Psychokinetic Imagination

Bon Wells, 16, absolutely despised his six-year-old step brother, Baxter. 

 

Baxter was a prisoner of his own accord. The red-haired, green-eyed child never came out of his room except to go to school. He never watched TV, nor did he have any friends that he played with. He didn’t even like playing with the family dog—a labradoodle named Sampson. He was also sometimes a no-show for meals, because his mother—Bon’s step-mother—would deliver them to his room. Bon couldn’t believe his father would marry such a woman who would bring such a bizarre kid into their lives.

 

However, this night, Bon had Baxter all to himself, and he was determined to shake Baxter out of his world, once and for all. Even if he needed to by force. This night was his opportunity—a night when his father and stepmother were out on the town for an entire evening, and he was charged with babysitting.

 

Baxter’s bedroom was the whole attic of their century-old home in Connecticut, the entrance to which was atop a long, creaky, wooden staircase. Before Baxter had moved in with his new step-father, that was the room that Bon used to play with his childhood toys. Many of these toys had since become usurped by Baxter. But Bon didn’t care about that; he’d  grown out of that kids’ stuff. Now he was going to make sure Baxter grew out of it, too.

 

Bon jiggled the doorknob, but it was locked. He’d forgotten that the door had a lock. He then pounded his fist on the door and called Baxter’s name, but there was no answer. Bon grunted and then leaned over to look through the old fashioned keyhole. He couldn’t see his step-brother, though. Then he pressed his ear against the door to try and listen to what his screwy step-brother was up to.

 

Baxter Wells sat cross-legged inside a tiny storage room that he could access through a 3’x3’ door in his attic bedroom. The walls of this room were lined with old brick, some of which had crumbled, and mortar. The room was lit by a naked lightbulb that hung on a thin chain. Baxter sat facing four stuffed animals that were lined up in a semi-circle.

 

Baxter called out to his toy rhinoceros.

 

“Captain Hornblower!”

 

“Reporting for duty, Admiral Baxter” replied the rhinoceros, saluting. 

 

The rhinoceros was garbed in a military uniform complete with dangling service medals. If you asked him, Hornblower would talk your ear off about what each metal was for, but this day, nobody would ask.

 

“Why have you summoned the council?” Baxter asked Hornblower.

 

“Sir, we just received a distress signal from star-system Mirach on the planet Xi,” said the rhinoceros. “Its denizens are a race of humanoids known the Gold-People. They report being terrorized by a rogue mutant—a giant they call the Jack-Ape. They are asking us to expel this creature from their midsts.”

 

“I see,” said Baxter. “Have you completed your initial reconnaissance of the planet?”

 

“I have indeed, sir,” replied the rhinoceros. “The air is breathable to us, but there is no water on this planet. Therefore, we need to ration our stores.”

 

“No water?” Baxter said, furrowing his brow. “That is most unusual.”

 

“Aye aye, sir. The primary lifeforms on this planet are actually based on molten gold.”

 

Baxter shot his eyes wide open.

 

“Molten gold? Gold melts at 2,000 degrees Fahrenheit!”

 

“Physics just works differently in that corner of the universe,” explained Hornblower, shrugging. “Gold is to this planet is what water is to ours.” He then let out a mysterious grin and added: “The atmosphere also has an interesting effect on our bodies.”

 

“And what effect is that?” asked Baxter.

 

“You’ll see when we get there.”

 

Baxter twisted his lips.

 

“Captain Hornblower, you know I don’t like surprises,” he said, “but we don’t have time to play guessing games right now, so I will let this matter rest.”

 

Baxter turned to rest of the crew: A rabbit named Bunnicut, the navigator; a camel named Salisbury, the quartermaster; and an armadillo named Gecko, who complains a lot.

 

“Are we ready to cross through the Wormhole Portal?” Baxter asked the crew.

 

“Aye aye!” they replied in unison, apart from Gecko who said “I guess so” in his wheezy voice.

 

“Bunnicut,” Baxter said. “Please get ready to activate the Portal.”

 

“Aye aye, admiral,” Bunnicut said, saluting. The rabbit pulled the string that switches off the dangling, naked lightbulb. Then Baxter outstretched his arm towards that 3’x3’ door and made a fist. His arm started to glow orange. Then he released his fingers, which sent a shockwave and blasted that door open. Baxter and his crew crawled through the door. Except instead of going into Baxter’s bedroom, they walked onto the Planet Xi on the star system Mirach.

