Ferdie and The Seven: Book three: Fractals

by Larry Buenafe

  I hadn’t realized that I had been tapping, and when I looked at my index finger, I saw a little trace of blood. Not another cut… I’m going to have a permanent scar there…

  Pasquale shook his head, and quickly realized what had just occurred. “Oh, no, I am sorry, friends… please, we must wait no longer. I must leave now, please, please.”

  I suddenly felt as if I was going to faint. “I need you guys to move Pasquale… I have to lie down now.” I’ve just been through too much… need to sleep for a while… Poor guy, I wish we had never brought him here… we didn’t have any choice, but using him this way is torture… that was the longest talk yet with The Master… he was right, I would have made an attempt on him if I had been up to it… ok, going to pass out now… no, not yet, hold it together… need to talk to Denise first…

  I tried to speak, but was barely able. “Would you guys go out for a minute? Not you, Denise. Sorry, everyone.”

  After a brief hesitation, the rest of the group shuffled out of the little bedroom dejectedly. Denise closed the accordion door, and as she turned I whispered, “We have to get Pasquale out of here, quick. I’m afraid The Master is going to kill him if he stays here much longer, and in the meantime he’s being emotionally tortured. He looks terrible, maybe as bad as me.”

  “Well, I wouldn’t go that far, but he does look pretty rough, and he’s been so depressed he can’t eat, he’s crying all the time, he’s just a mess. I know we talked about maybe getting a new car, but I think it’s best if we just send him after Ling’s car. It’ll take longer, and while he’s gone we can come up with a plan for what to do for him. Of course, that car’s been over there in Artesia for a while now. It might be stripped or stolen. Still, I think that’s our best bet. We… we can send him out there on a bus, that’s probably the way to go. What do you think?”

  “I’m having trouble thinking right now, that’s what I think. I… wait, wait, wait! We can’t send him to Artesia. Tell Aunt Martha to get the RV fired up… we’re all going there! Talk to Arnie, he’ll give you the details.”

  And then, finally, I passed out for real.

  Chapter Nineteen

  I woke up a few hours later feeling ravenously hungry, which I took as a good sign. I could feel the RV moving, and I heard the murmur of people speaking just outside the accordion door. I cleared my throat loudly and the door slid open; there stood Arnie and Denise, with Ling just behind them moving her head left and right to get a better view. “How are you feeling, sleepy boy?” said Denise in what sounded like a cheerful voice; one peek at her face gave her real feelings of apprehension away. Ling’s and Arnie’s faces carried similar expressions of unease.

  What can I say that will relieve them a little… “Hey, is there anything to eat on this boat? Or is it a plane?”

  At that, broad smiles spread all around, and they rushed forward, seating themselves around me on the double bed. Ling grabbed my hand, holding it tightly as if she feared I would disappear, and Denise rested her hand on my shoulder. “How about a peanut butter and jelly sandwich with some chips and a diet Pepsi?” asked Arnie, and we all started giggling.

  “That sounds awesome. Where is the rest of the group?”

  “Martha is driving, of course, and Rafael is keeping her company. Pasquale is in the other bedroom. He’s not doing very well, Ferdie. We’ve been trying to help him, but we may just be making things worse.”

  “Yeah, poor Pasquale, he didn’t ask for any of this. I’ll talk to him as soon as I can. Where are we?”

  “We’re just past Las Vegas, heading to Albuquerque. You’ve been asleep for… I guess it’s been about four hours. Arnie filled us in on Marsh-dog’s prediction of The Others attacking Artesia as a tribute to Aida. How solid do you think his calculations are?”

  “Well, I don’t know, but he’s probably smarter than all of us put together, so I believe it if he does. We just have to get there in time, and not do anything to get ourselves noticed so we can surprise them if and when they show up. Now, about that sandwich…”

  “Ferdie, you do really have some feeling of hunger? I will make the sandwich for you very fast!” said Ling as she darted out the door.

