The Edge

by Jacob Wenzel

  William and Sally stopped in their tracks, and looked at each other.

  Sally said, “It's a possible universe, William, where someone happens to write a book that parallels our story, and it gets made into a miniseries, it's unlikely, but so is a lot of what we've seen.”

  They hurried to catch up with her, William asked, “How does it end?”

  Claire stopped, and turned, “Richard and the writers are keeping that tightly under wraps, it's going to be different than the book, I know that, you'll be off the set when we're filming the end, only essential crew will be allowed, he wants to make sure it's a total surprise to the audience.”

  Claire led them into a trailer, where they were given clothing that was a Hollywood costume designers version of what they were wearing when they met, Sally's costume was far sexier than her beaver pelt tunic, with a bare midriff and a push-up bikini top with padding to make her breasts look bigger. William, instead of being in jeans and an OSU t-shirt, was dressed in a reflective silver jumpsuit, and a strange looking headset, “Apparently they think that this is what they'll be wearing in another hundred and twenty-five years.”

  Sally said, “I would have worn this, if I had had it fourteen thousand years ago, don't you think it's sexy?”

  “It's kind of silly looking, how many women in your clan wore push-up bras?”

  “Let me think... none, but they might have, if it had been invented.”

  Claire stuck her head into the trailer, and pointed at Sally, “You, what's your name?”

  “I'm Sally.”

  “Not who you're standing in for, your name.”

  “My name is Sally.”

  “What a freakin' coincidence, and I suppose your name's William?”

  “You got it.” William said.

  “And I suppose that you're from the twenty-second century, and that you're a cavewoman.”

  “Exactly.” said Sally.

  “Jeez, just what I need, method standins, Sally, you do stunts? Our stunt double for Sally walked off after Richard wanted her to fall a twentieth time.”

  Sally looked at William, “Stunts?”

  William explained, “Intentional falling, moves that are too dangerous for the actor to do, before computer imaging replaced them, stunts would be performed by trained stunt doubles, I suspect you would have no problem, but it's up to you.”

  Sally turned to Claire, “I'll give it a try, why not?”

  “Good, Kimberly will be relieved, Richard's trying to talk her into doing her own fall.”

  “Kimberly?” sally asked.

  “Kimberly DuVance, she's playing Sally.”

  “Never heard of her.” said William.

  “She's the highest paid comedic actress in Hollywood, how can you not have heard of her? She was in 'Tiffany in the Underworld'?”

  She was met puzzled looks from both Sally and William.

  William said, “We never saw that one.”

  “Before that, she was in 'Yesterday's Poodle', surely you saw that, everyone saw that, best comedy of two-thousand-six?”

  “Never heard of it.” Said Sally

  “Or of her,” reiterated William.

  “Comedic actress?” asked Sally, “This is a comedy?”

  “Parts of it, but this is her first dramatic role.”

  “We just got here, we haven't seen any movies from this world.” Sally said.

  Claire stared at them, then her eyes widened, and her jaw dropped, and she covered her mouth with her hand, “Oh, my God.”

  “What.” asked William.

  “Chapter thirty-nine, oh my god, we're living chapter thirty-nine... this is real... isn't it, you really are Sally and William, I didn't hear your RV drive up, because you didn't drive up, you just appeared, but this is chapter thirty-nine, my name is different, but you're real, aren't you?” She sat down, “I need a minute.”

  “Chapter thirty-nine?” William asked.

  “Chapter thirty-nine, William and Sally find a world where their story is being filmed as a miniseries, you're really them, aren't you?” she turned away, “Unless that bastard Richard is playing a joke on me....no, he's not that clever, he hasn't read the book, and the writers left chapter thirty-nine out of the script because they thought it was too weird. this is real.. okay.”

  She turned back to Sally, “You do the falling stunt, you're great, and get it on the first take, and after that you both do some minor standin work, and then disappear during the night. Come on, they're waiting, I'm not telling anybody about this, Richard won't figure it out.”

  The scene was the one where Sally first saw the Winnie, and turned and fell when Bob spoke to her. They had a young tiger in a cage, who grew agitated when Sally approached him.

  Claire stopped her and pulled her aside, “You're on your period, right.” she whispered.

  “How did you know?”

  “It's in the book, you can't be around the tiger when you're on your period. In tigers, bleeding happens during estrus, he perceives you as a fertile female.”

  “I find it a little disconcerting that someone wrote about my periods in a book, they never bothered Fluffy.”

  “That's different, Fluffy is... well, he's your tiger.”

  “You were going to say something else.”

  “I was, but I didn't in the book, and I'm not going to now, you'll find out eventually, in the final chapters. If you're really Sally, then you have the real Fluffy, and he's going to show up right about... now.”

  On cue, Fluffy walked up to Sally.

  Claire took a deep breath and said, “Okay, let's do it.”

  Richard was still pissed at the delay, but as Claire had said, Sally got the fall on the first take, and they did some minor stand in work. After shooting was done for the day, Claire walked them back to the Winnie. She was trembling, “In the book,” she said, “you take Sharon, that's my character's name in the book, inside for a look.”

