Blog followers; you will find included from earlier chapters some italicized comments explaining Bessie’s amazing teleporting ability. They might even keep stepson Kevin, a big deal chemistry professor, from nit-picking about what he’ll claim are all my scientific inaccuracies.

(Chapter CONTINUED)                Peril on Pluto!

Still fuming over Alex’s parting remark last night, Bessie’s jaw tightened-Count on it, smart guy! To lighten her mood, she clicked an old favorite on Song Select and laid her phone on the console. And sure enough, after a few bars Eleanor Molina’s “You Rev Me Up” started doing it quite nicely, thank you. Heart beginning to race, she pressed Play and dropped the visor.

 She instantly felt it, the oddly pleasant sensation of the quantum-flux energy bubble forming around her. The computer room disappeared, leaving her and the chair, a small circle of carpet beneath it, and the monitor playing the DVD.  Within seconds the images dancing around her beam were gone too… and Pluto’s cratered surface was rushing straight up at her!

Whoa, too fast!—she thought and slowed her descent. When hovering just over the surface she looked past her boots at the landing spot. Satisfied, she touched down. Gripping the chair arms, her eyes widened behind the visor. “Unbelievable!” she gasped.

A great ice field of smudged grays and yellows stretched off to the flanks of a large crater. Beyond was a row of tall narrow peaks like monstrous jagged teeth. Nearest her was a knee high rock outcrop just to the right. Overhead the Great Orion Spur of the Milky Way swept its mighty arch of countless brilliant points across jet black. The brightest one now tiny and low on the horizon was the Sun.

            The stark desolation beneath the vastness of starry sky was for her, both terrifying and indescribably beautiful. A deep chill ran all through her. Reflexively hugging herself, she saw the thermometer holding at 70-degrees. This temperature and the air she breathed were those of the computer room, she knew, but the sigh of relief escaped anyway – Whew! So far, so good!

            Taking a long moment, she simply took in the utterly alien off-worldly vista spread before her. Lowering her eyes, she saw to the immediate right a low rock outcrop barely peeking back from beneath the leading edge of the ice shelf. Casting her gaze this way and that, it suddenly struck her that way out here so far from the Sun why wasn’t it much darker all around? She blinked-Its light enough to read by!  Dad’s flashlight could stay where it was, but what was causing this extra illumination?

Swiveling the chair around, she found her-self being moon-bathed by Pluto’s largest satellite, Charon. Though barely a third the size of Earth’s Moon but only 12,000 miles away, it covered sixty-four times as much sky! 

            She sang out, “It has rings!” Faint but distinguishable, the great ellipse rose to a sharp apex above Charon and plunged from sight at the far side. While nowhere the size of Saturn’s she thought them wondrous all the same. It dawned-Your camera, dummy!

Her cell’s 12.1 Mega pixel camera worked fine during all of her other VR trips, except? Most disappointingly the one to Mars materialized her within one of the Red Planet’s monstrous dust storms. The few resulting snapshots of the Red Planet showed only yellowish-orange blurs of dust and sand. In other words, totally worthless to show anyone – especially Alex. 

Dropping the gloves in her lap, she smiled – But just you wait, Skeptical Boy! You’ll be a believer when you see these beauties! Angling the camera this way and that, she never stopped clicking the shutter until the digital finally read RECHARGE.

Filled with delight, she leaned back in the chair. Throughout these past two weeks she had constantly asked her-self – How am I doing this? As for whisking off whenever she wanted, to Mars, Hawaii, and now even to here, Bessie had by now gained a few clues hinting at an answer. But as yet, it still had her stumped.

(Told earlier; she and Alex batted it back and forth - whether or not QE (quantum entanglement) lay at the heart of her supposed transports to other places. What QE’s discoverer, Albert Einstein, had called “the spooky effect” was the instantaneous and identical reaction of atomic particles acted upon even when separated by great distance. He and countless others, including her and Alex had batted zero with figuring it out. Even so, couldn’t this at least partly account for her amazing abilities?)

At the moment she couldn’t care less – she was here and that was that. Wearing a self-satisfied grin, she nodded toward the direction of Earth – If you guys could see me now! The grin soured at recalling what Alex had teased her with last night – that she was nuts. He was only kidding of course but it brought her musings to a halt. Beyond doubt, a piece of Pluto’s surface material would certainly be proof positive that she had truly been here. Her mouth tightened – Not to also mention wiping off that snotty smile of his!

Poked out a few inches from beneath the small ice ridge was the rock outcrop. Though super cold, a piece of it of it would do no harm once inside here. She hoped. But what if she accidentally also brought in some of this ice? Spectrographic analysis by NASA’s fly-by revealed that 98 % of Pluto’s surface was frozen nitrogen, a highly stable gas, and therefore safe.

She frowned-But what if it’s frozen methane? Once inside her 70-degree bubble it could sublimate into something like sewer gas. Her Chemistry class taught that this wasn’t all it might do. Tremendously volatile, it could explode. Even if only a loud fire-cracker, she wanted no part of it inside her safe place. The odds were 98% in her favor…but? What to do – what to do?

Meantime her Song Select began playing 2018’s current top of the charts hit, a real rocker. Soon swaying and bouncing in time, her fun side pictured it - a NASA fly-by giving her doubting pals a sight to see – their crazy space geek billions of miles from nowhere and moving to music only she could hear. Clapping her hands, she burst out laughing.         

