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Friday, October 20, 2017
Tuesday, September 5, 2017
A Dancer in the Infinite - Chapter 86 - The End
Chapter 86 Plan B
Matter is
plastic in the face of Mind. – Philip K. Dick
They
both fell with a hard thud. If they were
both still mortal they would have died instantly, but neither still fit that
description. Nonetheless both still got
the air knocked out of them and lay sprawled on the ground for a few
moments. Once they realized that they
were in fact unhurt by their plunge they slowly rose to their feet, regarding
each other with quiet hatred.
The
evil Marie then noticed their surroundings and laughed, a bit manically, Marie
thought.
“Do
you realize where we are, my sister from across universes?” the crazy Marie
asked.
“No,
bitch, where are we?”
“We’re
at the site of my final victory!” She
continued her mad laughter. “Your
pitiful attempt to kill me has failed!
And now you shall witness the fall of the last world in all the universes
to holdout against me!”
They
were on a blackened and scorched world with a bright orange sky filled with an
armada of imposing spaceships looming above them.
“Yeah,
or not,” said Marie confidently.
“What
do you mean? How can you stop me
here? There is just you and I have an
army. Look up! Look around you! This is your doom! Do you not see it?”
“Yeah,
I’m not that impressed honestly,” Marie replied nonchalantly.
“Then
you’re a fool!” screamed the mad Marie.
“Or
you are. Oh, look, here come my
friends.” Marie pointed out to her.
And
around them they appeared….millions and millions of hyperdimensional lemurs, chattering,
hopping, and whooping with frenzied delight.
“What
are they doing here?” asked the evil Marie with great concern.
“Here?” Marie replied, “But we’re not here
anymore. We’re Elsewhere. Look.
Now where’s your armada? “
Marie
smiled as she watched her deranged twin look about in the safety orange colored
heavens searching for the space ships which had been about to deliver the final
blow to the last bit of resistance.
“Where
did they go? This is a trick!” she
screamed again, more insanely than before.
“It’s
no trick. They’re right where they
were. But, my friends and I moved the
planet to a region in the interstitial transdimensional boundary. You and your conquest of the multiverse are
finished, you crazy fucking bitch.”
Marie said in triumph.
And
just then Bruce materialized around the other Marie and consumed her in one
gulp of his vague blueish form.
“How’d I
do, Marie?” he asked.
“You
did great, Bruce, just great.”
“Now
what do you need me to do?” the Blue blob asked.
“Now,
my friend, we’re going to open a bar. We
have a convention to host.”
She
called out to the surrounding lemurs, “Thanks guys! Give us a couple of minutes, and drinks are
on me!”
The End
copyright 2017 Diana Hignutt
A Dancer in the Infinite - Chapter 85
Chapter
85 At the Top of the Cubservies Falls
But oh,
beamish nephew, beware of the day,
If your Snark be a Boojum! For then
You will softly and suddenly vanish away,
And never be met with again! - Lewis Carroll
If your Snark be a Boojum! For then
You will softly and suddenly vanish away,
And never be met with again! - Lewis Carroll
The
very top of the Cubservies Waterfall is a rocky bluff. A few scattered springs of broom, and a
solitary scrub oak tree, its roots dug into the crevices in the hard stone are
all that populate its height. It is
impossible to even see the falls from even the most daring ledge, as the cliff
faces are so shear and high. The fall’s
roar of rushing water is so loud it drowns out almost all other sound, not even
the blustery early November gusts can be heard above its sound.
Both
Marie’s manifested simultaneously on the uneven rocky precipice, almost five
hundred feet aloft. The evil Marie had
an expression mixed with both distain and triumph.
“I
got your message obviously,” she said. “I’m impressed that you figured out so quickly
how to the word out across the multiverse to me. But, I’m here.”
“Yeah,
I can see that, Marie. I’m not as stupid
as you seem to think I am.”
“Oh,
I don’t think you’re stupid at all, Marie.
You’re the second best of us.
But, since there’s only the two of us left in all the universe, I guess
that isn’t saying as much as I intend. I
apologize. I really hold you in the
highest regard. No other Marie Brabant
has ever come as close to my power as you have. I’m really am, as I said, quite impressed.”
