Fourth Interlude - Part Thirteen

I walked into a deserted waiting room of a railway station, circa 1950. It was blustery outside, there's probably a storm due but I thought I'd go with it. I was sure the masked vigilante thread would keep Finch busy for a little while, long enough for me to hop two or three more threads and be well away.

There was a gust of wind and the rustle of newspapers as somebody entered the room. A tense glance to my right revealed a middle-aged man in a big coat and hat, struggling with his briefcase to close the door.

“How long are we going to keep doing this?” Finch whispered in my left ear, causing my heart to almost explode.

Fourth Interlude - Part Twelve

There were sirens in the night, police lights in the distance. I heard the swish of a cape and the sound of bats. Oh yes, I thought, this'll do nicely.

Finch stepped up behind me. She started to speak, but I cut her short.

“Shh! Listen, it's nearby.”

She stopped to listen, confusion growing on her face. I want her to pay attention to our surroundings, to get drawn into the story we've run into.

Confusion turned to panic as she remembered. We've just robbed a bank, there were gunshots, two officers down. Some kind of... uh... call it a creature, assaulted us as we made our getaway. We escaped but it tracked us here. Now we were trapped in this warehouse, the creature nearby.

“Find somewhere to hide,” I told her. “I'll lead it away. Meet me at the hotel in two hours.”

She nodded dumbly, eyes casting around for a suitable hidey-hole.

I raced to the warehouse door and pushed through.

Fourth Interlude - Part Eleven

“How did you get here?” I asked her as panic flooded through me, looking for a safe place and the wolf at the same time.

“Relax,” she said, “It's only me right now.”

I kept my guard up and kept moving in and out of trees and plants. “How did you follow me. There aren't many agents that can even enter the Weave, never mind navigate.”

“There aren't many agents like me,” she replied with a smile. “Look Fisher, we can't give you what you want, but we can offer you another opt...”

Before she could finish, I was gone. My place was compromised now, so I put it out of my mind, knowing that as I forget it, it'll slowly dissolve into unformed Weave slosh.

I step into a darkened warehouse, looking for a thread I can ride.

Fourth Interlude - Part Ten

 Her words would have frozen me to the spot if it hadn't been for the angry wolf turning to attack again. I thought discretion would be better than valour, and clicked my heels together whispering “There's no place like home...” as I did. That was my door back into the Weave, fairytale slippers they're called. No idea how they work, but they got me back to my little corner of the shifting swirling maelstrom of madness that was still my home. It's not much, my place: a simulation of a small patch of dense forest, but it's a place to escape the bedlam and it was the best my fledgling imagination could maintain at the time.

“I love what you've done with the place.” Somehow, Finch had followed me.

Fourth Interlude - Part Nine

“Why do you think we're going to help you?” Finch asked. “You suddenly seem very sure of yourself.”

She was right, I was very sure of myself. “Because I know where the pressure points are, between the Warp and the Weave. I know where there's cracks and tears. If you don't do as I've asked, if the Forest doesn't do as I ask, I'll use them. I'll let some of them use them. There will be chaos in the Warp beyond the scope of the Forest to rebalance.”

Lupus pushed past Finch, lunging at me once more, but I was expecting that. Nothing so predictable as a dog, am I right? As I span and flipped round him once more I heard him growl “We do this one my way.”

“We have our orders,” Finch replied. Looking at me once more she said “No. We cannot do as you request. Do your worst.” And she smiled.

Fourth Interlude - Part Eight

“What about what cats?” Finch asked me. “You're not making any sense.”

“I'm making perfect bloody sense,” I retorted. “Cats. Live in the Warp. Wander in the Weave. Have nothing whatsoever to do with the Forest. I want that.”

“We don't have that kind of authority,” she said, “I'm not even sure what would.”

“I know,” I replied, keeping both eyes fixed firmly on the wolf. I knew I was about to get cocky and didn't want his teeth at my neck. “But you're going to try and find out, and when you do, you'll get them to make the decision.”

Lupus lunged toward me but I was ready, spinning round his advance to put Finch between the two of us.

“I really think you should put a lead on your dog,” I told her.

Fourth Interlude - Part Seven

Lupus reluctantly let me go. I couldn't hear it, but I was sure he was still snarling.

