Transformations: The Book of Adam Ch. 1
Comments, as always, welcome.
Playlist
--------------
"Walk on Water," Thirty Seconds to Mars
"I Knew I Loved You," Savage Garden
"Calling Dr. Love," KISS
"Half God Half Devil," In This Moment
"Collide," VNV Nation
"How Did You Love?" Shinedown
"Freak of Nature (feat. Tove Lo)," Broods
"Wish I knew You," The Revivalists
"Forever is a Long Time (The Wicked Symphony)," Avantasia
"Life Eternal," Ghost
"Skin," Sixx:A.M.
"Timeflows Part 1," The Eden House
"Imagine (Remastered 2010)," John Lennon
"Break In (feat. Amy Lee)," Halestorm
"Anyone Can Fly (Rise Up)", The Spiritual Machines
"Believe," Two Steps from Hell, Thomas Bergersen
***
Somewhere... else...
He calls himself Pike because it was once his name. There was another part, a first part, but he's forgotten it.
Pike is a traveler. He wanders from dimension to dimension, some higher, some lower. He walks the spaces between.
And, he walks alone.
Time has little meaning to him. There is no later, no before. Time is a circle, circles within circles. Circles within universes and universes within dimension upon dimension.
It could drive a man crazy, alone and immortal and just walking.
So, he visits his friends from time to time. Drops into our four dimensional world as a projection.
Being alone in those higher dimensions could lead to madness - 'big bangs' have been caused by maddening loneliness. Luckily, Pike has a purpose.
He is needed.
Because, down in that four dimensional world Pike used to call home? The father has created a machine, the son will perfect it, and Pike? He is the ghost in the machine that will make sure it all works.
So, when the time is right, Pike steps through a door for the first time, as he has always done and will always do. Because, what emerges from that machine will be a thing of beauty unsurpassed in all the other dimensions.
The door opens, and, the old hippy with the eternally youthful face, smiles. "Show me the magic," he says, and steps through...
***
High Court of the North American Conglomerate
11:15 AM, 8-October-2145
"...That's your excuse, Miss Owens?" the Attorney General asked. "The devil made you do it?"
The woman on the witness stand smiled and it was deadly. Beautiful, imperious - like all of them, all of these transformed. She smiled and the room brightened, and the corners of those amazing eyes turned up and all you wanted to do, all anyone wanted to do was get lost in Angela "Sugar Tits" Owens's eyes.
"It's not an excuse. You wanted to know why we did the things we did. Morpheus, not the devil, created us to do those things and to have no regrets or second thoughts as we did them."
"So Morpheus made you turn people into sex zombies, walking sex toys who performed on command?" He asked.
"To save the world. Yes," Angela said. Her smile never wavered.
He glanced at the judges - were they being affected? Were they being swayed by the goddess sitting on the stand? They had taken the drugs to block the White Witches' pheromones, they sat behind the screens the scientists said would block the White Witches' mental powers.
Was it enough?
"You expect us to believe you had no knowledge of what you were doing? That you were controlled..."
"No," Angela said. "He only made it easier for us to live with what we did. I... We... accept responsibility for the things we did to the unwilling."
"And when did you finally decide what you were doing was wrong?"
The smile faltered. Her eyes reflected sadness, the beginning of a tear. "After the kiss."
He rolled his eyes and smiled. He turned to the judges. "Oh, yes, the 'magic' kiss."
She laughed gently, a beautiful thing that made everyone in the room draw in a breath and pause. "Yes."
"You actually believe that a magic kiss changed everything for you?"
She shook her head. "Any technology so far beyond what you can understand appears to be magic. So yes, Mr. Attorney General, a
magic
kiss."
***
Downtown Ithaca, NY
Now
The First Night
The bus pulled into the station bathed in the yellow glow of the streetlights. The dust of Kansas had washed away the day before in a Tennessee downpour. Above the bus, bugs circled the street lights.
The old man driving peered out through the big windshield and rubbed the stubble of his beard. He had been the driver since Pennsylvania, taking over from a man he didn't recognize. "
Take good care of them,
" the man with 'Eric' written on his nametag had said. "
Precious cargo.
"
That was easier said than done here - Ithaca, NY was, well, it was odd.
