Several Earthly years ago.
Cindy had always had a way with machines. She lived in an exciting time of revolution! New things were coming out every day, new clocks, new cars, and most intriguing the air plane! Since Cindy was a little girl, she had a certain talent. She could take almost anything mechanical and take it apart, but what was amazing, to those around her was she could put them back together again in perfect working order. Sometimes they were even better than before.
At the age of four she was building huge castles from building blocks and "Lincoln Logs." By ten she was fixing door knobs, door bells, and clocks and her goal was close to becoming a reality. You see, Cindy was raised to believe in the possibility of everything. Not only did she believe in machines and the laws of physics, but her parents also taught the possibility of the supernatural. She had no doubts that there were such things as ghosts, and monsters in the closet. Just because she had never seen one, didn't mean they didn't exist!
Airplanes were just now becoming a regular thing. There was some kind of war going on all over the world, but that held no interest to her! What fascinated her were the reports coming in of little creatures that could be seen on the wings of planes of the fighter pilots planes. Two of her favorite subjects! Plane and the supernatural!
It was 1916 and Cindy had done the impossible. She was a mechanic for airplanes. She loved the thought of flying, but what she liked most was the mechanics of the thing. The fact that a huge piece of metal could go flying through the air and safely hold a human was just amazing to her.
However, since she was a girl, she was frowned upon when she went to work. That didn't stop her, she would take odd hours and work late on the planes and she was lucky enough to know a man who owned an airport.
It was a Wednesday, around 3pm when Cindy got to work. The boss, pressured by his peers gave off the appearance that he didn't care for a girl in the shop either. But that was just the face he put on. Actually he really liked Cindy and was proud of her and what she did for the planes. But for appearance's sake he acted mean and encouraged her to come in late. Walking with purpose Cindy headed towards a plane that appeared to be in pieces when she overheard Frank and the gang talking.
"Yeah, I was flying just a routine run of supplies to the army base in California when I saw it. I started out from head quarters around 6pm and I had been flying for three hours. It was a long flight and was getting tired, so I can't be sure, but I could have sworn that as I looked out my starboard side I saw something on the wing. I strained to look, and thought I saw a black thing sitting outside! I was looking at it and it appeared to point ahead. I looked back at my gages and realized I was off course! So I jerked the plane back into position, and when I looked again, it was gone."
"Awe, frank, you didn't drink did you."
Cindy stopped ease dropping at this point she knew that even if Frank hadn't been drinking, they all would be drinking soon and his story was sure to take a wild turn and facts would be lost for sure. Her mind a buzz, Cindy went to work. Like everything else, the story intrigued her; this was something else she must find out about. To think, a gremlin here in the US of A. All the stories she had read about them always were in Europe somewhere. But was neither here nor there right now there was a plane that needed her attention.
She worked all day on the plane. "This goes here and that goes there, and what was this part doing in this engine?" she thought to herself. Lost in her own world she didn't hear the rest of the mechanic crew leave. The crew tried to say goodbye to her but she was too involved with a tricky part in her engine to notice. Laughing they went about their way to head to the local bar. Cindy knew they would go, get drunk, talk of war and of course Frank's story. The next day they would come in late. She just knew she'd have yet another load of stuff to fix when she came in. As she worked on the engine her thoughts strayed back to the pilot's story. Can you even imagine? She was busy tightening a screw when the wrench slipped and fell further into the engine. Cursing in a very unlady like manner she yelled "Man, I wish I had a good dependable wrench!!"
Someone tapped her on her shoulder and handed her a wrench. Not thinking she mumbled a thanks and finished tightening the screw. "Wait a tic, I though everyone was gone?" Cindy looked up and was surprised to see a little creature that was sporting nothing but a pilot's hat and a grin looking was looking at her. "OOOooh" Cindy exclaimed as she fell off her stool and onto the floor. Struggling to remain calm she looked at again and saw that indeed it still sat there watching her.
