OVER THE SILVER SKY TO THE WORLD OF NEVER : Part 79 - Now Back To My Hat.

Today I are ripping off Rupert Brooke the poet. I do this in honor of the celebrations of World War 1 being over. Back then, in the Good Old Days, they had proper wars. Not like these modern wars they do these days. It's for that reason we celebrate them. I could be wrong there, but who cares? Anyway as part of my homage to WW1 I'm going to piss all over Rupert Brookes grave like the fucked up ghoul I am. Rather ironically, I think, he died from a septic mosquito bite rather than being machine gunned, bayoneted or blown to bits. So here we go Rupert, as I parasitically feast on your talent. If I should die think only this of me. That there is a lot of porn on my computer that I'm not responsible for. I don't know how it or the scores of bookmarks got there, honestly. I'm not saying I haven't porned. Obviously I've dabbled, but only for the purposes of research for my writing. Which admittedly is mostly pornographic these days. Whether the two are connected I couldn't say. It's entirely possible that all that, entirely unviewed, porn is affecting me adversely. That's how the interweb gets you. So in the event you find my dead body slumped over the keyboard of my laptop clutching the mouse in one hand (I can't use a touchpad, don't judge me.) and my cock in the other, don't jump to conclusions. It could well be that I was inspecting that rather itchy rash, and the lumps, on my bell end and researching their possible cause. In my death throes I clicked on one of those hundreds of links that are mysteriously appearing all over my browser history. It was all perfectly innocent so in order to avoid a possible scandal could you please delete everything from that browser history and all of the bookmarks. I know it's going to take a few hours, but I will appreciate your efforts from beyond the grave I promise. I'll have a quiet word with Satan and make sure you get into a cushy circle of Hell. Let us now proceed to some more inconsequential nonsense.

(The copyright for this image is the property of AZ Quotes.)

"How many times have I been killed so far?" Jake inquired as he picked himself up off the ground.
"Do you mean in this part or overall?" Raven responded.
"This bit. I manged to keep a count of all those times you destroyed me in the one on one combat. That was twelve. I'm not including the near fatal injuries or the one where I managed to kill you as you killed me."
"In that case it's twenty seven."
"Am I at least getting better at it?" He moaned plaintively.
"Not so you'd notice. That's not entirely your fault. It gets harder each time. It's built into the simulation. As are the constantly changing dispositions and weapons you face."
"At least that's something."
"But it is mostly your fault Jake. How long did it take you to actually try to kill me? Even then you apologized. I know all about your silly morals and etiquette so I'll forgive that. But these opponents are drones. They don't feel anything at all. You're treating them like real people when they aren't."
He dusted himself down unnecessarily, everything had reset as soon as he'd been killed.
"I was thinking that maybe you could turn down the pain a notch." She shook her head. "I thought not. The pain reinforces the lessons. Alright let's get back to it."
"No. I think it's better if you take a break. Subjectively you've been doing this exercise for over 48 hours straight. I'm sorry but I'm going to have to go all Zen with you. You're not only fighting your opponents here, you're fighting yourself."

He found himself instantly back in the training room. There were no weapons he could see. He had the instinctive feeling that what would follow would be so much better in the form of a montage. This was confirmed when Raven told him that he was going to learn to meditate. First came some instruction on the principles of yin and yang. It boiled down to this basically. Right at the center of good and evil was a dot of their opposite. Inside good there was concentrated evil you could say. That evil had to be accessed in order to combat evil. There was a whole lot more than that as he was to find out. One of his earliest questions of Raven had been whether their interaction would be wiped from his memory. By the time they parted company that was his dearest wish. It helped explain why she'd been so playful and coquettish to begin with. This was deadly serious.

