by Vicky de Leo
As the silence lengthened, Joseph saw the stubborn set of Helen’s jaw. He looked at Joshua and shrugged.
Sara caught the look and rushed to her grandmother’s side. Pleading she said, “Gran, I’ve seen the crystal and held it in my hands. You can feel its power. Joshua has been having headaches just like Harry. I can’t lose him. You have to help him. Do this for me, please.”
Helen patted her hand. “Sara, there isn’t anything I wouldn’t do for you. So even though I think this man is probably a charlatan, I’ll rearrange my schedule and try to help in whatever way I can.” Turning to Joseph she said, “I hope you haven’t given him any money, and while I promise to listen with an open mind, I won’t give him any money either, or consent to do anything illegal no matter what he threatens.”
Joseph went to her. He took both her hands in his. “Thank you. Once you hear his story, you’ll understand. He hasn’t asked me for anything. I promise that the only thing you’ll be asked to do is to use your expertise in Neurology to help him find a cure for Joshua. How soon can you be ready to go?”
Getting to her feet she said, “Let me call my service. I’ll tell them I have a family emergency and to cancel all my appointments this week. How far away is this lab? Do I need to pack?”
“It’s here in town. I’ll give you the address. The man’s name is Lrence. I’ll call him and let him know you’ll be coming. Take Sara with you. Because she held the crystal in her hands, he needs to scan her to make sure she is all right.” Sara and Helen both looked alarmed but Joseph hurried on. “Don’t worry about packing anything. If you decide you need to stay, Sara can always come back and get whatever you need. I’m sorry but Joshua and I can’t go with you. We don’t want to lead the people who are threatening my family to Lrence.” Joseph got up, wrote down the address, and waited at the door for Joshua.
After Helen left to make her calls, Sara embraced Joshua. He kissed her goodbye and made her promise to call him as soon as she got home. As Joseph drove home, Joshua called Lrence.
When Sara and Helen arrived, Lrence greeted them at the door. “Mrs. Whiting, thank you for coming, and you must be Sara. It’s a pleasure to meet you both. Let’s go in the living room. Won’t you be seated?”
Helen remained standing. She looked Lrence up and down and then said, “If you’re going to tell me that you knew Harry then I’m out of here.” She reached a hand out to Sara.
Lrence sat calmly with his legs crossed. “What makes you so sure I didn’t?”
She rolled her eyes. “Harry disappeared over forty years ago. You can’t be more than forty-five. Even if you knew him, I‘m hardly interested in the memories of a five year old.”
Lrence continued to look up at her and smiled. “I am a lot older than I look. I did know Harry quite well, but I don’t expect you to believe that yet. Let’s talk about the reason they convinced you to come. It was to help find a cure for Joshua, was it not?” he asked.
“Yes, but how do I know there is really anything wrong with him?” She asked still standing.
Lrence rose. “Let me take you to my lab and I‘ll show you the proof.”
Helen and Sara followed Lrence down the stairs to his lab.
Reaching the basement, Helen looked around. “I must say this looks very well equipped. What is that?” she asked, pointing to the portal.
“I’ll explain that later.” He handed her two of the scans that were sitting on top of the metal table. “First, here are the brain scans of Joseph and Joshua. As you can see, Joseph’s are completely normal. He’s had no contact with the crystal.”
She took them from his hand and scanned them briefly, frowning when she looked at the second one with Joshua’s name on it. However, she said nothing.
He pulled open a drawer and withdrew a crystal. “Do you recognize this?”
“Yes, Harry carried one just like it,” she replied.
Lrence returned the crystal to the drawer. Pointing to the second set of scans that she held in her hand, he said, “These are the brain scans of Joshua after carrying around a crystal.”
She shook her head. “That’s impossible. I’ve never seen a human brain scan like this. Obviously it’s faked, or there‘s something wrong with your machine.”
“You have never come in contact with the crystal, right? Do you mind if I scan your brain to test the machine? I assume you’re familiar with your own results?” he asked.
“Harry never allowed me to touch the crystal, and I didn’t see the one Joshua says he had. I’ve had my brain scanned before. So, yes, I would recognize any differences. Go ahead.” She looked around for an EEG machine or a table to lie down on.
Lrence approached showing her his hand held device. “My reader is a little different than what you’re used to, but I assure you that you will recognize the results.” He laid his hand on her cheek and the machine in the corner began printing. He went to the machine and tore off the readout to show her.
She held out her hands, a frown on her face. “I don’t know how you did that. I’ve never seen a palm sized EEG machine.” As she read, her eyes widened. “But I can’t deny that this is typical of a scan of my brain. However, just because your machine is accurate now, doesn’t prove that this is a scan of Joshua’s brain.”
Lrence nodded, turning to Sara. “Sara, I believe that you have had contact with the crystal?”
“That’s right, I held it in my hands for a few moments,” she replied.
