Any important descriptive text that relates to any of the following:

• character
• important prop
• building
• clothing
• sport/game/custom
• creature
• a culture's accent (and any other qualities)
• vehicle such as a dygo or Eelong's helicopters**
• weapon
• etc...

Anything descriptive! If you're not sure, go ahead and copy it just to be safe.


Any of the above need to be typed and saved for us to refer to when writing. And to have specific notes to present to D.J. so that a lot of pre-production exists before any pre-production is ever put into effect.
(All assuming we are successful)

---

I've attached a text file*** as a sample of the notes I've been taking on MoD. Follow the same format with other books.

Now, we need the volunteers:

#1 MoD- Saint Kane

#2 LCoF- Laberge's girl [DONE]

#3 NW- Laberge's girl [DONE]

#4 RB- Laberge's girl [DONE]

#5 BW- Laberge's girl [DONE]

#6 RoZ- Laberge's girl [DONE]

#7 QG- Laberge's girl [DONE]

#8 PoR- Laberge's girl [DONE]

#9 RR- Laberge's girl [DONE]

#10 SoH- Unwound Midnight


Sign up NOW! :)
You might not have the time to work until the summer starts, but now is the time to claim your favorite book, or the most interesting.



__________
**Sorry, I forgot the name of the helicopters at the moment :P
***The file is 28kb. Should be a fast download no matter what kind of computer you have.

Sounds great, Kane! :D
Hmm, well, I know I'd love to sign up for the Quillan Games, seeing as it's my favourite of the series. I'd love to be involved in that department.

And like you said, it's a little busy for me now with exams around the corner, but believe me, once summer time hits, this will be at the top of my list. Plus, this will give me something to do!

Can't wait to get started!

Hey Kane, sorry for the double posting.

Just wanted to let you know that I've actually gotten a head's start on the Quillan Games. I got a good, fair chunk of it written up today, so I wouldn't mind being assigned to another book. Depending on what others choose, I'd go with any book. But if no one else plans on doing so, perhaps you could put me with either the Lost City of Faar or Black Water? But whatever can be done is fine by me!

I didn't have much going on today, so I got right down to it with my notes. Shouldn't take much longer. I basically know the Quillan Games inside out :lol:
No problem with that one!

Let me know what you think.

:) Great news. And after Quillan Games is finished you could take Black Water or LCoF. Depending on when I get Merchant of Death finished, I might take it

And would you mind doing the Cast List for QG too?

Alrighty, sounds good!

I just took a look at the other pages, and you're halfway through LCoF, right? If anyone else doesn't plan on doing or doesn't want to do BW, I'll take a secodn one.

As for the Quillan Games cast list, I'd love to be in charge of that :)
I'll get right to it, once I take care of the QG notes, which shouldn't take much longer.
Just one question...when you say the cast list, does this mean I have to come up with the list of casts myself, or is there already a page with suggested actors/actresses I can refer to?

Let me know and I'll get down to business ASAP.

"Hobey ho, let's go!"

Well I'm halfway through the cast list specifically on LCoF.

And the cast list is just like this.
http://thependragonmovie.com/index.php?showtopic=9

Don't need to worry about actors or anything. Just find every character in the book that would NEED to be casted when the films start.

Oh, I getcha.

Alrighty. Well, I went through and did up a cast list for the Quillan Games. What I'll probably do is finish up the notes for QG this weekend, and once I've got both things finished and complete, I'll upload them so you and other people can take a look and see what you think.

And if there's any other jobs you'd like me to do with the QG (or any of the other books), I'd be more than happy to help :D

Hobey ho!

Thanks! :)

That's the spirit we need!

I agree with you on that one :P

With summer just around the corner, and once the exams and school's over, I'll have so much time for other things, Pendragon and whatnot.
I can't wait to see this site once everything is done though. It's gonna be amazing!
I wonder what DJ will think of it..."wonders"

Oh it will be. And I hope he enjoys all the work.

The most crucial parts will be the scripts (or samples of them). And I think at the end I might put together a PowerPoint as a sort of 'pitch' he can look at. Would include a lot of detail, basically anything the studios would need to know about the idea before giving it the green light.

I can do RoZ. I have to read it and look for stuff like that anyway, since I'm doing a book report about it.

Ahh, very good. Make those notes descriptive! :D

I would like to do The Reality Bug or Raven Rise. Just tell me which one.

Cool, you've signed me up for BW! :D

I'm almost finished up on my QG notes and cast list, so I'll get right on BW as soon as I'm done. Oh, and one other thing. Does this mean I'm going to be doing both the cast list and and the descriptive notes? Let me know.

I've got quite a bit of school work on my plate right now, but again, like you said, once that's out of the way and of course once summer is here, I'll get right onto it. BW might have to wait a little while but as soon as I've got time, I'll get right to it.

Hobey ho!

I can try SoH. Tbh, I would try any of them.

Unwound:
Sounds good as long as you understand the idea. :) Descriptive, descriptive!
Copy the text exactly from the book. Simple typing duties.

And I'll add you there.

LaBerge's girl:
No, only what is marked. So descriptive notes on Black Water. No other cast lists at the moment.
But if you're almost done you must be working remarkably fast. o.o Or more diligently than I. Or maybe QG just has less description than MoD did. :P
Post the QG cast listing in the Character Casting forum when it's all done. (same format I used for MoD and LCoF)

luna:
Reality Bug will work. :)

Hmm, I might be able to do Never War if my schedule allows. If any book, that would be the one. :D

:D Indeed it would. I'll reserve it for you.

Alright, this is the lengthiest of any of these book review projects. I still haven't sat back down to type more of MoD.

But if you have a day off and get bored, sit down to finish this. Once you're done, either try to upload it here (there's an option when you post a reply) or email the file to thependragonmovie@hotmail.com.

And since we may not all use a PC or all use Mac, the final file should probably be saved in Notepad (PC) or TextEdit (Mac) as a .rtf file preferably.

Alrighty.

I've just got two more finals this week and as soon as I get home Tuesday afternoon, I'm going to finish up my QG notes. I'll have them done this week, for sure and I'll likely start on BW as well. I'll have loads of time.

So basically we should save them on Notepad as an rtf. file and either post it here on send it through the e-mail?

I have a Toshiba, so that wouldn't really affect anything, would it?

Yes.
And Toshiba shouldn't affect anything.

QG Descriptive Notes

JOURNALS

QG p. 147

"From out of the envelope she pulled a thick stack of small gray pages. It was notepaper, which each sheet around five-by-seven inches. Each sheet was filled on both sides with Bobby's familiar handwriting. She was about to read when she noticed one more thing about the pages. Printed on the bottom right hand corner of each page, in small square letters, was a single word. BLOK."

QG p. 117

"It only took a few moments for the event to be over. The lights dissapeared, the music ended, and the ring returned to normal. Sitting on the rug next to it was a journal. Like the journal before it, the rolled-up pages were bright yellow and tied with a purple ribbon. Mark stared at it on the floor. He may have gotten used to the ring opening up a pathway to the territories and depositing Bobby's journals, but there was no way to be prepared for the news a journal would bring."

SPIDER-QUIGS

QG pg. 19-20

"It was a spider. A big spider. No, a HUGE spider. It looked like a tarantula on steroids. The beastie had to be the size of a kitten, but there was nothing cute or cuddly about it. Its thick body and multiple legs were bloodred; it had pincers in front that snapped like an angry lobster's, and its head was so black that its yellow quig eyes looked as if they were glowing."

INVITATION

QG p. 8

"I wrote to you in my last journal how, shortly after Loor rejoined the living, she and I stood at the flume while it activated and deposited a brightly colored square box in front of us. It had red and yellow stripes and was tied up with a big red bow. Hanging from the ribbon was a yellow tag with the word PENDRAGON written in fancy red lettering. Loor unfolded the tag and we saw that written inside were the words "With my compliments. S.D. Right. Saint Dane."

QG p. 9

"What jumped out was nasty indeed. At least to me. You remember right? Springing out was a jack-in-the-box clown. It was a scary looking thing with a hideous smile and a court jester's hat. In fact, pretty much all clowns are scary-looking to me. I hate clowns. I wondered if Saint Dane knew that. The clown laughed with some recorded laugh as it bobbled on the spring. It sounded familiar. Swell."

QG p. 9

"At the bottom of the box was a blue envelope with the word PENDRAGON on it. I quickly opened it to find a single sheet of bright yellow paper with fancy red lettering. It was an invitation that read:

Riggedy riggedy white

Come and spend the night

We'll play some games

Some wild, some tame

Cause if you will, you might

Your hosts on Quillan,

Veego and LaBerge."

STORAGE ROOM

QG p. 16

"I found myself in a huge room that looked to be a storage facility. Wooden crates of all sizes were stacked everywhere. The ceiling was about forty feet high. The walls to either side were so far off I couldn't tell how big the room really was. The words "airplane hangar" came to mind."

QG pg. 16-17

"The whole place was kind of gloomy. But there was enough light for me to get the overall feeling of the place. There looked to be thousands upon thousands of containers of all sizes. Some were as small as a shoe box, others were big enough to hold a car. There was no way to tell what any of them contained, other than the black series of numbers painted one each. There looked to be a thick coating of dust on all the crates, which told me this was a place, for deep, long-term storage."

ARCADE

QG pg. 34-35

"Imagine the most elaborate, noisy high-tech video arcade you've ever been in, and multiply that by about a hundred. This place was stupid-big. Hundreds of computer games lined the walls and formed aisles everywhere. I guess it's dumb for me to say I'd never seen games like that before, being that I was on a new territory. But I never had. The overall setup wasn't that much different Second Earth arcade, though. Some games were contained in big boxlike structures with colourful designs on the sides. Others were giant video screens that loomed over the gaming floor. I saw one game that looked to be a battle challenge, with the player shooting it out with the computer-generated image of an opponent on a giant screen in front of him. Another looked like a maze where the player stood on a platform, running in place while negotiating turns that he saw on his own big screen. It was all way more sophisticated than anything from Second Earth. All the games had some version of flashing colored lights to get the customer's attention and entice them to play. The weird electronic music added a feeling of excitement and fantasy. The arcade was on three levels. I was on the bottom and could look up to see two more balconies full of games."

LOOPS

QG p. 40

"It was too late. He shoved the round bracelet all the way up to my biceps. Instantly I felt it tighten around my arm, as if it were alive. I tried to pull it back down, but it wouldn't move. It rested just above my biceps and clung there."

QG p. 40

"It wouldn't move. The harder I pulled, the tighter it squeezed. It felt like there were a thousand tiny needles inside, keeping it in place. I was frightened, and more than a little creeped out. What was this diabolical loop?"

QG p. 41

"Before I could ask what the hell he meant by that, I felt the loop tighten on my arm again- on its own. Remember the groove I described that was etched in the circle? It was glowing bright purple. A thin, bright light circled the band that was squeezing the heck out of my arm."

CHALLENGER CLOTHES

QG p. 18

"I first picked up a long-sleeved, bright red shirt. There were no buttons or zippers. No collar either. It was like a long-sleeved t-shirt, but the material was heavier and a little stretchy. The only design was a series of five black stripes that ran diagonally across the front from the left shoulder down to the right side of the waist. It reminded me a little bit of a rugby shirt. There was also a pair of pants. Simple, black, made from the same stretchy material. I was psyched when I saw the shoes. They were like my running shoes from Second Earth. They were black and didn't look fancy, but they definitely looked comfortable."

GENERAL CLOTHES

QG p. 36

"As normal as this appeared, I did notice some things that struck me as odd. For one thing, there were no kids. You'd think the place would be a kid magnet. There were women and men, some old, some older. But no kids. I noticed the clothing they wore was kind of, I don't know, boring. There wasn't a whole lot of style going on. Not that I'm the best judge of that, but when you see a bunch of people together in the same place, you'd expect to see a big range of clothing styles. Not there. Everyone wore some kind of variation of pants and plain shirts. Some wore jackets. Some tucked their shirts in, others didn't. There wasn't much difference in style between the men and women, either. I didn't see any dresses or skirts. I don't mean to say they all wore the exact same thing. They didn't. There was some variation in color, but the clothing all tended to edge toward the darker side, with muted shades of green and blue. There was lots of gray, too. But nothing bright or lively or patterned. And many of the pants were just plain black. Their shoes didn't jump out at my either. They mostly appeared to be plain and black. I wasn't sure what conclusion to draw from this, other than that the people of Quillan had absolutely no sense of style or fashion."

DADOS

QG p. 43

"These dado guys weren't fooling around, either. They were both big. I'm guessing they stood about six-foot four. They had broad shoulders and wore shiny gold helmets. Their uniforms were dark green and looked like they'd just come from the cleaners. That's how tight and pressed they were. Each guy had a round patch on his upper arm that was bright yellow, with a logo that looked like a "B." On their hips they each had a shiny black holster that held a golden pistol that seemed to be made of the same material as their helmets."

QG pg. 43-44

"As scary as all this looked, there was one more thing about these guys that told me you didn't want to mess with them. It was their faces. I don't know how else to describe this except to write that their faces were big. And square. They almost looked like cartoon bad guys, with sharp jaw-lines and deep-set eyes. They had no expression. Even as they carted off a guy who was yelling and squirming to get loose. Their faces remained stone blank."

QG p. 157

"His leg was severed above the knee. Gross, right? Not exactly. There was no blood, no shattered bone, no gore. Jutting from the injury was a tangle of damaged metal, not unlike what I'd seen with the crushed spider near the flume. Any doubt I had before was long gone. It was official. The dados were robots."

DADO GUNS

QG p. 76

"Without warning I shoved the jacket into the face of the dado with the gun. At the same time I ducked down, spun my leg, and swept the legs out from under the second dado. He slammed into the dado with the gun, knocking him off balance, making him fire his gun. The sound it made wasn't a crack like you'd hear from a gun on Second Earth. It was more like a short, sharp discharge of energy that gave off a hollow echo. Fum. I had no idea what kind of ammunition it fired. I didn't want to know. I needed to get away. Before they could get their balance back, I took off into the crowd."

DADO KILLING RODS

QG p. 326

"I pulled the black wand into my chest and did a back somersault, landing on my feet. I quickly stood, holding the weapon ready, for what, I didn't know. I could whack away at the machines until doomsday, and they'd still keep coming. But I wasn't going to give up without trying. One dado came at me. His gun was out, ready to fire. I faked a swing of the meal wand, he flinched, I ducked, rolled to my right, and came up swinging on his unsuspecting friend. The second dado didn't see me coming and didn't know what hit him, literally. I knocked the robot off his feet and he crashed to the floor. I sidestepped and jammed the end of the weapon into his back. I wasn't prepared for what happened next. The wand pierced the back of the robot's body! I felt a slight tingle in the weapon, and the dado stopped moving. I had killed him! If I'd stopped to analyze it, I probably would have been grossed out. But this wasn't a person, it was a machine. It wasn't alive. Whatever this metal weapon was, it could pierce the fabric that covered these robots and knock them out of commission."

QG pg. 326-327

"I realized it wasn't about knocking them down, it was about getting through the outside layer and damaging the works. These simple weapons were more than just batons to be used like the staves on Zadaa. These were dado killers."

RUNE

QG p. 50

"I've painted a pretty bleak picture of the city. It was uniform, it was drab, it was dull. The best thing I can say is that it all seemed to function smoothly. It was like the workings of a fine-tuned clock where everything fit into place and operated the exact right way."

QG p. 48

"Tall gray buildings loomed above me. Some were like skyscrapers that would rival anything you could find in the big cities on Second Earth; others were smaller. But by smaller I'm talking twenty to thirty stories high. The buildings themselves didn't have much personality. Whoever designed them must have been the same guy who designed the drab clothing. There wasn't a lot of imagination going on there. The buildings were big and gray and, well, boring. The windows were spaced out in uniform rows, floor after floor. Looking across the wide street and up and down the boulevard, I saw similar buildings as far as the eye could see. The only variation in building to building was in height. They were all boxy rectangles that reached up to a gray, cloudy sky."

QG p. 50

"On the ground level of the buildings were stores. Each with its own entrance. But unlike stores on Second Earth that used names to cry and catch your attention, the signs above the doors here on Quillan all used the exact same typeface. The silver metallic letters were about eight inches high and mounted on a black background. Stranger still, they didn't show the name of the store, all they said was exactly what you could buy there. I'm serious. I saw a sign that said FOOD. Another said HEALTH CARE. I saw signs that said CLOTHING, HOUSING, DOCUMENTS, EMPLOYMENT, CHILDCARE and even one that said LIGHT. I'm not exactly sure what they sold there. Lightbulbs, maybe? Every single store had the exact same type of sign, no matter what they were selling."

