Arlin’s Watch

By Jesse Tucker

Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for a Degree in Writing

General Writing

May 11, 2010

Prof. John Briggs WRT465

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This thesis project contains four chapters of the science-fiction novel, Arlin’s

Watch, as well as a chapter outline of the rest of the novel. The novel follows the

journey of a man, along with his uninvited canine companion as he travels across

different worlds by the use of a mysterious device known as the watch. Arlin

longs to find a place to call home, but in every unique world he visits, from the

viciously primitive to the unimaginably high-tech, there is only one person left.

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Chapter Outline

Prologue: World A

Arlin begins his journey on his savage jungle home world, which is infested with

killer demonic creatures, man-eating plants, and very few people who all kill each

other and steal from each other to survive. We can see how skilled a scavenger he

is, caring little for the lives of other people, and we witness his top-notch survival

skills. He finds a man with a mysterious four-legged creature as a companion.

He kills the man while the creature runs off. He takes his clothes and the strange

device he was carrying, accidentally activating it and sending himself on his

world-traveling journey.

Chapter 1: World N

Arlin finds himself on a barren desert world where he has traveled long and far,

only to find a dog as the world’s intelligent life form. He leaves, disappointed.

Chapter 2: World M

Arlin finds himself in a cave where he is chased by vicious creatures into a

control room of some sort. He finds that the dog has followed him across worlds

somehow. He meets a man who recounts how their highly advanced civilization

froze to death when they ran out of energy to support their underground heating

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systems. The heating systems were required to live because their planet was

ejected from the solar system after they unsuccessfully tried to use wormholes to

import a new sun after their old sun died. They survived the death of the original

sun by using a force field that also absorbed the sun’s energy and powered their

cities.

Eventually, energy completely runs out, the man dies, and Arlin is forced to climb

to the world’s surface to escape the vicious creatures. Here he sees that the

wormhole actually caused the planet’s replacement sun to move not so far away,

and the planet is set on a course to potentially reenter the star’s orbit.

Chapter 3: World O

Arlin encounters a boar-like person who explains that his simple, caveman-like

race didn’t last long because they were the only life forms in the entire world.

The man faintly remembers other life forms existing, but doesn’t know what

happened to them. The boar people were forced to eat each other to survive, and

being very low in intelligence, they ate each other to extinction. The dog has

followed Arlin again.

Chapter 4: World L

Arlin encounters a member of another primitive race, but this time he is human.

The man explains that there was once a great veil of rainbow light that covered

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the sky. One day, the rainbow light disappeared and the world got extremely

cold. The young and underdeveloped civilization was not even close to being

equipped to handle the temperatures, and slowly they died from the cold. The dog

has again followed Arlin, and from this point on, it follows him to every world.

Chapter 5: World P

Arlin arrives in a very clean and advanced city where he sees no people, but

clothes and other objects are floating everywhere, going about daily routines as if

worn by invisible people. He meets a scientist who explains to him that the world

is how it is because the people tried to create and use a world transport device to

escape a horrible fate that their holy scriptures predicted for them. Unfortunately,

it turns out that the fate the scriptures predicted was the very one they brought

upon themselves by attempting to escape it. The scientist willingly inflicts the

same fate upon himself. Arlin gains a new appreciation for companionship and

shows himself to be slightly more appreciative of the dog’s presence.

Chapter 6: World K

Arlin finds himself in a small, seemingly inescapable underground cavern where

he encounters an unusual creature that is disfigured, but faintly bears a

resemblance to a human. It can be considered the lowest form of intelligent life

one can imagine and it is incapable of talking or doing much at all. It only lurks

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slowly to a small body of water and drinks from it, then uses a rock to draw crude

pictures on the cave walls. Arlin observes it for days as he waits for the watch to

recharge. Eventually, he is forced to kill it and eat to avoid starving to death.

Chapter 7: World Q

Arlin arrives on a modern-looking world where he finds a woman who tries to

explain how a special drug was developed in her world that allowed the users to

rid themselves of all psychological pain to make life easier. Everyone wanted to

eliminate sadness from their lives and took the drugs. The effects of the drugs

eventually advanced to a point where the people forgot any reasons they had for

why they shouldn’t kill, and thanks to the drugs, felt no remorse or sadness from

killing. They killed each other for any and every reason they desired until only

the woman was left. The woman doesn’t seem to understand, however, why this

was a bad thing, and what reason there was to live.

Chapter 8: World J

Arlin finds the dying survivor of a race of fish-like people who lived under water,

which was under ice, which was under ground. One day, the ice all melted, and

the water became warmer. Then the water was mostly all drained from the cave

where they live into an unknown area where they could not reach. They couldn’t

breathe out of water and all died, except for a few who could fit into the tiny pool

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of water that remained in their cave. Eventually, the rest all died until only the

one person remained.

Chapter 9: World R

Arlin finds the sole survivor of a modern world where people were executed for

breaking the smallest, stupidest laws. Eventually, everyone was killed and the

world’s ruler remained by himself.

Chapter 10: World I

Arlin finds the last of a race of small, water-thriving, half-plant, creatures that

again live in a large body of water underground. They lived off of photosynthesis

conducted with the light from underground jets known as black smokers. The

water suddenly became freezing one day, and the creatures all froze to death in

the water.

Chapter 11: World S

Arlin finds a world where the last human explains that they became extremely

advanced and everyone became completely dependent on their technology. When

they used up all of the planet’s resources and could no longer support their

technology, they died of ignorance in the ways of leading a simple life.

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Chapter 12: World H

Arlin encounters the last of a race of humans who lived in an advanced

civilization, but once again underground. Massive earthquakes destroyed the

entire civilization’s cities. The man recounts how many of the citizens tried to

move to another part of the planet, but he doesn’t know what became of them

because he decided to stay behind. Arlin informs him that, based on the watch’s

tracker, they’re all dead.

Chapter 13: World T

Arlin finds the last woman on a futuristic world where the people once tried to

build highly advanced structures on their planet that would allow them to

essentially “drive” it wherever in space they wanted. The structures malfunction

and send the planet too far from the sun where the people all die from lack of

heat.

Chapter 14: World G

Arlin encounters the last of a race of humanoids that have evolved from desert

plants such as cacti. The heat of the world increased to a point where all the water

dried up and the people could no longer survive without it.

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Chapter 15: World U

Arlin arrives on a world where the intelligent life form turns out to be a computer.

He find from searching it that the planet had been thrust from its solar system by a

careless operator of advance machines attached to the planet. Arlin simply

converses with the computer about the origins of mankind and tries to find

answers about his travels and his purpose.

