Maxwell Huxley's Demon

by Michael Conn

  “That’s for—”

  Naomi passes it to Madison before he can finish his sentence. Waves of attention and frustration roll over her. Damn. He saw that.

  “Naomi,” Mr. Tan agachi says. “To me .”

  Naomi moves to the centre of the mat facing Mr. Tanagachi. He passes her a wooden sword. “Kata number two,” he says before he bows. He moves first. Naomi recalls the first few counter moves correctly and then makes a mistake . He strikes her on the shoulder. They stop and bow. “Maybe, little red one, if you wake when you should wake , and sleep when you should sleep , and write notes in someone else’s class then you would remember . . . again.” He bows. She doesn’t. He stops, waiting for her .

  “Mr. Tanagachi. I remember better if I close my eyes . May I?” Things I see distract me, things I feel focus me.

  He nods and bows. Naomi closes her eyes and bows.

  Mr. Tanagachi starts. Naomi parries flawlessly through the full pattern. “Kata number three,” he say s. They continue and Naomi works through the sequence without an error . “Number four.”

  I don’t know number four, but I feel him move. From the left and rising. Move , turn , and parry. From above . . . She parries each move perfectly, and she senses he is done. She opens her eyes.

  “Well done, fiery girl. Ten points for Gryffindor—g o sit.”

  Naomi moves back to her spot , sit s down , and sneezes. Ya , well done. It still didn’t stop them from trying to leave me behind.

  ---

  Virginia enters the agility training room. She never loses here. Never slips up. Virginia owns this room. Her competition enters through a door to her left.

  The door closes behind her and she breathes. Virginia thinks. Clarity only comes from being physical. I am a physical. They call me that, a physical. She watches as a padded block swipes at her legs. Does it look like slow motion to everyone else? Vir ginia steps over the block, t hen one more step forward.

  She watches her competition. He clear s the block as well, but Virginia can already see them struggle. Couldn’t they see it?

  The floor shifts, like a rug being pulled out from underneath you. Virginia braces and rides with it. Using the momentum to help launch her against the wall. Her f oot finding a hold, she pushes out and propels herself up ward . She barely avoid s the padded bar that swing s past her.

  The competition reaches her level as well. Time for contact.

  Virginia waits for the next obstacles to flash through the room. A rotating arm provides what she needs. Instead of just avoiding it as the competit ion does, she uses it to propel herself at the boy competing with her. She lands behind him and sweeps her foot at his legs. Impressively he jumps her sweeping foot and pulls up onto the next movi ng obstacle. He is quickly pulled away from her and fa r ther along the course.

  Virginia stretches and catches the obstacle on the rebound. She swings up and uses the ceiling to brace herself. Her momentum holds her to the ceiling long enough for her to redirect herself at the boy. She catches his ankle and yanks it off the padded bar. He falls , and Virginia uses his energy to balance herself.

  The platform she is on flicks to the left. She cartwheels right catching a passing bar and swing s toward the green door. A pendulum swings across her vision and knocks her hands a way from the final platform. Virginia pauses and sees the boy get clock ed hard by a moving wall and then fall to the bottom of the course, she calls to him. “You OK?”

  He gives two thumbs up and then crawls out the red door.

  Virginia falls, get s a foot onto the wall and spins herself upright again. One last push and she grabs the platform by the green door. She slams her hand against the exit bar.

  ---

  Max, Walker, and Virginia never manage d to talk during the day . The doctors and coaches kept them busy all day. They saw each other in the dining hall but with so many little ears around they couldn’t talk about their plans.

  Back in the boys’ residence, Max and Walker sit in the dark, alone in the common area. Sh oulder-to-shoulder on a couch, Max’s reader provi di ng enough light for them.

  “Did you talk to Virginia today?” Walker asks.

  “Nope, couldn’t, to o many kids around the whole time. I didn’t want to text her either.”

  “I guess her thumbs up in the dining hall is all the confirmation we get.”

