R.S.V.P.
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Slimeworld & Galaxy Magazine -- All rights reserved -- |
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Chapter XXIX
by General (Uncle Claude) Xxaxx
& General (E.J. Gold) Nunan PFC 1st Class Ret.
Lying on the couch shaken and uncertain, Woo looked over to see a grey deathmask staring back at her. The body of Ja Mere didn’t survive the shock of transition. Too drained to be moved emotionally, Woo studied the shell of her friend. “This can’t be. He was needed. Drak made me bind him, he bound himself and now we are about to work in freedom. Some part of that which I am yet to do requires Ja Mere. He mustn’t be dead.”?
Breathless, without breath, not even the will to breathe — overwhelmed by grief that wasn’t grief Woo surrendered — the universe filled her lungs, thrusting air deep within her being. So filled, instinctively Woo bent over her dead friend, mouth to mouth, body to body and released the out-breath in one great sigh into his lungs. With a shudder and a start, Ja Mere was alive — present, attentive but vacant.
Nothing of his former psyche survived the annihilation of near total liberation. Working quickly, calling upon every resource that wasn’t there, Woo reached deep within the fabric of time to gather the strands of gossamer to formed the fabric of Ja Mere. With a few deft additions and subtractions Woo wove the strands back into the web of existence. Yes, Ja Mere will return, with a few minor edits. He will not consciously remember the fusion and dissolution. Later perhaps when it is confrontable he may be brought back to the vision but for now only a vague wisp will remain.
Woo felt a knife edge of loneliness bite deep into her being. The only other that she could even hope would understand where she had been and what she had experienced was dead and resurrected with no memory of what had happened. She was cut off from the only person in this creation that could possibly share her sorrow and relief. Aloneness and empty voidness these one must learn to abide. Lonliness she knew didn’t have to be endured. Lonliness was an unnecessary reaction to which one did not have to cater. But, just knowing this didn’t help — at least not yet.
When Woo released the last of the strands of time into place, Ja Mere snapped into animation.
Ja Mere grinned at his friend, “Enough of this just call on your ol’ friend Ja Mere stuff. I’ve been happy to help you without question for the past fifteen years, but don’t take me for an idiot. I know how you and your dragon buddies have put me under a geas to help — that I’m magically constrained to help you whenever you use that particular phrase. I didn’t fall out of the back end of a taxi yesterday you know. I’ve let it ride — for fifteen years. You’ve needed me — I was happy to help. But don’t think I’m so unobservant that I can’t tell when I’m operating under compulsion. It didn’t take long to figure out the key phrases you used to ensure my help. Even though I was your friend, you couldn’t trust me to help so you did your magic mumbo-jumbo. All of that I forgive as your weakness — but don’t take me for an idiot.”
Looped in time. Ja Mere would remember next to nothing of what has just occurred. Filled with the numbing presence of isolation, Woo answered her friend, “No I won’t take you for an idiot.”
Encouraged by Woo’s quiet response, Ja Mere continued, “I need help with my project . I feel strongly about this.”
“What is it you need of me, my friend?”
“It may be that we can’t wait until the grand xpearimint to fix the slowdown is over before we turn attention to the issue of the goobers.”
“Based on Drak’s rather odd actions, you may be right, Ja Mere.”
“Right, I’ve got to get back to my lab. I have a piece of equipment there. I’m sure that with a few minor modifications it may get us to the other side of this Maginot Line.”
Watching Ja Mere gradually springing into life, Woo felt just that much less alone, an illusion to be sure but one she didn’t mind savoring for the moment. Silently watching him carry on, she thought to herself “Strange how it hasn’t even occurred to me to wonder how I knew to rework the stands of time.”
Ja Mere continued at a some what less feverish pitch, “The bubbles must not be annihilated. I’ve only spent my life and every cent I could lay my hands on to fund my research. I’ve sacrificed my career and what little reputation I had had studying a bunch of bubblers and goobers. You think they could allocate a small research grant for a fellow member of the cownsil?”
Obviously the question was rhetorical so Woo left Ja Mere to his momentum.
Ja Mere continued, “They won’t cut loose with a dime, not even an assistant to help in some of the raw data gathering. Why? Because of extreme prejudice against the bubblers.”
Playing the part of the devil’s advocate, Woo piped in: “Well, you have to admit Ja Mere that bubblers are only slightly smarter than a door stop. If they could hold two thoughts together at the same time, they would have us all eliminated. As it is now, they are limited to random violence against a few eggheads that happen to be in the wrong place at that wrong time.”
Catching on to Woo’s self proclaimed role as devil’s advocate, Ja Mere posed her the question, “Rather than pointing out the chronic abuse that eggheads have suffered throughout history, explain to me how eliminating the bubbles will fix this.”
