Chapter Three (Unfinished)
As he walked, Aaron became increasingly aware of a car that seemed to be following from a respectful distance. Probably a fan, he thought hopefully, but something didn’t seem right about that theory. He quickened his pace. The car did as well.
There was one way to resolve this issue, and that was to duck into an alley. When the car followed him here as well, his worst suspicions were realized. In seconds it had cornered him against the wall.
“Dr. LaBarr, I presume,” said a voice as the front passenger window was rolled down. Within he could see a sharply dressed middle-aged man and across from him in the driver’s seat, another who looked like an identical twin, or perhaps a clone. He thought he could see a woman in the backseat, but it was hard to tell.
“Maybe,” said Aaron. “That depends who you are.” Normally he wouldn’t have cared, but there were warning lights going off all over in his mind. And by now he had gotten to trust his hunches.
“That isn’t important now, Dr. LaBarr,” the man insisted.
“I think it is.” Aaron racked his mind. These guys could be from anywhere, but his bets were on Mr. Zaggatopipopulous, the infamous criminal zillionare. They had crossed paths before, and Aaron knew he wasn’t the sort to forget a grudge.
“What matters is what we want,” said the man. “You, Dr. LaBarr, are the only man who can help us with it.”
“It’s good to feel special.”
The man ignored him and went on. “I shall get straight to the point. We’ve come to know, through completely legal means, of a rather unusual artifact. You are no doubt familiar with the Weeping Forests of Kryndamar?”
“Come on, you don’t have to be a super awesome scholar to know about them.”
“Ah, but what you don’t know, my friend, what nobody knows, is about the crystal, locked away in an ancient temple by a fierce tribe of savage cannibals.”
The man paused again. Aaron said nothing, but still the silence prolonged. Finally he snapped, “Well, get on with it, what about this crystal?”
“It is cut in the most unusual way. The matrices, the curves and planes, they interlock in such a way as to form a simple computer.” He leaned out the window. “Or perhaps, not that simple. Through magic, or perhaps a fundamental mechanism of the universe itself we cannot comprehend, it has the ability to transport anyone through time and space by the mere power of thought.” He settled back, watching calmly for a reaction.
Aaron crossed his arms and shook his head. “Fascinating,” he said. “If you can prove it. I’m a scientist, you know, and I can’t operate on whim alone.”
“Have a look at this,” said the man. He handed over a crude hand-drawn map that led from a clearing in the forest to the temple they had mentioned. On the other side was the temple’s floor plan, which seemed to include quite a number of booby traps. The paper seemed to be aged several hundred years, but to Aaron’s trained eyes, it had clearly been put together within the past month.
“Fascinating,” he said again.
“You will note, of course, the booby traps,” the man explained. “They are not too common in archaeology, regardless of what some believe, but you cannot expect such a prize as this to simply be dug up. And as you seem to have had experience with such things in the past, as you claim in your book” – he held up a copy – “we decided to procure your assistance. Money is no object.”
Aaron carefully looked him in the eye. “I like money,” he admitted, “but I’d feel better if this went to a museum.”
“We will see what we can do,” said the man.
“That’s not good enough,” Aaron insisted, his voice rising. “Assuming this isn’t a load of space spit, which it very well could be, it doesn’t belong in anyone’s hands. You could conceivably take over the universe with that kind of power. And even if you didn’t, even if you settled for being a tourist and gawking at history, all sorts of consequences could arise. You step on a butterfly, you wipe out its descendants, and wham, you’ve just rewritten everything. It’s too dangerous.” He squinted closely at them. “Besides, I still don’t know who you are. I’m sorry, but you’ll have to find someone else. Good day.”
He started to walk away. The man sighed and rubbed his temples. Such a stubborn brute. Must things always be done the hard way? He noted that Aaron had not returned the map, and wondered if perhaps he had plans for it despite what he had said. No. No one else must be involved, and if Dr. LaBarr was to go it alone he must understand the ground rule here, that the crystal was to be theirs.
A bit of coercion would be necessary. He snapped his fingers.
