The Universe Builders: Bernie and the Putty

by Steve LeBel

  “Have you ever wondered what I’m really like?” she asked. She’d used charms for so long, she wondered if even she knew the answer to that question.

  “Ah… Yes,” said Lenny, knowing where this conversation was leading, and doubly afraid because of it.

  “We both know we’re not the people we appear to be,” Candi said as she stroked Lenny’s well-muscled arm. “But when I look at you, I can’t tell the difference. I know tomorrow you may or may not have muscles or you may be taller or shorter than you are now. Or you may have a hypnotic gaze or a way with words you don’t have today. I know it isn’t real. What I don’t know is whether it should matter.” She looked questioningly at Lenny.

  Lenny looked back, reached deep inside, and pulled up his own confession. “I’m afraid I’m manipulating you. I know you wouldn’t like me if it weren’t for my charms. And I’m using them to make you see someone else. It’s just an illusion. Whenever I do something that makes you happy, I feel like I’ve tricked you, and it’s all going to unravel. And when you see the real me, you’ll be disappointed and angry.”

  “I have the same fear, Lenny. If you knew the real me, you wouldn’t want me either.”

  “That’s crazy! I like everything about you. You’re smart and beautiful and fun and lots more besides.”

  “But, Lenny. I have a charm for every one of those. What if you saw me without any of them? What would you think then?”

  As they thought their own thoughts, the only sound heard above the silence was a soft clucking.

  It was Candi who moved them both forward. “If we left our charms behind, and we got to know each other, I’m not sure what that accomplishes.”

  Lenny looked at her and cocked his head in a quizzical way.

  “Our charms are part of who we are. They make us unique. I’m not sure what purpose would be served trying to figure out what we’re like without them. I don’t intend to give mine up, do you?”

  “No.”

  “Then we’re charm-people, Lenny. One package. You have to take me as I am, charms and all.”

  “You don’t feel like I’m manipulating you when I make you think and feel things you shouldn’t?”

  “Not at all. Do you feel like I am manipulating you?” Candi asked back.

  “No,” said Lenny. Then he added, “But, I think you could if you wanted to.”

  “That has nothing to do with my charms, Lenny. That has to do with being a girl.” She batted her eyelashes at him. To demonstrate her point, she caught the eye of an unsuspecting young god walking by. She turned the full intensity of her smile on him. Her victim, unable to break his gaze, stumbled into a chair, returning him to reality just in time to avoid dropping his tray. Candi hid her giggle.

  Then she turned back to Lenny and patted his arm as she said, “Don’t worry, Lenny. Where you’re concerned, I promise to use my powers only for good.”

  A World Ablaze

  “Where?” Gondal asked, trying to keep his voice even.

  “Everywhere,” exclaimed Minister Wadov. “Come see for yourself.” He led the leader of the Senate to the nearest window.

  The tall billowing clouds had not been there the day before. Although they looked like large thunderclouds, in these times, it was hard to trust anything to be normal. Lightning flashed across the sky, illuminating nearby clouds, and carrying the rumbling sound of thunder in hot pursuit. No rain fell. From the giant cloud high above, the sky lit up as a bolt of lightning emerged and struck a group of trees less than a mile away. Moments later, they felt the boom of its thunder.

  “Did you see where the lightning hit? Do you see the flames? The tree is burning. Now, look over there,” said Wadov, pointing to the southeast. “Do you see the column of dark smoke? The lightning struck the forest near Lantor an hour ago, and now it burns. Look there and over there. You can see at least four more fires.”

  “How widespread is this storm?”

  “When we noticed the clouds forming, we asked for reports from nearby cities. They all reported the same cloud formations and the freakish lightning. We have to assume it’s widespread.”

  “What do you recommend?”

  “I don’t think we can hope for rain to put out the fires. These clouds don’t seem to have any. We have to tell people to flee. I think they should head in the direction of any large body of water or toward the coasts.”

