phanTOMORROW Ch. 05: CONTACT BUZZ

"Should I bring Terri back to help us?"

"Not just yet! Honestly I think she would just be a distraction." Cassie Folklore paced her lab walking literally two inches off the tile. Since becoming bonded to her hologram she was acting her old self even if she couldn't pick up anything, still being intangible. Well, except for her modesty, it was going to take time getting used to being topless now that her strange transformation excluded a shirt or bra. At least her hologram still left her wearing blue jeans. What a tangled web she weaves! Talk about hanging on by a thread. Threads!

"For me? I think she was attracted to me Mom."

"I know for a fact she hasn't been laid in over a year. Can we not talk about other women? We need to figure out how to stabilize those you bring back. Including me!"

"I still haven't tried touching you Mom. I might bring you back."

"Too risky now that my frequency has connected to the hologram, I made for you. One wrong move and I might cease to exist entirely. Just killing the hum might distort my reality. I need you to build a portable version of the box so we can experiment my leaving this lab."

"Do you have the materials to do that?"

"I bought materials years ago but put off building the smaller version because my contacts at CERN were giving me a time table to go by. My own fault for being negligent. To answer your question...maybe. My other experiments rather sidetracked me."

"What exactly were those experiments Mom? I still wanna know all about my real dad, bad guy or not. You owe me that much."

"When I'm stabile I'll tell you everything in person."

"Orrrrrrr...I could pose a pinky toward your chest and make you tell me now." He winced devilishly.

"Oh, now you act like your sperm donor." She rolled her eyes, "You won't risk losing me again Griffin so stop the devious blackmail scheme. Now is not the time."

"Right! Sorry! I was just kidding. You're right Mom. Tell me what I can do."

"The portable parts are in our sub-basement storage. I'll need you to go down there and get them. They're in a box with the word's SMALL WORLD written in black sharpie. The code to get in that unit is FFIRING PIN...that's two F's."

"FFIRING PIN? Ok so with the two F's that's Griffin rearranged. Why pin?"

"IPN? International Performer Number...you get the idea."

"Twisted Mom!"

"Probably so. Go on now. Be careful."

"Of what? It's only me here unless I bring some of your lab partners back."

"Griffin? You've been lucky thus far navigating as you have, but we truly don't know every single detail of how our unique twist as you call me works. You've only touched women and brought them back. What happens when you bring a man back? Or, an animal?"

"That chimp should be in his cage, right? I can try reviving it and see what happens."

"Later Griffin! Please let's build the portable so I can stretch my legs."

"Alright! I'll be right back. Don't go anywhere!"

"I'll do my best."

Nodding at her he steps around Terri's clothing and heads out of Cassie's private lab making his way to the sub-basement. With multiple storage lockers to choose from he only had his hunches as to which one belonged to his mother. Having never been down here he knew he should have asked which one was hers. Deductive reasoning that a woman always decorated things he out ruled Terri's because of a flower sticker near the punch code box.

The males were prone to boring plain units simply knowing what belonged to them. He was glad he didn't need to figure out one of theirs. Of course, if his mom's code didn't work on theirs, it would be simple enough to make his rounds until finding the right locker. Cassie was more eccentric in her ways...using symbolism that would be harder to see. A painted white line in front of the unit was answer enough. Griffin used to run track in High School, the only sport he was ever any good at. A finish line said it all.

Code punched, the door opened up and within it was a multitude of totes, boxes, panels like what she installed in his loft to secure his safety, among other choice items. Digging for the box she needed, he accidently knocked over another cardboard crate. As the lid broke open personal effects came tumbling out. The one thing that made him curious was a scrapbook. He had never seen this one before so he grew intrigued enough to look into it. Pictures of Griffin as a baby made him smile. Group photos of old acquaintances when he was an infant were rifled past slowly, not recognizing many of the people, if any it being so old. "I'll stash this and look it over again later. I better get back in case anything..." Perfect timing a power outage left him in the dark.

"Great! I hope that's not all over the city. I'd hate to have to take the stairs back at the hotel. Twenty stories to the penthouse would suck ass. Not to mention I don't think there's a staircase from the highest level to the penthouse itself. How the hell would I get up...or down from there if power screwed with things?"