At his signal, the woman in the backseat stepped out, blocking Aaron’s path. She was tall and lanky, towering over him by nearly a foot. Her skin was the color of well-varnished cherry wood, and had a texture that only an assortment of expensive lotions and soaps could provide. Her ears were slightly pointed, though further points may have been concealed beneath her hair, the color of a black hole, tied in a simple bun. Her eyes carried the black hole analogy further, not in their lime green color, but in the soulless vortexes that they seemed to be. She dressed in a simple silk kimono that clung to her body like wet tissue paper.
She was in fact quite beautiful, but Aaron wanted to be nowhere near her. There was a sort of revulsion charging the air between them. Especially when she removed the bundle of cloth from her sleeve. It had been fashioned into a small doll, barely recognizable as a human, and even more barely recognizable as one in particular, Aaron himself.
“Is that supposed to be me?” he scoffed. “That does it. I’m selling the rights to Hasbro.”
The woman didn’t appear to be amused, but she replied, in a voice somehow resembling silk laced with razor blades, “This one is not made in China. And I think you will find you have more to worry about than lead paint.”
Aaron considered saying “They don’t use lead paint anymore” but he realized that being an annoying smart aleck wasn’t going to get him out of this. Something about this doll genuinely gave him the creeps, and he decided to regard it with respect and caution until he figured it out.
She began to stroke the doll’s back, softly, with her first two fingers, as she hummed below her breath. Suddenly, Aaron felt giant invisible fingers stroking his own back. It was a pleasant, soothing feeling, but somehow disturbing as well, as if his personal bubble were being filled with evil spirits. And perhaps it was. All in all though, he could grow to like this.
Suddenly she stopped stroking, and began to squeeze.
[gap]
“So that was my tax dollars at work?” mused Aaron. “I’m impressed. Really. No sarcasm. Very impressed.”
“Well thank you,” said the Chief, “why don’t you show your appreciation by telling us just what that was all about. Have a seat, you’ll be more comfortable.”
“Thanks,” Jack and Aaron both murmured as they sat down.
“Donuts?” the chief continued, setting forth a box of assorted kinds. “I don’t like to reinforce stereotypes, but I just love the darn things.” His guests quickly took him up on his offer.
chief description
“Now to business,” he said. “I’m Chief Grimsby.” He rummaged through the clutter on his desk and retrieved a small coffee-stained placard which read CHIEF GRIMSBY. He set it up and went on, “All I’d like to know is why those people were after you.”
Aaron shrugged and smirked. “Everyone’s after me, don’t you know? I’m just irresistible.”
The chief raised an eyebrow. “And you are –?”
“Dr. Aaron LaBarr.” He presented a copy of his book which he had conveniently brought with him. “Perhaps you’ve read my new book?”
“’Fraid not. This police business doesn’t give one much time,” the chief replied, completely disinterested.
“What are they, terrorists?” asked an assistant who had just walked in to set another stack of papers on the chief’s desk.
Grimsby shuddered. “I hope not,” he said. “The war’s supposed to be keeping them at bay.” He nodded to the assistant, who began to leave, and then suddenly found something to command his attention in the doorway.
“They’re not from the Middle East, anyway,” said Aaron. “At least that’s what I’m wagering. They wanted me to go after some kind of magic crystal that travels through time and space.”
The chief raised an eyebrow again. “Magic crystal,” he mumbled skeptically.
Aaron laughed. “Yeah, pretty kooky,” he agreed. “And they gave me this.” He pulled out the map and handed it over.
The chief grunted as he looked it over for a full two seconds. “Rubbish,” he decided. “It’s like something out of a bad TV movie. Looks like we got a couple of nutcases on the lam.” He handed it back and sighed. “Anything else we should know?”
“Yes,” insisted Jack. Aaron stared at him in surprise. “That lady who was there. She’s a witch.”
Grimsby smirked. “Nice of the boy to use euphemisms in our presence,” he said to Aaron. “Not much point to it though.”
