Flight 12

Flight 12 – a serial novel by Travis Creel

CHAPTER 23: REUNION BLUES

[Author's Note: Chapters 23 and 24 both cover events on the same day; for reasons of continuity, this chapter will take place entirely above ground while the next chapter will cover events underground.]

Previously:

• Jordan and Miles arrive; after Augie mistakes him for his fictitious brother `Jeremy', Jordan confesses the truth to Augie about his identity.

• On December 1, left-siders (Stan, Al, etc.) were lured into a `penis garden,' anally speared, and delivered underground; recently, Miles and Jordan encountered one without consequences.

In flashbacks:

• Earlier this year, Sean was involved with Miles, who only became Vic's lover because Sean told him it was important for his mysterious `project'.

• Sean (five years ago) was also involved with Seth, then married to Megan with triplet sons. He drugged Seth after some daytime sex, causing him to oversleep and miss picking up his sons from daycare. The daycare reported that the boys were picked up by their Uncle Herman'. Stimulever had assigned Sean the task of arranging a tragedy' in Seth's life, a requirement for The Project's `Trigger Man'.

• • • • • • • • MONDAY, DECEMBER 10 (a day after the last chapter) * * * * * * * *

THE PHALLIC TOWER – SETH

• Harry, this is crazy. This alternate universe thing they're talking about makes no sense.

• None whatsoever. Which is exactly why it makes sense.

• Do I detect a paradox here?

• An alternate universe would at least explain all our unexplainables, like how we survived the plane crash, and how the island has rules of its own.

• So are we in two places at once?

• Jordan seems to think we're only here – what they call Betaworld. He said no one would even remember us in the other world, like we didn't exist.

• That's scary. And downright depressing.

• I don't know, Seth. Sometimes I think it would be better if no one remembered me.

• Harry.

• I'm not even sure I'd be missed if anyone did remember me. Here – at least I feel somewhat, well, not useless.

• You're far from useless, Harry. I don't know what I'd do without you.

• You might find out. My birthday's one week from today.

• Oh, no, Harry. You're not disappearing. I'll make damn sure of that.

THE PHALLIC TOWER – MILES

• (Vic) This alternate universe thing you're talking about makes no sense.

• So how do you explain how you got here after your plane broke apart in mid-air?

• Well, I'll admit this feels like a different world, all right. You're different.

• (Shit.) I'm different? How am I different?

• You seem – I don't know, distant.

That's because the reason I'm here has nothing to do with you. Time to pretend otherwise.

• Vic, I'm sorry. It's just – I've been through so much, getting here – I can't hardly believe it.

• We've been through a lot, too. I thought you were just what I needed to give me some sanity.

• I'm not sure there's sanity anywhere to be found.

• How about in your ass?

• (grinning) Absolutely no sanity there.

• Maybe I could hunt for some?

• Are you suggesting what I think you're suggesting?

• I'm horny, Miles. This island is so sexy I swear the trees have balls instead of roots. We could fuck in the tower and no one would mind. I'm taking off my shirt. Now you take off yours.

• I'll take off more than that, but not here. Let's take a walk.

• Deal. We just have to avoid where you saw that teal decawhatzit. That's my danger place.

• It was in the woods. If we stick to the meadow, we should be all right. Besides, there's something cool there I want to show you.

THE PHALLIC TOWER – AUGIE

• Jordan?

• Augie.

• This alternate universe thing you're talking about makes no sense.

• Acknowledged.

• But – if it's the truth – if we ARE in some kind of alternate reality . . . maybe I'm not gay here.

• Augie, don't you think that's why you ARE here? Everyone on this island seems to be gay.

• Ed's not.

• MAYBE Ed's not. Maybe he is and he's lying about it. But his son definitely was gay, right?

• Don't say `was'. We don't know that Leo's dead.

• Right. The earth swallowed him up and he's alive.

• Maybe! But if there's two worlds, he's still alive in the other one, right?

• Augie, I don't think he exists in the other one. I don't think you or I do, either.

• . . . I don't even exist anymore in the real world? Just in this – this whatever-it-is?

• I don't know, Augie. But if you exist only here, then you're gay here because . . . because Augie, you're gay. You were gay in Texas and you're gay here.

• . . .

• . . .

• . . . Get away from me.

• Augie.

