Sheriff Conrad looks upon the deflated oddity discovered behind a compound of mobile homes and fears the bombs connected to that fallen and decayed balloon will force his community to reappear on the road map. He convenes his neighbors, and the villagers decide the best plan in coping with the bombs' dangers is restoring that balloon so their village might simply return the oddity to the wind.An enemy vanquished over fifty years ago crafted the balloon bomb from streamers and paper. The weapon’s creators simply set the balloon adrift in the wind before praying fortune delivered destruction to their enemy’s homeland. Rural villagers decades later find one such balloon entangled in the swamp bordering their community. The bombs fastened to the balloon threaten peril, but no one wishes to contact the outside world for help, and thus remind the larger world of their aging community hoping to be forgotten. With new paper and paint, with new stitches and hydrogen, that rural community brings the balloon bomb back to life, never stopping their work to wonder if it might be best to let one weapon of a lost age simply fade into ruin.

Ralph sticks his tongue between the terminals of a nine-volt battery, and so becomes initiated into the pack of children who assemble to fight the beast lurking in the river, draining their town of life. The monster has stolen precious treasure from each child who pedals his and her bicycle towards the dark to confront the monster, and those young warriors speed out of town to earn their revenge.Ralph's legs burn as he pumps power into his bicycle's pedals to race to the river bottoms to confront the monster Lacy claims lurks in the water to steal life from their fading community of Beckford. Ralph envies the weapons each of his friends bring to wield against the monster, and he fears he possesses nothing with which to combat whatever monstrosity they discover outside of town. Each rider pedaling towards the descending dark feels their childhood slipping for the sorrow the bottom beast has manifested. Thus they have all tasted a nine-volt battery's spark to count themselves among the initiated pack that swears to make that monster return the treasure it has stolen from their families and lives

Mankind shows no mercy to those of the Black Sun Temple. For those cultists who warn those alien sirens are mankind's doom jeopardize the melodies those creatures share with humankind. But that zeal for justice blinds mankind's empathy, until the executioners attending to their duty upon Ganymede push too far and ruin any chance to some day sing alongside those incredible sirens mesmerizing man.Gunner has executed uncounted cultists of the Black Sun Temple as a sentry and executioner stationed on the penitentiary built upon Jupiter's moon Ganymede. War has ravaged his body, and escorting so many condemned prisoners to their deaths has shredded Gunner's soul to tatters. He would have forsworn his duty long ago had he not been blessed to hear the sirens' alien melody that heals the most wounded of hearts. For the sirens sing a different song to every prisoner facing whatever form of death Jackson Hardcase and his gameshow deliver. The sirens sing, and their notes lift the condemned and chase fear from their hearts. But Gunner's wounds are deep and unhealed, and even the most loyal of executioners can serve for only so long before his resolve shatters to show the sirens the frailty, and the danger, inherent in mankind.

Anton risks more than his carnival when he makes a place for Bora and his magical creatures. Anton worries that Bora's monster swells too quickly within its cage, and he frets that the monster might soon escape to feed upon the world. But Anton risks that danger because he needs a unicorn's magical horn to heal his girl, and he cannot have one magical creature without the other.Ancient Bora holds his breath and feels the world balance upon his magical creatures. An empathic world would nurture the young unicorn, until that animal realized its glorious potential to wield miracles capable of healing any affliction - like the disease that grips Anton Finnegan’s daughter Marcia and prematurely ages that girl. A dark and resentful world would feed that monster of tendrils and tentacles moaning within the confines of Mr. Finnegan’s house of horrors. Such a monster’s girth would know no bounds, and such a monster’s mass would swell until it choked the land. Bora carried his creatures to the bright lights of the carnival, thinking a carousel’s song would provide a wonderful melody for a young unicorn. Yet Bora still worries that even that nation of wealth and luxury has little to provide to a unicorn.

Kate no longer runs in the field with her loyal dog Gyp. Gyp worries for Kate's exhaustion. Gyp sees how the color fades from his beloved master. He knows how Kate sweats through sleepless nights. Gyp suspects a terrible sickness gripping Kate, and he fears the family cat Isis holds a terrible secret from him, one which Gyp is determined to learn no matter if he has to shake that cat apart.Gyp is a champion of a loyal dog. Gyp closely follows each of his master Kate's commands. Together, they are a team, and Gyp loves nothing more than running through the training field and pleasing Kate with his cunning and speed. But when a sickness grips Kate so that they can no longer take the field, Gyp will brave even the family's ancient, temperamental cat Isis to learn what can be done to bring health back to his Kate. Gyp will not flinch before that cat's eyes, and the dog will complete any challenge, or pay any cost, to pull Kate back upon the green fields.

