Slap Part 3

(Chapter 50 of "Senses")

Day 33

Rand was meditating in his room, thinking to himself about how much he missed Constance (who was still in Northern California with Larry - Rand could still tell how Constance was feeling, even from this distance - the binding spell was strong as ever) when he came to a realization. He had been smoking marijuana that evening, so at first he discounted the thought as a drug-induced haze and went to bed. But during the night the idea kept playing around in his mind and his dreams, so in the morning he was unable to simply let it go. He called Angie.

"Something just occurred to me," he said into the receiver when the doctor answered her phone.

"What would that be?" came the reply.

"You and I are alike in one big way. We can change other people's equations. We've spent the last two weeks looking at what I can do, why don't we look at other people when I hit them with what I do? If A.J. can see that, then perhaps you and Karen can do the same thing or possibly reverse it. That way perhaps we can gain some insight as to how my spellcasting works."

"It's a thought," Angie replied, sounding sleepy but becoming more alert. "What if other people react to your equations the same way they react to mine? By becoming an altered version of themselves?"

"I don't understand."

"When I change someone with my ability, even A.J. can't always tell the difference from a before and an after image. Not without knowing where the change will happen, because he can't use photographs or video. All we really know is that I send, and something's different. If what you do is the same way, then what?"

"Then it's a dead end, but I doubt that this is the case. We already know that what I do is different somehow. Let's see if we can't exploit it."

"Fair enough. I'll call whoever's available and well meet in an hour at the lab."

Precisely one hour later Rand, Angie, A.J., Karen, Scott, Paul, and Jim were in the lab listening to Rand reconstruct his thought processes. "So what I need to do is cast a spell on something while you look at what I'm casting at."

"You mean who you're casting at," A.J. replied.

"Excuse me?"

"This one occurred to us earlier," the big man said. "The problem is that in order for it to be effective you'd have to cast at a human being. Right now there are very few guinea pigs available for such an experiment, and we would have very few chances to do repeat castings in case I couldn't catch it on the first try, which I hope Angie explained is a definite possibility. Remember, there are only four normals in the group, and we can't run the risk of you casting a spell on one of the paranormals because we have no clue about the side effects."

Rand frowned, then brightened only a moment later. "How about a neutralization spell?" he asked.

"A what?" Paul asked in return.

"It's a spell designed to take away the powers of a dark Wiccan. I've used it a few times, although never on a good Wiccan, let alone a normal human being. In theory it should work on a normal human without affecting him or her in any way."

"But the spell would still be cast," Jim continued, "so A.J. could read it when it happens. Is it worth a try?"

"It could be," A.J. replied. "What does everybody think?"

"Seems like good theory," Angie said.

"Agreed," Karen added.

"I'm going to set up the recording gear," Scott said. "Seems to me like we're about to get rolling again."

"I'll volunteer," Paul said to Rand, "to be your guinea pig. I'm not empowered anyway, and otherwise I'll be a useless part of the machine."

"I've never done this to an unempowered being," Rand replied. "I don't know what will happen."

"Live fast, die young, leave an interesting and semi-radioactive corpse," Paul shot back. "Time's wasting."

Rand laughed. "Let's do it then," he said.

This time Paul was hooked up to the monitors, while Scott and Angie set up the recordings. A.J. hovered above the table, concentrating on examining Paul's head, while Jim kept an eye on A.J. Rand stood a few feet away from the table, and was given plenty of breathing room. Rand always said that his constructs could be aimed at a single person even if that person were hiding behind a brick wall, but everyone in the group remained cautious.

Finally, when Angie was ready, she asked, "How long does this spell take?"

"Not very long," Rand replied. "About fifteen seconds."

From his perch above Paul A.J. said, "Not a lot of time to figure this thing out. I'm going to need a five count before you start."

"Deal. Is everyone about ready?"

There was general acknowledgement around the room. Then Rand began his count. "Five...four...three...two...one...now!"

For a moment, there was no reaction from anyone, then A.J. let out a startled "Whoa! How fucking wild!"

"What?" Jim asked.

"Yes, what?" Angie threw in.

"Shhh!" was all A.J. would say. After a few more seconds it was all over, and then A.J. settled to a standing position by the table. "How do you feel?" he asked.

"Fine," Paul replied. "I didn't feel a thing."

A.J. furrowed his brow, and a puzzled smile came over his face. "Too fucking wild," he said.

"What already!" Jim shouted. "What did you see?"

"A lot, brother. One hell of a lot. For a moment, Paul wasn't himself."

"Care to run that one by me again?"

"I saw, just for a few seconds, what I believe to have been Rand's equations over Paul's. Like a superimposed picture."

