by Sarah Noffke
“Don’t you mean another certifiably insane person?” Eddie swiveled his head playfully. “We’re all mad here.”
“Did you just quote Lewis Carroll?” Lars asked, surprised.
“I did.” Eddie pressed a proud hand to his chest and bowed slightly. “Chester loaned me a copy of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. Said he was named after the cat.”
“Watch out,” Lars said from the corner of his mouth in Julianna’s direction. “The captain is getting cultured.”
“Don’t you worry, I still like my meat rare and my music loud,” Eddie said with a chuckle.
Julianna rolled her eyes. “I fail to see what the temperature of meat or the volume of music has to do with being cultured or not.”
“That’s an excellent point, dear Julianna,” Eddie said in a distinguished voice. “I do apologize for making an illogical correlation.”
She shook her head and opened the door to the interrogation room. The “guest,” as they were calling him since he was nonviolent and seemed mostly content to be aboard, was sitting on the floor with his legs crossed. He had a thick head of shoulder-length black hair, which was streaked with white. His beard was unkempt, and his brown eyes buzzed with tension. The man was underfed, and wore dingy clothes that hung loosely on his lanky frame.
His fingers popped up as he counted. “One hundred thousand and twenty-four. One hundred thousand and twenty-five. One hundred thousand and twenty-six.” The man dropped his hands into his lap and looked up at them serenely. “Oh, that was nice. Shall we begin again? One, two, three, four—”
“Actually, can we pause the counting for a moment?” Eddie asked.
The man gaped, like that was the most ridiculous idea he’d heard all day. He was definitely bonkers.
Julianna motioned to the chair on the other side of the table. “Would you like to take a seat?”
As if this were another crazy question they were asking him, the guest pushed back into the steel wall of the room with offense on his face.
“Okay…” Julianna said, her voice tentative. Cautiously she approached him and squatted so they were at eye level. This wasn’t the tough-girl act she put on in battle—this was one Eddie hadn’t seen before. The woman of a hundred faces, he mused.
“I’m Commander Fregin and this is…” She held out her hand, indicating Eddie.
“Captain Teach,” Eddie said on cue.
“You can call me ‘Julianna,’” she said, her voice soft.
“Julianna,” the man repeated, seeming to practice the name.
“Yes, and what can we call you?” she asked.
The man’s bright eyes darted up from his hands and straight at Julianna. “Name… What did they call me?”
“The Saverus? Is that who you mean?” Julianna asked.
At the mention of the aliens, the man recoiled. So he hadn’t enjoyed his time with them, which Eddie had suspected was the case.
“It’s okay,” Julianna said. “You’re safe now. They can’t get to you. We have you protected.”
The man relaxed a bit and looked up at Eddie. When their eyes connected the captain had the briefest moment of déjà vu, as if they’d met before.
“What’s your name, buddy? Do you remember?” Eddie asked.
“Lo-Lo-Cheng,” he stuttered.
Julianna straightened from her crouch, giving Eddie a tense look. She was probably thinking the same thing as him. If it took this long to get the man’s name out of him, finding out anything of use was going to take forever.
“Cheng, why did the Sav—” Eddie stopped himself. They needed to keep this guy as steady as possible. “Why were you at Area Eight?”
The man gulped several times like his mouth was dry, so Julianna disappeared out the door, returning a moment later with a glass of water. Cheng was panting now, and obviously dehydrated.
He took the water, downed the entire glass, and handed it back to Julianna with a hopeful expression. She nodded and left again.
“Device,” Cheng said, wiping the back of his hand across mouth. He looked somehow more lucid when Julianna returned a moment later with another glass of water and a canteen for refills. She also placed a plate of dried meat and fruit in front of him, offering him a reassuring smile.
“Thank you,” he managed to say around the glass pressed to his cracked lips.
“Device? They took you there hoping you could help them find a device? Is that right?” Eddie guessed.
Cheng crammed a handful of dried cherries into his mouth and nodded.
