Authors: Mike Resnick
"What about you?"
"I was lucky.” The Iceman patted his prosthetic leg. “Still, this used to be flesh and blood."
"But she didn't kill you."
"She was very young, and her powers weren't fully developed,” answered the Iceman. “She left me for dead. She couldn't see far enough ahead then to know that I'd survive."
"And that was your experience with the Oracle?"
The Iceman shook his head. “She was just Penelope Bailey back then, though some alien who had latched onto her—practically worshipped her, for all the good it did him in the long run—called her the Soothsayer, and for a while the name caught on."
The waiter brought their salads out. The Kid pushed his aside, while the Iceman began eating his own.
"Needs a little pepper,” said the Iceman.
"Certainly, sir,” said the waiter, supplying it and then walking off to the kitchen.
"How did she become the Oracle?” asked the Kid.
"Well, as I said, she was very young and her powers weren't mature,” answered the Iceman. “She and her alien friend sought asylum on a planet called Hades. Somehow the race that lived there figured out what she was, and managed to imprison her in a room protected by an impenetrable force field—as I said, her powers weren't fully developed at the time.” He took another bite of his salad. “Anyway, they made a deal with her: they would feed her and keep her alive, and she would direct them in their attempt to remain independent of the Democracy. Over the next fourteen years pronouncements would come forth from her cell, and the government of Hades would act upon them; that's how she became the Oracle."
"How did you get involved with her again?"
The Iceman sighed. “It's a long story. Basically, a man named 32, who worked for the Democracy—he's the same man I saw earlier today—hired me to kill her.” He took a last bite of his salad and pushed the bowl aside. “And since I knew what kind of threat she represented, I took the commission—but because she knew who I was, I farmed it out to someone who was younger and tougher than I was."
"You don't take any risks if you can avoid it, do you?” said the Kid.
"Not if I can help it,” said the Iceman, showing no irritation at the question. “I didn't get to be this old by looking for trouble."
The waiter arrived with their dinners, and both men fell silent again until he left.
"Excellent!” said the Iceman, taking a mouthful of his shellfish. “I'm going to have to make a point of visiting 32 more often."
"Okay,” said the Kid as soon as the waiter was out of earshot. “So you hired someone else to kill her. Where do you come in?"
"You had to go through a lot of Blue Devils—that's what we called the aliens—to get to her,” said the Iceman, taking a taste of his meal and nodding his approval. “She was very valuable to them, so she had layer upon layer of protection. It was when I realized that my man was working his way to her too easily that I went there to try to stop him."
"To stop him?” repeated the Kid, frowning. “Why?"
"The fact that no one else had been able to stop him—or even appreciably slow him down—meant that she
wanted
him to succeed, not in killing her but in reaching her prison. And if she wanted it, then I didn't."
"So you saved her life."
The Iceman shook his head. “Her life was never in danger. It probably hasn't been in danger since the day she was born."
"But if your killer made it to her prison..."
"You still don't understand,” said the Iceman. “Stand her against that wall"—he gestured toward a wall of the restaurant—"and program a dozen laser weapons to fire randomly at her, and she'll know when each one will discharge and where each beam will hit, and she'll simply avoid them. And if you fired so many beams from so many weapons that she couldn't avoid them all, then she'd find a future in which one of the weapons was a dud and exploded in your face before you could activate the rest of them."
"So what happened on Hades?"
"My man had certain information she needed, something that could effectuate her escape. He was killed before she could make use of him.” The Iceman stared blankly out the window across the landing field. “He was a damned good man."
"So she was still a prisoner on Hades?"
"That's right."
"And now she's free again?"
The Iceman nodded.
"When did she escape?"
The Iceman shrugged. “I have no idea. At least eighteen months ago."
"How does someone escape from a force field? I didn't know we'd even developed the technology."
"We haven't. The inhabitants of Hades weren't human;
they
developed it."
"So how did she escape from it?"
"I don't know."
"Where is she now?"
