Koelian Tomb – V.

S’iug planted his feet over the regulator taking deep breaths of his mask and letting Koelian air surround him.

The bottle was half empty when S’iug heard it suddenly. A door closed stealthily, a furtive footfall from the rear of the house. He sat upright, alert with narrow eyes. The feet shuffled and advance along the immense hallway. Then miraculously, Brong Vrop, ray in his hand, was framed in the doorway.

S’iug calmly took a last sip from his drink before he spoke. He set the bottle down and said contemptuously, “Brong, you are a fool.”

“Maybe,” said Brong Vrop. “I’d rather be a fool than a corpse.”
“You’ll be that, too, if you kill me. Twice you’ve threaten me before Elias. Whom do you think he’ll look for when they found my body?”

Brong Vrop grinned. It wasn’t a pleasant grin. “When you are in hell,” he said, “maybe you’ll find out I’m not such a fool after all. But let’s not waste time. First I want you to come down to the cellar with me.”

S’iug shrugged.
He poured another drink and made no move to get out of his chair. Brong’s face became did brown with anger. He crossed the room with three long strides. He thrust the maze of his ray against S’iug chest.

“Damn you!” He shouted. “I’ll shut all three of your damn hearts here and now damn purple worm. Get up now. Lead the way to the cellar.”

Elias in the meantime was working the late morning shift. It was few minutes after earth-ten when he arrived at headquarters. He was greeted grumpily by Keln, his chief.

We got a murder,” said Keln. “Guy named R’iun. Photographer for the Blade Blog. That means the media and the social media will raise hell with us.”

Elias seated himself on the edge of his desk.
“Any details?”
“Not many. Holdup apparently. His credits gone and his kPhone. Stuck up in his own home very early this morning. Body was just found by a friend of his. You think it was Brong Vrop’s gang?”

Elias shook his head. “Not enough dough in it. Sounds more like an amateur. Vrop’s not crazy enough to commit a murder for a few credits. He doesn’t fool around with…”
Elias broke as he noted Keln’s gaze travel beyond him and register astonishment. He turned his head around, slid off his desk, sharing Keln’s surprise.

For walking past the desk sergeant towards them was a grinning and bowing Brong Vrop. Vrop’s presence in a flat station was at once an amazing and unprecedented occurrence. Since he had been thirteen years old, Brong Vrop’s chief purpose in life had been to avoid anyone remotely concerning with the forces of law and justice.

“Well,” said Keln heavily as Vron approached his desk. “Have you come to give yourself up?” Brong Vrop threw back his head, all eyes looking at the ceiling, and laughed as if something deeply funny had been said or happened.

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Read all the Koelian tomb chapters in order, HERE!

Trimensional anxiety – Chapter 15 – The end

“It just isn’t our world anymore,” said Britt looking outside the window. Strange windows in the sky or the side of the buildings opened to show legs, boots or torsos marching, huge machines constructed to point at us with eyes looking inside our minds and souls.
It was definitely a new day.

“He understood,” said Britt. Tommy and I have come home almost running. Almost because running was difficult with everybody in the streets watching and pointing the strange window. While we were both trying to catch up our breath, Britt was looking outside obviously deep in some thoughts.

“They are human, no doubt.” She said after a while. “But why they do what they do?”
“This is definitely not time travel,” Tommy said reaching the window and looking at a new outline that had just opened cross the street same level with my apartment.
More boots marching.

I reached for her hand and she didn’t pull away. “Britt, sweetie…” I began.

But before I could go any further the man, the very same man we kept seeing in my apartment hanging from the roof or coming out of the floor came in front of the three of us.
This time I was angry.

You could see this portals windows or whatever they were everywhere nowadays but they were there projecting whatever they project. They didn’t find any interest to any of us. Just kept marching or showing machines. But he did. He stood there staring at all of us.

He looked at the written papers on the floor, then back at the three of us and then back at the papers. Then he moved closer and now it wasn’t just legs, feet or a torso. Now a full grown man with jacket and hat was standing in front of us. Pointing one of the papers.

