A Very Paranormal Holiday

by J. T. Bock

  “Amazing, huh?” Max asked.

  “Didn’t LISA’s mother star in a Stephen King movie?” Kali averted her gaze from the steering wheel turning on its own. A self-driving auto did not play well with Kali’s semi-control-freak nature.

  “Hands free and feet free.” Max lifted his hands and feet.

  “Isn’t the driving experience the point of owning a sports car?”

  He lifted a shoulder. “We’ll integrate this technology into future models, but its main purpose is to sell the system to other car companies and militaries. Besides, this a great way to get work finished on the way to the office and look cool doing it.”

  Kali shook her head. “I’ll take your word on it. I’m more of a Volkswagen bug gal.”

  “Not impressed by exotic cars?”

  “I appreciate the artistry in their design, but they’re not worth the money.”

  “I’ll take you to the track one day and have you open one up to understand why they’re worth it.”

  Kali blinked. Was Max asking her on a date?

  “I also have something in my garage I’m certain will impress you.”

  Kali bit her tongue. With that statement, Max left it wide open for a good ribbing about what impressive thing he kept in his garage. But she’d traumatized him enough with her jokes. Of course, why he cared to impress her gave Kali pause.

  Max told LISA to take them home.

  “Where is home?” Kali asked.

  “About 40 minutes west, depending on the number of speed traps we can avoid.” Max fell silent as he flipped through his messages on the car’s vid-screen.

  Kali used the driving time to call U-Sec’s emergency switchboard to find an agent on call to report Sean’s disappearance. With Christmas a few days away, the office was down to a bare-bones staff. The operator said Pax was out of town, which was odd since Kali recalled he was visiting family in town. When she asked to speak with UltraAgent Oracle, her direct superior, the operator responded, “Who?” Kali then inquired about Gloria who was unreachable on a classified assignment. Funny, she remembered another agent being assigned that job, not Gloria.

  I need to lay off those Manhattans.

  Then she thought about Sean’s adoptive father, Dr. Victor Vivas, owner of TransGen.

  Kali needed more than a drink to deal with him and break the news that his only son was missing. Although Dr. Vivas may not want Kali to bother him until she found a solution. Wasn’t that what he preached at staff meetings? Self-resilience?

  To buy time, Kali called Detective Guy Matthews of the Transhuman Unit with the Baltimore police and U-Sec’s contact with the local authorities. She caught him on the road to Deandra’s home. Officers on the scene had summoned Matthews after the situation was upgraded to a transhuman crime scene. Kali briefed him about what had occurred and what she assumed about the perpetrator and promised to keep him updated on her progress. In return, Matthews promised to push back the FBI and police for as long as Max and Kali needed.

  “That was quick.” Max pointed to the square monitor on the dashboard.

  Video streamed from Web News Now showing Stockwell being knocked down by Sean. A shimmer of light signaled Kali and Max popping out, followed by a brilliant flash as Sean, Stockwell and two security guards disappeared. The web reporter questioned the video’s validity, surmising it was a hook to get viewers to watch the reality show, which had been lagging behind in the ratings.

  “Thank God, they’re not taking it seriously, yet,” Kali exclaimed.

  Her phone rang as Kali wondered whether Dr. Vivas had seen the video. She looked down to see his name darkening her smartphone’s screen. Yep, he sure did.

  “Hey, there, Dr. Vivas,” Kali answered.

  “Where’s my son?” he shot back.

  “I don’t know.”

  Silence. Did he expect her to say more?

  Kali waited and waited. Must be my turn again. “I’m with Max Martin. He has an idea of how to find Sean.”

  “Put him on.”

  With a huff, Kali muted her phone. “He wants to talk to you.”

  “I’ll sync it up to LISA.” Max took Kali’s phone and touched its edge to the monitor. Dr. Vivas’s arrogant mug, which always reminded Kali of a soap opera villain, filled the screen.

  “Max, I am told you can find my son,” Dr. Vivas stated.

