32. The Label

Lyle had been up all through the sleep period.  The satellite from the Sagittarian Dwarf Galaxy had recommended that they sleep in real time before attempting to go back through the fuzzynavel.  There were two reasons for this.  You have to wait at least 24 hours before returning through a fuzzynavel and usually you have to stay over a Saturday night.  Also, going through a fuzzynavel requires a certain amount of stamina and following it up with genocide requires a really good sleep.

Donny had suggested they sleep in pheely time, but the satellite said that wasn't good enough because their bodies needed real down time and so did their "cute tiny wittew brains" -- then he apologized.

So the lights were dimmed and Jules was monitoring what little he had to monitor and everybody slept.  Except Lyle.

Lyle sat and glared at the golden robe.  He bit his lip.  He held his knees to his chest.  He rubbed his forehead.  Anyway he looked at it, he couldn't see himself going through with it.

Inevitably Mickey pulled an eyelid half-open and spied his distraught friend.  He croaked "What's up?"

Lyle didn't speak.

Mickey sat up.  "You have to do it.  Otherwise everybody dies."

"You remember Hamlet?" asked Lyle.

Mickey was a little too groggy to remember Danish princes in the dark.  "Uh, no, remind me."

"Hamlet, the play, you know," said Lyle.

"Oh, yeah," whispered Mickey.  "I didn't know you knew."

"Yeah, sure, Hamlet," said Lyle.  "You know? At the beginning?  The whole reason he goes to all that trouble to try and catch his uncle looking guilty?"  Lyle looked into Mickey's eyes with great seriousness and the intensity of the expression jolted Mickey awake.

"Yeah?" said Mickey.

"You know why he goes to all that trouble, even though the ghost of his dad told him to kill his uncle?"

"I vaguely remem…"

"Because he didn't trust the ghost, Mickey," snapped Lyle.  "He thinks the ghost is a…  is a…" Lyle flexed his hand desperate to clasp the word.

"A demon," said Jules.

"Yeah, that's it!" said Lyle, snapping his fingers at Jules' display.  "Hamlet thinks maybe the ghost has been sent to destroy him and his family.  That it's a demon."

"Well, isn't that what basically happens?" asked Mickey, yawning.

"Yes, yes.  That's the thing.  I can't do this.  Something's terribly wrong here, Mickey."

"I don't know.  It's not as if the Boomers don't deserve it," said Mickey.

"That's easy for you to say," said Lyle.  "You don't have to do this."

"I'll be right there with you," said Mickey. "You're just the guy wearing the coat.  Otherwise, you know we'll be right there with you.  I won't let anything happen to you."

"You're not listening to me," whispered Lyle.  "I don't want any part of this."

The quiet calm voice of the Visitor's satellite whispered over Jules speaker system.  "If you don't do this, the planet Earth will die and the Milky Way Galaxy will become a huge rotating monument to your species' stupidity."

"Oh, yeah?" said Lyle.  "Well, how do I know you're not a … a demon?"

"Shhh," shushed Mickey.  "You'll wake everybody up."

"We're up," said Verna.  "What's wrong, baby."

"I won't do it," said Lyle.

"Fine," said Verna.  "Come back to the blanket."

"I won't," said Lyle.

"Suit yourself," said Verna.

The satellite spoke again.  "You don't need any proof that I'm telling you the truth.  Deep down you know it.  Your generation has always known it -- it's just you couldn't do anything about it.  My master came across the universe to give you that gift: the chance to save your species, your planet, your galaxy, and your future.  It's up to you what you do with it."

Lyle sat staring at the floor.  "It's up to me?"

"Yes," said the voice of the satellite.

"Then I know what to do," said Lyle.

"Good," said the satellite.  "Soon you will return through the fuzzynavel."

"The what?" asked Mickey.

"I tell you what," said the satellite.  "I'll download a package of data to your sapient and you can ask it everything I'm allowed to tell you.  There's no time left for pleasantries, you have to leave in a short time, I suggest you sleep."

"Ooooh," said Jules with excited revelation.  "That tickles."  Jules received data for about 2 seconds, which is a vast quantity of data for a couple of computers like the Sagittarian satellite and a metaquantum computer.

Mickey put his arm around Lyle as Lyle picked up the golden garment and inspected it.  He showed Mickey a strange little label sewn into the inside seam.  Mickey smiled.  The label contained holographic writing, an unintelligible script from some very foreign culture from a distant galaxy.  Lyle put the garment on, with the label and the seam on the outside.

"There," he said.

"Lyle, I don't think…"

Lyle interrupted Mickey by clasping his hand on Mickey's mouth.  Lyle shook his head and pointed to the speaker, indicating that the satellite was listening.

"It's my choice," said Lyle.  "That's what he said."

"Are you sure," said Mickey, deeply disturbed.

"It's the only way," said Lyle.  He lay back down beside Verna and hugged her from behind.  She adjusted to accommodate him and they spooned as he fell asleep for the first time during the rest period.

Now Mickey couldn't sleep.

Next: Mickey's Stardom