Chapter 1: A Dream Deferred
"From the earliest days of man there has endured the conviction that there is an order of existence which is entirely strange to him. It does indeed seem that the strict order of the visible world is only a semblance, one providing certain gross materials which become the basis for subtle improvisations of invisible powers…"
- Thomas Ligotti, The Nightmare Factory
Today was the day.
For months Jack and Maddie Fenton worked almost solely in the basement laboratory beneath their house, only coming up for food or rest. The time spent there were full of dusty days, hours stuffed with calculation and re-calculation, soldering wires shut, clicking metal plates together, inching closer and closer towards the goal before them.
They spared no thought to the reality of the dream that eluded them, too busy with careful hypothesis and experimentation – a Carnacki-like couple dealing with a scientific field too unexplored, too steeped in myth.
Maddie went over a novella of numbers. Something as simple as carrying the one over could make an almost literal difference between life and death. As she flipped to another page, a series of quiet memories flashed –an old college colleague screaming years ago, clawing at radioactive grapeshot. The darkened look in Jack's eyes when they visited his best friend in the hospital, his mental turmoil barely contained behind a comforting smile.
She heard the metallic shlink of a soldering gun sliding off an iron table. Maddie turned around to see Jack, bearing a childish grin on his face.
"Just a few more wires, and we're done." Jack laughed, his guffaw echoing as he stepped back into a metallic half-dome. Safety glasses perched upon the top of his head.
Maddie smiled, her heart swelling. The reality of their task broke upon her, an ocean washing through her mind. She clasped her hands. "I can't believe it, Jack. This is going to change the world!"
She picked up a second soldering gun and followed him into the threshold of their invention. She placed the hood of her baby blue jumpsuit over her head, followed by thick red goggles.
"You said it, Mads!" Jack clicked the glasses over his eyes, and turned to a large panel. He opened up the main wireframe, a tangle of cords spilling out of the section. Flames flooshed out of their soldering guns, both scientists turning to their respective tasks. Sparks bounced across the cement base of the machine.
Towards the end of their soldering, they heard the familiar squeak of converse shoes upon the top step of the basement stairs.
"Hey Danny, come down here! We've got something to show you!" Jack yelled, looking up from his position.
A fourteen-year-old boy came down the stairs, his face apprehensive. Danny looked around at the mess around him.
Green ooze spilled around some Petri dishes upon the table near the stairs. A metal dog lay on its side at the opposite corner of the lab. Its jaw gaped full of sharpened teeth. A bundle of black, rubber cords snaked across the tile floor, leading right into the huge metal hole that filled up the back of the lab.
Maddie turned off the soldering gun, grinning at Jack. He beamed back in pride, turning off his own equipment. As she stepped out of the machine with the soldering gun and a wrench in tow, Jack quickly closed the main wire panel.
He would never realize the fatal mistake he just made.
Had he not been distracted by Danny's entrance into the lab, he would have noticed that he accidently crossed the wires for safety and power.
Maddie pulled out a graph from behind the cabinet as Jack placed the equipment on the table. Jack took out a pointing stick, and then moseyed over to the diagram.
"I'm sure you've been curious about what we've been working on for the past few months. Well, today is your lucky day!" Jack's exclaimed. He placed his pointer at the graph. "Say hello to the Fenton Ghost Portal!"
Danny took a look at the blueprints. Upon it a huge picture of a ghost came out of a hexagon shape, maw gaped open and eyes scowling in mid-snarl. Next to the diagram was a nondescript figure of a person, the scale showing it to be only half the size of the monster lunging towards it. 'Us' was the label applied to the human.
A childhood fear arose in him, even though he knew – or at least his sister insisted – that such things could not exist. He gulped.
"This is our secret project – an artificial gate that will lead us straight into the realms of another dimension," Maddie explained. "We'll be able to study ghosts in their natural habitat, and finally be able to catch and dissect one to learn their secrets!"
