Author Part 13
(Chapter 66 of "Senses")
LOS ANGELES
I can hear you already. "You guys are responsible for this madman! If it wasn't for you he wouldn't have acted!" Yeah, yeah yeah. Think about it. Dr. Hopkins, by his own admission, had rigged the equipment with his mind so that should anything happen to him, like his death, the process of destruction would begin. When you consider that he had done this before we confronted him, you have to assume that he was going to go ahead with it. It would have happened anyway; but with much worse results!
Enough of the lecture. If you still want to blame us, go ahead. At least you're alive so that you can blame us. Think about the alternative.
Besides, maybe you're right.
While Larry, Karen and Paul were back east I got into my writing full speed. I had conducted enough interviews and was now writing over 2000 words a sitting, fictionalizing (for lack of a better term) all of what I knew. I spent a lot of time agonizing over the first story in this collection, taking what I knew of the principals and what I had to assume about certain people (Jim's band mates, Jeff Soszynski, Agent "Dylan", etc.) and turning their personalities into workable dialog, and trying to explain a science I didn't understand. As you know by now I didn't dig too deeply into the science.
Let me explain my writing style. I get into characters. The devices of a story are important, of course, but I like to have well-rounded people in my work. The characters in a novel are what motivates me, and that's what I try to put into my own work. The fact that this group was more fantastic than the average human being made my task a bit less difficult.
Well rounded indeed!
I had never attempted anything as fantastic as what was happening in my real life. I much prefer things like Even Cowgirls Get The Blues, Centennial, or anything by Scott Turow or Thomas Harris. I have a copy of Ulysses that I've read through over a dozen times (it's different each time - try it sometime and see if you don't disagree).
But I do love complex pieces involving ensemble casts, as difficult as they are to write. I had a lot of fun writing scenes involving large numbers of the group. In fact, the fight scene in the bar between Jim and Jeff and the R & R Project tour band and a few bar regulars kept me busy for some time.
I had just finished writing that scene longhand when there was a knock on my door. "It's open," I said.
The door opened. "Hello Jace," Nicki said.
I nodded. "Hello Nicki," I replied. "Come on in."
"Thanks." She entered and closed the door behind her, then sat on the bed. "We need to talk."
I turned my chair around to face her. "I know," I said. "You first or me first?"
"Me." Nicki looked at the floor for a moment, then brought her head back up. "You have been the most tumultuous event in my life."
I laughed. "So have you been for me."
"Point made. But for you it's been getting you involved in all this mess. For me it's been trying to understand my feelings for you."
I nodded. "Okay. What have you worked out?"
"That I don't understand anything. I've asked the others for advise and I get a different response from each of them, so it's obvious that they don't really know how to define it either."
"Define what?"
"Love. I... I treated you fairly badly at the beginning and I wasn't even aware of it. I was being selfish."
"Apology accepted."
"But I need to know if I'm in love with you."
I sighed. "I can't answer that one for you. I can't honestly say that I'm a good judge of that."
"I know. But I am attracted to you, and because you aren't attracted to me it's been frustrating as all hell."
I looked at her for a moment. "Nicki," I finally said. "What I'm about to say will probably hurt a bit. Just bear with me.
"I was dragged into this whole mess kicking and screaming by you. You manipulated A.J. first, then me and as far as I know I'm still the only one who has figured that out."
Nicki looked at me intently, but said nothing.
"I was resentful," I continued, "angry, and just plain confused. In retrospect I would have probably wound up down here somehow anyway, but we really didn't know that until after the fact. Quite frankly, I think I had every reason to be pissed off at you.
"Then you took advantage of me when I was vulnerable. In the real world we tend to call that rape. When I first fled here with Mats I wasn't even willing to be your friend."
Nicki looked very hurt, but remained silent.
"It was during the trip with Mats that I really discovered about you. I began to realize that you had been raised in a very sexual environment. Nothing wrong with that, but this driving force to perpetuate the species is especially strong in this group, myself included. I must have been a release of tension for you. I only realized then that you were also a release of tension for me."
I chuckled. "You were right, by the way," I said.
"About what?" Nicki's voice was very meek.
"You do have the potential to be a great lover."
Nicki smiled. A tear ran down her right cheek, but the smile was still there. "Thank you."
"But not my lover," I added. I shook my head. "You're not the only one who has had to work out feelings towards someone."
Nicki nodded. "So you were unsure too," she said.
"No. I've had my feelings towards you worked for days now. My problem is Angie."
A look of surprise came over Nicki's face. "I didn't think... I didn't believe..."
"You heard about what happened between Angie and I then?"
"Yes, but I didn't want to believe... I didn't... what happened?"
"Just the potential for more," I said.
"She was born fourteen years before you!" An accusation.
"And you were born sixteen years after!" I shot back. "Do not presume to judge!"
"But how can you and Angie have..."
"A relationship? Sex? Fucking? Why am I having something with her and not you?"
Nicki looked at the floor again. "Yes."
"Because I'm attracted to her. Because she's attracted to me! That's enough to start."
"So you're not attracted to me."
"No, I'm not." I paused and took Nicki's hand. "Not that way, anyway." She looked up.
"Why?" she asked.
"I don't really know," I replied. "I just don't think about you the same way. I can't explain attraction any better than anyone else you've spoken with. It's partly physical, partly mental, partly just the idea of having someone that's good company to be with."
"And I'm fat."
"That's only a portion of it. A small portion. Certainly not as big a factor as you are thinking. Someone's physical appearance is only step one, and we're past that stage now."
"Don't lie to me!" She thrust my hand away from her.
"I'm not lying! You're charming, witty, have a good sense of humor but a shitty level of self-esteem that personally makes you less attractive. That will change over time, I think."
Nicki looked at the floor again, and I reached out and held her by the chin, forcing her to look up.
"The stage where I'm hostile towards you is over now," I said. "As is the stage where I worry about your weight. Admittedly, that took longer. We're all together and we're a team. A large portion of this team sleeps with other members of the team and you want in. I'm the source of convenience."
"And Angie's your source," Nicki said, shaking her head to release my hand.