While enjoying the moment, her science-minded discipline nudged – Hey, what about that sample! Slapping the arms of her chair, she said it loud- “Let’s do it!” Being careful would yield strictly bare rock and if a little ice came in with it, then no big deal. She hoped.

Her gloves back on, she asked the outcrop with more aplomb than she felt, “Like to come home with me?” It seemed easy enough; grab the sample, flip up the visor, and be home free.      

            Hammer in the right hand and opened container in the left, she scooted the chair closer to the outcrop and the bubble obligingly followed. When Bessie leaned down with the hammer raised, the amorphous bubble conformed to her stretched-out shape by lowering a foot and a half deeper. Her waffled soles now in full contact with Pluto’s surface, the terrible deep cold penetrated instantly. “Oh! No-no-no!!” she cried and kicked backward. Obediently following, the bubble raised back up to its original level. 

            Stunned, she dropped the hammer and container and tore off the gloves. Fumbling with icy fingers to undo her boots, she dimly realized that even the air around her was now very cold. Rubbing chilled hands and stocking feet, she knew the 70-degree computer room would soon warm everything back up. Taking no comfort whatever from that anymore, she needed to snatch this sample as fast as possible and just get out of here!            

            After tugging the gloves and boots back on, she took a deep breath and looked down-Okay, rock, ready or not! Eyes locked on target, she lunged and swung the hammer as hard as she could. A chip bounced off the container and landed near her boot. Afraid to grab it even while gloved she cried out and kicked backward. Scared witless…and furious, she lunged again with a martial-arts scream and struck! A piece arced into the container with a tinny-- Klink! Cheeks, feet, and hands already growing numb, she shot out her heels and pushed back.

Unfeeling fingers all but useless she chinned the container’s lid shut and let it fall. Making sounds like a stepped-on cat, she ripped the gloves off with her teeth. Unlacing her boots was hopeless so she left them on. Hands clamped beneath her armpits, she stamped her feet as white puffs jetted from her nose and mouth. Stinging like needles, the returning circulation made her teary. Brushing them away, she glared down at the container and scolded through chattering teeth, “You were mean but I gotcha!”

Had she bothered to look, she’d have seen the mercury in the thermometer plummeted to forty-below. No, Ms. Bessie Howard, intrepid explorer of other times and other worlds had all she could do to send her headpiece a single shaft of thought – Please, Maxwell! Take me home!

            Flinging her headband, she sprang up from the chair. Nearly tripping over it, she grabbed the backrest and steadied herself. Gulping in the room’s blessedly warm air, she held her head to keep it from spinning. Upside down on the carpet the container was covered with ice crystals, with a vaporous cloud curling up from the lid.

Her jacket hit the floor and a short struggle with her boots left them there too. Somehow remembering her phone on the console, Bessie jammed it into her waistband. Stumbling all a-shiver into the kitchen, she saw the wall thermometer showing its usual 70-degrees, but this only made her shiver even more. Pacing in circles while scrunching her toes and rubbing goose bumps on her arms, she managed only one clear thought; the temperature differential between this cozy kitchen and the place she’d barely escaped was an unholy 450 degrees!

            Blowing warm breath on her hands, she heard her inner voice half-heartedly praising her heroic adventure. Butting in, a newly wiser one sneered – Idiot! You could’ve killed yourself!

            Startled by her phone chime she yanked it out. The Caller ID said it was Alex. Bursting to tell him what she had been through, all her tightened throat allowed was…“Awwk!”   

            He asked, “Bean? Is that you?”

            She tried again but only squawked. Clutching her throat, she coughed.          

            He laughed, “You okay? Haw-haw! You sound like that duck in the commercial!”

            Throat cleared, her words rolled out like spilled marbles. “Alex, I nearly froze to death! Pluto was so horribly cold that…!”

             “Whoa, I couldn’t follow! Start over!”

            Hand to her forehead, she collected herself and tried again. “I meant… while chipping this rock my fingers and toes nearly froze solid! I…!”

            Jocularity gone, he cut in, “Jeez, Bessie, were you hurt?”

             “No! I mean-yes! I don’t know what I mean!” She took another breath. “Are you free?”

            “After what you said last night I was coming over anyway to see if you were okay. Feel like going for a walk or something?”        

            This sounded like the best idea in the world. Better, the sound of his voice was literally bringing her back to Earth. “Please! I’ll meet you out front!”           

            “Okay Bessie, I’m out the door!”       

            Clicking off, her next thought was too familiar—He probably won’t believe me. No matter! She just wanted to go somewhere-anywhere with him right this second and pour it out. Set to charge out the door she saw herself in the full length hallway mirror. Any of her hair not tumbled around her shoulders stuck out in all directions. She also had on only one sock half-off. Holding out a handful of bedraggled hair, she grimaced-Can’t meet him like this!

            She left her winter clothes where she climbed out of them. After putting on her shorts and wiggling bare feet into the sneakers, she did a fast brushing of her hair. The dresser mirror told her - Still not looking my best, but...? No time to waste!

            Ducking into the computer room for the rock sample, she saw that the container’s ice crystals had melted. Re-gloved, she gingerly lifted it while poised to pitch it if need be. There wasn’t. Container held in front of her, she went out the front door.

            An “Ahhh…!” escaped at feeling on arms, legs, and face the delicious warmth of the Sun so wonderfully near and large again. Hurrying down the steps, she saw Alex coming toward her on the sidewalk. She felt another kind of warmth as it occurred - He called me Bessie for once!    

