OVER THE SILVER SKY TO THE WORLD OF NEVER : Part 22 - A Long Overdue Reunion.

What does this picture say to you? It's got the voices inside my head going I can tell you. But I'm going to ignore them completely and carry on killing indiscriminately. The picture itself asks so many questions. Such as what idiot thought this would be a good idea for a picture. The amount of time they must have put into the composition of this shot. There's a lot going on there and no way to work out what it is. They say a picture paints a thousand words. This one proves that to be wrong.

(The copyright for this image is the property of Getty Images)

Jake lay back on his sofa and thought somnambulant thoughts. Although he'd agreed to do bugger all while Hermes did his stuff, he didn't feel at all sleepy. Certainly not as sleepy as he'd been after eating all that aluminium. A craving which had now vanished. He supposed he could try to meditate instead. If only he knew how. Those Buddhists seemed to manage it quite easily. It should be easy if you thought about it. Sitting on your ass doing bugger all, like Hermes had requested. This was not the case. There were two possible yet competing theories on his mind. With zero knowledge of the process he'd have to decide which approach to take. It had to be the case that meditation required more thought on his part, or alternatively less. Emptying the mind of all thoughts wasn't something he'd every tried before. It had always happened naturally, then he'd either bumped into something, tripped over or banged his head. All of which were contraindicated as far as meditation was concerned. Hold on though. In his bathroom cabinet were those ultra strong painkillers the doctor had prescribed. Instead of meditation he'd use good old fashioned medication.

"Sorry to interrupt you Hermes." Jake vocalized. "Only I'm having trouble getting to sleep."
"Do you think I haven't noticed? It's like an airport terminal at full capacity in here. If I was up to peak capacity and efficiency that would not be a problem. Right now I'm trying to work with my hands tied. And do I get any appreciation? Do I balls."
Hermes was back to his insulting self.
"I was wondering if I might be able to help you out there. I've got these very powerful painkillers that might help me sleep. Would it be okay to use them?"
"Your body your choice. I'm not your mother."
"And thank God for that. What I meant was would a powerful analgesic have any effect on you?"
"Let me think. It's going to desensitize the pain receptors at the bare minimum. It'll also affect other nerve receptors throughout the body. Nothing I can't handle. Go on give it a shot. I can't see it making anything worse at least."
"Can you see yet?"
"Give me a bloody chance will ya. I've got other priorities right now. The human body is a complicated thing, mostly because it's so badly designed in my opinion. I mean why is that there? It doesn't make sense."
"You'd almost believe that we weren't designed and manufactured wouldn't you. It's like we've evolved from very primitive ancestors over millions of years."
"Ha bloody ha. Now you've got me swearing. I knew that would happen. It goes against my core programming but five minutes with you and I'm a Sweary Mary."
"I haven't had a shower since yesterday. So I'm a Sweaty Betty." Jake waited in vain for any response. "Okay not the right audience for that pearl clearly. How about I go take a couple of analgesics and then have a shower?"
"You don't need my permission you cock drop. I thought you'd already sorted out the hierarchy here. You big boss, me slave to your commands."
It was time to take the kid gloves off.
"Which is fine by me. I'll catch you later then."
"Hold on..."
"No. I don't want to waste your valuable time. Carry on with your work and I'll do exactly what I want."
"I was only..."
"One more squeak out of you and you're called Keith. I will do my thing, you do yours and only contact me when you've finished."
Complete silence ensued. Hermes had got the message. That felt good. Only briefly. There were potentially a hundred ways Hermes could screw with him. Following instructions to the letter would be only half of them. He'd leave things as they were. With Hermes currently handicapped and busy, he'd have better things to do. In Hermes defense it had to be a bit of a bastard of a job. Jake would leave him in peace for now.

A couple of pale pink pills later Jake stepped into the shower, stood under the spray and closed his eyes. He could already feel the dihydrocodeine taking effect. Easy to see why these things were so addictive. That fluffy feeling of well being was extremely comfortable. The world receded, lessening in importance by the second. If it wasn't for the excruciating stomach pains, the drug induced, it would have been his opiate of choice. Standing there under the warm water coursing down his body, Jake tried to remember when he'd last taken them. It had been a long time ago. So long ago that he couldn't remember how many of them he should have taken. He'd swallowed two. The correct dose could be one. There was a chance he'd overdosed. Not fatally, but there might be unwanted effects. Now if he could only give a shit about that he might have bothered to check. As it was, right now he didn't care.