 

Baxter and the crew got to their feet and stood on the terrain of fine red sands. The landscape was flat as far as the eye could see. They gazed up to the sky to find it painted in lines of navy blue, tangerine, and yellow and blotted with dozens of cumulus-like clouds that glittered like gold. The clouds themselves appeared to be moving—constantly stirring within themselves, as though caught in a blender. The air looked and tasted rather like pea soup.

 

“Admiral Baxter, do you remember what I told you earlier about a surprise?” Hornblower asked.

 

“I was hoping I’d forget,” Baxter replied, sardonically.

 

“Watch this, sir,” Hornblower said. He bent his knees and jumped in the air. However, instead of falling back down to the ground, he became airborne. Then he started to swim in the air—doing breast strokes, back strokes and even loop-de-loops.."

 

Baxter’s eyes brightened.

 

“Wow!” he exclaimed. He proceeded to launch himself off the ground and became airborne as well. Just like Hornblower, Baxter found that he could swim in the air just like he could swim in water on Earth—except he could breathe. 

 

“How high can we go?” Baxter asked.

 

“That remains to be seen, sir!” Hornblower replied, gleefully.

 

Then Hornblower provided a little explanation how this marvel of physics was possible: "We're able to do this because our bodies are made from water. Natives to this planet can't however; their veins run with gold and makes them too heavy."

 

Bunnicut and Salisbury had also jumped into the air and we're dancing together, twirling like ballroom dancers. (There was an unspoken undercurrent of romantic enthrallment between these two characters during all their adventures with Baxter.)

 

Bunnicut looked down to see Gecko the Armadillo left behind on the ground. “Come on, Gecko! This is fun!”

 

“I-I don’t know,” he replied, partially hiding his head into his armadillo shell. “This looks awfully dangerous.”

 

“There’s nothing dangerous about this!” cried Baxter, as he spun through the air like a figure skater.

 

“I’m good right here on solid ground, thank you,” Gecko declared, crossing his arms. But then the mischievous Bunnicut dove down, grabbed Gecko by his T-shirt, and pulled him gently up into the air. He floated up until he peaked at 200 feet when gravity finally got hold of him, pulling him gently back down to the red sands. Gecko had his eyes covered with his paws for that entire journey.

 

Meanwhile, Bon could hardly believe what he was seeing through the keyhole. It was Baxter and four stuffed toys floating, spinning and dancing in the air.

 

“What the—“ he said to himself.

 

It was then Baxter heard a tiny voice somewhere low on the ground call out to him.

 

“Admiral Baxter! Admiral Baxter!” 

 

Baxter looked down to see two Gold-People who couldn’t have been more than two inches tall and appeared to be made out of solid gold.

 

Baxter did one final somersault before diving to the ground where he landed softly on his feet onto the red sands. Captain Hornblower, Bunnicut, and Salisbury soon followed. As armadillos can run rather fast in sand, it also didn’t take long for Gecko sprint over to join the team. 

 

“Hello, Gold-People,” Baxter said to the two tiny humanoids. “Please allow us to extend our condolences over the recent tragedies that have befallen your people.”

 

“We thank you kindly, dear admiral,” the Gold-Person said, clasping his palms together. “My name is Grat. My partner’s name is Harek. We are the appointed ambassadors of the dwindling race of Gold-People. We cannot thank you enough for coming to our aid.”

 

“It’s our pleasure,” Baxter replied.

 

“We are at our wit’s end,” said Harek. “The Jack-Ape has plundered our once thriving metropolis of Jonerita.” 

 

Harek projected a giant holographic image in the air showing the extent of what Jonerita once was—rich with towering, golden skyscrapers, studded lavishly with diamonds, emeralds, and rubies. Then the image morphed into its current state—skyscrapers and buildings leveled into rubble.

 

“He takes our buildings up to a cave in the crystal mountain and eats them,” explained Harek, “and with it thousands of our denizens have perished."

 

“The Jack-Ape had spent generations of subsisting on his own volition,” Grat said. “Our buildings are more purified and more delicious than the raw material he used to take out of the ground himself.”

“We haven’t much time to spare,” Harek continued. “The few of us who remain dwell in underground structures, but the Jack-Ape has even started digging those up. If you would please follow us to Jonerita, or what’s left of it, we will show you where the Jack-Ape dwells.”