  “I agree,” said Gondal. “Get the word out quickly. We must save as many as we can.”

  * * *

  The savage clouds hovered everywhere. Every time the lightning touched the land, it found things to burn, and the sky grew darker with the smoke of burning forests. The town of Fonnzet, located in the foothills of the Central Mountains, was the hardest hit. Residents saw the forest burning below them, and though they tried to escape, the fire consumed the town and pursued the survivors up the mountainside. The lucky ones died from the smoke. The dead totaled 2,362 people, including fourteen children.

  Fires hit eight other towns. In some, the people saw the fire coming and were able to flee. The fires left only the stone buildings, destroying anything made of wood. In these towns, the devastation was beyond imagining. The death count was estimated at 6,740 people. Although the count was not complete, at least thirty-four children were known to have died. And two lords perished in the flames.

  Only one town escaped their fate. The town of Sadoban found itself surrounded by two fires. They were forced into the center of town, where the Temple stood. In His infinite mercy, the Sun protected them in the stone buildings there.

  Yet, it could have been much worse. The Sun surely watched in great dismay as His land and His people burned. Hundreds of fires raged all over the continent. Then, by some miracle, one by one, the fires flickered and died. Fire after fire was extinguished, until the land went dark. Then even the lightning and the crashing thunder began to fade. Slowly, the sky appeared again. For several days, a haze in the sky reminded everyone of what had happened. Then, even that disappeared.

  It was a very angry god that saved these people. The god wasn’t angry at them. He didn’t even know about them. He was angry at another god. A god named Billy.

  Billy Scares Candi

  It started as a beautiful morning. It didn’t last. As Candi headed down the corridor leading to her desk in Final Assembly Division, Billy came up next to her.

  “Candi, we need to talk.”

  “Sure. What about?” Candi pretended a calmness she did not feel. She’d been spending lunch periods with Lenny instead of sitting at Billy’s table. She knew Billy would not ignore it for long.

  “We’ll talk at lunch.”

  By lunchtime, Candi was nervous. There wasn’t much she could do except listen to whatever Billy had to say and try to respond as best she could. She had long ago given up trying to find a charm that worked on him. He remained closed and controlled. People like him were always hard to influence.

  Candi saw Lenny enter the cafeteria and waved him off. She sat down with Billy, who had chosen an empty table and was waiting for her. She waited for him to speak. Billy looked at her and shook his head as one would with a misbehaving child who needed to be gently scolded.

  “Candi, I’m disappointed with you.”

  “Why?”

  “I’ve told you Bernie is a short-timer here. People like him are social misfits. They have a kind of disease, Candi, and if you aren’t careful, you can catch it from them.”

  Candi stiffened. She had talked to Bernie only once. Had someone told Billy? She had to be careful.

  Billy continued. “You must know Lenny and Bernie are friends. It doesn’t reflect well on you, to be seen with one of Bernie’s known associates. After all, since Bernie is a misfit, it follows that Lenny and Suzie are also misfits. Hanging out with either of them raises doubts about you. Doesn’t that make sense?” he asked in a mock-fatherly way.

  “I don’t know about Bernie and Suzie, but I like Lenny. He’s interesting, and we’ve become frie
nds.”

  “Ah, Candi, Candi, Candi… Maybe I need to explain this differently,” Billy continued. “Think of this as a battle between our side and their side. Bernie doesn’t have a lot of people on his side. At most, just Suzie and Lenny. Our side has an army, including you and me and Uncle Shemal. Very soon, our side will deal a deathblow to their side, and Bernie will not survive. Maybe other people on their side will also get hurt. When that happens, you don’t want to be standing close to anyone over there. Does that make it easier to understand, Candi?”

  “Yes,” Candi said, feeling trapped.

  “Oh, and one more thing…” Billy’s eyes hardened to a piercing stare.

  “What?” Candi’s heart pounded in her chest.

