Little Town of the Dead (Eureka, gen) 2/2
( From Part 1.)
Allison very gently pressed the tips of her fingers to her eyelids. She could feel her pulse beat through the delicate skin, a telltale sign of rising blood pressure. This job was contraindicated for anyone with a health condition. Or anyone who might possibly ever have a health condition. Unfortunately, she couldn't just walk away. Jack might say she cared too much, but frankly, the idea of another Warren King taking the position scared the crap out of her. Which meant she had to deal with problems like these.
"Okay," she said, dropping her hand away from her face. "So what do we know?"
"We've had at least twenty sightings," Jo said. "Including Fargo, Henry, and myself. As far as I can tell, Fargo's was the earliest."
"And everyone saw someone close to them who had passed away?"
Jack shook his head. "No, not necessarily. Dr. Epstein had only met Linus Pauling once, and several of the other reports were of passing acquaintances or public figures. Including Abe Lincoln, although I'm still not convinced that wasn't Vincent in a costume."
She glared at him, but Jack smiled back, unrepentant. "So you think this is all some elaborate prank?"
"Let's just say I'm still not convinced that the dead have risen."
Henry pushed away from the corner where he'd been quietly listening. "If it's a joke, it's a particularly cruel one."
"Yeah, I know." Jack rubbed the back of his neck, obviously weighing his next words. She had to give him that; even when he had a hard time understanding what was going on, he still gave the job his all. "Which is why, if it is a prank, we need to find out who's responsible and stop it as soon as possible."
"And if it's not?"
"Henry..."
"Jack." They stared at each other for a long moment. Henry was the one who looked away, but she was pretty sure he hadn't given in. "Look, I know it sounds unbelievable. But scientists have been coming up with theories to try to explain the other side for hundreds of years. Some very respectable research has been done. It's not an impossibility, not what we know of M-theory and the Akashak Field."
Jack looked to her, then back to Henry. "So you're saying they might actually be ghosts."
Henry shrugged, hands in his pockets. "Maybe. Some people think that a violent or sudden death creates an imprint on the electromagnetic field. Maybe something's happened in Eureka to cause those imprints to gather here."
Jack started snapping his fingers like he was struck by inspiration.
"You're going to make another Ghostbusters joke, aren't you?"
Jack grinned at her. "No, but I knew you had to have seen it."
Allison crossed her arms, frowning at being caught out. "Well, it was a long time ago."
He winked at her, then tucked his ever-present notepad into the front pocket of his shirt. "I just had a thought. I'm going to go check it out. Jo, keep me informed, okay?"
"Will do."
"And I am going to head back to my lab, see if I can come up with anything," Henry said, more or less to anyone who was within earshot. Allison nodded anyway, giving him her official seal of approval before he walked out the door.
Which left her with no plan of action for herself. She should head back to Global, see if she could turn up any projects that might be causing this.
"Hey," Jo said quietly. "You okay?"
Allison shook her head at herself. "I'm sorry. I kind of zoned out there for a bit, didn't I?"
"It's okay. One of those days, I guess."
"Tell me about it." Allison hesitated; she wasn't the type to pry into personal matters, and Jo didn't usually open up a lot. But she knew that sometimes it was better to get stuff out, especially when there was a friendly ear in range. "How are you doing? I know it's got to be tough, seeing someone you've lost like that."
Jo bobbed her head from side to side, lips pursed up as she weighed the question. "I'm okay, I guess. I mean yeah, it shook me up a little at the time, but it's not like seeing her was a bad thing. And really, it wasn't that much different than seeing a picture of her."
Allison nodded. "Yeah, I can see that."
"Besides, it was a long time ago." Jo drummed her fingertips on the desk, then pressed her palm flat. "So, have you seen, um, anyone?"
Allison sighed. She'd been half on guard all day, ever since Fargo told them about his run-in. Even though she didn't believe in ghosts. After the last time, when she'd thought she'd seen Nathan only to have it turn out to be her necklace, she was more fervent in that belief than ever.
But part of her was still looking for him.
"No," she said. "No one at all."
*****
Jack heard the music before he got the heavy church door halfway open. It reverberated through the empty chapel, filling the space like a very real thing. It wasn't so much that it was loud, although it was definitely louder than any music at a service he'd ever been to, as it was powerful. Something classical, maybe by Beethoven. Something fast and bright and full of life, which kind of surprised him.
Then again, if his suspicions were correct, then Diane had reason to be joyous.
He didn't try to sneak up on her, but her eyes were closed as she played, and there was no way she could hear him. He stood in front of her, waiting until she reached the end of the song. She let her hands relax on the controls, like she could still feel the music even after she finished playing. The smile on her face didn't fade away while she slowly opened her eyes.
Not until she saw him and gasped, anyway.
"Sorry," Jack said. "I didn't want to disturb you while you were playing."
"So you thought it would be fun to scare me instead?" She smiled at him, though, so Jack figured all was forgiven. Which made what he had to ask even tougher.
"Well, gotta get my Halloween thrills somewhere." He turned to the side, looking up at the vaulted ceiling. "You really were really rocking out in here, you know."
She laughed lightly. "I guess I got a little carried away. I've been playing all day, and after a while I got into that place where the music takes over, and I'm just the conduit. It's an amazing experience when that happens."
"Getting into the zone." Jack nodded, then mimed a pitch. "Been a long time since I've done that."
She cocked her head to the side, still smiling at him. "Why are you here, Sheriff?"
Jack sighed. "There have been a number of incidents around town today. People seeing, well, ghosts. Would you know anything about that?"
Diane blanched. It wasn't easy to see, not with the patchwork light filtered by the stained glass all around them, but he'd seen the reaction enough times in the guilty to recognize the other visual clues. She finally pulled her hands away from the keyboard to clasp them over her heart, left hand cradled in the right.
"Diane?"
"I saw Daniel. This morning." She looked up at Jack, and her eyes were longing in the same way he'd seen when she almost stepped into the temporal rift. "Are you saying it was really him?"
"No." Jack dipped his head to the side, a half-shake 'no' as his conscience forced him to be more truthful. "Maybe. I don't know. But I need you to be straight with me, Diane. Have you been doing anymore experimenting? Any...stairways to heaven I should know about?"
