The Chardon Chronicles: Season One -- The Harvest Festival

by Kevin Kimmich

  “Holy shit… Just holy shit. That was beyond wild. This thing works.” Matt said.

  “What was the number?”

  Matt put a hand to his head and said, “I think it was 525-637-5679. Is that even close?”

  Johnny let out a low whistle. “Weird… You got the wrong number, but…”

  “But what?”

  “That’s the group of digits right next to what I highlighted. I might have been looking at those.”

  Matt climbed down the ladder, “I sort of saw you… It’s a very weird experience. Let’s head back to the farm. I’ll tell you all about it. I actually remember it much better this time, but still, it is like a dream. The memory of it fades rather quickly.”

  Chapter Fifteen

  Robbie and David got off Interstate 90 near Sioux Falls, South Dakota.

  “My back wants a bed. And a shower.” Robbie said.

  “What a baby! But yeah, a shower would be welcome. Hey let’s look for some WiFi. I want to download Jacob’s podcasts.” David said. He popped his laptop open and put it on the dashboard. They’d been driving a 1997 Chevy Impala since Tennessee.

  Robbie started to follow the street toward distant signs of civilization. He saw the glow of a truck stop in the distance. They passed a long chain link fence that enclosed a salvage yard.

  “Oh man, pull over up here. I got a signal.” David said.

  Robbie pulled in a driveway next to the salvage yard. “OK, Signal thief. Have at it. You know, in another life, I would own a scrap yard.”

  David clicked the mouse a few times and downloaded a couple of weeks worth of podcasts to

  his media player. It was an old brick-like device from Korea with a bright screen and a few glowing navigation buttons. “Alright… that’ll do it.”

  They continued down the road and David started playing the podcast.

  Jacob did a weekly podcast. He started each with a monologue, then had a guest or two. The monologue invariably worked its way back to the main touch pieces of his view on the global conspiracy--that earth was subject to extra-dimensional shape shifters, and that they preyed on the weakest among us and had a special taste for children. In between the segments Jacob hawked products, fluoride filters for water purification, vitamin supplements.

  David started to skip past the commercial breaks. “Man, the guy’s always selling something.”

  Robbie nodded, “Well, I guess he’s gotta eat, right?”

  David shrugged, “I’m thinking eat, make a boat payment, a car payment, possibly some rounds of golf...”

  Robbie laughed. “Hey, did you ever see They Live?”

  David furrowed his brow, “Is that the one with Rowdy Roddy Piper?”

  “Bingo.”

  David sighed contentedly, “Yeah that’s a great one.”

  “The podcast reminds me of that movie, but with no action. I mean, the movie’s probably a better vehicle for this type of information, it’s a more compelling depiction.” Robbie said.

  “Oh wait, here we go…” David turned up the volume then backed the podcast up.

  Ladies and gentlemen, I received a thumbdrive from an anonymous source that records the audio of an encounter with these entities. I have absolutely no way of verifying the authenticity of this information, but it is very compelling stuff indeed.

  The podcast included some of their audio, but Jacob edited it to fit his trans-dimensional lizard narrative. Robbie groaned.

  David shut the podcast off and tossed the media player on the seat. “C’est la vie! Robbie, we made a long trip for that.” he said.

  “Look on the bright side. We don’t have to listen any more of that stuff.” Robbie pulled into a motel.

  David unloaded his bag from the trunk. “I think we’re on the right track with this Internet thing. We really need some more direct media outlets. But, we’ll need to cultivate more decent, authentic people, not salesmen types.”

  They checked into the room. The walls were wood paneled from the slightly worn out green patterned carpet up to a yellowed stucco ceiling. The window glass was starred and pitted from years of exposure to the weather, and the window panes were chalky gray pitted aluminum, but the beds were clean and there were clean towels in the bathroom.

  “Did you read the Conan books?” David asked. He flopped onto his bed and contemplated the stucco ceiling. There was a long crack from the middle of the room to one corner.

  “Yeah, read the comics, too, and saw the movie: The Riddle of Steel.” Robbie intoned.

  David pointed at him, “That’s the stuff, right? I thought about the Riddle of Steel for years. It sticks with you, sort of a guiding thought.”

  Robbie thought for a minute as he unpacked a few things from his duffel. He asked, “Out of the millions of people who watched Conan, how many thought about that question once they left the theater?”

  “Probably a lot, well, maybe some. OK. Like maybe five.” David sighed. He hopped out of the bed. “I think we all might need to take a step back and refresh the Big Plan. But right now, I’m going to take a shower and shave this stubble. Starting to itch.”

  “I think you’re right, maybe call home base later?”

  Chapter Sixteen

  Dana, Johnny, Telia and Matt sat around the dinner table at the farm house. A lamp with an iron framed shade hung six feet above the worn wood surface and illuminated the table with a soft glow and two candles cast a flickering light on the walls. The rest of the room was dim. They were having wine and cheese before their meal.

  Matt bubbled over with enthusiasm. “It’s incredible what Johnny put together. You sit in this chair that’s suspended in the middle of a big ball of copper, and he rigged a control system to point the thing in any direction.”