“Are you from the future?” Britt asked nervously.
He nodded NO! Britt’s face betrayed fear.
“Who are you?” She dared ask again. H slowly pointed at us. We didn’t understand so he repeated the move, first pointing at himself and then at us. And then the same again and again. First himself then us.
“You are us.” Tommy shrieked. “You are like us, you are humans…” The man nodded again, affirmatively this time.
“Please, talk to us…” Britt said but too late, he had gone.

“Oh my Buddhachrist, I know where they are coming from,” Tommy said in the sudden silence of the room. “They are from a different dimension.”

“WHAT?” Britt and I almost yelled.
“Look out there,” Tommy said pointing out of my window. A new frame had taken shape with more boots parading. “Doesn’t that bring back memories?”
“What?” I asked again in frustration.
“Haven’t you see those boots before?” Britt and I remained silent for a minute researching out brains’ information and trying to analyze.
“Nazis!” We said on voice.
“Nazis indeed.” Tommy said.

“A different dimension where Hitler won.” Tommy said in a whispering voice.
“He created his iron empire…”
“He took over the world…”
“Travelled to the moon…”
“Mars, the stars…”
“Discover new weapons…”
“Nukes, lasers…”
“Portals…”
We were just adding into one another’s fears completing like a puzzle the picture.
“And now he invades our world.” Britt said.

And then the portal in y apartment opened again and the man stood there screaming, “RUN, run for your life. They are coming.”
“HE IS COMING!”

And just then a yellow ray went through his chest all the way through his torso and hit the wall of my apartment carrying with it blood that splattered all over a painting of green scenery.

We run!
And we are still running.

The end

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Read all the Trimensional anxiety chapters in order, HERE!

Trimensional anxiety – Chapter 14

By Saturday noon you could see strange platforms and portals appearing all around. It was not an arm, a leg or a torso anymore. There were shadows and shapes of creatures marching and obviously carrying some kind of weapons nobody could identify.

Disappearances also continued. Actually increased including people from the directive. Paul from the eighth directive and Jan from the sixth had disappeared and I knew it because it also happened to  Harlan from the Eighteenth directive while he was talking about it in the lift for the sixteenth floor in front of a bunch of people.

And while Tommy and I tried to keep appearances at the office in a world that was slowly going mad form fear, Britt stayed home unveiling and applying the plan. Communicate with a torso and arms without head and hands.

In a paranoid desperation, the night before, the three of us had cut big pieces of paper and with thick markers we wrote in big capital letters a series of message.

WHO ARE YOU?
WHAT DO YOU WANT?
ARE YOU FROM THE FUTURE?

Perhaps we could add some more messages and some of them more clever but in the limited time and possibility to be read we thought that the three of them make sense and they might give some answers to us.

Back in the office, I was waiting for Tommy to finish with his looking around I tried to have a talk with the prime of our directive but he was really occupied and disturbed with the disappearance of his first and second secretary during lunch time increasing the number of disappeared only in my directive to nineteen. I was getting angry and frustrated.

“Nothing?” I asked an assistant I found randomly walking up and down an alley in the fourteenth floor.
“No direction,” he whispered lost in his fear.
“No memo, nothing?” I asked again.
“It’s like the directive has vanished.” He was definitely dispirited.

A clerk appeared from an office on the left.
“A memo?” the assistant asked full of hope.
“Nothing, sir. I was going to ask the same, you an assistant and all that…” He didn’t have to finish his sentence, we all felt the same. There were no directives from the directive.

Thankfully I saw Tommy coming out from one of the lifts.
“I was looking for you,” He said when he got closer. “Any news?”
“No directive,” the assistant answer instead of me and the clerk nodded in a vain agreement.

Tommy didn’t say anything just looked at me and we both understood so we started walking toward the lifts on the way to my office.
“If you get a memo, forward it to me,” the assistant shouted behind us.

On the lift’s screen a bulletin from Småstaden Posten was saying that the army had connected the disappearances with the shadows and the shapes randomly appearing all around the city and that they were calling the reserves and the veterans to be armed and ready. The bulleting actually included a series of service numbers of veterans immediately recruited.
Neither Tommy or I were included, we were still considered too valuable for the directive.

