Soul Factory

by William E Belanger

  They settled into a booth and were greeted by a woman in her late 30s named Trish. She was pleasant and Bryan could tell she used to be amazing when she was in her prime. “What a piece eh dad?” he said as he kicked at Jeff under the table. Jeff groaned again. “I’ll drive the next shift man, why don’t you pass out in the back seat?” Bryan suggested. He really didn’t realize Jeff was as bad off as he appeared to be. He was probably still over the legal limit by the sounds of him.

  Trish brought some coffee and water to Jeff and Bryan had some OJ. “Whatt’ll it be boys?” she asked with a smoky voice. Bryan felt a chill run down his spine, he really had a thing for this woman but he couldn’t exactly pinpoint why. “Can you give us a minute beautiful?” Bryan asked, “My dad still hasn’t made up his mind.” Trish blushed a bit at the young man’s compliment and placed her hand on his. “Why sure thing sugar, I’ll be back in a jiffy” she said and slowly pulled her hand away.

  “Dude, what is it with you and this old lady?” Jeff asked, “She could be your mom”. Bryan smiled, “Actually my mom is way hotter and I don’t know what it is man, now order something light and dry so we can get you feeling better” he suggested. Jeff agreed and they waited for Trish to return.

  Trish returned shortly after, took their order and gave Bryan a wink before whipping around to go put their order in. She switched her hips harder than ever when she walked and Bryan was just mesmerized at her butt’s rhythmic motions. She glanced back to make sure he was watching and winked again then disappeared behind the counter.

  After lunch she brought out a piece of Boston crème pie. “I thought you would like a little taste of my pie. It’s sweet and creamy” she cooed as she set the slice in front of Bryan. “Oh Come ON” Jeff exclaimed, accidently speaking his thoughts. “You want some of my pie too honey? It’ll cost ya” she said. Jeff shook his head no and she sauntered off again.

  Bryan was almost in tears laughing at Jeff for his outburst. “Real smooth Dad” he said between chuckles. “Dude, shut up, you gotta let this chick down gently or we will never get out of here” Jeff replied. “She’s really got a thing for you” he said. Bryan nodded. “I dig the hell out of her too man, we must’ve gotten together before because the attraction is STRONG” Bryan explained. He was going to have to pass on her so they could get on with their mission, he knew that and hated it because he would almost put money on the table that Jeff would have told him to “wait here a while” if it was his turn.

  Trish came back with their check and a separate piece of paper. “For you” she said to Jeff as she slid the check his way “and for you” she told Bryan as she slipped the note his way. “It’s my address and number, come see me” she whispered. “We’re just passing through hun” he tried to explain but Trish put her finger over his lips. “You’ll be back” she said, “and my pie will be warm and ready to serve.” She ran her finger up the side of his face and through his hair for a second. Bryan closed his eyes and took in the moment. Apparently she did too because she let out a slight moan and Jeff coughed to get their attention, the whole diner was staring at them. She pulled her hand off Bryan, grabbed the check and hightailed it back to the kitchen and out of sight.

  The guys got up to leave and Bryan practically emptied his wallet for a tip. He would have loved to leave her with much more but Jeff was right, they needed to get going and it was technically illegal for her, regardless of how old he was inside. That was one of the dangers of two recycled souls meeting again; it often caused fireworks like that. Love knows no generational boundaries and kindred spirits could care less. The law, on the other hand, had a keen interest in such affairs.

  They had sparked such interest with their little public display at the end of lunch. The boys were tailed by a cop back to their car. As they were getting in Bryan had a feeling they were being watched and told Jeff he had better drive. He wasn’t currently carrying an ID which meant he was only 16. He didn’t know there was a police officer behind him but he knew something was coming.

