“So I just grab it and it should power back up?”
“Yes.”
The group had returned to the base and crowded around Mark as he knelt near the battery. Josh and Zach helped Jake walk back after he had fallen twice. His body kept twitching and his legs had given out. Chewy had suggested that the group stand back just in case if electrical discharge came off of Mark’s body. Mark reached out and grabbed the battery. It was cool to the touch. After five seconds nothing had happened. More time passed and Mark was getting bored.
“Try forcing it in…” Pham advised
“That’s what she said!” said Tyler
“Force what in?” Mark asked.
“Your d-“
“- electricity.” Pham cut in.
“Um….ok. Here goes nothing.”
Mark grabbed the box tighter and tried to force whatever electrical charge that his body had built up inside of him into the battery. Not even a second passed until Mark felt a surge of energy run the lengths of his arms and enter the battery box. The power kept coursing through Marks body. After a few seconds, the lights in the hallway came on and then the lights in the computer room turned on. The big screen in the room turned on and the hand print display turned into a computer keyboard. SYSTEM START UP? Y/N appeared on the screen. Mark kept his hands on the battery to make sure it didn’t suddenly die. No one moved to the keyboard so Chewy moved up to it and entered YES. The screen blinked off for a second and then base came to life. The sound of gears moving could be heard all around the room and the ground underneath the group shook. A picture came up on the screen. It was a large square with two parallel lines running to it and a dozen or so blinking dots on screen.
“What’s on the screen?” asked Zach.
Zach began to walk forward but stopped when he saw that a dot on the screen began to move. As he moved around, the dot also moved. The group stared as they began to move around and made the dots move.
“The dots represent us. That means that the picture represents this room and the hallway is the two lines.” explained Chewy.
Blake started to walk towards the hallway and his dot moved along with him.
What are you doing Blake?” asked Steven.
“I’m going to go see if the doors can be opened.”
Steven, Matt, and Jake ran after him. Mark stood in front of the screen looking at it. Something seemed off to him. Mark walked over to stand next to Jessica and her sisters. Mark looked at Jessica’s face and he instantly grew nervous. He did not say anything for a while and Jessica looked at him with a confused look. Mark quickly said the only thing that came to mind.
“What do you think of this?”
“I think it’s cool but I have a lot of questions.”
“I think it rocks!”, interjected Diana, “ I want to see what this thing can do.”
“Why is this here at all?” asked Katie.
“Jessica, what do you think we should do about it?”
“I have no idea. We should first figure out why it is here.”
“Yeah……” Mark couldn’t think what else to say so he said goodbye and walked over to Chewy as the group that went to the doors came back.
“None of them opened. We pushed against them, tried to find a handle or button to open it, but it doesn’t look like the doors can be opened.” explained Blake.
The rest of the group acknowledged what Blake said.
Mark looked at the screen and asked,
“Is this all then?”
“What do you mean?” asked Chewy.
“Well I mean this room doesn’t look like it has a lot going on in it. If someone built this thing for a reason, why would they only build this one room and a hall with doors that can’t be open? ”
“You think there is more to it?”
“There has to be. No one would create something like this unless it has some kind of value or use.”
The others voiced their opinions and agreed with Mark.
“Ok well let me check.”
Chewy began to mess with the keyboard and stared at the screen next to him as he went along. A couple of minutes later and the picture on the big screen changed from the single room to show the whole facility. Mark let out a gasp along with the rest of the group. The facility was enormous. The facility extended downwards. Dozens of rooms could be seen. The facility was at least twelve floors in the facility but there was something wrong at the last few floors of the facility.
“Why are the last few floors red?” asked Michael.
“According to the computer the red signifies that the structural integrity of the room has been compromised.” replied Chewy.
“What can destroy that many floors?”
“Hmmm……. There appears to be a file attached to the explanation.”
A video began to play on the screen. A man with a torn shirt and blood running down his head appeared and began to speak franticly.
“We were able to close off floors 7 through 14 of the Crucible. The creature seems to be able to create constructs that are able to detach themselves from the main body. I can also grow by absorbing organic matter.”
The man pulled up a video of some sort of creature dragging a bloody body across the ground.
“The creature has taken control of the floors we hope that it cannot get past the defenses. I am the last one left down here and I advise complete abandonment of the Crucible. If the creature gets out then it will spread into the surrounding neighborhoods killing everything. I am sending this message to the main console in hope that it has not been compromised also. If the facility is ever opened the creature will reawaken and begin to grow. However there is a way to kill it. My wife and I were able to create a cure before she was killed. We were never able to use it because in order to kill the creature the serum must be injected directly into the core. The antidote is located in room Twelve Thirteen. It should work.”
The group stared in fear as the man began to cry
“Oh God! My poor Amy. I’m so sorry I couldn’t save you. I’m sorry I couldn’t save your body from those monsters.”
No one said anything while the man cried. After a few minutes, the man stopped crying and regained his composure.
“The core is located in room Fourteen Two. As far as we know the core cannot move on its own. This is the last log of John Bishop, head scientist of the Arch Angel project.”
The group stood in silence as the video turned off and the map of the Crucible returned.
“We need to get out of here!” Diana screamed. She and Katie looked terrified. They both wanted to leave and were already moving to the exit along with most of the group. Mark stood staring at the map scared of what was happening and what needed to be done. Jessica turned to Mark.
“Why aren’t you coming?”
Mark lowered his head.
“Because we can’t leave.”
“WHAT?! Why not?” asked Tyler.
“Because we need to stop the creature, whatever it is.” answered Pham.
Mark looked at him and nodded solemnly.
“Why it’s not our problem? The guy said that the creature was sealed in the lower levels.”
Chewy stepped forward.
“When I turned the Crucible back on, the system rebooted. Most likely all of the doors were unlocked or the safeguards were dropped.”
“We released that thing and now it is our duty to kill it. If we don’t, everyone will die.”
Mark put what the stakes were out on the table. “It’s our fault that the creature is loose. We didn’t know what would happen but we still have a responsibility to make sure it doesn’t get out.”
“No. I will not. I can’t.” cried Katie.
Jessica gave Katie a hug and looked at her sisters.
“Diana and Katie, you guys go up to the house and calm yourselves down.”
“What?” they both asked.
“It’s the only way to protect you. If we don’t return in a few hours then tell mom and dad. Tell everyone you can.”
“But Jessica…” Jessica’s sister began to cry.
Jessica gave them hugs and walked them to the exit.
Mark looked at the group and began to speak.
“Alright now here’s the plan”. We need to find some way to get down to the lower levels.”
Chewy went to the computer and began to hit some buttons. Two rooms began to glow blue.
“These are the two rooms that the man mentioned in his video. The antidote is on the Twelfth floor and the core is on the Fourteenth floor, assuming that it can’t move around.”
“Um…. If anyone has forgotten, it’s not like we can even get to those floors.” Pointed out Matt.
“Give me a second.” Chewy hit a few more buttons and a panel opened up in the room.
In the panel, there were what appeared to be earpieces.
“Those should allow us to communicate and…. This should allow us to get to the lower levels.”
A sound was made as three of the doors in the hallway opened up.
“They are elevators that should take you down to the sixth floor.”
“How do you expect us to get to the lower levels? Asked Jake.
“There appears to be chutes the lead to the other levels. The bad thing is that the chutes that lead to the next level are on the exact opposite side from the chute that drops you off on the level.”
“Why would someone build the base like this?”
No one had an answer. Jessica walked back. “My sisters are gone and they will do what they need to. So what’s the plan?”
Mark filled Jessica in on what they planned to do. “So you think this could work?”
“It’s the only thing we can do. So we have three elevators. We should split up into three teams. At least one person with a power per team.”
“How do the elevators take us down to different levels if they are next to each other.” Asked Jessica.
“They can move left and right along with moving up and down”, answered Chewy,” What the picture shows is a side view of the facility. Each floor is actually made up of four rows of rooms. The elevators I chose are right next to each other and the room with the antidote is connected to the three rows of rooms that I chose. So you should meet up in that room.
As the group split off into team. Chewy opted to stay in the main floor to coordinate movements.
