Notopia

  Gwen released Delilah just long enough to transfer her life preserver grip onto Paul. “I thought I had lost you guys! What is going on?”

  “Lost us? On the contrary, Gwen, we are with you now more than ever. We didn’t go anywhere. Everywhere is coming to us.” Gwen was confused and started to ask, but Paul interrupted. “It is something that one day you will experience Gwen. Notopia can help you get there.”

  “I don’t understand,” Gwen said. “They say you and Delilah have not been here for over a year and Roger isn’t at work either.”

  “Gwen, do not concern yourself with us. Paul and I have been shown how to fold time. We are removing ourselves from the memories and records of this reality. We needed to prepare you first, and let you know it will be okay.”

  “The simple beauty of speech makes this more cumbersome than it needs to be,” Paul said, but his lips didn’t move.

  Then, she heard, or rather, felt Delilah’s voice. “All we can tell you is that Roger is confused and that he needs you. Notopia needs you both.”

  “And lastly, ask Gwenie,” Paul said.

  “What does that mean? How did you know about it? And why is it lastly?”

  Delilah held Gwen again. “Questions, questions, and more questions. Gwen, we love you dearly, and now we must finish this fold in time. Much will change, but nothing you will notice. Know that Paul and I are happy beyond anything we ever imagined.”

  Gwen held onto Delilah as tightly as she could.

  It wasn’t often that Gwen found herself standing in the parking lot, hugging herself, but these were not normal times. She needed to get to Roger’s house. She got into her car, inserted the key and drove away. Fortunately, he didn’t live far, and along the way, she wondered, What the heck was I doing standing there like that? She decided she couldn’t worry about that now. She needed to find out what was going on with Roger.

  ***

  She pulled up in front of Roger’s apartment complex and hopped out of her car. As the door swung shut behind her, she witnessed the transformation from real life to Notopia. It was a quick blur all around her, and then a refocus on Salem St. The light was on at Leo’s house.

  She ran across the street and banged on his door. She could hear voices inside, but no one answered. Letting herself in, she followed the sound of voices downstairs to the basement. There sat Leo and Charles at the table. Three others were in the room with several talking at once. Gwen listened.

  “I tell you I don’t think this is over by a long shot! Just because his painting is gone doesn’t mean anything. It could just be being relocated for all we know,” the lady said.

  “You should have seen all those people signing up to be part of that madman’s plan,” a gentleman said. “What did the girl have to say about Roger?”

  “The girl is important to me! Her name is Gwen, and I’m worried sick about her right now,” Leo spoke strongly. “I’m sorry, Enrique. I know you didn’t mean anything bad. I’m just upset.”

  Gwen spoke up. “I’m okay Leo.”

  They all looked up at her.

  “GWEN!” Leo yelled and jumped from his chair running to her. “Come in! Come in!”

  She went down the stairs, and Leo hugged her with a very comforting fervor. “Gwen, I have been worried sick about you! I want to explain everything to you!”

  “No need, Leo. I pretty much understand.” She looked at each of them. “You are all firemen, and you are not happy with Roger. Yes, his painting is gone, and he is not himself in the real world either.”

  “What’s going on Gwen? What is Roger trying to do here?” the lady asked.

  Leo quickly went through the introductions and gave his chair to Gwen.

  “As to what he is doing here, I do not know. I know that it isn’t the Roger I work with that visits Notopia. I went to his house where I saw his portal painting, and I can tell you this. Whatever he is doing, somehow, some way, I am part of it.”

  Shelly sat next to Gwen. “Gwen, we have seen your paintings. We know you are something very special. How can you be connected to Roger in this place?”

  “How is easy. It’s the “why” I am not sure about. Our portal paintings are from the same place and from the same time.” She hesitated to finish. “I am in Roger’s painting.”

  “But the odds of that are more than astronomical!” Enrique said. “How and why?”

  “I don’t know.”

  “OH, MY GOD!!!” Charles screamed from his chair. He had been watching the news and video of the creature on the news broadcast. “What the hell is that and watch what it does.”

  The group watched in horror as the news replayed the tossing of the body and the God-awful scream over and over. With the reporter standing next to the statue, the camera zoomed in on the nameplate showing Roger’s name. “I think Mr. Tremon has some explaining to do,” the reporter said.

  “How can that be?” Shelly said. “We looked in the registry book, and Roger’s name wasn’t there.”

  “Perhaps that’s why that statue is outside of the museum,” Leo said. “It isn’t part of the museum.”

  “I do so hope that is wrong Leo. Because if it is not, it means it is not part of Notopia at all, and Notopia has no way to control it or defend against it,” Gwen said.

  The room fell silent on those words. They all knew that every dream was now in danger and that Notopia’s very existence was also in peril.

  Shelly vanished from the room, returning to real life. Enrique, Charles, and the others excused themselves to go to the museum and get a firsthand look at the statue. Gwen and Leo sat alone at the table.

  “Gwen, I wanted to tell you, but we didn’t know how close you were to Roger.”

  “I understand, Leo. Yes, I was hurt at first, but I know now that you didn’t have any alternatives.”

