You Can Call Me Al

by Crimson Cloak Publishing

  “You Can Call Me Al”

  by Doug Rains

  All Rights Reserved

  Cover Art By

  Helen Rusinoff

  Edited By

  Veronica Castle

  Published by

  Crimson Cloak Publishing

  All Rights Reserved

  Copyright October 2014

  This book is a work of Fiction. Names, characters, events or locations are fictitious or used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons or events, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

  This book is licensed for private, individual entertainment only. The book contained herein constitutes a copyrighted work and may not be reproduced, stored in or introduced into an information retrieval system or transmitted in any form by ANY means (electrical, mechanical, photographic, audio recording or otherwise) for any reason (excepting the uses permitted by the licensee by copyright law under terms of fair use) without the specific written permission of the author.

  Chapter 1

  Johnny Meyers was hurrying home from school, and he was going to be in trouble. He had to stay in detention after his last 8th grade class because he had made a ‘not so smart’ remark to one of his teachers. He was only trying to be funny, but it had backfired; now he wasn’t going to be able to finish his chores before dinner. He also had a note that his Mom would have to sign, from the teacher who had detained him. It described his lack of proper behavior. It had been raining all day and Johnny had lost his new umbrella that his Mom had given him this morning. Well he didn’t really lose it, when he went to the cloak room it had been gone. Some other kid must have picked it up while he was being detained.

  Johnny lost his footing on the wet pavement, tumbled over and fell flat on his face into a small puddle. His math homework, that he had been doing while in detention, fell out of one of his books, and was now lying face down on the wet sidewalk. He got to his knees and slowly picked it up; it was soaked, and his numeration was now illegible.

  “Oh, no! 1 1/2 hours of work ruined, what else could go wrong today?”

  “Here, let me help you up.” Johnny’s eyes darted up to a tall, sandy-haired man with blue eyes.

  “Thank you, but I can manage,” Johnny said as he struggled to his feet.

  “What is that?” the sandy-haired man said, pointing to the wet document in Johnny’s hand.

  “It was my math homework: now it is ruined.”

  “May I see it?” Without waiting for a response, the sandy haired man took the piece of paper and gently held it up to his face.

  Seconds later he handed it back to Johnny. “Looks okay to me, but you made an error in one of your steps in your third calculation. You subtracted instead of adding.”

  Johnny looked at his homework in disbelief. It was now perfectly dry and once again legible, and this man was correct: he had made an error in the third problem.

  “Here,” the man said. “Looks like you are in need of one of these.”

  He seemed to have produced a small umbrella out of thin air.

  “Sorry sir, but my Mom doesn’t want me to accept gifts from strangers.”

  “Someone is only a stranger for a second, until you meet them; my name is Al, by the way. You are getting soaked; here take this before you catch a cold.” Al shoved the umbrella onto Johnny’s chest.

  Johnny grasped hold of the small umbrella, it looked a lot like the one he had lost, not exactly, but similar.

  “Well, thank you …”

  Al had disappeared.

  “Well, maybe Mom won’t notice the difference,” Johnny thought as he set down his books for a moment and opened the umbrella.

  “Who am I kidding, Mom always notices stuff.”

  Johnny was fortunate; his Mom only gave him a 5 minute lecture about his detention after she signed the note from his teacher. She did inquire why he had left with one umbrella and came back with another. Johnny explained to her that while he was staying after school some nasty kid had stolen the umbrella she had given to him, then on his way home, some stranger had given him an umbrella and before he could refuse the offer the man had disappeared.

  His Mom didn’t quite believe this story because she frowned at him and gave him a cold stare: luckily the phone rang, and his Mom got into a long conversation with a friend. They had just finished dinner, so Johnny took up the dinner plates, silverware and glasses and rinsed them off in the sink. His mom would then load them in the dishwasher later. He then raced into his room to finish his homework; he was off the hook for a while anyway.

  Johnny lived alone with his mother, Melody. He had never really known his dad; he had left after Johnny was born. His Mom wouldn’t talk about him very much, she just told Johnny that his father had to “go away”.

  The next day Johnny had softball practice after school, it was cloudy and overcast but no showers had moved back into the area. They were going to play another Jr. High school’s team that Saturday. Johnny had gotten up early to complete his chores that he had not finished the night before.

  Johnny wasn’t one of the best players on the team, in fact he may have been close to the worst. He probably would just sit on the bench all day Saturday, but it was fun practicing anyway.

  The coach put them through some fielding and hit and run drills. As the practice was coming to a conclusion, Johnny spotted that man who had called himself Al. He was standing by himself in left field halfway up the foul line.

  Johnny ran over to him and asked “Are you a new teacher here or something?”

  “I am a teacher of sorts, Johnny, but I am not assigned to this school.”

  The school system had strict regulations against strange adults hanging around the playgrounds where young children congregated. The students had been encouraged to report any suspicious activity.

  “Are you following me? What do you want?”

