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Chapter
Seven
CHERRY'S
STORY
Back
before Chipper had been jailed, back when the original five wanderers
had gone their separate ways to separate cities, Cherry had high-tailed
it back to his hometown. The town had not really suspected him and
it was concluded that he had disappeared along with a few other
people after the night of raining polmade and liquor. The town's
people had clammed up ever since. Cherry managed to steal unseen
and undetected into town that night and went straight to his house
to speak with his father about what he knew. Big Red was not at
the house, but Cherry found him not too long afterwards working
in the Two Teeth company workshop down the street. Red was understandably
thrilled to see his son. A few moments later Red's delight turned
into red-eyed mad.
Not
wanting to waste time, Cherry began explaining and cooled the situation
to a low boil. He told Red how he had gone to Chipper's house that
night on a delivery. He was asked to stay and listen to some music.
Before Cherry had known what hit him all hell had broken loose.
Had been downstairs in the house when the rain of objects had started.
Afterwards, he had been so scared he had jumped in a car that ended
up driving to New York City. There he had been threatened by the
Wanderers not to tell anyone about their involvement in the unsettling
events. He had figured it better to play along and act as though
he had an interest in joining the Wanderers. He had acted the part
well enough that they soon forgot they had brought him along as
a hostage of sorts. To some extent, Cherry had even enjoyed aspects
of his stay in the Big Apple — when he hadn't been hiding out
and eating baloney sandwiches and fruit punch for days on end. He
had ventured out into the city on a few occasions and enthusiastically
told Red about all the thrilling sights he'd seen. Cherry even said
that one day he'd like to live the city that never sleeps —
which, in fact, he later someday would.
Cherry
then filled Red in on all the past activities of the Wanderers —
of how they had secretly spied on the Tuesday evening meetings at
the temple, and how they had stolen Remington and fashioned a Tray.
He described, as he had heard from the Wanderers, about the fact
that Chipper had not really been awarded an insurance settlement,
but had really been using the Tray to procure valuables which he
sold through various connections. And how the Wanderers had later
stolen a small quanity of Shizzlebot, and how they had set off the
rain of objects Form Chipper's mind that night. He also described
how they had fashioned another Tray in New York and had used it
to finance their operations, and how the Wanderers had even managed
to synthesize more shizz — at which point he pulled a small
pouch from his pocket and handed it to Red.
By
then, Red had long known of Remington and Shizzlebot, and had, in
fact, been one of the machinists who had built the Eggs. Red had
not been, and never would be, one of the Blue Men — but he
had worked with them on many developments and had his business financially
backed by them for quite some time. Red was simply an agent. He
still is, of course, and has long remained the most valuable person
outside of the inside of the members of the Blue Brotherhood.
Cherry
continued on with his story of how the Wanderers had decided it
safer to each go their own way, and that he should have been on
his way to Chicago. He opened a small suitcase he'd been carrying
and set one-hundred-thousand dollars in cash on a workbench. He
also described how each member in the different cities were to use
the money to recruit new members into the Wanderers, and that he
was quite concerned about Chipper and what he might have in mind
for the shizz they each possessed. He also said that the cash and
shizz were not limited and that the members could always get more
if needed.
Red
made a call on a special auxillary phone he had. It was a direct
non-traceable line. Within minutes a large black car appeared outside
the workshop. Red lead the way and opened the car door and instructed
Cherry to join him inside. The car slinked through the back streets
of the town and soon arrived in a parking lot in the rear of the
temple. The father and son were escorted in through a back door
and shown into a room with a long table surrounded by massive leather
burgandy tuck-and-roll chairs. An emergency meeting had been called
and within minutes the room was full of men — some whose faces
were familiar to Cherry and some not.
Cherry
spent the next hour sitting and answering questions and retelling
his story of the recent chain of events concerning the Wanderers.
It was decided that Cherry would be taken into protective custody
of the Blue Men and that a telephone line would be routed to the
Chicago area so that Cherry could communicate with the Chipper and
the Wanderers and continue gathering information while appearing
as though he had reached his appointed destination.
From
the time the Wanderers had each gone to a different city until the
time Chipper was arrested in a jazz club was just a little over
three months. During the same period, the Blue Men had set about
working on a new plan, and lucky for them and lucky for all of us,
there had been enough time.
After
the meeting with Cherry, the men rolled up thier sleeves and got
to work. By then, the Alpha sector that the men had been developing
was the size of a small state — a small solar system of sorts.
Alpha was self-contained. After the meeting, Cherry was escorted
to one of the Eggs and moved to Alpha. He was the first person outside
of the Blue Men to go to Alpha. Even Red hadn't been there. Although
originally thought to be somewhere between difficult and impossible,
a telephone system linking Alpha with the everyday three-dimensional
world turned out to be a cinch, and, in fact, it was found that
electrical waves passed through quite the dimensions quite easily.
Cherry was able to continue an open line of communicate with the
Wanderers and inform the Blue Men of their internal movements.
From
what I've heard of Cherry's first impression of Alpha, he found
it to his liking and didn't even need much adjustment before growing
comfortable. He said that by the time the men had developed Alpha
it pretty much appeared just like any other place. He had even recognized
a lot of things from the town there. In the early days of sector
development and world building, the last and most difficult aspect
to get right for the men was the sky and the constant movement of
lightness and darkness during the passage of day and night. I've
heard humorous stories of timed dimmers that would raise and lower
lighting levels throughout Alpha. In the early days there were,
of course, no seasons. No rain and no wind. No sun, no moon and
no stars.
The
Blue Men began actively planning the construction of an entirely
new sector. They aptly called it Beta. It was concluded that the
Beta sector could be more rapidly built and accurately reproduced
if it was not pieced together as Alpha had been. Beta was to be
constructed out of huge chunks of preplanned, prefabricate thought-blueprints.
The men knew they were taking some calculated risks, but also knew
that adjustments could be made from inside the new sector after
it was established. Commitees were formed to address and oversee
specific aspects in the birth of Beta. There was the Housing and
Towns Commitee, the Land and Grounds Commitee, the Electric, Gas
and Water Systems Commitee, and the Commitee of Skies and Seasons.
Each commitee had a lead person who would later be know as a sponsor.
Sponsors became the most important and necessary factor in establishing
new sectors — and that has continued to be the case even today
— all these years later. Well, there are not really years
anymore, per se, but I'll get to that soon enough. Suffice to say,
no sponsors, no sector.
The
men continued on feverishly for several weeks with planning, designing,
testing and meetings. The Egg, which had served so well in the establishment
of Alpha was to be redesigned for the new venture. After a new design
was approved, Red was put in charge of building the new mover. Shizzlebot
had also done its job, but during the planning stages for Beta it
was deemed not to be effective enough for their new purposes. They
needed a more powerful booster. The scope and volume of everything
involving the new Beta sector had to be turned up, bored out, revved
and charged to new dimensions. Alpha had served well as a fourth-dimensional
clubhouse. Beta was going to be different. Beta was going to have
guests.
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