SATURDAY, AUGUST 6, 1987
Central Security Corp.
163 Central Park S
New York City, NY
Inside a high security safe on the tenth floor of the Central Security Corp. offices a shimmering sphere appears. The sphere floats weightless for a moment reflecting every beam of light that strikes it. Then from the sphere a man and a woman step into the sealed room. They are both dressed in matching uniforms of grey with navy blue belts, cuffs, collars and boots.
The brown skinned man is clearly leading this invasion of the safe as he stands back to oversee as the woman begins to looks through the many deposit lockers on the walls of the safe. He runs his hand through his wavy dark hair to smooth it into place. “Chimera are you sure about this?” he asks.
The middle aged blonde woman, her shoulder length hair tied in a ponytail, finds the box for which she searches. “Yes!” she exclaims in the echo of the small vault. “Believe it or not my Dad told me about how my Grandmother had stashes of money and other things in many large cities.” The woman’s hand passes through the deposit box door’s face to phase the box inside back out. “It came up in conversation one time and he told me that she had one here that he came across early in his career, but the money was missing before a robbery.” She turns to a nearby table, returning the box to solidity she places it down to open. “So this money will not be missed and it should be more than enough to get me the plane tickets and anything else I might need for this mission.”
“Just remember she can not figure out who you really are,” the man reminds her as she removes the cash from the box.
“Stop treating me like a child I know that!” the woman replies annoyed. “I’m older than you at this point, nearly forty for God’s sake!” “I’ve got this completely covered, it will be like I was never here!” She returns the deposit box to the wall as if it was untouched.
“Very well then, I will return for you in two days at the location discussed,” the man says stepping back into the shimmering bubble. The bubble vanishes from sight leaving the blonde woman alone locked in the safe.
Diana Carter’s Condo
The Simpson Building
303 7th Avenue
New York City, NY
It is a Saturday different from most, Diana has a lunch date, of a sort. In the previous week she was contacted by the reporter Martin Harper that she has worked with on the Professor case. He told her he has some information he would like to discuss with her in person. Diana hopes it is about Professor Dudley. The former predictor of college girls is still in a coma. Diana spent some time trying to find out were the Dream Machine he used had come from with no luck. Diana managed to get the fact that the machine was destroyed by her bio-energy blast leaving no trace from Detective Prussia. As per usual he wouldn’t let her back in the scene to see for herself. Later she had snuck in on her own but found that what the Detective told her appeared to be true.
Not wanting her lunch with Harper to give him the wrong idea, Diana makes sure she is dressed down for the meeting. The last thing she needs now is him getting the wrong idea, like she is sure her Aunt Jean and Tracey would if she had told them. It has been great having Tracey back in her life but sometimes she is even worse than Aunt Jean when it comes to Diana’s social life. Besides she is meeting Harper at luncheonette downtown, it is far from romantic.
Heading down to the lobby in the elevator, Diana says good morning to the weekend doorman Thomas as she exits onto the street. Walking toward the bus stop she spots the man, she met before, Trevor Main waiting for his bus. The two met several weeks ago when Diana had something of an uncharacteristic dizzy spell.
“Miss Carter,” he calls to her as she approaches the bus stop. Diana is rather leery of approaching him again but waves just the same. “You look like you are feeling much better today,” he says as she passes him.
“Yes, I am thank you,” Diana replies with a forced smile. “I’m in a bit of a hurry, have a good weekend.” Diana continues to walk not feeling the strange weakness she felt the last time she met Trevor Main on the street. Perhaps she misjudged the situation.
It is a long walk to the luncheonette where she is meeting Harper but Diana has something of a shortcut in mind as she slips into a public bathroom at a McDonalds. In the last few months she has mapped out the city in her mind somewhat. Diana has sought out some of the most underused places in the city and determined the distances that she can teleport between them. She enters the bathroom stall, not latching the door. Concentrating on one of the other places she has remembered, she is instantly gone.
86th Street Station
New York, NY
Diana reappears in a back corner of the train station behind a Newsstand. It is only a few blocks from here to the luncheonette where she is meeting Harper. In the past few months alone the money she has saved on transportation fairs has been over a couple of hundred dollars using this method of travel around the city.
Diana climbs the stairs to Central Park West to walk to the luncheonette. She arrives on time to find Martin Harper already waiting in a booth. He stands to gesture to her as she enters. Taking a seat across from the reporter in the booth greeting him, “Good Morning Mr. Harper.”
“I must admit, I am surprised you showed after the cold shoulder you gave me at the college,” Martin Harper says to her bringing his briefcase from the bench to the table.
“I did not give you the cold shoulder,” Diana insists. “I told you everything I knew when the police showed up.”
“And what is it you know now about Professor Dudley?” Harper asks.
Diana glares across the table at the reporter, she doesn’t know what to say. “I don’t know much more than I did then, which is the same thing you know.”
The waitress brings a pot of coffee and a cup to the table. “Coffee dear?” she asks politely. Diana nods taking the cup.
“Let’s just see what I know,” Martin says opening his briefcase. First he pulls out a graduation photo that Diana recognizes as Scott Archer. “Do you remember this young man?” Diana does not respond. “You should he was your Senior Prom date.” “I did some research on this young man, spoke with your classmates, his mother and read all the police reports on him.” Diana knows that there is nothing Harper could find that could truly connect her to the truth of what happened at Prom, he is chasing a dead end. “Everything I learned about him was that he was an egomaniac predator in High School.”
“I could have told you that,” Diana finally comments. “But what does this have to do with Professor Dudley?”
“My investigation has to do with you and your honesty,” Harper tells her. “Which directly relates to the case of Professor Dudley.” “On your Prom night your date was attacked, beat up pretty bad, got his arm broken.” “His claim was he was attacked by boys from another school.” When the police investigated they found no evidence of any other school students anywhere near the Prom location.” “You, his date who was seen leaving with him before the attack claims to have seen nothing.”
“So, you think I’m some scared little girl protecting thugs from Westside High?” Diana smiles sipping her coffee.
“Not at all, I think you are protecting yourself,” Harper counters. “I spoke to some of his other “girlfriends” from what I can gather, Archer was something of a rapist.” “Sure none of them came right out and said it, but some were visibly upset when I brought up his name.” “My theory is that he tried to attack you, you fought back, like you did with Dudley.” Diana says nothing as Harper unfolds his story for her. “There is something different about you.”
Harper reaches inside his briefcase again to pull out some more photos of a football field. “This is the last place Scott Archer was seen at college,” Harper says flipping through several other photos to show a burnt spot in the grass of a field. “No matter what the groundskeepers tries they still can’t get grass to grow on that spot since that night.”
