After that disappointing outing, the remainder of the workday was uneventful, and the Girl made her way back to the Scientist’s lair. Finding his place again wasn’t much trouble, and she was able to breeze past the front security gate without much effort. Upon her arrival, the Scientist popped his head out of one of the side rooms, peering at an angle.
“Well? Were you successful?”
“How did you know?”
“You wouldn’t have come back if you hadn’t succeeded.”
“No, how did you know those headphones would work?
“I suffered from the same ailment myself. It took a lot of trial and error before I found an invention that worked.”
“How did you figure that out?”
“I live under a philosophy of three contradictory truths:”
1. All things are Possible, and all things are Impossible.
2. Anything that occurs Naturally can be recreated Artificially.
3. It’s that Simple, it’s that Complex.
The Scientist then started expanding on the theory behind his first truth.
“Accessing that Building should’ve been impossible. Delivering those headphones should’ve been impossible. And yet, through that tiny chink of possibility within you, we were able to accomplish it. We’re constantly told that things are impossible to do, yet impossible things are made possible every day. And even the possible can be made impossible again.”
It was so strange. The two of them looked virtually identical, but in terms of mannerisms and speech, they couldn’t be more different. It was jarring to go from someone who spoke eloquently to one who had trouble stringing coherent sentences together.
“Can you tell me what his room is like?” the Scientist asked.
“Well, it’s filled with lots of furniture, which hardly gets used. The most used thing there is the bed, but he keeps crawling under it, instead of on top.”
The Scientist curled his hand, looking at his fingernails. “He must be climbing the walls.”
“What? No, he looks perfectly... I wouldn’t say bored, but he doesn’t seem to mind living there.”
“That’s only because you’re seeing him when you’re present. Can you say that his behavior is any different when you’re not around?”
“Well uh...” He got her there. She had no idea how he spent his time when no one was looking.
“I speak from experience. I know what it’s like to be boxed in with nothing to do.”
“The Patient seemed satisfied with his headphones, but was hard pressed to come up with anything else he might need.”
“Well then, we’ll have to figure that out for ourselves. Next time, pay attention to his surroundings. If he’s incapable of conveying what he wants, maybe you can figure out for yourself. What do you think he’d want?”
“I can’t really think of anything.” It was hard to recall these things after the fact.
“What does he do when you come in?”
“Sit around and wait for his next meal.”
“Does he have any trouble with eating?”
“That reminds me, he did mention his teeth ‘felt strange.’”
“That narrows things down. The next thing that will help the Patient out is... THIS!”
The Scientist dramatically brought out an implement from underneath his stiff coat. Compared to the previous invention, the Girl was woefully disappointed. She was expecting something elaborate, not just a small tube.
“A straw?”
“Young woman, this may look simple, but let me reassure you - this will be a tremendous help. Now that he can hear you, he’ll be better able to pay attention.”
He exposed on about the virtues of the straw at length that mostly went over the Girl’s head. She’s surely remember the details when the time was relevant. The Girl took the tiny straw in her hand. She didn’t see how this would be much help, but then he was right about the headphones.
“As useful as this can be, this is just a bandaid over the main problem. What I’d really like is to do is be able to visit the Patient. I can’t exactly go through the front door.”
“What other way would you suggest?”
“The surest way for me to get in is to have something distract the staff.”
She thought back to the incidence in the lab. “What about having a Black Dot appear in one of their experiments?”
“Sorry, I can’t do that.”
“I thought you could do anything if you put your mind to it?”
“Let me repeat an opening phrase from a rather mundane movie with an absolutely terrifying ending: Chaos is Order yet undeciphered.*”
“Do you understand? The circumstances that allow for a Black Dot to appear are beyond my calculations. It's an extremely rare incident. It’s like trying to predict the migration pattern of a butterfly inside a hurricane. There are simply too many variables to consider.”
The Girl was despondent. She was so sure that he would’ve had an answer.
The Scientist put a finger underneath his mouth in thought before pointing at the floor where there were numerous papers strewn about. “I have plenty of notes jotting down my ideas. There’s bound to be something to spur further thoughts. Maybe one of them might inspire you.”
“I’m... not much of a reader,” the Girl hesitantly replied.
“Not a problem. I’ve taken the liberty of transcribing them to audio. You can never have too many notes.”
He led her to a vast chamber filled with numerous recordings of all kinds. They were meticulously stacked according to size, recording device and sound system. However, the majority of them that would’ve given any clue to their contents were blank.
“I’ve been meaning to label those,” the Scientist admitted.
The Girl gaped at the sheer volume of material available. “Where do I even start?”
“Take whatever you like.”
“Won’t you miss them?”
“I have more ideas than I can think of. I can afford to give a few away.”
The Girl took a few recordings completely at random, but when the Scientist wasn’t watching, decided to sneak a particularly enticing one that caught her eye. He was so absent-minded he’d never notice. It’d make for interesting entertainment later.
Back in her apartment, she had the plate of Rarebit ready in front of her. She knew she should’ve been listening to the Scientist’s notes, but she’d decided to watch the movie he was talking about earlier instead. She’d never heard of it before, wondered how it managed to escape her notice, and ten minutes in, soon found out why.
It featured a History Teacher in a rut who one day, while watching a rental video, saw his doppelganger playing as a background character. He then tried to track his identical twin down, much to the dismay of his wife. There were a few weird scenes here and there, but for the most part, it was fairly middling, and the Girl found herself nodding off more than once.
And then THAT scene happened.
And then the credits ran.
She watched in stunned shock. Where did that come from? It came completely out of left field! And it ended just as things were getting interesting? She waited to see if there was anything after the long list of the cast and crew. Nope. That was it. Apparently, that was all that was meant to be said. He wasn’t kidding when he said it was scary! There was no need to eat the Rarebit - she’d definitely have some interesting dreams tonight. Assuming she slept at all.
She tossed and turned, but she fitfully still couldn’t get to sleep. She needed a double dose of the drowsy effects of the Rarebit. She was worried that she was becoming too dependent on the Rarebit as a sleeping aid, since it was taking a big chunk out of her budget. She was looking forward to asking the Scientist about that movie.
*(To those of you curious, the movie referenced here is Enemy, featuring Jake Gyllenhaal, loosely based on The Double by José Saramago. It’s kind of an anti-Fight Club. Check it out if you’re interested. Well, not right now. Finish reading this story first.)
https://www.youtube.com/embed/v9AWkqRwd1I
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