Chapter 37: Alter Ipse Amicus
**Future Carl plunges ahead. He passes through Sector 4 and the Main Control Room and into Sector 5 without the faintest awareness of his surroundings. He runs for the sake of running – the past which stretches out behind him is a wasteland of widely-spaced footprints; his future is only more of the same. No matter where he goes, no matter how fast he sprints, he cannot outrun his own dead weight**
FUTURE CARL: I’ve got to get…to the room…
**He pants the words to himself, rationalizing and repeating until his tiny nugget of guilt shrinks and fades away. The bliss room is a drug, a balm, a healing salve built on lies and trickery; nevertheless he rushes toward it with the desperate resolve of one pursuing a mirage**
FUTURE CARL: I have to…I need to this time…I don’t go there that often, but this time it’s too much…
**Over and over his feet strike the ground, but his thoughts don’t change. He doesn’t change. Nothing ever changes…**
**Future Carl skids to a halt in front of what appears to be a blank panel on the wall. Panting, he quickly swipes the palm of his hand over the inactive screen, and the words “Control Panel: Sector 4, Zone 7” appear on the monitor, followed by a series of other options. He selects one of them, and a schematic of the emotions maize pops up on the touch-screen. With a brush of his fingertips, he highlights a small block of the rooms and, with another rapid click, powers them down. Feeling a touch of relief mixed with self-reproach, he leans forward and rests his forehead against the wall – now a path has been cleared between himself and the bliss room**
FUTURE CARL: I shouldn't be doing this...
**After another moment or two, he gathers his wits enough to push away from the wall. He brushes a curl heavy with perspiration out of his field of vision before heading toward an innocuous looking door to his left. It swings open automatically upon his approach. He shakes his head once and, squaring his shoulders, steps through it and into the maze**
**Jimmy pushes open the door to the next room, and a gust of wind whistles over them**
JIMMY: (shielding his eyes) Air currents? How is that possible? …Is another door open?
**They peer through the doorframe into the new room, which is small, square, and drab; the walls, floor, and ceiling are painted an identical shade of dark gray**
LIBBY: (wincing) What God-awful interior decorator is responsible for this paint job?
JIMMY: That would be me, I believe.
LIBBY: (shuddering) Yeesh…
**Carl bites his lip nervously, before tugging on Jimmy’s arm**
CARL: I’ve got a really bad feeling about this one, Jimmy…and I’m not just saying that this time.
**Jimmy lays a hand on his friend’s shoulder**
JIMMY: We’re almost out, Carl. We’ve made it through all the other rooms…it’s nothing we can’t handle.
**Carl continues to hang back, and Jimmy sighs**
JIMMY: Fine, I’ll go first. Here, see? There’s nothing to worry abou–
**Jimmy takes a step into the room, and instantly his eyes roll back into his head, and he flops down like a limp doll. Cindy lurches forward to catch him**
CINDY: Neutron!–
**As soon as she clears the threshold, she too seizes up and collapses, landing beside the fallen Jimmy. She convulses once, then lies still**
LIBBY: Cindy!
**Libby reaches after her friend, and for a moment it looks as though the domino effect will continue. Sheen hurdles forward to stop her from making the same mistake as Cindy, but instead trips over his own shoelace, causing them both to plow face-first into the floor beside Jimmy. In the space of five seconds the whole ordeal is over, and all four of them lie motionless on the floor. Carl recoils with a screech**
CARL: (panicking) Jimmy! Sheen! Libby! Ahhhh, what do I do? What do I do?!
GODDARD: Grrr mbark bark bark bark!!
CARL: I don’t know what that means! Goddard, help! …Do something!
GODDARD: Eeow, bark bark!
CARL: Oh no! Oh no!! Come on guys, wake up! Wake up!!
**For a brief moment, Carl half expects his friends to awaken of their own accord; instead, they remain where they are, laid across the grungy concrete like tangled marionettes with no one holding the strings**
CARL: G-guys? Can you…can you hear me?
**They make no reply, for they hear no question; Jimmy, Cindy, Sheen, and Libby are completely cut off from the exterior world – the instant they entered the room, they were ripped one from another; rent apart, scattered, thrown into the farthest corners of the darkness and left utterly alone**
JIMMY: Hello? Hello??
**The next thing Jimmy knows, he is by himself, standing on the very precipice of a bottomless canyon. Roiling storm clouds churn overhead; thunder rolls in the distance. The air is dewy with impending rain, and wisps of wind tug on the sleeves of his red atom shirt**
JIMMY: (glancing down) That’s funny…when did I change back into my t-shirt?
**A sudden gust nudges him forward, and he flaps his arms to catch his balance. Shuddering, he stares down into the chasm beneath his feet. When he looks up again, a dark castle looms immediately ahead of him. He stumbles backward as his eyes climb its full height, dizzied from the scale of its proportions**
JIMMY: Whoa! Where did that come from?
**As if in answer, a bell tolls inside the fortress, and the portcullis rises with a clink-clink-clink**
JIMMY: (breathing out) Wheeeew. Analyze this one, Freud…
**When he looks back down, the canyon is gone. Gulping quietly, he takes a hesitant step forward toward the threshold of the castle gate. All the while, his physical body lies catatonic on the floor of the room, only a few inches away from the immobile bodies of his friends**
CINDY: Hey! Enough’s enough, you guys! What’s going on?
