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The Wizard Phantomgraph

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Nick and Danton sat at the tiki bar drinking those strange little drinks with the umbrellas in them. They laughed and clapped each other on their collective backs. It was celebration time. Somehow beyond all odds Danton had managed the impossible, to write the same software that a multimillion dollar company did, and include every single feature that they had, and then some, and all on a shoe string budget.

Nick shook his head. For the umpteenth time that night he repeated the phrase, "I can't believe we totally smoked them."

Danton just grinned, looking at the setting sun with a smile, and in his knowing voice said simply, "Dwagons do."

Nick laughed, then a little more solemnly, "You don't think they meant what they said about industrial espionage do you? I mean, you didn't break into their computers or anything, did you?"

Danton smiled. "Yeah, they'll do something about it, but they're not going to find anything. They'll drag our asses into court and we'll compare source code. Then they will hang their heads and walk away."

"Dragon, what the hell, did you do something?"

For the first time that night Danton looked at Nick. He had an ear to ear grin. "Yep, I did, but they will have a better chance of proving an angel of God came down and told me about the feature list."

"What did you do?"

Danton laughed and took a sip from his drink. "Ha, fat chance. You wouldn't believe me anyway."

Nick pouted. "Aww, come on dragon, Hell, you just made both of us multimillionaires, I'm not going to tell anyone."

Danton smiled a little, feeling a little tipsy himself as he thought about it. He had never shown anyone his special trick. "Well, I whipped out the old dragon dick, and they got so scared they just blabbed all their ideas."

Nick chuckled. He knew it wouldn't be easy to drag the goods out of his friend, and that was always something that had kind of bothered him. He looked at his strange friend a moment. For working just inches from him for over five years, he really didn't know much about his personal life. He came to work, worked his eight, went out occasionally for his smoke breaks, tapping eternally on that keyboard of his. Nick smiled. As always, it sat within arms length with that mysterious old Unix prompt flashing as if it were just waiting for some evil command to bring it to life.

Danton had preached the power of Unix to Nick for years, but Nick could never quite understand enough of it to get what he needed to do done, so he was forever stuck in the other operating system. Each time the dragon had beat the crap out of the machine and he was ready to replace it, Nick would hand his over and go find another new model. Danton had always been hard on his laptops, and Nick usually ordered a couple of case hinges and keyboards along with a touch pad, just to see if he could get another six months use out of it.

Nick's grin widened a little. Every six months his friend would turn his six month old used laptop into a pile of unrecognizable keys and cracked cases with useless appendages, ranging from the mouse to a couple of blown displays.

But the dragon, as Danton liked to call himself, created miracles with that thing in six months, by himself out-programing the entire staff of every other company on the face of the earth.

Nick woke up from his reflections and looked at his smiling friend. He had been caught daydreaming and he laughed. "I was just wondering how the hell you do it sometimes, that and manage to destroy a laptop in six months."

Danton chuckled with a knowing grin. "You know how I type."

Nick looked at Danton's keyboard and nodded; once again, all the letters were mostly worn off. "Are the keys still working?"

Danton laughed and reached into his laptop bag, pulling a spare keyboard from it. "Just in case."

"You still haven't answered my question," Nick teased and raised his half full glass to his lips.

Danton smiled and moved quickly, tapping the base of Nick's glass. It wasn't a hard tap, but it was enough to feel through his hand. Nick continued tipping the glass as was surprised to find it empty.

"I did it like I did that." Danton said.

Nick looked dumbly at the empty glass, then to his friend, then back to the glass. There wasn't even ice in it anymore, but the glass was still cold. He neither knew what to say or how to say it. It was like it had just vanished into thin air. "What the...." Was all he could manage.

"Fucking voo-doo magic," the dragon said, with an eerie smile.

Nick bugged Danton for most of the rest of the night to show him how he had managed to empty the glass, but the secretive programmer remained true to his words and refused to tell.

The night drew on, and eventually both of them decided to wander back towards their room for the evening. They headed off down the beach.

Danton had never had much love for the ocean in particular, but the islands were definitely pretty any time of the year. He smiled, staring off over the water, and found himself lost in thought.

Nick looked over and noticed. "Hey, you got that look in your eyes again."

"Hmm?" Danton said, looking over.

"That look, like when your thinking." Nick said. "You're on vacation. You shouldn't think on vacation."

Danton smiled. "Yeah, well, I was thinking about showing you how I did that trick with your glass."

Nick was surprised. Neither of them had a glass, and he said so.

Danton chuckled and started strolling down the beach. "We don't need a glass, Nick. I'm just not sure I should tell you. I've never told a soul about this before."

