Wild Cards IV

by George R. R. Martin

  “Waiter, get those drinks over here.” The male voice came from the bar. He spoke English with an American accent.

  Jayewardene let his eyes adjust to the dim lighting, then made his way carefully into the bar. The bartender was setting lamps up next to the mirror behind the bar. Jayewardene pulled out his handkerchief and wiped his sweaty forehead.

  They were seated together in a booth. There was a large man with a dark spade-shaped beard, wearing a tailored blue three-piece suit. Across from him was another man. He was middle-aged, but trim, and sat in the booth as if it were a throne. Although he thought he knew the men, the woman sitting between them was instantly recognizable. She was wearing a low-cut, shoulderless black dress, trimmed with sequins. Her skin was transparent. He quickly looked away from her. Her bone and muscles reflected the light in a disturbing manner.

  “Pardon me,” he said, walking over to them. “My name is Jayewardene. I’m with the Department of the Interior.”

  “And what do you want?” The large man took a skewered cherry from his drink and rolled it between his manicured thumb and forefinger.

  The other man stood, smiled, and shook Jayewardene’s hand. The gesture was studied, a political greeting refined by years of practice. “I’m Senator Gregg Hartmann. Pleased to meet you.”

  “Thank, you, Senator. I hope your shoulder is better.” Jayewardene had read about the incident in the newspapers.

  “It wasn’t as bad as the press made it sound.” Hartmann looked at the other end of the booth. “The man torturing that cherry is Hiram Worchester. And the lady is—”

  “Chrysalis, I believe.” Jayewardene bowed. “May I join you?”

  “Certainly,” Hartmann said. “Is there something we can do for you?”

  Jayewardene sat down next to Hiram, whose bulk partially obscured Chrysalis. He found her profoundly disturbing to look at. “Several things perhaps. Where were Elephant Girl and that man going just now?”

  “To catch the ape, of course.” Hiram looked at him as one might at an embarrassing relative. “And rescue the girl. We just found out about it. Catching the beast is something of a tradition.” He paused. “For aces.”

  “Is that possible? I don’t think Elephant Girl and one man can manage that.” Jayewardene turned to Hartmann.

  “The man with her was Jack Braun,” Chrysalis said. Her accent was more British than American. “Golden Boy. He can handle almost anything, up to and including the giant ape. Although he hasn’t been getting his rest lately. His glow’s been a little on the feeble side.” She nudged Hiram. “Don’t you think?”

  “Personally I don’t really care what happens to Mr. Braun.” Hiram twirled the small, red plastic sword from his drink. “And I think the feeling’s mutual.”

  Hartmann coughed. “At the very least they should be able to rescue the actress. That should simplify matters for your government.”

  “Yes. One would hope.” Jayewardene folded and unfolded a cloth napkin. “But such a rescue should be carefully planned out.”

  “Yes, they did rather fly off the handle,” Chrysalis said, taking a sip of brandy.

  Jayewardene thought he caught a glint of mischief in Hartmann’s eyes, but dismissed it as the lighting. “Could you tell me where to find Dr. Tachyon?”

  Hiram and Chrysalis both laughed. Hartmann maintained his poise and gave them a disapproving look. “He’s unavailable right now.”

  Chrysalis motioned to the waiter and pointed to her glass. “Which one of the stewardesses is he trying this time?”

  “Upstairs, trapped in the darkness together. If anything will help Tachy get over his problem, this is it. The doctor’s not to be disturbed right now.” Hiram held the plastic sword above the table and made a fist with his other hand. The sword fell and stuck in the tabletop. “Get the point?”

  “Could we give him a message for you?” Hartmann asked, ignoring Hiram.

  Jayewardene pulled out his snakeskin wallet and handed Hartmann one of his business cards. “Please have him contact me as soon as possible. I may be busy the rest of the afternoon, but he can reach me at my home. It’s the bottom number.”

  “I’ll do what I can,” Hartmann said, standing to shake hands again. “I hope we see you again before we leave.”

  “Nice meeting you, Mr. Jayewardene,” Chrysalis said. He thought perhaps she was smiling, but couldn’t be sure.

