Tink’s Neverland

Chapter 1

Chapter One

“Hey, Tink, you were great tonight,” yelled one of the guys who had been trying to get Jasmine “Tinker” Bell’s attention all night.

There was a full house tonight at the local brewery called Purple Haze, where they made and sold all types of homemade beers and specialty dishes. It was a well-known college hangout and a great place to get picked up if that was what you were looking for.

The two guys walking away had been the two most aggressive in trying to get Tink’s attention. Tink made it a rule not to pick up anyone from the bar. She had bad enough luck with guys without having to add any other liabilities to her choices.

Tink raised her hand and gave an offhanded thanks before turning the opposite way. She and her band mates closed the brewery down tonight. At two o’clock in the morning, the only lights shining were the streetlights and occasional headlights from a car leaving the place, but she wasn’t worried.

The small college town of Calais, Maine was one of the safest in the country. Even if it wasn’t, anyone who had heard of Jasmine “Tinker” Bell knew better than to mess with the pint-size spitfire if they didn’t want a wrench upside their head. At five feet, four inches and one hundred ten pounds of toned muscle, Tink was known for her sense of humor and easy personality.

But when riled, she could take down even the toughest of mechanics in the town thanks to her mom’s determination that all her girls learn to defend themselves, even if it meant fighting dirty—which Tink had been known to do on occasion. Besides, if she wasn’t able to do it, then one of her two sisters or eleven fellow mechanics around town would do the job, and there wouldn’t be much left for the cops to pick up. Life was good as far as Tink was concerned, and she enjoyed it to the fullest.

Softly humming one of the songs she had played, she hung the guitar case over her shoulder and tightened the tool belt around her small waist. She’d promised her best friend, Cosmos, she would stop by the lab in the warehouse where they lived to look at a generator he needed her to work on. She’d picked up her tool belt from work to bring home with her earlier since she needed some of the special tools she had machined for the job. She loved working on some of the things Cosmos created, almost as much as she loved the big guy himself.

Cosmos might have been born with a silver spoon in his mouth, but it didn’t show. Cosmos’ parents made a mint off different patents they developed, and Cosmos was just like them. He’d had his doctorate by the time he was twenty-two and had bought the old warehouse near the river as a lab and house.

While many considered him a nerd, Cosmos didn’t follow the typical description of one. He was six foot two with wide shoulders, long light-brown hair, and hazel eyes. The kind of eyes a girl could drown in—any girl except Tink, that was. She and Cosmos had developed a kinship more like siblings. So, when Tink’s family passed through the town, she’d decided it was time to try out her wings and moved into the top floor of the warehouse while Cosmos took the first and second floors as his own.

Tink’s family was as different as Cosmos’, which was probably why they gravitated to each other. Tink grew up traveling the country in a forty-foot motor home. Her parents, Angus and Tilly Bell, were the best parents any girl could have, and they had three children all living, learning, and growing in a mobile home with ten wheels that took them all over the country.

Tink’s father, Angus, was a well-known science fiction writer. He was one of the few authors who was not only very talented, but also very prolific and profitable. They could have lived on his income alone. He often stated his ideas came from his family and all the mischief they got into.

Her mom, a petite spitfire like her three daughters, was hell on wheels—literally. An accomplished mechanic who grew up working in her grandfather’s garage in a small town in Oklahoma, she loved to tinker on any type of engine. She was constantly upgrading the RV to greater power. She was also a computer geek who loved to design and develop software that engineering firms around the world used in developing power for all types of buildings. This skill provided a comfortable living, and she shared all her wonderful knowledge and skills with her daughters.

While all the traveling was great, when the family had pulled into the local campground for the summer when Tink was eighteen, Tink knew she was ready to stop moving. Tink met a group of boys camping nearby and fell in love with the quiet one out of the bunch, in a totally platonic way. The awkward boy had been Cosmos, and they had become best pals. When her parents determined it was time to head to the next great adventure, Tink decided to stay.

Her parents were sad to see their youngest and last child make the decision but were totally supportive. So monthly phone calls became Tink’s connection to a family that lived all over the country. Life was great then, and it still was four years later. At twenty-two, Tink couldn’t think how life could get any better. She had a great job at the local garage that did customized work, worked part-time for the college on all their miscellaneous equipment, helped Cosmos with the equipment he used for his experiments, and played with a small group of musicians a couple times a month at the brewery. Yep, life was great.

Turning right down Main Street and heading east two blocks, the river came into view. Over the small two-lane bridge and I’ll be home, she thought with a contented sigh.

