Ultimus Chapter Twenty-Two: Dr. Phil
Ultimus Chapter Twenty-Two: Dr. Phil
For a while, Paul and Erica helped Andrew find the perfect place for him to set up, they also helped him set up his tent and bed. It was strange though, how they acted when they harvested the resources. They wouldn’t put the resources they gathered in their bags or into baskets to hold them in like Andrew. In fact, the resources seemed to disappear soon after they harvested them. Andrew asked both of them if they were losing resources or needed a basket to hold the resources in. Erica seemed to ignore his question with a cold shoulder. While Paul reassured them that they had the resources fine and didn’t need the baskets Andrew was using. And as they got to the end of gathering the needed resources. Paul asked for fibers and silk that they had been gathering from both Erica and Andrew. Andrew grabbed one of his baskets and carried it over with the items inside. But as Andrew carried his basket over, Erica walked over and threw a large pile of materials that came out of nowhere in front of Paul!! And then watched Paul grab all of the material and disappear as fast as it appeared. Andrew was flabbergasted at the sight of this! What were they, witches and wizards? This seemed impossible to Andrew. He came over with his basket of fiber and silk and set it down on the ground in front of Paul.
“Thank you, Andrew!! This will definitely be needed for the tent!!” Paul thanked him as he grabbed the resources and they somehow disappeared almost instantly. Andrew didn’t even know if he wanted to question it at this point. He nodded and smiled at Paul before starting to walk away from him. That’s when he looked back to see Paul raise his left wrist to his face and start having something happen to him. His face immediately went lifeless, and his eyes flickered and twitched rapidly. With his arm still raised to his face like he was staring at it. His wrist grew brightly and light came from it. When Andrew saw this happening to Paul, he rushed over and immediately panicked, and started calling for help.
“What’s the matter with ya?” Paul said concerned, blissfully unaware of what he looked like or why Andrew was panicking. Andrew stood there in a dazed state while staring at the dead-faced Paul.
“You're not having some sort of medical issue? Or final moment thing?” Andrew asked, Paul laughed raising his wrist down while he did so. Regaining life in his face.
“What are ya talkin’ bout? I’m perfectly fine. Are you okay?” Paul tried saying while laughing about it. While Erica looked at Andrew oddly as she came up from gathering a few resources.
“What do you mean? He’s just checking his blueprint archive.” She said,
“Blueprint archive? He’s just staring at his wrist and his eyes are moving like he’s possessed by something!” Andrew said, Erica raised an eyebrow.
“You don’t see the interface in front of him?” Erica said oddly, Andrew
“Uh, no. He looks like he’s staring off into nothingness and partly dead.” Andrew said,
“Oy. That hurts, I ain’t dead here and I sure ain’t partly dead.” Paul said as he looked at Andrew.
“No offense, but you did in the moment.” Andrew said looking back at Paul with his hand raised in the air, Erica smiled at all of this.
“Well, it looks like another theory of mine has been proven to be true. At least from what Andrew is telling us.” She said,
“What theory?” Paul said,
“Well, we know that the implants have a sort of pocket tek storage built into them, act like a sort of key for some parts of the Arks and some things down here even, and are connected to important parts of the human body. Showing vitals, what injuries we sustained, and our… What did you call it Paul?” Erica said,
“Our I&O Sheet. It is used to keep track of our intake of fluids and food.” Paul said, Erica gestured in a sort of not understanding manner as she said.
“Right, that. Anyway, they-” “Wait, you guys have storage boxes built into your wrists?” Andrew asked,
“Yes, it’s a storage system that can hold basically anything up to the maximum weight we can physically carry. But, they also keep an archive of blueprints, stuff we’ve made in the past time of being on the Arks. I have been speculating that the implants use augmented reality for the inventory HUD and blueprint HUD over holographic systems. But I could never be sure as we can see the back of the HUDs from our eyes. But seeing that you can’t see them while we can, answers this theory and proves it to be true.” Erica continued. Paul though continued to give a curious look at Erica when she finished saying that.
