Portals and Plutonium (The Time Flow Stories Book 4) Page 2

  Back out on the deck with her earphones in, she noodled on the guitar, trying to fit a melody to her new lyrics while Witt and her dad talked.

  It was a pleasant and relaxed slice of time.

  ~~~

  Stephen got home on time and dinner was excellent. Partway through dinner, Stephen asked Witt, “How’d you learn to play so many instruments?”

  Nonplused, Witt said, “I got a little keyboard for Christmas back when I was in middle school. It was kind of a toy, but I spent a lot of time trying to figure out the notes in my favorite songs.”

  “You didn’t look up the music for them? You just tried to play them?”

  “By ear, yeah.”

  “By ear?”

  Witt shrugged, “That’s what people call it when you don’t read music, instead you just try to find the notes.”

  “You didn’t have a teacher?”

  Witt shook his head. “My family was poor, so no teachers for me. I did learn something about reading music in high school band.” He grimaced, “But, I never got very good at reading. My band teacher said it’s because, if I’ve ever heard it, I find it easier to play a piece by ear. She thinks it made me too lazy to learn the written notes.”

  Stephen looked thoughtful, then asked, “Can you teach me how to do that? I don’t want to learn to read music, I just want to start playing.”

  Witt blinked at the request, “Which instrument do you want to play?”

  “Keyboards, guitar, and sax,” he said without hesitation.

  His parents looked alarmed at this notion.

  Witt felt concerned about the fact that Stephen had chosen the three instruments he was known for playing, fearing that the boy was idolizing him for some strange reason—Witt didn’t feel he was a good target for adulation.

  “Um,” Witt said uncertainly, “you probably ought to start with one of them.” He glanced at the boy’s parents, “Maybe your parents could get you some lessons?”

  Stephen rolled his eyes. “Can’t you just show me how to get started?”

  Witt glanced at Allie.

  She looked amused.

  Turning back to Stephen, Witt said, “Do you have a keyboard we could, uh, fool around on?”

  Stephen turned to his mom, “Can he teach me on the piano downstairs?”

  Sarah nodded.

  Stephen leaped excitedly to his feet, beckoning Witt to follow, “This way!”

  Sarah said, “Stephen! Witt hasn’t finished his dinner yet!” She glanced at his plate, “And, neither have you!”

  The boy settled unhappily back into his seat.

  ~~~

  Dinner finished, Witt found himself following Allie’s brother into the basement. There they looked over an upright piano that’d seen better days. Witt had Stephen use his phone to pull up a popular song he liked and play the first verse. “Can you find that melody on the piano?” Witt asked.

  “Melody?”

  “The tune of the song. You know, what you’d sing, or hum, or whistle if someone asked you to play it.” Witt hummed a few bars of the melody himself.

  “Oh,” Stephen said, sitting down at the piano. He struck a few keys, pecking around. Witt thought he was looking for the first note of the melody, but then he looked up and said, “I don’t get it.”

  “Um,” Witt reached down and played middle C, which was where the song started. “This’s the first note. Can you tell that?”

  Stephen shrugged.

  Witt played the first two bars of the melody. “It doesn’t sound quite right because the piano’s out of tune, but can you hear that it’s almost making the right tune when I play?”

  “Kinda,” Stephen said. He repeated the notes Witt had played, but his timing was off. Frustratedly, he said, “It doesn’t sound right.”

  “You played the right keys, though. That’s a pretty good start. Could you tell they were the right notes?”

  Stephen shrugged.

  Surprised, Witt asked, “How’d you know which ones to play?”

  Stephen frowned in puzzlement. “I’d just seen you play them.”

  “Ah,” Witt said. “You memorized which keys to hit?”

  Stephen nodded. “Isn’t that what you do, ‘playing by ear?’”

  “You have a heck of a memory, but, no, that’s not the same as playing by ear. You’ve got to listen to the rhythm of the notes too.” Witt played the first two bars again. “Do you hear it?”

  “The rhythm?”

