Note – in June I posted the first two chapters of this story (See Chapter 1.  See Chapter 2).  Chapter 2 was one of my least popular posts looking at number of likes and views since my first year of blogging in 2014.  I had already written Chapter 3 at that time, but decided to not post it since people seemed to not like the story.  Well, I’ll try again ;)  Here is the third chapter.

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I took a sip of the dark beverage.

When I was a freshman, a friend’s girlfriend made me a drink that she called “hot cocoa”.  It was actually some cocoa powder, yerba mate, cinnamon and other spices in tepid water.  She said it was full of energy.  It was bitter but had odd notes that were just beyond description.

I took another sip.

This beverage was similar, though I liked it better.  More than that, it really did give me energy.  More than energy, it calmed my rebelling stomach erased all signs of alcohol. It cleared my head, but my mind continued to spin.

“So this place is a portal?” I asked.

“Maybe a multi-portal.  A confluence?  A hub? It isn’t just a simple passageway,” Threck said.

“Hundreds of worlds?”

Threck shrugged. “Hundreds, thousands, millions, who knows?”

“You say they are different worlds spread throughout the one Universe, some perhaps billions of light years from others, not different Universes?” Continue reading →

Pixabay image by Marianne Sopala

(Note – This is Chapter 7 (and final) of the story.  See chapter 1.)

The world rolled by just outside of the car’s window.  The sun had recently set and the western sky still glowed yellow, but the black of night was creeping in.  It wouldn’t take over, of course, since the suburban lights illuminated the entire sky.  There was still no simulation playing in the car and it was moving at a constant 100 kph.

Jesk didn’t notice. He just sat, staring forward with vacant eyes.

Strangely enough, he was not thinking about Thara nor about Adi.  His mind was on the young Jesk, the young Brey and their parents. He even was thinking about their dog, Rex. He rarely thought of them at all, and when he did it was just in passing, but for some reason Brey’s funeral had brought back the memories long forgotten.  The good times and bad. All of those shared moments.  All of the things they did, saw and talked about.

He thought of Brey teasing him mercilessly, but with love in her eyes.  He thought of Mom making peanut butter sandwiches.  When had he last eaten peanut butter? The day before the accident?  He thought of day to day activities, of TV and family trips, sitting around the table at dinner talking about school.  He remembered Brey having a date when she was a freshman in high school and how he had teased her, getting her back for all of those times she embarrassed him in front of his friends.  Rex was there for years, his constant companion. And, of course there was Dad.

Jesk frowned. Continue reading →

Pixabay image by Marianne Sopala

(Note – This is Chapter 6 of the story.  See chapter 1.)

People. Crowds of people crammed into Ryk’s tiny house, smashed elbow to elbow together. And what a house it was, or perhaps it would be better to say “what a house it wasn’t”.  It had only the most basic furnishings and extremely limited automation. There were no robots, not one. No simulation equipment in any room. No environmental controls beyond “heat”. No scented breezes, just the smell of food and that sickening smell of people.  People. Sweating, coughing, sneezing, sniffling.  Breathing! To have to put up with the rot and decay known as death at the funeral was bad enough, but Jesk had to actually be with people, many of whom had the stupid assumption that they needed to hug him.  “You lost your sister, poor man.” He did his best to keep his anger in check, but he had been at a low simmer all afternoon.  Thara would pay for it when they got home.

Where was Thara?  They had been separated soon after they arrived.  He had been pulled aside to listen to some of Brey’s friends talk at him while Thara watched over Adi as she played with the snot-nosed kids of his loser sister’s idiot son.  A few other kids where there as well, all germ factories. It had been over two hours.  What had she said?  And to whom?

Jesk first noticed Adi.  She was on the floor, like a peasant, playing with several other kids.  They had toys that weren’t animated.  They had no electronics nor robotics of any type.  There were no simulations involved and there was nothing that was genetically engineered.  They were playing with dead, non-interactive things, as if it were the Middle Ages.  And she was actually smiling and laughing! Continue reading →

Pixabay image by Marianne Sopala

(Note – This is Chapter 5 of the story.  See chapter 1.)

The room was crowded.  Too crowded. There were all types of people shuffling through, milling about and sitting in the rows of chairs. Most were wearing “nice” clothes, though it all looked cheap to Jesk.  He was sure his silk boxers cost more than the most expensive suit or dress in the room.  And it was warm, too warm for “winter”; people were sweating.  He heard a sneeze and some coughing. There was sniffling, the cold and flu season made worse by the sudden changes from freezing to sweating.  All he could think of was the germs.  Not that it would matter to Brey.

Jesk couldn’t help but to stare at his sister. Thara had made sure that, as family, they sat up front.  He didn’t want to look at any of the rabble in their cheap suits and snotty noses and there was not much else in the room to look at other than Brey. Continue reading →

Pixabay image by Marianne Sopala

(Note – This is Chapter 4 of the story.  See chapter 1.)

The waves lapped gently at the beach, though a little farther down the waves were bigger and came closer to crashing. Terns were skirting the wave tops, darting around, occasionally hovering for a moment, before diving for small minnows. A gull could be heard crying above the sound of the surf. The sun beat down, hot and heavy, but the salt-tanged breeze from the ocean was refreshing.

Jesk watched Thara as she helped Adi read her book.  He shook his head. It was a real, honest to goodness paper book. He didn’t know such things still existed.

“Susan, walked, on, the sand. She, saw, a….” Adi’s little face scrunched up in concentration.  “I don’t know this word.”

“Sound it out, Sweetie. What are the first two letters?” She had a smile, an odd one he hadn’t seen before.  It made wrinkles appear around her eyes.  He didn’t like that.

“’C’, ‘R’.”

“Good.  And what does that sound like?”  Actually, she looked like a mother, not a teenager.  He wanted a teenager as his bride, not a “mother”. Continue reading →

Pixabay image by Marianne Sopala

(Note – This is Chapter 3 of the story.  See chapter 1.  Note 2 – the viewpoints of Jesk are purposefully disturbing.)

The stars were bright and crystal clear. The majestic form of the Milky Way stood out forming the perfect backdrop for the towering peaks of the high mountains. The air was filled with summer nighttime sounds of the song of crickets. A loon call, lonely, like a spirit calling from a different world, echoed across the landscape. A cool, fragrant breeze blew in off of the mountains.

Jesk thought about getting under the warm covers, but he actually enjoyed the goosebumps that rose up on his body.  It was a feeling that pushed beyond his bland comfort zone where he spent 99.9% of his life, and yet it was safe and familiar.  He felt alive. He reached over and patted the bed beside him.

For a moment he wished Thara was there lying next to him in the bed, not for sex, but for shared warmth and companionship.

He quickly grew angry, first at himself, but since he could never be angry at himself for long, at Thara. What was she thinking, telling him what she was going to do and telling him, actually telling him, what he should do as well?

The goosebumps went away and he began to sweat in his angry heat. Continue reading →