“You’ve never told me about these theories. What other theories do you have? I’d be very interested in hearing these other ones.” Paul said curiously yet his tone was off slightly. Erica’s smile faded and she looked away from them. She started rubbing her left hand’s fingers.
“No, none of the ones I have left are any good. Most have been proven on the Arks or here anyway.” Erica said looking away as she continued to rub her left hand.
Andrew stood awkwardly between the two as Paul stared at Erica with an odd expression and Erica stared off into a different direction away from Paul and Andrew, then she walked away. Paul shook his head lightly as he turned to Andrew.
“I think it’ll just be you and me for setting up the rest of your part of the campsite. Once we’re done, you can do whatever you like to do before you normally go to bed.” Paul said, Andrew nodded. And Paul went off to get more resources.
Andrew hated the type of thing that just happened between Erica and Paul. Where he didn’t know what to do or say to people. This happened all the time when he was young when he had the rare chance to meet other people but it was something he hated then, between Rue arguing with her sister Sam, classmates doing the same, or adults arguing over something. He would always find himself in this situation, and it was the same in conversations where he didn’t belong or understand the whole situation. And while Andrew understood what they were talking about somewhat. He didn’t belong in the conversation. There also seemed to be some strange tension between Paul and Erica when she mentioned her theory, but he didn’t know what any of that was about. He just didn’t like these types of conflict.
For about an hour after that incident, Andrew and Paul gathered materials for both the tent and bed. Once they had finished gathering all the material, Paul showed Andrew how they crafted their gear and camp equipment. Andrew learned quickly what he needed to do, but he was severely slower than Paul. He almost moved unnaturally fast. Andrew would look away for a moment and look back to see he was nearly done with what he was making and getting ready for the next thing. If he was the oldest, he was doomed. He would have to work ten times as hard just to match them. And he wasn’t sure if was willing to do so or not. He missed home and wanted to just be alone after his horrible week, and as much as he wanted to be friendly with them and get to know them. He wasn’t all too sure if he wanted to become a tribe member. It sounded weird to him, cultish even. Just unnatural to how he was. Plus he could tell that Erica didn’t like him, nor did Jonathan. It seemed to be causing tension between them, and he didn’t want to cause bad blood in the group. He would probably tell Paul this when they were finished with this.
~
After they had finished his tent and bed. Paul smiled as he looked at Andrew. He put his hand on his shoulder and sighed with peace. The tent was quite big, more akin to those in the history books about medieval times or Arabic times. Having
“Here’s your private quarters, your room essentially here. If you decide to wander, half or all of the camp will be sleeping so stay quiet. If you have any questions. Either I or Sylas will be up for a while longer so don’t be afraid of asking as long as it’s quietly. Freya hasn’t seemed to make it back to camp yet. Which I would say means she succeeded in her plan. So they’re’s one less camp member right now. She’ll probably be back late in the night or very early morning. So if you're up then you might see her come in while you're still awake.” Paul said smiling, Andrew looked at him and smiled slightly. But he sighed.
“Hey, I’ll probably be gone before you wake up in the morning.” Andrew said,
“Oh, why?” Paul asked, his smile faded slightly.
“I just don’t feel like I should be here, I feel I am causing too much tension in your-” “Stop, you aren’t doing anything. Me and Erica have been having a bit of trouble lately. And even if you were the cause of the problem, it doesn’t matter. This group or tribe works and decides together. They already decided to have you in this group. Jonathan and Erica are harsh, yes, but they are giving you that opportunity to be here. Prove them right, that you are trustworthy enough to be here.” Paul said interjecting, Andrew didn’t really know what to say about it. Paul shuffled in place, lowering his head, and sighed before looking back at Andrew.
“Just think on it over the night will ya? And if you still feel like leaving in the morning. You can and I’ll tell them you’ll be on your way.” Paul said, Andrew thought about it and then nodded in agreement. Paul smiled back.
“Don’t worry about the other’s when making your decision Andrew. Not on how they’ll react or feel. Just on your decision and how it’ll affect you. I’ll be praying for you in this need. Goodnight Andrew.” Paul said smiling, Andrew nodded and smiled back.
