Jimmy Barlow yelled, and everyone came running. "Hey guys, look at what I found!"
      The others crowded around, some ditching their bikes against the old wrecked cars destined for scrap.
      "Wow. What is it?"
      "I don't know, but it sure looks neat."
      "Where did you find it?"
      "In the trunk of that metallic green wreck."
      "Hold it up. I can't see."
      Jimmy lifted the football sized and shaped object. "Wow! Cool." The swirls of color within the object danced about enticingly.
      "Can I hold it?"
      "Naw, I don't want it broken."
      "I'll trade you my baseball glove for it."
      "No way. You just want a new one cause yours is getting too small for you. I'm keeping this. And I don't want anybody dropping it."
      "Can I touch it?"
      "Got a quarter?"
      "That's no fair. I let you hold the hammer that I found."
      "This isn't a hammer. This is a treasure. Probably not another like it in the whole world. I'm going to take it home and put it in my room."
      Jimmy left to protests, but they thinned out as he rode off. The others redoubled their search, inspired by the find. He had the object tucked into his arm like a running back. He ran up the stairs and placed it on the bed. He cleared a space on his dresser and placed it there, giving it the place of honor in his collection.
      Several days passed and Jimmy lost some of his interest in the object, though he still watched the changing psychedelic swirls of color that floated about inside. But it being early summer, his free days were limited and he began thinking about camp, then packing. His mom thought that the object should stay at home, since the owner might contact them about it, should it be learned that Jimmy had found it.
      Jimmy was soon off to camp, and his parents knew peace for the first time in ten months. They celebrated with blinds drawn, doing things reserved for summer that the church people would frown upon. But the freedom felt too good to deny.
      Stan and Jennifer went as far to use Jimmy's bed. It was the first time that Stan had seen the object. He rose from his wife's kisses to stare at it.
      "What is that?"
      "Just something Jimmy found down at the junk yard."
      "He hasn't been going down there again, has he?"
      "They asked permission and got it. All of the bad feelings are history once the kids were up front."
      "You aren't afraid that he'll be hurt?"
      "You never got hurt snooping around as a boy."
      "You're on his side."
      "Stan, weren't you ever a boy?"
      "Oh, all right. What is it?"
      "I don't know. A conversation piece from the late sixties or early seventies, I guess."
      "Is it hard or soft?"
      "Jimmy says it's glass. I've never handled it. Jimmy prizes it too much. It's his treasure." She kissed him to get his mind back to business. She succeeded, for a while.
      Stan returned to the room when Jennifer went shopping. He stooped and looked at the patterns. "Very spacey." he commented, wishing that he had had such an item when he was in college. The glass was flawless as far as he could see. He reached out to turn it over for further inspection. He gripped it with both hands. It began to glow the color of golden sunlight. His ears began to ring loudly.
      He tried to let go, but it stuck to his hands like a powerful magnet. He could reposition it in his hands, even remove one of them, but not both at the same time. Motion caught his eye as vertigo swept over him. He felt as if he were suddenly expanding. He looked down to see himself on the floor.
      The familiar panic took hold, reminiscent of the out of body experiences that he had had years prior. He fought the panic and instantly realized that the object was both in his hand, glowing, and on the dresser, as he had seen it earlier.
      "An OOB key." he said to himself. He tried to return it to it's original spot, overlapping it with the non-astral form. It didn't work. He tried to meld with his body. That didn't work either. Panic resurfaced and he spent minutes waiting for some idea to dawn on him. None came. He broke into a frenzy of trying to remove the glowing football from his hands. It didn't work.
      He worked at control of his body. He managed to point his finger by remote at the object in the real plane. He waited impatiently until he heard Jennifer arrive in the car. He went downstairs, floating over the railing and gliding down into the kitchen. He fluttered about her as she unloaded and put away the groceries. She called his name, but he naturally couldn't make her hear him.
      He passed through her and she stopped with a shiver. She turned and went up the stairs. She passed Jimmy's door and found his body slumped on the floor against the bed. She looked at the object, following the finger. She reached up and touched it. Nothing happened. Stan placed the glowing part of the object in the real object and she gasped at the next touch. She turned and looked at him as her body slumped into his body's lap.
      "Stan, what is it?"
      "Astral projection. This is a key. Touch it and it sticks to you and you project. Before you pull away, hear me out. Don't panic. Hear me out, and then we'll try a few things. Just relax. I've done this several times in the past and as you can see, I returned to my body. You will come to no harm. The panic is very typical and it just takes a bit of trust to overcome it. It can be fun, if you let it."
