Chapter 1: The Transdimensional Haboob

Charlie Sheen is an icon of decadence.

I lit the fuse and my life turns into everything it wasn't supposed to be.

He's going the distance.

He was the highest paid TV star of all time.

When it started to change, it was quick.

He kept saying, no, no, no, I'm in the hospital now, but next week I'll be ready for the show.

Now, Charlie's sober.

He's going to tell you the truth.

How do I present this with any class?

I think we're past that, Charlie.

We're past that, yeah.

Somebody call action.

Yeah.

Aka Charlie Sheen, only on Netflix, September 10th.

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Oh,

peace and green.

Um

hello

Hello

Hello?

Hi, I'm here for the job interview

The what

job interview

There was an ad said all applicants be here at six I was assuming six p.m.

Was it a.m.?

Because that would be weird.

An ad?

Yes.

Am I.

This is Midnight Burger, right?

Yes.

Okay.

You're kind of freaking me out right now.

Why don't you

have a seat at the booth?

I'll be right with you.

Sure.

What the fuck?

I'm Zebulon Mucklewain, here with my wife, Effie, doing our best to bring the holy to the holler.

Hi, y'all.

Effie, what was it you were saying to me this morning over coffee?

Well, darling, as it was with my mother and her mother, I can always sense when a change is coming.

That is right.

And as one might sense a storm coming up in their bad knee, one feels a a pressure growing.

All creation waits.

But do not be afraid.

Oh, no, no, no, no.

Look to the Psalms, y'all.

For God is my rock in whom I take refuge, my shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold.

Where does this season of change find you all?

Perhaps at a beauty salon, considering the expression of a new life through your follicles.

Perhaps at the clouded graveside of a loved one.

Perhaps it finds you lamenting the loss of your taqueria at a lonely diner outside of Phoenix.

What?

Hi!

Hi there!

Sorry to bother you.

I'm Ava.

That's my booth over there.

Oh, okay.

You're a regular here?

Sure.

Listen, I have an important question.

Okay.

Do you

have a cigarette?

Oh,

yeah, do you want to bum one?

Seriously?

Oh my god.

Oh my god, I'm going to start crying.

Hang on.

Are you uh having a hard time quitting?

I am having a hard time starting.

I don't know.

Yes, yes, please.

Can I bum a cigarette?

Yeah, yeah, here, take my lighter.

Thank you.

Oh my god.

Wherever this time of change may find you, here is the chuck wagon gang to remind you that heaven will always be your home.

Okay, hi.

This place is interesting.

What's the radio show?

It's wild.

That's the Muckle Wayne's Hour of Power, sending out the gospel to the greater Toadsuck region.

Where is Toadsuck?

Arkansas.

Why is it playing here?

Hmm?

Why is it on the radio in Arizona?

Right.

Right.

Because Arizona is where we are right now.

Right now?

Anyway, this is Midnight Burger.

I'm Casper.

That's Ava.

She's always here.

Nicotine, get in me.

And this is a

diner?

Are you sure?

Hey, We're in Arizona right now.

Yeah.

Is she like a homeless person, a little nutty?

She's actually a physicist with multiple doctorates.

Sure.

So,

you

saw an ad telling you to come here at six?

Well, it it said all applicants, but it looks like it's just me.

Can I ask, did you make the ad?

Because it seems to me that no one else works here, but you seem surprised that I showed up.

Do you own this place?

Um.

Okay,

look.

I don't have time for this.

You obviously had no idea I was coming, and you seem to have no idea what you're doing.

I'm broke and miserable, and for you to add your irresponsibly unprepared interview to that is the slap in the face.

I don't have time to go.

Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait.

I'm sorry.

You're right.

I didn't know you were coming.

Management never tells me these things.

How about you

tell me about yourself?

Okay.

My name's Gloria.

I've been in the food service my whole life.

I had a takeria for a while, but the pandemic shut it down.

I don't have the money to start it back up again, so now...

Now I don't know.

I don't know what I'm doing.

I saw the ad and for some reason a diner out in the middle of nowhere sounded like a good idea.

There any family in the picture or no.

Mom and dad passed away.

I was an only child, so it's just me.

That's great.

I mean, that's.

I'm sorry about that.

That's

my condolences.

Can you tell me about the ad?

Management doesn't really tell you anything, do they?

They don't.

It's weird that you say management.

Is it?

Well, it's one diner outside of Phoenix.

It's not a red robin.

That is weird.

I should stop doing that.

Anyway,

it was an ad in Craigslist.

Not a lot of restaurants are hiring right now, so it stood out.

Weird.

That's never happened before.

Well, how did you end up working here?