• Get away from me! You're no good for me, Jordan. You're mixing me all up. I don't want to be gay and I don't want to be here and I don't even know where I exist and where I don't, and I just want . . .

• You just want what?

• I want to be alone.

• . . . Okay, Garbo. I'll leave you alone.

• `Garbo'? Are you calling me garbage?

• No, it's a movie quote. Greta Gar – . . . never mind, Augie, I'll leave. You . . . you need time to sort things out, I understand.

THE PHALLIC TOWER - SETH

• (Harry) They said this guy Sean deliberately brought them here – from Alphaworld to Betaworld. They were in Aruba and, presto change-o, they're in a different Aruba. If you can just switch like that, there must be a way back.

• Okay, so he brought Jordan and Miles here. How did he have the power to do that?

• Maybe he's the same person who brought us to this universe.

• No, I think our coming here was an accident. Something happened on that plane that triggered us getting here. I don't think anyone planned it.

• Of course they planned it. The whole thing is planned, Seth. The map, the birthdays, the Chinese calendar thing, the dodecagons matching up with each of us, not to mention that I think we're all gay. No, Seth, we were intended to come here. We were targeted. The question is why Jordan and Miles are here – and why this `Sean' guy dumped them here and then took off.

• Sean'. Why did he have to be named Sean'?

• It's a common enough name.

• Of course it is. It's just a name I don't like hearing.

• Why?

• A guy named Sean nearly ruined my life. Until I met Abe, he did ruin my life.

• Want to talk about it?

• No, I don't. I really don't, Harry. It's too painful.

FLASHBACK – SETH (CLEVELAND) – five years ago

• The boys don't have an Uncle Herman, Sean.

• Shit.

• So who the fuck picked them up?

• Call the police.

• I will, but . . . after I call Megan.

• Don't call Megan, go to her. These things are better done face to face. Call the police first.

Before I could, the police called me. The day-care center had called them after I reported that the boys had no `Uncle Herman'. They said they would send an officer over to take my statement.

Of course, the police had also called Megan. And when Megan's name popped up on my phone, I panicked.

• Sean, what am I going to say to her? That I overslept in the apartment of the man I've been sleeping with? She doesn't know I'm bisexual, Sean.

• Are you bisexual?

• Duh. I'm with you, I'm with her, that's bisexual.

• You're not bisexual, you're gay, Seth. Megan was just an attempt to prove otherwise. Admit it – you way prefer men to women, don't you?

• What if I do? What of it? She's still my wife.

• And you owe her the truth.

• What, NOW? Our boys have been kidnapped! She's frantic with worry. I'm frantic with worry. You want me to tell her I'm gay NOW?

• Ah, so you do admit you're gay.

• Fuck you!

• We already did that, the other way around.

• Christ!

• Admit it, Seth. I drive you crazy. If you had to give up one of us, wouldn't it be Megan?

• No!

• No?

• . . . I don't know, maybe. But now is not the time.

Megan's name popped up on my phone again. I still didn't answer it.

• She's got to learn the truth, Seth. It's not fair to lead her on like this.

• It's not fair to abandon her when our sons have been kidnapped!

• So what ARE you going to say when she asks why you didn't show up?

• I . . . shit, I don't know. I had to work late.

• You don't work late on Fridays, that's why you pick up the boys on Fridays. She knows that.

• Well, today, there was a meeting and –

• And you couldn't call her to let her know you couldn't pick up the boys.

• FUCK! What am I going to say?

• How about the truth?

• . . . No. Anything but that. I was in a traffic jam –

• And your cell phone wasn't working.

• Sean! Why are you being so mean?

• For your own damn good.

• I need an out.

• You need to COME out.

• I will. . . . I will. . . .But please give me some time.

Megan called a third time. Then a text: WHERE WERE YOU?

• So you won't tell her the truth. Keep going down your excuse list.

• My battery ran out. No, I lost my phone.

• The police were able to reach you.

• Shit!

• `Oh, what a tangled web we weave when first we practice to deceive'.

• My sons have been kidnapped and you're quoting Shakespeare at me?

• It's not Shakespeare. It's Sir Walter –

• Stop jabbering and do something useful! I don't know what to do!

• Give me your phone.

Against my better judgment, I did. I watched him reply to the text: POLICE HERE NOW. HOME ASAP. TALK THEN.