  Jayewardene turned to leave but stopped short as two people entered the bar. One was a man whom Jayewardene judged to be in his late thirties. He was tall and muscular with blond hair and a camera slung over his shoulder. The woman with him was as stunningly beautiful as any of the photographs Jayewardene had seen of her. Even without the wings she would have attracted attention.

  Peregrine was a vision he would willingly linger on. Jayewardene stepped out of their way as they joined the others in the booth.

  They were still lighting candles and lamps in the lobby when he left.

  It was hard to arrange for a helicopter with the ape on the loose, but the base commander owed him more than one favor. The pilot, headgear under his arm, was waiting for Jayewardene at the chopper. He was dark-skinned, a Tamil, part of the military’s new plan to try to integrate the armed forces. The aircraft itself was a large, outdated model, lacking the sleek aerodynamics of the newer attack ships. Olive paint was peeling from the chopper’s metal skin and the tires were balding.

  Jayewardene nodded to the pilot and spoke to him in Tamil. “I had requested a bullhorn be put on board.”

  “Already done, sir.” The pilot opened the door and crawled up into the cockpit. Jayewardene followed.

  The young Tamil was going through a checklist, flipping switches, examining gauges.

  “I’ve never been in a helicopter before,” Jayewardene said, buckling his seat belt. He pulled against the belt, testing it, not exactly happy that it was fraying around the edges.

  The pilot shrugged and put on his helmet, then cranked the engine, took the stick, and engaged the rotor. The blades whopped noisily and the helicopter lifted slowly into the sky. “Where are we going, sir?”

  “Let’s head down toward Ratnapura and Adam’s Peak.” He coughed. “Well be looking for a man on a flying elephant. American aces.”

  “Do you want to engage them, sir?” The pilot’s tone was cool and professional.

  “No. No, nothing like that. Just observe them. They’re after the ape that escaped.”

  The pilot took a deep breath and nodded, then flipped on the radio and picked up the mouthpiece. “Lion base, this is Shadow One. Can you give us any information on a flying elephant? Over.”

  There was a pause and crackle of static before the base answered. “Your target reported heading due east from Colombo. Approximate speed one five zero kilometers per hour. Over.”

  “Acknowledged. Over and out.” The pilot checked his compass and adjusted his course.

  “Hopefully we can find them before they locate the ape. I don’t think they have any real idea where to look, but the country isn’t that large.” Jayewardene pointed to dark clouds ahead. As he did there was a flash of lightning. “Are we safe from bad weather?”

  “Fairly safe. Do you think these Americans would be stupid enough to fly into a storm?” He pointed the chopper toward a thin spot in the wall of clouds.

  “Hard to say. I don’t know these people. They’ve handled the creature before, though.” Jayewardene looked down. The land beneath was rising steadily upward. The jungle was broken here and there with tea and rice fields or water reservoirs. From the air the flooded rice paddies looked like the shards of a broken mirror, the pieces reassembled so that they almost touched each other.

  “Something ahead, sir.” The pilot reached under his seat and handed over a pair of binoculars. Jayewardene took them, wiped off the lenses with the tail of his shirt, and looked in the direction the pilot was pointing. There was something. He rotated the adjusting knob and brought it into focus. The man on the elepha
nt was pointing toward the ground.

  “It’s them,” Jayewardene said, setting the binoculars on his lap. “Get in close enough for this to be heard.” He raised the bullhorn.

  “Yes, sir.”

  Jayewardene’s mouth and throat were dry. He opened his window as they got closer in. The aces didn’t seem to have noticed them yet. He switched on the bullhorn and set the volume control near the top. He saw the ape’s shoulders and head above the treetops and knew why the Americans were paying no attention to the helicopter.

  He stuck the bullhorn out the window as the chopper moved in. “Elephant Girl. Mr. Braun.” Jayewardene thought Golden Boy was inappropriate for a grown man. “My name is Jayewardene. I’m an official with the Sri Lankan government. Do you understand what I am saying?” He spoke each word slowly and carefully. The bullhorn vibrated in his sweaty hand.

  Jack Braun waved and nodded. The monster had stopped to look up and bare its teeth. It stripped the foliage off the top of a tree and set Robyn in a crook between two bare branches.

