Whip It

Hey Dad? Do you have a minute? Or like, an hour? I need to tell someone about what happened today.

Thanks. And before you say it; no, I'm not just saying what I am now to get Jeremy in trouble. No, I promise. This is important. Okay? Okay. I'll just start.

So a couple days ago I was listening to Jeremy's Freedom of Choice cassette. Look, I know I'm not supposed to touch his stuff, I get it. And he uh, he made sure I knew that. He made very sure. The issue is, I wore out the track from overplaying it. He told me that if I didn't replace it that I would get it. No, no I swear. This isn't me trying to get him in trouble, seriously. If anything I'm the one in trouble.

He did tell me. "Devo is for the arcade only." The rule is there to make sure it doesnt wear out so we can listen while at the cabinets. And it does really help when I'm playing Galaga. But I just wanted to listen once when I wasn't there.

I didn't have enough money, so I had to find another way to get him a new one. So Jordan from school has an older brother, I can't remember his name, but he has a setup that can record cassettes. I explained my predicament, and he said that I could have a new one if I did his chores for him. The lawn got mowed, his dog got walked, the whole nine yards. It was penance for breaking Jeremy's cassette I guess. Anyways, I was sitting in his room while he copied his cassette over to a blank, and his whole setup blew up. It was like he blew a fuse. I didn't know what to do, but Jordan brother said it wasn't my fault, and the cassette were fine, so he gave me the copy. What I didn't know was that the cassette wasn't exactly all right.

I tested it in my Walkman, it worked fine, it was okay. It didn't have a label, but I wrote "Property of Jeremy Mantell" just like he had on the last one, in case that was an issue. But when I brought it home to Jeremy he got… mad. It wasn't labeled or anything, and although it worked fine when I played it it kept skipping for him. I told him I would just work a few odd jobs to get the money to buy a new one, but he… he hit me anyways. No, that's not important.

The cassette worked fine afterwards so I figured it was just a temporary thing. But when I went down at the arcade something weird happened. I was playing Robotron and the visuals just kept messing up, and then the machine started speaking to me. No, I'm being for real right now. I became this guy in a suit, and all the enemies were like static. And then the machine told me that the men were massacring the static, which are apparently energy beings, and then it told me to put on my Walkman. As soon as I did, the tape player whirred around to particular words to tell me that one of the beings was stuck in the tape.

What are you doing? Why do we have to go into the other room? Bugged? What? Okay, okay, I'll continue.

He told me he didn't have a name, only a frequency, so I figured I would name him Devo, after the band on the tape. His species doesn't do names the same as us. But as we were talking, some men came into the arcade and were looking straight at me! I had to run and duck around a few cabinets to get out, and once I got on my bike, I had to go as fast as I could, because they were tailing me. I figured it was the same guys who were persecuting these beings. I got as far as Peach and Third, but I fell off my bike and the Walkman broke.

This where things get a bit… uh, strange. With no tape player to inhabit, Devo had no where to exist. So he had to find the nearest electromagnetic system to inhabit. Which happened to be… my nervous system. No no no, he's gone now. Let me get there. Devo was in my brain now, and he could manipulate and interpret my neurological brain patterns to speak. He's has a very monotone voice. No I don't know if it's a guy or not.

I only figured this out after the men picked me up though. He had to get adjusted is what he told me. The men stuck me with some kind of drug and I woke up on a table. That's when Devo started talking to me. He told me that now that we were near an electrical circuit he could have just escaped, but he felt like it was his fault that I was stuck and he wanted to help, which I figured meant I could trust him. The doctors there asked me a lot of questions but I wouldn't answer them. Stuff about how I came into contact with the "anomaly" and how to "extract" it. I asked for a lawyer initially, but the guard just laughed and said "The foundation is outside government jurisdiction kiddo". What foundation? But then the cabinets started falling over, the lights flying across the room. Devo's electromagnetic properties could make metal stuff move. He could also apparently discharge electricity. I kept hearing "Whip It" play in my head during this. Every movement, in time with the music.

Now whip it

A man flew across the room, pulled by the piece in his holster.

into shape,

A cupboard crumpled around him.

shape it up.

The doctors were barred behind a shelving unit.

Get straight.

I stood up shook myself out of the metal restraints that had unlocked.

Go forward,

I check cautiously at the door.

move ahead.

I followed the exit signs to to try escape.

Try to detect it.

I could sense the brain patterns of a unit of guys behind the next corner.

It's not too late,

I spun around the corner as fast as I could.

to whip it

I lashed out with my hand, and a tendril of plasma, a lightning bolt if you will, flew from my hand.

whip it good.

It ricocheted between the whole crew, though they all were still breathing.

After I'd finally managed to make it out of the facility, He told me that there was an escape pod for him landing soon and where to go. I watched it fall from the sky, and after saying goodbye to Devo, he left me to the pod and it fired back into space. I won't deny I cried. I'm pretty sure he was the best friend I've ever had. And that's when I came back home to you. I'm just not sure what to do now if the men come back.

What are you talking about? What's that? No. Dad, not you! You're one of them! I thought you were just a lab technician! Stop, get back! Get back!