The Chardon Chronicles: Season One -- The Harvest Festival (29 page)

David smiled, “I’m really curious to find out
what Dana makes of it. She seems to be partly in that world with no
mechanical help.”

Matt chuckled, “Me too. I think we might even
get Telia into the chair.”

David and Robbie laughed. Robbie said, “get
her to take some peyote! I saw her drunk once, that was a
hoot.”

Matt laughed, “Oh man…. So how did you guys
fare?”

Robbie and David looked at each other. Robbie
said, “Swing and a miss for sure.”

“Major wiff.” David added.

“Oh really? How come?”

David answered, “Well the guy’s basically
just a salesman and he already has his pitch worked out. He just
worked the audio into his schtick to sell more fluoride
filters.”

Matt rubbed his forehead, “Well, we all
thought that was a likely outcome.”

Robbie said, “that’s what we really are
kicking around right now, how to build a better media outlet. I
think the Internet’s going to be a very powerful channel for
distributing our story, but right now, we lack contacts. We can
leapfrog the bad guys if we get on top of this. ”

Matt said, “I am with you on this general
theme, but we’re pretty far from a plan, right?”

David answered, “well, we’re thinking about
it. We’re basically smack dab in the middle of the country right
now trying to figure out what to do next.”

“Alright, I’ll mull it over, too. I’ll let
you know if I think of anything.”

Telia and Dana walked around the contraption
in the warehouse. It towered over their heads.

“How do you get in?” Dana asked.

Matt walked her to the ladder. “First, drink
some of this stuff.”

She took a swig of the peyote tea and
grimaced. “Ugh! Ick!”

Matt said, “Climb up there to the platform
and sit in the chair.”

She clambered up the 2x4 ladder and stepped
onto the platform. It was very solidly built, but had no railings
and it hung from a heavy cantilevered arm. The chair was an old
leather arm-chair that was attached to the platform with stout
wooden legs. It remained at the focus of the reflector array.

“Sit down and hang on.” Matt said. She
plopped into the chair and Johnny started moving the gimbals
through their paces.

She laughed and whooped. “Oh man! This needs
a seat belt!”

Johnny spun the reflector so she was looking
down at them from about 12 feet in the air. She said, “OK. Let’s
give this thing a try. Point me at the moon.”

Matt stayed Johnny’s hand, and called up to
her, “You sure about that? The Sun pretty much kicked my ass.”

She nodded. Matt let Johnny go. He typed in
the coordinates of the moon and the gimbals swung the chair and the
array around.

“Now what?” she asked.

“Basically you meditate and reach out with
your mind… Unfortunately I can’t explain any better.”

“Mmmm. OK. Let me try.”

She relaxed and let her body sink into the
chair. “Oh wow!” she mumbled. She felt the feeling of a caress
breeze through her whole being. A tear ran down her cheek. The
connection snapped when Johnny repositioned the reflector.

“Well?” Matt asked.

“That was incredible, a very, very powerful
pure feeling like a mother’s caress of my whole self.”

Telia’s curiosity was mounting. “Do I have to
drink that tea?”

Matt said, “to be honest, I don’t really
know. But so far, it seems like it protected me. Anyway, it’s not
harmful and wears off in about an hour or two.”

She said, “OK. Hit me!” she drank a swig.
“Holy cow, that’s nasty.” she spit a couple of times. He followed
her up the ladder.

“Just sit back, relax and just reach out with
your mind--not like you’re trying to grab something, but like
you’re trying to expand your inner world.”

She guffawed. “Oh man, that’s the corniest
thing I’ve ever heard… OK you, get down.” she shooed him off the
platform.

Dana nudged Johnny. “Think she’ll be able to
do it?” she whispered. He shrugged and pointed the reflector at the
terminal tower.

Telia relaxed. She let her mind rest and go
quiet like she was going to nap. She began to drift off, but
instead of blackness, she was sitting on the shore. Waves lapped at
the pebbles. “Oh my god!” she thought, and snapped back to normal
consciousness.

Her mouth was hanging open. She scooted
forward on the chair. Johnny spun the reflector around so she was
facing them. “That was the most amazing thing…” she said. She
clambered down the ladder and hugged Matt, then shocked Dana by
hugging her too. She kissed Dana on the hair. She put a hand on
Johnny’s shoulder.

“What did you see?” Matt asked.

“It was a different place… I was on a beach.
A stony beach, all pebbles. It was dim, like you said, overcast.
Waves were just lapping against the rocks. That’s all I remember,
as soon as I tried to do anything I came back.”

“Yes, it’s an acquired skill to remain over
there. If you try too hard, you snap back to normal consciousness.
Poof.” Matt snapped his fingers.

Dana put her hands on Johnny’s shoulders,
“You gonna try?”

“I will next time, I want to work on my
meditation skills before I have a turn. Let’s send the man over,
next.”

Matt returned to the beach. He ascended the
hill and walked across the grassy plain. He tried to follow a
gentle rise in the landscape, hoping for a better vantage point,
but the plain seemed to roll on for miles.

“Hello my friend,” he felt Montigo’s presence
return. They shook hands again.

“Montigo, is there anything
here
, like
a city or buildings, or do these plains just go on endlessly?”

“Yes in a sense, but this place is not like
Earth. On Earth, two people who walk through the same room and look
in the same spots will see all the same things. This place is a
shared dream, like the set of a play. Let me show you
something.”

Montigo struggled for a few seconds to pull a
clump of grass from the ground. Roots dangled from the bundle of
dirt. He tossed it on the ground. He motioned for Matt to follow
him a few yards away from the divot.

Montigo pointed up in the distant sky, “see
there are crows over there?” Matt focused his attention on the
birds. Montigo tapped his shoulder and they walked back to the spot
where the divot should be, but it was gone and the clump of grass
was gone.

