"Gorilla Crime Wave"
Aug. 10th, 2023 07:34 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
dochermes"Gorilla Crime Wave"
7/29/2002
I.
Down from a starless overcast night sky came two young women to land lightly on their feet in a county jail parking lot. As far as they knew, no civilians had spotted them. Both were in their early twenties, both an inch or two over five feet in height, both slim and in fine athletic shape. Ashley Whitaker had platinum blond hair and wore an all white field suit where Megan Salenger had short black hair and was in a black field suit with its boots, snug pants and waist-length jacket.
Disengaging from Megan's arm around her waist, Ashley undid the Scunci holding her gleaming silver hair together and brushed it out. "Not exactly comfortable, Megs. If we have to fly a couple hundred miles again, maybe we can rig up a sling or something to hold me."
"I kept at an altitude and speed where you would not suffer from cold or lack of oxygen," Megan replied evenly. "We could not use the CORBY because there is no place to land secretly in this area, and you said driving down here in a KDF car would take too long."
"Yeah, yeah, it's what I get for complaining, I know." The Unicorn shifted her talisman across her back to make it more comfortable. In its white leather sheath, the ancient horn of a genuine Unicorn was a three foot long ivory cylinder, one end tapering to a sharp needle point and the other end flat to be capped with an ensalir band. "It'd be easier if we could operate in plain view. You know, like comic book super-heroes. Having to be all secret and sneaky bugs me."
The Trom Girl sounded distracted. She was taking readings on the Link, an electronic device no thicker than three playing cards stacked on top of each other. "Being a celebrity would quickly weary you, Ashley. You enjoy a modicum of privacy."
"True, true. Okay, Science Nerd, what do your sensors tell you?"
"No gralic force detected in immediate area, which is helpful for our purposes. I'm looking at infra-red sources and there are no other Humans outside at the moment. Visual scan with anomaly recognition says no windows are open and none of the parked cars have anyone sitting in them. Odds of an ambush are minimal."
"Hah!" Unicorn snorted. "Any ambushers would have their hands full with us."
Both women pivoted as the door at the rear of the jail opened and then closed with the click of lock being set. Moving toward them was a mild-looking man about thirty with receding brown hair and a thin droopy mustache evidently meant as a counter to an unfortunately bulbous nose. He was not in uniform, wearing unremarkable jeans, polo shirt and denim jacket.
To Unicorn, Megan whispered, "His readings match. This is Deputy Sheriff Peter Joseph Watzka."
A second later, the deputy said in a low voice, "Glad you two could make it. I only got a minute. If'n I'm not home right away, I'll have to account to my wife for what deviltry I got up to. So let me get right to the chase."
"We're listening," Megan said.
"I unnerstand New York City has an arrangement with you KDF guys where you're sorta unofficial vigilantes and you get called in on cases. None of that down here. Our District Attorney is as strict as an old maid at a school dance, so this meeting will be denied. I will swear in court I never saw you gals."
"Understood," Megan replied.
"It started on February 23rd," Watzka said. He rattled off details of four burglaries in the area, including the latest one in which someone sleeping in the house been brutally murdered. There were no suspects. As best as the police could reconstruct, the burglar had shown physical strength several times greater than even a circus strongman could match. The murder victim had died from having one arm torn completely off and half his face bitten away.
"Wellll, time to head back to New York," interjected Unicorn, to be shushed by Megan.
"I gave you the dates and addresses and names. The brass tells me that's enough. Miss Salenger, you're supposed to have a photographic memory. I got to go. If you KDF people are gonna investigate this, all I can say is good luck!"
Watching Watzka march over to his personal dark red Ford pickup and drive out of the parking lot, Unicorn let out a low whistle. "Hey, Science Nerd, you've been trained in Kumundu body reading as much as I have. Micro-expressions, subvocal tremors, stance shifts... Did he seemed scared enough to wet himself to you?"
"Absolutely," the Trom Girl agreed. "I had my Link scanning him without his knowledge. His heartbeat was one hundred and twenty, and traces of adrenaline in his perspiration were at near maximum. There is much he has not told us."
"A burglar that yanks your arm off is something new," Unicorn admitted. "I've got my anesthetic dart gun but I'm a little dubious about relying on it against a bozo who beats you with your own arm. Luckily, you've got your beam projector, you can turn him into stray little atoms drifting away on the breeze if you have to."
Megan Salenger started to walk toward the far end of the parking lot, where a sidewalk met Caldwell Street. "Ashley, I want you to take out your Link and activate its screen."
"To hear is to obey," the little blonde replied. "Hey, you're sending me a street map of this town."
"Yes. The red blips are where these crimes took place."
"Let's see, one is uptown, but the other three are closer together. Looks like they're on streets close to the Chipewya Creek. What're the dates?"
Megan made an adjustment. "The brightness reflects the order in which the crimes were committed."
"Okey dokey, sure looks like our strongman hit first way uptown and is now concentrating on the Creek neighborhood. That seems to be, lemme calculate, three miles from here. Are we going to walk there?"
"I do not wish to use a cab or Uber right away," Megan said. "The less of a trail we leave, the better."
"Gotcha. Right heel in front of left toe, left heel in front of right toe, pick 'em up and put 'em down."
Striding alongside her teammate, Megan said, "It's possible some motorist may offer us a ride."
"Hah! Are you kidding? Two pretty girls in skintight commando suits? We'll have rides lined up." And as she finished that sentence, a yellow Volkswagen driven by an older woman slowed.
"What ARE you two doing walking down the road in the middle of the night? Get in fer Godsakes!"
II.
Mrs Florence Boice filled the two KDF members in on a huge amount of local speculation about the burglaries on their way to the Chipewya Creek neighborhood. Megan and Ashley took it all in, prompting occasionally for more details. They asked to be let off at an all-night diner of chrome and glass called RENDEZVOUS. There were a dozen cars in the parking lot and patrons could be seen moving around inside.
