Swaller'd Up

[BensonBelvedere]

World Quake!

The next few weeks I spent immersing myself in the Unoan culture. They reminded me of cats. The prehensible toe on there feet allowed them to leap from branch to branch and tree to tree as a easy as I walked the street. Even the old Unoans could get around this way, albiet slower. The elders of there society were highly repsected, so I enjoyed a bit of celebrity for being an old foreigner, and a close friend of the Man Gog. Consequently this meant they expected me to go along with them every where they went. Were it not for Squiddy cruising me along behind them, I wouldn't have been able to keep up as they raced and swung through the trees.

I took this oppertunity to study them in an anthropological sense. I watched them gather food, make clothing from the giant leathery leaves on some of the trees, I saw how they bathed in the many hot springs polka dotting the vast forrest. They lived like kings as far as I was concerned. They didn't hunt, didn't kill any life to continue theirs. They had berries that tasted like bacon, why would they need to hunt? It was a very pure existence. They never even fought, not really. I observed a pair of young bucks sparring spurred on by the coaching of the Man Gog. I saw the aggression and adrenaline flowing in there viens and fuming in there eyes. They had that competive spark, but when the match was over, the victor helped up his fallen friend and they whole heartedly embrased like brothers. Then they both went to find a spring and wash up. Part of me felt like this ugly survival instinct was out of place here. What was the Man-gog thinking by teaching these gentle souls the art of war when it was the one art they hadn't yet embraced? I saw him teaching them how to make bows, and fletch arrows, how to build catapaults, and make armor. Although part of me felt this way the other part wished I could have been sparing. This other part of me would defend this little bit of paradise to the death, and then I remembered beauty.

She dashed by me while I was sitting high up on a broad branch as wide as a Mack truck. Although I only saw her for a split second my mind froze it, and I saw her like I was stopping to view a single frame of a movie. Long blond hair trailed down her back all the way down to her perfect ass. Atop her head a silver helmut unlike any other I seen in any history book or discovery channel special covered most of her face, but I saw eyes that were cold and blue like the ice deep within a glacier, and lips a shade of pink that would put roses to shame with the grace and soft supple beauty they betrayed. This stupid love drunk poetry of her clogged my senses, and held me like a quadrapalegic for what seemed like infinity, but what snapped me out of it was sudden realization that the rest of her elegant form was covered in a similarly uncanny silver body armor, and in her well toned arms she held a spear aimed down at the Man Gog below us. She was like some Valkyrie warrior crossed with Zeus as she flung the silver spear like a lightning bolt, faster than a major league pitcher. Far below, I could just barily see she had hit her mark directly in the heart. She hopped down with a grace that rivaled the Unaons, and to my surprise as I glanced at her feet she bore the same opposable toe, with three thick toes in the front. Yet, she didn't have there green skin, and as form fitting as the helmut was I could see no room for their large animal ears. She continued to leap down towards her quarry, and as she did I saw her reach back and touch a small spike on the back of her armor. Instantly another of her silver bolts appeared in her hand and she steadied herself, arched back her body and was prepared to launch the spear again, but my rose colored vision of her crashed like the thick branch she was standing on as Squiddys massive tenticle struck. This sent her tumbling down in a storm of wooden splinters and leaves and I lost sight of her. The spell broken, I snapped back to reality suddenly aware I had stood by and did nothing as friend was assassinated. I ran into Squiddys open mouth. Peanut was there and whacked me with his cane, which didn't really hurt, but was enough to make me feel like a jackass. We rushed down to the forrest floor to the Man-gog's aid.

Although weakened and somehow pinned to the ground by some strange force the spear exurted over him, the Man-gog was not dead. Not even his massive strength could pull the weapon from his breast, which made it harder for him to heal the wound he claimed. It appeared as if the wound was already healing around the silver spear. Squiddy grabbed the Man-gog and was then able to pull him off of the spear, which made the wound open up again even larger, but at least re-mobilized the Man-gog. The spear still stuck in the ground where it was thrown like some bizarre Excalibur no one could draw from the stone. The Man-gog examined it knowingly. Do you know who she was? "Yes, I know her better than you can imagine." I was about to inquire more, but lost my train of thought, and in fact lost all thought as the entire forrest began to fall apart, and the rumbling of rock deep within the terrain roared like thunder all around us. "Quickly we must all leave this fragment of a world." Yelled the Man-gog over the rumble,"She is being digested."

 

[Maddy]

Yyyyaaaaaaaaaaaaaaarrrrrrrgggggghhhhhhhhhh!

 

[BensonBelvedere]

Intuition

Peanut said Squiddy was at or near his maximum capicity with all the Unoans, Man-gog, and I all crammed into him. It was a sort of hell for the next few days. Like the subway at rush hour. I couldn't move anywhere without tripping over a Unoan. Their kids seemed to be taking it better than the parents and elders. They ran around in gangs playing cops and robbers type games (this is only how it appreared to me, since they had no concept of cops or robbers, I think they called it Murs and Dafgals after some native animals I'd never gotten to see). I was taking it hard myself, seeing the the forrest crumble in on itself. I wouldn't have minded staying there forever. What was worse was to see it slowly sink into the milky digestive juices, that it had been bobbing in for hundreds of years and only now finished. I guess I was the odd man out. The only one not seeing the bigger picture. It was still hard to swallow (no pun intended). I put the peices together and they fit. The pink waste, the tooth cities, the long tunnel leading too Unoan forrest. I guess it's just counter intuitive to suspect your inside of a giant. I considered my instincts very honned, and trusted my intuition and without fail it always steered me right if I listened to it. Sometimes I didn't though.

I spent those days near Squiddy's eyes looking out and staring at the large "tunnel" we zoomed through, which was really just a titanic esophogus, I guess. There wasn't much else to do, I was hungry, but the food in Squiddys living compartment was depleting fast being spread around a thousand Unoans, they'd only had time to grab what was near them in the mad panicked retreat off the disentigrating chunk of plantoid. Besides, I knew I could eat in the real world when I woke up.

I noticed the Man-gog was also not eating. His heart wound had healed soon after we lifted off. He was tight lipped about the female assassin, but I couldn't get her out of my head. Why had she tried to kill him I wondered? Would the other gogs go so far as to hire a hitwoman? Maybe she was the Female-gog, and was intent upon devouring him. Somehow that seemed more appropriate. Seeing as how he wouldn't answer my many questions about her I had to ask him about this giant.

"Why don't we just fly out of the mouth once we get there?" I asked. "I told you Ben there is no more out, there's only in here." Replied the Man-gog.
"That's impossible" "I agree, but the proof is all around us. I journeyed from end to end of this titan, and one end leads you back in another." "Like a video game." I mused. "Like the old ones yes...exactly" The Man-gog said scrunching his forehead as he said it. "If I might ask..." He went on, "What's a video game? Some how I know what they are, but I don't know how I know. So much has been lost over time." I gave him a basic definition and assured him it wasn't important as long as we were on the same page. (He then asked what books were in the same all knowing, but clueless manner). I was getting tired and decided to curl up next to the eye/window and return to sanity. I would ask him more later. He said we would arrive at a more stable safer place on a still intact world somewhere in the lungs. I told him I'd believe it when I saw it, knowing all bets were off, all common sense now uncommon, intuition countered.

I woke up wondering if the beautiful assassin might have somehow survived and wondered what I would do if she ever tried to devour me.

 

[BensonBelvedere]

Midasia

Squiddy's low rumbling awakened me, and somehow I knew we had finally arrived at our destination. Was I beginning to understand his strange baritone communications? Shaking off grogginess I stood up and stretched hearing my old bones creak and crack like an old house as I did. Outside through Squiddies eye/window I saw space. Although I saw no stars, a light source illuminated one side of a massive pinkish wall. It was like a constant sunset lit up in front of us. Mammoth streaks of red and purple veins set in red, orange and pink. I could see a random assortment of asteroids scattered around what I had to admit was most likely a giant lung. Squiddy was traveling towards the only planet I could see. (There were others I would find out later that floated in the shadows just outside the light.) It was not like the blue marble I had seen in pictures of Earth seen from space, it was a shiny and smooth silver looking jewel.

We approached the silver jewel very quickly, this was really the only time I'd been able to see just how fast Squiddy could travel. I had never really had a point of reference before, but now the planet rapidly grew in size from small round speck to enormous sphere in a matter of minutes.

It was called Midasia, named after it's founder a King Midas. Not the Earth king of Legend, but somehow a relative according to The Man-gogs fractured memory of all things related to mankind. It was ruled now by a Queen who apprently would be very happy to see me.

Squiddy broke through the atmosphere with relative ease. From my vantage point in the eye I could see his skin glowing briefly red hot, but this didn't seem to faze him. Whatever he was made out of was clearly designed well. We then broke through the cloud cover, and I could see a great metallic city spread out below us. Most of the structures were made out of what appeared to be silver, but unless it was only a coating of silver, couldn't possibly be strong enough to support the weight. The style of everything seemed Greek, yet somehow more advanced. It was as if the Greeks had been allowed to continue their culture they might have evolved into this style. Massive collums still dominated the style, but most of the structures towered higher than skyscrappers, and most were connected by multiple sky bridges. A monorail like system snaked in and around the buildings and also led off into parts outside the city into the distance. It ran on no visable tracks, I guessed maybe it was all magnetic. All in all a very impressive sight. I was happy finally to see some sign of a recognizable technology again. It spoke of reason, and logic. Grounded systems of thought. Perhaps they had ideas on how to solve this predicament, or at least a more scientific explaination than the Man-gog had given me as to how we had all be swallowed up by a giant.

Squiddy found a landing sight large enough for him and commensed lowering himself down. I couldn't wait to get out and stretch my legs I also had to pee, but I would most likely have to wait, behind the thousand Unoans. So I sat back down and curled up with my elbows resting on my knees, my head resting in my hands, and sighed.

