The Neutron Show

by Gary D. Snyder

Chapter 5:

The sun had just disappeared below the horizon when Jimmy and Betty arrived at Retroville Park, but the full moon high above afforded them plenty of light to see. Where a few minutes before the park had been bathed in golden luminescence it was now flooded in a white glow that washed over everything like liquid silver. Because this was a moonlight concert the only artificial lights allowed were on the musicians' music stands, and these small lights glowed in the orchestra pit like pale yellow fireflies as the low sounds of instruments being tuned floated through the early evening air.

A large number of people had turned out for the concert but the two young people were able to find a comfortable and reasonably private spot apart from most of the crowd. While Betty remained there to reserve their place Jimmy headed to the concession stand to obtain a lounging blanket and a program for the concert. To his surprise Cindy was at the stand, idly leafing through a program. Her expression on seeing him was oddly impassive, as though he were a stranger she was just meeting.

"Hi, Cindy," he greeted her.

She gave him a civil if somewhat cool reply. "No net, Jimmy?"

"Huh?"

"The way Betty Quinlan's been throwing herself at you I'm surprised you don't have a net in case you miss. Aren't you worried about a crash?"

Jimmy felt like a man unjustly accused of a crime and went on the defensive. "It's just a date, Vortex," he said, gesturing to the concessionaire that he wanted a blanket and concert program. "And why am I even bothering to justify myself to you? It's not like it's any of your business what I do."

"Who said I cared what you did?" she snapped.

"You sure act like you do!" Jimmy answered hotly.

"And you sure act like it matters how I act," Cindy shot back, "but you don't see me making a big deal of it."

With a great effort Jimmy succeeded in mastering his rising anger. He counted to ten in several languages before speaking. "Look, Cindy," he said, trying to be reasonable. "We both just want to have a pleasant evening. I don't want to fight with you. Can't we just act like friends for once?"

In reply Cindy simply gave him a look that Jimmy couldn't quite decipher before turning and walking away in silence. With a sigh of resignation Jimmy paid for his blanket and program and returned to where Betty was patiently waiting. They had barely finished spreading the blanket on the grass and settling down on it before the strains of Debussy's Claire de Lune drifted towards them. A quick check of the evening's eclectic program showed Jimmy that all the pieces had some lunar connection to them and ranged from such classical pieces as Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata to relatively modern compositions like Glenn Miller's Moonlight Seranade.

As the music filled the air Betty lay back with a sigh and closed her eyes. Somewhat awkwardly Jimmy lay back beside her, trying to concentrate on the music, the moon shining down on them, and anything else he could concentrate on except just how close he was to Betty. "This is so romantic," she whispered.

"Yeah," was all Jimmy could say, terrified that any more would ruin the moment and bring their date to a disastrous end.

She opened her eyes and Jimmy could see them sparkling in the silvery light. "The moon looks close enough to touch," she said softly, reaching her hand up. "I wish it could be like this every night."

"That would be nice," Jimmy agreed, "Unfortunately the full moon only occurs when it's orbit around the Earth puts it directly opposite from the Sun, so it can only happen roughly once every twenty-nine days." What in the world am I saying? he thought to himself. This is no time for an astronomy lesson! He desperately tried to remember Nick's advice. "I meant…uh…" he stammered, "I meant…uh…that…moonlight becomes you." He had no idea what that meant but Betty seemed to take it as a compliment.

"Really?" she asked with a smile.

"Truly," he replied. "If I could, I'd make it so that there was a full moon every night, instead of just once a month. In fact, I'd…" Without warning he stopped talking and stared at the moon high overhead.

"Go on," Betty urged. "What would you do?"

Jimmy didn't answer and got slowly to his feet, staring first at the moon and then at the faint glow to the west where the sun had set not long ago. "Opposite the sun," he murmured. "Only opposite the sun."

"What's the matter, Jimmy?" Betty asked, looking and sounding concerned. As Jimmy looked at her it seemed to him that she wasn't just concerned. She seemed frightened about something.

