The Time Tribulations

by Travis Borne

  “Jerry! Listen to Baldarn.” Andy’s voice made it through. The words sounded hollow, as if he was on the far side of a canyon, but quickly snapped into place like everything else.

  “Jerry, we received it too,” Baldarn said. “We are human!”

  Bald Baldarn, his thin yellow lips and pointy teeth, his beady, untrustworthy eyes—the fucking, raping bastard. Rage inflamed Jerry’s nostrils and he probably could have grown up and out of the underworld, but common sense and lucidity, and the gall of hearing Baldarn say he was human, stole his attention like an electric toaster into a tub of water—fifty toasters into a swimming pool! Jerry raised an arm, fist clenched, turned and took half a step toward Baldarn. Jerry was more proportional than any malformed beast, and he towered over the anxious, fucking fucker who took two steps back, bumping into other humans-turned-beasts.

  “Talk!” Jerry said with a voice that could jolt loose a soul from the light.

  “They came in, five of them. New beasts, Jerry. They possessed something we had lost, compassion. When we touched the first new arrival it spread through all of us. Our minds, our memories, everything is back! We had been waiting for you—the excessive noise, the rumbling, we had been trying to call you. Jerry, we wanted to apologize, the beasts we were are no longer. Please, we realize now, all of this is not real. It is a part of the system, a dream world.”

  Jerry’s rage abated and he remembered Carmen even more clearly. He remembered Midtown and exactly why they’d come, and he was able to think again. They had needed to find out…

  But during the walk, even as early as the platform’s descent, his sanity, driven by rage, had taken another road—then just dove off the cliff. Revenge and hatred clouded minds and many had transformed because of it. Now, objectiveness hit him like Andy’s bat to the front of his head, and he fully perceived this new ego he possessed. He had lost himself. He looked around at his crew—some he could barely recognize, but he knew.

  “Jerry, I think we should hear them out,” Andy said, yelling up at him. “This was the plan after all, to find information. We’ve found it!”

  “Hold on for a minute,” Jerry growled, turning to the goblins with torches. They were as anxious as ever, ready to ignite the bulls and myriad other statues. Jerry still wanted to light them, just as bad as he’d wanted to just five minutes ago, but he again possessed the power of reason. He lowered himself, taking a knee in front of the panicked, petrified, singled-out beasts. Jake, like a black planet of crusty grapes, stood next to him.

  “What have I—we become?” Jake asked with a voice that sounded like melted records playing underwater.

  Madron, the beast who had driven Jerry and Andy across the field, added, “You have the power to alter your world. We all do now. But I must admit, your crew has harnessed it quite powerfully. What we’ve put you through, the pent-up energy—today you unleashed it. Some more than others, as we’ve just witnessed.” He looked Jerry in the eye. “And you have your strength back, no hindrances.”

  Jerry remained kneeling, a towering giant, but was coming back down, regaining the form of a human man. As tensions settled so did the others. The beasts didn’t change, they remained the same, just as they had always been.

  “If you try anything—” Jerry elevated his voice. “—ANYTHING, then we’ll—”

  “We won’t,” a scaly beast interrupted. “Hiss.” He was human-like, muscular and tan and nude, but with the head of a snake. His green neck sent his flared head at least five feet beyond his already tall stance. From beyond the outer perimeter, with overflowing company, hundreds were returning. Snakehead stepped forward with five others.

  “Jake, is that you?” Snakehead asked.

  The five were a tight-knit group, as ugly as any of the beasts, and Jerry did not recognize them.

  Shrinking back to his normal size, hair retreating, blackened grape bulges deflating and becoming smooth lumps, with an even deeper than usual, course and still beastly voice, Jake replied, “Do I know you?”

  “Jake, it’s us, from Jewel City. Hiss. I am Nevin, shoemaker.” He introduced the other four: Julio, pizza chef, as well, Alan, Judy, and Wendy; all had been in line with Jake at the inprocessing station.

  Bright light! Jake’s forehead went from black to gray. The insane possibility struck his brain like defibrillator earmuffs, illuminating the bulb within.

