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The device, although bulky and power hungry, performed well during testing. We were able to utilize it for capturing a specimen. We feel the cooler night air during the capture contributed to the success. A direct correlation between lower atmospheric temperature and induced beam temperature affects the efficiency of the beam at greater distances. Higher atmospheric temperatures require shorter distances for effectiveness. This is the same physics at work as when an aircraft becomes more efficient in colder temperatures. (Field science notes from Dr. Corellis from specimen capture event on September 19th, 1995.)
Matt stared at the wet phone in the sealed plastic bag on his desk. It’s owner, dressed in his best black suit, thin black tie, neatly trimmed beard, and yellow lens aviator glasses, stood at the front of the desk, nervously awaiting a response.
“I knew you had it in you Deek. You just had to extend a little effort and realize how important it is to follow instructions, no matter what.” Matt stated while throwing the bagged phone in a brown plastic tub behind his chair. A yellow sticky note with “Destroy” scribbled in black marker ink was on the front of the tub. “Call your crew. We need a pick up, as soon as possible.” Matt pulled a letter size manila envelope from the top drawer of his desk and slid it toward the front of the desk. “I’ll be going with you. This has to be clean and pristine.”
Deek opened the envelope and removed two stacks of hundred dollar bills and a photograph. “Not what I expected. I thought you were going for the boy.”
Dr. Suzanne Corellis spoke up from the other side of the lab. “I plan to use him. The girl we use for motivation, if it comes to that.” She walked up beside Deek and placed a strange looking weapon on Matt’s desk. It almost looked like a double barrel shot gun, except for the extra wide dual tubes, which were flared slightly on the business end. Small tubing was coiled around the back half of each barrel and extended to a black, round, cylinder extending below a four inch wide shoulder butt. Two finger width cables exited from the bottom front of the shoulder butt and entered the back of a sliding trigger, mounted below and in the middle of the two barrels. A black hand grip hung below the barrels, closer to the front of the weapon.
“Is that what I think it is?” Deek asked.
Matt grabbed the black hand grip with his left hand and hefted the bulk of the weapon up to his right shoulder. He slid two fingers into the sliding trigger and flipped a switch above it with his right thumb.
“Matt!” Dr. Corellis uttered in surprise. “Wha...”
Multiple sounds emanated from the device. A low, lingering hum, and a solid tone rose up to a high pitch and peaked out slightly above normal hearing. Matt swung the weapon around and pointed the barrels at Deek.
“Hey, man! I thought we were cool.” Deek stepped backward, away from the desk.
“Hold still!” Matt calmly stated while pulling the sliding trigger back.
Deek stared down into the barrels, pointed at his upper chest. He noticed the ends of the barrels held small, oblong, dish shaped antennas. He felt relief with the realization that projectiles would not be blasted into his chest. The high pitch tone of charged capacitors dropped to a gyrating sound of electricity jumping between circuits. He felt his chest become warm and then increasingly hot to the point where he thought his clothing had caught fire. “Ouooo. Hey!” he yelped and instinctively stepped aside from the invisible beam from the weapon. He patted his chest and looked at his tie to see if it was on fire.
“You’re okay Deek.” Matt chuckled while shutting down the gun. “Just a little cooked.” He examined the weapon and bounced it in his hands a couple times. “This is a lot lighter than the last model.”
“Well, I guess we don’t have to test it now,” Dr. Corellis added while shaking her head and grinning at Matt.
***
Leif sat staring at the monitors on his work desk, but he really didn’t see anything on the displays. He was so energized from spending the weekend with Carina. The smell of her perfume still lingered on his clothes from her hugs while flying most of the night. Sleep was not even a consideration after dropping her off at her condo. The clock on his monitor read 6:00 a.m., he couldn’t focus on any programming. He grabbed his mobile phone typed out a message to Carina:
Great weekend. Can’t sleep. At work. Love you.
He paused a few seconds, wondering if it was too early to send the message. She would still be sleeping, especially after getting home at two in the morning.
