Phase Shift by elise abram

the
modulator if he wanted. But he didn't." I try to put the salad bowl
in an overhead cupboard but it's too big and the shelf is too high.
Palmer takes it from me before I can lose my balance and slides it
into the cupboard with ease. The pots go under the counter. I'm
short—I can handle those without help. "It's almost like he was
protecting Gaia."
    "Protecting Gaia? From what?"
    "From us. From...capitalism. Gaia was like
a… tabula rasa. Imagine the possibilities there—an entire
world untouched by commercialism, full of untapped natural
resources. Maybe Prescott wanted to keep Gaia from becoming Earth
Two." Palmer leans against the kitchen counter. A dish rag is slung
over one shoulder. He appears to be contemplating my last
comment.
    "Still skeptical, huh?" I ask. "You were
there when I spoke to Dr. Morales. Didn't he say that theoretically
Prescott's story could be true?"
    He shakes his head. "His exact words were,
'In theory, anything is possible'." He shifts his weight against
the counter, propping his upper body up with his arm. "Not exactly
the same thing." That's Palmer for you—ever playing Scully to my
Mulder.
    "If I could just figure out a way to
energize the modulator..."
    "Prescott said it worked on solar energy,
didn't he? Why don't you just leave the thing in the backyard for a
few days?"
    I throw a damp tea towel at him. It hits him
in the neck and chest with a muffled thwack. "Palmer! I'm
serious."
    "So am I," he says, smiling. "We must have a
few solar calculators in the house. Maybe if we cannibalized the
batteries we could figure out a way to charge it."
    I feel like he’s having one over on me.
"It's not the same and you know it."
    The phone begins to ring.
    "I've got it," Palmer says. "Saved by the
bell," he mutters on his way down the hall to the office.
    "I heard that," I call after him. I begin to
wipe down the counter and table top while Palmer takes the
call.
    "That was Suzanne Pascoe," he says after he
hangs up. I'm wiping the stovetop at the time. "You remember
Suzanne?" I toss him the wet rag and ask him to finish it off.
    "How could I forget Suzanne Pascoe?" Never
in a million years could I forget Suzanne Pascoe.
    "The Museum inherited a mummy from a private
collection a few months back. They've been waiting for time for
X-rays and cat-scans. Suzanne just found out they've got an
appointment for two-thirty tonight. She asked me a while ago to be
on the team."
    Uh-huh , I say with a nod of my
head.
    "I don't know when I'll be home. If you wake
up and I'm not here I'll see you at school later."
    I nod again, like I'm okay with the fact
he's going to spend the night with his ex.
    "Guess I'll try to get some sleep before the
big event, huh?" He heads down the hall that leads to the master
bedroom.
    Suddenly I'm struck by an idea. "Palmer,
wait," I yell. He stops mid-step and turns. "Prescott. He didn't
say the modulator ran on solar power. What he said was that it ran
on solar radiation."
    "I don't follow you."
    "X-rays and cat-scans use radiation,
right?"
    "Yeah," he says slowly, as if he's unsure as
to where I'm going with this.
    "Couldn't we somehow use the X-rays and
cat-scans to irradiate it?"
    Palmer shrugs. "It's worth a try, I guess."
We look at each other in silence for a moment. Palmer nods. "Okay.
Give me the modulator and I'll see what I can do."
    "No way," I say with a quick shake of my
head. "If you're going to try this, I want to be there. I'm going
with you."
     

Mer-et-sa-ankh
    I maintain a death grip on
Palmer's hand with one hand and on his elbow with the other as I
let him lead me down the faded peach hospital corridor. I feel like
a loser who's crashed the cool kids' party and Palmer's the only
one that's glad I came. My hold on him tightens when I see Suzanne
Pascoe standing at the end of the corridor. He must sense my
discomfort because he rests one of his hands on the one I have on
his elbow. A lump rises in my throat that refuses to be swallowed,
no matter how hard