• Talk then? I still don't have a story.

• She'll see through any fake story you give, Seth. She'll find out about us anyway. Best to confront it head on.

• . . . I don't think I can tell her, Sean.

• Then I will. I'll go with you.

• That'll only make things worse.

• It will give her something to focus her anger on besides you: Me.

However bad I thought it would be, it was worse. I'd seen scenes in movies where enraged women threw objects at their men, but I had never imagined that ever happened in real life. She threw them at Sean, too. His presence didn't help, but in retrospect it was going to be brutal whether he was there or not.

She literally screamed at me, a piercing shriek I will never forget for the rest of my life. The worst thing was knowing that her accusations were absolutely justified: I was responsible for the boys' abduction. And while dealing with that agony, she had to deal with her husband revealing his homosexuality.

She couldn't handle it. She walked out. Her parting shot, directed to Sean: "And as for you: You disappear from the face of the earth!"

Those were the last words I ever heard her speak. Three weeks later, Megan swallowed half a bottle of sleeping pills and walked into Lake Erie.

They found her body the next day. They never found the boys.

FLASHBACK: SEAN (ST. MORITZ) – five years ago, a month later

The boys were fine. "Uncle Herman" – a.k.a. Board member Germán – spirited them out of the country under fake passports. They were adopted by a lovely couple in Utrecht named Jan and Hendrik, and are growing up together, happy and well-adjusted.

Megan – I truly regretted Megan. She didn't deserve that fate. But Jesús and the Board were delighted. I had promulgated the tragedy necessary in the Trigger Man's life, the tragedy connected to his homosexuality. I was heartily congratulated on my skillful maneuvering.

I felt no pleasure in all the praise. For, after insinuating myself into Seth's life, solely for the purposes of creating a tragedy, I had made the mistake of falling in love with him. And what I should have seen as a triumph, I saw only as a betrayal. I had broken his heart.

When he left me, it broke mine.

THE PHALLIC TOWER – SETH

• Where are Vic and Miles going, Harry? We don't need a food run and they're not heading toward the stream to get water.

• Maybe they just want some privacy.

• And maybe they run into a dodecagon.

• Vic's birthday is the 19th.

• Still, it might affect him. And we have no idea what it might do to Miles.

• Miles saw one on his journey here, and he's perfectly fine.

• I'm going to follow them.

• Seth, what if they're just sneaking off to, you know, reconnect. They are lovers, you know.

• Then I guess I'll be a voyeur. If that's all that happens, then fine. I just need to be sure they don't get into any trouble. I'll be discreet, stay out of sight.

• You don't trust them.

• I don't trust this island.

THE WOODS – SETH

Harry was right about their intentions. Miles and a bare-chested Vic (his shirt trailing from his hand) headed down through the meadow, while I shadowed them from the cover of the forest. When they got to a point sufficiently far from the Tower, Vic shed his jeans – all he was wearing; Miles shed . . . everything. I soon had another reason to stay out of sight: their lovemaking aroused me. After rubbing their hands erotically over each other's bodies, Vic gently pushed Miles down to the ground. The smaller man lay prostrate while Vic piled clothing underneath Miles's abdomen, raising his ass for a better penetration angle.

He lubricated Miles's hole generously with his saliva, pushing a finger inside to swirl it around the sexy bottom's rectum. And then he lowered himself over his lover, both of them hard as a rock – as was I. I watched with a vicarious thrill as Vic's cock zeroed in on Miles's bubble-butt and then plunged in to the hilt. Miles reacted with a combination gasp and groan, and then pushed back as Vic began sawing in and out of him slowly. It was tender but vigorous, Vic increasing his tempo gradually as he pumped in and out of that splendid ass. I wanted to join them, my own rigid cock barely able to contain its excitement.

I grabbed it and began stroking it. I had been nude for a week now, achieving an erection several times, but I had been more concerned with concealing it from others than from indulging myself and shooting my load.

Now was the time. I began stroking in sync with Vic's pumping, two strokes for every thrust of his hips, faster and faster as my cock thrilled at the touch and turned on by Miles's soft moans of ecstasy. In and out and of Miles went Vic's cock, as up and down went my hand on my dick.

