Neutrinoman & Lightningirl: A Love Story, Season 1 (Episodes 1 - 3)

by Robert J. McCarter

  As I watched I got to know them a bit better. Dr. Cheese was introspective and spoke slowly. Chaosboy continued with his short bursts of words, often ill considered. He was frequently the brunt of jokes. Byte seemed to be all business, except for the way she looked at Tom. And Tom… well, he was like a chameleon. With Dr. Cheese he was careful and intellectual, with Chaosboy he was jocular and funny, with Byte he was focused and intent, and with me… With me he was earnest and serious.

  “It’s time,” Byte said after everyone had finished eating.

  The large screen turned on and Diane Madison was speaking. “Neutrinoman, Lightningirl, The Hammer, Toxicwasteman, Chaosboy, Dr. Cheese.” There was some cheering when she mentioned the last few. “Who are these people, who are they really, and what do they mean to us? In the next hour we will explore the origins of these heroes and villains and unmask at least one of them. The WNN investigative team has been working for the last year, and tonight we bring you exclusive coverage as we unmask Neutrinoman.”

  “Who wants some popcorn?” Dr. Cheese asked. The mood around the table seemed to be cheerful, too cheerful for me. It wasn’t their lives that were about to crumble, but mine.

  “Excuse me,” I mumbled as I got up and left the table. I didn’t know where I was going, I only knew I couldn’t sit there and watch. I wandered past Byte’s equipment and into a tunnel. I had no idea where it led. I really didn’t care.

  I missed Licia horribly right then. I knew she must be going through something similar. I could almost see us sitting together on a couch, hands clutched tightly as we watched. Not sitting around eating popcorn while a bunch of outlaws cheered.

  The tunnel was pretty narrow, the footing uneven—I had to pay attention. As with all the tunnels, it was lit by bare bulbs strung along one side. My mind began to wonder at and focus on my surroundings. Where was I? North of Flagstaff, presumably, but not that far north. There is not much there, a few small towns and lots of desert, and the Grand Canyon. That tickled something in my mind. Tunnels and the Grand Canyon. Maybe this was—

  “I’m sorry,” I heard an English-accented female voice say. Her voice was a touch husky and I could smell roses and patchouli.

  “Thank you,” I said without turning around.

  “This must be so hard for you.” She placed her hand on my shoulder. Her touch was soft and gentle. “No one knows about me, there is nothing to unmask.” With her hand on my shoulder she moved until she stood in front of me. Her presence was decidedly feminine—she filled out the turtleneck nicely—and very distracting. I had all these feelings for Licia that longed for expression but had nowhere to go.

  “I…” I stammered.

  She laughed, her red lips parting to show perfect white teeth. “Come on,” she said, grabbing my hand. “I want to show you something.” I let her pull me forward down the tunnel. “It can be such a boys’ club in there. I sometimes need to get away. Need to be alone.”

  A dim part of my mind was screaming that I shouldn’t go with her. That this wasn’t right. That Licia would not approve. But my need for escape overrode that voice and I went with her. The tunnel curved and we soon came to the end of the lit section and she grabbed a large flashlight and handed me one.

  We went into a smaller tunnel that sloped down. Soon I could smell moisture with a slight metallic tinge and could hear dripping.

  She laughed and continued to pull me forward. Our light beams suddenly stabbing forward into what seemed to be a vast emptiness and I could hear the sounds of dripping water echoing through the large cavern.

  “Where are we?” I asked.

  She laughed again, it was soft and gentle, and echoed through the cavern. “Wait till you see,” she whispered as her lips brushed my ear. As lights started to slowly come up, I caught my breath. “Oh, my God.”