Cindy looked down at the wrench. It was a good wrench. The best that she'd seen so far. All the tools that she had were borrowed, or found in trash cans, this one was shiny and new. Looking back at the thing sitting now on top of the stepstool she said to it, "Hello, thank you for the wrench."
"My pleasure my lady!" the thing replied.
Cindy thought, ok, it's not very talkative it is? "Hummm, who are you, and what are you doing here? And what are you?"
In a strangely accented voice it replied "Well my name is Tic, and that's my brother Tock. We usually work on clocks, but you already knew that. We are gremlins my lady." And somehow, she did know that. She looked up and saw that there was in fact another little creature sitting on top of the plane. This one was wearing a brand new bomber jacket and was fiddling with a watch in its small hands.
Baffled, Cindy next asked, "Why are you here?" To the little one called Tic thinking she was handling the situation very well. She wasn't the least bit scared, but was curious about them. She wanted to learn more!
"Well, we were beginning to think that you would never call on us, so when you yelled for the wrench, we figured that was close enough for us." Tic smiled showing a huge mouth full of white shiny teeth.
"Me call on you?" Cindy was having a hard time figuring this out. "What do you mean?" Tic sighed and hoped down from the stool, she walked over to Cindy and took her hand. "We have been with you for a very long time, as you grew. We helped you to figer out things. We were hoping that you could help us now, but we needed you to call to us first."
Cindy thought back to her youth. There did seem to be something guiding her along the way when she worked on machines. A screw when needed, and bolt here and there. She guessed she did indeed have help of some sort. "What do you need me for?"
"We need your guidance. We have been alone too long and need someone like you to lead us and protect us." As Tic spoke a crowd of gremlins started appearing from everywhere. Crawling out of clocks, engines, tool boxes. All looking very solemnly at her.
And this was how Cindy became the Gremlin Queen. Since she came to this new world she had not aged a day. And she liked it that way, always appearing to be in her early 20's. Cindy sat on her throne and looked into a metal box. An image appeared in the liquid metal contained therein of Jareth. Cindy sighed; it looked like he had brought back that bothersome girl again. And it looked to Cindy that Jareth was planning on keeping the girl this time.
Cindy angrily threw the box to the floor and watched with blazing eyes of silver as the box was picked up by a few thousand tiny flea-like things and carried away. She, the Gremlin Queen was a perfect match for the King of Goblins. Everybody knew that.
Had she not spent the past years lending out her gremlins to fix his traps and gadgets in that maze of his? Had she not made it clear that she had designs for them? Had he not, in the heat of passion declared that they should be together forever?! She knew what it was. Both Jareth and Cindy had very dominant personalities. They always seemed to clash, but that never stopped him from seeking her attentions.
The more Cindy thought of it the angrier she got! "Tick-Toc!, bring me my horse!" Tic and tock appeared with a shiny mechanical flying horse. It had the body of a horse but all along it there were outlines of a skeleton. It had great mechanical wings, and looked like the stuff of legend. As Cindy approached it the horse whirled and clicked on. Its side flank open up and a ladder came down. Cindy climbed up as Tic and Tock climbed on the back. The flank ladder closed up and the horse trotted to the grand window. The window opened up to the sky.
The Gremlin Queen's castle was high in the mountains and gave the impression of floating on air. Cindy paused a moment and looked out over her domain. She felt the breeze blow through her hair. She looked down from her mountain view and saw far away the Goblin King's realm. Jareth would accept her or by the gods, she would take away, or break every machine in his land. The horse jumped off the ledge and took fight.
Sara Put her finger to her mouth and looked at the rose. What had she done? Why had she come back to this place? And lastly, what of Karen? Was she still asleep in the kitchen with the bottle in her hand? She fumed for a moment. What do I care about her? When had she ever cared about me. Sara then snapped out of her rant and came back to the problem at hand.
