it was protected
by three Dewar walls each six feet thick. All activity in the building was monitored
by the computer. Nevertheless, the shadowy figure stood suspiciously before the controls,
unnoticed by the electronic eyes and unrecorded in their memories. A black hand entirely
befitting the dark figure reached out and began flicking off lights on the panel—something
that never should’ve been allowed.
-
In the depths of the swirling chaos, red spots began to form. A few of these spots
quickly fused into one, and from a spot it grew to a stain, and from the stain a net
formed. Within the scarlet was her father’s face. His expression was oddly calm. Blue
light danced about him. The light was as bright as lightning, but at the same time
it also looked somewhat like coral. Her father looked up from the table. Several seconds
later, an elated hue spread across his emaciated features. Her father’s lips moved.
“I’ve done it,” he said. “I’ve finally done it.”
The next thing she knew, her mother and father were wandering about in the wilderness.
In the distance, the wind howled. It was a cold wind, as chilly as a fog. On the desolate
plain before her there was nothing to see but clouds and sky. The clouds eddied, and
the wind alone blew against her. And then that wind formed a face by her. One she
felt she might’ve seen before, and yet at the same time she also felt she’d never
seen. And there wasn’t just one face. There was another, and this one was familiar.
Its lips parted to speak. “Stay. Just stay here.” As she and her family moved across
the biting, wind-blasted wilderness, she got the feeling that the voice echoed after
them for an eternity.
Exactly where her father and mother were trying to go she didn’t know. At times, her
mother looked back over her shoulder anxiously. While she realized they’d see nothing
but desolate plains out there, her mother seemed to be afraid of something gaining
on them. What made the girl uneasy was the unfamiliar face that hung in the heavens.
Its eyes focused not on her father or mother but on herself—this the girl knew with
every fiber of her being. The wind and bits of sand noisily struck the girl’s face.
-
Dwas in the park. Sitting on a bench, he watched the water leaping in the fountain
before him. As always, his thoughts were a mystery. A black shadow suddenly fell across
his profile.
“Hey, are you D . . . ?” someone asked in a deep voice.
D didn’t answer. It was almost as if he’d expected the question. The man standing
by the end of the bench was a giant who seemed to stretch to the clouds. Not six or
seven feet tall, but closer to ten. With a frame like a massive boulder with logs
sunk in it for limbs, his shadow easily covered D and stretched to the base of the
fountain several yards away. On the chest of his blue shirt there was a tiny, sharp
gleam of light.
Apparently not taking very kindly to being ignored, the giant continued, “I’m Sheriff
Hutton. Keeping the folks here in town safe from unsavory outsiders is what I do.
And it don’t matter whether you’re the mayor’s guest or not, that won’t get you no
slack from me. You wanna stay in town, you’d best mark your time peaceably and not
go looking to stir up any trouble. See, if you put in three days on the job and have
nothing to show for it, even the mayor will give up. I’m gonna be the one who goes
looking for
your stinking kin
. I’ll find ’im and drive a stake through his heart all proper-like. Being sheriff,
I don’t much cotton to them ignoring me and calling in a punk kid like you.”
Hutton had a deadly piece of hardware by his right side—a rocket launcher that seemed
to consist of seven barrels banded together. A piece of heavy machinery like that
could blow away a large beast or even a small building with one shot. And stuck through
his belt was a huge broadsword. Even
by three Dewar walls each six feet thick. All activity in the building was monitored
by the computer. Nevertheless, the shadowy figure stood suspiciously before the controls,
unnoticed by the electronic eyes and unrecorded in their memories. A black hand entirely
befitting the dark figure reached out and began flicking off lights on the panel—something
that never should’ve been allowed.
-
In the depths of the swirling chaos, red spots began to form. A few of these spots
quickly fused into one, and from a spot it grew to a stain, and from the stain a net
formed. Within the scarlet was her father’s face. His expression was oddly calm. Blue
light danced about him. The light was as bright as lightning, but at the same time
it also looked somewhat like coral. Her father looked up from the table. Several seconds
later, an elated hue spread across his emaciated features. Her father’s lips moved.
“I’ve done it,” he said. “I’ve finally done it.”
The next thing she knew, her mother and father were wandering about in the wilderness.
In the distance, the wind howled. It was a cold wind, as chilly as a fog. On the desolate
plain before her there was nothing to see but clouds and sky. The clouds eddied, and
the wind alone blew against her. And then that wind formed a face by her. One she
felt she might’ve seen before, and yet at the same time she also felt she’d never
seen. And there wasn’t just one face. There was another, and this one was familiar.
Its lips parted to speak. “Stay. Just stay here.” As she and her family moved across
the biting, wind-blasted wilderness, she got the feeling that the voice echoed after
them for an eternity.
Exactly where her father and mother were trying to go she didn’t know. At times, her
mother looked back over her shoulder anxiously. While she realized they’d see nothing
but desolate plains out there, her mother seemed to be afraid of something gaining
on them. What made the girl uneasy was the unfamiliar face that hung in the heavens.
Its eyes focused not on her father or mother but on herself—this the girl knew with
every fiber of her being. The wind and bits of sand noisily struck the girl’s face.
-
Dwas in the park. Sitting on a bench, he watched the water leaping in the fountain
before him. As always, his thoughts were a mystery. A black shadow suddenly fell across
his profile.
“Hey, are you D . . . ?” someone asked in a deep voice.
D didn’t answer. It was almost as if he’d expected the question. The man standing
by the end of the bench was a giant who seemed to stretch to the clouds. Not six or
seven feet tall, but closer to ten. With a frame like a massive boulder with logs
sunk in it for limbs, his shadow easily covered D and stretched to the base of the
fountain several yards away. On the chest of his blue shirt there was a tiny, sharp
gleam of light.
Apparently not taking very kindly to being ignored, the giant continued, “I’m Sheriff
Hutton. Keeping the folks here in town safe from unsavory outsiders is what I do.
And it don’t matter whether you’re the mayor’s guest or not, that won’t get you no
slack from me. You wanna stay in town, you’d best mark your time peaceably and not
go looking to stir up any trouble. See, if you put in three days on the job and have
nothing to show for it, even the mayor will give up. I’m gonna be the one who goes
looking for
your stinking kin
. I’ll find ’im and drive a stake through his heart all proper-like. Being sheriff,
I don’t much cotton to them ignoring me and calling in a punk kid like you.”
Hutton had a deadly piece of hardware by his right side—a rocket launcher that seemed
to consist of seven barrels banded together. A piece of heavy machinery like that
could blow away a large beast or even a small building with one shot. And stuck through
his belt was a huge broadsword. Even
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