I don't know.

Just sort of walked in.

Looking for a place to be.

But that was a long time ago.

Have you ever done a job interview before?

No.

How's it going?

Poorly.

What usually happens now?

Now is when you pretend you're a people-focused organization by telling me about yourself.

Sure, sure, sure.

I'm Casper,

and I pretty much do everything around here since our cook unexpectedly left a while back.

We have one regular customer whom you've already met.

And the clientele here can be

challenging.

Well, listen, I know the ad was for a waitress, but if your cook left, I've got tons of time in the kitchen.

That's great.

Do you have any experience with dark matter?

You mean like mole sauce?

Gloria, listen, you seem like a very nice person, and I'm sure you'll do well in life,

but I think you should probably leave.

Oh,

I should.

It's for the best.

You've got to be kidding me.

I'm not.

You should really go.

What the hell is wrong with you?

Well, that's a whole other conversation.

Let me explain something to you.

This place is an embarrassment to all restaurants, and you have no customers.

I don't want this job, but I'm not leaving until you offer me this job so that I can turn it down.

You really need to leave before it's too late.

Uh, we've got a problem.

Shit.

Look,

on the horizon.

God damn it.

What is that?

Is that a sandstorm?

Nope.

It looks like a sandstorm.

It doesn't matter what it looks like.

What does that mean?

It's coming towards us.

Well, what do you think?

Am I gonna get stuck here?

Gloria.

Yes?

Just remember that I told you to leave.

In times of change, we often weep for the life we were promised.

A life we promised ourselves.

A life we imagined.

All those visions of our future can be swept away in the deluges and tempests of creation.

And though they may may be swept away, still

we cling to them.

We can gaze so deeply into the visions of a promised life that often the life we've been given slips past us and out of our grasp as well.

Do not gaze too deeply into lives unlived, my brothers and sisters.

Do not fall in love with apparitions.

And for those of you out there still missing that life you feel your own,

here's the Norfolk Jubilee Quartet to ease your aching ghosts.

Here it comes.

It'll be fine.

How often does this happen?

It'll pass.

Is my car gonna be okay?

It's probably not there anymore.

What?

This doesn't feel right.

I was just about to say that.

Of course it doesn't feel right!

Okay.

We're okay.

I'm going out there.

My car is gone.

No, it's probably right where you left it.

It's probably us that's gone.

What does she mean?

It's us that's gone?

Ava, don't go out there.

Relax.

It's weird out here.

It's not dusty, but I can't see past the parking lot.

The parking lot my car is supposed to be in?

What's going on right now?

I think I know what this is.

Hey, Casper, go to the back door.

What am I doing?

Just go.

Okay.

Do you see my car out there?

Your name's Gloria?

Yes.

Gloria, I'm gonna throw a rock away from this diner, and it is going to magically hit Casper, defying all laws of physics.

When that happens, tell me how concerned you are about your car.

Wait, you're gonna do what?

Ow!

Ha ha!

You hit me in the eye!

Pocket dimension!

What is this place?

How did that curve all the way around to the back?

It didn't.

We're just in a universe that's only about 6,500 feet across.

Casper!

Is that Leaf?

Who's Leif?

He's our cook.

Leaf?

Oh, thank God!

Hey guys.

Leaf?

What the fuck?

What's going on?

Listen, we don't have a lot of time.

Motherfucker, everybody stop, goddammit.

Who's this?

This is the new waitress.

I absolutely am not the new waitress.

Will someone explain to me what the fuck is happening?

Pardon me, Gloria.

Might my husband and I have a word?

The radio is talking to me.

Gloria, you

have entered into a period of wandering,

of searching for meaning and needing shelter.

And in that search, you have found yourself in a place eternal.

Oh my god.

Have I died?

Not at all, my dear.

Though that question does imply a finality that has no purchase within our various vernaculars.

The radio is talking to me, and I don't know what it's saying.

Okay, Gloria, we'll stick a pen in this for now.

I've got a problem.

Leaf, where have you been?

No time for that.

Hang on.

Are we in a pocket dimension right now?

Yes.

Nailed it.

God damn it, Leaf.

Why are we in a pocket dimension?

Because it owes me a favor.

I'm hiding.

Hiding from what?

Look, I'm sure it'll be funny.

Hiding from what, Leaf?

A transdimensional haboob.

Dude.

Holy shit.

Gloria, how you doing, darling?

Well, how do you think I'm doing, talking radio person?

They say you can't explain fire to a fish, but I imagine if they could, that fish would feel about like how you're feeling right now.

I want to be clear.

This is not my fault.

I was in a card game in Andromeda, which we all know is a shithole.

