The ghost had turned just as Stantz screamed to "Get Her" left his lips. The ghost did not take kindly to Stantz screaming in her library. The face transformed, turning from a sweet old lady to something terrifying.
Her mouth elongated and grew wide. Her teeth expanded as her lips receded, her tight bun became loose and messy, her head sunk, and her eyes receded into her skull, leaving only the pupils to be seen.
Her clothes became tattered and ripped. Her skin sagged and tightened, allowing for the ribs and collarbone to be made evident. She let out a terrifying growl that should not have come from that of a dignified lady when she had seen only a moment ago.
I faced fear throughout my lifetime that, despite my good work effort, I would be fired or during my second life when artillery or bullets would get too close for comfort. Fears that I would either get over or become acquainted with even my first meeting with being X did not terrify me.
It shocked me until I regained my composure. The fear on the battlefield was less of fear but of annoyance or anger despite how I would later rationalize it, but this moment with something that should have been nothing terrified me to my very soul, the soul of the salaryman, not the fear of the body but the true me.
I'd seen things worse than this. I'd seen humans blown apart and rotten, yet here, a simple aging old woman screaming scared me to the core. I yelled, noticing that as I did, Venkman and Spengler had grabbed my jacket and begun dragging me out, with each backing away in different ways.
Venkman was facing where he was going, only looking back to ensure he still had me. Stantz was holding his arms out as a rearguard pushing all of us out, while Spengler was the oddest, jumping back but keeping Stantz Standing and not falling back.
We all ran up the stairs going upstairs, disregarding all library etiquette and screaming the whole way. Eventually, we blew past Mr. Delacorte, who started running after us, but it wasn't until we got past the doors he said anything.
"Did you see it? What was it?" He asked, hoping he would get an answer.
"We'll get back to you." was all Venkman got out.
"What" was all Mr. Delacorte could say before we were completely gone.
While my teachers were not in the best condition, they could compete with me as we ran, only stopping halfway to the university on foot. Only then did exhaustion start to get them.
I was about a block further when I noticed and returned to find them. We continued walking silently as the scientist, who rarely ran, needed a moment to catch their breath.
As we got on campus, Spengler took out the P.K.E meter and his calculator and started doing calculations and started to fall behind, but he was prone to this from time to time, so I stayed with Venkman and Stantz in silence when Venkman started chuckling.
"Get her. That was your whole plan. Get her. It was scientific." Venkman said with the biggest grin.
"I just got overexcited. But wasn't it incredible, Pete? I mean, we actually touched the etheric plane. You know what this could mean to the university?" Stantz said like a kid being told he was going to Disney World.
"Yeah, it's gonna be bigger than the microchip. Ray, I'm very excited." Venkman said truthfully.
"I wouldn't say the experience was totally wasted. According to these new readings, I think we have an excellent chance of actually catching a ghost and holding it indefinitely." Spengler said, finally catching up with us.
" Well, this is great! If this ionization rate is constant for all ectoplasmic entities, we could really bust some heads! In a spiritual sense, of course." Stantz said as he walked with Spengler while Venkman and I stopped momentarily, thinking about what Spengler had just told us.
The idea that spirits could be captured brought a lot of questions to be answered. The main one I was concerned with was if a spirit were captured, could something claiming to be a god be captured?
There was also the question of whether something captured could be killed. As much as the thought that I could finally deal with Being X was fantastic news since even at my most powerful with that damned type 95, I was nowhere near the power to fight something claiming to be a god, especially since that bastard powered that cursed device.
Now other questions came with capturing ghosts, spirits, and the like. How does that work? What does this mean for literally every idea of the afterlife? I knew of reincarnation, but is this what I would become if I lost the bet with being X?
I also thought of why now, why could we see spirits now even though there hadn't been any other sitings? There was a clear route to go in science since these three had made a career out of it at a well-known college, but even then, the field was highly questionable.
I was the only student. They had to share and run the same office as a lab simultaneously. It was not a respected field of science. At this thought, I realized Venkman had begun walking back to the others, and I quickly followed.
"Spengs? You serious about this catching a ghost?" Venkman said with greed on his face waiting for confirmation from Spengler.
"I'm always serious," Spengler said with little hesitation.
"Egon, I'm gonna take back some of the things I've said about you," Venkman said, taking out a Crunch bar.