Chapter 16: World F

Arlin encounters the last of a race of more humanoid people who evolved from

plants, but this time it is a jungle plant. Once again, the water supply got too short

to sustain the lives of the plants because of the increasing temperature.

Chapter 17: World V

Arlin finds a futuristic world where the planet has a mysterious giant door in its

orbit around the sun. The civilization was able to use old machines that were built

on the planet by a previous civilization to slow the planet’s orbit and speed it up

to get through the door during the brief periods when it opened. One day, a

second door appeared, but this one did not open. The people were forced to slow

the planet as much as possible, but could not stop the planet entirely. When it

crashed into the door, the people were killed, but one man survived because he

was off the planet, operating the structures. Arlin and the man travel down onto

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the door to find out more about it, finding evidence of a civilization with the

power to manipulate space and time. Their findings allude to the possible origins

of the watch, but there is not enough information to confirm anything. Before

they leave, they are able to open the door and get the damaged planet back on

track.

Chapter 18: World E

Arlin encounters the last of a race of humanoids that evolved from half-plant sea

slugs. There is no food on their world because all the plants are poisonous, so

only the sea slugs could survive because they are capable of conducting

photosynthesis and don’t need food. When the world became too hot, however,

they couldn’t last in the heat.

Chapter 19: World W

Arlin arrives on a ruined world that appears to have once housed an advanced

civilization hundreds of years ago. He finds that the sole remaining life form is an

alien, though it appears human. The aliens lived on a dying planet and tried to use

this world as a new home. They all moved onto the planet, but soon found that

old security systems left by the world’s previous inhabitants would make short

work of them. The one alien was the only one who survived.

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Chapter 20: World D

Arlin encounters the last of a race of humanoid deer people. The race once

thrived, but died off because the plants in the jungle world all evolved to a point

of being capable of killing the deer people, and all other plants were poisonous.

Chapter 21: World X

Arlin finds that the life form on this world is a robot. Many robots lived on the

world in the ruins of an ancient civilization that built them. They defended the

world for centuries, learning how to rebuild themselves and make each other

stronger. However, the robots required more and more fuel as they became more

advanced, and eventually they began to fight each other for it, destroying all but

the one remaining robot.

Chapter 22: World C

Arlin encounters a jungle world overrun with demonic creatures. He finds that

the intelligent life form is a single brain demon that controls them all. For his

own survival, he winds up killing the brain, an act that causes the death of every

demon creature in the world.

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Chapter 23: World Y

Arlin meets a woman who is the sole survivor of her violent, warring people.

When Arlin arrives, he is immediately attacked by a large monster and knocked

unconscious. We later find that the watch has been lost and the dog has been

killed. Arlin is at first confused by the woman’s compassion because she comes

from a world similar to his, yet she is not bloodthirsty, and helps Arlin recover

from the monster attack. He falls in love with her, they have a son, and he stays

on this world for 20 years, happy with his family. Eventually, the same monster

attacks again and kills Arlin’s wife and son. The watch is found near their bodies.

He leaves, traumatized.

Chapter 24: World B

Arlin arrives on another jungle world overrun by demons. This time he finds a

demon that is highly intelligent and claims that many demons gained such

intelligence, but he killed them all. The demon tries to kill Arlin, but he narrowly

manages to escape.

Chapter 25: World Z

Arlin arrives to find a modern world decimated by nuclear war. He finds that one

frightened, naked boy is the only survivor. The boy is about to be crushed by a

large piece of metal left over from a crashed plane. Arlin sees his son in the boy

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and saves him, sacrificing his own life in the process. The watch is damaged by

the metal and surges with electricity for a while. Before he dies, he tells the boy

his name and tells him to take his clothes and the watch, also telling him to search

for a better world with them. The boys accepts Arlin’s final request and uses the

watch to leave the world.

Epilogue: World Y

The boy arrives in the same world Y from chapter 23, at the same time that Arlin

did in chapter 23. His smaller size allows him to narrowly escape the monster

that attacked Arlin in chapter 23. He then meets the woman, and when she asks

for his name, he decides to call himself Arlin, in honor of the man who saved his

life.

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Arlin’s Watch

Prologue: World A

Arlin plunged his saw-toothed knife deeper into his victim's gut, pushing

upward and twisting clockwise.

The grunting man with the knife jammed in his stomach gritted his teeth

and grabbed Arlin's right arm with his left hand. He gripped his own knife in his

right hand and weakly pointed it in Arlin's direction.

Arlin stared into the eyes of his opponent with a gaze colder than any

winter their cauldron of a world had ever known.

The dying man squeezed Arlin's arm with every ounce of strength left in

his body. He looked straight back into Arlin's eyes, but did not meet his coldness

with a look of resentment or fury, but one more of relief. An acceptance of the

inevitable.

All men on his world knew death constantly followed just a few steps

behind them, and any drop in pace assured a swift end by the blade of another

scavenger or the claws and fangs of a hungry demon--or perhaps a slow and

painful death inside the belly of a man-eating plant. Any man who thought

further ahead than the day he woke was labeled a fool. They struggled daily to

survive in their jungle world, and only the lucky lived to see the next sunrise.

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The victim released his grip from Arlin's arm and let the knife slip from

his hand. He closed his eyes and, in his final moments, seemed to simply ponder

how he'd made it so far.

Arlin quickly picked up the knife and slid it through the tie on his loin

cloth, keeping his own knife still secure in his hand. Now that the smell of blood

had hit the air, demons would come to find the source. And not only that, but the

plants fed on flesh as well, and there were few places one could go to escape

them. Arlin rumaged through the pack strapped across the man's back and added

a few items to his own pack, which sat just above his waist.

He heard the yell of a hungry creature in the distance and could tell from

the sound that it was the six-legged variety. They moved fast on the ground, but

couldn't climb the gigantic jungle trees at all. Arlin scrambled to the nearest tree

and climbed a few branches up before looking back down at the scene of his

battle.

The man once thought dead now began to squirm like a two-legged lizard

on the ground below. He was no doubt displeased to still be alive, but still he

couldn't help but continue his struggle to prolong life just a little bit longer. Each

second of life could lead to one more, and one more after that. There were no

odds in this world, just life or death.

Arlin regretted not confirming the kill, but now it was too late to grant his

victim a merciful death.

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The six-legged, spider-like demonic creature came scampering out from

the trees and spotted its meal. It scuttled sideways around the panicked man,

striking at different parts of his body with the long needle-covered mandibles that

protruded from its face.

