6am on a Boeing 747 flying east from LAX. Out my window, I see
a mountain range, maybe the Appalachians, dark and rugged looming over the dull colorless landscape.
Nothing to write home about; especially when you've been to the places I've been,
and seen what I've seen. I observe with mild apprehension.
A cute flight attendant with brown hair and dimples nudges my shoulder
to let me know that we'll be landing soon, in a half hour or so.
I can feel my ears pop as the plane's altitude drops and the turbulence
from earlier rocks me back again into an alert state of mind.

The destination: New York City. Hired as a cloud consultant for one of Silicon's big players.
I never thought that I would one day find myself working for one of the Tech giants,
at one of their secret East Coast headquarters no less, but I had all the necessary certification,
and it was what was expected of me, so to speak, so I accepted the position with
a quiet sense of ambivalenence. I looked over at the female flight attendant,
exchanging smiles, then put on my sunglasses and waited patiently for the plane to land.

When we landed I waited for the usual flood of passengers eager to jump out of their seats 
and storm for the exit, then got up and headed for the front of the plane.
I took one last look at the joyful flight attendant
as she smiled over at me, forbearing a deep sense of regret. 

"Have a wonderful day!"

"You too."

I stepped off the plane and onto the tarmat as I felt the cool refreshing air
of Manhattan in January enter my nostrils and fill my lungs.
The company was going to send a driver to take me to the hotel on 43rd,
then to company HQ, where many first-day tasks awaited me, so I brisked along rapidly and made way for the airport exit.
Once outside I immediately found a black sedan with a driver standing beside it, holding up a sign with my name on it.
I nodded at the driver then got in the car, as he drove past the usual sight of skyscrapers and concrete drab
which I had become so accustomed to seeing in my line of work. 

My first day at the office was brief and everything had already been planned out for me ahead of time.
I performed the necessary training, zig-zag'd from floor to floor to sign some last-minute paperwork I hadn't filled out yet,
then was introduced to what was to become my office cubicle for the forseeable future.
That night when I got back to the hotel and tried to fall asleep I felt again that deep sense 
of ambivalence which had started on the airplane,
a feeling of indifference or carelessness as my destiny  
was carried out for me, without any sort of particular resentment. I thought about Jeremy who was going
to come visit me at the end of the month, and thought about how
that would be enough to keep me going. Then I fell asleep.


==========================================================================================


The next day I arrived into work late and missed the morning company workout,
which consisted of light calisthenics and breathing exercises.
Nobody noticed as I arrived on the fifth floor and snuck out the elevator,
the instructor quietly repeating the mantra "Good job team" while everyone who laid in corpse pose 
slowly got up and started walking over to their cubicles soothed and refreshed. I went to my desk and 
completed some daily assignments, slightly bothered by the regular coded announcements coming out of the intercom,
which didn't impress some people but seemed to heavily vex others.
Afterwards I went downstairs to have lunch and noticed that the cafeteria was closed.
I walked up to one of the senior engineers heading in the opposite direction and asked him,

"What's going on?"

"Didn't you read the memo this morning?"

"No."

"Call from the higher ups. They don't want us eating at the cafeteria anymore."

I made my way back to the elevator feeling pretty dissapointed then returned to my desk on the fifth floor
where I started compiling some of the packages I had been working on.
A man leaned over over to me, sliding his chair briskly 5 feet away from his adjacent desk, and
it was at that moment that I met Ben who was to be my partner for the next couple of months in the project I was undertaking.

Ben had grown up in Illinois where he had lived a simple ordinary life with his parents and younger brother while studying for his certificates.
His mother had once been in a holdup inside of a convenience store, and shortly afterwards she had met his father whom she married and bought a house with 
in a quiet neighborhood east of Chicago where he grew up. His mother liked Sonic Youth and she even got to see The Talking Heads live once before she met his father.

"Pleasure to meet you. My last partner couldn't take the heat so I hope you're up for the task."

He proceeded to recite for me word-by-word everything his superiors had written out for him, while continuing to fill me in on his childhood and mother.

"I love to read wikipedia and I'm always learning new things."

