Ions Of Luck

by Markus Fredericks

  Ions Of Luck

  Markus S Fredericks

  Copyright 2017 ©, all rights reserved.

  ISBN: 1542681480

  ISBN 13: 9781542681483

  Note: All characters portrayed in this novel are fictional, and any resemblance to actual people is strictly coincidental.

  The following people deserve my sincerest THANK YOU for contributing to the quality of this book:

  *** A special ‘THANK YOU’ to my dear friend, Bob De Long, for taking the time to edit this book ***

  *** ‘THANK YOU’ to Grace Christie for editing the rough copy of this book (Note: she’s my co-author of a previous book: THE PRINCESS AND THE VIKING)

  *** A ‘BIG THANKS’ to my co-worker & book aficionado, Gabriel Basea, for the final proofreading ***

  MESSAGE FROM THE AUTHOR

  Hi, I’m Markus Fredericks. While I was growing up, my favorite author was science fiction legend, H. G. Wells. Like most of his diehard fans, I was entertained by his fantastic imagination for writing groundbreaking sci-fi stories. Many of his concepts were multiple decades ahead of the times when he first penned his books, and today, science continues to validate many of his creative ideas. However, the real reason I fell in love with his writing was when I noticed something else about the great H. G. Wells: he also had a deep understanding of what ‘true friendship’ is all about.

  My favorite character in any of his books is ‘Filby’ in THE TIME MACHINE, who was great friends with the scientist, George. Filby steadfastly refused to allow anyone to sell George’s house even though he had been missing for decades during his time travels, even while facing ridicule from others. To me, that epitomizes what true friendship is all about. It’s unfortunate that most people don’t really grasp the concept of ‘true friendship’ like H.G. Wells did. Thus, I made sure that the characters in IONS OF LUCK have many Filby-esque qualities in honor of my favorite childhood author, in addition to creating a unique sci-fi story that’s full of non-stop action (and romance too!).

  IONS OF LUCK is my ninth book. I hope you’ll enjoy it. I’m still trying to land my first publishing contract, so if you really like this book, please tell your friends – or you may post your book review at Amazon.

  For FREE PREVIEWS of many of my other books (in a wide array of genres), please visit my website at www.markusfredericks.com. Thank you.

  NOTE: The concept of this book is dedicated to the multitudes of good, honest, decent people who seem to be cursed with chronic bad luck. ‘Ions of Luck’ may actually exist in a physical, subatomic sense, and there may exist a parallel universe in which your alter-ego may be reaping the benefits of having correspondingly great luck. If that’s true, ‘luck’ may not be a random occurrence at all, and I hope this book will present a new theory why the ‘unlucky ones’ consistently seem to end up with the short end of the stick…

  Contents

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  1

  There’s a common saying, “You are your own worst enemy”. If a parallel universe actually exists, then that may actually be true…

  A sudden thunderstorm caught paraplegic, Danny Donaldson by surprise one afternoon in Seattle. Within a minute, his clothing was completely soaked to the skin. To make matters worse, he had been in a hurry, and had forgotten to recharge his motorized wheelchair. A wet and nervous Danny sensed that his only means of mobility was rapidly losing power, but he was determined to cross the busy Aurora Avenue. He had a vital appointment with Mr. Shelton at the local Social Security office to ask if his SSI payments could be reinstated.

  Danny used to be a bright honor student back in high school, but he suffered severe spinal injuries when he fell off a ski lift during the Christmas break of his senior year in high school. That was twelve years ago. He was 29 years old now, unemployed, lonely – without any friends, and with no living family members. To make matters worse, he had just been given an eviction notice by his landlord since he was late with last month’s rent payment.

  “Gee, my luck has been consistently bad for as long as I can remember. I just wish that I’m lucky enough for my power wheelchair to make it to my appointment on time. If I don’t get Mr. Shelton’s approval for benefits, I’ll be living out on the street by tomorrow. At least I can already see the Sam’s Club sign, so I know I’m almost there,” thought Danny to himself as he pushed forward on the lever to his motorized wheelchair to cross the busy street.