  She laughed again.

  ~~~

  We stood on the edge of a large cavern, I could hardly breathe. Stalagmites thrusting up from the ground, stalactites hanging from the ceiling dripping water into the pools below. Rocks that sparkled in the artificial light, throwing off sparks of rainbows. Dark water pooled in the center of the cave.

  “Come on, Nik,” she said, taking my flashlight, setting them both down, and pulling me farther in.

  My troubles were forgotten in that moment and I followed her. She treaded a careful path through the cave, sharing its wonders with me: quartz crystals bigger than my leg; smooth limestone formations; geodes bigger than my head. I had seen caves like this before on family outings, but never one where I could linger, where I could explore.

  Byte didn’t speak much, just now and then pointing out this wonder or that. She eventually led me into a side cavern, and my breath caught again. It was small, maybe ten feet in diameter, and I had to duck to get in the entrance. But it was amazing. The whole cave was a geode, the inside of its surface covered in crystals that went from white to purple. There was a light mounted on the ceiling that made the whole cave sparkle.

  “My God,” I said.

  “This is my place, my little sanctuary,” she said, drawing me farther in. We were walking on a narrow wooden path that must have been put there to preserve the crystals underneath.

  In the center of the cave was what I would have to call a nest. It was a large pile of blankets and pillows. Byte sat down on them and beckoned to me.

  “Um…” I began, looking back and noticing that the lights to the main cavern were off.

  She smiled. “Don’t worry, Nik. I don’t bite. Not at all.”

  “Cute,” I said, but didn’t laugh at her little byte/bite joke.

  “Oh, come on, be a sport. Relax. Have a seat.”

  “You know,” I said. “I’m a little confused. Aren’t you and Tom a couple? Wouldn’t he—”

  “Yes we are,” she said cutting me off. “And no, he’s not like that. He’s not the jealous kind.”

  I swallowed hard, I had been guessing at her intentions, and now they were clear. “Yeah. I am kind of involved with someone, not that I don’t appreciate the offer.”

  “I thought she broke up with you.”

  “Well… Yeah… yeah, she did. But it’s not a breakup that I am willing to accept.” I was looking out the entrance wondering if I could neutrino-ize my hand and create enough light to find my way out. Did I even know the way out?

  “Maybe I can help,” she said. “I am a woman. Maybe I can help you understand her motivations.”

  I looked at her, my eyes narrowing. Something clicked in my brain. “You have her psych profile, don’t you?”

  She smiled demurely and nodded.

  I shook my head. “No, no. That wouldn’t be right. That wouldn’t be fair.”

  She laughed. “You really are a Boy Scout, aren’t you? Tom said you were. I just wasn’t sure I believed him.” She sighed and got up, the lights in the cavern slowly coming up. She moved around me to leave the crystal cavern.

  “Wait a minute,” I said. She turned and looked at me. “You simulate everything, right?” She nodded. “So you simulated this.” She nodded again. “And what did your simulation tell you? That I would go for this?” I glanced back at the nest of blankets and pillows.

  She smiled, her hand coming to my chest and resting there. “My simulation told me I didn’t have a snowball’s chance in hell.”

  “So why?” I asked.

  “A girl’s got to challenge herself sometimes, doesn’t she?” She paused, rising to her tiptoes and kissing me on the cheek. “Besides, I wanted to know if you were really that pure. Not many are, and considering how powerful you are, I think it’s a bloody good thing. I think it may help in the end.”#

  Chapter 7

  A Gift for Neutrinoman

  Late Winter 2005, LoVE Base, Near the Grand Canyon

  “Did you show him his quarters yet?” Tom asked with a wicked smile. He had been waiting for us at the entrance to the large cavern.

  I think I flushed red. I thought he asked if I had seen Byte’s
quarters. We had slowly walked our way back up from the cave.

  “Nope,” she said letting go of my arm and kissing me on the cheek again. “Be nice now, Tom. Our boy’s had a tough day.”

  Tom’s grin became even wickeder as he nodded. Byte walked past us and my eyes followed her down the corridor.

  “She’s quite the woman, isn’t she?” Tom asked.

  I nodded. “Makes me wonder what the hell she is doing with you.”

  I expected a retort, but he snorted and said, “I wonder the same thing too.”

  I just stood there staring at him. I couldn’t get a bead on who this new Tom Tyree was and it was keeping me off balance.

  “Follow me,” he said, taking me down the corridor Byte and I had just come up and then down a new tunnel. He was silent, and that worked for me, so I just followed. We walked for a few minutes until we came to a wide passageway that led to an elevator.

  Not the kind you would find in a building, but a rusted metal cage that went down into the Earth. The kind of elevator you would find in a mine.

  We got in and went down, I couldn’t tell you how far, but it was a ways. At the bottom, the elevator opened up into a warren of tunnels. I began to worry why Tom had brought me down here. I took a deep breath and let it slowly out. It smelled of damp stone, but somehow I liked it down here. I felt at home down here.

  I could see that lights were strung along all the tunnels, but only one set was on. Tom handed me a flashlight, keeping one for himself, and said, “Just in case.”

  We went down the lit tunnel several hundred yards and he stopped. “This is as far as I go,” he said.

  I was confused. He had said something about my quarters, but why would they be way down here?

  He laughed, the sound echoing down the tunnel. “I believe in equitable exchanges,” he began. “You came here, which I appreciate, so down that corridor is a gift. A gift that far exceeds the worth of you listening to me. A gift that, I think, you will find very valuable.”

  I was puzzled as to what he was referring to, but got a glimpse of what was going to come next. “And you are going to want me to even the exchange?” I asked.

  He nodded. “In the morning I am going to ask you to do something. You are not going to want to do it, but I ask you to keep an open mind. To look at the big picture.” He glanced at his watch and added, “I’ll meet you back here at seven a.m.”

  With that he walked back towards the elevator. When he was gone I took a deep breath and slowly let it out. I really liked it down here. I felt good, peaceful.

  I made my way down the tunnel another hundred yards until I came to large metal door. Hanging on it was a white robe, which I ignored for the moment. The door groaned as I opened it and what I saw made me smile.

  It wasn’t much to see, a small cave filled with a sizable pile of dull grey rocks. In one corner were a cot, a lamp, a little cooler, and a makeshift toilet.

  I took a deep breath and took in the ambiance of the place. Those rocks were radioactive. Uranium. I was in a uranium mine, and Tom had set my quarters up in a cave filled with uranium ore. He was right, this was a big gift.

  I closed the door, going back out into the tunnel and removed all my clothes and put the robe on. No need to expose them to the radiation.

  I went back into my quarters and found the cooler filled with cheese. I smiled, had a piece, and lay down on the cot. Before I knew it, I was asleep.

