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This appears in a pre-2010 issue
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Skipping
Ken Dean
“So you read and signed the waiver?” professor Ashkalal asked while looking at his clipboard.
“Yeah, it’s signed,” John Valentine answered.
John was an Ohio State University student just looking to make a quick buck. He heard from a friend that a research project needed some volunteers and they were paying, so he thought, ‘Hell Yeah!’
Professor Ashkalal was a tall, thin Indian with a bushy mustache and a thick accent. John didn’t much like being questioned by the professor. Sometimes they came across with an air of superiority. He couldn’t help thinking, ‘you’re in America, damn it!’
“Hopefully you read it carefully; this is a risky experiment. That is why we are paying so much.”
“Of course. But who is going to turn down ten thousand dollars?”
“There are some who would. The worrisome type, or those who are older and feel they have more at risk. Just remember the waiver absolves the university and myself of any responsibility and cuts off any recourse for litigation on your part in case anything goes wrong.”
“Yeah Doc, I realize the risk, let’s just get on with it.”
“Soon enough. The nurse has to hook you up first.”
Okay. Whatever. A nurse with a slightly worried look on her face came over to attach some medical equipment to his body. What was that look all about? He was getting just a little worried himself. But ten thousand dollars! That’s a lot of party and beer! The nurse was busy attaching an IV drip in his arm and electrodes all over his chest, head and feet.
“Doc, what’s this experiment about anyway?”
“I can’t tell you too much; it might affect your responses and the outcome. But I will tell you that I’m trying to prove a theory of mine using chemicals where I thought complex electromagnetic fields and particles streams would be necessary.”
“Wow – sounds complicated.”
“Doctor, he’s ready now. We can begin anytime,” Nurse Flaherty said.
“Just a moment – I need to set up his brainwave activity baseline first.”
“Yes Doctor.”
“All right, that’s finished. Go ahead and bring around the drug cart and crash kit. John, once we start, We’ll be injecting two different chemicals in a timed release. The first may make you feel like you are floating. I’ve included a tranquilizer so as not to cause you any panic. The second is the one I’m actually experimenting with. That’s all I can tell you now. If successful, we will go through a debriefing after the drugs have worn off.”
“Sure.” John was starting to feel a little more nervous.
“Are you ready?”
“Yeah, let’s do it.”
“Nurse, start releasing the first drug.”
John started to feel a funny tingle run through his body. Doc was right; he was starting to feel like he was floating a little above the table. Thankfully he had included the tranquilizers.
“Nurse, begin the second drug sequence.”
This time the sensation was different. John felt as if he was being pulled somewhere, but he couldn’t pinpoint the direction. The room and everything in it was beginning to dim from view. He felt his right hand reaching for –
skip
the next rung on the ladder leading up to the police rescue copter as he tried to haul the teenage boy out of the turbulent Scioto River. The boy had become trapped during a flash flood. John reached down to get a better handhold and –
skip
drove the piton home as hard as he could into the icy shelf above him. He would be one of those counted as conquering Mount Everest or die trying. But the piton just busted the ice shelf loose and he began to fall backwards! John grabbed for the safety rope tied to the other climbers and –
skip
securely fastened the silencer to his Sig-Sauer 9 mm. He had snuck in silently avoiding the security cameras per the blueprints given to him by his client. ‘I want him out of the way and I want it to be quiet’, the client said. But John was always quiet and stealthy. He was proud to be deemed ‘the invisible hitman’ by the press. The mark always worked late, so he should be by himself. John slowly opened the unlocked outer office door. No one – good. He opened the inner office door graveyard quiet and saw the mark facing away from him, working on the computer. All the better. When they don’t know it’s coming there is a lot less hassle. John aimed the gun at the back of the mark’s head, pulled the trigger and –
skip
adjusted her bra quickly before putting on her sweater. Her supervisor had told Janice if she was late again she would be let go. Can’t afford that, she thought. Not with trying to raise three kids on her own since her bastard husband had abandoned her. She had no idea where he was and that made it difficult to press any kind of charges. Bastard! She ran down the steps to her old Volkswagen bug, hoping it would start. Reaching for the door handle she –
skip
felt his whole body jerk. He was suddenly back on the examination table looking up at professor Ashkalal and nurse Flaherty.
“What the hell was that!?”, John gasped.
“We’re just glad your back, John. That was part of the risk; that we might lose you forever.”
“But what was it? Some kind of acid trip?”
“No – definitely not an acid trip. Describe it to me.”
“I felt like I kept changing situations, bodies, being different people: but I also felt I was still myself all along.”
“That sounds reasonable. But you weren’t here except for physically. Your mind was skipping timelines and realities.”
“But Doc, how can you be sure?”
“Your brainwave pattern disappeared off the screen. You’re mind had essentially ceased to exist in this reality. You weren’t here, John.”