In Stone Vol. 1-6: The First Six Travis Eldritch Problems (A Travis Eldritch Problem)

by Jennifer Vandenberg

  “There is storage space behind the coats. It might be a good hiding place.”

  I hoped it would. “Okay, open the door.”

  She had just keyed the lock again when the other door opened. Two Battleboys came out. One of them was carrying a bulky carry-all. I assumed they were not stealing test tubes. They saw us and raised the nasty looking hot laser blasters that they carried slung over their shoulders. I pushed Meggie through the door and shut it behind us. Meggie screamed as her glasses fell off and she watched an orange circle spread across the door above our heads. Hot lasers could make fast work of both doors and humans. I pulled Meggie past the coats. That would be the first place they would look for us. We ran into the lab and saw three more Battleboys. I pulled her under a large desk.

  “Jem’s not going to be happy that you boys are trying to kill me,” I said. It was probably true. As the local Battleboy boss, Jem liked knowing his enemies. Better me than some new P.I.

  “Mr. Tun’s days are numbered. We work for a new boss. He’s going to run this city. He won’t be soft like Mr. Tun.”

  “Okay, but surely Brian doesn’t want me dead either,” I hollered. I knew it was a lie. I mean, he tried to kill me just last week. But I needed to know for sure that Brian was behind this theft.

  “The Handler said we got a bonus if we brought you back alive and a bigger bonus if we brought you back dead.”

  “So Brian doesn’t want to read my mind?” I yelled.

  “The Handler’s got a new weapon and it’s almost ready. In a few days, no one will be able to stop him or us. You’re nothing but a problem.” I loved a talkative Battleboy. It appeared his mouth was more of a problem than I was.

  “You know we’re not alone,” I said, but even as I tried to delay the inevitable I hoped that Jet and Anda were not nearby. “They know what I know.”

  “And they’ll get a taste of heat, too.”

  Then one of them shot at us. I looked up and saw the desk melting down the center. These Battleboys may be brainless thugs, but they knew how to use a hot laser.

  We scrambled out from under the desk just as it broke in two. I grabbed a chair and hit one of the windows as hard as I could. It looked out onto a low roof. The glass cracked and I hit it again. Meggie grabbed me and we fell to the floor. The glass above us oozed down the wall as the hot laser hit it. I climbed through the opening and then lifted Meggie through while trying to avoid the hardening glass. Her hands kept moving but she wasn’t touching anything. I realized she wasn’t wearing her glasses.

  I grabbed her hand and we ran to the edge of the roof. There was a fire escape ladder going down the side of the building. Without asking I pushed Meggie to the edge and urged her to start climbing down. She was looking over my shoulder and I turned to see one of the Battleboys coming out the same window we had.

  “Get down to the ground and run. Don’t wait for me!” I yelled. She shook her head but started down the ladder. I climbed down behind her, but I was afraid we were on borrowed time.

  We were about half way down when I heard the sound of the hot laser. Looking up I saw a Battleboy melting the metal ladder. If I was the Battleboy and my instructions had been to kill me, I would have hit me with the laser. Of course if the ladder fell I’d probably die anyway. Perhaps his Problem was he liked to destroy things.

  I looked down and saw that Meggie had reached the ground. I was about ten feet from the bottom rung when two things happened. The first was that I could feel the ladder pulling away from the wall. The second was that I turned into a statue and lost my grip on the ladder. I fell about fifteen feet and hit the pavement feet first. I am always surprised that I don’t break into a dozen stone pieces when I get dropped but so far I was still intact. I wobbled backward but Meggie was there and she straightened me up.

  I would have said thank you if I could have talked, but if I could have talked I would have told her to run. This was the most vengeful I had ever seen the Battleboys. I wondered what other instructions they had from Brian. I heard running and cursed my inability to talk. If Meggie was captured it would be all my fault.

  The next thing I knew I was tilted backward and flying down the sidewalk. I saw Anda grab Meggie’s active hands and run ahead of me.