“May I?” he asked. When she nodded, Lrence placed his hand on her cheek. Once more, the machine recorded the brain activity on a printout. Lrence tore it off and handed it to Helen. “As you can see, Sara has slightly higher than normal waves in both frontal lobes. Because her contact was brief, she doesn’t show the really high peaks of Joshua’s readout, but I think you can see that even brief contact with the crystal does produce abnormal readings.”
Helen looked at each of the printouts for several minutes, acceptance, and disbelief warring on her face. Scientific curiosity finally tipped the scales. “I don’t know what to say. If these are accurate, they certainly could pose some serious problems. Have you done any other tests?”
“Yes, Joshua’s blood and urine tests are abnormal as well. Would you like to see Harry’s brain scan?” He asked.
Helen nodded.
Lrence went to a file cabinet and pulled out what was obviously a very old scan with Harry’s name printed on the top. He handed it to her.
She held the papers gently. When she read Harry’s name, her eyes misted over. It was several minutes before she could focus. After a while she admitted, “Results like these could definitely produce headaches. The activity is balanced between both lobes and the ratios of theta, alpha, and beta waves are normal. They are all just higher than I’ve ever seen before.” She looked from Sara to Lrence. “I don’t know how I can help. I’ve never run across anything like this before.”
“We’ve been working on this for some time, and we believe we are close to a cure. I’m hoping that once you see our formula, you’ll be able to help us fine tune it.”
Helen looked at Lrence as if seeing him for the first time. “Who are you and where did this crystal come from?”
“That’s a long story. Shall we go back upstairs and get comfortable? I think you’re ready to hear it now.” Once again, Lrence repeated the history of his planet and their exploitation of earth.
Lrence once more told the story of his origin. When he mentioned arriving on the space station in the early 1900s, Helen interrupted him. “You mentioned that your people have a longer life span. How old are you?”
“Over 200 years.”
“How long is your normal life span?” she asked.
“Some of my people have been known to live as long as 600 years,” he replied before continuing. He explained how he and the other insurgents stole the crystals and hid in the past. Then he came to the circumstances surrounding his first meeting with Harry. He told her of Harry’s decision to comm
it suicide over his diagnosis of rheumatoid arthritis.
Helen held up her hand to interrupt him once more. “Harry had arthritis? How is that possible? When I met him, he was agile, even athletic. There wasn’t any sport or activity that he didn’t excel in.”
Lrence nodded. “One of the side effects of the crystal is increased muscle strength. It increases the neurotransmitter, acetylcholine, strengthening the connections of motor nerves to muscles. In Harry’s case, carrying the crystal erased all the effect of the arthritis along with the pain. We had warned him that unless we could find a cure, he would only have a few years of sanity. He wanted to experience life to the fullest. He didn’t care about the future until he met you. It was only then that he became interested in finding a cure.” Lrence stopped.
Helen sat back and closed her eyes. “This is all so hard to believe.”
“Harry loved you. I tried to convince him to stop carrying the crystal or at the very least to tell you, but he refused. He said that you had too much potential. He refused to saddle you with a cripple. His words, not mine. When the headaches became too much, or he was having trouble controlling the emotions, he stayed away from you. He said he wanted all your memories of him to be happy ones.” Finally, Lrence told her of Harry’s last days and how he died.
Helen broke down and cried. Sara held her until the sobs subsided. Drying her eyes Helen looked up at Lrence. “Thank you for telling me. I always knew in my heart he was gone, but a part of me refused to give up the hope that I might see him again.”
Lrence went on to tell her how Joshua had found the crystal that Harry had hidden, and how he’d accidentally transported to Boston. He explained the danger to Joshua and his family if they were not able to find a cure, and the necessity of maintaining secrecy to prevent Erik from finding the crystal, Joshua or Lrence. At last, he said, “I know that I’ve thrown a lot at you. I wish I could give you more time to consider your answer, but I can’t. I must have your answer now. Will you help us?”
Helen nodded. “I guess next you’ll be telling me that the niche in your lab is a portal?”
As if in answer, Kafra came up the stairs from the lab which had been empty only moments before. Lrence went to her and introduced her to Helen and Sara. Addressing Helen, Lrence said, “I have plenty of room for you to stay here. It would be better if the neighbors don’t see your car coming and going every day.”
Helen agreed. She knew that once she started working, they would be putting in long hours. “That makes sense. Besides, I told my office I would be out of town on a family emergency.”
Sara looked relieved when Lrence said there was no need for her to stay. Although having seen and held the crystal, she’d had a much easier time accepting Lrence’s story, she didn’t feel up to meeting Joshua’s parents.
Helen followed Lrence and Kafra back down to the lab, sending Sara home to pack a suitcase for Helen.
Once Sara was far enough away from Lrence’s house, she called Joshua and let him know she was on her way home.
He said he would meet her there.
Chapter Nineteen
While Lrence and Kafra showed Helen all the test results and the work they had done trying to come up with a formula that would cure Harry, Sam and Maria were transforming themselves. Maria cut her fair hair short and dyed it a chocolate brown. Straightened with a flat iron, it now hung sleekly in a short bob. Even after applying more makeup than she would usually use for an evening out, she looked classy rather than overly made up. Dressed in the cream wool slacks and a soft cream cashmere sweater Kafra brought, she pulled on expensive suede boots. Kafra certainly has excellent taste, she thought. These boots alone cost a fortune.
