by Paul Rice
With the case now empty, their mentor rose to his feet and dusted off his trousers where the dirty floor had left marks on their corded ridges, he seemed to use the movement as a delaying tactic whilst he thought about the answer. Looking at them for a moment, he then confirmed their suspicions. “Yes, they are your old friends, except these ones are not ‘old’ as such. They are brand new and have everything the previous models had, all of that and more.” Lifting one of them in his hand, he held it out with his palm upwards and then said, somewhat dramatically: “My friends, may I present to you…” In his head, George must have heard: ‘Dundun-daaa…’ because he waited for a few seconds and then, using his best master of ceremonies voice, he said: “Some brand new Spears and they shall be yours to use whenever you think it necessary!”
Both Mike and Ken reached forward to grab one, however, they were soundly beaten to the punch by Jane. “Excuse me, lads,” she said. “But I do believe that it’s supposed to be ladies first?” Smiling at them, she turned and reached over to George. “Would you be so kind as to allow me, George, my dear?” She held out her hand and without hesitation, the old man passed her one of the miniature vehicles.
Ken roared with laughter. “Bloody hell, it’s the queen of bleeding Sheba!” He prodded her ribs with an outstretched finger.
With laughter dancing in her eyes, Jane replied. “Yes, my love, and the queen still awaits her King!”
Ken placed a hard done by look on his face. “Oh the pain, I’ve been betrayed!” He grinned and said, “Just give us a look at it will you, smart arse!” Stooping over her shoulder, he looked closely at the object she now had possession of. There, in the palm of his wife’s hand, was a perfect miniature of a black, four wheel drive BMW. Its twin sister remained sitting innocuously on the table less than an arms distance away.
“And these can change to full size can they, like the case did, George?” She looked in the direction of the dark coloured container. Seeing George’s confirmatory nod, she passed the vehicle over to Mike and then resumed her position in the red couch.
The old man said, “If you would all like to take a seat so that I may show you how to operate these tools, yes… just squeeze in together, that will be fine.” George waited as they all budged up in the couch and sat looking up at him in waiting whilst he sorted the devices into some form of order. Fiddling with the inside of the lid, he managed to pull a roll of tightly wrapped material out of the box. With a flick of his wrist, George then did a pretty reasonable rendition of a top line magician’s trick. The roll cracked open and gained a rigidity that didn’t seemed possible and instantly a large white screen now floated before them. It seemed to hang in the air of its own accord and measured about four feet square. There were several, small coloured circles on its surface and a long rectangular box at the bottom left corner. Some red and green bar graphs flickered intermittently within the box. Picking up one of the pens, George turned to them and said, “All of these objects can be used to disable your target. We must not leave a single trace of our presence, as it may cause the authorities to investigate further?” He looked at them seriously for a moment or two, and then looked down at the pen.
“This for instance is nothing more than a simple pen – I would imagine you are thinking?” He smiled at them and Jane knew for sure that George was doing a lot more than just ‘imagining’ their thoughts. The old man’s words continued. “This is a device, which if used correctly, will instantly disable your victim. It only requires the smallest application and should not be fired for extended periods.” Leaning forward, he showed them how the rear of the device could be pushed towards the front. It was spring loaded and operated almost like a normal pen. Twisting the rear of the pen to one side, he said, “Turn this before operating, once you have turned it then keep the pointed end towards the target and push the arrow down with your thumb.” He showed them again and they heard the slight click it made as the interior mechanism engaged.
Holding the device between the first two fingers of his hand, he held it up in demonstration. The pen was gripped between his fingers as though he was holding a sword and was about to stab it forward. Turning away, he pointed the pen at the screen and then pushed the arrow with his thumb. The device emitted a thin beam of energy for about one second. George was extremely accurate and the ray of green light hit one of the circles dead-centre. As it did so, they saw a burst of energy disperses itself over the entire screen. The wave of power pulsed outwards, like a whirlpool in reverse, until it hit the edges of the screen. In seconds the entire perimeter of the screen glowed, whilst the point of impact did the same. Jane had an idea that the power would have kept spreading indefinitely had it not been contained by the edges of its target, it just seemed to conduct itself to the extremities of the target with ease. Gradually the brightness dimmed and then faded altogether. The horizontal bar graph at the bottom of the screen illuminated and now showed a row of square green lights that had jumped across to fill about fifty percent of the rectangular graph. Turning the cap to the safe position, George placed the pen on the table and looked at them. “One dose of that and the unlucky target will be immobilised for at least thirty minutes. We had to do intensive research with this device as it originally derived from a neutron initiator.” Seeing the bafflement on the faces of his audience, he shook his head and said, “My apologies, I should have used more simple terms. You see, the original item was used to start our engines and as such, was far too powerful for this task. However, we have modified it to accommodate our current needs?”
“Can we get a shock from it, George?” Jane asked reticently – she didn’t fancy having anything to do with the weird green light, which had spread so quickly across the screen. It looked to be quite horrible.
