Moonweavers (8 page)

Scott shakes his head in agreement. 
“Yea, Links, I think I get it.  So when will rays of light shoot out of my eyeballs, man?”

“
To each and every person it’s a little different.  A year, five, a day.  You might do it on an accident once and then again, its like hiccups, in a way.  They just come out of nowhere.  But I think when you experience for the first time what it is, you will learn quickly how to form it and use it to your advantage. 

“
I think you’re right about that black matter thing,” Scott says.  “I somehow changed when I came down.  There was parts, like in the cave, when Rob died.  I uh, I well,” Scott looks down ashamed.  “I killed a mountain lion before I even knew I was doing it.”

The Bigfoot grunts in agreement. 
“That is a whole other animal completely.” he said as his tone gets more serious.  “That is primal.  When you were connected with the wolf, you were connected with the wolves spirit as well.  Which is a carnivores process of thinking.  I have it too.  My fits were something completely primal too, being part ape.  You’ll notice it will appear when you are threatened. In battle mode or under a lot of pressure.  You’ll snap and these feelings will appear.  With a lot of work you can control them to a certain extent but mostly you release the dragon within you in a way.  Something that’s always there and shows its ugly head every time it has opportunity to get out of its little confined environment within you.  They’re called emotions.  But they are stronger than that.  Aren’t they, Scott?” 

“
Its something like I never imagined,” Scott replied.  “You come to the planet and you’re expecting to be a human being with human emotions not animal primal attack, destroy anything in your way robot type shit.  What am I? A computer program gone bad?”  Scott chuckles at that. 

“
Oh, humans have primal feelings too, you bet your life on that.” explains the mountain king.    “They just control them with law and lock them up and keep the bad ones away, Scott.  Can’t you realize this?  Why you think there is so many prisons or executions?  Think about it.  The wars, untold numbers of dead from wars, atomic bomb explosions.  Just think about it, Scott.  Just think about it.  One guy who turns prime evil and attacks an animal in the woods in a cave far away from humanity, who knows that he can hurt humans, people and children.  You stayed away from all that, Scott, didn’t you?  You could have took the road towards the city, but you didn’t.  Why? I’ll tell you why Scott.  Because you’re more human than you think.  And it might even be higher than that.  You’re more good shall we say.  You have an instinct to do good things as well as bad ones and that’s all part of living.  This isn’t a pampered cubical upon the moon anymore buddy.  This is living.  This is life.  Look around you Scott.  Breathe it in for all its worth.  You never had all this up there and you know it.  That’s why you wanted to come down.  You knew there was a better life out there.  You knew you had to go and find it and taste it and smell it.  You never ate in your life until you landed here and now you are truly alive.  When you bit into that flesh and tore at it with your teeth, how did you feel when you come to realize what you were doing?  Didn’t you, way down inside, have a strange sense of satisfaction of the kill that you made?  That’s the primal feeling within you.  That’s part of living, Scott.  It’s part of living.  Congratulations.  You may never have felt this if you would have stayed up there.  You were given a gift.  All I am trying to teach you, Scott, is how to use it.  Use it for good not evil, Scott and you will find out for your good actions, good things will be given to you and for bad, bad things will be given to you as well.  Learn this and you will thrive.  Comes down to this.  If you want to feel good, do good things.  We do good things here at the guard.  We help people and ghosts and anyone else out there who needs it.   There’s a war coming, Scott.  Which side are you on?”

“
I think I understand completely, Links.  Thank you.  I will help, but how?”

“
Well, if you don’t mind, I say we look at this whole werewolf thing.  We inspect it and figure out how it works, what happens, how strong they get under the full moonlight.  Or if you snap out and not remember things, how much of that happens?  That is just how it’s gonna have to work.”

“
So you’re going to put me in another lab and poke rods in me and see how my insides look?  Like some kind of lab rat?  No thanks.”

