Maxwell Huxley's Demon

by Michael Conn

  “Hello Frank.”

  “Hello Mr. Newton. The escape we predicted is happening . Are you prepared for this?”

  “Of course we’re ready. I’m looking forward to this one. From what I have heard this will be entertaining , and the program should benefit greatly .”

  “True enough. I’ll stay as uninvolved as I can, but I know you understand how hard being involved is when you’ve family taking final exams.” Frank opens a picture on his workstation as he speaks.

  “I’ll call as soon as I have word, ” Mr. Newton replies. “I’ll make sure you’re in the loop on this one , every step o f the way .”

  I know we have to d o this. We’ve done it a hundred times before, but when it’s family sometimes things get messy. Frank looks at a picture , he’s standing inside the gates of the Canadian school , holding a girl in his arms; she is not much more than a toddler.

  ---

  Dr. Hanson makes his dog sit and looks at the group of kids, squi nting, like he’s not sure they’re real ly standing in front of him . “Well this is interesting. I don’t think you’re supposed to be out here.”

  Max moves close r the Dr. Hanson. “I’m sorry , Dr. Hanson, but I can’t stay in this place . I like your class, but I won’t be a victim just because of you .” I still feel bad about being rude in his class, about laughing at him. I didn’t mean to hurt his feelings.

  “I don’t think you’ll ever be a victim, Max.”

  “What happens when we turn ten? What happened to Jack and Sarah and Roland? I spent years with them only to watch them disappear one-by-one.”

  “I can’t tell you exactly what happened. All I can say is they moved on. If I tell you any more, it will hurt you. You have to trust me Max.”

  “That right there. That vague answer is why I’m leaving. I’ll never be free if I stay here where everyone lies and hides the truth.”

  “Here’s some truth for you , Max. I was in this school when I was nine, and I ended up doing what I love. Not everything and not everyone is evil , Max. Sometimes things turn out well on their own. Sometimes you need to just let things be.”

  “I’ll make thing s turn out well.” Waiting on chance is defeat. “I won’t rely on chance, I’m sorry Dr. Hanson .” Max steps around him . “Goodbye.” The other three join him .

  “Goodbye, Max,” Dr. Hanson says to no one. Watching them disappear into the forest carrying staffs, reminds him of a medieval party departing on a quest . He chuckles to himself, shakes his head thinking of the anger he will face when he gets inside the school.

  ---

  Max, Walker , Virginia, and Naomi run a short distance into the trees and quickly discover it’s practically impossible to run in a wild mountain forest . The thick undergrowth is hardy, snagging their clothes and scratching exposed skin. The vines and branches are bad enough, but i t’s also steep and the floor of the forest is covered with old snow, each step can be on solid ground or on a snow covered hole. After Max is sure they can’t be seen from the gate , he stops. “Hold up .” When the y all stop , he leans against a tree and takes some time to catch his breath. The other s don’t seem to be winded. “OK, so now we stay in the forest and circle to the south end of the building.”

  “Seriously ,” Virginia and Naomi say at the same time.

  “Why don’t we head deeper into the forest?” Virginia asks , her breath visible in the frigid air .

  “We can’t survive in the forest, not enough food, no map , no gear, it’ll probably go down to three degrees Celsius tonight, and we don’t know where we are . I thought we’d try something other than dying on our first night of freedom. We’re heading to the loading dock; there is a truck due in soon . I’ve been watching , every Saturday at six a tractor trailer delivers bread . I t’s here for about a half hour , and then it leaves. We’re going to be in the trailer when it leaves .” Max looks at the time. 5:53.

  ---

  Crouching against the loading dock under the back end of the trailer, t hey hear the bread racks rolling out . Max whispers, “He’ll unload one side first, when he’s done that side of the truck, he’ll put the empty rack s back inside to clear the loading dock , we go in then , and hide on the racks .”

  “Where is the truck going?” Naomi asks.

  “Does it matter?” Max shrugs.

