Chapter 3: Out of the Loop
The next morning, as I was bringing my mug downstairs, I passed by the back door and instinctively looked outside, only to breathe a sigh of relief when I didn't see that Ardy. I was to start class in only a few days (unfortunately) but still had a lot of questions from the Summer and few answers. I was still curious as to who Felis was, I was curious as to who Ardy was, and I was curious as to why Nathan and Franklin couldn't remember Francisco's takeover but I could, Felix could, and Twitch seemed to remember. I knew Felix wouldn't have answers for the first one, but as for the other two, he might. I decided I would take today to ask him about that because it's just odd to me that I would be spared in that way, but not Franklin.
As I walked into the capitol doors, Felix was at his desk setting up an older computer terminal. “Oh hey, Ash! I'm just setting up a computer up here, this one's a Tandy. It's dandy!”
“That's great, Felix,” I said not even bothering to figure out how I was meant to react to the news, “I've, eh, I've got a few questions you might know some answers to.”
“If this is about F--”
“No, this has nothing to do with Felis. Alex asked why I would be so invested in this, it's not like this info's going to disappear, I can wait.”
“Oh, then what's your question?”
“Last night, outside my house, there was this guy who called himself Ardy who was telling me about Digitized Civilizations and he called me by my dad's last name and... it was just creepy.”
“Sounds like it! Um, I can see what I've got on an Ardy, but I doubt it'll be much, never heard the name before. You said you had some other questions?”
“Yeah, so Franklin and Nathan remember nothing from Francisco taking over New Infinity?”
“Yeah, they remember a Twitch that was more understanding of New Infinity, and a Francisco who was friends of him.”
“But I still remember it all?”
“Eh... yeah, I guess.”
“And so does Twitch.”
“Eh, pardon?”
“Yeah, Twitch mentioned it to me, he said he remembered the takeover, a little bit. It was still the new Twitch, but... but he remembered being the old Twitch.”
“Ooh, yeah, I don't know what to say there.”
“So let me ask this, then, how am I different from Nathan or Franklin? Are my memories saved differently from theirs?”
“No, you and all your memories and everything are actually run through your brain, these old computers couldn't run all that but they can create enough of a realistic town that I can pass it all through them and it'll seem real to you then!”
“But when I step through the rift, I don't exist in the real world anymore, do I?”
“Ech, technically you do, but... it's really tricky, Ash.”
“So why do I remember and they don't?”
“I could check whatever files I have for you here, but you were asking about Ardy earlier? I'm not seeing anything about an Ardy here other than some file I can't open, the date is relatively recent... wait, Ash, if you see that Ardy character again, send him right this way. I hope that's not the case, but he might be one of the data packets Happy Infinity sent. I don't know who or what, but he just might so I am going to have to check that out.”
“Okay, yeah that makes sense, but for real, why would I still remember things that technically did not happen?”
“Okay, so back after I wiped your memory, the first time way back last Summer, I felt really guilty, so I might have locked your files so it wouldn't happen again. I mean, you could still forget things, you aren't better than anyone, at least not by my hand, but I couldn't... y'know.”
“So what does that mean, my files are locked?”
“I just can't make any big sweeping edits to them. They can still get hacked and changed, but I, myself, can't go in and delete your personal history or anything. So when I overwrote the town to send it back a couple days, it must have kept your files from before.”
“...Right.”
“You asked,” Felix replied.
I really couldn't fight his logic on that one, so I just accepted it and tried to switch gears. “So, eh... a Tandy, huh?”
“Yeah, one of the 1000 models.”
“I don't know what that means,” I replied under my breath.
“Oh, well, Radio Shack, way back in the day, sold these computers under the brand name Tandy, and they were really something! I don't mean they were something great, I've got IBMs that do what this thing does but a million times better, but they ran about half the price of an IBM and I just wanted a neat little conversation piece to put right here on my desk.”
“Uh huh.”
“Well, Ash, is there anything else I can do for you?”
“No, that should be about it.”
“Alright, then. Wait, let me just...”
Felix pressed a few keys and then a sudden grating noise erupted from under the desk. Felix reached down and returned with a piece of dot matrix paper with “To a real swell somebody! (b'u')b” printed on it.
“It's a little guy giving a big thumbs up!” Felix replied, mimicking the emoticon's pose and expression immediately afterward.
I had to admit, it was kinda cute. The emoticon was, Felix miming its action was a bit off-putting but hey, it comes from a good place. I folded up the paper and headed home. As I walked inside, I caught a glimpse of a shadow moving across the door. I hoped it wasn't Ardy, but thought to myself that if it was, I could have him turned in to Felix, so I dunno, maybe I want to meet Ardy again? I headed to my room to participate in some Team Fortress 2.
Later that evening, I sat by the door waiting for Ardy to show himself again. I looked out the window, only to see nothing, then back at the clock in the stove, which read 9:36 PM, then back outside, then upstairs where I could see Alex walking across his room, maybe to grab a bottle of water or to put his laptop on his desk. I looked back outside once again, then sighed in frustration. I was getting tired, it was hard to keep my eyes open. I'll just give myself a couple minutes...
There was a sharp rapping at the door, and I jolted awake. I looked outside to see some scattered pebbles on the stoop, then looked up to see Ardy poking his head over the fence. I opened the door and headed out. “So, did ya consider my offer yet?” he asked.
“What offer?”
“Show me a Modifier and I'll improve it for ya, I'll even throw in a really good day as well!”
“Look, just-- just tell me who you are!”
“Alright, I'll tell ya but I'll make it quick. My name's Ardy, but you knew that already. I'm a bit familiar with the whole Digitized Civilization scene, ya dig? And I figured that hey, I wanted to help someone who definitely knows something about New Infinity.”