  “Guys, can we talk a minute?” the cop asked as they had their hands on the door handles of the car. “Sure” Jeff answered, “What’s up officer?” The police man looked them up and down and then asked “You’re this boy’s father?” with a quizzical look on his face. “That’s right” Jeff answered. The cop furrowed his brow and asked “Why in the hell did you let that lady practically molest your boy back there?” Jeff looked at the man and replied “What would you do sir? That woman in there has a steady job, a home, a car, a decent life. Should I forbid my son this pleasure and have him shack up with a 15 year old meth-head who gets him to steal cars and rob liquor stores?” The cop laughed and answered “Yeah we got a lot of those around here don’t we? You make a helluva case sir, have a good day” and just like that he walked off to his cruiser.

  “Jumpin’ Jesus on a pogo stick that was close” Jeff sighed as he got in the car. “Your little head almost got us busted, you have got to be more careful, you’re just a damn kid” he started to lecture. “Shut it Jeff, you could’ve gotten us busted last night too, but I dragged you out of that bar, down 2 blocks, up 3 flights of stairs and put you in bed. I don’t want to hear about me being irresponsible.”

  They continued up the road without speaking for a while. Finally Bryan broke the ice with “You gotta admit she had a nice butt” as he lightly hit Jeff’s arm. “She had a lot of nice buddy boy. Hold onto that number and maybe we can get you that slice of pie when this all blows over” Jeff replied and gave Bryan a wink. He then said “At least your next target is closer to your age, it won’t look nearly as ridiculous if you two make out in public.” Bryan smiled, it was a nice thought but he didn’t think Amy would be interested in him.

  Chapter 14- Meanwhile…

  Back at the soul factory the entire operation was still in chaos. The supply of mild recycles had run dry and the demand was still in the several hundred millions. The recycle line had been completely abandoned in favor of the re-flash line but even that was at a crawl until recently killed recycles returned. They weren’t even letting them go through the cleansing process anymore, they were just turning them right back out the door.

  The poor souls involved had to be completely lost and confused. One minute they were old men and women and the next they wake up as children and teenagers. It was a mess.

  The real mess was in the recycle region. The true recycles that had well over 1,000 years of existence had been locked away and the key was pretty much thrown away. If they were done with their cleansing they just sat in their bare, empty rooms wondering what was happening. They were trapped and there appeared to be no way out.

  To make things worse the management had decided to perform experiments on these souls to see if they could extract “chunks” of information. This would let them create a crude facsimile of the original system in which they could manually take out memories they wanted to use and then implant them into newcores.

  Unfortunately for the recycles, this process was sketchy and quite barbaric. Nobody had even proven that the process was possible but someone had decided that it should be tried. There was a new ward built which basically served as a hospital and laboratory for the horrendous experiments.

  Souls were having the tips of their fingers or toes cut off and then implanted onto newcores. The theory fell back on the old adage “I have more knowledge in my pinky than you do in your whole body” and someone had decided that it must be true. It was pure butchery and the poor recycles weren’t even given the courtesy of receiving the parts removed from the newcores, they were just left incomplete, suffering in their empty rooms.

  Two men looked down on the scene below. One of them shook his head and said “Look what you have done” which made the other one chuckle, “I know, isn’t it glorious?” The first one scowled and replied “I don’t even know why I stay with you, you are a horrible person” to which the second man laughed again and responded “I don’t like you very much either, now let’s get ba
ck to it, I am down 2-3 if I recall?” he asked. The first man answered “I’m up 4-2 you cheat” the second one laughed again and they disappeared from the window.

  Back in the recycle impound yard Tom Walker laid on his cot looking up at the bare ceiling. He had created a communications system among the residents around him. He surmised that his corridor was all older recycles like himself. They had developed a series of knocks which they could use to relay information easily. They had gotten their knocks 20 rooms down and 4 deep. Someone after that did not want to play with them so the chain was broken.

  This gave him 80 rooms though and among those 80 rooms they were all numbered between 200 and 881. He assumed that there was another wing with the under 200s assembled or they had ceased to exist. One could never know with this place.

  One of the inmates had been interred while an extraction procedure was taking place. He was marched through the hospital facility and tried to look into every room. Most had their curtains drawn but he was able to see into two rooms. One of them had a woman’s soul lying in bed missing 4 of her fingers on the left hand. The other had a live experiment taking place that involved a giant needle and lots of tubing. It looked like something out of a monster movie but it was very real. Too real.

