if you mess with its mouth, and it's still alive, it will judder.  Not a certainty, but mostly, especially for these smaller ones.  The bigger ones, they are far more intelligent.  Far more dangerous."

Gregg grunted, and looked over at Rinna, who nodded. 

"I think we're good with this one," she said.  "How about you two put it over there."  She indicated a clear area to one side, featuring a sturdy looking bench.

"Us?" Samantha asked.

"Have to start somewhere."  Rinna gave her a wicked grin.

"Come on," Josh said, and plodded forward. 

The two of them approached the dead thing carefully, the recent warnings ringing in Josh's ears.  There was no movement from the Beppo though.  Hopefully it really was dead.

Making a face, Josh walked around it, indicating Samantha should take the opposite side.  They bent down and slid their hands under the carcass.  Josh noted there was little to no blood around the injuries.

Trying not to think about what he was doing, Josh lifted the thing, Samantha following suite.  Beppo, Josh soon discovered, were remarkably heavy.

Staggering over to the bench, they managed to heave the carcass onto the work surface, where Gregg was waiting, holding a metal bar, sharpened at one end.

"Upside down please."  Gregg gestured, and then stood back and waited while the two struggled to upturn the thing.

"Very good," the older man said, when they had finally managed the task.  He hefted the sharp iron bar and grinned at them.  "Now, for the messy part."


"Are we bored yet?"

Josh let out a startled cry, and his spear went wide, missing the Bebo's head entirely. 

"What the hell are you doing?" Samantha screamed at him, having thrust her own weapon into the body of the beetle-like creature, which was now thrashing around inside the pit, squealing.

"It's the... Narrator," Josh said, struggling to regain his spear, which the Beppo had grabbed with its two front tubetacles, and was trying to pull from his hands.

"It's been three days now since our so called 'hero'," the Narrator made the speech marks sign with his hands, "joined the ranks of the dull and bland beetle stabbers.  When, I hear you ask, is he going to get on with his quest?"

"Shit," Josh swore, still wrestling with the Beppo.

"Do something!" Samantha screamed at him.

"I'm trying," he screamed back.

"Whilst the nights are full of erotic action with his lusty and buxom companion, no complaints there at all."  Josh glanced up from his struggles to see the purple clad man leer at Samantha.  "We have to endure this during the day."  He gestured at the, admittedly, not very exciting terrain. "Well, fear not!  Things are about to get much more interesting!"

Josh was distracted for a moment, as Samantha yanked her spear out of the body of the Beppo and plunged it into the creature's head area.  The thing gave a loud screech and slumped to the ground, releasing Josh's weapon at the same time.  He staggered backwards.

"If that doesn't kill them, then there are, of course, the Beppo," the Narrator was explaining, gesticulating wildly at whomever he spoke to.  "Finally, there's Gerald of course, if they survive that long."

"What's he saying?" Samantha asked, panting.

"Bad things," Josh replied.

"How long will we have to wait?  I hear you ask," the Narrator went on.  The man turned and looked out over the ground, back in the direction of the nearby Green.  "Not long now.  Not long at all."

Then he was gone.

"That doesn't sound promising," Josh gasped.

He wiped his hands on his clothes, which were far less tidy than they had been three days ago, covered with Beppo residue, dust, and just general dirt from the Hamlet of the Damned.   He scowled at his appearance.  The two of them had discussed simply moving on, up to this guardian everyone was so intent on telling them not to see.  However, if they left their job, Lesh had made it clear they wouldn't be welcome back, and, as they had a day off every five days, they had decided to wait until their rest period to explore, to keep their options open, and a roof over their heads.  At least until they knew more.

This had meant three days, so far, of Beppo butchering.  It wasn't a pleasant, or easy, job that was for sure, but at least he had the nights in the hut with Samantha.  The life of Beppo killer was turning out to be a hard, simple one, but not without pleasures.

"What doesn't sound promising?" Samanta padded over to him.

"It sounded like something was coming from the Green."  Josh stood on tiptoe and held his hand up to shield his eyes from the sun.   "Do they look like clouds to you?"

Samantha joined his scanning, and then gave a little gasp.

"What?"

"Fuck, I think it's a Blight storm," she said.

"A what now?"

"Remember the whole reason you are here?" she asked.  "Blight killing off, well, everything?"

"The Blight is a storm?"

"It's one manifestation of it, and a powerful one too.  Lesh has never mentioned them out here though.  We'd better warn the others.  Oh!"

Josh had seen it too.  The dark clouds on the horizon were now spitting out red lightning, bolts that struck repeatedly, almost brutally, down to the earth below.

"There must have been something, or someone, there," Samantha said.  "The Blightning will attack anything alive.  We need to hurry, get everyone under cover, if there is any nearby."

"The huts aren't enough?" Josh asked, as they jogged towards the warehouse door.  He still had his Beppo spear, and for a moment, considered throwing it away, but decided to hold onto it for now, it was a solid weapon. 

"Maybe, but Blightning has been known to cave in reenforced bunkers before now, if the storm is bad enough.  Maybe there are some caves nearby.  Underground is better, it doesn't seem to detect things through the earth.  Hey!"  She waved at two citizens of the hamlet who happened to be working nearby.  "There's a Blight storm coming!  We need to get to cover!"

They ran along the now familiar walkways to the office area, to the third one along, and burst through the door.

Lesh was sitting behind his desk, which was buried so deep in paperwork it was no longer actually visible. 

"Lesh, Blight storm!" gasped Samantha.

"What?  No!  Impossible, the Blight hasn't reached this far!" he growled.  "It can't cross the Green."

"Okay, well, you can sit here and finish your tax returns," Josh added.  "Just tell us there are some caves nearby."

"Caves, yes, nearby, not so much.  There is some shelter near the base of the pass, but that's at least twenty minutes' walk."  He stood up.  "Are you serious about a Blight storm?"

"No, we just wanted to take our holiday early," Samantha scowled.  "Come on Josh, let's leave them to it."

Grabbing his hand, she pulled him out of the office, leaving Lesh cursing behind them.

"Our bags are in the hut!  Our supplies," Josh said.  "Do we have time?" 

Samantha nodded.  "Come on."

They ran back out of the warehouse, into a very different world to the one they had left mere minutes ago.

The sky in the direction of the Green was now on fire.  Red bolts of lightning, or Blightning as Samantha had called it, repeatedly struck the ground below. Rolls of thunder continuously filled the air, and the sunlight was fading fast, as a vast, dark grey-blue churning bank of cloud was rolling in over them.

"Fuck!" Samantha gasped, as they sprinted towards their hut which, luckily, was away from the approaching storm.

They barged into their small residence, grabbed their rucksacks, and flew out again.  Running like mad, towards the mountains.

There were explosions behind them, and Josh spared a glance, just in time to see the warehouse hit by several red bolts, collapsing part of the roof and some of the walls.  After-images seared his eyeballs, and he staggered slightly. 

"Come on!  Don't look back!" Samantha urged, although not before he saw a single, massive, blast take out their recently vacated hut, sending stone shrapnel flying.

"Shit, I had good memories in that hut," he panted.

They staggered on, distracted a minute later by screams. 

Glancing back once again, Josh saw a swarm of Beppo flooding out of the wreckage of the warehouse.  The creatures were fighting amongst themselves, but he saw a group of them catch up to the small goblin creature and overwhelm it.

"Shit!  Run faster!" he screamed.

Chased now by both Beppo and the storm, they fled for their lives, towards the mountains that looked impossibly distant.

Josh moaned.

"I don't want to die!"

>>>>
Very well folks, thought it was time to action it up a bit.  Sorry for the delay in getting this out, been struck down with some flu or virus this last week. 
Anyhoo, ideas for how they survive this always welcome! 
And, as always, thanks for reading!
<<<<

Josh awoke, slowly and painfully.

His head was agony.  Someone, overnight, had apparently beaten it repeatedly against a wall.

"Fuck," he croaked. 

Opening his eyes, he took in his situation, to try and assess who had tortured him.

...and found his naked self tangled up with a delightfully, and equally naked, Samantha.  Their limbs were intertwined in the most wonderful way. 

"Oh," he gasped.  She felt fantastically, erotically, smooth and soft, and he moaned slightly at the contradiction in stimuli.

A third stimuli intruded.

"Fuck," he repeated, and, with the greatest reluctance, he disentangled himself from her – she just muttered something in her sleep and shifted slightly – and slid off the simple, low bed they were lying on, landing on a smooth, cold, stone floor.

"Fuck fuck fuck." 

He scuttled towards the outline of light filtering in around a crudely made door.  Pushing it open, with some urgency now, he staggered outside, making it to a small patch of nearby straggly shrubbery before violently throwing up.

There wasn't much to throw up, it turned out, so he spent most of the minute heaving, until, finally, his stomach stopped complaining to some degree.  Wiping at his mouth, and gasping, he struggled upright and immediately had to make another use of the poor, abused bush.

Only after his bladder was empty, did he manage to look around and take in his surroundings.

He was in the Hamlet of the Damned of course.  Standing utterly naked outside one of the huts, the one that Lesh had directed them to the previous evening, he now remembered.  The hut that he and Samantha had stumbled into and spent several strenuous, but highly enjoyable, hours of sweaty, intense fornication in.

"Woah, go me," Josh croaked to himself.

"Mornin' neighbour."  One of his fellow dwellers, the tall thin woman – Liz – he remembered her name was, strolled by, nodding at him in a civil fashion, totally ignoring the fact he was standing there, stark bollock naked.

"Morning," he replied, nodding back politely as she strolled on, towards the warehouse structure on the other side of the community.
 
There was a noise from behind him, and he stepped to one side as the wonderful, still naked, form of Samantha burst out of their hut.

She saw the bushes, lurched towards them in much the same way Josh had, and, in much the same way Josh had, proceeded to add the contents of her own stomach to his.

"Oh fuck!" she got out, as the spew finally subsided.

"Morning," Josh said, calmly.

"Shit," she replied.  "Don't look!" she added, as she squatted down, next to where he had made toilet.

"Sure."  Josh turned around, partly at her request, but partly to hide his body's reaction to the sight of her nudity.

There were various noises, which Josh tried not to listen to, as he attempted to reduce his physical reaction. 

By the time Samantha had finished, he had managed to subdue himself to enough of a degree that he felt he could turn and face her.  He didn't though.

"By the Universe, what do they make that Beppos out of?" Samantha said.  "Hey, turn around and look at me.  Don't be shy."

"It seems that's not a thing here," muttered Josh, as he turned to face her.  "Oh."

"Oh?"

"You're so hot," he stammered.  She was standing there, naked as the day she was born, and glorious. 

Samantha gave him an evil smile, and sauntered towards him.  "You liked last night, big boy?" she asked, rubbing her super silky body against his, totally undoing the last minute of work on his lower regions.

"I... I..." Josh shut up as she kissed him, a long, passionate, if rather smelly, kiss.

"Oh my word!" he panted, once they parted.

"Someone's excited," she giggled, fondling his downstairs, which felt like it about to explode.

"I..."

"Mornin' folks." 
"You have to be kidding me," muttered Josh, as Lesh appeared on the scene.

"If you're going to live here, y'all need to contribute," the man said, giving Samantha a slow look up and down.  She simply smiled back, apparently unphased by this attention.

Josh felt his lower half begin to deflate again, although there was still some conflict, being next to the naked girl of his dreams.

"What do we need to do?" Samantha asked.  "We're no freeloaders."

"Good t' hear," Lesh said.  "Get yourself dressed and meet us over at the big building."  He nodded to the warehouse.

"We shall be there soon."

"Yeah, I bet."  With a wink at Josh, and a final leer at Samantha's delectable form, he trudged off.

"So," Samantha said.  "Apparently, we have to go to work.  Maybe, though, we can be a little late, as it's our first day?"

Her hand roamed down his body, and she pressed her more than adequate bosoms against his chest. 

Josh simply grunted, and dragged her, giggling, back to their hut.


"Do you hear that?" Josh asked.

It was a good hour later.  An hour filled with strenuous, but not at all arduous, activity of the flesh. 

Josh was a little weak kneed, but otherwise felt on top of the world.  Better, in fact, than he had felt since he had been yanked from his own universe.  Probably better than he had felt in his own universe.

They were walking towards the warehouse that seemed to be such a dominant force in the hamlet, and from which a strange, high pitched, squealing could be heard coming from, albeit at a low volume.

"Yes," Samantha replied, frowning slightly.  "Oh, look who it is."

"Here they are."  The large door to the warehouse swung open, and Lesh walked towards them.

"Reporting for duty," Samantha replied.

"Let's give you a tour then."

Lesh gestured at the large door he'd just come through, and they followed him in.

"Oh I say." 

Josh stopped dead as the interior of the large building was revealed.

