CHAPTER 3: The DPR

From the journal of Doctor Jon Quayle Cornelius.  It seems that the strange fate that has befallen some of the residents of Strangerville is now spreading to others.  We have the four documented cases of this illness...if it can be called such...but now it appears that more people are succumbing to this unearthly possession.  All the while, those strange purple glowing pods are springing up all around the town.  Origin:  Unknown.

Cornelius awoke early that morning to see how those strange, glowing plant-pods were developing.  They were still there but had not grown in size.  He took a Swiss army knife out of his blazer pocket and scraped some samples from the plant into a glass test tube and pushed a rubber stopper into the top to seal the strange, purple leaf scrapings in it.

One thing about daily life in Strangerville he had noticed was that it appeared fashionable to to wear a colander with wires and small, coloured lightbulbs on one's head.  This intrigued him; maybe it was just another fad but maybe there was some purpose to it that might be linked to his investigation.  He spotted an attractive young woman up ahead who was wearing such a strange bit of millinery and decided to make her acquaintance.

"Good morning, what a lovely day this is" he said to her, cheerily.

"It sure is...say, those are some fancy duds you're wearing there" she replied, looking up and down at him in an approving way.

"As is your headgear.  It seems to be quite the trend around here."

"It's more than just a fad...Mister..."

"Cornelius.  More, how so?"

"It's to protect our brains"

"Now that sounds interesting, tell me more" he said with relish.

"You may have noticed a lot of strange things going on around here..."

"It's hard not to notice...excuse me, what is your name?"

"Judith.  So you noticed those plants and the way people act?  Well none of those army guys, nor the scientists from the base nor the sheriff will even talk about what's been going on so a few of us have decided to take matters into our own hands so we can protect ourselves.  This is meant to repel the radio waves coming from the army base antennas that are turning people into zombies!"

Just how much any of Judith's story was actually true Cornelius had yet to determine but he was convinced she wasn't lying, even though she may be wildly overstating the effectiveness of an electrified colander in repelling radio waves from controlling a human mind.  

"I might just get me one of those.  Where does one obtain such a device around here?" he asked.

"Erwin sells them, and other Strangerville memorabilia, from his shack down by the trailer park.  Tell him I sent you to him." she replied.

"I shall do.  Thank you so much for your assistance, Judith.  I am grateful."

"Maybe I'll see you around...Cornelius..." she said flirtatiously.

"I'm sure you will" he replied, charmingly.

Cornelius continued on his way and bumped into David, who was also strolling around town, seeing what he could see.

"Ah, David.  How are your investigations going?" Cornelius asked.

"Nothing new to report, how about you?"

"Well....how about we go and see a man about a colander?" Cornelius replied, cryptically.

Cornelius strode down the street quickly and purposefully and David could only shake his head in confusion and follow.

"Who are we going to see?" asked David.

"A man named Erwin.  He runs a little curiosity shop from a shack and he's the guy who's been making and selling those colander hats we keep seeing around town.  What does he know?  How does he know it?  Questions, David, I have lots of questions..."

It didn't take long to find the trailer park and the shack Judith had mentioned.  

"That looks like our guy, Cornelius" said David.

"I reckon he must be a scam artist...that electric colander can't possibly work!  There's no scientific or engineering basis to it being a protective device.  It might work differently where you come from, Cornelius, but in America we have a phrase 'one born every minute' and there's enough hippies and space cadets around town who'll part with their money without thinking."

"All that might well be true, David, but he's selling a product based on a very real problem and I want to know what he knows"

The two men approached the shack which was festooned with old, second hand books on subjects like the occult, mysticism and herbology, old radio sets, crystals, gas masks and even the special electric colander hat.  Cornelius picked up an example of the latter and examined it, finding no clues as to how it was meant to function.  There was an on/off switch but that just made the lightbulbs flash.

"Excuse me...Erwin is it?  How does this contraption work?" asked Cornelius.

"Hey man, careful with the merchandise" said the young man in a slightly stoned drawl.  Cornelius carefully placed the colander back on the counter top.

"Yeah man..." said Erwin.  "...it's like this.  People have become possessed from all the rays comin' from the army base and the secret lab.  They've got all these radar dishes and radio antennas and like big ray guns n' stuff up there so this hat...which is my own invention and I gots the rights to market it...degausses your brain so the waves don't get you."

