Meet Joshua Wander, Part Seventeen

Joshua Wander's story is too long to summarize here. Please see Part Seven for the story up to that point, and Part Twelve for most of the rest. Links to earlier installments are on the sidebar.

Part Twelve: Chris/Josh insists on going to see Professor John Grayson. He and Rachel both think he's probably at the lab rather than the funeral home. Indeed he is. Josh and his friends find Officer Hennigan unconscious outside the lab. Leaving his friends behind, Josh goes through the door to confront Grayson.

Part Thirteen: Grayson has Officer Cindy Farrell tied in Rachel's chair in the lab. Grayson has been experimenting on himself as he experimented on Chris, and now he's trying to recreate the circumstances of Rachel's death, secretly recorded on videotape. Chris/Josh manages to interrupt the power to the lab, reducing Grayson's ability to use energy as a weapon. Just then, Hennigan, Onclemac and Jerry finally make it past the locked door and rush in.

Part Fourteen: Officer Farrell threatens to arrest Grayson, angering him further. Josh manages to deflect one bolt of electricity, and tries to block further attack by covering her with his own insubstantial form. Then he moves off again, leaving Rachel's spirit visible where Cindy Farrell stood a moment before.

Part Fifteen: Rachel tells Grayson that he's being irrational and unscientific, and that all three of them--John, Chris and Rachel herself--were responsible for her death. A pool of light then forms above her, and she ascends into it, leaving Farrell behind. Her telepathic parting words to Chris are "See you in Heaven--and don't dawdle."

Part Sixteen: Farrell and Hennigan manage to arrest Grayson, and Josh and friends leave the lab. Onclemac wants to take Josh back to Angland immediately, but Josh insists on going upstairs first--alone. This is ostensibly to disrupt the power to the lab from above, depriving Grayson of electromagnetic power he could use to attack or escape. But when Josh enters the third floor classroom, Rachel is there, as he'd hoped she would be.

Part Seventeen: Power

Rachel didn’t answer me directly. “Do you realize that these are John’s Physics 101 notes? I’d know his handwriting anywhere. After today, he’ll probably never teach again. At least, not at Syracuse.”

“I suppose not,” I said. “It’s only fair, after the way he’s behaved.” Even if I did benefit from it, I added silently to myself.

“Right. Fair. The man did lose his wife, you know.”

“Yes. Sorry. I do know,” I said.

“You know what else is fundamentally unfair?” she said, her thin voice rising. “It’s unfair that I had to manufacture my own fake white light expressway to Heaven, instead of finding a real one somewhere.”

Rachel’s sudden passion surprised me, especially since she had blithely expressed nearly the opposite opinion back at the dorm. “I thought you were in no hurry to get to Heaven,” I said. “Isn’t that what you told me earlier?”

“Well, yes,” she admitted. “But I’d like to at least have the option. As it is, I’m just stuck.”

I nodded in sympathy. “It could still happen. If there is a Heaven, I’m sure you’ll get there eventually. The question is, what are you going to do in the meantime?”

“Oh, that. I’m coming with you.”

“Good,” I said.

I stood still as Rachel walked over, turned around and backed into me. For a moment I saw nothing but sparks and colored light. Then she disappeared inside me, making me feel more complete somehow.

Let’s go, she said.

I told the others I would try to disrupt the power to the lab from here, I replied. Do you mind?

Not at all. Sounds like a sensible precaution to me.

I’m glad you approve. I leaned forward, then, until I was hovering on my stomach, about an inch above the floor. Then I reached down and “swam” through the floorboards.

The space between the floors was a two feet high maze of dust, ducts and multicolored wires. Most of the wires led to the fluorescent light fixtures, but there were also heavy cables carrying power to the lab equipment. I could feel them, humming with power. Everything led off toward a transformer or circuit box (I was going to have to learn more about electrical engineering!) in the south wall.

Below us, I could just barely hear Grayson and the two cops, but not what they were saying.

How are you going to do this? Rachel asked.

First, I’m going to siphon some of this off for our use, I replied. Then I’ll set up feedback to overload the wiring.

