Amelia's Blog

By the time Larry came back to fix the door, Rob had could absorb and extrude a variety of objects. The larger the object, the more difficult the process and the more painful it was to extrude it. The process wore him out, and his hand felt like it was covered pin pricks. Larry knocked and pushed the door open. “Hey, Rob. I’m going to reseat the door. It shouldn’t take all that long. Hey, what’s with all the fruit?” “Trying to see if I could absorb it.” “Any luck?” “Well, it goes in okay but nothing comes out.” “New way to eat?” “Ha. Good to know it doesn’t work, in case my life depends on having an apple at a moments notice.” Larry shook his head and dropped his tool box by the door. “How the luck otherwise?” “Not bad. There’s a trick to it, but once you have that.” He shrugged. “Not going to say it’s easy, but less difficult.” He paused, “Not surprised I’m trying to learn to control it?” Larry turned to face his friend from where he was getting his tools ready. “Rob, I would be surpr...

Once Larry left, Rob started pacing back and forth. Deb watched, slightly bemused. She took a sip of her coffee, and arched an eyebrow. “Okay, Larry leaves and you start pacing. Want to let me in on the story?” He waved a hand, “I’m afraid he’s going to end up being right. That we will have to break in.” She mulled that over, “Maybe,” she said, slowly. “What then? How do we deal with that?” She shrugged, “I guess we should just cross that bridge when we come to it.” She grinned wryly. “It’s not like I’d ever admit it to him, but I think Larry might have the right attitude.” “You called him an idiot.” “Well, he is.” He sighed, “No, he’s not. He’s just trying to impress you. You’ve got to start being nicer to him.” She glared at him. If only he would open his fool eyes, she thought. “Then tell him to stop being stupid about it. Anyway, it’s still a bad idea.” She shrugged helplessly, “What else can we do?” He stopped. “I don’t know.” She stood and went over to him, “Like you said earlie...

“You want to what?” Deb’s voice went up an octave. “Larry, we’re not some sort of action heroes here. Up until yesterday, we were normal office drones.” “Oh come on. How hard can it be?” “You idiot. A government lab. With guards outside, probably more on this inside. Right, we’ll just sneak in!” “Easy Deb,” Rob placed a placating hand on her shoulder. She blushed, but he missed it. “She’s right. This is crazy talk. None of us have even so much as picked a lock before. We can’t break into a secure government facility. We’d get ourselves killed. Isn’t that something you were pretty adamant against us doing yesterday?” Larry’s face fell, “Oh geeze. I’m sorry, you two. I wasn’t thinking.” “Obviously,” Deb muttered, but they ignored her. “You just got caught up in things. It’s okay. I guess we could at least try the straightforward route. I mean, it’s not like we’ve got much to lose.” “Aside from our lives you mean? Robbie, this is insane. What if they lock you up and start testing on you? ...

“Damn door.” Rob grunted, putting his shoulder into it. He fed the hungry washing machines, in another hour he’d have to feed the equally hungry dryers. He hated doing laundry. His coinage was always noticeably lighter. He tossed the basket into the bedroom door as he leaned back, letting his weight shove the door closed. “Deb?” He went into the living room and saw her huddled in one corner of the couch, wrapped in a blanket and shivering. He hurried over and knelt, “Are you okay? I’ll turn up the temperature.” She shook her head, “I already looked. I think it’s me, Robbie. What ever is happening to you is happening to me.” He looked into her fear widened eyes, and saw his own worries mirrored there. “Okay. Okay, let’s start figuring this out, then. If we can find out who did this and why, maybe they can tell us how to reverse it.” “What if they can’t? What if this is permanent?” Tears began streaking her face, “What then?” “Then we deal with that, Deb. The worst thing we can do is giv...

        Hello, hello! It’s story time again. This week, it will be all Chapter 5 of Fast & Loose. Next week... I’m not sure yet. There will be a story, but if it’s F&L or the start of Book 2 for Adventure Inc depends on how things flow. What I would like to do, is split my writing time between the two, so I can alternate to have a little variety. Who knows, right?         Okay, then. Enough babble, on with the show!                                                                                   ...

