“…You need people in high places to live the high life. I don’t got any of that. So I’m going to take from the people who think they’re better than everyone, like her.”
One Big Selfish World
Our selfishness runs deep, a cycle that can never end.
Dalilah crashed through the ‘Do Not Enter’ sign that covered the entrance of the pyramid. Her spheric drone was right behind her.
“Dali, we’re not supposed to enter here. According to the files I have on it should be under construction,” said the drone.
“Less talking and more flying TIP. Unless you want to be another side ornament for these guys.”
“Duly noted.”
They rushed down the hallways of sand and limestone as TIP flew ahead to light the way. They could hear their pursuers chasing behind. Sand flew up in the air from misfired shots. Dalilah dipped her head and chuckled as they slid under pillars and jumped over pits.
“I don’t see what’s funny,” said TIP.
“Isn’t this fun? It’s like we’re in a movie.”
“People in movies die, Dali!”
“Sure, but I have a feeling we’re going to be just fine. This way,” said Dalilah making a sharp right down another path. The little blue drone quickly dipped back and caught up with Dalilah.
Dalilah caught a glimpse of a blue light seeping from the wall and stopped right before it. A tunnel, small enough for one person.
“Why’d you stop? They’re coming.”
“I know, I know, this way,” said Dalilah entering the tunnel. It was dusty, and cobwebs were everywhere.
“I hate spiders,” said TIP trying to shake off the webs of its metal body.
“Stop being a baby.”
Once on the other side, Dalilah quickly looked around for some debris to seal the tunnel shut. After a couple of seconds, she heard something clang inside the tunnel.
“I don’t know about you, Dali, but I know that clang. It’s a-”
Before the little drone could say the word, the tunnel exploded, knocking both of them across the room. They smashed into a large wooden door, breaking it off the hinges and into the next room.
“Grenade,” finished TIP.
“They really sealed us in here,” said Dalilah groaning up from the floor. She patted her ear to see if she still had hearing. A piercing sound cycled in her head. TIP flew by her and looked like he was saying something, but she couldn’t make it out.
She put her hand up to stop and then indicated to her ear. TIP pulled out a syringe from inside its dome-like body and injected her. In seconds she could hear again.
“You were saying.”
“Tunnel’s blocked, and there’s an old lady behind you and a Cube.”
“What,” said Dalilah turning around to see an old lady perched up by one of the pillars of this new room they were in. In the center was a Cube floating on a pedestal. A blue glow came from it, similar to the one that brought her to the tunnel.
TIP flew up to the old lady and circled her. Dalilah dusted off the chunks of rock and sand from her hair and headed to the Cube.
“I wouldn’t touch that If I was you,” said the old lady getting up from her seat. Dalilah stopped and glanced over at her. The lady was wearing a brown cloak that was tattered and ripped. A scarab symbol is laid in the center of the mantle.
“Who are you? Teta,” asked Dalilah, placing her hands on her hip.
“I should be the one asking who you are?”
“None of your business.”
“Well then ‘None of your business,’ I think you should be leaving.”
“Cheeky. Sorry to say this, but by the looks of it. I’m stuck here,” said Dalilah surveying the room. The old lady turned to face the entrance and let out a huge sigh.
“That was the only way in,” she said.
“What is your name,” asked TIP flying around.
“You can just call me Teta. My name is not that important.”
“Works for me,” said Dalilah going back to the Cube. As she got close, a sharp pain came from her hand, which she pulled back immediately. Teta was holding a stick in her hands. “Why’d you hit me for?”
“I said you shouldn’t touch that.”
“TIP, what is it?”
“I’ve been scanning the room and to be straight with you. I don’t even know. There is nothing in the Egyptian database to suggest what it is.”
“You tried Google,” said Teta chuckling at the word.
“You know what Google is,” asked Dalilah.
“I get around.”
“Not enough to get out of here.”
Teta thwacked Dalilah in the leg, which made her jump a little. Dalilah moved in for a punch before TIP flew in between them.
“Sorry to interrupt, but I did check Google. The only result I got was from the Khepre from the scarab symbols on the walls on Teta’s cloak. You’re not supposed to hit your elders Dali.”
“Who the hell is that,” said Dalilah rolling her eyes.
Teta thwacked Dalilah again, but this time on the butt.
“I swear to God if-”
“Khepre is a god. A creator god, self-created, no one gave birth to him but himself,” said Teta walking around the Cube and Dalilah. There was a sense of flow that went with Teta as she maneuvered around the room. “This Cube was one of the last creations he left on this earth.”
