Arnie smiled. “I’m an angel, remember? It’ll be done so fast no one will be the wiser.”
We pulled into the truck stop, and just as he said, Arnie swapped the license plates so speedily that I could barely see him. Not bad… that Arnie’s one resourceful dude…
Soon we were back on the road, feeling just a little more secure. Just to be safe, we continued to use surface streets as much as possible, and we even took some time to eat and take turns sleeping. After several hours, Aunt Martha called from the front, “I don’t think I can go any further. One of you all will have to take the wheel for a while.”
Denise hopped up and replaced Aunt Martha. We knew there was a slight risk of her being recognized from the descriptions we heard on the radio, so as a bit of camouflage, she pulled a baseball cap over her head, put on a pair of gigantic sunglasses, and slipped on a sweatshirt to cover her bulging muscles.
A couple of hours later, since things were seemingly under control, I decided I had better pay a visit to Marsh-dog. Dude, I haven’t talked to him since… since before we went into Artesia… a lot has happened since then, I bet he’ll have some thoughts… I know he’ll have some thoughts…
I faded into the in-between and… there was Marsh-dog, in mid-air with his arms crossed, tapping his foot impatiently. “You go all the way to Artesia, use me a little to signal you, almost get killed, almost get killed again on the way out, almost get Aunt Martha and Pasquale shot, and now you come see me? And I didn’t even get a t-shirt. You’ve got a lotta nerve, dude. Oh, no, don’t worry about me, just go on and have your little shenanigans. So I assume you want to ask for some advice?”
“Uhh, yeah, but why is there a Time Fly by your ear?”
“What, him? It’s just Ol’ Flashy. Those dudes, they decided to assign him to me, to guide my progress. He’s kind of like a cultural liaison, oh yeah, another big word for The Marsh-dog.”
“It’s so weird, the Time Flies. When you think of aliens, you think of space ships, little green men, interstellar battles, all that crap. But these dudes aren’t like that at all. Is that really him? The first one we called that name? He’s here, in the normal time stream with us full time?”
“Yeah, man, when they suggested having one here permanently I asked if it could be that one, and here he is. He’s also trying to learn why humans behave so weird, so I’m schooling him. Not bad, huh? So, to answer the question you haven’t asked yet, I think you need to see if you can find that other one of The Seven before you do anything else. Could be a big help, might not, but you won’t know until you check it out. And if you wait too long, those Other dudes might swoop in and snatch him or her up. Go over and see Dr. Reyes, and he can run the simulation now, he doesn’t need me to push the keys. You dudes did really good over there in Artesia, by the way. That was a tough situation, but it could have been a lot worse. Anyway, here’s the next thing: I don’t see too many problems with going public at this point. What you do when you go public will make a big difference, though. So do this: get in front of as many news cameras as you can. Then, tell everyone the truth about what has been happening in the world, and why. And you call The Master out. Call him a chicken, whatever you have to do. Remember, his behavior is predictable; there’s a pattern, like a fractal. His ego is too big to resist such a public challenge. But you don’t meet him in a public place. You make him come out to the desert, and you have it out there. We can’t let him kill any more people, ‘Nando. This has gone way too far. You have to stop him, and as soon as possible. All those people in Artesia…” And for a minute, Marsh-dog was too choked up to continue.
Of course, I got choked up as well, and hid my tapping by running my hand through my hair. “You’re right, we have to end this. Even if we all get killed, we have to stop him somehow. I think I could beat him one-on-one, but there’s no way he’ll do that, even if he says he will, so we’ll have to be ready for anything. It’s gotta happen, though. I’m tired, Marsh. I feel like… like each time I use my abilities a little of my life is being stripped away, and at some point there won’t be any me left. I have to kill him, don’t I? I don’t want to kill anyone else, but I don’t see any other way to stop him. Oh, man, I wish someone else had gotten this burden instead of me… sorry, dude, I just feel weak right now, but I’ll get over it.”
