This story is freshly written the previous week even though it went through a quick revision. I may end up redoing the very end of this story. What happens after the adventure is over. I seem to be having problems with that part of some of my stories lately. But we shall see if I come up with a better one for this one. I split it up here because it is over 4,700 words, on another format it won’t be. Adventure, suspense and Science Fiction
So without further ado, enjoy:
Multi-Castles
“You think this is the place?”
Rick looked at the desert around his location, a few tiny shrubs and maybe cacti in the distance. He stopped his visual tour at the castle. A whole village actually inside a large stone wall. Over ten feet if its one, he thought, probably three or more thick too. With medieval structures inside: Inns with more than one story, plenty of houses, a couple of clear areas, a church, and something else. But the dominate building was that castle. It sat on a low hill, it looked taller and narrower than other castles he has studied. The full super moon rested a moment behind it. A very rare blue and super moon event. They needed one for what they wanted to do. Even though a shot of that would make a great screensaver or wallpaper. Cory sat back at their base since his wheelchair-the latest in power chairs-didn’t do well on loose sand. Not only did the tires have a tendency to loose traction, the tiny particles got into the chair’s motors and comp.
He paused a moment to wipe sweat off of his face and to take a long drink of warm water. In this heat he still enjoyed it though. And it washed out the sand that still seemed to be in his mouth after that spill ten minutes ago. He thought he had gotten sand in his mouth, even spitting didn’t help.
Jonna walked up next to him, Rick took a moment to study at her outfit. Very nice for desert work-nice for any time.
He looked back at the surroundings. Even at this time of day he could still smell the hot sand and now his own sweat, even though the sand dust had settled. It didn’t make him sneeze anymore. He should be used to it. They had been here twice before, but in the daylight both times. The first time they had just looked around. Jonna had been very particular about if this was the location they wanted when she decided she had smiled and really seemed happy. Then a native in one of the small villages not far from here called her an American. Her eyes had narrowed and her cheeks puffed out for a second. She had already explained that she was an Englishman who had been raised in Brazil. Which is why she had very little accent.
During the second trip there they had set up everything but their readings showed nothing would happen so they gave up. The devices worked, in stand-by at least, but readings from space-part of Cory’s job to get data from one of two satellites we could tap into-said nothing would happen. So we gave up and went home.
After itching a spot on his hairline he adjusted his head band with the web cam on it. He used one to keep his hands free. The cam was to recored their actions and to show their other member who was back at their HQ what was going on. Cory always complained about the strange motions when Rick took it off, adjusted it or bumped his head, but it worked best this way.
Jonna had been the one to insist that he drive the one car, even though she tended to ignore him, along with the others. He would be chauffeuring everyone but the other two were late to many times they drove themselves.
He noticed that she carried her adjuster, about twice the size as his mother’s breadbox and almost the same shape. This had a slight upward curve on one corner, plus lights and digital switches. She liked these switched she had said, and he wondered if this prototype really was one. Or the Mark two version.
She said, “It is according to my instruments.”
They moved down the sand dune a little fast. Rick almost slid down, but managed to stop his feet from leaving his control. They stopped at the bottom, looked around. Without a word or even a motion of her head, she started forward. What he thought of as two minutes she stopped, looked around then sat her device down. A moment later she had a three legged collapsable stand out. She set it down, then placed her adjuster on it. He stepped in to help secure it to the stand. She said a, “Thanks,” then started to flip switches. Green lights lit up all over the top.
A spray of sand from the top of the dune they had just left, indicated their last two members were here. A brother and sister team who were habitually late. Jonna had decided to start without them.
Rick called for them to come down. Three car doors slammed, one sounded like a hatchback lid. The two siblings showed at the top of the sand dune. He wore his favorite all yellow pants and shirt today while she had on a new brown tunic and hunter green leggings. Both wore pith helmets. Rick just wore a blank baseball cap-gray.
The two new comers half-ran and slid down the dune. They each carried two larger plastic boxes with a bulging sack on top. He was surprised they made it without stumbling or dropping the boxes or sacks.
Once down they opened the boxes and set up two arrays. One would produce energy using of all things a projector based on Tesla’s death ray device. Turned out it had components that worked for other things. They also brought out a diamond infuser-must gems could be used but diamonds seemed to do a better job. Jimmy had brought some cookies in his sack. Without looking backwards Jonna reached back and grabbed one. She hadn’t even looked but probably had smelled them.
Rick looked at Jimmy who nodded so I grabbed one. I bite into it and took another. Their mother had made these. She had owned a cookie store for years. She had been the head cookie maker and still loved to bake the small round goodies.
They finish setting up the infuser and a power expander. It created a field that multiplied the strength of whatever energy was in that field. In this case that meant that the energy, the diamond infuser produced, was magnified. That went for the Blackwell-Jonna’s last name, she did invent it after all-dimensional hopper. Named after a device in her favorite series. It found different dimensions and was able to pinpoint them. His contribution, besides being a driver and sometimes helper, was a very special battery I pulled from my pocket. Rick had designed and made it using tech from Tesla, Edison and Bill Franklin-a descendent of Bill Franklin-who recently invented a new matter transference machine. He claims Ben Franklin’s notes gave him the clues he needed to know which direction to go.
