O’REILLY - Stop staring at the audience like a deer in the headlights would you? Hey! Silverton! Are you listening to me, g—dammit?
SILVERTON
Oh, um, yes, I’m sorry. I’m a terrible public speaker Willy, you know that full well.
O’REILLY - Obviously. Well, for those of you who are just walking in, as evidenced by the ridiculous racket you’re making with your flip-flops and giant bags of kettle corn crinkling as you squish your way down the crowded row to your squeaky seat, I’m sitting here with four members of The 2027 Club and we’re talking about The Red Rainbow’s newly released book, NIMI. From left to right we have Ashley “ALA$KA” Maddox, pixel artist, game maker, and 80’s movie QVR curator who illustrated the book.
ASHLEY
Hi everyone.
O’REILLY- We have Ollie, who had nothing to do with the making of the book, but he’s in charge of making sure everything The red Rainbow does is “dope” so we brought him hear to tell us why he approved of this book.
OLLIE
Yo-Duh
O’REILLY - We have Silverton, Mr. Deer in the headlights himself, mystic, and Editor of the book.
SILVERTON
Well Hey…
O’REILLY - And lastly, and certainly most important, we have Sal, who in fact digitally time-travelled to the world of the book via Quantum Virtual Reality, and his very journals gave us the content we see in the book, is that correct Sal?
SAL
In part, yes, I did travel there, and I did make notes that inspired the content of the book, but it was largely written by Management based on the conversations I had with him about it after I returned and debriefed.
O’REILLY - Interesting, Sal, very interesting. It’s too bad Management is so aloof, it’d be great if he could be here to weigh in on some of what he wrote.
SAL
Well, you know how he is. You wouldn’t get a direct answer anyway.
O’REILLY - How very true. So, let’s start with you Ashley, how did you go about illustrating this project?
ASHLEY
It was actually really easy, to be honest. We have the WaV, as you know, so…
O’REILLY - Let me just stop you right there for a minute Ashley, and give the audience a quick crash course… Everyone, WaV technology, which Ashley is referring to, if you don’t know, is a type of digitized telepathy that we’ve created, often it’s achieved by simply wearing a small pendant, or jewel that we often refer to as a ‘drop’. It looks like this:
It allows our members to communicate over a distance simply by thinking. It can also play music that only the individual wearing it can hear, or it can read an audiobook, or search the internet. Many things, it does. In this particular case however, I believe there were headsets involved?
ASHLEY
Yes there were. Management brought Sal and I to his office, after Sal got back, and he had us both wear this headset that linked the visual portion of both our brains. I could see what Sal himself had seen. He could show me environments, people, creatures, really anything. After a while of this, Sal and I went back to the First floor and we sat in Sal’s office and talked about what we should include in the book. After that it was a lot of work for me. Not hard work, I really enjoyed it. I could just be stoned, listen to music and pixel my little heart out. But it did take me a while. It wasn’t like I could just come up with things out of my imagination, it had to be accurate to what Sal saw. So, I checked in with him quite a bit throughout the process.
O’REILLY - Fantastic, Sal, do you want to add your two cents to that?
SAL
I think Ashley did a great job, I mean, she was really able to capture the essence of the place with so little ingredients. The decision to go black and white was made by Management, who said it had to be that way for reasons we wouldn’t understand, but, as with most of his shenanigans, I think there’s the possibility he’ll change his mind and we might be about to release a color version someday. I’d like there to be a Delux Edition of the book that includes my journals as well. I was there for quite a long time and, well, I like the way the book turned out, but it omits a lot of things, or only mentions some things so briefly that I wish we could expand upon.
O’REILLY - Why weren’t those things included? Just out of curiosity?
SILVERTON
If I could just… If I could weigh in on that O’Reilly?
O’REILLY - Sure Silverton, go ahead.
SILVERTON
That was an editing decision on my part, in accordance with Management’s wishes that the world of the book remain, incomplete, for lack of a better term, such that the story would not overshadow the experience of reading the story.
O’REILLY - What’s the difference?
SILVERTON
It cannot be put into words directly.
O’REILLY - Well that’s stupid. Okay, moving on then. Ollie did you…
SAL
O’Reilly, not to interrupt, but I think to clarify what Silverton just said, or justify it I suppose, I think we were trying not to have too much information about the world of the book distract from the meaning of it, because it does have meaning, but that meaning is impossible to put into words, so it’s a purely personal experience. We made it that way on purpose.