  “Rescue the woman if you can, but do not harm the ape.” Jayewardene’s voice sounded almost unintelligible from inside the helicopter, but Braun made a thumbs-up signal to show he understood. “We’ll stand by,” Jayewardene said.

  The ape reached down, scooped up a handful of dirt, and crushed the contents down with its palms. The creature roared and threw the dirtball at the aces. The flying elephant dropped out of its path. The missile continued upward. Jayewardene saw it was going to hit the chopper and gripped the seat as tightly as possible. The earth thudded against the side of the aircraft. The helicopter began to spin, but the pilot quickly brought it back under control and pulled up sharply.

  “Better keep a safe distance,” the pilot said, making sure the ape stayed in view. “If the momentum hadn’t been spent on that, I don’t think we’d still be in the air.”

  “Right.” Jayewardene slowly exhaled and wiped his brow. A few scattered raindrops began to dot the windshield.

  The Elephant Girl had moved about fifty yards away from the ape and down to treetop level. Braun jumped off her and disappeared into the undergrowth. The elephant gained height again and trumpeted, moving back toward the monster. The ape snarled and beat its chest, the sound like an explosion underground.

  The standoff lasted a minute or two, then the ape rocked backward, catching its balance just at the point of falling over. Elephant Girl swooped down quickly toward the woman in the tree. The ape swung his arms at her. The flying elephant banked away, wobbling a bit.

  “Did it hit her?” Jayewardene turned to the pilot. “Should we move in and try to help?”

  “I don’t think there’s much we can do. Possibly distract it. But that could get us knocked down.” The pilot put the stick between his knees and wiped the sweat from his palms.

  The ape roared and reached down to pick up something. Jack Braun struggled in the creature’s hand, trying to push the giant fingers open. The ape lifted him up to its open mouth.

  “No,” Jayewardene said, turning his head away.

  The beast roared again and Jayewardene looked back. The monster rubbed its mouth with its free hand. Braun, apparently unhurt, was bracing his back against the ape’s fingers and pushing the thumb open. The monster flipped its arm like a baseball pitcher, sending Braun cartwheeling through the air. He came down in heavy jungle several seconds and several hundred yards away.

  The Tamil sat with his mouth slightly open, then put the helicopter into a turn toward the spot where Braun had disappeared into the trees. “It tried to eat him, but he wouldn’t go down. I think he broke one of the devil’s teeth.”

  The Elephant Girl followed behind them. The ape picked Robyn out of the tree and, after a final triumphant roar, began wading through the jungle again. Jayewardene bit his lip and looked at the treetops for broken limbs to show where Braun had fallen through.

  The rain grew heavier and the pilot switched on the wipers. “There he is,” the Tamil said, slowing to a hover. Braun was climbing up a large coconut palm tree. His clothes were in tatters, but he didn’t appear hurt. Elephant Girl moved in, curled her trunk around his waist, and lifted him onto her back. Braun bent over and held on to her ears.

  “Follow us,” Jayewardene said, using the bullhorn again. “We’ll lead you back to the airbase. Are you all right, Mr. Braun?”

  The golden ace made a thumbs-up again, this time without looking at them.

  Jayewardene said nothing for several minutes. Perhaps his vision had been wrong. The beast appeared so vicious. A normal person would have been crushed to a paste between the monster’s teeth. No. The dream had to be true. He couldn’t allow any self-doubt, or the ape would have no chance at all.

  They outraced the storm back to Colombo.

  Jayewardene paused outside Tachyon’s door. He’d been sleeping when the alien called. Tachyon had apologized for taking so long to get back to him and began listing the reasons. Jayewardene had interrupted and asked if he could come over immediately. The doctor had said yes with little enthusiasm.

  He knocked and waited, then raised his hand again before he heard footfalls from the other side. Tachyon opened the door, wearing a puffy-sleeved white shirt and blue velvet pants sashed with a large red scarf. “Mr. Jayewardene? Please come in.” Jayewardene bowed and went in.

  Tachyon sat down on the bed, underneath an oil painting of Dunhinda Falls. A scarlet-plumed hat and a partially eaten plate of rice were on the bedside table. “You are the same Mr. Jayewardene from the helicopter? The one Radha told me about.”

