The Legend of Gizmoduck

Part 96

Ever See a Plant Fly

So long as Sylvia had the energy, Reginald kept trying. Boy, Sylvia had a lot of energy.

Over the next few hours, Reginald and Sylvia designed a communication system. They gave alphabet letters to each control. Thrusters A and B were top and bottom. Anti-gravity units AA and AB were central top and central bottom. Reginald was still largely confused about why the anti-gravimetric system existed. At least the thrusters didn't worry him anymore, though. Some progress, as Hooter pointed out earlier, should be appreciated.

At dinner time, Reginald saw the captain sitting alone from the others in red team. He was eating alien vegetable lasagna and reading a folded down newspaper. Muddlefoot caught his eye and silently invited him over. Reginald excused himself from sitting with Sylvia and Hooter and took his plate over.

"Sorry for earlier." Muddlefoot said as Reginald sat down opposite him. "My wife isn't very delicate with words."
"I've been in worse company these last few days." Reginald said.
"Really?" Muddlefoot said. "It's a wonder they didn't turn you into a bucket of gelatine." He added in an offhand manner.
Reginald felt heat in his cheeks as his heart rate jumped up. "No, but I did come close to biting him." He defended himself. "Does that count?"
A small smile crept onto Muddlefoot's face. He actually thought that was funny?

"How can I help you, agent?"
"I though vampires were really strong." Reginald began.
"We are." Muddlefoot grew serious again.
"Is it normal to need to eat so much?"
"Well." Muddlefoot blinked at him. "There's a negative correlation between intelligence and how much a vampire eats. Eating 'so much' is a sign of inefficient metabolistic management."

Reginald swallowed the indignation rising up inside him. "So I'm stupid for not having it figured out yet?"
"What? No, I meant it's normal for some vampires because they never ask 'why' they're hungry."
Reginald shut his beak, feeling steamed. "I believe I just asked."

"The answer's in your medical records." Muddlefoot said in his eternally calm voice. "You're not a vampire. You're one blood exchange off."
"Erk!" Reginald's stomach turned and the food he'd just put in it made him queasy. He pushed the plate away.
"Sorry." Muddlefoot looked at his plate.

"Common symptoms of second stage conversion are lethargy and an inability to concentrate. If their energy is really low they can-."
"I'm managing!"
"If you need a new sire I can recommend this guy." Muddlefoot spun the newspaper around and slid it over to him.

Reginald looked down at the newspaper. It was the page 3 news.

"Vampire Attack on Main Street Theatre."

It was nightmarish to think he'd become one of those monsters.

"Why does everything have to be about blood?"
"It isn't." Muddlefoot stood up.
"Yeah, what about the plasma shakes?"
Muddlefoot straightened. "My wife's sense of humour is an acquired taste." He took his plate to the cleaning cart and left.

Reginald sighed and took the newspaper over to Hooter and Sylvia. He took his half finished plate to the cart, got a glass of water and sat down with them.

"Is there anyone's business that guy doesn't know?" Reginald asked Hooter.
"As captain he is in his rights." Hooter answered. "Ship-shape, and what-not."
"Don't." Sylvia scoffed. "Be serious, Agent Hooter." She demanded with a laugh.
"One needs curiosity in this line of work, doctor."

Reginald sat back, glancing over the news article as the others chatted. It was apparently a vampire launching an anti-Nazi attack.

"When they say 'under state protection'..." He began, looking up at Hooter. "Do they mean that place that Marigold was locked in?"
Hooter turned his head to him. "One of the places, yes."

Sylvia picked up her empty plate. "You want to try my idea now, Reggie?"
"Sure." He agreed, standing up. It had to be easier than all those levers.
"Good luck." Hooter cheered them on.

They got into the piloting control room and Sylvia ushered him to his chair. "Come on, Reggie, science waits for no plant or beast!"

"I can't believe I'm agreeing to this." Reginald sat down. "You're basically repeating what happened to Elmo with me."
"No, I'm not... You are!" She pulled off the new cover for the station. "This is all you, Reggie. I'm just the ideas person."

