“Watch out below….mates!”

 Dropping behind the blast shield, he counted out the last two fleeting seconds as he watched Angie cue the series of six camera operators at different angles of the explosion about to be released.

 As the explosion ripped across the open field, the smell of sulfur filled the air and the cannons rolled backward in amazing syncopated ricochet caught on film in at least four of the cameras rolling.

 “Cut, and well done!” Gary Sanderlin yelled out as Rollie jumped up and headed toward Angie.  She was busy closing out her sequence program with Stu watching in fascination behind her.

 “Brilliant, if I do say so myself,” Rollie announced, smiling.  Angie leaned her head to the side and slightly rolled her eyes.

 “Wonder if you’ll need a SAG card now for that one shot of your hand lighting the fuse…” she muttered, under her breath.

 Stu was shaking his head in amazement; “That was awesome!  You guys really do some very cool things.  I can’t wait to see the Jasper chip in action!”

 Angie bit her lip; “Uh, Stu- seems those shots with the headpiece are going to be done toward the end of the shoot now.  We’re talking probably three weeks from now…”

 Stu’s excitement was momentarily dampened but he perked up and looked around the battlefield seeing clean-up crews already scouring the hill, sending extras home;

 “Maybe they can use me as an extra.  After all, I have more experience than any of those guys out there. Hey, I could be the technical advisor maybe…”

 “Oh, well there’s a thought,” Rollie said with some sarcasm as Angie made a face at him behind Stu’s back.

 “Talk to Gary Sanderlin there, Stu.  He’s the boss!” Rollie continued as Angie grabbed her husband’s arm, giving him a good pinch.

 “Ouch!” Rollie said, wincing as Stu seemed to not have noticed.  He was following Rollie’s advice, heading toward the normally grouchy Sanderlin, the Logitech engineer unaware of the reputation that Sanderlin  possessed with unsolicited guests on sets.

 “Hey, what was that for?” Rollie asked, rubbing his arm.

 “For sending him into the lion’s den!  Why are you being so mean?”  Angie asked, folding her arms across her chest.

 “Just having some fun, Angela. Remember that?  Fun?”

 “Yeah, well, at who’s expense?”

 “Lighten up!”

 “Grow up!”

 “Never…”

 “He’s a nice guy, Rol.  And I think he may be helpful to us in other ways…like that uniform image we saw in the film.  And, you know we still have some things not exactly explained here.  Look at my hand!”

 Rollie looked down at her hand, softly touching the palm and then stroking her fingers.  She had removed the dressing that afternoon. The color had improved greatly, although not back to her usual skin tone.

 “Okay…sorry- I’ll go save him.  I was just having some fun.  Sometimes, you know, I miss the stunts we use to pull with Rick…”

 “Yeah, and Luce…I know…but now she’s off being a REAL actress and poor Rick is watching you from above and laughing.”

 “Yeah, laughing at the perfect sod I’ve become,” Rollie added and shook his head.  Before he could offer any redeeming help to Stu, he stopped in mid stride.  Gary Sanderlin was patting Stu Westburn on the back and talking to a production assistant nearby.  As Rollie carefully approached, curiously, Stu turned around and smiled;

 “Rollie, that was great advice!  Mr. Sanderlin is giving me a job as the battle coordination technical advisor.  Seems the other guy just left this morning without a word!”

 Rollie raised his eyebrows slightly and stammered out;

 “Great!  Way to go!  But, what about your job at Logitech?”

 Stu smiled and slightly lowered his head;

 “I took a leave of absence when I came out here.  I didn’t tell you and Mrs. Tyler earlier…I didn’t want you to think I was coming out here to get myself attached to this movie or anything but now…”

 “Great…” Rollie replied, putting his hands in his pockets and then waving as he turned back around to tell Angie.

 “Stu got the job,” he said as she came up to him and looked a bit shocked herself, “says he took a leave of absence in the hopes that he might get a job of sorts on this movie…”

 “Oh?” Angie asked, her mind starting to race a bit as she suddenly remembered Tony Alvarez, alias Gary Lamont, her ill fated assistant while she had been pregnant with Aidan.

