By about the same time the next day, which was a Saturday, a wheelchair came to a screeching halt. The tassels of Esmerelda Delacroix’s grandma glasses rattled as she adjusted them, and patted the knee of Rufus Springly, who faced her in his wheelchair. “Not a scratch on you, yah big oaf” she smirked. “Felicia, what are they talking about?” Priya asked while adjusting the direction of the chair. “These old timers are all veterans of the war” Felicia explained, as they wheeled them side by side to their tables so they could get situated before the bingo game commenced. “I used to shoot laser beams” Esmerelda blurted out like a teenager hurtling in their parent’s stolen car, carefree down the road. “Wait, what?” Priya winced. Rufus laughed and turned towards her to retort, as if it was a competition, “I blew up a spaceship!”.
Felicia smiled politely at their repartee and glided them to their spot. They quickly took their seats. Dominique stood at the front, revolving the crank and calling out numbers. “Can you illuminate me kiddo, I’m a little rough on history” Priya asked. “Not a lot of press about it now.
About sixty years ago Earth started getting visitors from an alien race, they were explorers mostly. If you’ve seen the photographs, they looked a lot like us, but blue and with ribbon strands on their shoulders. After a while, things went south and the Rikiral war began. We didn’t stand a chance until out of nowhere a throng of heroes – they say from another dimension – came to our rescue. Their leader was a fellow with the strongest powers. Telenon was his name.
According to records, he loaned us some sort of power. Eventually we pushed them back, and he left with everything when the loan had completed. We were told that after the war we would reap the benefits, but the general populace was so bitter and disappointed after the loan expired that most of the record of that time has been lost” Felicia recollected; her knowledge amplified by studying the history of the era. Nadine sat beside Felicia and passed both of them a soda. Priya reclined back on her chair and snapped the lid, lapping up the syrup-flavored carbonated liquid.
She closed her eyes as a circus of bubbles danced on her tongue and the world became a much happier place. A moment passed in cordial silence. Priya managed to open her eyes and took another sip. Nadine put her elbow against the table, letting her cheek lean against her fist, and leered at her as a smug look inched across her face, “You should know honey, your half Rikiral”.
A spray of soda ejected from her mouth, and she coughed for air …, “Too soon” she pleaded.
“We always thought that’s why you were so introverted and … frosty” Felicia clarified in a shy, let’s try not to knock her over and break her like a vase in an art exhibit voice. Priya looked at Nadine’s blonde hair brushing the table so perfectly, “You little book psycho. It’s okay, we love you now”. “Bingo!” Springly cried as a seven was called, and Felicia got up to wheel him to the
front, where everyone clapped in copious recognition. He grinned ear to ear and threw his hands over his head. Forgetting their prior conversation, Esmerelda leant to the right towards Priya, whispering to her a juicy piece of gossip, “I heard he blew up a spaceship”.
CHAPTER 10 - THE PHARMACY AND DRAMATIC!
Back in the lab she pulled open the drawer with the curious greeting card and looked it over once more. Where it was once blank, the front had a word that was cursive like a signature,
“Dramatic”. Opening it up, she held her eye close and read each line carefully, “It must be quiet in there. That is what I have thought since the first day I saw you. Maybe one day that will be different. Priya, there are things that are special about you that are even beyond your wildest dreams. I have selected you for the task at hand, not only for your unique qualities and aptitudes, but because of your exquisite, inexhaustible creativity. If you care to respond to this summons, come to Albatross Convenience Pharmacy on Sixteenth St and place this card in the aisle of greeting cards where there is an empty space”. Visualizing the route and all the stop lights, Priya realized it was not more than twenty minutes away. “Hey, are you ready for the night screening?” Eric asked as he walked in through the door, stretching out his hand to offer her one of two tickets. “Ah … I’m so sorry. Not tonight. I’ve got to go on a solo mission”. Priya could see how the letdown weighed on him, “Oh, I thought you really wanted to see this. That’s okay.
We can do something tomorrow”. “Can I take your jacket, I feel like changing my look today”, and she threw it on since the night would be cold and kissed his cheek before locking the lab behind her. Rumbling down the road, she could feel a palpitating dread of the mysteries that would soon be laid bare. Then, in her heart she felt a weak, incidental spark of audacity, with the knowledge truth would set her free. By now, only a few random cars eked down the twilight encrusted roads. Looking at the clock, she could see midnight had passed without her notice.
