Today, or this evening, I should say, when Leita and Doc finished work they came to the cabin as usual, and joined me and Bubba by the fire.

‘We don’t think this is your quest.’ Leita said.

‘What do you mean?’ I asked.

‘You’re not doing anything. You’re mostly hanging out’.

‘I’m writing articles,’ I defended.

‘Oh yeah?’ Leita says, ‘What’s the last thing you wrote about’?

‘Well, it was a rather complex analysis of Generation Z,’ I began, even though I got the feeling she had already read the article, ‘and their coming into awareness through various practices’.

‘Oh and what practices would these be?’ says Leita.

‘Well, like I’ve said, it’s not so much how…’.

‘How do they do it, Ethan?

‘Ass eating’.

‘Ass eating!’ Leita says, throwing up her arms. ‘Ass eating is going to save the world. That’s an interesting angle. What scientific journal tackled that perspective? I hope you referenced your research’?

‘No. It’s an opinion piece.’

‘So tell me,’ Leita pressed. Where’d you get the idea for this article?’

‘Talking to the guys in the shed’.

‘Okay, so let me ask you this, what’s the next thing you’re going to write about?

‘Well, this one is all about medicine and technology, and how we’re not utilizing the promise in these fields’.

‘So what’s it about’?

‘It’s about if we put our focus towards medicine instead of war, we will very quickly defeat disease, and enhance our physical abilities and capabilities. Now this is an area I think a lot of people will support once they think about it. Why shouldn’t they live forever instead of dying in a war, or even because they can’t afford it? Why shouldn’t they take advantage of the technology that right now, has the potential to produce everlasting life?

‘That’s the main point of this next article. So, I’m giving my readers an example of just what technology can do these days. Now I picked something we can build right now. What I’m telling them is, we could build a hydraulic penis implant so men don’t have to work as hard having sex, and their partner will enjoy it much more than a regular old penis because it will come with an adjustable speed and thrust rate. Everyone wins here Leita, and the people will see the marvels that come out of the marriage between modern medicine and technology. We can even throw an extension on it’.

‘Once again, Ethan,’ Leita says to me, in what was starting to sound like a patronizing way.’ A very creative approach to the world’s problems. So what did you guys talk about in the shed today’

‘Hydraulic penis extensions.’

‘Don’t you see what’s happening here,’ Leita said. ‘All you’re doing is going to the shed, smoking pot all day, and writing about whatever crap you and your idiot friends ‘research’ on the internet. You haven’t told your followers anything about the New World and why they might want to work towards it. You haven’t told them about all the crap we have to do to get to the New World. Have you told these people what the consequences of their being in a simulation are. Do you even have any followers? ’.

‘I got that guy...’.

‘Doc and I were talking and he asked how come this was your quest and not mine, and after thinking about it, I have to admit, I don’t know,’ Leita continued. ‘All we did was come back to this place and time in quest mode. We didn’t specify anything. You’ve already been on a quest Ethan, I haven’t. Maybe this is my quest’.

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‘As Leita has explained it to me Ethan, a quest is need based,’ Doc said. ‘Your needs have pretty much been fulfilled with your first quest. You gained something in yourself you needed to grow and transcend. Leita has experienced that kind of personal growth. This could be her chance to go back and find herself by living life a little differently on her second time around’.

‘That makes sense,’ Bubba said.

‘ Yeah, it does,’ I agreed. ‘And now that I’m aware of it, this is something I want for you Leita, especially if it’s what you want. The truth is, I just don’t feel I’m in a quest. I’m starting to question if I’m on one. So what does this mean? When we touched down, we were kind of thinking along the lines that I’d continue with my redemption. Do you want to start the quest over or what’?

‘You know a quest always takes you where you’re supposed to be.’ Leita replied. ‘I feel I’m exactly where I should be. I’m helping Doc. I think we’re in the right place. Let’s just open ourselves to the experience and see what happens’.

‘Well, I’m good with this. I can still communicate with people. There’s nothing stopping me from doing that, and I’m getting to experience a very interesting time and place, so why not enjoy it? Who knows, maybe we’re both on a quest.’

‘Exactly. Let’s see what comes of it’.

I’m kind of relieved I might not be the focal point of this quest. The problem is, I’m having way too much fun here. There’s something to be said about sitting under the stars and talking into the night, knowing nothing has to get done tomorrow. That’s not to say, there’s nothing going on around the old commune these days. A while ago me and the boys started watching a few online MMA matches and decided to start exercising and sparring and generally become bad-asses. We talked Paul into building us a ring, got the local artisans to weave us up a punching bag, and started working out.

What happened was we didn’t really know how to train, so we just started going at it in the ring and trying to do some of the things we saw on the online fights. Sure enough someone would punch someone a little harder than they should, or bend an arm a little further than it could go, and an actual fight would break out. Eventually we had to shut it down. For one thing, Doc made us because he felt it was contrary to the values of the commune. Also, no-one wanted to workout everyday, and we decided getting punched in the face everyday wasn’t as much fun as we thought it would be.

Now, we decided we’re going to convert the sparring ring into a stage, and start a band. We just have to acquire and learn how to play some instruments first. I always thought I would make a great singer slash lead guitarist of a band, so I’m pretty stoked.

There’s also this thing going on with Tasha right now. A couple of weeks ago, I was walking over to the canteen, right? I’m just about to pass this big old cedar tree, and a small handheld axe goes flying past my nose, and lodged into the cedar. Like, an inch or two from my nose. I look over and there’s Tasha standing there looking at me. ‘What the fuck?’ I say and she says she’s sorry, she was practicing her axe throwing and didn’t see me. Axe throwing is something she does, but the thing is, I was in full view walking towards the tree. She had to have seen me.

I go back and tell the boys about this, and Jason tells us she pulled something like that on him too. He wouldn’t tell us what it was at first, but we finally got it out of him. What happened was, she convinced him he’d have more sex if his dick was bigger, and this really appealed to Jason on account of no-one’s willing to have sex with him and he does have a tiny dick. She tells him we have a penis extender, in the canteen mind you, and she knows a lot of guys who have used it, and now they’re getting laid left and right. She even took him to the canteen and showed it to him. It’s this metal contraption, bolted on the side of a table with a handle you can turn.

‘All you do is stick your do-dad in the top, and turn this handle once or twice and a couple of rubber clamps grab on and stretch it out. Then you just sit there for about half an hour, and when you’re done, it’s bigger.

Let’s just say, it all made sense to Jason, because he really is horny 24/7 and the truth is, no-one will fuck him. One night he sneaks into the canteen, climbs up on the table and sticks his dick in the opening at the top and starts turning the handle, but nothing happens. He gets off the table and starts banging around, moving tables so he can position himself better, and whatnot. All the racket catches Tara’s attention, and she comes back to investigate.

‘What on earth are you doing?’ she asks.

Well, he had to tell her, seeing he was walking around with his pants down. He didn’t want her to think he was beating off in the food or something.

‘That’s a meat grinder!’ she said incredulously.

The only thing that saved him was his tiny dick. It wasn’t long enough to reach the sharpened cogs. That’s why he didn’t want to tell us about it, on account he was embarrassed because he didn’t have a long enough dick to get it ground up by the meat grinder, but don’t you think that’s pretty suspicious about Tasha?

‘When did it happen?’ I asked.

‘About a month ago’.

Twice now she’s almost killed or maimed one of us. Trust me, we’re going to get to the bottom of this before it happens again.