"You gals will be a sight safer in there than hoofing down Route 4G," the older woman said. "Most locals are good ole boys who won't try anything but you never know, so be careful."
Thanking Mrs Boice and promising to stay alert, Megan and Ashley entered the diner. The interior was cool and dry, with five customers scattered on stools along the counter. A jukebox was playing the oldies classic by Scarab, "Thunderstorm In Your Eyes." The two KDF members claimed a corner booth, examined the menus and were ready when a genial if weathered waitress came over. Cigarette smoke was an almost visible haze around her.
Ashley ordered a cheese omelet with hash browns and orange juice, while Megan decided on blueberry waffles and four sausage links, plain ice water. As they waited for their orders, the Unicorn could not keep quiet. "Okay, okay, the first thing that comes to mind? You want to know? Three houses get burgled and ransacked, no valuables taken but furniture smashed. No one was home. The fourth place, the homeowner was in bed and he met a gruesome end but nothing was stolen! This tells me something."
Megan Salenger had large dark eyes over a pointed inquisitive nose. Those eyes regarded her partner warily. "Would you care to explain, Ashley?"
"You bet! The perp is out to kill. That's his main goal. The first two houses he hit, no one was home and he trashed the joints because he was annoyed. The third place, he got to tear the victim apart and he left happy."
The Trom Girl did not seem enthused. "On what do you base this theory?"
"My vast knowledge of criminology and human nature, of course. Megs, you were raised by the Trom to be a super-genius in everything from physics to marine biology to Connect Four. My mom brought me up to be the second Unicorn. I am absolutely saturated with lore from true crime cases."
When the waitress placed their plates in front of them, Unicorn insisted on her habit of swapping a little of their meals. She gave Megan some hash browns and took one of Megan's sausages. The Trom Girl did not resist, she had become used to the exchange although she didn't see the point of it. Ashley had at one point explained the swap as a "bonding ritual."
Digging in since neither had eaten since an early lunch thirteen hours earlier, they watched the other people in the diner. One of the younger guys at the counter smiled at them. Ashley regarded her own smiles as presents to be given out as rewards and she bestowed one on him. At twenty-three, the Unicorn was completely gorgeous with flawless pale skin, crystal blue eyes and that mane of pure white hair. On the rare occasions when men were not immediately smitten with her, she felt confused.
Sure enough, a few seconds later, the tall young man in his flannel shirt and worn-out khakis crossed over to stand by their booth. "Hey there! You ladies riding motorcycles?"
"Oh, because of these outfits?" Ashley answered. "Nope. We just have fashion sense ahead of the wave."
"Do you live in the immediate area?" asked Megan of the boy. She herself was quite pretty but not as overtly stunning as Ashley. Her cool appraising gaze unnerved some people. "Do you know local news?"
"Hell yes, I lived here all my life. Whaddaya want to know?"
Megan fixed that thoughtful but not unfriendly gaze on him. "Is it true about the death of Harold Scafidi?"
The hopeful grin dropped off his face as if wiped away by a wet eraser. "Yeah. It's pretty awful. He wasn't a bad guy, he mostly sat on his porch and watched traffic. Quiet old retired grampa type, you know?"
"Do you think an animal attacked him and if so, what kind?"
"First, my name is Jeff. Jeff Dunbarrow. I live within spittin' distance of where poor old Scafidi was tore up. It wasn't no bear! Who ever heard of a bear walking through a house and up the stairs, ripping a man apart and then walking out again without even knocking over a lamp? Never happen. Weren't no bear."
Unicorn scootched over on the seat and Jeff gladly took the opening to sit down next to her. He continued, "There's never been any Bigfoot sightings around here. Until a few months ago! It never got in the papers or on TV, but ask anyone in town and they'll tell you. Starting right after Christmas, people started seeing a big black shape running through their back yards or in between buildings right in the middle of town. Not a man, neither, arms are too long. Sometimes it's been seen moving with its weight resting on its arms as it leans forward."
"With nearly everyone having a phone convenient," Megan observed, "You might think a few photos would be taken of this beast."
"Nothing worth holding up as proof. Three, four times, someone snapped a quick shot but you just see a dark shape or the top of a head. You couldn't convince anybody with evidence that poor."
"How big is this critter anyway?" asked Ashley.
Turning and seeing her at close range, Jeff Dunbarrow was obviously smitten. The goofy grin made him look drunk but he spoke normally, "Big as a pretty big man, like a pro wrestler or something. Nobody ever got a good enough look to see if it's wearing clothes or has fur or whatever."
"Could be a gorilla," the Unicorn said, hardly noticing his infatuated gaze.
"That's what most people think. But there hasn't been any circuses in years and the nearest zoo is two hundred miles away. I don't think gorillas could survive around here anyway, our winters would kill them."
Megan Salenger had finished her meal, wiped her mouth with a napkin and now gestured for the tab. When the waitress brought the bill over, the Trom Girl paid her with cash and added a substantial tip.
"We're on an expense account," whispered Ashley in a tone meant to be overheard. "When it comes to her own money, Science Nerd is kinda tight."
"Ladies," Jeff said, then hesitated. "Aw, I got a normal amount of curiosity. You mind telling me what you're doing out here in the sticks and why you're dressed like SWAT and why you're asking about that gruesome murder and...."
Ashley placed a dainty hand on his arm and made his heart miss several beats. "We're investigators into the paranormal, unusual crimes, anything weird. We belong to the Kenneth Dred Foundation in New York City. My name is Ashley Whitaker, sometimes called the Unicorn. My friend here is named Megan Salenger and I call her Science Nerd because, well, she is."
"Glad to meet you," Jeff said automatically. "So, you two are ghost chasers? You look for supernatural stuff, is that it?"
"Pretty much," Unicorn said. "To be honest, we debunk almost every phenomenon we look into. If you're hoping to see someone in a long white sheet drifting through the walls when we're around, you're going to be disappointed."