"Maybe. We haven't gone far enough yet to know if the attraction is anything other than superficial. The only people I've ever heard of that fall in love at first sight are your parents. Not even Jim and Karen were like that, if you can believe either of them on the subject. These things take time."
I sighed and then went on. "The facts are that right now I'm with Angie, and that's a fairly casual thing. Over time, who knows? But I know you well enough now that I do want to be your friend."
"And I have to accept that," Nicki said, still accusing.
"If you value my friendship, yes."
Nicki leaned back on the bed and shut her eyes. "Why do I feel like we've had a lover's quarrel?" she asked.
"In a way we just did," I answered. "Friends get emotional with each other, and are still friends afterwards."
Nicki took a deep breath and held it for a moment. Her exhalation, when it came, sounded like a decision. She sat up. "Friends," she said. "Nothing more?"
"Maybe," I said. "Good friends."
Nicki nodded her head slowly. "All right then." For the first time in our conversation, an honest, unforced smile came over her face. "But when you and Angie get through with this, if you ever do, and if I happen to be available, you'd better watch yourself."
I laughed. "I consider myself warned." I gave Nicki a hug, and we shared a good laugh and a good cry.
"It has been rough, hasn't it?" Nicki asked.
"You've lived with this all your life," I replied. "I'm still adjusting to the fact that I'm on of the X-Men."
"X-Men?"
"It's a comic strip involving mutants and the resistance they face from the ordinary world. If you ever need justification for why everyone wants to keep this group a secret, just read it some time. A better parable for racism you will never find."
"Tell you what. Want to take a break from your writing?"
"I thought this was a break."
"Almost. What do you say we go find a comic book store and you can introduce me to the strip?"
I smiled and nodded. "Sure thing. As long as we can get some ice cream afterwards. Everyone seems to have forgotten that this is summertime."
"Deal."
About three hours after Nicki and I got back to the warehouse Paul, Larry and Karen returned and convened an emergency meeting of everybody in the main room. We sat in a circle while Larry filled us all in on the meeting with Dr. Hopkins and about the startling discovery about his ability to communicate telepathically with humans as well as machines.
"Fuck me man," Jim said. "What else can he do?"
"We don't know," Karen said. "But there's something more. I got that impression from his emotive state. He came close to figuring me out as well, but I think he only suspects that there's something unusual about me, and not the specifics."
"So we need a plan," Paul added. "And we need to begin hammering it out now. We know he's going to go ahead with his own plans."
"It sounds to me like he had already started," Morgana added, "before we even came along. He had done one public demonstration already, from what you're saying. I think we should assume that Greenland was that demonstration."
"I agree," Mats said. "He said that another demonstration was about to take place?"
"He did," Karen replied, nodding.
"No question about it," 'drink said. "He was going through with it anyway." (So there! - Jace.)
"Let's get back on track," Paul said. "How do we stop him?"
Mats stood from his chair and walked to the center of our circle. "I can see one possible solution, and I don't like it much." He paused to take a breath. "I'm the only other machine telepath we know of. I need to take his place somehow. If can talk with his machines then I can replace him and shut the process down."
Everyone in the room, including me, started talking at once.
"And how do you propose to do that?"
"But he has a mind trigger..."
"Over a hundred machines..."
How did Spider Robinson refer to it? Oh, yes. Rooba, rooba, rooba.
A.J. stood, gaining everyone's attention. "In all due respect," he said, "I think that Dr. Hopkins' ability is probably stronger than yours. I'm basing that on empirical evidence, but I think that we should assume that's the case even if it's just being too cautious. We should assume he's at least as powerful as Rand in his mind abilities, and certainly more powerful than you. What if you can't do it?"
"Then we need to figure out a way so that I can," Mats replied. "I said I didn't like it. His machines can give the worst fucking headaches."
Larry was shaking his head. "We should have had you there," he said, looking at his youngest brother. "We could have really used your ability to see the equations."
"Don't cry over spilt whiskey," A.J. replied.
"I would," Jim added. I smiled in spite of myself.
"Come on people," Mats pleaded. "Let's put our heads together and come up with a way to implement this. If anyone has a better idea, I'd love to hear it. Like I said, I may be able to shut the machines down."
"You don't know that," Scott said. "Your communications with the machines have been abortive at best."
"So we need to find the next test then. We need a live machine to test me out on."
"Point," Scott nodded. "I can get started looking for patterns in the net with my software as well as establishing the tracking protocol to follow Hopkins around. Maybe he's giving private warnings now."
"Do it," Paul said.
"Should we assume that this guy has control over his thought patterns?" Rand asked.
"We probably should..." Larry started. You could see the lightbulb go off over his head. Rand nodded in acknowledgement.
"I can engage him in a battle of wills," Rand said.
"A win could shut Hopkins' abilities down," Constance added.
"Wait a minute," Jim said. "Won't we have a problem then? I thought you said if this guy died the machines would go off. If we do a brain fuck on this guy wouldn't we accomplish the same thing?"
"We would," Larry said, "except that Mats would be there to take over. What we need to figure out is how to insure that Mats can take over fully and properly."
"And we need for Mats to be able to communicate with the machines," I said, jumping in. "Can Janis simulate multiple machines?"
"Good question," Mats replied. His eyes got a far away look for a moment. "No," Mats said when he rejoined us. "Damn!"
"We need to study Dr. Hopkins," Debbie said.
"Excuse me?" Larry said.
"We need to study his neural pathways and translate that for Mats. That way we can be assured of Mats having control of the situation while we neutralize Dr. Hopkins. We need to get him and A.J. into the same room."
"For several minutes," A.J. said. "Easier said than done."
"So we would need another fucking level of distraction," Jim said. "Fuck! I'm liking this less and less."
"And this assumes we can get close to the guy," Nicki said.
"The more complicated a plan gets, the more that can go wrong with it," Carrie noted.
"Agreed," Paul said. "And all we have are suggestions at this stage of the game."
"List them out," Mats said. "I need to take over for Dr. Hopkins, but Dr. Hopkins needs to be distracted so that A.J. can study him and teach the neural pathways to me, and I need to be able to give directions to the machines."
"Sold, American!" Jim said. "I need a fucking drink. Strike that, I need many many fucking drinks."