I reached into one of the heavy cables, the one that fed the wires to the light fixtures. I could feel the power flowing past me, threatening to suck me along with it. For a moment, I was terribly tempted to let go, to become part of the current instead of just interacting with it.

Don’t! Rachel told me.

I hurriedly traced an alternate path for the uppermost electrons to follow, out of the cable and into me. It felt good, except that it tickled a little. In fact, it felt very good.

Careful! Rachel warned. Don’t overdo it!

Oh, right. When I felt I had as much energy as I could handle and still be me—whatever that meant!—I traced the rest of the electrons’ path, circling back into the same cable, but going the other way. As the channel widened, it became visible to me as a tiny river of lightning that did not fade. I started a second channel and a third, feeding them all back into the main cable. I smelled burning rubber. Then there was a flash, and the cable burned out. I heard Hennigan, Farrell and Grayson yelling below me as the light fixtures buzzed and died.

That was fun, I told Rachel. Now what do we play?

Now that you’re done with your dangerous games, Rachel said disapprovingly, it’s time to catch up with your friends.

I decided to take the third floor hallway back to the stairs, the better to avoid the lab and the people in it. Just standing upright took me most of the way into the classroom where Rachel had waited for me.

What did you tell them about me? Rachel asked.

I told them you were an illusion, meant to fool Dr. John. That’s what you wanted, isn’t it? I sort of gathered you don’t want them to know about you.

That’s right.

Why?

For John’s sake, I don’t want anyone here to know that I left with you. Even in Onclemac’s Angland, I don’t want people bothering me with questions. Not yet, anyway. Not when I don’t know the answers myself.

I thought about this as we made our way to the stairwell. So you want me to lie to my friends some more, I said.

Yes, please.

All right. But I hope you change your mind eventually.

We’ll see.

Right. We will, I said. We had reached the bottom of the stairs I walked out a door on the northeast corner of the building, only to find that Harry and Jerry were waiting for me on the Quad, nearer the northwest corner.

I walked over to meet them.

Two entries left, folks. Well, maybe three.

The Real Joshua Wander
Joshua Wander: Two Fragments
Joshua Wander Lives (the history of the character)

Joshua Wander on BlogSpot (use sidebar to get to the individual installments)

Joshua Wander in Musings:
Part One Part Two Part Three Part Four Part Five Part Six
Part Seven Part Eight Part Nine Part Ten Part Eleven Part Twelve
Part Thirteen Part Fourteen Part Fifteen Part Sixteen

Meet Joshua Wander, Part Sixteen

Joshua Wander's story is too long to summarize here. Please see Part Seven for the story up to that point, and Part Twelve for most of the rest. Links to earlier installments are on the sidebar.

Part Twelve: Chris/Josh insists on going to see Professor John Grayson. He and Rachel both think he's probably at the lab rather than the funeral home. Indeed he is. Josh and his friends find Officer Hennigan unconscious outside the lab. Leaving his friends behind, Josh goes through the door to confront Grayson.

Part Thirteen: Grayson has Officer Cindy Farrell tied in Rachel's chair in the lab. Grayson has been experimenting on himself as he experimented on Chris, and now he's trying to recreate the circumstances of Rachel's death, secretly recorded on videotape. Chris/Josh manages to interrupt the power to the lab, reducing Grayson's ability to use energy as a weapon. Just then, Hennigan, Onclemac and Jerry finally make it past the locked door and rush in.

Part Fourteen: Officer Farrell threatens to arrest Grayson, angering him further. Josh manages to deflect one bolt of electricity, and tries to block further attack by covering her with his own insubstantial form. Then he moves off again, leaving Rachel's spirit visible where Cindy Farrell stood a moment before.

Part Fifteen: Rachel tells Grayson that he's being irrational and unscientific, and that all three of them--John, Chris and Rachel herself--were responsible for her death. A pool of light then forms above her, and she ascends into it, leaving Farrell behind. Her telepathic parting words to Chris are "See you in Heaven--and don't dawdle."

Part Sixteen: Upstairs

I couldn’t believe Rachel was gone, just like that. Neither could Grayson. He stood and stared at the ceiling, long enough for Officer Hennigan to sneak up and snap handcuffs on him.

