This makes up half my novel, taken twice as long as expected, and here I break to gather energies for an equally exciting finale. Derek and Esmeralda's wedding brings peace even on Lotus and Quen. Meanwhile, 'visitors' head deep into the jungles of Borneo on a mission for spiritual power. [finally completed 21-3-26]
1. A summoning, a reminder
Derek / Curtis, the reason you are in a prophecy is not to control you, nor to hurt you. Why does God ask men to prophesy? Master I don't know. Stacy, tell him, or have I to force logic upon YOU all the time? She explained gently, do you like prophecy? Yes, we were raised to expect, obey it. And so should it come true? Of course... but if you gave me a look into my specific future -I might not want my old self anymore. Derek, prophecy is God's way of making sure people remember Him not themselves. Why must we remember our Creator? Derek stared blankly at her. Enough! Said Master Mark. You have the faith of a gnat. How much is a gnat like the Creator? How much are you not? Which would you prefer to be with -fleas or angels? Angels, I-. Don't answer me with buts. Do you understand you are not to impregnate Esmeralda on this wedding night and on every subsequent time you both join? You were not supposed to remove your underpants -now you're half man, half monster. What can God call for you as? *Sigh*. If only I understood Jesus the way He speaks to you, Master. Mark began to tear up. He hugged Derek and they let him go.
Rules are meant to be broken as surely as Law does not save, Pete said and Stacy nodded.
Esmeralda and Derek were in each others' arms as morning broke over their islet home. There was an old law that you can live anywhere fully encapsulated by rock. It might have been a consequence of absurdity meeting future needs. Derek didn't know or care. Theirs was these interconnecting chambers. And rock shard shutters kept in the gentle glow of non-radioactive neo tritium, trademarked as Glo-Forever. It lighted the floors and walls while cool sea breeze channeled along the ceilings. Their bed was an old fishing net. It was oddly trapezoidal and stuffed with seagull feathers, swaying as they shared love in the cool of morning.
And at home, Derek's mother fussed over her dress. Their only son was getting married -stupid Derek / Curtis actually found a wife. Don't give them any money Gail, said Jerry. Do they need furniture, a bathtub? How does my hair look? Jerry kissed her on the mouth and her heels fell off. Their son was getting married.
The Hawiian and Kyoko opened the letter they found in their mailbox as they opened the store. 'You're invited to the wedding of Curtis Truck and Esmeralda Gypsy' I told you the boy'd do it. Kyoko checked herself in the mirror. If I have a zit or a rash on my cleavage I'm not going. I hope it's a beach wedding?
Stacy, what do you truly feel for Derek? Nothing worth mentioning -I suppose. Because faith in a woman is different. From what? From what it should be. Are you proposing? No, but living vicariously through our boy has filled me with a certain longing -since my wife passed and I was taken in. What did you feel on that day down at the loom? She understood. Their experiences and reactions were all the same -God in the highest was good for living. I suppose I fell in love with Derek on some level. Seems everyone does except Esmeralda. She had a curse woven upon her. Are we then as the angels, never marrying? The way the sun glinted off her hair as if it were frayed threads of gold -Stacy, will you swim a while with me?
Even Lotus was whimsical that day. She had received an invitation from Esmeralda. 'Come be our guest,' it said, 'From Curtis and Esmeralda Truck'. That was bold of her, said Quen. Do we know anyone called Truck? Lotus, the database was destroyed in the fire. Secretly, he had kept a photo montage of his sister. It was from when times were better, freer, when they weren't hunted or urging the hunting of a poor sod -like Derek was. Witches otherwise were normal human beings. Perhaps he was overcompensating with his Titan projector phone. He lay in the dim of pre-dawn. Lotus danced in-frame, stretched yoga-wise, sang her heart out, among the hundreds of frames spiralling around the walls of his bedroom. Was he in love with his sister? Maybe, maybe not. But deep inside, cruel Quen knew there would come a time scarce of love. Even wicked men knew the healing power of sex.
