Category Archives: Rank & File

5th

It was her 1/2 hour “lunch hour” and she decided to explore the sim, mainly remotely but with some direct teleports. She’d discovered Tigger Peak, currently covered up with false landscaping. And a larger club and bar in the ne corner of the sim — maybe she could get a job there to earn a living instead of working for Al the slave driver. Then, the last parcel she checked (she was going to be late getting back but who cares at this point, she thinks), the Land of the Cows. And she’d found their throne tucked away in the loft of a barn. Seeing no green dots indicating other residents nearby she dared to directly sit in it from her remote viewing spot.

She looked down and counted her white gloved fingers. 10 instead of 8. Good. She was still whole. Like proper milk, 5 percent instead of 2, or at least 4 to make the ratio come out correct. She’d held out her number challenge hand and someone grasped it. She was saved by the FILE, she knew. She had to keep abiding by the golden rule. But nobody said she had to keep working for *Al*. Heck, she could work here, with the cows, be a type of secret, inside agent uncovering their inner workings, including 4 stomachs we assume. But everyone knows that. Deeper secrets; beyond strange body workings. She could see into the soul of the cow, beyond the black and white, and peer deep into red, the ultimate unity. Like alchemy. But… where was the citrinitas? she wondered with this train of thought. The yellowing? The missing 4th? Ah… “Eureka!” she shouted, leaping out of the throne, attracting the attention of at least one other. Someone named Beckett, an expert on historical. An expert on all things missing in the now. Including himself.

(to be continued)

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Filed under **VIRTUAL SL, 0038, 0703, Nautilus, NORTH, Rank & File

Zero Hero?

Desk job to begin, Al said. “Others are coming,” he reiterated. “Check them in, fill them in on what you know, which isn’t much (he admits) but do your best. If you get stuck, Tigger can step in. He’s been in this sim since the beginning. We aren’t sure if he created the sim or the sim created him he’s so old in the time of Our Second Lyfe. And, sad thing, he can’t recall himself at this point. You may have to sift through the garbage that’s in his mind to get to the nuggets of truth. Lord knows I spend a lot of *my* time doing so.” Was this a lie? Al pondered. And… he better get back to the dock. More are coming, he was promised. 2 boats already, but just one passenger, much to his disappointment. Takes at least 2 to form a proper company, he knew. And Tigger doesn’t count. Not even up to one.

(to be continued)

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Filed under **VIRTUAL SL, 0038, 0702, Nautilus, NORTH, Rank & File

who?

She was dressed for maritime fun, but her adventure on the seas with the 2 boats was over, landfall made. She was a company of one and Al was her boss, subordinate, in turn, to Thomasina, formerly Thomas Boyy. Or the same as Thomas Boyy — whatever. TOM, anyway, the archetype, the overarching thing. Back to Al: “We assemble here in the sim of Tigger, you and I, to end the threat of being cowed once and for all. The renegade treatises of Bart and his more learned but less psychic sister Lisa will not be tolerated here. Is that cleeearrrr!?”

“Clear sir,” she said crisply, eager to get on with the job. At least it beats cleaning up Dukie in Hypolazy, another part of the FILE. She could have remained there for a proper reboot. “Yes sir, clear sir.” Then she remembered to salute. Crisply again. She wasn’t use to a military regime regiment but surely she could get use to it (as her back began to ache a bit from standing rigid so long). Surely she could.

He looked her over good. “Did you bring any other *clothes* with you, er, private?” He lorded over her, acting like he controlled the many instead of just the one. He wasn’t Thomasina in other words. He’d have to report back to her soon. Weekly, instead of bi-weekly like Shelley in her individual one. Because more would be added soon, he knew. He didn’t ask to be head of a religion without a price.

“No sir, sorry sir.” She saluted, not knowing if it was needed again but doing the act anyway. “Maritime fun and adventure I was dressed for, nothing more… sir.” Another salute after a quick pause.

Al would turn and look at the boats she brought but couldn’t break protocol. Do we just stand here the rest of the day? Shelley-as-Jennifer thought on her part. And… she better select a name soon, or decide on a name. Probably Jennifer. All grown up from Jenny. Yes, I believe that’s what Thomasina would desire. And she’s the most important one now, the new big boss, same as the old big boss.

(to be continued)

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landfall

Arthur and Edward proving once and for all that they are indeed one and the same deep down.

“I don’t feel any different except for the clothes and hair,” spoke one.

“Ne meither,” said the other.

But what to do about it?

—–

“6’5″ both, huh,” said Thomasina about the presents. “Do they play good cop bad cop?”

“I… don’t know. They’re just *there* now.”

“Like the 88s,” she replied, thinking about an earlier time. Before Shelley grew up. She returned to her notes, saw Toy, Play, Mine, Thing on the surface of the paper before her. Separation, one into two. Like removing the shadows from a human face, leaving only outline. But comparing them side by side you can tell they’re from one image. The 8 fingered hand reaches out.