         Hello everyone. I thank you for last weeks indulgence. It was rough, but we’ve got a nice spot picked out for our Tami. Odd as it may sound, we have our cats cremated. It helps us to have them near, even in spirit. We’ve got a sweet picture of her near her favorite spot, just waiting for her ashes to come back. It may sound stupid or morbid, or whatever, but it helps us. We miss her dearly, and this, to us anyway, is a way to keep her near. Anyway, enough of that. It’s a new week, four days ‘till Wizard World Chicago, and I aim for this to be a kick-ass week. In that spirit, on with the show... # # #         Deb let herself in to Robbie’s apartment, not entirely sure how to break the news to him. She dropped her purse and his coat on the couch and looked into the kitchen. It was empty, but he had cleaned up the toothpicks, thankfully. She walked over to his bedroom door, and cracked it open. he was ...

        Ah, here we are. Again, sorry ‘bout the missed update yesterday. Back on track now though! # # #         They sat together in his kitchen. Probably longer than he should have, Deb thought, but then again it’s not like she really cared. Her best friend was scared. Rob hid it well, sure, but he was. Even shortly after they met, it was hard to hide things from each other. Why they didn’t just hop into each other’s arms was still a mystery to her.         She shook that thought off right away. No time for that, she told herself.         They didn’t really talk about anything in particular. This and that. Deb told him a couple of stories from work, how many people were bugging her about him. He laughed, which cheered her up a lot. Finally, she figured she should get back to the office. Their boss was understanding, but even sh...

Deb grunted and let out a muffled curse as she had to shove her shoulder into Rob's door a few times to get it open. She hated that door. "Robbie? It's Deb." Though saying it was her was probably unnecessary, it was borne out of habit. Though she'd never say it to him, she hoped for the day where separate apartments wouldn't even be necessary. But. She shrugged to herself. "Rob?" She turned into the kitchen and stopped short. The kitchen table was strewn with small sticks of plastic. "What the hell?" "Hey Deb! I discovered something!" "What, a previously untapped vein of plastic toothpicks in the cupboard?" "Cute. No, this morning I ended up absorbing part of my keyboard." "You what?" "No, it's okay!" "How the hell is that okay?" Rob gestured to the toothpicks on the table. it took a moment to click but, "Holy... you...?" He gri...

"You sure you want to go further?" Rob snorted. "I need to know. Plus Marqea pissed me off." Larry laughed, "Yeah, I suppose. You wanna go over what I managed to dig up?" Larry pulled into his parking spot at the apartment building. Rob shook his head and opened the door, "Later. Deb'll want to know too. And I don't want to remember all that." They both got out, Larry shaking his head. "You keep putting temptation in my way." "Pfft. Larry if you keep it up, she's gonna kick you in the balls. You know that, right?" Larry laughed but didn't say anything. When they stopped before the editor Larry put a hand on his friend's shoulder. "Don't dig too deep. I've got other friends that can do that and be relatively safe. You can't, and you're already on the radar." He paused and smiled wryly, "Plus you're the only reason Deb even tolerates me." "Ha. I'll be care...

"Well, I suppose it was a matter of time. Although I had hoped your right arm would have been the extent of it." Doctor Marqea studied Rob's fingers, examining the perfectly formed plastic joints. He shook his head and pushed his glasses up onto his head. "I wish I knew what to tell you." Rob nodded, "I know. I'm just glad I didn't pass out this time. It felt strange, like my fingers were being pushed up. My hand feels thicker, heaver almost." "Hmm. Could it be that your flesh isn't being replaced but displaced?" "How do you mean?" "Your hand doesn't have less flesh than before, just added the plastic, making the rest of your hand more dense. In the case of your right arm, your bones may have increased in density." He paused, thinking. "That would explain why I didn't get more than a dense blob on the x-ray. This is interesting. A lot less worrying that actually replacing yo...

"Robbie. Robbie, wake up." "Buh. Jus' ten more minutes, mom" "Oh knock it off you big baby!" "What?" Rob blinked and pulled the covers down from his head. Deb was standing there smirking. "Y'know it's rude to wake a guy up on is day off." She just grinned. "What?" "You are SUCH a boy, you know that?" "Last I checked." She laughed, "Oh come on. You can go back to bed, I'm just checking on you." "Why'd I give you that key again?" Deb just rolled her eyes, "Just wanted to make sure everything is okay this morning. Don't forget, you've got the rest of the week off, too." He nodded. "Okay." "You. You're okay, though?" "Yeah, still weirded out though. I'll be fine Deb. Get outta here." He gave a tired smile. She smiled back and nodded. "Okay. If you need anything..." "I'll call you, mom." He smi...

