The Aegis Solution (12 page)

Disdain etched itself across Pierce's face at Elias' description of events. "Precisely. That is quite
typical of their actions, from what I've heard."

Elias decided to steer the conversation back to the topic he cared most about. "If I may ask an
unrelated question?"

"Of course. What is it?"

"Have you, or your people, come across a man by the name of Stone, Eric Stone?"

"Stone?" Pierce turned to a large, old-fashioned Rolodex on his desk and spun the wheel around
until he located the "S" tab. "Don't recall that name. When would he have arrived?"

"Several weeks ago."

Searching the correct section, Pierce thumbed through several of the cards. "I have a few citizens
with the name Stone, but no Eric. Nor do I recall a gentleman by that name passing through. Friend of
yours?"

Elias kept his tone casual. "More of an acquaintance, actually. He had told me he was checking in
at Aegis a while back. To be honest, Eric doing it first sort of helped me to decide. And I don't really
know anyone else in here."

Flipping closed the lid of the Rolodex, Pierce returned his attention to Elias. "Anything else you
wanted to ask?"

For a moment, Elias almost asked about Kreitzmann but thought better of it. Inquiring about one
person would probably appear normal; two might give Pierce pause. "No. That was it."

Pierce folded his hands together on the desk. "You'll be pleased to know that we don't engage in
the same newcomer filtering that my sister does at Walden. So long as you understand that we have rules
and you have no problem abiding by them, you are welcome to stay. You are, of course, expected to
contribute to the community, in whatever way you can."

"Thank you, Mr. Pierce. That's good to know. I'll be honest with you, though. I'm not sure where
I want to end up within Aegis."

A genuine look of surprise filled the Chief of Staff's face. "I see. So you are planning on returning
to Walden?"

"No. I'm afraid not. Your sister has made it clear to me that I am not what they are looking for."

"Then where? Surely not ZooCity!"

"No," Elias chuckled. "I think I would prefer that my first experience with them would also be my
last."

"I repeat, then where are you planning on going?"

"There are no other enclaves within Aegis?"

Pierce shook his head rather forcefully. "Essentially, no. Just the three. There are some small
pockets of people who live on the fringes of our communities. From what I understand, there are also
some loners, who don't wish to be a part of any group. Other than that, we are the only games in town,
in a manner of speaking."

Shrugging, Elias explained, "I guess I'll poke around a little. I do want to try to find Eric. If I don't
have any luck, I'm sure I'll be back."

Pierce stood up and Elias followed his cue. "As I said, Mr. Charon, you are more than welcome to
stay. From our brief chat I believe that you are the type of person who would fit in quite nicely here.
Since you have decided to leave, consider it an open invitation."

Elias shook the man's hand. "Thank you very much. It was a pleasure meeting you, and you are
right – Madison is probably the best spot for me."

Picking up the clip for the Beretta and dropping it into his pocket, Pierce said, "I'll walk you back
to the checkpoint."

"Thank you."

They exited the room and retraced the route Elias had taken several minutes earlier. As they walked,
Elias asked, "What do you think is next for Aegis?"

"What do you mean?"

"Well, the steps so far have been logical. At first there was so much room that individuals were able
to live the way they wanted. And then, as people started bumping into each other, conflicts began, until
the incident you described which prompted the creation of the enclaves."

"I suppose you're right. It's all been inevitable. I remember reading, before I came to Aegis, about
the changes that occur in primates, like chimps, when they are brought in from the wild and caged in
groups. The behavior described in that article is strikingly similar to what has happened here. The
brutality, the savagery, the wantonness of the acts in many ways have mirrored what I read. But to
answer your question, ever since that horrible day of the rampage, it seems that I have only reacted.
Everything I've done since then has been a response to that day. And that includes creating Madison.
I haven't mentally looked forward. I'm curious – what do you think is in store for us, Mr. Charon?"

Based upon what he had been told and witnessed thus far, Elias had a very clear image of the
coming events, but he answered, "I have no idea. I was wondering what you thought."

For a moment, it appeared as if Pierce did not believe him. "Time will tell, I suppose."

They continued walking, and nothing more was said until they arrived at the checkpoint. Pierce
extended his hand. "I hope that you return to us, Mr. Charon. It was a pleasure."

"Mine, as well, sir. I'm sure I'll be back."

Reaching into his pocket, Pierce pulled out the clip and handed it Elias. "I hope you won't be
needing this. Good luck."

Elias took it from him and dropped it into his own pocket. "Thank you."

Pierce turned and walked away. Elias entered the zig-zag barricade and, after the third turn, saw
Sweezea.

"You're leavin' us, huh?"

"Yep. I might be back."

Sweezea grabbed Elias' suitcase from the corner where it was stowed, and turned to join him as he
walked. "Why are you going? You don't like Madison?"

Elias grinned at him. "Can't say. Haven't been here long enough to decide. I'm looking for a friend
and I understand from Mr. Pierce that he isn't here."

They finished the serpentine route and emerged, passing Crabill who was stationed directly behind
the entrance, peering through one of the view slots in the wall.

To Crabill, Sweezea said, "I'm going to walk with the doc for a ways."

"Don't make a run for it," Crabill joked. "You'll be in my cross-hairs."

Sweezea laughed, and they continued out into the corridor.

After they were out of hearing range, Sweezea asked, "Who's your friend? Maybe I've seen him."

"Stone, Eric Stone."

Shaking his head, Sweezea answered, "Don't know the name, but a lot of people who come here
use something different. What does he look like?"