She was in the underworld again. But maybe this wasn't such a bad thing. I mean what did she really have home anyway. A drunken lady, a house in need of repair, a term of college, a crappy job as a stage hand for the local theater? Ok, well she supposed she did have a few things to clear up at home.
Sara seemed to recall the last time she was here. Wasn't it something that she could control? I mean in the end didn't she have the power to leave as she wanted? "I could leave right now, after all he has no power over me." Sara made a mocking face and because she felt like it, she stuck her tongue out at the castle.
Standing straight Sara thought about the wording and said, "I wish I was back home." Sara fell backward with a force so strong it felt like a brick wall had hit her. She stumbled back and sat down on a bench and held her hand to her head. What happened? She was still here. Sara growled, "OOOooooo.." And fell back on the bench asleep.
Jareth smiled and hummed a happy tune as he walked back around the wall and towards the unconscious Sara. He smiled down at her. She looked stunning laying there. The moons seemed to make her skin glow and he couldn't help but watch her as she slept. Her lovely brown hair was fanned out behind her and over flowing off the bench. One hand lay above her head while the other one lay out, as if to suggest a welcome. He watched her as she breathed. Watched her chest rise and fall in a gentle rhythm.
Jareth leaned down and moved a stray hair form her face. She really was better than the dreams they had shared. He couldn't wait to feel her for real, but if he was going to keep her here he was going to have to ease her into the idea. What she had thought was true, she could leave at anytime, but Jareth's will was stronger. He smiled at the idea. The only reason Sara was still here meant that a part of her wanted to stay. That was the only reason he was able to block her attempt to leave. He would simply make her realize that she wanted to be by his side. In time.
Smiling he put her hands on her chest and picked her up. She weighted nothing in his arms, but the warmth of her flesh was alluring. It was real. This was no dream. How easy would it be to take her now? Or to ender her mind and play a bit? But he wanted her awake and alive to the passion he knew she had inside.
As he carried her back to his castle Jareth looked at the sleeping Sara in his arms, "You are home my Lady."
Cindy had always had a way with machines. She lived in an exciting time of revolution! New things were coming out every day, new clocks, new cars, and most intriguing the air plane! Since Cindy was a little girl, she had a certain talent. She could take almost anything mechanical and take it apart, but what was amazing, to those around her was she could put them back together again in perfect working order. Sometimes they were even better than before.
At the age of four she was building huge castles from building blocks and "Lincoln Logs." By ten she was fixing door knobs, door bells, and clocks and her goal was close to becoming a reality. You see, Cindy was raised to believe in the possibility of everything. Not only did she believe in machines and the laws of physics, but her parents also taught the possibility of the supernatural. She had no doubts that there were such things as ghosts, and monsters in the closet. Just because she had never seen one, didn't mean they didn't exist!
Airplanes were just now becoming a regular thing. There was some kind of war going on all over the world, but that held no interest to her! What fascinated her were the reports coming in of little creatures that could be seen on the wings of planes of the fighter pilots planes. Two of her favorite subjects! Plane and the supernatural!
It was 1916 and Cindy had done the impossible. She was a mechanic for airplanes. She loved the thought of flying, but what she liked most was the mechanics of the thing. The fact that a huge piece of metal could go flying through the air and safely hold a human was just amazing to her.
However, since she was a girl, she was frowned upon when she went to work. That didn't stop her, she would take odd hours and work late on the planes and she was lucky enough to know a man who owned an airport.
It was a Wednesday, around 3pm when Cindy got to work. The boss, pressured by his peers gave off the appearance that he didn't care for a girl in the shop either. But that was just the face he put on. Actually he really liked Cindy and was proud of her and what she did for the planes. But for appearance's sake he acted mean and encouraged her to come in late. Walking with purpose Cindy headed towards a plane that appeared to be in pieces when she overheard Frank and the gang talking.