We said nothing till we arrived at my door where a group of assistants, secretaries, clerks and the stenographer seemed to wait for me.
“Anything?” one of the assistant asked.
“Nothing,” I said keeping my head down.
“No directive? No memo?” Agony was obvious in his voice.
“What are we going to do?” another one said while Tommy tried to push his way to my door. Pushing and shoving we somehow managed to go through them and enter my office. My dark quiet office with only one sound. A constant blip-blip-blip from my computer.
We both moved behind the desk and looked at the screen.  There was a message from Britt.
“Come home fast, got an answer.” And we almost run.

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Read all the Trimensional anxiety chapters in order, HERE!

Trimensional anxiety – Chapter 13

On Friday morning, our stenographer arrived more scattered than commonly. The woman came straight in my office where I was with Tommy Hanson engaged in a conversation of the many different assumptions with the strange appearances and she threw the morning of Småstaden Posten to my desk. Front page, top post; Britt’s photo.
“It’s all over.” She said.
“All over?” Tommy and I looked at her in amazement.
“Online, print, magazines and newspapers. All over.” She said. “There are also more people disappearing,” she added.
“The directive?” I asked.
“Perhaps.” Tommy said.

“We should expect it to happen.” I said.
“Of course,” Tommy nodded.
“Right, everybody saw what we saw.”
“Right.”
“And the directive had to act.”
“Right,” the stenographer agreed.
“Britt’s face, name and address,” I mumbled in fear.

By Friday noon there was nowhere Britt could hide. Her face was everywhere, print and online, even on some adverts including one promoting a new hair-shampoo. News hounds of all breeds and types were scattered all around the town and especially the streets that led to Britt’s apartment. They overflowed the place and every corner around her building was snaked with cables of generators, television cameras and microphones while the press-photographers and paparazzi were having the snappy-shot time of their lives. A site had a photo of her toilet sit and another a snap of her dishwasher full of dirty glasses and plates. And obviously there was more to come.

Britt didn’t go to the directive and thankfully she stayed at my place, as we had already agreed waiting for us to finish and somehow make a plan or at least make a plan to work.

Following running procedures and rules. Tommy and I were permitted for an early leave. We literally run to my house where we found Britt looking outside of the sitting room’s window like a trapped bird.

“This is not our town anymore,” she said when we entered the house. “Our homes aren’t our homes anymore. Why can’t they go away and leave me in peace, damn them. I hate them all!”

And while saying that a vision of her head, her chest and one arm holding some kind of a cartoon came from the roof staring at her. Britt let a cry and run to the kitchen. Tommy and I remained in the room looking at the head that was looking for Britt.

Then Britt stormed back in the room screaming, “Who the hell are you?” No answer came just a small movement of the handless arm pointing at the white cartoon that had something incomplete written. Fragments of words, two letters one looked like an ‘R’ the other like ‘Y’ and more between them.
Britt was still screaming, “Go away,” tears falling in both chicks. “Please go away.”
And off it went.

Britt sat in the sofa slowly and quietly crying but Tommy and I looked each other with a something between owe and surprise. They, whoever they are, they try to communicate, with us. To be precise, with Britt. And she was there crying.

“I want to go away,” she said after a few minutes of silence. “I want to go up the hills and I don’t know, sail away far to the ocean.” I took her hand and she didn’t pull away. She was scared. I was scared. “Britt, darling…” I whispered but it was Tommy’s loud sigh that stopped me. This time there were two arms hugging from the roof and both pointing at the carton. The words were there only this time the word ‘RUN’ was clear.
“What the…” I heard my voice and the fear inside it.
And then nothing. Clear air with the three of us in shock staring at the roof and the word ‘RUN’ screaming in our minds.

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Read all the Trimensional anxiety chapters in order, HERE!

Trimensional anxiety – Chapter 12

Not for the first time the seconds seemed like eons while sitting silently in my office and not knowing how to react to what had just happened in the gate.

Neither of us knew how many people had seen the picture, if any had recognized Britt in the picture and the fact that this time it was not a short of projection like when each woman saw herself in the picture. This time everything was very specific and Britt was in its centre.