"No." She stood up and stepped away from the sound system, wringing her hands as she started to pace in front of him. "No, I promise you I haven't even thought about trying. It just wouldn't be right. I want to be with Daniel again, but he wouldn't want it like that. Not that way."
Jack nodded. "Okay. I believe you. I had to ask, though."
She stopped pacing right in front of him. "I know, Sheriff. But I'm so very sorry for what I did, for endangering Allison and the others like that. I'm not going to make that mistake again."
Jack squeezed her shoulder. "I know," he said. Then he sighed. "Although I was kind of hoping I'd figured this whole thing out. Now I'm back to square one."
Diane laughed, just like he'd hoped she would. "I'm sure you'll figure it out."
"Thanks." Jack grinned at her, then cocked his thumb towards the doors. "I'll just let myself out."
"Sheriff," she called when he was level with the last row of pews. He turned around, eyebrow raised in question. "You know, just because it wasn't me, doesn't mean they aren't real."
It doesn't mean they are, either, wanted to slide off his tongue, but instead he just nodded and waved goodbye. He didn't understand her faith, but he could accept that it was important to her.
It was only late afternoon, but the shadows were already growing long outside. Tomorrow night was going to be dark, especially if they got the cloud cover Dr. Whiticus was predicting. Jo would have her hands full stalking mischievous teenagers. Jack really wanted to get this situation wrapped up tonight, before he had to worry about whether to cancel parties and trick-or-treating. Zoe would not be happy with him if he made her look bad to the whole school again.
"Zoe. Crap." She'd taken her car into the shop for a tune-up this morning, and he was supposed to pick her up after work. He glanced at his watch--and was surprised to see that he still had two hours until her shift at Café Diem was over. It wasn't nearly as late as it felt. He still had time to make a circuit around town, poke his nose in a few places and see what turned up.
He leaned into the open window of the Jeep and snagged the radio. "Hey, Jo. You there?"
Several seconds passed. He grinned at the wait, visualizing the glare she was aiming at him from across town. "Lupo here," she finally said. "Over."
He waited until he was done chuckling to press the transmit button. "Hey. My lead went nowhere. Anything new on your end?"
"Not really," she said, hardly pausing at all before responding. He was really starting to wear her down. Pretty soon he was going to have to find a new game. "Several more sightings, but nothing different than before. You want me to check them out? Over."
Jack glanced at his watch again. "Yeah. You take this afternoon's group, and I'll get this morning's."
"Gotcha. Over."
"And hey, Jo? If you don't turn up anything, go ahead and head home. I know you've got a big day tomorrow."
"I'm not going to argue with that. Zane said he's got something big for me to try out tonight. Over."
"TMI, Josephina."
"A gun, Carter. Although if you call me that again, I will give you a lot more than you want to know." There was a good two seconds of dead air before Jo jumped in with, "Over."
Jack let her hear his laugh this time. Then he dropped the handset back into its cradle--without signing off.
*****
Zoe pressed her forehead into the cool glass of the window, hoping it might drain away some of her exhaustion. She loved her job, she really did, and it was awesome to be doing well in school, but she really wished that there were a few more hours in the day.
Not that she'd have time to sleep more even if there were. No doubt the teachers would just shovel more homework on top of her.
"Penny for your thoughts?" her dad asked quietly.
"Just a penny?" Zoe sat up, fighting off a yawn as she rubbed the pressure mark off of her forehead. They were already halfway home; she must have been more out of it than she thought not to notice when they turned onto the highway. "Shouldn't you, like, adjust for inflation or something?"
"Okay, two pennies for your thoughts." He glanced a her, shit-eating grin firmly in place. That was her dad, always so proud of his supposed zingers. Zoe rolled her eyes, but he was focused back on the road again. "No, seriously. How was your day?"
Zoe shrugged. "It was fine. Everybody at school was talking about the whole ghost thing."
He looked over at her again. "Did something happen at school? We didn't get any calls from there."
"Come on, Dad. It's not like we're living in the dark ages." Her eyes were getting a serious workout from all the rolling tonight. He really needed to tune into the way life worked around here; it wasn't like they'd just crashed into Eureka yesterday, after all. "Mason's older brother saw their dead dad outside Pasteur's Deli right before lunch, so of course he sent Mason a text. Well, Mason was so freaked out he told Carmen, and once Carmen knew, there was no way the whole school wasn't going to find out."
"Of course not." He drummed his fingers on the steering wheel, probably keeping beat with some ancient rock song. "You don't seem too concerned about the whole thing."
"Well, they're not real, right? And you don't seem too worried, so it can't be that big of a deal." She watched his face, but he didn't look like he was trying to hide anything world-ending. "The worst part was Vince totally losing it because he saw Julia Child in the kitchen."
That earned her a shocked glance. "Why, was she his aunt or something?"
Zoe shook her head. "No, he never knew her. But apparently just the thought of her being there gave him performance anxiety like crazy."
Her dad started laughing, and before long she was laughing too, remembering the look on Vince's face as he explained why he couldn't possibly think about coq au Vincent after seeing her. They laughed all the way to the turn-off for the bunker. The Jeep rolled to a slow stop before her dad finally put it into park. Zoe grabbed her bag out of the back, then opened her door and hopped out. She started walking towards the bunker, but something glimmering in the woods caught her eye. She took a couple steps closer, trying to figure out what it was. A breeze rippled through the trees, stirring the leaves. When they settled again, the glimmer resolved into something clearer.
Someone clearer.
A chill swept through her, all the nerves in her body going numb. She vaguely noticed her bag thunking to the ground, but she wasn't about to look away long enough to pick it up.
"Dad," she called out, as loud as she dared.
"Hmmm? What's up?" He came around the jeep, but she could see out of the corner of her eye that he was looking at her instead of where he needed to be. She slowly raised her arm and pointed in the right direction.
Right at Nathan Stark.
"What the..." Her dad took half a step forward, but he seemed as unwilling as she was to get closer. Nathan--the ghost thing--raised his hand, doing that little finger wave she'd seen him do a few times. He was smiling, but it was the saddest looking smile she'd ever seen. Like he knew he was dead and couldn't do anything about it.
Her dad took another step forward. "Stark? Is that you?"
Nathan winked--and then he was gone. No melting mist, no shimmering sparkles fading away, just gone. Zoe let out the breath she'd been holding, then turned to her dad.
