[GTSKate]

Hey folks! Sorry for the delay, Moving was a bit rocky (as they always are), but to complicate matters I had a bad allergic reaction to SOMETHING in the new apartment. Never know what ??? but it seems to be getting better, so I’ve gotten another chapter done.
It’s not QUITE the end, but almost! Hope it will tide you all over until I get the rest on screen! Let’s see…I left off posting at Chapter 33, didn’t I?

…

Chapter 34

Jessie began speaking almost as they were out of the auditorium, but Nicole held a finger to her lips. Then she whispered so that Jessie could barely hear. “Not yet. Wait till we’re a little further.” Two rooms away in Jessie’s office, the doctor finally asked, “What was that? And were you and Scott communicating somehow before we left?”

Nicole took a long breath. “We’re not sure if Mom can hear us when we’re so close or not. We know that her senses are improved at least a little, but Scott and I have been really careful not to test it. And yeah, we were whispering REALLY quietly, but mostly just using our eyes. I meant that Scott should stay with Mom, just in case, and he got it. Besides, he really would rather see the telescope than study all this stuff, which is what he knows we’re doing.” Jessie was struck by how much the two siblings could share with just a few looks, having never had a brother or sister herself.
“Well, we’d best make use of the time we do have. I read your notes…how in the world did you have time to make so many? Jeff says that you were only in here a half hour after I left.”
Nicole’s blue eyes softened as she admitted, “I can move really quickly. And that counts for writing too, though it gets kinda messy.” She interpreted Jessie’s expression correctly as distant jealousy.
“That would be…rather handy though.” The doctor shrugged, dismissing the desire and got down to work. “So, your theory about her expansion matching that of a star holds up. The curve of her growth seems to match a star cooling and becoming a red giant. But that only happens when a star uses up the hydrogen and helium within it’s core. So, what we need to discover is what exactly is powering, or rather cooling, Carolyn. I agree that the photon activity from Porphyrion’s remains has been a primary suspect, but how is that interacting with Carolyn’s body? I still haven’t figured that out.”

Nicole nodded and tossed out her own further theories. “We need to discover the exact progression, because I think it’s the secret to making Mom small again. After a star expands and becomes a red giant, when the core is sufficiently cooled, it shrinks again, becoming a white dwarf star, right?” Jessie affirmed her assumption that far. “But how do we stop Mom from shrinking even smaller than she started out? Or even, can we? There must be a way, Jessie…there has to be.”
“According to your vision, though, we’re not going to find that answer before she expands a lot more.” The doctor frowned, her mind already ordering what she knew from Nicole’s vision with what she already had studied about Carolyn’s condition.
Nicole’s eyes grew cold. “I can’t believe that those visions have to come true. My Mom, a giant so big she can hold this building in one hand? My Dad crashed, maybe dead? And you…” Her voice stopped, having gone one moment too far. She closed her eyes, hoping that Jessie hadn’t processed what she said.
“Me? What have you seen, Nicole?” The doctor had heard, after all. But her voice was detached, still using the potential knowledge like facts on a page. Nicole wasn’t sure that Jessie comprehended what that meant to her own well being. Still, she blew out a breath and looked Jessie in the eye.
“I saw you, swinging back and forth, hanging from a chain around your neck.”

Nicole held her breath, afraid that somehow, Jessie would blame her for what she had seen. The doctor merely raised an eyebrow, her “fugue look” in her eyes. Nicole knew that meant her mind was working on reconciling that vision, but she had to hear what was going on in Jessie’s mind. “Jessie, please. Tell me what you’re thinking. I have to know.”
The scientist tried speaking, but it was in halting, very distant speech. “Chain…where?…Swinging, off the floor, why? Why would I have…?”
“I was afraid that you were…you know…trying to kill yourself.”
That broke through Jessie’s haze enough to make her stare at Nicole with wide eyes. “What? Don’t be absurd! I would never….Nicole, I would never do that. Ever. If that was your vision, then something happened to me that will be an accident. I would never have put myself in such a position willingly. We just have to figure out what happened.” Her voice grew softer, “But remember, I’m not the most important person here. I’m just not. I have a responsibility to your Mom. And if that means that something happens to me, but she …recovers…then that’s what must happen.”

