“What about the other three, have you… we, have we inhibited them?”
“No, they are in rehabilitation; I expect they will come around.”
Raleigh was quiet for some time. “What if they don’t?”
Dean shrugged. “I can only guess; probably not good though, since the real powerhouse Intent is not one of them.”
“Where is he…or she? Is there a gender thing?”
“No, the Intents’ powers don’t seem to have a gender bias. So far, we are running eleven to ten in favor of the females, not statistically significant.
“But, the most important Intent is not in those we have. Before we asked any of the twenty-one to work for us, we tried the tomato flower experiment again with just them, and the results were nowhere nearly as spectacular. So, we concluded the most powerful Intent is missing. The one we really want is most likely in the five we haven’t located.”
“To confirm that he or she is in that group of five, we tried to start the PublicNet experiments up again, but none of the five responded. They seem to have gone into hiding. That’s why you were brought in. Your FBI field experience should help us track them down and bring them in. Least that’s what they tell me,” Dean said with a grin.
As they left the briefing room, Dean handed her a sheet of paper. “Here are the computer passwords you need to access the dossier we have on the remaining five. I’ll meet you at your desk in five minutes, and we can get to work rounding them up.”
****
Zardot walked into his living room. It was not quite a living room, just a room. But that’s where he lived and well…he could call it what he liked since he lived alone. He turned his only chair from the meditation position facing the jet-black wall, to face his television and workstation, and initiated his security software. It checked all of his off-site nodes for physical or computer hacking before he signed on to SecureNet through the network node he had attached to the crat’s computer at the Office of Citizen Services.
While he waited, he rubbed his face and felt the irregular stubble. His beard grew in patches—long curly red hair in places, short black bristles in others. Heredity probably. He remembered his mother complaining about his father’s beard, but he couldn’t remember what it looked like. That was strange, considering his other powers. Well, reminiscing would have to wait; he had to get to work.
He turned on his television and surfed through the channels. They carried reality and talent shows with the occasional entertainment news channel. Political news and comment were banned on the private networks under the Citizen’s Equality Act, which stated that privately funded political commentary was unfair to those who couldn’t afford to comment. The only political news came via the government network; it was deemed fair because the government assigned only unbiased reporters. Today, they were reporting on the upcoming vote in Congress. The proposal would allow the president four additional terms in office, without the need for an election. The debate centered on whether that was long enough for the president to solve the current set of crises.
Zardot snorted. The supposed news network didn’t mention the demonstrations or the death of ninety protestors. There was nothing about the attempts on the lives of three dissenting congressmen.
Well, they couldn’t actually mention the attempted assassinations, could they, since he had intentioned the attempts away. But, they would try the assassinations again, maybe on other dissenters. They needed to succeed with only two assassinations, and the legislation extending the president’s term would pass. Zardot would have to protect all the dissenters, and to do that, he needed to know what was really happening.
To check the real news, and monitor the dissenters, Zardot needed uncensored and untraceable access to SecureNet, the government’s private network. With the smile’s computer, he had that.
The security software bleeped an all-clear signal. Zardot connected to SecureNet and ran his standard hack. It gave him the daily schedule of all dissenting congressmen. He studied their schedules to find who might be most at risk, then turned his chair to the meditation wall. He would meditate and intention safety to the dissenters, starting with those most at risk.
****
While Raleigh waited for Dean to return with his coffee, she tried to get the soggy list to feed through the shredder. It wouldn’t feed, so she stuck it to a blank sheet and tried. It ran through just as Dean returned.
“Let’s try this again,” Dean said, as he returned with a new sheet and took a sip of his coffee. “Not drinking? Your coffee will get cold.”
Raleigh nodded and took a sip of her coffee. “Thanks. I was thinking. How far into the future can these Intents…ah, how far can they intention? Is that what they call it?”
“Yep, intentioning is the most used term, although some prefer ‘conjure up’, but the higher ups frown on that. We don’t actually know how far their intentioning can reach, several days for sure. Why?” Dean said.
“Well, I was wondering why we couldn’t have the Intents who are working for us conjure up the remaining five?”
“We thought of that earlier on, but we wanted these guys to work as a team when we got them here, and if they ever found out that one of their own helped trace them…, well, we weren’t sure what would happen. Also, since the most powerful one is out there, we may have put their lives in danger, so we gave the idea a pass. Any other questions?”
“One more. Can they intention the past?”
Dean smiled as he handed her the list. “How would we ever know?”
Raleigh shrugged and scanned the list.
“There are six names here. I thought there were only five Intents at large.”
Dean peered over her shoulder. “Oh, that’s some kind of system error. I forgot to deselect that entry before I printed the second report. There’s no last name.”
“Sure there is, there’s a dash. The guys name is Zardot dash. His surname is a simple dash,” Raleigh said.
“Naw, it’s gotta be just a system error.”
“Has anyone checked?”
Dean shrugged. “Doubt it.”
“Okay, let’s check.”
Raleigh typed in the password and waited. “Well, it seems Mr. Dash has an address, phone number, and social security number. It looks like you’ve got a sixth Intent. Let’s start by rounding him up. We have all the information we need.”
