Science Fiction Fantasy / SF Novel / eBook

Those Who Live Forever

Ssshurp

The Entity From Within Uccalamin stood in the bar playing football with a packet of peanuts and the Late Shift Entity. The Late Shift Entity flicked a peanut into the Entity From Within Uccalamin's makeshift crisp bag goal for the fifth time in a row. All Jim, the bartender, saw was a peanut from one end of the bar flipping over to the other, occasionally going 'Phut' into one of the crisp bags. His Surrey guests had already left for home.

'Typical,' thought the Entity From Within Uccalamin slurping the last drop out of his glass, 'for Frodge to leave before his round. I'll have to see how he gets on sometime.' There was also the matter of the unregistered signature to take care off.

The Entity From Within Uccalamin thought of the Entity From Within Dillan, stretched his arms out and flew through the slate roof of the pub. Two and a half hours later he found himself in a heavy concentration of entities. These groupings are found throughout space, places where entities are safe from the interfering clutches of mortal brains, places where they can rest. This World, somewhere beyond the Andromeda Galaxy, has grown in popularity in the last fifty nine billion years since the creation of this 'Pocket' within space, our Universe. Tranquility, with no electrical disturbances. A green city so to speak. The sort of place where bores, who cannot stand life, stay. Many billions of thought patterns have made it an interesting place, housing mansions, banks, shops, lakes, forests, and generally a whole collection of scenes created from mental imagery, seven thousand light years in diameter. This World's diversity in landscapes and activities is what makes it the most popular in our Universe, kept together by those who prefer to see other entities happily enjoy their entertainment than traipse around the Universe. These permanent visionaries have taken it upon themselves to set up a ruling body for the good of the Universe. They referred to themselves as 'Goods', but for some reason, the temporary secretary they hired (on financial grounds) to type out publicity statements forgot one of the 'O's in Goods. She left after the seven hundred and nineteen billionth statement, when the mistake was discovered, on the grounds that she refused to collect and retype them all. No one else wanted the job either, so the decision was made to keep the mistake in the text and forget about it. A sentence within the text should have read, 'Be Goods and help the Universe to be a better place,' ended as being, 'Be Gods and better your place in the Universe.' For some reason, the other mistakes in the sentence were never noticed.

Most entities are not bothered with such trivial matters as politics. With an infinite number of universes comes an infinite number of governments, all wishing to sculpt the universes in their own ways. This is the purpose of the register, to keep track of all entities, occasionally employing those with sufficient qualifications, to shape the future.

Good does not rule our Universe. I shall not insult your intelligence by saying it does. There is always bad about, corrupted entities, empire building, wishing to become Gods, which according to the statement, they were entitled to do. Good always battles evil to regain control. The task is never easy, because within good, there is evil, and within evil, there is good. An entity may truly believe it is helping by interfering.

The Entity From Within Uccalamin once again thought of the Entity From Within Dillan, and found himself on a sidewalk next to a very large records building. He knew the Entity From Within Dillan was around, because the building was. It stood half a kilometer across and eight kilometers high, gray, lifeless and made entirely out of materials similar to steel reinforced concrete.

'I love this great imagination,' thought the Entity From Within Uccalamin sarcastically.

Twenty minutes later and one complete circle of the building, the Entity From Within Uccalamin stopped and scratched what he thought was his head. An entrance did not exist. More than that, no windows were visible for two kilometers up the walls. 'Oh well,' he thought and walked through one of the walls. The good point about imaginary walls is that they are easier to walk through. Real walls, even to entities, are not frictionless. The texture can be felt within oneself upon passing through, like being in molecular bondage with stone and mortar, an uncomfortable thought at that. The interior decor was just as bland. A spiral staircase ran up to the ceiling which would have been useful if only there was a hole in the ceiling to walk through, or even if the stair base began on the floor and not a couple of hundred meters up. Plastered across the walls were snapshots of various locations the Entity From Within Dillan had visited on his errands, each one being two centimeters square to fit them in. Gathering from the dates, the roof got raised every two hundred years in order to fit more in. Smack in the middle of the room was a statuette of an Yccarry Inter-Planetary Fighter. Frodge, obviously, was the last person pestered, this prime position being reserved for Dillan's last visit since the beginning of time, whenever that was.

