DRAGONFLY

Copyright (c) 2018 by Randall R. Peterson ALL RIGHTS RESERVED This is a work of fiction. All persons, locations and actions are from the author's imagination or have been used in a fictitious manner.

By R. Peterson

            Fran Dressel squirmed in her seat. The Reverend Horace White had been speaking for an hour and forty-seven minutes with no sign of wrapping things up. The un-muzzled dogwood bench she sat on felt like it was biting her butt. It was like a stovetop inside the church. One of the choir members had got up and opened a window a few minutes ago, a slight breeze had drifted in and the entire congregation took a deep breath but stern faced Verna Dern had jumped up and quickly closed it. There wasn’t enough loose skin on the bent old woman to produce sweat. The sermon was about judgment, damnation and the Devil’s relentlessly thrusting pitchfork for those who courted sin and the furious old spinster must have decided that the intolerable and sweltering heat in the chapel helped drive the barbed points home. The reverend had smiled at Verna and nodded as she sat down; they were of the same mind.

            A tiny dragonfly, no more than an inch long, swooped past Fran’s nose and buzzed around the closed window. The poor thing must have flown in while the window was open and was now trapped. Sunshine from outside projected through the glass and reflected off the translucent wings, sending rainbow bridges of blue and red dancing across the glass. Fran relaxed her eyes and allowed her gaze to drift anywhere but toward the pulpit. The thick lenses on her glasses acted as a kind of magnifying glass and when the dragonfly swooped past her again she imagined that she saw the outline of a tiny rider on the back of the flying insect. As if it could read her thoughts it flew closer and hovered right before her nose. Long golden-green hair flowed from a miniature female face, a curved longbow was held in one tiny hand and a quiver of arrows was strapped to an arched back covered with what appeared to be woven thistledown. Then it was gone in an instant. Fran felt a faint tickling against the lower part of her ear but she dared not scratch it. She almost came up out of her seat when she heard a tiny voice yelling in her ear. “Please you must help us!”

Fran sat up and adjusted her glasses. The flying insect that she’d originally noticed was still at the window … so there must be more than one! And on the outside what looked like a swarm of black wasps was chasing a lone dragonfly attacking it mercilessly as it swooped and dodged. Fran watched as the injured creature struggled to survive. Samuel Dodge nudged his stepdaughter hard with his elbow. His cold black eyes promised there would be a whipping with a willow branch behind the woodshed later if she didn’t sit still. Her mother’s new husband tolerated no nonsense when it came to religion, work or anything else for that matter. While her own father had on occasion gone fishing on a Sunday instead of giving himself completely to the Lord, Samuel was violently adamant that no member of his new household would tread the stony pathways to hell.

The tiny voice was back at her ear. “Please! The Boog will kill Lendoria unless you free us to help her!” The speech was English but the accent was one she’d never heard before.

She turned and could see the helpless look on the tiny creature’s face. Just outside the glass one of the wasps had stung the injured dragonfly and it fell fluttering helplessly on the window sill. No one else in the room seemed to be aware of what was going on. This friend of Lendoria was right, she was their only hope.

Fran jumped up from the hard bench ran to the window and opened it. She felt the swish of fragile wings brushing her neck as three dragonflies swooped past flying against a cooling breeze and to freedom outside. Fran watched as the three lifted the green-haired creature from the back of the broken dragonfly fluttering on the window sill and then zoomed off toward the woods, pursued by a swarm of angry wasps.

There was the silence of a tomb inside the church. The Reverend White had stopped his sermon and was staring, his face as stony cold as the Ten Commandments. The entire congregation watched as Samuel Dodge stomped across the room, closed the window, secured the lock and then dragged his stepdaughter with a firm hand back to her seat. They didn’t see the tiny creatures riding on the backs of the insects … the green hair … the tiny bows and arrows. Samuel was pinching a bit of loose skin just under her ear with his pudgy fingers and it hurt so bad she wanted to scream. I was the only one. Why did these creatures choose me?

 Fran’s mother put her hand on her daughter’s shoulder after the girl sat down. She would come to Fran’s room and rub cold dairy cream on her cuts and bruises when they returned home from church and after Samuel had administered his punishment. She would whisper to the twelve year old that life was hard but it was the only way … Fran’s real father was dead and was never coming back … there were bills to be paid …

-------2-------

Fran lingered inside the church hoping Billy Martin would notice her and perhaps say something. The handsome boy with the golden hair and the spray of freckles that ran across his nose was at the back talking to his friends and didn’t even look her way. He liked her; she could tell even though he’d pulled her hair before and once even chased her with a garden snake. Fran hated to go outside and face her stepfather but it had to be done. Samuel and her mother were already seated in the buckboard when she went outside. She started to climb in the back but Samuel stopped her. “I think it would be best if you and your sin walked home together,” Samuel said. “It will give you time to think about the iniquities you have committed … and the penalties still to be remitted.”

Fran watched as the wagon being pulled by her father’s old mare, Callie, rumbled away from the church. The sky was a clear blue, but in the distance dark clouds could be seen moving closer. Fran thought that’s how life always was - sunshine seemed to be always followed by rain. One didn’t exist without the other. Voices from inside the church grew louder; Billy and his friends must be almost at the exit. Fran hurried from the churchyard.  She’d feel humiliated if Billy saw her standing here and realized she had been left at the church by her stepfather. Fran ran toward the woods. She knew a shortcut home … and wasn’t this the way the dragonflies had fled being pursued by that black cloud of wasps? They were in danger, but then so was she … perhaps she would see them again.

-------3-------

The woods were shaded, deep and dark. A green canopy of September leaves blanketed the tree-tops allowing widely spaced beams of filtered light to descend like marble columns supporting a natural and majestic cathedral. A grassy path littered with smooth river pebbles led past clumps of mulberry, lotus vine and hack-no-more. Her father’s house sat almost on the edge of Motha forest.

