Xeno was sitting on a bench in the yard. To his right was a beautiful stone fountain held by stone cherubs. Magical birds were singing Mozart while they splashed in the water fountain. The lawn was recently mowed, and Xeno was reasonably happy. Looking over the mowed lawn and her plastic house, Xeno thought of his friend Gina and her famous parties, one of which he planned to attend tonight. In a few hours he was going to be sipping margaritas and eating grilled deer and discussing sports and charity work and other events transpiring in The God Realm. Right now he was waiting for Gina to finish the laundry, by which time they were going to shop for party supplies.
They could teleport to the store, of course, because they were gods. But they decided to drive Xeno's car instead, because that was more interesting. Nobody teleported anymore, ever since Rataxis came to power. Things were good after Rataxis's enthronement and the Great Unification: everybody was having a lot more fun.
Gina came out of the house wearing a light pink blouse and a polka-dotted miniskirt. "Whatcha thinking about?" Gina asked.
"Oh, Rataxis, the party," Xeno said. "You look amazingly beautiful."
Gina smiled and sat down. "Nothing's changed with you I suppose, flirting recklessly as always," she said.
"Of course," said Xeno, "I can't help myself. Didn't they tell you that when you bought that lovely skirt?"
"Hah."
Xeno looked at the clouds. One looked remarkably like a rubber ducky.
"Look over there," Gina said, pointing down the street. Xeno looked at the giant billboard, which depicted an orgy of about 8 people—censored of course. The name of Rataxis' communications corporation was written in the lower right-hand corner—"Ratcom."
"They just put that up yesterday," Gina said.
"Wow," said Xeno, "that really pushes the envelope."
Gina looked at her feet and smoothed out her skirt. "Shall we go shopping?" she said. Xeno nodded "yes." They got in the car, and Xeno began to drive towards the Interstate.
"Rataxis is a lot of fun," Gina said. "Have you heard the latest thing about him and Houston?"
"No, what?"
"Apparently they made a sex tape. It's been circulating in email for some time now."
"You're kidding!"
"Nope. I haven't seen it, but there were pictures on the Television—censored of course."
"Censoring: that's one thing that never happened before Rataxis."
"Fun, isn't it?"
"It leaves everything to the imagination."
"That's the theory."
They entered onto the Interstate. There had never been an accident on the interstate—not one. Besides, gods never had accidents anyway. Xeno felt safe and mildly invigorated. He was one of the faster drivers—cars were dropping behind them one by one.
"Xeno, how old are we?" Gina asked. She seemed unsettled.
Xeno thought about it. "About 50 years, I think," he said. "Why do you ask?"
"I think you forgot to turn on the cruise control," she said. Xeno turned on the cruise control, then switched lanes to pass a truck.
"Are you feeling unhappy?" Xeno asked.
"No, not really," Gina said, "I don't know."
"Well look here," Xeno said. "Life is a pleasurable experience. We live for fun and pleasure, and then when we die, we can look back and say we've had a fun time at it."
Gina smoothed out her skirt.
"Hey," Xeno said, "We're going to have a fun time at the party, right?"
"Sure," Gina said.
"Right?" Xeno smiled. Gina turned and smiled back. But her smile looked forced.
Suddenly, the truck switched lanes, cutting them off. Xeno swerved and slammed on the breaks. The truck's wheels were locked. It rolled on its side. Xeno stomped harder on the breaks. Gina screamed. The car slammed into the truck and careened into the next lane. Another car slammed into them, horn blaring. They felt another impact, then another, as other cars hit the car that hit them. Finally the car came to a rest, and Xeno and Gina looked at one another.
It was Xeno who got out first. Gina followed him as he walked down the interstate. A gigantic, translucent blue orb half buried in the concrete seemed to be the cause of the accident. Xeno walked up towards it, and Gina followed, attaching herself to his arm. Then other onlookers got out of their cars and gathered around the orb. It emitted a sound like radio static and electricity, but as they watched this sound faded out and was replaced with a blue hum. It hummed for quite a few minutes, then suddenly disappeared. People crowded around even closer to look for it, but it left no trace. What no one noticed, however, was that when it disappeared, it took Xeno and Gina with it.