“Wow. You’re in early for a Monday.” Leif was startled as Jewels voice came from his cubicle entrance.
He pressed the ‘Send’ button before turning around. “Yeah. I couldn’t sleep and I have some programming to wrap up before I leave for the university.”
Jewels chuckled. “I can tell.” She nodded at his computer displays, the screen saver was active and showing images from the Hubble telescope.
Leif turned to look at his monitors then laughed. “Okay, I guess I’m just a little distracted.”
“She’s cute - your girlfriend, Carina. How serious is it?”
“It’s headed in the right direction.” He answered with a hint if irritation. “You don’t give up, do you?”
Jewels smiled. “Some goals are worth pursuing, and I’ve learned that persistence pays off.”
“Even if the goals are out of reach?” He didn’t return the smile, hoping she would back off.”
“Things change. People change.” Jewels paused. Her smile changed to a smirk and she added, “But, I understand. It’s all fresh for you. I’m glad you’re happy. You just be sure to let me know when you’re not.” She turned and walked off.
Leif shook his head in frustration and checked his phone. There were no new messages. He tapped the spacebar on his computer keyboard and entered his password. The displays revealed the lines of code he previously ignored. “I got this,” he reminded himself and he dove into his programming.
***
The phone vibrated on the night stand next to Carina’s bed. Normally, she would sleep so soundly that she wouldn’t notice it. However, she mentally floated between dreaming and consciousness. The night spent flying with Leaf had been incredible, if only the images of it could last forever, just floating through the clouds next to Mt. Rainer. She wanted to remain there, in his arms, in his kiss, hovering in the moonlight. While trying to hold on to Leif and the clouds she knew in her dream her phone had vibrated. Part of her wanted to stay in the clouds, to remain in Leif’s arms, but another part of her wanted to check to see if her phone held a message from him. She reluctantly let her dream slip and blindly reached for the phone. She plopped the phone on the side of the bed, tilted the screen toward her face, and slowly opened one eye to read the screen. The brightness of the screen was overwhelming and she had to blink a few times before she was able to focus on the text message. She saw it was from Leif and she opened both eyes to read.
Great weekend. Can’t sleep. At work. Love you.
She smiled at the message and placed the phone over on its face to kill the brightness of the light. Closing her eyes, she hoped to find the dream again and embrace the images of the night before, but instantly her mind snapped awake. A clear and distinct sound captured her attention. The scratch of wood against concrete was unmistakable. It was the sound of her painting easel shifting ever so slightly across the floor. Her heart skipped a beat as she listened intently for any further noise. She knew exactly where the easel was. There was no reason for it to move on its own. She reached out with her senses. Her heart raced as she felt the flowing energy of three distinct life forces in her condo. Two downstairs and one slowly coming up the stairs to her loft. She quietly took a deep breath and slowly blew it out to try and calm her heart.
The entity on the stairs reached the top and slowly crept toward her bed. She felt the obvious intent. Fighting back the fear in the pit of her stomach she let him edge closer to her bed and waited for the moment to arrive. As she felt him center his energy for the attack, she sprang into action. Carina took hold of her blankets and in the same instant flew to the ceiling, hovered and dropped the heavy fabric, entangling the surprised assailant.
The quiet morning erupted into pandemonium and chaos as the assailant misjudged the movement and dove for the now empty bed. Carina flew to the peak of her gabled ceiling and dropped her full weight onto the back of the man face down on her bed. His shout turned to a scream of pain as his ribs cracked from Carina’s weight. The wooden frame of the bed split apart, sending her phone to the floor, followed by the bounce of a heavy metal object. Carina tumbled sideways and rolled off the bed. She instinctively reached out and grabbed her phone and what she thought was a gun. Fumbling with the device she flew back up to the ceiling and quickly located the grip and trigger. Instead of a gun barrel, it had a stubby injector with a small cylinder underneath.