"You... you've earned it." Venkman finally said handing the bar over was an interesting thing to see since it was a lovely moment. Stantz was grinning ear to ear at this exchange.
"So Egon, is there an amount to the size of a ghost that the theoretical trap can hold," I asked, wondering about the possibility of trapping Being X.
"Well, with the readings I have gotten today, I imagine with the amount or size, any spirit should be possible," Spengler said, smiling, enjoying the candy bar Venkman had given him as we descended the basement stairs of their office in weaver hall.
"If you're right, if we can actually catch a ghost and hold it, I might win the Nobel Prize," Venkman said as if he had already won.
"Don't say hello, Leslie," Venkman told a girl passing by.
"If anybody deserves a Nobel recognition, it would be Spengler and me. We're going to be designing all the equipment and doing the hard research. Even Tanya is going to help more than you will." Stantz said, surprisingly all.
"Woah, I introduced you if it weren't for me, you would've never met, and that's gotta be worth something," Venkman said, shocked and aghast, while opening the door with the paint, telling Venkman to go to hell still on it.
"Hey John," Venkman said to the janitor standing right by it, which I found odd.
"If it weren't for me, there be no ghost trapping," Venkman said as I closed the door.
Venkman then opened the door to the lab/office, where men were removing stuff from the room with Dean Yeager standing over a desk.
"The possibilities are, are limitless! Hey, Dean Yeager!" Ray said, excited, ready to ask for more funding to begin catching ghosts.
A man then went past us holding some weird device I didn't know the name of.
"I trust you're moving us to better quarters on campus," Venkman said in a voice where he knew where it was heading and was hoping to distract himself from reality momentarily.
"Tanya, could you wait outside for a moment? I need to talk to your professors for a moment, and it's a matter of staff. You understand, don't you."
"She's our student, and I think she should be here for anything involving us since it will impact her future academic career at this institute," Venkman said, putting a hand on my shoulder in a tone of slight anger.
"I guess you are right. It will impact it. No, You're being moved off campus. The board of regents has decided to terminate your grant. You are to vacate these premises immediately." The dean said this in a happier tone than one should have when firing one's employees.
In my first life, I always maintained a monotone voice since any other tone would be unprofessional, only changing my tone if they refused, but that rarely happened, even with the man who pushed me on the tracks.
I remained calm, with only my word choice being a bit of anger, but my tone remained the same while the dean seemed too happy about the whole situation.
"Geez, kid, I knew you struggled with some classes, but this is bad that the dean had to expel you himself," Venkman said, trying to joke once more upon the deaf ears of the dean.
"No, The university will no longer continue any funding of any kind for your group's activities." the dean said, crossing his arms.
"But, the Kids love us. See this one we took with us on a field trip." Venkman once again said jokingly, but his grip on my shoulder tightened slightly, then loosened.
"Dr. Venkman, we believe that the purpose of science is to serve mankind. You, however, seem to regard science as some kind of dodge or hustle. Your theories are the worst kind of popular tripe, your methods are sloppy, and your conclusions are highly questionable. You, Dr. Venkman, are a poor scientist." The dean told Venkman as he sat down. While the dean was talking, more equipment was removed from the room, even confiscating the video camera and the camera that Stantz and I had.
"I see," was all Venkman could say.
"Ehm, Does this include Dr. Stantz and me," Spengler asked, hoping to retain his job.
"You better believe it," The dean retorted before turning around to face the other wall and taking a moment to breathe.
Spengler then walked over to Venkmans left grabbed his coat while Stantz grabbed his Right label, and both men pinned him to the table.
"You said you floored him at the regent's meeting," Stantz said, peeved at him.
"Ray, I apologize," Venkman said with a smile, waiting for both men to let go of his coat and then walking to the middle of the room.
"I guess my faith in the board of regents was misplaced," Venkman said, hoping to, at the very least, get the last word in. The dean did not respond.
"I have to laugh they did this to Galieo," Venkman said, hoping to get him to respond, and it worked since the dean turned around.
"It could've been worse, Dr. Venkman. They took the Astomener Philieas and staked his head to the town gate," The dean responded, seeming to think this would shut Venkman up.
"Ouch" was all he could muster to say.
The men, in defeat, began to leave the room. As I was about to leave, I stopped since the Dean had not explained what was to happen to me, I decided to ask.
