"To everything there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven..."
Ecclesiastes 3:1
By Atonia and Jo
Jo writing Maximus, Caroline, Bud, Marie, Lachlan, Hope, Cort, Daisy, Ben, Zack
Atonia writing Terry, Dee, Alex, Linda, Jack, Tarwyn, John, Bethany, Dino, Max, Sophia
PART 2:
Max was downtown with Linda Calhoun. She wanted to see the offices he’d leased and they
were waiting for the decorator to arrive.
“I think it’s going to be perfect, Max. Two floors…I couldn’t imagine what we’d do with two floors but I see it now. This top floor with the big expanse of windows would be perfect for a conference room. We can set up a little kitchenette in here for drinks and snacks. And the
back two rooms could be arranged like a living space. One a bedroom and one a lounge area. Downstairs we’ll have the offices.”
Max walked over to the windows and looked down on the city. “Linda, the way you speak of this…needing offices…what is it you expect from us? I thought we were only to be figureheads, names on the letterhead sorta thing.”
“I’m not asking anyone to do anything they don’t want to do. There may be some that are more business minded than others…you for instance. I would expect you to have an office and probably help.”
“I’ve asked Tarwyn if she might be interested…with her background in banking and finance, I think she’d be a perfect fit.”
“Good, I like that.”
“I take it you haven’t talked to Terry?” Max raised a brow.
“No, not yet.”
Max looked at her a moment. “This is not going to be a faux front for HAWCO, is it? You’re planning on moving the corporate offices here…aren’t you?”
“Yes, Max, I am. Right now I’ve kept on the people that were operating out of Dallas but that’s going to change. I want my own people and you and the rest of the family are my people.”
Max smiled a little. He couldn’t imagine Ben sitting on the board…but then the brothers might surprise him. Or…Linda might get surprised by the independent nature of all of them. Would they want to be tied up to HAWCO?
When the decorator arrived, Max left and decided while he was in town, to go by the hospital and see Zack.
Again Zack’s door opened and someone new to him came in. He was really curious now to
meet all the men who were his brothers. Each of them was entirely different from all the others except for their general appearance. This man was easily recognizable as one of them. What would he be like? What information did he have to share. He waited, slightly tense, for the
man to speak.
Max smiled, “Hello, Zack. I’m Maximillian Skinner, Max for short. You’re looking a lot better than the last time I saw you.”
“You saw me? Oh, you mean before I woke up.” He was listening carefully now to accents. “You’re not American, are you, Max?”
“You were still comatose when I dropped by. I’m British, Zack. You’re not American either,
are you?” This was the first time he’d heard Zack speak and he sure didn’t sound like Zack Grant from his movie. “You sound like Terry and Lachlan.”
“Terry was just here. He says he thinks I’m Kiwi. I don’t know what to think…about much
of anything any more.” He looked seriously at Max. “Since you’re English, how and why did you end up in Texas? You don’t look much like someone who would choose to live in Texas.”
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Max chuckled, “I’m NOT someone who would chose to live in Texas, however I’m here with
the rest of my brothers and…it’s not as bad now as I first thought it was. Terry brought me
here after finding me in a South American jungle. Among his talents, he’s a K&R agent.
Kidnap and rescue guy…a negotiator and when that fails, he rescues. I wasn’t on his tally
sheet but as he was rescuing my fellow hut mate, his partner grabbed me, too. Fortunately.” Max smiled, “Now you’re going to ask me how I, an English banker, ended up in the jungle.
I honestly do not remember how I got there. I was in Provence one minute and the next conscious thing I knew I was in the jungle. Kind of like you ending up in a stream. At least I
still had my memory about me. There is no logical explanation for it, I know. So, I think it
must be something illogical, something out of the box, so to say.”
Max hadn’t meant to tell him all that but it just rolled off his tongue. Clearly the man was confused and why not? “As for you being Kiwi, Terry would know. He’s just come back
from that part of the world.”
Zack closed his eyes tightly, trying to process what Max had just said. It sounded…wild…
more than wild. An English banker in Provence who was dumped in a jungle? It sounded like
a novel, a B movie. He bent his head forward, clamping a hand to his eyes. “Oh, God,” he moaned. He was more lost than he’d thought.
