Episode Thirty-Four

Zack, Melissa and Amanda all looked at each other. "Well, at least we know he's here, somewhere," said Zack with a note of cautious hope in his voice. He looked around, as if he expected Milo to magically jump out of the bushes.

"Yeah, but San Fransokyo is a big city," countered Melissa, "a lot bigger than Danville, so where do we start?"

"Well, this is Milo we're talking about," replied Zack, "so…..," he trailed off, waiting for Melissa and Amanda to catch his meaning.

Amanda caught on first. "Of course," she said.

"Milo's usual trail of chaos," finished Melissa.

"OK." The deliberations of Zack, Melissa and Amanda were interrupted. The three of them turned as one at the sound. It was the tall man with dreadlocks who had spoken. "What exactly does, 'Milo's usual trail of chaos' mean?" He looked at Phineas and Ferb again. "Phineas what exactly is going on here?"

"Oh, I'm sorry, Wasabi," replied Phineas. He quickly made the introductions.

"We're looking for a friend," explained Melissa. "We think he's around here somewhere, but we don't know exactly where."

"We were all drugged," explained Dakota.

"And when we woke up," continued Zack, "Milo was gone."

"And what makes you think he's here?" asked Wasabi.

"You mean here?" asked Melissa, indicating their immediate surroundings. "He's not," she said.

"And how do you know that?" asked Wasabi. "You only just got here."

"Well, for a start," said Melissa, "your house is still standing."

For a moment, Fred and Wasabi looked at each other. "What is that supposed to mean?" asked Wasabi. A very fastidious and slightly neurotic man, Wasabi looked slightly alarmed.

Fred, on the other hand, looked excited. "Oooooh!" he said, rubbing his hands together, "mysterious strangers? Cryptic threats? This is just like Captain Fancy issue #242 where-,"

Wasabi sighed, "no Fred," he said. As the son of a superhero and an obsessive comic book fan, Fred tended to relate everything back to comic books, but on the other hand, Fred had a way of reading a situation that Hiro, Wasabi, Honey Lemon and Go Go didn't and while he wasn't right all the time, he wasn't always wrong either. "This is not like Captain Fancy #242."

Milo's friends all eyed each other, wondering what to tell Fred and Wasabi. "Milo is-," began Zack slowly.

"-special," continued Melissa, and she quickly explained about Murphy's Law and Milo's negative probability field.

Wasabi stared skeptically at them when Zack and Melissa had finished speaking ten minutes later. "OK," he said slowly, processing Zack and Melissa's information, "that's not supposed to be possible."

Zack and Melissa traded another look. Wasabi's reaction wasn't unexpected. They frequently encountered people who didn't believe that Milo's negative probability field actually existed. More than once Milo had been accused of intentionally creating the trail of chaos that he often left in his wake because he was seeking attention, or to make himself look good. Milo tended to simply ignore such slights when they were thrown at him, but having been Milo's only friend for over seven years, sometimes Melissa felt that it was her right to act indignantly on his behalf. She was about to open her her mouth, but Zack beat her to it.

"We don't have time to stand around talking," he said, his voice edged with impatience, "Milo is missing, and we have no idea where he is." He suddenly realized that everyone was looking at him and he felt slightly awkward. He took a deep steadying breath and felt Melissa's hand on his shoulder. He was suddenly glad it was there. He looked around. "I'm sorry," he said. "I just-," he eyed Wasabi and Fred, "look," he said levelly, "my best friend is missing. Can you help us or not."

There were several seconds of silence, during which Zack felt as though Wasabi was appraising him. Finally the broad shouldered man spoke. "Yeah, sure," he said. "We'll take my car." Wasabi turned and walked back toward the sprawling mansion in the middle of the perfectly manicured grounds. The others followed him down the path from the helipad where the jet sat on its landing gear and towards the large, sprawling mansion. They crossed the flagstone terrace, which was dotted with patio furniture. They crossed from the terrace into the house through an ornate set of French double doors and were met just inside by a man in a butler's uniform. He was almost as tall as Cavendish. He was mostly bald and had a pencil thin moustache. His face seemed to have been carved into a permanently bored expression. A large tray with a glass of ice, a large bottle of lime Pep and a dish under a polished silver cover were balanced deftly on his right hand. His left was tucked neatly behind his back. "Good afternoon Master Fredrick," he said to Fred. The permanently bored look on his face extended to his voice. "Your nachos for your gaming session are ready."

For a second Fred looked torn, as if he were being forced to make a difficult decision. Wasabi seemed to read his mind because Zack thought he heard him say in a low voice, "nachos later, Fred."

Fred seemed to collect himself. It looked difficult. "Right," he said, "thanks, Heathcliff, but keep those warm for me. Spirit Samurai IV will have to wait."

"Very good sir," replied Heathcliff, and he turned smoothly on his heel, still balancing the tray and disappeared through a side door.

