Skull Flowers
Page 4
MUMBLES
You wrong for that.
They both begin to laugh.
Shugga Nuttz is taking pulls off a 40 oz. of Da' Sinister Syrup.
He's watching a cartoon, Tha Mis-Adventures ov Stemz & Seedz on a Eyegasmatron hanging from the wall like a broken picture frame.
Alexis bursts into the room with her Enigma's laser aimed right between Shugga Nuttz eyes.
ALEXIS
Think a happy thought.
808 kicks open the bathroom door.
Dizzy is inside jerking off.
808 points his Uzi's at him.
Taint try's to get up and run.
Officer Whistle Britches zaps Taint with his Circuit Breaker and he falls face first into Sid's lap.
OFFICER WHISTLE BRITCHES
Have a seat.
Shugga Nuttz is sweating bullets.
SHUGGA NUTTZ
It's all gravy baby.
Ain't no nee' to start no drama.
Alexis picks up a Vile of Star Dust off the coffee table.
She tosses it at Shugga.
ALEXIS
Where'd you get this?
Shugga bites his bottom lip.
Scarzensky's Roach runs up the wall.
Alexis backhands Shugga with her Enigma.
SHUGGA NUTTZ
I gets it from that fool Scarzenksy!
Shugga grabs his head. It's bloody.
OFFICER WHISTLE BRITCHES
I thought gangsta's didn't break bread with the police?
SHUGGA NUTTZ
There ain't no Skull Flowers growin' in the Grully fool.
Where you think we gettin' it from, the Tooth Fairy?
Shugga Nuttz smiles flashing his fronts so that his gold teeth can gleam.
OFFICER WHISTLE BRITCHES
Why are you giving it away free?
Doesn't seem like there's too much of a profit motive in free.
DIZZY
Don't tell that pig nuffin'!
Alexis points her Enigma over at Dizzy.
Without breaking eye contact with Shugga she blows him off the toilet.
SHUGGA NUTTZ
He paid me to take it!
OFFICER WHISTLE BRITCHES
You mean to tell me that the Director of the Occult Bureau is giving you free kilo's of Star Dust and then paying you to put it out on the street?
SHUGGA NUTTZ
That's what I'm telling you fool.
It's like laying pancakes on a skillet, it ain't to hard to figga' out.
OFFICER WHISTLE BRITCHES
And, you didn't think that was a little strange at the time?
SHUGGA NUTTZ
When ya' ten toes down in the Grully mashin' fa ya' rashin' like I is ya' don't ask no questions when money come ya' way.
Ya', feel me?
ALEXIS
Yeah, I feel ya'.
Verse XVIII
High above the city a heavily armed helicopter called the Warlock is being piloted by the Drone Commander.
A transmission is being intercepted.
It's coming from Scarzensky's Roach inside the Mayhaw Housing Projects.
It shows Shugga Nuttz spilling the beans.
The Drone Commander motions to Assault to show the transmission to Special Agent Scarzensky.
The Warlock begins to hover above the rooftop of the Mayhaw Housing Projects.
Below several Think Tanks begin to pull up and surround the Mayhaw Housing Projects.
Assault and Battery jump out of the Warlock onto the roof holding Terminator Sub-Machine Guns.
Special Agent Scarzensky is holding the leash to Killer in one hand and the machine gun the Intelligentsia in the other.
SPECIAL AGENT SCARZENSKY
Our orders are to take the girl alive.
BATTERY
What about the robot and the rent-a-cop?
SPECIAL AGENT SCARZENSKY
Kill em'.
Verse XIX
The Eyegasmatron in Ole' Widder Woman Johnson's unit is blaring The Status Quo.
JOHNNY LYES
It's not the absence of tolerance we should be worried about under Proposition 666, it is the issue of how are we all going to cope with so many new freedoms that we should all be discussing.
On the second floor Scarzensky unleashes Killer.
The backup Drones coming out the stairwell are blown into scrap metal by 808's Proximity Mines.
Assault and Battery open fire as soon as they round the corner to Unit 100.
Shugga Nuttz head is blown off.
Alexis empties both clips in her Enigma's.
Assault and Battery duck for cover.
Special Agent Scarzensky opens fire with the Intelligentsia.
Unit 100 is turned into swiss cheese.
Scarzensky has to reload.
Assault fires one last round into the unit.
The round hits a gas pipe to the stove where the Star Dust is rocked up.
The explosion cooks Mumbles like a pot roast and sends Officer Whistle Britches flying out the window.
Whistle Britches fly's through the alley like a comet and lands in a dumpster.