Clearing her throat to break up the increasing rapport between Ashley and Jeff, Megan said, "You know this area well. Can you give us directions to the houses where the crimes took place?"
"Better than that! I'm off tomorrow, I work at the hardware outlet. I'd like nothing better than to drive you ladies around so you can solve mysteries."
Blazing her flawless smile, Ashley turned to her partner. "Sounds great, right?"
"Yes," came a single word conveying immense disapproval.
III.
Jeff's car was a 1995 Ford Escort with some damage along the passenger side where it had evidently scraped a guard rail. Unicorn immediately claimed the front passenger seat, swinging the sheathed horn around to rest against her chest. As Jeff swung in behind the wheel, Megan Salenger took the rear seat and buckled herself in.
"As it turns out, the Scafidi house is closest," he said. "So I guess we should check that out first."
From the back, Megan observed, "Your front end alignment is off." A second later, she added, "Your fuel injector needs to be cleaned."
"Mayyyy-gan," sang Ashley in a sweet tone, "We're not here to do a tune-up...."
They were on the outskirts of the town, with long stretches of wooded areas between houses. Down a slope to their right side, a creek could be seen as the water reflected silver off the headlights as they made turns. "How long you girls expect to be in the area?" he asked.
"Once we wrap up the investigation? We're supposed to fly back to Manhattan right away," Unicorn answered. "But, come to think of it, I have a couple of personal days I haven't used. I could hang around here, this seems like a decent area to chill and make friends."
In the back seat, Megan tensed and began to say something caustic but caught herself in time. Three years of working with Ashley Whitaker had shown her that thw little platinum blonde had a sharp, perceptive mind. Under that flippant insolence, the Unicorn was about as clear-headed as a Human could be. Megan said nothing.
After a few minutes of silence as they rode along deserted country roads, Ashley spoke up again. "I've got one of my brilliant ideas. Jeff old pal, how about any local weirdos? You know, some cranky hermit who chases kids away from his property or an ancient hawk-nosed harridan who is only spotted once in a while as a face looking out her upstairs window? Maybe a strange inbred misshapen family with more tattoos than teeth. Anything like that?"
"Heh. Ha ha ha, oh hell yeah. Guy I do some errands for! Every Sunday he calls me to write down a list of supplies, then I go shopping for it all and when I drop the bags off, he reimburses me and added an extra two hunnert dollars. Mostly groceries, but sometimes odd stuff like a dozen boxes of surgical gauze or over the counter painkillers by the handful."
Unicorn chuckled. "Sounds promising. What's his name?"
"Ascienzo. Doctor Carmine Ascienzo. Funny little guy, comes up to my chest so he's maybe five feet two or so. Glasses thick enough to start fires with. Wild head of black hair going grey. He doesn't gab much, all business, I give him his order and he tips me enough to make it worthwhile."
Leaning closer, which made Jeff's heartbeat speed up, Ashley said, "Why don't we cruise by and get a look at his place? Is it a rundown castle with a drawbridge and lightning flashes behind its towers?"
"What, in Greenboro County? Most we got is the new five story Town Hall, although that's ugly enough. Doc lives in a rundown regular house out on Bogert Lane."
"Let's have a look at his crib," Ashley said. "Lots of mysteries get solved by starting with the most obvious suspect."
IV.
The finished basement had wood paneled walls, tile floor and overhead fluorescent lights. Standing in the middle of the open space was a pair of massive iron chairs bolted to the floor, and on a horizontal bar above them were two bell-shaped helmets made of a coppery metal with a hot flush to its surface. Several strange apparatuses of the same metal lined the walls, incomprehensible mazes of pipes and tubes running together in hopeless tangles.
But when Megan and Ashley were led into that lab, they noticed none of this. All their attention was immediately seized by the beast that sat strapped into one of the chairs. Five feet five but four hundred pounds, it was an adult male Mountain Gorilla. Under the protruding brow ledges, dark eyes watched the two women being led in but the ape did not visibly react. Perhaps he was sedated.
Turning around from a work bench where he had been scribbling furiously in a journal, Dr Ascienzo pushed his thick-lensed glasses up on his nose and peered at the three entering his lab. He was a tiny gnomelike man to begin with and the effects of arthritis bending his spine made him look even smaller. "Jeffrey, Jeffrey, you impetuous young lad, I did not ASK you to bring me some new subjects."
Standing off to one side, Jeff Dunharrow kept a big old-fashioned Colt 45 revolver pointed at the two women. "Ah, Doc, I figgered these two would be tangling with you soon anyway. They're investigators from New York City. I heard of the Kenneth Dred Foundation. Ghostbreakers and monster hunters, you know?"
"Ah yes. The KDF. Notorious. I think you did the right thing, Jeffrey. Better to have them under control than to allow them to run around loose and gather evidence against me. Keep your gun aimed at them." Picking up some common clothesline from a work table, Dr Ascienzo cut two lengths of it with a pocket knife. "Turn around, you two. Now hold still. There. Those are as tight knots as I can manage. You can turn around now. Don't bother screaming for help, my dears. I bought this house because the nearest neighbor is three miles away."
"Oh no," said Ashley in a voice which somehow did not seem frightened. "What are you going to do with us?"
The doctor hesitated, evidently perplexed by her tone. "Sit down, both of you. There on the bench. You won't be harmed for the moment. I intend to return to Europe soon, perhaps once I am safely out of this country, I will call the authorities to tell them where I have left you. Don't cause any trouble, cooperate, and your chances of survival will be better."
Dropping down next to Unicorn on a plain wooden bench in one corner, Megan Salenger asked, "How did you obtain an adult gorilla?"
"You're not here to ask questions!"
"What harm can it do to tell us?" she persisted.