He hadn't envisioned what could be inside, but whatever he could have, it wouldn't have included this.

The first thing that hit him was the smell.  An overwhelming, not entirely unpleasant, dry, musky odour, which seemed to immediately infiltrate his clothing and skin.

The building itself was almost all open plan, which meant most of the large space was just that, one giant, open area.  The far wall had what appeared to be offices lining it, three stories worth, with sturdy wooden walkways outside them, overlooking the floor below.  Hanging at various heights, on metal chains from the ceiling overhead, were lights, illuminated by an undetermined power source. 
What they cast their luminance on was, basically, some kind of bizarre farm.

The ground was riddled with large square pits, several metres deep and from two to about fifteen meters square, or rectangular in many cases.  Running between them were walkways.  Various members of the community strode on these walkways, doing whatever they did.

In the pits was the source of the high-pitched squealing that Josh had heard outside.  It came from swarms of beetle-like creatures.
He took a better look, down at the pit nearest to him.

They were, mostly, a dull black.  The resemblance to beetles, possibly dung beetles – his insect knowledge was not advanced – was fairly strong.  They had the look, with a hard carapace, with not two, but three tentacles sprouting from their forward regions.  The main difference seemed to be with the legs.  They weren't the stick-like legs he would expect from his world, but more like tentacles, without the suckers perhaps.  Maybe flexible tubes would be a better description.  Two pairs of four tubetacles on each side of each Beppo, tubetacles that allowed the creatures to scramble around in a very nimble fashion.

As he watched, the thin woman, Liz, standing on the walkway above, tipped a bag of red dust into the pit.

The Beppos went mad, scrambling over each other to reach their food, snatching at it with the forward pair of tubetacles and stuffing it into mouths, he saw, that were lined with horrifically sharp, tiny, teeth.

"What the fuck?" Josh asked.

"Never seen a Beppo before?" Lesh asked.

"I...  No.  No I have not."

"They're a miracle," he replied.  "I know, look like beetles, a bit, yes?"

Josh nodded, slowly.

"And yet they are the foundation of this place, the Barrens.  Without them, there is no way we could like."

"The Barrens?" Samantha asked, gazing at the Beppo swarming over their red food.

"What we call the mountain area here," Lesh explained.  "It has a reasonable level of rain, but not a great deal else.  There are the Wurms of course, but they're deep underground for the most part, which is for the best.  But the Beppo, they can eat, they do eat, anything that is even remotely edible.  As far as we know, there's nothing that can poison them."

"You farm them?" Samantha asked.

"The red fruit, outside, did you see it?" 

Josh and Samantha both nodded.

"Horribly poisonous to, well, pretty much anything really.  However, easy and fast growing.  Doesn't need much water, and a wonderful source of food for the Beppo.  They scoff it down, no problem.  A bite of it would kill just about anything else."  He nodded at the nearest pit.  "These are fairly young ones.  They grow as they get older.  If they had enough food, they would grow to massive proportions, but we slaughter them before they get too large."

Lesh leaned over and looked down at the swarming creatures for a few moments more.

"A few tips," he went on.  "The faster they move, the hungrier they are.  Don't, whatever you do, let them bite you.  They are venomous.  Their venom both numbs pain and puts you to sleep.  It's highly valued, and, of course, dangerous to harvest.  Hence, valuable as fuck.  Oh, it's what we make the Beppos out of as well."

"The booze?" Josh asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Potent stuff, yes?" Lesh winked at him, and rolled his eyes at Samantha.

"Fuck."

"Exactly.  If we weren't trapped here, we'd be beyond rich.  No one farms Beppo like the Edge."

"Okay."  Josh made a face.

"So, if they are still, or slow moving, they're full.  They eat, then sit and digest their food.  As they become hungrier, they become more active.  If we didn't feed them, they would fight, and eat each other, until there was only one left."

"How do they reproduce?" Samantha asked, still looking into the pit.

"They have queens.  Giant Beppo, pinkish in colour usually.  We have two here, one on each side of the building, as far away from each other as we can get them.  They would fight to the death if they could get to each other."

"So, this is what we do?" Josh asked.

"Yes.  Feed, manage, butcher them, harvest their meat, their chitin and, of course, their venom.  We eat them, and even trade with the Valley for essential items on occasion.  They are what keep us alive, and I mean that literally.  Without Beppo, we would be dead."

"You trade with the Dark Valley?" Samantha asked, perking up.

"Yes, but don't get any ideas.  They send a small flying machine, we load it up, and it zooms back to the Valley.  It stops by the guardian too, to be checked over, so even if you could fit inside, it wouldn't do you any good.  Sorry, you're stuck here."

"Very well."  Samantha pulled a thoughtful face for a minute, but finally turned and looked at the man. 

"Very well then, where do we start?"


>>>>
Alrighty then, another, not so action-packed episode, but one has to move things along sometimes like this. 
Anyway, bearing in mind their lack of access to advanced machines, or even not-so advanced machines, ideas for how the Edge folk butcher and harvest the Beppo are welcome!  Also, any other comments and ideas of course.
As always, thanks for reading.
<<<<

"This is not as easy as it appears on TV," Josh said.

"What's TV?" 

"It's... ow, fuck!"  Josh sucked at his thumb, where one of the, as it turned out, very sharp plants that they were using for cover, had stabbed him.  "Never mind.  This isn't going well."

"I don't know, we're quite close now, and I don't think anyone's seen us."

"Is there anyone to see us?"

"Yes, it doesn't look busy, does it?"

They were near the group of buildings now.  And whether they warranted the definition of village was seriously in question. 
 
The huts, as he could now define them, were round, of slightly varying sizes, but all built in the same style, which was of stones, obviously of local origin, carefully placed on top of each other.  The rooves were made of some kind of grey slate material, arranged in a low cone shape. 

There were probably only about twenty or so of them, and they seemed to be centred around what looked to be a traditional well, complete with winch and bucket, which was resting on a kind of lid, made of wooden planks.

The only two other points of interest were on the opposite side of the hamlet.  One was a much larger building, in a more traditional rectangular shape, although constructed in a similar fashion.  Josh decided it was some kind of primitive warehouse.

Next to that was an area of, comparatively, lush greenery.  Some kind of plant growing in soil that was considerably more fertile than the surrounding area.  Red fruit, or vegetables, could be seen in clusters on some of the taller plants.

There was a distinct lack of movement within the area though, at least until Josh spotted someone moving near the warehouse.  He prodded Samantha, and nodded at the being.

She nodded back, indicating she had already noted it.  Well, she probably had, he thought.

They'd reached the end of their cover, but still crawled forward to better observe the settlement.

"New here, eh?"

A voice made Josh jump, and roll over, hands extended, in case he needed to attack or defend.

Samatha had had a similar reaction, and was laying on her back, gun pointed at the man looking casually down at them.  He was leaning on some kind of rake.

"Now then, now then," the villager said, apparently unperturbed by their hostile pose.  "No need for all that.  We're all survivors together here, on the Edge."

Josh slowly lowered his hands, and Samantha, after a slightly longer pause, did the same with her weapon.  Feeling slightly foolish, Josh stood up and dusted himself off.

"Hello there," he said.  "Sorry.  Can't be too careful, you know?"

"Aye.  I reckon I do."

The man was, from Josh's human viewpoint, about sixty years old.  He was about the same height, but had the wiry, muscular, frame of someone who has to work hard every day just to survive.  He was quite heavily tanned too, along the same lines. 

The man pulled at the wide brimmed, straw-like, hat he was wearing.  "Name's Lesh," he said.  "You'll have crossed the Green then, I take it?  Remember who you are do you?"

He put his hand into a pocket of the dark brown dungarees he was wearing and pulled something out, which he put into his mouth and chewed on. 

"What is this place?" Samantha asked, having joined Josh in the upright position, and holstered her gun.

"This," Lesh said, gesturing at the small settlement, "is the Hamlet of the Damned.  WoOOoOoOO."

"Woo?" Samantha asked, raising an eyebrow.

"That bit was for effect," Lesh said.  "It's a refuge for those expelled from the valley, and also for those who make it over the Green.  Not many of those.  Well done."

"Wait, expelled from the valley?  You mean the Dark Valley?" Samantha asked.

"The one and only."

"Why don't you just sneak back?" Josh asked.

Lesh smiled.  "The Guardian.  Hope you like this place, 'cos you're never leaving."


The arrival of Josh and Samantha in the Hamlet of the Damned, as they really did call the place, was apparently a cause for celebration.
The entire settlement had turned out, although, as this consisted of about a dozen beings, it perhaps wasn't the party it could have been.

The inhabitants of the hamlet were mostly human, but there was a three legged creature, who called herself Tasha, and a short green, and fairly ugly, person, who was, allegedly, a real goblin.
The party included some much welcome food and even some sort of booze, which, to Josh's mind, was even more welcome.  It had been a minute.

"So, what's the story?" he asked Lesh, after drinking several cups, which were made from some of the local clay apparently, of fairly intense clear liquid.  His head was already spinning a little.  "You said you had been exiled from the Valley?"

Lesh took a bite of one of the dark red meat patties that, along with a few strands of greenish straggly vegetable, made up the total variety of the makeshift buffet.

Josh was standing close to Samantha, who, in his inebriated state, was looking more and more attractive by the minute. 

"As I said.  Most of us have been thrown out.  Some because they committed horrible crimes, some because they disagreed with the policies there.  Only Liz there," he pointed to an older woman who was sniffing at her drink, "and Jhxy," he indicated the youngest of the group, an incredibly tall, thin male with long black hair, "came from the Green."

"And what was your crime?" Samantha asked, glaring at Lesh.  "To be evacuated from the Dark Valley?"

Lesh glared back, unperturbed, before replying.  "That's my own business," he said.  "Just as your business is your own.  We don't ask questions here, on the edge of the Green."

"What's this guardian you mentioned?" Josh piped up, not eager to rile the locals and possibly get thrown out of the only friendly place he's seen in a long time.  One which also had booze.

Lesh shook his head.  "Don't even think about it.  That thing is designed to stop any and all.  You're not getting to the Valley unless you can fly over the sheer cliffs between us."

"It's close?" Samantha asked, in a slightly less hostile tone.

"Aye, maybe a day or so by foot."  Lesh nodded.

"I assume there's a path then?"

"Oh yes.  The only passage through the mountains to the Valley is that way."  He pointed north, towards the towering peaks.  "But you go there, you won't come back.  No one has."

"Maybe those that didn't, got through?"  Samantha suggested.

"If only."  Lesh shook his head sadly, and took a deep swig of his drink.  "But let's not dwell eh?  Come on, try another Beppo cake, and let me refill your cup.  Beppos is the only thing that keeps life here liveable, I swear."

"The food and drink are from the same thing?"  Samantha asked, emptying her cup, and staggering slightly.

"Yep," Lesh was swaying slightly himself.  "Beppo are what we live off.  The only thing keeping us alive.  Dark Valley too, for that matter.  Nothing could live here without Beppo."

They half walked, half staggered, over to the low table where the food, now much depleted, and drink, even more so, were set out.
 
A Beppo cake later, and several more cups of Beppos, loosened Josh up quite considerably.  Apparently Samantha wasn't immune either, and the two of them spent several pleasant minutes getting intimate near the edge of the party before Lesh staggered up.

"There, that one," he said, pointing to a hut on the outer area of the settlement.

"Wha?"  Josh blinked several times. 

"That one is you... your two's.  Your hut.  Welcome t... to the Hamlet.  See you tomorrow."  Without waiting for a reply, he staggered off.
Josh looked at Samantha, who gave him a lopsided grin in return.

"Shall we?" he asked.

"I don't know what they make this Beppos out of," she slurred back.  "But yes."

She grabbed his arm and started pulling him along to the hut that had been indicated.  "Come on, you're about to get lucky."

"All right then."

>>>>
Sorry, bit of a short one, but hey, at least we're still going eh?

Now, I know, or think I know, what the 'Beppo' are, but I'm always happy to hear what other people think they/it are/is, 'cause my reality can always change, at least until the next episode!