 

[BensonBelvedere]

Purple/Blue Skies and Silver Clouds

I had never peed inside a another living creature before. I wasn't quite sure Squiddy was alive in the same sense that I was, but also wasn't sure he was not. Either way I was relieved in more ways than one to finally get my turn in Squiddy's overburdoned facilities after waiting in line behind some Unoan mothers with their children having the same thoughts as I did that it would be a good idea to take care or natures calling before we went to see this Midasian Queen and begged her to allow the Unoans sanctuary. What made matters worse was that the Unoans still didn't quite grasp the concepts of indoor plumbing and spent most of there time marvelling at them. I sort of awkwardly had to explain to them how to use the toilet and the sink while Mr. Peanut translated. Of course, this wasn't good enough, and they kept asking for demonstrations. Being that Unoans had little modesty, and were used to just going in the woods, I evenutally caved and dropped trow in front of them, and then sort of mimed standing and pissing for the guys, who at first thought they had to sit to do everything, but were then very excited they could still stand to pee after I showed them.

I was one of the last out of Squiddy and I saw him shrink very rapidly like a deflating balloon as soon as the last of us were out. He was now the smallest I'd seen him yet: about the size of llama. He appeared very tired and his big cartoon eyes seemed to droop and he stopped floating and for the first time I saw him walk on his tenticles. He looked like a giant orange spider, or like some kind of strange creature you'd jump on in a super mario bros game.

A row of heavily armored guards decked out in a strangly familiar style lined the large platform we landed on. A few of them, who looked like officers because they wore more decorative armor, were guiding the procession of Unoans through an ajoining archway into a large tower. Mr Peanut, the Man-Gog, and I followed the group with squiddy trotting along behind us.

I had a chance to study one of the Midasian guards walking next to us. He had glowing coppery skin with small sparkling flecks that caught the light as he moved. Some of the others appeared to have a shiny greyish skin tone. There appeared to be no hair on the man, not even eyebrows. He did have eyelashes, which count as hair I guess, and perhaps he still possessed tiny bits of peach fuzz, but I couldn't tell from my distance and I wasn't about to get much closer to him than I had to. By the look of him he could handle himself. All these guards were very broad and dense looking. There muscles were packed on them heavy, and they all had the chisled look of ancient greek statues only more stalky. This illlusion was made even more real by the armor they wore (which still seemed oddly familiar to me) and the short swords and long spears each carried.

There was a constant warmth in the air, but no breeze, and no humidity. It was pleasent but unsettling because it felt unnatural. The deeper we were led into the building I also noticed an increasing smell of ozone just like during a lightning storm only more intense. The procession stopped up ahead of us and I could see one of the floating monorail trains had stopped and the Unoans were being led in. We pushed our way through the crowd that had formed in front of the train cars that were quickly being filled up, and made our way over to one of the Midasian guards I suspected was an officer, or held a higher authority than the other guards not so regally adorned. I asked the Man-gog to ask the officer where we were being taken. The Man-gog then translated back to me that we, meaning Squiddy, Mr. P the Man-gog and I were to see the Queen who anxiously awaited seeing us, and the Unoans were being transported to some living quarters so they could bath and eat. Not entirely trusting the Midasains just yet, despite the Man-gogs assurances, (I felt responsible for these people somehow.) I told Squiddy and Mr.P to go with them and make sure nothing weird happened, and the Man-gog and I would see the Queen. They could always join us later once everything was settled.

The officer led us away from the crowd and over to a smaller craft which looked indentical to one of the cars in the strange monrail only tinier, obviosly made for more personal use. We lifted off without a sound, and without buttons or levers being pushed we bolted through the air like a baseball slammed out of the stands. The officer did not steer yet we naviagted the large city scape with seeming effortlessness. All around us I could see Midasians jetting here or there inside a monorail, seated in large gatherings below, and operating strange contraptions. Although there was a general amount of busy activity it was not the beehive of activity I'd come to know of NYC, or any other city for that matter. It was pure mechanical order, yet it was so warm and glowing everywhere. Where you might expect to find oppressive black couds of toxic gas issuing from towers in the distance, there was purple/blue skies and fluffy silver clouds. My earthly suspicions and generally realist point of view found it hard to believe that mechanical order could exist without oppression, but the little flakes of optimism floating around in the extra thick milkshake of my cynicism told me to: watch and wait and hold off further judgment until I knew more. We arrived at what I thought was going to be some royal palace, but was relieved to find out we were being led to our own quarters. I asked the Man-gog to ask the officer why we were not in the same quarters as the Unoans. After all, I didn't want to appear hoity toity while the Unoans got shafted with some gheto flat in the dirges of the city. The Man-gog laughed before he translated back to me and there was a pregnat pause even after that. "What is it" I asked. "What's so funny?" The Man-gog responded carefully "The Koban says exactly this of you...he says it would not be fitting for the Queens... betrothed... to take quarters with guests." "What the fuck?" was all I could say.

 

[BensonBelvedere]

Mercurion Blue

I was quickly detecting a theme, as the royal tailors decked me out in metal Midasian clothing to prepare myself and the Man-gog to see Queen Midas. The clothing was surprisingly comfortable. It was made from some kind of metal not found on Earth that felt more like plastic and was warm to the touch. I took the oppertunity to ask the tailors a little about there home world while they worked, but both the Man-gog and the tailors became annoyed by the constant need to translate. Finally they motioned to one of there many assistants, a little silver hued boy, and he ran off to fetch something for them. He returned with a shiny polished blue metal sphere about the size of an apple. He handed it to me like I would know what to do with it. It was much heavier than it looked, obviosly it was made from a very dense material like tungston. I almost dropped it but bent down and caught it at the last second before it hit the floor, but most likely it wouldn't have caused any damage because the floor although marble looking in appearance was also metal I would later come to learn.

As I stood up holding the blue orb I brought it to my face and turned it around having to use both hands just to hang on to it, when suddenly it seemed to melt away in my hand, and a thick cloud of blue smoke enveloped me. I couldn't see or breath, but could still hear the muddled sounds of the tailors speaking to their assistants and the Man-gogs deep Johnny Cash voice. It was like trying to breath in a milkshake. I struggled for air falling to the floor wondering what kind of cruel trick this was, and wondering if I would end up dying in such a pitifull mannor. When I finally ran out of air, I could only breath in the thick blue soup cloud around me, and after a few deep gasps, I really thought I was seconds away from death, but just as suddenly I could breath again, and then I could see. "It's called Mercurion Blue." I heard one of the tailors say. "It's very rare, but it works the best." "I'd hate to see how the bad ones work." I said back to him in an incomprehensible jibberish. "Holy shit I can understand you." "Like I said, Blue's the best, it hurts if you stuggle though. I would have mentioned it, but you know...." quipped the tailor. "This is incredible!" I exclaimed, my nerd boner fully erect. I then demanded he explain to me how it worked.

Apparently Mercurion was a naturally occuring gaseous metal. It was virtually useless through most of the Midasians history, but was renowned for curing certain mental illnesses. Later on, when Midasian technology progressed, and they began to trade freely with the other planets in their system (before the giant swallowed everything killing most of them) they developed a way to use it to alter brain waves and found it had several other uses. I looked down to see tiny silver blue specks in my skin all over my body it was similar to the sparkles all the Midasains bore. The metal it seems had permeated my entire body. I kind of wished they had warned me, or at least asked me if I wanted to be shot full of this stuff, but now that it was already done I was more fascinated than afraid.

They fitted me with a silver vest like top and then began to measure my inseem for a some kind of metal pants. My trepidation vanished, and I stood there patiently taking in the sounds of there words and speaking random words just to see how they would come out of my mouth in Midasian. I was like a kid with a new toy, I couldn't be bothered by anything now.

 

[BensonBelvedere]

Bubbles

The Murcurion Blue left a faint coppery blood like taste in the back of my throat, but the Koban explained that this would fade once I'd eaten a little something and washed it down with drink. I looked like a storm trooper in my silver Midasian suit, but I felt like a million bucks. I couldn't get over how light and moveable the suit was.

I wanted to ask more about it, but became side tracked when the Koban began explaining their energy system to me as he escorted us down the hall toward a dining room where we were to be presented to the Queen. It seems their generators somehow emitted waves of energy that flowed through the air for hundreds of acres around their cities. You never had to plug anything in, or use batteries or recharge anything. Whatever you were using that requirred energy to run was able to feed off the waves of energy like a TV antenna picks up a signal. It was amazing, there was free power for the entire world to use, and it was limitless. I just about drooled when he told me they had mastered cold fusion centuries ago. He didn't use the exact terminology, but I was able from my recreational dabbling into theoretical physics books, to put the peices together.

The Man-gog, looking like the jolly green giants older meaner bother in his green metalic suit ambled along in front of us eager to eat, and bored by the techno babble, decided to wreck my fun. "Is there anything the...betrothed, needs to remember when speaking to the Queen?" He asked the Koban. "The betrothed and his companions are guests of the Queen and can't possibly offend her in any formal setting, as custom demands it is only she that can possibly offend your honor should she not adequotly provide you with your meerest whim. Replied the Koban in a rehearsed manor. I swallowed the lump forming in my throat now reminded of the awkward situation to come. The Man-gog elbowed me nearly knocking me into the wall as he leaned down to me. "I was not hear with you on your last visit, but you've certainly left your mark, you old dog." "I don't know anymore about what's going on than you do, just be cool and don't say anything you think might help me." I said. "There's obviously been some sort of misunderstanding, but I'll clear it up with this Queen Midas when we see her." Koban Yion raised an eyebrow in my direction and I realized I'd spoken the last part too loudly, and perhaps shouldn't have spoken it aloud at all, but my embarassment was soon eclipsed as he led us into the most massive indoor dining hall imaginable.

It was like Times Square and the Vegas strip to the power of ten. There was not neon, but the glow from the room was dazzling to say the least. It was a massive dome, and as I gazed up at it I suddenly missed home. Not just Earth, but my childhood home in Washington. Gazing up at the stars on a clear night away from the pollution of the city the night sky opened up before you. This was the same feeling, but not only were there stars there were blossoming galaxies bursting with every color in the spectrum, there were comets whizzing by every few minutes, a rainbow of planets and moons zoomed at you if you staired long enough, and you could see detailed canals, oceans, and craters.

"I often take it for granted." Said the Koban, "The King had it built shortly before his death, because the Queen missed her home so much she was becoming depressed." The Man-gog was as wide eyed as I was, and his eyes had a far away look in them I'd never seen before. "Rumor has it the Queen comes in here by herself sometimes when she can't sleep." Continued Koban Yion. "I could see why. I could imagine sleeping here every night." I said to myself. "That could be arranged if you desire it." I thanked Koban Yion, but told him I was just joking, but I could see behind his eyes the wheels were turning, and he was planning something.

