Author Part 17
(Chapter 70 of "Senses")
NEW YORK
While the brothers Christopher were up north Dr. Hopkins found the tracking device Larry had planted on him. Maybe he realized what it was, maybe he just thought some tape got stuck on the back of his driver's license. Either way, the device stayed in Toronto when he made his move.
Fortunately, we no longer needed the tracking device. Thanks to Jim's intervention with the Washington powers that be, we knew where and when Dr. Hopkins would make the next and final move.
Hopkins had notified the United States government (and several others, but we didn't know that at the time) about both the Greenland and Iceland quakes, giving precise details about the fissures, the times and durations, and the magnitudes of each. After Iceland he said he would address the United Nations general assembly to give his demands. He had also given the warning about not causing his death, but he had not said that there would be no ransom. Only we knew about the impending destruction of the world. Well, us and a select few in our government after Jim's intervention.
We had four days to prepare. Scott was given blueprints for the general assembly area and we set up stations within the great building from where we would enact our plan. Larry, Morgana and Paul would be attending the session in the open, while the rest of us would be in clandestine positions all around the complex. Most of us would be in a series of air conditioning ducts above the assembly, with A.J. and Mats ready to pounce into the room, while Nicki and Debbie would be with Janis on the roof, ready with Carrie and Angie's backup plan in case Mats went nuts.
We all spent a lot of time meeting with security people and various chiefs of state discussing the possibility that we would be carrying equipment that could be considered deadly. There were objections from several parties, and a compromise was worked out that none of us would carry guns, knives, explosives, or any type of poison on our persons. Some people are just too paranoid; Hopkins was the real threat.
The U.S. delegate to the U.N. tried to get a closed session for our purposes, and was turned down by a lone veto by Mainland China. Television cameras would be allowed in for Dr. Hopkins' speech. We all resigned ourselves to the need to go public and at some point we managed to get everything up to Rutherford. Don't ask me how; I remember it all of course, but it happened so fast that it seems like a blur even now.
I guess upon reflection that many countries were in denial about the magnitude of what they were facing. So was I.
The general assembly meeting was scheduled for fifteen minutes past noon, but Hopkins' was over half an hour late. We spent that 32 minutes waiting tensely, with me up in one of the air ducts with Carrie, Angie, and Constance, looking at the crowd. Never before or since have I seen such a collection of different opinions and ideals.
Up in the public area sat Larry and Paul, each holding covered tennis rackets as if they had come from a set at some private club to watch the session. Morgana sat behind them, looking around at the delegates and trying to get a feel for each one. She looked nervous to me (she was).
(For the record, Jim and Karen were in a duct of their own, while Rand, Mats and A.J. were in another. Scott and 'drink were in yet another. This building is well air-conditioned.)
Suddenly the general assembly was called to order. You could feel the tension from up in my hiding spot, sixty feet above the assembly floor. The Secretary-General came up to the podium and called for attention, waiting for customary few seconds while the translations went out to all the delegates.
"Fellow ministers," he began. "As you are well aware, events of the past several weeks have come to the attention of this governing body. I shall, for the record, recap these events.
"First, an earthquake of unnatural origin happened in the nation of Greenland. We know this event to have been man made from the shape of the resulting fissure, and from the traces left by incendiary devices on the scene. Fortunately, there were no casualties or property damage despite the severity of the earthquake."
There was a pause of several seconds while the text was translated for the audience, then the Secretary-General continued. "Several days later," he said, "a communique was received by several member nations of this governing board. An individual claimed responsibility for the event in question and warned of another one to take place in Iceland.
"As you well know, an earthquake occurred in Iceland four days ago, of unnatural origin, centered in Reykjavik. Property damage is estimated to be in excess of one billion dollars E.U. and thirty people lost their lives. Our condolences go to the ambassador from Iceland and his people."
From my hiding spot I winced. We had been so busy that we hadn't heard the casualty reports from Iceland. At least I hadn't until that moment.