Thanks for reading!
<<<<

Josh and Samantha, and their two new followers, went on, towards the mountains.
As they travelled, he tried to get more information from the Greens, as they called themselves, apparently their names weren't written in the Memories, but to no avail.  They were almost as confused as he was, even though the memories of how, and why, he was there, had returned.
Somewhere about noon, as best as he could judge it, as they were sitting on the Green taking a rest, there was an explosion of purple.
"He still lives, our hero!"  The Narrator announced, to whomever he spoke to.  "And somehow he has gained new followers, pathetic examples of beings who have surrendered to the Green."
"Please go away," Josh said. 
Samantha looked up, a puzzled expression on her face.  "What?"
"The Narrator is back," he replied, gesturing, although he was fairly sure she couldn't see the man.
"And our hero remembers, finally!" the Narrator announced.  "Perhaps he will survive this place after all!  Perhaps, once again, we shall have something interesting to view, rather than this dull place.  Perhaps he will, against the odds, escape!"
"Please stop saying perhaps," Josh moaned.
The Narrator ignored him, and unusually, glanced down and to the side, and Josh had the impression he was looking at something he couldn't see. 
"Indeed!" the narrator went on.  "The odds of imminent death have been slashed!  This isn't over yet!  The mountains beckon!  And of course, the path to the Dark Valley isn't entirely clear!"
"What's he saying?" Samantha asked, just as the odd fellow vanished.
"Some good, some not," he replied, looking up at the sun, which had just swerved to the right.  "Come on, I really want to get out of this place."
"I totally agree," she said.
Picking up their bags, they carried on.  The hills, to what Josh had decided to call north, were getting closer at least, although he didn't think they would make it before nightfall, which meant another memory loss.
"What if one of us stayed awake?" he asked Samantha.
"You won't," the female Green interjected.  "You will always fall asleep.  It is the Green."
Samantha shrugged.  "Voice of experience there."
"Bah," Josh said, and plodded onwards.
His prediction came true, as the sun slowly sunk towards the horizon, long before they arrived at the hills.
"I think we should write a new note," he said to Samantha.
"I think our friends are already on the job."  She pointed at the two surviving Greens, who were busy scribbling in their book of memories.
"Even so," he said, and then paused, looking at her.
"What?" she asked.
"You remember our... kiss?"
Samamtha sighed, and then gave him a smile.  "I wondered if you would remember that."
"It's etched into my memory, even here," he said.
"And as I said then, let's get out of here first."  She pinched his cheek.  "For an all powerful saviour, you do have a certain cuteness."
"How many all powerful saviours have you met?" he asked, which, at least, made her laugh.
oOo
He woke up laying on a sheet.  To his left, snoring slightly, was an attractive woman.  To his right, and a little way away, another woman, who looked like she was being slowly taken over by a plant, was also asleep.  Beyond her, a large green being was slumped over a cart.
"Wha...?"  He shook his head, and then noticed a note attached to his wrist.  He read it, and then shivered, as a rush of memories swept over him.
"Who are you?" Samantha scrabbled away, having just woken up.
"No, it's okay.  Here," he passed the note to her.  "Read this."
oOo
"Finally!" Samantha said.
"Agreed," Josh agreed.
It had been four days.  Four days walking towards the hills to the north.  Four nights sleeping out in the open on the Green.  Four mornings of confusion, nullified, mostly, by detailed notes.
And after those four days, and Josh had to wonder how long they had really been on the Green, the end was here, or very nearly at least.
They may not have made it at all if they hadn't met their new followers, who showed them how to, at certain spots, dig into the earth, to find strange, bulbous roots, swollen with water.  The pack they had brought with them had given out three days ago.
Food had been harder to come by, and they had been reduced to rooting for grubs, and the occasionally plant, again, pointed out by his new followers, who made him uncomfortable with their devotion to 'The One', as they insisted on calling him.
"Let's hope there is some kind of civilisation there," moaned Josh.  He patted his belly, of which was considerably less of than when they had set off.  "I'm slowly starving to death here."
The Green was, at long last, beginning to lose its dominance.  Patches of lighter, or more 'normal', straggly grass interrupted the continual surface now, and here and there it faded altogether, to be replaced by dark, sandy, earth.
"Oh dear," muttered the Green woman, stumbling slightly as she walked over one of these patches.
"What is it?" Josh asked.
"I don't feel so good," she replied.
"The Green..." muttered her companion.  "It... it no longer sustains."  He too, faltered.
"Look, I don't want you guys to drop dead on me here," Josh said, seizing the opportunity to ditch his unwanted followers.  "Maybe you should stay here, on the Green."
"I don't know," the woman said, but then hesitated as she stepped on another patch of earth, and winced.
"I can't have you dying on me," Josh went on.  "Listen, why don't you go back, just a little way, and wait for us to return?  We will need your help if we come back this way."
The Greens looked at each other, and then back at him, but then the woman nodded. 
"Very well," she said. "We shall write of the Great Jox in the Memories, and wait upon your return."
"Thank you."  Josh patted her on the shoulder.  "I shall not forget your contribution to the, er, cause.  Please, in the Memories, put I am pleased with you both.  You are loyal to the Green."
"Thank you," they both said, and bowed, which made him feel a totally heel. 
"Go now," he added, nodding back at the Green.  Just enough for you to be safe, please.  Do what you must to survive."
"We always do.  Farewell, for now."
So saying they both turned back, and started out south again, back to the Green that had taken hold of them so thoroughly.
"We're not coming back this way, are we?" Samantha asked in a low voice, once they had travelled some distance away.
"Not if I can possibly help it," he muttered back.  "Now, come on, let's get out of here."
"No argument from me," she replied.
They headed north, towards solid, non-Green, ground.
oOo
Alone again, the two of them plodded onwards, finally leaving behind the plains, and exchanging it for a semi-arid landscape, which was mostly hard, sandy ground interspersed with the occasional rocky outpost, and a few patches of straggly grass.
"I hope we get somewhere a bit less dry soon," Samantha said.  "We have very little water left." 
"The hills don't look too far away now, at least," Josh said.  "Hey, shall we take a break?  There are a few rocks over there to sit on."
"Why not? I could use a drink," she replied.
"Shouldn't we ration the water?" he asked, as they shucked off their packs and settled themselves on the low boulders.
"No, best to use the water, sparingly perhaps, but as needed," she replied.  "Trust me, I've been trained in this sort of thing."
"Fair enough."  Josh handed over the waterskin, which had been partly refilled from the liquid filled balloon-roots dug up in the Green.
Whilst Samantha swigged the water, he dug about in the other pack, checking on their remaining supplies.  Right at the bottom he discovered a shiny metallic egg object. 
Frowning, he pulled it out. 
"What's that?" Samantha asked, putting down the waterskin.
"It looks familiar somehow. I just don't remember..."  He tapped it thoughtfully, and then nearly dropped it as the skin peeled away, rather like a flower, to reveal a small, round sparkly sphere resting inside.  Two eyes - tiny green gems - peered up, whilst a small, illuminated line below animated as a melodic voice spoke.
"You found me in the Between," the egg said.
"Holy shit!"   Josh nearly dropped the thing again.
"What is that?" Samantha stepped close and peered down at the thing.
"My name is Panic," it said.
"Sorry, what?"  Josh asked.
"Personal Alternative Neural Intelligence Companion. PANIC."
"Oh.  I see.  Well, hello Panic.  Nice to meet you, I'm Jo... Jox, and this is Samantha."
"Captain Samantha Miller," she corrected.
"Hello Jo Jox, Captain Samantha Miller," the thing replied.  "Nice to meet you."
"What are you?" Josh asked.
"I am an Alternative Intelligence comrade, as the name would suggest," it replied.  "I am the most advanced intelligence produced on my planet, which, it appears, is not this one."
"I've been carrying you for, well, ages.  Why haven't you said anything?" Josh asked.
"You've not activated me before, also, I had to absorb the language of this realm."
"But everyone speaks the same language here," Samantha said.  "No one has to learn it."
"And doesn't that strike you as odd?" Panic replied.
"I..." Samantha stopped speaking, and frowned.
"Can you help us?" Josh asked.
"Of course, I am very advanced," Panic replied.
"We need water, food, shelter," Josh said. 
"I shall scan the area."
"Okay."  Josh looked at Samantha, and the two waited.
And waited.
"How long will this scan take?" he asked, eventually.
"Oh, I have limited range.  You will need to keep moving."
"Fantastic."  Samanthas sighed.  "Come on, let's get going."
They packed their gear and started walking towards the hills again.  Josh put Panic in his pocket.
The sun beat down upon them as they walked, making the two sweat heavily, and stop more often than they liked to drink the remaining Green water. 
"It's going to be gone soon," Josh pointed out, shaking the bag.
Samantha shrugged.  "Nothing we can do except go on."
They walked on.
"I'm sorry," Josh said, eventually.
"For what?"
"For dragging you into this.  For this whole expedition over the Green, to the Dark Valley, into this place, whatever it is, where we're probably going to die."
Samantha smiled and moved closer. 
He stopped, and she put her arms around him, and then next thing he knew, they were kissing again.  Deeply, passionately.
"Shelter located."
"What?" Josh pulled back, reluctantly, and looked at the AI egg thing.  Samantha felt warm and soft in his arms, and he couldn't remember ever being as happy as he was at that moment.
"Shelter located," Panic repeated.
"Where?"
"Approximately two hundred metres..."  The AI paused. "I have no frame of reference.  However, in the direction you were walking, slightly to the right."
"Oh."  Samantha released Josh, and looked over the sandy ground.  "Yes!  I can see something."
Josh, taking a deep breath, and feeling suddenly lonely and cold, looked in the direction indicated, and saw some low buildings, squatting in amongst the rocks of the landscape.  He couldn't make out any real detail, but there seemed to be a good dozen or so of them.  What they were made of was unclear."
"Well done Panic," he said, half sarcastically.
"You are welcome," it replied.
"Mmm."  He looked at Samantha, who smiled.  "I suggest we approach with some caution.   Who knows if they're friendly or not?"
She nodded.  "Let's take the roundabout route then."  She pointed at some dry brush, over to the right, which would provide some cover.
"Aye aye Captain."  Josh saluted.

>>>>
Well then, finally, off the Green.  But a village!  Need ideas for who/what lives there!  Are they friendly?  Hostile?  Are they in the middle of a civil war?  Are they green with 20 legs?  Who knows?
Maybe you do! 
Please tell me!
<<<<

"Well, what do you know?" she snarled.

"I know you're pointing a gun at me for no reason," he pointed out.

"You had me tied up!"  The woman gestured at the rope.  "Maybe I was your captive."

"Why would I leave you with your gun if you were my captive?" he pointed out, quite reasonably.  "Maybe I was your captive."

"I..."  The woman lowered her gun, looking confused. "I don't know who I am.  I don't know where I am!"  She looked around, at the green expanse.

"Yeah lady, that makes two of us."  He stood up and tried to stretch the aches and pains out of his joints, before looking around.  There were two backpacks in the hole.  One looked like it contained water.  He stooped down to pick it up.

"What are you doing?"  the woman asked.

"I'm thirsty.  This looks like it has water in."
 
"Oh.  Well.  Pass it over when you're done then."  To his immense relief, she holstered her pistol whilst he recovered the bags.

The one he had spotted did, it turned out, to be mostly a large water skin.  He turned a spigot near the base, and then lifted it up to drink the liquid that dribbled out. 

"Hey, don't drink it all!" the woman said.

"Sorry."  He wiped his mouth and handed her the pack.

Whilst she quenched her thirst, he recovered the second pack, and gave it a quick once over.  There were a number of supplies in it, as well as a sheet of paper with some writing on.  Before he could read it though, the woman interrupted him.

"Those people don't look well," she said.

He glanced at her, and then in the direction she was looking, which turned out to be the group he'd spotted earlier.  They were much closer now, and he could make out three figures, one of which was pulling some kind of cart.  Squinting, he saw what the woman meant.
 
All three were wearing long green, somewhat tatty, robes.  Two looked human, whilst the third, who was the one pulling the cart, was an enormous green skinned being.  Both humans were male, one very tall and thin, whilst the other was female, with long black hair.  The tall human was using a long, pale, staff as a kind of walking stick.

All of them had black lines under their skin, like some kind of subdermal plant, and, where the tendrils had spread, the travellers had become splotchy green, or in the case of the large fellow, even more so.

"They look half zombified," he muttered, retreating to stand slightly behind her.

"What are you doing?" she asked.

"From these packs I'd say we were travelling together, and you're the one with the gun, so..."  He shrugged.

"Fine."

They stood and waited as the three approached.

"That's far enough," the woman shouted, once they neared the other side of the hole.  "Who are you, and what are you doing here?"

"Hail," the tall one shouted back.  "Blessings of the Green be upon you!"

"Blessings of the Green!  The Green will sustain," the other two intoned, as one. 

He looked at the woman, who raised an eyebrow.

"Yes, that's nice.  Can you tell us where we are?" she asked.

"Why, you are on the Green of course," the tall man replied.  "Blessed is the..."

"Yes, yes, blessed is the Green," she interrupted, before they could kick off again.  "And where, exactly, on the Green are we?"

This seemed to throw the man for a second.  "You are on The Green," he repeated.  "Glory to the Green, for it sustains!"

"Glory to the Green!" the other two chanted.

"They're nuts," he muttered to her.

"Well, it was lovely meeting you," she shouted, "but we'll be heading off now.  You have a nice day."

"Oh, but no, you must join us," the tall man said, raising his staff.