After rolling into a space and shifting the stick into park, the driver got out and peered into the brightly lit building. “Guess I’m the only one,” Priya noted, throwing open the door. Pleasant shopping music wafted through the store like a lullaby as she turned the corner into the greeting card aisle. “Not a lot of people appreciate you, do they?” Priya thought as the different colors and patterns dazzled her eyes. Hesitating for a moment, she placed the card into the single empty space in the middle of the aisle, and as she did the music ceased, and a voice came over the intercom. “Stand back” it ordered in a deep resonating voice. Flames crept across the assortment, until, enhanced by the flavoring of the colors, they swelled. Translated into fuel, the cards bent into limp and blackened forms until the aisle disintegrated itself and the flame abated. Wiping away the smoke from her face, she found a stairwell and walked down, then through a long hallway that had at its end a door, the kind that you would see for a maintenance room. “Here we go '' Priya said and pulled the coat around her for warmth before twisting the handle. Inside was a little room, not much larger than a lounge, with a box of an old timey television with antennae sitting on a stand across from an easy chair and a coffee table. Priya picked up the VCR tape that sat on the table and pushed it into its slot, then plopped into the seat, musing on how its comfortableness would be the takeaway from this whole experience. Fuzzy static lingered on the screen until the face of a gray bearded man became apparent, “Hello Priya, you are the most beautiful part of my conspiracy. If you’re watching this now, I’m already gone. My name is Dramatic, one of the Voices of Reason that were conceived in the primordial time. We are Gazers who witness the focal element … the ultimate reality of this place. By now, you should
have seen it as well, as your genetic potential has allowed you to achieve the phenomenon. I have explored outside, and seen how our place is separate among many, a Bacteriae slithering on a nugget of shiny silver. The ultimate reality of ours is Imagination, disembodied and chaotic. It is turbulent. To renew itself it fills vessels with its essence, separating it for a time until the boundary is broken and it returns to the ocean of its source. This is the RODI which is the “Re-manifestation-Of-The-Divine-Imperfection '' which brings about the Matryoshka Realms.
Realms within realms, the process is continuous. We live in the Bacteriae Elementum that is a construct of that focal element. From grand studies our race instructed the cosmic tree to help oversee the RODI, and we noticed that the breeze through the foliage brought about life through the many realms, including your own. Eons passed and countless realities faded until I knew with certainty the labor of the Maelstrom Allegiance, must end, for the chaos must be given order. It is that which our people gather magic to accelerate the RODI beyond its limits. . To that end I spoke with Telenon, the alpha and leader among us, but by that suggestion he cast me out as an exile. By that time our Bacteriae was visited by new friends, with technology the likes of which we had never seen that rivaled our powers. The Rikiral were friendly explorers, but Telenon and the followers who are my brothers and sisters of the Voices of Reason could not abide any further interruption, and descended to earth, loaning them with our incalculable magic to fight against them. A small faction of your people joined the Rikiral in their struggle, your father among them after gaining the abilities granted by them. Priya, it is true that your mother was a Rikiral woman. Her true name was Cala Amnilow, her human imposter name being Claire Aphrodite, but that guise faded quickly, and the extent of her family is unknown to me. Do not think that is the sole and pivotal reason I chose you. The reason is clear and I will not restate what you already know. There is no alternative to our present dilemma. An individual must become the MIND of the Imagination, that disembodied essence which has no vessel, and bring order to that which is uninhibited. Telenon will be the final obstacle, so do not underestimate him. Well acquainted you are already with the cancer of his shadow, for I could not stop it from seeping into the phenomenon. Time can cause problems sometimes, and cruel fate has made it so the instructions here in this tape are the most help I can provide to you. From the primordial soup we came like virtual particles. Me and the other Voices of Reason by nature pass into hibernation within void for a cycle and return. At first, they only lasted for a day or so, but as time passed, they extended to a week, and then years, and then ages. Telenon was the first to discover that reincarnating within another can stave off a hibernation cycle. But the others have elected to do so in honor of the Maelstrom Allegiance so that their strength will be undiluted when they return.