"The Iceland quake occurred exactly as proscribed in the letters received by our members," the Secretary-General said. It took a moment, but a murmur of surprise went through the room.
"The gentleman claiming responsibility for these events has requested an audience with our constituency, our member nations' representatives, to discuss these events," He continued. "While this body has a strict policy regarding the allowance of terrorists within our walls, upon consultation with several people we have acquiesced to the demand with a grant of immunity from actions during his stay within the confines of our property. Outside he comes within the jurisdiction of the United States."
This brought out cries of alarm from the assembly, and even a few more laughs. There were still disbelievers, and I'm no longer sure I blame them. However, the immunity clause still rankles me to this day.
"The reason for this limited immunity is that the man responsible claims that any actions taken against him would result in more destruction," The Secretary-General said. "After consultation with several experts knowledgeable in this matter we have taken a position to believe the gentleman in question. Therefore, we will grant an audience to the gentleman under the conditions given."
There was another pause while the translation went though. Open disbelief on several members' faces could be seen.
"Members of the assembly," the Secretary-General intoned, "I present to you Doctor Douglas Hopkins, of Toronto, Canada."
No one knew what protocol or etiquette to follow, so a hush fell through the room as Dr. Hopkins came in through the main doors and approached the podium. As for Hopkins himself, he looked smug and proud, walking with his head held high and well dressed and groomed. He strode to the podium in measured steps, with a folder under his right arm. When he got there he placed the folder on the lectern and looked at his audience. He looked at each delegate only momentarily, and not at the spectator gallery at all, so he did not notice Larry and Paul up there.
He glanced back at his text and began. "Members of the United Nations," he began, "delegates and representatives, fellow human beings. I have a prepared text to read, then I will let you to your business. First, let me begin by noting that many of you do not believe I can do what I claim. You believe that I cannot cause earthquakes. Allow me to demonstrate that your beliefs are false."
Suddenly everything shook. Not too much, but enough for everyone in the room to notice. Scott, from his vantage point, said, "Feels like about a 3.7."
'drink, the only one of us who could hear him, agreed. The comment wasn't passed on to the rest of us.
Yes, we did have communications devices so that we could talk to one another. Unfortunately, they were limited. We had only one to each group, while Larry, Paul and Morgana were out of the loop entirely because with all of the other communications devices in the room being used for translation purposes, we simply got too much interference to send signals to the chamber floor and back.
The earthquake was short lived, maybe fifteen seconds. When it stopped, Dr. Hopkins looked around the assembly again. "Do you believe me now?" he asked the multitude.
No one replied and obviously Hopkins didn't expect a response. He looked back at his notes for a moment, then began again.
"My name is Doctor Douglas Hopkins," he said. "I am not affiliated with any school, and the fact that I am currently from Toronto is incidental. I was once a professor at Arizona State University, here in the United States, but that was some time ago. For my credentials, let me state that I am a theoretical physicist, who has found a way to apply one of my theories.
"In short, I am able to create earthquakes. The method I use involves several well programmed computers, my new theories, and my mind. I am able to communicate with these machines using only my mind.
"You see, gentlemen, the trigger is mental for the machines, and they are rigged to go off all at once should I die. And there is at least one earthquake generator in each one of your countries, triggered to go at my whims."
A moment for the translations to reach all ears, then pandemonium. It would have never ceased if Dr. Hopkins hadn't cased another earthquake, slightly larger than the last.
"Gentlemen, please," he begged of the room. "I hope the demonstration was sufficient. Next time I will pick a country at random and level it."
Silence reigned again in the room.
"Thank you," Doctor Hopkins said. "Forgive the grand spectacle, but I do need your undivided attention.
"I am here to present you with some facts. As you well know, right now in the world there are sixteen armed conflicts going on, involving eighty members of this esteemed body. This is intolerable."
The delegate from Iraq stood. "You are then suing for peace?" he asked.
