Desert Skies - Chapter 6 - The Gong Has Been Gung

Episode Date: September 20, 2022

Mac is feeling like Shirley is slowly taking his place at Desert Skies. Left to watch the store with C.A.S.H, he encounters something strange and mysterious. Something new is happening in the Astral Plane and Mac's about to face it head on or, you know, chuck rocks at it. Join Club 86 Visit our Merch Store Join the Discord Visit our Website Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

For the best listening experience, headphones are recommended. Now listen. Before I tell you this story, I need you to promise me something. Promise me you're going to keep an open mind. Because what I'm about to tell you is going to sound too wondrous to believe, even for the astral plane. But believe it, you must. Our story begins not long ago. Traveler Flow had slowed down, and I decided to use that time to collect some fallen

mesquite pods, which I used to make Shaq Juice, as you well know. Well, I heard a sound coming from the side of the station, so I decided to see what's up. Hey, what are you two doing out here? Oh, hey, Mac. I thought you were out collecting mesquite pods. I was, but then I heard you guys and came over. over to see what's going on. Why is the basement door open? Oh, that. Well, Shirley and I were just going to go down there for a second to work on something. Do you mind keeping an eye on the store? Cash can watch the store. I want to help you guys. That's okay, Mac. Shirley and I can handle it.

Oh, okay. I think I understand. Are you two in love? Excuse me? Now don't take offense, Shirley, but isn't Tandy a little young for you? Seriously, Mac? No, we just need to to work on something and it's a two-person job. Just help Cash, and we'll be back in a few. Okay, fine. But if you end up getting attacked by a basement monster, it's your own damn fault. Noted. Now, please, Mac, see if Cash needs anything inside. All right, all right, I'm going. Now, that was strange. Tendi never asked me to watch the store, but he'd been asking me more and more often lately. I didn't know what he and surely had been. up to. But now I knew they'd been working on something in the basement. I was obviously a little

hurt being left out like that, but even more so, I was curious. What could they be doing down there? This was certainly a mystery. Stupid Tandy making me watch the store. Baseband monster probably rip his little noodle arms right off and then what? Cash. Yes, mechanic. How may I assist you? Tandy and Shirley are working on something in the basement and Tandy asked me to watch the store while they're down there. I detect a note of disappointment in your inflection. Yeah, well, it doesn't feel so good being left out like that. You know what I'm talking about? I'm never aware of being alone, as I will generally enter into a low-power state when not needed.

That makes sense. I mean, I think. it does. Actually, I have no idea what in the hell you're talking about. Doesn't matter, though. I can tell you, being left out feels terrible. And it didn't happen before Shirley got here either. I feel like maybe I'm being replaced, Cash. I'm sure it's not the attendance intention to hurt your feelings mechanic, and also certain that no one intends to replace you. Maybe not. I don't know. You got any idea what they're up to down there. Um, uh, oh, look, I need to run a diagnostic check on myself. Talk later, mechanic. Are you serious? What am I supposed to do now? I'm so bored.

Without a traveler to assist or a friend to talk to, I decided to give the video game another try. Now, I hadn't played it in some time. It just wasn't that fun. But this time I decided to play as Tandy, despite his lanky weak frame, in general, lack of humor. It started out with mopping the store. I actually found that to be pretty enjoyable, like adding a glossy exterior to a painting, or applying a coat of Mack's shack juice to your face, which I found gives your complexion a healthy glow and brings out the color of your eyes. be careful though it burns for days i digress after mopping the game instructed me to reorganize the burrito freezer in exactly the order it told me to compared to mopping this was extremely boring and even worse the way it told me to organize and made absolutely zero sense instead of being in alphabetical order or by ingredients it was just totally random, sweet and sour chicken, grits and butter, then candied apples, and so on and so forth.

But I did it, and the weirdest thing happened. As soon as I finished, a pair of floating soft colored light showed up in the game, outside the window, just above the freezer. They were hovering and bobbing, almost peaceful in their ethereal glowiness. Then I got a real weird feeling. Like I should do in real life what I'd just done in the game. So I walked over to the real-life burrito freezer and I organized the burritos just as I'd already done digitally. And then it happened. The lights outside the window. Cash. Yes, Mechanic. If it's regarding the attendant and surely, I'm afraid I can't... Forget about it, Cash. I just wanted to let you know that I'm about to go outside, and there's a good chance I might die.

