Secret Technology, Unrequited Love, Absolute Vengeance
© August 2022 - Written by David Wicker
Please do not reprint without permission
CHAPTER 15 - "THE CAT'S TONGUE"
Slice Of Life (08-29-22)
'Allo 'allo me Lollies !
REFLECTION
That sounds rather weird doesn't it ? My brain - is not the brain it was the day before. I think many of us go through the world - yes we have our eyes wide open and in many times our mouths. Sometimes it's not just shock, it is because someone wants to control us - to control our sensibilities.
And sometimes it's a bit of both. We are shocked at what we see, and we open our mouths and eat what is demanded of us anyways, even if it's poisonous. Younger I think we are more rebellious than our older siblings. It's not so much as giving up as it is accepting that which is going on around you. A balance.
Ultimately it comes down to - which is the lesser of the two evils we would endure ?
KINDNESS
For it's when you can suffer to prevent others from suffering, perhaps that is the very flower of humanity. The very purpose. Well now. That took rather a dark turn. Or perhaps if you are already in the dark, darker - excuse me - then maybe that is a bit of light.
Never forget, random acts of kindness are often miracles in themselves. Especially in these stressing times.
RPG MAKER
Hmm ... Alright, now let's get back to my everloving obsession of RPGs. So let's answer the obvious, just what is in it for me ? Well I think from the very first time I played Haunted House on the TRS-80 I realized there was more than just reading a book and following one page after another.
While it was incredibly primitive. Playing this game which was loaded off of audiocassette, and took minutes at that. I died. That is I got too curious about my environment and set about a hovering knife to attack me - and I lost.
And losing a game back then meant resetting your computer and reloading the game again off of the audiocassette - from the beginning.
I'm going to sidetrack for a minute. There are a great many videogames today that state they are horror based. And perhaps in ways they are. Yet what is truly frightening for a gamer is to either have bad luck or too curious about something that is dangerous - and WHAM !
GAME OVER
There it is, you lost the game. So really you could say some of the earliest games written for both gaming platformers, arcades, and computers - were horror games. In that if you lost - well, you lost it all.
The fear a lot of us feel in playing a game is not knowing just how much is saved when you do wind up dying from some -circumstance- Or the fear knowing we are entering difficult territory in the game - and one wrong move and you'll be starting the game ALL OVER AGAIN - even if you've been playing it for hours now.
FEARS
And I will be honest, yes there are some curious games out there where sure enough there are things that bump in the night. But no fear of a player is greater than knowing what they will have to do in -dying- or losing the game - and do they in fact have to start ALL OVER AGAIN. There's a real fear there.
And yes I agree with the statement, "Fear proves you are alive."
"Fear can keep you alive. The trick is not to let it overwhelm you. Not to let it rule you. If you're afraid, that’s the universe trying to tell you something. Get away. Don't run; don't panic. Just pick up and walk out, calm as you please. Panic makes you stupid." -- Barry Lyga.
JUST WALK AWAY
I think with me - I have never really confronted fear. Or perhaps I have - and I'm just not aware of it. I do - walk away, however. I'm quite talented in that respect. I have walked away from bad situations I think most of my life. It's almost an automatic behavior. Something I have no conscious control over.
I remember several of them in fact. A burden to carry to my grave.
But back to RPGs. So what is the lure ? Well in such a system, either graphic or text, you have the ability to tell your story, and not just write it as you would a book, no, you have that option to design an entire WORLD - precisely to the specifications you set in it.
PROGRAMMER
And if you are the rare few who actually WROTE a RPG Maker, then you get that incredible sense of pride when someone builds in it and you get a chance to see the personal world they wrote - in your universe.
I - don't think there is a greater programmer's high than seeing someone working in an engine you wrote for them to play, build, and explore in. That is the kick for me - and that is why I will always be interested in examining not just RPG Makers, but game makers in general, all kinds, all computers, all platforms, all years.
COMFORTS
Coffee is comfort. Hmm ... We always fall back from a state of discomfort to something we like. Something to comfort us. Coffee, I think is mine. Also menthol cough drops. No brand really, just any old menthol cough drops. Somehow they are very comforting to me.
We can't do it all in the world and we're foolish to believe we can. After a long hard day at work, sometimes you just want to unwind with some comfort food. Maybe it's a grilled cheese sandwich ?
https://youtu.be/DRonzIW9T5U
Whatever it is, as long as it doesn't hurt anyone else, I say go for it. Stress can eat you alive and it's just not worth it. Find out what you really like to unwind with, something that doesn't hurt anyone else, and do just that.
. . .
THE LIGHT
Alrightee, I know we have gotten really dark in that last passage. So what's happening with the rest of the world ? I do believe we are in such a strong year of "me me me" that you could write a song to it.
ANGRY NIECE
Just today for instance I was in line getting groceries. There was some fellow ahead of me. You know - you can just tell when someone is there to slow your stride. I quickly flipped out my cellphone and put on the stopwatch. Just to see how long it would take for this single customer to check out the groceries he had.