“Goodnight Paul.” Andrew said, he saw Paul walk off towards the other tents. Then Andrew turned to look at his tent, then walked inside. It was smaller than his bedroom but not large enough for him to take his gear off and still have room to sprawl on the ground next to the bed. Andrew sighed as he set his bow and packed gear on the ground. He detached his knife from his side and began to take his armor off. Once he got it all off, he took off his ratty socks and started to feel the ground beneath his feet. Feeling the Earth and rock with his toes. It felt like the stuff back in the forest. He dug with his foot for a moment and started to feel the old concrete flooring below the Earth. He took a deep breath in as he took his foot out of the ground, he looked at it and saw it was covered in dirt. He quickly wiped it off, sat on the bed to put his socks back on, and lay on the bed. Attempting to fall asleep, but time passed, too much time. He couldn’t get to sleep. This place and the whole sun constantly out at its peak messed with his sleeping pattern. He got up and put on his boots and left the tent. Two of the tents had lights on while all the others were off. He walked up to one of the tents and heard murmuring or someone talking to themselves. He peeked inside and saw Paul kneeling by his bed with his hands cupped on top of the bed. Andrew stepped away from his peek hole and went over to the next tent and saw Sylas tinkering with something in his tent. Sylas peered back and waved seeing Andrew. Andrew saw some sort of heavy-duty battle axe and helmet at the end of his bed. It looked almost medieval but different in a way, they were strange. Written in bold white on the side of the axe, but he couldn’t read it from how far he was. Andrew looked at it curiously. Sylas was seemingly noticing this and trying to play charades with Andrew, trying to tell him what it said. Andrew smiled and nodded, not catching it but glad he was trying to be helpful to him.
Andrew stepped away from the peeking hole and continued to wander around the camp by himself. His mind was on what Paul had said to him as he did not want to think about this decision. He hated the fact that he was alone and was feeling better being there. But he didn’t feel he deserved to feel better yet, he lost everything he loved and it was his fault. He then tried to blame it on something else and killed it out of revenge. And he did things in the vengeance streak that he regretted. He was not deserving of any of this. It would’ve been better if none of this happened. If he said no to his father and mother so long ago. Why did he say yes to all of this so long ago to his parents? Why did they abandon him!! He lost everything from a moment of free will, why did his mother give him this choice? He was too young to understand the risks and consequences of these actions. Just Why!
He wandered around by himself looking at the ground, tearing up as he thought about his past. Each moment he was left to himself made him feel worse. The painful memories and voices of that day filled him with darkness and confusion clouded his thinking, and for once, he knew it was. He began shaking from all of this, about ready to collapse. He leaned against a fence post and realized he was outside the ape’s pen. He looked inside to see the ape playing with some berries left on the floor, and then he looked at the sign on the gate, Phil. He needed to talk to someone normal, or something. He sighed as he opened the gate. Immediately the ape got up and growled, did apes even growl? He had only seen these a few times, and from how he saw them fight against other creatures and robots. He avoided them, until now. The creature towered in front of him, teeth showing and pounding its chest.
“Hey, hey, it’s alright. I don’t want to hurt you.” Andrew said,
“I just want to talk.” Andrew continued, Phil though didn’t seem to understand and remained aggressive. Andrew had to think of something, he raised his hands in the air and spun around in a circle before sitting on the ground crisscrossing. Phil's expression changed, and he slowly sat down and watched Andrew suspiciously. Andrew took a deep breath as he looked at Phil.
“Hi Phil, my name is Andrew. Andrew L…” Andrew paused, trying to remember what his last name was. While he said that it was just Andrew. Truth be told, he couldn’t remember. But still, even if he knew. He didn’t feel that comfortable yet telling them his full name. An animal was different, it didn’t use it nor understand what you were even saying. However he still always felt better talking to them about things, pretending that they understood and talked back to him.
He thought for a moment, scanning for any memories that could tell him what it was before he came across it.
“Lang, Andrew Lang. And if it’s alright with you Phil, I need to talk to someone about some stuff.”
