"What?"

Ricky’s eyes slowly opened, but he saw nothing but a big blur. With a groan, he strained his eyes in hopes of seeing, but without much success. He now felt that there was something damp on his head and was he lying on something rather lumpy. He rubbed his eyes wearily and began propping himself up. His eyes finally focused, and he found himself on an old, lumpy bed in a small, windowless room. The walls seemed to be made out of logs, and there was a beat-up couch strewn nearby with a telephone on it. There was also the rank smell of sweat and dirt here, and he realized that a dirty wet towel was on his forehead. Disgusted, Ricky flung it off onto the floor. He groaned as he climbed out of the bed and slipped into his shoes. He made his way across the smelly room towards the door. He opened it and was assaulted by the sudden heat and sun. He shielded his eyes and looked about. It didn’t take long to notice the large pit that seemed to have been dug out in front of the little cabin. Ricky staggered outside and began to approach the pit. Looking down, he saw that it wasn’t very deep. About twenty feet down, he saw, and unfortunately smelled, an old man in overalls and a hard hat swinging away at the wall of the pit with a pickax.

"Uh…hello?" Ricky called hoarsely. The old man stopped the swing in midair, then turned.

"Hey! You’re up! I knew you’d get up some time!" he said cheerfully. His slit eyes somehow seemed to see Ricky in the glaring sunlight, "I’m Gerardo Montage, the most unsuccessful gold miner in the Dusty Dunes! Guess what, I’ve been digging here for twenty years, TWENTY YEARS! What have I found? Just dirt and rocks, DIRT AND ROCKS! Wahaha!"

Ricky eyed the old man nervously, "Pleasure…Did you rescue me?"

"Sure did! You were right there by that highway! Don’t know what you’re doing lying by the highway, but be sure not to ever do it again! You almost got a stroke, you did!"
"Sir…did you see a kid that looked like me, only he had blonde hair?"

"Of course! He’s off with my bro’ George trying to find some water! They should be back anytime now! But how rude of me…You shouldn’t even be outside right now, with those sunburns! C’mon, I’ll make some tea with yesterday’s water."

Gerardo just set down his pick and climbed up the side of the pit on all fours, then led Ricky back into the cabin. Ricky sat down on the couch while Gerardo pulled a Dutch oven from a previously unmentioned cardboard box and poured a bottle of water into a pot, added a tea bag, and set it on the oven.
"So I hear that you’re Ricky…" Gerardo said as he set the oven temperature. I’m Gerardo Montage…wait…I already said that, didn’t I? Sorry…George tells me that sometimes too much work in the sun can be bad. But I’m for the work ethic all the way! It’s a Capitalist country, right?"

Ricky, wide-eyed and still a bit queasy from the sunburns that he now realized he had, sort of lost the crazy old guy as he went on a rant about time being money, persistence, and such. Suddenly the door opened and in stepped his brother and a middle-aged fellow that looked a bit like Gerardo, save the squinted eyes and the roundness. Right behind him, however, came his very own brother, Krause!

"Ricky! You’re up!" he shouted with rejoice, "I thought you’d die or something!"

Ricky just smiled. It was great to know that his brother and best friend was alive and well.

"Yup! When you were unconscious, he hardly moved from that bedside!" Gerardo said with a warm smile. George set the bottles of water on the floor and sat down on the beat-up couch by Ricky.
"How long was I…out?" Ricky asked.

"Ner’ three days," George said in a rough southern accent. He shot a glance at his older brother, then whispered into Ricky’s ear, "Sorry about him. He has whatever’s left of his insane mind on findin’ some gold out here. I can’t do nothin’ about it…just throws a big fit and says ‘It’s my destiny!’"

Ricky nodded as he watched him pour Krause a cup of tea and guffaw about something that only he would understand. Krause sat by Ricky on the couch and sipped the hot tea.

"So now that we’re all together again," Krause announced, as if he were a leader of some kind, "We can finally decide on what to do…"

Gerardo opened up a big road atlas and laid it out on the floor.

"This is a map of Eagleland! You see, I think we hit our heads somewhere here…in the Dusty Dunes Desert," Krause explained, winking to Ricky, "And I think that we should seek some help. The small town of Threed is about seventy miles south and west…and then there’s Fourside. You know about Fourside! It’s only about five or so miles to Eagle Lake, then you cross a really long bridge…yeah, then you’re in Fourside."

