Spanners

This is a super short one where Nick asks that Fox, Ren, who is running the universe. Ren decides it's easier to just show him.

Nick sank down into one of the kitchen chairs, running one hand through his hair. His hand came away dusty. He was missing his tie, four buttons from his dress shirt, and had mud on his pants.

 

“Who the hell is running this, Ren?” he said wearily.

 

Ren looked up, tipping his head to one side. “Running what?”

 

“This.” Nick gestured vaguely at his ceiling. His hand dropped back into his lap like a lead weight.

 

“Well, I didn’t think roofers usually maintained�"”

 

“Not my roof, you f*****g idiot, I mean everything.

 

The worlds. All of them. Who set up the rules, Ren? Who the hell is running all this, if anyone?”

 

Ren beat his tail against the ground pensively. “I didn’t think anyone, really,” he replied. “I mean, not specifically.”

 

Nick frowned. “What do you mean, specifically?”

 

“I don’t really know! The Spanners don’t say much�"”

 

“Wait. Spanners?”

 

“Spanners!”

 

Nick clenched his teeth for a moment before relaxing again. Maintaining muscle tension requires energy. “Spanners! See, I can do it too. But what is a Spanner?” he said.

 

Ren was quiet for a moment. Then he grinned. “I can show you,” he said.

 

“What? No!”

 

Nick tried to scramble out of the way, but Ren reached forth a paw and touched it to Nick’s knee. Both vanished in a flash of fire.

 

�-�         �-�         �-�

 

They arrived nowhere.

 

Nick was standing on black. Or at least he thought he was standing. It was difficult to tell; there was no up or down, no walls, no horizons. And no floor.

 

Near at hand, he could hear Ren speaking: “He shouldn’t mind a visit, just this once.” His voice fell dead half a step from his mouth.

 

Nick tried to say ‘Who shouldn’t?’, but his throat muscles wouldn’t work and then they were no longer alone.

A great eye opened in the black.

 

It was like looking up the side of a skyscraper; it was above and below them, a flat violet eye that wasn’t violet any more than yellow was blue. There was not a word in Nick’s vocabulary that could describe the color of the Spanner’s eye. It sunk in the center of his brain like a stone, and a headache rippled from it like waves.

 

He was vaguely aware of a shape stretching endlessly out of sight. Everything was hex-code-six-zero black. The Spanner was blacker.

 

It spoke.

 

HELLO, SMALL ONES. I CANNOT ANSWER YOUR QUESTIONS.

 

The voice was sound and silence at the same time. It was in Nick’s ears, against his skin, in his head like his own thoughts. It came from everywhere.

 

“Hello!” Ren said politely. “We didn’t really have questions, Nick just wanted to see�"”

 

NOT YOU. THE OTHER.

 

Against all odds, Nick found his own voice. “Can’t, or won’t?”

 

CANNOT. WILL NOT.

 

“What are you?”

 

WE ARE SPANNERS.

 

“Yes,” Nick said, almost testily. “But what does that mean?”

 

WE LIVE IN THE SPACES BETWEEN WORLDS. THAT IS NOT YOUR QUESTION. I WILL NOT ANSWER YOUR QUESTION.

 

AND I WILL NOT EXPLAIN WHY.

 

Nick had taken his glasses off and folded them away. It helped his headache. “At least you’re honest,” he muttered.

 

I DO NOT PLAY GAMES. I KNOW WHAT YOU ARE, NICOLAS BEUMAN. LOST CHILD. FAR FROM HOME.

 

Ren looked from Nick to the Spanner and back again. Nick was silent.

 

RETURN THIS ONE, the Spanner said to Ren. HE SHOULD NOT BE HERE.

 

NOR, he added, SHOULD YOU. RENOPOLLUFRAXOLOCTUSANOGOLOHELIA.

 

Ren grinned, but his ears flexed backwards in a manner that almost suggested nerves. “Right,” he said. “Just leaving, then. Stopping by to say hi, is all!”

 

Nick glanced sideways at Ren. “What was that?”

 

“My name. My full one.”

 

Nick raised his eyebrows. “You have a fifteen-syllable name?” He turned to the Spanner. “Do you have a name?”

 

NO. CALL ME WHATEVER NAME YOU LIKE.

 

“How about Dave?” Nick said dryly.

 

WHATEVER NAME YOU LIKE. IT DOES NOT MAKE A DIFFERENCE.

 

Nick fell silent once more. There was no ground and no sky, and the Spanner stretched out forever. He closed his eyes.

 

“Take me back, Ren,” he said.

 

Ren obliged.