Free Mercury Man by Tom Henighan Page A

inspired, told her, “I just went over to check out Fabricon.”
    â€œOh, I’m glad. I’ve heard it’s a great place to work. Jemmie was saying that her nephew just got hired there. It sounds like a great opportunity, Tom. Did you talk to anyone?”
    â€œA few people. There’s nothing definite. Listen, Mom, I’d like to stay at Grandpa’s tonight.”
    â€œOK.”
    The OK came a little too quickly for Tom’s liking. “Listen, Mom, make sure the door is locked tonight,” he said.
    â€œYou mean the phone calls? Don’t worry about them. Just some crank. If you decide to come over later, wake me up. We can have a late-night chat, if you like.”
    â€œThat sounds great, but I think I’ll stay here, Mom. I’ll come over and get my clothes in the morning.”
    Tom hung up feeling much closer to his mother. She always seemed to soothe his worst fears. But what were his worst fears in this case? Reichert was disgusting, but tonight he had other worries. He had a terrible feeling that there would be some bad repercussions over his visit to Fabricon.
    He had a crazy idea that it was the man in black who was making the phone calls. But how could that be, since the man couldn’t possibly know who he was?
    Jack returned and started clearing up the kitchen. He was good at pulling himself together, even after a lot of drinks. He put on a kettle to boil and lit his pipe, then looked at Tom questioningly and waited.
    â€œSomething’s up, Grandpa,” Tom said, collapsing into a chair by the wood stove.
    â€œOh, I can see that all right. Don’t tell me you’ve gone and robbed a store.”
    â€œSorry I arrived out of the blue, but I’ve got to talk to you.”
    â€œSo talk.”
    Tom hesitated and got started slowly. He talked about his impressions of his friends, about Fabricon, about the night’s adventure and the man in black. He didn’t mention sending away for the Mercury Man ring. That seemed to have taken place in another world, a world of crazy dreams and speculations. All of a sudden he had run head-on into reality. He had entered a space where there were no superheroes and no magic rings — just powerful forces whose secrets you mustn’t even think about.
    When he had finished, his grandfather stopped to relight his pipe. He asked a few questions, listened patiently to Tom’s answers, then cleared his throat and said, “The problem is I’m not sure I believe all of it. And if I don’t believe it, who else will?”
    Tom jumped up to protest. “But, Grandpa!”
    â€œJust a minute! I’m not saying you’re lying to me, son. I know you wouldn’t do that. What I’m trying to get across to you is that there’s a lot of speculation here. You don’t really know that your friends were being hypnotized or brainwashed, do you?”
    â€œBut I saw them!”
    â€œYou caught a glimpse from a balcony. That’s not enough! There’s no proof of anything. And think about it. Why should an up-and-coming computer company brainwash a bunch of kids? Even assuming they could do it, it doesn’t make sense. Why risk their reputation for such a small return? To get a few kids hyped up on the company? It’s just crazy!”
    â€œBut Grandpa, you must have heard about Dr. Tarn. He’s been in the newspapers — one of MIT’s geniuses, they say. He has a lot of weird theories on the brain. He might be doing some kind of mind experiment, or even using kids in his research because he thinks what he’s doing is important enough to justify anything.”
    Jack shook his head. “The evil genius idea, huh? And what about Binkley, the CEO? You think he’d just go along? C’mon, Tom, there’s got to be a better explanation than that.”
    â€œAll I know is what I saw.”
    â€œYou could have been mistaken in what you saw. I’ll