“Up now! I’ll cover!” came the shout from the studio below.
Carina decided her best option was to get out of the condo as quickly as possible. The closest windows were at the top of the vaulted ceiling of the studio. She flew to the railing of the loft and quickly glanced at the men below. She saw the point man began moving up the stairway. Both were wearing black, but without any insignia usually worn by the police. The laser sights of their weapons swept the room as they methodically covered and moved up the stairs.
“Twelve high!” shouted the lead as he pointed at her.
A high pitched hum emanated from something the man below was holding. Carina knew she needed to get out quickly. She flew past the rail and toward the windows. They were all closed.
“Matt, windows!” the man on the stairs shouted. He turned and bounded back down to the studio.
Carina let go of the injector gun, letting it bounce off the studio wall to the floor below. She grabbed the frame surrounding one of the windows and reached for a lever lock at the top of the window frame. It had a large metal circle on the crank end that allowed operation from below with a pole. Carina’s adrenaline was raging. She ripped the entire lever lock off the frame. She pulled at the window, flipping it open toward her, but the gap was too narrow. She stuffed her cell phone into a pocket and gripped the top of the window with both hands, pulling violently and jerking it at different angles to try and rip it from the hinges. “Come on!” she shouted.
Matt pulled the beam rifle up to his shoulder, focused on the hovering Carina, and pulled the trigger.
Even though the air rushing through the window was cold, Carina felt an intense heat in her back. Her weight grew heavy as she felt her ability to hover slip from her control. She held tightly to the window frame, but she started to fall backward. She couldn’t understand why. The window popped from its hinges as she fell toward the floor. The intense heat stopped and Carina felt her power return. She stopped in mid-air, turned, and flung the broken window toward the men below.
The two men jumped away from the flying window and let it crash to the floor. Glass shards exploded across the concrete floor at their feet. Matt quickly refocused the beam on Carina as she flew toward the opening where the window used to be.
She felt the intense heat hit her again as she reached out to escape. “Aaaahg!” she screamed as she once again fell backward.
Matt kept the nozzle of the rifle aimed at Carina. He had given her a full blast of the beam at the start and then backed it off to keep her from falling full force onto the floor of the studio. “The injector!” Matt barked.
“Got it.” The assailant jumped toward her, trying to guess where she would land.
Matt backed off the power of the beam and stopped Carina’s descent several feet above the floor.
She righted herself with her feet down and turned to face the men. She swung out with a round house kick with her right leg, but was not close enough to make contact. “Who are you? What do you want!?” Carina screamed as her momentum spun her around.
“Now!” Matt calmly stated as he pulled the trigger to full power on the rifle.
Carina squealed in pain as the intense heat surged through every fiber of her body. She pulled her knees to her chest as she dropped fully to the floor. The impact knocked the wind out of her. She gasped for air and she felt a stab of sharpness to the side of her neck. She felt a booted foot roll her onto her back. The two men stared at her as she felt the drug of the injected narcotic take effect.
“Well, Deek, that was exciting.” Matt exclaimed as he removed the knitted hood that obscured his face.
Deek pulled off his hood and flipped on the lights to the studio. “I think she messed up Isaac,” he stated as he bounded up the stairs.
Matt looked around the floor of the studio. He then turned his attention to Carina and searched her pockets. He pulled out her cell phone.
Deek reached the bed in the loft and threw the covers off their companion. Isaac laid lifeless, stomach down, across the bed. Deek placed his hand on Isaac’s neck, searching for a pulse. “His pulse is weak and he’s out.”
“Roger.” Matt replied while examining Carina’s phone. He grabbed a hand mic to a walkie-talkie attached to the inside of his black jacket and keyed it. “Package is ready. Bring in clean-up, and we have a man down.” Setting his focus back on the cell phone, he found the icon for text messaging and selected it. The last message from Leif appeared. “Awe. Isn’t that cute.” He keyed in:
Me too. Gonna chill for the day.