  “Did it work?” Dana asked.

  “Yeah…” Matt nodded. He paused, deep in thought, trying to put the experience into words.

  Johnny pointed at him, “We aimed it at the Sun. I was pretty sure his head was going to explode.”

  Telia furrowed her brow, “The Sun? Oh come on…”

  Johnny nodded, “And Matt saw me… He read some digits of π I picked out of a book, well, saw the digits that were next to the ones I picked.”

  Matt continued, “It was like a fairly vivid dream… Apparently the crows can actually see into that other world.”

  Dana was suspicious, “I still think it’s dangerous. But I admit I am intrigued.”

  Telia waved it off, “Oh please! You’ll have to let someone else get into that chair. Shouldn’t it work for everyone?”

  Matt shrugged, “I think it should, but I really don’t know. I was actually going to ask you, ask you all actually.”

  Telia held up her hand in protest, “No, no, no. Not me.”

  Dana asked her, “Why not? Aren’t you curious?”

  “I’m the only sane one in this family. Someone should keep a foot in the real world.” She said, however, her curiosity was piqued.

  Dana rolled her eyes, “This ‘real world’ is actually totally batshit crazy. Count me in. I’d like to try it out.”

  Johnny nodded, “Me too… maybe we should build a few of these things… I think we can get some more data from the prototype and make the next ones smaller.”

  Matt said, “Alright, well why don’t we all go down there together tomorrow and play around a little bit before we make any major plans.”

  Telia said, “Well, I’ll go. I want to see this thing.”

  Dana clinked glasses with her, “That’s the spirit!”

  Matt snapped his fingers, “And don’t let me forget to bring a barn cat…”

  Chapter Seventeen

  The farmhouse was quiet and Matt was in his office writing down his recollection of the day’s events. As before, the experience was a bit faded like the memory of a dream, but he recalled specifics quite clearly, like still frames extracted from a movie.

  The phone rang, Robbie’s number came up on the caller ID.

  “Hey
, bro, how’d it work?” Robbie asked. Matt could tell he was on the speakerphone.

  “Hey guys. It actually completely worked. I was over there. I was walking on a pebbled shoreline, then up to a grassy field. It was dim, like dusk on a cloudy night. I talked to one of them.”

  “No shit?” Robbie asked breathlessly.

  “Wow.” David said.

  “He, his name was Montigo, said basically the other world is exactly like this one. All the same bullshit, politics, struggles for power, and the two worlds are linked together. Oh, and mostly it’s businessmen and politicians that make the connection, now. Just all business.”

  “So, what did he look like? I mean, is it like a ghost.”

  “No, not exactly. I mean I saw him. He was a balding middle aged man with a thin beard. But I also felt him. His emotions. Really just like being inside a dream. A lucid dream.”

  David asked, “Did you try the numbers thing with Johnny?”

  “Yeah, that was a good test, by the way. I didn’t get the right numbers, but I got the next group Johnny looked at. Maybe he was looking at them at the time. I sort of saw Johnny, but he was really indistinct.”

  Robbie asked, “So what’s next?”

  “Well…” Matt sighed, “We’re all going down there tomorrow to try it out. I still don’t have a solid plan.”

  Robbie grunted, “You think it’s safe?”

  There was a long pause. Matt replied, “Yeah, so far it’s been innocuous.” he remembered the instant where Montigo looked through his eyes. “Well, I think the peyote does the job anyway.”

  David smiled, “I’m really curious to find out what Dana makes of it. She seems to be partly in that world with no mechanical help.”

  Matt chuckled, “Me too. I think we might even get Telia into the chair.”

  David and Robbie laughed. Robbie said, “get her to take some peyote! I saw her drunk once, that was a hoot.”

  Matt laughed, “Oh man…. So how did you guys fare?”

  Robbie and David looked at each other. Robbie said, “Swing and a miss for sure.”

  “Major wiff.” David added.

  “Oh really? How come?”

  David answered, “Well the guy’s basically just a salesman and he already has his pitch worked out. He just worked the audio into his schtick to sell more fluoride filters.”

  Matt rubbed his forehead, “Well, we all thought that was a likely outcome.”

  Robbie said, “that’s what we really are kicking around right now, how to build a better media outlet. I think the Internet’s going to be a very powerful channel for distributing our story, but right now, we lack contacts. We can leapfrog the bad guys if we get on top of this. ”

  Matt said, “I am with you on this general theme, but we’re pretty far from a plan, right?”

  David answered, “well, we’re thinking about it. We’re basically smack dab in the middle of the country right now trying to figure out what to do next.”

  “Alright, I’ll mull it over, too. I’ll let you know if I think of anything.”

  Chapter Eighteen

  Telia and Dana walked around the contraption in the warehouse. It towered over their heads.

  “How do you get in?” Dana asked.

  Matt walked her to the ladder. “First, drink some of this stuff.”

  She took a swig of the peyote tea and grimaced. “Ugh! Ick!”

