In the next room were two large computer monitors on a table and some wires going to a panel on the wall. “Confusing, eh?” said Dr. Reyes. “I was so fascinated by Marshall’s project that I called in some favors and got some time on the supercomputer at Cal Tech. He still has some time left, and if you’ll wait here, I’ll go call my contact there and get it set up.” Then, at a brisk pace, he exited the room. “Marsh!” I hissed, “A supercomputer?! I don’t know how to work a supercomputer! How long will it take him to make his call? Oh, crap.” I faded into the in-between, taking the chance that he would find my seat empty when he returned.
When I got to the in-between, there was Marsh-dog, doubled over in laughter. “Oh, man, that was funny! You looked like you were going to poop in your pants! By the way, what’s that smell? Just kidding; dude, that was awesome!”
“Yeah, laugh it up, Robin. What do I do?”
Marsh-dog, still giggling, said, “Don’t worry, just sit at the keyboard and act like you know what you’re doing. We’ll need to get him to look the other way or leave the room or something… I know, I’ll go to his office and type my message on his assistant’s computer, and knowing her, she’ll text him immediately and he’ll go running. That’ll be our chance.”
“He has an assistant? Where is she?”
“She’s in his office, behind the bookshelf. You just couldn’t see her.”
“You mean she was there the whole time? She didn’t make a peep!”
“Yeah, she’s like that. Kinda the opposite of Dr. Reyes. Ok, get back in there and let’s get ready.”
I faded back into the small computer room with the large monitors and resumed sitting in front of them just in the nick of time. Dr. Reyes came bustling in, saying, “Ok, Marshall’s associate, what was the name again? Oh, yes, Ferdie. All is well, so let’s get you started. First, I’ll need to do some log-in items, and I’ll need you to go in the next room while I do it. We’re using some very intense and sensitive equipment here, and I have to keep it secure. OK?”
I said, “Ah, sure, ok Dr. Reyes. I’ll be in the next room,” and I scurried off. This’ll be a good opportunity to make sure Marsh is on track with the rest of our plan… “Marsh!” I hissed, quietly as I could, “Is everything good? Maybe you should get over to his office now so I won’t have to sit there too long doing nothing!” I felt a little flick on my ear, and I knew we were on track.
About a minute later, Dr. Reyes shouted, “Ok, Ferdie! Come on in!” I hopped up and scooted into the room to see streams of numbers flowing over the two large screens.
“This is Marshall’s work in progress. I assume you know what to do from here?”
I couldn’t help it; I gulped, and said, “Sure, of course. This is, ah, almost all we ever talked about. I’ll, um, just take over now.” Uh oh, stop tapping your head, dummy, that looks strange… oh, crap, come on, Marsh, I don’t know what to do… I sat down in front of the monitors and looked at the keyboard. I raised my hands above it, and I think I probably looked like one of those concert pianists just before they start playing, my hands suspended in the air. Just as the hesitation was becoming uncomfortable, Dr. Reyes’ phone buzzed, and he pulled it out and looked at the text.
“Oh, you’ve got to be kidding me. I was really looking forward to watching this, but I’ve got a little problem in my office. I’ll be back in a few minutes, Ferdie.” He rushed out of the room, and I let out a huge sigh of relief.
Thank you, Marsh-dog! “Ok, come on, do your thing!” I whispered, and the keys started moving on their own, so fast that I could not keep up. “Dude, that’s amazing… Hey, wait a minute; are you sitting on my lap?” I felt another flick on my ear, a little harder this time.
After about five minutes of constant tapping on the keyboard, the enter key was engaged, and then things on the monitors really started moving. I didn’t know what was happening, but I noted that it had a strange kind of beauty… I guess mathematics could be described as beautiful, at least to some people. “What do I do now?” I whispered, and he flicked my ear twice, which I took to mean don’t do anything, just let it run. Before it was finished Dr. Reyes came rushing back. “Oh, too late! I was hoping to see how you completed the process but I can see that it’s running, and if I’m not mistaken, this time you will have an actual outcome, based on what I am seeing. I would say let’s cross our fingers, but I don’t believe in luck. By the way, that same mysterious message popped up, this time on Denise’s computer. Oh, Denise is my office assistant. She says she thinks she knows you. Why don’t you go by and say hello to her while this is running?”