  The white ‘Walk’ sign was lit, but it was blinking, so he knew the sign was about to change. Suddenly, his wheelchair ran out of power in the middle of the four-lane intersection. Danny feverishly pushed the lever to move forward, but to no avail.

  “Oh no – help!” cried out a helpless Danny as the ‘Walk’ sign had changed into a bright red ‘Stop’ sign, but no one was nearby to help. The falling rain intensified, and Danny raised his head suddenly when he heard the ominously loud horn of a large, oncoming truck. It was an 18 wheeler barreling straight at him at 50 miles per hour. A split second later, the speeding truck slammed right into Danny’s wheelchair, and he was instantly airborne. As he catapulted through the air, he was struck by a rogue bolt of lightning, and his ears were blasted by the accompanying thunder, which sounded as loud as a cannon-fire.

  Danny felt intense pain shooting throughout his head and body. He even felt pain shooting from his dormant legs, as he flew more than a hundred feet. He tightly shut his eyes when he saw he was about to crash into a nearby telephone pole…

  Danny expected to die, and in an instance – his entire life flashed before his eyes. He saw every significant moment in his entire life – the good, the bad, and the ugly of it. While reliving his entire lifetime in what Danny thought must have been just a nanosecond, he was pleasantly surprised to feel the intense, physical pain suddenly subsiding. He decided to open his eyes again, when he felt himself whizzing through an amazingly long, light-filled, circular tunnel at dizzying speeds.

  “So, I guess this is what happens when one dies,” wondered Danny, while the mental replay of his lifetime continued to play out. It occurred to him, “I guess I really lived a rather mundane life, which became downright depressing since after the ski lift accident. The one bright spot for me was to see the girl next door who I used to have a big crush on – the beautiful Jessica Hart.”

  Yes, Jessica had been Danny’s next door neighbor since sixth grade. Her middle initial is ‘S.’, which actually stands for, ‘Sweet’. Thus, her full name was, ‘Jessica Sweet Hart’ – and she was very beautiful indeed, but unfortunately for Danny, she had never shown much romantic interest in him prior to the ski lift accident…

  “Perhaps, Jessica was just overly used to having me hanging around her constantly. I guess she probably thought of me more as being a ‘brotherly friend’, since she regularly told me all her deepest secrets. I’ve hated myself throughout the years for never having the guts to tell her that I was madly in love with her. It’s too bad that she showered me with more love and attention after I became crippled, but I chose to shun her company, since I knew that we could never become lovers on account of my paralysis.”

  After zipping down the hypnotic tunnel of light for what seemed like a long time, Danny suddenly noticed that his journey was coming to an abrupt, dark end.
Danny grit his teeth and shut his eyes just as he was hurtling towards a dark abyss…

  Danny opened his eyes when he sensed that he was no longer in motion. He was clueless as to what he had just experienced, and he was equally uncertain as to what was his fate.

  As soon as he was able to focus his eyes, he saw that he was in a small, spherical room with multi-colored lights swirling around all the surfaces. There was nothing else in the room except for two tunnels of light at opposing ends of the spherical room. At first, Danny thought he was all alone in this unusual location until he was startled by a tap on his shoulder from behind.

  “There’s been some kind of mistake,” said a gray-haired, bearded gentleman wearing a long, gray robe. “You must go back the way you came from.”

  Before Danny could reply, he was delighted to find himself standing on his own two legs once again. His legs were as healthy as ever. He couldn’t help but smile and giggle euphorically as he asked the elderly stranger, “Where am I?”

  “I hope you studied your science books while you were an Earthling. Officially, you are at the crossroads between two dimensions, deep inside a black hole. By some mistake, you were sent through the wormhole tunnel that connects to the parallel universe. Hurry now, young man, you must go back down the same tunnel you just came from.”