“We know who you are,” Finch told me. “You're Fisher, Martes penanti, once an agent of the Forest. Something terrible happened, and you needed to take a break. We're here to find out if you're ready to return to the Forest now?”

Well I wasn't expecting that. “No,” I told her, “No, I'm not. I can't do those things again, I just want to go home.”

Lupus spat with contempt. “There is no home without the Forest.”

“That's what we're told, but I don't think it's quite true. What about the cats?”

Fourth Interlude - Part Six

“I'm Fisher,” I told her. “I'm not sure you can. I was expecting a Specialist.”

The man looked me up and down. “We will put aside the charades,” he snarled, “We know full well what you are. The only question is what do we do with you?”

“I'm sorry,” I replied, “What are you talking about?”

What happened next was as quick as it was savage. One moment I was shaking hands with Finch, the next I was being forced backward against a wall, one arm crushing my neck.

“I said dispense with the charades,” he snarled.

“Lupus,” The woman, Finch, sighed wearily, “Heel!”

Fourth Interlude - Part Five

This second agent is lean and hungry looking, a mammal of some kind, a predator without a doubt. His hair is long, and dark, his clothes much the same. He makes no secret of examining his environment, looking everywhere and sniffing the air. His arrival meant my original plan wont work, right, so I had to think of something new.

“Hey,” I shouted, improvising, stepping out of the shadows. “I'm over here. I'm the reason you're here.”

They both turned to face me, she was curious but he just saw prey. I don't know why but I gave a little wave. Both walked quickly toward me, she extending her left arm to shake.

“Hello,” she said, taking my hand. “I'm Finch. We've come to help.”

Fourth Interlude - Part Four

The sweeping glance, by the way, is beautifully executed. The arc of her hair as her head turns draws attention away from the scrutiny she grants her surroundings, while still managing to pass off as nonchalant. She's medium height, short red hair in a blue cap, wearing a mac. I'm not sure why but I got the distinct impression she's a bird of some kind, probably European.

I'm about to call out and get the proceedings under way when the most unexpected thing happens: a second agent steps out behind her. You could have knocked me down with a feather I was so surprised. That never happens. The two agents, I mean, not me being surprised. Hide in the Weave for a spell and you get used to surprises. But two agents? That never happens, am I right?

Fourth Interlude - Part Three

That's how I came to be there, stood in that alley, waiting for an agent to show up. I knew one would come sooner or later. By stepping back into the Warp I'd created an imbalance, and the Forest wouldn't stand for that. But you see I'd had enough of running and hiding. I'd spent so much time in the Weave I was beginning to talk like them, think like them, and I just wanted to go home. To go back to the forests and rivers where I belong. It'd been so long since I ate a good porcupine, I'd forgotten how tasty they are.

It's not long before my patience is rewarded and an agent emerges from the shadows, casually glancing from side to side.

Fourth Interlude - Part Two

So you gather information. You have your block, of course, but they're limited so you might prefer to take your time. Do a little research if you can, that's if there's nothing obvious staring you in the face. Maybe visit a library, if there is one. The Forest is very sensitive, you'll usually have a day or two before the imbalance becomes critical, so you might as well be thorough. Eventually you'll find your prime location, worm your way in with lies and bravado, try to get the bystanders and witnesses on your side. Gently slide your way into the heart of an imbalance, see what's what and do what has to be done.

“What has to be done.” That's a neat phrase, isn't it! Sometimes that means a spot of hypnotism or burning an infected ornament. Other times its a kill, or a localised quake. Once, they sank a whole island city, but that one didn't work out too well. The island dragged itself into the Weave, living on to this day. Sometimes “what has to be done” is so awful that it stains your soul and you just can't do it any more. Am I right? That's what happened to me. I renounced the Forest and fled into the Weave.

Fourth Interlude - Part One

There's never much of a warning that you're going to get called to an imbalance, is there? One minute you'll be doing what your species normally does, basking in the sun, hunting rabbits, whatever, next minute you wake up in an ill-fitting body somewhere in the Warp. There's no “pre-mission briefing” at some “Forest Headquarters”, like some of them want to believe. Too many spy shows on TV, that's where that kind of thinking comes from, am I right? The Forest is the Forest, it doesn't need a headquarters. But the moment you open your eyes, you know that you're on and you get on with it. First step for getting on with it? Information. You want as much information as you can lay your hands on; about the place, the players, objects. You want history and anecdotes, funny little stories. You want to know as much as you can as quickly as you can, am I right?