The community of Monteray's suffering budget dooms the park's baseball diamond to demolition to make way for development. The community gives Mr. Harmon the task of informing Coach Boyle of the decision. Mr. Harmon's conversation with the aging, yet still powerful, coach proves a difficult one, for the the gap between the two men assign them each to a different time.Jas Boyle upkeeps the memories to be found between a baseball diamond's first and third base foul lines. Raking the infield and mowing the outfield grass does not take all of Jas Boyle's time, and the aging man often still grips a wooden bat to face a pitching machine. Mr. Harmon hears the cracks from that bat as he approaches that field to tell Jas Boyle that the community of Monteray will no longer require his services. Waiting for the pitching machine to empty as Jas Boyle takes his hitting practice, Mr. Harmon is amazed to watch the older man still send majestic fly balls far beyond the outfield fence - towards the direction of the looming bluffs, towards the direction of a lost age.

The world's troubles make Mrs. Queen hum. But when her son threatens to separate her from her grandson unless she gains control of her behavior, Mrs. Queen vows to master her nervous habit of humming. The world's wars and famines, storms and earthquakes, fail to cooperate with Mrs. Queen, and the sweet woman must decide if chasing away her hum is worth placing her neighbors in peril.Fear constricts Mrs. Queen’s life. Anxiety turns her to stone. And all of Mrs. Queen’s worry overflows into the hum forever spilling from the trembling woman. Recognizing how the nervous habit has consumed his mother, Maven refuses to let his son David visit his grandmother until Mrs. Queen promises to follow the prescribed steps required to regain control over her trepidation. Mrs. Queen forces herself to cease fretting over her diet. She volunteers throughout her community to again socialize with her peers. She even tosses her emergency radio into the silence of her closet. Yet the woman's environment seems to unravel all the more furiously with each of Mrs. Queen’s efforts, until the world itself shakes in an attempt to make Mrs. Queen return to her humming.

Markus Kohl's aching body struggles to attend to his duties as the kingdom's lowly tinker. Though his neighbors rely upon the tinker to keep the mechanisms of their livelihoods in working order, few in the kingdom appreciate Markus's effort. Regardless, Markus satisfies his king's newest request with a creation that will remind all of those in the kingdom of the debts owed to the humble tinker.Markus Kohl's old bones groan as the tinker wakes to the first morning of the second sun. The second sun's humidity and heat give Markus little relief. His neighbors show him little patience as their poorly maintained machines shudder for the tinker's attention, and the villagers calling on the Markus's services refuse to allow the tinker's helpful Fay to enter their homes. Markus's work schedule strains to meet King Tiber's request for a device that will cool his court as the second sun crowds the sky. Though his body aches and though his neighbors show no respect for his duties, Markus meets the king's order with the help of his silver-haired Fay. What the tinker presents to the court challenges the realm to take responsibility for itself, or suffer terrible plague should ruin be allowed to gnaw at Markus's final, stunning achievement.

Braving the lethal elements and buzzkills, four crawl out from the shelter of their hovel to push an invention towards the legendary tower the fatcats built before the world fell into ruin. They hope their machine will discover where the fatcats sleep, so that, finally, those who were left behind to languish in the wastes can take revenge by filling the fatcats' dreams with nightmares.Old man Sparker has built a powerful drill in the hovel, driven by a hissing engine of steam. Hoping the drill will help those who must call the wastes home find where the fatcats have retreated, Sparker’s daughter Sweet Tea leads a group that pushes her father's machine towards the tall tower rumored to be the fatcats’ home. There’s the giant Crotch, whose legs give the group so much strength. There’s Shiv, whose skills with the wicked razor may prove useful upon encountering any enemy. And there is Bug, the most resilient man to call the hovel home, a man who refuses to be squashed beneath any adversary’s heel. Together, they grunt and push Sparker’s contraption through the wastes, motivated by the desire to wrench the hated fatcats out from their pleasant dreams.

A tycoon, an heiress and a reporter hunt the most exotic creatures found in the cosmos. But a stranger from the stars has arrived first on the safari, and that alien will stop at nothing to collect every human's face as a trophy.The obliterators execute the Law of Extermination, cleansing alien planets of native life and reshaping extra-terrestrial landscapes to prepare the new worlds found in the stars for human settlement. Yet a creature of shadow and fear prevents the obliterators from completing their duty on the planet of Tybalt, a world that promises humankind a New Eden, if only the obliterators can exterminate that glowing jungle in which the monster hides. Teddy Jackson accepts the obliterators’ challenge to claim that monster as a trophy. But an intelligence unlike any Mr. Jackson has ever tracked threatens to turn the table on that great hunter who has mounted so many alien heads upon his walls.