Would it sound ridiculous if I said we came simultaneously? Well, we did. I built up to a cataclysmic finale until I could hold it no more; my orgasm decorated a nearby tree trunk just as Vic collapsed on top of Miles and kissed the back of his neck. They lay there motionless, in a pleasant reverie as I grabbed some leaves to clean my hand and wipe off my cock.

Perhaps I should have been ashamed of my status as a voyeur, but I wasn't. I really needed that. There were those in the Tower I would happily plant my dick inside – their number having increased by two with the arrival of Jordan and Miles – but, as their de facto leader, fucking any of them wouldn't have been appropriate.

I thought they would return now to the tower, but they headed in the opposite direction, Vic in jeans and Miles still nude. Should I follow them? I did.

THE MEADOW – VIC

After I buried my bone in that sweet ass, it seemed like everything was all right between us again. Miles's body and mine meshed as it had during the months before, and the distance between us I had perceived seemed to melt as soon as my tool plunged up his anal canal.

• (Miles) Something I want to show you. It's not far from here.

• You're not going to dress?

• Saves time. If it inspires us in the way I think it will, I'll just be getting naked again. Besides, I like the feel of being au naturel in nature, don't you? That's why they call it `au naturel'.

• They should call it `au exhibitionistique'.

• Wow, that's not only faux French, it's faux franglais.

• Well, these aren't faux jeans. I'll leave my shirt, but these I'm putting on.

We proceeded onward, me in jeans, Miles `au exhibitionistique'. Some distance further south, I saw a dark vertical object a couple of hundred yards away.

• That's where we're going.

• What is it?

• You'll see.

He quickened his pace, as if he couldn't wait to get there. When we got close enough, I saw it was a black phallus nearly as tall as me – taller than Miles.

• Isn't it cool?

• Huh. Another dick.

• A big black dick. Like yours. Come on, let's touch it.

Miles seemed almost irresistibly drawn to this thing, and started to trot toward it. Personally, I found it curious, but not compelling, and continued to amble. If you've been living in a forty-foot phallus, seeing a six-foot phallus isn't all that remarkable. As I got closer, I saw that there was a semi-circular area in front of it which appeared to have been recently mowed.

Mowed? By whom? That very question gave me the creeps. I called out to him.

• Miles, stay away from that! Someone mowed there – recently. It may not be safe.

He stepped into the mowed area and beckoned to me.

• Come on, Vic. It's a statue. What harm could come from a statue? Oh, look, Vic! There are little penises popping up, like flowers. It's like a penis garden. This is amazing!

WOODS NEAR THE MEADOW - SETH

Trailing them from a ways behind, I saw Miles approaching something black and vertical, about human height, possibly a sawed-off tree trunk. He started to run toward it. I heard him call back to Vic. I thought he said something about penises, but I couldn't be sure.

And then I heard him yell, in distress. And I heard Vic yell. I abandoned my cover, came out into the open meadow and started to run. There was now some kind of black fence around the black obelisk-type object, obscuring my view of Miles inside the perimeter. Moments later, I saw Miles being hoisted into the air, twenty, thirty feet up.

I reached Vic who was looking up at Miles in astonishment, and I saw that Miles was sitting, if that was the right word, on a black pole about an inch in diameter. The far end of it disappeared between his legs, giving the impression that it was sticking up his ass. He was now raised even higher, higher than the top of the phallic tower, his legs dangling down beneath his anally impaled form.

• My God, Vic, what is this?

• I don't know. He went running toward it like a maniac and then said there were tiny penises springing up and then one of them speared him and – holy shit!

He stopped as the black pole started to turn a fiery red, as Miles's screams became more and more agonized. Just as suddenly, the pole reverted to black and then shot back toward the earth, taking Miles with it so fast that he might as well have been falling.

He fell, all right – and disappeared from our sight, as the fence – that I could now see were the extensions of phalluses juxtaposed against each other, like organ pipes if organ pipes had cockheads at their ends – had blocked our view.

A moment later they receded into the ground, revealing that the obelisk was, in fact, a phallus as tall as me. The grass in front of it was completely undisturbed. But I was disturbed: there was no trace of Miles.

Vic stumbled around as if blind, his face a blend of bewilderment and outrage. Neither of us could process what we had just witnessed. Vic charged the black phallus and began beating it with his fists, then fell to the ground, as if hugging it would bring Miles back. The ground was unresponsive.

