Arnie rubbed his chin thoughtfully. “But Marshall, in order to do this we would have to convince the rest of our group that Ferdie has indeed died. They would have to believe it for the strategy to work. It might be difficult to convince them, but even more, it would be cruel in the extreme. It definitely could work in our favor, but would it be worth it? Imagine what would happen when we eventually have to tell them that it was all a ruse to try to fool the others. There will be hell to pay without a doubt. It is an intriguing idea, though… there are many possibilities. Marshall, you are diabolical. Ferdie, what are your thoughts? Ferdie?”
They both turned to find me dead asleep. Dead asleep… that has a whole different connotation for me now…
“Well, at any rate, we should probably wait for Ferdie’s input before we do anything. I will need to go out of the in-between soon and report to the rest of the group. They will be anxious without a doubt. Do you have any suggestions for what I should tell them, at least short term?”
Marsh-dog adopted his thinker pose. “I think there are two things: one, we need to keep everyone else out of here, because if they come in here and see ‘Nando awake, that would blow the whole thing, so you’re gonna have to tell them that we’re in a sensitive moment or something, and that we don’t want anything to upset any progress he might be making. And the second thing is that you’re gonna need to say we don’t know if there is any progress yet, so in case we decide on the “Ferdie’s dead” strategy, it will be convincing. I know that’s mean, but short term I don’t see how else we could play it.”
A pained scowl fell across Arnie’s face. “I agree, but I don’t like the idea of misleading them in this way.”
“Yeah, that part’s rough. But look, The Others have shown consistently that they behave in a fractal way, which means there is a predictable pattern. It may be hard to predict, because the patterns can get extremely complicated, but it’s not impossible. When we throw in this new information about ‘Nando being dead, even if the info is fake, we can predict their reaction. Off the top of my head I can predict the most likely outcome: that if they think he’s dead, they will ignore the rest of us and step up the killing of people around the world. And just for spite, because that’s one of the things that drives them, or maybe just The Master, they will start with the places they know us to be from. So Bako, Hong Kong, Sweden, New Mexico, Colorado, Kansas, and Jamaica. It’s not likely that they’d hit them all at once, so my bet is that they start with where ‘Nando is from, which would be either Colorado, I don’t remember the town, or Bako.”
With a slightly confused look on his face, Arnie said, “Bako?”
“Bakersfield, man, come on, you were a cop there. You have to have heard that before.”
“Yes, of course. I just wanted to hear you say it again.”
“Oh, very funny. You won’t be taking ‘Nando’s place anytime soon in the joke department. Don’t dare tell him I said that, by the way.”
“Right, it would spoil the structure of your relationship.”
“Ok, well, why don’t you go stall them for a while. I’ll see if I can get ‘Nando to wake up and get his take on our idea.”
“Very well. See you soon.”
Chapter Sixteen
Arnie faded out of the in-between and into the sitting area in front of the RV door. It was now morning, the sun already beating down, even though it was still low on the horizon. Shielding his eyes, he said, “It’s going to be a hot one.”
This prompted the rest of the assembled group to shout at the same time: “Arnie! How is Ferdie?”
“Is he conscious?”
“Why didn’t you bring him back?”
“He’s not… no, I won’t even say it.”
“Come on, tell us something!”
Aunt Martha grabbed Arnie by the arm, shaking him for all she was worth. His somber expression quieted the group, and Denise whispered, “Please, Arnie.”
“Listen, everyone. Have a seat, and I’ll explain where we are at this point. Rafael, you too. That pacing is making me anxious. Ok, here it is: Ferdie is still in a very critical position. We felt that he was making some progress, and then seemed to have a bit of a setback. We think that his being in the in-between has slowed the progression of his condition, but it is still very serious. Both Marshall and I believe strongly, though, that it would be a severe mistake to move him or disturb him at this point, so I’m afraid I must insist that everyone stay put for the time being. If there appears to be any sign of recovery, we can then reconsider. I’m sorry that I don’t have better news right now.”