As they were about to leave
Chewy called their attention. “Hey guys I think you should see this.”
The group ran up to see what was happening. One of the rooms on the seventh floor was blinking red.
“Wait a second.” Chewy brought up a top down view of the seventh floor. All of the four rows of rooms were red, and the rooms in the same column were all blinking red.
A second later the rooms turned red and the rooms next to them began to blink red. The group felt fear rise up in them but it was only Josh that could say what everyone was thinking.
“The creature is starting to spread.”
Wednesday, May 4, 2011
Superpower 7
“What are you talking about Mark?”
Tyler stood opposite of Mark in the base. The group had driven to Jessica’s house. They waited for Jessica’s sister, Diana, to get back from school before they walked to the base. While everyone talked around him, Mark walked in silence to the base trying to formulate a plan on how he was going to convince people he was right. Blake had opened the stairs and they stood in a big circle in the computer room.
“I’m saying that some of us are developing superpowers.”
“Like who?”
“Weird stuff has happened to Blake, Matt, Steven, and Chewyy.”
“What happened to them?”
Blake took a step forward and started.
“Between Sunday and Monday, a light post fell down in my neighborhood. I told Mark about it and Mark said that it could have been weakened by the Tornadoes on Thursday. But that light post replaced one that had fallen during the tornadoes.”
“So that doesn’t mean anything.”
“Take your phone out Tyler.
“Why?”
“Just do it.”
Tyler took his phone out and held it towards Blake. Blake stuck his hand out towards the phone and nothing happened. Blake’s hand began to shake and suddenly Tyler dropped the phone and it exploded as it hit the ground.
“I just bought that phone!”
Tyler picked up the pieces of the phone and put it back together. He let out a sigh as it turned on. Everyone looked back at Blake.
“I figured out I could do the stuff on Wednesday. My mom was yelling at me about moving a tv from the basement to my room. The tv was really heavy. I could barely pick it up let alone walk it up to my room. As I strained to pick it up, it instantly got lighter. If I had to compare it to something, it weighed about as much as one box of my magic cards. I learned that I can also make objects heavier along with making things lighter. The only catch is that I can't use my power for a long time. “
“Ok. That’s weird but what about the others?”
“I officially get free lunch for the rest of the school year.”
Steven drew attention to himself and began.
“I can control people. Anything I ask or say they do. I showed Mark in Chem. The first time was when my mom wouldn’t make me food. When I asked with force my mom’s eyes went blank and she made me enough food to satisfy me. Even though Mark asked me to not use my power I decided that I didn’t want to pay for food anymore.”
“Steven, what if someone sees you?”
“I go up at the end and don’t worry I make sure no one sees me and the lunch ladies forget I was there.”
“Just becareful Steven.”
“Don’t worry. So yeah that’s all that has happened to me.”
Before anyone could say anything Matt took a step forward.
“I can make stuff disappear.”
In that instant Matt disappeared. Everyone gasped and looked around.
An instant later Matt reappeared on the other side of the room. Matt stuck his hand out and Chewyy disappeared.
“Matt what are you doing?” asked Chewyy.
Everyone gasped. They couldn’t see Chewyy but they could hear him. Matt continued to talk.
“At first random stuff started to disappear. But then when my mom was nagging me to do some stupid chore, I wished I could disappear. The next second my mom walks into my room. She stops, looks around, and then she starts to yell at me and asks where I am in the house. I stayed perfectly still until she left. After practicing a while, I learned to walk and remain invisible. I learned later on that I could turn other stuff invisible. I had fun making my mom think she had lost her car keys for atleast thirty minutes.”
Matt chuckled at the memory.
“I guess it’s my turn.”
People looked at where Chewyy should have been but Matt was keeping him cloaked still. Chewwy didn’t realize this and continued talking.
“I was doing my pre-calc homework when the weird stuff started happening to me. I was about to do a problem when a number entered my head. I checked it on the calculator and saw that it was the same number that I had calculated in my head. I continued to do the problems without the calculator first and checked my answers on the calculator. All of the numbers were the same and they were all correct. I started to do my Chemistry homework without a calculator and all of the answers were correct. Im also starting to be able to recall things for no reason like there are 1326 lockers in our school or there are 353 steps in it. “
Mark cleared his throat and began to speak.
“Let’s not forget what I did. I ran like 50 yards in three seconds.”
He looked at each of them.
“All of the people that developed powers were in this room when PROJECT GENESIS was activated. Whatever that is. The point is that we all could possibly develop powers. I seem to be fast, Chewyy is super smart, Blake can control the weight of things, and Steven can control people. What do you guys think?”
The group began to argue. It was split almost even in who agreed and disagreed with Mark. There seemed to be no end to the bickering until someone yelled out.
“I think it possible!” Everyone turned to face Jessica. “I mean the only thing connecting all of you is this place and school and I doubt the school is doing this. The food is bad but not that bad.”
“I want a power!”
Jessica’s little sister Diana jumped up excitedly.
“I want to fly, or teleport, or shoot flames out of my hands, or control water! Is there a way to tell which power we will get?”
Mark shook his head. “The point I am trying to make is if we all gain powers, we need to control them. If our powers go crazy, we might kill someone.”
“What do you think we should do?” asked Katie.
“To simply put it, I think we should train.”
“What kind of training develops superpowers?” Zach inquired.
Ten minutes later and they were playing tag in the woods. They were running around franticly. Some people complained that it would not be fair since s four people had super powers. Steven would tell people to stop running and tag them. He also made it impossible for the person to tag him back. Matt cloaked himself and he was only tagged when someone would barrel through him as they ran or he would run into them if he was not looking. Chewyy’s power sadly did not help him too much but he was starting to be able to track people by looking at his surrounding environment. Blake weighed people down with his power and made it impossible for them to escape. This is how Mark got caught. He had been out running people and even Steven’s power could not affect him.
“Got you Mark.”
Blake walked up to Mark. Mark could not move at all. He was flat on the ground with his face up. Blake knelt down beside him and poked him in the chest.
“You’re it.”
Blake ran away keeping Mark on the ground until he could not hold him down any longer. Mark got up, looked around, spotted Jake, and ran for him. Jake had no hope of escape. Mark came to a stop in front of Jake within a few seconds. Mark had practiced stopping so he would not trip over himself while he tried to stop.
“Oh crap.”
Mark smiled as Jake started to turn around but Mark poked him in the shoulder. Jake’s arm twitched and he fell to the ground. He screamed about being shocked by something. Everyone ran to Jake as Mark kneeled to make sure his friend was ok. The group formed a circle around the two.
A lot of them asked, “What happened?”
Mark only responded with, “I shocked him somehow.”
“That was not a shock,” argued Jake, ”It felt like my arm had been electrocuted.”
“Sorry Jake, I don’t know what happened.”
“I may have an idea.”
Mark looked at Chewyy with a puzzled look.
“Wait…. How?”
“Mark you told me that on Sunday you shocked your dad and electrical appliances malfunctioned around you.”
“Yeah. So…...”
“Well there is a possibility that you don’t run fast because of your power. You run fast because your body’s electrical impulses have sped up.”
“Ok. But how does that explain shocking people and messing up appliances.”
“Your body’s electrical impulses would have created a magnetic field around you. This would mess up the electrical appliances. You shock people because your body produces a large electrical charge. Your body needed time to get used to your power so it could control it.”
“You got all this from me shocking people and running fast but I’m not shocking Jake right now.”
Chewyy nodded. “Of course I will need to test it. You may only shock people after you have been running around for a while.”
“And how do you suppose we do that?”
“We can start by trying to charge up the battery that’s in the compound.”
Tyler stood opposite of Mark in the base. The group had driven to Jessica’s house. They waited for Jessica’s sister, Diana, to get back from school before they walked to the base. While everyone talked around him, Mark walked in silence to the base trying to formulate a plan on how he was going to convince people he was right. Blake had opened the stairs and they stood in a big circle in the computer room.
“I’m saying that some of us are developing superpowers.”
“Like who?”
“Weird stuff has happened to Blake, Matt, Steven, and Chewyy.”
“What happened to them?”
Blake took a step forward and started.
