Chapter 8 

	Later, that evening, Helen met Bob and Joe for music 
practice, surprising them with her announcement. "I almost got 
killed today, twice." 
	Stunned silence greeted her announcement. After a few 
moments Joe replied, "I'm very glad you survived." 
	Bob followed with "What happened?" 
	Helen replied, "I ran a red light, and almost drove 
Angela's truck into another car. Luckily the truck's panic 
computer programs saved us. I don't quite understand how. 
Earlier than that, a gunman threatened to shoot us if I didn't 
give him Angela's purse." 
	"And I daydreamed Sparky talked to me again." 
	Bob laughed at this. "And what did Sparky tell you?" 
	"Sparky claimed to have eaten the gunman's gun and to 
have blocked the collision. Sparky also said we should do some 
tests to prove it exists." 
	Bob thought about it. "Well, perhaps your subconscious 
suggested these tests because it wants to exorcise this Sparky." 
	Joe put on a serious face. "Have you thought of any 
tests to prove or disprove that Sparky is real?" 
	"I know some tests. They won't prove anything 
for sure, but they may help show how unlikely Sparky is." 
	"Helen, will you cooperate with us in these tests?" 
	At her nod, Bob smiled. "Okay, what I want you to do is 
pretend you know Sparky is real, and you can talk directly with 
Sparky. I'll ask Sparky some questions, and you tell us its 
answers." 
	She nodded assent. Bob asked, "Sparky, can you do 
arithmetical calculations faster than Helen?" 
	She said, "Yes, I can." Helen looked surprised at her 
own words. 
	Bob echoed her surprise. He paused a moment. 
"Tell me what's eight to the eighth power." 
	"Sixteen million, seven hundred seventy seven thousand, 
two hundred and sixteen." 
	Joe grabbed a pen and his notebook. He wrote down a 
number at random and showed it to Bob. "Ask her to factor this 
number." 
	Bob looked at the number and took the pen and notebook 
from him. "Sparky, tell me the prime factors of 9823862349264." 
	"Sixteen divides it. The odd prime factors are three, 
twenty three, and lastly, eight billion, eight hundred ninety 
eight million, four hundred twenty six thousand, and forty one." 
	Bob, pen still in hand wrote, down the numbers as Helen 
spoke. 
Then both of them looked at Helen in awe. Bob said "Joe, will 
you have your calculator confirm these numbers?" 
	Joe picked up his pocket calculator from his work desk, 
punched in 9823862349264, and then pressed the factor button. 
The calculator confirmed Helen's answer. 
	Joe turned off his calculator, and turned to her. 
"Well super lady, which is it? Are you a super fast calculator, 
or does Sparky really exist?" 
	Helen frowned. "I don't think either of those are 
possible. I don't know." 
	Bob said, "Well I'm out of ideas for the moment. 
Joe do you have any suggestions?" 
	Joe replied, "This is a toughie . . . Wait, I have it. 
Let's ask Sparky to prove itself." 
	Bob turned to her, "Okay Sparky, what can you do that 
would prove to us you exist?" 
	In answer, Helen yelled as she began to float toward 
the ceiling. Bob stared at her as she floated upward. "This is 
not happening. This is not happening. I'm dreaming it." 
	When she reached the ceiling, Joe voiced his question. 
"Helen, how did you do this?" 
	She yelled down. "I'm not doing this! Hold on a minute." 
For a long while they watched Helen floating near the ceiling 
with her eyes closed and an expression of total amazement on her 
face. 
	Finally, she floated back down to stand between them. 
"Bob, it helped tremendously that you had me pretend that Sparky 
is real. It make it possible for me to accept that Sparky 
really is real." 
	"Sparky really is a person. Sparky can control 
gravito-inertial and electro-magnetic fields. I see everything 
much more clearly now. I am Sparky! Sparky is me! Yet, Sparky is 
more than me." 
	Bob raised his eyebrows. "Really? How did Sparky evolve 
the ability to levitate?" 
	Helen looked forward without seeing. "Sparky's family 
lived in a neutron star. Their metabolism is based on sub-atomic 
particle interactions." 
	Bob said, "I see . . . Just kidding." 
	Joe said, "Then you really did have supervision last 
July. How well can you see now." 
	"I can see in all directions at the same time. 
Whenever you move, I actually see where you will be in the next 
few seconds. I realize now that's part of the reason I had the 
collision accident. I saw the green light in the future, before 
it turned green. At the time, I didn't know how to interpret 
what I saw." 
	Bob showed his doubt. "It's not possible to see into the 
future!" 
	"You're right. I don't really see into the future. It's 
just that I see what I anticipate, and I can anticipate 
very accurately almost everything now." 
	"And I can see or feel the exact distance between 
objects that I look at. You and Joe are standing 78.125 
centimeters apart. I notice so many details that I never noticed 
before!" 
	"All my senses are hyper! I hear your heartbeat. I can 
tell you the chemical composition of things I smell or taste. I 
caused the ocean wave that sprained Victor's wrist again. And I 
cured Angela's proneness to dizziness. I didn't realize it at 
the time." 
	"And I know everything there is to know about
human biology! When Sparky absorbed me, I learned everything 
that Sparky learned. Sparky learned the complete basis of life." 
	Bob voiced his skepticism. "Maybe Sparky knows everything 
about your biology, but I doubt he knows everyone's." 
	Helen reaffirmed her claim. "Sparky understands all 
possible variations of my biology. Now I also know every emzyme 
that might have been used in any person's body and I know how 
they work together to maintain life." 