Xeno and Gina found themselves in a room with a dark red carpet and walls like glass, and the corners glowed blue. Stars shone through the walls, and it was as though they were floating in outer space, because the stars did not move with the walls as they paced. They knew they could teleport, but where would they end up? They had no idea where they were. So they paced restively and fixed their attention on the door, which was made of the same stuff as the walls.
Two brown blobs appeared bobbing behind the doorway. Xeno and Gina watched them grow slowly larger and less blurry. When they were nearly as large as the door, they stopped bobbing. A vaguely skin-colored blob reached for the door handle. Then, the door opened, and the blobs became two people, one male and one female, who emerged from the doorway.
"Who are you?" Gina yelled.
"Just be calm and nothing will happen to you. My name is Jacob and this is Elizabeth."
Elizabeth nodded, and her glasses glinted in the unseen light.
"What do you want?" Xeno said.
"We're going to take you to meet Rataxis," said Elizabeth.
Xeno looked unsure. "Why would he want to see us?" Xeno asked.
"I've been writing a book about him for some time now," Elizabeth said. "He is a typical case of a phenomenon I've been trying to get a handle on for years. I want you to read it when I'm done, Gina. And Xeno, I want you to just watch and pay close attention when we get there. Don't be afraid of him. The important thing is to pay attention."
"He has a beautiful palace. Which is where we are going now," Jacob said.
"But why are we here? What does he want with us?" said Gina.
"It's not what he wants, but what we want," said Jacob.
"Okay, fine. What do you want?" said Gina.
"I'll tell you in a moment. Look," said Jacob, pointing to the wall on the opposite end of the room. As they looked, a concrete box-shaped building with a black roof grew larger and larger. Soon it was much larger than the small room, reaching at least four stories high before finally coming to a rest. The walls and stars faded, and were replaced with a landscape of rolling, uniform grass and little perfectly spherical trees. There was a metal double door on the wall of the building, and Jacob motioned that Gina and Xeno enter the building.
The building was a single large room with a catwalk system above them. The walls were indescribable—they seemed to writhe and pulsate, and the air was sticky and humid. Rataxis sat at a desk, but there were no papers on the desk—only two lamps whose bases were naked women.
"Gina, Xeno," said Rataxis.
Gina looked at Xeno. Xeno's put his sticky palms in his pockets. Gina breathed deeply and looked at the floor.
"Welcome welcome," said Rataxis. "Do you know why you are here?"
"No," said Gina.
"Me neither." said Rataxis. "But it's good that you are. Where do you work?"
"Nowhere," said Gina. "I'm a housewife."
"Nobody works anymore," said Rataxis.
"That's not true," said Gina. "My husband works at an insurance company."
"Hah, husband, husband," said Rataxis. "Interesting. Yes, in a sense he does work at an insurance company. But really, he's working for me. That means something."
Rataxis drummed his fingers on the desk and focused his gaze on Gina.
"Or maybe it doesn't," said Rataxis.
"Please sir, why are we here?" said Xeno.
"Let me show you something," said Rataxis, still looking at Gina. He pulled an ornate remote control out of his desk. Pressing a button, he turned to face the wall behind him. The wall flickered, the lights dimmed, and the sex tape with Rataxis and Houston played on the wall.
After a moment, Gina said, "Why are you showing us this?"
Rataxis turned off the video and frowned. "I don't know why Jacob and Elizabeth brought you here," he said. "Those two are a thorn in my side. But tell me this: what do you want, in bed, Gina?"
"I don't know, why?"
"You want pleasure don't you?"
"With respect, why on earth would you ask me that?"
"I know you're tempted Gina, I can feel it. Do you know what temptation means? It means you can have anything you want. Anything."
Gina was silent.