Danny blinked. "Is this why Jazz and I were banned from the basement?"
"Exactly!" Maddie said, "We couldn't risk someone getting hurt." She frowned, a finger resting on her cheek. "You know, it's a pity Jazz's studying in the library at the moment… think we should wait for her?"
Jack went over to the power plugs lying on the floor. "We've got no time to waste! Let's surprise her!" He rose his palm towards Danny's direction. "Stand back Danny," he grinned, "this could be dangerous."
Maddie went over to the control power next to the portal, fixing the gages to their proper places, and hitting a white button on the panel. Danny stepped back from the portal, heart beating a little fast. Still, he couldn't help but feel a little bit of excitement, caught up in the wave of his parent's enthusiasm.
Maddie proceeded to walk over to Jack as he held the two cords in his hands. They looked at each other, a quiet understanding flowing between them. All the years of research, all the theories, all the work… it was finally cumulating in this moment.
Jack plugged the two cords together.
The portal shot out white sparks, and then fizzled.
All three stared at the machine. A silence fell for a few moments.
Jack dropped the wires with a clunk. "I don't… I don't understand. It should be working now." His voice dripped with disappointment.
"I would say it's a miscalculation but I checked multiple times. This shouldn't be happening." Maddie frowned at the machine, as if staring it down would make it work. "Maybe it's a delay in the hardware?"
"Maybe…" Jack's voice trailed off, making it clear that he didn't believe it. For the first time since his childhood, a doubt had crept into his mind. What if those other scientists were right all along? What if ghosts didn't exist, and all those years of research had been for nothing?
It was a bitter pill to swallow.
Maddie came up to him, gentleness in her voice. "Come on, I have some fudge in the kitchen from my sister. Let's go up and figure out what happened."
Jack, normally enthusiastic about such things, merely nodded his head. "Sure."
They went up the stairs, hands trailing on the rail.
Danny continued to stare at the mouth of the portal for a few minutes, trying to see if he could work out the problem from an outside perspective. "What if it works after all?" he muttered to himself.
"So, are they ever going to change the sign back?" Sam asked. The Goth placed her arm upon the table, salad leaves limp within the bowl in front of her.
"Nah," Tucker chuckled, "Company couldn't find the original letter. Besides, they figured it was better to rebrand it than replace it."
Sam drummed her black chipped fingernails on the plastic table, eyebrows furrowed in thought. "You know, it's a nice change from the usual corporate rhetoric, but who the heck did it? They need a medal or something."
During the weekend, a group of high-school jocks decided to pull a spectacular prank on the town in a sort-of 'back to school' celebration. What most people didn't know was that the leader – a freshman known as Dash Baxter – had instigated the prank.
What even fewer people realized was that Dash – for all his many, many faults - was a bonne fide genius when it came to animatronic engineering.
He inherited this gift from his father, an engineer who specialized in amusement park rides. Dash took great pains to hide this particular trait - the sheer horror of being seen as a geek made him sick to his stomach.
Still, it had its uses he realized, and so he spent a week planning the prank and an even longer time constructing the sign. Upon showing the letter to his friends, his friends asked where Dash got it.
"Uh, the internet?" he answered.
They proceeded to go out into the middle of the night, switched the 'T' for Dash's neon sign, and then partied the rest of the night.
And ever since that day, the Tasty Burger became the Nasty Burger.
Tucker bit into his double-patty sandwich and shrugged. "Who knows. But hey, it adds a certain character to the place."
Danny joined Tucker and Sam at the table, sliding his tray onto the plastic sheen.
"What's up?" Tucker asked, looking up from his burger. A glob of ketchup fell near his PDA. Tucker dropped the burger, snatched the contraption up in horror, cradled it in his arms, and then snuck it back into the safe cavern of his canvas pants pocket.
Danny shrugged. "Nothing much." He picked at his fries with a fork.