We talked a bit about it but nothing could come out of all the different speculations and for a change even Tommy didn’t have any of his conjecture theories in hand to serve as an explanation.

We checked the latest reports and memos and all we saw is the directive as usual. There was no streaming in any of the directive offices so we had to wait for lunch time to see what the news agencies had to say.

Thankfully lunch break came and Tommy and I almost run for the exit all the way to the cafe we usually meet with Britt. She was there waiting with a very dark look in her eyes.

The girl in the counter sensing our jumpy state gave us a strange look but then she served our coffees she added the small sweeteners and thankfully turned to her next customer who had just entered the cafe. She hadn’t recognized Britt and that was good. At least for now.

To my astonishment and surprise and after we sat down in silence I noticed that Britt was much calmer than me and Tommy. Actually Tommy’s paranoia had hit red with his eyes checking every movement inside and outside the cafe. I had sat with my back to the wall ready to defend us from any hostile movement and Britt … well Britt was staring her coffee.

“We know something new,” she said after staring a bit more at her coffee. Tommy and I looked at her abstractly.
“Listen, we know that there are different fractions of senders and we know that one of those fractions has decided to talk to us.” She stared back at her coffee. “Talk to me,” she added. Tommy and I just nodded silently. What else could we do?

“We must go home and prepare,” Britt said.
“Mine or yours?” I asked automatically.
“I think yours. It makes more sense. You are closer to the epicentre o the whole thing and it seems that most of the messages to me have come to your apartment.” Again Tommy and I jut nodded silently.

“But,” she obviously hadn’t finished. “Tonight I want to go back to my place. I need to think without any distraction.” I was ready to ask if she thought of me as a distraction but I decided not. Not the time. Perhaps we all needed a break from each other.

Later the same evening and alone I my apartment with a glass of a port wine in hand I was looking outside of my window when a new portal –or whatever we call them now, open just cross the road on the second floor and this time it was different. It was legs wearing high black boots marching. I left my drink on the table next to the window and rushed to my room to get my camera but when I got back the portal had closed and the only thing that remained was the sound n my mind of marching boots. Marching black boots.

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Read all the Trimensional anxiety chapters in order, HERE!

Trimensional anxiety – Chapter 11

The next morning after doing my cardiac exercises and getting dress I walked to the cafe we meet with Britt the days she doesn’t sleep in my apartment or I in hers.

Neither of us looked fresh and relaxed. Obviously we both had a hard night and a lot of things to think. I hope our relationship was not one of them since I was sure me making that scientific sorcery comment didn’t wok very well with her. We drunk our morning coffees in silence and we walked to our group of buildings in silence.

A few meters from the main entrance I couldn’t stop myself, “listen if I said or did anything that bothered you yesterday I apologize.” She looked at me with what I thought tears in her eyes.
“Oh sometimes you are so …so ….self centred. That’s the only thing you should apologize, otherwise I’m just …worrying and …afraid.” And saying that she entered the gate and walked fast towards the accountants building. I just stood there watching till somebody pushed me from the back.

“Did you have a fight?” It was Tommy. Avoiding to answer I returned with a question, “so what are we doing today?”
“Our job?” Tommy answered fast, he must had prepared the answer before.
“You mean Thursday as usual?”
“That’s what the directive said, didn’t they?”
“Yes they did, indeed.” We both remained silent for a bit till my communicator rang and it was like a thunder in the quit office.

Paranoia made us look at each other and Tommy checking the door. I picked the communicator and unexpectedly it was Britt’s voice from the other side.
“Have you been outside?” that was a strange question so early in a working day.
“Lunch break is in two hours,” I answered mechanically.
“I know you don’t have a window but try to check outside. Look at the gate,” she said and then …nothing. The communication was off and I was standing still looking at Tommy who was staring back at me.

Grabbing a file form the ‘in and out’ pile I moved towards the door while telling Tommy what Britt had just said. Tommy followed silently. There was a wide window by the end of the floor’s long corridor and pretending that I was heading for the secretarial this was I aimed.
And I arrived with Tommy just behind me and I stood in front of the wide window and I looked out, towards the gate and what I saw was Britt looking back at me.