"This is what I'm all about," said Rataxis. "Pleasure. Pleasure. A world of pleasure. Nothing but pleasure. A veritable black hole of pleasure. Don't you ever want anyone other than your husband?"
"Why?" said Gina.
"Because," said Rataxis, "because, you want it. Don't you understand?"
"No."
"We're gods, Gina. We make things happen. That's what we do. And I am making an edifice of pleasure—hierarchical pleasure. You please me, because you please yourself, and everyone is pleased."
"But what does that have to do with my husband?" said Gina.
"Because," Rataxis said, "because, I want to kill your husband."
"I don't understand," said Gina.
"Pleasure means someone gets what they want, but someone else doesn't. I destroy your values, your marriages, your lives. Because that's what I want. Destruction gives me ultimate pleasure. And eventually I will destroy everything. And you will all get what you want: you will all get pleasure."
Xeno, shaking, backed towards the double door. Gina was still breathing deeply.
"Yes, I want pleasure," said Gina, "But I don't know. I don't understand you. You're being ridiculous."
"I'm not being ridiculous. Think of all the combined power of all the gods. I could have the power to move the whole world. And I want pleasure. A world overtaken and destroyed by pleasure."
"But what do I have to do with your weird bloodlust?" Gina said.
Xeno was at the door now, and he slipped outside, where he found Jacob and Elizabeth.
"Oh my God!" Xeno said.
"That sissy doesn't know shit from shit," said Jacob.
"I can't be here! He wants to destroy the whole world!" Xeno said.
"Precisely," said Elizabeth. "Don't worry: we have no truck with him. And we're far more powerful. He wouldn't have told you his plans if he wasn't desperate."
"What about Gina? What's going to happen to her?" Xeno said.
"If we thought something was going to happen to her, we wouldn't have brought her here," said Jacob.
Xeno sat down on the grass and put his face in his hands. He shook his head.
"I've lived my life for pleasure. Is pleasure really that destructive?" Xeno asked.
"His is, yes," said Jacob. "Look at this landscape."
Xeno looked at all the spherical trees and the solid green grass.
"How many types of plants live here? How many animals?" said Jacob. "There are only a few hundred species at most—Elizabeth knows the exact number."
Elizabeth said, "And his pornography is based entirely on debasement. The society is qualitatively and quantitatively lacking."
Xeno groaned. "What am I supposed to do?" he said.
"Come with me," Jacob said, "I want to show you something."
Nathan and Reanna were walking side by side under the overpasses on North Interstate Avenue in Portland. Nathan looked at the intertwining overpasses, framed them with his thumbs and forefingers in the shape of a rectangle, and made a camera shutter sound with his mouth.
"You must have taken that picture a thousand times, Nathan."
"It's always interesting."
"So tell me again; where did you last see our pal Ben?"
"He was traveling from L.A. to Seattle. That was last October. He's going to be at the party tonight, apparently."
"Yes, I know that part. How old is he now?"
"I think he's about twenty."
"I wonder what he does in all these different places."
"Goes to raves. Socializes. I don't know what else."
"I suppose he's pretty good at finding places to stay. He knows everybody."
"He'll stay in youth hostels sometimes, but usually he finds a place on somebody's couch. I think he was homeless for a while too."
"I think he wants me to buy him a puppy."
"Hah, what? Are you serious? A puppy?"
"That's what I said. A puppy. He told me, 'Dogs are great for traveling with. I've always wanted one.' Then he said, 'Remember when you bought me that CD with the Tetris remix? I always liked you and Nathan, but I thought you were extra special when you got me that.'"
"But that could mean he wants a full-grown dog."
"Nope, because he also said, 'I'd prefer to raise a dog myself.'"
"Wow. Okay. A puppy."
"Yep."
The sun was just beginning to set. Nathan looked at the orange clouds.
"Right now," said Nathan, "at this moment, for the first time in over twenty-five thousand years, the sun is in alignment with the black hole at the center of our galaxy."
"Yep," said Reanna.