"No, no, I don't think we must."  She put her hand on her gun.

"Don't worry, the Green will sust..."

"Sustain, yes, yes, we heard you.  All the same, I think not."  The woman pulled her gun out and held it, although pointed down.

"No.  You will."  The tall man pointed his staff, and a bolt of white light flashed across, hitting the woman and knocking her backwards onto the grass.

"Hey!" he shouted, turning and going for her gun, which she had dropped.

"Don't move," the tall man said, striding forward and raising his staff.

"Fuck you," he said, putting his hands up to defend himself.

There was a flash of blue lightning, which leaped from his upraised palm to strike the tall man in the middle of the chest, blowing him several metres backwards.  He landed hard on the green, a small crater smoking in his torso.

"Shit," Josh said.  "Shit!  I remember my name!  Don't come any closer!" he said, pointing at the other two.  "Unless you want the same."  He looked at the woman.  He still didn't remember what she was called, but he had a feeling she was on his team.  Maybe even a girlfriend?  She was cute.

Putting those feelings aside for a moment, he knelt down and shook her shoulder.  "Hey, you okay?"

She groaned and looked up at him.  Her eyes were really pretty, he noted.

"What happened?" 

"You were hit by tall man's staff.  Don't worry, I took care of it.  Here."  He passed her her gun and helped her upright.

Josh looked over at the surviving two travellers.  Instead of lamenting over their dead friend, they were frantically looking through a large book and pointing at passages within.

"What are they doing?"

"I have no idea.  My name's Jo... Jox by they way."  Something in his confused and addled memory told him this was important.

"Nice.  What's my name then?"

"I don't know.  I think we were travelling together.  We may even be a couple."  He smiled, more in hope than anything.

"Are you certain? I'm not sure you're hot enough for me."

"Well, I'm not going to argue there," Josh replied. "You're at least a nine."

"I don't know what that means.  Oh..."  She looked over at the two strangers, who seemed to have come to some conclusion.

"What?" Josh asked.

"You are the One!" the woman declared.  "All hail the One!"

"Okay."  Josh looked at the woman, who shrugged.

"What do you mean, the One?" Josh asked.

"It is written in the Memories," the large green said, jabbing a giant finger at a page in the book they had been poring over.  "For he who shall wield the Blue is the One, and they shall be the author of great change, the likes of which has never been seen before," he quoted.  Looking back up at Josh he nodded.  "You are the One.  And yet, this was written many Greens ago.  Many, many Greens.  It is the most sacred prophesy.  All hail the One!" 

Both of them fell to their knees and prostrated themselves towards Josh.  "All hail the One!" they chanted again, for good measure.

"Wow, you certainly have a strong impact on people," the woman said, holstering her gun.  "Still not sure you're hot enough for me though."

Josh just frowned.  "Explain these Memories to me," he asked the two quivering beings on the ground.

Both looked up.  "This," the woman said, hefting the large book, is a written account of all Greens, spanning... well, a long, long time."

"Okay."  Josh frowned, and marched around the hole to stand closer to the two.  They both sat up as he approached. "Explain to me two things.  Firstly, who, or what, are the Greens?"

"We are the Greens," the woman said.  "We belong to this place.  We wander the plains, looking for others to carry the Memories."

"Right, and, two, the Memories are what, exactly?" Josh asked.

"Exactly that," the green man replied, tapping the book. "If you stay in the Green, you will forget everything, who you are, what you are, where you are.  Every night, anything new is written in the book.  So, when we awake the next day, we know who we are.  The Memories are from the many Greens who have come before us, for whilst the Green sustains, it doesn't sustain forever, and, after some time, we must, in turn, sustain it."

"I think I see."  Josh scratched his head and remembered something.  "Hold on."  He marched back to the woman, and dug through the bag he had found in the hole with him, pulling the paper he'd seen before out, and reading it out loud.

"You are on the Plains of Never.  It makes you forget who you are.  Your real name is Josh, but you must use Jox.  The pretty lady next to you is Samantha."  The writing changed at this point, to add: "She is not your girlfriend."

"Told you," Samanth said, smugly.  "Oh, wait..."  she held her hand to her head and staggered back slightly.

Follow the compass.  You must get over the plains."  Josh finished off.

"I... I remember!"  Samantha looked at him.  "Josh!  Oh fuck!  We could have..."

"Ended up being a Green?" he finished her sentence.

"We have to get to those mountains, get off this plain."


"No arguments there," he said. 

"We shall follow the One," their two new companions said, together.

"Great," Josh said, dryly.


>>>>

Very well, shorter episode this time.  So, our heroes are heading off the Green, and back towards the Dark Valley.  Of course, the DV isn't right there.  There has to be some other feature they will have to encounter first.  What I would like to know is... what, exactly?  A tribe of sentient dead?  Another geographical oddity?  Wandering drunkards?  Savage beasts?  A malicious salesperson?

All and any ideas welcome!  Glory to the Green!  The Green Sustains!

<<<<

"The Dark Valley is forbidden to residents of To," Samantha explained.  "The main way to get there is a road through the mountains, through a pass, which is blocked by His Grace's orders.  Not even I could get through there."
"Shit."  Josh scratched his chin.  "Wait, you said the main way, is there another?"
"Well, yes and no."
"Now you're just being cryptic."
"Fine."  Samantha sighed.  "In theory it's on the other side of the Plain of Never."
"Sounds a little ominous."
"That's because no one who sets out over it ever comes back."
"And there's no getting over these mountains?"
"They're very steep, icy cold and inhabited by creatures who eat people.  So, no, not really."
"Yet your contact is there?"
"He was exiled, a long time ago now.  His Grace used to use the Dark Valley as somewhere to send prisoners."
"A kind of Australia, I see.  And what changed?"
Samantha shrugged.  "It was a long time ago.  I think perhaps he's more confident in his power these days.  Now he just executes people.  Easier and cheaper."
"Throws them to the carrots, eh?  Yeah.  Okay, well, what's your suggestion then?" 
"I've told you already, go to His Grace."
"Not happening.  Damn."  Josh scowled.  "How far is this Never place?"
oOo
It was two days later.  Two days of hard travelling by carriage.
They dropped off the driver at an outpost early on, and then Samantha had taught Josh how to drive the thing.  After that they took turns travelling along a series of roads and paths, some smooth, broad and well paved, others muddy tracks barely wide enough to get the vehicle down.
Josh also discovered that the sun in To rose from different directions, and sometimes veered 'off course' during the day. It made things very confusing.
"You get used to it," Samantha said, at one point, when they had pulled over in a grassy area for something to eat.  The carriage had several days' worth of white blocks, with the consistency of fudge, tightly wrapped in waxed brown paper.  Army provisions, she called them. 
They weren't unpleasant to eat, and came in various, random, flavours, none of which Josh could identify.   
"How can anyone tell the direction they're travelling in though?" he asked, biting down on a block and chewing thoughtfully.  It tasted a little like banana mixed with bacon.
"The stars, at night," she replied, eating a block of her own.  "They are always the same.  You line them up with some landmark and then head in that direction during the day.  Or you can use a compass."  Putting down her food, she rummaged around in a pouch on her belt for a second, finally pulling out a small round device, attached to a chain, which she handed to Josh.
It looked like fairly normal, old fashioned, compass, except the quarters were marked with four symbols he didn't recognise.  One was red.  There was a small button on the side as well.  He raised an eyebrow at Samantha.
"You press and hold the button, and aim the red glyph in the direction you wish to go.  The needle will slowly align to it.  When it does, you release the button, and from then on, the needle will point in the direction you have chosen."  She took another, large, bite of her block, and chewed industriously.
"Handy."  Josh passed it back to her.
She replaced the device, and picked up a metal bottle, one of several that had been in their transport.  "We're nearly out of water, keep an eye out for a stream or something."
Josh nodded, and took another mouthful of banana-bacon.
The water was replenished later that day, when they pulled over near a body of water, some lake, Samantha hadn't known the name of it.  In any case, Josh parked the carriage behind some trees, out of view of the road, and the two had spent a not very comfortable night sleeping on the seats, inside the cabin.
The next day was spent travelling on a fairly straight, but rather bumpy, stone road.  At one point a small group of men in dark robes, the only other people they'd seen, stood in the road ahead of them.  Josh, who was driving, called out to Samantha, who, without any hesitation at all, leaned out of the window and fired her pistol at them. 
"Don't stop!" she called up.
The group had scattered in any case, and they proceeded, unmolested.
The road ran into a hilly area, and Josh had to slow down slightly as it wound around some tight turns, and then started to head down. 
Finally, they drove over a brow of a hill, to look down onto a village, maybe a small town, surrounded by fields of purple and yellow crops, below.
"That's Never," Samantha said, peering out of the window when Josh paused the carriage.  "Look beyond."
Josh looked.  Beyond the town, an expanse of level green stretched as far as the eye could see.  The Plains of Never.
Samantha waved at him, and he kicked the carriage into motion again.  Driving carefully and slowly, they made their way down into the town, which was a bustling place, resembling a kind of medieval village with advanced alien technology mixed into it. 
Eventually, Samantha indicated an area that looked a lot like a car park.  Josh turned into it, and pulled the carriage up near the far corner.
"So, we're here," she said, climbing out of the cabin. 
"And what do we do now?" Josh asked, stretching his legs.  It had been a long and rather harrowing journey.
"Open that hatch there."  She pointed at a small latch on the back wall Josh hadn't noticed before.  He did as he was directed.
The latch sprung open to reveal a small leather pouch inside.
"Take it out."
Josh reached in and extracted it.  He pulled the small bag open and looked inside.  There was a large quantity of small, shiny, purple counters.  He looked at Samantha and shrugged.
"Purples," she replied.  When he looked blankly at her, she explained further.  "Money."
"Oh," he said.  "How much, and what are we buying?"
"We're going to need supplies if we're going to be insane enough to try crossing the plain.  This will buy us those supplies."
"Fair enough," Josh said.  "Let's go shopping then."
It took another day and a half of preparation, buying supplies, clothing, equipment from the numerous shops that had been, apparently, set up specifically for this very thing.  Samantha had treated them to a small hotel for the night, using her purples. 
"May as well have one good night of rest," she explained. 
Josh wasn't about to argue, although he was a little disappointed when she got them single rooms.
The next day, after a well needed wash and a nice breakfast, they took the gear they had bought, and set out for the plains, until finally, they stood on the edge of the seemingly never-ending expanse.
Josh looked at Samantha, who was setting the compass in their intended direction of travel.  Finally she nodded, and slipped the chain around her neck, so it hung in front of her.
"Ready?" she asked.
"Ready as I'll ever be," he replied.
"Then let's go."
They went.
oOo
The first few days went without incident.  Samantha had used their 'purples' to good effect in the town, and the compact supplies served them well.   More rations, of a similar fashion to those in the carriage, sustained them, as well as water that Josh carried in a large skin container on his back. 
At night Samantha unrolled a tent, which was just large enough for them to sleep in, although Josh was finding it difficult to be in such close proximity to her.  He could smell her body in the tent.  Yes, she was sweaty, but he was falling for her more and more. Even though they barely spoke, concentrating on their footing as they trekked their way over the endless green, spongy, grass that made up the Plains of Never.   It felt a little like the Middle, without the fog.
He woke up on the morning of the third day and frowned.  There was a woman, an attractive woman, he had to admit, sleeping next to him.
"I..." he started.
The female woke up and looked at him with big, attractive, eyes.  "You okay Jo... Jox?" she asked.
He frowned.  Jox?  Was that his name?
"Are you okay?" she repeated, frowning.
"Is... Jox my name?"  he asked.  He rubbed his head, which was throbbing.
"Jox!  You're scaring me!" 
"I..."  Josh shook his head. "Sorry, sorry!  I don't know what happened there.  I just... wow, that was weird."
"What happened?" Samantha asked, pulling herself out of the covers they had bought for the trip.
Josh was distracted for a moment by the very delectable body of Samantha in the rather flimsy shirt that she slept in.
"Yeah, sorry.  I must have been half asleep.  I couldn't remember who I was.  Really odd."  He rubbed his head.
"No, let's not assume that," she said.
"What do you mean?" he asked looking at the side of the tent.
"This place is somewhere that no one ever returns from.  Anything could be the cause of that.  I suggest we take precautions from now on.  What did you feel like, when you woke up?"
"I... I couldn't remember who I was.  Or you, for that matter."
"Maybe it's what this place does.  Imagine.  You wake up, and you can't remember anything?  What would happen?"
Josh thought about it, and nodded.  "Nothing good."
"Right, so we need to be prepared."  She sat up, dropping the cover.
"Oh my fuck," Josh said.
"What?"
"Give me a minute, I need to... use the toilet."  Josh scrambled out of the tent, his hands over his crotch.
oOo
"Who are you?"  He was in a small tent, next to an, admittedly, very attractive woman.
"Are you looking at my tits?"  The female pulled her sleeping bag up to her chin.
"I... Hold on, what's this?"  There was a piece of paper with bold black writing on it, next to him.  He picked it up.
"You are on the Plains of Never," he read out loud.  "It makes you forget who you are.  Your real name is Josh, but you must use Jox.  The pretty lady next to you is Samantha."  The writing changed at this point, adding: "She is not your girlfriend."  Josh, or Jox as he had to be called, looked up at her for a moment, and then continued reading.  "Follow the compass.  You must get over the plains."
He put the paper down, and then reeled, as memories came flooding back.
"Wow, it happened again." 
Samantha was gasping herself.  "Oh my word!" she said.  "Yes, at least reading that label out seems to kick start our memories."
"Let's get going," Josh said.  "The sooner we're out of here, the better."
They scrambled out of their tent, and went through their by-now well practiced morning routine, although maybe a little faster than usual, and soon, after Samantha had checked their direction on the compass, they set off, munching on some ration blocks as they walked.
"How long do you think we've been walking?" Josh asked, after some time.
"I think... four days?  Maybe five?  Oh my gosh!" She put a hand over her mouth.  "I have no idea!"
"It's just, I had a shave in the hotel, and, well, look."  He pointed at the beard that was accumulating on his chin.  "And the rations are lower than four or five days too.  We're actually running short."
"But we remember!" Samantha pointed out.
"We remember this morning.  Do you remember yesterday?  Setting up the tent?"
"I..."  She frowned, which looked cute on her.  "I don't know."
"Exactly.  We're in trouble.  The water is a lot lighter, we've nearly had it all.  Does it ever rain here?"
"I've no idea."  She was looking worried now. 
"So, what can we do?" Josh asked.
"There's nothing we can do.  You've said it yourself, the water is getting low.  We'll never be able to walk all the way back without running out.  We have to continue and hope for the best."
"Onwards it is then."  Josh made a face, and sped up his pace a little.
Whether by chance or destiny, some time later Samantha gasped and pointed.  "Look!"
Josh, who had been plodding on, face down, looked into the distance, where she was indicating, and his face broke out into a grin.
Ahead, still many miles away, just barely visible, dark hills could be seen.
"Yes!" he shouted, and impulsively hugged Samantha.
She did the same, and they both jumped up and down, only to stop suddenly, as they both realised their faces were very close to each other. 
"I..." Josh started to say.
She stopped him by kissing him. 
For several seconds Josh was in heaven, but then it ended abruptly, as she pulled suddenly away.
"I..." he started again.
"No, never mind. Not now.  That would be a mistake," she panted, looking flushed.
"Didn't feel like a mistake."
"Nevertheless," she shook her head.  "I have to maintain discipline."  She stood still and looked at him.  "We will... reevaluate this later, but first, we need to get to safety, agreed?" 
Josh looked at the distant hills, and nodded.
"Agreed."
"Let's go then."
Spurred on by the possibility of finally getting off the plain, they started walking again, at a faster pace than before.
The hills didn't look much closer an hour or so later, when they paused to take a drink.  In fact, when Josh looked again, they seemed to be slowly disappearing.
"What's happening?" he gestured.
Samantha squinted for a few seconds.  "It's a storm," she said eventually, "a big one too."
"Now it rains," muttered Josh.
"Yes.  Come on, let's keep going."
So they set off once more, but it wasn't long before the wind started to pick up, and visibility started to drop drastically.
"This isn't good," Josh had to raise his voice over the rising gale. 
"No, look, let's set the tent up now, get into shelter," she replied.
"Agreed." 
Samantha slipped the tent bag off her back, and, with some difficulty, they got the tent out, struggling to set it up in the ever-increasing wind. 
Then, just as Josh thought they had it, and enormous gust yanked the thing out of their hands and took it away, high into the air.
"Fuck!" screamed Josh, and started to go after it, only to be held back by Samantha.
"No," she cried in his ear, "you'll never catch it, and we don't want to lose each other.  Here."  She pulled a short rope out of her bag, which they hadn't used thus far, and passed him one end.  "Tie it around you," she said, wrapping the other end around her own waist.  "Make it secure."
"Good idea!"  Josh busied himself with the rope, and soon they were linked.
"Come on, if we can't get shelter, we should keep going!"  Josh could barely hear Samantha over the gale. 
He nodded, and they set off again, leaning into the wind and, soon after, the rain.
"Fuck fuck fuck," Josh muttered.  His jacket had a hood, which he pulled over his head, but the clothes they had bought, whilst practical, weren't waterproof enough to keep them dry in a torrential downpour, which the storm soon became. 
As if that wasn't bad enough, lighting struck nearby, several times.
"We have to find some shelter!" screamed Josh.  "We're a magnet for lightning here!"
"Where?" Samantha screamed back, gesturing around at the flat plain.
"Fuck!" repeated Josh, and kicked at the ground.  Then, looking down, he kicked again.  He dropped to his knees, and began tugging at the turf loosened by his kick. 
It took some doing, and it was cold and wet, but he finally managed to yank the top layer of grass off, which peeled away like an old carpet, revealing dark earth below, into which he began to dig.
Samantha, seeing what he was doing, joined him, pulling out a short, stiff board that had helped support the tent and using it as a makeshift spade.
In a surprisingly short time, they had dug a small hole, which was hardly comfortable, but crawling into it, and snuggling up together, was a least warm.  Josh pulled some of the peeled away turf back over them too, to form a bit of a protective shelter.
"We're going to be very wet," Samantha said, the water will drain down into here.
"Better than being struck by lightning," he said. 
"I think so."  She put an arm around him, and he breathed deeply.  "Don't go getting any ideas," she added.
"But it's so romantic," he said, then jumped as another bolt of lighting crackled overhead.  "Shit."
He smiled, and then tried to straighten his leg a bit, unsuccessfully. 
So they lay there and listened to the rain and tried not to shiver too much as the rain trickled in.  It didn't seem likely, lying in a cramped, wet and claustrophobic hole, but finally, Josh fell asleep.
oOo"
He woke up, to find himself in a hole in the ground, cold, wet, stiff and very uncomfortable. 
"Fuck."  Struggling upright, he sat up and peered around.  He was on a green plain, which seemed to stretch on forever.  In one direction, some distance off, he could just about make out some low hills.  He looked down, to find a rope tied around his waist, the other end was lying loose, in the hole.
Crawling, painfully, out of the small pit, he stopped.  A young, and admittedly attractive, woman was pointing a gun at him.
"Who are you?" she asked.  "Why were we in a hole?"
"I'm..." he stopped.  He had absolutely no idea who he was.  "I don't know."
"And who are those people, are they your friends?"  She gestured with the gun behind him.
Swivelling around he could make out three, maybe four figures, some distance away, but definitely walking towards them. 
"I don't know!" he wailed.

