How deep are we, immersed in this world we call reality? How many turtles down do we go, in this discombobulated, mixed-metaphor, rabbit-hole world?
Their world might be based on Ayn Rand, her writings, philosophies, and her U.S. Presidency, but how dense are their numbers compressed, and for how long will their simulation even run? This little group has been provided an exit, but would anyone be rude enough to dare and leave their very own reality?
Take the Rude Dare, and Cross over, to a special land where data is data, through the Red Door. From the author of Vestigial Surreality, Douglas Christian Larsen, comes the new serial novel, Rood Der.
© Copyright 2017 Douglas Christian Larsen. Rood Der. Rood Der Wiki—WikiRUDE
Rood Der — WIKIRude
Episodes
The Viking Simulation Society is now the "Sky Valley" Group, and they are taking great precautions in making sure that no one knows that the Red Door is there, and ensuring—as much as humanly possible—that nothing else comes through the Red Door. They are taking the Rude Dare, and exploring a world not their own, on the far side of the Red Door.
Barney is out to cut a deal all on his lonesome, but he does not consider himself a looter. He is just a special case, and perhaps a tad brighter than his fantasy-embracing knucklehead brothers of the Red Door. But still, he has this strangest sensation that someone, or something, is following him, and what is that strange, crude, childlike symbol scratched into the door in the filthy alley?
03 — Ethereal Medicine.
Sometimes love is the best medicine. Frederic has not felt entirely well, not for quite some time, and he feels that now is the time to test the limits of the new world, and vows to enter that place, practically naked. Everything seems going right along with the plan, until he gets hijacked, by his own car. When you stare into the Abyss, don't be surprised if the Abyss stares back.
04 — Even at the Door.
Frances battles her sanity, every single step of the way, while Frederic fights to maintain all manner of bad things, making the journey from Crash House to Cross House. Up to this point, Frances has half-convinced herself that all of this was an elaborate joke, that perhaps there never has been a Red Door leading to another world. But now, things seem to be getting real.
05 — Eldritch Purgings.
The boys, in pursuit of the renegade Viking Bigfoot, are in for a surprise, when they watch a classic black-and-white mad scientist flick starring none other than their friend Barney. And Frances must deal with sensory overload as she first opens her eyes on the other side of the Red Door, and must save Frederic from the terror that once lived inside his body.
06 — Barbarians and Bumblebees.
Joss Chen notices something insane in the sky while an oddly tattooed barbarian battles with containing his lust in a gentle society of bumblebees and Wee Folk, while a distant threat endangers the life of a Sky Valley Group member in a clash of confusion, mayhem, and possible murder. Life is beautiful through the Red Door, but it is possibly more dangerous than in any other world.
07 — In or Out, or On the Fence.
The group gathers at the New Jerusalem to compare weirdness notes, and a strange waitress with hypnotic green eyes might have some pressing advice for them, if they are brave enough to hear it. There is not much time left, and they must decide if they are in or out, because they cannot sit upon the fence much longer, because others are noticing, and the Red Door beckons.
08 — Faerial Warfare.
Archbee Lady Celestaer must marshal the forces of the Air Defense as invading angry wasps sent by Malevolent, Emperor of Wasps, threaten the tribes, while Frances desperately covers Frederic's body with her own, shielding him from a rain of stings and death. The overwhelming enemy can suddenly become the savior, through the Red Door.
09 — Café Really?
The group is served a very special dessert in a very special place, and it becomes more and more evident that a dire decision must soon be made, while Frances sits back and witnesses a sky spectacle she never imagined, as the Sisters cross the sky toward their congress, and Rooster stretches the limits of his strength to get Frederic up to the Hot Springs, and the curative waters of High Vale.
10 — Norse Noir.
Joss Chen takes a case and finds himself in the black rain on the edge of Pharmacity, but crossing over soon into Clown Town, where he might just meet the Woman of his dreams, and face down a Viking warrior from another world. Which beast will Joss feed, the Pitbull or the Wolf, and will he escape this surreal nightmare with any shred of sanity remaining?
