Maxwell Huxley's Demon

by Michael Conn

  “That is . . . quite . . . uhm . . . detailed, that’s all. Thank you though,” Max says.

  “Canada, ” says Virginia, “I’m with Walker on this one. What are we doing in Canada? We think Walker is from South America ; Naomi is probably from Ireland or something . I gotta be from Japan .” Virginia turns and looks at Max. “And y ou’re from the planet Krypton, right? So why would they bring us to Canada?”

  “Remote locations are hardest to escape from , and Canada is loaded with remoteness. We need to get to a big city as fast as we can , and t here’s no fast way from here to a real city. I have an idea but we are gonna have to get lucky. Time’s up Walker , ” Max says. “We need to get moving.”

  Walker types faster.

  “Where to?” b oth girls ask in unison. The school yard is quiet now with most kids inside.

  “See that RV across the street?” Max points. “Been getting loade d up for the last half hour. Read the sign on the back?” The sign reads: Bon Voyage David and Liliana Soon to be Vancouver’s best urba n Bee Keepers “Look on top. Plywood boxes with tarps over them. I’ve been watching . . . they’re throwing in stuff like bicycles and camping gear. We ride up there.”

  “For twenty hours!” Naomi says .

  Max just shrugs. “Let’s go. We’ve gotta keep running.”

  Chapter 9 –Overpass

  The four of them crowd in to one of the large plywood boxes , sweltering in the heat under the tarp s . Max looks out through a knothole in the box and hopes that when they drive through the mountains it will be cooler .

  Putting some distance between us and the school feels good. Max surveys the equipment stored haphazardly around them. Bar clamps , a rake, hoses, and a sprinkler . On the other side is a bicycle circa 1970, some rope, chain, and what Max guesses are broken down bee hives.

  Max begins to doze off , but Walker shakes his arm. “Max . . . Max, I got your phone working. Look it ’s got a signal.” Trust no one; the teachers at the school actually said that, what a stupid thing to say, no one can trust no one.

  “Perfect. Can I ask you to work on something else now?” Max feels bad asking Walker for more work when he intends to sleep so soon. “Can you create a process that intercepts credit card transactions, changes the credit card number , and approves the transaction?”

  Walker doesn’t answer , but Max can see him thinking. “No,” Walker finally answers. “I won’t code something that just steals money.”

  “No, wait , you don’t understand . . . It doesn’t steal money. Let me explain. I t ’ll be kind of like the cell phone process we made that changes the SID ID all the time,” Max adds. “The credit card number will be new each time the card is used. You don’t need a real account just intercept and approve the transaction. The store gets th eir money. We get what we want. Eventually the bank claims the loss, and then the credit card company makes an insurance claim. It’s just three massive companies p l aying a shell game, shifting money around. You remember when they were teaching us about fraud at the school, right?”

  Watching Walker reminds Max of all the time spent in “compsci ” lab working on intrusion techniques and how the school taught us how to do this. Did n’t they expect us to use these techniques against them?

  “Hmm . . . I’ll start on it and see how it goes.” Walker says, looking only partially convinced.

  Max fight s sleep and turns back to his reader.

  Virginia catches Max ’s eye. “Max, where are we going?”

  “Vancouver,” Max says .

  “No, what will our final destination be, where are you taking us?”

  “Where we can play like those kids today.” Max shrugs and dozes off , the rocking of the RV and the wind noise comfort s him.

  ---

  Max wraps his arms around her neck, his short little legs clutching as she carries him down a path. He dozes , resting his head on her shoulder smelling her skin . The dappled sunlight in the forest calms him.

  Together they reach a canoe. She puts him on his back on the bottom and sits with her feet on either side of him.

  He gazes up, staring at her face. She is determined but calm as she paddles across the lake.

  At some point , he must have fallen asleep . When he wakes he is looking up at her face . She is talking to someone, a man. He see s a half-moon over her shoulder.

  Max can’t see who she is talking to , but his mother’s face is tense. Max cries. Then two rough hands reach into the canoe and pick him up.

  ---

  After Pirelli recalls the agents they have in the field, he looks over at his boss . “Frank , you sent tigers looking for mice . . . I’ll find them. They’re out of Kitim at by now , but we still might catch them before Terrace. I’ll get to the next roadblock and take it from there. Are we good?”

  “You just make sure my grand daughter is safe .”

  ---

  Max wakes up to Naomi shaking his shoulder . “We’re at a road block,” she says. Max can hear her but his mind is not connected to his vocal cords yet.

  “Hey! Max , wake up.” Naomi shakes him more. Max return s a terrified look.

  “He’s not awake , Naomi.” Virginia moves between Naomi and Max and touches his cheek. She reaches down as we canoe. He presses his face into her hand.

  “Max,” Virginia whispers. “Max you need to come back.”

  In a moment he surfaces. “Do you trust me?” Max says with a smile .

  “Of course I trust you; you just have one flaw . . .”

  “Which is?”

  “. . . You’re a boy.” Virginia says. “Now get up . We’re in a line of cars approachi ng a roadblock .”

  “Naomi , ” Max asks, “where are we?”

  “21 Kilomet re s south of Terrace, ” Naomi answers.

  “Food?” Walker asks .

  Virginia hands out apples and some crackers . “That’s all we have left.”

  Why so serious Virginia? What did they do to you? Maybe your skill makes you serious. Maybe it doesn’t matter.

  ---

  Thirty-five k ilometre s south of Terrace, Pirelli speeds north, wanting to get to this second road block before the local morons let everyt hing th r ough. Another car follows closely beh ind him; he can see the gorilla s in it . Not much I could do about bringing them. The Canadian s have their own style.

