Separation Anxiety
Part Seven
Angered that Alan abandoned her at the restaurant without an explanation, Mindy drove home. As she drove through a winding mountain pass heading back towards Boulder, she felt the sudden urge to pull over. There was something about that particular spot that seemed important to her. Getting out of her Jeep, she looked around, peering down the steep embankment beyond the guardrail at the creek below as if expecting to see something. As she did this, it triggered a rush of memories so intense it overwhelmed her, causing her to stagger backwards and lean against her Jeep to steady herself. After taking a few moments to recover, feeling dizzy and nauseated, she realized why her desire to stop had been so strong. She remembered everything.
"Mork," she said, sobbing.
A streamlined black sedan pulled up beside her, looking like a sleek panther stalking its prey. The window to the passenger side rolled down, and Mindy recognized the wiry, bespectacled man inside.
"Dr. Feldman," she said, approaching the car. "Oh, thank God! Please, tell me that you have Mork and that he's safe."
Dr. Feldman smiled. "You remember," he said.
"Yes," she said, wiping her eyes. "Where's Mork? Is he all right?"
Dr. Feldman looked away. Mindy could tell there was something bothering him, something he wasn't telling her.
"What is it? What's wrong?" She asked.
Dr. Feldman sighed. "Get in," he said.
Dr. Feldman took Mindy back to the top secret government base hidden beneath the Flatirons. As they walked through the maze of subterranean tunnels leading to his laboratory, she shuddered, remembering the first time Mork was brought there against his will as an object of study, almost dying.
"It seems the drug Dr. Friedman gave you altered your memories, but the one he used on Mork produced a different effect," Dr. Feldman said as they walked. "It simulated insanity and suppressed his extraterrestrial powers. Now that we have successfully removed him from the hospital setting where he was being administered this drug, his powers have returned, but I'm afraid his sanity has not."
"What are you saying?" Mindy asked.
"We can't be sure, but it appears that Mork is suffering from some kind of withdrawal symptoms from no longer having access to the drug."
"Are you suggesting that Mork somehow became addicted to the drug that Alan—Dr. Friedman was giving him?"
"Yes."
"But why would Mork crave a drug that was causing him harm?"
Dr. Feldman shrugged. "Why do alcoholics continue to drink when they know they could develop cirrhosis of the liver?" He asked. "Why do smokers continue to use tobacco when they know it causes lung cancer? It has nothing to do with how harmful the drug is, Mindy. It has to do with its effects on the brain. Right now, Mork's brain has developed a dependency on the drug that Dr. Friedman was giving him. We're doing all we can to help him, but I'm afraid until we locate Dr. Friedman and bring him in for questioning, we may not have enough information to cure him."
Mindy nodded sadly. "Can I see him?" She asked.
"I was just about to take you to the room where we're keeping him. I must warn you though—he is extremely dangerous. His powers have returned to him, but his mind has not. That combination makes him rather unpredictable."
Dr. Feldman opened the door to his laboratory. As they went inside, Mindy was stunned by what she saw. It looked as if it had been struck by a bomb, shattered glass and dismantled equipment littering the floor.
"Mork did this?" She asked.
"Yes. That is why we have had to take extra precautions about where we keep him."
They approached corner of the lab that was cordoned off, enclosed by walls of heavy, thick metal, making it look like a tomb.
"Now, I know this may look grim," Dr. Feldman said, "but I promise you that we are doing everything we can to make Mork comfortable. He is not restrained behind those walls in any way. Actually, those walls are more for our protection than his. The metal acts to absorb the energy from his powers and contains it, preventing it from spreading to the rest of the lab." He punched in a code and opened the door to the room. "Be careful, Ms. McConnell," he said. "We're monitoring this room. Should you be endangered in any way, we will take action to assist you."
Mindy looked inside the room. It was decorated to look similar to their bedroom in her apartment, but it was in disarray, as if Mork had ransacked it. He cowered in the corner when he saw her.
"No, get away from me!" He shouted, his eyes wide with terror. "You're not real!"
Mindy was heartbroken when she saw how small and vulnerable he looked inside the room, like a broken doll inside a dollhouse. She glanced at Dr. Feldman in concern.
"I warned you that this is what he would be like," he said.
Mindy turned back to face the bewildered and terrified Mork. "Of course I'm real," she said, entering the room with caution, smiling at him to show him that she wasn't a threat.
Mork shook his head. "Not real…not real…" he muttered, holding his head and rocking back and forth.
"I'm right here, Mork," Mindy said, crouching down on the floor beside him. "I won't leave you. We're going to figure this out together. We're going to get you home."
Mork continued to rock, repeating the same words over and over again as if they were a mantra.
"Not real…not real…"
Dr. Feldman watched the pathetic tableau, feeling tremendous sympathy for both of them. He barely noticed when a solider appeared beside him, causing him to jump with alarm when the man spoke.
"Doctor, they need you out here," he said.
"What is it?" he asked.
"We have located and captured Dr. Friedman."
The hopelessness and despair that he felt watching Mork and Mindy suffer lifted as he realized the best chance for helping them had been delivered to him.
"I'll be right there," he told the soldier, who promptly departed. He turned back to Mindy. "Stay here and take care of Mork," he said. "I'm going to go talk to Dr. Friedman and see if there is some way we can get him to help us."
Mindy nodded, gently touching Mork. He didn't notice her presence, lost in a world of his own tormented mind. She hoped that Dr. Feldman could find the answers soon, before Mork was lost to her forever.
Dr. Feldman met Dr. Friedman in the detention cell where they were holding him, sitting down across from him. The handsome young doctor sneered at him, making him look eerily glorified.
"You might as well cooperate," Dr. Feldman said. "You're in our custody. Your experiment is over."
"There is a quote often attributed to Hitler that says, 'the greater the lie, the more people will believe it'," Dr. Friedman said. "My uncle worked for Hitler, as you know, before he defected and agreed to work with the United States government to turn in his fellow Nazi collaborators. What I have accomplished so far has been a continuation of his research. Using a few drugs that I manufactured in my laboratory, I managed to convince Mindy, Mork, and the entire town of Boulder of a reality that did not exist. Imagine what I could do on a larger scale."
"Why use Mork in your experiment?"
Dr. Friedman scoffed. "I shouldn't have to tell you why," he said. "You know perfectly well why. As an alien, he is the perfect test subject for any number of experiments. He is a valuable resource to advance the progress of scientific inquiry decades beyond where it currently is."
"He is an intelligent, sentient being, not a lab rat," Dr. Feldman said.
"Aren't you being a little hypocritical, Doctor? I mean, you did once capture him to study him, correct?"
"Yes, but I saw how unethical it would be to keep him in captivity, when he has so much to offer mankind. We are already learning more from him having him work for us than we ever would have if we kept him strapped to an examination table. After what you've done to him however, I'm afraid he may never be the same."
Dr. Friedman smiled cryptically, leaning back in his chair and crossing his toned arms.
"What have you done to him?" Dr. Feldman asked. "Can it ever be reversed?"
Dr. Friedman stared coolly at Dr. Feldman, refusing to respond.