“As I was saying,” Cindy Farrell said, “You’re under arrest.”

I half-expected Grayson to slip out of the cuffs like moonlight through a window. He tried, but it didn’t happen. John Grayson was still fully corporeal, at least for the moment.

“If you’ll take the advice of a disembodied ex-physics student,” I told the police, “you’ll keep him out of brightly-lit rooms. In fact, you may want to wait for sunset before taking him downtown.”

Grayson used one of Nixon’s more colorful expletives.

“Why?” Hennigan asked.

“Because he can use light as a weapon. Obviously.”

“We’ll see what we can do,” Farrell said.

“Chris,” Harry said. “We should go now.”

I looked at Grayson. After that last outburst, the fight seemed to have gone out of him. He was slumped over, staring at the floor as Hennigan and Farrell finished securing him between them.

“Yeah, okay,” I said. I started toward the door, where Jerry and Harry were already.

“No,” said Onclemac. “I mean it’s time to go.” He looked at me meaningfully.

“Soon. I promise,” I said. “But first, let’s leave this lab.” I turned back to Grayson and said, “I’m sorry about all this, Dr. John. I truly am.”

“Eat ultraviolet and die, Stein,” he said. “This isn’t over. Wherever you go, I’ll find a way to follow you and take my revenge.”

“Tag,” I said. “I guess you’re it. Maybe by the time you find me you’ll be a bit less homicidal. Let’s go, guys.” I walked through the open doorway, closely followed by Jerry and Harry. Once we were well down the hall, I said, “He’s going to escape, you know. He’ll never stand trial.”

“I know,” Harry said, “but it’s better that you not be around when he does escape. Are you ready to go back to Angland now?”

“Almost. Just let me go upstairs for a minute. Then I’ll meet you outside.”

“Why? What’s upstairs?” Jerry asked.

I had already decided on an answer to this. “If I’m lucky, I’ll find a way to keep the power supply out of commission for a while. I should be able to disrupt things from the wiring above the lab. I also need to replenish the energy I expended on the illusion of Dr. Rachel and her trip to heaven.”

Jerry frowned. "The illusion of Dr. Rachel? She wasn’t real?”

“The important thing is that Dr. John thought she was real,” I said. “I don’t need you to believe it, too.”

Harry frowned. “Then why bother to retrieve energy from the wiring? Why not just go outside in the sunlight?”

“In Syracuse? Are you joking? This isn’t one of the 87 sunny days a year. Besides, I seem to do better with concentrated energy sources than with anything as diffuse as daylight. Notice, for example, that crossing the Quad didn’t give me my feet back.”

Jerry nodded thoughtfully. “That’s true,” he said.

“But look here, Josh,” Harry said. “What does it matter if you use electricity to replenish your noncorporeal form? With any luck, you’ll have a human body again as soon as we get to Angland.”

“Even humans need energy,” I said. “I imagine that wizards need even more of it than most people. Am I right?”

“As a general rule, yes,” Onclemac acknowledged grumpily.

“Well, then, I mean to leave her with at least as much energy as I had coming in. Now, let me go, before the cops lose control of Grayson.”

“We’ll come with you,” Harry said.

I shook my nonexistent head. “No. Too dangerous, and you can't go where I'll be going. I’ll be right back.” I ducked into the stairway, not because I needed the stairs themselves, but as a handy way to determine my angle of ascent. Harry and Jerry stood on the landing, looking up at me. Then they turned and started down the stairs. Good.

The room above the lab was one of the older classrooms on campus. About 30 steel chairs with fold-down veneered mini desktops stood in mostly neat rows. Rachel stood in front of a green multipaneled chalkboard, which was all covered in notes about vectors and velocity. She turned as I came in.

“Is this soon enough?” I said.