  I motioned for Arnie to slide the door closed, then whispered, “I didn’t get to finish checking everyone for traces of connection to The Master. We still could have an informant with us, and it would have to be one of those four. It could totally be Pasquale, although he wouldn’t do it consciously, there’s no way. The way The Master has been using him, he might have been able to implant something in his brain that causes him to report. I think after I eat something I’ll feel good enough to get through the rest of the group.”

  “I think the sooner you complete your assessments the better. However, it will be very dangerous in these confined quarters. I hate to suggest it, but perhaps you should see if you can complete the tasks clandestinely,” said Arnie.

  “Oh, man, I don’t know. I don’t like the idea of doing that without their knowledge; it just feels wrong. Look, we’re all pretty sure it isn’t Ling, right? So let’s bring her in and tell her I’m going to check her, and you guys can handle her if I’m wrong. If she comes out clean, then we bring Pasquale in, and same thing, I tell him I’m going to check him. If he turns out to be the informant, you guys can handle him easily. If it’s not him, then it’s down to Raffy and Aunt Martha, and I think we’ll need to wait until we stop somewhere to confront them. If it’s Raffy, he could tear this whole place apart before we got him under control, and we need Aunt Martha to keep driving for now. How does that sound?”

  Denise patted me on the head and said, “That sounds like a plan, Chief. Let’s get it rolling.”

  “Ok, but first I have to eat something. How about you guys?”

  “No, you go ahead. We’ll get Pasquale ready.”

  At that moment Ling came in with a triple-decker peanut butter and jelly sandwich on whole wheat sliced diagonally, and a can of diet Pepsi. I downed them in what seemed like less than a minute, and I felt the food providing me with some energy that I hadn’t felt since coming out of my coma. As I finished, Ling sat down across from me and said, “Ok, now is the turn for me. Quickly, so I can prove I am not the… traitor? Is that the word that is right?”

  That’s Ling… she has more guts than all of us put together… “I don’t think it’s you, but The Master is very tricky, so we just have to be sure. Arnie, Denise, here we go.”

  They both took up flanking positions as I went down the hall in my mind to Ling’s door. I peeked inside, and said, “What are the main goals you hope to achieve by helping The Master?”

  I could see the brief jolt of surprise at the assumption behind the question, and then an unusually bright orange hue in her mind. That’s all I need to see… I knew it wasn’t her…

  “Ok, sorry about that weird question, Ling. I had to give you a little bit of a shock so I could see how your mind reacted, and you passed like I knew you would. You got a little bit angry, didn’t you?”

  Ling was taking some deep breaths to calm herself. “For a small time I thought you were accusing me in real, and that made me upset. But then I understood. Thank you Ferdie. We should get Pasquale now and give him the test also.”

  A few moments later, Arnie and Denise brought Pasquale shambling into the room. His long dark hair hung down limply, covering most of his face, and he looked somehow smaller; he looked defeated. He spoke slowly and quietly: “Hello, friend Ferdie, I am hoping you are doing better. You want to look in my brain, yes? Please, be my guest to do so. I am ready.”

  “Hi Pasquale. I’m sorry about all of this. I do need to check you, but I want you to know that, even if it is you who is being used by The Master to provide information on us, I know you would never do it willingly. And if it is you, I am going to do everything I can to get him out of your head. Ok, I’m going to peek into your mind now, and as I do I’m going to ask you a question, and from your reaction I’ll know if you’re being use
d. Are you prepared?”

  He had been gazing steadily at the ground, but now brought his eyes up in readiness. “Yes, please go ahead.”

  Once again, I went down the familiar hall in my mind and peeked into Pasquale’s door. I feel nervous about this one… I didn’t really suspect any of the others I’ve checked so far, but if he’s using any of us, it’s likely to be Pasquale… ok, be careful, look for traps… wait, I should have thought of that before… better tell Arnie, Denise, and Ling before I do anything else…

  “Ok, I’m taking a little break before we go any further. Sorry Pasquale, but I need you to go out for just a minute. It won’t take long, and then we’ll get this whole thing over with, ok?”

