Times Change

by redandready45

Unturning the stones

DeGraff Memorial Hospital, North Tonawanda, NY, 2 p.m.
The waiting room in DeGraff was quite crowded. The room had a white tan floor, dozens of wooden chairs, and glass windows on the front. The people standing up were doctors and nurses who we're either communicating with each other, or were moving patients around the building. The dozens of chairs were filled with either patients or friends or relatives of patients waiting. In the middle of the front third row sat Agent Kefauver. His tan wrinkled face was contorted into a frown, which indicated either being in great thought, or being visibly annoyed by the bawling woman in the seat next to his.
"He's so young," said the shrieking lady. She was rather overweight wearing a sickly yellow dress, her pale pudgy face covered in freckles, her red hair tied into a beehive shape. Her crying ceased for the moment, allowing Kefauver to rest his head, only to hear another wail. "My little Billy. I'm so scared, I don't think he'll make it," she said, grabbing Kefauver's arm, and leaning into his shoulder, allowing her fresh tears to fall on his dark suit
.
"I know.. you are worried about your son," said Kefauver with clenched teeth, with a hiss. He wasn't even looking at the woman, but was staring straight ahead, his eyes we're bulging out of some kind of rage, "but as I've said before, ten times, tonsillectomy is very survivable. Stop worrying about your son, for his sake, and yours." The woman stopped crying, and let go of Agent Kefauver. He decided to take a breath of relief and rested back into his chair, pulling his arms back, and resting his head on his hands.

"Yes," said the woman, wiping her nose," Billy, will be fine. He'll be strong like his father. Walter." She smiling, which crinkling broke into a quivering frown." Ow how I miss him," she screamed, wailing once again. She grabbed Kefauver's arm, and leaned into it, once again moistening his suit. He broke into another frown again, before rising up from the chair, freeing his arm away from the grip of the tragic lady, before walking away.

Kefauver walked over into another empty chair three rows back. He cared little for where he sat went into the bench. As he returned to his relaxing position, he felt something hard and wet impact right side of his forehead. He slowly wiped his forehead, and saw the remnants of a spitball on his palm. He wiped them on the side of his pants where no one would notice it. Kefauver looked to his right and saw a boy of about nine sitting next to him. He wore a white shirt with blue stripes, blue overalls, and had a red cap on his face. He was red headed with large freckles. He held his hands together while he stared straight up in the air, an impish smirk on his face. Kefauver saw the face of a guilty soul, and leaned his head into the boy.

"Son did you hit me with a spitball," said Kefauver, a wide grin on his face.

"What are you talking about," said the boy with soft, innocent voice," I didn't hit anybody."

"Okay," said Kefauver with a reassuring tone," I believe you. I'm just saying, you know, as an FBI agent, " the boy looked at the FBI agent in horror, " I'm saying that if you lied to the FBI, you could end up in prison. Just a lesson, you know" he waved his hand, "you seem like an honest kid." The boy gasped, and got out of his chair and fled.

"Get them every time," said Kefauver smiling. He rested for a few minutes, but turned around and saw Carl and Larry walking with a man in white coat in between them. He was Oriental, maybe six inches shorter than the two of them, wore white khaki's, black rimmed glasses, and a thin crop of dark hair. He was carrying a white box. Something concerned him, why hadn't they called him first before bringing him the scanner,

"Agent Kefauver," said Carl," we knew we had to talk to you about this but it-"

"Do you realize," said Kefauver with clinched teeth ", you are bringing a secret government project into a large crowd."

"Look," said Larry ," these people are sick or dying, they won't notice some box."

"Cool," said a young optimistic voice, grabbing the scanner, "these must be the binocular's I saw in the Highlight's issue. Can I-," the red cap boy looked up and saw a tough FBI staring down at him. holding his hand out with a stink eye. The boy returned the scanner, and ran away.

"What the hell was that all about," asked Carl. watching a scared boy run away.

"What the hell was so important you had to bring a top secret prototype down here," asked Kefauver annoyed, as the men moved into a crowded corner.

"That was my fault Agent," said the man in the white coat, extending his arm " I'm Dr. Herman Hoshasen, Director of R&D at Dasher Pinow." Agent Kefauver relaxed a little to shake the Dr's hand.

"Nice to meet you doctor," he said," I've always wanted to go Japan."

"Me too, Agent, I'm from Boston," said Dr. Hoshasen, smiling.

"Oh I'm sorry," said Kefauver," I didn't-,"

"It's fine," said Hoshasen," stereotypes don't to bother me. I'm from Boston. To make up we should go get some CHOW-DAH." The group of four cracked up, even Kefauver. The group calmed down.