Max was concerned he’d said too much. “Zack…look, pay no attention to me. Strange things have always happened to me. And really, each of us brothers has a story to tell. Just remember what I said about something outside of the box. Things are, oh dear…Zack? You have to keep an open mind about it all. I’m absolutely sure it’s not quite as bad as you may be thinking. It’s strange and different, we all are, but we’re here together and we’re here for you. Think of us
as an oddly assorted support group for that’s what we are. We support each other. I know you’ve been through an ordeal but you’re healing bodily and soon your mind will come to you.
It will, I’m sure of it.” Max placed a hand on his arm. “You’ll do all right, Zack.”
Canfield came in to get Zack up and walking again and when he saw the position Zack was in,
he trained a grim gaze on Max. “What have you been saying to him?”
Max picked up his bag from the chair and looked over his glasses at Dr. Canfield. “I have absolutely no idea. Something about jungles and boxes.” He smiled a quick smile and pushed
his glasses up on his nose hoping to make a quick exit.
“No you don’t, Max. You come out in the hall with me, young man.”
Caught, Max moved out into the hallway and bit his lip. Dr. Canfield looked none too happy
with him right now. “I was only trying to answer his questions.”
“And what questions would those be?”
“Well, let’s see…he caught on right away that I wasn’t an American. He also wanted to know how I ended up in Texas because I didn’t look like I belonged here. So…I told him I came via
a South American jungle and…um, Terry. That was the, um, jungle part of it. The box…well,
I said he needed to think outside of it, or something to that effect.”
“Ah…the jungle. Yes, I guess he really needed to know about a London banker from Provence in the jungle.” Canfield sighed and shook his head. “Oh, well, Max, don’t worry about it. It’s evident things are not sitting too well with him right now. You men are just too strange a bunch for there to be any logical explanation. Terry’s got a real problem with Zack thinking he’s FBI, not knowing the truth of things. You just added another log to the fire. I think he already had
a whole cord of wood burning anyway. He’s going to have to find out sooner or later and it’s beginning to look like sooner. Truth is, Max, he’s not Zack, not any more. All that Zack was has been stripped from him and he’s left with his creator. He’s trying to understand about his father. How do you tell a man he’s his own father?”
“Father?” Max widened his eyes. “We don’t have one. It’s my own personal opinion, of course, but I think he needs to be told the truth. I know early days we were all trying to protect him
and explain things in a way he might understand. But, he has no father, no mother, only his brothers who aren’t really brothers at all. It’s a far stretch of the imagination and whether he has any or not, I can’t say.” He grinned a little crookedly. “I’m a banker. I have no imagination. I only see the truth as his way out of his mind fog. When Terry told me who I was, I was in complete denial until he showed me proof. Now if Zack is not really Zack but a lookalike Zack then we may have a harder time convincing him what he is. Especially with an Aussie accent. Sid’s going to have to be explained to him. One of us or all of us need to have a talk with him,
Dr. Canfield. That is…when you think it’s time, of course.”
“It’s not that you men have a father, Max. He asked about his father and he was told his father moved around a lot, women evidently liked him, and he got a batch of them pregnant but never married any of them. He knows nothing of the movie scenario yet so how was it to be explained to him about his father? Without knowing about films, it was the only thing that made even a
bit of sense. I admit it’s a load of bullshit and when you stop and think about it it makes Crowe sound like Don Juan times a hundred when he’s really such a good family man. But when a patient in Zack’s physical and mental condition asks about his father, there has to be some sort of answer. I know he’s thinking about it…a lot. He accepts you men as brothers because you
all look like him in your own ways, and that’s a far easier concept than that you are all basically the same man in different guises. And, Max, he may be that man. With Zack gone, and with him having a cross between a New Zealand and Aussie accent, Crowe is what’s left. We got ourselves Russell Crowe in there, Max. I believe that more and more all the time. He’s Russell as he was around the time he made Cort, Alex, Zack and Sid. Heaven only knows where that will leave
him in this life.”
He looked toward Zack’s closed door. “He’s gotten used to being called Zack and I think we might leave it at that…less complicated than calling him Russell. Terry says the same thing
you do, Max, about getting together and, as the weird family you guys are, handling it as a group. Maybe altogether you can find a way to help him get the understanding he’s got to
come to.”
