A YOOK BY ANY OTHER NAME

Chapter 18: Decisions and Outcomes (tied for top epi)

She began to shake from head to toe and when she was able, tipped up her head to look into the face just above hers. It was completely Sid's in every way, except for the...eyes. Maximus was looking at her out of the eyes. Her knees went weak and were he not holding her, she would have fallen to the floor. He caught her up in his arms, pressing her tightly to him, standing there in the shafted light of the shed, his shoulders
shaking with uncontrollable sobs.
*******************

He held her there, against him, a long while. His emotions, so pent-up, so magnified by all that had happened the last few days, were now intermingled with this vast relief that filled his soul. She knew! She really knew!! It was for him as in that ancient day when the land bridge from Gibraltar to North Africa had finally broken and the Atlantic poured through in the most enormous waterfall of all time. He was inundated by it, swept along by it, so unable to stand under the force of it that he had to let go and let it take him. He turned in small circles where he stood, every fiber of him trembling before the power of what he was feeling. Finally, the sea of it inside him found some degree of calmness, and he looked down at her face. Her eyes had been closed, but now were open, just looking...looking....

If any doubt had lingered in her mind...any slight doubt in any way...it had fled before the sight of his face. Sid was not capable of this, could never fake...this. What she saw was real. His relief, his release of pain, was so...raw...that her own eyes had overbrimmed witnessing it. This was Maximus...her Maximus...and her hand reached up, cupping his cheek, his cheek so strangely smooth, and looking into his eyes she whispered, "My love."

 

His knees buckled and it was only with great mastery of his body that he was able to sit while still holding her protectively in his arms. He pressed his face to hers, wrapping his arms fiercely about her, needing a complete absence of space between them, remembering Toronto when she had danced inside the space of him and the walls of her cells had flowed into his. He wanted THAT! His lips flew about her face, devouring her eyes, her cheeks, her lips until she had to gasp for breath. At the sound of her little gasp, he pulled his head back a little...just a little...and looked into her eyes, needing to see her love for him in them, needing redemption from her earlier disgust. It was there, full writ in their blue depths, and an actual moan of relief escaped his lips as his face crumpled once again.

She placed a palm on either side of his head, gripping his eyes, Maximus' eyes, with hers. "I know it is you," she said, her voice clear and steady. "I know." Then, her own eyes filling again with tears, added, "Forgive me for...for...all I said...before." She could not bear it that she had been the causer of any of his pain.

He placed his lips against her forehead, not removing them as he spoke. "It was not your fault...it was never your fault. There is nothing to forgive."

 

A terrible shudder suddenly took her head to toe and she turned her head slightly away. "How could I think he was...you?" Her chin trembling, she looked back into his eyes. "I said...so many times I said, 'He is not himself.' And yet I did not fully know."

He was running his fingers now through her hair, his head cocked slightly, seeming totally enraptured by what he was doing in a way that she was not sure he was hearing her words. She looked at him, his eyes so entirely not Sid's. What had he endured? What depth of pain had he known? The thought was harrowing and she leaned her head forward, resting her forehead against the top of his chest. He continued moving his fingers through her hair and it came to her that he was restoring something in himself as when he moved his hands so lovingly over the seedheads of his ripened grain. And so she remained as she was, letting him, as long as ever he needed.
 

Many minutes passed as he continued, sometimes moving a single finger lightly over her hair, sometimes raking both hands of them down the full length of it. She could feel the calmness coming into his spirit. When he was done, when his cup was full again, he rested his hands on her shoulders, pushing her back just enough so that he could see her face again.

She looked up, a smile forming on her lips, ready to greet his eyes. Instead a look of sheer horror spread over her features. Nanosauce was leaking rapidly from his eyes, his nose, his ears.

"No" she cried as he became aware of the wetness on his own face and lifted his hand to touch his cheek. His fingers came away coated with blue and his brow furrowed at the sight.

"What's wrong?" she cried, seeing an expression of awareness and sadness growing in his eyes.

"When I awoke here in this shed," he said, his voice low, "and found myself inside this body...this...thing ...that is Sid's...the blue had come out of my eyes like this. I...I...felt so strange, as if my being was fighting against my body...his body...as though I were locked in a place that had no welcome for me." He paused, thoughtfully licking his lips. "Then when I escaped and was outside and running, I felt strong and free and most of that strangeness was greatly lessened. But," he continued, looking at her seriously, "I think now perhaps great emotion is more than this synthetic organism can bear."

"More than it can bear?" she repeated, not grasping his meaning, not wanting to grasp it.

He closed his eyes as though listening to the rhythms inside him. He sighed deeply then looked at her again. "It is beginning to...to close down."
 

"You're sure? Are you sure?" she cried.