11 — Dreams Reality.
Frances meets a wise man in Shushosshollow, the City of Dreams, and makes a new friend in Mister Bumbles. Rooster meets up with an old flame and finally gets some of the answers he has yearned for, but realizes he will probably not be able to remember them when he wakes. But which is the dream, and which is the reality, through the Red Door?
12 — Ecstasies Horrific.
Frances and Rooster carry Frederic up into the highlands of High Vale, pursued by something more nightmarish than anything they have previously met. Will the beauty and wonder of this new world offset the horrific evils, and is it too late for Frederic who is yet suffering a black sleep, his body rumbling with parasites?
13 — Poking the Universe.
Rodney had it all under control, even when the extremely large tarantula scrambles out from beneath his bed, and the guy in the mirror starts signalling, and the elephant-sized giant shakes his neck and spine until something is going to snap, Rodney has it all under control. Or maybe not. Be careful what you dream, because you might not be able to wake up.
14 — Et Tu, Barney?
In the Forest of Hungry Ghosts, Barney and Rodney resolve some long-standing issues between them, as well as entertain some very cute visitors, but Rodney might have some difficulty in discerning the reality of a dream within a dream in a dream within a dream, and the big guy with a face like a crocodile probably isn't going to provide a whole lot of help.
15 — Rude Dare.
The boys form a three-in-one circuit to channel visionary information from Vestigial Surreality, and Phoebe bestows an unknown gift that can only be used through the Red Door. This gift comes with a caution, no, warning, no, it actually comes with a threat, that they had best not cross her. They realize they had best take her up on her rude dare.
16 — Rock Lobster.
Rooster and Frances finally face down the parasite monster, just outside the crystal cathedral of the Hot Springs, and Frederic finally makes the grave decision on whether or not he will stay or go. The decisions you make, even the ones that seem inconsequential, often follow you, and you had best be very careful, what you bring with you, through the Red Door.
17 — Enter the Red Door.
Ronald Rand crosses over and commits himself to High Vale, internalizing the new world, and sets out to discover the gift presented by Phoebe, the strange woman with the hypnotizing eyes. He seeks out an appropriately and reasonably safe place, where he can discover the man that he can be, and surprises himself with his strange new powers, any geek's delight.
18 — Cataclysm.
Sisters collide and heavenly war is waged, and the sky lights up in a turquoise display of fire and rage, and it is uncertain if anyone, let alone anything, might survive the great Cataclysm, and sometimes, when going through something terrible and possibly unsurvivable, it is best to repeat the mantra that "this has all happened before, and it shall all happen again."
19 — Out of Order.
Time is peeled back to the day of the Cataclysm, and while Rooster, Frances, and Frederic deal with the parasite, Captain Joss Chen investigates a new world of adventure, and John Galt and Jethro Mouch decide to rough it, and taste some real adventure up close and personal.
20 — World Above.
The World Above reaches down to witness the Anomaly of the Red Door, and the Odd Ballz Club sets out on a whim, to explore their silly spreadsheet knock-off sim, but what begins as a lark becomes an up-close-and-personal experience with horror, and an introduction to a path that might lead these girls from the future into a realm of phantasmagorical terror.
21 — Lizards Galore.
It might just be a dream within a dream within a dream, or it could be mighty tough payback for when Rodney forgot to feed his lizard, but Rodney is having difficulty waking up from this nightmare people with goosestepping lizards, blood-spitting horny toads, and those bizarre Nagas and Nuwas.
.
Everyday Signs and Wonders
Déjà vu —noun
a feeling of having already experienced the present situation.
Coincidence —noun
a remarkable concurrence of events or circumstances without apparent causal connection.
Rood —noun
1. a crucifix, especially one positioned above the rood screen of a church or on a beam over the entrance to the chancel.
