Coalescence (Camden Investigations Book 1)

by Gary Starta

  “Evan, I have no astrophysical background to confirm or deny any of your theories. You see,” he unclasped his hands and rapped them on the table, “it’s how the Organization preferred things. They didn’t want any geniuses. And . . . voila . . . look at what they got!” He pointed a finger at his chest. “The All American Idiot, that’s me.” He raised a hand like a schoolchild. “I signed up for something I would never completely understand. Evan and Mitchell were right. Secrets were kept from the public. But they were also kept from men like me.” He accentuated his words with the tap of his index finger on the table. “No one was ever to comprehend the puzzle, only its individual pieces. I really don’t know what Jack and Will intended to do with the artifact other than hand it over for reverse engineering. I can only imagine what might have happened. In fact, I shudder at my ignorance. But . . .” A tear welled in his eye. “I will tell you I started out doing this for my family. I wanted to be someone for my dear girls. I may have utterly and completely failed, but I had good intentions going in. It’s just too bad that I’ll never know what I experienced in the time slip. I’d like to think I had a chance to start over.” Dan’s head drooped forward.

  Iris reached across the table and placed her hand over her dad’s. From the other side, DJ repeated the gesture.

  After several uncomfortable moments, Dan excused himself from the filibuster and offered the floor to Evan.

  “Thank-you, Mr. Camden. For what it’s worth, I do believe you. I still despise your employers with every fiber of my being. Now, in the words of Kassidy ‘as to what really freakin’ happened out in the desert,’ I can only theorize.”

  Gavin grunted. “I can tell you a whole bunch of people living in a camper is just wrong.”

  Evan smiled and pointed a finger. “Aside from that epiphany, I do have several explanations for Time/Space or the Doctrine of Temporal Parts. The ontological position posits that an object exists in time and has temporal parts in the various sub-regions of the total region of time it occupies. I see Darian scratching his head. I want to say I have been there. Sorry for the bad joke. But there was a time I couldn’t understand the nuances of time either. But bear with me. The next theory I want to talk about is Eternalism, which states all points in time are equally real as opposed to the Presentist idea that claims only the present is real. I hope I didn’t lose anyone on that.”

  Gavin raised a hand. “You didn’t lose me. I’ve watched The Big Bang Theory.”

  Darian grunted. “That, I don’t doubt.”

  “No, wait guys. Stop kidding,” DJ said. “What Evan proposes explains my experience with my mom. If Eternalism is truly real, then it’s why I was really with her in the time slip. It explains how I could be there.”

  Iris interjected, “Sis, you might want to consider your DNA. It’s probably what saved you.” She leered at Evan. “And I so am not forgiving Evan anytime soon for omitting the truth to me.”

  Evan pinched the bridge of his nose. “Iris, you’re right. It was inexcusable.”

  “Good. I hope you weren’t going to blame it on the sweltering heat of the pueblo. I know I would have.”

  “Thank the Almighty for showers, Amen!” Rachel said in a teasing tone.

  “Hey,” Gavin said to Rachel, “I thought you were on the side of science.”

  Evan cleared his throat. “I think there is duality. I don’t think religion and science have to butt heads any longer.”

  Bill raised his palms to the skies. “Now I truly believe Mr. Science has seen the light.”

  Mitchell raised a pen in the air. “How about the view that states objects last over time without being wholly present at every time they exist?” He twirled his pen in the air and caught it. “Now, that’s a conundrum; one that might explain how video footage on Kassidy’s camcorder was able to record the past.”

  Gavin added. “I believe we owe a debt of gratitude to the OBOLs. They calculated the correct vibrations necessary to allow the artifact to complete its task: protect humanity. And they did it without want of a single thank-you.”

  “Here, here!” Kassidy shouted. She raised a mock glass to the air. “Hey, Evan, how about we discuss these theories over a drink or three?”

  “Sure, but it’s going to be a non-alcoholic drink for me,” Evan responded. “My head’s still aching from the altitude changes.”

  “My head is aching from the attitude changes,” Kassidy joked. “The lady accepts your invitation to share a non-alcoholic beverage.” She plumed her hand outwards as if a queen awaiting a kiss of her hand.

  Dan attempted to stifle a grin but failed. He glanced at Iris. She had seen his slipup. I’m going to be all right out there, honey.

  Iris answered. You’ll have to be or you’ll have me to answer to.

  OVER THE course of the next two weeks, time had returned to normal for most of the group. Iris had managed to keep her hairdresser job. In the evenings, the team continued to operate in a coalesced state, renaming itself for the benefit of unifying its new cause. The Colorado Investigators of Time, Space, and the Paranormal was a mouthful but it managed to acknowledge its ongoing mission of seeking spirits and chasing what remained of unidentified flying objects. Despite all the evidence, a piece of the puzzle still remained unanswered for Iris.

