Chapter 8
Over the next few days, Cherry became more and more obsessed with the glove. She did nothing but read old books and search the web, looking for even the slightest bit of information to go on. It was surprisingly hard to research as there wasn't much info to go on, but from what she could gather, it was once a video game peripheral that was converted into some sort of tool, but for what purpose?
It was a cool Sunday morning, and Galaxy-Man and Cherry had gotten up early to watch ThunderCats. They both sat together in front of the TV in their underwear eating Froot Loops they “borrowed” from Hamilton's pantry. Galaxy-Man wore long johns with a hole in the butt and a black Metallica T-shirt, and Cherry wore tighty whities with no shirt. Commercials were on so Galaxy-Man and Cherry were hovering around the cereal box and Cherry was using a marker to navigate the maze on the back.
“No, not that way,” urged Galaxy-Man. “Turn around, turn around!!”
“Okay, okay,” giggled Cherry.
“Do you even want Toucan Sam to make it through the cloud maze?”
“Geez, I'm sorry, Dad.” She shook her head. Something was eating at her and she had to speak her mind. “You know, it's just – he's a bird. Why the heck doesn't he just fly over the maze? And also, they're freaking clouds, man. I'm going through them.” She then drew a straight line through the maze.
“No,” cried Galaxy-Man, “what if that no good Carl the King Crab is up to no good and they clouds are like poison or something.”
"Here, you're in charge." Cherry gave Galaxy-Man the market and went back to doing research. This time she used a laptop that Galaxy-Man “borrowed” from Hamilton.
“You're still on about that old potty glove, huh?” asked Galaxy-Man.
“Ugh, and I can't find anything,” Cherry looked sad. “It's hopeless. I read the complete history of gloves and I found nothing.”
“Maybe it's not hopeless.”
“How so?”
“Well, I got a buddy who's like super tech savvy. He might know what it is.”
Cherry looked very annoyed at hearing that. “You wait until now to tell me!?” she asked.
“You were having so much fun though,” said Galaxy-Man. “I didn't wanna intrude.”
“You ever read the history of gloves, Dad? It's not that interesting.” Cherry closed her eyes tight and put on her thinking face. “Gloves date back to antiquity. According to translations of Homer's Odyssey, gloves are said to be used to protect against brambles.” Cherry wasn't really mad. She was actually very excited to see if Galaxy-Man's friend would tell her anything about the glove.
Galaxy-Man and Cherry slowly flew across town to meet with Galaxy-Man's old friend, JupiterRay, no spaces. He was a computer programmer and hacker and he was very good at what he did. Galaxy-Man met him at a town StarFighter convention about 10 years back and the two had been on-and-off acquaintances ever since. He was the man who designed the simulated reality for Eli the elephant of course. Galaxy-Man still emailed him from time to time, but didn't see him very often.
Galaxy-Man and Cherry arrived at his house, which was a modest brick home in a middle class neighborhood.
“Hmm,” mumbled Cherry, “I pictured him living in some sort of biodome the way you described this person to me.”
They walked up the door and rang the doorbell, which play the dial-up modem sound. “What's that sound?” asked Cherry.
“The 90s, kiddo.”
JupiterRay answered the door. He was very thin and very pale. He had long brown hair he kept in a nappy ponytail, and had a big beard. He wore glasses, a black T-shirt that read “Hello World” in terminal font, tan cargo shorts, and flip-flops. “Galaxy-Man, long time no see, my friend,” he said. “Come in.”
“Thanks, JupiterRay,” said Galaxy-Man. “This one here has some strange tech she need identifyin'.”
His house was an organized mess. There were computers, surge protectors and wires everywhere. JupiterRay repaired computers for a living. He walked over to the couch, which was covered in papers, and brushed everything into the floor.
“And this must be the legendary Cherry Limeade I've heard so much about.”
“That's my name,” smiled Cherry.
“Have a seat,” said JupiterRay. He lived with his dad, who was also a programmer apparently, though, Galaxy-Man had never seen him. He was always there, though, in the back room doing something or other... apparently. JupiterRay had the odd habit of yelling at his father to come into the room. He would very often turn his head at any given time and call out for his father. He would stop mid-sentence just call out for his assistance, but he never seemed to come. JupiterRay's father was this elusive, almost mythical being whom everyone assumed was real, though no one really knew for sure. Technically, no one had ever seen his father.