"Earth calling Jake. Hello. Are you even listening to me?"
The transition was as seamless as before. One instant he was with Raven, the next he was back in his bedroom.
"Sorry Hermes. I was miles away there. Old memories. What's up anyway?"
How could a few million biots roaming around his innards sigh like that?
"Thinking about your lost love were you?"
"Yeah. That's the long and the short of it."
"As I've been telling you for the last five minutes I have picked up a couple of anomalies. Initially I thought they originated here. Now I'm pretty sure it's only one anomaly and it emanated from Pip's room. Not sure why I got the signals mixed up or what caused me to erroneously detect something here. There's a lot of background interference that I'd normally filter out. Mea culpa."
If he'd had a physical form Jake would have kissed him. So happy was he to have this distraction.
"It's not your fault Hermes. Do you think we should check on her?"
"That's what I was asking you. All the telemetry indicates that it's source is local, as in from inside the city. I'm thinking it could be the message or whatever she was supposed to be waiting for. I'm still picking up all her life signs from that room. She hasn't gone anywhere."
That agreed with all he'd been told.
"Let's check anyway shall we. No knowing what's been happening while I was off in dreamland."
"That's unusually decisive for you." Hermes stated.
"I know. I think this place might be having an undesirable influence on me. Let's go see what she's up to. Um... before I burst in though do let me know if she's naked."
"Why would she be naked?"
"I don't know. She's a young woman. There's no knowing what goes through their heads. It's an unsolved mystery like walnuts."
He could feel Hermes grinding away processing that for all he was worth.
"What's mysterious about walnuts?"
"That's the thing. Nobody knows."
"You are winding me up aren't you."
"No I'm slipping headlong into insanity instead of putting up any resistance."
"Well it's like the Borg always say "Resistance is futile" and they should know."
Jake had barely set foot in the living area when Pip came out of her room. The guilty look she gave him was all he needed. That and her instant breaking of eye contact.
"Hermes detected some activity in your room. I take it you've received your... whatever then?"
Pip turned her back on him busying herself with examining the synthesizer.
"I don't want to.. I can't talk about it. So don't..."
"Actually I was thinking about ordering us up a couple of nice steaks. With proper chips and not those skinny fries. Have you ever had steak and chips."
She turned back towards him, still avoiding eye contact.
"I'm not sure... I'll give it a try... I'd really like to give it a try. I'm just going to pop outside for a bit. I need a few minutes to myself."
"Well don't go wandering off young lady. Lunch will be ready shortly. Now do you like your meat well cooked or rare."
"I'm easy."
She left through the automatic door. Going out into the street.
"What's up with her?" Hermes asked with concern.
"It's the whole thing at Port Bristol. They've escalated into open warfare. That's her two besties at each others throats. Pip doesn't know which way to turn and we are her only outlet."
"Poor thing. I'm almost as useless as you are with the emotions thing."
Jake was glad of another distraction.
"You've got emotions. I should know I've suffered through most of them. I'd hate to be with you when you get angry that's for sure. Surly I can handle. I don't want you turning me into the Incredible Hulk. I've only just got my wardrobe sorted. Do you think I need a hat. I saw a lot of hats at the settlement. A few of them looked alright."
"I'm more worried about Pip. We could keep an eye on her if you turned the wall into a window. She wouldn't even know."
"Let's not. She asked for a moment alone. Invading her privacy is not right."
"What do you mean? She wouldn't even know we were watching her. For all you know that Time Agent could come back."
"I'm pretty sure that's not going to happen. My guess is that it was here because of Jean-Pierre and what he's about to get up to. Now back to my hat."

It was more like ten minutes before Pip returned. Jake and Hermes had started to get worried. Intermittently bickering over whether or not to make the wall transparent. Butterfly brained Jake had then pondered whether it was possible to make the internal walls into one way windows which were like two way mirrors that aren't really two way. He was pleased to be informed by Hermes that although it was possible you needed to operate the controls from both sides simultaneously. Why it was a relief he didn't know. Jake had nothing but sympathy for anyone who was tempted to see him naked. Although thanks to his simulation time his muscles were much better defined. As far as he could tell they'd even improved with his training from Raven. Odd that Hermes hadn't noticed. Unless he had some suspicions and was keeping quiet about them. Tact wasn't something he associated with the AI, but the boy did have it. He just didn't use it very often.