Uh oh, that’s probably not good. If she recognizes me, she might know that I’ve gone missing… how would she know me? I’m just a fifteen year-old kid… “Uh, well, I really wanted to wait until the simulation was…” and again, that was as far as I got, because Dr. Reyes cut in.
“Oh, don’t be silly, Ferdie. This will take at least another fifteen minutes. Just run over and say hello. I’ll wait here and I’ll retrieve you if it finishes before you get back. Go on, now.”
I didn’t know what else to do, so I gave a thumbs-up and walked out of the room. As soon as I got in the main computer lab, I surveyed the room. Seeing no one else, I faded quickly into the in-between, and of course there was Marsh-dog. “Dude, I think this is actually going to work, but why do I have to go meet his assistant? Do you think I could get away with just waiting in here with you and pretending like I went to meet her?”
Marsh-dog was totally tickled. “This is the best day ever! Well, I mean once you get past being dead and all. Why are you so nervous about meeting an eighteen-year-old assistant? You’ve done battle with supernatural, I don’t know what you call them… beings? How about supernatural dudes? Yeah, let’s go with that. Just go say hi to her, she won’t bite. She’s cute… maybe you can make a love connection.”
“Yeah right, she’s way too old for me. And isn’t eighteen kind of young to be a professor’s assistant?”
“Yeah, but I’ve been watching her, and she’s smart. Not as smart as me, but still pretty smart. Ok, get your booty over there and say hello, and I’ll keep an eye on Dr. Reyes.”
I sighed heavily. “Alright, but I’m not signing any autographs. I’ll be right back,” and once again I slipped out of the in-between.
I found my way back through the winding halls to Dr. Reyes’ office, and this time I knocked on the door. After a few seconds, the door opened just a crack, and I could see an eye peeking out. “Who’s there?” Denise hissed. I noted that she was tall, about my height, but I couldn’t see much else.
“Hi, my name’s Ferdie. Dr. Reyes told me to come and say hi to you, so here I am.” We stood there for a moment, her behind the door, and me looking at a single eye; then an arm shot out, grabbed me by the shirt, and pulled me into the office.
She whispered, “Sorry Ferdie, I just had to make sure it was you. This is so exciting for me.”
What the heck? Why would meeting a dorky fifteen-year-old be exciting? “Um, your name is Denise, right? Is everything ok?”
She’s definitely tall, maybe six feet tall, and big of stature, not fat, just big, maybe like a bodybuilder or something… long, straight brown hair, brown eyes, very pretty but a bit intimidating… she seems maybe Hispanic, although there’s no accent… I mean aside from a California accent… “Well, I don’t know, but I think things just got improved. Here, Ferdie, you better sit down.”
What is going on here? Dude, this is weird… I sat down in Dr. Reyes’ office chair and Denise sat down across from me, looking at me intently. “It really is you, isn’t it? I was wishing that this would happen, but I didn’t have much hope, and I had to lay low… I couldn’t take the chance of anyone finding out I was here.”
Ok, that’s it. I have to get to the bottom of this… “Ah, Denise, I don’t mean to be rude, but I think you’ve mistaken me for someone else or something.”
“Oh no, I haven’t. I know who you are and I�
�m going to tell you what’s going on, because you know about my kind. I’m what you would call an angel.”
Chapter 6
What? I thought all the angels disappeared, and here’s one right in our own town! I’m gonna have to have a talk with Rafael about his detective skills… “So…how is this possible? I thought all the angels were assigned to The Seven… wait, is Dr. Reyes one of The Seven?”