“I mean it, she’s a real witch,” Jack snapped. “With black magic and everything, you know.”
The chief decided to humor him, but could barely contain his smile. “All right, sonny, how do you know she’s a witch, eh?”
“She turned me into a newt!” Aaron blurted out.
The others turned to stare at him in disbelief. The chief vaguely remembered the quote as being from some ancient movie, but Jack was completely perplexed.
“I got better,” Aaron explained, barely able to restrain his laughter.
“Oh, come on, you were there!” said Jack. “She had this doll, see, like a voodoo doll kind of, and when she squeezed it he got all short of breath, and –”
“Look, kid,” sighed the chief, “witchcraft isn’t our department. You’ll have to take it up with someone else.” He turned back to Aaron. “Quite an imagination, for his age. Anyway, getting back to serious business, do you suppose they had anything to do with the attack on Sternweld?”
“Sternweld’s been attacked?”
“Yeah, just this morning, didn’t you hear? They left the place in shambles. Killed about a hundred people, teachers and students alike. No one knows what they were after.”
Aaron leaned back thoughtfully. “No idea,” he said.
Jack studied him carefully. Why was he not more concerned? He distinctly remembered from the book that Aaron had gone to Sternweld, and that many of his colleagues still worked there. But now he didn’t bat an eyelash at the news, simply shrugged and shook his head. And why, for crying out loud, had he denied the witch statement? Jack had to concentrate to hear what the chief was saying now.
“No matter, we’ve got our own top men working on the case right now. Technically I’m supposed to make you fill out a bunch of paperwork, but I understand you probably have better things to do. You’re free to go.”
“Thanks,” said Aaron. He stood up and shook the chief’s hand, while his other quickly grabbed another donut.
“Oh, and another thing,” he called after them.
“Yes?” said Aaron impatiently.
“Wear your helmets next time,” said the chief, tapping his noggin. “I’ve seen brains splattered on the pavement, and it ain’t a pretty sight.”
“Yes, sir,” they responded in unison, as they turned and headed out the door.
“There you are,” Halley called as she saw them emerge from the police station. “I thought I’d missed you.”
Next: Miscellaneous
There was one way to resolve this issue, and that was to duck into an alley. When the car followed him here as well, his worst suspicions were realized. In seconds it had cornered him against the wall.
“Dr. LaBarr, I presume,” said a voice as the front passenger window was rolled down. Within he could see a sharply dressed middle-aged man and across from him in the driver’s seat, another who looked like an identical twin, or perhaps a clone. He thought he could see a woman in the backseat, but it was hard to tell.
“Maybe,” said Aaron. “That depends who you are.” Normally he wouldn’t have cared, but there were warning lights going off all over in his mind. And by now he had gotten to trust his hunches.
“That isn’t important now, Dr. LaBarr,” the man insisted.
“I think it is.” Aaron racked his mind. These guys could be from anywhere, but his bets were on Mr. Zaggatopipopulous, the infamous criminal zillionare. They had crossed paths before, and Aaron knew he wasn’t the sort to forget a grudge.
“What matters is what we want,” said the man. “You, Dr. LaBarr, are the only man who can help us with it.”
“It’s good to feel special.”
The man ignored him and went on. “I shall get straight to the point. We’ve come to know, through completely legal means, of a rather unusual artifact. You are no doubt familiar with the Weeping Forests of Kryndamar?”
“Come on, you don’t have to be a super awesome scholar to know about them.”
“Ah, but what you don’t know, my friend, what nobody knows, is about the crystal, locked away in an ancient temple by a fierce tribe of savage cannibals.”
The man paused again. Aaron said nothing, but still the silence prolonged. Finally he snapped, “Well, get on with it, what about this crystal?”
“It is cut in the most unusual way. The matrices, the curves and planes, they interlock in such a way as to form a simple computer.” He leaned out the window. “Or perhaps, not that simple. Through magic, or perhaps a fundamental mechanism of the universe itself we cannot comprehend, it has the ability to transport anyone through time and space by the mere power of thought.” He settled back, watching calmly for a reaction.