The man screamed out in pain as the demon moved in to start digging

apart his body with its sharp legs. Every man in this world strove to live a second

longer, but those who met their time often found themselves wishing it had come

sooner rather than later.

Arlin raced across the thickly laden branches near the tree tops. If he

didn't find water to wash the smell of blood from his hands, the demons would

soon be after him as well.

Few men knew the terrain in Arlin's world. No one had a home--everyone

picked a direction and just kept moving. When a person passed through one area,

he generally never went back, always moving forward in hopes of finding an end

to the jungle.

Chancing across a small river, Arlin jumped down from the trees, picked

up a large rock, and threw it into the water close to the edge. He dipped his hands

in quickly and splashed some water on himself. Then he moved upstream and

repeated the process, this time rubbing his hands together. He watched as the

blood-thirsty fish that plagued the waters reconvened near the edge and nibbled at

the clouds of blood he left behind. Then he took one drop of blood onto his finger

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from the edge of his knife and dangled the finger a couple feet above the water,

with his knife readied at his side. As soon as the drop of blood slid off his finger,

a fish jumped out to nab it in mid-air and Arlin stabbed it through its side. He

swashed the knife through the water to wash off the human blood and got ready to

wet it with fish blood while he prepared his dinner.

After eating, Arlin climbed up high into the trees and found a large branch

to lie down on. Nights were typically spent in tree tops, which offered protection

from certain demons, but one had to hope a poisonous vine hungry for a ray of

moonlight didn't thread its way up to the top of the tree. A single brush could be

fatal.

Tree-climbing demons were only slightly less threatening due to the loud

noises they made that warned of their approach as they pounced across the

branches.

Other scavenging humans also posed a constant threat, ready to kill any

other man they encountered and steal his food and supplies--especially while he

slept. The last man had spotted Arlin and attacked him as he passed through, only

to meet misfortune. But neither Arlin nor anyone else in this world considered

potential consequences when attacking other humans. They saw the items others

carried as food and tools that could be obtained for their own use and survival, not

as weapons that could be used to deliver their own deaths. Women had become

increasingly more rare, and would often be raped if defeated by another man, then

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killed afterward. Only two rules existed in this world. One: Take what's yours.

Two: What's yours is what you can take.

It was a total mystery to Arlin how human life even existed on this world.

He wondered if perhaps the world wasn't always like this. With people constantly

dying and new children rarely ever allowed to be born, let alone raised to

adulthood, it was a wonder human life still carried on. In truth, his recent

assailant was the last person he'd seen in months. People had attacked much more

frequently in past years. He felt certain that the human population had reached an

all-time low, but he had no idea just how low it had gotten.

Arlin awoke the next morning before sunrise to the sound of a strange

beeping coming from the ground below. He had never heard anything quite like

it, so he decided to move closer for a better look. Moving across the trees

horizontally before daring to descend, he noticed that the beeping sound got faster

as he approached it. He quietly dropped down a few branches. The beeping

continued to get louder and faster until Arlin could tell it was directly below, no

more than perhaps a dozen meters down.

Peering through the darkness, he could barely make out the silhouette of

what appeared to be a man walking along the ground. Madness, Arlin though.

What sort of fool would walk across the ground at this hour? He'll be ambushed

by a demon before he knows it, and with that obnoxious noise he's making down

there, they'll surely have no problem finding him.

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Arlin decided he might just stick around and watch. After all, if he were

patient enough to wait for the demon to finish this poor fool off, he could swoop

in and snatch the man's supplies once the deed was done.

The belongings of another human were more coveted than anything else in

his world. There were foods the man had gone through great trouble to obtain and

tools he had gone through great trouble to forge. Growing up largely independent

of one another, different people tended to carry different tools, often ingenious

objects of their own invention that another scavenger may never think of. And

the older the person, the more tools he likely possessed.

Arlin deduced from the size and shape of the man's silhouette that he was

much older than himself. Arlin praised his good fortune that such a foolish old

man would appear before him like this. He wouldn't even have to lift a finger

before the man would be ripped to shreds by some merciless demon and left ripe

for the looting.

Arlin dropped down one more branch to get a better look.

The rapid beeping noise just then turned to a loud, sustained beep, and the man

started shuffling every which way, looking all directions, then focusing his

attention above him and slowly scanning the branches. Arlin quickly slid to the

back side of a larger tree to escape the man's view. What's he looking for? Does

he know I'm up here? Impossible; there's no way he heard my climbing over all

the loud jungle noises, not to mention that weird noise that's coming from him.

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What is with that noise, anyway? Why can't some goddamn demon just kill him

alread--wait, what's that? Arlin peeked around the side of the tree when he heard

some extra footsteps nearby. He could now make out the silhouette of a four-

legged creature not far from where the death-wishing man stood.

He was sure it was a demon come to finish the fool off, but as he watched,

the creature did not attack. In fact, it closely followed the man and made no

action but to shuffle around a bit when the man moved. Arlin had never seen

anything like it. There didn't exist a single creature in this world that wouldn't

attack a man on sight. He waited a bit longer and watched the two as they simply

continued walking in small circles and looking around toward the tree tops as the

loud noise he produced changed from sustained to rapid and back again. The man

called out, "Hello? Is anyone out there?"

Arlin's eyes widened and his heart began to race. Hello?! Who does this

moron think he is? I've never seen someone so determined to bring death upon

himself!

The man moved toward the base of the tree Arlin was hiding in, which

seemed to be the center of the circle he was walking prior. He jumped up to the

lowest branch and began climbing the tree.

A sharp pain pierced Arlin's chest. He does know I'm here. He's coming

for me! Maybe there's something about this man that makes him less a fool, after

all. Arlin decided he couldn't take any chances with this guy. He moved one

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branch down and pulled a small pellet from the pouch on his back. He waited for

the man to get a little bit higher and then chucked the pellet at him hard.

It exploded into a cloud of smoky yellow pollen. The pollen contained poisonous

spores, and would surely greet this man to his demise within a few minutes while

paralyzing him in the mean time.

The mysterious stranger fell from the tree and down to the ground. The

creature on the ground jumped when the man's body came crashing next to him.

Arlin swiftly hopped down a few branches, drew his knife, and aimed it

squarely at the man's neck as he lunged down upon him. His knife hit its mark

perfectly, plunging deep into the man’s neck.

The four-legged creature jumped again and Arlin swung at it with his

knife. It let out a yelp and ran off into the forest.