Uh, again. Oh my. Why is that, mechanic? I don't know. There's something out there, and it's hard to describe, but I got a feeling that whatever it is, it's most likely the most dangerous thing I've ever encountered. But mechanic. Farewell, Cash. Mechanic.

faintish sky creatures that have come to this place reveal yourself i am the mechanic slinger of the ranch replacer of the windshield wipers and i demand that you come down from the heavens and make yourself known oh whoa there fella hold your horses i'm not sure and know how to get down just yet oh isn't he just adorable craig he looks just like a little baby with a beard the hell's you say Oh, she didn't mean nothing by it. Betty, he only looks like a baby because we're up so high. It's a distance and perspective issue we're facing here. Oh, gotcha.

Still adorable, though, you know. At least from this perspective, a little baby with a big beard and hairy arms. Hey, what's he doing there now? Oh, looks like he's grabbing rocks, Greg. Call me a baby one more time, Damon, and I start chucking. Oh, looks like somebody's got a bit of a temper, Betty. Little guy probably just needs his dad. Here come the rocks.

I probably shouldn't have tossed the rocks. But believe it or not, my height is a little bit of a shore spot for me. Tandy's so tall, cash is small, but that makes sense. Surely is my height, but much older, and I'm not sure I could even take her in a fight. Back to the story now. As the creature started to descend from the sky, It became clear that they weren't malevolent veins, but just very normal, levitating, glowing human beings. Okay there, Guy, are we done with the rock throwing?

Betty didn't mean no offense what you called you a baby, did you Betty? Oh gosh, no, didn't mean nothing by it. It was just from up there you were small and had a fair complexion. Now that I see you up close, it's obvious you're a burly man, like a lumberjack or something. I'll be it a little bit shorter. Oh, sure, but what you lack in height you compensate for with raw masculine energy, ain't that right, Betty? Yeah, raw masculine energy does seep out of me a bit, I guess. I'm sorry for chucking rocks at you.

I was just pretty sure you were malevolent beings come to challenge me in battle. What's a malevolent being? Sounds downright gassy, don't it? Not being, being. You know, a spirit whose nature tends toward the devious. Oh, gotcha. A regular old cheesy. snipper, huh? Oh, sorry, we didn't even introduce ourselves. This here is Greg, and I'm Betty.

Um, well, I'm Mac. I do the mechanic work around here. So, what is this place, anyhow? Uh, New Mexico, Arizona, Texas? Nah, this is the desert sphere. That desert, what now? The desert sphere. First sphere on the astral plane. Oh, did you say astroplane? Uh-huh. Oh, my God, Betty, we really did it. Oh, Greg, I knew we could. Julio is going to be so proud. I'm sorry. Julio? Oh, Julio is our instructor.

Wow, Betty, he's just going to be tickled. Oh, for sure. I can't wait to tell him. No, I'm not trying to be pushy, but I don't understand the lick of what's going on right now. You mind expounding a bit? Why are you floating? Who's Julio? Are you dead?

Why aren't you driving a Skylark? Well, I'm not sure where to start. Betty, you want to take this one? Oh, for sure. So starting with Julio, Julio's our meditation instructor. And he's been so pleased with Greg and I, don't you know? Oh, Greg here is my brother. And Betty here's my little sister.

I'm sure he figured out that part after I said you were my brother, Greg. Oh, sure, oh sure. Well, anyway. So Julio says, we're doing such a great job that he said we were ready for the advanced class. That's actually where we are right now. Uh, no, you're not. You're right here. He's got us there, Betty.