Reginald gazed at all the wires and circuit boards. "My goodness, how do I-."
"Think of it like roots. Connect your electro-chemical system into it."
Reginald looked down for the power lines. "Well..." Dubious about the advice, he reached his leafy fingers towards the bare circuits. Electricity shot through him and the next second he was sitting on the floor.

"Reggie?" Sylvia asked.
Muddlefoot came over to them. "He has to try again."
"Ah!" Reginald jumped. "Um, um, I mean... gi-give me a m-minute..."
"The longer you wait the more panicked you'll get-." Muddlefoot said.

"Don't...!" Reginald clenched his beak, glaring up at Muddlefoot's impassive expression. "You... judgemental-!"
"Reggie!" Sylvia cut him off in horror. Worry was on her face. "You are not alright."

Reginald got up off the floor, trying to regain his dignity. "He's testing me!"
"Don't worry about whatever he's doing! Try the power-grid again." Sylvia said.
"It didn't work!" Reginald disagreed.

"If you're as good as Hooter thinks you are, converting electric energy should be a walk in the park." Muddlefoot said. "I'll go make sure the engine has the extra power to handle this." He walked out of the control room.

'Dismissed?' Reginald glared after him. "How... dare he!"
"He didn't do anything, Reggie! Come on, have another try."
"He thinks I'm an idiot!" Reginald gestured to the closed door.
"Well, be glad you're not a woman then; I get it five times a day and twice as many on weekends!" Sylvia discounted. "Now, once you connect to the power grid you can connect up to the other systems. One step at a time, though. Alright?"
Reginald was sullen. "Alright."

He returned to looking down at the station's wiry innards. "So... how do I convert electricity into food?"
"Try to think how Elmo does it." Sylvia said.

Instead, all Reginald could think of was Muddlefoot. They were cordial at dinnertime but now it was back to this. "So I'm not enough of a vampire, huh?" Reginald glared at the circuits and grabbed the power-line again. The electricity shot up his arm. He let go and stumbled backwards, landing to the ground again.

"Ouch." Sylvia knelt down beside him. "Maybe we need a more considered plan of attack?"
"I'm getting it. Or at least, my Vespers are getting it." Reginald stood up and grabbed the wire again, bracing against the shock. He let go and looked as the electricity disappeared into his leafy fingers. "The Vespers. That's what's been eating me."

"Pardon?"

"My Vespers... the parasites I got from that vampire's blood." He winced. "If I don't keep feeding them, they'll kill me." He looked at Sylvia. "That must be why vampires are so notorious. These parasites want to do me in." He flinched. " If I could... Maybe I could invent some kind of blood filter to get rid of them? Maybe it'll help Jack."

"Nobody wants to kill you, Reggie!" She shook her head. Sylvia's expression hardened. "It's been a long day, that's all. Come on, you're so darn close to flying this ship. You 'can' do this."

Reginald took a breath and nodded.

"You've got the power grid, so let's work on getting you thruster control now." Sylvia flipped a couple pages back in her notebook and showed him a bunch of connecting lines and squiggles.

"This is a pictorial representation of my understanding of the thruster system." Sylvia explained. "So when I say things like 'gates' those are things that open and close. Closed gates complete the circuit and the computer will register them as 'on'. These are the levers." She pointed to them in the notebook.

"The job is all about regulating the amount of power flowing into each of the circuits all the way back there. She pointed to the word 'engine' at the edge of the page. "Currently all the gates are all the way open and no power is getting into the thrusters. So let's start by picking just one thruster circuit and you look for that open gate." Sylvia went around to watch from her overview station.

"Alright." Reginald sat down in his chair and connected to the thruster J circuit. "You're right, it's unpowered."
"Follow it along to the end." She instructed.

Reginald reached out along the circuit until it ended. He felt the urge to jump across. He did and power shot up his arm. "Wow, that was easy."
"Can you regulate it? Less and more power going through."
"Yes."
"So now you've met thruster J. Grab onto the next one."

