Fractals

by Larry Buenafe

  Then, of course, there are our enemies, the ones we call The Others. I don’t know if they have a name for themselves; that would seem kind of geeky, like a comic book or something, so I bet they don’t. Anyway, they, or at least their leader, who they call The Master (yeah, once again, an extreme lack of creativity by the supernaturals in the naming department) think that, if they can destroy the Good Line, they will somehow be able to gather an immense amount of power and basically control the Bad Line universe, the Good Line universe, and the universe where you and I live. In other words, they think it will turn them into gods. I don’t know how they came to that conclusion, and they may be totally wrong, but it won’t matter if they kill everyone in the world in the process. We really don’t know how many of them there are. We have come in contact with four of them so far, and probably three of them are members of The Seven: The Master, the one I call The Coward (ok, that’s my lack of creativity in naming him), and Aida Fernandez. Denise was Aida’s “guardian angel”. Aida was somehow convinced, or maybe hypnotized, into joining with The Master, and Denise had to abandon her to avoid being sucked into their side along with her. We also came in contact with an unnamed demon, the one who tried to kill Denise and me. We think it’s likely that they have at least a couple of angels and maybe a bunch of other demons on their side also, maybe twenty or more, so they probably have us way outnumbered. These guys think that they need to eliminate me in order to complete their plans, and have tried to do it by forcing me into killing myself. It seems that there is nothing they won’t do, including killing everyone, and I mean everyone, in the most brutal way possible, to achieve their aim. We have to stop them, even if it kills all of us to do it.

  The last piece of this whole puzzle, the one who has been missing for so long, is my sister, Ariel. She’s two years older than me, so she would be seventeen now, if she’s… if she’s still out there somewhere. She disappeared when Aunt Martha’s fiancé, Steve, tried to kill Aunt Martha and Ariel while he was being controlled by The Others. I managed to stop him just in time, but… I had to kill him to do it. He would have died anyway, the others do that to people they control, but still… Ariel took off while Steve was attacking, and we haven’t seen any sign of her since. I can’t help feeling that she’s out there somewhere, though, and that we’ll get together in the end, one way or another. Ok, turn the other way; I’m going to cry and tap my head, but just for a minute.

  Everyone was chatting amiably, but of course the camaraderie, and my reverie, was too good to last. I saw a movement out of the corner of my eye, and turned to see Pasquale jerking uncontrollably in his folding chair; he spun out and onto the ground, thrashing about. Not again! The Master is paying us another visit…

  I darted over, and by the time I got next to Pasquale, he had stopped convulsing. Just as before, he turned and looked directly into my face, and there was the voice of our enemy coming from Pasquale’s mouth, with his deep, imposing tone and odd accent. “My apologies, Ferdie, it seems I’ve interrupted your evening meal. By the way, please do thank this young man for allowing me to use him as a mouthpiece. Well, he didn’t really have a choice I suppose, but pass along my gratitude if you don’t mind. I assure you I will not kill him until he has outlived his usefulness. Now, please, Ferdie, do not try to throw one of your “energy waves”, or whatever ridiculous name you use for them, my way. I’ll be done before you will be able to get to me, so save yourself the trouble.” I’m going to get him this time… there’s the door… “Well, we have caused quite a stir, you and me, eh? Oh, make no mistake, you are as much to blame as me for the sad state of affairs in the world today, perhaps even more so. If you had done what I asked, stepped aside, albeit permanently, none of these proceedings would have been necessary. Nevertheless, here you are, and here am I, so we are in a bit of a pickle, yes? Ah, well, the time is drawing near for another display, don’t you think?” There’s the second door… “Oh, and I have a real doozy cooked up, as you Americans would say. These other activities will seem rather tame after our next event, on that you can rely. I hope to meet you in the flesh one day soon, but until then, have a splendid evening.”