Aaron crossed his arms and shook his head. “Fascinating,” he said. “If you can prove it. I’m a scientist, you know, and I can’t operate on whim alone.”
“Have a look at this,” said the man. He handed over a crude hand-drawn map that led from a clearing in the forest to the temple they had mentioned. On the other side was the temple’s floor plan, which seemed to include quite a number of booby traps. The paper seemed to be aged several hundred years, but to Aaron’s trained eyes, it had clearly been put together within the past month.
“Fascinating,” he said again.
“You will note, of course, the booby traps,” the man explained. “They are not too common in archaeology, regardless of what some believe, but you cannot expect such a prize as this to simply be dug up. And as you seem to have had experience with such things in the past, as you claim in your book” – he held up a copy – “we decided to procure your assistance. Money is no object.”
Aaron carefully looked him in the eye. “I like money,” he admitted, “but I’d feel better if this went to a museum.”
“We will see what we can do,” said the man.
“That’s not good enough,” Aaron insisted, his voice rising. “Assuming this isn’t a load of space spit, which it very well could be, it doesn’t belong in anyone’s hands. You could conceivably take over the universe with that kind of power. And even if you didn’t, even if you settled for being a tourist and gawking at history, all sorts of consequences could arise. You step on a butterfly, you wipe out its descendants, and wham, you’ve just rewritten everything. It’s too dangerous.” He squinted closely at them. “Besides, I still don’t know who you are. I’m sorry, but you’ll have to find someone else. Good day.”
He started to walk away. The man sighed and rubbed his temples. Such a stubborn brute. Must things always be done the hard way? He noted that Aaron had not returned the map, and wondered if perhaps he had plans for it despite what he had said. No. No one else must be involved, and if Dr. LaBarr was to go it alone he must understand the ground rule here, that the crystal was to be theirs.
A bit of coercion would be necessary. He snapped his fingers.
At his signal, the woman in the backseat stepped out, blocking Aaron’s path. She was tall and lanky, towering over him by nearly a foot. Her skin was the color of well-varnished cherry wood, and had a texture that only an assortment of expensive lotions and soaps could provide. Her ears were slightly pointed, though further points may have been concealed beneath her hair, the color of a black hole, tied in a simple bun. Her eyes carried the black hole analogy further, not in their lime green color, but in the soulless vortexes that they seemed to be. She dressed in a simple silk kimono that clung to her body like wet tissue paper.
She was in fact quite beautiful, but Aaron wanted to be nowhere near her. There was a sort of revulsion charging the air between them. Especially when she removed the bundle of cloth from her sleeve. It had been fashioned into a small doll, barely recognizable as a human, and even more barely recognizable as one in particular, Aaron himself.
“Is that supposed to be me?” he scoffed. “That does it. I’m selling the rights to Hasbro.”
The woman didn’t appear to be amused, but she replied, in a voice somehow resembling silk laced with razor blades, “This one is not made in China. And I think you will find you have more to worry about than lead paint.”
Aaron considered saying “They don’t use lead paint anymore” but he realized that being an annoying smart aleck wasn’t going to get him out of this. Something about this doll genuinely gave him the creeps, and he decided to regard it with respect and caution until he figured it out.
She began to stroke the doll’s back, softly, with her first two fingers, as she hummed below her breath. Suddenly, Aaron felt giant invisible fingers stroking his own back. It was a pleasant, soothing feeling, but somehow disturbing as well, as if his personal bubble were being filled with evil spirits. And perhaps it was. All in all though, he could grow to like this.
Suddenly she stopped stroking, and began to squeeze.
[gap]
“So that was my tax dollars at work?” mused Aaron. “I’m impressed. Really. No sarcasm. Very impressed.”
“Well thank you,” said the Chief, “why don’t you show your appreciation by telling us just what that was all about. Have a seat, you’ll be more comfortable.”
“Thanks,” Jack and Aaron both murmured as they sat down.