Nick nodded, and reflected on his quite friend. He always was very closed off about his personal life. "You don't have to, if you don't want too."

Danton laughed. "To tell you the truth, it would be good to tell someone before I expire."

Nick looked somberly over at his friend but remained quiet.

The two were walking on the beach by the park now, and Danton stopped and took a seat on a bench. "If I tell you this Nick, I have to tell you all of it. Every word. And it can never be repeated."

Nick nodded, and then remembering Danton probably couldn't see him, he said simply, "OK."

"It started just after puberty. I had never ever felt like I fit in anyway, but this just seemed to make it worse. I realized that I really was different. It wasn't like it is now. I could only just sort of . . . slow things down like. I thought that it was a just maybe a different form of consciousness or something. It scared the hell out of me at first and I just decided to forget about, but when I turned 18, my parents laid the biggest mind fuck of my life on me," Danton said quietly.

He was silent for a moment then continued. "When I turned 18 they told me that I was adopted, and a little about from where I had come. I was found on the doorstep of a Chicago boarding house when I was about three weeks old. I was clean, warm, wrapped in a good blanket, in an expensive basket. Their was no note, and I was perfectly healthy, which usually isn't the case with babies found like me. I had no name, no identification what so ever. Mom and Dad adopted me a year later. As you know, I changed my name when I was 18 to Danton."

Nick nodded, and Danton continued. "After I turned 18 and moved out into the real world, my little spells - the times when things got weird for me - seemed to get worse, then more powerful. I went to a doctor, but they had never heard of anything like it before. One night it was really really bad and I just sort of let it happen."

"What?" Nick asked.

"Close your eyes, and keep them closed until I say open them, OK? No matter what happens. Just listen to my voice ,OK?" Danton said.

"OK," Nick said complying, wondering if his friend was about to play some kind of joke on him.

"Well, I went to the other place. Now before you ask, I'm going to show you that place tonight. But I have to warn you, it's a little disturbing until you get used to it."

"Your not going to dump sand on me are you?" Nick said, holding his eyes shut.

"No, but it was a thought," Danton admitted, with a slight laugh. "Now just concentrate on my voice. This is very important, because it's going to be really strange and frightening for you at first. Don't open your eyes until I tell you to either, or you'll go all weird on me."

"OK."

"Good. Now if were ready I'm going to take you there right now, but remember, keep listening to my voice and what I'm saying. I know it's hard, but It's very important that you understand what you're going to see and what you're hearing. OK, now tell me what you hear. Tell me everything you hear."

"Well," Nick said, "I hear your voice, the ocean, the wind in the trees, I can make out some distant voices at a restaurant I think, or maybe a bar, that's about it."

"Good, now were there, and again just listen to my voice, don't open your eyes. It's maddening enough. We are there now and I want you to think about what you are hearing now. Don't try to rationalize it, just think about what you hear. I know, it's weird. Tell me what you hear now."

Nick had noticed something immediately changed while his friend had been talking, because other than Danton's voice he couldn't hear anything at all; absolutely nothing else. Nick was starting to get a very strange feeling, and was more than a little scared. "I don't hear anything at all, nothing."

"OK, good. Now slowly open your eyes and look far out over the water."

Nick did as he was told and was shocked to find that he was still on the beach.

"Don't look up on the beach just yet, just way out over the ocean. Do you notice anything strange?"

Nick looked, and did. Besides feeling like he had just gone deaf, something was odd about the ocean; it was like it was a picture rather than the real thing. It hit him like a ton of bricks. "It's not moving," he said in awe.

"That's right, it's not," Danton said. "Don't think about it; just accept it, and don't move just yet, but look at the beach close, now."

Nick did and was amazed to see that it was frozen, just like a picture. "It's like we walked into a photograph."

"That's a fairly good assessment, really, if you think of time like a movie; a series of still pictures that move faster than your brain can see the movement. Where we are right now is like in a single frame of a movie, Nick."

Nick looked at his friend dumbfounded as Danton continued. "You're the first human I've ever showed this too. No one knows about it other than God. Come on, walk slowly with me down to the water. You have to walk slowly because it's a little unnerving until you get used to it."

Nick stood slowly and started to walk. Danton was right, it was weird. It felt like having a sub-woofer thumping on you in waves, but not painfully, and always that silence. "It is weird, what is it?"

"Actually, what you're feeling is sound. The sound waves are stuck, just like the ocean. When you move, you slam into them and your body absorbs them."

"But if that's the case, then how come I can still see? Light is waves too, isn't it?"