Shrugging off a future dilemma he left the scrapbook in the unit for now. Parts box in hand, a single emergency light turned on to light his way gave him enough illumination to see by. At least he had that, the rest of the building was equally lit. Suddenly it dawned on him a dire situation. "OH CRAP! The frequency box mom's using might have turned off. FUCK! FUCK! FUCK!" He hurried back to her as fast as he could. "Please let the backup generator have powered her hologram."

Reaching her lab he found the box off and her holographic image gone. "No! No! No! No! Dammit!" Box sat on a counter he gently stepped around hoping her ghost figure still existed somehow. Fearing touching her with his hand he had a brainstorm and went to her purse. Within it was a compact mirror. Having seen Sonya back at the penthouse mirror he hoped to locate Cassie. Finding Terri first he knew he at least had access to her if needed. Exploring the room further his mom was simply gone. Tears fell instantly. Alone again!

Trudging about aimlessly he threw a tantrum kicking his feet about to expel the stupidity and helplessness he felt. In doing this his foot swept Cassie's pants on the floor landing them right on her hologram grid. Power coming back online shortly after he looked to the ceiling with a sigh of momentary relief.

"You're back! Good let's get busy."

"MOM?" His eyes bulged and sought out her visual, he got more than he bargained for. Before him now stood his gorgeous mother in all her glory. Her hologram was now fully nude. "Uhhhh? Mom? Don't look down." He diverted his gaze out of respect.

"What do you mean?" She peered at her spectrum aka spectral form. "How did I lose my pants?" With them laying over her former grid she rolled her eyes. "Griffin? Why did you...?"

"Power went out I thought I lost you forever so I had a moment of insanity. Kicked things about. How was I supposed to know your jeans on the platform would cancel out your coverage? I mean you're not even standing on the grid right now, you're exactly where I left you two inches off the floor."

"We have no choice but to get past this Griffin. Just...try not to stare." Easier said than done when your mom was super-hot. Pride kept his eyes in check, unless she wasn't looking. He was a man; men never could resist looking. FACT! "Sorry mom!" He told himself to mask his dilemma.

"Use your hands, not your eyes!" Don't tempt him! He knew she meant to get busy on the portable but her words alluded to he, jerking off in his mind. He could use music to drown out his thoughts but in doing so he wouldn't be able to hear her directions in designing the portable gadget. Moving to the counter space he cleared away room to get to work. Humming to himself helped distract his temptation to peep. If she could smack the back of his head she would.

"Okay! Where do I start?" He asked then added, "Therapy?" under his breath. Cassie gave him pointers one at a time and within the next two hours he had a completed Motherboard as he would call it which resembled a wristband like on a watch. She rather appreciated the concept.

"Alright! We're going to have to take our chances going forward. Activate the portable then shut off the larger unit."

"What if I lose you entirely?" He began doubting his work. "I can't even activate the portable without..."

"Griffin? You're a grown man. I let you go when you asked to move out on your own as a sign of independence. If it's my time to go then you simply continue on without me. For a brief moment you had no choice, correct?"

"Yeah, but...I have you now."

"You will always have me here." She pointed at her heart but all he saw were a healthy gravity defying set of tits. He had to look away. "Not helping me cope mom!"

"I thought I raised you better than this?"

"You know I'm not trying to...you know...I'm a guy mom! It's what we do."

"Not toward your mother!" She swatted the air in front of his face getting as close as she could without physical contact. He laughed, so did she. "If that becomes your final memory of me use it to control your urges."

"Okay! Here goes nothing. I love you mom." He nearly wept as he prepared to switch on the portable construct.

"I love you too. More than anything!"

"Wait!" He paused, "What if I lose you before...you tell me about my father?"

"You would be better off. But...there's a scrapbook in the storage unit. His photo is in there, why I never cut his image out of that I'll never know. Griffin...just know he will never accept you. He's...a monster. He only used me for my brain, but let my body feel his need. When I found out I was pregnant...I ran. I went dark with the help of friends over in Europe. The problem is he gained access to my work without my knowing so...what obviously happened to the planet...technically is my fault. My calculations...were used against my better judgment. Hugo...his name is Hugo Gregorski."

"Do you think he got ghosted too?"

