Fractals

by Larry Buenafe

  My eyes went blurry for a moment, and I did a few head taps, but I quickly pulled it together. “So that’s what happened from our perspective. I bet Aida has a little different take on it, though. I don’t suppose you’d want to tell us, would you? Well, you can’t right now because you have a gag on… Pasquale, why don’t you take that off of her and let’s see what she has to say.”

  Pasquale appeared slightly nervous, but he approached Aida and removed the kerchief tied across her mouth, quickly backing away. She shook her head as if to clear out the cobwebs, and I could now clearly see the tell-tale droopy half of her face that carried the appearance of a stroke. Anger and fear flashed in her eyes, and finally she spoke, although she was difficult to understand.

  “I’n confushed. I musht admit you’re differn’ from… it’s hard to t… t… talk for me. I won’ tell you anything. We thought… The Mashter tol’ ush there were lotsh of you… an’ you’re jus’ a kid. Forget it, though… you’ll never win… The Mashter’s too shtrong…”

  As she spoke, something occurred to me. “You know, Aida, I mentioned that when you hit Ling with the energy bolts you were throwing at her, you made her blind in one eye. But guess what, her vision is perfect now, better than ever. Her powers have even improved since then. Would you like to know how that happened?”

  I saw a moment of curiosity in her eyes, but she quickly hardened her expression. “I don’ care. We’re goin’ rule the worl’, an’ then the universh. You can’t shtop ush. There’sh not enough of you. Thish little group ish all you have? The Mashter hash many. Jusht wait.”

  Ahh, that’s it! Give us more info…

  “The Master has many, huh? I don’t believe that. Have you seen them all? It could be he was making it up.”

  “Ha! I’ve sheen all of them… all the… wait a minute, I’m not shayin’ anything, you can’t trick me.”

  I already did… I think her loyalty to The Master is very thin… I think we can turn her if we play it right…

  “I don’t blame you. If I were you I wouldn’t say anything either. But back to my original question… I asked you if you would like to know how Ling got her vision back. I know, you don’t care. I’m going to tell you anyway, just so you know what we can do, what I can do. I fixed her eye. I went into her mind, I found the spot that was damaged, and I fixed it. Supernaturally. Like I said, she’s better than ever now.”

  Aida’s expression went from shock to disbelief to anger. “You can’t do that! None of The Sheven can look in the mindsh of other Shevens, much lesh do shum kind of magic shurgery. It’sh not poshible. That’sh a lie.”

  This brought a smile to my face. “Well, you’re partly right. It’s not possible for other members of The Seven, but it is for me.”

  I glanced over at Arnie, Denise, Pasquale, and Aunt Martha. Arnie gave me a slight nod, and said, “Go ahead, Ferdie. Give her a little taste of what The One can do.”

  The One? I don’t like that… seems grandiose… it might work with her, though, and Arnie knows that… he’s pretty smart…. “Ok, but… this is something I haven’t really admitted to the rest of our group, because… well, I just recently developed it. Sorry Arnie, Denise, this really just applies to you, since you’re supernatural types. I haven’t done it to you, and I wouldn’t unless it was a life-or-death situation, but I can go into your mind, just as if you were a normal human. I could always go into Ling’s mind, I’m not sure why… it just seemed that we had a special connection of some kind. Recently, though, what I’ve learned is… it’s a little hard to explain… what we thought was hard and fast, a solid wall, is really a spectrum… that doesn’t make any sense, I know… what we have been told is that supernaturals can’t look into the minds of other supernaturals because we exist on the same plane, but members of The Seven are able to look into the minds of regular humans because of our existence as a human and supernatural at the same time. There is a way to look into the minds of other supernaturals, though; we just don’t know how to access it. Well, you all don’t know how to access it, but I do. I’m sorry for not telling you before.”