Only one dwelling was closer to the forbidden timberlands… the dilapidated and moss-covered house of long-dead Bonetta Sharpstone. Not even armed hunters dared venture into that particular abandoned farm to recover a wounded deer. Folks said the old woman even though dead was still in-league with the Devil and that her spirit roamed the fields and the banks of the Cottonmouth River after dark searching for the lost and those who soon would be. Fran shivered, she wouldn’t go near the spooky place either. She had been in these woods many times and could slip from the woods unseen and come out behind the woodshed and her mother’s house. A wasp nest hanging like a paper ball near the top of a rotted oak made Fran remember the dragonflies and the creatures who rode them. They had come this was she was sure … but why?

If Samuel was taking his afternoon nap before the next series of Reverend White’s sermons began at four perhaps she could slip in the back door unnoticed. If she was especially good during the next four-hour session perhaps he would forget where he left the willow switch. Fran could hope.

Fran had almost reached the back door when she heard Samuel’s voice, strangely sad as if what he was about to do did not give him an elated kind of satisfaction. “Get over here girl!” He stood by the woodpile staring at her and rubbing bacon drippings into a cinch-strap cut from an old saddle … there would be no willow-switch lashing on this day. There was a wild light in her stepfather’s eyes and a strange stiffness in the way he walked. “… and you take that dress off. I’ll not see your mother’s fine needlework ruined just because you were bad!”

Samuel wrapped one end of the oiled leather around his hand and cracked the free end in the air …. it sounded like a gunshot.

Suddenly Fran was terrified; she turned and ran back into the woods. She could hear Samuel’s booming voice as he followed. “You come back here now … By the Gods!  I swear to Jesus and Heaven above that I’ll whip every inch of skin off your sinful bones!”

There was no place left to go where he would not catch her. Fran left the path and ran through heavy brush toward the Sharpstone farm.

            She didn’t know the uncovered well was there until she felt her feet no longer making contact with the ground. The deep hole was hidden in a tall patch of Russian thistle. The purple flowers surrounded by spines seemed to be moving. It was at least two seconds before her surprised voice could make a sound. By then she had fallen almost twenty feet and the ground around her absorbed her scream. High above, Samuel thundered right past the hidden opening thinking only that his sinful stepdaughter had somehow disappeared. Fran lay unconscious far below on bits of rotted wood, chinking stone and various debris. And the sun slowly crossed the sky.

-------4-------

Fran thought it was night when she opened one eye, but after a few moments her eyes adjusted. It was still daylight … somewhere. The tiny creature she’d seen in the church riding on the back of a dragonfly stood on a rusted tobacco tin making her almost eye-level to Fran. “We’ve been trying to wake you up,” the tiny creature yelled. Her voice sounded like the tiny pitter of grains of sand striking glass. Fran tried to lift her head but there was pain.

            “My name is Siltlin,” she said then pointed to two other creatures hovering nearby on the backs of dragonflies. “This is Gebae and Danone. We can help you with your injuries,” Siltlin yelled again, “but you’re far too large for us to move.”

Fran gazed up at the tiny circle of light far above her. “I’ll never get out of here,” she moaned.

Fran felt the dragonflies brush past her cheek as they landed beside her. Gebae and Danone were prying opened her clenched fingers. Fran allowed her hand to relax and made their job easier. She stared as they removed several tiny berries from packs on the dragonflies and dropped them in her hand. The berries were red with a green dot in the center of each. “What are these?” Fran thought they looked like poison.

            “Sinkers,” Siltlin said. “Three or four should make you just as small as we are.”

From far above, Fran could hear Samuel calling her name. His voice was like thunder and his threats were like lightning bolts.

            “How long will I stay small?” she asked.

            “Eating three berries … no more than one moon cycle,” Gebae told her. “But there’s no guarantee that you’ll live to be large again.”

            “We are at war with the Boog,” Danone explained. “They have slain us by the thousands and have vowed to eradicate us completely.”

            “You helped us today with Lendoria,” Siltlin said. “Now is our chance to repay the favor.”

From far above Fran could hear Samuel’s voice coming closer … what if he discovered she was in the well?”

Fran quickly swallowed three of the berries … and then added another.

            Everything about her appeared to be growing larger. The tobacco tin Siltlin stood on was now as large as an outbuilding. Fran found herself lost in the lace of her own dress. “Hurry,” Siltlin said. “We have less than an hour until the sun drops!”

            “What happens then?” Danone was helping her mount the back of a dragonfly. Fran was naked.

            “The Boog come out in force thousands of thousands,” Gebae said. “They consume every living thing they can find … and they are most fond of our children.”

            “You creatures have children?” Fran gasped.

Siltlin, Donone and Gebae all laughed as the dragonflies bore them out of the well. “All living things must start somewhere!” Donone yelled between giggles.

Samuel was leaning over the well peering down and slapped with his leather strap at what he thought were gnats emerging from the deep pit. “Girl, you are in a world of trouble!” he yelled at no one in particular.

Fran was amazed at how quickly they rose. She could see the tops of the trees and then their farmhouse. The town of Cloverdale appeared in the distance. Every place she had ever known now looked tiny. “I hope so Samuel … I hope so,” she whispered.

To be continued ….

           

THE SPEED OF DARK part 2

Copyright (c) 2018 by Randall R. Peterson ALL RIGHTS RESERVED This is a work of fiction. All persons, locations and actions are from the author's imagination or have been used in a fictitious manner.

 

By R. Peterson

Workers from all over Gravitron City responded to alarms sounding in the workstations and experimental labs associated with “Wanda” the fourth dark matter element. Alvin Sullenger was rushed to the medical level although the technicians attending him thought it was hopeless … he was dead.

Lewis Somató III, who was in the sick bay after a recent fainting fit, sat up in bed as Alvin was wheeled past him and into the emergency room. “Prepare the O.R. for surgery,” one the lead doctor ordered a team of nurses. The doctor shook his head in dismay as he examined the multiple gunshot wounds … the prognosis looked hopeless. “We’ll have to try open chest cardiac massage on Alvin … it’s his only chance at a miracle!”

A nurse walked in and handed Lewis a large envelope. He was about to tell her not to bother him at a time like this when he noticed Alvin’s handwriting on the outside. Open At Once! It read.

Lewis read the page of instructions with fascination, and then sprung out of bed. “Don’t bother. They’re all dead,” Lewis told the doctor. “There’s a Gladiator arena on level four that’s big enough to hold all these fatalities. Let’s see what a quantum physics replay has in store for our dear departed Alvin and his associates.”