  No! I’m almost there… “Wait! Wait, let’s talk a little… maybe we can come to an agreement or something… a truce, maybe. What do you say? I mean, I know some bad stuff has happened, but that doesn’t mean we have to be enemies forever, does it?” Come on, dummy, just hang around a minute longer…

  Thunderous laughter rang in my ears. “Good try, Ferdie; as I said before, I do like the moxie. I’ll be seeing you in your dreams…” And he was gone.

  Pasquale shook his head vigorously and grunted, “Not again. He speak through me again?”

  We looked at one another, grim expressions all around. “Yeah, sorry Pasquale. And I sure hope your Divide and Conquer strategy works. Either way, it’s going down tomorrow. We’ve got to take it to them before they do something even worse than Carloforte.” I turned and walked back into the RV, viciously tapping my head as I went, the rage inside me building with each step.

  Chapter Three

  The Master’s latest message had us all freaked out, and poor Pasquale was more shaken than anyone. Denise was stomping around in a complete fury, and although Arnie had on his calm and cool exterior, behind his eyes a storm was brewing. Fortunately, we had Aunt Martha with us to break the tension. We were all pacing, gnashing our teeth, growling at one another, and she said, to no one and everyone, “Ok, I’ll take that drink now.” We all turned to her, and one by one the embarrassed grins came out, and a few chuckles as well.

  “It is understandable that we would be very disturbed by what has just happened, but if we are to succeed, we need self-control, now more than ever. Ferdie, it would probably be helpful for you to consult with Marshall, and depending on the outcome, we may want to proceed on our mission tonight instead of waiting until tomorrow,” Gabriella offered.

  What the heck is wrong with me… that should have been the first thing I thought of… come on, Ferdie, push out the anger so you can think straight… that’s not easy, though…

  “Yeah, you’re right. Sorry, I lost my head a little there. Let me go see what Marsh thinks.” I tuned in to the right vibration, and in an instant I was in the in-between staring at Marsh-dog, who was floating as usual, and… well, he was glowing. I mean like light was coming from him. “Hey, it’s tall and ugly, coming to pay his respects. What’s going on, dude?”

  I just shook my head. “Every time I come here nowadays it’s something new. First you were floating, and then you were making furniture materialize, now you’re floating and glowing. You’re looking more like a real ghost all the time.”

  Marsh-dog chuckled and adopted his thinker pose. “Your jealousy is really getting sad. Nah, I am just working on another little project with the Time Flies. They put some new stuff in me so we could communicate better, and it makes me shine like this. It also helps me to understand their science better. So The Others paid us another visit, eh? I think you should stick with the plan and leave in the morning. You know how The Master likes to show off, there’s no way he would do something big without telling you first. He’s very predictable that way.”

  “Yeah, you know, I was thinking about that. Their behavior definitely follows a pattern, although it’s too much for me to figure out. Do you think you could come up with something that we could use to predict where they’ll strike next, beat them to the punch? If we catch them in the act we might actually be able to stop them.”

  As I spoke Marsh-dog patted the top of his ‘fro absentmindedly, deep in thought. He paced back and forth while still floating, which was amusing to watch, then said, “I don’t think it would be too much different from what we did to locate Old Leo… their behavior has a little bit of a fractal flavor to it, which can be totally complex, but predictable if you look deep enough. But dude, I have another idea. The Master is one of The Seven, right? If we already located one of the other members of The Seven, Old Leo,
it stands to reason that we can locate The Master too, right? Then we could really take the fight to him. We’ll need to get Dr. Reyes’ help, though, because we’ll still need the help of the Cal Tech supercomputer. I can’t think quite as fast as a supercomputer. Yet.”

  “Dude, you’re kind of freaking me out. I think I can actually see your brain poking out of your ears.”

  A huge grin broke out on Marsh-dog’s face. “Why do you think I have this big old ‘fro? It gives my brain room to grow, man.”

  I smiled, but suddenly a great sadness came over me, and I started tapping my head aggressively. “I’m sorry, Marsh, I wish I had a good ghost joke but the truth is I feel like something really bad is going to happen soon. I can’t shake it, dude.”

