The Neverchanging Story

by Gary D. Snyder

Part 13:

Once again Jimmy's thoughts were muddy and it was difficult to think of any more. He seemed to be floating without a body in a black expanse completely devoid of sound as well as light. He was vaguely aware that he was alone in the inky void and felt faintly disappointed that Ultra Lord wasn't there. He had promised Sheen that Ultra Lord would be there and felt a wave of sorrow that he had once again failed his friends. But Ultra Lord and Sheen were heroes, he thought, and I'm not. I guess I shouldn't be surprised that I'm not wherever they are now.

As he continued to drift through the blackness he became aware of a small white dot that appeared before him. As it was the only thing he could see he directed what little concentration he could muster towards it. As he watched the dot expanded and appeared to grow brighter, becoming I time a circle of intense white light towards which he was moving with increasing speed. As He thought that he could hear a familiar voice he couldn't quite place calling calling him. It seemed to be coming from the light ahead of him.

"Jimmy," the voice said. "Can you hear me?"

It was definitely coming from the light. Jimmy struggled to place the voice. The context confused him, just as seeing Miss Fowl or Principal Willoughby outside of school always came as a surprise to him. "Who are you?" he murmured with some effort.

"Jimmy, it's me," the voice called.

"Is he coming out of it?" another infuriatingly familiar but unrecognizable voice asked.

Coming out…through the light. Yes, Jimmy told himself. Move towards the light. "I'm coming," he called weakly. "Wait for me. I'll be there soon. I'm coming out." He was suddenly aware that he did have a body but that he was unable to summon the willpower to move it. He seemed to be in the grip of forces beyond his control that were sweeping him forward to some unknown conclusion. Faster and faster he moved towards the dazzling radiance, and then he was through it into the unknown universe beyond.

He found himself staring at a round white glow. It was hazy at first, like one of his dad's slides, but unlike the slides it slowly sharpened into the shape of an overhead light fixture. One of the light fixtures, he realized, in his lab. Other forms seemed to materialize on either side of him, and he recognized them as Cindy, Carl, Libby – and Sheen! They were all in his lab and he was still seated in the Virtual Instantiator chair he had been in when the adventure began – how long ago had it been? Hours? Days? He didn't really care. They were all out and together again. He leaped out of the chair and couldn't resist grabbing Sheen in a bear hug.

"Sheen!" he cried. "I thought that you were… But how are you? Are you okay?"

"Fine," answered the larger boy weakly. "Just a little…short…of…air…right now."

Jimmy released him. "Sorry. What time is it? How long were we in the book?"

Cindy answered the question. "We went in about 4:30 PM, so it's been about 5 minutes."

Jimmy stared. "That's all?"

"Well, the rest of us were out after about 2 minutes," said Libby, "but we had to spend a few minutes getting you out of it. It was harder waking you up than my grandparents after Sunday brunch."

"I guess I didn't want to wake up," Jimmy confessed. "I didn't really want to know what had happened to Sheen."

"Sheen? Why?" Cindy asked.

"It's not really important now," said Jimmy. "But you woke him up without any problem?"

"Actually, he was already awake," said Carl.

"Yeah," Libby agreed. "And he was saying, 'Bummer! Ultra Lord was supposed to be here!' Or something like that."

"Yeah!" said Sheen, looking annoyed. "Someone told me that wherever I was going that Ultra Lord would be here."

"But he is," Jimmy offered. "He'll be on TV in just a couple hours."

"Oh, right," nodded Sheen. "I guess that's true."

"But what about the book reports tomorrow?" asked Libby. "The story never ended. And did what happen to us happen in the story?"

"Let me check." Jimmy pulled the book from the Virtual Instantiator 2000, noting briefly with faint amusement the message "EXCEPTION 0 – FATAL ERROR" on a blue screen. Fortunately for him the error hadn't been fatal. Dismissing the thought he began leafing rapidly through the book, reading every word. "Actually, what happened to us was pretty much what was supposed to happen in the book. Smegleigh and Cadwallader were involved in the theft of the Tureen. Larry and his friends had actually begun to treat Smegleigh pretty decently because they found out about his parents having been killed, and when Cadwallader tried to have Lord Folderol get rid of them Smegleigh stood up for them. Smegleigh was –" the next word caught in this throat, "- killed, but was able to tell Larry what had happened to his friends before the end. That, with the assistance the school council gave Larry, allowed Larry to use his combined tweener and wizard abilities to control the powers of the Tureen of Turin and defeat Folderol. Unfortunately, Folderol escapes and will confront Larry again."

"Just like I told you," Cindy put in smugly.

"Well, between that summary and what we went through I guess we can turn in a decent book report," said Libby as she headed for the door.

"And still watch Ultra Lord tonight," Sheen added happily, following her.

"And play Llamapalooza 2," Carl remarked with a smile as he exited.

"Yes, I guess everything turned out for the best," said Cindy, alone with Jimmy in the lab. "Despite Neutron's best efforts things are back to normal."

Jimmy said nothing, remembering his thoughts as he had fallen from the tower. "Uh, Cindy?" he asked as she began to leave.

Cindy paused. "What now, Neutron?" she asked in return.

"I've never really said it before, but…" Jimmy paused to take a deep breath. "I just wanted you to know that I've always liked the olfactory emanations from your hair and how pleasantly your eyes reflect the green region of the visible electromagnetic spectrum."

Cindy looked annoyed. "Thanks, Neutron," she said over her shoulder as she left. "I'll rush right home and put that in my diary while I'm still intoxicated with emotion."

As the door shut automatically behind her Jimmy shook his head in frustration and disappointment. Well, I tried, he thought as he shut down the Virtual Instantiator. But now I want to see how Mom, Dad, and Goddard are. It's like I haven't seen them for days. I think a little quality time with them is in order. And with that he left the lab.

That evening in her room Cindy finished the day's entry in her diary. "And when we were alone following the disaster that inevitably ensues from yet another of Neutron's useless inventions," she repeated softly as she carefully penned the words, "he told me that he how much he enjoyed the fragrance of my hair and how beautiful he thought my eyes were. He may not be a wizard, but I guess he'll do until a real one comes along." She paused, and then added a line in all capitals and underscored it for emphasis. "BUT HE'S NOT MY BOYFRIEND!"

End of Part 13.

Author's Notes:

Undoubtedly some readers will think that this is an anticlimactic ending to the story because there was no magical battle. But since, as Jimmy puts it, he's a scientist and not a wizard it only seemed natural for him to resolve the situation with reason and not magic. I also ask the readers to remember that this is a story about Jimmy and his friends and what happened to them, and not a story about the characters they were playing (except for the situations that puts Jimmy and the others into). If any are disappointed, I apologize. Effectively writing two stories at once is not an easy thing to do.