Absolute Power (Book 1): Origins (29 page)

“That doesn’t make any sense,” Henry said.  “First off, how did he survive?”

“Someone left a cheeseburger in room two twenty, I eat it.  Then it comes back and I eat it again,” Crazy Henry answered.

“Okay, but why did the others resort to murder?” Questioned Henry

“Mine is not to reason why, mine is but to do or die,” Crazy Henry replied.

“None of this is important,” Kelley interrupted.  “A moment ago he seemed to have a revelation.  You two need to work together on a solution.”

“Oh yes, yes,” Crazy Henry said excited.  “The dimensional convergence is not random.”

“What the hell?”  Henry was struck.  Again he looked back at his papers.  “I think I see what you’re talking about, but are you sure?  It looks to me that the similarity is in the divergence.”

“Said the same thing,” Crazy Henry mumbled.  “A lot of mes’ did, but the tests say the opposite.”

Henry was about to ask a question when the lights went out.  A second later they came back on with a rumble that shook the ground.

“What was that?”  Kelley asked.

“Them,” Crazy Henry said.  He was gripping the pistol and fiddling with the safety.  “Maybe more yous and mes.  Maybe evil.  Maybe crazy.”

“See that doesn’t make sense,” Henry spoke up.  “Why would there be so many aggressive versions of us?”

“Nonrandom convergence,” Crazy Henry said as he stood.  He poked his head out the door, waving the pistol around.

“It’s not a convergence,” Henry argued.

“Either way,” Kelley interrupted, “best to play it safe.”

Crazy Henry was still standing in the doorway, and he patted Kelley on the shoulder.  “Good thinking,” he said.

Quietly Kelley said to him, “You told me that in most of the variations, The One no longer existed.  So does that mean the same will happen in my dimension?”

“Highly probable,” Crazy Henry said.

“Because of GESH and Hubris?”  Kelley asked.

That made Crazy Henry laugh.  “Like pawns on a chess board and I’m only the bishop, but I can still kill,” he said.

“I could use some help,” Henry said.  “And maybe, Director, you should look after the kids?”

Kelley hesitated.  There were answers to be found, but Crazy Henry wasn’t being helpful.

Before he left, Crazy Henry grabbed him by the wrist and said, “Every god is eventually culled by his people.”  Letting go, he watched Kelley enter the test chamber.  When they were alone, he turned to Henry.  “I think he’s the one,” he announced.  “It is a divergence and your Kelley is the reason.”

“What are you going on about?” Henry said.

“When Kelley gets out of here, he’ll commence with his evil,” Crazy Henry said.  “That’s why the universe has trapped us here.  We have to set things straight.  We have to kill Kelley forty-six.  I thought it was the other Kelleys, or maybe the Jesses, but I’m sure now it’s forty-six.  I saw it in his eyes.”

Getting up slowly from his seat, Henry said, “You killed the others.”

Crazy Henry shrugged.  “Just the ones that were mathematically evil,” he said.  “I’m not crazy, Henry.  I’m Doctor Henry Schreier.”  His words came out with a thick German accent.  “Do you remember Nebraska and Reliant Dynamic Science?  We were lying there, helpless after the surgery; they could do anything they wanted to us.  And they did.  They changed us like we were a desktop background.  Our friends did this to us, Robert, Angie, Porter and that one.”  He waved to the other room.  “He’s the center of all this.  He creates war and destruction at his whim.”

“Maybe that’s what happened in your dimension,” Henry said, “But how can I be sure it happened in mine?”

“The accent, Henry,” Crazy Henry replied.  “You lost the accent somehow.  The humor.  The personality shift.  And if we kill forty-six, things will all go back to how they were.”

“There’s nothing to suggest that,” Henry argued.

“But it won’t hurt,” Crazy Henry retorted.

Henry rushed him, arms stretched out to tackle the man to the floor.  If it had been anyone else, it might have worked, but Crazy Henry had the same reflexes.  He side stepped and slammed the gun into the back of Henry’s head, knocking him out cold.  Crouching and with a delicate touch, Crazy Henry checked to make sure Henry was still alive.  Then he climbed through the broken window and into the testing chamber.  Jess was still with the kids.  Eve had yet to wake.  Kelley was standing over them embroiled in another argument.