Rick thought about them as a group. Jonna was oldest, over 30, while the rest of them were under 27. He was second oldest at 26, just been out of collage for one year when the group decided to get together. They had meant on the internet, while on a smaller social media site that most people hadn’t heard very much about. The others were still in school, even though Cory took most of his courses online. He claimed it wasn’t because of his disability but because of expense and ease. Jonna had called Cory and talked into joining their experiment. He watched the computers, made sure everything got recorded as it should and had found the castle for them to use as a test site. Evidently the area around here was weak and therefore it would be easier to punch through, especially on a night of a super blue moon according to Jonna. She had tried to explain why with a description of the Earth’s magnetic field, how the moon’s poles reacted to it, and cosmic influence along with gravity and even that which made the moon look blue. Rick didn’t quite get it though. Jonna had gone over his head almost from the beginning and he had the nagging suspicion that she didn’t really know, but that this was her best guess.
All of their experiments had worked though, and in one case had gone too far. They had gotten mini fields and almost lost his car when one expanded suddenly. Jonna had pulled the power cable so quick she had to be almost ready for something like that. Maybe she had figured or guessed, the wild cascade could happen so had readied herself just in case. She suggested we try here again when she read of the coming special super moon, but at night-that night.
This was their third castle-the first one they had known was wrong when they saw it. Jonna had almost come to tears when the second one proved to be the wrong one, when nothing happened. Everything had functioned just as it should. The power had built, the fields had formed, energy had been multiplied and he had felt the universe bulge, or one corner of it anyway. That was the only way he could describe the feeling. He thought he had seen it happen, so did the twins, but everything ran for almost half and hour and Jonna had said to turn everything of. Something was not functioning. After a through examination of the devices, battery and themselves they decided every device had worked as advertised, but still we had nothing. After more research online, Jimmy had asked if we had the right night and the right place. Something did happen, three of us and one recorder said so. But it hadn’t produced what they wanted.
That meant they had tried at the wrong location. So they searched again and after a day of study Jonna thought this was it after all. Cory agreed next. He had the data from the previous two attempts and thought this one had been the closest. Rick had been last to agree but now he felt it too.
So they went back, at night. We all checked out on, our own, out what wild animals were out here. Some smaller ones like snakes and rats but no hyenas, nor leopards or lions. Rick had brought high pitched whistles for everyone. Jimmy had a loud fireworks with whistle and bangs that sounded like gunshots and that produced flaming swords plus the sounds for over thirty-seconds.
Once set up they waited. Cory said his readings showed the magnetic field sensors had the right numbers. Rick gave Jonna his battery, she plugged it in the right side of her adjuster. It already had some batteries but they only powered the lights and sensors while the main part of it needed something more powerful. After this was over Rick hoped to sell the battery to some company or even door to door if he had to.
At the right moment she plugged in Rick’s battery, waited a second, then when certain lights flashed on she touched spots on the display. Jimmy and Coral’s devices came on at almost the same moment. It took quite a few seconds for the combined fields to build up. He knew that tachyon and Quantum distortion waves were going out. The wall, castle and moon became fuzzy much the same as if we looked through heat waves. Rick sniffed, smelled sweat-no one seemed to mind that their deodorants were working too hard-ozone and the sand. And a new odor; almost as if either the sand or the air burned or had become charged. That last could be since a charge going through cables can produce an aroma. His nose told him this one was a combo of baked meat, hot metal and the ocean. Not pleasant but not really bad either.
He licked his lips, decided his nose was running. Rick sneezed again but so did everyone else. So humans are allergic to burnt sky, he thought.
The field grew more intense, it moved outward, for a second he was afraid it would harm the village somehow. But it didn’t.
Without warning something moved in the village. What people? But no one had been there before. That is one reason they choose it too. But maybe someone had been camped inside. It should not harm them. It didn’t the last attempt at the other castle, but this one would go on for an hour, if it worked.
Jonna popped up, said, “Oh no people. We need to get them away.”
She ran toward the village walls, leaving her apparatus functioning. Rick blinked, she hadn’t been that concerned last time. He looked at Jimmy and Coral. Jimmy nodded and waved toward the village, “You go, we will watch the devices. And you have the recorder anyway.”
He nodded, thinking they knew more about the devices than he did. And he could run faster. So he turned and ran toward the village walls. He had been in it once, last time they had been here, as well as other castles and villages. None as well preserved as this one though-except for a few he had seen videos of. Most had been just castle though without a village so that last thought still fit.
Once at the wall, he found the gate. It stood open, which from his last visit was not unusual. He stepped in carefully since it was night and dark in there. He had the tiny LED light he kept on his keychain as well as the long flashlight, that looked like a billy club and a flat rectangle light that fit easily in his pocket. That was a spare just in case something happened to the large one. The tiny one could be used but it produced little light, just enough to see keyholes and such.
Footsteps sounded to the right. That puzzled Rick. Anyone here would probably be at the castle. He turned though and called her name. No response so he ran in that direction. After he tripped a third time, he decided he hated cobblestone streets. His feet tended to slid between the stones. Those that lived here must have developed a certain way to walk over them.
Rick continued on though. Most of the stores, houses, and Inns were in dark shadows. Good thing he had overcome his fear of the dark. He debated calling her an American and see if that would get a reaction since she disliked it so much, but she would have to hear it first.
However he jumped when someone ran out of an alley and on down the street. He blinked, that hadn’t been Jonna. Come to think of it she had said that people were in the city. Now that he was here he hoped they were not thieves or drunks. He heard footsteps in front of him, so fearing the man who just ran in front of him was a drunk after Jonna, Rick ran harder.
end this section
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