  The group missed Evan. He’d had to end his sabbatical and return to the east. However, the way Kassidy clung onto him during his final days in Colorado gave Iris hope the man would not only return to investigate the unexplained but also to answer a human calling: love.

  On one particular warm night in May, Iris returned home from her shop caught in a flux of mind chatter. Would Mitchell ask her to marry one day? Would DJ return to school and begin a political career? Would her dad continue to survive living on the Hopi reservation? In the next instant, those questions would pale to what was about to occur in her foyer.

  She dropped her bag and screamed at what stood before her. This couldn’t be a paradox. She was no longer in Time/Space. But if it wasn’t, what the hell was going on here?

  A mirror image stood before her. It was another Iris, clothed in the same apparel with hair and glasses to match!

  She covered her mouth with one hand and rested the other on her heart.

  “Wait, wait,” the Other Iris said. “Calm down before you have a conniption.”

  Iris pointed. Her mouth opened and moved but no sound came forth.

  “Ha!” the Other Iris stated. “First time I’ve seen you speechless.”

  A shimmering wave blurred Iris’s vision. She removed her glasses and rubbed her eyes. But everything else in the room was as clear and in focus as could be without aid of spectacles.

  “What’s going on here? Are you the Voice?” Iris balled a fist. “Tell me! Tell me, now!”

  The shimmering subsided and in its place was DJ, standing there with her usual OMG pout and hand on hip.

  “What the fuck! DJ . . .?”

  “That’s right. It’s me. But a second before I was you.” She giggled and raised her hands to her face. “I can change my appearance—apparently, at will.”

  “No!” Iris answered.

  “How can you disbelieve your own eyes, Sis?”

  “I’m not arguing . . .” She held a hand out as if it would rationalize the situation. “I was just in shock, that’s all.”

  “I think it has something to do with my alien DNA. Can you imagine what this might do for my political career? I could go behind enemy lines and gather Intel on my opponents. I could . . .”

  Iris interrupted. “I don’t believe you could do such immoral deeds. I do believe you can shape shift.”

  “Oh,” DJ paused. Her hands formed parentheses marks around her body. “So, that’s what you call it, shape shifting?”

  “It makes perfect sense. Galloway said the aliens have lived among us in guised form. And who knows what he really looks like. He presented himself as a man, a rainbow, yet at heart, he called himself a reptile.

  “Call
my extreme makeover what you will. When it first happened, I thought I would freak. But I didn’t. I guess it all comes down to what Darian says about embracing your individuality. I’ve got to tell him.”

  “Not via phone you’re not. And we’ve got more important things to consider, like Dad. What if you could transfer your gift, so to speak?”

  “You mean a blood transfusion!” DJ clapped her hands together, and her mouth formed a giant “O.” “That’s a great idea, Sis! We share the same blood type. Remember, the time we all gave blood for the Red Cross? We’ve got to get out to the reservation. But who will help us with the transfusion?”

  “They have doctors on the reservation.”

  “What did you mean by a voice? You thought I was someone else?”

  Iris waved a hand. “Nah, it was just something bugging me. Not important.”

  ANOTHER THREE weeks elapsed without further notable incident. Dan begrudgingly accepted the transfusion. He urged his daughters not to initiate further contact until he experienced DJ’s new gift. Iris ignored her father’s cautions. She clung to the hope that shape shifting would give him the freedom to reenter society but hope was beginning to wane.

  “This is no way to live,” Iris said to DJ, pluming a hand through her hair. She was seated at the kitchen table with her half sister, contemplating if she should finish her half-cold plate of lasagna.

  “Sis, it might take some time. Be patient.”

  “I can’t. It’s not in my nature, in any time line.”

  “I know you want to be with him. I also realize he has changed. He’s not a shape shifter; but he’s also not the self-centered prick that sent our moms packing from him.”

  Iris reached out and grasped DJ’s hand. “I know. And you’ve changed as well, Sis. How about I start calling you Doris Jean again?”

  DJ blinked rapidly until a smile formed. “I would like that.” She gripped her half sister’s hand as tight as if Iris were her full biological sibling.

  DAN CAMDEN was not horrified. His hands weren’t even trembling. In fact, he was smiling at whatever stood before him.

  She was glorious. Tall with long blonde hair and big blue eyes. Something seemed to shimmer about her outline. He didn’t know who she was. He had ruled out the Greys. There was no way this knockout blonde would be confused with a big-eyed, gray-skinned, spindly-armed midget any timeline soon.

