A Very Bad Place to Be
Tony was more prepared for the Hucailluc this time. That in combination with the Universe's expertise made it much more bearable. Soon enough it felt like Sketchbook was returning to his hands. He even succeeded in landing on his feet in the teal grass. The planet was very dark, the sky was a prussian blue, though the sun's position signaled that is was still day here.
They had landed on a hill, which overlooked streets lined with houses. In the distance were a few white, dome shaped buildings, presumably at the city's center. Citizens of all kinds, puppet, animal, and object alike, wandered between the buildings and down the streets.
Universe whistled. "Wow, I wonder when this happened," he pondered. "The last time I was here, nothing lived here but a few gophers."
"Where is here?" asked Tony.
"Ah, yes." Universe waved his hands in a dramatic gesture. "Welcome, to Himeros!"
He pointed up at the sky. "This planet is closer to its sun than earth, so it has a thicker atmosphere, causing the sky to be darker." He pointed down at his feet. "And this grass is a shade of teal because it absorbs the rest of the sun's harmful radiation, so that things can live here."
"Never mind all that! What was that back there? What happened to Colin?!" Sketchbook demanded. She had recovered very quickly from the Hucailluc this time.
Universe sighed. "That was a Utollmi. It's a hole torn into space and reality in order to take something. It is similar to a Hucailluc, the difference being that you are taking something to you, instead of taking yourself to it."
"So, someone took Colin?"
"Well," Universe look sad. "The edges of that rift were very jagged, highly unprofessional. There's a high chance that he might not have survived the trip."
Sketchbook gasped.
"But, if he did, I suspect he's probably here. It would make sense." explained Universe. "Who ever your looking for may be looking for you too."
"But they left us a note." said Tony. "Why leave a note if they're just going to snatch us anyway?"
"I'm afraid I don't have all of the answers." replied Universe. "But you'll likely find them in there." He pointed at the largest white building in the distance.
"Okay," Tony said, thoughtfully. He turned to universe. "You should wait here, if something goes awry, we may need a secret quick getaway."
The Universe smiled broadly. "I was thinking the same thing!" He sat down on the hill with a thud.
The other three began walking towards the city when the Universe called out to them again. "Wait!" he yelled. "Small yellow child, I have something for you!"
Yellow Guy glanced at Tony nervously. Tony gave a reassuring nod and Yellow Guy ran back to the Universe. Tony paused "Did I just, reassure him?" he wondered. He had never formally interacted with a student after a lesson before. Like the Universe had said, he simply bided his time until the next students came. When had he grown to become a person who could reassure Yellow Guy? Yellow Guy should have no reason to trust him, especially after the 'circumstances' of their first interactions.
As Yellow Guy approached Universe, Universe held out his hand. Sitting in the palm of his hand was a small toy train, no bigger than a brick. Its design was simplistic, it was just a locomotive, though it lacked many of the intricate details of one. The engine and the cab appeared to be made of silver, while the chimney, bell and wheels were made of bronze and, at the very front, the pilot seemed to be made of gold.
Yellow Guy stared, wide eyed at the little toy. "W-why," he stuttered. "Why are you giving this to me?"
"It's a gift, silly." the Universe laughed. Then he whispered. "It may come in handy, you never know."
Yellow Guy thanked Universe, then ran back over to Tony and Sketchbook. Tony placed Sketchbook on his back, and the three of them departed down the hill.
The minute they reached the suburbs, they knew something was wrong. No one acknowledged their arrival, or even looked at them.
As they glanced down the street, they could see into the front windows of the houses. Each house was identical, and in more than just appearance. Each house had a couple of grandparents sitting on a bench in front. Through the front windows they could see a couples watching a movie in the living room (and every house had the same movie). From what could be seen in the kitchen, young girls of varying ages were talking on corded phones, weaving the cord between their fingers. Upstairs, young boys of varying ages stared out of the window between texting.
"They're all following the same routine..." Sketchbook whimpered, clearly very upset at the lack of variety. The only thing that seemed slightly randomized where the individuals walking down the street, and even they were beginning to give Tony the creeps. They were all smiling. Some of them had wide, very nervous looking smiles, as if it was taking all of their strength to keep smiling. Other smiled far too brightly, their eyes vacant of any emotion other than pure happiness. Tony wasn't sure what was worse.