  Before Al could answer, a couple of Johnny’s teammates yelled over to him from the dugout.

  “Hey Johnny, what are you doing over there talking to yourself? Come into the dugout, the coach wants to give us some last minute instructions before the game tomorrow.”

  “Can’t they see you?” Johnny asked in surprise.

  “Yes they can, I am not invisible, but they choose not to. I can cast an aura of indifference around myself. Unless they are specifically looking for a person of my description they won’t notice me. Now hurry, your coach is waiting.”

  Johnny didn’t even try and attempt to understand that last remark as he sprinted back to the dugout.

  “That Al guy sure is a little bit on the strange side,” Johnny thought, as he later walked home from practice. “Maybe I should tell Mom about him. No, I’ll just keep it to myself for a while and see what happens, I don’t want to worry Mom unnecessarily.”

  Saturday came and despite another forecast of rain it turned out to be a bright and sunny day. Both teams were warming up on the field. This would be the last game before graduation. As usual they would play 7 innings. Their coach called them into the dugout and read off the starting line-up. As suspected, Johnny would not be starting. Johnny had only gotten into a few games this year, always during the last inning when his team was either well ahead in runs or so far behind that it didn’t matter anymore.

  They were playing on their home field so the other team came up to bat first. Two singles later, a tall lanky kid came up and drove the ball over the left field fence. Just like that, they were down 3 to 0. When Johnny’s team came up to bat in the last half of the inning, Jason, their second baseman, hit a sharp grounder between the third baseman and the shortstop. It went out into left field and Jason tried to stretch it into a double. The throw came in from the outfield and it looked like
it was going to be a close play at second. Jason slid hard into the base, just beating the throw. His team cheered, and then the cheers quickly subsided as Jason called time and began to hobble around. He kept bending over and looking at his right ankle. The coach went out and examined the injury, then helped Jason off of the field. His ankle had swollen up like a balloon; the coach was going to have to send him to the nurse who was on duty this morning. Jason would be out for the rest of the game.

  Second base was also Johnny’s position. Maybe he would finally get into a game early. Johnny looked up expectantly at his coach.

  “Horace, go and pinch run for Jason and take his place at second base next inning,” his coach instructed.

  Johnny was crestfallen. Horace was a short chubby kid, he could hit the ball pretty well but was not really a good infielder. He was also very slow. Johnny wasn’t a good hitter or fielder, but he could at least run fast.

  Johnny watched Horace waddle out to second base. “Horace is as slow as a milk truck with four flat tires,” Johnny thought disdainfully.

  Two outs later, Ken, their first baseman, hit a sharp single to right. Horace chugged around third and the coach waved him home. The right fielder threw a perfect strike to the catcher and Horace was out by three feet.

  “I could have made it,” Johnny said quietly to himself.

  It was now the top of the third inning and Johnny’s team was still down 3 to 0. One of the opposing players hit what looked like a routine grounder to second. The ball, however, took a wicked hop and Horace misjudged it. It hit him square in the throat and Horace went down like a sack of potatoes. The coach and one of his teammates helped Horace off the field.

  “Okay Meyers, I guess you are in,” his coach said unenthusiastically.

  Johnny was so excited he raced off the bench without his glove.

  “Here Johnny, you might need this,” the coach said, as he tossed Johnny his glove.

  The rest of his teammates laughed and Johnny turned beet red as he ran out to take his position.

  There was one out and there were runners on first and third.

  “Oh please, don’t let the ball be hit to me, I’m not quite settled yet,” Johnny thought wishfully.

  Johnny didn’t get his wish; a hard hit ground ball was hit to his immediate right. Johnny could handle grounders that were hit right to him but this was going to be difficult. He tried to back hand the ball but knew he had missed it, but instead of trickling out to right field the ball suddenly lodged itself inside Johnny’s glove. Johnny looked at it in surprise then stepped on second base and threw to first to try and complete the double play.

  Johnny had gotten too excited and had thrown off balance. His coach had told him time and time again, to plant his back foot before he tried to throw. Now his throw was going to go wide and the other team would score another run. Somehow, Ken, their 1st baseman, was able to spear Johnny’s errant throw while keeping his foot on the base. The double play was completed. Johnny shook his head in wonderment and trotted back to the dugout.

  “Good job, Johnny,” his coach said in obvious surprise. Several of his teammates were patting him on his back.

  It was the bottom of the third inning. After two quick outs it was Johnny’s turn at bat. Johnny noticed as he stepped up to the plate that his teammates were getting their gloves and preparing to take the field.

  “I guess they don’t have much faith in me,” he thought bitterly.

  Johnny’s stomach felt like mush, he stood at the plate and timidly waved his bat. The opposing pitcher smiled and seemed to sense another quick out.

  The first pitch was inside. Johnny tried to back away but the ball hit his bat and rolled foul.

  Strike one!

  The next pitch was low, Johnny tried to check his swing but he had already followed through.

  Strike two!