“No, no, that’s not what I’m doing here. Here’s the deal, Ferdie: there’s a group, I’m not sure if they’re people, demons, or what, but my one of The Seven was taken in by this group, and there was nothing I could do to stop her. It’s like she was hypnotized or something; I just couldn’t get through to her. She was so young, too, only twenty years old. I think she expected me to go along with it, but I knew I either needed to try to find help to get through to her, or I would have to abandon her to avoid having them try to get to me too. She tried to ambush you a while back, and you did something to her. I’m not sure what, but now she’s catatonic. She can’t talk, move, anything. She’s just wasting away.”
Ok, there’s no way she could know about any of that unless she is what she says she is. Or, if she’s one of The Others, and is trying to fool me… come on, dude, stop tapping your head… I wondered what happened to that one… I didn’t know she was a girl, but I guess that doesn’t make any difference for supernatural types… at least I didn’t kill her… not yet, anyway… Denise continued, “I knew that you were here somewhere in Bakersfield, due to the attack on you, and I knew about your friend who died and his association with Dr. Reyes, because he talks about your friend all the time. So I came here and convinced him to take me as an assistant, which honestly wasn’t too hard. I’ve been hiding out since then, hoping that you would come and try to finish up his project. I came here to find you, Ferdie. I need your help, and I think you could use mine too.”
“Well, ok, but how do I know you’re who you say you are? No offense, but I have to be careful.”
“Well, of course you do. But look at me. You know what I’m saying is true. Try going in my mind, I know you can do that to normal humans. See what happens.”
“Ok, but that might not prove anything. If I can’t get in there, it could be that you’re a demon, or even a… what did Rafael call it? Oh yeah, an abomination. The only way to know for sure is if we go to the in-between together. If we just go for a second, that would probably be ok, don’t you think?”
Her brows pulled together as she considered. “I don’t want to take the chance of getting caught, Ferdie. To tell you the truth, even though I’m an angel, and have all the angel powers, I’m kind of afraid. These others are scary, and dangerous.”
“You’re telling me. They’ve killed almost everyone I care about. Ok, I am going to trust you for now, but I have two angels on my side, and if you are not who you say you are, I don’t think they will be very happy with you.”
Her face lit up, and she cried, “I knew you must have angels with you, and oh, that is such good news, Ferdie. We might have a chance after all!”
Who is this we? You’re not part of the group just yet… ok, that’s the hypervigilance coming out… I felt a flick on my ear, and I knew it was time to get back to the computer lab. I jumped up, saying “Gotta go, the simulation’s done!” and bolted from the office.
As I tore through the doorway, Denise shouted, “Wait! I’ll go with you!” and she sprinted up behind me. There’s something weird about her… not sure… need to be careful… I hustled through the halls and back to the computer lab, almost crashing into a group of students as I turned the last corner.
“Sorry!” I called, and ran through the computer lab door and into the back room. There was Dr. Reyes, sitting at the monitors, and he was pointing at them with both hands. On the right monitor, in the middle of a black screen, were three lines:
Lat. 39.14237649980276
Long. 8.307852745056752
Leonardo Sanna
I stared at the screen, not knowing what it meant. Dr. Reyes, on the other hand, was beside himself; he seemed so excited he was ready to pop. Denise came rushing up behind me, and Dr. Reyes turned to her and said, “Denise, please wait in the next room while I talk to Ferdie here.”
Frustration clouded her face for a moment but she quickly wiped it away, said, “Of course, Dr. Reyes,” and backed out, closing the door.
“Sorry, Ferdie, I didn’t know if you wanted anyone else to see this data. This is an interesting and specific result. I did not think it would work to this pinpoint extent. Marshall was very careful with the math, reworked it a number of times, and this is the final outcome. As I said, I think this person probably has some kind of significance with the occult, contacting the dead, that kind of thing.”