Max rubbed his eyes beneath his glasses. “We can’t continue treating him like a mushroom, in the dark and fed a load of bullshit. If we do get together, and I think probably we as a family need to talk about this, then I’d want you to be there in case we tip him over the edge. God forbid we do anymore damage to him but right now he’s in a sort of mental anguish from NOT knowing and hearing all these different scenarios from us and it's only adding to his confusion. I’ll talk to Terry and see what he thinks is the best way to go about it. I know he was very
patient with me but insistent and he never gave up until I could see it for myself.”
“All right, Max, you talk to Terry. I’m going to check on Zack now. He wasn’t looking so well just a minute ago and I worry what could happen to his delicately balanced systems if he should get too confused, too upset.”
Max left the hospital and decided to stop by and see Terry. He called to make sure he was home.
“We’re here, just got back from Walmart with a hot pad for Deidre’s neck. Come on by, Max. We’d love to see you.”
Zack had gotten out of bed, driven by his need to know. Canfield seemed always to be taking one of his brothers out in the hall to have a discussion he couldn’t hear. No more. He wanted
to hear what the doctor would say to Max. He was no longer hooked to the IV and so it was easier to make his way across the room and lean his shoulder against the door where he could catch their conversation.
Problem with thinking he was FBI…not knowing the truth about things? What did Canfield mean? He wasn’t FBI? Going to have to find out sooner or later…not Zack any more? What? He began to gasp in air through his mouth. He’s his own father…own father…own father? He closed his eyes, pressing his forehead hard against the door, his head starting to hurt terribly. Movie scenario…bullshit… accepts as brothers because you look like him? The words went on and on, each like a knife slicing into his body. All basically the same man…he may be that man. He felt dizzy, then it intensified as though he were being sucked in swirls down into some horrid drain. He swayed on his feet, took a step backwards from the door, then fell hard against it.
Canfield had just watched Max get on the elevator when he heard the loud thump from inside the room. Instantly he tried to open the door but something was pressed against it from the inside. He pushed hard and the door came open a few inches, enough to let him peer through and see Zack crumpled against it. He pushed more, sliding Zack’s body with the door until he could get inside. Oh, God! He stuck his head back out and bellowed, “CODE BLUE!”
A cart was instantly hurtling down the hallway from just a short distance away, accompanied
by a medical team. Canfield had pulled Zack more away from the door so they could get inside. Zack’s heart had stopped and he wasn’t breathing. The shock of what he’d heard had overwhelmed systems too recently formed, still too new to handle such a thing and they had simply shut completely down. Canfield and the team worked on him frantically, ripping open the front of his pajamas, sending buttons flying, in order to place the paddles.
When they got his heart started and his breathing going, he was placed back up on his bed. Canfield attached the brain scan electrodes to his head again and stood there, feeling heavy
and tired as he looked at the erratic spikes and long valleys. He knew what had happened.
Zack had obviously come to the door to listen to him and Max talking. He could have kicked himself for not taking Max further down the hall. Now were they back to square one with
Zack? He didn’t know.
Max was genuinely glad to see Terry. They shook hands and Terry led him into the living room. “I hear you’re back peddling wine again,” Terry grinned.
“Yes, well, it seemed the right fit for me. Extra added bonus of Sophie, of course.”
“Of course…when do we get to meet this Sophie?”
“Soon. How are you , Deidre?” Max stooped and kissed her cheek.
“Other than my neck, I’m fine, Max. It’s good to be home.” Dee was in the recliner with a hot pad on her neck and shoulders. “I have this lovely designer neck piece to wear for awhile.”
“I’m sure you look smashing with it on.” Max took a seat.
“You went to see Zack. What do you think, Max?”
“Well, he’s not Zack Grant from No Way Back. He talks like you but remembers nothing about himself. He’s obviously curious about who he is, since everyone else seems to know but him. I’m afraid I went off and told him how I ended up here, not mentioning A Good Year. Dr. Canfield was none to happy with me.”
“No, he isn’t Zack or if he WAS he isn’t anymore. My thought is that Sid stripped Zack from him and left him Russell. I don’t see perpetuating the myth that he’s some FBI agent from New York.”
“I agree and he’s been told he has a father that fathered all of us with different mothers.”
Terry made a motion with his hand. “Bollocks! I know why he was told that but it just adds to his confusion. He needs to be told the truth.”
