Committed

COMMITTED by A.R. Kirby Episode 15 A very old friend Junior Associate Brandon Mays found himself surrounded by a bizarre collection of robots, each of which was holding a severe-looking weapon, the business ends of which were pointed at Brandon’s head. Looking down, he saw he was holding a 1970s-era revolver-style cap gun with which to defend himself. He looked in the ammunition pouch on his belt; unfortunately, he was out of caps. The robots, at least five dozen on them, began closing in on the helpless Associate. “Stay back!” he yelled futilely. “I mean it! You can’t do this! Haven’t any of you read Isaac Asimov?” His plea for understanding on the part of the mechanical monsters went unheeded. The menacing metal mob grew closer and closer, until Brandon could hear nothing more than the whining and grinding of unseen gears and servos. There was no way out. If he was going to die, he would take out as many of the automatons as he could before he went, barehanded if need be. Brandon ripped off his shirt, tore a strip from it and tied it around his head as a headband. He felt like Rambo. “All right, you metal bastards!” he yelled at the robotic mob. “Let’s do this!” Committed by A.R. Kirby “Wake up, sleeping beauty,” he heard a voice say faintly from somewhere above him. Slowly, consciousness grew around him, the robots faded, and Brandon found himself in the passenger seat of Vernon’s old Bronco, driving steadily through the Arizona desert. “Sleep well?” the old man asked as Brandon wiped some drool from his chin. “We’re almost there.” Brandon rubbed his eyes and looked around. They were no longer on the interstate; the two-lane highway on which they were driving was essentially deserted. Mountains loomed on the horizon as they drove past occasional adobe buildings and desert scrub. “Where are we?” he asked. “Just outside Chinle, on the way to Canyon de Chelly. Navajo country,” Vernon replied. “Try to straighten yourself up a bit. We’ve got one stop to make before we get down to business.” Brandon ran a hand through this hair and yawned, still trying to reconcile the dream of the robots with the reality of the Arizona desert. It was not an easy task. Focus was needed. He shook his head, trying to clear the cobwebs. “Navajo country?” Brandon looked puzzled. “What does that have to do with the mission?” “Curiosity. Good!” Vernon exclaimed. “A curious mind is essential to be a good field Associate. Always need to be asking questions. But to answer your question, this has pretty much nothing to do with the mission.” “Then why on earth are we headed out here?” “We’re out here to see an old friend of mine,” Vernon explained. “Personally, I think investigating this energy fluctuation 2 Episode 15 is a tremendous waste of time, but when Momma Collective calls, I answer. But we might as well have a little fun with it. I’ve been needing a road trip, and Ralph will be good company for us.” A sign alongside the road indicated that they were at the entrance to the Canyon de Chelly National Monument. Vernon took a right turn, and then another to pull into the parking lot of the aptly-named Navajo Lodge at the edge of the park. “Come on, lad,” the old man said as he got out of the car. “We’ll take care of a little business here before we go to into the canyon.” Brandon followed, and the two men walked into the lobby of the small hotel. “Vernon Hasselblad!” A small, heavyset Navajo woman, somewhere in her late forties or early fifties, Brandon guessed, yelled from behind the reception desk before running out from behind it to crush the older Associate in a giant bear hug. “How are you?” Vernon released himself from the woman’s grasp, smiling. “I’m good, thanks,” he told her. “And how are you, Shirley? How’s the family?” “Oh, we’re good,” she said. “Little Nelson is at camp this summer, Debbie is getting ready for senior year, and Herman is back and forth to Gallup all the time working on tribal business. More of the usual, I suppose. Business here is good; summer season is always busy.” “Well, that’s good to hear,” Vernon said. “And who is this young man?” the woman asked, looking Brandon up and down. “Oh, I’,m completely forgetting my manners, Shirley. 3 Committed by A.R. Kirby Shirley Moon, I’d like you to meet my nephew, Brandon Mays. He stopped in for a visit on his way to California from back east. It’s his first time out here, and I wanted to take him down into the canyon.” “First time, eh?” Shirley said as she returned back to the desk. “Well, I’m sure you’ll like it. Your uncle is just the man to show you around.” She dug around under the desk for a moment, finally pulling out two laminated passes on lanyards which she handed to Vernon. He put one around his neck, and handed the other to Brandon, who followed suit. “I suppose you’ll take him to see Spider Woman?” “Of course,” Vernon replied. “It’s not every day my nephew gets to see a Navajo god.” “Well, you be careful,” she told the pair. “One of these days it’s your bones she’ll have on top of that rock.” Vernon chuckled. “Oh, we’ll be careful,” he said. “Thanks, Shirley. We’ll see you on our way out.” The two men headed back out of the hotel lobby to the old Ford and got in. Vernon cranked the truck, backed out of the parking lot, and followed signs that directed them to the South Rim Road and Spider Rock. “What was that all about?” Brandon asked. “You see, all this is Navajo land,” Vernon explained, “it’s a sacred place to them, and you can’t go into the canyon without a guide. But they know me here -- I’ve been coming here for years, and they pretty well let me do what I please. Hence the passes.” “Not the passes -- what was all that about Spider Woman?” “Oh, that. Spider Woman is one of the great Navajo deities. 