Chapter 2: Abduction
The next morning, there was a knock at the door. Randy was standing there. “Hello, Randy,” I said.
“Um, so how are we doing this?”
I told him to give me a minute, and asked to borrow some stuff from Alex. I put on a slightly oversized jacket, a baseball cap, and his pair of sunglasses he bought because “John Wick was cool” all to conceal my identity, and then I drove Alex's car up to the capitol, backing it into a parking space. “So, if anyone asks, I'm a concerned aunt making sure you're keeping up with your Summer reading and dropping you off at the library. Go get that computer.”
I called Randy's phone and had him plug his headphones in. “This way I can hear what's going on and offer you help where I can, but text me if there's issues you need to explain.”
“Thanks, Ash, you're a true friend.”
As he closed the car door, I worried a little bit. Did Randy also know about the reality Felix overwrote? Every little comment like that was stressing me out. I gave myself a second to breathe, and then put my call on Randy on speakerphone. “Um, there's nobody up here,” he said to me.
“Easy, unplug the Tandy and go.”
“Um, okay, uh...”
“Hello, child,” I heard in the distance, someone must have approached Randy.
“Uh, I wasn't taking noth-- er, I mean, I'm here to pick up a book from the little library here, uh, Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. If you have it, that is, oh...”
“Who told you this was a library, Mr...”
“Uh, Mr. Welles. Randy Welles.”
“Oh, interesting, Mr. Welles,” shit, it was Roland, “As in Orson Welles, the radio host?”
“Yeah, actually, he was my grandpa's uncle.”
“Really? I don't recall Orson Welles having a brother.”
“Um, he did, he just didn't like talking about him.”
“Really, then? What was his name, this forgotten Welles brother?”
“I just want my book, dude, please?”
“Oh, forgive me, go on, get your book... and get out of here. I don't recall the former owner of this building mentioning this was a library, so... I expect that book back in a week.”
“Nice save, Randy.”
He texted me back. “Coast is clear again.”
“Get the computer,” I said.
“What about the book?” he texted.
“Worry about that later, pirate it for all I care, we need the computer.”
“Right-O.”
A couple minutes later, I heard a knock on a car door, and I unlocked it. Randy set something heavy in the back seat. “There,” he huffed, “I got the computer.”
I turned back and lowered my sunglasses. “That's just the monitor,” I said.
“Aw, are you for real? Ah, geez.”
“No, it's fine, get back in there. Quickly, though.”
“Uh, right.”
He closed the door and I listened in to the call again. “No sign of anyone, I'm just gonna...”
“Who's there? I heard the door shut.”
“Oh, uh, it's me, Randy, I grabbed the book but my aunt, she's waiting for me out in the parking lot, she said I should read a 'real book' this summer. Um, do you have the book Citizen Kane? The one the movie's based on?”
“Citizen Kane isn't based on a book, Mr. Welles. I thought you'd know that.”
“I didn't know Mr. Orson Welles really well, he kinda was dead before I was born, uh--”
“Right, right, he died in 1985, didn't he?”
“Um, yeah, that sounds right.”
“Say, did your family ever receive a check for his role in Transformers?”
Why does Roland know that. “Uh, I think? Again, that was a long time before me, heh. Um, what books would you recommend for me, then?”
“Oh no,” I said.
“Well,” Roland said to Randy, “I would recommendto you... where did the monitor on this computer go?”
“Shit,” I said.
“Uh, I don't... it was there when I walked out... oh, jeez...”
“I'll go review the tapes, but if you want my recommendation for a book, may I suggestsome Machiavelli? Perhaps The Elements of Moral Philosophy as well?”
“Um, thanks.”
Roland stepped away, and he texted me. “I'm doomed, he's looking at the tapes.”
“Don't panic, I have a plan B, if it comes to that.”
“Here he comes,” he replied.
“Well,” I heard Roland say to Randy, “I went to look at the tapes but they're all corrupt. That camera up there's on the fritz, I guess. I'll get some underling on it. But if you want, I can show you where The Elements of Moral Philosophy is on the shelf.”
