Ghostbusters International: Chronicles of Gozer

GBI Case File GBI-2004-22/001

Story by Fritz Baugh, Vincent Belmont, Ben King, Jeremy Hicks, TheRazorsEdge, and Brian Reilly

Original Edit by Vincent Belmont; recut by Fritz Baugh


June 3rd, 2004 5 days until the end of the world

12:45PM


Most of the morning passed without incident. Tommy continued trying to track down Jonathan Stanford's past with no great measure of success. Egon and Vincent continued to translate more of the Book of Gozer, and Iain performed a routine ECU check and the rest of the team took in target practice and recreational activities.

During the day most of the two divisions had met and got to know their new guest, Sarah Jones. At present, Sarah was taking her fury out on the staff punching bag in the GYM/Fitness area set up on the ground floor of the building near the offices. She grunted as she dealt the bag a series of punches, kicks and even the odd thrust with her shoulder. After ten minutes of this she let the bag swing slowly as she wiped herself down with a towel.

"Tough training, eh?"

She looked up to see Tommy Simpson, taking a break and in jogging trousers and white T-shirt leaning against the doorjamb.

"Yes...I must keep my skill focused." Sarah replied, matter-of-factly.

"Never said it wasn't." Tommy replied as he walked over to a treadmill, switched it on and began to jog at a quick pace. After several minutes of jogging he slowed the machine to a halt and paused to look up at Sarah who was looking back at him.

"What's it like...you know...busting..."

"Ghosts?" He asked, finishing for her, and for a moment there was a flicker of gratitude in her eyes.

"Yes." She replied.

"Well...it's different...I know we've been compared to paranormal "janitors" by certain members of the press. Hell, we're called fakes quite regularly...but there's something more to it then cleaning up litter...I guess when you've defeated an apocalypse you feel on top of the world." Tommy supposed.

"Until that feeling goes." Sarah continued.

"More like when people forget about you altogether…" he grimaced, "...but even then, there's the idea that we do something so dangerous...so advanced… that we are the experts in the field...we never had this type of determination when we worked as S.P.R.I.G." Tommy explained.

"Sprig?" Sarah asked.

"Senior Paranormal Research and Investigation group. It was something Iain Bennett and a photographer friend of ours started about four years back." Tommy explained.

"Ah." Sarah replied in understanding. "I'd better get going...your Professor Spengler and Dr. Belmont are wanting to conduct some tests on me later." Sarah replied as she began to leave the room.

"Sure." Tommy replied.


5:00PM


Ben King SR continued to make some observations from a series of sketches until the computer, which was sat on the desk behind him, chimed to get his attention. He slid the chair along to the desk and booted up the screen to see what he was being called to; which was in fact new email. He opened up the Hotmail viewer and spotted that there were three emails; one from Ray Stantz, one from GBI, and another from an address he didn't recognize.

He double clicked on the address he didn't recognize and was relieved to see that the email didn't contain a virus. However...it did contain some slightly worrying info that he'd relate to the other Ghostbusters once he'd finished checking the email. The GBI message simply turned out to be info about an upcoming recruitment drive. However the email he had been waiting for had arrived.

"From:
To:

Subject: Building specifications

Ben,

It took some time but I found what you had asked for...you should find scans of the architectural and structural details of the Shandor Building...I hope they prove useful...hope Egon's finding the book easy to translate.

-Ray Stantz."

Ben clicked on the attachment download button and waited as the files were placed on the computer's desktop, with that done he opened up the first file which was fairly large but shouldn't take up too many pieces of A4 paper when printed. Once he'd checked to make sure all of the files were uncorrupted he set about printing out each and every document.


5:05PM


"Guys." Ben spoke as he entered Iain's lab. Vincent, Egon and Iain, who'd entered the room to help perform some of the other duties relating to equipment checking and translation, looked up at the sound of Ben's voice.

"Yes?" Egon asked.

"We've got a slightly late email from a..." Ben paused to check the print out of the email. "Dr. Brian Walker of..."

"E.C.T.O. Canada." Egon finished. "What have they reported?" he asked.

"They've confirmed that Jeremy was involved in this incident in Toronto we've been hearing about..." Ben replied.

"Well, that confirms some of the specifics that I've been told about...do they have anything useful to contribute?" Vincent grumbled as he took a sip of Earl Grey.

"That wasn't very nice," Iain interjected. Vincent only glowered back.

"Erm...the use of portals...and..." Ben squinted to make sure he didn't misread it. "Terror Dogs." Egon, Vincent and Iain all shared the same look.

"That wasn't in the movie!" Iain protested.

"Highly conclusive, Iain. Suppose for a moment that we aren't in a movie?" Vincent droned, as he returned his attentions to his work.

"We weren't aware he could summon more of the Terror Dogs...it seems that Vinz's powers have been fully unleashed..." Egon said.

"Why not?" asked Vincent, still engrossed in his work, "according to the book, Vinz's race was the Sebhoullia, a warrior tribe from a distant world. When Gozer absorbed them into its own collective, their king, Vinz Clortho, was spared as a separate entity, not unlike Zuul. Now, they act as a consciousness separate of Gozer, taking possession of other forms to enact the ritual of Summoning."