  Andy was back to normal, somehow even his clothes. He said, “So it seems, then, five were sent here to become beasts, and five went to Midtown, as humans.”

  “That makes ten,” Jake said. The muscles of his face deflated and he could talk normally again. “But there were over a hundred of us in line—something must have happened.”

  “It makes sense, Jake. They, you, and you five—” He pointed at the new beasts. “—had been processed, but were not typical, not screwed up like us. You brought with you something special and it affected us all, and the system… That must be it. The system stopped the inprocessing when it had become unstable. The original beasts—” He looked to them with a lingering glare of disdain. “—had their compassion deleted, and us, the humans above, we’d been robbed of our strength, and all of us lost the ability to think, at least in a normal manner, such as we can now. Life for hundreds of years was like a cloudy dream and now all of us, up and down, have awakened.”

  Baldarn stood up. A tear fell from his eye and he trudged his large self to Jerry, who had just finished returning to normal—if 6 foot 9 could be considered normal for a human; his clothes were back too. Jerry planted a hand on his knee and pushed up while Baldarn approached. His natural tan-white color overtook the red and he looked up as the orange one stood over him; now Baldarn, once again, was the tower.

  “On behalf of the beasts,” Baldarn said, “I want to formally apologize to you and your woman. To all humans.” He spoke up, “On behalf of every beast, we sincerely apologize. We have learned that it was not ourselves, who were in control, that the system had betrayed our humanity, our egos, everything.

  “Smell that, Carne’s flesh? You too enjoyed it. Just as you’d transformed minutes earlier, craving pain, sucking it in, we had been tricked into enjoying it since day one. The system exploited our ability to wreak havoc, to unleash the evil within, the same evil within you—” He pointed to Jerry, then his claw pointed to Andy, then waved at every human. “—in you Andy, in all of you. By nature, evil is within any awake being who can think, although our power of choice can be swayed, and then dominated until we become utterly brainwashed. We recently discovered with the introduction of these five, new individuals, new beasts to our world, that we are human, and at our core we have always been. We had lives before, just like each of you. Our memories returned, as well the compassion that had been stolen from us. We will never again harm any man or woman.” He lowered himself, taking a knee in front of Jerry, then bowed his bald yellow-orange, blistered head. He said only to Jerry, “I suppose, Jerry, and I am sorry, that Carne made a mess of bringing this to light. He was, you see, overexcited to declare the news.”

  “The regenerators?” Jake asked. “Can we—”

  “They light up and the belt drive operates, but the functionality is lost. I believe they may be gone for good, absorbed by the system itself. There’s much we still don’t know, Jake. If we unite, together—”

  Jerry harrumphed, stood erect, arched his back and took in a propane-tank’s worth of the stinging air; as well smoke blowing his way—sweet, pungent, sickening, Carne. He looked into Baldarn’s dragon-like eyes, sending him a solid, unwavering stare. The beast he’d known all this time, the one who had raped Carmen repeatedly that Wednesday while laughing, was on the outside, the same. But there was something new in his eyes and not only could he see it, he could feel it. Jerry raised his arm, making a fist, and exclaimed loudly, “Release the beasts!” The air went from his lungs as if he’d become Zeus.

  It was going to take time, because the subjectivity of hundreds of years of torture at the hands
of these monsters was not something that could be jerked off like a bandage. But the healing did at least begin to take place and Jerry opened his mind, allowing the greater picture to invade it, conquer his thoughts, and win the war.

  “Using the forces of man and beast, united as one—perhaps it can be enough.” Jerry said it in a normal tone to those in close company, and contrary to feelings built up like Olympus Mons on Mars, no longer a prisoner to the hatred, he concluded, “We shall unite as one!” Jerry sent his other fist straight up.

  The ground shook and gobs of brown oil continued to rain from the sky. A new pact had been formed, which perhaps, was something that should not be. Speculations spread assumptions and together they came up with ideas very quickly, faster than humans could on their own. Talks continued. New realizations set in. And an agreement was decreed like a judge’s gavel destroying the bench: find a way out of this dream world, together.