“Donuts?” the chief continued, setting forth a box of assorted kinds. “I don’t like to reinforce stereotypes, but I just love the darn things.” His guests quickly took him up on his offer.
chief description
“Now to business,” he said. “I’m Chief Grimsby.” He rummaged through the clutter on his desk and retrieved a small coffee-stained placard which read CHIEF GRIMSBY. He set it up and went on, “All I’d like to know is why those people were after you.”
Aaron shrugged and smirked. “Everyone’s after me, don’t you know? I’m just irresistible.”
The chief raised an eyebrow. “And you are –?”
“Dr. Aaron LaBarr.” He presented a copy of his book which he had conveniently brought with him. “Perhaps you’ve read my new book?”
“’Fraid not. This police business doesn’t give one much time,” the chief replied, completely disinterested.
“What are they, terrorists?” asked an assistant who had just walked in to set another stack of papers on the chief’s desk.
Grimsby shuddered. “I hope not,” he said. “The war’s supposed to be keeping them at bay.” He nodded to the assistant, who began to leave, and then suddenly found something to command his attention in the doorway.
“They’re not from the Middle East, anyway,” said Aaron. “At least that’s what I’m wagering. They wanted me to go after some kind of magic crystal that travels through time and space.”
The chief raised an eyebrow again. “Magic crystal,” he mumbled skeptically.
Aaron laughed. “Yeah, pretty kooky,” he agreed. “And they gave me this.” He pulled out the map and handed it over.
The chief grunted as he looked it over for a full two seconds. “Rubbish,” he decided. “It’s like something out of a bad TV movie. Looks like we got a couple of nutcases on the lam.” He handed it back and sighed. “Anything else we should know?”
“Yes,” insisted Jack. Aaron stared at him in surprise. “That lady who was there. She’s a witch.”
Grimsby smirked. “Nice of the boy to use euphemisms in our presence,” he said to Aaron. “Not much point to it though.”
“I mean it, she’s a real witch,” Jack snapped. “With black magic and everything, you know.”
The chief decided to humor him, but could barely contain his smile. “All right, sonny, how do you know she’s a witch, eh?”
“She turned me into a newt!” Aaron blurted out.
The others turned to stare at him in disbelief. The chief vaguely remembered the quote as being from some ancient movie, but Jack was completely perplexed.
“I got better,” Aaron explained, barely able to restrain his laughter.
“Oh, come on, you were there!” said Jack. “She had this doll, see, like a voodoo doll kind of, and when she squeezed it he got all short of breath, and –”
“Look, kid,” sighed the chief, “witchcraft isn’t our department. You’ll have to take it up with someone else.” He turned back to Aaron. “Quite an imagination, for his age. Anyway, getting back to serious business, do you suppose they had anything to do with the attack on Sternweld?”
“Sternweld’s been attacked?”
“Yeah, just this morning, didn’t you hear? They left the place in shambles. Killed about a hundred people, teachers and students alike. No one knows what they were after.”
Aaron leaned back thoughtfully. “No idea,” he said.
Jack studied him carefully. Why was he not more concerned? He distinctly remembered from the book that Aaron had gone to Sternweld, and that many of his colleagues still worked there. But now he didn’t bat an eyelash at the news, simply shrugged and shook his head. And why, for crying out loud, had he denied the witch statement? Jack had to concentrate to hear what the chief was saying now.
“No matter, we’ve got our own top men working on the case right now. Technically I’m supposed to make you fill out a bunch of paperwork, but I understand you probably have better things to do. You’re free to go.”
“Thanks,” said Aaron. He stood up and shook the chief’s hand, while his other quickly grabbed another donut.
“Oh, and another thing,” he called after them.
“Yes?” said Aaron impatiently.
“Wear your helmets next time,” said the chief, tapping his noggin. “I’ve seen brains splattered on the pavement, and it ain’t a pretty sight.”
“Yes, sir,” they responded in unison, as they turned and headed out the door.
“There you are,” Halley called as she saw them emerge from the police station. “I thought I’d missed you.”
Next: Miscellaneous