  The oldcores knew they were safe for the time being as they were trying to experiment on the 20-50k crowd. It would take a while until they filtered down to the old timers. They all worried that they would have a worse fate. What if they were just eliminated all at once? Tens of thousands of years of human history destroyed in one fell swoop. It would be the worst genocide ever and nobody would ever know about it.

  “Come on Bryan” Tom muttered to himself. “You have got to come save us.” He had told the others about his visitor and they all thought he would be their savior. The problem was you were immediately apprehended once you arrived at the factory. There was no time for a tour, they were waiting for you. It was like they knew you would be coming…

  Chapter 15- Amy, sweet Amy

  The boys arrived via Hwy 63 so the first sight they saw was the large bridge over the Missouri river. It was an awesome scene with the sun setting and the bridge’s structure shadowing the river. “Woah” Bryan said. Jeff chuckled and Bryan asked him what was so funny. He responded “Over 10k years and a pretty bridge is still impressive.” Bryan laughed back and nodded. “Pretty bridges and pretty women always have my interest.”

  Jeff asked a question he had been wondering for a while. “Are you always a dude?” he asked Bryan. He nodded and said “Yeah, there are boy souls and girl souls. It doesn’t mean you can’t stray into your own gender though. That doesn’t seem to matter one bit but you cannot put a girl’s soul in a guy’s body and vice versa” he explained. Jeff said “hmmm” and then finished the thought with “Well I guess you cannot explain away homosexuality by saying the person got the wrong soul implanted” and Bryan answered “Nope that is all personality and genetic makeup. It is stored in your soul as memories but the soul has no influence except in times of need.” Bryan continued, “Besides, girl’s souls have boobs too, they wouldn’t fit in a boy” he smiled and looked over at Jeff who rolled his eyes and said “Whatever.”

  They found a hotel near the river and unpacked all their gear except for the sensitive stuff. They always kept their stash of IDs and ATM cards in the spare tire well in the trunk. They also had a few spares sewn into a pocket of their luggage in case their car got nipped and they were stuck. Hopefully it never got stolen while they were eating on the road or they would be in trouble for a little while.

  After unpacking they went out on the town to find something good to eat. They weren’t going to worry about Amy for another day so they pretty much had the night off to enjoy and relax. They picked a good looking local pub and decided to have dinner. Jeff wasn’t quite ready to drink yet but told Bryan he would get some beer or booze for the room if he wished. Bryan told him he would think on it, he didn’t see any particular need to get drunk at the moment. Maybe when they got Amy he would be ready for a celebration drink.

  The burgers were enormous. They could have shared one but it had been implied more than once that they were a couple and Jeff was really uncomfortable with that. It wasn’t the gay implications that really got him; it was the fact that Bryan was so young. He could deal with being gay and he could deal with being a freak but he wanted nothing to do with being a gay freak.

  The boys ate a little over half of their meals each. “Man, I will never get to sleep if I eat any more” Jeff said. Bryan agreed, that was a silly amount of food. At that very moment Bryan’s ears perked a little and Jeff swore he saw a sparkle in Bryan’s eyes. “Wha..” Jeff started to ask and Bryan Shhh’d him quickly. Bryan’s jaw slowly unhinged and Jeff thought it was going to hit the table. He closed his mouth but his lip started to quiver.

  A family was approaching; it was nothing really out of the ordinary, just a mom, a dad, and two children. One of the children was a teenage girl. She was stunning. Bryan sat straight and proud as they approached and tried to control his emotions. When they were about 3 strides from the table the girl turned and locked eyes with him.

  Jeff watched the girl display almost the exact same reaction Bryan had just a few seconds ago. Her jaw opened then quickly closed, her eyes twinkled, and her lip quivered when she shut her mouth quickly. She swiveled her head to stay locked with Bryan as she passed and Jeff swore he saw the girl mouth “I love you” to the kid she had never met. This boy had some game.