**Cindy stands alone in the middle of a wind-swept plain. The air is dusty and stale; charred, skeletal brambles strain skyward from between pockets of cracked earth. Cindy takes a nervous step backward, and something brittle snaps beneath her heel. Frowning, she turns to discover the remains of a shattered human skull. With a startled cry, she stumbles away, but her toe catches in a tangle of thorny bushes and she plummets earthward**
CINDY: (face-first) Oof!
**Digging her fingers into the dry soil, she spits out a clod of dirt and hauls her torso off the ground. As Cindy raises her gaze, a gale of hot wind slams into her, and she throws one arm up to shield her face. When she lowers it, her eyes widen. Ahead of her, a bright light is piercing through the murky clouds; like a wound in the sky, it bleeds fire drop by drop. The air howls and churns as silent lightning flashes around the apocalyptic blaze – then, just as quickly as it appeared, the light vanishes, and a black vortex spirals into existence in the space where it had been. Cindy rises slowly, overcome with awe**
CINDY: (breathlessly)…What…is that?
SHEEN: Marco! ……Ahem, I said, Marco!!
**There is a pause**
SHEEN: Come on, it’s not fair if one of you doesn’t yell back ‘Polo’! No cheating, you guys! Polo, anyone? …Anyone?? Hellooooo…
**Sheen peeks out from between his fingers**
SHEEN: Hey, what’s the big idea? We’re not in the pool!
**Sheen drops his hands and looks around. Twilight veils the grassy clearing where he stands, blending shadow into shadow. The smell of damp leaf litter lingers in his nose, and beads of dew tickle his bare ankles. Ahead of him, rows upon rows of densely packed trees stand like sentinels. A greenish mist hangs in between the moss-covered trunks; cobwebs dangle from their fingerlike branches. There is no birdsong, no sound of flowing water, no chirping crickets…merely a staccato unease beneath the silence**
SHEEN: (nervously) OK, I’m really wishing I had my Ultralord Utility Belt right about now…
**A twig crunches behind him, and he whirls around, aiming a finger-gun into the fading daylight**
SHEEN: I-I’m warning you! Don’t come any closer! I’m…really an angry mob in disguise!
**A deep, guttural growl rumbles from among the trees. Sheen looks around frantically, biting his fingernails; he spies a rock nestled in the grass and reaches down to snatch it. His arms tremble as he cradles it against his chest**
SHEEN: I’ve got a rock, and I’m not afraid to use it!
**A voice whispers into Sheen’s ear from behind, and hot, moist breath settles on his skin**
VOICE: And you shouldn’t be…
**With a yelp, Sheen drops the rock and whips around. There, a few feet in front of him, crouches a carbon copy of himself – albeit dressed in rags, and covered here and there in patches of thick, tangled fur. Sheen exhales in relief**
SHEEN: Oh, man, it’s just werewolf me! You had me scared for a second there, buddy.
**Werewolf Sheen bounds away on all fours, disappearing into the grove of gray-green trees**
SHEEN: Hmm, I’ve never met my Halloween costume in a dream before. Hey, that’s right! If this is a dream, then I can fly!
**He strains on tip-toe, grunting and grimacing at the sky, with no effect. After a moment he ceases his fruitless efforts**
SHEEN: OK, so maybe this isn’t a dream…which means…
**He turns around slowly, the hairs on the back of his neck prickling**
SHEEN: Uhh…you’re not a mirage by any chance, are you?
**Werewolf Sheen leans out from behind a peeling trunk, yellow eyes shining**
WERE-SHEEN: I’m the skin beneath your skin, the meat beneath your meat. I’m your blue and purple insides, the slime and the phlegm and the blood and the bile.
**Sheen winces**
SHEEN: Eew, what the heck? That is nas-ty. Man, Libby was right. I am extra weird as a werewolf. Say, weird-me, you wouldn’t happen to have a map on you or something, would you?
**There is a brief pause**
WERE-SHEEN: …Libby? …Mmm, where’s she?
**Werewolf Sheen purrs the words hungrily, and a tremor of alarm races through his human counterpart**
SHEEN: (backing away) Uh…not here… …Hey, listen…you’re really starting to creep me out, so…I’ll just be going now.
**The werewolf creeps backward until he melts into the olive fog, and Sheen gratefully wipes away beads of nervous sweat. He nearly jumps out of his skin a moment later when he feels a clawed hand tugging on his pant leg. He turns to find the creature skulking at his feet, looking up with big glowing eyes**
WERE-SHEEN: Take me with you.
SHEEN: How did you get behind me…?
WERE-SHEEN: I want to see everyone. I’m lonely here. How do you think I feel? There’s no TV or sugar or Ultralord. There’s nothing to do at all. Heck, I’d even prefer summer school to this place.
**Sheen jumps back, gasping**
SHEEN: Egads! Blasphemy!
WERE-SHEEN: You see? It’s that bad. So please, please, please let me come with you. All it takes is one little word.
**For a moment, Sheen wavers on the edge of indecision. Then the werewolf smiles up at him, exposing rows of blood-stained, predatory teeth. Sheen takes a tiny step backward, then another**
SHEEN: Uh…maybe some other time…but for now I have to RUN!
**He turns and sprints away from the forest, the surreal setting pounding by in a blur of adrenaline. Were-Sheen leaps after him**
WERE-SHEEN: (snarling) You won’t get away from me!
**The werewolf rapidly gains on the boy. With no way to escape, Sheen screeches to a halt, sending shredded grass and clumps of dirt shooting out from under his sneakers. He turns to face his aggressor, fists clenched but expression pleading**
SHEEN: Listen, man, I can help you find a sheep to eat or something first, but I really have to go look for my friends!
