*
THURSDAY
Well, that was fun. Really. Honest...
But the good news is I only trashed half the safehouse – so perhaps I'll go back tomorrow and finish the job. If I'm allowed out, that is. Adam seems to think we're not safe to be running around out there right now – and in my case he's probably right.
He didn't want me to go today, but I reminded him of our conversation yesterday and he had to agree – practice makes perfect, and he won't let me do that here. Besides, he'd already let Brennan and Shalimar out to play, so he couldn't really deny me. He could, though – and did – insist that I keep away from anywhere there might be people near by, which is how I ended up out at the old subway station on the edge of town – the one we haven't used much since my Dad gave away the location to the GSA. I'd have preferred somewhere smaller, less daunting, with fewer bad memories attached, but the other two had nabbed my first choice and though I thought about joining them, Adam also insisted that whatever I did I did alone – "in case of more accidents". I guess he's more like my Dad than I realised – they both know how to make a guy feel good about himself...
I have to say it's a good job the place is disused, really, because the steel girder across the tracks might cause a few problems for any trains. Steel doesn't seem to be my forte. Mind you, neither does copper, aluminium or anything else metal, for that matter. Too densely packed to want to give in to me that easily. Wood's good, though – wood phases like a hot knife through butter. And keeps on phasing. Those damn molecules just don't know when to stop – and if they don't, I can't. At least not until I hit something different, some element I haven't encountered yet, and then there doesn't seem to be any way of making the transition.
Brick's pretty easy, too – nice and porous. Shame it's not transparent, though, because then I'd have seen that loose girder resting up in the tunnel roof before all those nice bricks went intangible in a mad rush that I couldn't stop and let it drop straight through. Made a bit of a mess - which I'm probably going to have to clear up. Oh, and the storage crates, too. The ones that didn't phase when the walkway did and are now on the floor, looking a little battered. Good job there wasn't anything that breakable in them. Well, apart from the stock of spare circuit boards for the security systems – and I just bet Adam's going to take them out of my pay.
But it's not my fault this happened, and I can't think of any other way to get a handle on it than by trial and error. I just wish the trials weren't so taxing and the errors so numerous - and so potentially costly...
I needed another nap when I got home – just reinforcing my feelings of being back in kindergarten. But it all uses up so much energy, takes so much out of me – both physically and emotionally – fighting the pull of those alien molecules as they try and run away with me, make me part of them. And it's so way scary to think about how easily that could happen if I let something distract me, lose my concentration.
So far, then, I'd have to say the downsides of this thing are outweighing the positives big time. And we still have the spectre of this Ashlocke hanging over us. I know we should be out there tracking him down if he's that dangerous, not hiding out here or in the safehouses. But I'm too tired to think about that now, and if Adam's to be believed he'll still be there in the morning...
*
THURSDAY
Well, that was fun. Really. Honest...
But the good news is I only trashed half the safehouse – so perhaps I'll go back tomorrow and finish the job. If I'm allowed out, that is. Adam seems to think we're not safe to be running around out there right now – and in my case he's probably right.
He didn't want me to go today, but I reminded him of our conversation yesterday and he had to agree – practice makes perfect, and he won't let me do that here. Besides, he'd already let Brennan and Shalimar out to play, so he couldn't really deny me. He could, though – and did – insist that I keep away from anywhere there might be people near by, which is how I ended up out at the old subway station on the edge of town – the one we haven't used much since my Dad gave away the location to the GSA. I'd have preferred somewhere smaller, less daunting, with fewer bad memories attached, but the other two had nabbed my first choice and though I thought about joining them, Adam also insisted that whatever I did I did alone – "in case of more accidents". I guess he's more like my Dad than I realised – they both know how to make a guy feel good about himself...
I have to say it's a good job the place is disused, really, because the steel girder across the tracks might cause a few problems for any trains. Steel doesn't seem to be my forte. Mind you, neither does copper, aluminium or anything else metal, for that matter. Too densely packed to want to give in to me that easily. Wood's good, though – wood phases like a hot knife through butter. And keeps on phasing. Those damn molecules just don't know when to stop – and if they don't, I can't. At least not until I hit something different, some element I haven't encountered yet, and then there doesn't seem to be any way of making the transition.
Brick's pretty easy, too – nice and porous. Shame it's not transparent, though, because then I'd have seen that loose girder resting up in the tunnel roof before all those nice bricks went intangible in a mad rush that I couldn't stop and let it drop straight through. Made a bit of a mess - which I'm probably going to have to clear up. Oh, and the storage crates, too. The ones that didn't phase when the walkway did and are now on the floor, looking a little battered. Good job there wasn't anything that breakable in them. Well, apart from the stock of spare circuit boards for the security systems – and I just bet Adam's going to take them out of my pay.
But it's not my fault this happened, and I can't think of any other way to get a handle on it than by trial and error. I just wish the trials weren't so taxing and the errors so numerous - and so potentially costly...
I needed another nap when I got home – just reinforcing my feelings of being back in kindergarten. But it all uses up so much energy, takes so much out of me – both physically and emotionally – fighting the pull of those alien molecules as they try and run away with me, make me part of them. And it's so way scary to think about how easily that could happen if I let something distract me, lose my concentration.
So far, then, I'd have to say the downsides of this thing are outweighing the positives big time. And we still have the spectre of this Ashlocke hanging over us. I know we should be out there tracking him down if he's that dangerous, not hiding out here or in the safehouses. But I'm too tired to think about that now, and if Adam's to be believed he'll still be there in the morning...
*