The Spatial Shard
Chapter Twenty-Six: Cometh the Custodian

“You will need to stay with the car,” Richard said to his white-haired assistant who quickly nodded as she brought the car to a stop.

Bonita got out of the car and quickly walked around the trunk of the car, but Richard was not in the frame of mind where he would wait to have his door opened for him. Not this morning! Still, Turner questioned his choice of wearing his long coat. It might have been September, but it was still San Diego, and even this early in the morning it was not cool enough for a coat as well as a suit. Given the sleek attaché case, he still very much looked the part of a corporate sophisticate.

“We will need a bit of privacy once we reach the roof,” Richard said as he walked into the building.

“Yes sir,” Bonita said as she donned her glasses. She took a more firm grip on her purse. Her gun was still there, as it had been when she checked it before leaving her room.

The lobby of the building screamed the words ‘law firm’ and the security guard in front of the lobby desk immediately did not recognize the two now entering the building. He signaled the guard that sat behind the desk and made his approach to intercept Richard and Bonita.

“Turner,” Richard said without slowing his fairly quick pace. Bonita took an instant to be shocked as she opened her purse with one hand, holding up her other hand.

“Oh yes sir, I forgot to give you your ID badge,” Bonita said.

“Yes you did,” the guard agreed as he held up his hand to stop Richard. He was the only one in the lobby who did not hear the gunshot, and he was dead before he hit the ground. The guard behind the desk was awestruck for far too long to do anything other than join his colleague, after Bonita took her second shot. She turned quickly to her right, the plain-clothes security guard also jumped at the sound of the gunshot, but had been given time to draw and fire. He managed the former, but the latter was interrupted by a gunshot to the head.

“Normally we exercise a little more discretion,” Bonita said as she checked her pistol and squatted down to check the first guard. She took his gun, ammunition, pass card and his keys.

“Normally we have the time to be discrete,” Richard said as he lifted his hand. The call button for an elevator which was furthest away from the front door lit up and the doors opened.

“What did he just do?!” Bonita thought as she removed her lipstick and tossed her purse behind the lobby desk. She walked quickly to catch up with Richard.

“Besides,” Richard continued, “… by the time the police receive the call they will have other issues with which to contend. Of that I can assure you.”

The elevator doors opened as the two walked out into a foyer for a very large office. Bonita had put away her glasses and her .380. The .9mm she took from the guard had more power and carried more rounds.

“Damn,” Bonita thought as she looked for a door to the roof. “More lawyers!”

“I am reminded of a joke about what is a good start,” Richard said as he looked at the receptionist. She smiled as she looked at him. To her, Richard looked the part of either a new partner or new client. She put forward the effort to remember his face, as was her job. “What a shame,” Richard said softly as he pointed twice at the woman. Without hesitation Bonita turned, lifted her pistol and fired before the woman could scream. The gun was more powerful, but it was nowhere near as well maintained. She would keep the weapon, but noted how it pulled to the left upon firing.

“How in the world did we get to this floor?” Bonita wondered as she walked ahead of Richard who was getting out his cell phone. This call button and the floor requires a key card and a thumb print to access… we used neither!” Bonita quickly walked over to the side of the door and used the guard’s pass card to unlock the door.

“This is Richard,” he said into his phone. “We will need an L-1 SW at my location. Thank you.”

“I see the door to the stairway,” Bonita said as she checked all corners. If the building could afford a plain-clothes security guard, the realm of possibility was raised with regards to who or what might serve as an obstacle. “It looks like it only goes up.”

“We cannot afford to be interrupted,” Richard said as he turned toward the door. “Join me when you have insured our most immediate privacy. Richard had not reached the stairs when the shooting started. This would not sit well with his Masters. So much life had already been lost, and he was not even sure as to what exactly was happening. But they had not been given the time to arrange for a fire alarm or a bomb scare. Richard closed his eyes as he climbed the stairs, giving a quick silent prayer that justification for the loss of human life would be soon in the coming.

Bonita walked out on the roof to see Richard standing in the center of it. He was facing eastward and he pointed to his brief case as she approached.

“Now if you would be so good as to see to our continued privacy.” Bonita took in a deep breath as she walked over to the brief case and opened it. She looked at the two weapons in amazement. As far as she knew they were still in development. “Have a care with the one on the right. I am told each shell delivers a fifteen-meter radius blast.” As Bonita took out the weapons, she could see clips of reloads. Richard was carrying firepower enough to destroy this building.