WERE-SHEEN: I don’t want a sheep! I’m after you! And if you won’t come willingly, then I’ll take you by force!
**The werewolf springs onto Sheen and they both crash onto the ground, rolling over each other in a tangle of claws and fur and shredding cloth. Were-Sheen pins the human boy to the ground and savagely grins down as his victim struggles to break free**
WERE-SHEEN: (laughing) Hahaha! Look at you! What a waste of effort. Keep fighting! Ask yourself, ‘what would Ultralord do?’ Haha!
SHEEN: (wriggling) You know, I would, except Ultralord has never written a self-help book on ‘how to defeat your freaky wolf-man self in some weird dream thing’. And you call yourself a fan? Pathetic.
**The werewolf arches his neck to the sky and lets out a blood-curdling howl; when he looks back down again, all the color has drained from his captive’s face**
WERE-SHEEN: This isn’t a dream! This is real! You’re about to self-destruct, and there’s nothing you can do to stop it. You’re stupid and weak. You fail at everything you do, and you waste your life watching a pointless cartoon. Libby only pretends to like you because she feels bad for you, and Jimmy just keeps you around because no one better has come along yet. Carl is his real best friend. And why not? Why would anyone want you? You ruin everything. Cowardly, annoying, under-achieving, Mother-less loser!
**With a brutal, perverse smile, the werewolf lunges down and sinks his teeth into Sheen’s shoulder. Sheen’s whole body spasms as burning tendrils radiate from the wound and flow across his chest**
WERE-SHEEN: (whispering into Sheen’s ear) I’ll get rid of all that for you. I’ll cure you. And then we’ll go hunting together.
**Sheen feels his fingernails lengthen and his muscles twist underneath his skin. His senses sharpen – scents become colors and sounds morph into sights. Sitting up, he swivels his neck and sniffs the night air; somewhere, far away, the scent of flesh drifts on the breeze**
SHEEN: Let’s go…
**Cindy pushes her bangs out of her face and squints up at the hypnotic whirlpool – as if in a trance, she methodically begins picking her way across the dead plain. Next instant, time seems to skip ahead; the scenery rushes by her in lagging, zigzagging frames, and she finds herself standing at the very event horizon of the black portal**
CINDY: Whoa! How did I…
**She jumps in surprise when she sees her own face staring back at her from inside the vortex. She exhales in relief, believing it to be only her own reflection – but the illusion is shattered a moment later when the face smiles of its own accord**
CINDY: (pulling back) Wh-Who are you?!
**Her doppelganger morphs forward out of the spinning hole in the sky. The black clings to her like a second skin, before turning to liquid in the sunlight and running off her body in dark, gummy streams. Beneath the gunk, this second Cindy is clad in venom green from head to toe, except for an evil-looking black crown**
GREEN CINDY: What kind of a question is that? You know who I am.
CINDY: I do?
GREEN CINDY: Of course. I’m you. And not just you. I’m the real you.
CINDY: Huh? What are you talking about? I’m the real me. Where did you come from anyway?
**The green Cindy ignores the question, and instead spreads her arms to indicate the wasteland around them**
GREEN CINDY: You see this?
**Cindy glances around slowly**
CINDY: Ya? It’s a desert. What of it?
GREEN CINDY: This is you.
CINDY: (raising an eyebrow) I’m a hallucination caused by an evil dictator’s emotion-manipulation technology?
**The other Cindy giggles**
GREEN CINDY: Clever! We’re so clever, aren’t we? But no, that’s not what I meant. The room you’re in now isn’t making you hallucinate. It has merely lifted the barrier between your conscious, subconscious, and unconscious. It put you in touch with your deepest self. Your real self.
CINDY: (looking up) And I suppose the vortex in the sky is a kitschy metaphor for my last name? Really, I thought my subconscious would be more creative.
**The other Cindy laughs again, scornfully this time. When she replies, her words are like carefully concealed daggers**
GREEN CINDY: What a good joke.
**There is a moment of tension as Cindy tries to regain her footing in the conversation**
CINDY: Look, I hate to be rude, but would you mind staying out of my face for a few minutes, so I can figure out what the heck is going on and find a way to get back to reality?
GREEN CINDY: This is reality. After all, the world you see around you is just a reflection of what’s inside you.
CINDY: (frowning) Is that some kind of riddle? Are you saying that if I change my internal perceptions, this desert-world will disappear?
**The other Cindy pauses, puzzled**
GREEN CINDY: What gave you that idea? Of course it’s not a riddle. Your personality is your personality. You can’t change it. …And honestly, why would you want to go back there anyway? Stay here. It’s who you are, it’s where you belong.
**Cindy peers past her doppelganger, sizing up the rotating black vortex**
CINDY: (pointing) If I go through that, will it take me out of here?
**In response, the green Cindy steps forward and crosses her arms, blocking Cindy’s view**
GREEN CINDY: Don’t ignore me!
CINDY: (scowling) There’s no need to get so pushy! Jeez!
GREEN CINDY: I’m not being pushy! Besides, I just told you, you’re not leaving.
CINDY: Uh…you wanna run that by me again?
**Dream Cindy leans forward belligerently, her manner shifting to one of open hostility**
GREEN CINDY: Ya, as a matter a fact, I do. I said, I’m not going to let you leave. You’re staying here with me.
CINDY: Pfft, you can’t tell me what to do! Now get out of my way!