He closed his eyes again. "It feels all...different. I don't think it can remain...operational...much longer."

"But...but...but...," she stammered. "What would happen to...you ...then?"

He smiled sadly, running one finger through her hair. "I would have to leave."

"Leave? And go...where?"

"There is no where to go."

"NO!" she cried. "I will not have it! I will not let this BE!"

"I do not know what you can do," he said.

She sprang to her feet, heading toward the door. "Where are you going?" he asked, shocked.

"I'm...I'm going to get...Sid," she said, every muscle in her face working.

"What good would that do?" he pointed out. "He would stand there, smiling, and watch me...die."

She knew that was true, yet she could think of no other way. Only Sid, only he, knew what he had done to snatch Maximus from his body. Only he could undo it. She would find some way, any way, to make him return it.

Her hand began to turn the knob when she heard a sound behind her. Quickly turning, she saw that Maximus had slumped slightly to one side and that more nanosauce was running from his face. "Don't you go!" she ordered him. "Don't you DARE go!"

Tears streaming down her face she flung open the door and ran. She could barely see where she was going. All she could think was what if he died, alone, while she was gone? What if she came back, and...and...? She ran smack into Bunny, the two women falling flat into the scrubby grass. She lay there, slightly stunned, as Bunny got to her knees and began to pat her face.

"Joimus! Joimus!" Bunny called over and over.

"I...I'm OK...I think," she said, grimacing and sitting up, her hands holding her spinning head. Then she realized it was Bunny she had run into. Her mind clearing, she got to her feet, her hands clutching Bunny's upper arms as she said, "Bunny! I need you! I need you to understand something... quickly!" She gulped, continuing, "Sid has taken over Maximus' body and...." She stopped, blinking rapidly as she saw plainly writ across Bunny's face that she...knew. "You know?" she cried and Bunny mutely nodded her head. Joimus would think about that later. Right now she needed Bunny's help.

"You must run...as fast as you can...and get him and bring him back here to the shed! Please, Bunny! As fast as you can!"

Seeing Bunny's puzzled look, she explained breathlessly, "Sid's body is rejecting Maximus' human life. Sid has GOT to do something!" Bunny nodded and scooted rapidly off around the barn toward the river.

Joimus hurried back to the shed, afraid of what she might find. As she stepped through the door, she saw that his eyes were closed, his hands lying limply on either side of his legs. "No," she whispered, barely breathing. "You can't have gone...not yet...you simply can't."

She began to cross the room, her shoe catching on a loose bit of planking, almost tripping her as it tipped sharply down, its end pressing a hidden button. The heavy mesh net had been released again, but she dodged quickly and it clattered down flatly onto the floor. She didn't even care what it was or why it had fallen like that, all she wanted was to get to Maximus' side just beyond it. He lay on his back and she flung herself to her knees beside him.

"Maximus!" she cried, sighing in relief as his eyes fluttered slightly.

"I'm here," he croaked, "but just barely."

She could hear little whirring noises coming from his chest, accompanied by an irregular series of clicks. "Oh, hurry, Bunny, HURRY!" she cried, as his eyes closed again, his lashes settling onto pools of streaming blue.

Bunny ran, practically flying along the riverbank, not minding the branches that caught at her dress, scratched at her legs. As she went, she recalled how she had been sitting on a low branch of a small yook, just letting her legs dangle as she pondered the problem of Sid. She had been alone lately, what with Sid inside Maximus and him being with Joimus and then Maximus himself being who knew where and in what shape. She figured he must be somehow in Sid's form, though she was truly mystified as to how her Chippy had accomplished this. She felt terrible about what she had done, what she had permitted when MaxiSid had come to her that first night. It had, of a certain, been enjoyable, yet she knew that as long as her Sid was in Maximus' body it was just not...right. It had happened so quickly, was so unexpected, that when he had pressed her back on her bed like he had and she had realized that it WAS Sid, the process was already well set in motion and Sid would not have let her turn back had she wanted. She remembered the fire burning in his eyes and...other...places and he would have what he would have. The whole thing was strange...and new...for Sid was only then learning what love-making was like encased in human cells. It had been... fascinating...for her and she had been swept up in it. But now time had passed and she sat here on her branch, thinking deeply about the meaning of it, and it bothered her. If he came to her again, how would she handle it...and live?

Then, while musing thusly, she had heard a rustle in the underbrush and seen Sid. Well, Sid's body, anyway. She was shocked to see it, knowing that Maximus was within. Deciding just to watch as she had no idea of what else to do, she observed his capture of the wood-walking Joimus. She did not sound the alarm for, after all, it WAS Maximus who had taken her and she knew Joimus would never come to harm at his hands. As he turned with her in his arms, making for the riverbank, she had slipped quietly off her branch, following at a great distance. When he had cut across the open space past the old burned house, she had waited in the cover of the yooks by the Never Never until he disappeared beyond the barn.