      "Fun?"
      "You can spy on people without their knowing. You can fly and do all sorts of things. It's a lot like magic. The important thing is not to believe everything that you see. This realm is rich in phantasms and illusion, especially if you let your imagination wander. You can change shape, even, once you get the confidence to channel your thoughts."
      "Really?"
      "Sure. You can even walk on the ceiling. And this object is a key. The glowing part. The first time that you touched it, I didn't have it in the same place as the real object. The second time, I did, so that I could talk to you. I can't let go of it. So I'm stuck here in the astral plane until I can figure out how to let go of it. I'm sure that there is a way to do so. I just need to find out how.
      "So I need your cooperation. I'm too heavy for you to move, but I can lift and carry you, in the real world. So you will need to grip this with both hands and let me pull loose."
      "You're going to leave me here alone?"
      "Just long enough to get us both on our beds and to write a note instructing that we not be disturbed, if you want to share this with me. If you don't, then the note won't be necessary. But I'm going to be mighty sore when I return to my body if it's left like that.
      "I'll go back to my body, carry your body to our bed. I'll come back for this, up there, and lie down beside your body. Once I'm set, when I'm on my back and have this in my hands, you place the astral object in the real object and I'll rejoin you here on the astral plane. Think that you can handle that, or would you rather try to carry me?"
      "You're sure that you'll return?"
      "Reasonably. You joined me here in the same manner. I see no reason that it shouldn't work. The biggest thing to remember is to relax, and nothing will happen. Just think normal and follow me. If you need me to hurry, walk through me, like I did to you down in the kitchen. I'll hurry if I feel it. Think that you can handle it?"
      "I guess. It's scary."
      "Only because it's new. Remember how scared you were when you started surfing? It's the same thing. Unfamiliar reference. Just stay calm like you are now. This is your house, and the powers seldom come into someone's territory uninvited, especially if someone is in he astral plane. This is where we are most powerful, except for special places that feed us."
      "There are others here?"
      "Yes. And our presence has undoubtably been noticed. But we've had no visitors come a'knocking. This is important in this plane."
      "Jimmy touched it. Why didn't he ever come over?"
      "Something to do with his stage of development. Most people that project start in early adulthood, seventeen to thirty, statistically."
      "There are statistics on this?"
      "None officially recognized, and the results vary from source to source, depending on the survey made. Maybe he doesn't have something that adults gain, like complex abstract thought."
      "Oh. Well, let's get this over with. I'd rather not wait."
      "Get a grip."
      She clamped the key between her thighs and held the ends firmly. Stan worked his contact to his fingertips, then popped his hand. His arm stretched like taffy and popped back, breaking contact on the backlash.
      "Okay, that's done. Are you all right?"
      "Yes."
      He kissed her, careful to avoid contact with the object. "I'm going back inside. Follow along as I carry you. Be brave and relax."
      Jennifer watched as he made an effort to reoccupy his body. He shook his head when he re-entered his body and took control. He worked her body gentle aside, then knelt and lifted. He bore her earthly form to the bed and made her as comfortable as possible, hands across her stomach and head and feet pillowed, to give optimum blood pressure balance. He wrote a do not disturb note and placed it beside her. He returned for the oval and returned to his bed. He got himself settled, saying "Not yet. I'll tell you when." He made final adjustments and said, "Now".
      He felt the vertigo again, this time enjoying it, and cutting aside the physical panic easily. "See, I'm back." He rose from his body and went to the hall with her, the glow held between them. "Feeling better?"
      "I guess so. It feels so spooky. Wrong."
      "Just your imagination. Come, Jen, my love. Some lessons."
      "You're sure that this is safe."
      "Never found any trouble before."
      "You never had that before."
      "I tend to trust it. You have to use your feelings here, more than your thoughts. And get ready for some visuals that will surprise you. Some of the inhabitants are rather cocky about their ability to project. Ceiling walkers, odd countenances and behavior, playing with your head, all in good humor. It sometimes doesn't come off that way. Now, imagine yourself growing to a couple of hundred feet tall. Go on, think of the feeling of growing huge. There you go. Don't stop. Keep on going. You had it. Don't be afraid. You'll pass right on through the roof. That's it. Bigger. I'm following. Doing fine. Look around the neighborhood. I did this the first time that I projected. Gives you a sense of control. Calms your state of mind."
      "Did you believe it the first time that you did it?"