“Ooowwwhhhh Spooky,” Diana replies. “Still has nothing to do with me, I was in California at college then.” “I really don’t understand what you are getting at Martin by digging up my shitty Prom Date.” “I didn’t even know he was dead until I got back to New York.”
“That is just it, I don’t believe he is dead,” Martin Harper announces. “His mother thinks he is in hiding from those boys who have haunted him, but we both know there never were any boys from a rival school.” “Don’t we?” “I think he was taken because of what he knows about you.”
Diana almost chokes on her coffee, Scott Archer knows nothing about her. “What could Scott Archer possibly know about me that have gotten him kidnapped?” “The one thing you don’t know is that Scott Archer knew nothing about anyone other than himself!” “He was the most self-centered bastard I have ever known in my life!”
“So are you admitting that you took it upon yourself to teach him a lesson?” Martin asks.
“I will admit that Scott Archer was a scumbag and a rapist in High School and probably went on to be the same thing in college.” Diana tells the reporter. “Did you by chance find out how many girls he assaulted there?” Martin Harper simply glare across the table watching Diana’s body language as she speaks. “Look you helped me with Professor Dudley, I appreciate that help.” “I’ve told you what I know.” “But now I feel you have burnt a bridge here, I’ve done nothing to warrant this treatment from you.” “I think we are done!” Diana stands up from the table.
19th Police Precinct
153 E 67th St
New York City, NY
Detective Prussia sits at his desk eating a breakfast sandwich with coffee as he goes over his reports from the previous day. His partner Detective Black struts into the bullpen slapping a file folder down on top of Prussia’s paperwork. “What is this?” Nathan Prussia asks lifting the file to read the name Trudy Patterson on the flap.
“That is your vigilante!” Detective Black asserts. “This girl was involved in that Sleep Study at NYU before Dudley.”
Prussia flips through the file’s pages before tossing it aside on his partner’s adjoining desk. “I thought you didn’t believe in my vigilante theory,” Prussia replies having no interest in pursuing any other young girl than Diana Carter as his target.
“I’ve said that you are obsessed with this Carter girl,” Black replies sitting down at his desk across from Prussia. “I’ve never said there couldn’t be one.”
“So what makes you think this girl is a vigilante?” Prussia asks not really caring about the answer.
“Number one!” Detective Black announces. “She died on that bed at the Sleep Study.” “Number two, Professor Williamson tried incredibly hard to cover it up.”
Prussia looks up from his desk in disbelieve of his partner. “If she is dead, then case closed!”
“That is just it, the girl’s body disappeared from the Morgue a week later,” Detective Black says handing the open file back to his partner showing him the page about the loss of the body. “Williamson denies having anything to do with the case after the body was removed from his lab.” “I’m not so sure she was dead.”
“So you think a college girl just woke up in a Morgue locker and walked out?” Prussia suggests. “You are one crazy Ni…..”
“Stop right there before you embarrass yourself!” Black interrupts laying out seven more photos from the file. “How else can you explain her appearance at these crime scenes after her death?”
Detective Prussia looks over each of the photos of scenes that both he and Black have been. Trudy Patterson is clearly in the crowd outside each of the locations. Photos are taken of the crowd for the specific reason of possible catching the culprit returning to the scene of the crime. “How did you find these?” he asks his partner.
“When we were going through the paperwork from NYU, I found the photo of her and she looked familiar to me,” Black explains. “So I liked back through the crowd shots of recent cases to find her again and again.”
“So did you follow up with her family, is she alive?” Prussia asks.
“That is just it she had no family, been in the system for years,” Black reveals. “She was on scholarship at NYU, no one to miss her when she was assumed dead.” Prussia sits taking a closer look at the file that his partner has compiled on Trudy Patterson. “Do you see it?” Black asks. “Do you see the link?” “Even to your Diana Carter cases?”
“People she knew growing up in the foster-care system ended up dead at all of these crime scenes,” Prussia admits. “They were all people that we considered collateral damage.” “Ones we didn’t investigate further than notifying next of kin.”
“Exactly!” Detective Black confirms. “Chance are there are more too, a girl that was in the system since she was five years old could have many more axes to grind.”
“So what are you suggesting?” Prussia asks. “How do we find her, she is a ghost.”
“That is the tricky part, big man,” the younger Detective Black grins. “But I have an idea!”
Diana Carter’s Condo
The Simpson Building
303 7th Avenue
New York City, NY
Returning home to her condo Diana discovers an envelope slipped under her door. Bending down to pick it up she opens it to find a handwritten note, a plane ticket and a rental car voucher. The note simply reads:
If you want to find the Dream Machine use this ticket to go to Alta, Utah to find the answers you seek.
A Friend.
Diana looks at the tickets out of JFK to Salt Lake City in four hours. “A Friend?” Diana says out loud. What the hell is going on today? First Martin Harper ambushes her, now this! Who could this friend be? Fingerprints might be the answer but the only one she knows who could help her with that, probably won’t.
She sits down on her couch for a few minute mulling over her options. Her weekend is open and right now a change of scenery would do her some good. What if this is some kind of trap set by an accomplice of Dudley? In the past month the police have cleared Professor Williamson, leaving no chance that he is involved with what Dudley was doing. But he still couldn’t explain where the idea for the machine came from originally.
81st Street
Jackson Heights, Queens
New York, NY
Detective Prussia sits behind the wheel of an unmarked car, Detective Black in the passenger seat, outside a Queens row home. “What makes you think she would come back here?” Prussia asks his partner.
Trudy Patterson was a problem child from the beginning, she left every foster home she was in under less than favorable circumstances,” Black explains. “This was her last foster home that she spent two years at, a record for her.” “When she left for college it was completely uneventful.”
“So you think they know she is alive?” Prussia questions.
“Don’t know, but I figured it best if we don’t tip our lead to them,” Black replies. “These foster parents were Luke and Virginia Garrison.” “Over the years they turned around many problems fosters, Trudy was no exception.”
“That says to me that if she has come back here, the Garrisons would try to stop her if they knew what she was doing,” Prussia suggests. “If the Garrisons are the good people you believe them to be they need to know!” “They could be our best chance to talk Trudy down.”
“Or get them killed,” Black retorts. “We have no idea what Trudy is capable of after her involvement with that Dream Machine.” “She could be completely unhinged!”
The detectives sit quietly in their car for an hour or so, witnessing no activity at the house on a Saturday morning. “Do the Garrison’s currently have any foster children?” Prussia finally asks.
