by S. H. Marpel
The head administrator had all the alarms shut down. “We’ve been hacked!” he announced.
The staff sitting at their monitors started their internal computer diagnostics. That head guy was on the phone to someone, and talking about getting the base sealed off. Other flashing indicator lights went on.
Everyone was nervous.
Until Hami showed up with her rolling tray of fresh muffins, a tight outfit, and a smile to melt anyone’s heart.
V
OK, MY JOB WAS SIMPLE. I was the chief cook and bottle washer. Just the nice-looking hostess that brought them some treats to help them relax and enjoy their “end-times.”
Now, I of course unbuttoned my outfit a bit lower than it was supposed to go, and hitched up my skirt more than a bit higher than was modest. There weren’t many female scientists there, and those few present were busy being jealous. Most of the males were slack-jawed, afflicted with “wandering-eyes” and didn’t mind being handed a fresh muffin from a fresh face that gave them a lingering touch as she personally handed them their very own. A smile and a wink for everyone. That act at last disarmed the gals as well, who thought someone was just pranking the men. So they started playing along and passing out extra muffins themselves.
Now, with the alarm sounds turned off, and delicious muffins in their hands, they were too distracted to notice the rest of the alarms light up. And what the elevators were doing.
But no, I didn’t put anything “special” in those muffins other than the virus. Well, maybe a little extra sugar. As they ate their snacks, they got a lot more friendly with each other. As I rolled the cart out, and found there were more than one “inappropriate responses” that my backside encountered along the way.
Of course, that was just all in “fun”.
Another thing they didn’t notice was the locks on their doors having little electronic mis-fires as I left. One after the other – each as they closed behind me on my journey back to the service elevator.
I hoped their “fun” attitudes stayed with them as they had to break through all those fused locks in order to get out.
No, they weren’t locked in permanently. They had plenty of air and extra muffins left. But it might give them a better understanding of what a human “lab rat” felt like – as they worked their way through that maze of doors and hallways underground.
AS I RODE BACK UP IN the service elevator, I could hear the other personnel elevator coming back down.
At the top of the lift, the doors opened and Jean was waving at me by the back of the now empty service truck. Well, empty to everyone else’s view. I could see Abe, Roger, and Sammy already inside, waiting for me.
Adjusting my costume back to my regular outfit, I climbed in and Jean followed, shutting the door from the inside.
There was a little viewing window into the cab, and Rochelle was waving at us, with a truck driver each on either side of her. Those drivers turned the big service truck around and waved to the guards on the way out.
Another uneventful day to them. They wouldn’t remember what happened on that delivery anytime soon.
VI
MOLLY LOOKED AT ME to ensure I got all she said. Her story was finished.
“Wait – so what happened to all those scientists, and who were these ‘Abe’ and ‘Jean’ characters? What about Sammy and Roger?”
Molly just smiled. “OK, that was a bit of a short version. I’m no writer, I just cook and run this restaurant. So you didn’t get a lot of details. Abe is the one who came up with the idea for Rochelle’s nursing-teaching clinics. Rochelle is a natural-born healer, as you probably guessed. Jean helped Hami get set up in that saloon restaurant of hers, and was helping Abe to get another nursing clinic set up - I think that was one in the Four Corners area.”
“And the scientist couple?”
“Well, Abe helped them get jobs at that new clinic. They needed people to do the various tests and studies that people expect to come out of a clinic. Plus, Sammy had double-duty as the first receptionist until they got more staff, and Roger had to unload and unpack equipment and track all the new beds and supplies coming in. Later, they were both the public faces of administration. And I think they are still there, keeping everything running smoothly.”
“What about the people at that secret facility?”
“Well, now they had all the test subjects they wanted - since they’d all been infected. Of course, that was the real secret they had to keep to themselves. Or they would all lose their rights and families once they were declared ‘terrorists’ and the government would have free rein to do whatever they wanted - in absolute secrecy.”
“So what did they do?” I found I was leaning over to get the last details.
“Actually, they all compiled a little summary research study that said that the virus itself was a hoax, since their years of research had never found a positive example of it. They also issued a supplementary report that debunked the sensors, saying that they were really only detecting cosmic rays – and those sensors would then suffer cascade failure and trigger nearby sensors with false positives. As far as I understand, they were each offered jobs once that program was ended. Non-governmental ones. Private sector.”
I was a bit slack-jawed at all this. And made myself sit back.
Suzy cleared her throat.
I looked over and she was smiling at me, cute as a button as usual. So I smiled back. And took another sip of my tall tea. She just patted my hand again.
My pancakes were gone, my plate cleaned, although I mostly remembered only the story. Suzy collected all the plates and silverware onto her platter and took them back into the kitchen, while I watched her lithe form glide through that swinging door.
Molly was just smiling at me, with her knowing look. And as I turned to see that smile, my cheeks got a bit hotter.
She turned to nod at the other couple, who were both looking at me.