  “We can do that.” William said.”

  “You also put me in the Mecha-Med.”

  “We can do that, why?”

  “Because Sharon asks you to, because she read the book... this is so weird, like Deja-vu, only different, I'm doing what a character in a book did, and the character did it because a character in a book she read did it...what did you call that, William?”

  “A recursive loop?”

  “That was it, anyway, the Mecha-Med finds and cures a cancerous tumor on her pancreas... so I think I would like to try it.”

  Sally took Claire's trembling hand, “I think that would be best.”

  “Thank you.” she said as her tears began to flow.

  The Mecha-med did find and remove the cancerous tumor as Claire had predicted.

  Before Claire left, and went to her trailer, saying she would be back in a minute, she came back with a box, “I know from the book that paying you for your work today would be pointless, but that you like movies, I had a few dozen movie-disks in my trailer that you may not have in your timeline, they're yours. I feel like I should give you something more, but I don't know what that would be.”

  Sally said, “You've given us a unique experience, and you let us help you, that's all we need...unless you have a copy of the book.”

  “Richard banned all copies of the book from the set, he wants us working from the script, not the book, he wants it to be his vision, not the author's.”

  “Is that why the actors are wearing the weird costumes?” William asked.

  “That's it, I was against them, but it's his project. Personally, I think he's going to ruin the story, but he says he knows what gets ratings, of course what's going to get ratings are the love scenes.”

  “Love scenes?” asked Sally.

  “They weren't described in the book.”

  “That's a relief,” William said.

  “That is kind of private.” said Sally.

  “Well, they won't be private in the miniseries, Richard wants it as graphic as he can get away with on cable.
” Claire said.

  “At least it will be actors, and not us.” Sally said, “Maybe, we can get back to this world after it's finished, and get a copy.”

  “You should get to the edge first.”

  “Of course, if we return here, it will be on the way back. In the book, do we return?”

  “I'm not saying, I don't want to influence your decisions. I'll just say that the ending is a happy one.”

  “In the book or the miniseries?” asked William.

  “Either one.” Then Claire's phone buzzed, and she checked it, “I have to go now, script meeting for tomorrow's shoot. Thank you, and look me up if you return.”

  “How will we find you?” Sally asked.

  “If you return, Bob will know how, he knows the future, you know.”

  “Yes, we know.”

  “I'm sorry, I really have to go.” she started to step out, and looked back at them, “Thank you for saving my life.”

  Sally did not want her to leave, but it was almost time for their jump, she wondered if she would ever get used to the brief encounters that she experienced as a result of time traveling. In her entire life before she had met William, she had never had brief relationships, most people she knew were in her own clan, and she saw them everyday, the only outsiders were members of other nearby clans who would come to trade or find mates, and she would see them periodically, but never had she met someone, never to see them again. Now she knew logically that she would probably not see Claire (or Chen, Frannie, Leroy, or any of the others) again, but in the back of her mind, she felt that she would.

  40.

  Zeeeb peered out through the darkness from his borough nestled in the roots of the nut tree where he had lived his entire life. As first-born of his litter, he had killed off his male siblings as they were being born. After weaning, he drove away the females. Then, after growing to adolescence, he had killed his sire in a battle of tooth and claw. Had his sire been much younger, Zeeeb would likely have lost, and either been killed or driven away. He then drove away his mother, and would occupy the borough alone until he reached mating age, when his odor would attract the neighboring females, he would select one of them, mate, and continue the cycle, killing his male offspring until he was too old and weak, and one of them would eventually prevail. Zeeeb, like some of the others of his kind felt regret over all the killing, and wondered if it was really necessary, but the urge to behave this way was overwhelming, and undeniable.

  Now he was hungry, he had lived off the tree-nuts for four weeks, and it was time for meat, as it was every month during the full moon. Any animal that wandered into this grove tonight would be unlikely to survive, since all of his neighbors were on the same schedule. There would be a lot of competition. Again, Zeeeb wondered if it wouldn't be better if they were to co-operate, and stagger their schedules, but it was beyond their ability to change their behavior. Controlled by hormones and emotion, whatever intellect they had was subverted, and, in Zeeeb's opinion, pointless.

  Zeeeb pricked up his furry ears, there was a commotion a few hundred yards away, he could not see what was happening, but supposed that it might be a deer or elk, or maybe even a bear, with luck it would be something large, upon which, all the locals would be able to feed without having to fight over the relatively small portions that his kind occasionally needed, he scurried out of the borough, and toward the noise, occasionally running for short distances on only his hind legs, but then coming back to all fours.

  As he rounded a bend in the trail, he could see what had been obscured by a thicket of trees, a large, strange looking object was in the clearing, and the others, of course, were attacking it. It didn't look edible, so he wasn't sure why they were attacking, but then he saw that there was light inside and two creatures looking out at them, perhaps they were edible.

