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The following is a excerpt from a revised second edition of One Over X: Episode One - From The Inside To The Closer. The base material was copyrighted 2002 by Elgon Williams and all rights are resevered. It is offered here for promotional reasons and cannot be used elswhere without the epxressed written permission of the author. Enjoy the free glimpse.

By The Way this one section pretty much explains what is going on throughout the book as well as the first series.



The short distance between them seemed to grow and a fog settled over that span. Soon all was blank and lonely. He was driving a moving van through the hillside of western Maryland, en route to Florida. All of his personal belongings were stored in boxes and stacked inside the van and his Jeep in tow behind the van. He was the same but older, experienced, knew a great deal more about the struggle. He was going to attempt to rebuild a relationship gone sour for the sake of his children.

The morning sun’s glare reflected off the windshield of an oncoming car, momentarily blinding him. When his vision cleared he was somewhere else altogether, but still alone.

Andy’s eyes opened. Small comfort found in the solitude, in that his memories were once more solely his own, he had been someone else, Brent. Was there some purpose in that?

There was also growing concern turning rapidly to anxiety, as he could not sense volume or presence of anyone or anything near him. In the absence of worldly connection he became aware that he actually knew when there was someone near to him, a sense without his ability to control. It was nothing unique to him. It was an ability shared by the entire species. It just happened that Andy was acutely aware and for the first time it was hyperactive.

As soon as he was aware of his extreme isolation from all others, a brilliant discharge of energy issued from him without any corresponding sound, so intense was it that he not only averted his eyes, but also had to close them tightly and cover them with both hands. The discharge accelerated toward the extremes of whatever limit there was around him that defined his space. In moments the discharge came bounding, back, folding in upon itself, drawn fearfully toward him, its ultimate source.

With hands over eyes, he could discern the bones in his hands as if he were looking at an x-ray. This was the end, he believed. He was going to die!

The brilliance passed as abruptly as it had come and dissipated or perhaps was reclaimed into source.

Immediately, Andy opened his eyes and saw the Other, a rather odd looking gentleman standing a few feet from him. The Other walked across the way and sat down at a table, appearing to get comfortable. In a moment, the background began to distinguish itself from the foggy blankness that had preceded it. There were a number of darkly stained bookcases containing books. Where there were no bookcases there was rich hardwood paneling stained to match the bookcases. There were two large windows set into the walls between the bookcases with heavy drapes drawn closed over them. Whether it was day or night outside could not be determined as there was no light coming through into the room. Only table lamps illuminated the room
“How did you get in here?” Andy heard himself ask, although that was not the question foremost in his mind.

“The instability is a real bitch until you get a handle on it,” the Other said. “The real question for you to be asking is how you got here. This is my place, so to speak, as I was here before you.
Then again it is your place as you have been here countless times before and generally hold title over it at the present reference due to payment of something you call property taxes. Ostensibly you own this place. I live here. It is a most convenient and amicable arrangement.”

“But...”

“You are disoriented. I know. That is the hardest part of it all. You are still learning. The correct answer to your question is something you would not understand even if I could express it in this limited language that we are using. Suffice to say that you momentarily merged with this part of the universe. It is a semi-permanent relationship. If you knew how to control your instability, you could remain here indefinitely as you could stand fast as the waves of continuity pass over and around and through you. Without the mooring, you are adrift, carried to and fro at the whim of the waves that cycle through the continuum. Likely as not you will be leaving soon enough. You may as well enjoy your stay. That’s the easiest way to explain it and although it is not completely accurate as a description, it is correct for the immediate purpose. You are a visitor here. Right?” The Other got up from the table rubbing his stomach, left the room and headed down an external corridor toward another room. Andy followed the Other, eventually entering the kitchen. The other already had opened the refrigerator door, “You want something to eat?”

“You’re hungry?”

“Of course. How about you?”

“I don’t feel hungry. Do I know you?”

