|
|
Registered User
Currently Offline
|
Posts: 703
Join Date: Oct 2008
|
BIG BLUE in ‘Q & A’ Chapter Two
Character Created by Neo Gonzales Story by Wayne Clayton
Sam felt a trickle of warm sweat roll down his face. The curious flames which had sprung from Blue’s fist now slowly sank back from whence they came, the snake like vapour seem to seek its way back into the very pores which had given it birth.
The sound of a chair scrapping against the floor broke Sam from his gaze, and now he looked up to see the General had now joined them at the table. It was of some relief for Sam that the General had walked through the door when he did. He didn’t like to speculate on what might have happened otherwise. Although even now he was still somewhat surprised to find that Big Blue and General Layton seemed to be actually on first name terms. Sam wouldn’t of been at all surprised if the General’s mother had to call him General.
“It’s good to see you Blue, I’m only sorry the rest of the guys couldn’t be here to welcome you back” The General said warmly as he shook Blue by the same hand which moments before had lit up the room with its fiery light.
“So you mean it’s true what the Doctor here said, that I’ve been in a coma for sixty years?”
“I’m afraid so Blue, God knows we tried for years to find a way to bring you back after the last ‘mission’ was aborted.”
Sam listened intently as the General continued to set Big Blue at his ease. Could this really be the same man who before Big Blue had awoken had instructed Sam on how he should be ‘Terminated’ if the worse came to the worst? Not only that but even now he was lying to Big Blue, Sam had read the medical notes and he knew that no attempt had been made to bring Blue back in all those years. And yet it was clear by the tone the General used that he and Blue were once friends. And just what was this ‘mission’ Blue was involved with?
Sam thought it best to leave these questions for another time. It wouldn’t help matters to have him get Blue upset again, his face still felt raw from the heat.
“So Vinnie what’s it like?” Asked Blue
“What’s what like?” puzzled the General
“The Future”
Sam could almost see the boy in Blue rise to the surface as he pondered this new world he was about to enter.
“The futures not as bright as it used to be Blue” Sighed the General.
“In fact it looks like things are about to get a whole lot worse, which is why I’m glad you’re back with us Blue”
“You mean were still fighting the Japanese?”
The General shook his head.
“No that war’s long since gone, but I’ll let the Doctor fill you in on what’s been going on in the world since you’ve been out of the loop”
Sam watched as the General reached down and picked up his small briefcase, popping the locks one by one before opening it. Reaching in he pulled out a manila file with the words ‘TOP SECRET’ stamped all over it.
He opened the file and lay out its contents onto the table top.
“These are photographs taken during the Operation Crossroads Atomic Bomb tests on Bikini Atoll back in 1946, about a year after you went under. What they show is what happened at ground zero just before the candle went up.”
Blue picked up the photos and began to flick through them casually.
“Isn’t that you and Johnny Reb?” Blue said in surprise.
Sam too was surprised, he had heard rumours but it never occurred to him that Johnny Reb ever really existed outside of War time propaganda and Comic books of the period.
Blue turned to the next photo and stopped.
“What in Sam Hill is that thing?”
“That” said the General grimly “is still a mystery but that’s only part the really issue. Take a look at the very last photo.”
Blue held the sepia photo in his hand. Sam leaned forward as best he could to catch a glimpse of it.
“Is that what I think it is?” asked Blue hesitantly.
“For the last sixty years or so we’ve been asking ourselves the same question. So far there are two trains of thought on the matter. One is that it shows some kind of matter transference in action, invisible to the naked eye but somehow captured in this photo. The other suggestion is far more disturbing.” Said the General is a tone of voice best left in the realms of the Twilight Zone.
“And what’s that?” said Sam now braving to join in the debate for the first time.
The General eyed him briefly before continuing.
“The other theory Doctor is that it shows a man’s soul been stolen against his will.”
“You don’t really believe that do you General?” said Sam.
“What I believe is that I saw that man die with my own eyes, and that this picture was taken by Private Jones, the man in the photo after his own death!”
“But it makes no difference if you believe in the matter transference theory or the soul stealing one, the fact remains that Private Jones was taken against his will, be it alive or dead.”
Sam shook his head; he was struggling to get his brain around what the General was suggesting. But a look towards Blue showed him that he had no problems believing what he was been told. In fact there was the same youthful excitement he had seen earlier. Like a boy been read his favourite story at bedtime.
“However” continued the General.
“The big question that remains is why? What could they want with a man’s soul?”
|