QG pg. 50-51

"Erected on the roofs of smaller buildings were billboards that looked like giant plasma TV screens. I'd say there was one on every block. They looked to be about twenty feet across by ten feet high. No matter where you stood, you could catch sight of one. Each of these screens had the exact same thing playing on it. Intricate 3-D geometric shapes danced and bounced and morphed into one another in a hypnotic dance. Along the bottom was a running crawl like you would see on those TV news channels at home. It gave information about the day, like the time – "17:2:07." I thought that must be the time because it kept going up. The weather – "Clouds all day, followed by a chilly night with possible rain." I also saw what looked like game results, but I had no idea who was playing or what the game was – "Pimbay d. Weej 14-2, Linnta d. Hammaba 103-100."

QG p. 51

"Every so often the animated graphics would give way to the face of a pretty young women or a handsome man. They were dressed the same as everybody else in the city, only they had small patches on their front pockets like the dado police dudes had on their arms. Each patch had a small "B." These people were like TV newscasters who would speak right to the camera with a pleasant, soothing voice."

CARS

QG p. 49

"The street was packed with traffic. They had cars, kind of like on Second Earth. I'm sure you can guess what I'm going to say about them. Yep. Boring. They all had the same basic shape, which was rounded front to back. They were kind of like VW Beetles, but not as interesting-looking. Some were black, some silver. That's it."

QG p. 49

"All the vehicles were pretty quiet, I'm happy to say, because the streets were choked with them. They must have been electric powered, because I couldn't hear any engine sounds. They were all moving in the same direction, slowly. Nobody seemed too angry about it. I didn't hear any car horns or frustrated shouts. There were signal lights at the corners, but rather than the round red and green lights we're used to, narrow blue light stretched above the roadway from sidewalk to sidewalk. When the light was lit, the traffic could move. When it went dark, the traffic stopped."

QG pg. 49-50

"It was the same with the pedestrians. Like the people in the arcade, everyone was dressed in simple, drab clothing. But unlike the arcade, which was next to empty, there were loads of people on the street. People walked on the sidewalk in front of me, slowly but relentlessly. Those moving to my right were closer to the building, those moving to my left were closer to the street. I didn't see much interaction. Everyone was in their own little gray world, thinking about whatever they were thinking about, going wherever they were going. The looks on their faces were blank. Maybe not as blank as those dado guys, but definitely spacey. I didn't see anyone laughing, or angry, or even talking. This was a busy, crowded street, yet it was eerily quiet."

SCOOTS

QG p. 49

"There were two-wheeled motor scooters as well. The people on those were able to move a little faster because there weren't as many, and they could slide between the cars. I guess it's kind of like those busy Asian cities at home, where there's so much traffic, many people ride motor scooters. It looked as if rising a scooter was the way to go because the cars were getting nowhere fast."

THE CASTLE

QG p. 90

"It was a castle. I did a double-take, that's how stunned I was seeing something so whimsical on a territory that was pretty much devoid of character. The structure was huge. There were several soaring towers with pointed spears and battlements. There were so many levels and balconies that I imagined the inhabitants needed a map to get around the place. Though I had no idea who the inhabitants were. Bright yellow flags with purple stripes flew from every spire, snapping in the breeze. The color of the castle itself was a pale pink. In a word, it was dazzling."

QG p. 95

"With a quick breath and a shrug that was totally for my own benefit, I stepped through the doorway...and into a spectacular entrance hall. The ceiling stored up several stories. Light came in through massive stained-glass windows near the arched ceiling. The scenes in these windows reminded me of a church, but I didn't think they depicted anything religious. Instead, they showed scenes of people playing games. There were elaborate images of people running, or throwing balls, or wrestling."

QG pg. 95-96

"The place wasn't some old, musty old castle from the Dark Ages. (Assuming Quillan had Dark Ages, that is.) Just the opposite. This place looked as if it had just been built. The floor was marble, with elaborate mosaic patterns. It was so clean, it looked like I could eat off it. There was a wide, curved staircase of stone that led up to a balcony high overhead. Colorful flags hung down from every level, making the place feel like it was decked out for a festival. Several hallways on the ground floor led off to other parts of the castle."

QG p. 158

"I was in another large, narrow room, though much smaller than the last. It was brightly lit by daylight streaming in through the overhead windows. Yellows and purple flags lined the walls near the ceiling. On the ground was a large wooden table surrounded by high-backed wooden chairs. It was a medieval-looking banquet hall, complete with huge tapestries on the walls that depicted competitors playing various games. The table was loaded with silver platters full of food and tall silver tankards with drink."

VEEGO

QG p. 59

"The shot on-screen widened out to include another person. A woman. She was as still and intense as the guy was animated and nutty. She stared out at the world with an unwavering glare. Her hair was dark and slicked back so severely, it almost looked like she was bald. Her features were sharp, like a fox's. Whoever she was, she meant business."

QG p. 94

"I shot a look up the stairs to the doorway into the castle and saw a tall thin woman wearing a purple jumpsuit that was so dark it looked almost black. She stood flagpole straight with her arms at her sides, staring at me. Unblinking. It was Veego, the woman from the video screen."

LABERGE

QG p. 58

"What was left was a close-up of the announcer. The guy had a big toothy smile. His hair was long and blond and totally wild like he had stuck his finger in a toaster. He was an older guy, in his forties maybe. Whatever age he was, he was way too old to be acting so crazy. He reminded me of one of those nutty guys in cheesy TV commercials who try to sell you kitchen stuff, or used cars. Or report the weather. His eyes were wild and always moving. Above all, he looked like he was having a great time."

QG pg. 91-92

"Yeah, it was LaBerge. The guy from the video screen who ran the Tato contest. The guy who sent me the invitation. He looked even nuttier in person. His blond hair was a mass of long, tight curls that bounced when he walked. His eyes were alive with excitement, or insanity. I wasn't sure which."

QG p. 233

"Before I tuned in to what the guy was saying, I caught some movement off to my right. Looking, I saw LaBerge waving for me to join him. He was in the audience with Veego. He was the only guy dressed in something colorful. It was a suit that was cut like everybody else's, only it was lime green. Clown."

QG p. 401

"LaBerge was much for flamboyant, with a multicoloured robe that made him look like the king of Gumdrop Mountain."

FOURTEEN

QG p. 97

"Fourteen wasn't a number, it was the name of a guy. Or the name of this guy was a number. Or...something. He couldn't have been more than five feet tall. He was dressed totally in white, with a long-sleeved shirt, white pants, white gloves, and white shoes. Hanging around his neck was a wide two-colored necktie. One side was bright purple, the other bright yellow. The other thing about this little guy that stood out was that he was totally bald. We're talking cue-ball shiny. It made it hard to figure out how old he was. I couldn't tell from his voice, either. He could have been anywhere from twenty to forty years old."

THE CLOWN ROOM

QG pg. 99-100

"I stepped past him into the room that I described to you in my last journal. It was like something out of a little kid's imagination. A twisted little kid. It was a big room, with plenty of area to walk around. The walls were purple and yellow striped, no big surprise. The ceiling was covered with balloons of all colors. The bed was in the very middle. It seemed to be floating in space. The blanket on it was yellow, the pillows purple. There was a desk that looked like a giant hand, palm up. As ridiculous as all that sounds, the worst part was the extra decorations. There were shelves everywhere that were loaded with dolls. Clown dolls."

FORGE

QG p. 132

"Mark took something out of the metal box and placed it down on the counter. It was a round dull-gray object about the size of a golf ball. It wasn't perfectly round. It had facets and bumps, as if it were made of clay."

"The object began to writhe. It looked to Courtney like the center was full of worms that had all decided to shift at the same time. She heard a faint metallic clattering sound. Five seconds later the object had changed itself from a ball into a cube"

TRIBBUN

QG p. 165

"I took a bite of the tribbun, and I'm surprised to say that it was actually pretty good. It was crunchy like a carrot, but had the sweet flavour of a melon."

RUNKLE

QG p. 164

"He reached into his robe and pulled out a small handheld toy. It looked like the wooden handle of a jump rope, with a button on one end. He held it upright and pressed the button. Instantly there was a whistling tweeee sound and a spinning red propeller flew up and out of the end of the handle. It rose into the air for about five feet, then ran out of energy and gently fluttered back down. LaBerge watched it intently, then expertly caught it in the hollow end of the launcher, where it settled back with a click."

NEVVA WINTER

QG pg. 166-167

"Hurrying in with an armload of papers was a young woman. She was wearing an outfit similar to Veego's. It was deep blue, with long sleeves and pants, and a jacket of the same color that came to her waist. Her clothes weren't all that different from what the people wore outside in the city, but looked a bit more stylish. Or better made. Or something. Maybe it was the way they fit her, like the outfit was perfectly tailored. Yes, that's the best way I can describe the outfit, and the woman, for that matter. Perfectly tailored. There wasn't a wrinkle in sight. She had straight brown hair that was combed and parted on the side, and fell to just below her ears. Not one hair was out of place. She was pretty too. Her eyes were big and brown and, I'm not quite sure how else to describe this, but they were...alive. Unlike most of the other people I had seen out there in the city of Rune, this woman looked like she had some spark. If I were to guess, I'd say she was a couple years older than me. Maybe eighteen? Or nineteen?"

ELLI WINTER

QG p. 353

"It was an elderly woman with long gray hair and warm brown eyes. She wore the same green smock as all the other workers."

CHALLENGER YELLOW

QG p. 62

"I could see why Challenger Yellow was considered to be a strong competitor. He was taller than Challenger Green by at least a head. He was dark skinned, though not as dark as if he were a Batu from Zadaa, like Loor. He moved gracefully, with little wasted movement. I guess "fluid" was the best way to describe him. He was thin, but not skinny. He definitely had some muscle, but with very little body fat. He looked like the kind of guy you'd see competing in the Olympic long jump or something."

CHALLENGER GREEN

QG p. 61

"Challenger Green was a guy who looked about my age with long, wavy red hair that fell below his shoulders. He was a big light-skinned guy who looked very much like an athlete."

QG p.

TATO

QG p. 60

"It was a big platform in the shape of an octagon, about fifteen yards across. There was a red logo in the center that read TATO in the familiar block letters. Or should I call them "blok" letters? I saw five black round domes spaced evenly in a circle on the floor of the court, near the edges. Each looked to be a couple of feet in diameter and about a foot high in the center – like shiny bumps on the floor. They appeared to be made out of dark glass. Finally there were two squares across from each other that were nothing more than marks on the floor of the court. I guess it goes without saying that this didn't look like any kind of court I had ever seen."

QG pg. 442-443

"Green had no fear. He laughed, aimed his gun, and shot out the last dome! The platform was free-floating. I fell flat on my belly, dug my toes in, and pressed my palms flat on the floor. It was the only thing I could think of to get some kind of traction to stop from sliding toward to edge. But the angle was too steep and I started to slide. Gravity was winning. Green tried to run up to the opposite side, but this time even he lost his balance. He pinwheeled his arms and fell on his back. When he hit, he scrambled for something to grab on to but found nothing. His luck had finally run out. We were both moments from going over."

BLOK

QG pg. 226-227

"The long, wide street ended at a building. It was a huge structure that was much bigger than any of the surrounding towers. The thing was massive and dark, as if it were carved from a huge black stone. I didn't have to ask the dado boys what it was. It was all too obvious. Near the top of the building, looming over the street, were shiny silver letters that had to be ten feet high. They reminded me of the silver signs that marked the various stores on street level. I'll give you one guess as to what it said. Yeah, you're right. BLOK."

TYLEE MAGNA

QG p. 83

"I looked deeper into the dark garage to see someone approaching. She took a few steps toward us, stepping into the light that came in through an overhead window. I immediately recognized her as the woman who skidded the motorbike into the dados, allowing the terrified guy to escape. She had short dark hair that was kind of spiked up. The collar of her dark shirt was turned up. That little bit of style made the drab outfit look suddenly...cool."

THE TRUSTEES

QG p. 232

"The first thing I saw was a group of people sitting on the far side behind a high, long bench-like desk that faced into the room. The bench was black. Very imposing. I had to believe these were the trustees. There were ten of them. Five men and five women. They were adults, though I couldn't guess how old they were. They sat there wearing the same kind of dark suits that Nevva wore, looking every bit like supreme court judges. They faced an audience that sat in rows."

MR. POP

QG p. 349

"The instant the doors opened, I understood everything. I knew why security was so tight. I knew why Mr. Pop was spoken about in hushed tones. I knew how he would guide the people of Quillan into the future. I knew why they didn't want Blok to know he existed. I knew why people died to protect his secrets. I knew why Tylee said protecting him was the single most important job ever conceived of in the history of Quillan, because what we saw in that room was the history of Quillan. Mr. Pop wasn't a person, he was a civilization."

QG p. 350

"This huge, impossible vault held the artifacts that defined the history of a territory. Everything that had been wiped out by the juggernaut that was Blok, was here. I'm not sure where to begin telling you about it. I'll just dive in and describe it as it comes to me: There was artwork. Beautiful artworks of all styles – realistic, impressionistic, modern. Paintings and murals and sketches were displayed in one giant section. Next to it was a library. There were many thousands of volumes on shelves stacked nearly to the ceiling. These were the writings and thoughts of the people of Quillan. This is what Blok destroyed – or tried to."

QG p. 350

"Music came from one section. It sounded kind of like classical music from Second Earth. There were multiple bins of small disks that contained every piece of music ever composed and recorded on the territory. It was all there. Another section had hundreds of mannequins, though this wasn't scary and sad like that empty store at the mall. These mannequins were clothing from all different periods in Quillan's history. There were vibrant colors and colorful patterns and daring styles that would even turn some heads on Second Earth. There wasn't a single, gray plain suit to be seen anywhere."

QG pg. 350-351

"We passed cars from different eras, models of homes of every sort, examples of furniture and kitchens. There were even artifacts from ancient Quillan cultures. I saw dugout canoes and rudimentary tools. We passed one section that was ringed with hundreds of portraits. Tylee explained how each of these people had been notable in their time. Beneath each portrait was a detailed history of the person's life and his or her contribution to the history of Quillan. There were artists and athletes, politicians and kings, outlaws and scientists."

THE GUARDIANS

QG p. 351

"Every so often we'd pass someone who was quietly going about the business of caring for the displays. The people all wore dark green smocks that made them look kind of like doctors. Or scientists. Tylee explained that these guardians maintained and cared for everything within these walls. I saw one guy touching up an ancient oil portrait that was starting to fade. Another woman mended a gown that was frayed at the shoulder. Two guys worked on a car. They kicked over the engine and it sputtered to life. The two guys hugged each other as if they had just performed a miracle. In guess in some ways, they had."

THE UNDERGROUND MALL

QG pg. 316-317

"It was a derelict, deserted, underground mall. We were standing in a central courtyard. Directly above us was a skylight that was bricked over, like the stained glass of the train station. In front of us was a fountain that hadn't seen water in forever. There seemed to be three levels. We were on the lowest. Four sets of wide marble stairs led up from this courtyard to the one above us. I wasn't sure how you got from that level to the highest. Maybe there were some escalators somewhere. If there were, I guarantee they weren't working. This place had been dead for many years."

QG p. 317

"Like the malls at home on Second Earth, there were several storefronts lined up next to one another. Unlike the stores outside on the street that sold "Clothes" and "Food," these stores had unique names like "Razzle," "Storm and Kissner," "Pookie's Place," and "The Bountiful Table." These were stores that sold the kind of things you'd see at a mall at home. I saw a music shop, flower stands, bookstores, a toy shop, and even a store that sold nothing but candy."

WIPPEN

QG p. 212

"We quickly climbed up into a tower that was an observation platform. Looking down on the field, I saw two teams of four challengers on horseback. Each team had two girls and two guys. They weren't wearing their personal challenger shirts. Instead they had team colors. A white team and a black team. They still had the familiar diagonal stripes across the front, though. The playing field was about the size of a football field. There were large nets at either end that looked like goals. I saw pretty quickly what the point of the game was. Each of the riders had a long stick with a net on the end. They fought over a soccer-size red ball, trying to scoop it up. They would then pass it to a teammate to throw into the opposing team's net. It was like lacrosse on horseback. Sort of. There was more."