“Between Sunday and Monday, a light post fell down in my neighborhood. I told Mark about it and Mark said that it could have been weakened by the Tornadoes on Thursday. But that light post replaced one that had fallen during the tornadoes.”
“So that doesn’t mean anything.”
“Take your phone out Tyler.
“Why?”
“Just do it.”
Tyler took his phone out and held it towards Blake. Blake stuck his hand out towards the phone and nothing happened. Blake’s hand began to shake and suddenly Tyler dropped the phone and it exploded as it hit the ground.
“I just bought that phone!”
Tyler picked up the pieces of the phone and put it back together. He let out a sigh as it turned on. Everyone looked back at Blake.
“I figured out I could do the stuff on Wednesday. My mom was yelling at me about moving a tv from the basement to my room. The tv was really heavy. I could barely pick it up let alone walk it up to my room. As I strained to pick it up, it instantly got lighter. If I had to compare it to something, it weighed about as much as one box of my magic cards. I learned that I can also make objects heavier along with making things lighter. The only catch is that I can't use my power for a long time. “
“Ok. That’s weird but what about the others?”
“I officially get free lunch for the rest of the school year.”
Steven drew attention to himself and began.
“I can control people. Anything I ask or say they do. I showed Mark in Chem. The first time was when my mom wouldn’t make me food. When I asked with force my mom’s eyes went blank and she made me enough food to satisfy me. Even though Mark asked me to not use my power I decided that I didn’t want to pay for food anymore.”
“Steven, what if someone sees you?”
“I go up at the end and don’t worry I make sure no one sees me and the lunch ladies forget I was there.”
“Just becareful Steven.”
“Don’t worry. So yeah that’s all that has happened to me.”
Before anyone could say anything Matt took a step forward.
“I can make stuff disappear.”
In that instant Matt disappeared. Everyone gasped and looked around.
An instant later Matt reappeared on the other side of the room. Matt stuck his hand out and Chewyy disappeared.
“Matt what are you doing?” asked Chewyy.
Everyone gasped. They couldn’t see Chewyy but they could hear him. Matt continued to talk.
“At first random stuff started to disappear. But then when my mom was nagging me to do some stupid chore, I wished I could disappear. The next second my mom walks into my room. She stops, looks around, and then she starts to yell at me and asks where I am in the house. I stayed perfectly still until she left. After practicing a while, I learned to walk and remain invisible. I learned later on that I could turn other stuff invisible. I had fun making my mom think she had lost her car keys for atleast thirty minutes.”
Matt chuckled at the memory.
“I guess it’s my turn.”
People looked at where Chewyy should have been but Matt was keeping him cloaked still. Chewwy didn’t realize this and continued talking.
“I was doing my pre-calc homework when the weird stuff started happening to me. I was about to do a problem when a number entered my head. I checked it on the calculator and saw that it was the same number that I had calculated in my head. I continued to do the problems without the calculator first and checked my answers on the calculator. All of the numbers were the same and they were all correct. I started to do my Chemistry homework without a calculator and all of the answers were correct. Im also starting to be able to recall things for no reason like there are 1326 lockers in our school or there are 353 steps in it. “
Mark cleared his throat and began to speak.
“Let’s not forget what I did. I ran like 50 yards in three seconds.”
He looked at each of them.
“All of the people that developed powers were in this room when PROJECT GENESIS was activated. Whatever that is. The point is that we all could possibly develop powers. I seem to be fast, Chewyy is super smart, Blake can control the weight of things, and Steven can control people. What do you guys think?”
The group began to argue. It was split almost even in who agreed and disagreed with Mark. There seemed to be no end to the bickering until someone yelled out.
“I think it possible!” Everyone turned to face Jessica. “I mean the only thing connecting all of you is this place and school and I doubt the school is doing this. The food is bad but not that bad.”
“I want a power!”
Jessica’s little sister Diana jumped up excitedly.
“I want to fly, or teleport, or shoot flames out of my hands, or control water! Is there a way to tell which power we will get?”
Mark shook his head. “The point I am trying to make is if we all gain powers, we need to control them. If our powers go crazy, we might kill someone.”
“What do you think we should do?” asked Katie.
“To simply put it, I think we should train.”
“What kind of training develops superpowers?” Zach inquired.
Ten minutes later and they were playing tag in the woods. They were running around franticly. Some people complained that it would not be fair since s four people had super powers. Steven would tell people to stop running and tag them. He also made it impossible for the person to tag him back. Matt cloaked himself and he was only tagged when someone would barrel through him as they ran or he would run into them if he was not looking. Chewyy’s power sadly did not help him too much but he was starting to be able to track people by looking at his surrounding environment. Blake weighed people down with his power and made it impossible for them to escape. This is how Mark got caught. He had been out running people and even Steven’s power could not affect him.
“Got you Mark.”
Blake walked up to Mark. Mark could not move at all. He was flat on the ground with his face up. Blake knelt down beside him and poked him in the chest.
“You’re it.”
Blake ran away keeping Mark on the ground until he could not hold him down any longer. Mark got up, looked around, spotted Jake, and ran for him. Jake had no hope of escape. Mark came to a stop in front of Jake within a few seconds. Mark had practiced stopping so he would not trip over himself while he tried to stop.
“Oh crap.”
Mark smiled as Jake started to turn around but Mark poked him in the shoulder. Jake’s arm twitched and he fell to the ground. He screamed about being shocked by something. Everyone ran to Jake as Mark kneeled to make sure his friend was ok. The group formed a circle around the two.
A lot of them asked, “What happened?”
Mark only responded with, “I shocked him somehow.”
“That was not a shock,” argued Jake, ”It felt like my arm had been electrocuted.”
“Sorry Jake, I don’t know what happened.”
“I may have an idea.”
Mark looked at Chewyy with a puzzled look.
“Wait…. How?”
“Mark you told me that on Sunday you shocked your dad and electrical appliances malfunctioned around you.”
“Yeah. So…...”
“Well there is a possibility that you don’t run fast because of your power. You run fast because your body’s electrical impulses have sped up.”
“Ok. But how does that explain shocking people and messing up appliances.”
“Your body’s electrical impulses would have created a magnetic field around you. This would mess up the electrical appliances. You shock people because your body produces a large electrical charge. Your body needed time to get used to your power so it could control it.”
“You got all this from me shocking people and running fast but I’m not shocking Jake right now.”
Chewyy nodded. “Of course I will need to test it. You may only shock people after you have been running around for a while.”
“And how do you suppose we do that?”
“We can start by trying to charge up the battery that’s in the compound.”
Superpower 6
Mark was going to be late for school. His mom woke up late which in turn made him late. It didn’t help that he had stayed up late studying for an in class history essay. He pulled into his parking spot at 7:57. There was no way to get to band in 3 minutes. He got out of his car and started to run. He might be able to persuade Mrs. Johnson to give him a working detention so it wouldn’t go on his record. He wanted to be one of those students that stood up at the awards night for having no detentions for all four years in high-school. He ran as fast as he could but he knew he wouldn’t make it.
Mark pushed himself and saw that the streetlight which had been green turned yellow. He put on a burst of speed and he ran for it. Before he knew it, he had reached the other side of the light. He stopped for a second a looked back.
“Woh.”
He had been at least fifty yards from the light when it was yellow. Mark turned back and continued to run. This time Mark noticed a change in his running speed. It changed after he ran for a few seconds and before he knew it he was trying to stop himself in front of the school. He ran into the band room seconds before the bell rang. He rushed to get his stuff and ran up to the percussion.
“Why were you so late?”
Band was over and Mark was walking next to Zach.
“Woke up really late. Had to run here.”
“When did you get here?”
“Three minutes till eight.”
“You ran from west campus to here in three minutes?”
“Yeah.”
“No way. Not possible. Your clock must have been fast.”
“I’m telling you I ran.”
“Yeah well see you later.”
“See ya.”
The day passed quickly enough. Mark was dreading the history essay. He had studied but he was a slow writer and never had enough time to write all of his ideas. Before the class started Mark talked with his friends and tried to calm himself done. The bell rang for the start of class. Mark sat down, got out his pen and prepared to write. Mr. Thorn passed out the essay prompt. Mark looked at what the question asked
“What aspects of the 1920’s helped start the women’s rights movement?”
