114 moment of truth

Galahad had been speaking for a unnecessarily long time. Simon in spite of his sincere desire to listen, began to zone out. Galahad noticed.

"I'm sorry, I'm an utter bore it's all part and parcel of being a completely chivalrous, purely undefiled knight of all knights."

"It's not that. It's just... do you have any candy?

"Oh I see. It's not enough that I pour my heart out to you after sparing your life, now you want me to provide refreshments as well. I should have dispatched you while I was in the right mood. Now I'll just have to wait until I can whip myself up into another frenzy. Did you even listen to a word that I said?"

Simon wondered if answering truthfully was a wise choice in this situation. Then he thought of candy and felt slightly better.

0100

Galahad turned away from Simon, soap opera style, and began to tell his story.

"Camelot was falling apart in many ways. Arthur had Excalibur still, but had perhaps lost the heart of his queen by that time. Who could resist the good looks of a young upstart with perfect locks and a lance so robust as to make any dragon quiver in fear and every knight green with envy. Sorry Tommy."*In a patronising whisper*"Tommy's a little sensitive about Lances. Long story."

Tommy's eyes burned with the intensity of a thousand furies, which helped to brighten up the place a little bit. The illumination didn't ebb or flow in response to Galahad's words in any notable way, he just had really bright eyes.

"If you could have seen them, oh the ecstasy of it all. Young love. I remember a time when I fell in love once. Once isn't enough though, but what was I saying, ah yes that blasted cup and that *&%^$&!@ moon. With the kingdom in shambles we set off in search of the one item that could definitively restore order to all our lives: the divine cup of our Lord. Little did I know how that journey would change my life. Literally. Look at me, I'm (regrettably) still drawing breath, the mind boggles..."

89.

I think he's trying to pull data on us from the great big mind pie in the sky Tommy, we can't have that now. Keep you're brains to yourself you little ruffian, you don't see me pillaging your idea net now do you?

"How did you do that?" said Simon.

"What, read the collective consciousness of the universe? The same way you did." Said Galahad.

"Oh. Right. But."

"Well said my friend. So, what did you get before I intercepted you? It would have been far more polite to simply ask. We've got all the time in eternity to fill, which is forever as you might imagine, now that you've magicked us here into, wherever this void is. I'm hoping it's purgatory, at least that way we might have an end to look forward to, judging by its scant emptiness though, I'd say that I don't like our chances."

"Friendly fire will be back and --"

"And everything will be restored to its proper order yes, I know. The more I think about it the less convinced I am that that will be of any benefit. Well, young Simon tell us my story that you stole from me or rather of me. What did you find under my profile?"

"Not much, something about the moon, a goblet, you and King Arthur. It's funny I was just on my way to the moon when I bumped into you and Mr. Tommy."

Galahad cupped his head in what looked to be overwhelming disappointment."Irony of ironies. Can you believe that Tommy? We could of had what we wanted if we didn't do anything. This is probably God's punishment for our taking that damn cup of his. I always knew that was a bad idea."

85.

One of Simon's epiphanies that may or may not come back to haunt him later:

"Thank you sir. I can't wait to open this up."


Simon walked out of the store, his chiper radiant aura infecting all unsuspecting bystanders, most of whom shrugged it off and went about their business. He held in his hand a tiny shiny box containing an iPod.

***

Although somewhat unstable in person, Simon was a thoughtful fellow in private. He regularly kept a journal, a simple legal pad and 2B pencil his favourite instruments of record. A week after his purchase he wrote...

Dreams from my Ipod

Why can't we all, whether we lean left or right, be like the opposing earplugs of my ipod. Whenever I leave them alone for any amount of time they become almost inseperably intertwined. You can blame chaos theory or you can accept that these tiny speakers are more than just fancy Q-tips®, sure they clear out the occasional stray globul of wax, but they also impart knowledge or uplift with music, it's not what they take out it's what they put in. I wish we could open our ears and other parts of ourselves and just listen and be together like these strange sound cords that I carry with me everywhere.

I hope we're ready when the time comes, because I can feel change is on the way. Something is going to show us all the underlying unity of the universe. I've been having wierd dreams lately. I get the sense that something big's going to happen, maybe as soon as tomorrow.

The next day Simon's house exploded.

80.

