Chapter 1

The light got brighter and brighter; it was obvious that what ever it was it was getting closer and closer as I watched it in the night sky. I was sure it was meteorite or something similar. I could see it clearly with the naked eye, since other than my campfire it was the brightest light, clearly brighter than any of the stars, and since there was no moon, it really stood out.

My name is Alan Reid and I am 17, and I was camped along side my favorite fishing spot along the Snake River. I like coming out here by myself to do some night fishing for catfish. I love the solitude and quiet time gives me time to think. I used to come with my uncle Bill but he died several years ago in a car accident. My dad doesn't fish, so usually I come alone or with my best friend Sid, but he couldn't get away this weekend.

Uncle Bill was a great guy and I really miss him sometimes. He left me most of his estate, which wasn't a whole lot, my old truck and about $50,000 from a small life insurance policy. I've been saving it for college. Uncle Bill also left me an old building he owned, some old warehouse, but he had a loft home built on the top floor. It's still the way he left it; I haven't decided what to do with it yet.

Now as I continue to watch the light in the sky, I started to get a strange feeling, it's hard to tell for sure, but it appears to be heading straight for me. The more I watch it, the more I thinks it is going to hit somewhere nearby, when suddenly the whole night lights up light daytime and kaboom, a thundering explosion louder than any thunderstorm I have ever heard goes off, and a second later I'm tossed into the air like a paper doll by a shockwave and slammed against my pickup, banging my head and then everything goes black.

I'm not sure how long I was out, but later I come around, it is still dark out, but I can see the stars again. My head is spinning, and my ears are ringing, but other than that, I seem to be ok. My fire was blown out by the explosion, but other than that, things seem to be much the same as they were earlier. I get up and brush my self off, grab some more wood for the fire and prepare to restart it. The embers are still glowing, so I wasn't out for long, I feel around my head, and I have a small bump in the back, but I don't think I have a concussion.

'What the hell was that' I think to myself now that my head is clearing. That meteor must have impacted somewhere close by. I get up in the back of my pickup so I can get a little height and check out the nearby surroundings. I look in all directions and at first I don't see anything, but then off to east, near the river, I notice a slight glow, almost like another campfire.

I grab a flashlight and my pistol (I bring it along in case of rattlers) and head towards the light. I figure it might be another fisherman, so I'm going see if anyone is hurt. As I get closer though, I notice the glow isn't like a normal campfire glow, it's a greenish color and steady, not flickering like a campfire would cause. Curiosity over ruled and thoughts of caution at this point so I pushed on until I came to a large mound of dirt with the glow apparently coming from the other side.

I climbed to the top of the mound which was actually the side of a small crater. In the center of the crater was what looked to be a small rock egg broken in two; and inside the egg was a glowing green crystal, about the size of my thumb. Now I was a little nervous, I wasn't sure if this was radio active or something, but decided that at this point, I was already exposed, so I might as well check it out.

So I climbed down to the center of the crater, bent over and put my hand near the rock and crystal, to see if it was hot or something, but didn't feel any heat, so I thought it'd be safe to pick up the crystal. As I made contact with the crystal, it flash brightly and disappeared. At the same time I felt what I can only describe as a surge of energy through my body, slamming into my brain and causing me to black out again.

I don't know how long I was out this time, but when I woke the sky was beginning to lighten in predawn light, so I figured this time I must have been out for awhile. Strangely tho, my head didn't hurt at all this time. In fact, my thoughts seem highly focused and as I began recalling what occurred, I realized that I could recall things just as clear as when they happened. In fact, it seemed I could recall everything from my entire life, almost like pulling up the memories like files on a computer.

I could also remember everything I'd ever been taught in school and even better, understood all of it now, like somehow I was smarter now. Smart or not though, I figured I'd better get back to my campsite, load up and head home. It was Sunday morning, and I promised my mom I would try and make it home in time for church.

An hour later, I was heading down the highway, it's still really early, my clock in the truck says 6:00am, so I've got a few hours to get home, and it's only about a 45 minute drive. Last night had been very crazy and as I worked through it in my head, I realized that I could recall everything in very vivid detail, sort of like watching a movie. I was so caught up in my thoughts though; I wasn't really paying attention to my speed. The next thing I know, I see the red and blue lights of a sheriff's car.

Crap I think to myself as I pulled over, watching the officer get out of his car and start my way. At this point I'm really pissed. 'DAMN IT!!' I think to myself, 'Please let me off with a warning! I can't afford a ticket right now.' At that moment I see a bright green flash, almost like lighting, but the sky is clear. The officer pauses briefly than keeps coming to my window.

"License and registration please?" he requests, which I dig around and find for him. "Do you know why I pulled you over Mr. Reid?" he then asks. Why do they always ask that? I reply (playing dumb) "Sir, I don't know".

"Well, Mr. Reid, you were going 75 in a 55 back there." "I was going to site you for speeding, but figure you probably can't afford a ticket right now, so I'm going to let you off with a warning. Just don't let it happen again, and please drive safely." He hands me back my license and registration and heads back to his car. I sigh a big sigh of relief, thinking I really got off lucky that time.

I get back on the highway and start heading back home again. After about 15 more minutes, my stomach gives me a good growl, letting me know I hadn't eaten this morning yet. I packed breakfast bars, but that doesn't sound good at this point. Then I remember a little dinner that is just up the road a bit in a little town called Gilmore that my uncle Bill used to take me to when I was younger.