"Oh very well. Gomo was bought as an infant by a man who raised exotic pets. Leopards, chimps, hyenas. Gomo grew to be good-natured but simply too strong to be safe as a pet, so the keeper was planning on euthanizing him when I made an offer. I have treated him well... after all, he is my other body!"
Megan nodded. "I have done some research on you, Dr Ascienzo. You were the principal lieutenant of Karl Eldritch for eleven years. You are today's leading expert on the relics of ancient Zhune. Although you do not have Eldritch's primal atomic fire to work with, it's been reported that you have partially charged some Zhune artifacts with massive amounts of electricity."
"Really. How refreshing. So few have ever heard of Zhune. That antique civilization before Sumer! Before Ur! The philosophers of Zhune delved into secrets no one since has since equaled and I believe I am the only living man who can use their amazing devices. Jeff, keep an eye our guests."
As all three watched, Ascienzo seated himself in the metal chair next to Gomo's. He bent over and buckled heavy leather straps around his ankles to hold his legs motionless. He restrained his left hand down to the arm of the chair with a similar strap. Then Jeff went over, glancing back and forth toward the apparently compliant Megan and Ashley perched on the bench. Jeff strapped Ascienzo's remaining hand down and moved around behind the apparatus.
"Watch history being made, ladies!" Ascienzo almost shouted. "The lost secrets of Zhune, unknown for thirty thousand years, and you will witness them! Do it, Jeffrey."
Raising a lever, Jeff made the two coppery helmets descend at the same rate on the horizontal bar. The faceplates had no holes for either sight or breathing, only inscribed esoteric symbols from a civilization long gone. The helmets covered the heads of Gomo the gorilla and Dr Ascienzo. Fierce crackling sounds echoed in that lab, the air tingled with the sharp bite of static electricity and both subjects convulsed in their restraints as if being tortured. Then, as they sagged, Jeff raised the helmets again.
Ascienzo's head lolled to one side, but the heaving chest showed he was still alive. As Megan and Ashley watched, Jeff bent and unbuckled the straps holding down the mighty limbs of a full-grown gorilla. Gomo raised his head, took a deep breath and uttered weird guttural sounds that were almost recognizable. He was trying to talk.
V.
"I didn't catch that," offered Unicorn blithely.
The great ape stood up, roared and slammed one fist to the floor before making more unintelligible noises. By this time, Jeff had apparently forgotten about keeping the two women covered with his gun. He hurried over to stand beside the gorilla.
"Dr Ascienzo will make rapid progress speaking," Jeff said in a soothing tone. "His new body has the necessary equipment for speech, it'll just take practice..."
"That is not a Human mind in a gorilla body," Megan said with such assurance that everyone froze and stared at her. She got to her feet with her hands still tied behind her.
"What are you talking about?" asked Jeff. "The Zhune machine switched minds."
"No. I examined a similar apparatus that our captain Jeremy Bane had obtained years ago. Let me explain. The helmets do not exchange consciousnesses as if playing musical chairs. It is more subtle and complicated than that. The helmets scan their wearer's minds thoroughly... memories, personalities and skills.. and make incredibly detailed templates. As the process continues, each helmet shuts down the mind of its wearer into a dreamless state like a medically induced coma. Then each helmet broadcasts its template to the other and sets it playing on the blank receptive mind."
Seeing everyone staring at her with their mouths open, even the gorilla, the Trom Girl continued, "So, when for example Dr Ascienzo put on a helmet, he would experience extreme discomfort and then lose consciousness. The next he would know would be awakening after the helmet exchange was reversed. Meanwhile, the wearer of the other helmet would enter a similar coma. His brain would be occupied by an exact duplicate of Ascienzo's mind. And that duplicate would believe falsely that it WAS Ascienzo."
"Oh, well done!" Ashley gleefully added. "That's the first of your science lectures I actually could follow."
"Activating the helmets again merely undoes the overlay," Megan said. "The original consciousness stirs and comes back to awareness. Is that clear?"
At that point, Jeff seemed to have forgotten that he was supposed to be guarding the two prisoners. He lowered his gun and was scratching his head. "Run that by me one more time..."
One massive open paw slapped across his back, flinging Jeff violently down to the floor. The gorilla showed imposing fangs as he roared and raised both hands up overhead, looming toward the two women.
Megan Salenger calmly extended her right hand with the flat metal device called a beam projector in it. The faint path of the neural shock beam flicked out and Gomo sagged to the cellar floor as if suddenly extremely tired.
Next to the snoring ape, Jeff struggled gingerly up onto hands and knees. "Oww. Oh my God, I think he broke my back when he hit me."
"We will examine you in a moment," the Trom Girl said. She had moved over to scrutinize the body of Dr Ascienzo, which was staring wildly around. "Yes, the gorilla template is in place. I have a tentative theory that the effect will wear off in a short time."
Unicorn twirled the length of clothesline she had been bound with. "Not very good knots. Honestly, I bet I could have untied them with my toes. Aren't you glad now you decided to take our side, Jeff?"
"Yeah. Absolutely. Even before we got here, I knew I couldn't go through with delivering you to him as prisoners. I mean, I was impressed with his experiments here, sure. The first couple of burglaries, well, I kind of rationalized them as no one getting hurt. But when he killed that one guy... I was going to have to turn him in even if it meant he'd be coming after me as a killer ape."
Megan Salenger was examining some of the other Zhune devices in that room. "I do not recognize these. I will call for all our available members to come here tonight and confiscate these artifacts. Unfortunately, we will have to turn Dr Ascienzo over to Department 21 Black. No regular court could handle his case."
"And this big boy here on the floor?" Ashley asked.
Megan looked down at the immense bulk of the gorilla by her feet. "He presents a problem. Perhaps we can relocate him one of to the adjacent realms, either Danarak or Okali. Whatever is most humane. I do not know if he could survive in the wild."
"So," Jeff said, "you two are going to be pretty busy the next few days, I suppose?"
Bestowing her most wistful smile, Unicorn said, "Oh, I think going out to lunch could be squeezed in somewhere."
