Modern Magic
Page 230
“Sounds pretty noble to me,” said Nobody.
“People with noble intentions do the greatest harm,” said Monday. “And no one has ever had greater intentions.”
“OK. I won’t deny he’s got some pretty ambitious schemes, and I’ve seen some of the bad things that can result from them. But the stuff you’re talking about is pretty far-fetched. I don’t think the people of the world are likely to go along with it.”
“He’s working on that.” Again, Monday’s fingers flew across the keyboards, now bringing up a list of names. “He controls the world’s media. Not all of it, of course, not yet, but one by one he’s taking over newspapers, networks, websites. Do you know what this list of names is?”
“You send them Christmas cards.”
“These are reporters who’ve stumbled onto parts of his master plan.” He began to scroll through the list. Most of the names were green, some were red, and some were black. “The green ones are dismissed as conspiracy nuts. The information they put out isn’t very well-documented, and they get fed enough disinformation to render them harmless. They’re the lucky ones. The red names are reporters who’ve had the bad luck to stumble onto something more solid.”
He tapped a name on the screen.
“This one, Christina Garamond, she’s been to Dr. Know’s island. She was a journalism student working summers with her father’s construction company. She helped install some of those fancy goo tubes Dr. Know keeps his victims in. Most of the workers just put the stuff where they’re told and don’t ask questions. Christina asked lots. She took a lot of pictures and swiped whole reams of documents and blueprints. She wrote a truly devastating book about her discoveries, and mailed it off to publishers. A lot of the editors she sent it to are also on this list as red names. One by one, the manuscripts have been destroyed. Many of these people have lost their homes in fires. A few of these people have landed in jail on trumped up charges. Christina is presently in a hospital, her intelligence reduced to that of an eight-year-old, thanks to a head injury she received in an ‘accident.’”
Nobody quietly stared at the list. There were a lot of red names. And more than a few black ones.
“The black ones are dead,” said Monday.
“You’re saying he killed these people.”
“Yes.”
“To keep his secret.”
“Yes.”
Nobody rubbed his throbbing temples with his fingers. “I don’t believe you.”
“I know. It’s tough to swallow. If you’d like, we can visit some of the red names. You can hear their stories directly, judge for yourself. Although, I have to warn you. They talk too much, they wind up a black name.”
“Doesn’t matter. You could take me to people you’ve planted. They could say anything you want them to.”
Monday grinned. “Ah. A skeptic. I admire you for maintaining your skepticism after receiving unquestionable first-hand proof of time travel, mind control, and women who aren’t bound by laws of gravity.”
“Even if I believed, it doesn’t matter. I mean, when it comes right down to it, I’ll give you the benefit of the doubt. Maybe Dr. Know is up to his eyeballs in this conspiracy junk. Maybe you see yourself as some kind of noble freedom fighter in opposing him. But you said it yourself—people with noble intentions do the worst things. And you’ve done some fairly vile things, placing children in danger.”
“I won’t stand by idly while Dr. Know twists the world to conform to his warped vision.”
“I will. Because, you know, it just doesn’t matter. Dr. Know and you, you’re like, what, sixty? Sixty-five? He’s making plans for the world in 2050, and 2150, but he’s not going to be around to see them come to fruition. Whatever damage he’s doing will be undone, eventually. One man, even as powerful as he is, only gets so many years to mess things up.”
“You must not have been paying attention,” said Monday. “Didn’t I mention his cloning program?”
“Fine. So he clones himself. It’s not like his clones will really be him. They’ll have their own experiences, their own lives.”
“No. His ability to use other minds to house his consciousness will be greatly enhanced with his clones. He will be able to effect a complete transfer, with total control of a new host body, if his theories are correct. He’ll be able to move from body to body, should such a thing even be needed. His medical research leads him to believe that with proper diet and genetic repair therapy, he may be able to extend his own healthy life to well over one hundred and twenty years. Who knows what meddling he’ll be able to accomplish in another six decades?”