**She tries to muscle past, and Dream Cindy’s face twists into an expression of childish rage. She shoves Cindy forcefully, who, caught off guard, trips backward and falls to the ground**
CINDY: (jerking upright) What’d you do that for? What the heck is the matter with you?!
**The green Cindy releases a spiteful, unstable cackle that rises and coils like a snake**
GREEN CINDY: Look at you, all covered in dirt! What a pathetic little wimp! Roll around in the dirt some more! Nya na na na na!
**Cindy hauls herself up, expression simultaneously disgusted and amused**
CINDY: I don’t believe it! You’re nothing but a petty, immature little bully! Now bug off, before I deck you back!
GREEN CINDY: Hahahaha! There goes the pot, calling the kettle black! Hahaha! Petty? A bully? I’m right, you’re wrong! Hahahaha! Everyone but me! Me! Me!
**She laughs wildly, stamping the ground with her foot. Cindy backs away, lips parted, shaking her head back and forth slowly**
CINDY: You’re crazy! I am out of here.
**The green Cindy looks up abruptly. The action is startling, for her whole countenance has changed. Her eyes are unnaturally wide, yet devoid of any trace of life. They gaze dully to the fore, immobile, while her words tumble out from behind a twisted, piano-key smile**
GREEN CINDY: You can’t get out of here, Cindy. You can never truly get away from yourself. If you reject what you really are, I will destroy you.
CINDY: You’ll what?
GREEN CINDY: This is my world; I’m in charge here, so you have to do what I say, or I’ll make sure you never leave this place again.
CINDY: (making a fist) I’m in control of myself and my actions, not you! Now get out of the way! If you threaten me again, I’ll take you out!
**Dream Cindy listlessly tips her head to one side**
GREEN CINDY: You can’t destroy destruction. To do so only causes more destruction…
**She raises her arm languidly, and the earth begins to tremble**
CINDY: (losing her footing) What’s…what’s going on?
GREEN CINDY: (suddenly shouting) I’ll show you what you are!
**Next moment, sharp grains of sand rise from the ground and swarm through the air, stinging Cindy’s skin like a hundred frenzied bees. She cries out in pain and turns to run, but merely stumbles as the landscape pitches violently, like a ship’s deck in a tempest. The world rattles and cracks and rends, until the very sky itself begins to crumble. The pieces rain down around her like chunks of dry plaster, and Cindy throws her arms up over her head to shield herself from the onslaught**
GREEN CINDY: Hahahaha! I’ll make everything fall apart. Rationalize, rationalize! I’ll wreck it! I’ll wreck it all!
CINDY: (in desperation) Stop, please! Stop it! What’s the matter with you? I don’t want to be like this!
GREEN CINDY: Useless, useless, useless! Now die, disappear, cease to exist; break, break, break!!
**The fragments of celestial debris pile up over Cindy, crushing her, pushing her down. After one last struggle, the whole stack collapses down on her, smothering her, extinguishing her consciousness in a blanket of empty weight. As the rubble settles to the ground, Green Cindy slouches forward, panting from the force of her exertion. After a moment she looks up, and tears trickle down her cheeks**
GREEN CINDY: (with a deranged, grief-stricken smile) I just wanted you to stay with me. That’s why I…
**She staggers slightly, then slumps down on the broken turf, a fragile little child alone in the wreckage**
GREEN CINDY: (whimpering) Why wouldn’t you? I’m sorry. Come back. Love me, please, just accept me…don’t leave me here, all alone…
**But there is no answer, and then even the heavens themselves goes dark, as if someone had switched off the light**
**Libby’s eyelids flutter open, and she finds herself standing in the middle of a long passageway. Every few paces, a torch bathes the wall in flickering orange, illuminating columns of Egyptian hieroglyphs. Beyond these oases of light, the cavernous passage fades into purple gloom. The air is stiflingly hot, and powder fine-dust settles on her skin in the oppressive dryness**
LIBBY: (glancing around) Queen Howsaboutislapya’s tomb? How’d I wind up here?
**She takes a few cautious steps forward, frowning into the unsteady orange light. The crackling flames do little to mask the deep, rumbling silence of the tomb, and Libby’s unease only grows as she proceeds down the passageway. She approaches a pair of sealed doors, which are fashioned from fragrant cedar and inlaid with garnets and lapis lazuli. Carven images of pharaohs and their consorts worship a pantheon of animal-headed gods, while twin paintings of the goddess Hathor flank the entrance. Gulping anxiously, Libby summons up her courage and gives the handle a gentle push. To her surprise, it swings open forcefully**
LIBBY: Wow, that was…
**She trails off, completely unprepared for the sight that awaits her. The sanctuary is filled with treasure – chests filled with jeweled necklaces and bracelets, tall alabaster vases, tables laden with waterfowl and honeycakes, gilded statues of muscular gods, boxes overflowing with amulets and shabtis – and everywhere gold, piles upon piles of gold, shining fiercely in the light from the torches**
LIBBY: Oh, my…
**She gawks at the chamber, the whites of her eyes reflecting the fevered glitter. After a taking furtive glance behind her, she approaches the nearest chest and begins pawing through its contents**
LIBBY: (examining a scarab pendant) Look at this necklace! I bet this’d go great with my teal dress...
VOICE: Who goes there?