  This was the first time in 12 years that Danny had enjoyed the sensation of walking about on his two legs, and he was in no mood to return to his crippled body. Besides, Danny was quite certain that his body must be a mangled mess after just slamming into a telephone pole.

  Danny defiantly said, “I don’t want to go back the way I came from. I’m sure I’d be even more crippled now after being hit by a speeding truck and struck by lightning. I’m more interested in going down the other tunnel. After all, what’s this you said about a parallel universe? I expected to be sent to either Heaven or Hell when I died.”

  The mysterious, elderly man said, “Oh my – not another ‘Heaven and Hell’ believer. I’m the guardian of the crossroad, and I’m sorry, but I cannot allow you to pass through to the other universe.”

  Danny did not wish to offend the wise, old man, but he was adamant about not returning back down the same tunnel.

  “OK, sir, but you already admitted that I’m here by some sort of mistake, so please tell me the truth about the parallel universe. I’ve had horrible luck my entire life. At least, I’ve had terrible luck since the day of my ski lift accident, so please tell what’s going on. I deserve an explanation.”

  “I suppose that’s the least I can do,” replied the elderly guardian while he stroked his long, gray beard. “Let me enlighten you.”

  The wise guardian gently placed a comforting hand on Danny’s shoulder. He spoke in a scholarly fashion, “You mention that you have had consistently bad luck ever since that fateful day when you severed your spinal cord. First, you must understand that luck is a tangible thing. Luck is not related to randomness – it exists as naturally as does matter and energy. Similar to your old science lessons whereby, ‘for every action, there is an equal, opposite reaction’, when good luck happens to one prime member, his anti-member must suffer a counterbalancing stroke of bad luck.”

  A confused looking Danny responded, “OK, sir – I remember learning a little bit about Newtonian physics back in high school, but I don’t really understand your theory that someone else’s bad luck results in another person’s good luck. So, is this thing called ‘luck’, actually some sort of matter, like a subatomic particle?”

  “I suppose that’s one way of looking at it. Luck is in some ways similar to a charged up, ionized atom. As you know, there are positive and negative charged atoms called ions. Similarly, there are positive and negative charged ‘ions of luck’. Once again, for every ion of positive luck, there is an equally strong negative or ‘bad luck’ ion created. That is simply the law of physics.”

  As Danny became increasingly intrigued, his questions became more in depth…

  “OK, I think I get the essence of it. Good luck and bad luck must be counterbalanced. It’s like people playing at a game of Poker – one man’s loss is another man’s gain. Wealth at a Poker table is neither created nor destroyed – it simply transfers from the loser to the winner. Fine, but I’ve had an incredible amount of awfully bad luck for the past 12 years, while I’ve been a good person who hasn’t broken any of the Ten Commandments and so on. Why am I getting all this bad luck?”

  “Young man, please stop quoting your teachings of the Bible,” said the guardian in a friendly, yet firm manner. “If you want the truth, you must be able to accept it – whether you like it or not. As I said before, we are at the center point between two parallel universes. Parallel means essentially identical, but in a mirror image. Thus, if you have been consistently suffering from unusually bad luck in your world, then your anti-self is enjoying the spoils of extremely good luck in the parallel universe. That is simply one of the natural laws of physics. Just as Jesus Christ has an Anti-Christ, you have an opposite version of yourself.”

  “I thought you didn’t believe in the Biblical characters,” snapped Danny with a whimsical smile.

  “I don’t condone the incorrect teachings of the Bible,” replied the guardian, “but Jesus Christ certainly did exist – as does the anti-Christ version of him. Similarly, the parallel universe has a similar version of you. He is exactly the same as you in every way – even down to identical fingerprints. However, he possesses the exact opposite set of luck ions. Since most people have average luck, it really doesn’t matter which universe they occupy, but in your case, you must return down the tunnel from which you came to maintain a harmonious balance of opposing good and bad luck ions.”