  “Ya . If something had gone wrong , either she would have told us or we’d both be in solitary by now.” Max stands . “I need to sleep . . . ”

  “I don’t think I can sleep tonight. I’m gonna stay up and code.”

  “Night.” Max walks to his bed.

  Max climbs into bed and thinks about what they have done so far. Any good defensive perimeter is built in layers. The outer layers usually designed to announce the enemy but let them pass. The next layer slows the enemy but lets them feel success, drawing them into the inner layer. The inner layer is a killing zone, easy way in, no way out. Max understands layers. Just as defence s are built up in layers so are good intrusion s . The code that Virginia helped Max inject onto Dr. Concilian’s phone was designed to do more than just open a few doors for them. Max had buried a Trojan Horse within Walker’s code. A program that does nothing until Max wakes it up.

  Max rolls over and retrieves his tablet , pulling it under the covers to hide it from Walker and the other boys. He invokes the Trojan. Files download onto his tablet . He skims over what is downloading . . . case files . . . all the case files.

  Max takes his tablet and examines the folder of data that his Trojan collected for h i m. One master folder named ‘CaseRepository .’ In that folder is a long list of folders with numeric names. Max searches the list visually, then finds a cross reference file that matches the numbers to names. A quick look and he find s all their files. But he isn’t here looking for information about him or his friends. He’s looking for something else. He’s digging through history. Looking for confirmation of a stor y. A story that might be myth or a true story about a girl who was a student here. A girl who escaped.

  Sometimes after the lights in the school go out, the doctors look the other way, and kids gather in the common areas and tell stories. Often, as children will do, they tell ghost stories. One story tells of a girl who fought the doctors, escaped over and over, having fantastic but short lived dashes for freedom in the mountains. She’s stronger than all the guards and crazy fast, “ . . . the fastest there ever was or ever will be.” She flashes around having highly exaggerated fights, sometimes getting injured, but never dying. The stories always end with her capture, a final battle, and then her disappearance. “. . . late at night, if all is quiet, you can sometimes here a cackle of laughter coming from the attic . . .” Or the walls, or the basement, or the roof, or an elevator shaft. The final location of the lost girl changes with telling s , but her name is always the same. Her name is Midge.

  Max has come looking for Midge.

  He searches the cross reference and opens a file. The header reads.

  Case File: 1217/2-1324

  Asset: Mädchen ‘Midge’ Gauss Tag: 4186 7625 5513

  DOB: 1985/03/02

  Category: Physical Scores: Phy 99 –Int 71 –Emp 0

  Current Status: Missing Assumed Deceased Case Blog: MG0000749/

  The entries contain a mix of text, audio, and video entries. Max follows the link to th e case blog and opens an entry.

  1997/01/03 09:45

  A picture shows a small muscular girl with shoulder length blonde hair and dark eyeliner. Her hair is wild and matted.

  Max wants to investigate more , but he can barely keep his eyes open , and the tablet feels heavy. He needs sleep. He also hears Walker moving around . He doesn’t want Walker to ask what he is doing. Max doesn’t want to lie to Walker. He shuts down his tablet .

  Chapter 5 –Escape

  Saturday morning, 4:45. Max closes his reader, looks over at Walker in the next bed and sees he is awake . This is madness .

  “So why are we do
ing this again?” Walker whispers .

  “I have to see what’s on the other side of the wall, don’t you?”

  “No . I just need to make things. I like the things you need made.” Walker gets up and pull s his backpack out from under the bed .

  Most of the other boys are sleeping. Max dresses and grabs his backpack , one of the three that Walker stole from the wilderness equipment locker. He looks in the backpack to ensure he has all his electronics tools, the broken cell phone, a stolen mag card writer . He takes the brick amp from under his b ed and adds it to his possessions . Max hesitates, his hand on the surviv al guide Dr. Concilian gave him. Just leave it behind. He’s just playing with you and your falling for it, acting like a little boy who needs a father. Leave it. He s tuffs it in his backpack . “What did you pack?”

