The New Assault

by Steven Spellman

  The group was already too close for him to turn and run, and they would probably pursue him if he did. They had no idea who he was or that he was even there, but they would certainly endeavor to find out if they caught him fleeing their path. There was no doorway, no opening, that he could hide in that they wouldn’t immediately notice. Sam glanced at the small lawns separating some of the houses. He thought he could cut through one if he made his escape right this moment, but then he would certainly attract the attention of curious homeowners. There seemed to be no means of escape. Sam clamped his teeth and continued walking on toward the group. It was another walk of faith. Perhaps the Doctor had something in mind.

  Sam’s mouth was as dry as cotton as he and the group came closer and closer. He scanned their minds again and noticed nothing out of the ordinary. Just as with the guards. Finally, they were so close that all anyone had to do was look up and they would notice a real live Simmons there, directly in front of them. Sam moved to an edge of the sidewalk and waited. The group came closer, closer, laughing and frolicking uproariously amongst themselves as only teenagers could, and still no one looked up, not even to see where they were going. As Sam looked on with wide eyes, the entire group passed him without a glance. It was amazing, really. Dr. Crangler obviously had no more problem manipulating the minds of this entire group of kids than he had the three adult guards.

  Sam watched the group pass him as if he weren’t there and had an idea. He waited until they’d passed twenty feet down the street and ran to the front of the group. He positioned himself in the very middle of the sidewalk and waited. It was an insane risk, but curiosity spurred Sam on. Soon enough, the group approached him again and just as the last time they didn’t seem to notice him, even when three of the kids bumped roughly into him as they passed by. The three kids immediately stopped laughing and began looking around. After a moment they looked at each other and began laughing, nervously. Amazing. They hadn’t seen or heard Sam even after they’d collided with him. Meanwhile, Sam remained where he was and watched the group until they were out of view. He watched the place where they had been, even after they were long gone. He had seen it with his own eyes—had felt it with his own body—had beheld the truth behind it with his own mind, but it was still difficult to believe. The Doctor had left no trace of his presence. Just like the guards there had been nothing different in the minds of any of the kids. Had not Sam seen it for himself, it would’ve been impossible for him to tell that their minds had been tampered with.

  He turned and continued walking to where he knew Dr. Crangler would be. He walked but he never stopped thinking about the group of kids, the guards, the implication that Dr. Crangler’s amazing ability presented. Rendering Sam virtually invisible like this afforded him a unique opportunity like he would’ve never believed possible. How else would he have been able to walk through the city, in broad daylight, with no disguise, and no fear of being mobbed to death? This was the closest Sam ever felt to being like everyone else, just another face in the crowd. Perhaps even less than that since apparently no one could see his face, crowd or otherwise. Anonymity in the midst of the masses. It was a novel experience, exhilarating. By the time Sam had walked a quarter of a mile, he felt as if he could dance in the streets for joy. More people passed, most of them adults, but they didn’t notice him either. Now and then Sam noticed someone watching the street from a window, but they never spared him a glance. He felt he needed to stay focus upon his resolve concerning the conversation he intended to have with Dr. Crangler, but it was surprisingly difficult to remain upset with the doctor when he was affording him one of the grandest opportunities of his life.

  Sam walked on, skipped really, like an adolescent. He was a part of the city, not an undeserving and reluctant idol worshipped by it. At least for the moment. It was a refreshingly pleasant moment. Unfortunately, it was still only a moment. “It might be a minimally pleasant novelty, but it is a reality that you can never have, my son.” Dr. Crangler said inside Sam’s head “You are not meant to simply be a part of this city. You are meant to rule it at my side.”

  So, I wasn’t meant to be this or that, I was meant to be this other thing, Sam thought within himself. Obviously Dr. Crangler really did see himself as a god: he certainly saw no qualm in dispensing godlike power over people’s destinies. Perhaps he was right. It was he, after all, that had given Sam this brief glimpse into what he had never had and obviously he could take it all away whenever he wanted. Perhaps he did know exactly what Sam was meant to do with his life. Sam himself certainly didn’t know what he was meant to do with it. Whatever the case, Sam wasn’t as excited as he had been a moment ago about his anonymity in the city. There was no dance to fight down now. His moment had passed. He walked on, resolute once again on what he intended to discuss with the Doctor. When he arrived at the doctor’s building the malnourished children were no longer staring out blinkingly from a busted window. Sam reached out with his mind and located them—obviously the doctor wanted him to find them—within the building.