The doctor shrugged. He really didn’t think the heart massage would work and he’d heard rumors of miraculous things happening in the research areas connected to the second dark matter element … perhaps they would again. “It’s worth a chance,” he said.

-------2-------

Doctor Martin Liston moved easily through the halls filled with frantic and rushing people toward the elevators. Everything was going as planned … he hoped. Howard M. Bisen jumped into the elevator beside him just as the door closed. “I saw what you did back there,” Bisen said. “Killing Alvin and his research team!”

Martin made as if to reach for a hidden gun he didn’t have. “Easy!” Bisen told him stopping his hand. “I believe we’re on the same side.”

“How’s that?” Martin said.

“I was sent here to terminate our illustrious benefactor as well … looks like you beat me to it!”

          “The C.I.A. is redundant to a fault,” Martin sneered. “Why send one assassin when you can send a dozen?”

            “If you’re C.I.A. give me the project code-word,” Bisen said.

Martin laughed. “Why the hell should I? I don’t need you for anything.”

            “It would look better for me,” Bisen admitted. “If it appeared as if we were cooperating.”

            “And what exactly can you do for me?”

            “I have an escape plan in place,” Bisen said. “I think your plan must have been improvised and wasn’t meant to happen this soon.”

            “When the duck flies a hunter has to be ready to shoot,” Marin quipped.

            “Follow me,” Bisen told him. “I have a helicopter waiting outside.”

-------3-------

            Alvin Sullenger and all the laboratory workers that Doctor Martin Liston shot were rolled into a giant chamber resembling a convection oven and prepared to be bombarded with Gladys particles. “I want every person who wasn’t on the inter-dimensional level before the shooting to either leave or watch with us in this observation chamber,” Lewis Somató ordered. “Although these experiments have been carried out numerous times, there is no real way of knowing exactly what is going to happen.” He set the timer for minus four minutes and nineteen seconds and started the dark matter sequence.

Tension in the observation chamber climbed as the timer counted down the seconds. Then reality rippled; time reversed itself. Those in the observation chamber became as ghosts, only able to look on as an alternative reality played out before their astonished eyes:

            “You seemed to have skipped a sibling,” Martin said as Alvin entered the room. The Marvelettes’ song Please Mr. Postman was playing softly over loudspeakers. “I was expecting to dance with Katherine.”

“I’m afraid you’ll have to dance with her sister.” Alvin smiled. “Although we know Katherine exists and can see her imprint in the cosmic sands of time she is now and for the foreseeable future, one of the lost elements of Dark Matter.”

“If she turns up while I’m gone, please let me know,” Martin sang off key to an old Beatles’ song. Two Gravitron workers were fitting him with a special dark energy helmet. “To tell you the truth Wanda frightens me a little,” Martin said. “Imagination might be best left inside one’s mind. The ability to think of something and have it become reality is too scary a power as far as I’m concerned.”

Alvin smiled. “Somehow I can’t imagine you wishing for a million dollars and then holding it in your hand or a diamond as big as a baseball and trying to fit it in your pocket.”

            “You might be surprised,” Martin grinned. “Most of the doctors I know at Cambridge wear the same ragged suits for years. The taxman in Britain has sticky fingers and nothing slips between them.”

            “This experiment is quite simple,” Alvin told him. “You think of an object appearing in your right hand and Wanda makes it a reality.”

            “Sounds like magic,” Martin said.

            “Many particle scientists believe the universe is nothing more than a giant hologram,” Alvin told him, “with our experiments so far … I tend to agree with them.”

 The technicians finished adjusting the helmet and Alvin told them to dim the lights. “I’ve often found that the period right before sleep is the most conductive to imagination,” Alvin said, “relax and imagine an object in your hand.”

“Any object?” Martin asked.

“You know what I’m talking about,” Alvin said. “It’s the only way!”

Martin appeared to struggle for several minutes. Alvin was glad to see finally see him relax. A large hippopotamus suddenly appeared in the room and charged the control booth. Alvin and several workers screamed as the huge beast shattered the glass … and trampled those inside.

“Reset Gladys and prepare for another sequence,” Lewis Somató ordered. “We’ll take almost any alternate reality where Alvin and our colleagues aren’t killed.”

“You seemed to have skipped a sibling,” Martin said as Alvin entered the room. The Marvelettes’ song Please Mr. Postman was playing softly in the background. “I was expecting to have my pleasure with Katherine.”

“I’m afraid you’ll have to settle for her sister.” Alvin smiled. “Although we know Katherine exists and can see her imprint in the cosmic sands of time she is unfortunately one of the lost elements of Dark Matter.”

“Though tonight she’s made me sad … I still love her,” Martin sang off key to an old Beatles’ song. Two Gravitron workers were fitting him with a special dark energy helmet. “To tell you the truth, Wanda scares the heck out of me,” Martin said. “Imagination is best left inside one’s mind … the ability to think of something and have it become reality is too scary a power as far as I’m concerned.”

Alvin smiled. “Somehow I can’t imagine you wishing for a million pounds or an emerald as big as a goose-egg and trying to fit it in your pocket.”

            “You might be surprised,” Martin grinned. “Most of the doctors I know at Cambridge wear the same ragged suits for years. The taxman in Britain has sticky fingers and they reach everywhere.”

            “This experiment is quite simple,” Alvin told him. “You think of an object appearing in your right hand and Wanda makes it appear.”

            “I wondered where the word wand came from,” Martin mused.

            “The world’s foremost particle scientists believe the universe is nothing more than an extremely vivid hologram,” Alvin told him, “I’m waiting for someone to bring the popcorn.”

 The technicians finished adjusting the helmet and Alvin told them to turn off the lights. “I’ve found that the period right before sleep is the most conductive to imagination,” Alvin said, “relax and imagine an object in your hand.”

“Any object?” Martin asked.

“You know what I’m talking about,” Alvin said. “We’ve planned this for months!”

Martin appeared to struggle for several minutes. Alvin was glad to see finally see him relax.

Suddenly Marin stood up removing the helmet from his head. The Glock 17 pistol in his hand wasn’t there before. He smiled again but this time he looked reptilian. “I’m sorry Alvin old boy, but you make this too easy.”