  Matt said, “Climb up there to the platform and sit in the chair.”

  She clambered up the 2x4 ladder and stepped onto the platform. It was very solidly built, but had no railings and it hung from a heavy cantilevered arm. The chair was an old leather arm-chair that was attached to the platform with stout wooden legs. It remained at the focus of the reflector array.

  “Sit down and hang on.” Matt said. She plopped into the chair and Johnny started moving the gimbals through their paces.

  She laughed and whooped. “Oh man! This needs a seat belt!”

  Johnny spun the reflector so she was looking down at them from about 12 feet in the air. She said, “OK. Let’s give this thing a try. Point me at the moon.”

  Matt stayed Johnny’s hand, and called up to her, “You sure about that? The Sun pretty much kicked my ass.”

  She nodded. Matt let Johnny go. He typed in the coordinates of the moon and the gimbals swung the chair and the array around.

  “Now what?” she asked.

  “Basically you meditate and reach out with your mind… Unfortunately I can’t explain any better.”

  “Mmmm. OK. Let me try.”

  She relaxed and let her body sink into the chair. “Oh wow!” she mumbled. She felt the feeling of a caress breeze through her whole being. A tear ran down her cheek. The connection snapped when Johnny repositioned the reflector.

  “Well?” Matt asked.

  “That was incredible, a very, very powerful pure feeling like a mother’s caress of my whole self.”

  Telia’s curiosity was mounting. “Do I have to drink that tea?”

  Matt said, “to be honest, I don’t really know. But so far, it seems like it protected me. Anyway, it’s not harmful and wears off in about an hour or two.”

  She said, “OK. Hit me!” she drank a swig. “Holy cow, that’s nasty.” she spit a couple of times. He followed her up the ladder.

  “Just sit back, relax and just reach out with your mind--not like you’re trying to grab something, but like you’re trying to expand your inner world.”

  She guffawed. “Oh man, that’s the corniest thing I’ve ever heard… OK you, get down.” she shooed him off the platform.

  Dana nudged Johnny. “Think she’ll be able to do it?” she whispered. He shrugged and pointed the reflector at the terminal tower.

  Telia relaxed. She let her mind rest and go quiet like she was going to nap. She began to drift off, but instead of blackness, she was sitting on the shore. Waves lapped at the pebbles. “Oh my god!” she thought, and snapped back to normal consciousness.

  Her mouth was hanging open. She scooted forward on the chair. Johnny spun the reflector around so she was facing them. “That was the most amazing thing…” she said. She clambered down the ladder and hugged Matt, then shocked Dana by hugging her too. She kissed Dana on the hair. She put a hand on Johnny’s shoulder.

  “What did you see?” Matt asked.

  “It was a different place… I was on a beach. A stony beach, all pebbles. It was dim, like you said, overcast. Waves were just lapping against the rocks. That’s all I remember, as soon as I tried to do anything I came back.”

  “Yes, it’s an acquired skill to remain over there. If you try too hard, you snap back to normal consciousness. Poof.” Matt snapped his fingers.

  Dana put her hands on Johnny’s shoulders, “You gonna try?”

  “I will next time, I want to work on my meditation skills before I have a turn. Let’s send the man over, next.”

  Chapter Nineteen

  Matt returned to the beach. He ascended the hill and walked across the grassy plain. He tried to follow a gentle rise in the landscape, hoping for a better vantage point, but the plain seemed to roll on for miles.

  “Hello my friend,” he felt Montigo’s presence return. They shook hands again.

  “Montigo, is there anything here, like a city or buildings, or do these plains just go on endlessly?”

  “Yes in a sense, but this place is not like Earth. On Earth, two people who walk through the same room and look in the same spots will see all the same things. This place is a shared dream, like the set of a play. Let me show you something.”

  Montigo struggled for a few seconds to pull a clump of grass from the ground. Roots dangled from the bundle of dirt. He tossed it on the ground. He motioned for Matt to follow him a few yards away from the divot.

  Montigo pointed up in the distant sky, “see there are crows over there?” Matt focused his attention on the birds. Montigo tapped his shoulder and they walked back to the spot where the divot should be, but it was gone
and the clump of grass was gone.

  “Like it never happened.” Matt said.

  “Yes, there are rules, consistency, but not like Earth. It’s maddening!” Matt sensed frustration. “So you must imagine the great yearning from this side to be over there.”

  “And vice versa.”

  “Twins separated at birth.” Montigo laughed.

  “Montigo, tell me, if you can, why are so many beings who cross over to my side so twisted?”

  “Soldiers in a foreign country can see the citizens as prey. I think the principle is similar. Also, imagine what you might be like after decades, even thousands of years apart from your friends, your family, your body, even your pets. Then, imagine being dependent upon humans to have a full life. Resentement.”

  “Speaking of pets. I did bring a cat. I hope she’s still in my lap.”

  As Matt regained consciousness, he felt Montigo’s presence for a few lingering moments as he stroked the fur and felt a sense of great affection mixed with loss, then he was completely awake.