Professor Woo removed herself from the couch and stood at the fireplace, not so much for the warmth as a way to get some distance from Ja Mere and collect her thoughts. Being dead seemed to have put some spunk in the ol’boy. Continuing with her line of response — “By all records, the extreme stupidity that we see evidenced in today’s Citizins began with the advent of the bubbles. All records of prebubble life show a fairly consistent emotional congruity with today’s world, but those same records point to a much higher intellectual base. They were in short, just as mean and petty, but much, much smarter.”
“And what do you suppose would happen today, if by some miracle all bubbles were removed from the Citizenry?” asked Ja Mere.
Professer Woo rallied with an offhanded-answer initially intended as humorous before she realized the ultimate truth in it, “Why, they would probably drown in their own shit or breed themselves into ecodisaster.”
“Precisely. The city infra-structures and population controls are entirely dependent on the existence of the bubbles.” Walking over to the wet bar, Ja Mere poured himself another refreshment and continued speaking while he made his way back to the couch, “But let’s disregard that for the moment. The few remaining Citizins could always build something from the ashes, and we can always guide them as we are now.”
Professor Woo was suddenly struck by the pervasive depth of the egghead’s view of the bubblers. Dropping her role as devils advocate Woo blurted out, “We have actually redefined the bubblers as a separate race haven’t we?.” Somewhat calm but no less certain Woo continued, “Yes, Ja Mere, I suppose you are right, something would eventually reemerge. But that could take hundreds or perhaps thousands of years.”
“Short time, long time, no matter to me. I wouldn’t be risking my all and everything on such a trite issue as that. No, what I’m concerned about is a loss that can’t be repaired by time.”
“With or without bubbles all the systems will eventually reassert themselves. And, if they don’t we may be the better for it. What problems caused by the removal of the bubbles are there that can’t be repaired sooner or later?”
“Professor Woo, I’m surprised at you. Why, the answer is so obvious that it hides in front of your nose.”
Shifting postures to glance nonchalantly in the mirror above the mantle, Professor Woo responded, “Ja Mere, I happen to think that I have a fine nose. Even if I did to lose a small portion during my early xpearimints in dragon magic. Drak was genuinely sorry and the repair he magiced was quite fair.”
“Now, now, you can’t hide your missing of the point with false vanity. The obvious you missed. That which can’t be repaired either sooner or even much later after the removal of the bubbles is: the removal of the bubbles.”
“What’s to lament about that? It’s the bubbles that have put the Citizins in their current condition. That’s exactly the condition that we are trying to rectify.”
“Yes, but at what price to the future?”
Bending over to place another pseudo-log on the fire Professor Woo asked, “How do you mean, Ja Mere?”
“Do you kill an addict for his addiction? Do you throw out a dirty baby or the bath water?”
“Okay, Mister Simplification. Give me one of those refreshments and I’ll address your simplistic questions of babies, addicts and bath water.”
Ja Mere gently handed Professor Woo a refreshment and walked to the other end of the fire-mantle with a slow grace. A quiet patience had descended over Ja Mere with the introduction of this last question. Ja Mere was about to tell someone, other than his own reflection in the laboratory mirror, the conclusion to which his research has taken him.
Professor Woo took a sip of the refreshment and waited a moment to consider Ja Mere’s question. Obviously it was not meant as a jab or a rhetorical device. “No, you don’t throw a dirty baby out. You clean the child and dispose of the dirty water. And in a similar vein one would not throw an addict away. One would dispel the addiction. But, where does this lead?”
“What if . . . what if I could prove to you that the bubbles are not directly responsible for the chemical instability we find in the Citizins? What if I could show you that the Citizins are suffering from a chemical byproduct secreted by the bubbles as a result of the metabolism of hermones and hismones?” Ja Mere paused and a smile wandered across his face. He had finally presented his thesis.
“Continue.” Professor Woo encouraged almost breathless. This was the most startling proposition that she had heard regarding the Citizins and bubbles yet.
“The bubbles are addicted to hermones and hismones. That much is clear. You nor anyone else on the Cownsil know of it. But, with just a casual inspection of my research notes it will present itself as the only reasonable conclusion. I haven’t been able to isolate the interfering chemicals. If I could get my hands on a bubbler within the first few minutes after terminus, I could do the extractions and isolations that I need. I’ve been waiting and hoping that I would stumble across a stroke or accident victim, but nothing...bupkis. Without the resources of the Cownsil I have no hope of finding a suitable corpse except through the narrowest of miracles. I’ve even found myself watching my goober guard with vulture like expectation. But alas, even if it wasn’t so morbid, it can’t help. Goobers just don’t have as much of the responsible chemicals as a standard bubbler. I need a vibrant, fully developed Citizin. The more brilliant pink or blue the bubble the better.”
“Let me get this straight. What you are saying is that were it not for this chemical imbalance, precipitated by the hermone and hismone addiction, the presence of the bubble would not have any effect on the Citizins?”
“Quite, the contrary; according to my researches into goober savantism, it appears that without the deleterious effects of the contra-indicated chemical reactions the bubble would make all citizins savant many times over. We would become, by comparison, the idiots. They would become intellectual giants.”
“Are you suggesting that the bubbles were developed to create an evolutionary jump in mankind?”
