God Engine Rhapsody (short story)

God Engine Rhapsody was a 2013 Iris Wildthyme short story written by Julio Angel Ortiz and released in the anthology Iris: Fifteen.
== Summary ==
Iris Wildthyme and her companion Franco find their history unraveling as they fend off a plot by a group of Sentient Coffee Makers intent on destroying the universe.
== Plot ==
Iris Wildthyme and Franco, who have been travelling together for several months, arrive at an ancient amusement park that Iris had been intending to visit for quite some time. The pair are tied up in one of the rides by a group of Sentient Coffee Makers whose leader Iris nicknames Mugs. Iris is awake while Franco is unconscience with his tail severed. Iris opposes the Coffee Makers' production of Astro, a highly addictive coffee drink with a time-active substance which slowly erodes the drinker's history and ultimately leads to them vanishing from time, as the continued consumption could lead to a temporal sinkhole with the entire galaxy collapsing into a giant God Engine.
Mugs informs Iris that the Maker has increased the shipment of Astro to thirty-four percent which Iris identifies as being the tipping-point which will cause the God Engine to emerge. Iris swings into action by head-butting Mugs allowing for her to escape when he spills some of his acidic grinds onto the cable which binds her. She rescues Franco and together they escape the amusement park and onto a waiting shuttle. In orbit Iris realises that the data she had previously been given was incorrect and the tipping-point was twenty-seven percent and she watches as a temporal shockwave begins to rip apart the galaxy.
Stuck inside the God Engine, Iris recalls the events of their dealing with the Coffee Makers to Franco who is confused and does not remember Iris due to his history unraveling. Iris tells Franco that her special relationship with time is keeping her sane but that he is acting as a batter for the God Engine and that time is shifting around him. When time shifts again, Franco holds a baby in his arms but Iris tells him that it isn't real. Iris assesses that she needs to kill Franco in order to escape the God Engine and put a stop to the Maker's schemes before he destroys the entire universe. Franco agrees and Iris shoots a bullet at him allowing for her to escape the God Engine.
Back in the shuttle, Iris reveals that she has kept Franco's severed tail and believes that it will be able to regrow his body.
== Characters ==
* Iris Wildthyme
* Franco
* Mugs
* Sentient Coffee Makers
* Franco's baby
== Worldbuilding ==
=== Species ===
* Franco was a reptillian humanoid with scaly skin. Not only could he regenerate a new tail after it had been severed, but Iris believed that his tail could regenerate a new body to replace him after his death.
* The Sentient Coffee Makers have acidic grinds.
=== Techknowledgy ===
* It takes the Celestial Omnibus two days to reach the amusement park.
=== Food and beverages ===
* Astro is a highly addictive coffee drink which contains a time-active substance that slowly erodes a person's history the longer they use it and ultimately results in them vanishing from time.
=== Fashion ===
* Iris opted for a gravity defying treatment on her hair at her last salon appointment.
* Iris wears lightning bolt earrings
=== Science ===
* Iris references the Muller-Jung theory regarding the God Engine.
=== Individuals ===
* When Iris attempts to remind Franco of their adventures together she recalls The Death Miners of Agapas, the Dreamsmiths of Heralda, and Supremo's Massive Mirror of Manipulation. 
== Notes ==
* The incarnation of Iris Wildthyme seen in this story is said to have an American accent and a "crimson streak in her platinum hair".
* The amusement park featured in this story is unnamed, however, the ride that Iris and Franco are imprisoned on is indicated to be It's a Small World which features at several amusement parks in the real world.
== Continuity ==
* Iris uses the Celestial Omnibus. (PROSE: , et al.)
Category:Iris: Fifteen short stories