“Why would you know where this device is?” Julianna asked, kneeling again by their guest.
“I built it,” he said with his mouth full.
Julianna looked up at Eddie, eagerness in her expression. They were getting closer.
“You built it? What is this device?” Eddie asked.
Cheng picked up the glass and nearly took a bath when he took his next sip, spilling half its contents down his front. “Actually, I helped build it.”
“What is it?” Julianna asked, her voice a bit more forceful. They were so close.
Cheng shook his head adamantly, his black hair whipping him in the face. “No one should have the device. It’s dangerous.” He pushed away the empty plate and pulled his knees into his chest, suddenly shivering.
“We’re trying to protect the device. That’s why we were there,” Julianna explained. “If you can tell us what it is and where to find it, we can put extra security on it.”
This seemed to make Cheng relax a tad. “It’s not at Area Eight.”
“Area One-Twenty-Six, then?” Eddie asked.
Cheng jerked his head in a roundabout nod.
“Can you tell us where and what it is?” Julianna pressed.
“I don’t know where. My research partner does,” Cheng said.
“What is it?” Julianna tried again. She appeared to be using every bit of her patience, since Cheng was really making them work for this information.
He shook his head, pressing his mouth shut tightly.
Okay, so he wasn’t going to tell them the name. Maybe if they gave them another plate of food he’d talk.
“All right…” Julianna said, drawing out the word. “This research partner—can you tell us anything about this person?”
“Londil,” Cheng corrected.
“Did you say Londil? Your research partner was a Londil?” Eddie asked, straightening. What were the odds?
“Doctor A-a-a…” Cheng stuttered.
“Doctor who?” Julianna asked, desperation slipping into her voice.
“Doctor Aiden?” Cheng said mostly to himself, as if testing the name to see if it sounded right.
“’Doctor Aiden?’” Julianna repeated.
Cheng shook his head, his eyes sparking like something was suddenly clear. “No. A’Din Hatcherik!”
Chapter Eleven
Hatch’s Lab, Ricky Bobby, Tangki System
Julianna held onto Cheng’s arm as she helped him through the corridor. He was stronger after the food and water, and now mostly seemed breathless from the excitement.
“He’s here? He’s really here?” Cheng kept saying. At least he wasn’t counting anymore.
“See for yourself.” Eddie pointed to Hatch, who was flattened out under a gray DeLorean. His tentacles were wrapped around the car, and he was also tinkering under the hood, while he simultaneously worked under the car.
“Doc, I can’t find it,” Knox called from the back of the lab, his black Mohawk barely visible over the top of a table of parts where he was searching.
“I told you eighty-eight times, kid!” Hatch yelled, his voice muffled under the car. “The flux capacitor is—”
Hatch froze briefly, then his tentacles retracted and he pushed out from under the car. He looked a bit distracted as he gazed at the three who approached. He whipped around and waved Knox off, his cheeks puffing out. “Never mind. Work on that ship project.”
“Which one?” Knox asked,
his face scrunching as he peered over the top of the workstation. When he spotted Eddie and Julianna he ducked. “Right. Ship project. You got it.”
Julianna moved her hands to her hips and offered Hatch a tight smile. “What are you working on?”
“Something for the ship. And for your current mission.” Hatch added the last bit, reaching over and shutting the open car door.
“We don’t care if you work on your hobbies,” Eddie said with a laugh.
“Hobby. Yes, that’s what I’m working on.” Hatch slapped the side of the car affectionately. “We’re just fixing up this old DeLorean.”
Julianna eyed the mechanic sideways. “Is that right?”
Hatch puffed out his cheeks and feigned an odd smile. “Yes, Julie, of course.”
What are they working on? Julianna asked Pip.
How should I know? he answered.
You’ve been quiet for too long. I know you’ve been hanging out with the boys.
Then you know that as a man, I can’t disclose what happens in the man cave.
Julianna ignored the “man” statement. There was no arguing with Pip on such things anymore. Is it something dangerous? she asked him.
