After making the call, Malik walked back to the group. “He’ll be here in about thirty minutes.”
“Cool,” Tony said. “Do you guys want a coffee or something?”
Magaly shook her head, and Malik said, “I’m okay too.”
While Vau was examining the car, Magaly was sitting in a large chair, watching the news. She turned the TV off and looked at Malik. “Do you think your Coach O will be able to get us out of this mess?”
“I’m not sure, but he’s the first person that came to mind when everything started to go down,” Malik said.
“Why didn’t you call him earlier?” Magaly asked.
“We haven’t spoken in a while,” Malik said.
“Why not?”
Malik sighed. “Well, I kind of let him down.”
“How so?”
“He was a mentor of mine when I was transitioning from high school to college. He helped me figure out what I wanted to study, where I wanted to go, and what internship opportunities I wanted to pursue.”
“Okay. So what happened?” Magaly asked.
“I was focused on Confidence Biotech, and he tried to get me to look at other emerging biotech companies. Around the time I got my first internship offer from Confidence Biotech, he had set up some coffee chats for me elsewhere. I didn’t take them very seriously, and it probably didn’t reflect well on him.”
“Yeah, I can see why that would make him upset,” Magaly said.
“He tried to talk me out of Confidence Biotech, but I didn’t listen,” Malik continued. “After that I was too wrapped up in other things to maintain the relationship well. Then once I realized that he had been right, I was too embarrassed to reach back out.”
“I’m sure he understands you had to make your own choices and find your path,” Magaly assured him.
“Yeah, he was easy on me just now. No questions asked, like he was expecting my call,” Malik said.
“So, kid, what did you study?” Tony asked.
“Business mostly, but my favorite side study was cymatics,” replied Malik.
“What’s that?” asked Magaly.
“Learning new ways to better tie sound with results in the physical and natural world,” Malik said, then looked around. We have a little time to kill. Maybe I can show her. Malik motioned to two flat metal plates and a long pipe. “Can I use these?”
“Sure,” Tony said.
Malik grabbed one of the plates and the pipe and used them to create a makeshift music stand. Then he picked up a bag of kitty litter, checked with Tony, who gave him a nod, and sprinkled some of it on the second plate.
“Why do you have kitty litter in a garage?” Magaly asked.
“It’s to help clean up spilled oil,” Tony said.
Malik moved around searching for things. “Do you have any fishing line?” he asked.
“We do,” Tony said as he disappeared down a hall.
Malik found a piece of wood about an inch or two thick and a couple of feet long. When Tony returned with the fishing line, Malik took it and quickly went to work connecting the fishing line to the piece of wood.
“Violà,” Malik said.
“What is it?” Magaly asked.
“It’s my beautiful violin bow.”
Magaly looked skeptical.
Malik sat down next to his makeshift music stand. “Everything in the universe is moved by sound, vibrations, and frequencies that most human beings aren’t even aware of. I believe that’s why most people have a love for some form of music. I also believe that music can help do more than we know.” Malik placed the string of the bow against the metal plate and made one quick movement, creating a sound like a violin.
“Did you see?” Malik asked. “The kitty litter on that plate moved to the sound.” He played more notes, experimenting with these homemade instruments.
Magaly was watching as the kitty litter vibrated and shifted around the plate.
Malik focused hard and finally hit the note he was looking for and held it just long enough. To his delight, Magaly’s eyes lit up as she saw the kitty litter form a vertical line in the middle of the plate.
“And different frequencies and vibrations can create different patterns,” Malik said. “So this is one of my passions. If we crack this code, we will be one huge step closer to understanding how the universe works.”
“This plays into your work with trees, right?” Magaly asked.
“Yep, and I’ve been putting it into use. Trying to make an impact.”
“You’ve been putting the study into use or your actual treatment?” Magaly arched her eyebrows questioningly.
Man, she’s sharp.
“The aerosols that help with the virus and its symptoms, and the atomizers I told you about—every other week or so, Ronnie and I ride around and hand out inhalers to the homeless around the city—that and masks. Ronnie’s granddad uses the atomizers too. They’re helping.”
Magaly remained quiet but smiled at him.
Malik realized he hadn’t done the one thing he needed to do. He grabbed the bag, pulled out the laptop, pen, and charger. “Is there someplace I can plug this in?”
Tony responded, “We can go into the office. If you need WiFi, the password is Archerspoint-seven-eight-three-exclamation point, capital A, and no spaces.”
“It’s also written on a Post-it note on the desk,” Vau shouted. “Don’t make things so difficult,” he said, looking at Tony.
Malik took a seat and plugged the laptop in to charge. Magaly scooted a chair up next to him. Tony sat on the shorter filing cabinet against the wall. “So, Biotech tracers are after you, huh?”
“Unfortunately,” Magaly said.
“What do they want?”
Malik and Magaly exchanged looks.
“Listen, you two, if I wanted to, I could’ve taken your stuff and called up those Biotech fools already. We don’t like them any more than you do.”
Malik sighed. “I think they want what’s on this.” He held up the white grooved pen.
Tony nodded. “A mycelium pen. It’s been a while since I’ve seen one of those.”
“You know what this is?” Malik asked.
“Of course I do. I know who invented them.”
“You do?” Malik was surprised.
“You think I don’t know who Zach Carver was?” Tony smiled. “Close your mouth, son; don’t be so surprised. I know I’m a mechanic, but I know things about things. Do you know what’s on it?”
“Not yet,” Malik said.
“Then I guess you better see what it’s all about.”