  When the driver is half done, Virgin ia, Naomi, and then Walker slip into the truck. Max stands up an d cracks his head on the bumper. “Owww .” Blushing, he then step s on the bumper of the truck and slip s, and scrapes his shins . Six hands reach down and pull Max into the back of the trailer . “Sometimes I hate being me.” Max sighs . They hide on top of the empty racks.

  The driver , after loading the remainder of the empty racks back into the truck , makes a call and leaves a message . “Hi honey , I just unloaded at the government research building in the mountains . . . I should be back in Kitimat in four hours, I’ll call you when I’m close to town . . . this place always gives me the creeps , I’ll be happy when I see you. Love you.” He closes the door and locks them in. The engine starts , and the truck pulls away.

  “OK, so we should have a bit of time before the roadblock.” Max climbs down , leans against a stack of empty bread racks, and massages his shins.

  “What roadblock?” Virginia asks.

  “Standard protocol for an escape is to setup a roadblock,” Max says. “They’ll place it far down the mountain so they have the best chance of catching us —”

  “Wait a second Max, the driver said we would be in Kitimat in four hours, where’s Kitimat?” Walker asks. Max shrugs.

  “Man, you guys,” Naomi says, “Kitimat is on the west co ast of Canada. If you’d stop writing code so metimes you’d know this.”

  “Hold on ,” Virginia says , “how can you plan an escape and not know where you ’re going? I sn’t that as bad as running blindly into the forest?” Both girls are standing over Max looking down at him .

  “We ll, no actually, a forest has bears, cold weather, cougars, ravines . . . Any place this truck is going has hotels, roads, and Internet access , ” Max answers .

  “Canada!” Walker complains. “I’m in Canada? I thought I hated the school before, this just sucks. Let me guess, Kitimat is far from anywhere good, right?”

  Naomi nods.

  “Right now , Kitimat is not our problem. The problem is that this truck is almost for sure going to hit a roadblock , and someone from the school is going to come through those doors and look around in here.” As Max talks , Walker takes out three hacksaw blades. “We need to be ready for that. We need to start cutting pieces out of bread racks so that when we stack them back up it will m ake a space big enough for each of us to hid e in.”

  “What will we do with the pieces we cut out?” Virginia asks.

  “Just put them on top of the racks or pile them in the space in the middle of the truck . School staff won’t know the difference. Only the driver would notice , and it’s unlikely he’ll search the back of his own truck . I was n’t counting on Naomi to show up today, so we don’t have enough saw blades . Let’s get this done in a way that Walker can write as much code as possible . . . Walker , after we’re done with the sawing you also need to hack the wireless on your laptop and get it working. I’ll work on getting this cell phone going and hacking our readers , OK?”

  Virginia faces Naomi. “I need to know one thing before we start. I can understa nd why you wanted to come with u s, but why did you go to Dr. Concilian’s office the other night?”

  “I was trying to distract him , I kn ew you were going to his office, it was all I could think of to help.”

  “How did you know we were going there,” asks Virginia. “Who told you that? Nothing in the code would let you know where I was going that night.”

  Naomi smiles. “You’re way over-complicating this one. I was at a table right behind you in the common room when Max said he needed you to go there.”

  Max and Walker try to stay out of it and d
istract themselves by squatting and cutting up a couple of racks.

  “You had a door code that got you into the secure area. Why didn’t you tell us you had that? Then I wouldn’t have had to go through the ceiling. Besides that , what deal did you have with Dr. Concilian? Do you still have a deal with him?”

  Naomi turns away from Virginia. “No . . . wait . . . I was trying to help.”

  “Pr ove it then,” says Virginia . “Make us understand.”

  Max looks up at Naomi, sees the tears in her eyes. “Virginia,” he says softly. “She was scared like the rest of us or at least scared like I was. How could she know that she could trust us?” Vi rginia faces him, glaring. “We’re a pretty closed group , and she k new the d octors were watching everyone. She could n’t just give us her codes, she’d have been caught the first time we used them .” Virginia’s face softens, but she still won’t look at Naomi. “We all did what we could and we’re out. Now we need the racks cut , and we need to write code , so can we get to work?”