“OK, George, there’s your English Comp story. Now, that guy over there makes his living - well, part of it - from writing. So he’ll have to answer your other questions.” Then she patted my hand. “It’s been nice talking with you. I’ve got to get ready for the noon rush.”
She moved out of my sight just as I found someone else in the chair she’d just left. A solid-looking fellow who was dressed in a red pocket t-shirt under a worn duck chore coat. The male half of that couple I’d seen when I came in.
He only smiled. “Hi, I’m John. I hear you’ve got problems with your ‘scoop’.”
I SMILED AND SHOOK my head. “That’s an understatement. Molly just told me all the reasons for what I’ve been finding out are true. Of course, they are true only if I believe her story.”
John just smiled. “Welcome to miracles-as-usual land. Where belief trumps conventional wisdom. Pretty natural, really.”
“What? Natural?”
John didn’t flinch. “Sure – miracles and magic are both defined by ‘Science’ as what it can’t explain by its own heuristically-derived principles. In other words, what they can’t reproduce as a regular result.”
I just nodded. That was sensible.
“And you’re right - Rochelle is actually a healer. Hami is, too, but through her cooking instead of her touch – well, mostly. Everyone you’ve met today is a Lazurai-healed person - well, except my better half here...”
At that he gestured to the empty seat that Suzy had sat in. Shimmering into view was a young woman. Smiling, in an off-white suit jacket with gold pin stripes. Her hair was in a bun with two ivory hairpins in it. The other half of that couple I’d seen when I came in.
She held out her hand to me. “Hi, George, I’m Sal.”
By habit I took her hand. I then found my jaw was open, so I closed it. “And you’re a ...?”
Her smile was sweet and her hand shook mine with a very warm, light grip. “We prefer the phrase ‘spirit-guide’. But as you can see, I’m very real and not a ghost.”
This was all a little much to
take in. Although meeting and talking with three good-looking women in one day was any red-blooded male’s delight.
John put his own hand on the table, and she let go of mine to take his.
“Yes, and now you’ve got more than one problem with writing any of what you’ve heard as fact. So what are your questions now?”
“This Lazurai thing is some sort of virus?”
John nodded. “And it originally killed, but evolved into something more helpful.”
“So everyone here is infected?”
“Basically, yes. Or they carry the virus - like Sal here, in her corporeal form.”
“Me included?”
“It was in your pancakes and tea.”
My eyebrows raised, and eyes widened.
John only smiled. “But how did you like the food?”
I grinned. “Best pancakes I’ve ever had. Ever.”
“So, you felt better after you ate them?”
I nodded - and then stopped. “Meaning that the virus is a good thing?”
John shrugged. “Mostly. It’s a bit of a mixed bag. Consider it an karma-accelerator, in very general terms. You know that old ‘Golden Rule’?”
I nodded and sipped my tea again.
“Well, if you do good work, then you get good coming back to you. If you treat someone badly, that’s what’s going to come back at you. You get as good as you give. The virus just makes it happen faster and harder. So, it takes some re-thinking of what you want to become and accomplish with your life. But after awhile, you can discover all sorts of abilities you never knew were possible.”
Sal nodded and smiled at this.
“But what am I supposed to do with this great story, which ‘supposedly happened’?”
John and Sal looked at each other, then back at me.
“Fiction works. That’s what I’ve had to do all the time with my stuff. Hardly nobody out there will take you serious if you write it up as fact. So you write your facts as fiction and then they might at least enjoy the entertainment. Or they might think you are writing parables - and that will help them the most.”
I thought this over and then frowned. “I still have that problem with my news story.”
He just smiled at me. “You’re taking all this too seriously.” He fished into his jacket pocket and handed a thumb-drive over to me. “Here’s a bunch of stuff that used to float around the Internet about the Lazurai. Most of it’s been ‘disappeared’ by now. You could at least debunk the notion that it’s any serious threat. And there’s a lot of stuff in there from faith-healing skeptics. So maybe you want to say the results of your investigation is that whether Lazurai actually exist or not is a matter of belief. But you’ve been to locations where there are many who aren’t afraid of the Lazurai virus – and have begun re-settling into the empty towns that the Lazurai scare created.”
I turned the thumb-drive over and over in my hands. A smile came on my face as I digested what he said.
“Just one thing.”
I looked up at his steady, hazel eyes. “When you write that up, you’re going to get a government agent of some sort coming to talk to you. They keep track of “Lazurai” as a keyword.”
“Is that going to get me into trouble?”
John shook his head and smiled. “Not really, just ask for a ‘witness protection’ program back here in this town. They’ll be happy to help you.”
“Why would they do that?”
“Well, just think it through. If you could heal anything that anyone could throw at you, and have friends that won’t allow you to be experimented on, wouldn’t the government like to have you around to clean up their messes from time to time? Sure, they used to hunt Lazurai until they found they couldn’t win – ever. So they allow towns like this to build up. Safer to have them as sometimes friends than all-time enemies.”
That struck a chord. “So that’s all I have to tell them?”
