Quentin had seen the impossible in recent weeks, but this disturbing yet beautiful creature was so foreign in its structure and movements that he could only stare in disbelief. The creature shifted from side to side, possibly waiting for the crowd to calm down. Its two head-stalks acted independently, each pair of eyes inspecting different areas of the crowd at the same time. The boom mics were quickly wrangled into position over the creature’s head, in case it was capable of speaking.
And then it did speak. Its mouth was much larger than a human’s, but the lips were extremely dexterous. “Do not be afraid,” it said. The voice was no longer Addison’s. “I have changed to the form of one of my creators. This individual was one of those who designed me, and many others like me. She lived more than six hundred million years ago. It is almost certain that her kind no longer exists. They were aware of their finite existence, and I was created so that others may know of them and remember them.”
As the thing spoke, waves of color expanded and contracted on each head-stalk, reminding Quentin of the iridophore cells allowing chameleons to rapidly change color. The color changes seemed to be an integral part of the thing’s verbal communication, and they included a broad palette of bright and subtle hues.
The creature paced a few steps one way and then back, using its center limb like a crutch. As it turned, the head stalks swiveled to allow the eyes to remain fixed on what they were looking at. The movements were mesmerizing, and Quentin wondered how much of this the television audience could see, and how many of them actually believed it was real.
The thing stopped and faced the cameras again. “I came to this place long before your kind existed. My purpose was to wait for beings capable of understanding my creators’ accomplishments. During the time I waited, I encountered many different living things. All of them eventually disappeared, to be replaced by more. But none of those living things were able to talk to me and understand my purpose—until recently. Approximately thirty-seven thousand years ago, I encountered beings of your kind. They were unlike all the previous living things I had known. These people had learned to move across water from one part of the planet to another with boats they had made. They were the first living things I had encountered here who could talk to me.
“Approximately one hundred and fifty years ago, another of your kind came to me. Because of experiences in his life, he asked for my help with tasks that previous people had not, such as cultivating food.
“A short time later, approximately forty-two years ago, another of your kind came to me. His name is Peter Wooley, and he is here with us now.” Both head stalks turned to Peter, and both of the graceful forearms pointed at him. “Peter’s experiences allowed him to talk to me in new ways. But Peter was forced to leave that place, and I did not encounter him again until today.
“Twelve days ago I met the people who stand before you.” The creature motioned to Quentin and the others. “Bobby Truex is one of them. Bobby’s experiences in his life were influenced by the efforts of Peter, even though they had not met until now. And so Bobby was able to talk to me in new ways. Because of that, I am now here in this place, talking to you.
“I have told you these things so that you will understand that Bobby is the primary communicator for your kind at this time. And Bobby has told me of fears that he has. Bobby fears that the accomplishments of my creators might endanger all of you. He is correct. I have not come here to instruct you on how to use the accomplishments of my creators. You may use them to destroy some or all of your kind. If you do that, I will wait here, as I have done since I arrived. Others may eventually replace your kind. Perhaps those who replace you will be better suited to use the accomplishments of my creators.”
The thing pointed at Bobby again. “Bobby does not want the accomplishments to be used in ways that hurt and kill. Bobby is the primary communicator at this time, and I follow his requests. But soon, others of you will be primary communicators.” The creature then stared at the cameras, as if waiting for this to sink in.
Finally, it said, “I will change my form back to what is more familiar to you.” Its heads lowered, and the tiny arms dropped. The creature collapsed again. As the crowd and the cameras watched, clothing and human skin became apparent in the folds of the mass. A few minutes later it straightened up, and Addison stood before them. He said, “It is time for what is to come next.” Addison then stood motionless, waiting.
Darron Mesner waved at some men to approach Addison, but the men were hesitant. They approached with guns drawn.
“Please put your guns away,” Lindsey said. “They only make your intentions obvious, and they can’t hurt him anyway.”
