Chapter 26: Norris Nulton


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Earth-1

The beige Plymouth came to rest in a narrow spot at the rear of the large parking lot behind the mental institution. Traffic had been horrible.

Winifred adjusted her watch. "Hold on," she told the pink purse, "I have to get something from the trunk." A few seconds later, she returned with a glass rod wrapped in a silk scarf. She placed the rod in her handbag and then picked up both bag and purse.

"Could you turn me, please?" the voice from the purse asked. "I'm facing the wrong way."

Winifred obediently reoriented the purse.

"What was that, anyway?"

"Something Doctor Rogers asked for. You better keep quiet when we get closer to the building. Some of the inmates are very paranoid about animals, which led to the creation of some very strict rules about what can be carried inside. Am I going to be able to open that thing for inspection?"

"Yes," Herbie answered from inside. "But don't let them look too close."

"In that case," she replied, "let me make it useful." She opened the top of the purse, revealing a small cloth compartment edged with what looked like a lipstick container, a coin purse, a wallet, and several other items. None of these surfaces were real-they just gave the illusion of a very full purse. Digging through her handbag, Winifred found a few small items to place in the available space. "That should do it," she said. "Anything else I need to know?"

"I'm allergic to X-rays."

"I'll keep that in mind," Francine said with a smile, as she began a rapid walk between the parked cars towards the rear entrance. The low heels of her shoes made a distinct clack-clack-clack sound on the blacktop.


Inside the purse-shaped command center, Herbie the dove sat strapped into a small chair, monitoring a large screen showing the scene captured by a tiny camera located at the top front of the purse. A speaker over his head allowed him to hear Francine's shoes and her gentle breathing, while a second screen showed measurements that included altitude, velocity, compass direction and several others that were as yet a mystery to him. He had tried consulting the manual Gadget had written during the drive over, but it had been a bit much for him. In the center of the control panel before him was a microphone grill, its switch set to off.

Flicking another switch, the first screen now showed a view straight up at Winifred's head. It was not a flattering angle. Herbie was still not entirely sure about this human. From her ramblings on the car trip, it appeared that she had jumped spontaneously into witchcraft one day after trying out a spell in a book and discovering that it worked. It was obvious to him that there was a lot she wasn't telling him, of what drove a self-professed animal lover into being the violent and hate-filled person the Rangers had encountered. Also unexplained was the nature of her sudden transformation in the wake of her defeat. She had mentioned the small animal group known as the Prisoner's Aid Society, which had approached her during her time in solitary confinement, so perhaps they were a factor. Undoubtedly, so was Norris Nulton.

Herbie sighed. Perhaps he was being too cynical. Foxglove had had a change of heart. Even Nimnul had gone straight for a while. He put the matter out of his mind.

"Where are you?" a new voice emerged from the speaker. "No, there's no change; he's still in Fantasyland."

Herbie returned the view on the screen to the world in front of the purse. He saw a woman with straight short red hair, a pale complexion, and dark clothing, talking into a cell phone and sitting in a white Ford Taurus rental car with the window down. Winifred had stopped, and was looking at her. The woman seemed to notice Winifred out of the corner of her eye, and turned away, cupping a hand around the phone. "Could we talk later?" she whispered.

Winifred turned without a word and continued walking. "I swear I know her from somewhere, but I can't remember where," she told Herbie when she was out of earshot.

"Anyone important?"

"I think so," she replied, hesitantly.

"But..." Herbie prompted.

"But, I can't remember for sure, OK? That explosion-thing at the end of my run-in with the Rangers, the one that made me magic-free, did a number on my memory when it ripped all the spells out. I sometimes have trouble remembering stuff from before then. That woman must have been from that part of my life. Or maybe I saw her on a commercial-she could be a spokesperson for all I know."


A hundred feet later, Winifred reached the door. She removed a card from the purse and slid it through a reader to gain entrance. Inside she turned a corner into a locker room and exchanged her coat for a plain gray jumpsuit.

"OK," she said as softly as possible. "This is it. Inspection is just beyond that door. Any last words?"

"What are you going to say if they find me?" Herbie asked.

"I could say you're another exhibit for Doctor Rogers, but only if you can convincingly impersonate a stuffed dove. Otherwise, I lose my job and my parole, and you get fed to the alley cats."

"I can do stiff and motionless," Herbie said, a little nervously.