  ~~~

  It wasn’t quite like spending the night in reactor number three at Palo Verde, but it was not bad. I had never imagined I would find a charging source that didn’t involve the government.

  In the morning Tom escorted me back to the elevator, up to the main level, and down another series of tunnels.

  “What is that?” I asked as I saw a bright light at the end of the tunnel.

  Tom just smiled and beckoned me forth. The tunnel narrowed and ended overlooking a canyon, the morning light illuminating us.

  The canyon was deep and beautiful with tan rocks and pinion trees clinging to the sides. I saw several ravens cawing and circling in the bright blue sky.

  “The Grand Canyon?” I asked.

  Tom nodded. “We are west of the National Park. If you follow that canyon it leads to another canyon which leads to the Colorado River.”

  “Why?” I asked. “Why are you showing me this?”

  “Consider it a gift,” he said.

  “That you are hopeful I will reciprocate,” I said.

  He nodded. “I am. I really want you to join us, Nik. But more than that, I want you to have a place, a place not dependent on the military, where you can charge yourself. Where you can carry on the fight with or without the government.”

  I pursed my lips, worried about what was to come.

  “Oh, relax,” he said, slapping me on the back. “It’s just a fun little heist. No worries.”

  Interview, Part 2

  Late Winter 2005, WNN Studios, Los Angeles

  “Tonight on Real Life with Diane Madison,” the announcer’s disembodied voice said, “Diane sits down for a live, exclusive, and face-to-face interview with Nik Nichols.”

  “Just relax,” Diane said to me, her voice gentle, her green eyes soft. “It’s going to be okay.”

  I nodded, taking a deep breath and tuning out the announcer. Phrases like “alien threat,” “planet killing asteroid,” and “global catastrophe” filtered through but I tried to ignore them. I was sweating in the hot lights, and the room smelled of burning dirt, as the lights burned off dirt that had settled on them.