"Is that why everyone's been so crazy? That was way intense."
He shook his head, but she was pretty sure he wasn't responding to her. "Yeah, this needs to stop. Now." He pulled his phone off his belt with one hand and scooped up her bag with the other. "Zoe, get in the house. Tell S.A.R.A.H. to lock the door and to let me know if anything out of the ordinary has come up on her sensors."
"But Dad--"
"No buts, Zoe. Go." He handed her the bag, then pointed towards the door. Zoe sighed, but she went. "Oh, and Zoe? Don't tell Lexi about what happened out here."
"She was probably the one who séanced everyone up in the first place," she muttered, but he was already climbing into the Jeep. Zoe swung her bag over her shoulder and headed into the bunker.
If she was lucky, Einstein would show up to help her out with her homework.
*****
"Fargo."
He rolled to his side, pressing his face more deeply into the mattress underneath him, trying to block out the annoying stripe of light that seemed to be following his face.
"Fargo."
He squirmed around so he could work his trapped hand up to cover his eyes. "Five more minutes, Mom. Please?"
She grabbed onto his shoulder and started shaking him awake. "So help me, Fargo. I am not your mother, and you need to get up now."
He opened his eyes fully. He wasn't wearing his glasses, but the back of the couch was so close to his nose they wouldn't have helped anyhow. Dread crept into his gut. He slowly sat up, hands automatically seeking out the feel of heavy frames. He settled the glasses onto his face, and then made himself look.
Sure enough, Dr. Blake was crouched down beside the sofa, glaring at him worse than his mom had ever managed.
"Um. I guess I fell asleep?"
She sighed, then rose out of her crouch with a Faith-like grace. "Yes, you fell asleep." She crossed the room to her desk and started typing something into her computer. "But I need to go home now, see to Kevin. You can't stay here."
"Right, of course not. I'm sorry, it shouldn't have happened. It's just that it's been such a long day--" Because of the ghosts. Because he'd seen the ghost of his dad this morning.
Fargo swallowed. He couldn't believe he'd fallen asleep with all the supernatural energies swirling around him. His dad hadn't done anything to him, which was cool, since he hated the thought of being permanently afraid of his dad, but who knew what other angry spirit might have sought out revenge while he was unawares?
All of his equipment was scattered on the floor in front of the couch. Fargo started gathering it up as quickly as he could manage. He vaguely remembered moving it all off the couch so he could catch some shut eye, otherwise he would have worried that a restless poltergeist might have done it.
Dr. Blake finished up whatever she was doing and walked back around to his side of the room. "Ready?"
He tossed the remains of his dinner into the recycling chute, stuffed his reduced laptop into his pocket, and nodded. She turned towards the exit without saying a word, and he followed her out. They were halfway across the foyer when her phone rang. She didn't break stride as she answered it.
"Jack, what--?" She stopped short, and Fargo barely managed to avoid running into her arm when she flung it out, then settled her hand on her hip. He bit his lip, wondering whether to go on ahead or wait until she finished talking, but finally he decided the best thing he could do was to stay.
"Okay, wait. Who did you see?" Dr. Blake frowned; apparently the sheriff was giving her the run around or something. "What do you mean it's not important? I know we haven't spotted a pattern so far, but--"
"Yes, okay, fine. Actually, I was thinking about this earlier." She glanced over at Fargo then. He waved at her, wondering if she wanted something, but she shook her head and went back to her conversation. "I know Henry wants to think that these are some real manifestation, some sign of the other side, but that just seems so complicated."
"No, not Orca's. Occam's." Dr. Blake rolled her eyes, and Fargo had to snicker. The sheriff was so very entertaining sometimes. "Listen. You know my necklace. The one from Nathan." She looked over to Fargo again, and he got the impression that she didn't want to talk about this in front of him. Which was fine--he still felt a little raw about Dr. Stark's death. He turned his back to her and wandered towards the middle of the room, giving them both some privacy.
He pulled out his laptop and expanded it to PDA size. He was really impressed by the sturdiness of the second generation prototype; he'd have to remember to put in a good word with Dr. Blake for the development team. And Steve would definitely be excited when he heard about the improvements in the media kit. Google Phone wouldn't have a chance in hell of competing against this.
Fargo glanced over his shoulder, but Dr. Blake was still deep in conversation. It wouldn't hurt anything to indulge in a little motivational viewing. He pulled up the season three opener and flicked through to just the scene he wanted. The scabby-headed hell demon was in the middle of his brain-washing interrogation scene. He stopped in front of Buffy and asked, "Who are you?"
"I'm Buffy. The Vampire Slayer. And you are?"
Fargo crowed out loud. He couldn't help it; she was so awesome as she kicked ass. Not the best outfit ever, but if anyone could work a sweatsuit, it was Sarah Michelle Geller. He shifted his shoulders with every punch she threw, the moves locked into his cerebellum after so many viewings. If he ever encountered a group of nasty hell demons, he'd totally be able to take them on.
"Fargo."
He hit pause and turned around to face Dr. Blake. "I was just--"
Buffy was standing right in front of him. She was poised in a defensive stance, hammer in one hand, sickle in the other, head cocked as she waited for the next attack.
"Jack? I'll call you back. I think I know what's going on." Dr. Blake hung up her phone and stepped forward. Buffy dissolved around her. "Dr. Fargo. Tell me. Did you help Henry out with the Halloween decorations this year?"
"Um." Fargo gulped. "Maybe?"
*****
"Look out, coming through!" Zoe yelled. Jack quickly stepped to the side as she swept past him, a tray packed with drinks in her hands. He eyed the smoking tumblers, and decided that just this once, it was probably better not to ask. It was probably dry ice, anyway.
God, he hoped it was just dry ice.
He pushed his way towards the counter, amazed at the number of people packed into Café Diem. The street festivities were still going strong, the bass beat of "The Monster Mash" drifting in through the open door, but apparently Vince's Bat Bites and Crispy Spider Surprise were too tempting to ignore. Not that Jack was going to have anything but a burger, himself. Zoe'd rolled her eyes at him when he asked if the appetizers were really made out of bat and spider, which translated into a 90% chance he was stupid for asking, of course it was bat and spider. The other 10% meant he was just stupid for asking, but he wasn't feeling an urge to gamble with his stomach tonight.