Danton smiled broadly. "A very intelligent question Nick, and the answer is I don't know, but I don't think light is entirely a wave. It's strange, but If I bring a solar-powered calculator here and let it not be stopped, it works; same with a solar-powered fan or anything else. But if it sits too long in one spot, it does stop until I move it a little."

"Weird," Nick said, still rather shaken.

"Oh, you haven't seen weird yet," Danton said, and pointed to a wave that was in the process of crashing on the beach. "Touch the water."

Nick cautiously did. It was wet, and some stuck to his hand with a consistency of something like tar. "Man, this is strange."

"This is what makes me think that time is still moving, just very, very, very slowly. Also, I can make some small parts of the world unstop." And that said, some of the wave 'fell' from the air and ran back into the ocean. "That's how I brought you here. I didn't stop you. What I did with your drink and you in the bar today was stop things, took your drink from you, and . . . er, un-stopped it, drank it, tossed the ice out, and put the glass back in your hand."

"Jesus," Nick said. "Have you ever done anything like that to me before?"

"No, but I have done it when you have been around; mostly when I needed to get something done, or forgot something at home and needed to run and get it real quick. I kind of refrain from it, especially around other people, because if they're looking right at you when I unstop things, it would look like I jumped or 'blinked' a little to them. I usually go into the bathroom to do it. That way people can't see anything they might think is amiss."

"Wow," Nick said, not knowing what to think. "And you're the only one who can do this?"

"Oh no. There are others," Danton said with a strange sigh.

"There are others?"

Danton nodded. "Three, I think. We can sense when someone has done it, and for how long, but only after the fact. I've thought about trying to send a message to the others, but to tell you the truth I've always been afraid. I think one lives in Denver; that's the real reason why I moved, by the way. I'm not real sure where the others live. My guess is one is in Europe and the other somewhere in the Orient."

"Damn, that's creepy," Nick said, and Danton nodded.

"That's why we keep it secret. Think about it: if the government ever found out, holy shit, they would lock me up and toss out the key. Or worse, use me to hurt people."

Nick blinked in the night. "Hurt people?"

"Yeah, I can make things unstop here, remember. I could easily walk into a pawn shop and borrow a gun, unstop both it and a bullet, walk into the governor's mansion, shoot him, and just walk out; maybe hide the gun and go back home. No one would - or ever could - prove it. Hell, I could do it at a press conference if I wanted. No one would see me, and they couldn't prove I was there unless I left some evidence."

Nick shuddered. "That's fucking scary."

Danton nodded and started walking down the beach. "Yeah, that's why I'll flatly deny it if you ever tell anyone." He stood quietly for a moment then snorted a little. "Of course, no one would believe you anyway."

Nick thought for a moment and walked slowly with his friend. "You've never done anything like that though, have you?"

Danton smiled and looked at Nick. "Yes Nick, I did. I stopped things when we were down at the convention, then I installed a root kit in Arga's computer that would let me see the powers of their software. When I was nearly done I unrooted them, and took the cameras out of their walls. Other than that, no, I've never used this gift for anything other than personal stuff and good things."

"Good things?"

"Yeah, remember that time in London when that guy almost got hit by the double-decker right in front of us?"

"Yeah?"

"I pushed him while he was stuck." Danton admitted.

Nicks mouth hung open. "You were the one that did that?"

"Yeah. Stupid fucker should have been watching where he was going but, I saw what was going to happen so I . . . well, I fixed it." Danton said.

Nick remembered how on the news, the guy described it like an angel of God had just shoved him out of the way. "Cool."

"Yeah," Danton said, and they walked by a open restaurant. People stood in mid-step; a couple was dancing, and beer was being poured from pitchers. It was all like actually being in one of those weird commercials they have on TV, when they take a still from many angles and rotate it.

"Does it take a lot of concentration to do it?" Nick asked, the silence a little maddening.

"Yes it does, especially with complex inanimate objects like cars and stuff. Living things are easier, but there's a price to pay if I'm not careful."

Nick gulped. "What do you mean?"

"Well," the dragon explained, "when I was first learning how to do this and take living things into this place, I took a rabbit here when I was in a pet store. I didn't think much about it at the time; I just un-stopped it, took it out of it's cage, and examined it. It seemed fine. I fed it some lettuce and water that I had un-stopped as well. It wouldn't touch anything stopped."

Danton seemed somber. "I did the same thing to a whole tank of fish, too. It was the first time I tried it on anything living like that. I mean, I'd done fruit and plants and stuff, but no animals. Well, while I was looking at the fish, the rabbit got away from me and I couldn't find the thing. Finally I gave up and unstuck time. When I went to cash out, someone found the rabbit under one of the checkout counters."