**Libby spins around, and her braids ricochet off her cheek. At the far end of the room, on top of a raised dais, sits a figure about her own size. She takes a step closer, squinting. At first glance, Libby sees only a young girl almost hidden beneath a dazzling assortment of gold and semiprecious stones. The uraeus cobra curls out from her brow, and a heavy beaded collar spans the distance between her delicate brown shoulders. Four sets of bracelets cover her arms, and a blue sash closes her snowy linen gown tightly across her waist, while electrum sandals form a barrier between her feet and the sandy floor. The girl, Libby realizes, is a spitting image of Queen Howsiboutislapya, right down to the haughty gleam in her eyes. Just to be sure, Libby meekly ventures a question**
LIBBY: Um…’scuse me, but…who’re you?
**The Queen falls back against her throne, aghast at having been addressed in such a direct manner**
QUEEN: How dare you speak to me like that! I’m the one who should be askin’ you that question! Who are you?
**Libby moves toward the throne. After a few steps, she stops abruptly and lets out a quiet gasp. With the distance between them lessened, Libby realizes that the queen’s attire is nothing but a clumsy charade – beneath the finery, she is clothed in Libby’s normal pink shirt and jeans. It is only then that Libby is able to pin down the girl's real identity. She is not Queen Howsiboutislapya at all, but Libby herself, costumed to look like an Egyptian**
LIBBY: (breathless) You’re…me?
QUEEN: How dare you show such disrespect to your queen! Who do you think you are, coming in here without an invitation!
LIBBY: (confused) In…vitation?
QUEEN: Of course. Everyone knows that an invitation is required before having an audience with the queen.
**Next moment, Libby gets a real fright. The area around the dais comes to life with movement, as half a dozen mummified guards shift in their stations. The room fills with the sound of rattling bone and straining sinew, as the dried-out husks swivel to fix their empty eye sockets on her. Jewelry does nothing to lessen the gruesomeness of their soiled wrappings, which dangle in shreds from their fetid limbs. Libby shudders, goose flesh crawling over her body. Turning back to the Queen, she attempts a curtsy**
LIBBY: Please forgive me, uh… your ladyship. I just sort of woke up in the hallway outside. I didn't mean to intrude...
**For a moment, the queen's mannerisms mirror Libby’s own**
QUEEN: Hold up! Whaddya mean, you woke up in the hallway outside? Did someone leave you there while you were asleep?
LIBBY: It’s kind of a long story, and I don't really have the energy to explain it all right now. It's been a rough day. I almost died in a spaceship crash, had to swim through a gross metal pipe at the bottom of the ocean, laughed for no reason, got depressed, got real angry, got the hots for pretty much everyone, got slapped and called a man-eater by my best friend, and then passed out in a butt-ugly room…
**The queen makes a face, wholly befuddled**
QUEEN: What in Osiris’s name are you talkin’ about? Are you drunk, or just stark raving mad?
LIBBY: You didn’t let me –
QUEEN: And you still haven't explained why you trespassed here!
LIBBY: Cut me some slack, will ya? I didn't know was against the rules to come in here... I just found the door and didn't know where else to go.
**The queen sticks her nose in the air, resuming her arrogant imperial manner**
QUEEN: Ignorance of the law is no excuse. You have seen my majesty when I was not prepared to receive visitors, and you interrupted my planning session for the party I’m throwing tonight – and worse still, you put your greedy little hands on MY treasure! For that you must suffer the consequences. Courtiers, do your thing, and dispose of her!
**Before Libby can blink, the bejeweled mummies have descended upon her. They grasp her body with their bony, desiccated fingers, but her terrified scream never makes it out of her throat. When she tries to pull away, they throw her down onto the ground and bind her hands behind her back with a golden cord. Grabbing her roughly by the shoulders, the mummies haul her up enough for the queen to see her dirt-smeared face**
LIBBY: (pleading) Please! This is all just a misunderstandin’! This is some sort of weird dream or somethin’…I need to get back to my friends!
QUEEN: Is there no end to your insolence? A dream? Ha! Guards, impale the little liar on the torturer’s stake!
**They wrench her off the ground, and Libby struggles wildly. This time her words to the queen are not pleading, but panicked**
LIBBY: How can you do this? You’re me! Don’t you recognize your own face when you see it? Look! Look at what you’re wearing underneath all that Egyptian stuff. How can you not see that you and I are the same person?
QUEEN: (angrily) You continue to mock and degrade me! How could a lowly commoner like you claim any relation to me, the daughter of the sun god himself? I have everything. I am everything. You’re nothing. You’re worth less than a single grain of sand stuck to the bottom of my sandal.
LIBBY: Just hear me out for a second! Ask me any question, and I’ll –
QUEEN: I refuse to listen to any more of your nonsense.
LIBBY: How can you be so dense?! Haven't you looked at yourself in the mirror before? You must be blind not to recognize your own face when you see it!
**The Queen rises up from her throne, practically seething with anger**
QUEEN: Blind? You want blind? You shall have eternal blindness! Guards, I’ve changed my mind about her punishment. Lock her in a sarcophagus – I want her to die a slow, agonizing death, buried alive in darkness.
**The Queen’s servants pull Libby up, then drag her over to a row of sarcophagi lined up against the wall. They lead her toward the nearest coffin: the cover is painted to look like a beautiful young woman with azure hair and winged arms. Her serene expression belies the cruel fate awaiting the one entombed within her**
LIBBY: Ugh! What’s the matter with you? Untie me!
**Two of the mummies work together to lift the coffin, tilt it horizontal, and place it down on the floor. Libby coughs on the cloud of dust kicked up by the casket, then redoubles her efforts to escape**
LIBBY: (fighting her captors) No! Let me go!