Alvin was astonished. “You’re the spy? I don’t believe this!”

            “Why not?” Martin said. “American money spends just as fast in London as it does in New York.”

            “What is it you’re after?” Alvin motioned for the technicians to step to one side.

            “Your life, I’m afraid,” Marin said pointing the gun at his benefactor. “The United States Government has decided that no man should have this kind of power so you are expendable. Once you’re out of the way, Gravitron will fall under the control of corporations loyal to governmental needs and obligations. We went to great lengths to smuggle a weapon inside that I could use …. That wasn’t supposed to happen until a week from now. You made it too easy!”

            “I don’t suppose you imagined a loaded gun, did you?” Alvin said taking a step forward.

            “I’m sorry but I wouldn’t let any thought enter my mind that was not ready to kill,” Martin said.

When Martin pulled the trigger the gun exploded with a violent flash of purple light. A small metal fragment struck Alvin’s cheek but other than that the eminent scientist was unharmed. Several workers were knocked to the floor from the concussion.

            “This wasn’t supposed to happen!” Martin screamed as he ran toward the exit holding his bleeding hand.

“This might be as close as we’re going to get,” Lewis Somató said as alarms throughout the complex began to sound. The halls and corridors of Gravitron City were suddenly a beehive of activity. “Shall I have security stop him from getting away?” One of the workers pointed to the fleeing Martin.

Lewis looked at the paper from the envelope. “No, let him go,” he replied.

-------4-------

            It had been almost six months since the attempt on his life. Alvin Sullenger spent the morning sorting through a large stack of newspapers littering his desk. The gash across his cheek had left a scar but Alvin refused to see a plastic surgeon … he thought the wound made him look kind of like a pirate. Almost all the headlines were related to the same story. Five months ago an undisclosed source had revealed shocking information to the media that led to a full scale senate investigation of epic proportions. The director of the CIA and several prominent members of congress had ultimately been linked to the failed attempt on Alvin’s life. The President of the United States and almost all of her cabinet members had been forced to resign in disgrace and the investigation was still raging. Alvin still had political enemies, but for now they were on the run.

Alvin’s secretary Nancy Butterworth brought a large pot of coffee and a bowl filled with his favorite animal crackers. “What are your plans for the afternoon?” she asked as she filled his cup.

            “Have Emerson fuel my private jet and file a flight plan for London,” Alvin replied.

Nancy looked at her watch. “Britain is seven hours ahead of us,” she said. “You won’t get there now until nearly midnight.”

            “That sounds just about right,” Alvin told her.

-------5-------

Doctor Martin Liston was working at night in his Kensington estate.  The distant traffic sounds of London were dampened by acres of royal and private gardens. The rich and slightly damp soil surrounding the rare and exotic flora and the cool night air felt good on his twisted and mangled hand. A dark figure suddenly loomed out of the fog and stood before him. It resembled the kind of stick figure with a large round head that children often draw. “I always knew you would come,” Martin stammered as he recognized his brilliant former employer. Martin tried to rise and knocked over a concrete gnome that had been guarding his flower beds.

            “Be careful, Doctor,” Alvin told him. “That’s supposed to bring bad luck!” Alvin reached down and righted the statue. With the doctor’s corn-husk hair reaching toward the moon Alvin thought he looked more than ever like a Smurf.

            “Looks like that bit of bad luck has finally arrived,” Martin said. The old scientist staggered to his feet. His shoulders sagged and his face was a roadmap of wrinkles. Alvin thought he looked twenty years older than when he’d last seen him.

            “What do you remember about … us … about Gravitron?” Alvin questioned.

Martin took almost a minute to answer. His voice was one breath away from a cry.

            “It seems like a series of horrible dreams … nightmares really,” Martin said. “I loved the city floating in the sky but in one dream I nearly kill you … in another I actually do. Each dream seems vivid enough to be a part of my past.” Marin tried to laugh but his voice sounded like a sob gone bonkers. “In one of my delusions I even imagine that we are still friends … and that I never really meant to hurt you … and that I even helped you in some way.”

            “What’s that you’re making grow … my friend?” Alvin asked pointing to a strange species of cacti with a tiny black bud.

“It’s called Black Queen of the night, a rare night-blooming cereus from South America that flowers for a few hours once every six or seven years … no more than a dozen times a century.” Martin told him.

            “Where does one find such exotic plants?’ Alvin asked.

            “I’ve a friend who works the gardens of Hampton Court,” Martin said dusting his hands. “He is considered one of Britain’s finest gardeners … and heaven forbid the Queen should know, but he also does a bit of pruning and sly snipping for me … from time to time.”

            “Look,” Alvin said, pointing to the plant.

They both watched as ever so slowly the tiny bud unfolded into a beautiful black flower glowing under the light of the moon. In the distance the sing-song one high one low pitch of a police or emergency vehicle could be heard. “At least this night has a bit of a happy ending.” Martin shook his head. “I got to see something of great value to gardeners … on my last night of freedom!”

            “What are you talking about?” Alvin asked.

            “I understand they don’t allow gardening for attempted murderers at HMP Belmarsh.” Tears ran down Martin’s face.

            “Don’t be ridiculous,” Alvin said. “Bring your flowers to Nevada with you. I’ll build you an entire botanical complex on the Wanda level.”

            “But homicide …. Attempted homicide!” Martin wiped his nose. “How can you ever trust me again?”

            “You have to trust a friend completely with no doubts what-so-ever to have them actually kill you,” Alvin forced himself not to laugh. “Thank goodness the universe has infinite realities. I have scores of friends on Capitol Hill … but none as loyal and trustworthy as you. Because you secretly infiltrated the CIA hit squad we were able to get that greedy witch who calls herself President and almost all her criminal accomplishes thrown out of office. I’d be willing to wager you a hundred pounds of Black Magic potting soil that they all do some prison time.”

Tears of joy were running down Martin’s face as Alvin put his arms around him. Martin reached out and touched the delicate dark flower petal shimmering in the moonlight. “It really is magic isn’t it?” Martin said.

“Yes,” Alvin told him looking up at the vastness of the universe. “It really is.”