He picked up his PA microphone. "Ithaca. Ithaca, New York." Only 'York' came out as 'Yawk', betraying his Boston accent. He stood up slowly as if his back might fail from the strain. "You folks traveling on to Syracuse are welcome to just remain on the bus. We won't be staying long." He looked warily over his shoulder at the bus terminal. "For those of youse that Ithaca is your final destination, you need to know that no one under the age of eighteen is allowed within the town limits."
"What?" Someone asked from the back of the bus.
"Local
awdinance
. If youse eighteen?" He sighed. "If youse eighteen you can
disembawk
. Otherwise, youse gotta exit the bus at Dryden."
The driver looked over his passengers: potheads, the lost, the drunk - most on their way to Syracuse. Then there were the college kids.
A tall lanky kid in jeans and a leather jacket stood up and balanced his green duffel bag on his shoulder.
"Ya eighteen?" The driver asked as the boy walked up the aisle toward him.
The kid smiled and nodded. "Nineteen actually, sir." The boy said in a thick Kansas drawl.
"Ya oughta be careful out there, kid. It's... a strange place."
The boy smiled. "Just about every place is a strange place to me, sir."
The driver stepped aside and let the boy pass.
***
Adam Price, only son of Evelyn Price, descended the bus steps on his long, lanky legs and adjusted the green duffel bag on his shoulder. He was smiling - he had been mostly smiling since Kansas, frowning only when he thought of the farm and his mother he had left behind in the dusty town he called home.
He reached the pavement and leaned back, stretching his back.
The fluorescent glow of the terminal lights beckoned him with their promise of a restroom. He reached the sliding doors and noticed that there was also a neon glow coming from within.
NO ONE UNDER EIGHTEEN ADMITTED was written in tall red letters on the sliding doors.
Even the bus terminal?
Adam thought. The only thing he could think of was that the town must have had trouble with teens causing trouble at some point.
He stepped inside.
The terminal was far different from the last one in Williamsport, Pennsylvania.
The Ithaca bus terminal had a strip club in the back and signs at that entrance announced 'FULLY NUDE'. Techno blared from inside the club. Beside it was what appeared to be a sex shop with 'VIDEO BOOTHS' written in blue neon beside the door.
A huge cardboard cutout of a porn star stood on the other side of the sex shop door - a bigger than life-size image of Amy Lynn in her trademark transparent pink latex miniskirt and matching bra smiled at him. Her big, blue eyes seemed to follow him wherever he moved.
"Isn't she the totes hottest?" A sweet, high voice said behind him.
He turned and found himself staring into cleavage at eye level.
Adam took a step back.
The blonde had to be almost seven feet tall in her skyscraper stilettos. She was wearing a skin tight, pink latex minidress. The hem was breathtakingly high, and the plunging neckline put the basketball sized breasts on prominent display.
He looked up into light brown eyes and the face of a doll. Her lipstick, eyeshadow, and fingernails were all pink as well as the highlights in her long, flowing hair.
She held out her hand. "I'm Candy!"
Adam just smiled and nodded. She smelled like candy - the sugary kind you might buy in a convenience store like SweetTarts.
She blinked her big lashes and extended her hand closer. "It's customary to shake a hand that's offered to you. Or, if you're a formal gentleman? To take said hand gently and maybe kiss the fingers? You can do either one you prefer, but I like the finger kisses."
It took another moment for Adam to realize she was being serious and was on the verge of being offended.
He took her warm hand quickly and kissed it gently.
She smiled. "I also told you my name is Candy. My full name is Candy Kisses di Amal. When someone introduces themselves? You're supposed to introduce yourself as well. That's good manners."
Adam smiled. "Yes, I'm sorry. I'm Adam... Price. Adam Price. It's been a long trip and I wasn't expecting..."
"A pretty girl to talk to you?" Candy asked. "Golly, I would think pretty girls would talk to you all the time. You're hot."
Adam laughed and blushed. "Doesn't happen that often."
"What brings you to Ithaca, Adam Price?"
"School. I'm starting Ithaca College."
"Oh, wow! Me too! I mean, I'm not starting - I'm already a student."
Adam stared at her for a moment. "Really? I mean... what are you studying?"
"I'm in Sex Worker Studies."
"I'm sorry, what?"
She giggled. "Everybody asks that - I guess it's not a common major at other colleges. I'm learning to be a sex worker."