The Real Joshua Wander
Joshua Wander: Two Fragments
Joshua Wander Lives (the history of the character)

Joshua Wander on BlogSpot (use sidebar to get to the individual installments)

Joshua Wander in Musings:
Part One Part Two Part Three Part Four Part Five Part Six
Part Seven Part Eight Part Nine Part Ten Part Eleven Part Twelve
Part Thirteen Part Fourteen Part Fifteen

Meet Joshua Wander, Part Fifteen

Joshua Wander's story is too long to summarize here. Please see Part Seven for the story up to that point, and Part Twelve for most of the rest. Links to earlier installments are on the sidebar.

Part Twelve: Chris/Josh insists on going to see Professor John Grayson. He and Rachel both think he's probably at the lab rather than the funeral home. Indeed he is. Josh and his friends find Officer Hennigan unconscious outside the lab. Leaving his friends behind, Josh goes through the door to confront Grayson.

Part Thirteen: Grayson has Officer Cindy Farrell tied in Rachel's chair in the lab. Grayson has been experimenting on himself as he experimented on Chris, and now he's trying to recreate the circumstances of Rachel's death, secretly recorded on videotape. Chris/Josh manages to interrupt the power to the lab, reducing Grayson's ability to use energy as a weapon. Just then, Hennigan, Onclemac and Jerry finally make it past the locked door and rush in.

Part Fourteen: Officer Farrell threatens to arrest Grayson, angering him further. Josh manages to deflect one bolt of electricity, and tries to block further attack by covering her with his own insubstantial form. Then he moves off again, leaving Rachel's spirit visible where Cindy Farrell stood a moment before.

Part Fifteen: Rachel's Last Words

“Is that…?” Harry asked.

“The late Dr. Rachel Grayson. Yes,” Jerry said.

“Where’s Officer Farrell?” Hennigan asked. “What have you done with her?”

“She’s here. She’s fine,” Rachel said.

As if from a long way away, we heard Cindy Farrell say, “I’m okay. But I can’t see anything.”

“It’s a trick,” Grayson said. “You’re just a policewoman under a light-based illusion, perhaps a holographic projection.” Behind the anger in his voice was a quaver that betrayed his uncertainty.

“Maybe it is a trick,” Rachel said matter-of-factly. “Or maybe I’m the spirit of your late wife, here to tell you the same things Chris came to tell you. Do you want to know who killed me, John? We all did. You designed the experiment, I ignored my own medical history as well as my mother’s, and Chris reacted a few seconds too late to save me.”

”It’s a trick!” Grayson said again. He raised his arms, but the ball of light he gathered trembled in time with his fingers.

“Stop this, John,” Rachel said. “Just stop. You’re being irrational.”

“That won’t deter him,” I said. “The whole situation is irrational.”

“Hush, Chris,” Rachel said. “John, think about what you’re doing. It is not reasonable to threaten the life of an unwilling subject. You’ve tainted the experiment, not just with illegality, but with uncontrolled conditions and emotional bias. Let it go, John. Let me go.”

“Go where?” Grayson snarled. “To heaven? Into that policewoman? Or with him?” He pointed at me. His eyes flashed with anger, and I’m not speaking figuratively. A small beam of infrared light brushed my face, delivering its heat.

“Heaven, I hope, but I don’t yet know my destination,” Rachel told him. “I merely mean that you must accept the fact of my death, and stop using flawed and dangerous science to deceive yourself about the circumstances of it.”

She actually seemed to be getting through to him. For a moment he just stood there, looking at her. Then his eyes narrowed, and he said, “If you weren’t murdered, then why are you a ghost?”

Rachel hesitated, but only for a second. Then she grimaced. “Maybe I wanted to say goodbye. Maybe I wanted you to know what happened to me, and whom not to blame. Maybe I wanted to stop you from wrecking your life in some stupid, irrational vendetta.” She waited a moment for the words to sink in. “But I’m apparently too late for that third part,” she added, “so it seems there’s no point in my hanging around any longer.” Rachel gazed up as a pool of light formed on the ceiling above her. “Guess my ride’s here. Goodbye, John.”

She floated toward the rafters, leaving the rather dazed-looking Cindy Farrell behind. As she disappeared through the ceiling, I “heard” her parting words, directed at my metaphorical ears alone. See you in Heaven--and don't dawdle.