“Thanks.”
“Don’t
mention it.” The evil Marie replied.
“Now, let’s get down to business…I do after all have a multiverse to
conquer…and I don’t have all day.” She
looked around their surroundings and admired the view. “Nice place for a meeting, by the way, but
you can see the falls better from that overlook over there in the hamlet of
Cubservies, you know.”
“I
like it better here,” Marie said blandly and without emotion. “So let’s talk about the terms of surrender
you offered me. Are they still on the
table?”
At this the other Marie’s face lit up and a broad smile spread. “Your own universe, free of me and my Toxies, to do as you please? Of course, nothing would please me more, Marie. As I said, I feel a certain sisterly affection for you and I’ve cleared out all the other Maries, so you’re free to take your pick from thousands of universes. Have you decided with you want a universe with a better Roger, or perhaps you’re more interested in Barry now…that’s what Wally said. Anyway, I can change things however you like them…my power is growing immeasurably…I am nearly a goddess already…and soon I shall be supreme.”
At this the other Marie’s face lit up and a broad smile spread. “Your own universe, free of me and my Toxies, to do as you please? Of course, nothing would please me more, Marie. As I said, I feel a certain sisterly affection for you and I’ve cleared out all the other Maries, so you’re free to take your pick from thousands of universes. Have you decided with you want a universe with a better Roger, or perhaps you’re more interested in Barry now…that’s what Wally said. Anyway, I can change things however you like them…my power is growing immeasurably…I am nearly a goddess already…and soon I shall be supreme.”
“Whoa
there, cowgirl,” Marie said wryly. “Hold
your horses. I would like to make a
counter offer.”
Marie
could tell, the other Marie had gone quite insane. Her confidence was absolute. Her guard was down. She was so convinced of her own supremacy, so
imagined no danger to herself.
Perfect. Did she ever hear Mike’s
warning in the Temple? Did she remember
it, if she did hear it? Marie supposed
she find out in just a minute.
“What
counter offer? My terms are quite
generous, I thought,” the evil Marie remarked with some indignation.
“This
one,” Marie replied as she ran as fast as she could at her mad dopleganger. She threw herself at her with all her
strength, and whatever superhuman momentum she could gain before she contacted
her adversary. Marie grabbed her
villainous other-dimensional twin as she lunged at her and pulled her off her
feet, taking both of them over the ledge of the cliff and down the falls.
Marie
held her as long as she could before the force of gravity and the powerful
force of the water of the roaring falls caught her leg and pulled them apart.
Damn
it, Marie thought as she lost her grip on the evil Marie. Time for Plan B.
copyright 2017 Diana Hignutt
A Dancer in the Infinite - Chapter 84
Chapter 84 Spreading the Word
I get by with a little help from my friends – John Lennon and Paul
McCartney
“I’m
back!” she announced to a startled Phil, who was still drinking the oily liquid
from the saucer before him as she manifested in her chair at their table.
Phil spat a
little in his startled surprise.
“You know, you make
everybody else do that outside.”
“Yeah, that makes
sense…but it is my place, right?”
“Of
course it is,” he agreed, “But it still doesn’t make it right popping in and
out and startling people half to death.”
“Sorry bout that,
Phil.”
“Ah, that’s okay…so,
the multiverse safe yet?”
“Not
quite yet, my friend, not quite yet.
Three more things to do, first.
And by the way, if this doesn’t work…we’ll never meet and I’ll never
again a chance to tell you this, but you’re probably the best friend I’ve ever
had, when I needed a friend the most, and it’s been an honor, sir. A great honor to share a friendship with
you.”
Was
the little robotic centipede choked up?
He trouble getting his words out, “Um…likewise…every since you saved my
life all those years ago…you have been the greatest being I have ever met. But, do you really think things won’t work
out. I mean you’re Marie Brabant. You’re like practically all-powerful and all…how
could you lose? Who exactly are you
battling against to save the universe?”
“Myself.”
Marie stood up and cleared
her throat. “Everybody! Can I have your attention, please?”
