Gail Daley Fine ART

Andrew S. Daley Author

Andrew has always been interested in the fabulous worlds depicted in Video Games and Sci-Fi television. When Andrew was 13, he asked his mother if she had among the families numerous collections of fiction novels, a story about a young man with a dragon for a friend.  His mother recommended the Wizard in Rhyme and Myth Adventure series. When he ran out of other peoples novels, he began creating his own adventures in his head.

Andrew is just beginning a series about a pair of teenage twins who live in a world destroyed by the Dragon Wars. Technology has been shattered, the polar icecaps melted in the fight for survival and society has been set back to around the early 19^th century. Several different forms of energy usage (dubbed "magic" by the earthmen and women who survived the War) have taken its place. Andrew expects this story to be available on CD and hard copy by sometime in 2010. It will retail for $10.00  for the CD and $12. for the soft-cover book.

Currently available are "The Case of the Holographic Murder" and "The Door Man" on CD and hard copy. They  retail for $10.00 each for a CD and $12.00 for a soft cover book.

Chapter 1: The Game’s Afoot!

“Andrew, wake up!” yelled Captain Vittucie over the intercom. “Come down to the Hanger deck ASAP!”

“A-G-G-A-H-H!” I nearly hit the ceiling from surprise. “What’s so important that it can’t wait till morning?” I griped back at the intercom, getting up and getting dressed. My blue jeans, red shirt, and blue coat were worn from sleeping in them.

“Your job is what’s important. Now get down here before I turn your cat into space debris!” he sounded angry, but then he had been a colonel in the military. If he didn’t sound angry at least once a day, he didn’t do his job.

I grabbed my pocket watch on my way out the door. “Alright, alright, I’m coming down.”

I looked for my cat, but couldn’t find him, not that I was worried. The Captain, Drake Vittucie, and I teased each other like this a lot, but for some reason he always won.

I decided to stop looking for my cat and headed to the Hanger deck. I had to go past four rooms and three decks to get from my room to Storage 201. On this ship there were four decks: Command Deck on top, 2^nd deck is Crew quarters, the 3^rd deck consists of Medical facilities, hydroponics and engineering, and the 4^th deck was the Hanger deck, storage, and a virtual reality room.

On Crew Deck, the rooms I had to pass belonged Mickey “Mouse” Net called "Mouse because she’s short. Then Abigail “Mom” Vittucie we called her Mom because she took care of us as a mother would. Across the way was Luke “Shadow” Train, my brother, we call him shadow because he moves like one.

Mouse was our cook. We had picked her up a while ago because we were tired of eating slop. Of course that also slowed Abigail’s work down since, it meant fewer patients showed up for sick call because of something we ate.

On second thought with Shadow as our engineer having a tendency to blow things up, still gave Mom a lot of work to do. Unfortunately, when Luke blew something up, the Captain followed suit verbally, chewing all of us out royally. When that happened, our helmsman, Liz Heart, either put Drake in his place or cheered him up. Our last crewmember was Kendra, the Captain’s sister. She was Assistant Engineer.

I was about to pass the door to the last room when it slid open. Before I could blink, I had a cringing black kitten on my shoulder, digging in with his claws (thank God for padding) and a panting Mouse in front of me.

“Oh, Hi, Andrew.” she said noticing me.

“What did you do to Spooky that he’d run in terror from you?” I demanded.

She gave a look that would have scared away a hungry lion and answered, “Your cat tried to eat tonight’s dinner, and you ask me what I did?! If this creature wasn’t yours I’d send it to the pound in a box!” She slammed the door in my face, locking it.

I turned to Spooky. “You’re driving that woman mad.” He just stared at me with his big yellow eyes, and meowed; Spooky is all black, except for the white fur over his eyes. I started toward the elevator, but it opened ahead of me, I heard Mouse’s door slide open again and a pan came flying at me. I ran for the elevator and heard the Clunk! of the pan on the closed doors.

The ship was designed to make you walk across the floor to get off the elevator when it went up or down, so when it stopped, I could hear the hum of the engines and the gurgle of chemicals mixing. Both my brother and Abigail worked on this deck, however something had dragged Abigail away. I heard a crash and a muffled curse. A small black pouch slid across the floor. I picked it up and looked in the direction of the noise. Shadow had managed to get himself tangled up in a bunch of wires.