I walked over and pulled him to his feet, putting my arms around him in a full embrace. The big Black man, every inch my size and every muscle my equal, collapsed against me, his sobs moistening the skin on my shoulder. I took in the fullness of his masculine aroma, the feel of his taut skin and well-developed pecs against my own; were it not for the drama of the moment – and the fact that I had jerked off only minutes before – I would surely have gotten hard.

• How could this happen, Seth? How could he just have . . . ?

He left the rest of the sentence dangling: How could you describe a dildo springing out of the ground, growing tall enough to reach a standing man's butt, spearing his asshole, thrusting him sixty feet in the air, turning red hot and seemingly searing his anal canal, and then whisking him off underground without leaving evidence of ever breaking ground?

Vic tried again, managing in the most reasonable way he could:

• How could he just have vanished like that?

I held him in my arms and comforted him for a minute, then helped him back into the tall grass. He left it before me. I stood in the mown area a moment, looking back at the six-foot phallus at its core, when suddenly a human-sized black penis sprung out of the ground.

• Seth, get out of there!

Vic's voice was so alarming that I dashed across into the high grass. As I did so, dozens of penises began to pop out of the ground. Seconds after I had landed back in the tall grass, however, they receded, like miniature missiles retracting into their individual silos. The ground looked so perfect that the idea of it being peppered with small black penises might have seemed a product of my own fertile imagination.

• What the fuck just happened?

• That's what Miles saw. He started to yell about penises coming out of the ground. He thought they were cute. He called it a penis garden. But then they fenced him in and he couldn't get out and one of them pushed itself up his wazoo and – well, you saw what it did.

• But that didn't happen when you were on it.

• No. Not even when you and I were both on it. Only after I left and you were still on it.

• Me, I could see – I've been the subject of special attention – but why Miles and not you?

• Maybe – this is weird, Seth, but there is one thing you and Miles had in common that I don't.

• What's that?

• You were both naked. I've got pants on.

I considered this a moment.

• Vic, lend me your trousers.

• What?

• I want to test your theory. We're about the same size. Let me put on your pants.

Vic looked at me as if to warn me of the foolishness of my proposition, but nodded, and stripped off his pants, standing there completely nude. Vic was very well hung. He would have kept Miles happy indeed with a cock like that. And I was reminded of how Abe had fantasized about Vic in the airport. A cock like that would have kept Abe happy as well.

I slipped on Vic's trousers over my bare skin, hoping that the act wouldn't constitute a serious violation of my `mandate' to stay nude – it was only for a minute or so - and tentatively stepped onto the mown semicircle, ready to dash to safety the moment a single black penis popped out of the ground.

Nothing happened. I stayed there for a minute. Nothing. I walked around a bit. Nothing. I got brave and approached the giant phallus itself and encircled it with my arms. Nothing.

I went back to Vic, stripped off his pants, and then gingerly stepped onto the semi-circle again. Instantly about twenty penises sprung out of the ground and I hopped back to safety into the tall grass just as the entire area seemed to be overtaken by penises.

• A penis garden indeed. Well, Vic, I think your theory is sound. I don't know why, but I think these things are safe if you're wearing pants.

• . . . Is he dead, Seth? Is Miles dead?

• I don't think so. I think the four guys who have disappeared – and Miles – are in the other universe. Miles's appearance on the island might have been deliberate – they might have brought him and Jordan here to tell us what is going on. And one by one they're taking us there.

• So you don't think we're already in this Betaworld? Miles said we were.

• I don't know. They might have lied to him. Or maybe he's now in a third universe nobody knows about. Tomorrow will be a test. We're going all out to protect Augie. If they manage to get him anyway, there may be no avoiding us all getting captured. But . . .

• But?

• But maybe that's not so bad. Maybe the other place is what they call Alphaworld, the one we grew up in. Maybe being captured is our escape route. Maybe it's how we get off this island.

We proceeded northwards to collect Miles's clothing and Vic's shirt. Maybe somebody could use Miles' clothing, like Jasper, who was closer to Miles's size.

• Wait, this was the spot. I'm sure of it.

• Yeah, I know. I saw you.

• You saw us? You were spying on us?

• Kinda.

• I was wondering how you just happened to show up.

• Vic, you weren't supposed to go wandering off. I had to find out why.

• I figured it was okay – my birthday isn't `til next week. And I really needed to . . .

