the brother of a legend

“Austin?” the man with glasses says.

“Rufus?!” Austin exclaims. “What are you doing here?”

“Wait wait wait wait wait,” Tam says, waving her hands. “You know this guy? What the hell is he doing in the maintenance basement?”

“Oh!” Austin laughs sheepishly. “Right. Tamsters, meet Rufus, Aunt Ivy’s younger brother. Rufus, Tamsters — I mean, Tam Foolleray. I joined her adventure since she was also searching for her uncle.”

“Rufus Gaye. Pleased to meet you,” Rufus says, holding out his hand. Tam hesitantly shakes it. “You might be wondering why I’m in this secret room in the maintenance chamber.”

“Sure am,” Tam mumbles, eyeing the array of strange contraptions around the room.

“Yeah, I thought you were a professor here!” Austin remarks. “Is this your break room? That’s kind of cruel, actually.”

Laughing, Rufus replies, “No, I wish. I was a professor here. But, uh, they kicked me out after I stopped doing research to look for my sister. I’ve since been hiding here to continue my search. Don’t tell the Dean, okay?”

“Don’t worry, we’re not Prohys,” Tam says. “How long have you been looking for her?”

“For a few months now,” Rufus replies. “You see, she always sends me letters, just to let me know how she’s doing, and to ask how I am. Even if nothing much happened that week. But suddenly, the letters stopped arriving. What’s even more strange is that she’s this legendary adventurer, but no one I asked seemed to know where she went.”

“Legendary adventurer?” The gears in Tam’s brain start to turn. Aunt Ivy. Last name Gaye. Why does that sound so familiar? Wait… Tam gasps loudly, exclaiming, “Your sister is Ivanabe Gaye?”

“Yes… didn’t you know that already?” Rufus asks, puzzled.

“You never told me your aunt was the greatest Snake Oiler in the West!” Tam says, turning towards Austin with astonishment. “Learning about her at school was the only thing that kept me sane!”

“I didn’t want to make it sound weird when we first met,” Austin says, shrugging. “Also, I think it’s kind of unhealthy to hinge your sanity on a historical figure.”

“Not the point!” Tam faces Rufus again, eyes burning with new determination. “My uncle Murray knew her, too. He told me about how she helped him with his jellybean collection back then. I dunno if it’s a stretch, but maybe their disappearances are connected?”

“That could be a possibility!” Austin agrees, nodding enthusiastically. “Rufus, what leads have you got so far?”

“I’m glad you asked!” Rufus pulls out a notebook with a diagram of a ball. “I’m trying to make a crystal ball to track down her location.”

“Aren’t crystal balls… magic, though?” Austin points out. “I thought you were a scientist.”

“Well, this is going to sound crazy, but… We have a saying here at S.I.T.: Science that nobody understands is called magic, and science that one person understands is called mad science. I suppose, in this case, you’d be calling me a mad scientist.”

“Great, because if you tried to explain to me how this works, I’d start crying,” Austin says.

“I like science when I’m not the one doing it.” Tam nods. “Is there any way we can help you find Miss Gaye?”

“Yes, actually,” Rufus says, pushing up his glasses. “But you’re probably not gonna like it.”

“We’ve seen a lot of weird shit. Shoot.”

“Good, because this is going to be weird.” With that, Rufus flips to the next page in his notebook, revealing a sketch of gross little piles of balls. “Now, have you ever dealt with fishmen?”

— end sequence —