"You know, this interstate reminds me of a dream I had last night."
"Go on."
"I dreamed I was in a world ruled by this weird guy. He was kind of a cross between The Joker and the whore of Babylon."
"Okay, that's... interesting."
"He wanted me to have all this pleasure because he wanted to destroy the world with pleasure. It was kind of frightening until this voice inside me said, 'That sissy doesn't know shit for shit.'"
"Why, you have something against pleasure?"
"Hah, well, if you use it to destroy the world, yes I do."
"I'm not sure pleasure can destroy the world."
"I don't know if it can or not. It's an interesting question."
The two walked for another half an hour until they came to the venue for the party. The first person they met whom they knew was a 17-year-old girl. She walked up to them.
"Rei!"
"Amanda, hi. You're coming to this thing?"
"Yeah, I am. But listen, I really need a huuuge favor, Rei. Can I please please have some money for water? My mom only gave me fifteen bucks, and I already had to borrow five to get the ecstasy and still have enough for the ticket. I really really want to candyflip tonight, but I don't have enough. I need money for acid too, but water's more important."
"Yes," said Nathan, "water is definitely more important."
"I don't know, Amanda, I don't have very much. You'll need like fifteen dollars. Water is going to be four dollars a bottle tonight—hopefully."
"How much do you have? I'm sorry Rei, but it would mean so much to me..."
Nathan looked at his feet. He was standing on a flier for the party. The only part he could read was, "December 21, 2012."
"Okay, I'll give you a five and a couple ones—if you need more, come find me, okay?"
At that moment Jacob and Xeno touched down just outside the venue. Amanda felt a gust of wind, and as she turned, her eyes met with Xeno's. She smiled at the crow she saw—Xeno was invisible.
"Xeno, here's our venue for the night," Jacob said. "By now I'm sure you've figured out that you're not going back to The God Realm, right?"
"Right."
"So watch these people, pay attention, interact as you see fit, and try to find out a few things about yourself."
"Right."
Xeno walked in the door and towards the speakers. The music was booming outside, but he wanted to hear it more precisely. He had only ever heard Mozart before. This was completely different: he didn't know what to make of it.
Xeno watched the people trickle in one by one until the floor was packed. He wandered around in the darkness, apprehensive and feeling a little lost. He came upon a group of candy ravers huddled against the wall. A pink-haired woman was sucking on her pacifier. She was wearing a T-shirt with the Trix rabbit on it. Xeno didn't know who the Trix bunny was—some representative of a commodity, he guessed. Another woman passed the pink-haired woman a book, and Xeno watched as she signed "L33ta." Xeno could tell time was flying for them. But in about five hours it would all be over. They knew it too, and most of them would be a little upset about it. Xeno turned around and saw a male candy raver dancing. Amanda, who was edging her way through the crowd, turned and saw him and threw her arms around him.
"Ben!"
"Amanda, hi!"
"Ben I really really want to talk to you but this guy is going to sell me acid and I really really want to candyflip tonight, and so I really have to go, but please find me again okay?"
"I always enjoy finding you, Amanda. You're rolling already aren't you."
"Aw Ben, I love you! Thank you!" said Amanda. "I've always liked you too. You have the body of a man and the voice of a god! I was thinking I would make tonight my 'night of paradise' and I really really want to share that with you. I love you Ben! Anyway, I have to go. Bye bye Ben! Find me okay?"
Xeno wandered around some more. He saw Nathan and Reanna.
"Did you hear what happened last month?" said Reanna.
"No, what?" said Nathan.
"So me and Amanda took a drive uptown, and that's where we met this guy who said his name was Scott. Amanda had the bass up high in her car, so I couldn't hear what she was saying. Apparently, this Scott said we could get the E tonight. So anyway, guess what: it was something else, not ecstasy. Whatever it was, Amanda wanted to kill herself all night. So yeah. I think she should've known; If you don't know the guy, you don't know his drugs."
"That's what I've always thought."