I kept working while Ben continued to furnish me with random tidbits of information, to which he admitted were "kind of irrelevant but deeply fascinating"

"For example, have you ever heard of Carl Jung before?"

"Rings a bell."

"He was a famous German psychologist who lived in the early 20th century and he helped a lot of 
people mentally to overcome their fears and anxieties. He was a great man."

"OK."

"Are you in the city? If you want you can come over to my house sometime in Brooklyn
to check out the copy of his Red Book which I own. It's in mint condition."

I was puzzled as to why Ben thought I was in need of any of sort of help or treatment,
but I let him continue as I tried to focus on my assignments.

"Jung was the first to introduce the concept of the Shadow, a component of your psychological being
which resides in your dreams but in reality also."

I nodded and kept working.

"The Shadow...", he continued, followed by a long sigh, "...The Shadow evolved out of a need for human beings to challenge themselves
but also to comfort themselves in a state of persistent struggle. It continues to exist as a necessity for human beings
to overcome the natural hurdles of life in periods of threatening calamity and sustained.... Excuse me."

Ben got up and left to go to the bathroom, and I decided to connect into the company's servers in San Jose
to transfer that day's payload. I started thinking about Jeremy again, then 
all of a sudden I felt a jet of warm air enter one of my ears as the sound of Ben's voice warned me,

"You shouldn't do that."

"Sorry?"

"There are a lot of packet sniffers out there and your choice of shell is notorious for its vulnerabilities.
Use a different one than the one you use to code."

"Just killing two birds with one stone."

Ben scoffed and grabbed his chair rolling it back to his desk. I didn't feel like arguing with anyone as it was getting pretty late in the day
and I couldn't help but start thinking about Jeremy again.
He had never been to New York before and I was trying to think of things I might be able
to introduce him to once he did get here. Then the voice on the intercom started shouting coded announcements again and a man
next to me started to hyperventilate. I asked if he was alright and he replied to me after an awkward silence, "....Yes."


=========================================================================================


The next day Ben and I continued to work on our project and I got to meet his girlfriend Natasha for the first time.
"My girlfriend works in the mailroom where she sorts receiving mail. She's bringing me lunch today."

Natasha arrived at noon with a delicious-looking bento box carefully prepared for him.
Ben looked over at me with a giddy smile, as though I hadn't believed him when he told me that he had a girlfriend,
and extended his gratitude over to Natasha with a concise "Hmm" while we continued to work moderately uninterrupted.
She had long black curly hair, blue gypsy eyes, and smelled heavily of lavender. She smiled and rubbed his upper back for a while,
massaging his trapezious muscle, then quietly left without either of us noticing.

The voice on the intercom started again and this time a different man started shaking uncontrollably.
A woman called for help and the morning workout instructor arrived right away
to guide the man through his panic attack with breathing exercises,
until it dessipated and he was calm enough again to resume work. 

That night when I got to the hotel I could feel a burning sensation in my throat and stomach,
so I went to my room and before taking a shower I grabbed the tin bucket next to the sink
to go fill it up with ice. I took the elevator 2 floors down and when I got the end of the
hallway where the ice machine was I could notice a huge lineup of people waiting.
I could tell that people weren't going to let that ice machine go 
anytime soon, so I headed for the elevator and back to my room where
I watched tv and drank fiji water.
I woke up the next day feeling particularly drowsy.

When I walked into work the cafeteria was open again.
I grabbed myself some scrambled eggs, roasted potatoes,
and a carton of orange juice.

Then I went upstairs to work and Ben asked if I wanted to go have lunch with him and Natasha at Deschelle's later,
which was a restaurant just a few blocks away from our office building. I said "Sure" then once
the bell rang we took the elevator downstairs and hailed a cab
while he continued to recite to me what he had read on Wikipedia that day.


==========================================================================================


"You can declare this on your income tax return, you know?"
Ben and I were looking over the menu at Deschelle's, and he insisted
that we grab the soup and salad combo as he was feeling particularly famished that day, 
and sold me over to the idea that we could save some leftovers for later when we got back to the office.

"It's basically like killing two birds with one stone."

