All We Have To Fear

by Gary D. Snyder

Chapter 3:

Just as Sheen had predicted it took only about an hour more to finish building and preparing the house, but Cindy did not return. As the others assessed the results of their hard work Jimmy gave them all a "thumbs up". "Great work, guys," he congratulated them. "This is going to be the best haunted house ever."

As with most haunted house attractions this attraction was essentially a labyrinth which led the spectators to various chambers in semi- to total darkness. Each of the chambers contained some kind of gruesome exhibit and the corridors contained a variety of surprises to startle the viewers on their journey through the house, and the modular design allowed the exact sequence of events to be changed from year to year. Jimmy had chosen to use the same setup from the previous Hallowe'en.

Butch scratched his head as he examined the set-up. "I don't know, Neutron," he said. "Maybe I'm being overly critical, but this doesn't look all that scary."

"Yeah, Jimmy," Libby agreed. She paused for a moment to stretch and unkink her weary muscles. "I'm not sure that anyone would be afraid of this place…except maybe Carl."

"Well, maybe," Carl said doubtfully. "Maybe if my Mom and Dad weren't with me and I'd had a nightmare about being in a haunted house and it was really, really dark and…" His voice died away and his shoulders drooped in defeat. "Oh, who am I kidding? I don't think it's scary, either."

The other students standing nearby nodded in agreement. In the late afternoon light of early spring the painted ghosts, black cats, witches, and skeletons on the exterior seemed incongruous, almost comical, and Jimmy hastened to reassure the group. "Guys, guys, you're the ones who just spent all day putting it together," he said. "Of course you wouldn't be scared of it. The keys to scariness are atmosphere and not knowing what to expect. You're tired, you're hungry, and it's still daytime. Tonight, when it's dark and you've had a chance to rest up a bit, I promise that it will seem a whole lot spookier to you and everyone else who comes."

Jimmy's assurances didn't convince anyone but the mention of some dinner and rest was enough to quiet their doubts for the moment. They all headed home, promising to return by 8:00 PM to open the house. Miss Fowl was the last to leave.

"I hope you know what you're doing, Jimmy," she said. "These kids have put a lot of work into this. If it flops they'll…well…"

"Be disappointed?" Jimmy suggested.

Miss Fowl shook her head. "Actually, I was going to say, 'beat you into tapioca'." She started off. "See you at eight."

Jimmy watched her go, feeling both defiant and disgruntled. "I'll show them," he muttered. "This is going to be the scariest thing anyone has ever seen." He activated his wrist comp. "Goddard!" Goddard's image appeared on the tiny viewscreen. "I'm at the school. Get over here right away. We've got work to do." Goddard barked an acknowledgement and the image blinked out.

Less than a minute later Goddard appeared, dropping from the sky like a miniature helicopter. He walked up to Jimmy and stared quizzically at him.

"Glad you could make it, boy," Jimmy greeted him. He crossed over to his wagon and began to undo the fastenings on the tarpaulin. "I need you to help me set up and calibrate this."

Goddard watched with interest as Jimmy pulled the covering off the mysterious contents to reveal what seemed to be a rather ordinary microwave oven, although it was painted an unconventional flat black. Goddard examined it carefully and then looked back at Jimmy.

"I know it doesn't look like much," Jimmy said, heaving the device out of the wagon. "But this is going to be the secret ingredient to our haunted house attraction. Help me get it to the top of the middle stanchion there." Obediently Goddard took both Jimmy and the device on his back and used his jump jets to lift into the air. Although Jimmy had ridden Goddard many times before he felt a strong wave of vertigo surge through him as they ascended. The sensation passed, however, and he busied himself with securing the contraption to the top of the pillar. Once that was done he gingerly stepped off Goddard onto one of the cross members.

"Okay, Goddard," he said, after he had balanced himself. "Go to the northeast corner and show me the signal strength normalized to 60 dBm when I activate it."

Goddard glided away and stationed himself at the designated location, his chest plate lifting to reveal his monitor screen. Jimmy punched a button on the front panel and looked towards Goddard. The screen read: SIGNAL STRENGTH: 0.

Jimmy frowned at this. "That can't be right," he muttered. "There should be something getting through." He opened an access panel on the side of the device and peered inside. "The energy cell is in place, all the connections are there, the antenna is oriented…what could be wrong?" He closed the panel and pressed the button again in irritation. Immediately he heard Goddard bark and Jimmy looked over in his direction. The screen now read: SIGNAL STRENGTH: 103.

Although puzzled by odd turn of events Jimmy was nonetheless pleased. "A little high, but within limits," Jimmy said with satisfaction. "But I wonder why –" Before he could finish the thought another wave of vertigo hit him and he grabbed the column for support. This time the sensation ebbed, but did not completely pass, and Jimmy motioned to Goddard. "Show me the readings for the other corners, Goddard," he called weakly, "and then get me back down from here."

Goddard obediently traversed the haunted house structure and displayed the signal strengths for the other corners. The readings for all four corners were all about the same, with the highest signal strength being 106 and the lowest 102. Jimmy nodded with satisfaction and Goddard returned to him. Shakily Jimmy climbed onto his pet's back and clung tightly to Goddard as they drifted gently downward. The actual vertical distance was no more than ten feet, but to Jimmy it seemed like a thousand. Once back on the ground Jimmy crawled off and lay flat on the ground, trying desperately to stop the world from spinning around him. Gradually the dizziness passed and he risked sitting up again. Goddard watched him with concern.

"I'm okay, boy," Jimmy reassured him. "Just a little dizzy, is all." He got slowly to his feet and examined his handiwork. The sun was nearly setting and although he could clearly see the box he had installed he knew that once darkness fell it would be quite invisible. "I guess we can go home and get some dinner, now."

Goddard looked up at him and uttered an inquisitive bark.

"I'm sorry, boy." He patted Goddard's head affectionately. "Since you helped I guess there's no reason to keep it a secret from you. That's my Phobifier 5000." Goddard cocked his head to one side and Jimmy went on. "Basically, I took my Neutron Encephalo-synthesizer and coupled it with a standard amplified alpha wave transmitter."

Goddard barked again and Jimmy sighed at the memory.

"Yes, Goddard, I know that there were some problems with the encephalo-synthesizer. But that was just because a lightning strike initiated a simultaneous mind transfer when I was talking with Cindy on the phone. The weather forecast is for clear skies all this week. There's no way something like that could happen this time."

Goddard whimpered and cocked his head, prompting Jimmy to go on.

"Anyway, the Phobifier 5000 receives the alpha waves of anyone near it and filters out the frequencies associated with feelings of fear and anxiety. It then amplifies those frequencies and transmits them back to on a subharmonic of the original frequency so that the subject believes that whatever he or she is afraid of is actually present. In short, it turns fears into reality…virtual reality, that is. Anyone going through this haunted house is in for the best scary time of their lives."

Goddard whined unhappily and Jimmy stroked the robotic canine's head. "Don't worry, boy," Jimmy said soothingly. "Nothing that people are afraid of will actually be real. And I know that it can't affect you." He headed home with Goddard at his side. "What could possibly go wrong?"

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