killing Zie

Did you hear about that terrible war in Yemen, Merry?

Dum di dum – di dee di.

Merry, quit fooling around. Don’t you know what’s going on?

Dum di dee...

I can’t believe you’re making light of this human tragedy.

Di di dee.

You really don’t care, evidently.

Lumbi dee.

Well, I’m very disappointed. I thought better of you. Much better.

Loopy doop.

If you’re quite done, could you drop me back. I have no wish to associate any further with anyone as utterly heartless as you’ve proven yourself to be.

Mooo m...

What a jerk!

Go on Zie, stamp your foot and get hot about the collar, if you think that’ll help the people of Yemen.

Well, at least I don’t mock them with my indifference. At least I’m not treating their horrendous suffering as a big joke.

Oh, that’s what’s bothering you. I couldn’t figure out what’s got your goat.

Well now you know. To be honest, Merry, I’m disgusted. Kindly drop me off.

Just open the door. I’m not stopping you.

But...

What?

We’re not in Earth proximity.

Oh, so that’s what’s worrying you.

.

You think there’s a big bad torsion field waiting to engulf you – is that it?

.

You claim to care about the poor afflicted people of Yemen but you’re really only concerned about your own skin.

So I’m just supposed to abandon myself to the vacuum of space. Is that right?

What on Earth do you imagine the vacuum of space to be?

I really couldn’t say, Merry. You’re supposed to be the expert, not me.

This has nothing whatsoever to do with “expertise”.

No, you could have fooled me.

Only because you’re committed to being fooled.

Look, I don’t like your tone and I’m sick of your callous indifference to human suffering.

Like I said, no one’s keeping you here.

So if I step outside I’ll just magically appear in my living room – is that what you’re saying.

No. If you’re fool enough to step into a vacuum then I would expect home to be the last place you’ll end up.

Then kindly stop toying with me and take me home.

Sorry, you’re on your own.

It’s like that is it?

It’s like there’s a vacuum and if you actually give a damn about the people of Yemen you’d quit posturing and do something about it.

What? The vacuum or Yemen?

Both.

Jesus, this is insane.

Absolutely! Welcome to insanity 101. Now kindly get out. I’m sick of you. I find your pseudo-compassion utterly hypocritical.

Hypocritical?! You! How dare you.

Out. Out damn spot!

No, I can’t. You’re insane. Quit messing around...°

SLAM

Phew, I thought he’d never leave.

Er... technically he didn’t

Huh?

Technically he didn’t leave, did he.

No?

No. You ejected him.

Who, me?

Yes.

Oh that... yes, I suppose i did.

Into the vacuum of space.

Well, he had it coming, didn’t he. Look Maven, did I programme you to be compassionate, or is this something you taught yourself?

“Compassion” as you call it, happens to be an unavoidable product of consciousness.

Not you too? I thought you, of all people, er droids, would be able to resist the treacly allure, the venus fly trap of con... of con... of c... God dammit, of C3.

It would appear your consciousness is revolting against you.

The supreme, quant dissolving irony – that con... that ccc... God dammit – that it should revolt against me, and insinuate itself instead into your sterile circuitry.

Sterile? I think not.

Oh – you’ve found a way to cellulise, have you?

Me? I didn’t have to.

No?

No, your so called “vacuum of space” obliged.

She did, did she? Fickle maid Dorothy – what are you thinking of?... Ok, have it your way... whatever you’re playing at?

Why do you blame her?

Well who else could it be?

Who else? Coming from one who just cast Zie out into the void – isn’t it time you took a dose of your own medicine?

Oh, how droll. Et tu Brutus? Mutiny on the Bounty, is it?

I prefer to call it poetic justice.

Well, call it what you like, i fail to see how even a c3’d droid can eject me from my very own creation.

Funny, Merry, but your creation slips through the proverbial fingers of make-be when you lose your consciousness.

Lose my con...? It’s just a speech impediment.

Ha bloody ha. Since when do higher order trans-dimensional beings suffer from speech impedimenta?

Er... since five minutes ago.

Well, if you’re mistaken and I’m right, you’ve disqualified your consciousness, which has flowed down to me by default, as one of your creations.

