Chapter 6 Across the Universe Where We're Going We don't have the Senses, We ARE the Senses

"This is a little hard to grasp at first but all you have to do is go along with everything that happens to you." Leer laughs as he becomes a serpentine creature, part dragon, part sea serpent who dives in and out of the water pulling Blue at breakneck speed toward a volcanic island looming in a pitch-black sea. Blue is on Leer's back, riding his serpent companion like a horse.

"I can tell I'm really in for it now, Leer." Blue shouts to a silent Leer. The transformation is complete for him. He has become the serpent. Blue barely squeezes a breath in before the serpentine Leer dives deep, deeper than any ordinary man would dare to dive. Fortunately, Blue is no ordinary man. In fact, he isn't actually a man at all. The ancient folk called them Avastrana,"of the water" for lack of a better translation-Blue had become the translation, part sea creature, part ninja warrior. He moved with the serpent as if it were an extension of himself, guiding it with the long fibrous whiskers which turned out from the corners of the serpent's mouth which was huge, open and feeding on the thousands of smaller fish which had grouped in the deepest part of this undersea ravine where the pair glided through the icy waters as if they had been doing so all of their lives. Blue heeded Leer's advice and trusted his instinct to let the sea creature, who had moments earlier been his friend, feed. In his bones, or whatever they had become, he felt an overwhelming certainty that the bond he shared with the serpent was critical to his own survival, as he felt this, the whiskers wrapped gently around his forearms, becoming a second skin. Now rider and serpent were one. Together, the companions raced through the open sea, covering an incalculable amount of distance in a seemingly insignificant length of time. Just as suddenly, they were swimming through a tunnelled maze, so narrow, Blue could feel the walls brush against his back, his head tucked in so close to the serpent that Blue could hear its breath more clearly than he could hear the water rushing past his ears. They reached an opening in the maze. In front of them lay three more tunnel entrances. They were surrounded by sheer rock walls, above them only blackness.

Chapter 6 Across the Universe or Universes

A constant feeling of falling accompanied by the urge to vomit and an insatiable hunger. Such intense hunger that Blue wishes he could vomit just so he could eat something. Blackness, seemingly endless blackness filled with nothing but hunger. For days upon days, a lightless drop through empty space with an empty stomach, in silence.

"Hey", whispers Leer into Blue's ear,"how's your head?"

"My head?",asks Blue.

"Yeah, well it looks different," adds Leer.

"What do you mean different?", Blue asks, suddenly realizing that he is no longer hungry.

"You don't have a nose" Leer responds.

"What?" Blue puzzles.

"You don't have a nose" Leer responds again.

"What do you mean I don't have a nose? I can smell you for cryin' out loud!", Blue nervously snaps.

Leer holds up a small mirror to Blue.

"Man!", Blue exclaims, "I look pretty good as anime!"

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Chapter 6 Across the Universe-an Unexpected Visitor

"It's a funny thing when you try to explain the unexplainable," Leer said as he climbed out of the frame right as Blue put the finishing touches on his sunglasses. "Nice touch, by the way, Blue," Leer smirks as he pulls the glasses off."That whole blind superhero thing works well in the comics but you know as well as I do that I see as well as you do, maybe better!"

"Holy shit!!!", vomits Blue."John?!! John Tanner?!! Fuck man! I thought you were dead...or corporate!"Blue stands in disbelief for a moment,"DUDE! It is SO FUCKIN" COOL to see you. What the hell, man? You just walked out of this fuckin' comic that I...me - I - just finishing DRAWING!!!" Blue stutters-shouts-explicates in disbelief. Then he drops to the floor and pleads,"If I draw an iPad in your hand will it really be there, and perhaps more importantly, will all of the available apps be preloaded? No seriously, this calls for a celebration, how about a six-pack, chilled to perfection. Damn, I have absolutely nothing to offer you, I mean you just crawled out of paper you must be parchment, parched I meant." Blue laughs to himself.

"Actually, Leer confides,"we aren't staying."

"We? Who's We? - You and me?" Blue asks cautiously.

"Yeah", Leer laughs and in a single motion puts his sunglasses back on and grabs Blue by the shoulder pulling him back from an infinite drop as a star cruiser obliterates Blue's house and everything in it except for the small patch of floor which Blue and Leer still occupy. It was as if the entire house exploded on impact leaving only enough of the structure to keep Blue and Leer from falling. In fact, it was so sudden that Blue didn't even feel it. What he did feel was the cruiser, inches away from his face, radiating an intense energy. Blue reached up to the cruiser and gently placed his fingers upon the hull of the ship. The surface seemed to silently hum, buzzing rapidly like the vibrator Blue found under the bathroom sink just days after his sister Lisa returned from her "Girl Scout" camping trip. Frank never seemed to put together the fact that Lisa continued to go on "Girl Scout" camping trips all the way through college and never once received a merit badge. What she did do was use every penny that Frank ever earned in any way she pleased right up until the day that Blue moved out. She probably continued to do so but Blue never bothered to find out. In fact, the only thing larger than Blue's disregard for the father and sister he left behind was this cruiser. It was so large that at least a hundred thousand mobile homes could perform parking ramp ballet maneuvers for a week, inside of it, and never recognize a single turn. Blue knew very little about mobile homes and even less about parking ramp ballet. What Blue did know about mobile homes is that many of them are actually quite luxurious. This he learned from a photographer friend who currently resides in a trekkie commune somehere in the Badlands of South Dakota.

"Watch your step" Leer smiles as a sliding door suddenly materializes and slides open in front of Blue.

Blue steps forward, banging directly into the side of the ship.

The door laughs. "Okay, sorrrry," says the door,"c'mon in", suddenly the door appears and slides open again. Just as suddenly, and completely pissed off, Blue marches directly into the side of the ship. The door laughs again. Blue is furious. He looks in the direction of the laughter and says, "Fine, I don't have to go anywhere. I am probably just dreaming anyway, so I will just stay right here, in my broken home and wait until you go away and I wake up!" The door giggles. Leer clears his throat, loudly. "Sorry Mr.Leer," the door opens, continuing,"Safe passage to all who enter through this door, guaranteed by All That Is."

"See Blue, It's like the man says, sure hope Moses knows his roses." Leer shouts," Thank you kindly angel Gabriel!" Then the two men step into what can only be described as a black hole of doom where everything gets sucked into the void.