  “Yes.” Jayewardene lowered himself into the lounger next to the bed. “I hope Mr. Braun wasn’t injured.”

  “Only his already battered pride.” Tachyon closed his eyes for a moment, as if trying to gather strength, then reopened them. “Please tell me how I can help you, Mr. Jayewardene.”

  “The military is planning on attacking the ape tomorrow. We must stop them and subdue the creature ourselves.” Jayewardene rubbed his eyes. “But I’m not starting at the beginning. The military deals with harsh reality. But you, Doctor, work in the context of the extraordinary on a daily basis. I don’t know you, but I am in a position of needing to trust you.”

  Tachyon placed his dangling feet firmly on the floor and straightened his shoulders. “I’ve spent most of my life here trying to live up to the trust of others. I only wish I could believe the trust was warranted. But you say we must stop the military and subdue the ape ourselves. Why? Surely they’re better equipped—”

  Jayewardene interrupted. “The virus doesn’t affect animals, if I understand correctly.”

  “I know the virus doesn’t affect animals,” Tachyon replied with a shake of his curly, red hair. “I helped develop the virus. Every child knows…” He covered his mouth. “Ancestors forgive me.” He slid off the bed and walked to the window. “For twenty years it’s been staring me in the face, and I missed it. By my own blind stupidity I’ve sentenced some individual to a living hell. I’ve failed one of mine again. The trust isn’t warranted.” Tachyon pressed his fists against his temples and continued berating himself.

  “Your pardon, Doctor,” Jayewardene said. “I think your energies would be more beneficial if we applied them to the problem at hand.” Tachyon turned, a pained expression on his face. “I meant no offense, Doctor,” he added, sensing the depth of the alien’s guilt.

  “No. No, of course not. Mr. Jayewardene, how did you know?”

  “Not many of our people have been touched by the virus. I’m one of the very few. I suppose I should be grateful to be alive and whole, but it’s in our nature to complain. My ability gives me visions of the future. Always about someone or some place I know, usually myself. And so detailed and vivid.” He shook his head. “My most recent one showed me the ape’s true nature.”

  Tachyon sat back down on the bed, tapping his fingertips together. “What I don’t understand is the primitive behavior exhibited by the creature.”

>   “I’m sure that most of our questions can be answered once he’s a man again.”

  “Of course. Of course.” Tachyon popped up off the bed again. “And your ability. Temporal displacement of the cognitive self during dreamstate. This was what my family had in mind when they created the virus. Something that transcends known physical values. Amazing.”

  Jayewardene shrugged. “Yes, amazing. But it’s a burden I would gladly give up. I want to view the future from its proper perspective, the here and now. This—power—destroys the natural flow of life. After the ape is restored, I plan to make my pilgrimage to Sri Pada. Perhaps through spiritual purity I may be rid of it.”

  “I’ve had some success reversing the effects at my clinic.” Tachyon twisted his sash. “Of course the success rate isn’t what I’d hoped. And the risk would be yours to take.”

  “We must deal with the ape first. After that my path may become more clear.”

  “If only we had more time here,” Tachyon complained. “The tour is supposed to leave for Thailand day after tomorrow. That leaves us little margin for error. And we can’t all go chasing out after the creature.”

  “I don’t think the government would allow it in any case. Not after today. The fewer of your people we involve, the better.”

  “Agreed. I can’t believe the others went off like that. Sometimes I think we’re all suffering from some kind of creeping insanity. Hiram especially.” Tachyon walked to the window and opened the miniblinds. Lightning flashed on the horizon, briefly silhouetting the wall of towering thunderclouds. “Obviously I must be included in this little adventure. Radha can give me maneuverability. She’s half-Indian. There have been problems between your country and India lately, I believe?”

  “Sadly, yes. The Indians support the Tamils, since they have the same cultural heritage. The Sinhalese majority looks at this as support for the Tamil Tigers, a terrorist group.” Jayewardene looked down at the floor. “It is a conflict with no winners and too many victims.”

  “So we must have a cover story. That Radha was hiding out, afraid for her life. She might present the answer to some other problems.” Tachyon closed the blinds. “What weaponry will be used against the ape?”