Part 440: Figuring It Out Part 1

January 19th, 2010

Eddie sat alone in the silence of his room. He had little sleep and even less food. He calmly sipped on a diet coke as he stared into the far corner of his room. The Island had come back to plague his life. He was certain Matt was Ethan Rom and if he wasn’t, he was going to have to prove it.

Eddie has spent the last four hours reviewing every single article that was written about The Island, based upon the accounts of everybody who was interviewed. He reviewed every piece of information, and reviewed it again. What did he miss? What can he use to prove that Matt is up to no good?

Eddie stood up and paced around his room. When he did, he saw the overhead light reflecting off the silver locket that Bunny gave him. He calmly picked it up and held it in his hands. He calmly opened it up and looked at the withered pictures of Julia and the man who seems to be Bonnie’s father. Why would they make a duplicate to give to Bonnie? Eddie closed his eyes and held the locket in his hand. Watchman gave him unique gifts; almost one might call them powers. Eddie didn’t seem as such. He just used them as he needed them to be. Eddie concentrated. “Please, Watchman,” he whispered, “Help me figure this out.”

It was given to me when I was born.

Eddie opened his eyes abruptly after hearing Bonnie’s voice echo in his head. He looked closely at the locket again. Bonnie said that she was given this necklace when she was born. Why would a parent give their daughter a necklace she couldn’t even wear yet? They were proud of her birth. They were vain. However, Eddie realized those reasons were still not practical. If Bonnie had the locket before she was old enough to wear it, then why would Bunny have a same copy? Bunny was ten years old; so she would have gotten the same locket around the same time.

“Born . . together?” Eddie blinked.

The more Eddie thought about it, the more it was making sense in a fantastic way. If they had the same locket at the same time, then they would have been born together. The more he thought about , the more he saw Bunny’s eyes in Bonnie’s. Even they had the same color hair. Bunny. Bonnie. Why would two girls have the exact same sounding name? “Twins.” Eddie gasped.

It all made sense. Bunny was a young girl living out in a facility run by the Hanso Foundation in his Dharma Initiative. Bonnie’s step-father is a behaviorist working for the Hanso Foundation as well. It was just all too much to be coincidence. Eddie sat down, massaging his lips with his fingers. “Oh, my God,” he whispered, “Did they take Bunny away from her parents when she was born?”

Eddie had enough proof to convince himself that Bunny was indeed Bonnie’s twin sister. The bigger question was, however, would he be able to convince Bonnie? The young man rubbed his hands over his cheeks vigorously. He had to force himself to stay awake. He was no where need done in trying to figure out the clues to this puzzle.

He then walked out of his room and into his mother’s study, where the computer was. The young man calmly sat down in her tall leather chair and turned on the computer. He crossed his arms and bobbed up, the down on the chair; waiting for the computer to turn on. As he did, the screen lit up and filled it with computer icons. In the background was a portrait of him and his mother at her 47th birthday. Eddie smiled at the picture; as it brought back fond memories. The moment the computer was up, he quickly clicked onto the Internet explorer and went to the Google search engine. He clicked typed in a few words.

Hanso Foundation Dharma Initiative.

Then clicked Search.

The first website that came up seemed to be actual Hanso Foundation website. Eddie clicked it and the website came up. It was a definite website that seemed show the rich history of the Hanso Foundation. It had apparently been funding the Dharma Initiative as early as 1945. It spoke of various projects that they funded; The Corral Project, The Joop Project, The Life Extension Project, and the Gaea Project. Eddie read over the listings but it made no mention of the projects he was familiar with, such as The Red and Black Project. Was that deemed a success? As far as Eddie was concerned, it wasn’t. It was a sadistic experiment, meant to see who was stronger during Natural Selection.

Eddie began to read the history of the foundation. It was started by Magus Hanso, around 1942. It’s goal was to help bring around the sciences for a new day and age. They focused on experimentation on animals, climate change, reaction to food and all sorts of things. As the years went by, Magnus was replaced by his son Alvar. He continued the Dharma Initiative from the 70’s and the 80’s with the likes of the DeGroots, a Dr. Gruber and some other scientist named Dr. Mittlewerk. After the years came by, the company of the Hanso Foundation was bought about by Widmore Industries. Charles Widmore allowed Alvar to remain ownership of the company but he placed his daughter Penelope in charge of day by day operations.