He's got the bronze of a rock chucker and the brains of a professor. Oh, thanks. What Betty is saying is, we're in this class right now, and here, right now. See, Julio has been teaching us something called astral projection. Astral projection? Oh, that's when the physical body and the astral body get separated and can move around the bet. So you're not dead? Oh, golly, no. We're retired, which is pretty close. Oh, come on now. Oh, I'm just playing. No, not dead. Very much alive. Oh, I'd say we're even more alive now that we're not

working. Oh, preach, Greg. Preach it. So let me make sure I got this straight. The two of you are on the physical plane, but your, I don't know what you'd call it, your spirit, I guess, is here on the astral plane. That sounds about right, except Julio calls it our Astroplane. bodies. I was hoping mine would look a little younger. Yeah, I was hoping mine would be a little lighter, and I got my wish, I suppose. Oh, we've told you quite a bit, Mac. How about you tell us about this place?

Well, like I said, this here is the desert sphere, and it's a first sphere on the astral plane. The astral plane is a plane that comes after the physical plane. Oh, very interesting. Huh. This is the afterlife, huh? It's a little different. than what I expected. Well, this isn't really the afterlife.

It's more like the place between the first life and the next life. So, you're dead? Uh-huh. You don't look dead. No. Uh-huh. Oh, huh. Okay, then.

What else? Well, this gas station you see here is desert skies. When someone dies, they show up here. Everyone? Everyone what? Everyone who dies shows up here. Maybe. I'm not really sure.

Anyways, when they show up here, I service the vehicle, they'll be driving to the next life. My friend, the attendant, Tendi for short, he makes sure they're prepared for the journey with supplies and information. And then there, Shirley, she's an old lady who worked at the same gas station when it was on the physical plane, then she died, and now she started hanging out with Tendi a bunch, and it feels like I'm losing my best friend, and she's better of fixing stuff than me, and Cass says I shouldn't be worried about it. Sorry, who's cash?

Our cash register. Your cash register talks to you. You act like that's not normal. Oh, that's not normal. Oh, not at all. Well, some might argue that what you're doing ain't normal. What with your astral projecting and whatnot? He's got us there, Betty.

Oh, this is definitely not normal. But it sure is fun. And interesting. Oh, for sure, very much so. Hey, Mac, was it? I don't understand about half of what you said, but from the bid I gathered rightly, you and the others here help dead folks get to the next life. That about sums it up.

And how long you've been doing that? I don't know exactly. And why don't you, you know, go on to the next life? Well, I like it here. This is where my friends are. It's where I make my jerky and read embarrassing childhood memories and brew my shack juice. Doesn't that ever get boring, though? No.

I mean, sometimes, I guess. Betty and I can't stand being bored. That's why we join all these classes. You mean the meditation class? Oh, for sure, but that's just one class we're a part of. Oh, yeah, there's lots of them. Let's see. We got pottery class on Mondays. Glass blowing on Tuesdays. Wednesdays, we take a class at the community college, a pattern making for dog garments. Oh, that one's really fun. What part do you think of that little colcha made him? Oh, he chewed it to hell, but I think he liked it.

Thursdays, we do brain teasers down at Mindy's. That's a bar our cousin owns. Freaks so good at those brain teasers. Oh, not as good as you. That's true. Okay, where were we? On Friday, we... I get it.

You keep busy. Well, we ain't got a lot of clubs around here. The coyotes do stargazing from time to time, but that's about it. For the most part, it's just the same thing over and over and over. Really? Nothing new happens? Sometimes, but not usually. Meeting you is something new.

Shirley's showing up with something new. Oh, and we got an arcade game now. An arcade game? Oh, me and Betty are part of a group that goes to the arcade on Fridays. Well, not really a part of the group. There's a group of teenagers that meet down there, and we just kind of show up. And they ask us to leave, but I know they're just playing. Oh, I'm certain they're not playing.

Yeah, maybe not. They always hug the games and we never get to play. You don't suppose I could try your game, huh? It's not very entertaining, but you're welcome to give it a try. Float after me. Reading, playing, learning. Stellist lenses do more than just correct your child's vision. They slow down the progression of myopia.

So your child can continue to discover all the world has to offer through their own eyes. Light the path to a brighter future with stellist lenses for myopia control. Learn more at slur.com and ask your family eye care professional for SLR Stellist lenses at your child's next visit. So I took Greg and Betty inside. Well, sort of. They just floated through the walls. Apparently their astral bodies don't have a whole lot to them, which makes it hard to interact with the astral plane.

