THE GHOSTLY CHRONICLES

by D T Yarbrough

  After a couple of movies, Jack and Rita stuffed themselves at the buffet and decided to try the casino. "Don't try any of your slight of hand here," Rita said. "I'd hate for you to get thrown off and have to walk home."

  "I think I'll stay clear of the poker tables. The slots will keep me busy for a while," Jack said.

  "I'm not much of a gambler, mind if I tag along," Rita said.

  "Be my guest," said Jack. "I'll turn you in to one before the night's over."

  After several hours Rita asked, "Do you play gin rummy?"

  "I love gin rummy. 10 cents a point?" said Jack.

  "You're on," said Rita as they headed for their room.

  They played for hours until the buffet began to take effect and neither of them could hardly keep their eyes open. Jack looked at his watch. Only eight hours until we land. So much for alternating our sleep times. Time flies when you're having fun.

  Rita turned down the lights, and they got ready for bed. She couldn't blame Jack. This was as much her fault as his. "Jack, you're on my side. Move over," Rita said.

  "Don't I even get a good night's kiss?" Jack asked.

  "After what you've done, dragging me off to the moon without even telling me," Rita said. "Actually though, I've been wondering about something for quite a while and this is as good a time as any to find out."

  "And what would that be?" asked Jack.

  "Do you remember the only time we kissed. I was channeling the ghost of your dead wife. Those feelings I felt, were they all her feelings or were some of them mine," Rita replied.

  "Well, there's only one way to find out," Jack said as he reached over and kissed her. "Well, did you get your answer?"

  "Let's try that again," Rita said. "You can never be too sure."

  The next morning they headed for the luna shuttle. The message above the door said that the shuttle would leave in six hours. "Jack, what's going on?" Rita asked.

  Jack looked at his watch and replied, "I forgot to reset my watch. We're in a different time zone now."

  "Jack, I really am going to kill you one of these days," Rita said.

  "How about some more gin rummy. Give me a chance to get even," Jack said.

  "Well, okay, but I was hoping for a little more competition," Rita said.

  Six hours later they departed the shuttle and entered Luna 1. Jack had seen documentaries of the early years of Luna 1. Life had been tough for the early pioneers. Things had changed a lot, but Jack had seen recent documentaries and wasn't surprised. Rita, on the other hand, was pleasantly surprised at the comfort level so far from Earth. If not for the dome, you would think you were in one of the cities on earth about thirty years ago. "Let's get checked into our hotel so we don't have to drag our bags around," said Jack.

  As they headed up to the rooms Rita said, "Jack, you actually got us separate rooms. You really didn't have last night planned."

  "You could check out of your room tomorrow if you miss me too much," Jack said. "Think of the money we could save."

  "I'll give that all the consideration it deserves," Rita said. "Where do we begin our investigation?"

  "I have a copy of the documentary I was watching when I saw the ghost. I want you to see what we are looking for," said Jack.

  "I know what a ghost looks like. How many could there be?" Rita replied.

  "No, silly, I want you to see what kind of uniform he was wearing," said Jack. "That might tell us where he worked on the base. Ghosts don't usually go far from where they hung around when they were alive."

  "Good thinking, Jack. So we look for someone in that type of uniform and find out where they work," Rita said. "What time is it here?"

  "7:15 P.M.," Jack said, "and I did reset my watch. How about we meet for dinner in a couple of hours?"

  "Sounds good to me. I'm going to soak in a nice hot bath," Rita said.

  ......................

  The following morning they were both up early. After breakfast they began their tour of the city, looking for anyone wearing one of those uniforms and keeping the other eye open for ghosts. During lunch Jack remembered something. "The ghost appeared in the documentary when they were filming the shipping facilities," Jack said.

  "Then he either worked in the shipping facility or close by," Rita responded.

  "Exactly, now you're getting the hang of this," Jack said. "The shipping facilities should be near where we exited the shuttle. Lets's go take a look around."

  An hour later they were back at the shuttle port. There were a couple of guys wearing the uniforms they were looking for. They were unloading cargo. Jack watched as one of them on a forklift drove into a nearby warehouse. "Let's take a look in there," Jack said.

  Jack waited till the forklift driver came back out and was well on his way back to the shuttle port. "Let's go. We're not going to wait for an invitation," Jack said.

  The warehouse seemed empty. There were what looked like offices deeper in. "Let's check those out," said Jack. As Jack and Rita approached the offices, Jack saw a light on in one of them. He could see two men talking and he could see the ghost standing near the two men. "We'll have to wait till we can get him alone," said Jack.