The Iceman shrugged again. “I had rather hoped she was the Anointed One, but I've got a feeling she isn't. Too many people have seen him and testified that he's a man in his forties."
"Just a minute,” said the Kid. “You don't know when she escaped, you don't know how she escaped, and you don't know where she is. Is that right?"
"That's right."
"Then how do you know she's escaped at all?"
"Because a meteor crashed into Hades eighteen months ago and blew the whole damned world to smithereens. No survivors."
"Well, then, that's it. She died when the meteor hit."
The Iceman shook his head. “Not her. If there was one future in a trillion in which the meteor didn't hit Hades, in which it missed the planet or was blown to bits by a weapon or another meteor, she'd have found a way to make it come to pass."
"But that doesn't make any sense,” said the Kid. “If she could make it miss the planet, how come the planet was demolished?"
"Because it was payback time,” answered the Iceman with utter conviction. “Sometime before it hit, she found a way to escape from that forcefield ... and just as she could have chosen a future in which the meteor missed Hades if she were still on the planet, she could also choose the one-in-a-million future in which it smashed into Hades once she had left. This was a race that had imprisoned her for close to two decades; there was no way she was going to let them off the hook with merely a reprimand."
The Kid considered what the Iceman had said. “You really think she had the power to do that?” he asked dubiously.
"I
know
she has,” said the Iceman firmly.
The Kid finally tried a piece of his steak, and made a face.
"What's the matter?” asked the Iceman.
"It's cold."
The Iceman, who had been eating while they had been speaking, took the last bite of his own meal. “Pity,” he said. “You probably won't eat this well again for months."
"You think she'll be coming after you?” asked the Kid, chewing on a piece of no-longer-warm meat.
"No,” said the Iceman. “I'm no more to her than an insect. No man is."
"Good,” said the Kid. “Leave her to the Democracy, and let's worry about the Anointed One."
"After twenty years, the Democracy still doesn't know what they're dealing with,” said the Iceman. “Besides, they think she's dead."
"From the meteor?"
"Yes."
"Well, who knows? Maybe they're right and you're wrong."
"I'm
not
wrong!” said the Iceman angrily.
"Okay, you're not wrong,” said the Kid. “What do you plan to do about it?"
"Nothing,” said the Iceman. “Yet."
"You're not going to go after her?"
"Go where?"
"So it's like I said: let's concentrate on stopping the Anointed One."
"The Anointed One is nothing but a minor irritant,” said the Iceman.
"A minor irritant who's paid five men to kill you,” the Kid pointed out.
"Lomax will handle him,” said the Iceman, dismissing the subject. “Or at least he'll warn me if anyone else is coming after me. We have more important things to worry about."
The Kid frowned. “Like what?"
The Iceman stared at him. “Haven't you heard a word I've said?” he demanded. “There is a monster loose in the galaxy, and no one else is aware of the threat she presents.” He paused. “I've got to find out where she is, what name she's using, how well protected she is."
The Kid frowned in confusion. “I thought you just said you weren't going to go after her."
"I'm not. She knows who I am, what I look like. I'd be dead before I could get anywhere near her."
"Then what—?"
"Once I locate her, the next step is to find out what she's planning to do.” He stared at the Kid. “That's when I send
you
in."
"Me?"
"You want to be a genuine Inner Frontier hero, don't you?” said the Iceman with a grim smile.
"Yeah,” said the Kid, suddenly excited. “Yeah, I do."
"There it is,” said the Iceman as his ship braked to light speeds in the Alpha Crepello system.
The Silicon Kid walked over to the viewscreen. “You mean, there is
isn't
."
The Iceman looked away from the whirling dust and rocks that were the only things left in Alpha Crepello III's orbit.
"I had to make sure,” he said. “Well, now I'm sure."
"And this Penelope Bailey did this just by
wishing
it?” said the Kid, staring at the dust and trying to imagine a planet in its place.
"Essentially,” replied the Iceman. “It's much more complex, but that's the gist of it."
The Kid let out a low whistle. “That's some lady,” he said. “She makes you and the Gravedancer look like pikers."
