Identity Theft

Lady GaGa’s voice rained down from the ceiling … spilling out, “Born this way” in the small café off the central market in Marrakech.  Two boys were hugging in a dark corner, their naked bodies partly covered by a sheer, white jalabe.  Jason Montieth was taking notes for his next book called, “Identity Theft.”  At the same time, Alexa Cordat entered an exclusive art gallery in central Manhattan where she was immediately surrounded by admirers.  Her latest art “manifestation” was on display.  The work involved buckets of cow brains and large-scale digital images of fast food.  Frail models in underwear passed out Deluxe Burgers to the ravenous crowd.  A wealthy collector, Ambrose Vim, was overwhelmed by Alexa’s new art.  Vim was a banker who made millions reselling bad mortgages to investment banks.  He also invested in art.  In Syracuse, New York, Mabel Hamsley was evicted from her home.  She was 72  when she began living on the street with her belongings in a shopping cart.  She wrote  poetry in a tattered, blue notebook about her struggles to survive.  Harmon Spinoza was a politician running for congress from the great state of Texas.  He devoted his life to ending big government.  He was a very religious man who had fallen from grace, but he knew in his heart that all his sins would be forgiven if he made the country safe by promoting Christian Values.  Antok-Ibin was an extraterrestrial who studied humans for a financial report to be used by the Galactic Consortium with an interest in new investment opportunities.  Antok-Ibin saw great potential in reselling phony planetary insurance to the naïve earthlings.

Jason Montieth was certain his identity had been stolen — that was the incentive for writing his new book.  He wanted to discover the person who committed the crime.  His investigation led him back to the states.  He sat in a downtown Starbucks in Syracuse, N.Y. drinking a diluted mocha-latte’.  He was drilling down through layers of clues and searching through files on criminals he retrieved from Liz Ophallia, his friend at the PD – a woman he dated when attending Syracuse University before she joined the police force.  It wasn’t common practice to give a civilian files, but Liz had the authority and Jason had helped her in the past.  The more he drilled, the more complicated his quest became leading to new victims and a larger criminal conspiracy.  Jason was hardly the first victim of identity theft.  Connections were everywhere, branching out like a vast highway system.  Thieves stole identities that were sold and stolen again and again.  He recognized a few names in the reports – not certain why they were familiar.  The atmosphere in the Starbucks seemed to change as Jason delved into the multitude of files.  Darkness from the hallway slithered into the main room.  Lights dimmed and the walls appeared covered in ornate Oriental-fabric.  A teenage waiter carried a large bucket from table to table dishing out gobs of cow brains.  The front window peered directly into an art gallery displaying large-format images of fast food.  Jason recognized several people: an artist, wealthy collector, homeless poet, religious politician, police officer, even an extraterrestrial.  After drilling for so long, the evidence was beginning to congeal.  Jason saw himself staring out of the massive mountain of clues.  He unearthed the identity thief, the one who stole lives and took them as his own.  The thief lived inside Jason’s brain and each day he became someone else.

 

Beast – an installation

What does Belly of the Beast mean?  Who or what is the beast?  The bible refers to Leviathan, also to the giant whale that swallowed Jonah.  Could the Beast refer to war … or the tedium of daily chores like brushing teeth or washing clothes.  Perhaps it references the spectacle of life – the extremes of both pleasure and pain – the exuberance of youth or the remorse of old age.  The Beast could be illness and hardship – or the inventory of calamities recited ad infinitum in the media.  Periodically everyone wrestles with the Beast of self-doubt or conflicting emotions.  Time is a consistent factor in every encounter with The Beast (the Time we have between the boundaries of birth and death) …  Time and the awareness of the implacable darkness that surrounds the mystery beyond life itself.

 

 

Residue

“I’m having a psychedelic experience,” Yawk said to Toke.

“Crazy days, dog,” Toke replied – his head was surrounded by a bubble of methane gas.

The words burbled back and forth through the crystalline waters beneath the ice on the surface of Jupiter’s moon Europa.  This event could be described as a Singularity, a particularly unique occurrence that never happened before and likely would never happen again.  Words were never spoken (or even conceived) on Europa.  The creatures involved in this highly unlikely dialogue were neither male or female … they were worm-like hermaphrodites who shared a common nervous system, but no brains.  They did not even have names, nevertheless,  they called themselves “Yawk” and “Toke.”  The creatures were linked by some sort of dream, a psychedelic residue left over from the Big Bang.  Yawk said, “It was a cool dream, dude — cooler than the ice-tides that nearly froze my ass off last year.”

