July 5th,
Dennis, was currently in the fatigue of a satisfying night. It befalls college students, prom-goers, and virtually every kind of party-goer: After a great night, no one wants to move and get up the next morning. Even if it was cut short by two panicking friends, he had enjoyed himself.Tucked under his red sheets, wearing his blue pajamas, it would take a war to lift him out of bed. Or at least the sound of a war.
He felt himself shaking, as a giant roar came outside of his window. He leaped out of bed and saw a behemoth of a truck roar past him. It was big, brown, and it was almost as tall from his house, and just two miles from his bedroom. He saw the truck go up a very steep hill, toward some old house he thought would never be livable. It's trailer was blue, with SARATOGA MOVERS written on the front in big bold letters.
"Somebody, finally bought it," thought Dennis, as the truck pushed itself up the hill. Following the truck, he saw a giant stretch limo race up after him. It was shining white, with the windows darkened. It too attempted to race up the hill to the dilapidated farmhouse.
"Somebody big,"
He heard a scream though which forced him downstairs.
-
Lyra and Bonnie sat at breakfast table, deciding that hunger was a greater force than fatigue. They pushed themselves out of bed and went to make some breakfast. They were currently dining upon a variety of fruits. Lyra and Bonnie were both wearing mint green and fuchsia tank tops, as well as black sweatpants. They sat there fatigued, but still prodigiously devouring their fruit. They were also startled by the sound of a giant behemoth roaring past them.
Lyra dropped the banana she was snacking on a ran to the window behind the sink. She saw a massive, wheeled monster coming by the farmhouse and screamed.
"Lyra," said Bonnie startled by the monstrosity that roared past them ,"calm down, it's gonna be find."
"Lyra," said Dennis running into the kitchen, barefooted and only wearing PJs ," what's going on?"
"The monster," said Lyra pointing out the window, "it's evil."
"You mean the truck," said Dennis, "the thing going up the hill, the thing that just dodged us? It's not a monster. It means I have a new neighbor."
"Oh really," asked Lyra, jumping up and down, "let's go meet them. I think they are really nice. You think-,"
"I'm not gonna meet them yet," said Dennis, his pointed thumb pressing against his chest,"they're probably busy packing. Besides most people come out here for peace and quiet."
"Can I go meet them," Lyra said, her eyes becoming watery, and her lip pouting.
"I don't think-," started Dennis, before he reconsidered ," Your 21 years old, you don't need to ask me about meeting someone."
"Yer right I don't," said Lyra, "I'll ask Bon-,"
"I mean you shouldn't have to ask anyone's permission to visit someone. I know it's none of my concern but what is your relationship with Bonnie. Friends?"
"Yeah," said Lyra ,frowning, "she's kept me out of trouble since we we're fillies?"
"Fillies," asked Dennis, confused.
"I m-meant b-babies," stuttered Lyra, forcefully.
"Cause it seems you let her run your life a little. You are grown up, y'know, and you shouldn't always have your friends running your life."
"She's not running my life, is she," said Lyra, slowly sounding unsure.
"I'm not gonna say anymore since I'm not your daddy, except you seem to be unable to make decisions without her there. Look inside yourself and ask ,'am I in control of my life?' Wait, where is Bonnie anyways," asked Dennis, "I heard you guys downstairs."
"I don't know," Lyra wondered moving her head in all different directions trying to find her friend. The two heard noise under the table. Dennis lifted up the brown table cloth, and found a shivering, sweating Bonnie balled up into a fetal position saying "Monster gonna get me, gonna get me."
"Bonnie," said Lyra, "Bonnie, the monsters gone. Say good morning to Mr. Sadnik."
Bonnie broke out of her trance, and began to notice the two people staring at her in shock. She blushed, having been caught in such an awkward position, and crawled out from under the table. She laughed nervously as Dennis stood there staring at her, with a strange gaze.
"Let's eat some of that breakfast," said Dennis ,"I see you guys made fruit salad, how wonderful."