"Nothing of the kind. Another fact is that this situation is normal. Last year it was thirteen conflicts. The year before it was twenty! Going back to the foundation of this assembly, and its predecessors, the job of this body has been to sue for peace. Instead, it is used for the perpetuation of war!"
There were loud protests throughout the room, to which Hopkins shouted, "Do you need another example of what I am capable? Say, perhaps a magnitude six right here? Or shall I wipe Lithuania off the face of the earth?"
The assembly quieted down.
"The facts I have just presented are nothing new," he continued. "In fact, I'm sure that most of you were already aware of said facts. But there's more. So much more.
"There are also conflicts not yet open simmering between nations and even within nations as we speak. There are nations not represented by this assembly. There is no uniform code of ethics between nations or within nations, and there is no end in sight to the religious conflicts throughout the world. With track records going back several millennium, we can honestly agree that settlement of some of these issues, issues that people in this very room would kill for, will never happen.
"Now add to this equation that people are evolving. Ladies and Gentlemen of the general assembly, I am a mutant!"
When I heard those words I whispered "X-Men!". I didn't have the microphone in our group (Carrie did) so the comment wasn't passed on, but those words, "I am a mutant", sent a chill through my spine. The potential for all of us becoming hated had just skyrocketed.
"Someday soon," Dr. Hopkins said, "others like me will come. People with power. People who can kill us all. People who can enslave us all. Perhaps the next mutant like me will be a Hitler! Can the world honestly afford this?"
Murmurs floated throughout the room.
"Because of this," Hopkins went on, "the human race as we know it is essentially over. Therefore I have set up a preemptive strike."
The murmuring got louder.
"In exactly fifteen minutes, the world will experience a series of violent earthquakes, magnitude eleven and greater. The resulting effects of the combined quakes will open the Earth's crust and cause volcanic eruptions over approximately sixty percent of the surface. Within 24 hours all life on the surface of this planet will cease to be."
Now came the uproar. The newspeople up in the rafters almost as one were sending frantic calls to their bosses. One of these men panicked an ran from the room, but the rest stayed, dutiful until the end.
"Not more time?" asked the Secretary-General.
"Most people wouldn't want to know it's coming," Hopkins replied. "But for those who feel you must contact your homes, I'm giving you the chance to do so."
"Speaking of Hitler!" came a shout from the rafters. Everyone in the room looked up to the public assembly to see where that impossibly loud shout had come from. Larry has no tone control, but when he wants to be he is loud.
"Mr. Christopher?" Hopkins asked. "Larry, correct?"
"Correct you fucking maniac!"
"I'm glad you could come to witness the event! I would have even welcomed your brothers on this day."
At about the same moment, A.J. was on his microphone to Jim. "I can't read this guy from up here," he said. "Sorry, I tried. There are too many unknown patterns down there."
"Could you do it with a familiar background?" Jim asked. "Say, oh, yours truly screening him?"
"I suppose so. How could you do that?"
"Simple. I'll fly above him and slightly off direct line of sight between you."
"You're nuts!"
"Yeah, but we've got fourteen minutes. All bets are now officially off." Jim turned to Karen and kissed her hard. "I love you," he said.
"I love you too," Karen replied, with a tear in her eye.
"Stay up here. When I need you I'll come get you."
At the precise moment that Doctor Hopkins had said 'brothers' Jim braced himself against the wall of the air conditioning duct and kicked out the screen to the duct into the room. It landed with a loud clang four feet away from Hopkins, gaining everyone's attention and causing a hush to fall over the assembly.
"Did somebody call?" Jim yelled. He then jumped down into the room, stopping fifteen feet above Hopkins' head. Hopkins, and everyone else in the room, just looked up and stared. From my vantage point the look of absolute surprise on Hopkins' face would have been worth giving my life for.
"Hello Hopkins," Jim said. "At last we meet."
Hopkins was at a loss for words for perhaps the first time in his long and twisted life.
"Members of the assembly!" Jim shouted, slowly rotating above the floor. "I am Jim Christopher, musician, world traveler, well known drunk, womanizer, foul mouth, and generally famous guy. I am also a mutant!