The Real Joshua Wander
Joshua Wander: Two Fragments
Joshua Wander Lives (the history of the character)

Joshua Wander on BlogSpot (use sidebar to get to the individual installments)

Joshua Wander in Musings:
Part One Part Two Part Three Part Four Part Five Part Six
Part Seven Part Eight Part Nine Part Ten Part Eleven Part Twelve
Part Thirteen Part Fourteen

Meet Joshua Wander, Part Fourteen

Joshua Wander's story is too long to summarize here. Please see Part Seven for the story up to that point, and Part Twelve for most of the rest. Links to earlier installments are now on the sidebar.

Part Twelve: Chris/Josh insists on going to see Professor John Grayson. He and Rachel both think he's probably at the lab rather than the funeral home. Indeed he is. Josh and his friends find Officer Hennigan unconscious outside the lab. Leaving his friends behind, Josh goes through the door to confront Grayson.

Part Thirteen: Grayson has Officer Cindy Farrell tied in Rachel's chair in the lab. Grayson has been experimenting on himself as he experimented on Chris, and now he's trying to recreate the circumstances of Rachel's death, secretly recorded on videotape. Chris/Josh manages to interrupt the power to the lab, reducing Grayson's ability to use energy as a weapon. Just then, Hennigan, Onclemac and Jerry finally make it past the locked door and rush in.

Part Fourteen: Human Shield

“Careful! He’s still dangerous!” I called out to my friends. I needed to protect them, but how? A force field, maybe? Was that possible for me?

Probably not. But I could at least put myself between Grayson and the people who were still completely human. That way I could intercept any energy-based attacks. Fortunately, Grayson was momentarily distracted, presumably trying to figure out how to turn the power back on. Unfortunately, Harry and Jerry had fallen back at my shout, while Hennigan had continued forward to free his partner. I couldn’t protect them all. I just had to hope that Grayson wasn’t interested in hurting Jerry and Harry, while Hennigan and Farrell and I interfered with Grayson’s plans. Watching my opponent carefully, I gave Hennigan a second or two to get to Farrell. Then I stepped into the theoretical line of fire. By then, Tim Hennigan had pulled the leads off Cindy Farrell’s head and thrown them on the desk.

“How dare you?” Grayson said. He raised his hands again. I didn’t think any energy he might send Farrell’s way, now that the power was off, would get to them through me. Still, I didn’t want to take a chance. I needed to get Grayson’s attention back on me, fast.

“Leave them alone,” I said. “Officer Hennigan is doing exactly what he’s supposed to do. And anyway, why do you care? Your experiment is over, and I’m the one you’re angry with.”

“Oh, I’m more than just angry,” Grayson said.

“Yeah, I know that. You’re more than angry. You’re mad.”

“He’s also in big trouble,” Cindy Farrell said, rubbing her wrists. “John Grayson, you’re under arrest for trespassing, wrongful detention, reckless endangerment, and two counts of assaulting a police officer.”

I had to admire Farrell’s nerve, saying that when she was still unarmed. Unfortunately, that put Grayson’s attention back on the two cops. He glared at Farrell. “Oh, you think so, do you? I rather think not.” He aimed a ball of electricity over my shoulder, directly at Farrell. I launched myself along the same trajectory, deflecting the energy upward. Sparks and arcs shot between fluorescent tubes. I watched the light show from my new position—surrounding Farrell with my human-shaped form of protective energy.

“What are you doing?” Hennigan asked. He sounded panicky.

Do it, Rachel, I pleaded silently. Stay here and show yourself while I go protect the others.

All right, but I still think this is a mistake, Rachel replied.

There was a gasp from Jerry and Harry, Tim Hennigan and especially John Grayson as I moved away from Cindy Farrell. Only she didn’t look like Cindy Farrell now. She looked exactly like Rachel Grayson.

Rejoice, Becky: it doesn't end next week, either. We're looking at at least two more weeks.

Joshua Wander in Musings:
Part One Part Two Part Three Part Four Part Five Part Six
Part Seven Part Eight Part Nine Part Ten Part Eleven Part Twelve
Part Thirteen