"Is this safe?" Reginald suddenly thought to ask.
"Of course it's safe, Reggie. Try thruster I and J together." Sylvia repeated.
Reginald did and the ship still didn't move. "Nothing."
"Great, let's try a full chord. Thrusters H, I and J."

Reginald connected H through as well. "Nothing!" He gritted, forcing more power through.

"Time out, Reggie!" Sylvia exclaimed. "What are you doing?"
"Well, why won't this darn thing move?" Reginald complained.
"It's not supposed to move: we have no inertia."

Reginald stood up, overwhelmed. "What's 'inertia'?!"
"Go have some water."
"No, I'm fine!" He looked down at the controls and hooked into thrusters H, I and J again. He pushed more of his mind in. Gravity. That's why the ship wasn't moving! Gravity. So much water. The pressure bore down on Reginald. He was trapped; a pebble in the ocean.

Water hit him with a splash.

Reginald yanked himself away from the controls and stepped back in a splutter. He was drenched down to the stem and was struggling to breath for a moment.

Sylvia was standing there with a fire bucket. She looked murderous.
"Wh-what did you do that for?" He brushed down his wet leaves. "You could have shorted out the system, Sylvia."
"And you nearly overloaded it!" She replied.
"How am I supposed to move this-!"

"Stop!" Sylvia put her fingers to her brow. She put the bucket down on the floor and looked at him again. "This was a test, Reggie. To get you working with the system, not to get the system working. You need to calm down. Get some water into you."

Reginald slumped. "Alright."

"Not like I was getting anywhere anyway." Reginald slowly trudged towards the recreation room. Not only was he a failure, but he'd made Sylvia mad as well. He brushed more water off of his leaves. "Oh, why can't I keep any friends?"

On that thought, Reginald noticed an agent with blonde hair in the corridor. She was wheeling a cart of equipment.

"Hi!" He stopped her. "How are you? Agent...?"
"Fishburn." She stopped to smile at him. "I'm doing well, Agent Bushroot."
"What's that for? The ship's fixed. I mean, isn't it?"
"Were you briefed on the weapon systems?" Fishburn asked in a rising panic.
"Uh, no..."
"It's o.k.!" She said in a hurried voice. "We're making progress. Should have that heat ray up in a few hours, agent." She saluted him with a nervous smile.

Reginald took a step back. "Sure. Um, good luck."

So Reginald wasn't the only one scrabbling to get things together in this place? And Muddlefoot still thought that 'he' was an idiot?

'Water, get that water and calm down.'

Reginald went to the recreation room and got a glass of water. He sat down on one of the spare chairs, reflecting on what he'd learnt about this ship up to this point. The Condoris lay beneath literal tons of water. The water was heavy. The Condoris was heavy. It seemed impossible to shift, if that was all the power the thrusters could manage. They would be stuck down here forever. But Sylvia saw past this. Sylvia knew it could be done.

Hooter came in with his empty cup.
Reginald nodded in greeting. "The gravity of this place is overwhelming." He mentioned.
"That's why the captain had the anti-gravity net reinforced." Hooter said in a casual tone.
"Oh of course." Reginald rubbed his face. "I haven't even got up to that yet."

Hooter made a coffee for himself.

"Congratulations on making progress, agent."
"I beg your pardon?" Reginald looked at Hooter in confusion.
Hooter sat down opposite him. "You've rotated us by three degrees. That's the most this ship has moved since it settled in down here."
'Rotated? J, then H and I. No. It was supposed to be I, then H and J. That was why it had rotated rather than move forward. Darn it!' Reginald sighed in defeat.

His thoughts turned back to Hooter sitting in front of him. From Sylvia's parental scolding to Hooter's chirpy commendation. It was strange.

Hooter sipped his coffee. "Is there something the matter?" He asked.
"I don't know where to begin answering that." Reginald picked up his empty glass to get more water.
"You could start by acknowledging your own progress, agent."
Reginald refilled his glass from the large water jug. "I've always had trouble with that."
"Oh dear." Hooter said. "Success isn't about making a problem go away, Bushroot. Every battle you win or lose; the war still rages on."
"That's true." Reginald came back to his seat. "But I don't think I'll ever stop worrying about things."
Hooter sighed. "Better to worry than not care at all, I suppose."
"People like that are awful." Reginald agreed. "Oh... Well I suppose there would be vampires like that too."