“I thought perhaps we, as a family, might decide when and whether to as a group, explain his existence to him.”
“I had the same thoughts, Max, but getting Canfield to agree won’t be easy. I just know if it
were me in that situation, I’d want to know the truth.”
“I told him he’d have to think outside the box and something about strangeness. I don’t even remember all I rattled off in there. Dr. Canfield ushered me out of there pretty quickly when
he arrived.” Max looked at Terry a moment. “How was your trip to Australia? Learn anything about your past?”
Terry sighed and sat back in his chair. “More than I expected, Max. I met the real Terry Thorne, Major Terry Thorne, that is. I know this is going to sound strange, but he’s a ghost or
a spirit, I don’t know which. He still stays at Thorneton. I was able to communicate with him and he’s pretty much given me my life story. He and Russell were mates. He died back in ’97.”
“Oh, good Lord, Terry.”
“I know how it sounds but it’s all true. I was based on a real character.”
“What he says is true, Max. I had an experience with Major Thorne, too,” Dee added.
“I suppose it’s not any stranger than anything else to do with us. This, um, ghost, was he okay with you? I mean that you were him?”
“Yeah. I think he’s someone that I would have liked in life, you know? He said I was living out his life for him. Thank God, he doesn’t know just what kind of life we’ve experienced here.”
“On the home front,” Max smiled, “Linda wants to set up a meeting, maybe sometime next
week so we can all sign on the dotted line and officially become part owners of HAWCO. I’ve obtained offices on Main Street. They are about to be renovated so depending on the state of things it will either be there or somewhere else, probably at her ranch.”
“Okay, that’s cool. Just let me know when and where and maybe at that time, if we’re all there, we can discuss what to do about Zack.”
“Good idea. I’ll leave you two now. Deidre, all the best, love.” Max took his leave.
“Terry, it’s Dr. Canfield. I wanted to let you know the latest on Zack.”
“What’s happened, Dr. Canfield?”
“He died. Yes, that’s right. He got out of bed and listened at the door to what Max and I were saying in the hall and went into complete cardiac and respiratory arrest. I was able to resuscitate him but his brain waves are spiking again and he’s not regained consciousness. He heard some pretty hard to accept stuff, Terry, and couldn’t handle it. Whatever Sid did to him has made his system very delicately balanced. I know you think I’m being overly protective of him but, well, this is the result of his hearing my conversation with Max.”
“Bloody hell!” Terry was speechless for a moment. “What can we do, Dr. Canfield? Would it
be of any benefit for me to come and sit with him? I’d be glad to.”
“I truly do not know what might be of benefit to him, Terry. But, yes, I’d say come on in. Maybe talk with him like he can hear you. Maybe he can. I’m willing to try anything at this point. Decimus was killed instantly so there was nothing I could do for him. Zack I’m trying
my damndest to save. We lost the one. We lost Rachel. I’m not losing another.”
“No, not losing this one. I’m on my way, Doctor Canfield.”
Maximus and Caroline were both in the city, each on separate missions to get certain things
for their wedding day after tomorrow. Both of them had definite ideas with which they wished to surprise the other. Caroline had had one request of her groom. He wanted to wait for her
in the fog by that tree. That was fine, and he could wear whatever he liked, but she had a
dream way down in her heart of coming through the mist and finally seeing him…and he
would be wearing his cape.
So one of the things he was doing today was trying to find someone who could make him one, a good one, and quickly. He never once had thought about the appearance he made in his cape. To him it was for warmth and nothing else, but when he saw that it truly meant a lot to Caroline, he was more than willing to do so for her sake.
She was trying to find for herself what she wanted to wear so that when he first caught sight of her coming to be his wife, she would look somehow…memorable. She also had to find a ring for him as he did for her and even though the wedding would be small, she wanted a big brunch afterwards with a wedding cake in the mix. She had designed the cake herself and took it by a large bakery. She shopped for things to use as a centerpiece for the brunch table and a few decorations. Neither of them let the other know of their plans.
“Damn!” Ben had been having a headache and lain down on his couch for a nap in hopes of making it go away. He woke from another one of those dreams of the woman in the field. This time she was running toward the horizon. Again she had on blue jeans and was in a large field, this time of ripened grain, and she had a certain energy about her running almost like she was running for the sake of running and not because she had to be somewhere quickly. The sky was nearly filled with low stratus clouds and she was running up a slight slope through the tall grain as though she were enjoying herself.