Somebody bumped into him from behind. Jack turned around, and found a short Spiderman staring up at him through the cavernous crystal eyes of the mask. "Hey there." Jack smiled at Allison, who was hovering just behind Kevin. "Looking good, buddy. Catch any bad guys tonight?"
"Just one," Kevin said. He turned around and pointed towards the door. Jack studied the crowd, trying to figure out who Kevin was talking about--and then Fargo stumbled in, arms flailing behind him as he tried to reach the glob of webbing stuck between his shoulder blades.
Jack laughed. "Nice one."
"I tried to explain to him that Fargo isn't really a bad guy," Allison said quietly. She was dressed to the hilt herself, hair swept back by a gleaming gold headpiece and her eyes huge from the Egyptian-style makeup. Quite the Cleopatra. "But I think Kevin was just having fun. It's so hard to tell sometimes."
Jack chuckled. "I think Doc Oc can handle it. Especially now that he's got a little help." He nodded towards the corner where Jo was in the process of scraping the sticky stuff off of one Fargo's very handsy mechanical tentacles. Zane was giving them both a dirty look, but since his gaze kept dropping towards Jo's ass, Jack didn't think it was making much of an impression. "Funny how he just happened to come in that costume, though."
Allison grinned. "Isn't it, though?"
Jack snorted.
"Come on, Mom." Kevin tugged on Allison's wrist. She shot Jack an apologetic smile, and then they slowly made their way back towards the door.
"Hey, Vince!" Jack called once he finally found an empty seat. "Burger me, please."
Vincent gave him the 'you primitive ape' look and started to open his mouth, but Jack held up a warning finger. "Huh-uh. Say a word, and I'll order something French." Vince snapped his mouth shut and turned towards the kitchen without another word. Jack chuckled. It was turning out to be a good night. Once they'd gotten the rogue holograms under control, everybody had gotten back into the swing of Halloween without much difficulty. Yeah, a few people had had painful memories reawakened, but no one was hurt beyond that. Rather mild in comparison to some of Eureka's past troubles, really.
"What, no costume?" Henry asked as he slid into the newly empty seat to Jack's left.
"Hey, I figure I wear one every day." Jack plucked at the alien head on his T-shirt. "This is as adventurous as you're going to get from me tonight."
Henry chuckled. "I guess it'll have to do."
Jack waited while Henry gave Vincent his order, then lowered his voice so that no one in the crowd would have a chance of overhearing. "How are you doing, really? I know that seeing Kim must have shaken you up."
Henry sighed. "Yeah, it did. And yes, part of me was wishing that it was really her, or a part of her come to say goodbye. But at the same time, I'm glad it wasn't. I like to think that she's in a better place, where all of this," and he twirled his hand around in the air, indicating more than the crowd around them, "this craziness can't touch her."
"Yeah, I get that." Jack paused as Vince slid his hamburger onto the counter in front of him. He smile up in thanks, and Vince's glare cracked into a tiny smile in return. The burger, of course, was as amazing as always. "What I don't get, though," he said after he swallowed his second big bite, "is what Fargo was trying to accomplish in the first place."
"It was a good idea, actually. He was working on a way to have the projectors display individualized 'spooks,' I guess you could say. Spiders, snakes, goblins, whatever worked for a particular person. He was using a subroutine of the smarthouse program to get it that specific, but he didn't get the database finished in time to put it into practice." Henry snorted. "But he didn't comment out that subroutine properly, so it just grabbed whatever information it could find and ran with it."
"Yeah, S.A.R.A.H. always has had an over-efficient streak." Jack dragged a fry through the puddle of ketchup on his plate, but his appetite had waned a bit with their conversation. The idea hadn't occurred to him until late last night, long after they'd made sure the 'ghosts' weren't going to reappear. He'd told himself over and over he was imagining things, that he just didn't understand the science, but he couldn't shake the thought. "You said that the holograms only appeared where there were projectors, right?"
Henry nodded. "That's the only way they're possible. So here, anywhere on the street where the decorations were hung, and Global, of course. They've got projectors all over the place in there."
"And my place?"
"Yeah, S.A.R.A.H.'s fully equipped with a full range of entertainment holoprograms, you know that."
Jack shook his head. "I was thinking of outside the bunker. Maybe part of the ray gun or something?"
Henry pursed his lips. "No, not that I know of. Hologram technology was considered a little too...passive for B.R.A.D.'s directive." He snapped his fingers and grinned. "That's an idea, though. It wouldn't take much for me to rework the haunted house images into something a little more wholesome. I know you've never really been impressed by bomb-shelter chic."
Jack snorted. "I think I'll pass for now. I've kind of gotten used to it."
Henry slapped him on the shoulder. "Sometimes I worry about you, my friend," he said, still grinning. "Just let me know if you change your mind."
Vince returned with Henry's plate, and they both settled in to their meals. Jack chewed slowly, his mind busy digesting Henry's words. Not that I know of, he'd said. So there was still the possibility that there were projectors somewhere outside the bunker. Had to be.
Nathan Stark would have better things to do in the afterlife than to swing by to haunt him, after all.
*****
Ally quietly closed the door to Kevin's room. He was fast asleep, worn out by his busy night playing protector to Eureka's citizens. The costume had been perfect for him, especially once the web-shooters were working. And Fargo's punishment was the icing on the cake.
Once in her bedroom, she didn't strip off her own costume right away. Instead, she went to the safe next to the bed, the one keyed to her genetic signature, and pulled out the necklace inside. The Logic Diamond necklace that Nathan had given her for their almost-wedding. She carried it over to her desk and inserted it into the reader, watching as his message played out.
"I love you too, Nathan," she murmured. She stroked her thumb across her cheek, but there were only a few tears to brush away. "I miss you so much."
She took a deep breath, then pulled the diamond free. She cradled it in her cupped hands for a long minute, then carried it back to the safe. After she locked it up once again, she pressed a kiss to her fingers and touched them to the front of the safe. "I'll always miss you," she said. "But I'm getting better. I'm going to be okay, Nathan. Be sure of that."
She turned away, heading towards the bathroom to wash the makeup off of her face and to take care of her other nightly rituals. Nightly rituals that no longer included sobbing while she clutched one of his old shirts to her chest. She really was getting better. She had Kevin, she had her work, and she had good people who looked out for her every single day.
