Free Giddeon (Silver Strand Series) by G.B. Brulte, Greg Brulte, Gregory Brulte Page A

little house-cleaning/genocide?   I’ve seen it carried out all over this planet.   Especially after I learned to go back and forth from the future to the past.
     
    I’ve seen kings and queens order legions of idealistic young men to their deaths on battlefields soaked in blood.   I’ve witnessed thunderous explosions ripping people, both civilians and soldiers, apart and into bits.   Carpet bombings.   Chemical warfare.   Napalm.   Smallpox carried on blankets to native populations.
     
    You name it, and I’ve seen it.
     
    Serial killers slashing their way across the country.   Tortures that you can’t even bear to watch.   Suffering on such a grand scale that it takes your breath away.   And, always, I ask myself ‘why’.   What drives us, as people, to do such things?   What could possibly rationalize the horror?
     
    And, you know the scariest part?
     
    They all pretty much think it has to be done.   That it’s justified, and there is no other way.   Except for the crazies… the ones that feel nothing and never will.   They just do it because they can. They’re far and few between, though.   Most of the atrocities I’ve witnessed are by ‘normal’ people in abnormal circumstances.  
     
    Maybe Giddeon’s right… you have to take the good with the bad.  
     
    It just seems like there’s so, so much bad.
     

     
    *****
     

     
    Anyway… I’m getting side-tracked.   Back to magic and monsters.   Giddeon uses quantum physics to explain the realities around him.   I was much younger when I came to be, so I didn’t know anything about math and physics.   To me, it was all magic.  
     
    Before there were the monsters, there were flights of fancy… rainbows and unicorns, if you will.   For the first few years, I think I was somehow shielded by the love of your parents from the nasty things.   The nasty things that would eventually break through into my world.
     
    When your mom would read fairy tales to you, I would soak them up like a sponge.   Your Saturday morning cartoons were quite a treat, and I would dream of all of the mythical creatures and magical lands I saw.   Even the commercials.   The Lucky Charms Leprechaun was one of my favorites, and he kept me company on nights when I wasn’t tired.   Although I didn’t think the cereal itself was magically delicious, you sure did.   I’m surprised your enamel held up : )   The Leprechaun   would dance and sing for me, and even though I knew I was controlling him and it wasn’t real… it was still fun.  
     
    Like riding unicorns.   I did a lot of that.
     
    And, taming dragons.  
     
    They fly, too, and the scales are warm beneath you because there’s fire down in their bellies.  
     
    I lived in an enchanted world, and I learned the ways of magic.   It’s a good thing, you see, because I needed all of my powers to stand up to the monsters when they came.   And, come, they did…
     

     
    *****
     

Chapter 30
     

     
    Since we had arrived in the late afternoon, Ray (that’s what he prefers to be called) suggested that we take our time and take a swim, or wash up, or both.   Then, he said he would have a nice supper waiting for us.   Mr. Bradford knew we would be tired, and he asked if we would be okay with just having a quiet evening without any talk about the asteroid until the morning.   He had cleared his schedule and would have the whole day to devote to us; for the time being, however, it seemed that corporation matters would keep him up well into the night.
     
    I could tell Melody wanted to get down to business right away, but, after thinking it over she must have decided that a well organized presentation on a good night’s sleep may have been the best way to go.   She smiled, agreed to the plan, and then we all went and changed into our swimming gear.
     
    I figured, what the heck… might as well see how the other half lives… or, perhaps, I should say, the other 0.0000001 percent :