Mark was happy about the question because he had studied the topic heavily since they talked about it for two days straight. Mark wrote as fast as he could while making sure he did not misspell something or misquote someone. When he finished, he had written about two pages of information. He looked at the clock and in his astonishment there were still thirty minutes left in the period. He looked at the paper and did not know what to do. He looked at everyone else and saw them writing feverishly. Some looked like they had not even finished a front part of a piece of paper.
What’s going on? he thought.
First I ran fast and now I write fast. Something is going on.
For the rest of the period, Mark checked his work and corrected what he thought was wrong. Mark was sitting, wondering what was going on with him. He was happy when the bell rang. He got up, turned his paper in, and walked outside and waited for his friends. Chewy was the first one out.
“How do you think it was?”
“It was easy, but I didn’t have enough time to include the fact that women were given empowerment in the 1940’s because of World War 2.”
“You do realize Chewy that it asked for the 1920’s only.”
“Yeah, but that stuff had a big impact too.”
“Ok. Josh and Matt how did you do?
“Eh. Ok. I know I missed some key points.” replied Josh.
“It was easy but I didn’t have enough time to write down all that I wanted.” said Matt, “how did you do Mark?”
“I got done really early, so I just checked over it.”
“How did you get done early?”
“I wrote really fast.”
“How much did you write?”
“Almost two pages worth.”
None of them believed Mark. No one can write that fast and that much. Mark said goodbye and went to Chemistry. He listened to the teacher drone about atoms and moles. The teacher handed out a worksheet that was due at the end of class.
“You will need your calculators for this worksheet.”
Mark got his calculator and turned to his group. His group consisted of Laura Endris and Ryan Brennan. Mark liked both of them. He knew Laura from grade school and he had met Ryan at summer camp. The three were worked well together and no one had trouble understanding what they learned in class.
“What did you get for number 4, Laura?
“Um, 4x10^-3 moles.”
“Ok. That’s what I got.”
“Do you understand number 5?”
Mark read the problem, tried a few calculations, and gave an answer. They continued working for ten more minutes. Since they finished before the end of class, they had free time and Mark walked around. He went over to talk to Chewy and Steven because they were both done with the worksheet too.
“How did you do on the worksheet?”
“Chewy did all of the calculations in his head.”
“What?! Did you really?”
“Yeah. The calculations were just really easy to do.”
“Well that’s…..” Mark stopped for a second.
“When did this start Chewy?”
“What do you mean?”
“You being able to do crazy math in your head.”
“Um….. Around Monday. Why?”
“Because that’s really weird and weird stuff is happening to me. What about you Steven?”
“Eh. Not much unless you consider people do whatever I ask them.”
“What?”
“My mom doesn’t argue with me when I ask for something and I got free extra credit in math.”
“Maybe your teacher is really nice.”
“I’m the only one who got it.”
“Prove it.”
“Chewy, give me five dollars.”
Chewy instantly took out his wallet and gave Steven five dollars. Mark did not notice anything weird except for Chewy’s eyes. They were glazed over and stared blankly. Mark’s mouth dropped open as this happened. After Chewy gave Steven gave bill, he returned to normal and looked around.
“What happened? Mark why do you have that look on your face?”
Mark stared at Steven, who nodded and continued.
“They never remember afterwards.”
“That’s crazy! When did this start?”
“Around Tuesday.”
“So people do whatever you say and Chewy has a freakin calculator for a brain. What going on?”
“I don’t know. What do you think we should do?”
“Nothing until Friday when we all go back to the base. Everyone will be there and no one will be able to overhear us.”
The bell rang and the three walked out of class.
“What we can do,” Mark continued, “ is talk to everyone and see if weird stuff is happening to them.”
“What if weird stuff has been happening?” asked Chewy.
“Tell them to not draw attention to themselves. The worst thing is someone finding out and freaking out. Ok, well I got to go. I have to clean the basement before my mom gets home.”
Mark said goodbye and went to his locker. He opened the door of his locker and stopped it as it sprang back. He got his books and hurried out. He said goodbye to the friends he saw on the way, but didn’t stop because if he didn’t clean the basement, his mother probably would not let him go out Friday. Mark got to his house and ran to the basement.
It was a mess. Videogames lay across the floor and controllers were tangled together. Mark worked fast to clean up the basement. He filed the games by game systems, untangled the wires, and placed the controllers on their respective game systems. When he finished, he looked at the clock and realized he had spent only seven minutes cleaning the basement. Mark walked back upstairs to finish his homework. The rest of his night was uneventful. He ate dinner with his family and watched television with his dad. Mark went to bed around ten thirty.
Thursday passed without incident. Mark talked with his friends to see if anyone else was experiencing weird stuff. Some had, but not all of them. Mark told each of them to not draw attention and to make sure they come to the base on Friday. Mark went to sleep Thursday happy and excited about Friday.
School on Friday passed quickly. Mark was late leaving Chemistry because he had to clean up a lab that they had done. He carefully put away the acids and the beakers. Mark walked downstairs to his locker, got his books, and went to his car. As he neared the parking lot, Mark noticed a group of people in the lot. Mark was able to make out the two groups. One was his friends and the other was Zane and his crew. Mark could hear yelling. Somebody was on the ground and they were not moving. Mark started to walk fast when he saw Jessica take a step forward and yell something at Zane. Mark went into a dead sprint, when he saw Zane back fist Jessica across the face. Zane was about to kick her in the face when Mark rammed his body into Zane’s. Mark had covered the distance of what looked like half a football field in a span of two seconds. Zane was launched across the lot. He skidded to a stop and didn’t get up.
Mark looked at the body on the ground and saw that it was Blake. Mark checked Blake to see if he was alright. Blake had a bloody nose and a cut under his left eye. Mark stood back up and turned towards Zane’s crew.
“All of you take Zane and leave.”
The crew stood there for a second with fear in their eyes. Mark took a step forward and they all ran away. Some picked up Zane as they ran. Mark turned around to see Jessica getting up.
“What exactly happened?”
“Zane was picking on Blake and Blake tried to defend himself. The next thing I knew Zane had punched Blake in the face two times. I was walking to my car when I saw this happen. Zane’s goons were holding Blake while Zane punched him.”
“That explains Blake but what did you do to piss of Zane?”
“I called him a cock- sucking coward who beat up people because he has low self- esteem and a small penis.”
Mark started to laugh. He could not believe it. Only Jessica would say that stuff to a mobsters son.
“So he hit you because of that?”
“Pretty much.”
Jessica smiled and Mark turned to his friends. They all looked stunned at what happened. Tyler was the first one to speak up.
“Mark what the hell just happened?”
“Well….” Mark looked for the right words “ I think it would be better if we talked about this back at the base.”
“Why?”
“Because I think we have superpowers.”
Mark pushed himself and saw that the streetlight which had been green turned yellow. He put on a burst of speed and he ran for it. Before he knew it, he had reached the other side of the light. He stopped for a second a looked back.
“Woh.”
He had been at least fifty yards from the light when it was yellow. Mark turned back and continued to run. This time Mark noticed a change in his running speed. It changed after he ran for a few seconds and before he knew it he was trying to stop himself in front of the school. He ran into the band room seconds before the bell rang. He rushed to get his stuff and ran up to the percussion.
“Why were you so late?”
Band was over and Mark was walking next to Zach.
“Woke up really late. Had to run here.”
“When did you get here?”
“Three minutes till eight.”
“You ran from west campus to here in three minutes?”
“Yeah.”
“No way. Not possible. Your clock must have been fast.”
“I’m telling you I ran.”
“Yeah well see you later.”
“See ya.”
The day passed quickly enough. Mark was dreading the history essay. He had studied but he was a slow writer and never had enough time to write all of his ideas. Before the class started Mark talked with his friends and tried to calm himself done. The bell rang for the start of class. Mark sat down, got out his pen and prepared to write. Mr. Thorn passed out the essay prompt. Mark looked at what the question asked
“What aspects of the 1920’s helped start the women’s rights movement?”