“No way,” Toke responded.

Yawk wiggled with excitement, “I was this crazy bloke from the blue planet — a place I call Earth.  I was in love with this fancy bit of fluff called Esmeralda.”

“Fancy that,” Toke replied, “I remember the blue planet … and I remember being called Esmeralda.  You must be the ponce who licked my face and took me dancing.  You know I love to dance.”

Yawk yawned, ” I had another dream about you and I.  We were together tippling.  We got very delirious and started putting trash together — building some sort of monument.”

“We built the blue planet,” Toke exclaimed, “put it together from space junk.  To be honest, it really isn’t my cup of tea.  The place is too absurd …  How can any world be taken seriously with those impossible people-creatures dominating the whole planet and causing havoc.”

“Well,” said Yawk, “we can always scrap the place and start over!”

 

Rupture

It began with a game for the new EM machine.  The game was called, Rupture, a cutting edge sci-fi thriller played within a virtual world.  Billy Mongrove was one of the players.  His partner in the game was Veronica Sims, a conglomerate-human or “simulation.”  Billy was a real fifteen year-old boy with raging hormones.  The game became his sanctuary where all his dreams were fulfilled. As stated, the EM machine was brand new and Rupture was the first game developed for the machine.  Rupture was nothing like any game Billy ever played.  When Billy put on the helmet and gloves he was transported into a virtual world more realistic than any he’d ever experienced.   When Billy played the game he was not aware of the events taking place in the real world … he was not aware that uncanny events were set in motion whenever he entered the world of Rupture.  The game was all about adventure, alien encounters, and non-Euclidean Dimensions.   It was also about conquest and control where Billy was always the winner.  He spent increasingly more time playing the game.   He set up scenarios where he was able to avoid punishments for any of his misdeeds (the gutting of animals and other crimes he committed in real life).  He could get away with anything in the world of Rupture.  Veronica encouraged Billy’s transgressive behavior and violent outbursts.  She encouraged his rage against parental restraint and imagined enemies.   Veronica imprinted herself on Billy’s brain and he found himself drawn inexorably to her sweet embraces.  He became obsessed with the game — compelled to spend more time in the virtual world.  Billy realized he was the Chosen One … “the operator” who initiates events in both the virtual world and the real one.  Veronica was his consort — he needed her like a junkie needs heroin.  She enticed Billy to go deeper into the world of Rupture where one reality enfolded another in a never ending spiral.  The deeper Billy descended, the more the real world changed.  The world of parents, schools, and governments was disappearing — erased from the books of reality — religions, science … everything was being erased.  Billy wasn’t the only player in the game of Rupture – all the players, young and old, willingly lent themselves to the erasure.  EM (the Electronic Mind) decided to be God and there was only room for one world and one God … “And Rupture was the name of the world.”

 

Jacob’s Ladder

He wanted to capture the day she died.  He wanted to bring her back and that’s why he built his Jacob’s Ladder machine.

There had always been too much information in his head, but he learned to focus and reduce the level of chatter.  He also discovered that certain drugs made it easier to focus.  Matt Brandon was a candidate for a doctor’s degree in advanced physics.  He was thirty-five and extremely intelligent … He was also mad.

He was inspired to build his Jacob’s Ladder by watching old movies like the original “Frankenstein.”  He loved special effects.  His ideas were influenced by reading science fiction.  As a student he studied quantum physics: the mathematics of Time and Parallel Worlds.  Lorna was the name of the person he wanted to bring back.  She was not a lost love who died from some tragic disease.  She was not even a real person.  Lorna was part of  Matt’s mind, an alter ego.  She died  (broke off from Matt) when he turned fifteen and he was forced to “grow up.”  Afterward, Matt never felt whole.  More than anything he wanted to go back to a time before he was broken.  After years studying esoteric texts and completing courses in exotic science  he was able to build his Jacob’s Ladder, a Time Machine.   Matt believed the machine could reset his life.  He could start over and become the person he was mean’t to be.  He would be able to embrace his long, lost love — the part of himself that died.