Emerging from the locker room, Winifred turned a corner into a small room, occupied by a folding table and a walk-through metal detector, and sighed. There were two men in the room, wearing jumpsuits similar to Winifred's. One of them was nearly bald and was absorbed in watching the small black and white television mounted in one corner of the room. His nametag identified him as Ernesto. The other, named Bernie, wore an obvious toupee and was staring fixedly at the red-haired woman. Herbie recognized that look from his brother Tank. In his case, that look usually meant that Herbie would be spending the rest of the day walking funny.

"Morning, Freddie," Bernie sneered.

Ernesto looked up. "Ah, good morning, Seora Winifred," he said, getting up. "I think you are late."

Winifred ignored Bernie and turned to Ernesto, handing him her handbag. "Unavoidable, I'm afraid," she said. "Has Doctor Mitford-Pritchard come by?"

"Not yet," replied Ernesto as he put the handbag down on the table and started searching through it. "I heard him bellowing in the North Ward, so you might want to avoid that."

"Will do. How is Olivia?"

"Her fever broke last night."

"Thank goodness for that."

Bernie was becoming annoyed at the lack of response to his earlier taunt. "I say, Freddie, how's your cat?"

"I did not know you had a cat," said Ernesto.

"Of course the witch has a cat, Ernie. A black cat. And whenever it sees her it goes like this: MREEOWW!"

Winifred and Herbie both blushed-Bernie had accidentally said a rather bad word in Cat.

"I still don't think the seora has a cat," Ernesto said, confused. He turned back to the bag. "I'm sorry to be taking so long, but you have an awful lot in there today."

"Yes," Winifred explained. "Doctor Rogers asked me to bring in some items for the inmates to play with."

Ernesto glanced up at the wall clock. "I...I trust you, seora. I think that's good enough."

"Well I don't," interrupted Bernie, pushing Ernesto aside. He pulled out the glass rod and silk scarf. "Aha! This wouldn't happen to be a magic wand by any chance, would it?"

Winifred took the rod and scarf out of his hands and started rubbing them together. "Actually, Bernie, this rod is only magical if you think the triboelectric effect violates the laws of Nature."

"Don't you go using your big words on me, you old..." As Bernie's hand reached for the rod, a blue spark of electricity leapt from one to the other. With a gasp of surprise, Bernie fell flat on his bottom.

"She turned you into a newt!" Ernesto joked, pointing.

"What, really? Get me a mirror, Ernie! Somebody get me a mirror! I can't feel my rear!"

Winifred quickly picked up the handbag and swinging both bags high, walked through the metal detector into the hallway beyond. She managed to suppress a laugh at Bernie's expense. "You know," she confided to Herbie with a smile, "I think he'd make a rather handsome newt."


After obtaining a cart of janitorial supplies, Winifred made her way to the common room, where the calmer inmates were gathered. The pink purse was placed on a lower shelf where Herbie could still see what was going on. At the far end of the room, Herbie spotted Nimnul, or rather Nulton, sitting in a nook and staring out the window. Winifred went first to a different corner, where a man and a woman in white lab coats were consulting in low voices. Winifred waited patiently until she was noticed.

"Ah, Miss Cadwallader," the woman, Doctor Rogers, addressed her. "Do you need anything?"

"I have those toys you asked me for. I even had a chance to try one of them out."

"Very good. Put them on that table over there. I'll gather the patients at 8:30 for the demonstration."

"A moment, there, Miss Cadwallader," the man said in a superior tone. "Did you come straight here after signing in?"

"Yes, Doctor Mitford-Pritchard," Winifred said meekly, looking down.

"It is now 8:14," Doctor Mitford-Pritchard said, consulting his watch. "Given the walking time from the check-in station to here, that makes you ten minutes late."

"I am?" Winifred asked innocently. "I have 8:08 on my watch."

Doctor Mitford-Pritchard examined Winifred's watch and compared it to his own. "Yes, it appears that your watch is slow. It is now 8:15." He watched as the janitor adjusted her watch to the correct time. "Let's not see that this happens again, yes?"

"Yes, Doctor Mitford-Pritchard," Winifred said, backing away slowly.

"Honestly, Philip," said Doctor Rogers. "Sometimes I think you treat her worse than the patients."

"The patients do not have criminal records," muttered Doctor Mitford-Pritchard.


After placing half of the contents of her handbag on the table, Winifred came up behind Norris Nulton.