Somewhere in the ether, Simon thinks ... FF where are you? I need some help here, I've just walked into Monty Python's quest for the holy grail. I'm concerned. Wait, that's selfish of me isn't it. How are you doing? Oh man, what about Daly and C , I think they where supposed to come over yesterday evening. They would not believe this. I don't believe this. OK, this vomit stinks. How can I win them over. A dragon, a real life dragon. Dragon's have stars. All right I've got to look around here, there's got to be something about dragons and Galahad. Ah, here we go...

79.

Memory storage, RAM or ROM, fast and expensive or cheap and slow, it's a question as old the commodore 64 or maybe even the bat computer. Turing just did a few pirouettes in his grave. Simon liked the idea that memory, perception and even thought happened outside of himself. While at the mercy of his new comrades he decided to do a little multi-tasking...

76.

Simon could feel his blood sugar levels dropping, now was not the best time.

"This is all just a big misunderstanding I can assure you." said Simon

"Well in that case we'll just have to dispatch you and a find another way to reignite the Tommy's dragon star." said Galahad.

"That's not necessary. If you'll just let me clean myself up and eat some candy, everything will be returned to it's proper order. Friendly fire will be back any moment now, I've sent him on a mission and he may have borrowed some of your dragon's star to get the job done. He'll be back that's for sure and we'll look back on this moment and have a good old laugh. No violence needed, just nice peaceful discussion the way nature intended."

"Ah a diplomat I see. Well young man you've bedazzled me with your grasp of the english language. I haven't the foggiest clue what you're on about and for that reason and that reason alone I'll spare your pitiful life for now. I am after all a Knight and one not above showing the odd mercy on occasion. Quite decent of me eh Tommy."

Tommy's eyes were still the only source of light in this realm of seemingly infinite darkness, but other then providing illumination he remained as usual unmoved by the words of his companion.

"Very decent, chivalry and all of that, very kind." said Simon

"Now your grovelling, very unatractive. Please man up or I'll be forced to change my mind. "

64.

"Hello...

Hello little boy"

Simon opened his eyes, and immediately wished he hadn't.

"Well done you little bruiser, look alive. And for the love of all things holy, do my nose a favour and clean yourself up. I mean, really, have you no dignity? You're an absolute mess"

Simon was covered, as far as he could extrapolate, in dragon vomit. He looked around, he and the company three were floating on what appeared to be nothing in the middle of... nothing. What happened to the stars and how did this eccentric man, adorned in armour, expect him to clean anything under these unfavourable conditions? Simon could barely see anything,the only light was provided by the dragons blazing eyes and it's silver rimmed wings. Until he could figure things out they'd have no choice but to suffer through this unfortunate episode together, Simon most of all, dragon vomit was one of the most unpleasant experiences that he could recall having. He wiped a dollop from his face and stared at it for a moment.

"Be grateful boy, there are only two ways out of a Dragon if there are any at all, and for you, he chose the better path."

Simon flicked the excess in the Knights direction, trying not to look too obvious.

"Of course. *cough* It's good to be back. Although, that's probably the wrong word, since I don't think I've been here before. And if I gave your dragon friend indigestion I'm sorry, but it'll probably teach him to not go around swallowing people."

"Oh, no need to apologise my young friend, your upheaval here was entirely voluntary on his part. You only snuffed out his dragon flame, I mean, he can't exactly look another dragon in the eye ever again, without feeling entirely inadequate. Dear, innocent Tommy. Indigestion? Oh, I think it's something closer to erectile dysfunction."

Tommy looked on ruefully.

"But let's not dwell on the past unless it can be of some benefit to our futures. I'm Sir Galahad and you are.'

The ghost of a dead memory flittered through Simon's brain. Something about that name sounded familiar.

"I'm Simon." he said, extending his hand in greeting (which was still spotted with remnants of Tommy's regurgitation).

In answer Galahad extended his sword.

"In fact, young hell spawn, I will reveal the future quite clearly for all of us here, now. You will undo the spell which brought us to wherever here is and reignite Tommy's flame or you will die."

56.

A black hole is an instant where light and time go on pause. It's a reified photograph were things for once really are discrete instead of continuous. Galahad, Tommy and Simon were frozen for an eternity inside, then for a little bit longer.

4X10^756 multiverses came into existence while Simon asked: "What happened fire?"

Darkness was the only reply.

49.

Simon sat, or rather floated deep in the belly of the beast, deep in thought. Only a foot or so away from the miniature star that the dragon probably used to power its pyrotechnic breath. Simon was surrounded by a wave of seemingly anthropomorphic fire, forged in a thousand suns, the residual embers of that ancient antecedental (and impressively powerful) explosion. Simon's single point focus pushed all these eclectic facts and sensory stimuli to the periphery of his mind. He was trying to connect with the universe, through fire, and make sense of how he had contributed to what appeared to his eyes to be a nuclear explosion, far less grand than the Big Bang, but destructive rather than creative. This was never his intention.

