Clash of The CosmosCarlantis V. French toast Land

By Abigail P.

Started May 2010

Random Mouse Publishings

TO Carly B,The real Queen

Word To The WiseAs you might have guessed, this war never really happened. What you guessed wrong: Carlantis did exist. Though it was not a vast empire filling the stars with gleaming silver colonies, it was a brain child of Carly Boyd. She created Carlantis as a fun playground game. But then the boys got involved. And it got dirty.They created French toast land, an empire of many other countries united.The two lands were soon enemies, and we engaged in war (though the most dangerous battle involved two people pinching each other during lunch period.)I hope you enjoy Clash of the Cosmos.Remember:Carlantis lies within the hearts of every young child.Sincerely,Abby P.

PrefaceMany years ago, when the universe was brand new, matter started forming suns and planets. This has been proven. But

-AP

what we don’t know is that it also created to mortal enimies: Carly and Joseph. The two battled for land, though it got boring, because two people cannot have a battle themselves. So Carly created another human to aide her. Convinced he must out do her, Joseph doubled her. Carly doubled him. He doubled her. She doubled him. He doubled her. This went on for a thousand years or so, though there is no time in space.

Then the humans awoke. They honored the one who created them. This dubbed Carly Queen and Joseph King. This was called the time of peace. Everyone got along.

But the humans did not stop there. They got into arguments over who was better: Carly or Joe. This was known as the time of arguments. Soon, war broke out. Queen Carly declared that they should go their separate ways and ignore the others. This was the creation pf Carlantis and French Toast land. But, in another thousand years, technology increased in Carlantis, and Joe wanted a piece of it.

Chapter 1

“I want to be royal soldier!”

“I want to be prime minister!”

Cries from the crowd were deafening. The Queen wanted them to stop. All she did was ask people what jobs they wanted to have, and everyone had gone crazy. Remembering the time of arguments, Carly decided to stop it before war broke out. Again.

“Why don’t we all separate into galaxies?” She said. “Everyone could be whatever they want in their own galaxy. I’m sure the universe has plenty to offer.” She smiled, knowing she had down the right thing.

But that’s where she was wrong.

Everyone started arguing about which galaxy Carly would live in.

Carly groaned.

Then a young girl, about ten or so, spoke up. “Why doesn’t Carly create a whole new galaxy? It could be a special place made for her and only her bestest friends.”

The crowd cheered.

“Oh, kid you’re a genius!” Carly shook her hand. “How do I identify you?”

The girl smiled. “Abby,” she said. “Call me Abby.”

The queen smiled now. “Why don’t you join me in my own planet: Carly City?”

“Wh-I-Me?” Abby was shocked. She hardly knew the queen. In fact, she only knew her well for two years. Out of the ten years she had lived, she had never really been close to the queen. She hardly knew her.

Carly nodded. “You can be Carlantis’ spy/inventor.”

“Ok,” Abby said. “But I’m not good at espionage.”

“That’s fine. You don’t have to be. King Joe leaves his folder of secrets on the platform during lunch. Anyone can just go up and grab it.” Carly smiled. “Then you can bring the folder to the decoding department to understand the files.”

“But-”

“I’m sure you will be able to do this.”

“I already have the files of their most precious weapon. It’s the only one that isn’t standard issue.”

Abby handed a redrawn version with the info written in. Carly was surprised. Joe never explained the works of anything to anyone.

Carly studied it more closely.

“If we go to these coordinates on the next galactical equinox, we could flatten those FTLs.”

Carly smiled. “Just what we needed. Where are the blueprints?”

A child, no younger than five, handed Carly a piece of paper.

Now, you might expect very detailed blueprints. But this is all it said:

Vacuum Cleaner Plank of wood Carlantian Enlarger 2000

Note: Must go to following coordinates in the Iwaki new year: R30472-073594

“This is gonna be a snap.”

Chapter 2“Ok, so what law should we pass now?”