  “The hardest part was knowing there was a secret I was keeping from you while we made love. I knew I could not keep it for very long and I didn’t want to keep it at all. I am so very tired of half-truths and issue skirting, or just not saying things to someone I want to be a partner with. Gwen, I realize our time together here in Notopia has been short. We don’t know each other in real life, and we have no way of knowing we would even recognize each other there, but I know that I want a real and loving relationship with you, with us. There would be no side steps, no dodging questions, and no web for you to untangle. I don’t think we have time for any of that.”

  “I have one question, Leo. How the hell did love find its way into Notopia?”

  Chapter 15

  Roger reviewed the recent film footage over and over. This was the creature he had been waiting for, and he marveled at how it was not only immune to the blue fire now, but astonishingly enough, it even appeared to feed off it. How perfect, Roger thought. Only the beacon from atop the museum could stop it now. As best Roger knew, the beacon had not been used for nearly 5,000 years, and he was the only one who even knew of its existence. He had read about it in some ancient documents he found on the history of the museum. The only thing he could determine was that it was some sort of defense mechanism that could be activated from the attic of the museum to banish some unwanted visitor in the past. He had only a faint idea about what to expect and hoped his creation could withstand whatever fury it held.

  He finished printing the addresses of all the dreams and laid the folder on his desk. He sensed that he would not have to go looking for this creature of his; it would come looking for him. He stood looking out the window into the early night sky. It was out there somewhere, and soon they would meet. He would give the addresses to it, and it would commence slashing and killing every dream in Notopia. Thanks to Roger and his creature, the world would return to the carnal, natural planet it was before that caveman Muutah ruined it all with his dreaming of tools and ideas.

  A shadow in the night caught his eye, and in the next instant, the awning window in front of him burst into a thousand pieces. Rog
er dove to the floor, covered his head and rolled away from the window. The creature had crashed through the glass feet first, narrowly missing him and landed upright in the room. Roger could hear it snarling and gurgling, and then a ghastly sulfurous odor invaded his nostrils. He lifted his head to look, and there it stood.

  It was more hideous than he had seen on the tapes. It was taller now, with spines and thorns all over its body. Its foot-long fingers jointed unevenly, and it had some kind of mass rolling about inside its body. As the mass moved, small drops of dark green slime oozed from the base of the thorns and dripped to the floor below. The curved dagger clung to its body, seemingly held by a series of smaller spines. It tilted its head to one side and probed into the very essence of Roger.

  “You wanted me,” it said in a voice that matched no other and made the organs inside Roger twitch.

  It reached over and with one hand lifted Roger in the air. Its fingers wrapped partially around Roger’s head and up under his armpits. It seized its knife and ran the tip of the curved blade down Roger’s forehead, along the length of his nose, to his chin, and throat.

  “You don’t want to kill me. You are my dream,” Roger said.

  “I do not. I was merely curious,” it said, and then lowered Roger to the floor.

  Roger’s knees buckled under him, causing him to drop to the floor. He reached for his desk to help himself up, and he could feel the bits of green ooze burning on his skin like fire ant bites. He grabbed the folder containing the addresses of the dreams and offered it to the creature saying, “Your targets are here. All of them.”

  Pointing at the computer on Roger’s desk, the creature asked, “Did they come from that?”

  “Yes.” Roger answered, but I have organized…” Before he could finish, the creature had scooped the computer from the desk and crushed it in one hand.

  “I have all I need now,” and it turned back to the window.

  “Wait! I haven’t prepared you or even told you about the beacon. Only it can stop you.”

  Without even looking at Roger, the creature replied, “I am more than prepared for the beacon. However, it is not prepared to deal with me, and neither are you, Roger Tremon. I am now much more than your petty dream. I am Urkabis, and I will soon be in control of everything here in Notopia. It has been many thousands of years since I crawled out from Pandora’s vessel, and I have been preparing ever since.” Then, it turned and launched itself back through the window and into the darkness.

  Roger scrambled for the bathroom shower desperate to rinse off the slime and get away from the foul stench. The water soothed the burns as he peeled off his wet clothes, causing the smell to slowly dissipate as well. As his mind cleared and his shaking subsided, he began to wonder how long before the people of Notopia would come for him. When the creature starts to kill, it won’t be long before people get the idea that if they kill me, that will do away with the creature, but what did the creature mean by saying his name was Urkabis? Roger didn’t have time to check this now, and he turned his thoughts to his escape plan.

  He had been preparing the escape procedures for some time now. The tunnel from his basement to the museum was well concealed and had been complete for several days. Rick had hidden the entrance to the museum side of the tunnel too. Access to the attic and the beacon were known only to Rick and himself. Rick had helped move many of the artifacts that pertained to the beacon into the attic. He could sit there forever if need be, watching the goings on below, just like he had done from time to time for a few months now.

  He stepped from the shower and got a better look at the burns on his skin. A couple had blistered, but he would be okay. They still stung, but it was under control now. He got dressed and returned to his study. It was completely dark now, and the smell was still there. His computer had been destroyed by the creature, and the breeze filled the room through the broken windows.

  There was a loud pounding on the door, and he could see flashlights mucking about in the back. People were coming.