4 Episode 15 She taught the Navajo how to weave, and made the stars by throwing a dew-covered web into the sky. Her home is on top of Spider Rock, where we’re headed.” neck. “Interesting,” Brandon said, examining the pass around his “She also kept the Navajo children in line,” Vernon went on. “The story goes that Spider Woman would climb down a ladder to get naughty children, then take them back up to the top of Spider Rock and eat them. The white coloring at the top of the rock is supposedly the sunbleached bones of bad children she ate.” Brandon looked at Vernon wide-eyed. “Oh, don’t worry. She doesn’t really live there.” Brandon was quiet for the rest of the drive as they made their way along the south rim of the canyon, passing tourists stopped to check out the ruins of pueblo dwellings in the canyon. Eventually they arrived at the Spider Rock overlook, and Vernon pulled into the parking lot, parking the old Bronco amid several SUVs already there. Vernon reached behind his seat, grabbed his daypack and a canteen, and headed away from where the public loitered. “What are you waiting for?” he called back to Brandon. “We’ve got some traveling to do.” Brandon hopped out of the truck and followed Vernon down a trail along the canyon rim. About 50 yards down the trail, the two men stopped next to a large boulder along the edge of the cliff. Checking to see if anyone was watching (they weren’t), Vernon went around the back side of the boulder with Brandon following. Behind the boulder was a small shelf where Vernon was standing; Brandon walked up next to him, and quickly wished he hadn’t. Below the shelf, the sheer canyon wall fell away for almost 5 Committed by A.R. Kirby 1,000 feet, with Spider Rock rising directly in front of them. Brandon took a step back from the edge, breathing heavily. “What’s the matter?” Vernon asked, a hint of a smile on his wrinkled, leathery face. “Afraid of heights?” “Yeah,” Brandon replied, one hand holding onto the boulder for dear life. “I’m a tad acrophobic. Standing on the edge there makes me feel like I have to pee.” “Hmm. Well, come back over here, and maybe I can do something to help.” Brandon took a tentative step toward Vernon and the chasm below him. Sweat started beading on his forehead, more the result of his fear than the June heat. “Listen, Mays, you’re going to have to trust me on this,” Vernon said quietly. “Just stay where you are, right there on the edge, and spread your arms out wide. Close your eyes and raise your head. Listen to the wind.” “I don’t know. I really don’t like this.” “You have to let go of your fear, and this is how,” Vernon said. “There is no telling what kind of muck you might run into out in the field, and the Collective can’t afford to have Associates freezing up in the middle of some action because they are scared. Just trust me on this.” “Okay, okay,” Brandon said. He closed his eyes, lifted his head to the sky, and slowly let go of the boulder, spreading his arms as Vernon instructed. “Good, good,” Vernon said. “Now listen to the wind. Hear how is whistles through the sandstone?” 6 Episode 15 “Yes,” Brandon replied, listening intently. “Good. Now focus on being unafraid. You are in control of your body. You’re not going to fall. What happens is completely under your control. Let go of that fear.” Brandon took in a deep breath and released it slowly, attempting to forget that he was a thousand feet above the canyon floor, trying desperately to let go of the panic that was trying to grip his brain. He felt the warm desert breeze caress his face; he heard the cries of hawks circling high overhead. He took another deep breath, and his confidence began to return. “Feeling better?” Vernon asked from behind him. “Yeah,” Brandon said quietly, almost in a trance. “Excellent. Then it’s time. Jump!” Vernon’s shove hit Brandon hard in the small of the back, quickly and purposefully. Brandon didn’t have a chance to react, either mentally or physically. He lost his balance, and flailing, tumbled over the ledge. He was about to start screaming when he hit the ground three feet below, landing on his butt on a wide, stable ledge that was hidden from his vantage point at the top of the cliff. “Oh my god! You ass!” he yelled as Vernon clambered down to the landing. “You’re not the first to call me that.” “I don’t doubt it at all.” Brandon gathered himself, dusted himself off, and stood -- gingerly -- in the middle of the outcropping. “I could have had a heart attack!” 