“No, no. The Geft machine was incapable of creating anything living at that point. Nothing made of wood, no coal, no bone, no flesh, no ivory.”
“Hmm. I guess that’s probably a good thing.” Charlie thought about it.
“Oh it was, while it lasted. Have you met Kalligeneia? Have you met the Mother of Monsters?”
“She seemed like a nice enough girl.”
Umbra Farrah sighed. “Well, she can be. She’s never been anything but nice to me. Still, history doesn’t have much nice to say about her. She valued imagination above all things. She encouraged a generation of women to give flesh to their darkest dreams. She believed, I suppose she still believes, that by bringing our darkness out we could expel it. It wouldn’t be a part of us anymore.”
“What kinds of things did they dream up?”
“Two headed-babies, chimeras, spider-snakes, dragon-octopuses, skeleton-flowers, but more than that. Some of them were true and horrific works of art. In a book, it’s easy enough to appreciate her aesthetic, but to think that she really unleashed them into the world….. I just wish she had been a few centuries earlier and just been a fantasy artist. Her brush was… too powerful.”
“Why is she on the crew? Why is Aelfwyrd here? Who would pick villains for this mission?”
Allambree answered. “Are they villains? That might be too simple a way to look at it. They were brilliant. They have the minds which you would want to take with you out past the other side of forever. Who knows what we will encounter? Aelfwyrd, Kalligeneia, and Wu Gwei were not seen as heroes by many, but they are three of the greatest minds humanity has ever produced.”
“Besides,” Allambree added, “can we really blame any of us for what we are supposed to have done in our previous lives?”
Umbra continued. “Wu Gwei was born during the Age of Nightmares, the 25th century. He might have been a hero. It depends on how you look at it. Wu Gwei chose to become a kind of cyborg. He filled his body with mechanical and biological implants designed for fighting the worst of the monsters of his day. And there were some big ones. There was a reptile as large as a moon. There were carnivorous giants, hives, plagues.”
Allambree interjected, “Two headed-babies, chimeras, spider-snakes, dragon-octopuses, skeleton-flowers…”
Umbra continued, “And Wu Gwei decided that he needed an army to fight them. So, he took the people of Aldebaran-4 and lobotomized them all. He slaved their minds to his own, so he could control them. He destroyed their personalities, their dreams, their art. You couldn’t have gotten one of them to tell you their names afterwards. But he filled their minds with combat. He replaced their hands with cannons, and he sent them to war.
“After Wu’s army was done, the worst of the monsters were gone and the universe had only one thing left to fear: Wu Gwei himself.”
Charlie interrupted. “Who built the Geft machine?”
“The Geft machine?” she repeated after him.
“Well, it seems like all the most important people in history, all the most important people in your story all ended up on crew. What about the guy who made the Geft machine? I bet he would be useful.”
Umbra answered. “There was a team and they worked from the project which had already been begun by the extinct alien scientists on Allambree’s world, but the man you’re asking about is Werner Gilliam. He’s not on our crew.”
“Why not?”
Allambree answered. “There are only twelve of us. We don’t know the reasons why everyone was chosen, but it wasn’t just a question of picking the top twelve most influential blokes from the twenty-three hundreds to the twenty-eight hundreds. I reckon we were picked to do certain jobs. They thought we wouldn’t need him.”
Umbra Farrah continued. “When it seemed like Wu Gwei was set to conquer all of the Unified Universe, a warrior named Avraam Fock appeared. They say that he was dreamed up in the Geft machine, just as all the monsters were, by a woman who had suffered more than most. She wanted a son, and she wanted a champion who could defeat Wu Gwei.”
“Is that true?” Charlie asked.
Umbra smiled. “No, of course not. Fables grow up around legends. Avraam was born on the planet Georgia of Russian parents.”
“Is he on the crew?” Charlie asked.
“He is,” Umbra Farrah replied.
“Well, alright. A hero could be useful.”
