Above the Vaulted Sky - Page 81

            ‘Robin Thacker? The author Robin Thacker,’ I say, taking a quick step towards him.

            ‘I’m so scared,’ he whimpers. ‘This was a mistake, a huge mistake. They told me…they told me not to.’

            ‘What’s your name?’ Elle asks, her voice soothing.

            ‘Teague,’ he replies. There are tears pooling in his eyes. His voice is thick as though his throat is coated in honey. ‘It hurts, it hurts so much.’

            ‘We can help,’ I say. ‘Graham, keep zapping the ionizer.’

            ‘It’s like we’re on TV,’ Graham says, laughing. ‘Remember that show, Supernova? “Engine’s are at maximum”.’ He quotes in a dramatic American accent.

            Elle turns around. ‘When we get the this fixed, we’re having a talk,’ she says to him. ‘Otherwise you’re never going to get any.’

            ‘How did you know?’ he asks, voice going squeaky.

            ‘It’s not rocket science, Graham.’

            Teague looks more and more scared with each passing second.

            ‘How did this happen, Teague?’ I ask. ‘And what’s Robin Thacker got to do with it?’

            ‘I-I was experimenting,’ he says. ‘All I want is to find my wife. She’s out there somewhere, I knew it. Just out of reach. I’d sit at home and I’d hear things you know? Then I see the page of this book on the internet, a book by Thacker….please, you’ve got to help me, I’ll do anything you want if you stop it hurting.’

            ‘What does it feel like?’ Elle turns her attention away from Graham. She talks like a doctor, caring for him.

            ‘Like…’ He winces. ‘It’s like I’m being burned, over and over again, all over my body.’

            ‘How did you do it?’ she asks.  ‘It’s to do with your molecules isn’t it.’

            He nods vigorously. He scratches all over his body. I don’t know what state he’s in at the moment, living or dead.

            Elle turns to, raising her eyebrows. ‘See, I catch on quick.’

            ‘I built this machine,’ he says. ‘You have an ionizer? The charge is the key, you have to find the exact frequency. We’re all different forms of matter….Please, I haven’t got much time, you have to stop it.’

            ‘What do I do?’ Graham asks, desperately. ‘Easton, what’s going to happen.’

            ‘Please!’ Teague shouts. ‘Please, 5001 hertz!’

            ‘Graham, do it,’ I say.

            ‘Hold on, hold on,’ Graham says, tapping away on the keyboard.

            Teague doubles over in pain. His wild hair hangs over his eyes masking his face. He holds his hands to his chest as though it’s about to burst open.

            He wrenches his torso backwards. The scream that escapes his lips is piercing, like a scared child. Light erupts from his mouth and behind his eyes, blue light that cascades across his skin from their points of origin. Light that burns and cracks and works its way like a disease.

            ‘Done!’ Graham says. The ionizer whirs, whining to a level I can no longer hear.

            Teague jerks and there’s a crack, and a flash brighter than the sun.