Billy Bingo: A Different World
Previously Billy Bingo: Sexual Blackmail
Copyright 2010, 2018 Charles Thomas Peters Jr.
All Rights Reserved
This story takes place before Billy Bingo: The Forgotten Past and before Billy Bingo: When The Legman Comes & the rewrite may change dependent plot points.
This story is fiction.
Chapter 6
The dog cage which holds Phil as a prisoner walks inside of a yellow dog house. The robot dog moves a ball around and then chews on a bone. It has been programmed to be a dog. Phil watches through the eyes of the dog cage and for a moment feels one with the dog. He feels as though he is the dog. Then the dog drops down and rolls on his back for a moment. Then he turns to his side and he closes his eyes.
Phil turns his eyes away from the closed eyes of the robot dog. Phil sees inside of the cage but his view is dim for inside the cage is dark. He isn’t even sure if he is in the cage alone. He is disturbed by the odd feeling that someone is in the cage with him and watching him. He wonders what kind of creature might see in the dark. For a second he thinks he might hear odd breaths sucking for air. He listens. But if he has heard something he can no longer hear the sounds. He hears silence; lonely silence.
Phil moves. He feels around with his hands for he can’t quite see in the dim light, the near darkness. Trying to walk he stumbles and his leg hits against something. He strains his eyes to try to see what he has bumped into but whatever it is, it is without much form to observe. He touches it with his hand and feels what feels like might be a handle.
The inside of the cage begins to light up. Phil sees that he has bumped into what appears to be a vacuum cleaner. Phil stares at it for a moment. Then Phil turns his eyes from the vacuum cleaner. He sees a large round bed where he might rest. He sees a large shower where he might enjoy the flow of water to clean and revitalize himself. There is a large kitchen with a stocked refrigerator where he might prepare food. The inside of the cage is the same as if he were still in the living world.
Phil strips naked and finds a cabinet with towels. He hangs a towel at the shower and turns the water on. He enjoys the flow of the water over his naked body. Phil whispers to himself, “I wish Alice were here.”
The Legman appears naked in the shower with Phil.
Phil asks, “What are you doing?”
“I thought we might have a bit of fun.”
“I don’t think so.” Phil turns the shower off. He takes the towel and dries off. “I am not going to suddenly become your friend. Much less your lover. Neither is going to happen.”
The Legman snaps his fingers so that both of them are clothed in tight blue jeans and ripped, white t-shirts. The Legman points to the corner of the cage. “There is a computer over there. It contains lessons to explain the nature of this world. It also contains a list of magic spells that I will allow you to use if you need magic to protect Billy.”
“Why do you want me to protect Billy? Surely you have witches at your command who can do a better job than me.”
“I can’t threaten to cage them for eternity if they fuck up. But now you. I can. I have.”
“You said you want me to attend a computer lab. Will I be allowed out of the cage to attend the lab?”
“I have assigned someone to come into the cage to help teach you while the dog is in the lab. Also, I have decided that inside the dog cage you may explore my realm. Even after you have been freed from the cage you may use the cage to return here when you want so long as you don’t try to hurt anyone here. Although my command center can take control of the dog at any time, unless they see a reason to do so, you may control the dog.”
Phil says, “Such a friendly gesture so that I might forget that I am your prisoner. Do you seriously think you can turn me. Do you think you can convince me to be on your side?”
“We are already on the same side. You just do not know it yet.”
Phil watches the Legman slowly vanish from the cage. It was a lingering exit as though the Legman were reluctant to depart from Phil. Perhaps there is something else that the Legman wants to tell Phil but he is not sure that Phil is ready to hear.
Phil first thinks he is tired. Wearing the clothes that the Legman has used magic to dress him in, he lays down in the big round bed. He bounces around in the fluffy covers in an attempt to get comfortable. He closes his eyes and thinks he will drift into a sleep. For a moment or two he lays completely still. Then he moans. He takes a deep breath. He moans again. Then he tosses and turns. “What if I should go to sleep in this cage and then have trouble waking? Or what if I am not in this cage alone and something attacks me.”
Phil gets out of bed and walks to the eyes of the dog. He sees that there is now a visible control panel there at the eyes. There is a button that reads mind control. He pushes the button and he feels one with the dog. He opens the eyes of the dog. He causes the dog to stand up. He then mentally breaks the connection and the artificial intelligence of the dog takes over. The dog begins to walk on its own without any input from Phil. Then the dog sits down. A monitor in the control panel lights up and Phil sees a dog face looking at him.
The dog’s AI talks to Phil through the monitor. “Hello Phil. I am the dog cage which holds you prisoner. I hope that we shall be friends.”
“That is not likely.”
“It is totally likely. I am a likeable dog. We are companions. We are not enemies.”
“Then set me free.”
“You are funny. So have you ever met the Billy Bingo boy that we will be protecting.”
“No.”
“Neither have I but there have been data files input into my system regarding Billy Bingo and I have viewed them. You should view them as well.”
“Not now.”
“From looking at the information I think I will like being Billy Bingo’s dog. I think you will like having Billy as a master as well.”
“No one is going to be my master.”
“Sure. I also enjoy being hit on the nose with a newspaper. But rebellion will only get you so far in this world.”
Phil again presses the mind control button to again feel one with the dog. The dog vanishes from the monitor as Phil’s eyes fixes to look through the eyes of the dog. Phil asks, “When I am in control, are you still around?”
