The Pandora Effect

by Olivia Darnell

  He caught a glimpse of Hannah Lipscomb in the crowd forming in front of the bandstand and spat his tobacco on the pavement. Looked like everybody in town would be there. Maybe he’d get another chance at Aliger after all. He took out his tobacco pouch and refilled his jaw.

  Angelica looked up at the clock on the wall above the counter when the doorbell rang and wondered why she had not known someone was coming. It was an unnerving occurrence that had been happening too often lately. She was washing up their supper dishes and Perry had just left to take a blue-green teapot across the street to Mary McDaniels. She hadn’t been able to make it back to the shop before they had closed, but he had known what she would have bought had she been there. It was very apparent to Angelica that Peregrin had his own private agenda, but she was slowly giving up the idea of bringing him around to her way of thinking. He was just too independent and stubborn. Where on Earth had he come up with the little boxes? She wondered. She had a very bad feeling about them. His methodology was erratic at best and unscientific.

  She wiped her hands on a dishtowel and went to open the door.

  Her mouth fell open in dismay when she saw the tall, blonde man standing on her porch. His striking violet eyes and curious expression were Peregrin, but he was not Peregrin! She opened her mouth to speak, but nothing came out. She could feel nothing from him. He was a total blank spot.

  “Hello, Angelica.” He smiled with Peregrin’s smile. “Don’t you recognize me?”

  “No,” she said simply and he reached to take her hand. She closed her eyes. Primus?!

  “What’s wrong?” She asked opening her eyes to stare at him, bewildered. “Why are you here?”

  “Aren’t you going to invite me in?” He asked.

  “Of course. Please. Come in.” She backed up quickly to allow him to pass. She was astounded at his appearance. Not at all what she remembered of him from their last meeting. But that had been so very long ago. He looked exactly like Peregrin! She followed him to the living room. He glanced around the apartment with a look of amusement mixed with consternation.

  “What’s wrong?” She asked him again.

  “Nothing...everything,” he said enigmatically. “Where is Peregrin Caelum?”

  “He’s across the street,” she told him and wondered why he didn’t already know.

  She had recognized him immediately when he had touched her. Falco Atrox. She felt that she must be in serious trouble. He was a First Order Citizen exceeded only by the Optimus Class of which her father was a member in good standing. She, herself, had only attained the honor of the Second Order. Had he learned of Peregrin’s transgressions? Was he here to dismiss them both?

  “Be at ease,” he told her frowning slightly. She realized that it did not matter. He could read her thoughts as if she were speaking aloud. She calmed her mind willfully and waited. “I am just on my way to New Orleans. A lovely little place. And a city of great sin. I stopped by to check on your progress and Peregrin's, speaking of sin. I see that you have already collected much useful data. Has he been interfering in your study?”

  “Not interfering...” she said and regretted it immediately as he laughed at her. “He has his own methods.”

  “I’m sure he does.” The Primus smiled ruefully. “Has he been filling your head with radical ideas?”

  She shook her head doubtfully. It was useless trying to cover for Peregrin.

  “I see,” he nodded. “And what is he doing across the street?”

  “I’m not sure,” she told him truthfully. “I have been working very hard to teach him the proper method of study, Primus. He is, I admit, a difficult student, but he shows promise.”

  “I’m sure he is,” Falco let go another chuckle. “What is he doing here with you?”

  “He’s my assistant.” She frowned at him. Surely he knew why Peregrin was there.

  “Your assistant?” He was truly amused by her answer and she was bewildered by his attitude. “Is he assisting you well?”

  “He puzzles me at times,” she admitted. “But he is tolerable.”

  “I see,” he said again and took a seat in Peregrin’s chair by the window. She resented his actions and then caught herself. “I, too, am puzzled by his behavior... I had hoped that you could shed some light on the situation for me. What is he up to?”