“Having fun, bro?” I chuckled. I saw the crash was from a light that he had jiggled loose. We called Luke Shadow not only because he moves like one, but also because he is clumsy, so it’s kind of a joke.

“Don’t you have to get to Storage 201?” he snaps, annoyed and trying to wiggle out of the jungle of wire he just created.

I stared blankly at him. “How did you know that?” I put the pouch in the pocket with my pocket watch.

“Who doesn’t know? I mean, the Captain used the intercom and he has a loud voice when he’s angry.” He had managed to turn himself upside down.

“Well, I’ll send someone back to help you later”, I said, walking back to the elevator.

When I got to Storage 201, Abigail, Drake and Liz had gathered around the container marked for Mars. The Hanger Deck was actually a container that we called a storage room because it’s easier to say than Hanger Deck. There were only two things in there most of the time; our single space fighter that been in need of repair since we got it, and the container marked 201 where we put our cargo.

I walked up to them. “So what’s up, guys?’

Abigail waved a hand and said, “HI”.

Liz just turned and said, “Hello,”

However, Drake, who is usually the calmest one of the three, grabbed my shoulder. Spooky saw the grab coming and jumped to safety. Drake yelled “Where have you been?! We’ve been here an hour waiting for you to do your job!”

I had known Drake long enough too usually know when he’s joking, and when to avoid him; today I was off. It was time to avoid him, but I had jumped in without thinking, assuming he was joking. Thankfully, Liz was there to calm him down (in her own way, of course.)

“Enough, Drake. Let the man do his job. He doesn’t even know what’s going on.”

She had grabbed his hand, and he let go. She is the only one who can get away with that when he’s in a mood to be avoided because she owns most of the ship.

I straightened my coat and looked at what they were all staring at. When I did, I saw why Drake was so mad. His sister, Kendra, laid dead, next to the open container. She had apparently been killed by laser fire, and she could only have been dead a couple of hours since it didn’t smell bad down here. I noticed the box inside the container had been carefully, opened; and it was empty.

I double-checked my findings, putting my hand carefully inside the box. I stayed silent for a few minutes, thinking. “What, exactly, was in this box?” I asked to no one in particular.

Drake responded, still agitated, “A diamond in a pouch. You should know that, I mean, you are Chief of Security.”

I ignored his sarcastic remark and turned to Mom. “Abigail, check Kendra for electronic devices before you move her.” She nodded in response. “Who found her?” I asked.

Abigail didn’t hear me, so Liz answered. “Luke found her when he was checking on the fighter.” She didn’t show it, but she was in anguish. Liz, Abigail and Kendra were like sisters, even though Liz wasn’t a Vittucie.

“Alright. Liz you should probably take Drake back to the Command deck and could you send Mouse down on your way up?” I said, taking a quick look around. Liz nodded and led Drake back to the elevator,

I turned around to see that Abigail hadn’t moved. I touched her shoulder and she barely flinched. “Why don’t you go lay down for a while?” I suggested gently. “Mouse and I will take care of this.”

She nodded and stood up. Whoever had done this had managed to hit all of us hard. I turned to look at the crate and saw a letter folded on the floor next to it. I picked it up and opened it, but it made no sense.

“when Lances call Upon the King whose Eggheaded idea was it: The Renegade, the Ape, the chIldren, or None of the above. the only one who can Answer That is storm, tHe investigAtor, but is he iN the GamE oR at work? 2:00 a.m.”

I tried to figure out what it meant, but couldn’t make heads or tails of it. I had just given up for the moment when Mouse came in.

“You realize that I was cooking dinner, of which you will have none?!” she stated. She walked over and stopped dead when she saw Kendra on the floor. “What happened to her?” she said, moving slowly closer.

“I’m going to say robbery gone wrong. She probably came in to check on the fighter and interrupted whoever was in here.” I was just talking to say something because Mouse wasn’t listening.

She had knelt near Kendra and started to pick her up when I interrupted her. “Before you do that, check for any electronic devices.” Mouse gave me an annoyed look, but did as I asked.

I looked around one more time while she checked Kendra. The room was quite empty except for a pile of rope at the far end where Spooky was playing. I walked over to where he was to see what he was playing with. It was the end of the rope. Just as I stood back up, I saw a flash from within the pile.