There was a single card for the evening's menu -jellied squid crackers and sauvignon blanc. Jerry had hired the best priest via Facetime, all the way from Vegas. His schedule was packed as it was but telling the truth and making it sink in was important to Derek's Dad. Marriages last, son, he said. Just because you have super powers and are a magnet for every young blonde thing doesn't mean you give the wife a hard time every night.
Everyone was packed into the cave to watch Derek / Curtis and Esmeralda tie the knot before the virtually present priest. Father Asisee drew the vows from their body language and was eerily precise, then he made Esmeralda take off her amber ring and Derek put on her finger, one of drilled black pearl. He had searched for it for days, plucking it out of a giant oyster on the seabed below. She kissed him, and as it was extra special, their tongues met. Black and sheeny like the color of her hair. The gathered clapped and cheered. Even Quen was impressed.
2. Adventure wrong
Agent Hoag and Daphne waded through the surf, dropped off shore by tilt-wing boat plane. Are there jellyfish? No, just crabs, lots of annoying little crabs. Pesky things that drilled into the wet sand before they were crushed. Is that a cone shell? Yes -don't look at it. Their guide met them at the edge of the village. Welcome to Free North Borneo. Quite recent on the map? Yes, we had to throw our weight behind God's people, and in the end we could no longer be in the Federation of Malay States. Even now there's a 'small' civil war especially near the oil and gas fields. Come with me, it will be safe.
Is there witchcraft here? There is witchcraft everywhere -isn't it the end times? Can we meet with your tribe to see how you deal with it? Daphne stopped to brush off a swarm of insects. Their armpits were sweatty and their boots hadn't dried off. Life here must be miserable. The guide read her mind. If you try to do everything the old way it will be 'miserable'. But surely, madam, sir, -we will meet with the council of pawang.
Night fell like a thunderstorm approaching. Rushing waves and low clouds drowned the sun as drizzles of rain blew at their faces. I think we've come to the right place? Ma'am I know this is it, Hoag shouted above the roar of the shallow South China Sea. Not quite Waikiki, the jewel of the Pacific. This was a tense and torrid land bordered by forces they didn't understand. In her heart, Daphne said a silent prayer -if prayers were ever answered on the edges of Purgatory.
There was gunfire in the distance. They dropped to their bellies. A scream was heard and flames and sparks swirled from behind a stand of palms. Hoag looked at Daphne, questioningly. She looked back, and they nodded. We'll make it somehow, thought Hoag.
Celebratons at Derek / Curtis' home went on all night long. Lotus and Quen got into a long conversation with Pete and Stacy. They were each, the most interesting people they'd ever met. Lotus, Stacy and I aren't a pair, it's just our occupations -we're tailors. Having Stacy would be a lot more fun, thought cruel Quen. She was shorter, with shorter, skinnier arms and a behind that would weigh her down when he wanted it. She looked brittle, like a cracked lighbulb with its filament still burning. She shot him a look and he followed her to the stairwell and up to the precipice. Meanwhile, Pete took Lotus down to the sinkhole. They stepped into it, wine in hand and laughed at the irony of dressing up for a soaking.
Kyoko, that just leaves you and me -eh? Saw you ridin' this football jock yesterday, or was it next week? You telling me you weren't there? Sister, I feel these things... and they were interrupted by Jerry and Gail. Let's play a round of Coup.
Along the moonlit beach, Esmeralda confessed: I showed for a Christian boy when I was young, that's why I was 'cursed'. And I worry, because you're so connected, she removed his beanie, revealing his head sensor stubs, you'll be hurt. Maybe I'll lose my hair. She rolled it up into his beanie and smiled shyly. You'll always love me? Even when I grow old? I'm not afraid of dying with you, Es. I don't want to live like vampires -600 years. I just want to lay down without all the cell chatter, and just... Es put a finger to his lips. The sky glowed blue and the waves were moving in slow motion. There was a figure in the distance. Derek and Esmeralda, come here. Here, Curtis Truck, this is for you. It was a Cretacolor lead holder in pale wood grain, filled with an oily brown stick of Sanguine. Master Mark, I'd always wanted one, thanks! And why did you not get it? I rarely draw more than doodles. It would have been a waste but now it's motivation to begin your career in comics. May I see the ring? Es took it off for the Tailor. In his fingers, it began to glow -the black pearl -and he handed it back, blessed.
