Lesser Gods by Long Duncan

Author:Long, Duncan [Long, Duncan]
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Tags: Science Fiction Novel
Publisher: Duncan Long Publications
Published: 2013-01-04T22:00:00+00:00

Fifteen minutes later we sat at a synthawood table, a firefly candle glowing between us, making me — I hoped — look like a cherub with twinkling blue eyes. I finished my bowl of chocolate pudding, carefully putting it aside with a very prim and proper flourish. This was followed by an enormous sigh. “Sometimes I wish I had a faster metabolism so I could eat more. That would be such an advantage at the dinner table.”

Ralph said nothing.

“Maybe I should get modified so I could eat more.”

“I wouldn’t want anything about you changed,” Ralph said.

I looked at him, wondering if he was being truthful. “Some guys will say anything.”

“I’m not a flatterer. Now tell me, what are we really doing here? And how did I get here?”

I suppressed a smile as I put another spoon of sugar into his Earl Gray tea and carefully stirred it. “You know it’s rude to talk business while you’re still eating. I should sulk and make you finish your meal before I say another word. But since you probably don’t have much more time here before walking away, I must offer you a clue, I suppose.”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean it is doubtful you will stay here much longer. Soon you will return to wherever you were before… Before I brought you here to visit.”

“You brought me here?”

“I think so. I’m not sure how it works. But I seem to be able to —”

“You mean I’m about to go back to the prison?”

“Only if that’s where you were before. If that wasn’t where you were then I don’t suppose that’s where you’ll go.”

Ralph looked perturbed and then spoke. “This is just a SupeR-G, right?”

“No, I don’t think so. But I haven’t quite sorted it out myself, I’m afraid. It seems that our exposure to Huntington’s games, or maybe the jet…. Something has changed us. I can go places — or seem to go places — just by thinking. And now I have brought you into my reality as well, though I suppose you could just be my imagination, in which case it doesn’t make much difference to you, does it?”

“Do you suppose Huntington has the same abilities?”

“Your guess is as good as the next Joe’s. But one thing’s for sure: When illusions become real, the idea of reality and illusion don’t have much meaning anymore, do they?”

“No, I suppose not, if what you’re saying is true.”

“It’s like being in the middle of a String Theory demonstration and being able to control the excitation modes at will. That is, had String Theory proven true.”

“This is all crazy,” Ralph said.

“Yet here we are, eating jumbo shrimp and enjoying our meal like the real thing.”

“Doubly so since I haven’t eaten since the first of never.”

“Which,” Alice said, “ is as good a reckoning of time as needed since time really means very little any more, near as I can tell.”

“Well, the food seems real enough. I was famished.”

I took a sip of tea.

“You may have a point, though,” Ralph continued.

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