  They finish cutting the rack s in about an hour, and settle into their hiding spot s . Max works at hacking the cell phone and reader , Virginia climbs up and down , exercising, Naomi memorizes the turns and bumps the truck is taking, and Walker codes.

  Max looks at the racks in front of him. Any time now. Any time now would be the kind of time for a bout of mine . I have to believe they make me stronger. The rumble of the truck comforts him , and he settles onto his haunches. I don’t hide my weakness at all. The whole school knows . Max is frightening. Don’t go near Max when he gets like that. One time I saw Max throw everything he owned out the residence window. Everyone has a guess-what-I-saw-Max-doing story.

  He stand s back up, the cramped position was making his legs go numb. He keep s trying to hack the phone. It’s not working; I need to look at this from a different angle. If something is difficult then you are approaching it wrong. Change paradigms and the problem will vanish. Re-install. Wipe it clean. Too bad I can ’t do that to myself. Max reverts the phone’s OS back to a native Android version. Maybe if I take a break and come back to it. Max makes sure no one can see him and then chooses two more entries in Midge’s blog.

  1995/01/15 14:53

  The following was taken from a video recording of Midge during an agility training session.

  Max puts his ear buds in and plays the video.

  Midge, a streak of black and blonde, enters the agility room flashing over the first obstacle without hesitation. Moving faster than the surveillance camera can follow; she provides no more than occasional glimpses of her movements over padded obstacles.

  (the point of view changes, showing a wider angle) A second figure, wearing dark green, is also in the room. From this angle you can see both figures clearly moving along the obstacle course.

  The green figure catches up to Midge on the rope ladders. The two figures travel quickly up the course, spinning and leaping off the moving obstacles, nearing the green exit door. On the final pl atform, Midge turns and attacks. She sweeps the feet out from under the other figure, then pushes them off the platform. The green figure falls, clips a barrier on the way down, lands with a crunch and breaks a wrist. Midge leaves by the green door.

  The video ends , and Max immediately starts the next entry.

  1995/01/21 10:22

  The following video was recorded during a psychological assessment interview.

  Midge sits at a stainless steel table with two guards standing behind her. Dr. Concilian and a nurse enter the room .

  “How have you been, Mädchen ?” Dr. Concilian asks as he opens her file on the table.

  A flick of her head moves hair off her face. “Midge.”

  “Right, how have you been, Midge?”

  Silence. Midge’s foot taps on the floor, she leans her elbows on her knees, her face inches above the surface of the table.

  “You’re at the top of the Agility Ladder. How does that feel for you?” Dr. Concilian takes a pencil out and starts a new entry in her file.

  “I heard her wrist snap. That felt good.”

  “I watched the recording of that. I don’t think you did that on purpose. Accidents happen. Do you want—“

  Midge explodes out of her chair, throwing it backward into the shins of the nearest guard. Landing on the table, she snatches the pencil out of Dr. Concilian ’s hand and holds it in her teeth. She reaches over him , places both hands on the back of his chair and arches through a handstand.

  The second guard move s toward the table.

  Midge drop s to the floor in front of the n urse; she snatches a clipboard out of her hands. The nurse backs into the wall. Midge throws the clipboard at the guard who is still trying to untangle herself from the chair. It strikes the guard in the forehead, splitting her skin. The other guard now makes it around one end of the table. Dr. Concilian turns to look back.

  Midge rolls over the table back toward the now bleeding guard. The nurse reaches out and grabs Midge’s wrist. Midge spins her wrist over the nurses thumb, making her let go, takes the nurse’s wrist in return, bending it around and behind the nurses back. Everyone in the room hears the nurse’s arm break .

  Midges wheels over the table, takes the pencil out of her mouth and smashes it down in front of Dr. Concilian into her file. She drops back into her chair.

  “She,” s ays Midge pointing at the nurse, “s hould not have touched me.” Midge looks Dr. Concilian in the eyes. “And that’s what on purpose looks like.”

  The truck bounces harshly over a rut in the road. Max drops the reader . Walker hums the theme to Mission Impossible . Max picks up the reader and puts it away, going back to hacking the phone. He plugs the phone into a USB port on his laptop and he flashes the SIM card again.