  They waited for what seemed like hours until the two men left. The ghost followed them. Jack and Rita hid behind a crate as the two men passed. Jack signaled to the ghost who was walking a few yards behind. The ghost walked over to where Jack and Rita were hiding. "We're here to help you," said Jack. "Where is it safe to talk?" They followed the ghost into one of the offices with no windows open to the outside. The ghost pointed to the light switch. Jack turned on the light.

  Jack saw a computer keyboard and explained to the ghost how they would communicate. As Jack asked questions, the ghost would spell out words by pointing at letters on the keyboard. Rita wrote it all down. The ghost had worked in the shipping department. It was his job to inspect the cargo to prevent smuggling. He had suspected that gems were being somehow smuggled with shipments of radioactive material. When he asked for higher power x-ray equipment that could penetrate the lead containers, he was murdered.

  "Who knew about the requests?" Jack asked.

  "The same person that murdered me, Carlo Santini, the president of New World Shipping," the ghost said.

  "Can you prove that?" Jack asked.

  "Well, not so it would hold up in a court of law, but I know he's behind this. I never quite figured out exactly how they did it. I weighed the shipments before they left and they were weighed again when they were emptied earthside. Not even a gram was ever missing," the ghost said. "They were sealed before they left and the seals were unbroken when they arrived on earth. It's a real mystery."

  "Can you show me one of the containers?" Jack asked.

  "Sure. There are some closeby," the ghost said. "Follow me."

  Jack examined the container for a few minutes while Rita and the ghost stood by. "I believe I know what's going on here," Jack said. "When is the next shipment due to leave for Earth?"

  "There are shipments on every shuttle that leaves here. This is our major export," the ghost said.

  "If we get him convicted will that finish your business so that you can move on," Jack asked the ghost.

  "I believe so. I can't think of any other reason to hang around here," said the ghost.

  "Okay, then you'd better pack your bags," Jack said. "Rita, let's get back to the hotel and make some arrangements. Looks like we'll be heading home tomorrow."

  "What can I do? You haven't needed my help yet," Rita said.

  "Earth has no extradition laws with the moon. That's why many of the workers moved here. We've got to get Carlo to come back to Earth with us so he can be arrested. He has no criminal record so he won't be afraid to return, but we'll still need a good reason to convince him. That's where you come in. Think of something," Jack said.

  "But what are they going to arrest him for. We can't prove the murder," Rita said.

  "Just leave that to me. I'll put him so far under, they'll
have to pipe in sunlight," said Jack.

  Jack made a few calls to Earth and notified the hotel they would be checking out tomorrow. Now it was up to Rita to convince Carlo to come back with them. The next day as Jack waited at the depot he saw Rita approaching with a short man in a black suit. "Jack, I'd like you to meet Carlo. He's the one I told you about, the one that the President is honoring day after tomorrow in a televised ceremony," Rita said.

  "Honored to meet you, Sir," Jack said as he shook his hand. "We'd better get on board. Can I help you with your luggage, Mr. Santini?"

  .......................

  As they exited the shuttle on Earth, the General was waiting for them. "Arrest this man. You'll find he is in violation of laws governing the transportation of radioactive materials. You'll find cargo containers that have had the lead walls hollowed out and used to ship precious gems. This reduces the effective shielding below the requirements of the law. Set up some of your men to capture his accomplishes when they try to recover the gems. I'm sure some of them will be willing to sing to avoid life in a lunar prison. He is also suspected of murder, but that may be hard to prove unless someone is willing to talk."

  "Can you stick around a while? I have a lot of questions," said the general.

  "I'd love to, but I promised to have this little girl home by midnight," Jack replied.

  NO TIME FOR SOUVENIRS

  "I can't believe you're flying," said Rita.

  "Well, it's not every day that the President of the United States invites you aboard Air Force One. Can you believe it, we're going to get medals for the work we did on Luna 1," said Jack.

  "Being invited to the UN to attend his speech isn't bad either," said Rita.

  "We should have a couple of days to do some sightseeing before the speech. I've never been to New York City," Jack said. "Have you?"

  "No, I haven't. I want to see the Empire State Building and the Statue of Liberty," said Rita.

  "I heard that the speech is about global warming and a new energy source they have developed using that radioactive material they're shipping from the moon," said Jack.

