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Girl In The Needle
Girl In The Needle
Girl In The Needle
Ebook169 pages2 hours

Girl In The Needle

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Life on Earth is nearly destroyed by a mysterious goddess who blesses the survivors with advanced technology, enabling them to live the life they've always dreamed of. After twenty years of silence, she announces a series of Assemblies to answer their questions. Each Assembly will be led by the Empress, a girl who the goddess has kept isolated from humanity since childhood.
Meanwhile, a group of survivors refuses to forgive the actions of the goddess, choosing to build a life outside the comforts she provides. When their leader dares to set a plan in motion to kill the Empress, chaos ensues for all involved.

This surreal, dreamlike novel balances intrigue and violence with philosophical undertones.

LanguageEnglish
Release dateMay 10, 2017
ISBN9781370782994
Girl In The Needle
Author

Joshua Renneke

I started writing because I wanted to put something out there that was entertaining but intelligent, and didn't follow a generic template for what a story should be. I don't like stories that tell you what to think or feel, and I'm tired of filler in books I read.I had fun writing all of these stories, and I hope you enjoy reading them. I want to hear from you! Write me at joshuarenneke@yahoo.com or creep my Instagram @deleca

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    Girl In The Needle - Joshua Renneke

    Girl In The Needle

    By Joshua Renneke

    Distributed by Smashwords

    Copyright 2017 Joshua Renneke

    Act One

    Chapter One

    Ladies and gentlemen, your attention please. The Empress requests your silence as she enters. Please do not applaud or cheer.

    The Great Hall fell silent; as the lights began to dim, not a whisper escaped the crowd's lips. A fearful reverence permeated the room as the assembled men and women waited in total darkness.

    How would she appear? Would she simply walk on stage? Materialize from thin air?

    From speakers far above them, a male voice slowly intoned, Twenty years ago...

    Suddenly the enormous stage was filled by a hologram of a busy downtown street. The clothing styles and vehicles were laughably archaic, underscoring the changes the world had experienced in only a few decades.

    A few people laughed tentatively, afraid to not react. What if the Empress expected a reaction, an acknowledgement of the transformation which Keti had brought with her?

    They waited. Onstage, the holographic display continued. People walked along cracked sidewalks, voicing whatever simplistic thoughts they'd had back then. Cars and trucks crept slowly past.

    The audience's eyes followed the vehicles' trails of exhaust toward the ceiling. To think that this was once impressive to humanity! Again fearing that a response was necessary, a few of them muttered praise to Keti.

    The goddess Keti appears, the voice continued. Gradually the stage became engulfed in light, until the Hall shone brightly enough to force the audience to shield their eyes.

    It dissipated in a matter of seconds, leaving darkness behind.

    Keti. The goddess awakens. Among all people on Earth, she chooses a home, wiping out all other human life. An intermediary is chosen between Keti and her chosen people: the Empress.

    In the middle of the vast stage, a hologram of the Empress rose from the floor. She was seated on an elaborate throne which was inlaid with rows of marble. Her image loomed above her on the Grand Hall's rear wall.

    Her black hair was pulled to one side of her head, falling just below her shoulders.

    Rise, she commanded.

    The audience murmured nervously, unsure if this was part of the presentation or an actual order.

    The hologram of the Empress arched its face toward the heavens and opened its mouth, as if to call out. A pearl rolled from her tongue onto the floor with a sharp crack that echoed through the auditorium.

    To their astonishment, a very real pearl rolled off the stage.

    Rise, she repeated. Her seductive tone was a natural effect of the awe she'd inspired through most of her life.

    The audience, numbering in the thousands, shot to their feet in unison. They bowed their heads before her.

    You stand before me today, she began almost mournfully, as witnesses to the goddess Keti's unknowable power.

    As she wills, they chanted.

    You are the fortunate among humanity, for you are Keti's chosen people.

    Her grandeur endures for eternity.

    Her will...

    Above any mortal's understanding.

    ...shall be made known to all. Return to your seats. She gestured dismissively.

    The audience was eager to obey. Each of them had been personally summoned in the most extraordinary way: the Empress had materialized (via hologram) in their homes, telling them a date and time to arrive at the Grand Hall. No further details had been given.

    The Empress joined her hands, as if in prayer, and pressed the tips of her fingers against her lips.

    No further response is required of you, she said after a moment's silence. Keti is unmoved by you repeating scripted lines anyway.

    The front row pursed their lips nervously. Ignoring their discomfort, she separated her hands and extended an open palm to her rapt audience.

    The goddess came to me recently as I sat in my rooms. She asked me, ‘Why do the people of every era insist on rituals to worship their gods? Are these rituals not as repetitive and meaningless to them as they are to me?’ I told her I didn't know. It was the way we had learned to worship.

    She folded her hands in her lap and paused. The Empress was viewed with a mixture of awe and foreboding, as if she were a black cloud formed above the City. Keti had chosen her, and no one knew if she'd been blessed with powers unknown to them. Yet today she seemed relaxed, an icon who'd grown up to still be very much a human.

    "I'll get to the point. Keti and I spoke, and agreed that you worship her so impersonally because she never told us what she wanted. You've been invited here to ask me anything you wish. I will share as much as I know.

    The goddess, she began with what sounded to them like distaste, can simply be referred to as Keti. No 'goddess' or 'Her Divinity' needed... she realizes that you're aware of her divine nature. Keti instructed me to answer to the best of my abilities, but as I said, I can only tell you things I know.