The waiter brought our salads and then Ben started talking about the project outline again.
There was so much to take in that before I knew it our steaks had arrived,
and Ben started attacking his plate as he had already finished his salad.

"Natasha is running late again."

While we ate I couldn't help but look around and notice the sincerity in other peoples' voices,
as they sat at their tables and ate with their friends and business associates, 
while also admiring the restaurant's choice of decorations and trinkets hanging on the ceiling of the repurposed textile factory.

Natasha arrived and I guess she had injured her hips in a fall because she was walking with a noticeable limp.
"Natasha!", Ben hollered chewing through his food, staying put in his seat
as Natasha pulled a chair from under the table and slowly sat down beside us, carefully and methodically.

Ben decided to change subject and continued to further elaborate on the concept of the Jungian Shadow,
"The Shadow is something you must learn to live with. It will always be a part of you and you must learn to accept it
as a part of who you are. It never goes away but learning about its existence can
give you immeasurable power."

I finished my potatoes and signed over to the waiter, asking him for a takeout container 
for the steak I had hardly touched amidst the vast compendium of information imparted onto me.
Then I grabbed the bill and tapped my credit card as Ben and I got up and left the restaurant while leaving Natasha to wait for her order.

Heading back to the office on 42nd we walked past the famous Rockefeller Christmas tree,
and there I noticed a wonderful train set through the window of a toy store which made me think about Jeremy again.



==========================================================================================



It was a hot scorching and unbelievably dry morning as
Bill Wymann drove his '65 coup deville and took a sharp turn around a bend on the 
Pacific Coast Highway heading for San Dessino,
the sun radiating over his squinting eyes and shining over his arm hairs.

Rows of palm trees guided him to the gates of the mansion where he was to
deliver important news to his business partner, a media mogul and technology investor.
When he arrived at the heavily guarded gate, a guard walked over to his car
to confirm his identity then spoke into a walkie-talkie, 
signaling over to the other security guard to open the lavishly decorated gate
and let him into the compound.

Bill parked his car and knocked on the front door as a young woman wearing a delightful pink dress
and speaking with a high-pitched voice greeted him.

"I'm here to see Hugh." 

"Of course..."

The young woman let Bill inside as he walked into the vestibule and into the 
remarkably large living room, where a wide assortment of fruits and crustibles
were arranged on tables alongside one of the walls.

"Would you like a snack?"

"No thank you. I need to see Hugh."

"Alright."

The woman led Bill through the many rooms of the labyrinthian mansion,
until a spiral staircase appeared leading to the second floor.
She gestured towards it then bowed her head down as her eyes glanced over at the ground, 

"This is where you go."

Bill walked up the spiral staircase and onto the second floor,
making his way through a long hallway littered with life-like portraits of the mansion's owner.

He knocked on the door at the end of the hall. It was already slightly opened,
when he heard a voice say "Come in."

Bill entered the room and noticed his friend facing a corner,
adjusting the needle on what appeared to be a luxury hi-fi turntable.
He turned around and feigned a smile.

"Bill. My good friend. It is nice to see you."

"Likewise."

"Would you like a drink?"

"No thanks."

"A game of four-dimensional chess, perhaps?"

"I'm afraid I come here with more pressing matters."

Hugh swung his martini glass and tightened his bathrobe as the sound of jingling ice cubes
echoed throughout the room and permeated the awkward silence.

"I see. Please. Take a seat."

"I'll stand."

Bill waited for Hugh to finish his martini before taking a long breathe and exhaling:

"Our window is short and if we don't act now we'll miss our chance at another planetary alignment.
The Tiberium crystals are losing their potency and it's either now or in another four hundred years,
I'm afraid. We must act now and without delay."

Hugh smuckered his lips and looked out the window,
where a group of young women were mowing the lawn and tending to the garden.
He made sure to divert his eyes away from his reflection and pretended to assess the womens' performance. 

"Have you received the proprietary assets from New York?", he asked with a long pensive drawl.

"Yes."

"Then I agree. We must act quickly. I'll get Samantha to make the proper phone calls
and arrangements and we'll raise the mission status to Code Zero-Ténum... You may leave now."