"It's such a beautiful landscape out there," he said without turning around. "So few colors are needed to render an entire world. The soil is the perfect shade of brown, the foliage is the perfect shade of green, the sky is the perfect shade of blue, and the clouds are titanium white. The hills are made up of sine curves, and those happy little clouds would make Bob Ross proud. It's all so simple-no distractions. There's only what is necessary, and no more."

"Norris?" she asked, quietly.

Nulton turned and looked at her, smiling. He had allowed a scruffy orange beard to grow in. "You shouldn't call me 'Norris'," he said in a near-whisper. "All evidence indicates that I am Professor Norton Nimnul."

One look at those gentle eyes were enough to convince Herbie that this was most definitely not Professor Norton Nimnul.

"But that's not true," Winifred countered.

"If I'm ever going to leave this place and get away from the constant questioning, then that's who I have to be. I am Norton J. Nimnul, scientist. I own a ray gun and a lab."

"Norris, I went to see the Rescue Rangers."

"The Rescue Rangers are a figment of my imagination."

"The Rescue Rangers have been kidnapped. Well not 'kidnapped', exactly. It's rather complicated. Professor Nimnul stole them."

"I am Professor Nimnul. And I can invent anything I set my mind to. When I'm released, I'll come up with brilliant inventions for the good of mankind. I think I'll start with Super Toast."

"You are not Professor Nimnul. Professor Nimnul's in your body right now, in your universe."

"In...in my body? W...with Francine? What is he going to do with her? Who's going to defend her? I have to go back! I have to go back, immediately! That man is a monster, and he must be stopped!"

The other inmates were looking at the two of them curiously. Luckily, Doctor Rogers was involved in setting up the morning's demonstration, and hadn't noticed. Doctor Mitford-Pritchard was long gone, having better things to do than interact with his patients.

Winifred took Nulton's hands in her own, an act which did a lot to calm the man down. "It's alright," she told him soothingly. "I met Tammy, and she has a plan."

"Tammy?" Nulton asked, his eyes wandering. "Ah yes, Tammy. Never got to air that episode. A shame, really. I put a lot of work into that conveyer belt. Of course, I warned Mr. Rockwell that nobody would believe a can that small could hold such a big cat, even as a joke."

Winifred reached out and grabbed Nulton's chin, forcing him to look at her. "Focus, Norris, focus. We need to know if there's anything we could use against Nimnul."

"'We'?"

"I brought Herbie, a friend of Tammy's." Winifred picked up the purse and sat down, her back to the other inmates.

"I don't remember a character named Herbie in the show," Nulton declared. "Unless...my neighbor's kid is named Herbert...you don't mean to say that Gadget mastered the Szalinski process to shrink a human boy into that tiny space?"

"I'm not human, Mr. Nulton," said the voice from the purse, "I'm a dove."

Of course Nulton could not understand what the voice from the purse was saying. "Sounds like a pigeon," he remarked.

Herbie's opinion on being mistaken for a pigeon resembled Chip and Dale's opinion on being mistaken for squirrels.

"A mourning dove, actually," Winifred corrected Nulton. "Counterparts between the same universe are not always the same species. I can translate for him."

"Well!" Nulton took a few seconds to absorb this. "Wow, that explains a lot. I think I'm going to have a long talk with that girl that used to live next door to the d'Footes when this is all over."

"We don't have much time," Winifred urged.

"Yes, well, let's see. How to stop Professor Nimnul? I dunno. He's in my body, right, just like I'm in his. And last night I accidentally ate some crab linguini with no ill effects, so maybe you could try using my shellfish allergy against him."

"Shellfish allergy," Winifred repeated, disappointed. "Is that all?"

Nulton shrugged. "Sorry."


"Ladies and Gentlemen," Doctor Rogers announced. "If you'd gather around, I've got something interesting to show you."

Winifred sighed. "You better join them, Norris," she said.

Nulton opened his mouth to apologize once again, then shut up and walked meekly to join the other patients.

Winifred wheeled her cart to an abandoned corridor, then picked up the pink purse and brought it close to her face. "I have to stay here for the rest of my shift," she whispered. "Do you have a way of getting back to Tammy?"

"I'm a bird, remember? I think I can trust you with the purse. Besides, I think it's best if we kept you updated about what Tammy found out."

