Sand Blasted
Theseus

	A hot wind blew over the blasted landscape of southern 
Marraketh. The coming of the Great Tsunami had caused the fertile 
grasslands south of the Rhye to deteriorate, and they were slowly 
being reclaimed by the desert. It was a seemingly endless expanse 
of scrub land that greeted the rescue party as they stepped out 
of the glowing tetrahedron that was their only gateway back to 
Earth.
	Theseus stepped from the gate and shook off the feeling 
of vertigo as he mentally adjusted to the slightly different 
gravity and the changed landscape. It passed after a moment, and 
he walked over to a rock and sat down.
	He couldn't help feeling exited. It was fairly callous of 
him, considering that a high councillor's life was in the balance, 
but it was his first mission. He'd always enjoyed traveling, and 
going between dimensions was truly incredible. He looked up and 
noticed that the woman who had introduced herself as Maruchan had 
stepped out of the gate. Almost everyone was through. They'd be 
moving out soon. Theseus stood up and looked around for Commander 
Aris, but he couldn't see her anywhere.
	Well, she's probably just still in the gate, he thought 
to himself. He sat back down to wait. The minutes passed and 
Nexxus appeared to be getting worried. Theseus was getting rather 
worried himself. Aris should have been through by now. There was 
no way it could have taken this long to traverse the few steps 
that would take her into Marraketh. He idly began drawing in the 
dirt for a distraction.
	Nexxus was still staring into the depths of the portal.
	"Where the hell is everyone else?" she asked.
	Theseus looked up. He wished he had an answer for her. A 
man he didn't recognize walked over.
	"I wonder if the gate's stable. How long can Mal hold it 
open?" he asked.
	Nexxus continued glaring at the gate. "Come on, we 
haven't got all day!" she said.
	Theseus went back to drawing. A moment later Nexxus 
screeched, and by the time he looked up again the gate had 
vanished.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
	After the initial panic Calculus and Nexxus calmed 
everyone down, and Nexxus left to try and find the missing 
rangers.
	After a while, Theseus went back to sketching in the 
sand. The drawing was nothing remotely recognizable, and yet it 
still seemed oddly familiar.
	Maru walked over and gave a little nod in the direction 
Nexxus and the other ranger had taken.
	"How does she know where to look?" she asked.
	He shrugged. "I'm sure she'll figure something out. She's 
good at this sort of thing."
	Maru looked down at what he'd been drawing in the sand. 
"What's that?" she asked.
	Theseus looked down at what he'd been drawing a moment 
ago. "I... I'm not sure..."
	Maru shrugged and sat down next to him. The next few 
minutes were spent in relative silence. The other rangers were 
talking quietly and the mood was somber, to say the least.
	After a while Calc stepped up. "I know nobody knows what 
the other group is doing. However, we'll be leaving in fifteen 
minutes regardless of whether they're here or not."
	Theseus started packing up his stuff. Whether or not 
Nexxus found Aris and the others was totally out of his hands. 
All he could do was hope for the best and keep moving.
	Theseus looked down at his drawing. The rest of the 
rangers were leaving. He stopped for a moment to efface the 
design, then ran after the rest of the rangers. After all, he 
reasoned, it would be a pity to mar the vast, arid landscape with 
such a strange little imperfection.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
	They'd been walking for what seemed like hours. Theseus 
appreciated the difficulty of sending someone to a totally 
different dimension, but he still wished Mal could've gotten the
damned machine to gate them in a bit closer to their destination.
	Theseus scanned the horizon and wondered if they'd 
actually gotten any closer to the Rhye. He saw the sun glint off 
something in the distance. He turned to where Calc was talking to 
Maru and pointed toward the glimmering object.
	"Hey, what's that?" he asked.
	Red squinted into the distance. "Looks like a light house 
type thinggy," he said.
	Bryn turned and grinned at him, "It's a tower silly."
	Red looked back at her and stuck out his tongue. "Just 
because you've..."
	Calculus frowned and broke in.  "Stop, you two.  We'll 
need to organize a search party to go ahead and check this thing 
out."
	Maru nodded, "I'll go."
	Brynhild stepped up. "Red and I will go too," she said.
	Calculus nodded, "Okay, the three of you go up ahead. 
Theseus and I will remain in the immediate area and look for an 
appropriate campsite."
	"Okay," Brynhild said. "C'mon, let's go." She grabbed the 
other two and they headed off in the direction of the tower. 
Theseus watched them go.
	Calc turned to look at him "So," he said "Want an 
eggroll?"