Flashmaster (Short Horror and SciFi)

Eternal Bliss

It was a carnival. Praetor wandered the streets blankly. He had left somewhere, Else Station maybe, bound for The Rim or Lightspace maybe. Something had happened and he was at a carnival.

The revelers seemed human, more or less. Many of them wore masks and golden gowns that could have hidden any biped and many quadruped life forms. Some parts seemed like an old wood frame and iron carnival, but he'd seen a fusion reactor somewhere, behind some bushes or something.

He came to a square where an acrobat was treading carefully back and forth on a waggling rope over milling onlookers. There were trees scattered down the lanes that led off in several directions. There were a remarkable number of harlequins hanging about in the trees. Several of them were tossing apples back and forth, laughing in deep, happy voices.

Where was he?

He turned in a long slow circle, taking in the blue, lightly clouded sky. There was a hill to one side, filled with passing revelers. There was a Drurin up there, holding a Priax by its long nose. Children of several species clung to the Priax' back and chittered with laughter as the tall creature swayed back and forth.

Praetor found a roast leg thrust in front of him. A human woman with plaited red hair and a push up bodice was holding it. It was so hot that it sizzled with a breathtaking smell.

He took it from the woman who smiled and disappeared into the crowd. He couldn't say for sure what the meat was, maybe plain Earth turkey but the juices ran into his beard and flooded his mouth on the first bite. For a moment he lost all track of the carnival, all track of everything but the taste of the meat.

When he had reduced the meal to a thick bone, knotted on both ends, he tossed it into the trash and looked around. The meat had raised a great thirst in him. Whatever this place was, he planned to find a good, stiff drink.

There were signs above several nearby drink shops. None of them advertised what he wanted but he sauntered up to one anyway.

"Hey." He said to the six armed Ashman polishing the counter. The place had the stale beer smell of the Drig Mine Bar on Peti Mid IV. It smelled great. "You got any Litmi Ale?"

"Of course Sir." The Ashman reached two arms under the bar and pulled out a mug and a bottle. With a practiced flip and twirl routine it poured the thick ale into the mug.

Praetor licked his lips as the creamy, brown head slipped down the glass, then a sudden concern hit him. "I don't have any cash."

The Ashman put down the drink and smiled blandly. "I believe Sir has points in his pockets."

Praetor reached into his front pocket and found a handful of Peti Mid points. Ten thousand point coins to be exact. "Oh." He said. He tossed a coin and the Ashman and wandered off. "Keep the change."

Overhead a group of air rovers was pouring fluorescents into the air and then charging them. The effect was convincingly 3D and hypnotic. All around him faces and masks were turned up and there was a cheer each time a new effect was lit up. Praetor's attention was distracted by the harlequins who were tossing apples back and forth over him. On impulse, he grabbed one out of the air when it went over.

There was a cheer and he tossed the apple back. He caught the next apple too and it was clear this time that the cheer was for him and not the air rovers. This went on, with an ever growing crowd of spectators until he and two harlequins were juggling six balls between them.

He might have gone on much longer but he noticed the red headed woman again, smiling at him out of a doorway.

"Excuse me gentlemen." He said, tossing the balls aside to the laughter of the crowd.

"Hi." The woman said. She didn't let him into the doorway but held both sides of the frame with her hands. She was just right for Praetor, human, shorter than he, rounded enough to have some shape, red hair. "Do you like it here?"

He looked over his shoulder at the crowd and the shops. "It's interesting."

She sighed a deep sigh that seemed to suck in all the air. "I love it here. It goes on forever you know."

"How do you mean?"

She nodded down a walkway without looking. "How far does that street go?"

"Maybe a dozen shops. It ends in some trees."

"Right. Now look at me and imagine that that road runs clear over the next hill. Look back."

Praetor gasped. It was as if a whole new section of the carnival had materialized out of no where.

She slid forward and put an arm around his shoulders and breathed, "You know what else?" She whispered hotly onto his neck.

"What?" He croaked.

Her hand found its way, hot and tingling, between his legs. She made eye contact with her green eyes. "I go on forever too."

*

There was bright light and the whirring of small hydraulics.

"Mr. Al Verder? Mr. Al Verder?"

Praetor grunted and waved a hand at the bright light and the two figures standing in it.

"Mr. Al Verder. You asked us to wake you in an hour. Do you still wish to purchase the full package?"

"Yes, yes." Praetor said grumpily. "Turn it back on."

One of the figures held a tablet out to him. "If you'll just give us your hand print, we'll let you get back."

Praetor stuck out a four fingered hand and pressed it clumsily against the pad.

"Very good Sir." The first figure took the tablet back and pushed a button over Praetor's head. "Welcome to Eternal Bliss."

Praetor opened his eyes and looked for the woman. She was nearby.

*

The two white jacketed men watched as Praetor's tray slid back into the wall.

"So that's it?" The younger of the two asked.

"That's it." The older one agreed, making a check on his chart. "Mr. Al Miet bought himself 21.4 years of direct stimulation of his pleasure centers; Eternal Bliss."

"So you wake him up in 21 years?"

"Uh, no. After a couple of weeks they turn schizo. if you try to wake them."

"You kill them when they run out of money?" The younger was shocked.

"Well, we turn them off."

"Isn't that killing them."

The older man smiled out one side of his mouth. "I don't think so." He gestured at the wall full of glass faced cubicles. "Would you say they're alive now?"

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