“Where are you Dillan?” The Entity From Within Uccalamin shouted.

“Up here in the P's,” echoed the reply.

The Entity From Within Uccalamin floated up, not bothering to use the staircase. Three kilometers later and he found the Entity From Within Dillan bent double over the bottom draw of one of his millions of filing cabinets.

“Ah! Mr Uccalamin,” announced the Entity From Within Dillan. “I fear you bring bad tidings, as Mr Frodge is not with you.”

“He got himself caught up again,” the Entity From Within Uccalamin explained. “I could not help him. It was on a small young planet named Earth by its inhabitants.” Uccalamin stopped and looked around the room, which appeared to be greater than half a kilometer across. “Why don't you imagine a computer for your records? It will make things a lot easier.”

“I do. These files are just for my laser disks. Your report has been noted. Please sign him in and out,” said the Entity From Within Dillan. This was done on a personal organizer that the Entity From Within Dillan handed over.

With that fiduciary chore completed, the Entity From Within Uccalamin decided to hunt down some other entities he befriended over the years. The choice was not easy, as over many millennium, he had met a considerable number of people.

“Pick something you'd like to do,” said the Entity From Within Dillan, listening in on his thoughts.

The Entity From Within Uccalamin thought and thought and thought. 'I know,' he thought. 'I'll go and visit my favorite wife.' He thought of her personality and found himself catapulted out of the building towards the center of the city, through it and out the other side. Just north of M31, the Andromeda Galaxy, he stopped. She was obviously playing the part of another mortal life.

The Entity From Within Uccalamin decided to think of his second favorite wife. Again he headed for the center of the city and found himself shooting through it. When Uccalamin got to his eleventh favorite wife, he stopped six million kilometers from the southern edge. He was not surprised at the number of attempts, as all his favorite wives loved the physical part of physical life.

The view was one long blanket of jungle, when Uccalamin decided to rise above the trees to see what it was that he was looking at, surprisingly moist for the heat. It felt like standing in a sauna surrounded by artificial vegetation. Again he thought of the lady, brushing branches and vines as he moved passed at high speed. After a few minutes he broke through into a grassy clearing. A slight breeze lifted and the sun rose high. Positioned in the middle of the clearing was a tall ornate building. It was made out of dark wood and had three turrets holding up its curved walls. Curtains, blown by a fresh breeze, fluttered in and out of open windows.

A four meter high furry gorilla looking mammal stood by a clothes line, hanging out washing in the back garden.

“'How are you doing?” The furry creature asked as he approached. Even though images of entities change from death to death, the personality is always the same and this is the means by which entities recognize each other.

“This is not exactly the way I remember you!” The Entity From Within Uccalamin strained his neck to look up at her face.

“Is this better?” She said, shrinking to a humanoid image.

“It certainly is,” he replied, looking at her naked body. “What are you called these days?”

“Ssshurp,” she replied. “And you?”

“Call me Uccalamin,” he said.

“Why don't you come in,” she suggested, putting down the washing basket and heading for the door. “I'll make a nice warm drink.” The Entity From Within Uccalamin followed behind her, trying, unsuccessfully, not to look at her naked body.

The interior was quite cozy, decorated in a manner to suit the landscape, with fur skins, masks, shields, and weaponry. Her furniture was interestingly put together, consistent with universal functions yet different to those he had seen on his many travels.

The Entity From Within Ssshurp returned from the hall wearing a one piece gown and carrying two mugs. “Sit down,” she said, pointing at the sofa, which he did. The Entity From Within Ssshurp sat down right next to him and crossed her legs in a way that made her gown slip either side, displaying both her silky tanned thighs.

