NUDE DESCENDING
Randy Chandler
A voice comes out of the wall.
Secure in his cube, Tull sips his morning Amp from a long tube and listens to the words of the apoplectic wag: "Before we stopped recording history, ancient eggheads were fond of saying 'Those who forget history are doomed to repeat it.' Well, people, I don't know about you, but I think those old scribblers were onto something. If they were around to see this sorry spectacle, I'm sure they would feel vindicated. It reminds me of another timeworn saying: 'There's a sucker born every minute.' Nobody remembers who said it, but I'm here to tell you that I'm looking at a teeming multitude of suckers right now, dotting this hillside like ants on an anthill, waiting for their Goddess to come waltzing down from Heaven. Suckers with mouths watering, waiting to suck the teat of a nonexistent supernatural being. It's all smoke and mirrors, people. This Goddess of Love business is sick joke. Her followers are fanatics who make death threats against anyone who disagrees with their cracked-brain beliefs and they do it in the name of love. Well, they don't scare me. They tried to shut me up and shut me down, but I'm still here, exposing the phonies for what they are. I'm Rocko Rood, the year is 4002, and this is '4002 Hindsight'."
Tull taps a key and a portal opens. The cube shudders. A mist of freshened air falls from hidden jets. He looks out on the hazy vista. They do look like ants, he thinks.
Incoming call: Tull, you watching?
Tull: Mavis? You know me. I'm a sucker for religious showbiz.
Mavis: You hear that Rood asshole?
Tull: Like I had a choice? The pirate of the airways steals into our consciousness. He's as dangerous as those…insects out there.
Mavis: I don't know. He's obnoxious, but he has a sexy voice.
Tull: Sexy? There's a quaint little word I don't often hear.
Mavis: Oh my! Look at that!
Tull: Here she comes.
Mavis: It looks so real. How do they do it?
Tull: Holographic illusion. Nice tits, though. Got to hand it to 'em.
Mavis: She's so big!
Tull: And the crowd goes wild.
Mavis: I wouldn't mind seeing a naked god swaggering down from the sky, his thing swinging in the clouds.
Tull: You should start your own religion. Make it happen.
Mavis: Ha ha.
Tull: How do you think this Goddess business started? Some lesbo's Amazonian wet dream, that's how.
Mavis: Better watch what you say. You could lose your comm privileges.
Tull: Like that would be punishment?
Mavis: Wow. She's so beautiful. I'm jealous. Are we still on for tonight?
Tull: Absolutely. I'll cube over at 18:00 hours.
Mavis: Goody. I'll show you how a flesh-and-blood woman might treat a god. Tah tah.
Tull: Ditto.
Tull takes a last look at the naked giantess striding over the earth, then he closes the portal and psychs himself for another day of pointless scut work. But before he begins the key dance, he imagines himself as a god striding down from Heaven, his thing swinging in the clouds.
Background by Tosha