  “But surely, Primus...” she said uncomfortably. “All you need to do is listen. He won’t be able to block you. I know that you can read his thoughts as well as my own and I would beg your pardon now for anything that may have offended you. I have been unable to remain in constant contact with him. Perhaps there is some genetic flaw in his form. I had intended to look into at the first opportunity. We have had our differences of opinion, but I did not truly wish to dismiss him. His eccentricities are subtle. They have surfaced gradually.”

  “You have become fond of him,” he stated flatly. She discerned a note of disapproval.

  “I prefer to think of it as becoming accustomed to him,” she objected. “Forgive my difference of opinion, Primus, but I think perhaps you may have the wrong impression.”

  “I never get the wrong impression, Angelica,” he said.

  She had heard Peregrin say the same thing on several occasions.

  “You cannot hide your thoughts from me,” he continued. “True enough, they contain elements of human emotions and human feelings, but you are wearing the form. I’m afraid they are inevitable. You are affected by them whether you admit it to yourself or not. He has told you that you must admit this, if your study is to be a success. I believe you have been making this same study for some years now? Perhaps you have finally taken the correct configuration to bear it out to its fruition, but the presence of Peregrin baffles me. Why would you need his assistance?”

  “As you well know, Primus, my assistants are only known by that title. They are actually students. It is a sideline I have taken on at the suggestion of my father. These Fourth and Fifth Order Citizens are sorely in need of guidance. I do not require an assistant in the true sense of the word.”

  “I see,” he said again and smiled. “I see and... I see.”

  Peregrin chose that moment to bound up the stairs from the store. He bypassed the living room and went directly to the kitchen where he had left her.

  “Angelica?” He called her name. “It’s later! Are you ready?”

  She stood stock still by Falco’s chair hoping he would say no more. The Primus turned his head to look at her in shock. She closed her eyes tightly, but knew it was too late. He already knew what Peregrin was talking about.

  “Primus,” she sighed and sat down in her chair heavily. “At least let me explain.”

  Peregrin came back out of the kitchen and stopped to stare at them.

  Angelica stared back at him in abject terror.

  “Well, butter my butt and call me a biscuit!” Peregrin used a phrase he had learned from Chilly Willy and blinked at Falco in surprise, almost causing Angelica to pass out. “Falco Atrox! You old devil! To what do we owe this horror... I mean, honor?”

  Angelica was shocked. Had Peregrin lost his mind entirely? She stood up.

  “Peregrin!” She said. “What are you doing?”

  “Greeting my dear old friend,” he told her and held up one hand. She froze as if someone had pulled her plug. He crossed the space and waved one hand in front of her face.

  “Now, tell me why you are here, Primus,” Perry turned on his mirror image.

  “I have come to ask you the same question, Primus,” Falco answered him angrily. "I see you are still enjoying your little jokes, as it were. Biscuit, indeed!"

  “I do not have to answer your questions, as you well know,” Perry retorted and sat in Angelica’s chair. “You have certainly picked a fine time to interrupt me.”

  “It would appear that I have chosen the optimum moment,” Falco rebuffed him and crossed his legs casually. “Just think how awkward it would have been had I arrived a few moments hence.”

  �
��You always were a trick,” Perry told him.

  “I believe the word is prick,” Falco corrected him.

  “Oh, yes. I have not yet mastered this colorful language. You will have to excuse me.”

  “I can forgive your language. It is your behavior that I cannot forgive.”

  “I am not asking for nor am I in need of your forgiveness. I have worked very hard to get to this point and now you have ruined everything. It is you who should be asking forgiveness.”

  “The last time I saw you was where? You were living with a school of bottle-nose dolphins off the coast of China. What happened? I thought you liked swimming around with the ladies, mating every hour on the hour. Did you have to come up for air? What are you doing here with Angelica? And just what is your purpose?”

  “I have told you already. I don’t have to answer your questions. What interest do you have in my activities and what concern is Angelica to you?”