OFFICER WHISTLE BRITCHES
Aaaaaaahhhh!
Back in Unit 100 Alexis motions to 808.
ALEXIS
Come on!
Alexis clicks the Heart Shaped Hologram on her key chain.
The Shadow Runner transforms and drives itself around to the back of the Mayhaw.
Alexis runs for the hole blown in the wall.
Killer gnaws Taint to pieces.
Sid continues to lay there in his chair, deader than shit.
808 rolls some dice.
They explode like two flash grenades.
Alexis begins to make her way down the scaffolding to the street below.
Alexis and 808 jump inside the Shadow Runner.
Alexis peels out.
She drives to the dumpster.
A still smoking Officer Whistle Britches slowly begins to crawl out the dumpster.
The Shadow Runner pulls up beside it and 808 opens its door.
ALEXIS
Get in!
808 holds his nose and pulls an old banana peel off of Officer Whistle Britches as he crawls into the backseat.
Once inside Alexis peels out and races towards the Super Highway.
Verse XX
Inside Linux University Professor Proxy is seated at his desk in front of a giant Eyegasmatron the size of a chalkboard.
Alexis pulls out the Vile of Star Dust and places it on his desk.
ALEXIS
This is why we're here.
PROFESSOR PROXY
Star Dust?
Professor Proxy scratches his beard.
ALEXIS
Not just any kind of Star Dust.
OFFICER WHISTLE BRITCHES
Small time hood named Shugga outta' the Mayhaw says he got it from the Occult Bureau.
PROFESSOR PROXY
Really!?!
ALEXIS
We lifted that off of one of the fiends in the street.
808 walks off scratching his butt.
PROFESSOR PROXY
Let's have a look.
Professor Proxy dumps the contents of the vile onto his examination tray.
He boots up his sequencing software.
His face lights up in surprise.
ALEXIS
What is it?
PROFESSOR PROXY
Nano-bots, but none like I've ever seen before.
Nano-bots appear on Professor Proxy's screen.
ALEXIS
What are nano-bots doing in Star Dust?
PROFESSOR PROXY
I don't know. Controlled Substances Inc. is the only company allowed to put any type of nano-bot in a pharmaceutical and the last time I checked, the House ov Cards hadn't made Star Dust legal for any type of study.
Professor Proxy takes a tiny portion of the Star Dust and gives it to one of his lab rats.
OFFICER WHISTLE BRITCHES
Is that normal?
PROFESSOR PROXY
Yeah, it's just a euphoric rush. Sometimes it can go on for hours depending on the dose, the contents of the stomach, and the weight of the user.
Usually doesn't take much more than a cryptogram though.
Professor Proxy picks up the rats cage and places it on his examination table.
Many holographic screens on an array of Eyegasmatron's filled with algorithm's pop up all around him.
An endless array of information about the rat begins to stream.
PROFESSOR PROXY
Will you look at that?
OFFICER WHISTLE BRITCHES
What is it?
PROFESSOR PROXY
The nano-bots are grafting something to the rats DNA.
Professor Proxy zooms in on the nano-bots.
PROFESSOR PROXY
Looks like some kind of barcode or identifying marker.
At this stage it's too early to tell.
The Eyegasmatron illuminates a two-way feed.
PROFESSOR PROXY
Whatever it is, it's capable of sending and receiving information.
ALEXIS
What kind of information?
PROFESSOR PROXY
I don't know.
Anything I suppose.
The vital signs for the lab rat appear on screen.
PROFESSOR PROXY
My guess is that the nano-bots do their work while the user is intoxicated that way they're euphoric and wouldn't immediately notice any changes in respiration, heart rate, etc.
They'd just think they were having a good time and that they were normal side-effects.
ALEXIS
What about the comedown.
Candy said there was no comedown.
PROFESSOR PROXY
The nano-bots probably release a mild sedative that's time released as the user begins to come down.
It probably helps to keep the user from noticing the changes that have taken place or anyone around em' for that matter and in the end puts them into a deep sleep until their work is finally done.
Professor Proxy begins typing on his keyboard.
PROFESSOR PROXY
But I won't know for sure until the Star Dust has run its course but I have every indication to believe that's the case.
With a puzzled look on his face Professor Proxy begins to scratch his beard.
PROFESSOR PROXY
In fact it reminds me of some similar work I once tutored Xavier on for a bioethics class.
ALEXIS
What kind of work?