  “Um-hmm,” Witt said, thinking that music was not going to be Stephen’s most important talent. Nonetheless, he tapped out the rhythm of the notes by smacking his palm against the side of the piano. “Hear that rhythm?”

  Stephen nodded and tapped out a wooden version of the rhythm himself. “Like that?”

  “Uh-huh. Now, can you play the notes in that rhythm?”

  Stephen did, except he placed the first note one beat off in the rhythm, a phenomenon that made Witt think of a shirt buttoned up one button out of alignment. This created its own somewhat interesting melody, but it didn’t sound as if it came from the same song. Stephen said, “That’s not right.”

  “Yup, not right,” Witt said. “You just joined the rhythm with the notes out of synch by one. Let me play it for you again.” He did, then said, “Here’s what you played,” and played it back with Stephen’s weird zipping together of the tune to the rhythm. “Do you hear what happened there?”

  “I think so,” Stephen said uncertainly, then tried it again himself.

  This time the notes and the rhythm were synchronized correctly, even if the playing lacked “feel.” Witt slapped the boy on his shoulder, “That was way better!”

  “I don’t know,” Stephen said unhappily.

  “Come on, it was your first try, right? This isn’t something anyone gets right the first time they sit down to play.”

  Sarah’s voice came down the stairs, “Dessert’s ready.”

  “Aw, man,” Stephen said disappointedly.

  “We’re coming,” Witt called up the stairs, then turned back to Stephen. “Playing by ear means spending a lot of time down here, trying to find the notes and rhythms for songs you know and love.”

  “I guess,” the teenager said, sounding disheartened.

  And, disinterested.

  ~~~

  They had their desserts, berry pie a la mode, out on the deck under the stars. Allie’s dad started talking about port theory, but, in a warning tone, Allie said, “Dad …” and he subsided.

  Sarah asked Witt, “Do you think we should get Stephen some lessons?”

  “Um,” he said wryly, “you might want to have the piano tuned first. Then I’d let him experiment a lot on his own first. Only get him lessons if he begs for them.”

  “Hey!” Stephen said, “I thought you were on my side.”

  Witt shrugged, “I’ve seen lessons turn off a lot of would-be musicians. If you want to do it, you’ll ask. If you don’t really want it, lessons will turn you off.”

  “Yeah,” Al Dans said, “I had to take piano lessons when I was a kid. I hated them.”

  Allie said, “The best way to keep me from going into music would’ve been to make me take lessons.” She turned to her brother. “You can learn a lot from YouTube. If you still want lessons after you’ve done some of that, then ask for them.”

  “Maybe Witt could help me some more.”

  “I, uh,” Witt said, hesitating, then rushed ahead, “I have a bad history of getting dumped by girlfriends. Next time Allie brings her boyfriend home, he’ll probably be a lot better looking.”

  Stephen laughed as if he thought Witt’s little joke hilarious. When he subsided, he said, “You’re the first one she ever brought home. I seriously doubt she can find another one at all, much less one as talented as you.”

  “Hah, you should see all the guys she’s got admiring her. Guys like me are stacked ten deep.”

  “You two have no idea,” Allie said grimly, “so if my brother and my boyfriend could just stop discussing my love life, that’d be just great.”

  ~~~

  Stephen and his parents went in after a bit, leaving Allie out on the deck with Witt. He said, “Hmm, do they think you’re safe out here with me?”

  “Apparently,” Allie said, thoughtfully. “My fears that they’d try to put us in separate bedrooms have not come to pass.”

  “Ooh, am I gonna be spending the night in your flowery pink teenage bedroom?”

  Allie laughed, “No. My teenage bedroom was a dark and grim place. Mom probably redecorated it the day I left. Probably had it redone before I got to the end of the driveway.”

  “I thought you just left a note and took off?”

  “I told you about that, did I?”

  “No, I could tell by the faint stench of brimstone in the hallway,” Witt said, dodging the punch she threw at him. “But I’m thinking that, surprised as she was, it was probably at least a couple of days before she could start painting.”