How could I have expected that the big loser at the table that night was the son of a- What's a transdimensional haboob?

It's hard to explain.

It's like a large dust storm, but instead of dust, it's antimatter.

And instead of being a few miles long, it's the size of a nebula.

And instead of being a weather occurrence, it's a sentient super being sure and leaf has led it right here where it's going to kill us all which i will apologize for many times over i'm sure look if there's any place i'm going to be able to shake this thing it's here how

i don't know i've been hiding in this pocket dimension but it's going to move on any minute and when it does this transdimensional super being is going to rush right at us what are we supposed to do when it rushes us Jump out of the way?

Sorry.

I've decided I'm having a psychotic break, so everything's funny now.

Wait.

Actually, she's right.

Oh, good.

That makes it funnier.

Uh, you want to jump out of the way?

Time slip.

If we slide backwards through a particular timeline, that could throw it off the scent.

Where were you before I showed up?

Normalcy.

Arizona.

That'll work.

Is my recipe book still in the kitchen?

Wait.

What?

He's going to cook something and make us go back in time?

Come on.

Jean-Claude Van Damme is time cook.

I like her.

I'll be in the kitchen.

Are you having a good time over there while we're all about to die, Gloria?

I don't know.

I mean, I opened up my fridge this morning and all I had was tapatillo and a carrot, so at least this is less depressing.

Okay.

Let's do this.

Gloria, how about you have a seat at the booth there, and we'll explain everything to you as long as we are still alive in a few minutes.

Booth?

Okay.

We're losing the pocket dimension.

There it is.

Jesus, that's huge.

What am I looking at?

Zebulon, hit Gloria with some narration.

What'd you?

And lo,

Gloria looked upon a sight narrow a member of her race had ever seen.

Suddenly, she sat in a booth, in a diner, floating in the tumultuous starways,

her limited knowledge of existence as her only guide.

The vastness of this new heavenly plane, broken only by a distant malevolence, a dark spirit who now eyed her countenance with hunger.

It was the size of any sky she'd seen tenfold, and it now moved upon them like a stalking beast.

Uh, Leth, it's coming.

Almost there!

It looks very angry.

And it's moving very fast.

Almost there!

If he kills us, I am going to kill him.

Oh my god!

Everybody has moved to something!

Now the earth was formless and empty.

Darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the spirit of God was hovering over the waters.

Everybody, okay?

Good back here.

I'm fine.

Gloria?

I don't take that as a yes.

Leaf, did it work?

I don't know.

Look outside!

Okay.

Well,

we're back in Arizona.

Hey!

That's my car!

That's me

getting into my car.

Backwards.

That's me driving away backwards.

We're going backwards in the timeline.

We may be here a while.

Leaf, it looks like it worked.

Okay!

I'm going to pick up speed.

Things are gonna go by pretty fast.

Gloria, try and keep it together, okay?

Just

keep your eyes outside.

Watch the highway in the distance.

You see how it disappears?

Now the road that you drove here on

becomes a dirt road.

Then

no road at all.

Keep your eye on the view outside.

I'll be right back.

I think that went very well.

I'm not going to thank you for solving a problem that you created.

Hey, okay, guys, huddle up.

We need to explain to Gloria what's going on.

She seems fine.

She's looking out a window and watching Arizona go backwards in time.

She's not fine.

We need to explain things to her.

And by we, I mean Ava.

Oh, I'm explaining it?

Fine.

Pussies.

Hey, Zebulon, could we get some, uh, you know, explaining what the hell is going on, music?

That's a wonderful idea, Casper.

Here's the Hayden Quartet with Will There Be Any Stars in My Crown?

What are those?

My notes.

On what?

This place?

Uh, before we start, I'm going to need another one of your cigarettes.

Oh, okay.

Oh, would that the second one was just as good as the first.

Am I right?

Please start talking.

So, when I was young, my mother always dreamed of me being a nightclub singer, but all I ever dreamed of was going to college.

So she disowned me and off I went to college.

And then I went back to college again and again and again.

I had a real knack for it.

I got this big stack of doctorates and like most people with a big stack of doctorates, I spent a lot of time in front of a great big chalkboard.

I had a great one.

It slid back and forth.

I missed that thing.

I would write big long equations, publish, write more big long equations, publish again, etc.

When you're a scientist and you spend your time zooming out on the universe, you discover that the universe is inherently a huge bummer because everything is dying.

Constantly matter and antimatter is breaking down, forming into something else and breaking down again.

Look out the window.

We are going backwards in time at an alarming rate.

Do you see anything staying put?

Even the rocks are changing shape over time.

Myself and my colleagues all accepted that.