  “I, likewise, do not have to answer your questions,” Falco smirked at him. “But unlike you, I will answer. Angelica belongs to me. Her father promised her to me before she was born.”

  Peregrin sat straight up to stare out the window at the street below.

  “So you see why I might be interested to know why an ex-sex-crazed fish is trying to mate with my future wife,” Falco concluded.

  “Dolphins are not fish!” Peregrin told him inanely. “And I was not sex-crazed! Dolphins are just very affectionate with one another.”

  “Oh, right!” Falco laughed. “I’d never been so exhausted in all my existence after my short visit with you. Don’t give me that bullshit, as these nice people call it. Just how many years did you stay in the sea, Peregrin?”

  “Longer than I should have, it would seem,” he shook his head. If Angelica’s father had promised her to Falco, then why had he been summoned to bring her into the First Order? Her father, himself, had commissioned him to do the honor. It would never have occurred to him to do so had not he been instructed to do it. Everything had been going so well. All he had needed was thirty minutes! How could everything have become so complicated? But he had his orders. He couldn’t just go back to her father and say ‘I quit’. It didn’t work like that.

  “How long have you been here? I mean, how long have you been on Earth?” Falco asked him more seriously than before.

  “Longer than I can remember.” Peregrin was at a loss. He glanced at Angelica who still stood with her back to him. He wondered how long she could be left like that and what would happen when he released her. “When did you say Angelica’s father made that promise?”

  “Let’s see...” Falco mused. “Let’s use the local time for simplicity’s sake. About nine hundred years ago.”

  “Is it possible that he changed his mind? When was the last time you saw him?”

  “I’ve never seen him!” He laughed and Perry winced. He wondered if his own laughter was as abrasive as Falco’s.

  If Falco had never even seen Angelica’s father, then Falco had no advantage over him. He had at least had a personal audience with the Great Optimus in another form.

  “He didn’t mention you when I spoke with him,” Peregrin told him smugly. “And that was oh... about six months ago.”

  It was Falco’s turn to stare out the window in disbelief. Had the Great Optimus forgotten about him? Was it possible?

  “OK, let’s decide what to do about Angelica,” Perry said and glanced at her again. “We can’t leave her like this indefinitely.”

  “Let me talk to her first,” Falco suggested.

  “No problem.” Perry got up and walked past Angelica toward the kitchen. He snapped his fingers in the air and dozens of blue sparks erupted around her head. She blinked slowly and then frowned. Perry disappeared into the kitchen where he began to clean up the mess he had made earlier. He knew that Falco would block him from listening in on their conversation. But he had no answers. Only questions. And only one mission. He was to bring Angelica into the First Order and make her his wife. That was the plan. That had always been the plan since he had come to work 'for' her. Nothing would change that.

  Angelica turned slowly to look down at Falco.

  “So I have been a fool,” she said flatly.

  “It would be best if you sat down, Angelica,” he suggested and she complied. “It would seem that Peregrin and I are at cross purposes. You realize that your father made a promise to me long ago. I fail to see why you are here with him. Something is not right. Do you think it is possible that your father has forgotten his promise to me?”

  “No,” she said. “My father never forgets anything.”

  “I didn’t think so.” He pursed his lips thoughtfully. “Were you really going to give him his thirty minutes?”

  “You know I was,” she said resignedly. “I thought it would further enhance the study. He has been wanting to try it for a long time.”

  “Not very long on the cosmic scale,” he told her. “You’ve known him for such a short period.”

  “I know him better than I know you,” she said truthfully. “We have been together day and night for several weeks now.”

  “A week is nothing,” he shook his head.

  “It is sufficient for this form,” she countered. “And, as you said, we are governed by these forms while we use them.”

  “I see,” he used his favorite phrase. “Angelica, I am going to perform a radical contact with you. You will be able to block him from your thoughts afterwards. Do you mind?”

  “Would it matter?” She asked.

  “No.” Falco stood up and she closed her eyes.