The answer allayed some of her fears. “No you cannot, the power will remain within the target and it cannot jump or ‘earth’ to anything else. However, should you inadvertently shoot yourself with the device then you will indeed be in trouble!” Reaching across, he picked up the packet of red tablets. “Place one of these pills under the tongue of whoever was foolish enough to get in the way. Do it within about thirty seconds of receiving the beam and you should be fine within a few moments?” He looked at them and they in turn nodded in understanding. One by one George got all of them to use the device. They took turns in learning how to operate its slim metal workings and then stood and fired it several times each at the target screen. A first all of them fired the beam for too long, the protracted beam causing the screen to flare brightly and the bar graph to jump into the red. “Ahh, now you have a dead body on your hands, my dears. No one will ever be sure exactly how they died, but that in its self will cause suspicions, and there must to be no doubt whatsoever as to how these hapless souls met their end?” George said, and then went on to make them practice again and again until they had all managed to master the weapon.
The second device was far simpler to use and was for ‘close quarters’ only. Picking up one of the square boxes, he showed them how to activate it. George pushed the recessed switch forward and then stepped over to the screen. Leaning forward, he touched the screen with the two barbs and squeezed the box with his hand. With a malicious crackle the machine discharged a jolt of power into the screen. The surface suddenly went black and then flashed a deep red before returning to a more normal colour. The graph showed a line of orange lights below. “This is very similar to the other device but it delivers a much more intense jolt of power,” he said. “The victim will be rendered unconscious instantly and it should only be used in cases of dire emergency!” George handed the prong toothed machine to Ken and talked him through the operation of its buttons once more.
Ken looked at it and said, “It’s just like one of our stun-guns, you just stick it on the target and zap ‘em – end of story!” He turned towards the screen and operated the machine. Once more the screen changed colour and the little graph did its familiar flashing dance. After about another five minutes of practice
, and when he was satisfied with their aptitude for the weapons, George placed the electronic devices back on the table and chose one of the oblong aerosol cans to explain next. “This one is more interesting, unfortunately I cannot demonstrate the effect on a model for you. It is what can only be described as liquid energy, fluid lightning, perhaps?” Rotating the lid, he exposed a small square nozzle with a silver lever behind it. He shook the can for a while and then turned away and gave it a little squirt. A fine mist, just like any other aerosol, was propelled from the nozzle. The big difference was that the mist, as it floated downwards, gained a silvery green look to its particles. As they hit the dusty floor each particle immediately illuminated with a tiny electrical crackle, and a fine carpet of microscopic flashes flared as each drop made contact with the ground.
“What the hell is that?” Ken looked amazed as he turned to the other two. “Did you see that, its electricity in a bloody can, that’s just amazing?” He looked as though he could barely believe his eyes.
Jane couldn’t have agreed more. “That is unreal, guys… just simply unreal!” She blew out a long slow breath from her bottom lip; the flow of warm air causing her dark fringe to flutter against her forehead. “Can you do it again please, George?” He nodded, after giving the can a quick shake, he obliged Jane’s request and squeezed the lever once more. The trio watched in fascination as the tiny wave of speckled electricity peppered the concrete floor again. After igniting they simply disappeared into thin air, leaving only a strong odour in evidence of their passing touch. “Now that is weird, it looks quite horrible!” Jane leaned back in the red couch as a wave of weariness suddenly washed over her. The enormity of the situation was draining her emotions and her ear was buzzing as though there was a little bout of tinnitus on the way. She rested and listened as George talked.
“It is more than just that my friends, much more.” Looking at the device in his hands, George twisted the cap and sealed the can of liquid fire. “It is to be used as an inhaler and must be squirted into the face of the target.” Before the terrible nature of that description could hit them, he quickly continued. “The particles also contain a very powerful substance, one which will force the victim to recognise what they have done. It will fill them with remorse and remove any thoughts of selfishness.” He bent down and placed the can back on the table.
The three onlookers stared at the innocent items and then sat in silence for a while. Jane leaned back in the couch and rested her head. She began to drift away, the light on the table filtered dimly through her eyelids and she heard George say something. His voice seemed very far away and she didn’t have the energy to open her leaden eyelids to see where he had gone. His words reached out to her from the long tunnel that had appeared in her head. A deep redness, like the colour of the case, filled her mind. It bought calmness with it and Jane happily went down into the restful caress it offered. She just wanted to sleep. “A nice deep sleep without any bloody strange dreams either, thank you.” Her wish was granted and in seconds she was wrapped within the arms of a dreamless slumber.
The three men looked at the place that she had occupied so recently, Ken saw the leather on the couch slowly reassert itself now the pressure of his wife’s body had been removed from its surface. “She’s going be OK isn’t she, George, I mean, this is hard enough for us to comprehend and we’ve been here before, you know?” The familiar seed of doubt had begun to form within his mind once more.
George reached across and laid his bony hand on Ken’s shoulder. “I believe so, my boy. She is a very tough lady who has had this thrust upon her rather quickly, wouldn’t you say?” He looked into Ken’s eyes. “The simple fact that all she did was fall asleep is in itself a very positive sign. All she has witnessed here tonight will be digested by her resting mind, when she awakens the answers, the understanding, will be in her head, trust me – at this precise moment she is safely at home in your warm bed.” He patted Ken’s shoulder and then turned to Mike. “How are you holding up, Michael, I sometimes tend to forget a lot of this is new to you as well?” George winked at him.