“What about Felix? He's dying to meet you and he runs this place.”
“Who? I mean, I was under the assumption that New Infinity was run by the most beauti--”
“I'm gonna stop you there,” I replied, “again, Felix wants to meet you, he runs New Infinity.”
“But I'm tryin' to help you out!”
“Well you can help me out by talking to Felix about this.”
I poked my head back inside for just a second, I was curious as to what time it even was. The clock on the stove read 88:88 and was blinking rapidly, I leaned back outside and Ardy swiftly chimed in. “I've given you all the time in the world, right now, to consider my offer.”
I groaned in frustration. “You want to make me happy?”
“Yeah?”
“Then we can go talk to Felix right now.”
“Wait, this isn't about Feli--”
“--it is now,” I replied.
I slipped on my shoes really quick and immediately walked out into the backyard. Ardy had backed up a bit, trying to retreat, though the moment I opened the gate and started walking towards him he figured he'd oblige. We walked the short distance down to the capitol, and I kept peeking back, trying to catch a glimpse at Ardy, but he was always sticking to the shadow, never stepping into the light of the streetlamps. As I walked up the steps and approached the door, I looked back to find Ardy nowhere in sight. After loudly clearing my throat to catch his attention, he gasped and scurried up the steps, the lights going out as he approached. “I hope you don't mind,” he said, making a vague gesture towards the lamps.
I rolled my eyes, then knocked on the door to the capitol. The bookshelf slid open and Felix, still dressed for the day (or maybe dressed already, I still had no clue what time it was) headed up the steps. “Ash! What brings you around here at this time of night?”
“You said you wanted to meet Ardy?”
“Well, I believe I sai--”
“Well, here he is,” I said, gesturing towards the figure soaked in the shadows.
“Uh, hmm... did those lights burn out? They're supposed to be LEDs...”
“Apologies, sir, I kinda had to shut off the lights.”
“Oh, well, that's not a problem. Er, not as much of a problem. Ardy, was it? Come on in!”
Ardy took some steps into the dimly lit capitol foyer, and here I could catch a better glimpse of him. He was wearing an open black suit jacket with a wrinkled dress shirt and undone tie, had a whole lot of black hair he kept to one side, and his eyes, most strangely of all, were a milky, cloudy white. He stared at me, flashing a grin through crooked teeth, and then looked at Felix, who had sat down at his Tandy. “Ardy, I don't have any information about you on my system, which is odd. I can create you a file right now, if you want.”
“Ah, you can spare the facade. All my files are encrypted for my own personal well-being, don't want anyone goin' in and corruptin' things, you get how it goes.”
“Oh... oh! You're familiar with Digitized Civilizations, I take it!”
“Yeah, you could say that, I've dabbled a bit.”
“Then I could go ahead and switch you over to the file structure I use, I can keep everything in place, encryption and all.”
“Well, how about you throw in a Modifier and we can call this a deal!”
“Uh...”
“I get it, man, you just met me, you don't know who I am, you probably think I'm some computer virus in disguise, so how about I work for you for a couple days, give me just the one chance at a Modifier to help her out,” he said, pointing at me with his whole left hand sans his index finger, which was curled in, “and then we can see where this goes in... eh, about a week. How's that sound?”
“I mean, I guess, but for the time I'm going to ask that I can access your file structure overnight, just give it a bit of a spot pass.”
“Oh, that's fine, my guy! You got yourself a deal!”
Ardy held out a skeletal hand towards Felix, who reciprocated with his own bony hand in an agreeing shake. “Now, if I can just take care of the girl for one moment...”
“Oh, Ash? What, eh... what do you mean?” Felix asked.
“I mean I wanna give her a great day tomorrow! She deserves it, after all, for setting up this momentous meeting of the minds!”
A bit of an ego, I think. Strike that, a damn tanker truck passing down a narrow dirt driveway of an ego.
“And how would the Modifier help that?” Felix replied.
“Let me show you,” he said, heading over to Felix's Tandy, “there's a whole lot of variables and controllers that dictate how someone is doing, and changing some of these affect the recipient's mental state, but others affect outside events! I can help you hook these scripts into the Modifier, a--”
“Guys,” I said, a bit offended at Ardy's objectifying, “I'm right here.”
“Oh, sorry to hear you're taking offense to me talkin' 'bout you this way, no, I get it, you're just as human as the rest of us, ya don't want to feel like an object. So, here, here's a couple bucks for your troubles,” he said as he handed me seven dollars I had no real use for right now, “you can go ahead, head home, and my guy over here and I can have a talk about this later, how 'bout that?”
“I... Felix,” I replied.
“Ardy, how about you take Ash home, we can talk more about this later. Gosh, what time is it?”
“Oh, there isn't any time right now,” Ardy responded, “gives us all the time in the world to talk about this, ya know?”
“But I had everything finally synced back up with the actual time outside!”
“Ah, don't worry about it, man, everything will catch back up! You didn't gut the temporal rubberbanding, did you?”
“Actually, I improved it a little bit,” Felix replied.
“Well, there you go. But yeah, I can get her home.”
“I can get home just fine,” I replied as I headed for the door.
“Wait, Ash, before you go, I can cook you up a cup of hot chocolate or cider for the road!”
“It's fine, Felix.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yeah, it's... it's fine.”
I walked out the door and headed back home. I was really, incredibly skeptical of Ardy. His mannerisms, tone, and overall the language he kept using about me really put me off, and his uncanny resemblance to Tommy Wiseau did not help matters. I personally thought Felix was playing with fire by just inviting him in like that. I mean, imagine if he had done the same for Twitch. I guess that's different anymore, Twitch is a changed person, and... ugh, I was just kind of wishing we could live in a real, physical town now, this is quickly becoming a pain.
ns 15.158.61.45da2