Is it something dangerous! Pip repeated with a laugh and a hint of disbelief at the question.
Is it illegal?
Pip huffed. Is it illegal? Ha!
Repeating what I say is not answering the question.
By the way, you should stop interrogating me. Your new friend appears to be having social anxiety.
Julianna turned around to find that Cheng hadn’t come all the way into the lab with them. He had stalled by the entrance, and was clutching the doorframe as if he were reconsidering this whole thing.
She trotted over and wrapped an arm around his shoulder. “Hey, Cheng. Everything is all right. You wanted to see Hatch. We’ve brought you to him.”
“It’s so bright in here. And loud,” Cheng said, covering his ears and squeezing his eyes shut.
The lights in the lab were a bit bright, which was typical for Hatch’s workspace, but aside from Eddie and Hatch discussing the car there were no other real noises. However, Cheng still seemed pained by a loud noise as he pressed his hands over his ears.
“Ricky Bobby, will you please reduce the lights?” Julianna asked.
“Of course,” Ricky Bobby replied. “Lights reduced to sixty percent.”
Cheng relaxed only slightly as Julianna led him over to Hatch.
Hatch was momentarily distracted by the newbie, but then his face brightened and one of his tentacles popped into the air. “Oh, I did have a chance to test and examine what you brought back.”
“Yes, and what was in the white box?” Julianna asked, her focus rapidly shifting.
Hatch reached over to the white container, which was sitting on a nearby workstation. He opened the lid and pulled out a giant pile of green goo.
“Is that the stuff from the Vermix Rex?” Julianna asked, suddenly excited. They’d destroyed the last one known to be in existence, and although the giant worms were highly dangerous, their blood was literally a lifesaver.
Hatch shook his large head. “No, but it’s still something extraordinary.”
When he set the green goo on the work station, it congealed into a mound like gelatin and a single flash of energy shot through its center.
“Is that thing…” Julianna’s voice trailed away, since she wasn’t sure what the pile of goo was.
“It’s alive,” Hatch said triumphantly.
Eddie turned to Julianna. “It’s a spy. Watch this.” He pulled off a piece of the goo and stuck it on the underside of the table, then separated up another small bit from a mother source, and handed it to Julianna.
She hesitated, but after an encouraging nod from Hatch she took it.
Hello, a voice that wasn’t Pip’s said in her head. She knew Pip’s voice like she knew her own, and this wasn’t him.
“Who is that?” Julianna asked, looking from the green slime in her hand to Eddie and Hatch.
“He doesn’t have a name,” Hatch said, cheerfully.
“Yet,” Eddie said, with promise.
The agent reports that the area is dark and approximately sixty-eight degrees, the voice said in her head again. Within view are a wrench, a drill, and an oilcan.
Julianna looked under the table where Eddie had stuck the other bit of goo. Sure enough, those objects were present.
There are three voices, although the agent senses that there are more beings in the vicinity, the voice said.
Julianna looked up, awe on her face. “This thing’s a spy!”
Eddie smiled broadly, sliding his hands into his pockets. “Pretty cool, huh?”
“Fucking brilliant,” Julianna said, pulling the piece of green slime from her hand. It came away cleanly, and when she held it close to the mound it shot out of her hand and rejoined the main source.
Thank you, the voice said in her head.
“Wait, I don’t have to be connected to the…the thing for it to talk to me?” Julianna asked, looking at Hatch.
He shook his head. “It appears to have a telepathic range of approximately fifteen feet. However, Teach showed you how it was intended to be used. You place an agent where you want it to spy and then connect to it through the transmitter.”
“Wow, who would have thought a blob would be so useful?” Julianna mused, staring at the thing as it pulsed with energy.
“Useful and highly intelligent,” Hatch stated. “Although it’s not sentient, it does have the ability to learn. It can bounce from location to location. Observe that around it and blend into its environment.”
“’Bob!’” Eddie declared.