QG p. 212

"Each team had three more players, but they were on foot. They could run with the ball or kick it like a soccer ball. It was a dangerous position to play. I saw one guy get whacked with a stick. It wasn't an accident. He was running with the ball, and got clocked so hard he dropped the ball and landed on his head. If he hadn't rolled out of the way, he would have been trampled. That didn't look like an accident either. The guy who nearly ran him down was trying to get him."

CLOWN FOREST

QG p. 410

"This is my favourite game," he said. "Hidden in this maze of trees are six flags. Three green, three red. The goal is to enter the forest, find each of your flags, and make your way to the far side, where we will be waiting. The first to arrive with all the flags is the winner!"

QG p. 414

"I dodged around the tree and heard the little bolt of energy crackle against the trunk. The little beast ran along the branch and got right in front of me. I had nowhere to hide. I was done. But he didn't shoot. He dropped the gun and leaped at me! The fiend sailed down and landed on my shoulder. He grabbed me around the neck and started to bite! Yeow! I wrestled the thing and off and threw him against a tree, hard. The thing hit and fell to the ground. A second later he was back on his feet like nothing had happened, and he started after me again."

QG p. 414

"I ran wildly through the woods, always alert for little flashes of color that would mean I was about to be ambushed. All I could think about was getting away from those bonzos. It was hard to run fast and dodge trees at the same time. I wasn't even thinking about the game when I rounded one tree and saw a red flag. Yes! It was the size of a bandana and tacked to a tree. I grabbed it, jammed it in my pants, and continued running. It didn't matter which way I went. I had no way to know where I was, or where the next flag might be."

SPINNEY-DO

QG p. 408

"Challenger Green maneuvered himself around, hovering just above one of the big fish. He could as close as he could without touching it, then quickly grabbed the ridge on its back and clamped his legs around it. The fish instantly blew up to three times its size and started bucking. Green gripped the ridge with both hands. He may not have been agile, but he was strong. As soon as the fish started to move, the clock did too. I didn't know how long a "click" was – it seemed to be around a second. Green held on with both hands as the clock moved to 5. Then 10. One of Green's hands flew off, but he held on with the other. He wouldn't last much longer. Finally with a quick snap of its back, the fish threw Green off and scooted away. The final time – 22 clicks."

QG p. 409

"It was almost over before it began. The fish moved so fast it nearly yanked itself out of my grip. My left hand flailed in the water. If I didn't grab on with both hands, fast, I wouldn't last for 3 clicks, let alone 13. I was able to bring my left hand down and hold on, just as the fish bloated. It threw my legs out wide, which made it even harder to hang on. It got so fat I had trouble gripping with my legs. I knew this ride wasn't going to last long. The spinney twisted and bucked, then swam upside down! I was head down, but it wouldn't let go. When I managed to hang on even though I was upside down, I had a faint glimmer of hope."

GRAND X – ROUND 4

QG pg. 422-423

"My eye caught movement. It was dark against all the bright white. It was Challenger Green. He was climbing one of the mounds. If my penalty for losing the clown game was to not learn the rules, that meant Challenger Green did know the rules. I watched him for a clue. He climbed the mound easily. There were several places for foot – and handholds. It looked like climbing was the easy part. The hard part was avoiding the speeding disks. I saw one disk fly toward him and stick into the side of the mound, next to his leg. He never saw it coming, but dove back in surprise when it hit. He nearly fell off the mound. That meant he didn't know when to expect these things. Which meant I wouldn't know either. Swell."

QG p. 424

I reached the pinnacle and saw what I had to do. It was simple. There were six round, flat lights about three inches in diameter that were built into a plateau on top of the mound. Three red, three green. One if the green lights was glowing. I took a guess and touched one of the red lights. It lit up. That was the game. You had to climb three mountains and light all your lights...without getting killed, of course."

QG p. 424

"I was still looking into the hole where my bed had disappeared, with my fingers curled over the edge, when a section of the floor flew toward me. I saw it coming at the last second and pulled my hands away as the pieces of flooring slammed together with a chunk! The hole had closed so fast and so violently that my fingers would have been crushed for sure."

TOCK

QG pg. 182-183

"A horn sounded. The number started clicking down from 120. I had no way of knowing how much time I had before it hit 60 and I'd start losing blood. Or body parts. I dove to the ground in the general direction of one of the pedestals. I did a somersault, bounced back to my feet, lunged at the flag...and got knocked into last week. One of the silver balls hit me like a speeding car. LaBerge had understated it. This didn't hurt, this was just...brutal. The ball hit me so hard in the side, I feared it broke a rib. Or three. The shot knocked me off my feet so fast and so hard that I rolled into the steel cage, slamming it almost as violently as the ball had slammed me. It was a good thing the ball hadn't hit me in the head."

QG p. 184

"I got control of the ball just as another ball came swinging toward me. I ducked and it flew past. I grabbed hold of the large Tock rock and looked for the nearest flag. I didn't swing the ball at the flag or at the other challengers. I ran with it and launched myself into the air like I was on a tire swing. The ball swung out, lifting me into the air moving directly toward the flag. I reached out and grabbed it as I swung by. Yes! I had one."

HOOK

QG p. 152

"I was face-to-face with a dado. He stood with his legs apart over one of the up-facing spotlights. The bright light shining up on him from below made him look even more imposing. He was well over six feet tall, with wide shoulders and strong arms that looked ready to burst the seams of his sleeves. He wore the same dark uniform as the other dado's I'd seen, but he didn't wear a helmet or a gun. His weapon was a six-foot-long curved stick with a ball on the end. I guessed that was the "Hook." It looked semi rigid, like it was made out of soft plastic. It wasn't as long as a whip, but he used it like one. I knew it had to be what he had slashed me with. It wasn't a lethal weapon, but if he knew how to use it, he could control me."

QG p. 153

"I was wrong. No sooner did I take off running, than the number blipped down to 60. The number over the door flashed red and a harsh horn sounded. That wasn't the problem. That was the warning. When the horn sounded, several silver cylinders the size of telephone poles drove down from the ceiling, slamming into the floor like demonic pile drivers. I barely missed getting crushed by one, as they hammered the floor so hard the vibration almost knocked me off my feet."

CAPTURE THE FLAG (ZADAA STYLE)

QG pg. 403-404

"The horn sounded, and Green charged me so hard and fast that I didn't have time to react. He drilled his head into my chest and knocked me flat on my back, hammering the air into my lungs. Green tossed aside his stave and wrestled me to get at the pegs. I guess I could say that he wasn't playing fair, but I didn't think there was any such thing as fair in these games. If I didn't do something fast, this fight would be over before it even got started. He had already pulled off two pegs and was going for the third, when I drilled my elbow into his jaw. He wasn't expecting that and rolled off. I rolled the other way and scrambled to get back to my feet."

QG p. 405

"I knocked the spear away easily. When he lunged at me, I faked a swing, which made him falter. I then jammed the end of the stave between his knees and pushed. Green's legs got tangled and he hit the grass hard. Before he had the chance to get up, I flicked away both pegs from his legs. All he had left was the peg on his hand. He was about to roll and get up, when I jammed the end of the stave into his neck, pinning him to the ground."

BW Descriptive Notes

HUGE TREE

BW pg. 31-32

"What I saw made me catch my breath. I instantly knew that I wouldn't have any trouble finding the gate again. That's because looming up in front of me was the hugest tree I had ever seen. I'm not talking big. I mean immense. Colossal. Impossible. The trunk at the base must have been thirty yards across. Did you ever see a picture of those trees in California that have a tunnel cut through the base you could drive a car through? Well, if there were a tunnel cut into the base of this tree, you could drive a dozen eighteen-wheelers through, side by side, and still have room for a couple of Hummers. It was like a skyscraper covered with bark. Looking up, the branches didn't even begin for about fifty yards up. Then the tree spread out into a canopy that could shade Yankee Stadium. I don't know why, but being next to giant things like that makes my palms sweat, and they were definitely sweating. That's how awesome it was."

JUNGLES OF EELONG

BW p. 30

"Eelong was totally, absolutely beautiful. I found myself about twenty yards from the edge of a cliff, looking out over a green, tropical forest. I don't think I've ever seen anything so awesome. I walked closer to the edge, on ground that was thick with grass so soft I probably didn't need the lame-o shoes. The view spread out before me was absolutely stunning. As far as I could see there was nothing but forest. The canopy of trees below was so dense, you couldn't see the ground. There were no structures, no roads, no towers, no sign at all of civilization. Just forest. A flock of birds that looked like pelicans soared by beneath me. They were bright yellow with brilliant red heads."

BW p. 31

"And the smell. It was sweet, but not icky sweet like when you walk into a flower shop. Whatever flowers grew on Eelong, they had a faint smell that reminded me of lemons. To my left I saw some low, scrubby trees that were covered with deep blue flowers. I walked over to this bushy tree and took a deep whiff. Oh yeah, this is where the smell came from."

SUNBELT

BW pg. 30-31

"As dramatic as this was, there was another sight that made the view even more spectacular. Eelong didn't have a sun. At least not in the way we think of a sun. The sky was blue, just like at home. There were even clouds. But rather than a ball in the sky, there was a wide band of light, stretching from one horizon all the way across to the opposite, like a rainbow. It was directly overhead, and I wondered if it would move across the sky as the day wore on. It was hot, too. Jungle hot. This band of brilliant light gave off heat like a tropical sun."

SCI-CLOPS

BW p. 15

"The two continued up the stairs to the physics floor. Mark couldn't wait to see Mitchell's reaction when the mistake was discovered. Wishing total humiliation for someone wasn't exactly noble, but after the years of havoc Andy Mitchell rained down on the dweebs of Stony Brook, he deserved it. When they entered Mr. Pike's classroom, most of the Sci-clops members were already sitting and waiting to begin. They were a precise bunch. Mark took a seat in the back of the room because he was still one of the newer members. Unlike the bus where the cool kids sat in back, in Sci-clops the senior members sat up front. It was one of the many things Mark liked about the club. Andy Mitchell, on the other hand, chose a seat in the first row like he owned the place. Mark loved it. He couldn't wait until Mr. Pike called him out. It was ever dweeb's dream come true. Twenty against one. An excellent nerd vs. terd ratio."

BW p. 13

"The only thing that kept Mark from going off the deep end was the Sci-clops science club at school. The summer before, Mark had designed and built a battling robot for the state science fair. He won first prize and got an invitation to join the prestigious club. Mark wasn't used to being rewarded for doing something that was usually considered geek territory, so he welcomed the chance. Mark found that Sci-clops was full of brilliant students who shared his curiosity about the world around them. A sci-clops meeting was a minivacation from the relentless social pressure of high school. It also helped get his mind off the imminent destruction of the universe."

CLOTHES

BW p. 27

"In the dead center of the cavern was a large flat rock. Lying on it was something I wasn't happy to see. It was a pile of clothing. As you know, acolytes put clothing at the flumes for visiting Travelers. According to the Traveler rules, I had to dress in these clothes. No problem, right? Wrong. The clothing on this rock was nothing more than a pile of dirty rags. I'm not exaggerating. At first that's what I thought they were. Rags. But when I lifted one up, I saw that it was a crudely made pair of cloth pants. It wasn't exactly soft, either. It felt like rough burlap. I picked up what looked like a shirt. I wasn't really sure at first, because I saw one sleeve and a hole that I thought would go around your neck, but the rest was in tatters. Not exactly something you'd find on the rack at the Gap. And they smelled too. Like bad B.O."

TANGS

BW p. 33

"Standing ten yards away from me was a beast. It was like nothing I had ever seen before. The first thing I thought of was...dinosaur. It stood upright on two legs, with a long, thick tail that whipped back and forth angrily. It looked to be around seven feet tall, with powerful arms and hands that were long three-finger talons. Same with its feet. Its entire body was bright green, like a lizard, with scales covering it. But what I couldn't take my eyes off of was its head. It was reptilian with a snoutlike nose. It had bright green hair that swept back from its forehead and fell halfway down its back. But most hideous was its mouth. It looked like a shark mouth, with multiple rows of sharp teeth that were all about tearing flash."

BW pg. 34-35

"The beast locked its eyes on me and drew back its lips, revealing yet another row of pointed teeth. Swell. Its long green hair spiked out, like an angry cat. It hissed, and I got a whiff of something nasty. It was sending out a disgusting scent that smelled like rotten fish. This thing was going to pounce, and it was going to hurt. I was totally defenseless. Worse, the giant tree was behind me. It was like being trapped in a dead end. I took a tentative step to my right. The beast mirrored my move. I took a step back to my left. So did the beast. I felt like I was playing basketball and this monster was playing defense. Only it didn't want to steal the ball. It wanted to steal my head."

BW p. 33

"And that's exactly what it was doing, because clasped in its jaws was another human arm. Blood ran into the beast's mouth and down its chin. If I hadn't been so scared, I would've gotten sick. We held eye contact. I could feel this monster sizing me up. Its eyes were red, and angry. Without looking away, it closed its jaws, crunching the arm like a dry twig. The sound made my stomach turn. The monster flipped out a green tongue and sucked the shattered arm into its mouth. One gulp later, the arm was gone. Swallowed. Bone and all. Gross. It turned back to me as its mouth twisted into a bloody grin."

HUMAN-QUIGS

BW pg. 40-41

"The guy who jammed the cloth in my mouth sat on my chest, staring down at me. I was pinned, unable to move. I looked up into his eyes and saw something that made any hope I had of reasoning with these people fly out the window. I don't know why I didn't realize it before, but I didn't. Now it was too late. The lizard beast that attacked me outside may have been deadly. It may have been trying to eat me. But there was one thing that it wasn't. Its eyes should have told me. Its eyes were red. Quigs didn't have red eyes. Quigs had yellow eyes. And as I looked up at the guy who was sitting on my chest, I saw that his eyes were yellow. And vicious. He opened his mouth into a grotesque smile to reveal rows of sharp, blood-stained teeth. A thin line of drool ran from his lips and fell onto my chest."

ZENZENS

BW pg. 85-86

"The other guard quickly yanked off my shoes. I didn't fight. There were bigger problems to deal with than losing a pair of torn-up cloth shoes. Besides, I didn't want them to bite me. A few seconds later, I heard the sound of hoofs. The klee guard let go of me and I gasped for breath. I saw Boon trotting up on the back of an incredibly strange-looking horse. I now realized that this tall fence was actually a corral. The animal Boon called a "zenzen" was dark orange, and sort of looked like a regular old Second Earth horse, except that it had impossibly long legs. That's because each leg had an extra joint. I'm serious. Imagine a horse leg, then add a whole 'nother section that was about two feet long, complete with an extra joint, and you'd have what they called a zenzen. It moved strangely, like a spider. But it was definitely a horse."

BOON

BW p.44

"I slowly lifted my head and looked between my legs. Across the cavern I saw it, hunched low, stalking me. This one was a light brown color, like a mountain lion. It was big, too. Bigger than the one I saw chase the quig up the vines. Its large, brown cat eyes were fixed on me as it lurked closer. What did the Boy Scout Field Guide say to do in times like this? Should I stare at the beast? Should I play dead? Should I jump up and pretend to be really big and scare it? I sure remembered how to tie knots, but when it came to something useful like saving my butt from a monster, my Boy Scout training fell woefully short. While my mind clicked through these choices, the cat crept closer. Soon, it wouldn't matter what my plan was. It would be all about the cat's plan, and I didn't think I was going to like it."

BW p. 47

"His voice sounded as normal as mine. There was no hint that it was coming out of a nonhuman mouth. I looked up at his cat face and realized that maybe he wasn't a typical cat after all. Sure, his face and head and ears were definitely catlike, but his snout wasn't as pronounced as a regular cat's. His mouth was a bit smaller too. But he was covered with fur, and his arms were too long for a human, and he had knees that bent at an odd angle. You know that dumb Broadway musical were everybody dressed in tights and cat makeup and ran around singing about how swell it was to be a cat? Well, forget that. This wasn't anything like that. This was no costume. This guy was definitely a cat, but with some human traits...not the least of which was talking."

BW p. 46

"I took one more step into The Twilight Zone when the big cat stood up on its back legs and walked like a human! It must have been around my size, under six feet. I saw that it too wore some kind of crude clothing. It was a simple, brown tunic that fit snugly to his body, but his outfit was in much better shape than my rags. The garment had no buckles or snaps or buttons. It looked to have been form fitted to his body."