Elias described Stone and watched as the soldier processed the information in his mind. After a
brief pause, Sweezea concluded, "Afraid not. If he came through here, it wasn't on my watch."

They stopped walking at the first crossing, and Elias changed the subject. "I was wondering about
something; maybe you could explain it?"

"Shoot."

"I didn't expect much chatter in ZooCity, but Pierce's sister interviewed me at Walden and I had
a fairly good little talk with the Chief, and neither one of them asked me the one question I thought I
would get asked in here."

"What's that?"

"Why I came to Aegis."

"You won't. It's kind of an unwritten rule. We don't ask each other or the newbies."

"Why's that?"

Sweezea leaned against the wall in a nonchalant pose. "We just don't. If you want a better
explanation, you'd better get your ass back inside and ask the Chief. I'm just a dumb grunt."

Elias grinned broadly. "Save your moron act for the other guys. Do you have a first name, Sweezea?
Mine's Elias."

"I do. Tim."

Instinctively, they shook hands with each other to formalize the introduction.

"Tim, as I said, can the ‘I'm just a dumb grunt' act. I know better."

Sweezea looked away from Elias for a moment, leaned his head back against the wall, and either
composed his thoughts or decided how much of his opinion to share with Charon before speaking.

"There are two reasons, really. The first one is that people are going to lie to you, anyway.
Remember, we have no way of checking on anyone or anything from the outside. Somebody could walk
through the front door and tell us he was a brain surgeon, a movie producer, or the head of the CIA,
and we would have no way of knowing.

"That's the weird thing about Aegis. People who come in here feel like it is their chance to be who
or what they always wanted to be. Usually, the real reason for checking in is tied to who or what they
were. So…they lie to maintain their story."

"What's the second reason?"

"Privacy. Most guys are ashamed of whatever they did or whoever they were, whatever it was that
brought them here. This is a chance for them to start with a clean slate. Why ruin it for them by making
them tell us the truth or forcing them to lie to us? Both options are bad deals for them, because then
either they haven't escaped what they did, or they are starting out their new chance with a big, fat lie that
they'll have to maintain for the rest of their lives. We decided that everybody who joins us should at least
be allowed to have a little dignity."

"You said ‘most guys.' Do you mean guys, or are you talking about both genders?"

Sweezea laughed. "It's a good thing nobody else is around for this conversation. No, I meant guys.
Women, most of them, want to talk about whatever the mess was that they made before they came here.
They want to talk about it constantly and to anybody who will listen. Now that you mention it, that's
probably a good third reason why we don't ask. If they finally do stop talking about it, we don't want
to start them up again."

Smiling, Elias shook his head. Another thought crossing his mind, he remarked, "I imagine you
get a lot of guys who tell you they were in the service, when they never served a day."

Tim nodded. "Oh, yeah, especially Special Forces."

"I would guess that particular line of crap doesn't last too long."

Sweezea laughed again. "Maybe about two minutes. I had one newbie tell me he was a SEAL, so
I handed him my rifle and asked him to break it down. The only thing that broke down was him! Turns
out he was an insurance salesman."

"That would have been fun to watch."

Pausing, Sweezea said, "Should have been, but it wasn't. It was sad. He just bit off more than he
could chew with his new identity."

"Tim, as long as we're talking, I do have one more thing to ask."

"Shoot."

"There is another guy...came in here a few weeks ago. His name is Rudy Kreitzmann."

"Rudy Kreitzmann is in here?"

"You know who he is?"

"Hell, yes. I haven't been in here that long. While I was outside, I read the news. Are you kidding
me? He came to Aegis?"

Elias nodded. "That's the word. I don't know for sure. That's why I'm asking."

"Why would he come here? Did what he was doing finally get to him?"

"I doubt it. I think he came here because he had nowhere else to run."

Sweezea shook his head. "Can't help you. I hadn't heard he was here. Why are you looking for
him?"

Deciding to keep his answers vague, Elias only replied, "I have a score to settle with him."

"From what I heard about him, you and about a thousand other guys."

"So you haven't heard any rumors about him, or some new arrival who might be doing some
strange things?"

His eyes suddenly widening, Sweezea asked, "You think he might be up to the same stuff in Aegis?"

Elias shrugged and said nothing.

"Man, if he is, I'll hunt him down and cure him myself."

"Cure him?"

"Oh yeah, cure him. I hear he has an acute case of lead deficiency."

Elias chuckled.

"But to answer your question, no, I haven't heard anyth…wait a sec. There is something."

"What's that?"

"I'm not sure this would have anything to do with Kreitzmann. But it's weird. We picked up a new
addition to Madison a couple of weeks ago from ZooCity."

"Really?"

"Yeah, it happens. Urban newbies check in, see that there's a gang in here and, at first, they feel
right at home and join up. Then, after a little while, they figure out it was that crap they were running
away from, so they come to Madison or go to Walden. Anyway, this guy arrives and tells us the
damnedest story about a man who arrived about three months back. I'm not sure about the time, but
it was close to that. Anyway, he arrived with two other men…."

Feeling vindicated in his suspicions, Elias flashed back to the video of Kreitzmann's entrance and
the two men who walked through the turnstile after him.

"Apparently, they watch the entrance for each new arrival, but they don't make their move until the
first intersection. Our new guy told us that he was part of a group who jumped the three of them, or
at least tried to."

"What happened?"

"I guess the guy telling the story was the one designated to provide cover, so he was twenty or thirty
yards back. Five ZooCity thugs made their move – when, according to our friend, the two men who
arrived with the stranger just turned into a blur." Sweezea held up his hands and exclaimed, "I know this
sounds nuts!"