2. BRITISH—historical
a measure of land area equal to a quarter of an acre.
The Viking Simulation Society—Sky Valley Group
Hank
Reardon—Age 50.
Height 6’2”—IQ: 135. Divorced, big ex-cop, high school boxer. Going soft and bald,
really showing his age, feels worn out and ground down, disillusioned with his
entire life. Eventually, he casts off his old world, and takes the new name,
Rooster.
Rodney
Weinstein—Age 30.
Height 5’8”— (Yarmulke). IQ: 160. Classic monster movie
buff and nerd, loves Doctor Who, Star Wars, and Star Trek. Lives in his childhood
bedroom at home, his parents allow him to use the basement with the group.
Non-religious Jew, but always wears Yarmulke, yearning for something deeper.
John
Galt—Age 33. Height 6’0”—
(Prius owner). IQ: 150. Thinker and philosopher, specializing in voracious reading of science
fiction, fantasy, and speculative fiction. Loves Tolkien and C.S. Lewis. Has memorized the dialogue from all three Matrix movies, and will talk endlessly about time travel and the Simulation Hypothesis, one of the first to convince himself that he was living in a computer simulation.
Barney
Taggart—Age 40.
Height 5’9”—IQ: 110. Ginger, meaty, very round-faced. Oaf, cheater and looter,
is friends with the gang, but secretly, he doesn’t agree with any of their
goals or decisions, and secretly he has been smuggling out loot that he doesn’t
share with the group. Loves his big, antiquated muscle car.
Frederic
d’Aconia—Age 38.
Height 5’11”— IQ: 165. (AA guy) Accountant. Feels that he is gravely
ill, definitely has colitis, but feels he might have colon cancer as well. Is
in love with Frances, but they have never moved beyond the friendship stage.
Jethro
Mouch—Age 42. Height 6’0”— IQ: 130. (Pipe smoker), entrepreneur. Internet daytrader, occasional pot smoker, chess
enthusiast, and movie buff. Loves everything to do with World War II and
Winston Churchill.
Ronald
Rand—Age 25. Height 6’3”— IQ: 140. (AA guy), Engineer, looks much taller than 6’3” because exceptionally skinny. Handyman,
carpenter, engineer, an overall hands-on genius. Thick eyeglasses, very myopic.
Characters
Characters
Frances
Francone—Age 32.
Height 5’9”—IQ: 140. ER Nurse. Dark hair, very strong, tough. History of relationships
with abusive, possessive men, but has taken a line-in-the-sand stand against bullies and
criminals.
Joss
Chen—Age 28. Height 6’0”—IQ: 150. (new guy, security) Very lean, very serious, black belt Kempo Karate. Mother
is half-Chinese, half Dutch, father is full-Chinese, from China, but Joss was raised in America, graduating from the Universal Rand Institute at 21 years of age as a Security Specialist.
Phoebe—Ageless. Height Flux—IQ: Immeasurable. Tall, sarcastic Shepherd of VS, lesser Shepherd of Outliers, backup system to Manda, immensely huge and wide, much vaster than all the Rings of Saturn, but widely and thinly dispersed.
Ulf—Age 20. Height 5’4”—IQ: 90. (Viking NPC, stranded in Rand World), short but extremely broad, with exceptionally long arms. Somewhat dumb, very jovial, and can drink any manner of alcohol, all day and all night long. Loves a good fight, or even a bad fight, or just any kind of fight.
Phoebe—Ageless. Height Flux—IQ: Immeasurable. Tall, sarcastic Shepherd of VS, lesser Shepherd of Outliers, backup system to Manda, immensely huge and wide, much vaster than all the Rings of Saturn, but widely and thinly dispersed.
Ulf—Age 20. Height 5’4”—IQ: 90. (Viking NPC, stranded in Rand World), short but extremely broad, with exceptionally long arms. Somewhat dumb, very jovial, and can drink any manner of alcohol, all day and all night long. Loves a good fight, or even a bad fight, or just any kind of fight.