“Jessie, I have to believe that I’m seeing these horrible things so that I can change them. I can’t just let it all happen if I can stop it. And I don’t want …” Nicole’s eyes grew misty, but her steel will refused to allow tears to form more than that. “I don’t want you to be hurt. I need you now more than ever. You’re the only one who really understands; the only one who has the key to everything.”

Jessie realized that even if she and Nicole could find a way to restore Carolyn, or at least stop her growth, that Nicole herself would be permanently changed. That she would always be separated from her classmates; her peers. She would be as outcast as Jessie once was. And in truth, Jessie realized that she finally had found someone that understood her, too. The scientist reached out a hand and placed it over Nicole’s. “I’ve learned so much from watching your family too. Science alone isn’t enough and you’ve helped me see that. You won’t be alone, Nicole.” Jessie’s voice grew soft as neurons fired in her brain. “Science….alone…what else…Carolyn wasn’t alone twenty years ago…” Her eyes were unfocused, like she was actually staring into the past, and Nicole tried to think of what memory Jessie suddenly grabbed.
“Twenty years ago? When Mom…oh, the beginning…she was with Dad. I don’t get it. What does that have to do with it? You think he’s causing her growth somehow?”
Jessie smiled, knowing that Nicole wouldn’t think of the ramifications of two then-youngsters falling in love.
“I don’t think he’s causing it, Nicole. I think that your Mom was a young woman falling in love, and that was causing all sorts of hormonal and chemical changes while she was then infused with agitated photons. And that since that photon activity has returned, every time she has grown, I would bet you she’s been in some sort of heightened emotional state. As if when enough photons are collected into her system, the chemical mix agitates them, causing expansion. No, it makes sense. When you get extremely mad, you know sometimes your fingers tingle or go numb. It’s because the blood is rushing to the core parts of your body, preparing for a fight or flight response. The extremities actually cool! Like the outer layers of a star cooling! Nicole, that’s it! All we have to do is burn out the collected photons inside her! When that collector popped, I’ll bet the energy was stored inside Carolyn just like the core of a star! We have to expend that energy to get ALL of Carolyn emptied! As that energy is dissipated, she’ll start to collapse upon herself and contract! And if heightened emotional intensity is what causes the photon energy to activate, then all we have to do is get Carolyn emotionally overloaded!

Nicole listened to Jessie’s flow of consciousness, her eyes staring with such intensity. But what Dr. James was saying only made pieces of Nicole’s vision slide into sensibility. In her vision, when her Mom was hundreds of feet tall, she had been crying. Something HAD set her off, because as she was bursting through the roof, she’d been yelling. Nicole stared out the window of Jessie’s office to the night sky. Somehow, looking at that black curtain made replaying her visions easier. She took a breath and visualized the earliest moment she had seen thus far. Yes, Carolyn was already upset about something. Yelling, even as she grew larger, filling the room. She was reaching for something when her shoulders were causing cracks in the concrete of the ceiling. There! Gunshots…no, cracks. The concrete was shattering around her mother’s growing body; the stone snapping apart and falling in chunks around her. The noise was like the sound of gunshots. People started screaming as Carolyn’s form waged war in an expanding circle of destruction. Noise; fire alarm, that must be it. A flat, irritating and grating buzzing of incredibly loud volume. It was a wonder that Nicole could still hear screaming over the sound of it.

Nicole scowled as her mother’s words were still unclear. It was all becoming a cacophony of sound as the roof collapsed and two walls exploded outward. Her brows knit tightly as she thought she heard the sound of screeching brakes? But Carolyn was crying harder, screaming in frustration and rage over something happening far below her. Her towering form rose further and further upward, her feet crushing the chunks of concrete they encountered into powder. She was leaning over towards something, and the tears from her cheeks spilled down like bombs, causing puddles to form everywhere. Suddenly though, Nicole’s vision cut out, interrupted by a blinding flash of blue light.