"Tell me doc," said Kefauver, his face serious, "why did you bring this device down here," he stared down at the replica of the scanner.

"Well," said Dr. Hoshasen tapping on his glasses ,"when I saw that display last night, I was shocked just like everybody. I was so keen on studying it, I was already building a similar replica when-,"

"Get to the point-," said Kefauver annoyed, "I don't wanna hear long winded explanations, it wastes literary space."

"I tested the device out a half hour ago," said Hoshasen ," it works almost as well as the other device, but because of the lack of radio-oscillator, it only works at a fraction of the distance of the original, which isn't bad since the original goes for millions of light years, and Earth's distance-,"

"Get on with it," screamed Kefauver, "before a kick your ass back to MIT."

"Okay," said Hoshasen, who narrowed his eyes," for the record I went to Cal Tech," he said angered, "I scanned the sky, and found some traces of that mysterious radiation in the air near Lake George-,"

"Okay we confirmed what happened," said Kefauver ," now what-,"

"Will you let me finish," said Dr. Hoshasen, "I know to you I'm some Asian nerd, but what I say does matter. I found that stuff over Lake George, but I found a similar trace of it in the warehouse-," Jim dropped his annoyed face, "and I that same trace in this hospital," Kefauver looked at the doors leading into the emergency room.

"Yeah," said Larry, whispering "we were shocked too. This radiation isn't anything like we've seen in the history of the electromagnetic spectrum." He held up a white tube with a cube of foam at the head," we were able to absorb it with our Radio-Measure. We gave some to our lab to study. Also we haven't picked up on original scanner."

"Well what is," asked Kefauver.

"All we know is that this stuff," said Carl, looking around, whispering, and handing Kefauver," is that stuff is not from Earth," Kefauver put it on, detecting five green blobs, "and that the men guarding the warehouse we're exposed to it." Kefauver handed Dr. Hoshasen and began walking over to the hospital rooms, in the corridor to the left, but stopped when he saw Officer Curtis and Tom step outside.

"Agent," said Tom, looking tired," all five of those men except for one woke up, and gave us testimony, we also tested them for the fingerprints we found at the warehouse

"That's great," said Kefauver," so who is the prime suspect." The officers stared at him dead-eyed. "Well."

"Well," said Curtis, delirious ," t-truth is, we know as much as you do." Kefauver stared at them briefly confused. The two cops looked at each other, before looking back.

"Sit down, Kefauver," said Tom, "we've got a long story to tell you."
-
"Easy girl," said Dennis, as tried to make Crystal go slowly with the little girl on top. Polly was allowed after an hour to go to Dennis' house and ride the horse. The sight of the little girl on top of a horse with a tiny blue helmet on her head would have been put onto the first page of any family photo album. He was glad Kell's cure worked on his hangover in a few hours. He wonders why he couldn't market that stuff in stead of computer software. He certainly had the appearance of a snake oil salesman. Must have been one of those family remedies that are ruined by commercializing them.

"Like Pepperidge Farm," Dennis thought to himself.

"Now Polly," he said, "pull on the reins for her to go right, but don't pull too hard," he held out his hands, since he was nervous about a little girl riding his pony no matter how little she was.

"Okay," said Polly, "Giddy up," she said, pulling on the reins. Crystal whinnied, causing Dennis to panic, until Molly just turned right while trotting around. After a few minutes, Dennis relaxed, and sat in his chair, since Molly seemed like a natural.

"Man," thought Dennis ,"She and Crystal are like a match, just like Sarah, when she first-", he stopped his thoughts, looked down, and took and breath.

"Mr. Sadnik," said Polly. Dennis broke out of his daze. "Mr. Sadnik I'm tired," she said groaning and leaning her head Crystal's neck. "Can I go down" she said.

"Sure Sar-Polly," he said hastily, and pulled the fatigued young girl off of her, "you've been at this for an hour now. You could use a great rest," he said quietly. He then walked over his young horse and began leading her back into the stable. "Good job Crystal," said Dennis, "your a fair opponent," he said, his voice getting louder and theatrical ," I powerful beast that will know when it's conquered! A-," he stopped when he saw Polly staring at him blankly.
"So what do you wanna do right now Polly," asked Dennis kneeling down, "your daddy is gonna be around in about ten minutes."

"I dunno," she said shrugging her shoulders.

"Do you wanna play checkers," asked Dennis.

"No."

"Do you wanna watch TV," asked Dennis, crouching down.

"No," said Polly.