“Anything else, today?” As usual, people were beating down the door of Thomasina’s inner sanctum in the sim of Jasper, needing help for this that and that. She did all she could. She’s using her powers for good these days. She is the true eye of the pyramid. TOM. Both male and female energies. Synergy.

“I don’t suppose so,” Shelley-as-Jennifer replied. “I’ll stay within the column, the FILE, as you requested.”

“Good good. We have agents that are aiding you. Like with the body swapping machine. Good you know. Good *they* know. You will advance step by step, assimilate. Already a variant scenario where Lichen Roosevelt takes over the body has been absorbed. You are you again.” She looks at the now familiar Pepper for President shirt, the glasses, the gloved hands, the patched jeans, the sneakers. The blond doodle-bug hair. *Not* curly any longer. Lichen is gone, although the fear of being “cowed” remains. Probably the influence of Myrtle Beech back on Constance. More to be told there for certain. “Keep those bi-weekly reports coming,” she said in parting.

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Filed under **VIRTUAL SL, 0038, 0616, Nautilus, NORTH, Rank & File

00380615

One last look around…

… before heading inside the pyramid again.

“He left the marbles and globes, Hucka. Spheres all.

“The bees are gone, I assume — he covered their formerly very active hole with rocks. He was planning a fire pit before I came along. No more threats there.”

“No.”

“*There* you are.”

“This was important,” she explained, leaving out the, “unlike most of your chattering.” Thanks, Hucka!

“So… should I return the toys?”

“Dot dot dot,” she answered. I knew what she meant.

But did I *really* know what she meant?

Thing is, there was another toy at Aloha and it wasn’t my own. Singular, unlike my many. Toy. Was he embarrassed? The Son of God, the founder of a potential religion like Xianity, with *that*? It was a bizarre sight. I couldn’t figure out what it was, yet all my toys were all around it that I had to pick up and gather together for moving. I couldn’t miss it; it stuck out, see. It was lying in the sun, soaking in the sun. Siren. Muse, even. You make do with what you have to. You are all alone in the woods. Time to bring back Thomasina, the pyramid itself.

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Filed under **VIRTUAL SL, 0038, 0615, Blue Mountain, City Park, Lands End, Lower Austra^, Nautilus, NORTH, Rank & File, Rim Isles, Toy Avatars

00380613

“So here it is, Hucka. The FILE. 32 sims lined up in a row — column, actually — running all the way across the 32 x 32 sim grid designated as the Nautilus continent. But I believe you’re going to tell me we should count starting at the bottom this time.

(no answer)

“FILE, Hucka Doobie (Baker Bloch continued). You’re going to tell me this is a 32 page file, one for each of the inclusive sims. 1-16, part 1 of 2 as it were, ends in Constance. 17-32 ends with a blank page, a missing piece of the file. The 32nd page is either missing or blank (he reinforces). Here’s the primary link for this idea: The page for (the sim of) Ten Pages is 10 pages into the hypothetical report, again reading from the bottom up instead of top down. The 9th page then would be READux. This conjunction seems to emphasize that we’re suppose to read the pages of the file in order to understand the content. Obvious.

(to be continued)

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Filed under **VIRTUAL SL, 0038, 0613, Nautilus, NORTH, Rank & File, Rim Isles, Southwestern, Wild West

“And so on the 5th day…”

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Filed under **VIRTUAL SL, 0038, 0612, Nautilus, NORTH, Rank & File, Rim Isles

Jasper control

“Edward on the left, Arthur to the right. My two boys.”

“Yes, they’re very nice,” said Thomasina, staring down at them. “But… these are 2 boats, Jennifer. The same boat, in fact, by the looks of it. Just doubled up.” Thomasina wondered if she purchased them from the same place but didn’t ask this.

“Yes. My two boys.” Jennifer started to look confused. Why didn’t Thomasina understand this? 2 boats, 2 boys. What could be simpler? Takes two to know after all, she thought. Everyone knows that, every single person in the world knows that.

“Let’s begin again,” Thomasina decides while putting down the photo and re-scanning her notes on the table. She pounded her bat softly into her now empty left hand while she did, thinking mode on. Shortly: “You were born November 2021.”

“Yes. About.” She knew the exact date but didn’t like to show off her eidetic memory. Best to hide certain things from the world. She’s starting to rethink the whole Edward-Arthur reveal. And what is this batty outfit Thomasina is wearing? What did it mean? The obvious?

“You *were* Jenny Lane and then you grew all up, became weedy but not in that way.”

“Dabbled in some pot back in the days, yes. Plants were there so I took the opportunity.” Last time: July 10th 2007, she knew but didn’t say.

“Let’s not worry about the far past right now,” said Thomasina, sitting up and looking into her eyes again. “Let’s set some rules, or reinforce some rules. In the *present*.” She had several others in line at the gate already. Grammy was done (SODA addict — cured with a coke can filled instead with rancid urine) but more came. Guard Tank or Bazooka Ferguson had his hands full. Thank Gods for Steven, a needed distraction. But troubadour songs only go so far. “You tried Rank, now stick to File. Like here. NOd if you understand.”