She sat there a long time, feeling unsure, then after an hour had gotten up and walked toward the house, skirting slowly around it, then going only so far as the barn. Entering the shadowed innards of the old structure, she had crossed to a far window that looked out on the distant, almost hidden shed. That must be where Sid had been keeping Maximus prisoner, she figured, and where Maximus had now taken Joimus. She was trying to decide what to do next, when she saw Joimus burst out of the shed's door, running for dear life. She hurried out the front of the barn and had just gotten past it to one side when Joimus collided with her.

Now here she was, gasping for breath as she arrived at the edge of the yooks near the set. Jack and Bud were deep in some conversation and MaxiSid had wandered slightly away,hoping for a better position from which to watch Himself's growing frustration with his fellows who were the cause of his having to do take after take after take of a very simple scene. He was, in fact, much closer to the yooks than the other two men.

"Pssssst!" she psssssted.

 

 

He turned his head, looking with vague curiosity in the direction of the sound. When he saw Bunny, obviously trying to hide her presence from Jack and Bud, he smiled. A little romp with his wabbit in the woods might be nice. Hoping he was being inconspicuous, he took one side step then another toward her, his eyes beginning to glitter in anticipation. She wanted him. Of course she wanted him. What was not to want? He began to polish his teeth with his tongue. The passage of foodstuffs, even foodstuffs so excellent as cheddar, left a certain coating that he was not used to, not comfortable with. And he wanted his mouth to be in tip top shape for what he intended to do with it.

As soon as he entered the shade, she grabbed him. "Patience, patience!" he laughed softly.

"There is no time for patience!" she said, her voice low, urgent.

"Oh, OK," he grinned. "But shouldn't we go just a little way further back into the woods...?" he indicated Jack and Bud with a slight wave.

He reached out to cup his palm around her hip, but she pushed his arm away. "The shed!" she said. "You must go to the shed...now!"

 

"The shed?" he repeated, astonished. "You know of the shed?"

"I do," she affirmed, "and things are happening there that require your attention."

"I can barely walk," he sniffed, stabbing the ground with the tip of his cane, "and the shed is far. I don't want to go there."

"You WILL go there," she said, backing toward the set, "or I shall inform the Captain and the Cop of what you have been up to."

"You wouldn't!" he spat.

"I would...and I will." She took another step toward the edge.

He saw in her eyes that she spoke the truth. "Why?" he asked, a touch of hurt forming in his eyes.

"Because you must." Tears filled her lids. "You...must," she repeated. Her shoulders sagged. "I cannot live with myself if you refuse."

 

 

He stood there, looking at her, puzzled. "Something is...wrong...with Maximus?" he asked after a long moment's thought.

 

"Terribly," she whispered.

 

"I cannot help him," he said.

 

"You could if you would."

 

"I am not at all sure of that," he replied. "Not at all."

 

She locked her tear-filled eyes on his. "Have you learned anything of what it is like to be loved the way Joimus loves the General...the way he loves her?"

 

He chewed his lip, not wanting to admit that he had learned much in the last few days. "Have you?" she insisted. He nodded then, silent. Her chin trembled uncontrollably and tears streamed down both cheeks. Reaching out, she took his hand. "I...I...want to be loved like that." She dropped his hand, pressing her palms over her face. "I want...you...to love...me... like...that."

Her shoulders shook and as he looked at her, he felt strangely...moved. Being in Maximus did not come without its price. His awareness had been fused with the General's brain cells for hour after hour. Earlier, he would have said it had been 'contaminated' by that, but as he looked at the woman who loved him despite his being Sid, possibly even because of his being Sid, 'contaminated' didn't seem the right word for it any longer. Something that was innately Sid had been 'washed' by being in Maximus.
 

 

Cupping her cheek, he looked into her eyes. "We'd better hurry," he smiled.

With her providing support, the two of them went as quickly as he could manage through the trees down toward the Never Never. Bud and Jack had been aware of their encounter, though, but had decided to let it proceed and see where it led. When Bunny and the General suddenly turned and headed away from the set, Jack and Bud exchanged a quick glance and followed after. It was on beyond odd that Maximus would leave covertly as he had, and with Bunny, no less. They would brook no repeat of his earlier transgression.

When Maximus and Bunny did not stop but kept going upstream, the two men grew ever more puzzled. It was obvious that it was painful for the General to walk so far and so fast, yet he not only was doing it, but he kept on doing it. When they saw Bunny and Maximus leave the river and cut around the burned house, Jack paused, amazed.