"Not like this asshole. Most mutants aren't like him! Not even all that many are like me. In fact, not all that many at all. In fact, we are attempting to stop this man from doing what he wants to do." He looked at Hopkins. "My dear sir, we have what, thirteen minutes?"
"Yes," Hopkins replied, almost stuttering.
"Then in less than twelve I'm going to have to kill you."
Hopkins finally became his old arrogant self. "That will simply speed things up," he said.
"How do I know you won't speed things up yourself?"
"I am a man of my word." It was a mental shout for Jim's ears alone.
Jim squinted, but other than a nod he didn't even acknowledge that Hopkins had just done anything unusual. "Fair enough. Considering that we're all dead anyway, I may just do it for a sense of justice. In the meantime, shall I also address the body?"
Hopkins looked puzzled, but also nodded. "Why not?" he said. "As you so eloquently stated, we're all about to die, including me. It might take a bit longer for you, but eventually you'll have to land."
"You sure?"
"And eventually there won't be any air left for you to breathe, water to drink, or food to eat."
Jim chuckled. "Point taken." He began to fly around the room.
"Learned members of the assembly," he began. "Dr. Hopkins has given his justification for what he's about to do. I'm here to tell you different.
"Dr. Hopkins is a frustrated man. His woman left him and aborted his potential child. He has a hard-on for how hard the world has treated him, and he wants revenge."
"That's not true!" Hopkins shouted. "You know that's not true!"
"I know it is true. A little while ago my brother, my lawyer and my girlfriend all visited this man in Toronto. My girlfriend is a psychiatrist, Doctor, and her learned opinion is that you're fucking nuts."
The building began to rumble again. Jim spun and lowered himself to Hopkins' level. "You gave your word! Remember that!"
Hopkins, beet red, grudgingly nodded and the shaking in the building stopped.
"But enough of that," Jim shouted. He floated up again and began circling the assembly.
"Assume that I'm wrong for a moment," he said. "Dr. Hopkins gave a list of evils as his justification. Here's my list of why he's wrong.
"One! This governing body has also been responsible for bringing food and medical aid to hundreds of nations over the years. Two! It has intervened in disputes and solved them as needed. Not every time, but at least once is justification enough for me.
"Three! Yes, there are nations that do not belong to this assembly. Some of them are warlike. Some of them are peaceable. So the fuck what? Four! We're not perfect, but we're at least trying! Doctor Hopkins' solution is giving in to defeat. The fact that this body even exists is justification to keep on going!"
There was applause once the translation hit, which Jim acknowledged. Karen, from her vantage point, was feeding the room with a warm glow.
"But there's more," Jim continued. "As I said, I am also a mutant! What Doctor Hopkins has failed to truly acknowledge, despite the words in his speech, is that human beings are evolving! Culturally, mentally, and even physically." He pointed at Hopkins. "We, as mutants, have a responsibility to help everyone learn about our mutations, for the betterment of everyone. Doctor Hopkins has failed to recognize his responsibilities in this matter." He spun to face Hopkins. "You're a failure, doctor."
Hopkins frowned at Jim. "You're wrong," he said.
"You'll never know," Jim pointed out. There was another crash as another grate crashed to the floor. Jim looked up and smiled. "You ready?" he asked.
Again, everyone looked up to see what could have been a funny sight. A.J. Christopher floating down to the ground, holding Mats in one arm and Rand in the other. Almost 400 pounds combined, but then again A.J. is a large man and very strong. They floated to the ground, and A.J. set both men down. "We're ready," he said.
Mats turned to Doctor Hopkins. "I'll be taking over now," he said.
Hopkins had lost his ability to be stunned by the events. "More mutants?" he asked.
"Very good," A.J. said. "Mats here will replace you. Rand here will defeat you."
"Not possible! Not this many of you! Of us!" Hopkins looked up into the gallery where Larry, Morgana and Paul were watching from. "If your government had this many mutants on the payroll they could have contacted me long ago!"