By the time he'd finished his ablutions Jake was as happy as a pig in shit. While he was there he did check the dosage. 1-2 tablets every 4-6 hours. If he wasn't smacked off his tits that could have been a cause for concern. Best he didn't read the lengthy list of adverse reactions they could produce. That way only lay madness. Getting dressed again, in clean clothes, was a lot of fun. His sense of balance wasn't functioning correctly. He sat on the end of his bed and stared at the socks he had in his hand. They were nice socks. A tad somber perhaps. All of his socks were muted colors. Nothing bright or garish in his sock drawer. He sensed the first pangs of stomach pain these things produced. Lying down would be a great idea. Why hadn't he thought of lying down before? There was an extreme shortage of lying down in his life. That position only ever used while he slept. When it would be handy in many other circumstances. He couldn't think of any right now. That was far too much effort. He'd rest his eyes for a bit.

"Woo hoo, I've finished. Not exactly finished I suppose. There's still a lot of mess to clear up before we get you back into top condition. It's tidying up really, so I'll do that as I go along. Your corposeum is fully operational and that's the important thing. Would you like to take your bod for a test run."
Jake was awake and very groggy. He rubbed his face energetically. Dry eyes and a very uncomfortable feeling in his guts. Apart from that essentially he felt no different. Anyway another pesky question had arisen in his consciousness.
"What did you do about the brain tumor. The one that's killing me."
"Christ on crutches. You've had some dumb ass quack with medieval level knowledge checking out the most advanced biotechnology available. It's not a tumor and it certainly wasn't going to kill you."
"What is it then?"
Now that the opiates were fading Jake had been reintroduced to giving a shit.
"I can't tell you."
"Why not?"
"Because I've been ordered not to tell you anything about it."
"Then I countermand that order. Ignore it and tell me what it is."
"No way Jose. I'm not allowed to ignore it."
"Who gave you the order?"
"You did, you daft nelly. Not you, you. A previous you who is more you, than you are."
"Oh balls. I don't like to make life easy for myself do I. If it's alright with you I'm going to lie here for a bit. I'm not at my best due to those bloody drugs. I'm a bit down."
"Not a problem. I can remove the drug and all metabolic byproducts if you like."
"That would be perfect. Holy cats cradle!" He experienced a surge in energy beyond all belief. Instead of slowly coming out of the fog he'd leaped out of it. "That was unexpected. Thanks Hermes."
"No need to be sarcastic you pompous pri... Oh right. You're being sincere. I'm going to raise my opinion of this iteration of you. All the way up to below average. Well done you."
"Sorry. I must have been a real ass hat to you before. I don't have any memory of that."
"Oh we rubbed along alright. Had a few falling outs along the way. This? This is banter, we go back a long way. Which is paradoxical considering I don't get invented for another few hundred years."
"So what's next on the agenda?"
"I'm at 73.955% of peak. That's pretty much fine for everything you need me for. From this point on recovery slows. Takes more and more time and energy the closer I get to 100%. Couple of days at least. Can't be that precise given the merry hell these time fractures are playing with my sensors. You only see the major ones. I see them down to molecular level and this place is way beyond anything like this I've seen before. To tell you the truth I'm a bit worried Jake."
"Thanks for that. Only I was thinking more of what I have to do. What my next step should be."
"It's not for me to say I'm afraid."
"Meaning I've given you explicit orders not to. I'm sure there's a reason. Don't suppose you can tell me what that is."
"I can give you the quick version. Every individual has a narrative they have to follow. It has to be followed precisely, with a few exceptions. Causation must always remain correct. Meaning things have to happen in exactly the right order. If they don't then it can cause problems with time streams, threads and nodes. Given the state of this realities space time it's even more important. Nasty things can and will happen as this universe tries to correct its problems."
"That'll do thanks Hermes. I'll have a coffee and check out if Sharon left me any more clues."
"Sharon? Oh right. That's what she's called here. I should have known that only because of the fractures my sensors are having difficulty reading the weave. Not helped by it being doubled up in so many places."
"I'm not even going to ask what that really means. Weaves, threads, streams? I kind of get them. It's like I know the information only I can't remember what I know. If you get what I mean."
"It's best all round if I don't. You organics are a mystery into which I do not wish to delve."