****
Zardot lurched forward and grabbed his stomach. He’d only had this amount of pain once before, when he was almost caught in the roundup of the Intents. The congressmen could wait: he’d have to save himself. Zardot stared at the black meditation wall. He began his ritual once more; he concentrated on his intention to remain undetected. The pain in his stomach subsided, and his mind cleared. He sat motionless for several minutes, intentioning, and then he let the universe execute his intention.
****
“Coffee for the new girl?”
Raleigh shook her head. “No thanks, I had enough in the meeting. Let’s get going on this list of five missing Intents.”
Dean placed the coffee on a nearby file cabinet and sat down beside her. “Okay, let’s start with number one.”
Camp Hosts
Green City, Washington State
March 7, 2003 – 9:30 am
“This can’t be right,” Nancy said, as Paul brought the car to a stop in front of a large apartment complex. “Alice said that they live in a house. This is an apartment.”
“Eighteen twenty-two Patrick Street. The GPS says we’re here, and the number on the apartment says eighteen twenty-two. Did you give me the wrong address?”
“No, it’s the one on the card she gave me. Look for yourself.” Nancy handed Paul a pink and yellow business card with a sketch of a small house behind lettering that said Bob and Alice Richmond, 1822 Patrick Street, Green City, Washington, Phone 509-555-3679.
“Why don’t you call that number? It’s always polite to call before you drop in on someone.”
&nbs
p; Nancy nodded. “Okay, but Alice said that we should just drop by—in fact, she almost insisted we not call.” Nancy dialed. “It’s a recording—says ‘Not in service.’ I don’t understand. Why would they give us a card with the wrong address and a disconnected phone number? I mean—it was just a couple of weeks ago.”
“Maybe they just forgot to put the suite number on the card. I’ll run up and see if there is a directory at the door,” Paul said.
Nancy watched as Paul walked up to the apartment and checked the names on the intercom. A woman came out of the apartment, and Paul talked to her for a couple of minutes.
Paul returned and plopped back down in the driver seat. “Nothing on the registry, and that woman said she has lived here for eleven years and has never heard of the Richmonds.”
Nancy stared at the apartment. “I don’t understand. She said they lived in a house at this address.”
“Well, we are at the address shown on the card,” Paul said, as he held the card out for Nancy.
She reached for the card, but Paul snapped it back. “Wait. There’s something written on the back.”
Anza-Borrego Desert State Park, California
Feb 25, 2003 – 2:30 pm
Nancy put her book down and closed her eyes. “No wind today. That’s a change from the last couple of days.”
“Gotta believe that,” Paul said. “I talked to Robert, the camp host, who we met yesterday. He said a guy’s trailer down the road blew off its blocks yesterday. Luckily, the site was level, or the trailer could have been rolling down the road. Good thing our motor home has electric jacks.”
Nancy turned to Paul. “I met Robert’s wife, Alice, today. They are up at site three. She said they have been camp hosts here every January and February for eighteen years. They just love it here. Says it’s not windy that often, and she’s sure we’ll like it here.”
Paul whistled. “Eighteen years. Wow. Well, they certainly like it. That’s encouraging.”
“I told her we’re having a campfire tonight if the wind stays down. I asked them to come over. Hope you don’t mind?”
“No, that’s fine. I like Robert. He’s—”
Robert strode into their campsite holding out a bag. “Was into town today, and they had a bunch of nice oranges. Thought you folks might like a bag.” He set the bag on the table. “And this must be Nancy. Alice said you had come by,” Robert said, as he held out his hand.
Nancy jumped up out of her chair and took Robert’s hand. “You didn’t need to bring us oranges. We have—”
“It’s nothing. I’m into town quite often, and Paul said you folks weren’t towing a car. So if you need anything, just let me know, and it will save you drivin’ that big motor home into town. One of you can come along if you like. That little Volkswagen Beetle I’m restoring still needs a back seat, so I can only handle one passenger.”
“You’re restoring a Beetle?” Paul said. “I’d like to see that sometime.”
“How about right now?”
Paul looked at Nancy. “You mind?”
“No, you boys go and look at your toys. I need to make us supper. Robert, are you and Alice coming over for a fire tonight?”
“Sure will,” Robert said, as he led Paul off to see the Volkswagen.
****
“That was a great evening,” Nancy said, as she watched Alice and Robert walk away from the flickering campfire and disappear into the darkness.
“They’re a really nice couple,” Paul said. “Did you hear what Robert said about the sculptures scattered around in the desert? He offered to take us out in his Volkswagen for a look. One at a time of course—no back seat.”
“Sculptures? What kind of sculptures?”
“Dragons, serpents, dinosaurs, all sorts of stuff. Life-size or bigger. It sounds interesting. Do you want to go?”
“Sure, that sounds like fun,” Nancy said.
“I also found out that Robert was an insurance agent. He’s been retired for a few years now. Eightieth birthday is coming up in early March. What about Alice? Find anything out about her?”