  “Uhm . . . my laptop, eight battery packs, I stole garbage bags from the bathroom in case we need something waterproof, some clothes, a blanket, some food, duct tape, twine, pliers, scissors, uhm . . . basically everything I have and everything I could steal over the last few days . . . you ready ? I t ’s almost time.”

  By n ow , quite a few boys are awake and watching them approach the door . Indigo , the six -year-old boy closest to the door , gets out of bed wearing Bob the Builder py jamas . “What’re you doing? The door ’s still locked .”

  Max looks over. Sad. He deserves to come. He deserves to sit on a beach with his mom. “Today it opens early; Walker and I are going out. You can’t follow, but I promise to help you out someday.”

  “I need help?” Indigo asks .

  “Yes,” Max answers. “You do. Never forget that everything about this place is wrong. And someday I’ll come back to help.” The door clicks open . I t’s 5:00. Max and Walker leave . He hears the door lock behind them , a second confirmation that his program is functioning properly. He stops and touches the door , which has been his bedroom do o r as long as he can remember.

  Walker grabs his elbow and pulls. “Let’s not make Virginia wait.”

  They rush down to the central core of the building where the four wings meet. Virginia is already waiting for them , wea ring one backpack and carrying two more . “Man, it’s your plan , and you’re running behind schedule.” She smiles and continues. “So, guess who wasn’t in her bed this morning ?”

  “You’re kidding, ” Max says , knowing who she means .

  “Who ?” Walker asks.

  “Naomi, you know, the redhead who sneezes a lot, ” Virginia says , as they walk quickly down the stairs . “What do you think that means? This can’t be a coincidence, I’ve never seen an empty bed unless someone was taken to the clinic , and I didn’t hear anything about her being sick, do you think she knows something?”

  The beginning. I feel the turn. The acceleration . The pull.

  Both boys glance at each othe r hoping the other will answer and face another barrage of words. Running down the stairs Max tries to keep up . Everything and everyone has strengths and weaknesses. Naomi has . . . I still have no idea what she has.

  Max, Walker , and Virginia reach the second floor landing and pause , from the other side of sliding glass doors a night shift guard looks up from his desk. The kids freeze , accustomed to stopping when caught under the glare of a Guard, a Doctor, a Mister, or a Teacher .

  The guard does a double take , stands, and walks confidently toward them. “What are you doing . . . how did you get down here?” He seems a bit confused. He reaches the door and slaps his hand on the palm reader . Fully expecting t he door s to open , his forehead bounces off the still closed door s . “What the . . .”

  Minor gorilla p ayb ack. Max stops, enjoying the moment. Walker pulls both Max and Virginia to get them moving again.

  “Hey ! You can’t go downstairs now.” The guard takes the handheld radio off his shoulder. Max hears him call in a 2319.

  They run down the last stair case before the ground floor and spill out into the main landing . Max falls and slides into a pair of feet. He looks up into Naomi’s smiling face.

  Max grins , not surprised Naomi is waiting for them .

  ---

  Dr. Concilian jerks awake at 5:08. His cell phone rings and his computer chime s at the same time . He stumbles out of bed , into his office, and over to a touch screen display on his wall , rolls his thumb over a small scanner, and his computer wakes up and displays two and then three messages.

  He rushes to dress, muttering, “Oh Max, what are you doing ? Not like this .”

  ---

  Virginia pushes Naomi backward as Walker helps Max up. “You rat! Stay away from him.”

  “Why ? Do you own him?” Naomi asks calmly standing up tall and facing Virginia who is at least six inches taller than her.

  “What!” Virginia says . “You get in our way, tattle on us, wreck everything, and then you get snotty about it , how dare you —”

  Walker touches her shoulder , and she stops talking.

  “Naomi, why are you here?” Max asks as Walker and Virginia flank him.

  “I’m here to go with you , Max.”

  Max winces at the rush of emotions coming from Virginia.

  “Ug h , seriously, ” says Virginia. “You can’t come wit h us, what makes you think—”

  “Virginia!” Max interjects , then facing Naomi he says . “You’re a smart girl Naomi, you figured out what we’re doing , and how to get down here before us.” Then Max predicts, “None of the other doors will open for us , will they?” Smart people are all around me . . . and they all want something from me.