"Yeah, I was flying just a routine run of supplies to the army base in California when I saw it. I started out from head quarters around 6pm and I had been flying for three hours. It was a long flight and was getting tired, so I can't be sure, but I could have sworn that as I looked out my starboard side I saw something on the wing. I strained to look, and thought I saw a black thing sitting outside! I was looking at it and it appeared to point ahead. I looked back at my gages and realized I was off course! So I jerked the plane back into position, and when I looked again, it was gone."
"Awe, frank, you didn't drink did you."
Cindy stopped ease dropping at this point she knew that even if Frank hadn't been drinking, they all would be drinking soon and his story was sure to take a wild turn and facts would be lost for sure. Her mind a buzz, Cindy went to work. Like everything else, the story intrigued her; this was something else she must find out about. To think, a gremlin here in the US of A. All the stories she had read about them always were in Europe somewhere. But was neither here nor there right now there was a plane that needed her attention.
She worked all day on the plane. "This goes here and that goes there, and what was this part doing in this engine?" she thought to herself. Lost in her own world she didn't hear the rest of the mechanic crew leave. The crew tried to say goodbye to her but she was too involved with a tricky part in her engine to notice. Laughing they went about their way to head to the local bar. Cindy knew they would go, get drunk, talk of war and of course Frank's story. The next day they would come in late. She just knew she'd have yet another load of stuff to fix when she came in. As she worked on the engine her thoughts strayed back to the pilot's story. Can you even imagine? She was busy tightening a screw when the wrench slipped and fell further into the engine. Cursing in a very unlady like manner she yelled "Man, I wish I had a good dependable wrench!!"
Someone tapped her on her shoulder and handed her a wrench. Not thinking she mumbled a thanks and finished tightening the screw. "Wait a tic, I though everyone was gone?" Cindy looked up and was surprised to see a little creature that was sporting nothing but a pilot's hat and a grin looking was looking at her. "OOOooh" Cindy exclaimed as she fell off her stool and onto the floor. Struggling to remain calm she looked at again and saw that indeed it still sat there watching her.
Cindy looked down at the wrench. It was a good wrench. The best that she'd seen so far. All the tools that she had were borrowed, or found in trash cans, this one was shiny and new. Looking back at the thing sitting now on top of the stepstool she said to it, "Hello, thank you for the wrench."
"My pleasure my lady!" the thing replied.
Cindy thought, ok, it's not very talkative it is? "Hummm, who are you, and what are you doing here? And what are you?"
In a strangely accented voice it replied "Well my name is Tic, and that's my brother Tock. We usually work on clocks, but you already knew that. We are gremlins my lady." And somehow, she did know that. She looked up and saw that there was in fact another little creature sitting on top of the plane. This one was wearing a brand new bomber jacket and was fiddling with a watch in its small hands.
Baffled, Cindy next asked, "Why are you here?" To the little one called Tic thinking she was handling the situation very well. She wasn't the least bit scared, but was curious about them. She wanted to learn more!
"Well, we were beginning to think that you would never call on us, so when you yelled for the wrench, we figured that was close enough for us." Tic smiled showing a huge mouth full of white shiny teeth.
"Me call on you?" Cindy was having a hard time figuring this out. "What do you mean?" Tic sighed and hoped down from the stool, she walked over to Cindy and took her hand. "We have been with you for a very long time, as you grew. We helped you to figer out things. We were hoping that you could help us now, but we needed you to call to us first."
Cindy thought back to her youth. There did seem to be something guiding her along the way when she worked on machines. A screw when needed, and bolt here and there. She guessed she did indeed have help of some sort. "What do you need me for?"
"We need your guidance. We have been alone too long and need someone like you to lead us and protect us." As Tic spoke a crowd of gremlins started appearing from everywhere. Crawling out of clocks, engines, tool boxes. All looking very solemnly at her.