"Shall I lead you to your places then?" The Koban asked. And with that he led us to the center of the dining hall and all the while both my head and the Man-gogs remained tilted up spell bound by the ceiling. I was so distracted I bumped into Koban Yion when he stopped. I apologized, and then looked around noticing there were no tables or chairs. I also finally noticed all around us the Unoans and other Midasians in giant bubbles bouncing around the room on all sides of us. We were all taken by surprise when we were swallowed up by a bubble steered by Squiddy and Mr. P. The feeling was strange, it was like each bubble had it's own gravity inside, so no matter how you rolled or bounced you were not tossed around like a sock in the spin cycle of a dryer, the bubble rolled around you. "I told you we'd catch them off guard Squiddy my boy!" Cheered Mr. P. I looked over at Koban Yion who was squirming to get off of the Man-gogs lap where he had been thrown when they scooped us up. "Let me guess, bubble metal?" I asked incredelously. "Electro magnetism, actually it's quite fascinating how it all works. Let me..." But a loud sound akin to trumpets crossed with violens, if sounds could mate, issued from all around us. "The royal court enters" Announced Koban Yion.

 

[BensonBelvedere]

The entrance of the royal court

However Squiddy and Peanut were controlling the bubble before, I didn't know, but all the bubbles moved to the edges of the room automatically in unison making way for the royal courts entrance.

Bronze colored bubbles each filled with ten bronze colored amored guards a piece swooped down from the ceiling as if they were coming out of the display itself. I counted one hundred bronze bubbles in all. They created a perimeter around the center of the room as they landed.

Then came what I guessed were minor nobles in crimson bubbles all adorned in reddish coppery clothing similar in design, but varied in style compared to me and Man-gogs suits.

Next came higher nobles in blue, orange and yellow bubbles with matching suits. The center of the room was still open

They were followed by a single silver bubble encapsulating a strange looking creature. It was a man, at least I was pretty sure it was a man, and he wore a very similar style suit to my own, but it did not flatter him. His pinkish flesh oozed out of it like the dough from Poppin fresh rolls when you break the tube open. His limbs looked tiny and stubby attached to his massive bulk. He had a human looking face, but it bore almost the same amount of resemblence to a pig as it did a man. His jet black hair was slicked down on his head and parted sharp like a knife salesman's. In short, he stuck out like a sore thumb, a fat sore thumb. He certainly wasn't Midasian, and his novelty for some reason threatened mine. Maybe I just didn't like him. Hate at first sight, if that's possible.

His bubble floated down followed by thirteen golden bubbles that fell and settled slowly like snow flakes to the ground and with the Pig man they formed the inner most circle. Each was filled with the most beautiful beings I'd ever seen. They were all seemingly different ages and heights. All wore golden suits designed more intricately than anyone else in the court. They had shiny golden hair and skin. The men and young boys numbered seven, and wore there hair spiked upward each with a different yet similar cut like they'd all watched the same anime. The youngest looked at a distance like he wore a crown, but it was actually his hair. The women and young girls numbered six, and let there hair grow long and flowing, trailing down to there waists. Each had full golden lips and piercing golden eyes. It was obvious they were family because they all looked like the same kind of perfect golden statues. Life sized Academy Awards with hair and matching armor.

And finally the Queen floated down landing in the center of the hall in a purple bubble larger than all the rest. She was adorned in a violet gown made of metal it hung on her body like a rose bud tha had not bloomed, and she was without a doubt the most beautiful older woman I'd ever seen. A definite grand Milf. She had the look of Elizabeth Taylor but not chubby, and without the years of hard living and drugs. She had aged well and hardly wrinkled. Her skin sparkled with deep purple flakes that matched her lips and eyes. Her hair was jet black with purple highlights and streaks of silver grey. Her purple stare seemed locked on to me as she lowered down, but I imagine everyone in the room felt that way. She had a magestic magnetic grace that transcended her gown and decorations. On her knees I imagined she still stood higher than anyone else.

All the golden bubbles containing the Princes and Princesses and the pig man in the silver bubble moved simultaneously into her purple bubble as did our clear bubble. Because we were farther away, it took several minutes for our bubble to reach hers. I got nervous all over again. I suppose any old man with enough gusto left in him or at least a pocket full of viagra would count his blessings to have a woman like her, but I was a twenty-five year old some how renting out an old mans body for the sake of wild adventures. The oldest woman I'd even dated was a thrity-one years old, but I didn't want to marry her either. My palms began to sweat, and so did my back. I could only hope these metal suits didn't rust or else I was screwed. How do you turn down a beautiful but old woman, and a Queen to boot, and would you want to?

 

[BensonBelvedere]

Greetings

Our bubble moved at a slow elegant pace toward the Queens purple sphere. It only served to increase my anxiety as the proximity grew. Not only was I nervous as just how to deal with the affections of the Queen, but the pig faced man I could now see at her side whispering into her ear as she eagerly watched us approach, still got under my skin. To add to it all Mr. peanut had to hop up to my shoulder and add another weight.

"I just thought you should know something before the evening progresses in case me might loose each other amongst the festivities." He whispered. "What?" "There wasn't time on the way over either, I was busy as you know entertaining all the kids and distributing the food and whatnot." "Yeah, yeah, yeah spit it out." I demanded. "Well you see this was the last place you were before you disappeared." What do you mean, before I disappeared?" "We were all here." he went on, "you, me, and Squiddy cooling our jets for a bit, the Queen had taken a liking to you so she put us up in some fancy quarters, but one night you were just gone...Squiddy couldn't sensors couldn't find you anywhere. The Queen hadn't seen you, and we thought you were in her room that night. We asked her about it and she said you just went out for a walk and never came back. I of course covered for you saying that you must have heard about the poor orphans marooned in the ear canal, and went to lend a hand. Then we left post hast hoping we would find you somewhere, but not knowing where to begin."

It was like a puzzle. I'd just gotten a few more of the edge peices put together, but I still didn't have enough of the center finished to even begin to see the bigger picture. "Then we found you at that tooth city...you just all the sudden popped back in from where ever you were. Squiddy nearly had a stroke, and we zoomed off to find you." "That's funny though...the only thing I remember is waking up in the middle of nowhere. The natives hog tied me and brought me to their city. If they hadn't, I would have been chow for some giant germ." "It sounds like you were being tossed out like so much rubbish old friend. What ever happened to you it seems someone went to an awful lot of trouble to make sure you were never heard from again. Tread carefully old chap. We'll get to the bottom of this." "Orphans in the ear canal? That's what you told her, and she bought it?" I asked. Mr. P. shrugged his tiny black shoulders and then put on his game face on as did I.

Our bubble passed into the giant purple sphere where the Queen and her children sat, and the pig man at her side pulled away from whispering something in her ear just as we approached. The bubble underneath us vanished and we all dropped slightly to our feet. Everyone rose to greet us. I had to go down the line, and as I soon saw, I was to kiss the open palm of each prince and princes as they simulataneosly kissed mine. Admittedly, it was a little weird to kiss another guys hand, but I likened it to what some Europeans do, only on each cheek. And admittedly, it was almost worse to kiss the plams of the princesses, because up close they were even more strikingly beautiful. I would have given my left nut to be with any one of them with there golden porcelain skin, and radiant glowing eyes.

I did physically pause when I came to the pig man. I truly did not like to think where his hands had been. Although he looked clean, my gut was trying to tell me something about him, but I blocked it out. For now, I had to give him the benefit of my doubts. He too seemed to hesitate when we locked eyes, or perhaps he read my apprehension. We stared each other down for the breifest of seconds. His eyes were the color of dried urine. Then I kissed his palm as he kissed mine. His palm vaguely smelled of McDonalds food grease, a smell that usually makes me slightly naseous, but one that regular Mcdonalds users don't seem to mind in the same way smokers can't smell the ashtray stench on there clothes when they come in from outside after a few puffs. If he smelled fear, or rage, or anything else on my palm his face didn't let on. He was serene, and compossed. A crocodile in the zoo eyeing me though the glass. I quickly forgot about him when I came to the Queen. It was like staring at a full moon as I fell into her eyes. They radiated violet and pulled me in. She had those eyes you see on some women that you can't look away from, but probably should because you give yourself away by looking so hard. My lips met her palm and hers met mine, and it was then I understood the purpose of this greeting.

Once I had passed down the line and greeted everyone else, the giant pruple bubble rose and began to rotate in the center of the hall. All the other bubbles then rose and began to orbit around us. It was a grand spectical, but the initial effect was lost on me I was laughing a little to myself watching the royality trying to figure out which one of Squiddys tenticles to kiss, and then watching their raised eyebrows as he moved on without kissing there palms. Seeing as how he had no lips, he might have felt a little left out of this tradition, but didn't seem to mind. Mr. Peanut and the Man-Gog had a little trouble with the task as well, but still managed. The Man-gog held each palm as lightly as if he was holding a baby. He was probably worried he would accidently break someone. Mr. P scurried and hopped to each hand. The guy could jump like a grasshopper when he had to.

As there were no chairs or tables we all just sat on the rounded floor of the bubble. Surprisingly it was like sitting on a cushion of air. At times a little disconcerting at the height above the hall we now floated, but better than having my ass go numb stuck in some hard chair all night. The rounded nature of the seating also made it so we were all sort of forced to sit next to each other in a circle. I sat cross legged next to the Queen with Squiddy, Mr. P, the Man-gog, Yion, and the pig man on one side, and the rest of the royal family on the other. I felt like duck, duck goose was about to be played, but then I felt the Queens hand on my thigh. I looked down at the hand and up into her eyes as she said "Shall we eat my love?"

 

[BensonBelvedere]

Dinner and a show

Without even a jesture the Queen summoned our food and silver bubbles that looked the size of pin balls from out height shot out through passage ways near the ground I hadn't even noticed and raced towards us. Each silver ball contained a server with a different dish and they popped into our big purple bubble, their personal bubbles vanished, and they kept walking without missing a beat, and once they had laid it out for us, just as quickly they vanished by jumping out of the big purple bubble like a skydiver and somehow being saved before they hit the ground by another silver bubble that somehow appeared around them to whisk them back to the kitchen. The whole thing had the feel of some giant scale cuckoo clockwork precision. The pinball waiters didn't stop this organized madness until everyone in the hall had food in there laps and drinks in there hands.