  Arnie and Denise made eye contact, and then both smiled. “Don’t worry, Ferdie. We know you wouldn’t misuse this ability. You don’t do that with family, and we’re family, right?” said Denise.

  I was a little choked up for a moment, but was able to get out, in a quivering voice, “You got that right.”

  Aida watched the whole interaction with an expression of curiosity. “Thish ish an act, right? You people aren’t really like thish. I know Denishe, she wash with me my whole life up until I got shmart and joined up with The Mashter, and you’re not related.”

  I looked at Denise, and we both chuckled a little at that. “No, we’re not related that way, Aida. We’re family because we choose to be, because we love and care for one another. I don’t think you’ve had that kind of experience since The Master and The Others took you in, so maybe it doesn’t seem real or possible, but it is. Ferdie and me, we’ve been through a lot together, and if anyone wants to get to him, they have to go through me. We’re as close as it gets,” Denise declared.

  Always a man of few words, Arnie added, “That absolutely goes for me as well. All of us feel the same.” He put his hand on my shoulder, and I got momentarily choked up again.

  “See, Aida, we can’t let The Master and the rest of The Others continue to kill people. He’ll never be satisfied until everyone is dead. I know he has it in his mind that he will somehow be able to disrupt the Good Line with me out of the way, but I don’t think it will work. I think the only thing he’ll succeed in is killing everyone if we don’t stop him. I think he’s probably told you that you will be some kind of god if he succeeds, but I don’t see how that could happen. Has he told you how he plans to do it?”

  “Ha! You musht really think I’m shtupid. I don’t know and I wouldn’t t… t… tell you if I did.”

  “No, I don’t think you’re stupid. I think you’ve been lied to and brainwashed. Look, we’re going to stop him. I don’t know how, and it may kill all of us to do it, but we will.”

  At that moment, the sound of laughter came from the far end of the RV, and we turned to see Ling and Rafael approaching arm-in-arm. “Ah, Mr. Ferdie, having a chat with our new friend Ms. Aida I see. Once again, please allow me to apologize for my previous outburst. I allowed my emotions to get the better of me, but with Ling’s help I am recovered quite completely, better than new. As you all know, Ms. Ling is quite clever, and as we were chatting she had an intriguing thought. Ms. Ling, would you care to elucidate our assembled group?”

  Elucidate? Laying it on a little thick there… that’s Raffy, though, back to his old self…

  Ling smiled brightly. “Yes, very much I would so. Ferdie, my eye was fixed because of your special skills. This was difficult, I know, and Aida has a problem much so different from mine. Still, would it be possible for your special skills to help her? I know she may think of us as… what is the word? Enemies? I think we should help her if we can.”

  Ling, we really do have some kind of special connection… “I was just thinking about that, but I’m not sure… her problem really is a lot different from what yours was. Anyway, I think we should probably have a talk about it first. I bet some of us have concerns about how we should deal with Aida. How about this: could one of you take Aida into the RV so we can talk privately? I think that would be best.”

  Denise immediately raised her hand. “I’ll take her. I’m pretty sure you know how I feel anyway. I’ll keep an eye on her.”

  Denise rose, took Aida by the arm, and hustled her into the RV, closing the door behind her. I looked at everyone left in our group, and asked, “Well, what do you think, Arnie?”

  He ran his hand through his hair thoughtfully. “It’s a difficult problem. The right thing to do is to fix her if you can, but it may result in further empowering our enemies. On the other hand, it seems clear that she was intended as a sacrifice, whether she knows it o
r not, so I doubt they expect her to return. They may not even want her to. I doubt that she was much help to them in her present state.”

  Pasquale added, “This will be great advantage… what is word… strategic, if we can change her to our side. We need to be careful, though. She may have been filled with false information, yes?”

  Aunt Martha chimed in. “That’s true. She might tell us all kinds of stuff, and even think she’s telling the truth. How would we know?”