Mark was happy about the question because he had studied the topic heavily since they talked about it for two days straight. Mark wrote as fast as he could while making sure he did not misspell something or misquote someone. When he finished, he had written about two pages of information. He looked at the clock and in his astonishment there were still thirty minutes left in the period. He looked at the paper and did not know what to do. He looked at everyone else and saw them writing feverishly. Some looked like they had not even finished a front part of a piece of paper.
What’s going on? he thought.
First I ran fast and now I write fast. Something is going on.
For the rest of the period, Mark checked his work and corrected what he thought was wrong. Mark was sitting, wondering what was going on with him. He was happy when the bell rang. He got up, turned his paper in, and walked outside and waited for his friends. Chewy was the first one out.
“How do you think it was?”
“It was easy, but I didn’t have enough time to include the fact that women were given empowerment in the 1940’s because of World War 2.”
“You do realize Chewy that it asked for the 1920’s only.”
“Yeah, but that stuff had a big impact too.”
“Ok. Josh and Matt how did you do?
“Eh. Ok. I know I missed some key points.” replied Josh.
“It was easy but I didn’t have enough time to write down all that I wanted.” said Matt, “how did you do Mark?”
“I got done really early, so I just checked over it.”
“How did you get done early?”
“I wrote really fast.”
“How much did you write?”
“Almost two pages worth.”
None of them believed Mark. No one can write that fast and that much. Mark said goodbye and went to Chemistry. He listened to the teacher drone about atoms and moles. The teacher handed out a worksheet that was due at the end of class.
“You will need your calculators for this worksheet.”
Mark got his calculator and turned to his group. His group consisted of Laura Endris and Ryan Brennan. Mark liked both of them. He knew Laura from grade school and he had met Ryan at summer camp. The three were worked well together and no one had trouble understanding what they learned in class.
“What did you get for number 4, Laura?
“Um, 4x10^-3 moles.”
“Ok. That’s what I got.”
“Do you understand number 5?”
Mark read the problem, tried a few calculations, and gave an answer. They continued working for ten more minutes. Since they finished before the end of class, they had free time and Mark walked around. He went over to talk to Chewy and Steven because they were both done with the worksheet too.
“How did you do on the worksheet?”
“Chewy did all of the calculations in his head.”
“What?! Did you really?”
“Yeah. The calculations were just really easy to do.”
“Well that’s…..” Mark stopped for a second.
“When did this start Chewy?”
“What do you mean?”
“You being able to do crazy math in your head.”
“Um….. Around Monday. Why?”
“Because that’s really weird and weird stuff is happening to me. What about you Steven?”
“Eh. Not much unless you consider people do whatever I ask them.”
“What?”
“My mom doesn’t argue with me when I ask for something and I got free extra credit in math.”
“Maybe your teacher is really nice.”
“I’m the only one who got it.”
“Prove it.”
“Chewy, give me five dollars.”
Chewy instantly took out his wallet and gave Steven five dollars. Mark did not notice anything weird except for Chewy’s eyes. They were glazed over and stared blankly. Mark’s mouth dropped open as this happened. After Chewy gave Steven gave bill, he returned to normal and looked around.
“What happened? Mark why do you have that look on your face?”
Mark stared at Steven, who nodded and continued.
“They never remember afterwards.”
“That’s crazy! When did this start?”
“Around Tuesday.”
“So people do whatever you say and Chewy has a freakin calculator for a brain. What going on?”
“I don’t know. What do you think we should do?”
“Nothing until Friday when we all go back to the base. Everyone will be there and no one will be able to overhear us.”
The bell rang and the three walked out of class.
“What we can do,” Mark continued, “ is talk to everyone and see if weird stuff is happening to them.”
“What if weird stuff has been happening?” asked Chewy.
“Tell them to not draw attention to themselves. The worst thing is someone finding out and freaking out. Ok, well I got to go. I have to clean the basement before my mom gets home.”
Mark said goodbye and went to his locker. He opened the door of his locker and stopped it as it sprang back. He got his books and hurried out. He said goodbye to the friends he saw on the way, but didn’t stop because if he didn’t clean the basement, his mother probably would not let him go out Friday. Mark got to his house and ran to the basement.
It was a mess. Videogames lay across the floor and controllers were tangled together. Mark worked fast to clean up the basement. He filed the games by game systems, untangled the wires, and placed the controllers on their respective game systems. When he finished, he looked at the clock and realized he had spent only seven minutes cleaning the basement. Mark walked back upstairs to finish his homework. The rest of his night was uneventful. He ate dinner with his family and watched television with his dad. Mark went to bed around ten thirty.
Thursday passed without incident. Mark talked with his friends to see if anyone else was experiencing weird stuff. Some had, but not all of them. Mark told each of them to not draw attention and to make sure they come to the base on Friday. Mark went to sleep Thursday happy and excited about Friday.
School on Friday passed quickly. Mark was late leaving Chemistry because he had to clean up a lab that they had done. He carefully put away the acids and the beakers. Mark walked downstairs to his locker, got his books, and went to his car. As he neared the parking lot, Mark noticed a group of people in the lot. Mark was able to make out the two groups. One was his friends and the other was Zane and his crew. Mark could hear yelling. Somebody was on the ground and they were not moving. Mark started to walk fast when he saw Jessica take a step forward and yell something at Zane. Mark went into a dead sprint, when he saw Zane back fist Jessica across the face. Zane was about to kick her in the face when Mark rammed his body into Zane’s. Mark had covered the distance of what looked like half a football field in a span of two seconds. Zane was launched across the lot. He skidded to a stop and didn’t get up.
Mark looked at the body on the ground and saw that it was Blake. Mark checked Blake to see if he was alright. Blake had a bloody nose and a cut under his left eye. Mark stood back up and turned towards Zane’s crew.
“All of you take Zane and leave.”
The crew stood there for a second with fear in their eyes. Mark took a step forward and they all ran away. Some picked up Zane as they ran. Mark turned around to see Jessica getting up.
“What exactly happened?”
“Zane was picking on Blake and Blake tried to defend himself. The next thing I knew Zane had punched Blake in the face two times. I was walking to my car when I saw this happen. Zane’s goons were holding Blake while Zane punched him.”
“That explains Blake but what did you do to piss of Zane?”
“I called him a cock- sucking coward who beat up people because he has low self- esteem and a small penis.”
Mark started to laugh. He could not believe it. Only Jessica would say that stuff to a mobsters son.
“So he hit you because of that?”
“Pretty much.”
Jessica smiled and Mark turned to his friends. They all looked stunned at what happened. Tyler was the first one to speak up.
“Mark what the hell just happened?”
“Well….” Mark looked for the right words “ I think it would be better if we talked about this back at the base.”
“Why?”
“Because I think we have superpowers.”
Superpower 5
“Honey wake up.”
Mark’s mom shook him awake. Mark bolted awake. He hadn’t slept well and he was still really tired. He slowly got up, dressed, and went down stairs. He sat down in his chair across from his dad and waited as his mom placed two pieces of toast in front of him. He slowly ate the toast while reading the comics from the newspaper.
“Any tests today?” asked his dad.
“I have a chemistry test but it should be easy.”
“That’s good. Anything after school?”
“No. Keyclub is only on Thursday and math team is on Tuesday.”
“Okay, well we can watch shows while we eat then.”
Mark shook his head in agreement and got up from the table to go brush his teeth. Mark walked upstairs and brushed his teeth. He put his contacts in walked back downstairs to get his book bag. As he was about to leave the house he had to give his mom a hug.”
“Where’s dad?”
“I don’t know. He’s probably upstairs trying to hurry up. Call up to him.”
“Ok. Dad I’m going now!”
“Wait. I’ll be right down!” Mark’s dad raced down the stairs to give him a hug. Mark was afraid that his dad would trip down the stairs if he wasn’t careful. Mark got into his car and drove to school. He got there in about ten minutes, walked into the school and headed to the music room for band. All of the school’s musical classes and activities had been placed in one room after they school had changed the old band room into a weight room. There had been much debate about whether or not the school needed to make a weight room for girls when there was one across the street at the school’s west campus. Mark wasn’t surprised that the school had forced the band to move but that wasn’t what annoyed him the most. What annoyed him was that the weight room was barely used at all and now all of the music classes were in one room and even though the room was pretty big there was barely enough room for the two classes.