I went to look, but just then Mouse yelped and I turned to see what was wrong. Kendra was gone and Mouse was shaking. I ran over to her. “What happened?” I yelled, although I had already guessed.

The wind whistled through the rocks at the base of a small hill. In the hill’s shadow, sat a tall man hooded and cloaked in a black traveling coat that hid his face. Resting next to him was a giant scythe that was barely three inches taller than the man was. The blade was well kept, save for the dust from the wind. Leaning against a rock, he ate a sandwich, cool ranch Doritos, and a Dr. Pepper.  He wore dark blue, loosely fitting, leather gloves.

             He looked to his right as a small red furred creature came from behind the rock. The man recognized it as a fox kit. Though this one had seen better days, its ribs showed through its rough fur coat. The white lighting mark on its forehead was faded to off-white. Its paws were covered in blood that had dried some time ago. The fox’s head looked too big for its body, and its eyes were blood-shot from lack of sleep.

             The fox stared hopefully at the man’s food though it kept its distance, unsure of the man’s reaction. The man studied the fox a minute then slowly as not to startle it he tore off a small piece of bread. Placing it on a Doritos chip he set it down a foot away from himself then went on eating.

            The kit, though obviously starving, walked forward slowly sniffed the food then as if part of some ritual sat down. Then it started wolfing down the food, all formalities lost. The aura around the man lightened up. Chuckling between bites, he poured out some water from a bottle he carried onto a rock that was shaped like a bowl.

            “Well this is an odd sight,” said a voice out of nowhere.

            “Only two beings can sneak up on me.” The man said while continuing to eat. “What do you want Michael?”

            Michael floated down, folding in his wings behind his back as he landed. His white skin tone and blue eyes emphasized his already angelic appearance. His white toga matched his blond hair, and golden sword at his waist.  The toga was made to fit his lean muscular body, though his sandals looked to big to fit his feet.

             “How did you know it was me and not The Lord, John?” Michael asked.

             “Ha, now that’s a silly question.” John finished his sandwich leave the chips for the fox. “Winners don’t visit the losers, ever. Now, what do you want?”

              Michael shook his head ignoring the insult, “Your cynicism amazes me, especially since you’re the one who requested The Lord not visit.”

              John just stared for half a minute, “Don’t make me ask thrice, Michael.”

              Michael sighed, “Man you’re no fun. Straight to business then, I have two messages to deliver.” He crossed his arms. “First, The Lord has a job for you to do similar”“

                John held up a hand, “Hold it, I’m not a reaper any more, or did you forget I quit?”

              “You gave the keys to the Son of man and were fired by the traitor. I” m pretty sure that disqualifies you from saying you quit.” Michael said, smiling. “At any rate The Lord never fired you but will accept you turning down the job”“

              “That’s good because I will.”

             ““Provided you listen to His request first.” John held his hands up in surrender. Michael continued, “Excellent. Now, The Lord has requested that you help us out with a kidnapping case. And before you ask it isn’t a normal case.”

               “Naturally it isn’t. If it was, you definitely wouldn’t be bothering me.” John said as the fox, which had finished eating, laid down next to him.

              “The girl and Kidnapper were in a car accident and are in between dimensions.” Michael stated pausing to see John’s reaction. None was given.

              “The kidnapper is dead, but the girl yet lives. She is in a coma at the hospital with both her parents.” Michael looked grim, “They are discussing whether to pull the plug on the machines keeping her alive. The parents don’t want to give up but they can’t afford the high medical costs.”

             “One of the many reasons I wish to be mortal.” John sighed. “I’d love to be able to worry about that without it actually being my worry. However I never want to hear about it from you.” The fox jumped up as the air shifted.

              “Easy John, you’ll scare away your friend.” Michael said, backing away.

            He had just said the one thing that would get John riled without fail. John stood to a full six feet and nine inches revealing his bony face without skin. “What do you care? No one cowers at the sight of you! No one shudders when they hear your name or flee when you approach! No, they run to you! They name children after you!” John was taller than Michael but Michael didn't move an inch.

              Silence fallowed Michael knew John well enough to just wait for him to calm down before speaking. He knew he had touched a sore spot between them. John was a Grim Reaper, one of the old guards of the gates to heaven and hell. John had been the Grim's leader and held the keys when The Son of Man came to lead the humans out of hell. The traitor had been displeased, and rather than face him, John ran. John had remained hidden from the traitor for many years before the traitor had given up.  Now John wandered the world between dimensions without friends save for the visits from Michael and without purpose, which was what had brought Michael here.

