Blogger's Note: Would it be silly of me to admit that I just got goosebumps writing that? Don't you just love goosebumps? I'm not sure of the scientific explanation for goosebumps. I read somewhere that it has something to do with fear and how our body tries to "shrink" itself in the face of danger. But I don't think that describes what causes my goosebumps.
I get goosebumps when something that defies logic or rational explanation unveils itself in my presence. A ghost story that is just too believable to be a lie. Salvation against incalculable probability. Discovery at the end of a hopeless search. Finding love in the most unlikely place. Beginning an adventure.
Now, if you haven't already, you'll need to start at the beginning. So, go back and read Alanaka, and then come back here for the continuing saga. And keep in mind that this is a serial. So, it's a little more difficult to find a good start/stop point than it is for an outlined story.
I don't want to wear out the subject, but I don't know where this girl came from. And she won't fucking get out of my head. I thought to myself, 'Duane, there's only one way this girl can go on an adventure. And it's so obvious that it's boring.' But, I explored the avenue anyway.
I/she opened the box. I whispered to her... some time in the far distant future. She listened.
And then it happened. The worst thing that could possibly happen happened. And it wasn't especially original or clever. Not initially. But, she beckoned me to follow her. Just a little further. Just a little further, Duane. And then. There it was.
"It's not a cry that you hear at night. It's not somebody that's seen the light. It's a cold and a broken Hallelujah."
I had to tell her to quit, though. She was taking me so far that I almost forgot where it started. Girl, slow down. I'm getting old. To which she replied, "Well, start writing then..."
And it's so hard to get this to take flight. Trying to introduce the reader to both a new world and a new story is rather difficult So be patient with me, won't you? At least until this bird takes to the sky...
Listening to: Florence + the Machine "Cosmic Love"
...my hand would betray me and begin tracing the box that was in my pocket. Fortunately, Joanna never noticed.
Alanaka's PIB began softly flashing a slow, deep blue. It didn't surprise her. She knew her mother would be calling for her any second. A tingling, numb sensation buzzed up her arm as her PIB was pumping pseudo-nutrients into her bloodstream. She wasn't sure how long she had been in the attic reading, but apparently she had waited too long to eat.
"Alanaka!" Sure enough, her mother's voice spoke from her PIB.
"I know, Mom, I know. I'll be right there." She didn't want to have to endure another lecture about how much better she'd feel if she'd eat some real food. "Pseudo-nutrients will keep you alive, but they won't keep you happy," her mother always said.
She took one last look at the shoes as she began replacing everything back in the box. She still hadn't found out whose they were or why they were kept, but she would come up here later and read some more. A faded grumble of distant thunder suggested that the Tantrum was nearly over. She grabbed the Skip Rope on her way to the attic steps.
Downstairs, in the kitchen, her mother had already made her a plate of pierogies. Alanaka sat in front of it looking distant and reflective.
"Well?" her mother asked her.
"Well what?" Alanaka took a bite and looked up at her mother who was wiping off the counter.
"The shoes? Did you get to that part?" Mrs. Montgomery sat down the towel, crossed her arms, and turned to face her daughter.
"No. Not yet." Alanaka refused to expose any emotion, so she maintained a blank expression and studied her food.
"Well, you'll get there," her mother dismissed the subject. She opened the refrigerator and pulled out a container.
"What's that?" Alanaka inquired.
"Your father's supper. Something happened at the worm. They won't let anybody come or go right now. He called and asked me to bring his dinner to the front lobby."
"What happened?" Nothing exciting ever happened at the worm, and she was anxious to have the mystery solved.
"I don't know, but I don't think it's anything serious. Probably just a security precaution. If it was too serious, they would've evacuated." Alanaka was at an age that she enjoyed challenging her mother on most subjects, but she found herself on the losing end of most of these battles. Mrs. Montgomery's logic, obviously sharpened from years of experience, was difficult to fault.
Her mother started opening the back door, then stopped. "Alanaka, Mason is spending the night tonight. Both his parents have to pull all-nighters, so I told his mother that he could stay here. He ran home to grab some things."
Alanaka's fork clanged against the plate as she dropped it to punctuate a complaint. "Mom! Seriously? You know how those two are when they get together! And it's going to be worse with you gone, too!"
"Well, deal with it, young lady. I wouldn't feel right about leaving that boy at home alone. He's not a bad kid, just a little mischievous. Boston's in charge; but, if you think they're doing something they shouldn't be, then don't hesitate to call me," her mother instructed.
Alanaka's PIB began flashing yellow. "What is it, Boston?" she answered her brother's incoming call.
"Hey, I'm in the Viz Room; Mason just PIB'ed me; he's at the back door. Could you please let him in?" her brother requested.