Fred and Wasabi kept walking and Milo's friends followed them. The late afternoon sun cast long shafts of light through the tall windows and left everything in a dappled mix of light and shadow. The floor was covered with a thick carpet which muffled their footsteps. Paintings hung on the walls and the corridor was lined with little tables bearing family photographs dotted the edges of the hallway. They soon came out of a side door, crossed a large tiled entry hall and exited outside through a pair of double doors. Wasabi's car was sitting on a large circular driveway at the bottom of a flight of wide stone steps. They piled into Wasabi's car, Zack was never quite able to remember exactly how, and drove off down the long, winding driveway toward the front gate.

The drive from the Fredrickson compound through downtown San Fransokyo took half an hour. The downtown core was dominated by sleek looking, high tech skyscrapers that pulsed with red and orange and purple LEDs. At street level store front signs were brightly traced out in green and blue neon. A broad arch spanned the main thoroughfare sporting a holographic sign that proclaimed "Welcome to Night Market Square."

Wasabi turned off of the main road and on to another long winding drove under a sign that read "San Fransokyo Institute of Technology" and eventually pulled up in front of a collection of stark white buildings which had a slightly abstract air about them. A large sign lit by LED floodlights on the broad expanse of perfectly manicured green lawn read "SFIT Ito Ishioka Robotics Laboratory." Wasabi pulled into a parking space and they all piled out.

Cavendish got out and stretched unsteadily. Phineas and Ferb had been sitting on his lap and their combined weight had put his legs to sleep. Phineas was looking around avidly and even Ferb, who was normally almost unreadable, looked impressed.

Zack looked confused. "Wait, I don't understand," he said, "how is this going to help us find Milo?"

"Yeah, I've read a little a bit about SFIT's robotics program," said Dakota, "it's supposed to be world class."

"Oh yes," said Cavendish excitedly. He looked at Phineas and Ferb. "Your friend is an SFIT student?" he asked.

Phineas nodded. "Yeah, this a pretty hard program to get into and Hiro's pretty smart-,"

"-If anyone can help us locate Milo," said Ferb suddenly, making everyone jump slightly, "Hiro can."

Wasabi nodded, "yeah, Hiro has a knack for this sort of thing," he said. He started walking toward the Administration Building. The others followed him. "Let's go up to his lab and I'll introduce you." They walked up the main entrance. The doors opened with a nearly silent swish. They entered in a large central atrium. Clusters of tables dotted the large space amid stands of leafy green plants. The low hum of voices filled the background as students laughed and chattered with each other over their homework or an early dinner. Robots scurried among the tables, clearing away trays of half eaten food. They crossed the atrium and stopped in front of a bank of elevators. Wasabi pressed his thumb to a biometric scanner, which beeped in confirmation and the elevator doors slid silently open. They piled in and a flat electronic voice said, "please state your destination."

"Eighth floor," replied Wasabi.

A tone sounded and the elevator's voice said, "Thank you. Destination confirmed. Please stand clear of the doors." The doors slid closed and the elevator slid smoothly upwards. Another tone sounded a few minutes later and the elevator doors opened. The elevator's voice said, "You have arrived at your destination. Please mind the doors as you exit the elevator." They stepped out of the elevator into a wide hallway. Frosted glass doors marched away down the corridor on both sides and in both directions. "C'mon," said Wasabi, "Hiro's lab is down this way." He turned left and walked down the corridor, coming to a stop in front an opaque glass door. A plaque next to the door had a list of names printed on it. At the top was, "H Hamada, artificial intelligence, robotics, cybernetic systems." Wasabi pressed his thumb to the biometric scanner next to the door. It beeped in confirmation and the door unlocked with a quiet metallic click. He pushed open the door and they went inside.

They found themselves in a large, brightly lit work space. The room was dominated by an open area cleared of obstructions. Along one wall stood a series of 3D printers of various sizes. Opposite the door they had entered were several doors that led to a series of private workspaces. On the wall opposite the wall with the 3D printers was a large open alcove with a series of work benches bearing a mix of Bunsen burners, chemical analyzers, centrifuges and computers. Dotted here and there around the room tucked into available spaces were racks of tools, laptop carts and equipment lockers. A door opened and a boy who appeared to be around Milo's age emerged. He was momentarily backlit by the glow of a computer screen. He was thin and slightly wiry looking with an unruly mop of black hair. He was dressed in a blue zip-up hoodie, a faded Spirit Samurai II T-shirt, knee length Capri shorts and battered looking running shoes. He stepped out of the door and a large white robot trundled through it after him on short, stubby legs accompanied by the quiet whine of servomotors. The robot was followed in turn by a tall, willowy looking woman with reddish blond hair that fell down to her shoulders and a short woman with an athletic build and a head of short, spiky black hair.

Hiro Hamada took in Fred, Wasabi and Milo's friends standing in the middle room. His gaze finally settled on Phineas and Ferb. "Hi, Phineas," he said. Hiro walked across the room and shook the younger boy's hand. "So what brings you out to San Fransokyo?"