We accepted that the universe was in a constant state of decay.

We had become coroners, really, studying celestial death.

But I had a problem because on my chalkboard and my chalkboard alone, All those equations I was writing were slowly pointing towards something.

There was a point

somewhere deep in existence that wasn't dying.

It was a constant.

And the universe doesn't do constants.

The universe does death.

So this one strange spot in endless space and time was an anomaly.

I tried to tell people about my theory, but everybody said I was crazy.

Which...

As a scientist, is when you know you're awesome.

So what's a girl to do?

Be called crazy her whole life?

No.

I decided that I would leave my lovely chalkboard behind and go out and find this

thing.

I would go to the singular point in all of existence that somehow wasn't dying.

Turns out,

it's a diner.

Thanks for the cigarette.

Whoa, hang on.

Why is it a diner?

Oh, I have no idea.

Ava, tell her the rest.

What?

Everything after that is theoretical.

Oh, by the way, that's my booth over there.

No one touches my booth.

Okay, that was 0% helpful, Ava.

Thank you.

No.

No.

That helped.

Suck it.

Tell me the rest.

Well, I mean,

Ava's right, it is all theoretical after that.

Suck it again.

Oh, the old saying is that

the only constant is change.

This place appears to be the exception to that rule.

And it's outside of Phoenix?

No.

There's no fixed spot.

Every night at 6 p.m.,

when I unlock those doors, we're somewhere else.

Sometimes a different time.

Sometimes a different timeline.

Sometimes a different universe, a different dimension.

And sometimes

an hour and a half outside of Phoenix.

So you just float through the universe and what?

Serve burgers of people?

It's a little more complicated than that.

In an ever-changing cosmos, this place is a constant.

And I think the cosmos kind of hates that.

So the cosmos quite often tries to kill us,

as you just saw with the transdimensional kaboop.

Oh,

good.

Today it was a giant malevolent super being chasing Leaf across the galaxy.

Tomorrow it'll be who knows what.

What was it last week?

Four-dimensional ice harpies.

Right, four-dimensional ice harpies.

It could be anything.

This place is like a virus, constantly under attack by antibodies.

Okay, but...

Let me try and approach this in a way I can understand.

It's a restaurant.

I used to run a restaurant, and the three things you have to ask yourself when you're opening a restaurant is,

why this place?

Why here?

Why now?

Well,

today it was because of you.

That's the theoretical part, the part that Ava doesn't want to talk about.

What I'm convinced of is that no matter where this place sets down from day to day, when I open the doors to start the day's business,

someone is gonna need us.

Because how could they not?

Like Ava said, it's all death out there.

All the time.

Everything's breaking down.

And sometimes people need a place.

Even if it's for an hour or just a few minutes, they need a place to feel like they're not dying.

Because it's all just

too terrifying.

Hey guys.

Brought you some coffees.

It's been a day.

So what's your deal, Leaf?

Me?

You know,

I'm just one of those guys.

I wander around a lot, odd jobs, stuff like that.

I usually end up back here, though.

You wander around the universe?

I mean,

universe is a little reductive.

You're kind of describing a sandbox, in a playground, in a densely populated city when you say things like

universe.

Are you human?

Oh, yeah.

Sure.

Ten fingers, ten toes, facial hair, the whole deal.

You just went into the kitchen and made us go backward in time.

You're just some normal dude?

Well,

what a lot of cooks won't tell you is that it's really about the ingredients.

They like to convince you they have some sort of magical powers, but it's really about getting out of the way of what you've got in your kitchen, am I right?

What did you have in your kitchen that made time travel happen?

Tachyons.

You guys need cream?

I'm good.

My dear, I'm getting the distinct feeling that it's our turn.

I'm feeling the same way, darling.

Okay.

So, what's up with you guys inside the radio?

Well, I'm Effie Mucklewain, and this is my husband, Sebulon.

And we're broadcasting to the greater Toad Sock area, bringing the holy to the holler.

Okay,

but really, though.

Effie, I'm getting the distinct sense that our new friend Gloria would like to understand the inner workings of our presence in her life.

It's understandable, dear.

But as Job asked, can you fathom the mysteries of God?

Can you probe the limits of the Almighty?

Leave.

Might I ask you to put a pause in our rush through this river of time we are currently in?

We would like to show something to our new friend.

Yeah,

sure.

We can't stop for long, though.

Hang on.

Okay,

we've stopped.

Moving forward in the timeline at normal speed.

Gloria, if you would please direct your attention outside our windows, if I have listened to the Lord's whispers correctly, we have traveled far into the American past, and we are currently placed on a vast and open plain in an America before history began, when it was a land of magic and enchantment, a land of peace.