Marsh-dog floated down to the ground, and it occurred to me that this was a good way to express the gravity of the situation. “Listen, he killed your parents, remember? And he killed my parents too, and your uncle and your cousins, and Arnie, and Gabriella, and ME! That’s why I’m in this freakin’ place! We will, we have to, make him pay for all the crap he’s done, all the people he’s killed, all the people he’s gonna kill!”
I was a little surprised by Marsh-dog’s burst of anger, but I sure couldn’t blame him. “Don’t worry, in the end he’ll pay. I’m not sure yet how it will happen, but it will happen. Ok, I’ll follow all your advice. How could I not follow the advice of the world’s smartest person?”
“Finally you’re starting to learn. Now you better skedaddle. I’m working on another project with the Time Flies, and it’s taking a lot of time and concentration.”
“Ok, see you later, dude.”
“What, no Mr. Glowy?”
“Ha! I got you to say it. You’re fractal too, you know.”
“Alright, I’ll let you win, but just this once. Now git!”
I faded back into the front of the RV, and Denise was still driving. I tapped her on the shoulder, and whispered, “Better get someone else to drive. We’re going to Bakersfield.”
Chapter Twenty Five
Aunt Martha had a couple of hours to rest, so she was ready to take the wheel again. I gave Denise the quiet sign and we went into the tiny bathroom, because it was the only spot that wasn’t occupied. “We need to be very quiet; I don’t want anyone to hear what we’re saying. I still haven’t had a chance to check Rafael and Aunt Martha to see if they could be ratting on us to The Master, so I don’t want any of the rest of the group to know where we’re going,” I mouthed.
“Ohh, smart,” Denise whispered. “Where should we tell them we’re headed?”
“I don’t know… it’ll have to be something believable. Hey, we never did get Ling’s car back there in Artesia… no, that’s no good; we don’t want to go back there. Do you have any ideas?”
“It’ll have to be something important enough that we have to go right now… how about something related to your sister? Oh, sorry, Ferdie, don’t cry. I just think that would be a good enough reason.”
The mention of her name did freeze me up for a moment. I got it together pretty quickly, though, and breathed, “No, you’re right, that’s a good idea. How about this: I just went to visit Marsh-dog. He has been keeping his eyes and ears open, looking for any traces of her, and he heard that someone matching her description showed up in Aurora, our home town. That would be believable.”
“That’s perfect. Let’s do it.”
We exited the bathroom after peeking out to make sure no one was looking, and went to rouse the rest of the group. We told them our fib, and that we were going to zip over to Aurora to check out the tip we got from Marsh-dog. All were ok with the idea aside from Arnie, partly because it could be unsafe and partly because he thought he should come along for additional security. “Sorry, Arnie, but it’s for the best if you stay here and make sure things go smoothly on the way home. We’ll be ok. We’re going to fade in a couple of miles outside of town and then walk in, same as we did in Artesia. As soon as we’re done, we’ll be back here. Unless we’re actually able to find her… if that happens, we’ll have to play it by ear. Alright, ready, Denise?”
“Ready, Chief.”
“Ok, we’ll be back as soon as we can.”
A second later we were in the outskirts of Bakersfield. “I hate lying to them that way, but if one of them is still informing, The Others could follow us to Dr. Reyes, and I can’t stand the thought of anything bad happ
ening to him. We have a little bit of a hike ahead of us to get to his office. I don’t suppose you have any money for us to get something to eat?”
Denise smiled. “Even better. I have a whole ocean full of money in this little plastic card right here. Let’s go.”
After a quick lunch at the world’s second greatest Mexican restaurant, Del Taco, we walked west into town. It was a pretty long walk, and it took us about two hours to make it to the university. On the way we chatted about all the things we were going to do after vanquishing The Master and putting things right in the world. “Maybe you should get, like, a cape and costume, you know, like a comic book character. Now that would be cool,” Denise teased.
“Me? You’re the one who looks like a superhero. Nahh, you know what I’d like to do? Somehow find out where The Seven came from. I just want to know. I think it would help me accept it somehow. I don’t know what I’m saying, I’m just rambling. What about you?”