Nathan smiled--and let go.
THE END
Allison very gently pressed the tips of her fingers to her eyelids. She could feel her pulse beat through the delicate skin, a telltale sign of rising blood pressure. This job was contraindicated for anyone with a health condition. Or anyone who might possibly ever have a health condition. Unfortunately, she couldn't just walk away. Jack might say she cared too much, but frankly, the idea of another Warren King taking the position scared the crap out of her. Which meant she had to deal with problems like these.
"Okay," she said, dropping her hand away from her face. "So what do we know?"
"We've had at least twenty sightings," Jo said. "Including Fargo, Henry, and myself. As far as I can tell, Fargo's was the earliest."
"And everyone saw someone close to them who had passed away?"
Jack shook his head. "No, not necessarily. Dr. Epstein had only met Linus Pauling once, and several of the other reports were of passing acquaintances or public figures. Including Abe Lincoln, although I'm still not convinced that wasn't Vincent in a costume."
She glared at him, but Jack smiled back, unrepentant. "So you think this is all some elaborate prank?"
"Let's just say I'm still not convinced that the dead have risen."
Henry pushed away from the corner where he'd been quietly listening. "If it's a joke, it's a particularly cruel one."
"Yeah, I know." Jack rubbed the back of his neck, obviously weighing his next words. She had to give him that; even when he had a hard time understanding what was going on, he still gave the job his all. "Which is why, if it is a prank, we need to find out who's responsible and stop it as soon as possible."
"And if it's not?"
"Henry..."
"Jack." They stared at each other for a long moment. Henry was the one who looked away, but she was pretty sure he hadn't given in. "Look, I know it sounds unbelievable. But scientists have been coming up with theories to try to explain the other side for hundreds of years. Some very respectable research has been done. It's not an impossibility, not what we know of M-theory and the Akashak Field."
Jack looked to her, then back to Henry. "So you're saying they might actually be ghosts."
Henry shrugged, hands in his pockets. "Maybe. Some people think that a violent or sudden death creates an imprint on the electromagnetic field. Maybe something's happened in Eureka to cause those imprints to gather here."
Jack started snapping his fingers like he was struck by inspiration.
"You're going to make another Ghostbusters joke, aren't you?"
Jack grinned at her. "No, but I knew you had to have seen it."
Allison crossed her arms, frowning at being caught out. "Well, it was a long time ago."
He winked at her, then tucked his ever-present notepad into the front pocket of his shirt. "I just had a thought. I'm going to go check it out. Jo, keep me informed, okay?"
"Will do."
"And I am going to head back to my lab, see if I can come up with anything," Henry said, more or less to anyone who was within earshot. Allison nodded anyway, giving him her official seal of approval before he walked out the door.
Which left her with no plan of action for herself. She should head back to Global, see if she could turn up any projects that might be causing this.
"Hey," Jo said quietly. "You okay?"
Allison shook her head at herself. "I'm sorry. I kind of zoned out there for a bit, didn't I?"
"It's okay. One of those days, I guess."
"Tell me about it." Allison hesitated; she wasn't the type to pry into personal matters, and Jo didn't usually open up a lot. But she knew that sometimes it was better to get stuff out, especially when there was a friendly ear in range. "How are you doing? I know it's got to be tough, seeing someone you've lost like that."
Jo bobbed her head from side to side, lips pursed up as she weighed the question. "I'm okay, I guess. I mean yeah, it shook me up a little at the time, but it's not like seeing her was a bad thing. And really, it wasn't that much different than seeing a picture of her."
Allison nodded. "Yeah, I can see that."
"Besides, it was a long time ago." Jo drummed her fingertips on the desk, then pressed her palm flat. "So, have you seen, um, anyone?"
Allison sighed. She'd been half on guard all day, ever since Fargo told them about his run-in. Even though she didn't believe in ghosts. After the last time, when she'd thought she'd seen Nathan only to have it turn out to be her necklace, she was more fervent in that belief than ever.
But part of her was still looking for him.
"No," she said. "No one at all."
*****
Jack heard the music before he got the heavy church door halfway open. It reverberated through the empty chapel, filling the space like a very real thing. It wasn't so much that it was loud, although it was definitely louder than any music at a service he'd ever been to, as it was powerful. Something classical, maybe by Beethoven. Something fast and bright and full of life, which kind of surprised him.
Then again, if his suspicions were correct, then Diane had reason to be joyous.
He didn't try to sneak up on her, but her eyes were closed as she played, and there was no way she could hear him. He stood in front of her, waiting until she reached the end of the song. She let her hands relax on the controls, like she could still feel the music even after she finished playing. The smile on her face didn't fade away while she slowly opened her eyes.
Not until she saw him and gasped, anyway.
"Sorry," Jack said. "I didn't want to disturb you while you were playing."
"So you thought it would be fun to scare me instead?" She smiled at him, though, so Jack figured all was forgiven. Which made what he had to ask even tougher.
"Well, gotta get my Halloween thrills somewhere." He turned to the side, looking up at the vaulted ceiling. "You really were really rocking out in here, you know."
She laughed lightly. "I guess I got a little carried away. I've been playing all day, and after a while I got into that place where the music takes over, and I'm just the conduit. It's an amazing experience when that happens."
"Getting into the zone." Jack nodded, then mimed a pitch. "Been a long time since I've done that."
She cocked her head to the side, still smiling at him. "Why are you here, Sheriff?"
Jack sighed. "There have been a number of incidents around town today. People seeing, well, ghosts. Would you know anything about that?"
Diane blanched. It wasn't easy to see, not with the patchwork light filtered by the stained glass all around them, but he'd seen the reaction enough times in the guilty to recognize the other visual clues. She finally pulled her hands away from the keyboard to clasp them over her heart, left hand cradled in the right.
"Diane?"
"I saw Daniel. This morning." She looked up at Jack, and her eyes were longing in the same way he'd seen when she almost stepped into the temporal rift. "Are you saying it was really him?"
"No." Jack dipped his head to the side, a half-shake 'no' as his conscience forced him to be more truthful. "Maybe. I don't know. But I need you to be straight with me, Diane. Have you been doing anymore experimenting? Any...stairways to heaven I should know about?"
