Jaxanth Above the Gap Chasm

The Universal Joint

The Universal Joint is an e-novel that is in its infancy. I have only completed the first chapter. I hope you enjoy it. Please let me know your comments, suggestions, or whatever, on the comments page. Here it is for your electronic reading pleasure, (or not), "The Universal Joint", Chapter 1.

Chapter One
"Rude Awakening"
It seemed the alarm clock didn't go off again this morning. With the amount of light streaming through the window, Chance knew it must be at least eight o'clock. Rolling over he squinted at the clock, its blue light flashing 6:45, 6:45, 6:45. This was odd, it was never this light at 6:45!
"Well, I suppose I better find out what's going on." Chance thought.
The floor was cold on his feet, as he stepped out the bed. Opening the bedroom door, or what he remembered as the bedroom door, Chance got the shock of his young life. He was statnding on a dirt street, looking out at a number of small cottage like dwellings. "OK, so I'm still dreaming, right?" he muttered as he closed his eyes and pinched his arm. Opening his eyes he saw, nothing had changed, nothing at all!.
Chance heard a strange giggling sound behind him. Turning, he received the second major shock of this young day. There standing in front of him in all its glory (?), was a four foot tall, fully clothed, gray tabby cat, on its hind legs, smiling (as a cat can smile!) at him. "Tell ye what," it said (YES SAID!), " a bloke needn't be standin' out on the District Highway in his altogether nakedness! Ye have no fur coverin' your bare body, and no clothin' covererin' that." Chance gasped, peered down at his 'altogether nakedness', and bolted for the door back into what was once his bedroom. Now it appeared to be a small house, almost a hunting cottage. There was a stone fireplace where the bathroom door had been, and a rough hewn wooden table in the middle of what seemed to be the main room.
Chance was confused, very confused. If this wasn't a dream, what had happened, what the heck was going on? His puzzlement was interupted by a scratching knock on the door. "Now what do I do?" he asked himself.
"Come on mate, open the bloody door here, would ye?"

1

Slowly he moved toward the door, grasped the wooden handle, and snapped the door open! There it was, just as before, the large, gray cat. "Cover yerself up, would ye friend?" it asked. Chance reached over and grabbed a cloth that was laying on the table in the middle of the room, and covered what he could. "Much better," sighed the cat, "so ye be our new human bein' from the other side, that we have to deal with."
Confusion on top of confusion!
"WHAT"S GOING ON!?!?" yelled Chance J. Randall at the four foot tall cat.
"WHERE AM I?!, WHO OR WHAT ARE YOU?!"
The cat smiled again, just as he had done outside. "First the introductions, I answer, when the mood strikes me, to Dudley Duewryght, hunts-cat and general investigator. Of course all of my kind are general investigators. What do ye be called?" the cat asked, still smiling.
"My name is Chance, Chance Randall. Where am I, and how did I get here?" Chance's head was starting to hurt.
Just then there was another scratching knock at the door. NOW WHAT?!
"Dud! You in there Dud? What does it look like, Dud? Male or female?" sounded through the door. "Can I come in Dud? Is it safe Dud?"
The gray cat walked toward the door, shaking his head in mock disgust. "That would be Fenny, me best mate, Fenwick Squeekcat." He opended the door, and there peeking around the door jam was a three foot tall, again fully clothed, fluffy orange cat.
Chance needed to sit down - heck - Chance needed to fall down!

2

"Where are we?" said the gray cat. "Oh right, where are ye? Ye are in yer new home, smack in the middle of the village of Skratchpost Station, smack in the middle of the District of Covertia, smack in the middle of the Kingdom of Domking. I bet that helps ye a lot, now don't it?"
Dudley the cat sat down on one of the chairs at the table, and crossed his legs, such as a cat can cross its legs. The other cat, Fenwick, just seemed to be racing around the room, like you would expect a young cat to do. That is, until he tried to race by the gray cat. Dudley quickly shot out a gloved paw right to the center of the littler cat's forehead. "Settle down ye little mischief maker!" The smaller cat instantly sank into another of the chairs, as if he hadn't been moving at all.
"I guess I should start at the beginning", Dudley said, "thats usually the best place."
The gray cat began to explain the situation to Chance. It seems there is a continual rift in the areas of time and space known as the 'Universal Joint', every so often there will be a small bump to the Joint and someone from Chance's time and space would be dropped into Dudley and Fenwick's reality. It would appear in this instance, Chance was the droppee! Chance now knew where he was, and how he got here, as unbelievable as it might seem. Somehow, he didn't feel all that much better knowing this information.
Dudley continued his explanation. On this side of the Joint, human beings had not evolved to become 'the dominant species'. All lifeforms, it seemed, had evolved equally. They lived together in cities, towns, villages and the countryside throughout the kingdom. In a roundabout way, because of the Joint, the kingdom was actually not a kingdom any longer.