In the distance I could see the Unoans in there bubbles were just as impressed and baffled as I was, but their children loved it and in one bubble a pair of twin siblings jumped up and down everytime the server came into their bubble.

The food itself was odd, but I had come to expect this to some extent. The first dish was a kind of lasagna I guessed. However, where I expected lasagna noodles there were shiny orange tinfoil thin slices of some kind of metal. My eyes searched the plates of everyone around me and they seemed to be enjoying it because it was rapidly being consumed, so I picked up the strange "Y" shaped metal utensil, and dug in. It was not lasagna at all, but had a taste somewhere inbetween a red pepper and a mango. There was a slight metallic tint to the flavor, but the spicy sauce it was in helped to cover most of it up. The drink the server placed in my hand was clear except for the tiny golden flakes floating around in it. There seemed to be no end for these people and there use of metal. Other metallic dishes followed all of which were tasty in a clean sterile kind of way, but I was hoping for some kind of meat, any kind. I might have even eaten fish which I normally dispised. It was odd now that I thought about it. I had not seen any animals since I arrived here. Maybe they kept them all out of the city, but no vermin, birds or even bugs seemed to infest this glam rock metallic city. Everything was polished clean. I'm a clean person by nature and by practice, but I accept that there must be filth somewhere, and there are times where getting dirty is neccessary, but a perpetual cleanliness speaks of covering up or forgetting. I couldn't help but wonder if this was a nation of OCD sufferers, or if maybe so much blood had been spilled in the past they tried in vain to clean it away forever.

The Pigman broke up my musings and the iddle chit-chat amongst the group by shooting me a question loudly enough for everyone to hear. "Tell us of your latest adventures Sir Belvedere. You left us last time so abruptly we all wonder where you have been." With that last sentence he locked eyes with the Queen who locked eyes with me. "Yes my love you must tell us!" The Queen begged excitedly. My eyes shot over to Mr. Peanut who stiffened up, and then to Squiddy who managed to Shrug even though he had no shoulders.

If there's one thing I've learned in life it's that you must be prepared to lie well. There are people who can fool lie detectors by controlling there heart rates and emotions, but I wonder how well they would do if the test was sprung on them with no warning. I wasn't about to give the Pigman anything to pick apart, because it was clear that's what he was searching for.

"Well...there's really nothing much to tell...I'd like to know what I've been up to myself." I said truthfully "You see old Ben here has gone and caught himself a case of amenesia as some call it. He can't remember a thing since the last time he was here." Mr. P. Said chiming in to save me. "That's...interesting." Said the Pigman very slowly. His caged animal charm leaving a silence that hung like smoke in the air. "Maybe this will jog your memory lover" Said the Queen grabbing me by my shirt and pulling my lips to hers . She planted a big wet cartoon kiss on me nearly pulling me on top of her while the entire bubble erupted with laughter. Loudest of all was the Man-gog who sounded like what bears would sound like if they could laugh, and then squiddy with his bass rumblings. Between the two of them, it was like I was in a movie theater with surround sound during an explosion. All I could do was blush and sit there. I imagine I got redder still while the Queen leaned over again and whispered into my ear what she had planned for me tonight once the dinner was over. The Man-gog thought this was even funnier and pointed at me as he laughed. Which caused the rest of us to laugh at him laughing. The Pigman was not happy with my answer. I was certain now he had something to do with whatever was happening to me here. He masked a seething rage underneath fake chuckles that only issued from his girth when everyone else was already laughing. He was like some petulant child in a choir just mouthing the words.

As the evening wore on we were all laughing at everything. The cool liquid in our glasses, although not tasting anything like alchohol, seemed to be having the same effect. The queen sent her children out of the bubble in the same golden bubbles they arrived in which magically appeared when they stepped out of the giant purple bubble. Squiddy, Mr. P and Man-gog, along with Yion, left in a clear bubble, and finally the Pigman departed but not before one final stab. "Can I trust you will watch over my fair Queen Sir Belvedere?" Before I could speak, the Queen answered for me. "It is I who will watch out for him Sir Piggybank. He wont escape me this time, a royal treasurer should not be so jealous of his Queens betrothed." I suddendly swallowed some spit down the wrong hole at the mention of his name, which sent me into coughing fit. The Queen patted me on the back and then wrapped her arms around me. "As you say my Queen." Said Piggybank and with that he dropped out of the purple bubble into his silver bubble and slithered out of site. "Is that really his name?" I asked her once he was gone. "Well of course it is silly, what better name for the royal treasurer of the richest planet in the galaxy." "That's kind of an easy claim now, isn't it?" She looked sad for a brief second and I was instantly sorry I'd said it. Her eyes lit up again as she glanced around and saw we were alone. She pulled me towards her again and kissed me like she wouldn't ever let go. Our bubble shrank until I could feel the side pressing into my ass and we zoomed off into the fake galaxy around us and into a bright star in the distance. The light of the star grew closer and warmer and then surrounded us entirely. The purple bubble vanished and the only things I could see were she and I bathed in a warm glow. It was then that I realized we were somehow both naked.

 

[BensonBelvedere]

Post coital awkwardness

I awoke that following morning in this world like I had many a times as a teenager, with a wet surprise in my boxer shorts. This left no doubt about what I had been doing with the Queen that night, though I could still hardly beleive it actually happened. I was now going with the idea that I had some how tapped into an alternate reality. It seemed the most science fictionally logical conclusion. These trips were too real to be dreams, and too dreamy to be any normal kind of reality. I was also still not sure how if everyone was calling me Ben (my screen name on the IRC and a fake name I made up and use as my e-mail) how Mr. Peanut also new my real name. There was also the supposed amnesia. Had I actually done all these things, had all these adventures, met all these strange beings, and forgotten it? I still couldn't beleive that either, but then again, I'd never had amnesia before and I couldn't really tell what it might feel like to have it. On the other hand, I suppose I could have had amnesia and forgotten all about it. Hell, at least I was getting laid in one reality.

I dreaded the awkwardness of waking up next to the Queen. Before this I had just felt like a stranger, but now I felt like an imposter. She loves someone else, I'm just wearing their body. I would have to tell her, but I didn't know how to do it. Improv skills don't fail me now.

Inevitably I fell asleep again, and fell into the world that had been devoured by a giant where I woke up next to her. She was still asleep when I awoke her body wrapped around me. We were wrapped up in a metallic blanket, sort of like those space blankets Nasa uses, it seemed to trap all of our heat inside. I wasn't sure how I'd gotten here, I had foggy memories of our encounter thanks to the strange drinks. As I glanced around the cylindrical chamber we where in, I instinctively panicked when I saw we were floating in mid air in our blanket cocoon. The commotion woke up the Queen who breifly shared my panic, but soon began to giggle. "You never could get used to our sleeping chambers my love." she said. Magnetics again it seemed. The chamber was like one big repelling magnet and was able to use the metal in the Mercurion inside of us to cause us to float like we were in space. She swam gracefully through the air to the end of the chamber and then hopped down to the ground. I spastically followed struggling to create forward motion, and was glad to be out of the chambers field and back on the ground. I then followed her to a bathroom or sorts where an intense warm light bathed us. This was there version of a shower. It used no water, but I felt clean afterwards. I also noticed some seat like device in the corner of the room and mentally jotted down that they were some kind of strange toilet for possible future use. I didn't want to end up crapping in the wrong receptical by accident.

She went into a closet like area to dress herself, and I found another armor like suit laid out for me, only this one was red. The royal tailors must have made me several suits besides the initial silver one when they measured me before. She came out in a few minutes looking perfect in another purple dress. It was less formal and more funtional than the gown she had worn the evening before. We chatted for a few minutes with several awkward pauses. I was having trouble trying to find the right way to tell her who I really was, maybe sticking with amnesia thing was for the best. Queens are known to lose there tempers easily, and Alice almost lost her head to Queen in Wonderland. I was just about to break the news, when she stopped me and told me we were scheduled to play with the children today. It looked as if most of the kids were my age (my real age) or older with the exception the seventh son who seemed maybe in his early teens, but maybe she just meant "play" figuratively.

After a big breakfast, we were divided up, and I was led into a locker room type area seemingly built for only one persons use. The servant told me to undress and suit up for the game. I agreed, figuring this is what the Queen had meant by playing with the kids. There was a suit of silver armor hung up on a dummy in the center of the room. I froze with a sudden recognition. There was no doubt in my mind where I'd seen the suit before. It looked tailored for me, but the style was unmistakable. The female assassin on Unos wore the same kind.
"Is something wrong?" asked the servant as I starred slack jawed at the armor.
"No, no everything's fine."
"Shall I help you into the suit then Sir?"
"Yes...Do Midasians sell there suits to foreigners, uh offworlders?" I asked, trying to sound nonchalant.
"Sir, all your expenses are taken care of by the Queen. There is no need to purchase a suit from us."
"No, I mean do offworlders ever come and buy them from you?"
"Well, there was a time in the past when Midiasia traded, but with the exception of you and your companians, and maybe Sir Piggybank who arrived shortly before the king died, there haven't been many offworlders visiting us...you know ever since the Giant came." I went on to inquire more, but the servant eventually shut me up by telling me he knew very little about trade being only a humble servant, but he suggested talking to an old Koban if I could find any, as it was there duty to act as a guide and host to offworlders. As it happened, I did know a Koban, but it would have to wait.

The servant suited me up, and then he led me in a warm up before whatever game I was about to play. What did the Valkyrie assassin have to do with this place, I thought while trying to touch my toes? Was she working with Piggybank? I would need to get to the bottom of this, and I might need to corner the Man-gog and make him tell me what he knew about the blond killer before she struck again. The servant led me to a circular opening on the floor, touched a button on the wall, which opened it, and then told me to jump in. I gave him a raised eyebrow, but he just waited patiently, and repeated again for me to just jump in. So, I yelled Geronimo, and jumped. The hole sucked me in like a vacuum tube and sped me off. Above me I just barely heard the servant yell, "Head first is usually better."

