Gravity Rises (S3)

TTF: Part Eight

Autumn quickly blustered into winter, with the first snows falling only a few weeks after Stanley arrived. The researchers were quickly trapped inside, unable to go out adventuring — which was chafing for Lee, but good for the portal project. Yet Fidds still braved the snows, leaving weekly, sometimes daily, for his fictional knitting club. Ford and Lee trained in appearing impassive when he mentioned the club, and they took turns following him.

They quickly discovered where he was disappearing to: the library, of all places. So he hadn't been lying about that. But he didn't take the usual door into the library; he entered through a back door, then disappeared. Once, the brothers followed him together, with Lee watching Fidds go through the door, and Ford entering the library to look for him. But Fidds wasn't inside. The mystery door didn't give access to the library. So what was behind it?

Short of asking him, they likely weren't going to find out anytime soon.

Fidds, Stan, and Ford spent a long winter indoors, with Stan driving Fidds up the wall and Ford failing to keep his pesky brother in check. Fidds looked forward with longing to the next time he could go to the Order and escape Stanley; whenever that escape arrived, he had to return to the lab far too soon. His visits to the Order weren't exactly enjoyable: Fidds tested the gun on whoever was brought down, and a stone-faced Gaston stood nearby, speaking only when directly spoken to, or occasionally in rebuke. But even that was better than being near Stanley.

"Does he have to be in the basement while we're working?" Fidds would repeatedly ask Ford. Then Ford would shrug, and Stan would make some overdramatic comment about being shunned. This pattern continued throughout the rest of the winter, and Fidds nearly wept with relief when, in March of 1982, it got warm enough to go out into the forest. This came with the downside of the Pines brothers going adventuring instead of working on the portal, but at least Stan could go somewhere else.

The spring weather cheered Stanley immensely, and he insisted that his brother take him to see the sights of the Gravity Rises forest. Sometimes, the brothers would convince Fidds to come with them; other times, Fidds would staunchly refuse, and the brothers would go without him. On those days, it was a relief for Fidds to have the lab to himself.

Soon enough, Stan convinced Ford to take him down to the bunker. "That place sounds cool," he said one day, down in the basement. "I mean, you wrote about it in all three Journals. That means it's gotta be important, right?"

Ford shrugged. "I described it in all three so I could always have the passcode and the layout handy, no matter what Journal I had with me that day."

"Didn't you keep creatures down there? Are they still there?"

Nearby, Fidds scoffed. "Really, Stanley? You arrived over half a year ago, and we haven't been to the bunker in all that time. Anything down there would have to have starved."

"Unless," Ford interrupted, "we preserved them. Which we did."

Fidds looked away with a disgruntled huff.

"Wait, what do you mean 'preserved them'?" asked Stan, concern lacing his voice.

Ford shrugged again, quite nonchalant. "When we started on the portal, we knew we wouldn't be able to go to the bunker anymore. So we let some of the creatures go, and we preserved others. I can describe it on the way."

"Wait, what?" demanded Fidds. "Now?"

"Why not?"

Fidds had a million reasons why not, but he deigned to express only one. "What about these calculations?"

"They can wait while we go get some sun."

"It's probably raining," Fidds muttered.

Much to his chagrin, it wasn't. He decided to come along, since he didn't trust Stanley near his things; and at this point, he didn't trust Ford to keep Stanley away from said things — namely, the machinery in the bunker. He hadn't been to the bunker in some time, but it was still one of his creations. He didn't want Stan's grubby hands all over it.