3

The Kingdom of Domking

The kingdom was now governed by the elected 'Council of Five'. Oh, it had been a kingdom, or more preceisely a Queendom, ruled by Queen Laynie the Last, who was the last of her royal line. She was a penguin, and technically, still the queen. The reason she wasn't actively ruling now, was that she had gone through the Joint during a bump some time ago. Something had to be done, in her absence, to rule the kingdom. Everyone was hopeful that one day she would return, but, until that time, the Council of Five ran the kingdom.
The Council membership now consisted of - Willy Quenton, the Chairman, a goat from the city of Arcan, in the District of Inertia; Bobben Doyle, a crow from the town of Moreless, in the District of Covertia; Barry Riles, a brown bear from the Warring Hills, in the District of Divertia; Mauella Small, a house mouse from the village of Nonel, in the District of Minutia; and Hatley Hartley, a tortoise from Laynia, the capital city, in the District of Dilutia.
The Council had its differences, but that was usually a good thing.
Dudley stopped explaining Domking's ways and said, "I'm sorry lad, if we don't eat soon, we're all going to callapse here on the spot from hunger. And fer the last time, would ye please put some coverin' on yer naked body?"
Chance realized he had been sitting here, nearly naked, listening to a large gray cat, for nearly two hours. Chance WAS hungry, and cold to boot. He got up and walked over to a large trunk that was at the foot of the bed, opened it, and found an assortment of clothing - well, you might call it clothing if you lived in a medieval village. He pulled out a pair of breeches, at least he thought they were breeches, and slid them on his legs. To no suprise, they fit perfectly. He found a shirt, vest, belt, stockings and boots in the trunk, and everything fit as if it had been made for him - as well it may have.

4

His stomach growled as he stepped over to a cupboard hung on the wall near the fireplace. He found bread, dried fruits and some apples. He asked Dudley "Would you like some of this?" The gray cat just shook his head and smiled. Dudley reached down to his belt and brought up a small bag. Loosening the tie on the bag he poured what looked like kitty kibble into his paw and began eating, in a way similar to how Chance might eat popcorn or peanuts. Fenwick was sound asleep in the chair.
When they finished with the makeshift meal, Chance felt much better. He still felt a little dazed and bewildered, but at least he knew it wasn't due to hunger. He was getting some answers, but he wasn't sure what all the questions were.
It appeared to be starting to get darker outside. Obviously, his 'clock' had been wrong when he awakened. He turned to Dudley, "What time is it anyway?" he asked. "It would seem to be about half past afternoon, nearly a quarter till evenin'" replied the cat. "Time for my 'half past late afternoon' snooze."
He poked at Fenny with his paw, "Get up ye lazy, little orange furball!" Fenwick half heartedly opened one eye and stretched, nearly doubling his length. "I'm awake, Dud. Dud, stop pokin' me, Dud! What do you want, Dud?" Chase could see that the smaller cat was going to take some getting used to .
What was he thinking! Getting used to! Here he was sitting at a table with to very large, clothed, talking cats. Everything was going to take some getting used to. He hoped he wasn't going to be here long enough to get used to any of this. Maybe he would wake up, and it would be a dream.
He figured the odds at 'slim to none'.

5

He didn't think he ws going to get much more information for a while, since Dudley had curled up into a ball in the chair, and already seemed to be sound asleep. Fenny had pulled his bag of kitty kibble from his belt, and was happily munching away, only looking up whenever anything moved or any sound was made. He sure seemed to be a nervous little cat.
The two cat friends were polar opposites; rough, gruff Dudley, and jumpy skittish Fenwick. What a pair! Chance knew one thing, they were his only help right now on this side of the Joint.
He was glad they were here.
Chance decided that he would try the outside again. He opened the wooden door and stepped out onto the road. There was some activity and he could see lights in some of the other houses. "Evenin', Sir." a very large rabbit, greeted him, tipping his hat over his long ears. Chance tried not to look completely shocked by this statement and action, but he was pretty sure he wasn't doing a very good job.
"He-He-He-He-Hello there." he finally managed to sputter out. The rabbit looked at him strangely (he wasn't sure how he knew that), and walked on. He saw other 'citizens' walking up and down the road and decided that maybe he wasn't quite ready for this. He turned and walked back into the house.
"So, what do ye think of our little village here?" the gray cat asked him. "It's not much, but we like to call it home." Chance just shook his head. "I guess I nodded off a bit too long, ay? It looks to be about straight up evenin'." said the cat. Time was obviously a little less constraining on this side of the Joint. "We should probably get ye some supplies, show ye around a bit, and maybe meet some of the local folk. After a good nights sleep, we can try to figure out what yer purpose is here." Chance wondered why he would have to have a 'purpose' here, but figured the cats would fill him in.

6

They decided to start the tour of the village in the local Public House. The Stork and Shield Publik House was a loud and raucous place when they walked in the door.
"Dud, Old Man!" called out an aristocratically dressed squirrel sitting at a table in the back. "That be Nutswell, the village mayor." Dudley told him as they headed toward the table.
There was every variation of animal throughout the Pub. Chance had some difficulty walking and staring at the same time. They sat down at the mayor's table. The mayor reached out with a bejeweled paw, "Arthur Benedict Nutswell, Esquire, at your service." Chance shook 'paws' with him and introduced himself. "So young squire, you are our new person?" the mayor saked him.
It then dawned on Chance that he had been the only human being he had seen in the village. "Are there no other humans in this reality?" he queried.
Fenwick piped in, "Sure Chance, just as many people as anything else, Chance. But gosh Chance, your the only human in this village, Chance. Most people live in Rivers End, Chance, near the Open Sea."
Well, at least he wasn't 'one of a kind'. He was sure he would have to get to Rivers End sometime.
They ordered drinks from the 'shapely' porcine waitress. There was food everywhere in the pub, and Chance realized he hadn't seen meat since he arrived. It came to him that eating the types of meat that he was used to eating would be cannibalism of some kind or another to some kind or another of the varied 'peoples' of this reality. Chance has become a vegetarian whether he liked it or not.
It was getting late, and if he wanted to meet more of the villagers, they had better get started. He turned to Dudley and Fenny and said as much. They bid the mayor good evening, and walked to the bar.

7

Well, I hope you have enjoyed Chapter 1. When and if Chapter 2 will ever appear is anybody's guess right now.

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