KASHA

BW p. 60

"The cat Boon called Kasha was jet black. Her fur was so black, it looked blue. It was shiny, too. She wore the same dark clothing as the other cats. In one hand she held a long stick. In the other she held what looked like a coiled rope."

SEEGEN

BW p. 100

"The big cat was on all fours, staring back at them. Its coat was gray-and-white spotted, like a leopard's. The only thing that gave Mark and Courtney a glimmer of hope that they wouldn't be devoured was the fact that the cat wore a tunic, like the ones Bobby described."

KLEES

BW pg. 64-65

"We also started seeing more cats. I should probably start calling them klees, but that's going to be tough because, well, they were cats. I saw klees of all different sizes and colors traveling the sky bridges. Some walked on their hind legs. Others ran on all fours, seemingly in a hurry to get somewhere important. I suppose I should have been scared, because any one of them could have turned me into Tender Vittles, but I wasn't. It all seemed so...civilized. I figured that unlike on Second Earth, predator cats and humans were able to live side by side. Weird, no?"

WILDLIFE

BW p. 56

"This world was full of life, too. I saw a swarm of tiny, orange hummingbird creatures float by like a small cloud. They each gave off a sweet, whistling sound that must have been their tiny wings beating. Together, the effect was like music. I glanced up to see a large hawk soaring overhead. It was pure white and floated on thermals like a lazy cloud. Directly across from us, on our level, was a tree full of green monkeys. They were cute little things that chattered and chased one another from branch to branch."

BW pg. 236-237

"There was wildlife too. I'm happy to report that we saw many different creatures on Eelong, and for a change, none of them wanted to eat me. There were beautiful, deerlike animals with strong, sharp antlers that must have been used to fend off tangs. I saw more of those funny, green monkeys, along with multicoloured birds that chattered in the trees. When we'd pass beneath, the birds would take flight, looking like a chaotic rainbow. There were bugs, too. On the ground, and flying. Some were the size of hummingbirds. A sting from one of those babies would hurt. We passed a large flock of birds pecking at the grass in a meadow. They were hefty things, about the size of turkeys, but with brilliant blue feathers."

BW p. 140

"By the time we reached the portal into Leeandra, the sunbelt had dropped below the horizon. Night had settled on Eelong. I looked up through the thick tree canopy and saw stars. Fireflies were everywhere, just like on Second Earth. The small flying bugs would light up for a few seconds, then go dark. But unlike the boring old fireflies on Second Earth, these lit up with every color you could imagine. There were reds and greens and purples and blues, and yes, even some yellows like at home. It was stunning. As I gazed out to admire the light show, Boon stepped in front of me and gave me a sheepish look. I knew where this was going. I put my hands together and held them out."

LEEANDRA

BW p. 70

"Before I had the chance to ask him any more about what to expect, we stepped out of the portal on the far side of the tree and I got my first view of Leeandra. Oh man. What a sight! Like I wrote before, it was a city built in the air. There were wooden huts of all sizes dotting the sides of the trees. Busy sky bridges were everywhere. The structures were built high overhead, and down low, with the lowest buildings only about twenty yards off the ground. I guessed they were still high enough to be safe from marauding tangs. The city was big. I saw no end to the buildings, either way. It all looked to be manufactured out of natural material. Wood, bamboo and woven vines. I didn't see anything that looked like metal or plastic. Everything I saw was very much like I had seen on my way to Leeandra, but multiplied a few hundred times."

BW pg. 70-71

"But there was more. Running alongside many of the sky bridges were vehicles that traveled on a single track, like a monorail. They were open-car trains that each carried about twenty klees. They moved silently and stopped at intersections where klees got off and on. I also saw elevators. There were round platforms that carried passengers up and down the outsides of the trees, to all levels. I saw fountains on many levels that emptied into square troughs were klees bellied up and lapped water like, well, like cats. That meant Leeandra had pumps, and plumbing. But maybe the most incredible sight was the streetlights. The entire city was covered by a thick canopy of foliage that didn't let in much light from the sunbelt in the sky. So even though it was daytime, it was pretty dark. But the streetlights took care of that. Every few yards along the sky bridges and walkways was an overhead light fixture that was made up of a handful of small, verticles tubes that looked like wind chimes. The lights gave off a warm glow that made the city look as if it were lit by giant fireflies. It was something out of a fairy-tale fantasy."

GARS

BW pg. 152-153

"Between the threat of tangs and the bumpy ride, I knew we were in for a long trip. All I could do was try to get comfortable and stare at the pathetic-looking gars who surrounded me. It was totally creepy. I was jammed in with a bunch of raggy-looking people who kept their eyes down. I guess I shouldn't have been surprised, but it was tough getting my mind around the fact that as much as they looked like humans, they weren't. Expecting them to be social would be like expecting a bunch of cows to stand up and sing some reggae. And they smelled too. I don't think any of them had a bath in, well, maybe never."

TIMBER

BW p. 77

"The big cat spoke with confidence. He had dark brown fur, with thousands of black spots, like a leopard. His mane was long, and it looked as if he actually combed it. How's that for an image? A big jungle cat with a slick hairdo. Amazing."

RANJIN

BW pg. 73-74

"Standing onstage was a tall cat dressed in a royal blue tunic. He actually looked somewhat like a lion, but his hair, or mane, wasn't as full as a lion's. It was long, though, and fell halfway down his back. He looked older, too. He stood center stage holding a long, wooden staff that had the carving of a snarling cat's head on top. I wasn't sure if he needed this for balance, or if it was a symbol of power. Behind him sat six more cats, each wearing tunics that were bright red."

BLACK WATER

BW pg. 243-244

"She pointed to the far side of the bowl. I had been staring out there since we had stopped and didn't expect to see anything different, but I was wrong. Something was different with the waterfalls. They were all about the same height. The water appeared white as it crested the top and fell all the way down to the lake. But now, with the sunbelt at just the right angle, the light must have been blocked by a rock formation or something. For now, the second waterfall from the right no longer appeared white. The water had gone dark. It totally stood out from the other six. There was only one way to describe it."

BW p. 259

"We stood on the side of a steep hill, looking down on a big, busy village. There was a grand building in the center, with hundreds of smaller huts built out in straight lines like the spokes on a wheel. The cross streets were circles that got bigger and bigger the farther they were from the center. The huts all looked like round log cabins with thatch roofs. Though it was nighttime, I could see it all plainly, because the moon was full and there were lamps burning on posts at most every intersection. Lights glowed inside the huts too, making them look warm and inviting."

BW p. 259

"It's hard to guestimate exactly how big the town was, but I'd say it was spread out over a couple of square miles. It was tucked into a hidden valley, surrounded by steep, rocky cliffs. A huge waterfall cascaded down on one end if the valley, feeding a river that wound its way through the center of town and continued out the far side. I couldn't tell for sure, but it looked like farmland stretched out beyond the huts."

BW pg. 259-260

"The town was a strange oasis tucked into the mountains of nowhere. The only thing that would have made it more surprising was if there had been snow and a guy with a red suit who made toys and drove a sled. The streets were busy with gars hurrying about, well, like humans. Some rode bicycle vehicles, others drove wagons pulled by zenzens. Their clothes were sturdy and clean, nothing like the rags worn by the gars outside of here. I saw women and children and even some elderly gars, which was surprising, because none of the gars in Leeandra lived long enough to become elderly."

BW p. 262

"We reached the first street of the village and continued along a grass strip that was the road. In fact all the roads were covered with short, firm grass that was like artificial turf. To either side of the road were huts. Delicious food smells drifted from some, along with music that sounded as if it were being played by a flute. Each hut was pretty much the same as the next, except for the well-kept flower gardens in front. Some were elaborate and colorful, others had nicely trimmed hedges. All the plants and grassy roads made the town feel as if it were a living thing."

LABORATORY

BW p. 266

"Gunny opened the door and we stepped into a massive room that I can best describe as a giant greenhouse. Looking up, I saw that the high ceiling was made of glass. Stars could be seen twinkling in the night sky. On the floor were long rows of different sized plants, all holding the most incredible, healthy-looking fruits and vegetables I'd ever seen. There were vines with long, yellow, tubular fruits; bushes laden with orange-size berries; stalks that held the familiar blue apples, but ones twice the size of those I had picked and trees that were hanging heavy with long, red ropelike fruits that pulled the branches toward the ground. Gunny picked off one of these long fruits and broke it into several pieces, offering them to us. I took a bite to find it had the snap of an apple's texture, but tasted more like citrus. It was the closest thing to chewing lemonade that I could imagine."

VIRLOAM

BW p. 267

"Gunny pushed aside a plant to reveal a heavy, black frame. It reminded me of the thing my grandfather used to grow roses on. It was like a grid, with six-inch squares. I looked around the room to see that all the plants were growing on these black grids. Some were flat on the floor and the plants grew up from it. Others were on end, like a wall, and the healthy plants grew all over it."

GIGS

BW p. 314

"Bobby examined the first gig he came to. The body looked like a bumper car from an amusement park, only narrower. There were two seats in an open cockpit, side by side. The body itself looked to have been molded out of a natural resin material that was hard, like plastic. The craft was a deep yellow color. Half of the gigs were the same yellow and the rest were a deep, forest green. Rising up from behind the cockpit like a triple umbrella were three rotors. The blades of each were only a few feet across, rather than a single, large rotor like Second Earth helicopters. There were two more small rotors on either side of the body, below the cockpit. Each of these rotors was encircled by a ring of the same hard, resin material that the body was made out of."

LITTLE GIRL

BW p. 397

"It was a little, blond girl who looked to be no more than five years old. She stood alone, on top of one of the huts. She stood out from the others in that she wasn't dancing or singing, or hugging any of the gars. She looked strangely familiar, but Bobby didn't know why. He took a few steps closer to get a better look, when the little girl turned and stared at him."

AMBER CUBES

BW p. 155

"I felt a tap on my shoulder and looked back to the gar who first spoke. He held out his hand. In his open palm was something I recognized. It was a small, amber cube like I had seen the two gars petting back in Leaandra. A closer look showed me that it was definitely made of some kind of crystal. But one of the sides was black. I looked at the strange object, not sure of what to do. He didn't want me to take it, it was more like he was showing it off."

LINK

BW p. 270

"Gunny led us back out and through the greenhouse. We went all the way back to the long corridor we had first walked through and went into one of the side doors. Stepping through, we entered a much smaller room that was completely dark, except for a truly strange-looking device. There were six huge amber crystals that went from floor to ceiling. They were tube shaped and about three feet in diameter. Each tube gave off a soft glow of light and a slight electric hum. In front of the crystals was a table made of polished wood. On top were three rows of crystals that were fixed into the wood, like buttons. They were all different colors and shapes, and like the amber tubes, they glowed with light from within."

YORN

BW p. 146

"The big gray cat who was stalking me stood up on its two hind legs and said, 'What is this Kasha? You're now letting gars sleep in your home?' The cats voice sounded old. His fur was longer than others I'd seen and the gray was from age. This was definitely an elderly cat, but it still looked pretty dangerous."

GAR PRISON

BW p. 172

"Along one wall was a water trough dug into the stone floor that we were supposed to use as a bathroom. Nice idea, with constantly running water and all. Trouble was, the water wasn't running fast enough to take everything away, and the klees never set foot inside the dungeon to clean it up. So it was like living inside a toilet. Making things worse, the running water gave the cell a damp feeling that cut to the center of my bones. I felt like one big toothache."

BW pg. 172-173

"There was one wooden door with a barred window, where I could see klee guards walk past. The only cushioning we had to make the hard floor more comfortable was dirty hay that had probably been dumped there a century before. The stuff smelled so bad I never sat on it. I chose to be uncomfortable rather than nauseous. There was no ceiling, only the bamboo grid that was beyond reach. At least his open ceiling made it possible to see the sky and catch a breath of fresh air. It was good to see the stars at night, clouds drifting by during the day, and the band of sun as the day wore on. Unfortunately it also meant that when it rained, we got wet. At least it helped wash the stench out of the cell."

ARON

BW p.254

"Like the other gars, Aron wasn't much taller than five feet. He had long dark hair that fell to his shoulders and even though he looked like an older guy, his face didn't have the hint of a beard. It was weird, because I doubted it these guys shaved. They were like adult children. But more interesting, unlike the gars from Leeandra, there was intelligence behind their eyes. They stood straight and moved with purpose. It was just one more proof that gars weren't animals to be hunted and slaughtered."

FAYNE

BW p. 372

"Everbody, I'd like you to meet Fayne," Gunny said as he approached them. He was leading a woman who looked to be no more than twenty years old. But being that the gars of Black Water all looked young, she could have been any age. She was small, with short black hair. She looked to Bobby like someone who was used to hard work. Her rough hands and strong arms were a dead giveaway. "Fayne is on duty today," Gunny explained. "She's going to help us."

I can do PoR or RR, whichever. If I were to do RR, would I include everything? Because alot of his descriptions are brief recaps of things we've already seen.

Whichever I take, it'll probably take a while. I don't have much free time this summer.

Also, I can do LCoF if no one else plans on doing it.

I've got tons of free time this summer so whatever nobody else has time for, I'd be more than happy to take the job :)

LCoF Descriptive Notes

JOURNALS

LCoF pg. 19-20

"That part I haven't figured out," he answered. "He dug inside the pack and pulled out Bobby's journal. Unlike the first journal that was written on crude, yellowed parchment paper, these pages were light green and supple. Each page was roughly the size of standard printer paper, but the edges weren't square. These pages were oddly shaped, as if they had been handmade. The green pages were like a light, thin rubber. The writing looked pretty much the same as the other journals though. The words were written in black ink, and the handwriting was definitely Bobby's."

MR. DORRICO

LCoF p. 12

"Mr. Dorrico had been a janitor at Stony Brook for most of his illustrious fifty-year janitorial career. There wasn't much you could put past him and this time was no different. There was indeed a girl in the boy's lavatory. Mr Dorrico may have been ancient and terminally cranky, but he could still tell boys from girls. Most of the time."

UNDEREWATER CAVERN

LCoF p. 23

"The water was tropical warm, like swimming in Florida. As soon as I stopped diving downward, I kicked my legs to push back to the surface. I wanted to know where I was and what the territory of Cloral had going on. When I broke the surface I took a quick look around the check the place out. I was treading water in a large pool in an underground cavern. Not a big surprise. So far all the flumes were underground. But unlike the other flumes that I walked into, the opening to this flume was cut into the cavern wall about twenty feet above the water. That's where I had just been shot out like, well, like a cannonball. Thanks for the warning, Uncle Press."

LCoF p. 23

"The place was about the size of two tennis courts, with a high arching ceiling that reached a peak far above. It kind of reminded me of being in a small church. The walls were craggy, sand-colored stone that looked to have been carved by centuries of erosion. There were also thousands of green, leafy vines that grew right out of the stone and draped down over the rocks like a curtain."

LCoF pg. 23-24

"But the thing that really jumped out at me were the thousands of colorful flowers that grew from the vines. The light from the pool of water must have been enough to let them grow, or maybe flowers didn't need light on Cloral. Whatever the case, they were like a spectacular tapestry of color all over the walls. There were vivid reds, deep blues and vibrant yellows. The flowers were all different shapes and sizes and looked nothing like Earth flowers. Some were trumpet shaped, others looked more like small helicopter blades. Stranger still, they seemed alive. No kidding, all the blossoms were slowly opening and closing like they were breathing oxygen. Seeing those thousands of moving flowers made the cavern itself seem alive. It was magical and creepy at the same time."

CUCUMBER FRUITS

LCoF pg. 26-27

"Uncle Press laughed and reached toward one of the vines that clung to the rocks. Behind the colorful flowers, attached to the same vine, were dark lumpy-looking things. He plucked one off like an apple from a tree and tossed it to me. I caught it awkwardly and saw that it looked like a small, dark green cucumber. It was kind of rubbery, so I guess it was really more like a pickle than a cucumber."

LCoF p. 27

"I held both ends and snapped the strange tube in half easily. The green skin on the outside was so dark that it was nearly black, but the inside was bright red."

