CSI: American Carnage (Sunday, June 14, 2020)
IN THE CYBER – Boris, genial triple agent, looks with wonder out over the vast Pasture of Bones, now packed with a grim army of animate cadavers. Some of the dead look around, confused, as though they do not know where they are. Echoing across the cursed grassland deep in The Cyber is a thunderous cry, TULSA! TULSA! TULSA! Boris says, This ees beyond what even Poohteen would conceive! Sarah says, It seems as though the Autocrat intends to fill Oklahoma with the dead! The Professor looks on. He sighs takes out his pipe, and begins cleaning it. He says, I’m not so sure of that, Sarah. These poor creatures seem to be victims of the virus and the recklessness and cruelty of the Autocrat. Sarah says, You could be right, Professor. That would suggest the Autocrat has lost his iron control over cybermessaging. These cadavers have agency! They could be intending to descend on Tulsa to bear witness. Look! Little Timmy, pup reporter, says, You are right, Sarah! They are now putting on face masks! They do not want to infect rally goers or loved ones! Pete, leader of the Professor’s pirate allies, says, Arghhh! I don’t trust em. Davey Jones is not so appealin to let em go so easy. I say lads we cleave em to the brisket and be done! The Professor says, Hold on, Pete. There are thousands of them. An attack would be foolhardy! Besides, they are already dead. TULSA! TULSA! TULSA! continues ringing through the air as the light shifts from yellow to pearly to ashen. The dead, now all masked, press to the west, the land of the setting sun, and Tulsa. A great flock of crows carrying a net descends from the sky. The crows caw, Happy Birthday Mr. President, and drop the net, causing great confusion and distress below. Sarah says, The Autocrat is not happy with this reminder of spreading disease. Mohammed says, Perhaps he fears the consequences. Sarah says, The Autocrat cannot conceive of consequences. What he does and what he says is the beginning and the end. Only others consider consequences, which lie beyond the moment. For the Autocrat there is nothing beyond the moment and nothing before. It is as though he lives in a world of complete stasis. That is his great strength. And his greatest vulnerability. Change does not exist. It is as though he calcified at birth in body and soul. What was is and will be, or else. There is no deviation. There is no uncertainty. Pete says, Avast! Them nets are getting ripped to shreds. And there’s some kinda corsair cuttin in from the north. The group looks up and sees a huge ship issuing forth from Foothills of Black Eternity. It proceeds slowly, hovering in the air, as though carrying a great weight. – Saturday, June 14, 2020