8/11/2023
7/29/2002
I.
Down from a starless overcast night sky came two young women to land lightly on their feet in a county jail parking lot. As far as they knew, no civilians had spotted them. Both were in their early twenties, both an inch or two over five feet in height, both slim and in fine athletic shape. Ashley Whitaker had platinum blond hair and wore an all white field suit where Megan Salenger had short black hair and was in a black field suit with its boots, snug pants and waist-length jacket.
Disengaging from Megan's arm around her waist, Ashley undid the Scunci holding her gleaming silver hair together and brushed it out. "Not exactly comfortable, Megs. If we have to fly a couple hundred miles again, maybe we can rig up a sling or something to hold me."
"I kept at an altitude and speed where you would not suffer from cold or lack of oxygen," Megan replied evenly. "We could not use the CORBY because there is no place to land secretly in this area, and you said driving down here in a KDF car would take too long."
"Yeah, yeah, it's what I get for complaining, I know." The Unicorn shifted her talisman across her back to make it more comfortable. In its white leather sheath, the ancient horn of a genuine Unicorn was a three foot long ivory cylinder, one end tapering to a sharp needle point and the other end flat to be capped with an ensalir band. "It'd be easier if we could operate in plain view. You know, like comic book super-heroes. Having to be all secret and sneaky bugs me."
The Trom Girl sounded distracted. She was taking readings on the Link, an electronic device no thicker than three playing cards stacked on top of each other. "Being a celebrity would quickly weary you, Ashley. You enjoy a modicum of privacy."
"True, true. Okay, Science Nerd, what do your sensors tell you?"
"No gralic force detected in immediate area, which is helpful for our purposes. I'm looking at infra-red sources and there are no other Humans outside at the moment. Visual scan with anomaly recognition says no windows are open and none of the parked cars have anyone sitting in them. Odds of an ambush are minimal."
"Hah!" Unicorn snorted. "Any ambushers would have their hands full with us."
Both women pivoted as the door at the rear of the jail opened and then closed with the click of lock being set. Moving toward them was a mild-looking man about thirty with receding brown hair and a thin droopy mustache evidently meant as a counter to an unfortunately bulbous nose. He was not in uniform, wearing unremarkable jeans, polo shirt and denim jacket.
To Unicorn, Megan whispered, "His readings match. This is Deputy Sheriff Peter Joseph Watzka."
A second later, the deputy said in a low voice, "Glad you two could make it. I only got a minute. If'n I'm not home right away, I'll have to account to my wife for what deviltry I got up to. So let me get right to the chase."
"We're listening," Megan said.
"I unnerstand New York City has an arrangement with you KDF guys where you're sorta unofficial vigilantes and you get called in on cases. None of that down here. Our District Attorney is as strict as an old maid at a school dance, so this meeting will be denied. I will swear in court I never saw you gals."
"Understood," Megan replied.
"It started on February 23rd," Watzka said. He rattled off details of four burglaries in the area, including the latest one in which someone sleeping in the house been brutally murdered. There were no suspects. As best as the police could reconstruct, the burglar had shown physical strength several times greater than even a circus strongman could match. The murder victim had died from having one arm torn completely off and half his face bitten away.
"Wellll, time to head back to New York," interjected Unicorn, to be shushed by Megan.
"I gave you the dates and addresses and names. The brass tells me that's enough. Miss Salenger, you're supposed to have a photographic memory. I got to go. If you KDF people are gonna investigate this, all I can say is good luck!"
Watching Watzka march over to his personal dark red Ford pickup and drive out of the parking lot, Unicorn let out a low whistle. "Hey, Science Nerd, you've been trained in Kumundu body reading as much as I have. Micro-expressions, subvocal tremors, stance shifts... Did he seemed scared enough to wet himself to you?"
"Absolutely," the Trom Girl agreed. "I had my Link scanning him without his knowledge. His heartbeat was one hundred and twenty, and traces of adrenaline in his perspiration were at near maximum. There is much he has not told us."
"A burglar that yanks your arm off is something new," Unicorn admitted. "I've got my anesthetic dart gun but I'm a little dubious about relying on it against a bozo who beats you with your own arm. Luckily, you've got your beam projector, you can turn him into stray little atoms drifting away on the breeze if you have to."
Megan Salenger started to walk toward the far end of the parking lot, where a sidewalk met Caldwell Street. "Ashley, I want you to take out your Link and activate its screen."
"To hear is to obey," the little blonde replied. "Hey, you're sending me a street map of this town."
"Yes. The red blips are where these crimes took place."
"Let's see, one is uptown, but the other three are closer together. Looks like they're on streets close to the Chipewya Creek. What're the dates?"
Megan made an adjustment. "The brightness reflects the order in which the crimes were committed."
"Okey dokey, sure looks like our strongman hit first way uptown and is now concentrating on the Creek neighborhood. That seems to be, lemme calculate, three miles from here. Are we going to walk there?"
"I do not wish to use a cab or Uber right away," Megan said. "The less of a trail we leave, the better."
"Gotcha. Right heel in front of left toe, left heel in front of right toe, pick 'em up and put 'em down."
Striding alongside her teammate, Megan said, "It's possible some motorist may offer us a ride."
"Hah! Are you kidding? Two pretty girls in skintight commando suits? We'll have rides lined up." And as she finished that sentence, a yellow Volkswagen driven by an older woman slowed.
"What ARE you two doing walking down the road in the middle of the night? Get in fer Godsakes!"
II.
Mrs Florence Boice filled the two KDF members in on a huge amount of local speculation about the burglaries on their way to the Chipewya Creek neighborhood. Megan and Ashley took it all in, prompting occasionally for more details. They asked to be let off at an all-night diner of chrome and glass called RENDEZVOUS. There were a dozen cars in the parking lot and patrons could be seen moving around inside.