LCoF p. 27

"Try it," he said while plucking another one for himself. "He took a big bite and chewed. I figured if it didn't kill him, it wouldn't kill me, so I took a bite and it was delicious! It was like the sweetest little watermelon I had ever eaten. Even the skin was good, though chewier and a bit more salty than the sweet pulp inside. No seeds, either."

AIR GLOBES

LCoF p. 28

"He tossed the plastic bubble to me. It was light, but solid. One section of the globe was open so it looked kind of like a big, round fishbowl. There was also a small gizmo attached to it that looked like a small harmonica."

LCoF pg. 28-29

"Why couldn't he just tell me what was about to happen for a change? Why did I always have to experience it myself? Oh well. Why argue? I reluctantly lifted the clear globe and slowly lowered it down over my head – until a freaky thing happened. As soon as the top of my head touched the inside of the globe, the clear dome started to change shape! I instantly yanked the cursed thing off. It immediately stopped moving and returned to its original round shape."

LCoF p. 29

"He put the second globe over his head. Instantly the clear dome began to writhe and change shape. In a few seconds the sphere went from totally round, to a perfectly formfitting shell around his head. It was unbelievable. The thing had taken on the shape of Uncle Press's head. He smiled at me from inside the clear mask."

WATER SLEDS

LCoF p. 30

"There were two gizmos on the pile that I can best describe as looking like the plastic floats lifeguards use when they make rescues. Uncle Press picked one up and held it out for me to see. It was roughly football shaped, bright purple, and had handle grips on each side. It was about a foot and a half long. One end had a round, open mouth. The other end came to a point. There were also rows of slits that ran across the top and bottom."

CLORAN CLOTHES

LCoF pg. 30-31

"It was time to dress like a Cloran. I had been through this drill before. So I walked across the stone ledge and began to dig through the pile of Cloral clothes. Uncle Press did the same. There were shirts and pants and even shorts that I guess were supposed to be used as underwear. Good thing. I didn't get to wear any underwear on Denduron and the rough leather clothes gave me a raging rash that was only now starting to calm down."

LCoF p. 31

"The material was soft and kind of rubbery. Cloral was all about water, so I guessed these clothes would be perfect for swimming and would dry fast. The clothes were bright, too. All were on the cool end of the spectrum, blue, green, and purple. I knew from the times that Uncle Press had taken me scuba diving that the best colors to use underwater were in the blue family – they showed up best. Colors like red and yellow were quickly filtered away underwater so they ended up looking gray, but blue still looked like blue underwater. So did purple and green."

LCoF pg. 31-32

"I grabbed a light blue shirt and pair of pants that looked sort of like the same color. Nobody knew me here, but I didn't want to look like a clashing, colorblind freek. I picked out some blue shorts too. I wasn't sure if they were the right size, but when I put them on, it was like they were made for me! There weren't any zippers or buttons, either. I dumped my Second Earth clothes and stepped into the shorts and pants, then pulled the shirt down over my head. The stretchy clothes molded to my body perfectly. They weren't too tight, but were still formfitting enough that nothing would twist and get in the way in the water. There were even soft boots with rubber souls that slipped on easily and fit like they were custom-made. It was all very Star Trek."

GREEN-BLUE SEA

LCoF pg. 41-42

"I turned around and was confronted with one of the most breathtaking sights I had ever seen. Beyond us was open, green-blue sea. The sandy bottom turned into a coral reef that spread out before us like a colorful blanket. It was awesome. I had been on tropical reefs before and seen all sorts of tropical fish and unique coral formations, but I had never seen anything like this. The colors of this reef were nearly as vibrant as the flowers in the cavern we had just left. There were intense blue fans the size of umbrellas that waved lazily in the soft current. Dotted around them were giant chunks of brain coral, which are called that because they look like, well, like brains. At home brain coral is kind of brownish and dull. Here on Cloral, it was bright yellow. Yellow! I told you before that water filters out red and yellow at this depth, but not here on Cloral. Every color of the spectrum could be seen. There was vibrant green vegetation growing all over the reef. Off to our left was a thick forest of kelp. The vines started on the reef and floated all the way to the surface like leafy ropes – and they were bright red! Other coral had grown up out of the rock bed and formed shapes that looked like a green topiary garden. If you used your imagination, they seemed like a herd of small animals grazing on the rocks. But they weren't; they were coral. Amazing."

LCoF p. 42

"Swimming among all this splendor were the most amazing fish I had ever seen. They traveled in schools, each seeming to know exactly what the others were thinking as they all changed direction at the exact same time. It always amazed me how there could be a hundred fish in a school, but none of them ever made a wrong turn or bumped into one another. One school looked like silver flutes with long delicate fins that fluttered quickly like the wings of a hummingbird. Another school of fish were perfectly round and thin, like a CD. Only they were bright pink! Still another school looked exactly like small bluebirds with beaks and feathers. I know they were swimming, but with each flap of their fins it sure seemed like they were flying. It was all a perfectly orchestrated ballet, and it was beautiful to watch them swim about the colorful reef, lazily enjoying their day."

SHARK-QUIGS

LCoF p. 43

"Uncle Press grabbed my arm and pulled me back down under the rock ledge. A second later I saw what caused the fish panic. Yup, it was a shark. A quig shark. It wasn't in a hurry though. The beast drifted past us as we cowered back in the shadow of the ledge. It used no effort to propel itself along."

LCoF p. 43

"It was beautiful and horrifying at the same time. Most of its body was battleship gray, but its underbelly was jet black. And it was big. We're talking Jaws big. It was way bigger than the shark Saint Dane had sent back at us through the flume. One thing was the same though. The beast had the cold, yellow eyes that told me it was no ordinary shark. It was a quig, no doubt about it. The monster glided past, turned away from the rock and started swimming directly away from us."

VO SPADER

LCoF p. 51

"I spun around to see the guy in black floating next to me. He had taken off his air globe and I now saw that he was a little older than me, and had a slight Asian look with almond-shaped eyes. He had deep, sun-colored skin and long black hair. He also had the biggest, friendliest smile I thought I'd ever seen in my life."

LCoF p. 56

"As Uncle Press climbed up on his skimmer, I watched this Spader guy. Who was he? Was he the Traveler from Cloral? Whoever he was, he was pretty confident in the water. But I guess you have to be if you come from Cloral. His skin was really dark, but I don't know if that was natural or because he was out in the sun so much. Probably a little of both. He was about six feet tall and looked pretty strong. Not a muscle guy, but definitely lean and mean. His black hair was long and shaggy and nearly came to his shoulders."

LCoF pg. 56-57

"But the thing that stood out most about him was his personality. I know that sounds weird, especially since I had just met him and all, but right from the start I knew this guy had it all going on. He was concerned enough about Uncle Press that he went looking for him when he saw that his skimmer was anchored in quig waters, then risked himself to save my life. But he shrugged the whole thing off like it was no big deal. That was pretty cool. And the guy always looked like he was having fun. Whether it was flying underwater with his sled, or getting his skimmer ready to run, the little smile on his face made it look like he always enjoyed whatever he was doing. You gotta like a guy like that. Bottom line, from what I had seen so far, I thought Spader was pretty cool."

SKIMMERS

LCoF p. 55

"Spader had already climbed aboard one of the vehicles. They looked kind of like Jet Skis. But these sleek vehicles weren't toys. They were way too high-tech for that. Each frame was about the size of a very shallow bathtub. They were pure white and looked to be made out of plastic. The bow was pointed and the stern was straight across. To control it, the driver stood at a column that looked like motorcycle handle-bars. Behind the driver's space was a molded seat for a second passenger. The sides only came up a few inches. I guess water getting inside wasn't a problem."

LCoF pg. 55-56

"You'd think they'd be unstable, but that was taken care of. The skimmers had wings. If you've ever seen an outrigger canoe with beams that project out to the side, with pontoons on the end, you'll know what I'm talking about. The skimmers had outriggers on either side. Right now they were lifted up out of the water, which gave them the look of a bird frozen in midflap. On the ends of each outrigger were torpedo-shaped pontoons. My guess was that when under way, the outriggers would be lowered into the water to make the skimmer stable."

LCoF pg. 58-59

"We were moving fast – faster than I've ever traveled over the water. I looked down at the pontoons and saw that they weren't just for balance. They were below the water and I saw a jet of water coming out of each one. They were the skimmer's engines. The skimmer didn't have a rudder or anything, so when Uncle Press turned the control bars, it would send more or less power to either pontoon. That's how the thing was directed. Very cool."

GRALLION

LCoF p. 60

"I kid you not, this was a floating island. As we sped toward it, I kept thinking that we'd be there any second. But we weren't. With each passing moment this monster barge kept on getting bigger and bigger. It was about four stories high, but that's not where the size was. This thing they called a habitat spread out before us for what seemed like a couple of miles. Because we were approaching head-on, I couldn't tell how far back it went, but if the front end was any indication, this thing was the size of Stony Brook."

LCoF p. 66

"First, did I say Grallion was big? Well, big doesn't cover it. It was enourmous. I felt as if I had reached dry land. But after having been below, I knew this wasn't dry land at all. This was a vehicle, but unlike any vehicle I had ever seen. Now, are you ready for this? Stretching out in front of me for as far as I could see...was farmland. I swear. I saw acre upon acre of flowering plants, fruit trees, and vines heavy with colorful vegetables."

LCoF p. 67

"He knew I was blown away and he was enjoying it. I ran after him. I wanted to see more. He led me up the stairs of a tower, and from this higher vantage point I got a great view of the farms of Grallion. I saw that there were very distinct sections, broken up by walkways where farm workers could travel. There were even small electric vehicles that moved quickly and silently along roads that criss-crossed each other. To our left I saw row after row of fruit trees. Many of them bore fruit that looked like apples and oranges, but there were trees with clusters of unfamiliar fruit as well. Some were bright green tubes that looked like balloons hanging from the branches. Other trees had great purple orbs the size of grape-fruits. Others were covered with pure white fat berries. They all looked ripe and ready for picking."

LCoF p.67

"Directly in front of us were rows of thousands of individual plants that grew out of the dirt. Yes, dirt. At least I think it was dirt. It was brown and looked soft, so if it wasn't dirt, it was a good intimidation. Some plants bore small fruits and vegetables, others looked as if the whole thing would be picked like lettuce, or pulled out of the ground like a carrot or a potato."

LCoF p. 67

"To our right were aisles of fences were viney plants grew. This section held the same dark green, pickle-looking fruit that we had found in the cavern underwater. Another area of vines was covered with fruits that looked like round white disks. This odd fruit looked fragile and fluttered when the wind blew."

LCoF p. 67

"There was another whole section that grew beneath the shade of a gauzy tarp. These must have been plants that do better with indirect light. I'm guessing that the covered area took up a square mile. Another whole area looked to be planted with some kind of wheat. Unbelievable."

WU YENZA

LCoF p. 62

"Yenza looked to be in her thirties. She had short black hair and was in pretty good shape. I guess all aquaneers had to be in good shape. She wore a black outfit that was similar to Spader's, but it had long sleeves with yellow stripes near the cuff that gave it a kind of military feel. I'd go so far to say that she was kind of hot, in an older woman way."

GROLO'S

LCoF p. 72

"As we walked inside, I saw that Grolo's was pretty much your standard tavern. I guess it doesn't matter what territory you're on, people like to meet and drink and swap stories and laugh too loud, because that's exactly what was going on here. There was odd music playing, though. I'm not sure to the good people of Cloral it wasn't odd at all. If I were to liken the music to something at home, I'd say it was kind of a New Age, techno, Japanese, string thing. How's that for a description? I know, it makes no sense, but if you heard it, you'd agree. I have to admit, I didn't hate it. It was kind of a dance beat and added a strong helping of feel-good to the place."

AGRONOMERS

LCoF p. 72

"Everyone seemed to be having a good time while drinking, or laughing, or telling stories, or doing all three at once. I noticed one table of people who weren't swept up in all the revelry though. There were four people, two men and two women, who were having an intense debate. The table they sat around was covered with large pieces of paper that looked like plans of some sort. They each kept jabbing their fingers at the plans while trying to make their point."

SNIGGERS

LCoF p. 76

"I wasn't sure what to expect. I had tasted beer once before and I guess that's what I thought it would be like, but it wasn't. That was a good thing because I hated the taste of beer. To be honest, the first taste of sniggers that hit my tongue was totally nasty. It was like drinking carbonated cabbage juice. But in an instant the sour taste went away and what I was left with was an incredibly sweet sensation that actually left my mouth tingling. I once had this soda in Maine called Moxie. When Moxie first hits your tongue it tastes sweet, but after you swallow it leaves a nasty, bitter taste. This sniggers stuff was like reverse-Moxie. The first taste was foul, but it immediately went away and left a wonderful memory that lingered until your next sip. I liked this stuff! Hobey-ho ho!"

SPINNEY FISH

LCoF p. 81

"There was another underwater sport that Spader introduced me to, and once I got the guts to try it, I was hooked. Spader called it spinney-do and this is how it worked: A spinney was a kind of fish that traveled in small schools of maybe four or five and they looked like really skinny dolphins. I'm serious. Imagine a regular old dolphin, then imagine it being only about six inches in diameter and you'd have a spinney. At the backs of their heads they had these bizarre ridges. I had no idea what the spinneys needed them for, but they were crucial to playing spinney-do."

SPINNEY-DO

LCoF pg. 81-82

"Spader motioned for me to be quiet and watch. He then left me and swam cautiously up behind the spinneys, who were busily feeding on some kelp. They had no clue that he was there. They may have looked like skinny dolphins, but they were nowhere near as smart. Spader was able to sneak up right behind them. With one quick move, he jumped on the back of one and grabbed the ridge behind its head! Well, the spinney didn't like that at all and it started to bloat! It was like one of those puffer fishes that get all fat when you touch them. Only the spinney was so big, when it puffed up it got huge! It was strong, too! It had suddenly transformed from this sleepy, dopey fish into a water-going bucking bronco! Spader held on to the back ridge with both hands and wrapped his legs around its body as the fish started thrashing and bucking."

ANDY MITCHELL

LCoF p. 99

"Mark raised his eyes from his arms. When he did, his heart sank even deeper than it had been a few moments before. Standing inside the door to the boy's lavatory, holding the missing page, was Andy Mitchell. Mark stared up at the kid with greasy dark-blond hair and a bad case of acne...and wanted to retch."

LCoF p. 99

"If it was possible to have a true archenemy in junior high, then Andy Mitchell was Mark's archenemy. Mitchell was the kind of guy who loved to pick on guys like M ark. The word "bully" always jumped into Mark's mind, but he was a little old to be afraid of bullies. Still, Mitchell loved to harass Mark. He'd cheat off of him in class – when Mitchell decided to show up for class, that is. He'd make fun of Mark's stutter for the amusement of his equally idiotic band of friends, and he never passed Mark in the hallway without giving him a quick punch in the arm. Mark always had to be looking over his shoulder for Mitchell because he never knew where the next bomb was coming from."

QUINNICK

LCoF p. 128

"The pilot of Grallion, a leathery-looking gray-haired guy named Quinnick, led the ceremony. I won't write down all that was said, but as you can imagine, it was pretty intense. He spoke about the dedication of those who serve others, and the harsh reality that all life must one day come to an end. He spoke glowingly of the crew and workers of Magorran, and about how they would never be forgotten."

RAIDERS

LCoF pg. 131-132

"All my romantic notions about pirates were just blown away, no pun intended. To me pirates were charming rogues who drank grog and chased wrenches and shiver me timbers and were basically comical characters in search of treasure. But these weren't Disney pirates. The guys firing on us were killers. Bold killers. They were attacking an unarmed farming habitat with over two hundred people on board. But for what? There were no riches on Grallion. What could they possibly want?"

LCoF p. 132

"The ship looked very much like a battleship from home, though of course there were no military markings. It was a light green color that made it blend in with the green water. I counted eight water cannons in all. Four front and four back. I wondered what their next step was. Were they going to board us? That wouldn't make sense because any advantage they had with their big guns would be lost once they set foot onboard. There were plenty of aquaneers with rifles to give them a hard time if they set foot on our deck. No, the advantage these bad guys had was from a distance."

ZY RODER

LCoF p. 133

"I moved the spyglass until I found the man named Zy Roder. He stood on the uppermost deck, holding something dark that I could only guess was a microphone. Like all the raiders, Zy Roder wore the same kind of lightweight clothing that everyone wore on Grallion. He was a tall guy, with shoulder-length blond hair that blew around in the sea breeze. You might even call him handsome. He stood with his legs apart definitely, with one hand on his hip. Pretty cocky. This was a guy who was used to getting what he wanted. I wondered what it was he wanted from us."