Eddie leaned back and stared at the screen. All of this was fascinating but it wasn’t giving him the answers he needed. He then noticed the small search engine at the top of the website. He then leaned up and typed into the search engine two specific words; Matt Tefpourth.

Nothing.

Eddie massaged his chin and wondered why a man who worked for the Hanso Foundation wouldn’t come up on it’s websites, not even a standard listing of employees. The young man rubbed his eyes and then thought of another name he could try. He leaned up and typed in Ethan Rom.

The screens then flickered to two sections; The Joop Project and the Life Extension Project. Eddie began to read the Joop Project first. Apparently it was doing it’s best to extend the life of monkeys, gorillas and orangutans. The Project was named about an orangutan named Joop who was alive for 105 years. Eddie then clicked onto the link for the Life Extension Project. Apparently it was the summation of the Joop Project and the Gaea Project; where they were harvesting some kind of plant that was capable of slowing metabolism, able to extends a person’s life by 5 years. There was a picture of the project leaders. Eddie clicked on the link by words and looked at the picture.

He shook his head in success after he finally got a picture of Ethan Rom. The man was standing there with his arm around the orangutan named Joop. There was another man, standing to the other side of Joop, which was an Asian man. Eddie then blinked when he recognized him. He had seen him over and over from the Orientation film that Locke hyper-analyzed in the Shark Tank. The man’s name was Dr. Marvin Candle. Eddie was then confused. Below the caption of the picture, it read (L to R), Dr. Ethan Rom, Joop and Dr. Mark Wickman. “Wickman?” Eddie said to himself, “I thought . . .I think his name was Marvin . . .Candle?”

Eddie then blinked when he started to see these two men together. Wickman was the spitting image of Candle, minus the gray hair. The young man remembered the orientation film was made in 1972. This picture, judging from the equipment looked like it was late 80’s. Eddie leaned back in his chair, looking up at the ceiling. “Wickman . . .Candle . . .Mark . . .Marvin . . .Wickman . . .Candle . . .” he muttered, “ Candle . . Wickman . ,. Wick . “

Eddie leaned up abruptly, like a scientist who just figured out the cure for cancer. Marvin Candle, and Mark Wickman. Two names that were incredibly similar, almost a play on words. What would the odds be that they would be father and son? If so, why the name change? Eddie then grabbed a nearby pen and paper, then wrote down Ethan Rom’s name. He remembered from what Locke was telling him, was that Ethan Rom was an acronym for “Other Man.”. He then wrote down Matt Tefpourth. He started to try and form words from the name. He would write down jumbles of words, mark them out and then try again. Eddie squinted his eyes and continued writing. He had to figure this out. He then wrote down one word that he could make from the name easily.

Fourth.

Eddie then stopped. He stared at the last jumble of letters. The more he looked at them, the more he could see a word. He then tapped over the letters with his pen and sure enough, the right amount of letters were there. He calmly wrote down the other word next to the first one.

Fourth Attempt.

“Fourth . . .attempt?” Eddie stared at the page.

Then he looked back at the picture of Ethan Rom, Joop and Mark Wickman. Two men that looked just like other men that he knew. Similar names and play on words. Eddie then blinked at the thought of what this could mean. It was even too fantastic for him to comprehend. What if Joop wasn’t in fact 105 years old? What if Joop wasn’t even Joop at all? What if Ethan Rom wasn’t Matt Tefpourth and what if Mark Wickman wasn’t even Marvin Candle? The words “fourth attempt” echoed in his head like a jack hammer.

What if they were all clones?

Eddie knew that cloning was done. Scientists had successfully cloned kittens, sheeps and dogs. It was outlawed by the government for ethical reasons. What if the Hanso Foundation never bothered to acquire such restrictions? What if they didn’t care? It all made sense and for Eddie was the proof that he needed.

