Stasis (Book 1.2): Beta

by Osborne, E. W.

  Contents

  Stasis Part 1.2 Beta

  Author's note

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Chapter 27

  Chapter 28

  Chapter 29

  Chapter 30

  Author's Notes

  Part 1.2 : Beta

  This book is work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental. This book contains explicit material and is intended for readers 18 years or older.

  The author acknowledges the copyrighted or trademarked status and trademarked owners of any wordmarks mentioned in the following fiction.

  Copyright © 2017 by E.W. Osborne

  All rights reserved.

  No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except in the case of a reviewer, who may quote brief passages embodied in critical articles or in a review.

  All requests should be forwarded to: contact@ewosborne.com

  Before you start…

  This is the second novella in the STASIS serial. If you haven’t read Part 1.1, don’t keep reading. You’ll ruin shit for yourself.

  Click here to get the first part!

  I need your help!

  Please let me know if this story grabbed your attention enough to want to read on! My contact information is below. Send me an email, send me a message with one of the following numbers:

  1 - Hell yes, gimme more!

  2 - Eh, I wouldn’t mind reading further…

  3 - Not for me, thanks anyway!

  That’s it. If you get in touch with your feedback, I’ll send you the next installments for free when they’re ready, just because you’re such an awesome person. Obviously if you hated it, you get nothing. But if you hated it, getting nothing is a gift in itself, so you’re welcome.

  Finally, THANK YOU so much for reading! There’s an unbelievable amount of choice out there and I’m humbled and happy you chose my work. Thank you.

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  Rochester, NY

  May 15th

  The red digital numbers steadily snapped into place. He’d stared at them so long he could see the tiny pieces shifting into place when he closed his eyes. 9, 8, 7, 6… They were so old-fashioned yet perfect in their simplicity. Boiled down to their most basic pieces, no space lost, perfectly legible.

  Nothing happened the first time the counter hit zero. He’d watched it by himself in bed, the blanket pulled up over his head like he was a little kid reading after bedtime. The initial disappointment had quickly faded when the number reset, promising another chance. But a week later, he was no closer to the truth.

  Neil jumped and reflexively covered the screen on his tablet when his door burst open with a shout.

  “Are you ready for this?” Maggie grinned.

  “Christ. What if I’d been… otherwise engaged,” Neil huffed, his heart rate slowing. He glared at her from the corner of his eye as he tucked the tablet away.

  Maggie sniffed the air a couple times. “Don’t think you have… at least, not recently.”

  Wills knocked her shoulder as he pushed past with a gag. “Why do you have to be so disgusting all the time?”

  “I am my truest self,” she replied. Neil rolled his eyes at her smug smile, the one that reveled in knowing she’d grossed someone out.

  As five more of his friends piled into his already cramped dorm room, he held his hands up. “Really. What the hell are you all doing in here?”

  “The countdown,” Rachel said as she settled on the corner of his desk. She crossed her bony legs and cracked open a beer. “You want one?”

  He blinked and shook his head. “The countdown,” he repeated.

  Maggie gathered her wild hair in a fist, trying to tie it down. “You’ve done nothing but talk about this damn countdown for weeks, so we thought we’d ring it in with you.”

  Neil was equal parts touched and annoyed. He’d been expecting a quiet night to himself like the first time, hoping he could finally solve the mystery of this site and move on. The reading and projects were stacking up and he couldn’t find the motivation to tackle any of it until he watched this counter hit zero.

  “Come on, let’s see it. How close are we?” Ian asked as he settled in beside Maggie on the bed.

  Neil switched on his tablet and passed it down. “It should be under an hour now,” he replied, unable to hide the excitement from his voice.

  Ian flicked at the screen. “How do I get it up there?” He asked, pointing at the high, blank wall.

  Wills pulled up the site on his cuff and flicked a projection of it up for everyone to see. “You forget he doesn’t like technology,” Wills said dryly.

  “But you have a smartwall?” Ian frowned.

  “Came with the room.” Neil already felt inferior to the guy and his condescension made him bristle. His shirts were always a little too tight and Neil couldn’t stand the way Maggie looked at him. Or the way Ian pretended not to notice. As a friend of a friend, someone on the outskirts of his social circle, at least he didn’t have to spend much time with him.

  “Neil is old school,” Rachel stepped in, playing the peacemaker.

  “But you’re in Comp Sci, right? I think I had a class with you before I switched majors,” Ian pressed.

  Maggie shifted her weight and leaned closer. “Oh, you do that too? Neil loves to change majors. Can’t make his mind up.” She pretended to cover her mouth as she loudly whispered, “My bet is interpretive dance next.”

  Neil focused on the numbers looming high above, hoping he’d seem dismissive rather than ruffled. “I’m into root tech, the old stuff. Technology grew so quickly, we never stopped to think if we should. It was all about if we could.”