"Have you got yourself a new hero now?” asked the Iceman, amused.
"Not me,” said the Kid. “She scares the shit out of me.” He continued to stare at the viewscreen. “People just can't
do
things like that."
"She's not a person,” said the Iceman. “Not anymore. She hasn't been for a long time.” He paused thoughtfully. “Maybe she never was."
"They say she killed the Forever Kid when she was the Soothsayer. Is that right?"
"Not exactly."
The Kid frowned, confused. “I don't understand."
"She didn't kill him,” explained the Iceman. “She could have saved him, but she chose not to. Legally it's not the same thing; morally it is."
"All these legendary men and women—and you're the only one who survived,” said the Kid. “What's your secret?"
The Iceman shrugged. “I was lucky."
"Maybe once was luck. Not twice."
"Kid, if I knew the answer to that, I'd be willing to go up against her again."
"Maybe you've got some kind of power, too,” suggested the Kid. “One you don't even know about."
"If I had it, I'd know about it by now.” The Iceman took one last look at where Hades had been. “She killed one hell of a lot of Blue Devils,” he remarked. “A lot of Men, too."
"I didn't know any Men lived on Hades."
"They didn't—but Hades had three terraformed moons that were all populated by Men: Port Maracaibo, Port Marrakesh, and Port Samarkand. You don't see them now, do you?"
"What happened to them?"
"They probably fell into the sun when the planet blew,” answered the Iceman.
The Kid was silent for a long moment, and then spoke. “Well, to be fair about it, she had some justification,” he said. “She'd been a prisoner there for 16 or 17 years."
"And that justifies killing every living thing on Hades and all its moons?"
"They didn't have any reason to imprison her in the first place,” said the Kid. “From what you told me, they just spotted her talent and locked her away."
"What would
you
have done?” asked the Iceman.
The Kid shrugged. “I don't know. Talked to her, tried to find out what her plans were, seen if there was any way to get her to work for me."
"You're a fool."
"How do you know that she doesn't plan to use her powers for good?"
"Whose good?” responded the Iceman. “Hers or ours?"
"They might be the same."
"They've never been the same,” said the Iceman. “You're making the same mistake 32 and all the rest made. You think because she looks human and had human parents, she must
be
human.” He paused. “Take it from me, Kid—she hasn't been a human being for a long, long time—if indeed she ever was."
The Kid turned in his seat to face the Iceman. “How can you be so sure of that?"
"Because I know the way her mind works—as much as any Man
can
know, anyway,” answered the Iceman. “What frightens me—and what ought to frighten the shit out of you and everyone else—isn't that she has the power to blow Hades to bits; hell, the Navy can do that, too.” He shook his head. “No, what frightens me is that I
know
she did it without a single regret or second thought. By the time she became the Oracle she had evolved past all human reference points: we mean no more to her than a grain of sand means to us."
"She was human once,” said the Kid doggedly. “You told me she was just a frightened little girl when you first met her. There must be a shred of that humanity still remaining somewhere within her."
The Iceman sighed heavily. “Fine.
You
search for it."
"I plan to—if I get the chance."
"I wish you luck,” said the Iceman, closing the subject. He commanded the ship's computer to break orbit and take them out of the Alpha Crepello system. “I've seen everything I needed to see. No sense staying here any longer."
"What do we do now?” asked the Kid.
"Now", said the Iceman, selecting a world from the holographic display of the Inner Frontier and directing the navigational computer to lay in a course for it, “we head for Confucius IV."
"Never heard of it."
"It's an ugly little world on the edge of the Frontier."
"Why are we going there?"
"Because you can usually buy information there."
"What kind of information are we after?” asked the Kid, staring at the holographic display until it faded into nothingness.
"We're trying to get a line on the Prophet."
"The Prophet?” said the Kid, surprised. “Isn't he some bandit on the Frontier?"
"Possibly."
"Possibly?” repeated the Kid. “You think it might be Penelope Bailey?