  “Max,” Virginia says . “Are you doing OK?”

  “I’m alright.” Strength and weakness. Happiness and sadness. Intelligence and stupidity. Reliability and insanity. We all have our thing . Some people paint. Some people clean. Some people talk. Some people run. Me . . . I get people to do things for me and then I feel bad.

  The phone re boots a nd my code runs on it. Success!

  Chapter 6 –Naomi

  Agent Pirelli waits in his car. He watches the RCMP officers working the roadblock. The traffic is mostly logging trucks with an occasional service vehicle sprinkled in the mix. Pirelli stares blindly at the line of trucks , d reaming of getting back home. He knows this won’t happen soon, i f it were just four kids then maybe, but t his was fo u r assets from the MGA facility , including the one that has them all nervous . He ’d be here all day , maybe through the night, and then doing paperwork after that.

  A bread truck pulls in to the line of backed up traffic . Maybe if I do this right , I can get out of this forsake n country of mountains and snow and trees . When Tolkien imagined Mordor , I bet he was thinking of northern British Columbia. He steps from his car and leans on the hood. A slow moving line of trucks rolls past him, m ost held a nnoyed or angry drivers . He observes one driver on his cell phone, driving a white panel van with an electrician’s logo on the side and tools visible in the back. Distracted driving laws don’t seem to apply out here.

  His eyes follow a hawk circling near him. I t swoops down at some unseen prey and it draws his gaze to the pullout. A bread truck is pulled off the road, and the rear doors open. An officer hop s in the back and comes out in less than a minute giving the all clear signal. Pirelli wonders . . . MGA kids . . . smart creative kids. He whistles at the officers to hold the truck , t hen walks over and hops into the back of the bread truck.

  ---

  Naomi slows her breathing, staying as still as she can. Someone just got off the truck , and she expected the door to close. Now it sounds like someone else got on. They know. They must know. Why else would a second person get on? Well, I did what I could. I hope it’s enough to keep them happy. Footsteps approach. I need to see Sarah again. She must have passed her exams. If I could just talk to her. She never says much
but when she does come up with something it always seem s bang on.

  The footsteps stop. She hears little shuffling sounds. Turning around? Or looking closer at something? Good thing I worked most of my sneezes out before the truck stopped. Oh snap! I shouldn’t have thought of sneezing. Go away mister, shoo. The footsteps continue deeper into the truck. What would happen if they found us ? I guess Virginia, the rabid wolverine, would attack. I can’t understand why Max keeps her around. I mean I understand how she can bring him back from his fits or whatever they are. But the rest of the time, nothing but criticism.

  Naomi squeezes her nose shut, hoping the desire to sneeze will go away. Hurry up mister. This is going to be embarrassing. She closes her eyes tight, curls her toes, and fights the sneeze. The more she fights , the more it insists on getting out. The man turn s and walks out of the van, says som ething, and the doors close .

  Naomi sneezes.

  ---

  With the truck moving again , everyone pushes their way out from hiding. They find spots to sit and get as comfortable as possible in the back of a brea d truck . Max works at hacking the SIM card ID on the cell phone. Naomi meditates. Virginia practices her I’m—watching -you look on Naomi .

  Walker sets his laptop on a bread rack and codes . We’ve got electrons, protons, and neutrons created and spreading. I’ve been through the periodic table and created the first one hundred elements . Max hinted at creating DNA , but first we need some simple molecules and then some proteins.

  I can build this , and I might be a bit faster at it than Max is. Why didn’t I have the idea to build it? Creating a framework that hacks into processing spaces for you. Hiding itself as it enters. Then waiting for instruction. I can write this but I’d never think of it.

  A little more work , and our hacking will be done for us. After that we just piggy back into whatever system the platform has found and send in whatever instructions we want executed from the inside .

  The truck lurches ; the laptop almost falls off the racks. Walker looks at the other kids. “Hey, anyone else getting excited to be in a city for the first time?” Walker recalls pictures and video he had seen of cities. They always seem like efficient machines. “How big is Kiddymat anyway?”