             A small bark broke the silence. John and Michael looked down at the fox. Instead of barking at John as they expected, it was barking at Michael.

             Michael smiled and made a bet, “There’s one who doesn’t run from you or to me.”

             John reached down with his free hand and started petting the fox, who neither flinched from the touch nor stopped barking. “So it would appear.” The fox settled down to a growl. “The question still remains. Why tell me? You have your Angel of Death to deal with that sort of thing.”

             The Angel of Death was the heavenly counter part to the Grim Reaper. Similar in every way save for the fact that there was only one Grim Reaper left, but multiple Angels of Death.

            Michael smiled seeing that his friend had calmed down. “Currently all our Angels of Death are busy on other assignments and won’t be done in time to save the girl.” Michael tossed a bracelet to John. “This will make you appear human for twenty-four hours which is the time limit on the mission.”

             John stared at the bracelet, “If this can do what you say, why give it to me?”

             Michael shrugged, “I’m in charge of The Lord’s Host, but I still don’t know how He thinks, nor will I ever.”

             “I guess no one can.” John sighed, “Anyway, what do I get for helping?”

              “The satisfaction of helping those in need, the appreciation of a little girl, and maybe a way to live among the humans, indefinitely.”  Michael said, getting smug.

               John did a double take unable to believe his ears. “Come again.”

              Michael smiled, “I said that you would get the satisfaction of helping those in need and the appreciation of a little girl.” John waited for what he thought he heard, knowing that Michael wouldn’t tell him unless he played along. Normally he would walk away but if what he heard was true, it might be worth letting Michael play his little game.

             John sighed, “Not the first two. The last thing. It sounded like you said I would be able to live--”

            ““Among the humans?” Michael finished grinning from ear to ear. “It could be that I did, but it doesn’t matter now you already turned down the job so…”

              John grabbed Michael’s arm as he turned to leave, “Hold on!” John yelled. “If it’s true then maybe I’ve reconsidered.”

             Michael’s smile broadened a second then vanished, “what do you mean if?!!” Michael shouted in both surprise and anger. “Do you think that The Lord would tell me, the leader of The Lord’s Host, to lie?” Michael’s wings opened to full width, making him much more menacing than before. “Even for a cynic that’s crossing the line.”

             John suddenly realized that he had left his scythe by the rock. Yet having faced Michael from the opposing side, he knew he was fine. Michael never attacked unarmed opponents. “Not really. Your statement is questionable. First of all, no spirit has been able to live among the humans since the Salem witch hunt. Secondly, you have been known to trick me before. In fact, unless I miss my guess, you enjoy doing it.” Michael seemed to deflate a little folding in his wings. “Thirdly, I've been there humans that see me would either die of fright or try to take my face off.”

              Michael nodded, “True enough. That’s why The Lord wanted to give you that bracelet.” He pointed at the red and black bracelet in John’s hand. “He said it would help you walk among them without causing a panic.”

              John inspected the bracelet more closely, “It has disguise ability on it.” He said turning it over. He moved to put it on but stopped short. “What’s the catch?”

              Michael held up two fingers, “There are two. First, you must accept the job. Second, that one will only work for twenty-four hours.” Michael counted them off as he spoke. “If you succeed I will give you one without a time limit.” Michael stayed silent a moment as John put the bracelet on.

             John’s form began shifting as if someone was readjusting an old TV. When it stopped, John’s cloak was replaced with a white t-shirt, Hawaiian over-shirt, and blue jeans. His hand scratched his head that suddenly itched with his red hair. In surprise, he felt skin on his face. He pinched his cheek to see if it was real. It hurt. He was too flabbergasted to speak and he started jumping for joy. The fox who had seen the change, was jumping and barking both in surprise and to join in the fun.

              Michael let out a laugh, “Ha-Ha, that look suits you.” Reaching back into the bag he pulled out two pieces of paper. “I’ll take your joy as acceptance of the job.”

               John removed his gloves stretching his fingers. “Of course, I can’t wait to find a place, buy a TV, and a 360” or maybe a PS3.” He shrugged, “I’ll decide latter.”