>>>>
Right, sorry, that went on longer than I thought.  I didn't realise they would get hit by the weather. 
Anyhoo, obvi, need suggestions on who these people are, and if they are friendly or not.
Any other ideas as to what sort of environment the Dark Valley is, where it is, how to get there, etc.  also very welcome! 
As always, thanks for reading!
<<<<

"No, fuck this," Josh said.  "I don't want to go back to His Grace.  How do we find this Red Man?"
"I didn't say that I would lead you to him.  I work for His Grace, remember?"
"I get that, but I'm here against my will, you get that, right?  All this talk about me being a saviour, I've no idea about it."
"It doesn't matter, you are here, you are the Saviour," she said.
"Okay, okay." Josh held his hands out.  "How about, we find this Red Man, and then we go to His Grace, how does that sound?"
"The person who may be able to help us find the Red Man, he lives in the Dark Valley," Samantha replied.  "It's not easy to get to.  We should report in to His Grace first."
Josh pursed his lips, thinking.  Eventually he nodded.  "Fair enough."  Let's get back to the carriage."
"Good," Samantha said.  "Come on."
They resumed their trek back up the side of the crater, a tiring, but not impossible journey, and finally arrived at their waiting carriage.  The door was open, and the small driver could be seen sleeping in the back.
"Typical," muttered Samantha, accelerating her pace towards him.
This allowed Josh to come up behind her as she was berating the poor fellow in an unsuspecting fashion, and pull her pistol out of her holster before she realised what he as doing.
"Jox!" Samantha whirled around, but Josh retreated backwards, holding the gun on her.
"I don't want to have to do this Sam," he said.
"Jox, don't be silly!"  She stepped forward, and then stopped abruptly, as Josh fired into the ground at her feet.
"Sorry, really, sorry about this," he said, as she glared at him.  "But I can't go to see His Grace now."
"This is crazy, what they said back there, in the camp, it can't be true!" Samantha took a step forward, but Josh waved the gun about, and she stopped again.
"Maybe it is, maybe it isn't, but there's more to it than just that."
"What?  What else is there?"
"I... I'm sorry, really I am, but I can't tell you.  You may report it to him, and then, well, then I don't know what would happen.  I really want to tell you Sam, but I can't.  It's for your own protection too."
"I find that unlikely, what with you holding a gun on me and everything.  Why do you need a gun anyway?  You have your powers."
"I told you, I can't control them well.  If I try and stun you, which would be preferable, I may end up blowing you up or something instead.  With a gun, well, I can shoot you in the foot perhaps."
"That's so comforting.  I'm glad you only want to maim me."
"I don't!  Look, again, I'm sorry, but I need to go and see this Red Man.  Oh."
"You've just realised you don't know how to get to the Dark Valley, do you?"
"It doesn't matter, I'll ask someone."
Samantha sighed.  "Look, you can't do this.  I know you well enough by now, I think.  If you leave us here, we'll be trapped.  There's no way we can get back on foot, we don't have the supplies.  I doubt the Puritans will be willing to help either, and I'm not sure I'd even be able to get back into the hospital.  You're not a bad person, you wouldn't just leave us here to starve, or die some horrible death."
Josh held the gun silently for a minute, and then, slowly, lowered it. 
"Fuck it, you're right.  Here."  He handed it back to her.  "But I'm still not going to see His Grace, at least until I've seen this red chap.   You can take the carriage if you must, I'll find another way.  Maybe I can use my powers to fly or something."
Samantha re-holstered her gun and glared at him. 
"Shit," she said, finally.  "I can't leave you.  It's literally my job to look after you, not that I've been doing very well so far.  Fine.  We'll go and find the Red Man."
"You promise?"
"If you tell me this thing I don't know."
"I'll tell you if you swear by all you hold holy, or whatever, you won't tell anyone else.  And I mean anyone," Josh countered.
"Arg!"  Samantha stamped her foot.  "Fine.  Deal.  I so swear."
Josh looked at the driver.  "Sorry fellow, could you give us a minute?"
The tiny driver shrugged.  Josh wondered if he could actually talk, he'd never heard him say anything, but nodded as he climbed back up into the seating area at the back of the carriage. 
In the meantime, Josh took Samantha a little way away.
"So?" she asked, as he looked left and right, to ensure they were alone.
"I'm not Jox," he said, in a low voice.
"What?  What do you mean?  Of course you are!"
"Shhh, keep it down," he hissed. 
"There is literally no one here," she complained.  "Now, explain yourself."
So he did, describing his journey, his encounter with Jox, the foggy and terrifying trip in the Between, being saved by Arthur, up to him meeting her.
"So?" he asked, as she simply stared at him.
"I..."  She shook her head.  "I don't know what to say."
He shrugged.
"But you have the powers of Jox."
"And I'm as surprised as anyone.  Possibly more so."
"And this Narrator?  Does he know?"
"I have no idea, but from what he says, probably not."
"Well, shit."  Sam took several deep breaths.  "Let me think a minute." 
"Okay."
Josh watched her as she paced in a wide circle for several minutes, scowling and muttering to herself.  Eventually she stopped, and returned to stand in front of him.
"Right, I've decided that this doesn't make any difference, at least to our immediate situation."
"Okay."
"We go with the current plan, which I am now slightly more in favour of.  Perhaps this Red Man can shed a little more light on this whole thing.  I am beginning to feel that there's more to this than we know."
"I'll say," Josh agreed.
"So, you're really called Josh?" she asked.
"Yes, but please don't think that here.  Keep calling me Jox."
"I was intending to, I'm not entirely an idiot, despite being jumped by someone I thought I could trust.  Someone who was going to shoot me in the leg."
"The foot!"  Josh complained.  "And I probably wouldn't have managed to anyway.  I like you too much for that."  He blushed.
For a second she just glared at him, and then threw her hands in the air in defeat.  "Come on, we have to figure out how to get to the Dark Valley."  She started walking back to the carriage.
"You don't know?"  Josh hurried after her. 
"Maybe the driver will know a way."  She seemed to be talking more to herself now.
"What?  Why?  What's the problem here?"
She stopped.  "Sorry, sometimes I forget you don't know this world.  The Dark Valley is not easy to get to.  There's a major obstacle to reaching it."
"Okay, and what would that be then?"