"I always got the impression that you were vulgar," I said to Jim. "Is the word 'fuck' the best you can do?"
A hush fell over the room. Jim stood up with a solemn look on his face and walked to the kitchen. He retrieved a bottle of Bushmill's and drank heavily from it while walking back to the circle.
"All right," he said. "Fuck is simply a word of convenience. I won't reduce myself to the level of insulting, but..." he took a deep breath.
"I want you to get your dick out of your ear and scratch your smelly ass and then listen up and smell the smegma. We're up to our ancestral cocks, cunts and tits in shit and we need to concentrate on this fucking problem, all right?"
I roared with laughter, and slowly the rest of the room joined in, Jim included. He was the first to realize my intention. We were getting a bit wound up.
"Not bad, kid," Jim said after a moment and another long swig. "We needed that and I'm the only one with the gift for it."
I nodded. "You're welcome. Now then, let's take it a step at a time. First, we need to find another one of Dr. Hopkins' machines, to confirm that Mats can issue the proper commands. We need to trace Dr. Hopkins' movements so that we can get to him when we're ready. We need to come up with a distraction that he cannot ignore while A.J. scans his brain. And we then need to supplant Mats' pathways at the appropriate moment, while Rand fights with him."
"Supplant," Angie said. "Goddamn! Of course!" Angie gave me a look filled with new approval. I think I glowed.
"Man!" Jim belched after a final swig from the bottle. "We haven't done that in a long while."
"You never forget how," Angie said. Karen nodded in agreement.
"I'll need to watch Rand fight," A.J. said. "That way I can filter out Rand's patterns from Dr. Hopkins'. I'll need the practice."
"Understood," Rand said. "I'll need to fight with a 'normal'."
"I volunteer," Larry said, looking at his lifelong friend. "We've been down this road before." Rand nodded in reply.
"So we're talking about reading Dr. Hopkins and then overlaying whatever his mind is like over mine," Mats stated.
"Correct," A.J. said. "That guarantees you at least a moment of being able to do anything he can do. Then you can shut down the machines."
"Then we don't need to find one of them first."
"Wrong," Scott said. "You still don't know the communications protocol. All you'd be given is the means, not the method."
"It looks like we all have things to do," Paul noted. "Let's get started on what we each have to do and let the plan coalesce around us. Scott, set up your tracking system of Dr. Hopkins, and look for signs of that next quake."
"Done," Scott replied. "I'll want a backup. Working with Debbie showed me that I can miss simple things."
"I'll volunteer," Carrie said. "I always feel left out during this shit."
"Good," Paul resumed. "A.J., you and Rand work on reading Rand's spells. That puts Larry in your group."
"And me," Constance said. "I may be able to help in understanding some of the nuances of Rand's work."
"Granted. Morgana, you're in this group as well. You're the only other one of use who even understands the concepts of magic, so we'll need an observer."
Morgana nodded in agreement.
"It occurs to me," 'drink said, "that we could use some of the time snap abilities we've developed if things get too hairy."
"Point taken," Paul replied. "You and Mats get that assignment, with Debbie to watch over you. Let me know what we can use. Once we find another machine Mats will have to go to it, but until that point we'll need to keep everyone occupied."
"Excuse me, Mr. Great Delegator?" I asked. A few people chuckled, including Paul, who is the only man I've ever met who could laugh and scowl at the same time. "What about the rest of us?"
"We'll work out the fine details of the actual plan. Let's not kid ourselves, we're all going to have our hands full here for a couple of days until we get the first break. We'll need contingency plans and any other silly thing that we can think of." He clapped his hands together. "Let's get to it people!"
As the group broke up to prepare for the next couple of days worth of work, I saw Carrie take Angie aside. "I just thought of something," she said to Angie as they went out of my hearing range. I saw Angie nod, then motion to Debbie to join them. Debbie in turn motioned for both 'drink and Nicki to join her. It would be a while before I would find out what that was all about.
Over the next three days A.J., Larry, Rand, Constance and Morgana spent almost all of their time in the workout area of the lab. Often they would work for hours without a break, looking at brain scans (Constance was doing most of the lab work that Angie would normally do - Angie spending most of her time elsewhere: I'll get to that in a bit) and making adjustments in their experiments. The hardest part was adjusting to the same problem A.J. had always had in reading Rand; that when the spells took place he couldn't see anything happening. He had to look at where Rand's equations were supplanting Larry's and then adjust accordingly. Tedious work at best.
It was rough going for A.J., who had to have his scientific ideals replaced with a new language. By similar fashion, Rand needed to understand how the language of spells translated into science, which he was unable to do. Rand had accepted this fact and didn't even bother trying to understand it. He just knew it worked. A.J., however, needed to know how it worked so that one brain pattern could be implanted over another.
Occasionally you could hear A.J.'s baritone shout of frustration as another stumbling block was hit. Fortunately, his baritone could almost as often be heard laughing as a new triumph was achieved. We knew progress was being made.
And if you've noticed anything about the style in which I'm writing this last section of the book you've noticed that I'm only highlighting key parts of the progression. As Kurt Cobain once said, "All Apologies". Away we go.
"The key is in the amino acids," A.J. said.
Constance nodded in response, having heard this before. She sat at the medical counsel reading charts while Rand and Larry were both hooked up to the monitors. Morgana sat next to Constance, looking for clues and waiting for the next time her own ability clicked in. Three electric leads were attached to her skin as well.
"The formulae that are translated into the subject's body is transmitted into the genetic code and then translated into the brain, where it can be used to make the alterations we need," A.J. continued.
"It makes me wonder about the history of magic in the human race," Morgana said. "If the capacity for this is within the genetic code then it has been there for longer than we can possibly imagine."
"It means Jim was right," Rand said. "Our mutations were a natural extension of our genetic code."
"It means Jim is only half right," Larry responded. "The genetic code explanations only account for you and Morgana. Some other wild card comes into play for the rest of the paranormals in the group."
"It now becomes a question of translation," A.J. continued. "We've determined that the amino acids can be changed by Rand. We've also determined that the brain equations can be changed by me, with help. The experiment I want to conduct now will determine how well I can read the translation from one protocol into another.