35-minutes.
One customer. 35-minutes. My niece was climbing the walls at how long he was taking and looked like she could bite iron. Me ? I was entertaining the notion that he was proposing to the lady at checkout. That he was totally smitten by her. That they were discussing wedding plans and where to go for their honeymoon. And I didn't want to interrupt the two loving pair.
I did ask the checkout lady though what was going on when we finally were let through.
Turns out he was giving her hell. He did not have enough money for what he wanted and he was bone determined to tell her that the machine she was using to ring up the groceries was in error For 35-minutes - with no consideration to the customers behind him.
SPOILED VEGETABLES
What did he leave behind as he could not pay for it ? All the food, the natural food from the deli, that they surely had to toss out. Hmm ...
I supposed if it was a different customer behind him, they might've lost their patience, gone ape and attacked the one man who could not pay for his groceries and decided to take it out on the checkout lady for 35-minutes. Wow.
Definitely we are in the, "me me me" era. This year, 2022.
So I suppose the question out of your mind is, is it going to get better or worse ?
RAIN ?
Well that's like trying to ask if it's going to rain tomorrow. Will it ? It might. Look at the clouds. I mean we here in the states we have had the most vicious rainclouds you ever did see, dark skies, lightning, thunder, all of it.
NO WATER
And then ... absolutely nothing. Not one drop of rain. All night. Thundering, lightning, threatening, nothing. "Not one drop of water on Arakkis."
Isn't life a little like that ? We see something positive through the gloom. Light shining brightly. We rush forward and find a mirror or reflection in the water. The light we saw - was the light in our own eyes - the hope - the wish - for something better - when in fact it wasn't tangibly there. Dreamers. That we are.
So we must accept this at times. Sometimes it doesn't get better. It doesn't get nicer. Or friendlier.
Sometimes there is someone who will hold up an entire line of customers for over a half hour merely to fight the machine.
So if you have done everything you can to change the world around you - or to change others - and with little effect - it is time for you to change yourself.
SELF-CONTROL
The way you interpret life. The way others SEE you interpret life. For we are all lemmings at times, and if you see someone smiling, joking, having a good time. It can very well be infectious - without actual contact.
And if you don't ? Well that happy-go-lucky, that pluck for life person could and perhaps should be yourself. You shine the light for others when theirs has gone out. Share your candle with those who have lost the light to their own.
OK that's all the encouragement for life I'm going to give for now.
WE ARE WAITING
Let's talk a bit about Future Barrier now for a bit. Now I know there is quite the mixed crowd out there. Lots of interesting and curious readers who really like this madcap story I've woven. Some of which are mostly out for the naughty bits. And I must admit that the kink has been pretty dry of recent.
Maybe attribute that to my coming of age. But stay tuned as they say. Once I get out the bits of Nikki, I have planned a real wallbanger for dear Dev. Kind of a big birthday blowout salute from the worst of the bullies his High School has to offer.
Not so much being helmed by Scant. No, his ship has sailed. Neither Stefani. And I guess it's God rest her soul in the bottom of an endless cesspool. Perhaps she deserves the unique kingdom she now resides in.
No ... something different. Something Dev is not expecting - and oh yes - he does indeed get put into his place. Much like the 7-pointed divot slammed into a 6-pointed hole. He fits it perfectly and neatly.
NOW YOU'RE GONNA GET IT
Hazing to be the penultimate understatement of what happens to him. He will be 'put in his place' according to these new bullies. And yet it will be the very thing to 'activate' him and show his true powers - finally - and to propel the story forward ...
But for now - let's now return to Nikki and Dr. Seisbee - and the conversation they have.
. . .
I n a short time, an ineffectual boy appeared walking through one of the steel-plated doors, carrying a tray of what was ordered."
He set it down in front of Seisbee and looked around expectantly.
Nikki smiled to him and he shyly smiled back.
Seisbee saw the exchange and spoke a little loud, "That will be all Terran. Thank you."
He nodded briefly once then departed the room.
Nikki saw him take the tray and pull off his coffee. Despite it being black he took a silver spoon and stirred it momentarily.
She also saw the milk, sugar, and cinnamon on the tray and it did look rather good to her.
"Oh ? I am forgetting my manners." he said suddenly and then took the steel pitcher to pour out the milk in a cup. So cold was the milk that it showed a few telltale vapors.
Nikki in spite of herself licked her lips eagerly.
He then put in a spoonful of cinnamon and two spoonfuls of sugar.
He reached over to hand it to her but before he did so he asked, "Now tell me, Nikki. Where do you come from ?"
It was clear she wasn't going to get any of this nice milk unless she answered his questions.
Still she felt the answers were not that important so she spoke. "My earliest memory was being in cage. I was with my Mother - she was not a half-cat such as myself, but a full and normal cat."