  “I have you, Travis,” Jet said behind me. I wasn’t flying. Jet must have found a dolly of some sort. I was being rescued! At that moment, with all the chaos around me, I made my choice. I wanted Anda and Jet to be my partners. I wanted to work with them as a detective. I wanted to stop Brian from running the city. And I wanted Meggie to stay in my life. Now that I had made my choices I wondered if I was going to get to keep them. My life hadn’t suddenly become less complicated just because I knew what I wanted.

  ●●●

  Since we still had no office (I was ready to remedy that now), Jet and Anda took us to Jet’s place since it was the closest. Jet lived in a converted warehouse on the edge of the waterfront. It wasn’t fancy but it had an upstairs loft where Jet lived when he was short, and a large warehouse where he lived one day each month when he became a giant. It was perfect for him.

  We would have been very comfortable in the loft except that I couldn’t get up there as a statue. Rather than abandoning me on the ground floor, everyone brought chairs down and sat in a circle around me. I was grateful they didn’t forget about me, but was uncomfortable that they were all staring at me.

  Meggie was pacing the room looking for something to straighten up. The place was pretty bare except for a pile of pillows in the corner—Jet tended to spend his time sleeping when he was a giant. She wandered over to the pillows and Anda followed her. I could just see them out of the corner of my eye. Anda watched as Meggie made a grid of pillows. There was no rhyme or reason to them but they were now in neat rows instead of tumbled together.

  Even though I was a statue I still felt sorry for Meggie. My Problem is annoying but at least I don’t have to deal with it every moment. It must be hard to have no control over something so public. Yet, it seemed to me that Meggie wasn’t annoyed or embarrassed by her Problem. She simply straightened things up and didn’t complain. I admired that.

  “Meggie, come sit down. I have some sunglasses you can wear if it will help.” Anda grabbed her purse and pulled out her glasses. “I’m sorry they are not as dark as yours.”

  Meggie took them and smiled. “When I was a girl I was always complemented on how neat my room was and I was always getting in trouble for touching other kid’s stuff in school. It took me many years to accept that I was not causing anyone any harm and that I didn’t have to apologize all the time for my Problem. I wear the glasses because I know there are times it is inappropriate, but I have tried to build my life around being neat. One of the reasons I am a grad student is because labs have to be clean and organized. I am an asset to my team.”

  “That is very smart. I still have to work with my Problem, but since I don’t know when it happens I can’t apologize,” Anda said.

  Meggie nodded. “What is your Problem?”

  Anda said nothing and Jet’s smile took over his face. “That was perfect. Anda cannot respond to questions. She does not know she is not responding. She simply does not know you said anything.”

  Meggie smiled. “That is fascinating.” She turned and looked at me. “I know what your Problem is. Can I touch him?” She looked at Jet and I was impressed how she did not put Anda on the spot.

  “Sure. I think he has proven that he is unbreakable.”

  Meggie came over and looked into my face. She put her hand on the right hand that I held out in front of me. “Can he hear me?”

  “He can hear you and see you if you are in front of him,” Jet said.

  “Thank you for saving my life,” Meggie said. She leaned in and kissed my stone cheek. For once I was speechless and not just because I was a statue.

  “He may have only temporarily saved your life,” Anda said. Meggie turned and looked at her.

  “Why?” she asked. Anda wa
s silent and Meggie laughed. “I mean…” She frowned. “Wow, it’s not easy to make a question into a statement.”

  “True.” Jet turned to Anda. “Tell us why you think so.”

  Anda waved for Meggie to sit down. “Jet and I called all your lab mates. They are all dead. They all died within the last week and apparently they all were tortured first.”

  Meggie said nothing. Jet picked up the narrative. “Last week our office was bombed by Brian Handle. He used to be the fixer for the local Battleboy group, but he is now trying to take over. It is fairly obvious that they plan to use the pulse magnets as a weapon.”

  “A mass weapon,” Anda said.

  Meggie shook her head. “Dr. Notch never mentioned any military uses for the magnets.”

  Jet and Anda looked at each other. Anda answered. “Apparently he had one more grad student who was working separate from everyone else. We met him as he was coming into the building. He hadn’t heard that Dr. Notch was dead and was coming to see him because he had heard what had happened to the other grad students. He told us that he was studying the effects of the magnets on blood flow.”

