Poker

Another death, another opportunity for Zach.

Well, about ten years into the war we were fighting on a world called Thandia. It was the hardest fight we'd been in. The zombies just kept coming. We lost a lot of people before we started seein some victories. When we got to the main stronghold it looked pretty bad for us, we were outnumbered by two thousand or so. We fought three days without sleeping, without even a rest, before we reached the walls. By night we had breached the walls and we were faced with our worst fight yet. We were drowning in a sea of zombies and I went down.

Ol Syl asked me to stay with him again and I had to decline, "I'm sorry, Pard, there's just too much to do." He smiled sadly, "You can't go back right away, Zach, or you will never finish your war."

"What do you mean, Ol Syl? Why can't I go back now?" I needed to get back to the war and I didn't want to be danced around. Ol Syl looked genuinely sad when he answered, "It is not my doing, Zach and it is nothing I can control. Existence is balance, what is made must eventually be unmade. Your continued existence disturbs the balance, Zach, and especially now that I have remade your old body, the body that had already passed from existence. Like me, there are forces that work for existence and there are also forces for non-existence. Non-existence strives for your end, Zach, and I can not delay it much longer. There is only one thing that keeps you alive and that is the war. If Elkon and his allies subjugate the universe all will be out of balance. Death will outweigh life, all will be darkness and misery. Many forces of non-existence argue on the side of existence to delay your final death until the end of the war but there are still many that argue against it. Your time is very limited and if you go back to the war now it may end forever for you. Right now a great debate rages on what to do with you, it would be best to await the outcome."

I understood Ol Syl, it made sense to me but I could not agree with it, "Look, Pard, I can't just sit around here while the war goes on, there is too much at stake. Maybe I should take my chances on goin back." Ol Syl shook his head, "It is not necessary, Zach. When the time comes to go back no time will have passed in the living world." If that was the case I guess I could live with it. I shrugged, "What now?" The old giant smiled, "Would you like to go on a voyage with me?" That didn't sound too bad, beat sittin around, "Sounds fine, Pard. Where to?" His smile got bigger, "I have just the place."

There was a doorway in the room and I started following Ol Syl through it. I stopped suddenly, beyond the door was nothing, everything was totally gray, the only thing to be seen was Ol Syl standing there in the middle of nothing. He smiled kindly, "Do not worry." So I stepped through the door and there I was standing in front of the Brown Palace.

It was The Brown Palace from way back when I first stayed there. Everything was the same, the streets, the people. I turned to ask Ol Syl about it but I couldn't see him anywhere. "Over here, Zach." and I turned to see some rich old rancher. I was turning away when he said, "It is me, Zach, as I appear here." I understood, a giant would be a bit out of character. "This some sort of holo?" I asked him. He smiled, "It's the real thing, Zach. I can go any where, any time." "Neat trick." I told him, "Do we have time to go in?" He smiled again, the old feller smiled a lot, "I thought we could stay a while. Remember, we are in no hurry." That was fine by me and I told him so.

When we got to the front desk the clerk smiled widely, "Welcome back Mr. Syl. Your usual room?" "That would be fine, James," Ol Syl told him, "and another for my trail boss, Mr. Thomas." After I was shown to my room I went to Ol Syl's. "Anything you want to do?" I asked him. He shook his head, "I'm going to rest a time. Enjoy yourself." and he handed me a wad of money. I went straight to the poker tables.

It was late into the night, Ol Syl had come down from his room and was watching me play. I had just cleaned a feller out and a chair was empty when I came up to my table. I sat down in front of me and bought some chips. It all fell into place. This was the first night I ever came to The Brown Palace way back when. I was the trail boss with the rich rancher that beat the old Zach so badly that night... this night. That trail boss didn't look like me so I figgered that Ol Syl had changed my appearance, too.

I didn't know what to do so I poured old Zach a drink. I always heard if you ever went back to the past and saw yourself all kinds of nasty things would happen but nothing did, maybe because old Zach didn't know I was him. My first thought was to go easy on him, don't beat him the way I did last time but then I remembered what that game meant to me. I learned more about poker from that trail boss... me... then I did the rest of my life. What I learned from myself I used throughout my life when times demanded or I just wanted some extra money. So I beat the hell out of myself.

Excerpt from The Godz of Earth by S.E.Estes