“Forty-six,” Crazy Henry shouted and pointed his pistol.  “You’re reign of terror is over.”

Kelley turned slowly trying not to cause a reaction.  “Okay, Doctor,” he said.  “Tell me what you want.”

“You dead,” Crazy Henry replied.

“Then the others have nothing to do with this,” Kelley said.  He took a few steps away from them.  At the same moment, the lights went out again.  Crazy Henry fired blindly.  The lights came back, and Kelley was on the floor.  A woman dressed in all black, with a cloak and mask, was standing in the center of the room.  She spun on her heels and sent out a vicious kick.  The blow hit Crazy Henry in the chest, knocking him back through the window.  He went head over heels with a thud.  Then she turned and went straight to Koji.

“Koji,” she said.  Her voice was intense.  “Everything is going to be okay.”  She glanced down at Jess and Eve.  “In a second you’re going to feel a lot of pain,” she told him.  “But you have to stay conscious.  You have to focus on getting home, just like when you open a portal.  Do you understand?”

Koji grimaced but nodded.

“I’ll help you as best I can,” the woman said.

“Why are you protecting him?” Crazy Henry was shouting from the observation room.  “After everything he does to you.”

Henry woke to see Crazy Henry standing over him and shouting.  His face was red with rage, and he was too distracted to see the masked man come up behind him.  He was small but moved with the confidence of training.  In a flash, he leapt into the air, wrapped an arm around Crazy Henry’s neck and swung him in a circle.  The momentum yanked him off his feet and onto the ground.  The masked man had him in an arm lock and was ready to snap his neck when he saw Henry.  There was a shock in the man’s eyes, but he didn’t hesitate to pull a pistol on Henry.  He took aim.  Crazy Henry knocked the man’s arm, and the shot went wide.

Shoving his pistol under his chin, Crazy Henry said, “Apparently it’s us,” and pulled the trigger.

Everything went dark, and Henry felt as if he was being crushed to death.

Eve woke to find herself in a warm bed.  The curtains were pulled over the windows making the room dim.  She felt something heavy next to her and rolled over to see Jess asleep.  Eve sat up, waking her.

Yawning and rubbing her face, Jess said, “Only meant to close my eyes for a minute.”

“Where are we?” Eve asked.

“Los Angeles,” Jess told her.  “It’s been three days since the accident.”

“Oh,” was all Eve said.  She was beginning to remember what had happened.  There had been an explosion, but everything else was a mess of confusion.  She remembered waking up briefly and seeing the test chamber in shambles.  After that, there was a hospital, and Jess’s voice.

“Come on, Robert and Alison took some leave,” Jess said.  “And I bet you have a lot of questions.”

“Captain Day is here?” Eve asked.

“It
is
his apartment,” Jess replied.

After taking a moment to stretch her legs, Eve followed Jess to the living room.  Robert and Alison were sitting on the couch watching TV.  Robert hopped up when he saw them.

“You’re awake?” Alison asked surprised.

“How do you sleep with all the cars whizzing?”  Jess asked.

“This coming from the girl who grew up in Japan?”  Alison raised an eyebrow then answered, “We've been so busy that we usually pass out when we get home.”

Jess took Robert's spot on the couch then made room for Eve.  Robert pulled up a chair from the kitchen.  “How are you doing?”  Robert asked.

Eve wasn’t sure how to answer because she didn’t know.

She didn't have to because Robert said, “I think about you kids a lot when I'm wandering the city.  I miss the Complex.  I miss seeing kids who aren't packing guns, or at least know proper grammar.  I guess I just miss kids I like and respect.”

“I can’t believe what happened to you,” Alison said.  “Any more news on Koji?”

This caught Eve’s attention, and Jess obliged by filling in the information.  “He has burns to his legs and arm,” she said, then took a deep breath.  “He may lose his other arm.”

“Damn it,” Robert mumbled.