"I'll be at the tree around 5:30, then. Now then, you need a working window. There aren't too many in this place, for obvious reasons. Let's see if we can find one."

After a bit of searching, she ended up in Doctor Roger's office, opening the door with her card key. Closing the door behind her, she walked to the window, opened it, and put the purse on the sill. The back of the purse opened up and Herbie walked out with a single-button remote control. Herbie pressed the button, which caused the purse to lock itself up with an audible "chirp". With a nod at Winifred, he took to the air and flew out the window.


Eleven hours later, Winifred returned to the park. Given what she had gone through at work, she would have much rather gone straight to bed, but she had promised to show up. She was startled to see the rental car from the asylum parking lot here at the park, with the same woman sitting at Winifred's usual bench, talking on her cell phone. At one end of the table before her was a large metallic box with rods soldered on either side, next to a strange device consisting of an upright cylinder wrapped in thick copper wire, topped with a thick metal donut, and letting off sparks every few seconds. The device seemed to resemble something Winifred remembered from the Mister Whizzer TV show, but much smaller in size.

As Winifred cautiously approached, she saw that Tammy, her hand resting on one of the silver box's bars, and Herbie were also standing on the table, and that they also appeared to be part of the cell phone conversation. Standing between the animals and the human was a black plastic box, nine centimeters by four centimeters by one centimeter in size. Attached to the top of the box was a black microphone, while the front of the box acted as a speaker. Everything said by the animals was immediately repeated by the box at a lower frequency. To Winifred, this sounded like trying to hold a conversation in a box canyon, but hearing the woman (and the man on the phone) talking with a dove and a squirrel, she soon figured out that the box was an animal-to-human translation device of some kind.

Tammy was the first to notice her. "Winifred! We've been waiting for you."

"I'm sorry about that-there was a 'incident' at the hospital, and it took quite some time to restore calm to the patients."

The woman stood up and walked around the table to greet Winifred. "Dana Scully, FBI," she said, in about as gentle a way as you can say something that ends with "FBI".

Winifred shook the outstretched hand. "I didn't think that the government was aware of the existence of talking animals," she said cautiously.

"They aren't. Our relationship with the Rescue Rangers is strictly off the record."

Winifred thought about this as the two women sat down on opposite sides of the table.

"We, that is, Agent Fox Mulder and myself..."

"Hey," said the voice on the cell phone.

"...became involved in this case by accident. At the FBI, we are usually assigned the more unusual cases, which means we were very familiar with the criminal career of Norton Nimnul. One day we noticed that an abnormally long time had passed since Nimnul had come to our attention. Some investigation revealed his current whereabouts and condition, and a little more digging showed that he had been in possession of the Dimensional Viewer shortly before the incident that landed him in the asylum." The object she was referring to was the metal box. For the first time, Winifred saw that a screen on the box was showing a moving image of a young human woman with a strange helmet on her head. Unlike everyone else who had encountered the Viewer, Winifred adapted to its strange display instantly, perhaps because of some of the things she had seen during her days as a witch.

Scully continued. "The Viewer had been constructed in 1940 as one of a pair, and Mulder possessed the other copy. From the remains of his laboratory, we recovered a notebook written by Nimnul filled with pages of settings for the device and observations of Nimnul's counterparts. The notebook concluded that one world in particular was 'ripe for conquest', and when Mulder set his Viewer to those coordinates, he learned that that world had in fact been conquered by Nimnul. I came here to see if Gadget might be able to help us to reconstruct the Dimensional Switcher that Nimnul had invented based on the Viewer, but as you know he had already reconstructed the device to use on the Rangers first.

"Mulder is now across the street at the police department's evidence room with Sparky, looking for clues to the construction of the Switcher."

"Sorry to disappoint you, Scully," said Mulder over the cell phone, "but we concluded our search a couple of minutes ago. No plans survived. We're heading back to you, so expect to see us in a few minutes."


Herbie turned to Winifred. "I told everyone what happened when we interviewed Norris. Did he tell you anything else after I left?"

"Well, he did, but I don't see how it can be useful. He told me that the Moon in his universe has a base on it, and that it might be used to attack Nimnul's bases on Earth. But from what you tell me, Nimnul is Emperor of Earth, so surely he controls all means of communication between the Earth and the Moon."

The eyes of Dana Scully and the girl on the Viewer display lit up simultaneously. "Actually," said Scully, "Mulder's counterpart, a government agent named Reynard D. Keigh, is currently on the Moon."