"You gals will be a sight safer in there than hoofing down Route 4G," the older woman said. "Most locals are good ole boys who won't try anything but you never know, so be careful."
Thanking Mrs Boice and promising to stay alert, Megan and Ashley entered the diner. The interior was cool and dry, with five customers scattered on stools along the counter. A jukebox was playing the oldies classic by Scarab, "Thunderstorm In Your Eyes." The two KDF members claimed a corner booth, examined the menus and were ready when a genial if weathered waitress came over. Cigarette smoke was an almost visible haze around her.
Ashley ordered a cheese omelet with hash browns and orange juice, while Megan decided on blueberry waffles and four sausage links, plain ice water. As they waited for their orders, the Unicorn could not keep quiet. "Okay, okay, the first thing that comes to mind? You want to know? Three houses get burgled and ransacked, no valuables taken but furniture smashed. No one was home. The fourth place, the homeowner was in bed and he met a gruesome end but nothing was stolen! This tells me something."
Megan Salenger had large dark eyes over a pointed inquisitive nose. Those eyes regarded her partner warily. "Would you care to explain, Ashley?"
"You bet! The perp is out to kill. That's his main goal. The first two houses he hit, no one was home and he trashed the joints because he was annoyed. The third place, he got to tear the victim apart and he left happy."
The Trom Girl did not seem enthused. "On what do you base this theory?"
"My vast knowledge of criminology and human nature, of course. Megs, you were raised by the Trom to be a super-genius in everything from physics to marine biology to Connect Four. My mom brought me up to be the second Unicorn. I am absolutely saturated with lore from true crime cases."
When the waitress placed their plates in front of them, Unicorn insisted on her habit of swapping a little of their meals. She gave Megan some hash browns and took one of Megan's sausages. The Trom Girl did not resist, she had become used to the exchange although she didn't see the point of it. Ashley had at one point explained the swap as a "bonding ritual."
Digging in since neither had eaten since an early lunch thirteen hours earlier, they watched the other people in the diner. One of the younger guys at the counter smiled at them. Ashley regarded her own smiles as presents to be given out as rewards and she bestowed one on him. At twenty-three, the Unicorn was completely gorgeous with flawless pale skin, crystal blue eyes and that mane of pure white hair. On the rare occasions when men were not immediately smitten with her, she felt confused.
Sure enough, a few seconds later, the tall young man in his flannel shirt and worn-out khakis crossed over to stand by their booth. "Hey there! You ladies riding motorcycles?"
"Oh, because of these outfits?" Ashley answered. "Nope. We just have fashion sense ahead of the wave."
"Do you live in the immediate area?" asked Megan of the boy. She herself was quite pretty but not as overtly stunning as Ashley. Her cool appraising gaze unnerved some people. "Do you know local news?"
"Hell yes, I lived here all my life. Whaddaya want to know?"
Megan fixed that thoughtful but not unfriendly gaze on him. "Is it true about the death of Harold Scafidi?"
The hopeful grin dropped off his face as if wiped away by a wet eraser. "Yeah. It's pretty awful. He wasn't a bad guy, he mostly sat on his porch and watched traffic. Quiet old retired grampa type, you know?"
"Do you think an animal attacked him and if so, what kind?"
"First, my name is Jeff. Jeff Dunbarrow. I live within spittin' distance of where poor old Scafidi was tore up. It wasn't no bear! Who ever heard of a bear walking through a house and up the stairs, ripping a man apart and then walking out again without even knocking over a lamp? Never happen. Weren't no bear."
Unicorn scootched over on the seat and Jeff gladly took the opening to sit down next to her. He continued, "There's never been any Bigfoot sightings around here. Until a few months ago! It never got in the papers or on TV, but ask anyone in town and they'll tell you. Starting right after Christmas, people started seeing a big black shape running through their back yards or in between buildings right in the middle of town. Not a man, neither, arms are too long. Sometimes it's been seen moving with its weight resting on its arms as it leans forward."
"With nearly everyone having a phone convenient," Megan observed, "You might think a few photos would be taken of this beast."
"Nothing worth holding up as proof. Three, four times, someone snapped a quick shot but you just see a dark shape or the top of a head. You couldn't convince anybody with evidence that poor."
"How big is this critter anyway?" asked Ashley.
Turning and seeing her at close range, Jeff Dunbarrow was obviously smitten. The goofy grin made him look drunk but he spoke normally, "Big as a pretty big man, like a pro wrestler or something. Nobody ever got a good enough look to see if it's wearing clothes or has fur or whatever."
"Could be a gorilla," the Unicorn said, hardly noticing his infatuated gaze.
"That's what most people think. But there hasn't been any circuses in years and the nearest zoo is two hundred miles away. I don't think gorillas could survive around here anyway, our winters would kill them."
Megan Salenger had finished her meal, wiped her mouth with a napkin and now gestured for the tab. When the waitress brought the bill over, the Trom Girl paid her with cash and added a substantial tip.
"We're on an expense account," whispered Ashley in a tone meant to be overheard. "When it comes to her own money, Science Nerd is kinda tight."
"Ladies," Jeff said, then hesitated. "Aw, I got a normal amount of curiosity. You mind telling me what you're doing out here in the sticks and why you're dressed like SWAT and why you're asking about that gruesome murder and...."
Ashley placed a dainty hand on his arm and made his heart miss several beats. "We're investigators into the paranormal, unusual crimes, anything weird. We belong to the Kenneth Dred Foundation in New York City. My name is Ashley Whitaker, sometimes called the Unicorn. My friend here is named Megan Salenger and I call her Science Nerd because, well, she is."
"Glad to meet you," Jeff said automatically. "So, you two are ghost chasers? You look for supernatural stuff, is that it?"
"Pretty much," Unicorn said. "To be honest, we debunk almost every phenomenon we look into. If you're hoping to see someone in a long white sheet drifting through the walls when we're around, you're going to be disappointed."