As he continued to reflect, he could find no sense of reconciliation, something kept creeping into his mind in spite of his usual knack for impenetrable concentration. Strange words and phrases similar to a dream which he recently had, kept manifesting themselves: Simon, love is death, crude oil is not the answer, genocide is the only sure solution. Live once for a thousand years. Die in half the time. Don't worry, you are crazy. Slightly disappointed he broke out of his trance, just in time to see the dragon's star go out and his Friendly Fire dissipate into the void that was left.

Simon stopped floating.

44.

The Moon looked on with an uneasy, impatient, but eager anticipation, like a child watching snow fall hoping that school will be canceled. The flying boy was on the way. The Moon, in spite of the almost nauseous tension that this caused, hadn't felt this good about anything in years. In a rare reversal, the thought that its self would soon possibly have its desire of autonomous movement filled the moon with compassion rather than an even more amplified sense of self obsession. It looked down at the earth, in the direction from which the flying boy had come (as much as it could, continuously spinning on your axis makes some things difficult) "I hope there aren't too many batrachophobiacs down there." It whispered. As the moon smiled at its own generosity, it couldn't help but notice that the progress of Tommy, that worthy vessel who carried the prized package, had been halted. The smile quickly transmorphed into its symmetric opposite form.

39.

Tommy's wings pumped like a six stroke motor on refined premium. He carried Galahad on his back and Simon in his belly, primed to deliver the boy (Simon) on demand to the moon his master. Behind him he left a world in chaos, a frog epidemic and an alleged nuclear explosion frozen in superposition (the traveling trio hoped no one would look). In front of him lay the moon, the stars, the universe. His countenance betrayed no sentiment; his wings kept on flapping.

36.

Galahad, Tommy, Simon and Friendly Fire looked down on a mini-Hiroshima.

"Now, look at what you've done. That can't be at all healthy." said Galahad. The group managed to avoid the explosion proper, but were quickly inundated with mushroom smoke.

Simon seemed to completely ignore Galahad's chiding remarks as he eased into an uncomfortable looking Buddha pose and no doubt began contemplating the mysteries of the universe while floating in the radioactive stratosphere.

on the fireside...

"Any idea what just happened? I've never seen fire so willfully aggressive before. Did you upset him? I realise that you're a very nice person, er thing. But sometimes people, um, stuff is confused when you start forming coherent sentences. I think we've got to ease people into this paradigm otherwise their brains might explode or just they themselves might explode. Like your friend. Wow, reality is really weirder than fiction, a Dragon and Knight combo are attacking us, OK I guess this could happen in fiction so reality is at least equally as weird as fiction, but I'm willing to bet that if it tried really hard. I'm sorry I get carried away sometimes, what do you think?" said Simon.

Friendly Fire twinkled serenely around Simon's person in the midst of the nuclear fallout. "Once you get used to it, reality isn't really that strange, it is mostly empty in fact and quite beautiful. We think you're right though, We opened Dragon Fire up to enlightenment before he was ready to receive it. A foolish mistake on our part. It has now transferred its energy to another form and has moved on to another part of the Samsara."

"I think a lot of other people who were down there have to."

"Very regrettable. Friendly fire hasn't ever harmed anyone, perhaps We should speak to the arrow of time and see if we can't come to some sort of an arrangement."

"That might be an idea."

Back in reality...

"He's just sitting there Tommy, the rascal. He dare mock a Knight of the royal order, not to mention an exemplary reptile such as your self. I have a mind to extricate him of his insolence via our traditional manner (i.e. torture), but your attacks seem pitifully innocuous today. Oh, dear Mary sweet mother of mercy, a beast of your caliber, bested by a floating faery boy. Ha! "

Tommy turned toward the knight with a glance that was probably supposed to communicate anger, animosity and ^%$@ you. His face perpetually poised in this cheerless state, any intimidation that it once held was now lost to the centuries. It barely registered with Galahad. "Very well this is what we'll do then, swallow him whole if you can stomach him. You can regurgitate the boy when we reach the moon. Quickly old friend, our freedom awaits."

30.

"This is the day that fire stood still. How are you doing that?" said Galahad.