To Mark band was a joke. The easiest A that anyone could ever get. The teacher could teach the material but she didn’t command respect. Mark was late constantly last year but this year the teacher, Mrs. Johnson, had threatened them with detentions. Mark had been pissed because now he had to hurry to make sure he wasn’t late. Mark walked in and saw Zach working on homework. Mark smiled and walked over to him.
“What are you working on?”
“Pre-calc.”
“What problem are you on?”
“56. I’ve got two left. I can do this.”
M ark laughed a little and went to the band boxes to get his music. He had one of the bigger boxes for no reason. He was percussion and his instrument was always set up. All Mark kept in the locker was his folder that held all his music and his drum set. Over the next fifty minutes, Mark sat in band bored as hell. Nothing interesting went on. As the bell rang, Mark walked out and headed toward his locker. He put the combination in when a few lockers that were opened slammed to Mark’s right. People looked around wondering what happened while Mark hurriedly put in his combination to get his books. As Mark swung his locker open, it came back and hit him. Mark stumbled but regained his balance. He got his books for Pre- Calc and went to class.
The first part of the day passed without much excitement. The only thing out of the ordinary was that empty desks would slide towards him a little when he walked by. Mark was happy when the lunch bell rang. He walked out of his Theology class as fast as he could and went to lunch. The school said not to run to lunch but there were so many gaps where one could run that it was a stupid rule. As Mark reached the door to the commons he looked behind him and noticed that the closest person to him was about ten feet away. Mark had been the first one out the door but he was nowhere near the fastest kid. Mark turned around puzzled and continued to lunch.
Mark sat down at his usual spot and waited for his friends. They slowly came and sat around him. Only Matt, Josh, Tyler, Blake, and Steven were in his lunch shift. They laughed about random stuff that they remembered until Mark asked an important question.
“Has anything weird happened to anyone?”
“Well not anything to me, but a light post did fall down in my neighborhood.” Blake replied.
“That’s not that weird. It could have been hit by a car.”
“But that’s just the thing, the light part of the lamp post is the only part that fell down. The actual post stayed up. What can only break of the light part when it hits the lamp post?”
“That’s weird. Now that you mention it, my mom couldn’t find her keys so I helped her look for them. We looked over the whole house and I thought my mom was just being stupid, but right as I was leaving I found them on the counter, which was where we first looked. We had been looking for about ten minutes.” added Matt.
“What happened to you Mark?” asked Tyler.
“Well, yesterday electronic stuff kept shorting out and metal objects stuck to my skin. Today, electronics are fine, but metal objects keep coming at me. I have to protect myself because my locker swings at me as I open it and desk slide towards me. Has anything weird happened to the rest of you?”
Tyler, Josh, and Steven shook their heads.
“Maybe you’re sliding across the carpet too much Mark?” Steven joked.
“Actually, I did shock my dad when our hands touched as I took the comics from him yesterday.”
“I wonder what’s going on.”
“I have no idea. Maybe just random crap is going on and there are reasonable explanations for everything.”
Mark left the lunch room to go to the bathroom. As Mark left the bell rang and Mark went through the rest of the day. At the end, Mark collected the homework he had and went to the commons. He met up with the gang and they walked over to west campus. As they walked, Mark posed his question to the rest of his friends. None of them had something weird happen to them. Mark said his goodbyes to his friends and as he got into his car and left. The rest of the night was uneventful, but Mark still had trouble with metal sticking to his skin. Mark got to bed around eleven because he had trouble with his Pre- Calc. As Mark went to bed he thought again about the weird stuff that was happening and why it was happening. Yet, none of the incidents seemed related. Something might have been placed on top of the keys and maybe the light post was weakened during the tornadoes two years ago that destroyed half the town. Mark didn’t sleep well that night either
Mark’s mom shook him awake. Mark bolted awake. He hadn’t slept well and he was still really tired. He slowly got up, dressed, and went down stairs. He sat down in his chair across from his dad and waited as his mom placed two pieces of toast in front of him. He slowly ate the toast while reading the comics from the newspaper.
“Any tests today?” asked his dad.
“I have a chemistry test but it should be easy.”
“That’s good. Anything after school?”
“No. Keyclub is only on Thursday and math team is on Tuesday.”
“Okay, well we can watch shows while we eat then.”
Mark shook his head in agreement and got up from the table to go brush his teeth. Mark walked upstairs and brushed his teeth. He put his contacts in walked back downstairs to get his book bag. As he was about to leave the house he had to give his mom a hug.”
“Where’s dad?”
“I don’t know. He’s probably upstairs trying to hurry up. Call up to him.”
“Ok. Dad I’m going now!”
“Wait. I’ll be right down!” Mark’s dad raced down the stairs to give him a hug. Mark was afraid that his dad would trip down the stairs if he wasn’t careful. Mark got into his car and drove to school. He got there in about ten minutes, walked into the school and headed to the music room for band. All of the school’s musical classes and activities had been placed in one room after they school had changed the old band room into a weight room. There had been much debate about whether or not the school needed to make a weight room for girls when there was one across the street at the school’s west campus. Mark wasn’t surprised that the school had forced the band to move but that wasn’t what annoyed him the most. What annoyed him was that the weight room was barely used at all and now all of the music classes were in one room and even though the room was pretty big there was barely enough room for the two classes.
To Mark band was a joke. The easiest A that anyone could ever get. The teacher could teach the material but she didn’t command respect. Mark was late constantly last year but this year the teacher, Mrs. Johnson, had threatened them with detentions. Mark had been pissed because now he had to hurry to make sure he wasn’t late. Mark walked in and saw Zach working on homework. Mark smiled and walked over to him.
“What are you working on?”
“Pre-calc.”
“What problem are you on?”
“56. I’ve got two left. I can do this.”
M ark laughed a little and went to the band boxes to get his music. He had one of the bigger boxes for no reason. He was percussion and his instrument was always set up. All Mark kept in the locker was his folder that held all his music and his drum set. Over the next fifty minutes, Mark sat in band bored as hell. Nothing interesting went on. As the bell rang, Mark walked out and headed toward his locker. He put the combination in when a few lockers that were opened slammed to Mark’s right. People looked around wondering what happened while Mark hurriedly put in his combination to get his books. As Mark swung his locker open, it came back and hit him. Mark stumbled but regained his balance. He got his books for Pre- Calc and went to class.
The first part of the day passed without much excitement. The only thing out of the ordinary was that empty desks would slide towards him a little when he walked by. Mark was happy when the lunch bell rang. He walked out of his Theology class as fast as he could and went to lunch. The school said not to run to lunch but there were so many gaps where one could run that it was a stupid rule. As Mark reached the door to the commons he looked behind him and noticed that the closest person to him was about ten feet away. Mark had been the first one out the door but he was nowhere near the fastest kid. Mark turned around puzzled and continued to lunch.
Mark sat down at his usual spot and waited for his friends. They slowly came and sat around him. Only Matt, Josh, Tyler, Blake, and Steven were in his lunch shift. They laughed about random stuff that they remembered until Mark asked an important question.
“Has anything weird happened to anyone?”
“Well not anything to me, but a light post did fall down in my neighborhood.” Blake replied.
“That’s not that weird. It could have been hit by a car.”
“But that’s just the thing, the light part of the lamp post is the only part that fell down. The actual post stayed up. What can only break of the light part when it hits the lamp post?”
“That’s weird. Now that you mention it, my mom couldn’t find her keys so I helped her look for them. We looked over the whole house and I thought my mom was just being stupid, but right as I was leaving I found them on the counter, which was where we first looked. We had been looking for about ten minutes.” added Matt.
“What happened to you Mark?” asked Tyler.
“Well, yesterday electronic stuff kept shorting out and metal objects stuck to my skin. Today, electronics are fine, but metal objects keep coming at me. I have to protect myself because my locker swings at me as I open it and desk slide towards me. Has anything weird happened to the rest of you?”
Tyler, Josh, and Steven shook their heads.