"De-gauss" said David, dryly.  He wasn't buying this claptrap from Erwin.  "Have you visited the base and the lab?" he asked Erwin.

"Only the once...and I got chased away" the young stoner replied.  "But I know of a secret back entrance into the lab.  I haven't used it...two guys did...and their brains were never the same again!" he said, cryptically.

"Well that is very helpful, Erwin.  David, I'm due to check in with the Department soon, can you stay here and learn some more about the base, the illness and degauss hats from our friend here?" said Cornelius, patting David on the back before heading off.

The Department For Paranormal Research, or DPR, was located on the outskirts of Oasis Springs.  It was a small, perennially underfunded government research and investigation unit that specialised in the unknown, the mysterious and unexplained.  Cornelius had heard about it back when he was an academic at Cambridge but this was to be his first official visit to it.

He was greeted warmly and enthusiastically by a middle aged Asian lady whose lapel badge read "Dr Ranko Murakami".

"Doctor Cornelius, so glad to meet you in the flesh at long last." she said.

"Doctor Murakami, the pleasure is mine.  I'm sorry I haven't checked in with you or the DPR until now but I wanted to establish my research base in Strangerville before coming here."

"But of course.  I must say all of us here at the DPR are honoured to have you here to help in our investigations.  Doctor Jon Quayle Cornelius...research fellow in parapsychology at Cambridge university with qualifications also obtained from the Sorbonne and Heidelberg, psychologist, medium, Olympic class fencer, racing driver, concert pianist, gourmet chef, author of 7 books on psychology, mysticism and the history of rock music and on top of all that you speak 5 languages including Esperanto"

"I speak it like a native, Doctor" he replied.  "I'm keen to meet the team here:  Already I have made observations about Strangerville and the illness there and I've taken some samples I would like examined.  I will fill you in on all that Mr Wright and I have discovered."

"And how is that research assistant I assigned to you doing?" asked Dr Murakami.

"She is excellent, perfect for my team and I must thank you for choosing her" Cornelius replied.

"I'll introduce you to some of the team" said Dr Murakami.  

"Yes, but I also want to analyse this plant specimen that I took...I don't know how long it will remain in a stable condition." said Cornelius.

"Of course, let me take to you the biology lab..."

They entered a large but sombre looking room bedecked in horrible brown paint.  "Well, we'll have to do something about this decor..." Cornelius muttered.

Dr Murakami ushered a man towards Cornelius.  He was tall, powerfully built and looked all business.

"Dr Cornelius, this is Dr Sands...our resident chemist.  Dr Sands this is..." but Sands cut her off.

"...Dr Jon Cornelius.  I've heard a lot about you...and your illustrious father." said Sands, shaking Cornelius' hand.

"Ah yes, my father.  Well, he was more of an historian than a scientist but it's nice to know he has his fans still."

Dr Murakami said her goodbyes and left the two men to discuss matters further.

"Have you made any progress?" asked Sands.

"A little.  We've met some of the residents...in their possessed form" Cornelius replied.

Sands looked down towards the floor and a scowl came across his face.  "I know all about that.  Holden is a friend of mine...or was, if he still retains any of his senses."

"I'm sorry about your friend but if it's possible I'd like to see his case file...and get your professional diagnosis." said Cornelius.

"I can give you that straight:  I believe his insanity is caused by a biological agent."

"What makes you think that?"

"The secret laboratory they've got up on the mesa.  The closer he got, the worse he became.  They must be working on something up there!" said Sands with frustration in his voice.  "And what's your theory?"

"What it is, I do not know.  What it might be, there are numerous possibilities.  It is impossible to determine without more data.  Now, I take it you have a bio spectrometer here?  I need to analyse this plant specimen" said Cornelius, producing the little plastic bag with a purple leaf from his blazer pocket.

 

"The spectral analyser is over there" said Dr Sands, still suspicious of this pretentious Limey and his flamboyant ways.

Cornelius wasted no time and got to work putting the leaf sample to vigorous investigation.  

After a couple of hours he looked up from the data he had collected and said to no one in particular.  "Amazing!"

"What is it?" asked Sands.

"Well...it's organic...it's jelly...and it's a symbiosis of two separate organisms.  One terrestrial and....ONE COMPLETELY UNKNOWN TO OUR SCIENCE!"

