Rock On (65 page)

T minus 7 minutes . . . and counting . . . 

Couldn’t read the words! Why wouldn’t the Captain let me read the words?

And that voice inside me:
“Gotta know . . . gotta know . . . gotta know why it hurts me so . . . ”
Why wouldn’t it shut up and let me read the words? Why wouldn’t the words hold still? Or just slow down a little? If they’d slow down a little, I could read them and then I’d know what I had to do . . . 

T minus 6 minutes . . . and counting . . .

I felt the sweaty key in the palm of my hand . . . I saw Duke stroking his own key. Had to know!

Now—through the pulsing blue-yellow-blue light and the unreadable words that were building up an awful pressure in the back of my brain—I could see the Four Horsemen. They were on their knees, crying, looking up at something and begging:
“Tell me tell me tell me tell me . . . ”

Then soft billows of rich red-and-orange fire filled the world and a huge voice was trying to speak. But it couldn’t form the words. It stuttered and moaned—
the yellow-blue-yellow flashing around the words I couldn’t read—the same words, I suddenly sensed, that the voice of the fire was trying so hard to form—
and the Four Horsemen on their knees begging:
“Tell me tell me tell me . . . ”

The friendly warm fire trying so hard to speak—

“Tell me tell me tell me tell me . . . ”

T minus 4 minutes . . . and counting . . . 

What were the words? What was the order? I could sense my men silently imploring me to tell them.

After all, I was their captain, it was my duty to tell them. It was my duty to find out!

“Tell me tell me tell me . . . ”
the robed figures on their knees implored through the flickering pulse in my brain and I could almost make out the words . . . almost . . .

“Tell me tell me tell me . . . ” I whispered to the warm orange fire that was trying so hard but couldn’t quite form the words. The men were whispering it too: “Tell me tell me . . . ”

T minus 3 minutes . . . and counting . . . 

The question burning blue and yellow in my brain: WHAT WAS THE FIRE TRYING TO TELL ME? WHAT WERE THE WORDS I COULDN’T READ?

Had to unlock the words! Had to find the key!

A key . . . 
The
key? THE KEY! And there was the lock that imprisoned the words, right in front of me! Put the key in the lock . . . I looked at Jeremy. Wasn’t there some reason, long ago and far away, why Jeremy might try to stop me from putting the key in the lock?

But Jeremy didn’t move as I fitted the key into the lock . . . 

T minus 2 minutes . . . and counting . . . 

Why wouldn’t the Captain tell me what the order was? The fire knew, but it couldn’t tell. My head ached from the pulsing, but I couldn’t read the words. “Tell me tell me tell me . . . ” I begged.

Then I realized that the Captain was asking too.

T minus 90 seconds . . . and counting . . . 

“Tell me tell me tell me . . . ”
the Horsemen begged. And the words I couldn’t read were a fire in my brain.

Duke’s key was in the lock in front of us. From very far away, he said: “We have to do it together.”

Of course . . . our keys . . . our keys would unlock the words! I put my key into the lock.

One, two, three, we turned our keys together. A lid on the console popped open. Under the lid were three red buttons. Three signs on the console lit up in red letters: ARMED.

T minus 60 seconds . . . and counting . . .
 

The men were waiting for me to give some order. I didn’t know what the order was. A magnificent orange fire was trying to tell me but it couldn’t get the words out . . . Robed figures were praying to the fire . . . 

Then, through the yellow-blue flicker that hid the words I had to read, I saw a vast crowd encircling a tower. The crowd was on its feet begging silently—

The tower in the center of the crowd became the orange fire that was trying to tell me what the words were—

Became a great mushroom of billowing smoke and blinding orange-red glare . . . 

T minus 30 seconds . . . and counting . . . 

The huge pillar of fire was trying to tell Jeremy and me what the words were, what we had to do. The crowd was screaming at the cloud of flame. The yellow-blue flicker was getting faster and faster behind the mushroom cloud. I could almost read the words! I could see that there were two of them!

T minus 20 seconds . . . and counting . . . 

Why didn’t the Captain tell us? I could almost see the words!

Then I heard the crowd around the beautiful mushroom cloud shouting: “DO IT! DO IT! DO IT! DO IT! DO IT!”