“Right~.”
“I’m sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but they're no such thing as gods,” said TIP.
“Fifty years ago, there was no such thing as drones, ya tin can,” said Teta whacking the drone.
Dalilah took another look at the Cube. There was something about it that just seemed to draw you in like a whirlpool that never stopped growing, spinning around at such speeds that you just had no choice but to go with the flow.
All of her life, she had never seen something so captivating. Dalilah and TIP lived the street life, stealing from the rich so that they could live another day. The Robin Hood life wasn’t as glamorous as the stories had depicted them to be.
“You want to touch it, don’t you,” said Teta.
“Yeah, I do. I wonder how much this could sell for?”
“Greed is a terrible sin, don’t let it consume you.”
“TIP, how much would a lost artifact like this sell?”
“Maybe a couple of million, but I don’t know of anyone who would buy such a thing other than McClellan Industries,” said TIP scanning the device.
“Weren’t you planning on leaving,” said Teta walking back to her pillar.
“We got time, plus those goons need a cool down.”
“What did you steal,” asked Teta.
“We didn’t steal anything. Why would you assume that” said Dalilah riling up. All her life, she had been stealing, but even now, she didn’t like the word. It had a lousy sting to it. She preferred surviving, it’s what she had been doing, and it’s what got her stuck in a tomb. Surviving off of one of McClellan’s shipments. She had stolen maybe one too many merchandises, and the shipment team might have been waiting for her.
“I’ve seen your kind before, struggling to get by day by day. Hoping for a life where you don’t have to starve when you lose out on a heist. Arrogant and stubborn, the world is at fault.”
“It is not our fault. We didn’t ask for this.”
“You didn’t, but it’s just childish to blame everyone. What’s that going to solve?”
“Screw you.”
“If you think the Cube can make everything better, then go right ahead touch the old thing, but I do warn you. Some things should be left alone.”
“Save that for the people that care. TIP, this is our big break. We’re getting out of this hell hole going to the city.”
“She might have a point,” said TIP. “I mean, you’re a good programmer Dali, we could make good money programming stuff. I mean, you fixed me.”
“They don’t hire street rats, TIP. You know that you got to have status to get paid. You need people in high places to live the high life. I don’t got any of that. So I’m just going to take from the people who think they’re better than everyone, like her,” Dalilah said, pointing at Teta. A sense of toxicity flew from her words.
“Then take it, child,” said Teta.
“I will,” Dalilah yelled, grabbing the Cube. Immediately she felt her body get a rush of energy that ricocheted throughout her. Like a charged battery, she was full of energy, full of power. She could see the inner making of the tomb, the world, TIP, and Teta. “Oh, my,” Dalilah started to cry as everything before her broke down to the tiniest of components.
She felt small in a universe so vast. All of her problems seemed childish from the outside looking in. Yet they were justified in her. They might have seemed small to everything else, but they were significant to her, like everyone else blowing everything out of proportion.
“Dali, you okay?”
“I’m in pain. The world it’s crying.”
“Of course it is,” said Teta standing straight and removing a mask from her face revealing a young woman with long black hair.
“What’s going on,” Dalilah asked.
“Don’t worry soon. You will go away,” Teta reassured her.
Dalilah could see a horizon of glass and on it a beetle rolling a large ball behind it. It was small at first, but as it got closer, the size of the beetle grew. The ball blocked the sun from her eyes, and all that was before her was the beetle. It’s eye devouring her.
Dalillah collapsed to the ground, and the Cube disappeared.
“Dali? Dali! You okay,” said TIP rushing to her side.
“Interesting.”
“Dali?”
“You beings have come far in your advancement,” said Dalilah but not her voice. Like something else was speaking through her. “Still only a fraction, but be proud.”
Dalilah rose to her feet and grabbed the drone. “Interesting,” she mouthed and like a mechanic taking apart a car to understand how the functions work. Dalilah placed her hands around the drone and pulled it apart. The inner workings of the droned floated in the air as if time had stopped. Putting her hands back to her original position brought the drone back to its standard form.
“W-what was that,” said TIP breaking free from Dalilah’s grasp.
“Khepre, I’m Dani Cocklyn. I have seen your works. I’ve only been able to recreate one of your many experiments.”
“Dani. Cocklyn. You are the anomaly in my sandbox. A flag trying to be unique. You have my adaptation in you, but it’s been corrupted. Twisted from what I’ve designed,” said Khepre. She walked up to Dani to have a better look.