SAN MYSHUNO:  12:00

The only science being practiced at Peggy Chalke's apartment was culinary.  Unlike Cornelius analysing strange plant samples in a state of the art laboratory or David's investigations around Strangerville, it fell to Peggy to write it all up in various day-by-day reports.

Little did anyone else outside of the DPR know that those reports contained shocking information about a dangerous outbreak of an unknown disease...a disease that was spreading and fast.  Peggy took a break from all her typing to check on her mail.  Outside her apartment stood a very fashionable and glamorous looking young woman, checking the apartment block notice board.

"Anything interesting happening?" asked Peggy.  The young woman turned around to see who was speaking to her and caught sight of Peggy.

"No, not really.  I was checking to see if there were any good live gig venues around here" replied the blonde girl.

"Interested in seeing a show or a band?" asked Peggy.

"Actually, I'm a singer myself.  I'm looking for venues where I can perform.  Hi, my name's Nancy."

"Peggy, nice to meet you.  Have you just moved in?"

"Yes.  I'm still finding my way around town.  I'm originally from New Jersey.  How about yourself?"

"I moved in about 3 months ago.  I'm a researcher for...a government bureau."  Peggy didn't want to say which one.  Hardly anyone had heard of the DPR and if she had told people about the nature of their work they'd laugh at her and call her a kook.

"So do you know any good night spots around here?" asked Nancy.

"Actually, next door at the Waterside Warble's good.  They do open mic evenings.  You could ask the manager there about a gig."

"Hey, that's great!  I hope I can run into you again...you seem really with it!" said Nancy with a big smile.

"Mind you, the downside of living here is that sometimes things don't work...like the fire hose is leaking again!  Excuse me whilst I get a mop...the landlord does very little to fix things:  It's every woman for herself around here!"

 After Peggy had finished mopping up the puddle and Nancy had given the notice board a good examination the trendy blonde singer turned to her newest acquaintance and said "are you free to go get a coffee?"

"I'm sorry, Nancy, but I've got to head off to Strangerville for a work assignment.  Tomorrow, if you're around."

"It's a deal!  Say, Strangerville's a bit out of the way..."

"In more ways than one..." said Peggy, cryptically.

Soon after Peggy was headed to Strangerville as the long shadows of the afternoon swathed the little town.  Her first port of call was the local library, where she looked more into the backgrounds of those afflicted with what was becoming known as "Strangerville Sickness".

HOLDEN, Adam.  Age 34.  DPR field agent. Infected 08/03/66
STERN, Tre.  Age 36.  Local businessman. Infected 08/03/66
ROSWELL, Edward "Ted".  Age 45.  Mayor. Infected 07/23/66
HOLLAND, Leslie.  Age 24.  Post-grad student.  Infected 07/27/66
MARTIN, Alice.  Age 21.  Unemployed.  Infected 07/29/66
SIGWORTH, Jess.  Age 28.  Army NCO.  Infected 07/19/66

Peggy wanted to drop these files over to Cornelius before she headed home but along the way she saw someone familiar:  Corporal Jess Sigworth.  The last time she had seen her she had been possessed by the sickness, her eyes wild and insane looking, her movements jerky and robotic.  But this time, this evening, she seemed normal and was behaving normally.

The two women's paths crossed and Corporal Sigworth shot Peggy a suspicious look.

"I've not seen you around here before" said Sigworth.

"Actually, we have met once before" replied Peggy.

"I'm sure I would have remembered if we had" 

"You weren't well at the time.  You had the local sickness"

Sigworth said nothing.

"But I see you've made a recovery" added Peggy.

"Lady, I have no idea what you're talking about.  I'm not sick and we've never met before" Said Sigworth.

"Hmm, some form of amnesia associated with the sickness" mused Peggy.

"Quit talking like that!  I'm not sick!  NOT SICK!  I don't know who you are, lady, but you can't go around spreading rumours like that!"

"But the others...like Mayor Roswell, the two hippy girls, Tre Stern!  What about them?" asked Peggy.

"There's been some 'flu going around, that's all.  Now quit talking about some strange sickness and saying I've got it!  There are powerful people around here who don't like strangers coming in and trying to stir up trouble!  You've been warned!"