  The next delivery was way outside; Johnny was too anxious and swung anyway. As he went through his swing the ball suddenly curved back inside and caromed off his bat. The ball sailed into left center field and dropped between the two outfielders. Johnny was so excited he almost tripped getting out of the batter’s box. As he rounded first base he noticed that the centerfielder had just caught up with the ball. Johnny made it into second base, standing up.

  There were yells and squeals of approval from his teammates. His coach looked on in quiet disbelief.

  The next batter hit a slow grounder that just made it through the infield past the 1st baseman. The right fielder charged the ball but he had been playing a little deeper then he should have and Johnny rounded third and ran like his life depended on it towards home plate. Johnny beat the throw easily and scored his team’s first run.

  Johnny was hugged by several of his teammates; his coach gave him a “thumbs up” sign. The last batter flew out and it was time to take the field again.

  Johnny got through the next two innings without embarrassing himself, he only had to make one play; he caught a pop fly that almost popped out of his glove.

  It was now the top of the sixth inning and the score was still 3 to 1, the opposing team went three up and three down and Johnny was set to lead off in the bottom of the inning.

  As Johnny stepped up to the plate he had to shake his head, blink, and look again. That man named Al was standing in the outfield between the right and center fielder. Johnny tried to ignore him.

  The pitcher tried to jam Johnny with an inside pitch, Johnny swung defensively at it just trying to protect the plate. As a result, he hit a line drive down the third base line which was deflected off of the outreaching glove of the opposing team’s third baseman. The ball was slowly rolling into foul territory. Since their third baseman had touched it before it went foul, it was a fair ball.

  Johnny rounded first base and kept running. The outfield was still a little slick from the rain of a couple of days ago. Consequently, as the leftfielder tried to field the ball, he slipped and the ball dribbled by him. Johnny sped into second then made a mad dash to third, he barely beat the throw.

  The next batter hit a soft sacrifice fly that Johnny was able to tag up and score on. Now it was 3 to 2. His next teammate hit a bloop single. That brought Ken up, their first baseman and best hitter. Ken drove a long drive to right. The right fielder backed up against the fence to make the catch, but the ball seemed to hang in the air. The outfielder then made a frantic jump for it, only to see it hit the top web of his glove and slip away over the fence.

  A homer! 4 to 3 they were ahead! The score stood that way as the opposing team came up to bat in the seventh inning.

  That tall lanky kid who had hit a homerun earlier in the game was leading off. He drilled the second pitch deep to left. Johnny was sure it was going to go out for another homer, but the ball hit the top of the fence and dropped back into play. Their leftfielder retrieved it cleanly as it bounced off the fence and made a strong throw back to the infield to hold the hitter to a double.

  The next hitter hit a low line drive to Johnny’s right. Johnny felt like someone shoved him towards the ball. He fell, and as he did the ball wound up somehow in his glove. The base runner had already made a move towards third so Johnny tagged the second base making an unassisted double play. The next player popped out to the catcher. That was it! They had won! And Johnny had been a key contributor!

  Johnny’s teammates hugged each other while their coach looked on with pride, they then went over to shake hands with their opponents for a well-played game. Johnny looked out into the playing field but did not see Al anywhere.

  One week later they went through their graduation ceremony. Then it was time for summer vacation.

  Chapter 2

  Al entered the portal he had opened, and then stepped through to the forecourt of an area with pathways to other territories afar. He then passed through and into an industrial manufacturing locale; he had steathfully followed a robot here.

  This was a rebel robot that had control of one of the timepieces, a timepiece that could
stop time. Al referred to them as rebots instead of robots, because of their rebellious behavior. There was one more somewhere else; Al needed to take care of this one first.

  Al was an android, a synthetic human. The time pieces could stop time but only for a short duration (ten minutes) unless it was turned off before the time elapsed. After that the user would have to wait thirty minutes before employing it again. It also had a limited range of effect, a 100 yard radius around the device. Anything outside this radius would be exempt from its influence. The timepieces could only affect living organisms, not machines. Robots were machines, but so were androids. The users of the device were also not affected.

  There were three timepieces made by the higher order, but they did not function as they were originally expected to. Al had already returned one to Roberterian, a human of this higher order.

  Al was now inside a large manufacturing facility, a facility that had started manufacturing sophisticated robots. The rebot came here to steal industrial secrets, specifications and procedures. Its intent was to gain enough knowledge so it could build a new race of superbots which could control the realms. It had a partner, another rebot that killed a human-like form to gain control of the third timepiece; they both were in this realm.

  Since Al looked liked a human and not a machine, he could fake being time restrained during the time stopping period. He would then try to surprise the rebot and acquire the time piece. That is one of the reasons he was created by the higher order and injected into this laboratory controlled universe. The realm he was currently in was inhabited by human-looking organisms, so he wouldn’t have any problems blending in.

  Al had taken a pair of work overalls from the locker room so he wouldn’t appear any different than the rest of the factory workers who were presently locked in stasis.