What did they want me to do? Did Duke know?

9

The men were waiting! What was the order? They hunched over the firing controls, waiting . . . The firing controls . . . ?

“DO IT! DO IT! DO IT! DO IT! DO IT!”

8

“DO IT! DO IT! DO IT!” the crowd screaming.

“Jeremy!” I shouted. “I can read the words!”

7

My hands hovered over my bank of firing buttons . . .

“DO IT! DO IT! DO IT! DO IT!” the words said.

Didn’t the captain understand?

6

“What do they want us to do, Jeremy?”

5

Why didn’t the mushroom cloud give the order? My men were waiting! A good sailor craves action.

Then a great voice spoke from the pillar of fire: “DO IT . . . DO IT . . . DO IT . . . ”

4

“There’s only one thing we can do down here, Duke.”

3

“The order, men! Action! Fire!”

2

Yes, yes, yes! Jeremy—

1

I reached for my bank of firing buttons. All along the console, the men reached for their buttons. But I was too fast for them! I would be first!

0

THE BIG FLASH

Norman Spinrad
is the author of over twenty novels, including
Little Heroes,
a definitive rock/sf novel, and the latest to be published in the U.S.,
He Walked Among Us.
He has a long history as a song writer and sometime performing and recording vocalist, having co-written about half the stuff on the Heldon album
Only Chaos Is Real,
recorded on the Heldon album
East/West
and the album
Home of the Page,
among others, performed live in Paris, New York, Bordeaux, the Transmusical Festival, etc. Other novels include
Bug Jack Barron,
The Iron Dream,
Child of Fortune,
Pictures At 11,
Greenhouse Summer,
The Druid King,
and
Passing Through the Flame,
the title song for which he was recorded, as vocalist, by Schizotrope. It can be found on YouTube, along with the title song of
Only Chaos Is Real.

About the Editor

Rock On
is Paula Guran’s sixteenth anthology; her seventeenth,
Season of Wonder,
will be published about a month after this one. She serves as senior editor for Prime Books. A volume of her Year’s Best Dark Fantasy and Horror series appears annually. She edited the Juno fantasy imprint for six years from its small press inception through its incarnation as an imprint of Simon & Schuster’s Pocket Books.

She often leaves her biography out of anthologies altogether, and never says anything personal if she includes one. But this time, she is.

The idea for this anthology came out her love of rock and roll, science fiction, and fantasy. Guran’s one of those editors who knows she doesn’t have the imagination to write fiction, so she wisely avoids trying to. That only enhances her admiration of those who
do
write fiction. The same is true of musicians. She’s hopelessly unmusical, never accomplished much with an instrument of any sort, and can’t carry a tune in either a bucket or vocally.

Although she passed her love of music on to all four of her children, Erik, her youngest, was particularly talented. The beginning of the introduction to this anthology is a near-verbatim conversation with him.

But he didn’t much like reading fiction. So, when his mother came up with the idea for this anthology, she thought she might finally produce something he might read.

Now it is done, but he won’t be reading it.

Erik died in his sleep on June 9, 2012 at age twenty-two.

The editor really wishes you could have heard him sing.

OTHER BOOKS EDITED BY

PAULA GURAN

Embraces

Best New Paranormal Romance

Best New Romantic Fantasy

Zombies: The Recent Dead

The Year’s Best Dark Fantasy & Horror: 2010

Vampires: The Recent Undead

The Year’s Best Dark Fantasy & Horror: 2011

Halloween

New Cthulhu: The Recent Weird

Brave New Love

Witches: Wicked, Wild & Wonderful

Obsession: Tales of Irresistible Desire

The Year’s Best Dark Fantasy & Horror: 2012

Extreme Zombies

Ghosts: Recent Hauntings

Acknowledgements

All stories are published with the permission of the authors.

“Hobnoblin Blues” by Elizabeth Bear © 2008 Elizabeth Bear. First publication:
Realms of Fantasy,
February 2008.

“Arise” by Poppy Z. Brite © 1998 Poppy Z. Brite. First Publication:
Are You Loathsome Tonight?
(Gauntlet Press).

