Aug 22nd 2011, 9:05 by E O Hatterpol | 1228 AU FROM SUN
NIXIE was gone; in her place, a single rose. I bent down and examined it. Why would Master Bokor leave something like that for me?
He must want to be found.
My body felt like it had seceded from my mind. My legs were almost too weak to hold me up; my guts felt gooey, and unrestful; my heart pounded; my ears burned; my skin tingled all the way to my fingers, and I felt hot all over like I needed to throw up.
I peered at the rose, frowning. Where had I seen it before? Something I had forgotten, or maybe something I had never fully processed to begin with, came flooding back:
"I think a rose landed in my lap; that seemed strange."
The Ragga Dancehall, after my bout with Heartbreak! Had he been the one to throw it then, and had he left this one now? I couldn't be sure.
A memory from Heartbreak's gymnasium bubbled up from my subconscious; what had he said after that poor girl fell off the uneven bars?
"I'll have to whip ALL of you into shape tonight!"
Whip? Had he actually meant that literally? Was he like a bokor that came in the night and whipped his victims, like what had happened to that zonbi on the DSOD?
He seemed to rule those female gymnasts with an iron fist, always in control. Hadn't he said that was all he ever wanted? A memory from our trip across Starbase Octopus came into focus:
"My dad had such power over my life and over my mom's; all I want is control. All I wanted was control."
All he wanted was control, or all he wants is control? Does he want control now? Of what? Certainly over those female gymnasts; were they even really separate from him?
The Calamari Casinos came rushing back:
"What the shell? How could he have known what I whispered to her?"
That strange conversation I had at the crabs table with one of Heartbreak's girls; she had said "Me and the other boys". That must have been Heartbreak speaking through her; how else would he have been able to respond that broken beer bottles were fair game when I had whispered it into her ear, and her ear alone?
But how was he controlling them? And then I realized: the bugs. Heartbreak had told me straight to my face, and I had missed it:
"They are strange, mechanical creatures with unnatural life inside, built to spy on the guests at Starbase Octopus."
Unnatural life... maybe even the souls or spirits of those girls? There had been one at the DSOD; it had fallen on my shoulder. There had been one on that girl's shoulder at the Calamari Casinos, but when I swatted it off she had complained to Heartbreak that I had hurt her. Was that because she was linked somehow to that bug?
Hadn't there been bugs on my way down Tentacle Six, and still more after Heartbreak and I left the Ragga Dancehall? There had! Were they powering Heartbreak's hurricane strength? Were they allowing him to control those gymnasts?
Had he controlled me somehow? Why had I rolled the dice again even when I hadn't wanted to? Was that the beginning of his hold over you? Was that how it started?
I picked up the rose. I crushed its stem slowly in my hand, anger building; thorns cut deep into my palm. I could not know if Heartbreak was Master Bokor, but I was going to find out.
And if Heartbreak was Master Bokor, and if he had kidnapped Nixie, and done all these other terrible things aboard Starbase Octopus, I would find him.
And then I would kill him.
---
WHAT should I do next, Flybrarians?
A: Find Heartbreak and jack him up. Now.
B: Tell the authorities; we've had our differences in the past, but maybe now we can unite to fight a greater, common enemy.
Choose Our Own Adventure in the comments section below, on Twitter, Google+. Facebook or EOHatterpol[at]gmail[dot]com.
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