“It's been a long time,” the Entity From Within Uccalamin thought, after a moment's hesitation. “You still remember that orange hair, those broad shoulders, and that long thin firm figure. You even remember that long deep scar just above your left hip.”

“You know we never forget,” the Entity From Within Ssshurp whispered, with her chin on his shoulder, quietly into his ear. “Anyway,” she said whilst leaning back, “what have you been up to all these eons?” Her teasing was not one of the most, but the most annoying of her attributes.

“Forty three lives, and forty three deaths,” he said proudly.

“In nine hundred and sixty five years?” The Entity From Within Ssshurp looked a bit amused.

“A few miscarriages I'm afraid,” he said. “A dozen or so embryos were very popular. Two or three of us entities in a brain confuses it somewhat.”

“You're kidding,” she laughed, knocking over the lamp stand she forgot she had imagined.

“It's true,” he insisted. “I was also in a few car smashes, plain crashes, and a war. I was never, I'm glad to admit, stupid enough to step into a teleport like Beam-Up-A-Bimbo.” Thoughts of the poor entity threw the Entity From Within Ssshurp into hysterical laughter, flooring the lamp stand she had just picked up.

“How's he doing anyway?” She asked whilst wiping away the tears of laughter.

“He did it again. This time on Nenthu. He never made it to the coffee shop.”

At this point, the Entity From Within Ssshurp thought too much of Beam-Up-A-Bimbo's personality and vanished, along with the shield, the swords, the house, the forest, and even the sofa. Uccalamin sat there like a pickled gherkin suspended in a vinegar solution in the light of the lamp stand in space. 'Interesting,' he thought. 'She must have forgotten the lamp was there because she didn't put it there. I did.' The Entity From Within Uccalamin imagined a library to pass the time.

Seconds later, the Entity From Within Ssshurp returned along with the forest, the house, two shields, the swords, the sofa, and a lamp stand. Five minutes later, she had calmed down sufficiently enough for conversation. The Entity From Within Uccalamin, just about to start on the 'K's, decided he had read enough and put the gray mobile library van away.

“He told me all about it,” she said. “And, Frodge and you in the pub. I never thought I could laugh so much.”

“How am I supposed to explain things when you go off and ask other entities?” The Entity From Within Uccalamin asked. He was also confused over the matter of how Beam-Up-A-Bimbo knew about him and the Entity From Within Frodge in the pub.

“Sorry,” she said. “But it was funny. Two grown entities trying to pull him out of that mortal.”

“Anyway,” the Entity From Within Uccalamin interrupted with a cough, “what about your exploits? What made you a gorilla?”

“I thought it was going to be short term fun,” she replied. “It lasted for nine hundred and fifty years. I fancied a rest from high technology after that plantation blew up on that fifth moon.”

“I know what you mean.” The Entity From Within Uccalamin lowered his imagined head in respect. “Twenty thousand people died then. I stayed around for a month or two. It put Burfvurs's space travel back one and a half centuries. Just as well they had a new for old insurance policy, otherwise it would have taken much longer.”

“The thing was,” continued the Entity From Within Ssshurp, “I forgot to find out how long those monkeys lived for.”

“So you had a long boring life?” The Entity From Within Uccalamin inquired.

“It was certainly no picnic,” she said. “All we did was get born, copulate for over ninety years, and die. I would not be complaining except the race was good at none of these things.”

“What about the other eight hundred and forty years?”

“My mother lost my egg,” she replied.

The Entity From Within Uccalamin did not know what to make about this so he asked, “How did you die?”

“Nothing exciting, just old age.”

“What are you doing now?”

“Apart from sitting here chatting to you,” she replied, “not much. Why? Do you fancy registering out and finding a couple of lives on a quiet planet somewhere?”

“That sounds great,” he said.

Before they went, the Entity From Within Ssshurp moved into the Entity From Within Uccalamin's space. Their opposite energies bonded and discharged in one almighty exhilaration. 'Wow,' they thought in unison, before heading towards Andromeda to find a quiet planet, the Entity From Within Ssshurp with a cigarette in her hand and a smile on her face.