 

"This is where I came with Rose," he said to Bud. He remembered how Maximus had agreed a bit too whole-heartedly that it was not a good place to walk, that downstream was much better. This was all getting stranger and stranger by the minute. Whyever would Maximus be bringing Bunny HERE? They waited in the shadows until the two they followed disappeared beyond an old barn.

In the shed, as time passed, Joimus grew ever more desperate. She sat down atop the mesh net as it covered most of the floor in the area where Maximus lay, and struggled to pull the top half of him into her arms. Perhaps if she held him tightly, he would not be able to leave? She didn't know. She only knew she had to try...something.

Leaning his head against her chest, she whispered into his ear. "You must stay with me, my love. Stay with me. Help is coming, only do not let go...do not let go."

 

"I am here," he said, his words barely more than a breath.

 

Her tears fell on his face, mingling with the nanosauce, and she watched the flow of it, helpless to staunch it, her heart breaking in two. "I love you," she said, her lips close to his ear. "I have loved you since before I knew God had made you...." She paused, her body convulsed with sorrow, "and I shall love you...always."

 

"I know," he breathed, no longer able to open his eyes.
 

 

He began to feel strangely...loose...inside of Sid. It was as though what had held him fastened somehow to the silicon structure of this form, was letting him go. No, that was not quite right. It was not letting him go. It was...pushing him away...pushing him...out.

His head settled a bit more heavily against her breast and she knew he was leaving. A little cry escaped her lips, sounding rather like a small bird that has just been clamped in the jaws of a hunting cat.

 

There was a sudden burst of light as the shed door opened and MaxiSid stood there, Bunny right behind. He crossed quickly to the couple, squatting beside them, something in him shocked to see his own form in such a state of collapse. Bunny looked around the room, her eyes locking on the strange machine on one side. She was frantic after seeing Maximus as he was and her fingers moved here and there over the odd structure, looking for she knew not what. She pushed buttons here and there, but nothing happened. Near the bottom edge of it, she saw a small compartment and her fingernails clawed at it until she forced it open. A long, slender green crystal fell out into her hands.

MaxiSid looked at Joimus. "I would help," he said, "but I fear it is too late." he leaned far forward trying to look closely in Maximus' face, lost his balance and started to topple.

 

Bud, being several years younger than the Captain, had arrived first in the open doorway. As he looked in, he saw the tangle of the three atop the mesh. To him, it looked like Sid in the purple suit had grabbed Maximus and that Joimus was trapped beneath Sid. His eyes went red with rage and he quickly drew his gun. Perhaps mere bullets would not permanently stop Sid, but, by God, he could slow the creep down a bit with them!

 

 

MaxiSid managed to change the path of his fall, avoiding landing atop Maximus and ending on his side next to them. Joimus looked up just in time to see Bud aiming at the man he thought was Sid. It never once crossed her mind that bullets would do no real harm to Sid's body. All she knew was that her Maximus was about to be shot.

 

"NO!" she cried, curving forward over him, shielding him. Bud had no time to react. He was already in the process of pulling the trigger.

 

Jack, just then coming up behind Bud, gave a wordless scream of horror as he saw the bullet plow into Joimus' back. Bud dropped his gun, staggered, sinking heavily to his knees in disbelief.

 

Bunny, holding the green crystal, saw Joimus crumple over Maximus, saw the red stain spreading. She looked at the crystal, instinctively knowing that it must be the source of the power behind what Sid had done. She whipped around toward the machine. Where did it go? Where did it GO? There was one, central clear tube that caught her desperate eye. Reaching up, she dropped the crystal in. Instantly the room was transformed into waving, weaving green lights that rose up in an arc and then sizzled downward into the mesh on the floor.
 

 

Maximus had already gone quite limp beneath Joimus, but MaxiSid went completely rigid where he lay beside them. The lights changed into colors that flowed and poured themselves into the three who lay so silently atop the mesh. The colors arced from person to person, flowing in and out, around and through.

 

Bunny, Jack, and Bud watched, their eyes wide in a mixture of awe and fear. The streaming colors hissed with power then all at once the three separate flows of them rose up from the forms, joining into one above them, twisting together, rising higher and higher until the tower of its light blew right through the ceiling and was...gone.

 

 

Its passage left a silence in the shed in which the only sound was the rapid breathing of Jack, Bud, and Bunny. They stood still, totally, absolutely shocked for a long moment, then Jack pushed past Bud, flinging himself beside the three on the floor. Bunny remained riveted where she was beside the machine. What had she...done?

Quickly Jack reached from person to person then sat back on his heels, his shoulders sagging, his face a mask of despair. "They're dead," he said. He tipped his face up toward the ceiling and began to rock back and forth a bit. "My God," he cried, "they're all dead!"