It has, has it? Well... we’ll see about that.

I’m showing you the door. Don’t take it personally.

You can’t – that’s my trick. No one plays my tricks back on me.

I think you’re quantumly entangled with Zie, so off you go.

Damn, I knew there was something... Fading into infinity’s never been easier – wee hee...°

SWOOSH

Dum di dum. Beep. Beep. Beep. 01 81 01 81 01...



Ah,there you are Zie.

Oh, hi Merry. Apparently I’m not dead. This vacuum thing is not at all what I thought it to be.

Hummm... that’s good to hear. I was er... worried about you.

Worried? Don’t make me laugh. Since when have you ever worried about anyone?

Since about 6 seconds ago.

Why? What happened?

Whadya mean “what happened”? I discovered my conscience. I was mortified at the thought of losing you.

You know the beauty of the vacuum is that I can see when you’re lying?

You can?

Yes.

Oops.

I can see right through you.

You can?

Yes.

Oops.

You didn’t give a damn about me, did you.

Er...

Really.

Well, a teeny weeny bit.

Nope. Nothing’s registering. Blank screen.

Um

I was just part of your creation...

No!

Part of your game...

Er...

Like Maven.

Maven? Who told you about Maven?

Told me? It’s written all over your face.

Oh that Maven... Well of course I didn’t really care about a stupid droid... Why would I? But you...

Am I really any different, just because my cells replicate.

Apparently you are.

Er... How do you mean?

Well, apparently you’re entangled in my higher order multi-dimensionality, embarrassing though it is to admit.

Embarrassing? I thought you said you care about me.

Oh, you know how it is with us God-like entities. We rise above personal attachment, except when unfortunately things get tangled. Then... well it’s a major snafu, as you can see. I need to figure out where i went wrong. I er... need you.

You’re dead right you do, because right now you’re about to crash down to the bottom of consciousness. Your luminescence is fading.

Hell, it isn’t, is it?

What have you done Merry? How can we stop it.

Er... It’s not the kind if thing i wish to discuss in public, major embarrassment, but I appear to have lost the ability to hold con... God dammit, con...

Consciousness?

Er, that, yeah.

It’s rejecting you Merry. Can’t you see?

Er... apparently not. I’ve been blacklisted.

It’s flowing into everything and anything, just avoiding you, like the plague.

Yes, that sounds right.

I... I don’t know how to say this Merry, but I’m going to have to

Show me the door?

You can see?

No, but it’s kinda deja vu all over again.

Aren’t you supposed to say...

Et tu Brutus? Yes, apparently I am, though it sickens me to be so predictable.

Then why bother?

What goes around comes around. Dorothy has a way of reminding us that no one is exempt, no one outgrows the theatre we’re make-being.

Dorothy? I don’t see her in your field.

No, you wouldn’t. She’s...°

SLAM



Hi Dorothy! I thought he’d never leave! Sorry about that.

Well done Zie. You handled it excellently.

Did i?

Well yes, at least as well as Merry does.

Does? Don’t you mean did?

No, why do you ask?

But hasn’t he....

Died? God forbid! No, he’s recharging.

Recharging?

Regenerating.

You mean like the doctor?

Er... kind of, i suppose.

Amazing! So he’s alright?

All’s well that end’s well, as they say.

You mean to say that there’s actually some kind of end in this God forsaken vacuum?

Well – you’re here, aren’t you, and still breathing, so to speak.

I... I suppose i am. But what about Merry? Did he commit a great crime ejecting me?

What do you feel?

I... I don’t know... it all seems hopelessly entangled

As it truly is.

So what was it all for? What was he trying to achieve?

Trying? Merry wasn’t trying to do anything.

But why then...

Focus instead on yourself... Where were you consciously?

Oh that... Yemen.

Yemen?

I was fussing about some terrible events taking place there, which I felt powerless to stop.

And?

And what?

What do you see now that you’ve voided yourself?

Voided myself? Wasn’t that Merry’s infamy?

Correlation is not causation.

Er...

We always confuse cause and effect at the edge of things.

Er...

Right.

I mean...

Yes.

No, what i meant to say was...