“Yes…I think…uhhh, well, probably not, otherwise you would remember me right off, I believe. You would not forget things without a reason for it, although until you get used to the transitions, you will feel disoriented and you may feel as if you have forgotten something. Sometimes you will feel like an intruder trapped inside your own body, unable to prevent what is happening and unable to even speak, except that someone inside you, with you, is controlling everything...Let’s see, milk, eggs, any bacon?” He opened the freezer compartment, “Ah, yes! There is plenty of cholesterol here.”

“That is how I feel, lost.” Andy was more curious about why he was not in a panic, than that this Other was preparing a breakfast using genuine food products the likes of which Andy had never been able to afford. “You know me, though?” Andy asked.

“Of course I know you,” the Other scoffed. “You and I have met many times, just not before now. You don’t have a memory of me because in a warped way of perceiving things, this time and place hasn’t happened yet for you. You have not experienced any meeting previous to this.
This is the first of many, though chronologically speaking this is probably one of our later meetings in your reality-bound awareness. You will return the favor for me one day. I am your mentor now, as you have been mine countless times. We have done great things though, in other times and other places. ‘There is a lot to look forward too’, I guess would be the way to think about it. You are too greatly human right now. What you will be is dominant. Things will change and as they change, your control over this thinly veiled environment will improve dramatically.”

Andy watched as the Other found everything he needed to make breakfast. The entire process disturbed Andy. Why was he in this place at all? This Other seemed so comfortable in these surroundings. “You’ve been here before, you say though this is not your place?”

“Actually, it is one of the places you have lived, several times. I know the place. We are in Texas.”

“Texas?”

“You don’t know Texas, so that must mean,” the Other paused in his preparation of breakfast, appeared to be in thought. “Did you come from that world with that Ethosphere thing or was it somewhere else?”

“Uh, the place with the Ethosphere, I guess. A couple of other places in between but I have no idea where I was.”

“For the moment, you don’t have the same historical references as this plane of existence. Texas wouldn’t make sense to you at all. Texas is a member state of a federation called the United States of America, which is on the same continent that you have lived in duration the world with the Ethosphere, some of Texas would be a part of Nueva España. Some other portion of Texas would be La Republica de Tejas to you. The United States is a Democratic Republic not entirely unlike the underlying governmental structures with which you are familiar, although this place is very technologically backward compared to the Late Twentieth Century Earth with which you are familiar. The technology of this place is generally equivalent to your late 18th Century. There are several exceptions and even certain things that are even more advanced about this world than your own, but overall, much of your technology will not happen for this world until, let me see - all things equal - about 2110AD, give or take. Except for the computer hardware, that will advance rapidly in this world and due to the relative technological stagnation in your world, this version of Earth will actually surpass your world’s computer technology within fifteen to twenty years, again give or take a short while.”

Andy shook his head, his mind striving to keep up.

“I should explain, I guess.”

“I guess you should.” Andy confirmed.

“You are in a place and a time that is roughly around the moment you decided to live here again. That would be after a long absence. During that absence you were writing a novel, your sixth novel, I believe it will be. Anyway it was something to do with Wolves. You never finish it anyway so it doesn’t really matter all that much. Even if it were published it would be one of the last ones that you write, under your real name. Eventually it is published incomplete but not because of literary merit so much as reputation of author.”

“Why would anyone want an unfinished book…?”

“Your son publishes it in memorial. Ironically it becomes your most famous work, although it has what is really the most meandering and confusing plots that you ever conceived.”

“Memorial. I die?”

“Some people think that you are dead. That becomes convenient for you. In a few days there will come a slightly later version of you but one that has no direct knowledge of the Ethosphere.
That Andy will have just come here from another place and time, the same place you will stay for a summer during your college summer break, years and years ago.”

“I think you lost me,” Andy said.

“The time thing is hard to capture within language. I offer my apologies. Anyway, suffice to say that you have a lot of memories of this place. It seems a focal point. There are other places of importance. There is a beach house near Corpus, a place in Florida that is also near to a beach.
You nearly married a woman that you met one of the summers you lived in Florida. Again in your middle life you will be in Florida with a young lady you have yet to meet. She is from New York City, a city that occupies virtually the same geographical position as the technopolis of Neo-Atlantis, by the way. The cities differ substantially in their size and demographic composition but the relative importance of each in its own world is essentially equivalent.”

