*radio scritching in an unknown room* '-own to Allerton Park or any of our fantastic tours! If you want to see that certain time or place, talk to us. We'll get you there _and back_ if anyone can! Remember, that's EDL Enterprises. We're in the book.' *Lawyer talk about that certain times and places are off limits, check your regional branch for participation, insurance must be provided just in case as well as names of next of kin, etc, etc, etc*'
"Welcome back everyone! You're listening to WNXS 113 the _faaar_ end of the dial, the sister station to every other station we come across! Where we keep the music spinning and the new locations of portals and realms up to date for _you_! It's Tuesday night, Classic Rock night. Call _me_, yep little ol' Amara, for your faves! If we don't have it, it hasn't been written...yet."
"I'm also searching for tonight's 'Deep Thought.' Got a question on your mind? Need a question for the answer buried deep within? Send it in by phone, fax, email, owl, smoke signals, whatever floats your hovercraft, to me. I'll pick the best one in the next hour and then we'll see if we can get this city jumping. So all you pint-sized philosphers and brainiacs, get your thinking caps on 'cause I've got a feeling about tonight's question... Now here's 'Don't Fear the Reaper' by Blue Oyster Cult!"
*scritch*
"Where does the sidewalk end? Or was Shel faking it? He always liked practical jokes, that man. I'm hoping this isn't another," a rich female voice says with an affectionate, yet annoyed, sigh.
"Hello..." says the voice on the other end of the line. The voice is what someone would sound like if one took a perfect tenor and passed the sound through the audio equivalent of a cheese grater and then followed that up by adding the sound of nails screeching on a chalkboard. "Do you like scary movies?"
*****
Amara stared at her switchboard. Dead silence. The lights were on but no one was at home calling in. And she _still_ didn't have a good question for the night!!! She could always pull out the old 'Do angels and demons _really_ exist?' can of worms but it would never be as fun as the last time... the guy with the Texan accent was fun to listen to and whoever it was with the obviously faked (but really sexy, faked) Orleans' voice had blown all of the naysayers out of the water. But what to ask?
*scritch* "Okay folks, I'm getting a bit steamed. There are a million stories in the naked city... so put some clothes on and call in with those questions! I'll be taking them while we listen to 'Stairway to Heaven.' *scritch*
A few seconds later, a line lights up. A hesitant voice greets her.
"Uh... hi. Amara? Yeah... My name's Fred. Love the show."
Amara presses a button. A happy blast of thunder and the cackle of 'It's alive! Alive!!!' greets Fred. "Thanks, Fred! Glad to hear from you! Sooo...what's on your mind?"
"Listen, I'm kinda new in town... Nexus, I mean... and, well, I'm kinda confused about what Nexus _is_. I mean, one guy told me that Nexus is the center of the multiverse... another told me it's outside of the space-time continuum... One street preacher says it's the Mind of God, and the one across the street from him claims that it _is_ God...
"Anyway, like I said, I'm confused. Can you help me out here?"
Amara gave a thoughtful frown. "Nexus can be as many things as there are grains of sand on a beach or stars in the universe..any universe! It all depends on who's doing the defining. But don't worry Fred! Just stay tuned in and we'll soon have answers just for you! Pick whichever you like.... Alright folks, you've got your assignment. What _is_ Nexus? This can be what it is to you specifically, what Nexus is in general, just about anything. So light up those phone lines, mail bomb my email addy, cover our roof in whatever flying messager you've got."
"We're going for one of the Eternal Questions, tonight folks! No, no 'What is _up_ with him/her?!?', but 'What _is_ Nexus?' I'm taking your info...now! Enjoy 'Crazy' by Seal..."
"Hi..." says the nasal voice on the other line. "I was once told that um, the Nexus that we all, like, live in is er... a mass kind of consensual reality... Like, whatever we think about is uh, probably true! Imagine if like anything that we eh, say or uh, do.... is just something that someone or a... a bunch of someones are WRITING ABOUT! I - er, I mean, im-imagine what that means! I mean WOW, think uh, uh about that ONE." The voice breathes rapidly for a few seconds and then adds, "Um, um, tha-tha-that's what my socks told me this morning..." the speech rapidly degenerates into incoherent speaking.
Amara blinks a few times then turns her microphone back on. "Interesting socks, you got there, fellah. Let me know where you got them, I'd like to get me a pair and do some listening myself."
"Hmm...so what we think becomes real? Well, I _think_ I've now got a handsome half-naked cabana boy bringing me my soda and a box of Godiva chocolates." *sounds of door opening and of a chair squeaking as it turns*
A husky voice says, "Your wish is my command, madam."
Amara's voice comes back on. "Adam, that's a box of miniM&M's. And if you're a handsome cabana boy, I'll eat this microphone. Adam, my tech assistant, everyone! Now get some clothes on!"
"As to people writing all our lives down, are they creating it or are they simply historians? And if they're creating it, a) I like my free will, thankyouverymuch, and b) 'Where's My Bigger Part??!?!?' in this grand scheme of things, o Authors of the Void?" She punches the next lit-up button on the board. "What's your idea, caller?"
Do not copy or quote the above material without the expressed consent of the owner of this page.