Seisbee withheld the milk to ask another question, "Did you feel in any way you were out of place in being in a cage with your 'Mother' that was clearly was much smaller than you ?"
She shook her head. "No. At the time I was very young and I think when you're young you tend to accept things as they are. I mean think of people who are persecuted at birth ?"
She eyed the milk cup hoping he would finally hand it over.
He held the cup steady and still without giving it to her. "What about people at birth ?"
She nodded, "They are persecuted, yes ? But they don't know any different. Children will find fun and comfort in anything. Think of Helen Keller. Blind and deaf. Perhaps some other people would just - give up. But she didn't. In fact she did far more than that in fact."
She paused for a second. Seisbee quite interested in what she was saying, finally relented and handed her the milk.
She with great skill lapped at the top of it - suddenly becoming self-conscious when Seisbee offered her a spoon.
She nodded, took a few sips. Could see that Seisbee was waiting for her to continue, and did.
She spoke, "Helen Keller went on to become a suffragist, pacifist, radical socialist, and birth control supporter. She did far more than either you or I would do in our lifetimes."
Seisbee sipped at his coffee. "So where do you come in this ?" he asked.
She took the spoon to sift out some of the sugar that had collected on the bottom of her cup. "What I'm getting at is - despite horrid treatment by my owners - I never saw it, never recognized it - because it was the norm. There was no difference."
Seisbee asked, "Do you know the name of the person that raised you ?"
* * *
She nodded, "Yes, he was called Mr. White and wore a porcelain rabbit's mask all the time."
Now it was Seisbee's turn to be surprised and dare we say it, a little afraid.
Nikki noticed the immediate reaction and asked, "So you know him ?"
Seisbee nodded, sweat visibly trickling down the top of his forehead now.
"He was - a scientist - I guess is the nicest way to put it - but his methods were brutal and vicious, why he -"
But Nikki interrupted him, "And I would know this."
Seisbee nodded, accepting that was probably a good time to end the topic.
He took a long drink from his coffee and sighed. "I see. So what are your plans now ?"
Nikki's voice then took on an edge of uncertainty. "Well, I realize that my species may be the only kind in the world and - because I am different some people will in fact be quite afraid and angry of me despite me not having done a thing."
She drank some more of the cinnamon milk. Seisbee added, "Don't you think Mr. White will be looking for you ?"
She shook her head. "No, a group called The Sevens came to attack - and murdered him outright. I saw his body. He is gone. So - I am on my own."
Seisbee nodded. He was familiar with The Sevens and their vicious ways.
She looked to one of the steel doors and continued, "I guess it was my hope that Dev and his family would let me stay with them until - something more permanent was arranged regarding my lodgings and settling down in the city."
Seisbee suddenly pulled out a small notepad from the front of his shirt and wrote down busily on it for several minutes.
Nikki drained the contents of her cup and seeing the pitcher helped herself to more.
Seisbee was still writing furiously in the pad, 3-pages now. Suddenly he clicked off his pen and turned to look at her.
"Alright, Nikki. That was most helpful. Well for now we're going to keep you here. We'll put you in one of the rooms. Press the button in there for any room service. We'd - ah - like you to stay - for now. Once we're done with Dev, you and him may go. Agreed ?"
Nikki really didn't have much choice. If she caused too much trouble she had no doubt Seisbee or one of his colleagues would have no quirks or qualms about dissecting her in the name of science.
"Agreed." she said quietly. They both shook on it, his bony hand to her furry one.
He then pressed a button and the same boy, Terran arrived.
"Terran, please show miss Nikki to her quarters. She is in want for nothing. See to it she has everything she needs there to make her comfortable."
"Yessir." Terran nodded. Then to Nikki, "This way, please."
She followed him through a metal door and then was surprised to see so many other metal doors awaiting beyond ! It was a bit like a hedge-maze except you couldn't see over or under the walls.
She was shocked and stopping moving for a moment to observe the doors. Each had 3-digits and the lowest was room # 101 going up to room #110 just in this area alone.
"Miss ?" Terran called after her. "This way, please." and they stepped through room #105 to find more doors beyond this.
Nikki was certain it would be to her advantage to memorize all the doors in case she needed to get back to the main area where she first met Seisbee.
As for me. I guess I was still asleep. I know I was calling to Darceon. Somehow in the back of my mind I realized that in many ways he was a friend - but - sort of like a bully friend.
Do you know the kind ? The one that likes to make fun of you and yet protects you from others beating you up.
That's the kind of feeling I got from Darceon. But now things were spinning faster and faster until suddenly I fell over.
My clothes had changed. I was wearing a backpack and a scatter of my pens and pencils were on the hall floor. Somehow I knew I was back in Middle School.
"What a loser !" I heard a voice say.
I turned to see if it was Scant as that would be what he would usually say, but no, it was someone different. Someone I had never seen before.
END OF CHAPTER 15
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