Arlin turned around to face his victim. This time, he would confirm the

kill. He flipped the man face down and ran his knife across his throat, which

already spat blood out of the hole from the first stab wound.

He wiped the blood off his knife on a nearby leaf and began to rummage

through the man's supplies. Oddly enough, he was dressed quite heavily, a fact

that confirmed this man's madness. Anyone wearing such clothing in this

sweltering jungle would have the life sweat out of him during the day. Such

clothing might prove suitable for the cold nights, but no one could afford the extra

baggage slowing him down during the day.

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Still being the cold night, however, Arlin decided to try the clothes on.

The entire outfit was brown and ragged. There was a pair of leather boots, a pair

of heavy cotton pants with a leather belt, a long-sleeved heavy cotton shirt, a

wrap-around shawl, and even a scarf. He inspected the man's back pouch, which

oddly contained all of the same items already contained in Arlin's pouch, and two

similar knives strapped beside it. Considering there was nothing new there, he

decided to leave it behind.

He looked over toward a rock on his left and noticed a suspicious black

object about half the size of his hand. It lightly trickled with electricity for a

moment, then stopped. This must have been what made that awful beeping

sound, but it had stopped since the man dropped it while falling from the tree.

Arlin walked over and picked the object up. A digital display on its face

frantically flashed a variety of different symbols. He shook it up a bit and nothing

happened. Then he slammed it into the rock. It let out a jutted beep, then the

display froze on what appeared to be the number zero. He pressed a button on the

side. The object simply buzzed back at him. He pressed a button on the top and a

light on the face turned green while the button was down. Curiously, he held the

button down longer--for about five seconds. A rainbow-colored light washed

over his vision... and he was gone.

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Chapter 1: World N

Arlin stared out at the desolate wasteland that lay before him and let out a

heavy sigh. How many more worlds could there be in this condition? How

many more civilizations had been left to the dust and the wind?

Sure, not every world looked like this one--a hallow, barren desert where

Arlin couldn't even imagine a civilization had ever existed--but they might as well

had. Twelve worlds before this one, and only twelve people to talk about them.

Just one person to each world, and a world without people made for as empty a

wasteland as any stretch of desert.

With the wind blowing sand into his beard and his ragged clothing into his

face, Arlin looked around, wondering where this world's intelligent life form

might be hiding, but he saw only endless desert wherever he looked. That is,

except when he looked down at his right hand, where he firmly held the watch in

front of his chest. And when he looked just beyond that, where a peculiar dog-

like creature sat glossy-eyed, staring happily back at him.

The dog, which could easily had been taken for a light brown border collie

had it not been for the two, long, ear-like extensions sprouting from the top of its

head and running down its back, had more water dripping from its tongue than it

seemed the world had drip from its skies in its entire existence.

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Arlin couldn't help but wonder where all that saliva came from, but it was far

from the strangest thing he had encountered on his travels.

This dog did have one especially curious trait about it that made it

impossible for him to ignore, however.

Arlin looked back down at the watch, which screamed with a high-

pitched, sustained beep noise. Arlin knew this meant that the watch had located

the world's intelligent life form--it's only remaining intelligent life form as

indicated by the small number one on the watch's face. But still he stood there

staring at something that appeared to be a simple beast.

Walking forward past the dog, but never removing his eyes from the

watch, Arlin got just far enough away for the watch's sustained beep sound to

change to a series of rapid beeps. He walked in a circle around the vicinity of the

dog, still staring at the watch, expecting some sort of change. The rapid beeping

continued, and as he moved close to the dog again, the beep once again became

sustained.

The dog sat and watched patiently as Arlin ran circles around him.

"Ugh, this just doesn't even make sense," said Arlin. He squeezed the

watch and pressed a button on the side with his thumb. The noise stopped. He

slipped the watch into his pocket as he moved back toward the dog. "Every

intelligent creature I've found so far has been quite capable of speaking, of telling

me what the hell is going on, of offering some sort of conversation to pass the

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time and prevent me from going completely mad... but you can't speak, now, can

you?" Arlin stood with his hands on his hips, looking downward, his dry eyes

locked in the dog's carefree gaze.

The dog let out a loud bark that echoed throughout the desert, as if he

genuinely tried to respond to Arlin's question, but the sound came through as only

that--a bark. The watch could translate the speech of many languages, making

them sound like Arlin's own language when the words met his ears, but even the

power of the watch could not translate words with no meaning.

What were the worlds coming to that this slobbering furball could be

considered intelligent life? Arlin wasted so much time on this world trying to find

a source of knowledge, when endless dry air and sand—and this beast—were all

that awaited him.

He only wanted to find a world where people and civilization existed once

again. A place he could finally call his new home. A great place with green

grass, big houses, all four seasons, and lots of people would be best. He had a

place like that once, but it's a place that disappeared. A place he can never go

back to. Ever again.

But he would even settle for a wasteland like this one if there were just

people here to live with. He needed intelligent social interaction with other

people, and although, even through twelve different worlds, he still couldn't find a

living civilization, there had always been one person to tell the tale of his or her

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world. Arlin kept moving forward through these stories alone. They were all he

had to assure himself that he hadn't somehow caused the destruction of every

civilization that existed only a few years or sometimes even just a few moments

before his arrival.

This dog could offer him no reassurance in this world, but he also didn't

see any evidence that a civilization had ever existed here at all, or even could have

existed. However, the very presence and survival of this dog remained a concern

that pressed on his mind. But it pressed more loosely as frustration took over.

Arlin just wanted to leave.

"Well, sorry, mutt, but you can't help me, and I can't help you, so I guess

that's it," Arlin pouted. "Time for me to get the hell out of here." Arlin's watch

had actually recharged only moments after his arrival in this world, but he

refrained from using it until now because he needed to see if intelligent life truly

existed here. Sadly, his journey through this god-forsaken land had proved

fruitless.

The dog let out another bark and looked up at Arlin, as if trying to

apologize for wasting his time.

He didn't necessarily want to leave the dog alone in such a horrible place,

but he'd tried to take people with him before, and it never worked. Even food,

clothing, supplies, and other objects got left behind. The watch would only allow

him to take what he had started with, his memories, and never anything more. He

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felt bad for the dog, but this was just the way of things, and he had no control over

it.

"Later." He could only offer a quick and painless farewell. Arlin took the

watch back out of his pocket and held the top button down for five seconds. A

rainbow-colored light washed over his vision... and he was gone.

