by Alphya Cing
The Master of Dimensional Intrigue
By Alphya Cing
Cover art by mimexart
Copyright 1998, 2011 Alphya Cing
The Master of Dimensional Intrigue
Rain splashed across the windows of the dingy office in the accounting section of VibraTech Corporation. A sign outside in front of the parking lot proclaimed VibraTech to be “A sound company”.
Marlin Clamor was not taking care of his paperwork. Marlin was engrossed in the latest novel in the “Master of Intrigue” adventure series he collected.
He pressed the black rims of his glasses further up his nose and turned another page. His mouth was moving along with what he was reading.
Without warning a pile of files thumped down on his desk.
Marlin jumped out of his seat. He blinked at the stack of files. Then he looked at the brunette who had delivered them.
“You’re supposed to be working,” admonished the bespectacled woman. “Here are the latest requisition forms from the boys in the labs. Some pretty neat stuff if they can pull it off. Run a cost analysis on each project and have the report on my desk tomorrow morning.”
“Yes, ma’am,” he answered sheepishly. He tossed the book into a drawer in his desk.
She turned and walked out of the room.
Marlin listened to the sound of her heels clicking on the tile floor as he opened the first file.
‘Universal Key’ was emblazoned across the front page. Marlin quickly scanned the document. It was just as he remembered it. He had already seen the document when it had originally come through for appraisal.
The ‘Universal Key’ project had already been approved and the prototype had just been completed.
Marlin rifled through each of the files. Each was a project which was already under way.
“Sadie’s been working too hard,” Marlin muttered.
He rolled the files into a tube and secured them with an elastic band. He stuffed them into a suit pocket so that he could return them to her office when he left that evening.
But first he would return to his book. He pulled the book out of the desk.
The phone rang.
Marlin snatched up the receiver. “R&D accounts,” he murmured into the receiver.
A woman’s voice can be heard emanating from the phone.
“Sorry, Mother, I’ve been busy. The doctor said I’m fine. No. No. The doctor said the incident was brought on by stress. He said that whenever I’m under an inordinate amount of stress my mind takes refuge in what I’ve read in adventure novels and I act as if I am the Master of Intrigue. That’s why I went after that mugger. The gun must have triggered it. Honestly Mother I don’t remember any of it. All I remember is standing there with this guy crumpled at my feet and a crowd of people around me. Mother, I have to get back to work. Yes. Fine. I’ll be home around 10. Bye.”
He put the receiver back on the cradle.
Marlin picked up his book again. Quickly he flipped back to where he had left off. He was just coming to the big confrontation between the nasty bad guy of this novel and the hero of all the stories.
He was about to pick up where he had left off when the book was unceremoniously ripped from his hands.
“Whatcha readin’, Moron?” asked the lanky blond lad who had snatched the book away. Around the office no one called Marlin ‘Marlin’, they always called him ‘moron’.
“Hey give that back,” he insisted.
“You want it? Catch it.” The blond tossed the book past Marlin to his redheaded accomplice.
“Come and get it,” teased the pug-nosed carrot top. He turned and dashed out the door. Marlin and the blond bolted out the door after him.
Down a corridor they ran. Around a corner and down some stairs they went. Finally they ended up in the restricted research area.
“Come on guys,” wheezed Marlin. “Enough is enough. Give me my book.”
The other two were also ready to stop running.
The redhead looked around the room. He spotted a small silver disk the size of a mini-Frisbee sitting on a desk.
“I didn’t know we were involved in ninja weapon’s development.”
“It’s not ninja,” Marlin said as he lurched over and snatched the device from the redhead.
“You’re pretty quick for a bean counter,” murmured the redhead.
“Hey,” chirped blond. “Still want your book? Here you go.” He tossed the book into what looked like a locker made out of glass.
“Aw, you guys,” Marlin said as he bent over to pick up the book.
The redhead’s boot on Marlin’s butt pushed him into the locker. The door was shut behind him before he could turn around.
‘System Locked’ flashed in glowing red letters on a panel beside the redhead.
The pair stood outside the locker laughing. “You are such a moron,” snickered the blond.
Marlin pounded on the locker. “Come on guys, let me out.”
He rattled the locker some more.
“Ready to get out of here?” inquired the redhead.
“Yeah,” replied the blond.
Marlin pounded on the locker again. “What about me? You guys? You can’t just leave me here. Hey! You guys!”
There was a loud noise and Marlin watched as both men slumped to the ground.
The descent of the redhead’s body activated some switches on the panels beside Marlin’s glass prison.
Marlin’s heart was in his throat. He could see the blood seeping out of the blond’s body where the bullets had penetrated it.
A large black haired man stepped in front of the locker.
Marlin gasped.
The gunman hesitated.
The room began to fill with prismatic lights.
‘What’s going on?’ rang pitifully in Marlin’s thoughts as his ability to cope with the situation snapped rapidly out of existence.
The colours grew rapidly brighter until Marlin’s vision was awash in white. He held up his arms to shield his eyes but he was too late. He had opened his mouth to scream from the pain when he lost consciousness.