    The lights in the Grand Hall rose slightly and a voice announced, Please grab the pads from under your seats and type your questions. Your questions will be sent at random to the Empress.

    The Empress lifted her hands, revealing a thin square like a page from a book. It illuminated her face with a soft glow.

    Raise the lights, she commanded. These people look intimidated. Scanning the room with her eyes, she added, As well they should, in an undeniably teasing tone which, nonetheless, was met with silence.

    Hundreds of hands slowly dropped the pads to their laps.

    Really, now, the Empress admonished with a barely-perceptible eye roll. She's not going to kill you for asking a question.

    Even in the added glow of the overhead lights, she looked, to them, unreal; her presence was less surreal than hyper real. Most of the audience gazed a little too long before remembering the pads in their hands.

    As she waited for citizens to send her questions, the Empress distracted herself by twirling a finger in front of her face; yellow, glassy tendrils trailed behind the finger and spread outward into intricate patterns.

    Ah. Our first question: ‘How did Keti choose you to be her representative?’ I asked her the same thing once. She told me that I could never fully understand. A piece of information I should add, to help explain: she sees us as clouds of energy, not as the vessels of flesh in clothing which we see each other as. She says she chose me because my energy was pleasing and unique to her.

    Veiled dismay showed on the faces of a noticeable portion of the crowd upon being described as vessels of clothed flesh.

    The Empress leaned back and extended her legs. As she did, her throne elongated itself into a sort of regal couch to reflect her posture.

    I suggest you get comfortable too, she said demurely, to hesitant laughter.

    The screen behind her had gone dark, making her the sole focus of the Hall.

    The Empress' face had once been anonymously described as a porcelain mask, the facade behind which any terror might lie. When Keti had informed her of this, she had revealed the faintest smile.

    There were those among the thousands assembled who superstitiously refused to meet her gaze, unimposing though she was on such a grand stage. This was their sole intermediary to the goddess Keti.

    Her black hair was cut to such a specific style that human hands had never been trusted with it. Her bangs angled sharply down across her forehead in a way that was calculated to the point of being mathematical. Its exactness gave rise to the view of her face as masklike, certainly inscrutable.

    The soft curve of her face contrasted strikingly with this iconic hair. Her eyes, ringed in lurid pink eyeshadow, brimmed with a disdain that dared one to trust their minute flashes of vulnerability.

    Was she a girl who had been bred for regal iciness, or a soulless puppet of the very goddess who had not flinched at murdering billions of people? None but Keti knew.

    To analyze the separate parts of her appearance failed to convey the shifting beauty of her, though; the crowd's reaction to her presence was as if a cobra had risen from the darkness to sway before them. They all recognized the danger implicit in having her attention.

    Ah, she sighed, I expected to deal with this: why did Keti choose to spare us, when she had the whole Earth to choose from? This I do know. She once ruled over a people many years ago on this land. Keti tells me they served her with sincerity and love. So, the answer is nostalgia.

    Oh. Someone... wants to know if I'm still human or if Keti has made me something else. What a polite way of asking, and I'm sure you would like to know.

    Her eyes scanned the audience slowly, assessing them or possibly seeking out the one who had asked the question. Not a whisper broke the silence.

    I don't know, she said. "I don't know what it is to be human in the way you are. I sit alone in the upper levels of the Needle and only interact with two other people. Neither of whom I enjoy the company of, because they are forbidden from speaking to me. I suspect that they're not even human.

    And Keti, of course.

    She spoke the words without sorrow or bitterness. The answer to the question was something she clearly had accepted long ago.

    "Next. You ask me where Keti was before she appeared twenty years ago, and why she came back. In all honesty, she hasn't said much about it. She ruled over a portion of the planet until becoming bored. As far as I can tell, she slept. Maybe she went on a vacation through the universe.

    "I suppose that it's hard to continue caring about a world you've watched for so long. Now that I think about it, she once commented on how painfully dull we were before discovering language. She implied that we were given language when she found herself tempted to wipe us out if we didn't become more... interesting.

    But... she didn't. And here we are. The Empress extended an upswept hand to the crowd.

    Her eyes narrowed. Lower the lights again so I can concentrate. I'm currently in the Needle. Let us say that I'm half here and half there.

    The lights dimmed until all she could see were glowing faces, lit by pads. She looked down and frowned.

    "Our next question: why does Keti let the outlanders live, and should we fear them? Well... I don't think Keti cares at all. She gave us the technology that enabled the lives we lead now, but some people are offended by the idea of depending on technology. Or Keti.

    "They're no threat to her, or to any of you. They built their own towns rather than live among us and stir up rebellion. Let's be thankful for that, and thank Keti for being more accepting than many of us would be.

    I believe Keti is merely intrigued by them knowing she exists, yet being too stubborn to bow before her. She watches us all, but that doesn't mean she's concerned with what we do.

    I'm here today, she added, for that very reason. We're nothing more to Keti than things to observe. She grew bored of being worshipped long before any of us were alive. It would seem that she wants us to recognize her power without fawning over her.

    Hundreds of faces turned suddenly downward to their pads. Before their questions could be sent, the Empress dismissed them with a wave of her hand.

    "Yes, even me. None of us has anything to offer Keti that she hasn't seen countless times. Maybe more than we realize.

    "What else do you wonder about? You asked... now this one is interesting. If Keti gave this level of technology to us, why haven't we found evidence of previous civilizations having it? Very good," she said, furrowing her brow.

    Have I ever thought to ask?... She paused a moment, bowed her

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