            Before long they sat on a park bench, the container between them. Her rock thawed enough to hold bare handed, Alex had already examined it with his hand lens. Just now finished with his perusal of her photos, he closed her phone. “They’re a little dark but not bad.”

            Bessie expectantly raised an eyebrow. “I know they’re dark but the close-ups are way more detailed than from NASA’s fly-by.” Jabbing a finger, she added, “Mine prove I was there so quit thinking I’m crazy, all right?”         

            He laughed, “I stopped thinking that after your first few trips!” Then he waggled the phone, “But you won’t like what I say about these. Just promise me you won’t get mad, OK?”

            “I won’t, I promise! Say it!”

            “Well, NASA can enhance their photos to look just as close. People could say you ripped these off from theirs.”       

             “Alex, that really makes me mad! I’d never do that!”

            Big husky that he was, Alex shrunk and held up his hands. “Whoa, Bean, I know you wouldn’t!” He missed her little growl at the nickname.

            Dismissing the stab of irritation, she brushed away a stray lock. “So forget the photos! What about my rock?”

            Unwilling to face any more glares he was quick to make a second inspection of it. Putting down the lens, he shrugged, “The dark patches mean it’s carbonaceous…” Came the grin - “I’m also brilliant with mineralogy, you know.”

            Not quite ready to banter like they usually did, she said dryly, “I’m sure you’ll get the Nobel.” She made an impatient beckoning motion. “What else? After traveling three billion miles to get it, I’d like to know!”        

            “There’s some green, probably olivine like near a volcano.”

            “No! There aren’t any on Pluto!”

            “Yeah and none are erupting here in central Wisconsin. But my little home lab wouldn’t prove it’s from Pluto and neither would the school’s.”

            She threw up her hands. “I give up! Whether with photos or even samples I can’t convince you or anyone!” She slumped down with a muttered, “Bummer.”

            “You know what really bugs me about your VR trips?”

            She said testily, “What?”

            “None of us can do them like you, not even with the same kind of headset. It’s like you’re some kind of mutant.” Seeing her eyes narrow, he held up a hand. “Hold it! What about when you hit your head and they scanned it at the hospital? You said they found what? Ha-ha…besides empty space?”

            Sitting here safe and warm beneath the noonday sun, she found it impossible to stay angry with him. Her own sense of humor beginning to rebound, she leaned toward him and said straight-faced, “You’re right, it was empty. No, wait! They did find…” Pausing, she let him hang for a second. “…some old Star Wars DVD’s.”

            They both laughed. Then he started in again, “Seriously, Bean! You said they found…” He saw her flinch. “You don’t like it when I call you that.”

            “I hate it. Anyway, Dr. Haley told me and Mom I’d only had a mild concussion. But he did say my brain structure was different from anyone else’s.”

            (Explained in an earlier chapter; Dr. Haley found her ITC (inferior temporal cortex) to be much larger than average. Plus, the fall hadn’t caused this. She’d been born with it. He had reassured the condition was harmless and she had left feeling only a headache.

            Bessie had immediately learned from a website; “…structured within the ITC are the amygdale and hippocampus, both crucial for spatial navigation and deciding which routes to take in order to get from one place to another...”)

             Alex waited for her to go on. She shook her head. “I’ll tell you more someday, but this one’s too beautiful to talk about…my brain.”

            “Fine, because that’s not your problem.”

            “What is?”

            “It shows when talking about your trips-it’s that no one else comes with you.”

            She sighed, “Yes, I have felt pretty lonely with that.”

            He asked hopefully. “Next time why not take me along?”      

            Her deep blue eyes regarded him thoughtfully for so long, he began to fidget. She clapped her hands and he jumped!

Bessie laughed, “Gotcha! Anyway, stop squirming. You’re a believer, right?”

            “Correct!”

            “Good, then you can come with.”

            “Fantastic! When?”

             “But…not today. We will though, next chance.”

            No longer alone with this stuff and having someone she liked very much finally in on it with her felt wonderful. No longer the least unhinged by Pluto, she asked cheerily, “Let’s do something, you want to?”

            “Yeah, but forget space travel! The Badgers game has probably started, so let’s watch it!” To the despair of the school’s football coach, tall and husky Alex never tried out for the team. “Sorry, Coach, too busy studying!” he’d say. But during football season he shed his studious nerd disguise and donned the cloak of Super Fan.  No one followed the Packers or the University of Wisconsin’s Badgers more avidly than he.

            His shy guy disguise also gone for the moment, he faked a lecherous grin. “So, baby, your place or mine?”

            As they stood up she gave him a sideways whack on the arm. “In your dreams… baby! Besides, I’m under orders, so my place is out. Let’s call the others and meet at yours, okay? I’ll bring the chips!”      

            “Great! If mom’s back by now, she can make her killer dip. We’ll have us a Badgers party!”

             “Good!” she said and reached for the rock he still held. “I’ll take that.” Dropping it into the container, she snapped shut the lid. Her cares put away, Bessie threw back her head and laughed, “We might as well! After all my babbling about Pluto, I still haven’t a single shred of evidence to prove I was even there!”

                                                           

*

           

On a world beneath the starry blackness billions of miles away lay a panorama of rounded hills strewn with craters. An ice field swept up to the flanks of a larger one and out in the plain where the ice began was a low rock outcrop. Within the layer of dust in front of it was a circular patch of heel marks and sets of imprints arranged in perfect squares. 