Lyra and Bonnie walked over the table.
-
North Tonawanda, New York.
Three police officers had been spending the morning searching for the evidence on a blue warehouse shelf marked "High Priority." In between two of the boxes was an empty space. Two of them had been dusting for fingerprints while one of them was conversing with a nervous security guard dressed in green, and a fat,sweaty man in a blue suit.
"Sir calm down," asked the officer taking notes, and looking toward the security guard ,"now tell me what happened."
"I was walking around this area, about to start the night shift," said the young red-headed guard, his freckled face sweating," when I tried to punch in around 11 o'clock, no one answered, so I used to emergency entrance. I found all the guys, unconscious, and Spec-..."
"Shush," said the man in a blue suit, rubbing his sweaty face, "that equipment is to remain on the the down low. Last thing we need is if the two find out-," he paused when he saw the green doors in the front of the warehouse open, and saw two men, one short and fat, the other tall and thin, walk in, there black suits making them more visible against the grey wall of the warehouse, they're faces showing none of the mirth they had shown on 4th of July.
"Carl, Larry," said the man in the blue suit, nervous, and strolling toward them ," I know what your thinking, but these officers are working on it.."he stopped when Carl grabbed the man by the throat.
"How could you lose it, Stoz," said Carl with clenched teeth as he slowly use his hand around Stoz's throat to back him into a shelf," you told us this was secure, and now NASA is coming after us, and now they are coming after YOU!"
"Sir," said the officer putting away the notepad ," let the man go, and please leave, we must continue..,"
"It's okay Tom," said a younger office coming in through the door," these are two guys who own the missing item."
"Oh," said Tom, "Your Mr. Carl Dasher, and your Larry Pinow, thanks Curtis" He walked up to shake Carl's hand, but Larry took the shake.
"Sorry officer," said Larry upset, but calm, shaking the officer's hand,"Carl's normally a fun guy, but this drives us up the WALL. What happened anyways?"
"That's what I've been trying find out," said Officer Tom, looking at his notepad "according to that guard over there, Mr. Guinness, he had try to enter the warehouse at 11:00, for his night shift, when he tried to call in, no one bothered to open the door. When he came in, he found on guard, Mr. Thompson, leaned against the doors, two other guards, Jameson and Clark were unconscious down this right aisle, the AV guys Mr. Roth and Mr. Wetts , the guys who were on the camera, which we're smashed with a blunt object, as far as I know, we're unconscious, who were supposed to be let in. What we know for sure is that every guard was on his shift was unconscious. We can't confirm what happened until some of them wake up. But who ever did this is more slippery than James Bond, since they managed to take out the five security guards here without some of them realizing."
"How do you think that," asked Larry.
"Well, according to the EMS team that came here to help them, they sustained blows on the back of the head, except for Thompson, who seemed disoriented when he woke up, and unable to respond to much. We are still figuring out."
"What did they take," said Curtis, the young officer, "everyone seems to one to avoid talking about it."
"Well," said Larry reluctantly, "You might as well since it might be gone anyways, it was a Spectral Scanner."
"I'm sorry," said Curtis "I failed science, so I don't radiation."
"Well," said ,Larry "You know something about the electromagnetic spectrum, how it measures different kinds of radiation?"
The officer nodded. "Well, the Spectral Scanner is a hand held device that measures it. It kind of like binoculars, only white, boxy, and with black glass on one side, and viewing glass on the other. It's also the size of a box of tissues. It's a handheld radiation detector, that measures on all parts of the electromagnetic spectrum. The device is designed to also work outside of spacecraft, so astronauts themselves can observe radiation in outer space. The advantage of the device is that due to it's powerful lens, can allow astronauts themselves to directly observe all kinds of radiation in space, including new potentially new and undetected ones, as well as CBR."
"What's CBR," asked Officer Curtis.