But would Tony be convinced?

“No,” Eddie grunted, “He wouldn’t. I need more.”

Eddie went back up to the search engine and then typed in Watchman. The screen then flickered and was replaced with a black screen. In the middle was a grouping of words that simply read PASSWORD>. The young man squinted his eyes, wondering if it could be that easy. He then proceeded to type in the numbers : 4, 8, 15. 16, 23, 42.

ACCESS DENIED.

“Damn it.” Eddie grunted.

The young man then pulled out a small booklet. He never saved the things that the school sent him but his mother did and at the moment; he was very thankful. The school directory listed all the families that had children in the school. Eddie quickly went to the M’s and fond the Miles family. Specifically Phlip Miles, the computer nerd Eddie saved from Brian Sage last September. He quickly reached over to the desk phone. His fingers dialed the number in seconds and waited to hear from someone to pick up the phone. After two rings, someone did answer. “Hello?” a female voice said.

“Mrs. Miles?” Eddie said in a pleasant voice, “My name is Eddie Trascal. I’m a friend of Phlip’s. Is he there?”

“Sure, let me get him.” She responded like any household mom.

Eddie tapped his fingers as he waited. He could hear in the background Mr. Miles screaming for Phlip to answer the phone. Shortly there after, the phone did pick up. “Stand by.” Phlip answered.

“Excuse me?” Eddie said.

“I said Stand by,” the computer expert whispered, “I want to be sure she hangs up the phone.”

After a momentary click, Eddie heard a sigh of relief from the nerd on the other end of the phone. “Who is this?” he asked.

“Eddie Trascal.” He answered.

“Eddie, what a pleasant surprise,” Phlip chuckled, “How are things?”

“Phlip, I need your help. Are you good at computers?”

“I’m one of the best. You need help on a mid-term?”

“No, I need you to . . . .to hack into a company’s database.”

There was a silence over the phone. Eddie was waiting for the nerd to say something but he said nothing. Then he heard him banging on some kind of a box and then he heard a flip of a switch; followed by a small trail of static over the phone. “Are you on a cell phone?” Phlip asked.

“No, I’m calling from a direct line.” Eddie then winced, “What is that static?”

“Scramble box,” the computer nerd said, “Makes sure nobody picks up this conversation out of the air.”

“Bit paranoid, ain’t ya?”

“I’m a computer hacker, Eddie. I have to be,” he sighed, “So tell me, what can of database you want me to hack into?”

“It’s a company that runs a bunch of science experiments. Come to my house to do it.”

“What . .like . .right NOW?” the nerd gasped.

“YES!” Eddie grunted, “Right now.”

“Okay . .okay, I’ll . .uh . .feed my poor mom a lame excuse and be on my way.”

“Thanks, Phlip. I’ll wait for you here.”

Eddie hung up the phone and leaned back into his seat. He stared at the screen, wondering what this Watchman prompt would tell him. He hoped that Phlip would be able to hack into it. He still needed information and if this password access gave him access to ANOTHER Watchman program, then it just might. Eddie then paused when he heard his phone ringing. He leaned over and saw that the number was a wireless cell phone number that he easily knew was Bonnie’s. He slumped back down and let the answering machine take it. After he heard his mother’s voice; prompting the caller to live a message, Bonnie started talking. “Eddie, pick up the phone.” She said over the machine’s voice.

Eddie just stared at the phone, not moving.

“Eddie, please talk to me,” the girl started to whimper, “You . .you scream at my step dad for no reason and as a result, my mother wants me to dump you. She says you’re bi-polar but I don’t believe it. You have to talk to me, Eddie. I have to know what’s going on with you. I . . . .”

The young man felt his heart breaking. He wanted to tell her everything but he couldn’t; not yet. He needed further proof to convince her he wasn’t crazy. “I hate you.” She cried, as she hung up the phone.

Eddie leaned over and placed his hand on the phone. Tears strolled down his face. “Tomorrow,” he whispered, “Tomorrow, Bonnie . . .I’ll you the ugly truth . .and pray you can forgive me.”