The music stopped the
screens went blank and all eyes and various sensory organs turned to her.
“First,
I’d like to thank you all for coming, both new visitors and regulars…it is you
that have made Elsewhere the success it is today. I could not have done it without you
all. I am truly grateful to you all.”
A
warm murmur came over the bar, and shouts of “Marie!” and Hear! Hear! And a
Huzzah! Filled the room for a moment or two.
Marie waved them all to quiet.
“Thank
you! That said, Elsewhere and in fact
the very Multiverse are facing their greatest challenges since the very
beginnings of either. It is very likely
that within just a few minutes, Elsewhere will cease to exist, and the Multiverse
will be overrun by a single source of all consciousness…essentially…we will all
die.”
Shocked
gasps now spread across the assembellage.
“It’s
okay though…I have a plan that can save us all, the very Multiverse, and, of
course, this bar…but, I’m going to need all of your help.”
Impassioned
calls of “Whatever you need, Marie!” and “You can count on us!” and “We won’t
let you down” now echoed throughout Elsewhere’s spacious confines.
“I
know you won’t. That’s why I’m confident
that we can win the day in this great battle for Eternity itself, for
Individuality, for Life, for Freedom, for…Everything!” she raised her voice
with great enthusiasm and all were enrapt in her words.
“Now,”
she said. “This is what I need you to do…I need everyone…except the lemurs…I
have a special job for you guys. But…I
need the rest of you to spread the word …however you can…across the dimensions,
to every reality you can access…leave notes…tell everyone you know…that I’m
looking for Marie Brabant….”
Now
everyone was looking at her with cocked visual appendages and or eyes.
“That’s
right, I’m looking for the only other Marie Brabant left in existence. We need to talk. I’m willing to negotiate with her. And she’s to meet me in Languedoc. At the top of the Cubservies Cascades. Just her and me. No tricks.
No Toxies. Just the two of us. And we’re going to settle this little game of
ours. Once and for all.”
“Oh,”
Marie added, “Where’s Bruce? I have
special job for him too.”
copyright 2017 Diana Hignutt
A Dancer in the Infinite - Chapter 83
Chapter
83 The Right Jenkins
Codes play
a previously unsuspected role in equations that possess the property of
supersymmetry. This unsuspected connection suggests that these codes may be
ubiquitous in nature, and could even be embedded in the essence of reality. If
this is the case, we might have something in common with the Matrix
science-fiction films, which depict a world where everything human beings
experience is the product of a virtual-reality-generating computer network.
– James Gates
Back to the Egg Room, but this time as like
the last few trips to fallen Castle Wonderlands, she wasn’t in the Egg. But unlike those other times, the Egg was not
there, but Barry, Stan, Jackie, and Doctor Who all were. And all alive.
Before anyone could speak, Luke came into
the room, “We’ve got some kind of weird readings on the Mawacky and then it
died….”
And then they all saw her.
“Marie!” Shouted all five of them at
once. Barry came running up to her and
hugged her.
“She’s back! You made it!”
“Where’s the Egg?” asked Stan “how did you
come back without the Egg?”
“I don’t need the Egg anymore, Stan.”
Doctor Who hurried over with Jackie in tow,
and attempted to check her pulse or whatever, Marie shrugged him away. “Thanks, but I’m fine, Doc.”
“But…how could you not need the Egg anymore
after only two minutes in one trip?” Stan continued. “How?”
“One trip?
Yeah, I guess, that’s what it would seem like to you all.” Agreed Marie.
“But I’ve made a helluva lot more than one trip, I can tell you that
much.”
Barry released her from his hug, Marie
smiled at him, “It’s good to see you too, Bar.”
Jenkins then came into the room, with
Dutchy following like a puppy dog.
“Ah,” said Marie, “Just the man I need to
see.”
“But, but…” Stan insisted, “You have to
tell us where you’ve been off to…you’re saying you made more than one trip?”
“Yep, that’s what I’m saying,” Marie
assured him.
“Luke’s right, by the way,” said Jenkins,
“The Mawacky is offline or something…we’ve stopped getting signals from our
colleagues.”