Crash
House and Cross House—Two houses joined by a
tunnel. Crash house is set up to seem a normal home with a few people living
there, and cars are parked strategically so as not to draw attention. Cross
House, barricaded and boarded up from within, but from the outside giving the
appearance of a normal home with only one person ever coming or going, contains
the Red Door.
Sky
Valley Mandate—Rules
to follow, to keep their secret, to hide what is behind the red door
Special
Sunday Project—Several
of the guys get together in Rodney's basement to track down the Viking that escaped into Rand World, documenting the mayhem he is causing.
Wee
Folk—Tribe of small people, standing between 10-24 inches in height, with an average lifespan of 13 months (comparatively 65 human years), live in symbiotic relationship with Buffalo Bumblebees, large (about the size of a Beagle dog) honey-producing creatures that also spread pollen among the Wee Folk, connecting all bumblebees and Wee Folk in shared knowledge and experience. Also live in symbiotic relationship with forest spiders, harvesting spidersilk.
Reethrook—Painter. lead artist in the creation of a life-size and photographic quality representation of the Great Red Cock, the man-rooster god of the Wee Folk.
Ivygarten—Elder, wise woman, more than two
years of age (comparable to 120 years of human age). Willfully bonds to Hank,
the Prophesied Protector of the Wee Folk, newly named Rooster.
Lady
Celestaer—Archbee, warrior
leader of the mounted bumblebees.
Wee
Folk Lore—The Wee
Folk believe Hank to be the Incarnation of their God, the Mighty Red Cock, a
man-rooster protector of the peoples (they have no word for rooster other than
cock, and find Hank’s frantic entreaties for substitute names and titles to be
vastly amusing, and endearing).
Shushosshollow—City of Dreams. A city maintained in a single drop of amber honey, stored in a hollowed-out diamond, kept safe and protected in the Cave of the Wee Folk.
Rowf Third—Wise man from Shushosshollow, a former NPC from a herbalist shop in High Vale, he was killed by Dragon Warriors in a raid after a Viking pillaging, but dreamed his way into the City of Dreams just before dying, and he has lived there ever since, for ten thousand years.
Mister Bumbles—An exceptionally large golden bumblebee, bonded to Frances.
Shushosshollow—City of Dreams. A city maintained in a single drop of amber honey, stored in a hollowed-out diamond, kept safe and protected in the Cave of the Wee Folk.
Rowf Third—Wise man from Shushosshollow, a former NPC from a herbalist shop in High Vale, he was killed by Dragon Warriors in a raid after a Viking pillaging, but dreamed his way into the City of Dreams just before dying, and he has lived there ever since, for ten thousand years.
Mister Bumbles—An exceptionally large golden bumblebee, bonded to Frances.
The
Sisters—the two moons of High Vale
The
Story Moon—The Green
Moon, the smaller moon (about half the size of our own moon in the sky), The Looking Glass, High Vale observatory and control center, run by Mr.
Dodgson.
The
Honey Moon—The Blue
Moon, the much larger moon (about three times the size of our own moon in the sky), Steam World, Steampunk utopia, Olde London.
Vestigial Surreality on Google Play
© Copyright 2017 Douglas Christian Larsen. Rood Der. All Rights Reserved by the Author, Douglas Christian Larsen. No part of this serial fiction may be reproduced (except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles or reviews) or transmitted by any means without the written permission of the publisher, Wolftales UNlimited, but please feel free to share the story with anyone, only not for sale or resale. This work is a work of fiction. People, places, events, and situations are the product of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or historical events, is purely coincidental (wink, wink).
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ves•tig•i•al
- forming a very small remnant of something that was once much larger or more noticeable.
sur•re•al′i•ty
- having the disorienting, hallucinatory quality of a dream; unreal; fantastic.
Vestigial Surreality
The World May Not Be Exactly What it Seems