      "Funny thing happened to me the first time. I oobed and did this, but I was afraid to roam too far from the house. Much like you are now. I wasn't sure if it was my imagination, or something real. The next day, before noon, a guy that I had talked to not a week earlier about projecting walked right up to me from over a hundred yards away. His first words were, 'Did you project last night?' After that, I believed. I never took him up on his offer to project along with him. I really didn't fully trust him. There was something about him that made me uneasy. Nothing that I couldn't handle, but the feelings weren't real good."
      "Think that we might meet him?"
      "Not likely. This was before we met. I was out of college when you-and I met."
      "So it's been a long time."
      "Yeah. He's probably forgotten all about me."
      "I hope so."
      "Turns out, he's typical of the people that you meet here. This realm does something to people who inhabit it frequently. It's the many possibilities. Doing so many impossible things gives people an unnatural outlook and attitude. Alien, to a small degree, to the normal mind."
      "So what next?"
      "Ever dream of bodily flying?"
      "Yes."
      "Remember what it feels like?"
      "Yes. Like riding a fast elevator down, only stronger. Unsteady."
      "Ignore the unsteady part. This your conscious mind. Come, let's fly, the same way as you grew. We can return to our normal size once we're off of the ground. Just think normal while we're flying."
      He got her off of the ground and back to true size and steadied, talking her through her over-reactions. His voice was his soothing tone that always melted her heart except when she was mad at him. They began to dance in flight, and she laughed, and he returned it warmly.
      An impish gleam came to his eyes. "Want to spy on someone?"
      "Stan! How rude! Who do you suggest?"
      "My question, your pick."
      "Charlotte?"
      "As you wish. Let's go see if she is home."
      They oriented on the streets, and followed them to Charlotte's house. They landed under his guidance, and passed through the walls. The house was empty. She looked about the house, checking rooms that were always closed to her when she
      visited. She broke loose at his instruction, and he carried the glow. After she found that she wasn't going to revert to her body with the loss of contact, she felt more at ease.
      They left the house and flew to Henry's house. Henry was in, in the house and in a female friend of his. Jennifer stood and watched. Stan sighed and went to the living room to wait for her to get an eyeful.
      She returned smiling. "I think that I'd rather stick with you over Henry. Not much class."
      "I never knew that I married a voyeur."
      "Never knew it myself. I guess that it's the realization that they can't see or hear me. I think it's more the knowing that I can't be caught doing it than it is the actual watching. Being the ultimate sneak."
      "A spy in the house of love. Actually, lust is more Henry's style. Do you know her?"
      "Mariana something. I've seen her twice, thrice. A quick hello was all I ever got from her."
      "No big deal. Ready for something else?"
      "What?"
      "Jumping. Changing locations like snap. Let's head back to the house. Concentrate on sitting down at the kitchen table, and when I say now, think that you're there, with a little umph!"
      Mariana came running out of the bedroom, nude and laughing. She passed through them, then turned about and looked at where they stood. She shivered.
      "Think, Jennifer. Sitting in your chair in the kitchen. Don't pay her any mind. Think kitchen."
      He held out the glowing oval for her to hold. She gripped it and they concentrated. "Now."
      They were suddenly back in their kitchen, sitting at their table in their usual chairs, the object in their hands between them.
      "You are catching on very well. It's harder to go to places that you've never seen before. Fast flying is easier for that."
      "Are we going to go looking for a way to get this thing loose from us?"
      "Once you know how to get around. And we're rapidly approaching that time. You are doing well for a first timer."
      "I like it. It is fun."
      "It can get odd, especially with other people involved. But I've never heard of anyone getting hurt in the plane. Scared, but not hurt. You have no body to harm."
      "So what next?"
      "Changing the shape of your imagined body. Did you ever want to be something else?"
      "Prettier."
      "What, and melt me even more than I am already?"
      "That's sweet." She kissed him. "Hey, can we. . . ."
      "Make like Henry? We could go through the motions, but I don't think that the pleasure would be there. That is a response of the nervous system and that is one thing that we lack in this form."
      "But I feel you kiss me."
      "An illusion, as is your body in this plane. You know my kisses, and your memory makes it complete by suggestion. You equate the action and the feeling. Try to imagine one without the other."
      "I see what you mean. Couldn't we imagine the pleasure?"
