[camera caption]: blade coming down – faster. Fire. –

"B… aaai… "

[camera caption]: desert sun – desert dust, bare feet. Chipped pink on the last left toe. Burning. -
[camera caption]: twilight –
camera caption: secretarial office, little man presiding -

- blue creature smiles, its one eye blinking -
" Outh oph Ghash?

[camera caption]: stamp falls on papers. Ogre exists -
[camera caption]: small painted shop and spirits everywhere - both liquor, and incense. The woman smiles, points –
[close up]: tablet – "daily specialty, wish for " –
[caption]: woman, thick black hair, wave of a hand -

"Autogasuu?"

[camera caption]: quiet fall of a building. Sleek. Immediate. -

"Dai… net… "

[camera caption]: thin hand hesitates, but takes the newspaper anyway –
[close up]: shards, some bloodied –
[zoom out]: martini glasses tumbled over -

"Gasssu-assssuuuu! Kheap, kheap, yessssss? Gut prissssse?"

[camera caption]: hand –
[camera caption]: cup - drop –
[camera movement (zoom in, out, up / down )]: light caught in something sparkling –
[camera settles]: brown liquid staining pointes on someone's poorly dusted floor –
[camera caption]: the cling of coins –
[camera caption]: old man, strings and clocks besides -

"Deeeeeezeeeeeeruuuuuu? "

[camera caption]: - sunset, crowds emerging, little groups by corners, feeding –
[close up]: blood puddles reflecting the church's high cross -
[camera caption]: a beautiful woman, in some sort of frenzy -
[close up]: the odd tattoo under the black lace of her emerging bra – the closely knit bite marks on her neck –
[close up]: - the flicker of fang -

"Auz ove gazzz?"

[camera caption]: claw reaching forward –
[camera blur, visual aid disengaged, screeching sounds]

"Travel papers?"

"Youh daaaaare – "

[camera audio support : static energy emission]

"Next. Travel papers for your group, please."

"Tough job there, eh?"

"Toughest."

[camera caption]: slowly falling feather.
[came movement (upwards)]: the fast dash of a winged stallion.

Carousel, City
January 4 2008, come midday.


That video, everywhere on the network. They'd seen it.

And now they were blowing up the Carousel.

The Lower Thoughts had wrapped their bodies around the design first. They were the newer, lesser kin – their thoughts were, to the Great Mind, tangential. And workers, in the Steward hierarchy, carried worth and meaning, but foremost, initiative. They knew what needed doing – they'd take the ticking thing down.

They'd armed with shovels, and blades, and guns. Many guns. Then the one Lower brought the explosives, and the Uppers laughed. Funny thing, Uppers. Kept laughing until the first pillar went down, then the next one, then the next - the whole side fence of a building or the other. The Uppers weren't laughing anymore. Thought extremities though they might be, Lower thoughts still registered. with the Mind, at some point.

The first explosion was all about the dust and alarm, and a few Lowers got stuck in between railways – then some thing slithered from under Carousel plaques, swatting, writhing, killing.

The second explosion nearly chipped some paint, and the metal extension eradicated half a sentry in a motion.

The Uppers commanded retreat, reconsidered.

The third time, they went with strategy, planting explosive packs that'd blow their fire in quick succession, but at a distance. For a moment, the metal beast seemed to consider its point of attack, giving hope… until others joined it from underneath, shielding the Carousel.

They'd have given up in full, but chance smiled on them: the day was long, the sun kind, their hands willing, and there were explosives to spare.

Again and again – they'd keep trying.