Thinking fast, while refusing to let go of Maggie’s hand, Lynda looked down at her, smiled and said,
“Why Maggie, I’m surprised at you. Where I come from, we have a ‘shut mouth’ policy. We live under an umbrella of silence and dare I say a fear of saying anything that might breach National Security. I just naturally assumed such a policy was also in effect here. And what do I hear? The first thing you want me to do is breach security and tell you why I am here. Please allow the level of my security pass to speak for itself.”
It was only then she let go of Maggie’s hand and she was grateful for it.
Because the corridor was not wide enough to walk side by side, Lynda dropped back a foot or two and followed Maggie. After yet another forever of turns and endless rooms with heavily latched doors suspiciously akin to heavily secured prison doors, Lynda was prompted to break the silence and ask,
“My, you certainly seem to overdo your security system here. Are all the doors as heavily secured as these?”
It did not take Maggie long to catch onto the ‘shut mouth’ system for she was not about to answer. Thinking that their reverberating footsteps had prevented her from hearing, Lynda repeated the question.
Maggie had enough. She abruptly stopped, which greatly surprised Lynda who bumped into her. For some reason, Maggie seemed mad. As the sound of her strict voice echoed, Lynda suffered her temper.
“Listen honey, I don’t know who you are or where you’re from and apparently I’m not supposed to know. However, I do know one thing. You have no idea where you are, do you?”
Maggie cast an evil eye at Lynda and waited for the answer.
The sudden dressing-down left Lynda temporarily stunned. Of course she knew where she was. As Maggie firmly stood her ground waiting for an answer, the diminutive nurse suddenly seemed taller than Lynda did. Intimidated by somebody who had played this game a lot longer, Lynda folded and stumbled for a meek reply. She softly said,
“Of course I know where I am. This is a Government facility known as Roads End. I admit that I do not know what secret project you are working on but then probably you do not either. I also know that I have been sent here to talk to and bring back Professor Quagmire.”
Maggie was quick to snap back,
“Well it certainly looks like somebody has been playing you for a fool honey. This institution is about the furthest you can get from a secret laboratory run by the Government. Yes, the Federal Government through the financing of the Mental Health Department finances this place but that’s about it.”
Lynda was stunned. All she heard was, ‘mental health department.’ Maggie seemed pleased to add,
“From right about here, I’d say you are pretty well standing in the middle of an insane asylum.”
Why was everything spinning? The events of the last few days started dancing around her confused mind. When suddenly realizing she was wrong in assuming this was a secret lab, her knees got weaker. There was small consolation when assuming that almost everybody in the world assumed the title ‘Professor’ implied brilliant rather than insane. Because she was left speechless, Maggie took pity and said,
“Somebody over in Deep Lab 6 got you good didn’t they?”
She felt her head nodding in agreement.
“You wanna tell me what all this is about now honey?”
Lynda was lost in a sea of confusion and started babbling the truth of her mission. Maggie heard the story about the mysterious hole in the floor and how Professor Quagmire might possess the expertise to explain it. She explained why as the Head Medical Examiner she was delegated to bring him back. However, that was all. There was still a tinge of ‘Shut Mouth’ in her. She did not relate the events of the strange deaths or anything regarding the flying saucer and the fact that the hole was growing. Finally, Maggie said,
“They sure are a bunch of strange ones over there aren’t they? Come on, lets at least get you as close as possible to completing this so-called secret assignment of yours.”
She turned and continued down the hall and Lynda’s feet obediently followed. After a few steps, Maggie asked a surprising question.
“Is that handsome Chief of Security still over there at Deep Lab 6, Whelan Christianson?”
“Yes,” she stammered.
Maggie then added something else that greatly surprised her.
“He used to work here you know.”
She was not sure why that bothered her.
Suddenly Maggie turned into a doorway. With a degree of hesitation, Lynda peeked inside and saw that it was the employee coffee area. Maggie was standing by the coffee urn, looked over her shoulder and she asked,
“Cream and sugar honey?”
Drawn by the allure of the kind offer, Lynda slowly entered the room and asked,
“Do you have tea?”
“No, I’m sorry. We are all pretty well coffee drinkers here. If you need something stronger after that tedious drive, I can sneak you a nice gin and tonic if you’d like?”
Sitting at a small round table, Maggie guzzled steaming coffee with something in it from a small flask that somehow magically emerged from one of her folds. Lynda gingerly sipped her gin and tonic from a coffee cup. Suddenly Maggie cast a stern eye to the credentials dangling on Lynda’s chest and sternly asked,
“Is there really some official legitimacy in that high level security pass of yours?”
