EarVu, a Sci Fi Horror story - Part 9

Continuing with Part 9 of Ear Vu....

Image by Marvin Hayes

I began to realize that those shadows we've been seeing were no longer just shadows. What we had thought were glitches, or “aural smudges”, I now came to realize were some kind of solid beings, possessing real form and substance. I paused the tape. I sat there, staring at the frozen hologram. Cold sweat trickled down my spine under my shirt.

My God! What was I seeing?

Regaining my composure, with not a little effort I hit the Play button. As the holo came alive again I watched as one of the beings put out what would be its “hand” toward Garrison’s face, obviously causing him pain. Garrison put his hand to his head. I zoomed out to better see the scene.

I became stunned and sickened as I watched Garrison suddenly lifted off the ground and literally torn in two between two rapidly moving, “fractalating” shadows, as parts of them alternately and repeatedly solidified, pixelated and vaporized. The intensity of the moment hit me like an explosion. I jumped back hitting another table, accidentally triggering slow motion while dropping the remote, losing the ability to freeze the scene, or stop it. Blood was dropping to the floor as it was nearly instantly sucked up into nothingness; as if by an invisible mouth, leaving no puddles, no splatter, no evidence.

I hit a nearby keyboard with my fist and the tape paused, frozen there with Garrison, what was left of the two halves of him anyway, floating there, suspended in mid-air; his left side separated from his right; some blood still suspended in the air below his soon to be corpse. I took a couple of breaths in frozen time. I closed my eyes and slowed my breathing. When I again opened them, I ticked Play forward a “frame at a time. My hands trembled.

The “beings” were melded together by a thin line. They continued their undulations, absorbing a melting Garrison out of the air till there was nothing left of him. Strangely, the effort seemed to drain, not energize them as they faded into nothing, until finally there was nothing left in the lab but, the lab. Nothing looked out of place.

“Shadows that melt the flesh,” came to my mind for some reason. I hit Stop.

I turned around fighting not to heave my guts out. I knelt down on the floor and began to shudder, the shock overcoming me. After the trembles began to ease off, I forced myself to my feet and staggered into Garrison's office. I sat at the desk and put my head in my hands, rubbing my eyes deeply. Slowly, I began to feel in control once again. My eyes were weeping but I wasn't feeling any emotion and realized I must be in shock. Hesitantly, I looked around the room.

Pictures of Verne Garrison were everywhere. His fishing trip to Bermuda, the symposium in Geneva, his receiving various awards, some Doctorates, endowments, etc. He’d had quite a career. We knew we were lucky to be working with him.

I picked up the phone and dialed the Director. The phone toned at the other end but I quickly hung up. I picked up the journal and turned the page back to one of its last entries; one I had missed.

 “I awoke with a hangover today. What should I do? Of course, we should share our findings, and perhaps even with security, but what then? Little work got done yesterday because of it. Panic will ensue if the general public ever discovers these beings exist. I will try a test tonight. Then break the news tomorrow if it works.”

Fascinated, I turned the page back once again. How had I missed this? It read:

 “I have done the same thing as before. Next time I will playback the recording in real time; immediately and with no delays. But I know now what to expect. You can see the creatures, standing there, just watching; being "in the moment" with you, yet not existing for us. Will we be able to interact with them? Can they interact with us? Have they before? It would explain so much.

“They appear curious, benign, but what do we do now? Especially, when the creatures realize that for the first time ever, someone is watching them? It would appear that they are quite used to watching us and knowing quite well that we are ignorant of them. What will they do if that changes? If results are positive, maybe then we should tell Michaelson. Where is Johnson?”

"What the hell!" I stood in anger. "They should have told me!" I thought about that for a moment.

Without thinking or looking, I rifled through the journal. Something I had noticed before but had paid no attention to, was a part harder than the rest. Finally curious, I opened to that far back page and a card fell out. I picked it up. There was a name on it with an FBI shield. I turned the FBI Agent’s card over. On the back someone, most likely the Agent, had written my name and beneath it was the offending acronym, "NSA". So that was it. I wonder how long they have known who I really worked for? Great. Just, great.

The adrenalin in my body was running out. I sat down, my knees trembling.

"What the Hell, now?"

I stood and headed back out into the lab to the wall. I rewound the tape and prepared to play it from beginning to end for the first time. I grimaced and then hit Play, waiting for the beings to reappear in the hologram. After a while they were once again watching Garrison, just as they were the first time.

I picked up the remote and walked closer to the hologram table. I stood there watching, and then dialed in the zoom. The imagery within the hologram grew in size as I zoomed into the scene, centering on the beings. It almost looked as if those dark forms were conversing as they watched Garrison.

I stared. With the mute on, except for the hum of the LASER player, it was completely silent in both the real and the hologram labs. I zoomed in more on the shadow beings. They were facing Garrison from behind as he stared quite oblivious, watching the shadow beings within his hologram as the beings watched him and I, watched them all. Garrison was obviously fascinated, finally seeing what he had so long been searching for. He stopped, backed up and replayed the hologram as the beings continued to observe him. It was unnerving to watch him, knowing he was ignorant of his being spied upon and, what was to come. 

Later today, the conclusion in Part 10 of Ear Vu.