"Dean Yeager, what is to happen to me? I have been in this department since the spring semester." I said, hoping I would not have to repay all I invested. The dean took a deep breath and sighed.
"Tanya, I am sorry you had to see that. Don't worry, your time will not be wasted since you already have all the requirements to graduate with your History degree, and this is your last semester."
"The Board has determined that since this differs from how we prefer to do these sorts of things, you will also get your double major in Parapsychology. If you want to get your doctorate for whatever reason, I'm afraid to say that you will have to go to another university."
"You also won't have to register for new classes since you are above credits to graduate. My advice is to stay with the history degree and get a master's since I've been told your papers about the early 20th-century German view of war was so accurate that some thought it was a primary source."
The dean seemed saddened about my involvement but only at that.
"Well, thank you for telling me. Good day Dean." After that, I returned to my dorm to begin figuring out what to do from now on.
In my dorm, lying on my bed, I began pondering my future even though this was my last semester at the university since I had spent every winter and summer doing classes.
Since I had done this, it left me questioning what I should do now that I was graduating and entering college. I was hoping just to get a degree when I entered the workforce.
I was more likely to be promoted, but ever since learning of this world's afterlife and knowing that those three were my best shot at ending this eternal torture Being X had decided to put me in, put quite a wrench in my plans to live a peaceful life.
This wasn't like the empire where I thought I could take that bastard on this world and level the playing field.
The dean threw a wrench in that plan firing the three, meaning I couldn't do that, but does that mean I should go back to my original plan of living a peaceful life and just hope that Being X recognized that I had won twice to the bet he made?
No, not when the answer was so close to finally beating him or, at the very least, leaving a black eye. How would I get the technology to build what Spengler only theorized today?
The smart thing for them to do was to begin looking at other universities and see if there was a program they could start or join, but that wouldn't exactly be easy since they would be under constant observation for the first couple of years.
It wasn't like here, where they had tenured but still got fired with the eradication of their department. I wonder what it is I should do. I think I'll ponder a bit more before submitting one idea.
Besides, I wasn't in the empire or Japan, so I could think for a moment I was already four to five years ahead of where I was in my first life. My thoughts were interrupted by a knock on my door.
I went to the door to see if it was the RA for my floor. She was a few years older than I and was one of the calmer RAs since she was known for looking the other way for some of the more minor rules of the campus.
"Yes?" I asked in a more annoyed tone than I wanted to give off.
"Right, Tanya, You have a visitor waiting for you in the lobby," she said before turning around and leaving.
Before leaving the dorm room, I closed the door to ensure I had everything I needed. The idea of who could be the visitor was more than likely one of my instructors, but since it was implied to be a singular visitor, it could be any of them.
Quickly heading down the stairs after locking the room, I saw it was Dr. Spengler. He seemed still saddened by his termination of employment but seemed a bit happier once he saw me.
"Good, glad this is the right dormitory, Tanya. Do you want to continue your education in the supernatural?" Spengler said,
"Uh, sure, Egon, but I thought you got canned. How would that work?" I asked, hoping this might be how I could learn to trap Being X.
"Ray and Peter are currently trying to figure out how, but I think we may be able to do more research on the readings uncovered today." Spengler said with the most enthusiasm I'd seen since the readings.
"When" Was all I could say at the moment.
"We'll get back to you as soon as we can, but for now, I wanted to drop this off while I still could to keep up with your studies while we figure stuff out" Spengler reached into a bag a pulled out a few books and pieces of paper and handed it to me.
"What exactly are these," I asked.
"These are your remaining tests with answers along with the reading lists for what would have been your semester. Do these to be up to date." He said, handing me a few more items.
"Hopefully, one of us will stop by soon to let you know where the experiments will be done, but I gotta go see what Ray has thought of," Spengler told me, handing the rest of the assignments and books.
"This is a lot to process, Egon. Why are you coming by? Aren't I just a student?" I asked since there was no particular reason to go out of the way for a student who wasn't their student anymore.
"No, at least not anymore, but you are a great addition to the team, and we would like to keep you close."
"Well, I'll take the compliment where I can," I said, holding my hand out to shake.
"Till we see you again," he said after hesitating for a moment before leaving.
After he left, I looked at the work and wished I could have smacked him for how much he had left. What did they think I was doing trying for a doctorate?