  “Of course. I will go back to the other bedroom, and Denise can bring me back whenever you are ready.”

  Pasquale rose and ambled slowly out of the room. I closed the accordion door and said, “I’m worried that it might be Pasquale, and if I go in there and find something The Master has planted it may trigger an ambush, maybe similar to what happened with Aida. What do you think I should do?”

  After a few moments of contemplation, Arnie said, “Perhaps you should cease with the assessment of Pasquale. We really cannot chance a replay, but we do need to know, so we are in a bit of a conundrum.”

  “Yeah, that’s why I’m hesitating. How about you, Denise, Ling?”

  Ling raised her hand as if she was in class wanting to ask a question of her teacher. “Well, Ferdie, I do have one idea. Maybe when you go into Pasquale’s mind I can go as well. In this way I can watch for any problems. If The Master tries a trick I can… distract, and take his attention away so that you can to leave quickly. What do you think of this plan?”

  I glanced at Arnie and Denise, and they both shrugged their shoulders. “I think that might work, Ling, but what about you? I don’t want to put you in a bad position.”

  Ling snorted just a bit, and declared, “I said before, you don’t really have to protect me. I am strong, and even stronger when I am by you. I am able to care take for myself.”

  Oh crap, there I go again, acting like I have to shelter her… I really need to get over that…

  “Sorry Ling, you’re right. Any objections to this plan?”

  “Listen, Ferdie, you remember what happened the last time you trusted, right? You almost got yourself killed. You need to be super careful, and pull out at even the slightest hint of trouble. That goes for both of you guys. We need you to hang around a little while longer, you know,” Denise muttered.

  “Right. Ling, you keep your eyes peeled, and if you see anything at all, you signal me and we’ll get out. Got it?”

  A puzzled expression crossed Ling’s face. “I do not want to peel my eyes. That sounds very painful.”

  “No, that’s just… never mind, let’s just be alert. Ready?”

  “Oh yes, but first, we should do the high-five.”

  “Yes we should.” Palms were slapped all around, and Arnie exited to retrieve Pasquale.

  They returned quickly, Pasquale looking more down than ever.

  He sat across from me, and I said, “Ok, let’s do this again. It shouldn’t take long.” I went down the hall in my mind and peeked into Pasquale’s door. I could feel Ling nearby, just a bit to my right, and she was scanning the dark, shadowy, cavern-like space for any sign of trouble.

  I asked, “Pasquale, why did you decide to join The Master and tell him our secrets?”

  As with the others, Pasquale hesitated for a moment, surprised by the assumption of guilt in the question. Hmmm… a slight green tint, but… is that a spot of blue far off to the left, or am I just paranoid? Careful, Ferdie… be ready for a quick exit… got to try to project some thoughts at Ling… Ling, can you hear me?

  I heard her gently whispered reply in my mind: Yes, I… I don’t really hear you, but I understand…

  Ok, I am seeing a spot way off to the left that looks blue… can you see it too?

  I do see a tiny bit of blue color… what is the meaning?

  Blue to me is a sign that something is not right… that there has been some tampering going on… it could just be how The Master uses Pasquale to communicate, and it’s built up a kind of spot of connection, or it could be how he has used Pasquale to report our plans… either way, if we mess with it there could be a snare waiting for us…

  What is the course of action that is best?

  I don’t know… we should probably just get out and decide how to deal with it then… wait, I have an idea… I’m not sure it will work, but I might be able to project a force field around us that will keep The Master from getting to us even if he does try an ambush… hang on a minute…

  I concentrated and focused my thoughts on building a bubble of energy around us. Did that work? I think so… feels right… don’t want to take a chance on it not working…

  Ling, are you able to shoot a really mild energy bolt out toward the center of Pasquale’s mind?

  I think so, but what would be reason for this action?

  It’s… I’m just testing something. Go ahead and give it a try.

  Ling gathered herself, concentrating mightily. A small bundle of energy shot out, and fizzled almost immediately against the force field I was projecting. Oh, I see! Your energy force will protect us as we explore the blue location. It seems very small… is it possible it is not what we are seeing?