THE END?

THE SPEED OF DARK

Copyright (c) 2018 by Randall R. Peterson ALL RIGHTS RESERVED This is a work of fiction. All persons, locations and actions are from the author's imagination or have been used in a fictitious manner.

By R. Peterson

          Alvin Sullenger scrutinized the group of theoretical and experimental physicists as they toured the Gravitron research complex floating half a mile above the Nevada desert. Selected from more than five-hundred applicants from around the world, three of the twelve remaining scientists would be awarded internships and given the opportunity to work inside the research facility for two years. They were walking past a massive observation chamber where four globes, of unknown composition, rotated like tiny moons. “Gentlemen can anyone tell me,” Alvin stopped next to the plated glass. “Which is faster … light or dark?”

Doctor Howard M. Bisen from the Molecular Design Institute was the first to answer. “Darkness is simply the absence of light, and therefore has no velocity.”

Lewis Somató III, Doctor of Applied Physics from Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, shook his head and put both hands in his trouser pockets. “The speed of light is an indissoluble constant set at one-hundred eighty-six thousand miles per second. It is impossible for any type of matter or energy to exceed that threshold rapidity.”

Martin Liston, Associate Professor of Applied Physics from the University of Cambridge, pressed both his calloused hands against the glass and stared at the rotating spheres. With his unruly corn-husk hair sticking straight up from his head and his reported penchant for gardening Alvin thought he looked like a Smurf. “I’ve often considered,” Liston said, “that darkness must always come before light or light would not exist. To get there before anything implies a superiority of quickness.” His eyes grew brighter, as if inside his head a light had been switched on, and he turned. “We all know that matter has weight and occupies what we’ve always referred to as space and that Dark Matter is, for lack of a better word, the levitating cogency that creates more of that space. With the Dark Matter threads that form the fabric of space time being woven outward into four dimensional webs at an ever increasing velocity it makes one wonder what the Hell kind of arachnid is doing the weaving? I would have to say …” His voice became a reverential whisper filled with sanctified awe, “that is one very fast spider!”

Alvin smiled at Martin as the group erupted into a volcano of fact-based argumentation. It was going to be hard to pick the three … one of them most assuredly would be an undercover agent from the Central Intelligence Agency spying for the United States Government. But which one?

-------2-------

 Alvin stood next to a glass wall that faced west and gazed across the Mojave Desert. Dozens of transparent US Blackhawk helicopters appeared to shimmer as they passed through the exact area where he was standing. To the soldiers in the helicopters the entire complex looked like some kind of hologram. Alvin often wondered if dying-of-thirst travelers crossing a desert experienced mirages or actual dark matter realities. Gravitron City had become his sanctuary.

A protracted legal battle of unprecedented proportions had been going on ever since he constructed his floating city using DM technology high above the Nevada desert. The United States Government, especially the military wanted to control the knowledge he was developing. Alvin was determined that his discoveries should not fall into the wrong hands. Since the dark matter he was using created space, instead of occupying it, an ongoing legal argument defended by hundreds of lawyers insisted that Gravitron City was its own sovereign domain. The military presence at his research facility was nothing more than a siege of epic proportions. That he was able to smuggle scientists as well as supplies in and out at his leisure was a testament to the supreme power of his technological advances.

It was now time to see how the three additions to his scientific staff were doing. Of course one of them was a spy, but which one? Alvin was sure the CIA agent was one of the three chosen, but he had to be sure …. the safety of the entire world would depend on it. What they were doing here and what they were after was a whole different story …. Alvin had no idea. Each of the scientists had been given a different project to work on. The first four elements of dark matter were named after the sixties singing group the Marvelettes, thus the entire DM periodic table was sometimes referred to as the Black Sisters.

-------3-------

The first Black Sister was George-Anna, an abundant and free-bonding material that shadowed Hydrogen. Howard M. Bisen was on the space fabric level experimenting with different types of dark matter weaves. He wore shielded clothing and stood with several technicians next to a Gluon loom combining particle streams of dark and light matter while they were temporarily converted into energy. “This is amazing,” he stammered as Alvin walked in. “By combining GA with lead we are able to create particle shields that can be applied as a weightless vapor. This discovery alone will revolutionize the world’s x-ray technologies.

“Or perhaps a missile-proof mist that can be sprayed over a military aircraft?” Alvin suggested. Alvin looked for a subtle difference in the man’s eyes or posture but there was no change. “How about a policeman who feels fifty pounds lighter when he accesses a bullet-proof vest from an aerosol can?”

Doctor Bisen ignored Alvin and diverted all of his attention to the Gluon loom where the technicians were replacing the lead weaves with titanium. “The possibilities are endless!” he raved.

-------4-------

Lewis Somató III was on the energy level working with Gladys. The second dark matter element was what the scientists at Gravitron called inter-dimensional. Gladys which shadowed the element Helium had the ability to pulse between this reality and the next, sort of a quantum physics traveler visiting several alternate universes for less than a billionth of a second each. Lewis took a bite out of a ham sandwich and placed what was left on a special plate. The sandwich was covered and placed inside what the technicians jokingly called a Gladiator arena a special type of convection oven bombarded with Gladys particles.  A timer was set for one minute. When a tiny ding sounded the plate was removed and two sandwiches appeared. One of the sandwiches was whole while its identical counterpart had a large gaping bite. “Gladys pushes the object inside the arena back a preset period of time,” Lewis explained more to himself than to the others, “to a point of differentiation.” He lifted the plate with the two sandwiches and studied them. “While I took a bite of this sandwich my counterpart in the parallel universe obviously did not and we are left with two distinct and tangible realities.” Lewis closed his eyes and appeared ready to faint. Two of the workers grasped his arms. “We are on the verge of being able to thwart fate …. and decide what happens to every tiny thing in our world,” he gasped.

“Deciding which soldiers die and which don’t?” Alvin suggested but Lewis was already being loaded onto a stretcher and rushed toward the medical level.

-------5-------

Martin Liston was working with Wanda the fourth dark matter element. “You seemed to have skipped a sibling,” Martin said as Alvin entered the room. The Marvelettes’ song My Baby Must Be a Magician was playing softly over loudspeakers. “I was expecting to dance with Katherine.”