  “Yes, sir,” Max answered. “UltraAgent TimeTrap came up with the idea, and I have some tech that may help us locate the kidnapper.”

  Nice of Max to give me credit.

  “Based on the energy fluctuations I sensed off his device and the portal he traveled through, I believe the kidnapper was from an alternate universe. Max may have equipment that can tell us where this man has been and where he’ll show up next,” Kali explained.

  “DERST can detect dark energy fluctuations?” Dr. Vivas inquired.

  “I can’t go into details with you. The patent is still pending, and TimeTrap will be signing a nondisclosure agreement. As a business owner, I’m sure you understand why,” Max said.

  Kali turned her head so Dr. Vivas didn’t see her amusement at Max shooting him down.

  “This is my son, Max. His life is in the hands of you and Ka—” he started to say her real name then corrected himself, “TimeTrap, the only one on U-Sec’s team who can do this. I expect updates every hour. ”

  Wait a minute. There was another UltraAgent who could help.

  “There’s one other agent. I’ll reach out to Surefire. She’s still trying to figure out her goddess-given abilities but—”

  “Who?” Dr. Vivas cut her off.

  Kali frowned. “Uh, UltraAgent Surefire?”

  Dr. Vivas’s blank expression frustrated her even further.

  Kali didn’t want to say Surefire’s real name, but she was in a bind. “Synthia St. John.”

  “The gymnast? Stephen St. John’s daughter?”

  Kali nodded.

  “What about her?”

  “She can travel through dimensional planes too. Differently than I do, but her ability to call forth this being—”

  “Synthia has no abilities. She’s not a transhuman. She works at the DoD assisting her father.”

  I’m not going insane. Synthia was Kali’s closest friend.

  “What about Cassandra Cross?” Kali dispensed with code names.

  “The ambassador’s daughter? She teaches ballet. Blind, isn’t she?”

  Think, Kali. Think.

  Max studied her. His brow furrowed reflecting Kali’s bewilderment.

  “Dr. Reba Burke. She worked on Cassandra with you. Both of you sort of healed her blindness.” Actually, they gave Cassandra a power to make up for her blindness.

  “Dr. Burke disappeared thirty years ago, not long after we graduated from medical school.” Dr. Vivas leaned into the camera. “Have you been smoking this evening?”

  Kali huffed. “I wish I had.”

  Because of her ability, Kali had a prescription for medical marijuana. It helped soothe her occasional alt-jumping jitters.

  “Max, watch over TimeTrap. See that she’s able to handle this.” Dr. Vivas hung up without waiting for a reply.

  “My father never liked that man. Now I see why,” Max said.

  Kali didn’t respond as she dissected the information gathered from Dr. Vivas to find a common denominator.

  “Do you have data on dark energy or even low-levels of gamma radiation detected within the earth’s atmosphere from say ... thirty years ago until the present?” Kali asked.

  “I started collecting dark energy data five years ago. But I have people at NASA who may have gamma histories on file. Why?”

  “Can you contact them?” Kali motioned to the small screen displaying his emails.

  “I can, but I need to understand why.”

  “I’m not losing my mind. I’m not drunk or high, and I’m not PMS-ing.” To be fair, no one had accused Kali of the last thing, but being woman, she knew they eventually would.


  “Okay,” Max replied in a soft voice, one reserved for calming a person about to crack.

  “Those agents I mentioned are real. They have abilities. They are transhumans. Yesterday I spoke with Cassandra at the office, not at her ballet studio. A week ago, I hung out with Surefire, who can do freaky things with this new goddess power of hers. Tonight I was supposed to have dinner with Inferno, but I couldn’t reach him. His phone number and email didn’t work. Then there’s Dr. Burke, who’s missing. She worked with Dr. Vivas for a decade at TransGen. I should know, because she started the office book club, which I now run.”

  “I believe you.” Max squeezed her hand. Kali appreciated the comforting gesture.

  “Hold on.” She brought up a web browser on the car’s computer screen and typed in the name of the geneticist responsible for giving Inferno his power.

