Copper Beach

if it had been assembled from various do–it–yourself science kits and then seriously modified. An old burner designed for heating the contents of test tubes sat on one corner. A cumbersome, obviously hand-built laser occupied the far end of the bench.

    “You know,” Abby said, gazing around the crowded room. “If anyone else, members of the media, say, or the shrinks at the psychiatric hospital, saw this place, the first words that would spring to mind would be mad scientist. ”

    “I was just thinking that this lab looks a lot like mine,” Sam said.

    Abby cleared her throat. “Mmm-hmm.”

    He went to the bench to examine the laser. “Not as high-end, but most of the basics are here.”

    “Mmm-hmm.”

    He glanced back and saw that her eyes were sparkling with amusement. He sighed. “Go get the boxes and the Bubble Wrap. I want to take a look around before we pack this equipment.”

    “Okay.” Abby turned and hurried back up the steps.

    When she was gone, he went slowly, methodically, through the shed, opening cabinets and drawers. He discovered a number of stones and crystals, most of which would have been overlooked by the average rock hound. But with his senses mildly jacked, he could tell that several of the stones were hot.

    He was holding one half of a split geode, studying the glittering crystals inside, when Abby reappeared.

    “Find something interesting?” she asked.

    “Nothing yet that would explain the voices that Grady heard.” He put the geode down and took another look around. “He said the voice came from a crystal.”

    “A green crystal.”

    “I found several varieties of green quartz, a small piece of green tourmaline and some green andradite, but none of it was giving off enough energy to explain the voices he was hearing.”

    “Shall I start wrapping up the equipment while you look around?”

    “All right. But I’d better dismantle the laser for you.”

    She smiled. “It looks like he found it in a scrap yard.”

    “He probably bought the various parts online and assembled them himself.”

    Sam started back to the workbench. A faint hiss of energy made him pause in mid-stride. To his slightly heightened senses, it sounded as if a small insect was buzzing somewhere nearby. He turned on his heel, searching for the source, and caught a flash of green out of the corner of his eye. When he tried to take a closer look, he discovered he could not focus clearly on the object that was giving off the energy.

    “What is it?” Abby asked.

    “I’m not sure yet.” He stopped trying to see the object with his normal vision and raised his talent to the max. The dull gray of the concrete floor and the faded paint on the walls were abruptly transformed. The basement was now lit with ultralight. The rocks and crystals in Grady’s collection glowed, bathing the space in a paranormal rainbow.

    The buzzing-insect sound grew louder but not more distinct.

    “Got it,” Sam said.

    “What?” Abby asked. “Where? I don’t see anything except the rocks and equipment that you’ve already checked.”

    “Go hot. You’ll hear it, too.”

    Energy warmed the atmosphere as she went into the zone.

    “Good grief,” she said. “You’re right. It sounds like a scratchy old audio recording of some kind.”

    “That’s exactly what it is.” Sam went to the filing cabinet and examined the array of precision-cut objects on top. “A recording. It’s emanating from one of these.”

    “Those aren’t crystals or rocks. They look like modernistic glass sculptures.”

    “They’re prisms,” he said. “Very special prisms. Grady probably used them to focus energy as well as light.”

    “There’s a recording inside one of those prisms?”

    “That’s the only explanation that fits,” he said. “It must have been laid down with psychic energy, and probably tuned to Grady’s wavelengths. That’s why we can only detect a faint buzz but not distinct words.”

    He picked up a heavy green glass prism. The shiver of energy got a bit louder but not much. “It’s very weak to our senses, but it was probably a lot louder, stronger and clearer to Grady.”

    Abby moved closer. “I’ve never seen a prism like that one.”

    “It’s called a retroreflector, a trihedral prism. It’s designed to reflect energy or a beam of light back to its source, regardless of direction. Standard equipment in labs. But this particular prism focuses paranormal energy, not the