John nodded. “And then you can come back and see your darling Suzy who’s in the back there, meet her parents and the rest of this town.”
John gestured out the front windows of the restaurant and my eyes followed.
The empty town I’d walked through was now filled with people coming and going on the street and sidewalks outside. All smiling and carrying on with very normal lives.
VII
SO I WROTE MY FICTION and wrote my “scoop”. Got A’s on both of them.
Got my degree, graduated.
One day, not too long after that, a couple of black-suited guys showed up in a black SUV.
In their interview, I told them just what John suggested.
So now Suzy and I hang out, most evenings, on the porch swing at her parent’s front porch, holding hands and talking.
And you can find me at Molly’s, most days, yellow pad in hand, interviewing everyone I can in order to get their stories.
John got me a contract with his publishing house, and sent quite a few people my way. Because he’s got more stories than he can handle.
Life is good - as you make it, anyway...
Book Universes Notes
All long series of books become complicated. The universes of these stories can mix and merge. There are short and long series, as well as crossovers. So we’ve begun the process of adding Book Universes Notes to each of them. This allows you to get links to the earlier materials that explain the character backgrounds and abilities, story arcs, and even easter eggs.
Please enjoy.
THIS IS THE THIRD IN the Molly Chronicles series.
Molly first appears in “The Case of the Walkaway Diner Redoux“.
Suzy first appears in “Lazurai Homecoming“.
The village and Molly’s restaurant is first introduced in “The Molly Chronicles: Birthdays“.
Rochelle and her “beater truck” are first introduced in “The Lazurai“.
Hami, Jean, her restaurant, and her “mobile kitchen” are first introduced in “Ham & Chaz“.
Abe is first introduced in “The Girl Who Saved Tomorrow“.
John and Sal are first introduced in “Ghost Hunters“.
The Case of the Walkaway Diner Redoux
BY J. R. KRUZE & S. H. Marpel
sequel to “NaN”, “The Case of the Walkaway Blues”, and “The Case of a Cruising Phantom”
IF I DIDN’T RESCUE him soon, I’d be worse than dead. Just another ghost. Again.
But... forever, this time.
Because he saved me once, and now it was my turn.
“Still waiting for him to show up?” Molly the waitress refilled my coffee without asking.
“How do you figure I’m waiting for anyone?” I frowned, puzzled how she knew.
“Because the way you’re nursing that pie ala mode says you care more for what’s coming in that door than you do for how that ice cream melts your pie to slush.”
I smiled at this and tried to spoon up some of the now-gooey mess to my mouth. “That obvious, Molly?”
“As obvious as my name tag. There’s just your one seat in here where you can see who’s coming in without them noticing you right off. So you can drop your eyeballs back to that pie real quick if they do.”
Molly pulled out a cloth from under the counter and pretended to clean a phantom spill. “Besides, I see you every week. Same place, same time. Hoping when you come in, disappointed when you leave.”
She then looked me in the eye.
“But don’t worry none. He’ll be along presently. Comes every week, just about now.”
I
“BEN? WHAT IS IT NOW?”
His long face was more dour than usual, something that made him serious was very bad. That I knew from working with him over the past few months of my training at the Library.
Ben just nodded, and pulled out a small stack of books to hand them to me. Almost like he had spelled them out of thin air. And I wouldn’t put that past him.
I looked them over.
They were esoteric, of course. But
seemed to deal with time travel and bending. Sure, there was his own treatise from what he’d learned after meeting Carol and Tess, our favorite time-benders. But a lot of “fiction” here as well. Which we all know from reading John’s books is that it’s just another way to write factual occurrences, but in a more entertaining format.
“What’s all this about, Ben?”
He only nodded and walked away to the center of the Library, where that long mission-style, brown leather couch sat, along with its matching coffee table and opposing side chairs.
So I took the hint and quit asking questions. Just sat down to start reading.
When I looked up again, it was just to see Granger’s smiling face as she set down a large plate of brownies next to a platter that held a carafe of steaming beverage with mugs. Which smelled like café-mocha – double chocolate for me this afternoon. Meant they needed me to concentrate and study quickly.
I looked up to thank Granger, but she had already disappeared into the surrounding library stacks.
I poured myself a mug-full, took a brownie in the other hand, then sat back, crossed my legs beneath that knee-length gold-sequined flapper outfit I loved, and considered what I’d read to that point.
All of these books had a commonality of time loops.
Not my particular area of expertise.
Of course, I was still digesting all I’d been studying for the last few months. Ever since I had decided to go ahead and get that Ghost Hunter training so I could help more people (both ghosts and corporeal) with solving their mysteries.
And that meant I’d get to meet John occasionally for debriefing. Always a joy, with those rugged good looks of his...
I had to shake my head to get back to concentrating on what this mission was. Another brownie helped.
Then I saw the folder that I’d missed before – or someone had shifted it in under those books while I was engulfed in my reading.
It opened simply. My first mission.