“That is because, they’re all dead, I’m
afraid,” Marie explained.
“Dead?” blumbered Stan, “How could
thousands of versions of us in other universes all die all at once?”
“Marie Brabant killed them.”
They all looked at her in horror, their
eyes wide their jaws slack.
“Not me, the other one.”
“Well, there’s a lot more than one,” Barry
corrected her.
“Not anymore…there’s just two of us,” Marie
said, “The first one and the last one.
I’m the last one. Look I don’t
know how much time we have, but I do know she will probably come here and kill
us all very soon, if she gets a chance with Wally’s help, of course, but
honestly, I’m not sure she really needs it anymore.”
“How could…?” Stan began.
“I’ll explain it all later, Stan, if we
survive the next couple of hours,” Marie assured him, “but right now, I need to
talk to the Right Jenkins.”
“The Right Jenkins?” Jackie asked.
“Yep, and he’s been right here in front of
my eyes the whole time…I just didn’t realize it. Can we go to your office, doc?”
“Of course, of course,” Jenkins agreed.
“Oh, and everyone else…you should all get
the fuck off out of here and off this mountain now, before Wally shows up with
his army of infected and kills you all.
I’ve seen it happen too many times now, I can’t bear to see it again…not
to you. And Jackie…don’t forget to take
Virgil with you.”
“That’s crazy,” exclaimed Stan, “What makes
you think we’re in any danger, we’ve been working here for fourteen years.”
“I won’t leave you,” said Barry to Marie.
“Yes, you will,” Marie told Barry in a
command. “You have to. Or you will all die. I’ve seen it at least fifty times now. That much I can stop.”
“And you, Stan,” Marie said, “It’s
over. The Mawacky won’t work
anymore…there isn’t anyone else to talk to out there…or no one who’s willing to
talk to you.”
“But…we have to man the Mawacky at all
times…” he complained.
“No, you don’t…” she said plainly. “The Freezer will still work, you can all
come back and tinker with that if you like…in just a couple of days…if my plan
works….you might even be able to rig the Mawacky to talk to other
hyperdimensional entities out there…but the easy days of talking to yourselves
across the universes are over…you’re all dead…everywhere but here…at least for
now…I suppose you make enough decisions in a few weeks more of you will be
created…so…yeah..okay… but there are a lot of more interesting people to talk
to out there…you have no idea…but no more Egg, it’s too dangerous.”
“But, Rian…” Stan whined…”we can’t just
listen to her…all our work”
“Go, get out of here, you heard her,”
Jenkins commanded, “Now. I’ll call you
all when the cost is clear.”
“And if he doesn’t call you,” said Marie,
“it’s because the Multiverse as you know it, including this world…is about to
end. So, you’ll know to make whatever
arrangements you have to make. Go, Wally
isn’t going to warn us this time, he’ll be here as soon as she senses that I’ve
returned.”
“Who senses?” Jackie asked.
“The other Marie Brabant, the first one,
the evil one.” Marie turned to Jenkins,
“To your office Dr. Jenkins?”
“Yes, yes, of course, let’s go”
Marie grabbed Barry and planted a kiss on
his lips, “Stay safe,” she whispered.
“You and I have some unfinished business, Mr. Allen.” And with that she followed Jenkins out the
door to the Freezer.
She was happy to see all the grad students
and even Dr. Helmer all there, with Renee hunched under one of the server
panels.
“Did it work,” asked Brenda.
“Yep,” Marie answered coyly. And she and Jenkins went quietly the stone
staircase around and around until they came to the third floor where Jenkins
office was. He held the door open for
her, indicated a chair for her to take a seat in and closed the door behind
them. He walked around his desk and sat
down.
“So, Marie, what are we to talk about? And why did you say I was the Right Jenkins?”
“Because Dr. Jenkins…” she began.
“No, not Dr. Jenkins, please call me
Rian. I have a feeling I’m the one who
should be showing you the respect now.”
“Okay, then Rian….because a
hyperdimensional lemur told me that the right Jenkins knew what I needed to
know in order to save the Multiverse from the evil Marie Brabant. And I know now that you are he…the Right
Jenkins. And I even know what it is that
you know about that can help us stop her from taking over everything throughout
all everywhere.”