  Dan felt at peace. He wasn’t quite communing telepathically the way he had with Iris. It wasn’t words he was exchanging. It was concepts, ideas. He came to a quick conclusion. This being was here to help him.

  He reached out a hand. She took it into hers, and she waved at the air with the other. He began to see a playback of his daughters and their friends. It was a glimpse into the time slip. She smiled while he observed.

  “They have passed the tests. What’s more, you have passed the tests. We will help you now.”

  It was the first and last words the being spoke. Dan felt a strange vibration encompass his being. He stared down to find his appendages shimmering. In the next instant, he was invisible to his naked eye.

  IRIS BALLED a fist as tears poured out of eyes. Her glasses were fogged, and she could not see.

  “I shouldn’t have agreed to let him out of my sight. I’ll never forgive myself.”

  She was speaking to no one in particular. Mitchell was closing his call with Evan.

  “Hey, honey. Don’t take it so hard. From what Evan tells me, your father may be under protection by some guardian, observer race known as the Nordics. The description Bill gave of the woman seems to be a match. It is also why Bill felt helpless to assist. The Nordics seem to excel at mind control.”

  “What, yet another alien race I never was able to see?” She cleaned her fogged lenses with a ball of her shirt.

  “No. I think you did see. Don’t you remember? The strange ship that seemed to orbit your house and peer into your bedroom and the Voice you heard in the time slip; I think both are connected.”

  “Then they are some kind of watcher race? Huh, why didn’t they feel the need to intervene? We could have used their help resisting the plague.” She shook her head, disgruntled.

  “I think it’s in their nature to observe. Possibly, we were being watched. Maybe we were being tested.”

  “Hmmm, I hate to admit it, but you’re right.”

  “You admit my science answers all of life’s mysteries?”

  “I admit you have keen logic. It’s not all about science. I think it’s attributable to watching Mr. Spock on Star Trek.”

  Mitchell raised an eyebrow. “If I were human, I believe I would be insulted . . . if I were human.”

  “Looks like I better start memorizing Dr. McCoy’s lines. You’re pretty good at imitation.”

  “You’re pretty good at being a hero, sweetie.” He kissed her forehead. “You did save us all. You saved Ron, you saved your sister, your dad; hell, most importantly, you saved me.”

  “Huh. I did all that, didn’t I? Little old spectacle wearing me.” She fluttered her eyelids to mock a nineteenth century madam.

  “You did. You made me see the whole picture. Damn, I was shortsighted. I actually thought concepts like rapid evolution were merely entertaining study. I should have stopped to realize the dangerous consequences.”

  She poked a finger into his chest. “But it was you who opened my eyes to those theories. I wouldn’t have been on board without your dogged determination.”

  “Or,” he paused to roll his eyes, “my dogged narcissism. I was arrogant. Still am.”

  “I think your arrogance will keep the aliens away. At least the bad aliens, I hope.”

  “So you believe Evan? Your dad is under some kind of extraterrestrial protection?”

  “I have to, Mitch.” She squeezed his hand. “I have to believe there are second chances out there, for all of us.” She smiled and led Mitchell to the porch. For the next hour, she held hands with the man she hoped to marry one day and stared upward to the sky. She pictured her dad’s face as a constellation. “I just know you got your second chance, Dad. I believe this because Camden’s are stubborn SOBs.” Iris didn’t need a telepathic response from her dad to believe he had heard her.

  About the Author

  Writing mixed genre, Starta continues to pen out of the box books with Coalescence, the first in the Camden Investigation series. Further stretching the boundaries, Starta writes about ghost hunters and ufologists who must settle their differences in belief systems in order to save the planet from a DNA-altering light weapon.

  Gary Starta fuses Sci-fi, Mystery, and the Paranormal/Occult in Blood Web, the first book of the Caitlin Diggs series including Extreme Liquidation, Demon Inhibitions, and 9 Incarnate. He looks toward our future in What are you Made of? and Gods of the Machines, two novels set in our distant future. Starta also writes crime fiction in Kindred Killers, a novel that features Caitlin Diggs’s friend Stanford Carter.

  A former journalist, Starta has published nine books since 2004 and looks forward to publishing his new Camden Investigations series, as well as Dead Market and I Bought the Sun for a Dollar.

  Find Gary at his website:

  www.garystarta.net

  Also from Gary Starta

  Caitlin Diggs

  Blood Webb

  Extreme Liquidation

  Demon Inhibitions

  9 Incarnate

  Stanford Carter Murder Mysteries

  Kindred Killers

  Gods of the Machines

  Myopic

  Alzabreah’s Garden

  Murder by Association

  What Are You Made Of?

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