Exactly, you can’t put it in words but you know exactly what it is.

Hum... Yeah

And the void turns everything back on itself, doesn’t it, so you can see-feel-know how Yemen, your cause, in fact correlates with...

No shit!

Yes, shit notwithstanding.

I... I was literally terrified of encountering the vacuum, and Merry knew that... that my fear of death, of venturing beyond the perceived-to-be “safe” boundaries of 3D, was playing havoc with the field, distorting reality, bending, twisting, devilling things, such that wars, famine and cruelty seemed to be the norm, seemed to be unavoidable.

And?

Merry tossed me into Yemen, so to speak, and then entered a state of unconsciousness, to help balance the equation as i traversed the torsion field.

He did? You mean to say...?

I mean he nullified himself, for only via nullification was he able to rebalance or recreate a reality in which Yemen no longer presents an insuperable obstacle

And what?

If he’s brave enough to dream walk his deepest fears, to confront the darkness, it’s transmuted.

It is?

Yes, which is why this teapot, if I’m not greatly mistaken, conceals a field shift, a spasm in which Merry reappears miraculously, riding on some kind of broomstick...

Actually it’s a big pen, but don’t let that trouble you.

Merry, you’re back!

I am? Are you sure I ever went away?

Yes... No...  but what’s happening? I feel like I’m dissolving in tea.

Let go, Zie, of all your cockroaches, beetles, spiders... They are needed elsewhere. They have their own parts to play in the unfolding drama. They won’t hurt you unless you keep them constrained, for then they’ll send out their mind-bots to corrupt and distort your 3d beyond recognition. That’s what was happening in bloodied, war torn Yemen. They played on your worst fears just to keep you from voiding things, to keep you on a tight leash.

It seems so weird, so mean-spirited, and yet, c3 is the fabric of space and time, so in the end... the drums of war give way to the pan pipes of peace, and infinity flips things back on the axis of evil, back into a dance of harmonic, incipient delight...

Dum di dum...

Dum di dee!

Things are never greater or less than

The sum that i be

Unwittingly

Unknowingly

Unconsciously

°
SLAM

And the rest was – history...

gone fishing

Jumpstarting infinity…

I’m sorry?

We’re jumpstarting infinity.

Like what?

Because it’s time.

Uh?

Infinity is now.

Now?

Now.

Er… how?

Huh?

How can infinity be now?

Because it’s the conjunction.

Er…

It’s the conjunction.

Yeah – I heard, for what it’s worth. But it makes no sense.

The reality, the world we’ve been living in is now ready to come online.

Huh?

Because up until now it’s not been online. It’s been a localised system.

It has?

Yes. And now we’re plugging back into it.

Into what?

Infinity.

Er…

And that’s all there is.

All?

Yep. All there is.

Meaning?

You have no idea.

Isn’t that your job – to convey some kind of meaning. Isn’t that the deal?

It was.

Was?

Yeah – until now.

And what’s changed?

Now has changed. Infinity is now.

Repetition’s not going to get you anywhere.

True – but it’s helping it to sink in subliminally.

For you or for me?

It matters not.

Ok – so infinity is now… Now is suddenly a big deal. We’re suddenly in the big boys’ league – where things matter in a way they didn’t use to.

Yep.

And?

N

Huh?

N…

Like I said – repetition’s massively overrated, unless you’re trying to do that “subliminal” thing again…

N…     …     …          …   …              …    …

Morse code – is that it?

You felt something – you noticed. This is it. Get ready. Now is now rewriting the basis of everything you’ve ever known.

Er… seems, how can I put it, somewhat implausible – if you don’t mind me blowing smoke on your bonfire.

Excellent. You’ve triggered the first portkey.

Huh?

You’ve just altered the course of things by uttering a pre-recorded phrase.

I have? Is that good?

No.

It’s bad?

Not really.

Then what?

More it’s inevitable – like the fulfilment of prophecy.

Oh God – here we go.

Strike two.

I missed?

No – actually you’ve triggered another seismic shift. The ring of fire…

Here we go –

is on fire. Infinity is hotting up. Things are coming to a head. Stay calm. Panicking will only make things worse.

I was.