“I don’t remember any of this... I mean, this never happened…” Andy’s choice of words puzzled even himself, but as he considered them, they really expressed what was going on in his mind.

The Other shrugged, “So what. The ride itself is the adventure. Destinations are secondary in importance. In fact, I really don’t care where I go anymore. The going is the part of the experience to be savored. Being anywhere at any given moment may be what life is meant to be, but for those of us who can step beyond the veils of reality, ordinary life is terribly boring. It only serves to test the resolve of conviction, the quality of character, and the validity of existence.”

“I don’t like it. I mean this stepping in and out of other places.”

The Other smiled, “Like you, some of us do not like it either. They find peace with it and remain in one place for an appreciable period of time before moving on. They try to have normal lives, whatever ‘normal’ is for them. I don’t choose their way. Neither will you. Once you get used to the travel, that is. Are you sure you won’t have breakfast? I made enough, there is plenty.”

“Who are you?” Andy asked of the Other.

“That is completely unimportant and irrelevant at the moment. You know me. That is all that needs to be between us. I am. You are. Names associate us to the boring, trivial stuff. We are related. At least we decided at one point that we must be related.”

Andy found a chair and sat. It wasn’t a particularly comfortable chair but it served its purpose.
“Related?” Andy found his voice.

“Yes, I think you are right. The more I have researched into it the more likely it seems. It is either that I am your progeny or you are mine. Perhaps we are the same distinguished only by aspect. That would be a very strange alternative as we are both here and now. I never have really figured out ‘the chicken and the egg’ thing between us, anyway. It doesn’t matter, though. You and I are not creatures of temporal concerns. That we are related should suffice our relationship.” He carried a plate to the dinette table, then pulled up a chair of his own, sat down and began to eat. “That we are related may have something to do with my love for your disgusting cuisine.”

As he ate, Andy was able for the first time to really have a good, scrutinizing look at the Other’s features. He seemed artificial, contrived and unreal. It was like he was a mannequin or a puppet of some sort. Yet he was alive. Some part of him was human. He could feel it.

He must have sensed Andy’s opinions because he looked at him in that exact moment, “I don’t care how I look anymore. Okay? If you must know, I find people as revolting as my sharing heritage. A few things that are human have contributed to the base quality of my existence, this food for example; I have no use for anyone. I could look more like you, but what is the point? I am only doing this much for your sake. I do not wish to frighten you. If you were fully control of your being you would not care to appear as you do either. At this point, you are far too weak to be on significance.”

“What do you mean, ‘at this point’?”

He smiled ever so slightly, and then spoke condescendingly, “Soon you will understand as I have just how puny a man really is.”

Andy looked away. Through the small window that was over the sink, Andy saw someone. Andy stood and walked over to get a better look. A woman was standing at the railing overlooking the courtyard between two of the six wings of the building. The sun was shining outside and there was a sound of children playing games in the courtyard. How could anything be more real than what was going on outside?

“Who is she?” Andy asked.

“She is a relative. I’m not sure what her precise relationship is. I have never cared to know. I do not particularly care for her. She is an egotistical self righteous bitch as far as I am concerned. There are forty people that live on this estate and she is my least favorite of all. I believe all but the twelve servants are first, second, third or fourth generations of your progeny.”

“I have a wife?”

“You have had wives, mistresses, and concubines, yes. They come and go over time, do they not? For the present you are without a partner. The most recent bitch doesn’t care for this place, but comes here out of a sense of obligation. Despite everything else she is dutiful and faithful for the moment. She hardly ever comes here except for holidays. Unfortunately it is nearly Christmas and so she feels compelled to be here for the sake of her ten relatives, three of them children that she bore you in her moment in your world’s sun.”

Andy turned back toward him, watched as he consumed breakfast as if he had not eaten in many days.

“Why would I live here alone, then?”

“You’re hardly alone. As I have said. There are forty here.”

“No, I mean without a wife?”