  An amused tone in her voice, Allie said, “Why a couple of days?”

  “One to bring in a backhoe for the cleanup, and another to find a priest for the exorcism?”

  She aimed another punch at his shoulder. “I think you were right earlier, when you were talking about how much nicer and better looking my next boyfriend’s going to be.”

  Sliding down in the lounger he reached out and took her hand. “Please? Give me another chance?”

  “You’re going to have to suck up a lot more than that,” Allie said.

  A few moments passed without words, Witt staring up at the stars, so Allie asked, “What’d you think of my brother’s musical talent?”

  “Um …”

  She laughed, “That bad, huh?”

  “He’s really smar
t and seems to have an eidetic memory, but …”

  “But he’s never gonna be a musician, right?”

  “It was his first time trying to play an instrument! And his teacher was a clueless fool with no idea how to teach. If he wants it, and he gets those lessons, he’ll probably turn out to be amazing.”

  Allie shook her head, “You haven’t heard him sing ‘Happy Birthday.’” She chortled, “All by himself he can sound like three cats in a dogfight.”

  Witt turned his head to stare at her with a horrified expression, “I can’t believe you’d say something like that about your brother.”

  She fixed him with a steady stare, “You know you aren’t going to be able to keep your face straight after that line.”

  His expression crumbled to mirth. “Sorry, no,” he choked out.

  Allie climbed out of her recliner and into his lap, “I love you despite the way you treat me.”

  Putting his arms around her, he said, “I love you despite the way you treat your brother.”

  She snorted and snuggled closer against the cool night air.

  He said, “I know you don’t like it, but I’m hoping you’ll let me …” he trailed off, sounding reluctant.

  “What? Date other girls or something?”

  “Actually, I was hoping I could talk to your dad about our talents and space-time, but dating other girls would be okay too.”

  Burying her face in his neck, she murmured, “You must be the worst – boyfriend – ever … Go ahead and talk to my dad, but realize it’s only slightly preferable to the dating thing.”

  ***

  Allie woke late the next morning. When she came downstairs, she found Witt and her dad talking animatedly at the kitchen table. When her dad saw her, he said, “You didn’t tell me Witt has a talent!”

  Giving her dad a narrow-eyed look, she said, “You’re not about to go off into la-la land again, are you?”

  “Can … can’t we do just a few experiments?” her dad asked, a pleading look on his face.

  She glanced at Witt. Her boyfriend looked just as eager as her father. “Good God. I’ve heard of boys dating girls just like their moms, but am I dating a boy just like my dad?!”

  Witt glanced at her dad, “No way I’d ever be as brilliant as your dad, but we do get excited about the same stuff.” He gave Allie a puppy dog look, “Can we do some experiments? Can we, can we?!”

  She sighed, “Yes, you boys can go off to the lab.” She narrowed one eye at him, “I’ll probably go shopping for that better boyfriend you were talking about last night.”

  “But we need you for the experiments!” Witt said with dismay.

  “You boys do all the experiments you can think of with just Witt. If I haven’t found that mythical better boyfriend by then, I might deign to come in for a few.” She glared, “After you’ve fully set it up and worked out all the kinks!”

  They started to rise and she said dangerously, “You can start your experiments after you’ve had breakfast with me.”

  Her dad turned to Witt, “She’s awfully bossy. Too bad we need her for our tests, huh?”

  Allie rolled her eyes exasperatedly but secretly thought it was fun to have a boyfriend she could rag the way she did Witt.

  One who gave as good as he got.

  And, who’d gotten her stiff dad in on it.

  ***

  Through the excited eyes of his daughter’s boyfriend, Al Dans found himself appreciatively noticing all the equipment in his lab for the first time in a long time. To his surprise, Witt knew what most of the devices were, he just hadn’t seen examples of them, so had no idea what they looked like.

  Of course, Witt could hardly be more excited than Al. When Witt had put Al in 400X fast-time that morning, Al had thought his head might explode at the implications. Al said, “So, when Allie would make ports for me, um,” he glanced at Witt, “something she hasn’t done in years, you understand.”

