Maniacs in The Fourth Dimension (15 page)

C
hapter forty one

''Hubert, are you
listening?''

He got his
face off the tablecloth and sat straight in the chair.

''I'm listening.''

''Asimbala Carter died, it's on
google news.''

''Tragic. I'll drink for her
immortal soul.''

He spilled
half of his drink on the ground and swallowed the rest. And poured
more in the glass. He claims that alcohol that the ground takes in
is a drink for the dead, 'cause they're in the ground.

''Wasn't she
suppose to be here today, to promote some movie or somethin'
?''

''She was.''

''Strange. How did she
die?''

'' 'No informations about
circumstances of her death have been released yet…', it goes on
about how many records she sold and how many Grammys she won.''

''She
probably overdosed on something.''

''You think?''

''I mean,
they're all overdosed, first thing they overdose on is money. Then
it's alcohol, drugs, sex, life. They have more than they can bare.
Insatiable capacities.''

Some dude
came running from PCC across the road. He stopped here, at
'Constantinople', with cell in his hand. I'd say he's grabbin'
cafe's wifi. Now he's dialing.

''Hey man,
listen, you won't believe what just happened at Convention-con.
Like, five minutes ago. They were suppose to premiere trailer for
'The Pulverizer' at hall one, whole place was full like a matchbox.
You won't believe me, man, I filmed the whole fuckin' thing, and
uploaded it to youtube. Just now. Yeah, that's the link in the
message. Or, you can just type 'Supermensch'. Call Taylor and
Spongebomb, give them the link, I'll call Ewan. Fine, I'll call
Spongebomb, just check the video, man, I'm going inside, he's still
there.''

He left. What was that all
about?

''Type'', said Hubert.

S-U-P-E-R-M-E-N-S-C-H. There's dozens of videos containing
the fraze in their titles. But, only one uploaded today.

''That's the one.''

Play. I moved
my chair closer to Hubert so he can see better. Crowd. Noise.
There's a big black curtain hiding the stage. You can't see behind
it. The curtain goes down. Oohs and aahs. Masked and caped figure
stands at the pulpit.

''Fear not,
citizens!'', he exclaimed in the mic: ''I will protect you from the
crime!''

''Shit, that's Sacha Baron
Cohen!''

Holy shit, it
is him. He stepped away from the pulpit, and you could see that
he's not wearing any pants. His genitals and his ass are showing.
He poses for the cameras. Hubert bursted into laughter. Con's
security climbed on the stage to get him, but he flew into the air.
You heard well, he flew into the air. With his dick
hanging.

''I will protect you from the
crime!''

''I don't see
any wires! I don't see any wires!'', someone was
shouting.

He flew around the hall, with
security chasing him.

''I will protect you from the
crime!''

In one
moment, his dick dangled over one security girl's face.

''This is insane…''

He flew out of the hall, and
people rushed after him. Clip's over.

''Sacha's
agents obviously somehow gained access to other
dimensions.''

''Let's go
inside!'', said Hubert and jumped off the chair: ''Maybe he's still
buzzing around. Get your camera ready and make sure you get a good
shot of his dick.''

We ran toward Pine Cone.

''Best Convention-con
ever!''

Chapter forty two

He's sitting
on the bench in the park with his face pressed to his opened hands.
He doesn't see me. I sat down next to him.

''Emily.''

''Please don't be mad at me,
Cleit.''

''I'm not Emily, you saved my
life twice. I'm mad at myself.''

''Why?''

''Because all
of this is my fault, not Abraxas', mine. He didn't open the doors
of other worlds for us, I did. And now, bodies are piling up.
Because of me.''

''We all make
our own choices, Cleit.''

He found me,
not far from here, I was crying my eyes out under one otherwordly
plant.

''I want to
show you something, Cleit. It's kinda beautiful. Do you like David
Attenborough's shows?''

''What?''

I do. I love
his documentaries so much. He's a wonderful person. He explained
what happened to me on the level I want to share with
Cleit.

Human eye, the instrument of trichromatic vision, combines
red, blue and green to show us human image of the world. To other
creatures we share our home with, it looks quite a bit different.
Bees, for instance, percieve the world in colours entirely
different from ours. Their vision of the light spectrum is higher
than ours, ending in ultraviolet, but bees cannot pick up lower
frequencies, thus being blind to colour red.

Another small neighbour of ours, the butterfly, sees the
world different than both bees and men. Butterflies, being
pentachromats, can register up to ten billions of colours, while
our trichromatic eyes register only up to one million.

In fact, colours are nothing more than different
wavelengths of light. White light, when passed through a prism,
produces the spectrum of colours, starting from red, to orange,
yellow, green, blue, and violet. Waves exist above and below the
visible spectrum that human eye is not capable of responding to.
Infrared, microwaves and radio are longer waves below red, and
ultraviolet, x-rays and gamma rays are shorter waves above violet.
Purple does not have its own wavelength, it only appears as a
result of mixing of blue and red. Like purple, no wavelength exists
for brown, for its creation at least three wavelengths of the
spectrum are needed. White is the presence of all colours. Black is
the absence of all.

''Take my
hand, Cleit.''

''Okay.''

Here we are.

''A realm I
discovered. It's filled with flowers and colors. I think that tulip
you found me under came from here. Isn't the view beautiful,
Cleit?''

''Neat.''

It's about to
get spectacular. Clouds are blocking the sun, and the UV. Just wait
for it.

''You know
how they say that dogs can see only black and white?''

''No. But
never mind.''