  “Well, one thing they’re not counting on… they don’t know that I can go in her mind and tell what’s true and what isn’t. I think doing that will add up to lots of negative energy for me, but it’ll be worth it if it helps us stop them. So, does anyone disagree with trying to fix her? I don’t know if I can even do it, but I think trying is the right thing to do.”

  We all sat back, and after a few moments of thought Arnie offered, “I think we all agree, but do you think it would be a good idea to consult with Marshall? He may have some thoughts we haven’t come up with yet. And do not tell him I said that.”

  Despite the grave situation we were in, and despite the loss of Gabriella, that made me smile at least for a moment. “Don’t worry, he’ll never know. I’ll be back in a minute.”

  I quickly faded into the in-between, and there, floating and glowing brighter than ever, was my old buddy Marsh-dog. “Dude, I’m going to need to start bringing some sunglasses in here with me. You’re not radioactive, are you?”

  “Not that I know of, but you never know… here, let’s shake hands.”

  “No, that’s ok, I think I’ll just stay over here. Hey, I just thought of a new name for you: Chernobyl Junior. What do you think?”

  “I think your jealousy is getting sadder all the time. And dude, Arnie should know I can hear him in here. Don’t worry, though, I’ll still act like I’m scared of him.”

  “Oh, so you’re saying that it’s been an act all this time?”

  “Alright, I admit he scares me a little. I can’t help it.”

  “That’s what I thought. So how are you really doing, dude? I get worried about you sometimes, in here all by yourself.”

  Marsh-dog floated down until he was standing, and patted his ‘fro thoughtfully. “Oh, it’s not so bad. I got Ol’ Flashy and his buddies, and the other ghosts are amusing, even if they’re not good company… oh, who am I kidding. It’s a freakin’ bummer, dude. I’ll be glad when all this is over with, even if I am probably the smartest person in the world by now, due to the Time Flies helping me out. And I’m getting tired of our friends getting killed in the meantime.”

  We made eye contact, and all of a sudden we both had tears coming down. “Come on, man, you’re supposed to keep me from crying, not cry too.”

  “Sorry, dude. You’re right, I’ll pull it together. So, didn’t you come in here to ask me something?”

  “Yeah, but it kind of seems less important right now if you know what I mean.”

  “I know exactly what you mean, but it is important. You have to fix her if you can. It’s the right thing to do, even if it doesn’t work out in our favor. I say it’s a toss-up, fifty-fifty, that’s where I put the odds of turning her to our side.”

  “You just made that up, didn’t you?’

  “Look into my mind, David Blaine, and tell me what you see.”

  “No thanks, it’s too confusing in there.”

  “Then I guess you’ll just have to trust me. Go on, Batman, fix that girl.”

  “Marsh, I…”

  “Yeah, yeah, get going.”

  That’s my buddy, all the way to the end…

  Chapter Nine

  Upon return from the in-between I felt uncontrollably fatigued, and knew that I would have to sleep if I was to help Aida. We set up a quick system of supernaturals on duty to watch her, and with apologies I quickly fell asleep. I’m not sure how long I slept, but the sun was out and hot, and I didn’t have any nightmares, even though I kind of expected to. Day seven twenty two… how are we going to do this without Gabriella… it’s really hitting me now… she kept us together, kept me together… ok, just take some deep breaths… you can do it…

  I stepped outside the RV to find the rest of the group attempting to eat, although it did not appear that anyone had much of an appetite. Denise was trying to get Aida to eat, but she appeared to be on a hunger strike, turning her face away. As I watched, I noticed something interesting… she can move her arm, but it looks like she doesn’t have control of it… it’s almost moving on its own, like she doesn’t know what it’s doing… that’s weird, it doesn’t seem like that would happen if you had a stroke… maybe it’s not a stroke, maybe it’s something else…

  “So, Aida, did anyone tell you what we were discussing last night? I mean, as far as you are concerned?”