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Chapter 2: World M

As the rainbow light faded and Arlin's vision slowly came back into focus,

he could already feel the death and hopelessness of this new world flowing into

him. He tried to take a look around, but only pitch-black darkness surrounded

him. Although he knew his immediate surroundings didn't necessarily indicate

the condition of the entire world, he still couldn't help but cling to his pessimism

at this point. A dreary beginning had never led to a happy ending for him. Still,

his pessimism could never overcome his curiosity, and he wasn’t one to give up

so easily.

Arlin looked down toward his right hand, attempting to peer through the

darkness. The object in his hand could perform wondrous feats that ranged far

beyond his level of comprehension. Yet without the simple perk of a back-lit

screen, the watch could never shake a certain archaic quality.

He pressed the button on the right side with his thumb and the watch

began to beep. Much to Arlin's surprise, the sound proceeded quite rapidly,

meaning that an intelligent life form hid somewhere nearby, probably less than a

quarter mile away. It also sounded with a narrow echo, suggesting Arlin was in

an enclosed passageway of some sort.

He moved forward, his left arm outstretched and waving side to side to

feel for obstructions.

28

The beeping slowed, indicating that he was moving in the wrong direction.

He turned 90 degrees to his right and began walking that way.

The watch’s noise increased in speed, but only seconds later, Arlin's hand met

with a jagged surface, making it apparent that he was in a cave of some sort.

Relieved to have some idea of where he was, he decided to feel around a

bit more. He found another wall not far behind him, parallel to the first one. A

newfound sense of hope rushed over him and his heart began to beat rapidly. If

he could only find a way out of this cave, there could be a whole civilization

outside--a normal world at last!

Arlin jerked his head as an ear-piercing shrieking sound echoed through

the cave. He couldn't tell which direction it came from, but it did not sound

friendly, and he hoped that whatever it was, it was not the intelligent life form that

the watch was leading him to. His heart began to beat even faster, this time even

outpacing the watch’s beeping, and a cold chill ran down his spine. This chill was

not simply a product of fear, however. The cave felt like a freezer.

Arlin’s usual ragged clothing actually provided more than adequate

warmth for colder environments, but without any gloves, he could still feel some

numbness in his fingers.

The watch’s noise suggested that Arlin move in a direction where one of

the cave's walls obstructed his advance. He would have to find a way around. He

29

chose the path to his right and started on, hoping that if would lead him in the

opposite direction of whatever made that noise.

Proceeding carefully and hugging the wall with his left hand, Arlin heard

another shriek. This time he felt certain it came from behind him, but it sounded

closer than before.

The watch had steadily increased the rate of its beeping, but it now echoed

quite loudly throughout the cave. Fearing that his tracking device allowed this

unfriendly-sounding creature to track him, Arlin shut off the watch and put it back

in his pocket. He couldn't be far from his target at this point, anyhow.

He continued to hug the left wall, and made sure to walk softly so that his

footsteps wouldn't give him away. However, in this new silence, he heard more

footsteps than just his own. They sounded lighter than his, but less muffled,

almost like claws clacking against the rock floor, and they moved at twice the

pace of his own.

Arlin's heart was beating faster than ever now. He came to a complete

stop, not moving a single muscle or breathing a single breath.

The other footsteps stopped as well, but not before taking a few steps more than

Arlin had.

He could tell the footsteps came from close by--very close by, possibly no

more than a few yards away. He stood in total silence for a moment, waiting for

any movement on the unknown creature's part. It was so quiet that he could

30

almost hear the echo of his own heart beat. Could this thing be the one that made

those awful shrieks? How could it have caught up to me so quickly without me

noticing at all?

Arlin waited. Why won't it move? He wondered if this creature was also

blind in the dark, as he was. He decided to slowly take one step forward, placing

his boot softly on the ground. He heard no other noises.

He dared to take one more step, and then the clacking on the rock floor started up

again. Not knowing what else to do, he ran as fast as he could. His footsteps

echoed strongly throughout the cave, and the double-paced clacking footsteps

sounded within arm's length now.

He kept running forward, keeping his left arm against the wall and his

right arm out in front of him. He felt a sharp curve in the wall that led around to

the left. He rounded the corner and could see a light down the tunnel in front of

him, but the light was small and green and didn't provide any clearer view of the

cave itself. All Arlin could think to do was run directly for it.

Both of his cold, stiff hands slammed directly into the wall. He started

pawing at the area around the light furiously, hoping that something--anything--

would happen.

The wall felt cold and metal, and despite the many frantic thoughts in

Arlin's head at the moment, new ones managed to find their way in: technology,

civilization, people! This must be the place the watch was leading me to! An

31

area of the wall slightly above the light moved inward, like Arlin had pressed a

button. Just then, a door on the wall slid open and a light flashed out into the

cave. Arlin squinted his eyes and quickly slipped inside. He spun around and

could barely make out a rectangular button to the left of the door. He slammed

his palm on it and the door slid shut, sealing tightly.

Arlin spun around and frantically surveyed the floor around him, using his

hands to shade his eyes from the lights overhead while he adjusted. He was

startled to see that the creature had made it inside with him, but even more

shocked by what the creature looked like.

“You!” Arlin shouted, pointing at the dog. He flinched from the light

pouring into his now unprotected pupils. “What the heck are you doing here? H-

How did you get here?”

The dog sat panting and dumbfounded, the long ear-like extensions on his

head hanging to the ground beside him.

Arlin considered the possibility that it was a different dog that just

happened to look similar, but he quickly shot that theory down. The resemblance

was too perfect. Then he remembered the watch—yes, what did the watch have

to say about this? In the last world, it had shown this dog as the only intelligent

life form, but if that were still the case, the watch’s tracker would have held a

sustained beep from the moment he activated it. He suspected this dog must have

been following close to him since he first arrived in this world.

32

He slowly pulled the watch out of his pocket, fearing what it may read on

its face. This would be the moment that defined this world’s worth. Please let it

read more than one. Please. He began to move his gaze downward, trying to

lower his expectations as he did, so as to avoid as much disappointment as he

could. He could read the screen clearly now in the light of the room… one. He

breathed in deeply and then let out a heavy sigh.

“Damnit!” he spat, and punch the wall. “That’s what I get for putting my

hopes up. If only I’d been able to see the thing when I first got here, then it

wouldn’t even have fazed me.” He looked up at the dog, who stared back at him

with its head cocked to the side. “And what about you, eh? What’s your story?”