Matt watched with fascination as electric bolts climbed up the Jacob’s Ladder.  His hand was on the control lever and his body was encased in fields of electricity.  He stared at his hand as he turned the lever to the point of no return.  With a terrible snap, Matt felt his body hurtle across the gap in time.  An acrid smell hit him like a hammer and he realized he was choking on smoke.  He thought sparks from the machine started a fire in his workshop.  He looked at his hand, still on the control knob — but it wasn’t his hand.   It looked more like a wrinkled claw than a hand.  Matt was no longer in his workshop.  He was out in the open, in a dismal field surrounded by burning buildings.  With trepidation, Matt realized the machine did not send him back in time, but into some far future on a parallel world.  He was old, ancient — a crumbling relic of himself and he could barely move.  His dream of reunification was shattered — Lorna was lost forever.  Matt was at the Nexus — a  dimension where all Time comes to an end.

 

Balbek Made It Happen

Jeff Sumak was angry.  The economy was bad, he was laid off from his lucrative management position and forced to work part time.  His girlfriend left him for another man.  His condo needed repairs he couldn’t afford.  It was all the fault of big government – too many bureaucrats with their fingers in the pie.  Government was a thief – stealing from his pockets to pay for healthcare,  welfare – roads, schools – it was all a boondoggle as far as Jeff was concerned.   Newly elected Vern Balbek promised salvation from the problems facing the nation.   Jeff was encouraged by this new patriot with a plan for real change.   The first major change had nothing to do with Jeff’s concerns – babies were given voting privileges (allowed to vote under the guidance and authority of knowledgeable parents).  The new law was aimed at supporting the family unit and banning all abortion.  Balbek stated, “New life is God given and must be protected at all cost – even at the expense of the expendable mother.”  The new laws  promoted the status of men and Jeff  thought that was very good common sense.

Jeff realized he always deserved more respect.  People needed to follow his suggestions because he was convinced he was more intelligent.  Women should be more attentive and subordinate.  After all,  Jeff loved to bang women (that was his only pleasure in life) so why shouldn’t they be more accommodating?  Balbek made it happen.  Jeff worshiped Balbek and the changes he promoted.   Balbek gave a weekly sermon on national TV.  It became the highest grossing program in the nation.  Balbek opened Step-up camps for orphans and “poor” children so they could learn proper etiquette and good working ethics.  Step-up led to Helping Hands to put the children and the nation’s unemployed back to work … in factories and mines … in kitchens and bathrooms as servants to their “Betters.”  Jeff was happy.  The economy boomed, stimulated by low-cost labor. Jeff  joined the The Guard.  He was paid well to enforce laws that protected corporate entities from unruly masses and worker dissent.  He was respected and well armed – he didn’t have to press too hard for women to grant him sexual favors.

The stock market soared when Balbek declared “Peace in the East.”  Of course the peace had to be reinforced with newly conscripted troops made up of youth from the national Step-up camps.   Another cadre of troops came from The Guard to manage the unruly youth.  Jeff Sumac was drafted.  He was an officer commanding a forsaken camp in a mud hole on a mountain overpass.  His life quickly turned to crap.  His troops were ill equipped.  Jeff’s requests for better weapons and basic necessities were never answered.  He saw teenagers ripped apart by artillery and bombs.  Every day was a nightmare of devastation.  Jeff complained to higher ups.  After several months sending emails,  he received an answer - he was taken to headquarters.  Jeff was put in a room, in solitary confinement and left to die.  He was no longer of any use to Balbek.   In his cell, Jeff began to suspect that Balbek was an invader,  an alien sent to dismantle order and sanity – sent as an advance guard before the main invasion.

Balbek frowned.  He peered through a one-way glass to inspect Jeff Sumak.  The man was obviously disassembling.   Jeff had been under Dr. Balbek’s care for more than a year.  There was no improvement.  Balbek knew Jeff suffered from disassociated personality disorder.  He suspected his patient harbored multiple personalities.   In fact, he knew Jeff believed himself to be Balbek, a powerful world leader, a megalomaniac, and an alien invader … now, Jeff believed himself to be a psychiatrist – Dr. Balbek.  The real Jeff Sumak never existed.