“You’re saying that I know all this? I hate to doubt you, but I can’t see how…I’m
not the expert of MWI, that’s Stan.”
“MWI is very cool, but it misses the real
point actually. The truth of the matter
is that you and the Cathars were right.”
“I didn’t know I shared any beliefs with
the Cathars, I am an atheist after all.”
“Are you, are you really? See, I don’t think you are exactly. You’re real interest is the Simulation
Hypothesis isn’t it?”
He
looked surprised. “How could you know
that?”
“I’ve met a couple of you that were working
along those lines…but you’re the one with the information I need to defeat
her. Her Jenkins gave her the clues to
all this…and that’s what really started this mess…but he didn’t know what you
know…and now you and I are going to finish it.”
“If you say so, Marie, but you does seem
hard to believe.”
“Harder to believe than sending someone
across the dimensions? Really, Rian?”
He laughed, “Okay, I see your point. But
what do I and the Cathars have in common?”
“You’re both proponents of the Simulation
Hypothesis,” Marie answered.
“I think it’s rather a newer idea than they
would have been exposed to.”
“Think so?
Well as I understand it they believed that this reality was in fact an illusion,
a false creation made by an evil God that exists within the larger creation of
the Ultimate God. If you think about it,
is that really vastly different than the concept of a living in a simulation?”
“Damn!
That never once occurred to me!”
“It’s not surprising really, why would a
scientist, a cutting edge scientist look back to ancient beliefs and offer them
even a slightest thought? I get it.”
Jenkins leaned forward excited, “Wow!”
“Exactly.
I have a feeling that the whole Cathar religion as well as Gnosticism in
general was a message to us, an important message that is going to help us
figure this shit out. So, can you
summarize the whole thing again…the basics of simulation theory?”
“Again?”
“Oh, yeah, sorry, it was another version of
you that first told me about it.”
“Ah, I see.
Well, one of the first theories came in the form of a thought experiment
by a fellow named Nick Bostrom. It goes
something like this. One day technology
will advance to the point where people or whatever comes after people are
capable of running ancestor simulations to study the behavior of those who came
before them. Supposing this does happen,
then most likely it already has happened, and we are in fact living in such a
simulation, though completely unaware of it.
Taken further, if this were true, then the odds are that there is a very
large number of nested simulations…that is to say simulations inside simulations…with
unimaginable numbers of nested simulations between here and what Bostrom calls
the Basement Reality.”
“Basement?
Because that’s the bottom? So,
turtles all the way down?”
He smiled in excitement, “Yes,
exactly. I hadn’t thought of that
mystical notion either. Now, the problem
is one of computing power and energy consumption to run that many
simulations. And it’s equally possible
that in addition to the vertical nesting of simulations, that multiple ancestor
simulations or lateral simulations could be running concurrently within any one
simulation. Which, once again makes the
whole thing seem impossible by the laws of thermodynamics. Where’s the energy and computational power
come from in the Basement Reality? It
would need infinite energy and infinite computational power.”
“So, are you saying that MWI could simply
be concurrent lateral simulations?”
“Or vertical as well, I see no reason once
you can move between lateral simulations you couldn’t move between vertical
ones as well.”
“I don’t see how that would be?”
“Yes, it’s a tricky point for sure. But then comes another question, and here’s
where I differ from Bostrom…they don’t have to be ancestor simulations that’s
just an assumption. They could be
recordings or interactive virtual realities in addition to simulations. If they are virtual realities, then…it begs
yet another question…are we merely avatars or are we sims?”
“Shit,” said Marie, “That’s deep.”
“Indeed it is. This is why I started our project at Castle
Wonderland to study those inbetween places…”
“The interstitial transdimensional
boundaries?”
Jenkins laughed. “Exactly.
I’d ask you how you knew that, but…it doesn’t matter…I imagine I told
you in some universe or other.”
“Yeah you and Barry, actually.”
“Well, I believe that’s where the answer
lies, that’s where the morphic fields seem exist and interact between the Many
Worlds. If we can study those places, we
can look behind the curtain, as it were…and see the very nature…the true nature
of reality.”
