Chapter 3

Friday, January 7th, 2022
Colorado Springs, Colorado

I slowly strolled up and down the isles of the thrift shop examining the inventory. I decided to hold off on the Jacket since I had a decent prospect of shopping for a nicer one soon, and it wasn’t too terribly cold outside today. I picked up a reasonable-looking digital watch that seemed to work properly. Just a used Timex, nothing special but it would do the job. I had gotten out of the habit of wearing a watch years ago since I always had my phone with me.

An older lady behind the counter asked me if I was looking for anything in particular. I thought about it and said, “Mostly just looking, but now that you mention it I would like to find a money belt or a fanny pack, something along those lines.”

She came around the counter and replied, “You know, I think I saw something like that just the other day. Could have sworn it was over in this next aisle.”

I joined her in digging through a couple of bins and she indeed found a money belt that looked like it would work well for me. I thanked her for the help and paid for the items after a brief walk through the rest of the place without finding anything else I wanted.

I passed a convenience store on my way to the thrift shop and on the way back to the hotel I stopped in for some junk food. While I wouldn’t mind the munchies later, what I really wanted was to break another $100 for smaller bills. I also found some deodorant, toothpaste, and a toothbrush. The cashier gave me the stink eye over the large bill but handed over the change without comment.

Back in the hotel room, I noticed housekeeping had been through. Fresh towels, fresh sheets, they even hung up my robe which I had just tossed onto the bed. I loaded up the money belt with five thousand dollars from the opened stack of bills and test fitted it around my waist. When I had it adjusted properly it wasn’t uncomfortable at all and would certainly work for my plan. I left it on the table as I didn’t need to wear it yet.

[How’s it going in there?]

[Being able to see and hear makes all the difference in the world.]

[I bet. Hey, I just had an interesting idea while trying to wrap my head around what you are going through. We’re supposed to merge our experiences overnight right?]

[Yeah]

[Well it probably happens during REM sleep right? Isn’t that what James said?]

[He said “deep sleep”, but that is probably right.]

[Okay, well I was thinking that the sooner we merge for the first time the better. It sounds like it should allow both of us to understand both perspectives perfectly. That might help us figure things out much more quickly.]

[Alright, I can see the logic in that.]

[Well if we set the alarm for 1:30 pm we have time for a really good nap if we can get to sleep in a reasonable timeframe. Seems worth a shot to me, what do you think?]

[I do recall reading something about a nap of 90 to 120 minutes usually includes some REM sleep. I don’t see a downside to attempting it really. We do have some time to kill here. Are you regretting that coffee now?]

[I guess we’ll see.]

After setting the alarm I did have some trouble getting into nap mode right away. Focusing on a breathing pattern eventually got me there. When the alarm went off I sat up and rubbed my eyes. After a quick review of my memories, I sent, [Great, it worked.]

[You know, up until we figured out how to see, I was feeling pretty shafted in the deal. I wasn’t feeling that way anymore after we learned how, but I sure don’t feel anything like that now. The syncing up every night is going to be a game-changer in itself. Everything I do on this side of things is for me. Everything you do on that side of things is for me too. There is no downside anymore. No need for either of us to feel jealous or guilty. We both can just do what we want and we both reap all of the benefits.]

[Have you noticed how much better you are at remembering things than I am? Now that I have memories of your time in the void I’m shocked at the clarity of the way you could remember. I can’t do that anywhere near as clearly as you do. My memories are just like normal, from before our split, but I also notice that I feel more creative than during my memories of being on your side. Maybe even more creative than before. I seem to be able to be more intuitive somehow, while your thoughts are more structured I guess.]

[Yeah, it seems we have complementary skill preferences. One of us might be better at some things than the other.]

I suddenly had a thought, [Hey, show me that image of Mrs. Gonzales again.]

[Sure. Here you go.]

[Hot damn. Would you look at that?]

[Yes sir, she was a fine-looking female.]

[Yeah she was, but that’s not what I mean. What do you see in the upper right corner of the chalkboard?]

[What? The homework assignment? Read Chapters 14 and 15 and do the problems on pages 257-265.]

[Dude, what are the chances that the info we see on the board was actually the words written on the board back when she was on her tippy toes that day? There is no way in hell that we would normally be able to remember a detail like that. That was 35 years ago man.]

[Holy shit. I’m pretty sure it was.]

[Except for just seeing it in the picture, I don’t remember shit like that. What else do you remember from that day?]

[Lots of it. We saw Michelle Reynolds bitch-slap the hell out of Rick Murphy for pinching her ass in the hallway right after that class. We were heading to the chem lab for the next period with old man Dooley. He gave us a big test on the periodic table.]

He sent me an image of the Periodic Table of Elements. It had to be from the mid-1980s. I could say that because I’m sure I hadn’t studied it since then, and I quickly forgot most of the info almost as soon as I finished the test. Also, I remember reading something about Oganeesium or something like that being discovered in the early 2000s and added to the Table. The symbol was OG and it stuck in my mind as being funny because it was a Gangsta element. Og was not on the chart he was displaying. Even if I was way off base on that thought, the amount of detail being displayed blew my mind.

[Dude, a few days ago there is no way we could have gotten more than a dozen of the elements correct by memory. I’m talking just the names and symbols. Never mind where they go on the chart much less getting it all down to the atomic numbers too.]

[We’re going to have to do some further experimenting with the accuracy of these memories. But I gotta say, I’m pretty happy with this.]

I told him, [It’s freaking amazing, ] as I headed for the bathroom to splash some water on my face and use the toilet again. [You should recheck the boundary again to see if it moved.]