It wasn't till Thursday that I got any news on what happened or what they would do. Ray walked into the dormitory while I was just about to head out.
"Talk about timing. Hey Tanya, how's Egons work been treating you? Also, where are you headed?" Stantz said, walking out with me.
"Hey, Ray, the work has been frustrating, and nowhere in particular, just walking around getting exercise. What about you? What have you guys been up to haven't heard anything since Egon," I said, slowing my pace for Ray.
"Well, that's why I'm here. We are going into business ourselves. We just bought a building today!"
"You did what! Where did you get the money for that" I stopped, stunned since they got fired not even a week ago.
"I got a third mortgage on my parent's house, but that's not important." He seemed unconcerned about his financial decisions, but I let it pass since it wasn't my money.
"But more importantly, we now have a place to build our technology, and since you don't sound busy, mind coming with us to get the building ready and start building the equipment?" he said with hope that I would.
"Well, luckily for you, I only got one class on Wednesday so I can come with you. How far is it from here?" I said, hoping it wasn't too far.
"Walking is about 2 hours, but we can take the subway and get there in half an hour, so it is best to do that."
"Alright then, well, on the way, tell me what I need to know," I said, excited, knowing that things were going back on track.
As we headed to the building, Ray explained their thoughts. It would be the world's first paranormal investigation and elimination company.
They were still working on the technology, and they had even posted a job for a secretary since they wanted to hire me as more of a lab assistant and fellow worker instead of desk work since they saw how useful I was in the field with all the different checks.
Just my luck, a job as a secretary would have been great since I would never have to go against something that terrified me. I figured fieldwork would be better for understanding precisely what Being X was, so it was something I was okay with it.
I asked if Egon had made any progress on the ectoplasm I collected. Ray said it seemed to have an exciting reaction to certain things, but he was still working on it.
The equipment was more interesting as they were working on how it would work and getting the actual calculations figured out since Egon had only figured they would be able to capture but needed to figure out the actual abilities of the possible technologies and build the actual things along with make it portable.
It would be quite the feat since, normally, something like this would require more development time.
However, since they still had money, they would need to do this while they could and were still getting some money from the university in severance pay due to firing them as tenured professors.
That led to me learning that they needed me to help with the massive amount of paperwork and some of the basic calculations for the technology that needed to be done.
They were also clearing the building before more professional contractors came in to do the more important things, like fixing the power structures since the building was old and couldn't handle the current expected power needs for their business.
There was also the paperwork for patents since this was all new technology. They wanted to keep the rights to the technology that could lead to the more significant technology they were developing.
Some weren't prototypes but simple ideas that either Ray or Egon had come up with. There was also the making of the outfits needed to do the job, and they weren't good with needles, so a tailor was making the outfits, and they wanted me to get them since they needed to get everything set up.
Eventually, we got to the building Ray told me about. The building in question was an old fire station needing serious repairs. When I asked why this building, Ray said he liked the idea of a first response station so they would be closer to service since he saw that they were helping people and hoped it could be a worldwide service.
Apparently, Peter wanted it to remain private since it would "make them rich beyond their wildest dreams with the franchise rights alone," Ray seemed to quote. The interior was worse than the outside, with spiderwebs, wood, and furniture everywhere.
It wasn't till I got upstairs that I saw where Peter and Egon were around several tables.
They put together filling paperwork and tinkering with tools drawing schematics, occasionally getting up to measure something or pulling out a calculator to figure things out along with pages from catalogs trying to figure the best looking along with the cheapest option.
Peter seemed focused on the money, with Egon on designing and figuring out the lab side of things. After a moment, Ray got their attention since they were so focused that they didn't even notice us.
Almost immediately, I was at the table helping Peter find ways to cut costs and helping Egon with calculations while helping Ray fill out patents for the things Egon theorized about ten seconds before we had entered.
It was a well-run working system with the main things being worked on by the best qualified and me helping each of them. We worked on prep work until the afternoon of the next day when Peter realized we had to interview a possible secretary.
"Well, we can't do it here. This place is still a mess, and the last thing we want to do is seem too desperate," I said, hoping they planned for this.
"But we are desperate," Peter responded, downing a cup of coffee with tired clearly on his face.
"I know, but we don't want them to run screaming for the hills since you bought the building yesterday." I retorted,
"Well, how about we have her meet us here, but we take her to a coffee place," Peter responded.