**Lashing out, she kicks over a table covered in gold statuettes, which crash noisily to the ground. The Queen's gaze snaps to the fallen idols, and she hastily adds another command**
QUEEN: And fill the coffin with treasure. I want her to suffer the madness that comes when you realize that all the material treasure in the world is useless if you don’t have a crust of bread to eat.
**Tears come to Libby's eyes as the monsters push her to the floor – she can hear their dried flesh creaking, feel their knobby hands as they bear down on her shoulder blades, smell their putrid stench as they tie her legs together with a length of rope. Though her face is buried in the sand, the metallic clatter of treasure hitting wood leaves her with no doubt as to whether the remaining mummies are carrying out the queen's orders**
QUEEN: Don't bother holding on to a foolish hope that I might change my mind and release you.
**The weight on Libby’s shoulders relents, and she is able to roll onto her side and spit out a clod of dirt. Sweating from fear and from the stress of moving without the help of her limbs, Libby heaves her torso off the ground and sits up to face the queen. The undead stand in a semicircle around their victim, waiting for their mistress to finish her final speech**
QUEEN: This is my realm, not yours. You should never have come here. Some things are not meant to be seen – this is what you get for digging in forbidden soil. Pray to your gods that someone will come along to save you... because you have no hope of saving yourself from the death that I've prepared for you.
LIBBY: (dazed) This is just a dream. I fell asleep, and I still haven't woken up – you're just a… mental projection, or somethin’…
QUEEN: Enough. Guards, gag her and throw her in the sarcophagus.
**One of the mummies rips a length of tattered cloth from his own arm and rolls it into a ball. Libby anticipates his next action, and with a horrified shriek, tries to pull away. Another one of her captors grabs her by the head and pries open her jaws, while the first mummy shoves the vile wrapping into her mouth. Her cries muffled, the mob hoists her off the ground and dumps her into the open coffin. Assailed by confusion, terror, and the cold bite of the treasure, Libby barely has time to drink in one last glimpse of light before the coffin lid slams shut...**
**After wandering through countless stone corridors, up meandering flights of stairs, and past silent rows of locked doors, Jimmy turns the corner and happens upon an open doorway. Pulses of light emanate from the room beyond, and at first glance, Jimmy mistakes the unsteady glow for firelight. When he walks out into the chamber, however, it becomes clear that the luminescence is not caused by fire. He finds himself inside a vast holographic planetarium: as he crosses the wooden floorboards, stars and planets whiz overhead in a harmonious cosmic dance. Jimmy reaches up with his right hand and brushes it through a holographic galaxy, and the individual stars scatter like pixie dust, twinkling and colliding and tumbling into empty space. He turns about, smiling in wonder at the sight**
JIMMY: Superb! This is so well programmed!
VOICE: You like it? You built it.
JIMMY: (tensing up) What? Who said that? Show yourself!
**A second Jimmy steps through a spiral galaxy hanging in midair, parting stars as if they were strands on a beaded curtain. He is dressed in a white lab coat**
SECOND JIMMY: Well actually, I built it, but it’s basically the same thing.
**The two geniuses quietly observe one another for a moment before one of them speaks**
JIMMY: What are you? Part of the hologram? My clone?
SECOND JIMMY: Neither, actually. But that’s not important. Now, I’m curious: what’s the last thing you remember before you came here?
**Jimmy frowns, recalling**
JIMMY: I was…stepping into a new room in the emotions maze, when all of the sudden I looked down and was standing at the edge of a canyon instead. Did that room…transport me somewhere? Or am I under some sort of hypnosis?
SECOND JIMMY: This room has created an interface between the different realms of your consciousness. It will let you dig up what’s buried deep down inside.
JIMMY: (suspiciously) The Dictator wouldn’t make a room devoted to a meet and greet with the subconscious. This maze is designed to destroy the people who wander into it, not give them insight into themselves. What’s the real purpose of the room? Is it merely to stall for time while we’re trapped in this state?
SECOND JIMMY: I suggest you not worry about the particulars. Try to think of this as…a learning experience.
JIMMY: (raising an eyebrow) And what exactly will I be learning?
SECOND JIMMY: You’ll have to wait and see, won’t you?
**A moment later, the holographic planetarium vanishes from sight and is replaced by a laboratory, complete with eerie lighting and racks of bubbling test tubes. Jimmy looks around at the rows of Erlenmeyer flasks and tables dotted with half-finished inventions, before turning to his double with an ironic smirk**
JIMMY: Mad scientist’s lab?
SECOND JIMMY: In a manner of speaking…
**The labcoat-clad Jimmy lounges against one of the tables, smiling easily**
SECOND JIMMY: This is all so thrilling, don’t you agree? The others will not be able to carry out a dialogue like the one we are having. Their brains simply haven't developed the necessary reasoning capacities...cognitively, they are still just pre-pubescent children. Therefore, they will not be able to make sense of this experience in the same way that you will. Sure, they’ll feel fear and disgust and bewilderment, but they won’t understand what it means.
JIMMY: (frowning) Fear? Disgust? Just what sort of meaning am I supposed to be taking away from this?
**Jimmy’s double ignores the question, and instead asks one of his own**
SECOND JIMMY: Would you like me to show you my latest experiment?