He pressed the send button as a group of people entered the studio.
***
The local coffee shop was packed, but Leif didn’t care. The longer the line, the longer he would get to stay away from his desk. He was having difficulty staying focused on his programming, either from the lack of sleep, the distraction of Carina and her last text message, or a combination of both. He spent the last few hours wondering about the intent of her message. It sounded a little distant from her normal self, like she was distracted. Or maybe she wasn’t feeling well, due to the lack of sleep. Late night flying, combined with the colder weather, can be tiring. Maybe I’m over thinking this. He decided to finally reply.
I understand. See you tomorrow.
He pressed the send button and stuffed the phone into his pocket.
“So, um, are you in line?” a voice from behind him asked.
Leif suddenly realized the line had moved up without him, leaving a significant gap between him and the person in front of him. “Uh, sorry,” Leif replied. He turned to look at the person behind him. “Oh, Dr. Corellis. I didn’t realize you were here.” He was surprised. “You come all the way from the university to get coffee here?” He smiled to break the tension he was feeling, wondering why she was there.
“I had a meeting with the CEO this morning. We’re arranging for more collaboration between the university and Amzoft.”
“You met with the CEO of Amzoft? Wow, I’m impressed,” Leif added while moving up in the line.
“Well, I did have to get his signature on your transfer papers. You all ready for tomorrow?”
“Absolutely,” he nervously replied.
Dr. Corellis laughed. “You don’t sound too convincing.” She patted him on the shoulder. “It will be great. You’ll love the computer. It’s the fastest calculator in Washington State.”
“Nice. I’m looking forward to it.”
Leif stepped up to the counter and placed his order. He felt awkward standing next to Dr. Corellis while waiting for his coffee. Wanting to look occupied, he pulled out his phone and checked for new text messages and emails. He was disappointed there were only a few work emails.
“Leif...” Dr. Corellis was interrupted by her vibrating phone. “Yes?” she answered while walking to a far corner of the coffee shop.
Leif continued to mess with his phone while watching the doctor from the corner of his eye. He couldn’t hear the conversation over the noise of the customers and the baristas making espresso. The doctor glanced up at him a couple times during her conversation, but would quickly look away. He wasn’t sure if he was a topic in the conversation or if she was just checking for her coffee. Based on her expressions he hoped he wasn’t part of the conversation. She didn’t look happy. His drink order came up quickly followed by the doctor’s. He held up her drink for her to see and she signaled him over.
She muted the phone as he got close. “Thanks Leif. Something came up at the lab that I have to deal with, but I’ll see you tomorrow.”
“Sure thing. Bye,” Leif added and headed for the door. The doctor waited a few seconds before getting back to her call.
Leif paused outside the door of the coffee shop and checked his phone for new messages - there were none. Discouraged, he gazed up at the Amzoft logo on the building across the street. He had mixed emotions about his transfer to the university, he worried about Carina’s sparse messages, there was a bunch of programming to complete by end of the day, and he felt there was something a little odd about Dr. Corellis. I’m being paranoid, over-thinking it, and I’m stressed. He took a deep breath, blew it out slowly, then headed for the building. “I can do this,” he mumbled as he crossed the street.
***
It was after 9 p.m. by the time Leif drove out of the Amzoft parking garage. He had a major struggle with staying focused on his programming tasks during the day, and the only way he could get through it was to turn his phone off and stick it in his laptop bag. Since Carina wanted to chill for the day he figured he would quit thinking about her and let her chill. But now, it was late, and not hearing from her was killing him. He pulled up to a red light and took advantage of the time to pull out his phone and turn it on. The light turned green by the time the phone booted up and received a signal. Leif glanced in the rear view mirror while hitting the gas pedal. Good, no cops to see me checking my text messages. While dividing his attention between the phone and his driving, he checked for new messages. By the time he reached the freeway entry ramp he saw there was one new message, but it was from Jewels, wishing him good luck on the new project tomorrow. He tossed the phone onto the passenger seat, disappointed there was nothing new from Carina.
