Christopher Corn's Arc

Chapter 10 of 12

Christopher walks back toward the platform where the amplifiers will stand. Tom Petty and Tommy Potato are already bent over the blueprint, marking connection points between the towers. Christopher watches them work and realizes something has shifted. He spent months searching for musicians who understood his vision without explanation. But Tom didn't arrive because Christopher found him. Tom arrived because Loud Garden pulled him here, the same way it pulled everyone else. Christopher didn't choose this. The graveyard chose for him. He stops at the edge of the platform and looks back at the stones behind the barn. More will come. More graves. More arrivals. He can't control who shows up or when. But he can control what they build together. Tommy Potato looks up from the blueprint and points to the first tower foundation. "We need to start wiring today," he says. "The relay won't work if the signal path isn't clean." Tom Petty nods and picks up one of the thick cables Fred left by the platform. Christopher grabs the other end. They stretch it between two tower markers and Tommy marks where the connection should lock in. The work is simple. Concrete. Christopher realizes he's been trying to find the right people when the right people were always going to find him. The graveyard keeps expanding. The band keeps growing. He doesn't need to understand why anymore. He just needs to keep building. Tom ties off the cable and stands. "Let's wire the rest," he says. Christopher picks up the next cable. The amplifiers will get built. The sound will reach Earth. And whoever arrives next will help them finish it.