Denise, Ling, and Aunt Martha all had tears in their eyes, and Pasquale looked down, repeatedly punching his right thigh. On the other hand, Rafael’s eyes narrowed in suspicion. “A thousand apologies, Mr. Arnie, but you have effectively screened us from any first-hand knowledge of Mr. Ferdie’s condition. What would it hurt to allow one of us to at least have a peek, if only for a moment? Surely just looking in briefly couldn’t cause any damage.”
Arnie’s eyes narrowed similarly in response, and he sat back in his plastic folding chair. “Let me see if I understand correctly. If I am getting the message in your words, as it were. You suspect that I am somehow misleading you, that you don’t trust what I am telling you about Ferdie’s condition. Well let me tell you this,” he growled, his voice rising. “I would die for that boy; in fact, I have. How dare you question me, any of you. I’m telling you Ferdie’s condition is critical and I am afraid that any disturbance could cause a downturn, and I will not take that chance.”
Aunt Martha held her hands up in a pacifying motion. “Hold it, Arnie, Rafael, everyone. We can’t fight amongst ourselves. If we do, we’re goners. Everyone take a few deep breaths, and let’s talk calmly. He’s my blood, you know. I know I can’t go in there, but I’ll tell all of you, I trust Arnie. He would never let anything happen to Ferdie, that’s something I know for sure. Just relax for a minute, everyone.”
Denise glanced over just in time to see Arnie’s lip almost imperceptibly quivering with emotion. “Look, we’re all worried, we’re all hurting. We each have our own special connections to Ferdie. But Martha’s right, we need to hold it together. Think about this: what better time could there be for The Others to attack us but when we are divided and distracted? We need to focus on what we can do constructively right now instead of pouting and snapping at one another. If Arnie says we need to stay away for now, we stay away.”
“Well, Stretch, what about you?” Aunt Martha probed.
As they watched, a rueful smile spread on Rafael’s face. “As usual, I find myself on the wrong side of the issue, Ms. Martha. Ms. Denise could not be more correct; we need to be unified, now more than ever. My apologies, Mr. Arnie. I had no right. My only defense is, as Ms. Denise noted, we are all hurting, me included.”
Arnie appeared to consider for a moment, then said, “Forget about it. I’m sorry too. Denise, one of the things we have spoken of is attempting to locate the final member of The Seven. That person is out there somewhere, and we will need the assistance of your friend, the professor at the university in Bakersfield. I think it would make sense to come up with a safe way to contact him and explore another project. Second, we need to come to a decision about either sending Pasquale to retrieve Ling’s car, or acquiring a different one. Perhaps you all could come up with a plan for those two issues while we wait for any sign of progress.”
“Yeah, of course. I think there’s an old-school payphone down by the AstroBurger. That would probably be a safe way to contact Dr. Reyes. We’ll work it out. Go ahead, Arnie, but don’t be gone so long this time, ok?”
Through a barely noticeable smile, Arnie said, “I will not be gone one moment longer than necessary. I promise, all of you.”
“Please, we must all do the high-five to show our togetherness. Would this be good to do?” a melancholy Ling inquired.
“Hey, she’s right. Come on, you all,” said Aunt Martha. All hands went i
n the middle, and palms were smacked all around.
Arnie wrapped an arm around Ling, hugging her to his side. “I’ll be back as soon as I can, and I’ll do my best to return with good news. See you soon.” And just like that, he disappeared into the in-between.
“That was difficult, Marshall. Deceiving everyone in that way… it was quite distasteful.”
“Yeah, man, I can see it on your face. You look like you swallowed a lemon.”
“Yes, well, I suppose it had to be done, and I am the one to do the dirty work. How are things progressing in here? And please, you know that floating is annoying to me. Come down to earth, would you?”
“Oh yeah, sorry du… Arnie. You know what, maybe we can change your name to Du’Arnie. That way I’ll always get it right. Anyway, while I prepare for a landing, look over there to your right.”