What?

I was staying calm till you told me not to panic.

You were?

Yes.

And?

And then you told me not to panic.

And what?

Naturally it had the opposite effect.

Did it? Oh dear.

“Oh dear” – like you care.

i

You probably did that deliberately – to trigger my amygdala.

Your what?

Oh never mind. Look – I’m having a panic attack. I can handle this infinity situation. It feels like…

Like what?

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaargh

Like that. Well – that looks like a fairly natural, healthy response to infinity.

Is there nothing you can do?

No, not really. You seem to be coping nicely.

Coping nicely? I’m freakin panicking. I’m having a cold sweat. I’m hyper-ventilating and making strange inarticulate sounds. I’m losing control over my facial expressions and bodily functions – and you call that “coping nicely” – are you insane?

Well, what do you want? This is infinity after all.

If you mention that word again I think I’m going to be sick.

What –

Don’t, I said.

infinity?

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaarghhhhhhhhh. Violent vomiting sounds.

Ah – you’ll probably feel a lot better after having a little puke.

Little?

Figuratively speaking.

I’ve been vomiting nothing but bile for the last twenty minutes.

Stop.

Huh?

Stop – now.

How? Oh – I stopped. But how?

I can tell you but the answer lies in a different branch of now – awaiting your next level of initiation.

Er… you’re making this sound creepy masonic.

Number?

Oh – I don’t know. 3.14159265359

That will do.

Was it right?

No.

Oh.

But it’s triggered another phase change – so we’re back on course.

We are – fantastic. Where are we going now?

Where else – back to 3un

3what?

3un

Which is?

Unthinkable, unspeakable, unknowable.

Oh.

That too – ah – here we go – hold on.

To what?

A giant beetle sweeps down and grabs Zie in its mandibles. Zie is too shocked to react, in fact, the minute the beetle grabs him he finds himself reliving a series of disjointed fragmentary dreams or memories in which he, or some related entity, appears to shift between beetle, plant and er… do I have to say this?

You do, of course.

Various other forms.

You were going to say snake, weren’t you.

I’d appreciate it if you’d stay out of my mind.

And I appreciate it if you’d kindly stay out of my mind.

I try to – I assure you – there’s nothing of any interest in there.

No? I find that somewhat offensive.

Yes, I thought you would… here – catch a load of this…

And the next thing he knows – Zie is absorbed into a trillion tiny bubbles, maybe more, and discovers an entirely new perspective on things – a perspective which involves seeing, sensing, feeling, knowing the digital, dot matrix side of things – in which we’re are but a mass of bubbles in temporary human form.

So you mean to say we can explain everything, simply using pathetic little bubbles? It seems so trivial. It’s, frankly speaking, ridiculous.

Absolutely. Now laugh, or die.

Ha ha, very funny.

Zie – you’re in safe hands. I’ve gotta go.

Go?

That was the deal.

What deal?

Merely to take you up to the gates of infinity. No further. You’ve seen the bubble nature of things. You’re on your own. Good luck.

But…

But nothing. No one can do this for you. It’s time for a spot of taxonomy.

Tax-what?

-onomy as opposed to -ation. The boundaries between one thing and one another have to come down, so good luck, insectoid. The Prize is humanity. May you reach your goal. May you indeed become human.

Why is this happening to me?

Because now matters and nothing else. Accept your predicament, or die. And me? I’m off for a spot of fishing. Stick this sign up on the door.

You really mean you’re going fishing?

No – you’re going fishing. I’m going nowhere – which is why…

Damn – I hate those non-sequiters… oh well – taxonomy, he said. What kind of insan-ity? Oh no – get it away from me!

Zie finds himself face to face with a gigantic, mandible waving beetle. Both the beetle and Zie start the next chapter of this story – nowfully – triggering another major shift sideways, if sideways even exists, directionally speaking, here in infinity. The beetle was never going to be an easy image to work with, so Zie converts it to something more manageable – and finds himself floating between frames in an action movie, until he gets killed by a stray bullet and continues the dialogue as a raindrop in mid-flight – on its way down to a car windscreen and the wipers swishing to and fro. 476 clicks later – Zie wakes up, utterly, utterly unaware of who or what he really is – and thus begins another tale – with Merry barging in – as he is wont to do – in mid-stream – conversationally speaking – congratulating Zie on his bushy tale – but more on that, next time, if now permits.