Sam looked at him, a concerned look on her face. "Something wrong? You look kind of bummed out."
Danny dropped the fork onto his plate. "It's my parents. They've been working on this strange machine for awhile now – a ghost portal I think – and…"
"Wait – wait - wait. " Tucker gesticulated his hands in a pausing sign. "Hold it right there. A ghost portal?! That's so freaking cool! Why didn't you mention this before?" His eyes gleamed behind his glasses.
"I didn't know about it until yesterday. Besides," Danny's shoulders slumped, "it doesn't work anyway. I've never seen my parents so upset before. I wish I knew how to help them out." He looked out of the window wistfully.
Sam gestured with a fork in her hand. "Working or not, that's still very cool. I mean, ghosts? You should totally let us check out your parent's lab!"
Danny frowned and turned towards her. "No, absolutely not. They don't allow people down there. Besides, do you have any idea how many lectures I've had to sit through?"
He sat up, pointing his index finger to the sky. He put on a gruff imitation of his parents. " 'You might get into an accident, you might get contaminated, you might die…' " Danny put his hand down, "Also, Sam, you've been to our places. How come we haven't seen your house yet?"
Tucker leaned in. "Yeeeah Sam. You haven't told us a thing about what your place is like."
Sam shrugged, looking away in embarrassment. "Trust me, it's nothing special. I'll show you eventually, just not right now," she said a little quickly.
Tucker leaned back into his seat, picking up a fry. "Fair enough. Anyway, speaking of which –" Tucker looked back at Danny. "Still down to have us at your place after school?"
Danny nodded. "Yeah, that's fine. Got this new model I want to show off, and I think the math class is already kicking my butt." He laughed, "I'm gonna need all the help I can get."
"Congratulations, Fenton." The overweight, balding English teacher placed the pop quiz in front of Danny. "Seems like good grades run in the family." Mr. Lancer proceeded to continue down the aisles of students, handing out the results of the quiz to each one.
Danny held the test up, smiling a little. Suddenly he felt a smack at the back of his head. He held the back of his head, feeling something wet. Taking an easy guess at who threw the spitball, he turned around.
Dash sat at the back of the class, a cruel smile on his lips. His letter-jacketed arm hid his own test. Danny blanched and turned back towards the front of the class. Tucker noticed Danny's concern, and tried to give a comforting look.
"Be sure to start Hamlet for class next week, act one, scenes one to two. I don't want another class full of blank stares." Mr. Lancer picked up a plastic skull from his desk and held it up. "You will learn to appreciate the master of the English language, even if I have to cram it down your throats." The clock rang. Mr. Lancer placed the skull down. "Class dismissed!"
The students poured out of the classroom, chattering about weekend plans and gossip. Tucker, Sam, and Danny headed out into the hall; bags slumped on their backs.
"You sure you don't want us to see the lab?" Sam asked, "I mean, we'd only be down there for a few minutes."
"Yeah, come on dude. We'll be in and out, and no one will be the wiser." Tucker said.
"Well, I don't know…" Danny began.
Tucker and Sam clasped their hands in a mock form of pleading. "Pleeeease?" They said simultaneously.
Danny put a hand to his neck. "Fine, I suppose. I mean, my parents are going to be attending a short conference about EVP or something like that. I guess it wouldn't hurt to show you – but only for a few minutes."
"Yes!" Sam exclaimed. She went straight over to her locker and opened it up in one fluid motion. She grabbed an old Polaroid camera from inside, and hanged it around her neck. Danny raised an eyebrow.
"I figured while we were in your house I could take a few pictures. How many people can say they've been in a ghost lab before?" Sam said.
Danny shook his head. "If my parents find out I let you guys down there, they're going to ground me."
"Oh come on. It's just for my personal scrapbook. No one's going to know, trust me."
Danny looked down at the ground. "Fine."
"FENTON!" A nasal voice screamed at the end of the hall.