“After the Age of Nightmare, the use of the Geft was far more tightly controlled, but the governments didn’t give it up completely. Veronika Zavada was the first human being to dream up a whole planet with the machine, a complete world with every rock and every stone. She was also known as one of the greatest painters, sculptors, and obviously architects in history. Yes, she is on the crew. You always blush when you first meet her.”
“Why is that?”
Umbra smiled sweetly. “You find her very attractive and can’t help yourself.”
“Oh, I see,” Charlie answered. He felt awkward, both because in a strange way Umbra Farrah was very beautiful herself, and also because he was not ready to be involved with anyone and couldn’t imagine he would be for a very long time. Did no one understand that it had only been two days since the woman he loved had died?
A woman’s voice called out from across the room. It was bright and cheerful, excited, and also familiar. “Speak of the devils, and we always do appear, don’t we?”
Despite himself, Charlie found himself smiling as he looked to see who it was.
2
Everyone who ever met Gloryannana loved her, even if that love led to hate or jealousy. Her smile made everyone else smile. If she laughed, you would laugh harder. There had been many paintings on Earth of her eyes. Everyone fantasized about her lips. Her hair was long, blonde, wavy, and filled with a supernatural body which caused it to bounce as she walked.
The Queen of England was born in the time before Doctor Aelfwyrd had invented post-humans and yet seemed to come from a time after them all. She was soft and gentle, shockingly gorgeous, and yet human. And just imperfect enough that everyone imagined that maybe, just maybe she would give them a chance. As she walked forward, the Voice of England made certain to share a glance with everyone in the room, including the two men she arrived with. She wanted everyone to feel special.
Wu Gwei stood to her left. He wore a different and less bulky suit of red, purple, and green armor. There was a sword at his belt and what looked like a gun embedded in the gauntlet of his right hand.
On Her Majesty’s right walked a large man with long, but dirty, blond hair. His arms and legs and chest were massive, more like a bear’s than a man. He radiated strength and power, and yet carried an extra layer of maybe forty or fifty pounds on top of his muscle. He wore a torn and blood-splattered T-shirt, a pair of black pants and black boots. He carried a heavy metal pipe.
When Gloryannana looked at the large blond man, he blushed and missed a step. Wu Gwei pretended not to notice when she smiled at him. And when she caught Charlie looking at her, her teasing eyes seemed to say, “Yes, I am attractive, and I just caught you noticing.”
Umbra introduced them, “Captain, this is your first officer, Her Majesty Gloryannana, the Voice of England. This is Mr. Wu, your Quartermaster. And finally, as we mentioned, this is the hero Avraam Fock.”
Fock stepped forward and shook the Captain’s hand. “You owe me ten thousand dollars!”
Charlie shook his hand in a friendly way. “I’m sorry, I don’t - ”
But then Avraam started laughing. “I’m sorry. This is an old joke you and I share. Congratulations on your death and resurrection.” The warrior moved his right hand through the air, wiggling his fingers, as if illustrating the resurrection process.
“Thanks, I guess.”
Wu Gwei nodded at Charlie respectfully. “Good to see you again, sir.”
Charlie returned the nod.
The Queen held her hand out, at waist height for Charlie to kiss. He paused for a moment uncertain of what to do.
She exploded in laughter and threw her arms around him, kissing Charlie warmly on the cheek. “Darling, it’s so good to have you back.”
She then stepped back, sighed, and changed demeanor. “Now, what’s this I hear about you locking my poor David up in the dungeons?”
Charlie paused before answering her. “He killed me at least twenty-four times. And he tried to do it again. He killed Allambree at least… twice?” He looked at Allambree.
The giant nodded. “Two or three times.”
Charlie continued. “He killed Allambree two or three times, and we have every reason to expect he’ll try it all again as soon as he gets the chance. He should have never been put on our crew.”
“Captain, with all due respect, David was just trying to clean up your mess. He didn’t want us to have slaves. I begged you not to bring those sweet creatures from Primus-3 on our ship. He was just trying to fix your memory problems so we wouldn’t need them anymore.”
