The Spaces in Between (3 page)

The Dread Pirate slipped through an approaching crowd of Draco gimps and down the corridor towards the exhibits housing the Mehmet talisman. He was flanked by two more gimps bearing down on him with spears. It struck me that the guards were really outmatched against a guy with a gun, but it suddenly occurred to me that stray gunfire was a liability the Draco were not willing to take with the exhibits.

I suddenly got an earful of real gunfire, which startled me so much that I’m amazed I didn’t wake up then. The utter silence of the pistol Cameron brandished suddenly occurred to me as incredibly unsettling. Not even that mouse fart noise television wants you to believe a silencer sounds like. Nothing, but bodies hitting the ground.

This time the approaching Draco guards were not killed but clenched their stomachs like they had a mere stomachache. Cameron brought them down with a tackle that he barely got back up from.

“For us,” Ryoma said, “That is the most we can hope to influence the Physical.” He lowered his smoking Colt .45, opened it, and replaced the two spent shells. Ryoma floated behind Cameron at top speed, and I was surprised to see that I could too. There was a feeling like my stomach was being tied in knots. It was slight, but it was there.

Tsuen was nearby. He wanted his presence known.

Then I had another insight: this time about a sword. The sword bore a striking resemblance to a katana and was very old. It was forged of an incredibly sturdy alloy that allows it to deflect even a laser for up to five minutes. This particular sword was traveling with an exhibit dig site from a former Lemurian colony. Its blade was chipped and couldn’t cut, but was still sturdy.

“Was that Cameron’s voice?” I peered at Ryoma to see if he had heard it too.

“Yeah, he puts things on the Astral to bring about coincidences in the Physical,” Ryoma said, “We notice it, because we’re also on the Astral.”

I suddenly noticed that the corridor was flanked with display cases. Were those there before? I can’t remember. In my defense I was distracted. Cameron pumped some rail gun rounds into one of the cases and snatched up that very sword.

“
Sakamoto! Ikimasu!”

“
Wakarimasu
!” Ryoma’s form gave way to an orb and flew into Cameron’s body. He swapped the rail gun with the sword in his left hand. The Draco soon had their spearheads trained on him. With a flourish and a spray of sparks Cameron decapitated their spears. With his left hand, he planted a single shot into each Draco’s forehead. He fought like a completely different person.

Considering their masks, the Draco slumped over each other in a very disturbing manner. Behind them stood Tsuen wearing his own sword. Cameron fired a round at Tsuen, but missed. Three more misses certainly weren’t coincidence either.

“
Onamae wa onegaishimasu!”
Tsuen said.

“
Sakamoto Ryoma to Cameron desu.
” I am Cameron and Sakamoto Ryoma. So I guess Cameron is being possessed or something like that. I don’t know - dreams are weird. Cameron charged over the gap with a quick thrust. Tsuen sidestepped the point, but with a flick of the wrist his attack became a slash at Tsuen’s abdomen.

The strike was parried with his sword’s scabbard. Tsuen drew his own sword only a foot to knock the rail gun out of Cameron’s hand. Cameron shifted his weight to his back foot to clear Tsuen’s sword, but still nearly lost his chin.

Cameron quickly thrust his blade, which was brushed aside with the handle of Tsuen’s. He shifted forwards to quickly slash Tsuen across the face, but with a back step Tsuen completely avoided it. Cameron leapt back to get out of Tsuen’s considerable kill zone.

Tsuen sheathed his sword and redrew it so fast that his blade was a mere flash of silver. Cameron ducked under the silver arc and slashed Tsuen across his spine. The tip of Cameron’s sword shattered on an invisible barrier surrounding Tsuen. He turned and struck Cameron in the midsection with an open palm.

Cameron went sliding across the floor on his ass, and Ryoma went flying in the opposite direction. Tsuen shuffled forward on his heels following a sweeping cut. Cameron parried, but his sword snapped under the strain. Tsuen pinned Cameron’s wrist under his foot and pointed the tip of his sword in Cameron’s face.

“
Makoto Tsuen degouzaru
,” Tsuen said, “Why do you radiate with the light of God? A mere, insignificant pirate such as yourself. And why do you seek this?” A stone talisman slid out from Tsuen’s left sleeve and dangled above Cameron’s head from a chain. It glowed with a faint white light. “I can tell just by looking at it that’s what you seek. As you say, like attracts like.”

