Chapter 60

The rain didn’t stop till Saturday night. Sunday morning after breakfast I told Dad I was heading out to go for a run at the state park. He wished me the best, and went back to work on his project down in the basement.

Getting to the state park meant driving thru Summerville to get to the hills and forest that guarded the east of the city. It was old growth timber, lightly harvested by the original settlers, then left to go wild as they farmed the easier flat lands to the west of the river that runs thru Summerville.

The morning had a slight chill from the two days of rain, and I pulled on a windbreaker before locking everything up in the Prius. I followed the signs to the ‘big trail,’ as that was the creative name given to the five mile loop that ran over a hill, around another, and back over a third.

I was likely the only one in the entire park, as it had no permanent ranger, and no overnight usage. My car at least was the only one in the entire parking area. I stuck the required five bucks in the provided envelope, and dropped it in the box, then unlocked the car to put the tag on the rear view mirror. With the car locked again, I headed towards the trail.

‘Alright Adam, guide me as I run, I want to try to stay in the zone for the entire ten miles, that’s two laps.’

‘Run through the parking lot for the second lap, or turn around and run it backwards for the second?’

‘Is there a way that it’s usually run?’

‘In competition it’s run twice, and can be in either direction. Direction is decided by the event planners the week before by the flip of a coin.’

‘There and back again,’ I muttered to myself.

I headed to the nearest path entrance, dropping easily into the zen zone. My mind clear, and my eyes open. My senses seemed to come alive as I moved thru the forest trail. The sandy path became gravel, then mud, and finally sand again. I was aware of the trees, and the small creatures. I pulled a bottle of water from its pocket space, and drank it deeply, taking my eyes off the path, but not my senses.

‘Adam, this is different than before.’

‘You are experiencing the universe thru the Orb. This is the first time you’ve been aware of it.’

It felt like I could close my eyes, and just keep moving. Slipping thru the air faster and faster, until I was dodging the molecules themselves, not just the mud puddles.

‘Sam, you need to slow down, you are almost back at the parking lot.’

I thunked across the wood bridge that crossed the small drainage ditch, and entered the parking lot. Focusing on where I was, I came to an instant, inertia defying halt.

‘What the hell was that?’

‘You might consider the Planet Express Ship engine.’

‘Futurama?’

‘Exactly, it travels by staying in place, and moving the universe around it.’

‘So how does that relate to my sudden stop.’

‘You altered the universe for a moment, so it was moving at the same speed you were.’

‘I call bullshit.’

‘What did I tell you at the beginning that the Orb did, when you asked?’

I thought back, that had been so long ago. “It breaks reality,” I whispered to the empty lot.

‘The Orb is not bound by any law, only the imagination of the Bond. You could reach out, and pluck a tree from the ground like anyone else would pull a weed. You could, if property focused, or as you call it, in the zen zone, reach out and grab the sky and throw yourself into it.’

‘When I was running, it felt like I could move ever faster. I could simply dodge the air resistance by skipping between the molecules and atoms of the atmosphere.’

‘How long do you think you have been running?’

‘I don’t know.’

‘You ran the five mile path in 8 minutes.’

‘How fast is that?’

‘Considering you were constantly accelerating, you were approaching highway speeds.’

I looked down at my feet, no sign of steam. I glanced back at the path. ‘Was there any sign that I was going that fast?’

‘You stopped leaving footprints after the first mile.’

‘It felt like I could turn and run through the forest at the same speed.’

‘You probably could have. Congratulations you have touched the edge of what is possible with the Orb.’

“Which edge?” I asked out loud.

‘The beginning edge. I’ve taught you the basic functions, but all I really can do is encourage you to explore the Bond deeper. You don’t need mass eliminators to fly with wings, you don’t even need wings. Just practice getting in the zone, and thought becomes movement.’

I walked over to the car, grabbed the handle causing it to unlock automatically, and sat down. I pushed the big red button twice, rolled down the windows, and opened the sunroof. I pulled the door shut, and leaned back the seat and closed my eyes.

I let my senses expand, I could feel where I was in the car, the parking lot, the city, Salt Bush, Atwood Manor, the State, the country, no the continent, the planet. I focused on the house where we lived when Mom died. I could see the new family living there, going about their business.

My mind flickered, and I could see the apartment we moved into afterwards, then the house we rented. My concentration came back to the parking lot, and I felt the car wiggle.

‘Well done Sam. I never expected you to immediately figure out how to teleport.’

‘I went to those places?’

‘Yes, a tour of your old homes. I made you and the car invisible, but yes, you moved yourself and the car to a spot outside each residence.’