  “Roger! Open the door! Are you okay? We saw that thing come here! Roger!”

  Roger didn’t answer and darted to the basement. He grabbed his painting from the wall, took it into the tunnel with him, and carefully closed the entrance behind him. He assembled the second false wall and released a preset load of dirt that sealed the passageway from that side. He was hidden from them now. All he needed to do is wait and watch.

  Enrique opened the door. “Roger! We know that thing is from you! We need to know why, and we need to know how to stop it. Roger!”

  Soon, many people were ferreting through Roger’s house. They found the wet clothes in the bathroom, the broken glass in the study, the mangled computer, and noticed the foul stench.

  One fireman said. “Hey, look at these papers. These are addresses, no names, just addresses.”

  Enrique studied the list for a moment and then announced. “These are the addresses of dreams. He made a list of the dream’s addresses and I bet that thing has them!”

  Chapter 16

  Gwen pressed the doorbell at Roger’s apartment before she knocked she called out. “Roger? It’s me, Gwen.”

  She knocked again and called out again. “Roger, are you in there? I need to talk to you and see that you are okay.”

  Roger stood on his balcony, which was not visible from the front of the building. He could hear Gwen. Roger felt certain she knew what was going on, and he did not want to face her. But Gwen did something he didn’t expect. Her head popped above the back area fence and she could see him on the balcony.

  “Damn it, Roger! It’s ME!” she yelled. “Go open the door because I don’t want to climb this damn fence in a skirt!”

  Gwen marched back around to the front door and saw that it was ajar. “Roger? What the hell is all this hiding and secrecy? Why don’t you answer your phone? Folks are worried, and this is not like you.” His apartment was a model of spartan decor; a couple of metal folding chairs, a functional wood table, and barren walls.

  Roger stood in the kitchen. “I know why you are here, Gwen. I know this world is about to change.”

  “I will tell you what I know, Roger. You don’t know everything!” she said. She noticed some burns on his forehead, neck, and hands. “What happened to you? Have you been to the doctor for those burns?”

  “They don’t hurt as much now. I got them from the creature.”

  “Creature? Is that what you call that thing you brought to Notopia? Why would you create something like that anyway?”

  “Yes, Gwen, but he calls himself, Urkabis. I created him. He is here to end the foolishness of man’s wandering human mind, and the incessant delusions of human beings in that they consider themselves better than nature, better than every living creature, and better than the universe itself. This Notopia, this incubator of human spontaneity, is counter to the existence of humanity on this planet. We are only part of what this planet and all its life forms need for survival. Our desires and ideas are nothing more than extensions of human lust, which have wreaked havoc on virtually every creature of the planet. And now it will stop.”

  Gwen hung her head for a moment. “Roger, I have just one question. Why you? What makes you think you, and only you, have the right to impose your will on the rest of the universe?” She stared directly into his eyes. “Roger, this is just me now, you and me. I have seen your portal painting, and we both know our paintings are from the same place. I am in your painting, Roger. That means I am part of what you dream, part of what you are, and this part of you says what you are doing is wrong!”

  “It is not wrong! It is how things were always supposed to be.”

  “Roger, if that was so, then tell me, why do you have burns on your head? Explain to me how no one ever gets hurt in Notopia, yet you have been hurt, and that pain has carried into the real world.”

  Roger turned away. “I don’t know. I can’t explain it, but it doesn’t matter.”

 
; “Roger, it does matter. Why do you think that creature … that Urkabis, has a statue and not a painting, and why is it outside the museum?”

  “You are trying to confuse me. Those things don’t matter.”

  “Everything matters, Roger, otherwise, they wouldn’t happen. Who the hell is Urkabis anyway? This thing has taken your dream, Roger. It has hijacked your true desires, and it is not part of Notopia at all. That’s why your painting that was inside the museum is gone. That’s why the statue is outside the museum. It is there in defiance of all the dreams.”

  “No, no … I don’t believe you.”

  “That’s why these burns are here in the real world. You will have them so long as that thing is around. It won’t stay in Notopia, Roger. It will accomplish the goal it hijacked from you and cause the demise of Notopia. Then, it will come here.”

  “No. It is only to intercept dreams in Notopia. That’s it. Nature takes over from there. That thing can’t hurt people, especially people not in Notopia.”

  Gwen gently poked the burn on Roger’s forehead.

  “DAMN!!!!” Roger yelled.

  “It can’t? Roger, it knows now that it can, and it learned that from you. After Notopia is gone, it will need to come here to complete your vision of a human population that does not dream, that does not aspire to anything more than any other beast on the planet. It will kill anyone thinking beyond that level.”

  Roger shrunk to the floor holding his forehead. “No, Gwen, it won’t harm people. I never envisioned it coming here. I swear, never.”

  “Roger, I believe you, but something has changed your dream. This Urkabis is here to end dreaming altogether, one way or another. Roger, did you ever think about why it is that humans are the most evolved creatures? Or the fact that man’s dreams are the single advantage humans have over predators and disease, and, in fact, everything else that endangers his life? Not only that, but for the most part his ability to reason and problem solve has hardly changed at all over the last 20,000 years!”