Red Sky-Ceiling

By Kein Ouzunupi

At the end of the twenty-second century, things haven't gone exactly well. Or they have, depending on how much you like the old ways and traditions. Not that Jeffrey Rawkin can tell. All he cares about is doing something--anything--for his childhood friend's health. And oh, there is a way you see. Somewhere, beyond the orbit of Mars.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Kein Ouzunupi
• Release date: Feb 12, 2021
• ISBN: 9781005541149

Kein Ouzunupi

These worlds are spilling!! Run! Hurry up! Bring some paper! Yes, a keyboard will do just fine.

Book preview

Red Sky-Ceiling

Kein Ouzunupi

Copyright © 2021 by Kein Ouzunupi

Red Sky-Ceiling

All rights reserved.

No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording, or any information and storage and retrieval system now known or invented, without permission in writing from the publisher, except by a reviewer who wishes to quote brief passages in connection with a review written for inclusion in a magazine, newspaper, or broadcast.

Acknowledgements

Thanks to Ischa for dealing with all the issues in the previous draft, and for helping me shape the final story.

Special thanks to Nicholas Taylor from www.JustWriteRight.co.uk for his editorial and production services.

To Angie

PART ONE

mass_day

CHAPTER ONE

Two years ago

My room in my parent’s house is too small for pacing. The only thing I can do is stand still and stare at the wall. I breathe deeply, then try again.

Listen, I know it’s the will of God. He wants it this way. But think about it, if there is anything anybody can do to help you, He wants you to get that help, right?

Across the line, Ben takes a long time to answer. Jeff, that sounds like the kind of heresy wizards pull off. But, assume for a second that I go with this, how can I possibly get the data? I know I’m the patient and all, but I’m only sixteen, nobody will listen to what I want.

Older than me by a few months, Ben is my best friend. It feels like ages ago that we were in this very room, making fun of each other and laying plans for the future. But it was only last week.

There has to be a way, there has to be a way. It’s not like it’s impossible. Very difficult, yes, but not impossible. Ben, we need to try this. Say you want a second opinion and that you know a friend that can look at the data. Convince them, please. It’s too early to give up.

Fine. I’ll see what I can do, Ben says and hangs up.

∶

It has been a week since the phone call.

Somehow, Ben got the data. To store it all, I had to spend almost all my savings from my summer job. There is a full dump of his DNA, a subject we had quickly touched on in biology class. And then there are all these other words that I don’t understand: methylation map and cytokine snapshot.

My grandpa once told me that during the Bright Decades everyone could use the Internet to access anything. Those days are long gone, as is he, and I need to resort to high-tech tricks to browse websites on the concealed part of the Internet. I find a wealth of biology knowledge in the form of complicated texts and concepts. Very few I can understand, at least at first. It’s a world far removed from the basics they teach us at school, and from the florid preaching that we receive at church.

Mom knocks on my door. Come in.

Jeffrey, little one, what have we said about buying things we don’t need? She shows me a bill from a company whose service plus a hush-hush hack allows me unrestricted Internet access. You are not watching porn, are you?

I blush. No, Mom. It’s for doing homework. Trust me, the bill would be much higher if I were watching videos or something. I just need to find some data for all these projects at school. And I’m feeling down because Ben can’t come to the library. I’d rather skip going there for a little. I can pay the bill. I’ve still got some savings from the summer job.

Mom sighs and presses a finger to her lips. Down? Jeff, are you okay? We haven’t gone shopping in a while. You loved that. Your hair, your clothes, you don’t keep them like you used to. It’s because of Ben, right? A mother notices.

Of course, it’s because of Ben. I just don’t have it in me to care for some things, when a life is worth so much more.

Mom, I… will be fine. I forget to set my face right and she keeps staring at me.

Finally, she relents, Very well, if it is for homework, we will pay for this. It’s not that much anyway. Jeff, I get Ben and you have been close for a long time. But he seems to be taking it well. Will you try to get out and be happier? For him?

It’s my turn to sigh. Yes Mom, I’ll do my best. Thanks for letting me study from home.

∶

Two weeks since the phone call.