King Joseph and his supporters were crowded in the broom closet of Carlantis’ abandoned ship. They had one it in a war years back. The technology was new then, but now it was considered no more than what you now-a-day folk think of paper airplane thingies.

“How about ‘All waste must be dumped on Carlantis?’”

“No! How about ‘Woman are not created equal?’”

“Let’s take a vote.” They voted. Everyone voted number three. “Okay, let’s try this again.” Joseph was getting exhausted. He looked at the small colony of muscular men.

The rest of their men had been killed in battle. All that remained were roughly 11 men and two girls. The girls thought deeply, then said, in unison, “How about we study the secret files first? Then, based on our quality of weaponry, we make a new law?”

The colony murmured in disagreement.

“Oh, come on!” Gabe protested. He was in charge of official duties. “Why don’t we give it a try?” He handed the girls the secret files. The girls sneered before fleeing to the escape pods,

where they typed in the coordinates to the Carlantian Mothership and took off.

“I’ve got an idea for a new law.” A youth spoke up. “How about ‘No one puts Gabe in charge?’”

Murmurs flew over the colony. This time, they were for the idea.

“All who agree say ‘Aye’!”

“Aye!” chorused the group in unison.

Gabe walked to the room of shunning, which used to be the Carlantian storage room. Everyone except Gabe, of course cheered.

Chapter 3

Abby sat alone in her room.

The mansion was big and lonely. She was, too. Well, the lonely part. Not the big part.

She looked at a photo of her parents. She sighed.

Now a days, no one had parents. Carly made more people out of matter. Abby’s type was rare. All the boys were for French Toast Land and the girls Carlantis. No one was allowed to mate. It would take real courage to do so.

Abby’s parents were in hiding. They were thought of to be major criminals. Two people of different races loved each other. So what?

Abby turned to her computer screen. She invented it herself. It was high-tech, even compared to more recent models you know of.

She turned it on. The screen showed a password protection. Abby looked around. Good, she thought. No one is watching. If anyone were to see Abby’s password and get onto her computer, Abby would be put in jail.

See, Abby was against the war. She claimed someone needed a reason to fight. They couldn’t just attack. But that’s what Joe did.

Only she and her and Mark, her friend, had a computer, so as long as she did her part, and Mark did his, no one will ever know.

She opened an IM browser (there were no brand names back then, so I have to simply say IM browser) and wrote to Mark.

Mark,I gave them the fake plans.-Abby

She instantly got a reply. She could always count on Mark to be at his computer.

Really? And the fake vacuum? Has anyone noticed the vacuum has no off switch? Has anyone noticed the blue prints don’t call for spikes?Abby spent a few minutes typing, then responded.

Yes, Yes, No, No. I hope your fake vacuum plan worked, two. Is King Joe doing well? I want him to be there for my speech on peace.

Abby waited.

Yes, he is just fine. My plan worked like a charm. Soon they will go to the coordinates and the force from the vacuum will suck them up, snap shut, and give us time to tell them they’re being stupid.Abby smiled. She powered down her computer and left the room. No one will ever know.

Chapter 4“Mark! What are you doing up there?” Joseph called from the bottom of the stairs. “You’ve been up there for hours! What could be that intresting?”

Mark scurried down the metal staircase to face his king and best friend.

“It’s lunch time.” Joe was anxious to get out into the depths of space for their daily soccer game.

Mark smiled. Space Soccer was the most popular game at the time. Of course, you might be thinking, “How could one play soccer in the dephs of space?” Well, they have a huge platform circulated with air. It has automatic gravity (earth proportion) that keeps the ball from just floating away.

But the thing that made lunch the most interesting thing in all of space was that Carlantis had their own platform. During lunch, they would connect it to the others. They usually played separately, but Abby would chase the boys around. Most boys assumed it was a threat.

Truth is, Abby was lonely. She hoped if she caught a boy, she could force a love potion down his throat. Abby went after mainly the boys she knew from the time of peace.