  “I’m glad you said that so I didn’t have to. I feel the same way. You have to go through with your mission, you dudes have been careful with your planning and I think it’s going to work. I also think there’s going to be a price to pay, you know what I mean?”

  I nodded and wished that I had a place to sit down, or even better, to lie down. My vision got blurry for a moment, and I shook my head vigorously. “Dude, we’ve got to snap out of this… what is it called… ok, here’s a word for you: ennui.”

  Marsh-dog looked up in confusion, and said, “I think maybe you mean, like, despondence. Ennui is closer to boredom.”

  I stared at him for a moment. “Dude, what did the Time Flies do to you?”

  “I don’t know, man, it’s like they’re droppin’ knowledge on me non-stop. I had never heard that word before, the definition and alternative just popped into my head. It’s weird, but it makes it harder for you to make vapid endeavors to bamboozle me with your obscure utterances. Whoa, where did that come from? I’m gonna have to get Ol’ Flashy to take this thesaurus out of my head, it’s freaking me out.”

  Despite my despondence, I couldn’t help but smile at that, and of course Marsh-dog noticed, because he notices everything. “Ha! I got you! Come on, man, I know we’re in tough times, but we have to stay positive if we’re gonna make it, right? Now go get some beauty sleep, as if that’s gonna help, and get to it in the morning.”

  “Thanks Marsh. You’re…”

  “Yeah, yeah, I know. Go on, Mushy.”

  “Oh, wait, I forgot to tell you. I haven’t told anyone else, just in case I need to use it as a surprise. When the Time Flies gave me the ability to talk to them, it opened up something else in my brain, and there are a few new things that I can do that should come in handy.”

  Marsh-dog smacked himself on the forehead comically. “You mean you waited until now to tell me this news? Don’t you think you should have led with something that big? Tell me what’s up, Batman.”

  “Ok, well, you know in the past the only other supernatural type I could make a mental connection with is Ling. I’m not sure why we could connect; it just seemed to work for some reason. Now, though, I can look into the minds of all of them. I don’t really do it, because that wouldn’t be cool, but I can if I need to.”

  “Dude, that’s big. Also, I guess it’s ok if we keep calling the demons and angels supernaturals, but you and me and Arnie know that they’re not really supernatural; their abilities are because of the technology of the Time Flies. What else you got?”

  “Wait ‘til you get a load of this. Here, I’ll give you a little display.”

  Marsh-dog’s eyes got big, and he backed up a few floating steps. “Hey, what are you doing? There’s a sheen around you in a kind of dome shape. What the hell?”

  That made me giggle a bit. “Now try to rush me, kick me, whatever, and see what happens.”

  “Ok, dude, but you’ll be sorry when I loosen one of your teeth. Plus, are you sure you want me to do this? You can’t afford to get any uglier, you know.”

  “Alright, very funny. Come on, Robin!”

  “Oh, it’s on now.” Marsh-dog ran at me while still floating, and… went flying back, landing on his behind. “Oww, that hurts. Come on, dude, just tell me in words since you like them so much, what is going on.”

  His expression was so amusing that I couldn’t help cracking up. “Man, that was good. Ok, so here’s the deal. You probably remember how I was able to protect Pasquale’s mind by going in there and projecting a little bit of controlled energy around so that I could transport him through the in-between? This is a bigger, more powerful version of that. I can make a force field, dude!”

  A floating chair appeared behind Marsh-dog, and he sat down in a rush. “Ok, man, this is getting heavy now. You mean like Star Trek, like Sue Storm, all that? Do you think that was in you all along and you just couldn’t get to it, or do you think that was put in you by the Time Flies?”

  I cast my eyes down for a moment, deep in thought. “You know what, I think it was in me, I don’t think it came from the Time Flies. Whatever they did to me allowed me to access it, so I might not have ever gotten to it without them, but I don’t think they created it, and I don’t think they knew when they worked on me that this would happen. Weird, huh? These creatures that have been everywhere and know everything are totally thrown off by me and the other members of The Seven.”