“Sir, I will follow your orders b-”

“I did not bring more agents because I have yet to be assigned one who has been given enough clearance to be here with me right now,” Richard stately plainly as he slowly stretched his neck, rolling his head around. “I am allowed one field promotion without the need of approval or confirmation. You are that promotion!

“I read your file,” he continued, now stretching his arms and back. “Pardon the pun, but you have seen super-science first hand.” Bonita chuckled and rubbed her sternum.

“That was a very bad pun, sir.”

“Indeed it was,” Richard agreed as he took his eyes off of Turner and looked up into the sky. Bonita turned to look at what he was seeing, and it was as if the sun had a smaller twin just above it this morning. Bonita quickly lowered her eyes and started looking around. “Well, that was technology… this is thaumaturgy!”

The wind started to pick up as the building began to vibrate. Bonita knew it was not an earthquake, but she knew that there were others in the building who would assume as much. The smaller sun was getting larger… that meant it was not really getting large so much as it was getting closer.

“What is that?” she thought. “And how did he know it was going to pass over this building? And what the devil is he doing?!”

Richard spoke in words she could barely hear over the wind and what she did hear certainly was not English. She tried to look away and do her job, but Richard was making it difficult for her to remain fixed on task. As his head drifted back, the wind picked up even more, and since his head moved first, it was hard to think that Richard was reacting to the wind and not vice versa. At this height, with this much wind, it should have been cooler; but Bonita was anything but cold. Her hair blew in and out of her face and she quickly tucked one of her guns under her arm and took out her sunglasses, quickly putting them on. She looked around; there were people of course, but Bonita did not shoot any of them. They were either cowering from the perceived quake or looking at the approaching ball of light

Then Richard started to glow as he came up off his heels. It was a soft white light, easily mistaken for glare, save that it was not on one side of him. It surrounded his entire body and with his hair, it moved as the wind blew it about.

Then she could hear it, the approach of the miniature star. The closer it came, the brighter Richard glowed and, as it passed overhead, he threw his hands forward, yelling in a language she had never heard before, though it seemed to favor Latin. The light around his body became a bolt he was now hurling toward the bright sphere. Light collided with light and produced even more. The sphere continued and the wake of its passing shattered glass on all sides of the rooftop and on all the immediately adjacent buildings. Bonita moved to cover herself as best she could, but not one fragment reached the roof. Not even from the buildings that were taller than the one upon which she stood.

“What did you do?” Bonita asked as she turned to look at Richard who was on his hands and knees, panting deep and hard.

“With any good fortune,” Richard huffed. “I was able to lend some assistance.”

Audrey hung up the phone and quickly dismissed all feelings of guilt with a soft sigh. She averaged over fifty hours a week at the office, even with her auditions. Surely they could do without her for one day. Besides, Los Angeles was a two-hour drive under the best conditions. Morning traffic was about to have its way with the freeways of San Diego. No one was going to get anywhere on time without amending their schedules.

She giggled as she danced across the living room of the loft apartment. Her hazel eyes caught a glimpse of herself in the mirror and she stopped to get a better look. Moving her shoulder-length auburn hair behind her ears, Audrey leaned forward. Suddenly, her freckles and pale skin were not so much of an eyesore for her… she knew they were not for Baxter! She stood in front of the mirror feeling no shame for feeling like she was being embraced just by wearing his long sleeve shirt. It had been only three months, but it had been a glorious three months, and the fact that she was feeling so giddy in the middle of Baxter’s place only added to her euphoria.

“He should be landing in just a few minutes,” she thought, looking at her watch. She had time to make her preparations for his surprise homecoming greeting, but not too much. Audrey grimaced at the thought of having to take off the shirt in order to take a shower, but her thoughts quickly moved to another subject as the glasses and coffee cups in the cabinets began to rattle. Audrey gasped as the floor vibrated.

“Earthquake,” she whispered, trying to become so small a natural disaster might overlook her. As the book shelves started to fall over, Audrey jumped and whimpered. Glass and ceramic shattered all around her and Audrey suddenly did not care if the earthquake saw her or not. She screamed out loud, defiant of the power of what was happening. She was into her third scream and rolling under the kitchen table when Baxter’s pot rack fell from the ceiling. She lay on her side and curled up tightly, holding her head and her knees.

“OhmyGodwhatishappening!” she gasped as she looked out of the kitchen window that had already shattered. The sky was no longer clear and a pretty blue; it was gray, approaching black. A bright white light passed overhead and she could see the magnitude of the light as it cast shadows of the buildings it passed. From the sounds of things, it did not pass cleanly.

