Oliver Benjamin
collapsed. Martian Headquarters.
It was all gone. Nothing left, he thought. Where were his friends?
Where were. Why. Wait. Wait, he thought, I must get up. I must do
this. Oh fuck it, he decided, I think I’ll just lie here for a few minutes.
Sprout, sent on an errand, stumbled on the sleeping man camped
out in front of the building, resting on a filthy sack. She rolled him
over and stared into his face.
“You’ve come back,” she said.
“You’ve stayed,” he croaked.
“What happened to your eye?”
“I was kicked out of my house,” he said, “Or punched rather.”
She helped him into the giant lobby of the sprawling complex
and the entire room turned around to look.
“I’m sorry, sir,” Jenny the receptionist said, “Do you have a
membership card?”
“No. But I’m friends with…” he started, but Sprout interrupted:
“Does the Pope need a membership card to get into the Vatican?”
“I coulduse a glass of water,” Roy wheezed. Colin ran up with a
bottle and as Roy guzzled it, threw his arms fiercely around his waist.
“Missed you,” Colin said. “You’ve been very very bad.” Colin had
been talking this way ever since seeing the ghost of his mother at his
ancestral home. His mind had reverted to that of a ten-year old boy.
“How was the great beyond this time?” asked Yak, a friendly
hand on his shoulder.
“Beyond great,” Roy said. They embraced. Bennie and Sprout
and Colin and even Izzy fell around them hugging as well. There was
so much to say and do and explain but for the moment they felt
content to form the beast with multiple backs.
And then, as the tragedies were related, the triumphs recounted,
the hopes outlined and the fears divulged, their will became stronger
and grander and religious. For their king had come back. They
weren’t a semi-autonomous collective any longer. Nor were they a
capitalized democracy or a dictatorship or an informal club or a cult.
They were an honest-to-goodness kingdom. Their rights now felt
divine, their crusade sanctified. They felt good. And Roy, their
sometimes reluctant leader, knew that he was in possession of the
Grail. He explained the elixir. With the help of Sprout and Bennie, he
retired to the kitchen to fix some. To fix everything.
The returned with a steaming pot, the aroma turning heads all
around. Roy raised his cup from the tray. Tiny drops of translucent
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