  He felt his adrenaline rushing, and his heart pounding, he ran, and leaped at the creatures. In mid-air, he noticed that others were also leaping, but hitting an almost invisible barrier in front of the creatures, it was clear, like the ice that formed on the river in the winter. As he hit the barrier head first, his last thought before he lost consciousness was that it was not cold like ice.

  41.

  Sally watched as another creature hit, and then slid down the windshield.

  “William, what are they?”

  “I don't know. They look like large squirrels.”

  “I think you're right, cute, fuzzy squirrels with the nastiest fangs I've ever seen.”

  “Whatever they are, it looks like we're under attack, there are dozens, if not hundreds of them. Some are knocking themselves out, but the others keep coming back.”

  “What are we going to do?”

  “Let's see what a high voltage charge applied to the outside does to them.”

  William applied a non-lethal electric pulse, and all the squirrels that were clinging to the Winnebago jumped or fell off, however more jumped on. He tried again with the same results. After several more shocks, they kept on coming.

  “Look at them,” Sally said, “they know what's coming, they're trembling before they jump, but they still jump. They can't help themselves.”

  “I think we're going to need to fly to some other spot, after we get out of jump range, we'll give another shock.”

  Bob interrupted, “That won't be necessary.”

  “Why not?” William asked.

  “If you'll notice, some of them are starting to attack each other, rather than us. Sunrise is approaching, and by then, the attacks will stop, and they will not resume for the duration of our stay.”

  “So we should just wait it out?” William asked.

  “That is my advice, of course you can choose to ignore it.”

  “And if we do?”

  “You could be eaten by ravenous elk or carnivorous beavers.”

  “Are all the creatures here carnivores?” William asked.

  “I really don't know, but all the ones you encounter in various timelines are.”

  “So the squirrels are the least dangerous.”

  “No, actually, the hummingbirds are the least dangerous, but most of them get eaten by the deer, and you really don't want to be around the deer.”

  “Are we likely to encounter any of those other animals here in this clearing?”

  “Very unlikely, less than one point two percent chance, the animals all seem to be very territorial, the squirrels dominate here, and other animals tend to avoid the area.”

  “But we'll be safe here.”

  “Yes, after sunrise.”

  “And tomorrow night?” Sally asked.

  “They'll be aggressive at night, but not enough to attack the Winnebago. You'll be safe if you stay inside between sunset and sunrise. I also advise not wandering from this grove, and don't cook any meat outside, it could bring the deer.”

  “You got it,” William said, “we just need to stay inside at night for the next four weeks, and we'll be safe. That should be no problem.”

  Bob was right, as usual, the squirrels stopped attacking the Winnie, and then stopped attacking each other, there were numerous fatalities among them, but when William and Sally stepped out in the morning, there were just some blood stains, and patches of squirrel fur, all the bodies had been dragged away. They spent most of the time inside, but occasionally went for a stroll outside, staying close.

  After a couple days, Sally noticed that while most of the squirrels stayed in their boroughs during the day, there was one that would venture out to watch them, at first staying far back, but coming closer each day. Sally asked Bob about him.

  “Bob, is he going to attack us?”

  “No, that's Zeeeb, he wants to talk to you.”

  “A squirrel wants to talk to us?” William asked.

  “They are remarkably intelligent, they have a primitive spoken language, and the potential to create a civilization, it's a long shot, but the potential is there.”

  “What should we do?”

  “Talk to
him, I'll translate.”

  “Okay, Hello, Zeeeb.”

  Bob made some twittering sounds, and the squirrel stepped back, and looked around, then made what sounded like angrier twittering sounds.

  “What did he say?” William asked.

  “Well, there is not an exact translation for some of the words he used, but, loosely translated, he said, 'who the fetid deer dung are you?'”

  “They apparently have expletives. Explain who we are.”

  Bob made some twittering sounds, and Zeeeb held his head and tail low, and crawled away.

  “What did you say to him?”

  “I told him that the two of you are gods, and he had better be more polite, or you would kick his skinny squirrel ass from here to the river. He will return later with offerings.”

  “I guess you just have to know how to talk to squirrels.” Sally said.

  “And I just happen to know how to.”

  “Bob, how is it that you know all these languages?” she asked.

  “It's a time thing, really. Since I can perceive all my possible futures, I know what happens, and what to say.”

  “I think I understand.” Sally said.

  “I think I don't,” said William, “just by being in those futures, you understand the language. That doesn't make sense, Bob.”

  “It doesn't make sense in three dimensions, William, but it does in twelve.” Bob said.

  “So how does Sally understand it? Sally, the last time I checked, you were only three dimensional.”

  Bob said, “Do you want to tell him, or should I? Or do you want to keep him in the dark about your dreams?”

  William seemed annoyed, “You talk to Bob about your dreams, but not to me? I have to say, I'm slightly offended.”

  Sally took his hand, “I haven't talked to anyone, Bob just knows because he knows the future.”

  “But you knew that he knew, so it's like you talked to him.”

  “Now, that doesn't make any sense,” she said, “I haven't told anyone about my dreams, because I needed to understand them myself, and I wasn't sure you would understand.”

  “What are you dreaming about that I wouldn't understand.”

  “Four dimensions.”