No, no Britt exactly, I mean not today’s Britt, it was Britt five six years ago, different hair cut and she was standing in a garden with yellow flowers and it was all in a picture hanging from a black shirted torso. And this time I felt totally lost not able even to whisper something to Tommy who was standing close behind me, so close that I could feel his breath in the back of my neck. “Buddhachrist,” said a woman behind us. Obviously one of the secretariat team who had just come out of the office and looked where we looked. And saw.
“Who’s that young girl?” She asked
Neither of us said anything.
“Do you know her?” Tommy asked after a bit and the woman nodded negatively.
“Have you seen her before?” Tommy asked again the woman, again she nodded no and then obviously worrying what the next question would be she returned to the office she just had exited leaving Tommy and me alone in the corridor in front the wide window with a young Britt among yellow flowers looking at us.

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Read all the Trimensional anxiety chapters in order, HERE!

Trimensional anxiety – Chapter 10

We all returned to our respectful directives and I found myself sitting in my office and going mindlessly through logistics when my communicator rang making me jump.
“Director 3 would like to see you in his office immediately,” a female for the secretarial said. ‘And that’s it’ I murmured to myself while moving through the alleys to the director 3 office.
Before reaching the door I actually wondered if Britt and Tommy got similar calls.

Opening the door I found out that while I had no idea if Britt and Tommy got similar calls, all the middle level workforce of the sixth directive was here, in the director 3 office. I always thought we were more. We weren’t.

“Good, we are all here,” the director 3 said looking around. The room s in graveyard silence.
“I suppose you all suspect why we are here and it has absolutely nothing to do with logistics.” He started slowly. “But that’s the point, nobody knows what it is about.” He pause for a minute.

“There is something going on with this …body parts, but nobody seems to know what. Not the sixtieth directive not even the thirteenth. Nobody knows.”

“Any speculation?” Somebody in the front dared ask.
“That’s the thing, all speculation seems irrelevant. We just don’t know.” The director 3 answered.
“So, how we deal with it?” Somebody on my left side asked hiding behind the bodies’ of the others.
“There will be a directive soon,” the director 3 answered loudly to make sure that everybody, including everybody out of the office, heard him.

“But for now we all have jobs to do and responsibilities to deal with. That’s what we must deal with.  So back to your offices and logist.” And with that we all silently left the director 3 office. Nobody said anything, nobody looked at nobody and we all hidden behind paperwork and orders. Directives as usual.

In the apartment I found Britt cooking and Tommy looking outside from the front window.
“I suppose you all had the meeting. Right?” They both nodded.
we all fell in silence.

I went to change and when I came back to the sitting room I found Britt and Tommy sitting in front the screen, watching streaming news.

“Has the directive direct? I asked.
“Nope,” came from Tommy.
“They must be scared,” said Britt.
“The directive scared? That’s new.” Tommy said.

“Think of it. Why call us to tell us that they will take care of it but they know nothing about it that they are going to take care of.” While it didn’t make sense the way she sad it absolutely made sense to both of us.
“They are in panic,” I said loud after a few seconds.
“Buddhachrist, they are…” Tommy added and Britt shook her head.

“That might not be so …bad,” Britt said and we both looked at her in wonder.
“Think of it,” Britt continued looking both of us straight in our eyes. “A few hours ago we all speculated that there is a directive war behind all that. Now we know that there isn’t.”
“One speculation down,” Tommy said.
“Well, a giant speculation.” I said shaking my head. “Not that it simplifies much,” Britt said. “If it wasn’t the directives who is? an outsider or an insider we don’t know?”
“Outsider makes more sense.” I said. “Especially of you add the fact of the …scientific sorcery!” Britt didn’t look at me.
“Right,” Tommy said.

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Read all the Trimensional anxiety chapters in order, HERE!

Koelian Tomb – IV.

Elias herded Brong from the room. As he left the house he heard the gurgling sound of bourbon spilling into S’iug’s credenza.

As they walked down the recycled elastic pathway, Brong Vrop exploded.
“Imagine that guy? Who the hell he thinks he is? The dirty drunken purple blood worm. I got more dough than he will ever see again in his life. I can buy and sell him ten times…”

“You didn’t though, did you?” Said Elias quietly.

