Static Mayhem

by Edward Aubry

It breached again. It was close enough this time that Harrison could plainly see it was no whale. What emerged from the water was a long narrow stalk with a round bulb on the end. It was still too far away to make out detail or judge its scale, but Harrison's best guess was that the part he could see was at least twenty feet long. It stood motionless for an instant, then toppled in their direction. As it fell, two webbed fins extended from the sides of the bulb, and as a snout became visible, Harrison realized he had been looking at its back. It collapsed into the water with a loud splash, easy to hear even from a distance. A secondary splash followed close behind, as a small fin (tail? tentacle?) flicked a plume of green-white spray into the air.

  "Glimmer," he repeated in whisper, "what the hell is that?"

  "Sea serpent," she whispered back. By this time she was merely confirming the obvious.

  "What do we do now?"

  "Not a clue," she said. "Hope for the best, I guess."

  He scrambled to think of something, anything, they might have going for them. He thought back on Gustav. He and the dragon had not exactly hit it off, but the dragon had been kind-spirited enough. Maybe sea serpents were like that. "Can we talk to it?" he asked her. She shook her head. "Do they eat people?" he whispered, trying to keep Jake out of this particular loop. She shrugged. He winced.

  It breached again.

  His estimate of twenty feet was woefully short of the mark. It was about that far away from them right then, and at least twice as high off the surface.

  Harrison's experience moved in agonizingly slow motion. He was looking at the front of the sea serpent now, no question. The bulb he had seen was a reptilian head, totally unlike Gustav's, which disappointed him on many levels. Its snout was kind of beaklike, with no visible teeth (possibly good news; plankton, anyone?), and its eyes were mounted on bulbous extrusions that jutted out at roughly forty-five degrees in both directions. The fins extended again, making the head appear at least three times as big. He was hopeful that seeing the front of it meant they were about to see it fall backwards again.

  No such luck.

  It reached its apogee, then turned down. Harrison was reminded of his childhood Slinky play, being fascinated by the physics of the Slinky's topmost hump remaining stationary as the entire toy flowed through its arc. The ocean fed out yard after yard of additional serpent as the head came plummeting down upon them.

  It had plenty of teeth. All it had to do was open its mouth for Harrison to learn that.

  Jeannette screamed. He had never heard that sound before. It woke Claudia and Apryl. They screamed. Jake screamed. They were forming a train whistle chord. It was sickeningly beautiful.

  Then he heard the piercing ring of Bess being called to action. Alec was preparing to leap. God bless you, you limey bastard, thought Harrison.

  Glimmer had her fists up.

  Harrison clutched Gizmo tightly in both hands. Alec had speculated about its weapons capabilities. Harrison pointed it, desperately hoping it might do something on its own initiative. Its lights came on, but it was impossible to tell if it was doing anything useful. By the glow of the emerald marble at the end of Gizmo's wand, Harrison could see straight down (up?) the serpent's throat.

  He had just enough time to glance at his crew one last time. Along with the screaming mouths, the frozen faces, and the lost-cause fighting stances, he suddenly saw that Apryl was standing up, arms outstretched, perfectly calm, looking straight up into the air. Her hair was flowing around her as though caught in a wind. In that split second, he realized that the glow he had seen radiating from Gizmo was also radiating from her.

  Then everything went black.

  Chapter Forty-One:

  Blink

  Harrison shivered in the bitter cold.

  The sound of harmonized screaming faded, voice by voice, to silence. This lasted a few seconds, then someone (impossible to tell who) either remembered why they were screaming. Or found something new to scream about.

  "Aaaaaah!"

  "Hush," he said. "Oh, please, shut up." Goose bumps formed on his arms and legs. It must have been close to freezing. He had been dressed for equatorial sailing.

  The screaming stopped.

  The darkness did not lift. Once he had convinced himself that this was not the darkness of death in the gut of a sea serpent, Harrison hoped his eyes would adjust to it. So far, everything, and everyone, was invisible. "Sound off," he said calmly. "One."

  "Two," said Alec.

  "Three," said Jeannette.

  "Four," said Hadley.

  "Five," said Claudia.