  Jerry and his crew of 43 men and 33 women were escorted up and into the mountains, to the home of the beasts, and all was different; a celebration took place. It was not a cheerful explosion of happiness. There was sadness, regret, and the beginning of a much-needed and very deep healing. By the end of the first day a new focus was achieved: a resolution for goodwill and strong unification. Bonds were formed faster than many thought possible, and talks and plans and the sharing of knowledge encircled the fire they sat about, deep inside a cave. Hope had been restored and bolstered higher than ever. Perhaps together as one, they did, could, have a chance.

  Outside, the oil sludge rained throughout the night and the world grew cooler and darker. Then the earthquake hit.

  66. Part VII - Travel Ready

  A Spanish man of tall and lean, but strong stature, with a thin mustache and long equal-length dark hair, stood before them under the moonlight. He had light skin and wore a loose white shirt that was only half buttoned, untucked over relaxed, dark-blue slacks.

  “Rafael?” Jim uttered.

  “It is I,” he replied pithily. He stood with both hands on his hips. “Now, if we are to do this, we better get started. Shall we?” The four of them smiled, heads meandering to one another with joyous stupefaction.

  Jim and Jon knew right away from the ’stache. He was back! Mission success. Before they could even stutter, Rafael continued, “There’s no reason to head back to town. Now that I have regained full control over this world we can log out from here. I will initiate your logout procedure, no need for the director. When you get outside place the head you found, with the sphere inserted, onto the lending bed. Jim, use your usual bed so I know which to coordinate with. The lights should move toward the head as if it was a human’s and I will join you shortly.

  “Felix, you will have to remain here, for now, but we will be back for you. And unfortunately, you will have to walk all the way back to town—sorry, the rules must remain or the entire thing becomes unstable, and that would be bad for the others, as well the dream characters your minds have created. Time will return to normal after I am gone, approximately a day for a day, so there’s nothing you need to do immediately. But begin to spread word, that all will be logged out soon, even the DCs if we can gather enough of the necessary materials needed from Herald’s bunker in the Colorado mountains.”

  “Sounds like a plan,” Jon said. He raised a hand and put it on Rafael's shoulder, then Jim, then Rico, then Felix did the same.

  “We’re a team,” Jim said, upbeat unlike his usual self. “It’s time to get the ball rolling—take our planet back!”

  Jim logged out first, then Jon shortly after; Rico lagged a bit but finally returned. They recovered quickly with little drawback; Rico shook his head vigorously. Ted was in the broadcast room alone, talking to Marlo on screen and there were only four other lenders lending. Status: high green.

  How real that was, Jim thought, looking around. The power of the human mind, unrestrained in its natural, unmodified form. How well it merges with technology…

  And a large benefit for the lenders, they weren’t murderers anymore! The black-bag program had been rolled back so that was no longer necessary. Working, lending, really had become its intention from the get go: a relaxing retreat, a peaceful day in a Utopian world of dreams…or a Wild West adventure in Old Town! Again Rico shook his head vigorously, enough so that his cheeks flapped, then he hard blinked his eyes. Jim noticed.

  “You all right, Rico?”

  “Yeah, just feels a little weird, Jim. You know, coming back to reality.”

  “It does, you get used to it though,” Jim said, but actually he felt okay, considerably better than before the purple status. “You’ll probably feel a little groggy for a while, maybe a result of the time shift. Now, how about that head, let’s put it on the bed like Rafael told us.”

  They did just that. The blue lights lit up and the system sensed it—just as it had always done with a human head. The illuminating orbs moved up, then forward, and gently rested on the temples of the old robot head. It had no moving mouth so would be very basic, and they’d have to go back outside and scrounge for body parts, but it did have wonderfully upgraded eyes, deep and beautiful; yet most importantly, it contained Herald’s gift, the empty sphere was not only unlocked—a selfless gift to the universe—but was superior, with upgrades that could sustain any mind, and allow it to grow infinitely.