ROKADOR

LCoF p. 160

"We both spun around to see a man wearing a similar white robe to the ones we wore. He was a small guy who wore a round gray hat that looked like a baseball cap without the brim. It looked hard, like it was for protection. In his arms were a bunch of rolled-up papers that could have been plans. He had come from the same tunnel we had, which meant he must have been behind one of the doors we passed. He was light skinned, which surprised me because both Loor and her mother, Osa, were very dark."

ZADAA CLOTHES

LCoF p. 157

"I looked around the cavern and saw a pile of clothes. A quick exam showed me they were lightweight white robes, like those long togas they wore in movies about ancient Rome."

ZADAA

LCoF pg. 163-164

"It was a sprawling city made entirely out of sand-colored stone. Imagine ancient Egypt before wind and time destroyed it and you'd have Zadaa. We stood on a rise that gave us a pretty great overview. There were soaring temples with sculpted figures that towered over the streets below. There were pyramids and tiered buildings with lush hanging plants draped over balconies. In the distance, beyond the boundaries of the city, there was nothing but desert. But the city within was alive with vegetation. It was like a vast oasis in a sea of sand. Running parallel to many of the streets were stone troughs that carried fresh water throughout the city. There were also ornate fountains everywhere. After having seen the river below, I knew what the source was. I wondered if the system of valves and switches that the guy down below was so busily working on had something to do with controlling the water flow."

BATU

LCoF pg. 165-166

"We continued on more slowly and started to see some people, but not as many as you'd think. The people up here on the surface had much darker skin than the guy we saw below. These people looked more like Loor and Osa. Their skin was dark, and they wore multicolored robes that were pretty spectacular.

ZADAA-STYLE CAPTURE THE FLAG

LCoF pg. 167-168

"Spader and I walked up to the railing and looked onto the field in time to see two teams marching in from opposite sides of the arena. They were all Batu – not a Rokador among them. They looked like warriors. Each and every one of these players was lean and buff. They weren't just men, either. It was half and half, men and women. They all wore these short leather tunics that showed a lot of skin, which is how I could tell they were all cut like athletes. They also wore lightweight protection on sensitive areas like elbows, knees and the ever important groin. There were ten warriors to a side, and they marched in single file, carrying leather helmets under one arm while holding thin wooden clubs in the other."

LCoF p. 169

"The opposing teams clashed, swinging their clubs. I quickly saw the purpose of the wooden stakes that protruded from their bodies. They were the targets. This wasn't about knocking each other's heads off, it was about trying to knock their opponents' wooden stakes off. It was all about speed, and balance and blocking shots and returning shots that were well aimed. Of course, as good as they were, many shots missed their mark and there were a lot of painful body shots and whacks to the head. But this was not a blood feud. This was sport. I'm sure the shots stung and there would be dozens of black and blue marks the next day, but nobody was going to die here. Once I realized this I relaxed and tried to enjoy the spectacle."

MAP OF FAAR

LCoF p. 177

"The drawing was in black ink. There was a solid horizontal line about a third of the way up from the bottom. Below this line there was another line that started at the bottom near the lower left-hand side and curved up until it hit the right edge of the page, making a quarter of a circle. Above the horizontal line were a bunch of dots sprayed around in no particular pattern. In the upper right-hand corner were a series of five symbols. It looked like they continued on to the right half of the page that had been torn away."

LCoF pg. 177-178

"I had no idea what this half drawing meant, until I noticed something that rocked me. In the upper left-hand corner of the page was a round symbol. It was the exact same symbol with the interlocking letters that was on the note Spader's father had left for him. I looked to Spader in shock. Spader's eyes were fixed on the paper. Finally, after an eternity, he whispered, 'Faar'."

QUIG-SNAKES

LCoF p. 191

"We both hurried down the rest of the way until we reached the cavern. There, lying at the foot of the rock wall, was the quig. It was the nastiest looking snake I had ever seen. It was about four feet long with a hooded head. All along its back were smaller versions of the sharp spines that the bear quigs had on Denduron. But most important, it was dead. Spader had snapped it like a whip."

TY MANOO

LCoF p. 198

"It was coming from Wu Yenza's office. When he peeked in the door, we saw Yenza behind a desk, looking stern, as usual. Spader stood to the back of the room, listening. All the hubba was coming from two agronomers who stood in front of Yenza's desk. They were the same man and woman I had seen outside the pilot house on Magorran shortly after the crash. They were arguing then, and they were still arguing now. At least now I had the chance to hear what it was all about. The man was a short, balding guy with an elflike face named Ty Manoo. In another life, he could have easily gotten a gig in Santa's workshop. The guy paced, flailed his arms for emphasis, and spit when he talked."

PO NASSI

LCoF pg. 198-199

"The woman didn't seem all that worried. Her name was Po Nassi. She was tall and slim with sharp features that reminded me of a sly cat. She stood with her arms folded, looking bored, as if Manoo were nothing more than an annoying kid."

WATER CANNONS

LCoF p. 130

"As we ran more missiles pounded the deck and blasted dirt and water everywhere. Yes, water. These weren't your everyday, ordinary cannonballs. Remember, this was Cloral. Everything here had to do with water. I soon found out that the giant guns on the battleship were actually huge water cannons that fired big, dense balls of water. But when these water missiles hit, they were every bit as destructive as a steel shell. And they could fire round after round, without fear of running out of ammunition. After all, their ammunition was water, and there was an infinite supply around these parts. What made it even more frightening was that there was no sound. The guns didn't let out a giant roar when they fired, so it was impossible to prepare for a strike. The first clue that a water missile was about to hit was a faint whistling sound, and then it hit."

PANGER CITY

LCoF p. 205

"Even though we were flying over the water at an incredible speed, it must have taken us another two hours to get there. That's how big this city habitat was. The closer we got, the larger the buildings grew. It soon became clear to me that this habitat was every bit as big as Grallion, but unlike Grallion, it was covered with buildings. It really was a city! I was staring at skyscrapers! Some of them must have been over forty stories high. This looked every bit like a big city from home, but cities at home weren't floating on the ocean. It was incredible!"

LCoF p. 205

"As we got closer I saw more detail in the buildings. Like I told you before, there was no steel on Cloral. Everything was made from some kind of hard plastic compound. Rather than familiar building colors of gray concrete and silver steel, these buildings were white and light blue or green. But other than that they looked very much like office buildings at home."

KALALOO

LCoF pg. 239-240

"But after a few seconds I realized what was actually happening. As the light green layer of skin came off, it revealed a guy who was very much human. The green stuff wasn't skin after all; it was some kind of fish suit. It reminded me of those tight suits that speed skaters wore in the Olympics. It was absolutely formfitting. But unlike speed skaters, this suit also gave the swimmer webbed feet and hands. Once the suit was pulled off, I saw that the guy's hands were normal too. No webs, no scales. Underneath the fish suit he wore a blue, also formfitting, suit that went from his neck to almost his knees. It wasn't all that different from the clothes we had on ourselves."

LCoF p. 240

"As it turned out, there was nothing unusual about the guy at all. He was short, not much over five feet. But he looked strong. Not a lot of fat on those bones. I couldn't tell for sure how old he was, but I'd guess he was around thirty, in Second Earth years. He was also completely bald. Michael Jordan bald. That wasn't all that weird, but something about his face wasn't quite right. I couldn't figure it out at first, but then it struck me: He didn't have eyebrows. You never think about eyebrows until somebody doesn't have them. It's kind of freaky-looking. Not horrible, just freaky. Adding to the freaky quotient was the fact that his eyes were the lightest color blue I had ever seen. I actually had to look close to see that there was any color in them at all. His skin was also very white, which didn't surprise me since he lived underwater."

ABADOR

LCoF p. 265

"That's when an elderly man who had been quiet up until now, stood up. This must have been out of the ordinary, because every one of the council members seemed to snap to attention. It was clear that this guy had their respect. I got the feeling that he didn't speak much, but when he did, the others listened. In other words, he was the man. He spoke slowly and with a soft rasp."

MOUNTAIN OF FAAR

LCoF p. 243

"As strange as this may sound, I was looking out at a rocky mountain. I know, that's impossible, but that's what it was. The city was built into and around the craggy ledges of a small mountain. The mouth of the tunnel was closer to the top than the bottom so we were actually looking down at most of Faar."

LCoF p. 243

"The city had an ancient feel to it. There were no modern buildings, no cars, and no sign of technology anywhere. But there were plenty of birds. Can you believe it? Birds were flying in this underwater cavern!"

LCoF p. 243

"The buildings had an ancient Greek look with marble staircases that led up to the columned entryways of domed structures. They were perched all over this craggy mountain and ranged in size from huge, impressive monuments like you'd see in Washington D.C., to small simple stone houses made of whitewashed stucco. I saw many Faarians strolling along gentle pathways that snaked in and around and up and down and everywhere in between. There were beautiful, hanging vines draped over most of the city and several waterfalls cascaded from springs hidden deep in the mountain."

LCoF pg. 143-144

"Far below, at the base of the mountain, I saw lush, green fields. There were some larger buildings down there that didn't seem as elaborate as the ones that dotted the mountain. I made a mental note to ask what they were later."

FAARIANS

LCoF p. 233

"The water below the edge was full of hundreds of the same green fish like the one we were following. But now that we were closer, we saw that they weren't fish at all. They were people. At least I thought they were people. They were certainly people-shaped, but they were covered in a green skin that made them look like they were also part fish. Though they had arms and legs, these looked as much like webbed fins as they did regular old human appendages. Their faces were also covered by the same green skin. I know that sounds gross, but it wasn't."

:o You're making us look bad.

Haha, I did not intend for that to happen! :P

I just have a lot of free time and since I've got nothing to do in the run of a day, I usually sit down and get as much of these notes done as I can. Half the time though, I end up reading parts of the book again...it's too tempting not to!

I know exactly what you mean :)
So I crossed off those three books, #2/#5/#7. If you've done your cast lists and Plot outlines I guess you can keep signing up if you want. :P
We've got a lot to work with now anyway.

Sounds great :D

Hmm...well, I've already done, I believe it was the Cast List and the Plot Outline for PoR, so I could probably do the Descriptive Notes for that one as well.

Only one question though. With 2, 5 and 7, there weren't any battle scenes in those ones so with PoR, how should I go about jotting down notes for the battle of Rayne? Or does the battle require notes? I'm just not sure how I should go about the battle, seeing as it's one of the big parts of the book and it'd require a lot of paragraphs, unless only a few key parts were required.

I think I'll take PoR though!

Ah, true. And the layout of battle scenes can be important.

You should take note of the details like 'number of skimmers with dados on them', number of defenders (tak archers and otherwise), and the sequence of events in the battle. There will be a chance to describe the Flighters in battle mode and stuff too. Anything that describes how a character fights that will transfer into fight choreography during production.

Also, the battle scenes present some opportunity for concept art. Like an overhead map of the battle and where units are stationed.
Which may also be an art project. Concept maps for the layouts of cities, villages, buildings, planets, etc. Can make a doodle and scan it or do it with a computer program. Whatever works. :D

Awesome.

So basically, make sure to get out the key and important notes. Should be easy enough.

The concept art would be interesting, too, especially since there's a couple of battles throughout the series besides PoR, such as MoD and SoH. It'd be interesting to see some layouts for the battles. And remembering back, each battle would have its own unique layout and whatnot.

Even right down to the 'natty-do's between Yenza's aquaneers and the raiders.

Ah, you mean in LCoF?

Good point. I didn't think of that. In that case, should I go back and add in some notes, right quick?

If you'd like. :)

Well, I suppose with the notes, I can always go back and add things in where they're needed. I was thinking I might even go back and add a few more descriptions for Rune and Cloral and whatnot...

I'm actually working on PoR right now and I can tell already it's going to be a big one. That book has got some lot of description. But the more the better!

^.^ Yes. And the best part about description is that a page or two of it in a book can be captured in a few seconds of film just visually.

That's even better!

The long, lengthy descriptions of Rayne for example, would visually take only a matter of seconds. It would only take Bobby a few seconds looking around, taking it all in and whatnot...not a good couple of pages :P

PoR Descriptive Notes

THIRD EARTH CLOTHES

PoR p. 12

"The first task when arriving on a territory was to change into the proper clothing. There was a pile of clothes at the side of the flume, waiting for us. One of the great things about Third Earth was that the clothes weren't much different from Second Earth. Except for the shoes. I picked out a pair of straight, dark green pants and a white, long-sleeved T-shirt that could have come right from Old Navy. Courtney chose a white pair of pants and a navy blue shirt. We turned our backs for modesty and got changed."

PATRICK MAC

PoR pg. 20-21

"Patrick was the Traveler from Third Earth. I'm guessing he was in his twenties. He was about my size with longish brown hair. He wore the same type of clothes as the last time I'd been there, jeans and a short-sleeved shirt. He looked more like a preppy from Second Earth than a teacher and librarian from the year 5010. Then again, I'm not really sure what a teacher and librarian from the year 5010 should look like. The thing I remembered most about Patrick was that he had a calm, confident way about him."

THIRD EARTH

PoR p. 18

"I'm relieved to say that Third Earth looked pretty much the same as I remembered. Gone was the crowded city of cement that was the Bronx of Second Earth. In its place was a vast parklike meadow. The air smelled sweet, with the faint smell of pine. I saw several green kiosks scattered about, marking other entrances to the underground city. Not too far away were the low, boxy buildings were some people still lived aboveground. The winding roads were there, with quiet electric cars gently moving along their way. People still rode bicycles."

MARK DADOS

PoR pg. 19-20

"Creepy" was the word. "I didn't get it right away, but there was something about these dados that gave me the heebies. I mean, beyond the fact that they were even there. There was something about them that felt a little off. I kept staring, trying to focus on what it might be. It was right there, but I couldn't grab on to it. They looked way more like real people than the robots of Quillan. When you watched these robots closely, you could tell their movements were stiff and almost too perfect. That was the difference. The dados of Quillan moved too perfectly. Real people don't move perfectly. The dados of Third Earth didn't move perfectly either. They seemed every bit as human as Courtney and I. If I had seen only one, I never would have guessed it was a dado. But seeing hundreds of exact replicas, well, that pretty much screamed robot to me. Was that it? Was I bugged because these dados looked so much like real people?

PoR p. 19

"All the dados seemed to be men, though with a robot there's no such thing as sex. At least I don't think there is. Let's not go there. They all had the exact same perfect haircut: short and dark, parted in the middle. They were exactly the same size, too. I'm guessing about six feet tall with medium builds. The odd part was they all had the same face. I mean, exactly the same face. It wasn't the same face as the dados on Quillan, but they were definitely all the same."

PoR p. 20

"I snapped a look to the nearest dado. They were taller, their hair was short, and there wasn't a zit in sight, but there was no mistake – these robots looked exactly like Mark Dimond. Every last one of them. We were seeing hundreds of clones of my best friend."

FIRST EARTH CLOTHES

PoR p.45

"There!" I said, pointing to a pile of clothes stacked neatly near the mouth of the flume. I found the same clothes from my last trip to First Earth all neatly cleaned and folded. There was the starched white shirt, light gray pants with the darker gray jacket, and leather shoes. There were even those long-legged white grandpa boxes I learned to get used to."

PoR p. 46

"Courtney may have hated dresses, but dresses didn't hate Courtney. She looked awesome. Unlike the clothes on Third Earth, this dress was perfect. It was fitted on top, with a loose skirt that moved when she did. It came down to just below her knees. The blue flowers were bright, like spring. She sleeves were short, and she kept the top few buttons open. She even put on a pair of low, leather shoes that looked practical, if not very comfortable."

FIRST EARTH NEWSGUY

PoR p. 61

"I looked to see the exact same newsguy sitting behind the counter who chewed me out for the exact same thing the last time I was there. He was a porky little gnome wearing a red plaid shirt. He still chomped on the little stub of a cigar and still needed a shave."

MANHATTEN TOWER HOTEL

PoR p. 65

"Courtney leaped out of the car and looked up at the impossible, pink building. By modern standards it wasn't monstrous. It stood only thirty-two floors high. But in 1937 it was pretty impressive, complete with the three-foot-high letters near the roof that spelled out its name: THE MANHATTEN TOWER. At night those letters glowed a brilliant neon green and could be seen all over the city. The hotel took up a whole block, resting in a perfectly manicured garden that was like an oasis in the middle of the city. Being November, the leaves on the trees had turned brilliant colors of red, yellow, and orange. There were pumpkins placed everywhere, probably as Halloween decorations from the night before."