She inserted the brown contact lens that Kafra had provided, and then looked at herself in the mirror. She had a hard time seeing herself in the woman that looked back at her. She pulled a few faces just to make sure. She tried a seductive come-hither look by raising both eyebrows and tilting her head to the side and down. It surprised her that the woman in the mirror did actually manage to look sexy, except that it wasn’t really her. Only when she laughed did she recognize her smile and the same wrinkles around the eyes. Okay, I’m still in there somewhere. I wonder what Sam will think. She stood up straight and sashayed into the bedroom for Sam’s inspection.
“Wow,” he said after looking at her from every angle. Dressed in some of Lrence’s clothes, Sam looked younger as well. They had darkened the gray in his hair and he’d started growing a beard. The horn-rimmed glasses Kafra brought added to a professorial look. “You look so different,” he said to her. “I’m almost afraid to kiss you. I’m afraid it will feel like cheating.”
She gave him a sultry smile, crooked one finger and motioned him to try it.
He stepped up to her, put both arms around her, and bent her backward in a passionate kiss. Straightening up, he released her and while walking away to sit on the bed, he said, “Nope, just the same.”
Feigning a pout, she reached over and threw a pillow at him.
He took off his glasses, looked at her with smoldering eyes, and said in his best Valentino voice, “I mean I would know those lips anywhere.”
“That’s better,” she said laughing at him. “You don’t look bad yourself.” Sitting beside him on the bed, Maria said, “I guess we should go downstairs and see if we pass inspection. Maybe if we look different enough we can get out of this house for a few hours. I’m getting cabin fever.”
Downstairs Helen had donned a lab coat. The three of them stood looking at all the test results spread out on the metal table. When Helen had examined everything, and was up to speed, she said, “If I understand these results correctly, you have determined that the higher brain waves are not the cause of the continuing deterioration of the brain.”
Kafra answered, “Correct. Our normal brain wave patterns are much higher than yours are, and our physiology is very close. The initial contact with the crystal causes an imbalance between the theta, alpha, and beta waves, which causes the headaches, but after awhile the brain is able to balance the waves at the higher level. We believe it’s what happens to the neurotransmitters in the brain that causes the problem. Initially because the crystal causes an increase in most of the neurotransmitters, the brain functions better. It learns faster and is able to retain more information. The person feels stronger because the connections between the motor nerves and muscles are increased. They’re happier because the crystal increases the dopamine and serotonin levels, and they experience less pain because it decreases the pain transmitter. However, over time while the neurotransmitter for the muscles continues to remain high, the dopamine and serotonin levels drop dramatically.
“It’s like coming off cocaine high. Surging causes the levels to rise again, but contact with the crystal can’t maintain them. Both the highs and the lows cause the damage. Synthesizing dopamine and serotonin was easy. The problem was coming up with a dosage that would maintain normal levels.”
Lrence added, “We didn’t bother to work on lowering the brain waves to a normal level since it wasn’t causing the problem, and because the Watchers didn’t know about Harry. That needs to be our focus right now. When Erik scans Joshua, which he will before long, he has to appear to be completely normal even if it is only temporary. In addition, the formula for Harry had to keep the acetylcholine levels high to combat the effects of the arthritis and the substance P levels low to minimize the transmission of pain, while normalizing the dopamine and serotonin levels. Joshua doesn’t have arthritis. While he had the most exposure, it’s still considerably lower than Harry. So the formula we have, even if it had worked, is only a starting point.”
They were discussing possibilities when Sam and Maria came into the lab. They stopped at the bottom of the steps. When Lrence, Kafra, and Helen turned to look, Maria did a twirl. “What do you think? Do we look different enough?”
Lrence clapped his hands. “Well done. I doubt if even Joshua would recognize you now.”
“Have you developed something already?” asked Sam.
“No. We’ve just been bringing Helen up to speed.”
“Does that mean we can leave the house for awhile?” Maria asked.
“Where do you want to go?” asked Lrence.
Marie smiled. “Shopping. Kafra, I can’t thank you enough for these clothes. They’re absolutely beautiful, but as you know, even if we’re only going to be here for a short time, I’m going to need more than one outfit.”
“As long as you avoid anyone you know in Boston and more importantly stay away from Joshua and Joseph, I guess it would be all right.” He withdrew an envelope from his pocket and handed it to Sam. “Since you won’t be able to access any of your accounts, you’ll need this.”
Inside the envelope were several hundred-dollar bills.
Sam tried to hand it back to him. “You’ve already done enough rescuing us and giving us a place to hide. We can’t take your money.”
Lrence looked away. “I consider it a down payment on a long standing debt to your family.”
Sam shook his head. “Harry’s death was not your fault. You don’t owe us anything.”