>>>>
Gah, sorry, event this short episode took some squeezing out, but something is better than nothing yesno?  I know, it wasn't action packed either, but they can't all be, can they?
Now, obvi question here, but WTF is the obstacle getting to the Dark Valley?   A guardian?  Some form of befuddlement enchantment?  Some other weirdness? 
As usual, all suggestions welcome!
And as usual, thanks for reading.
<<<<

"Jox!  Come on!" the hand waved again.

"Well, why not?" Josh muttered to himself.  He changed course and walked towards the tent, surreptitiously glancing left and right to make sure none of the Puritans were looking at him.

The hand retreated, but the entrance was kept open a sliver, and then further, to allow him and Samantha inside.

"Welcome!"

Josh looked around the interior of the tent. 

It was large, but then that was pretty much the theme of the Puritans.  There was a dark, slightly worn, but serviceable carpet on the ground.  Scattered around the spacious interior were all the furnishings you would expect from a living space, only twice the usual size.

A wooden bed was in the far corner.  A kitchen type area in the second corner, with some kind of black metal, fuel burning stove exuding heat.  A pipe serving as a chimney exited through a hole in the side of the tent.

In a third corner a low table was surrounded by large bean bag seating whilst, finally the remaining corner was partitioned off, presumably to serve as a bathroom area.
 
The Puritan that had invited them in, if that was the correct description, was a female.  A very impressive looking female, Josh had to admit.  In his world she could have been described as a giant Amazonian. 

Long blonde hair tumbled over her shoulders in wild rivers.  An attractive face looked down at him, over a statuesque physic which would have stood out in any universe.  She was wearing something that looked like a sort of Roman Centurion uniform, which was highly stylised.  It took Josh a second to compose himself, despite, or possibly because of the fact that she loomed over him.

"Thank goodness you're here!" the giantess said, in what was probably a low voice for her.

"And you are, exactly?" he asked.

"I'm Alisia," she said.  "So good to finally meet you."  She held out a hand, which Josh just looked at.

"Oh, sorry."  Alisia looked at Samantha, distaste on her face.  "Can we speak, in private, please?"

"It's okay, she's with me," Josh said.

"She works for Him," Alisia said. 

"Look..." Josh started.

"It's okay," Samantha interrupted.  "I'll wait outside."  Before he could respond, she ducked back out of the tent.

"Good."  Alisia beckoned him over to the bean bag chairs.
 
After a moment's hesitation, Josh followed, and sat into one of the things.  His new friend slumped back into the one next to him in a far easier fashion.

"So, who are you, and what do you want?" he asked, shifting around, trying to get into a stable position.

Alisia glanced about and leaned forward.  "I work for the resistance," she informed him.  "I understand you met one of us in The Between, large green fellow, name of...?"  She looked at him.

"Oh, Arthur, yes."  Josh nodded.

She sighed, and relaxed slightly.  "Good.  Good.  Listen, we don't have a lot of time here."

"When do we ever?"  Josh scowled.

"Yes, well, listen.  His Grace is a danger to you.  He intends to, well, we're not sure what he actually intends, but we're fairly sure that it will mean your death."

"Okay?"

"This whole 'cure the world' thing they're saying, it's happened before, about a century ago."

"What?"

"Yes," Alisia nodded.  "And it was His Grace that brought someone into To to 'cure' it."  She made the speech marks gesture with her fingers.  "Except that 'hero'," again with the speech marks, "was never seen again."

"Did it cure the problem though?"

"Well, yes, but there's more to it than that, we think."

"Go on."

"We think that the cause of the whole problem is His Grace.  We think that, somehow, he causes the Blight, and then sucks in some poor sap, apologies, to cure it.  Then slowly, it gets worse again, and repeat."

"Well, that only happened once, right?  How come no one remembers this?"

Alisia slumped back. "That's the thing.  Collective memory seems to blank about that time.  It's only because of certain records that the resistance stumbled across that we know of it.  Plus, it happened so long ago, not many people from that period are still alive.  And there's more."

"Oh, good," Josh said, trying not to sound too sarcastic.

"We think that time, a hundred years ago, wasn't the first time.  There's some evidence of it happening at least once before, and even before that."

"And you think His Grace is responsible?"

"We think he is."

"But that would make him, what?  Three, four hundred years old?"

"We've done some research.  There is actually no record of anyone ruling To before him.  It's always been His Grace."

"Well, shit." 

Alisia nodded.  "Shit indeed.  In any case, that's what I had to tell you.  You should beware."

"Any idea how I get out of this fix?  Get back home?"

She shook her head.  "There are rumours of people getting back to their reality, but they are just rumours.  Sorry.  What I do know though, is someone who may be able to help you use your powers."

"Okay, finally some useful information."  Josh leaned, with some difficulty, forward.

"You need to seek out the Red Man."

"And where..."

Josh was interrupted by Samantha, poking her head into the tent.
"Josh, we have Puritans approaching.  We need to get out of here."
Alisia stood up.  "Yes, go.  Go quickly!"

Josh didn't need telling twice, he managed to extricate himself from the bean bag and rushed over to Samantha, and the exit.  Before he went out, he turned back to the giantess.

"What are you doing here, exactly?"

"I'm an agent here," she replied.  "No time to explain, go!"

Josh went.


They made it out of the Puritan army, which was a relief, but Josh didn't relax in any meaningful fashion until they had climbed halfway up the crater wall, where they stopped to catch their breath, sitting on boulders of obsidian on a small ledge.

Samantha had said nothing all the way, as both of them concentrated on getting away.  Now though, she looked at him.

"Tell me," she said.

"What?" 

"What she said, is it true?  Do you believe her?  Who is Arthur?"

"You were eavesdropping?  That wasn't very trusting of you!"

"It's my job.  Well, part of it.  Now, tell me."

Josh looked at the floor for a minute.

"Tell her," said a high pitched voice from his waist.

"Oh, shit!"  Josh jumped.  He'd forgotten about the egg.  "Are you okay?" he asked.

"I am fine. Tell her, you can trust her."

Nodding slowly to himself, Josh looked up at Samantha.

"I don't know," he said. "I'm lost here.  I have no idea what's going on.  I'm not even..." he stopped short, still unsure if he could tell her everything.  "I'm not even sure about my powers."  That was true enough.   "I never had anything back in my world, no one does."  He held up his hand, and squinted.  Blue sparks crackled along his fingers.

"How interesting," said the egg.

"Sure," he nodded again.   "Interesting."

"Egg," Samantha said.  "Is what the big woman said back there true, as far as you know?"

"I don't know for certain.  My race has a collective memory, but we've been cut off from this world most of the time," it replied.  "However, what was said matches the data we have."

"So His Grace is hundreds of years old?"  Samantha put a hand to her mouth.

"Possibly more than that," the egg said.

"Who is this Red Man?" she asked.

"I have no idea."

"Great."  She looked at Josh. 

"What?" he asked.

"I don't know what to do."

"Yeah, welcome to my world," he said.

"Maybe..." she stopped.

"What?"

"There's someone I know, they may know who the Red Man is."

"You would do that for me?  You're not going to turn me in?"

She smiled at him, a distant, unsure, smile.  "I like you Josh," she said, eventually, a statement that sent his heart racing. Before he could respond, she held up a finger.  "But I need to think some more on this.  You are supposed to be the cure for our ills.  If I'm wrong..."

"You're not."

"And our hero has escaped!"
 
Josh cried out and fell off his rock as the Narrator appeared once again, this time appearing to stand in mid-air.

"What?" Samantha asked.

"He has escaped from the clutches of the evil aliens, and even now returns to fulfil his destiny, and cure the people of To!  What a man, what a hero!  We must all look forward to him becoming our saviour, as has been foretold."

And, unusually for this being, he looked directly at Josh.  "He needs to become the hero we all know he is."

With that, he vanished.

"Fuck," said Josh.  "It was the Narrator."

"Really?  Here?"

"I told you, he appears anywhere!  He wasn't even standing on anything this time, but he did look at me."  He repeated what the strange being had said.

"He seems to think you should return to His Grace," she said.

"Yeah, no shit."

>>>>
Okay, getting too drunk to type now, so going to stop and ask...
What should we do now?  Try and seek our Red Man? (BTW Ideas for the Red Man more than welcome) or should he return to His Grace?  Or should he deliver the egg to where they told him to? Or all/any of them, in any order. 
F this, I'm too drunk.
<<<<