“Audrey Penders,” she thought. “What are you doing?! Don’t act like you never lived through a tornado back in Deer Lodge.” Audrey rolled out from underneath the table as the ceiling gave and a support beam crashed through the kitchen table and the floor. Audrey screamed as she scurried toward the doorway. But she would not make it to safety… something had already landed on her building, and Baxter’s apartment was on the top floor, the only loft apartment in the building. The apartment had received another visitor though this one, a sphere of light, was anything but invited.

A moment’s respite! That was all it had been afforded with the incantation which more than probably saved its life. It had not chosen her specifically, but she would have to serve. Beggars, despite their dimension of origin, could not be choosers! It crashed through the top of the building, seeking the source of the life signal it now detected. Aside from the sound of its own impact within the domicile, it could hear its target. She was wailing, and her facial expression discounted the possibility that she was trying to communicate with it. Not that it could have returned her attempts in a manner she could understand. As she extended her hands to keep it at bay, it moved forward and caused the physical contact that would initiate the transfer.

“Audrey Linda Penders of Deer Lodge, Montana, I must apologize, but my need is great.”

“What are you?” Audrey tried to scream, but she could neither hear her voice nor feel her mouth move. She could feel her body, but she was no longer able to control what it was doing.

“Someone in search of a miracle,” it answered, using her voice. “If it is helpful, I have a title, a name by which you may call me. I am called Staydenn.”

“What kind of name is Staydenn?” Audrey asked.

“Atlantean!”

Z’Gal’For’s hand closed around what he assumed was a limb of the fugitive. The energy pulse was actuated the moment there was physical contact, but the normal reaction did not occur. Furthermore, in his concentrated effort to apprehend the criminal, Z’Gal’For had twice compromised protocols.

The first instance had been the airborne object, presumably some sort of air-worthy conveyance, with which he had made contact. The material used in the construction of said object was incapable of dealing with his energy screens and it also appeared to lack any regenerative capabilities. Apparently, the crude aircraft was designed as a personnel carrier, but in a civilian capacity. His form had gone through the fuselage while giving chase to the miscreant.

The second instance had just occurred, after his attempt to restrain his target. He had indeed taken physical hold of the physical form and had initiated the proper restraint protocols. But the consciousness of the malefactor had already abandoned the body, a result of the expression of the only unlawful energies. It was more than apparent that Offender Rho–Sampi Iota Eta had trained in the forbidden arts, confirming the concerns of his Masters, for this Offender was surely only one of many. His apprehension was going to be more difficult than the revered Aegisian had anticipated. Z’Gal’For had slammed into the ground and was surprised how much of it gave to his approach. His protection field had held and he crawled out of the small cavern his body had created. He carried the lifeless body out into the open with him and discarded it as he looked around.

According to the signage posted, the Custodian was at Ocean Beach. His memory crystal did not have a glimpse on the locale, so his scans were deposited into a new sector.

“Dude, are you alright?” a voice called out to him. A man was slowly approaching, holding a small paper cup containing frozen water and a water-based liquid containing a high degree of caffeine.

“This is too much!” the man thought as he slowed his speed of stride. “And what gives with those clothes?” he asked as he strained his eyes. “Is that body paint?!” He looked over the man as he crawled up out of the sand and stood straight up. Head to toe, he was a dark blood-red color, but he was covered with muscle and stood two meters in height. His light gray hair was long, kept in a well-tied ponytail. He wore clothes… or was it armor… of the same color as his hair.

The language was in a sector of the memory crystal. It was a tongue of one of the Recovered, but there was no definition to the word ‘dude’. Still, given the tone and the facial expression of the human, there was a genuine concern for his condition.

“I am well, thank you,” he said, looking at his right hand. “Reader,” he said and the forearm guard broke down into small squares and flowed down his arm to cover his entire hand. When the squares receded, the large man was holding a small device in the palm of his hand. He initiated a scan for the Offender.

“Whoa!” the man said as he stepped back after witnessing the formation of the device. He then looked over the muscle-bound giant and decided to take a more careful inventory. The surfer gasped as he noticed the red man did not have a grain of sand on his person! There was something fundamentally wrong with that. “Cuz, that looked beat down!” he said, continuing his review.

Unable to understand what the human male was saying, he looked at the man who seemed to have trouble deciding whether he wanted to smile or not. It was a generally effective protocol to repeat the most confusing component of human speech.

“Beat down!” he said, his initial scan returned with negative results. The Reader broke down and returned to its housing, but he knew there was a good chance he would have better results were he to first achieve some elevation. He leaned forward and took flight.