  The lights went bright, then pulled away. The head, eyes still wandering humorously, blinked several times. The eyes stopped being wacky and fixed themselves to focus on Jon, then Jim, then noticed Ted behind the two. “I’m back,” Rafael said, as if not totally believing it himself. “Ted, it’s been a long time, you probably won’t remember me. The early systems, well, they really did a number on you.”

  “Yes, I do,” Ted said. “Rafael, it’s all been coming back since the—” He thought of Amy. “—well, the fragments of memories, they’re rejoining in indescribable ways—correct ways I surmise. It’s fantastic to see you, Rafael.” Ted was amazed and his countenance oddly, and newly, reflected it. Here was Rafael!

  Ted continued, “I’m remembering as if old, dead memories have been shocked back to life. I’ve been a number cruncher, a strict data analyzer for two decades and now amazing things are happening right before my eyes.” He hardly even looked like Ted, as if he’d been injected not with lead, but a syringe full of spicy menudo. He was a blossoming flower, no longer just a tester; now, he was also a very capable theorist—with extra help. Rafael was extraordinarily gifted in the ways of science, and Ted knew it.

  “We’ll, instead of standing there gawking at my new, old head, how about we head to the garage where I parked the hover-jet? I would like to reassemble my old body parts.”

  In no time Rafael was fitted with his first body, the one he’d had in the cabins at Vallecito. He seemed to adjust quickly and looked into a mirror that resided in the clean white tool room. “I’m a bot again, strange after being a human—humans—for some many, many years. But—I need one more thing.” He found an old pen, then with a lighter from one of the tool drawers, he lit the end. He flicked it a few times to get the ink flowing then leaned toward the mirror. After wiping the old, smeared one away with a nearby rag, he proceeded to draw himself a new mustache. It was fine, thin, symmetrical—perfect. “There, all set.”

  Rafael told them it was time to travel, while his relatively clean, robotic self turned around to see it. He marveled at the old hover-jet, and if he had a mouth, he would be smiling a sunrise—but his eyes did that, they were wonderfully deep and brown. He declared himself to be the pilot, saying he could merge with the ship’s systems. With hands on his hips, he also declared himself an ace, lending comfort to the fact that they’d likely run into swarms. “…but really, sirs, the ship has received many fantastic upgrades, before we retired it into this garage. Following Herald’s most important rules of secrecy, we hid a whole lot of things in here after the first survivors had begun to be deposited into these cities. There were seven of them you know, but Jew
el City, I must declare—” He looked out, gazing upon it. “—was the finest.”

  “Is,” Rico said. Rafael bowed his head in a single nod of agreement.

  “…”

  “That’s a lot of declaring,” Jim joked, nudging the ellipsis. “Well, it is nice to get some good news for a change.”

  But Rafael didn’t hear it. He stood frozen, remembering—ellipsis unscathed. After the awkward silence, and a couple of shoulder shrugs that bounced between Jim and Rico, he continued again.

  “Feels like another lifetime…” Rafael said. Then, finally snapping to it, “Okay, we’ll log in with Marlo, tomorrow. He’ll provide us with some much-needed information. We’ll plan our route to the bunker and discuss possibilities. In the meantime, I suggest you three get some serious rest. I’ve been to his world, once, long ago when it was likely more simplistic than it is now—you’re gonna need it.”

  “You know about all that?” Jon asked.

  “I do,” Rafael answered. “Marlo brought me up to speed during the logout.”

  “Well then, what are you going to do now?”

  “What I do best, Jim. I’m going to work all night—” He moved a hand from his hip to his chin. “—I might ask Ted for some help.”

  “Ted doesn’t sleep much,” Jim said, “he’ll be a great partner.”

  Because his mouth was only a hole for the sound to come out, Rafael acknowledged contentedly with his eyes, then added, “I have no need for sleep so this will be the most efficient means for me to repair and hopefully upgrade Herald’s blockers, there are enough for each of us to have one personally, plus I need to ensure the ship’s blocker is still operational, and test it before we leave.” Smugly, after a brief pause, he professed, “I will work nightly, until it’s ready. Now, you three head out, get that rest. It’s important.”