“Why?” he asked himself. “Why you keep dreamin’ about this gal?” It was really starting to bother him now that this was the third time. Always her back was toward him. What meaning did that have? Was she running away from him? Was she running toward him? Did her running have anything to do with him at all?
Tarwyn was in town looking at fabric swatches for draperies. She’d hired a decorator from one of the furniture stores she’d been lost in but there were decisions she had to make. While she
was looking at shades of blue a thought struck her.
“If I wanted to get an authentic uniform made where would I go?”
“Sorry? What kind of uniform?”
“Ah, HMS Royal Navy issue, ca 1805. A captain’s uniform.”
“Honestly, Miss Daniels, I do not know.”
Tarwyn bit her lip and looked off to the side.
“Now then, have we made a decision?” The decorator looked to her.
“I like the lighter color.” Her mind wasn’t on draperies anymore.
After she left the store she drove to Terry’s house. He’d been able to get Ben’s horse, why couldn’t he find one of Jack’s uniforms?
Terry wasn’t there and Dee told her to come in.
Canfield was in Zack’s room when Terry arrived. He’d been studying the brainwave patterns and had a frown on his face as he turned toward the opening door. “Ah, Terry, good. I just
wish I knew what Sid had done to this man. It’s almost like he emptied him out and now his systems are trying to rebuild…or something…and they’re not used to functioning as they should. I think that’s why he completely shut down when he heard the things Max and I were saying about him.”
Terry looked worriedly toward the bed. “Slowly and gently he needs to be brought up to date. He has a desire to know the things he can’t remember. The problem is, we don’t know what it
is he can’t remember. If he WAS Zack and Sid cleaned him out then we know where to begin,
if he wasn’t then…I don’t know.” Terry took a breath. “His vitals, how’s he doing?” Terry looked at the machines attached to Zack but they told him little.
“His heart and breathing are regular again, thank goodness. It’s this,” he pointed to the patterns the brain waves were making, “here and here…and here that concern me. Those are off the chart and need calming down before there’s any possibility of him regaining consciousness.”
“Max came by and told me a little of what he’d said to Zack. I know he meant no harm. If it’s
all right, I’d just like to sit with him awhile. I hope when he does wake that he’s not back to square one again.”
Zack lay perfectly still, breathing quietly, his face still slightly pale. Various monitors tracking his vital functions made rhythmic beeps.
Terry pulled up a chair by Zack’s bed. He sat quietly for awhile looking down at his hands and then looked up. “Zack, it’s me, Terry. I just wanted you to know, I’m here. I want you to know I’m here because I care about you. You might wonder why that is because we only met this morning. It’s hard to explain, really it is. You’re a part of me. I know it and I feel it. You don’t have to be afraid. You’re not alone here. If you want someone to take you by the hand and lead you out of the darkness, I’m here and I’ll do everything I can to help you.”
His eyes were not on Zack. He was looking at the framed print on the wall. A waterfall, it reminded him of the waterfall he and Deidre had seen in Australia. “Finding out who you
really are is sometimes a long journey into discovery. It’s not an easy one and surprises pop up at every bend. It won’t be easy for you and there will be questions without answers. None of us know everything.”
Just the slightest suggestion of a sound came from Zack.
Terry turned and looked at Zack. Zack was looking back and he was glad to see intelligence behind that look. He wasn’t emptied out again. “Hey,” Terry reached out and took his hand. “Welcome back.”
“Ter…Terry? I…,” he closed his eyes a long moment, then opened them halfway, looking at Terry. “I’m not…Zack?”
Terry gave his hand a little squeeze. “You look like Zack to me. That’s the truth. Why do you think you aren’t Zack?”
“Heard…Zack not Zack…Russell…complicated. Heard….” He closed his eyes again and a bit of moisture leaked out onto his cheek and his chin trembled.
Terry realized what had happened now. “It is complicated, Zack, and yes, I’m calling you Zack. I’ll tell you some things I know. You’re around 30 years old. I’m about six years older than you. The Russell you spoke of is Russell Crowe. He’s an actor and a damn good one too. Aside from that, he’s a good man. He’s made a lot of movies and created some memorable characters.”