Bill nodded and turned around, anxious at the thought of their plan finally bearing its fruit,
after so many years of scientific research and planning.

"We meet at the designated launch site at 1300. Bring necessary gear and PPE."

"Understood"


============================================================


The next day Bill Wymann arrived at the launch site, riding in a '56 ford mustang
which he had custom-painted with a blue glossy finish and upgraded with steel titanium rims.

The location had been carefully planned and was situated in a ranch not too far away from the mansion he had
visited the previous day. There a group of scientists wearing white lab coats talked with one another,
jotting down notes on their notepads. A heated debate sparked between them and Bill decided to intervene.

"Gentlemen, must I remind you why we are here? The importance of our mission precedes
your childish bickering."

The men looked over at him puzzled and bewildered, and resumed talking to one another, this time
in a more composed fashion, while Bill walked away proud of his diffusion and towards the
main mission asset.

He could not believe his eyes as they feasted on the panorama of the immaculately-restored 19th century
steam locomotive, retro-fitted and resting on modern rail tracks and appearing fully functional,
ready to be operated.

Hugh appeared dressed in a period uniform and handed over to Bill a Tiberium crystal
encased in a transparent vase, and a cowboy hat, one that looked just like the one he was wearing.

"I can't believe this is finally happening", Bill exclamed. "Our path is unclear but I am excited to discover new places."

Hugh placed his arm around Bill's shoulders and smiled, the way old friends do.
"Simmer down, partner. This is where we make history."



==========================================================================================



After work I grabbed a cab and headed uptown for the Greyhound station, where I waited for Jeremy's bus to arrive.
When he walked out of the bus I couldn't help but let an apprehensive smile rob me of my usually cool demeanor,
and I stood there hoping that he wouldn't fault me for it or see it as a sign of weakness.

"How's your mother?"

"She's doing ok."

"That's good."

We headed directly for the exit of the Greyhound station as he hadn't brought any luggage with him from California.
Then we started walking along the busy sidewalk on 38th and I turned to him,
bending my knees to grab him by the shoulders the way every father should
when giving his son advice:

"Be careful. The pedestrians aren't the same here. And the drivers are crazy."

I tightened my grip over his hand to keep him safe from the crowds of people bustling and sprinting,
and i remembered about the train set at the toy store near the Rockefeller Christmas tree. 

"Before we head to the hotel I have a surprise for you."

I could feel his excitement as his eyes widened and a smile overtook his face.
We grabbed 43rd making a short detour from 54th, and walked until the toy store appeared
from the opposite side of the street. 

"You see that window, with all the toys and games? Why don't we go take a look inside and maybe if there's something you like,
I can make it up to you for all the birthdays I missed."

Jeremy smiled again and, overcome with glee, released himself from my grip, darting for the toy store across the street,
watchfully evading the traffic as cars honked and drivers yelled at him. I couldn't help but laugh.
He was his father's son, alright.

The sound of faint electric shocks went unnoticed when a deafening roar which followed it
caused Jeremy and I and everyone else on the street to turn around and look towards it.
Blue sparks flickered above the street and around what appeared to be an inter-galactic portal from a science fiction movie started to open,
slowly expanding, its surface black mysterious and opaque.
Then the sound of a persistent loud whistle and coal combustion engine cancelled out the blaring Manhatthan traffic as what  
looked like a steam locomotive from the 19th century charged out from inside the portal and blazed onto the street
pulvarizing every vehicle in its path.

"Jeremy, no!"

I lept onto the street to grab Jeremy by the arm, lifting him from the ground as I could feel his feeble body float
in the air, and I tried to run back towards the sidewalk, the sound of the train getting louder and louder as we both helplessly turned around to face it,
trying to catch a glimpse of the monstrous occurence that had begun only a few seconds ago.
Darkness filled our field of vision and the front of the steam locomotive darted through us, and then all of a sudden everything started to slow down. 
Birds chirping became hollow and cavernous, the honking of cars turned into baritone growls, and 
the sound of everybody screaming coalesced into one big thunderous thump. The
last thing I remember seeing as the lights faded and the shutter of the camera ended my life 
was Jeremy's brains splattered all over 42nd avenue.