The universe wants to play with you (part 29)

From Fernanda to Anya, from a puzzle piece to the puzzle solver, from the... I'm sure you get the idea by now.

Anya, half Hungarian, half New Zealander, all crazy, with a mind that works quite differently to everyone else.

I know exactly when I first met her, I was 20 and pregnant, she was 16 with an attitude like a diamond, I was queuing up in the toilets at a gig in London, sporting an impressive bump which appeared to be invisible to everyone else who was waiting. Anya, wearing pink leggings and a kilt around her neck like a shawl marched to the front and clapped her hands and howled like a lone wolf with toothache. Despite the hubbub, they all stopped talking while she growled slowly in her strange accent of kiwi mixed with Hungarian, "There's a pregnant woman waiting here, why don't you let her go first, you self centred bitches," it even felt as if the music went quieter.

The line parted to let me through and a woman even rushed out of a cubicle pulling her knickers up, shouting, "you can use this one, you can use this one."
I was too desperate to feel embarrassed and by the time I came out she'd gone so I went back to the Lump, (then boyfriend, later husband, even later ex husband and eventually witness for the prosecution in my attempted murder trial) who was embarrassing himself by 'dancing' and didn't see her again that evening

She was like a ludicrous phantom,

flitting in and out of my life within a few minutes, here and gone. Except the phantom reappeared a couple of days later as I was walking with great difficulty back from the local shop with a couple of shopping bags, having run out of tea, milk and chocolate, 'Hello again' rasped a familiar voice, attached to a body wearing an orange boiler suit, green bowler hat and dark sunglasses. It stuck it's hand out to shake mine and that was it.

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What's your weirdness factor today?  High. Guess who's at Sanders' house?

The Belgian Prime Minister? No, Why do you say that?

Long story. Is it someone I know personally? Oh yes.

Hmm, Adam? No but right type of person.

I give up-don't know. Corrado!

Don't tell me, one minute, he was in London, then he fell through the wall and ended up in Dunedin. This is interesting-did he end up at his place or somewhere else? In the factory.

Why there? Why the connection with you? Why not random? Where did the Belgian guy end up or the Orthodox Jew or the nun? Random places or with someone they're connected?

You need to explain what you know Anya - You're ahead of me.

Ha, ha, slowco, ok...There's a huge panic amongst security services about what's being called Unexplained disappearance syndrome or people falling time, space, dimension, whatever you want to call it. The first known case was the Belgian Prime Minister

in a cabinet meeting in Brussels leaning against a wall when he was talking and there was a glow of light on the wall behind him and he apparently just fell through it. They even knocked the wall down but they just ended up in the next room. Caused a major crisis-how do you explain that to people or his family? Official story is he's seriously ill. It's happened in a lot of places, one on video at the Wailing Wall. No one knows what to do or how to explain or stop it or anything. Add in what happened to the Dame and the spooks have gone into apocalyptic mode.'
Jesus, that is incredible. Presumably, Fernanda's jaunt has no connection to this but I suppose they can't see that.

Of course not which is why they've sent a team down to Dunedin to examine the head and look for clues to the whole thing. Every country is on the highest alert-that's what they hate: random things, weird things, things that can't be explained by science or anything that's rational. Scares them, too close to the bone, too close to the abyss.

This all came from Ellis? Natch, she's hoovering up like a maniac. She popped in with the quick version but she's threatening 20 pages by tomorrow and I'm know she's not joking. And it'll be handwritten, of course. Anyway, the main point is there is something going on that is pretty terrifying.

The cynic in me wonders if this is some sort of inter-agency/inter-state rivalry, using the same techniques as the Deathless girls but without the brains. Could be but that would be a huge undertaking; I prefer the old Cosmic mischief theory and that fits the synchronicity as well.
Yeah, maybe the Belgian PM ended up somewhere connected to him or Belgium; he might be in the Congo.

So, what’s next then coz I don’t have a clue?

Me neither. What does Ellis think the mood is amongst those she’s been mixing with?

Sheer panic, refusal to believe it’s happening and most of all terror at the public finding out. They also see the Deathless Girls as part of the same thing so it’s another tick in the terrorist box. She also said she met an interesting guy who’s part of the investigation team, some sort of paranormal expert, known as the kiwi Fox Mulder.

I bet she found him interesting…

 No, not like that this time; she was quite impressed by his attitude and also by the way he didn’t fit in with the rest of them.

We should meet him while he’s here. Where are they staying?

Few different places, she’s at the Southern Cross, don’t know where he is though.

Another weird thing about what happened to Corrado, is that while he was waiting to be picked up by us just around the corner, he was almost kidnapped by three dwarves.

Probably the same three who were stopping cars, saying they were the Dwarf Security Service.

The student stunt.

Of course. I don't understand what this is about but it's one of the things Ellis is going to try to find out in her new job. Good having someone on the inside. So should we have a meeting of everyone next Sunday?

Yeah, usual time and place?

Ok.

I'll ask Indigo to sort it out. What about this guy Ellis mentioned? Does he have a name? I'd like to meet him.

Gillespie. I'll ask Ellis when I see her later. Do you want to come?

Not sure yet. I've got men to sort out. Gillespie sounds familiar-can't think from where though. I'll text you.