Of course Ricky had heard of Fourside, mainly because it was the probably the largest economical center in the world. He had heard, and seen pictures of, the world-famous shopping mall The Grand, Topolla Theater, the enormous EF Tower, the renowned Fourside Museum of Natural History, and the exuberant night-life. His eyes lit up at the aspect of going into a huge metropolis. In fact, neither he, nor Krause, had ever been in a town with a population of above 3,000. Those lucky dogs…

"But there’s some politerical’ unrest there right now…" George said, "Haven’t visited that dang place for years, but even here we get news! It started as a demonstration in front of the EF Tower ‘bout tax levies, crime levels…then somethin’ happened and it turned into a ragin’ mob! I mean I hear they - "

"If they live in the City, serves them right!" Gerardo cut in sharply, "It was a mistake to create Capitalism! It revolves around the root of all evil; money!"

"Excuse me…" Ricky said, "You just said capitalism was a good thing about four minutes ago…"

"So now it might not be such a good idea to go to either place," Krause continued, standing up now, "Because Threed is too far away and Fourside has problems of it’s own. But I think that’s it’s a better bet to go to Fourside, because we need help faster, and there’s more of a chance of getting it in a big city like that."

"But remember when we saw some smoke coming up from the city when we got the water?" George said, "That ain’t never a good thing! Threed is a better place for you kids anyway…"

Krause seemed to think for a moment, "Actually we’re heading there on a sort of…business trip."

"Yeah," Ricky added, "Before we met the…I mean…hit our heads, we were told to meet somebody in Fourside."

Gerardo raised an eyebrow, and as Ricky stood up to get another cup of tea, something snapped into his long-gone-mad mind.

"Hey, Ricky. By any chance, are you two related to somebody named Ness…uh…Lee?"

Ricky stopped dead in his path.

"No!" he said a bit too quick, "I haven’t even heard the name before."

"Right, as he said!" Krause added.

"You sure? I remember this kid that kinda’ looked like you about twenty years ago…he cleared our old mining site of those darn moles! Then we gave him the diamond and-"

"Aw, leave him alone! It’s just your imagination again…" George thankfully butted in. Gerardo still looked a bit skeptical at the twins’ look of relief.

"Well, it looks like you two are up to something mighty important nonetheless. I’ll take you to Fourside, but keep on your watch for the bad guys!" Gerardo said, "Let’s get moving!"

"Wait just a minute or two…me and Ricky have something to discuss…privately…"

They walked out the door and into the little shade of the cabin.

"Why do you want to get to Fourside?" Ricky whispered sharply before Krause could begin speaking.

"It may sound weird, but you should be used to that right now!"

Ricky remembered how he sunk into whirlpools of sand, battled pigs, the wish-granting Dragon, and that strange UFO on that fateful night…

"Last night, or whatever it was, I had this really weird dream. This voice…it was telling me to travel to Fourside right away. It seemed like it needed help or something…"

"And you listened?" Ricky said, "I know you’re a little smarter than that! Probably just-"

"No. No, I sometimes have dreams like that…but this seemed so real!"

"I think teleportation has some side affects like that."

"Augh! Well, I’m gonna go see what it is if you like it or not! And if you want to stay with these rednecks for longer, just do that!"

Ricky fell silent. It was one of those rare moments in which his brother actually had a good point.

"You kids ready? Gerardo’s getting restless," George’s southern accent suddenly said. There was the noise of a roaring diesel engine from behind the cabin. Quickly, the twins ran around the corner and saw Gerardo starting up his CAT tractor with a big hoe in front.

"Now this is power! Haha! Hop on, kids! Hahaha!" he shouted over the engine. The twins hopped on the back and they began to make their way towards the city. They went over a few dunes, then through some rough rocks and tumbleweed. Finally, the roaring machine cleared some rough boulders and they reached a long, narrow highway that seemed to stretch for miles in the heat. The tractor pulled onto the highway and Gerardo let out and exaggerated holler. The heat from the road cleared up and soon they began crossing the huge bridge. Fourside’s magnificent, looming skyline was drawing closer. (Ooooh! Aaaaah!) But something definitely did not seem right. Pillars of smoke rose above the buildings and there was the occasional concussion of an explosion. It reminded the twins of war movies, and they began to feel nervous. The city drew nearer and nearer, but as the reached the end of the bridge and the entrance to the tunnel; they noticed a barricade of roadblocks and police cars. Gerardo, slightly confused, slowed down the tractor. The two officers approached them.