"'Reynard D. Keigh'? That's a very different name than 'Fox Mulder'."

"I didn't get it either, but Mulder did. 'Reynard' is the name of a famous fox, and 'D. Keigh', i.e. 'decay', is a synonym for 'molder'. Anyway, Keigh is in a position to really help us, and he has his own reasons for opposing Nimnul. Best of all, his mind is very susceptible to picking up Mulder's thoughts when he uses the Viewer. Therefore, I think Nulton's idea stands a very good chance of working!"


"I need everybody to please stay very still." All eyes went to Tammy to see why she said this, then followed her gaze to the end of the table opposite the Dimensional Viewer. There they saw a trembling Foxglove-A.

Hoping for this very eventuality, Winifred slowly removed a little jar of banana-flavored baby food from a coat pocket. Opening the jar, she scooped some of the food into the lid and then carefully slid the lid towards the bat. It took a couple of minutes for the bat to nerve itself to investigate the source of the fruity smell.

The woman on the Viewer tried to say something, but the machine was not equipped for sound, so Tammy had to repeat her words: "Foxglove's counterpart is domesticated. Perhaps she's calmed down enough to remember that."

After finishing the meal, Foxglove-A crept forward. To Winifred's surprise, the bat headed not for her but for Herbie, rushing forward and embracing the startled dove in her wings.

"She appears to recognize her master," said Tammy. "Or at least her master's counterpart."

"Yes, but I'd prefer if she were a little less tense," said Herbie.

Winifred took out her tin whistle. "Maybe music might help," she said, before starting to play the pavane from before.

"Oh, I hope that isn't the only song you know," said Tammy. "That one is pretty, but also rather depressing."

Winifred responded by launching into rather spirited version of "The Irish Washerwoman", following this with "She'll Be Coming 'Round the Mountain", which soon had everyone singing along.

"I'm sorry, this doesn't appear to be helping," said Herbie. Foxglove-A appeared to be more confused by seeing animals singing than comforted. "Carolyn, do you know any songs that the Foxglove on your world liked?"

Carolyn nodded. "Honker taught himself 'The Inner Light' on penny whistle. Foxglove seemed to like hearing that whenever I'd visit." As before, only Tammy could hear this.

"Do you know 'The Inner Light'?" Tammy asked Winifred. "It was from Star Trek: The Next Generation."

"No, I'm afraid not."

"I know it," said Herbie, gently disengaging himself from the bat and walking up to the tin whistle. "I can feather the notes if you provide the lung power. I'll use my tail to signal the octaves, OK?"

Winifred nodded, removing her fingers from the holes and playing a middle C. Herbie signaled her to go up an octave, and then slowly used his wing feathers to play out the notes in the song. About halfway through they were joined by a wordless voice at a higher octave: Foxglove-A, singing in the ultrasonic range, but shifted down by the translator into a range that could be heard by humans and rodents.

Everyone applauded at the conclusion of the song.

"Thank you."


"Alright, Mulder, I think it's safe to approach."

"Ah good. I've already been electrocuted twice just standing here." Agent Mulder stepped out of the shadows and took his place at the table. He was a tall man with black hair, a black trench coat, and an intense expression in between. From a pocket he gingerly extracted Sparky, getting accidentally sparked once in the process. He then placed another Dimensional Viewer on the table, identical to the first one. An image flashed on the screen of the new Viewer as soon as it was close enough to the Tesla coil to be powered, of the young man who was Mulder's counterpart on Earth-A.

"I wonder what my counterpart looks like?" Sparky wondered, reaching out his hand.

"NO!" yelled everyone in warning, but it was too late. As soon as Sparky touched the handle, the screen of the Viewer cracked and a puff of smoke rose from the Tesla coil as it too died. The face of Tammy's counterpart faded from the first Viewer, but other than the loss of power, it did not appear to have suffered any damage.

"Oh, I'm so sorry."

"That's alright," said Mulder. "I've got access to a full-sized Tesla coil, and I've been told these Viewers are very easy to repair."

"Did you manage to see anything?" Herbie asked.

Sparky's normally pale face was now even paler. "No," he said, "but I think I had a vision, or a memory, of the place I originally came from. A world with Nimnul but no Rescue Rangers. Guys, we can't let Nimnul come back here. It would mean the end of the world."