Sheepishly and with a tinge of a smile, Lynda replied,
“Yes, it’s legitimate but I must confess that I am new at this game.”
It was either the gin or Maggie’s overpowering pleasantness that seemed to induce Lynda to open up and before long Maggie knew all there was to know about Lynda’s job, husband and Terri. She then blurted out the big question that was bothering her most.
“Why is Professor Quagmire here and what possible good can he do for the situation over at Deep Lab 6?”
Maggie seemed incapable of putting her coffee cup down, gripping it tight as if a good friend. She did however take it away from her mouth long enough to say,
“Do you know what an Autistic Savant is honey?”
Indignant at the question, for she is a Doctor, her reply dripped of contempt.
“Yes, of course, somebody who is very brilliant in only one area but generally speaking is incapable of understanding anything else including social skills.”
“Well, that’s close enough. Professor Quagmire is something along that line. When he was still a teen-ager, he had a brilliant mind for Theoretical Quantum physics. Naturally, the government noticed his brilliance and brought him into the world of secret projects and goodness knows what else. At that time many brilliant minds were secretly sequestered into ‘Think Tanks’ and pushed beyond their brilliance. When the mind finally snapped, this is where they ended up.”
Maggie saw Lynda’s revulsion and wondered if she was releasing too much information. However, when remembering Lynda’s Apple Jack security, she continued.
“At the beginning, it worked out well for the government. They achieved great strides and discoveries in those individual disciplines. However, when the mind is pushed beyond capability it snaps and this is where they end up. None of my patients is capable of even the most basic human skill. Some lost so much of their inherent mind that they became schizophrenic or paranoiac. Brilliance in their field was still there but they lost everything else. Well, as each of them fell out of favor with the Government they were shipped here, out of sight and out of mind if you pardon the expression.”
Lynda was stunned. After regaining composure she said,
“So this place is nothing more than a drop off area for crazy scientists. Its hidden way out here so nobody will find out what happened to them.”
Maggie nodded and said,
“I’m glad you understand honey. It’s a gathering place for the most gifted minds in science that no longer have the ability to even dress themselves.”
Lynda quizzically asked,
“But then
why have I been sent for Professor Quagmire? Surely they are not expecting me to bring a crazy person back to Deep Lab 6?”
Maggie took exception and corrected Lynda’s misconception.
“I don’t know why. I personally think that some of the scientists over there belong here. My patients are not crazy. Some are still brilliant beyond measure. They just cannot function in society.”
Lynda’ mind ran amok trying to recall every single instance of the last few days. As hard as she tried, she could think of no rational reason to bring the Professor back to Deep Lab 6.
When Maggie’s coffee break was over, expecting Lynda to follow, she again marched down the hall. Without a word of warning, she abruptly entered a room much the size of a large living room. On the far wall was a blackboard from ceiling to floor and wall to wall. On more than half of the board were mathematical equations that even in a million years, Lynda would never understand. She saw enough algebra equations, geometric functions and numeric ambiguity to give anybody a headache. Her first impression was of looking in on a university lecture hall and the lecture was on jibber-jabber.
The old man scribbling the equations on the board had his back to her. She really expected Einstein to turn around and say hello. He was wearing a white hospitable gown and blue cotton slippers. As he was standing there obviously wrapped in his equations, something made him slowly turn around. Once he realized that somebody was scrutinizing his work all hell broke loose.
Suddenly he frantically started waving his hands as if trying to push Maggie and Lynda out of the room. When he realized that they were not leaving, continuing to look at his secrets, he started jumping up and down and zipping back and forth across the floor trying to make his body cover the equations. Incoherent babble spewed from a crazed mouth. Surprisingly Maggie remained calm and said to Lynda,
“That is Professor Eldridge. He came to us many years ago from a failed attempt in Philadelphia called the Rainbow Project. You might know it as the Philadelphia Project. He claims he was a scientist on that project. Loony as a loon he is. Let’s get out of here before he erases everything and starts over again. He will you know. ”
As they left the rambling scientist to his secrets and continued along the narrow hallway, Lynda asked,
“I thought the Philadelphia Project was a Navy experiment in the forties to make a ship undetectable to radar. That was over seventy years ago and he looked to be around fifty years old. How can that be?”
