Into the Khatru

Part 1: A sleepover road trip!

[This is a re-writing of 'The Infinite Shred Machine,' a fic I wrote so early in 2021 that I was still into power metal. I decided to replace DragonForce with the 'Union' lineup of Yes (Jon Anderson, Bill Bruford, Steve Howe, Tony Kaye, Trevor Rabin, Chris Squire, Rick Wakeman, Alan White) as well as to update all dated aspects of the story. I felt like instead of updating 'Infinite Shred Machine' I'd re-write it entirely. Sure it's only been two years but a) in my guise, a year feels like a decade and b) switching from metal to prog is already a jarring transition. If I'm gonna update 'Infinite Shred Machine' at all, this is the version I will update. After all, the times have changed.]

The eight Yesmen were ecstatic when they first heard news of there being a 'city of love'. They all beamed with curiosity, so they decided to go to this place called a khatru to check it out. It only took Jon and Chris two days to build a fully working, double decker bus for this special journey. Once they revealed it to the others, they were eager to get the journey going. So that they did. With everyone in their seats and the ship taxiing out of Jon's garage, Trevor couldn't help but notice the large ultra HD TV screen preceding the rear seats. 

He turned to Alan and said, "Hey, you got any movies we can watch? That will get us hype for our journey!" 

Alan answered, "I've got plenty. Do you mind if I choose the first movie?" 

"Sure. We're not down for anything in particular." 

"Great. Because I've been meaning to show you arguably the greatest cinematic marvel of 2023 so far..." Everyone lent an ear in anticipation. 

".....Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge," Alan announced. 

"Yes! Finally!" Tony screamed, "I've heard good things about that one, but I haven't watched it yet." 

And so began the long distance runaround. Despite being distracted by the movie (and sometimes, Chris and Steve's questionable co-piloting), they could still feel the rush as they burst onto the road, heading off to the Khatru. About half an hour later, Chris told the lot in the back, "Hey, you know you don't have to keep your seatbelt on the whole time, right? You can check out the area upstairs if you'd like." They all had mile-wide grins on their faces. It was then they realized that although DDLJ was a masterpiece, Raj and Simran's antics in Europe would not be enough to satisfy the energy-hungry Yesmen. 

Trevor was the first to dart to the top, followed by Jon, Alan, Bill, Tony, and finally Rick. "Holy--" Trevor exclaimed, "There's just about every video game imaginable! There's a Wii, Gamecube, DS, Switch, XBOX, and even some old Ataris! And then the classics, of course, like Rock Band and Duck Hunt." "What are those weird looking controllers over there, though?" Rick pointed at a multicolor controller, with five big colorful buttons, roughly in the shape of a paw. 

"Those are for Mega-X-Over Ultra Quiz Showdown Test 2023 Edition, a Schian plug-n-play game I got for a great bargain in my last trip to Terra Nova. I wonder where Chris found that one laying around so he could put it here," Trevor told him, "I think I might be the only one who knows the answers to the trivia, but we'll give it a go if you want." 

"Sure, let's do that weird one first before we dive into Mario Kart," Rick asserted. 30 minutes later, the quiz duel between Rick and Trevor was already in full swing. The cheery female voice on the monitor announced, "Round 3, Question 4. What was the best selling album of 2022 in Schiamalla? Was it... red, Always Only Jesus, by MercyMe; orange, Extreme Power Metal, by DragonForce; green, Highly Strung, by Steve Hackett; blue, Tarkus, by Emerson, Lake & Palmer; or purple, 90125 by Yes? Press the color button for your answer!" 

Trevor had memorized all the possible answer combinations. He knew all too well it was 90125, so he pressed the purple button. Rick had a trance and mistakenly pressed the orange button for EPM. 

"What in the world, Rick? It wouldn't have been the DragonForce album! We're talking about 2022 here, metal had already phased out to give way to prog!" Trevor scoffed from across the room. The voice on the monitor announced, "And the correct answer is, purple, 90125." The on-screen score counter flashed once again. Player 1 (Rick) now had 12000 points, while Player 2 (Trevor) had 35500. Trevor then pointed at Rick and laughed. 

The voice continued, "Round 3, Question 5. What would a simp have been called in 2021?" 

"An Aisyah," Trevor mouthed....while Rick was looking. "Don't gesture me, I'm trying to guess! Oh God no I hope I don't get called out for being a cheater, because this wizard doesn't cheat." Rick stammered as he reluctantly pressed the blue button. 

Jon walkie talkied: "....hey Chris, how much longer till we're there?" 

"10 more hours. Be patient," Chris walkie-talkied back. 

Ten hours would give the other Yesmen plenty of time to get to Trevor's level on all the games, not just Mega-X-Over Ultra Quiz. Soonafter, Steve announced over the intercom, "Hey, I don't think Chris and I can drive that much longer today. Anybody want to volunteer? If not, I'll have Jon drive the rest of the way." 

"Me," Bill called back, "It will give me a break from grinding at this quiz game! Trevor has been flexing on me like crazy!" 

So Steve put the ship on autopilot in order to trade spots with Bill. 

Tony decided to take Bill's place in the quiz showdown, just in time for the beginning of Round 4. The voice announced, "The theme this round is..." 

"Please, make it something doable," Tony plead, as Chris and Steve walked up the stairs into the game room, the latter gesturing as if to fall asleep. 

"....the 'Magnetized generation'!" Bill turned to Trevor and asked, "What's that?" 

"A time period," Trevor replied, "roughly late 2016 to mid-2017, just before the Eurovision frenzy in the region. Sophistipop and acapella were the norm, but somehow 'Roundabout' made it on the charts then too." 

"Remember, each answer choice has its own color button, so press your guess accordingly. With that said, let's start round 4!" the quiz game shouted, "Round 4, Question 1. Fill in the blank: (Blank) it like you stole it. Is it: red, Ride; orange, Punch; green, Drive; blue, Drink; or purple, Steal? Press the color button for your answer!" 

"Green," Trevor whispered. 

"Not so fast, I'm trying to guess!" sneered a confident Tony, who pressed blue. 

"And the answer is....Green, Drive!" 

"I told you!" Trevor whispered. 

"It's from that movie, Sing Street. There were all these massive screenings on New Year's Day in 2017." 

"I'm nervous for the rest of this round," Tony whimpered. 

"Don't give up yet. You watched how angsty Bill and Rick were. You'll overcome it too."

 Fortunately, five questions later, the next round had an easy theme: "This round will have questions about animals!" Tony assured himself, "I might actually do very well on this." Everybody had so much fun, they nearly forgot they had been on the road and were hours away from something mind-blowing....