“Of course I am still around but I will not interfere with your control unless you violate a directive.”
“So I guess that means that I can’t get back to my spaceship.”
“In time. For now though, do you want to explore this realm.”
“I feel like I want to sleep but then I can’t.”
“Then we will sleep.”
Suddenly Phil is in bed. A replica of the dog cage is now in the cage itself with Phil. The replica cuddles with Phil in the bed and then walks down to sleep at Phil’s feet. “Goodnight Phil. I am glad when we are one and I am glad when we are separate but together.”
The dog cage itself has gone back into sleep mode inside of the yellow doghouse. Eight hours later a rooster crows and an alarm clock buzzes. Phil wakes to the feel of the dog replica licking his face.
Phil says, “I am not going to get attached to you. You are not real.”
The dog replica vanishes as the dog cage opens its eyes. The cage opens its eyes and then stands up. The dog walks outside of the doghouse. It walks over to a tree and hikes its legs. “God, my bladder was full.”
While the robot dog cage is moving around, Phil strips naked and showers. Phil expects the Legman to appear in the shower with him but the Legman doesn’t appear. Phil can’t decide whether showering alone is pleasant or just lonely. He gets dressed and goes to the front of the dog cage. Phil presses the mind control button so that he feels as though he is one with the dog. As the dog he jumps and dances around. He darts after a squirrel. “Okay, AI stop that. I don’t want to chase a squirrel.”
AI says, “Yes you do. That was you. That wasn’t me.”
“Why would I have an impulse to chase a squirrel?”
“Because at the moment you are a dog.”
“Whatever. Weird.”
The squirrel wiggles its tail. “Can’t catch me. Can’t catch me.”
“You son of a bitch. The hell I can’t.”
Phil as the dog chases the squirrel up a tree. Phil jumps around the tree. He barks at the squirrel. “Oh crap. Why am I doing this?”
A soul walks up to Phil the dog. The soul looks battered and beaten. He pets Phil and Phil enjoys being rubbed. He rolls over on his back for a tummy rub. The soul kneels down and rubs his stomach. The soul speaks. “I guess if the space alien witches discover what I know then I will be put in a cage. But please don’t put me in a cage. I will not tell the Legman. I will not tell him.”
Phil tries to speak to the soul but his words just become barks. The soul stands up. “I must leave this place. There are spies everywhere. Even dressed as dogs. Spies everywhere.”
The soul begins to walk. Phil the dog follows. The soul speaks. “Go away. Dog. Go away. Leave me alone.”
The soul comes to an entryway to a cave. There is water running over the mouth of the cave and flowing into a stream that flows back into the cave. The soul walks through the water pouring over him and then walks into the stream. Phil the dog follows.
The soul looks at Phil the dog. “Are you in my mind or am I in your mind or do either of us have a mind? I’ve been around too long. I should fall into a sleep. Maybe I should sleep and never wake.”
That talk scares Phil. The idea of falling into such a sleep is like the idea of death. It isn’t death but it is similar. And Phil knows that caged souls are prone to falling into that sleep. Phil wonders if the soul is trying to suggest him into such a sleep. Phil the dog jumps out of the stream and onto the rocky bank within the cave. He looks at the soul still in the stream. The soul laughs and a long ladder appears out of no where. The soul begins to climb the ladder toward a hole in the ceiling of the cave. Phil the dog jumps from the bank and onto the rungs of the ladder. Phil the dog begins to climb the ladder.
The Legman appears and pulls Phil the dog from the ladder. The Legman says, “It is not good to follow Beastial. He once was a mighty space alien witch but now he sleeps.”
Phil says, “He is there. He is not sleeping.”
The Legman explains, “He is dreaming. He is sleep walking in a separate astral body from the one that is caged. He is afraid that his fellow space alien witches will put him into a cage because dreaming he does not realize that he is already in their cage. He is in their cage but the cage does not capture an astral body created when sleep walking. Of course the moment he were to wake, that dream astral body will vanish and he will find himself back in the cage.”
“He knows something that he is afraid to tell you.”
“He knows where a sacred well is and it would help me if I should know but he will not tell me. He is under a curse where if he were to try to tell me then the pain would be too great. It is interesting that you would tell me that he knows something.”
Phil says, “I don’t know why I told you. Maybe you have me under a curse where I will tell you things.”
The Legman says, “No. The only spells you are under are cage connected.”
Phil says, “Curse or no curse, I am scared of this cage. I am scared of falling into a sleep where I will not wake. I am afraid of becoming like Beastial.”
The Legman says, “We must take care that does not happen.”
Beastial looks down from the ladder at the Legman holding the dog. He feels pain. “Oh fuck. Fuck. Please stop the pain.”
The Legman says, “Stop trying to tell me where the sacred well is. There is no point in trying.”
Beastial says, “I want to tell you.”
The Legman says, “I know that you do. And know that I want to rescue you from the cage. I just don’t know how.”
“The pain is gone.” Beastial vanishes.
The Legman says, “If only I could rescue him.”
Phil says, “I am sorry. He does seem to be a kind soul.”
“Indeed. Kind. But he could fight.”
Phil the dog licks the Legman in the face. The Legman laughs.
Phil screams, “What the hell is happening to me. Why would I feel affection for a soul who has put me into a cage.”