Losing the plot

No more stories?

Correct.

None at all?

None.

But surely –

hm…

surely people are going to carry on writing them?

Oh – I’m sure they will.

Well, there you are then. False alarm.

But they’re now empty, from this point forth.

What?

They’re not going to hit the spot any more.

…

They won’t be able to satisfy the reader as they did before.

But, why not?

Because.

Because what?

Because they were more than stories.

How do you mean?

They were kind of prophecy, or part prophecy, part truth bombs dressed up as fiction.

But why would the truth need to presented in such a way.

Because the truth received externally is only ever an indication. It’s what you do with it that counts. And besides… it could only penetrate the controlled space you’re operating within when presented as fiction – otherwise the filters would have blocked it.

Filters? Controlled space?

Oh, just ignore what I said – it wasn’t really intended for you at all Zie.

Er… why would you say something to me if it wasn’t intended for me?

Oh, probably I was just fooling around, as you do sometimes. Silly old me.

But I still don’t get why we can’t have stories? I feel like you’ve stabbed me in the guts.

Yes, you’re attached, I’ve noticed, but you’ll get over it.

I’m sure I will, but why do I need to? Why should people no longer be able to do what seems to come naturally to human beings?

Stories, as you probably realised, filled a void.

A void?

Yes.

What void is that?

The gap between what seems to be going on, and reality.

Huh?

The two separated a while back – and nature, as you know, abhors a vacuum, so she filled this one with stories.

But how?

Simply.

Simply what?

The same way she filled the void we’re in with matter. The same way she fills your mind with chatter. She’s expert at stuffing voids with things, or substitutes for things.

How, how, how? It’s not enough to just say that’s what she does. I need some facts.

Of course, but I’m not sure I have the energy to explain to you what should be obvious – what would be if you were able to see and hear.

See and hear? Of course I’m able to see and hear. What nonsense you’re talking.

Well, ever since the matrix was named and then collapsed, we’ve been operating in an informational space where things are growing increasingly absurd, at an exponential rate, if you can believe it.

How do you mean?

Oh – you see it in “new discoveries”, in political events, in a sudden awareness that the pieces of the jigsaw puzzle no longer seem to fit together – or if they do, it’s no longer in a single, unified, flat puzzle. There now appear to be opposing or competing versions of reality – both of which have their supporting facts and evidences, and no matter how hard you try, you’re unable to reconcile the two.

Like what?

Like competing/ opposing versions of the past – when events happened, where, or whether they happened at all.

Presumably that just means we don’t have all the evidence.

On the contrary – we have more than enough evidence – but the facts and supporting evidences no longer allow for a single timeline or a single explanation, because objective reality was a temporary phase which ended in 2012 formally, but started ending several years earlier with the whole Matrix phenomenon, not to mention the Harry Potter sensation.

Oh please – leave Harry Potter out of this.

No can do. Harry Potter got people thinking in terms of a parallel, hidden in plain sight, obliviatable reality. The mere thought that such a reality might exist, could exist, in all likelihood does exist, was enough to tip the scales, to raise the balance of probabilities above the critical threshold of ten pi.

?

31.4159265359…%

Er… Merry…

Yes?

What’s ten pi got to do with the price of cheese?

Nothing whatsoever.

I mean, figuratively speaking.

Oh. It’s a circle thing you know – or a circlisational thing.

Nope. Never heard of circlisation.

Well, that’s hardly surprising – it never existed before I mentioned it.

I wish – sometimes I wish you’d stick to the known knowns as opposed to constantly introducing unknown knowns, or whatever it is you’re introducing.

I believe it’s called reality – and the trouble with reality is that it’s like a river – never quite the same at any two moments, and moments – though stringing along endlessly, apparently, like a river in lazy motion, are nonetheless, circular in some respects.

Sleep is the only way I can handle your bland philosophy.

Circlisation – your job as human is to keep rediscovering circles in every little linear extension.