“And who knows how many busses full of children you’ll blow up, huh?”
“I do. None. You go back in time and stop Dr. Know and I stop my war against him. You kill him; I’ll take his place and stop his mad schemes. I’ll turn the world free of his grasp, and mine as well. And you, you’ll get to go back to the life you knew. You’ll be happy and free of your curse.”
Nobody looked at the silver hood he held.
“It still doesn’t make sense,” he said. “He’ll be alive when I go back.”
“He’ll be dead in my world. You have your time line, I have mine. There are infinite worlds. It’s only the limitations of our minds that make us think there’s one. In my world, he’ll be dead. You have the power to grant my wish. I have the power to grant yours.”
Nobody wadded up the hood and shoved it into his pocket. This was too much to think about. But maybe it was time to stop thinking. Maybe it was time to follow his gut instinct. He wanted off this roller coaster.
“Fine,” he said. “Give me a gun. Send me back to the island. I’ll put a bullet in his head. All I want is to go home.”
Chapter Twenty-One
I’m Not Really Your Friend
Monday handed him the pistol. Light played over its smooth black surface. It weighed heavily in his hand, the most solid thing Nobody had ever touched.
“If I use the space machine to take us to the island, he’ll know instantly,” said Monday. “It’s important that you approach in a fashion that he won’t find suspicious.”
“I guess I could dress as a pizza boy.”
Monday took a large graphing calculator from his shirt pocket. “How’s your stomach?”
“Urn… a little better. Not much. Is that your space machine? I thought you weren’t going to use that thing to get to the island.”
Rex Monday leaned over his laptop, pulling up a scheduling program. “Hmm. Looks like Mindo is at the Miami airport even as we speak. That’ll do.”
“For—”
Monday clicked the equal key on the calculator.
The world twisted as Nobody blinked. His eyelids felt dry as they slipped across his toes.
“—what,” finished Nobody. There was a blast of heat, and he raised his hands to shield his eyes from the bright sunlight.
“Welcome to Miami,” said Monday, though he could barely be heard. Overhead, a giant jet was climbing into the sky.
“You did it again, you bastard,” said Nobody, clutching his stomach.
“No time to waste,” said Monday. “Mindo is heading for Dr. Know’s jet right now. You need to sneak onto the jet, and get back to the island.”
“What’s Mindo doing here?”
“Buying beer and cigarettes? Does it matter? You’ve got about thirty seconds before they close the door. That’s his jet over there.”
Nobody recognized it.
“Go,” said Monday.
Nobody loped across the airfield, reaching the steps and racing up them to get inside just before the door closed.
He felt the weight of the gun in his pocket, shifting as he took a seat. The plane taxied down the runway. From the window, he watched the ground slip away.
“Next stop,” he said, “Murderville.”
He walked slowly from the airstrip to the mansion. Mindo had gone ahead, taking a golf cart, but Nobody felt the need to walk. He had a few stops to
make before meeting Dr. Know again.
He went to the rose garden, to the fountain, and to Alexander’s grave. But the grave was gone. Where the stone slab had stood, there was only a carpet of green grass. He walked around the fountain to be sure. It was true. Dr. Know had either moved the gravestone, or destroyed it.
“Oh, Doc,” said Nobody, with a sigh. “Why do you have to make this so easy?”
He walked up to the main house. The repairs had been completed. The house looked as if it had never been chopped in half. The newness of the paint gave it a brighter, happier look than it had the last time he’d seen it. But when he stepped inside, he could sense a change in the atmosphere. The portrait of the family that had once hung above the giant fireplace was gone, replaced by a gilded mirror.
He walked up the staircase, listening to the silence of the house. Not that the house had ever been the home of raucous parties, but usually it hadn’t been this quiet. Gone were the sounds of Rail Blade exercising in the gym, vanished were the rap songs that the Thrill would play at top volume from her stereo.
And yet, as he walked down the hall and came to the library, he found one thing unchanged. Katrina Knowbokov still sat in the library reading, in her padded leather chair, her glasses perched at the end of her nose. Nobody approached her.
