The Quest
Copyright© 2026 by A Well Traveled Man
Chapter 6
Early the next morning, Chad did his exercises and forms, ran, showered, and ate breakfast. Then he drove the F350 towing a 14 ft open trailer to Hank’s Farm Supply, and he got 50 fence posts, barbed wire, nails, a stretcher, and two heavy-duty sets of gloves. Hank threw in a heavy-duty wire cutter, and I was off. It took me all day, but it was done, and the signs were posted, so I headed home to clean up, ate dinner, and then went to bed.
The next morning, after breakfast, Chad drove to the store where the lady said to come to get my skins. He tried them on, and they fit a little loose. She said to wear them in the shower and let them dry while wearing them, so he paid for them and left. As he got in the truck, he felt pressure against my head but continued as if nothing had happened. The only person around was the old Indian sitting on the porch. He wondered if his shield worked as he drove home. Having more questions than answers, He parked the truck and drove the mule to make a perch in the trees 25 yards from the fence. He’s spending the night and expects the trespassers to return tomorrow and see my surprise.
Chad woke up, got out of the perch, did exercises and forms, then returned to his perch and waited. They arrived at 9 am, so he started his camcorder and waited until they stopped and looked at the fence. There seems to be an argument, and one guy gets out and walks away from the fence. The driver got out, grabbed bolt cutters, and approached the fence. My first shot hit his foot, and the second his right shoulder, and he went down. His buddy yelled to stop shooting as he got to his friend.
Chad said to leave your driver’s licenses on the ground and take that piece of shit off my property. Next time you die here! He yelled yes, loaded his friend into the pickup, and left. Leaving the perch carrying the camcorder to where the driver’s licenses lay, zoomed in on them, emptied the perch, and drove towards home. He stopped where the guys were working, took several samples, and went home in the mule. He took a shower, ate lunch, and headed to the cave with the samples.
Dipping them in the water to clean them off, a bolt of energy ran through me, so I set them aside and sat down. Ok, so they hold some energy, but for how long? He decided to do some testing. Taking a rock the size of a quarter and a dollar coin, both somewhat flat on two sides, I worked them until they were smooth on both sides. Then he drilled a hole near the top, put a piece of leather through the hole, tied it off, and put it in the pond to soak.
He took two roundish rocks, broke them into quarters, put them in a shop rag, and let them soak in the pond. He would let it soak for 24 hours, then test how long it lasts when unused and around his neck. More samples were needed for my study, and he needed a lab far away to test them and get the results by email or via an access code.
Chad doesn’t want a gold rush on his hands. He finished his daily glass of stream water, and the gatebell rings. Looking at the monitor, it’s the sheriff and a deputy. The sheriff said I’m here to arrest you for shooting someone at your gate. Chad said Sorry, Sheriff, your son was trespassing on my property when he was shot. I’ll give you the video I sent to the city council and the newspaper. But arrest me; there is not a chance in hell. I caught him and his friend on my property last week and warned them to stay off, but they returned. Now get your ass off my driveway before I call the state police. He left in a huff, driving back to City Hall. He was called before the city council and lost his job. His son was a troublemaker and always got off because of his dad. Well, the last time it cost the city money to settle, he was warned that no more trouble would be tolerated.
Chad mined more rock, made the rock as close in size and weight as possible, and wrote a program to track the experiment. Soak times, the time it takes to store energy, and how long the energy lasts in use. The flat rock, soaking for 24 hours, lasted a week of constant use. No matter how long it soaked, one week was all it took. They would only work if exposed to the skin, so another round of testing and development is needed. But the question was who he was selling it to and how much. After much thought, Chad decided to mine as much as possible or take the last of it and tell them it’s all used up. Otherwise, he will become a target for people who use it.
Time for another dose of the serum. He got the serum out of the small refrigerator in the den cabinet, injected himself, put in his diary April 21st dose, measured my height, remained at 6’5”, and weighed 230 lbs. Again, the changes are still mostly internal. His senses have stabilized, but my mind-reading and influence over others continue to grow. If I look into someone, it’s a short peek, and the information he gets in that time is quite extensive, and I continue to process it quickly. The things I move with my mind continue to grow and improve the more I use them.
The water in the cave has a powerful effect, but only if I drink from the pool or the running stream. Once it goes through the water pump, the water has no effect at all. He drinks a glass in the morning, and it lasts all day. The discovery of stones that hold power, and which, when in contact with the skin, will last for a week of continued use. The rocks can be recharged in a pond or stream in the cave. So, we’re up to date, except he turned fifteen today and 20 with my fake ID.
The sheriff’s son was selling the rocks to an Indian woman and a jeweler downtown. The jeweler was using the rocks for cheap custom jewelry, and the Indian woman was selling it to someone he didn’t want to know. She showed up at his gate wanting more product, and Chad told her there was enough for two more batches. The mine is tapped out by the sheriff’s son overmining. You can have the last two batches, and then we are done. I don’t want to know who you sold it to, but he knew it wasn’t to the Indians.
Now, if one of the crazy weirdoes who use it shows up at my doorstep, I will come after you, understand? I want no part of what you’re using for and want to be left alone. He sold her the last two batches, and we were done. There was a lot left, and he mined it and stored it in the cave to cut the connection with the crazies and weirdos. That and the Indian lady were making a lot of money off it. She sold it too fast, not realizing it was a limited resource, and now the gravy train is over. With all this mining crap going on, not much has been done with the formula.
