"Copier…"
Summary: Paracelsus is leaving a little gift for Arthur and the gang…
Disclaimer: No copywrite infringement intended.
Part XII…
Original Warehouseverse…
Jinks, moving along carefully…Passing Section 13…Farnsworth out and set to Artie's frequency for the holographic transmissions…
"Beware my wrath!" Paracelsus suddenly appeared before him…Wrapping robe about himself grandly…Waving arms.
"Yeah, yeah…" Jinks sighed. Scanning the corridor, adjusting knobs on the Farnsworth…
He could at least vary the recording once in a while…This is getting monotonous.
"Pete…Oh, Pete…" he addressed the Farnsworth screen.
"Yo…Any word?"
"Not yet…Jamming still…Have you run into more holograms?"
"Oh, yeah…" mild static… "…quite the ego, this guy…same…" the image of Pete's face flickering and obscured…
"I'm losing you, Pete…I'll keep tracking the transmissions my way. Jinks out."
Hmmn…He scanned a printout copy of Claudia's run of artifacts, the ones showing evidence of likely not being present boldfaced…
"Chinese screen of Mendes Pinto…83% percent chance energy pattern is unstable…I.e., another gone missing and located…" he looked to his left…
Yeah…He eyed the flickering screen against the wall…Too large for Paracelsus' hologram image to be stable…
I'd say that's a missing…
Hmmn…A large missing…Too large to carry very…
He stared…And that, presumably…He went up to the screen shoved against a corner…
Is our missing screen…
Suggesting…He looked round…
No transmitter. If this was his hiding place, he didn't hole up here long…
So, what does this thing…He glanced over the screen…Do?
The Farnsworth buzzed…Artie's face…
"Artie…? Thank God…How are they? Artie?"
Lips moving no sounds…He turned up the volume…
Nothing…
"Artie…Artie!"
Artie eyeing him on screen, annoyed look…
Speak up…He managed to understand.
Yeah…Same problem, both sides.
"I've got at full volume, Artie…It must be due to…"
"JINKS! TURN…"
Whoa…He turned the volume down… "Artie?"
"Jinks? What the hell were you doing?! Did you and Pete locate the source of the holograms yet?"
"Something blocked the sound…Paracelsus' jamming maybe…" he eyed the screen…
Artie frowning again…Lips moving…Pointing…
"I can't hear you…Artie? You want me to…" he stepped back…
"There…No?" a step…
Wait…He looked…The screen just beside him…
Hmmn…He moved back toward the corridor…
"Can you please…" Artie's voice…
"I think I know what the problem is…It's the screen…"
"What screen?" Myka's eager face… "Hey, Steve!" beaming smile…Wave… "Claudia's better and Mrs. Fredericks is resting ok…"
"What?"
"Paracelsus seems to have tried another attack…" Artie took the screen back… "Claudia and Mrs. Fredericks managed to beat him off but just barely…Mrs. Fredericks is comatose, she's passed off the caretakership to Claudia. It's imperative we learn if Paracelsus has returned to the Warehouse or is using an agent for these attacks. What screen, by the way?"
"This…" Jinks angled the Farnsworth… "He did take Pinto's screen but not far…"
"Ah…Right…" Artie's smile on screen… "Mendes Pinto's Chinese screen…A sound baffle…Paracelsus must have wanted a secure area…"
"To interrogate…" Jinks eyed him…
"Yes…Is there any other sign of him there?!"
"Nothing so f…" heavy bright flash… Thunderous roar…
"Steve?!" Artie's startled face on screen calling… "Agent Jinks?! Are you all right?!"
"Steve?!" Myka's anxious voice catching Artie's urgent tone… "Is he ok?!"
"Artie…" gasp…Claudia, opening her eyes… "What's up…Buttercup?" wan smile…
"Steve's run into something…Paracelsus, possibly!" Artie, grabbing bag. "Hello, Steve?! Steve..?!" he tried the Farnsworth…
"I'll come…" she tried to sit up… "Don't you…Go…Without…"
"You stay here, Claudia…Myka? Keep an eye on her…"
"I said…Don't You Go!" Claudia, sitting up…Eyes glaring…
"Claudia…?" Artie, eyeing her…
"Ummn…Sorry…Please…" wan grin again… "Magic word forgotten, mucho apologetic…Artie, wait for me…I think Paracelsus left some things behind…Booby traps…Just let me…" she struggled to rise.
"Sit." He commanded.
Myka eyeing both cautiously…Nervous glance to the rather exhausted Claudia…
"Ok…" Claudia nodded, relaxing a bit… "But don't go charging in…Please…" she eyed him… "I can't lose you now…" honest plea in tone and stare.