The doctor leaned forward, which made Josh twitch.
"We are scientists, and yet, ever since we crash landed here, we've been unable to venture forth, due to... well you are aware of those who surround us."
"Yes, we had to come through their siege," Josh replied.
"Indeed.  Whilst they are unable to penetrate our defences, we are unable to venture forth, which, scientifically speaking, is unsatisfying."
"Can't you negotiate with them?" Samantha asked.
The doctor creature heaved a deep sigh.
"Sadly, they are old enemies of ours.  They refuse all attempts at mediation.  We are unable to eradicate them, indeed, we are restrained by our sworn oaths to do such a thing. It's a stalemate.  We can replicate enough supplies to survive, but not much else, which is why you find us is such a state of disrepair."
"So, what do you need from us?" Josh asked.
"In return for a cure, we would like you to smuggle one of us out of here."
"I don't see how we could do that," Josh replied.  "I mean, no offence or anything, but you're not exactly small."
"No, but we have a plan."
"Isn't there any other way we could pay?" Samantha asked.
Several of the doctor's tentacles rubbed at his face.  "Well, we are always interested in other species.  If you would agree to mate, and produce an offspring, that would be acceptable too."
"I don't think we have that amount of time," Samantha said.
"I don't know," Josh interjected.  "I'd be willing to give it a go."  He looked over at Sam, who laughed, which wasn't the reaction he wanted to see.
"I'm not going to wait here for a year until I give birth, and then give my baby to you," she said, looking at the alien doctor and resting a hand on her gun.
"No, no, of course not," the doctor said. "And yet there are other means..."
"No," Samantha said, crossing her arms, and leaning back.
"So," Josh sighed. "Who's this fellow you want us to smuggle out?"
oOo
"I'm really going out?"
"Yes, yes.  Now, please, again, be quiet." 
Josh patted the egg that was slung inside the pack hanging from his belt.
"But it's so exciting!"
"I get it, but if they realise you are in there, you won't be getting out at all.  They'll be frying you up for breakfast, or something.  Okay?"
"I understand."  The egg's voice was more subdued this time.
"Egg-sellent," Josh sniggered.
"Don't!" Samantha frowned at him.
"Sorry, couldn't help it.  Oh, hello doc."
Josh stood up from the bench they had been led to, and had been sitting on, as the doctor slithered up again.
"Hello human.  Here is your medicine."  He handed Josh a small box.
Josh opened it, to reveal a single, green, pill inside.  "This is it?"
"That is it.  Just take orally, and your affliction will be cured."
"Cool."  Josh tipped the medicine out of the packet into his palm, and then threw it into his mouth.  "Mmm," he said, "minty."  He crunched the thing up and swallowed.
Seconds later a tingling feeling swept through his body. 
"Oh, it's working already," Samantha exclaimed, peering at his face.
"Wow, you do good stuff," Josh remarked.  He jumped up and down, and then stopped as the egg squealed. "Sorry, but wow, I feel great!  Better than before even!"
"Yes, Mathradoxin II includes certain invigorating vitamins and additives, at no extra charge."
"Weee!  I'm top of the world!" Josh felt giddy.
"I think you've made him high doc," Samantha said. 
The alien rubbed at his horrific face with a tentacle.  "Mmm, I will pass the feedback to our chemists.  Seems the human version will need to be slightly reformulated.  No matter, it will wear off in a short time.  I would wait here until it does before you venture outside again."
"We will."  Samantha pulled Josh back down onto the bench. 
"I will get a nurse to bring something for you to eat.  There are facilities there," he gestured with a tentacle at a door, "where you can clean up.  It has a machine that will work on your clothes too," he added.  "Again, no extra charge.  If you can get our comrade out, it will be a big thing for us."
"No problem doc!" Josh said, brightly.  He felt as if he were floating.
"I shall depart now and write up my report.  Someone will be along shortly with some sustenance.  Fare well humans, and good luck."
"You too doctor," Samantha said.  Josh just waved.
The alien slithered away, and Josh slumped on the bench.  Various colours were floating about in his vision.
"Are you okay?" Samantha asked, peering at him.
"You're really beautiful, you know that?"  Josh beamed at her.
"You're high, or something," she said.
"Doesn't make it not true. Oh, hello."
Another of the nightmare nurses was approaching, holding a large tray in a tentacle.
"At last, we manage to catch up!"
Josh jumped to his feet again, as the Narrator appeared next to him.
"Once more, we are here with our hero, in a dark and..."
"Who are you?" the nurse flicked a tentacle at the man.
"Wait, you can see him?" asked Josh, startled.
"Shit," said the Narrator, and vanished.
"What just happened?" asked Samantha.
"How did that being get in here?" the attendant asked Josh at the same time, simultaneously putting the tray down on a nearby table.
"You really saw him?"
"Of course."
"What are you two talking about?" Samantha was looking confused.
"I told you, there's a strange chap who keeps popping into my life and narrating it, like I'm some kind of story."
"No one can get in here," the nurse said.  "I need to report this." The creature turned and hurried off.
"What's happening?" The egg asked.
"I have no idea," Josh said, sagging back down.
"Tell me."  Samantha frowned at him, which made her look even cuter.
"Did I tell you already say that you're really cute?  And hot?"  He beamed at her.
She sighed, and sat down next to him.  "You're high on drugs, so I shall ignore your ramblings.  Now, tell me about this narrator person again."
"I keep telling you.  He pops in from nowhere and narrates what's happening."
"To you?"
"No, he seems to be talking to... I don't know."  Josh sagged.  Some of the nice feeling was beginning to wear off.  "Can we eat something?  This is all nothing if we can't get out of here."
"Very well."  Samantha gave him another Look, but then went over to the tray that had been left for them.  "Oh wow," she said, as she examined the dishes.  "This is my favourite food!  How did they know?"
"What do we have?"
Samantha brought a plate over to him, which turned out to be a full English breakfast, complete with runny fried egg."
"Shit," Josh said.  "This is like, my perfect breakfast.  Is it morning?"
Samantha made a noise, and shrugged, stuffing some kind of purple vegetable into her mouth.
"We know what you like, of course."  The egg in his pack chimed up.
"Well, how?" Josh asked, picking up a rasher of crispy bacon and stuffing it into his mouth. "Oh my fuck!  That is so good!"
"Our civilisation is very advanced," the egg replied.  "To us, you're just cookroaches."
"Cockroaches," Josh corrected, taking a bite of the tastiest fried bread he'd ever had. 
"Cock, cook, what's the difference?"
"Quite a lot, actually," Josh said, munching.
"Very well.  Are we leaving soon?"
Josh looked over at Samantha, who was still stuffing food into her face.  "Not long egg," he said.  "Not long."
oOo
"How are you feeling?" Samtha asked, as Josh exited the alien's bathroom.  "You certainly look better."  She looked him up and down, which sent a shiver up Josh's spine.  He was really beginning to fall for the captain.
He had just spent what must have been the better part of two hours showering, washing, scrubbing himself in the finest shower he'd ever been in.  The hospital aliens may look like something from a horror movie, but they certainly had facilities. 
Not without some trepidation he had followed some pictorial instructions and stuffed his clothes into a slot in the wall.  After he had showered, brushed his teeth, and stuck his head into a helmet-like device that had trimmed and styled his hair, he had emerged to find his clothes folded up on a small table.  They had been cleaned, pressed and were as good as new.  In fact, he'd have bet they were better than new. 
So now he was back in the dingy hallway, where Samantha had been looking after the pouch containing the egg, which they had been tasked with smuggling out of the place, as payment.
"Here," she said, passing the egg bag back over to him. 
"Thanks," he said, fastening it to his belt.  "Do you think they'll notice?"
"Just do as the doctor said, we'll be fine."
Josh didn't believe her, but it wasn't like they had a great deal of choice. 
"Is... is the Narrator here?" she asked, looking left and right.
"No, I've not seen him since the nurse spotted him.  I think they frightened him off, no one else had been able to see him."
"Why are you?  Able to see him, I mean."
Josh shrugged.  "I seem to be the hero of his story, maybe that's why."
"Maybe it's because of your powers," she mused, as they set off towards the exit. "Was he there when His Grace has been there?"
Josh thought back over the frantic time he'd been in To.  "Not that I recall."
"Interesting."
"Indeed."  Josh nodded.
They walked down the long hallway in silence after that.  Josh was pondering his feelings for Samantha, and he liked to think that she was doing the same about him, but realistically, she was likely thinking about the Narrator. 
Josh thought about that being for a few minutes himself, but then went back to more interesting thoughts about Samantha.
They finally made it to the exit, where no one at all was waiting to see them off.
"I guess we just go then?" Josh asked.
Samantha shrugged, and strode forward.
The doors slid open, and they walked out, into the gardens and their magnificent blooms.
"Why is outside so nice, and inside so run down?" Josh asked.
"No idea.  Maybe because flowers look after themselves." 
"Hold on."  Josh leaned over and picked a small yellow and pink bloom.  He turned and slid it into Samantha's hair, before stepping back.  "There."
She smiled at him.  "Thank you.  Now, let's go and see if we are going to be killed by alien soldiers, shall we?"
They walked towards the gate that led to the crater.
oOo
The crater was both a shock and not.  It was exactly as they had left it.  The Puritan desk was now, somehow, facing towards them, as the two approached.
"Halt!" the administrator said, as they closed in. 
"Hey, how's it going?" Josh asked, trying to remain calm.
"Was your mission a success?" the alien asked.
"I'm afraid the details of negotiations between agents of His Grace, which we are, and the inhabitants of the area beyond are classified.  However, as you have been so co-operative, I will divulge that initial contact was quite promising.  You may see us again."
"Very well."  The Puritan administrator thrust a small dagger and several more sheets of parchment towards them. "Sigh, and then step over there to be searched."
Josh, who had started to lean forward, stopped.  "I'm sorry," he said.  "But as political envoys, we are not subject to search from your forces."
"I disagree," the administrator glanced at his two guards, who glared at Josh.
"No," Josh said.
"You will do as I say, or face compulsory searches."
Trying to hide his terror, Josh stepped forward, placed both hands on the table, and leaned forward, to look the Puritan in the eye.  "We are official agents of His Grace.  I realise you have an army here, but His Grace also has substantial forces at his disposal.  Do you really wish to create a diplomatic incident?"
The Puritan administrator scowled, and fingered a knife that was in a scabbard by his side.  For a second Josh thought he was going to be sliced and diced, but then the alien leaned back. 
"Very well, sign and leave our area."
Nodding, Josh picked up the dagger. Wincing, he sliced a different finger from before, and, again, signed in blood.
"There," he said, sliding a copy over, keeping one for himself.
The alien merely jerked his head, indicating they should go, an instruction Josh was only too happy to comply with.
With Samanta marching behind him, hand on her gun, they made their way through the Puritan forces.  Once more weaving their way through the large soldiers.
They weren't far away from the edge of the camp when Josh heard someone calling his name. Or at least, the name he was supposed to have in this place.
"Jox!  Jox!  Hey!"
Looking to his left, he saw a face peering through the flap of one of the red tents.  When the face saw him looking, a hand waved at him, gesturing to approach. 
Looking back at Samantha, he raised an eyebrow.  She merely shrugged.

>>>>
Right, sorry for the delay, RL interrupting.  So, ideas needed for who this being is, and what do they want?
As usual, all wild and wacky suggestions welcome!
<<<<

"Go on," Samantha said, encouragingly.  "Give it a go, what can it hurt?"
"Blowed if I know," muttered Josh, but took a deep, painful, breath and thought about how to use his power for good. 
Logically, if logic worked in this place, and that seemed dubious at best, then if 'fuck it' was a Bad Thing, then the opposite would be...?  What was the opposite of fuck you?  Bless you?  He mentally shrugged. Worth a try.
Holding his hands up in front of himself, an act that took some effort, he placed his palm over the pulsating green spot on his hand where the Curse Giver had touched.  The effort of moving, and his own touch on the area, made his head swim, but he concentrated hard. 
"Bless this spot," he intoned, in a low voice.  Nothing happened.  He made an effort to think good, healthy thoughts, and tried again.  "Bless me!" he hissed.
This time, a response!  He experienced an odd feeling, as if his body was sucking in air from all around him.  Samantha gasped, and stepped away, as small sparks crackled around her.
The strange feeling stopped, and immediately Josh felt better.  Not back to full strength, or anywhere near really, but it didn't feel like he was about to die at least.  He looked at his hand.  The glowing green spot was still there, but smaller and weaker. 
"It's a start," he said.
"Did you do it?" asked Samantha.  "That was most odd."
"It helped," he said, "but I'm not really healed."
"How did this happen?" she stepped forward again, and examined his hand.
"Some hag in white touched me with a funny stick."
"You healed a Curse from the Curse-Giver?" Samantha looked at him with eyes wide.  "You truly are the saviour!"
"Now now, don't get all googly eyed.  I only improved it a bit," he responded.  "I still feel like crap, and it's still a mangy green. Perhaps I should see a doctor, get some pills, maybe some anti-biotics or something?"
"You want to see a doctor?"  The question seemed to startle the Captain.
"Yes?"
"A doctor?  In... in the hospital?"  The last word was whispered, as if she was suggesting he was shagging his own sister or something.
"You have a hospital here, don't you?"
"Well, I mean, kind of, but not many people go there."
"Why not?  They do have healers and whatnot, don't they?  With medicine and so on?"
"I've never been, but so they say."  She shrugged.
"So, let's away then, get me some good old fashioned drugs."
"Are you sure?"
"Of course!  What could possibly be wrong with a visit to the quack?"
Josh dragged his ass off the table, stood up, with some effort, and beamed at her.
oOo