 

                                    THE END OF PART ONE    

 

 

 

 

Now we jump way ahead toward the end of Part One in “Bessie Howard’s Amazing Adventures”. At this point Bessie has taken quite a few trips through time and space. So many, in fact, that she’s gotten a bit cocky. Well, our girl is about to be handed a huge lesson about that. (Explanation; parts of this chapter have either been left out or changed to fit into the blog-spot).

Part One – Last Chapter

            Impatiently bouncing a knee while standing in the driveway, Bessie saw Connie beckon her from the SUV’s passenger side. She groaned under her breath…”Nuts! Now what!?”

             “Honey, the replacement mat is still in the box, so put it down before you go online! I don’t want the chair leaving holes in my new carpet!” She wagged a finger- “We won’t be back ‘til tomorrow night, so cell phone on and no boys allowed over, okay? Love you! Bye-bye!”

            Bessie forced a smile. “Love you too, but you guys better go! There’ll be tons of traffic in Green Bay!”

            About to get in behind the wheel, Rob called out, “Last chance Bess! With the Pack playing the Bears tomorrow it’ll be a smasher of a game!”’  

             “Love to, Dad, but this astronomy project…” She paused - True enough -  “…is my biggest yet!” She blew a kiss. “Have fun! Go Pack!”

Soon as they pulled out she whirled an about-face and dashed inside. Entering her room and kicking off sneakers and shorts, she accomplished in minutes a complete makeover from her summer look during this hottest October on record. Her ski jacket hung open over a heavy sweater, Spandex pants reached to her hiking boots, and insulated gloves were stuffed in the jacket’s pockets. Looking ready to hit the slopes, the tall redhead in her dresser mirror fed back a wry smile-I’d probably be just as safe in a string bikini-if I had one!

  The smile faded, her real destination having nagged at her since jumping out of bed this morning. Among the many stats garnered about Pluto, her most worrisome one was its average surface temperature, a horrendous minus-375 degrees Fahrenheit. Her protective quantum bubble had held up perfectly during all her other virtual reality trips. But if it somehow failed on this one? She’d be a flash frozen Popsicle no matter what she wore.

A small part of her cautioned-Forget it? The more adventurous one barked-Stop talking yourself out of it! Move!

Snatching up a box of items hidden under the bed, she hustled to the computer room. When seated before the monitor she spread the items within easy reach on the console; Dad’s high-powered flashlight and claw hammer, Mom’s metal container with snap-down lid, and the thermometer she’d swiped from the patio.

Pulling back her long red hair, she slipped on the virtual-reality headband. Leaving the visor up, she inserted into the player NASA’s DVD of their New Horizons 2015 fly-by of Pluto.

            Scooting the chair closer to the keyboard-just in case-she remembered the mat still its box. And sure enough, just behind the castor wheels of her chair she saw a perfect square of prints in the new carpet. Oops, sorry mom, my bad! Her next thought –I’ll brush them out later.

Restlessly drumming her fingers on the console while waiting for the Dwarf Planet to appear, she wondered – How old was I back then? Five? With mom’s help on the telescope, that was Bessie’s first good look at the planets and stars. Since then her desire to visit them had only grown until these days even her closest friends were tired of hearing about it.

Speaking of whom, neither Nina nor Alex had entirely bought what had happened to her two weeks ago with that Gettysburg game. Determined to prove otherwise, she swallowed her fears and went off on more VR trips. Skipping time travel after her Gettysburg disaster, she transported her-self to other places she’d never been to. Hovering above the snow-capped peak of the Grand Teton was a wonderful thrill. Doing the same over a pod of humpback whales off the California coast was even more so. And yes, after working up the nerve she finally went…to Mars! Trouble was, materializing amidst one of the Red Planet’s tremendous dust storms made viewing it impossible.

Getting better and better at it, she told both Nina and Alex about her VR trips afterward. But most incredibly, neither was still entirely buying that she was actually going to these places,   talk about frustrating! Except, if she was reading him right, had Alex seemed a little less skeptical lately? So she’d thought…until last night when telling him where she was headed next.

                                                            *

            Alex stared, “Bean, are you nuts!? Pluto’s way, way too far!”        

Anymore, this “Bean” bit was really getting on her nerves. Letting it slide again and eyes nearly level with his, she smirked, “Aha! You’re worried I’ll get hurt? So, you do believe me!”

            He groused, “Yeah, that you are nuts. It’s too far-just saying.”      

            Smile tightening, she wagged a finger. “I’ve put up with you humoring me for two whole weeks! And now all of a sudden I’m crazy?”

            Turning away, he muttered, “You wag that finger just like your mom.”    

            The hurtful mocking from the others was bad enough. But being compared to her mom (whom she dearly loved) by her very best boy-pal? Scrambling her hair, she screeched and grabbed his arm. “Alex Ricci, you look at me!!”

            Facing her, he gulped, “Whoa!”

            Red hair in wild disarray and blue eyes flashing, she looked like Sheena; Warrior Queen of the Death Star in his favorite video game. She snarled, “I’m nothing like her!” Catching her-self wagging the finger, she quick made a fist.

            He answered lamely, “Sorry I said it.”

            “And stop calling me crazy! That really does…!” It almost came out – …make me nuts! “…make me want to shoot you! Just stop it!”