Detective Black takes the file on the Garrisons he got from social services from the seat between them. Flipping through that file that contains all of the names of the foster children assigned to the Garrison’s home in the last ten years he replies, “Yes, they currently house two twin thirteen year old boys.”
“Something is wrong here then, a home with two boys that age should have much more activity on a Saturday morning!” Prussia says taking out his gun from his shoulder holster.
“What the hell do you think you are doing?” Detective Black exclaims grabbing his partner’s arm.
“I’m going in, that is what I am doing, are you coming or what?” He replies pulling away from his partner’s grip to get out of the car. He crosses the street his gun held low at his side.
Black gets out of the car too clearly angry at Prussia’s decision. He follows his partner across the street up the front steps of the row home where he knocks on the door. Ringing the bell several times Detective Prussia calls out, “Is there anyone home?”
“It is Con-Ed,” Detective Black calls out not letting Prussia break their cover. “There is a gas leak in the neighborhood!”
“Why the hell did you say that?” Prussia demands to his partner.
“Do you want to give her a chance to run?” Black retorts.
“Con-Ed, can’t make an arrest that holds up in court you idiot!” Prussia insists. Prussia opens the old worn storm door to knock again. “NYPD, is there a problem in there?” he asks correctly identifying them this time. Trying the knob, Prussia finds the door is unlocked. “Not something I would do in this neighborhood,” Prussia says over his shoulder to his partner as he opens the door slowly. “Hello, anyone home?” he calls out entering the house his gun drawn. “NYPD!”
“Maybe they just left before we got here?” Black suggests drawing his own gun.
“What woman do you know that let’s her purse open like that to go out?” Prussia asks gesturing to the large hand back sitting on an end table in the living room. “Do you smell that?” he asks his nose up in the air.
The Detectives move into the small kitchen at the back of the house. The kitchen table has three place settings for Breakfast. Eggs, Bacon and bowls of cereal sit left behind by the absent family. Sour milk filled glasses sit undrank. “That’s what I smell,” Prussia says gesturing at the glasses, “From the look and smell of it no one has been here for more than a week.”
At the back door schoolbags sit waiting to leave for school. “Why hasn’t anyone reported these kids missing from school?” Black asks approaching the door. Splitting up Black checks the backyard as Prussia looks in a panty at one side of the kitchen.
Switching on the light, “Take a look at this,” Prussia calls to Black. In the panty is a large locker freezer, on the side are sprawled the words, “COLD BITCH!” A kitchen knife lays on the floor nearby, clearly used to carve the words in the enamel paint. Prussia steps closer to the freezer lifting the padlock that hold the locker shut. Black follows after his partner with a key that hung on the door frame. Handing Prussia the key to open the freezer.
Both men are sure of what they will find in the freezer as Detective Prussia lifts the lid. The claw marks on the inside of the lid make it clear that Virginia Garrison was alive when she was locked in the freezer. Her eyes frozen in a state of terror at the realization of her fate. Prussia drops the lid back shut turning away. “We need to call this in,” he says.
“No, we need to find the kids and husband first!” Detective Black insists walking from the panty. He sprints from the kitchen to the living room stairs. Taking the steps two at a time he is to the top before Prussia is out of the kitchen. “Holy Shit!” Detective Black exclaims from outside the door at the top of the stairs.
Prussia bound up the stairs after his partner who vanishes into the room. Nathan Prussia follows his partner into the room where he is struck back by another horror scene. The two Hispanic teenage boys tied to their twin beds. Both boys are partially covered in blood stained sheets. Their wrist bloodied from where they have struggled against the ropes that hold their young hands to headboards, ankles in the same condition at the footboards. Mouths covered in duct tape no one could hear them if they cried out.
Black steps up to the bed to lift the sheet from one of the boys to reveal his nude and bruised body. Bloody claw marks clearly made by human fingers on his chest and blood matted pubic hair make it clear to the Detectives what had been done to these helpless boys.
Suddenly there is a stirring behind the Detectives as the other twin wakes up to fight his bonds again. “Jesus,” Prussia exclaims tucking his gun in the back of his pants to attend the boy. “It’s all right son, you’re safe now,” the Detective tells the boy pulling a pocket knife from his jacket to cut the boy’s ropes.
“I’ve got a thready pulse on his one too,” Black says pressing his fingers to the first boy’s throat.
“Call this in now!” Prussia demands trying to calm the boy he has freed as he removes the tape on his mouth. “How long have you been like this son?”
“It was fun at first,” the boy mumbles. “What she was doing felt good.” The thirteen year old is clearly in shock from his ordeal. “She took turns on us, we thought it was great.” “But after several days she got angry, started hurting us.” The boy leans forward onto Detective Prussia’s chest to begins to cry. “She cut me,” he sobs reaching down to the bloody sheet on his crotch.
The sound of syringes can be heard from outside as Detective Black heads out of the room and down the stairs to direct the EMTs.
After the boys are taken to the hospital the Detectives return to the house to have a last look around before the local precinct cops arrive to question them. The thing that sticks in Prussia’s mind as he stands in the kitchen, is the table set for three. “Seems to me Dad wasn’t home when Trudy showed up,” he suggests.
“Do you think she waited for him?” Black wonders aloud. “It would appear that things in this house were not all happiness and joy like I originally thought.” Walking over the doorway to the pantry Detective Black suggests, “Cold Bitch, does say it all.” “What do you think she called foster-Dad?”
Prussia suddenly remembers something he saw when they first entered the house. Returning to the living room he calls his partner over to a table set with framed photos. “Take a look at this.” There are about fifteen photos of the Garrison with the foster children they have housed over the years. One frame in particular draws Prussia’s attention. “Check that one,” Prussia says of a photo with Luke Garrison and Trudy Patterson. They sit on a sofa, Garrison’s arm around the girl as she smiles gazing at him as if he is the center of the universe. “I would say she was in love with him.”
JFK International Airport
New York, NY
Diana has made her decision to go on what could very well be a wild goose chase. She sits in her window seat on the plane as the last of the passengers file in down the aisle. An average height, middle-aged blonde with a ponytail takes the seat next to Diana. They greet each other with a smile. The woman is clearly the soccormom type that Diana knows she will have little to talk about with on the flight.
The passengers settled into their seats the plane taxis to the runway. The woman next to Diana appears visibly nervous as the plane begins to move down the runway. “First time on a plane?” Diana asks her.
“No, no, it’s just been a very long time,” She replies. “Took my first flight at four years old, it wasn’t the best experience.” The two women are silent again until the plane reached cruising altitude. “Oh, I’m Kara Pulver by the way,” the blonde says releasing the arm rest to shake Diana’s hand.
“Diana Carter,” she says taking the nervous woman’s hand.
