Thursday, September 29, 2005


The ploy had worked. It had worked like a charm. They were his now, and they gazed in awe at his nakedness. They'd come to feed him, drawn by his corporal symmetry and those spell-casting eyes. They could hardly tear themselves from the eyes. Eyes that saw, eyes that yearned, eyes that commanded, one fixed on each of them. The saline fluid reacted with the electrical currents coursing through neural fibers, causing an eerie glow to emanate from the epicenter that he now was, a brain floating in a fish tank, the two visual organs still attached. The experience had left him more philosophical than he previously had been, in bodily form, when he reacted to those girls with the will to touch, the will to have, a will he suppressed for fear of alarming the watchful eye of their father, the professor he had lunched with daily in discussion of the latter's untested theories of cerebral perseverance. In the corner of his mind he'd been lucidly aware of the adolescents spying from the stairs, trying to catch a glimpse of him, the tall, mysterious stranger. He didn't give a damn about the professor's theories. When he donated his brain to the crazed scientist it was for the sole cause of getting close to the daughters - of stilling that physical want. Now that it was done the desire shifted to a desire of their company, of their proximity. The pleasant physical reactions he was a slave to before were all just brain processes now. The physical side had become completely foreign, a fading memory in what was now all memory and intellect. He tried a new trick he had mastered, flashing varied hues of glowing light. The girls moved in closer, to see.

Story #288

Note from Indeterminacy: Something happened to disrupt my flow through time this week. It might have been the last story I wrote, I don't know. All I know is my time seems somehow out of synch with that of the people around me. What day are you reading this?

A note about this story: This was written after listening to a broadcast of a brilliant project by the sound artist Felix Kubin. Maybe it's just me, but I think it's the most significant and remarkable radio broadcast made since "War of the Worlds." It was about broadcasting DNA through space. There was an interview with a mad lady scientist that had all the madness of genius driven by pure science, like Gene Wilder in "Young Frankenstein". I hope the program is made available to download at the station that broadcast it (Resonance FM). If it is I'll let you all know.

P.S. I couldn't find any online downloads of Felix Kubin's music, but this link is to a video collaboration with the Finnish band Aavikko. The song is called "Super Lake Beat", a cool catchy number.

11 comments:

Anonymous said...

This reminds me of a story by Roald Dahl....(Dont remember the name though.)Well written...

Indeterminacy said...

Thanks Rusty. I read some Roald Dahl ages ago, but I can't recall if there was a brain story. This idea of a scientist keeping a brain alive isn't new. The first was probably "Donovan's Brain" (1942)by Curt Siodmak. There's a radio version from 1944 by Orson Welles on the Suspense series. And a film version, too. And lots of other brain films. I think in this story the love/lust interest might be new.

Anonymous said...

I like the way the story combines creepiness with humor.
It is Friday here in Veryred, U. S. A. I think Mr. Banana's goons really did destroy your synchronicity. You shoulda shown him more respect.

Indeterminacy said...

It's Thursday here, which is odd, because Germany is actually six hours in the future, eastern standard timewise. I remember posting a comment that I didn't have time to write a Thursday story. And then I posted one and it was still Thursday.

I tried to post this comment immediately after yours popped in, and got this message:

Down for Maintenance
Blogger is temporarily unavailable due to planned maintenance.
This downtime will last 1 hour from 4:30pm - 5:30pm (PST).


And that's 12 hours from now! Plus the downtime was much longer than an hour. Plus I was getting comments from other people at the same time. What is going on? It seems like time is slowing down.

P.S. What do you mean by "humor"? This story is a tense emotional tragedy. Something decidedly strange is happening here if it seemed like humor.

Jamie Dawn said...

Science Fiction rocks!
They say a man thinks with his you-know-what, but this story shows that a man thinks with his brain after all.

Indeterminacy said...

Jamie: Yeah, let's rock! Then again, maybe it was a woman trapped in a man's body. In which case it would be "back to the drawing board."

P.S. Is it still Friday over there? Here it just turned Friday. Something is definitely wrong with the way time is passing. Anyhow, I will have to concentrate on the Friday story now.

Scottish Toodler said...

I read this on Friday, but it's already Saturday where you are. But what is time other than a way to measure the rate of decay of extremely dense energy. I love your blog, I came here from Ron Kane's review of Indeterminancy CD. Can one submit a photo or would that ruin "randomly found"?

Indeterminacy said...

Hi Scottish Toodler. That's so strange. It's only been Friday for a few hours now. I want to post the Friday story soon. Probably one of those time warp things. It'll straighten itself out eventually.

It's nice of you to stop by and say hello. If you'd like to submit a photo that's great. Only rule I've followed is it shouldn't be a professional photo, etc. I've used several contributions, and also a handfull of my own photos. Probably around 95% are true found photos, though.

Tom & Icy said...

Once I had a time problem, but found that my computer had a battery in it which was weak and dying.

Ariel the Thief said...

Indie, I know none of the gentlemen you mention, I just like the story as it is, the photo and the story, they rock together. however, I am totally amazed how fast one kind of desire turned into an other, but hey, everything is possible in science fiction... :)

CW said...

Great concept and execution. I am fascinated by found and "lost" objects and artifacts. I will continue to be part of your audience.