            “Jeez, I never meant it.”

            “You thought it, which is worse!” He looked so woebegone and sheepish, she relented with a long sigh. “You’re forgiven. But Alex, you’re all I’ve got with this stuff. Plus, I’ve told you a thousand times, that…I…am… going…to…the…stars! And trust me, the distance to Pluto is nothing compared to how far those are. But it’s a good start and next I’ll …”

            Though beyond him with astronomy, Alex had her on points with Physics. Apology forgotten he imperiously cut her off. “Not! Without traveling faster than light you’ll never…”

            Hands on hips she interrupted right back, “I have! By my watch it took only seconds to reach Mars so your pain in the butt speed limit with light is…Poof! Gone! And after they leave tomorrow I will too—for Pluto!”

            Both of them honor students in the sciences, Alex knew the battle was lost. Reverting to his wise-acre self while turning toward home, he laughed over his shoulder, “You do that, Bean old girl! When back in town give this Earthling a call, hey?”     TO BE CONTINUED

 

 

CHAPTER FOUR ... (Continued)

Brother and sister readied to do battle with one of his older games, Ben reserving the newer ones for worthier opponents. As they lowered their visors, Alex and Nina moved closer to watch.

            Bessie’s eyes now fixed on the monitor, she reached out through force of habit, gripped her staff, and let go. Putting her handheld controller to work, she began humming a strange-sounding tune.

            Alex asked Nina, “What’s that, the latest top-40’s hit?”

            “Shush! It’s her spell song!”

            Making a rude sound, he turned back to the monitor.          

            The game opened to show gamers and watchers alike a broad topographic map of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania and the outlying area in July of 1863. Side boxes denoted the various battles which had taken place from July 1 through July 3.

Ben said, “We’ll do the one that everybody knows!” Sliding his pointer to the box marked Picket’s Charge, he clicked Play. Automatically maximized to Level 2, the scene changed to a much closer panorama of Cemetery Ridge above a wide valley. Icons atop the ridge represented the Union forces and spread out in the valley were those of the Confederacy.

            Upon switching to Level 3 both players jerked straight up. The large-scale original level rendered average sized objects too tiny to be seen. Whereas, now they could even make out distinctive facial features of the human-like icons. By now in 2018 processes had evolved to make these computer-generated images virtually indistinguishable from live humans.

            Ben exclaimed, “Hey Bean, it’s not only clearer than ever! My guys look totally real-life! Do yours!?”

            She waved a free hand. “Yes-yes, Butt Brain, but shut up and let me think!”

            Alex said from behind, “Bean, my I-pad’s ready. You want me to take notes, call out.”        

            “You sound faint for some reason,” she answered.

            Ben put in, “You sound perfectly clear to me, man.”

            Alex raised his voice. “How’s this!?”

            This always happened the instant Bessie activated her headpiece, the voices of others around her sounding far-off. Still having no idea why, she was too fully absorbed at this point to care. “Yes, that’s a little better.”

            Play began when the last of however many players there were, in this case two, entered which army they would lead. This being Ben’s game, he claimed first pick. “I’ll be Lee! I mean to attack your guys!”

            She tipped her head toward him. “Speak up, I can barely hear you!”

            He came back louder. “Clean the junk out of your ears! I’ll be General Lee!”

            She laughed, “I hoped you would! If you’d studied your history you’d know that General Meade won at Gettysburg!”

            Boisterously, he chortled, “I’ve studied it, all right, but I won’t blow it the way Lee did!” He entered his choice.       

After Bessie did likewise with Meade they both organized their strategies. When satisfied with hers, she next added a technique she had borrowed from a sci-fi movie. This one showed the main character hurtling through time and space on laser beams. Promptly imaging up her own, her now familiar golden glow-beam appeared. Sending it a shaft of thought and muttering, “Come on, move for me…move-move-move!” she aimed it down toward her forces on the ridge. She nodded - Good! Now I’ll get closer…!  Back to humming her strange little song, Bessie began riding the beam down like a toboggan. Suddenly, everything around her went pitch black.

She blinked inside the visor. Rising out of the darkness was a swirl of freeze-framed images; her parents and friends, trees in her yard, Saturn’s rings, and her physics lab, all these and more, blooming up on all sides like flower petals growing in fast-motion, then separating to fly out of sight as others replaced them. Quickly as this phenomenon appeared, it vanished.

The monitor still displayed the game. But behind it and all around, Ben, her two friends, and the computer room were gone. Occupying Bessie’s personal space was her and the chair, the monitor and a portion of the console, and a small circle of carpet beneath her feet. Where the ceiling had been was now cloudless blue sky. Directly below, deep green treetops were rising quickly to meet her. Reflexively, she exclaimed at the same time her mind did, “No-no-no, I’m falling! Stop!”

As if from down in a well she vaguely heard Ben ask, “Stop what!?”

Un-answering and looking down, she gasped, “What is this!?”

            She hung suspended just above several large oak trees behind the position of the Union forces atop Cemetery Ridge. Almost directly below were blue-clad officers on horseback, one of whom was handing out messages and sending them off. Arrayed in the wide valley beyond, flag-bearing ranks of soldiers in gray uniforms and a mixed variety of other clothes were moving toward her ridge. Everyone in this chaotic scene was moving without her using the handheld or giving them any vocal or thought commands.

