Chapter 12

The ants advanced, fearless of the consequences. Oswald knew he could just as well stamp on them as worry about them, yet it was their reckless attitude that was arresting him, freezing him. They were still coming at him. What were they saying? This was the one thing he didn’t know. He could hear them, but he couldn’t understand what they were saying, or for however he knew this, what they were thinking. They were acting aggressively, and without provocation, and they weren’t red. This shouldn’t be, he thought frantically, and he continued thinking it as they reached his position by the office window. Why would they come from the door? Was the facility likewise overrun?

Another unspoken question lingered at the tip of his mind as Oswald found himself engulfed in the insects, and he lost the courage for anything else but frozen panic. His eyes searched frantically for something that might rescue him. Perhaps something that would be more enticing lay about. There had to be. Ants weren’t carnivores. Then again, humans couldn’t hear ants, either, and yet here Oswald was, detecting the mounting murmur of these creatures, as if they were building up to something.

The door slammed open before that could develop. A woman, of Arabic descent, burst in, and clapped her hands twice, sending the ants scurrying off and away, leaving the woman with a satisfied smile on her face and Oswald would total astonishment on his. He still did not know what to do. He didn’t know this woman, and he was frightened by how well she’d taken the presence of the ants. Perhaps there were superheroes on earth now, and no one bothered to inform extra-terrestrials of this?

“Relax,” the woman said, “and no, I can’t read your mind.”

Oswald did not relax. “You’re scaring me,” he noted.

“No, I’m Padma Mahmoud,” she said, offering her hand, “your new assistant. Don’t call me Moody.”

“New assistant?” he tried to understand.

“Bob thought you might need one,” Mahmoud said, “after you experience.”

“Oh did he now,” Oswald said, coming to a decision on what he thought of the situation, and he was liking it less and less now.

“Not that one,” Mahmoud said. “Shake my hand, please. I want to be courteous.”

“I’m afraid you’re going to have to stop frightening me first,” Oswald said. “What do you mean, ‘not that one’?”

“You know what I mean,” Mahmoud insisted.”

“I’m afraid I don’t,” Oswald said. “Let’s say for argument’s sake I don’t. What are you thinking of?”

“It embarrasses you,” Mahmoud said, still stubbornly holding out her hand. “You haven’t really thought about it in that way yet, but it’s how you really feel. You have something few others have. An alternative awareness.”

“Get out of my mind, lady,” Oswald insisted.

“I’m not in it,” Mahmoud said. “It’s in your eyes, and it’s also why the ants were on you. They were trying to talk some sense into you. They’re tiny. It wouldn’t have worked any other way.”

“They wanted to…talk,” Oswald said. “Please close the door.”

Mahmoud complied, with the none proffered hand and without turning around. “See. It embarrasses you.”

“No, I just have this hang-up of not wanting to appear insane,” Oswald said.

“That hasn’t really been working,” Mahmoud probed, “has it?”

“You said--” Oswald began.

“That I wasn’t assigned to you because of that,” Mahmoud continued for him. “I haven’t lied to you. But it is in your file, and I sometimes help myself to things I think are pertinent to me. I was proven correct, just not in the sense I had originally conceived.”

“You’re still frightening me,” Oswald said.

“Bob wanted me added to your assignment because he’d like a level head,” Mahmoud said, “and the only way to ensure a level head, which this project demands, is had from a man just come back from space is to oversee his work. Believe it or not, Bob does have a sympathetic bone in his body. He wouldn’t throw you back in headfirst and expect you to not land on your head. He also has logistical concerns, as you must understand.”

“Quit making Bob sound so rational,” Oswald said,” finally placing his hand into Mahmoud’s, to find she had a firmer grip. “Pleased to meet you, I guess. Now, tell me how you know anything about my…embarrassment.”

“Intuition,” Mahmoud said, “aided by the fact that we share a common…peculiarity. When I was still in my mother’s womb, she took a little tumble as she attempted to continue her regular chores around the house. Out of the many irregularities that might have resulted for me, I ended up with the ability to employ some of the uncharted regions of the brain. I found I was attuned to animals. One day, as we were taking a ride on a camel, and the rest of that day I don’t like to talk about, I became aware of the fact that the camel wasn’t content with the amount of water he was holding. I tried to give him some of our rations, which did not go over very well with my family, and from then on I realized my full potential. Realize might be a misleading term in this instance.”

“And from then on you were known as Camel Mahmoud,” Oswald joked.

“Not funny,” Mahmoud playfully protested. “In a way, I assume the conversation those ants tried to have with you had to do with your own camel incident. You misinterpreted something you heard, or saw.”

“Well, now that you mention it,” Oswald said, “I might have been a little hasty with an interpretation or two. This is not an easy ’gift’ to get used to.”