“I’m usually much braver than this, my kids would have loved seeing me like this,” Kara tells Diana.
“How many kids do you have?” Diana asks trying to be polite.
“Two boys, Marc is thirteen and Greg is eleven,” Kara answers. “I wish you could meet them they are great kids.” Diana doesn’t give much thought to the woman’s wish, chalking it up to a mother’s pride. “They are great kids even if they act like my cousins Michael and Patrick sometimes, but you know how that goes.”
“Can’t say I do,” Diana replies.
“Oh, I just mean close knit brothers that are always competing with each other,” Kara explains. “You’ll see one day.”
“I don’t think kids are in my future,” Diana replies feeling oddly comfortable with this stranger.
“Really?” Kara questions. “I’m sure when you meet your dream man that will change.” “I know we just met but I think you’ll be a great mother.”
“You are rather…,” Diana fumbles for the word.
“Precocious, my mother used to always say that,” Kara fills in the word. “It worried her sometimes how open I was with strangers.” “She really didn’t have to worry though, I was never in any danger from it.” Kara looks Diana in the eyes as if she is trying to make a point that alludes Diana completely.
“So where are your kids, are you meeting them in Salt Lake City?” Diana asks trying to change the uncomfortable subject. The idea of having children has always been something Diana has believed is outside of her potential.
“No, I’m going to Utah on business,” Kara says to Diana’s surprise.
“What kind of business if you don’t mind me turning the tables on you,” Diana smiles suddenly feeling a connection with this stranger.
“You might say the family business, public safety,” Kara answers. “What about you?”
“I guess truth be told I just need a break from my life,” Diana says kinda surprising herself. “I’ve recently moved back home to New York from California and it has been one thing after another.” The women are quiet as the flight attendant comes down the aisle. Each of them get a bottle of cold water taking a sip before Diana says. “How did you meet your husband?”
“Now who’s being precocious?” Kara giggles. “Seth and I met while I was at work, he is a public servant, I’m sure you would say he reminds you of Dad.” Kara pauses for a moment before saying, “That is if you knew my father.” “My cousin Michael always says I fell into the girl marrying her father category.” “I never saw it though and even if I did it wasn’t a bad thing.” “We have been together ever since, fifteen years!”
“That’s sweet,” Diana smiles thinking about her own lack of a love life a little worried about what she might be facing in Utah. She fell into the Professor’s trap quite easily. If Aunt Jean had anything to say about it, she would say it is because love is an empty hole in her life.
“Love will find you too, Diana,” Kara says touching her seatmate’s hand. “When you least expect it, it will hit you like a ton of bricks you can’t slip through.”
FDR Drive
New York, NY
Detectives Prussia and Black drive back to the Police Precinct. “I maybe by the book,” Detective Prussia states as he drives, “But that guy was a total dick!” Prussia refers to the Queens’ Detective that interview them at the Garrison house.
“What did you expect?” Detective Black replies. “Did you see the way he looked at our badges?” “Like we bought them at a pawn shop.” “To him we are just a couple of niggers from uptown come to steal his crime scene.” “A white family with Mexican kids didn’t help our cause either.”
“Stupid Geiney!” Prussia mutters under his breath.
“See you can be racist,” Black comments pulling a piece of folded paper from inside his jacket. “Head over to Seventh Avenue.”
“What is that you have there?” Prussia asks as Black unfolds the printed page.
“Just a little something I didn’t put in the Garrison file before I gave to that Queens’ wop.” Black says. “I did a separate search on Luke Garrison, seems he has a condo in Manhattan that no one in his family knows about.” “303 7th Avenue is the address and it is on our turf.” “You said yourself it didn’t look like Daddy was home for Breakfast, he was probably here.”
The Simpson Building
303 7th Avenue
New York City, NY
“I thought this address sounded familiar, this is the Simpson Building where Diana Carter lives,” Detective Prussia realizes as they pull into the parking garage. “Looks like this investigation has come full circle.”
“Don’t give me that crap, we are looking for Trudy Patterson!” Detective Black insists as they pull into a parking space.
“You don’t find this at all suspicious?” Prussia asks as they get out of the unmarked police car.
“No more than you dating that white woman!” Black replies to his partner. “Once the jungle fever wears off you will be right back to the sisters, where you belong.”
Black and Prussia approach Thomas at the security desk. The men present the doorman with their badges and Detective Prussia asks, “Is Diana Carter in?” Black gives his partner a nudge.
“Ms. Carter is out of town for the weekend, you just missed her.” Thomas replies. “Is there something wrong that I can help you with?”
“As a matter of fact there is,” Detective Black interjects. “Does Luke Garrison have a condo in this building?”
“Why yes, he works a Carter Industries, he keeps a Condo to say in on those late nights,” the doorman replies checking through the security sign in sheet from the past day.
“Carter Industries?” Detective Prussia repeats. “This is just ridiculous!”
Ignoring his partner’s commentary Black presses on, “Do you know if he is staying in the condo this weekend?”
“Yes, he is,” Thomas answered, “He and his daughter arrived yesterday, looks like they never left.” “I could call up to the condo if you would like.”
“No, that won’t be necessary, let’s keep it a surprise,” Detective Black tells the doorman.
“If you are going up I need for you to sign in Detectives, security and all,” Thomas tells them bravely.
“Of course,” Detective Prussia says signing the page in the log for both of them.
In the elevator Prussia draws his gun ready to protect himself, while Black remains unconcerned by the task they undertake. “Man, you better be ready for this, that girl is a loon!” Prussia tells his partner.
“You really do hate strong women, don’t you,” Detective Black replies. “All this girl needs is some love and understanding, not a gun in her face.”
“Not everyone can be talked down by your smooth mediation training,” Detective Prussia says as the doors open. Garrison’s condo is on the ninth floor the same floor as Diana Carter’s condo. Prussia can’t help but to search for the young woman’s door as they head down the hall toward Garrison’s condo. The Detectives take positions on either side of the door as Black knocks on it.
“Who is it?” calls a voice from inside the condo.
“NYPD,” Detective Prussia calls back. “Mr. Garrison can we speak with you?” The Detectives listen for suspicious movement inside the condo but hear nothing accept footsteps to the door.
When the door opens it is Detective Black that stands in front holding up his badge. Prussia takes a position behind him holding his gun at his side, pointed to the floor, hidden behind Black. Looking over the badge Luke Garrison says, “How can I help you officers?” The forty-something business man does not appear upset or scared at all as he addresses the two detectives.
“Would it be possible if we came in to talk to you, it is about your wife,” Detective Black says calmly.