Abby also looked through their files, hoping she can blackmail the king into stopping the war.

But Abby was too scared to do so. King Joe would tell on her to the royal guardians, in charge of keeping everything in order. Then they would beat Abby up.

Today, recess continued in a normal fashion.

Abby chased boys.

The girls read tea leaves.

Boys ran from Abby.

Then Abby tripped over a rock.

Abby was stunned.

How in the world did this rock get here? All meteors were on the outside. Abby decided to study it.

She picked it up.

Baaaaaaaad Move. But, I guess, in the long run, it was worth it.

Abby was gone and remained so for the next five years.

Chapter 5Now, now. We all want to know what happened during that time. And I will tell you. But, being Carlantian, and also being part of the resistance, I am sworn to secrecy. I will only mention a little.

That’s right, the resistance. Now forget I mentioned it.

Abby tumbled through space. Thoughts flew around her head, each one interrupted by another.

Where am I?

Will I ever get back?

How could a stone cause this to happen?

The whole time, Abby remained silent. Even during her journey through a face-smushing, lunch-loosing wormhole she was deep in thought. Her face morphed by the strong gravity, Abby was let loose into a room. To Abby, the journey seemed like a few minutes. But in reality, since she was going faster than light speed, she had gone 2.5 years into the future.

It was dimly lit by old fashioned torches, ones medieval humans living on earth would have used.

But at this time in the story, there was no earth.

Abby looked around. Dark, cloaked figures were moving around her. Near the back, she could have sworn her parents were lurking in the shadows.

“How’d she get here?”

“Will she tell someone?”

“The resistance has met its end!”

A man, with the image of an eclipse drawn on his cloak, stepped forward. Back then, an eclipse was the sign of peace.

“Young lady, please exit immediately.”

Abby looked up. She was sprawled on her floor, ribs damaged by her sudden landing.

“Wh-Where am I?” Abby managed to get a few words out.

“That isn’t of importance. What is important is for you to go home and heal those wounds. Now leave.”

Abby looked at the eclipse.

“What’s that on your cloak?”

“Leave!”

The man pushed her to what later Abby found out to be the exit. She resisted.

Then she noticed both men and women were crowded in the small room.

Abby gasped. “Y-You’re the resistance!”

“No we’re not! Now leave!”

Abby didn’t know when to stop. “May I join?”

“No!”

“But sir,” a woman in a purple cloak protested. “That’s my son Mark’s best friend. Together they’re planning to stop the war!”

The man was obviously looking for an excuse to not let her join. “You know children! They feel it’s okay to tell all their little friends tha-”

“I have no friends!” Abby was closed to tears. She often got angered easily.

“You have Mark!”

The women cleared her throat. She uttered a cough that sounded oddly like “He’s my son.”

The man ignored her. He kneeled down and spoke in a menacingly soft voice. “No one can be trusted. Now that you know this is the resistance, we will have to kill you.”

Abby noticed this sounded a lot like the spy movies she watched when she was little.

The man took out a gun. Abby gulped.

She took one in her right shoulder. She bled. But then, before Abby fell to the ground in agony, the bullet hole disappeared, the bullet being swallowed by her tissue, stemming the blood.

The room went silent.

Abby looked down at where the hole had been. It was normal. She felt the bullet inside her shoulder, making her shoulder heavy with its iron.

“So sorry, ma’am. May I even out the weight? I could shoot a bullet in the other shoulder if you want.” There was no tone of sarcasm in his voice. He seriously wanted to help it be more bearable for her. Abby nodded.

The gun let loose another bullet. It hit Abby’s left shoulder this time. Once again, the tissue swallowed the bullet before Abby fell in pain.

The whole room fell in silence. Then, one by one, the cloaked men and women bowed before Abby, whose face had gone white. What were they doing to her? She’d read a book were the people in it worshipped a chosen girl who was to be sacrificed. Were they going to sacrifice her? Would it be possible, with the way she had absorbed the bullet?

