The Dice of Ultimate Probability

"You're the best owner ever!" Jely squealed as the last of the tissue paper was pulled from the neatly wrapped box. She wrapped her arms around Danica's lower leg, nuzzling her face into her pants. "Where did you get these? I've certainly never seen them before!"

     Danica stooped to help her unfasten the small box inside. "Let's just say it wasn't a -" she paused to snicker to herself, "coincidence." Jely turned to her best friend Isca as Danica burst into fits of laughter. They exchanged awkward expressions mirrored on each others identical little chocolate faces. Danica had been going on like this for quite some time, and Jely was growing weary of her not-so-funny jokes. Jely had been excited for the new event, and enjoyed reading the news about Dr. Landelbrot and his amazing adventures in space. But Danica's humor was growing painstaking. At least from all the suffering through the poorly setup jokes Jely would get a new toy out of it! And she didn't have to suffer alone as long as Isca was there. They were quite the duo of chocolate Usuls, nearly inseparable. Isca always made Jely cheer up. Not soon enough did Danica finally get herself under control and free the toy trapped within the wrappings. "Here you go, Jely! Now you and Isca run off and play! Isca - Speedy will be back in one hour to pick you up!"

     Jely was only too happy to. She and Isca stood, grabbing hands and hurried off into the back room. It was Jely's favorite play to play. Large indoor tropical plants lined the back wall made of glass in Danica's special sun-room. She loved sitting amongst the flowers with her favorite toys, feigning adventures of far off places, like in the pictures Danica had showed her of her travels.

     Isca grabbed two pale blue pillows off of the small window seat and placed them on the floor for them to sit on. Jely sidled beside her, smiling widely. "Can I see the toy, Jely?" Jely passed it to her friend, watching her examine it closely. "Huh, it seems like a sort of dice game! Did she give you any instructions for it?" It looked to be an ordinary pair of dice, each salmon-pink face labeled one thru six.

     Jely wiggled her nose. "No, no instructions. There was just a description on the box - sometimes you roll a five, and sometimes you roll a periwinkle."

     Giggles poured from Isca as she doubled over. "Silly toy-makers and their descriptions. You'd think they'd take it more seriously! Well, I suppose we should make up our own game then! How's about we practice for bilge dice and roll for the highest score? Since there's only two dice we'll make rolling a one or a four, with one of the dice, a qualifier."

     "Sounds good to me!" Jely cheered, clasping her hands together. "You go first!"

     Isca's little chocolate paw closed around the dice, jiggling them in the palm of her hand. She let out a little gasp as she released it, crossing her fingers for a nice score. The dice smacked against the floor, teetering for a split second on their edges, spinning as if suspended by an invisible string above the wooden surface. But then gravity took course and barred it down - a pineapple, and the number 5 reading clear across the top. Just as the last corner lay flat across the table, the world almost expanded inwards with a sharp jerk.

     The poor Usuls almost believed for an instant that they had been blinded. Everything stretched like pixels in an ever elongating vector. They were pulled sideways through the fabric of time and space, everything rippling in vast chasms of existence and non-existence around them. They found their eyes shutting themselves as they tried to reach out and grab one another. Then just as suddenly as it began it stopped, and the two were thrown backwards into a void of sunlight.

     But it was not a void at all! Jely could feel her eyes slowly adjusting to the blinding light. The first thing she saw was a pale tranquil blue. She rubbed at her lids, shaking slightly. Yes! It was the sky! And there on the horizon she could see waves - a whole ocean! They were laying in what seemed to be a rather sandy beach littered with pineapple plants - big juicy ripened fruit in the center of clusters of lush tropical leaves. Isca leaped to her feet, looking around wildly. "What happened?" Jely exclaimed to her dumbfounded.

     Isca almost fell back down as she pointed with a sharp jabbing motion to the dice with a gasp. "Where did that pineapple come from? We looked at the dice before I rolled them and they seemed ordinary enough. There definitely was not a pineapple on them that's for sure!"

     "Oh my! I can't believe this! How are we going to get home? And where are we?" Jely's bottom lip quivered dangerously, she was very close to tears. Isca came and sat down beside her to pat her gently on the back.

     "I think it must be a part of the game - you did say that the box said - sometimes you roll a five and sometimes you roll a periwinkle. Perhaps the faces change? Maybe that's the game! I suppose the only way to go back is to go forward. If we rolled our way out of the cottage perhaps we can roll our way back in!"

     Jely looked to her friend in dismay. The thought of experiencing the strange sensation of being pulled into an alternate location was not overly appealing. But she supposed there was some truth to what Isca had to say. After all, if the dice got them here, it could get them elsewhere. Jely was just a little curious at how many other elsewheres there could be.

     Isca picked up the pair of dice. At once the pineapple vanished leaving the regular numerical faces to be displayed once again. She held them out to Jely who took them warily.

     "Isca - come on, certainly there must be another way?"

     Her friend just frowned sadly. "I don't have a boat, do you?"

     With that it was settled, and Jely clutched the dice between her two tiny hands, her little heart racing super fast. She paused for a moment to look once more at the beautiful beach and the strange pineapple plants before finally discarding the toy into the sand. The faces hardly rolled and at once she could feel the beginnings of being whisked away to another place.

     It was just as uncomfortable of a travel as before - though having a bit of forewarning to the experience did ease the stress quite a bit as they popped out the other side, thrown onto their bellies by a blast of force. Isca groaned as she pulled herself to her knees, reaching out to grab Jely's arm in surprise. They both had received a face full of rather cold icy slush.

     They were on a mountain side. A storm was raging all around, the wind whipping at their chocolate fur in lashes. Where once was sand was a slushy wintery mix, the dice half frozen where they lay - the faces clearly reading a two and a snowflake. Jely began to shiver, wrapping her arms around herself hopelessly. "Quick, Isca! Roll again before we both freeze!"