"Rand, since I've got some experience with it, I'd like to see a neutralization spell cast on Larry, to start with. We'll do it twice - once while I'm examining you, and once while I'm examining Larry. The idea is to look for what the difference in the structures are when I see your equations planted on my brother."
Rand chuckled. "You'll need to be damned lucky," he said. "The spell happens fairly quickly."
"I recognize that, so it may need to be done several times."
"The key is looking for a difference," Larry said. "Constance, you need to be monitoring for it too, because it might help narrow down the search."
Constance looked up from her monitors. "These things do have recording capabilities, you know," she shot at Larry. "If there's something to spot given the parameters Angie set up, it will be recorded."
"Great," A.J. said. "Rand, any time you're ready."
Rand nodded and looked at Larry. He than wove the tapestry of thoughts and prayers that accompanied a neutralizing spell and sent it. It was a short spell, lasting only a few seconds. Once done he signaled to A.J., who nodded in response and faced his brother. Rand cast again.
After a few moments, A.J. shook his head and said, "Damn!"
"Didn't get it?" Larry asked.
"For that brief moment when Rand's equations were on yours all I could see was Rand. Even your regular equations were nothing more than a blur to me. Connie, you get anything?"
Constance was reviewing the data and had run a program looking for statistical differences. "It will take a few minutes," she said, "but so far nothing. You may want to try again while I'm reviewing data."
"Fair enough. Rand, any time."
They tried the experiment again with the same results. Constance was still reviewing the data from the first try when they finished, so A.J. said, "All right gang, let's take five. Everyone except Connie. You tell me when the analytical work is done and if there are any results."
Rand took the electrodes from his skin and then assisted Larry in the same function. "This is frustrating," he said.
"No kidding," Larry replied. "At least you're doing something. I feel like a lab rat."
Rand smiled and gave Larry a playful punch in the arm. "You are a lab rat, my friend."
"The problem is that we're all a bunch of amateur physicists, not professional biologists. It takes years of biological studies to master the work on genetics we're trying to do. Even Angie doesn't have enough theoretical background to do this; her specialty is more towards the applied side."
"Okay, a smart lab rat." Both Rand and Larry laughed.
"I wonder," Larry continued. "In your arsenal of spells is there anything we can use for general protection of the group? I mean, we're going to be going into dangerous territory very soon and I'd like us to be as safe as possible when the time comes."
"It doesn't quite work that way," Rand replied. "Protection spells are meant for specific situations, like a protection against drowning if you're swimming the English Channel, or something like that."
"It's that specific?"
"Usually. None of us really has a clue what's going to happen. Not even Morgana. Because of that I can't really give us anything specific. The closest I could come would to to try and enhance Jace's abilities, either for himself or to try to translate it into the rest of the group. Unless we solve the translation protocol, that isn't going to happen."
"And we probably don't have the time to set it up anyway. Oh well, it was a thought."
Meanwhile, Morgana and Constance were going over the data, and thus far were finding nothing. "This part of the job gets to be frustrating," Constance said.
"Understandably," Morgana replied. "How do you think I feel? I'm the figurative fifth wheel during these experiments. I don't feel like I've contributed a thing."
"Welcome to the life of a normal, although I'm only one due to a technicality. Most of the time you guys get to do the exciting work while the rest of us do the dishes."
"Not this week."
"True enough. If you ever get to feeling put out by what we've been doing the past three days think about Carrie sometimes. How would you like to be breathtakingly normal in A.J.'s world?"
Morgana nodded. "Point taken."
They worked in silence for a minute when a thought occurred to Morgana. She let it sit in her mind for a moment while her brow furrowed in concentration. Finally she could stand it no longer. "When Rand was casting those spells how did you feel?"
"Excuse me?" Constance asked.
"You've got this link to Rand we haven't even begun to explore. A.J. even says he can see it and we've been ignoring it the whole time while we concentrate on Rand. How does Rand's spellcasting effect you?"
"It doesn't effect me at all, as far as I know. Our link is mostly emotive."
"Yes, but every time it gets explained to me Rand says the link is much more than that. The two of you are really one person in two bodies with two minds. But if you're not one of the Magi how does the connection function at all?"
Constance nodded slowly. "You mean that there has to be some kind of effect on me when the spell is cast."
"Right. Because the two of you are part of the same organism, and because you are not a spellcaster, perhaps the physics equations A.J. needs can be read from you."
Constance thought about it for a moment. "Rand! Larry! A.J.! Get back here!"
A.J., who had gone off to the kitchen, returned with a sandwich about eight inches thick. "What's up?" he asked with a mouthful of food.
"That's disgusting," Morgana commented.
"You found something love?" Rand asked, returning with Larry.
"No, but we have a theory," Constance said.
"Rand," Morgana said, "we'll want you to cast the neutralization spell at Larry again. This time though, I want A.J. to look at Connie and the link between her and you."
It was if light bulbs went off over the heads of all three men.
"As if both Connie and I were casting the spell at the same time!" Rand exclaimed.
Larry looked at his brother with a disgusted smile on his face. "If we keep missing the obvious we might as well pack it in," he said.
"The ladies didn't miss it," A.J. replied.
"Morgana caught it," Constance noted.
"Just throw money," Morgana said. Both A.J. and Larry bowed in response.
"Let's do it," A.J. said. He faced Constance. "Any time you're ready."
Rand nodded and took a deep breath. Then he cast the spell. Both Morgana and Constance looked up at A.J. to try a gauge the reaction. A.J., for his part, had an incredulous look on his face. "Wow!" he said.
"You got something," Larry noted.
"And how! There's one hell of a lot going on there. A whole string of equations that flow out from Connie to Rand. Normally there's a two way rate of exchange going on between the two of you, but during the spell there's that additional outbound."
"Why would it flow from Connie to me?" Rand asked.
"Not sure."
"I am," Larry added. "Constance isn't a spell caster, but the equations have to go somewhere. The only avenue she's got is to Rand."
Rand nodded. "Makes sense."
"Where do we take this?" Morgana asked.