“I’ve always wanted to… this is going to sound kind of funny, but I’d like to learn how to fly. Planes, helicopters, whatever. I know I can get around faster than any plane ever could, but it just seems like it would be fun. Hey, look, there’s the university.”
Finally we had arrived. Seeing it gave us a renewed burst of energy, and we rushed up the hill to the math building, and bounded up the stairs to the second floor instead of taking the elevator. As we approached Dr. Reyes’ office, we noticed that the door was open, and that seemed unusual. We peeked inside, and many of Dr. Reyes’ books and other belongings were in boxes. Suddenly, there he was, walking around the corner of the file cabinets that lined one side of the office. He was wearing his usual gym shorts, and a very time-worn “The Clash” t-shirt. When he saw us in the doorway, he stopped cold, and his eyes darted around as if he was looking for a way out. Finally he let out a big sigh, and said, “I thought you might be coming for me. Before you do anything, please, tell me why you did it. I saw you. The whole world has seen you by now.”
Denise and I gazed at each other in bewilderment. “Dr. Reyes, what’s wrong? We thought you’d be happy to see us,” Denise declared.
“Why did you do it? I saw it but I don’t see how it’s possible. If you won’t tell me why, at least tell me how. I’ve helped you quite a lot, I think you owe me at least that much.”
Again, Denise and I stared, totally baffled. “I’m really sorry, it seems like we’ve done something to upset you. We came to ask for you to help us one last time, but we’ll leave you alone if you want.”
“Are you trying to tell me you don’t know?”
“Don’t know what? I swear, we are very confused right now. We really don’t know what you’re talking about, or why you seem so… I don’t know, distressed, I guess.”
Suddenly he seemed more exasperated than upset. “You have heard of this thing called YouTube, I assume.”
Denise seemed to reflect his vexation. “Of course we’ve heard of YouTube! What are you talking about? I used to work for you, Dr. Reyes. I think you know me better than that.”
“I thought I did too, but look at this.”
He spun one of his computer monitors around so that we could see it, and pulled up a YouTube video of… The Massacre at Artesia. In the video, which appeared to be shot from a second story window in the town center, we could be seen darting around faster than it’s possible for a person to go; there was a very clear shot of Denise tapping a huge man in the temple, and him crumpling to the ground; there was a shot of me disappearing, and then people dropping to the ground by the dozens; Ling walking down the street, every person she approached turning and running away as fast as they could. There were also scenes of people stabbing and shooting one another, and a view of a young man leveling his rifle at me and firing, the bullet bouncing off my force field.
Oh, crap, this is bad… the cat is out of the bag now… we have to go public; we don’t have any choice…
I glanced at Denise, and her expression told me that she was thinking the same thing I was.
“Ok, we have a lot to explain. Don’t worry, we’re no threat to you, and that video doesn’t give you the true picture of what was happening there. Please, let’s sit down and we’ll tell you everything.”
Dr. Reyes hesitated, but then seemed resigned to the fact that he had no other choice but to listen to these superhuman beings. “We’re going to tell you everything, the whole story, but you might not believe it. In fact, it’s likely that you won’t believe it. If that’s the case, we can give you some first-hand evidence that will be impossible to deny. Are you ready?”
He looked from Denise to me nervously. “How did you do it? Was it trick photography? It looked very real, but it couldn’t be real, could it?”
I had to smile at that. “We’re going to tell you how we did it, and it is real. We need to go all the way back and tell you the whole story, though. That’s the only way any of this will make sense.”
My story began with me being five or six and noticing that I could feel what other people were feeling. I gave him every story, every detail. Denise added her own story as we went along; she told him about finding work in his office only because she hoped to make contact with me, about Aida Fernandez, everything. We described The Master and The Others, the Book of Names, Heaven, Hell, the in-between, all the deaths, even how Marsh-dog was a ghost and when the messages were popping up on his computer screen, that it was Marsh-dog trying to communicate with him. The only thing I left out was the Time Flies.
