(Three)

10, 29, 33+34

Finger cut through the crowds at in the Tower like a hot knife through butter, he hardly noticed them anymore. Savage came trailing, somewhat uncertainly, in his wake. It was true he fit in well enough with the other monitors but civilized society was another entity all together. "Where is Fractal?" Finger asked the mid-level functionary behind the mahogany information desk that presided over the portion of the tower complex in which the Scientist's lab was housed. It was a simple question. Fin had already checked all his friend's usual haunts and failed to locate him, where else could he be?

"Gone S-sir." The peon faltered.

"What do you mean gone?" the commander frowned and the object of his glare quailed before him.

"M-macro sent him to the mine… to… to study the crystals they found in the pit there." The youth explained hastily.

"Crystals?!" Finger echoed and grabbed the boy's collar without a second thought and lifted him part-way out from behind the desk.

The panicked functionary struggled weakly in Fingers grasp. "help!" He finally managed to squeak. The sound brought Fin back to his senses and he released the boy to cower once more behind his desk.

"Sheep, scuttling back and forth through marble halls," Savage snorted derisively. "How can you stand them?"

"I've got to get a hold of myself," Finger whispered, touching the metal clip at his collar self-consciously. He'd not really respond to the question his 'lieutenant-in-training' had posed. "You head back to the barracks… I need to find a certain tower brat before he gets himself killed."

This was no time for words. Savage snapped to attention in acknowledgement of the command and hurried off to comply.

+0+

Fin was racing through the woods on his quad faster than he thought possible. "Please don't let the pit be in 'that' tunnel… not 'those' crystals…" he whispered to no one in particular in a vain attempt to calm his jangled nerves.

His hopes were dashed however, as soon as he neared the previously hidden entrance. A sign had been posted which clearly read "Warning! Research Area: No Unauthorized Personnel."

Fin frowned thinking that he should have a new sign made to say: "Extreme hazard Keep out!" but they didn't know how dangerous the crystals could be. He did. And the thought of Fractal was stumbling around in there in nearsighted bliss, chilled the marrow in his bones.

Finger shut down the quad and was racing into the mouth of the cave even before the vehicle had come to a complete stop. "Fractal!" he called but his hail was met only by echoes. He raced across the rickety bridge. "Hello; Anyone?" He called again, more frantic as he neared the place so many of his nightmares were spawned. "Fractal…" he whispered this time hoping he wasn't too late. He rounded a corner and came face to face with his own reflection dancing across the faceted surface of crystal – except it wasn't exactly his reflection and he knew it.

"What are you doing hear?!" the image challenged him angrily.

Fin steeled himself for what he knew was to come. "Leave me be Mick, I'm not here for you."

"Like you matter, filthy peasant… you're nothing, useless; Be-gone, Go back to the wilds where you belong. You're finished Fin… I don't need you anymore." His mirror self scoffed.

"You go Mick… you have no business in my world." Fin resisted the urge to shout, "I'm far from useless and you know that full well!"

The crystal image didn't show the same restraint. "Miserable wretch, you would presume to tell me…!"

"Yes I do presume rich boy!" Fin growled. He didn't have time to waste. Fractal was in trouble, this confrontation had to end now; and Fin knew just how to get this particular specter to shut up. "When ever your old man took off his belt, was it you who felt the lash? I don't think so! Who bore the brunt of his rage? Nothing to say Mick?" Fin paused in his diatribe for only a heartbeat then continued. "I was the one to feel your hurt time and again. I was the one your Angel mother found after two terrible days locked the closet of that fancy mansion. It was my split lip she cleaned, my sore ribs she bound with silk. Me she held and comforted, my hair she caressed. Not yours. You're numb, have been for years. You don't feel a thing. You ran away from the pain… I paid the price… I reaped the benefit. Don't you forget that Michael, son of Cane! You owe me."

Mick sent him an iron glare. "You feel things so deeply Fin? Someday, you will regret it. Someone will cause you such pain you won't be able to stand it… Then you will beg me for relief."

His other-worldly self seemed so dispassionate; aloof, cold. Fin wondered if that was how the masses in the tower saw him. "Get out of my mind Michael. I've got work to do." Fin announced forcefully and strolled past the crystal and descended the pit beyond. He had enough to do with Mick and his world to last two lifetimes. That was why he avoided mirrors as best he could; he never knew when his shadow-self would be the one staring back at him.

The crystal cavern itself was in complete shambles. Shards every where, diggers unconscious or gazing about with vacant eyes; it was too late for them, they'd made the transition to the other world but their counterparts had not made the reverse crossing, leaving a soulless husk behind. "Fractal!" Fin gasped when he saw his friend kneeling before an unblemished crystal, shell-like still partially buried in the rock. The genius faced a captivating image of his other worldly doppelganger. "Nate?" Fractal whispered reaching out to his twin at the same time the other reached back from the comic book shop he helped manage.

"NO!" Fin shouted tackling the rumpled genius to the ground. "You didn't touch it. Tell me you didn't touch the crystal." Fin demanded looking from one to the other with tears in his eyes. "Fractal? Nathan? Don't."

Fractal blinked once, slowly then blinked again. "F-fin? He asked dazed, "W-what are you doing here?"

"Saving your sorry hide, tower-brat; this place is dangerous. If you don't believe me look what happened to your digger pals."

Fractal's other worldly reflection, Nathan, seemed equally dazed by this surreal experience. "Zombies of the Underworld; Back issues 28-35, Top shelf on the left." He mumbled and shook his head as if to clear it.

"What?" Fractal asked groping blindly across the floor in search of his spectacles.

Fin scooped them up in one hand and shook the inventor with the other "Wake up! There was an accident, look around." In the end he half carried his friend outside of the cave where sunlight and fresh air broke the spell.

"Are you all right?" Fin asked. "Do you remember what happened?"

"I'm not sure. The crystalline formation of those rarified minerals somehow became the impetus of a sudden meta-cognition disassociation. Most perplexing, I must study the phenomenon more fully."

"You'll do nothing of the sort," Fin snapped. "You don't need to be an expert in everything."

"Yes I do." Fractal bristled not accustomed to his friend giving him orders… and meaning for him to obey.

Like a good commander Fin changed his tactics "Your intellect is far too valuable. You taught me that all matter is animal, vegetable, mineral or construct. In that cave are a dozen diggers; by species animals, who have been reduced to the status of vegetable by those minerals. You are the only one who can construct something that will help those kids. NEVER touch the crystals. I swear, by my oath to Brad and the tower, that I'll blow that entire cave system sky-high if I think you're gong to put yourself in danger like that again."

Fractal frowned, "No need to do anything rash Fin. While there is a significant difference between a vegetable and a vegetative state…I must concede you have a valid point. I AM the only one that can help them. How did you find your way hear anyway?"

"Sometime before they captured me and brought me to the tower; I thought this might be a convenient place to stay warm and dry… I learned better." Fin shrugged and refused to say anymore on the matter. He just wanted to put the whole unpleasant episode out of his mind. So he turned the conversation to Savage and his progress with the wild boy. It would be a long time before Savage learned enough restraint to remove his collar let alone go on patrol by himself but it was a beginning at least.

Fractal was eager to hear all about it, and slowly memories of what he had seen reflected in the crystal's glow slipped from his mind; as Finger knew it would. Nathan was nothing but a fading dream and the monitor captain prayed he would stay that way.