The man, who was apparently their leader, gave Abby a cloak with an eclipse and, in the upper hand corner, a single star. Not an actual star, but one of those five-pointed stars that you modern humans quick-draw.

It was a symbol of power.

“Never wear this cloak outside of the resistance.” The leader said, a serious expression on his face. So she was right. She had found the resistance. “Say, What is your name?”

Abby couldn’t take it anymore. “Why are you bowing down to me? I am but a simple girl who wishes to join. Is this like one of those ‘One millionth customer’ things? Because if it is, why didn’t you tell me?!” Abby was enraged. The people could easily tell that. The leader looked embarrassed. “So sorry,” he said, voice choked with tears. “We-we didn’t know that you didn’t know.” Abby’s face softened. “It-it’s okay. Don’t cry. Please. I-I didn’t mean to get angry.” She smiled. “Just, next time, could you be more clear with what you want?” The leader nodded. “See,” he said, drawing back a curtain. It showed millions of French Toast Landian characters, many which Abby did not understand.“Millions of people before us have disagreed with the war. My great-great, great-great-great, great-great-great-great, great, great grandparents had started the resistance. They wanted it to stop. Many more joined. But when Gabe, one of the French Toast Landians, and, in fact, the

toughest, found out, he went to war with us. Some Carlantians soon joined, and they destroyed many people. The few survivors either went in hiding or they went and pretended to rejoin their former country. One day, My great-great-great grandfather had a vision. He closed his eyes and wrote what he thought to be random words on this wall in his private spaceship. It is translated to say,

‘If One Carlantis Day is a to savior win shall I be shall born kill and myself. start saving lives.’”

Abby was dumbfounded.

“He soon died after that. Then, not short afterward, another prophet took out two markers. One black, the color of evil, and one white, the color of good. He randomly highlighted the message in a short seizure. Afterward, it read:

‘If One Carlantis Day is a to savior win shall I be shall born kill and myself. Start uniting the two worlds. She will be invincible to all except peace.’

It’s the white part that has the true message. And since you are invincible to the bullets I shot, you must be the savior.”

Abby stared. “But how did you tell me the message’s highlighted behavior? We can’t speak in color!”

“Stop speaking nonsense! This is fiction! Anything can happen!”

“O-ka-y.” Abby stared at her feet. The leader changed the subject. “You never really told us your name.” He held out his hand. Abby shook it. “I’m Mr.Kaihautu, but everyone calls me Alpha.” Abby smiled. “I’m Abigail Kazimiera, but everyone calls me Abby.”Silence. “Here, Alpha. It’s a computer.” She handed him a computer. “It’s so we can communicate.” Alpha smiled. “We’re going to teach those Crusading Creightons a lesson!”

Chapter 6Abby tucked her robe in her bag and took off for the exit. She set in coordinates for the Mothership and went back through the wormhole, again traveling at the speed of light. The journey took her another 2.5 years into the future.

Abby arrived in her room, again sprawled on the floor, crying in pain. She heard footsteps nearing. They were frantic.

“Get out of Abby’s room! Didn’t you see the police tape?!” a Carlantian police officer entered. She looked around. “Leave! Now!”

Abby looked up at her. “That’s the second time I’ve had that greeting today.” She tried to stand, but she fell again.

“Abby!” The officer knelt down at Abby’s side. “Where have you been? You’ve been gone for years!”

Abby was stunned. “Years? Lady, I’m afraid you’ve got the cosmic clocks confused. I’ve been gone no more than an hour.” The officer felt her forehead. “You feel normal. Hmm…” She studied Abby’s ribs. “How did you break all these? I’m surprised your still alive!” Abby smiled. “It’s confidential. Now, if you may, could you get me down to the hospital wing? I’m afraid I won’t be able to heal naturally.” The officer assisted her to her feet. They set off down the long walk to the hospital. They were silent.