The warehouse was dark except for a couple of soft lights shining out over the dark water from the first and third floors. Walking over the bridge, Tink stopped to listen to the soft sounds of the water flowing under it. She loved the sounds and smells of the town.

Sighing, she turned and headed over the bridge, thinking about the generator Cosmos wanted her to work on. Even if she didn’t know what half the stuff Cosmos talked about was or what he was working on, she did know the equipment and how it worked, and loved doing it.

She already had an idea of how to get more amps out of the generator and wanted to see if it would work. She didn’t know why Cosmos needed so much power. She would hate to have to pay the electric bill each month.

Cosmos insisted her electric was included as part of her monthly rent, when he let her pay it. She protested, but Cosmos stated it was too much hassle to try to determine the little she used from the large amount that he did. So, in exchange for her help with the equipment and the little she occasionally was able to slip to him, she had a huge living space at almost no cost.

Stepping up to the softly lit entrance, Tink punched the code into the electronic locking system on the heavy metal door. Tink installed it after Cosmos kept losing the keys to the door and locking himself out. The locking mechanism made a clicking noise, and the lock slid quietly open.

Pushing the door open, Tink closed the door and reset the lock. While Calais might be one of the safest cities in the country, Tink wasn’t a fool and didn’t take unnecessary risks.

“Better safe than sorry” was one of her parents’ favorite sayings. “Think of all possibilities before making a decision” was another saying, but Tink didn’t always follow that one, and it sometimes got her into trouble. Like the date she went on last week with the “Professor” from the engineering department at the college.

All he wanted was a quick tip in bed and a chance to see what Cosmos was up to. She figured that out about thirty minutes into the date when he kept trying to get her out of the restaurant and his hands down her pants. Forty-five minutes after the date had started, Tink was nursing bruised knuckles on her right hand where she punched the jerk after he didn’t listen to the word “stop” for the third time when he grabbed her ass. Enough was enough, and she didn’t appreciate getting groped in public by some pompous ass.

The lights came on automatically as she moved through the hallway leading to the lab, shaking Tink out of her musings of that disastrous date. Placing her hand on the palm-print scanner, Tink waited for the scan to finish and for the outer door to the lab to open. Moving to the second security scanner she sang the first verse of “Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star.”

The voice-recognition program called out a greeting in a soft husky voice that sounded a lot like Tink’s mom, Tilly. “Welcome, Tinker Bell. I hope you had a nice night. Cosmos wanted me to give you a message. He had to fly out to Chicago to see his parents and will be gone for a couple of weeks. He hopes this doesn’t cause you any problems. He left his charge card if you need to get any parts or need anything. He can be reached at the following number.” Tink sighed again. She missed the big guy when he was gone. Oh, well. It would be her and RITA for a lonely couple of weeks.

“Thanks, RITA.”

RITA—Tink’s mom’s latest software program that Tink had modified—was an acronym for Really Intelligent Technical Assistant. Tink used her mom’s voice simply because it made her feel like she had family with her whenever she was at home.

RITA used an artificial intelligence program that Tink’s mom, Tilly, developed a couple of years ago to help with some engineering project for the government. Tink copied the basic program last year when she was visiting and was developing it during her spare time. RITA was now a very advanced and sophisticated program that learned and developed every day. She had become a substitute mother to Tink, often giving her advice, like “Do you really think you should go out with that professor?” or “You really should eat better.”

“How was your gig tonight, dear?” RITA asked. Her voice came through the audio system that was wired throughout the warehouse, which the software could access at will.

“It was awesome! Oh, RITA, I wish you could have heard it. Doug played better than he ever had on the drums, and Mike was smoking on the piano. Gloria didn’t show, so I didn’t have to risk her being pissed that I was playing the bass tonight.”

Tink spun around in a circle, her rainbow-colored high-top sneakers squeaking as she turned on the waxed concrete flooring. Her baby blue below-the-knee skirt swirled out around her like one of the dancing tulips from a movie, showing off her long legs encased in a pair of calf-length dark blue spandex tights. Her white peasant top slipped a little farther down one shoulder as she danced across the floor singing one of the sultry pop songs that were currently all the rage.

She slid the guitar strap from her shoulder and held the instrument in front of her like she was dancing with a man, her tool belt making soft, metallic clicks and clacks as she moved. As she danced around the room, her soft, short curls of golden-brown hair bobbed up and down with the motion. Tink’s hair and eyes were just two of her wonderful features that often gave her the appearance of a pixie or fairy.