“Oh, Virginia, what has happened?” Garrison says his emotions changing quickly to fear.
“It would be better if we came in first,” Black insists.
“Of course, please do,” Luke Garrison says backing up to open the door wider. “What is this about Virginia?”
As the detectives enter the condo Prussia stays behind Black keeping his gun hidden. “Is there anyone else here?” he asks.
“No, just me, I worked late last night so I slept over,” Garrison replies. The business man still dressed in slacks and button down shirt leads the Detectives to the open living room.
Prussia stows his gun in the back of his pants out of sight, wanting to keep it close at hand. “This is a very nice condo sir,” Detective Prussia comments. “Much different that your home in Queens.”
“It is a company suite, I don’t own it, only rent it at a discount price,” Garrison explains.
“When was the last time you were home?” Detective Black inquires. Luke Garrison begins to look nervous now at the question. “Mr. Garrison, when was the last time you were home?” Black repeats.
“To be honest, my wife and I have been having some problems,” Garrison says staring to his shoes. “It has been a week since I have been home to Queens.”
“I am afraid that it is my duty to inform you that your wife has been murdered,” Detective Black tells Mr. Garrison. At first Garrison shows no sign of surprise, it is almost as if he already knew his wife was dead. “We believe she was killed by a former-foster child you took in Trudy Patterson.” Then his face turns to a look of fear. “Have you had any reason contact with Miss Patterson?” Black asks.
“No none,” Garrison replies his voice trembling.
A suspicious Prussia interjects, “Do you mind if we have a look around?”
“Of course not, go right ahead,” Garrison tells them. “This is all just such a shock to me.” His words are far from his emotional response as Black gets up from the living room chair. Luke Garrison hangs his head in his hands as the detectives explore the condo. Detective Black walks to the kitchen as Detective Prussia heads for what appears to bedrooms.
After a few minutes Prussia returns to the living room where Garrison still sits on the sofa apparently traumatized by the news of his wife’s death. “Where is Detective Black?” he questions. Garrison simply gestures to the kitchen. Not at all happy with the man’s actions Prussia draws his gun from the back of his pants as he steps toward the kitchen. He is stopped cold at the doorway to the kitchen.
Detective Black lays on the floor in a pool of his own blood, a large kitchen knife protruding from his chest. Over him stands the woman they have been pursuing covered in blood spray. Without a second thought Prussia fires his weapon with perfect aim. The bullet strikes Trudy Patterson square between the eyes, sending her to the floor next to Black.
AUGUST 7, 1987
Salt Lake City International Airport
776 N Terminal Dr
Salt Lake City, UT
Going to claim her bag, Diana is surprised to see someone in the Salt Lake airport that shouldn’t be there, Professor Williamson. Diana is not one to believe in coincidences. Trying to be stealth, she follows the man through the airport. Unlike Diana, Professor Williamson seems to be accustomed to the airport, he know exactly where he is headed. After the luggage claim he heads to an area of locker storage. He finds a specific locker for which he looking before taking the key from his pocket.
Diana watches from not far away as he opens the locker to retrieve a metal box about the size of a six pack of soda. He slides it into his suitcase, then deposits a quarter into the lock of the locker to retrieve the key again that he slips back into his pocket. He turns suddenly toward Diana forcing her to phase back into the wall not to be seen for a minute or two.
When she reemerges from the wall Diana spots Williamson heading into a Men’s room. She waits outside the Men’s room for a considerable time, longer than she feels it should take any man to do his business. When a maintenance man comes to the facility to set up shop, Diana ask him, “Is there a man about fifty in there?”
“No, no one,” the maintenance man replies. “I clean now.”
Knowing that she has been given the slip by Professor Williamson, Diana heads for the car rental counter with the voucher that came with her plane tickets. She is surprised again to see her seatmate at the counter. As Diana approaches Kara Pulver turns away in disgust. “Don’t bother, they don’t have any cars left,” Kara sighs. “Last one was already reserved.”
“That would be me,” Diana says holding up the voucher. She hands the voucher to the attended that begins to process her paperwork. Turning back to Kara who has taken a seat in a nearby chair in the waiting area. Diana can’t help to see the despair on the woman’s face as she tries to figure out a new plan. “Tell you what Kara, where are you headed maybe I can drop you,” Diana suggests from the counter.
“Not likely, I’m going to a little ski resort town called Alta,” Kara sighs. “It is probably out of your way.” “No one really goes there this time of year.”
Diana is surprised by Kara’s answer and a little suspicious. “Excuse me, Miss Carter your car is ready,” the attendant tells her holding out the keys. “It’s the blue Volvo in space number 185 at the side lot.”
“Thank you,” Diana says signing the receipt to take the keys and paperwork. Turning back to Kara she says, “This must be your lucky day!” “That is where I’m going too!”
New York Center for Trauma
20 W 64th St
New York, NY
Detective Prussia sits in the Emergency Room waiting area to hear about Detective Black who is in surgery. Realizing this hospital is the same place that most trauma victims come from all over the city. He gets up to walk to the reception desk holding out his badge. “Were a young twin boys, Diego and Ray Del Santos from Queens brought in here today?”
The nurse looks through the paperwork on the rack before going to the computer system to search for the name. “Yes, they were, one in recovery on the third floor,” the nurse replies. “I can call the attending doctor, if you would like?”
“Yes, please that would be appreciated, my partner and I were the ones to find them,” Prussia explains. The nurse dials the phone as Detective Prussia returns to his seat in the waiting area.
It is only a few minutes later that the Doctor emerges from the elevator to give Prussia news about the Del Santo boys. “Hello Detective, I’m Doctor Franklin,” the woman in a white coat carrying a clipboard says as she approaches him. “I treated the Del Santo brothers, I am sorry to tell you that Diego was beyond my help, he passed soon after arrival.” Detective Prussia is sad to hear the news that one of the twins has died but he feels vindicated that he put his killer down. “There was too much blood loss for us to save him.” “It would appear that whoever did this to the boys was trying to circumcise them.” “With Diego a vein that supplies blood to erectile tissue was hit and he just bleed out, possibly due to continued stimulation.” “Ray was not as bad, I was able to clean and salvage the penis, it wasn’t a perfect circumcision by any means but he should regain normal function.”
“Thank god, at least that is good news!” Detective Prussia replies. “We caught the monster that did this to the boys, but I’m sure Ray’s scares might be too deep to be relieved by that news.”
“He will be out of recovery soon and sent to a room,” Dr Franklin tells the Detective. “I’m afraid he will be heavily sedated so you will have to wait to question him.”
“That is fine, my partner was stabbed while apprehending the assailant, so I’m waiting for news on him,” Detective Prussia explains.