"Do you wanna color," asked Dennis, smiling.

"No,"

"What do you wanna do," asked Dennis, chuckling.

"I dunno," she said sitting down.

"Do you wanna just sit here and wait," asked Dennis.

"No," she said, standing up. The grin she was making was both adorable and frustrating. Dennis heard a groan, as he heard two footsteps march into the farm. One of them was a really annoyed looking girl. Dennis took notice.

"Lyra." asked Dennis ," are you okay?" Lyra said nothing and sat one of those cubes of hay, her hands on her cheeks.

"What are you doing out here?"

"I just wanna be away from Bon-Bon write now," said Lyra.

"I'm sorry your sad," said Polly, walking up to Lyra, "but we gotta turn that frown upside down."

"Yeah," said Lyra not noticing the little girl.

"C'mon," said Polly, " I get into fights with Ann all the time, but we always make up. Well Daddy tells us to stop, but when its all over we go back to being...okay with each other. In the end we all forget what happened."

"Yeah," said Lyra, lifting her head out of her hands ," yes it is." She looked at the little girl and patted her on the hat. "Who could be mad when your around." She turned her head toward the horse. "Oh hey C-rystal," she said, and the horse just nodded at her. She walked up to the horse and patted it. To Dennis' shock, it appeared to him that Crystal was staggering around the barn, as if trying to lift a hoof to pet Lyra.

"What's gotten into you girl," asked Dennis walking over to the stable.

"Does Crystal have to take a dump," asked Polly. Dennis looked at Polly in shock.

"Polly where did you learn that language," asked Dennis.

"Ann taught me," said Polly, "since Daddy does it when he goes to the bathroom."

"Right," said Dennis ,"say, Polly, let's go take short walk.

"No."

"You wanna get some ice cream," Lyra said to Polly, her mood uplifted.

"Sure," said Polly, sweetly.

"C'mon," she said.

"Would you hold my hand," asked Polly.

"No," said Lyra.

"Why not," asked Polly.

"Well," said Lyra, breathing out, "sometimes when you let someone hold your hand for too long, it will be hard to let go," she said turning away ," or worse yet they will pull your arm toward you, and make you go where you want to go," she gritted her teeth.

"Why would I hate that," asked Polly, staring up at Lyra ,"I like going places with Daddy." Lyra just stared at her, unable to explain.

"I'll explain a little later," said Lyra, unable to respond ,"let's get some ice cream."

"Yes," said Polly, who ran outside the barn with Lyra, explicitly NOT holding Polly's hand. Dennis took no notice of this, and began grumbling.

"Not only does Crystal like her, but children seem to like her more," stewed Dennis ,"and now she is giving her my ice cream." Dennis thought, than took a breath. "Man I can sound like such a child sometimes."
-
"I don't understand it," said Kefauver. He, Hoshasen, Carl and Larry, and officers Tom and Curtis we're sitting in one of the hospital office rooms that wasn't being used . It was a good place to have a makeshift office: a large round table, a fax machine, and since it was a hospital, it was full of interns who aren't payed enough to care what is going on. "Please run that buy me again."

"We have," said Officer Tom, with a raspy. His face was riddle with sweat, he took of his police shirt due to the heat, and he looked positively jaded. Officer Tom was also very frazzled, but in less terrible shape. "I spent hours talking to these guys, and I've spent hours talking to you, Doctor Who, and you two. Why aren't you at work?"

"Because," said Larry, who was calmly enjoying a sirloin stake ," we are very concerned about this project, since it is going to NASA."

"Why don't you send someone else," said Tom, who was sitting down, leaning his face against the table.

"Because," said Carl enjoying a business," we have other people do work for us. That is what success is: have others do your labor so you can come out on top. We we're students of Mr. Kensworth when he taught at Stony Brook."

"Actually," said Tom, rising from his chair," that makes great sense, Curtis, you explain what's going on, while I sit in a chair and watch." Tom laid back into the chair, and put his feet on the table, while Curtis just glared at him. He shrugged.

"Okay," said Curtis, "I'll try to explain it better than fellow, more experienced officer who sets an excellent example for conduct," he said turning toward Tom. " I spoke to all five of the guys who woke up," he shook his head in frustration ,"but this is where it gets interesting!"

"We spoke to the AV guys first. Mr. Roth and Mr. Wetts. We put them in the same room since they we're working together, and when they told us both what happened. When Roth woke up, the nurse told me had tie him down with leather straps to keep him from beating Wetts. When Wetts woke up, he says he went up to check on his personal friend Roth, only to be greeted with words I can't repeat in front live studio audience. According to Roth, Wetts smashed him in the back of the head with a bat."