  “Yeah, man, like I told you, Ol’ Flashy and his buddies don’t know what to make of it, and that’s why they continue to hang around so much. They’re used to knowing everything, so there’s not much in the way of unusual experiences for them, but when they came across you… well, they can’t let it go until they get it all figured out. It’s like a good mystery book, you know? And to them, you Seven jokers are the biggest mystery of all, and I’m a mystery to them too, to a little lesser extent.”

  “Well, there’s one other thing… I can get in and out of the in-between so fast now that I could go and return and you wouldn’t even notice. I can do it twenty times a second if I want. And because time works differently in the in-between, I can move around and come out in a different spot. So I could move in and out of the in-between twenty times a second, each time popping up in a different spot. You should see it, it looks totally freaky, and I don’t think it’s just, like, a gimmick. I think there are some practical uses.”

  A big smile split Marsh-dog’s face. “Well, for one thing, it’ll make it really hard for one of those Other dudes to catch you, right? And there’s no way any of them can go that fast, so if you have to go into battle mode, you’ll be able to hit them so quick they won’t be able to defend themselves.”

  “Yeah, that’s what I thought. So do you think things are looking up a little bit?”

  Marsh-dog’s eyebrows drew together and he scratched his head thoughtfully. “I don’t know, man, but if nothing else it should make things more entertaining. Ok, Batman, it’s really time for you to get going now. And don’t forget the beauty sleep.”

  I faded out of the in-between, feeling slightly better about our chances. Marsh-dog has that effect on me...

  Chapter Four

  Upon return from the in-between, it was time, as Marsh-dog put it, for some “beauty sleep”, but I felt a strong need to talk to each one of our group, at least for a minute. Part of the journey for each of us supernaturals was going to involve winging it to a certain extent; there was no way we could know how things would be when we got to our destinations, and we couldn’t use any powers to check it out ahead of time, because we needed to avoid doing anything that would reveal our plan to The Others. The rest of the group was still gathered outside the RV, mostly sitting quietly and thinking about the mission ahead. I sat next to Gabriella and whispered, “Hey, do you want to take a little walk with me?”

  She smiled warmly and said, “Sure, Ferdie. A walk would do me some good right now.”

  We went around the RV and past the hill behind, going slowly and not saying anything for a while. Finally, Gabriella broke the ice. “Ferdie, I know, or at least I think I know, that you and I are feeling the same thing. I am in agreement with this journey we are all about to undertake, but it will not be without casualties. You feel t
he same thing, yes?”

  My eyes got a little watery and I turned my head to hide my tapping. “Yeah, I think that’s right. I don’t know who or how, but I’m afraid. I’m really scared that someone is going to pay the price, no matter what the outcome is for the rest of us. I can’t ask these people to put themselves in that position, so now I don’t know what to do.”

  Gabriella stopped and turned toward me; the full moon was in the east, almost directly to her left from my perspective, and it lit her profile as she spoke. In that moment, I thought she was the most beautiful thing I had ever seen. “Listen carefully, Ferdie. None of us are doing this simply because you are asking us to. We all have chosen to do this on our own. None of us feel pressured into it. The rest of us have spoken, and it has been made clear that any one of us could choose not to participate, and none would think any less of them. We came to this agreement when you were speaking to Marshall, but I knew you would agree so I led the group to that conclusion. Ferdie, we are all in this together because we want to be. We believe in what we are doing, and we believe in you. At one time, I was tied to you because of my commission to watch over you as your angel, but that ended when I failed to stop Arnie Hayward from reaching the Good Line. I only remain connected to you because I want to be connected to you. If it is I who is to pay the price for this mission, I will pay it gladly. I wish… I wish that I could call you son, that’s how I feel now. Only death could separate us, Ferdie. We are tied together.”

  Oh, crap, what am I supposed to say to that? Nothing, because I couldn’t say anything right now anyway… Then the waterworks started in earnest. Gabriella came close and hugged me, sitting me down on a rock, smoothing my hair and patting my back, and she had a few tears to shed also. “I… I’m sorry, I wish I was better, I wish I was smarter… I’ll do my best, that’s all I can say.”