"No." She stood up and stepped away from the sound system, wringing her hands as she started to pace in front of him. "No, I promise you I haven't even thought about trying. It just wouldn't be right. I want to be with Daniel again, but he wouldn't want it like that. Not that way."
Jack nodded. "Okay. I believe you. I had to ask, though."
She stopped pacing right in front of him. "I know, Sheriff. But I'm so very sorry for what I did, for endangering Allison and the others like that. I'm not going to make that mistake again."
Jack squeezed her shoulder. "I know," he said. Then he sighed. "Although I was kind of hoping I'd figured this whole thing out. Now I'm back to square one."
Diane laughed, just like he'd hoped she would. "I'm sure you'll figure it out."
"Thanks." Jack grinned at her, then cocked his thumb towards the doors. "I'll just let myself out."
"Sheriff," she called when he was level with the last row of pews. He turned around, eyebrow raised in question. "You know, just because it wasn't me, doesn't mean they aren't real."
It doesn't mean they are, either, wanted to slide off his tongue, but instead he just nodded and waved goodbye. He didn't understand her faith, but he could accept that it was important to her.
It was only late afternoon, but the shadows were already growing long outside. Tomorrow night was going to be dark, especially if they got the cloud cover Dr. Whiticus was predicting. Jo would have her hands full stalking mischievous teenagers. Jack really wanted to get this situation wrapped up tonight, before he had to worry about whether to cancel parties and trick-or-treating. Zoe would not be happy with him if he made her look bad to the whole school again.
"Zoe. Crap." She'd taken her car into the shop for a tune-up this morning, and he was supposed to pick her up after work. He glanced at his watch--and was surprised to see that he still had two hours until her shift at Café Diem was over. It wasn't nearly as late as it felt. He still had time to make a circuit around town, poke his nose in a few places and see what turned up.
He leaned into the open window of the Jeep and snagged the radio. "Hey, Jo. You there?"
Several seconds passed. He grinned at the wait, visualizing the glare she was aiming at him from across town. "Lupo here," she finally said. "Over."
He waited until he was done chuckling to press the transmit button. "Hey. My lead went nowhere. Anything new on your end?"
"Not really," she said, hardly pausing at all before responding. He was really starting to wear her down. Pretty soon he was going to have to find a new game. "Several more sightings, but nothing different than before. You want me to check them out? Over."
Jack glanced at his watch again. "Yeah. You take this afternoon's group, and I'll get this morning's."
"Gotcha. Over."
"And hey, Jo? If you don't turn up anything, go ahead and head home. I know you've got a big day tomorrow."
"I'm not going to argue with that. Zane said he's got something big for me to try out tonight. Over."
"TMI, Josephina."
"A gun, Carter. Although if you call me that again, I will give you a lot more than you want to know." There was a good two seconds of dead air before Jo jumped in with, "Over."
Jack let her hear his laugh this time. Then he dropped the handset back into its cradle--without signing off.
*****
Zoe pressed her forehead into the cool glass of the window, hoping it might drain away some of her exhaustion. She loved her job, she really did, and it was awesome to be doing well in school, but she really wished that there were a few more hours in the day.
Not that she'd have time to sleep more even if there were. No doubt the teachers would just shovel more homework on top of her.
"Penny for your thoughts?" her dad asked quietly.
"Just a penny?" Zoe sat up, fighting off a yawn as she rubbed the pressure mark off of her forehead. They were already halfway home; she must have been more out of it than she thought not to notice when they turned onto the highway. "Shouldn't you, like, adjust for inflation or something?"
"Okay, two pennies for your thoughts." He glanced a her, shit-eating grin firmly in place. That was her dad, always so proud of his supposed zingers. Zoe rolled her eyes, but he was focused back on the road again. "No, seriously. How was your day?"
Zoe shrugged. "It was fine. Everybody at school was talking about the whole ghost thing."
He looked over at her again. "Did something happen at school? We didn't get any calls from there."
"Come on, Dad. It's not like we're living in the dark ages." Her eyes were getting a serious workout from all the rolling tonight. He really needed to tune into the way life worked around here; it wasn't like they'd just crashed into Eureka yesterday, after all. "Mason's older brother saw their dead dad outside Pasteur's Deli right before lunch, so of course he sent Mason a text. Well, Mason was so freaked out he told Carmen, and once Carmen knew, there was no way the whole school wasn't going to find out."
"Of course not." He drummed his fingers on the steering wheel, probably keeping beat with some ancient rock song. "You don't seem too concerned about the whole thing."
"Well, they're not real, right? And you don't seem too worried, so it can't be that big of a deal." She watched his face, but he didn't look like he was trying to hide anything world-ending. "The worst part was Vince totally losing it because he saw Julia Child in the kitchen."
That earned her a shocked glance. "Why, was she his aunt or something?"
Zoe shook her head. "No, he never knew her. But apparently just the thought of her being there gave him performance anxiety like crazy."
Her dad started laughing, and before long she was laughing too, remembering the look on Vince's face as he explained why he couldn't possibly think about coq au Vincent after seeing her. They laughed all the way to the turn-off for the bunker. The Jeep rolled to a slow stop before her dad finally put it into park. Zoe grabbed her bag out of the back, then opened her door and hopped out. She started walking towards the bunker, but something glimmering in the woods caught her eye. She took a couple steps closer, trying to figure out what it was. A breeze rippled through the trees, stirring the leaves. When they settled again, the glimmer resolved into something clearer.
Someone clearer.
A chill swept through her, all the nerves in her body going numb. She vaguely noticed her bag thunking to the ground, but she wasn't about to look away long enough to pick it up.
"Dad," she called out, as loud as she dared.
"Hmmm? What's up?" He came around the jeep, but she could see out of the corner of her eye that he was looking at her instead of where he needed to be. She slowly raised her arm and pointed in the right direction.
Right at Nathan Stark.
"What the..." Her dad took half a step forward, but he seemed as unwilling as she was to get closer. Nathan--the ghost thing--raised his hand, doing that little finger wave she'd seen him do a few times. He was smiling, but it was the saddest looking smile she'd ever seen. Like he knew he was dead and couldn't do anything about it.
Her dad took another step forward. "Stark? Is that you?"
Nathan winked--and then he was gone. No melting mist, no shimmering sparkles fading away, just gone. Zoe let out the breath she'd been holding, then turned to her dad.
"Is that why everyone's been so crazy? That was way intense."