“I’m afraid you’ll have to take a rain check.” Alvin smiled. “Although we know Katherine exists and can see her imprint in the cosmic sands of time she is now and for the foreseeable future a lost sister to the others.”

“If she turns up while I’m gone please let me know,” Martin sang the off key words to an old Beatles’ song. Two Gravitron workers were fitting him with a special dark energy helmet. “To tell you the truth Wanda frightens me a little,” Martin said. “Imagination might be best left inside one’s mind,” he said. “The ability to think of something and have it become reality is too God like a power as far as I’m concerned.”

Alvin smiled. “Somehow I can’t imagine you wishing for a million dollars and then holding it in your hand or a diamond as big as a baseball and trying to fit it in your pocket.”

            “You might be surprised,” Martin grinned. “Most of the doctors I know at Cambridge wear the same suits for at least four years. The taxman in Britain has webbed fingers and nothing slips between them.”

            “This experiment is simple really,” Alvin told him. “You think of an object in your right hand and Wanda makes it a reality.”

            “Sounds like magic,” Martin said.

            “Many particle scientists think the entire universe might be nothing more than a giant hologram,” Alvin told him, ‘with our experiments so far … I tend to agree with them.”

 The technicians finished adjusting the helmet and Alvin had them dim the lights. “I’ve often found that the period right before sleep is the most conductive to imagination,” Alvin said, “relax and imagine an object in your hand.”

“Any object?” Martin asked.

“Within reason,” Alvin laughed. “We don’t want a hippo running around in here!”

Martin appeared to struggle for several minutes. Alvin was glad to see him relax. Suddenly Marin stood up removing the helmet from his head. The Glock 17 pistol in his hand wasn’t there before. He smiled again but this time he looked reptilian. “I’m sorry old boy, but you make this too easy.”

Alvin was astonished. “You’re the spy? I don’t believe it!”

            “Why not?” Martin said. “American money can be spent just as easily in London as it can in Chicago.”

            “What is it you’re after?” Alvin motioned for the technicians to move back.

            “Everything, I’m afraid,” Marin said pointing the gun at his benefactor. “The United States Government has decided that no one man should have so much power and so you are being eliminated. Once you’re gone, Gravitron and its labs will fall under the control of corporations loyal to governmental needs and obligations. We went to great lengths to smuggle a weapon inside that I could use …. That wasn’t supposed to happen until a week from now. You made it too easy!”

            “I don’t suppose you imagined a loaded gun did you,’ Alvin said taking a step forward.

            “I’m sorry but I wouldn’t let any thought enter my mind that was not fully functional,” Martin told him.

Martin pulled the trigger and the automatic pistol fired six shots in less than two seconds. Alvin spun around. His over-large head make him look like a marionette with broken strings. Blood poured from holes in his chest, neck and stomach. Alvin collapsed into a heap on the floor and Martin pumped two more bullets into his swollen  head for good measure. Martin saved the last seven rounds for the fleeing workers. None escaped.

            “I was thinking about a diamond … I really was,” Martin mused as he walked toward the exit. “But what would that have done to my integrity?”

To be continued …

WITCH BABY part 2

Copyright (c) 2018 by Randall R. Peterson ALL RIGHTS RESERVED This is a work of fiction. All persons, locations and actions are from the author's imagination or have been used in a fictitious manner.

By R. Peterson

The inside of the car glowed with the same khaki green color as the infant’s eyes. The speedometer’s needle nudged past the hundred miles an hour mark, and still the battered gray Nova on my tail repeatedly nibbled the Goat’s rear bumper. Porky Junior leaned out the window waving a gun.

The steering wheel jerked under my hands. We were losing control in the gravel. I fought the wheel … but then a tire blew or was shot out. There was a bump as we crossed a buried pipe for an irrigation canal. We hit it hard almost sideways. My G.T.O. became airborne - rolling over in midair … I grabbed for the baby and she was gone.

            Time appeared to freeze and then move forward in slow motion. I wasn’t wearing a seatbelt and was thrust upward toward the headliner as the car rotated around me. The steel toe from my left boot made contact with the steering wheel and a large chunk of hardened plastic broke free from the circular metal. My right boot shattered the windshield. A blanket floated from the empty basket belted to the passenger side and spread outward like the wings of a bird ready to take flight. The jagged piece of plastic from the steering wheel cut through it like a knife. Porky Junior’s Nova came into view from the side windows skidding to a stop below and behind me. The surprised look on Lemont Morris’ face quickly turned to a smile as my muscle-car Pontiac bounced once on the right front and right rear tires and then rolled through a fence dragging broken posts and barbed wire as it plowed through a field of plump golden pumpkins. Time reverted to its normal speed and then quickened as Porky Junior, Ned and Glen Hicks and Eddy Poole all vaulted from the Nova and ran toward my wreckage.

            “Should we call an ambulance?” Ned Hicks’ eyes looked like black baby moon hubcaps mounted on white rims as he strained to open the sprung-door on my goat.

            “What and have him blab to the cops about how we ran him off the road?” Porky Junior swung out the revolving cylinder from a six-shooter checking to make sure it was still loaded. He removed three spent cartridges and then spun it. “Only dead men keep secrets!”

Glen Hicks and Eddy Poole dragged me out, tearing my Iron Butterfly t-shirt on the broken glass that littered the inside of the car.

The full moon turned Lemont Morris into a dark leering silhouette as he aimed the gun at my head. There was a green glow surrounding the weapon that seemed strangely familiar. Porky Junior was close enough for me to smell the Mad Dog (Mogen David) wine on his breath. I closed my eyes a second before he pulled the trigger … there was a sadistic click. I opened my eyes, hopefully not for the last time. A pair of yellow flickering headlights appeared about a half-mile down the road. ‘That’s Amos Grover’s milk truck,” Eddy Poole bawled. ‘Let’s get out of here!”

            “One more time #%%$^&#,” Porky Junior said as he placed the gun barrel this time right against my left eye. “You’ll be able to see this one coming!”

The blast that I expected never came … only another ghostly click. “You’re one lucky mother #%$^%$ … but you won’t be next time,” Lemont promised as he kicked me hard in the head and then ran with the others toward his car.

