Dark Matters

by Kirsten Campbell

Part 1 appears
in this issue.

conclusion

“Did you send Darkness One?” Alix asked.

“Yes, I did,” Jarrin said with a mild chuckle.

“What happened?”

“He got scared, real scared.”

“You think he’ll slam us again?”

“No, I don’t think so. He seemed pretty terrified.”

“Good. At least you didn’t have to use up the resources this time. Last time...”

“Yes, last time we did have a problem, even had to resort to Darkness Two. Let’s hope we don’t have to go to that extreme. I don’t want the little human affected for the rest of his tiny life span. Encountering Darkness Two could traumatize him.”

“Let’s hope you don’t have to resort to that,” Alix said and resumed his work in his lab.

* * *

David Fielder woke up early the next morning with hopes of seeing the ghost made of darkness. He couldn’t wait to see his glowing eyes; they looked like stars. David swore he’d look deeper into the darkness, if it came back. He wanted to see if there were more recognizable stars.

He liked stars and his Mommy always pointed out the ones that made patterns in the sky. David liked the Big Dipper and hoped he’d see the Little Dipper as well. When he first saw the ghost, he was a bit scared, but then he remembered one thing in particular, the ghost didn’t try to hurt him or even try to come out of the closet.

“I’ve decided to talk to the ghost made of darkness, Mommy,” he announced over his oatmeal that morning.

Mommy chuckled under her breath and nodded her agreement.

“Do you think he speaks English?” David asked.

“Most ghosts do, I believe,” Mommy said, then sat down at the table with a nice hot bowl of oatmeal. She slid the spoon in, scooped up a heaping teaspoon and put it to her mouth, then hesitated. “Actually, I believe a ghost’s language is relative to where he or she is. So, if the ghost is in China, he would speak Chinese. Since we are in the United States, in Arizona, the ghost would probably speak English.”

David smiled then lifted his bowl, slurped down the rest of his oatmeal. He wiped his mouth and got up, put his bowl in the sink and ran upstairs to the hall closet. He opened the door, took a few steps back and stared inside, waiting for the darkness to appear.

Several minutes passed and no darkness, so David decided to run to his Mommy’s room and return to skidding down the hall, sliding and slamming into the base board of the closet.

* * *

“Incoming!” Alix yelled as he reached out with all four arms. He tried to stabilize his station, but he slipped and couldn’t get to the dark matter canisters in time. Several items floated away and the cylindrical canisters wobbled slightly, almost fell.

“Captain, he’s at it again. Did you feel that?” Alix said while grabbing at his lab essentials.

“Of course I felt it! The Mosmeiver almost disengaged from the omni-dimensional worm hole, thanks to that insignificant human. That’s it. Looks like I’m going to have to send in Darkness Two.”

“Oh no. Do you really have to do that?”

“There’s no other way to deal with this, Alix. We have to protect not only ourselves, but the other dimensional quadrants as well. Just give me a second and Darkness Two will be on its way.”

“Yes, sir.”

* * *

David ran down the hall once again, skidded on the slippery wooden floor into the hall linen closet and banged into the back wall then cackled loudly as several red and navy blue towels fell down on his head. He wiped at the towels, grabbed them and stood up; turned to place them back on the shelf.

Pssst...

David blinked then backed away as the darkness opened up before him. He was frozen with fear as he watched the small black oval grow to a towering eight foot tall monster. He peered upwards into the darkness mesmerized by the blinking lights in the smooth inky dark space that should have been a body. Curiosity took over and soon David found his feet. He moved forward slowly, staring intently at the body of the eight-foot-tall humanoid shaped darkness.

Darkness Two remained still as if watching the little boy. The humanoid shaped window into the cosmos waited until David moved forward, then Darkness Two moved forward. It sprouted two long arms and reached outward for the little boy.

David jumped back but he didn’t run away. Instead, he parked himself, stood his ground and looked upwards incredulously, staring with piercing eyes at the head of the dark humanoid shape. “I...I’m not afraid of you! I’m a super soldier,” David said bravely. His little pink lips tightened on his sweet face and then quite suddenly, he smiled a devilish slit.

As he stared, his eyes came to rest upon another familiar shape in the lower quadrant of the darkness, a shape he knew to be the Little Dipper. “I see you! I see all of you! You’re made of outer space! I knew it. I knew it! Let me see more! I want to see more! More, more, more!” David yelled while jumping up and down.