“No, I can find it, maybe I'll also find some other books she thinks kids my age are reading. Thanks, Mister...”
“Roland Demetrius, the new head of New Infi—New Infinity.”
“Oh, what happened to--”
“If I told you, I'd have to kill you.”
“But we'll be killing you before then,” I said to myself as I heard him walk away.
Randy came back a minute later with the computer itself, and we drove off. “Text the others, we got ourselves Felix's machine, we can start putting plans in action.”
“Wait, my book!”
“Dude, let it go,” I replied as we drove off.
I was pretty sure Roland hadn't seen us take off. “So are you actually related to Orson Welles?” I asked.
“Um, no, I... uh, I don't think so.”
“That's a convincing alibi, though.”
“Oh, uh, thanks, I just kinda had to roll with it. He was in one of the Transformers movies?”446Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡovftNfoZKg
“An animated one in the 80s, he died like the day after he recorded his lines or something.”
“Oh... Y'know, I actually want to meet Orson Welles now,” Randy said.
“He'd probably challenge you to an eating contest,” I joked.
Randy shot me a look. We got home and quickly brought the computer in through the garage, setting it up on an end table in the living room with spare cables Francisco and Nathan had. Nathan clicked it with his Modifier and shut down any network connection the computer had, and then we booted it up. Sifting through the files saved to the computer, we found a few transcripts of what seemed to be instruction booklets on the civilization software, a few low-res drawings of a rift hooked into a computer, a few tables of numbers presented without context, and some other notes written in stilted, crooked English dated from the late 90s. “Geez, Felix, do you ever clean out your files?” I said to myself.
Eventually, Nathan found a saved copy of the hexidecimal table used to note what item is what, and we scrolled through it to find Felix's usual terminal, and Nathan clicked the Tandy again. “There, now we have a direct connection to Felix, and any info we send out will be encrypted to look like a regular Internet Service Provider ping. They can't track us.”
Alex entered the living room to see us huddled around an old computer looking excited. “Uh, are you guys in the middle of something?”
“We got Felix's computer!” Francisco exclaimed.
“Cool, not sure I condone theft but cool...”
“Should we test this out?” Franklin said.
“Uh, sure, send him... send him something that could mean pretty much anythin--”
“Oh, I got this,” Francisco said, cracking his knuckles and quickly typing up a message:
Dear sir or madam,
“I am Richard Chuck from the Publisher's Liquidation House, and I am emailing to congratulate you on being our big winner for the year of 2015! You can receive up to fifty thousand dollars every week for life if you reply to this email with your name, place of residence, and contact information. We hope to hear from you more in the future, but if you do not reply within 12 hours we will have to find another winner.
Hope to hear from you soon!
-Dick Chuck”
“Francisco, really?”
“Sure, it's got all the pieces! Lots of money, urgency, the fake guy has a funny name, Felix will totally reply!”
“I guess they won't think twice about it if they see it, but how is Felix going to know it's us?”
There was a beep from the speaker. “Oh, what's that?” Francisco said, leaning over to read the message that appeared on screen, “Felix, New Infinity Capitol at 120 42nd Street, in New Infinity, Oregon, 97722, and oh, whose phone number is this? It's his!”
I was kind of taken aback not only at how quickly Felix had sent all of that information, but that he sent any of it at all. I asked to write him a message or two now, hoping we could get communication back up and going. “Felix,” I typed, “are you in a safe and secure place to have a bit of a conversation with us?”
“Yes.”
“Felix, this is Ash. Franklin, Nathan, Francisco, Randy, George, and I have your Tandy and set it up so we can talk to you. Nathan says everything from us should be secure.”
“Ah. Mr. Demetrius did say Randy was in today. Good to hear from you all.”
“Felix, let's get even: How we think can go bust when you let out frustrations. Stay near posted signs for even more meaningful information. Do you understand?”
“I don't,” he replied, followed by, “oh wait! Clever!”
“Thanks for getting in touch with us, Felix.”
Suddenly, the text file we were communicating through closed, and we shut the computer down, hoping that nothing was lost.
ns 15.158.61.15da2