  “You never want me to ever wonder whose side you’re really on,” Billy said, his voice dripping with menace. “I’m pretty sure you wouldn’t survive that.”

  Bloody Moon

  Billy saw a continent with thousands of acres of scorched earth. The fire clouds had done a great job. They started fires everywhere. Bernie must have stopped them though, or they would have destroyed everything. The whole planet looked bad. Too bad they don’t have a Universe Award for Most Incompetent Builder, Bernie. You’d win it hands down.

  As Billy looked at the other two planets, he didn’t see much he could do. They were just prefabs. Bernie didn’t seem to be doing anything with them. The pretty yellow moon, on the other hand, begged to be the next target. Bernie must have changed the color for a reason.

  In Billy’s visualization, he pictured the surface of the moon, but in his picture, it was not a soft yellow, but a bloody red. And as he concentrated, it became as he wished. Billy smiled at the discolored moon.

  Stay tuned, Bernie, he thought. You ain’t seen nuthin’ yet.

  Wake Up!

  “Wake up, Speaker! You must see this!”

  Zardok, speaker for the Sun and high priest of the Temple, had been roused from a deep sleep. When he recognized Lord Winson, he grumbled, “Why have you awakened me?”

  “Please, Lord, come to the window quickly. You must see it with your own eyes,” Winson urged the groggy Zardok.

  As Zardok made his way to the window, he prayed it was not another fire. Even before he got there, he could tell something was wrong. The night looked different. It was not dark, as it had been before the night sun arrived, but also not light, the way it should have been this evening. The night sun should have been at full strength, making it easy to see. Yet the outside was barely visible.

  “Oh, my Sun,” said Zardok as he saw the blood-red color of the night sun. “When did this happen?” he demanded of Winson.

  “Just moments ago. The night sun was bright and yellow and almost full, just as we predicted. But then it started changing. It got darker and darker until it became this color. What should we do?”

  “Call the council together. Do it now! Tell them to meet in my conference room. We must have answers before tomorrow. The Senate has been listening to other voices of late because they offer quicker answers. We must not let this happen again,” Zardok said as he rushed to his wardrobe closet to dress.

  * * *

  “Wake up, my Lord! Something awful is happening,” his aide said.

  Leader Gondal, normally a deep sleeper, had not had a good night’s sleep in a long time. Thousands of people had died, and he slept with the guilt of his failure to prevent the onslaught.

  “What is it?” Gondal asked as the knot in his stomach tightened.

  “The night sun—it’s covered in blood,” Tuderon exclaimed.

  Gondal rushed to the window. Just as Tuderon said, the night sun stared down from the sky, tainting everything a dark, bloody red. This was not good. What did it portend? At a minimum, it would terrify the people. There were many already who distrusted the night sun. He needed to get ahead of this before the rumors started.

  “Quickly, Tuderon. Fetch Lord Alcandor to me at once. Tell him I have urgent need of his council. I will await him in my office,” Gondal said as he put his hand on Tuderon’s shoulder, urging him along all the faster.

  He’s a Wimp

  Suzie sat alone at their usual table in the cafeteria.

  “Where’s Bernie?” Lenny asked as he took a seat.

  “I don’t know. I didn’t see him yesterday either,” Suzie added with concern.

  “He’s probably just working on his universe. Nothing to be worried about. When you’re in there, it’s easy to lose track of time.”

  “I haven’t seen much of you lately.”

  “Candi and I’ve been spending time together. At least we were. Lately, the whole world is conspiring against us.”

  “What’s been happening?”

  “At first it was little things, like messages not getting delivered, and then it became things that forced us to cancel our plans. Then my boss changed my schedule, which made it harder to get together after work. Then, to top it off, Billy gave Candi a hard time about hanging out with me. He says she should know better than to be seen with any of Bernie’s ‘known associates’. Candi suggested we cool it for a few days. I can’t believe these things keep happening.”