They disappeared in a cloud of dust thirty seconds before Amos first slowed then pulled off the road, eight-gallon milk cans rattling off the wooden rails they were tied to on both sides of his flat-bed truck. I didn’t feel very lucky. I looked around for the baby but she seemed to have vanished. Amos Grover was running toward me hitching up the belt on his baggy trousers. “I saw that other fella go by without stopping,” he stammered. “What the Hell is this world coming to?”

-------2-------

            The police paid me a visit shortly after Parley Descombey III bandaged my head and put seven stiches in my arm. I knew they wouldn’t believe me about the baby and Porky Junior was my problem, so I kept mum. “It’s too late for a breathalyzer but I’m sure we can figure out what happened,” Deputy Keith Porter said as he dropped an empty bottle of Mogen David wine onto my hospital bed. I ended up pleading guilty to inattentive driving and property damage to the farmer’s fence. I received a three-hundred dollar fine/restitution, a suspended license and two weeks of community service.

            The community service turned out to be picking up litter on five miles of highway leading east from Cloverdale toward Missoula. This first week there were six of us walking along with large orange bags hooked to our belts and spearing fast-food bags, napkins and Twinkie wrappers using long wooden handles with a ten-penny nail band-clamped to the end. By the last part of the second week I found myself alone, the others having served their time and rejoining society … I had about a half-mile left before I could stop for the day.

            Dozens of cars passed me every minute I don’t know what made me look twice at the gray blur approaching at high speed. By the time I realized it was a Chevy Nova all I could do was turn and try to run toward the fence on the far side of the borrow pit. I had taken about three steps when I saw the thirty-five pound cinder-block come flying out the car’s side window. It was like a white bowling ball spinning through the air at sixty miles an hour and I was a wobbling pin about to go down and make someone a bloody spare. Whoever lobbed the lethal building block had deadly aim. The cinderblock was coming right toward me …. There was no way it could miss.

Suddenly the projectile exploded inches from my face in a blinding flash of shattered concrete, powdered lime and bits of Khaki green sand. I heard Danger Zone blasting from a car stereo as the Chevy roared past. I heard what sounded like a giggle and turned. A girl of about eight stood on the banks of an irrigation canal just the other side of the fence. Pulsing tendrils of green smoke appeared to swirl and flow back into her outstretched fingers. She wore a dress made of some kind of glimmering fabric that absorbed the colors and textures surrounding her, causing her to appear almost invisible along the weedy edge of a large pasture. She smiled and then disappeared with a flash of light and a loud cracking sound like huge dry bones being snapped into kindling. A tall cottonwood tree across the road shook perceptibly before turning the sky ebony with thundering wings and the cursing of crows. Storm clouds circled the sun forming a dark halo. The previously tranquil herd of steers stopped grazing the pasture and broke into a stampede disappearing into a cloud of dust and feverish mooing. I climbed the fence and walked both sides of the ditch for more than an hour … she was gone.

-------3-------

                There was too much damage to the GTO to be repaired with my depleted funds. So after my license was restored, Ben Leston loaned me the use of his late mother’s vomit-colored 1963 Rambler station-wagon. The embarrassment of being seen in an old lady’s ride with a smashed-in hood was partially cancelled out by the fact that Porky Junior would never expect me to be driving such a rattletrap. Dating now seemed to be out of the question. I resolved to turn my 2.3 GPA into something that might actually land me a job higher on the ladder of success than an assistant manager at McDonalds. My fraternity Phi Sigma Kappa had other plans and since I was paid up till the end of the year, and needed the test files they kept locked in the back room, I didn’t feel I could turn them down.

            This time the sister-sorority girl without a date for the spring mixer was Brenda Boom-Boom Clawson a three-hundred pound Dental Technology major with a lawyer father, two battery charges behind her and one dropped charge of attempted rape. What kind of woman gets charged with attempted rape? What kind of milk toast Mike files the charges? There might have been more … but it was such a long way around. I picked her up in the Rambler and hoped she wouldn’t break a spring, and if she did … that Ben wouldn’t notice.

            She opened a brown paper bag and pulled out a bottle of Johnny Walker Blue Label, two thirty-six ounce thermo-lined Big Gulp drinking cups, a bag of ice, and a gallon of orange juice even before her door closed. She locked her door and then reached across the seat to lock mine. Her left breast felt like a parachute stuffed with down-feather pillows. “We have to be careful!” She smiled showing off two long rows of perfect teeth. “It’s a dangerous world out there!”

I don’t know what she was making, but I prayed to God and the Devil both that it wouldn’t be me.

-------4--------

            She was on her third drink and I was still thinking about secretly pouring out my first when she suggested that we skip the dance and instead go swimming at Makeout Lake. “I didn’t bring a suit,” I stammered. “Neither did I!” She smiled coyly and gave me a wink that made me feel like I was being skinned alive with a rusted salad fork.

            We weren’t the only ones at the lake and I hoped without hope that I might still find a way to ditch her. She climbed out of the Rambler singing Do it to me one more time and looking like the monster from the movie The Blob.

            Everyone was taking off their clothes and I ran when I realized I couldn’t tell if she was wearing underwear or not. I slipped off my jacket and tennis shoes and hit the water in my jeans and a loose t-shirt that said Save the Whales …. Breed with Them! I’d bought the shirt shortly after I found out my brothers at Phi Sigma Kappa had ordered me to go on this death sentence date. Brenda had laughed when she’d seen the shirt and suggested she buy one the same color so that we would look more like a couple.

            I swam hard toward a raft floating in the middle of the lake. Power-stroking through the rippling waves like a sunken-boat tourist crossing Loch Ness.

-------5-------

            I stood on the raft with three others and swore I could hear the tuba music from Jaws playing as Brenda plunged in the water and swam toward us. The others dove in the water when she got close, but I froze, sure that one of her beefy hands would grab my leg and pull me under when she realized I was trying to escape. The raft was made by nailing two by fours across two rows of lashed-together twenty-four inch diameter stumps with a three inch gap between each board.

Brenda came at the raft from the side and when she did the boards spread apart making the three inch gap five inches where I was standing. My shoeless foot slipped into the widened crack and when she climbed aboard the crack returned to normal and my foot was caught.

