Here Comes Mr. Trouble

Finally, they looked back at Eric, Uncle Colin wearing a large, forced smile on his face. “All right. Everything’s fine here. Nothing to worry about.” If possible, the smile grew wider. “Okay, the scanner, then.”

“Yes. The scanner,” Uncle Carl said, moving quickly to the other side of the workshop.

Uncle Colin put an arm around Eric’s shoulders and guided him to the stool. “If you’ll just sit here, it will make things much, much easier.” He glanced quickly at Keira then said in a voice he probably thought was quieter than it was, “When did he come in contact with…it?”

Keira shrugged. “I don’t know. Twenty or thirty minutes ago.”

“Which was it?” Uncle Carl asked. From the cabinet, he’d removed a plastic case that looked big enough to hold a bowling ball and was in the process of opening it on the workbench. “Twenty minutes or thirty minutes?”

“I don’t know,” Keira repeated. “We were a little too busy freeing him to check the time.”

“You should always check,” Uncle Carl said. “How many times have we told you that?”

“Uh, never,” she said.

“That can’t be true,” Uncle Colin said.

“Oh, believe me. It’s true.”

Uncle Colin smiled at Eric again and pushed him down on the stool. Then, without looking back at Keira, he said, “Well, you now know for next time. It could help you save someone’s life.”

“What?” Eric said, pushing himself to his feet.

“Oh, not you,” Uncle Colin said, gently forcing him back down. “You’re going to be fine. Just fine.” As he turned away, he added, “Hopefully, of course. Now where’s the scanner?”

“Hopefully?” Eric said.

Excerpt from the TFS Encyclopedia

Talisman

Name for item used by Maker surrogates to control subjects.

The talisman must be placed on the subject, such as in a pocket, for it to work. If talisman comes into direct skin contact for more than 30 minutes, it can cause permanent damage to the subject’s mental capacity. Shorter periods can cause illness and loss of memory.

There are several different levels and strengths of talisman, recognizable by a combination of color, shape, and size. For example, the weakest known talisman — a black disc, the size of a nickel — will simply freeze the subject wherever they are. Whereas the strongest — a red sphere half the width of a dime — will put the subject under complete surrogate control, including use of subject’s voice.

Talisman order of color strength, strongest to weakest:

red

gold

silver

blue

black

Talisman order of shape strength, strongest to weakest:

sphere

pyramid

cube

disc

Talisman sizes range from.5 centimeter to 2 centimeters. Surprisingly, the smaller the size, the more powerful the talisman.

12

Uncle Carl lifted something that looked like a cross between a football helmet and a strainer out of the case. There were several wires trailing from it, and the surface was covered with electronic components and tiny readouts.

As he carried it toward his brother, he glanced at a dial on its side. “It’s set to level seven. What do you think?”

“Sounds low to me,” Uncle Colin said.

“I agree. Eight, then?”

“Let’s make it nine.”

Uncle Carl touched something on the side of the scanner then handed it to Uncle Colin, who immediately raised it into the air above Eric. “If you’ll just hold still for a moment.”

A part of Eric wanted to refuse to cooperate, but if they could learn something that would help bring his mother home, then it was worth it. “I’m ready,” he said.

Uncle Colin slipped the helmet-like contraption onto Eric’s head and gave it a nice downward shove.

“Hey!” Eric said.

“Just need to make sure it’s on tight.”

“It’s definitely tight.”

Uncle Carl grabbed the loose wires and began plugging them into an input strip on the front of the workbench.

Uncle Colin, meanwhile, pulled a monitor down to eye level and ran a cable from the back of it to a rectangular device on the wall. He then turned both of them on.

“What’s all this for?” Maggie asked.

Uncle Colin turned quickly and looked around, trying to indentify who had spoken. When his eyes settled on Maggie, he said, “Ah, yes, the friend. Don’t worry. Your boyfriend will be fine.”

“Whoa,” both Maggie and Eric said at the same time.

“I’m not her boyfriend,” Eric said.

“He’s not my boyfriend,” Maggie said.

“Okay. Friend of Eric, then,” Uncle Colin said. He flashed his teeth in another phony smile. “And please don’t wander off. You’ll be next.”

“Me?” Maggie said. “I am so not doing that!”

Uncle Colin looked confused by her refusal. “But you have to. You’ve been hanging out with your…friend here, have you not? It is possible, though unlikely, that some of his…” he paused for a moment, “…troubles have rubbed off on you.”

“You mean the Makers could be after her, too,” Eric said. He felt angry with himself for putting his friend in that kind of danger.

Uncle Colin’s eyes opened wide in surprise. “You know about the Makers?”

“A little.”

Uncle Colin was silent for a moment, then said, “As I’ve already mentioned, it’s highly unlikely she’s been affected, but it’s always best to check.”

“Set!” Uncle Carl yelled out.

Uncle Colin moved his hands over the helmet for a few seconds then said, “Set.”

“Should we stand back?” Maggie asked.

“Oh, don’t be silly,” Uncle Colin said. “It’s completely harmless.”

Keira raised an eyebrow and took a step backward anyway. Seeing this, Maggie did the same.

“Do you feel anything unusual?” Uncle Colin asked Eric.

“You mean other than my head being crushed by your stupid helmet?”