Original Fiction: JACKED, the Origin Dime Chronicles Book One, Episode 7
In this episode Jack gets to experience being an Aedapt for the first time!
The Things pulled up and powered down their bikes within seconds.
Thing One ripped a pair of Steampunk goggles off and walked over to the map. “Shit. They’re ahead of us! Take a look at this, Two!”
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Thing Two pulled a thin leather, zippered folder from his pocket. He opened it to reveal a control panel that looked like a cross between a computer keyboard and the instrument panel of a jetliner. He set it beside the map and started tapping.
Green floating type appeared with arrows indicating the individual green dots. Each row of type ended in a series of numbers and symbols.
“Well, there’s thirty eight of them so far. That means they only need one more.” He turned the model and reached up, sliding sections of it out of the way. He tapped some more on the keyboard.
Phineas peered at the green type, “For what purpose?”
The Things looked at each other, “Consensus.” Thing One said, ominously.
“Okay, I’m new here, what are we talking about?” Jack asked.
Phineas was the first to reply, “Well kid; you ever hear of parallel universe theories and what not? You know, where there may be more than one of you leading their own individual lives just slightly different than yours?”
“Yeah, sure, in comic books and stuff. Wait, you’re saying not only are there other dimensions, but there are multiples of us?” Jack asked.
Phineas nodded, “Now imagine all of those condensed into the ugliest version of you and the rest all cease to exist.”
Thing One stepped up. He tapped Jack on the ear as the dimensional filters flicked quickly. It ended in one that sent shivers down Jack’s spine. The world around them was completely decimated. It looked like the set of some dystopian apocalypse movie.
The two people he saw, where dozens had been, looked like medical experiments. The sky was eerie gray, almost charcoal. The ground was chalky and white. The sun burned a hole through the blackened sky, fierce, red and too small.
“They want this to be the only dimension.” Thing One said, quietly.
“What? Why?” Jack tapped his ear, returning his view to their current dimension.
“It’s a long story, kid,” Phineas sighed.
“Who are ‘they’, the Noshers?” Jack asked.
“You wish,” Thing Two said. He folded up his keyboard and slipped it back into his pocket. “Noshers are like junkies; they'll do anything to get what they need. They’re just the help.”
“Then who?” Jack demanded.
“The Shadoe Librarians,” Thing One almost spat the words.
He folded the map and put it back in the Rabbit, closing the hatchback.
“They intend to consolidate the 39 gates into one. Then they can lock down your dimension and reboot it to what you saw.”
“Shadoe Librarians?” Jack chuckled, “They don’t sound very scary. What are they going to do, charge us late fees?”
Phineas turned and pulled Jack down to his level and began to speak softly and calmly. The edge in the leprechaun’s voice sent a chill through Jack.
“They have no souls, boy, and no imaginations of their own. They are incapable of invention. So, they want to enslave your race and have you create their nightmare dimension.”
Thing One rested a hand on Phineas’ shoulder. The Leprechaun released his chokehold on the Aedapt. Jack sank back against the hood of the Rabbit.
“Phin’s brother was killed by one of the Noshers -the Shadoes’ soul surrogates. So, you’ll have to excuse him if he doesn’t find the Shadoes amusing.”
Jack’s head was swimming with furious little questions.
'
They swarmed like wasps around a disturbed hive, demanding answers. He mentally swatted them back. He knew there was not time if they were going to save the world. Even thinking that sounded corny, but here he was.
“Okay, so, what’s next?”
“We have to get you inside.” Thing One said, grimly.
“How does that work?” Jack thought back to the map and shuddered.
This was beginning to sound like a bad idea.
Thing Two said, “You blend in.”
It was a short drive to the building. Jack and Phineas crammed into the back seat of the Rabbit. Thing One took shotgun and Thing Two drove. Thing One manipulated the filters on the windshield.
A tracking grid came up, guiding them to their destination like a 3d GPS. They drove past the building. Jack recognized it from the map. As they passed, a shiver ran down his spine and his pulse quickened. Whatever was waiting in there, it was not good.
Thing Two pulled into an alley about a block down. He checked his mirror for followers, and then opened his door. All four climbed out.
Thing One placed an arm around Jack’s shoulder. Jack could not remember the last time anyone had done anything like that.
Under other circumstances, he might have shrugged it off, but not today. He was becoming part of something bigger than he was.
“Okay, this next bit is going to be weird for you. However, it’s the only way this works. Your Nosher just swallowed his key last night. We need you to grab him and bring him back before they can retrieve it.”
Jack saw the concerned look on Thing One’s face.
What they were asking was scary, no doubt, but weird was a strange way of putting it. “What are you not telling me?”
Thing One paused, “Well, the only way for you to get in there is to become one of them.”
“One of what?” Jack asked, but he was pretty sure he knew.
A picture of the creepy, pasty waste-oid from last night filled his imagination. The chill he had felt passing the building returned, times two.
“Nosher” said Thing Two, “Are you really that simple, you can’t connect the dots?” He was eating something that looked a deep fried burrito, wrapped in white paper.
“Okay,” Jack looked at the three men.
They were as different from each other as they could be, except for one thing. All three wore the same grim expression. All three were looking to him for solutions. To say he was feeling inadequate would have been the understatement of the century.
“How do I do that?”
“Well, Jack, have you ever felt like you had the ability to be invisible?” Thing One asked.
Jack laughed; it was one of his favorite childhood fantasies, invisibility. He used to hide from his step mom for hours. Over the years, he had worked on his ability to blend into crowds, too.
“Yeah, I guess.”
Thing One slipped on a pair of sunglasses. He turned Jack to face him so that Jack could see his reflection in the mirrored glasses.
“Ready?”
“Um, sure.” Jack answered, not sure at all.
“I want you to think about the Nosher you met last night, got it?”
Thing One asked. Jack nodded. “Now blink!”
Jack blinked and his reflection wavered, like static on an old-fashioned broadcast TV. He blinked again and his head felt like it was spinning, and then stopped.
He focused; looking back at him from the mirrored surface of the sunglasses was a Nosher.
Not the Nosher who had stolen the key. It had Jack’s features!
“Whoa!” He glanced over his shoulder, certain a Nosher would be standing right behind him. When he looked back he caught his own reflection again, Nosher looks intact.
“What the hell?”
He reached up and pulled the skin around his eyes down a little.
The Nosher in the reflection did the same.
Now it was Phineas’ turn to chuckle, “You’re an Aedapt boy! You’ve been doing this your whole life without knowing it.”
“Seriously, I think I would remember having turned into a Goth crack head,” Jack snapped.
Can Jack retrieve the key in time, or will the Origin Dime face the possibility of total annihilation?
Nice job once again.
Thanks! This one didn't do as well as I hoped. but, it's getting decent votes.