The war in Iran is wearing down our country. Derek, we know you can turn the tide. But I hesitate to inform the government you're alive. Perhaps your 'death' was well timed. Perhaps you are still loved by the Savior. Pehaps I was wrong. Curtis, there's something I want to tell you, a fluff of cotton is nothing without all the other fluff. Imagine fluff as a miniscule particle whose destiny is to become thread. Tell me, how long is thread? One spool? Right, because it has to fit on a loom. And how broad should a loom be -don't say infinite...? Why not? Because later, you have to cut the cloth. They all chuckled at Master Tailor's joke. Esmeralda, is the Word of God three dimensional? What do you mean? I mean, can perfection exist in 3 dimensions? No... Your guess is part right -everything in 3D is potentially profane. Just as a tailor stitches, so too God stitched and something went wrong with the master plan -the markings on the fabric of time and times beyond. Thus the fabric became the Messiah... For whom we wait, said Derek. There was no reply. What is Lotus doing? Give her a teaaching in modesty and hatred -the words will flow from you, and Pete. Where's Pete? Getting both of them wet.
Derek appeared at the mouth of the sinkhole just as Lotus had gotten naked -the snake she was at heart. Yet in the darkness of the water, they were covered. There you are, Curtis. Come to join us? They were both a little tipsy and loquacious though very much alert. Esmeralda, you're welcome too -Lotus blew her a kiss. Actually, and I was not being sarcastic, why don't both of you join us or just blow off.
Pete, Master sent a message for Lotus. At a party? Yes. Quen and Stacy are sharing love on the precipice and it seems she genuinely likes it. Pleasure is drawn out pain. What better partner than a cruel one. Lotus laughed, remembering how her brother forced his way on her. Let's go see. But Derek held her back. Lotus, what you are: immodest -it isn't a crime. What you feel: hatred is only that you're despised with yourself projected onto others. Hatred and immodesty destroy a soul for they sum to fornication which consumes from within. The witch faltered, Pete caught her cup as it slipped from her fingers. Lotus, I'm Derek whom you loved but tonight no more, I'm married and so should you be -with Pete. With that, the young man's store of all he had kept for his former neighbor was exhausted and they sank neck deep into the pool. I didn't know you had all that in you. But Derek was fixated on Lotus. She has great beauty. Pete nodded. Esmeralda was holding her hands underwater, and tears were running down her cheeks.
Call me, Pete, she said, lifting herself out of the water. He took a long look at her sinuous body trickling with water. Derek stared as well, much to Esmeralda's chagrin. Immodesty between people is confirmation there is a God. Pete reminded. Derek nodded. Why else would anyone feel double? Wait, Mrs. Truck, here is your gift from us: he handed her a portable sewing machine. It was a high quality one, made in Old England and painted red and white. As above, so below -he showed them the bobbin beneath the needle -that's how to make a stitch.
3. Rising sun
Machine gun fire tore through the underbrush. By haphazard angles it appeared they were caught in cross fire. Run, hissed the guide, like me. He ran like a goose, neck forward, skipped like a chicken, ducking frequently, like a squirrel darting from tree to tree. Then they fell sideways just below a shallow embannkment of orange clay and tree roots. The guide held his finger to his lips as Federation dog drones marched overhead, having forced back the indiginous militia. They waited 15 minutes then proceeded in the opposite direction.
Further along the embankment, behind a heap of large boulders, there was a pool where water had gathered and filled, off a rushing stream. And beneath its surface, two women and a man were sitting lotus form. Who are they? The most powerful people in Borneo. It's respectful to wait. Hoag glanced at his Timex Expedition, it was 20 minutes than 30, closing in on a full hour, the pawang and his wives looked up at the visitors, their faces warbled by the gently swirling water, and they rose, each one standing, perched on a lilly leaf.