"I'm not doing much of any thing other than enjoying the night sky, what an amazing view. I'm also not sure why you're attacking me." said Simon.

"Well, it's not much of an attack now is it, Tommy doesn't usually fire blanks, but I'm afraid our offence has pulled up rather lame in this instance. In any case, if I were you, I'd come along quietly. We have other more persuasive ways of influencing you if need be." Galahad, during times of extreme pressure, was prone to extreme exageration.


On the fire side of things...

"These humans and other anthropomorphic creatures, once they get a taste of consciousness almost always some form of nastiness follows." said Friendly Fire.

"I want to be nasty too, why wont you let me?"said Dragon Fire.

"You can do whatever you please, it's completely up to you."

Dragon fire began burning intensely until it blazed white hot, it then shot toward the earth, breaking terminal velocity, approaching the speed of light, exploding atomically.

26.

As Simon and his new found fantastical enemies traded unpleasentries, something unorthodox was happening at the thermodynamic level of nature, which had the potential to change the course of entropy forever...

Dragon flame shot towards Simon's already flame enveloped legs. But before making contact it paused right were it was, giving no hint of moving neither left nor right, up or down, a discrete ball of directionless combustion frozen in space while time continued to march on oblivious.

"Greetings, thank you for coming."

"What?"

"We want you to know that you don't have to do this, but it's totally understandable, we know what's it's like."

"What?"

" It's OK, you're home."

And so, Dragon Fire met Friendly Fire.

25.

The moon had explicitly instructed his servants to bring back Simon alive. Tommy thought that administrating a light dose of third degree burns would be an acceptable discretion on his part.

24.

It's funny how people meet. Simon could hardly believe his eyes when a Knight in shimmering silver armour riding what looked to be a black hole descended upon him. The strange phenom announced it's presence by bellowing a lung full of flames at our intrepid flyer, most improper; a knight riding a black fire breathing dragon: totally ridiculous. Simon made a mental exception for his own otherworldly abilities on the grounds that he used them frequently and on that level they were rooted in his conception of reality, but these characters were the stuff of pure fantasy and he couldn't abide that sort of nonsense especially not if they continued in their unprovoked hostility.

19.

The perpetuating propulsion blazed around the lower portion of Simon's body. The burning energy seemed to be strictly limited to this region. He was a flying fool proof cigarette lighter, although the efficacy of his actually lighting anything other than the air immediately around his legs was questionable. His jeans and hush puppies remained unaffected by whatever force was carrying him and in his mind this was at least as impressive as his being able to fly.

Simon had first noticed he was different from a very early age. While the other kids, were playing with their digimons and tickle me Elmo's he was deciphering the mysteries of the universe. At the age of five he not only solved 2 of the worlds most timeless question's -- why don't penguins feet freeze, and why does bread always land buttered side up -- but he'd also stumbled upon, through an accident of transcendental metaphysical alchemy, a question that all the great philosophers had somehow missed: Why was fire so mean?

After 5 years of pyromania and pyromancy he found his answer.

14.

"You *#&%!@ you're the %$^&*# from work today."

"Indeed my dear. I'm your worst nightmare, an abusive customer who doesn't actually want to buy anything."

"Terrifying. What are you doing here? Where's Simon?"

"You know as well as I do you impetuous self-absorbed wench. He went that way."

Canada gave a big huff, lent slightly forward with arms open at an acute angle and flared wrists, pausing for dramatic effect. Then she stormed away, stopped mid step suddenly realizing that she hadn't actually done anything useful yet. Simon was still flying(!?) off into the dark night, Absalom was in need of hair and skin grafts, while Daly seemed to be struggling to find his freshly spilt marbles.

She turned to her agitator again, "Now you list--," he smashed her over the head with his flashy walking stick.

11.

Brandon wasn't the only one who noticed this seemingly singular phenomena; The Moon, who had all but lost interest in the comings and goings of earth's passengers through wanton acts of self-absorption, long ago, paused for a moment. Not in movement, but in thought, he had seen flying stars, but never flying humans, not like this.

"Hello. You down there, with the fiery tale." The moon was a bright chap when he wanted to be and had mastered a number of languages being quite proficient in the use of English. What he failed to realise is that sound doesn't travel so well in a vacuum, still he persisted: "Hello, Mr. flying man!" No answer.

With all his might he willed every one of his neurons to fire, shaking off many millennia of mental inertia, pooling all his resources in an effort to reach out to the flying man. He needed to know how he was flying and wanted to know right now.