Raised with computers, including VR accessories, since kindergarten, Bessie knew what was Computer-Generated and what wasn’t. Her heart leaped– These aren’t CGI’s! Her headshake cut off the next thought – They’re…real!? No way!

She meantime felt the presence of an amorphous something, an invisible bubble of sorts, close around her. She had sensed it with their old headsets, but never as strongly as this. Reflexively reaching out, she felt a slight yielding. A harder push made it solid as a brick wall.

Hunched over his handheld to her left, Ben was unaware of her struggles. Behind their chairs Alex and Nina saw Bessie pushing her hands out. Having witnessed her unusual antics before with these VR sessions, they thought nothing of it. But what she did next, they did.

Hands to the sides of her head, she uttered plaintively, “Can you guys hear me?” A pause. “Or even see me? Nina, are you there!?”

            Hearing the little note of desperation, Nina frowned, “Uh-oh!” Stepping forward, she squeezed Bessie’s shoulder. “Of course I’m here! What’s wrong?”

            Reaching back with her own hand, Bessie grabbed Nina’s-tight. “Something very strange is happening! I need some time to figure it out!”

His forces repositioned, what Ben saw through his visor was more vividly enhanced for him than Alex and Nina, but for all three, the monitor’s battlefield scene was strictly standard variety. He groused, “Figure what out? Quit screwing around and let’s play, OK?”

            Laughing, Alex joined in, “Right! You’re squirming like your butt’s burning! What are you doing?”

            Their voices distant, her answer was loud. “Alex, you never mind my butt! You better take some notes!” Fired up a moment ago to beat Ben at his own war game, she had all she could do to take in what was going on just below.

Rows of cannons with their firing crews and blue-coated infantry bearing long rifles stood in trenches or behind barricades of wooden fence. Half turning, she saw lower down a white clapboard farm house amidst a muddy meadow of trampled-down earth. Horse teams and wagons either moving or parked were everywhere. Soldiers hurriedly entering or leaving the house marked it as General Meade’s headquarters.

It dawned – I was in that house…or its replica! During her family’s tour of the national park last year she recalled being up on this very ridge too.

“Come on, Bessie, talk to us!” Nina asked.

Alex echoed, “Yeah, what’s up!?”

Unhearing, Bessie saw a mounted officer depart from the others and ride toward her, probably for Meade’s HQ. Close enough for her to see his handlebar mustache, he looked about Ben’s age. Chancing to look up, the trooper’s legs shot forward into the stirrups. Drawing back hard on the reins, he reared the horse to a halt. Yanking off his cap and shielding his eyes from the sun, he stared up at her, his jaw dropped wide open. Heart pounding, she saw him trying to say something or yell it up to her. Giving a start, she saw behind him the cannons abruptly thrown backwards by the recoil of their opening salvo vomiting flame and smoke.

Inside her bubble Bessie heard only her own breathing. Staring back down at the trooper, she saw him still holding his hat while turned in the saddle and looking back toward the cannons firing. which had erupted. Shaking his head to clear it, he rubbed his sleeve across his eye and looked back up at her.

Without the faintest idea what to do next, she slowly raised her hand…and waved. Her own jaw dropped as the trooper raised her his hat! Clamping it back on and jerking the head of his mount around, he dug his spurs into its flanks. Slapping the reins across its withers, he threw her a last backward look. Crouching lower over the saddle to spur his horse even faster, he galloped pell-mell down toward the farm house.

            About two minutes had passed since all of this had happened. A distant-sounding voice...was it Alex's?...or Ben's?... called distant-sounding voice, “Hey, under the headpiece! What's going on!? Earth calling Bessie!!”

It was too much! Springing up from the console, she yanked off the headband. Looking around around wildly, eyes wide and unseeing, she gasped, "Everything's blurry! Somebody-anybody - am I back!?" 

Nina grabbed her shoulders. “My god, are you okay!?”

            Clutching Maxwell in one hand, Bessie pressed her forehead with the other. “Yes! No! I don’t know!” Slowly, she realized she was back in the computer room. Looking at the monitor,   she started, “No, it can't be! That’s still showing…?”

His own headset off, Ben finished, “It’s still just our war game, Bean!” Seeing the condition she was in, his puzzled expression became one of concern. Dropping the Bean tag, he added, “What’s the problem, sis? I don’t get it!”

Taking a second look at the monitor still showing Gettysburg circa 1863, Bessie shook her head so hard, her long red hair flew in all directions. “No-no-no! None of you do! The problem’s not me!” Before any could answer she called through the doorway, “Dad, would you come in here!? Something’s very wrong with my headband!!”  

                                   

END OF CHAPTER FOUR

           

 

 

 

 

 

END OF CHAPTER FOUR

           

 

 

 

 

The Prologue shows a Triassic pterosaur being frightened by something, but the book’s title alone tells you what “it” was and how she got there. This next excerpt jumps ahead to Chapter Four. Rob Howard is showing wife Connie and their two teenagers Ben and Bessie a pair of his company’s latest VR (virtual reality) headsets, one for each to try out. Their good pal (especially Bessie’s) Alex Ricci is there too. (More italicized explanations are included).

                                                            *

Everyone sat in a semi-circle before the computer console, its large flat-screen monitor bathing the room in a pale blue luminescence. Atop the console were two sets of wireless hand controls for tonight’s video game contestants.

