Otto grabbed his lab coat and wrapped it around himself tightly then he released it and rubbed his palms over the material. "What Mental Exam?" he asked, but he could hear the resignation already in his voice.
"The one we are about to perform," Ford said.
"After breakfast, right?" Compton asked, hovering over a stove.
"Something quick," Ford agreed.
"Toast and honey," Compton and Cassie said at the same time. They grinned at each other then began cooking breakfast.
Otto said nothing. He knew there was no use fighting. They had gone into everybody's minds but his by this point. It had only been a matter of time. He mechanically ate his toast and honey then sat and waited for the others. There were no arguments he could make against their wishes. He just hoped they could get farther in than him.
"Ready Otto?" Ford asked, breaking him out of his brooding.
"Of course, Ford," Otto said, a polite smile on his face.
His friends couldn't help but notice that it was the new, distant smile he'd had ever since they'd come back together. Sometimes, he'd smile like he used to, all bright rays of joy and exuberance, but they were getting less frequent, and in their place was what they could only call a 'business smile'. It was the same smile they'd seen Otto bestow upon those who asked for a photo or an autograph. Along with the smile would come rote answers to a few questions before he would turn back to whatever he was doing without missing a beat. In short, it wasn't their Otto's smile anymore, and they were determined to help.
"Do you consent?" Bob asked when it was clear that Otto wasn't going to say anything else.
"I do," Otto said, sitting up straight. He closed his eyes and took a breath as the portal settled on his forehead. He sensed them coming in, and he focused inward.
When he opened his eyes, he could hear the others calling to each other along a long, stony beach. He swallowed and turned away, making his way toward the dock's flashing lights. When he got there, he selected a boat and settled in the pilot's chair. He didn't feel like a captain. He couldn't even make it across by himself. The others arrived after awhile, and Otto turned to start the boat.
"Otto?" Lucy asked, her voice soft. She recognized the terrain.
"Do we want to keep going?" Otto asked, his voice too pleasant. "We can leave whenever you want."
"Let's get going," Ford said, his hand tightening on the back of the chair.
Otto started them off across an expanse of blue-green water. Nobody said anything for awhile, peering out at the mindscape around them. Then the fog started rolling in as the temperature plummeted. A low, vibrating hum passed over them all, and Otto's hands tightened on the controls.
"I hope you all brought a change of clothes with you this morning," Otto said calmly. "Though I suppose we always did keep extra in the Heptadome."
The fog was thick now, and the temperature had to be below freezing.
"Otto, what do you mean?" Cassie demanded, grasping the edges of the boat. Her breath hung heavy in the cold air around them.
Otto stared at nothing as the hum grew deeper and louder. "I mean, I won't be surprised if we don't get by," he continued, his voice still painfully pleasant.
The water rippled around them, as if great things lurked below.
"I haven't ever done it by myself, personally."
Their breath mingled with the fog.
"Otto, what's going on?" Ford demanded, frightened by the lack of control. Otto had always, always been in control. To see his mind like this, to see him barely hanging on was painful. None of them had realized it was this bad.
"Here they come," Otto said softly, and he closed his eyes… and let go of the controls.
The water suddenly surged up beside the ship, revealing a hulking figure with glowing eyes. Eyes in the shape of Bob's favorite pair of glasses. It held a bottle in its hand as it reared up over the boat.
"What are you doing back here, loser?" it demanded, and Bob was sickened to hear his own voice, slurred with drink and pain. The figure lifted the bottle to its lips and took a pull. "Get a load of this? He's come back again!" he hooted, and the lake continued to ripple as more figures rose out of the water.
"Otto!" Ford screamed, and he snagged his shoulders to shake him. Otto didn't react other than to shudder, curled in a tight little ball with his hands covering his face.
"Always so contrary!" Ford's voice boomed out from another giant figure. "When are you going to learn, you big dummy!" That figure had cracked eyes and seemed to be fritzing a little. Ford's knees went weak as he gazed up at a representation of his self after his mind had been broken.
"He doesn't learn," Cassie's voice said from the thinnest of the monsters. "You should know that by now, Ford." The Cassie on the boat gazed in horror at the projection. She had leaned into her witch persona the rumors had started, but to see herself this way terrified her. Monster Cassie's eyes were malevolent and unfeeling.
"Unable to, if you ask me," Compton's voice sneered from the monster nearest to Cassie's. "Quite a pathetic specimen. If you can't learn from your mistakes, what kind of a man are you?"
"Otto doesn't make mistakes, remember," Monster Bob hissed. "He always said so. So he must have wanted me to end up this way. Isn't that right, Otto?" He took another swig.
"That's why I ended up dead," Monster Helmut said. "Because he wanted it." His monster was huge, and he was pale blue, like cold, cold death beneath the waves.
Otto rocked back and forth in the chair, whimpering as the boat sloshed around between the hulking figures. Ford swore and jerked him out of the seat then sat down and stared at the controls. He didn't know how this boat worked. It wasn't like anything he'd ever seen before. Desperate, he copied what Otto had been doing, grasping the same controls, and he felt the boat surge under his hands. It was psychic! Of course it was. They could work with this.
"Ford!" Cassie screamed, pointing upward.