 “I was thinking of…”

 “Don’t even think that…”  Angie interrupted him, putting her hand up in the air in front of him.

 “Hey guys!  Want to go out for pizza?”  The voice was Stu’s and they both turned around in surprise.

 Stu stepped back, frowning; “Hey, what’s up?”

 “Stu, you wouldn’t have a strange, homicidal pregnant mother fetish, would you?” Rollie asked, looking perfectly serious.

 “What?”

 “Stu, sorry!  Rollie was kidding!  But seriously, you didn’t come here because you had some sort of crush on me, did you?”  Angie asked, point blank.

 Stu’s face turned ashen, but not from the question.  He hadn’t even heard what Angie Tyler had asked him.  He was watching something around the edge of the riverbank down the hill from where the set had been moved to film the battle scene.

 “Whoa!” he muttered as literally, his hair stood on end.

 Both Angie and Rollie realized he was reacting to something else and turned to follow his gaze.

 As twilight had advanced, and the bog mist began to rise with the heat of the day slowly dissolving, they could all see several orbs of light dance in and out of the mist and trees.

 “What’s that?”  Angie asked, mystified.

 Rollie was speechless.  He looked around but everyone else seemed to be preoccupied with shutting down the set for the evening.

 “Tell you what, I’m going down there!” Angie suddenly said, her curiosity overpowering any fear.

 “Me too!”  Stu added, echoing her determination.

 “Okay, wait for me!” Rollie said, in exasperation, and they all began the descent down the hill toward the riverbank.  The spot where the orbs danced the most was the exact spot where the previous night’s location shooting had taken place.

 “Wow!”  Stu exclaimed, stopping and sitting about twenty feet away, reaching into his pocket for his digital camera.

 Angie stood, her heart pounding in her chest as she grasped Rollie’s hand.  Rollie had never seen anything like this…pure light in a mass of a globe or orb of energy darting back and forth with several other orbs.   Suddenly, they all smelled the distinct odor of sulfur to the point of a disabling stench as they backed away, coughing.

 “God, what is that smell?”  Angie asked, making a face.

 “Oh, probably ectoplasmic energy or what they call flux density…” Stu replied, snapping pictures quickly before one of the orbs suddenly darted out toward them, sending them running up the hill like scared children.

 Lucinda Scott stood on top of Seven Pines Battle hill overlook the bluff of the Chickahominy River.  Two of her best friends and some stranger were high tailing up the side of the bluff toward her.  She began to laugh until she saw their faces as they reached her.

 “What in the world are you guys doing?”  she asked, hands on her hips.

 “What do you mean, didn’t you see them?” asked Rollie, out of breath as Angie leaned forward, catching her breath as well.  Stu had turned around and sighed.  The orbs were gone.

 “See who?”  Lucinda asked, frowning as Rollie pointed at nothing more than the riverbank and the rolling fog around the trees.

 “Stu, we have got to see those pictures!”  Angie demanded as Stu looked down at his camera and smiled.

 “Yeah, I think I made him mad!”

 “Him?  Who?” Lucinda pleaded, stamping her feet, “isn’t anyone going to ask me about John Grant?”

 Rollie and Angie looked at her blankly for a second as did the strange man with the camera.

 “Sure,” Angie finally said, looking back at Rollie as if to warn him to just keep quiet about what they had seen; “come on, Luce- tell me what John Grant’s like!”  She took Lucinda by the arm as the actress smiled and forgot the bizarre welcoming she had received.

 Rollie and Stu took their cues and started for the F/X van several hundred yards away.

 “So Stu, can you get those pictures developed in town tonight?” Rollie asked, reaching the door to the van and facing him.

 Stu looked at Rollie Tyler and grinned.  He knew that Rollie thought he was just some kind of nerdish computer engineer but now….

 “Yeah, going to get on it right now.  Where can I contact you tonight?” Stu replied, putting the camera back in his breast pocket.

