When the Bishops and the youngsters rounded the corner of the house they stopped dead in their tracks. Bright, pinkish-golden light was radiating through the cracks in the barn's walls.
"Oh my," Walter muttered.
"Has it ever done that before?" Peter asked Joe, who shook his head.
"Maybe the egg is mad at us for wanting to shift it," Angie suggested.
Peter looked at her sharply. "You mean like the storm you were telling me about?"
Angie shrugged. "Could be."
Peter turned to Walter, who was still staring at the spectacle in front of them. "Do you think it's safe to approach?"
Walter shook his head. "I don't know, son. If it's just light and heat you can turn back if it gets too intense. But if we're dealing with some kind of radiation..."
Peter nodded, then added teasingly, "I don't suppose you happen to have a Geiger counter in your pocket?"
"There's one in the police station," Junior volunteered. "I could get it."
"How long would that take?" Peter asked.
"Twenty minutes, thirty tops."
Peter shook his head. "Too long. Here's what we're going to do, you..."
At that moment the light inside the barn disappeared as if somebody had thrown a switch, plunging them all into darkness.
"Well," Walter said after a brief pause, "I guess it's safe enough now," and started walking with long strides towards the now dark building. He was too preoccupied to notice that its door opened just enough to let a slender figure slip out. Only when a shot rang out did he stop, stumbling backwards in fear and landing on his bottom in the grass.
"That's close enough," a woman's voice came from the barn's entrance. "No more hiding this Easter egg of yours."
Peter had quickly given Walter a once-over to make sure he was okay. Now he stood from his crouch and addressed the disembodied voice.
"Who are you? And what's your business with the egg?"
The blinding beam of a high power flashlight flared up and illuminated the group, who threw up their arms to protect their eyes against the glare.
"I could ask the same question, tall, nosey and handsome. I've been watching this town closely this past week, how come I never saw you or the old man before?"
Peter lowered his arm, squinting at the light. "You'd have a better chance of getting answers if you didn't shoot first and ask questions later."
"Hmm, cheeky too. I like you better by the minute."
The woman lowered the beam of the flashlight and approached, the gun in her right hand still pointing unwaveringly at Peter's middle. "My name is Max. I've heard rumors that these kids are hiding something that's connected to this Dome. And I have a vested interest in getting out from under this fishbowl." She came to a stop just out of range of a possible surprise attack. Peter figured she must be a pro. But he saw her eyes raking over his body, and decided to use that to his advantage.
"Why, gorgeous," he drawled, flashing her a dazzling grin, "sounds like we have the same agenda."
A small smile played around Max's lips at his outright flirting, but she kept her wary distance. "That may very well be true, but before we hug and kiss I'd like to know just how useful you can be."
"My father," here Peter pivoted and indicated the place where Walter was still stitting in the grass, managing to take a small step in Max's direction as he turned back to her, "and I are scientists."
Max raised an eyebrow. "All this and brains too?" she teased.
"And our special field," Peter continued, ignoring her comment, "is the weird, the unusual, the unexplainable. We've solved our share of mysteries, and we'll get to the bottom of this. That thing in the barn..." Instinctively Max's eyes followed Peter's arm as he indicated the barn behind her, which gave him the chance to close the gap between them a little more, "seems to be a kind of power source, and if you let us continue to study it I'm sure we'll be able to..." Without warning Peter threw himself forward, trying to grab the gun. But he had underestimated just how slippery the dewy grass would be, and Max managed to pull the trigger before he got his hands on the weapon.
A/N: The prompt for this chapter was to make it about a minor character from the show. Thanks to gameoff for helping me with the decision who to pick. Barely managed to stay within the 750 word limit for this one.