Arlin looked around the room, but there was nothing to see. The room

was small, like a large closet. The walls were completely white and plain, with

nothing on them but the door he came in through, one large button and a light to

the side of it, and an identical scene on the opposite wall. He pressed the watch’s

side button again. This time it beeped extremely rapidly, but as he approached the

dog, the beeping did not change. “I guess you’re not so smart anymore, huh?” he

said to the dog, who barked back at him.

He walked toward the other door and pressed the button next to it. The

light by the door flashed red and Arlin heard a buzzing sound overhead. The door

did not open, but the watch had begun a sustained beep, indicating that some sort

of intelligent life form likely resided on the other side. He shut off the watch.

33

“Hello?!” Arlin called out.

After a few seconds, a voice emerged that sounded like it came from speakers

overhead. “Hello?” the voice said cautiously. “Did someone just try to open the

door?”

“Yes, it was me!” Arlin said anxiously. “Can you let me inside?”

“Wha- Who are you? How are you still alive? How did you get here?”

“Can’t we discuss this inside? I’m not here to hurt you or anything.”

“Well, even if you were, I suppose it wouldn’t matter. Okay, just a

minute. I’m letting you in.”

Arlin slipped the watch back in his pocket and waited patiently, tapping

his fingers on his thighs. He looked back at the dog. “What do you think he

looks like? Think he’s human like me?” he said to the dog. “Could be your new

owner, you know, unless you can find a way to jump on my ship again. Not that

I’d mind the company, but whatever you did to follow me the first time must have

been a fluke. I doubt if you can pull it off again.”

The dog just stared at him again, its tongue hanging from its face. Arlin

didn’t hear it panting back in the dark, but their mad dash down the cave must

have tired it out a bit.

Suddenly the room got warmer and Arlin felt his whole body relax as his

numbness began to fade. The light by the door turned green and the door slid

open, revealing a middle-aged human man on the other side.

34

“Hello, please come in,” the man said with a gentle smile on his face.

Arlin took a step forward and just then a loud smash came from the door

behind him. He jumped inside and watched the door shake as something pounded

on it furiously from the other side. The dog slipped in behind him as the door slid

closed and blocked off the noise, though a light vibration could still be felt

through the wall.

“Oh, a dog!” squealed the man. “I love dogs, but I haven’t seen one since

I was a child. Is he safe to pet?”

“I have no idea,” Arlin responded, feeling like he was the only one

concerned with what just happened. “What the heck was that at the door?”

“Oh, just a mole rhino, most likely,” the man said in a carefree tone.

Arlin made his own decision on what that might be. “Are they the ones

that make that loud shrieking noise?”

“Yep, it’s terribly annoying, isn’t it?” The man decided to take his

chances with the dog and knelt down to start petting it. The dog did not object.

“They started to sneak into the tunnels when the power went off, but they can’t

get through those doors, of course. They certainly are interesting creatures that

they can survive in that cold out there. All this time we thought they were

surviving off our heat, and turns out they didn’t even need it. Talk about cold-

blooded, eh? I don’t know how they do it, but too bad us humans weren’t built

more like them, eh?” The man looked up at Arlin suspiciously. “But then again,

35

you were alive out there, and this dog was, too. So who the heck are you

anyway?”

Arlin had been through this speech many times, and he learned quickly the

importance of hiding the watch’s existence from people, letting them believe he

himself possessed the powers of the watch. He rushed through his introduction.

“My name’s Arlin. I can travel to different worlds, but I can’t take anything else

with me.” He looked down at the dog. “Except for this thing, apparently, though

I don’t know how that happened or why. In any case, I can also control the

temperature around me to a certain extent. I’m assuming it’s a lot colder out there

than it felt to me.” The watch could manipulate Arlin’s body temperature so that

he couldn’t be harmed by extreme heat or cold, but the temperature it adjusted

him to always somewhat reflect the actual temperature, so Arlin always had some

idea of whether his environment was hot or cold. Apparently, this ability

somehow extended to the dog as well, only adding the creature’s myseteries.

“Travel worlds? Well I can’t say I’ve ever heard of such a thing or that I

understand at all, but it really doesn’t matter. I’ll be dead soon.”

Arlin was not surprised. “Can you tell me what exactly happened here?”

“Sure, why not? I’ll tell you as thanks for letting me pet a dog one last

time before I go. I never expected I’d see one again.”

The dog licked the man’s face.

36

The man smiled as he stood up and walked across the room, which was

only about four times the size of the last one, with similarly white whiles and a

large control panel of some sort on one side. He moved over to a chair with the

dog following behind him. “Everyone in the world is dead except for me.” He

looked at Arlin with a smirk. “I suppose you don’t really count. Anyway, yes,

it’s quite cold outside this room. I’m not sure the exact temperature, but I’m sure

it’s at least a couple hundred below zero at this point… Fahrenheit, that is.”

“I see, so everyone froze to death, I assume.”

“You got it, everyone but me because I’m in this controlled temperature

room… I guess I should start a lot farther back. You see, our solar system’s sun

died—”

“Ah ha! I knew there had to be at least one world that died that way,”

Arlin shouted without thinking.

The man looked at him crooked eyed. “I beg your pardon?”

“Oh, nothing, never mind. Please, continue.”

“Well, anyway, I’m getting into the history logs now, but that was billions

of years ago. We’ve always been a highly advanced world, technologically. Our

ancestors knew when the sun would die, and when it started getting too hot, they

moved the entire civilization underground. In the mean time, they were able to

develop an advanced force field system that would protect the planet from the

sun’s deadly nova phases while simultaneously absorbing the immense energy

37

given off and use it to power the underground cities and caverns, where the

temperature could be regulated to remain at a livable level. With nearly limitless

energy, they were able to create their own light, grow their own food, build

systems to recycle the water supply, and thrive underground for a long time.

“A few billion years later, after the sun progressed to its white dwarf

phase, it didn’t give off nearly enough energy to match the amount used by the

people, so they needed a new source of energy to survive. Just twenty years ago,

we used the immense energy reserves that were left to locate a star suitable to act

as a new sun for our solar system and create a wormhole that imported the star

into our solar system.”

Arlin interrupted with surprise. “Whoa, a wormhole? I’ve never

encountered anyone with technology like that before.”

“Yes, well like I said, we were very advanced. Would you like to know

how it works?”

“Uh, no thanks. I’ve barely been following the science this far, just tell

me what happened next.”

The man let out a chuckle. “Well, it was a risky, one-shot deal because it

used up the majority of our energy reserves, and since the planet was still orbiting

around the white dwarf, we knew that a new star’s gravity would interfere with

our orbit. If the perfect star wasn’t imported to the perfect place at the perfect

38

time, the dual gravity sources could cause our planet to be ejected from the solar

system. We knew the risks, but we had no other option.