"Uh...," Rob said, staring at the computer screen.         "Doctor Antonius Marqea," Deb read, "Headed up the Center for Disease Control's Retroviral Mutation department for five years before resigning. No one has ever been able to interview him on the subject, all inquiries having been rejected."         "Rob, this is very important. Have you told anyone else about your arm yet?"         "What? No. You and Deb are the only ones that know."         "Good. Promise me you won't tell anyone else."         "Why?"         "Just promise me, dammit."         "Okay, okay! Promise."         Larry sagged in evident relief and went and sat next to Rob. "Thanks. Look, there's already ...

"I still don't see why you want to talk to Larry." Rob grunted as she pulled into her parking spot. "He's into conspiracies." He shrugged. "Maybe he's heard something. It's worth a try, anyway." "I know he's your friend, but you can't really buy into that stuff? It's all crazy talk." "Most of it is crazy talk," he corrected. "There have been things once relegated to conspiracy theory that have proved to be more true than not. The trick is to sift through the chaff." Rob shrugged again. "No, I don't buy into all of it, but you have to admit this is high strangeness, Deb. I have a wooden arm. Who knows what the others came down with." She frowned, "Yeah. It is strange. I... guess it doesn't hurt. This is just too weird." Rob laughed. "Yeah, it is. I appreciate this, Deb." She looked at him sidelong, "What?" "Just being here." Deb snorted, and l...

        When Deb checked in on Rob the next day, his room was empty. Alarmed, she found the nearest nurses' station and asked if they knew where he was.         "Oh, he's still in testing. Doctor Marqea wanted to be quite thorough with the patient."         "Are they going to be done soon? I'm Mr. Dalton's ride home."         The nurse shrugged as she pecked away at her keyboard. "Sorry, they don't really tell us that."         Deb grunted softly in annoyance. "Is there any way I can find out where he is?"         "Are you family?"         "No, but I might as well be."         "Sorry. Only family are allowed in testing."         Deb ...

        Leaving him with a black cotton sleeve to cover his arm and the reminder that he's there with a reaction to a skin condition, they let people in to see Robbie later that day. The first person in the room was his best friend Deb, of course. They met on Robbie's first day at work and bonded almost instantly.         They didn't have time to talk before a few well-wishers from the office came by, followed by flowers and some clean clothes from his landlady, Millie and her son Larry. As he went over the reason he was told to tell people he was there, Deb cocked her head and looked at him as if to say "The Hell?" Robbie shook his head briefly as if to say "later", and accepted the good wishes of his office-mates.         "Let's see the rash, Rob!"         "Ah, no Barb. The insides of the glove has some gunk or something that's...

        Robbie heard his name being called softly, he wasn't sure where he was.         "Mr. Dalton? Robbie?"         Robbie giggled suddenly, and slurred out "I had the strangest dream. I was being turned into a puppet."         As Robbie giggled again, slightly maniacally, the person above him placed his hand on Robbie's shoulder. Didn't he? His whole right arm felt almost distant, "Mr. Dalton, I'm afraid it wasn't a dream."         The absolute absurdity of that statement forced Robbie to open his eyes. A dark skinned man wearing glasses was standing over him. "Uh. Am... am I in a hospital?"         "Yes. I'm Doctor Marqea Please don't make any sudden movements. You had an... incident..."         The doctor's...

        Okay, as I talked about, here’s the start of a different story. This one’s been stalling in my head, and considering how well “Adventure” went, this is the perfect way for me to break that stalemate. I think this will end up being longer than Adventure, but I started writing this one as a short story, so I guess that might show. I don’t really have a name for this one yet. If you have any thoughts after reading, let me know! Thanks, and enjoy!         # # #         Bolero is a small town cut in half by the Animas River in Southern Colorado. Not a large city, Bolero has a well developed downtown center, with a few office and apartment buildings. The real pride of the town is the Bolero Tech College which, thanks to the Centers For Disease Control, is a regional biological and bio-technical research center.         No one q...