Terry hesitated. He didn’t want to send him spiraling off again. “How are you feeling, Zack? What is it I can do for you?”
“I…,” Zack swallowed hard, “I need to understand…who I am. Who brothers are. I…I feel
so lost, Terry. So lost. Help me.”
“I’m going to. I’m going to help you but I’m going to need some help, too.” Terry looked towards the door. Dr. Canfield was standing there and he locked eyes with him a moment. “Doctor, could you find out who’s in town? I’d like some of the others here.”
Canfield had heard what Zack had just said. “Yes, Terry, I agree. This can’t be put off and
I’d rather it be done while he’s here in the hospital as that will be safer for him. I’ll go make some calls.”
He went to his office down the hall and called Bud. “Bud, is it possible for you to come over to the hospital…now?”
“What’s up, Doc?”
“Zack…only he’s not up, he’s down. He overheard a conversation I had in the hallway with Max and, well, he died. I was able to get him back again and Terry’s in there with him now
and he’s conscious again and asking for help in understanding who he is. I think it would be
best if those of you who are in town came over and it was done altogether.”
“I’m actually on the other line with Maximus. He’s in town doing some preparations for his wedding Friday. I’ll let him know what you said and we’ll both be over ASAP.”
Canfield called everyone except Cort, Ben and Alex because it would take too long for them to get to the hospital. He wished Cort, especially, could have been in on it but there simply wasn’t time.
When he was done, he tipped his chair back and rubbed his hands across his face. Would this kill Zack? Well, he’d have him already hooked up to monitors and he’d stay in the room and watch the readings carefully while this group of men tried their best to help Zack. Then he
went back down to Zack’s room and opened the door enough to let Terry know who was coming.
“I’ll wait for them out here and when they’ve all arrived, we’ll come in as a group.”
“What…what’s going on?” Zack asked as the door closed again. “Terry, why are so many coming?”
Terry was still holding Zack’s hand. He gave him a reassuring squeeze. “Because I need their help and their support around me…just as you do. What I’m going to explain to you and what they’ll help explain won’t be an easy thing to swallow. Don’t be alarmed, don’t get upset, Zack. You need to stay with me on this…stay with me and your questions will be answered.”
John left the office with Bud and both were on the phone. John called Jack and found he was gassing up his vehicle just a few blocks away. Jack agreed to meet them at the hospital.
Maximus and Lachlan arrived at the hospital at the same time and took the elevator together
to the 6th floor. Canfield was waiting for them and smiled as the second elevator opened and Bud and John got off. He motioned them to come to the lounge so he could talk with them first. Jack strode down the hall just as they were taking their seats, then the elevators opened again and Max was there.
“Good,” he said, when they were all gathered close, some sitting, some standing. He explained what had happened with Zack after overhearing his conversation with Max in the hallway.
“Bollocks!” Max exclaimed and rubbed his face.
“Terry’s in with him now and Zack’s awake and lucid and he can’t be kept in this limbo he’s been in since he came out of his coma. Let Terry take the lead but do your parts whenever it seems the right thing to do.”
He led them down the hall and opened Zack’s door. Looking in, he smiled at Zack. “Zack,
most of your brothers are out here in the hall, all the ones who were in town today. They’re here because they care about you and your well-being, so no matter what, remember that. You’re not alone. You’re not. You’ve got all these men who are part of the same thing you’re
a part of.” He looked at Terry then opened the door more widely and let the other men into
the room.
As the brothers took their places around the room, Terry smiled. “The cavalry has arrived. We’re about to explain our existence to Zack. He needs to know who he is and where he fits
into this life. Zack, this is Lachlan, I don’t believe you’ve met him. He’s a fellow Aussie.”
“G’day, mate,” Lachlan said, coming close to the bed, deliberately displaying his Aussieness. “I’m the youngest of this group of blokes and I’m sorry I haven’t had the chance to meet you yet. I think we’ve got them outnumbered now since there’s three of us and that’s apples far as I’m concerned.”
“Lachlan…I heard about you. Air force, right?”
“Too right. Been flying transport lately…till I got taken out of action not long ago.”
“Stabbed…elevator.”
“Yeah, got stabbed right in my elevator,” he grinned. “But…,” he caught a glance from Terry and broke off what he was about to say.