"I guess when will she get here," I asked, hoping we had time for a nap. Even though my past life was used to too little to no sleep, this one was still getting used to the lack of it.
"About thirty minutes, I think," Peter said just as Ray's head smacked the table out cold.
"Please tell me we have a clock that can go off in thirty minutes," I asked.
"Sorta, Egon, thirty minutes now." Peter also fell backward asleep.
"Got it," Egon said, still working on a slender thing.
"Alright then. See you all in thirty minutes" I then walked to a mattress that wasn't too bad and fell asleep.
Sure enough, after 25 minutes, Egon woke everyone up, and we got ready for the interview. Once we were good, we stood by the door waiting for a knock, and we didn't have to wait long since the second it was 12:30, we heard a knock.
Peter was the first one out doing the normal greeting and making sure it was the person, and once that was wrapped up, we each got out and shook hands with the interviewee.
"Janine Melnitz I'd like to meet Dr. Ray Stantz, Dr. Egon Spengler and Tanya Degurechaff." Peter said with each of us shaking hands with Janine.
"Now, if you don't mind, we'll head to a coffee shop near here since the office is under construction," Peter said with his hand in the direction he wanted to go.
"No, need I accept the job! I'll see you all on Monday, but here's my resume anyway so you know not to screw me with the pay," Janine said without hesitation, handing Egon her resume.
"But we haven't even offered the job to you," Peter said in surprise.
"Yeah, I know, but I also know you are desperate since you were waiting outside the door for me and wanted to interview in a coffee shop. Don't try to deny it, Dr. Venkman. I've turned down better jobs than this, but please have the place decent by Monday," With that, she walked away.
"I like her," I said as the men stared in disbelief.
Sure enough, Janine was on time on Monday morning and almost instantly got things in order. The contractors also came in around the same time and began fixing the place up, removing the trash and stuff left by the previous tenant.
Janine was not only able to get the ideas Egon had for the lab properly done by the contractors but was on the phone getting ads and even got us the stuff to make a commercial.
Peter was thrilled by the idea of him being on television but quickly became sour when he realized that it would be him and the other two talking about the business and not a chance for him to hit on girls.
They asked if I wanted to be in the commercial, but I promptly declined since I figured that having a teenager would ruin the perception of the seriousness. I had them take a few more since their acting was horrible.
The rest of the month involved setting up the technology and preparing the final products. The first device that Egon said was ready was the Ecto/Para Goggles or whatever name Egon was calling them at the time, never deciding on a name for them.
The goggles were linked with the P.K.E. meter and used to find ghosts that possessed objects. It could also outline ghosts through walls, but only in theory. The goggles could only see as far as the P.K.E. meter could scan.
They would be helpful for jobs in smaller areas with ghosts that wanted to be more defensive and hide than those that were more aggressive and open about their hauntings. The trap was also being made at the same time as the containment unit in the basement.
From what was explained to me, in theory, when the traps open, it spits out electronic protonic particles to hit the electrons, displacing them from the matter of the ghost and replacing it with something called a Pion particle.
The Pion Particle decays into a Muon that will replace the Electron particles and weigh the ghost into the trap where it remains due to it being like a Penning trap and holding onto the main manifestation and removing and expells the excess P.K.E..
When it detects the ghost in the device, it will have a blinker go off, signaling it is secured. The issue lies in since the trap expells first to weigh the ghost, it means opening the trap that has a ghost will spit it out if not adequately contained in the Ecto containment system.
The ecto containment system took up most of the basement since the actual holding was behind the wall Egon had built, acting more like a ghost trap with an additional area that would be like a giant fan pushing all ghosts into the main containment area that was protected by different laser grids that would break connections of the atomic bond of the ghost.
While ghosts could do it, it would weaken the ghost and be pushed back into the primary containment area along with reduced P.K.E, making it difficult for a spirit to escape.
Monday was interesting since it was about the afternoon when I realized I couldn't find Ray. I asked Egon and Jeanine, but they told me to ask Peter. I went outside to see Peter talking to the contractors.
"Hey, Peter, where is Ray? I need him to sign a few things." I asked, hoping he would tell me something like he went to get lunch.
"I think he said he was probably getting a car or something big. Do you think people will see the sign?"