Roughly sixty years ago, it was my time as well, but I came here, and was reborn into the body of a convenience store employee who just happened to be walking down the greeting card aisle. I saw their shapes and colors, and it was as if they called to me. I accidently fell upon the aisle of greeting cards, and the sharp tips of the cards pierced me like falling upon a bed of spikes, and my blood spilled over the assortment. From the Intercom came a voice, “Hey Chris, stop being so dramatic and get back to work”, and I found myself inside it, until I reverberated outwards, escaping, and the sound of the intercom materialized into my new body. Since then I have preserved this spot. This quiet age has one guardian. I am sorry for this, but it is just you and him. As a Voice of Reason, I have complete confidence in you. Either way, when I return, I will see someone different than what I did that day when you stood under the canopy of umbrellas.
Take the lessons you have learned and apply them. Good luck”. Later that night a car came screeching to a halt at about half past one. Wiping the sand out of his eyes, Eric stumbled to his apartment door and looked down. Priya leaned against the passenger’s door and waved at him
with one hand. “Just thought I would test out the new guy” she yelled. “Ohh … okay” he reacted.
A devious smile crept across her face, then jumped back into the car. “Later” she called and drove off into the night as Eric stood there, slightly confused. Closing the door behind himself, he laughed at what he had gotten himself into. And so Priya took the comfy chair back to her apartment and placed it in the center for her to get the best view of the TV.
CHAPTER 11 - THE GIRLS WONDER ABOUT PRIYA
“Have you ever had the feeling you’re being watched?” Felicia whispered to Nadine. Her legs were tired from over an hour of unbridled bicycling. Nadine turned to spy the creeper at the back of the spin class, but he had already gotten up and was headed towards them. “Oh shit, he’s coming this way” Dominique gasped with circumspect vigilance. Nadine braced herself for whatever brilliant adjectives he had for her ass, which was inevitable, and to jettison him forthwith from the spin class. In sweet reversal, the lecturer breathed a sigh of relief, jumped off and pecked him on the cheek, “Eric, Sweetie! How are you doing?”. Alighting beside him, Felicia and Dominique saluted him with a smile. “I didn’t know you liked to cycle,” the former teased. “Actually, I came to see you girls because I need your help” Eric confessed as Nadine rhetorically glanced at the other two. “With Priya …” she acknowledged being indeed the authority on the matter. “She is very low maintenance!” Felicia chimed in, severing the natural affinity betwixt the two. “Felicia, can’t you see Eric over here is in desperate need of our advice?
Eric, of course we’re here for you” she admonished, her last word coinciding as the wheels slowly clicked to a halt. Dominique snickered discreetly as Felicia crossed her arms. Arriving at consensus on their mutual plight, they changed, then embarked to the café across the street from the university gym to discuss. “It’s just that she’s too … timid” he relented, finishing off a plastic container filled with savory quiche. “You mean shy” Nadine corrected; her fingers arched in concentration. “Yes, of course. It’s just that she’s too shy and doesn’t communicate the way other people do. Like she has her own language. I’m having issues understanding her” the boyfriend despaired, voicing their own inner monologues with witty masculine charm. “Good thing you came to us” Dominique bolstered, whilst looking nervously at the other two across the table. “Can you tell me about the real Priya?” Eric appealed, looking squarely in the palatial eyes of the proud Nordic blonde. Nadine felt the heat of the silence around her, the great dynamic mystery of the timid researcher who bumped into them one day in the cafeteria was suddenly all that could occupy her academic mind, “Absolutely, I’ve got this down to a science”. For about thirty minutes they talked and argued. Felicia gripped a crumpled soda can, the rough edges not even angering her as every detail they added was like an answer that only raised more questions.
Spoken aloud it seemed very … funny. “She picked out one piece of furniture and everything else you three chose, what does that mean?” he asked, tossing back the anecdote across the table.
Nadine thought about the lab girl, how the two had spent the most time with each other, and how she had taken it completely for granted. The story was starting to become clearer, with every witness of her personality. “Most likely comes from modest beginnings” she settled, taking the pitch. Eric’s eyes widened in surprise. He regarded the three of them, who had gone to considerable lengths to distract the public from their academic pursuit. Nadine had on a spiffy blue getup. Felicia’s blouse had a peach base and yellow polka-dots. Dominique wore a black tank top with a green alien on it, a band that he had liked in high school. But Priya almost always wore her white lab coat. “Wait a second … Is Priya not materialistic?” Eric pondered. The thought had occurred to him before, yet never so blaringly bright. Circulating around the table,
each of them offered an opinion as to whether the subject was indeed materialistic or shallow. In math, the easiest solution is often correct, the disciple recalled, briefly cupping her mouth.