The young girl blinked a few times to find Jessie staring at her with one eyebrow lifted. “Is that what I look like? Hmpf. No wonder Jeff is always laughing at me.” Despite the gravity of her vision, Nicole couldn’t help but smile back. “The first time Mom described your ‘space outs’ I laughed too, but I guess I understand why you do it. You don’t mean to, any more than I do. But, I can see almost everything. The scene is almost real now. Sound; people’s faces are clearer; and I think I understand that I’m seeing one side of what’s happening. I think Scott is seeing the same scene but from the other side. It feels right when I think about his description of his vision.” She then smiled enigmatically. “He agrees.”
Jessie gave an involuntary laugh at the thought of their conversation having a remote listener. “Great. Now all we have to do is get your Mom emotionally agitated.”

Nicole pondered her mother’s current giant size and said nervously, “I don’t suppose we could just get her really happy?”

Chapter 35

Scott bounced upon his mother’s knee, half his attention with his parents and half a few rooms away, listening in on the science pow-wow. Carolyn’s enormous hand rested gently upon his back, offering support. A smile crossed his face as he remembered that it took his mom a long time to stop holding the back of his bike when he learned to ride too. Her palm cradled most of his back, and he could feel her powerful thumb occasionally graze the hair on the back of his head as she fought the urge to hold him in her hand. But the unmatched strength tempered the youngster’s smile, realizing what made Nicole nervous. Getting Carolyn ‘agitated’ could definitely present some danger to everyone. The ten-year-old that idolized his mother though could scarcely believe that even in distress she would ever hurt anyone though.

Carolyn watched over her daredevil son carefully. She couldn’t bring herself to let go of him completely, as even perched upon her knee as she sat, Scott was a good four feet off the floor. While a part of her constantly marveled at the sheer size of her hand compared to her boy, another part only wanted to hold him and keep him safe. It was hard convincing her subconscious that the only danger to Scott was the very thing protecting him. Even if Scott were to tumble from her knee, he could just as easily be injured by her enormous hand squeezing too hard trying to prevent an impact with the ground. Jim could see the maternal instincts warring in Carolyn’s eyes and moved closer. All he wanted most in this world was to make things right in his family, and he had a feeling that things were getting more and more out of control all the time. Jim leaned against the arm that Carolyn was propping herself upward upon and placed his lips upon her skin. He rubbed his moustache against her arm in mimicry of the way he would have done once upon her cheek. Carolyn realized what her husband was doing and released some of the tension within her form, but not all.

Jim kissed the expanse of flesh in front of him and tried to reassure himself as well as his wife. “Hold on, angel. Just one more day and those shields will be in place.” Carolyn sighed, realizing that half a solution was better than none.
“Tomorrow the real work begins then, Jim: Relearning how to interact with the world as a sideshow attraction. The Twenty-One Foot Woman lives here. And that’s only if I don’t grow any more. My brain just can’t hold on to anything long enough to adjust. I was so thrilled, thinking about not growing anymore, I’m only now starting to realize that’s only half the problem. What can I possibly do now?”

Scott wished he knew how to cheer his mother up. It didn’t matter to him if she was five feet tall or fifty feet tall. But imagining his Mom doing mundane things made him let loose an involuntary giggle. Carolyn looked to her knee quickly to see what had made her son respond. “What’s so funny, sport?”
“I was just thinking about parent-teacher conferences. Remember how you said my gym teacher, Mr. Rabisch, was kinda a bully? I don’t think he’s going to be able to bully you. And then I thought about how the ice-cream man doesn’t ever stop when you wave because he thinks you’re a kid. You could just pick up the truck! And when we lost that Frisbee in the top of Mrs. Peterson’s maple tree this summer, you could probably have reached it! There’s still lots of stuff you can do!” Scott had such an earnest expression on his innocent face, he obviously was offering help in the things that he knew best. He couldn’t know that Carolyn was referring to more adult concerns like housing, food, and basic necessities. But she could hardly disappoint him when he meant so much good.

“That’s right, sport. I guess I just need a reminder from you that there’s still so much I can do.” She rubbed a thumb across his back and gave the tiniest squeeze to his shoulders, the best substitute for a hug she could surmise.