 “We’re staying at the Airport Hilton on Route 60, not far from here.  Don’t worry about the time, mate, we’ll be up.”

 Stu nodded, genuinely pleased that Rollie had finally accepted him.  He looked over shyly toward Angie who was talking to Lucinda in animated conversation.

 “Will she be there as well?”  Stu asked, looking at Lucinda in awe.

 “What?  Luce?  Nah, she’s staying at the Jefferson in Richmond.  She’s got some swank digs compared to us!”

 “Oh,” Stu replied, dejectedly.  Rollie caught the look and sighed;

 “Better well know this, Stu…she’s engaged and not to another actor but a police captain in New York City.”

 Stu gulped and shrugged his shoulders;

 “Why is it, all the good ones are taken?”

 “You have to strike while the iron is hot, mate.  Are you sure there aren’t any semiconductor sweeties out there in Silicon Valley?” Rollie asked, smiling.

 “No, not without moustaches and riding Harleys,” Stu said, in a moan.

 “Stu, you’re alright!” Rollie commented, slapping him on the back, “we’re going to get to the bottom of these things, yes indeed!  What’s life without a little mystery!”

 Stu Westburn smiled and looked back down the hill.  He shivered slightly and looked back at Rollie who seemed not worse for the wear about what they had seen.

 “You realize that what we experienced down there were several entities…” Stu reminded him.

 “Entities, ghosties, will-o’-the-wisps, whatever….they’re creating havoc on this movie,” Rollie replied but then shrugged; “but then again, the bloody title of this movie is Will-O’-The-Wisp!”

 Stu scratched his chin; “Who wrote the script for this movie?”

 “From what we hear, a local fourth or fifth generation of the plantation owner who is a character in this movie,” Rollie replied.

 “I’d like to talk to him and get his slant on this stuff,” Stu said, pondering the possibilities.

 “Angie and I met him at his house, Eventyn…we took the tour just hours before the shoot.”

 “Great!  Think I might head out there in the morning.  I mean, he’s the patriarch of the place and well, maybe he knows more than what’s here in the script…” Stu replied, grinning.

 “Go for it!  I’ve some work to do with Angie in the morning.  We’ve a bit of a mess with the headpiece to fix and other things.  But hey, Lucinda is filming at Eventyn tomorrow.  They are shooting a ballroom sequence.  You might find that interesting,” Rollie added, wiping the sweat from his brow as he felt a cold beer in his future.

 Stu nodded, and left him then as he saw Megan Gallagher approaching with Aidan in tow.

 “Hey there, my boy!” he greeted his son who ran up and did a flying leap into Rollie’s arms.

 Aidan Tyler smiled before patted Rollie on the cheek;

 “Daddy’s hot!”

 “You bet, mate.  Time to cool off.  Thanks, Mrs. Gallagher for taking him out today.  Tonight and tomorrow, you get that break you’ve been waiting for…”

 Megan Gallagher nodded and then waved at Aidan; “Bye, Master Aidan!”

 “Bye, Missus Galger…” Aidan replied in a quick wave.  He was happy to be with his dad more than anything.  Rollie chuckled at his pronunciation of his nanny’s name.

 “What say we get a nice cold beer?” Rollie asked his son who nodded in unison.  Aidan’s longish, slightly curly, brown hair brushed against Rollie’s face as he held him against him and hugged him; “come on then, it’s a nice root beer for you and well, the hard stuff for your old man!”

 “Bud….Bud…Wizer!” Aidan mimicked, rocking in Rollie’s arms.

 “Jeez, already a showman!”

 “Daddy?”

 “Hmmm?”

 “That man coming too?”

 “What man?”

 Rollie looked at his son who was pointing behind Rollie.  Rollie turned, expected Stu had returned for something but there was no one there…until Aidan giggled and pointed upward as Rollie gulped.  A flash of light, orb shaped streaked over the trees, resting slightly as it bobbed for a second down near the riverbank and then disappeared.