He nodding, wry smile…
"Artie…Hey, Artie…" Jinks' voice…A bit shaken…
"There's the boy…Alls well…" Claudia, settling back in seat…
"Jinks? Are you ok?" Artie addressed the screen… Image static, voice pretty good.
"Yeah…Whanged the Farnsworth when I fell…Some kind of electrical discharge…Not too bad, just noisy…I'm ok. Looks like Paracelsus left a greeting card. Nothing serious, though."
"Yeah…Well, watch out for more…And make a careful assessment of that area around the screen…Let me know if you find any artifacts or parts of artifacts."
"Sure…How's Claud? And Mrs. Fredericks, she's still comatose?"
"Claudia's ok…Apart from some crankiness…Probably heightened by transfusion from Mrs. Fredericks." Artie smiled at her…She offering faint grin…Eh, you… "Yes…Mrs. Fredericks is still comatose and we can't wake her up just yet. Dr. Calder is on her way, though…"
"You should come back here, Jinks!" Myka urged. "Artie, he should come back and be checked out."
"I still want to run down that signal with Pete…I'll be…" Jinks began…
"Pete…" Myka gasped… "What about Pete? Where is he, have you heard from him?! I'd better go and see if he's ok…!"
"I just spoke to him, he's fine." Jinks noted on screen.
"I'll go make sure…!" Myka, anxiously.
"Myka, I need you here…" Artie frowned… "Lattimer is fine, just see if you can call him."
"What? Artie, I wanna be sure…"
"Myka…"
"Orders are orders, Mykes…" Claudia cut in…A bit hastily… "Just give Petey a call, I'm sure he's ok."
"Yeah? Ok…" anxious tone…Slight wringing of hands… She pulled out her Farnsworth… "Pete? Are you there? Pete?"
"I'm not getting anything…" she looked at Artie…
"He's on a different frequency…To track the transmissions…Give it here." Artie took the Farnsworth… "No…" he eyed the settings… "You're good to go…It's gotta be the interference."
"Artie…" she pleaded…
"Jinks will call him again…Steve?" Artie spoke to Myka's Farnsworth…Ok, works…Jinks' image on screen… "Can you check in with Pete again and confirm he's ok…Someone here is having a panic attack."
"Sure…" Jinks' voice…A bit of static mixed…
"Thanks…" Myka beamed… "I'm just concerned, Artie…" sheepish shrug…
"Ok…Now please tend to Mrs. Fredericks…I want her vitals checked every ten minutes…"
"Sure…"
"Here…" he handed her back her Farnsworth. "You know…I don't remember giving you the hologram frequency for the Farnsworth, when did I do that?" he asked, moving back to Claudia…
Uh….
"I think I heard you tell Jinks and Peter…Or maybe they told me…?"
"Oh, right…Pete was gonna to have you join in the triangulation…Rectangulation in that case." Faint smile…
"Yeah…" she nodded… "Let me check those vitals…" she hurried over to Mrs. Fredericks' side…
…..
One hour later…
Vanessa Calder having arrived and made a thorough examination…
"Ok…" she smiled at Claudia, now hooked to an IV… "We'll just pump some fluids into and a little pain medication and you should be good to go soon. But I want you to rest and we should do an MRI asap."
"Right…" tired smile… "Any chance of putting pizza on my prescriptions' list?"
"In a little while…" Calder patted her hand. Turning away to move to Artie over by Myka's side next to Mrs. Fredericks…
"Vitals are stable…" Myka noted carefully…
"Good job…" Vanessa smiled… "Just check her about every twenty minutes for now."
"On it…" nod.
"Dr. Calder? Can we talk?" Artie urged…Leading her to a corner…
Claudia, shaking shoulders a bit…Opening eyes to glance at the two…
So…Dr. Calder…The unknown quantity…Unknown to us in our universe, that is…
My possible junior competition, according to what I saw in the personnel files…She eyed Vanessa, now in solemn conference with Artie.
But giving him an occasional, anything but solemn, smile…
Well…No need to be petty about it…Just yet. The new Queen of Earth and the Solarian system doesn't need to fret about some little doctor makin' time with her chubby beau...Before he becomes her consort.
Though they might be considered, by some ignorant types, to be better suited by age and all that…Love, Duty, and Need are all on my side…My and Arthur's mutual Love which I can feel…The love I've killed for and I can sense he would die for, Agent Nielsen's sense of Duty binding him to the protection of the Caretaker and her Warehouse…Regardless of all personal concerns, and this new Caretaker's Need…Sincerely…For his guidance and wisdom…Send the scales crashing down on my side…
And I can always vaporize or mc the bitch somehow on the quiet if necessary…
…