"Okay, what the fuck is that?"
"That's where you insisted we go.  The hospital."  Samantha gave him a Look.
They had left most of the guard behind and taken a fast coach, obviously a replacement, as this one didn't have a hole in the floor, and was powered by something that looked like an electric engine driven by steam, driven by a wizened looking midget sitting on a seat to the rear of the roof.  However it worked, it shot along the highway in splendid fashion, and then up a hill, and then through a long, dark, tunnel, and then out into a half frozen wasteland.  Spears of black, shiny, rock jutted up through snow covered ground. 
The steam-electric carriage had powered up the side of a mountain, along a winding road barely wider than it was, in a hair-raising ride that Josh, half out of it as he was, knew he would have nightmares about for the rest of his life. 
Finally it had reached the summit, onto a wide, and very flat plateau, much to his relief, and rolled up to a stop at the top of a massive, improbable looking, crater. 
Samantha had guided him out at this point, holding him up by the arm.  Josh had spent most of the trip in a half delirious haze.  His healing had made him able to stand, but he was far from cured, and although she'd spoken to him quite a lot on the way, he'd not really heard anything she'd said.
They were now standing on the lip of the crater, looking down to what could only be described as a gigantic black boulder sitting, dead centre, at the bottom of it.  The boulder, no, it had to be an asteroid, looked lived in.  It seemed, from what Josh could see, that someone had hollowed out the innards.  There were windows glowing all along the surface, and doors at ground level, made from some kind of metallic material.
Encircling this boulder-building though, was a besieging army.  Figures in shining silver armour paced around the perimeter, and here and there, amid dull red tents, the odd ballista would fire a lethargic rock towards the hospital, which would bounce off some kind of invisible shield before any damage was done.
"But... but..." Josh took another look at the strangest building he'd ever seen.  "But it's some kind of meteorite.  And it's under siege from a paladin army!"
"Yes, they're really quite determined," she replied, apparently not really concerned.
"What... I.. I mean..."  Josh took a deep breath.  "Do they actually have doctors, nurses... medicines in there?"
"Of course!  We're not barbarians you know."  Samantha managed to look offended.  "You do know many of us come from advanced universes, remember?"
"Yes, sorry."
Josh looked down into the crater again.  "And this paladin army?"
"Oh, yes, the Purity Army.  Don't worry, they'll let us through.  Probably."
"Purity army?  Probably?"
Samantha took a few steps backwards and sat down on the running board of the carriage.  Josh, deprived of his support, staggered over and sat down next to her.
"The Purity Army believe that everything is sent by 'The Creator'.  She made the quote marks gesture.  "They think that the hospital is going against the 'plan' by healing people who should have died.
"But, they'll let us in?"
"Oh yes, they're quite kind like that.  Getting out might be harder though, if you get treatment.  They will think you've cheated fate, or something."
Josh took a deep, painful, breath.  "Then we need a plan," he said.
oOo
Josh hadn't been prepared for the true appearance of the Purity Army, as Samantha had labelled them.  From up on the rim of the crater, they'd looked a little like people in old fashioned armour, but from only a short distance away, they looked like giant aliens in space-armour. 
They were all at least half again as tall as Josh, with many double his height, and goodness knows how many times his bulk.  The first one they encountered, on the outer perimeter, was one of these giants. 
"Holy shit," Josh muttered, as they traipsed up to a kind of check-point.  The armour did resemble plate-mail of old in style, but it was super shiny, and far better made than anything medieval could ever be.  The set was complete with spiky helmet, with a thin reflective visor instead of eye-slits, so the face was still hidden from him.  To complete the menacing effect, the beast had a gigantic two-handed sword slung over his back.  It must have been double the height of Josh, and from the look of it, he doubted he'd even be able to pick it up, let along swing it at any enemies.
Still, despite the imposing appearance, the guard didn't seem hostile.  As they closed in, he (?) stepped forward and said something, the voice coming out as a mechanical garble that Josh didn't understand. 
"I'm sorry, I don't speak Purity," he said.
"Do you understand me now?" the figure spoke again.
"Yes, thanks."
"Please state your business here."
Josh nodded, and tried to look relaxed.  This was the important part.  Samantha had stressed that if the Puritans thought he was here to get treatment, it could cause problems, so it was important that they didn't realise he was sick.  Hence, before they had made their arduous way down into the crater, Josh had tried healing himself again, this time the spot on his cheek. 
And again, he'd managed, just about, to make himself feel a little better, and the mark on his face had significantly reduced, according to Samantha.  It hadn't vanished entirely though, and she'd surprised him by pulling out some makeup and dabbing it over the affected area. 
"What?" she had asked, when she'd seen his expression.  "Just because I'm an ass-kicking captain of the guard doesn't mean I don't want to look nice."
"I think you look nice already," Josh had blurted out, and then blushed. 
She had merely smiled, and told him to hold still.
After that they had tried to make Josh look a little more presentable.  His rough treatment had left his clothes somewhat worse for wear.  Using a brush and a little water that was in the carriage, Samantha managed to get his jacket looking, if not respectable, at least a little less battered.
"It will have to do," she said, eventually.
So, now, he nodded. 
"We're here to interview those inside," he said.  "His Grace wishes to assess the facility, for tax reasons."  Josh held his breathe.
"You are from His Grace?"
"I am," Josh tried to look confident.  "I work for the tax bureau."  Apparently there really was a department called this, according to Samantha.  "And this is my escort, Captain Miller."  He gestured at Samantha, who nodded.
"And you think they will pay your ruler taxes?"
"This is what we are here to speak to them about." 
The being looked at them a moment, longer, and then shrugged.  "You are wasting your time."  Still, he stepped to one side and gestured.  "Go ahead."
"Thank you." 
"You are welcome."
Trying to appear more at ease than he was, Josh walked past the giant sentry, into the Purity camp.
The place was bustling, although not so much battling evil-hospital-forces-bustling as villagers-going-about-their-daily-business bustling.  Giant, armoured and armed villagers.
It was a minute, weaving his way between massive warriors, before Josh had his first look at one of the Purity army without armour.
For some reason he had still been expecting them to appear human, but that wasn't the case at all.  The... creature that stalked across his path was wearing a loose brown tunic.  His, Josh was assuming it was a male, but it may not have been, was slightly smaller than most of the others, although that could have been because he lacked armour.  In any case, the being was a dangerous looking specimen.  The skin was a light purple colour, and wrapped tightly around muscles that bulged, although in this case the torso wasn't bulky, but wiry.  In any case, Josh was sure it would have been able to lift him up with one hand (which sported long, needle-like nails) and toss him away with ease. 
The creature's face gave him a start.  It had two piercing pink eyes, and a lumpy skull, but the mouth was sideways on, and full of sharp teeth.  All in all, it looked very much like the creature from the Alien's films, only purple.  Josh wondered if the creators of the franchise had been to To.
They made their way steadily through the camp, past large tents of a uniform dark red colour, and the odd massive ballista-like contraption.  One was being loaded as they went by, with several of the Purity army winching, by hand, some kind of metallic sphere onto the end of the throwing arm.
"They are obviously from an advanced civilisation," Josh said in a low voice to Samantha.  "Why are they using swords and catapults?"
She shrugged.  "They've been here a long time.  Maybe they ran out of more advanced ammunition.  Why don't you ask them?"  She grinned, mischievously.
"You ask them," Josh muttered, giving her a glare. 
The went on, and now the focus of his attention was the so-called hospital.  The asteroid building, as he had decided to term it, loomed up in front of them.  A gargantuan, inhabited boulder from space. 
"It's even more massive up close," he said, looking upwards.
"I heard it crashed here about a thousand years ago, and threw up huge amounts of dust into the air.  It had started to affect the environment, but then the inhabitants did something, no one knows exactly what, and basically sucked all the dust away."
"Wow," Josh said.  "Wait, who are these people?"
Samantha shrugged.  "Supposed to be large, dark folk, but that's all I really know.  People don't come here a lot."
"Because of the Puritans?"
"Partly."
Josh was going to ask what the other part was, but they had reached another checkpoint.  This consisted of two giant sentries and another Puritan, this one is dark robes, sitting behind a table strewn with paperwork.
As they approached, the being behind the table pushed two sheets of paper over the desk, towards them.
"Sign these," it rasped, pointing at an 'X' at the bottom of the first sheet.
Josh looked at it.  The documents were covered in alien writing, none of which he understood, although they looked identical.  He looked at Samantha, who nodded, very, very slightly.
"I've lost my pen," Josh said, steadily.
"Here."  The Puritan passed over a short, but lethal looking dagger.
Josh looked at for a second, and then sighed.  "Great, I'm meeting with Klingons."
Taking the knife, it was heavier than it looked, he jabbed the end of his index finger.
"Ow."  Scowling at the Puritan over the table, who simply looked at him, he made a signature on both parchments, in blood.
"There.  I hope you don't wish me to write a formal statement, I may need a transfusion."
The Puritan didn't respond, but simply took the sheets back and, using a wooden instrument, stamped them with some kind of purple-inked seal.
He pushed one sheet back across the table.  "Your copy."
"Why, thank you," Josh replied, sucking his finger.  He picked it up, folded it, and pushed it into his pocket.
"There," the administer gestured, pointing at a narrow trail behind him.  It led to a door shaped frame, standing on its own.
Still sucking at his finger, Josh walked towards it, Samantha following behind.  In doing so, he passed the final layer of Puritans.  Somehow he was now in no-man's-land. 
Approaching the archway, he noticed a crackling in the air, and remembered the invisible shield that the besieging army's attacks had bounced off. 
Stopping in front of it, he poked at the area within the arch. 
There was a crackle of lightning, and he found himself lying on the floor, steaming slightly. 
"Are you all right?"  Samantha looked down at him, a concerned look on her face.
"Don't poke there," he replied.
"No, wasn't going to."  She held out a hand, and helped him back to his feet.
"Hello?"  A new, smooth and cultured voice made them look back at the arch.  No one was visible.
"Hello?" Josh replied.
"May we be of assistance?"  The voice was coming from a small grid set into the archway that he'd not noticed before.
"We would like..."  Josh looked around, trying to figure out of any Puritans were listening.  "We would like to come in please."
"Do you wish us harm in any way?"
"No."
"Very well, but if you work against us in any fashion, there will be painful consequences.  Are you in agreement?"
"Yes, sure."
There was a pause.
"I agree," Samantha added.
"Very well, come through."
A low hum, that Josh hadn't even realised was there, stopped.
Not wanting to show fear in front of Samantha, he took a step forward.  He remained upright, so carried on, through the arch, and suddenly, was in a well-maintained garden, full of plants, albeit plants that were mostly blue in colour.  A level, pastel yellow stone path wound its way towards the black stone of the hollowed out space rock, and a large set of double doors.
"This is nice.  How come we couldn't see this before?" he asked, looking about.
"I have no idea," Samantha replied.  "Obviously these people are from a very advanced civilisation."
"That is promising."
"I hope so."
They made their way up to the doors, which, in direct contrast to the wall of the asteroid, were white, modern looking and metal, with tinted black glass windows.
They slid open as the two approached, and cool air wafted out of the dark interior.
"Air conditioning too.  Nice."
Josh stepped inside, and stopped.
"Oh," he said. 
He found himself in a large, dark hall.  Spluttering yellow lights flickered overhead, resembling the gas lights of a Victorian city.  The floors were grey stone, and the walls pale cream, with the paint peeling in areas. 
Ahead of them was a long counter, which appeared to be unmanned.  Josh couldn't help but notice the surface was near head height. 
"More giants?" he asked, as their footsteps echoed on the floor.
"It's not very busy, is it?" Samantha said.
They reached the desk, and Josh, standing on tiptoes, peered over it.  There was a large, black bell, as you would find in a hotel lobby perhaps.
"Why not?"  With an effort, he reached up and hit it.
The resulting bell made him stagger back and clap his hands over his ears.
"Shit!"
"May I help you?"
Josh and Samantha whirled around, and Josh screamed.
Looming over them, peering over the desk, was a creature out of nightmares.  One bloodshot eye, the size of a football glared at them.  The other eye socket was empty, a dark hole in a face consisting of black skin peeling off a yellow skull.  There was no nose, but the malformed mouth was full of rotting, and yet somehow still sharp teeth, each one the size of a finger.
The body was swathed in a dark robe that swirled about as if it has a life of its own. 
"We... we're here for treatment," Samantha managed to get out, holding on to Josh's arm to stop him running away.
"I see."  The eye looked at them for a moment longer.  "Please wait a moment, I shall get a doctor to attend you."
The horror retreated.
"What was that?" hissed Josh, when it had gone.
"I think it was the receptionist."
"I thought this was a hospital.  Why don't they cure... them?"
Before Samantha could postulate a reply, the creature was back, this time it lurched around the desk, towering over them.  Josh was beginning to develop a phobia of giant creatures.
"Please follow me," it hissed, and did an about turn.
"They're more efficient than hospitals at home at least," Josh mused, as they followed the being along a massive corridor. 
The walk took at least five minutes, and by the time they reached their destination, Josh was shaking slightly.
The corridor had many doors set into it, and some were open.  Many just had rooms with beds in, or at least bunks.  Bunks with rotting blankets.  More than a few had restraints dangling down from the sides.  Some had chains.
Others, more sinister, had couches or tables. These were not in best repair either, and there was a worrying amount of what could only be old bloodstains splattered on the walls and floors.
The most disturbing one had been a room with a huge, dark robed being, tentacles holding on to some creature, thankfully hidden by the standing figure, on a table.  Screams and sobs came from the patient.  Loud as they were, they were only just audible over the buzzing of the motorised saw that was being wielded by the attending physician. 
Josh winced at the sound of flesh being cut into was quickly masked by cries of terror.
"Our surgery is very efficient," their guide had commented.  "Many patients survive and go on to live lives afterwards."
"That's... encouraging," Josh had managed to get out.
"We have the most cutting-edge technology," the receptionist went on, appearing ignorant of her choice of words.  "Although, of course, the siege means that we have to make cuts here and there."
Josh just wishes it would stop using saying 'cut'.
Finally, they were shown through a large door, into a room that was slightly more comfortable.  Several soft chairs, human in scale this time, sat across from a much larger one, in which another horror sat, tentacles holding a clipboard. 
"Thank you nurse," their new acquaintance rasped. 
"Doctor."  Their guide turned and slithered out of the room.
"Please take a seat."  Several tentacles pointed to the chairs. 
Josh tore his gaze away from the doctors face, which had two eyes at least, but was otherwise similar to their recently departed nurse friend in nightmare level looks, and sat down.  Samantha sat in the other chair.
"So, what can we do to help you?"  The voice of the physician was well cultured, and totally at odds with his appearance.
"I..."  Josh cleared his throat and started again.  "This," he pointed at his cheek and hand, "was inflicted on me by a Curse Giver.  I've managed to reduce the effects, but I can't seem to cure it.  I was hoping you could help."
"You've come to the right place!" the doctor boomed.  "Let me see.  Hold still." 
Tentacles whipped forward, holding Josh's head in a firm, but surprisingly not all that uncomfortable grip, whilst another prodded at his cheek with some kind of silver instrument.
"Yes, yes, I see.  Yes, we can cure that with a simple dose of Mathradoxin II."  The tentacles withdrew.
"You can?"
"Don't sound so surprised young... human?  Yes, human," the doctor replied.  "Our establishment may have seen better days, but we are the finest medics in the galaxy."
"Oh, well, thank you."
"Not a problem.  Now, just the matter of payment."
"Payment?  Oh, well His Grace is a friend, I'm sure we can..."
"No no no, we don't need money here," the doctor interrupted.  "Not that you would recognise as such at least.  No, we do you a service, and you do us one, or volunteer to help us with our research, or maybe donate part of your body.  Although for Mathradoxin you're looking at a fairly major organ.  Are you a standard model human?  How many hearts do you have?"
"What service do you require?"  Josh asked.

>>>>
Phew, that just went on and on.  So, obvi ideas needed here for what kind of service Josh can offer?  All ideas, however off the wall, welcome!

And thank you for reading!
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