“The new star was imported properly and the planet was orbiting the two

stars in a figure eight pattern. The energy we gathered while passing around the

new sun was enough to sustain us during our time around the old sun. The

mission was a success, or so we thought.

“We had no experience using wormholes. The unexpected after-effects

caused our new star to become warped and disfigured over the course of a few

short years. By the time we noticed, it was too late, and we didn’t have nearly

enough energy stockpiled to do anything about it. Then one day, the star just

disappeared. Just like that.

“The change in gravitational force caused our planet to slingshot out of the

solar system, and we’ve been drifting through space for several years now. With

no sun to absorb energy from, we took down our force field and diverted the

remaining energy to our temperature control systems. But we had lost too much

energy to maintain heating conditions within the planet for long, so as soon as we

lost power, everyone froze to death within moments... That was only a few hours

ago. Of course, we all knew it was coming as soon as we lost our sun… I’ve

diverted the little remaining energy left into this one room, but soon this will be

out of power as well, and I’ll freeze like everyone else. So there you have it. Bet

you’ve never heard a story like that, even in another world, eh traveler?”

39

“Whelp… it’s a doozy,” said Arlin, his voice filled with more intrigue

than concern. The room started to feel a little colder.

The man got up and proceeded over to a control panel on the side of the small

room. “I’m going to shut off power to everything but the heating system and

divert all remaining energy to it. When that happens, the mole rhino behind the

door will be able to get through, and also the lights will go out. They’re very

vicious creatures, and I’m sure more will follow.”

Arlin felt a sharp pierce in his chest and he pulled the watch from his

pocket, turning around so that the man couldn’t see it. The watch required a

certain, arbitrary amount of time to recharge before it could jump worlds again.

He pressed the top button and a light on the watch flashed red. It had not finished

charging yet. If this man cut the lights and power now, then Arlin would be killed

for sure. In a panic, he turned back around and pleaded to the man. “No, wait!”

“I’m sorry… but I just want to live a little longer.” He pressed a few

buttons, flipped a switch, and Arlin could hear the systems powering down as the

lights dimmed.

Dammit! Arlin spotted a flashlight by the chair the man had been sitting

on and grabbed it right before the lights went out. The room was pitch black, and

he could hear the sound of the mole rhino pounding on the door quite clearly now.

It sounded like at least three or four of them at the door now. He turned on the

flashlight and looked around, spying a ladder leading up to a hatchway in the

40

corner of the room. He made a break for it, climbed the ladder, and opened the

hatch.

Cold air rushed into the room and he could hear the mole rhinos smash

down the first door. He got set to ascend the ladder when the sound of the dog

whimpering stopped him. He swept the light across the room and saw the dog

staring at the man’s cold statue of a corpse. The dog ran over to Arlin and

whimpered at his feet.

“Cripes,” Arlin spat. “Okay, mutt, c’mere.” He put the flashlight in his

mouth, picked up the dog, and threw it up over his shoulders, then started

ascending the ladder. He got through the opening and closed the hatch behind

him just as he heard the mole rhinos bust through the second door. He still didn’t

know what they looked like and he had no regrets about it.

The hatchway only went one way: up. And it went up quite some ways at

that. Looking up with the flashlight, Arlin couldn’t even see the top, only ladder

rungs and darkness. In any case, he didn’t know how long the watch might take

to recharge, so he had only one way to go.

Arlin climbed for at least thirty minutes and he still couldn’t see the top.

He leaned back on the wall behind him to rest, dropping the dog gently into his

arms. It seemed like the hatchway would never end, but he had to keep going.

He climbed for at least forty more minutes before he finally ran out of

rungs. He heaved the dog out through the hole and dragged himself out after it.

41

Lying on the ground with his eyes closed, sore and out of breath, he realized he

felt soil between his fingers, and when he opened his eyes, he saw a sea of stars

above him. He didn’t have the strength to stand, but scanning the flashlight

around him, he could see nothing but open space.

According to the man’s story, nobody had lived up here for billions of years, and

nobody had probably been up here at all since they took the force field down

years ago. Exhausted, Arlin lay back down and went to sleep.

He awoke hours later to dog slobber on his face and a faint light over the

horizon. He stood up, pulled the watch from his pocket, and pressed the top

button. This time, the light turned green. Arlin looked out at the far-off shining

orb in the sky. “I see. It disappeared, but it never went far… if only they had

lasted a little longer or just had a little more hope, maybe there was a chance… I

was only one day late this time... dammit…” He pushed down the top button

once more, and this time he held it. A rainbow-colored light washed over his

vision... and he was gone.

42

Chapter 5: World P

As the darkness cleared and his eyes came into focus, Arlin found himself

at the center of an advanced city where the technology ranked among the best he'd

seen yet. The buildings were tall, the windows clear, the vehicles sleek, and the

streets free of litter. The air was so clean that it felt as though his lungs were

being cleansed of all impurities with each breath. He found himself inhaling

deeply several times before deciding to take a better look around.

His traveling companion seemed even more eager to explore than he was.

It ran to the nearest vehicle, a small electric bike that somewhat resembled a

scooter, sniffed its fill, then ran to the next. It had been a while since either one of

them could inhale so freely.

Arlin looked down at the slowly beeping device in his hand and decided to

explore a bit and find some food before following the watch to that world's

intelligent life.

Most worlds had something to them that one might consider unusual, but

this world happened to have something that even Arlin had not seen yet, and he

couldn't make sense of it. Everywhere he looked, the streets and building were

crowded, but not quite with people. There were clothes floating all over the city.

Pants, shirts, hats, shoes, dresses and more all decorated the air above the

sidewalks and moved as if they were being worn by invisible people. In fact,

43

there was more than just clothing. Briefcases, newspapers, magazines, and other

objects floated by, as if being held by the invisible people wearing the clothes.

All of the floating objects seemed to be oblivious to the presence of Arlin and the

dog, and continued about their business without stopping.

Arlin could hear no speech, and no noise in the whole city aside from the

gathered rustling of clothing and newspapers and the stepping of shoes across the

sidewalks. Arlin carefully avoided the floating obstacles and made his way to the

nearest restaurant, where he sat down to order, happily noticing that the plates and

food floated as well.

"Hey, you!" Arlin said to some clothing that appeared to dress an invisible

waitress, but he got no response, and the clothing continued to move as if Arlin

were not there. "Hello, c’mon, can anyone hear me?!" shouted Arlin into the

crowd, but not a single object flinched. Boldly, he yanked a plate of food from a

nearby table with two sets of clothing sitting at it.