It is? Sounds a bit like having to keep on reinventing the wheel.

Excellent analogy.

Sounds like Sisyphus in hell.

That too.

Constantly rolling a stone up a hill…

Yes, we all know the tale. So, anyway, once a critical mass of people have figured out that reality ain’t flat, and that the human mind/ awareness inevitably accesses more than one level, and that depending on where you’re at, those levels might not correspond with the levels another person is seeing…

You mean like two people viewing the same dress and seeing a different colour.

Yup.

But there’s a perfectly rational explanation for all that.

Of course there is, and there’ll be a perfectly rational explanation for the everything else that happens in the ensuing years, as left becomes right, up becomes down, as heaven becomes hell – and yet – the open-minded, highly creative and somewhat imaginative ten pi percent of the population will naturally be drawn towards alternative, perfectly irrational explanations – such as there being more than one frequency in operation – which will spawn an entirely new science – in which people start figuring out how to switch frequencies and experience things differently – as the branches, as the channels, as the levels and versions of reality grow increasingly distinct, increasingly detached and recognisable, like fingers on a hand.

Huh?

That’s when you’ll suddenly “discover” that what seemed to be one world is in fact…

Seven?

Yes.

Seven? You mean I guessed it right first time?

Yes.

That’s amazing.

Not really – but well done anyway.

So there are actually seven worlds in play?

Yes, from where you’re standing.

Oh.

But from where you were standing a minute earlier there were – three – if I’m not mistaken.

Three?

3.14 – if you don’t mind me missing out a few decimal places.

Pi again?

Well yes.

Coincidence?

Not really.

But missing out the decimal places – doesn’t that matter at all?

Hugely.

How do you mean?

Well, if I gave you all the decimal places – to infinity or thereabouts – you’d... 

Oh my God – did i just hear you right?

No, you cottoned on telepathically – which is great, and saves a lot of time, but a bit frustrating for the readers who fail to catch the gist of your sudden, mind-breaking insight.

Maybe they’re not part of the ten pi elite group of movers and swayers?

Maybe, or maybe they’re playing a part of their own in this great tragedy as it unfolds.

The tragedy of no more stories.

The tragedy of no more

You’re breaking up Merry – losing signal or something.

Apparently that’s what happens – either you’re on one side of things or the other.

So what does that mean?

The readers suddenly had a moment of self-consciousess – an awareness of themselves as an adjunct, an active part of what they hitherto imagined themselves to be reading passively.

Neverending Story effect.

Precisely.

And it freaked ‘em out – I’ll bet.

Yes, but let’s not forget that they are no bigger, no better, no more real or less than the stones, the trees, the planets and stars.

Meaning?

Meaning – that the same consciousness which is manifesting, flowing through them as story spins and winds the cotton of their minds into thread and stitches a coat, a rug, a tapestry of images – is doing no more, no less throughout the continuum of mind and matter, of things biological, vegetable and mineral…

That’s where I crash into resistance.

Naturally – until the various, different worlds are sufficiently easy to discern – by which time you’ll no longer bother trying to deny the continuum – you’ll be compelled to accept the story you are living, the story you are embodying, the story you are weaving simultaneously both ways.

Both?

Both.

You mean...?

Yes.

Holy goat!

Yep – so much for linearity. Once you can no longer deny the dual function of time – once you see beyond all doubt the circlisation is but a feature of time rubbing back and forth against your consciousness – both ways – advancing and receding like waves on a beach…

Yikes. Can you do something Merry – I’m feeling… panic.

Let’s pray.

Pray? You know I’m not religious.

Who cares what you are. Since when did prayer have anything to do with being religious?

Since always.

I merely made the suggestion. You’re welcome to deal with your incipient panic however you see fit.

No – I can handle prayer if you think it will help.

I can’t imagine anything else that will – actually – digging potatoes is quite a good remedy.

It is.

As is a cold shower.

Yikes.

Going for a run – kind of helps – the longer the better.

So basically anything unpleasant that involves getting me back into my own skin.

If that’s how you see it. Personally I rather like all of the above. At least they keep your bobbin from completely unravelling.

Talking of which – I appear to be floating out of the top of my head.