"And now it looks like she's doing the same exact thing again. She'll buy anything anyone says is the drug she wants, even if it is from a complete stranger. You can't buy drugs from strangers."
"No you can't. I completely agree."
Xeno looked around, and Ben caught his eye again. But he decided to go somewhere different. He found Amanda cuddling with someone.
"So did you ever get your acid?" the man said.
"Of course Harry, but I want my Ben," said Amanda. "But you're cute too."
"What's in your backpack?"
"My blanket. Do you want me to get it out?"
"No, it's pretty hot in here."
Amanda was clearly on a lot of drugs. Xeno felt disgusted. Maybe Rataxis is right, he thought. He began looking for Ben, and he finally found him, talking to another woman.
"Ben, you're like pleasure incarnate!"
"Well, you can tell that to my ex."
"Well we'll just have to hook you up with someone."
"No way! I hook myself up. I'm no prostitute," Ben laughed.
"Why did you leave her in the first place?"
"She wanted me to stay in Seattle. I wanted to go to L.A."
"Well I just remember when you took me to your hotel room and called my friends to find me a place to stay. That was very sweet of you; I'll never forget it."
"Hey, you know, I'd never let down a woman in trouble."
Xeno wanted to hook up Ben and Amanda. He felt they could offer something to one another. He began using every trick he could to lure Ben across the dance floor towards her: he would manifest as someone's arm and bump him around, manifest as a thought that he needed to go this way or that, get him to close his eyes and dance in random directions. But every time Xeno tried something, Ben would become conscious of the absurdity of it and disappear. For Xeno to manifest took concentration, and Xeno needed an object to concentrate upon. Ben was a suitable object, but he kept appearing and disappearing to Xeno. He just wouldn't stay in one place. This frustrated Xeno terribly. And on top of that, Xeno felt his power being leached away by the attempts. Xeno kicked the wall and pounded on it with his fist. Then, he teleported outside to talk to Jacob.
"Jacob, I don't understand why I'm here. What on earth am I supposed to do here?"
"Try contributing something."
"They all seem to want some form of pleasure. But what do I know of pleasure? Only what I've learned from Rataxis."
"I'm not going to help you, Xeno."
"I don't understand. You can't participate?"
"Precisely."
Xeno went back indoors. He had decided to find Amanda, manifest as Ben, and lecture her on the drawbacks of pleasure. He found Ben, giving a cigarette to one of the party-goers in exchange for a light. Then he found Amanda. Harry was gone, and her eyes were glazed. Her arms were wrapped around herself as tightly as she could wrap them—which wasn't very tight. A shiver ran up Xeno's back.
"I want my blanket," Amanda said.
Xeno manifested himself as Nathan. "Can I get you your blanket?" he asked.
"Please..."
"Where's your blanket?"
"On the ceiling, I think," Amanda said.
Xeno took the blanket out of her backpack and gave it to her.
"This good?" Xeno said.
"I want my blanket," Amanda said.
Xeno frowned, then he turned and walked off. There was nothing he could do for this woman right now.
Xeno paced in front of the speakers. He couldn't think of what to do. I've been torn from my world, he thought. My entire reality has been turned upside down, and now I can't even figure out if pleasure is good or bad. He looked to the DJ, and the spiraling colored lights. Okay, he thought. I always said I wanted pleasure. Fine. If these people want pleasure, I want pleasure too. He looked over the dance floor, and found the woman who signed her name "L33ta," and moved quickly towards her. He reached out and violently grabbed her.
She turned to him, twitched, and instantly she was a cereal box.
Xeno jumped back. Is this justice? he thought. He looked at all of the other people around him, but no one seemed to notice. He looked again where the raver used to be, but she was gone. The cereal box had disappeared. Bewildered, disappointed, and unsatiated, Xeno found a dark corner and contemplated. He looked over the dance floor. The woman who signed her name "L33ta" was sitting back against the wall. Ben was gone, and Reanna carried Amanda slowly towards the exit.