  "They've been promising to do something about global warming for as long as I can remember, but it just keeps getting worse," Rita said.

  "I think they're ready for the medal ceremony. Too bad it has to be a secret ceremony, but they would have trouble explaining the risk they put the public in by shipping the radioactive material on the same shuttles as passengers. Of course they believed it was perfectly safe, but good intentions are no excuse," Jack said.

  Jack and Rita walked to the rear of the cabin where everyone was gathered and stood on their marks facing the front of the cabin. The President entered the cabin and stopped a few feet in front of them. Taking the medals from one of his assistants he pinned them on Jack and Rita and shook their hands. A brief speech and the ceremony was over. "Take your seats ladies and gentlemen. We will be landing soon," said the loud speaker.

  Jack and Rita exited the plane and were led to a limousine which would take them from DC to New York. "Too bad they couldn't have dropped us off at JFK," Jack said.

  Four hours later the limo pulled up in front of the Plaza Hotel. "Here are your keys. You're already checked into the presidential suite. I'll take care of your bags," said the chauffeur.

  "Feel like a stroll in Central Park before we go in? I need to stretch my legs," said Rita.

  "Sure. Central Park sounds great. We've got a couple of hours before the sun goes down," Jack replied. "I think that picnic lunch we had in the limousine will hold me over till dinner."

  As they strolled through the park something caught Jack's attention. "Do you see what I see?" Jack said. "Over there in that clearing ."

  "There must be six of them," said Rita. "I've never even seen that many normal ghosts in one spot. That's really weird Jack. What is this, a comatose convention?"

  "Or an out of body convention," Jack said. "Let's stroll over that way. Don't let on that you see them until we can get a closer look."

  One of the ghostly figures glanced up and motioned to the others. They all turned and looked in Jack and Rita's direction. One of them pressed his finger against his wrist and the entire group vanished. "It was as though they recognized us, Jack. Now this is really weird," said Rita. "Did you see the clothes they were wearing. They went out of style 20 years ago."

  "If we are going to keep running into these kinds of ghosts, we need to give them a name. They're not dead and not really ghosts, they're just invisible. We could call them 'beings out of body'," said Jack.

  "I can just see it now. We're in a crowded room and I say "Jack, would you look at those BOOBs?" said Rita. "I don't think so, Jack. Let's just call them sprites because they are so close to spirits."

  "We should head back toward the hotel. I wouldn't want to get mugged our first day here," said Jack. "The sun's starting to set."

  Over dinner, Jack and Rita discussed the sprites they had seen in the park. "What sort of device could make them all invisible to us. It had to be the device on his wrist. Elvis never mentioned that he could disappear," Jack said.

  "Neither did that kid in a coma," said Rita. "But we can't rule that out completely. We're learning as we go."

  "But the way they all vanished at once. It has to be the device," Jack said.

  "I hope they have more than one bed in that suite. Did you know that you snore?" Rita said as they walked to the room.

  "I don't snore. Linda never told me I snored. Are you sure?" Jack said.

  "It's not a loud snore. It's actually quite adorable, come to think of it," Rita said.

  "They could put a tennis court in here. They did put a tennis court in here," Jack said as they entered the suite. "Only kidding."

  "I've told you a million times not to exaggerate," said Rita. "Whoa! You weren't exaggerating. This is huge. We could go for a stroll in here."

  ...........................

  The next day they took a tour of the Empire State Building. When they entered the observation deck they saw them. The same group they had seen in the park. Jack and Rita stayed out of sight and watched the group for a while. They acted like any other group of tourists. In a few minutes they vanished just like before. "I'm sure they didn't see us this time. Maybe that's just the way they travel," said Jack.

  "But who are they, where are they from?" asked Rita.

  "We'll probably never know. What are the odds that we would see them twice in one day in a town this size?" said Jack. "But they do definitely act like tourists."

  "Did you notice that their clothing was more in line with today's style. What kind of ghosts, I mean sprites, bring along a change of clothes?" Rita said. "This just keeps getting stranger."

  "The more I think about it, the more sure I am that they recognized us in the park. So why didn't we recognize them?" Jack said.

  "Like you said before, we'll probably never know, so let's not worry anymore about it," said Rita. "Let's get back with the tour and try to enjoy the scenery."

  The day of the speech, Jack and Rita arrived a couple of hours early and took a guided tour of the United Nations Building. The main chamber where the speech was to take place was still empty, except for guess who."They're back," Jack said to Rita. "The sprites are back."