It’s not so bad, Ben says on the phone. I know what happened to old Mr. Rawkins still bothers you, he is talking now about my grandpa, but, it’s the way of the Lord. The doctors said I have at least one year, but most likely two or three. Then, I’ll join God. I’m not worried about me, but I’m worried about you, Jeffrey. All these things you are reading, sound like wizard stuff to me. They are up to no good.

I don’t want to see my friend withering away like my grandfather. Why can’t our doctors do anything? It feels so wicked.

Ben, what if this is what God wants? I say, stubbornly. If you live, how do you know that He who is all-powerful didn’t want that for you?

When we hang up, I return to my computer. My eyes are burning and my head wants to explode, but my soul be damned if I’m letting Ben go without a fight.

I learn that cancer is caused by glitches in the natural program that our cells follow. At first, I assume Ben’s doctors wanted to figure out the glitches, and that’s why they probed both his healthy and tumor tissue. But as I browse more forums, I read that the tests are, for the most part, a way to pump money from the insurance to the care providers. I find a poster who says that studying the test results in depth takes far more time and effort than the doctors can allocate to a single patient. But I have time, how difficult can it be? I would do anything to get Ben a second chance.

∶

Week twenty since I got the data.

Five months. It surprises me how much knowledge I gain by spending every single minute of free time on a subject. But compared with what Ben is going through, my reading and toiling with his data feels like a pleasant hobby. It’s getting me the same results too, that is to say, nothing too practical.

Hoping somebody would help, I posted my best findings about Ben’s condition on a forum’s thread, and somebody pops an answer.

Nori2149: It’s quite some impressive work, you have gone backward from terrible data to a working hypothesis of why the tissue is working as cancer. This is well beyond the work that a good oncologist would do.

When I check their profile, I realize Nori2149 is one of the most knowledgeable people who regularly posts. I reply.

JR62: Does it mean I can go from here to a cure?

Nori2149: "I don’t think so. This is decent guesswork, but you need way more. Numbers, complete simulation results, pathway models, etc. When you have those, you would need to run and tweak thousands of simulations to arrive at an effective therapy. If all of that sounds complicated, believe me, it’s way more convoluted than that. I’m no wizard, so I wouldn’t even know where to start."

It’s so fucking unfair.

Nori2149: Are you the one sick?

JR62: No. A friend of mine. He is 16.

That remains the last post in the thread for a couple of days. I am about to give it for a lost cause when I get another.

Nori2149: Why don’t you get a wizard to help your friend? I’m pretty sure this would be child’s play for them.

JR62: Wizards are against God. And besides, I have got no money to pay one.

There are only a handful of wizards in the entire solar system. The few who remain on Earth are bound into servitude by the most powerful people or nations. Almost all wizards are in safe harbors out of the planet, where they have struck deals with the devil to keep some semblance of freedom. Their services are out of reach for 99.999% of the planet’s population.

Nori2149: God wants your friend to die unless you can come up with a cure? That sounds like Him all right, straight out of the Old Testament. But don’t mind me, I’m not qualified to discuss faith. If you want a wizard to help your friend, you could take part in the Secret Trials, succeed, and apply for clause 7.6. If you are the one who created this report, you have a chance to pass.

Not qualified to discuss faith? Could this Nori2149 be a heretic? But he mentioned the Old Testament, there is nothing wrong with it, or? Beyond going to mass and the compulsory verse-reading there, I have never read the sacred scriptures. During the next few days, I stop studying biology and instead read all forty-six books of the Old Testament. War, genocides, bloodbaths, and plagues are endorsed by the divine. But the omniscient God omitted important practical advice, like telling his people to wash their hands. It doesn’t seem right. I start suspecting God’s deal is a bit sketchy.

I post again.

JR62: What are the Secret Trials? Is God real?

Nori2149: The Secret Trials? They are called like that for the same reason we call the wizards ‘wizards’ and the scientists ‘bill nyes’. It’s an advanced biology test. And also secret, lest you want to burn. Do a search, the trials are open to everybody. Same for the second question, see what the bill nyes of the world think and come to your own conclusions, don’t ask old me.

A search reveals that the Secret Trials are indeed a sort of biology test and Nori2149 is right, I can use most of what I learned from Ben’s data. But the shocking part is what happens if one passes the test. Do I really want to give up my soul?