phanTOMORROW Ch. 04: MOTHERBOARD

"If I do, just find my clothing and bring me back again."

"Means seeing you naked again."

"At this point should that even be an issue?"

"Not really! You do have a pretty nice body." He lied but it did boost her ego slightly. She was far from perfect but hardly undesirable in the right mood. He would do her! After polishing off his flask of alcohol.

"That's nice of you to say, but I know you're lying again. I'm a behavioral scientist Griffin."

"Was I?" He drew her to him and kissed her as she squealed and bulged her eyes. Maybe she was wrong in her assessment. Kiss broken he spit into her mouth one more time. "Bring me a water too. More I drink, the more I'll want to piss."

Fanning her face, she looked to Cassie's lab with a hint of regret. If Cassie somehow witnessed her kiss him, she might not be happy over it. Terri had simply forgotten that she herself barely remembered anything at first. "Be right back." In stepping away she touched her lips and grinned. "Not the time Terri! Not the time!"

With Terri out of his hair Griffin made several attempts at gaining entry. He knew throwing something against the glass would be pointless it being shatter proof due to some of her frequency experiments. The thing was, even by planting his hand on the pane he could feel a vibration from the interior, so she had been working right up until the final second.

Seeing her clothing on the floor, including her own thick rimmed spectacles he got a bit emotional. He knew she would want him to stay strong no matter what, but let's face it, this was his only living relative, that he knew of. Well, loitering more than living. No father in his life, nor grandparents, all he had was his mother and his friends, her friends. Jade was the closest and she was gone too unless he could find a rock-solid way to keep her human. He almost dreaded going back to her out of fear it wouldn't last. She did have an affair with her would be stalker. It might not have been so bad if it didn't look as if she enjoyed it for a while, sensation impulse at the worst possible time, but still. Enough thoughts on her, he needed to focus.

"Get a grip Griffin. What would Mom use as a password? If it doesn't have to do with me what could it be?"

Ten minutes of talking to himself and pacing he looked around at the features in her lab fixating on any possibility. Finally, he notes a cat calendar on a wall that had four days marked with odd numbers, "What are 10, 21, 20, 08?" Shrugging he simply tried those numbers in order. Access Granted! "Oh, that was easy."

Entering he propped the door open with a barstool even as he winced at a low level hum coming from a device on her island top work area. "God, I hope this device didn't create all of these problems. Surely mom wouldn't have done anything on purpose." Standing over her clothing he felt about the air hoping to locate her invisible departure point. Realizing she might be moving about instead of just sitting in front of a long-stopped camera he sat down where she might have. "Okay mom! Where the fuck are you?"

Returning with water Terri entered the lab, "That was fast." She passed him a bottle.

"Numbers on her calendar in order." He cast a thumb over his shoulder then opened his water bottle guzzling it. "Mom was simplistic like that. I think she used Enchilada on the underground exit because she thought it would be funny. Her Enchiladas always gave me bad gas. So why not use it as a code considering you had to go into the sewers to get in or out? Makes sense to me." He noted that Terri had unbuttoned her blouse halfway, "I make you hot under the collar?"

"Oh!" She lowered her chin toward her cleavage, "I was warm yes. Not by you!" Her blush warmed her even more.

"Now who's lying?" He chuckled.

"Behave!" She sheepishly grinned, "End of the world and you go turning me on. What would your mother say?"

"She would say stop flirting with my son." A feminine voice rallied throughout the room.

"MOM?" Griffin shot out of his chair looking stunned, literally sending it rolling across the floor. "WHERE ARE YOU?"

"Not exactly sure! My experiment in keeping my molecules in one place might not have worked as I had hoped. I just now found the right frequency to get through to you. I'm somehow riding the waves. Whatever you do don't shut off my molecular anchor."

"The noise box? Good thing you spoke up I was considering it. I couldn't think."

"Well without it I doubt I could think, so live with it."

"No problem! Mom? What exactly happened? Why didn't you save yourself and just stay at my loft?"

"I had to try finding a way to maintain the reality we exist in from where we currently seem to be. As long as I knew you would avoid losing your place in the world, I felt justified. Others come next."

"Soooo, without the molecular anchor as you call it, you would be lost?" Terri asked.

"Yes! How did you survive Terri?"

"Griffin brought me back. For how long we don't know."