“Glory - I’m sorry - Queen Gloryannana, I don’t know about any of that. I was actually born yesterday. But, it doesn’t make any sense to me. I would never agree to forced labor. Supposedly you’ve all read about me in books. They tell me I stood up for the opposite of that.”
She smiled warmly again. “That’s exactly what I told you at the time. Well, I’m glad the new you is so much more reasonable. Now, David. He’s our doctor. His skills are indispensable. We need him, and everyone here has at one time or another called him friend.”
“He’s a psychopath.”
“So’s Mr. Wu, if you give him a good enough reason.”
Wu Gwei frowned deeply, but did not speak up.
“I’ll think about it,” Charlie replied unhappily.
“Oh, just kill him already! I’ll wait in the Genesis Chamber and when we get the fresh David I’ll prep him. He’s mine, you know. If I order him to not kill you anymore, I bet he’ll do it. People tend to do what I ask them to.”
“I’m not going to kill him,” Charlie said quietly.
Allambree sounded angry as he spoke. “Maybe we can’t keep him in the dock for a thousand years and maybe we aren’t going to kill him, but that doesn’t mean the yobbo doesn’t deserve punishment. Why don’t you go downstairs and see what you can do to rehabilitate the bugger?”
The queen turned and looked at Allambree. She smiled deeply, and then embraced him. “Oh, Ali! I can’t believe you’re all new again and dressed in your gold and whites. You and I are going to have to get to know each other all over again. How much fun that will be!” Her face glowed with delight.
She was only five foot six, and he was of course eight feet tall, so her face was pressed against his chest. He gingerly hugged her back. “That’d be right.”
Avraam walked and rested his hand on the Captain’s shoulder. He spoke confidentially. “I wouldn’t mind killing him, if it’s got to be done. Can I pick my own method of executing him?”
“We’re not killing him.” Charlie swiped the Russian’s arm away. “Whatever we do, we’re not killing him.”
Queen Gloryannana let go of Allambree and walked back to Charlie. “Mercy is always appreciated, Captain. I remember when you and David were friends. Maybe you can be again?”
“We’ll see. But first things first, we’re going to turn this ship around and go back to Earth.”
The crew looked at him like he was crazy. For two, three, four moments no one spoke.
It was Umbra who finally did. “Captain, we can never go back. It’s impossible. We were sent here as a signal. Matter can’t travel that sort of distance. Going home would… it would violate every known law of physics.”
Charlie nodded, paused for a moment and then replied. “Then I’m challenging you to violate the laws of physics. Is that a problem, Ms. Farrah?”
May 2065
Charlie nervously walked into the waiting room. He fumbled with his identification as he approached the receptionist, dropping some candy from the bottom of his pocket as he produced his Wurld-Ball. He handed it to a very large woman who wore her hair in a tight and sharp bun. A deep and loose double-chin hung over her neck, and she had obviously spent hours on getting her make-up the way she believed was perfect.
She scanned the ball, and then smiled an insincere smile as she asked him to have a seat. He waited for thirty-five minutes until she called his name. He stood up, contemplated leaving, and then went back to meet the medical agent.
“Why are you considering becoming a flesh donor?” the doctor asked.
“The- the money,” Charlie mumbled.
“Sure, naturally. Many of our donors do it to help with the bills, but I find the most successful donors all have a bigger vision. Do you have a dream, Mr. Daemon?”
“Yeah. I want to buy musical instruments – musical equipment. I’m a musici-”
“Are you a musician?” The doctor asked in a far louder and more confident voice than young Charlie could muster. It made him feel even smaller.
“Yeah. I sing. I’m learning guitar.”
“You understand that some patients experience unavoidable scarring, and the majority of those have them for life?”
“Chicks dig scars,” He joked in a small and quiet voice. He smiled shyly.
“I’m sure you’ll do fine.” The doctor smiled in a paternal way.
The doctor’s office was beautiful. The floors and walls were made of a dark and rich wood. Degrees and awards hung on the wall. There were green and healthy potted plants. The carpets were thick. Charlie’s feet sank into them as he walked.