Once on the freeway, Leif floored the gas pedal until the car hit ninety, passing several cars in the process. He checked the rear-view mirror again to be sure he didn’t attract any attention of the local law enforcement. Realizing his emotions were affecting his driving, he backed off the gas and let the car drift back down to the speed limit. I’ve got it bad. Leif chuckled at himself. He couldn’t think straight, his stomach was in knots, and he was letting himself get worked up over a lack of text messages in less than a full day. “Wow,” he said out loud.
Leif grabbed his phone off the seat and scrolled through the screens to a weather application. The map showed the usual cloud cover for this time of year. Can’t sleep. Might as well go flying. He turned off on the next freeway exit, and got back on, heading the opposite direction. After checking all the mirrors, he kicked the car up to just barely under eighty. He figured as long as he wasn’t a full fifteen miles per hour over the speed limit he wouldn’t get the added ‘reckless driving’ citation if he got caught. The drive to Tiger Mountain didn’t take very long, at least it didn’t seem like it with the stereo blaring and the wind rushing in through the sunroof at seventy-nine miles per hour. Leif pulled off the freeway and headed for his favorite ‘hidden’ dirt road toward the top of the mountain. Instead of taking the road all the way to the summit he turned off onto a forestry service road which came to a dead end.
When Leif turned off the car he was plunged into total darkness. He stood beside the car for a quiet fifteen minutes to let his eyes adjust to the darkness. As he stood there his inner senses came alive to the sensations from the trees, plants, and animals surrounding him. He smiled as he sensed a few rabbits huddled together in the brush, not more than twenty feet away. His sensing of the flow of energy was usually suppressed due to the overload of electricity flowing through practically everything in the city and neighborhoods. The longer he stood still quietly, the more he was able to detect, and at greater distances. He could sense the electricity flowing into the towers at the peak of the mountain. There was someone up there, no doubt working in one of the structures, but far enough away that he could remain out of sight if the person came outside. Leif felt a small pang of discomfort in the pit of his stomach. He had grown accustomed to the flow of energy in Carina as she flew with him, her unique signature. She wasn’t there with him and he felt the emptiness in his heart.
The clouds hovered just above the tips of the evergreens. Leif grabbed his coat from the back seat of the car. The dome light of the car lit up the forest around him and he noticed a set of coyote eyes gazing from a safe distance. He closed the door, swung on his coat, and lifted off the ground while still stuffing his arms into the sleeves. He slowly navigated through the branches and then hovered for a few minutes at the top of the trees. A slight red glow in the clouds could be seen from the radio tower at the summit. The tower was buried in clouds and would be a flight hazard if Leif wasn’t careful. He could detect the height of the tower from the electricity flowing through it and the pulsing of signals emanating from the antennas at the top.
Leif bounded up into the clouds. Aside from the faint red glow in one direction Leif couldn’t see anything else. He was surrounded by thick clouds heavy with moisture. It didn’t take long for his hair and face to get soaked. Water dripped from his ears, nose, and chin as he continued to fly straight up through the clouds. By the time he finally reached the top of the clouds he was thoroughly soaked, but he didn’t care. The cold and the wetness helped to numb his loneliness. He stopped above the cloud tops and slowly twirled around to take in the scenery. A half-moon hung over the horizon to the West with a thick blanket of city lit cotton just below it. Another layer of wispy clouds raced higher up in the night sky, obscuring the stars, creating a tunnel of reflected moon and city lights between the two cloud layers. Mt. Rainer was nowhere to be seen. It was hidden in the clouds, behind an approaching wall of rain from the south. The snow on the Cascades to the east still showed a slight glimmer of reflected moonlight with the peaks enshrouded in lenticular clouds. It was a once in a lifetime view, one that he would’ve liked to share with Carina. I’ll tell her tomorrow, what she missed. He tried to put off the emptiness and to reflect on the beauty of the night.