Season 1, Episode 5 - The Boxtops XLIX - "The Synopsis"
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At Isaac’s urging, Reed let his alleged brother inside his apartment. She kept her eyes on the new guy, trying to get a fix on him. Isaac was pretty easy to read; sure, he seemed guarded about a few select topics, but other than that, his feelings just flowed out of him like a river.
As Isaac showed his brother the different places in his apartment - his kitchen, his tv area, his bed area - the enthusiasm in his face and the way he walked and moved his hands was obvious. Gregory smiled, but Reed noticed that he kept his inner feelings much closer to his heart. He seemed happy to see his brother, but beyond that baseline level of happiness, his enthusiasm seemed a bit forced, like he was wearing a mask.
But Reed also knew that Isaac’s brother lost a mother relatively recently and that the government sent him to the rough assignment of border patrol in the south. Maybe he had seen things down there - a lot of returning veterans seemed like they did. And maybe it was only because he was Isaac’s brother, but Reed decided to hold off on her final judgment of him until she got to know him better.
And she wouldn’t mind getting to know him better. He was taller than Isaac with broader shoulders. Isaac was quick and lean, while his brother seemed more well-built, moving around with a weight to his presence. His eyes looked mature and confident.
Reed looked between the two brothers. Her thoughts began to drift. Rather than focus on Isaac’s brother in the now, the thought that arrived in the forefront of her mind was this is what Isaac is gonna look like in a few years?
“Oh, you two haven’t met yet,” Isaac realized. He gestured at the two of them. “Reed, this is Gregory, my brother. And Gregory, this is Reed, my…Reed.”
The two shook hands. A slight chill went through Reed. This is how strong Isaac’s grip is gonna be in a few years?
Even after Gregory withdrew his hand, the chill stuck with Reed, coursing through her body, shifting through her heart and heading up to the brain. It was an odd feeling, originally a chill, that now turned into something more like a muggy summer heat that made her head swim a little, reaching all the way into her fingertips, into her face.
As she looked at the two brothers, her nose started bleeding.
The two brothers scratched their heads at the sight. Reed’s eyes darted down at her nose, blood leaking out from underneath the bandage. When she looked back up at them, the blood started spraying.
Isaac tossed her a rag off the kitchen counter. Reed wiped her nose with it. “Ah, Babs got me real good in the simulation today. My nose must still be funny.”
As she rubbed her nose, Reed decided to give the brothers some peace and quiet. She was sure they had a lot to catch up on. And wouldn’t it be nice to meet up with your sibling after so long? She didn’t want to interrupt the brothers any further.
“Uh, I’ll go fix my bandages at Audrey’s,” Reed said, heading for the door. “Let me know when the pizza’s here.”
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Isaac and Gregory watched her shut the door behind her.
“Nice girl,” Gregory supposed.
“She’s a pretty good friend,” Isaac said. But then he gazed up at his brother with wide eyes. “I can’t believe you’re here! You said you couldn’t get any leave for Thanksgiving!”
Gregory’s face changed to something a lot more neutral-looking. “That’s right.” He stepped past Isaac, putting a briefcase he brought with him down on the kitchen counter with a thud. He then took a seat on Isaac’s couch, sighing in relief. “Can you get me a glass of water, Isaac?”
“Sure!” But Isaac still didn’t understand. “If you couldn’t get leave, how did you get here? And why are you here?”
Isaac filled a glass with water from the sink and handed it over. Gregory drank the entire thing in one go, as if he hadn’t had any water the whole way here.
“I haven’t had any water the whole way here,” he said.
“I see...” Isaac took a seat on the couch next to him, happy to see him, sad that he seemed a little distant.
Gregory looked around, then put the television up on high. A late night talk show provided a background noise to their conversation.
“That way, nobody can hear,” he explained. He took a long, serious look at Isaac, as if debating on how much to tell him. “I was assigned on a long-range patrol in the Connecticut disputed zone,” Gregory began. “My unit will be out of contact for several weeks. Fortunately, my unit also has some like-minded individuals. They have connections to the Coyotes.”