"Quite possibly," Rand said, gaining Doctor Hopkins' attention for the first time. "However, we're private contractors. The government has no program for mutations that we're aware of."
"You," Hopkins said, pointing at Rand. "You're dangerous."
"That's right. My mutation involves religion, not science, and like the big man said, I'm here to fight you. And you won't be able to give the destruct command while we fight." With that Rand gave his first thrust in the battle of wills.
Hopkins staggered back as if punched in the face. I could have died twice having experienced the look of shock on Doctor Hopkins' face when he realized that Rand was in his mind. Hopkins staggered again from another psychic blow, but then he began to fight back. Rand grabbed his head in obvious pain.
Up with me, Carrie and Angie, Constance let out a yelp and also grabbed her head. "Connie?" Angie asked.
"It hurts!" Constance replied. "Hopkins is using his machine language to fight back! It's cognitive, not emotive like us! It's inhuman!"
Angie took Constance's hand, then took her pulse. "Way the hell too high," she noted. She looked at me. "It must be Hopkins' telepathic strength that's doing it. Damn! Rand must be getting it worse."
I turned to look out the vent again and saw that the fight was not going well. Rand was now the one who was staggering, while Hopkins looked triumphant. Surprised, yet triumphant. I looked around the room and saw A.J. coaching Mats while Jim had floated back up to retrieve Karen. Larry was working their way down to the assembly floor while Paul and Morgana stayed up above.
I looked at Rand again, who was down on the floor. "We're in big fucking trouble," I said to myself.
"Jace," Constance said.
I spun around and saw a sight I would never be able to forget, even if I didn't have a photographic memory. Constance, drenched in sweat (how had it happened so fast?), white as a sheet. "Constance?" I managed, weakly.
"We're going to die," she said. "Rand is going to try something most Wiccans are not able to do. He's going to try to upload his abilities to Larry. If it succeeds it will give us another chance."
I lost my cool. "Don't you fucking dare die on me!" I shouted. "Not now!"
She smiled at me. "Sorry kid," she said, much weaker than before.
Down on the floor below Rand was also in bad shape, and trembling from the effort of even staying conscious. He looked around the room and spotted Larry, still six levels up from the floor. With effort, he whispered, "Goddess! One last time! Now more than ever!" He raised his right hand and pointed towards Larry, and cast the transference spell.
Larry, for his part, never saw it coming. One moment he was working his way through the third world delegates and the next he suddenly became aware. All of the knowledge he had been accumulating over the years about Rand's religion and abilities were suddenly accessible and he knew it. He looked down towards his long time friend, and saw him finally collapse.
Jim flew to Rand's side and deposited Karen next to him. "Rand?" he asked.
Rand looked up weakly. "Connie," he whispered. His head fell back to the floor as he died.
Back up with us, Constance looked at me as she faded. "It worked," she said. "Tell Larry..." she faded out of consciousness, then came back suddenly alert. She reached out for my arm. "Tell Larry that Morgana loves him," she said.
I nodded, tears welling up in my eyes. "I will," I said.
Constance nodded in response. She closed her eyes and whispered, "Rand." The she too died.
Angie, Carrie and me were all too stunned to even move. After a moment Carrie said, "It was so fast."
Angie recovered first. "We need to tell Larry to try again," she said.
I grabbed the microphone from Angie and shouted into it. "Karen!" I yelled. "Larry has Rand's abilities now. He has to be the one!" Then I realized how big a mistake that would be. "Karen! Wait!"
There was no response from the floor, which had erupted into pandemonium upon Rand's collapse. As far as I knew Karen hadn't heard me at all. People were shouting and for once Doctor Hopkins allowed the pandemonium to ensue. I tried to shout down but I knew that I couldn't be heard.
"They can't hear you," Scott said in my ear. "I've been trying to cut through the communications interference to the floor but it's not working. It's a god damned mess down there!"
"Understood," I said. "Get to Janis. It's time for plan C."