“I’ve known plenty others who have lost their minds,” Mahmoud said. “When I saw your file, I feared that you, too, had lost yours. I am satisfied that you haven’t.”

“I’m, uh, glad I meet with your approval,” Oswald said.

“It’s not my approval you should be worried about,” Mahmoud said. “Bob might have already added me to your assignment. He might also subtract you from it. He hasn’t decided, and he’s on his way to.”
“He’s on his way here?” Oswald said. “Now? You might have mentioned that. God, what am I going to do? I’m sunk, I’m history, I’m toast.”

“You’re panicking,” Mahmoud said.

“You haven’t been here long, have you?” Oswald said. “That’s Bob’s methodology. I’ve seen a lot of talented people slip through the cracks of the company because of Bob’s whims. I’m surprised I’m still here to begin with. I should already be sacked. Maybe he’s got something up his sleeve. Or maybe he’s had it to sack me in person. I’m doomed.”

“You’re paranoid,” Mahmoud said.

“And embarrassed,” Oswald added. “We’ve already been over this. But now that you mention it, how did you end up here? Did you come here specifically to spy on me?”

“Don’t take this the wrong way, but yes,” Mahmoud said. “I read about your homecoming, and some ticks you had developed since returning, and thought, here’s another candidate. You must understand that my life has been reduced to two areas of interest. That they coincide here is a relief for me. I have this theory, and I need to prove it.”

“Theory, huh,” Oswald said, beginning to be numbed. “Does it sound any less crackpot than anything else?”

“As much as anything sounds absurd, no,” Mahmoud said. “It has to do with the animal kingdom, and who sits at the throne, and where. It’s not where you’d think.”

“Fascinating,” Oswald said. “What does this have to do with the project?”

“I believe I could test this theory,” Mahmoud said, sounding enthused for the first time. “Think of it, to know how our world works, to be the first ones to know it.”

“You’re losing me,” Oswald said. “Physics has already told us that. And a lot of men died getting us to that point.”

“I don’t speak in that sense,” Mahmoud said. “I speak in terms of the universal condition. I speak for those who speak, but who are not heard.”

“Cryptic,” Oswald said, and then frowned. He was beginning to understand. “Oh crap. You’ve got to promise not to talk like that again.”

“It was something that needed to be said,” Mahmoud said.

“It could have been said differently,” Oswald said.

“Still, I have made my point,” Mahmoud said. “You have no idea what a relief it is to have been able to say that and to be understood, even if the wording was not to your liking.”

“I have an idea,” Oswald said. “So the ants just wanted to talk.”

“They were agitated,” Mahmoud said. “You anthropomorphized them, and nothing agitates an animal more than that. Some are amused, others are not. It has something to do with domestication.”

“So those ant boxes some companies hawk,” Oswald said, “those don’t count?”

“I doubt that those ants are taken out and placed on the palm of a child’s hand,” Mahmoud said. “At least very often.”

“And what about zoos?” Oswald pressed.

“I try not to go,” Mahmoud said. “There is a large variety of emotion in those, even in the more liberal ones. It can be overwhelming.”

“I’ll take that off my checklist,” Oswald said. “Dolittle is going to be so pleased.”

“I’m sorry,” Mahmoud said, “I thought you said ‘do-little’?”

“Dolittle,” Oswald repeated, “it’s an Internet alias. You aren’t the first person I came across to understand my condition.”

“You will excuse me if I don’t know immediately how to take this news,” Mahmoud said.

“Don’t worry,” Oswald said. “As much as we seem to have come to a ready understanding, Dolittle and I came to the same one. A bit differently, but I’m reasonably certain that I can trust him. I mean, I can trust you, right?”

“Of course you can,” Mahmoud said. “Forgive me, once again, if I am uncertain about this Do-little. I have this feeling that we have just come across a…stumbling block.”

“Maybe you have, but I haven’t,” Oswald said. “We’re an exclusive bunch, but that doesn’t automatically mean we’re limited. There’re billions of people out there. If three of us happen to share this, then so be it.”

“Three who happen to have stumbled upon each other,” Mahmoud said.

“You’re only making this sound worse,” Oswald said. “Haven’t you been trying to do the reverse since you came into this office?”

“I suppose I have,” Mahmoud said, “but that was before I--”

“Realized you weren’t the sole authority on this,” Oswald suggested. “It’s scary. Maybe you haven’t thought of it that way in a while.”

“No, I haven’t,” Mahmoud said. “I think I would have preferred it to stay that way.”

“Then you probably would not have experienced the full reward of it,” Oswald said. “Heck, this should be scary. I’d be worried if it wasn’t.”

“I suppose you’re right,” Mahmoud said. “What else can you tell me about this Do-little?”

“Maybe more than I’d like,” Oswald said. “Maybe less.”