“Like it never happened.” Matt said.

“Yes, there are rules, consistency, but not
like Earth. It’s maddening!” Matt sensed frustration. “So you must
imagine the great yearning from this side to be over there.”

“And vice versa.”

“Twins separated at birth.” Montigo
laughed.

“Montigo, tell me, if you can, why are so
many beings who cross over to my side so twisted?”

“Soldiers in a foreign country can see the
citizens as prey. I think the principle is similar. Also, imagine
what you might be like after decades, even thousands of years apart
from your friends, your family, your body, even your pets. Then,
imagine being dependent upon humans to have a full life.
Resentement
.”

“Speaking of pets. I did bring a cat. I hope
she’s still in my lap.”

As Matt regained consciousness, he felt
Montigo’s presence for a few lingering moments as he stroked the
fur and felt a sense of great affection mixed with loss, then he
was completely awake.

Present Day

Yuri put his thumbs under his cheek bones and
rested his elbows on the tabletop in the Sheriff’s campaign office.
It was a habit he developed as a child when he was completely bored
and irritated in school. He held his head completely still and
shifted his eyes back and forth between Judge Ralph and Chuck, with
Saul occasionally interjecting some nonsense.

Time and again, he marvelled at how the
Brotherhood amassed so much wealth and power. He decided it was not
the result of cunning or even competence, rather it was simply from
taking the initiative to
do
anything. With orders flowing
down from the top through thousands of people it was possible to
topple a mountain by swabbing at it with cotton balls.

Ralph, Chuck and Saul had been talking about
using chlorine gas to drive the people out of the Wells farm to try
to accomplish two main goals: recover the books and to minimize the
risk. The conversation went in endless circles.

He couldn’t take it anymore. He started
bumping his head on the table, softly at first, but then finally
with a great, surprising rap. Chuck, Ralph, and Saul looked at him.
He sat back in the chair and adjusted his glasses.

“Guys, this is the craziest thing I’ve ever
heard. Did you know Chlorine is heavier than air? Do you have any
idea how much you need to flood that much territory? What if they
simply refuse to leave? It will never, ever work.” he said flatly,
and succinctly in good English with a slight eastern european
accent.

Chuck and Ralph were stunned. Saul just
smiled with a poker face. He was used to Yuri providing such
criticism in Russian as a private side conversation, but Yuri never
rocked the boat.

Ralph smiled a plastic smile. “Aha! So you do
speak English! Do you have any better ideas--it would have been
great to hear them a couple of weeks ago!” he smacked the table
with his hand. Yuri was unmoved.

“Yes.” Yuri said.

Chuck and Ralph looked at eachother. They
waited overly long for him to continue. Just as Chuck was to ask
him to explain, he did, “We get a young girl and tell her which
books to steal. Her car breaks down in their driveway. They help
her. She works her way in and steals the books.” he wiped his hands
together. “So easy.”

Saul nodded and pointed emphatically at Yuri,
“I like this. If it doesn’t work, she just leaves. We try something
else, then something else.”

Chuck agreed, “Alright, so where do we get
her?”

Yuri said, “There is a Gathering Spot nearby.
We go there and find someone suitable.”

Ralph put his hand on his chin, and nodded.
“I have to agree, that’s a much safer plan. What happens if she
gets caught with the books. That’s a total disaster.”

Yuri nodded. “In this case we will need to
intervene. We can observe the compound while she’s in the house and
communicate with her to guide her out safely.”

Ralph smiled a broad smile. He stood up and
grasped Yuri’s slender shoulders in his big hands. “This is a smart
young man!” he slapped his shoulder. “Smart young man!” and
laughed. “I’ll be so happy to get this off my plate.”

Tracy settled into life at the Marte house
with remarkable ease. They created a new family almost out of
nothing. Chloe and Tracy had been only children, but they were
happy to act as sisters, and Keith’s easy going relationship with
his daughter made it easy to fall into the same pattern with Tracy.
They all fell into the routine of having breakfast together on
school days.

“Hey Tracy, do you think I can borrow your
car today, it’s for work? The Camry just won’t cut it.” Keith
asked.

Chloe laughed, “I think he just wants to
drive your car and feel the wind through his baldness!”

The two girls laughed. Keith defended
himself, “It’s not nice to make fun of the handicapped like
that.”

Tracy nodded, “Of course, no problem.” she
took the key off the keychain. “She’s been running well lately, but
sometimes the engine just goes Gaak. You can call my Uncle if the
engine won’t start.”

“Hopefully I won’t need to do that. But it’s
good to know.”

“Hey, you want to ride with me today in the
Cow Mobile?” Chloe asked. It still had COW scrawled on the side.
Robbie already sanded off the SKANK from the hood. They were going
to do a new paint job over the weekend.

“Sure! That’ll be fun.” Tracy and Chloe
finished breakfast and went out the door together. Keith finished
his coffee then went out to the Austin Healey.

The body was cream colored and the interior
was maroon leather. He put his bag on the passenger seat and
climbed into the driver’s seat. It felt like he was sitting down in
a gocart compared to his Camry. He was about the same height as
Tracy, so the seat and the mirrors were already adjusted. The
engine roared to life. He gripped the wooden steering wheel and
pulled out onto the road. The car was not extraordinarily powerful,
but it was very light and accelerated like a jet. It put a smile on
his face as he drove down to the office.

He texted Tracy, “Thanks! this is a good car
for a PI.”

She texted a smiley back.

Yesterday’s mail was still in the box. He
grabbed the bundle and took it to his desk. There was the final
report for the bank. There was a photo of each bank employee. Those
who were identified had a background report attached. No clients
visited the bank office in the two weeks they watched it.