The archivist Un'Yhe has honored the strangers throughout his long lifetime. The strangers have smiled at every relic of the broods' homeworld Un'Yhe has brought before them. Un'Yhe's care continues to expand the museum built upon the strangers' crashed ark, until one day the strangers unfold the homeworld's bright sky to reveal a sparkling treasure more glorious than even Un'Yhe's museum houses.The strangers have spent eons floating through the chasms separating the stars. After so many millenniums, the strangers reach their loftiest goal and arrive upon an alien world filled with intelligence, life and splendor. But the strangers have evolved since the day so long ago when their ancestors first stepped into the stars. Only, the strangers' eyes remain transfixed upon the stars. The strangers still pine, despite all the alien treasure that surrounds them, for a return to those dark chasms that expand between the night's twinkling starlight.

Radio talk-show host Max Jervis plays the part of victim better than anyone, and that talent has made Mr. Jervis a very wealthy man. Mr. Jervis will share in any indignity and imagine any conspiracy that might help grow his broadcast empire. But Mr. Jervis forgets that there is a monster for every victim until a scraping and clawing arrive one night outside his studio door.Mr. Jervis plays the role of victim as fine as any actor. By taking offense at the slightest rebuke and by seeing conspiracies behind every shadow, Max Jervis has built an empire of listeners and sponsors with the countless parts of his victim-hood. Max rages and cries with anyone who hears his voice, and he creates monsters out of the airwaves to grip the passion of any broadcast market. But Max Jervis learns too late that his words summon abomination. The scraping of claws arrives outside his door following a caller's curse, and Max Jervis must face the creature his words have shaped.

Owen Masters doesn't like the community of Flat Knob, and the community doesn't like him. No matter his efforts or intention, Flat Knob has despised Owen since he arrived to teach at the county school. A camera Owen purchases at the Turner estate auction, however, has a strange knack for capturing the dark held within the heart. Through that camera's lens, Owen will claim what is rightly deserved.Owen Masters languishes in the community of Flat Knob. He wastes his weeks at the front of a high school English classroom, where he suffers the futility of trying to instruct those who despise him. On weekends, he drifts through the barren county to attend estate sales searching for exotic and strange possessions that might deliver a little satisfaction to his days. A dark, phrenologist skull grips Owen’s attention at Homer Turner’s estate sale. Though his bid is not enough to bring that relic home, Owen soon finds himself tossed into Flat Knob’s oldest feud between a hated entrepreneur and a wicked family named Turner. And through the lens of a strange camera that clicks through the night, Owen Masters learns he must first become a monster to gain Flat Knob's respect.

Memories flood Mr. Voss as the man sits amid the winking lights of his treatment. Mr. Voss’ memories have been lost for years, and disease shrouds his mind with mist. Treatment composed of glimmer promises to restore Mr. Voss’ health, and his wife will give everything to help him return. But the children fear what the light might summon, and they hesitate to pay any of the light's cost.Elaine Voss looks upon her husband and prays that Thomas quickly returns to her. Disease has stolen her husband’s memory, so that Thomas fails to recognize the faces of his family. That disease seems especially cruel to Elaine, for her husband’s shoulders remain wide, his legs strong, and his face little wrinkled. Elaine puts her faith into the lights, and she sacrifices to pay whatever cost the sparkle requires to reunite with the man Elaine always believed Thomas to be.Vicki Voss looks upon her father as the lights dance upon him. She learned to carve her own path while the mist filled Thomas’ mind, and she wonders if a returned father would do her more harm than good. Like her mother, Vicki believes the therapy will heal her father, but she remains unsure if she desires a family reunion. Vicki fears Thomas will mock her aims and force her to remain silent and meek.Logan Voss drives through the night to return to his childhood home. Mother again contacts him with news that his father will soon walk out of the light. Yet Logan remains skeptical. He has often hurried home only to find that disease keeps it grip upon Thomas Voss’ mind. But Logan hurries home now with a different purpose; he is determined to convince his mother and sister to let their father drift forever away, believing a quiet death a better option than the monster Logan fears his family summons.

Fay appears at the corner of Fifth and Water whenever Adam suffers a recurrence of cancer. Her silver hair and spinning halos comfort Adam during his deepest suffering. Together, Adam and Fay visit fantastic worlds twirling in the snows of magical, glass globes. Adam knows he and Fay would be happy, if only Fay could see how her beloved Regent so cruelly toys with her sprite heart.Without Fay, Adam would have to face his sickness and mortality alone. Fay always visits Adam with a magical snowglobe whenever Adam's sickness lowers his spirits. Together, they travel to worlds filled with magic, music and color. Next to Fay, Adam looks upon worlds of which the rest of mankind cannot dream. He cherishes Fay for her comfort, and though he knows that each piece brings them one step closer to the cruel Regent, Adam helps Fay rediscover the shards of her splendorous mirror a king once gifted her. Adam knows that he has little influence over Fay's sentiments, and that in the end, he must trust his favorite sprite to learn for herself the truth of the Regent's intentions.