The clothing paid no mind and continued to sit and face forward. It was at

that moment that Arlin realized no one was actually eating. Plates of completely

normal, edible-looking food sat on the tables, but none of the customers moved to

eat them. They all just sat and stared forward, or moved in conversational

gestures toward others. Arlin felt a bit confused, but still he had seen stranger.

He picked the best looking dish from among the tables—some sort of finely

44

dressed cut of meat—sat at an empty booth, and ate his food, which, much to his

relief, tasted superb.

Just as he was about to get up, a t-shirt, a pair of shorts, and a baseball cap

decided they liked the looks of his booth. Before he could move out of the way,

the clothing sat down right on top of him. Arlin expected the weight of a human,

but instead felt only the weight of the clothing, which dropped to his lap upon

touching him. The waitress brought over a glass of water and a menu then

proceeded to move as if talking with the customer he had just dismantled.

Everyone continued about their days normally, as if they were all

programmed to a set, unchangeable path. Arlin wondered, was there still an

invisible body where the shirt, shorts, and hat had been? Was there someone

sitting on him right at that moment? He looked down at the sneakers and socks

that were lying sideways on the floor by his seat. He had no way of knowing.

The one thing he felt fairly sure of was that none of these invisible people

were intelligent life forms, otherwise the watch would have said so. However, the

watch did indeed indicate one person left in the world, so Arlin left the restaurant

and set off to find him or her, following the watch's tracker.

The dog followed closely behind, filled with even more energy after

having raided a corner food stand. The dog was quite intelligent and good at

fending for itself. Its intelligence held quite fortunate for the it because Arlin

would have left it for dead long ago had it not been able to survive unassisted.

45

Arlin had no interest in the troublesome business of fending for anyone

but himself. The only thing that concerned him was observing the worlds and

hopefully finding one where he could live a normal life, with other people to

entertain him, if such a place even still existed.

Swatting aside the floating clothes on his way, Arlin found himself at a

large building, where a sign indicated it to be a research center for new

technology.

Inside, the watch led him to the twelfth floor, where he found an old man

with a large gray beard, dressed in a dirty looking pair of pants and a dirty gray

shirt. The man tinkered with some sort of small machine as Arlin entered the

room. The dog waited outside.

Startled, the old man looked up at Arlin with wide eyes full of shock.

"A nonbeliever?!" said the old man. "I thought they were all killed! Who

are you, and how is it you still have your body? Are there others still alive?"

Arlin looked back with a confused lift of his eyebrow. "I'm a traveler of

different worlds, and I'm afraid that you're the only intelligent life form remaining

in this one."

"Of different worlds, you say? Tell me, have you ever visited a world of

people with no souls?!"

"No souls? I'm afraid I've never visited a world with more than one living

human, soulless or not."

46

"Then please, you must tell me how you travel between worlds, so I can

bring my people back!"

Arlin removed the watch from his pocket and showed the old man. "This

watch has a device that sends me to different worlds, but I have no control over

where it sends me, and I have no idea how it works."

The old man sat down with a depressed looked on his face. "Then there

truly is no hope."

"Can you tell me what happened to this world?" asked Arlin.

The old man hesitated a moment. "It was about seven months ago. This

world was once a great place. We all lived our lives according to a series of

ancient scriptures, which taught us to do good deeds, work hard, and live

peacefully. The city flourished under the rules of the scriptures, and we

experienced great breakthroughs in science and technology. But then we finally

translated the last passage in the scriptures, which told us the day the world would

end. It said that we needed to have ultimate faith in the scriptures, and we needed

to give up our material possessions, science, and technology. If we didn't, then on

the first day of the year 1000 the world would end, our souls would be ripped

from our bodies, our bodies banished to another dimension, and our material

possessions would bind our souls to the earth, preventing us from ever finding

peace in the afterlife.

47

“But we had already come too far to abandon our science and possessions,

so we tried to escape our fates by leaving this world. We figured if we could

create a device to transport us to another world, it wouldn't matter if our old one

were destroyed, and we would be able to escape the wrath that the scriptures

foretold.

“Then there were those of us who said we shouldn't listen to the scriptures.

Nonbelievers, we called them. They said that nothing written in the scriptures has

ever been proved before, and the revelations have only come to pass in the past

because we made them so. All self-fulfilling prophecies, or one fulfilled by us, if

you will. We called them crazy and simply ignored them at first, but then it got

out of hand..

“They went so far as to try and sabotage our efforts at creating the world

transport device. Certain schematics mysteriously disappeared, various ordered

parts would get ‘lost in the mail,’ and they even tried to force their way into the

building a few times. I couldn't risk their interference, so as the lead preacher of

the scriptures, I ordered my followers to have them all killed.

“We finished our device, and when the day came, everyone used it to

travel to the other world. No one knew where they would wind up, but we all

knew it had to be better than what was waiting for us in this world. But..."

Arlin was quite interested in this world's story and was eager to hear more.

"But what?”

48

The old man's face was overcome with a look of guilt. "The truth was that

the protests of the nonbelievers had gotten to me, and I began to doubt the

scriptures myself. I was scared of the other world, so I never used my transporter.

After everyone else had left, I saw the effects of our device. We knew nothing of

world travel, and we had too much faith in our technological knowledge; we were

foolish. The device transported everyone's bodies, but their souls remained

behind. And now they haunt this world, bound by material possessions, just as

the scriptures foretold."

The old man jumped to his feet and started shouting. "Our science was

our downfall, our bodies banished to another dimension, our souls ripped from

our bodies and held from peace in the afterlife! Everything came true, just as the

scriptures said! But if we had never listened to the scriptures in the first place,

none of it would have happened, and everyone would still be here, living

peacefully. What's worse is that I had all the nonbelievers killed, so I'm the only

one left! I can't take it anymore, I don't care if I lose my soul, or where I end up,

I'd rather be like everyone else than suffer living here with these damned ghosts!”

The old man grabbed the device he was tinkering with and ran out of the room.

Arlin didn't try to go after him. The old man had been alone for seven

months, but Arlin had been alone for years, and no one quite knew loneliness like

he did.

49

The dog walked into the room. He smiled at it and knelt down to pet it,

handing it a piece of meat he had saved from the restaurant. He looked down at

the watch as the number on it changed from one to zero. He pressed down the top

button and the light turned green, so he continued to hold it for five seconds. A

rainbow-colored light washed over his vision... and he was gone.

50