Chapter 6
 

     Later when she met Bob and Joe for their music practice she 
described their adventure. "And after it was over, I daydreamed 
Sparky talked to me again."
     Bob laughed at this.  "And what did you daydream about 
Sparky?"
     "It said it was real and we should do some tests to prove 
it."
     Joe followed up with, "Well, perhaps that was your 
subconscious offering a way to exorcise this Sparky from your 
dreams.  Have you thought of any tests to confirm or disconfirm 
that Sparky is real?"
     Bob interrupted, "I know some tests.  They won't prove 
anything for sure, but it'll show which is most likely to be 
true."
     Bob continued, "Helen, will you cooperate with us in these 
tests?"
     At her nod, Bob said, "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."
     Bob looked surprised.  He paused a moment. "Tell me what is 
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 was puzzled.  "Neither of those feel 
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 just stared at her as she floated upward.  When she 
reached the ceiling, Joe found his voice.  "Helen, how are you 
doing this?"
     She yelled down, "I'm not doing this!  Hold on a minute."  
After a pause, she floated back down to stand between them.
     "Sparky really is a person.  So I will address em by the 
alternative common gender pronoun. Ey says ey can control gravito-
inertial and electro-magnetic fields.  Sparky has explained 
everything to me now."
     Bob raised his eyebrows.  "And why did Sparky evolve this 
particular ability?"
     Helen looked forward without seeing.  "According to
Sparky, ey was born in a neutron star and eir metabolism is based 
on sub-atomic particle interactions."
    Bob said, "I see...   Just kidding.  What I do see is since 
you are using ey, eir , and em in referring to Sparky, you haven't 
decided whether ey is male or female."
    She replied, "Sparky doesn't have sex.  However ey does feel 
feminine to 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."
    Bob replied, "If it is your dream, then I'm your dream image. 
Would you bother to argue with a dream image?"
    The three friends stared at each other for a few seconds.
    Finally, Joe broke the silence.  "Well Helen, we need to find 
out what other super powers Sparky has."
    Bob added, "And whether or not you have access to those 
powers."
    Helen again looked into abstract space.  "Sparky says whatever 
I want, ey wants also."
    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.  A very large diamond 
immediately took shape in her open hand.  A few seconds later she 
tossed it toward him.
    Joe almost missed the catch.  He lifted the diamond close to 
his eye and studied it carefully. "Tomorrow we are taking this to 
the jewelers for evaluation!" He put the diamond in his pants 
pocket.
   Bob said with evident t~e~n~s~i~o~n, "We see you can levitate 
and make things from nothing.  Sparky hinted he 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.
    He stared at her a moment longer, then sighed and turned off 
his phone.
    Helen continued.  "Thanks guys.  Earlier I was expecting you 
would help me forget about Sparky.  I didn't expect you to prove 
to me that Sparky was indeed so super real.  Thank you again for 
helping me understand what was really happening." 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, are you staying awhile, or do you want me to give 
you a ride home."
    She smiled.  "Maybe I'll just fly home."
    Bob's l~a~u~g~h showed his tension.  "You do that...  On 
second thought, 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 was calmer. "Helen!  Are you making the light go through 
you?"
    She reappeared.  "No.  Sparky said the light was going 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."  Then she fell 
upward into the sky and faded out of sight in seconds.  Only a 
slight breeze signaled her departure.