“No, nothing so grandiose or straightforward. The only reference that I could find to a genesis of the bubbles is an early twenty-first century patent for a bio-engineered prophylactic. The use of the prophylactic was either ultra-sekrit or completely understood — since in the patent they neglected to illustrate its use in any detail.”
The programmed fire was beginning to die down again. Professor Woo poked at the pseudo-logs programming it for a flair up followed by a dying to embers. Woo turned to Ja Mere. “I’ve heard enough. You have my pledge that after this crisis I’ll help you in your investigations into the genesis and function of bubbles. You don’t need to use magic or thumb screws, you have my word as a Dragon Magus.”
Ja Mere knew that this off-handed reference was as close to an apology as Woo could come for her earlier use of coercion. Any more specific of an apology compensation of the fourth kind and she would need all of her fingers and toes of the upcoming ordeals. Adding insult to injury so as to close the Cycle of Apology, Ja Mere asked, “And do I get cab fare as well?”
“You’ll get more than cab fare if you don’t help me win over the Cownsil at this next meeting!” Throwing an easily caught refreshment glass at his forehead, Woo thought, “Yes, it was social protocol as usual — back to normal.” But even subvocalizing to herself the word normal caught in her throat.
“For the present, Woo, you can count on my help,” Ja Mere reached over to punch Woo in the upper arm with a camaraderie of level 6, having mistaken Woo’s facial wince at remembering her recent excursion nowhere as a sign of grateful acknowledgement of her unspoken apology being accepted.
Further mollified, Ja Mere pushed himself off the couch and nudged Woo, “We should be leaving. Little Roy will be looking for you, and my goober will be returning from his trip into the grocery outlet. Funny how their heads work; he seems totally convinced that I couldn’t possibly be up to any tricks or doing xpearimints while he’s at the store. With her abilities, one would think that she could figure out what I’m up to. But she’s never said a word, or bothered my research in any way I know of.”
Throwing just a dash of icy water on Ja Mere’s mood, Woo couldn’t resist reminding him, “Yes, not in any way you know of.” Ja Mere should become too trusting of these goobers. Enough eggheads have disappeared never to be seen again.
“Don’t be coy with me Woo, I catch your drift as snowy as it is, and I reject it. I figure she either can’t read anyone close to her or she has her own reasons for not turning me in. In any case, I fear the cownsil and those black-hearted bosspersons more than a young goober.”
A strange look passed over Professor Woo’s face as she commented under her breath, “Yes, the bosspersons are a force to contend with.” Catching her face in the lounge mirror Woo was taken aback. Exactly what was it she had just said. Woo mentally chastised herself to remember something that Drak had said so many years ago, “Just because you’re the one moving your lips is no excuse to assume you know what you are about to saying.” Yes, she’d pay better attention to herself in the future. “Okay, Ja Mere, I’m on my way as well. Let’s meet for dinner the Savoy Three.”
“Yes, until eight. We both have much to think about.”
As Professor Woo, walked past the unattended hat check counter, she reached over the counter to retrieve a lunch pail left for her by Ja Mere — ancient plastic painted on each side with an image of a large, friendly, purple dinosaur. The dinner date had been prearranged for six thirty, ‘Until eight’ was standard code for exchange lunch box. Ja Mere must have anticipated Professor Woo’s favorable response to his revelations and left evidence in a lunch pail for her later study. Most of Professor Woo’s research was mental and magical, neither of which required her to carry papers. And, now that she could magical transport most ordinary equipment for her home lab, she had completely fallen out of the habit of carrying a lunch pail.
Not since her early days in University had she heard the familiar clank clank of a lunch pail’s handle and the accompanying thud thud of a candy bar traveling around loose inside. Lunch pails were standard C&C (Camouflage and Concealment) issue for the sekriting of papers and xpearimintal apparatus. A rigged brief case wouldn’t do since the Citizins couldn’t imagine any need for carrying one. A lunch box, on the other hand, they understood — that was for carrying your lunch or maybe a snack, every body knew that. The candy bar found inside every lunch pail was the standard issue one miscellaneous candy bar a guaranteed diversion should one’s lunch pail be inspected by a Citizin. Every university student was taught in first year, CC 101, to prepare several diversions in advance of a search — to put an investigator off. A candy bar ripe for petty theft and other diversions helped to insure that any papers or xpearimintal apparatus sekrited away in the lunch pail and accompanying thermos would be safe from prying eyes. Of course each lunch box had to be decorated with designs not attractive to the bubblers. So far, the joyful little purple dinosaur and I heart NY were the two least liked by the bubblers. The purple dinosaur was understandable, it just wasn’t obvious what the the bubblers had against this person Ny — whoever it was.
As she walked toward the big double doors of the sports auditorium, Professor Woo wondered ideally what proof Ja Mere had left in the pail for her to study and what Little Roy would think of her sudden appearance with a lunch box.
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R.S.V.P.
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Slimeworld & Galaxy Magazine -- All rights reserved -- |
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