Brong bit his lips and cursed. “Gimme my rays and my knives, flat,” he said. “I got permit. I got…”
Elias thrust the rays and the knives in his open hands. He climbed wearily into the squad one-sitter drone. He flew back to headquarters considering his prime institute-mates. One was drunkard, one was a racketeer, one sat in a cold cell waiting of a jury of his peers to condemn him to a mine colony forever.

A few days later the three of them came out of the courtroom together. The fourth would never emerge; save from the side door which lf to the cells. S’iug strode with a slight weave. His breath was like a frozen breeze through his mask. He carried his head high and glanced neither to the right nor to left as he walked.

Brong Vrop strode along at his side. Brong’s face was dark and his lips contorted. Elias, a pace ahead of them turned his head and watched Brong carefully.

“I told you what would happen,” said Brong in a serpentine whisper. “I’ll take care of you personally S’iug. Welng’s going to burn. You going to burn. I warn you that would happen. I…”
Elias shouldered Brong aside. “Shut up and beat it,” he ordered. “Get going Brong.”

Brong shuffled away, tentacles moving fast, eyes fixed on S’iug. S’iug gave no indication that anything had been said or done around him.

“We could send a flat up to your place,” suggested Elias. “Station a flat there to see that Brong doesn’t try anything…”

“Brong is a fool,” said S’iug. “A fool and a coward. Why don’t you leave me alone.”

He walked out into the burning hot street, marched away regally into the lowering double sun twilight.  Elias watched him go. He was aware of an unreasonable apprehension at the pit of his stomach as he stood there silent.

Next morning, S’iug T’rid dressed up slowly and shiveringly. A wracking ache assailed his temples and made his antennas vibrate. The dry bitterness that came every morning to his mouth was there gain. He made his way downstairs. He took a Galorian Rum bottle for the freezer. He did not bother himself with the formality of a glass. I a few moment alcohol brought warmth and circulation to his taxed body. He sighed heavily, made his way to the drawing room, where he placed the bottle on the small table at the side of his armchair and sat down.

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Read all the Koelian tomb chapters in order, HERE!

Koelian Tomb – III.

Brong Vrop, his eyes never leaving S’iug’s face, said “I want to speak to you. Alone.”
Elias said, “I have an idea of what you want to say Brong. I’m here to protect the Union’s witness while you are trespassing.”
Vrop’s eyes shrewd even more. “I didn’t come here to hurt him, flat. But what I have to say is private and I have this right.”
There was silence.

S’iug glanced at Elias who shrugged slightly. “Suppose you search him, take rays and anything else, Elias, and wait out in the hall. If I need you, I’ll call if you hear something you don’t like you enter.”

“Sure,” said Brong eagerly. “That’s fair enough. I can’t do much unarmed and with a flat fully armed right outside.”
Elias hoped that this was not ironic.

With faint reluctance, Elias stood up search extremely carefully Brong paying special attention to his tentacles and took hold of a ray and a couple of weird knives. Elias already knew from his file that Brong had permit for the rays stowed way in his wallet. In this planet the hands of the kotoworld reached into high places.

And then Elias walked into the chilled empty hall, closing the door of the drawing room behind him.

Now Elias knew clearly what Brong Vrop was about to say. Since he obviously would not try violence nor threat with a flat in the hall and aware to S’iug situation, the only other proposition he could make would be financial. Elias sighed; he was not worried about the Union losing a witness.

He knew S’iug better than that. True, the Koelian had become a psychopathic drunkard, a bum in his own unique way. But he had never last his strong sense of superiority. S’iug could not be bribed. Above all by Brong Vrop. S’iug would starve to death before he would accept credits from a gutter-bred reptile like Brong.

Elias shivered in the hall. The friendship between a ruthless thug like Brong and Welng, who was locked in the planet’s high security unit, was an odd thing. Even in institute they had been bosom companions.  Brong supplied the ideas and the plans and Elephine-strong Welng carried them to execution. So had it happened this time. Only S’iug had been an accidental witness to the killing Brong had order his henchman to perform and with all coincidences and the institute S’iug knew who is who.