As Rob held up one of his new VR headsets, the others were surprised at how trimmed down it was from the old model. The brainchild of Marsh Perry, his inventive business partner, this prototype was far more user friendly in size and design than the original helmet and pesky trailing cables. Looking little more than a wide headband with a visor attached, its white elastic fabric betrayed only a slight bulge in back from the rechargeable power pack. The neural-sensor wafers for receiving and transmitting the user’s commands were hidden within the liner.

          He was explaining this when Bessie looked toward the doorway. “Hey, girlfriend, just in time!”

          (Her best GF Nina Manchester lives next door. Always practicing her modelling styles, she currently struts the runways at fashion shows in Madison).

          Grandly making her entrance, Nina made a swirling pirouette. Favoring them with a de rigueur pout over one shoulder, she arched an eyebrow. “Here I am darlings! Now we can start!” Ben and Alex greeted her wondrous presence with hoots and grins.

Shaking her head, Connie laughed, “Okay kids, settle down. Continue, dear, we’re all ears.”

Eagerly, Rob started again. “Thanks, sweetie. Anyway, other than a USB in back for recharge cables, these’re wire-less and the power packs are good for twelve hours. But mainly, the sensors on these babies are upgraded like you won’t believe. They transmit your voice commands more accurately than our older ones ever could. They even respond to…”

He paused for the right way to put it. Though savvy enough with cyber technology he lacked his partner’s technical acumen for using the correct terms.

“Screw it, call them your thought signals. Long as you keep ‘em simple this unit can usually translate them for the computer. You with me so far?” When all nodded, he nodded back. “Of course, our research team is already working to replace these headbands. They’re currently trying to fit all the apps into what amounts to over-sized sunglasses.”

          As he started to go on, Connie tapped his shoulder. “Dear, you’re excited and so are we but why not just hand them over? Our kids will figure them out.”  

          He laughed, “You’re right. After a couple of video games they’ll know more than I do.”

          Eyeing his kid sister, Ben grinned smugly, “Alex and I will, anyway!”

          Even though amazingly adept with her dad’s VR units, Bessie had never beaten brother-Ben in a single one of his video games. Her mind made up there’d be no waiting in line, not tonight anyway, she narrowed her eyes. “After I play, you mean!”

          Alex agreed, “Bean here should have first crack at using it before I do.”

          Scowling at hearing the Bean thing, a muted “Argh!” escaped her. With more important things on her mind she let it go just this once.

          (Tall and skinny starting her freshman year, Bessie was nicknamed String Bean-soon shortened to Bean. Now a curvier sophomore, the tag was no longer apt, but to her growing annoyance it had stuck).

          Muttering, “I knew this would happen…” Ben took his own and eyed it all around. “It’s okay Dad but I liked wearing our old helmet. It was like I was racing the Daytona 500!”

          Tone dripping with scorn, Nina retorted, “You guys are total idiots with all your hot-car racing and fighting your dumb war battles! Whereas…” Tossing him a get lost wave, she looked away, her nose tipped up. “…we women focus on more intelligent things!”         (Obviously, she’s crazy about him, this established earlier).

          Taking hers and tapping the visor mounted in front, Bessie smiled, “It’s exactly like the headband I wear when skiing. I like it, Dad.”

For Connie’s part, with a weekend coming on and especially these days with all the worrisome stuff going on out there, she was always happier when her two and their friends were gathered safe and sound under her roof. Waving “Okay, kids, have fun.” she left the room.

          Rob heaved his large frame up from the chair. “Give them a good run-through, you guys. Bess, if you find any glitches, Marsh would like you to note them down, OK? Oh, and here’s another thing, so listen up!”

He stressed not yanking off the headband before first reorienting to their surroundings here in the room. “One of our testers didn’t and mentally lost it for a bit. Anyway, you need me for anything I’ll be watching the sports channel. All set?” When they told him they were, he left too.

          Ben said, “OK Bean, put it on and let’s play!”

          “Wait, I want to name it!” As did many girls, she personalized her fondest possessions by naming them after favorite people, places, and things. Except, only Bessie Howard, one of the school’s best science students, could be so enamored with Albert Einstein she’d name her new VR unit after him.

          As Ben went into his groaning act, Bessie hissed, “Shush! I’m trying his name.” She said it slowly, “Al…bert! Al…bie! No, it doesn’t sound right!”

          The school’s very best science student, Alex ventured, “What about the famous physicist from way back, James Clerk Maxwell? You just now studied him, remember?”

          She nodded, “I’ll try him. Max…well! Maxwell! Ah, that’s good!”

          “That’ll work.” Nina said. 

          Ben let out an aggrieved sigh. “Now are you ready?”

          “No, there’s one more thing.” Her wizard staff leaned against the wall. Standing it up beside her, she stared at it for a long moment.

          Ben’s skills as a champion gamer made him nearly unbeatable even by Bessie and her gifted and talented friends. Impatient to prove it again tonight, he wasn’t having any of his sister’s witches and wizards stuff. “You’re wasting time! Why are you messing with that old stick?”

          Still in a vengeful mood for Ben ignoring her earlier at school, Nina fed him a look of utter disdain. “Because, dimwit, it’s magic and wizards do that!”

Turning from him, she urged Bessie, “C’mon girl, beat him!”

          Standing behind Bessie’s chair, Alex put a hand on her shoulder. Unconsciously placing hers atop his, she glanced up to see him giving her a puzzled look. He said, “You’re really good at physics and the same with astronomy, so I don’t get it.”

