The Nebraska Encounter

PART 1

Day 223 post-Virus

Well, I knew this would happen. What was I thinking, going into yet another desert in the middle of summer? At this rate, I’m just going to melt. Simple as that. And the powers don’t help much either: tried building an umbrella construct to shield from the sun, and guess what? Come on, guess! Oh, right... You can’t. Well I’ll tell you — the constructs are completely permeable to sunlight. No blocking effect at all. I mean, you would think at least some of the heat would be blocked, the constructs might have some kind of UV-deflecting potential, but no. That would be too easy, of course it would. On top of that, this bag is getting to be annoying. Wait a second... I wonder...

Oh for fuck’s sake, why didn’t I think of this before! A construct to carry the damn bag, a little floaty platform, of course it works. I’m still getting used to this whole... situation. It feels odd. One moment, I’m Doctor Paul Trout, happily working away in Atlanta, the next, I’m... Well, I’m still Doctor Paul Trout, but I’m some kind of super powered version of him. Of me. Oh, whatever. In any case, it’s odd. I haven’t come to terms with it yet, I just don’t think of myself as the kind of guy who can just, you know, POOF, conjure up a floating platform to carry his bag. Obviously, I am now exactly that guy.

Anyway, I don’t have much to say. Just thought the dictaphone might help with the boredom. Because really, have you seen this place? I say “this place” because, to be entirely honest with you — which I feel is important for our relationship to have a good dynamic — I haven’t the faintest idea where I am. I haven’t seen a map since New Mexico; from the Sun’s movement compared to my direction of travel I know that I’ve been going North, but other than that, no clue. What I can tell you for sure is that there are no trees. Well, few trees. Very few. In fact, I haven’t seen one in hou— classic. Absolutely classic. The minute I tell you I haven’t seen a tree, guess what pops up? A tree. Fucking trees, playing tricks on me. What are they sentient? That would be a good one, a sentient tree...

Wait... Wait just one goddamn second. Is that... Well butter my crumpet and call me Suzie!! It’s a man! Or a person, at this point there’s not enough data to categorically state that the subject is — there’s a person, no one cares! What in the world is he — they, what are they, doing? Who the fuck just sits under a tree when it’s this hot out? I’m going to have words with this man — person! Goddamn...

“Hey you! What in the hell are you doing? What is this, a fucking picnic area?”

“What? No, who would put a picnic area in a wasteland?”

“Whilst that is a fair point... No, I got nothing. In any case, you have no business being out here in the heat. You’re going to get dehydra— you have a bottle. Of course you have a bottle.”

“Yeah, they’re not exactly rare.”

“Well, I don’t have one... Hey, mind if I join you in the shade? I haven’t seen any shade — or any people, for that matter — in a few hundred miles!”

“Sure, why not friend.”

“Thank you.” This guy seems alright. Young guy, early 20s I’d say. Ah, to be that young again, a naive student... Quite a bulky frame under that T-shirt, seems like a well-built man. I’d be interested to know to what extent he’s developed powers. Also be interested in cutting him open and seeing the state of his liver, but that might be a little forward -- we have only just met.

“So, stranger, what’s your name, what’s your story?”

“It’s Neville, and there’s no real story. I’m just heading south and figured I’d take a break from the sun. What about you?”

“Dr Paul Trout. I was a CDC researcher as well as a doctor in Atlanta before this thing, this virus, hit. I’ve been wandering since then. How’ve you ended up here? It’s the ass end of nowhere, so the coincidence that we should meet here is quite amazing...”

“I got here by walking; you're not the only one who’s been wandering.”

“Haha, yes, thank you, I’d assumed you hadn’t teleported. Although, these days, who knows... But seriously, how come you ended up here?”

“Supplies, would be the simplest answer. I'm heading down to Mexico City they have... Well, had, one of the largest populations on the planet. Since the city hasn’t been claimed by a faction, I figured it would be the best place to scrummage for equipment. Science is sort of my hobby now.”

“Well that makes sense. No it doesn’t. Factions? What? Care to elaborate?”

“Wait you seriously haven’t heard? I thought I was out of the loop.... As far as I can see, the remnants of this world have gathered together and formed two quasi-governments: one of them calls themselves the ‘United Society’ and is basically mob rule; the other group has gotten their shit together but acts like something out of ‘1984’.”