Mrs. Montgomery already had the back door partially open. After hearing her son's request, she opened it the rest of the way to find Mason standing there sporting a backpack and a smirk. "Thanks for letting me spend the night, Mrs. Montgomery. I sure fucking appreciate it."
"Come in, Mason. I was just about to leave, but I'll be right back. You and Boston don't get in any trouble while I'm gone, ok?" She brushed her fingers through his hair and gave him a smile tinged with warning.
Just as Alanaka began wondering whether or not he had heard the conversation about him, he addressed her. "Alanaka, I had something I was gonna tell you, but I'm not going to now." He was smiling when he said it, but something about his words stung her a little. She hadn't meant for him to hear what she had said.
"I'm in here!" Boston called from the other room to Mason.
"Ok. Well, I'm leaving now," Mrs. Montgomery spoke to Alanaka. "It's not that bad, dear. I love you. See you in a little bit."
"Bye" was all that Alanaka could muster.
After her mother closed the door behind her, Alanaka stopped eating and stared ahead. She was imagining what life must have been like in the stories that she had been reading. She wondered what "beer" tasted like, what it must feel like to be 40, how freezing water might feel. She wanted to talk about these feelings she was having, but who would understand? She felt like the only person in the whole world. She closed her eyes and thought about Joanna. She would understand. She would know what to say.
"We're trapped!" Someone's voice called from the Viz Room. Alanaka's chair scraped the kitchen floor as she pushed it back so that she could stand. She quietly made her way across the dining room and stretched her neck just enough to peak into the next room.
A shirtless man was unbuckling his belt. The belt had tiny, flashing lights that twinkled intermittently and a gun holster that held what appeared to be the type of Blister Pistol that a Vlusian Ranger used. On the bed next to him, a topless woman was on her knees, helping the Ranger take his belt off.
"Take me, Commander Irving. Take me before the Binker Rats eat us alive!" The woman was panting her words dramatically. Just before she unveiled Commander Irving's other pistol, Alanaka covered her eyes.
"BOSTON! MASON! Change the channel right now or I'm calling Mom!"
"Fine!" Boston digressed as he stood from his crouched position behind the couch where he and Mason had been concealed for the prank. "Viz Channel 47," he nervously smiled.
"You're not going to tell Mom are you?" Boston asked his sister as the Vlusian Ranger and the damsel in distress were replaced with a man walking through New Israel markets and describing the amazing wares that were being peddled. Mason quickly stood beside his friend, sporting a visage of concern for Alanaka's response.
She paused, assessing the goofballs standing in front of her. She hastily inventoried the potential deals that she could make with the two Binker Rats. "Not if you'll play Skip Rope with me. It takes three people, and I've been wanting to play ever since we saw it in the attic."
Boston and Mason looked at each other and shrugged. "Sure," Boston accepted the terms without hesitation. Alanaka ran into the kitchen where she had left the contraption and returned to the Viz Room where the boys were waiting.
"Ok. I get to play Controller first," she announced. She gripped the handle in her hand and turned it on. A red, laser light formed a perimeter around her with a radius of about 5 feet. "Awaiting two more participants," the Skip Rope informed.
Mason stepped into the halo of light first. "Awaiting one more participant."
When Boston joined the other two, the light brightened. "Triangulating PIBs. PIBs synchronized."
"Start," Alanaka instructed.
"Initiating game. Level One starting..."
A single ray of light extended from Alanaka, who stood in the center, to the edge of the perimeter. It began slowly rotating counter-clockwise. "Ok, you guys ready?" Alanaka asked.
After exclamations of "Go!" and "Ready!", Alanaka began shouting "High" or "Low". The beam of light would relocate accordingly. Boston and Mason would either duck or jump out of its path as it approached them.
"Level 2."
The ray began moving quicker. Alanaka began to shout hastily, attempting to change the course of the light just before it reached the dodgers.
"Level 3."
"Ok! Here we go! 7 o'clock!" Everyone knew that "Level 3" was when Skip Rope got interesting. Now the Controller had an extra beam of light that she could emit at any one of twelve positions. It would ricochet off the rotating beam or the edge of the perimeter and continue bouncing around for five seconds after it was "fired". If she timed it just right, she could trip one of them up before "Level 4".
Unfortunately, the two boys were pretty good. At "Level 4", the extra beam lasted six seconds. At "Level 5", she would get two extra beams. The difficulty kept increasing until "Level 8". None of them had ever made it past that.
Alanaka's PIB started flashing the deep blue that meant her mother was calling her. "End game," she instructed the Skip Rope with a disappointed grimace. "What is it, Mom?"
"Baby, something's going on down here. I don't know how long I'll be. I just wanted..." The message ended. Her PIB quit flashing. "Mom?" Alanaka called. There was no response.
"PIB call Mom," Boston tried this time. Nothing happened.