  When the episode was over Bryan turned around with tears and fireworks going off in his eyes. “That’s Amy…that’s Teresa, Emily, Gina, Shelly…” and he kept spouting off names for what seemed like at least a minute, possibly two. 17 names in all Jeff counted but he might have missed a few here and there. When he had finally finished Jeff shook his head and said “annnnd….what does this mean?” Bryan leaned in. “That’s my soul mate. I have been with her through many lives. I always find her and there she is. She is the girl we came to see.” Jeff crashed back against the booth and palmed his face. “I’m kidnapping a beautiful teen girl aren’t I?” he asked through his hands. “I’m afraid so buddy” Bryan responded. “Look at the bright side, if we keep racking up felonies they will just gas you and you won’t have to worry about prison rape” Bryan joked. Jeff didn’t find it that funny. In fact the thought the joke just outright sucked.

  The rest of the day was a waste; Bryan was in la-la land the whole time. Jeff finally got fed up with it and left the kid in the room and found the hotel’s bar. Bryan was acting like a teen girl trying to figure out what to wear. He knew it didn’t matter because Amy was his already but he felt a need to impress her. No matter how many times he met her he always got a twinge of excitement that could not be compared to anything else in the world. The best he could come up with is that first drop when you ride a roller coaster.

  Bryan got everything set for Sunday afternoon around dinner time so he decided to head down to the bar to see if he could find Jeff. He supposed he needed to apologize for his behavior but his heart wasn’t in it. Why should one apologize for finding their true love? Jeff was just bitter that he had not found his soul mate. Bryan wished he could help him out. Maybe when this whole debacle was over they could go on a hunt.

  Jeff was drowning away sorrows at the bar with a girl who looked like she was in her late 30s. Bryan decided to take a seat at a table and observe while eating dinner. Jeff appeared to be doing well, the girl would laugh and pat his back or put her hand on his at random intervals. Bryan smiled; maybe he could take her upstairs and stop being so grumpy all the time.

  By the time Bryan’s chicken fingers arrived Jeff and his conquest had sauntered off. Bryan smiled and said “atta boy” to himself. Of course now he was stuck until the two of them finished up, which could be a while. He thought of things he could do with his new found spare time and decided to check out the arcade where Amy’s party was being held. It wasn’t too far up the road and the
weather was pleasant so it wouldn’t be a bad walk. He thought about calling Jeff but knew he would get a nasty response so he just went for it.

  Bryan set out for the arcade once dinner was done. If he had known he was going to be heading out he probably wouldn’t have chosen the overpriced hotel food. $15 for a plate that would cost you $7 at any pub was a tad ridiculous. Feeding mega-corporations money was also against their policy but Jeff seemed to have no problem with it so why would he?

  The walk was uneventful and Bryan arrived at the mega-arcade as the sun was going down. He walked inside and got $50 put on a game card so he could have a little fun. They had a couple pinball tables so he immediately headed that way, it was one of his favorite types of arcade games and one of the oldest styles still around.

  The newer tables were extremely complex and overly flashy compared to the old ones but the game was not changed. You still had to beat a silver ball around a table for points. The brilliant people at the arcade had devised an arbitrary credit system that was designed to camouflage how much money you spent. Bryan couldn’t help but do the conversion in his head and it was depressing. A game that used to be 25 cents now cost upwards of $1.30 for a single round.

  Bryan looked around the arcade for another game to play. These places were pretty much kid’s casinos and the currency was tickets. Almost every game was a modified gambling device of some sort that was disguised with flashy bright lights and goofy characters. Bryan didn’t play those types of games but they dominated almost 70% of the facility. “Guess I will just stay here” he muttered to himself after not seeing anything else he would be interested in.

  “Good thing” replied a female voice from the next machine over. Bryan turned and saw her standing there, faking playing the game. “Amy” he said without thinking, he shouldn’t know her name. “I don’t know your name but I want to call you Steve” she answered. “That was last time, I’m Bryan now” he said. She got a quizzical look on her face and Bryan quickly realized she was not fully aware as he was. This could be interesting. Amy leaned in close and whispered “Feed me Bryan, I’m starving” and Bryan had to laugh. She had been a tease for many life times and she seemed to be getting better every time.