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"What, Deja Vu Again?"
May. 14th, 2022 02:14 pm"What, Deja Vu Again?"
9/23/-9/25/1976
I.
Behind the rear wall of the boarding house crept a bizarre figure in a black leather uniform, with a silver helmet and a round shield strapped to his left arm. Sheathed at his left hip was a scabbard holding a three-foot-long straight sword. Listening, holding his breath, the Silver Skull satisfied himself no one was near enough to be aware of his return. He released his role. In a vague shimmer of blue light barely visible in the gloom, the uniform and weaponry vanished instantly.
Back in his regular clothes of dark slacks and green polo shirt, Dr Lawrence Taper tested the window to his room. It was still open an inch, as he had left it. Good. Sliding it up, Taper climbed nimbly through the opening into the darkened room beyond. Only after the venetian blinds were down and the curtains drawn did he reach behind him to thumb the wall switch which turned on the lamp by his desk.
At thirty-one, not quite six feet tall but in a good athletic trim, Taper seemed likeable if unremarkable to most people. He was glad he made this impression. Drawing attention to himself do easily would only make his crusade more difficult.
The clock on the desk read one-fifteen. Plenty of time to get enough sleep, now that he had prowled the streets of Brookton and found nothing but a slumbering little college town. Taper set the alarm for six-thirty. His suit for the next day was already laid out on the easy chair. Stripping down to T-shirt and shorts, he slipped between cold linen sheets and moaned with the comfort.
No way to tell what had drawn him here. The Skull helmet always drew him where he was needed. When he summoned the uniform and helmet and weapons, a tugging as if being pulled by a magnet impelled him to where the Midnight War was heating up. Tonight had not given any clues. Taper yawned, stretched his full length and let go. Tomorrow would be the first day of filling in for Norman. Maybe he would spot a bit of the darkness which always waited to break into the ordinary world. He shifted his position a little and was asleep without transition.
( the rest of the story )
9/23/-9/25/1976
I.
Behind the rear wall of the boarding house crept a bizarre figure in a black leather uniform, with a silver helmet and a round shield strapped to his left arm. Sheathed at his left hip was a scabbard holding a three-foot-long straight sword. Listening, holding his breath, the Silver Skull satisfied himself no one was near enough to be aware of his return. He released his role. In a vague shimmer of blue light barely visible in the gloom, the uniform and weaponry vanished instantly.
Back in his regular clothes of dark slacks and green polo shirt, Dr Lawrence Taper tested the window to his room. It was still open an inch, as he had left it. Good. Sliding it up, Taper climbed nimbly through the opening into the darkened room beyond. Only after the venetian blinds were down and the curtains drawn did he reach behind him to thumb the wall switch which turned on the lamp by his desk.
At thirty-one, not quite six feet tall but in a good athletic trim, Taper seemed likeable if unremarkable to most people. He was glad he made this impression. Drawing attention to himself do easily would only make his crusade more difficult.
The clock on the desk read one-fifteen. Plenty of time to get enough sleep, now that he had prowled the streets of Brookton and found nothing but a slumbering little college town. Taper set the alarm for six-thirty. His suit for the next day was already laid out on the easy chair. Stripping down to T-shirt and shorts, he slipped between cold linen sheets and moaned with the comfort.
No way to tell what had drawn him here. The Skull helmet always drew him where he was needed. When he summoned the uniform and helmet and weapons, a tugging as if being pulled by a magnet impelled him to where the Midnight War was heating up. Tonight had not given any clues. Taper yawned, stretched his full length and let go. Tomorrow would be the first day of filling in for Norman. Maybe he would spot a bit of the darkness which always waited to break into the ordinary world. He shifted his position a little and was asleep without transition.
( the rest of the story )
