seymoure

42.

Mickey had read the words, “The tension was so thick you could cut it with a knife,” without ever really understanding it. Now he wished he had a sharper knife.

The Blaster had opened a path up through about ten stories of tower. You look up and see the sky, but it was as though you were looking from deep within a cave.

Mickey flashed on his encounter with a bear outside a cave, just months ago. It was funny for some time. Now it seemed to be ancient history. He wondered how the bear was doing.

To think he had come so far, and now stood at the possible “end of the world.”

He had been pouring all his power into his mother. If there was a way for her to have even more power, after being adjudged one of the most powerful of the powerful, he was going to make sure there was every ounce of ability that her slender frame could contain.

In the middle of the room stood the offending console, surrounded by more lights than a science fiction movie “mad scientist” lab.

The device sat in a lump of metal about the size of a picnic cooler. It was taller, and made of metal, of course, but still much smaller than anyone would have believed something so devastating could contain. Pandora's box must have been a purse.

Maria stood silent, staring at the lump of metal

“What cha’ got?” The boy asked his mom.

“I’ve got the base metals that make up the box. The security circuitries, like bands of Marti Gras beads, are clear to me, and easily avoided. But, that is only going in. In my intangible state I could bypass them completely, but to lift the thing I will have to have some amount of tangibility.”

“If the security picks you up,” Basic, the computer master on the staff, said, “We think you should have a 30 second fuse in effect.”

“Will we know,” David asked, “If and when it goes into effect?”

“There will be an alarm,” said Stonedragon, “We were very specific about the security for the system. No one can get it . . .” He stopped when he realized what he was about to say, that no one could get in without setting off the alarm, was not true.

The personal betrayal again cut him deep in his gut. This was a personal thing. But he would deal with that later. He returned, within seconds, to the stiff countenance that they had come to depend on.

“Then, we have no time to lose,” Maria said.

“I’ll be flying right behind you,” David reminded her. “If you need me to carry you back, I’ll be there.”

"My flying knight," She said. She turned back to the task at hand. She stood like a Madonna about to raise up a child not her own. She was the vision of “careful” as she leaned down to insert her hands through the sides of the box.

They had spent two hours perfecting as much of this ability as they could.

But, while that is enough time to gain some proficiency, but little to gain any aplomb about risking the rest of life on Earth to your newly learned ability.

No one in the room breathed for quite awhile.

Her fingers passed through the surface of the box as though it were the finest sand.

David realized he had developed a case of the hiccups. He closed his eyes and prayed to God that he wouldn’t ruin the whole thing.

No one else noticed.