“So I was hoping you could tell what us this is,” said Cherry, holding up the glove.
“Oh, let's take a look,” said JupiterRay. He began looking very closely at the glove, squinting his eyes as he adjusted his glasses. “Hey Dad!!” he called.
“Do you know what it is?” asked Cherry.
“I think I might know what it- Dad, can you come in here a sec!?”
“Have you seen it before?” asked Galaxy-Man.
“It's definitely a Power Glove,” said JupiterRay, “but I've never seen one like this be- Dad! Get off the dang computer and come look at this!! Whoever built this tech wasn't playing video games- Dad!”
“How do you mean?” asked Cherry.
“Well,” said JupiterRay “These batteries on the side are about the most powerful you can get. They have way more energy than any video game peripheral would ever need. This thing could've been built as a weapon. I guess these seven USB ports are for dongles that enable additional functions.”
“Dongles?” snickered Cherry.
“What the junk is a dongle, Ray?” asked Galaxy-Man. “That doesn't sound like a real thing.”
“It's like, something you plug into a computer to add more functions- Dad!!”
Cherry was a bit weirded out that he kept calling for his father, but didn't say anything.
“How is Mr. Jesseks anyway?” asked Galaxy-Man, Jesseks being their last name.
“He's fine,” said JupiterRay, “if he'd quit horsing off and get in here!!” He pointed out a little red dot on the tip of the glove's finger. “See this dot?” he asked. “It's some sort of transmitter I think. Hang on...” He stood up and looked excited. “Come into my lair,” he said ghoulishly. “I wanna run some tests to see what kind of waves we're dealing wi- Dad, get in here!! We've got some strange tech that needs testing! Put down the freakin' controller for five minutes! I'm sorry, guys, my dad's being a dord.” What in the world was a “dord”? He started walking down the hallway into a bedroom and Galaxy-Man and Cherry followed him.
His walls were covered in Video Game posters: Donkey Kong Country 2, Super Mario World, Smash Bros., Halo 2, Half-Life, Mega Man 2, Hatsune Miku, Kirby 64, Castlevania, The Legend of Zelda, God of War III, Bubble Bobble, Wario's Woods and Sim City to name only a few. It was pretty random assortment, but he had good taste for sure.
It was a truly messy house, but Jupiter seemed to know exactly where everything was. There was a bed in the room but it was unlikely that anyone slept there. It was covered in computer parts and various papers. There were no free surfaces in the room. There were soda cans, bottles, books, electronics, cups, plates, modified Nerf guns, clothes, tools, Amiibos, various other statues and figures, Beanie Babies, pens, CDs, video games, wires and a ton of other stuff.
Cherry and Galaxy-Man followed JupiterRay into the room. Cherry sat in a nearby beanbag chair and looked around the room. There was a lot of things to look at after all. Galaxy-Man was too busy texting Cutty and giggling. “Hehehe, the silly kitty doesn't like the mirror,” he giggled. Cherry just rolled her eyes.
JupiterRay dug around under the bed looking for something. He quietly mumbled to himself as he searched. “If I can find... that dang... energy reader we... can get- Dad! Get off your butt and put one foot in front of the other! It's not that hard! I apologize. My dad's being such a doogus today.” JupiterRay would often use insults that no one ever heard of before. What was a “doogus”?
He looked and looked and then he finally found it. “Woot!” he exclaimed as he held up the odd gadget.
“What's that dealy gonna tell us?” asked Galaxy-Man as he glanced up from his phone. “Hehehe, that kitten is sleeping in a cup!”
“Well,” said JupiterRay, “if it's emitting electromagnetic waves, we can use this tech to find out what kind and that may tell us the glove's purpose.” JupiterRay always referred to gadgets and other electronic devices as “tech.”
“Groovy,” said Galaxy-Man. He started snickering again. “That cat has a lime peel for a hat! How decadently droll.”
“I'm about to take that phone away from you, mister,” said Cherry in her stern voice.
“Aw, but Mom!!”
JupiterRay pushed aside some junk on the table into the floor to make room for the energy reader. It was a homemade machine fabricated from an old sewing machine, an electric thermometer and a few other odd parts here and there.
“And now lemme put on the glove and point it into the energy reader's lens and we can- Dad!! Put down the KFC and get your butt in here! We got company! I'm really, really sorry, guys. My dad's just being a real funkledunk today.”
“It's all good,” said Cherry.
