Unleashed

by Patrick McLaughlin

  Chapter 33

  It was oddly comfortable working beside Ben, Shawn thought. Suppose in a way we are the same. We see our world in a much different way than normal humans and just have our own ways of getting from one point to another.

  Shawn’s science background was nonexistent, which was confirmed when he spent time with Sally. Hell, he was lucky to learn to read and write growing up in his childhood neighborhood. Yet he and Ben communicated in a type of shorthand, even though Ben knew very little about professional photo editing. Simply a word between the two and they’d fall into step, whether it to link a power line, upgrade a software package or make final touches on a critical image within the composite. They were preparing to “light Drake up” as they now referred to the process, and as Shawn followed Ben’s instructions, he realized Ben was going to go for it — in spite of his comments a day earlier objecting to an attempt to replicate Drake. Cool with me, he thought. I’ll just keep my mouth shut, and follow along!

  They had turned off all ambient light sources, even jamming a rolled-up towel at the base of the entry way, before they restarted the computer to let the software upgrades settle in to their respective programs.

  “Shawn, hit the laser switch, let’s power her up,” Ben directed. “As the servers are booting, let’s do once over around the lab to be sure everything is secure. With the additional power load we’re injecting into the hologram this time, any projectile would carry enough velocity to go right through our craniums, and I don’t have enough photos of you, or you of me, to bring each other back, get it?”

  “Sure thing Boss Man!”

  Shawn took one last look to be sure everything was tied down.

  “Okay Shawn, laser is at full power and your composite image of Drake is up within the program. Your work is absolutely amazing. You used thousands of hi-res images of Drake, yet even with that number, Drake’s image file is only two hundred and seventy-three gigabytes. If I or another novice composed that, it would have been enormous at over three terabytes.”

  “Ben it comes down to layering. I only lay down or overlap the light or subject perspective which I feel is missing. As with some other art forms, such as painting, like watercolors, more is not necessarily better. It’s what you leave out when you take the photo, or edit the image which brings your subject to life. Next time, if we have to this a next time, I’ll show you what I look for. Okay, I’m ready Senior Benster. Where do you want me?”

  “Hang tight and be alert. We have no idea what to expect, do you understand?” Ben said.

  “Yep, I’m ready for whatever comes at me, for you, and yeah, for my bro Drakester too!”

  The recent edit of Drake on the wave at Coast Guards lit up the screen as Ben turned on the hologram generator.

  “Shawn, would you mind checking the laser alignment?”

  “Done; it is right on, perfect, dead-on center.”

  “Shawn, I’m going to let the energy levels advance gradually. Visually you can even see the particles seek their proper positioning within the hologram. If we offer a relaxed opportunity to set themselves in associative or relative relationship to each other, we should expect the integrity of the final product to be far superior to our past results.”

  Instead of ten minutes, it took over thirty-five minutes for Drake’s hologram to mature. Shawn and Ben knew instantly this effort was going to be much, much better.

  Gradually it became even clearer. Then at the halfway point, Drake became astonishingly crisp, already showing signs of life. With Shawn out of Drake’s direct line of sight, Drake, for the first time, turned his head from side to side, looking for someone. When he finally spotted Shawn, Drake look confused again.

  “Hang on buddy, give us a few more minutes, and we’ll sit down and have a chat,” Shawn called out to Drake over the din as he and Ben watched in amazement.

  As if both men were both thinking as one, Ben shouted out, “Shawn NOW! Fire the fucking laser! Fire it now!”

  Shawn flipped the activator causing a neon green beam emitting from the hi-grade laser to shoot directly into the mirrored piece of glass. The beam split, and each new beam shot into two separate mirrors which reflected them back, where they combined into one unified beam. The final beam terminated and impacted the center of the hologram where Drake’s virtual likeness stood. Ben had incorporated the traditional method of creating holograms, but modified the beams so they intersected on a solid object before projecting to a plate above the platform to form the hologram.

  They watched as the intense beam seemed to burn in the center of Drake’s chest.

  “Holy shit man, are we going to hurt Drake? It looks like were gonna drill a hole through him. Should we stop?” Shawn yelled to Ben, but Ben could not hear. The air surrounding the hologram began to ripple and Shawn felt a tingling sensation engulf his body. Drake’s hologram grew to include much more of the wave around him. It was beautiful. An effervescent glow filled the entire space as if all objects in the room, animate and inanimate, were all coming together as one.

  “Ben, it’s the real thing! Drake is solidifying! The water, I’m getting wet, what the hell is happening?!” Shawn raised his voice to be heard over what is now the sound of a crashing wave.

  “Shawn, I know,” Ben said giddily. “I intended this to happen! This is my life’s dream and today, it is a reality! Watch and experience, it is because of you Pérez, all because of you!”

  The air itself undulated, as did the water surrounding Drake, and then all matter softened as the hologram, the lab and everything in it synced across dimensions.

  “Ben, look at the water! What about the water? It’s falling from the hologram and flooding the lab, what do we do?”

  “It’s going to be close Shawn! After our first try I knew other objects in the image would replicate as well, but I had no fucking idea this much water would come along. I expected a great deal, but not this much! We have to hope he pops before the water shorts the power lines to the outside generators! Wait, it’s too late, the electricity is starting to arc between cables. I’ve got to shut it down or we could all be electrocuted!”

