Gravity Rises (S3)

TTF: Part Ten

The Pines brothers fell to the ground with twin 'thuds', and Fiddleford felt sick.

What was he doing? Did he really just shoot his friend? He didn't feel much better over shooting Stanley, either, even though it was something he'd thought about doing many times before. It was only the memory gun, not a real gun, but the momentary look of panic on the brothers' faces would stick around in Fidds' mind for some time.

What have I become?

He braced his hands on a nearby desk and forced himself to take deep breaths. What he needed to. He became what he needed to be for Lord Cipher.

Once Fidds had sufficiently calmed down, he stepped over the unconscious brothers and went through the security room to go check on the shapeshifter. He didn't know what he would do to the creature, but he had to get rid of him somehow. For one, he was a distraction. For two, he was dangerous — and Fidds didn't trust Stanley not to release his precious pet into the world.

Thankfully, he found the shapeshifter already frozen in a cryogenic tube. The busted cage nearby told him that Stanley had probably had to fend off an attack.

Well, Stanley, now you finally see why I hate this thing so much.

Fidds took his time returning to the first room, for he dreaded his next task. He had shot the brothers with his memory gun, using The Order of the Crescent Eye as the input phrase; now, he needed to rip out the Journal pages that Ford had written about Bill.

This was even less appealing than the first task.

But, he did it. He took Ford's journal to the desk and ripped out the pages that mentioned the Order or Bill, stuffing them in his pockets. It pained him immensely, destroying parts of a scientific record, but he had to do it. He had to erase any evidence of this disaster.

Once he got started, it got a little easier — just a little. He even decided to rip out the pages about Shifty, in hopes that Ford would forget the creature's existence and never unfreeze him.

As Fidds moved to rip out the final page, his arm moved too far and too fast. His wrist snagged against a jutting piece of metal, and it cut into his skin. Fidds let go of the half-torn page with a cry of pain as blood spurted down onto the paper.

Someone moaned.

Fidds whirled, clutching his arms to his chest, and saw Ford stir. Panic infused him as he imagined Ford's reaction to seeing Fidds ripping pages out of his Journal. He slammed the book closed and dropped it by Ford. Just in time, too: The scientist sat up only moments after Fidds had stepped back.

"Fidds?" asked Ford. "What happened?"

"What do you remember?" he replied nervously, pulling the sleeve of his tweed jacket over his bleeding wrist.

Ford frowned. "Stanley showed me Shifty, frozen in the cryogenic tube. That's. . . that's the last thing." He glanced to his brother, who had also woken.

Fidds breathed a sigh of relief. "I'm glad you remember that much. He hit you pretty hard."

"Who did?"

"The shapeshifter," Fidds replied. "The cryogenic tube malfunctioned, and he woke up. He attacked both of you and knocked you unconscious. I was just lucky to be here, looking for you, when it happened. I forced him into another tube, froze him, and dragged you both back out here." He cast a baleful eye on Stanley. "You were quite heavy."

All of this, of course, was a lie. But Fidds had gotten better at lying over the years.

"How do you know the other cryogenic tube won't malfunction?" asked Ford.