That explained why I couldn't hit him with the rocks, even though I'm normally an excellent shot. Those rocks were just going straight through him. Greg was pretty disappointed when he wasn't able to actually play the game, but I showed it to him anyways. First, I played as me. I serviced a few Skylarks and reunited the Scorpion with his tribe for the hundredth time. Then I played as Tandy. The mopping part was still fun, but then we got to the brink. burrito reorganization level, which is, as I'm sure you can imagine, boring as shit.

So basically, looking at the screen, I got this list over here on the left, and I just put the burritos in the order it tells me to. Oh, that doesn't sound very fun. It's not, and I think everything is fun. Ain't that right, Cash? Yes, mechanic, you delight in almost every facet of your existence. Oh, so you're the talking cash register. That is amazing. How do you do that? Is there someone hiding around here with a microphone?

Why are you guys so obsessed with a talking cash register? Oh, gee, I don't know, because cash registers don't talk. You are silly. Next, you're going to tell me coyotes can't drive. I'm sorry, what? Okay, I finished reorganizing the burrito freezer. Now look at the screen here behind the freezer. they're in the window.

Oh my, wait, that's us. That's you and me, Greg. Well, that's spooky. Why are we in the game here? I want to ask you the same thing. You're in the game. Tendi never mentioned floating light people when he was playing, but it changed today when you showed up.

Can you think of any reason why that might be? It's clear as mud to me, Greg. Well, maybe it doesn't mean anything. Maybe this game just reflects what's going, on in the real world. If you can call this place that. We were convinced the game meant something, that it was important. Well, we're not giving up just yet. Let us think for a moment. Oh, we better hurry your session with Julio will be coming to an end soon. How long have we been here? I'm not sure. Yeah, time is iffy on the astral plane. Well, we better figure this out

soon then. Did you try changing the burritos around in real life to match what you did in the game? Yep. And what happened? You two showed up. Hmm, I don't know. This one's a real brain teaser. What'd you say, Greg? I said, this one's a real brain teaser.

That's it, Greg. We're thinking of this like it's a video game. But it's a brain teaser video game. We're great at brain teasers. Holy smokes, Betty. I think you're right. This isn't just an action game. It's a puzzle game.

So what's that mean? That means we need to re-approach this with logic. And I'm thinking that most of what you're doing here might be a distraction from the actual puzzle. And if I had to guess, I'd say the answer lies somewhere in the burrito freezer. Jinks, you owe me a pop, Betty. What in the hell is a pop? Let's take a look at that freezer, Greg. Okay, tell me what you think, Betty.

Well, my guess is it's a word puzzle. All these burritos have different names on them. Let's see, starting left to right on the top row, Lawrence and Debbie's Chicken and Waffle Stuffed Burrito. That's a weird one. Sounds pretty good, actually. I wonder if we have those back on the physical plane. You don't.

Oh, well, maybe I should try making one. I bet I could sell the hell out of those. And to the right of that, we have David's Devil's Foodcake, Another weird one. What's the story with these burritos there, Mr. Mechanic? They're the flavor in essence of a person's existence should that person try to return to the physical plane. I have about 100 questions, but we might be short on time,

so I'm just going to come back to that. All right, moving on. We got Donnie's pineapple pizza flavor, uh, Annie's squid flavor, Uriah's breakfast burrito-flavored burrito, Bobby's dog poop flavor? Dog poop? Yeah, that guy was a real piece of shit.

I'm not recognizing a pattern here, Betty. This is one heck of a mystery. I think I got it. Jinks, now you owe me a pop, Greg. What in the hell is a pop? Before I say what I think the puzzle is, you go. Are you sure? Maybe you should go first in case I'm wrong.

Are you kidding? You go first. No, you. I insist. Stop being so damn polite and just say it. Well, okay, I think it's a cheat code. A cheat code? Exactly what I was thinking, Betty.

A cheat code, like those teenagers are always talking about. Explain. Well, a cheat code is where you push a sequence of buttons in the game, and you unlock something. Look at the first word of every package here you've got, Lawrence, David, Donnie, Annie, Uriah, Bobby, Lonnie, and so forth. And that's a cheat code?

