Well something was off in this laboratory that Harry Smith's dad
Parnell Smith and Harry's late mother Quinella Smith
had worked in together till the accident that had claimed
his mother 5 years earlier.
Harry's mother and father had both had a interest in
myths and monsters from myths but the two researchers
had come from different fields.He'd been a archaeologist
and historian who had been more comfortable in a library
of ancient Greek scrolls or at the tiller of the Smith's
beat up sailing snaubrigg sailboat the Laughing SeaDragon
whilst it was Harry's mother Quinella who had explored monsters
and myths with what Harry knew was shape shifting tf capable
DNA splicers and what Harry knew darn well was
a Kirlian Dimensional Flux Capacitor powered tf cabinet.
After the accident Harry's father Parnell had put away
all his late wives high tech dimension hopping machinery
into storage at the boathouse the Laughing SeaDragon was stored
in these days and sworn off his beloved Greek scrolls on
Cyclops,sylla.basilisks ,dragons,manticore and other mythical
monsters.
Yet here all Harry's mom's old stuff was,a week after Harry's
dad Parnell had vanished somehow.
Harry knew something bad was going down or already had.
Maybe his dad was already dead ?
Harry looked about ath laboratory for a clue,a message
and then remembered
Before the accident 5 years earlier both Harry's parents and
Harry had left messages to each another via a small hole behind
a loose brick in the wall as you exited the laboratory.
Maybe Harry's dad had left a clue for his son behind that
loose brick?
Sure enough in the message hole lay a set of keys Harry
recognized.
There was the key to the deck hatch of the Laughing SeaDragon
a key for the snaubriggs engine ingnition and two
keys,one for the door to the boathouse and another key to the
automated boat cradle launch the Laughing SeaDragon sat on normally when not on voyages.
The message was obvious"Go to the boathouse"
So a little while later Harry Smith approached the door to
the boathouse and could immediately hear the hum of machinery
inside the building.
Cautiously he opened the door and although the main lights
were off Harry could tell by the day light that the Laughing
SeaDragons launch cradle was not positioned like it should be
but was ready to launch the 66 foot Hudson Nonsuch through
a huge circular ring of metal from which Harry could see
sparks of energy that he knew darn well was caused by
a Kirlian Dimensional Flux Capacitor of unimagined power.
" Holy Bleep "thought Harry "The Laughing SeaDragon is ready
to be launched to another dimension"
Harry could see stacks of boxes of vials and machines his
mother had had a hand in creating before her death half a
decade earlier.
Basically this sailboat was loaded to the railings with tf stuff.
In the back of his mind a little voice was telling Harry Smith
that maybe going to the Land of Oz was not a good idea.There
would be no munchkins on the other side of that ring,more likely
a 50 foot tall Cyclops lobbing a boulder at Harry and the
Laughing SeaDragon.
So slowly Harry started backing away and turned a corner
in the darkened boathouse.
And bumped into 'her'
"Oomph" said both Harry and her as they collided and fell to the
floor.There was the clatter of a box falling to the floor and the breaking
of glass.The shadowy figure Harry had just bumped into must
have been carrying something to the Laughing SeaDragon when the two collided.
She lay there crying in pain and Harry,ever the gallant gentlemen
got up and walked over to help up the mysterious figure
with a girls cry of pain of a voice.
She raised what Harry thought was a girls arm and hand and as
Harry's own hand clasped her proferred limb he realized he
was gripping the hoofed fur covered forelimb of a 'creature'
As the main lights suddenly switch on and the hydraulic pumps
that operated the snaubriggs cradle launch both Harry and Meena
the winged unicorn girl stared at each another in shock.
Meena got her voice back first
"A human.Harley told me he once was a human but I didn't believe
him.A human a real human boy,Wow,wait till I tell the other
kids humans are real."
Then minding her manners Meena the winged unicorn girl
realized that
this real human boy was going into shock on her
the Laughing SeaDragon was perhaps 3 to 5 minutes away from launch.
So,since winged unicorns are bigger,stronger and faster then humans she switch scooped up Harry ,what stuff she could
from the wooden floor and with a flap of her wings and her
powerful hing legs leapt Harry,her and the stuff aboard the
Hudson Nonsuch just as it began rolling forward to
the other side where Harry's dad was.....