“There it is!” She pointed at the approaching rings displayed on the window of the rocket she was traveling on. “That’s Candyland galaxy! The race begins here for me.”

 

She picked up her helmet and started missing with the face-plate. “I need to get the places I have to visit on the visor so I’m directed to them correctly and quickly.”

 

“The prize money is well worth the time to explore the planet.” Another occupant remarked as they pressed a few buttons and the planet’s surface came more in focus. “No one has ever been to this planet before. The places were chosen just by looking from afar.”

 

Jazzy turned and looked at the speaker. “Your first place to find an object is here. They pointed at the screen, “candy heart forest.”

 

“The forest has exactly what its called heart shaped leaves on the branches of trees that will grab you up and toss you into Peppermint stick forest.”

 

Everyone laughed. “It’s not that funny the speaker stated. She pressed a few more buttons and Peppermint stick forest came into view. The trees were shaped like stick candy, they even had stripped rings around them of brown and white; but, most lacked the loop you see on pepermint stick candy. Most of the tress were tall thin and the tip was like a arrowhead pointed upwards and sharp.

 

“You get tossed into those trees you might be a loser before you get very far.”

Jazzy gazed at the trees and sighed. “How do I keep from getting tossed?”

 

“We have no idea,” someone else close by stated. “We have studied it, but we’ve come to the conclusion if you get near the tree you get tossed.”

 

“So, If I stay away from the tree and get the leaf I can avoid being tossed?”

 

“I guess so,” the same speaker replied, “but how will you do that?”

 

Jazzy didn’t answer. “What’s after that?” she looked back up at the screen where the scene had changed.

 

“You have to go to gumdrop mountains,” the same speaker replied and you take the tree point you got from the peppermint forest and stab the mountains with it.”

 

“Stab a mountain?” someone else asked. “Why?”

 

“The worms from within the mountains will surface and you have to grab a piece of that creatures fur,” Jazzy answered.

 

“Not just any fur,” the first speaker pointed out; but, one with yellow fur.”

 

“You keep the fur,” Jazzy finished and move on to the gingerbread tree.”

 

Everyone laughed. Where do they get names like this?”

 

“It’s just all part of the game,” Jazzy answered. “The tree has food growning on it’s branches.”

 

“Like picnic baskets,” the first speaker concluded. “You have to pick a backet of food and get the hell out of there before the tree tries to get it back from you!”

 

“What?” someone who had said nothing before now asked. “The tree has hands?”

 

“It has branches,” Jazzy answered. “It will swat at you to get the basket back, and the fun part of this is the trees branches have thorns that are poison.”

 

“You sure you wanna do this?” The last speaker asked.

“You bet!” Jazzy answered the prize is well worth it.”

 

 

“Crooked old brittle house is next,” Jazzy supplied. “I love this place!”

The picture came up of a long, long colum of what looked like ant hills. Some were tall some were smaller all contained these creatures that looked like giant red ants with hands.

 

“What are those things?” someone asked.

 

“Those are ants with hands,” the speaker said who had just brought up the image. “You have to get a piece of one of their houses before you can go.”

 

“How difficult will that be?” another person asked.

 

“Relatively easy,” Jazzy answered only because I plan to do it from the edge of the forest.” She pointed at a spot on the screen where the forest was near a hill.

 

“They are like bolders!”

 

“I only need a small piece,” Jazzy rasoned. “So, I can break off a piece.”

 

Jazzy made a few changes to her helmet. “Then all that’s left is lillpop woods and Ice cream floats, and Moalsses swamp.”

 

“Like those will be easy,” the speaker pulled up the images of the three places on the screen.

 

Lillpop woods looked like folding candy wrappers. Each time the wind blew they folded up very tightly. “You get caught in one of those and it’s bye-bye time?” Someone from the back of the room said.

 

“Have a look at Ice cream floats!” Everyone looked at the floating colorful images floating on a stream of purple water. Everytime a leaf or anything fell on them it was sucked in and sank into the ice cream.

“It eats you!” someone shouted.

 

“You can escape,” Jazzy assured them. “You just have to know how.”

 

“and do you know how?” the same person asked.