Darkness Two remained stationary as if frozen in time.

David squinted then he frowned. He finally shrugged and spun around. Frustrated, he threw his red towel to the ground then grabbed a blue towel and ran to his Mommy’s bedroom dragging the huge blue towel behind him.

Seconds later, David Fielder ran out of his Mommy’s bedroom yelling at the top of his lungs. He stabbed forward through the hall towards the open closet, the huge blue towel tied about his neck flying behind him like a billowy cape. He ran forward at top speed, ran towards the open closet and the darkness within.

“Yah! I’m gonna get you!” he yelled, his right hand held straight out before him like a dagger. He slipped downward, skidding across the floor, his feet aimed at the baseboard of the hall closet.

* * *

“NO!” Jarrin yelled. He lost his concentration and instantly Darkness Two vanished as David Fielder’s feet slammed hard into the baseboard of the hall linen closet.

The innards of the Mosmeiver shook violently sending Jarrin spiraling through the gel-like environment of the seventh quadrant of his vessel. If not for the environmental gel, he would have flown through the transparent skin of the Mosmeiver, into the next dimensional quadrant without the necessary preparation.

Jarrin pushed off of the super sensitive skin of his vessel, breathed in the gel and stabilized himself to a seated position while gaining control of his emotions. He was angry. He’d lost control, something of which he hardly ever did. “That little mongrel!” he said to himself.

He thought he had figured out the little human, but he was surprised. The little boy had done the unheard-of, turned to fight the unknown and with that caused quite a disturbance on not only the Mosmeiver, but in every one of the dimensions in which the omni-dimensional ship was stationed.

“Is everyone okay?” Jarrin asked.

“Not really, Captain. We’ve slipped two inches out of every quadrant. Looks like we have no choice but to move, sir,” said the replicates in each dimension, their voices chiming together as they scurried about, trying to recover from the dimensional tremor.

Jarrin nodded his agreement, and then remembered his friend, Alix in the lab. “Are you still there, Alix?”

“Sir, we almost lost the dark matter cylinders. We can’t take another hit, sir,” Alix said. He shot his captain a telepathic picture of the disheveled lab and waited for instructions.

“Yes, I see... Don’t worry. I’m preparing to move the Mosmeiver at once.”

“We’re moving? Darkness Two didn’t work, did it?”

“No. That little imp stormed me like a soldier. He actually challenged Darkness Two,” Jarrin said, an unexpected smile washing over his face. “I’ve decided we need to leave the little human alone. Earth needs more soldiers like David Fielder, more fighters that don’t fear darkness or the depths of outer space. I’ll move the Mosmeiver.”

“That’s very good, sir? And where are we moving this time, sir?” Alix asked.

“Well, I’ve been checking locations for a while and I believe I’ve come up with a good one. Of course, I had to take into consideration that the lab is somehow affected by the third dimension, so I sought out a place that is pretty much barren. Not very many humans anywhere.”

“Where, sir?”

“Roswell. Roswell, New Mexico. There will probably be a few minor tremors behind the move, but it shouldn’t cause too many problems in the little humanoid’s dimension. I sincerely hope little David Fielder has a good long life.”

“So, when do we move, sir?”

“In a matter of moments, Alix. Hurry. Get your gear secured.”

“Yes, sir,” Alix said, returning to his lab duties on the omni-dimensional vessel.

* * *

David Fielder slipped forward on the wooden floor then kicked at the left side of the closet, the exact area that Darkness Two had inhabited moments before. “Yah!” he yelled and kicked once again, slamming his foot into the base board of the closet wall.

David stood up and turned to face the darkness, but it was gone. He frowned then reached up, untied the knot in the navy blue towel around his neck, let the towel drop to the floor, and then he ran out of the closet and bumped into his Mommy.

“I thought I heard you running up here. Did the ghost come back?”

“Yes, but I took care of him. I kicked him and he went away.”

“You kicked him? Good for you, David. But what if he comes back?” Mommy asked.

“I’ll kick him again. I’ll kick him right in the Big Dipper.”

“Wow. That sounds scary.”

David nodded his agreement and smiled at his Mommy.

“I wouldn’t come back if I were that ghost,” Mommy said.

“Neither would I,” David said and threw his arms about his Mommy’s waist.

“Well, well, I think my little super soldier needs a glass of milk. Would you like some milk?” Mommy asked while leading David to the stairs.

“I’d love some,” David said and hugged his Mommy.

to Challenge 406...