  Several seconds passed. Harrison tried not to cry out.

  "Seven," whimpered Jake.

  "Pixie," said Glimmer.

  "Apryl?" Harrison pleaded. "Can anyone confirm she's here?"

  "I've got her," said Jeannette. Harrison squeezed his eyes shut. "She's breathing, but she's not conscious. I need light!"

  "Light," said Harrison. He was finally beginning to get a handle on their situation. Gizmo cast a pale green aura over where they were.

  They were in a chamber of some sort. Apart from whatever water still clung to the sides of the hull of the lifeboat, there was no sign of the ocean. Harrison looked up. It was impossible to tell how high the ceiling was. Some of the walls of the chamber were close enough to see. It looked like it was about fifty feet wide, but indeterminately long. Jeannette was holding Apryl's head on her lap. The others were climbing out of the boat.

  "Is she okay?" he asked Jeannette.

  "She doesn't look hurt. No sign of concussion. She's breathing normally. She may have just fainted. I can't really know for sure." The doctor looked at Harrison sympathetically. "We'll probably just have to wait it out. I'll try to keep her comfortable."

  "Do that," he said. Although he was not displaying his nervousness, he was sure Jeannette knew him well enough to read it anyway. He did not fully understand what he had seen in the moments before they arrived here, wherever "here" was, but something had happened to Apryl. He was afraid to guess what.

  "We're in a cave," said Jake. The walls did indeed appear to be stone. And uneven.

  "We're in a tunnel," said Hadley. "Nature doesn't provide caves with flat floors."

  Harrison recalled his own spelunking experience and had to agree. The one time he had been in a cave, each chamber had been a different and irregular shape, none of them tailored for human occupancy. Every floor had been inclined, some severely. Jake was no doubt clinging to the image of a giant mouse hole in the side of a huge rock leading to a comfy stone room. Harrison clung to the same notion, as portrayed in the B.C. comic strip, for far longer than he would ever admit.

  "Nature has had very little to do with the shape of the world recently," he finally said. "Still, I think Hadley's right." He looked around. The floor was flat, but the walls were not. He could see what looked like several boulders sitting randomly around, as though the room had been furnished with them. Maybe this wasn't a tunnel after all, but some bizarre amalgam. Something between a tunnel and a cave.

  There was a flash of light. Harrison jumped, expecting the worst. One of the boulders was glowing a rich orange, casting more light into the area. It was also throwing off heat, which Harrison could feel from a distance.

  "Nobody touch it," said Glimmer. "Enjoy it while you can. They only last a couple of hours, and I don't think I've got another one in me."

  "You did that?" said Harrison.

  "Duh," she said. She hopped out of the boat and walked toward the glowing stone to warm her hands. Claudia and Jake did likewise.

  "How did we get here?" Jeannette finally asked. Harrison found it amusing that the question had been so far below the first order of business.

  "I think Apryl did it," he said, though in truth, he had no idea. The last few seconds before they were to meet their certain doom between the teeth of the sea serpent, Harrison had seen Apryl glowing like an oversized version of the wand that was part of Gizmo. The rest of them must have see
n it, too.

  Alec spoke up. "Where are we?"

  "I have no idea," Harrison said. He tapped Gizmo's keys and scrolled through its icons. He had no way of knowing if the device could tell them, through either technological or magical means. It would take years, he thought, before he really had the little machine figured out. If ever.

  "Still wondering," Alec remarked.

  "Damn," said Harrison. "This is no use."

  "If you don't mind, then," said Alec, "I'd like to have a look around."

  "Be my guest."

  "I'll need a light source."

  Harrison could see him eyeing Gizmo. He frowned. "Glimmer?" he asked. "Can you glow?" Glimmer held her nose and puffed her cheeks. Her head began to radiate at the approximate brightness of a small flashlight. "How's that?" he asked.

  "It'll do," said Alec. He appeared disgruntled. Too bad, thought Harrison. He didn't want Alec walking off with Gizmo if he could find some better use for it than being a flashlight. Alec let the pixie step into his hand and took her with him down the passage.

