Weirdness and Wendip (Book 2)

An Explanation and an Experiment

Chapter dedicated to my family for helping me get through my exams. A problem shared is a problem halved after all. Dipper's point of view.

The journey back to the shack was uneventful. I pondered the mystery of the smooth circle and considered why the description didn't match up with anything inside of my journal. With a screech of the brakes I pulled up outside the mystery shack. Stan was guiding a tourist group around the perimeter of the forest. I'd seen him use this routine before. Pretending to see glimpses of creatures in the woods before describing them in great detail to the crowd. I sighed as his fez was promptly filled with cash after one particularly lengthy explanation. Beside him Beaky (now dressed as a mascot) appeared to be taking in all the information.

I made my way through the shack. Thankfully Wendy and Mabel were distracted with a customer so I could hide the print I'd made under my bed without detection or awkward questions, I really didn't want Mabel to know I was going to give Wendy a gift or had already seen her birthday present to me. The claw print had almost fully hardened so I considered picking away the dirt that surrounded it. I could feel myself begin to blush as I made my way downstairs. They were still both chatting to the tourist so I slipped my way down into the basement. I was going to tell Ford what I'd found. Ford sat in the middle of an entanglement of wires looking perplexed. In fact wires of most colours were draped all over his body. 

"Dipper my boy." He called out immediately. "Can you pass me that Injectospanner from the rack?" I passed him the double headed spanner and he tightened a transparent nut which was simultaneously filled with a green liquid. "Thanks for that, now what is it?"

"Well Soos and myself just retrieved Stan's car from..."

"That old banger. Yes, Dipper spare me the details."

"OK, well I followed the tracks of the creature which attacked them and they led to a clearing. The clearing itself contained a number of standing stones and a bare circle of earth as if trodden down over time. The tracks of the creature vanished when entering the circle." Ford looked over the rims of his glasses at me his face giving nothing away. The corner of his mouth twitched just for a moment. He paused for a minute before speaking.

"Thanks for telling me Dipper, I myself studied the circle when I first moved here. There was I believe some local folklore surrounding the field, however I quickly determined that the cause of it was just high school kids playing pranks on each other. If memory serves the main rumour is that anyone who attempts to sleep inside the circle is moved some distance away from it. I'm sure Wendy could tell you all about it. Oww." He exclaimed. One of the wires shot sparks onto his hand.  He forced the offending wire into a larger red one and continued. "I believe it may be what is called a devil's tramping ground." 

"Any idea about the tracks leading into it?" I asked.

"Most probably normal physics, that particular patch of ground will heat up mightily during the day because no trees are above it. So at night the thermals given off by the bare earth would allow the creature to soar off into the darkness. If need be the creature could have jumped to one of the stones to gain extra height." I raised an eyebrow. "Dipper the most likely explanation is most often the one to have occurred." He finished his explanation.

I looked around at the mess all over the floor. Not only did wires cover the floor but nearly every work surface. In the regular pockets of empty space, gimbals  comprised of three concentric circles spun in place. I returned my gaze back to Ford.

"Yes, Dipper I know what you're thinking. It's a complete mess but it's important. I'm working on a containment field which will effectively trap all protons inside of it. I believe this could be used to contain Bill or any other entity we could encounter. The problem is whenever I set up the field I'm getting some kind of interference." He pressed a button on a control panel just to the right of him. All of a sudden the lights flickered as whatever device Ford was using drained the supply. From upstairs I heard Mabel call out.

"I'll get the candles and I get to tell the first spooky story." I laughed, it was barely mid afternoon. The air was filled with static electricity, Ford's hair stood on end and I imagine mine did the same. A hissing emanated from a silver cone connected to the bulk of the wiring before it spluttered and sparked.  Around the room the gimbals span faster and faster until they all popped, shards of metal littered the ground and the lights returned soon after. I analysed the experiment Ford had just done.

"I assume you're using a strong alternating magnetic field to generate an electric field used to trap the protons. Hence why your metal glasses are now on the other side of the room." Ford squinted at me and nodded. "Why not change the direction of your wires and trap the electrons? They're more well understood." Ford shook his head.

"Just in case there's only one electron."

"What in here?"

"No Dipper, in the entire universe." I couldn't tell whether Ford was being sarcastic or sincere so I continued.

"Well if you're getting an interference maybe it's better to allow for this in your calculations rather than negate it." I glanced at the gimbals which now lay in shatters. "Also if you use gimbals with four concentric circles they can withstand much higher accelerations. You used the gimbals to measure the magnetic field at different points in the room right?" Ford nodded at me.

"That's correct and I must say I'm impressed Dipper, now as I understand it you've got a da... seeing a movie with Wendy so run along now. Abruptly his trouser leg caught fire as a wire draped against it. "But before you go the Hydroscrewdriver if you could." I chucked him the tool and left. 

Note: I now I've been away for a bit but thanks for all the people who've added this and my other works to their reading lists. It means a lot. Also if you've got any questions about the very suspect science I've used in this chapter be sure to ask.