EXT. ZORQO'S ZOO OF ZANINESS/PLAZA -- DAY
Some minutes have passed and Anakin and Nashira are utterly lost within the park.
ANAKIN: So where are we going?
NASHIRA: Why ask me? I haven't a clue.
ANAKIN: I thought you knew the layout of this place like the back of your hand!
NASHIRA: My parents do, I don't. This place was closed down for decades until a few days ago, remember? This is my first time here.
ANAKIN: Great, so where ever this Wormhole of Love is, we'll never find it.
NASHIRA: (frowns) Don't be a stick in the mud. We'll just ask someone for directions.
The two then spend the next few minutes asking others for directions to the Wormhole of Love. No one, however, seems to know where it is.
ANAKIN: Well, that was a dead end.
Nashira then notices an OBESE DRESSELLIAN CLOWN standing propped up against a sign post with a DIMINUTIVE NEAR-HUMAN NELWYN sitting on the ground beside him; both are currently smoking cigarettes.
NASHIRA: They work here. They're bound to know where the Wormhole is.
Pulling Nik along behind her, Nashira approaches the two odd figures.
NASHIRA: (smiles) Hello.
The Dressellian clown -- RUSTYK -- takes a drag on his cigarette, takes one glance down at 'Shira, then takes his gaze back off her, exhaling a big cloud of purple smoke without the slightest change coming to his surly face.
RUSTYK: Hey, kid.
NASHIRA: We're looking for the Wormhole of Love, but we've kinda gotten lost.
RUSTYK: Lost, eh? (takes a puff on his cigarette) Shoulda bought a map at the front entrance, kid.
ANAKIN: (irrate) Do you know where the damn ride is or not?
Rustyk centres his gaze upon Anakin for the first time.
RUSTYK: You got spunk, kid.
Taking another deep drag on his cigarette, Rustyk blows the thick, purple smoke in Anakin's face. As the cloying miasma hits the young man, he begins coughing violently.
RUSTYK: (cont'd) I hate spunk.
Starting to lose her own temper, 'Shira takes a menacing step forward toward the unappealing clown.
NASHIRA: Do you know where the Wormhole of Love is or don't you?
Finishing his cigarette, Rustyk tosses the butt away then looks down upon his companion.
RUSTYK: You know where the Wormhole of Love's at, Mr. Eenyt?
Without a single word, MR. EENYT points upward. Following his finger with her eyes, Nashira finds a sign with "WORMHOLE OF LOVE" stencilled in big, white letters upon the sign post pointing the way to the ride's location.
RUSTYK: Have the time of your life, kid.
EXT. ZORQO'S ZOO OF ZANINESS/ROUTE 999 -- DAY
Having followed the sign, Nashira and Nik have reached their destination. Instead of finding the entrance to the Wormhole of Love, however, they instead find a ride labelled "ROUTE 999", the entrance into it consisting of a large, monstrous head with an open mouth leading deep into a dark abyss. The ride's barker -- a TALL, GAUNT PAU'AN dressed in a black top hat and tailcoat -- directs visitors over to the ride with dramatic flourish.
BARKER: Do you pitiful, vulnerable, ephemeral souls have the heart, the spirit, the gumption, the bravado to brave the sorrows and torments of the Nine Corellian Hells and emerge unscathed? If so, take your chances on Route 999!
'Shira and Nik approach the barker.
BARKER: (removes his hat and takes a bow before them) Greetings, my fine young kidbits. My name is Caryon Adder and I'm your usher into the harrows of Hells! Do you wish to endanger, to sacrifice, your immortal souls travelling down Route 999?
NASHIRA: Isn't this supposed to be the Wormhole of Love?
CARYON ADDER (BARKER): It was -- forty-five years ago. Kids today don't want rides into dimensions of mushy gushy romance, though -- they want descents into chaos universes of wailing and gnashing of teeth -- so it was deconverted into the cannon into carnality which now stands erect before you!
ANAKIN: (points behind him with his thumb) But the sign back there said this was the way to the Wormhole.
CARYON ADDER: The sign was meant to be replaced before reopening, but someone obviously forgot to do so. A temporary oversight, I'm sure. (beat) Now, again, must I reiterate -- do you wish to ride Route 999?
'Shira and Anakin exchange glances.
NASHIRA: Since we're here, we may as well.
Anakin merely shrugs, then they step forward toward the ride. As they pass by Caryon, though, the Pau'an reaches behind him, pulls a cane hidden within the folds of his tailcoat out, then, gripping the diamond head, unsheathes a thin sword hidden with the shaft. Taking a swing downward, he blocks their advance.
CARYON ADDER: (frowns) Tickets please.
Dumbstruck by the eccentric barker, Nashira and Anakin give the Pau'an a pair of tickets. His frown instantly transforming into a wide grin, he accepts the tickets.
CARYON ADDER: (removes and resheathes his sword) Carry on, kidbits, carry on!
Caryon Adder begins to laugh maniacally as the two lovers disappear into the open maw of Route 999.
INT. ROUTE 999 -- DAY
Sitting within a repulsorcart, Anakin and Nashira travel along Route 999.
Surrounding them is a holographic panorama of the nine hells from Corellian myth. All about the young couple can be seen a plethora of profane images; in one corner a squat imp smacks down a floating torso with no legs or head; in another a young man with an old man's voice plummets into a pit of icy fire; and in still another a man with a flailing, broken neck dodges a flurry of flaming arrows launched from the bow of a reptilian/insectoid hybrid standing only a metre away from him.
Unfortunately for 'Shira and Nik, the ride is a complete bust; the holograms, already poorly rendered, constantly go staticky and often wink completely out of existence. As a result, the expressions on the young man and girl's faces are not ones of pleasure.
NASHIRA: (deadpan) The banality of evil, ladies and gentlemen.
As their repulsorcart makes its exit, a distinct electrical CRACKLE is heard, quickly followed by a sharp POP. Immediately the holograms and lights go wholly dead, the power systems completely fried.