Episode 4 - Chapter 100

 In a cafe somewhere mundane, a girl in a wheel chair tells her friend about her dream.

“So I was playing Outbreak..."

“You were playing Outbreak in your dream? That's all you do when you're awake.”

“I know, duh, but sometimes I dream about it too. Anyways, I hadn't been playing for long, I'd only just got myself a decent weapon...”

“Which one?”

“The quivering blade. I ran into this guy and he was really weird, didn't seem to know he was playing, definitely didn't know about zombies...”

“You're joking, right?”

“No, really. I had to show him how to do everything, and the whole time I was with him it was really intense, vivid.”

“So what happened to him?”

“I don't know, he just disappeared, walked through a door and vanished. And then I got killed.”

“You...you got killed, in Outbreak?”

“I know, right? But I can't stop thinking about him, there was something about that guy...”

Episode 4 - Chapter 99

 “Because you're going to have to walk until you find the right door,” Tom tells him. “And before you ask, man, you'll know it's the right door because it'll be red, yeah? Unfortunately, it's quite a distance from here, and you're still too green for there to be a shortcut. So dude, start walking.”

“Is it all going to be like this, just door after door?”

“No,” Tom replies, “We'll pass some corridors as well, but they'll look just like this one. Dude, your brain is going to melt with boredom.”

“At least I've got you to talk to.”

“That's the thing, dude, I can't stay connected to these places for very long. I start to lose my focus, even lose myself, yeah?”

“Why?” Robert asks. “What are they?”

“These, dude, are the corridors of the subconscious.”

Episode 4 - Chapter 98

 Robert turns the handle and opens the door, stepping into what he can only describe to himself as an institutional corridor. The walls are a drab green, the floor grey linoleum, door frames and skirting boards off white. The corridor stretches into the distance as far as he can see, with doors on either side at six feet intervals.

He pauses for a moment, with one foot in the meadow while the other's in the corridor, looking back and forth, before stepping through and pulling the door to behind him.

“I'm sorry, dude,” Tom tells him, “But the next bit of your journey might take a little time, and it's not going to be the most interesting thing you've ever done.”

“No,?” Robert asks. “Why's that then?”

Episode 4 - Chapter 97

 “That sounds very ominous,” Robert quips.

“Don't worry man,” Tom replies, “It's nothing to worry about, but the geography of the Weave isn't linear. Come on, I'll show you. Go and open the door.”

Robert begins to walk the last few steps as Tom continues talking.

“You're expecting to open that door and walk into a cottage but the Weave doesn't work like that. For a start, man, the cottage might have no interior, because it doesn't need to. For the cage to work you never see inside, yeah?”

“Okay,” Robert says, reaching for the door handle.

“So when you step through that door you're going to walk into another part of the Weave!”

Episode 4 - Chapter 96

 “The day the cloud lifted,” says Tom with some satisfaction. “What a beautiful phrase.”

“I always thought it was a bit odd myself, until today that is.”

“Well, it barely matters now. You can lift your head up now, if you like.”

Looking up, Robert discovers he is standing just a few paces from a picture perfect fairytale cottage.

“We did it? We really did it.”

“No man,” Tom replies, “You did it.”

“So what happens now?” What do I do next?”

“You open the door, enter the cottage and escape the trap. I gotta warn you though, what's on the other side of the door won't make a lot of sense to you.”

Episode 4 - Chapter 95

 “Yes? What is it?”

“I remember there was a lot of laughter,” Robert tells him. The breeze has died down a little but the laughter and barking are much louder, almost as if the dog were right there with them, making it difficult for him to concentrate.

“Banjo be quiet,” he commands without thinking. “Sorry,” he tells Tom, “I forgot where I was for a moment.”

“Don't worry,” Tom replies. “You're doing very well. Is there anything else?”

“Mum's got this saying, she's always going on about the day the cloud lifted. I never realised when I was a kid but I think that was it, I think that's the day she's talking about, the day we had that picnic, the day the cloud lifted.”