All of a sudden, Elias hard Brong’s voice raised and beating violently through the heavy door into his ears. Elias span around swiftly and re-entered the room.

S’iug mockingly and more insufferable than ever, casually sipped another drink. Brong’s dark face was flushed and his many eyes glittered with anger. S’iug’s refusal of Brong’s credit offer must have been larded with an insult.

Vrop paid no attention to Elias entrance. He stood legs apart and tentacles folded, glaring with all his eyes at S’iug.
He said with hot, exploding bitterness, “S’iug, if Welng burns, you’ll die. I shall see it to it personally. With my own… I…”

“Shut up,” snapped Elias. “That’s a threat Brong. I can take him in for that, S’iug.” S’iug eyes were contemptuous above the rim of his glass. “Don’t bother,” he said. “Get out of here. Both of you.”

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Read all the Koelian tomb chapters in order, HERE!

Trimensional anxiety – Chapter 09

None of us was in the mood for a lunch or a break. This was new. Now the projector could project in choices. Control what we saw.
Not easy to absorb and not easy to let it go.

“They are trying to tell us something,” Britt said when we finally sat down in a small cafe further away.
“They are manipulating our minds…” I managed to mumble.
“If that was not the directive’s work,” Tommy said ignoring my look that followed.
“But why?” Britt said.
“Because that’s what the enemies do…” they both looked at me in wonder.
“What enemies?” Britt asked.
“The enemies. The enemies, you know… the enemies of the directive…”

“Oh Buddhachrist, you started conjecturing,” Tommy shouted in my ear.
We all looked around us aware that we were not alone. Only a young lady in the counter and she was not looking at us.

“This is getting really really serious and I’m wondering…” Britt started saying, “why the cover up?” Tommy finished her sentence.
My jealousy was peeking again from the dark sides of my brain. Britt nodded.

“Perhaps an inside war?” Tommy dared to suggest. This time if my jealousy shut.
“Our worse enemy, our own selves.” Britt said.
“Rivalry gone too far?” I said not wanted to be left out. But my addition obviously made an impact and I could see it in the way the both looked at me.
“We would know, wouldn’t we?” Tommy asked.
“Why? Accounting, logistics and speculation?” I said in a sarcastic tone.
“Far above out paid grade?” Tommy said.
“Too far,” Britt added.
And back to silence.

“Okay, let’s face facts.” Britt said after a while. “We are dealing with some kind of scientific sorcery here…”
“Sorcery, Britt? Are you serious,” I couldn’t old myself after all this time Britt calling me the drama queen of the relationship.
“I used the word sorcery lacking any better into the scientific spectrum,” she said using her mother-tone voice. I didn’t say anything.

“Then we have a certain mind manipulation, right?” She asked. Tommy and I agreed. “Thought projections,” she added.

“That’s one side, on the other we have rivalry in the directive that has evaluated really bad lately.” She continued and we both nodded. “I mean we have directives intentionally boycotting or harming other directives. Don’t we?” she looked at me and  I knew exactly what she meant. Logistics has been mean with the accounting lately.

“Do these …personalized projections form some kind of threat?” I tried to add to the conversation with a question.
“Or a blackmail?” Tommy said always going for the worst.

“That would make sense if it was just me, but it wasn’t,” Britt said sceptically.
“But it was only women…” Tommy murmured.
“Right.”

We were ready to leave the cafe with more questions than answers in our minds and definitely no idea on what we were going to do when a light smoke seem to round the corner and the legs all wearing black boots started marching from nowhere.
The three of us stood there in woe.

“What in the name of Buddhachrist…” Tommy managed to say.
Instinctively I grabbed Britt’s hand.

There was no sound, just black boot marching in the air. It was like even the air had stopped moving. The girl from behind the counter came to the window and stood next  to us looking speechless. “Shall I call the directives?” She asked after a minute or two.  
“Yes. Yes. Please do.” I said looking Britt in the eyes. Perhaps this was a solution that would wake up everybody up. She understood. Britt always understands me.

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Read all the Trimensional anxiety chapters in order, HERE!