Globe Tracers 1: The Case of Thomas Crain

Chapter 5: The Tower

Kyle:

We had been driving for quite some time. It struck me over and over just how slow earth vehicles were. Jessica pushed her head out the window, insisting the wind felt good. Personally, I just saw this as another symptom of her teeter-tottering sanity. Still, it was funny to watch.

Finally, the car came to a stop in front of a large clock tower in a small city square. I was told I was supposed to let Jessica out as well as letting her into the car, but when we stopped, she didn't seem to care what custom dictated, which was fine by me. She shot out of the vehicle shouting, "WHOA!" spinning and looking at the structures around her. "This state has really grown. The buildings are getting BIG!"

Allen chuckled. "You should see New York."

"I did," she replied. "Is the Woolworth building still the tallest?"

"No, afraid not," Allen said, getting out of the vehicle after us. Frankie was dropped off drove his own car, probably to his home. Good riddance. "It's the empire state these days. Has been for a long time really. One hundred and two floors."

"WOW!" Jessica shouted.

"Jess... stop acting so surprised at everything will ya? We've got bigger." I urged, still smiling.

Jessica shook her head. "I'm not amazed at its size Kyle. I'm impressed at how far these people have come. They had just discovered flight when I got here, and now they're shooting to walk on the moon. They really are moving fast kid."

Allen looked at a building the vehicle had parked next to. He blew out long and hard, as if nervous. "Well," he finally started, "this is where you'll be staying."

I looked up at the structure. It was some twelve stories tall, standing as a single obelisk. At the top was a large timepiece, like the face of a grandfather clock that Jessica had brought back from earth decades ago, only this clock face was so large you could probably tell time from a few kilometers out. There were hundreds of lights around its perimeter illuminating it in the darkness, as well as some kind of light behind the actual face. "So there's an apartment or something up there?" asked Jessica.

Allen shook his head. "Um... no. There's a large room behind the clock and no one really ventures up to care for it except three employees of this building. This building used to belong to a newspaper publisher, the clock was a gimmick to get people to notice it, but all the same, someone has to take care of it. But worry not, the only three who do, are all members of a mutant race called banshees." I looked at Allen with a raised right brow. "Yeah... that reaction kind of figures."

"Figures"? That wasn't the word I was thinking. "I'm the son of the president of an entire planet, and you're sticking me at the top of a clock tower like a war prisoner?" I asked.

"Was hoping you wouldn't think about it quite that way but essentially-"

"This will be so cool!" Jessica shouted, mouth gawking in an expression of glee. Also not what I was thinking... and just hearing her I had to make an effort to ignore her and my own childish love of exploring. I hid my smile.

"It'll be what?" Allen asked. "Well, figure it will be, but I don't imagine there's much we can do about that."

"Jessica uses that as a slang term to mean "good"... don't ask how she made that connection."

"How?" Allen asked in spite of me.

Jessica tried to reply, "It made sense at the time... wait- no it didn't- just you wait though, that word will be used more often than "baby" I'll see to it, I will!"