I JUST CAN’T EXPLAIN HOW GOOD IT FEELS
I WON’T STOP, HE SAYS, AS THE EARTH PIROUETTES THROUGH SPACE, ITS ORBIT UNHINDERED BY YOUR OUSTING OF THE HUMAN RACE. TIME DIPS, FALLS INTO THE NEGATIVES AS YOU WORK YOUR WAY OUT OF WHAT YOU HAVE JUST LEARNT AND ALMOST ALWAYS KNOWN.
IT IS NO EASY TASK. SOON NEGATIVE TIME WILL FILL THE MOAT OF YOUR DISTANT CASTLE, SEEP INTO THE SOIL OF YOUR DISTANT WORLD, AND THEN ALL THE LIFEFORMS SHALL GROW CROOKED AND SULLEN. THIS IS BEAUTY, AS FAR AS YOU CAN QUANTIFY IT. YOU WOULD BE ARMORED THERE AND SHEATHED IN MIGHT. YOU SHALL LOWER THE DRAWBRIDGE, BRING IN YOUR ARMIES AND YOUR ASSASSINS, AND THEN RAISE THE DRAWBRIDGE AGAIN. YOUR ASSASSINS HAVE NEVER BEEN LOYAL, BUT LOYALTY IS A CHILD’S DREAM. YOU COULD HAVE THEM DREAMING OF SLICING THEIR OWN THROATS OPEN AND WHO IS TO SAY YOU DON’T? BUT NOW THERE IS ALL OF THIS AND THE SKELETONS SING YOU TO SLEEP WITH PRAISES BEYOND COMPARE. HOW MANY PHANTOMS MUST YOU HAVE BUILT BY NOW, NOT COUNTING THE DEVASTATION YOU HOLD DEAR AND SO WILL NOT NAME? BUT I WON’T STOP, HE SAYS TO YOU, AS YOU CHEW ON HIS BONES AND SIPHON YOUR POISON INTO HIS MARROW. I WON’T STOP, HE SAYS, AS YOU AIM METEORITES UPON HIS CITIES AND ECLIPSE HIS SUNS. I WON’T STOP, I WON’T STOP, YOU CAN’T MAKE ME STOP, HE SAYS AS YOUR KISSES POUND HIS WORLDS DOWN TO DUST. AND HE DOESN’T STOP, AND SO YOU PUT AWAY YOUR MISSILES AND MACHETES FOR LATER AND FLEE, LEAVING BEHIND THIS NOW-DESERT. THERE IS NO SHAME IN TAKING COVER, IN BECOMING NIGHTFALL. AT THE END OF THE SLEEPLANDS, YOU HEAR HIM CRYING. BUT YOU DWELL ON OTHER SECRETS. YOU TAKE ROOT IN UNFAMILIAR BODIES AND DRAW LIFE FROM SIGHTLESS LANDS. YOU SUPPLANT VACANT KINGS AND SWALLOW THE UNIVERSAL EGO. THERE IS LITTLE LEFT TO DO AFTER THAT, AFTER A VICTORY THAT DESCENDS INTO THE HOLLOW AND TRUTHLESS, AND SO YOU RETURN TO WHERE YOU LEFT HIM, PARKED IN THE RECESSES OF WHAT HAD ONCE BEEN EDGWARE ROAD STATION. AND HE HAS STILL NOT STOPPED, OR SO HE SAYS, AND YOUR ARMIES SCREAM FOR BLOOD FROM THE COFFINS OF THEIR STASIS CHAMBERS. PERHAPS YOU CAN MAKE HIM STOP.
THERE IS MUSIC PLAYING. MOORED TO THEIR TRACKS, THE TRAINS ROT IN THEIR STILLNESS IN THE ABSENCE OF INTELLIGENT LIFE.
CEASE AND DESIST, YOU TELL HIM, LIKE A STUPID CHILD.
BUT LOVING YOU IS ALL I KNOW HOW TO DO, HE SAYS IN TURN.
I CONSUME ALL OF THIS, YOU SAY, GESTURING TO THE STATE OF BEING AT LARGE.
THEN START WITH ME, HE SAYS. TAKE ME BY THE CUFF OF MY NECK AND TEAR ME FROM LIMB TO LIMB, AS YOU DO. THERE IS SO LITTLE GRACE TO ANY OF THIS. YOU WONDER IF THE STATE OF BEING AT LARGE DESERVES A KINDER, MORE ELEGANT END THAN ONE THAT BEGINS WITH ASSUAGING HIS COUNTLESS HURT FEELINGS.
STILL, YOU START SHUTTING DOWN THE STARS. HE WAITS FOR YOU, AND DOESN’T STOP.