  "Dr. Tucker," said Harrison, "I need to bounce some ideas off you. I'd like to try and get a better sense of our situation." He turned to Jeannette, and said, "If you need me, or if Apryl changes at all, give me a holler." Jeannette nodded.

  He took Hadley away from the group, lighting the way with Gizmo. The heated rock was throwing off enough light that everyone left behind could at least see, so he had no qualms about moving off some distance. They settled against the cold stone wall, just out of earshot of the group.

  "Listen," he said quietly. "I want to get your take on what's happening here, but I'd also like it if we could keep this conversation between us for now. Okay?"

  "This is about Apryl," said Hadley.

  Harrison hadn't expected him to be so direct. "Partly, yes. I'm worried about her. Did you see what happened to her in the boat?"

  Hadley nodded. "She was radiating magic. I've seen that before. It's remarkably similar to the effect Susan produces, but on a larger scale."

  Harrison wasn't sure what he had expected to hear, but this surprised him. "Isn't that impossible?"

  "Yes," said Hadley. "Which puts me back to square one. Again. If she did teleport us all here by magical means, then her power is totally unlike yours or any of the others'."

  "Or we don't know the extent of our powers," Harrison suggested. "That thing Claudia did on the yacht threw me for a loop."

  "Indeed. That was something! We've pushed her voice talent in all sorts of directions, but we never came up with that. It was almost concussive." Hadley was starting to act like he was back in his element. Despite his protests to the contrary, he had obviously learned a great deal during his time with Esoteric Studies. Harrison wondered if the scientist was aware of the confidence in his own voice now.

  "So Apryl's power might be magic-based?" Harrison asked. "What does that mean for her? Do you think she's … well, sick or injured by that somehow?" This was the second time she had passed out after using her power. This time, it seemed worse.

  "I'm not the right doctor to ask," said Hadley. "My guess would be no, though. None of you have suffered any ill effects before, and believe me, we looked for that."

  Harrison could feel the muscles in his neck and back unbunching. "All right. Well that's one less thing, then. Next question. What's up with Glimmer? How serious is the thing with her wings? She says she doesn't know, but she doesn't always share."

  "No kidding," said Hadley dryly. "I don't know for certain, but I can speculate. Some possible causes for pixie wing degradation …" He scratched his head. "A static mayhem field would do it, but we'd have much bigger problems if that were the case. Ah … heavy ether bombardment might sheer them off, but I think that would have been pretty dramatic. Could be depression, I suppose."

  "Depression?" said Harrison. "A psychological explanation?"

  Hadley shrugged. "Pixie wings are made of mischief and glee, or so she says. It's pure conjecture, but it's as good as anything else I can think of."

  Harrison thought about that. She had seemed down, but he had attributed that to the wing loss. Maybe he was confusing cause for effect. He'd have to explore that. Tactfully. He looked around the chamber. "What about this place? Any theories?"

  Hadley frowned. "No. As I said, it doesn't seem to be a natural formation. Unless it's a lava vent. I suppose that's possible."

  Lava vents did not sound good to Harrison. On the other hand, they could be sitting in the burrow of some hideous rock tunneling monster. He took some comfort in the thought that Hadley had not already suggested that possibility. Surely if it were likely, the scientist would have thought of it first.

  "I do actually have a hunch, though," said Hadley. "If you'd like to hear it."

  "I do," said Harrison. He trusted Hadley's intuition, even if Hadley himself did not.

  "I think we're here."

  Harrison stared. Hadley's sense of humor troubled him sometimes. "Where here?" he asked.

  "Here here. Ahead of schedule, I might add. Unless we've experienced some time dilation effect from the teleport."

  That remark clicked. "Here? Here here?" said Harrison. "Counterbomb Island?" Hadley nodded. "That's … how could you possibly know that?"

  "I don't," he admitted. "I just think it's the most probable outcome. Assuming she can take us anywhere, where would she take us? She looked like she was operating intuitively, wouldn't you say?"

  Harrison agreed. Hadley had mentioned before that magic was based on intuition, not skill. Perhaps it was. "She looked like she was flying on autopilot," he finally said.

  "Yes," said Hadley. "So, if you were going to take us all somewhere by instinct, where would you go?"