"What's so weird about that," asked Kefauver flexing his eyebrow.

"Well Mr. Wetts denied doing anything of the sort-,"

"Well of course somebody would deny something like this," said Kefauver, "few people want to go to jail willingly."

"I'm getting there," said Curtis, raising his voice, "When Jameson woke up, he wanted to kick the crap out of Roth, who apparently smashed his head with a bat."

"What," wondered Kefauver. Carl and Larry dropped his bat.

"Oh yeah," said Curtis shaking his head, "Jameson accused Roth of smashing his head."

"Well there you go," said Kefauver waving his hand, "Roth faked it."

"Let me finish," said Curtis," Mr. Roth was found unconscious at his work, with a bruised skull, so something hit him on the head."

"Maybe he made it u-,"

"Agent Kefauver, I need you to listen, lest I end up having the fate of the once proud officer Tom Kelly," he glared at Officer Tom." I need you patient because my patience is wearing thin." Carl and Larry chuckled, and said something about "patient, hospital" until they saw Officer Curtis glaring at them, and remembered he was carrying a gun and stopped.

"I doubt Mr. Roth injured himself- because the back of the head is very hard to injure by yourself."

"What did Wetts see," asked Kefauver.

"According to Wetts, he fell into a daze, he sat at his desk, and suddenly found his friend unconscious. He ran outside to the door to get help, when he saw Clark already at the door when he opened it. Wetts claimed that Clark came at him with a bat , and smashed his head, and also attacked the surveillance cameras in the AV room. And yes Mr. Wetts had maybe 2 blows to his forehead, according to the X-rays."

"What about Clark," asked Kefauver, who was unsure of what he was hearing.

"Clark is saying that he woke up in some daze and saw Roth and Wetts out cold on the floor, and a baseball bat to the side. He ran too the other guards screaming "Call 911," when Thompson shows up with a wrench, and belts him in the face with it, before losing conscious, after being hit on the head with a small object." Kefauver, Dr. Hoshasen, and Carl and Larry just starred. "I know, it's crazy. There were several lacerations on his face. Thompson was the only person found unconscious without a single injury on him."

"So there's your man," asked Kefauver.

"Well I spoke to Thompson at the hospital, and according to him, he woke up in a daze with anger toward Jameson. He apparently was looking around and just saw Mr. Clark unconscious. He ran to find Jameson, who told him in his words 'relax, drink this, relax' in some monotone. He handed him coffee, according to Thompson. Thompson drank the coffee, thanked Clark, and then tried to run to the AV room, when suddenly felt dizzy and lost consciousness."

"But the AV room was across the building to the entrance doors," said Larry ," were you said Mr. Thompson was found."

"I'm getting there," Curtis. "Jameson said he saw Roth walk out of the room kind of the daze, with a strange hue in his eye. He said he walked up to him, and told him "Danger," in a robot voice, and that his eyes we're absent of any kind of warmth or kindness, or danger even. He said "over there" and pointed over him. He looked and felt a big blow to his head and collapsed. A cinder block to the head, which was confirmed by X-rays, and bits of gravel found in Jameson's hair," he saw that Carl, Larry, and Dr. Hoshasen winced at this. Kefauver looked bored, not at the investigation, but a cinder block to the head.

"Evidence," asked Kefauver.

"Oh yeah," said Curtis, stressed out, rubbing the back of his head. "All the camera's were destroyed. But the evidence only makes things harder. On the bat found in the AV room, we found Mr. Wetts fingerprints,"

"Okay so we no-,"
"I said let me finish," said Curtis, "We found Mr. Thompson's finger prints on the ledge where the original Scanner was,"

"So-," said Kefauver, before he met Curtis Carter's glare.

"But according to the doctors, they pumped his stomach and found trace of a knockout agent, not to mention he was covered in coffee. We found clothing fibers on Jameson's hands."

"You mean he dragged Thompson across the room," asked Larry, "he could have touched his own robe."

"You'd think so," said Curtis ," but according to Mr. Guinness, Mr. Thompson wore a special hypoallergenic suit, which the medical records confirm, and thus the fibers on his suit would have been different from everyone else. Anyways, the bat found on the ground of the AV room was dented, and it had Mr. Wett's fingerprints on it. We found the wrench, and it did in fact have Mr. Thompson's fingerprints on it. We also found some of Mr. Roth's blood near the area where Mr. Clark was found. Another bat was found near the AV room, where Mr. Clark's fingerprints were found." The men gathered stood in silence at all this. One could have heard Carl and Larry's knives and forks hit the ground.