“Okay, but…let’s go back to the energy and
computational power problem….have you any idea how that could work?”
“Well suppose the basement reality isn’t
like the other simulated realities…though it is their source. I have come to believe that the basement
reality is simply energy and power itself….of infinite transcendental
nature…and this is largely what the interstitial transdimensional boundaries
are composed of…then the thermodynamic problem would go away.”
“But, what’s to give everything else a
basement then? Why did the first regular
simulation arise in the first place?”
“Consciousness.”
“But, there is no consciousness there…I’ve
been there…lots of times…forever actually…it’s just light…and energy…the Ain
Soph Aur as that old book The Veils of Negative Existence called it.”
“And morphic fields that are, in a sense,
transtemporal …meaning that time is irrelevant.”
“I don’t get it.” Marie sighed, a little
flustered.
“Think, Marie, think. We knew consciousness exists, right?”
“Yeah.”
“And throughout the Multiverse, there’s
lots and lots of it, right?”
“Okay.”
“So that has generated a strong
consciousness morphic field that has permeated the Multiverse and…the
interstitial transdimensional boundary…”
“So you’re saying that….”
“That consciousness itself created the
first level simulation beyond the Basement Reality of the interstitial
transdimensional boundary.”
“Oh Fuck!
That’s what she’s trying to do!”
“Who?
What?” asked Jenkins.
“She’s trying to fill the Multiverse with
her consciousness. She created or
adapted the Toxies. She’s trying to
become God of the Multiverse and direct all creation everywhere.”
Jenkins leaned back in his chair and turned
pale. “Oh my God! And she can do it too.”
“She almost has,” Marie said.
“What are we going to do?”
“I’m going to stop her. Or die trying.”
Then she paused, “Wait, I have few last
questions for you.”
“Okay.”
“First, you don’t have a family do you?”
“No, my dear…there was this girl at
Princeton though…”
“Okay, okay. And you weren’t part of the Ongs Hat Travel
Cult, right?”
“No, Stan is our connection to Chandler and
them.”
“Last question then…how did you get that
copy of VALIS?
“Oh, Chandler told Stan he got it from you.”
copyright 2017 Diana Hignutt
A Dancer in the Infinite - Chapter 82
Chapter
82 Toulouse
Once word
had spread to Rome that young Raymond had raised the Yellow Cross of the
Cathars over Toulouse, Innocent wasted no time in excommunicating the young
upstart. In fact, he went so far as to
remove all the Saint Gilles clan’s claims to all territory…ceding it all to
Simon de Montfort. Toulouse was to be
the crown jewel in Simon’s new kingdom.
And, officially, it was already so.
However, in practice this proved a completely different matter. All the Occitan nobles, the St. Gilles’, the
Trencavels, the Foix’s all rushed to the defense of the young Count Raymond. Though the pope had given Simon Toulouse,
taking it was another matter entirely.
Complicating
matters considerably was the fact that the young Raymond VII was not only an
inspiring presence who completely reinvigorated the cause of the Occitan
princes and their Cathar subjects, but he was proving to be a fierce warrior
and a tactful general. He stole victory
after victory from Simon’s troops. The
Yellow cross banners once again fell from towers and fortresses all over
Languedoc, throughout places that Simon had counted has conquered. The tide was turning under the young rebel
leader, the Occitans called the youthful Raymond, the Lamb of God, and in their
stories he amassed evermore victories against the Lion de Montfort. The Pope and Amaury were becoming impatient
with Simon and the buzzing in his head grew ever more strident and
bloodthirsty. Simon knew what he had to
do. That which he should have done, but
had not the courage, nor papal authority to undertake before. Lay siege to Toulouse.
The siege
was hard fought on both sides. Both
armies knew that this war determined the fates of all who fought in it. Each side had learned from ten years of
warfare with each other what strategems and devices, what counterattacks
worked, and which did not. Despite young
Raymond’s reputation as the Lamb of Languedoc, his tactics were ruthless. Any besiegers that were captured by the
Toulousians had their eyes and tongues removed and were dragged around the city
streets by horse, and left to be finished off by the dogs and crows. Finally their hands and feet were removed and
returned by trebuchet to their comrades’ base camp. Raymond had learned a trick or two from
Simon.