''Well,
actually, seals and walruses see everything in black and white,
dogs can't see green and red. Bees can't see red, but they see UV.
Some butterflies can see all the way from red to UV. Insects see
flowers so differently than us. And mantis shrimps, they can even
see polarization of the light, and choose the wavelength which they
want to see.''

The look on your face, Cleit.
You will understand when you see.

''Just wait for it, Cleit.''

The sun is breaking through the
clouds. I raised my head to its caressing light and closed my
eyes.

''Do you see it now,
Cleit?!''

''Holy shit, Emily, you're…
iridescent.''

Yes.

''This realm
is awesome. Ultraviolet is visible here and… OH MY GOD,
CLEIT!''

''What?''

He saw his hands.

''JESUS CHRIST!''

His flesh is
absorbing light somehow, his bones are visible.

''What the fuck has happened to
me?!''

He took his
shirt off.

''I can see
my entrails, sweet Jesus…I'm going to be sick…''

He started shaking, I quickly
pressed my body against his.

''No… Cleit…
calm down, it's just the light, it's just the light, you're fine,
hold me, hold me in your arms, Cleit…''

I don't understand…

''Calm down, it's okay, it's
okay…''

X-rays? Why? Why isn't he like
me?

The light, the colours and other invisible wavelengths of
electromagnetic spectrum do not exist to scare us, or to gladden
our hearts. They were here long before us.

''
I look like a fuckin' pirate
flag, disgusting…''

''You're not,
you're beautiful Cleit, kiss me, now, kiss me …''

''Em-, Emily…
Jesus Ch…''

''We're alone
here, Cleit, just you and me…''

…
And our
colors.

''Emily…''

''You are
beautiful Cleit… we are gods… here…''

You thought
me… so much about… life… David, but… I still don't know… what's the
secret of life… and all things… will I find the answer…
here…

Dear girl, secrets belong to esoterics… not biologists. And
as ah…

''Ah!''

And as biologist, I will say… that this dimension shifting
of yours… is utter nonsense… we have only one Earth…Just
you…

''Just you
and me Cleit… and our colors…''

Chapter forty three

Basha flew
over my head, looking happy and healt
hy,
just a couple of minutes ago. So they didn't kill him. I have to
think of something funny to say, before they return, to lampoon
their heroic effort. Somethin' like: 'You know who I just saw? Your
good buddy Basha. He sends his regards and says you can suck his
shrimp.' Bwhahah! Yeah, that's good. Suck his shrimp, bitches. Just
watch out that he doesn't devour you while you're suckin' him off.
A spider would. Their females eat their males. Sometimes even
during the shag. Imagine that. I read somewhere that they're doing
so when they find the mate less desirable, like, they're looking
far a stronger mate with better genes. Imagine that be the case
with us. You take a chick to dinner, you have nice time and
everything, and then she tells you: 'I don't think you're right for
me'. And she eats you. You're her dinner. 'Waiter! What wine would
you recommend with a skinny Caucasian?' Bwahahah! Yes. Yes. 'You're
a nice guy but I need someone with stronger genes.' Yes. You need a
face, black widow. What face will I give you? Who's face?
Rabbithead's sister. No. No. Not you, hazel eyes, you are too kind,
gentle creature, to be in my evil fantasies. Sleep, sleep sweety,
and thank you for all the blunts, goodbye. Maya. Yes! Yes! That's
right, chew Isaac's ear, you never loved him anyway, you've
mistaken him for an alpha male 'cause of his flamboyant colors, but
his genes probably carry Alzheimer's, he'll give you ginger offspr-
Alice. No. Go away Alice, I haven't jerked off for two days, full
fuckin' eternity. Leave my thoughts Alice, I can't focus while
you're here. Go haunt your boyfriend, or that bumbling halfwit, or
Kirsten and Lempo, they all just watched you incinerate yourself, I
tried saving you, you just needed to take my hand…

''What the fuck are you doing,
man?!''

Lempo. Where'd he come from?

''I was just
scratching my balls.''

''Just
scratching your balls? With such expression of pain on your face
that it looked like you were trying to rip them off? What's going
on with you, man? You and Cleit are breaking down ever since we
started this.''

''I'm fine.''

''Are you,
Jove? I mean, isn't this what we dreamed of as kids? To fight
zombies and monsters for real, not just in PC games, not to pretend
that you're a hero, but to really be a hero? And this is it! Our
dreams came true! And instead of embracing this with both hand,
what do you do, Jove? You go cuckoo.''

''Last time I
was a PC hero, was 'Guitar hero'. I deleted it, it was jammin' my
computer.''

''Oh, really?! Why are you here,
then? If you don't care, why are you here?''

''I don't know. Because you and
Cleit are here. I don't know.''

I don't want
to narrate anymore. Cleit just arrived. He can narrate for you.
Goodbye.

Chapter forty four

Z
ombie
genocide

I saw parts
of my skeleton, my sinews, veins and
capillaries. My entrails. It was all just coming and going.
It made me so sick, I thought I'll throw up. It passed now, I left
that place and I'm not coming back there anymore. And Emily was
just shining. Fluorescent. Iridescent. All the colors of the
rainbow. She doesn't understand why I didn't. Shine. She
surrendered into arms of the universe, like a leaf in the
streamline, and the universe took care of her. I can't. I can't
close my eyes and hope that everything will be fine. I control my
actions. Nobody else. And the universe hates me for it. It's
showing it to me every step of the way. It wants us to eat each
other. No. I will not abide. The universe will kill me. Or it will
have Emily do it. Will you, Emily?