 

[BensonBelvedere]

The game

I was shot into a large spherical gladitorial arena, and into the middle of a war zone. Volly ball sized orbs of light in every color whizzed past me ricocheting off the walls. Upside down gold and silver clad warriors leapt from floating platforms with spears in their hands attacking the orbs and each other. When I righted myself I could just barely make out Squiddy, Mr. P, the Man-gog and Yion seated in seats behind protective glass outside the arena sphere . They pointed and waved when they saw I saw them.

The mementum from the tube was still carrying me at a fairly rapid rate into a platform in the heart of the arena. I landed on it with a slight thud and some how stuck there. My feet felt clamped on, but I could still move them without difficulty. It felt like the platform had it's own gravity. Just above me I could see the Queen in a purple version of what I'd seen the Valkyrie assassin wearing before, which further cemented my fears. She didn't stay on the platform long and I saw her jump and she seemed to fly to another platform above her. The top of the platform was facing the opposite direction and she gracefully flipped and her feet locked onto it. To me she appeared to be hanging up side down, but to her I would be up side down. She finally made eye contact with me, and smirked. An orb was rapidly flying towards her. At the last second she reached behind herself and a purple spear appeared. She batted the orb directly at me and managed a wink at the same time. Without thinking, I mimiced what she had done and what I'd seen the assassin do before, and I reached back behind me like I was drawing a sword. Then suddenly a spear was in my hand. I held it baseball bat style with both hands and swung at the approaching orb just in time to avoid it hitting me in the face. It flew off into the otherside of the arena sphere like a home run hit.

"Come on let's show them how it's done, my love." The Queen yelled down from above as she jumped to another platform ahead of her. I followed but landed by accident on a platform above me I somehow didn't see. It's gravity sucked me into it and it felt like I fell down on it head first, even though it was above me. Zero G sports were a little advanced for me. After finally getting the hang of the jumping a little bit, I caught up to her. The other players were all her children.

The rules of the game were fairly simple, and yet complicated. There were no real teams, but you could form alliances with other players for a temorary advantage. If you got hit by an orb you're dead or out until the next round. If another player hits you with an orb they get a point. There was some kind of points you got for spearing an orb, and the colors of the orb indicated the speed it was going, and there was something that if you did it would cause a sort of multi-ball effect where thousands of balls were shot into the arena at once. This got a lot of people out. There were other rules besides these, most of which I didn't grasp. I was mostly just trying not to get hit by an orb. Soon after entering the fray with the Queen, I was knocked out by one of her younger daughters who nailed me in the back with a blue orb. It felt like someone hit me with a sledge hammer. My armor froze me in place and wouldn't have allowed me to move if I'd wanted to. This was a good thing because the orb knocked the wind out of me anyway, and I would have wanted to sit it out for a while. Floating like dead weight through the game also allowed me to pick up a few of the rules. Somehow the armor heightened my reflexes and movements, because it was tiring, but it wasn't hurting me. My joints felt great. It almost felt like I was really myself, Jamie the twenty-five year old, not Ben the arthritic old man.

As I would come to find out, the rounds only lasted about twenty or thirty minutes even with all the kids playing. They were good, but the unpredictable nature of the game made it go fast. Not only did you have to watch out for the other players knocking orbs at you, but random orbs might come at you any time. I usually got taken out pretty early in each round, and the Queen usually won. And not because they went easy on her. If anything they would team up on her and all try to get her out sooner. It usually came down to her and her eldest daughter Trion facing off. Women seemed to be better then men at this sport. During one of the many floating times when I was "dead", I noticed her smallest son perched alone on one of the platforms. I hadn't noticed him in the game, but maybe I'd just missed him. He was darker than the other children. His golden complexion deeper and richer looking. A random orb sent me floating in his direction, and since being out didn't inhibit me from speaking, I asked him what he was doing over here all by himself.
"Did you get out too?" I asked.
"No" he mumbled.
"Then how come you aren't playing?"
"I don't wanna."
"You always lose too?"
"No." He mumbled again in typical teenage fashion.
"Then what is it? I persisted.
"I always win."

Although I was not aware of all the actions of the game I was clear about all the winners. They were the only ones moving at the end, there would be a break and they would be the first ones to get to the drinks. Trion had won eight times, the Queen nine, and her son Wran won five times.
"What's your name son?"
"Penn."
"Well Penn, I haven't seen you win any of the games today, why should I believe you?" I asked tying gode him on. He just shrugged and looked at his feet.
"I'll tell you what I haven't been doing very well, what do you say you and I team up on the rest of them in the next round and kick some ass?"
"What's ass?" He asked.
"It's... a figure of speech...what do you say...help me win?" He shrugged again but seemed to agree.

A short timel after the next round began, he motioned for me to follow him to one of the center platforms. A place I'd seen some of the others try for, because it was a strategically good place to defend from. The round began like all the others with a slight "thwip" sound of the arena sphere blasting orbs in random directions. Penn held his spear loosly at his waist. A group of three of his sisters positoned themselves on a pair of platforms in front of us that were floating close together. The all managed to bat an orb at us at the same time. Penn stood motionless the tired look of teen angst on his face. I got ready to knock the orbs away from us when Penn violently whipped his spear around at the orbs knocking them back and changing there color from a pink color to a hot white. Two orbs flew off in the distance whizzing past the three sisters hitting the wall and knocking into two of his brothers, Tinn, and Roil, who I hadn't even seen advancing behind us. The third orb Penn sent back to his sister Eriona's stomach where it struck and then rebounded into his other sister Genna's stomach knocking them both out the round. The other sister of the trio Quiona tried to retreat but was hit by a random orb in her haste to escape the slaughter. I couldn't believe what I'd seen the little shit was telling the truth. He was awesome!

It wasn't long before he's taken out the rest of his siblings, except for the Queen, Trion, and me. They had just barily dodged his constant onslaught. He was somehow always able to find an orb at the right time and going at the right speed when ever he needed. He really did make it look easy. The Queen and Trion both were taken out in a bold manuever when they tried to launch orbs at him from platforms almost right on top of us. His reflexes were too quick, and he was able to deflect them back. I was just about to say, it looks like it's just you and me, as I hopped backward on to a platform behind, when a whizzing white blur nailed me behind my knee and sent me spinning through the air frozen in place. I'm pretty sure it was just a random orb, but I have a sneaking suspicion he may have somehow planned it's trajectory earlier in the match. I could see his secret. In his eyes he was calculating the angles and the speeds of all the orbs in the arena. His eyes moved really fast when he did this. Just how he was able to keep track of it all I didn't know, but I felt comfort in knowing that everyone else was blown away by it as well.

The Queen ended up winning the most rounds and therefore the game went to her, but I didn't doubt Penn could have easily won if he'd played the whole game. I would have to ask the Queen about him later. Everyone congratulated the Queen and grabbed another drink before retiring to there own locker rooms, and I did the same. To my surprise waiting for me in the warmth of the energy shower, as I was calling it, was the Queen, who ambushed me again.

"We've got to stop meeting naked like this." I said grinning.

 

[BensonBelvedere]

The right touch

Maybe it was all the free energy surging throughout the city, maybe it was something in there food, a drug slipped into my drinks, but as I woke up again with the Queen wrapped around me I had to wonder if she had me under a spell. I wasn't feeling like myself. Maybe I wasn't myself. I looked like someone else in this place, it only made sense that I would do things I would not normally do. This woman was old enough to be my mother, maybe even my grand mother, but I could not resist her.

As we both gradually shook the haze of a good nights rest from our minds, she informed me that the prepations for the wedding would be finished by tomorrow, and the wedding was to take place the following day. I felt like an imposter once again, like I shouldn't be here. She deserved to know the truth, or at least what truths I knew. Something held my tongue whenever I tried to tell her. I didn't want to hurt her. I didn't want to ruin the moment. Part of me justified not telling her with the rationalization that maybe all the memories I may have lost would one day return, and I would become the person she fell in love with, or maybe whoever owned this body would jump back into it, and take over this life. If this happened I was sure they would have wanted to marry the Queen. I mean, who wouldn't...except for me?

"You and Penn made a formidable team yesterday." Said the Queen shifting the topic away from the marriage discussion. I might have unconsciously cringed when she brought it up. She was very observant, but I guessed running a planet forced her to be.
"Well, I'm not sure how formidable I was, but he was incredible. When did he get so good?"
"He has always...done well in any anything he tries hard enough at."
"You must be proud."
"He is the seventh son. It's part of his design." She said distantly.
"What do you mean?"
"I never wanted to be a part of this apsect of the royal family. When I met the King he swept me off my feet. I didn't look down until I was already four kids in."
"He made you have all these kids?" I asked, starting to get defensive.
"I was selected because of my genes."
"Did you love him?"
"I think I did. He was a great man, but I was young. Every girl dreams of being royalty."
"That doesn't mean you have to be a baby factory though. No wonder Penn seemed so out of it, he probably feels like some sort of experiment!" I said nearly yelling.
"He has been upset for a long while, but it is because of you that he is so distant now." She said in a soothing tone.
"Why me, I've been gone. What I could have possibly done too...." She cut me off as gently as breeze.
"He has known since birth the weight he must bear, you only serve to remind him of it's immediacy."
She paused here. Sighed. Took a breath, and continued.
"Midas knew a day would come when he would leave us. All the kings before him knew there times would come as well. It's just the Kings death came so suddenly. When you came along I...I felt that same feeling of being swept away, only this time I could control the flow. You were no easy prey my love, but once I had caught you I knew you were the one for me."
"Look about leaving..."
"Sshhh...I don't care anymore." She whispered. "I knew what I was getting into when I saw you for the first time. You looked like you had more blood on the outside than you did on the inside, but in your eyes there was something that told me that whatever had happened to you that you deserved it, and the blood on your sword was even more deserved. I know that you must do what you must do, but I beg you to marry me first before you go off and save the world agian, just so you know you have something to come back to."
I wanted to continue postering defensively, but she was right. I didn't know if I had done any of the things everyone claimed I had done, but I did know myself well enough to know, I had a reckless streak in me. There were so many times in my life I started fights or at least finished ones people had started with me, and I did it with a grin on my face. I knew now that marrying the Queen was right thing to do. Mentally I wasn't prepared for the consequences, but that had never stopped me from doing things in the past.