**Jimmy hesitates for a moment, but curiosity gets the better of him**
JIMMY: Well…I suppose it wouldn’t hurt…
**The doppelganger utters a short voice command, and the floor begins to shake. The glassware rattles noisily on the tabletops, and Jimmy tentatively extends a hand toward one of the tables, just in case he needs to steady himself. With a loud grating noise, a trap door slides open, and a large, slab-like object rises up from beneath the floorboards**
JIMMY: What is that?
**The second Jimmy pushes away from the table he’d been leaning against**
SECOND JIMMY: Care to have a closer look?
**The two boys head over to the object, which proves to be a three-by-five foot brick of solid gray material, with a human-shaped indentation in the center. The surface is covered in a tangle of wires and metal nodes which hook in to a nearby computer. Jimmy eyes the device with suspicion, examining what appear to be a set of thick leather restraints**
JIMMY: Uh…what exactly does this thing do?
SECOND JIMMY: Well, nothing at the moment. It’s incomplete. But, when it’s finished, it’ll be the most powerful computer ever built.
**Jimmy bends closer, teasing out the individual wires**
JIMMY: It doesn’t look like a computer to me. It looks more like a…well, like a cardiograph-encephalograph combo, with a bit of stasis technology thrown in to boot.
**His double grins**
SECOND JIMMY: You’re getting warmer. Let’s see if I can give you a hint…all right: what is the most powerful computer on earth?
JIMMY: (thinking) Well, as of right now, I’m pretty sure that the fastest supercomputer is capable of something like a million billion calculations per second.
SECOND JIMMY: That’s right. It’s amazing what it can do, really - if six billion people were to do one sum per second on a calculator, it would take them 46 years to do what that computer could do in one day. And yet, in terms of the flexibility of its reasoning and its creative power, the world’s greatest supercomputer is still 50 times less powerful than the human brain. Now, here’s where things get interesting – what if the two could be made to work in tandem? What if a human brain and a supercomputer could be linked together into one, super-intelligent hybrid computer?
JIMMY: It’s an interesting thought, but it wouldn’t work – the human brain simply isn’t built to handle the kind of calculations that go on inside a normal computer. You could never join them together into a single entity, at least not without completely destroying the brain in question.
SECOND JIMMY: Ah, but that’s where you’re wrong. You see, with the help of my Brain Gain helmet, I can increase the intelligence of the subject until they can withstand the union. And from there it’s only a matter of strapping them in and hooking them up. That’s where this device comes in: I call it The Platform, and it acts as an interface between the organic computer in a person’s head and an artificial intelligence. Where one falls short, the other excels – it’s the perfect complementary technology.
**He chuckles blithely, but Jimmy looks unconvinced**
JIMMY: But…what happens to the test subject? The computer would never function in an orderly manner if it were controlled by unstructured human thought. The mind is a strange and complex organ – the subject would likely have all sorts of mental blocks, and who knows what kind of things could be lurking in the depths of the unconscious, ready to steer the computer in seemingly random directions…
SECOND JIMMY: That’s why the test subject would have to be, for lack of a more politically-correct term, brain-dead upon insertion.
JIMMY: B-Brain-dead??
SECOND JIMMY: Of course. I need the power of the organ without the fallibility of awareness. The success of the experiment depends wholly on the subject being unconscious and without willpower. The brain must be merely a component of the system – a gear in the machine, if you will. In fact, it would even be possible to hook up more than one test subject, allowing for an even stronger and faster processor.
JIMMY: (aghast) But…you’d have to strip away their identities, turn them into a computational vegetable garden! Who on earth would be willing to submit to an experiment like that?!
**The second Jimmy smiles again, but this time his lips have a sinister curl**
SECOND JIMMY: Why, no one, I imagine. But that wouldn’t stop me.
**Jimmy’s eyes grow wider, and he backs up a step**
JIMMY: You- you can’t do that! You can’t force that kind of an experiment on someone! It’s…wrong!
SECOND JIMMY: ‘Wrong’? ‘Right’? What do those categories even mean? You know the answer as well as I: they mean nothing. Those concepts exist solely to facilitate human social interaction. There is no real meaning or value in anything – well, other than numerical value. Math and science are the only things that have substance, and even they are imperfect. That’s what you really believe, and this project aims to further that end.
JIMMY: (defensively) That's not true at all! I've always believed in right and wrong. Science needs a degree of self-awareness, or else it has no framework in which to operate. I need to be a moral person; otherwise, how could I understand the impact of my inventions?
SECOND JIMMY: You, a moral person? Whatever gave you that idea? All the evidence points to the contrary. Where’s your sense of right and wrong when you’re endangering the people you love with your careless experimentation? Don't your actions PROVE that you care far more about technological advancement than you do for the welfare of those closest to you?
JIMMY: That’s not at all what I –
SECOND JIMMY: (interrupting) Let’s have a recap, shall we? What about the time you nearly got everyone in your town killed by aliens because you thoughtlessly sent a message into deep space? Or how about when you brainwashed your parents to get extra birthday presents, or mutated your teacher, or plunged Retroville into an Ice Age? Where was your sense of right and wrong when you cloned yourself, and then put those creations – who were living beings – on ice, thereby denying them the right to live? And what about all the times you’ve risked Carl's life in the name of science – Carl, your very best friend? If you search through your memory, I'm sure you'll find plenty of similar examples. Are those really the actions of someone who cares about being ‘moral’?
JIMMY: (sheepishly) OK, so maybe I haven’t always made the best decisions, but I always come through in the end and save everyone from the disasters that my inventions cause. And it’s not like I haven’t saved the earth from other catastrophes – like when that meteor was heading straight for Retroville. And what about all the dangerous villains I’ve sent to jail over the years?