• Understood. We all need it, and you had to let nature take its course. Apologies for being a voyeur, it was just for security purposes, not to get off on it or anything.

Although I did, in fact, get off on it.

• Well, anyway, this was the spot where he left his clothes. And I left my shirt.

• I agree. It was. I saw you leave them there. This isn't the first case of unattended clothes vanishing, you know.

• Or people vanishing. But now we not only have to watch out for decawhatzits, we have to avoid this `penis garden'. I don't trust it, even with clothes on.

• It might not be the only one on the island, either.

• You think there are twelve of these, too?

• It's a big island.

THE PHALLIC TOWER – HARRY

I saw him sitting by himself under a tree, a picture of desolation. Something had happened. I'd seen him this morning talking with Augie. It didn't look like it had gone well.

• Jordan, you okay?

The tears that formed in his eyes answered that question before he said a word.

• I'm a shit, Harry.

• You're not a shit. You're . . .

• I'm what?

• In love.

• . . .

• . . .

• Yes. I am that. Fat lot of good it does me. He doesn't love me back.

• I think he does, Jordan. That's why he's so angry.

• He's angry because I made him look like a fool. Because I lied to him.

• Because you exposed his lie to himself, Jordan. He's not angry with you as much as with himself. That's why he doesn't want to be around you – it makes him look inside himself.

• . . . Maybe that's part of it.

• Do you know what happened to him here?

• Vic told me the green dodecagon made him take off his clothes and dance naked.

• That was one thing, yes. But I meant the thing with Lucas.

• Lucas. He's one of those who disappeared.

• Yes, and good riddance, so far as I'm concerned.

• Something happened with Lucas and Augie.

• Just before he disappeared, Lucas's dodecagon made him – or inspired him, something – anyway, Lucas raped Augie.

• He what?!

• He raped Augie.

• Omigod.

• Don't tell him I told you that. Nobody knows except me and Seth. Don't even tell Miles – Vic doesn't know. But – well, this is my theory only – my theory is that Augie might have liked it.

• Poor Augie.

• He's been dealing with it ever since. He knew he was gay before you arrived, Jordan. But he was hiding, he was pretending, and he was using you to justify thinking himself straight. And you just blew that all out of the water.

• I know. But you think he loves me in spite of all that? It's not logical.

• Love is not logical.

• You sound like you've had some experience with that.

I had to laugh. Not a funny laugh.

• No, not hardly.

• Really? Guys look up to you, though.

• Do they? They look up to Seth. Seth – thank god for Seth. Seth at least respects me, makes me feel worthwhile.

• Worthwhile? Harry, how can you say that? Everybody's worthwhile.

• If anybody here respects me, it's only because Seth does. But we're not talking about respect, Jordan. We were talking about love.

• Are you telling me you've never been in love?

• Do crushes count?

• You've never had a boyfriend?

• It takes two to tango, Jordan. No, fat Harry doesn't have any names on his dance card.

• You deserve names on your dance card, Harry. You're a good guy. There's someone out there good enough to deserve you.

• Well, thank you. But this conversation wasn't supposed to be about me. It's about you and Augie. Give him time, Jordan. Be patient. I'll talk to him. Seth can talk to him. I know: Vic and Miles, they can show him how happy they are together, that it's okay to be gay, you can be in a loving relationship.

• Where are Vic and Miles, anyway? Haven't seen them in a while.

• I actually know the answer to that question, but I'm not sure I'm supposed to say.

THE PHALLIC TOWER - AUGIE

I saw Harry sitting with Jordan. He looked like he was consoling her.

Her'. I still thought of Jordan as her', even after seeing his bare, flat chest and the hint of whiskers on his face. I thought about all the fussiness over pronouns – ridiculed by my parents and Pastor Markson, of course, and not encouraged by my teachers in either high school or college – but was starting to realize their importance. Was Jordan a `they'? I'd have to ask her. Him. Them. That is, if I ever spoke to Jordan again.

I would have to, I knew. But at the moment I was jealous. Jealous that Harry was with her/him/them. As if Jordan was the injured party and not me.

Maybe Jordan WAS an injured party. Not THE injured party, but AN injured party. He – I'm gonna stick with `he' – knew when he came here that he would have to explain the deception. And he was doing it because he loves me.