"Sorry, we let Ray do what! We let the car guy buy a car with no supervision." I asked, hoping the realization would dawn on him.
"You don't think it's too subtle, Marty? You don't think people are going to drive down and not see the sign?" Peter said, clearly not listening to what I had said.
Just then, I heard a siren going off to see an old blue hearse come towards us slowing to park in front of the doors to the firehouse.
"You can't park that here!" Peter said, walking to the car and looking in to see who it was as the car parked there.
Ray then stepped out, excited about his Prize.
"Everybody can relax. I found the car!" he then leaned on the hood. "Needs some suspension work; and shocks, and brakes, brake pads, lining, steering box, transmission, rear end -" he continued while Peter seemed repulsed by the car.
"How much?" Peter interrupted, allowing for fear of what the number would be.
"Only forty-eight hundred. And maybe new rings, also mufflers, a little wiring…." Ray responded, leaving Peter and me in a state of disbelief.
"Can you return it for something cheaper? What you've told us sounds like a hunk of junk. How you got it here is impressive." I asked, hoping for good news.
"Don't say that, Tanya. She's sensitive. She needs some work and will be the best car." Ray said defensively.
"As much as I hate to say it, kid, let him have this. He knows cars though you're right. He will not be allowed to go shopping without supervision." Peter said, defeated, like something similar had happened and he had not learned his lesson then.
"How about you help me with the car to find out what a true beauty it is," Ray said, getting back in the car.
On Friday, I was under the car helping Ray re-screw in parts and the like, which was very different than trying to fix a tank with Captain Ahrens. Just back from submitting some patents, Peter walked by Janine's desk.
Janine was reading some magazines now that the business side of things was in order, with the only thing lacking being the equipment needing tweaking, the car still being worked on, and customers. This left us to work on the equipment and technical aspects of getting set up. This left little for Janine to do.
"Janine! Any calls?" Peter asked to hope to do more since there was no one to communicate with, which is what he did best with.
"No," Janine responded, more than likely knowing he just wanted to talk.
"Any messages?" Peter asked.
"No,"
"Any customers?"
"No, Dr. Venkman"
"It's a good job, isn't it? Type something, will you? We're paying you for this stuff!" Peter said in response,
"Don't stare at me. You got them bug eyes," Peter said, walking into his office.
I began wheeling myself out from under the car when I heard this.
"Janine! Sorry about the bug eyes thing. I'll be in my office." Peter then said.
I then wheeled myself back under the car.
"You're very handy. I can tell. I bet you like to read a lot, too." Janine then said in a happier tone.
"Print is dead." Egon then said as he went around the desk.
If those two didn't end up, it would be a damn shame.
"Oh, that's very fascinating to me. I read a lot myself. Some people think I'm too intellectual, but I think it's a fabulous way to spend your spare time. I also play racquetball. Do you have any hobbies?" Janine asked to hope for a more interesting conversation.
"I collect spores, molds, and fungus," Egon said before heading upstairs.
"I've seen it not as interesting as it sounds. Say we ought to play sometime, Janine. I never really got into sports." I said, hoping to cheer her up from the apparent attempt.
"That'd be nice, Tanya," Janine told me.
Then I heard a sound I hadn't heard in a while. The door was opened, followed by the clicks of heels. As soon as the sound passed the car, sure enough, as I slid from under the car, there was a woman around 20-30 years of age and big fuzzy brown hair. She approached Janine's desk, seeming hesitant if this was the right place.
"Oh. Excuse me. This, this is the Ghostbusters' office?" She asked,
"Yes, it is. Can I help you?" Janine replied, stopping her nail filing.
"I don't have an appointment. I'd like to talk to someone, please." The woman responded, leading to Peter bolting straight up like a gopher before running and jumping over the gate into his office.
"I'm Peter Venkman. May I help you?" Peter said, getting closer and looking into the woman's eyes.
"Well, I don't know. What I'm about to say may sound a little unusual." the woman said, backing up a little.
"Oh, that's all we get day in, day out around this place. Come into my office, Miss -"
"Barrett, Dana Barrett"
After that, Peter talked to Dana about what sort of issues and what they could do. Then he asked if she would be okay with telling us the whole story of her encounter. She, of course, agreed to do the interview but was not a fan when Egon tried to put pads on her temples.