"What's plan C?" Both Scott and Angie asked.
"Carrie will fill you in," I said into the microphone. "Just get going!"
I turned to the others. "You too," I said. "Get going. Your plan is the only hope we've got now."
"What about you?" Angie asked.
"I've got to let the others know that there is a plan C."
"We need to let Larry try," Carrie said.
"But Larry doesn't know that. Besides, he's untrained, even if he now has the ability. He would also be killed. Get back to Janis and enact your plan! I'm going to add a couple of modifications to fit!"
Carrie and Angie looked at me for a moment, then started crawling through the air duct towards the roof outlet. Angie turned to look back at me. "I need to send to A.J. so he can effect the change," she said.
"Do it," I shot back.
Angie closed her eyes a moment, then opened them. "Done," she said. Her eyes had misted slightly. "Be careful. You'd hate to get killed if I was in love with you."
"You're right," I replied. "Especially if I loved you too." Angie smiled a hurried and slightly worried smile and crawled out of sight.
What happened next amazes me to this day, when I see the replay of the event on videotape. I'll be honest, I have no idea what got into me to try this. Karen thinks that the fuse to the emotional time bomb she lit when I was cured of my reactions to her finally blew. I was just mad as hell about Constance and was so frustrated about everything that I had to do something, and the first thing I thought of was to push my own air vent cover out into the room and jump after it.
Even before I kicked out the panel, Morgana had an insight. She turned to Paul and said, "Throw the rackets as hard as you can towards the center of the room! Now!"
Paul didn't even hesitate and threw both rackets towards the center of the room, where they both struck the grate as it fell. Now I mentioned early on in this book about Paul's strength, which is borderline obscene. Let us say that he's strong enough that when the grate was struck it was deflected back a bit and it in turn struck me as I had jumped out of the grate. As a result I was deflected to a light fixture, a straight pole ending in a lamp about thirty feet from the floor.
I was falling too fast to get a grip on the lamp fixture, but the fixture itself deflected me again and I fell four more feet right into the wall. I hit the wall with my feet and kicked as hard as I could outward and to the right, and six feet lower I had grabbed onto a railing on the first balcony above the assembly. I swung on that but lost my grip on the first swing and fell head first towards the floor.
However, four feet lower the grid that I had initially kicked out from the air duct had lodged at a sharp angle in another light fixture. I landed on it at just enough of an angle to roll my self upright and spring off again, spread-eagled towards the floor from about fifteen feet.
And then there was A.J., who hadn't seen any of this, who looked up just in time to see me plummeting at him. He put out his right arm and I caught it, at which time A.J. used his ability to change our gravity. I grabbed his arm and was spun around again in a back flip. I landed on my feet without a scratch on me, although bruises would form later.
I got my gravity back when I let go of A.J.'s arm. I turned around to get my bearings and found Larry. "Don't try it!" I shouted at him. "You'll be killed!" I spun around again. "Jim! A.J.! Time snap now! You two and me! Now!"
Jim looked bewildered, but he recovered quickly. "Karen," he said. "Feed me as much hate as you are capable of."
Karen raised an eyebrow but did so. Almost immediately my vision shifted to the red that accompanies a time shift. Jim stood up and said, "Move around. This one's faster than the ones we usually do and your immediate supply of oxygen will run out unless you move around."
I started walking slowly around the scene and so did A.J., who was rubbing his arm where I had inadvertently pulled off some hair. If you could have seen it, it would have looked comical, the three of us pacing around while the rest of the room was frozen in place.
"That was some leap," Jim said to me.
"Thanks," I replied.
"All those poker games you lost must be paying off."
"Angie's already feeding me," A.J. said, amazed. "Your idea?"
"That's right," I said.
"So why the time snap?"
"Rand and Constance are dead," I replied.
Jim winced. "Connie too?" Jim looked mad.
"Yeah. But before she died Constance told me that Rand uploaded his abilities to Larry."
A.J. laughed. "Larry's now a wizard?"