He shook his head, but she was pretty sure he wasn't responding to her. "Yeah, this needs to stop. Now." He pulled his phone off his belt with one hand and scooped up her bag with the other. "Zoe, get in the house. Tell S.A.R.A.H. to lock the door and to let me know if anything out of the ordinary has come up on her sensors."
"But Dad--"
"No buts, Zoe. Go." He handed her the bag, then pointed towards the door. Zoe sighed, but she went. "Oh, and Zoe? Don't tell Lexi about what happened out here."
"She was probably the one who séanced everyone up in the first place," she muttered, but he was already climbing into the Jeep. Zoe swung her bag over her shoulder and headed into the bunker.
If she was lucky, Einstein would show up to help her out with her homework.
*****
"Fargo."
He rolled to his side, pressing his face more deeply into the mattress underneath him, trying to block out the annoying stripe of light that seemed to be following his face.
"Fargo."
He squirmed around so he could work his trapped hand up to cover his eyes. "Five more minutes, Mom. Please?"
She grabbed onto his shoulder and started shaking him awake. "So help me, Fargo. I am not your mother, and you need to get up now."
He opened his eyes fully. He wasn't wearing his glasses, but the back of the couch was so close to his nose they wouldn't have helped anyhow. Dread crept into his gut. He slowly sat up, hands automatically seeking out the feel of heavy frames. He settled the glasses onto his face, and then made himself look.
Sure enough, Dr. Blake was crouched down beside the sofa, glaring at him worse than his mom had ever managed.
"Um. I guess I fell asleep?"
She sighed, then rose out of her crouch with a Faith-like grace. "Yes, you fell asleep." She crossed the room to her desk and started typing something into her computer. "But I need to go home now, see to Kevin. You can't stay here."
"Right, of course not. I'm sorry, it shouldn't have happened. It's just that it's been such a long day--" Because of the ghosts. Because he'd seen the ghost of his dad this morning.
Fargo swallowed. He couldn't believe he'd fallen asleep with all the supernatural energies swirling around him. His dad hadn't done anything to him, which was cool, since he hated the thought of being permanently afraid of his dad, but who knew what other angry spirit might have sought out revenge while he was unawares?
All of his equipment was scattered on the floor in front of the couch. Fargo started gathering it up as quickly as he could manage. He vaguely remembered moving it all off the couch so he could catch some shut eye, otherwise he would have worried that a restless poltergeist might have done it.
Dr. Blake finished up whatever she was doing and walked back around to his side of the room. "Ready?"
He tossed the remains of his dinner into the recycling chute, stuffed his reduced laptop into his pocket, and nodded. She turned towards the exit without saying a word, and he followed her out. They were halfway across the foyer when her phone rang. She didn't break stride as she answered it.
"Jack, what--?" She stopped short, and Fargo barely managed to avoid running into her arm when she flung it out, then settled her hand on her hip. He bit his lip, wondering whether to go on ahead or wait until she finished talking, but finally he decided the best thing he could do was to stay.
"Okay, wait. Who did you see?" Dr. Blake frowned; apparently the sheriff was giving her the run around or something. "What do you mean it's not important? I know we haven't spotted a pattern so far, but--"
"Yes, okay, fine. Actually, I was thinking about this earlier." She glanced over at Fargo then. He waved at her, wondering if she wanted something, but she shook her head and went back to her conversation. "I know Henry wants to think that these are some real manifestation, some sign of the other side, but that just seems so complicated."
"No, not Orca's. Occam's." Dr. Blake rolled her eyes, and Fargo had to snicker. The sheriff was so very entertaining sometimes. "Listen. You know my necklace. The one from Nathan." She looked over to Fargo again, and he got the impression that she didn't want to talk about this in front of him. Which was fine--he still felt a little raw about Dr. Stark's death. He turned his back to her and wandered towards the middle of the room, giving them both some privacy.
He pulled out his laptop and expanded it to PDA size. He was really impressed by the sturdiness of the second generation prototype; he'd have to remember to put in a good word with Dr. Blake for the development team. And Steve would definitely be excited when he heard about the improvements in the media kit. Google Phone wouldn't have a chance in hell of competing against this.
Fargo glanced over his shoulder, but Dr. Blake was still deep in conversation. It wouldn't hurt anything to indulge in a little motivational viewing. He pulled up the season three opener and flicked through to just the scene he wanted. The scabby-headed hell demon was in the middle of his brain-washing interrogation scene. He stopped in front of Buffy and asked, "Who are you?"
"I'm Buffy. The Vampire Slayer. And you are?"
Fargo crowed out loud. He couldn't help it; she was so awesome as she kicked ass. Not the best outfit ever, but if anyone could work a sweatsuit, it was Sarah Michelle Geller. He shifted his shoulders with every punch she threw, the moves locked into his cerebellum after so many viewings. If he ever encountered a group of nasty hell demons, he'd totally be able to take them on.
"Fargo."
He hit pause and turned around to face Dr. Blake. "I was just--"
Buffy was standing right in front of him. She was poised in a defensive stance, hammer in one hand, sickle in the other, head cocked as she waited for the next attack.
"Jack? I'll call you back. I think I know what's going on." Dr. Blake hung up her phone and stepped forward. Buffy dissolved around her. "Dr. Fargo. Tell me. Did you help Henry out with the Halloween decorations this year?"
"Um." Fargo gulped. "Maybe?"
*****
"Look out, coming through!" Zoe yelled. Jack quickly stepped to the side as she swept past him, a tray packed with drinks in her hands. He eyed the smoking tumblers, and decided that just this once, it was probably better not to ask. It was probably dry ice, anyway.
God, he hoped it was just dry ice.
He pushed his way towards the counter, amazed at the number of people packed into Café Diem. The street festivities were still going strong, the bass beat of "The Monster Mash" drifting in through the open door, but apparently Vince's Bat Bites and Crispy Spider Surprise were too tempting to ignore. Not that Jack was going to have anything but a burger, himself. Zoe'd rolled her eyes at him when he asked if the appetizers were really made out of bat and spider, which translated into a 90% chance he was stupid for asking, of course it was bat and spider. The other 10% meant he was just stupid for asking, but he wasn't feeling an urge to gamble with his stomach tonight.