Dani fidgeted in place. She could feel Khepre’s fierce gaze ripping through her, past her clothes, skin, muscle, bone, and soul. Taking things apart piece by piece. Like a mad man searching for his lucky tie in a room full of ties.
“A genius of luck, why have fixed my Cube and called me.”
“I have a couple of questions.”
“Like you, humans always do. Suppose you are going to ask about why you were made. I could answer that with my eyes closed. You’re just an experiment, just like the other fourteen billion other universes I’ve created. From what I could see from your world, you’re like most of them, blind, cruel, and destructive. All leading to your own death. A disappointment.”
“The others like us are also destroying their world?”
“Of course they are, and the planet is fighting back crying out in desperation,” Khepre said, waving his arms in the sky like a painter in enraged that his art is being misunderstood, again. “They try to leave, but there is no new home for them outside. I didn’t make one, so there isn’t any home outside of earth. Why would I make another sandbox for a sandbox.”
“But you wanted me to find you because of Adaptation,” Dani said.
“I dropped that old thing here by accident. I didn’t expect some to perfect it.”
“I want to leave the sandbox,” said Dani, confident in what she wanted.
“Right. You’d abandon everyone here to come with me,” asked Khepre, creating a chair from the dirt and dust.
“Yes, this world doesn’t need Adaptation.”
“A martyr? No. No. There’s something else. Primitive. Ah. You’re afraid.”
“What? No.”
“You know you’ll adapt to space and wander aimlessly among the stars. Alone.”
“I…I don’t think everyone needs this power.”
“I agree, but now I’m curious, how will you survive in the infinite space. Actually, I’m intrigued. How will you survive starvation? Will you adapt and no longer need food? I’ve tested the formula on other things, my attempt at immortality,” he said and clapped his hand echo throughout the tomb. “There. I’ve ceased the other universes, so I can fully focus on you. No more distractions. This exactly what I was looking for, in a way. I sat down and thought to myself-”
“Wait, you destroyed the other universes?”
“Yes, the ones I was working on. Other gods have their own, and it’s complicated beyond that.”
“They’re dead.”
“Shush child, such a large number of deaths are inconceivable for your simple mind to understand. All you know is life has ceased. I don’t need to bore you with screams and the prayers.”
“We are just your toys.”
“No, child. You’re my guinea pigs. Now listen, if you can save this planet, then I will take you away.”
“It’s impossible. This world is built on greed. No one will work together unless it fills their pockets or achieve their own goals.”
“Ironic coming from you. Didn’t you use this girl to summon me so that you could leave? If that’s not selfish, I don’t know what is.” Dani averted her gaze. “Let me give you some motivation. There is an atheneum that everything lives in—a place where everything connects. Gods have been trying to get there, and demons have been trying to get there. The Curator only allowed representatives. If you can save this planet, I will let you go there but only as my representative.”
“Only if you finish this universe.”
“Are you bargaining now?”
“I think it’s a fair trade. Finish this universe, and I will save this planet and be your representative.”
“…..Deal.”
“Just like that?”
“Yes. Being my representative is far more valuable than your puny universe. I would gladly expand it twenty folds if you would be my representative. I think this a win-win for me. I get a foot in the door, and you get to leave,” said Khepre.
“Tsk.”
“What’s wrong?”
“I should’ve bargained for more.”
Khepre began to laugh, and it shooked the foundation of the planet. Bouncing from corner to corner.
“You have work to do, Dani Cocklyn. Here this might give you a boost,” Khepre said, tossing a scroll at Dani. “I will be in contact soon.”
Dalilah’s body collapse to the floor, and TIP flew back to her side. Dani headed to one of the walls and pushed in a limestone brick which opened a secret door. On the other side, the goons were waiting.
“Your pay should be sent shortly to your account. Thank you for your hard work.”
“Yes, ma’am,” said one of the goons, and they left.
“Ugh,” groaned Dani getting up from the floor. “What happened?
“You became this other person, and uh,” stumbled TIP.
“Didn’t you record it,” said Dani.
“I….I did.”
“Good. Dali.”
Dalillah looked over at Dani, who was standing by the exit.
“You. You! I’ll kill you,” said Dalilah rushing over and grabbing Dani by the throat. She squeezed her neck like a boy trying to squeeze putty out of his hands. Dani’s neck swelled in thickness, and soon Dalilah couldn’t squeeze anymore.
“Many have tried,” said Dani removing Dalilah’s hands. “I would like to offer you a job.”
“Huh?”
“I think you and TIP would be fantastic for it.”
“Yeah?”
“How would you like to flip this world on its head?”