  She looked at me with a mighty scowl. “No, and I don’t care either. You can torture me, shkin me alive, I’m shtill not shaying anything.”

  Denise gazed at her in disbelief. “What would make you think we would do any of those things to you? Have we done anything so far that would make you think that?”

  Aida made brief eye contact with Denise, and I thought I saw a flash of a connection between them. “No, but that’sh what we would do if we caught any of you.”

  Denise shrugged her muscled shoulders. “Well, that’s one of the many ways we’re different. We don’t want to rule the world, or the universe, for that matter, and we don’t want to hurt anyone, including you.”

  “Pssht. That shoundsh nishe, but how about what “The Great Ferdie” did to me? He meshed me up pretty good for shomeone who doeshn’t want to hurt anybody. And I know you killed at leasht one person, and how about what he did to… oh, you thought you could trick me into shaying more shtuff, didn’t you? Forget it, bushter.”

  As she spoke, I hung my head sadly. “You’re right, Aida. I did do that stuff. I had to do it to protect my friends, but I wish there was a way I could take it back. One thing I might be able to do though, to make up for at least some of it… you remember I told you about fixing Ling’s eye? I think there’s a pretty good chance I can help you, too, but you’d have to give me permission to go into your mind, and there’s a pretty specific technique to seeing the structures in your brain. It involves going part of the way to the in-between and holding that position. It’s kind of complicated, but there’s a chance I could fix you. I know you don’t trust me, and I don’t blame you, but think about it. I could just do it and you couldn’t stop me, but I won’t. That’s not how we do things. Look, you’ve known Denise your whole life, and I think you still have a little bit of a connection to her. Ask her what she thinks.”

  I could feel the wheels turning in Aida’s mind as she thought about what to do. It has to be tempting for her… I’m pretty sure she would like to be back to normal…

  Finally, Aida said, “Let me talk to Denishe in private.”

  Ah, yes! Maybe this will work after all…

  “Sure, no problem. Come on, everyone, let’s leave them alone.”

  As we rose to go into the RV, I noticed her arm moving around in a random way again. What would cause that… I don’t think she’s had a stroke, I think it’s something else… Then it occurred to me: Marsh-dog seems to know just about everything these days… I wonder if I describe it right, if he can track down the problem, or at least the area in the brain that might be damaged… it’s worth a try…

  After we were all in the RV with the door closed, I told the rest of the group what I was thinking. They all agreed that talking to Marsh was probably the best option, so I faded into the in-between to find him floating in a cross-legged position that looked almost like yoga.

  “Well, ‘Nando, you’ve come to the right place. One of the knowledge bombs the Time Flies dropped on me has to do with anatomy. Yeah, of course I was listening to you dudes, that’s what I do. Anyway, the weird hand movements, where it seems to have a mind of its own, the speech problem, the obstinate, oh yeah, another
big word, way she behaves? I’ll bet eleventy-hundred pesos that her corpus callosum is at least partially severed. It’s this big bundle of nerves that is the main connection between the left and right hemispheres of the brain. When that happens, it’s almost like there are two separate brains controlling different parts of the body and not really talking to one another. It’s literally the left hand not knowing what the right hand is doing, dude. It’s pretty likely that the way she is now is not her real personality, and if she gets fixed, she might go back to the way she was before The Others nabbed her. Tell you what, I have an image in my mind of what it looks like and where it is in the brain. Go in there and you’ll see it, and then you’ll know what to do, Dr. Strange.”

  I shook my head. “Dude, is there anything you don’t know?”

  “I know, impressive, huh? But there’s one thing I don’t know: how to get out of this crap hole. I know I said it before, but I’ll be glad when all this stuff is over and we can get on with whatever comes next. I know you come see me as often as you can, and that’s cool, but you know me, I’m a social dude. Ahh, don’t worry about it, though, I’ll survive. Well, as much as a ghost can survive, anyway. Ok, dude, time’s wasting. Go in my head and get the info.”