Just a wee bit of bunny to get it out of my head so I can concentrate.
So I was tending bar on a miserable Friday morning. Miserable, as in all cases, was relative. The rain coming down in the Florida Keys was warm and light, and filled the air with the scent of clean hot village. Inside the bar, the fire muttering to itself in the huge hearth dominated the nasal environment, with occasional bursts of cooking and ocean strutting through the wide open windows. The golden glow of the bar in the lowering sun got another desultory swipe with a clean rag, and I pulled up a stool for myself, fishing a dog-eared copy of some delicious science-fiction trash out from under the bar.
I was a few pages into the novel, fighting the Martian Menace alongside our bronze-thewed hero, when the cheery dingle of the door bell (In this case, an actual bell hanging on the door) interrupted me. I stowed the novel back below the bar next to my shillelagh, and looked up into the smiling face of Mike Callahan. I did not bounce my jaw off the floor, or squeal like the archetypical fanboy, or lunge forward to embrace one of my dearest friends. Instead, I drew my rag off my shoulder and polished the bar with an easy motion, smiling in return and asking the man who had saved my life, and more importantly, my love. "What can I get you, Mike?"
"Jake, he said." He said, his grin threatening to cut off his ears. I chuckled, which turned into a laugh, and seconds later we were hugging like we had never thought to let go. Breaking away from the embrace (when it was time for it to be over - no two second Manly Hugs for Mike!), Mike bussed my face peremptorily, and pulled up his own stool. "Jake, I never thought I'd be able to come back, but I need your help."
"Of course! Let me get the wife and kids, and we can be on the road in five minutes." I replied, throwing my rag and turning towards the door to the living area tucked into the structure of the bar. Mike's upraised hand stopped me, and I manfully cranked my jaw still and waited, eyebrow raised.
"It's a little less complicated than that, thankfully. And a little more complicated. But the short form is, we need to make a copy of you and take it with us to run a bar. We want the whole crew, for reasons that will become clear, but we're limited to one additional person because somepony wants to minimize the possibility of contamination." Mike said, at ease on his barstool. I took a closer look at him. He looked healthy, happy, content. Almost placid, in fact. "I'm sorry to spring this on you, but there seemed to be no reason to beat around the bush or work in circles... at least not here." At this a scowl flickered across Mike's face, gone as quick as it had shown up.
I returned to my original barstool, scratching at my day's beard, as my tardy mind picked up on something in Mike's previous statement, and hung a question mark on it. "Some.. pony?" I queried, eyebrows now at full elevation. Mike nodded, a sly smile growing into the space the scowl had left behind it.
"Yep.. Heh." Mike shook his head in silent merriment, then leaned back in the stool and smiled widely at me over his crossed arms. "I can guarantee you that it will be a two-way trip, and it is a copy. The you that is you will still be here, running the bar and living and loving, and it will be you. The you that comes with me will also be you."
"Basically, like you said, a copy. What happens after?"
"Well, we'll borrow some time for you to get to know you, and if both of you sign off on it, we'll insert you back into you. As far as you are concerned, you will have left the bar that evening, gone with us and helped us, and returned home with no elapsed time. There may be some minor disorientation around the patch, but since both of you will be aware and accepting of what's actually happening, those shouldn't be a problem"
"And what if both of us don't sign off on it?" I answered, brows now down and furrowed as I polished the bar with a fresh clean rag. Mike retained his confident posture, in fact seemed happy that I was working out the consequences before I jumped, even for him.
"That could be a problem, but a small one. Since both you will be you, you can carry on as a separate yourself. In that case, I would recommend that you either sign on with us as a sort of.. junior assistant, or stay.. there.. and just live. It's a wonderful place there, and it's a good work here, so in any of the three likely scenarios, everyone ends up happy and healthy afterwards. But I don't see any problems with rejoining you to you after you have returned to you and consulted with you."
I blinked at that, and took a moment to ponder. While I was thinking I drew a pair of Blessings and slid one across the bar to Mike, who saluted me with it gravely. We drank in silence for a few minutes, before I thought to check the time, which wasn't. I looked from the clock to Mike, who smiled his smug 'I've gotten away with something' smile. I returned the smile in recognition of his doing, and sat back to finish my Blessing.
We drank in a comfortable silence for several nothings, and only after I had racked the glasses in the washer and wiped down the already clean bar again did I take action. "I'd like to talk it over with the wife and kid. What can I tell them?"
Mike smiled broadly. He seemed to be doing a lot of smiling, which invariably made me smile in return. Wherever, whenever he had been, it was apparently good for him. "Tell them everything you know. I can't guarantee your safety, but I will, of course, do my best to keep you safe. And since it's just a copy.. "
"Can you stay the night?"