          “Don’t get what!?”

          “Why you always do this Harry Potter routine with your VR unit. Real science can’t possibly mix with all that magic stuff - can it?”

          Ben growled, “You guys going to just hold hands or what?”

          Seeing their joined hands, both quickly drew them back. Ignoring Ben and still looking up at Alex, she frowned, “It’s not magic, exactly, not how most of us think of it.” Looking away, she muttered, “Or…maybe it is, who knows?”

          Ben growled disgustedly, “Al, my sis a whack-job! What can I say?”

          Oblivious to his grousing, Bessie gripped her staff in both hands. Seemingly lost in thought for a moment, she nodded, “I’m good to go.” Leaning it back on the wall, she held up her headband, “So, Maxwell, what about you? Feel like winning a battle?” First holding it to her ear as if listening, she turned to Ben. “He says he’ll kick your butt! Let’s go!” With that she snugged Maxwell down around her head. 

          Ben fed his sister an evil grin. “You in a hurry for a whipping?”

          She whacked his shoulder. “This time, Butt Brain, you’re the one who’ll be whipped!”

                                        TO BE CONTINUED

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

         

         

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hi all and just to let you know; same as “Here and There” – Book Two, this science fiction novel is mostly in progress. Plus, I probably won’t be done with either of them ‘til next autumn-earliest. Anyway, since the novel is tailored to reach the Young Adult audience, the next question arises; will anyone who is older even bother to read it? Ruthie and I would really like to know, so we’d greatly appreciate your comments – whether yea or nay – following each of the novel’s posted excerpts. That said, here’s the first one. Enjoy.

                                                            *

Bessie Howard’s Amazing Adventures

Traveling Through Time and Space!

                              *

         

Prologue- Something Odd a Long Time Ago

          The torrential downpour had let up but another oncoming mass of dark thunderheads promised more rain that might last for days or even weeks. During this brief interlude the clouds had parted enough for a few slanted rays of Earth’s young sun to beat down on a Triassic beach of red-colored sand. Momentarily calmed, the sea rolled in on slow swells lapping the shoreline. Beyond it, palm-like cycads with slim woody trunks stood amid giant rain-soaked ferns bent way down.         

High overhead a winged red-crested reptile, its long narrow beak lined with sharp teeth, spotted a small amphibian scuttling across the sand. Eyes instantly locked on its prey the pterosaur banked into a turn and dropped in lowering circles.

          Its tiny mind perhaps suddenly sensing danger, the amphibian broke back toward the water in a side to side scurry. Splashing into the shallows, it dove to safer depths half a second before the predator could snatch it up.        

          Foiled and vaguely annoyed, the pterosaur angled its six foot wingspan to glide in a wide turn back to the beach. Landing atop a dune, it folded its wings and slumped into an ungainly crouch. Darting bird-like glances from side to side, it saw something glint nearby. Waddling clumsily over to the object, it looked down at it.

          An outwash of sand from the earlier heavy rain partly obscured a clear plastic bottle with a white cap. A portion of the exposed label read “250 coated aspirin tablets…caffeine free…325 mg”. The reptile gave it an experimental tap with the tip of its beak.

There came a flash and a loud “Pop!” Jerking up, the startled pterosaur moved back a few steps. Staring uncomprehendingly at what had materialized, it saw nothing the least familiar, neither the strange creature in the chair nor the computer monitor in front of it. As it reached down for the bottle, the reptile warily backed up another couple of steps.

          Holding up the bottle and looking back at the pterosaur, the odd-looking intruder wagged a finger as it spoke. The mouthed words could not be heard nor could the eyes be seen behind the tinted visor on its head-piece. Next clutching the bottle to its chest, it leaned back in the chair. After another bright flash and a resounding “Ker-rack!”…nothing was there!

           The incident soon forgotten and aloft once more, the pterosaur was again  looking for something down there to eat.

 

 

 

 

My previous post mentioned that our local newspapers are no longer accepting contributed articles. I still have travel pieces and humor columns on file that I couldn't fit into my current book, "Here and There - This and That". So, if these dumb newspapers don't want 'em, I'll occasionally post one of these extra articles here in my blog.

Meantime, Ruthie asked me last night over our pizza at Woodbine (their thin crust cheese, sausage, and mushroom is pretty good by the way). "Your "Bessie" science fiction novel has been in progress for quite awhile, right?"

I nodded, "Yeah, for a couple of years, I guess. Why, sweetie?"

"Well dear, I'm usually not much for science fiction but it has some chapters that even I like. A lot! So, why not post these on your blog? After all this on and off stuff with writing it, posting bits and pieces might help you to finish it!"

"Good idea!" I said.

(A word of explanation; 16 year-old Bessie Howard has an amazing ability to travel through time and space while integrated into a computer with her virtual reality headpiece (or "immersive", or "augmented" reality, or whatever). Anyway, the bad guys working for a mega-computer corporation, Ultra - Tech, want her ability for themselves, so they come after her. Angered at Ultra for pulling this nonsense, Bessie and her pals counter-attack using her special skills and whatever else they can dream up. Which, it turns out, is quite a lot. Etc...etc., but I'll leave it at that for now).

Later this week I'll start by posting my prologue to - "Bessie Howard's Amazing Adventures" Travelling through time and space! Meantime, Ruthie will work on our Comments section to make it easier for you folks to do that. Any you do make are important to us.

See you soon.