“Ba roos,” the man said, watching the large man just up and fly away.

“What are you doing?!” Audrey asked for the seventh time.

“Something is wrong,” Staydenn whispered as the head of the woman moved in all directions to give him the view he needed.

There was no sign of the Shard, but this location definitely had the strongest residual energy echoes, surpassing what he had discovered in the place called Texas. However, the readings at both locations had given him more questions than answers. His teachers had been right about him; he was too often distracted by the opportunity to investigate and derive answers where there was only confusion. Not only had the portal delayed his entry, but he had not helped matters by taking samples of the energy readings he had discovered. The Custodian had also come through the door, which meant the escape attempt was going to be more short-lived than most of them had feared.

“What the devil is a Shard?” Audrey asked and Staydenn jumped.

“How can you not know anything of the Shard?” he asked, receiving an unexpected response in the form of an echoing boom. Staydenn looked up at the aircraft the Custodian had crashed through, giving Staydenn enough time to complete the transfer of his consciousness to the body of the Earth Human female. It had proven to be a most timely spell, but it was not one Staydenn had cast nor knew how to cast. There was another force at work here!

“Aircraft?!” Audrey screamed. “Was that the plane?”

“Affirmative,” Staydenn said as he resumed his search for the source of the readings that had led him to this place.

“That plane looked like it was on fire!” Audrey screamed.

“In your world, a Custodian is a powerful entity,” Staydenn replied. “It is amazing the craft still flies.” The woman’s eyes closed and it was becoming painfully apparent she retained some control of her body.

“My boyfriend is supposed to be on an incoming flight!” she exclaimed.

“And what would you have me do?” Staydenn asked.

“If you can freakin’ move your consciousness into people’s body, you’d better be able to do something about that plane! Either that, or you can do the dance in the dark!” Audrey swore. Sharing the same body, Staydenn did not doubt her veracity.

“I will need to see to do anything,” he said softly and the eyes of the woman’s body slowly opened as she turned to face the plane that was headed out to sea. Already Staydenn could feel the thoughts of the pilot. He knew he was going to crash, but the impact with the Custodian had thrown him too far from the airport, and he was not going to risk the lives of the people on the ground. He was struggling to keep the plane flying just to die at sea.

“How noble!” Staydenn whispered as he took flight.

“Oh my God!” Audrey gasped. “Baxter’s on that plane… How do I know that?”

“I was scanning the mind of the pilot,” Staydenn answered as the speed of the woman’s body increased, leaving a trail of white mist behind it. “This Baxter must be within four meters of the mind I am probing.”

“Baxter is a pilot!” Audrey revealed.

“Ah, there you have it,” Staydenn replied as he looked down. He could see a large impact crater in the beach, and it was not too difficult to put together that was the place the Custodian had landed. “Audrey, do you wish to save your Baxter?”

“Of course I do!”

“Then you must do exactly what I tell you!” Staydenn warned as Audrey’s eyes closed. It would be quicker to tell the woman telepathically, as time had suddenly become a commodity in high demand but stifled supply.

Audrey continued her flight path, but looked back to see a very large red-skinned man following her. In fact, he was gaining on her and she could tell he was not expending much effort to overtake her.

“Do you mind? I’m flying here!” Audrey said in a poor rendition of a New York accent.

“Yes, you are,” the Custodian replied coldly. “A feat that your fellow man seems unable to duplicate, thus the need for aircrafts.”

“Look, it’s early and I didn’t have time to put my tights on,” Audrey shouted as she looked at the only piece of clothing she was wearing: Baxter’s shirt. “Watch TV and get a clue!”

The Custodian slowed his flight as he followed the suggestion he had been given. His initial scans of the woman were inconclusive with the energy she was using to attain flight. He stopped when he accessed what this planet called the World Wide Web. Indeed, while rare and highly praised, this woman was not the only human who could achieve flight. The tights she referred to only corroborated her story further, as these humans preferred anonymity. They prized human life even more.

“Now what?” Audrey whispered as she turned back to the plane that was too quickly approaching the surface of the water.

“We cannot use magic,” Staydenn replied, keeping himself in the woman’s subconscious where there were millions of thoughts he could hide among and not be detected. “But perhaps we can use the energy the aircraft is expending to help save it. First, we will need to help it climb.”

Audrey flew up to the side of the plane but still above it. There was no need to be spotted by anyone on board. She leveled her hand at the plane and braced herself.

“Audrey, I will say this only once,” Staydenn projected as he prepared himself for the task. “The more you believe that this can be done, the simpler it will be.”