  Meggie shook her head. “There isn’t enough iron in the blood to be affected by magnets.”

  “Regular magnets will not do anything,” Jet said. “Phillup said that pulse magnets can disrupt the flow of blood and cause heart attacks or even brain damage.”

  “I met a Phillup once in Dr. Notch’s office. He never said that Phillup was working with him. Did Phillup say many magnets would it take?” Meggie asked.

  Jet nodded. “Phillup said quite a few. He thought that all the pulse magnets being used in your studies might make one weapon. That could be why the Battleboys were in your lab. Brian needed more magnets.”

  “We can stop one weapon, right?” Meggie asked.

  Jet shook his head. “Phillup said that the weapon can kill a large number of people if they were all grouped together.”

  Anda nodded. “Like at a sporting event or on a bus.”

  “We have to stop them,” Meggie said. She stood up and walked over to me. “Change already. We need to stop them!”

  I wanted to tell her that I wanted to change. I wanted to stop them, too, but all my thoughts on choice were fruitless right now. I could not change just because I chose to. I knew They were laughing at me. They probably thought all my choices were a joke.

  “What if I kissed him?” Meggie asked.

  Jet’s grin was wicked. “It cannot hurt.”

  Meggie removed her glasses and leaned in to kiss me but before she had the chance, I fell to the floor in a boneless heap. She leapt back and turned to Jet.

  “I guess I didn’t need to.”

  Anda was grinning, too. “I once tried my glamour on him and it didn’t work. But I’m glad you are back, Travis, no matter how it happened.”

  “I appreciate all your help,” I said. Meggie was untangling my limbs and I took her hands before she could straighten too much. “I’m okay. It is my Problem and I am sorry you had to deal with it.”

  She shook her head and kissed me lightly on the lips. “Don’t apologize for your Problem. You didn’t choose it.”

  “You got that right.” I climbed to my feet and looked at Jet and Anda. “So how do we stop Brian?”

  ●●●

  We needed more information. We didn’t know where Brian was keeping this pulse magnet weapon. We didn’t even know if he knew how to use it. He must have learned something from the students he killed, but he hadn’t interrogated Phillup yet, and he seemed to know the most. Anda and Jet had told him to get off-moon as soon as possible and he said he would head back to Feros where they had another lab. That made me wonder why Brian didn’t just go to Feros and get as many pulse magnets as he wanted. I asked Meggie this as Jet, Anda, and I escorted her home to pack a bag. The Battleboys had not interrogated Meggie so we assumed she wasn’t safe. Anda had offered to let Meggie stay with her. I thought this was a good idea, but also thought we should stick together until Meggie was out of harm’s way.

  “The pulse magnets we were studying were not common. They are only found on one hill on Feros and it is easy to mistake them for other types of magnets.”

  “So Brian would need an expert to find him more magnets.”

  Meggie nodded. “There are lots of scientists working on Feros, but Dr. Notch was the only one working off-moon with the pulse magnets. Most people thought they were too unstable.”

  “How are they unstable?” Anda asked.

  “We couldn’t have anything magnetic near the pulse magnets. If they came in contact with regular magnets then they became regular magnets themselves and lost any ability to create clear energy.”

  Jet shook his head. “Magnets are everywhere. How can that make a useful weapon?”

  Meggie shrugged. “We used to keep the pulse magnets insulated. I suppose someone could do that on a large scale. But the weapon may not work too many times if the magnets are exposed to the electro-magnetic conditions on Ausdine too often.”

  “I think it is more of a threat,” I said. “If Brian uses it once with tragic results, all he would have to do is threaten to use it again and the city would be at his mercy. After all, he does have an arsenal of other weapons he can use to do localized damage.” As we walked I noticed we were heading toward the edge of downtown. In the dark I could see the silhouettes of cranes and excavators waiting for the next chance to clear away what had been my office.

  Meggie turned to enter an older building and we followed her. According to the list by the lift, the bottom three floors were offices and the top seven were residences. Meggie pushed the up button and said she lived on six. I had Jet stay in the lobby to watch for trouble while Anda and I went up with Meggie.