  Witt nodded.

  “But, when she did in the past, I could measure small rotating fields around the port. Nothing around her head, or any other part of her for that matter.”

  “Allie said you called them ‘swirling fields?’”

  He winced, “Yeah, I did call them that back then. They didn’t rotate very cleanly. More of a twisting orientation as if the axis were pivoting. I thought of them as if they were somewhat like a tornado that twists and tilts. As if they were swirling.”

  Witt gave him a nod as if he understood. “Did the strength fall off as the cube root of distance like you’d expect?”

  Al rolled his eyes. “Faster for the most part, but sometimes slower in some directions.”

  “Toward Allie?”

  Impressed, Al shrugged. “Toward that side of the room but wavering around. The way tornados do.”

  “So, I’m going to make a small fast-time bubble and you’re going to take those same measurements around me and the bubble?”

  Al nodded and they worked together to set up the equipment, Witt setting up his parts with little direction, as if he’d been working with the apparatus for months—though, when Al asked, Witt reconfirmed that he hadn’t seen the devices before. “I do just seem to get technology, though.”

  “Like computers and stuff, the way most people in your generation just ‘get’ stuff?”

  “I … don’t know. I think I understand how computers work better than most of my generation, but I’m not all that awesome at programming or using apps or things like that,” he said uninterestedly. “I think this’s ready to go.”

  Al checked Witt’s part of the setup and, to his astonishment, it was set up and calibrated better than his grad student would’ve done it. Better than Al usually managed himself when he first set experiments up.

  They had the system set up around a small digital timer. There were small ticks in the electrical field around the timer as the seconds, tenths, and hundredths of seconds turned over. Witt applied what he called a “bubble” and gradually sped up time inside of it. This slowly turned the ticking up to a buzz, then a hum, as he made the time in the bubble go faster and faster. A rotating field formed around the timer and got stronger as Witt sped the clock further. It swirled like Allie’s had, but at high time-multiples, the field strength was much greater than hers had ever been.

  When Al explained this, Witt said, “If Allie comes in, we should see if her field strength is stronger when I boost her.”

  “When you what?!”

  Witt explained that Allie could open bigger ports over greater distances if Witt put his head next to hers.

  “So can you do more with time if her head’s next to yours?”

  He shook his head, “If that works, it’s a small difference in the flow of time. However, I can perceive things and influence them at much greater distances.”

  “Perceive things?”

  “Um, yeah. Allie and I can both sense things at a distance, and through walls, or inside … um, containers.”

  “What?!” Al said, stunned.

  Witt tilted his head inquisitively, “It only makes sense. If our abilities let us manipulate something, they must be able to feel the object as well, just to do what they do. Wouldn’t you think?”

  “Only makes sense?!” Al thought but didn’t say, None of this makes any sense! After a moment, he said, “Do you think your talent’s stronger than Allie’s?”

  Witt shrugged, “Hard to know since they’re so different. I, uh, think I inherited this talent from both of my parents. They can both modify the flow of time, though not very strongly. My mom’s never even noticed she does it. My dad only seems to be able to get up to about 1.3X. Even that’s saved his bacon as a police officer a few times but he doesn’t have a lot of control. It comes on when he’s in danger and because of that it’s let him dodge blows and win fights, but he can’t do it at will the way I can.” Witt looked embarrassed. “So, my parents and I have the same talent, but mine does seem to be stronger than theirs. I’m thinking Allie didn’t inherit hers from you or her mom, right?”

  Al slowly shook his head. “Pretty sure not. If I can port, I’ve certainly never noticed it, and I’ve tried. I’ve never asked her mom to try … maybe I should”

  Witt said, “It’s all pretty confusing. I can boost Allie’s portal size and distance, but whatever boost she might be able to give my ability to change the flow of time is barely noticeable. But she boosts my ability to sense things at least as much as I’m able to boost hers.”