PROFESSOR PROXY
As a member of the Brimstone Society and a worshiper of the Priestess ov Mars, Xavier was very interested in the manipulation of the primordial soup below the quantum level to create life via xenobiotics.
Professor Proxy pulls up some of Xavier's work on his Eyegasmatron.
PROFESSOR PROXY
He believed that a person could themselves become an interface or a portal if you will into these forgotten realms and that once in touch with these realms be able to freely roam between them.
He believed that you could harness the power of the Ether that held these realms together and become a Master ov tha Ancient Electronic Arts.
A ebook appears on screen and Professor Proxy transfers it over to 808's Grimoire.
PROFESSOR PROXY
He titled his thesis, The Death of the Ego and The Re-imprintation of the Id.
808 starts reading the ebook.
ALEXIS
I never knew you were in to that old time religion, Professor.
PROFESSOR PROXY
I can't help it.
I wanted to be a shaman when I was growing up.
But, have no doubt. I am a man of science.
One that believes that science and magick walk hand in hand.
Just like there are two sides to every coin, but it still remains a coin.
Professor Proxy points to a picture on the wall of him with Governor Champagne and Alexis's mother.
PROFESSOR PROXY
Don't forget your mother was a fortune teller's daughter until the day she died.
She was born amongst the Toubabo Koomi and even though your father wouldn't even pay lip service to the Cults ov tha Priestess ov Mars she very much believed in Oblivion and the Alchemists ov tha Forgotten Realms.
Professor Proxy types on the keyboard to his Eyegasmatron and several articles appear on its screen.
PROFESSOR PROXY
Some academics even though they would never utter it aloud for fear that it would endanger their tenure, still believe that the Alchemists ov tha Forgotten Realms were the first true scientists and that Oblivion taught them how to create man from this primordial soup via a spell book known as the Codex Magicka that he had stolen from the Great Architect ov tha Universe.
ALEXIS
I remember her telling me stories about them before she died.
PROFESSOR PROXY
The Toubabo Koomi have always believed that by drinking the blood of the Skull Flower that a person is able to alter their consciousness and enter into these realms.
Xavier was anything but alone in his thinking.
Professor Proxy points to a Skull Flower growing in a pot underneath a blacklight.
PROFESSOR PROXY
It's a shame that such a sacred plant amongst your people for 1000's of years should be perverted and made into something like Star Dust.
Professor Proxy pulls up some of Xavier's work on his Eyegasmatron.
PROFESSOR PROXY
Xavier said any barbarian can learn to split an atom that it took no more wisdom than a child banging a wooden spoon on a cooking pot or pan.
Professor Proxy pulls up an atom on his Eyegasmatron.
PROFESSOR PROXY
But to learn how to re-arrange those same atoms like toy blocks that is like learning how to create life itself.
It is the key to all of creation.
It is the most ancient of the electronic arts.
Professor Proxy begins moving his arm in the empty space around his body.
PROFESSOR PROXY
The Ether is everything around us.
It looks empty but is actually filled with energy.
A streaming video appears on Professor Proxy's Eyegasmatron.
PROFESSOR PROXY
You see it when lightning strikes or fire jumps from its embers.
It is there, an invisible almost nothingness waiting to be turned into whatever one desires if one knows how.
A video of the atomic makeup of lead and gold begin streaming.
PROFESSOR PROXY
The stories of the Alchemists quest to turn lead into gold are legendary.
The similarities of the two compounds are highlighted.
PROFESSOR PROXY
It is rather simple to do if one ever pays attention in a science class or bothers to read a book.
Professor Proxy highlights the leads atomic makeup.
PROFESSOR PROXY
You see, in a molecule of lead there are 82 electrons, 82 protons, and 125 neutrons.
The electrons, protons, and neutrons are highlighted.
PROFESSOR PROXY
In a molecule of gold there are 79 electrons, 79 protons, and 118 neutrons.
The electrons, protons, and neutrons, begin to rearrange on screen.
PROFESSOR PROXY
All one needs to do to turn lead into gold is to take away 3 electrons and protons from a lead molecule and add 7 neutrons.
Lead is turned into gold on screen.
PROFESSOR PROXY
When one has control of the atomic level and can re-arrange it as one wishes one can create anything one chooses from the Ether.
A streaming video of an atom being zoomed in on to the quantum level appears on Professor Proxy's Eyegasmatron.
PROFESSOR PROXY
Who knows what might happen if one was able to manipulate the primordial soup below the quantum level.
They may very well possess the keys to life and death itself.
At the very least they would surely have the powers we normally would attribute to a god.
Officer Whistle Britches almost falls out of his seat.