"Do the experiment again," A.J. said, "and this time I'll be watching Larry for the receipt of these equations."
"I've got a thought," Larry said. "Don't try to look at the separate equations of Rand or me when the spell is cast. Look at us as a single organism."
"Easier said than done. I've never been able to focus on you that way. Either I see one set of equations or the other. It's like trying to look at 'drink, although on a much smaller scale. If that's all it took we would have solved this on day one."
"Wait a minute," Morgana said. "This is still going to be genetically coded. Is it necessary to look at the brain?"
"It's what I know," A.J. replied.
"But we know that the only function on the medical scanners that even registers in the blood sugar. Why not try to concentrate on the blood stream?"
"Two reasons. One, I don't have X-ray vision. The bloodstream doesn't give off thought waves like the brain does. Second, even if that were possible for me, the bloodstream is moving, and fairly rapidly. It would go by in a blur."
"Why not just concentrate on Larry then?"
"During a simple spell that would work. Unfortunately, we're talking about my needing to do this during a battle of wills, which is considerably extended. There's simply too much going on for me to focus on the subject during an extended set of spells."
"That is the point of all this, after all," Larry said gently. "That is the ultimate battle we must do for this to work."
"Fine, what about something simple, like a thumbnail, or a piece of skin?" Morgana asked.
"Those things aren't necessarily alive," Constance said. "The genetic codes probably wouldn't change."
"Damn! There has to be something to make this easier."
Larry went into his analytical mode for a moment, as if all of the pieces had suddenly clicked together, which they had. "Hair!" he exclaimed when he came out of it.
"Excuse me?" A.J. said.
"A.J., look at the hair at the base of my forehead. Does it look a bit different then the rest of my hair?"
A.J. stared for a moment. "You know, it does! I never thought of it that way before."
"That's because some of it's still alive at the base of my head. If I'm right, we can use that to see the equations when cast. Dr. Hopkins has an Einstein-like head of hair, so we can use that during the fight."
"I'd have to get awfully close to him."
"True, but only at that moment. You can figure out his static equations at a distance first, then get close during the fight with Rand to get the rest of what you'll need. He should be otherwise occupied at the time, so you can analyze to your heart's content and then work on Mats."
"Hey gang," Constance said. "Let's see if it works first."
"Granted," A.J. said. "Any time Rand."
Rand sent the spell, and A.J.'s eyes went wide almost at once. "I see them!" he shouted. "Holy shit it works!"
Morgana and Constance applauded from their seats behind the console.
"We've still got a long way to go," Larry pointed out. "We need to do this during a fight of wills, and we need to practice."
"Granted," A.J. said. "When the real thing happens, I'm only going to get one chance."
"We'll work it out," Morgana said.
"A vote of confidence," Rand noted. "What makes you so sure?"
Morgana smiled. "Call it a hunch." All of the others in the group rolled their eyes back.
"We've just got to figure out when those insights of yours are coming," Constance said. "You're hooked up to the scanners as much as these guys were and we had no warning whatsoever."
"Later," Morgana said. "My insights are good, but only if we work to follow them. We need to keep working."
"Can we take five to let the others know about the breakthrough?" A.J. asked. "Or does that screw up your reading of the future."
"My reading is for three days from now, so a few minutes probably won't matter one way or another."
Larry frowned. "Usually your insights happen only a brief period before the actual event," he said. "Why the difference?"
Morgana shook her head. "I don't know," she said. "But I know I'm right."
Rand laughed. "For every solution we get we get ten more puzzles," he noted. "When this is all over we've got a lot of work ahead of us."
A.J. shook his head. "Let's break," he said. "I want to finish my sandwich."
As the group broke up, Larry approached his brother. "Something's bothering you," he said.
"True. I thought I was covering it well."
"You are. I don't think anyone else has caught it, so if you want it to be a secret that's fine."
"It's not a secret. In fact, the whole group should be brought in on this observation. Thing is, it's a violent thing."
"I don't believe violence is even going to be necessary when we make our move."
A.J. sighed. "What bothers me, my pacifist brother," he said, "is what happens if Rand can't neutralize this guy once I have Mats take over the equations. That is the whole point, after all. All of this work is to set up Rand neutralizing Dr. Hopkins while Mats takes over. After all, we're assuming that he's stronger than Rand."
"What's on your mind? Why do you foresee violence if Rand can't neutralize him? We'll still have Mats."
"And Mats would be in the unenviable position of having a contest of wills with Dr. Hopkins for control of the machines."
"And Dr. Hopkins will have the advantage because they're his machines," Larry noted cautiously, seeing where his brother was heading.
A.J. took a deep breath. "I'm worried about all this because we may be left with no choice but to kill Dr. Hopkins."
"We may have to kill the son of a bitch," Jim said, finishing his drink.
Jim, Karen and Angie were spending many of their days at the bar on Montana Avenue when not in planning sessions. They would not get the chance again after today until the whole ordeal was over, so they were making the most of it.
They had played darts for several hours, Angie for fun but Jim and Karen as competitive as ever. Jim finally won out, seven games to five. They had dinner and drank as they always did, and made merry with fellow patrons. Finally they had found a booth and sat to discuss the situation.
Karen nodded and sipped at her own drink. "The thought had crossed my mind," she said. "I don't like it."
"So we need to work on a way to avoid it," Angie said.
"Thing is, I don't see how," Jim shot back. "If we do assume this fucker is stronger than Rand, there's a good chance that Rand will lose the battle of wills. Not one of the rest of us could do what Rand does, so Hopkins would be on his own again."
"Assuming that Mats takes to supplantation as theorized," Karen added, "that would put him against Hopkins, and Hopkins would be at an advantage simply because he knows the machines."
Angie sighed. "You're right," she said. "Hopkins would have to be neutralized. But why not simply knock him out?"
"Because he'd still be connected to the machines," Jim answered. "Mats would have to get past that, and if Hopkins is as strong as we suspect, Mats would have trouble. Therefore, we have to be prepared to Kill him."
"You're talking murder."
"I know. Premeditated murder. Even if we are preventing the modern and more lethal version of Hitler, it doesn't make it any more palatable."