  Ian leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees. “Yeah man, I get it. I really do. That’s awesome. I can really respect that.”

  “I have some old game systems at home,” Maggie jumped in. “I’ll bring ‘em back with me next semester if you wanna see.”

  Neil zoned out, letting the conversation flow around him. Maggie flirting, Wills snarking, Ian… being Ian. All that mattered was what happened when those numbers hit zero.

  A hush fell over the crowded room as the numbers rolled closer and closer. What little conversation they had, was done in soft whispers. In the end, Neil was happy to have his friends around him. He tried to convince himself the whole site was a marketing ploy. As Maggie had said, it was probably some stupid tech site trying to drum up excitement about their new socks for homeless dogs. But deep down, he felt like there was more.

  Without any prior agreement, as one, the group began to count down from the thirty second mark. Their voices grew both in volume and excitement as the numbers ticked, ticked, ticked. Neil grinned wildly, climbing to his feet as the numbers hit single digits.

  “Three! Two! One!”

  The room went silent. The numbers rolled to zero and stopped. Days, hours, minutes, seconds, all zero.

  They exchanged confused looks. Someone murmured, “What now?”


  It was another ten seconds before Neil finally spoke up. “I thought this time something would…” and before he could finish, something did. The counter flashed a random, digitized sequence of numbers before settling into a new state.

  Six days, twenty-four hours, sixty minutes, sixty seconds.

  Maggie burst into a fit of laughter. “I told you this was bullshit. I bet it’s been doing this for decades now.”

  “Well, at least I know for sure now,” Neil defended. As much as he’d tried to steel his hopes, he couldn’t help but feel a little deflated. The whole thing had been a monumental let-down. Again.

  With the countdown over, there was nothing left to keep them there. As if they sensed Neil wanted to be alone, everyone began to shift and collect their things.

  Rachel touched his arm and pulled away as if the contact were too much to bare. “I’m sorry it wasn’t… I don’t know. I’m sorry,” she smiled, twitching her bangs out of her eyes.

  “It’s okay. Thank you for coming,” he said, like he was saying goodbye to someone who’d stopped by at a funeral. As he cringed internally, she slipped off his desk and quietly joined Maggie and Ian in the hall.

  “I really thought something would happen,” Neil muttered, staring at the wall.

  Maggie grabbed both sides of the door frame and stuck her head inside. “All this excitement has me cranked up. We’re going out, if you want to come along?”

  “I uh… I’ve got some studying to do,” Rachel cut in quickly. “If you want to go over some of the stuff from class, I could get my notes,” she asked Neil hopefully.

  With no satisfaction, he knew he couldn’t concentrate on any work. Not yet, at least. “I’m pretty tired,” Neil said with a wave. He could’ve done with a beer but with Ian around, Neil knew he wasn’t really welcome with that group either. “You guys go on. See you tomorrow.”

  Maggie looped her arm through Ian’s and pulled him away. Rachel lingered for a second before heading in the opposite direction.

  “You’re all clueless,” Wills laughed as he pulled the display down from the wall. Neil had almost forgotten he was there.

  Neil chuckled even though he didn’t know what Wills was talking about. “Yeah, I really thought something would happen. An announcement or whatever.”

  Wills held him with a long look, his slow blinks almost condescending. “You really didn’t notice it, did you?” When Neil frowned and shook his head, Wills flicked the website up to the wall again. “There,” he pointed.

  “Where?”

  He huffed and zoomed in to the bottom right corner of the page. “There.”

  “That’s a smudge.”

  With another exhausted huff, Wills reached for the tablet. “It’s not a smudge. It’s a signature.”

  Neil grabbed his tablet and squinted at the faint mark. He couldn’t believe he’d stared at this thing for so long and he’d never noticed it.

  “What’s more,” Will said with a smirk, “it changed when the counter restarted.”

  “You’re shitting me,” Neil exhaled. All the disappointment rushed out, replaced by fresh curiosity. He zoomed in and although the numbers were pixellated, he could read them. “What is it?”

  “Maybe a version? I don’t know.” He stretched and yawned as if this weren’t the most amazing mystery. “If I were you, I’d look backwards to see how many times this counter has reset. If the numbers change every time…”

  Neil kicked his heels hard against the floor and wheeled back to his desk. “That’s a brilliant idea. I don’t know why I didn’t do that in the first place.”

  Wills chuckled and headed for the door. “That’s what I’m here for.”

  Kansas City, MO

  May 19th

  “Miss McCain,” he said with a shake of his head. “There isn’t a lot more I can tell you. I’m sorry if…”

  “It’s McKay and Angel seems to think you know a hell of a lot more than you’re letting on right now.”

  She let the air pulse with several seconds of silence. He smiled despite himself, seeing her interviewing tactic a mile off. Most people can’t stand the sound of silence. In a desperate need to fill it with anything, she was hoping he’d spill some secret while his guard was down.