 

Harek and Grat got into a tiny, sterling silver hovercraft and led Baxter and the crew through the red sand desert, through the dense danditree forests (trees that peaked no higher than Baxter’s knees, studded with spherical yellow blossoms, which Baxter and his crew flew over so as not to trample them), and then through the graphite flats. This was a journey that would have taken them weeks had Baxter and his crew been the size of the tiny Gold-People. However, being the size they were and being granted the gift of flight, the journey then took them no more than 30 minutes. Their final obstacle was a roaring river of molten gold—which felt cool to the touch—that spanned about 12 feet across.

 

Baxter had caught Salisbury gaping at the river with his long camel tongue hanging out of his mouth.

 

“If only I could just dip a pail in there and bring some of that gold home,” Salisbury said. “We would be rich!”

 

“You know as well as I do, Salisbury, that we abide by a strict code of never removing artifacts or material from the planets we visit,” snapped Baxter.

 

A nonplussed Salisbury looked down to his hooves and said: “You are right, sir.”

 

Baxter patted the camel on the back.

 

“I know how tempting this place must be. It is for all of us,” Baxter said.

 

“By the way,” said Salisbury, “now would be a good time for us to water up.” He started passing around a canteen.

 

“Now that’s a good idea,” said Baxter.

 

“That is what I’m here for,” replied Salisbury, winking.

 

After crossing the river of gold, they finally approached their destination: the ruins of Jonerita.

 

“As you can see,” Grat said, “the devastation has been immense.”

 

“So much death and destruction,” added Harek, shaking her head.

 

The crystal mountain loomed over the ruins of Jonerita like a malevolent specter. Its slopes were steep, jagged and smooth and looked reminiscent of a giant, broken shard of frosted glass.  While Baxter was a giant in this society, scaling that mountain would have been a feat for him had it not been for his ability to fly—not only because of its height but because the mountain was so slippery that there wasn’t anything to get a foothold on.

 

“Luckily, we are able to fly in this world,” said Captain Hornblower, gazing at the mountain reverently.

 

“I guess so,” quipped Gecko.

 

Bon pounded a fist on Baxter’s door.

 

“Baxter!” he screamed. “I demand to know what's going on in there! Open this door!"

 

There was an earthquake so violent that it even further decimated the once great, thriving metropolis of Jonerita.

 

“The Jack-Ape stirs,” Grat said, gravely. He pointed to a cave at the highest peak of the crystal mountain.

 

Baxter turned to Captain Hornblower.

 

“Now is as good a time as any to face the Jack-Ape,” Baxter said. “Are you ready?”

 

Captain Hornblower gave Baxter a single nod.

 

“Bunnicut, Salisbury, Gecko, stay behind. We’ll take care of this.”

 

“Aye aye, sir,” said Bunnicut and Salisbury. Gecko added: “Gladly.”

 

Baxter and Hornblower pushed themselves off the ground and up to the crystal mountain where they landed on the floor of the mouth of the cave. The ground was shaking so violently, at that point, that Baxter and Hornblower could hardly remain standing.

 

Then they heard footsteps approach quickly, and the creature suddenly showed itself: The Jack-Ape. It was twice as tall as Baxter was. Piercing red eyes, bushy fur from head-to-toe that was purely white; solid gold, razor-sharp teeth like a serrated saw. The creature then let out a mighty roar, which sent a shockwave, knocking Baxter and Hornblower onto their backsides.

 

Baxter then got back to his feet and charged his arm. It started to glow orange.

 

“Sir,” Captain Hornblower gulped. “Are you sure about this?”

 

Bon kicked Baxter’s door with all his might, forcing it off the lock, spraying splinters everywhere.

 

“Baxter, I said come out!” Bon roared.

 

Admiral Baxter punched his fist at the Jack-Ape and spread out his fingers, forcing the Jack-Ape out the other side of the mountain where he was sure to meet his death. But then all of the sudden . . .

 

“Bon!” screamed Baxter. He closed his fist, which kept Bon levitating inches above the air, just before his head was about to smash on the bottom step. Then he let Bon down slowly.

 

Bon, laying on his knees at the bottom of the wooden stairs, glared up at his younger step-brother.

 

“What are you?” Bon asked.

 

“I am a psychokinetic,” Baxter replied, sheepishly.

 

Then a grin slowly crept up on Bon’s lips.

 

“Do you think you could use one more member of your crew... if you would have me?” he asked.

 

“I think we could fit you in,” Baxter replied, nodding.
 

Image from Wikimedia Commons.