Authors: Teresa McCullough,Zachary McCullough
Tags: #Science Fiction, #Adventure, #Fiction, #Speculative Fiction
Jorxt
-Bud IX brought
Jorxt
the recording from Hernandez’ camera, telling
Jorxt
that it might be important.
Jorxt
Bud VII sent it, having thoughtfully edited it to a manageable length. The interference with Earth’s communications annoyed
Jorxt
. There were undoubtedly deaths, and they were undoubtedly murders, but they were hard to confirm as kills by Hernandez. Two planes had a midair collision because the control tower couldn’t communicate with either of them. Hundreds of people died, but
Jorxt
was certain his bookie wouldn’t count any of them. The kidnapping of John Graham, Wilson, and Cara Rivers was fine, because four people were shot. The news reported three deaths, because one of the men survived, giving a description of Hernandez and the ship. It was all over the Earth’s news, along with images from security cameras and from two bystanders with camera phones. How careless of Hernandez; he should really shoot to kill. Nevertheless, this upped the total by three, which would give
Jorxt
another 381,000
credit
s, so he couldn’t complain.
Hernandez and his clones bombed a house, and two apartment complexes to kill the psychiatrists that John gave the information to. The death tolls for the apartment complexes were estimated at twelve people,
which
would have meant another 1,614,000
credit
s, but
Goran
bombed one of them, so unfortunately, the deaths wouldn’t all count.
Jorxt
would sort that one out later.
Jorxt
wasn’t happy that one of the deaths was Arthur Saunders’ wife, because it might cause enough
outcry
to stop Hernandez. Was she a
Plict
citizen? Or did the citizenship only extend to Arthur’s wife at the time, not to his future wife?
Jorxt
would have to look up the wording to check. There was no point in talking it over with
Jorxt
Bud IX, because he wanted ano
ther viewpoint, and
Jorxt
Bud IX would be the same viewpoint. He was tempted to talk to his colleague,
Saxant
, who understood, but
Saxant
wanted Hernandez killed, or at least reined in. It would be best not to call attention to Hernandez’ murders.
Jorxt
Bud VII sent him a message, saying he shouldn’t let anyone know what he bet on. Something about public opinion not being sympathetic to
Jorxt’s
bets. While
Jorxt
was
trying to understand what
Jorxt
Bud VII’s concern was,
Saxant
stormed into the lab.
“You’ve got to stop Hernandez,”
Saxant
demanded.
“Why?
It’s
just humans killing humans. They do it all the time.”
“Humans you designed and supplied with weapons.”
Saxant’s
gray skin turned purple with anger.
Jorxt
was genuinely puzzled. “I didn’t design Hernandez.”
Jorxt
didn’t even participate on the Hernandez project when the genome was developed, joining it when Hernandez was a fetus. After looking at
Hernandea
’ genome, he scraped together $11,000
credit
s to bet he would be a killer. He didn’t even push to raise him to be
one,
realizing keeping his mouth shut was enough. Those fools didn’t understand human psychology, in spite of John Graham’s studies. “They didn’t kill your pet, John Graham,” said
Jorxt
, trying to be conciliatory.
“He’s not my pet. He’s probably more intelligent than either of us, and he is certainly more honorable than you are, which wouldn’t be hard.”
“He’s intelligent because we made him that way.” Too intelligent,
Jorxt
thought. We shouldn’t be making humans smarter than
Plict
.
“All right, let me put it in terms you can understand,” said
Saxant
. “Both John Graham and Arthur Saunders are missing because of Hernandez’ actions. Both are respected, even if they are human.”
“So?”
“If it is discovered you supplied weapons that allowed Hernandez to go on a killing spree and kill how many humans?”
“132,”
Jorxt
supplied. That was assuming Hernandez bombed the smaller apartment complex, but not the larger one.
Jorxt
didn’t like being overly optimistic in his estimates.
“Kill 132 humans, they might decide your bet is void due to your interference. If Hernandez isn’t stopped by this evening, I’m going to publicize your actions.”
“The weapons were approved by
a committee.” Remembering
Jorxt
Bud VII’s warning,
Jorxt
said, “I’ll tell the
Vigintees
that we are not pleased by the actions of Hernandez and his clones. They’ll stop them.”
As
Jorxt
escorted a mollified
Saxant
out of the lab, he considered what was the minimum he could do to Hernandez and get away with keeping his word to
Saxant
.
CHAPTER 13
When the storm was over, John went outside. A fog covered the spit of land. He felt he was probably safe from being found, but wondered what the point was. If he could rescue Linda, Cara, or even Wilson, he would, but how could they get back to Earth? They were probably better off where they were, than living like a rat that scrounged for food underneath the city.
He was free, but there was nowhere he could go. If he had a choice, he’d return to Earth.