"How did you achieve that, Griffin?" Cassie questioned.

"My DNA seems to bring folks back for short amounts of time. Where are you? I might be able to touch you and bring you back too. I've done it with other people, but it never lasts long."

"Now that is interesting. Oh, as to what happened? I'm sure you've both heard of CERN. The large Hadron Collider over in Geneva Switzerland did this. I had a dear friend that warned me of a top-secret project they were working on that if gone wrong might create a black hole or shift dimensions. Man is so in tune to play God they tend to forget the rest of us."

"So, the Collider?"

"Twisted us inside out. We're outside looking in while Griffin is the direct opposite. Rather like a mirror without a reflection. Honestly the only people who could likely fix this are across the pond. I would suspect a few survivors over there were ready with a contingency plan if the experiment went awry."

"Can I call them? Let them know I'm alive?"

"Griffin?"

"Yeah, mom?"

"I know I'm being selfish, but that is a really bad idea."

"Why?"

"Just trust me on that. There are people that might not approve of your existence."

"Say, what? Who? Why?"

"Those people I almost guarantee would eliminate you from the equation. Imprison you like a lab rat."

"Mom?" He was getting freaked out, "Do NOT keep shit from me."

"Your father Griffin."

"WHAT? You said he was dead."

"I had to lie Griffin. Your father is not a very good man. If I had stayed with him, he would have made me abort you. I was not going to do that, so I ran. I had contacts that smuggled me out of Switzerland while you were still in my belly. Like a witness protection program which is why we've relocated a number of times over the years. My scientific field would stand out if I went to work for any big-name companies, so I stayed under the radar for both of our sakes. That's why I work here where my focus is isolated. They would never look for me here where the normal study is on animal behavior. My lab partners know but have been sworn to secrecy."

"So, you knew?" He snapped a glance at Terri drinking her water, she nearly spit it out at his bitter attitude.

"Don't blame Terri! She was under the strictest of confidence. In doing so I helped acquire funding for their projects. I have a whole dossier full of info you can read Griffin. It's in my bedroom safe. Now is not the time to be cold and resentful. I did what I had to in keeping you and I safe. Can we agree to worry more about where we are at this very second."

"Where? You don't even know where you are." Terri spoke up.

"I'm in the room, I'm just not certain where. Perhaps in only sound waves."

"Anyone else stays near their clothing or something they feel bonded with." He revealed, "I've brought back three... wait... four people by touching their ghostly form. They stay longer after dark. Matter of fact I met a girl that's still normal, I think. Let me call her, she hasn't checked in."

"Someone you brought back or an actual survivor?" Cassie asked.

"Brought back! Her name is Sonya. She's at the Brooklyn Towers Hotel. Penthouse! I camped out there last night. It's been crazy just reaching you for all the car accidents blocking roads. Here now though." He dialed Sonya's number.

"Griffin?" Sonya answered swiftly, "I'm still here master."

"Hey! I found my mom."

"That's so awesome!" Sonya was giddy on her end.

"I know! She's just a voice right now but I have her back. Her lab partner Terri too."

"You're doing it Griffin. You're going to be our savior I just know..." Dead silence except for a thud. Obviously, her cell clattering to the floor.

"Sonya?" Nothing! "SONYA? Fuck! She must have ghosted. What timing! I'll bring her back later. I guess she's better off on the other side and not worrying about things." He hangs up, "Okay mom, where do we go from here?"

"Is this frequency thing keeping me here too?" Terri asked examining the console like device with wires spread in different directions.

"I don't know. Possibly! The frequency was contained within my lab so with the door shut and soundproof it's anyone's guess at this juncture. In my case I've been isolated in here with it since I spirited away. I think I've bonded with its current frequency but I'm afraid to have you two turn it off. I might lose myself forever."

"Man, I wish I could see you mom."

"Temporary fix for that. See the camera pointing at you? It's actually a holographic projector. I spent much of the early morning after coming home arranging ways we might communicate. I made a holographic template of myself because I knew you were fond of Star Wars and Princess Leia as a child. At worst you can visualize me as the hologram and be my physical hands going forward."

"So, turn on the camera projector?"

"Firstly, there's a disc shaped grid about two inches high scooted under my desk. Slide it out and connect the high-powered HDMI cables from the projector to it."

"Got it! Give me one sec."