“Coyotes?” Isaac repeated. “Wait, you mean that pirate radio guy?” Reed had Isaac listen to some of Coyote Pete’s late night radio shows this past semester. Isaac much preferred Pete’s less-realistic late night competitors, the ones who interviewed people who apparently saw aliens and cryptids (which were sometimes the same thing).
Gregory leaned over, speaking in hushed tones. “They’ve been helping me with my work. Being reassigned so far away actually has its advantages. Less eyes on you. But getting that info to others is the hard part.”
He glanced at the briefcase. “I’m sitting on a year's worth of material. I had to get it to Coyote Pete and the others working with him here, back in the capital. So, on our long-range patrol, we just happened to come across an unmarked road that just happened to have a car there that I just happened to be picked up by, which then just happened to take me back to Narragansett. Of course, officially, I’m still out on patrol. Like I never left.”
Isaac felt amazed, hearing his brother’s story. I’ve only done a few things here and there around Elizabeth Pond, but Gregory had been somewhere else, like some sort of quest!
“How’d you get through the border here in Elizabeth Pond?” Isaac asked, already knowing that his brother must’ve cooked up some amazing scheme.
Gregory reached into a pocket and produced some identification papers. “I’m just a humble insurance agent for a Neponset company that happens to be owned by a Coyote.”
Isaac stared at the papers with wide eyes.
“So...are you meeting the other Coyotes here in Elizabeth Pond?”
Gregory shook his head. “I’m only here to see you, Isaac. My contact’s downtown, so I can’t stay too long, but do you really think I would come all the way to the capital and not pay you a visit?”
Isaac smiled and spoke softly. “Thanks, Gregory. It’s been over a year now. I’m glad you stopped by.”
Gregory ruffled Isaac’s hair, then stood up and walked over toward the end of Isaac’s room, looking out the window. His tone became firmer.
“Of course, I also wanted to check in on our project.”
Isaac stifled a sigh. He didn't want to talk about this. He wanted to talk about his good grades at school or the fun stuff he had been up to with his friends. But ever since their mother died, Gregory always meant business. “You mean the Reality Overthrow?”
Gregory sipped his water, watching cars travel on the street below.
Isaac twiddled his thumbs, but then his face lit up since he did have some project-related good things to report. “The Academy didn’t let me send any letters about it, but I can do it! I can use the Rddhi!”
Isaac could see Gregory’s reflection in the mirror. “That’s great. What can do you?”
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Isaac shadow-boxed the air, letting small flashes of Rddhi spark with each punch. “I can make clones and punch real hard. I’m a Class 2 now!”
Gregory nodded. “And have you gotten closer to the inner workings of the Academy yet?”
Isaac kept punching the air. “You bet. I’ve done some missions for them.”
“You sound like you’re happy to serve them.”
Isaac stopped punching and instead scratched the back of his head, feeling a little embarrassed. “Well, they’re pretty nice. The school and the people.”
Gregory finished his water. After a moment, he flung the glass into the wall; shards scattered to the ground. Isaac felt the color drain out of him.
“They’re not nice,” Gregory corrected. His voice still seemed composed, but anger slipped out at the edges. He turned to face Isaac. “Remember? We’re using them to save the world. You shouldn’t show any loyalty to your academy or these people. They’re only stepping stones.”
Isaac thought about Reed and Audrey and his trio of guy friends and the whole class and all the teachers and faculty. “But they’ve been really nice to me. They’re good people.”
“Nobody’s a good person, Isaac!” Gregory yelled. Isaac only now noticed the bags below his eyes and creases on his forehead. “They’ll use you and toss you out the second you’re done with them! I trusted you!”
Isaac didn’t understand. He spoke timidly. “Me?”
Gregory sighed, struggling to control his own answer. “Where were you when Professor Beskov died?”