Back in Jessie’s office, Nicole and the doctor were still trying to put pieces in place. A thought drifted past Nicole’s brain and she puzzled over it a fraction of a second before offering it for debate. “Jessie, Mom is usually so…well, forceful. She decides on what to do, and then that’s what happens. No arguments. But ever since she’s grown, she’s been really…” The teenager pondered over the best way to describe the bouts of crying, acceptance, energy, playfulness, and despair. “…wishy-washy.” She finally settled upon. Jessie thought about the various states she’d observed in Carolyn and nodded.
“It makes sense. With each new round of growth, there’s been an increase in hormonal activity, now that we know to look for it. I don’t doubt that her emotional state has already been influenced greatly. It’s not surprising that she’s oscillated between highs and lows. I know that she’s been a lot…more…sex….er…yes, well, highs and lows. Yeah. Energy and depression.”
Nicole grinned wickedly, her blue eyes dancing with the need to expend some of her own youthful exuberance. “She and Dad have been doing it a lot more.”
Jessie looked decidedly uncomfortable. “I’m not sure we need to go there, but yes. Her…libido…has probably been heightened.”
“Aw, come on, Jessie. It’s just sex. Lighten up. Anyway, I was thinking it’s going to be easier getting her riled up when she’s already so uneven, right?”
“Actually, since her body has been getting such an overload for several months now, I believe there’s going to have to be some very traumatic event to get that energy inside her burning to the extent we need.” Jessie continued checking Carolyn’s temperature graph, trying to determine how much growth she might endure before her body became too cool to remain conscious. Something tickled the back of Nicole’s brain, but stayed in the shadows before the teenager could grasp it completely.
Jessie’s next sentence sent Nicole down a different path completely, though. “Actually, what I was also trying to determine was whether or not we can let you and Scott stay outside of the photon shields safely. Otherwise, we need to come up with a good reason why your whole family should be quarantined for the duration of your Mom’s problem.”
“Damn.” said Nicole simply. “I hadn’t thought about that at all.”

In an auditorium a hallway away, a young boy frowned. “Neither did I.” he said, which caused his parents to stare at him with quizzical looks.

[fritzcat]

Oh, my, the end is in sight.  It's the Final Countdown! (buhduh-DEE-doo, Buhduh-DEE-DEE-doo)

Ah, Arrested Development.  I miss that show so much.  😀

Anyway, allergies are a bitch, as I can personally attest.  I hope you're feeling better, Kate.  The new chapters do a great job of setting up the big climax.  I'm on the edge of my seat.

[Silent One]

Very nice.

I always the part of a story where the pieces start falling into place and you can almost figure out what's going to happen.  Can't wait for more.

[AlexG]

Its GREAT – Kate!   

Really sorry to hear about your allergen reaction to the new apartment – assuming the lease permitted pets, it could be residual animal dander that's setting it off.

“I like a good story well told. That is the reason I am sometimes forced to tell them myself.”
~ Mark Twain / Samuel Clemens (1907)

[Samurai]

SOO Close! GAH.

Great job! Sorry about the allergies.I know what's thats like. :/

[Samurai]

Oh dear… Please tell me it's not over. :'(

[KeithXZ]

I hope they'll be more soon too.

[GTSKate]

Sorry!  Sorry!!  Really, I'm almost done, it's just finding enough time to get what's in my head down on "screen" as it were.  I'm in a choir near home, and we just finished performing Verdi's Requiem with the Detroit Symphony Orchestra.  So, I've been a wee bit occupied. 

But really, I should have another few chapters (if not the end) up by the end of November  😉

Thanks for thinking of it!
-Kate

[Mr. G]

Been a while since I've been to the board. Just read the latest chapters. Take your time writting the rest. Better quality than something just thrown together.

[Samurai]

Part of me crys, since it's been so long.
"NOVEMBER?! EXCUSE ME?" 😮

But, another part of me is happy.
"Take your time. Quality over quantity. It must be perfect in your head before you show it, of course."

Mixed emotions. Mostly good. 😀

[Author]

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