  “Nooooooo!” Shawn screamed, diving at Ben and pulling him away from the junction box. They both crashed down onto the wooden table holding their equipment. The table’s legs snapped, propelling them down into the rising water.

  Then there was silence but for the sound of dozens of streams running out from the lab. The generators had gone quiet when they shorted out seconds before.

  “Shawn, why did you stop me?”

  “Take a look; it’s fucking wild!” Shawn pointed at Drake, upside down in the killer wave when he dropped like a lead weight, smashing hard onto the laboratory floor. Water followed and doused him in a crush of foaming seawater. At 100 percent complete, the curl of water that killed Drake just days ago collapsed everywhere, dropping straight out of thin air.

  Ben and Shawn rose from the floor, but were knocked off their feet once more by a torrent of water. Everything in the lab was violently pushed up against the walls. Knocked over by the force of the water, the laser tumbled into the slosh, still firing as it is swept its deadly beam across the walls of the lab. The laser’s power source had built-in redundancy and while all the other electronics had shorted out, the laser’s back-up generator was independent of the two main power supplies so, until the auxiliary generator blew there was nothing to stop the laser from burning up the lab.

  The wayward beam danced crazily, burning swathes through the roof and down the building sides to the foundation.

  Ben had three worries. They would drown, die in the resulting fire, or get cut in two when the laser slashed across their bodies.

  “Shawn, keep your head down! And look for Drake! I saw him fall; he must be underwater!” Then with a bright spark, the laser arched out and everything was quiet except for the sound of water finding its way outside through cracks in the walls.

  Ben dragged himself to his feet and c
ut off the electrical panels. Shawn pushed a chair off his legs and rose in the subsiding flood, desperately glancing around for Drake. “Ben, thank God we didn’t get a dolphin in the pictures! Have you seen Drake?”

  They both saw him fall in the deluge but had no clue as to his condition.

  “Drake, where are you? Ben, I’m over here in the far corner!”

  Shawn lifted Drake’s limp form up out of the water, some of his shattered surfboard still on top of him. Lifting his chin, Shawn gazed for the second time in a week into Drake’s lifeless face and screamed out in anguish, “No, not again! Come on, Drake, don’t die on me again! Oh my God, I killed him twice!”

  Shawn started mouth-to-mouth and CPR…but nothing. Ben splashed up beside him and instructed Shawn to hold Drake over his knees face-down and then pound down on his back. “His lungs were full of water; think we got most of it,” Ben uttered, after more than a pint drained from Drake’s mouth and nose. “Shawn lifted Drake up onto a table Ben had turned upright and started more mouth-to-mouth.

  Abruptly, after two minutes of CPR, Drake coughed violently and spit up mouthfuls of water, opening his eyes slightly.

  “Holy shit, he’s alive! Ben, we did it, I can’t believe it! Drake, can you hear me, can you breathe? Are you okay? How do you feel? Talk to me Brah!”

  Drake stared back at him in a daze. “Oh fuck man, I had it! I stuck it! If it wasn’t for that fucking lip! Tell me you got it man, tell me it counts! But you’ve got to cut me some slack for a thirty-foot barrel Brah,” Drake said weakly. He lifted his head, looked once at Shawn, then around the wrecked laboratory. Then Ben finally came into Drake’s view. “Who the hell are you? What the fuck! Where am I? Shawn, did I crash? Am I in the hospital? Wow, he’s one weird-ass looking doctor.”

  “Drake, it’s cool. You’re back, I mean…back here. Most of all, you’re alive and safe and that’s the only thing that counts right now. Drake, you did crash, but you weren’t hurt, you died man. My pictures brought you back,” Shawn said as he helped Drake sit up.

  Ben interrupted Shawn. “Shawn, it’s way too much, too soon. Let up a bit, he has no idea where he is.”

  “Yeah, what the hell are you smoking Shawnee Boy? What do you mean I died? How the hell could I die, and if I did, how did I end up here? I was executing the first spiral in the 360 roll, almost had it, or at least I think I did. It gets kind of fuzzy here. Yo, indeed! It was a supreme rocket ride and the energy from that friggin’ wave off the oceanic charts, Brah!”

  “It will take time to explain. Just relax and let’s get you into Ben’s house to change into some dry clothes and check your vitals.” Shawn looked to Ben to help him get Drake off the table and through the mess.

  Ben put his hand on Drake’s dripping shoulder, a bit apprehensively. “Shawn, I do believe, the cat lives!”

  “Yeah man,” replied Drake, “I am one whipped Pescadores. Hey, does one of you two have a towel? And I don’t see any friggin’ cats. They hate water and this place looks like Katrina hit it!”

  Shawn searched the room for any dry cloth, let alone a towel. As Drake sat alone, Shawn took Ben to the side and quietly said, “I’m super stoked. Never been this happy in my life. But where do we bring Drake? We can’t take him to a hospital. How will we explain him to anyone?”

  “Well Shawn, we were smart enough to bring him here, we should be smart enough to figure the rest out.” And Ben helped Shawn bring Drake to his feet.