  “I think I’m going to puke,” I said to her.

  “This is important, you know,” she said. “What you are doing. The world needs to know.”

  I nodded but wasn’t sure I agreed. The world needed to be saved, whether it needed to know from what seemed to be highly debatable to me.

  A droopy-looking man standing next to the camera said, “In five… four… three…” He mouthed “two” and “one” and pointed to Diane.

  “Good evening,” Diane began with a smile, looking at the camera. “Just over a year and half ago on September 10, 2003, the world as we knew it changed. It sounds like a bad science fiction movie, but our planet was bathed in cosmic rays and some of us were transformed, gaining unimaginable powers.

  “They are called quantum-morphs and of those that have come into the public eye, one stands above the rest as a hero, as—dare I say it—a savior.” Her tone was even and believable. I wanted to throw up. “He is called Neutrinoman and it is no exaggeration to say that he has saved Earth and every life on it. To call him a hero is not enough. He is nothing short of a superhero.

  “Last month we brought you a special report that revealed this hero’s secret identity. Tonight we have the man himself, Nik Nichols, in the studio with us for an exclusive one-on-one live interview. No holds barred, nothing but the truth, real life as it is happening.” She swiveled in her chair and faced me. Her red lips were smiling, her wavy black hair glistening under the lights. “Thank you for joining us, Nik.”

  I licked my lips, swallowed, and nodded my head. I couldn’t speak.

  “So,” she went on. “Just to get this out of the way. You, Nik Nichols, are the q-morph known as Neutrinoman, correct?”

  “I…” I began, my voice a croak. “I am, Diane. I am Neutrinoman.”

  I felt this silence descend around the two of us. It wasn’t literal—the studio had been quiet since the show started—it was metaphorical. It was as if the hundreds of millions of viewers had all stopped talking at the same time. As if the attention of the entire world had shifted to me. As if all those millions of eyes and millions of ears were focused on me.

  “I am Neutrinoman,” I repeated.

  Chapter 8

  Just a Fun Little Heist

  Late Winter 2005, LoVE Base, Near the Grand Canyon

  A large flat screen illuminated Tom’s face as he paced back and forth in front of it. It made his gaunt features
look ghoulish, which actually made me a bit more comfortable. Somehow the crazy criminal suited me better than the obliging host. On the screen, Tom was going through a slideshow describing his “fun little heist.”

  “The diamonds will be guarded with state of the art security,” Tom said, pointing to a diagram of a train car that showed positions of guards and the security measures. “You two,” he said, pointing at Chaosboy and Byte, “will disable security, Dr. Cheese will take care of the guards, and Neutrino will crack the safe and get the diamonds. I will fly the helicopter and meet you all here.” The flat screen showed a desolate stretch of desert between Flagstaff and Winslow. “Any questions?”

  No one spoke. I just sat there with my arms crossed slowly shaking my head.

  “What is it, Neutrino?” Tom asked.

  “I’m not doing it,” I said.

  Tom stared at me, the fervor on his face when he described the heist fading back into the calm face of the Tom I had known since I got here. “Boys,” he said nodding to Chaosboy and Dr. Cheese, “can you please excuse us.”

  They got up and left, Byte stayed. She was staring at me too. They both kind of had the same looks on their faces, this longing that bordered on lust. They wanted me. They needed me. I wasn’t sure why, but I sure as hell didn’t like it.

  Tom pulled out a chair and sat directly across from me at their round table. “What’s the problem?” he asked.

  “Oh, I don’t know,” I began. “First of all, how about this being against the law.” Tom’s lip curled and his eyes rolled. “And how about how the collateral damage you all are so comfortable with around here. How many people will be injured or killed doing this?”

  “Hopefully none,” Byte said. “But you are right. We are breaking the law, and some people might get hurt despite our planning. But, the idea is that no one gets hurt, and some big, rich corporation is out a few million in diamonds.”

  “I won’t do it,” I said, repeating myself. Tom looked puzzled, which surprised me. “Surely your simulation told you that I would react this way.”