  Missing. Disappeared after a lecture at Dartmouth. 1992.

  “This is insane ... it can’t be.” Kali slumped back. She wanted so much to be wrong, because the right answer seemed so farfetched. “Why ... I just don’t understand ... why do I remember these agents and no one else does?”

  “If Stockwell is from an alternate universe, could he have changed our present by changing our past and that’s why these agents no longer exist?” Max suggested.

  “Yes, and he isn’t kidnapping the transhumans, he’s taking the people who created them.”

  “What will happen when they go after the one who created you?”

  “Then they’d need to kidnap me.”

  Chapter 4

  Max didn’t need to show Kali anything other than his personal lab to impress her.

  Letting out a whistle, she took in the gymnasium-sized room. Glass and plasma monitors lined one end with computers of all models and capabilities underneath. Along another wall, a glass-enclosed, temperature-controlled section sported rows of servers. Various robotics, asleep in their respective corners, circled the room. The center sported two long metal tables with various tools and gadgets in different states of dissection and construction.

  “Does Tony Stark know you stole his lab?” Kali spun around the balls of her feet to take it all in.

  “How do you think I got the idea?” Max pointed to the green t-shirt he wore over dark blue jeans. He’d changed from his three-piece suit after they arrived at his home.

  Screen printed across the shirt in yellow were the figures 26 Fe 55.845, a plus sign and a man’s restroom icon.

  Iron plus Man.

  Iron Man.

  “Why didn’t I notice that before?” Because Max had gone from a polished GQ model to a cute geek next door with a simple change of clothes. Kali’s mind was slow to adjust to the abrupt difference.

  “I wouldn’t peg you for a superhero fan,” she said between chuckles at the shirt’s reference.

  “My good looks and cool style camouflage an inner comic geek.”

  “Don’t get ahead of yourself.” Kali shook her head but continued to laugh. So Max knew how to joke after all.

  Skirting the equipment and robotics, Kali followed Max to the opposite end of the room where a tall glass screen stretched toward the ceiling. Smaller screens flanked its sides.

  Max waved his hand over a rectangular glossy desk. Half of it lit up with a keyboard. He sat down on a rolling, ergonomic chair and started typing. A blue outline of a world map appeared against a black background on the giant center screen.

  Kali set her bag in the chair next to him. It was lighter since she’d changed into her boots and uniform in his guest bathroom. His upstairs was a poster home for minimalism. Two bedrooms and two baths flanked an open floor plan with a basic, clean-lined kitchen that flowed into a combined dining and living area. Architect Frank Lloyd Wright would have admired how the wall of windows merged the interior with the trees surrounding Max’s home. The house was set among oaks, elms and pines, still covered with the early winter snow, giving it a treehouse vibe. In the fall, the view had to be stunning.

  If the upstairs reflected the essence of simplicity, the basement was a tech lover’s dream. Kali itched to check out his toys. Later, she promised herself, if she still existed as TimeTrap.

  Kali studied the blinking lights on the map. “I didn’t think it was possible to measure dark energy.”

  “It’s based on an idea from my grandfather’s journals. I’m still working out the kinks. It doesn’t measure as much as it pinpoints blips of dark energy based on residual negative charges left after a gamma burst.”

  “Your Pop-Pop dabbled in physics?”

  “He dabbled in everything. Genius, remember?”

  “And you’re following in his footsteps?”

  “The genius gene skipped me, but I’m very persistent.” Max flashed her a lopsided grin that made Kali want to pat his shoulder and say she believed in him.

  Max zoomed into the dots, focused on the Loch Raven area where Kali’s mother lived.

  “Are those colorful blips me?” She pointed to red and green dots blinking on the map.

  “You and Stockwell, I believe.”

  An uneasiness settled along her chest. “Have you been watching me?”

  “I’ve been watching something. I didn’t know it was you until now. I’d catch these blips centered on U-Sec’s office and here.” The screen zoomed into the Fells Point area of Baltimore.

