novel 88 - 12. a time of upheaval

by nick nelson

part 12 of ?

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pope innocent xx, fomerly the stable boy gustav, had not always been pope innocent xx, and he had not always been the stable boy gustav. it was a time of upheaval, when no one knew who anybody else was, or what anybody else was, or who they were themselves, or what they were themselves. pope innocent xx/gustav had been born in a little shack beside a nameless river in the remote province of b———. he was given the name “little red” and the number 8954-30-732 by the county supervisor who found him floating in a cardboard egg carton by the water’s edge. society at that time was being transformed by two new inventions - the bicycle and the rocket ship. clyde murdock, at that time the administrator of the province of b————, was a proponent of the bicycle. with hundreds of other waifs who had been rescued from the swamp and the waters edge, 8954-30-732 aka little red was trained in bicycle warfare. in the climactic battle of p—————, clyde murdock’s bicycle army faced off against lucius xxiii’s and professor wilson’s rocket ships. clyde himself and little red were the only survivors of the bicycle army. after a desperate flight through the great swamp, they came to a river and built themselves a raft. behind them they could see the flickering flames of the celebration of lucius xxiii’s victorious army. as they strung the reeds together to make the raft, clyde resolved to design a new weapon and fight another day. little red resolved to get away from clyde and never set foot on a battlefield again. suddenly they saw a light on the other side of the river. next