"That's right, but he's untrained," I said.
"So he couldn't fight Hopkins," Jim noted. "Fuck! Now what do we do?"
"Carrie and Angie came up with a plan B in case Mats went psycho when he takes the modifications from Hopkins' brain. I've got a plan C that takes advantage of that. A.J., can you supplant Mats with Hopkins? I mean, completely supplant him?"
"I can," A.J. said. "But that will mean that he will become Hopkins. We don't want that. That solves nothing."
"It solves everything," I replied. "I want you to do it from within this time snap. The advantage we will have is that Mats is connected to Janis. When the change happens Janis will know about it and send some triggers of her own. Then we kill Hopkins."
"But Janis will lose her link with Mats!" A.J. protested.
I smiled. "I'm counting on that."
Meanwhile (before the time snap) the others who had still been up in the air ducts had returned to the ship. Upon entering Carrie shouted, "Janis! Ready 'Option Upload'! Initiate the program the instant you notice any change in Mats!"
"Understood," the ship replied. "Ready."
"Upload?" Scott asked.
"It would take a moment or two to explain," Angie said, "and as of yet we don't have that moment. Wait for it and we'll explain."
Back on the assembly floor A.J. was busy supplanting Mats with Dr. Hopkins' mind. It took a few minutes our relative time to do it, but once done the change in Mats was obvious, even at his considerably slower rate. The only way I can explain it is that he looked different than he should have.
Jim in the meanwhile had found one of the tennis rackets and had pulled it out of its cover. This was the closest thing to a weapon we were able to improvise, and Jim had already decided that it would do the job needed. He had taken a strong graphite racket and restrung it with high tension piano wire, all from the highest octave of the range. The idea was that if we needed to kill Doctor Hopkins at some point, we would need to fully disrupt his brain functions. To do that we had prepared to turn his brain into tiny fragments.
I walked over to Jim and grabbed the racket from his hand. "This one's mine," I said. "I owe him this."
"No Jace, you can't," Jim replied.
"He was responsible for the death of a good friend of mine. Revenge belongs to me."
Jim shook his head sadly, and he even looked angry. Come to think of it, he had looked angry since the time snap began. "Revenge is the wrong reason," he said. "We do it because we have to! We do it to save lives! We do it for a sense of justice more than anything else, because the man is a murderer! But not for revenge! Trust me, revenge makes your soul sticky!" The last sentence was loaded with venom.
I looked at Jim with steely eyes.
"Besides," he continued. "You're not strong enough to take piano wire through bone. Not even Paul is that strong!"
"Then how..."
"I asked Karen to feed me hate as we went into the snap. Hell, that overload caused the snap! I'm having trouble controlling it even now, but I've been practicing! Thing is, I can focus my hate on Hopkins. Between that and the overload I should be able to do it!" Jim changed the gravity of the racket and it flew out of my hand. My first encounter in person with telekinesis.
I acknowledged defeat on this issue and faced Hopkins' frozen form. "Do it," I said.
"You're going to watch?" Jim asked.
"I've condemned the man myself. I have to watch."
Jim nodded and hefted the racket in his right hand, then grasped it with both hands over his head. He swung the racket down on Doctor Hopkins' head, and through it to the neck. Blood squirted everywhere; on Jim, me, varied delegates, but in a weird slow motion. Jim lifted the racket through the expanding goo and swung again, this time horizontally.
Jim had effectively diced Dr. Douglas Hopkins' head.
I have never seen anything as gruesome in my life. I spent the next several moments in our time stream throwing up.
In the regular time stream, as soon as Mats had been changed Janis noticed the severance of her link with him and sent out a blanket command on all channels. "Upload!" the ship sent.
Both 'drink and Nicki received the command, which caused a hypnotic trigger in both people to go off. Angie, at Carrie's suggestion, had several weeks ago hypnotized them both to create another time pocket when this trigger was received. The new time snap, at much faster rate than the one Jim, A.J. and I were in, encompassed the entire ship and its occupants. Janis turned on the air circulation system to full to accommodate the passengers.