"I-I-I, understand know," said Kefauver quietly, "after being on the job for this long, I've never been more confused in my life. There is evidence to suggest that everyone was a suspect, but there is also evidence to suggest that everyone, is a victim."
"Yeah," said Curtis, eyes watering ,"I've been on the job for a couple of years, and I never thought I'd see this. People killing each other for a robbery, it's so low."

"Do you have anything against Guinness," asked Kefauver, strangely quiet.

"No," said Curtis, " none of the guards mentioned him being there at ten o'clock P.M. The punch clock shows that all the guards arrived for their night shift between 8:29 and 9 p.m. last night. None of them mentioned Guinness. When he put the call to 911 around 11:02 p.m. They arrived at 11:06 p.m. He had been working there 6 months, and every guard told him that he had been working none stop all ways arriving at 11 p.m. for the late night shift." He stopped to breath. "The worst part is that each of the guards is avoiding each other.Guinness told me they were good friends, but now they've beaten each other, and not only that, they curse out each other, because none of them was able to stop the robbery. They think they failed and are blaming each other," Larry and Carl looked at each other sadly, "and Guinness tells me their close. That poor kid. How could such a young kid deal with his friends distrusting each other," he let tears flow, and breathed, and felt Tom put his shoulder on him.

"Curtis these things can happen," said Tom tapping on Chris," 25 years in police work, stories of betrayal are common. By fellow officer, businessmen, friends. But we soldier on."

"He's right," said Kefauver smiling," I've worked for the FBI since the days of J. Edgar Hoover. You've been on the force for a couple of months. You'll learn to deal with these things." He frowned ,"But these kind words don't bring us any closer to catching who did this."

The door walked in, and Dr. Hoshasen entered holding the pseudo-scanner.

"Where were you," asked Kefauver, with a sharp edge.

"I decided to be practical, rather than be some nerd who gets orders from the police," said Hoshasen, " and scanned the five men."

"Why," asked Kefauver.

"Well," said Dr. Hoshasen ," I was interested in the radiation on the men and at the warehouse so I scanned them."

"You think their's a connection between this stuff, and those ," asked Kefauver. He stopped when he heard a fax machine release an paper. After many mechanical noises, the paper was released. Hoshasen ran to get at it but was blocked by Kefauver.

"I'm FBI," screamed Kefauver to Hoshasen, "I'll read this." He took a good long hard look at the document, turning it different ways. "You read it," he said to Hoshasen, shoving the paper into his chest. Hoshasen glared at him before reading the document.

"Unbelievable," said Hoshasen wide-eyed, "this is terrifying."

"What," asked Carl.

"I faxed images of the radiation to our lab," he said, "and according to him, the radiation showed similar patterns to normal neural oscillation.

"Really," asked Larry. A long paused followed. "What?"

"Brain waves," said Hoshasen ,"this radiation is so weak and so hard to detect because it follows the patterns of brain waves. I bet if you give those men a CAT scan, you'll fine the same neural disruptions."

"What," asked Kefauver.

"These men were brainwashed," said Hoshasen ," and this radiation caused it."

"That's ridiculous," said Kefauver, "brainwashing is a process that takes weeks even months to accomplish. I don't care what those CIAsses told you, there is no way to brainwash a person in a day. There are no such things as Manchurian candidates. I did a background check on those guards, half of them have military training during the era of the Cold War. They would have suspected if they were being brainwashed."

"Maybe," said Hoshasen, "but this machine was designed to detect unknown forms of radiation. Besides the men said they were in a daze, before getting to the hospital. This is foreign substance, whose properties are not well understood," he said looking through the machine, "they could do this kind of-Oh my god!"

"What," said Kefauver.

"The scanner is detecting a moving source of this green radiation," said Hoshasen, putting down the scanner.

"Where is it heading," he said.

"It's moving along I-90, just in front of the Montezuma National Wildlife Refuge. And there's more."

"What," asked everyone who slowly surrounded Hoshasen.

"Another pinkish radiation has been found, similar to the one at yesterdays 4th of July," he pulled away from the scanner, "near Saratoga County."

Comments

[Teku Senpai]

Alright, I know that it's well past it's due time, but I finished it. A while ago to be honest, I just forgot to post the comment. I can predict that the scanner owners and FBI will start to go after BonBon and Lyra. I think that Dennis will stick up for them. As far as the new neighbor goes, I can't say for sure. I have a small feeling that he'll be pretty important to either the solution, or later on in the story.