And this was how Cindy became the Gremlin Queen. Since she came to this new world she had not aged a day. And she liked it that way, always appearing to be in her early 20's. Cindy sat on her throne and looked into a metal box. An image appeared in the liquid metal contained therein of Jareth. Cindy sighed; it looked like he had brought back that bothersome girl again. And it looked to Cindy that Jareth was planning on keeping the girl this time.
Cindy angrily threw the box to the floor and watched with blazing eyes of silver as the box was picked up by a few thousand tiny flea-like things and carried away. She, the Gremlin Queen was a perfect match for the King of Goblins. Everybody knew that.
Had she not spent the past years lending out her gremlins to fix his traps and gadgets in that maze of his? Had she not made it clear that she had designs for them? Had he not, in the heat of passion declared that they should be together forever?! She knew what it was. Both Jareth and Cindy had very dominant personalities. They always seemed to clash, but that never stopped him from seeking her attentions.
The more Cindy thought of it the angrier she got! "Tick-Toc!, bring me my horse!" Tic and tock appeared with a shiny mechanical flying horse. It had the body of a horse but all along it there were outlines of a skeleton. It had great mechanical wings, and looked like the stuff of legend. As Cindy approached it the horse whirled and clicked on. Its side flank open up and a ladder came down. Cindy climbed up as Tic and Tock climbed on the back. The flank ladder closed up and the horse trotted to the grand window. The window opened up to the sky.
The Gremlin Queen's castle was high in the mountains and gave the impression of floating on air. Cindy paused a moment and looked out over her domain. She felt the breeze blow through her hair. She looked down from her mountain view and saw far away the Goblin King's realm. Jareth would accept her or by the gods, she would take away, or break every machine in his land. The horse jumped off the ledge and took fight.
Sara Put her finger to her mouth and looked at the rose. What had she done? Why had she come back to this place? And lastly, what of Karen? Was she still asleep in the kitchen with the bottle in her hand? She fumed for a moment. What do I care about her? When had she ever cared about me. Sara then snapped out of her rant and came back to the problem at hand.
She was in the underworld again. But maybe this wasn't such a bad thing. I mean what did she really have home anyway. A drunken lady, a house in need of repair, a term of college, a crappy job as a stage hand for the local theater? Ok, well she supposed she did have a few things to clear up at home.
Sara seemed to recall the last time she was here. Wasn't it something that she could control? I mean in the end didn't she have the power to leave as she wanted? "I could leave right now, after all he has no power over me." Sara made a mocking face and because she felt like it, she stuck her tongue out at the castle.
Standing straight Sara thought about the wording and said, "I wish I was back home." Sara fell backward with a force so strong it felt like a brick wall had hit her. She stumbled back and sat down on a bench and held her hand to her head. What happened? She was still here. Sara growled, "OOOooooo.." And fell back on the bench asleep.
Jareth smiled and hummed a happy tune as he walked back around the wall and towards the unconscious Sara. He smiled down at her. She looked stunning laying there. The moons seemed to make her skin glow and he couldn't help but watch her as she slept. Her lovely brown hair was fanned out behind her and over flowing off the bench. One hand lay above her head while the other one lay out, as if to suggest a welcome. He watched her as she breathed. Watched her chest rise and fall in a gentle rhythm.
Jareth leaned down and moved a stray hair form her face. She really was better than the dreams they had shared. He couldn't wait to feel her for real, but if he was going to keep her here he was going to have to ease her into the idea. What she had thought was true, she could leave at anytime, but Jareth's will was stronger. He smiled at the idea. The only reason Sara was still here meant that a part of her wanted to stay. That was the only reason he was able to block her attempt to leave. He would simply make her realize that she wanted to be by his side. In time.
Smiling he put her hands on her chest and picked her up. She weighted nothing in his arms, but the warmth of her flesh was alluring. It was real. This was no dream. How easy would it be to take her now? Or to ender her mind and play a bit? But he wanted her awake and alive to the passion he knew she had inside.
As he carried her back to his castle Jareth looked at the sleeping Sara in his arms, "You are home my Lady."