"Woah!" Scott said.
"Woah indeed," Carrie added. "So this is what the inside of a time snap looks like."
"Let's get to work," Angie said.
Debbie nodded her head. "Janis?" she asked. "Can you invade Mats' mind and get the location of all of the devices?"
"Affirmative," the ship replied. "Working."
"You can do that?" Scott asked.
"The idea came to me during one of our group meetings," Carrie said. "Mats had had problems before with machines invading his mind without his control. We had established that Janis could only communicate with select beings, and only Mats on a 100 percent basis. I figured that must mean that Mats is overly receptive to this sort of thing, and that's what makes him unique. I theorized that if the link were broken between Janis and Mats that Janis could reestablish it on her own. Because of that, Janis is now reading the mind of Dr. Hopkins, and now knows the locations of the machines."
"We had created a plan should Mats flip out," Angie added. "Carrie figured out that this could happen, and in fact it has happened."
"Excuse me?" Scott said.
"If my guess is right, Jace had A.J. take Hopkins' mind and put it completely into Mats', actually causing the conditions we had set up as a backup plan. Janis sent a trigger to Nicki and 'drink that I set in place some time ago using hypnosis. The instant the link was broken this time pocket was created."
"I have the locations," Janis piped in.
"Good!" 'drink said. "How many?"
"Seven hundred and forty six."
"Wow!" Scott exclaimed. "That would have actually done it! That will take some time to get them all."
"Fortunately," Carrie noted, "time is something we currently have."
For the next four days of their time, the ship flew around the world locating the earthquake machines and destroying them. Actually, 'drink and Nicki destroyed them, using Janis' lasers. The effects on the planet were more than we bargained for, though. Most of the devices were under cities, and we had to dig holes into the ground to the the machines. Not to mention the speed the ship flew at. Sonic booms were heard around the world, and over sixty fires were started.
Once they were done, forty people had been injured by our work in one way or another, either from the booms or fighting the fires, but no one was killed. That still amazes me. Compared to the potential losses, I'd call the mission a rousing success, although I do wish that no one had had to die. Jim was right; murder does make your soul sticky, and my soul is no longer all that clean. My soul will always have the name Douglas Hopkins written on it.
The others came into our own eyesight within a few seconds of our time, so you can imagine how fast they were going. We collected everyone from all three time streams and then broke both time snaps. Then we started a new one with all fourteen of us in it. A.J. immediately went to work on returning Mats to normal while everyone was brought up to speed on what had just transpired. Karen released Jim's emotive centers and Jim let out one huge sigh of relief as the anger left him. Jim then flew up to the air vent where Constance's body was and brought her down to lie beside Rand. This took another five minutes relative time, then we broke this final time snap.
We spent the next several minutes trying our best to calm everyone down. You can imagine how difficult this was, as most of us had suddenly popped out of nowhere, while Dr. Hopkins' bloody body, minus the head, fell to the ground.
Jim strode to the podium and bellowed, "Quiet everyone!" It took a few minutes, but everyone quieted down although no one returned to their seats. Many people were sick (I don't blame them). The television cameras, which had recorded it all from the start, were all focused on Jim.
"It's over," Jim said. "Hopkins is dead, as you can see, and the threat to the world is over. We have destroyed all of the machines. There will be no manmade earthquakes today or any other day."
The Secretary-General slowly walked over to the podium, surveying the carnage and damage about the room and wiping his brow with a handkerchief. "I believe we require an explanation," he said.
"No fucking kidding," Jim replied. "Tell you what. If someone would be so kind as to get me a drink, Bushmill's preferably, I'll tell you the whole story. It's fairly involved, so I'll start by introducing the members of our organization, and how we discovered Dr. Hopkins' plot several weeks ago." Jim looked at the floor where Rand and Constance lie. They seemed content, somehow.
"And then we'll be on our way to honor our dead," Jim said.