“Maybe you’re sliding across the carpet too much Mark?” Steven joked.
“Actually, I did shock my dad when our hands touched as I took the comics from him yesterday.”
“I wonder what’s going on.”
“I have no idea. Maybe just random crap is going on and there are reasonable explanations for everything.”
Mark left the lunch room to go to the bathroom. As Mark left the bell rang and Mark went through the rest of the day. At the end, Mark collected the homework he had and went to the commons. He met up with the gang and they walked over to west campus. As they walked, Mark posed his question to the rest of his friends. None of them had something weird happen to them. Mark said his goodbyes to his friends and as he got into his car and left. The rest of the night was uneventful, but Mark still had trouble with metal sticking to his skin. Mark got to bed around eleven because he had trouble with his Pre- Calc. As Mark went to bed he thought again about the weird stuff that was happening and why it was happening. Yet, none of the incidents seemed related. Something might have been placed on top of the keys and maybe the light post was weakened during the tornadoes two years ago that destroyed half the town. Mark didn’t sleep well that night either
Superpower 4
Mark was woken up by his mom at eight. Church was at nine thirty and he had to shower. As Mark got up he noticed that his stereo was off. He could see that the stereo’s tab was at the on position. Mark moved to examine the stereo when suddenly a spark jumped from Mark’s arm to the stereo.
“What the??”
Mark was startled as the stereo turned on and started to load the cd. “Stupid piece of shit.”
Mark turned off the stereo and grabbed some clothes and headed for the shower. When he got to the bathroom he flipped the light switch but nothing happened.
“Come on. Why is this happening?”
He kept flipping the switch until the light finally turned on. Mark took a fast shower and dressed for Church. He walked downstairs and went to the kitchen. His mom was eating a yogurt and his dad was reading the newspaper.
“Can I have the comics?”
His dad handed the comics but as their hands touched a spark arced between them.
“Ouch.” Both Mark and his dad drew back their hands and looked at each other.
“Sorry dad. Didn’t mean to shock you.”
“It’s alright. What time did you get in?”
“Around one. Sorry, the time on my cell phone was messed up for some reason.”
“Well at least you got home safely. What did you do at Jessica’s house?”
“We went walking in the woods and found a field that had a great view of the sky.” Mark had thought up the lie while driving home. He knew his parents would ask him what he did.
His father seemed content so Mark poured some orange juice and toasted some bagels. Mark opened the refrigerator to get some cream cheese. He spread the cream cheese across the bagels with a knife but as he tried to put the knife down he noticed that the knife stuck to his hand. He waved his hand around but had to pull the knife off with his other hand except when he tried to put the knife down again it was stuck to his other hand. After switching the knife between both of his hands for a while he took a napkin and wrapped it around the knife and dropped it in the dish washer. He threw the napkin away and went to sit at the table.
Mark ate and read the comics until it was time to go to church. Mark sat in the back of the car as his parents got situated in the front. His father put the keys into the ignition and turned the keys. The car sputtered and then died.
“Not now.” Mark’s dad tried a second and third time but the car wouldn’t turn on. Mark’s dad started to get frustrated until Mark’s mom calmed him down.
“Calm down. We don’t have time for this. Let’s take the ford.”
“Did someone leave the lights on?” He looked at Mark accusingly.
“Dad I haven’t driven this car for a week.”
“Well we’ll just have to look at it when we get back. For now let’s take the Ford. Do you have the keys, Mark?”
“Yeah I do.”
They got out of the car and piled into the ford with Mark at the wheel. As Mark turned the keys , a sudden shock ran up his arm. Mark pulled his arm back.
“What the heck is going on?” he wondered.
“Mark we need to go.” nagged his mother.
“Yeah…. okay.” Mark pulled out of the drive way and drove to church. Mark had to watch his speed because he didn’t want to get yelled at by his parents. He usually went at least 5 over the speed limit and 10 if he felt comfortable. It took about 10 minutes to get to the church. Mark pulled into a parking spot and turned off the car. He looked at the church as they walked up to it. It had one big bell tower that had a walkway underneath it. It was the only thing Mark liked about the church. The rest was brown and red and not much else. Mark was bored the entire mass. It was the same thing every week. “Love Jesus. Don’t do bad things and bad things won’t happen to you. And if they do, there’s a good reason for them.” The only good thing about mass was the prospect of seeing Loscher, Pham, Jake, or Zach after it.
Mark almost fell asleep during the homily. His mom kept nudging him to stay awake. Finally after forty five minutes, it was over. As Mark walked out he spotted Pham and Jake to his left.
“Hey guys what’s been happening with you?”
“Nothing much.” replied Pham.
“Dido.” Jake coined in.
“What’s going on today?”
“Don’t know. I know I can’t do anything because I got a shit load of homework to do.”
“What about you Pham?”
“Same.”
“Just another boring old Sunday.”
Both Pham and Jake agreed.
The three walked out following their parents but they were far enough away were they were free to talk about the base.
“So who do you think made it?” asked Pham.
“Even though you’ll think I’m crazy, I think Josh was to something.”
“What you mean the superhero or supervillain making the base.”
“Yeah. It really is the only explanation that makes sense. What, do you think the Indians made it? Because no Indians that I know of can make those things?”
“Well what about aliens?” inquired Jake.
“Yeah like aliens would make a base that was tuned to Blake’s hand print.”
“Maybe the Aliens were idiots?”
“Well I was talking about how Blake was human but that idea seems reasonable?”
The friends laughed and each went to their separate vehicles. Mark drove home and went to work on his homework. He had a Research Paper on Earnest Hemingway due in April but the teacher already wanted a list of possible sources. Mark had five books and now he needed to create a possible bibliography from the sources. Thankfully Mark had kept his old English grammar book which had the format he needed. After three hours of doing homework, Mark was finally done. Mark went looking for his mother because he was hungry and he didn’t want to cook for himself. He found his mother in the family room asleep. Mark decided to go look for his dad. Mark found him in the computer room playing Free Cell.
“Dad what’s for lunch?”
“I suppose we could have some ramen.”
Mark stood near his dad rocking on his heels.
“You want me to make them don’t you?”
“Yes please!” Mark replied happily.
“Just let me finish this game.”
“Ok.” Mark waited around his dad to make sure he would make food after his game. Mark went downstairs after his dad and watched whatever his mom was watching before she fell asleep. It turned out to be a mystery movie. Mark had no idea what was going on but he decided to watch it until the ramen was done.
“Want to watch a show while we eat?” Mark asked his dad.
“Sure.”
Mark spent the next two hours watching tv shows with his dad. Mark went upstairs to put his stuff in the dish washer but the spoon stuck to his hand. After a few minutes of trying to get the spoon off, Mark resorted to using the napkin again. Afterwords his dad went back upstairs to go back on the computer and Mark was left all alone.
Mark decided to play video games. Mark went down into his basement and was about to push the button but stopped. He hesitated. He didn’t know if he would be shocked again and he didn’t know what would happen to his PS2. He slowly switched the power on and nothing bad happened. Mark let out a sigh and started his game. He played the game until his mom called him up to eat dinner.
“Have a nice nap?” Mark asked.
“Very much so.”
Mark ate dinner with his parents at the table. He usually did not like to but they had missed Wednesday, which is the day they usually eat at the table, so he decided to make his mom happy. Once again as Mark was putting away his silverware, the fork and the knife stuck to him. He even somehow got the fork to stick to his arm. Mark made sure his parents did not see it. He used a napkin to get them both into the dishwasher. Afterwards, Mark took a shower and went on the computer. He checked his Facebook and talked with some friends online.
Mark got ready to go to bed around ten thirty. He said good night to his parents and went to bed. As he lay in bed he thought about what happened to him today. He wondered why he was able to touch electronic things again but metal still stuck to him. He tried to think of a reason that would cause these things but could not come up with one. Mark had a fitful sleep that night.
“What the??”
Mark was startled as the stereo turned on and started to load the cd. “Stupid piece of shit.”
Mark turned off the stereo and grabbed some clothes and headed for the shower. When he got to the bathroom he flipped the light switch but nothing happened.
“Come on. Why is this happening?”