Terry winked at Lachlan. “All right, Zack. I’m going to tell you a story. I told you about Russell Crowe and his movie career and the memorable characters he’s brought to life on screen. One of the characters he made wasn’t human. Russell played the part but in the movie he was the product of a computer program. He was what is called a nanotech. He was created to teach policemen in some futuristic setting. In the movie there came a time when he got out of the computer and ran rampant all over the city creating mayhem and murder. At the end of the movie he was back in the computer and not happy about it. This is the part that’s hard to believe…the name of this character was Sid and Sid found away to get out of his computer
again. Only this time he didn’t hang around to intimidate his co-star. This time he was out in
the real world…this world that we live in. It was no longer Russell paying a part…the part had evolved into a separate being. That being, Sid, came here eventually and started a company called NanoCorp. Are you with me, Zack?”
Zack was licking his lips, trying to comprehend what Terry was explaining, wondering how it had anything to do with him or the men in the room. “I think so,” he replied but with a bit of a question mark in his voice.
“You’ll see where I’m going with this in a minute. Sid has acquired great wealth and where it came from we’ll never know. The company he starts manufactures nanobots. Now, nanobots
are beneficial to medical science. He knows nanobots because that’s what he’s made of. He
needs someone to run the company for him because he’s got better things to do than sit behind
a desk. He’s created something called a ‘warp’. This warp allows him to go anywhere he wants to go.” Terry looked up at Bud. And what does he do, Bud?”
“Because he learned how to get out of his movie, Zack, he also learned how to go back into a movie…only it didn’t have to be his own movie. It could be someone else’s movie. And because he was made by the actor Russell Crowe, he wanted to go into other movies in which Russell
had also acted. So, well, he did. And with his warp technology, he could not only take himself
in and out of a movie, any movie, he could bring somebody with him. So he went into a movie that Russell was in called Proof of Life and…and that’s Terry’s movie, Zack. Sid went into Proof of Life and he brought Terry out of it.”
“Why? Why would he do that? You’re saying he did such a thing because he needed…employees?” He had a deeply puzzled crease between his eyes and he looked straight at Terry.
“That was only part of it. Yes, he did need employees but he had a plan in place. He needed certain people to implement this plan. He needed retrievers. It was an elaborate system he devised. He sent me through the warp to bring Bud out of L.A. Confidential, and later to bring John out of Mystery, Alaska. He needed John to head up security at NanoCorp. NanoCorp was drawing some unwanted attention. The fact that there were several of us there who looked alike produced rumors that we were cloning. Nothing further from the truth was happening, but we were investigated by a special branch of the FBI.”
Terry looked up at Maximus. “Like I said, Sid had a reason for bringing us out of our movies. We weren’t privy to that information until later, when it became fact.”
Maximus blew out a little breath, not sure how to go about telling this part. “The reason, Zack, was me. For some reason Sid decided he wanted to take everything I am and merge it with everything he is. It was a very distorted plan but he set about it with great care, bringing Cort out of The Quick and the Dead because he wanted someone along on his retrieval of me from Gladiator who was also from the past, would also be out of his time. It is possible he took Jack out for similar purposes but somehow he did not follow through with the Captain. I do not know why. We did not know this at the time, but even before Terry, he’d brought Alex and Lachlan out of their movies as his first experimentations with making sure he could do such a thing. Rather than keeping them for his uses at NanoCorp, he simply discarded them, leaving them utterly to their own devices in a world they were new to and which they did not understand.”
He looked at Lachlan then, and smiled fondly. Things got very complicated with this plan of Sid’s and much became involved in it that may be explained more fully later. Using computer technology of the most advanced sort, he made what he called his ‘Maximus Chip’ by forcing
me into many situations to which I had to respond and which, unknown to me, he was feeding into the chip. Eventually he inserted the chip into himself. You must remember, Zack, that Sid is not human and for him such things are possible. He is not flesh and blood like you and I are, like all his other counterparts are. In the end, many things went wrong and he decided he no longer wished to have the chip as part of himself, so he extracted it and went back to being as
he was before. Over time, he evolved even more, gained new and greater capabilities and became more and more a threat to the rest of us with cruel entertainments with which he amused himself. He has never considered himself to be one of us, though, truly, he is because
he, too, was made by Russell Crowe. I, personally, have never understood how he could have been brought into being by a human as we all were yet not be human.”
