Chapter 10 Stan's story

Stan was working in 'Arachnid III' when he sensed a low level hum reaching his mind. At the same time Emily and Stephanie fell to the ground. Quickly looking around with the cameras he saw Jordan and then Jessica do the same thing. Turning quickly he saw Christopher and Daniel already on the ground.

It took a second to understand that we were under attack. The warning was valid. I zoomed in with the cameras and saw that my family was still living. It all had to do with that hum I heard. My helmet must protect me from whatever it was.

I took a few seconds to consider what to do before racing to the storage room. I brought out the test helmets we made in the last year to block mental emanations. I quickly slipped these on Jessica and Jordan but the rest had heads that were too small.

We had the powder aluminum, gold, iron as well as beryllium, cobalt, indium, tin as well as the compounds of silver chromate that worked much better. Now was not the time to do this.

My spider body loaded the people around me onto a farm wagon and then I hurriedly gathered up the pack and students that were also hurt by this attack. I looked around for more people but none were close and it would be dangerous to gather them.

I loaded all of the silver chromate we had and then the other less efficient compounds then two large first aid kits we kept nearby. We needed weapons so I took everything we had in the small hidden arsenal and then looked at the armour. It was too much for one load.

I pulled the farm wagon through the orchard and away from the house. I was sure that our home was the target. As I increased the distance from the house, the humming got progressively less.

I was also sure that nobody at the house had a helmet on and they would have been hit like those around me had been.

I came to the public road and saw a great many cars parked nearby and these had to be the people that attacked us. There were no cars driving by and I made it to the tarmac with only a little difficulty. Two kilometres away I had to wait for some cars to pass then I raced down another farm lane and into a wood lot.

The hum was not heard now. I unloaded the wagon and then slowly started to remove my helmet. The hum was not gone. It was distracting but not quite painful at this distance. It also seemed to interfere with my ability to communicate.

I used my cell phone and called Dad. When he answered I said, "The farm is under attack. There is some sort of mental device that knocked all of the kids out and even the students and pack members in our lab. They are still alive and look to be only unconscious. I don't know for sure. The interference is not allowing me to link to them.

"I loaded all I could onto the apple wagon and pulled it to the woodlot on the Stamford farm. The only reason I was not hit was because I was wearing the helmet for 'Arachnid III'. I doubt if anybody is conscious at the house."

I waited until Dad said, "Thanks Son, you did a great job. Now tell me all the small details."

I put my control helmet back on and for three minutes I put into words what my mind could have covered much better in a few seconds.

Dad said, "I'll send out the warning, Son. You did a great job and I'm proud of you."

Dad hung up and I opened a first aid kit and broke an ammonia ampoule under Jessica's nose. When she started to respond, I moved the liquid to Jason and then Peter the first of the pack.

The three started to come around but it took a few minutes. They were in a lot of pain. I used my healing on them as best as I could.

Peter recovered first and said verbally after finding that he could not speak mentally without causing a lot more pain, "What happened?"

"There was some sort of mental attack. That hum you feel, got strong for a minute then decreased in power to what it is now."

"You have to warn the others."

"I did."

"Good, now I want to get up." Peter saw the helmets in the wagon and said, "Your helmet saved you?"

"Yes."

"With this interference, I want to wear one too."

Peter worked to wake up the rest but my cousins were hurt too bad to respond and we let them sleep. I then had to explain everything again to those that were now awake. The device we could sense was odd. It not only struck the pack but the students too. They were not able to communicate and just were given the ability to heal and feel what others felt. Perhaps that was a weak point.

I had a fight on my hands as some of us had to stay here to guard the cousins and the students while some of us had to go back to the lab and gather the armour and possibly 'Arachnid I' and 'Arachnid II'. There were other exoskeletons and the armour to pick up.

Since I was the fastest in my present body, I pulled the team back to the farm the way we came.

We loaded up the wagon and then another but this was pulled by a tractor. This machine would pull both wagons.

Jessica slowly took off her helmet then put it back on. "It's painful but won't knock me out. It certainly will keep me from using my mental powers."

I said, "Try to see through objects and then float."

Jessica did. She floated into the air and said, "I can't see through much with this helmet on."

"Find what you can and cannot do while we make some weapons."

We had lots here to work with. Puke gas and teargas was easy to make and we even had some masks. When we made our own attack, we would not have enough. None of us wanted to kill unless it was absolutely necessary. This meant finding substitutes.