"Nope, my time here is limited - I've got to get back to the barn to ride herd on things - I'll be back about this time tomorrow to get your decision."
I hugged Mike again and he took his leave. I drew another Blessing for myself and sat in thought for a few minutes before flipping the sign closed and going off in search of the wonderful women I shared my life with. This bore some consideration, and some discussion.
------------------------------
The next day, Mike ran off a copy of me, which was an entirely uneventful event. After the copy was made, I saw myself grinning at myself like a shark as I left the bar with Mike. As we left the bar into the early beginning of another glorious night on the Keys, I followed mike around a corner and instead of stepping into an alley near the bar, I stepped out of the front corner of a barn. And not just any barn, but the Platonic ideal of 'barn', slope shouldered, red and white. Mike flicked an ear at me, and I moved up to walk next to him as we turned off from the front of the barn and trotted down a picturesque path through apple orchards that practically hummed with life. A breeze brought me the clean scents of a working farm, and I whickered with pleasure, my tail whisking pleasantly through the air. I broke into a trot out of sheer joy, throwing myself down the trail. Mike shifted gears and kept pace, pushing ahead of me and whacking me with his tail. I laughed and pushed myself into a canter, which Mike matched again, pulling very slightly forward as his long legs ate up the miles.
We slowed back down to a trot and then a walk as we neared a bridge, all white wood and arch over a babbling brook. I cropped a few mouthfuls of grass before I joined Mike, who had stopped at the gentle peak of the bridge, and was leaning on the railing, staring off over the water. I hoisted my front end up next to him, a maneuver that was a lot more graceful than I had expected, and we sat quietly for a few minutes, idly watching the play of light over the water.
"You're handling this a lot better than I had expected." Mike ventured. I chewed the grass stem I had brought up the bridge with me.
"Ayep. Figured that since you weren't alarmed, this was what you were expecting. Also, you did lead me to expect something like this." I replied. Mike snorted a gusty exhalation of a laugh.
"Jake Stonebender, you are a wonder beyond reason or price."
And with that, Mike resumed travel, shifting up from a trot to a loping canter, sort of the equine version of the wolf-lope I had read about in human long-distance runners. At that easy pace, we set off for a small village or town visible in the distance.
"No can brain today. Want cheezeburger."
From NGE: Nobody Dies, by Gregg Landsman
http://www.fanfiction.net/s/5579457/1/NGE_Nobody_Dies
So I was tending bar on a miserable Friday morning. Miserable, as in all cases, was relative. The rain coming down in the Florida Keys was warm and light, and filled the air with the scent of clean hot village. Inside the bar, the fire muttering to itself in the huge hearth dominated the nasal environment, with occasional bursts of cooking and ocean strutting through the wide open windows. The golden glow of the bar in the lowering sun got another desultory swipe with a clean rag, and I pulled up a stool for myself, fishing a dog-eared copy of some delicious science-fiction trash out from under the bar.
I was a few pages into the novel, fighting the Martian Menace alongside our bronze-thewed hero, when the cheery dingle of the door bell (In this case, an actual bell hanging on the door) interrupted me. I stowed the novel back below the bar next to my shillelagh, and looked up into the smiling face of Mike Callahan. I did not bounce my jaw off the floor, or squeal like the archetypical fanboy, or lunge forward to embrace one of my dearest friends. Instead, I drew my rag off my shoulder and polished the bar with an easy motion, smiling in return and asking the man who had saved my life, and more importantly, my love. "What can I get you, Mike?"
"Jake, he said." He said, his grin threatening to cut off his ears. I chuckled, which turned into a laugh, and seconds later we were hugging like we had never thought to let go. Breaking away from the embrace (when it was time for it to be over - no two second Manly Hugs for Mike!), Mike bussed my face peremptorily, and pulled up his own stool. "Jake, I never thought I'd be able to come back, but I need your help."
"Of course! Let me get the wife and kids, and we can be on the road in five minutes." I replied, throwing my rag and turning towards the door to the living area tucked into the structure of the bar. Mike's upraised hand stopped me, and I manfully cranked my jaw still and waited, eyebrow raised.
"It's a little less complicated than that, thankfully. And a little more complicated. But the short form is, we need to make a copy of you and take it with us to run a bar. We want the whole crew, for reasons that will become clear, but we're limited to one additional person because somepony wants to minimize the possibility of contamination." Mike said, at ease on his barstool. I took a closer look at him. He looked healthy, happy, content. Almost placid, in fact. "I'm sorry to spring this on you, but there seemed to be no reason to beat around the bush or work in circles... at least not here." At this a scowl flickered across Mike's face, gone as quick as it had shown up.