“
No. No.  We’re not as crude as that, Scott.  We don’t use utensils on human anyway.  I mean we are a bunch of ghosts for Christ’s sake.  We just wanna lock you up to make sure you don’t hurt anyone.  I don’t know how well you float between the realms or if you even do it under your werewolf form.  But those are things we gotta study and see.  We are gonna lock you up in a room and see if you get out and how you get out.  How you react to things.  We are gonna anger you.  We are gonna do things that aren’t gonna be pleasant, Scott.  To test you, through different battle techniques.  If we trust you, and we feel that you are ready, we will advance you on warfare and how you can help the guard.  Or if we even want you, Scott.  We don’t know yet.  When everything is laid out on the table, we will proceed with the next steps.  If you want to learn more, I can teach you.  I told you this.  But you have to be willing to learn as well, but at the same time be taught.  That’s how this is going to work, Scott, or this isn’t going to work at all.  These ghosts around here don’t like lunars much.  They tolerate with my ass, but I’m not the head honcho around here either.  I’m just one of many.  What it comes down to is we all make the final decision in the guard.  That’s how it works.”

Links suddenly grabs the coffee mug and fills it.  He slips the lid on and tips it towards his lips.  He drinks down the hot substance with three big gulps and slams the cup harshly down to the counter and gives Scott a big grin of satisfaction from the beverage. 
“After you have the clearance, we will let you do more for the guard.  I have a good feeling about you, Scott.  I think deep down, you’re alright.”

Scotts tail wags a bit at that.  He finds it comforting after remembering how alone he was back on the bluff, not knowing how he was going to be accepted and now instantly having this new family union.  He is overjoyed with the relief and support of his new found friends on a newfound planet that he is now reborn into in a way.  With a grin that would be scary to some, with canine jaws and such, Links finds his grin refreshing, like a proud new parent holding their baby for the first time, nourishing it and replies,
“Yes, there is a lot to learn, Scott.  I will have your room all set up downstairs.  We have some old walk-in freezers we turned off and modified for this very situation you are in.  I wish it was more hospitable, but it’s all we have.  Try not to dislike me for it, Scott, but I’m afraid that’s where you are going to have to be staying for awhile.”

“
Look, Links,” Scott replies, “I totally understand that and I can see why you would be leery of strangers so lead the way kind sir.”

It was quite comical for Scott to see the big ape man maneuver down the basement stairs crouched over almost all the way to his feet just to get down the narrow staircase, mumbling sarcastic remarks going down about who ever designed the narrow winding turn of the spiral stairways architecture that opens up into a room with an even lower ceiling that the big ape man has to comply with as they venture toward the freezer door.  Links pulls on the refrigerator door with ease with one pull , Scott wonders just how strong this massive missing link might possibly be.  He feels quite intimidated at that thought.  Thinking just how easily the big ape man might have ripped that fist clear through his canine skull if need be back on the bluff.  He quickly shakes off the thought in a gesture that a wet canine would give if it wanted to dry off and remove the wetness from its fur, hoping it would shake off his very inner emotion noticing that he does this quite often in this new organic form.  With the door of the freezer now open, Scott peers in as the light flickers into being from the flick of the switch alongside the basement wall.  Scott sees as he enters the cooler, a small bed cramped over into the corner, a journal of a sort on a desk in the opposite area of the cooler and a Persian rug on the floor.  The walls of the room sparkled here and there from the reflections of the light on the roof of the cooler.  There were various dents all along the walls and ceiling, like someone punched or kicked indentions all through the surfaces in the room.  Except for the floor.  The floor was magnificent.  All those earthy tones from the Persian rug, really popped alongside, not just the floor, but the reflections from all the shiny surfaces along the wall and ceiling giving it a midnight sky feel.  Rocky terrain soothing him in a way from the metallic shine of the whole room.  Scott quickly leaps onto the bed and lies down on his back paws.

Scott says, “You know what, Links?  This isn’t half bad.”

“
I just hope the walls hold you,” Links replies.  “Stay within the coolers walls, Scott, because the professor has the entire basement rigged up with booby traps for anything that tries to get out the cellar door.  Its like a room within a room.  A prison within a prison, so enjoy.”

“
Kind of a safeguard,”.