“Very well then, good luck,” Dr. Franklin says turning to leave. As if on cue another doctor arrives from down the hall to approach Prussia.
“Are you Detective Prussia?” he asks. Prussia nods at the sad faced doctor still wearing scrubs. “I regret to tell you that we lost Detective Black.” “His brain was without oxygen for just too long.”
Prussia hangs his head at the second bad news he has gotten at this hospital today. “That idiot Black,” he mumbled under his breath. Then looking up to the doctor says, “I don’t know how many times I told him to have his gun ready.” “Why couldn’t he just listen to me this once?”
Goldminer’s Daughter Lodge
10160 E Hwy 210
Alta, Utah
It is an hour ride from Salt Lake City International Airport to the small town of Alta, Utah with a population of 303. At the Ski Lodge Diana and Kara Pulver part ways. Diana gets a room and then gets back into her rental car to head down the road to the Albion Grill for some dinner, not sure what she is going to do next. It is your standard ski resort town not much to see or do this time of year. She is just glad the temperature is in the seventies not to hinder the working of her powers. Taking a seat in the diner she notices something out of place. It is not until she places her order that it becomes clear to her that there are no children anywhere.
As she ate her dinner Diana makes note of the highchairs in corner of the diner. The dust on the floor under them makes it clear that they haven’t been moved in a while. A young couple sits alone in a booth at the window side of the diner. Their faces blank like those of people who have suffered loss recently. Something is clearly wrong in this town. Diana’s experience with Detective Prussia makes it clear to her she will get nowhere by going to the police directly. Perhaps she would be better suited to start at the local Medical Clinic.
19th Police Precinct
153 E 67th St
New York City, NY
Detective Prussia sits at his desk, staring at the screen of his new computer after finishing his reports. It has been a long dreadful day, he isn’t even sure he will still be on the force come tomorrow morning. It is late and he really should be heading home but he is still trying to cope with all that has happened as he looks over to Black’s empty desk chair.
The phone on his desk rings startling him back to reality. “Prussia,” he says answering the phone.
“Detective Prussia, I’m calling in regards to the shooting of Trudy Patterson,” the voice on the other end of the phone says making Prussia think there it goes the end of his career begins. “I am calling to tell you the body has been misplaced.”
“Misplaced?” Prussia shouts over the phone. “How does a corpse with a bullet in the head get misplaced?”
“It arrive at the morgue, but when the coroner went to examine it, the body was missing,” the attendant explains. “It couldn’t have just walked out.” Prussia considers the statement for a moment. Trudy Patterson was declared dead before she went on her killing spree.
“Just find the body!” Prussia states firmly hanging up the phone.
Alta Medical Clinic
10160 UT-210
Alta, Utah
After finishing her dinner Diana makes the short drive to the Alta Medical Clinic not far away from the dinner. The medical building is around the same size as the local Elementary School across the street. Diana stands looking over at the school, it too appears to be abandoned on the surface. Turning back to the Medical Clinic Diana decides to not go in through the front but in through the back wall.
Diana arrives in a maintenance closet that contains the heating equipment. She leans forward through the locked door to peer into the room. There appears to be no one in the large open ward accept the people in the beds. Stepping forward through the door, Diana walks into the ward discovering it is filled with sick children.
Diana walks to the bed closest to her removing the chart from the end of it. In the bed a boy of seven years old lays unconscious, his skin hangs off his bones wrinkled and pale. His hair is as white as the sheets he lays on. Diana skims over the chart in her hand, the doctors don’t appear to know what is wrong with this child. She looks up across the room at the many other beds with children in the same condition. Returning the chart to the foot of the bed Diana looks down at the deathly ill boy. Not sure if she can do anything to help the child she steps to the side of the bed. Placing one hand on the boy’s face and the other on his chest under his hospital gown she lets her bio-energy slowly flow into his body. At first it appears to have no effect then slowly she can see a change in the boy’s color followed by his skin tightening and plumping back to that of a healthy child. Diana is thrilled as his hair begins to grow out in a dark wave.
Not wanting to over do it Diana lifts her hands from the boy who remains unconscious. She smiles at what she had done to truly help an innocent. But when she looks around the room she has to wonder if she has the ability to save all of these children. Looking back to the child he suddenly begins to tremble as the bio-energy she has given him quickly dissipates returning him to his previous state. Perhaps a longer infusion Diana thinks as she moves her hands back to touch the boy.
“No, Diana stop!” a voice shouts from across the open ward. Diana looks up to see an oddly dressed woman emerge through the wall just as she had done. The blonde woman wears tri-colored outfit of red, blue and gold and a lion mask that covers her eyes down the bridge of her nose. As she walks toward Diana her costume is in a continuous state of shifting of the three colors. This new arrival is no doctor that is for sure. “You can’t do that, your Bio-energy only feeds the Dream Machine!” she tells Diana as she moves to stand next to her over the child.
“The Dream Machine?” Diana repeats, “Who are you, what do you know of the Dream Machine?”
Their raised voices have drawn the attention of others as a nurse and several orderlies enter the room. “You people can’t be in here!” the nurse announces as the four Clinic staff enter the ward.
The costumed blonde woman grabs Diana’s arm. Diana can feel a familiar reaction take place inside her body as the two interlopers in the Clinic ward vanish.
An old barn
Glory Gulch
Alta, Utah
The woman in the color shifting costume and Diana reappear several miles away from the Clinic. They stand in a group of tall pine trees at the edge of a clearing. Diana pulls away from the woman. “Who the hell are you and how did you do that to me?” Diana shouts as she scanned the area around them.
“Calm down, I’m not here to harm you, only help,” the woman tells Diana. “You can call me Chimera.” “I am looking for the Dream Machine too, it is the cause of the problem in town.” “It is fed by Bio-energy, you healing those children only feeds the beast making it stronger.”
“I am not concerned about the Dream Machine right now, I am concerned by what you just did to me!” Diana shouts holding up her hand in front of her intending to keep this woman at bay. “You took control of my power, a power no one should know I have to bring me here!” “How and why?”
“Our powers are very similar,” Chimera explains. “By joining both of our powers I was able to guide us to teleport farther than either of us could do alone.”
Diana is still not sure if she can trust this woman as she says, “What are you one of those new Superheroes that keep popping up?”
Chimera smiles broadly from under the lion’s nose of her mask. “You might call me that if I chose to do what I do out in the open.” “I would prefer to stay hidden for now, like you.”
“How do I know that this isn’t just another of the Dream Machine’s dreams?” Diana demands.