Pachuk, what have you brought us? The Guide answered with his head bowed, they are police from America. Nak? Said the pawang, referring to his wives whose faces were smooth, ageless caricatures of beauty in all its aspects. Ha, nak gak! Haha. Duk lama bleh? He asked. Daphne felt the raw masculine energy projected from the pawang, even as his wives fawned over him. Power, my friends from afar, is in 'heart motion' -thus I have 2 wives which in your country, would be bigamy. Hoag nodded. America didn't have competent spiritual defences for all its modern conveniences -conflicts ended up with drugs, guns and a body in an alley. Maybe that was how it should be. But the pawang caught his thoughts. No, he said, simply. Power does not come from advancement, rather tradition. He then said a good many things Hoag noted down in his data diary.
That night, they were hoisted into the treetops. Hoag and Daphne both sharing a net hammock bed, under an insect screen. The jungle was alive with silent song, and even quieter footfallls they could feel, barely hear. People or animals going their way in almost pitch black. Pachuk, called Daphne, are you awake? He's not, replied Hoag. We could've been killed if not for that guy. Ever heard of Silat? It's one of the 3 deadliest martial arts in the world and it's found here. Under a small orange light from his MIP data diary case, the agent read: Man leaves behind his deeds as a tiger, its stripes. What do you think of that? It's what they say, here in the jungle. Deeds become part of the world just as a tiger's strips are part of the jungle. Those who fear the Lord know them, just as those who know the jungle fear the tiger. Oh, I thought you were asleep. I was praying.
Derek just tied the knot, Hoag reported. Haven't you found someone -if I may ask? Yourself would do, Daphne replied. They were dressed in moden tropical attire Pachuk had sourced. It was like stay-dry sportswear. Hoag observed Daphne walking ahead, hexagonal webbed sticky rubber semi-fused to her feet, her broad waist and slender arms covered in dark blue mesh that flickered solid and transparent at different angles. They had shaven their heads and put on infrared augemented reality goggles. Pawang had gifted them weapons. Hoag, who was stronger, bore a pole of rattan lashed together which when struck at a person or animal (even a drone), split apart and snared it. Daphne was given a circular machette, more effective against predators because it cut back front, and round around. Pachuk darting ahead, needed nothing. The less you rely on others, the more you have for yourself, the more others rely on you. Then why do people bother with tools and weapons, steroids, ganja, etc? These are the fruits of inequity -that merit gave way to chance. Their guide looked passively at Hoag, then Daphne, standing by the whitewashed packed mud wall of the church. Leave them here, by the door.
They are not poor, not anymore, said the Pastor, refering to the half naked children playing blithely among the vacant pews. We have generic everything and since the split, the drone infiltration to harrass us back into the Federation, have become further self-sufficient. Have you come to be married? Daphne looked at Hoag. Why not?
Over dinner, which was a kind of yam dish with bits of jungle fowl and raw green herbs, baked undergroud under a fire, the Pastor told them, the people here are different. Yes, gentiles we are, sinners once. Once we drank the blood of our enemies whom we dreamt of besting for the lack of a reciprocated greeting, a line on his face that stayed too long. Such was the jungle like: unforgiving. Then we ate his flesh, and we knew, in his death, he would be blessed. For who were we, so few, scattered men who walk by shadow under a canopy that hides the sky. When light pooled -especially in water, where fish gathered, that to us was close as we came to knowing God. It wasn't that anybody wanted Jesus but that it allowed us to live together and to prosper. Daphne, why don't you and your husband stay? Have a child here. The Pastor smiled and her hand moved over Hoag's.
They stood in the surf, as the sun went down orange and pink through the clouds hanging over the South China Sea. What ruled their hearts was what they co-percevied. What they thought of one another -of God even, was a self-starring dream of their making. The natives had observed that truth and surmounted the pretenders among them, the 'tares'. Hoag had a deeper understanding of what he would face back in America, he clutched the e-Diary in his vest pocket as they waded towards the boat plane.