Angie grimaced and took a sip from her drink. "I could live with Hitler's death on my hands," she pointed out.
"You've never killed," Jim shot back, with some venom. "Out of all of us I'm the only one who has, and even though there was nothing else I could do I was still revolted by the whole effect. It still affects my life to this day." Jim looked at Karen, who was obviously uncomfortable with the topic. "Sorry lover."
"I know," she said. "I haven't thought about Jeff for a long time is all. I kind of feel sorry for him now, after all this time."
"So do I."
"Why?" Angie asked. "From everything I've heard, it was all his fault."
"It was," Jim said.
"Doesn't make any of it easier," Karen said. "He was once my husband, after all. I took up with Jim the day of the divorce, and that probably set him off. I intentionally found someone quick to piss Jeff off, and everything that happened after that point comes from that event."
"You're not at fault," Angie said.
"I know."
"Then stop talking like you are. Jeff was a psychopath, and you damn well know it. In Jim's shoes I probably would have done the same thing. That's why I see killing the Hitler's and the Hopkins' of the world as no big deal."
Jim shook his head and refilled his glass from the bottle of Bushmill's at the table. "Until you've done it you'll never know," he pointed out. He downed the drink and attempted to refill it, but the bottle was empty. As if on cue, the bartender was at the table with another bottle.
Jim looked up and smiled his ironic smile. "Thanks Mike," he said.
"You're welcome," the bartender replied. "I won't be seeing you for a while, will I?"
Jim nodded. "That's right. Not by choice I want you to know."
"It never is." The bartender set the bottle down. "Just be careful about it, my friend." The bartender walked away.
Jim stared after him a moment, then returned his attention to the others. "If we have to go public with all of this, I'm going to miss him."
"We all will," Karen said.
"I'm curious about something," Angie said. "How did you guys find this place? I mean, we know about me, but by your own admission when you two met the bartender knew you both."
"Jace told you that," Karen said.
"He did, I've read the opening of the history he's written about the meeting of you two. After my cold shower I got to thinking. How did you both wind up here?"
Jim laughed. "In my case it's because I was bar-hopping with Paul in his drinking days," he answered. "One evening Paul decided we needed to go 'prowling', as he called it. We just started walking and after over an hour we wound up on Montana Avenue. We walked in and Mike handed me a Bushmill's as soon as I was at the bar. He gave Paul a diet soda, which Paul refused as he hadn't decided to quit yet, but I recognized that Mike was the bartender from heaven. Mike knew what we both should be drinking and produced it for both of us. I've been coming ever since."
Angie smiled and turned towards Karen. "What about you?" she asked.
"Nothing so romantic," Karen replied. "The time I met Jim I had only been there once before, on the first day of the court proceedings."
"First day?" Angie asked, incredulous. "How long did your divorce wind up in court?"
"Two weeks. It was very messy. Anyway, after it was granted, there was a waiting period while the ruling went into effect. The day it did I went to the courthouse again and then here because I remembered it from that first day."
"What happened that first day?"
"I came in and poured my heart out to Mike. Afterwards I felt embarrassed and decided not to come back."
"But you changed your mind," Jim noted.
"Indeed I did, and I'm glad. It took a while, but it occurred to me that Mike had poured every drink I had wanted without my asking. I too came to the realization that this place was a slice of heaven, and my pride wasn't going to keep me away."
"The rest, as they say, is fucking history."
"Fucking, indeed," Angie noted. She sighed and took a long sip of her drink. "You're right, we're all going to miss this place."
Jim raised his glass and shouted, "To Mike! The best bartender in the universe!" Karen and Angie raised their glasses. So did most of the patrons of the bar. The bartender, for his part, saluted Jim and returned to work.
Jim downed his drink. "So Angie," he said, "to change the subject somewhat, what's going on with you and the kid?"
"His name is Jace," Angie replied with a bit of a growl. "Please call him that."
"I touched a nerve!"
"One of his, actually. He hates being constantly reminded that when you take into account Nicki's acceleration, he's the youngest of us all."
"You surprise me, that's all," Jim said. "You care about him!"
"I care about all of you, you dummy."
"That's not what I mean and you know it."
"Face it dear," Karen added. "Most of the men have been conquests for you as well as friends. One and then the other. Jace seems to be a bit different for you."
Angie sighed. "Every once and a while you need to remind me that you're an empath," she said. "You're right, of course."
"You're considerably older than he is," Jim said.
"I know that. Given everything else about this group, and about me, and even about him, our age difference is one of the most normal things about our relationship. As for where it's going, I haven't the slightest idea."
"You must have some sense of direction," Karen pointed out.
"For once I don't. I can't even say who initiated it, other than that I haven't used my ability on him even once."
Jim looked at Karen. "Must be good in bed," he said.
"You really are a bit vulgar," Karen replied.
"Am I right?"
Angie smiled. "Ain't telling," she said. She stood up and extended her hand into the air and counted to five. On "five" a case of darts slapped into her hand.
"Anyone for another game?" she asked.
Jim laughed and so did Karen. Both finished their drinks and stood up and joined her in another raucous round of darts that lasted well into the night. After the game they waved goodbye to the bartender and promised to return as soon as possible.
It was a promise they would be unable to keep.
Scott and Carrie had their computer network tracking system set up fairly quickly; a testament to Scott's ability to work his brand of magic with computers. What he did was set up a relay of satellites hooked up to our own satellite to track Dr. Hopkins' progress. Pretty impressive when you realize that we had no access to any of the schematics of the three Hughes and one Ameritek satellite we bounced our signals off of. Also consider that Scott did it without direct access to any of our space technology and did it without leaving his chair at the lab.
The tracking device itself was a clear plastic strip that was magnetized with specific code of information which could be read with the technology in our satellite, which could in turn send and receive the same information bounced from another satellite which had been co-opted by Scott for our purposes. If you remember any news reports about a failure in the National Weather Service's satellite tracking system from this time in history you now know the cause. A couple of private companies were also unable to hold satellite transmitted board meetings, but we feel a lot less guilty about that part.
Scott scares me sometimes.