Somebody bumped into him from behind. Jack turned around, and found a short Spiderman staring up at him through the cavernous crystal eyes of the mask. "Hey there." Jack smiled at Allison, who was hovering just behind Kevin. "Looking good, buddy. Catch any bad guys tonight?"
"Just one," Kevin said. He turned around and pointed towards the door. Jack studied the crowd, trying to figure out who Kevin was talking about--and then Fargo stumbled in, arms flailing behind him as he tried to reach the glob of webbing stuck between his shoulder blades.
Jack laughed. "Nice one."
"I tried to explain to him that Fargo isn't really a bad guy," Allison said quietly. She was dressed to the hilt herself, hair swept back by a gleaming gold headpiece and her eyes huge from the Egyptian-style makeup. Quite the Cleopatra. "But I think Kevin was just having fun. It's so hard to tell sometimes."
Jack chuckled. "I think Doc Oc can handle it. Especially now that he's got a little help." He nodded towards the corner where Jo was in the process of scraping the sticky stuff off of one Fargo's very handsy mechanical tentacles. Zane was giving them both a dirty look, but since his gaze kept dropping towards Jo's ass, Jack didn't think it was making much of an impression. "Funny how he just happened to come in that costume, though."
Allison grinned. "Isn't it, though?"
Jack snorted.
"Come on, Mom." Kevin tugged on Allison's wrist. She shot Jack an apologetic smile, and then they slowly made their way back towards the door.
"Hey, Vince!" Jack called once he finally found an empty seat. "Burger me, please."
Vincent gave him the 'you primitive ape' look and started to open his mouth, but Jack held up a warning finger. "Huh-uh. Say a word, and I'll order something French." Vince snapped his mouth shut and turned towards the kitchen without another word. Jack chuckled. It was turning out to be a good night. Once they'd gotten the rogue holograms under control, everybody had gotten back into the swing of Halloween without much difficulty. Yeah, a few people had had painful memories reawakened, but no one was hurt beyond that. Rather mild in comparison to some of Eureka's past troubles, really.
"What, no costume?" Henry asked as he slid into the newly empty seat to Jack's left.
"Hey, I figure I wear one every day." Jack plucked at the alien head on his T-shirt. "This is as adventurous as you're going to get from me tonight."
Henry chuckled. "I guess it'll have to do."
Jack waited while Henry gave Vincent his order, then lowered his voice so that no one in the crowd would have a chance of overhearing. "How are you doing, really? I know that seeing Kim must have shaken you up."
Henry sighed. "Yeah, it did. And yes, part of me was wishing that it was really her, or a part of her come to say goodbye. But at the same time, I'm glad it wasn't. I like to think that she's in a better place, where all of this," and he twirled his hand around in the air, indicating more than the crowd around them, "this craziness can't touch her."
"Yeah, I get that." Jack paused as Vince slid his hamburger onto the counter in front of him. He smile up in thanks, and Vince's glare cracked into a tiny smile in return. The burger, of course, was as amazing as always. "What I don't get, though," he said after he swallowed his second big bite, "is what Fargo was trying to accomplish in the first place."
"It was a good idea, actually. He was working on a way to have the projectors display individualized 'spooks,' I guess you could say. Spiders, snakes, goblins, whatever worked for a particular person. He was using a subroutine of the smarthouse program to get it that specific, but he didn't get the database finished in time to put it into practice." Henry snorted. "But he didn't comment out that subroutine properly, so it just grabbed whatever information it could find and ran with it."
"Yeah, S.A.R.A.H. always has had an over-efficient streak." Jack dragged a fry through the puddle of ketchup on his plate, but his appetite had waned a bit with their conversation. The idea hadn't occurred to him until late last night, long after they'd made sure the 'ghosts' weren't going to reappear. He'd told himself over and over he was imagining things, that he just didn't understand the science, but he couldn't shake the thought. "You said that the holograms only appeared where there were projectors, right?"
Henry nodded. "That's the only way they're possible. So here, anywhere on the street where the decorations were hung, and Global, of course. They've got projectors all over the place in there."
"And my place?"
"Yeah, S.A.R.A.H.'s fully equipped with a full range of entertainment holoprograms, you know that."
Jack shook his head. "I was thinking of outside the bunker. Maybe part of the ray gun or something?"
Henry pursed his lips. "No, not that I know of. Hologram technology was considered a little too...passive for B.R.A.D.'s directive." He snapped his fingers and grinned. "That's an idea, though. It wouldn't take much for me to rework the haunted house images into something a little more wholesome. I know you've never really been impressed by bomb-shelter chic."
Jack snorted. "I think I'll pass for now. I've kind of gotten used to it."
Henry slapped him on the shoulder. "Sometimes I worry about you, my friend," he said, still grinning. "Just let me know if you change your mind."
Vince returned with Henry's plate, and they both settled in to their meals. Jack chewed slowly, his mind busy digesting Henry's words. Not that I know of, he'd said. So there was still the possibility that there were projectors somewhere outside the bunker. Had to be.
Nathan Stark would have better things to do in the afterlife than to swing by to haunt him, after all.
*****
Ally quietly closed the door to Kevin's room. He was fast asleep, worn out by his busy night playing protector to Eureka's citizens. The costume had been perfect for him, especially once the web-shooters were working. And Fargo's punishment was the icing on the cake.
Once in her bedroom, she didn't strip off her own costume right away. Instead, she went to the safe next to the bed, the one keyed to her genetic signature, and pulled out the necklace inside. The Logic Diamond necklace that Nathan had given her for their almost-wedding. She carried it over to her desk and inserted it into the reader, watching as his message played out.
"I love you too, Nathan," she murmured. She stroked her thumb across her cheek, but there were only a few tears to brush away. "I miss you so much."
She took a deep breath, then pulled the diamond free. She cradled it in her cupped hands for a long minute, then carried it back to the safe. After she locked it up once again, she pressed a kiss to her fingers and touched them to the front of the safe. "I'll always miss you," she said. "But I'm getting better. I'm going to be okay, Nathan. Be sure of that."
She turned away, heading towards the bathroom to wash the makeup off of her face and to take care of her other nightly rituals. Nightly rituals that no longer included sobbing while she clutched one of his old shirts to her chest. She really was getting better. She had Kevin, she had her work, and she had good people who looked out for her every single day.
Nathan smiled--and let go.
THE END