“I’ve heard rumors of a Lemurian ex-monk traveling the stars for over a century now,” Cameron said, “Exiled for killing his Guru. Do you make a point of killing the Enlightened?”

“The weak are food for the strong. Killing any obstruction on the path to God is no sin. Even if a Buddha blocks my path I shall strike him down without remorse. Why is it that the ones touched by God are so weak?”

“Weak? I could blink your entire family line out of existence, but that’d be too flashy. I’m far more humble than that.”

Did he just gloat about how humble he was? Instead of trying to wrap my mind around that I made a grab for the talisman. I assumed that was definitely the Mehmet talisman Cameron was looking for. I kind of figured that if it made spirits solid then I could touch it.

Sure enough I could feel the weight of the talisman in my hand when I wrapped my fingers around it. Tsuen turned and brought down his sword. The chain on the talisman snapped so I could get out of the way in time. At least only losing my left arm. It’s odd, really. I didn’t feel it at all.

Why so upset? Come on. I’m almost done. I’ll stop boring you with this.

Cameron slipped by Tsuen and tried to grab me. Both of us were shocked when his hands passed right through me. Without wasting a second Cameron grabbed my chain instead. He jumped through the wall and pulled me right behind him.

Cameron stumbled through the new room before landing on all fours. He vomited and rolled over on his side shivering.

“The Dread Pirate needs a moment to compose,” Ryoma said. “He just entered the Astral with his physical body to get through that wall.”

“Does that take a lot out of him?”

“Not so much,” Cameron said, “But the Astral is not designed for humans to live. I might as well have just jumped into space. You’d be amazed by what nothing could do to a man.”

“Where are we?”

“In a panic room. Walls and a door are nearly as the thick as the hull. Door only uses an internal timer for the lock. The Draco take their yearly breaks here. I’d say we’ve got about forty-five minutes before the door opens. The Talisman was a bust-“

“But why can I hold it? I thought I couldn’t interact with physical objects.”

“I don’t know. That’s not as important as getting off this God forsaken yoni before that door opens again.” There was a crash outside the blast door.

“Looks like Tsuen is blasting the door with
ki
,” Ryoma said and then pulled his upper body back through the wall. “I’d say we have about five minutes.”

“
Fuck
,” Cameron was sitting up now. “I’m really rethinking this whole ‘too good to blink you out of existence’ ideal.”

“Well why don’t you?” Ryoma said. “Because you’ve managed so well without using the big magick so far.”

“Maybe if my
Yojimbo
was far more competent I wouldn’t have to!”

“That body you let me borrow is crap. You’re too tall, barely gave me enough fingers to fire that gun, sword was too heavy, and the gun was too light.”

At this point I glazed over in the same way that I would when my parents would fight. My mind wondered off compiling code for the new front page for BadBoyswithBigBirds.com. I immediately purged the thoughts from my mind when a transparent version of the site floated over my head. Fortunately, I don’t think anyone noticed.

I looked down at the talisman in my hand. I ran my thumb over the inscription on its stone face. It actually felt real to me not like the distant feeling of Tsuen’s sword. There wasn’t even any pain in my arm, but this talisman felt real. The arrangement of the symbols on the talisman reminded me of something.

“Hey,” I said, “The Astral is where thoughts and ideas filter down to reality, right?”

“Yes, but we’ll deal with your remedial metaphysics lessons later. Right now the adults are talking.”

“I think I know how the talisman works.”

“Go on.”

“I think the talisman is like computer code. You compile the code in the Astral to make a change in reality.” I held up the Mehmet talisman. “I don’t think this is real. That’s why I can pick it up.” I tossed the talisman to Cameron.

He rolled the talisman around in his hand, and a light of understanding flickered in his eyes.

He turned towards me and with blazing speeds wrote the symbol from the talisman on me with a glowing index finger. I hate to admit that it kind of tickled. Then the damnedest thing. He punched me square in the stomach. He knocked the wind right out of me – it was like getting sucker punched in real life.

He tore the symbol off of me, which was like getting your nipple ripped off on duct tape. And then passed his hand through me.

“Son of a bitch…” I said, “That actually hurt.”