“Staydenn,” Audrey said softly as her eyes squinted tightly together. “The only thing I’m thinking about right now is an ugly Muppet, a swamp and starfighter. Cue the damn French horns!”

“We will begin with absorbing the kinetic energy the aircraft is exuding simply by moving. It is moving very fast…”

“So there’s a lot of energy!” Audrey said as she made a connection between her body and the plane, absorbing its kinetic energy and quickly reapplying that energy to the underside of the plane.

The plane first leveled off and then slowly started to climb. Audrey could hear the engines revving up. As much as they could, the pilots were helping her effort.

“It’s coming up!” Audrey proclaimed as she saw the plane begin to climb. She smiled for a moment, but quickly returned her concentration to her work, as it seemed that the plane was leveling off again. Redoubling her concentration, the plane continued to climb and Audrey looked in all directions before she started pulling the plane to the left. It turned out that the two trips Baxter had made her take with him in his little mosquito of a plane were actually paying off, as she had to delay her effort to avoid a plane coming in from the west.

After giving two sharp tugs, Audrey waited and sure enough, the pilots caught the hint and the plane banked to the left making it much easier to turn.

“We’re doing it, Staydenn!” she exclaimed. “We’re doing it!”

“Yes, but we may have a problem,” Staydenn reported. “I am weakening! I have seen in your mind where this airport is, and I will not be able to carry this plane that far.”

Audrey’s eyes blinked as she could feel the energy propelling her body wavering. The plane was also beginning to lose altitude again.

“No!” she shouted. “No, no, no, no, nooo! I’m not going to lose this plane!”

“It was never yours to lose,” Staydenn said; a grim reality that Audrey could not argue. But she was not about to abandon this plane, and Baxter, to a grim fate.

“Running out of power,” she thought. “What do I do?!” Perhaps it was the fact she had a separate consciousness in her sub-conscious which bridged it so strongly to her conscious mind allowing her to scan through thoughts, options and memories so quickly.

“Staydenn, can you make ice?” Audrey asked as she found an interesting image.

“What?”

“Can you do it or not?!” Audrey snapped.

“Yes but-”

“You just get ready to make it,” Audrey said as she released the plane. It started to drop and Audrey focused her power on flying in front of the plane. “Now!” she screamed as she extended both hands in front of her. She made a flat, slender path of ice that led all the way up to the beach. The pilot did not lower his plane’s landing gear, but he struggled to keep the plane on line with the ice path.

The belly of the plane crashed down on the ice and immediately the nose of the plane started to turn to the right.

“No!” Audrey screamed as she fired another beam of kinetic energy to turn the plane. She cried out as she felt the tons she was trying to influence. It felt like she was trying to push a cross-town bus up a hill.

“You heard the man, Audrey,” she thought. “He may be out of power, but what about you? What about you?!” She did not scream as she threw her head back and pulled as if she was holding on to a rope and this was the tug-of-war of her life. With about one-third of the main fuselage over the side, the nose of the plane started to turn to the left. The belly of the plane groaned against the ice as half of the main body was over the side. But the plane did not fall into the waters. It slid down the ice path and halfway up the beach which now served as a wonderful brake for the damaged aircraft.

Something in Audrey gave and she fell out of the sky. She tumbled and smacked into the beach, rolling along the sand. She was moving too fast to hope her body would stop as the plane had. She tumbled up the beach and toward the road, her body fading just before it could hit the asphalt.

“Why did you do that?” Neekrum asked as Telishe teleported to the rooftop with the body of the Earth woman and the mysterious man the red-skinned brute had brought up out of the hole with him.

“There was no need to observe while the woman broke every bone in her body,” Telishe snapped. Her tone was so sharp and severe that Neekrum thought better of pressing the conversation any further.

“By the Quills of Fate!” Telishe gasped, jumping back from the two bodies she had carried.

Energy was coming out of the Earth woman’s body as Telishe was healing it. Neither Neekrum nor Telishe could recognize it, but they could see it carried with it a living mind. The energy moved from the woman to the well-built man whose soft brown hair was cut very short. The energy reached his chest and sank down into it. The still form started to stir, breathing deeply and moaning.

“What was that?” Telishe asked.

“It is illegal,” the Custodian replied as he appeared on the rooftop. He had taken a sure reading of the woman in case he would need to track her, and after researching the memory crystal even further, he had found many fictional tales of flying people and the masses understood them to be falsehoods. It was one form of entertainment for them. “It goes against the credence of my masters, and it must therefore be destroyed. It is called magic!”

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