Hooter was silent.

Hooter's silence was odd.

"For an expert you don't talk much."
"Frankly, I'm confounded." Hooter answered. "You're saying your sire is 'not' like that."
"I can't say anything till I meet him." Reginald said.
"No." Hooter didn't look very impressed. "In fact the evidence is overwhelming. You. Weren't. Bitten."
Reginald's stomach turned and he felt pale. "No, I wasn't, but I didn't want to bring it up because I know you're friends with her." He finished, referring to Doctor Sara Bellum.

Hooter stared at Reginald for a long moment with a stunned look on his face. "I'm... right?" He rubbed his head as though it were impossible. "You'll have to excuse me, I'm..." He got up and left the room.

Reginald sat in the empty room for a moment longer before getting up. "Oh well. At least I'm not hiding anything anymore."

Reginald got back to the piloting room.

"-grandchildren." Muddlefoot finished.
Sylvia giggled, standing over at Muddlefoot's management station. "Such a little miss."

"Sylvia." Reginald stepped in. "I'm ready to give it another try."
"Keen." Sylvia went over to the operations station. "O.k. last time we touched on the thrusters. This time we'll map you to the anti-gravity grid. Let's start by turning the whole thing on."
"Great. Maybe I can move this barge more than a couple measly degrees this time." He focused his mind and pushed through the connections, willing it as hard as he could. The grid came online.

They didn't move a fraction.

"Nicely done." Sylvia told him.
"It wasn't that hard." Reginald grumbled. "How do we 'lift' using the grid?"
"By lowering power to the top ones." Sylvia answered.
"Right." Reginald cut the power to the top ones.

"No, not off!" Sylvia said in surprise.
"But how can we move anywhere with-?"

"On, put them back online, Reggie." She said in a firm tone.
"Alright." Reginald restored the power. "So now we're not moving anywhere again."

"Hmm, well, this is an interesting puzzle..." Sylvia commented to herself. "It's a pity you're not a glass-half-full kind of guy, Reggie."
"I try to be." He answered. "What puzzle? What are you looking at over there?" He craned his head to see.

"No, no, Reggie, stay on the-whoops."

The deck bounced once. Reginald grabbed the controls and turned the anti-gravity grid back online.

"Oh, that fixed it." Sylvia said.

Reginald sat there in shock. "We... bounced... Sylvia, what am I doing? How come we bounced?"
"Inertia and gravity, dear." She answered. "So we want the computer to keep the anti-gravity grid completely on."
It was a moment and Reginald had booted up the computer control. "Alright."
"And the thrusters completely off."
"Sure."

"That's great, now the computer's holding us in place. You can let go."
"I..." Reginald flinched. "What if we bounce again?"
"We won't." She assured him. "The computer will hold us now. It's a great parking space. Come on, Reggie. I'm not going without you. Bed time."

Reginald jerked away uneasily from the controls. "So... we're out of the water?"
"Not a molecule in sight." Sylvia answered with a tired giggle.
He stood up and went to her overview station to see for himself. The sky was a dirty grey and the ground was black. "Well, um... we're upside down..."
"We're a flying saucer. We can park whichever way up we like and nobody else will notice. Not even the moonlanders." She let off another tired giggle. "Next time we just need to feather the power levels on the anti-gravs."
"And strangle the thrusters."
"No." She corrected. "It'll be different now with the anti-gravs, dear."
"Wh-?" Reginald was confused again.

"We know the system works." Muddlefoot interrupted, stepping over to them. "That should be enough to let us all get some sleep." He looked at Reginald. "It just goes to show what perseverance nets you. Well done, Agent Bushroot."

Reginald gazed back at Muddlefoot. He'd proven himself. He wasn't a 'shovel-head'. He wasn't a simpleton. There was only one word to answer him with.

"Thanks."