Isaac looked at him blankly for a moment, then remembered. “Oh, you mean the professor who got killed in the State Police raid last month?”
“He was my professor. He’s the one who taught me about the Reality Overthrow. Soon after I got drafted, the government started putting the screws to him. They organized boycotts of his classes, his works were censored, and there were rumors of his imprisonment.” Gregory wiped his face and spoke bitterly. “He ran away with a girl named Esra. We were friends. She was supposed to bring him to safety. Instead, she betrayed both of us by selling him out to the State Police.”
“How do you know this?”
Gregory looked at him, but kept his mouth shut for a moment. “We have…a source within the State Police. I can’t tell you any more than that. But that’s not important. What’s important is that Esra betrayed the professor and I, and you betrayed me, too.”
When Isaac looked confused, Gregory advanced on him. He leaned over Isaac. “Where were you, Isaac? If you have the Rddhi now, why didn’t you protect him?”
Isaac tugged on his collar. “I-I didn’t even know he was your professor.”
“How many times did I tell you?!” Gregory threw his hands into the air. Isaac kept quiet; he only remembered that Gregory had a professor, not that Beskov was specifically his professor.
“Fortunately, most of Beskov’s research was with me and my men,” Gregory continued. “The Reality Overthrow might’ve been lost if it wasn’t for that. So, here I am, positioned in desolate wastelands, yet I’m holding up my end of the project. I’m still working on his research and I’m close to making a breakthrough.”
He jabbed a finger at Isaac. “But you! What have you found out yet? You set us back a year by taking this long to unlock the Rddhi. You need to make up for this. Our time is limited.”
Isaac twiddled his thumbs, feeling small. “About that…”
Gregory gave him a harsh look. “Don’t tell me. After spending over a year in the city, surrounded by all this luxury, you forgot about how cruel the world is.”
“I know perfectly how tough the world can be!” Isaac protested. “I’ve met dozens of people here who’ve suffered through hard times and still suffer. I’ve fought against several. And you know what? After meeting all them, I still think the world is good and most people are alright.”
“That’s because you’re a child,” Gregory simply answered. He faced away, running a hand through his hair, looking like he was about to explode. “How can you say that when Mom’s dead?”
“Don’t use Mom like that,” Isaac said, weaker than he wanted to. “She told me to move on.”
“But we’re still here,” Gregory answered. “We made a plan, Isaac. We would change the world. That’s why you’re here! You’re here to avenge your father’s death in the First American War! But not against New York; it's against the world! The same world that lets modern civilizations destroy themselves, that lets people be greedy, that lets mothers die and people wander aimlessly without purpose. Have you thought about our father once since getting here? How about Mom?”
“I’ve thought about them!” Isaac exclaimed. “The first year here, that’s all I did. But…I made new friends. Mom told me to move on. I still remember them, and the memories of them give me motivation and drive. But the weight of them - the first year, it was crushing. But now, it’s manageable.”
Isaac stood up from the couch. Nameless feelings transformed into tangible words. “And you know what? I think I understand now why it took me over a year to unlock the Rddhi. The first year, I wanted to unlock it so I could use it selfishly. I had big, great plans of changing the world I had never really seen. I didn’t want to it use it for other people. Just me and you. But you know how I unlocked it? I was given the opportunity to save a person. Not a world, not a humanity, just a singular girl right then and there. It wasn't for me. It was for someone else. That’s why I finally unlocked it.”
Gregory just looked at him for a moment, his eyes furrowed in anger. “Alright, Isaac. Alright. While you concern yourself with little acts of meaningless kindness, I’ll be focused on the bigger picture. Because the more you see of the world, the more you realize how cruel it is.”
He looked back out the window again. “My research has led me to some secrets. Edges of conspiracies. You’re too close-minded, Isaac. You don’t see everything out there. Let me guess - you’d say something like how it’s the little things in life. The sight of sunset over skyscrapers. A train passing by overhead as you walk under it.”