`He loves me'. That's a hard phrase for a devout Christian male from Texas to say unless you're talking about your father or Jesus Christ.

• Hey, Augie, how're you doing?

I looked up, startled. I hadn't heard anyone approach. To my surprise, it was . . . well, I was hoping it wasn't Ray. With this gentle approach, it wasn't like Ray, unless he was trying to seduce me with kindness.

• Gary?

• Yeah. It's Gary. Kinda weird to have to explain who you are whenever you want to start a conversation.

• I guess you and I have one thing in common. I don't know who I am, either.

• Oh, I know who I am. I'm just . . . gone a lot of the time. Are you upset because you're gay?

Oh, jeez, really? You're seriously going to ask me that?

• Who told you that?

• Jasper. He said you were having an identity crisis. He said you were struggling over being gay.

• It's none of Jasper's business.

• I like Jasper. He's kind. Not everyone is kind, Augie. You need to accept kindness where you can find it.

• Gosh, it sure worked out well for you, didn't it? . . . Sorry, I don't know why I said that. That was. . . that was – I didn't mean that.

• It's scary.

• What's scary?

• Being gay. At least it is for me. It's not for Ray, he likes it – at least that's what they tell me, but it is for me. So if it is for you, too – well, that's okay.

• I . . . thanks.

• Do you like Jordan?

Four little words. Four little words that destroyed me. I crumpled over and put my head in my hands. Yes, I like Jordan. Yes, I like him even as a boy. And I don't know what to do.

And so I cried.

• Augie? Did I say something wrong? I wasn't –

• Go away, Gary.

• What? I'm sorry, I –

• Go. The fuck. Away. I can't deal with this! I told Jordan to leave me alone, and I need you to leave me alone. Go. Away. Gary.

There was a long pause.

• What happened, son?

• I told you to go away, Gary.

• This ain't Gary. What the hell is wrong with you? Sittin' here by yourself, cryin'? You'd think your dog had died or something. From what I heard, you just got dumped by a guy – well, ain't that for the best. You don't want to be hanging around with no perverts, now. Come on, buck up. Be a man.

• . . . Sorry, Cody.

• You want to take a walk? You could help me search for my herd. And I'll keep you off of them decathings.

• No, no thanks, Cody. I'm going to stay here for a while.

THE PHALLIC TOWER – SETH

As we approached the tower, Vic suddenly opened up.

• Seth, this business with Miles has been bothering me.

• Of course it has. That was terrifying.

• I mean it was bothering me before – the fact that he came here, with this guy Sean – I don't know, he was different. Like he wasn't all that thrilled to see me.

• Looked happy enough to me.

• He was happy to see my cock. But his soul wasn't in it, Seth. I mean, he came all that way – from another universe, if you can believe him – and then. . . . I don't know, that story is absurd.

• Yes, it is. But why would he and Jordan feed us such a story? How would they know that we're undergoing such strangeness here that the idea of an alternate universe would actually be a plausible explanation? It's not a story you would come up with expecting anybody to believe it – unless it were actually true.

• Okay, suppose we're in this Betaworld. Maybe this was Beta-Miles and not my Miles. Maybe this is Beta-Jordan and Alpha-Jordan is a woman like Augie thinks. Maybe their appearance here is all some part of a plot.

• And part of the plot is for a fifty-foot dildo to shoot up his ass and suck him into the earth?

• I just don't think that was my Miles. Or if it was – then this guy Sean got to him in some way. And if that's the case . . .

• If that's the case what?

• I wouldn't trust Jordan.

THE PHALLIC TOWER – SETH

It had been quite a day. We were just getting used to Miles's appearance when he disappeared in the most preposterous manner. And Vic was questioning Miles's – and Jordan's – bona fides. And Augie was practically catatonic over Jordan's being male. All this on the eve of Augie's birthday, when we had to keep him from disappearing like the others.

It was December 10th – the day when Abe was to receive the data from Ann Arbor that he needed for his dissertation. If only we'd had the good sense to stay home.

Oh, Abe, where are you? Are you even here on this island? Are you and I even in the same universe? How can I get to you? And if I find you – will you still be the same Abe I know and love, or some Beta-version of yourself that will freak me out like Miles freaked out Vic?

I need answers.

And I was starting to develop a plan for finding some of them.

[COMING UP NEXT: CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR: MOVIN' ON UP?]