So about five minutes later I pull into the parking lot of the dinner, there is only one other vehicle here. Next door there is a gas station and little store, with a couple of vehicles filling up. I head into the dinner and am greeted by a middle aged gal, looks around 50 years old, good figure, blondish hair with a touch of gray all done up in a bun. She's wearing a typical dinner uniform, which ends in a skirt that just reaches the knees, which emphasizes her hips. She's wearing tennis shoes, obvious she's on her feet all day. She has nice legs for an older gal. I have a thing for older women; I guess I all caught up in the MILF raged these days. Her name badge says Fran.

Fran shows me to a small table in the corner. As I sit down, I look at my surroundings; there are a couple of booths, four tables, and a counter with stools. The only other people in the dinner are an old guy sitting at the counter and a cook in the back. The old guy I figure is a local since he seems to know both Fran and the cook and they him.

Fran drops a menu in front of me and asks of I'd like any coffee. "Sure, I'd love some, cream and sugar too, please." I pick up the menu and open it, look at and instantly am aware of everything on the menu, even the fine print. Weird, this is what I imagine speed reading would be like. I put the menu down, and Fran comes and takes my order.

I sit back a minute or two waiting for my order to be cook. I notice a newspaper sitting on the next table, so I reach over and grab it. I don't normally read the paper much, but there didn't seem to be much else to do. As I look at the front page, bam just like with the menu, I instantly know everything that is written on the front page, including an article about a strange light in the sky last night. I turn the page and again the same thing. In fact, within a couple of minutes I have read the entire paper, including the classified.

This is getting really weird I'm thinking to myself. I start thinking about anything and everything I'd ever read in school about meteors, crystals and increased brain functions, which isn't much, science is not my thing. The only thing that comes to mind at all is a few porn stories about mind control that I've read on the internet. As I ponder them a moment, I realize that I remember every word of them, almost as I was reading them now.

Not only do I recall the words, and the images that the words create have me soon feeling horny. By the time Fran brings me my breakfast I'm sporting a hard-on under the table. For the first time I really look at her more closely, she has nice face, not beautiful but attractive. Her tits look like they maybe decent size, I'd guess about 34Ds, a little wider in the hips, but not too much, about right for a gal her age.

"Here you go hon ... can I get you anything else for you?" she says as she places my plate in front of me. "Thanks, not right now" I reply. The food smells great and I dive right in. Fran returns to the counter and her discussions with local guy. A few minutes later the cook yells out from the back "hey Fran! Since it's slow I'm going to cut out for an hour or so, have some things at home that need my attention, I'll be back before the lunch rush."

"Ok Larry, I'll call you if we get busy before then, but looks like a slow one today, I might close up for a hour or so, use the time to get caught up on the books."

"See ya" Larry throws over his shoulder as he heads out the door. So now it's just Fran, local guy and I in the place. I continue eating my breakfast, but need a refill on my coffee. I try to get Fran's attention, but she multi-tasking behind the counter, talking to local guy and with her back to me refilling sugar containers or something.

'I really need another cup of coffee!' I think to myself, again I see a flash of green light. Fran reaches for the coffee pot and moment's later local guy says "I think your customer over there needs a refill." Neither one seemed to notice the flash of green. And now I'm getting a little freaked out, 'what the hell is going on?'

"Here you go sweetie" Fran says as she tops off my cup and heads back to the counter area. "Uuhhh, thanks" I say, not sure what to think, but my recollections of mc stories comes to mind. So I decided to try something.

I start concentrating on Fran, reaching out to her with my mind. After a few seconds, a very thin, green tendril appears, coming from my head and heading to Fran. A concentrate a little harder and it seems to strengthen and makes contract with her. Still no one seems to notice, so I figure I'm the only one that can see it.

After making contact, suddenly I can hear Fran's voice, only it's inside my head. She's thinking to herself, 'I wish Jerry (local guy) and the kid would finish up so she can close for a bit and take a break.' There are other thoughts, random thoughts, bouncing around in her/my head too. This should be really freaking me out at this point, but for some reason I perfectly calm.

I concentrate and focus just a bit more and all the sudden, it's like I can see into her mind. Not her brain of flesh and blood, but instead into her thoughts, memories and even her subconscious. The best way I can describe it is, it kinda reminds me of the old Jetson's cartoon and their highways. Most of the traffic, her main thought processes, was like all the traffic on the highway. Her random thoughts were not on the main road, and would go off in one direction or another.

Her subconscious was a really busy place, just a beehive of activity, but I could make out her lower functions here like breathing, standing, etc ... all the things that were going on that she didn't have to think about.

Then I found her memories, it was like a honeycomb of containers, each containing a memory. I decided to explore a little more here. I soon found out that her name was Francine Sanderson and her and her husband Richard owned both the restaurant and the gas station store next door. She worked the restaurant and Richard ran the store. They used to live in LA, but after her kids graduated from college, she and Richard wanted to leave the city for a quite life in a small town, so they ended up here. She had been an advertising exec in LA and Richard had been an accountant. For the most part, they enjoyed their new life, but it did get boring sometimes. Her marriage was comfortable, neither exciting nor on the rocks, just what you'd expect for a couple married 30 years.

At this time I backed out of Fran's mind and decided to take a look into Jerry's. His mind was structured similar, but a little less random. Delving into his memories; it turns out he is a widower, his wife died about eight years ago. Now he lived alone in his house with five cats. He was definitely lonely, which is why he hangs out here at the diner so often, just for the company.

Chapter 2 »