Mike stood and thought for a while before answering. “Yeah, I guess that I am, George, I just hadn’t realised the practical side of what we are doing, I suppose, but seeing the weapons like this makes everything very real?” He looked at Ken. “What about you Kenny, are you getting this?”
Ken nodded. “Yeah, pretty much the same as you, Mike, I’m definitely up for this, but the thought of knocking people off turns my gut a bit. Shooting someone who has just been spraying hot lead in your direction is one thing, but…” He nodded towards the table where George’s ‘toys’ lay. “They are something else entirely, huh?” He smiled and then quipped something about: “Getting too old for this fucking lark!” George reached into his hip pocket. They watched as his hand returned with the familiar hip flask clasped within its bony grasp. He twisted the lid off and let it dangle by the intricate chain, which kept it attached to the neck of the silver container. Raising the narrow neck to his lips, he took a long sip and then handed the flask to Mike, who, after he had imbibed of the fiery alcohol, proceeded to pass the drink to Ken. The familiar flavours ignited the lining of his throat as the liquor burnt a pleasant trail on its way down to lay smouldering within his chest. The lid clanked softly on the metal flanks of the flask as the three of them passed the drink to and fro for several more nips each. The drink brought with it the well remembered feeling of camaraderie, a feeling the three of them had shared during their previous meetings.
Ken was overcome by how recent those events seemed to be. He knew it was probably the effects of the powerful potion George had just given them, but it still made him feel as though all his yesterdays were only five minutes behind him. “Thanks George,” he said. “I feel a bit better now. I think it just gets to be a bit too much sometimes, if you know what I mean?” He held the flask high and let the last few drops run onto his tongue. “By heck that’s a mighty fine shot!” He twisted the lid back on and passed the receptacle back to the old man’s outstretched hand. With a rustle of corduroy it disappeared back into the baggy trousers.
“Right then, Gentlemen, let us finish up here for it is getting late I think.” Reaching over to the table he lifted one of the miniature vehicles and pointed to it. “Do you need me to go over the operation of this?”
Mike said he didn’t think it was necessary and turned to Ken for his confirmation. “No, just as long as they’re similar to the last ones then we should be OK?” Ken said. He’d begun to reach his limit and guessed one type of Spear was as good as the next?
George said, “It is very similar in many ways but also much more advanced, you may travel whilst you are in Shrink Down mode in these vehicles. There is a comprehensive navigation system that can put you within inches of your destination. Simply use the buttons and you will be where you need to be, in seconds!” He slid open a hidden compartment on the lid of the case and removed two more zappers. They looked like the original keys that would have come with the BMW’s had they been designed on Earth. The only differences were the arrows on the side of the key fobs. Two arrows, one big and one small, were neatly recessed within the top of each case. “Everything else is the same as it was on the vehicles you’ve used before, but as I have just said, they are in a far more advanced state of design.” He laid the key fobs on the table next to the vehicles and looked back up at the men. Picking up the packet of blue tablets he said, “Make absolutely sure you consume one of these before you attempt any form of movement in Shrink Down mode. One every time if you please, if not, well, then you may become quite ill, although the chances are that you may not? Oh, and wear the suits too, of course. We didn’t have the time or the place to experiment with all of this, I’m afraid, so I wouldn’t be getting too adventurous to start with, if I were you?” He said, and slipped the pills back into their plastic box.
Ken tried to figure that last one out… about the vehicles…. the Spears he and Mike used before had b
een out of this world to start with. “Now he says they’re more advanced and we can use them here on Earth, just pop a ‘bluey’ and off we go?” It was another buzz-bomb that went whizzing, unattended, around his mind. Any time now he was going to have to shoot some of them down. Shoot them down before they crash landed somewhere in his grey matter and caused some even more serious damage. He was actually starting to wonder if he had any of his own brain cells left.
George was talking again. “Anyway, please ensure that you have a little play with them first, just to make sure that you get used to the controls?” They agreed, and then watched as he touched the white target screen, with a soft cracking noise, it snapped back into a roll. George slid it back into the case, then picked up the items from the table and returned them to their rightful places within the red interior of their storage case. Pointing at a previously un-noticed pouch on the inside of the lid, he said, “I have placed a comprehensive instruction manual in there for you. It covers all the things that lie within this case and also includes some handy hints,” He paused, “I have placed the information on one of your media discs, and as camouflage I have also placed some of your music data on it, too. I must say that I really do quite enjoy some of those tunes, yes, I quite enjoy them indeed!”
George suddenly broke into song: “She’s got a smile that it seems to meee, reminds me of childhood memorieees, where everyyything…” For one second they could have sworn the lead singer of Guns and Roses stood before them, his baggy brown trousers swinging to the sudden rhythm of his gyrating hips. George stopped and then laughed like a child. “That particular song is one of my favourites. I have all of their music…” His imitation of the classic rock song was quite remarkable and both Ken and Mike looked at each other in surprise.