Nick gulped. "And?"

"It was dead; it was decomposed in a manor that is a little horrific to describe, so I'll just say the poor thing must have died badly. Probably of thirst, or starvation. Then its unstuck inner biological processes ate it from the inside out."

Nick winced. "God." He quickly put the idea out of his mind.

Danton nodded. "I've never brought another creature in since. I felt horrid for weeks."

"What do you think happened to it?"

"Oh, I know what happened to it. It stayed unstuck permanently. It died, but because no other biological things other than it self were unstuck, it . . . er, ran out of energy and kinda stayed in its condition."

Danton looked out at the silent ocean for a long while before he finished. "I really don't want to talk about the rabbit. I still feel bad about it."

"Sorry," Nick said, realizing that his friend could easily do the same to him. Quickly he changed the subject. "How long can you hold things um, stuck?"

"Until I fall asleep." Danton answered simply. "The best I can figure the moment I go unconscious, everything starts working normally."

"Does it hurt to do it?" Nick asked.

"No, not really, but It does leave me kinda drained, especially if I do it for long periods of time or try to take something really big and complicated in with me. Something like a car or a airplane. Oddly, natural things are easiest."

The two approached the hotel that they were staying in and with out a word, Danton opened the door for Nick. "We'll have to take the stairs, I'm a little too drunk to make the elevator work," Danton said, and the two plodded up the staircase.

"It must be a horrible burden to you," Nick said as they walked. "Having this power, but not being able to tell anyone about it."

"Well, " Danton said softly, "It is, but that's not the worst of it."

Nick looked over to his friend. He looked tired and harried, but calm and sincere. Nick wondered what other surprises his friend had for him that night. "Oh? How so?"

"You'll see soon enough, Nick." Danton said, and offered a weak smile. "It's kind of the strangest part of this whole thing. It took me years to even discover it. When I did, it scared the be-jeevers out of me. I still don't know what to make of it."

Nick nodded and the two arrived at their floor. They walked down the hall and Danton once again opened the door for his friend. Nick walked in first, followed closely by the dragon. Nick absently flicked on the light switch and then looked at it, as it neither moved, nor did the light come on.

"Sorry, Nick, let me get the door shut here and I'll help you," Danton said, and did precisely that. The door shut, Danton walked over and flicked the light switch. Every so slowly the light began to come on; dimly at first, growing very very slowly brighter. "It's weird, isn't it?" Danton said, flopping down on his bed. "I think you're actually watching the speed of light."

Nick nodded, sat on his bed, and started to take off his shoes. Suddenly the radio roared back into life; the the world was normal again. The sudden rush of all the sounds returning caused Nick to jump. "You should have warned me," he said.

"Sorry again, my friend. I'm drunk and I forgot I wasn't just rehearsing this speech," Danton said.

"Rehearsing?" Nick said removing his shoes and laying back on the bed.

Danton laughed a little. "It's hard to explain, but it's a relief just to confide in another. I've spoken it many times and envisioned what and how I would say it."

Nick smiled, trying to understand exactly how hard it must be for his friend. "I can understand that," he said.

Danton smiled. "Good. Then I hope you can understand the last of what I'm about to tell you."

Nick stared up at the flickering light and simply waited for his friend to finish what he was saying, but Danton said nothing for a long while.

"You know, you would think for such a price they could at least keep the lights steady," Nick said, softly stifling a yawn that was about to break his jaw.

Once again, Danton said, "Tell me what you hear."

"Just you and the radio," Nick said, but something in his slightly foggy mind started to register something amiss. He closed his eyes and listened to the usual sighs of the air conditioner, the surf in the background, even the tone of his friend's voice, but he couldn't put his finger on what was bothering him.

"And what's the weather report?" Danton's voice floated over to him as the lights flickered again, dimming before going out completely.

"Are you doing that?" Nick asked.

Danton only repeated himself. "What do you hear, Nick?"

Nick's mind concentrated on the sound from the radio, and for a moment he was confused. The music was rather familiar, but the voice singing the tune seemed strange. He hummed the tune to himself until the words returned to his long overtired mind, and when it hit him, he sat straight upright in bed.

"That's Puff the Magic Dragon!" he exclaimed, looking around in the darkened room, "But it's in some other language or something."

"You could say that," came Danton's voice with a slight chuckle.

Nick looked around the now darkened room and froze. Other than the lights from the beach below, the only other illumination came from two slightly iridescent red spheres with black slits for irises. As they narrowed, Nick heard his friend repeat himself; but somehow all the humor and human intonations seem to vanish from the voice.

"You could say that." the dragon said.

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Phantomgraph