On the same day Jim, Karen and Angie were spending their final moments at the bar on Montana Avenue Scott was fine tuning his tracking system and overlaying his own maps into the system. Carrie came to relieve him in the mid-afternoon.
"Where's our man today?" she asked.
Scott looked up from his console. "Iceland," he said, "believe it or not. He flew in last night and if I've guessed right he'll be leaving within the hour for Canada."
"Iceland! What the hell is he doing there?"
"Probably has one of his machines there. Maybe he has a place to hide after all."
"I thought Iceland was an active volcano."
"It is. My guess is that's where his next demonstration will be."
"That's great! We can send Mats there and find the machine."
Scott shook his head. "No we can't, and for several reasons. First of all, why's he going? He doesn't need to if everything is already rigged and ready to go at the sending of a thought."
Carrie sat down next to Scott and sighed. "He's rigging a booby-trap," she said. Carrie was starting to pick up on the logic paths Scott used in his day by day conversation.
"Quite likely," Scott observed. "He knows at least that there are a few people who are after him, so he's covering his tracks. But even so I wouldn't want to find one of the machines unless it had been used already. Otherwise it might alert Dr. Hopkins that something's up."
"So might moving one after the event."
"Yeah, but now he knows we're out here, so probably after the test he expects us to find it."
"And for us to probably blow ourselves up with it. Just dandy."
Scott nodded and pushed his chair away from the computer, sliding with it for almost five feet. "We're going to need to be there when the test happens and time snap the machine immediately after the quake it triggers and neutralize all of the traps."
"That's a tall order," Carrie noted.
Scott rubbed his eyes. "It is," he replied. "I can track this guy anywhere on the planet but nothing can tell me when he's going to set off the quake."
"What do we do?"
"We start a search for other clues as to the 'when'. He said that there would be a public announcement regarding the final destruction of the planet. Like I said before, I think we should assume that private warnings will be given sooner."
"Why would he do that?"
"I would," Scott said, "for ego if nothing else. Evil geniuses and hackers actually like to take credit for their work and scare the shit out of people. Question is, to whom would that warning be sent?"
Carrie thought about it for a moment. "Someone in government most likely," she said, "if your scare theory is correct. Didn't Larry think that something got sent to our Government? 'Your government can't stop me' or some shit like that."
"Well, I've looked but haven't found anything."
"Maybe some other government? Or perhaps some other scientist."
"Yeah, but which scientist? Which government?"
"Government? Probably all of them. Any of them. For the scientists I think he might warn Dr. Wallace, if he has any kind of a soul."
"The woman he knocked up?" Scott asked. "I'll start a search there. The soul part is anybody's guess, but it's worth a shot. I can also start a government search but that will take some time. Thing is, Hopkins probably made his threat an anonymous one, so the search will be much harder without a name to reference. There are simply too many parameters to create a good limited search pattern. We'll get a lot of junk."
"How long could it take?"
"Weeks under a worst case scenario. There's a lot of data to consider."
Carrie shook her head. "I doubt we have weeks," she said.
"I know. You take over for a while and I'll bring you a sandwich. After I have one." Scott stood up and rubbed his hands together to restore circulation.
"Face it," he said. "We're going to need some luck on this one."
A few days later, Mats, 'drink, Debbie, Jim and Karen were discussing time snaps to work out a possible way to neutralize Dr. Hopkins once Mats had supplanted him, but the subject had turned sour. While the rest of us were at the lab going over fine details of our plan, they were upstairs in Karen's new office where she stored all of her records from her now suspended practice.
"I still don't think we should have to kill him," Debbie said.
"I wish I could agree," Jim replied. "I don't like the idea any more than you do. But I've been going over the physics of the situation and I can't come up with any other solution. Neither can A.J. or Larry, so it's not encouraging."
Karen nodded. "We already know we can't just time snap to the speed of light and disable things that way," she added. "Unfortunately, Einstein was far too correct in his relativity theories."
"We can't even begin to predict what would happen if we used relativistic speeds and effected time using speed within a time snap. That's the problem we would be facing if we even tried."
"Time versus time." Karen shook her head.
"Why can't we simply speed up only fast enough to do our work then let Dr. Hopkins do whatever he wants?" 'drink asked.
"And how fast would that need to be?" Mats countered. "What if Hopkins get the first thought off? There's no way we know of to intercept a thought wave."
"Even if he doesn't move first we don't know about the effect of having Mats there as well. The destruction machines might mistake the overlap as some kind of command."
"Wouldn't a command have to be sent?" Debbie asked.
Jim shook his head. "Not necessarily," he responded. "Unfortunately, Hopkins has interrupt commands in his head."
"If we take him at his word."
"Which I think we should," Karen said. "The man is crazy, but he's honest."
Debbie nodded grudgingly, having a sincere respect for Karen's ability to judge people. "But killing..."
"Is abhorrent," Jim interrupted. "If you've got a better solution I'd like to hear it."
The room they were in was full of boxes instead of chairs, and most of the group were sitting or reclining on them. Debbie however was sitting on a bed in the room, the only real piece of furniture there. She fell back onto the bed hard with a sigh. "Jim, I wish I did have a better answer. I honestly believe there must be a better solution. But I haven't come up with it."
"Neither has anyone else," Jim said, "if it's any consolation. Larry is the smartest person I know, and if it's stumping him..."
"The problem is that we're a bunch of rank amateurs," Mats observed. "Perhaps a real scientist could figure it out."
"We have a few real scientists," Jim said, nodding towards Karen.
Mats nodded. "Granted, but not in the specialties we need."
Debbie sat up and offered a change of subject. "Karen," she said. "How are you coping without your patients?"
Karen smiled. "The question usually asked would be 'how are the patients'," she said.
"Usually, but you've just had to walk away from your job."
"And I'm the only one of us who had a normal job to have to walk away from." Karen sighed. "I don't like it much. I recognize the need to have me around so that the time snaps can be affected, but it's very difficult to walk away from my patients. I hope I can get my practice going again after all of this is over."
"If we have to go public to resolve this it may not be possible," Jim said.
"I know, but at least I'm in a better position than you are to resume a normal life once this is over."
"Not if we kill Dr. Hopkins."
Karen looked down but said nothing.
