Accessing Patricia
A Short Story
By Maryanne Peters

Part 1

He was a nobody. A laboratory assistant in the testing area at the back of the Padonox complex – a rat wrangler – a tissue slicer. He was unimportant, and he was working in an area where nobody would have known, even if he had been of any interest at all. But he wanted to get ahead. When he had the chance to be important, he decided to take that chance.

Ethertravel report #1902, received June 1, 2534.

I was Lisa Carter, a successful programmer years ago, but at the age of 112, I had run out of my retirement funds, and chose to continue my life as an ethertraveler. As you will read, I was definitely not typical on this world, and I ended up changing the world in a way, but don’t worry; I didn’t tell them about ethertraveling.

The parents of a troublesome teenage son finally had enough and sends him for special training. He gets more than she bargains for.

I was back home for the first time in two years, excluding some brief visits several times a year. This time I was here to stay, my schooling concluded. The last two years of college consuming that time, with my degree in business economics finally obtained. I finished junior college in my home town, but wanted my degree to have a little more clout than just a state university.

CHAPTER 69
The wedding carried on in as traditional a way as can be imagined, despite it taking place in a glorified tent on a golf course. We had the speeches, and the toasts, and Des and his minions delivered a meal of surprising originality and variety. He had set up a line of barbecues for those who needed the full Aussie, but had stationed a couple of his kitchen staff in strategic positions to ensure food was cooked, and I noticed we had no chicken or pork. Sensible man.

Chapter 2

The next morning, his mother was busy writing a list while Bill played the violin in his room. Around mid-morning, her mobile rang, and her husband told her that the two of them had an appointment at the clinic at two that afternoon. She went up to Bill’s room to tell him that she was going to get them sandwiches for lunch as they were going out after that.

They had some time together as she made their lunch and Bill looked at the list that his mother had left on the table.

Practice was over. Gregory picked up a towel to wipe some sweat from his face.

Thomas was about to towel off when a text arrived. “Son, I’ve got an emergency. Can you get a ride home?”

“No problem. Be careful out there.”

“I always am.”

When Thomas arrived at the scene, Joe approached with a grin on his face. “I can’t wait to hear why you are showing up to a crime scene looking like your wife.”

“I’ll tell you later. What’s the fuss?”

Pre- Chapter Note - This is a prologue chapter. The full story begins in Chapter 02. So, this and Chapter 01 are the setup for the story.

The cafeteria buzzed with its usual lunchtime chaos, a symphony of clattering trays, blended conversations, and the faint undertone of the kitchen staff calling orders. David navigated through the maze of tables, balancing his tray of questionable lasagna and apple juice as he spotted Tony waving from their usual corner table.

Sunlight filtered through the ancient pines surrounding their clearing, casting dappled shadows across Remi's unclothed skin as she crouched behind a weathered boulder. In the weeks since emerging from the egg, her body had matured to that of a twelve-year-old, though such human concerns as clothing had long since ceased to matter in her day-to-day life with her dragon siblings. Her toughened skin had adapted to the elements, comfortable against both rough stone and mountain air.

Chapter 4: In The Shadows

After another exhausting night, I stirred awake to find my mother enveloped in an exuberance I had never witnessed before. Her eyes sparkled with an infectious joy, a radiant light that seemed to illuminate the entire room.

“Good morning, Mom,” I murmured, still taken aback by the sheer brightness of her demeanor.

“Oh, my darling, good morning to you!” she replied, her voice a melody of happiness that danced in the air.