“You can return that punch if you ever meet me in your body.” There was another crash from the outside. Now a dent was visible in the door. “Alright, change in plans.” Cameron drew his flintlock pistol with his left hand – his five fingers wrapped around the handle. He turned to me and flashed a toothy grin. He knew exactly what I was thinking. “What? You’re a computer guy. You should know the importance of restoring to an earlier backup.” Cameron leaned over to pick up the hilt of the broken Lemurian sword. He smiled and turned the sword over in his hand. The light danced down the razor edge of the full-length sword.

“Ryoma come here, and I’ll fill you in.” Ryoma floated into Cameron. “Alright. I’m going to up Tsuen’s dosage to ten millitres of anti-matter.” Cameron pulled a shell the size of a chicken egg out of the air like a magician. “But first this shell.”

Cameron pulled the trigger, and there was a huge flash of light. The blast doors to their credit were still intact, but had been blown off the hinges. A good portion of the wall went with it. Tsuen sidestepped the door and charged across the gap. Cameron traced the Talisman in the air; Ryoma leapt through it, and grabbed the sword. I couldn’t help but be reminded of you in the morning – spritzing perfume in the air and then jumping trough it.

Ryoma brought himself low to the ground and using the base of his sword deflected the point of Tsuen’s. He hooked his foot behind Tsuen and turned on his heel. He spun behind Tsuen and brought down the blade. I jumped when the top half of Ryoma’s sword embedded itself in the wall beside my head. I wasn’t entirely sure if it was those swords that were able to cut just Tsuen or me.

The air cracked.

A fracture ran down the front of Tsuen’s barrier. Ryoma leapt back and drew his antique Colt .45 from his sleeve. There was a report from his gun and then the sound of glass shattering. He fired again, but Tsuen deflected the bullet off his sword. Cameron felt blood trickling down his cheek.

Cameron ran his index finger over the cut and it vanished. He snapped open his flintlock pistol and tossed the spent casing. He dropped the new shell in and slammed the gun shut. Tsuen used his great length to strike at Ryoma. He stuck out his tongue and rolled backwards – Tsuen only succeeded in slicing through the Talisman imprinted on his clothes.

Ryoma flew into Cameron’s chest and his posture changed. Cameron dropped the gun into his left hand, stepped back, mounted the gun’s barrel on his hip, and pulled the hammer back with his thumb. Tsuen took a defensive stance - the air crackled with power as his barrier re-grew. The sound of ice rapidly freezing struck my nerves.

The trigger snapped, the hammer struck, and it was like watching a nuclear blast being funneled into a Christmas tree ornament.

Cameron shoved the gun into his coat and approached Tsuen’s smoldering torso. He placed his palm on Tsuen’s forehead.

“You’ll have to endure for a little while. I can’t let you heal and follow us. Just be fortunate that I’m not interested in doing anything drastic like making your heart explode when you use spiritual powers.”

Tsuen screamed wildly and tried to focus on Cameron with his bare eye sockets. “I will hunt you down to the ends of the galaxy and feast on your entrails! I will not rest until I’ve killed you, you monster! God will choose me!”

“If that’s your wish,” Cameron said, “But I bare no grudge.”

He tugged at my chain – indicating we should leave. Ryoma jumped out of Cameron and floated beside him. “Now that we have this Talisman, you know where we should go? The whore nebula.”

“Out of the question.” I stopped following.

“What?” Cameron didn’t bother to turn around – he just stopped in his tracks.

“I want to leave,” I said.

“We’re not off the ship yet,” Cameron said, “I can just drag you.”

“You know this is over. You know that there is nothing on this ship that can actually stop you now. Let me go!”

“That’s not a good idea. Stay on my ship for a while. You won’t even have to do anything. Just let that arm grow back first.”

“I want to leave. I’m not going with you.”

“Fine, I gave you my word.” Cameron glanced at me. I could see the guilt in his eye. I heard Tsuen scream again. “Your body has been looking for you for awhile. So when I cut the chain you’ll be catapulted back. If you want to remember any of this I’d suggest writing it down. I hope you at least take that advice to heart.”

Cameron hooked his thumb under the chain and snapped it clean in two.

5

“And that’s when I woke up,” Warren finished.

Janet was sobbing profusely. Warren leaned in and shut off the tape recorder. “It’s ok. Just a dream. I’m fine now. I’m here.” Warren kissed her on the cheek. “What’s wrong?” Warren tried to embrace her, but found his left arm uncooperative.