Danny sweated and took a step back. "Oh great, Dash."
The jock stomped over him, the quiz squashed within his meaty hand. He shoved the paper in Danny's face. Danny grabbed the paper and looked down at it. A large angry 'F' blared from the page.
"It's your family's fault I'm in 9th grade again," Dash continued, "So do you know how you're going to make me feel better?"
Danny took a step back, knowing exactly what was going to happen. He wished he had a way to disappear right then and there, but it was hard to do anything with his knees feeling like Jell-O.
Dash grinned. "By holding still while I wail on you!"
Dash grabbed Danny by the red circle on his t-shirt, opened his locker, and then shoved him in it. He slammed the door behind him, laughing as he left. He clapped his hands together to get the dust off. The other students that were watching turned back to their normal activities.
Shoving nerds down lockers was just another normal day in the halls of Casper High. There wasn't much the authorities would do about it, being so reliant on the money that came from sports – football in particular - to keep the school running.
In the dark, Danny tried to breathe under the weight of his legs crushing his ribs. He knew that it wasn't his family's fault for Dash's current situation – the dude never lifted a book in his life (unless it was for lifting weights). However, ever since Danny's parents crashed into the school last year, screaming about ghosts invading the area, Dash pinned the blame on Danny for his failure on an important exam. The fact they were now in the same class made it all the easier for Dash to take out his frustrations on him.
The worst part was that in reality the 'ghosts' were actually a couple of kids in white bed sheets. Someone thought it'd be hilarious to prank call Fenton Works during April Fool's Day.
Danny's pupils shrank as light poured in to the space. The locker door opened, and gravity forced his body to tumble straight onto the ground.
Sam placed the lock back onto the door. "Fourteen seconds. That's got to be a new record."
He got up, rubbing his head and frowning down the hall. "Thanks, Sam. Let's get out of here before Dash comes back for more."
They left the building, a droplet in a river of students. Conkers scattered across the sidewalk they crossed. As they went closer to Danny's house, Tucker gave a mischievous grin.
"Hey, how about a race? Last one to the door is a rotten egg!"
Danny grinned back. "Oh yeah? You're on."
"Three, two, one… GO!"
They both took off, leaves crunching beneath their feet. Sam shook her head in amusement. "Boys," she muttered. She held her bubbe's camera close to her chest, lest someone trip and break it.
Tucker made it to the door first, his hand pounding upon the purple wood. "I win!" He said in between pants.
"Only because you had a head start!" Danny exclaimed. He opened the door, only to be met by his sixteen-year-old sister.
"Hey Danny, know what's up with Mom and Dad? They seemed depressed when they left." Jazz asked. A bundle of books from Sigmund Freud and Solomon Asch rested in her arms.
"One of their inventions didn't work –they were working on a ghost portal, but it didn't turned on." Danny explained.
"I'm not surprised. I'm pretty sure half their inventions are Hieronymus machines anyway. I'm surprised the government still pays for them." Jazz flipped her red hair back, and headed out of the door. "Anyway, I'm about to make a breakthrough with one of the students so I might not be back for awhile – try not to get into trouble, okay?" With that, she closed the door.
"Soooo… basement first?" Tucker asked.
Danny shrugged. "Sure, why not? The sooner we get this over with the better."
Placing his hand upon the handle of the laboratory door, Danny couldn't shake the small sense of anxiety that suddenly seized his chest.
"Relax, it's just a tour of your parent's spooky lab," he thought.
Somehow the idea didn't make him feel better.
A/N: And thus begins one of my first attempts at written fanfiction. Hoo boy. The story will be ramping up from here, with a slightly different take on the origin story. The fanfic will be using material from the intro, the original intro, and supplementary material from the Nick magazine when the show first came out.
Disclaimer: Danny Phantom belongs to Nickelodeon, Butch Hartman, et al. I do not own the characters, nor will I be making money off it.