She was quickly persuaded when Peter translated Ray's explanation. Once she was hooked up, she began to explain what had transpired. She was heading home and putting up groceries when the eggs started cooking. She then heard a strange noise from her refrigerator. When she opened it, she saw a temple with animals growling.
"And this voice said "Zuul." And then I slammed the refrigerator door, and I left. That was two days ago, and I haven't been back to my apartment." Dana concluded her story,
"Generally, you don't see that kind of behavior in a major appliance. What do you think it was?" Peter joked.
"Well, if I knew what it was, I wouldn't be here," Dana snapped back.
"She's got you there. besides, if people did know the things that go bump, why are we setting up a business." I joked with Peter.
"Exactly. Also, aren't you a bit young to be here… I don't mean to be rude. It's just kinda odd to see someone so young here?" Dana asked,
"Don't worry about it. I get that all the time. I'm just a college student. I just look young." I responded, hearing similar things.
"Oh, okay."
"Right … Egon, what do you think," Peter asked as Egon removed the pads from her temples.
"She's telling the truth. At least, she thinks she is." Egon replied, forgetting he had a light on his head and shining a light into Peter's eyes.
"Well, of course, I'm telling the truth! Who would make up a story like that?" Dana said, sounding offended.
"Some are people who just want attention. Others, just nutballs who come in off the street." Peter said, looking at Egon and Ray.
"You know what it could be? Past-life experience intruding on the present time." Ray chimed in.
"That's not how past lives work. You just remember it as if you were waking up in your past life. You don't just get random flashbacks that bring a lot of questions about the difference between your past self and you." I said, only realizing what I had said after I finished talking.
Ray and Egon stared at me with great interest while Peter and Dana just went along like I had said nothing.
"Could be something with daydreams too, or the unconscious mind too," I said, trying to distract them.
"I'm sorry, I don't believe in any of those things," Dana said as Peter went to her side,
"Well, that's all right. I don't, either. But there are some things we do. Standard procedures we carry out in a case like this which often bring us results." Peter said, now moving behind her to her other side.
"Well, I could go down to the hall of records and check out the structural details in the building. Maybe the building itself has a history of psychic turbulence." Ray said, finally distracted from what I had said.
"Right, go do that," Peter said, waiting to give his assignment for the case.
"I could look for the name Zuul in the usual literature," Egon announced.
"Spates Catalog?" Ray asked,
"Tobin's Spirit Guide," Egon responded.
"Yeah, good idea," Ray said.
"Tell you what. I'll take Miss Barrett back to her apartment and check her out - I'll go check out Miss Barrett's apartment, okay?" Peter stumbled, saying and hoping no one heard him.
"Okay, thank you," Dana said, looking at Peter before heading out with Peter following her facepalming in his mistake.
Once they left, it was just Egon, Ray, and I., with the two wanting answers.
After that, we began looking up this Zuul character. The issue was that some needed books had to be shipped, which would take a while. I miss the internet, and though the internet was around, it wasn't as developed as it was in my first life and wouldn't be for a few decades, but it was still closer than the last time.
After getting the things ready for research to begin and getting the last details of the car finished, we were finally ready to actually start the business side of capturing instead of just investigating.
Ray and I had gone out and gotten Chinese which I was okay with, but that led to an odd scenario of having difficulty with the chopsticks for a little bit since I hadn't used one in a while now, preferring a simple fork.
Another example of how multiple lives will change habits, especially when 110 of those years are outside of your native culture. It was a moment of self-evaluation I'd never thought possible. About halfway through the silent meal, Peter broke the silence with a toast.
"To our first customer," Peter said, raising his can of Budweiser.
"To our first and only customer," Ray said, raising his can as well. We all clink our cans, with Egon and me with our Tab cans.
"I got to take out some petty cash. We should take her out to dinner. We don't want to lose her." Peter said, looking at Ray.
"Uh, this magnificent feast here represents the last of the petty cash," Ray said, pointing to the food. "Tanya paid for her food since it wasn't enough."
"Slow down. Chew your food." Peter said after the realization hit him."Savor the flavor."
After that, we all went quiet since they savored the last cash they had given them. From below, I could hear Janine talking to someone, but nothing I could make out what the conversation was. Egon was now entirely focused on eating, finally distracted from working on his devices.
Then I heard Janine say, "We Got One!" before the alarm was set off.