“What?” Julianna asked. “Are you blurting out random things again? I thought we had cured you of that.”
“’Bob,’” Eddie repeated, pointing to the green electrified material. “Bounce, observe and blend. ‘Bob the blob.’”
That name is accurate, Bob said in Julianna’s head.
“I agree,” Hatch said with a smile. “Accurate, and it has a ring to it.”
“So we can all hear Bob, then? At the same time?” Julianna asked. This ‘Bob’ was something else.
“Yes, he can broadcast to anyone in the general vicinity or anyone connected to a transmitter, as I mentioned before,” Hatch stated.
“Unless it is instructed to create an individual connection forged to specific agents and transmitters,” Cheng said, his voice suddenly clear and his eyes gleaming as he regarded Bob.
“Yes, I was about to say that,” Hatch said, astounded. “How did you know that?”
“I created Bob,” Cheng stated flatly.
Chapter Twelve
Hatch’s Lab, Ricky Bobby, Tangki System
“What did you say?” Hatch asked, looking straight at Cheng.
Eddie stepped to Cheng’s side. “When we were in Area Eight, we found—”
“Cheng?” Hatch rushed forward, squinting like he wasn’t seeing him quite clearly. He was suddenly vibrating with surprise, but he stayed at a distance from the man.
Cheng nodded, sweeping his hands over his arms. “Yes, I-I-I…think that’s me. When my mind clears, I remember what it was like to be who I was.”
“How are we not ourselves?” Eddie said in a mused tone.
“He said that you two created a device together,” Julianna interjected.
“We created many things together. Cheng was my research partner for several years.” Hatch neared Cheng and looked him over. “But you died?”
“Abducted,” Cheng corrected, standing as stoically as if he were in a lineup of thieves.
“By the Saverus?” Julianna guessed.
Cheng nodded.
However, Hatch didn’t appear to be listening. His face was overwhelmed by his surprise and he ran a tentacle over his chin, surprise changing to awe. “This is impossible.”
“Only if you believe it is,” Eddie said, quoting another line from Alice’
s Adventures in Wonderland. How could he not? It had been the perfect setup.
“Right, right,” Hatch said, now staring at the floor and pacing as he tried to piece things together. “It’s so incredible to see you. When you disappeared, I hadn’t seen you in the better part of a few years, and…”
“Yes, we had been working remotely,” Cheng stated, still frozen, arms by his sides.
“Just video calls,” Hatch said, nodding. “And then you just up and disappeared one day. So the Saverus—”
“Actually, no.” Cheng’s mouth hardly parted for the words. “I was testing our last invention.”
“No!” Hatch said, his eyes wide.
Cheng hung his head, shame making his shoulders hunch. “I’m afraid so.”
“But we knew that—”
“That it had flaws,” Cheng said, finishing Hatch’s sentence.
“And it was never intended to be used for human life.” Hatch’s tone now was punishing.
“I know.” Cheng scratched his beard with both hands. “And I’ve suffered ever since from the radiation.”
“What was this device?” Julianna asked. “This is what the Saverus are after, right?”
Hatch seemed to think. “Yes, that would make sense. It’s a very valuable tool, and absolutely deadly no matter whose hands it is in. That was why, after Cheng’s disappearance, I had the device I was working on placed in Area One-Twenty-Six.” Hatch continued pacing, seemingly to relieve his nervous energy. “I really should have seen this coming. It all makes so much sense now.”
“It might to you two,” Eddie said over the clanging of metal in the back of the lab. Knox was apparently working on a project.
“This device…what is it?” Julianna asked.
“The T-T-T...” Cheng’s voice trailed away, unable to finish his sentence.
“The Tangle Thief.” Hatch waddled over and laid a comforting tentacle on his old friend’s shoulder. “It’s okay, you’ll be fine.”
“What does the Tangle Thief do?” Eddie asked, backing toward the workstation and pulling himself up to sit on its surface next to Bob.
Cheng seemed to come back to himself and nodded before saying, “Entanglement.”