He pulled the silver hood from his pocket. He carefully, gently, pulled it over her head. The second it slipped over her eyes, she jumped, sending her glasses falling to the floor.
“Aah,” she cried, kicking his legs as she scrambled backwards, knocking over her chair.
“Whoa!” said Nobody. “It’s OK! It’s OK. I won’t hurt you. I won’t hurt you.”
“Who… who are you?”
“Remember about a year ago? Dinner with an invisible man? I’m him.”
“You… you’re real?”
“Define real,” said Nobody, shrugging. “No, don’t bother. I’m real enough.”
Katrina cautiously touched the hood. “What’s this thing you’ve pulled over my eyes?”
“It’s… I don’t know what it’s called. But it lets you see into my reality. Allows you to hear me,” he said, raising his leg and rubbing his shin where she’d kicked him. “And you can touch me, too.”
“You frightened me,” she said.
“Sorry. I just wanted to talk.”
“I don’t know that I want to talk to you,” Katrina said, picking up her chair. “You certainly have approached me rudely.”
“I guess,” said Nobody. “But, I’ve been wanting to talk to you for a long time. I was there the day you tried to talk Paco into poisoning your husband. I’ve watched you withdraw into yourself ever since then. I wanted to say something, though I still don’t know what I can say that might help.”
“You’ve spied on me?” she said, taking her seat once more.
“Occasionally. But I swear to God I don’t follow you into the bathroom or anything sick. Mostly I just see you here in the library. You seem very… studious.”
“How is it that you are invisible?” she asked.
“Your husband’s time machine—”
“Stop,” she said, holding up her hand.
“Don’t believe in the time machine?” asked Richard.
“I have a daughter who flies,” said Katrina. “Another destroys cities with a wave of her hands. I can believe in a time machine. But I don’t want to.”
“It wears you out, doesn’t it,” said Nobody.
She stared him thoughtfully, then nodded.
“Wears me out too,” said Nobody. “Why haven’t you ever left?”
“There is no place on Earth I could go. Were I to leave, Niko would notice, and with but a thought, he would find me and dispatch his emissaries to bring me home. I choose to retain what few shreds of dignity I have left rather than find myself carted home slung over Mindo’s shoulders.”
“But if you could leave, would you?”
She looked toward the floor, and sat silent for a moment.
“I don’t know,” she whispered. “I don’t know if it’s possible to run anywhere untouched by Niko. His handiwork is evident throughout all the world.”
“Have you ever talked to him about leaving?”
She looked at him with her eyes wide, as if shocked by the question. “What’s the point of conversation with a man who knows your every thought? The only time my thoughts are safe is when I’m reading. Then the words in my head are not my own. I’m beyond him then. My only hope now is that I’ll outlive him. He’s ten years older than me and seems under great stress. Do you think it horrible of me that I daydream about his funeral?”
“Not in the least,” said Nobody. Then he realized that Dr. Know was probably reading her thoughts right now. He’d best cut this short before he said anything suspicious. “Thanks for talking to me. If you don’t mind, I’d like the hood back.”
She pulled it off, and looked where he stood, her eyes straining. With a gasp, she dropped the hood, then stood and walked from the room.
He took the hood and put it in his pocket once more. “Yeah,” he said, taking out his gun. “Yeah, this will be easier than I imagined.”
He walked out of the room. Somewhere in the distance was a strange noise, like an elephant farting.
Nobody found Dr. Know in his command center, facing him as he entered the door.
“Hello, Richard,” said Dr. Know.
“Good-bye,” said Nobody, raising the gun to fire.
Dr. Know crossed the ten-yard gap between them before Nobody even extended his arm. He kicked the gun away, then delivered a tremendous punch to Nobody’s groin. Nobody hit the floor unable to breathe.
“How decidedly amateurish,” said Dr. Know. “I knew the second you snuck aboard my plane. Sensors detected the gun. Then, when my wife’s thoughts momentarily vanished, I was able to listen in through microphones in the library. Since you’re in possession of one of his thought-blocking hoods, I assume you’ve been brainwashed by Rex Monday.”