“Why should you understand?” The Other huffed. “From what I can surmise, you are early on in your sojourn. This is, ironically, after a lot of the events of your life in terms of chronology.
Your problem will be in maintaining recollections of events in their proper sequence rather than anything artificially imposed upon you like temporal relationships. Since I have never been to your origin myself, I can only report what you have previously revealed to me. You come from an alternate frame of reference, an aspect in which you do some great but lethal deed in an effort to provide a better life for yourself. This causes a rift between you and your wife, and ripples throughout every other aspect in which you exist.”

“I’m dead, then. Is that what you are saying?”

“No, if you were dead, you would know it. No, you eliminated others, hence the term ‘lethal’.”

“Eliminated others?”

“You didn’t exactly kill them. You eliminated their frame of reference for existence. It was intentional but designed to be temporary, which is something I do not understand completely myself. You have a heart, useless as it is to the overall outcome. The irony is that one of your other aspects actually created the frame of reference from which you came. Small cosmos, huh.”

“I created...”

“You are an agent of change, as am I. There are a handful of other beings like us. I inherited some of your difference in regard to power outside that which is natural.”

“Supernatural?”

“More aptly it is preternatural. Our beings have existed for a long time, long before most anything else. We are not the creators but we are direct agents of the process of creation. We were trapped in the creation but are not part of creation. What is here would not exist in the same way it does without us. It might be better had we not existed at all for the sake of many things we have meddled with and corrupted over the course of time, but some of us have been bored enough to want to play god. Meddling is hard to avoid. I suppose we have to be somewhere and woe be to whatever being we choose to dominate.”

“You are suggesting that all this is for our benefit?”

This triggered a good laugh, though it was of short enough duration. When he saw that Andy was not comparably amused, he cleared his throat and thought in silence for a moment as he selected his words carefully, then, “If you want to believe that everything exists merely for your benefit, it wouldn’t matter much overall. It is not an accurate reflection of what is intended. It would seem to work out all the same anyway. Trust me, it has been suggested at times and tested by others and all this reality business isn’t for anyone’s benefit. It is a great compromise between two distinctly different approaches and sets of agendas.”

“I remember a very different place than this. I had a job there. It was a so-so job, really, but I had access to all sorts of information.”

“I know about your Ethosphere. I have been there, once with you as a matter of fact. You end up back there several times, in many different iterations of that reality, but each time you are there only for a while. You go through this self-denial thing and torment yourself in those base conditions. You created that world for yourself. You were a very old man when you made that world and you lamented greatly the loss of your physical desires for women. At least that is what you told me. You wanted to just simply be in a place where your manhood could be justified. Despite that it is not in your nature.”

“Then the world should be perfect for me.”

“That would be no challenge. How could you prove your manhood?”

“What is to become of me, then?”

“How the hell would I know? You and I have different paths. I have my own friends and enemies. There are even times the two of us are adversaries. There are powerful beings about in nature and they are not particularly happy with either of us or even appreciative of the reason that our freedom is necessary. Be watchful. They can harm us though they cannot terminate. They are part of the creation, unfortunately, and not much fun to be around. We are not part of creation. It is our prison just as much as it is their purpose.”

“A prison without bars.”

The Other shrugged. “I have my own thing here. It’s hard enough for me to cope with it. You see we are not indigenous life. I like Earth as much as the next alien, but this is just a place I come to check in on you. And,” he loaded his mouth with some food, chewed it for a time then continued before it was all settled and swallowed, “Eat some of this disgusting food that I have grown to love. I have you to thank for having a taste for greasy foods. You allowed yourself to become too human.” He wiped his chin as if for emphasis then took a long drink of cold orange juice. He stood. “Well… I’ll see you another time. Be careful.”

“Where are you going?”

“Nowhere. You’re the one who is about to leave.”

There was a momentary wavering in the fabric of reality then the brilliance, the same that pained Andy’s senses before except that this time it seemed to endure for an eternity. Finally there was nothing. Not even light. What seemed an eternity to endure now seemed to have only lasted for a moment after it was over and done. Andy became aware of himself, his body, his mind, his soul and, what’s more, a world about him.

E

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posted by Unknown @ 11:34 AM