Incubator

Thirty years ago, Margot and her then boyfriend Thomas visited Costa Carcosa, a new Cuban resort, on a promotional tour, all included and free of charge. Thirty years later, the couple still holds together, living meek and predictable lives. It has been a life full of disappointments and hard punches, but at last, they have each other.

One day, Margot found in the mail an invitation to visit the same resort they once visited, a promotion for the thirtieth anniversary of their first and only visit. Exhilarated by the news, the modest income couple set to have a free vacation on the beach that otherwise would not be able to afford. Unknown to them, their lives since their first visit to that resort have been part of an experiment, one that is about to end.

As they said, 'There is not such a thing as a free lunch.'

Note: The prequel to the event that happens in While We Were Sleeping.

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“Those who have guessed the world wholly will be able to know the truth.”

-- Graffiti found on a wall in the ruins of Chicago, c. 2077

This story came to me almost fully formed. My role was as usual to carve the true story out from its raw form, filling out some crevices, and polishing it a little, but the core story was there already, waiting for someone to write it. Once I had the last draft, I stepped back and read it with new eyes, expecting to confirm roughly my original view of it. Instead, I saw something different. The result enthralled me, and I hope the reader will have the same reaction.

What would happen if we find out an elite of seemingly omnipotent beings have been guiding our history as a species? What would happen if we dare to take control of our destiny? I hope that the reader will guess the answers to these questions, or at least, to think about them.

ኣብዚ እንታይ ከም ዘጋጠመ ክትዝክር የብልካን።

Margot and Thomas, Costa Carcosa, December 26, 1993. Lost photograph.

“She held his hand and gazed off through the foggy bus window. The sun was just beginning to nourish the frozen city with its warmth light.”
Photo by John Paper, 'Sunrise on the Ottawa River'.

Margot and Thomas got to work in 2023.
From Robert Crumb: “Me 'n my sweetie was walkin' down the street…”

The intervenors.
Art by Bruce Pennington.

Marvel's comic adaptation of the only movie that Thomas watched with his late father in 1980.

Pavilion at Westboro Beach on the Ottawa River at the west end of Lanark Ave. off Churchill Ave. The towers were supposed to be for change and check rooms. Future destination of the temple of the Morlocks.

The temple of the Morlocks according to the 1960 film “The Time Machine.” A future view of the Westboro Beach's pavilion according to the twelve years old Thomas.

Merivale Rd., Ottawa, September 1978.

Fantasies of Cuban soldiers in the smoking pit.
Costa Carcosa, December 1993.

Diego, Santiago, Mateo, and Miguel talking about the mysterious events surrounding the night watch at Costa Carcosa in the late December 1993.

The so-called Mr. Roarke, a renown djinn working as facilitator at Costa Carcosa under the name Mr. D. Cortéz.

Mark Gorman in Costa Carcosa, December 29, 2023.

“ Cortéz trotted away, performing a little dance and singing an old Erasure’s song,

Open your eyes, I see,

Your eyes are open…

(tah, tah)

Wear no disguise, for me

Come into the open. ”