"Just let me handle this…I have a way with authority!" Gerardo whispered. The twins gulped and prepared to bolt.

"Excuse me sir! This city has been blocked off due to this riot. You must have proper clearance to proceed," one said.

"So do you have it or not?" the other chimed in.

"Hey, I have some business that doesn’t require any of that crap! I suggest you just move your cars and stand aside, ‘cuz we’re comin’ through!"

The engine roared again. Gerardo let out a "Yeehah" as he began to move forward again. The twins quickly jumped off. They tried not to laugh when that crazy old miner was charging forward at about ten mph in a tractor towards some roadblocks with some shocked and disgruntled police officers chasing after him shouting things like "Stop! In the name of the law!" or "Stop right now, or we’ll have to take you to HQ!" They couldn’t help but burst out laughing when he just shouted "NOOOO!" dramatically and sort of bumped into the police cars, then reversed, then tried again.

"Get down, sir! You’re under arrest for directly disobeying police officers, reckless driving, getting lippy with authority, and attacking police cars in slow motion!" they shouted in unison, jumping up and beginning to bring him to the ground, "You have the…argh…right to…eh! Remain silent!"

"I don’t wanna remain silent, you fat, smelly fascists!" Gerardo grunted, attempting to free himself from their grip. He was quickly cuffed.

"You better have the best attorney in the word, mister!" the officer said, leading the still struggling miner into the police car. The other turned around to the twins, who were nearly rolling with laughter.

"Hey! Kids!" he shouted. The twins stopped instantly, then they turned a bright red. The officer walked over to them, then said, "Well, that guy’s definitely going to jail…I need to take you two in as well! You’ll help that moron explain exactly what the hey he was doing and why he tried ramming our car. Get in!"

They exited the tunnel and entered the city. The siren turned on and the two police cars began speeding towards the buildings up ahead. The streets here were almost empty, except for an occasional pedestrian running here and there.

"Don’t worry," the officer told the twins, "This part of the city has been barricaded and the riot is somewhat under control. Now we’re focusing on controlling the business district."

The twins looked in awe at the towering modern apartment buildings and the older brick townhouses. The cars rounded a corner, passed an old bakery, and slowed down at a large white-and-blue building with POLICE written in big black letters on a sign in front of the parking lot. They stopped at the gate and were allowed clearance by two well-armed MPs. Finally they pulled into the parking lot and they escorted the twins and Gerardo through the automatic doors. The fact that the doors move by themselves awed Ricky and Krause for a moment. They entered a large, empty lobby with only a desk in which sat a very bored-looking young policewoman loudly cracking some bubblegum.

"Whatcha’ need?" she said, snapping into reality as the officers led the group towards the desk.

"We’ve made an arrest and we’re to hold this man in custody until the riot sort of dies down. And these kids were with him, so they may be accomplices. Even if they’re not, they’re safer here than anywhere else in this city."

"Okay…" she said, slumping back into her state of boredom.

"I tell you…" Gerardo said desperately, "If you let me go…I’ll give you…any gold that I find! Honest!"

The officer sighed and lowered his head, whispering, "Is this man under the influence of alcohol or any drugs?"

"I’d say more towards the way of mental damage," Krause whispered back. The officer nodded. He began walking up the steps on the left side of the lobby and motioned for the kids to follow. They turned down a hallway and the officer lead them into the first door.

"Stay here…for now. Don’t worry, you’ll be safe," the cop told them with a little smile, then he shut the door firmly, followed by an audible click. The room was small, with a few chairs and a table. Silently, they seated themselves.

"Well, I suppose we’re stuck here for now!" Krause blurted out.

"It was your brilliant idea to come here. Shame…we finally get to visit a real city and we locked up in a little room while some cop interrogates that psycho!"

Krause suddenly remembered why they were here, "Those voices! We have to figure it out!"

"Sucks to your schizophrenic personalities," Ricky sighed, "We’ll just have to wait this thing out."

Nothing else was really said for quite a while. Countless hours piled on top of one another, but it could’ve just been minutes. Eventually the boys nodded off in their chairs.