“Huh. You see, I haven’t seen anyone in a long time. The one person I did see was a nutcase, and we had something of a falling out. I’ve never even heard of this “Unified Society”. I haven’t exactly been able to consult BBC News — Oh god, the BBC probably went down. Oh I hadn’t thought of that. Oh how terrible. This is... That’s...”

I had to sit down. I think that’s when it first hit me, actually. The ridiculousness of the whole situation, that is. Here we were, two strangers in the middle of some desert, discussing the rise of antagonistic factions in “The New World”, like something right out of a book or video game. And on top of that, the BBC was down. London was down. My alma mater had been abandoned. All those shiny centrifuges and mass spectrometers just left, rotting in Cambridge. I mumbled:

“All those poor centrifuges...”

Now at this point, the stranger, Neville, had every right to think me crazy — he might in fact have been correct in his analysis — but instead, Neville said this:

“Its okay friend, we’ve all been there. For a while my only friend out there was a meta that could live in dreams. I thought I was going crazy looking forward to my ‘imaginary friend’. Then when I found out he was real... Well that was even crazier. People now...we aren’t sane anymore, no one who lived through this is and we are never going to be.”

“Meta. Interesting terminology. I’ve taken to referring to myself as... a super, I guess. Don’t really have another frame of reference to compare this kind of stuff other than comic book heroes. ”

“You’re a super? Wow it seems everybody’s got powers nowadays but me. So what's your schtick? Can you shoot flaming tacos or something else equally weird?”

“Me? No, no, nothing like that that. So far, I seem to be able to make energy constructs. They aren’t very big and they’re certainly no use as hats, but they do serve some purpose. Like this!”

I proceeded to show Neville my little “bag-pick-up” trick. I focused and made an orange construct appear under the bag, then lifted the construct with a small, gentle flick of my wrist. The bag hovered there. He seemed impressed at first but then...

“Pfttt hahaha. Listen to you. I can break the law of conservation of energy, but “it’s not as useful as a hat.” Hahaha, a gift like that and you’d trade it away for a hat. You crack me up.”

He laughed. No one laughs at me. Well, few people. In any case, I had not been laughed at in a long time. Initially I was angry, but I quickly came to realise he had a point. I mean, conservation of energy is a pretty great law to be allowed to break!

“You may, in fact, be justified in your mockery... It’s just, it’s so hot out there, and the sun is pounding and these stupid constructs, which can carry a pretty damn heavy pack, just will not produce a shadow! The one thing I need them to do and they can’t even do it. It’s a little frustrating, I’ll admit. But yes, on a fundamental level, it is quite impressive!”

“Hmm... can you make a thin sheet of of different colored constructs. If you can just put a slice of one colored construct onto the other and continue until all the light naturally filters out. This should work unless you can only make orange constructs? The light isn't filtering out now because you're making it into one uniform piece, like glass.”

“You mean... Of course! Place multiple constructs one behind the other, the energy gaps of all different colours will add up, eventually making the overall system able to absorb UV and infrared photons! Brilliant!”

I tried it. The kid was right. I stepped out into the sun with the relatively thick system hanging over my head. Shade. Beautiful.

“Did... Did you say science was a hobby of yours?!”

“Well yeah, funny thing is before... ‘it’ happened, I had no real interest in science, history or anything really. The only reason I know any of this crap is because after ‘it’ happened I needed to find something to do in my free time — besides just escaping from monsters and raiding the supermarkets. So I started reading and after about... six months and eight days, I had read everything I could get my hands on. Then I just started trying out some basic experiments, eventually I ran out of usable equipment and thats why I’m going to Mexico. You look shocked, relax man it’s just some basic physics not brain surgery.”

“Yes, yes... Well, I’ll admit, I’m better at neurosurgery than I am physics! I’ve forgotten rather a lot of it...” He looked at me awkwardly as I ranted. Can’t say I blame the kid.

“Hey buddy, have some water you look like you’re gonna die and I’m not having that on my conscience.”

As he said this, he handed me the first bottle of water not filled with swamp water that I’d seen in days.

“So drink up and relax while I bring out my playing cards. I’m a little excited so far i've only been able to play solitaire. So what’s your game? I'm partial to gofish myself.”

“Always been more of a blackjack man myself, but I’m sure I can learn.”

I thought to myself : This desert might not be so bad after all..

END OF PART 1

Be sure to comment with your thoughts and check out part 2!