  Danny’s face had become increasingly serious looking as he asked, “So, my long string of bad luck isn’t some sort of punishment, like a bad Karma sort of thing?”

  The elderly guardian reassuringly replied, “Young man, I sense that you are a quality person, so don’t misinterpret your bad luck as being some sort of punishment. It’s just one of the natural laws of physics. You should find solace that your alter ego is certainly enjoying a terrific run of great luck. I hope my explanation satisfies your curiosity. You must not go down the tunnel to the parallel universe. If you were to encounter your other self, the chances of a creating a deadly paradox is very real, so please return down the same tunnel you came from. You can’t stay here any longer.”

  Danny scratched the top of his head while contemplating his options. After a brief moment of silence he said, “Sir, with all due respect, I see that I only have two choices. I can either head back to my mangled, crippled body at a busy intersection in Seattle, or I can keep my healthy legs and take my chances in the parallel universe. Like they used to say on an old TV game show, ’I’ll take what’s behind door number two’. See ya.”

  Danny pushed the elderly man to the side and took a few running steps before he dove head first into the tunnel at the opposite end of the spherical room. Instantaneously, he re-accelerated back to the dizzying speeds. Time seemed to be non-existent, and Danny wondered if he was traveling in the endless tunnel for moments or for eons. Even as his body was being transported at an incredible, hyper-speed, he maintained one single, tantalizing thought: he was determined to seek out the parallel universe’s version of the girl of his dreams, Jessica Sweet Hart…

  2

  “Oh, mama mia! Please make your presence known, dearest Mama Cecelia,” cried out an excited Professor Paganini as he watched through the window of his experimental, communication chamber…

  Aldo Paganini was a brilliant physics professor at the University of Washington. He was a burly, single man in his mid-forties who looked more like a Mobster than a scientist. Aldo had been devastated by the loss of his precious, Mama Cecelia. His mother had been picking tomatoes in her garden in Tuscany, Italy. At the time, Aldo was only sixteen years old when he witnessed her being struck by a lightning bolt from a rogue thunder cloud. The day af
ter her funeral, Aldo came back to visit his mother’s grave near dusk, and he saw a vision of his mother’s spirit standing next to her tombstone.

  Ever since that day, Aldo was determined to invent a mechanical means of communicating with the spirit world. He had no faith in shyster psychics and their bogus séances. Thus, he decided to study physics.

  Professor Paganini came to work at the University of Washington 20 years ago, and he had managed to get a government grant to develop a communication chamber aimed for contacting the spirit world. Aldo was on the verge of success, but since he had achieved no positive results for two decades, the government cut off his funding 90 days ago. Thus, for the past three months Professor Paganini continued to work by himself on a shoestring budget, and he was on the verge of personal bankruptcy.

  Professor Paganini’s theory was that the spirit world was geographically very nearby, and that communicating with spirits should be similar to tuning in to the right frequency on a radio to hear a particular station.

  Aldo had also proudly expanded on Newton’s Law: no two objects can occupy the same space at the same time. Professor Paganini’s new theory is more thorough: no two objects can occupy the same space at the same time in the same dimension – but they can coexist in the same time and place in two separate dimensions.

  To the casual observer, Aldo’s communication chamber was rather crude and amateurish in appearance. It was a room measuring about six feet wide by six feet deep, built from cheap two-by-fours and plywood. All the walls, floor, and ceiling were painted in flat, black paint. On the left and right walls of the chamber were two concave mirrors aimed at each other, with a two-way transmitter located on a tripod stand in the middle. The transmitter would send out radio waves of varying frequencies towards the concave mirrors which were pointed to a triangular prism at the front of the transmitter. This magnified radio signal was pointed at a round, smoked mirror mounted on the back wall which was lined with a ring of powerful electromagnets along its perimeter.