A Fine Likeness

Posted on Tue 12th Jan, 2021 @ 8:38am by Purulence Addams
Edited on on Thu 27th May, 2021 @ 6:26am

1,429 words; about a 7 minute read

Mission: Denouement
Location: House of Addams, Queen Anne Villas, Tivoli Gardens
Timeline: MD 5, 1430

Helle watched closely as the third Addams she had met sketched a few more facial lines on the drawing she had done from the description Helle was able to give her of someone she saw in the lab. "Yes, yes, I think that's pretty close to what I remember. Your drawing is starting to take over the memory, but I think it's a good match for what was there. Except not evil looking enough about the eyes. How does one sketch the soul of evil?"

"Hm," Purulence said, looking at her sketch. "If I could look at the real person, I could do it; I would simply draw exactly what was there. Barring that, if I dream about him and remember the dream--maybe. The longest experience I've had with someone who was evil--it wasn't exactly evil, just someone who was severely maladjusted. He wanted control, but not the way I sense this guy does. I feel that your guy wants control because he has a well laid-out plan. My guy wanted control because he didn't have a plan. He wanted direction. This guy here, he's all about direction, isn't he?"

Helle cocked her head to one side, thinking back to the eyes of the man. Their glances had crossed and hitched for only the shortest moment, and yet she'd felt the lack of soul, or whatever one might call it. There had been both a fire and deadness, and she'd been the one to break the look and glance away, as quickly as possible.

"Yes," she said decisively. "He knew what he was doing, and he was determined to do it."

"So not arrogant, no bombast, just straight-up 'Do what I tell you?'"

"Oh, yes, there was arrogance!" the divided woman said vehemently. "There was a sense of being above everyone and everything else, like a god or maybe higher than that. A sense of ..." she fumbled a moment, quite a novelty for her, "... being beyond morality. Everything he chooses is the moral thing to do ... but that's not quite right. Take morality out of it. His will is always right - yes, that's closer to the feeling that washed over me. I was a bug he could crush, and it would be right to do so, if that's what he willed."

Purulence looked at Helle, wide eyed. "I'm glad I've never met him, and I'm deeply sorry you did," she said, still looking directly at Helle. "I'd like to try something. I've never done it before, and I'm afraid I might just get you. But... Let me try something." She glanced at her sketch and then back at Helle. "I hate to ask this, but--think about him again for just a moment, would you?"

Starinf at the artist for a moment, Helle decided to extend the slightest tendril of trust. She nodded once, "Alright ... at that very moment or any thought of him at all?"

Purulence considered that for a moment. "Whenever you felt that you had the strongest sense of what kind of person he was."

The penultimate personality looked off to the left and up at the bulkhead, thinking back to when she felt the greatest sense of the man the artist was trying to capture. After a moment, she closed her eyes to shut off every input and delved into her memory. At what point had she felt the man's purpose and dark intent the most. Wandering up and down the memory, she decided it was just before their eyes met for the briefest of moments and his dismissed her as nothing important. She concentrated on that moment, and said, "Alright, does that help?"

Purulence studied Helle a moment and then shook her head. "Rats. No, that's not it. I had hoped I might be able to get a better sense of this man reflected from your feelings about him, but that's not going to work. I'm getting instead a strong sense of your revulsion toward him. I think I'll need to look at portraits of actual psychopaths; that will give me a better idea. Fortunately, we've got a book around here somewhere--maybe even two or three."

Idly, Purulence added tiny crow's feet at the corners of the eyes and increased the glint of light reflected off the subject's eyes so that it shone more harshly. "So you're leaving with my parents after Halloween?"

Startled by the change of topic, and by the overt friendliness in the artist's tone, Helle hesitated a moment before answering. "Yes, I believe that's the plan. I'm not really sure what they're expecting to get out of us, but it seems like the best option available. We certainly don't want to become lab rats."

We? Lab rats? Purulence wondered. And yet the words felt right, somehow. She would ask Ischemia about it later. "Well, I've been glad to have you here. Family is nice and all, but it's good to branch out and meet other people. I hate that you have to leave so soon, though, when I've barely begun to know you."

Her guest looked at her strangely, and then smiled a very small smile. "Likewise, Miss Purulence. I have a feeling there's more to you than a name that startles. Perhaps at some future point, we may become friends. For now, is there anything else I can try to help your muse along?"

"A name that startles, says the woman whose name is Helle." Purulence grinned and gave Helle a teasing look. "I love your name, by the way." Then she sobered. "I'm going to show you the drawing with the latest changes I've made. Are you ready?"

The woman shrugged. Could a drawing be any worse than the reality? That had scared her plenty, but a face on a page? She didn't think so.

"Okay, here goes nothing." Purulence slowly turned her SketchPADD to face Helle.

The image was surprisingly like what she remembered. The artist had caught the sense of evil malevolence, certainly, and maybe something else. "Did I say anything about my sense that he was not engaged with anyone else in the room? I mean that he truly was not connected to anyone at all? Because I see that in your drawing, and I didn't think I'd concentrated on that at all."

"That would make sense for a psychopath. Some of them have families who care about them, and so they're a bit better-adjusted people. Or maybe they had more of the necessary brain development, to start with. This guy ..." Purulence glanced at her sketch and grimaced. "I'm thinking amygdala the size of a rice grain and not much family life, to boot."

Helle mulled that over for a moment. "I don't understand much of human psychology, but your sister is a doctor, so .... If that's true, is this the man who was a Starfleet officer? How could he fool people for years? He'd have to be a consummate actor. Or is this someone else? This is a good likeness of the man I saw. Do we have something to compare with it, a military photo perhaps? Or ... maybe your computers can search for a match? I'm not sure how this is supposed to work."

"A Starfleet officer? This guy?" Purulence's eyes widened, and she stared at the sketch. "Surely not. I don't see how he could have gotten past the bioscan during his first Starfleet physical; it would have shown the abnormal brain development, clear as day." She glanced at Helle. "It's amazing, the stuff you learn when your oldest sister is a geeky medical student. But, hey, let's see. Computer, run a facial comparison of file hell-01.jpg, listing the five known people the image resembles in descending order from closest resemblance to least."

"Je travaille," the computer replied in a good approximation of Gloriana Addams' voice. Purulence rolled her eyes. "Dad's been messing with the computer again."

"Les images ressemblent à 1. Dobbs, amiral Adrian, retraité, 2. M. Gregory d'Apcher, 3. M.--"

"Computer, end report and close," Purulence said.

"Oui, ma cherie," the computer replied sweetly and halted the report.

"The image resembles Admiral Adrian Dobbs, retired," Purulence translated. "My God ... I remember hearing about that on the news a couple of years ago. It was very sudden and unexpected. He was one of the few Starfleet admirals even ordinary people had heard of. This is unbelievable." Purulence inhaled and let out a breath. "Computer, display most recent public-domain image of Admiral Adrian Dobbs."

Her SketchPADD chimed.

 

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