  "Home," Harrison declared without hesitation. He instantly judged that to be a mistake. Better not let the troops know how tired the commander is.

  "Exactly!" Hadley exclaimed, and Harrison felt less mistaken. Right again, by accident. "So would anyone in that situation." The scientist gestured with a wide sweep of his arms. "So look around," he said. "This isn't home. The implication is that the destination was chosen deliberately, not desperately."

  Harrison was starting to get lost in the conjecture, but one point was coming through. "So … if she were going to pick someplace on purpose, it would be to carry out the mission?" Hadley nodded, but Harrison shook his head. "I hope you're right. Alec and Glimmer have gone scouting. Once we have their report, we should know." He scratched his head. "Wait a minute," he said. "Scott …" He trailed off in thought.

  "That's right," said Hadley. "Scott took the Ptolemy in the same direction we were headed. I don't think we should get ahead of ourselves, but we need to consider the possibility that he's coming here, too."

  "If this is here," said Harrison. His head was spinning. Titania had told him that coincidence was dogging his heels. If this one played out, they would have to be on high alert. "This is a lot to take in at once. When Alec gets back, we should all compare notes."

  "Well, then, I have one other note to throw into the mix." Hadley paused. "I think I know how to set off the bomb."

  Harrison rubbed his temples. Hadley's timing sucked. The bomb was lost now. Unless they really were where they were going, and Scott was on his way. That last thought perked him up. Suddenly, coincidence didn't seem like such a bad thing. Maybe. "How?" he asked.

  "Gizmo."

  Harrison looked at the little tech/magic toy in his hand. "Gizmo? How?"

  "We already know it's designed to enhance technology. Now we know it has magical capacity as well. I believe Gizmo is tapping a magical power source. If we can coax it to create an icon for the bomb, using the wand, all we'll have to do is push the on button. It should set off the bomb. And boost its power. We should even be able to do that from a considerable distance. If we can get back to the open sea."

  That was it. That was the puzzle. Titania had told him he had the tools, and here he was, holding one of them right in his hand. All
they needed to do now was confirm that this was the right island, wait for Scott, take the Ptolemy back, plant the bomb, set sail, and detonate it from miles away.

  Even without saying it out loud, it sounded idiotic.

  Still, it was encouraging. Encourage. To make courageous. Find courage. Titania had told him to find the courage to fix the world. This was it. He could draw on an inner reserve of energy. No matter how stupid it sounded, it was happening. They were getting there. They had the Tools, they had the Courage, now they had the Power.

  The blood plummeted out of Harrison's head and fell straight into the pit of despair. "Oh. No."

  Hadley looked worried. "What?"

  "The Power." Harrison looked over his shoulder. Jeannette was still sitting beside Apryl, who was still unconscious. He looked at Gizmo. "The first time Apryl passed out, it wasn't because she was using her power. It was because I was using her power."

  "I don't understand."

  "I used Gizmo to rescue Alec and Claudia," Harrison explained. "You said it was drawing from a magical power source. That source is Apryl. I pushed this thing as hard as I could to keep Alec and Claudia from falling back into the ocean. It took a really long time." He stared at his hands. "Apryl powers this thing. I made her sick." He looked back again. "Now she's sick again. After pushing herself too hard."

  Hadley considered this. "Oh, my," he said. "That would explain a lot."

  "How much power will it take to set off the bomb? To use Gizmo? Tap into Apryl? How much of her power are we going to need?"

  Hadley was silent for several seconds. Harrison could see his lips moving slightly. The scientist was running numbers. He was probably running multiple scenarios to give Harrison an average. His lips stopped moving. His eyes opened wide. He looked at Harrison with dread. And sorrow.

  "All of it," he whispered.

  * * *

  Alec returned several hours later. He was carrying an actual flashlight and a handful of coats. He handed one to Harrison, and dropped the rest in the boat. Harrison put the coat on. The fabric was cold to the touch, but he could already feel the comfort of the insulation. Glimmer had followed Alec on foot, still glowing faintly. She joined Claudia and Jake, who were enjoying the last residual heat off the rock.