There was a stunned silence from the other three men. Vincent turned around, and found them staring at him.

"…what?" he grunted.

"I wonder what the difference between Jeremy and Louis is?" Egon pondered.

"Apart from the fact that Louis was a dweeb?" Iain asked, the question prompting a chuckle from both Vincent and Egon.

"As entertaining as that was...there must be more to it than that..." Egon replied.

"Just thought I'd let you guys know...confirming that he was in Canada." Ben replied.

"Thank you." Egon replied. Ben left the room.

"It's getting to you...not knowing why Vinz has been given access to powers while in Jeremy's body and not Louis'." Vincent mused. It was a statement that made Egon wince. Egon was unsure whether Vincent had just read his mind, or if he had made an alarmingly accurate educated guess. Egon guessed that it was the former, rather than the latter.

"It is. When he inhabited Louis's body, he was docile; almost as if he'd been sedated. He hadn't been coherent and hadn't appeared to possess any form of power...but the ability to open portals, potentially to escape unwanted attention and to call forth members of the Canus Terroris family...these are things we haven't come across from this type of entity." Egon explained.

"And if he can do that...what else can he do?" Iain asked.

"This…" Vincent mumbled as he set down his teacup and propped the book up so that the other men could see, pointing to a peculiar diagram.


10:45PM


Ben King JR sat at the reception desk manning the computer terminal. He shifted slightly in the chair, and the blue flight suit he wore was itching...badly. Adam Bestler had told him it would do that for something like half a week...and Ben could only hope that he could also recommend a good lotion for it.

He was busy checking that all of the cases had been postponed when a pop-up from the MSN/Hotmail system reported that they had one new message. He moved the mouse cursor over the popup, clicked it and the email message was displayed on the screen, it was dated June 2nd.

"To: From:

Hello English Tea-Drinking Ghostbusters,

Sorry...I couldn't resist :) . No doubt you guys have heard about our missing team member Jeremy Hicks...if not then I'm gonna pay a visit to our web monkeys at GBIWeb for not posting the info...whatever. Anyway...we've found out that 'ol Jeremy's been making flight charges to the company account after he went missing from here...they point to him going to little 'ol England after that little game he played in Toronto with E.C.T.O. Canada...so we're getting over there as soon as possible. The guys tell me he may not simply be AWOL...or suffering a breakdown...it would explain the strange powers he was reported to have had when he ran into Brian's mob in Canada...something about him being possessed by the Keymaster. Tell Egon that we're booked on the 9:15PM LA to London flight due out two days from now and should be there sometime around...er...one in the afternoon of the 5th? We're heading for Heathrow...but we'll give you a call from the plane...or something like that. I can guarantee we're gonna be there for a few days so put some brewskies on ice.

Yours, lovingly :)

Dr. Peter Venkman, Company CEO.

PS. Tell Egon and Spooky I said 'hi'."

"Marvelous." Ben muttered.


10:50PM


"Professor Spengler...there's a...message...for you." Ben King JR reported as he leaned on the door of Iain's lab.

"What about?" Egon asked.

"I think you ought to see it." Ben replied.


10:56PM


"I see your point." Egon commented as he studied the email.

"Is there a problem?" Ben JR asked.

"Yes," Egon mused, "don't let Vincent see this email."

"Why, is it something that might bother him?"

"You'll see if Venkman ever talks to Vincent when he gets here."

Ben JR only shrugged.

Standing next to Egon was Tommy Simpson. "Looks like the VIP Suite may need some extra beds." Egon commented with a dry tone in his voice.

"We have some camp beds stored in the basement." Tommy replied.

"They should do...we're going to be receiving and unknown number of Ghostbusters from the West Coast division...and Dr. Venkman...It looks like we may have to set aside some of our own members if they intend to look for their missing team member. We'll also need to use one of your vehicles to pick them up from the airport." Egon commented.

"It won't be easy...Heathrow's a good distance away. I could take Ben's mini...but I doubt that'd be big enough...looks like we're taking one of the Ectos."

"Agreed...would it be possible for you to greet the team members when they arrive?" Egon asked, looking Tommy dead in the face.

"I guess I can." Tommy replied with some reluctance. "Though it'll affect trying to find out which quarry the temple may be at."

"It's a unfortunate side effect...but we will need someone to bring them here...I suggest you take one of the other staff members with you...maybe Eric from your night time operating team."

"Yeah...he's the most trustworthy person who I can get without affecting anything important." Tommy agreed.


June 4th remained fairly uneventful. Egon and Vincent continued performing translation work on the book while Iain, along with Eric, Ben (When he could spare the time) and Roger Kennedy started searching the nearby towns for Jeremy, until the West Coast Ghostbusters could arrive. Hopefully, they would bring some data with them, as the members of Ghostbusters UK had to rely on the readings collected by Professor Spengler in 1983...which may not prove all that useful depending on how the signal may have changed from Vinz inhabiting Louis Tully to inhabiting Jeremy Hicks.


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