 

“Not yet,” Jazzy assured them. “But, I will find out…”

 

“ Moalsses swamp?” the speaker said.

 

“Quick sand!” Jazzy supplied.

 

Everyone gasped. “You have to bring a small sample of Moalsses swamp back in this tiny bottle.” The speaker handed a small bottle to Jazzy.

 

“Whoever has all the required items at the end of fourty eight hours wins the prize!”

 

“So, you need the fur from the ant, the peppermint trees arrow head, the moalsses from the swamp, a piece of the worms from the gum drop mountains…”

 

“Don’t forget the heart shaped leaves!” Someone from the back of the room near the door called out.

 

“Yep, those too,” Jazzy agreed.

 

“Do you need anything from the ice cream floats?”

 

“A piece of blue from it’s back,” Jazzy supplied.

---------------------

 

“Candyland rocket to Jazzy,” the voice of the pilot came over the ear phones into Jazzies ear. “Where are you?”

 

Jazzy finished putting a piece of a worm from the gum drop mountains into it’s container and answered the call.

 

“I just finished collecting a piece of worm from gum drop mountains,” she answered. “Now I’m on my way to ice cream floats.” She tapped the button shutting off the speaker and started walking. Time passed quickly she noticed as she gazed at the time alloted for the race on her arm side timer. She had fourty-eight hours and she had three hours left. So far no one else had reported in so she still have time to win. The sky was darkening and shades of purple and pink sparkled from the setting sun.

 

She kept walking. As she walked she began to notice with each step her feet sank deeper and deeper into the dirt. Standing in one place was a mistake. She sank faster. She thought about turning around and going back but back looked worse then forward. All the trees she’d left behind were sinking into the ground!

 

She thumbed the speaker next to her helmet as she picked up her walking speed. “How far is Moalsses swamp from where I am?” She asked quickly.

 

“Very close,” came the reply. “What’s wrong?”

 

Jazzy walked faster. “I’m sinking in the dirt. The trees around me are sinking in the dirt.” She twisted her head back and forth as she moved. “Everything is sinking in the dirt. The panic in her voice came over loud and clear to the occupants in the rocket above the planet.

 

“We have no idea why that’s happening,” came the reply. People started talking and the murmmurs came across the headphone but she could not understand them.

 

The setting sun sank lower. The darkness grew with each passing moment and then suddenly she found herself walking into a branch of a sinking tree. She jumped and landed on it’s branches. She began to climb. The darkness continued. In the distance the sound of something crawling on the ground came to her ears. The sound of hissing joined the sound of crawling. She begain hunting for something she could use to defend herself. The rules said nothing about self defence.

 

She could feel the tree continue sinking, the sound of something crawling and hissing...and then all at once...nothing. Everything stopped and silence surrounded her like death. Now it was pitch black.

 

She switched off her mic, her headphone and the light in her helmet she used to see by. Silence and dark seemed to be the smarter way to go.

 

Far in the distance a strange light begin to shine. It was a strange neon color like a sick blue. She hugged the tree branch she’d been holding onto for dear life. The light came closer. Thinks started to show up in the weird light. But nothing moved. Strange long dark things that looked like snakes swimming on the dirt could be seen on the ground all around her. They all looked frozen in time. She moved her foot. Nothing else moved. She moved her hand. The light continued to move nothing else did. She pressed her mic on and her headphones on.

 

She whispered into her mic, “What do you see?” No answer returned to her. She pressed it again, hello, hello?”

 

The strange light continued to come her way. She watched it approach. Sliding across the mud was the ice cream floats. Coming from the top of them was the light.

 

She tried her mic again just as the light reached her. All of her equipment crumbed and fell to the ground below the tree she was standing on.

 

She gasped, the ice cream floats were floating beyond the lake. She tried to move and found that her legs and arms, her whole body was frozen to the spot where she stood. What was happening...that was her last thought.

 

Years later, when the galaxy was once again explored her body was found along with the rocket that had been frozen in orbit along with it’s occupants in mid-space. The planet didn’t turn as it should. This had caused it to freeze in time. They would awaken but not for more then a thousand years…

 

Sometimes the prize you want isn’t worth what it takes to get it….