"Well what do you think young Pip?" Jake asked as soon as she walked back through the door. Mainly to hide his relief. He hadn't been nearly as confident as he'd told Hermes.
"What about?" She asked tersely.
He did a pose. Waggling his head.
"I've gone with the stetson. I was tempted by the fedora. Red Reddington looks pretty cool in one. He's in The Blacklist. A TV series you know nothing about. It's a bit like Potato Hunter only good. Though some of the plotting and stories in the later series weren't up to its usual standards. Only I don't think a fedora goes with the rest of my outfit. I can't see cowboy Clint Eastwood riding into town wearing a fedora. That's too much of a stretch. By the way what's the returns policy with these things? Because this could be a major fashion blunder. Not my first and probably not my last."
Pip gave a sickly smile that wasn't fooling anyone.
"I'm not sure. I think it might grow on you."
"That's a kick in the crotch. I deserve it I suppose. I did say I'd have a meal ready. Luckily thanks to modern technology, that seems like magic to me, I can have it done in a jiffy."

Sitting through awkward meals was not new to Jake. He'd been married. He'd also managed to upset a few women in his time. Not enough for them to throw the food at him and storm out. Which he considered as pretty good. Oh yeah and there was that time John Wright had taken him for lunch at the university. When he'd been asked to swap offices and had immediately said no. If only he'd asked for some time to think about it. Then he could have ordered the expensive things he liked instead of the cheap shit. A monosyllabic Pip was much harder to bear. Especially given her attempts to appear cheerful. Jake had no idea what she'd been told during her conference call, from Grundel he surmised. The uncomfortable atmosphere dragged on throughout the entire day. She pretending as if nothing was wrong and he ignoring her faked good cheer. Eventually she went to bed early. Collecting the cover from his room, before taking it into hers. Some more quiet time for reflection. The worst bit was her apologizing if she'd been acting funny. His period quip was left in the locker. It wasn't funny. Most of his quips suffered from that same fault but weren't nearly as potentially offensive.

In the end he gave up trying to find some entertainment in the entertainment system. There was a definite lack of creativity pervading most of the output. Even cleaning his already spotless weapons lost all appeal. With one last look at her bedroom door Jake headed to bed. Not to sleep. Although sleep he would. To fill in those hours where he had no idea what to do. Pip was in pain. He could do nothing to soothe it.

He awoke from a dream filled slumber. Sitting up instantly. His senses straining for whatever had interrupted his sleep. No sound. Hermes was fizzing inside him. Straining to speak. He could feel that? Whatever had happened was principally aimed at his internal friend. Jake was out of bed without even thinking. Heading to Pip's empty room. She couldn't have got far. He knew she'd only left within the last couple of minutes. Hermes was still attempting to communicate. All Jake got was a static hiss. Somebody had been fucking with his buddy. That pushed some buttons. That someone had to have used Pip for this purpose. The only candidates he knew of were Grundel and Daisy. He hurried back to his room dressing in a rush. Reaching for the wrist device he found it wasn't there. A lot more buttons were simultaneously pushed. He kicked out randomly at whatever he could. Wishing that these inanimate objects were himself.

"You dumb fuck. What did she say before you left? Take care of Pip. She is in great danger. Danger that may well cost her life. Five fucking minutes and I couldn't even do it."
Hermes croaked. His voice coming through the hissing.
"Jake you're angry. I detect massive spikes in oxytocin, vasopressin, and corticotropin-releasing hormone. Adrenaline levels are increasing rapidly as is your heart rate."
"You bet I'm fucking angry. Pip's taken the wrist device. She must be heading back to the settlement. I can't fucking follow can I." He pulled on his belts and holsters. "That leaves me no option but to blow my way into Grundel's office. Where I will tear him limb from limb in order to find out what the fuck is going on."
Hermes voice came through loud and clear.
"You could do that. Or I could instruct you how to create an exact duplicate of the wrist device required to transit the dome exterior. Only we'll still need to visit Grundel."
"Why the fuck would I do that?"
"Because if you don't it could destroy the whole plan. Which could lead to the destruction of this entire society and quite possibly the rest of the multiverse. You need to cool your jets my friend. There's far more at stake here than one persons life. Which would be lost anyway if you proceed."
"Do you know something Hermes? I really hate it when you're right. I'm calm now."
"Your hormone levels suggest otherwise. I'm not even sure what Pip did to me. It was like I was paralyzed. Even my background activities slowed to a crawl. That's some major tech she used."
"So first stop synthesizer. Second stop Grundel's throat. Let's get busy buddy."