“Because you are immune,” Chimera explains. “You conquer it the last time you encountered it.” “The Dream Machines were built to harness people’s bio-energy to create a dream world for them.” The goal was to make the user’s dreams come true on a subconscious level, as a kind of therapy.” “This one has been altered to do that at the expense of others.” “It does not belong here and I need to take it back to where it belongs to keep people safe from it.” “You and I can use our Bio-energy outwardly to do different things than normal humans.” “When you blasted it with your Bio-energy it changed the Machine’s programming, that is how it was able to teleport here.”
Diana contemplates everything this Superhero is saying. It all makes sense to her and that is a problem because no one else knows all of what happened to her with the Dream Machine. “It was you who sent me the plane tickets,” she realizes.
“Guilty,” Chimera grins.
“If you know everything, Miss Superhero then why do you need me?” Diana inquires.
“It is your Bio-energy that this twisted Dream Machine is using to evolve even farther,” Chimera tells her. “You must take that energy back before Professor Williamson figures out how to truly use the Machine to cause even more harm.”
“I did see Williamson at the Airport, he gave me the slip, so it makes sense that he is involved in this!” Diana says. “But I have no way of reabsorbing my Bio-energy, once I expel it, it is gone.”
Chimera waves her hand creating a small bubble of light that floats in the air next to her. She reaches inside the glowing bubble pulling an electronic ring-like object from it. “Wearing this will allow you to pull all of the Bio-energy from the Dream Machine and return it to the children of Alta.” the woman tells her. “It is too late for the infants that have died but we can still save everyone else.”
“This is ridiculous,” Diana says taking the device from Chimera. “I’m not a Superhero and I certainly don’t want to be like that showboat Master Warrior!”
Chimera outwardly giggles for a moment confusing Diana again before she replies, “But you could be, you have the powers to be one.” “Not everyone who uses their talents for good does it for the same reasons.” “It is part of you, you need to embrace it, you of all people should know that.”
Chimera’s words remind her of some of the odd things that Kara Pulver said to her on the plane. It is like these women are treating her like a long time friends. Strangely she trusts this woman. “So where do we begin?” Diana finally says agreeing to whatever Chimera has planned.
“That barn is where the Dream Machine has set up shop,” Chimera explains. “I haven’t seen Williamson yet but I am sure he is most likely here already.” “It is very possible that the Machine is now in charge of the man.” “I will handle Williamson, I need to get him as far from the machine as possible.” “You need to find the Bio-energy power core to drain it.”
“How will I know what the power core looks like?” Diana asks.
“With that crown on your head, you will be drawn right to it,” Chimera tells Diana as she places the ring of electronics on her head. “Now give me your hand, so we can get in as quickly as possible.
In the blink of an eye Chimera and Diana are inside the barn. Diana is amazed at Chimera’s control of their teleportation power. She can tell that Chimera has had many more years of practice than Diana at using it.
The inside of the barn is completely different then the outside. The floors, walls, and even the ceiling are lined with technological components the Diana can’t even begin to understand. It looks like something out of a Sci-fi movie. “Where do we even begin to look for the Dream Machine in all of this?” she asks Chimera.
Chimera looks all around the area in which they stand, she is far from as dumbfounded as Diana, she completely understands where the teleportation jump has landed them. “We don’t have to look anywhere, we are inside it,” she tells Diana. “It is much worse than I thought.” “But it makes it easier for you to access the storage core.” “It’s like we have been swallowed by a whale.”
“Then I am its teeth!” a man dresses in strange armor cruelly announces as he steps from behind a pillar. “Huge grinding teeth!” His face is exposed and as he begins to grow larger the women can see it clearer. It is Professor Williamson who had somehow become part of the Dream Machine’s internal defenses.
“I’ll handle Williamson,” Chimera tells Diana, “You find the storage core and drain it!” Diana is in shock at the huge threat that Williamson has clearly become as the small colorful woman charges toward him. She wants to call to Chimera to tell her she can help and then the heroine jumps up from the ground doubling in size herself. Chimera swings an eight inch wide fist at the behemoth in armor to knock him back against the wall. “Get moving!” Chimera shouts back at Diana. “Draining the core will weaken this guy!” Diana can’t help but stand and watch this stranger as she fights back against the monster that was once Professor Williamson. She shows no fear as the giant strikes back at her with its enormous fists.
Then Diana gets an odd tingling sensation from the crown she wears on her head. She doesn’t understand it at first. It is more of a feeling than a summons but she is sure she is being drawn to the core just as Chimera explained. Running in a direction opposite of the fight between Chimera and Williamson she goes deeper into the labyrinth that is the interior of the Dream Machine. Unlike Chimera, Diana is not as confident on her mission in this strange place. She feels slightly lightheaded as she explores the construction of the Machine. It all still seems like science fiction to her. Where is this other place the Dream Machine came from and how did it get here? As she slows to a walk porthole like windows appear along the corridor that seem to have a draw on her curiosity. Somehow she knows that she dare not look through the windows or be lost in some dream world created by this machine.
Meanwhile in the clearing outside the barn
Williamson and Chimera have broken through the side of the rather mundane building. Chimera had hoped that getting the renegade Professor outside the Dream Machine would sever his ties to it, dissipating his dream construct. She was wrong, he remains just as powerful as they tussle back toward the forest.
“I was told it would be you who came after the Dream Machine!” Williamson shouts as his large hand closes around Chimera’s astral projection of a throat. “I was given all the information I need about you to stop you from taking it!”
Chimera’s physical strength is greater as she holds the Astral Projection around her body but the Williamson Dream construct feels greater as he begins to choke her. An attack on her Astral form is an attack on her mind. He can’t really choke her this way but he can knock her out just the same if he causes too much damage. But her father trainer her too well to let some overgrown dreams do that to her. She strikes out at him with her foot taking out his left knee. His Dream construct is a much bigger liability than her Astral form, she can attack his subconscious directly through it. “Who told you I was coming?” she shouts his hand falls loose of her throat. “Who is your benefactor in 3735?”
The Dream monster crumbles to the rocky Utah ground, his knee “broken”. The pain shows on his face as he looks up at her towering personal. “I know that your are the daughter of Master Warrior by some other woman I’ve never heard of!” His knee heals as he gathers his mind to push away the subconscious pain. “And I know your weakness!” His large hand reaches out at her grabbing her by her thin waist, his fingers coiling around her astral form. Lifting her high into the air. The Dream construct contorts stretching out to whip back launching Chimera toward Cecret Lake.