“Henry says he’s working on a replacement,” Jess added.

“And what does he say about what happened?”  Robert asked.

The question made Jess uncomfortable.  She shifted in her seat and looked at the three of them.  “The incident is being classified Ultra,” she told them.  “It took a lot of threats and shouting for them to let me take Eve.  And they didn’t really let me, they just didn’t stop me.  Director Kelley swore me to secrecy from his hospital bed.”

“And how did he get shot?”  Alison questioned.

Jess frowned.  “I can’t say anything, not even to you, Eve,” she said.  “In a way you’re lucky you were unconscious.  A lot happened that makes me question everything.  I know it was stupid bringing you here, Eve, but I knew I had to get you off the Complex.  At least for a little.”  Jess fell silent, leaving the room cold and awkward.

“Anyway,” Robert said, “Alison and I were talking and we'd like to extend an open invitation to you guys.  We’d like to see you more.”

Alison added, “The holidays are coming, and we want you to come for Thanksgiving.  You, Jess and any of your friends if they would like.”

Jess exploded with excitement, hugging Eve in the process.  “Oh my God,” she cheered.  “This is going to be your first Thanksgiving and Christmas.  We're going to make you fat by the time New Year comes.”

The four of them had lunch and made plans for a holiday dinner.  When it was time to go they all made promises that they would try and stay in contact.  Then Eve portaled her and Jess back to the Complex.

Eve sat alone in the arboretum staring at the grass.  More and more she felt like being by herself.  She had no memory of what had happened in the accident, but she had a sense that it wasn’t good.  She and Koji had been put in danger, and if that was how The One worked, she wasn’t sure she liked it.  They had helped her, but how much was she willing to give back.  And yet she couldn’t blame the entire One.  She had friends here, like Sergeant Schreier, who had tried to warn her.  Recalling his words to her just before the test, made her feel like an idiot.  Eve was so sure she understood the intricacies of this world, but the truth was she was lost.

The sound of footsteps on the grass caused her to turn.  Joe was standing behind her with a forced smile.  “Hi,” he said.

“Don’t you have math class?”  Eve asked.

“I ditched,” he replied.  “Mind if I sit with you?”

Eve shook her head.  The two of them sat silently for a while.

“A couple years ago my dad was working a rescue in the Gulf of Mexico,” Joe said, “There was a hurricane and he was lost at sea.  His CO came to our apartment and told us.  He was trying to be nice, but everything he said sounded stupid.  You know?  How could he understand what we were feeling?  Everyone said the same stuff to us, and I hated having to hear it and be polite.  They found him eventually, alive and well.  But that entire time I wanted people to stop reminding me that he was gone, to get a little bit of normality.”

“Yes,” was all Eve said.

“Well, as your friend, I’m making it my duty to help you forget,” Joe said.  He patted Eve on the knee and in return she leaned over and kissed him on the lips.  It was quick.  “Uh, that…,” Joe stuttered.

Before Joe could regain his composure Eve stood and said, “First, I must do something.” She put out her hand.  “Will you come with me?”

Joe took her hand.  “What do we need to do?”  He asked.

They walked out of the arboretum hand in hand.  “Visit Koji,” she replied.  Joe didn’t say anything.  They went outside and onto the snowy parade ground.  “I haven’t been to the Research and Development building since the accident,” Eve said as they walked.

“Are you scared?”  Joe asked.

“Koji asked me the same thing before the experiment,” Eve told him.  “If I wouldn’t have agreed to help, none of this would have happened.”

“We’re going to see Koji,” Joe said.  “Let’s just do that and forget everything else.”

Eve squeezed his hand.  By touch, she could read that Joe was as scared as her, but either through bravery or stubbornness he was going to be there for her.  They went into the building and had to go up three stories to find Koji’s room.  Despite it being noon, it was dark, the curtains drawn closed.  A single light in the corner illuminated the room.  Koji lay on a bed unconscious.  The bed was covered in a plastic tent.  Before they had a foot inside, Henry Schreier was out of his chair brushing the sleep from his eyes.  He had a computer in one hand.