  Anda pushed the button for two. “Travis, go on up with Meggie. I want to glance around the office area. I’ll meet you downstairs with Jet.”

  A few days ago I would have found a reason for Anda to come with us instead of hunt for our new office. Tonight I only nodded. “Be fast. We still don’t know if Brian is hunting Meggie or not.”

  Anda stepped off as the doors opened and we proceeded up. Meggie said her apartment was at the end of the main hallway. Stepping off the dim lift into the bright hallway I took a good look at the woman I felt compelled to protect.

  Meggie was still wearing Anda’s sunglasses. With her short hair and her chic dress she looked younger than Jet. I began to wonder how old she was. I worried I was robbing the cradle with my thoughts. At my question she laughed.

  “I’m twenty-six. It seems like I’ve been a grad student forever.”

  “Sometimes I feel like I’ve been a detective forever.”

  “I’m glad you are. I’m glad Hector suggested I find you.”

  At her smile I admitted to myself that I was sunk. “Me too.”

  “Say goodbye, lover boy.” My head would have been bashed in had the Battleboy who stepped behind me acted before talking but lucky for me I managed to step aside before he bludgeoned me. I swung wide and caught the thug on the chin. He went down and I turned around to give him a good kick.

  “That’s enough!” I turned back to see a second Battleboy with his arm around Meggie’s neck. Behind him was a side hallway where they must have been hiding. I hadn’t seen them because I had been so focused on Meggie. Some protector I was. I raised my hands and allowed the first Battleboy to grab my arm. “Let’s go. The Handler has a surprise outside for you. You get to be our first test subject.”

  I didn’t fight when they dragged us to the lift because I feared what they would do to Meggie. I didn’t see Anda or Jet when we got to ground level. Outside there were two light posts standing by the street. The Battleboys tied Meggie to one and I was tied to the other. They didn’t skimp on the rope.

  I looked around the illuminated area for any kind of weapon. The only thing I saw was a truck with a small refrigerator unit on the back. I wondered briefly where Jet and Anda were, and then wondered how
I was going to get Meggie out of this situation. I didn’t see many choices.

  “Phillup!” I looked from Meggie to the tall man in the scruffy suit who was climbing out of the truck. I didn’t recognize the man, but the name seemed familiar. Phillup stopped in front of Meggie and she strained to touch him.

  “Meggie. Dr. Notch always said you were his best student. It is not too late. Join me and we’ll change the world with pulse magnets.”

  Now I remembered. Anda and Jet said they met Phillup at the lab. He was one of Dr. Notch’s grad students but was working separately from the rest of the group. I guess he was even more separate now.

  “Phillup. Please help us. The pulse magnets were stolen and are going to be used to make a weapon. You and I can stop that from happening.” Meggie twisted in her ropes and I felt for her. She didn’t catch on that he had already joined the other side.

  “Meggie. I had hoped you were different but I see now that you are as idealistic as Dr. Notch was. He wanted to end the program when I told him about the pulse magnets’ affect on people. I was so excited at the possibilities but all he saw were the dangers. He had no vision so I made sure he would not be able to stop me.”

  Meggie went still. “You killed Dr. Notch? Did you kill his other grad students, too?”

  Phillup spread his hands. “I left that to my new friends. They were going to kill you, too, but I convinced Brian to let me test out my newly designed weapon on you two.” He walked over to me. “He seemed especially eager for me to use it on you. He thinks you are hard to kill.” Phillup glanced back to the truck. “I told him there are worse things than death.”

  He waved at the Battleboys who were standing near us. “Back up everyone. We wouldn’t want to hit anyone by accident.” With a salute he turned back to the truck and climbed in. I watched as a hatch opened in the top of the truck and a large dish rose up on a hinge. I didn’t know what this weapon would do but I knew it couldn’t be good.

  The Battleboys left us attached to our posts and I realized we had one advantage. As long as the machine was on no one was going to get close to us. I leaned as close to Meggie as the ropes would let me and whispered, “When I say go rotate to the back of the post. It should give us some protection.”