Carrier Wave: A Day Of Knowing Tale Read Online Free PDF Page A

a
wildly oscillating tone that dove up and down through the
registers. Quickly the sound filled out with too many atmospheric
squeaks and whistles to track. Helms felt something behind her
eyeballs pop, and a sucking vertigo pulled the floor of the trailer
away from her. She stumbled, but put a hand on the kitchenette’s
sticky counter and steadied herself. The recording stopped, and for
a moment Helms wondered if it had truly gone quiet, or if she’d
just gone deaf.
     
    The man peered back at her from the far end
of the trailer. His eyes burned with focused curiosity. He was
expecting something.
     
    When the vertigo passed and she popped her
ears a few times, she felt normal again.
     
    “That was…weird,” Helms said.
     
    The man smiled slowly, his thin, dry lips
cracking from the effort.
     
    “Interesting,” he said, then looked to the
roof and barked “interesting!”
     
    “So what was all that ab-” Helms began, but
the man cut her off.
     
    “I wonder,” he said. He did a little hop and
then scuttled toward her. He stood a few inches shorter than Helms,
squinting up into her eyes and inclining his head to get all the
different angles. “I wonder which you are, then, hmm?”
     
    He reached up to touch Helms’ eye, but she
slapped his hand away with her right while pushing him back to
arm’s length with her left. Then hand to pistol again, ready
position.
     
    “Not a Manic,” the man continued, unfazed.
“This close to a filtered hi-fi source and you’d be clawing at the
walls by now.”
     
    “What the hell are you on about?” Helms
said.
     
    “A Sleeper then? Could be,” he clapped his
hands hard.
     
    Helms jumped. She pulled her revolver out
from its holster a fraction of an inch.
     
    “No,” the man shook his head. “The reflexes
would be fading by now. You could be one of the other frequencies –
I haven’t identified them all. Wouldn’t that be exciting?
Exciting!”
     
    “Sir, I’m going to need you to come with me.
I have some questions for you in regards to a series of attacks
around town that I-“
     
    “How’s your heart rate?” The man asked,
ignoring her. “Your breathing? Your vision? Are you hearing voices,
having sudden unexplainable urges? What do you taste? You have to
tell me, quick! Quick! The changes might render you unable to
speak.”
     
    “What changes? Sir, you’re not making any
sense. If you’d just gather your uh…audio materials and… and
accompany me back to the station, I’m sure we can get all of
this-”
     
    “Oh,” the man looked crestfallen. “Oh that’s
it. Just another carrier. How disappointing.”
     
    “Sir, I’m going to ask you one more time to
gather your recordings and come with me to the station, or I will
have to detain you.”
     
    “Of course,” the man giggled, “of course!
Just a moment.”
     
    He shuffled to the far end of the trailer
and poked around at his audio equipment. He turned back to
Helms.
    “I just have one question for you: What
would you do if I erased this recording right now?”
     
    “Sir?” Helms said, her patience wearing,
“that is evidence to be used in a possible criminal
investigation…”
     
    “I understand,” the man nodded. His finger
hovered over a button on the central console. “I’m going to erase
it now.”
     
    “I’ll fucking kill you!” Helms had her
pistol out and trained on the man’s face in the span of a
heartbeat.
     
    “Yes, yes. There it is. The carrier wave
doing its work. Not your fault of course – the carrier wave is the
strongest frequency. It has by far the most adherents. Not the most
interesting effects, of course, but it makes sense. The signal
needs to spread. I can’t cast aspersions on you – no shame in it.
No shame! It took me years to figure out that my own research
wasn’t on my initiative. I’m susceptible to the carrier wave,
myself. You’re in good company!”
     
    The man started to fiddle with the audio
equipment again, and