“He came out of Virtuosity somehow, Zack,” Bud added, “as the nanotech he was rather than
as the human who made him.”
“But…how do I fit into all this? Who am I? Are you saying I, too, am a creation from…from
a movie?”
Bud looked across the room at Canfield, who was keeping a sharp eye on Zack’s monitors.
“We thought you were. You look exactly like Zack Grant, the FBI agent we’ve been telling
you you are.”
“You mean you’re not sure anymore I’m Zack?”
Canfield raised a cautionary eyebrow.
“You may have been. We don’t know. We all think of you as Zack. But…when you were found, it seems that if you were Zack, Sid did something that stripped all that away from you, all but the personal appearance of Zack.”
“I don’t understand.”
Canfield spoke up then. “You may have been so stripped of all that made Zack Zack that you are now more Russell as he was when he made Zack than you are Zack himself.”
Zack looked around the room from face to face to face. “You are saying you are all this Russell Crowe, that we have no father named Crowe, but that he is an actor who acted all of you?”
“That’s pretty much it, Zack,” Lachlan nodded.
“So each of you is from a separate movie and Sid has been responsible for bringing each of you…out…of that movie?”
“Right,” Bud said.
“So…in fact…every single one of you is Russell Crowe and that’s why you all look so much alike?”
“That’s right, Zack, and we’re from different time periods, too,” John added.
“So if Sid had not done whatever it was he did to me, I would be like you…I’d be Zack…but
I’m not Zack anymore?”
Quietly, unobserved by Zack, Canfield injected a mild sedative into the IV line, not enough to put him to sleep, just to make him feel calm and slightly drifty.
“That’s the question,” Bud continued. “You may just be Zack with amnesia but if you were,
why don’t you still speak with his accent? You speak like Russell, who was born in New
Zealand but lives in Australia. That’s the wrench in the mechanism of it all. It’s possible you may have been so stripped, that Russell is what’s left, is who you are. In that case, you’re not really a movie character.”
“I…,” Zack yawned, putting a hand over his mouth. “Sorry. I guess I’m a little tired.”
“You’re doing fine, mate.” Terry said.
“So we’re not brothers…we’re all the same man…or you all are all…me?”
“I know it sounds most confusing,” Maximus said. “It is confusing for us as well. Sid has done something different with you, Zack, than he did with the rest of us, something that makes you more Russell than any of us are.” He smiled. “That may not be a bad thing. You may be Zack stripped of himself or you may be Russell just as he was getting ready to film Zack. Either way, if it is your wish, we would continue to refer to you by that name.”
“I’ve gotten used to the sound of it,” he replied, yawning again. “So, yes, I think I’d like it if
you kept calling me Zack.”
Canfield was studying the monitors. Zack was doing fine. No spikes.
“Even though we are not brothers as one typically thinks of brothers,” Maximus continued,
“we feel like brothers and regard ourselves as such. We are actually much closer than mere brothers could be and that, too, is not a bad thing. When one of us is hurt or needs something,
it is for us as though we ourselves have the hurt or the need and that is a very good thing. The main thing for you to remember, Zack, is that you are not in this alone. No matter how strange it sounds, we are all in this together, more so than any other group of men have ever been in anything together.”
“I realize this is a lot to take in, in one gulp,” Terry began. “I think Maximus might have hit on something. You may indeed be pre-Zack. Between Cort’s movie and Sid’s movie, Russell made No Way Back. Zack Grant is the character and he may not have begun filming the movie but he had the look down for Zack. We like you being Zack but you’re not locked into being him as he was portrayed in the movie. When you’re up for it, you can watch all the movies and become better acquainted with us.”
Out of the corner of Terry’s eye he saw a movement against the wall. Jack and Max were in
the back. He turned and half stood up. “Max?”
“Good Lord!” Jack exclaimed and caught Max before he hit the floor.
Canfield pushed his way through the startled men. Jack was holding Max at a somewhat awkward angle. “Here, Bud, help Jack get him over to the other bed.”
It was a bit of a struggle with so many men in the hospital room, but they managed almost to pass him along through them, though Jack never released his grip on his fallen counterpart. Every face in the room bore the marks of utter surprise meshed with concern. Max’s collapse had come entirely unexpectedly.
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