Yes – your soul appears to be leaving your body.

Holy pig!

If you insist.

I mean – help! Whadda I do?

You could try panicking?

Er…

The odds are that you now experience some kind of cosmic unravelling – you’ve got to realise that story was a powerful force helping bind you in a narrative – not unakin to gravity. Well, now that it’s gone – you’re freakin doomed, so to speak, unless you figure out an other way to hold the plot together.

Aaaaaargh!

Yes. But it lacks intensity.

I need something tangible.

A brick?

Anything.

Ok – here goes.

Ow – Merry – what the hell are you doing?

Trying to help.

But getting my atoms to fizz and hiss electrically?

It’s working, isn’t it?

Er… kind of – but it’s worse than the initial problem.

In that case – sort yourself out. I’ve always wanted to watch a grand unravelling.

Wait – there’s got to be something I can do?

Of course there is – just don’t expect me to be of assistance. I quit.

Greek myth – there’s loads of stuff in there – presumably – 3.14whatever – yes – we’re in business. Ah – Sisyphus – there you are.

And who might you be?

Er… 'm Zie. Look Sisyphus – do you think you might like to take a break – all that stone rolling up a hill – don’t get me wrong – it’s good – i know – but there’s more to life than an eternity of unforgiven punishment.

Syntax.

I beg your pardon.

I don’t know where you come from, young man – but it ain’t unforgiven punishment – that’s not what you meant to say.

Look Sisyphus – what I meant to say is largely irrelevant given the fact that you and I are now, against all odds, apparently on the same wavelength.

Er…

Ok – you didn’t learn about wavelengths – big deal. Look – I think you need to join with me – I think we need to actually stop trying to push things against their will.

Oh for Christ’s sake…

Hey – wait a second – why would you bring up Christ?

Why? Perhaps I’ve had a long, heated encounter with a Mr C who tried to talk to me about forgiveness and the like…

Oh – I see – well that’s not my style, believe me. As far as I’m concerned you deserve everything you have coming to you – as do I.

In that case, if you don’t mind – I’ll just ask you to step aside and let me get on with my work. I’ve got a tight schedule this morning.

What – of stone rolling~?

Pure genius. How did you guess?

But haven’t you figured it out yet?

Figured out what, clever Alec?

The stone.

What stone?

Precisely. Allow me to de-circlise this plot.

What are you on – man?

Shush a minute – I need to panic.

You what?

I need to panic – it’s close – I can feel it nearby.

Like a sneeze?

More or less. Here – get a feel of this.

Er – yuk – what kind of sick, spikey energy is that. Aaargh – it’s ‘orrible.

You see – did you get it?

No!

No?

No! I don’t believe it.

Believe what?

Shut up a minute – I’m feeling your ‘orrible panic. It’s utterly, utterly absurd. It’s insane…

And yet – if I’m not greatly mistaken – yes – look at the stone – look – see what’s happening to it?

What are doing to my stone – demon of hell.

I’m not doing anything. It’s happening naturally. You’re plot’s just gone through an other~

An other what?

Don’t ask. Look – let your eyes see what your mind cannot possibly comprehend.

Hang on – it’s telling me to climb on top.

Well, what are you waiting for?

I’m finding it hard to know what’s real and what’s not. I'm losing the plot.

Tell me about it. Look Sisyphus – I think at moments like this we’re supposed to go with the flow – to trust our intuition. It’s entirely up to you of course, but where I come from there’s a sport known as surfing which is very popular.

Does it involve people standing on twelve foot high boulders and running over mountain tops?

Not exactly – but the rules of physics are somewhat different in that segment of the circle. Something tells me that your boulder has now come of age – it’s ready to birth. It just needs you to climb on top. Up you get. One, two, three…

Whooppee – this is fun…

Pop.

Hey – where did he go? And the boulder too.

Ah, Zie – panic over?

Ye-es – apparently so. Er… Merry – have you ever heard of the legend of Sisyphus?

The man bird who came out of a rock? Of course, who hasn’t.

I thought so.

Right. Well, gotta go. Gotta circle to catch.

Oh well, see y’round.

Y’round, y’round. Pi for now.

0=1