10-21-2020, 04:39 PM
Devin liked radios. He had built Heathkit transceivers as a kid, lovingly soldering each component into place.
He had hesitated to power up his rig tonight, what with all the lightning flashing and thunder booming. But old habit won out, and the receiver sang strange wails as he slowly turned the dial.
BOOM.
The lights went out and it was pitch dark in the room. But then appeared two glowing sources of faint light. One was the radio set, which somehow still had power. Devin didn't understand that as he did not have a backup source of power. He looked at the other source of illumination. It was a glowing spot about as wide as a tennis ball, hanging in the air and moving back and forth a bit.
OH WOW, he thought. Ball lightning? Just then, the radio squawked, and the tennis ball bobbed up and down. Hey, he thought -- tied to the radio somehow?
He carefully turned the frequency dial back and forth, watching the ball move back and forth in sympathetic response. Then, he pushed up amplitude control . . . and freaked out as the ball suddenly sped toward him. As it approached, it got much larger and seemed to envelope him for a moment.
ZAP.
Devin coughed, and recoiled from the stink of singed hair and clothing. He found himself blinking his eyes. Something like smoke was all around and it stung, making his eyes water.
At various places not far off, there appeared to be smoking craters. The area was lit with a dim red light and he gagged on the odor of sulfur.
What in the world?
Then he saw the tennis ball light, slowly drifting away from him. Panicking, he realized he had no radio set with him. "HEY, WAIT!" He jumped up and stumbled after the ball of light, but it just faded away and was nowhere to be seen.
It was hard to breathe and painful to hold his eyes open. He wanted to scream, but couldn't. Then he saw a figure approaching.
His eyes grew very wide as he examined the figure -- a seven foot tall incarnation of Satan.
"Satan" looked mildly surprised to see him, but only for a moment. Then he gave a toothy grin. "Welcome to Hell, buttercup. Didn't they ever tell you not to play with radios on All Hallows' Eve?"
He had hesitated to power up his rig tonight, what with all the lightning flashing and thunder booming. But old habit won out, and the receiver sang strange wails as he slowly turned the dial.
BOOM.
The lights went out and it was pitch dark in the room. But then appeared two glowing sources of faint light. One was the radio set, which somehow still had power. Devin didn't understand that as he did not have a backup source of power. He looked at the other source of illumination. It was a glowing spot about as wide as a tennis ball, hanging in the air and moving back and forth a bit.
OH WOW, he thought. Ball lightning? Just then, the radio squawked, and the tennis ball bobbed up and down. Hey, he thought -- tied to the radio somehow?
He carefully turned the frequency dial back and forth, watching the ball move back and forth in sympathetic response. Then, he pushed up amplitude control . . . and freaked out as the ball suddenly sped toward him. As it approached, it got much larger and seemed to envelope him for a moment.
ZAP.
Devin coughed, and recoiled from the stink of singed hair and clothing. He found himself blinking his eyes. Something like smoke was all around and it stung, making his eyes water.
At various places not far off, there appeared to be smoking craters. The area was lit with a dim red light and he gagged on the odor of sulfur.
What in the world?
Then he saw the tennis ball light, slowly drifting away from him. Panicking, he realized he had no radio set with him. "HEY, WAIT!" He jumped up and stumbled after the ball of light, but it just faded away and was nowhere to be seen.
It was hard to breathe and painful to hold his eyes open. He wanted to scream, but couldn't. Then he saw a figure approaching.
His eyes grew very wide as he examined the figure -- a seven foot tall incarnation of Satan.
"Satan" looked mildly surprised to see him, but only for a moment. Then he gave a toothy grin. "Welcome to Hell, buttercup. Didn't they ever tell you not to play with radios on All Hallows' Eve?"
~HAPPY HALLOWEEN~
![[Image: 14sigsepia.jpg]](https://i.ibb.co/9yxWwxj/14sigsepia.jpg)
Location: The lost world, Elsewhen