I returned to my original barstool, scratching at my day's beard, as my tardy mind picked up on something in Mike's previous statement, and hung a question mark on it. "Some.. pony?" I queried, eyebrows now at full elevation. Mike nodded, a sly smile growing into the space the scowl had left behind it.
"Yep.. Heh." Mike shook his head in silent merriment, then leaned back in the stool and smiled widely at me over his crossed arms. "I can guarantee you that it will be a two-way trip, and it is a copy. The you that is you will still be here, running the bar and living and loving, and it will be you. The you that comes with me will also be you."
"Basically, like you said, a copy. What happens after?"
"Well, we'll borrow some time for you to get to know you, and if both of you sign off on it, we'll insert you back into you. As far as you are concerned, you will have left the bar that evening, gone with us and helped us, and returned home with no elapsed time. There may be some minor disorientation around the patch, but since both of you will be aware and accepting of what's actually happening, those shouldn't be a problem"
"And what if both of us don't sign off on it?" I answered, brows now down and furrowed as I polished the bar with a fresh clean rag. Mike retained his confident posture, in fact seemed happy that I was working out the consequences before I jumped, even for him.
"That could be a problem, but a small one. Since both you will be you, you can carry on as a separate yourself. In that case, I would recommend that you either sign on with us as a sort of.. junior assistant, or stay.. there.. and just live. It's a wonderful place there, and it's a good work here, so in any of the three likely scenarios, everyone ends up happy and healthy afterwards. But I don't see any problems with rejoining you to you after you have returned to you and consulted with you."
I blinked at that, and took a moment to ponder. While I was thinking I drew a pair of Blessings and slid one across the bar to Mike, who saluted me with it gravely. We drank in silence for a few minutes, before I thought to check the time, which wasn't. I looked from the clock to Mike, who smiled his smug 'I've gotten away with something' smile. I returned the smile in recognition of his doing, and sat back to finish my Blessing.
We drank in a comfortable silence for several nothings, and only after I had racked the glasses in the washer and wiped down the already clean bar again did I take action. "I'd like to talk it over with the wife and kid. What can I tell them?"
Mike smiled broadly. He seemed to be doing a lot of smiling, which invariably made me smile in return. Wherever, whenever he had been, it was apparently good for him. "Tell them everything you know. I can't guarantee your safety, but I will, of course, do my best to keep you safe. And since it's just a copy.. "
"Can you stay the night?"
"Nope, my time here is limited - I've got to get back to the barn to ride herd on things - I'll be back about this time tomorrow to get your decision."
I hugged Mike again and he took his leave. I drew another Blessing for myself and sat in thought for a few minutes before flipping the sign closed and going off in search of the wonderful women I shared my life with. This bore some consideration, and some discussion.
------------------------------
The next day, Mike ran off a copy of me, which was an entirely uneventful event. After the copy was made, I saw myself grinning at myself like a shark as I left the bar with Mike. As we left the bar into the early beginning of another glorious night on the Keys, I followed mike around a corner and instead of stepping into an alley near the bar, I stepped out of the front corner of a barn. And not just any barn, but the Platonic ideal of 'barn', slope shouldered, red and white. Mike flicked an ear at me, and I moved up to walk next to him as we turned off from the front of the barn and trotted down a picturesque path through apple orchards that practically hummed with life. A breeze brought me the clean scents of a working farm, and I whickered with pleasure, my tail whisking pleasantly through the air. I broke into a trot out of sheer joy, throwing myself down the trail. Mike shifted gears and kept pace, pushing ahead of me and whacking me with his tail. I laughed and pushed myself into a canter, which Mike matched again, pulling very slightly forward as his long legs ate up the miles.
We slowed back down to a trot and then a walk as we neared a bridge, all white wood and arch over a babbling brook. I cropped a few mouthfuls of grass before I joined Mike, who had stopped at the gentle peak of the bridge, and was leaning on the railing, staring off over the water. I hoisted my front end up next to him, a maneuver that was a lot more graceful than I had expected, and we sat quietly for a few minutes, idly watching the play of light over the water.
"You're handling this a lot better than I had expected." Mike ventured. I chewed the grass stem I had brought up the bridge with me.
"Ayep. Figured that since you weren't alarmed, this was what you were expecting. Also, you did lead me to expect something like this." I replied. Mike snorted a gusty exhalation of a laugh.
"Jake Stonebender, you are a wonder beyond reason or price."
And with that, Mike resumed travel, shifting up from a trot to a loping canter, sort of the equine version of the wolf-lope I had read about in human long-distance runners. At that easy pace, we set off for a small village or town visible in the distance.
"No can brain today. Want cheezeburger."
From NGE: Nobody Dies, by Gregg Landsman
http://www.fanfiction.net/s/5579457/1/NGE_Nobody_Dies