“I’m sorry, Dr. Reyes, I have no idea what… “Uh oh, you’re supposed to know what this is… you pretended to run the simulation, remember? “Um, what I can do to repay you for your help in completing this work and keeping my associate’s memory alive.” Keeping my associate’s memory alive? Come on, dude, could you get any more corny?
“Oh, forget it, Ferdie. I’m so excited that we were able to get a result. All I ask is that you let me know what you find going forward, would you do that?”
I gazed at him for a moment, with his long pony tail, thick glasses, and stained Metallica t-shirt. This is the craziest professor ever, but he’s a super nice guy… I need to let him know what happens, leaving out the supernatural parts… he’d never believe it anyway, at least I don’t think so… “Of course, I’d be happy to keep you updated. It would be my pleasure.” Sheesh, when did I turn into a junior executive? “Um, also, Dr. Reyes, do you think you could make sure the info gets deleted from the… supercomputer? We don’t want this falling into enemy hands.”
“Of course. I’ll take care of it immediately.” He went to the keyboard and tapped away furiously for a few moments. “Ok, done and done. What’s next for you, Ferdie?”
“Well, I’m not sure. I guess I’ll try to make contact with Mr. Sanna, see what I can find out.”
“This should be quite an adventure, but be careful, Ferdie. There are lots of snakes out there.”
Dude, you don’t know how right you are. “I will, I promise. Thanks again, Dr. Reyes, for everything. By the way, if you don’t mind my asking, what’s your first name?”
The corners of Dr. Reyes’ mouth turned upward. “Terence. But all my friends call me Terry. You can call me Terry, Ferdie. After all this, I think we should be friends, yes?”
“Sure. Thanks, Dr. Terry.” I turned and walked out of the room, and Dr. Reyes patted me on the shoulder as he shot by at his usual hyper pace.
Denise was waiting in the outer lab, anxiously tapping her foot. When she saw me she perked up and whispered, “Ferdie, it worked? It actually worked?”
“Well, yeah, it seems like it. I don’t know what it means yet, though.”
“Do you want me to take a look at it? Maybe I can figure it out for you.”
No, I don’t trust you… not yet, anyway… “No, it’s ok. It’ll give me something to do.”
Denise looked a little disappointed. “Well, ok, but how do I contact you?”
I’m not sure I want you to contact me… I need to get some help on this… “Um, how about this: when do you work again?”
“I’ll be here tomorrow. I work in Dr. Reyes’ office three days a week. Monday, Wednesday, and Thursday, from ten to three.”
“Ok, how about if I meet you here tomorrow, at, say, noon? I’ll bring a couple of friends with me you’ll be interested to meet.”
“Let’s meet in the student lounge down on the first floor.”
“Ok, sounds good. See you then.” I hustled out of the office and into the nearest restroom, went into a stall, and faded into the in-between. “Marsh! Marsh, are you here?”
I felt a flick on my ear, turned around, and there was Marsh-dog. He looked like he was almost ready to cry. “I can’t believe it actually
worked, ‘Nando. Well, of course I can believe, it, I set it up, but still… those numbers are the longitude and latitude where you’ll find that Sanna dude. You’ll need to go to my computer at the apartment and type those numbers in. It’ll tell you where you need to go. Where we need to go. You’re not leaving me behind on this one, no way.”
“I don’t want to leave you behind. I need you with me. I wouldn’t have survived this long if it wasn’t for you.”
“Alright, dude, don’t get all mushy on me. Let’s just get it going.”
“Ok, but what about this Denise chick?”
“I don’t know, man, she seems pretty cool to me, but I don’t know about the angel thing. It seems a little fishy that she just happens to be the angel watching over the one of The Seven that you blasted, and she ends up here in Bako. Yeah, that’s right, I called it Bako. That’s what all the cool ghosts call Bakersfield, didn’t you know that?”
We snickered, and I said, “Marsh, I need you to keep an eye on her for now. I don’t want her snooping around and figuring out where we live, just in case. At least until after we meet with her tomorrow. Are you ok with that?”
Time Flies Page 4