FanPost

Wild Kingdom S2 E1: Scattered

He looked at the bare branches of the trees reaching up towards the jaundiced colored clouds illuminated by the city's light pollution. They looked like the tangled roots of a forest uprooted in some terrible disaster futilely reaching up in supplication from an endless and uncaring hellscape from which no respite would ever be granted. He spat, then placed a cigarette in his mouth and lit it. Surely Cain would have reached them by now. He smiled as he imagined their incredulous faces. Then he reached into his back pocket and pulled out the trading cards of Mike Moustakas, Eric Hosmer, and Lorenzo Cain and looked at them and his grin dissolved into a smirk. He opened his Zippo then he flipped it shut. He opened it again and his eyes narrowed as he lit a flame then he held a card over it and burned a hole through the face of Eric Hosmer. He did the same to the other two cards. He looked again at the leafless trees' black silhouette against the ghoulish clouds and blew an effortless smoke ring and chuckled to himself.

***

"Is he going to be all right?" asked David. He was looking down at Lorenzo, who was lying on the couch in Ned's office.

Nick Kenny was crouched over, checking Lorenzo's vitals, "It's too soon to say for sure," he replied. "It appears that he just feinted, but the scenario you described has me worried. If he experienced or witnessed some sort of traumatic event, well..."

"Well what, doctor?" cried David.

"It's too soon to say for certain, Mr. Glass. I wouldn't want to worry you unnecessarily."

"I'm not some delicate flower, damn it! I want to know what's happening!"

Ned intervened, "Take some deep breaths, David. We all want the same thing here."

"I just want to know what Nick was going to say," blubbered David as tears filled his worried eyes.

Ned pulled a chair next to the couch Lorenzo was lying on and led David over to it, while Lee filled a paper cup from the water cooler behind Ned's desk, brought it over and handed it to David after he sat down.

"Thank you."

"Why don't you sit here and hold Lorenzo's hand while we try and get to the bottom of this?" said Ned.

"OK."

Lee motioned Ned and Nick outside the office, and they gently closed the door.

"Is David going to be OK?" asked Lee.

"He just gets himself so worked up about these things," replied Ned.

"I'll keep an eye on him as well as Lorenzo," said Nick.

"I appreciate it Nick. Lee and I have got to search for Alex and find out what all of this is about."

"Be careful," warned Nick. "I don't know what Lorenzo saw, but it must have really frightened him badly. If whatever he witnessed was too terrible, it could result in some long-lasting damage to his psyche."

"What do you mean?" asked Ned.

"Well, I hesitate to mention it because it is so rare, but the peculiar facts of this case makes him a prime candidate to experience a psychogenic fugue state."

"A what?" asked Ned.

"Psychogenic fugue, also called dissociative fugue, which is characterized by temporary loss of memories, personality or personal identity," replied Lee.

"That's exactly right!" proclaimed Nick surprisingly.

"Amnesia? You mean, he might forget who he is?" asked Ned incredulously.

"Possibly," replied Nick. "He might wake up thinking he is somebody else, act with a completely different personality, or even forget how to do certain things that he used to do well."

"How long does it last?" asked Ned.

"Could be days, months, sometimes even longer." Nick noticed the look of concern growing greater on Ned's face and quickly added, "But let's not get ahead of ourselves. It is an extremely rare condition, I only mentioned it because I wanted you to be aware of it, in the unlikely event of its occurrence."

The office door abruptly opened to reveal an ashen faced David. He was trying to talk, but unable to find any words. Nick, Lee and Ned rushed in to see Lorenzo sitting up stiff as a board. His eyes were open, but did not appear to be looking at anything. His expression was blank.

"He...he...he just sat up," stammered David, "with that weird expression and then he said—in such a strange voice, I've never heard anything like it—he said, ‘You need to vibrate higher.'"

Lorenzo surprised them all by robotically saying, "You need to vibrate higher so you can capture the opening of the portal that connects this Earth of 3-D to one Earth of 4-D or 5-D. Going to the five..." Then he collapsed back onto the couch.

***

Dayton was sitting in his office, leaning over the desk, with a telephone to his ear.

"...Yes...That's not what I am saying...No...Look, I didn't...Mmhmm...OK. Look, all I am saying is that it is possible...yes it is... that you are prejudiced against the pro-robots rights movement due to the persistent and continuous lifelong exposure to propaganda produced by the anti-robot rights regime...No...I...I...I just think that if you step back, and look at it from a different perspective you will see what I mean, I mean, think about all of the movies where the robot is the bad guy: Ultron, Terminator, The Matrix, Battlestar Galactica...Hmmm, yeah, well sort of, I mean that was more about exposing the ways in which men treat women...Well, yeah she did do that, but we're veering off course again. I think, and I hope you will agree with me, that we need to develop some ethical principles to guide society in dealing with the issue of robot rights, and not just artificial intelligence but all sentient, self-aware, intelligent beings including the possibility of extra-terrestrial visitors to our world...Well, no, but...I don't know...Look there are studies that claim we are only ten years away...Yes, but one of these times they will be right and I think it is important to get started figuring these ethical questions out sooner rather than later...Why? You've seen Star Wars, right?...OK, so are comfortable with the role droids play in that universe?...Really? You're fine with the enslavement of sentient beings who are at the beck and call of humanoids and other aliens and that they are at the whim of whoever reprogrammed them last, while they are held against their will with inhibitor chips by beings who feel free to torture them for amusement, despite the fact that it has been established that even though they have metallic bodies they can and do feel pain?...(Dayton was listening attentively here for a while, nodding occasionally)...Well, yes that is troubling in itself, and you are correct that that points towards a more general acceptance of slavery in their universe, however, that only happened in the prequels, yet in the rest of the movies it was only droids who were subject to conditions like those...But it's not just Star Wars! The maid in the Jetson's was also a slave, Twiki in Buck Rodgers, The Robot in Lost in Space—heh!—they didn't even deem it worthy of an actual name--I could go on...(Again, Dayton was listening intently here, but this time a wry smile began cracking on his face unconsciously)...Yes! Exactly, they should be entitled to the same full autonomy that people enjoy, just like Bender!...Really? That is great to hear! I'm so glad to have you on board...Yes, I will definitely send you some pamphlets...No, thank you, I mean it! I really appreciate this...Great!...OK, thanks again...Bye."