“No,” said Nobody, reaching out and grabbing at the doctor’s legs. The doctor nimbly evaded him. “I pretty well hated you before I ever spoke to Monday.”
“Hmm,” said Dr. Know. “You admit to speaking with him. Although, given his history, it’s far more likely you spoke with one of his agents.”
Nobody managed to get on his hands and knees, wincing. “Oooh. No. No, I’m pretty certain it was him.”
“Really. And what makes you so sure?”
Nobody swiveled his head around. The gun had fallen back in the hallway.
“Go for the gun and I’ll paralyze you,” said Dr. Know. “You know I’m not bluffing.”
“Yeah,” said Nobody, looking at the doctor. “Yeah, I don’t think you’re bluffing.”
“Get up,” said Dr. Know. “Now that we have quashed any absurd notions of assassination, I think we should have a serious talk.”
“I’m not very talkative, all of a sudden,” said Nobody. “And I bet that frustrates you. I bet it drives you crazy, not being able to get inside my head.”
“You think very highly of your thoughts,” said Dr. Know. “I have far better things to go crazy over, believe me.”
“I see you destroyed Alexander’s grave.”
“I had him interred elsewhere,” said Dr. Know. “Amelia had defaced the original stone.”
“Defaced?” said Nobody. “She put his name on it!”
“Let’s talk about Rex Monday,” said Dr. Know. Nobody noticed something on one of the monitors behind Dr. Know. He stepped past him for a closer look. On a grainy black and white camera, Amelia could be seen in a sandy, stony landscape. It reminded Richard somewhat of the Middle East. She was sitting cross-legged, in a lotus-position meditation, her back to the camera.
“Oh my God,” he said. “That’s Amelia. Is she working for you again?”
“My hiring standards aren’t that low,” said Dr. Know, turning toward the monitor. “Amelia returned and stole a vehicle from me shortly
after we parted ways. I keep tabs on her now, in case she becomes irrational again. For the time being, she doesn’t seem to be a danger to Earth.”
“Doc, I’ve got to say that setting up spy-cams on your own daughter seems a little sick,” said Nobody.
“It’s for the world’s safety,” said Dr. Know, turning toward the monitors. “You heard her threats.”
“I bet you know where Sarah is, too. She didn’t threaten anyone.”
“Sarah continues to abuse and waste her powers,” said Dr. Know. “She’s living in Dallas, in a mansion she’s secured with her powers and furnished with theft. She’s a potential threat in that her selfish behavior may make her easy prey for Rex Monday, but, for now, she’s not endangering anyone.”
“Ah, yes, Rex Monday. I’ve met him. I know who he is. Would you like to learn his true identity?”
“I believe you know the answer to that.”
Nobody faced him. Behind him, in the hall, Katrina watched, the silver hood pulled over her face. But if she had the hood, what was this lump wadded up in his pocket?
Remaining casual as Katrina aimed the pistol she carried, Nobody said, “Rex Monday’s real name is Nicolas Knowbokov.”
“Is this a joke?” asked Dr. Know.
Then the shot rang out.
Dr. Know fell forward, a stunned look in his eyes. Nobody caught him in his arms.
Katrina dropped the gun and fled, her hands over her mouth.
For the briefest of seconds, Dr. Know’s eyes locked on Richard’s. They were full of confusion. Then, they lost their focus. His body went limp. Richard lowered him gently to the floor. There was surprisingly little blood. The bullet had entered the Doctor’s back, just behind his heart. It hadn’t come through the other side.
“Kind of anticlimactic, isn’t it?” said a familiar voice.
Nobody looked up. Rex Monday walked toward him, slipping the calculator back into his shirt pocket.
Nobody said, “I told him who you were. I think he was so bewildered he never knew she was behind him.”
“Pretty clever, giving her that hood. I don’t remember telling you it would block her thoughts.”