Clearing her throat to break up the increasing rapport between Ashley and Jeff, Megan said, "You know this area well. Can you give us directions to the houses where the crimes took place?"
"Better than that! I'm off tomorrow, I work at the hardware outlet. I'd like nothing better than to drive you ladies around so you can solve mysteries."
Blazing her flawless smile, Ashley turned to her partner. "Sounds great, right?"
"Yes," came a single word conveying immense disapproval.
III.
Jeff's car was a 1995 Ford Escort with some damage along the passenger side where it had evidently scraped a guard rail. Unicorn immediately claimed the front passenger seat, swinging the sheathed horn around to rest against her chest. As Jeff swung in behind the wheel, Megan Salenger took the rear seat and buckled herself in.
"As it turns out, the Scafidi house is closest," he said. "So I guess we should check that out first."
From the back, Megan observed, "Your front end alignment is off." A second later, she added, "Your fuel injector needs to be cleaned."
"Mayyyy-gan," sang Ashley in a sweet tone, "We're not here to do a tune-up...."
They were on the outskirts of the town, with long stretches of wooded areas between houses. Down a slope to their right side, a creek could be seen as the water reflected silver off the headlights as they made turns. "How long you girls expect to be in the area?" he asked.
"Once we wrap up the investigation? We're supposed to fly back to Manhattan right away," Unicorn answered. "But, come to think of it, I have a couple of personal days I haven't used. I could hang around here, this seems like a decent area to chill and make friends."
In the back seat, Megan tensed and began to say something caustic but caught herself in time. Three years of working with Ashley Whitaker had shown her that thw little platinum blonde had a sharp, perceptive mind. Under that flippant insolence, the Unicorn was about as clear-headed as a Human could be. Megan said nothing.
After a few minutes of silence as they rode along deserted country roads, Ashley spoke up again. "I've got one of my brilliant ideas. Jeff old pal, how about any local weirdos? You know, some cranky hermit who chases kids away from his property or an ancient hawk-nosed harridan who is only spotted once in a while as a face looking out her upstairs window? Maybe a strange inbred misshapen family with more tattoos than teeth. Anything like that?"
"Heh. Ha ha ha, oh hell yeah. Guy I do some errands for! Every Sunday he calls me to write down a list of supplies, then I go shopping for it all and when I drop the bags off, he reimburses me and added an extra two hunnert dollars. Mostly groceries, but sometimes odd stuff like a dozen boxes of surgical gauze or over the counter painkillers by the handful."
Unicorn chuckled. "Sounds promising. What's his name?"
"Ascienzo. Doctor Carmine Ascienzo. Funny little guy, comes up to my chest so he's maybe five feet two or so. Glasses thick enough to start fires with. Wild head of black hair going grey. He doesn't gab much, all business, I give him his order and he tips me enough to make it worthwhile."
Leaning closer, which made Jeff's heartbeat speed up, Ashley said, "Why don't we cruise by and get a look at his place? Is it a rundown castle with a drawbridge and lightning flashes behind its towers?"
"What, in Greenboro County? Most we got is the new five story Town Hall, although that's ugly enough. Doc lives in a rundown regular house out on Bogert Lane."
"Let's have a look at his crib," Ashley said. "Lots of mysteries get solved by starting with the most obvious suspect."
IV.
The finished basement had wood paneled walls, tile floor and overhead fluorescent lights. Standing in the middle of the open space was a pair of massive iron chairs bolted to the floor, and on a horizontal bar above them were two bell-shaped helmets made of a coppery metal with a hot flush to its surface. Several strange apparatuses of the same metal lined the walls, incomprehensible mazes of pipes and tubes running together in hopeless tangles.
But when Megan and Ashley were led into that lab, they noticed none of this. All their attention was immediately seized by the beast that sat strapped into one of the chairs. Five feet five but four hundred pounds, it was an adult male Mountain Gorilla. Under the protruding brow ledges, dark eyes watched the two women being led in but the ape did not visibly react. Perhaps he was sedated.
Turning around from a work bench where he had been scribbling furiously in a journal, Dr Ascienzo pushed his thick-lensed glasses up on his nose and peered at the three entering his lab. He was a tiny gnomelike man to begin with and the effects of arthritis bending his spine made him look even smaller. "Jeffrey, Jeffrey, you impetuous young lad, I did not ASK you to bring me some new subjects."
Standing off to one side, Jeff Dunharrow kept a big old-fashioned Colt 45 revolver pointed at the two women. "Ah, Doc, I figgered these two would be tangling with you soon anyway. They're investigators from New York City. I heard of the Kenneth Dred Foundation. Ghostbreakers and monster hunters, you know?"
"Ah yes. The KDF. Notorious. I think you did the right thing, Jeffrey. Better to have them under control than to allow them to run around loose and gather evidence against me. Keep your gun aimed at them." Picking up some common clothesline from a work table, Dr Ascienzo cut two lengths of it with a pocket knife. "Turn around, you two. Now hold still. There. Those are as tight knots as I can manage. You can turn around now. Don't bother screaming for help, my dears. I bought this house because the nearest neighbor is three miles away."
"Oh no," said Ashley in a voice which somehow did not seem frightened. "What are you going to do with us?"
The doctor hesitated, evidently perplexed by her tone. "Sit down, both of you. There on the bench. You won't be harmed for the moment. I intend to return to Europe soon, perhaps once I am safely out of this country, I will call the authorities to tell them where I have left you. Don't cause any trouble, cooperate, and your chances of survival will be better."
Dropping down next to Unicorn on a plain wooden bench in one corner, Megan Salenger asked, "How did you obtain an adult gorilla?"
"You're not here to ask questions!"
"What harm can it do to tell us?" she persisted.
"Oh very well. Gomo was bought as an infant by a man who raised exotic pets. Leopards, chimps, hyenas. Gomo grew to be good-natured but simply too strong to be safe as a pet, so the keeper was planning on euthanizing him when I made an offer. I have treated him well... after all, he is my other body!"