Nadine leaned over the table at the guy, who with their effort would surpass their own understanding of the silly lab girl, “Hey, have you ever seen her look in the mirror?”. “Come to think of it, she doesn’t” Eric realized. Felicia snapped her fingers as an idea blossomed, “Do you know Yellow Summer at the court? Flip yes, that place is really expensive. Try buying her a dress and see how she reacts, you know … as an experiment”. Dominique leapt up, feigning protest, “Are we sure that’s ethical …”. The fellow across the table ignored the play at theatre. He was already mapping it on his phone.
CHAPTER 12 - ERIC TALKS TO A FRIEND
Behind the glass of a hockey game, a conversation more intriguing than the war dance on the other side was afoot. Eric leaned over to his brother’s roommate Maurice, who had asked a rather frank question, “Um, yeah, going well”, then slurped a bit of root beer for good measure.
“Really, what’s her deal?” he shot back, focused, perceptive, without questioning the interference from the other team. Eric coyly shrugged his shoulders, smiling in that dumb way when you are rewarded by your parents but they won’t tell you the reason, “It’s been a rough start, but I like her a lot”. Maurice burst out laughing and craned over to grip both of his shoulders at once for a good pinch, “Stop trying to figure them out, bro”. Eric recovered, throwing a handful of popcorn at the screen for good measure as the rivals scored a goal. For a second, he thought about just letting it go. It would probably be useless to talk about someone his friend had never even met. And really, how could that someone understand … but it was just something he needed to get off his chest. Eric compared the options before making his decision,
“Tell me about it. We went out to Jacksons … you know the place”. “That high class joint?”, Maurice whistled at the price, then smirked in the knowing way a man does to recognize another’s plight. “Have you seen Nadine, you know, the hot one? She convinced me to buy her a dress from Yellow Summer, but she didn’t react the way I thought she would. I don’t know, maybe she’s been in that lab too long or something. Try buying a dress for a girl that isn’t materialistic” he chronicled, rambling emotionally. That evening had certainly been an interesting test. Impulsively he glanced down at the gift bag by his chair again, sizing it up.
Fashionably literate people milled about a classical interior with a modern open-air twist.
Yuppies and wannabes dotted the bar, many relegating their attention to the virgin classical emanating from the stage. A waiter that actually cared daintily illustrated the appetizers to a beefy woman draped somewhat in fur. Lights limping on thin strings were timed to dim and brighten at just the right times for the eye to adjust to feel out the shapes of humanity. He took a look at the bag once more, gauging a reaction, not noticing her arrival. Priya’s presence leaped into his awareness. She was wearing a lab coat, one with a few stains from their date from last week. Taking into consideration their conference she had straightened her hair, knowing that was the preference of boys. Eric followed the girl’s plan to the letter, waiting till after desert to subject the real world to hypothesis. “Geez, that was a really good flan” Priya noted, quietly patting her lips with a white napkin. His heart beat blood into effervescence. Reacting with swiftness, he picked up the bag and laid it on the table, “So I found this at a shop near the university, I thought you would like it”. Conscious of his effort, she spurned the desire to play with the curious handfuls of tissue paper as she pulled the contents from the bag. Like the lab coat it was white, but a thousand times more beautiful. Priya’s eyes tinted with interest,
observing the scope of it like a spectacular powerpoint slide, “Where did you find me?”. “I found you at the pharmacy, don’t you remember?” he immediately reacted, not expecting the modification or his voice to carry that particular sentence. The girl smiled as she looked away from the gift and back towards his keen, handsome face. “Eric, don’t be silly. I found you” she replied. The memory washed over him as the blur of the game endured. What she had meant from that still didn’t make sense, but she was happy, which was all that mattered. “Damn, you’ve got it made” Maurice grunted as he stole a buttery first full of popcorn. Eric took the comment in stride, folding the past back into the past, because that’s where it belongs … like origami, “Uh huh, so what’s the deal with your cousin’s new gig”.