  “Nope , ” Naomi replies.

  “You’re with us then. Let’s go.” Max runs to the door and looks over his shoulder. All three are staring at him , open mouthed , not moving yet . “Well , come on! We haven’t got all day to decide. She outsmarted us. That means she’s in.” Entrance exam passed .

  ---

  Dr. Concilian meets two guards in the hallway. They take the elevator to the first floor. Out of the elevator , they turn right and see the four kids in the main entryway beyond a set of sliding doors. The guards slam their hands down on the scanners , trying to open the doors. Dr . Concilian directs the guards to leave the scanners alone , and open s the p anel covering the override switch , then he taps a code into his cell phone.

  “Max,” he says into the cell phone, which now broadcasts his voice over the school intercom. Max, Walker , Virginia, and Naomi turn and look at Dr. Concilian. “Max, where can you possibly go? You’ve seen how much forest surrounds us, you can’t make it . . .”

  “I’m done talking . Goodbye Dr. Concilian .” With that Max leads the four of them out of the building.

  “OK, now we run,” Max says . They run th r ough the gardens toward the w est gate. The other three making sure to run only as fast as Max . Walker grabs two digging bar s (two metres of tempered steel bar sharpened at one end ) from the garden shed as they run past. This arms the team with two fighting staffs.

  “Max?! What do we do when we get out of the gate?” Virginia asks over her shoulder.

  Max just shakes his head. “Now y ou ask that?”

  ---

  Max, Walker , Vir ginia, and Naomi arrive at the w est gate. “Are we on time?” Max asks no one in particular.

  “Thirty seconds early by my watch, but she might have changed everything.” Virginia gestures toward Naomi.

  “Well Naomi?” Max asks.

  “So long as I scan out , the timing is the same as it was before I altered your intrusion and escape code .”

  Virginia seethes, looking as if she might hit someone soon . Max faces Virginia and lays a hand on her arm. She stop s moving and cease s giving Naomi the stink-eye. This also means that the code will still clean itself up, erase its tracks, after we open this gate. “Virginia! Virginia, t his is fine. Just a change in plans. It’s OK to bring her. Trust me?”

  “I’m not good with change, ” Virginia spits out but Max feels her shoulder relax. “You know this , but o f course I trust
you.” She holds Max’s eye.

  I feel her calm down. I wish I could do that . It must be nice to flip a switch and calm down .

  “OK, Max,” Virginia says. “But I don’t have to trust her. And she has to explain everything she did. And she better have her own stuff. And I won’t wait for her. And you, you . . . you . . .” Virginia’s eyes water.

  “I know, I know, ” says Max. “I get it . . . I will.” I know you want me to be more careful. I’m sorry , but I won’t be .

  Naomi palms the gate reader, it opens. They see the hint of an early sunrise , forest, and Dr. Hanson walking up a gravel path with a dog .

  ---

  Dr. Concilian sits down at his desk and taps his computer screen; it reads his thumb print and th en wakes up for him. “Dial Frank Samson .” The computer chimes a few times. “Your call is queued , please hold ,” a female computer voice announces. Dr. Concilian sighs.

  A bearded face finally appears. “How can I help you ?”

  “I have a few kids who have just broken out.”

  “Which ones?” Frank asks.

  “Maxwell Huxley, Walker Northrop, Virginia Susumu , and Naomi Jacobs. I already have a roadblock being setup about half way to town. I plan to —”

  “I assume Maxwell is leading this?” says Frank.

  “Yes.”

  “Stand down , Stan. Just go back to your usual work. Let the roadblock stand . If he doesn’t make it through the roadblock then he’s not good enough for us , and you should just process him .” The connection drops.

  Cut free by the dropped phone call, Dr. Concilian’s mind wanders. And what about the others? If something is going to go wrong it always happens during final exams. If I have to stand down then I guess the least I can do is focus on the student s I still have in school. Make sure they’re prepared.

  …

  Frank makes a call and waits for the voice -only connection.