“Alice is a little younger, seventy-two, but she looks a lot younger with that shoulder-length black hair. She was a graphic designer. She gave me one of her cards. It has a picture of their house and some flowers on it.” Nancy handed the card to Paul. “Quite attractive, don’t you think?”
Paul looked at the card, smiled, and handed it back. “For a woman, maybe. Too flowery for me.”
“Oaf,” Nancy said. “Put the fire out and we’ll go to bed. Might be a long day tomorrow visiting the sculptures. How far away are they?”
Paul scooped up some sand and covered the faintly glowing embers. “Not far, just a few miles but he also wants us to walk out with them tomorrow evening to look at the Borrego Big Horn Sheep. They have a lot of energy for a couple of geezers.”
“Hope we are the same when we are their age. Now, come to bed.”
****
Paul looked up from his morning coffee. “What are they doing?”
Alice and Robert were walking down the road, stopping every so often to pull at something green.
“Looks like they are picking lettuce or something,” Nancy said.
Robert waved as he and Alice approached. “You folks ready to visit the sculptures?”
“Sure, but what are you folks doing? Is that some type of salad greens?” Paul said.
Robert laughed. “Salad greens? My goodness, no. It’s wild mustard. Quite an invasive species. We encourage guests here to pull out as much as they can and put it in the garbage. As camp hosts, we try and set an example. Alice will carry on while I take one of you out to the sculptures.”
Paul nodded. “Wild mustard—that’s interesting. I’ll pull some the next time we go for a walk.”
“Good, now who’s coming on our first trip to the sculptures?”
“Nancy will go first,” Paul said.
Nancy walked over to Alice. “No, Paul, you go first. I’ll pick some mustard with Alice. I’ll go on the second run.”
****
Paul built a teepee out of small bits of kindling and struggled to get it to light. “That was a fun day—sculptures, Big Horn Sheep, and wild mustard.”
“It was fun, but I don’t think I could pull another bit of mustard,” Nancy said. “How about a glass of wine to clear out the dust?
“Okay, I’ll get the fire going and get a bottle of wine from the cooler. Why don’t you go over and see if Alice and Robert want to come over.”
“Sure, I’ll be right back.”
Paul threw a couple of logs on the fire, and it leaped to life.
Nancy rushed back into the campsite. “Paul, they’re gone, everything’s gone.”
“What? Who?”
“Alice and Robert. They’re gone. Everything’s gone—motor home, the Volkswagen Beetle, everything.”
“Are you sure? They said they were staying until the end of February. I’ll go and check with the Park Ranger. Maybe they had to change sites or something.”
Paul trotted off and came back in a few minutes shaking his head. “The ranger said she didn’t even know them and that the only camp host was in site twelve. She said site three hasn’t been used for years. Something to do with water or sewer.”
“But, they were in site three. I’m sure,” Nancy said.
Paul shrugged. “I don’t know. Do you think there might have been some sort of emergency?”
“I hope not. Alice said we should stop by on our way home. She mentioned it again while we were picking mustard.”
“You know, there is something else. I told the ranger that they had taken us to this big dragon sculpture this afternoon. She gave me this queer sort of look, like—are you crazy? Then she said, ‘Oh, you mean the site where they’ll build a replacement for the one that that fell down—it will be great when they get started.’ I think she must be new here or something. First, she doesn’t know the host, and then she says the dragon sculpture isn’t
built yet. I don’t think we’ll ever get any reliable information from her, so we better stop by Robert and Alice’s place on the way home and make sure nothing serious happened.”
Green City, Washington State
March 7, 2003 – 9:40 am
Paul squinted at the card. “There’s writing on the back of the card. It’s faint. Looks like ‘Julie’, and there’s a phone number.”
“Let me see the card. I forgot about that. It’s her daughter’s number. I’ll call her.”
Paul listened as Nancy explained to Julie how they knew her parents and why they wanted to see them.
“What, Robert died?” Nancy said. “Oh, I’m so sorry. Poor Alice, we have to see your mother?”
Paul looked at Nancy, wide-eyed. “Robert died?”
Nancy nodded to Paul and continued on the cell phone. “Yes, we could meet you there. What’s the address?”
Nancy grabbed a pencil and notepad from the glove compartment and started writing. “Sure, we could meet you there. Twenty minutes. Okay, that would be fine.”
Nancy handed Paul the notebook. “Put this in the GPS.”
Paul finished with the GPS, and stared at Nancy. “You’re white as a ghost.”
Nancy just sat there.
“Well?” Paul said. “What happened?”
“I don’t know? What Julie said couldn’t be right…”
“How about telling me what Julie said? From the beginning. You were on the phone for quite a while.”
“Okay, you drive to that address, and I will explain on the way. But something’s not right. It’s just not right. It can’t be.”
Paul pulled away from the curb and drove for a few minutes before glancing at Nancy. “Well, are you going to tell me?”
Nancy shook her head. “No, I…I must have misunderstood. Wait till we meet Julie.”
****
Nancy and Paul pulled up in front of Trenton Retirement Village and got out of the car.
“So this is where they live. I wonder why she gave you that card with her old house address on it. What do you think?”
Not As It Seems Page 4