Back at the barn Diana finds her way to what can only loosely be called a room. Like most of this place normal words cannot describe it. She can feel them all around her, if she were to try to describe that feeling it would be their souls that she feels floating in the room. The Dream Machine has drawn off more than just bio-energy from its victims. It feels to Diana as if the energy in the room contains a part of each of the victims themselves. This is not just raw bio-energy that she must draw out of the machine. Diana has been learning to manipulate her own bio-energy for years but this is not like that.
The bio-energy she used on the Dream Machine months ago in New York is long gone. This twisted machine is now almost alive with the souls of others. The crown on Diana’s head glows as the individual pieces of energy in the room swirls around her. Each of those pieces is another victim that lays dying in the Clinic. Diana begins with the smallest of the pieces of energy, reaching out to touch it.
Instantly she feels the warmth of a five year old child inside her body, his essence somehow grateful for her saving him. The warm emotion encourages Diana to reach out to another and then another. By the time she has drawn a dozen of the bio-energy pieces into her body she is overcome with joy like none she has never felt before today. The crown glows brightly on her head as she reaches out to call more of the bio-energy souls to her.
Cecret Lake
Alta, Utah
Crawling from the lake, her Astral self completely dissolved, it is clear to Chimera for the first time, the plans Williamson got for the Dream Machine were not from the 38th century at all. No one there knows who her parents were, much less remembers them. The only other person who could have done this was the Warlord! For a brief time in 2010 he had control of a time device. It is he who manipulates the past now to improve his present. Then it strikes Chimera harder that Williamson’s Dream Construct fists, it was her mother that took Warlord’s greatest weapon from him. “Oh My God, Mom!” she shouts jumping up from the edge of the lake to take flight back to the old barn.
There are but a few of the bio-energy souls swirling in the air around Diana. Something is different about these few. They do not seem as willing to join with her as the others did. Up until now the crown that Chimera had given her has been enough to communicate with the stolen bio-energy piece. Now this dozen or so resist Diana’s call to them.
Totally enthralled in retrieving the last of the bio-energy pieces from the room to completely disable the Dream Machine, Diana pays no attention to the return of Professor Williamson still wearing his Dream constructed form. His fists have been transformed into huge axes as he approaches the woman glowing with pink light from behind. He raises his ax handle arms over her.
Suddenly Chimera burst into the room, “Mo…Diana, look out!” she shouts as she releases a bubble of glowing pink light energy from her hand, sending it sailing toward the Professor. Time seems to slow in that moment as Diana turns at the shout of her new friend. Her back to the remaining Bio-energy pieces they instantly zoom forward into her still body. She feels them now, the adolescent children, filled with anger and desire for revenge on the man who has done this to them. They join the other pieces of the stolen bio-energy drawing it into a unity. Diana’s eyes glow a bright red like nothing Chimera has ever seen them do in her entire life. Then two bolts of dark scarlet bio-energy erupt striking out at the Professor’s Dream Construct. The beams engulf the construct shattering it into fragments that explode outward sending a backlash through the Dream Machine.
The beams continue to flood from Diana Carter’s eyes piercing the walls of the Dream Machine as the potent energy of life flees back to its true owners in the Alta Community Clinic. All around Diana and Chimera the Dream Machine trembles as it begins to quake apart. The bubble Chimera cast out from her hand grows in size as time seems to return to normal. The bubble speeds across the room toward Diana. Just as the beams from her eyes die Diana is struck by the bubble and drawn inside it.
Once Diana is inside the bubble everything around her vanishes replaced by bright shining light coming from all directions. She is dizzied by the light for a moment until her eyes begin to clear. It is them that she sees them many glowing figures all around her like angels she thinks. Is she dead? Then one of the beings moves closer to her, she tries to react but finds that she is floating with no leverage to move. The glowing figure reaches out piercing the bubble to touch her cheek. She hears the words, “My child,” in her mind. Then there is only blackness as the light is sniffed out like a candle.
JUNE 4, 1987
Diana Carter’s Condo
The Simpson Building
303 7th Avenue
New York City, NY
“What?” “Who?” Diana shouts sitting up straight in her bed. She shakes herself awake asking aloud, “What the hell was that?” Looking around her room she spots the woman she has come to know as Chimera looking through her closet. “What is going on, how did we get here?”
Chimera turns around pulling a red aerobic leotard with yellow laces across the front from the closet. “I can’t believe you have this,” she says smiling holding out the hanger.
“What can I say I can’t say no to my Aunt Jean,” Diana says turning to put her feet on the floor. “That doesn’t answer my question.”
“To make a long story short, it is the morning after you originally encountered the Dream Machine,” Chimera explains. “Dream Machines were created to make Dreams come true and destroying that one the way you did, caused what you might call a wrinkle in time.” “We were never in Alta, now, the machine was destroyed by you last night.”
“I don’t understand, that was two months ago and I still remember everything to happen since,” Diana argues. “Everything we did in Utah.”
“That is because to save us from the blast I slipped us both into another dimension.” Chimera tells her hanging the aerobics suit back into the closet, front and center with a strange admiration. “We only remember it because we weren’t here when the shift happened.” “I returned us after and this is where we ended up.” “We will forget everything that happened in that alternate timeline in a few hours.”
Diana sits soberly on the side of her bed. “What about Williamson?” Diana asks next.
“I’m afraid Williamson paid the price for his greed,” Chimera replies.
“And Dudley?” Diana adds.
“The Dream Machine is meant to make the user’s dreams come true,” Chimera explains. “With the destruction of the Dream Machine, Dudley has woken up and there will now be physical evidence of his crimes against those girls.”
Diana jumps up from the bed, “Are you saying that I really slept with that bastard now?”
“No, you were never one of his dreams, Williamson forced him to seduce you, so you are not one of the dreams he wanted to come true.”
Diana is relieved to hear that what happened with Dudley is still just a dream. Then she remembers something else as she sits back down on the bed. “That feeling, that feeling of joy I felt when I took in those children.” “I don’t want to forget that, it was so beautiful.” Chimera reaches for her face to remove the lion mask she has worn since Diana met her in Utah. It is Kara Pulver that smiles at Diana now with a single tear rolling down her cheek.
“You will feel that joy again,” Kara tells the young woman on the bed. “You will feel that joy when you find the love of your life again.” “You will feel that joy when you find out you are pregnant for the first time.”
Kara’s words strike something deep in Diana. This woman spoke so hopeful to her on the plane that she would find love as if she knew it was true. Almost as if she had a stake in Diana’s future happiness. She glares at Kara, “You sound pretty sure of that.”
Kara smiles sitting down on the bed next to Diana. “Lets just say I have inside information and leave it at that,” Kara tells Diana. “But I need to leave now so your life can pick up where it left off.”