O’REILLY - So… You thought too much other information would cloud that experience for the reader?
SAL
Um, yes. Yes exactly. I think the world of the book, Aumjvnouz, The Second Heaven, The Kindgom of the Leaf, whatever name by which you may want to call it, is rich with many peoples, cultures, and beings. All of which are worthy of exploration, but… Well, this particular text was not the time to do that. The SANDY Series will explore it in further depth, whenever we put that out. But, for now it’s like…
SILVERTON
It’s like what they did with the Bhagavad-Gita, O’Reilly. I don’t know if you’ve ever read it…
O’REILLY - Absolutely not.
SILVERTON
Well, it’s an ancient Vedic text, that has great spiritual significance, and when read alone it can be very enlightening. But, in reality it is just one part of the Bhishma Parva, which is but one section of the Mahabharata, an extremely lengthy epic, known as the longest poem ever written in the history of humanity, most of which would completely lose and confuse a westerner because of its historical content.
O’REILLY - What I’m hearing is that you guys think pretty highly of yourselves…
*everyone looks at each other*
SILVERTON
That’s not true.
ASHLEY
Not even a little.
SAL
We’re not trying to accomplish timelessness here, O’Reilly, the wheel is already invented. We just really enjoy books LIKE that, and we wanted to try our hand at making something fictional—purely fictional, let me be clear, in that style. Some people have paperback detective Novels, we have paperback mystical texts. We just like that kind of stuff. It’s fun for us and it’s related to the work we do here at The Red Rainbow.
O’REILLY - Alright, I’ll buy that. What did you think of the book Ollie? You’ve been pretty quiet thus far.
OLLIE
I thought it was awesome. So sick. The dragon, the mysterious desert city. The Dark Traveler. Really dope stuff. It was like listening to shoe-gazy black metal, Eldamar or Cân Bardd, in the form of a book. It’s also kind of lighthearted and funny… sometimes… I don’t know, I like the little animals in it, the Goat, the mouse, really any part that had the little Hü. I don’t know what any of it means half the time, but it’s just weird and cool to look at.
O’REILLY - Do you think I would like it?
OLLIE
I um… Well no I don’t think so. You’re so scientific. Logical and all that. You gotta let your brain relax and not try and interpret everything you’re reading to a T you know? Half of it isn’t even real words.
SILVERTON
It’s called Light Language.
OLLIE
Well, whatever it is, it’s dope.
O’REILLY - Maybe you can appease me with some more explanation regarding the world of the book. Sal, you travelled to it, where is it?
SAL
Okay, yeah it’s the 73rd Century of planet Earth. It is Our distant future, and is referred to as The Second Heaven because it’s the second harmonic higher than the world we live in now, of which there are only eight, so nine including our world as the fundamental. So, in some sense it’s another dimension, which will always be the way it is no matter what happens in our timeline, due to the nature of infinity, and the superposition of all possible states at the quantum level, which make it the distant future in a sense, but is actually happening simultaneously with our timeline, in a space slightly to the side.
O’REILLY - There’s a lot of blank faces in the audience right now Sal, I can just feel it.
SILVERTON
I’ll be explaining it in my book, Paradise for the Modern Mystic.
O’REILLY - There you have it everyone, if you really want to know about where this place is, you’re going to have to read about it in Silverton’s book, which is currently in progress, but what exists of it so far can be found in the Library of Progress, which you can visit later if you like. For now, let’s keep it 3rd Grade comprehension level shall we?
SAL
I guess there are a few things I could elaborate on. Like, there’s the Auzmundi, the desert people. They preside over the land, and keep the order. They don’t have one specific ruler, they have a different system in place, The Revolving Throne, as we named it in the book, which just means that every five days a different person gets up there and puts on the Mask of the Great One, “The Great Hü,” to have their podium, their voice, their say, if you will, as to what should be and what shouldn’t. So it’s still a Kingdom, but, not really a monarchy in the sense that we think of it. I actually have a sketch I did, with Ollie’s help, of the mask the individual wears during their time on the throne.
O’REILLY - Could we load it up on the projector screen?
SAL
Yea, sure.
O’REILLY - Wow, very interesting that it includes the hair extensions. So, as I’m understanding this, whatever person is ruling, or is King of the realm for these five days, wears this for the duration?