      "I guess, but we could do far better in the real world. There are other things to attend to here before we start putting our focus on imitating intimacy. Save that for our homecoming celebration. Let's work on your shape changing. Think of how you'd like to look. Think of how it would feel. The swing of the hips, the weight and power and sleekness of the legs. The response of the shoulders and breasts. The hands, nimble and deft, the neck holding your glorious head."
      She blurred and reappeared as bathing beauty in a revealing bikini.
      "Slow down, girl. You'll give me a stroke."
      "Do you like it?"
      "I'm a male, aren't I?"
      "Sure that you don't want to try?"
      "Temptress! We wait. Now grow some muscles on that body. Big and strong powerful arms and thighs. Vigorous, firm, massive, forceful."
      The muscles swelled on her frame and he laughed.
      "I wouldn't want to meet you in some dark alley."
      "Shut up, wimp."
      They laughed, and she returned to normal. They began to practice the exercises, then combine and add to the possibilities. Then he introduced her to how to form objects, some physically impossible. He pronounced her ready for the astral plane and they left the house after a quick check on their bodies.
      They left toward Venus, the Mecca of the phantasm realm. She marveled at the stars outside the atmosphere and the fact that she could look directly at the sun without discomfort. The sun fed them energy that they could feel through their being, gentle and nurturing.
      "How will we know where to look?"
      "Ever see a city from a distance at night and wonder that?"
      "There will be lights?"
      "The night life thrives on Venus, as does the daytime crowd. It's easier to spot the night time crowd. And I think that we could get a more honest answer there. They won't want it any less than the day crowd, but they tend to be up front. Don't worry. We're stuck to it, and we have the real object. They don't. I get the feeling that this glow can be summoned from the real object."
      "What makes you think that?"
      "That's the way I'd build it. I wonder what kind of car it was where Jimmy found it. I'd lay my money on a Merc."
      As they neared Venus, the lights on the darkside began to flare.
      "In the astral plane, Venus has no cloud cover. I'd say that we are expected and they are competing for our attention. We're about to become famous, my loving wife. Look them over and tell me what you like. And beware the taste of the serpentine."
      Jennifer nodded and they moved in closer. He vetoed her first choice, but wouldn't explain. He just repeated the "No." She filed it away and looked further. The second light show that she picked was agreeable to Stan and they dropped toward the surface. It became more intricate and excited as they zeroed in.
      "We're causing a stir. Get ready to act a touch naive."
      "That will come naturally."
      "Like a duck to water."
      They came down in what appeared to be a park with pink and purple trees, a yellow lawn, and a lot of people looking up at them.
      "Hey! The bomb is back!" called out a man that flew toward them.
      "Why do you call it the bomb?"
      "Shaped like a football. You know, the long bomb?"
      "We ran across it accidentally. Our son found it in a wrecked car in a junkyard."
      "So that's where it was. People have been looking high and low for it. Welcome to Venus."
      "I've been here before."
      "Well, welcome again."
      "Could you perhaps tell me more of what you know about it."
      "It's a party ball. Gives you expanded powers and lets you work error free. Everybody gets around them and we all fall in sync and it gets really far out. A real party, pure gas. What are you going to do with it? Going to share it?"
      "Depends on its qualities."
      "It's the best one ever made, by magnitudes. Hasn't been the same around here since it disappeared. But you're probably worried about control, if I read your drift. You hold it, it's accepted you, no one can steal it. It chooses its owners, not the other way around. You're stuck with it."
      "So I noticed."
      "Tell it to let go. Tell it that it's party time."
      They spoke to the oval, and it floated from their hands. The crowd that they had drawn grew continuously as the newcomers poured in from all direction without pause. The party began.
      "My wife has just become a hostess."
      "And my husband, a host of hosts."
      The expanding energy swept them up and floated them to a state so peaceful and so pleasant, yet exciting and enticing. They danced, and the expanding mass danced with them. Jennifer smiled at him and they felt the feeling returned thousands fold. He kissed her and the crowd sighed. They were well on their way to becoming the most popular host and hostess in the history of Venus. They danced their way to the sun side of Venus, absorbing as they went, the glow following every step of the way.
      After hours, they left Venus, the bomb left behind. They appeared by their bodies in a jump home, after a warm farewell, sending the glow on its way to party further.
      "I wish that I could change the shape of my real body like I can this one. I almost don't want to return."
      "Jennifer, my love, I like it just the way it is. Familiar."
      "Really?"
      "Yes, and with that smile that you're wearing now, it will be all the more appealing."
      "Want to race to see who gets back into their body first?"
      "No, but I'm not going to dawdle, either."