Vigintees
society had no appeal for him, even if they accepted him. Would he live the rest of his life in isolation? Even without his memories, he knew he was a social person. Should he return and face what his former compatriots considered to be justice? Was it just to condemn someone who couldn’t remember the crime? He didn’t think so.
Besides, how could it be a crime to help people? That was the problem, he realized. The
Vigintees
did not consider those from Earth as people. What he taught Eric Schwartz and others would change lives, making Earth a better place. Drug addicts would get real help and most would be cured. Schizophrenics would largely be able to function. Autism would—
A gray figure emerged from behind a rock and interrupted his musings. He wasn’t surprised that he didn’t see it earlier, because it blended in with the fog and rocks. It was a
mouthless
Plict
, but not the same one as before. He pulled out a small board with a pen. He wrote, “I am
Ghorxal
Bud
. You can’t stay here forever. I have a better place for you.”
“Where?” John asked.
“I will show you,”
Ghorxal
Bud
wrote.
He didn’t wait for John’s response, but turned around and walked to some rocks a dozen yards away.
A
two-person sea kayak
was behind them
. He pulled it into the water and motioned John to get in. There were two double-sided paddles, which
he
handed
to
John. After pushing the kayak further out, climbing in, and retrieving one paddle, he started paddling. John paddled with him, having no idea where they were going.
Once, the
Plict
stopped and handed John a bottle of water, which John drank gratefully. It showed forethought, because the
Plict
couldn’t drink. It was perhaps two hours later when a motorized boat was visible.
Ghorxal
Bud
threw a rope to another
mouthless
Plict
on the boat. John climbed up a ladder into the boat. As soon as both passengers and the kayak were on board, the boat took off at a rapid speed.
Ghorxal
Bud
gestured, “Wash, eat, sleep.” They led him to a room below, where there was a shower and clean, dry clothing, including shoes. Everything fit. Another
mouthless
Plict
brought down a meal, which was Earth, but not
Vigintees
style.
Pasta with a tomato sauce with real meat, green beans, and coffee.
It was hardly a gourmet meal, but it tasted wonderful after the bland bars he ate for days. There was a cot and he obeyed the command and slept.
He didn’t know how long he slept, but when the engine changed from maximum power to a slower speed, he awoke, feeling rested. He went on deck and saw them come into a dock. They rushed him off the boat and onto land. The boat took off rapidly, while the
Plict
worked on the dock. The dock sunk underwater. John looked around and realized he was on a shore with no sign of civilization. They entered woods with alien purple trees shading their path. They walked in single file up a path, which was clear near the ground, but in a tunnel of trees, which would hide it from the air. After walking uphill for over an
hour, they came to a spot that was indistinguishable from the surroundings. A bare spot in the ground moved aside, revealing a stairway down.
Concealment, John thought. This place was built to hide. Who or what are they hiding from? He felt in awe of the
Plict
and it did not occur to him to disobey them, but they obviously were not completely in charge, or else they wouldn’t be hiding.
Once he reached the bottom of the stairs and went through the open door, he entered a place that looked more like Earth
than
Vigintees
. The halls weren’
t mirrored, but pale yellow. It looked like a spacious modern office building, with hallways where three people could walk abreast.
They came into a pleasant room. The furniture was generously sized and looked comfortable, even if the style was not one he recognized. But the furniture was not what interested him. Coming toward him, with a smile on his face, was Arthur Saunders. He recognized him from photos, but Arthur looked like Linda, or perhaps he should say that Linda looked like Arthur. Arthur was about the same height as his daughter and was wiry.
Arthur obviously considered hugging him, but settled for a handshake. He stared at John for a few seconds and said, “You don’t remember me,
do
you?”
John shook his head and said, “No. I know you are Arthur Saunders, but I don’t remember our friendship.”
“At least you know we were friends,” Arthur said, gesturing to the chairs. The chairs weren’t as comfortable as they looked, hitting John’s back in the wrong place.
Arthur brought John up to date on his kidnapping and escape. John watched Arthur as he described the situation, trying to remember the connection that Arthur obviously felt.
“When I
found what happened to Natalie…
” Arthur interrupted himself. “Did you know what happened to her?”
“Kidnapped because they thought she had telepathy. She died, trying to escape.”
Arthur nodded. “Did you know she was pregnant? She was about to give birth.”
“No, I didn’t. I’m sorry. I must have seen the censored version.”
“I didn’t. What they did to her!” Arthur leaned back, obviously moved. John saw no reason to ask for details, since Arthur was disturbed enough. “I couldn’t stay with those who kidnapped me, but when I found out about Natalie . . . I knew I couldn’t go back to Earth from
Vigint
City, but the mainland was only a
short distance away. If it isn’
t foggy, it’s visible from the wall that surrounds the fruit farm on the roof. The currents would bring me to land. When I first worked with the
Plict
on wormholes, they allowed me to browse on their computers and I deliberately spent ten percent of my time learning random facts about this planet and its occupants.”