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Volume 3, 10 November 1997 |
This is Brenda's story... In the prologue, we see where a mini-city has been built in the desert. A clean spot, free from crime, a nice self-contained community.  "Then the ghosts appeared, and people began to go mad." This is an entry from Brenda Ruskin's notebook, and she adds, "I didn't expect to be one of them." |
Fourteen people have seen ghosts and gone mad or broken down. The developer, Mister Hershey, has brought in the Challengers to help investigate. He truly wants a decent community where people can live. Please help. The Challs get on it. Could be LSD in the water, heat stroke, something in the soil. They'll check them all. The developer also mentioned the local Indians weren't happy with him building here. They talk to Indians. They didn't want smog and crime brought here, but they're not violent about it. "We tried that 100 years ago. Didn't work." The whole place is sacred ground, but so's the whole world. Clay, it's noted, as "a smidge" of Shawnee blood. In a motel, they check tests. Nothing in the soil. Doesn't seem to be any sinister conspiracy. Then Brenda notices the temperature is dropping. A ghost of a young girl appears. People dive every whichway as Brenda screams, "Look out!" |
The drastic temperature inversion blows the window out. The Challs duck into the hall. What the hell was THAT? That, says Brenda, was my dead sister Eileen. But NOT her ghost. Brenda confesses she's investigated "all this" before with tarot cards, ouija boards, Aleister Crowley. As a kid, she lived in Sunnydale. (Isn't that where Buffy the Vampire Slayer lives?) With her dad away working in defense, and her mom dead of thyroid cancer, 16-year-old Brenda had to watch her 14-year-old sister. |
 One day, driving too fast after excitement, Brenda crashed the car. Eileen burned to death. Brenda tried every occult idea to bring Eileen back, or to at least say she was sorry. Nothing worked. So she turned to science, after her dad. Still nothing. But there MUST be a reason Eileen's spirit is trying to communicate. |
The Challs poke around. Brenda rigs sensors to detect atmospheric and energy changes. Kenn helps. Marlon listens to locals. Clay digs up hard facts. They dissect them over dinner. Facts: More ghosts appear as the moon waxes full. Every building is constructed of a superstrong alloy developed by NASA, then abandoned - because astronauts were having breakdowns. The town is ripe with vibrations. And a ghost appears in their restaurant. The waitress's dead husband, in fact. Brenda orders no one to touch it. The "ghosts" absorb energy, which drops the local temperature. Touching one might kill you. |
Outside, it's snowing. Which means a LOT of ghosts are congregating.  |
Brenda's notes state that, in Physics research, you sometimes see things that are impossible, until you study them and realize they're NOT impossible. Brenda orders everyone out of the houses, then she rushes into the tower. The moon's pull sets up vibrations all over town. The resonances re-echo and reinforce one another. It creates enough energy for "ghosts" - the old consciousnesses of dead people - to gain a quasi-life. Ghosts are now everywhere: threatening the Challs in the streets, blockiing Brenda's path in the tower. The developer is destroying his equipment, overcome with guilt about people he's "crushed" to get his way. He rushes the ghosts and is killed. |
Brenda rushes to the core of the tower. She needs counter-vibrations. In the old days, she'd ring a church bell to drive off demons. Lacking that, she'll use one of her sensors. But she needs time to rig it, and the ghosts are closing in. Who can buy her time? Answer: her dead sister.  Eileen appears and intercepts the onrushing ghosts. Brenda arms her sensor and throws it. Counter-vibrations ring out. In fact, they collapse the whole building. |
The other Challs rush the ruins. Brenda must be dead.  Nope. |
Summing up her notes, Brenda is rational. That Eileen appeared and forgave her was only Brenda's own doing, her own delusion. Perhaps other ghost sightings are too. Just forgotten guilts that resurface. She writes, "What is a ghost but a memory revealed? What did William Faulkner write? The Earth remembers." All very rational and scientific. But Brenda doesn't notice the "ghost" of her sister Eileen sitting in the room with her. |
Comment A good story, well built and well told. With the larger lesson of how we need forgiveness, and how our most bittersweet memories can be our own worst enemies. Something worth remembering. |