Isaac stayed quiet, because he did like those things and wasn’t sure where his brother was going with them.
“But when you forget that the world is cruel, you forget the bigger picture about those things,” Gregory continued. “Have you ever stopped and considered that Narragansett would likely suffer aerial and sea bombardments in a war? It happened in the American War. So why would the city build skyscrapers? Underground subway stations can also double as bomb bunkers. So why would we build elevated rails?”
Isaac had no answer to that. He never even considered it.
“Evil is everywhere,” Gregory told him. “Behind every street corner and pleasant little thing. Do you want to know what we’re doing down in Connecticut?”
Isaac spoke slowly. “Protecting the border?” Right away, he knew that wasn’t the right answer.
Gregory sighed. “We’re searching for nuclear landmines, Isaac. Do you think we’ll still have a chance to overthrow the world when countries get atomic weapons again? The nations of the world only have leftovers from earlier centuries. Once another nuclear arm race begins, do you think we can still keep the world from destroying itself again?”
He suddenly advanced on Isaac again, anger in his eyes. “And that’s not the worst part. The inspiration for the search allegedly came from the Nash Incident at the end of the last war. Remember that? A nuclear landmine blew a whole section of the Canadian border sky-high. But I’ve talked with people. They say an atomic weapon didn’t cause it at all. It was the Rddhi.”
Isaac swallowed. Gregory’s laundry list of conspiracies was starting to unnerve him. “R-Rddhi?”
Gregory’s face looked ominous. “Think about it, Isaac. The design of Narragansett is suspicious and there was a possible miles-wide Rddhi experiment in the past. The suffering is only going to continue, Isaac. Don’t you want to change the world so there are no more conspiracies? Don’t you at least want to research it further?”
Isaac sat back down, feeling small again. “We should at least research it further.”
“That’s what I’m saying,” Gregory continued, his tone growing softer. “You need to integrate yourself into the Academy more. You must become privy to its secrets. You think we’re the only ones trying to change the world? It’s not enough for us to gain power and knowledge - we need to make sure nobody else does too.”
When Isaac looked unsure, Gregory rubbed his chin. “I bet you’re thinking about saving the world alongside your Academy. This district has elevated rails too, Isaac. And the walls that surround Elizabeth Pond. Ever think about those?”
Isaac found himself answering again, even though he also knew it was also likely wrong. “It’s…it’s to protect us.”
Gregory eyed him for a moment. “What shape is Elizabeth Pond on a map?”
Isaac thought back to the maps of the Pond in his textbooks and on the news. “It’s an oval.”
Gregory shook his head. “Those walls form as perfect of a circle as you can get on such a scale. Something happened earlier this year that disabled much of the district's metaphysical defenses. Some of the Coyotes took measurements to confirm the existence of this circle."
Isaac took a deep breath. He looked away, out the window, but the sight of an elevated rail didn’t help.
“You can’t trust anyone,” Gregory said softly now. “Just me. You and I - we’re the only ones who understand. We’re doing this for our father and mother. You love Mom, right? You don’t hate her, right?”
Isaac answered quietly. “No.”
Gregory raised a hand, but all he did with it was ruffle Isaac’s hair again. Isaac didn't offer any resistance. “I knew a reminder from me would do you good.”
He then glanced at Isaac’s clock. “It’s about time for me to go.”
Isaac opened his mouth, but what could he really say? That he wanted his brother to stay so they could talk about Isaac’s friends, his adventures, the stuff he saw on television? All of that seemed a little empty now.
Gregory grabbed a paper off of Isaac’s kitchen counter and scrawled a telephone number on it. “Call this number when you’ve found some answers. One of my men will answer.”
He then threw on his jacket and grabbed his briefcase. He spoke in a gentle, brotherly fashion, as if Isaac was merely worried about playing in his next ball game or asking the girl down the street to a school dance.
“Remember what we talked about. Don’t make me get angry with you, Isaac. I only want what’s best for you. We’re in this together. Just you and me.”