Two time travellers arguing in a restaurant.
This one gets dark.
THE EARTHLOOP TRILOGY is a story about the personal and cosmic implications of time travel for intelligent beings. If you had a time machine that only worked once, what memory would you go back to? What day would you rewrite?
And if you found out someone else had already got there before you, and set the past in stone, how far would you go to undo their private control over time?
Who would you sacrifice?
I am currently saving up for a brilliant PR firm to work with me, as they are interested in this trilogy and I am confident it will be made into a TV series if it gets noticed.
The following is a scene from THE FURUKAWA PARADOX, the first book. I am tempted to make this the first scene, as it establishes Lax Morales and Fixer, our two main characters, right away.
Two time travellers arguing in a restaurant.
Fixer placed her black hat on the back of the red leather chair. She sat down, ordered a drink, and waited. Lax Morales turned up late. He found his way to her table without guidance, thanked the waiters, and sat down briskly.
“This meeting can’t take too long. I have another date in almost an hour,” Lax said.
“Another date?”
“Yes.”
“With a human?”
“Well, there aren’t many of us around anymore, are there?”
Fixer cracked her knuckles and adjusted her blonde hair. The Eastern European woman was wearing a red silk dress which shone dimly in the restaurant lighting, its shoulder straps adorned with a light sprinkling of jewels that contrasted and complemented her subtle blue eye shadow. Lax Morales wore a simple suit befitting the style of the time. His only adornment was a black silk tie, speckled with gunmetal flashes of interwoven glitter, which sparkled like stars against the abyssal backdrop of the cosmos. Fixer was too irritated by his opening conversation to notice this new fashion item.
“I will never understand your fascination with these creatures,” said with genuine disappointment. Lax smiled handsomely, taking one of Fixer’s hands in his.
“Are the Tessun Rel not fascinated by us? Are you not fascinated by me?” he asked. Fixer smiled. “Oh, so you accept that I am better than you?”
“I accept that you are ahead of my people when it comes to cognition, invention. Whilst I know you had a helping hand, with all that… alien technology… I don’t hold it against you.”
“Lesser beings would have eradicated themselves with all that power,” Fixer added. Lax Morales imitated her arrogant smile, playing into her self-importance.
Precisely. My treasure hunting brethren would have nuked themselves into orbit if they had dug up what you found here. But there’s a downside. Every step you make toward the machine is a step closer to the grave, and you outpaced me on that particular race a long time ago,” Lax said.
Fixer, knowing what this sentence could mean coming from another time traveller, leaned forward and lowered her voice to an angry whisper.
“What?!”
The overhead lamp was dim and orange, a simulacrum of a dying sun. Lax glanced briefly around the restaurant, at the bar and the booths and the long tables. If all fifty-three orbed lamps in this joint were stars, they would still not be enough to undo what had just been done, just beyond the final extremities of the solar system.
“You heard me. This dinner date of ours may as well be a séance. I’ve seen you die, Fixer. You won’t believe how it happened. All that security, and I just… slipped… straight through.”
“Then let me see it. Let me see into your mind.”
“You and I both know that’s not a good idea. You’d start rearranging the furniture, pulling drawers out, tearing up photos. I like my mind how it is. And anyway, it would ruin the surprise.”
Fixer almost said something, but stopped herself. She smiled up at a waiter as they brought her food.
“I ordered the crab,” she said.
“I noticed.” Lax Morales adjusted his black tie. Fixer looked down at the crab legs before her. Immediately, she began taking one apart methodically. A dark thought brought a smile to her face.
“It would be like you ordering a fried monkey, would it not?”
“You’re not superior to me,” Lax whispered. After all this time, he was still careful to avoid suspicion, even if he imagined Fixer had set up this entire restaurant just to taunt him.
“Oh but I am. I know my methods come with… risks. But I have my workers, my drones. I have people who would miss me. I’ve been watching you Mister Morales, through all your lives. All you do is cause trouble. The clumsy treasure hunter. All you’ve left is a legacy of pain.”
“Are you going to eat that?” Lax asked. Fixer had not noticed, but she had meticulously deconstructed the crab leg to the point where it was virtually atomised.
“Guess I was distracted,” she said. She moved to eat a piece, but something in Lax’s appearance startled her. She finally noticed one final, damning detail in her old friend’s suit.
“Your tie. It’s…”
“Black. Yes. A human custom. I thought it was fitting.”
“It shouldn’t be black.”
“Well it is black. Black like the long shadow that waits. Black like a hole in the Earth,” Lax taunted. By now, Fixer was visibly distressed. Her arrogance had fallen off in her sweat.
“I never met…”
“I took the long way round.” Lax Morales explained darkly.
“Which one are you?”
“All of them.”
“Is this a joke to you?”
“Perhaps, but you wrote the set-up. I’m just delivering the punchline.”
Finally, Fixer believed her would-be adversary. Nervously, she asked a question she had hoped never to ask.
“How long do I have?”
“Three days. Enjoy the crab.”
“Fuck you, Lax Morales.”
“I love you too.”
End
Please do leave some feedback if you have the time. Not because comments make posts look super popular and sexy, but because I actually want the feedback. I’m really proud of this opening scene, but it is only a first-and-a-half draft.
(I edited the crab/monkey bit in before posting).
The future of Earthloop
We’re at the point now where spoilers are going to start appearing, and the story will get a bit darker.
The next few Earthloop posts are going to be released early for my paid subscribers. But, if you’ve read a lot of my posts, there’s a chance I might send you a free trial sometime soon. I want to say thanks to anyone who has engaged a lot with my writing here, because you’re keeping this place alive. If you’re one of those people, you’ll probably be invited to try out the paid tier, for free, soon.
There are also going to be exclusive posts on there which will never become free: behind-the-scenes stuff, spoilers, that sort of thing.
If you’d like a free trial and don’t think you’ll be sent an invite, comment below. I’ll give one to the first five people who ask.
Alternately, wait until next week when I am officially launching the Leaderboard, which rewards you for bringing in new free subscribers. The rewards are pretty simple, you get a free paid subscription. The more people you introduce to my manic multiverse, the more time that free subscription lasts.
This handy button enables you to refer a friend to join as a free subscriber. Collect enough of them and you get free access to my paid tier.
Meanwhile, in the real world
I’m doing some events hosting next week. It’s my first paid gig as a comedian, so I’m very pleased. If you just so happen to be around that area and you follow me here, you’re welcome to come say hi.
I liked the story, with it's dark ending, although I was a bit puzzled by the last exchanges. "which one are you" and the monkey reference. I re-read everything to see if I missed some important clue. I like the mystery but I felt a bit left out all the same.
I like it and I read/ review across genres for over a decade. I want to read more