Her wavy hair was light and flirty, matching her personality. It was the color of fall leaves with natural highlights of gold and amber. Her almond-shaped eyes were the color of melted dark chocolate, so dark, it felt like a person could drown in the depths.

Her figure showed her love of dancing and hard work. She moved with a natural grace she’d inherited from her mother, with long legs, long waist, and high firm breasts that were on the slightly plump side, making them seem a little large for her small frame. This used to be a problem until Tink learned to take advantage of her larger assets. Another wonderful lesson from her parents—“If you’ve got it, flaunt it, then knock the s**t out of the problem.”

Yep, her parents were wise and wonderful people. She did just that when Mister Professor grabbed her that last time. He hadn’t known what hit him until it was too late because he had been looking at her breasts instead of her fists.

“That’s wonderful, dear. You know, I could short-circuit Gloria’s car the next time she takes it in for repair or hack into her computer and put a nice little virus in it,” RITA said with a hint of amusement.

“Thanks, RITA, but I don’t think that’s necessary…at least, not yet. If she keeps giving me a hard time I’ll let you have a go at her,” Tink replied with a slight laugh and a mischievous lift to her lips.

“Did you get a chance to run the configuration I sent to you this morning on the changes I wanted to make to the generator to get more amps out of it?” Tink asked as she walked over to the steps leading down to the lower section of the lab.

The lab took up most of the lower section of the warehouse and housed a split-level with the upper half for computers and the lower for the generators and power sources. The top level was filled with computer equipment and some type of console that controlled Cosmos’ latest experiment.

Tink ignored the console as she walked by, more interested in the lower level. The lower half was where the generator and electrical cabinets were located. Those were her babies. It also contained a strange metal framing that looked almost like a huge doorway. There were cables from the electrical panels and generator attached to metal cabinets that contained the necessary circuit breakers in case of a problem.

“Of course, dear. I sent some additional changes I made to your iPad. You should be able to pull it up. The changes you made were brilliant, and you should be able to pull an additional 11.52368 amps from the generator.”

“Cool!” Tink said as she skipped down the metal steps.

Leaning her guitar and oversize purse against the bottom step, Tink ran her hand through her hair and adjusted her tool belt. Moving over to the large generator located under the upper platform, Tink pulled out the tools she was going to need to open that bad boy up, and started to work. Luckily, tomorrow was Sunday, so it didn’t matter that it was going to be a long night. She could sleep in, and she was off Monday for the holiday weekend. Humming softly, she slowly slid under the generator to pull open the panel she needed to get into first.

She spent the next three hours working on the different modifications she had drawn out on the schematic. Finishing up the last modifications, she slid the panel back into place and tightened the screws down. Making sure she had all of her tools put back into her tool belt, she rose stiffly off the floor.

“Ugh, I think I’m getting too old for this!” Tink muttered under her breath as she slowly stretched out her tired muscles. “RITA, can you fire up Cosmos’ new program, and let’s test the generator out to see if I got everything?”

“Sure thing, dear. You sound beat. Do you want to wait until later?” RITA commented, even as she started the programming that would fire up the console.

RITA knew Tink enough to know she wouldn’t stop until she confirmed that the changes she’d made worked. If they didn’t test it now, Tink would go upstairs and worry that she should have changed this or done that.

Laughing, Tink let out a tired breath. “You know me better than that. Let me know when you get a power reading.”

Tink walked over to the metal stairs slowly, twisting this way and that to relieve her aching muscles from all the sitting, bending, and awkward leaning over she had done for over three hours. Glancing at her watch, she noticed it was almost five thirty in the morning.

Well, no coffee for me this morning if I plan on sleeping the day away, she thought tiredly.

As she moved past one of the panels on the wall next to the stairs Tink noticed some strange lanyards hanging next to it. Moving closer, she picked one up, turning it over and over in her palm. She glanced up again. There were four of them with small cylindrical devices hanging from them. They were absolutely beautiful! The cylinders had carvings on them that matched the carving Cosmos put on the metal frame of the “doorway” thing. Tink could tell they were some type of electronic device. Tink placed the lanyard in the pocket of her skirt. She wanted to take a closer look at it when she wasn’t so tired. She would have plenty of time to replace it before Cosmos came back.

Bending over, Tink picked up her guitar and her oversize purse. Sliding the purse over one shoulder so it draped across her and sliding the guitar case strap over the other, Tink moved to climb the stairs leading to the upper floor and her long-awaited bed.