  First Sam saw what the children’s eyes saw. They were both still sitting in the same room, staring but not seeing, at the same wall with the room’s only window in it. It appeared as if the children had not moved since Sam had last seen them. That had been days ago. Their little emaciated bodies should’ve been in mortal agony by now. Besides that, both children suffered from dimmed vision, as if they were being slowly swallowed up in a fog. They weren’t doing very well. The reality inside their young minds however, was a completely different story. In the only world either of them knew right now, the world inside their own heads, they were playing happily, surrounded by the largest and most colorful assortment of food and drink that any kid could hope to imagine. In their own minds they frolicked and laughed, overjoyed, upon a beautiful landscape of fresh grass and bright sunshine. It was a scene that was preferable to anything they could hope to experience in life. It might be better for them this way. Sam’s gut didn’t think so, but it was a possibility he was forced to concede.

  Sam reached out with his mind and found Dr. Crangler. He was sitting in the living room beneath the compromised roof. He was reading a book and waiting for Sam. When Sam cautiously entered the living room his eyes immediately landed upon the Doctor. A large, irregularly shaped ray of light shined upon him as he sat partially reclined in one of the chairs exploding with sagging, ripped stuffing. He looked supremely comfortable. The patch of sunlight also illumined the book that the Doctor held before him. The thought crossed Sam’s mind that the book might be some sort of treatise on military formations or something else dealing with large armies. The Doctor looked up and raised the cover of the book as well. “Not a military treatise.” he said, sitting up straight in the chair. “Sociology.” The doctor tapped the book hard with a finger, “Or at least what has been called sociology.” He tapped the book again, harder this time. There was a deep grimace upon his face as he continued, “The quacks who wrote this were supposed to be the top psychiatrists and sociologists”—he spat the words as if the professions were loathsome to mention—“in the world. They knew nothing of what they were talking about!”

  Sam didn’t understand the Doctor’s vehemence. Either the Doctor noticed the confusion upon his face or the confusion in his mind. He answered, “I’ve searched the mind of man. Not speculation. Not conjecture. Not theories. Experience! I’ve guided man to great feats already” Sam thought of the children, but he knew the Doctor could be thinking of any of his similar exploits that Sam knew nothing about “and I shall teach him to even greater feats. I have seen what He is behind his mask of flesh. The world’s so-called specialists had no idea what they were dealing with.” He threw the book down upon the dusty floor and took a deep breath. “But enough of that. You haven’t come to talk about the quacks of the past have you?” The doctor nestled back into his chair and waited.

  “I want you to leave her alone!” Sam shouted. He had intended to upbraid the doctor more calmly, but
it just blurted out of him, “And I want you to leave me alone when we’re together!” He had had an entire spiel prepared for this moment but now that the time had come he felt that he was unraveling.

  The doctor didn’t seem moved although a slight smile did spread across his lips. “We discussed that you were only to use your telepathy when you communicate with me.” The doctor’s voice was calm, even congenial. He didn’t seem offended in the least and that frightened some of the anger out of Sam. The doctor obviously didn’t see him as a threat and it reminded Sam that he was not, in fact, a viable threat to the Good Doctor no matter how upset he was. The doctor’s smile as well, seemed sincere but ominous. If it had been a frown there was no limit to what harm he could’ve caused Sam. “And about Julia… well, you know I can’t do that.”