"Truthfully I pray he did. What he might attempt if surviving could be just as bad."

"What do you mean?"

"His specialty if you will, is...Mind Control. I let him get into my head too. If he has a way of bringing people back, he could use his own work to control them. This world would be his."

"If he survived it...he could touch people like I'm doing and bring them back too. I mean it would only be temporary..."

"He's quite intelligent Griffin, Hugo would figure out a way to prolong their existence."

"Could he locate me?"

"He does not know of you yet. If he did somehow protect himself as I, did you...he would search the world via communication links abroad for anyone trying to find life as well. Once he had you, he would use you however he needed. Never ever trust this man Griffin."

"Alright! You ready to cross your fingers?" He poses a finger over the portable's control mechanism, then another over the central unit keeping her hologram active.

"I believe in you Griffin." She directed an emotional glare. If a hologram could weep, she would.

Without another word he turned on the portable and a light array zipped back and forth around it counter clockwise on both sides of the band. Eying Cassie as still here he took a deep breath and flipped off the central processor. In the blink of an eye Cassie was...still here. "It worked." He chuckled as she smiled and began talking, only thing was he couldn't hear her. "Great! No audio." Regardless he lost his composure and went for the hug. Expecting her to become either flesh and blood again, or vanish completely what he got was...

"It's fine Griffin...I can use sign language to communicate with you."

"MOM? I can hear you now." He hopped back to stare at her with surprise. As soon as his body wasn't in synch with him her voice again faded out. He hadn't felt her his arms surrounding the hologram but went right through her. Yet it somehow bonded with her on a frequency level where he could at least talk to her. While Cassie looked confused, she began to sign with her hands but Grif simply reached out and touched her shoulder. "Try now!"

"Can you hear me?"

"Loud and clear. Now I know how to tune you out when you get cross with me."

"Not funny!"

"Okay, so how do we fix the audio?"

"I'm not certain." She paused to think as Griffin pulled away from touching her until she acted ready to lend him ideas. Hopping up to sit on the counter he casually used his hand-held compact mirror to spy on Terri, whose naked essence stood to his left her breasts in full view. Strangely it was as if she recognized him, her visage most definitely locking in on Griffin. He got a strange chill at this recent twist.

"Stalker much?" He meant himself. Ehhh? Terri too! "She's acting slightly different than anyone else I've seen in mirrors. Better run that by Mom too in case I'm creating problems without knowing it." Lowering the mirror, he felt a slight static charge that flowed across his arm hair. Mirror poised again just out of curiosity he found Terri's hand touching his arm. "Whoa! What's going on here?" Eyes bulging, he peered up at his mother who was pacing about, still two inches off the ground. Sadly, he had to look away, Mom's ass was just too appealing of a visual. For a hologram her connection to her true self kept things...lively of sorts. Yes, her breasts danced in step. Bad son! Bad son!

Compact mirror tilted slightly at himself he notices Terri's fingers creeping into view. Weirded out he holds it over his crotch and sure enough her hand touched him there even though he couldn't feel anything more than a tickle like sensation. "Oh crap! The mirror is connected to Terri somehow, it's like she follows it wherever I shine it." Raising it to view his chest sure enough Terri's hand palmed it. "Daaaamn! I think I'm stuck with Mom's lab partner." That spooked him. She was nice looking but nothing compared to Sonya, or even more...Jade Kinney. Taking the mirror with him he jumped down from the counter and took it and her clothing out into the other labs. Leaving them at a distance he felt...safer.

With the mirror opened and strategically placed he discovered her attraction was more toward the mirror than at him, seeing her fingers touching the mirror itself. For an ever-brief moment her entire body came back into our spectrum then just as quickly faded back out. "Interesting! There are mirrors literally everywhere these days so this could be a trigger somehow. Sorry Terri I know you'd rather paw me up than that mirror." Ego? In a world torn asunder like this? Sure, why not? Another chill struck him like a lightning bolt, "Shit! Maybe I'm taking after my real dad? Ahhh man!" Not good!