[Good call, but if it has then it’s not by much.]

[Okay, let’s review what we know about these powers.]

[He could freeze us in place, and we weren’t breathing for a while there. He demonstrated specific control of that power by letting us breathe and use our eyes again.]

[He took control of Terry and the man walked around like he was in a hypnotic trance, apparently, he was unable to lie and unable to even think of doing things besides what he was told.]

[I think both of those powers fall under the “messing with people’s minds” that he expects to take years for us to develop. We probably don’t need to worry about them for now.]

[While extending the range is something to work toward, we seem to be missing something basic in the main power he claims we have, which is the ability to “do whatever you want with flesh and bone”. As far as specifics of how we do that, all I can recall is the suggestion to “just imagine the changes you want and push enough power into it to make it happen.” I really wish we could have asked more questions about this shit.]

[Once again, I’ve got to say that I absolutely love the way you remember things.] I broke out the new toothbrush and toothpaste and went to work on my teeth. While studying my new face in the mirror, I noticed that my left eye was a little lower than the right. Not by a lot, just barely enough to notice.

Looking into the eyes in the mirror I asked, [Well, why not try it. I know you lean toward the desire to scan and feel all the details of what you are doing first, but how about trying to step back and take a more esoteric approach. Think of the end result vs. all the steps needed. Have you noticed how one of our eyes is lower than the other?]

[Okay, I can picture that, but I’m not sure how we “push power” into it. Where is the power coming from? How do we harness and control it?]

[What about that feeling of energy around you? That’s got to be the power source. It’s the only thing you’ve sensed even remotely like power. Can you, I don’t know, imagine some way to grab or tap into it? Push it into the concept somehow. It seems to me that visualizing things in your space causes things to work. As you did with the camera for example.]

[Shit, how did I miss that. It’s obvious now that you mentioned it. I feel stupid.]

[Naw man, you just had a little trouble making the intuitive leap. I’ve got your back. I can’t say I feel great about my fuzzy memory for details compared to yours, that is where you kick my ass all over the place. Together we got this. Just got to lean on each other a little.]

[That sounds good. You’re right, we got this. Okay, I’m ready to try something. Let’s do something a little simpler than moving an eye first. Ideas?]

Scanning quickly I sent, [Um, how about getting rid of this freckle on the back of my left hand?]

I didn’t feel anything at all, but sure enough, the freckle disappeared. I pulled off the sweatshirt and took a closer look at my skin looking for something else to mess with. There was a mole just under my right armpit that I pointed to.

He sent, [On it] and it quickly vanished too.

I rinsed off the toothbrush and swished a handful of water around my mouth. As I straightened out after spitting I took a more critical look at my physique. I could definitely stand to lose another 30 or 40 pounds, but maybe some of it could be turned into muscle mass. I pointed that out to myself.

[Let’s see what we can do about that.]

I watched as my skin morphed into something that looked like a Mr. America contest winner.

After flexing a bit I sent, [That’s cool and everything, but I don’t really want to look like this. How about we tone it down a bit. Maybe shoot for something like a competitive swimmer, just a little bigger.]

[Yeah, I just wanted to see what we could do. Hang on.]

He settled on something that looked really good to my eyes at least. I had a thought and pulled the rest of my clothes off.

I sent, [Let’s not forget leg day.]

[Go stand in an open area of the room.]

I did, and he started projecting a video of my body with the “camera” circling around me. I closed my eyes and sent, [I’m getting a little dizzy from that. Can you blur or remove the background so it is just me in what you are projecting?]

He did so while continuing to make tweaks here and there. His package looked pretty much like I was used to so I didn’t see any point in messing with it just yet. I never had complaints in that area. [If we don’t like it when it gets hard I’m sure we can change it then.] We both agreed with that plan. I asked him to leave a little of the extra weight we were carrying in the face so our looks wouldn’t change too dramatically from the last time Jan saw us.

[Speaking of Jan, it’s about time to call her.]

The clock on the bedside table showed 1:56 so I grabbed Jan’s number and picked up the phone.

“Hey Jan, this is Paul. Paul Johnson. Wow, I just realized I didn’t give you my name earlier at breakfast.”

She said, “I know right? I was kicking myself earlier for not thinking of asking for it, but you had already left. Don’t feel bad about it. We both just got caught up in the conversation. I didn’t think it was rude or anything like that.”

I said, “Thanks for letting me off the hook there, I wouldn’t want you to think poorly of me. I’m hoping you haven’t reconsidered giving me a hand.”

“Nope, we’re still on. I even got in touch with a friend of mine, and she’s decided to come along too. Are we picking you up, or meeting you somewhere?”

I replied, “I could take a cab to meet you guys somewhere if that makes you both more comfortable.”

She said, “Oh I didn’t realize that you were walking on your errands.”

“Yeah, I flew in two nights ago and took a cab to my friend’s place, but my surprise visit was an even bigger surprise than I expected. I’m sure it surprised the hell out of her husband too. I swear I didn’t know. Hopefully, that would be obvious. I mean, I probably wouldn’t have flown out here just to stay in this lavish resort I find myself in. Fortunately, I noticed this hotel just before the cab dropped me off at her place so it was easy to find again. I drank myself to sleep that night and slept through most of the day yesterday, and now you know most of what I did today. I’m a bit of a mess right now, but I promise I’m a harmless one.”

“Wow, you’ve had a rough couple of days. Don’t worry Meghan and I will guide you through these rough waters and see you safely to shore again. Give us another hour and we’ll swing by to pick you up. Room #39 you said right?”