Part 30 (1/2)
”Yes. So far you've only demonstrated an ability to alter the element of Consciousness. There's still s.p.a.ce, Time and Consequence.”
”Jeez. How do they work?”
”I don't know. Literature about the metaphysical elements of s.p.a.ce and Time are virtually nonexistent. I will be interested to see how these abilities manifest themselves. Writings about Consequence are generally vague warnings. Progenitors apparently have the ability to alter consequences but not eliminate them. Actively changing consequences can lead to unexpected results. Again it will be fascinating to see how that element works with an actual progenitor.”
”I'm less fascinated by vague warnings and consequences than you.”
A door slammed at the back of the warehouse, followed by squeaking footsteps and something intermittently slapping the cement floor, moving toward them.
Ping and Mara held their breaths.
A voice came out of the dark. ”Hey, Ping, can we go up to Mount Hood? It's snowing up there according to the news. I've never seen real snow before.” Sam stepped into the light with textbooks under one arm and a basketball under the other.
They exhaled.
”Perhaps we can go this weekend. We'll check the forecast and find a time when it is snowing,” Ping said.
Sam looked at Mara and said, ”Have you learned any new magic, today?”
”Not magic,” Ping said.
”Okay, do any new metaphysical experiments today?”
”She created a purple tiger. It jumped out of the screen over there.”
”Yeah? Where is it?” He set his things on the floor and retrieved his mat from the metal cabinet. He placed it next to Mara and sat down. ”Well? Cat got your tongue?”
Mara rolled her eyes. ”I made it go away.”
”Did you blow it up? My Mara used to blow stuff up. Mostly my toys when we were kids, what few I had.” He rolled the basketball on the floor in front of him from one hand to the other and back again.
”No, she incinerated it with the s.p.a.ce heater,” Ping said.
”Purple tigers and s.p.a.ce heaters? Lame. Sounds like you're just one step away from rainbows and unicorns.”
”You don't want to get on the wrong end of my s.p.a.ce heater, Opie,” Mara said.
”Sam, what other abilities did your sister demonstrate?” Ping asked.
”She moved stuff around and blew stuff up. That was mostly it. I never saw her create any purple tigers, although I'm sure she would have been too embarra.s.sed to admit it, if she did.”
”Moved stuff around? How did she do it?” Mara asked.
”You saw her on the plane. She pointed at you and threw you into the door, remember? Oh, and remember me sliding up the aisle on my b.u.t.t? That was her.”
”How did she learn to control her abilities? Who taught her about them?”
”I don't think anyone taught her. She just figured it out when she was young.”
”And she blew stuff up. How did she do that?”
”She picked something and concentrated on it and ka-boom, it would explode into a million pieces.” His arms flew up and expanded over his head. ”You think you can do it?”
Mara smiled and grabbed the basketball that sat next to Sam's knee.
”No, not that! Don't blow up my basketball. I just got it.”
”We're not going to blow up anything, are we, Mara?” Ping asked.
Mara stood up and walked the basketball over to the periphery of the light a few feet from the table that held the projector. She bent over, put it on the ground and turned around. ”I don't know. Let's see.”
”Come on. I'm sorry I made fun of your tiger,” Sam said.
Mara sat back down on her mat. ”If it actually blows up, I'll buy you a new one. Deal?”
He shrugged. ”Cool, go for it. But I have a game tomorrow afternoon.”
Mara nodded and turned to stare at the orange ball for a moment, then closed her eyes. She kept its image in her mind's eye, focused on it. After a moment the basketball luminesced, and then its rays expanded to fill her field of vision. It surrounded her. She was inside the orange glow. She smelled rubber, sensed the ridges of its black lines slicing through the light. She reached out and touched it, felt the texture of its skin, its tautness, the pressure of air pus.h.i.+ng to get out.
”Uh-oh, something's happening,” Sam said, cringing and holding his hands over his ears.
Mara opened her eyes. The glowing basketball jittered, vibrated. Its shaking intensified and lifted it off the cement floor, erratically rising three feet, jerking back and forth as if something inside struggled to get out. Continuing to quake, it began to spin, turning into an orange blur. She could make out a faint rubbery squeaking noise. The basketball expanded, its glow intensified, then contracted and dimmed, over and over, like it was wheezing. Jiggling and spinning and wheezing.
”Well, what are you waiting for? Blow it up!” Sam said.
Mara closed her eyes, saw the image in her mind again, tried to focus on it. She couldn't quite get it. All she could see was a bright blur. All she could hear was the wheeze. She concentrated on the orange smudge and willed it to stop. A loud squeal, like a balloon being twisted, echoed throughout the warehouse.
”Whoa, what did you do to it?” Sam asked.
She opened her eyes. An indistinct orange smear hung in the air, unmoving.
Sam got up from his mat and ran over to it. He circled it, leaning forward examining it. As he pa.s.sed behind it, Mara could make out his silhouette. The blob was semitransparent, still a fuzzy orange with some spots of black mixed in, but translucent, especially along the edges.
”So what happened? Can you tell?” Ping asked, walking over.
”She made it all blurry,” Sam said. ”It's the basketball, but it's suspended and out of focus.”
”Look along the edges,” Ping said. ”It's all jagged.”
Sam reached toward it.
”Be careful,” Ping said.
Sam flicked the edge of the blob with a finger. A tiny orange-tinged translucent cube flew toward Mara. It faded into nothingness as it arced in the air, completely disappearing before reaching her.
”It's pixels,” Sam said. ”She pixelated the basketball. Look, if you squint, you can make out the individual pixels.”