	Joe stared at Helen, wondering if this person before 
him still remained the Helen he knew and loved. He addressed 
Helen, "If you and Sparky are now one person, are you still a 
woman?" 
	Helen smiled warmly at Joe. "Would you still love me if I 
weren't? But you don't need to worry. Sparky has not changed my 
gender. Sparky is neither male nor female. However Sparky does 
feel feminine to me. But of course, she should. Sparky is me!" 
	After a pause, Bob said, "Well . . . Either I'm dreaming 
this remarkably lucid dream, or we have a very interesting time 
ahead of ourselves." 
	Helen laughed. "How can it be your dream. It must be my 
dream." 
	The three friends stared at each other for a few seconds. 
Finally, Joe broke the silence. "Glad to hear that you are 
still the most beautiful woman in the world. Now you truly are 
the goddess of beauty." 
	Sudden insight came to Helen. "Joe! You were the one 
who arranged for my picture to be on the billboard by the vanity 
shop!" 
	Joe grinned. "Indeed. I thought it only fair for your 
face to launch a thousand sales." 
	Helen blushed. "At least my name isn't on the billboard. 
Most people won't know its a local person." 
	Bob expressed another concern. "Unless you become 
famous because of your superpowers. What can't you do?" 
	"I don't know. But I feel that I can do 
anything that I can imagine doing. Why don't you test me?" 
	Joe said "Could you make us rich by crushing coal to 
diamond?"
	She paused a moment with the blank look in her eye. 
Then she opened her hand out toward him palm up, fingers curled 
slightly. A small diamond immediately took shape in her cupped 
hand. She shook her hand gently, as if she were rolling dice. 
Joe watched, fascinated, as the diamond slowly grew larger than 
any diamond anyone had ever seen. He did not expect it when 
Helen tossed the diamond toward him and he almost missed the 
catch. He lifted the diamond closer to study it carefully. 
"Tomorrow we'll take this to the jewelers for evaluation!" He 
put the diamond in his pants pocket. 
	Bob said with evident tension, "We see you can levitate 
and make things from nothing. Sparky told you it could 
manipulate electricity and magnetism. Can you, for example, 
make Joe's phone ring?" 
	Joe's cell phone rang. Joe looked at Bob, shrugged his 
shoulders and pulled his phone from his pocket, and placed it to 
his ear without bothering to look at his caller ID. "Hello . . . " 
	"Hello", said Helen's voice on the phone. Joe spun 
around and stared at her. 
	"This is fun", said Helen and the phone voice at the 
same time. "Now I can carry my cell phone in my head. I'll let 
the telephone tracking system know where I am anytime I travel 
so that everyone will be able to reach me any time of day or 
night, no matter where I am." 
	Joe stared at her a moment longer, then sighed and 
pressed the disconnect button. 
	"Thanks guys. Earlier I had hoped you would
help me forget about Sparky. I didn't expect you to prove to me 
that Sparky not only exists but has also become one with me. 
Thank you again for helping me." She smiled her gratitude. 
	Bob stared at her for a few more moments. Then he turned 
to Joe. "This is too much for me. I need a rest. I'm going home. 
Our practice session tonight is canceled. Please call me tomorrow 
morning. Helen, do you want to stay awhile, or do you want me to 
give you a ride home?" 
	She smiled. "Maybe I'll just fly home." 
	Bob's laugh showed his tension. "You do that . . . On 
second thought, if people see you fly, they will be asking you to 
teach them how. Maybe you'd better learn how to be invisible 
first." 
	Helen said, "Invisible." Then she began to turn 
transparent and fade from view. 
	"No! This can't be happening." Bob yelled as he clenched 
his fists. He spun around and walked out of the house without 
saying another word. 
	Joe, although excited, spoke more calmly. "Helen! Are 
you making the light go through you?" 
	She reappeared. "No. Sparky said the light goes around 
us." 
	Then Joe and Helen walked out to his porch, just in time 
to see Bob drive away. 
	Helen sighed as she said, "Well . . . I know how Bob 
feels." 
	She turned to look at him. "See you tomorrow morning." 
	Joe reached out to catch Helen's hand. "Why did sparky 
wait three months to show you your powers?"
	"Ha! She didn't. She tried continuously.  I couldn't 
believe it until tonight.  I didn't know that I was doing 
impossible things every day.  When  I knew something that 
I couldn't have known, I thought I was only guessing. When I 
picked up something too heavy for me to lift, I did not realize
that it was heavy."
	"It is surprising that neither Bob nor I noticed. But I
see your point." He pulled the speeding ticket warning out of his
pocket.  "This is an example.  Now I know you really were 
outrunning a race horse."
	"Oops. Now that I know my powers, I won't be making that 
mistake again."
	Joe grinned.  "Bob made a good point. You shouldn't let 
everyone know about your powers. With your good nature, you'd be 
doing super favors for everyone in the world, and have no time 
for yourself." 
	She paused, thinking it through. "Perhaps You're 
right. But I think I don't really have cause for worry. Who 
would believe that I'm practically a goddess now?" 
	Joe smiled. "You've always been a goddess to me. But 
be careful. If someone who has public credibility discovers you, 
and announces you, you'll have thousands of people asking you 
for favors. You've always done anything people have asked of 
you, provided it fell within your power. And now you have 
apparently unlimited power.  Please be careful. Please keep your 
powers a secret." 
	Helen nodded, pulled Joe to her, and gave him a 
lingering goodbye hug. Then she fell upward into the sky and 
faded out of sight in seconds. Only a slight breeze signaled her 
departure.