'drink coughed. "Let's at least come up with a humane way to do it," he said. "Something that would kill him even before he realized it. Maybe something strange, so that it would be tough to associate it with us."
Debbie was outraged. "Not just murder but a murder you want to get away with?"
'drink sighed sadly. "Dear, please tell me you have a better idea." Debbie said nothing.
Jim however was intrigued. "What sort of strangeness did you have in mind?" he asked.
Debbie glared at Jim, but said nothing. "I'm not really sure," 'drink said. "I'm still conceptualizing the whole thing."
Jim nodded somberly. "The time snap won't do it. If we kill him in the snap he'll know it, even if no on else does."
"Someone would need to be in the snap and kill him while he's out of it," Mats said. "This is fucking disgusting."
"What a line of conversation," Debbie added. "We're mad, you know."
"You have no idea how bad it can be," Jim said. "I still have nightmares about Jeff Soszynski. If I'm associated with another killing it just might ruin my career."
"Not to mention ruin the victim."
Jim snorted but did not disagree. "I need a fucking drink," he said. He stood up from the box he was on and reached for the door, only to have it open from outside. The door had been jerked open by me.
I had been monitoring CNN for several days now. While the plan was being discussed in the lab I had been taking notes but keeping an eye on the television looking for something; anything. Anything that could be the signal we were looking for. As it would happen I was the one who spotted it. I immediately told the rest of the downstairs group to watch the screen and without even thinking about it I had run upstairs.
I pulled open the door slightly short of breath. Jim said, "We do have an intercom, you know."
I nodded (and I still don't know why) and said, "We're on folks!" Everyone in the room ran with me down the stairs. When we got down there Larry stopped me.
"What did you see?" he asked. "What are we looking for?"
"It will repeat," I said. "I caught a preview of an upcoming news piece."
We all turned to the news screen to see the news anchor (I'm not going to say who - his permission has not been asked for the purposes of this novel) finishing up one news story to move on to another. He began the next story:
"In international news Secretary of State Nunn left this morning for the next round of Middle East peace talks in Paris, with stopovers planned in Greenland and Iceland to discuss diplomatic missions..." The room erupted in noise as everyone put two and two together just as I had. Larry had to quiet everyone down to hear the rest.
"...Secretary Nunn gave high confidence in a speech before his flight about the prospects of continuing talks between Syria and Israel, saying 'peace, while not at hand, is much closer that ever before'. Little information has been given regarding the stopovers other than to say that it has been several years between official state visits to either north atlantic nation, and highly placed sources say that the visits are to be informational in nature, possibly to establish neutral sites away from Europe for the next round of talks."
The anchor moved on to another story and Larry, coming out of his fast mode, turned the television off and turned to Scott. "I want Secretary Nunn's itinerary," he said. "We need it ten minutes ago. This little trip fits all the facts we have and the Middle East talks would make a great cover. Any memorandum sent to him in the last six weeks with the word 'earthquake' in it should also be found."
Scott nodded and walked to his computer station, asking Carrie to follow him. I also followed to record the next bit of information.
"Carrie," Scott said, "program the computer to search for a stationary orbit satellite at 110 degrees by 33 degrees north. Send my transmission to transponder 10, vertical polarization."
Carrie raised an eyebrow but followed the instructions. "What are we doing?" she asked.
"We're hacking into the White House files using a system I put together in the 80's from an old space shuttle mission. I haven't used it since then, and had never planned to again, but it should still be working." He looked at me, as I was in turn looking over his shoulder. "Call it a hunch, but considering that Jace knows about a previous hack of mine that used this method I think we should go this route." He turned back to his computer and began to work.
Five minutes later he was back with the rest of the group. He refused to elaborate more about the method he had used, but he had the information we were after.
"It's like this," Scott began. "Mr. Nunn is in Greenland right now. He should be in Iceland about six hours from now. He goes to Europe tomorrow. He's scheduled to be there for five days then return directly to Washington.
"He's received several memos about earthquakes. Three of them mention Dr. Hopkins."
"Shit!" Jim shouted. "They know!"
"They may not believe," A.J. pointed out.
"Something's happened to make them at least look," Larry said. "What's the most recent memo?"
"Let's see... 'Mr. Nunn, from CIA Assistant Director, Intelligence," Scott said. "Location of Dr. Hopkins in Canada. Unfortunately, he has gone into hiding and hasn't been home for three days." Paul groaned at this, thinking that the group had scared Hopkins into hiding, but allowed Scott to continue.
" 'Earthquake fissure in Greenland has been confirmed. Next demonstration scheduled for Iceland at...' Jesus! This is only eight hours from now!"
A hush fell over the group, then another explosion of sound. To this day I do not know what the rest of the memo said, and Scott isn't saying other than that it was about other matters. Knowing the man as well as I now do I assume that he was asked not to discuss it by someone, possibly Secretary Nunn himself. I tuned and looked at Mats and saw that far away look in his eyes.
"I'm readying Janis," Mats said when he came back.
"Good," Larry said. "Who's going with you?"
"Me," Scott said. "I'm the quake expert here."
"Granted. Jace, you too."
"Me?" I questioned. I was expecting it, actually. Larry had begun to regard me as the group good luck charm, something I found a bit irritating.
"Yes you, and you know why," Larry said. "Anyone else?"
Morgana looked up at me startled, then turned to Jim. "Jim," she said, "you need to go."
Jim frowned. "Why me?"
"I don't know. You just do."
"I'm going too," Karen said.
"Okay, that's five," Mats noted. "That's enough."
Now Paul took center stage to resume his master delegator's role. "We've got a lot of prep work to do folks," he said. "I think we can count on the big event being in the next few days. We've discussed all the options, so now it's time to begin implementing them."
There were nods of agreement all around. Jim motioned us all into a circle. "There's a tradition when I tour," he said. "It's pretty simple, just be like this, together for a moment. Just before we go and earn our living and I think it's important." He looked at each of us in the eyes for a moment then said, "I love you guys."
I smiled, so did almost everyone else. This was a good group of people to be with, and I said so.
"Absofuckinglutely," A.J. replied.
"All right," Jim said. "Let's fucking rock."