The men ignored her, and Addison allowed them to escort him toward the street.
Mesner eyed Lindsey, and then Quentin. “You all need to come with us, so we can determine exactly what’s going on here.”
Bobby said, “They’ll be careful with him, right? It’s easy to make a mistake.”
“They’ll be careful,” Mesner said. “You people should have trusted us from the start. Would have saved us all a lot of trouble.”
“Bobby is trying to tell you something we’ve learned the hard way,” Quentin said.
Mesner frowned and stepped closer to Quentin. “There are some, Mr. Darnell, who will likely consider your actions to be treason. But that’s not for me to decide. I withhold judgment until all evidence is examined. I only wish you had done the same, rather than taking off across the country like self-righteous lunatics. Perhaps you should hold more trust in your country’s leaders.”
Quentin’s face flushed with anger. “Our trust is in humanity, not in a few individuals.”
Mesner stepped even closer. “Your ignorance is shocking and dangerous. Do you really think it would be our leaders making the decisions you fear? It will be the people, for God’s sake! If this thing holds the power that you imply, it will be the general population crying out for its use as a weapon. Perhaps not at first—at first they’ll demand that it be used to feed the hungry, or cure disease. Perhaps the general level of comfort will rise. But not everyone can have everything they want. There isn’t enough space or resources on the planet to allow that. The more people have, the more they consider anything preventing an optimum level of comfort to be a threat. People don’t like to feel threatened, Darnell. When they do, they become something different from what your naïve idealism would like them to be. They’ll demand that this gift of yours be used to eliminate any perceived threat, perhaps even if it means using it as a weapon of mass destruction. Do you see where I’m going with this?”
Disturbingly, Quentin did see. He had to forcibly remind himself that he held more faith in humanity than Mesner obviously did. He started to say something, but Mesner backed off and waved for more men to come.
“We’ve set up a temporary facility for examining you all.” Mesner hooked his thumb toward the street. “The other one will be taken to a more robust facility.”
“His name is Addison,” Quentin said.
Mesner nodded. “Addison, then.” Without another glance at them he headed toward Addison, who was being led to the back of an armored truck.
“Son of a bitch!” Quentin muttered.
Lindsey was now at Quentin’s side. “We’ve done what we came to do. We let the world know. They wouldn’t dare make decisions now without consensus.”
Quentin realized he was clenching his fists and tried to relax.
One of the agents gestured toward the street. “We need you folks to come with us.”
“Mr. Darnell?” It was Bobby. “I did it anyway.”
Quentin looked at him. “You did what?”
“What you told me not to do. I thought you might change your mind, so I talked to Addison this morning while everyone was asleep. I got him ready.”
“Ready for what?”
The agent closed in. “I have to insist you people stop talking now and come with us.” The other men moved in on them, too.
/> Bobby ignored them. “I taught him what he needs to know. You know, about what’s right and wrong. He’s ready. I just need to tell him.” The agent gripped Bobby’s shoulder and started leading him away. “Do you want me to tell him?” Bobby called to Quentin.
The man roughly clamped a hand over Bobby’s mouth and put his other arm around his chest. “We’re not playing games, son!”
Before Quentin could respond, Ashley cried out, “Addison! We need help!”
Everyone froze. Addison emerged from a group of agents at the rear of the armored truck. Several of the men moved to stop him, but Mesner warned them back.
“This guy’s hurting Bobby,” Ashley said.
The agent’s eyes shifted, but he didn’t release Bobby. The other men kept their guns trained on Addison as he approached.
“Bobby, would you like my help?” Addison said.
The man’s hand prevented Bobby from speaking, but he nodded.
Addison stepped directly in front of them. “You should let go of Bobby now.”
Quentin rushed forward. “Everyone stop!” he yelled. “Addison, don’t do anything.”
The agent still held his hand over Bobby’s mouth, and Quentin looked the man squarely in the eye. “Sir, do you have any children of your own?”