"Does Penn think I want to replace his father, is that why he seems so distant?" She looked at me puzzled before answering.
"No my love, he is upset because he must replace his father. When you and I wed he will be crowned king Midas and rule this world."
"Him? He's so young."
"He is the only one with the alchemical abilities passed down through the bloodline. Penn is the only one who can ensure Midasias economic prosperity and power."
It dawned on me then that the legend I knew may have had some truth to it after all. This boy had the Midas touch.

 

[BensonBelvedere]

Spin cycle

We showered and dressed and then parted ways. I was not to see her until the wedding day. I was relieved and sad at the same time, but I was eager to get to the bottom of a few things and I needed to see my friends to do it. First things first though, I needed to find Koban Yion. I trusted him enough at this point to give me the answers I needed about the armor and the assassin.

I spent most of the day just missing him. I ran into Squiddy and Mr. Peanut and told them about the wedding which they already knew about, and I told them about the what I'd noticed from the game the previous day. They claimed to have made the same connection. I had forgotten they were watching us play. We all agreed not to mention anything to the Man-gog until we had found out something for sure from Yion or anyone else. Since I had had trouble finding him, we decided to split up and meet back at my room later that evening, and then confront the Man-gog with whatever findings we had.

I finally gave up and told a servant in the palace that I needed to see Yion desperately and that he risked offending me if he did not meet with me to cator to my whims. Yion met me later that night at my room and we walked out to the balcony overlooking the city.

"You observed the game I had with the royal family yesterday didn't you Koban Yion?"
"Yes Sir, and it seems you've gotten a bit rusty if you don't mind me saying. There was a time when you rivalled the Queen herself."
"I've forgotten a lot of things."
"What is it I can assist you with Sir?"
"The armor worn for the games is very unique."
"Yes, it is a variation on the ancient Midasian battle armor. I can show some very beautiful museum pieces if you would like."
"No, that's okay." I said and then continued my questions. "I know that you have been a Koban for awhile..."
"Well, I've been an officer for longer. There aren't many travelers in these times." He said jesturing to the constant pinkish hue in the sky and at same time refering to the giant.
"That's what I wanted to ask you about. Do you know of any offworlders buying armor from Midasia?"
"Well we used to supply half the galaxy. We were known for our metals and consequentially our armor. There's a great display on Midasian trade history in the museum as well if you'd like I..."
"No, I mean recently. Has anyone sold any armor recently?"
"You really might enjoy the museum Sir."
"Koban, please. This is important."
He turned away from me then and walked to the other side of the balcony.
"I used to be assigned to guard the museum. It gave me a chance to practically memorise the displays. No one ever tired to break in, but once there were some kids who thought it would be great to steal some old weapons, but I caught them."
"I don't see what this has to do..."
"Let me finish!" He yelled.
"Yion, what's the problem here?"
"She was beautiful. I don't think I could have said no even if I'd wanted to."
"You...?"
"The custom designs were easy. She knew everything she wanted on it and how to make it. I'm not sure how she knew. She wasn't Midasian, but she spoke with a clean accent. Beauty and brains too I guess."
"She tried to kill the Man-gog. Did you know that?"
"Midasians have a very rich military history you know. I learned all about it when I was a guard. We're a very inovative people."
"Did you know?"
"The weapons we used were ingenious."
"YION!"
"Like this one."

He turned around fast and tossed something small up in the air between us. Surprisingly it didn't drop. It was about the size of an apple, but cone shaped. It hung in the air spinning and then slowly rose. Yion and I began to rise with it. Like attracting magnets we both flew at the tiny spinning cone, and at each other as it rose higher and higher into the air and spun us around. Tiny trinkets from inside my room were being sucked in as well and pelted us in the back.

"What did you do?"
"I always wondered what it would be like to die like this." Yion said in a far away voice.

The spinning became faster and faster and the centrifigal force, increasing with each spin, squished us togther tighter and tighter. All the breath seemed to be forced out of me, and a metal cup and a clock from a table in my room were stabbing into me painfully. Faster and faster we spun. Tighter and tighter we became. Just when my ribs felt like they might crack another force ripped me away from the spin cycle and yanked me through the air.

I glanced back behind me, inbetween gasping for air, and noticed I was being pulled into one of the same kind of floating vehicles Yion used to transport us from the landing dock on the first day here.

It was not a second too soon that I was pulled away. Yion was still stuck to the small spinning cone, whose velocity had made him little more than a blur. Suddenly Yion burst into a red explosion and vanished from this world in a puff off smoke which hung briefly in the night air and then spread apart into nothingness.

I continued to be pulled backward and finally got into the vehicle, which had somehow known to hover just out of the blast range of the weapon. Once I was in the vehicle it sped off and landed on the ground.

"You're very fortunate my usual route takes me along this part of the palace primeter Sir Belvedere." Said Sir Piggybank.

From one shock to another I thought.

"Fortunate indeed I recogized the spin of an ancient Midasian Maelstrom grenade as well."
"What? How?"
"knowing how to recalibrate the towing beam in a matter of minutes also requires great skill. I might have ripped you to pieces. Yes, you are very fortunate I came along when I did."
"Thanks?" I said, still confused.

I felt luckier when Squiddy and Mr. P showed up, and when dozens of Midasian guards came to investigate the noise. I didn't like being alone with the Pig man. Maybe I had him pegged wrong, but he still had all the personality of a child molester in a four-hundred pound package. I made sure none of the guards told the Queen I was involved. She would undoubtly hear something about what happened, but I convinced them she didn't need to worry about someone trying to kill me before our big day. Confronting the Man-gog would have to wait too, it was now late and I felt like I'd been hugged by a trash compacter. I stayed with Squiddy and Mr. P that night, and fell back into the real world as soon as my head hit the pillow. I longed for the drudgery of my nine to five, just for a day. Just to ground myself, and because my head had not stopped spinning since I landed.

 

[BensonBelvedere]

The main event

Little boys never really fantasize about weddings like little girls do. Which is why I never really imagined I'd even have a wedding. I wanted to get married some day, but I could never put myself in a wediing in my my mind. I just couldn't visualize it. Even if I had been able to come close, I never would have imagined anything like the spectical of a royal Midasian wedding cermony. This day made historic also by the simultaneous crowning of the young Penn as the new King Midas. I didn't envy him at all. I couldn't imagine ruling an empire when I was still stuggling to rule myself and my hormones. No wonder he's got a little teenage angst.

My relocation into Squiddy and Mr. Peanuts rooms caused all sorts of problems for the servants assigned to prepare me for the ceromony they had to track me down redirect everything to come to the new location. I had to memorize my pledges of love, and loyalty to the Queen as well as pledges of fealty to the new King while they fit me into a formal silver armor. It was not at all like the armor worn for the game, but I was told was made in the most modern of fashions, while still upholding the intended functionality of all Midasian armor. The tailors had even managed to make a little peanut sized suit or armor for Mr. P. Squiddy they didn't even try to fit into anything, and I would later see the Man-gog in his massive suit of green stylized armor, but not until the cermony began. Green, I found out was holy color among Midasians. It reminded them of where they came from.

I had thought maybe the wedding/cornation might take place in the dinning hall. I was thinking a wedding under the stars, even fake stars, would be nice, but seeing as how almost all of Midasia was going to attend there was no choice but to have the proceedings outside in a gigantic collesium the size of a small crater. The collesium was surrounded by an even larger multilevel seating area which allowed everyone to look down upon the action taking place through some kind of magnification technology. I was set to arrive alone in a silver bubble and float down into place. Squiddy, Mr. P, and the Man-gog were already there ahead of me and standing opposite the royal family and all the nobles I'd not had time to meet. Even the Unoans were there on the ground floor, but I guess only nobilty and there friends were to arrive in bubbles. Thankfully the bubbles were going to dissapear once everyone arrived. I asked just to make sure, fearing I might have to have a bubble wedding.

I wasn't a big fan of ceromony's in general, I was the best man at my dad's second wedding, and immediatly got drunk as quickly as I could after it was over. I wasn't nervous, I just felt too stiff, and formal. Thankfully this spiffy armor was moveable. I felt like I could go for a jog in this get up. My bubble drifted down to the collesium floor and dropped me in the center of a circle surrounded by everyone else. I had been thinking there would be an isle to walk down, but I should have known it would be something I didn't expect. Midasians didn't do wedding rehearsals. I didn't have to wait alone in the center very long. Two bubbles gently fell down to join me: one was golden and the other violet. They met about half way through their descent and joined into one bubble of a deep golden glow. That bubble touched down and dissolved in a burst of white light, and the Queen and the future king stood beside me arm in arm. She looked even more radiant than that night in the dining hall when I first layed eyes on her. She had on a form fitting purple armor with a long trailing cape behind her. It floated just above the ground with no need for any attendents. On her head she wore a golden crown which I'd never seen her where before. It was most likely the crown of Midas. The boy's armor was similarly adorned only his golden armor made him look twice as thick, and he too bore a long flowing cape which threatened to touch the ground but stayed alfoat in the air by some Midasian magical technological trick. Looking on him now, I could see him wearing the crown. Even if he did not yet believe in himself, he walked the walk of a king. He would have many burdens to bear in an uncertain time for himself and his people, but he would have the support of his family and friends and would grow to be a great king, or so I hoped. All our lives now depended upon the giant. I just hoped he never had to cough.

The boy King let go of his mothers arm and she walked over to me and held my hands, then looked into my eyes as I did the same. There was no preist, rabbi or judge, not even a sea captain. The Midasians didn't believe in having some kind of official tell two people they were married. Their ceremony allowed those two people to have their own authority over their love for each other. All the same, it would have been nice to have someone there just so I could repeat after them in case I forgot my lines.

If you asked me, I wouldn't have been able to remember exactly what I said or what she said, everything happened so fast. I remember we both said I love you, that's important. I remember there were all sorts of rings we exchanged, not just one. When she and I had finished and kissed, that was it, we were married. Immediately after she removed the golden crown from her head and placed in onto her sons head. She uttered more words I can't remember, I knew he'd been crowned king, that's important. Under ordinary circumstances I'm not even sure I would have remembered everything. These were not ordinary cricumstances, and like I said, it all happened so fast. I remember people screaming, that's important. I remember all the blood.