“Stone” by Edward Bryant © 1978 Mercury Press Inc. First publication:
The
Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction,
February 1978
.

“Rock On” by Pat Cadigan © 1986 Pat Cadigan. First publication:
Light Years and Dark: Science Fiction and Fantasy Of and For Our Time,
ed. Michael Bishop (Berkley).

“Mercenary” by Lawrence C. Connolly © 2012 Lawrence C. Connolly. First publication, original to this volume.

“We Love Lydia Love” by Bradley Denton © 1994 Mercury Press Inc. First publication:
The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction,
October-November 1994.

“The Erl-King” by Elizabeth Hand © 1993 Elizabeth Hand. First publication:
Full Spectrum 4,
eds. Lou Aronica, Betsy Mitchell & Amy Stout (Bantam Spectra).

“Mourningstar” by Del James © 2012 Del James. First publication, original to this volume.

“Last Rising Sun” by Graham Joyce © 1992 Graham Joyce. First publication:
In Dreams,
eds. Paul J. McAuley & Kim Newman (Gollancz).

“Paedomorphosis” by Caitlín R. Kiernan © 2000 Caitlín R. Kiernan. First publication:
Tales of Pain and Wonder
(Gauntlet Press).

“Then Play On” by Greg Kihn. © 2002 Greg Kihn. First publication:
Horror Garage #5,
Spring 2002.

“Wunderkindergarten” by Marc Laidlaw © 1992 Marc Laidlaw. First publication:
In Dreams,
eds. Paul J. McAuley & Kim Newman (Gollancz).

“That Was Radio Clash” by Charles de Lint © 2005 Charles de Lint. First publication:
Taverns of the Dead,
ed. Kealan Patrick Burke (Cemetery Dance Publications).

“Voodoo Child” by Graham Masterton © 1992 Graham Masterton. First publication:
Shock Rock,
ed. Jeff Gelb (Pocket Books).

“At Budokan” by Alastair Reynolds © 2010 Alastair Reynolds. First publication:
Shine: An Anthology of Optimistic Science Fiction,
ed. Jetse de Vries (Solaris).

“Odeed” by David J. Schow © 1992 David J. Schow. First publication:
Shock Rock,
ed. Jeff Gelb (Pocket Books).

“ . . . How My Heart Breaks When I Sing This Song . . . ” by Lucius Shepard © 1985 Davis Publications, Inc. First publication:
Isaac Asimov’s Science Fiction Magazine,
December 1985.

“Jeff Beck” by Lewis Shiner © 1986 Davis Publications, Inc.
Isaac Asimov’s Science Fiction Magazine,
January 1986.

“Freezone” by John Shirley © 1986, 2012 John Shirley. First publication, original version:
Mirrorshades: The Cyberpunk Anthology,
ed. Bruce Sterling (Berkley). This version: original to this volume.

“The Big Flash” by Norman Spinrad © 1969 Norman Spinrad. First publication:
Orbit 5,
ed. Damon Knight (Putnam).

“We See Things Differently” by Bruce Sterling © 1989 Bruce Sterling. First publication:
Semiotext[e] SF,
eds. Rudy Rucker, Peter Lamborn Wilson & Robert Anton Wilson (Autonomedia).

“The Feast of Saint Janis” by Michael Swanwick © Michael Swanwick 1980. First publication:
New Dimensions 11,
eds. Robert Silverberg & Marta Randall (Pocket Books).

“Flying Saucer Rock and Roll” by Howard Waldrop © 1985 Howard Waldrop. First Publication:
Omni,
January 1985.

“Bob Dylan, Troy Johnson, and the Speed Queen” by F. Paul Wilson © 1992 F. Paul Wilson. First publication:
Shock Rock,
ed. Jeff Gelb (Pocket).

Footnotes

[
1
] Henry Morrisseau, “Diamonds & Diesel: A Candid Interview With Loki,”
Tracks,
August 1972.

[
2
] Frank Randall, album reviews,
Bontemps Magazine,
April 1972.

[
3
] Eric Greg,
Playing with Fire: The Unauthorized Biography of Loki,
London, Plasma Publishing Ltd., 1998.