Suddenly, the man that was strolling through New Israel markets began flashing red. The three children looked at one another. That meant that an announcement from the Chief of Council was about to be broadcast. Something about the timing of the dropped call and the unexpected emergency broadcast made Alanaka's heart rate quicken. She didn't like the feeling.
"Viz Channel 1," Boston instructed. Two men sitting across from each other and wearing suits were wearing dire expressions. One of them was talking so quickly that Alanaka didn't know how he was breathing.
"...we're not sure why. We know that the Chief of Council had a prepared speech in response, but we can't seem to get a link to the Council Hall in Sydney. We are continuing to try, so please stand by."
The other man chimed in. "For those just tuning in, a bomb has just killed twenty people in Hong Kong. We don't know any details other than that right now, and it's only speculation as to why their PIB's didn't protect them from the explosion. The eerie coincidence of a bomb being detonated at the exact moment that their PIB's failed leaves a lot to speculate that terrorism might be..."
"Terrorism?" The other man interrupted. "Do you even know what you're saying? This isn't Vlusia. Every Chinese PIB Ambassador has already been accounted for. There's no other way to deactivate a PIB. We have local PIB Ambassador Ingrid Tervin linked up now. Ingrid, how could this have happened?"
A woman suddenly appeared in the Viz Room. Her serious expression scared Alanaka.
"Can you hear me?" the woman spoke.
"Yes, Ambassador Tervin. You're live now," one of the men responded.
"Ok, well, it would appear..." she began, but Mason's stupid voice interrupted her.
"What's going on?" Mason asked out loud.
"Be quiet, Mason!" Alanaka yelled at him. "I can't hear her!" Fortunately, Mason didn't object.
"...and the only other way is PIB dissection. So, if an Ambassador didn't do this, and it appears that it almost certainly wasn't an Ambassador, the only other explanation is that someone has found a way to dissect a PIB to see how it 'ticks' and used that knowledge to disable the PIBs of the victims."
"So you're suggesting terrorism?" one of the men asked.
"Terrorism is indeed my best theory right now. Fortunately, it appears to be localized to an isolated HyperTram station in Hong Kong. Twenty people is a statement I think. They hit a target with a high potential for victims. Twenty people being killed at one time is the most in over 500 years, and I fear that..."
"I'm sorry, Ambassador Tervin. We have, what we're told, is an important announcement from North American Ambassador Ryvan Locklear. If you can standby, Ambassador Tervin, we will try to come back to you..."
"Ambassador Locklear is online now," the other man interrupted. Ambassador Locklear was a handsome man with spiky hair and a cavalier mustache. Alanaka didn't like his smug eyes. "Ok, you're live, Ambassador Locklear."
"Ok, thank you. The crew here at the Ambassador Station in the New England province has made an important discovery. I'm speaking on behalf of my team; we've been working on causes since the bombing two hours ago..."
"Two hours ago!" Mason exclaimed.
"For the last time, be quiet, Mason!" Alanaka picked up the brass angel that was decorating the hickory end table next to her and threw it at her brother's annoying friend. It hit him in the forehead.
It hit him.
It hit him, and he was bleeding.
He was bleeding.
For a moment, Alanaka and Boston just stared at him. Blood was trickling down Mason's face, and they were awe-struck.
Mason felt the red liquid with his fingers and lifted them so that he could see what the strange, wet feeling was. When he saw the blood, he started crying.
That's when Alanaka and Boston jumped into action. "Oh, Mason. I'm so sorry!" Alanaka pleaded. "What happened??"
Between stifling whimpers, Mason spoke. "PIB call Mom." There was no response.
"What is going on?" Boston whispered.
"PIB call Mom!" Mason tried again. Still nothing.
"I don't think the PIB's are working," Alanaka said. They all turned to listen to Ambassador Locklear in unison. This time Mason didn't say a word.
"...the photonic battery. Now, for those of you that don't know what a photonic battery is, it's what powers a PIB. So whoever is responsible for this didn't entirely disable the PIB's. They simply used some form of transmission using towers that must have been erected at targeted locations to muffle the photonic battery's effectiveness. We estimate that the PIB's are running at about one-third power, which isn't nearly enough to energize the force fields or communications or, well, basically anything. It's a very clever technique that uses cellular signals, similar to those used in the 21st Century, to nullify the battery's power."
"So, whoever did this, it couldn't have been just one person?" one of the men asked.
"Oh, no. That's the scariest part of all. To erect multiple signal towers, to dissect and understand how a PIB operates, to plant the bomb.. we're still getting reports of the mass effect of the neutralized PIB's.. it would take a trained team of terrorists."
"Ambassador Locklear, couldn't someone just dissect a Vlusian PIB to see how they tick? Certainly, that would be easy enough," one of the men questioned.
"No. First off, Vlusian PIB's are strictly not allowed on Earth. We scan for them on any incoming parties. And, besides, it wouldn't matter anyway. Take it from me when I say that Vlusian PIB's are 100% different than those here on Earth. They have almost no similarities. So, even if it were possible to sneak one in, then it wouldn't matter."