"Cosmic background radiation," finished Carl, who had calmed down and release his grip on the unfortunate Stoz. "Radiation left over from the big bang. If scientists and astronauts could observe this better, we could understand more about the creation of the universe itself."
The officers were speechless at such a bold claim, that such a device could change their view on the universe they dwell in.
"Well," said Officer Tom, "that does provide some motivation, but it's not conclusive. Who would steal a device that detects radiation. We have to consider other motivations besides scientific observation."
"Wouldn't we all like to know," said a voice from afar. The group of five consisting of Carl, Larry, Officers Tom and Curtis, and a bedraggled Stoz turned toward the green doors, and saw a man in black suit and tie march toward them. He held up his badge. "I am Agent Jim Kefauver of the FBI's Buffalo Office."
"The FBI's looking in on this," asked Carl.
"Yes Mr. Dasher," said Kefauver, "we are, fellow co-chairman of Dasher Pinow, because I see a link between these Spectral Scanners, and some strange phenomena no one can explain." He held up a tape. "Do you have a VCR."
"Yeah," said Stoz, "in my office."
"Let's go watch it, and you'll see."
-
"As you can see," said the person on the TV ," this pattern in the sky.."
"Man, they're even talking about it on the news," said Dennis, still clad in his pajamas, sitting on his red couch on the TV.
"Hey Lyra, Bonnie, look at this," said Dennis. The two came out of the kitchen and walked toward the living room.
"Hey remember those lights we saw at Lake George," said Dennis.
"Lights," asked Bonnie.
"Yeah, there on the news," said Dennis.
The two came over to the TV, and saw a strange aurora like pattern forming in the sky.
"Man, isn't that," Dennis said, turning his head around, and saw two girls, rubbing their thumbs together, like two guys guilty of murder. "What's the matter?"
"I didn't think anyone would notice," muttered Bonnie, her eyes filled with fear.
"What are you talking about," said Dennis, "Who wouldn't notice that. The whole sky was filled with color. when the jerk with the microphone banned all the fireworks. It's not like you did this did you?"
"No," said Lyra staring at the screen. "Sources so far have attributed these lights as fireworks, unable to find any other source," said the television.
"Okay. Oop, look at the time, I have to go feed Crystal, see you girls later," said Dennis. The girls suddenly felt great relief at the reporters statement.
"Man," said Dennis ,"what beautiful fireworks."
-
"Those can't be fireworks," said Carl, who was sitting in Stoz's office, watching the tape.
"That's because they're not," said Kefauver who was sitting on Stoz's desk. "It's looks like an aurora."
"I thought those only happened at like the North Pole," said Curtis, who was leaning against the wall.
"They can happen further south," said Tom.
"I said it "looks like an aurora", said Kefauver," but it's not. You see the colors of an aurora. Do you know how an aurora is formed, and what makes it shine?"
"Yes," said Larry," electrons that escape from solar wind enter the atmosphere and interact with different gases. It is the gas that determines color, in this case green is formed with oxygen, and that violet color if it were nitrogen. Then the magnetic field stretches these particles out, forming aurora borealis."
"Thanks nerd," said Kefauver sarcastically," where did you get your degree."
"Stony Brook," said Larry.
"Great school," said Kefauver stoic, "would have gone there, if my acceptance to Columbia bottomed out," he continued smiling, earning a glare from both Larry and Carl. "But that was a rhetorical question. They also form at least fifty miles above sea level. This thing was formed ten miles above the atmosphere."
"Whoa," said Carl, " so what is it?"
"Well," said Kefauver," NASA made an observation of that phenomenon, and it found it to be some kind of radiation. Most devices however can't determine what it is. Maybe your device could find the source.Maybe it could even trace it down what caused this, and who stole your device."
"Well," said Larry ,"we don't have scanner."
"You mean you never built a backup," asked Tom.
"If you were thorough in your knowledge," said Carl, mockingly ,"you would know that was our only prototype, and it was to be tested at NASA next week. Would have even been put on the International Space Station. But we do have spare parts. We could build a small replica built by this afternoon, maybe 1:30 P.M."