  Sam did know that, in the depths of his heart. Surely the Doctor could refuse to use his powers, but it was clear for Sam to see that great ambition wouldn’t allow him mind to anything that he might be able to use to his advantage. Besides that, Geoffrey had already laid a responsibility upon Sam’s shoulders that left no room for any type of private life. Suddenly, Sam was tempted to feel guilty over trying to have a relationship with Julia in the first place. There seemed to be any number of reasons why it could never be a reality. That brought the anger back to the forefront of Sam’s mind. For a moment he didn’t care what the Doctor could do to him. Actually, he wished the Doctor would just do his worst and get it over with. The questions, the considerations, the confusing realities, it was just all too much for someone who hadn’t really been around for very long. “Why me!” Sam demanded, deliberately shouting rather than using his telepathy. “Why don’t you just force me to do whatever it is you want me to do, Dr. Crangler! Why don’t you just sit me down in some room and experiment upon me like those kids!”

  Sam felt exhausted. He stepped back and collapsed onto the room’s only couch. He heard the floor creak ominously beneath his weight. He felt as if he could’ve simply died where he sat and been grateful for it. He just didn’t want to do any of this anymore! He didn’t look up to see what the Doctor’s response was. Right now, he didn’t care. Then, an image began to blossom inside Sam’s head. It was an image of a much younger Dr. Crangler and a much younger Delilah and Geoffrey. They were all laughing pleasantly in a brightly lit room. It looked like it might’ve been a hospital room except that it wasn’t like any hospital room Sam had ever seen. Of course, Sam hadn’t personally seen a lot of hospital rooms. Despite his dour mood he had to smile at the sight of his young parents enjoying themselves alongside the Doctor. It also reminded him of how desperately he missed the both of them. Present day Dr. Crangler’s voice said, “Your parents and I ended up becoming very good friends. Eventually, they became family to me. It was your father that first introduced me to telepathy. I don’t think he realized it at the time, but he taught me just as he taught you. I have honed my abilities since then, but without your father I would have never had abilities to hone.”

  The doctor fell silent for a moment. There was a look of longing upon his face as he recollected upon what had once been. Then his face brightened, “As a matter of fact, I was there for the entirety of your parent’s courtship. You could even say that I had a hand in it.” Sam didn’t understand. There were things that Geoffrey had never shown him about his past. Fortunately, the Doctor didn’t seem as if he were gloating. It was strange to think that Dr. Crangler had played a pivotal role in his parents’ relationship. It seemed less strange when Sam reminded himself of how much influence the Doctor welded in the city. In the world. It was yet another morsel Sam wasn’t ready to digest. The doctor continued, “You are like a real son to me. Especially now that both of your parents are gone.” The Doctor’s mental voice sounded as if it pained him nearly as much as it did Sam. Sam was taken back by it. It sounded like Dr. Crangler did loved his parents nearly as much as he did. “I would’ve never done anything to cause either of them harm—I protected the three of you the moment I was strong enough—and I would never do anything to harm you. Your parents were very special people to me, and so are you. They were the only family I’d ever known.” The feeling in Dr. Crangler’s voice was startling. He sounded as if he might shed a tear. Sam was speechless.

  “No, I do not intend you harm. I intend to bring about a New World Order, with you and I at its helm.” Another image blossomed in Sam’s mind. It was a scene that was more real, more present, than the others. Real and far more ambitious.

  CHAPTER 20

  It was the huge tower, a tower as large as a mountain, that Sam had seen earlier. Only now he beheld the massive structure from a different vantage point. He didn’t view it from an elevation so high that dense cloud cover obscured most of it. Now, he beheld the true scope and grandeur of it and it was grand indeed. The entire structure was a pale beige color, as if it were made of brick that been baking in the cruelly hot sun for many years. It was a true tower with a massive, perfectly rounded base, that narrowed gradually as it jutted upward high into the open sky. The entire structure was so vast that it was impossible to take in at a single glance. It wasn’t as large as a mountain, Sam could tell now, it was larger. As he gazed on at it, he was convinced that the mountain on which he lived could’ve easily fit inside the tower with room to spare. Pocketing the exterior of the tower were huge open arches, like massive windows, with thick beige terraces. The terraces lining the summit promised breathtaking views.