7 Committed by A.R. Kirby “You’re young, you’ll get over it,” Vernon said, laughing out loud. “Still feel like you need to take a piss? I bet not. Now man up and come on. We’ve got a hard ways to go yet, and we’re burning daylight.” Vernon started heading down the ledge, Brandon grumbling behind him. The ledge, it turned out, was part of a path which wound down the rock face to the bottom of the canyon, making for fairly easy going for the duo. Brandon walked slowly, keeping close to the face of the canyon wall. Vernon, on the other hand, scrambled down the path like a mountain goat. It took the pair about an hour to reach the canyon floor, where Vernon led them to the base of Spider Rock. “Well, that was a pain in the ass,” Brandon said as he stood next to Vernon at the base of the sandstone monolith. “So where’s this friend of yours?” “In there,” Vernon said, pointing at Spider Rock. “What?” “Just follow me,” the old man said, walking around the base of the rock formation, looking quizzically at the various outcroppings scattered around the base. “It always takes me a minute to get this; I can’t ever seem to remember just exactly... I think it might be this... no, here...” The Senior Associate reached out and placed his hand upon a small sandstone bulge in the wall of Spider Rock. With some slight pressure, he slid it slightly to the right. Brandon heard a grinding noise in the rock face, and one of the large boulders in front of the pair swung open to reveal a small entranceway into the pinnacle. “I knew that was it,” Vernon smiled and looked at Brandon. 8 Episode 15 “Come on in.” The entrance opened onto a small domed antechamber. The room was well lit; hidden openings -- carved into the rock so as to be invisible from outside -- allowed natural light to stream into the room. Brandon could see a carved stone stairway heading up at the opposite end of the chamber. “Good Lord,” Brandon said, turning slowly to take in the entire experience. “This is incredible. Is this a Collective operation?” “Not hardly,” Vernon said, heading for the stairs. “This place has been here for thousands of years. Some say the Anasazi carved it out of the living rock. Others... well, others have different stories. Now come on.” Vernon moved smartly up the staircase, with Brandon following close behind. The stairs were even and it was a fairly easy climb for the two men. A number of landings, similar to the antechamber where they first entered, were located along the climb, allowing the two men to stop and rest on occasion. As they turned a sharp curve on the stair and neared what Brandon assumed was the top of the spire, Vernon stopped and turned to the younger Associate. “Listen, Mays,” he said, the stub of his cigar still clamped between his teeth, “things might get weird here. I’ve seen some crazy stuff up in this rock. But you can’t let it rattle you. Whatever you see, whatever happens, just keep your wits about you. And for god’s sake, try not to react. Just quietly observe and everything will be okay. You got me?” Brandon looked at the old man, wondering whether to believe the crotchety old bastard who’d pushed him off a cliff ninety minutes earlier. On the other hand, he thought, it had been 9 Committed by A.R. Kirby a weird day, and a long one at that. A sudden sense of cynical acceptance hit Brandon’s brain. “You know, just bring it,” he said, rubbing the back of his neck. “I’m ready to get this over with.” “Remember you said that, boy,” Vernon said and turned for the final climb. After a few more stairs, Brandon could see another opening off a landing, but the entrance to this one was dark. He saw Vernon step in, and he followed. Immediately, Brandon was completely surprised to learn (even more surprised than when Vernon shoved him in the back), the entirety of the cosmos was in the room with them. Stars were being born in proton maelstroms; giant black holes devoured entire galaxies; solar systems whizzed by, dancing in the void; and dying stars collapsed and exploded in bright balls of fire. Time swam, stars twinkled, and creation went on and on and on, with Brandon and Vernon smack dab in the middle of it all. The effect of seeing this, to say the least, was dizzying. Brandon’s fear of heights returned with violence and vengeance -and this time he did pee a little, but Brandon didn’t even notice. A lone figure sat cross-legged with his back to the two men, speaking to three spectral figures floating in the void above him. Brandon gazed in amazement at the ghostly trio. In the center was a woman, ageless and timeless; on either side of her were two identical men, with dark hair and dark eyes. Neither Brandon nor Vernon spoke Anasazi, so they couldn’t understand what was being said between the seated figure and the old gods. However, if they could have, the last thing they would have heard would translate roughly as “it looks like you have company.” The cosmos around Brandon and Vernon disappeared, 10 Episode 15 replaced by a chamber hollowed out of the top of Spider Rock. The figure sat motionless in the center of the room while a large black puma materialized next to him. The big cat sprang away from the center of the room, bypassed Vernon completely, and pinned Brandon against the rock wall. Brandon pressed his head hard into the wall, trying to get his face as far as possible from the slathering fangs of the growling cat. He tried to recall Vernon’s advice and not react, but the very real possibility of being eaten made it difficult for Brandon to concentrate. To be continued... 11