“Yes, 1943 to be exact. They used an electro-magnetic resonance field strong enough to encompass the whole ship. The Government claimed that it was a failed experiment but in fact, one aspect of it was successful. The ship actually disappeared from the radar screen. Unfortunately, it also disappeared into thin air. It became invisible. When they cut the power off, the volunteer sailors placed on the ship babbled on about the different places they had either transported to or seen. Some claimed they warped to different times in history as well. Many young men died that day. The Professor back there claimed he was transported somehow into another dimension. Little gray men with big black eyes apparently taught him all that gibber jabber you saw on his board. That is why he does not want you to see it. He thinks we might understand it and learn some kind of secret dimensional portal or something. He claims he miscalculated his time warp sequencing to return to 1943 and instead came here. That is what he is doing, trying to figure out a way to return to his original time zone. We have had his work assessed by others with mixed reactions.”
Again, Lynda cut in saying,
“Let me guess. Some say it was brilliant work and others say it was the ravings of a lunatic.”
“Yes, nobody understands his calculations. He claims that he has either forgotten or miscalculated a specific frequency or tone. Once he discovers it, he says he will be able to get back to his proper time. Of course nobody believes his story.”
“Have you tried verifying his story through relatives? There must be somebody alive today who can produce pictures of him at that time, brother’s sisters or whatever.”
“No, he doesn’t seem to remember anything about his family and the Government will not release any information on an experiment they say never happened. I am afraid he is lost to more than just his mind. There is one interesting thing about him though. Although he cannot remember anything about his past, he did seem to remember his name, Eldridge. Does the name mean anything to you?”
She thought about it for a moment but nothing surfaced. Maggie continued,
“We thought it odd that he couldn’t remember anything about his past except the name of the ship they experimented on.”
Lynda blurted out,
“The Eldridge, right?”
“Right.”
Maggie now stopped in front of a door and pointed. What she said next seemed well rehearsed.
“This is Professor Quagmire’s room. You have already been subjected to one volatile patient so please be very aware of what you do and say in front of this one. No matter his state of mind, mad or brilliant I ask you to be condescending. Just agree with anything and everything he says or does. I am asking you to do this for the sake of safety and the state of his condition. You must understand that he is a brilliant man whose mind has left this world for another. He now lives in a world of science and mathematics that are not understood by anyone on this Earth. He is a very fragile man and I do not want him disturbed. Nothing outside of this room matters to him.”
Lynda was not sure if she was threatened or warned. There was no doubt that Maggie obviously cared greatly for the welfare of this scientist, so she accepted the statement as both. Lynda said,
“I understand. I also believe there are well-established medical terms for conditions like that.”
“Yes, be that as it may. Sometimes the mind can become too brilliant. Sometimes it dwells too long on the complexities of a theory, in worlds and places that we do not understand. In the Professor’s case, it was hard to live in our confusing world after spending too much time in another. I believe he has decided that the other world, the one we do not understand, is the better of the two. The problem is, if you live in a world nobody understands, then who is the crazy one. Indeed Doctor, the world of brilliance can be a lonely place. No wonder most of my patients think the world of figures and theories is kinder to them.”
Maggie then raised slow eyes to meet Lynda’s and in a caring manner softly said,
“If what I have said about the scientists has nullified the purpose of your visit then simply turn around and go back right now. His room is a safe place and I prefer that he stayed in it.”
Lynda had trouble accepting that she was sent to retrieve a lunatic. She slowly shook her head in wonderment and confusion. No! Mother did not raise a quitter in the Australian Outback. Mother raised one hell of a determined girl who finished what she started. She said,
“I no longer know the purpose of him coming to Deep Lab 6. I do however know that something strange has happened there and apparently he is pivotal to the investigation.”
She then looked Maggie straight in the eyes and said,
“Like you, I just follow orders.”
Maggie then reached for her security card and swiped the door. Suddenly Lynda turned angry. Had she really come all this torturous way just to talk to an insane scientist? She could not help shake the feeling that she was sent on a futile mission just to get her away from Deep Lab 6. There will be choice words for Whelan when she gets back. He did not have to send her all the way into the middle of the country on some wild Kangaroo chase. Why did he not have the balls to simply pull her security pass or at least kick her down a peg or two? She would rather have been confined to her infirmary than to drive a stupid car through torturous mountains.
Chapter 18
The Strange Mind of Professor Quagmire
Maggie was courteous enough to knock gently on the door. After a moment, they heard a muffled voice from somewhere deep inside. She thought it might have
been a voice filled with fear or at least a lot of anxiety.
Quagmire's Gate Page 16