The Sixth

                                                                                                                                     

The Sixth

                                                                                                    

P.S.

         Yeah, sure, Clockston will be remembered as the original 'place porter', but Merezmo will always be 'Father Time'. Ya see, the first five had to work it with naked juice. I hated the feel of the raw juice crawling up your hands and arms. Maybe that's why I'm still here and they're not, the first five, I mean. They got to love'n it, the feel, I mean. The naked juice, as they called it. But it effected your mind after awhile and, well, I guess, they just decided to take it to the next level and go somewhere - beyond, out there, I mean. I remember the look in Jay's eyes the last time he appeared in front of me just before he disappeared forever. It was wild, ya know, like some beatnik, all wide eyed and leering smile, not a word to me, just poof and "..bye Jay, I love ya buddy!". I didn't even get to say that, I wish I had. Ya see, I'm number six and I'm still here. Probably, because I always hated the feel of the naked juice, ya know. I mean, I'm credited with coming up with a way to time port without the creepy crawling of electricity going up your arms just as you jumped through.
         We were all friends at MIT, the five, I mean, all work'n in the same area of theory, ya see. Will, Arnie, Paxton, Joe Jennings and Jay Merezmo. I remember Will Clockston's first jump. I came into his efficency down on Van Nuys Boulevard and there he was, stand'n with these two huge cables in each hand, waiting for me, ya see. I remember the look on his face as I stepped into the little corner of his diningroom that he jokingly referred to as 'the lab' - then he tells me "...we're about to make history!". Then nothing, the cables thud to the floor, gone, I mean. I'm look'n around for about ten minutes, at a loss as to what to do next, suddenly the phone on the counter rings and its Will - from France, I mean. He's all excited, babbling and not make'n any sense as this stream of theory is pouring outta the phone from somewhere in France and I'm stand'n there dumbfonded wonder'n how in the hell is he gonna get home, ya see. Well, we started working on everything and our classes at MIT went to hell (who needs a degree when your making history in your own lifetime!), then Arnie and Paxton discover that if a reverse current is set up on the other side you can come right back a minute later! This starts a flurry of events that is just a blurr in my memory, ya see, with guys jump'n in and outta the apartment and everything start'n to take off. Its like we stopped eat'n and the next few weeks became one long day, ya know. Its amazing what the body will endure when the mind becomes feverishly latched to an idea and won't let go, ya see. They set up gates in different places and were hopping around the world like it was noth'n. That's when Jay noticed what it was doing to the mind, the juice, I mean. Jennings started getting weird on us, hopping in and out of the classrooms at MIT and word got out that something was going on in California. Jennings had a gate in his pad and had discovered how to remote from there, it was creepy, ya know. We tried to keep it as quiet as possible, but Joe was slipping mentally and we knew it, ya see. Jay said it was the raw juice that was frying the brain cells, not severly at first, ya see, but over time and with enough jumps the naked juice started to skewer your preception of everything, ya know. I was the first to 'double jump'. Jay approaches me with his idea and then the next thing I know is he takes my hand and poof, there we go. The evolution of the theory was growing at an alarming rate as we uncovered diffferent facets of it everyday.
         Then Will didn't come back. Everybody got scared, ya see, except Jennings, but he was pretty much fried by now, becoming the 'Wizzard of Van Nuys' in his own mind, ya know. Then Arnie and Paxton disappeared and we discovered an aspect of placement that was a naturally occuring phenomenon, I mean, you wouldn't wind up in a wall or a bridge, because of the contrary electromagnetic fields between active matter and inert matter, ya see, but that didn't mean you wouldn't wind up in front of a high speeding bus, so to speak, as they had discovered. We heard the sad news about Arnie and Pax and for the first time everything came to a crashing halt. At the viewing I actually had my first beer in a month! I remember sitting down with the third one and bursting out crying uncontrollably. Paxton had helped me get through my first year at MIT, ya see, I don't know what I'd have done without Pax that year. Jay started working on the 'whys' of what happened to Will almost immediately and that's how he discovered time portalling, it was no longer just 'place porting'. Ya see, the trick now was controlling it, which is why Merezmo will always be 'Father Time'. He found out how to get exactly where you wanted to go and back again, just like that! I was there the day he proved his theory. He told me to think back to that day when Nancy dumped me to go back to Georgia. Ya see, its the day I will always call 'After The Great Conflagration'. I took the Frye boots she had given me, that I cherished so much, and very ceremoniuosly folded them, lay'n them on the top of the trash, thus symbolically ending the relationship forever. Merezmo, being the close freind that he was, knew the deep pain of that day and how I carried it around with me all these years. "Think back, Max, to that day...", I did, then he flickered, for an instant, as he stood there in front of me and my mouth dropped open. I was floored by the memory of Jay appearing in my apartment that day - a memory that hadn't been there before! I remember hearing his voice and turning to look over my shoulder and there he was, telling me to forget her, she wasn't worth my time and that Denise was just around the corner anyway - and then he was gone from memory. He hadn't touched me, or taken or brought anything, just spoken and then he was gone and I remembered it. Jay stood in front of me smiling, a huge crease across that bearded mug of his, like some gaping ape, ya know?! He'd done it, ya see, and he understood that you don't bring anything into the time space and you don't take anything outta the time space, unless, of course, you want to screw everything up, ya see. Then Joe Jennings disappeared. Jay and I never did figure out where he wound up. We just chalked it up to too much juice, too fast and made a note for future generations - after all we were the forefathers of this whole crazy thing and somebody had to lay down the guidelines. I started working on a way to eliminate the raw juice aspect of the theory. Before I could come up with the completed workings of it and my invention of  'the grid', Jay disappeared. But not for good, ya see, he had to say goodbye.
         It was a beautiful, sunny afternoon in the park. I was taking a break from the brainstorming I had been doing all week up at 'the lab', when suddenly sitting next to me on the bench is Jennings. Ya see, he's got this crazy glint in his eye and I know immediately that he's gone upstairs, totally, ya know, but there's love there too, in the look, ya see, and I realize its a 'goodbye' from the 'Wizzard of Van Nuys', so I nod and he nods back and poof! Then instantaniously there's Jay and his wild eyes tell me he's on to something. I realize he's found the Wizzard's trail and is chasing him down. His hair's all dishevelled and his demeanor is disturbing and all I can think to say at the moment is "..go get'em Jay!", then he too is gone. Ya see, I've not seen hide nor hair of the five since then and I only know where two of them wound up, then again, I wonder if Arnie and Pax didn't really die, but are travel'n around with the others somewhere out there, ya know?! Since then I've perfected 'the grid' and have done some test'n of my own. Ya should have seen the look on young Tom Cruise's pimply face when I appeared at the mall that day in front of his giggle'n pack of girlfriends to tell him just how much his body of work meant to me, especially 'A Few Good Men' and 'Samurai'. He just looked at me strange as if I were just another local crazy, then poof, ya know?
                                                                                                                                                       

END