SAL
Indeed. Again, no one person rules, because everyone does. On rotation.
O’REILLY - In essence then the ruler isn’t really a person, but an idea…
SAL
Yes, everyone is The Great One.
O’REILLY - And what do these people look like normally, the future humans, what are they called again…?
SILVERTON
The Hü. Which means ‘the creative utterance.’ Every Hü is a word of the Universal Consciousness, a specific word, a song, unique to itself, which can be said, sung, or played at any point, once, twice, repeatedly, or forever.
O’REILLY - So reincarnation…is what we’re talking about here.
SILVERTON
You can’t die if you’re not alive.
O’REILLY - Once again, Silverton, you’ve lost me. We just don’t get each other do we? Sal, do you have a picture of these people?
SAL
Yes, Yes I do. There are many in the book, done by Ashley, but I have one I did while I was there, I think it captures their essence.
O’REILLY - Would you put it up for everyone to see?
SAL
Here you go…
O’REILLY - I’m not gonna lie to you, they don’t look entirely pleasant.
SAL
They can be a very intense people. Usually peaceful and calm, but also passionate and rapturous. A bit faerie like in their appearance.
O’REILLY - Is this indicative of how they always dress?
ASHLEY
Oo! Oo! I know this one. The Hü dress according to their age and skill set. Like, um, children wear their hair bald, and they…
OLLIE
“Wear their hair bald”… What a weird way to say that.
ASHLEY
*sticks out her tongue*
They wear their hair BALD. And they wear all black until they’ve discovered their Hue, which means their study, or their purpose, or skill. And each skill has a different color associated with it, like, builders wear Red, foragers wear Green, etc. I think that’s how it works.
SAL
You’re absolutely right. And the color of the dress starts out dark at first, and as skill increases the color you wear gets brighter. Elder Hu wear the brightest colors. Musicians wear yellow, which is why when I was first spotted by one of them—accidentally, I meant to be covert—they were mystified by my suit, and because it was yellow they all thought I was an experienced Musician.
O’REILLY - Are you?
SAL
Not even a little, no. I am now though. I learned while I was there.
O’REILLY - Well, I hate to say it you guys but our time for today is running short. Is there anything you’d like to talk about before we close the panel?
OLLIE
Sal! Tell em about the Dragon!
ASHLEY
Oooo! YES! YES!
SAL
I don’t know… its…
SILVERTON
I say do it, heck.
O’REILLY - Yeah, do it Sal.
SAL
Okay, so, in The Second Heaven there is this creature, The Draag.
Here’s its face:
SAL
The Draag, in 21st century English, The Dragon. This particular one is named Bavilim. S/he is the primary being of the Draag Race, present in all nine heavens except one.
OLLIE
hehe. Draag Race. Would you say s/he’s the Draag Queen?
SAL
*putting up a hand* Ignore! What was I saying? Oh yes, the Dragon has many roles, and can be quite unsettling, and dark, but also charming. I won’t go into what this particular one’s purpose is, in terms of what it’s doing in The Second Heaven, but, I can say this, all Draag are non biological. Or pseudobiological. They are robots, essentially. Giant, flying, fire breathing, super intelligent, inter-phase, multi-dimensional silicon based autonomous robots.
ASHLEY
FREAKING ROBOT DRAGONS!!
O’REILLY - I don’t believe it.
OLLIE
You’d better.
SILVERTON
It’s true.
SAL
It is O’Reilly. Robot Dragons do exist. In the distant future.
O’REILLY - This is a creature from a book we’re talking about!
SAL
A book that was written based on a real place! A very real place to which I went. Which we are introducing to humanity for the first time. Seriously, I can personally attest to the very real nature of these beings in the multiverse.
O’REILLY - They aren’t in this world with us right?
SAL
Not yet. They won’t be invented for 5000 years, but they will be. And because, like I said, and as you yourself know, because you are a physicist, all timelines coexist simultaneously as alternate dimensions of the same single infinite space.
O’REILLY - Physics is theoretical. Well, I’ve had about enough of this. I’d like to retire to my room and find something comforting to read like Pride and Prejudice or something. Thanks for coming everyone! *runs off stage*
All seventeen people in the room clap.
In case you don’t have your copy already, look for NIMI in the Library of Progress!