Lost in his stress he found Cassie snapping her fingers in front of his eyes, as if he could hear them but he did notice enough to come back home. Facing Cassie she patted her shoulder, or tried to that is, her way of saying touch me. Reaching to where she requested, high enough not to lure his eyes elsewhere, his merest caress brought her real body back for the briefest of moments. He had a panic attack thinking he might harm her, instead real flesh and blood returned. A silent scream effect followed even though she was a part time hologram, short term ghost all in one connective issue. Now tissue! It confused him as to why she hadn't become real earlier when he touched her for sound. What made the difference?

Finding her gasping for breath his first instinct was to look at her chest, nipples stabbing out at her newfound reality she just didn't care. She was back with her son. Those two inches off the floor sounded like a thud as she dropped to the tile.

"Mom? You're real again. I didn't think when I touched you but you motioned me to. Tell me you're okay."

Without a word she turned and hugged her son as if it might be her last time. Logically speaking it was unknown how long this reunion would truly be. "I'm...better! Strangely I feel very...energetic. I guess it must be the particle charge igniting within me. I decided to risk it Griffin, you touching the hologram. We've lost one another no matter how we look at it. If this ends up being our final hug, it is worth it. I love you Griffin."

"I love you too mom. Now let's not think negatively, let's figure out how to sustain you. Ummm? Might want to get dressed while you still can." He chuckled.

"OH MY GOD! Are you getting...turned on?" She felt his erection against her thigh. Blushing she pushed him away and snatched her pants up off the halo grid and swiftly put them on, her shirt following. He had turned his back to her expressing embarrassment of his own.

"You know I didn't mean that to happen mom. Nudity...just does that."

"Shush! We're not speaking about this again. Come here?" He turns to face her as she opens a drawer in her work station for a rubber glove. Opening it she looks to him, "Spit into it." He does so, "Keep going! I'll need as much of your DNA as you can muster to keep me here as long as possible." Another five dabs of saliva she put the glove on her hand and just absorbed it over time through her fingertips. "Good! If I blink out just touch me again."

"Groundhog Day the sequel!" He laughed, "Vanish, touch, spit, get dressed, vanish! Repeat!"

"If it's how we get this done so be it. Okay! I need to work on this portable myself, go find something to eat, my fridge is supplied with yogurt and veggies. I'll concentrate better alone. Just check on me every ten minutes to refuel my glove. If I can coordinate the right frequencies, I might at least be a stable hologram when I run out of your DNA. It's better than nothing I suppose if it keeps us together."

"Okay!" He decided not to reveal what he guessed about her compact mirror's allure. Considering he used it to find his mom that could be a problem in the future. He might need to destroy her mirror to prevent too much of an attraction to themselves. Not as punishment but as a safety measure. "I don't suppose it's any big deal as long as I'm not in the reflection." Leaving Cassie's work space was hard never knowing for certain how long he might have with her, but he was hungry so her recommendation did sound good. Might as well indulge before it all perishes.

Upon exiting her work area, he paused to look back at his mother working diligently to save herself. While he knew that look, he was going to be tuned out completely. Just as well, as smart as he was, he was in no league with Cassie's IQ. Yogurt was his best option. Still, he found himself interested in experimenting on his own. Leaving Terri's clothing behind he chose to snatch away the compact. Keeping it closed this time he headed for the shared kitchen. Finding better than yogurt he ate pasta salad and leftover lasagna. Tasted fine, but again it hadn't been that long since the world went out for dinner so to speak.

Belly full he kicked back and opted to open that compact. Looking at himself he saw nothing at first, then behind him crept a naked man? Jumping up his chair toppled over and flew right through the invisible body. "Holy fuck! It's Viggo!" Wincing at him in the mirror the man paraded about the kitchen as if uncertain what he was doing. He was definitely lost. Fortunately, the overweight Viggo hadn't seen his reflection.

However, as earlier Terri had followed her reflection rather than hover near her discarded clothes. Everywhere Griffin relocated to she trailed him as long as she could see herself. Sitting back down in his chair he watched and waited to see where she might go. With the mirror trained on his face he discovered Terri moving behind him and acting as if she wanted to hug him from behind. Allowing it to see how things would progress without he touching her, he realized she could touch him but not become her human self, she remained a negative aspect of who she was on the other side of wherever. She even tried kissing on his neck, while he felt what seemed like a breath there was no solidifying contact. Curious further he pulled away and swiftly removed his shirt.