“
There is an extreme gravity pull if you walk out that door that will have you stuck to the floor like flypaper.  You’ll feel like you have been sucked to the floor and unable to move at all.  All I told him is that I didn’t want anyone trying to put a hole in my floor.  This is how he did it.  I wouldn’t play with it too much though.  It hasn’t really been properly tested.  They usually don’t get out of the cooler.  That’s why its still standing.  You can see by the dents on the floor and ceiling.”

“
Yea,” Scott said.

“
You know what?  I am going to bring you down a bowl.  I have a doggie bowl upstairs if you want it.  Its kind of hard to eat or drink with glasses now isn’t it?  Maybe some big bowls or something?”

Scott silently thinks about it. 
“Yea, sure.”

“
Don’t feel bad Scott if you tear up the room.  Its bound to happen.  I just want to throw that out there.  The next day if you are in here and its terribly messed up, we don’t care.  Its your well being we are looking after,” Link says as he draws toward the cooler door and out of the basement.  On his way out, Scott can hear the bumps and the pounds against the wall and the ceiling as the Bigfoot mumbles more sarcasms, like the way he did venturing down the small staircase. 

“
At least if this room holds, I won’t hurt nobody tonight,” Scott says to himself.  He eyes all the dented impressions all throughout the room.  Seeing fist marks here and there or a scratch and even bigger dents like someone used their whole body to ram it in spots that caved in deeper into the metal substance.  Links left the door open and Scott ventures out just to look at the mechanics of the whole basement that he didn’t even notice coming down.  But now he can see towards the stairway, upon the ceiling, is a box with lights flickering on and off, like a pimped out microwave stuck to the ceiling.  Scott ventures closer to look.  Something he completely overlooked.  Other than that and the freezer are the only two things in the room.  Its not well lit but visible.  About that time, Scott hears Links clanking down the spiral stairway again carrying a  bag that looks almost comical in his hand.  Scott hears an “ughhh” as the big guy pries himself through the small gap of the stairway entrance into the room and quickly drops the bag to the floor to use another hand to press through. 

“
Its like the damn thing is getting smaller,” Links says. 

Scott quickly runs to the bag, clamps his teeth shut around the stringy handle of the flowery bag and quickly runs back into the room with tail wagging and jumps back onto the bed.  Links finally free of the entrance, bends down again to walk over to the freezer door, grunting like an ape the whole way and catching his breath from the air he had to suck out of his body to get through the tiny area to enter the room. 

“Uh, yea, thanks Scott,”  the big ape says.  “You have you there a couple bowls and there’s some water here in these bottles.  I’ll get you all set up,” as he grabs the bag off the bed and moves around.  “This here is a kind of jerky.  Its something the captain came up with.  He said he used to use it on long journeys at sea.  Its quite nutritious and will help you recover from all that’s been happening, Scott.  Its quite good if I do say so myself.  I had three sticks on the way down.  It really gives you something to rip your teeth into.  I put a minor sleeping agent into it myself.  It might help a little bit with your transfer.  I have a feeling that might be a little painful, buddy.”

“
If it was anything like when I turned into the wolf, you might be correct, sir.  And thanks for looking out for me big guy.  I do appreciate you guys coming along when you did.  I could have really hurt somebody tonight.”

“
We’re the guardians.  That’s what we do”  Links said as he sets the bag of goodies onto the desk.  “I envy your form Scott.”

“Why’s that?”

“
Well, you’re pretty quick for one and you can fit in smaller places.  I got my ass stuck in one of those outside portable potties once.  My legs were jingling out the door as I was crouched down I couldn’t get myself off the toilet.  Guess my ass is a little too big for one of those.  , MY intimidation factor comes in handy quite often tho.  Most will just run away from me, leaving me to do my will.  If they shoot I just ghost out.  We will be recording everything.  The sensors in the wall can tell the force of impact against it.  So that will give us an idea of exactly how strong you are, Scott.  So I am gonna lock the door now and turn on the power supply to the machinery outside it.  I will see you in the morning.”