As we spoke, his expression went from anxiety to skepticism to shock, and finally to intense inquisitiveness. “So let me get this straight. You and your little group, made up of angels and members of… what did you call it? Oh yes, The Seven, and a couple of normal humans, are in a supernatural battle with The Master and… The Others? Is that the right name? Sorry, you gave me a lot of information and I’m trying to organize it in my head. And there are lots of them, but you don’t know how many, and you don’t know where they are. It sounds like you are in a bit of pickle. They are intent on killing everyone in the world, but it’s not clear why. They are either doing it just because they feel like it, or because they think that it will somehow allow them to rule the universe, or three universes, as the case may be. Do I have it so far?”
Denise chuckled, and said, “Well when you put it like that, it sounds kind of silly. But let’s cut through the cynicism. This is real. That stuff on the video, it’s real. That moment where there was a bullet whizzing at Ferdie and it just bounced off, that was real. And that description of me getting scorching hot when I was fighting, that’s real too.” Then Denise stood up, and the heat began pouring off her body. I felt it first and scooted away; it took a second to hit Dr. Reyes, but his eyes bulged out, and he dove behind the file cabinets. A couple of papers ignited, and I took the top off of one of the ever-present fast food cups on his desk and poured out the fire.
“Ok, that’s enough. I think he gets the picture. Sorry, Dr. Reyes, we understand the disbelief, we’ve had to deal with that before. If you want, we can give you some other, oh, let’s call them displays, of our abilities. Here’s an easy one: pick up something solid, whatever you want, and throw it at me as hard as you possibly can. Don’t worry, you won’t hurt me. Go ahead.”
Dr. Reyes rose from behind his desk, a bit of fear in his eyes. “Are… are you sure? You won’t burn me or anything, will you?”
Denise cackled, and said, “Sorry, Dr. Reyes, I just thought we needed to get you on the right track. Go ahead, you can’t hurt him.”
He rummaged around and found an apple made out of brass on his desk that appeared to be an award of some kind. “Ok, but don’t blame me if you get a black eye.” He reached back and whipped the apple at me with all his strength, but it just bounced off my force field and clattered on the ground.
“How… how did you do that? Oh my God, this is real, isn’t it? I need a minute to process. Oh my…” He slumped in his chair, his eyes spinning.
“We know how you feel. It just seems impossible, right? But now you see it isn’t, and that’s a jolt to the brain. What we really came here for is to get you to help us find another member of The Seven, the last one. We’re hoping maybe we can get that person to help us, or at least keep them from helping The Others. Please, Dr. Reyes, will you assist us this one last time? I promise, we’ll never bother you again. This is important, or we wouldn’t have come here. Please.”
His eyes were flitting around, unfocused; it was clear his mental wheels were turning. “You might have noticed that I have been boxing up my things. Society is breaking down, and one of the first things to go is education. The government has pulled back funding, and most of the public schools are either scaling back or closing altogether. It’s horrible; I’ve never seen anything like it. It literally seems like the end of the world. Even here in Bakersfield, there are riots and looting, rampant and totally unchecked. It is as if the authorities have given up and run away. After what you’ve told me, and now I have no cause to doubt you, I can put some reason to the breakdown, and that is oddly satisfying. I know that sounds strange, but I am a scientist. I seek to understand, to find purpose when it is difficult to discern. I say all that to say this: I’ll make you a deal. I will aid you, but in return, you will take me with you. This may sound cowardly, but at this point I am beyond caring how it sounds: I don’t want to die. I am not a person who likes or owns any guns, but I have been so shaken that for the last couple of days I have been sleeping in a locked closet, a large knife and hatchet by my side. My… my friends, I’m sorry for my weakness, but you have given me hope when I had lost it. Will you take me with you?”
I was stunned by the sudden turn of events. At the same time, I was elated at his request. I liked Dr. Reyes very much, and I knew Denise did as well, and I also knew that he could be a huge help; he’s the second smartest person I know, next to Marsh-dog. Come to think of it, Marsh-dog will be over the moon… he’s crazy about Dr. Reyes…
Ferdie and The Seven: Book three: Fractals Page 18