Simon was
not to be outdone, however, and the buzzing in his head gave him an idea to
break the siege before his men deserted him and his long campaign in Languedoc
amounted to nothing. He had his men
built the greatest siege engine the world had yet seen…a monstrous cat, Simon
called it. It was a tall wheeled platform
which was covered in animal hides and blood to keep it from burning from flaming
arrows the defenders would rain upon it.
In the top, archers could shoot down into the fortified city and below,
Simon’s engineers, under its protection could dig beneath the walls and breach
them.
The
Toulousians watched in horror as the cat was brought near their great
city. Raymond the Younger knew exactly
what the cat meant. This day was to be
the deciding day. All or nothing. The cat would mean doom to Toulouse if it
were allowed to draw near the walls.
Raymond had to risk assault directly on Simon’s forces and destroy the
cat…or the Crusadors would destroy them.
And so it
was that Raymond VII rode with his host of Occitan knights broke forth from the
gates of Toulouse and rode out to join in this final battle for life or
death. No Northern crusader could stand
against the fearsome wrath of Raymond.
Where his father had been a diplomat, Raymond was a warrior first and
foremost.
Simon saw
Raymond and his knights approach the cat, and took his fiercest men to
intercept him personally. Swords and
axes fell. Blood covered everyone near
the cat that day. Arrows flew. The trebuchet’s rained rocks down from
Toulouse onto the battlefield. They were
manned by women and girls, as Raymond had ordered every man and boy to the
battle.
At last
Simon neared Raymond. They stared into
each other’s eyes with deep hatred and bloodlust. And then it happened. A rock launched by two young girls found its
target in Simon’s head, crushing both his helmet and his brain, knocking body
from his horse, dead before he even hit the ground.
A stunned
silence fell instantly over the battle.
Cheers rose from the defenders of Toulouse and all knew that the day was
decided. The cat was burned to the
ground and the crusaders retreated from the battlefield. Count Raymond VII had shown his defiance with
a crucial victory. The Abliginsian
Crusade ended that day.
Sadly, for
the Cathars and their defenders, as they celebrated their victory over their
hated foe, Simon de Montfort, in Rome the Pope, a buzzing in his head, had
decided upon a new stratagem to deal with the herectics of Languedoc. And the Inquisition was born.
copyright 2017 Diana Hignutt
A Dancer in the Infinite - Chapter 81
Chapter
81 Back to the Bar
Where everybody knows your name… Gary
Portnoy
In just a moment, or was it an eternity,
she was back in Elsewhere, the loud boisterous warmth of the place instantly surrounding
her. She found herself sitting at her
table, as Phil had described it. Phil
patiently sitting across from her with what she now recognized as a friendly
smile of his robotic, centipede face, with a happy wiggle of antennae.
“Well, how’d it go? Save the Multiverse yet, did you?”
It only took her a second to focus on her
new reality, and in that time, a shout of “Marie” went throughout the room.”
She smiled and waved with a friendly good
nature to the crowd. Had she taught them
that Cheers greeting? she wondered, before turning her attention to Phil.
“I’m afraid I didn’t no.”
“Well, that sucks,” replied Phil. “We all doomed then?” Well, not us, of course, we’re all perfectly
safe here…you said so yourself.”
“I did, huh? Did I ever say why?”
“Sure, lots of times, it’s that whole
border of interstitial transdimensional boundary thing…we have going here. At one time, this world was part of the
multiverse, but now it isn’t.”
“Okay, tell me what you know about it, as
much as you can remember.”
As she said those words Oustar was there
with a glass of Rassberry Iced Tea, “Always wonderful to see you, Mistress
Marie.”
“Merci, Oustar” Marie answered, “You as
well,” with a kind smile. She meant
it. How much of her automatic responses
were generated from morphic resonance she wondered idly for a moment?
Oustar bowed warmedly, “Can I get you two
anything else?”