PoR p. 68

"The hotel was just as I remembered. It was the height of luxury, 1937-style. The lobby had a high, stained-glass ceiling. There were huge, dark oriental carpets everywhere and lots of soft, leather furniture. It was a place that catered to the highfalutin, so all the guests were dressed impeccably. The bellhops looked neat and crisp in their burgundy uniforms with gold trim. They were the same uniforms that Spader and I had worn when we lived and worked there. I actually had lots of happy memories of the place."

DODGER

PoR pg. 65-66

"Dodger came running back to us, looking all wide-eyed. I'm guessing he was around nineteen years old, with slicked-back black hair. He was a feisty little guy who couldn't have been more than five foot three. What he lacked in size, he made up for in energy. He was constantly in motion, with eyes that were always looking around for what needed to be done next. On Second Earth, you'd call him 'hyper'."

PoR p. 66

"When Dodger wasn't being a professional and speaking with hotel guests, he had a fast way of speaking that he called Brooklynese. To me he sounded like Bugs Bunny. He spoke quickly, changing subjects in midsentence, barely waiting for answers. If you weren't up to his speed, he'd leave you in the dust. 'Is Spader comin' back too? Did you know Gunny disappeared? Nobody's seen him since last spring.' He focused on Courtney, leaned in to me, and whispered, 'Hey, who's the skirt?'"

GUNNY'S APARTMENT

PoR pg. 70-71

"The apartment was dark, as you might imagine a basement apartment would be. There were a few narrow windows near the ceiling that were just above ground level. They didn't let in much light, but it was enough to make the place a little less claustrophobic. I flicked on a lamp to see the apartment was exactly as Gunny had left it. There was a small living room with a sofa and two easy chairs positioned around a big-old radio in a wooden cabinet made by some company called Philco. There were no TVs in 1937. The radio was the center of home entertainment. One wall of the living room was actually the kitchen, with a small sink and stove next to a tiny refrigerator. Beyond the living room was Gunny's bedroom. Off that room was his bathroom. That was it. Gunny didn't need much to be comfortable."

PoR p. 71

"There weren't a lot of knickknacks or personal touches, other than one painting that hung on the wall above the radio. It was an oil painting of the U.S. Civil War battle where the union soldiers were all members of the Fifty-fourth Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry Regiment, one of the first black army units in the Civil War. Gunny was really proud of that."

FLUME CAVERN

PoR p. 93

"The entire cavern was made out of the same black, volcanic-looking rock as the pool. The ceiling wasn't high like the big gate on Cloral. This was a smallish cave, with a biggish vat of water taking up most of the floor. I had to conclude that this round pool of water was the flume. Yup, the flume was full of water. Was it possible that the inhabitants of Ibara were fish after all?"

IBARA CLOTHES

PoR p. 94

"I hoisted myself out of the pool. The sides were about two feet high, forming a ring of craggy rocks that made the pool seem like a minivolcano. I swung one leg up and over to discover the floor outside the pool was sand. Not dirt, sand. I sat down on the soft surface and took another look around. Light seeped in through long cracks in the cavern walls that were randomly spaced all around me. That meant this cave wasn't far underground. Or underwater. My clothes from First Earth were soaked of course, but In wasn't at all cold. If anything, I was feeling kind of hot and sticky. Glancing around I saw a small pile of colorful clothes not far from where I was sitting. There were a couple of pairs of shorts that looked like board shorts. They were longer than board shorts though. It looked like they would come down below my knees. I wondered if maybe they were actually supposed to be long pants and the people of Ibara were little. If so, I'd be a giant on Ibara. Or at least a really tall guy. That would be cool. I've always been kind of medium. I wouldn't have minded being the tall guy for once. The pants were simple, with no zippers or buttons, just a drawstring. The material was light and cottonlight, with no tags inside. These simple shorts told me that on some level, the people of Ibara were civilized."

PoR p. 94

"There were three pairs, each a different bright solid color: red, orange, and green. After Quillan I never wanted to wear anything red again, so I peeled off my wet First Earth clothing and put on a pair of bright green shorts. They fit perfectly, of course. I debated about wearing my boxer shorts but figured they'd be too obvious. So I went jungle."

PoR pg. 94-95

"There was also a pile of shirts. At least I thought they were shirts. They looked more like vests – no sleeves. I couldn't tell which was the front and which was the back. I figured it didn't matter. I picked out a green one that sort of matched the green color of the shorts and slipped it over my head. It fit loosely, which was good, because it was hot on Ibara. Tropical hot. If I learned anything from the clothing, it was that the people were pretty casual and lived in a warm tropical climate."

PoR p. 95

"The last touch were shoes, or what looked like shoes. There were a couple pairs of sandals that looked woven out of some natural material. I picked a pair that fit perfectly. They slipped between my toes like flip-flops, but there were also little bands that fit over my heels and kept them from truly being flip-flops. They were comfortable, and more practical than flip-flops. If I had to, I could run in them. I was ready. It was time to get out of there."

QUIG-BEES

PoR pg. 98-99

"The quigs on Ibara were bees. As if on cue, the ceiling came to life. The quig-bees dove down like a swarm of angry, burning fireflies. They were headed for me! I took off running for the cleft on the far side. The swirling storm of quigs chased me like an angry, growing cloud. There was no way I could outrun them. My only hope was to make it to the mouth of this cavern, and outside, before they caught me. I hoped daylight would stop them. I hit the cleft, bashing my shoulder into the rock, but I didn't stop. I barely felt it. Fear will do that. Any thought of caution was gone as I desperately danced through the twisting cavern. I could hear the bees grow louder, like a buzz saw at my heels."

TELLEO

PoR pg. 102-103

"That was nice. Soft and feminine was nice. She didn't sound like a fish, either. I cracked my eye open again and she came into view, looming over me, upside down. She looked into my eyes. Or eye. I first noticed her hair. It was long and dark red. She had it pulled back and tied with a yellow ribbon. Very practical. Her eyes were green. I'd never seen such deep green eyes. They could have been colored contact lenses, that's how stunning they were. She was pretty, I guessed. It was hard to tell, looking at someone upside down and with one eye. As she looked at me, I saw the worry in those green eyes. Worry was good. I was pretty worried myself. At least we were on the same page."

TRIBUNAL SECURITY

PoR p.108

"The door burst open. Three men strode in, each wearing the same kind of clothes I had on. They stood together, glaring at me. Glaring was bad. They were all about my size, or bigger, which meant I wasn't going to be the tall guy. Oh well. They all had long hair, nearly to their waists. They wore leather straps around their middles, like belts. Tucked into these were short, wooden clubs. Weapons. One on each hip. This was not a welcoming committee."

RAYNE

PoR pg. 111-112

"Yes, town. Maybe it would be more accurate to call it a tropical village. There were no tall buildings, only wooden huts with grass roofs, like the one I'd been recovering in. There were hundreds of them in all sizes, lined up in orderly rows that created streets of sand. The huts were set back from these sandy pathways with lots of space between them. Instead of yards, the huts were surrounded by green leafy plants that were dotted with an amazing array of colorful flowers – bright reds, deep blues, brilliant oranges, and many more, all gleaming in the tropical sun. It looked as if each hut were resting in its own colorful nest. It smelled like a flower shop, but not in an overpowering, sweet way. The air just smelled fresh."

PoR p. 112

"There were no vehicles. Everyone was on foot. Some people hung out in front of the huts, reading. Others carried baskets of food or large containers filled with I-don't-know-what. I saw people working to repair huts and weaving fresh grass into the roofs. Others were building new huts. Everyone wore variations of the simple clothing I had found at the flume. Many of the men didn't wear shirts or shoes. Some women wore short dresses. All the clothing was colorful and light. There were lots of kids too, running around acting like, well, like kids."

PoR p. 112

"The village was built on the shore of a calm, green ocean. A wide beach of powder-white sand separated the huts from the water. I only got a quick glance but saw several boats of all sizes floating just off shore. Some looked like small fishing boats, others were under sail. There were people fishing on shore, too, using long poles. The circular beach curved around, forming a huge bay, the entrance to which looked about a few hundred yards wide. The water inside was as calm as a lake. Beyond the entrance to the bay were the white lines of waves. That meant open sea. Huts were built all along the curve of the beach. It wasn't crowded, though. There was plenty of greenery, with trees and bushes and flowers. Tall palm trees provided much-needed shade from the killer-hot sun."

PoR pg. 112-113

"The village was built in what seemed like a pretty sweet spot. On one side was the vast, protected bay. On the other, looming high over the village, was a majestic green mountain that rose to a sharp peak. High above on the mountain's face I saw multiple waterfalls cutting the lush surface. At its base were more huts built onto its gently rising slope. Sounding like paradise yet?"

PoR p. 113

"There were other signs that didn't jump out at first, but the more I thought about them, the less sense they made. The people weren't of any particular race. I saw every skin and hair color you could imagine. They had a wide mix of facial features too. This definitely wasn't a single race of people. I'm no anthropologist, but you'd think if this were a secluded village built by a single tribe, everybody would have the same general look. They didn't. These people definitely came from different parts of Ibara. I actually started to think that maybe the idea of this being a resort might not be so far-fetched. It fit all the criteria: beautiful setting, awesome beach, a mix of different people, boats, fishing, killer weather, and all the comforts of home. The only thing missing was a boat pulling some water skiers and some guy playing a steel drum. There was only one problem with this theory."

TRIBUNAL MOUNTAIN

PoR pg. 116-117

"The terrain grew steeper, and we soon had to climb up rocky steps. A few minutes later we came upon a sheer rock wall that looked like a dead end. As we walked closer, high above us on the sheer face of the mountain I saw a large opening cut into the rock. That told me we hadn't hit a dead end after all. We were going inside the mountain. Sure enough, the path led to a cave opening that looked big enough to drive a car though. It wasn't scary or anything, unless you considered there were people inside who would decide on whether or not I should be executed. It was a busy place, with people strolling in and out. As we got closer, I saw that it was well lit inside, with tubes of bright light running along the walls. The big guy led me inside and along a long corridor of rock that looked the same as the black rock cave where the flume was. There were open doorways on either side that led into large rooms where people were busily doing things like sewing clothes, preparing food, and doing repair work on small machines. The mountain was honeycombed with rooms and tunnels. There was no way these could be natural; it was way too complicated. That meant the people of this village cut through rock. Even more impressive was the fact that there was fresh air, deep inside the mountain. They had ventilation. This living mountain was once again pointed to the fact that this was an advanced society. It was a modern, primitive village. Ibara was an enigma."

THE TRIBUNAL

PoR pg. 118-119

"There were two women and a man. The man had gray in his hair, and the two women looked like your basic moms. One had very dark skin, the other was white and freckled, but with almond-shaped eyes. Weird. The guy was white, but really tan. He had a scratchy salt-and-pepper beard that made him look like a grizzled sea captain. They each wore light green clothes, but with long sleeves and long pants. I'm guessing this was their idea of being formal. The three of them were locked in debate, until the dark woman spotted us. She nodded to the others. They straightened up and sat in their chairs. The guy sat in the middle, a woman on either side of him. I was led to a red line in the floor and roughly pulled to a stop."

SIRY REMUDI

PoR p. 126

"Siry shifted back and forth, bored. He was smaller than I was and looked around fifteen, though he carried himself with confidence, as if he were older. His hair was kinky curly, but long. It fell to his shoulders in long corkscrews. When he moved, they bounced like springs. His clothes were like everyone else's, but worn and torn. His shirt was darker blue, with cutoff sleeves revealing thin, strong arms. His pants were probably long at one time, but were cut off to just below the knees, with raggy ends. I couldn't be sure, but it looked as if his clothes hadn't been washed in a while. I'm not saying he smelled, but where everyone else in the village wore clothes that were bright and new, Siry looked kind of, well, grungy. I guess he was a street kid, tropical style."

PoR p. 126

"He was full of nervous energy. I wondered if he was always like that, or if it was because three people were debating his future. His skin was dark, like Remudi's. I guess on Second Earth we'd call him black. He was thin, but strong looking. "Wiry" is a good word. My guess was he was athletic. His eyes were dark brown, almost black. They were intense. Or angry. Back at home if I saw him walking toward me, I'd get out of his way. Not because he was big and intimidating, but because he seemed like someone who would snap with no warning. He was not the kind of guy you'd want to mess with."

THE JAKILLS

PoR p. 137

"I counted fifteen people. They all looked to be in their midteens, the same as Siry. There were mostly boys, but a few girls were mixed in. They all had the same grungy look. Their clothes were worn, and nobody seemed to be too concerned about taking a bath. They all looked pretty healthy though. They weren't out here in the jungle starving. Most hung out on the various levels of the bamboo structure, looking down at the new guy. Me. The group that had ambushed me stood on the ground, circling me. I looked into each of their eyes. They all had the same look as Siry. It was an odd mixture of boredom and anger. Not a good combination."

JAKILL HIDEOUT

PoR pg. 135-136

"We were in a clearing that had been hacked out of dense foliage. The surrounding growth was a thick wall of vines and vegetation that looked too tangled to walk through. The trees overhead formed a canopy that blocked out the sun. A quick scan showed only two paths out. Or in. There were bamboo platforms built everywhere. Some were at eye level, others on the ground. Two structures rose high up toward the canopy of trees, with several levels from the ground to the top. There were lots of makeshift ladders and bridges, tying the structure together. The whole thing was lashed together by rope and twine. It was impressive and crude."

PoR p. 136

"The place was outfitted with an odd assortment of junk. Wooden and bamboo furniture was randomly scattered. Tables held dirty bowls and cups, along with the remnants of half-eaten fruit. This wasn't a neat bunch. I saw several large, wooden chests tucked under platforms. Clothes were hanging all around, giving the place the appearance of a messy bedroom. There were books and drums, baskets and tools."

PoR pg. 136-137

"Most everything I saw looked as if it could have come from the village. A few things didn't. There were large chunks and sheet metal being used as roofing over some huts. High up on one of the platforms was a brass telescope on a tripod. There was a picture frame dangling from one platform. It was golden and intricate, with no picture. One thing stood out that I have no explanation for. It was a metal sign hanging between two vertical poles. It was about two feet square and looked as if one side had been eaten away. The sign had been white at one time, with faded black letters that now read:

FOURT

BR

T

RUCI

It looked to me like a chunk of an old traffic sign. But there was no such thing as traffic on Ibara. It made the mystery of the territory grow deeper. This clearing looked like it was home to a bunch of castaways who had to make do with bits and pieces left over from their wrecked ship, while using whatever else the jungle provided to make shelter."

TWIG

PoR p. 137

"A thin girl with long, stringy, blond hair jumped at me to see if I'd flinch. I didn't. She laughed and got right up close, nearly putting her nose on my cheek. She sniffed, then giggled. "Scared," she said playfully. "I can smell it. Yes I can." She gave me a quick kiss on the cheek and scurried away."

RAT BOY

PoR p. 138

"Me too," he said, and drank it himself. "Most of it ended up spilling down his cheeks. He let out a belch and dropped the cup. The others laughed. Another little guy, who had the pointed nose and tiny eyes of a rat, skittered up and pulled the top of my shirt aside to look at my back."

LOQUE

PoR p. 138

"This was a real fun bunch. Siry was beginning to seem like the normal one. I looked beyond the group that was having fun annoying me to see Siry with the blond thief who had escaped from the security goons earlier. They were looking through the sack the blond thief had gotten away with. He pulled out two small saws and a hammer. Siry patted the blond guy on the arm, as if to say, 'Nice job.'"

THE QUEEN MARY

PoR p. 201

"Along the top of this impossible black wall was a wide, white band. Courtney's eyes followed this band the length of the wall until she saw two words. Two simple black words against white. The letters had to be three feet high, big enough to be seen clearly from the buildings of Manhattan. Seeing the words made Courtney gasp. Those two words hit her harder than the breathtaking image of the black wall itself. It was like seeing history come to life. It was like seeing the future come to life. Seeing those words told her exactly what she needed to do. They told her the wall wasn't a wall. It was the hull of a ship. A huge ship. An impossibly huge ship. The words were near its bow, proudly displaying her name for the world to see."