Arnie turned to see me sitting up shakily. “Ferdie!” he cried, rushing over to hold me steady.
“Hi Arnie. I heard you guys had some excitement while I was napping.”
Arnie grinned for a moment. “I guess that’s one way to put it. Here, do you think you should lie back down for now? You look terrible, by the way. Just awful. If you weren’t moving and speaking I might think you were dead.”
“Thanks. You always know just what to say to make a guy feel special.”
I looked at Marsh-dog, and we both started cackling, which led to me going into a painful coughing fit. Arnie covered his mouth with his hand and did his best to keep a straight face, but I could see the mirth in his eyes.
“Really, Ferdie, how do you feel?”
Through the last of my coughing, I spat out, “Just great. Top of the world. Or, in here maybe I should say top of the afterworld. You know what, actually I don’t feel that bad. I’m sore all over and feel exhausted, but my mind feels pretty clear. Marsh told me all the stuff that happened while I was out. It was weird… in the moments when I was conscious during my coma, I thought I was dying, like just on the verge. I think I would have died, too… I could tell there was something seriously wrong with my brain, like there were big pieces of it just totally gone. I felt Ling talking to me, telling me to turn off my… if you guys don’t mind, I’m going to call it my force field. I like the science fiction-y sound of that. Anyway, at first it just came through like an annoying buzzing sound, and I guess it was hard to understand because of the way my brain was jacked up. Then, the same thing happened when the Time Flies went in there. Once they started working on me, though, it seemed like it didn’t even take a second for them to fix it. Fix me. Anyway, this makes… is it three times you saved my life, Marsh, or four? Either way, you got the advantage on me. I think I only saved your life two times.”
“Ahh, it’s three times, but who’s counting. And I don’t know if you can really count this time, because it was the Time Flies, not me.”
“Yeah, but you talked them into it, and it took, what did you say? Thirteen excruciating, death-defying hours?”
Marsh-dog looked over at Arnie sheepishly, and said, “Well, maybe that was a slight exaggeration. Either way, it took a while, and it was tricky and painful.”
“Alright, alright. I’m sure it was. We have a lot to talk about and some decisions to make, right?”
Arnie frowned with concern. “Yes, but Ferdie, should we do this now? I think it would be good for you to rest a bit. You’ve been through quite an ordeal.”
“Yeah, but The Master and the rest of The Others aren’t going to wait for us, so ready or not we have to keep going. Marsh told me you guys are thinking about telling the rest of the group that I’m dead. I can see some of the reasons why you might want to do that, but why don’t you tell me all that you’re thinking.”
Arnie and Marsh-dog made momentary eye contact. “We think that there are a couple of probabilities if the rest of our group thought you were dead. First, we can assume that in short order The Others would also believe you were dead. Our assumption is that they would then cease to be concerned with the rest of us, and would come out into the open. We don’t think The Master could resist the temptation to declare himself King of the World, even as he continues to slaughter the rest of the people. If there is one among us who is passing information to The Others, and if that person is doing so consciously, it’s also likely that he or she will make a fast exit. If not, then it will mean that it could only be Pasquale or Martha. Either way, we will have the informant identified and out of our midst. And, if The Others come out in the open as we believe they will, we can go after them instead of them coming after us, and they will not see us coming. Am I missing anything, Marshall?”
Marsh-dog adopted his floating thinker pose, and said, “No, I think that pretty much covers it. Well, except for the negative parts.”
I butted in at that point. “You mean like the part where we would be lying and causing our friends to suffer? Or the part where we are supposed to be the good guys? I know it could all be justified, I get it. But you know what? We can’t do that to our friends. We have to believe, I have to believe, that if we do what’s right we will win in the end. I don’t mean to sound like a jerk; I know you guys had good intentions. I don’t need to go into your heads to know that. We just can’t do that to them, that’s all. We’ll come up with another way. You see what I mean, don’t you?”
“Yeah, those were the negative parts I was talking about. I knew you would say all that, but you gotta admit, it was a pretty good idea, I mean if you take out the part where we lie to everyone. So what do we do then, Batman?”