Megan nodded. "I have done some research on you, Dr Ascienzo. You were the principal lieutenant of Karl Eldritch for eleven years. You are today's leading expert on the relics of ancient Zhune. Although you do not have Eldritch's primal atomic fire to work with, it's been reported that you have partially charged some Zhune artifacts with massive amounts of electricity."
"Really. How refreshing. So few have ever heard of Zhune. That antique civilization before Sumer! Before Ur! The philosophers of Zhune delved into secrets no one since has since equaled and I believe I am the only living man who can use their amazing devices. Jeff, keep an eye our guests."
As all three watched, Ascienzo seated himself in the metal chair next to Gomo's. He bent over and buckled heavy leather straps around his ankles to hold his legs motionless. He restrained his left hand down to the arm of the chair with a similar strap. Then Jeff went over, glancing back and forth toward the apparently compliant Megan and Ashley perched on the bench. Jeff strapped Ascienzo's remaining hand down and moved around behind the apparatus.
"Watch history being made, ladies!" Ascienzo almost shouted. "The lost secrets of Zhune, unknown for thirty thousand years, and you will witness them! Do it, Jeffrey."
Raising a lever, Jeff made the two coppery helmets descend at the same rate on the horizontal bar. The faceplates had no holes for either sight or breathing, only inscribed esoteric symbols from a civilization long gone. The helmets covered the heads of Gomo the gorilla and Dr Ascienzo. Fierce crackling sounds echoed in that lab, the air tingled with the sharp bite of static electricity and both subjects convulsed in their restraints as if being tortured. Then, as they sagged, Jeff raised the helmets again.
Ascienzo's head lolled to one side, but the heaving chest showed he was still alive. As Megan and Ashley watched, Jeff bent and unbuckled the straps holding down the mighty limbs of a full-grown gorilla. Gomo raised his head, took a deep breath and uttered weird guttural sounds that were almost recognizable. He was trying to talk.
V.
"I didn't catch that," offered Unicorn blithely.
The great ape stood up, roared and slammed one fist to the floor before making more unintelligible noises. By this time, Jeff had apparently forgotten about keeping the two women covered with his gun. He hurried over to stand beside the gorilla.
"Dr Ascienzo will make rapid progress speaking," Jeff said in a soothing tone. "His new body has the necessary equipment for speech, it'll just take practice..."
"That is not a Human mind in a gorilla body," Megan said with such assurance that everyone froze and stared at her. She got to her feet with her hands still tied behind her.
"What are you talking about?" asked Jeff. "The Zhune machine switched minds."
"No. I examined a similar apparatus that our captain Jeremy Bane had obtained years ago. Let me explain. The helmets do not exchange consciousnesses as if playing musical chairs. It is more subtle and complicated than that. The helmets scan their wearer's minds thoroughly... memories, personalities and skills.. and make incredibly detailed templates. As the process continues, each helmet shuts down the mind of its wearer into a dreamless state like a medically induced coma. Then each helmet broadcasts its template to the other and sets it playing on the blank receptive mind."
Seeing everyone staring at her with their mouths open, even the gorilla, the Trom Girl continued, "So, when for example Dr Ascienzo put on a helmet, he would experience extreme discomfort and then lose consciousness. The next he would know would be awakening after the helmet exchange was reversed. Meanwhile, the wearer of the other helmet would enter a similar coma. His brain would be occupied by an exact duplicate of Ascienzo's mind. And that duplicate would believe falsely that it WAS Ascienzo."
"Oh, well done!" Ashley gleefully added. "That's the first of your science lectures I actually could follow."
"Activating the helmets again merely undoes the overlay," Megan said. "The original consciousness stirs and comes back to awareness. Is that clear?"
At that point, Jeff seemed to have forgotten that he was supposed to be guarding the two prisoners. He lowered his gun and was scratching his head. "Run that by me one more time..."
One massive open paw slapped across his back, flinging Jeff violently down to the floor. The gorilla showed imposing fangs as he roared and raised both hands up overhead, looming toward the two women.
Megan Salenger calmly extended her right hand with the flat metal device called a beam projector in it. The faint path of the neural shock beam flicked out and Gomo sagged to the cellar floor as if suddenly extremely tired.
Next to the snoring ape, Jeff struggled gingerly up onto hands and knees. "Oww. Oh my God, I think he broke my back when he hit me."
"We will examine you in a moment," the Trom Girl said. She had moved over to scrutinize the body of Dr Ascienzo, which was staring wildly around. "Yes, the gorilla template is in place. I have a tentative theory that the effect will wear off in a short time."
Unicorn twirled the length of clothesline she had been bound with. "Not very good knots. Honestly, I bet I could have untied them with my toes. Aren't you glad now you decided to take our side, Jeff?"
"Yeah. Absolutely. Even before we got here, I knew I couldn't go through with delivering you to him as prisoners. I mean, I was impressed with his experiments here, sure. The first couple of burglaries, well, I kind of rationalized them as no one getting hurt. But when he killed that one guy... I was going to have to turn him in even if it meant he'd be coming after me as a killer ape."
Megan Salenger was examining some of the other Zhune devices in that room. "I do not recognize these. I will call for all our available members to come here tonight and confiscate these artifacts. Unfortunately, we will have to turn Dr Ascienzo over to Department 21 Black. No regular court could handle his case."
"And this big boy here on the floor?" Ashley asked.
Megan looked down at the immense bulk of the gorilla by her feet. "He presents a problem. Perhaps we can relocate him one of to the adjacent realms, either Danarak or Okali. Whatever is most humane. I do not know if he could survive in the wild."
"So," Jeff said, "you two are going to be pretty busy the next few days, I suppose?"
Bestowing her most wistful smile, Unicorn said, "Oh, I think going out to lunch could be squeezed in somewhere."
8/11/2023