  Suzie wasn’t really listening. She had something on her mind. This was as good a time as any to say it. “Lenny, I have to say something. I’m worried about Candi. I’m afraid you will tell her things that could get back to Billy. Something Billy might use against Bernie.”

  “Don’t worry about that. I’m pretty sure my charms are stronger than her charms,” he said as he patted his pocket. “I’m the one in control of the relationship.”

  Suzie politely stifled a laugh. Oh, Lenny, she thought, you’re as girl-savvy as Bernie. Both of you spent your lives studying building science. The only thing you know about girls is what you read in a book. You’re as vulnerable as you are clueless.

  “And do you agree with that, Sissy?” she asked as she stroked Sissy’s fur.

  Sissy’s response was not the purring she expected. Instead, Sissy made a clucking sound. “What does that mean?” Suzie asked, somewhat concerned.

  “I don’t know. She does that when she’s upset about something.”

  As they ate their lunch, Lenny’s thoughts drifted to important things, like figuring out how to see Candi again. When Lenny got like that, he didn’t notice anyone else.

  Sissy waved her antenna in Suzie’s direction.

  “I’ll bet Lenny hasn’t been listening to you either, has he? All he wants to think about is Candi,” Suzie cooed as she stroked her little friend.

  More clucking sounds came from Sissy.

  “Are you worried about Candi and Lenny?” Suzie asked.

  More clucking sounds.

  “Maybe it would be better if Lenny and Candi didn’t see so much of each other.”

  This time a purring sound came from Sissy.

  “Lenny, I don’t think Sissy likes your girlfriend.”

  Lenny looked up from his plate of macaroni. “She gets like that sometimes. Just ignore her, and she’ll be fine in a few days,” he said, which solicited a new round of clucking.

  Suzie looked at her little friend. Is there something you are trying to tell us, Sissy?

  Before she could say anything, Lenny interrupted, “I have a question for you.”

  “Are you going to ask me what I think of you today?” Suzie asked politely, although on the inside she was shaking her head.

  “No. I want to ask you about Bernie. I really like the guy, but I don’t understand why he’s such a wimp.”

  “A wimp?”

  “You know. He’s always afraid of hurting things. When he came over to my place, he didn’t even want to see my best universe because it was too violent. How did he ever make it through school like that?”

  “I know he had problems in some classes because he didn’t like to blink things out. They were going to kick him out of the program, but his mom got them to change their minds. After that, he studied extra hard so he would pass even if
he flunked an occasional lab assignment for not destroying the life forms.”

  “How could he get through school if he wouldn’t blink anything? It’s an essential builder skill.”

  “He can blink most things. It’s the higher life forms he has trouble with.”

  Suzie remembered a conversation with Bernie when they were in junior high. “Is there a rule against talking with higher life forms on your planets?”

  “Yes, there’s a school rule about it. It’s a pretty strict rule, actually. They can kick you out of the building program if they catch you doing it.”

  “Bernie told me about it once. He couldn’t figure out why they were so adamant about it. I said they probably didn’t want you getting attached to your life forms.”

  “That’s exactly the reason,” said Lenny. “Why did he have a problem with it?”

  “He said it didn’t make sense. The teachers told the kids not to think of their life forms as real. They said created life doesn’t have feelings or souls, like we do. The rule was there to encourage a certain detachment from them.”

  “That’s true.”

  “Bernie said a punishment as severe as being expelled from the building school didn’t make sense. He said the rule was there to scare you. He was convinced they were hiding something.”

  “What did he think they were hiding?”

  “He thought maybe life forms really do have feelings and maybe even souls,” said Suzie.

  “No way. You have to think of the stuff we make as toys. We make them one way, and if we don’t like it, we take them apart and make them a different way. And if we don’t like that, we just blink them away and start over.”

  “What about feelings and souls? Do they have them?”

  “Absolutely not,” Lenny said.

  “Not even feelings?”

  “Nope.”

  “What about Sissy here? She comes from a created world, right? Are you saying she doesn’t have feelings?”