As I pondered, Arnie spoke. “You may remember we had a plan before our unfortunate episode with Aida Fernandez involving attempting to locate the final member of The Seven, and concurrently sending Pasquale to either recover Ling’s car or find a new car for the group. And Marshall, I believe Ferdie mentioned that you were possibly working on a way to locate The Master. I think that, short-term at least, these would be worthy activities. Of course, we may need to scratch all of those if The Master and The Others decide to respond to our… shall we say dealing with Aida Fernandez. In any case, we need to move as soon as Ferdie is able.”
“I think those are good, for sure better than faking death. I don’t know… am I wrong? Do you guys think I’m just being a fool? Your idea might work, but… tell me what you think, for real.”
Marsh-dog glanced over at Arnie, then patted the top of his ‘fro the way he always does when he’s deep in thought. “It’s… I don’t think you’re wrong. In fact, what you are saying is definitely the right thing to do. It’s just that the situation is totally complicated, and there are a million ways things could go. Still, I keep coming back to… there’s a pattern there, it’s really long and convoluted, but it’s there, and I think I can figure it out. Like I said before, it’s fractal, which means it repeats at some point, and that makes it at least possible to predict. Not easy, but possible. In fact, I’ve been working on some predictions; too much has been happening, so I haven’t had the chance to tell you, but I think now, based on my algorithm, that there is an eighty-one percent chance that those Other dudes will attack Artesia, New Mexico next, as a kind of tribute to Aida Fernandez. ‘Nando, go in my head and see if it looks right to you. Go ahead, dude, you haven’t gone in there in a long time, right? I think it could be interesting.”
“Will I understand what I’m seeing if I do?”
“No, probably not… well, definitely not, but do it anyway and tell us what it looks like.”
I turned to Arnie and he shrugged his shoulders as if to say, ‘I don’t guess it could hurt’. I went down the familiar hall in my mind, found Marsh-dog’s door, and peeked in. It is almost impossible to describe what I saw; there were long strings of numbers overlapping one another, forming a pattern that had a shape kind of like a cube, but it was changing shape as I watched, turning and undulating, forming a cube within a cube, then a cube outside of another cube, connected by a baffling series of limbs, then three cubes, then four, all linked in ways
that moved constantly and seemed impossible to fathom. I stared for a few more moments, shaking my head, and then quickly retreated.
“Dude, what is wrong with your brain?”
“Come on, man, tell us what you saw.”
I described my experience as best I could, and Arnie’s eyes got big, while Marsh-dog began to chuckle, eventually going into a laughing fit. “Dude, that’s what I thought you’d see, but I didn’t know for sure. There’s nothing wrong with my brain, in fact it’s the right-est brain in history thanks to the Time Flies. I am seeing things in extra dimensions, which means I can do the algorithms in my head, and see extra possibilities… it’s totally weird and I’m not used to it all the way yet, so I don’t quite know how to make the most of it at this point. I’ll get there pretty soon, though. Anyway, enough about my superpowers, it’s time you dudes got moving. I mean, if you’re up to it, ‘Nando.”
I rose to a kneeling position, waited for a moment, then stood up. I felt weak and wobbly, but I managed. “Yeah, I’ll make it. I had one other thought, though. I’m not sure everyone will like it, but I could go into the mind of each of our group, and if one of them is informing The Others I’ll be able to tell. I don’t think they could hide it from me. I wouldn’t force anyone to do it, but on the other hand, if they refuse, then we would have a reason to suspect, right? I guess I could have thought of it before, it might have saved us a bunch of problems, but I haven’t had the ability all that long. What do you guys think?”
Arnie and Marsh-dog both had slowly spreading grins on their faces, and Marsh-dog gave me two thumbs-up. “Dude, that’s the best idea you’ve had in a long time. You don’t think there’s any way one of them could fool you, do you?”
Ferdie and The Seven: Book three: Fractals Page 12