             Michael straightened up but kept on smiling, “First things first, the kidnapper and little girl were last seen around the Sierra Vista Mall in Clovis, California. All you need do is make sure the bond between the kidnapper and little girl severs, without violence if possible. You’ll understand the specifics when you read the case file,” Michael added seeing the confused look on John’s face. Michael handed him the papers then relaxed, “If you had told me when we were on fighting each other that I’d be commissioning you for a job”“

              ““You would have called me insane. Just as I would have if roles were reversed.” John joined Michael in laughing. They stayed that way a while, then shook hands and went separate directions.

             John heard Michael’s wings open, “Oh hey, one last thing.” Michael said, “Keep an eye out for Cerberus.”

             “Why would I need to do that?” John asked, looking over his shoulder.

             “He went missing a week ago. He was last seen near Fresno.” Michael said, hovering just above the ground. “I doubt you’ll run into him but just in case, you should know. See you in twenty-three hours.” With that, he flew off.

            John stood looking puzzled for a moment then shook his head, thinking Michael had said it just to annoy him. John turned to pick up his scythe, but stopped short. It was” gone, Just plain gone. He looked for it but without success. After an hour worth of looking he decided that it was probably for the best. Especially since, it was Fourth of July in the human world not Halloween. This was the only time he had discovered when he could walk among them without having the police sicced on him.

             John headed off toward the human world taking out one of his spare D.T.H. (door to the human world) vials. He had long ago discovered that his scythe had a unique ability to cut open a doorway to the human world from the spirit world. It was only afterwards that he found a way to make an elixir that would open the same doorway when shattered. Michael had said that the little girl and kidnapper were between worlds but that just meant they were in the human world and just hadn’t found their way to the spirit world.

             The papers Michael had handed him contained a read-out of the case and a short instruction manual for the bracelet. Apparently, it held back his reaper powers making him revert into human form. However, he remained immortal, just without his normal powers. What if he required his powers? It stated that there was a switch he could press on the bracelet that would give them back. He nodded, understanding what had happened to his scythe. It was part of his power, so he assumed the bracelet had absorbed it. The case, written on the second sheet of paper seemed to be straightforward.

              The supposed kidnapper was the girl’s Uncle who thought his nephew was being too hard on her. He had taken her away from her parents to keep her safe. Unfortunately, they were in a car crash that killed the Uncle instantly, but left the girl in a coma. She was rushed to the hospital where her parents were notified. The doctors told them that she was in a coma and might not wake up from it. The parents were both waiting, and debating how long they should wait for her to wake up.

             The document stated that the only way to get her to wake up was to separate the bond that held the Uncle here and the girl’s spirit attached to him. It also gave some options on how to accomplish this. John’s least favorite was to throw the Uncle through the D.T.H. and drag the girl to the hospital.

              He was looking for a way to erase the option from the paper when he heard a muffled bark. He looked down an ally to see the fox dragging a baseball hat to him. The fox dragged it in front of him then nudged it toward him.

              John picked up the hat, “Hey thanks.” It had a Football team emblem on it. The Eagles.  “If you’re going to insist on following me I’m going to have to give you a name.” John stated putting on the hat. The fox sat down as if waiting for his chosen name to be spoken. John studied the fox a second then nodded, “How about Scorch?”

             The fox barked in approval. With that settled, John and Scorch continued on their way. John read and reread the case trying to come up with a non-violent or non-cruel way to sever the bond. The best he could come up with within the two hours it took to get to the Sierra Vista mall was to try to convince the Uncle that the parents would realize how precious their daughter was now that they nearly lost her. He hoped that it was true and not fiction.

              John could sense they were here but he could not pinpoint their location. He searched the inside part of the mall for an hour looking in each store. With no sign of them, he ended up in the pavilion area nearest the indoor part of the mall. In the middle was a small-upraised flowerbed for a centerpiece raised on a stone guard.  To the right stood an empty Gottschalks building and to the left of the pavilion was another empty building with the “space available” sign still on the window.

             As John sat on the stone guard, he sensed a strong energy. This one was familiar but it wasn’t the kidnapper or the girl. As he got up to find the source, he remembered sensing this presence before he gave Jesus the keys to the gate between Heaven and Hell. However, he could not figure out why Cerberus would be here. Michael had warned him that Cerberus had gone AWOL, but the Cerberus John knew would only listen to the one who held the gate keys.