The Advent Of Smouse - Chapter 4 - Madrogue

Join Estelle as she presents, chapter 4 of The Advent of Smouse , a story, half-fantasy, half-reality, that uses non-violence as the solution. In this chapter, 'Madrogue', our hero, Smouse and his companion Mentr, now on Earth, discover the possible source of the problem and we meet Peri and X. Within the drama are subtle key guidelines to living a harmonious life.

Transcript

Hello,

Welcome back to the Advent of Smouse.

Chapter Four Madrog As the sun sets in a brilliant display of color,

Smouse and Mentor transmute and leave the space orb,

Taking with them the small Tron detector.

They reform in the dark shelter of bushes that form a verge between the beach and a main road.

Smouse activates the Tron which immediately starts to vibrate powerfully.

He and Mentor are on immediate full alert.

Smouse experiments with changing direction until the Tron locks onto a source and the vibrations are suddenly extremely intense.

Smouse experiences a small flicker of panic as his pulse rate rapidly increases and his breath shortens.

Tiny beads of sweat appear on his fur.

Madrog must be so close.

He almost faints but recovers as Mentor's voice and a wave of calming energy flows over and through him.

He's not here,

You know,

Smouse.

It's only his negative energy that the Tron detector picks up.

You'll probably never meet him face to face but you'll recognize his destructive influence when it appears.

Smouse relaxes a little and remembers Angelica's advice to take a deep breath in and a long,

Slow breath out.

After a few breaths,

His pulse rate decreases and he breathes easily again.

He refocuses to discover that Mentor has left the safety of the bushes.

Smouse nervously peers out.

Mentor is standing on the pavement of a wide,

Sealed road caught in the dazzling headlights of a steady stream of traffic.

Smouse cautiously joins her,

Keeping back from the curb and settled behind Mentor's hind legs.

The loud whooshing sound of the speeding vehicles as they flash past is unnerving.

Behind them,

The broad expanse of vegetation stretches in both directions,

Following the curve of the road.

Opposite,

A diverse assortment of houses and gardens lines the pavement.

Some,

In response to the imminent fall of night,

Are illuminated from within.

Others are lost in the encroaching darkness.

With Mentor's directive,

Smouse reconfigures the Tron Detector.

They both watch with bated breath as it emits a fine laser beam that stretches across the road and pinpoints one house in particular.

It is an impressive,

Modern,

Two-storey mansion of steel and glass,

Positioned behind a high-rendered brick wall with large double gates and a small pedestrian gate.

The lights from the street lamps and moving vehicles are refracted off its shiny facade.

It dominates its neighbours.

A small,

Single-storey period home tucked into a leafy treeed garden on one side and a twin pair of townhouses on the other.

The Tron's Detector's laser beam increases its intensity and unwaveringly maintains its bearing.

Mentor and Smouse study the house.

Most of it is in darkness.

A single,

Thin band of light from a ground floor window is visible through the double gates.

As they watch and wait,

A luxury sports car screeches to a halt in the driveway.

The double gates automatically open and the car zips in.

As the gates close,

They hear the car door slam.

Moments later,

A light appears in one of the second-storey windows.

The blinds are immediately drawn.

What do we do now?

Smouse voices their uncertainty.

Do we just bowl in and look around?

Do you think you could tune into the house?

Asks Mentor.

We may be able to get a sense of what's there.

Smouse fine-tunes and elongates his ears,

Directing them towards the house.

At first,

There is silence.

When he arrives home,

Martin Black is not in a good mood.

He's had a stressful day,

Exacerbated by a senior employee's incompetence and inability to follow instructions.

His stock of new mobile phones and tablets,

Featuring the latest technology,

Is selling fast.

It's imperative to quickly secure a new shipment before the current supply runs out.

The person responsible has failed to follow this up,

And Martin Black has had to waste time on it when he needs to concentrate on the international launch of his new line of computers at the end of the week.

He is certainly in no mood to discover that his own brand-new computer is no longer working.

Leaving his car parked on the driveway,

He strides into the silent house and heads straight for his study.

He turns the computer on to be greeted by a blank,

Black screen.

He makes several attempts,

Nothing,

Just a black screen.

Immediately suspicious,

He scans the room.

Perry!

The roar is so loud it reverberates throughout the house.

Unfortunately,

In her haste to exit her father's study after the computer debacle earlier in the day,

Perry has apparently left a piece of incriminating evidence revealing her presence.

Perry nervously presents herself at the study door.

She almost wilts under her father's withering glare.

In here!

His voice is like thunder.

Perry stumbles in.

How many times do I have to tell you Perry that my study is off limits to you?

And that includes you Dane,

He adds,

Observing ex,

Who having heard the bellow has arrived to lend support.

Perry tries to explain but her father pays no attention to what she is saying.

Brand new computers don't just stop working.

I have enough ineptitude at work.

I don't need to come home to.

.

.

But dad,

It wasn't Perry's fault.

Ex attempts to help but his father angrily cuts him off too.

Don't butt me Dane.

Of course it's your sister's fault.

It always is.

Martin?

The exasperated voice of his wife stops him midstream.

I was trying to work.

I can hear you all the way down in my studio.

Mum!

Perry and Ex turn in welcome relief to find their mother,

Paint palette and knife still in her hands,

Standing in the doorway.

Vera Black,

An internationally celebrated hard-edged artist,

Is an imposing figure.

All with a thick mane of orange hair and wearing a voluminous,

Vibrantly coloured paint shirt,

She fills the doorway.

Noticing the anxious faces of her children,

She softens her tone.

Is something wrong?

Sorry mum,

Perry hastens to present her case.

It's dad's computer.

He's blaming me.

It happened to my laptop too.

Pops nods in agreement.

Their mother looks past them and addresses their father.