"Okay," said Kefauver, " you two build a replica of the device, and meet me at the hospital where they are treating the guards at around two. The FBI will cover that." He turned to the two cops. "Have you gotten any leads," asked Kefauver to the two cops.
"Well have some fingerprints," said Tom.
"Fax them to the FBI office in Buffalo," said Kefauver," and go to the hospital and talk to those guards when they wake up. Check for finger prints."
"Okay," said Curtis.
"I'll have some men explore Lake George and look for evidence," said Kefauver.
The men all shook hands, understanding their various assignments.
They were interrupted by a knocking outside.
"Hey guys," said Stoz," can I come into my office now?"
"No," said the five.
"Okay," said Stoz, weekly, before meekly walking away from the door to his office.
-
"Yes Crystal," said Dennis as he watched his little pony munch out of it's trough, " all that grain is gonna make you big and strong." He continued to stroke the not-so-little pony's snow-white muzzle.
"Uh, excuse me," said a Southern sounding voice.
Dennis turned around, and saw a tall gentleman. He was wearing a white suit, a red cowboy hat, brown leather cowboy boots, bolo tie, and had a tan bare faced.
"I'm sorry," said Dennis embarrassed ," I don't do it often, I just get attached to this pony..."
"Son," he continued in his Texan drawl," back home in Bandera on my uncle's farm, I treated his horse's like brothas. No man can be a real man unless he show's affection for the animal he loves. I'm sorry I intruded on you, your daughters let m'in."
"Daughter's," said Dennis ,"no they're my guests for the summer. I run a bed and breakfast out of this farmhouse.My name is Dennis Sadnik by the way."
"Well," Mr. Sadnik, he said jovially, shaking his " it's nice to meet a fella trailblazing antrapenuur. Stanford Kell."
"Wait a minute," said Dennis, "the Stanford Kell. Of Kell Computers."
"Founder, and president," said Kell ," and new neighbor."
"You bought Radley's farmhouse," asked Dennis, "that place has been vacant since 1980. How come you decided to buy."
"Well the land was cheap," said Kell, "and I felt a change of scenery would be good for my two daughters."
"Daddy," said a sweet little voice," can I come in."
"Come on in baby," said Kell.
A little girl wearing a small white T-shirt that said "Texas 4 Ever" in big blue letters and purple pants waddled in. She was also had pigtails made out of her blond hair.
"Mr. Sadnik," said Kelly meet my daughter Polly. She walked up to Dennis.
"Nice to meet you Polly," said Dennis in a soft voice as he crouched down down to shake this girls hand.
The little girl just stared at Dennis with a stoic expression. "You're bald," she said.
Dennis' jaw dropped.
"Polly," said Kell in a scolding but affectionate tone, "you know better than to talk to your new neighbor like that."
"Sorry," she said her lips pouting.
"It's okay," said Dennis rubbing Polly's head ,"it happens."
"Ooh, a pony," said Polly as she saw Crystal. "Can I play with her, daddy?
"I don't know," said Dennis ,"ponies aren't toys, they get scared easily."
"But Mr. Sadnik.."
"No Polly," said Kell, "you heard Mr. Sadnik. Go help your sister unpack."
"You know Kelly, I have go downtown," said Sadnik, unable to bare such as sad child's voice ,"but when I get back, you can ride on Crystal while I watch so you stay safe."
"Can I daddy,"
"Yes, just go help your sister unpack."
"Yay," said Polly running out of the room.
"Let's go get a drink downtown," said Kell
"Sure," said Sadnik," I know a place."
-
Shores of Lake Ontario
A dark figure stood there, watching the sky holding a strange set of binoculars. On the side of them was inscribed a logo entitled Dasher Pinow. The object beeped and figure smiled.
"Yes," said the oddly feminine voice ," I found you at last. Your power will be mine." She laughed.