With a free and easy smile, he sat the phone down on the receiver and wrote ‘yes' next to the fifteenth name on the pad of paper at his desk, then he sat back and rested his feet on the desk and put his hands behind his head and looked up at the ceiling, feeling an honest sense of peace and achievement for the first time in days.

***

"Guys," started Lee. "I'm a little ashamed to say this but I am famished."

"Now that you mention it, I am too," replied David.

"You guys are free to go," replied Nick. "I really don't need any help keeping an eye on Lorenzo."

"Perhaps we should put off our quest to look for Alex until tomorrow, when we can have a fresh start," said David.

"Yes," replied Ned dejectedly. "We don't even have the faintest clue where to start looking, anyways."

"What do you say guys? Want to go grab a bite somewhere?" asked Lee.

"Too bad the only place open this time of night is Waffle House," complained David.

"Waffle House," murmured Lee as if enchanted by the idea.

"What's the matter with Waffle House?" asked Ned.

"Well, their hash browns are always soggy. I like mine crispy."

"You've got to ask for them ‘scattered,' then," replied Ned. "Their default method is to cook it inside a metal ring on the griddle which tends to make them a little soggy."

David put his hand to his chin and said, "Scattered, hmmm? OK, I'll give it a try."

"You'll let us know if there any changes in his condition, right?" Lee asked Nick.

"Of course," he replied.

"I've got my pager," stated Ned. Nick nodded to him as they all left.

***

"Can I take those plates for you, sugar?" asked the grey haired woman in a white apron. Lee, Ned and David were seated next to each other at the counter overlooking the grill.

Lee put his hand over his heart and said, "Ines, this was the most delightful two egg breakfast I've ever had."

Ines, took his plates away and blushed. "I'll fill up your coffee after I get these in the sink."

David was savoring his hash browns. "Heh. Scattered," he said amusingly.

"What did I tell you?" ribbed Ned while he was sopping up yolk from his plate with a piece of toast.

"Here you go," said Ines with a smile as she filled up Lee's coffee cup.

"Thank you." Lee stood up and picked up his cup and walked back towards the window. Behind the glare reflecting the inside of the small diner, he could see the lights of cars travelling in both directions down the interstate. Then he turned his attention to the jukebox next to him and started looking at the selections. Suddenly his eyes lit up and he reached into his pocket with his free hand and pulled out a quarter to feed the machine. He pressed ‘B4' and returned to stare out the window at the cars in their serene and endless streams while the jukebox serenaded and he tried to free his mind of the investigation and relax.

Suddenly, it was pitch black and he had the distinct feeling of being alone, while his ears rang and his skin grew cold. An overwhelming screech like that of a thousand impossibly long bows being drawn across a thousand violins filled his ears and he turned to see a lone spotlight in the eerily empty-feeling and dark diner shining down upon the counter where his plate previously sat. A tiny smiling woman, dressed in white coveralls walked out of the darkness and into the spotlight and bowed. Then the sound of the violins was replaced by other sounds: loud clanging, like enormous chains being pulled through a pulley, grinding gears, and a hammer banging on an anvil. The woman began to chant, somehow audible in all the din, as though whispered directly into his ear:

I'm barely there
I'm everywhere
Heavy thin air
Sahara mascara smeared
End of an era
Tracks on Herrera's
Peacock thighs
China white skies
Ivory of my leper eyes
Tone of sighs
Off nylon lips
Where you runnin' now?

Lee blinked, and found himself back in the bright, fluorescent lit diner, he sat back down in his chair at the counter plagued by an irritating beeping noise that emanated from somewhere near him.

"What is that sound?" asked David.

"Huh? Oh, sorry, that's me," said Ned. "My pager is going off. Ines, could I borrow your phone?"

"Sure, hon," she replied and she reached down for the phone and placed it on the counter in front of Ned. David was busily stashing the extra plate of hash browns he ordered in a to-go container.

Lee watched Ned dial, then place the phone to his ear.

"This is Ned...What?...Oh my gosh!...We'll be right there." He hung up, "Ines, check please. We've got to go!"

"What's going on?" asked Lee.

"There's been another incident."

"With Lorenzo?" asked David worriedly.

"No. Now something's wrong with Moustakas."

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