"Let me help..." In the blink of an eye Terri's clothes and glasses fluttered to the tile.

"Shit! There goes Terri."

"One thing at a time, Griffin."

"Right! Ok, cables attached. Disc in the middle of the floor. Projector on?"

"Rewind the feed and hit play. This should be the easy part."

"Here goes. Fingers crossed!"

"On my end as well, Honey." With the projector on facing the disc a full body hologram of Cassiopeia Folklore appeared before her son's eyes. "Did it work?"

"Yep! You're as clear as if you were real. This is cool! At least I can see you now."

"A facsimile of me, Griffin."

"At least you're dressed. Usually when I touch people, they show up naked."

"A side effect. If that's the case it seems to only blink out the physicality of the human body. Anything that is material stays behind."

"Right! Your jeans and blouse are on the floor here." He bends over to pick them up and realizes something. Afraid to mention it he notes no panties or bra, just jeans, light blouse, socks and tennis shoes. "It's going to be strange though because you don't look directly at me as a hologram. Even standing eye to eye you can't comprehend me."

"Best I can offer until we find a better solution Griffin."

"I know! So, the frequency keeps your thought patterns here but not your body?"

"Theoretically! Like I said I'm afraid that shutting it off would scatter me now that I'm linked to it. My atoms might disperse and never reconnect properly. If I'd logically stayed a ghost without interfering with the frequency I might stay together as others do."

"Damn mom! You kind of committed suicide."

"Don't remind me. What I do, I do for you, Honey! I'm sorry I kept things from you. I just need you to understand that your father, well, he got me drunk and here we are. He is a very dark individual that puts only his needs in the forefront. You would only... I'm afraid of what he might do to you."

"So, he's, my Darth Vader."

"Sad to say, but that's not far off the mark."

"As you said one thing at a time. I'm here for you mom." He starts to pace and slightly trips on a power cord, dropping her blouse onto the hologram platform. A sudden flash of blinding light he shaded his eyes. Hearing his mother scream made him react with fear. "SHIT! MOM?"

"Still here!" The light faded to normal save for one thing. She was looking directly at him, her hologram locating his physical presence. "Griffin! What did you just do?" Her blouse on the disk meant...her hologram was now topless. Covering her chest as if real led him to drop his jaw.

"Did I just bring you back?" He was flooded with emotions. So much so he tried to hug her but phased right through her without harm over either of them. "Whoa! You're still a hologram, but you can acknowledge me like we used to. You're here, but not here."

"Why am I topless?" She palmed her breasts modestly, she could touch herself pinching her nipples without thinking yet not feeling true sensation, but he could not touch her." Seeing her blouse at her feet she knelt to try and pick it up but her own hand passed through the fabric. "This is incredible. Griffin, step out of the way."

Shifting left he watched her miraculously step from the disk and hover two inches off the tile as if she were still held aloft on the disk. "How am I able to leave the platform?"

"I think your blouse bonded with your DNA and mine! I touched your clothing."

"Let's just be glad it wasn't my jeans you dropped on the grid. I might have turned beet red and remained that way forever."

"Mom don't sweat it being topless. I'm man enough to deal with it. You can't cover yourself 24/7."

"If I have that long. I just don't understand."

"Don't knock it. At least now I can actually communicate eye to eye again. See your smile and know it's not fake."

"That's sweet Honey! We still have work to do."

"Then, let's get started!"

"I'm so proud of you."

"Say that when, I save mankind."

"One step..."

"...at a time!"

Why did his mother have to have such perfect tits? Was it sad that he wondered if that step at a time would jiggle her breasts? Could a hologram be that real? "Look away! Look away! Look away!" Last perv on Earth indeed! He was trying! Failing! Miserably!

"Do I need to wash your eyes out with soap once I get my body back?"

"Mom? Ugggh! Just get over it. I'm here, you're not. It's not easy and you know it."

"You're right. It's not like I didn't breast feed you as a baby. I'm over it." Hands away she let it go, her 38C breasts bulging and full. There were more important things to do anyway. If only she could touch her work, like she could touch herself. It was going to get frustrating.

Dead silence became a staring contest.

A hologram could only roll her eyes. "Palmolive?"

He thought she said, "Palm Alive!"

At least he turned toward Terri. Who knows, his jizz might shoot her and bring her back.

"Have your moment."

Kids!