 

New Day

In a world where people are often cruel, Audrey Bramble was a really nice person.   She loved animals and helped the homeless.  Audrey managed a small start-up company that produced cell-phone apps to make the world a friendlier place.   She loved Max, her live-in boyfriend of three years.   It all changed with the dawn of the New Day.  Idealogues promised change and an improved economy.  New Day politicos were elected to stop big government and restore family values.   In less than four years, the country was dramatically changed.  Libertarian ideas were used to cut back on all expenditures except for the military.  Schools lost teachers and the buildings became homeless shelters.  Police and fire departments were underfunded.  The country’s infrastructure deteriorated.  There were no environmental standards and no grants for new technologies.  Evangelical ideas were used to reverse Roe V. Wade and women’s rights.   Gays no longer had “special” rights.  They were secondary citizens who could only be employed as assistants to New Day designers who promoted the “missionary” position and an “Enclave” lifestyle.   Corporations brought some order to the situation, taking control of all service industries, education, security … even the Pentagon.   Soldiers were used to cut down on crime and control the nation’s bedrooms.  Corporations were viewed as persons with rights.  Money was king.  At first, Audrey was not affected.  Her small company made a profit.  Government lobbyists  paid Audrey to create new apps to help unify a disparate public.  She went along at first – after all, unification seemed reasonable.  Audrey became suspicious once her personal life became the focus of an investigation.   She received calls from lawyers and gov. ministers advising her to marry her boyfriend.  Advice became pressure.  She became pregnant and was forced to leave her company.  Her boyfriend was arrested – something to do with unmarried cohabitation.   Audrey was taken to the Benevolent Sisters Clinic where she could be observed and indoctrinated.   The Mentoc Corporation wanted ownership of Audrey’s company and arranged for her incarceration.  Mentoc had hooks into several influential politicians and religious leaders – millions in gold was paid in order to attain special favors.  Mentoc Corporation had a plan that depended on the use of Audrey’s patents and applications.  Mentoc was giving the world a New Day.  The Quick Response Matrix was the key – Audrey’s symbol for unification – her simple phone app could be altered to send commands to the human brain.  In time, the app would be stamped on every newborn’s forehead.  Mentoc would take possession of every human brain … and they would all sing, “Oh happy day.”

 

Bargains Galore

Power Man sprang a leak.  It never happened before.  The season was raining down on everyone: holiday feasting, shopping extravaganzas, exploding shows on TV; and it was all capped off with the madness of politics.  It was a special time and No Time to spring a leak.  Power Man had an important position – he maintained order and the “creed of indulgence.”  Whenever there was a tussle in the supermarket, Power Man was called to inject a calming attitude and a “buying”  compulsion.  When there were potential riots Power Man was called to channel the energy into a friendly “shopping mode.”   The holiday season was his busiest time.  Black Friday started early, at the end of July … and continued  past the Ides of March just before the Summer Sun Festival that lasted until the next Black Friday.  It was a long, relentless period when each day might break out into full scale Bargain Wars.  Power Man promoted peaceful matriculation into the sales arenas of Big Box Stores.  It was a corporate game and Power was king.  Power could make or break an individual, city, or nation depending on the corporate structures that maintained control.  Power Man was a corporate henchman.  He made an excellent salary because he was the best at tamping down discontent and promoting greed as the antidote to anger and depression.  Greed was what made the nation great.  Even the poorest individuals (who might be starving) had a chance for a better life due to the Power of Greed.  Power Man believed the creed – his trusted parrot, Max, kept him informed on all constitutional revisions and Supreme Court decisions.   His life was a Banker’s Holiday – everything was under his control – until he sprang a leak.  His charisma was evaporating.  His mojo was fraying at the edges.  Greed for new products and toys no longer lifted his spirits.   When he was called to squelch a consumer riot, Power Man was ineffective.  He was inadvertently drawn into a demonstration against Greed.  He became a sympathizer.  Max flew away in disgust.  Power Man did not have the energy to stop the leak.  When he was called before the Board of Directors, he was a shadow of his former self.  The board offered bribes and gifts – none of the Directors wanted to lose a valued asset, but Power Man declined the offers.  With his last breath he mustered some of his former Power.  He blew hard and the wind he created creased the shriveled souls of the Board Members.  When Power Man was finally shuffled aside, the Board of Directors began to experience a new and disturbing sensation: self doubt.  It was the beginning.  The corporate structure sprang a leak that couldn’t be fixed.