The machine beeped three times, then it dinged. JupiterRay looked extremely intrigued. “Huh,” he said as he tugged his beard.
“What, what does that mean?” asked Cherry.
JupiterRay plugged the device into a nearby computer and started typing away. He looked as though he just the found the lost city of Númenor or something. Galaxy-Man and Cherry were in suspense. “Have you guys ever heard of fools light?”
“Nope,” said Galaxy-Man and Cherry together.
“It's a new-form energy left over from the event that happened on Earth back in 1991.”
“Wait, what happened in 1991?” asked Cherry.
“You don't know?” he asked. “It was this experiment that almost destroyed the universe, let's leave it at that. It sort of changed the way certain universal laws functioned and created extra dimensions that don't make a whole lot of sense, and sometimes energy from these dimensions bleed through into other dimensions.”
“Yeah, none of that makes any sense,” said Cherry.
“Fools light is- Dad! Bring me the fools light scanner.”
“Spit it out, JupiterRay,” said Galaxy-Man.
“Fools light is pretty much the fastest thing in the universe and it's the only effective way of communicating with other galaxies.”
“Good Lord,” said Galaxy-Man. “What kinda speeds we talkin' about?”
“Fast, let's leave it at that,” said JupiterRay. JupiterRay had a habit of leaving things at that.
“Why would it need to communicate with other galaxies?” asked Cherry.
JupiterRay tugged his beard and pondered. “It could be attempting to communicate with its missing pieces.”
“You mean the dongles?”
“Yes, and I believe we can check the gloves programming to see where it's sending the signals and perhaps, if it's receiving signals as well, we can find out from where.”
“Cool beans,” said Galaxy-Man.
Over the next half hour, JupiterRay ran tests on the gloves and found that it was indeed sending out signals to seven points scattered around the Milky Way and other nearby galaxies. While he toiled away at the computer, off in his own little universe, occasionally calling his father, Galaxy-Man and Cherry raided the kitchen for snacks. Galaxy-Man pillaged the fridge while Cherry plundered the pantry. In the fridge there were a large assortment of cereals. JupiterRay kept them in the fridge because he had a roach problem.
“Ooh, Waffle Crisp,” smiled Galaxy-Man.
“I found a box of instant grits, yo,” said Cherry. “Toss me a bowl, Father-Man!”
“You got it, Daughter-Man.” Galaxy-Man walked over to wear the dishes were and tossed Cherry a bowl, but she didn't quite catch it and it fell into the floor and shattered. They stood frozen, fearing JupiterRay would come barging in and give them the business.
They then heard him yell. “Dad, put down the freaking Etch-A-Sketch and get in here!” hollered JupiterRay from across the house.
Galaxy-Man and Cherry let out a sigh of relief and went back to their ransacking. Galaxy-Man ate six consecutive bowls of cereal until there was nothing left and Cherry ate all the grits her little stomach could hold. While they ate, JupiterRay called for his father eight times and apparently he walked into the room and helped out briefly, but Galaxy-Man and Cherry never saw the man.
Galaxy-Man went back to texting Cutty. “Hehe, that cat's wearing a tie and giving helpful advice,” giggled Galaxy-Man. Cherry just rolled her eyes again.
Before they knew it, JupiterRay had built a device to locate the missing parts of the glove out of an electronic 20 questions game, a modified turkey thermometer and an old sock. It didn't seem to make much sense, but it worked.
The gang stood back in the bedroom.
“This tech right here should make it easy to find the missing dongles,” said JupiterRay. “I call it the DongleDar... no spaces.” JupiterRay didn't like spaces very much.
“Rad,” said Galaxy-Man coolly.
“Yeah,” said Cherry, “that's actually pretty amazing you were able to build that so fast. Is that a sock?”
“Yes,” said JupiterRay, “and let's just leave it at that. Dad!!”
After saying thanks and goodbye, it was high-time to go. The ride home was very slow. The Star Whomper only had two speeds: greased Millennium Falcon, and antarctic molasses, so the 3 mile journey took quite a few minutes. Galaxy-Man sat at the helm and Cherry sat on the couch fixated on the DongleDar.
“So are we gonna go looking for the missing dongles?” asked Cherry.
“You bet!” exclaimed Galaxy-Man. “I'm always up for a good adventure. And who knows, maybe if the glove is really a weapon, we can use it to like, destroyed Hamilton's fence or something. That fence has looked too nice for too long.”
“Let's do it, man.”