PoR pg. 218-219

"The two bolted without taking time to thank him. They needed every possible second. It was like trying to fight their way through a 1930s version of a rave. People were dressed elegantly, as if attending a grand ball, not an ocean cruise. Everyone had excited smiles and spoke a bit too loud. They found the place called "Regent Street," which was lined with elegant shops and was already teeming with people. The shops sold jewellery and crystal and knickknacks of all sorts. Courtney had never been aboard a luxury ship of any kind and couldn't believe these stores actually existed on a ship."

PoR p. 366

"Courtney felt much more at ease on the Sports Deck. Here passengers were playing shuffleboard and tennis. Eager sports-minded passengers were out playing in the dying sunlight. Courtney was happy to see that these players didn't wear dresses and suits. The men wore long pants and sweaters, and the women wore loose skirts. She wanted to hang out on this deck a little more, if only because she didn't stand out so much in the clothes she had on. It was also kind of unique to watch people playing on the deck if a moving ship at the base of the massive orange-and-black smokestacks. It might actually have been kind of fun, if it weren't keeping her from trying to save all of humanity."

PoR p. 374

"She found herself in an immense, elegant dining room. The ceiling seemed impossibly high overhead, where several rectangular lights cast a warm glow over the room. Polished wooden pillars stood along either side of the space, making the room look as much like an ancient temple as a modern ballroom. On one end of the room was a stage, where a swing orchestra played soft (boring) music. Hundreds of tables were set with fine, white linen and elegant china. People were beginning to arrive for dinner. The men wore tuxedos, the women lavish gowns. Courtney was stunned to think that such an elaborate room could be aboard a floating ship. But there wasn't time to hang out and admire the place. She ran down the center of the room, headed toward the orchestra. To the left of the stage was a swinging door, where she saw waiters entering and exiting. Her plan was to head that way and escape through the kitchen."

PoR p. 379

"A few hours later, after being interrogated by the ship's security officer (to whom she said nothing), and officially identified as a stowaway, Courtney found herself alone in a hospital-like room toward the stern of the ship. It was called the "isolation ward." It was where they put people with contagious diseases, to keep them away from the rest of the passengers. There was nothing Courtney liked about that. The room had four white bunk beds with clean sheets, and a sink. It was comfortable enough, and thankfully, there were no other occupants. The metal door closed with a loud clang and was locked securely from the outside. A single round window in the door allowed outsiders to check on the occupants of the ward without having to actually breathe the same air. It may have looked like a hospital, but Courtney knew what it really was. A jail cell. She was sentenced to spend the rest of her voyage locked up."

SIXTH OFFICER HANTIN

PoR p. 381

"Sixth Officer Hantin appeared at the window. Courtney thought he was probably in his twenties. He was young to be an officer, but then again he was a sixth officer. Not exactly high up in the officer pecking order."

MARK DIMOND

PoR p. 384

"Courtney's first thought was that in spite of the incredibly tense situation, Mark didn't stutter. The second thing she realized was that Mark looked grown up. His curly black hair was cut short and, for a change, was combed. The wire-rimmed glasses made him look ten years older than he was. The bizarre image was completed by his tuxedo. He was no longer the nerdy kid from Stony Brook. Mark looked like a man. Courtney could barely breathe, let alone talk."

FLIGHTERS

PoR pg. 147-148

"They were mostly men, though I think I saw a few women. They didn't seem like trained guerrillas or anything. Just the opposite. They looked like ordinary people. The only thing that stood out about them was their clothes. If I didn't know better, I'd say they looked as if they wore clothes that came from Second Earth. There was a mix of pants and shirts and jackets of all sorts. The clothes looked old too, like, really old. I saw patches and tears and raggy pants. Some had two different kinds of shoes. I saw one guy with a sneaker on one foot and a boot on the other. Some wore hats that looked as if they'd been run through a blender. That's how mashed up they were."

PoR p. 148

"These people were dirty, too. There was a lot of shaggy hair and dark stains. Their skin seemed gray, which was strange considering they lived in a tropical paradise. They definitely didn't come across as a dangerous band of commandos. They looked more like a bunch of raggy homeless people lost in the jungle."

PILGRIM SHIPS

PoR pg. 165-166

"He motioned for me to take a look. I climbed up next to him to find we were on a rock ledge, high above the shore. We were facing the ocean that bordered the large protected bay. Looking out, I saw nothing but green sea. Down below was a curious sight. This wasn't a sandy beach. It was a rocky, rugged coastline. Jutting out from the shore were five long, wooden piers. Tied up to either side of each pier was a sailing ship. Ten in all. Each was identical. They looked to me like old-fashioned pirate ships, complete with double wooden masts. I'm guessing they were about a hundred feet long, with a structure at the stern. They were identical, except for their colors. Each was painted a different bright, tropical color. There were vibrant greens, brilliant blues, and a few deep corals. It was an awesome sight. The ships gleamed in the sun. Their brilliant colors made them look more like amusement park rides than practical ships. I'd seen old-fashioned sailing ships at the Mystic Seaport back home, but I'd never seen so many in one place. It was a small fleet."

FESTIVAL OF ZELIN

PoR p. 230

"The closer we got to the center of the village, the louder the music became. Telleo led me to the large thatched canopy where I had seen the musical performances earlier. The place was jammed with people watching a performance. On the raised, circular stage was a band playing loud, lively music that reminded me of the upbeat, fun Irish music from Second Earth. There was lots of percussion and tambourines pounding out the quick rhythm, while several flutes played a lively, fun tune. Telleo grabbed my hand and boldly led me through the crowd until we were nearly at the stage. I found myself in a sea of clapping, smiling people. Drinks were passed around for everyone to share. I was handed a cup and took a sip of what tasted like hyper-buzz root beer. I wasn't sure if it was alcohol or not, but it wasn't up to me to refuse their hospitality."

PoR pg. 230-231

"Me? I didn't have any baggage so I was free to enjoy myself. I didn't know if it was the excitement of the crowd, or the frothy drink they were passing around, or the music, but I suddenly felt all sorts of energy. The music was hard to resist. Telleo started dancing. She locked her arm in mine and soon we were spinning to the tune. I had no idea how to dance a traditional Ibaran dance. For that matter, I didn't know any traditional dances on Second Earth, either. But I had rhythm. Pretty soon I was swinging around with Telleo and clapping my hands and locking arms with complete strangers and having a great old time."

YELLOW SHIP

PoR p. 244

"The deck was empty. No guards. No alarms. Nothing to alert anyone that a scabby commando was about to hijack their yellow ship. Though the ship was new, it looked to me like something out of olden times. The deck was made of long strips of wood. There was a wooden cabin structure near the bow that looked about the size of a large shed. Another large cabin was to the rear. The ship had two heavy masts. I don't know much about sailing ships, but I guess you'd call this thing a square-rigger, because it looked like the sails dropped down from horizontal poles that were positioned about halfway up the masts. A second, smaller horizontal pole was farther up each mast. There was a complicated tangle of lines everywhere. I hoped Siry was right when he said the Jakills knew how to sail this thing, because I sure didn't."

FLIGHTER SHIPS

PoR pg. 254-255

"He handed me the telescope. Our position had changed enough that the attacking ship was no longer in complete shadow. The thing looked military. It was about eight feet long, with a low flat cabin. At one time it had been gray, but the paint was peeling, and big patches of rust were everywhere. I even saw the faint outline of military-style markings on the bow. I couldn't make it out though, because it was mostly worn off. It looked like one of those old PT boats you'd see in World War II movies. Whatever it was, it was long past its prime. The craft was so full of holes and rust I didn't know how it stayed afloat. There was only one thing about it that didn't look old and rusted: the cannon mounted on its bow. That thing worked just fine."

GUNS OF RAYNE

PoR pg. 261-262

"We cleared the Flighters' ship and cruised away as the military boat continued on toward the channel. There was a loud metallic click as the two-headed silver monster finished its ascent. The "heads" of the silver beast were long tubes, wider to the rear and tapered to a narrow, hollow point. Both "heads" turned together. With the metallic sound of turning gears, the hollow tubes lined themselves up on the Flighters' ship."

PoR p. 262

"As if on cue, both of the long silver tubes unloaded. They were guns. I didn't know what kind of ammunition it fired. The sound wasn't sharp, but more like dull thuds. Whump, whump, whump, whump. They fired, point blank, at the Flighters ship. Each time one fired, it recoiled then locked back into position for another shot."

RUBITY CITY

PoR p. 279

"I flashed a look back to the buildings. As we grew closer, the truth was slowly emerging. The buildings were no more alive than the ships below the water. I could make out detail. The structures were scarred and pitted. There was more broken glass than intact windows. Some buildings had huge chunks taken out of them. I couldn't tell if the gashes were a result of some kind of attack or simply rotting away. I looked up one wide street between buildings to see that an entire, huge building had crashed and crumbled there. The wide boulevard was totally blocked by the massive hulk of this toppled skyscraper. The ground was mostly covered with rubble. There were massive piles of broken cement and twisted steel. It all had a strange, magical spark that was kind of pretty, until I realized the sparkling came from light reflected off tons of shattered glass. There were cars, too. Lots of them. Many were buried, their headlights peeking out as if trying to get a final glimpse of daylight."

PoR p. 282

"We walked slowly through the rubble, our sandals crunching the debris. The area near the pier looked like it might have been open space at one time. Maybe it was a park or an area for ships to off-load cargo. Now it was a massive junkyard. Most of the rubble was just that – nondescript rubble. Every so often I'd see something that looked like it had once been. I saw a suitcase, the skeleton of an umbrella, many bottles of different shapes and colors, even a few shoes. That was creepy. Empty shoes."

LIFELIGHT PYRAMIDS

PoR pg. 310-311

"The pyramid was so huge that Siry and I had to jog several more blocks before we got to it. I remembered the pyramids having shiny black skins. But that was long ago. Time had done a job on them. The black surface was peeled back now in many places, revealing the framework. The shine was long gone, probably from being exposed to the elements. But for how long? When had I been there before? Decades ago? Centuries? Back then, Rubic City had already begun to decay. The city had technically still been alive, with running water and electricity, but the people had already turned their backs on their homes by leaving reality and entering the fantasy world of Lifelight."

PoR p. 311

"This was the very same Lifelight pyramid I had entered on my first trip to Rubic City. By my own clock that had been only a few years earlier. My memory was still pretty fresh. The base of the pyramid was trashed with the fallen remains of civilization. Mounds of debris were piled several feet up the sides of the structure. Luckily, the revolving-door entrance was clear. It was one of the few bits of good luck we had that day. It was a regular-size revolving door, but it looked like a speck at the base of this massive structure. I gave the door a shove. It didn't budge. Siry joined me, and we both put our shoulders to the door while pushing with our legs. Slowly, painfully, the door let out a screech as the metal gave way. It didn't swing smoothly, but we were able to move it far enough to squeeze ourselves inside."

AJA KILLIAN

PoR p. 421

"Aja Killian stood in the center of the core corridor, with her hands on her hips and her feet apart, wearing the dark blue coveralls of a phader. She looked every bit as confident as I remembered. Her blond hair was pulled back in a perfect ponytail. She wore the same yellow-tinted, wire-rimmed glasses. The only difference was her eyes. They were as blue and alive as I remembered, but they looked tired. Aja was older, but not just in years."

DYGOS

PoR pg. 431-432

"This dygo was one of the smaller models. It was about the size of a golf cart. If you remember, the main cabin was a silver sphere that sat on tractor treads. A circular window wrapped halfway around, so its operators could see outside. The drilling device was a six-foot-wide hollow funnel that sat in a yoke, and could be positioned at any angle around the sphere. The wide end of the funnel was closest to the operators' cabin, narrowing down to a hollow tip about a foot across. The drill itself was made up of many rings of sharp cutting devices that spun when activated. I'd seen dygos cut through solid rock as if it were cotton candy."

DENDURON

PoR p. 439

"As we got lower, the snow gave way to grass. I stopped the dygo, and we got out to survey the scene. We stood high above the valley, looking down on the new Milago village. My last view of this place had shown nothing but devastation. The explosion of the mines destroyed the Bedoowan castle and tore apart the countryside. Much of the Milago village had been destroyed as well. Now there was no sign of destruction. Just the opposite. The Milago huts were rebuilt better than before. They looked larger and sturdier. The dirt paths that wound between them now looked more organized and solid. It looked like they were paved. Beyond the village I saw the vast farmland that fed the population. It looked rich with crops. It looked perfect."

ALDER

PoR pg. 441-442

"Alder let go and backed off. I'd forgotten what a big guy he was. Though I'd grown a few inches, he still towered over me. His brown hair had grown longer and nearly touched his shoulders. He wore light leathers, similar to ours, rather than the heavy, black leather armour of a Bedoowan knight. He must have been off duty. As I've written before, Alder was a trained knight, but his aggressive side only came out in battle. He was actually a gentle guy who always had a smile."

RELLIN

PoR p. 445

"Leading these volunteers was a man I remembered well. It was Rellin, the chief miner and leader of the revolution against the Bedoowan. He was now the leader of the Milago. He was as powerful and confident a leader as I remembered. The one thing missing was the anger he once held. He was now at peace with his world. I hoped I wasn't going to disrupt that too much."

THE PILGRIMS

PoR p. 402

"There were dozens of people on the trail below, all dressed in typical, bright Ibara fashion. There were men, women, and children. All walked quickly and orderly toward the wharf and the sailing ships."

PoR p. 402

"Most of the ships had left the wharf and were headed on to sea. Even from where I stood, I could see their decks were loaded with people. Many were still on the docks, loading the remaining ships. Others scurried around the docks, casting off lines and helping to load freight. Eight of the ships were either out on the ocean already, or starting to push off and raise their sails. It was a spectacular sight to see against the rising sun. I wished to heck I knew what it all meant."

BATTLE OF RAYNE

PoR p. 487

"Alder and I got a crash course in the guns of Ibara from a security dude. The firing room was built into the mountain, with a high view over the bay. From there, every gun position could be seen. There was a single chair that swiveled left and right. In front of the chair was a control panel, and a joystick with a trigger. Each of the ten weapons were controlled from that one spot. It was explained to us by the security guy that from the first day Ibara was settled, there was always one person manning the guns in case of an attack. It wasn't until recently that they were needed."

PoR pg. 487-488

"Once Siry and his team brought the tak to the mountain, they began the delicate task of fixing small bits of explosives to the tips of arrows. Thousands of arrows were brought from storage deep within the mountain, along with several hundred bows. Siry took charge, organizing the men and women into assembly lines to efficiently turn out explosive arrows. He was a natural leader. He cajoled, ordered, threatened, and begged the people to ensure maximum output. They ended up creating an arsenal of thousands of arrows. Unfortunately there were many thousands of dados."

PoR p. 488

"Alder's plan called for archers to be positioned in four lines, parallel to the shore. The first line would begin near the water and others would continue on back toward the mountain. The archers would pick the dados off as they landed. Of course, there was no way they could get them all. As the dados grew closer, the lines would retreat and join the others to the rear, where they would continue to shoot. The goal was to take out as many as possible before they reached Tribunal Mountain."

PoR p. 488

"Our final stand would be made from the mountain. It was the best defensive position to take. The archers would gradually move farther and farther back, until they all ended up inside the mountain. With luck, enough of the dados would have been taken out so we could successfully defend the mountain. If not, the mountain would become our tomb."

PoR pg. 489-490

"I left it to Siry to organize his people. He divided them into groups. Those who felt confident with the bows and arrows were moved to one side. My quick count said that there were around a hundred potential archers. Another group was chosen for their speed. They would be the messengers who would relay orders from the mountain command post to the lines of archers. The final group would be the utility players. They would go where they were needed, whether it be to move ammunition around, help the wounded, or in the worst case, take the bows and tak arrows from those who fell, to be used elsewhere."

PoR p. 497

"Out on the open ocean, beyond the break in the beach that led into the bay, were thousands of skimmers. I'll repeat that. Thousands. They moved slowly, in tight formation, headed directly for us. The first line had about fifty craft. Followed by another. And another and another. Too many to count. It looked as if each skimmer held three passengers. The rising sun made them look like ghostly silhouettes. They were angels of death. The waiting and wondering was over."

I can do Raven Rise, if it isn't taken yet :)

And I don't mind doing up an outline for NW, if you're all okay with that.