~
It always started the same. First, an empty room, a clock ticking away, then a call with bad news. More moments would join in with later ones, getting new senses along the way. A feeling of pain, a slam to my head, a call over a radio, sirens, panic, a horrible smell, a tight hug around me, sorrow, a familiar face, whispers in the distance, suspicion, and distrust. Then it progressed to more serious moments. Yelling, anger, lies, conspiracies, confrontation, betrayal from a loved one, udder hate for the world. It continues, getting more detailed. A slamming of a door to a house, the feeling of tears running down my face on a cold, winter evening. A car engine starting up with the repetitive pinging sound, a phone call from a loved one, more yelling but also begging mixed in, and a call ending. Headlights, roadway, snow, an intersection, a truck's horn, blood rushing to the head, and then a strange feeling. Finally, it goes pitch black, my body moving in the darkness, their feet touching nothing. Hazes and static periodically appear and move around. Rapid breathing, heart pumping, voices of the past, things said before, turning around to see a coffin…
Erica woke up in a cold sweat. Her body shook vigorously. She sat in her bed for a moment, holding her chest and breathing rapidly. A nightmare, the same nightmare she continued having since she woke up on the Ark. Old memories mixed in with the dream, things that felt different from her dream, but not from her memories. She hated it, having them. She hated all of this stuff that happened. What happened in that time? Why is the Earth in this state? Was it the war? No, they would’ve picked up the decreasing speed of the Earth’s rotation. So had to be something else? It had been racking in her head for most of the day. When she wasn’t thinking about their new “guest” and a few other things going through her mind.
Even thinking about him made her feel uncomfortable that he was here. She didn’t like the situation at all, he was too quiet for her liking. He seemed a bit friendly, yet he was experienced in weapons too much for her liking. And if Paul was right, could be mentally unstable. This made him a danger to the group. And she couldn’t lose anyone to a volatile man. The bullet marks on his armor didn’t help his case either. Did he steal the armor, killing the last wearer? Or was he just a murderer? Either way, she would keep her eye on him closely.
Erica got up out of the bed. She needed to get up and walk around. Get all of this out of her head. She put her shoes on and started walking around camp. All the lights were off in the tents. So everyone should be asleep, except Freya. Her tent was left open from when she left earlier that day. Erica looked over at the new tent that Paul and Andrew built. The flap was closed and there wasn’t a light in there. She rubbed her left ring finger, thinking about what she should do. She groaned before walking over to his tent. She told Paul she was going to keep a very close eye on him, And she was going to keep her word on that for sure, not that she wouldn’t mind completely avoiding him. She saw that it was vacant, her heart started beating fast again, and her breathing quickened. she panicked immediately rushing back out, her thoughts so irrational from her dreams and thoughts that she didn’t notice the armor and weapons left inside his tent. She rushed back into her tent where she grabbed her longneck rifle. She was going to make sure he wasn’t going to be a threat to her group. If he would threaten her, he would defend herself quickly. She didn’t care if she’d kill someone unstable if he was a threat to her friends. She would kill him for the greater good to protect her friends.
She left her tent loading her rifle as she did, she looked in the possible directions he could’ve gone. It was a large number of choices, it didn’t help That the city had changed significantly enough since she was here. She barely recognized some of the locations that were left around. And as much as she hated to admit it. Paul was right that Andrew might be a better guide through this place than she would. But it didn’t matter if he was dangerous. She started heading to her triceratops when she heard cooing and quieter hooting coming from the pens. It sounded like Phil, then she listened for a moment before hearing a quiet voice talking, so quiet that if she continued on her way. She wouldn’t have heard it. It again sounded like it was coming from the pens. She started walking in that direction, holding the gun close to her but not against her shoulder. As she got closer, she could hear more of what was being said.