  “That’s where I live.” The uneasiness crept up her throat. Kali had never considered someone other than those at U-Sec and TransGen would be keeping tabs on her.

  “I’ve caught blips like these all over the world. Down here in Mexico a few months ago.” Max focused the map on that country.

  My last two assignments.

  “And elsewhere in the Middle East and Africa.”

  Those aren’t from me. Kali had never traveled to either region.

  “What else would cause these readings?” Kali asked.

  “These aren’t all you?”

  “No, they could be Stockwell. Unless there is someone else besides Stockwell and me.”

  Maybe it was Surefire? Although with their timeline reset, the information collected by Max would be different than before Stockwell screwed things up leaving Surefire without powers.

  Gah, these time changes are hard to keep track of.

  To the right of the map, lines of numbers streamed down the side.

  “My NASA contacts are transferring their data. I’ll run a script to search the records.”

  Kali spied a glass board and stylus to the side of Max’s station. To find inspiration, she preferred to write out possible solutions over entering data into a computer.

  “Mind if I use it?” Kali nodded to the board.

  “Whatever you need, it’s yours.”

  On the board, Kali listed agents no longer with powers and the scientists who disappeared and the years when they vanished. Then Kali drew a box at the top and labeled it “Stockwell.” In bulleted points underneath, she listed details about him: the device, his portal, his appearance, his accent, his uniform.

  His uniform.

  Kali took out her computer tablet and looked up British and Australian war uniforms from World War I to the present.

  “Check this out.” With two long strides, Kali bridged the gap between them and extended her arm toward Max until he could see the picture on her tablet.

  “That’s Stockwell’s uniform.” He squinted at the photo of several young men standing at attention.

  “Bingo. Look at the description.”

  “British Commandos, Singapore circa 1969. Stockwell was missing the rifle, but overall it’s spot on.”

  “I was surprised when he called Sean a Jap. He said it with such rancor. Don’t get me wrong, we have racists in this day, but the usage struck me as odd. It makes sense if Stockwell is from a different generation.”

  “Then he may have come from 1969?” Max leaned back in his chair.

  “Possibly.”

  “And Stockwell is most likely from a parallel
universe?”

  Kali nodded.

  “But wouldn’t his history be different or even his uniform?”

  Kali moved her bag to the floor. She plopped into the chair next to his. The tips of her shoes gripped the concrete as she rolled back and forth. “In some ways the histories are the same. When I first traveled there, I assumed it was our universe. I alt-jumped to the past, but not the distant past, about 15 years from the current time. I didn’t have control over my power and didn’t understand how to channel the energies to a specific time and visualize the location. I also got sick a few times because an object shifted me and ... we’ll leave that for later.”

  He motioned for her to go on.

  “This movie, Titanic, was huge that year. Posters, newsreels, actor interviews were everywhere. I never remembered it being released and, trust me, I love movies. The storyline was fiction but based the real Titanic sinking after it hit an iceberg.”

  “Didn’t they retire the Titanic back in the sixties? My grandfather sailed on it as a boy.”

  “Yeah, and some German shipbuilders recently spent millions to refurbish it.”

  “So, the Titanic sank in their world?”

  “Yep. That event killed more than a thousand people.”

  “Whoa.”

  “Then I learned something else.” Kali bent forward to rest her elbows on her knees.

  “What’s that?” Max rolled his chair closer.

  “They don’t have transhumans in this world. No U-Sec or TransGen. It’s odd, because their computer technology is about on par with ours. However, they just mapped the genome within the past decade, and we accomplished that over twenty years ago. They are behind us in cybernetics as well.”

  “You imagine this ship sinking made the difference in genetic and cybernetic advancements?”

  “My professor at MIT believed a universe could split and form an alternate one after a significant event. The sinking of this ship could be one such incident. Another historical event could be significantly different earlier in their timeline; I haven’t studied their history in depth to be sure. But what if parents or grandparents or even great-grandparents of our top geneticists died on that ship? It’s my working theory until I find another wrinkle in their timeline.”