Jake moved to the kitchen, picking up Sharon's purse on the way. As he'd already known there was nothing else in there. Cutting it up would be sacrilege. Sharon wouldn't have concealed anything in its lining anyway. It still smelled of her. A mixture of her fragrances. Would she still smell the same? It was unlikely he supposed. Sharon had stated she'd look different and would have another name. He'd had other names to, yet she'd found him. After decades of searching. Not literally. It had already dawned on him that she 'd done a lot of other things. Written all those books for a start. Would it be worth breaking into her home? Among those hundreds of reference books there might be another clue she'd left. Of course he might find one she'd inadvertently written in one of her published tomes. That would be stretching his capabilities. Hermes might find something. Something he'd no doubt be forbidden from revealing. That coffee was taking its time. He'd filled the stupid coffee machine then forgotten to turn it on. Deeply wrapped up in his conjectures.

At last it was ready. Jake picked up his mug and wandered back into his living room. Weird. Part of the reason he'd gone to the kitchen had been to escape Hermes for a few minutes. Part of the reason he'd come into the living room was to have a word with him. Having this personality inside him would take a lot of getting used to it seemed. Seeking some reassurance Jake checked what day it was. He'd packed a lot of activity, for him, into a short space of time. Phew, he was still in the same day he'd visited the nodal reference center. Barely, the clock on his phone had slipped over to 11:58 PM when he picked it up. Hold on. He hadn't turned the lights on. It should be pitch dark in here.

"Hermes? Why can I see in the dark?" Not perfectly, the colors were pretty washed out.
"Got one set of balls working perfectly. I can sort out the lower ones too if you like."
"I'll leave it for now thanks."
"It's not a good idea to overuse them this early though. You'll get headaches and lose definition."
"Thanks for that." Jake moved over to the light switch and turned it on. "Oh. My. God. She's beautiful."
There she was. Sitting in his living room and he'd forgotten all about her. The geo whatever. He wished he knew her name. He wished he knew why he had so much affection for her. Jake ran his eyes down her glowing form. Had that been there before? It didn't matter. She was stunning. Hurt. Vulnerable. Still incredibly strong though. He heard a rustle. His eyes went straight to the face of the lady in the room. It could be imagination on his part, but he thought he'd seen her eyes quiver or blink. Where were the hands?

Jake approached his Geochronometric Array. A dial with funny characters around it. Nothing else connected to those characters though. She wasn't digital. She was so far beyond that even Hermes was ancient technology. Sharon had written or even possibly spoken about putting hands on her. Where were those hands? Jake drummed his fingers on his thighs, a sign he was in deep thought. Where did you put the hands Sharon? Somewhere he'd be capable of finding them. Somewhere even his inadequate capabilities would find them easily. He had to place the hands on her. Wait, surely it couldn't be that simple. Then why did he have a near overwhelming urge to do what he'd so recently thought of? Hermes was quiet. Jake sensed that he was waiting in nervous anticipation. Now that the possibility had arisen he could even see exactly where he should place them.

"Excuse me beautiful lady. I'm going to do something right now that I should ask your permission to do. I cant though so I hope you understand and aren't offended."
Saying which he reached out and laid his hands on her waist. The warmth flowed up his arms. Entered his chest. Filled his being. Joy, laughter, hope and a lot of love.
"Jake? I have waited so long for you."
That voice filled him to. Hurled him back to school. Not here. Somewhere near and yet distant. Another dimension. They'd had a student teacher for a year. She'd taught French to a bunch of Brits who really saw no reason to learn it. The unmistakable French accent that made his DNA quiver. The voice was exactly the same. A 13 year old's first crush. A young French woman who wore colorful stockings. Oh yeah, stockings.
"Hello Angelique. As gorgeous as ever I see."
It wasn't imagination. She stood there before him. The dark haired, blue eyed, pale skinned schoolboy paragon of womanhood.
"Mon amour. Let me look at you. My heart has yearned for this moment for far too long. Sharon did her best to comfort me of course. Her only rival for your love."
A throat cleared.
"Looking as foxy as ever my queen." Hermes gushed. "You have got to tell me everything you've been up to. I've got nothing I'm afraid. The family's back together."
"Hold on. How can you two talk with each other?" Jake asked.
"Wifi you fool." Hermes replied. "Forgot you could listen in."
Silence fell. Giving Jake the chance to take Angelique in. She was glorious.
"Oh Hermes. You are so terrible. You make me blush like a virgin." She paused. "Of course I can keep a secret."
A longer pause ensued during which she giggled, then looked coyly at Jake before giggling again.
"Hermes! You'd better not be talking about me behind my back, right in front of my face."