Story IIIf

“Wait—THE Elmar Kall? ‘Blue Phoenix,’ ‘Kall the Protector,’ ‘He Who Walks Amongst Mortals,’ ‘The Defiant One’- THAT Elmar Kall? You cannot be serious…”

Futhark smiled, “Ah, you’ve been reading through the archives again. The creature was asking for ‘One [Who] Must Be Extinguished' which is apparently what its civilization knew Kall as. It wasn’t telling us that someone needed to be extinguished, or destroyed, as we were hearing it. Human languages are sometimes easily misinterpreted with their multiple meanings and such- especially English.” Mychala was always a little disturbed when Futhark spoke about ‘humans’ or ‘this planet’ as if he wasn’t from Earth or a human. She was never quite sure how to respond to it.

“Nevertheless, we must away to seek the whereabouts of Elmar Kall. If you would be so kind as to contact Mr. Gones and tell him this site needs to be cleaned and secured- my cellular phone appears not to have survived the creature’s ‘mind meld’ as you called it. Perhaps the combination of heat and, for lack of a better term, goo…” Futhark went on about the possible processes that caused his phone to die. Mychala whipped out her phone and nodded every few seconds to keep him happy as she speed-dialed Gones.

Ten minutes or so later they were back in the SUV. Futhark had taken a few minutes to clean up in a nearby public restroom and change his clothes to a nearly identical outfit that was kept in the back for situations like this. Mychala started driving as soon as Futhark clicked his seatbelt.

“It’s refreshing. I imagine this is what a good mud bath at a beauty spa might be like. My skin feels revitalized and I feel as if some of the dry patches on-“

“Thank you for sharing, Doc, but where exactly am I going? Should I head back to the office or somewhere else?”

“Ah, yes. I think the office might be the best place to start. While Kall is a friend of the Associates he is still somewhat of a mystery to us. The relationship has lasted over one hundred years-“

Having recently read about Elmar Kall in the archives, Mychala interjected, “One hundred sixteen, I believe.”

“Precise, I thank you.” There was no hint of irony in his voice, “As I was saying, in that time we have found references to his exploits from long before he first met Mr. Prolix, as I’m sure you know from your recent reading.”

“Yeah, I came across Polly’s first meeting with him and figured I should look into his background to see what all the fuss was about.” Mychala’s chosen research subject was Poly Ambulate, one of the Prolix Associates’ most celebrated members who disappeared in the 1930s in the jungles of South America. Polly was almost an obsession for Mychala since she had first heard about the lady’s exploits. She often liked to think of herself as a modern-day Polly. That’s why she was taking it upon herself to pull together all the old files and scan them into the Associates’ new computer network. She’d found Polly’s personal journals in an old box down in the archives and treated each one carefully and relished each new adventure sure to be in their pages.

Futhark nodded. “The Ambulate Project you’re conducting. Those are interesting documents to be sure. Back to Kall, though, possible references go back to well before the Common Era in myth and legend. If I recall correctly, he has blatantly said on more than one occasion that he is not of this world. Other times he has made reference to Earth as his literal birthplace. I doubt we shall ever know his full origins.” He removed his glasses and started cleaning them with a handkerchief. “His extraordinary biology is based on a kind of bio-plasma chemical reaction. Kall manipulates the energy created to perform various extraordinary feats-“

“The dude can fly! And perform various other feats of extraordinariness. THAT I cannot believe.” 

Futhark chuckled, “It’s true. I have had the pleasure of witnessing him up close, once. The Gregorsky Affair. Kall came into the situation late to, literally, diffuse things. That was nearly 20 years ago now. It was a spectacular sight, he came in as a blur of blue and quickly removed the device from Gregorsky’s chest cavity- he didn’t hurt the man at all, Benson took care of that later. Kall took the device and simply melted it in his bare hands. A few quick words to those of us he had met before and he was off to wherever he goes. The theory that he is a biological battery of some kind was confirmed to my liking that day. I noticed a change in his skin color from the time he arrived and the time he left us. It was as if the exertions made him pale, as if the bio-plasma was drained away each time he used it to perform some feat. A fascinating individual...”