"The moon," he replied, carefully watching her face. "The full moon is always opposite the sun. That's why the entire surface we can see is lit up. That means that it should rise just about the time the sun sets, give or take an hour or so for seasonal differences. But there is no way – no way – that it should be directly overhead right after the sun has set."

As he spoke he could see that she was becoming more and more nervous. "I don't understand," she faltered. "What difference does it make?" Her voice grew a little stronger and more pleading. "Does it really matter? Don't you care that we're here together? Shouldn't that be all that really matters to you?"

"What matters to me," Jimmy said, "is the truth. First there was the refrigerator this morning. Mom's explanation made no sense, but just maybe it was true. Then there were the events in the cafeteria. Those were unlikely, but possible. Then there was the strange message on the blackboard. All right, that could have been some innocent prank that had nothing to do with me. But the moon?" He pointed to it and shook his head savagely. "That isn't some statistical oddity. That's a violation of inviolable natural law! It can't happen!"

"I don't understand," Betty repeated.

"You don't have to. It's just proves that something is going on. I'm sorry that you…" Jimmy's voice trailed off. "You," he repeated softly.

"Me?"

"You were never really interested in me before. Not until today...until right after all these strange things started to happen. Just as if you were some distraction to keep me from thinking about what was going on. And it worked. It was the most unusual thing of all and I didn't even see it."

"Jimmy…" Betty began.

Jimmy looked around in a daze, not seeing or hearing anything. The moon, Betty, the bizarre occurrences…he couldn't just ignore or rationalize them anymore. Either he was insane, or he was no longer in the world he had known. In either case, he was lost, not sure where to turn or what to believe. He began to stagger blindly away, heedless of Betty's frantic calls behind him, and then to run.

How far or long he ran he didn't know. He simply raced through the brightly moonlit streets until he finally collapsed from sheer exhaustion and lay panting where he fell, unable and unwilling to think. When his heartbeat and breathing finally returned back to normal, however, he was forced to confront his situation once again.

What was happening to him?

Who or what was behind it?

And why?

He sat up and began to consider the possibilities. One possibility was that he really was losing his mind, and that everything he had witnessed had been figments of his imagination. But if he were insane, should he be able to recognize it? Could a madman ever claim that he were mad and be certain? After a few moments' thought he decided that as long as he could consider that possibility that he might be insane he was, in fact, still sane. In any case, there wasn't much he could do about it even if he were already insane.

All right then, assuming he was sane, what would explain what was happening? Any number of theories could explain the odd behavior and events he had experienced that day, but the full moon was another matter. Either someone had found a way to circumvent the laws of physics, or was able to create very elaborate illusions.

Almost immediately he rejected the first possibility. Contrary to what Cindy might believe, Jimmy's ego was not large enough to consider that an entity powerful enough to affect the sun and/or mood would take any interest in Jimmy Neutron. And they certainly couldn't be stupid enough to make the sort of mistakes (if that's what they were) that Jimmy had seen.

The second possibility was much more likely, but it left Jimmy nearly as clueless as before. The Brains were capable of creating very real illusions, but the level of detail and accuracy he had seen went far beyond anything he had seen them manifest so far. That left someone or something else who had a grudge against him – but who? Well, there was Professor Calamitous, Dr. Drakken, the Yolkians…

He stopped himself and took a deep breath. He was a scientist and if he was to get to the bottom of this then he would have to approach the problem scientifically. He began searching in his pockets for something to systematically list all the possibilities and supporting evidence and found the concert program in one pocket and a ballpoint pen in another. He prepared to write the facts as he knew them on the back of the program but stopped, staring in disbelief, before putting down a single letter. Lettered neatly across the back of the program were the words:

ALL LIES LEAD TO THE TRUTH.

End of Chapter 5.

Author's Notes:

As some readers have noted, the reference "THE TRUTH IS OUT THERE" came from the (usual) opening sequence of the excellent TV series "The X Files", as did the mysterious message in this chapter. There will be one more, and true afficianados might be able to guess what that message will be, although possibly not its context or the part it will play. I'm impressed by the guesses people have made concerning the direction this story will take, but thus far no one has gotten it quite right. Hopefully that means that I'm not being too obvious or predictable…at least not yet.