Big breaths dear before you explode.

Her husband tightens his lips but says nothing.

She returns her attention to Perry.

Right,

Let's start from the beginning.

Tumbling over her words in her haste,

Perry explains what's happened.

Her father is about to comment when Ex has a thought.

Have you been using your computer mum?

Vera Black shakes her head.

No,

Have you?

No,

I've been to football.

Good thought Dane.

Let's check.

I'll see you in my studio.

Bring your laptop.

You too Perry.

Without waiting for a response,

She turns on her heel and heads for her studio.

Ex and Perry quickly follow suit.

Outgunned and still unconvinced,

Martin Black irritably collects his laptop and follows them downstairs to his wife's studio.

The studio is a huge room at the back of the house on the ground floor.

Windows the width of the room open to a large expansive lawn bordered by exotic trees and shrubs.

Beyond the lawn,

Behind a glass security fence,

Is a rectangular swimming pool.

A large Black cat is comfortably asleep nestled in the cautions of a lounge chair which faces the windows.

The walls of the studio are covered in the works of Vera Black.

Stark Black,

Grey and white,

Sharp-edged oils making social comment on the wrongs of society.

Several unfinished canvases are on easels.

In the centre of the room is a table littered with oil paint tubes,

Pallets,

Brushes,

Knives and jars of turps.

This is the only untidy part of the Black household.

Vera Black heads straight for her computer which sits discreetly on a narrow table at one end of the room.

Ex and Perry are hot on her heels with their laptops,

Both brand new.

They set them up next to the computer.

As her mother reaches to turn her computer on,

Perry stops her.

Wait till Dad's here,

Mum.

Her mother impatiently paces back and forth.

Being interrupted in the middle of a painting session is one of her pet dislikes,

Especially when she is on a roll.

Finally her husband arrives and Perry activates her laptop.

Just like her father's computer,

It opens to a black blank screen.

She gives her brother the nod to switch on his.

All for a watch as the opening screen image of a tiger appears and then the program icons one by one.

They stay in position for several moments before a small,

Vibrant red zigzag zaps back and forth across the screen of his laptop,

A long tail ending in a flame-rimmed black hole streams behind it.

Open to mouth,

They watch in astonishment as it starts pulling the icons into its void until they all disappear.

The parents are as stunned as their children.

They stare speechless at the black blank screen.

Try yours,

Mum.

Perry prods her mum.

Vera Black raises her eyebrows at her husband.

He half smiles.

She confidently presses her on button.

As with her son's laptop,

The opening screen appears,

An image of her artwork and then the program icons.

The family waits with bated breath for the next action.

Nothing happens.

They edge in closer and wait.

There is a flicker and then a small pale zigzag with a long tail appears.

However,

This time there is no flame-rimmed black hole streaming behind it.

The computer screen and its icons fade and recover.

Martin Black places his laptop on the table and moves in for a closer view.

Immediately the red zigzag,

Its tail now streaming behind it,

Comes alive.

It streaks across the screen swallowing all the icons into its flame-rimmed black hole.

Finally the screen image is sucked in too,

Leaving a black blank screen and a horrified quartet.

It was you,

Martin.

It reacted to you.

There a black massage is her forehead,

Trying to rationalise what she'd just seen.

Her two children and husband for once are without words.

Move back.

She ushers them all away from the computer and pulls up a chair.

The moment her hands touch the computer,

A faint image of her icons reappears.

She removes her hands and they quiver for a second or two and then disappear into the void again.

She repeats the actions and they quiver for a second or two and then settle and remain stable on her screen.

She turns and faces her husband and children and throws up her hands in confusion.

What the hell is happening,

She asks.

I'm damned if I know her husband is equally dumbfounded.

There is a sudden explosive bang.

The cat with a loud yowl of terror leaps from the chair into Vera Black's lap.

The horrified expressions on her husband's and children's faces causes Vera Black to swivel sharply back to the table,

Just in time to catch the explosion of red on the screen of her husband's laptop.

Open mouthed,

They watch it change into a vibrant zigzag sweeping back and forth before vanishing into nothing.

The ensuing silence is paralysing.

After a few moments,

Totally flawed,

Vera Black suggests they have dinner and that perhaps afterwards they can see if Taku or Tamari from next door can help.

Across the street,

Smouse relays all of this to Mentor.

She replays the information,

Assessing it in sequence.

Smouse asks,

Do you think the red zigzag is a form of madrogue and that the trigger for the explosion of red and the sudden reappearance of it on the laptops is the utterance of the words hell and damned?

She thinks for a moment or two before replying.

Yes,

That seems a reasonable assumption.

Madrogue feeds on words and images connected to him,

That and negative energy.

Ersilon Black's vast network of stores would appear to offer a perfect channel to corrupt,

Disrupt and insidiously spread his web of destruction.

If this happens to all of his computers,

Doubt will appear.

Then like a virus,

Fear,

Distrust and then anger will grow.

She pauses before continuing.

We need to discover why Madrogue has chosen Martin Black.

It's not likely that he's the only retailer.

It's curious too that his wife's computer,

Although it was temporarily infected,

Seems to be okay.

Mentor makes a decision.

We need to see for ourselves.

It's time to get close.

Let's.

.

.

She pauses,

Catching Smouse's forlorn face.

You're hungry.

It's a statement,

Not a question.

Smouse opens his eyes wide and nods vigorously.

Mentor hesitates.

Now is an opportune time to investigate the studio,

But a hungry Smouse is not conducive to being in the moment.

And not being in the moment means not focusing well on the task in hand.

She relents.

All right,

Food first,

But not too long.

Smouse's demeanour noticeably brightens.

The pair transmutes and transports themself back to the space orb.

And I'll see you back next time for Chapter 5.

Reviews

Great story

Cannot wait for the next one!