Content

The first thing Helena Zebvox heard that morning was sirens. They blared in from all sides, blotting out the dawn and snatching her from the peaceful realm of slumber. She reached over to wake Metron, but her hand fell down on thin air.
Strange

, she thought, examining the empty bed beside her. I guess he stayed at the lab all night.

She stumbled out into the hallway, still drowsy and heavy with sleep. She tugged on her dressing gown, and made her way down-stairs.
The sirens were louder now, pressing down on the air around her. Before she even had a chance to step on the landing, the door knocked.
Trust Metron to forget his keys

, she smiled, reaching for the door-handle.
But it wasn’t Metron that greeted her, sheepishly smiling and rugged from a lack of sleep. It was two somber looking men, dressed in crisp black suits.
“Can I help you?”
“Helena Zebvox? Wife of Metron Zebvox?”
“Yes… What’s happened? Is Metron okay?”
The men exchanged a glance. “May we come in?”
“Certainly.”
Helena lead the men into the lounge, her hands shaking and slicked with sweat.
“Can I get you anything? Tea? Coffee?”
“No, we won’t be staying long.”
Helena nodded weakly, her eyes glazed with worry. “Please, sit.”
“I’m afraid we have some bad news, Mrs. Zebvox.”
“Is it Metron?”
“At this time, we don’t have a lot of information. What we do

know is that your husband’s lab was broken into last night, and his experimental technology stolen.”
“The Zpegs?”
The men nodded. “Is Dr. Zebvox here? We’d like to ask him a few questions.”
Helena’s heart constricted, causing her to gasp for breath. “No…” she whispered, trembling. “He didn’t come home last night.”
“When did you last speak to him?”
“Oh… Around eight last night? He called to stay he’d be staying late at the lab, and then I went up to bed.”
“Thank-you Mrs. Zebvox, you’ve been a great help. We’ll be in touch if we have any further developments.”
The men rose, smoothing down their suits in unison. Helena didn’t respond; she just stared off into the distance, her mouth gaping in shock. Where was her husband? Where was Metron?

***

That night, the news spread like wildfire, airing on all the national news programs – Dr. Zebvox, word-renowned physicist, vanished without a trace. But Lawrence Valcovich paid no heed to the news, nor did he join in on the hype surrounding Dr. Zebvox’s disappearance. Lawrence had more important things to deal with.
“No, you moron, we’re not going to ask for a ransom,” he snarled, hitting his partner’s head hard with the palm of his hand.
“Why not?” Gary Selmoth whimpered, shrinking away from Lawrence.
“What use would that be to us? Now that we’ve got Dr. Zebvox captive, we can force him to generate as many Zpegs’ as we need.”
Gary examined one such Zpegs, twirling the pearl-like sphere deftly between his fingertips. “They don’t seem that useful to me.”
“That’s because you have no imagination,” Lawrence drawled, snatching the Zpegs from Gary’s hand. “In this little baby, we can store anything and everything, regardless of size.”
“So?”
“So?!” Lawrence’s nostrils flared with fury. “Just think about it Gary, think real

hard. We could put a PLANE in this thing, and the size wouldn’t change.”
Gary grinned, revealing rows of crooked and gnarled teeth. “We’d be the most successful thieves in the whole country… No, the world!”
“Now you’re getting it.”
“Where is Dr. Zebvox, anyway?”
Lawrence leaned his face in close to Gary’s, staring him right in the eye. “Right here.”
“I don’t follow.”
“I’ve got him trapped – in the Zpegs,” Lawrence grinned. “And if he doesn’t agree to make more Zpegs’, he’s going to be trapped in here forever.”
Gray grinned. “Now all we need to do is hide it.”
“Way ahead of you,” Lawrence chuckled.
With one fluid movement, Lawrence removed his glass eye from its socket and gouged out the iris with his pocket-knife. In its place he put the Zpegs, perfectly disguised and indistinguishable from the rest of the eye.

Imprint

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