SECOND JIMMY: They’re not the danger, you are. Sooner or later, the day will come when you aren’t able to save everyone from whatever monster you've most recently created. It’s a simple question of statistics.
JIMMY: I’ll find a way around it!
SECOND JIMMY: Will you? Maybe you will. Or maybe by then you’ll realize the truth about the cost of advancement. Progress demands sacrifice; there are bound to be some casualties along the way. And why should that be a problem? You’re better than all of them anyway – look at the amazing things you create!
**Jimmy whirls around, fists clenched**
JIMMY: This conversation has gone far enough! I am out of here.
SECOND JIMMY: Think again.
**Jimmy strides forward, red with anger – until it dawns on him that the doorway leading into the room has mysteriously vanished, leaving him with no way out. He turns back to face his enemy, goose-bumps rising all over his body**
JIMMY: That’s a neat trick, but you can’t keep me here forever.
SECOND JIMMY: Can’t I?
**The double snaps his fingers, and Jimmy suddenly finds himself lying on his back, his arms and legs pinned to his sides**
JIMMY: What the – ? How did you…?
**He struggles to sit up, but a set of leather restraints hold him firmly in place. He realizes with a lurch of fear that he has been strapped into The Platform**
JIMMY: This is cruel and unethical! Let me go!
**His captor stares down at him without the slightest hint of remorse or conscience, as if he were no more than a specimen on the dissecting table**
SECOND JIMMY: I don’t need your approval. That’s not why you’re here. You have a far more important role to play – can you guess what it is?
JIMMY: (horrified) You’re a lunatic! This room doesn’t connect us to our subconscious – it’s a leg- trap for our intellect…and our most depraved tendencies are the teeth!
**The labcoat-clad genius laughs**
SECOND JIMMY: Eloquently put! You’re right, of course. This room hijacks your flaws and fears, and then it uses them against you. It lies and manipulates and captures and ruins – whatever it takes to make you collapse under your own weight.
JIMMY: I thought as much. Now let me go!
SECOND JIMMY: Not going to happen. You’ve engaged with me; you can’t overpower me now. You might be able to keep me contained out there in the waking world….but in here, I make the rules. And as far as I’m concerned, you’re just a sophisticated organic computer.
**He momentarily walks outside of Jimmy’s line of vision; when he returns, he is wielding a syringe filled with a clear liquid. Jimmy’s eyes widen in fear, and he squirms inside the restraints**
SECOND JIMMY: I probably don’t need to point this out, but struggling won’t do you any good.
**He carefully preps the injection site with a bit of iodine, then dispassionately jabs the needle into his victim’s upper arm. Jimmy winces, shuddering as the fluid courses through his bloodstream like a spreading fire. One by one his fingertips go numb, then his hands. The deadening sensation radiates up his arms and onto his chest, until it crawls over his entire body like gooseflesh**
JIMMY: (face screwed up in revulsion) Uuugh! Get it…out!
SECOND JIMMY: Don’t say such irrational things. You know I can’t nullify an injection once it’s been given.
**Prickles races up Jimmy’s sternum and into his neck**
JIMMY: Come on…it doesn’t have to be this way! I could…I could help you with the project! Two geniuses are better than one, right?
SECOND JIMMY: (with a snort) Do you honestly think you can manipulate me? I know what you’re trying to do. I know everything you know, and more – for I have no qualms to hold me back.
**Jimmy wriggles with all his might, but his body won’t respond**
JIMMY: I…can’t move my legs! I can’t move anything!
SECOND JIMMY: Yes, the paralysis is setting in now. Pretty soon you’ll lose consciousness as well.
JIMMY: (enraged) You…you!! Get out of my head! Get out! You have no right to be here. You’re a trick, a ploy, a sick hallucination forced upon me by technology I don’t understand! I’m not like this. I would never do this to anyone!
SECOND JIMMY: Give it a rest, my friend. I’m just the messenger. It’s not my fault you don’t like what you see.
**Jimmy bites his lip, his eyes squeezed tightly shut**
JIMMY: (concentrating) I won’t let this room beat me. I WILL wake up. Everyone is counting on me. I need to help the others. I won’t end this alone, trapped inside my own head.
SECOND JIMMY: Alone? Whoever said you’d be alone?
**Retrieving a remote control from the table, he indicates the far wall with a nod**
SECOND JIMMY: As it happens, I’ve arranged some company for you. Look, while you’re still able –
**A section of the wall slides to the left, revealing four cylindrical tanks filled with a glowing green liquid. Jimmy squints over at them, and his eyes widen with horror: for inside the tanks, floating in suspended animation, are the bodies of Cindy, Libby, Sheen, and Carl**
SECOND JIMMY: You see? It’s practically a party now that you’re here.
JIMMY: (dazed) They’re just mental projections. My real friends are out there, in the maze…
SECOND JIMMY: It amounts to more or less the same thing, wouldn’t you agree? You’re all out of commission, either stuck on the edge of the room or trapped inside your own nightmares, and that’s what matters. Enjoy your last seconds of consciousness, Jimmy. You’ll never be able to wake yourself up from this.
JIMMY: My friends will save me! They’ll…they will…
**The edges of his vision grow dark, and his voice slows to a deep, surreal crawl**
JIMMY: …will…
SECOND JIMMY: …will self-destruct too. Idiot.