"So, Ambassador, any theories as to how someone might have found a kink in the PIB's function?"
"I only have two possible theories. One is a rogue Ambassador. But every single Ambassador has been accounted for. They go through a century of strict background checks and profiling. I think it's highly unlikely that it was an Ambassador. That leaves my second theory. As I said, a PIB runs off a photonic battery. A single ray of light can power a PIB for a decade; it's difficult to measure. Someone would have to live in total darkness, and I mean total, for at least two centuries. If someone was that crazy, that driven, then the PIB would be inoperable and could be dissected in the dark. This person would have to be scientifically knowledgeable and psychopathically driven. He would have to be carefully shrouded in darkness so that not even a random twinkle of light could reach him. I cannot imagine someone so driven as to spend 200 years in darkness."
"Could a Voluntary Fade with a failed application be responsible?"
"It's possible, but it would still take a trained team of support," the Ambassador responded.
"Could you block the signal that's disrupting the photonic batteries?" one of the interviewing men asked.
"That's what we're working on. The problem is that they're using technology that is centuries old and very outdated. We could reverse engineer the cellular signal if we had some of this technology, but the few museums that have some of these contraptions have been compromised," the Ambassador revealed.
"You mean, they've been stolen?"
"Yes. Over the past couple of days, these devices were being stolen from museums worldwide. We didn't make the connection until it was too late."
"There's one of those cellular phones at the museum in the sky tower above the worm!" Boston exclaimed.
"I bet that's why Dad can't leave! The theft is under investigation!" Alanaka speculated.
"Turn it off. I don't want to hear anymore," Mason said. It looked to Alanaka like the bleeding had stopped. She was relieved.
Boston, inclined to grant his hurt friend's wish, said, "Viz off." The people in front of them disappeared.
"What should we do?" Alanaka asked.
"What do you mean, what should we do?" Boston countered. "We do nothing, that's what. We wait. We sit here and wait for Mom or Dad to get home."
"Boston, they could be in danger. They can't do anything right now," Alanaka retorted.
"What in the world could we do even if we wanted to?" Boston shot back.
"I know where one of those cellular phones are," his sister revealed.
"What are you talking about?"
"It's in those stories I've been reading. One was hidden in this train in a canister. I know it's a long-shot; but, the instructions that the phone not ever be removed was entered into its coordinates. And it's in a weatherproof container!" Alanaka recounted.
"Where is it?" Mason groaned the question as he nursed his injury.
"It was some place called Paducah, KY," Alanaka explained.
"Well, where's that?" Boston challenged.
"I don't know..." she looked away, aggravated. "We'd need our PIB's to work to get that information."
"I know how to do that," Mason mumbled. "Well, maybe..."
Boston and Alanaka just looked at him.
"The Skip Rope," he explained. "If it triangulates our PIB's, and they're at one-third battery power, then, as long as we're within its range, shouldn't our combined PIBs be enough to make a full battery."
Alanaka looked at him as if seeing him for the first time. If he was right, she might never look at him the same. She ran to grab the Skip Rope, returned to the two boys, and turned it on.
"Triangulating PIBs. PIBs synchronized."
Alanaka looked at Boston as if he should try something first. "It's your Skip Rope. You check," Boston encouraged.
"PIB? Are you working?" Alanaka held her breath as she waited for a response.
"Yes. Due to energy levels, PIB restricted to singular functions," her PIB responded.
She exhaled and smiled brightly at Mason. "PIB, locate Paducah KY," she instructed.
"The location of the city once known as Paducah, KY is now thirty feet under Lake New Madrid."
She looked hopefully at her brother. "Lake New Madrid was spared during the Great War." Boston just stared at her. "PIB, do you have the coordinates for where the downtown floodwall at Paducah, KY once stood?" Alanaka asked.
"Yes."
"Well, that doesn't help us! How would we get there?" Boston admonished.
"We could take Dad's Corvette!" Alanaka suggested.
"Alanaka, if we traveled at cruise speed it would take us all night to get there. And none of us has a pilot's license to travel above Mach 1. We should just give someone else this information. Besides, see if you can use your PIB to call Mom," Boston countered.
"PIB call Mom," Alanaka tried. After a few seconds with no response, she sighed. "I guess hers is still offline. If we just had someone that could pilot us to Lake New Madrid... Boston, we could be heroes..."
"Well, Harry Ballsack could take us," Mason said absently. Alanaka decided that the slate was clean again. Mason's Skip Rope revelation had just been nullified by another prime example of his insolent stupidity.
"Actually," Boston pondered. "Harry Ballsack could take us..."
(to be continued...)
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Continued in "Alanaka Episode III - The Lost City of Paducah
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