  It’s totally possible, but we’ll have to get closer to find out. Are you ready?

  Oh, yes, another adventure is good to take. Let’s go!

  Chapter Twenty

  I have mentioned before that when you’re in another person’s mind, as Ling and I were, it seems like a fairly large, mostly dark, and surprisingly empty environment. To me they seem to have about the same space as a common high school gym, although there is some variation from person to person, and often, but not always, there are obstructions the size of boulders strewn about in a seemingly random fashion. The spot we were going to investigate was about as far away from our current location as you could get and still be in Pasquale’s mind, so we would have to travel a bit to get there. We needed to be careful as we approached, mostly for Pasquale’s sake, as I was fairly certain that my force field would protect us from anything The Master could throw at us. However, he could still hurt Pasquale or even kill him, so we knew we had to proceed with caution. We started to the left, moving clockwise around the perimeter of the mind space, slowly making progress and hiding behind obstructions where we could. As we stopped briefly behind one rather large object, I took the opportunity to communicate with Ling.

  I don’t think The Master is aware of us in here… if he uses that spot as a way to get information from Pasquale, he must only access it periodically… it would be too tiring to be connecting with it all the time… I think we would see some changes in its shape or color if he knew we were approaching…

  I hope that is so true… if it is what you are thinking it is, what should we do with it? We can’t leave it here in Pasquale’s mind… we must so remove it somehow…

  Yeah, I think there are a couple of possibilities… if we get close and see that it’s an actual physical object, if we act quickly enough we may be able to knock it loose, dislodge it… then I can trap it in a force field bubble and we can get it out of here. As we get closer, it looks more and more to me like it is an actual physical thing, although it’s really small…

  Yes, it is still too difficult for me to see it…

  You know what, it just occurred to me… this whole mind space thing, it’s really not a physical place, it’s more like a shared… I guess you might call it an intellectual construct… it causes reactions in the physical world because what we experience in our minds causes chemical reactions in the brain, and that leads to physical reactions in the body… so I think if we can dislodge that thing, whatever it is, and then if I protect Pasquale’s mind with some energy shielding, it won’t be able to attach to anything and it will… what’s the wo
rd… oh yeah, dissipate… I don’t know why it never occurred to me before that the mind space worked like that… I’m not sure I can keep a force field around us and spread energy shielding in Pasquale’s mind at the same time, though… I guess I’ll just have to try and see what happens…

  I think you are right… I feel it is true… but what is there to do if it is not correct? Will we be the ducks sitting?

  The ducks sitting… oh, sitting ducks… well, maybe, but if it turns out we can’t get it loose or it prompts an attack, I think I can keep us protected and we’ll get out of here fast. It won’t help Pasquale, but if we don’t succeed we won’t be able to help him anyway.

  Ok, we must continue and try your plan. First, high-five.

  Right, high-five for good luck. Here we go…

  We continued creeping around the craggy perimeter of the space, and we were about three-fourths of the way to the object. It was clear now that the faint, pale blue illumination was emanating from a small lump that appeared to be roughly the size of a tennis ball, affixed to the side of the space at about waist height. Ling, there it is… as I look at it, I’m feeling some weird sensations… I never noticed the sensation of temperature in a mind before, but it feels kind of cold as we get near it… do you feel that too?

  I glanced over at her, and she appeared to be shivering. Oh yes, I feel to be very cold… that is not usual, I think…

  Yeah, I wonder if that’s a kind of defense The Master built in to protect it in case it was discovered… careful, now, we’re getting close… uh-oh, it’s starting to pulsate… either he has noticed us, or he’s making contact with Pasquale… either way, we better hurry… ok, Ling, I have a new idea… here’s what we’re going to do… get ready to send your strongest energy blast at that thing as soon as I drop my force field… I think that’s likely to knock it loose… then I’ll bring the force field back up and try to protect Pasquale’s mind at the same time so it won’t be able to reconnect… let me know when you’re ready…