“Yeah,” Marie answered, ‘you know I do love
multidimensional cultural music, but I was wondering if we could get a little
Bob Marley going, just a song or two, helps me think.”
“It’s your place, Mistress, Bob Marley
coming up.”
Marie turned back to Phil, “So, tell me
about Elsewhere…”
“Well,” he began as Buffalo Soldiers came over the
speakers, “a very long time ago, this planet, which you may or may not know is
my homeworld, and of course the rest of my species at that. We were involved in a terrible war against
these creature…I hardly know what to call them…they had mechanical bodies, but
inside they were driven by colonies of mircorganisms, a type of protozoa, I
believe. They had worked out some kind
of interface from biological to mechanical, but it would not work on us. This appeared to enrage them…if protozoa can
be enraged. They all but wiped us
out. That’s why everything is scorched
here outside…we would have been doomed…but then somehow…and my parents would never
tell me how exactly…as I was a wee mecho-larva at that point…you saved us
all. I know it had something to do with
you moving this planet to the interstitial transdimensional boundary
border. That’s about all I know.”
“How the fuck could I move a planet? I don’t know how to move planets.”
“Yet.” Phil said.
“Okay,” Marie mused out loud, “Well, I’ve
got a pretty good idea what your protozoa are, and where they came from.”
“Well, then you know more than I do. I told you you’d figure it all out.”
The song changed to One Love, and Marie
could not help but move her body with the reggae beat. Phil, she noticed had joined her, as had most
of the occupants of the bar, which appeared to be pretty much the same crowd as
was there the last time she visited.
“Hey, when did I leave here anyway?”
“What?
This last time. I don’t know,
just after the game finished up? About a
half an hour ago, something like that anyways.”
“Wow,” she observed. “Time flies why you’re doing weird shit, I
guess, or it doesn’t…whatever.”
At this Phil laughed. “You’re so awesome, Marie. Thank you for being my friend.”
“Thanks for being mine. You have no idea how helpful it is to have a
friend like you and a place like this to come to.”
Was he blushing? Well, perhaps the robotic centipede
equivalent of blushing.
Bob Marley was singing in the background:
One
Love. One Love. Let’s get together and we’ll feel alright.
“Oh my God!
That’s it!” she exclaimed. “Or
that’s part of it.”
“What is?” asked Phil.
“I know where I need to start,” she
answered.
“Where?”
“I need to visit the Right Jenkins.”
“The who?”
“I know exactly who the right Jenkins is. And I know exactly where to find him. It’s been right in front of me the whole
damned time.”
“But you can’t leave now,” replied Phil,
“Coff-Coff just put your favorite TV program on all the screens.”
“MY favorite TV program?”
“Well, it’s open for debate you said,
either Sherlock or the early BBC Sherlock Holmes with Jeremy Brett. Coff-Coff went Brent, this time, but look,
it’s your favorite episode, The Final Solution.”
“Reichenbach Falls!” Marie shouted. “Yes!”
“Well, I didn’t think you’d get that
excited about it, you have seen it before you know.”
“Don’t you see? The songs, the Marley and the Holmes. They were messages, future me has sent
current me. One Love and Reichenbach Falls. Those are the answers I need. Now, I just have a couple of questions for
the Right Jenkins and I’ll know exactly what to do.”
“Really?” asked Phil incredulously. “From a song and a TV show, you know how to
save the Multiverse?”
“Yep.
I think so.”
“You’re not planning on doing anything
crazy are you?” Phil asked his little face suddenly wrapped in concern.
“My friend, Philip,” she answered, “Every
bit of this business is crazy…that’s the only way to be. I’ll come back in two seconds, and if I’m
right, the Multiverse will be saved, and we’ll watch this episode together, and
I’ll buy you another one of those…things you drink.”
“Sounds like a deal. Just be careful, Marie, you have a lot of
friends here.”
“I’ll be as careful as possible, but if it
doesn’t work, then we’ll never have met, and you won’t know to miss me.” She
replied. “See ya…”
And she wrapped the cloak of Ain around
herself and she was gone.
copyright 2017 Diana Hignutt
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