Jennifer nodded. As long as her 2 boys were with her she’d make due. She could write her novels, she could live her lives.  She would escape the column *sometime*. Thomasina seemed to read her mind here — probably was.

“As long as Constantynople is a thing, you must abide by this rule. Try the up and down, *stay* in the up and down. Not even right and left any longer — that’s gone.

Jennifer thought of the overnight disappearance of Nightsity. Fantasyland was still there, though, in Bionaz Gulch. She asked about it. And also Dottieback, the many individual locations there. After all, these were directly east and west of Constantynople.

“That was for the last photo-novel,” replied Thomasina to this. “You might have missed your opportunity. You are going very fast with your writing but maybe not fast enough. If you’d just… stick to the plan.”

—–

So Thomasina changed forms and took her to Kenosha, the top of it all, the eye of the pyramid. Her extra pair of eyes rolled heavenward to reinforce the deal. “Gotta get back,” she said. “I’ll leave you here to start.”

—–

10:01 AM. But she stared anyway.

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Filed under **VIRTUAL SL, 0038, 0611, Nautilus, Nightsity, NORTH, Rank & File

00380610

They switched horns with each other, Ben with Jerry, becoming Benny and Jer again. Jer gets up after the transformation, says he has to check on his bars, even the Zero, even the Nine. Beyond the visible compendium. Larry would not be happy. Or Lawrence.

—–

The scene is set. The return of Thomasina Boyy.

—–

“You’re nervous aren’t you?” the old woman beside me on the waiting bench spoke. “Why don’t you feed the pigeons to take your mind off your worries. Steven will be back soon.”

I checked but no animation in the bench that would allow such. And laying on her lap, another one of the few options, seemed inappropriate, although I *was* sleepy. The end must be near. Yes, down there, unseen to me in the moment. Because she was me.

I thought of the visible compendium again, the 1 through 8. Jer, left horn in place again, becomes the owner of bars, Kedas and others. He wanted me to don the Crazy Blue and perform the cancan, old fashion style. How dare he (!). I’d slap him if he were here beside me instead of this old woman. I wanted to get a name. So I decided to bring up the lack of that animation she spoke about.

“You call me Grammy,” I finally got out of her. I recall her from the Newt pharmacy, striking provocative pose after provocative pose for the apothecary in an attempt to get SODA. Most likely why she’s here, and it turns out one in particular did the trick. Call it her cancan moment.

—–

His break over, Steven returned to playing the guitar across from us, entertainment and also a needed distraction. The policeman guarding the gate to the inner sanctum, Tank I believe, mysteriously clapped in slow motion to the beat, about 1 per every 4 to 5 measures, I reckoned. It’d been 1/2 an hour already, maybe, yes, 45 minutes (as I checked my watch). Ten till 2 now. At least the meeting didn’t take place in the cursed fairy blue light of middle late morning. Else I might be doomed, designated for Hell and Devil alike. Hellville. Joining the Hills, or at least Grant. But Mike is trying to save them by roping my parents into the story, of all people. “Lemon!” he said earlier, stuffing that one in Mama Wheeler’s mouth. “Lime!” he then said, doing the same with Daddy Newt (named for the sim and not visa versa). “Speak!!!” he then shrilled after telling his own tale, but the fruits were still in their mouths. He removed them, causing the cascade of words we talked about before which still didn’t satisfy him. Guess what he uttered next.

(to be continued)

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Filed under **VIRTUAL SL, 0038, 0610, Nautilus, NORTH, Oooo, Rank & File, Rim Isles

investigators

“Perfectly round,” spoke the first.

“Perfect triangle,” uttered the second.

“Perfectly… hold on,” said the third closer to the center of it all. “What’s this?”

“Nauty,” spoke the just appearing pincushion voodoo doll to Square and the rest, pins in place just there there and there. “I come from Jasper. Jasper Falls to be concise.” Knowing of their needs, he took them there.

—–

“This is where I live,” he said to Triangle who had absorbed the other two for the moment. Just to simplify things and reduce lag. “These are my roommates Jennifer Lane and Biff Carter. Keith B., the third, is out traveling again. 3 — just like you guys.” He takes a gander at Triangle’s singular face. “I mean — *normally*. But we here are like that too,” he explains. “There is really no one here but me. I live alone. And yet these are my mates. Playmates more than roommates. You’d get along with Biff especially. He’s an investigator. Like you.”

Triangle let Square have a turn to look over at Biff, study his figure. Then Circle did the same with Jennifer. “Perfect,” said the third for all, and leaned back and turned triangular once more, satisfied with the sights. He thought of the end.

He laid down to sleep as host Nauty comforted him the best he could. A lullaby about shapes I believe.

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