I screamed in pain as her roaming hands tried to give me comfort and I finally convinced her that if we were really going to have any kind of a fun night she had to figure out a way to free my foot. She backhanded my head three times and exclaimed that I better not try to lie or break a promise to her. She plunged into the water and swam toward the cars and I seriously considered chewing off my trapped foot and swimming toward the opposite shore. I might have if something far more serious hadn’t come up. Brenda was just waddling onto shore when a gray Chevy Nova skidded to a stop next to my parked Rambler. What I first thought was engine backfire turned out to be gunshots as Porky junior emptied his pistol in the air.

            I’ve never seen so many cars leave the lake so quickly in my life. Most of the people leaving were half naked …. All of them were wet. I saw Brenda climb up on Fred Grover’s dad’s milk truck. Two of the milk cans had been replaced with beer kegs and she laughed as someone jammed surgical tubing spraying beer into her mouth just before the truck roared away. I was left alone at the lake with Lemont Morris, Ned and Glen Hicks, and Eddy Poole.  I was praying that Porky Junior and the others didn’t know how to swim … but I found out they didn’t have to. The raft was attached to the parking area by an underwater chain and within minutes they were pulling me toward shore like a two-hundred pound sucker … the catch of the day.

-------6-------

I tried again to free my foot again but it was lodged tight. When the raft reached land I would be at their mercy. My only hope was that someone else would come driving into the lake area, preferably a cop, but I was willing to take anyone. I looked in all directions there were no headlights coming this way. It appeared to be getting blacker as if even the stars had turned their backs on me showing their dark matter side. It was then that I noticed the glow from the water, as if hundreds of green lights were being lit on the lake bottom. I was close enough to land to hear Porky Junior exclaiming in a loud voice what was going to happen to me. “I’ve got twenty pounds of dog #$%$ in my trunk,” he said. “It took me two weeks to gather it up with a shovel. You’re going to eat all of it. Then we’re going to bounce you upside down until you puke … then you’re going to eat everything again!”

“I’ll pass,” I told him. “It’s not the food …. It’s the company!”

My smart mouth seemed to enrage him. Porky Junior let Ned Hicks and Eddy Poole yank on the chain while he retrieved a bulging burlap bag from his trunk as if to show me he was serious about the dog turds. “If you eat it all I’ll let you brush your teeth before the second course,” he promised.

            The lake was definitely becoming a more brilliant green. The ripples from the moving raft seemed to have an almost ethereal quality. Although the sky appeared to be darker than ever, I could see twinkling stars reflected in the water. I first noticed small twigs and pieces of floating debris being swept toward the center of the lake. Ned and Eddy for the first time appeared to be losing ground. I saw the tight chain yank them forward. Ned actually fell and was submerged to his waist before he found his footing and was able to stand. The raft I was on and everything else was moving toward the center of the lake. I don’t know if the wind created the pull or if the pull created the wind. Branches broke off from dead trees and flew mostly to the center of the lake where a churning vortex had opened like a huge drain in the lake bottom. Porky Junior, Ned, Glen and Eddy all ran toward the Nova. It was too late. Even though the parking brake must have been engaged, the battered Chevy slid toward the green water leaving two sunken trenches in the rocky ground to mark its progress. Trees began to bend split and slide. Several rotted tree stumps suddenly lost all their packed dirt and rolled like barrels into the water. She was there in the trees no longer eight years old but over fourteen. I felt her there with my mind and then with my eyes. The raft I was on had reached the center of the lake and began to spin. The entire wooden structure lifted into the air, the center more than the outside. The crack between the boards opened and I pulled my foot free. I was being pelted by leaves, twigs, tiny rocks and bits of gravel. I turned and watched the Nova slide into the water spraying jets of water from the duel exhaust just before I dove off the raft.

            I now knew how a spider feels when someone flushes it down a toilet. Even though I was a strong swimmer I was pulled round and round the center of the lake like everything else. I don’t know if it was a hand that pulled me to shore but I felt her touch. I lay on the bank and watched as a water spout opened above the center of the lake sucking everything on and in the water including the Nova, with engine revved to the max and horn blaring, upward into a swirling green cloud.

            The sound grew in volume until it reached the level of a thundering freight train crossing a rusty metal bridge and then it was gone leaving only silence and a single green leaf floating in the exact center of the lake where no ripples danced and only stars crowded the edges.

-------7-------

I woke up in Cloverdale General Hospital but it wasn’t so bad this time. The cops left me mostly alone. It appeared I wasn’t the only one who had seen the tornado over Makeout Lake. They never found the infamous Nova or the monster that used it to prowl the streets of my small Montana town. I became something of a celebrity. Lots of strange things happen to people in Cloverdale. Those who survive are accorded a mark like an invisible badge of acceptance. I got a good part-time job with the Highway Department repairing bad roads and managed to finish my second year of college with a 3.4 GPA. My knowledge climbed a tall ladder. Water is the source of life and it makes things grow … you have to give it time. I was also able to restore the GTO to her former glory. I spent an extra four hundred dollars on a plush metallic green paint-job that made my ride look like a giant emerald on wheels. I could also feel her in my dreams … and I knew the night was coming.

            It was almost a year after the cyclone incident at the lake. It was a full moon with dark clouds forming for a surprise attack and I found myself driving to the dead-end of Vineyard Road. After State Hospital North and Black Rose Cemetery everything seemed to get much darker, like climbing down into an old well with a rope at night. I almost turned back … but I didn’t.

Rotted beams on a sagging front porch trembled from the sound of distant thunder. The uncut lawn looked like weedy swamp muck. An oily salamander slithered away as I skulked down a broken stone path. I felt like I was coming home. Fear is the greatest hallucinogen and it’s there for a purpose. My hand brushed a spider-web as I reached for the brass knocker in the form of a snarling Gargoyle. The figure was crouched to leap at any door-to-door salesman foolish enough to risk his life for a sale or perhaps just for a young guy looking for love. The metal made almost no sound on the heavy oak planks and I was turning to leave when the door groaned open. I heard soft singing and could see glowing green light coming from inside … and I smiled.

THE END?