After about an hour or so, they reached the ebony door that marked the entrance to the cold and seldom-used hospital. Carlantians were advanced beings, and they usually healed themselves. Only when ribs, or other body parts that putting a cast on would be hard, were broken did anyone ever visit the hospital.

They entered. Somewhere, in the depths of the room, they heard a bell ring. A nurse came out from a side door, marked EMPLOYEES ONLY in big bold letters.

“Well, what seems to be the problem?” The smile on her face vanished when she caught site of Abby.

“Wh-Where did you find her?” She had a look on her face as if she suspected the officer for whatever happened to Abby.

“I found in her room. She was sprawled across the floor. Couldn’t stand. Says her ribs are broken.” She lay Abby on a bed, damp with time.

“If her ribs are broken,” The nurse said, “Why can’t she stand?” She looked at Abby. “I also have a heavy weight in my shoulders.” Abby smiled nervously. “But there’s no need to investigate that, now, is there?” She, as well as her smile, broke off. The nurse pulled up an X-ray machine. “For the ribs,” she said, eyeing the look on Abby’s face. “It won’t hurt. Honest.” She pressed a button, starting it up, and stepped behind a lead

wall. She pressed another button. There was a flash of light, then a click, and the computer printed the results.

“Oh, my.” The nurse said, eyeing them. “Oh my, oh my, oh my!”

Chapter 7The nurse stared at the X-ray. She showed it to the officer, who also stared in astonishment.

“What?” Abby leaned over, attempting to catch a glimpse of her results, the nurse snatching them out of reach. “Everthing’s fine,” she said, sounding just the opposite. “You’re ribs are just bruised. No need to get worried.” She smiled. Sweat poured down her face so fast only people in cartoons ever face that much sweat. What? It’s my book. I decide what happens.

“Let me see it then.” Abby’s voice was stern. The nurse showed her the x-ray.

It showed a set of ribs, surrounded by a dusty outline of shoulders. The nurse held it carefully, thumbs covering both shoulders. Her weak smile hardly had enough enthusiasm to light the room.

There was the slight sound of footsteps going down the hall. Then someone knocked down the door. It was the queen.

“What’s going on here?” Carly’s voice was strong and stern.

The nurse flushed. “Well, see, Abby, came, broken ribs, limping, police, found, x-ray, results, you, crash, through, door.” She panted for breath before pretending to faint.

“What are you doing here, ma’am?” Abby’s lips quivered as she spoke. “Nerve defect,” The nurse could be heard whispering to the officer, apparently friends.

“I have heard a rumor that Abby has been found here with a broken ribs and two bullets in her shoulder.”

The officer was frantic. “SHHH! She doesn’t know that yet!” Carly SHHHH!-ed briefly before continuing.

“I want to know the cause of these injuries and why she has been absent for nearly five years.” Carly possessed no tone of surprise, let alone any tone at all. Her expression was a bored one, very unlike Carly. “Not like I care. She has been lacking in spy activity even when she was here.” Carly looked at her fingernails, as if they were interesting, and looked up. “There has been a number of theories floating from galaxy to galaxy. One of them caught my eye. They said you vanished through a rock.”

Abby laughed nervously.

“Another rumor going around at the time, unrelated to you of course, was that someone who claimed to have vanished through a rock was thought to be insane. During his interrogation by the mad house employees, he said he had found the entrance to the resistance.”

The room went silent.

“Now that we know the answer to that question,” Carly continued, as if Abby had already confessed, “How did you get the bullet?”

“I simply was out in my room went a robber threw a rock at me and shot me with a gun.” Carly’s eyes narrowed. “Twice? Why would a robber shoot someone twice? And, furthermore, what was he after?” “He was, uh, from French toast land, and, uh, he wanted the plans for the vacuum back.”

Carly shook her head while ‘Tsk-Tsk-Tsk’-ing. “How come the author of this book, whom you were named after, is a better liar then you?!” Abby shrugged. “You’re not joining them, are you?” Abby shook her head. “Okay, I believe you.”

Chapter 8