  “Whatever he told you is what I know. As I just said three times, I don’t know if it’s drugs. I don’t know if it ain’t drugs. All I know is I’ve seen more than one person who came in looking like they’d never move again.” He picked at the dirt under his nails and decided this conversation was over.

  “Mr. Belloquet,” she said with a smile in her voice. “I get you don’t want to be involved with anything illegal. You were only doing your job. I totally understand that.”

  When anger doesn’t work, time to turn on the charm, he thought.

  “Mmmhmm.”

  “And Mr. Belloquet, I know how scary it must’ve been to see. I’ve even seen one of them, too,” she whispered, a hand cupped over her mouth for dramatic effect.

  “I’ve said what I need to say. Tell Angel…”

  “I’m not sure I made a proper introduction,” she cooed on the other side of the phone. “If you’re near a tablet or something, you should pop in my name. See what comes up. Kristine with a ‘k’. You’ll find me.”

  And if you could reach across and stroke my dick a few times, I’m sure you’d try that, too.

  “Good luck with your story,” he replied curtly before ending the call. He blocked the number for good measure, just in case the girlie tried to tap him again.

  He scanned the now-empty hotel room to make sure he hadn’t left anything behind.

  Randall didn’t need any help getting this movement up off the ground. His childhood consisted of bouncing from one cult to the next. His mother was always searching for the truth, never realizing the only promised land those faithless leaders were looking for was tucked between her legs. Watching men with silver tongues woo their way into people’s minds and pockets turned out to be more valuable than Randall first predicted.

  He tried out a few locations before settling on a busy Walmart parking lot. It might not seem like the place you’d find everlasting salvation, but Randall trusted the customers weren’t the best of critical thinkers. He stood opposite the wide bank of sliding doors, still technically on private property but not obstructing the flow of foot traffic. As long as no one made a complaint to the staff inside, he could speak all day if he wanted.

  Standing on a milk crate, he projected his message as far as he could while still pulling people in. He was two hours into the day but hadn’t yet wilted under the sun.

  “It may be a beautiful spring day in the Heartland, but don’t be fooled. There are dark clouds on the horizon. I’m here to tell you how you can protect yourself and your children.”

  A young buck in a baseball cap smirked as he walked by. “Selling storm insurance, eh?”

  Randall was aware his appearance could be intimidating, so he affixed a humble smile and shook his head. “Insurance for a storm of this magnitude can only be found in God, son,” he replied. The guy shook his head and said something to his girlfriend as they walked away, but the comment did catch the attention of another.

  “Amen,” an older woman called out. She patted at her forehead with a stained cloth and then used it to shield her eyes from the sun.

  Randall stepped down from the crate and took her hand. “Bless you, ma’am. Can I offer you some cold water?” he asked, gesturing toward the bucket of icy bottled water he’d sent Stack to fetch when they’d first arrived.

  “Oh, no thank you, no thanks. I’m only going in there,” she said as she nodded to the store. Deep wrinkles set in her face as she smiled up at him, her hunched figure practically diminishing before his eyes. “You’re doing good work here, son. Alls I wanted was to wish you a good day.”

  Randall took her hand in his. “The truth flows through all of us.”

  “That it does,” she agreed. He could tell she wasn’t comfortable
with the contact but was too polite to pull her hand back. There was a strained quality to her smile now, as if she regretted stopping.

  Randall dropped her hand but quickly pressed a flyer into her palm. “If you’re interested in coming,” he said softly. “And feel free to bring as many friends as you’d like.”

  She looked down at the bright yellow paper, folding it up without reading. “I will, I will. Now you have a good day, and God bless,” she dismissed as she shuffled to the door.

  “Bless you,” he replied before stepping back on the milk crate. “God bless us all,” he called out in a louder voice. “I have seen the coming storm with my own eyes. I was granted a vision of our future and trust me, it’s one you would rather avoid.”

  For hours Randall recycled the same few phrases over and over. Sweat flowed down his back in running rivers, but he never allowed himself to stop, to rest. This was a numbers game. For every hundred people that walked by, ten might listen and one might take their paper. But all it took was one. One could grow to two to five to ten.

  He imagined a man taking their bargain bin paper, folding it into his pocket, and forgetting all about it. Maybe he’d find himself restless that night, itching for a cigarette. With the wife and kids nestled asleep, he’d steel out to the porch in the dead of night. Crickets chirping, sprinklers drenching his neighbor’s lawn, he’d hunt through his pocket for that Bic lighter and find the folded message.

  And as he slowly drags on the cigarette, the cherry glowing in the dead of night, he might feel compelled to read it again.

  I come to you with open arms, an open heart, and answers to all your questions.

  I am a humble man with nothing special about me, but God has chosen me to spread his message.

  In the coming weeks, you will hear rumors of a spreading disease. You may even see odd things in the news or even in the streets. I know this is hard to believe, but the faster you turn to God for salvation, the better for you… and your family.