Monster Bob had finished off the bottle and he had reared back to throw it at them. Ford focused on the boat with his mind and it roared as he jerked the wheel. The enormous bottle missed them by inches, and water washed over the boat in a wave as it hit the lake and shattered with a sound like thunder. Everybody besides Otto screamed and clutched at anything they could reach. Otto didn't grab a thing and was swept overboard.
"No!" Lucy cried and commanded the waters to put him back. For the first time in her life, the water did not obey her.
A low, dark laugh began to fill the air, familiar and terrible. A figure rose from the lashing waves, Otto captured in the water beside her. His face was blank as he gazed at nothing.
"What makes you think you can control my waters, eh?" Maligula laughed. "None of you have any power here. We do. We are the ones in control. And it is time you knew it."
The waves rose around them in a wall of water, towering twenty feet on all sides. Ford released the controls because there was simply nowhere to go. They all watched the six monsters tower above them. Otto still didn't move, trapped by Maligula's water.
"Otto!" Cassie shouted. "Do something!"
"Do something?" Maligula laughed again. "He hasn't been able to 'do something' in twenty years! But it's what you deserve, isn't it, Otto, dear?" She stroked his face with mock tenderness.
Otto moved for the first time. He closed his eyes and nodded weakly. "My fault," he said dully.
"No, it's not!" Bob shouted. "Don't listen to them, Otto!"
Maligula didn't like that. She stared at them then smiled. "Have a nice swim," she purred.
With a single snap, the walls of water came crashing down. Maligula released Otto and he plummeted limply toward the lake as the rest of the Psychic Seven braced themselves for impact. The last thing they heard over the crashing waves was all six of the monsters laughing. Then they were flung out of Otto's mind with more force than any of them expected.
Ford opened his eyes, groaning. He registered that he was wet, and for a moment thought Maligula was back before he realized it was just his pants that were wet. They'd been ejected from Otto's mind. Otto's! Never before had that happened. Just as Ford began to piece together the memories, Otto let out a scream that chilled him. Ford forced his aching body up so he could look around. Otto was gripping his cushion hard, and there was a ripping noise as he tore it apart. Feathers flew everywhere, and everybody else was scrambling to their feet, wincing and trembling.
"Otto!" Cassie gasped, staggering over. "Otto, sweetie, it's okay!"
As soon as she touched him, there was a zapping crack and she shrieked as she was shocked with a burst of psychic energy. She shot backwards, still on the floor, but Otto screamed again, doubling over and hugging himself. Bob padded over and gazed with compassion at his friend.
"It's okay, Otto. We're here," he said.
"I know!" Otto sobbed, unable to stop shaking. "That's the problem! Just l-leave me alone!"
He struggled to his feet and ran for his lab, leaving them shouting and calling behind him. Tears streamed down his cheeks and he stumbled blindly down the small path he'd just begun to make. When he got to his home, he staggered inside then locked the door. He didn't hesitate this time as his skull felt as if it would split in two. He went straight for the bathroom, popped the top off the Psyconium bottle, and drank the rest of it in several large gulps. Then he staggered over to his bed and lay down, still crying. But at least the pain was going away. He just wanted to sleep, that was all, and he hugged his pillow and waited for the tears to stop.
Back at the Heptadome, the others had already changed their clothes and were gathering feathers. It wasn't very windy, so they had little trouble collecting them. None of them spoke as they processed just what they had experienced in Otto's mind. Bob spoke first.
"I can't believe that's who I was."
"Bobby," Helmut scolded.
"No, Helmut," Bob said sternly. "When I was drinking, that's actually what I was like. And I didn't care who I hurt because I was hurting so badly myself. You didn't see it, and I'm glad. But Otto did see it. For years. Until I was fired. Then I left without saying a word to him. Because he knew. He knew I was going to be fired and he said nothing." Bob paused. "But I don't blame him. I blame Truman for that."
"Does he know that?" Helmut asked, pulling Bob close.
"Do you think he does, Helm?" Bob asked softly.
"No," Helmut admitted. "He still blames himself for what happened in Grulovia."
"Not just Grulovia," Lucy said. "But everything after, too."
Cassie swallowed. "Oh my goodness, you're right. He watched us all fall apart, too." She turned to Ford. "Did you know he was the one who found you after you lost your mind?"
Ford shook his head. "No. I didn't."
"He smiled when he told me you were in the medical ward," Cassie said softly, tears sliding down her cheeks. "I asked what had happened, and he said you'd died of a broken heart, but not to worry because you were still breathing. But he didn't mean you were dead. He meant you were gone. Boolie and I hoped so hard that it was temporary, but… but I think Otto knew it wasn't." She covered her face and began to cry. "He was never the same after that. And Boolie and I didn't care."
"It's not that we didn't care, Cass," Compton said. "We were grieving over Lucy and Helmut, and suddenly Ford was gone too. And Otto just kept working like always." He paused. "You left soon after that. And I locked myself away. But Otto…"
"Otto was alone," Cassie whimpered. "We left him alone in his lab because that was what he wanted."
"But it wasn't what he needed," Ford said. "We can't change the past. But he needs our help now, so that's what we'll do."
"But how, Crully?" Lucy asked. "How when we cannot even get to the source of the problem?"
"I don't know," Ford admitted. "But we're gonna figure it out. Now, any ideas on what to do next time we go in?"
They all considered this for the next while as Otto lay curled around his pillow, finally unconscious but getting no rest.