9. Music in Dreamland

Over some parts of Nevada an angel flying overhead doesn’t raise many eyebrows.  Even so most steer clear – not just in case of over-enthusiastic USAF pilots. For me the Nevada desert has a bleak beauty, day or night. I didn’t indulge myself and headed straight to the salt flat at Groom Lake. The Hellavator used to have a terminal there back in the phone booth days. Not any more.  Like I said, Angels had been avoiding the wired compounds for quite an Earthbound while. My destination was a bluff overlooking Groom Lake itself. He was waiting for me: wing stumps clearly visible. I didn’t know how he got over the wire, but he always did. I’d stopped asking why he didn’t escape long ago, since the answer made me uncomfortable. He didn’t hear me, the buds in his ear were reproducing some tinny version of 70’s Brit Rock. The guitar sounded good even at second hand.

My landing was none too graceful and he laughed;

‘Hey Gabe, don’t sweat it. Some people would take any kind of landing.’

‘Damn knees. Why’d he give us all these wings and shit then give us crappy old Earthbound knees?’

‘He did the knees on Saturday afternoon.’

‘You sure it wasn’t Sunday morning?’

"On the seventh day God rested from all his works."

‘Oh man… that’s all made up by the Earthbound. You of all people should know better.’

‘Why?’

‘Well, duh! What do they say about you?’

He jerked his head backward at the fence marked ‘Property of D.O.D. : armed patrols.’

‘Them?’

‘Naw, the Internet Idiots.’

He laughed,

‘J-Rod and his spaceship. The alien who fell to earth.’

‘See?’

‘What do you want, Gabe?’

‘See an old friend.’

His laugh descended into a smoker’s cough and I wondered how boring it was to be in his situation. I tried a question.

‘Heard anything? Government stuff?’

‘Like what?’

‘Like what Lilith is doing married to POTUS?’

‘She always did get around.’

‘Yeah, but she’s stayed out of the way since being Eva. I thought maybe the Big Guy had warned her off.’

‘Would he do that though? Besides, she was close that time.’

‘What’s that supposed to mean?’

‘Making the power play in the game.’

‘What game?

‘Didn’t Mr D tell you?’

I swallowed, how did he know about that?

‘The struggle? Good and Evil, all that bilge? Man, that’s just stuff the Earthbound made up.’

‘Did they? Does it matter? If Mr D and G-O-D take it seriously, it might as well be true.’

‘But they’ve been at it for eternity…’

‘’Zactly, my friend. ‘Zactly.’

‘So Lilith is working for Satan?’

J-Rod let out a hiss, the wing stumps jerked,

‘Don’t use that name.’

‘That old wives’ tale? It’s easier to get an audience with the other guy than Mr D. You really think just saying his name makes him turn up?’

‘Maybe not, but you’ve met him more than once, just how reclusive is a guy you keep bumping into, Gabe?’

‘You didn’t answer my question.’

‘Which one?’ His tongue came out of his mouth, obscenely thick and long. I hoped he would put it away soon.

‘Pick one.’

‘ Lilith is the brains. POTUS was a dumbass Republican from Okefenokee. She’s going to make Eva, Catherine and Elizabeth Bathory herself look cute.’

‘They were ‘herself’, Jay.’

‘Zactly, my friend, ‘Zactly.’ He slurred like a drunk.

‘Kinda funny she’s trying the US at last, though.’

‘Here or the Brits: had to be. Seein’ as Adolf would have made the Big Casino if they hadn’t …’

‘Hadn’t what?’

‘Where did the nukes end up, Gabe?’ And why?’

Maybe that’s why Mr D had lost interest. He’d got an inkling of how he might win and he didn’t like it much. I turned to go and started to ask the question for old times sake.

‘Why haven’t...’

‘I told you, it’s the women. These Military jokers cut off my wings, so I may as well enjoy the fringe benefits.’

Maybe that’s where the name J-Rod had come from. I’d known him as Beburos back when he’d had wings.

‘There are billions of Earthbound women out there.’

The tongue came out again and he almost bit it as he started to laugh,

‘I like the uniform, Gabby, I just love those women in uniform.’

I could still hear him laughing above the rumble of the aircraft engine runs as I passed over the boundary of Edwards Air Force Base.