 

[BensonBelvedere]

Betrayal I

The explosions were deafening. Everywhere people were being blown to bits, limbs cartwheeling through the air. A ring of Midasian soldiers formed around us in an instant and slowly backed there way towards us, but the sourse of the explosions was coming from somewhere above us. Squiddy was the first to see it. He bolted up towards the seats high above the collesium. The Man-gog must have been able to see the sourse too, because huge bat wings like I'd seen grow only once before, burst from his back and sent the armor around his chest flying off in halves. He darted up into the sky his great stone dagger in his teeth. He didn't get but maybe fifty feet up when a massive shape leapt at him and they both fell down to the collesium floor denting it's metal surface tremendously. Unfortunately it looked like the Man-gog took the brunt of the fall, because the strange creature leapt off of him seemingly unharmed.

At first I thought it was an elephant, but it looked more like the wolly mammoths I'd seen in pictures and museum displays, except it was covered in ashort dark orange spotted fur, as opposed to long shaggy brown hair. Something about it's body shape differed and reminded me more of a big tiger rather than an elephantine shape, although it still had the bulky looking strength. Most distinguishing of all was its trunk, which looked more like a well muscled arm and on it's end was a thick two-fingered hand with an opposible thumb.

When the strange punch-o-derm saw that the Man-gog was down but not out, it turned it's massive bulk around and threw all it's weight into a massive punch, hitting the Man-gog square in the face with it's pumpkin sized fist. The Man-gog flew backwards through the air skidding on the ground knocking into a crowd of fleeing Unoans and Midasians sending them flying like bowling pins, and then slamming into the collesium wall. Groggy, but still not out the fight the Man-gog got up shoke his head and leap at beast with a flying kick. The giant but nimble monster, hops to the side narrowly avoiding the kick, and then winds up for another massive punch. The Punchoderm lets it's fist fly, the Man-gog windmeal blocks it, and grabs onto the thick trunk. He yanks the two ton beast closer to him with one hand and with the other hand holding his stone blade slices it's trunk/arm off right at the base where it connects to the animals face. The thick trunk falls to the ground with a thud, the beast rears up on it's hind legs spraying blood from it's nub like a fountain and issuing a barely audible squeaking cry from it's mouth. Just as it lands the Man-gog drives the blade home up into it's fur covered throat. The Punchoderm collapses like a house with no support beams and small pond of blood forms around it. Suddenly from above three more of the beasts land on the collesium floor hitting like meteors. Two of them carry huge battle axes in their hands and the other one is wearing a saddle like device with two sacks on either side of it. With its trunk/arm it reaches back and grabs a spike covered ball the size of a medicine ball and tosses is right at the Man-gogs chest. The spiked ball explodes on contact putting a hole in the Man-gog and once again sending him flying through the air at the collesium wall like a bug into a windshield.

The perimeter of maybe two hundred Midasian soldiers has not broken it's protective barrier from around us. They are slowly trying to back us out of the collesium. Explosions can still be heard all around us. Some of the nobles and princes and princes escaped in bubbles unharmed, I'm also pretty sure I saw a few of her other children killed, but I don't say anything to the Queen yet. I just hold her close to me. The bombing stops and there's an eerie silence. From above us it looks as though giant silver raindrops are headed strait for us, but when they land I can see they are what appear to be giant needles. They strike like bullets at the soldiers around us mostly slicing through their heads. Some get in the heart or the throat. The attackers sit in the shadows above us launch the silver needle spears and then pulling them back with a cable that's attached to their ends so they can strike again. The soldiers all fall dead in a matter of seconds.

Then there's another silence.

I can only hear the clinking of weapons in the background and grunts and growls as the Man-gog madly fends off the pack of Punchoderms. I'm glad he's not dead that gives me hope. I hear the Queen, now my wife, repeating over and over again that the bubbles should have saved us, the bubbles should have saved us. Something else falls from the collesium seats above us. It's Squiddy, he lands with a slight thud just in front of us. His arms have been somehow sewn together and then bound with hundreds of yards cable. His normal soft orange skin color has been replaced with a burning red. And his giant eyes burn with fury. He's still too weak from the trip from Unos to grow to his giant size.

Without a sound thousands of strangly clad men from above us land all around us and form a circle. There dark clothing is old and worn, but held together with hundreds of patches. They are all very tall, at least eight feet tall, and lanky with long spidery limbs. They wear wide brimed hats of a vairety of shapes, but all has a black feather in it with red speckles on the tip. There faces are obscured with a black wraping, and only there red glowing eyes can be seen. Each holds a long needle like spear in there hands ready and aimed at us. Once they've stopped landing and have formed a thick circle around us, a silver bubble floats down from above in a fashion that echos my own descent maybe an hour before. The bubble dissolves and there is Sir Piggybank grinning like the devil.

 

[BensonBelvedere]

Betrayal II

"I dissabled the security bubbles my Queen. That would have given you an unfare advantage."

She finally stops her fearful mantra and snaps back with us. She stares at him with daggers in her eyes, and he stares right back like he wants to eat us.
"You know I didn't have to go to near as much trouble when I killed your King, but with this little band of heros hold up here for who knows how long, I felt the need to call in a few pals of mine."
"You scum!" growled the Queen through clenched teeth.
"Now, now, be nice. Don't be upset we crashed your party, just think of all the new friends you'll get to meet. Let me introduce to you the Brave Giant Killers of the dark system."
"I will kill you for this, you fat pig!" I growled.
"Aw yes, Sir Belvedere, we do like to repeat ourselves don't we, but I assure you this time you will stay dead."

Another piece of the puzzle, maybe the last peice I'd get. Piggybank rushed for my throat, and the Giant Killers tensed ready to harpoon us with there giant needles any second.

From a nearby entrance to the collesium the tiniest battle cry I'd ever heard issued forth from Mr. Peanut as he led a charge of Midasian soldiers into the collesium. I had wondered where he went, and I was glad he had been doing something useful. The Midasian solders were all armed to the teeth, and more came from above swooping down on flying battle crafts. The circle of Giant Killers broke as they leapt out of the way of the advance like grasshoppers. I saw Penn reach back behind his armor and a spear formed in his hand. The Queen did the same, and I reached back and found a spear in my hand. The tip crackled and visable sparks shot out the end, this really was the most modern fashion of armor. We joined the fray, the battle was intense. I stayed close to the Queen and Penn. The Giant Killers were nimble, but their real strength was in picking us off from the shadows, when it came to up close combat, they didn't fall easy, but they fell. More of the Punchoderms jumped down from above. These ones had saddle bags full of sharpened metal disks they were tossing like frisbees and decapitating Midasian soldiers. Another one had a huge ball and chain it swung around like a wrecking ball. The Man-gog, still in the fight, managed to take it out by swinging another punchoderm by it's trunk and smashing it into the other. Mr. Peanut unsheathed a tiny sword from his cane and made short work of the cable binding Squiddy. He then, as quick as a mouse, ran all along the battle field floor slicing at the ankles of the Giant Killers and making them easy kills for the shorter Midasian soldiers. Once Squiddy was free, he lashed out at the Giant Killers with an animal wrath worse that when he'd saved me from the tooth city. He practically glowed bright red and seemed to be able to grow just a little, but still not enough to be the storm of destruction he was before. He plucked the nimble Giant Killers out of the battle and smashed them into each other, or the ground, and some he tossed up in the air so far they landed somewhere out of the collesium. The Queen, Penn and I were holding our own, but my heart clenched just seeing her nearly run through several times. I wanted my new bride out of the battle, but there was no way out just yet. It seemed the tide was beginning to turn, but it was still anyones fight. Piggybank had planned well.

I saw him wading through the Midasian troops like they were nothing. He was quick despite his bulk, and the weapons seemed to have no effect on him. Every few minutes he would bend down and pick something up. Then he would bash a few more soldiers over the head with his big ham hock of a fist, and then bend down again. It wasn't until I made it closer to him, that I saw what he was doing. He was ripping off the metal armor of the fallen soldiers and eating it. I did a double take not believing what I saw, but there was no mistaking it. He bit into a breast plate like it was a big choclate bar.

He saw me watching him and locked eyes with me. He had to know he was on the verge of loosing. His gamble was not going to pay off. He charged through the crowd towards us like a mad rhino. There were soldiers in his path, but he swatted them away like flies. I held my spear ready for him, but the boy beat me to it, ramming his spear into the Pig mans round belly. To both our surprises, the spear seemed to hit something hard and couldn't penetrate more than a few inches, which didn't seem to bother Piggybank at all. I smacked him in the side of the head with a good clean strike and it felt like hitting a tree trunk and there was a loud metal on metal clang. He grabbed the spear away from me and chomped it down it four bites. I reached back and another one appeared in my hand just in time to block a punch. The kid was still looking to help and tried stabbing again. Then a purple spear flew right into the Pig beasts eye. The spear didn't stick, but Piggybank squeeled with pain, covering his eye with his hands.

Then a set of giant claws raked the Pig mans face causing more squels of pain. It was the Man-gog in the form of a big armadillo. He slashed again, and again and Piggybank fell to the ground covering his face. The Man-gog bent down to stab at his back when the Pig man bolted up and uppercut the Man-gog knocking him on his ass. The Man-gog hopped up and the two behemoths went at it. Piggybank was defintely stronger than he looked. He battered the Man-gog left and right, and just kept on coming. I have no doubts those two could have battled for days without tiring and without landing any lethal blows, but there battle was cut short by three Punchoderms who came up behind the Man-gog. Two of them grabbed his arms and drug him away and another began punching the helpless Man-gog in the gut.

With his attention momentarily distracted as he stared grinning after the deviousness of his beasts, the Queen launched another spear right at his eye ball. The Pig man let out a growling screech, and charged at her. Penn and I stood in his way but he managed to get a good swat at Penn but missed me. Penn fell to the ground unconscious. Piggybank grabbed the Queen wrapping his thick hands all the way around her throat, I launched a spear at him, but it hit him in the side with slight clinking sound, causing no damage. He charged me with her in his hand and grabbed me by the throat just like her.
"I going to let you watch her die before I kill you Belvedere, and this time you'll stay dead."