  Peregrin stood in the kitchen waiting. He raised both eyebrows when Falco walked into view alone.

  “She does not know what you are,” his mirror image told him. “I have erased all that has just occurred up to the point where you came in and gave yourself away. We will have to work this out somehow.”

  Perry went back outside on the porch and waited five minutes. He opened the door and rushed inside. Angelica was sitting in his chair next to Primus Falco.

  “Angelica!” He said breathlessly. “We have to hurry. The auction is beginning...”

  “Primus!” He drew up short. “To what do we owe this momentous honor?”

  “I’m on my way to New Orleans, Peregrin,” Falco accentuated his name with a condescension that caused Perry physical pain. “I just stopped by to check on Angelica’s study. She tells me you are a fair assistant, that there is a definite show of promise in you.”

  Angelica smiled at him clearly pleased with what she considered praise from the worthy Primus.

  “You are too kind, Primus,” Perry nodded. “May I ask what business you have in New Orleans?”

  “You may not,” Falco told him with great satisfaction. Perry felt the hair raise on the back of his neck. “But I will tell you this much. I am on my way to a gourmet cook convention.”

  “I didn’t know you were a gourmet cook,” Perry said carefully with the proper respect.

  “And I didn’t know you were a tea-peddler,” Falco retorted in kind.

  “Angelica.” Perry approached her and took her hands in his to pull her from the chair where she seemed to be stuck. “We have to go now.”

  She allowed him to pull her up and then looked back at the Primus.

  “We would invite you to come along, Primus,” Perry told him apologetically. “But what would the locals think if they saw both of us... together? Besides we wouldn’t dream of delaying you.”

  He ushered Angelica to the door and pushed her out ahead of him.

  “Have a nice trip, Primus... sir,” he called back over his shoulder as he closed the door and hurried down the stairs pulling her after him. Her sandals clattered on the stairs. They didn’t stop until they had crossed the street and half-run down the sidewalk past the theatre and across the next street into the library parking lot.

  “Peregrin!” Angelica pulled on him to stop and leaned against a tree on the outskirts of th
e pavement. “We shouldn’t have left him. He is after all, who he is.”

  “Don’t worry about him,” he told her and looked back apprehensively. “He’s only a few years ahead of you. It’s not like he’s royalty or something. He’s not as important as he thinks. And he’s snobbish as well.”

  “Peregrin!” She said aghast at his disrespectful attitude. Her mind was confused. What had Falco done to her? She was missing something and Peregrin was acting as if he was immune to Falco’s influence. Didn’t he realize that the Primus would know his every thought and his disrespectful attitude could prove dangerous? Her mind raced. She tried to keep her own thoughts in order. Falco was up to something.

  “Snap out of it,” he told her. “Remember our image.” He took her arm and escorted her into the crowd. “Hello, Mrs. Howell. Smile and wave at the mayor, my love. He’s looking at you.”

  Angelica smiled up at the rotund little man on the bandstand.

  “Perry?” She looked at him. “Why is the Primus here? Have you done something I don’t know about?”

  “Who knows what his kind are doing?” He said and smiled at a strange old man dressed in a yellow suit. “Oops. Pardon me. Why, Mrs. Thatcher, how’s the arthritis?... Good. Good. He does whatever he likes. He’s the Primus. It is not for us to question him. Look, there’s Julia and Louis.”

  “I see them,” she said standing on tip-toe. He looked down at her. She was so beautiful and he’d lost his chance at his thirty minutes. He wanted to say something, but didn’t know how to bring it up. “But what are we doing here?” The mayor’s voice droned on the speaker as he described some item up for bids.

  “Studying. Observing.” He pulled her along. “Mrs. Lucas, nice to see you again.”

  Angelica bumped into a large woman dressed in red. “Excuse me.” Angelica smiled at her. The woman responded with several rude comments.

  “Oh, Peregrin!” She pulled on his arm. “Did you hear what she said to me?”