Well, yeah. See, the first letters of these names, they correspond with a button on the game. Lawrence, L, like left, Debbie, D, like down. Annie, A, like the A button. Nah, you're getting them. Get back over to that game. I'll shout the directions and you punch them in.

Got it. All right, you ready? Ready. Here we go. Left, down, down, A, up, B, left, left, right, start, right. And it went on like that for all 35 varieties. Right up, A, A, start. The screen went black.

Uh-oh, that's not good. Wait, it's doing something. It says, upon the screen, thy quest does end, but haven't any fear. For now the quest begins again, upon the second sphere. What in the world does that mean? Wait, what's this thing doing? No, no, no. We broke it.

Tendi's gonna kill me. Oh, geez, oh no, I'm so sorry. We didn't know it was gonna break. I finally thought I was doing something useful, and I broke the dang machine. Hey, what was that? That sounded like the coin return. Maybe it's a token we put in when we first found the game. That's no coin you got there.

That looks more like... It's a car key. It says something. Token 2. What do you think I'm supposed to do with this? The only car we got here already has a key. Wayway and his crew have it right now. What was that?

Sounds like that's our cue to go. The gong has been gong as they say. Nobody says that. Farewell, mechanic. This has been really fun. Oh, and sorry about calling you a baby. Yeah, well, sorry about throwing rocks at you. See you around.

Will you ever come back? Not sure how we managed it this time, but if we can do it again, you can count on another visit. After they left, I was going to go find Tendi and Shirley and tell them what happened. But then I got to thinking about it. The key came to me. This was my chance to prove my worth. I had to get this key to the second sphere.

If I told Tindy, he'd try to stop me. What would be in a worry warden all. Anyways, all that to say. I've never been to the second sphere, but I know you have. The first time Corson visited, you escorted him out of the desert sphere. So what do you say? Will you do this with me? Way, way, you crazy son of a bitch.

Punch it. Mac? Hey, Mac, where are you? We're ready to show you what we made. He is going to be so excited when he sees the basement. I certainly hope so. I'm happy I was able to help. Cash?

Attendant. Where's Mac Cash? We can't find him anywhere. The mechanic has asked me to relay a message to you, attendant. Message? What's the message? I am leaving the desert sphere with Huey. Have to save the astral plane. Try not to worry.

It's a long story. If the floating, glowing people who talk funny come back, they can explain everything. Floating, glowing people who talk funny? Oh, my God, Mac is gone. He's never left the desert sphere. What if he's in danger? This is all my fault. He thinks I was ignoring him.

Is that him? Maybe he's back. No, that car was coming from the physical plane. It's a traveler. Shirley, stay here and keep them busy. Why? Where are you going? I'm going to find my friend.

Greetings, Travelers. I'm Jared Carter, the creator of Desert Skies. You've just listened to Chapter 6. And as always, I'm so glad you're here. I wanted to share some news with you that I thought was pretty cool. Since the show launched, Desert Skies has been downloaded over 6,000 times. It's one of the top 50 science fiction shows in over nine countries, and I couldn't be more thrilled that there are people all over the world who have become part of the Desert Skies community. I want to say a special thank you to you, the listener. It's you listening, sharing, rating, and reviewing that has helped Desert Skies.

to be heard by others. Thank you. I'm on Twitter and would love to connect with you there. Just follow Desert Sky's pod. And as always, if you like the show, please think about rating and reviewing wherever you listen. And while I have you, make sure to check out another podcast I love, the liminal lands. Wayman Alexander is a world-class storyteller, and I know you'll enjoy what he's created. We'll be back soon with Chapter 7. Until then, This is Jared Carter, wishing you safe travels. The Fable and Falling Network, where fiction producers flourish. Every story is a ghost story.

When we tell an anecdote or a funny thing that happened to us, when we talk about the way things used to be, when we desperately try to touch the things that have faded. Anytime we remember, we're talking about ghosts. And ghosts want something. Palimpsest, created by Jameson Ridenauer and Haley Hinninger. Embrace what haunts you.