  The tower sat upon the edge of a shore, the open ocean nearly lapping upon the base of one of its rounded sides. There were large arched openings at the base just like the ones at the top, except without the terraces. Doorways, Sam surmised. As his viewpoint changed, moving him around the tower until he had seen it on all sides, he saw that there must’ve been hundreds of these doorways, perhaps thousands, all of them set apart at equal distances. This was a tower that was truly open to all who may come. Many did come. And leave. As Sam’s viewpoint changed again, bringing him in closer until he was directly before the tower, he could see a virtual sea of humanity like hundreds of thousands, perhaps millions, of ants all engaged in fervent activity everywhere around the tower. Everywhere people were entering and exiting the many arched doorways, and everywhere beyond that people were bringing or preparing supplies, food, water, clothing. There were very many children there, men and woman, boys and girls. Every race was there, every ethnicity, every human being of every sort possible. Only one thing everyone had in common, that no one spoke. Not the many children, not the teenagers, not the adults.

  Everyone, from the youngest to the eldest, male and female, relied solely on telepathy for communication. Only Sam did not hear the dense din of mental voices that so much telepathy should’ve produced. Hesitantly, he reached out with his mind but still he found nothing. There was a great deal of mental activity going on, but he was shielded from it. “It is far too much for you right now.” Sam heard Dr. Crangler caution in his head “Your abilities are not yet able to process so much information. It would cause you great damage, irreparable damage, to behold so many telepathic thoughts so soon. But do not worry my son. The time is nearly at hand.”

  Sam knew the Doctor was telling the truth. The thoughts and sensations of the townspeople were overwhelming to Sam if he did not control what he allowed into his mind very carefully. That was a town of average people. This looked like an entire planet of townspeople permeating this tower and they were all powerfully telepathic. To open his mind completely to them would’ve been an extremely foolish idea indeed. Sam shuddered to think what might’ve happened to him if The Good Doctor had not intervened. It might’ve been worse than the Hum. “Nothing can be worse than the Hum.” Dr. Crangler answered with deathly seriousness. “But it would’ve been close.”

  “Thank you.” Sam answered. His appreciation was genuine.

  “As I have told you, son, I am here to aid, not destroy you.”

  Sam turned his attention back to the sea of people below. He
could not hear their thoughts, but he could see the reality of their telepathy in their movements. Just like endless hordes of the ants they vaguely resembled, there was clear method and remarkable organization in their combined movements if one only had an eye to see it. People moved supplies of every sort into and out of the tower’s myriad of entrances, but no person bumped into another person. Groups of people, as well as individuals on opposing sides of the tower came together and dispersed without a single spoken word. People glanced at one another and conveyed messages that might’ve taken an hour or more to articulate, in a single look. The more carefully Sam watched the more awed he became. It was like a great and mighty machine that looked haphazard but beneath the surface operated with an efficiency and accuracy completely unheard of for something so large. Only the youngest children bumped into each other in their play, and that, only deliberately. No adult seemed to be supervising the children, but Sam understood that that was just in appearance since the children may’ve bumped into each other, but they never bumped into an adult and they never wandered far from the crowd.

  It was amazing, to behold so many people so organized. Sam decided that it was markedly better than the way the world ran at present. Then his vantage point changed yet again, as if he were being wisped at light speed closer to the tower, until he was inside it. He wouldn’t have thought it possible, but the inside of this mammoth structure was more awe inspiring than the outside. The center of the tower was hollow, but the walls were so thick that homes—thousands upon thousands of homes—were built directly into them. Everywhere there were beautifully sculpted arches, identical to the ones lining the exterior, only smaller. These were the home’s front doors. Even more spectacular, there was a literal mountain inside the tower. The mountain looked strangely similar to the one Sam lived upon. In fact, the closer Sam scrutinized it, the more certain he was that it was his mountain. Only that was impossible, Sam thought, since he would’ve noticed a huge tower around his home. There was one major difference in this mountain. Unlike Sam’s home mountain, this mountain didn’t have one staircase built directly into its face, it had many staircases built into the solid rock on every side of the mountain. So many staircases that it looked as if every one of them were a single thread of brown silk of a spider’s web that had been cast upon the mountain. A massive spider with a very dense web.