The doctor himself looked to be in his fifties. He had wide brown eyes, a wide round face, and perfect skin. He smelled of chemicals though.
His short square bristly moustache looked like it came from another century.
“Charlie, I might consider taking you on as a client, but I make it a policy to be certain that no one here goes into this with any illusions. Yes, the money is good for a job you can do lying around on the couch. But it can be difficult. It can be a real punch in the pride, if you know what I mean?”
Charlie nodded.
“Once you sign the contract, you will have no say as to what they grow on you. It might just be extra teeth and noses, maybe a finger or two. Or it could be more significant. I have a client now who is growing an extra pair of legs for a man who broke his in a car accident.”
“But they pay more for that?” Charlie asked.
“Yes, of course. And as your agent, my job will be to make sure that you get the best possible price. If you tell me to pursue the big money items, I’ll do that. Are you thinking about trying to make music your primary profession?”
Charlie nodded.
“Then you will need to save some money up. Six months of donation could earn you six months to pursue your art. And of course, there will probably be no reason why you can’t practice and write while you grow.”
Charlie silently stared at the doctor. His stomach felt uncomfortable.
“You’re young. I can see you’re intelligent. I feel good about this. We’ll get you that leg up. I bet in a year I’ll see you online and I’ll tell people, I knew him when he was just starting out.”
“I heard… I heard that sometimes they get the donors to grow replacement parts for pets – the pets of the rich and famous.”
“I only know of one case where a man was asked to grow a tail, and he was very well compensated. You should be so lucky. Whatever they ask you to grow, it will be gone a few months later and no one will know that you ever had it on you. Even if it does leave a teeny little scar, who’s to say that you didn’t get that falling off your bike? Maybe you can tell them you got in a bar fight after one of your gigs at Madison Square Garden?”
“Do the parts…work? If I grow a tail will it wag? If I grow extra legs, would I be able to walk on them?”
“Rarely. If you are able to move them at all, and you probably won’t, that would only be in the last week or so of the donation, right before
we extract them. Yeah, sure, I’ve seen fingers wiggle, but not become useful. I’ve seen wings that could flap, but not on donors, only on the end users.”
“Wings?” Charlie asked with amazement.
“Ah, you’re going to be a rock star. I bet in a few years you’ll be the one coming back here asking us to find you a donor to grow you all kinds of fantastic beauty parts.”
Charlie sighed.
“And what about the mind loans?”
“Oh ho ho. I don’t know if you’re up to that. But if you are, and you can pass the exam, then it’s sure to change your life. The test is hard. If you pass, and we do have a program to prepare you, then your brain becomes a part of a neural network. It could be for the government or a private company. They use as a data processor. You won’t be aware. You’re unlikely to remember a thing. A year later, you get a check. And no, before you ask, you can only do it once. The human mind has trouble re-normalizing if you do it for more than the single term.”
“What does that pay?”
“It can pay up to $100,000 depending on your score. Of course, we would take a third for our costs, but that could still leave you with up to $66,000 just for taking a long nap. The flesh donations will pay you anywhere between $5,000 and $10,000 for six months work. And I do use the word “work” loosely. It’s not like you’ll work up a sweat just eating and getting your six hours of sleep a night.”
“Can I – could I do both? I mean, I could grow extra parts while my mind is working on the neural networks, right?”
The doctor laughed. “No, my boy. When you loan your mind they get 100% of your attention. They need an undistracted subject.”
“Then, I guess I’ll have to think about the mind loan. Could I be a donor for six months and then do a tour as a loaner later?”
“Sure, as long as you don’t do both at once, I would think that would be fine.”
“Then…. Okay.”
The policy was that the patients could not know what parts would be stimulated in their flesh before the surgery. They did tell him that the target area was going to be his legs. Charlie was always tall, and the doctor seemed impressed with the skin there.
The Secrets of the Universe (Farther Than We Dreamed Book 1) Page 10