4. Midway forever
What if we killed 'Super Derek' -we know how he looks like and where he lives. He also knew you said that, Lotus reminded her brother. Where's little Derek? D2 -where are you? The bay windows were open. Damn! Lotus cursed. They had gathered over the islet. A girl, blonde and beautiful, 5 years old -or so she looked. A boy with flaming hair also 5-ish and litte Lotus-Derek who had black hair that curled about his head in 5 whorls. What's your power? The girl asked Lotus-Derek. Are we not all the same? The flame kid smirked, he knew he was the most powerful from the way his hair had grown out and waved as though blown by a current. But Lotues-Derek said, let's not fight over it. Dad lives here. Mom loves him. I know how to get inside.
They drifted down into the sinkhole and found the hidden stairway into the cavern within. It was lit from several cracks that opened to sea. There, beside one, an Ever-Glo lamp cast a shadow on a young man bent over a writing desk. On the walls, rough sketches of a concept he named, 'Super Kids'. They stared at him, his blueish half cloak half flesh skin and the knobs all over his bald head. Without looking up from his Macbook Neo, Derek greeted them, Welcome, all three of you! Yes, you've found your father. Then he turned and gave them each a hug. Their minds scanned one another's effortlessly and Lotus-Derek burst forth tearfully: I never had a cloak. Flame kid said, I put my weave into my hair -its power is controlling people without them sensing it -pulling on all their hairs just a little to change their minds. And I put mine over my eyes, said the girl. I tried to see through the weave with all my heart and now I know and can stop anything happening in the world all at once. And what about you, little friend? But Lotus-Derek turned away. Did you eat it? Asked Derek, concerned. Oh, right -I never gave you any piece of cloak. But aren't you a witchling? Doesn't that make you special? Come on, The others encouraged him. But D2 just sulked. You didn't love Mom, you never loved me either -Wait, said Derek, but the child disappeared. Shall we go after him, said the girl. No, Derek sat down again. He may be like his mother or not. Time will tell. And he finished typing the closing paragraph of his story. 'Super Kids' -make me a million, baby!
But this isn't were the tale ends. It's where it rests a while before it carries on. Soon trouble would brew again over Derek's now happily married life. Trouble that would make his burns seem like a matchstick up his nostril. He now knew why he and Esmeralada mustn't have children of their own. He told he kids they could jump over anytime. Then he and his wife went walking along the beach. Agent Hoag's back in town said Esmeralda. He wants you to declare yourself -to the world. Who you are and what you can do. That isn't in my plans at all. Look at me, Es. I've got blueish skin, a dozen horns, a blue mouth and blue cat eyes. I can't morph much anymore and you won't let me jump places. I'm not Super Derek like I used to be. Just dumb Curtis Truck. He slumped into his hoodie. How are we gonna make it if the whole darn world turns on to me and I'm on TV doing interviews every night. Do you want to be in a reality freak show 24-7?
Esmeralda and Derek sat at the bar with its special brew of low alcohol lager. Always chilled and poured with a frothy top. Kyoko and Mark were there, so too Pete and Lotus. The Hawaiian was a shout away. He had made a flying contraption out of 2 old jetskis he picked up on Craigslist. Then Gail and Jerry came down. Had a good one last night, Son? Derek nodded. Hey, look at the TV, said Gail. That's the same FBI guy we met. Hoag, said Esmeralda. His name is Derek Curd -C U R D. and he's wanted for gang rape, as an accessory to attempted homicide, impersonating an officer of the law, cracking a US Navy nuclear submarine's launch codes... Lotus looked Derek in the eye. You did all that? said the Hawaiian, striding up behind him. I'd have smacked you across the jaw but your wife'd have something to say to me. Es, smack him for us. Derek, said the President of the United States, I want you to give yourself up, boy -to the nearest... Turn it off, he winced.
If we lose this war with Iran, said the President -Derek reached out and switched the TV off. It took half a minute for his finger to re-shorten. He flexed it back to life patiently. I'm not going to Washington. I'm not gonna become Wolverine. None of them understand.
A bubble of seawater boiled up in orbit. Derek could see it freezing into tiny spheres of hail. He tossed up another, closer to the breaking sun. He needed something to hold it together. It was somewhere he might hide his body while the case blew over. Again the water boiled away. He turned onto his back, falling through the stratosphere, through cloud after cloud. He made it rain. And was run over with the rivulets of water. He was somewhere over America -he didn't care. Just falling faster, faster.