     "What?!" Isca yelled over the wind. Even though they were close together it was so hard to hear.

     "I said, roll again before we -"

     "I can't hear -"

     "I SAID, ROLL AGAIN ALREADY -" But her voice was too loud. All of a sudden the mountain shook beneath them in a terrible rumbling quake. Jely leaped for the dice, holding them out to Isca as they watched a sheet of ice and snow begin to slide down the upper banks of the mountain, racing toward them with more speed than she would have thought possible. "Isca, quick!"

     Isca did not need persuading - the wall of the avalanche was nearly upon them. She threw the dice down into the snow with a little cry. Just in time too! The cold barrier lashed against her little cheek as they were pulled suddenly from the mountain side and into another elsewhere altogether.

     "You need not have yelled so loud," Isca muttered as she recovered yet a third time from the strange traveling sensation. "Though it was impossible with that storm brew -" her voice trailed off as she was made aware of her surroundings. Her eyes opened wide in shock.

     To the brink of infinity the horizon stretched. Stars nestled in their blanket of blackness, twinkling in all their ancient glory. From where it all began and to where it went - Jely knew that was one of the great mysteries. Jely sat beside her in awe as well. There, as if hanging from an invisible thread, was their planet of Neopia far below.

     "I suppose we must be on Kreludor," Isca whispered quietly. "This is so terribly eerie!"

     Jely just grabbed for the dice. "I want to at least be on the right planet." But before she could reach them a loud explosion shattered their spellbound moment. A large and hostile looking ship emerged from behind a cliff, lasers firing wildly behind it. Then a second ship came into view armed and clearly in pursuit. They misfired at random, coming dangerously close to where the two Usuls stood in shock and fear.

     Isca grabbed Jely's hand, pulling her behind a rather large boulder nearby. They crouched in silence, listening to the raging battle and hoping that the ships didn't decide to fly their way. It seemed to be getting louder and more wild. There were larger and smaller explosions as if missiles were being used. They both peered out from behind their earthen shield just in time to see one collide with the first ship. It burst into an inferno of an explosion, raining metal and bolts. It was going to crash! And heading right for them!

     "Jely, no!" But Jely knew it had to be done. She dove from behind the rock feeling the lasers singe dangerously close to her soft chocolate fur. Reaching out her hand she managed to grab the dice in a swipe, instantly letting them fall as she threw her arms over her head, bracing for the spacecraft's impact.

     But it didn't come. Once again everything swirled and darkened and they were pushed onwards to yet another place. Isca could already feel the whirring begin to cease. She opened her eyes, preparing to catch sight of where they were before danger was upon them. But this was not to be.

     Their senses returned just in time to realize two terrible truths. First that they were incredibly high in the air - the world nearly an anthill beneath them. Second, that they were falling very fast and very out of control straight toward it.

     Isca would have screamed if she could have controlled any of her muscles. But everything seemed to seize up as things turned to slow motion. For the first time in her life, she knew what it felt like to feel like there is no way out. Jely was somewhere around her - of that she was sure. She could hear her feeble cries whisk past her in currents, but they were falling so fast it was impossible to figure out where they were coming from other than below her. Isca craned her neck, trying her best to flip over to try and find her friend. She was rewarded with something hard smacking her right in the forehead. She looked up into the clouds and realized that Jely had let go of the dice!

     At once her mind snapped into action. Isca extended her hand, trying to slow her fall by spreading out her limbs. The dice rushed towards her. She managed to grab the closest one, accidentally knocking the second further from her reach. Isca kicked a little as if she was swimming, trying her best to shift her momentum. She knew this was the only way out. Otherwise in a few moments they would be no more than little chocolate pancakes. Success! At last she grabbed it, looking once more to see where Jely was, she was now relatively above her.

     In one last fight for her life, Isca shook the pair between her hands before grabbing them in her left hand and smacking them down on the back of her right one hoping against hope that it might work.

     Never had she been so glad to feel the traveling sensation that exploded around them as they were pulled once again into the nothingness of the void. This time it was just too much for her. Isca felt tears welling up in her eyes. Perhaps they would meet their demise long before they finally found their way home again. She wondered if Danica would even realize they were gone, or figure out how they got to where they were, or what her owner Speedy would say when he realized what events had taken place in his absence. A small little sob welled up from her chest as everything began to subside. Isca buried her face into her arms, laying still on the ground as they came back to reality. If danger was hovering to end it all now - Isca just hoped it would be quick.

     "Isca!" She heard Jely whisper, before feeling a thump as her friend attempted to tackle her. "Isca, we did it, we're back!" Jely stood up delighted beyond belief. "That sure was quick thinking back there, I really thought we were goners!" The familiar tropical plants in Danica's sun-room loomed over them in the afternoon light. Isca felt her little heart sigh in relief. It had worked! They were saved. Gently she removed her hand from atop of the dice to see a small home and a one had been rolled. As she lifted it carefully, so as not to drop it and start the game again, the dice returned back to their normal numerical salmon-pink faces.

     "What should we do with it Jely?" she asked, wide-eyed. "Dice like these have too much magic and power to leave around for people to stumble across."

     Jely pursed her lips together, thinking to herself for a minute. "Give them here, I'll make sure no one finds them ever again!" Isca handed them over, glad to be rid of them. She watched Jely walk to the other side of the room to remove an inconspicuous floorboard. "No one knows of this hiding place; the dice can rot with the cottage for all I care!"

     "Issssca! Jeeeely!" Danica called. "Speedy's here! Time for some supper!" They smiled to each other knowingly; adventuring sure did work up an appetite.

The End