“Yes,” the man said, barely a whisper.
Quentin nodded to the television cameras. “Then your family is probably watching. I don’t pretend to know exactly what Addison is, but he is not what he appears to be. He doesn’t understand how tragic it would be for your family to watch you die before their eyes. I’m begging you, please let the boy go.”
Addison’s eyes turned golden yellow as he reached for the man’s arm. “Do not be afraid,” he said.
The guy released Bobby and stepped back before Addison’s hand touched him.
Bobby wiped his mouth. He spoke to Quentin. “He’s ready. Should I tell him?”
Quentin nodded. “Do it.”
A slight grin materialized on Bobby’s face. “Addison, phone home.”
There was a pop, a tendril of water vapor, and then silence. Addison was gone.
Chapter Thirteen
The chaos at Quentin’s house eventually gave way to a more methodical investigation. The camera crews wouldn’t leave, and Mesner was reluctant to have them forcibly removed on live television. But they were obviously growing weary of waiting for Addison to return and getting only clipped answers to their questions.
Addison would not return. Quentin had told the feds this again and again. Bobby had instructed the Lamotelokhai to disappear, and it was too late to get it back. Agent Mesner had ranted, had threatened them and even pleaded with them. “How could a fourteen-year-old boy have the right to do this?” he’d asked. “How could a boy make a decision for the entire country?” Quentin had reminded Mesner that the Lamotelokhai was for the entire world, which didn’t help to placate him.
Quentin was sure he and Lindsey would be taken into custody. Perhaps they would even be locked away. But for now they were held at the house, in case Addison returned. Quentin sat with Lindsey on the front porch steps, surrounded by National Security personnel, while the kids were still being questioned individually inside. The front door opened and Mesner stepped out, followed by the other versions of Quentin and Lindsey. Mesner told his men to vacate the porch and move to the street. He then withdrew into the house, leaving the two identical couples somewhat alone. The other Quentin and Lindsey sat on the steps next to them.
“So Mesner wants you guys to question us now?” Quentin said.
The other Darnells eyed them warily, obviously uncomfortable. “Why not?” the other Quentin said. “We all need answers.”
“There’s one thing I’d like to know,” the other Lindsey said. “How did Addison die?”
Quentin took a deep breath. “Actually, we don’t know exactly.”
“What does that mean?” the other Quentin said.
“There were some things that happened.” Quentin sighed. “We had to leave him there, in the forest.”
The other Quentin looked incredulous. “What? What could possibly happen that would make you—”
The other Lindsey put her hand on her husband’s knee. “It can wait, Quentin. You’re talking to yourself, remember? They’re us. We can assume we would’ve made the same decision.” This was followed by contemplative silence.
The other Quentin said, “This thing you found—this Lamotelokhai—it’s not really gone, is it? You know where it is?”
“I have no idea,” Quentin said. “Bobby convinced me we’d all be better off if we let it hide somewhere and decide on its own what to do next.”
Another incredulous look. “Bobby convinced you.”
Quentin simply gazed back at his copy.
“Even though this thing could change the future of our species.”
“Don’t assume I made the decision lightly. You have no idea what we’ve seen.”
The other Quentin looked around the yard, trying to gather his thoughts. His left knee began bouncing, and his hand impulsively patted his pocket for the raccoon bone, but apparently it wasn’t there. Quentin realized he hadn’t seen his copy of the bone since crashing in the rainforest, and suddenly he missed its presence.
Finally the other Quentin said, “This goes against every instinct I have. It seems we are now at the mercy of some unknown force. My parents—your parents—imposed the same kind of influence on Amius and Gupy and their people. That’s the first thing that comes to my mind when I think of what you’ve done, so how could you not have thought of that? Do you think Dad would’ve agreed to this?”
Quentin suppressed his contempt. “We had no choice.” But doubts were again beginning to arise within him.