There's a village.

I can see people.

Those are the Pima people.

They inhabited your home of Arizona for generations before the arrival of the Spanish.

The Pima believed in the power of names, and that to speak the name of your ancestors is to conjure them from the spirit world.

They can see us.

They're waving.

Feel free and wave back.

There's no fear in them.

No pain in unknowing.

They're witnessing a mystery, and all they need to do is wave.

During your time with us, do embrace that feeling.

For how much of our lives are spent building spires to reach the unknown?

How much time do we spend convincing ourselves that such constructs may one day be complete?

And perhaps all that time we've spent demanding answers from the mysteries should have been spent waving at them, admiring them from afar,

being thankful for their magnificent scope.

We can keep going, Natalie.

Thank you kindly.

Powering up.

Okay,

he's gonna take us pretty fast now.

There goes the village.

And then here comes the

oh wow.

Ice Age.

This is amazing.

Ava,

you're a scientist.

Are you in heaven right now?

This is amazing, right?

History's boring.

Why?

Because it already happened.

Oh, come on.

I've seen some pretty amazing nonsense sitting at this booth, you know?

Time slippage is pretty kindergarten for me at this point.

Can you humor me, please?

I'm having a moment.

Be amazed with me.

Give me another cigarette, and I'll promise to get interested in something.

You really like cigarettes.

This place is the most amazing place in existence, but nobody thought to put in a cigarette machine.

Okay, fine.

I'll make that deal.

Excellent.

Hey, Lee.

Yeah.

We're going to make a stop at the Devonian era.

We can't keep doing this.

Or I could remind you that you almost got us killed today.

Fine.

Coming up on it.

I'm going to stop around 415 million BC.

That'll do.

Get your purse.

We're going outside.

Isn't that bad?

Isn't there something where we could change the present by messing with the past?

No, the butterfly effect is sexist.

Oh,

it's sexist?

Only a man could think himself so important that even his slightest action could influence the time stream.

Okay,

we're here.

Let's go.

Welcome to the Devonian era.

It's dark.

It was cloudy a lot.

It's quiet.

The only animal life is in the ocean ocean at this point.

The trees are so weird.

That's why we're here.

Those aren't trees.

Those are 20-foot-tall mushrooms.

Whoa.

Trees could only grow about four feet at this point, but the prototaxites could just keep growing.

So, you like mushrooms?

The only thing even remotely as interesting as theoretical physics is the mushroom.

Okay.

I just want to put that tree in an omelette now.

I see you've moved past the freakout stage.

I'm having a cigarette in 415 million BC, and

I feel all right.

You should stay.

Stay?

Sure.

You're looking for a job, right?

Oh, why would I do that?

Because you're having a cigarette in 415 million BC?

Do you seriously want to go back to one carrot and a bottle of tapatio after this?

We've got to go.

Muckle Waynes, we're going to have to pick up the pace.

How about some traveling music?

Might I take this one, husband?

Well, of course, my dear.

If no one is too offended,

I might play a little secular music.

Goodness me, honey.

That's awfully risque.

Well, I wouldn't do it if you didn't love it so much, heart of mine.

Get a room.

I really kill for some Linda Wandstat sometimes.

Okay.

This

could get weird.

We're going to go full speed all the way back to the Big Bang, and that should toss us back to where we started.

Hang on.

How are you feeling?

One hell of a job interview.

Okay,

welcome back to Arizona, everybody.

There's my car.

See?

Right where you left it.

No sign of the transdimensional haboob.

Good work, everybody.

Leave.

Never do that again.

Sorry.

Gloria, listen.

I can never tell when we're going to get swept off somewhere else, so now's the time to make it for your car.

Right.

what's the use of waiting when you know you want to go

come a runny my honey

don't you hear that steam on the song

thanks for listening to midnight burger y'all be sure and tune in this time next month for more adventures in the vastness

And if time and tide roil you too harshly, or diurnal courses leave you with no safe havens, just remember we're out there, somewhere, looking for you.

We open at six.

Don't you keep me waiting, yeah, it's fain.

The Fable and Falling Network, where fiction producers flourish.

Coach, the energy out there felt different.

What changed for the team today?

It was the new game day scratches from the California Lottery.

Play is everything.

Those games sent the team's energy through the roof.

Are you saying it was the off-field play that made the difference on the field?

Hey, a little play makes your day, and today it made the game.

That's all for now.

Coach, one more question: play the new Los Angeles Chargers, San Francisco 49ers, and Los Angeles Rams Scratchers from the California Lottery.

A little play can make your day.

Please play responsibly, must be 18 years or older to purchase play or claim.