As they continued down the street, they eventually reached a park. As they walked though, Sketchbook suddenly spotted a familiar face.
"Tony look!" she pointed. "It's Gilbert!"
Sure enough, sitting on a park bench was Gilbert the globe. He seemed to be having an animated discussion with another globe sitting next to him. She (Tony assumed it was a she, because it was wearing a yellow bow) was a sandy brown and red color, and had no oceans, but she did appear to have ice caps.
"Gilbert?" asked Tony apprehensively, not wanting to intrude.
"Tony!" called out Gilbert happily. "You made it!"
"Yes?" replied Tony, though it was more a question than a statement. "How did you get here?"
Gilbert glanced around nervously. "It's a long story." he said dismissively.
"Gilbert, dear, aren't you going to introduce your friends?" asked the globe sitting next to him.
"Oh, yes, of course darling. Tony, Sketchbook, Yellow Guy, this is Marlee the Mars globe. Marlee, these are my friends Tony, Sketchbook, and Yellow Guy."
"Hello." the trio said in uncertain unison.
"Hi, pleasure to meet you!" giggled Marlee. "Gilbert has told me a little bit about you!"
Tony cleared his throat. "So, what are you doing here Gilbert?"
"I'm on a date!" exclaimed Gilbert.
"No, I meant- wait, what?" asked Tony, bewildered.
"Yep," Gilbert smiled. "This place may be awful, but at least something good came out of it!"
"Awww, your so sweet!" sighed Marlee.
"Oooookay, well," Tony clapped his hands together. "We should keep going. We wouldn't want be be a distraction."
As they continued on their way, Gilbert called out. "Bye, good luck finding Roy!"
The entryway to the white building was an open arch. Inside, people sat in a white room on pinkish white benches. The room was not very big compared to the rest of the building, and Tony suspected it was likely just a waiting room. The only problem with that theory was that there was not a door to be found, just smooth, white walls.
Sitting on the benches where the first people that they had seen who weren't smiling, or at least, not all of them were. While many were still smiling with an unrealistic happiness, others were dejected, exhausted, or angry. In the far corner, a canary was trying to comfort a bawling pink puppet lady.
"Sit down, you're making me nervous." A chattering voice came from behind them. They turned around to see a harry green man, not unlike Red Guy. He was shaking from head to toe.
"What is everyone waiting here for?" Tony asked.
"I don't know what they're all here for, but I'm here because the blushing smiley emoji on my computer is stuck, and needs oil." he chattered.
"Is that really so important?" asked Sketchbook.
The green guy looked up at them incredulously. "Of course it is! A jammed emoji could lead to jammed emotions, and that would be a disaster!"
"Well, whatever." Tony waved his hand. "We need to get inside this building. Do you know how?"
He pointed to a slot in the wall that had a little piece of paper sticking out. "Take a number."
Tony grabbed a tab. "46." he read.
One of the walls lit up with a ping. A large 8 was projected on it in red. The canary and pink lady from the corner of the room walked up and presented their paper to the wall. The 8 turned green and the wall vanished. The couple hurried through and the wall reappeared once again.
The green guy held up his paper, it said 28. "I've been here since last Tuesday." he chattered.
"Well, I'm not going to wait that long." Tony grumbled. He walked up to the wall that had previously been open and knocked. To his surprise, the wall made a 'floof floof floof' sound. "It's made out of compressed clouds!" he exclaimed. He began pushing his hand into it, and it squashed reluctantly.
"Don't make me report you!" The green guy yelled.
Suddenly, Yellow Guy butted in. "Actually, how about you report us." Tony and Sketchbook stared at him in surprise. He withdrew from the sudden attention, twiddling his fingers. "I-I mean, if you report us, then we'll have to see who's in charge right away, right?"
"Well, yes." chattered the green guy.
"So," Yellow Guy held up his hands in fake defeat. "Report us."
Tony raised his hands too, as did Sketchbook (all though she only raised one, because she needed the other to hold onto Tony.).
Grumbling, the green guy walked to the wall and pressed his hand against it. A red square shape lit up around his hand and he muttered something under his breath. The square turned green, and the wall vanished, leaving the open archway.
"Well, step to it!" the green guy chattered, before walking through the door.
The trio glanced at each other nervously, then followed their captor into the building.