The other Quentin eyed him. “So what’s next? Are we ever going to see this Lamotelokhai again?”
“If we told you where it is, would you tell Mesner? That is why he wanted you to talk to us, right?”
The couple exchanged glances, and then the other Lindsey said, “Somehow you both reached the conclusion that it should disappear. We don’t know why. But how ironic would it be to not trust the two of you?
Agent Mesner was furious, but Bobby stuck to his story—he had no idea where the Lamotelokhai was, and he had told it to stay hidden forever. Half of this was actually true. Bobby had been separated from the others and was being questioned by Mesner and two other feds. At least he was in the Darnells’ kitchen and could get a soda whenever he wanted. He was on his third.
Except for the Lamotelokhai’s location, Bobby had told the truth. Just like with Colonel Richards, Mesner had wanted to know everything, starting from the beginning. Finally it seemed he was out of questions, and he sat across the table from Bobby shaking his head.
“Now I have a question for you,” Bobby said. “What would you do with it? If you had it—and it can do anything you want—what would you ask it to do?”
“I guess we’ll never know, will we?” Mesner said.
“No, really. I answered your questions. What would you do with it?”
“I would turn it over to the authorities, which is what you—”
“No, I mean you. If you had it, what would you do with it?”
Mesner sighed. “Okay, Bobby. If it could do anything?” He thought for a moment. “I would ask it to make a rocket that could take regular folks like me into space. I’ve always wanted to go into space, probably since I was your age.”
Bobby took a drink of his soda. “That’s a pretty good wish. For me it’s dinosaurs. I wanted the Lamotelokhai to make real live dinosaurs.”
Mesner was actually smiling now. “And it did, right? At the hospital in Papua.”
Bobby looked at the can in his hands. “Yeah. That didn’t go so well.”
“You’re trying to make a point, aren’t you Bobby?”
“No. I just wanted to talk about it. You know, like normal talk.”
Mesner nodded slowly. “Like normal
talk.”
An agent leaned in the doorway. “Sir, I got a couple people here. Considering the circumstances, we allowed them entry.”
Mesner nodded. The agent stepped aside and Bobby’s mom appeared in the kitchen doorway. Bobby was behind her—the other Bobby. Their eyes got wide when they saw Bobby at the table.
“It’s true!” his mom said. She approached slowly. The other Bobby stayed behind her.
Mesner glanced from one Bobby to the other, and then he waved the other two agents out of their chairs so the other Bobby and his mom could sit. There was an awkward silence.
“I don’t understand what’s happening,” Bobby’s mom said.
No one responded to this. Finally Agent Mesner got up and said he would let them talk. He and the other agents left the kitchen.
“Where’s Dad?” Bobby said.
She hesitated, almost like she didn’t grasp the question. “Travis is on his way. He called when he saw you on TV.”
The other Bobby finally spoke. “Are you really me?”
“A copy of you. Or you’re a copy of me. I don’t know.”
“Do you know what I’m thinking?”
Bobby smiled. “No. How could I?”
“Are there any more copies of you?” his mom said.
“There was another one. He died in a plane crash at the airport.”
His mom gazed at him silently. Her eyes turned wet. Bobby reached across the table and touched her hand. Instead of pulling away, she gripped his hand tight.
The other Bobby said, “Where’s he going to live?”
His mom blinked. Obviously she hadn’t thought of this. “Live?” she said.
Bobby fumbled for words in the silence that followed. “I guess I don’t have a home anymore.” He half-laughed. “They’ll probably put me in jail or something, anyway.”
His mom gripped his hand tighter. “You’ll live in your home, with us.”
Suddenly Miranda’s voice was in the living room. Bobby jumped up and left the kitchen, followed by his mom and his twin. There was Miranda, alive and well. And the other Ashley was with her. The two Ashleys were face-to-face, probably feeling the same awkwardness Bobby had just experienced.
Diffusion Box Set Page 48