He was wrestling with moral questions about how this great gift could become the world’s worst nightmare. Every time he sees an area, the serum could help kids. The rich and powerful could gain control of it and use it for their own benefit. I’m still working on it to get a viable product. Now that I’ve turned 20 on my fake license, he can take flying lessons.
A funny story about the fake license is that he went to have my license changed to New Mexico, and they just gave me a new one. They didn’t ask for the old one and just gave me a New Mexico driver’s license. So now he has two driver’s licenses from different states, and I am keeping both. He maintains an address back home for both business and personal use.
Chad heard Mom got out of jail and is looking for me. She went to university and the dojo, to no avail. She even tried to get my address from the alumni association, but was told no. She then hunted down Dad. Boy, was she pissed when she found out he hadn’t seen or heard from me in almost two years. She ran out of options and had to get a job as a secretary at a small business. She is not very employable with a criminal record, and the tattoos and haircut make her seem too masculine. So limited income and no idea where to start looking, she’s pretty much screwed trying to live off me.
Chad decided to screw with her and called her office switchboard. He asks for her, and when she answers, he says, “Hello, Mom. I heard you’re looking for me. Why? Because I’m your mother, and how old are you now? I will be 19 in a few months, so how was jail? She said you’re not 19, and it was shit. Where are you? I want to see you. Well, Mom, I am boarding a ship to the Middle East. After school, the military offered me a great opportunity, so I joined. How many tattoos do you have, Mom?
She asked how that could happen when you’re underage. Well, you know the government, Mom, can do anything. They even changed my name. Besides, I didn’t have much choice with you in jail and Dad in a female-led relationship. Oh, I have to hang up. We’re leaving, and all cell phones are confiscated. Bye, Mom, and hung up. Chad was laughing his ass off as she yelled,” Wait, please wait,” and he ended the call. He doubts she would recognize him anyway after all this time. Oh well.
He finally found a contractor who wanted work and charged a reasonable price. He said the difference between a four-stall barn and an 8-stall barn is a couple of grand, and it’s foolish to build that small and then realize you need more room. So, he went with an 8-stall barn, and construction is underway. The airfield said he could start classroom instruction at 9 a.m. on Monday and, as my budget allows, flight training. Chad told them his grandparents left him money for college, but when I decided to get into farming, they wanted to see me more often, so they paid.
He’s still checking out the mountain in grids, and now at the point where he found the guy poaching. He’s had no more problems with trespassers on the back road. He put two deadfalls on the tree section and checked his fence once a week. When he gets horses, I’ll put in a second fence at the trail entrance from the meadow, but for now, it’s fine.
He found a blue-silver rock group one grid up and over from what I call power rocks. They affect the power rocks, and he’s playing with them to find all he can about the interaction. Chad found out by accident that they had affected each other. The blue silver illuminates, but by themselves, they hold no power. He soaks both together and sets them in every other grouping around my flat rock medallion. Power rock, then blue silver rock, repeated around the medallion he hangs around his neck. The blue-silver rock doesn’t need skin contact, so it’s more like a setting. I have a small work area enclosed where I can polish and play with shapes without dust getting everywhere. Once the stone shape and polishing are done, it’s worked on in my lab.
He now has the medallion on a platinum chain. It was much stronger than silver or gold and accented the stones better. The big test is ready after 24 hours of soaking. I’m prepared to put it on. It looked a little thicker than a silver dollar, and he embedded the blue silver stones into the medallion’s outer edge, using energy rocks every other one. The stones were small, sunk in the medallion, and looked like a nice piece of male jewelry. The blue-silver rocks illuminated as I put them over my head, and I passed out when they settled on my chest.
He woke up on the floor, looked, and the blue-silver rock wasn’t illuminating anymore. He stood up slowly, still shaky, and reached for a chair in the lab. Thirty minutes later, he was fine, so he started the clock. He just finished working on a second medallion, made the same as the first, and put it in the pond to soak. He found that if there were just blue silver stones around the medallion, they wouldn’t illuminate. The power rocks had to be placed between for interaction.
Why the illumination stopped when the medallion touched my skin was a mystery. He spent all day in the cave because the workers were building the barn. Going out was an unnecessary risk, so the second medallion was soaking and would be ready to put on when the power on the one he had on went out. The workers left, so Chad headed to the house to fix dinner and go to bed.
The driveway sensor awakened me at 1 a.m. Chad leaped out of bed, put on my tree camos, and grabbed my dart gun, bow, and arrows. Leaving by the back door, he ran through the woods like it was daytime, slowing up as he reached the gate. Two men were sitting in the van, so Chad worked his way around them and waited in the brush. One man got out to take a piss, and the dart hit him when he finished. I caught him falling, lay down quietly, then opened the passenger door and shot the driver.
Putting them in the back, he drove the van to the pole barn. Chad searched both men; their IDs said they were New Mexico residents, but their clothes and shoes said big city. The van’s contents were government property, including all the expensive equipment. He stripped the van quickly, loaded his Harley in the back, and tied it down. Then I tied up the men, blindfolded them, and went to get changed.