He kept flipping the switch until the light finally turned on. Mark took a fast shower and dressed for Church. He walked downstairs and went to the kitchen. His mom was eating a yogurt and his dad was reading the newspaper.
“Can I have the comics?”
His dad handed the comics but as their hands touched a spark arced between them.
“Ouch.” Both Mark and his dad drew back their hands and looked at each other.
“Sorry dad. Didn’t mean to shock you.”
“It’s alright. What time did you get in?”
“Around one. Sorry, the time on my cell phone was messed up for some reason.”
“Well at least you got home safely. What did you do at Jessica’s house?”
“We went walking in the woods and found a field that had a great view of the sky.” Mark had thought up the lie while driving home. He knew his parents would ask him what he did.
His father seemed content so Mark poured some orange juice and toasted some bagels. Mark opened the refrigerator to get some cream cheese. He spread the cream cheese across the bagels with a knife but as he tried to put the knife down he noticed that the knife stuck to his hand. He waved his hand around but had to pull the knife off with his other hand except when he tried to put the knife down again it was stuck to his other hand. After switching the knife between both of his hands for a while he took a napkin and wrapped it around the knife and dropped it in the dish washer. He threw the napkin away and went to sit at the table.
Mark ate and read the comics until it was time to go to church. Mark sat in the back of the car as his parents got situated in the front. His father put the keys into the ignition and turned the keys. The car sputtered and then died.
“Not now.” Mark’s dad tried a second and third time but the car wouldn’t turn on. Mark’s dad started to get frustrated until Mark’s mom calmed him down.
“Calm down. We don’t have time for this. Let’s take the ford.”
“Did someone leave the lights on?” He looked at Mark accusingly.
“Dad I haven’t driven this car for a week.”
“Well we’ll just have to look at it when we get back. For now let’s take the Ford. Do you have the keys, Mark?”
“Yeah I do.”
They got out of the car and piled into the ford with Mark at the wheel. As Mark turned the keys , a sudden shock ran up his arm. Mark pulled his arm back.
“What the heck is going on?” he wondered.
“Mark we need to go.” nagged his mother.
“Yeah…. okay.” Mark pulled out of the drive way and drove to church. Mark had to watch his speed because he didn’t want to get yelled at by his parents. He usually went at least 5 over the speed limit and 10 if he felt comfortable. It took about 10 minutes to get to the church. Mark pulled into a parking spot and turned off the car. He looked at the church as they walked up to it. It had one big bell tower that had a walkway underneath it. It was the only thing Mark liked about the church. The rest was brown and red and not much else. Mark was bored the entire mass. It was the same thing every week. “Love Jesus. Don’t do bad things and bad things won’t happen to you. And if they do, there’s a good reason for them.” The only good thing about mass was the prospect of seeing Loscher, Pham, Jake, or Zach after it.
Mark almost fell asleep during the homily. His mom kept nudging him to stay awake. Finally after forty five minutes, it was over. As Mark walked out he spotted Pham and Jake to his left.
“Hey guys what’s been happening with you?”
“Nothing much.” replied Pham.
“Dido.” Jake coined in.
“What’s going on today?”
“Don’t know. I know I can’t do anything because I got a shit load of homework to do.”
“What about you Pham?”
“Same.”
“Just another boring old Sunday.”
Both Pham and Jake agreed.
The three walked out following their parents but they were far enough away were they were free to talk about the base.
“So who do you think made it?” asked Pham.
“Even though you’ll think I’m crazy, I think Josh was to something.”
“What you mean the superhero or supervillain making the base.”
“Yeah. It really is the only explanation that makes sense. What, do you think the Indians made it? Because no Indians that I know of can make those things?”
“Well what about aliens?” inquired Jake.
“Yeah like aliens would make a base that was tuned to Blake’s hand print.”
“Maybe the Aliens were idiots?”
“Well I was talking about how Blake was human but that idea seems reasonable?”
The friends laughed and each went to their separate vehicles. Mark drove home and went to work on his homework. He had a Research Paper on Earnest Hemingway due in April but the teacher already wanted a list of possible sources. Mark had five books and now he needed to create a possible bibliography from the sources. Thankfully Mark had kept his old English grammar book which had the format he needed. After three hours of doing homework, Mark was finally done. Mark went looking for his mother because he was hungry and he didn’t want to cook for himself. He found his mother in the family room asleep. Mark decided to go look for his dad. Mark found him in the computer room playing Free Cell.
“Dad what’s for lunch?”
“I suppose we could have some ramen.”
Mark stood near his dad rocking on his heels.
“You want me to make them don’t you?”
“Yes please!” Mark replied happily.
“Just let me finish this game.”
“Ok.” Mark waited around his dad to make sure he would make food after his game. Mark went downstairs after his dad and watched whatever his mom was watching before she fell asleep. It turned out to be a mystery movie. Mark had no idea what was going on but he decided to watch it until the ramen was done.
“Want to watch a show while we eat?” Mark asked his dad.
“Sure.”
Mark spent the next two hours watching tv shows with his dad. Mark went upstairs to put his stuff in the dish washer but the spoon stuck to his hand. After a few minutes of trying to get the spoon off, Mark resorted to using the napkin again. Afterwords his dad went back upstairs to go back on the computer and Mark was left all alone.
Mark decided to play video games. Mark went down into his basement and was about to push the button but stopped. He hesitated. He didn’t know if he would be shocked again and he didn’t know what would happen to his PS2. He slowly switched the power on and nothing bad happened. Mark let out a sigh and started his game. He played the game until his mom called him up to eat dinner.
“Have a nice nap?” Mark asked.
“Very much so.”
Mark ate dinner with his parents at the table. He usually did not like to but they had missed Wednesday, which is the day they usually eat at the table, so he decided to make his mom happy. Once again as Mark was putting away his silverware, the fork and the knife stuck to him. He even somehow got the fork to stick to his arm. Mark made sure his parents did not see it. He used a napkin to get them both into the dishwasher. Afterwards, Mark took a shower and went on the computer. He checked his Facebook and talked with some friends online.
Mark got ready to go to bed around ten thirty. He said good night to his parents and went to bed. As he lay in bed he thought about what happened to him today. He wondered why he was able to touch electronic things again but metal still stuck to him. He tried to think of a reason that would cause these things but could not come up with one. Mark had a fitful sleep that night.
Tuesday, December 8, 2009
Arduino Project
So on December Seventh my group THA RESISTANCE displayed our arduino project. Our project was a car that was controlled by a wii-nunchuck. It didnt not work for the first five minutes since our Arduino board broke. I actually burned my finger. Thankfully another group allowed us to use theirs. After moving our arduino board around our project worked for about ten seconds. Trust me this is what I had expected. The connection from the wii-nunchuck to the board was faulty.
This project annoyed me. I literally spent five hours at my girlfriend's house working with her dad, who is a programmer, to try and find a program that worked. We eventually did and I was happy with it. However when I got back to school the program kept messing up. I looked on the internet trying to figure out what was wrong. I never did find out what was wrong which frustrates me but everything is ok.
I enjoyed this project even though there arose some problems with it. I learned more about programming and it was really cool to see the car move even if it was for a short while.
The other projects were cool too. A lot dealt with light sensors, which told motors to move. I think the projects showed how adaptable we are. I am an Aerospace engineer and no idea how to program but this gave me a taste of it.
iFoundry
As it nears the end of the semester I think iFoundry has improved itself. At the beginning it was kind of weird because we had no idea what was expected of us or what we would be doing. I know I might be alone in this but I think everything was set up very well for the beginning of the year. In high school, I had been in two experimental classes. One was an AP history course and the other was an engineering course.
The history course was well prepared. I guess it would be hard to mess up a history course as long as you had some idea what you were teaching. The engineering course on the other hand was a complete mess. The teacher did not know what he was really doing and the kids did not respect him at all. They spent the time playing on the computers since we were in the computer room. The engineering that we learned about only dealt with computers and did not deal with other areas of engineering.
So overall I think iFoundry is a very good thing. It helped me meet people I normally would not have meet. It helped me become use to being part of a team on projects. I had a lot of fun the first semester and I can not wait for the second semester to begin.
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