by The Eurostar
Edulcore Cicciotto:
The face of Quantos had to be seen to be believed. It was like he was staring at two ghosts, after they have ringed at the bell of his front door.
"Edulcore? How? When? Weren't you...?" I don't remember his exact words, but they were along these lines.
I, too, was amazed. How can we, of all the places in the world, have landed right at the door of the only man in the world able to fulfill all -- and I mean ALL -- our needs?
It was Quantos himself who pointed me at a possible answer. The Gaia unit had probably been programmed to bring me, in case of danger, to a place where I could have found help.
He said that he had never actually seen a Gaia unit, but that Captain Nemo once told him that the Mandelovian Security and Intelligence Agency had something to do with an agent wearing one of those, years ago.
Quantos produced a map of the area, and had me indicate the exact point where I left the broken Gaia unit. "If I recover it, I might possibly be able to restore it, and perhaps also reproduce it for MBL Consulting," he said.
MBL?
And so, while he was preparing the surgery table for Turner, he explained to me all that happened after my supposed death: the destruction of the circus, the foreigner ban in Mandelovia, the offer of a young Caribbean guy of hosting my friends at his apartment complex, and the setup of a business in the exploratory field.
And the name they took: MBL.
A coincidence? Only Tobias and M'xy should remember that name was appointed to our group from the beings that composed Naecken. And that MBL was the name of the team Nowhereman was constantly referring to. Nowhereman... where is he now?
Then, it was my turn to tell: the last minute rescue by Tempus of the Time Trust, a being that Quantos knows very well, my services at his duty, totally erased from my memory... my debacle during the incursion in the EPS headquarters, my capture, and the time I spent as an EPS agent, till the end of the revolution and my escape.
"Well, Turner should be okay. The bullet did no damage to his internal organs. He is very tough. He needs some days of rest, and then he'll be fine. I also found this chip in his neck. However, it wasn't connected to the nervous system. "
"Yes, I did some... work over it. Now, better destroy it, Doc," I explain.
We put Turner in the spare bed of the cabin. I will sleep on the floor.
But first we sit in front of the fireplace, whisky in thick glasses, the eyes wandering over the flames.
"You've been through hell, son," whispers Henry.
"Yeah, Doc. But my only regret is that I haven't been able to rescue my son. Ehy... have you still that picture of him?"
"Sorry, no. It was buried when the building collapsed, back in Mandelovia."
I remain silent, then I say, "The only thing I remember of the time I spent with Tempus is that he promised me a new body, help for rescuing Eddie, and a place to hide him from Walker. He gave me a new body, but not the rest. And the body, I have lost it..."
"Uh... well, I can assure you that Tempus always maintains his promises. The only problem is that time has no meaning for him, so it could take months or years to see that accomplished, Ed."
"Yes, I suppose so. But my Eddie, in the meantime, is there. He now is over one year old, and I bet he never have seen the sun. At least he had a sort of mother in Vidalia, but now that she's gone..."
We both remain silent for some minutes.
"It's time I told your friends about your return, Edulcore. I have a direct Internet connection to the team."
"No, Doc!" I shout. "Sorry, but I don't believe it's a good idea. The EPS has powerful devices. I don't know if they know where the MBL is, but for sure they are scanning the whole of the global communications nets to find us. If what you said me before about the PSI-Unit in La Perdita, there we should be safe, but not here, and not until we get there. So, no words about our presence, please, Doc."
"Sure... yes, I see... but that means I can't provide you with La Perdita passports. You are an illegal alien here, and in the U.S. as well."
"I know. I... we will have to reach La Perdita the hard way."
"You plan to bring Turner with you?"
"What can I else do? Leave him here and go away alone?"
"Why not? In a few days he will be fine."
"No, you don't know the EPS. They have invisible agents, metas with uncanny powers over the elements. They are better trained than us revolutionaries. At least than how I remember them... No, I want to bring Turner to La Perdita. I want to give him a chance. When we'll be there, he will decide what to do next."
"Have you considered that it could be a trap?"
"A trap?"
"Yeah, he could have merely faked a fight to follow you and find the location of MBL Consulting."
This thought never struck my mind before. Could it be? "Nah, Doc. Faked the fight? With two bullets in the chest? No, I don't believe it."
"I hope you're right, son."
I look at the sleeping Turner. He saved my life. I want to trust him.
"Better get to sleep, son," says Quantos.
"Yes, Doc. But... can I ask you a last thing?"
"Sure."
"You are a scientist... maybe the better one in the world..." He smiles at this. "Do you know the name of all the animals and plants that live around here?
He laughs. "No, Ed. There are hundreds of thousands of species of fungi, insects, lichens... Even specialized biologists are able to recognize only families of those orders... they can manage a few thousand, nothing more. But I am able to identify all the vertebrates -- that means mammals, birds, fish, reptiles, and amphibians. And trees and shrubs. There are only a few hundred of them. It's easy, with a little practice, to learn to recognize them."
"How?"
"With books, like these." He goes to his library and takes out a few little books. "They are called field guides." He hands me one.
It's about birds, pages and pages of illustrations of birds. "All the birds of the world?" I ask.
He laughs. "All the birds of Western North America."
I flip through the book. And I find it. Red-tailed hawk. The raptor hovering over me, this afternoon.
"You can keep the book, Edulcore. I have plenty of bird guides."
I thank him and go to bed. I can't sleep. I am too fascinated by the colorful illustrations.