Angie was shaking her head. "I didn't see anything on my scans," she said. "Wait a moment." Angie turned a dial, then let out a sigh. "Nothing in the brain anyway. There was a momentary increase in blood sugar though."

"Jesus!" Jim exclaimed. "There's that blood sugar thing again. The opposite direction though, right?"

"Right. A.J., what else did you see?"

A.J. smiled. "Then I saw the equation," he continued, "that Rand uses to neutralize his opponents. I figured I would try looking in the same place I do for some of Angie's equations, and I got lucky. I think. What I saw is a lot like the type of equation that comes about when you and Karen work together. Supplantive in nature. After that Paul became himself again."

Paul sat up. "Then this was for nothing," he said with a grimace. He began to remove the sensors on his head.

"No, we got something here," A.J. said. "Your blood sugar level went up, and we already know that Rand's goes down when he casts. Somehow what he does is connected to amino acids and base structures of proteins. When I was watching you, it wasn't just your brain I saw supplanted, it was all of you. You really weren't you for a moment there."

"Wait a fucking minute," Jim said. "You're saying that spellcasting and its response is hard wired? That it can be manipulated at the genetic level?"

A.J. nodded slowly. "I guess that's precisely what I'm saying."

The whole group sat in stunned silence for a moment, then Scott finally broke it saying, "Looks like we need to reprogram this equipment."

"Later," Angie said.

"What?" A.J. asked.

"Oh, I agree that this is a monumental breakthrough in studying Rand and his abilities, but it won't help Paul's sister. We need to discover how to break a time snap. This won't do it."

Rand sighed. "She's right," he said. "What I do is basically a variation of what you can already do. It's still a dead end."

Jim shook his head. "I need a fucking drink," he said. "Fuck! We can't even celebrate a fucking victory!"

"Back to the drawing board," A.J. said. "I'm going to join you for that drink."

During the next four years of subjective time Nicki began to change. Not only was she growing older, but the effects of her strange environment were taking a toll. She began to ask the "why" questions. "Why do we live like we do?" "Why aren't there any other people?" "Why don't I have any friends?"

"Why can I hear you when your lips don't move?"

The last question first came up not long after her seventh subjective birthday. In fact, 'drink and Debbie were surprised it took so long in coming. It was Debbie who finally realized that Nicki had assumed for so long that hearing other's thoughts was the correct thing and not abnormal, that Nicki only asked the question after discovering that she could not communicate with her parents without speaking aloud. It was in fact even more amazing that Nicki hadn't first asked why she couldn't communicate non-verbally.

Debbie had already begun a form of education for her daughter. Reading and writing and arithmetic were taught, as was a general understanding of the world and the fact that things were not normal. Long before Nicki's paranormal abilities began to manifest themselves she had a basic understanding that the family plus Mats were actually prisoners within time. Unlike most children, Nicki was given an understanding of time before she could write the alphabet.

Nicki was proving to be quite intelligent, and very good at assimilating information based upon what the real world was supposed to be like. She learned to read at an advanced level quickly and developed a personality trait that involved getting as much information as she could before asking questions. When she began to hear voices in her head she sought out the voices, and quickly realized that because only she, her parents, and Mats were in the time stream they inhabited, that the voices had to be people she already knew. She also realized that her parents were special in some way that caused them all to be in the time snap in the first place, and therefore assumed that she was not special. That was how the startling question about non-verbal communication came about.

'drink communicated the fact that Nicki was a developing paranormal to the group in normal time, who in turn ran a series of tests on her during her sleep. Unfortunately, as with everyone in the time snap, A.J. was unable to read their equations because they went by too fast. A.J. said it would look like turbulence to him, while to the others it appeared that the Davis' and Mats would simply blur, then disappear.

'drink began to take his own studies of his abilities seriously at this time. Because he felt a need to help his daughter adjust to the odd things she must be experiencing, he felt he needed to understand himself as well. Unfortunately, as 'drink discovered more things he could do, it became something of an obsession to him, and he soon forgot that the purpose was to help his daughter.

Nicki, feeling a bit abandoned, started to overeat. She went from being a healthy child to an overweight one, and by her ninth subjective birthday even her mother admitted aloud that Nicki was getting downright fat.

During this time, Mats left the group to go wander on his own. He traveled by foot across the Untied States, then the world, letting a beard start and pulling pranks out of boredom. Wherever he traveled, sudden nudity would be the rage. In one case he took a mugger who was robbing a couple in Paris and hung him by his ankles from 25 feet up the Eiffel Tower. In another he took a young couple kissing on a bridge in Sweden and placed them naked in a hotel room in Venice, Italy. He remained in contact with the group thanks to Janis, so that he could return at any time. Unfortunately, progress was slow and he wasn't called back.

continued...