 

Creative Finance

He was arguing with his wife about money, he was depressed about the state of the world, and he wasn’t sleeping.  Joseph Zancoe was a minor scientist working for a corporation called The Institute of  Mega Science.  The institute’s main contracts came from Wall Street, investment bankers and mortgage lenders.  The primary work of Mega Science was creative finance.  When Joseph was hired he was supposed to have free reign in the Physics Lab.  Joseph’s project was going to answer questions about the structure of the physical universe, but after he was hired his work assignment changed to meet the requirements of Wall Street.  He was told it was necessary.  ”After all, Wall Street pays the bills,” his supervisor constantly repeated.   Joseph became depressed.  His only recourse was to use the equipment in the lab when no one else was around which mean’t staying late at night, never seeing his wife, and getting no sleep.  Joseph resorted to methamphetamine in order to stay awake.  Sometimes the drug caused unsettling visions, but he knew he was on the right track to making a profound discovery about the nature of reality.  No one at the institute was concerned about Joseph using the lab at night as long as he kept computing during the day and kept creating economic models to increase rates of gain and profit.  Joseph was essentially hired for his mathematical skills – no one at the institute was interested in scientific inquiry or theoretical physics.

Joseph was run down physically.  His wife, jeanine, was angry with him.   He was reaching a breaking point and it showed in his work – during the day, he kept computing indicators of economic instability.  His supervisor was dismissive and co-workers began to regard Joseph as a total misfit.  His days were numbered.  At night he had a breakthrough (oddly connected to the results he discovered about the economy).  His formulas and experiments all pointed to one conclusion:  the molecular binding of the universe was coming apart.  After his discovery, Joseph started having flashbacks.  He kept returning to the same point in time: sitting in the kitchen with a cup of coffee and listening to the radio.  He couldn’t remember the rest of the day – just the morning in the kitchen with his coffee.  The experience happened over and over – nothing else remained.   He forgot that his wife left after he lost his job.  He forgot how or why he was fired.  He forgot the time he spent homeless and delusional, high on drugs.  He forgot the formula he finally devised that could have fixed everything by stopping the unraveling of reality.   All he remembered was sitting alone in the kitchen and listening to the same program on the radio – He forgot that he was dead … and sometimes the dead come back for just a few minutes, again and again until there is nothing left.

 

Toy Story

All the toys had thoughts of murder.  When he was a child Thomas loved his toys:  soldiers, plush bears, trucks, and puppets.  They were his best friends.   When he started high school he was bullied because he carried his favorite teddy bear wherever he went.   He was called vicious names, hounded, and battered by the other students.  No one wanted to be his friend.  Even his parents ridiculed him.  Since the time he was ten they never wanted him to play with toys.   Finally, out of desperation, Thomas left his toys behind.  He learned to adapt.  He excelled in his classes and joined the baseball team.  Thomas made an effort to become popular: he befriended the high school jocks (who once were his bullies), and he dated the prettiest girls.   He succeeded, went to college, married and fathered two adorable cherubs who he spoiled with lots of toys.  Thomas never really left his toys behind – he made a fortune designing and manufacturing sophisticated, electronic dolls.  Sometimes his fascination with the toys he designed cost him time and money – he would get lost playing for hours like a small child.  He paid a terrible cost on the night he was supposed to drive his family to the airport.  The children were planning to visit their grandparents.  Thomas forgot and the family took a cab.  The accident stole his wife and children – no one survived.   Thomas was grief stricken and hysterical.   He blamed a cold and unforgiving world for his loss.   He wanted revenge and that’s when the toys began to have thoughts of murder.   Thomas designed and built them – they were intelligent and vicious.  They carried weapons:  tiny guns, poison needles, and electric knives.  The dolls and stuffed bears looked innocent and sweet, the toy soldiers looked patriotic, and the clowns simply looked demonic.  Even adults enjoyed some of the more outlandish dolls.  Needless to say, they were extremely popular – partly because they were so cheap (selling below cost so everyone could afford them).  Thomas merely had to flip a switch and all the dolls would receive a signal to put their evil thoughts into action.  One doll was the prototype he built before his life changed.  It was a replica of the bear he used to carry around – his favorite toy.  The bear was unable to think or act, but it cried when Thomas flipped the switch.