I couldn't speak. I could barely move. I was loosing air. I tried to pry apart his vise grip, but it was no use. The Man-go couldn't help. Squiddy couldn't help. No one could. He snapped her neck like a twig. I always wondered if that analogy was true, and then I heard the snap, it sounded just like a twig, but it echoed in my ears like thunder. I saw him drop her lifeless body to his feet, I didn't have time for anger. I just saw her fall limp and lifeless and my heart stopped beating. A few seconds later I heard the same twig snap sound only lounder, and then I was back floating in the void of nothingness.

My journey had come full circle.

 

[BensonBelvedere]

Back to reality...

In the next nights that followed I would just dream of blackness. I wasn't cold. Wasn't hot. I was floating, but not moving. Not supported by anything. I could only sense nothingness. I'm not even sure if this counts as a sensation. And then one night I had a plain old regular strange dream.

I was in highschool and looking down at my feet revealed I had no shoes. I was concerned about everyone noticing, and about getting home, because I walked to school. Psychologists say these are anxiety dreams.

The next night I was being chased by a member of the Jackson Five. It wasn't Micheal, but all I know is that he was fat and couldn't really catch me, otherwise he was faceless. Our chase took us through a concert in progress where the band on stage was making green double dare esc goop shoot out of their instruments, but I ran past all of that with faceless Jackson hot on my heels. Somehow we then came to a ski slope. I was able to jump down the slopes with giant super human leaps, and poor fat Jackson could only slowly run after me. Somehow he always kept within sight of me however, but I felt like I was just toying with him. I'm not sure what Psychologists would say about this one.

Night after night I just kept dreaming normal strange dreams. Part of me still seethed with anger deeper than anything I'd felt before. The bastard just killed her like she was nothing. Who could destroy life that easy? I kept replaying the scene in my mind seeing her fall to the ground her limp and lifeless. I remembered I had killed my fair share too, which was something I'd never done before. I just couldn't stand the thought of any of those creatures harming her. I didn't hesitate to drive the spear point into their throats. But the Pigman snapped her neck just as hastily, and then he killed me. This hadn't really sunk in.

As more time passed, and more typically usual dreams took over my unconscious, I began to forget a little. I began to distance myself from what I had experienced. I began to think it was all the illusion I intially believed it was. Yet, I could not erase the image of the life draining from her eyes as she fell to the ground. In my mind she falls slowly floating to the ground like a dead leaf or a feather and falls asleep into a peaceful permenant dream. That's not the way it happened, but that's what she deserved.

I continued on with daily life. I started to write more for an upcoming sketch show I had. Street Meat scrambled to pull it off, but we did. Despite not having a tech rehearsal it went really well. I had been wanting to get back into sketch ever since I came to NYC, and it was great to finally get to do it. I was so busy with improv practice along with the sketch practice I dont think I remembered any of the dreams I had for an entire two week stretch. Usually my dream recall is pretty good.

The doldrums pounding at work, and with nothing to do I began random searches online. I came across a site about lucid dreaming. The idea that you can become aware that you are dreaming in the middle of the dream and then begin to control the events taking place in it. It was fascinating, and I read up on it as much as I could. I wondered maybe if I had constructed this whole fantasy world, and then put myself in the middle of it just for the fun of it. This was just another of many theories I had but it gave me hope. If this was the case then maybe I could learn how to have lucid dreams, and I could put myself back in there, and maybe set things right. Maybe I could save her.

I followed various advice based on psychological studies on lucid dreaming and I didn't have much success, but just last night I had a dream that gave me new hope.

Although I don't remember all of it...I remember that my minds camara was focusing on the cover of a book. For some reason it was written by Don Cheadle of Oceans 12 fame. I didn't see that movie or want to, and can't remember even reading his name on the cover in the dream, but somehow I knew this book was his. The cover was a picture of a huge rainforrest. The more I looked at it the more I realized I was in the book cover, yet it was still a book cover because the world was frozen around me. There were stange dinosaur like animals and underneath them was written a brief description of what they were. The main focus of the book cover was a tall tree which was spiralling up into the sky. I'm not sure how far because the forrest was dense. There was a walkway spiralling up around the tree, and it seemed for the most part that pairs of people were walking up and into the tree, but again they were frozen in mid motion. There was also some kind of wolf like creature barking or roaring in line behind the people. When I focused in on it, underneath it was written a description telling me something I don't quite remember, but the word wolf was in the description. After this the scene cut to a woman talking about the book or talking about the characters and telling me that there was a character who just repeated the phrase "it's like the matrix, it's like the matrix" Then my alarm woke me up.

This seemed just to be random, but then I remembered that one of the tips for lucid dreaming was to try and train yourself to focus on something in the dream that's out of place as a way for your mind to recongize that you were dreaming, but not wake you up. It occured to me in the shower replaying the dream in my head that maybe the Matrix line was some kind of hint my mind was trying to give me. In the movie the Matrix of couse the whole point is that the world Neo is in is a false one. Maybe it's a stretch, or maybe some of the lucid techniques are begining to work just a little

 

[BensonBelvedere]

Back in the Saddle

I never thought I'd be so releaved to find myself facing oblivion in a lifeless void again. After much effort and after finally giving up completely, one night I was back. I wasn't quite sure what I was supposed to do next or even if this was were I wanted to be, but I at least knew I was back at square one.

I really had no sense of time, because there was no sense of movement, so I can't tell you how long I drifted and floated yet moved no where, but there suddenly came a tiny pin prick of a sound. Where there once was no distance I could now sense some kind of dimension as I heard the sound coming from far off. It was so faint I couldn't so much make it out, as feel it like a vibration.

I tried to move, to swim towards it, but I couldn't tell if I was making any kind of progress. The sound vibrated again this time gaining more strength and length. I concentrated so hard upon it, but I still could not comprehend it. It was like some foggy memory.

It sounded again getting louder. It came it bursts. Repeating. Stopping. Repeating. It was all around me, and still nowhere.

It was undescribable. Undecipherable. The sound seemed to dance around me. Spiking and fading. Haunting me and hunting me.

And then from out of the nowhere it came from, it pounced like a predator bombarding me with a sonic assault. It was words. Someone was speaking. Yelling, talking, crying, whispering. A man's voice. It was like hearing a thousand different sentences spoken and the same exact time. My mind could only understand bits and pieces.

"SWALLER'D UP." "SHO...." "GOD DAMNED." "LO...." "MESS." "GO." "TAKE." "'TARNAL." "COPPERY...." "FLY." " 'D." "MOON...." "CHICK...." "FLOW." "SHAPE I'M...." "AH" "WOOL HEADED." "WARSH." "I'R" "MAKE THE...." TESTAMENT TO...." "SON." "TRUE." "E." "GONE...." "STRANGER THE...." "...RIGHT...WELL." "SON...FLE...." "WEIGHT." "...EAM" " "DEAM." "J."


Slowly the words slowed down, or I sped up. I was able to focus in on just one of the sentences within the massive barrage of syllables I was hearing. It was one sentence repeating over and over again. It was equivalent to an audio Where's Waldo. The more I heard it the clearer it became and the rest of the noise began to fade away.

"Son...can you hear me son?" "Son...can you here me?"

"Yes, I can hear you. Who are you?" "Who are you?" I repeated this about twenty more times before I got a response.

"'bout god damned time I thought I'd never get through to you."
"Who are you?"
"I'm your grandfather, son."

Although I had no immediate reason to beleive it, I did.

"You're dead...you died before I was born."
"Oh, I'm more than dead."
"What's going on here?"
"Wish I knew that. Seems life and death aren't the pillars most folks belvieve."
"Where is this place?"
"Can't help you there neither son. Best I can tell it's nowhere. So far I ain't found no one to explain it to me, if you can you'll have one up on me."
"What can you tell me then."
"There's a lot I'd like to tell you, but here's what you need to hear. I died in the usual sense it's true, but I'd been living another life for quite awhile before I left the life you knew."
"What do you mean?"
"I just so happened one night I went to sleep in my bed and woke up somewhere else. I was myself, but not quite myself. Something about he place made me something else. I met all sorts of strangness and nonsense and just when I thought I was loosing my mind, I just about had the time a my life."
"What are you telling me?"
"Here's the thing. I managed to go and get myself killed in this other life too. Only...this dying was different in the same way the living was. That's the most sense I could make of the whole damned thing."
"I don't want this to be twenty questions here, but beyond a blood connection I don't even know you. If you can help me make sense of this, I'd apprecaite it. I just don't see where I fit into this."
"I know. I know. I'm as good as a stranger to you, but it's that blood connection that makes you fit, by the best of my reckoning, anyhow. I watched you here and there. I had dreams about you, but I knew they were real. You see Jimmy never really had it like you do."
"My Dad?"
"Yup. I think it skipped him and went right to you."
"What skipped me?"
"This whatever it is. You and me got it, and that's why we get to go to these other places and times."
"How the...?"
"I told you I don't know."
"I was you. Holy shit I was you."
"Watch the damned language son."
"In the mirror, I thought for just a second, but I couldn't have guessed it."
"Yeah I figure you pretty much picked up where I left off. Sonaofabitch who got me left me to rot.
"Piggy Bank?"
"Yup."
"He killed her you know."
"I know."
"Did you love her?"
"Yup. I loved your Grandma too."
"I know."
"Did you love her son?"
"Yup."
"We gotta get you back in the saddle son. I don't know why, but I figure the rules got bent. I think you get a your shot now. Fairly certain I'm out a luck."
"How do I get back? Just point the way."
"If'n I had fingers to point you, and if I had any clue on how, I'd be more than happy to help you."
"You can't tell me anything?"
"Like I told you, I just woke up somewhere else one night, and all the sudden I was in the middle of some crazy adventure."
"I've got to get back there."
"I know, but you're about to wake up. Say hi to Peanut, and Squiddy when you see them son."

His voice began to fade back into the void.

"Wait... will I ever hear from you again?"
"Stranger things have happened, beleive me...tell Jimmy I love him."

The void swallowed up his voice and I was alone again. My alarm clock shattered the void building a reality out the nothing and plunged me back into it.

I was my Grandpa!?