Monday, September 30, 2013

ParaFabi: I really have no idea what to call this chapter

It was several hours before ParaFabi turned away from the screen.
"Are you done with the mini-laptop yet?"
Silence.
"Fabi?"
Silence.
"Hey, I sound like I'm being all creepy and talking to myself. Not that I'm not talking to myself. I mean, you are me. Or, who I might've ended up as. And your name's Fabi, so I don't have anything else to call you, but that's beside the point. The point is, I need the laptop back, so I can see about getting an Internet signal from across the dimensions. It's technically impossible, but-- Oh."
Fabi from this universe, the Fabi you all know and bother with, was lying on the bench, not moving, not even seeming to breathe.
"Well, what've I done this time? You'd think the other me would be more experienced, and like, know better. Polly? Polly!"
Silence.
"Martin?"
Silence.
"Kath?!"
ParaFabi walked over and pressed the yellow button, a sound like a doorbell reverberating throughout the building.
After a minute and twenty-six seconds, Polly ran in, followed by Martin, Kath, Linda, Lalla, Paul, Frank, Maurice and Eunice. None of them were able to wake Fabi up, though Maurice was able to determine that Fabi was alive and in some sort of coma.
"If it was me lying there unconscious, would you stupid people be just as helpless?!" ParaFabi shrieked.
"Ma'am, we do have a very thorough and detailed record of your medical history, and of course your wristwatch monitors your pulse and would inform us immediately if you were anywhere near death," Martin pointed out.
"Well what good is that? Shut up if you value your current position," ParaFabi snarled. Martin backed up a step and started to stammer an apology.
"Excuse me, ma'am?"
ParaFabi turned, "What is it, Linda?"
"This box... Does it belong to you?"
"No, why would it?"
"Then, perhaps it contained whatever made the other Fabienne unconscious?"
"Well, what use is that? Do you see anything there now?"
"No, ma'am, but there's this inscription on the side..."
"Well what does it say?"
"It says... MageBay. I believe that's a company."
"Interesting... Someone, write that down." All nine of her employees hurried to do so.
"She asked for a computer..." ParaFabi gestured around vaguely, and let Lalla locate the mini-laptop.
"She added a password protection, ma'am."
"Give it here." ParaFabi snatched the laptop and tried a few different combinations before she found the right one. She opened the web browser and looked at Fabi's browsing history. "MageBay is an online store..."
"Like a magical eBay?" Martin asked.
"It would seem so." ParaFabi was too intrigued to point out her employee's idiocy. "She was looking at items related to sort of meditation, lucid dreaming, and spirit travel, that sort of thing... Oh no."
"What is it?" about a half-dozen lackeys chorused.
"Other-Fabi is trying to save the world."
There was a silence.
"Um, boss?" Martin asked hesitantly, "Is that a bad thing?"
"Nah, but she's going about it all wrong."
"Okay... What would you like us to do?"
ParaFabi pulled out a wallet and fiddled around with it. Finally, she set it on the ground, somehow reached both arms inside and pulled out a bedframe. Polly and Kath helped steady it as she stumbled back, the metal bending so it wouldn't crush her. Finally, they set it in a corner and went back for the mattress. Polly, Martin and Lalla guided it on top of the  frame of the bed.
Kath picked up Fabi and set her on top of the mattress. "Now what?"
ParaFabi shrugged, not wanting to state out loud that she had no idea. "I guess we wait," she finally decided, waving her hand to dismiss the others. "Polly, bring me some tea. The rest of you do what you like, goof off in the arcade, I don't care. What, you didn't think I knew about that? It's my arcade, it does have surveillance cameras." She laughed at their shocked faces. "As long as someone's there when I call you, you can do whatever you like in your free time. Just don't break anything and don't forget about your job. Otherwise..." she grinned and waved her hand, leaving the sentence to hang dramatically. There was a moment of silence and stillness, and then everyone returned to their work.

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