PARANOOBIUS part 3

   Shaw had never taken LSD, but Charlie had. Embracing it with the same enthusiasm he did everything, he would go on and on about it, sometimes. Such a little boy, in many ways, always up for the next [i]experience[/i]. He would have loved this.      A thundering void is awash with glittering color, every star a point in the visible spectrum, rushing at the eye, bloom upon bloom of constellations advancing, clouds the size of solar systems diffusing like dye in water and vanishing at the threshold of apprehension, and more, and [i]more[/i], bursting, swelling, overlaid with weblike blue lattices that build and rebuild, connecting the stars in churning geometries of data that stretch into infinity, a maddening sight. It is gradually forming a discernible apex at the center, the clouds of color and boiling starscape slowly conforming to this new framework. A space/ time bulls eye.     A hoarse baritone hum overlays the spectacle with a throb  like God's own lathe, the moan of terrible dimension bending engines.       Shaw's face is wet, blue, in near total darkness, couched in white fibrous membranes swollen to contact her flesh. Her breath is heavy, lips parted,  expression rapt, heaving in seemingly in perpetual climax. The wet orbs of her wide eyes are obscured by the glittering rainbow reflections of the display projected upon them . Kaleidoscope eyes.     The thought of Charlie takes her by surprise. Memories of him, along with many others, are losing resolution, becoming pure swells of emotion, nothing more. It's as if the Juggernaut is offering up one last morsel for her to chew.      With that thought, a pang swells through her, and her vision blurs. She remembers herself and tries to get it under control, knowing well by now what tears will cost her. Easy enough, like anyone in the embrace of a fantastic new lover, prior commitments are quickly forgotten. But impossible not to cry, her optic nerves but two among the millions being overloaded.      And too late all the same, as the Juggernaut senses her tears, managing them much the way a Gecko licks dew drops from its eyes. She gasps.     Shaw is the fuse through which massive information flows. She has no way of interpreting the images attacking her mind, but David does.     David is seated at the console, uplit with a green glow. Hands out, palms down, as if at a seance. The depths of his pupils strobe white at several thousand cycles per second, brilliant stuttering microdots. A small white optical sensor is taped upright to the console, shrouded in green data strands.    David's voice in her head:" Dr. shaw, I believe it's time we talked about Charlie."     The hum. Shaw's breath. And then, " What about him?"     A green ball floats before David, expanding in size. Lone points of data orbit the globe. Sattelites. It has a topography, continents. Over a billion square kilometers of ocean.        There is little other light in the Orrery. A silvery gloaming at the periphery offers up a silhouette of The Chair, it's details faintly defined with soft green highlights. It's phallus disappears into the shadows.      David:  "The circumstances of his death. "     (Quavering) " I'm not interested, David. I can hardly remember him." This is true,  her memories are being erased. Charlie exists as a rapidly diminishing node of passion, ignited by the Juggernaut's OS. But her mind, it feels so [i]full[/i].     " But your love, it informs you, doesn't it? We may not get this chance again."     " Why not? "     A holographic data point has detached from orbit. It seems to square off.     "A hunch."     A nameless planet hangs in space, Earthlike, but 4 times it's size. An object the size of an amphitheater performs a slow pirouette, and with the wail of a condemned throng breaks orbit. A huge, cancerous dreadnought, now locked on a distant magenta bloom taking shape 100,000 kilometers out.     " Something has spotted us, I'm afraid."     " David? You're afraid? "     " Of course not, Doctor."     The bone throbbing hum abruptly descends into nauseating sub harmonics, melting down to a basso rub more felt than heard, like tectonic plates made of silicone. Unknown energies ramping down.      "Decelerating, Doctor Shaw."     Shaw's labored breath.     The Juggernaut materializes in the depths of a brilliant magenta nimbus against a backdrop of stars, thundering at the Nameless Planet. As it contracts to a mere speck the sun glints off a dot intercepting its path.     A sound like a mountain exhaling stirs motes of dust in the Orrery as the Juggernaut's respiratory system awakens, and a cold moonlight glow radiates from above. The Chair blossoms open, a nude Elizabeth Shaw already struggling to free herself from the ballooned membranes, dripping, crying. Her wet feet strike the floor, where her spacesuit lies in a bundle. The staples in her belly show like chrome teeth. Shaking, steaming, she frantically suits up.        Davids eyes go dark. Watching Shaw, he rises. From the chair.      "Quickly, Doctor. Your helmet too."       " What  is it?"      " A vehicle. Not of Engineer design."      " Is there anything alive?"      " Depends on your definition of alive."      " The Makers..."       " I believe so.."      A cosmic THUNG like an iron gong built to summon the moon rings through the chamber. It is the Space Jockeys.       David smiles. "Someone at the door.."      The Juggernaut is seized, and the Space Jockeys board.