“I just don’t know about that Phil. I am not used to people, I have more time with talking to animals than I do with people. It’s hard for me to talk and gain their trust with me being quiet and not knowing what to say. So spending more time with them could just be really bad with me just sitting there in silence. Maybe I should just go home. I won’t be any help here anyway. They can make things a dozen times faster than me. I’d just be slowing them down, and… with how I acted when they found me. they probably think I am a liability.” The voice said, Erica peered into the pen to see Andrew sitting in the filth with Phil sitting across from him. Phil began hooting, cooing, and gesturing like Sylas would as though he was talking to Andrew. He likes to imitate humans and pretends he can fully understand what they say to him, but he didn’t understand in the same capacity as apes from the the old era. He couldn’t do sign nor did he understand much of what they said. He could only understand a few words and gestures that they said or did around him. But he couldn’t have a deep conversation or a simple conversation without missing or not being able to understand things in the conversation. Though he had deep emotional feelings, he could feel deep emotions and sympathize with others in their feelings. He seemed to be able to understand what Andrew was feeling even though by the expression on his face, having no clue what he was saying to him. However, Andrew didn’t need to know this. This seemed to be a coping mechanism for him, and it seemed to be working as he nodded his head at the hooting and cooing of Phil. Erica stayed quiet not to be seen by Andrew or Phil.
“You’re right, you’re right. Giving up before trying is no way to do anything.” He said. Phil smiled and got up and started running around excited after hearing Andrew say you’re right. Andrew chuckled
“You know, if you weren’t so distracting while trying to talk to you. You’d be pretty good to have a conversation with. But you definitely said it. I need to try, not leave when I start feeling antsy. So that answers that. I guess you’ll see more of me here.” Andrew continued, he was about to stand up, before he paused and looked at Phil who wandering around his pen out of steam.
“Do you mind, if I stay here? Just until I can get tired, I… would really like to talk to someone normal about what I’ve been dealing with.” He asked, Phil looked at him and and started cooing as he swung his arms in excitement. Phil always liked company. Andrew sat down, took a breath, and started talking some more to Phil. Erica looked at them for a moment longer, before taking a step back and slowly unloading her rifle, resting it on her shoulder. For a moment, a small smile came to her face when she heard all of it. She sighed to herself, maybe she was being harsh in a way. It still didn’t mean she trusted him, she still was very distrusting about him. But she would give him a chance to prove her wrong. She quietly walked away back towards her tent heading back to bed. Hearing that conversation not only seemed to help him but helped her too. Her mind wasn’t so filled with her haunting nightmare and her fear of Andrew was eased ever so slightly. Her heart was beating at a normal pace and for one brief moment. She felt something that she hadn’t felt in a long time, hope.
~
Andrew must’ve been talking to Phil for hours and the most part, Phil seemed to be pretty attentive to the conversation. He did get excited over some of the things Andrew said and Andrew would have to wait until Phil settled down. But all in all, it was going very well. Then as Andrew talked to Phil, Phil got distracted by something over Andrew’s shoulder. He got up and went to the closet corner of the pen to the campsite. He grunted softly as he stood in the corner staring outward.
“What is it, Phil?” Andrew asked, Phil just grunted. Andrew got and got next to Phil looking in the same direction. Andrew saw a figure walk into one of the tents and close the tent flaps behind.
“Who was that? And what were they doing up?” Andrew said, Phil looked at Andrew and then grunted. Andrew nodded.
“You’re right, it’s not my business. And I should go to bed. But I loved talking to you!! Can I, come back tomorrow night and talk to you some more?” Andrew asked, Phil smiled and hooted. Andrew smiled as he walked towards the gate.
“Thank you for that, and Goodnight Phil! See you tomorrow!” Andrew said, Phil waved goodbye and Andrew did likewise as he walked out of the pen and headed back to his tent.
But as he got closer to his tent, he began to wonder if he should find out who it was out wandering around. Even though he was given a tour that day. He still wasn’t sure who’s tents were who’s. But then thought that if he checked, he might get caught by them if they were still up. He would probably just wait until the morning to see who came out of which tents.
He finally reached his tent and went inside. Taking his shoes off as he went in. He sat on his bed for a moment thinking of what he would do to gain their trust. And how he would go about doing it. But as he sat there, his eyes waned and his mind seemed to lose focus. He needed to sleep. He’d have to come up with something later. But for now, he lay down on the bed. Closed his eyes, and fell asleep.