  Fran k ’s grand daughter. This is no good . If it was just Dr. Concilian ’s granddaughter , I could handle that . But Frank —the big boss—I don’t need this . Too many things could go wrong. Too many ways for this to end badly for me.

  Pirelli curses and speeds u p , want ing this over at the road block. Four A1’s are loose. I don’t even want to think about what will happen if the y make it to Vancouver. Although I wouldn’t mind a trip to Vancouver, get me out of these inhospitable mountains for a while. What did I do to deserve snow in August?

  The two black vehicles speed up to 160 kph .

  ---

  Max, Walker , Virginia, and Naomi lie still , listening.

  “Anyone else trave l ling with you today sir?” The police officer asks David .

  “Nope, just me and my wife. We’re on our way to Vancouver . You ever keep bees? I think Vancouver could use some good bees, got an RV full of them.”

  “Your RV is full of bees?” The officer’s eyes flick into the back.

  “Yup, 200,000 bees, I’ll show you if you want . They are at the perfect sta ge for viewing, I can even—”

  “That’s OK Sir, hearing them is enough for me,” the officer says .

  As if to confirm the fact that there are bees in the RV, a couple of bees crawl around the brim of David’s hat.

  “Have a nice trip sir.” The officer waives them through.

  ---

  Pirelli arrives at the roadblock fifteen minutes later and approaches the two officers on duty.

  “Who’s in charge here?” he says as he exits his running car. “I need to see you r log book.” An officer hands him a clip boar
d that lists everything that has passed through the roadblock .

  “You boarded all the trucks?” Nods all around. “Any farm vehicles pass through?” Heads shake. “So mostly truck s and cars then?” Nods. “What about this RV? You guys do a thorough search?” No answer . “I assume no search then, why?”

  “Bees , ” says the nearest officer.

  Pirelli runs back to his car and squeals away knowing he is only fifteen minutes behind them.

  The officer on duty watches t he two cars speed away from him, shakes his head , and goes back to processing cars through the roadblock.

  ---

  David and Liliana come out of a tight bend in the road going about 25 kilometres per hour.

  “We’re making good time,” David says. Liliana nods and sips her coffee through a straw.

  Ahead , the road passes over a railway line at a slight angle. As they approach the overpass , David looks in the side vi ew mirror. “Good lord!” A black Suburban is barrelling down on him with ast onishing speed. “Hold on Lilly, there’s some lunat ic trying to pass us on the bridge !” David pulls ove r as far as he can, s topping the RV on the overpass.

  The Suburban passes them on the left in a sideways skid coming to rest a few metres in front of the RV. A nother black vehicle pulls up behind them.

  ---

  Walker looks out the front while Virginia looks out the back. They each peer out from un der the tarp at black vehicles. Virginia watches two large men get out and stand near the rear corners of the RV.

  Walker watches a man get o ut of the lead vehicle and walk back toward the driver ’s side of the RV.

  Gather ing back under the tarp, Naomi whispers, “What now?”

  “I have no idea, ” says Walker .

  “Max, ” says Virginia, “say something .”

  “You r mission , should you choose to accept it , is to get me on that train.” Max points to the west, through a hole in the plywood they can see a train coming. “It ’ll pass under the RV and the overpass.”

  “Max!” Virginia says . “It’s a long way down.”

  “It’s also a long way back to the school, ” says Walker .

  Virginia glares at Walker. “Blah, blah, blah , we’re better off alive.”

  “Virginia, I brought yo u for a reason, figure this out. How fast is that train going? How far down is it? How can you get me down? I think you three can jump OK, but I’ll never make it.”

  Virginia looks around through the supplies stored with them for anything that will help.

  ---

  Pirelli takes a step back. “You have what in there?”

  “Bees, hundreds of thousands of bees. Anyway , who are you and are you insane? You could have killed someone driving like that .”

  Pirelli shows his ID.

  “What the hell is the MGA ? Lilly call 911!”

  “Go ahead ma’am , call them. We believe you have criminals hiding somewhere in this RV.” Pirelli says as he looks in the driver side window . “Bees inside eh? What about up there.” He points to the tarps tied on top of the RV.

  “Mostly equipment and supplies . . .” David pauses as a train whistle drowns out his words.

  Pirelli motions to the gorillas to check out what’s up top.

  ---

  “Walker ,” Virginia says, “you and Naomi take all the bags you can carry. I’m gonna piggy back Max. We each take one of these ropes. Tie them off quickly. Naomi. Untie the tarp on the right side, hurry. We have to jump before those guys get up here.”

  One gorilla climbs the back of the RV and the other the front , each standin g on the roof, moving toward t he tarps.

  Virginia hands out a measured length of rope to Walker and Naomi. “You’re going to swing the wrong way first, wait until you swing back , then let go. Try to l et go when a box car is under you, ” Virginia jokes .

  “Thanks for the tip, ” Walker says .

  “Ready?” Nods all around. Virginia thro ws the tarp up and off of them. The four kids stand frozen for a moment. Walker takes mental pictures of Pirelli and the gorillas .

  The gorillas’ hand s go for their guns. “No you foo ls, they’re kids. Everyone stop!” Pirelli says . “Max . . . Walker . . . Virginia . . . Naomi. Stop . We can work this out, don’t make this hard. Come with me , and we can make this all go away.”

  Electrons will spread and protons will follow. One electron and one proton will mask whatever resources we use and root themselves in a proce ssing space. Everything slows down as Max cl ings to Virginia’s back. “You’ve nothing left fo r us!” Max says to Pirelli, over the sound of the train. The train begins passing underneath. “I ’ve gone beyond what you can control .”

  Pirelli looks at the kids, then at the train. “Don’t do this . . . grab them now.”

  Naomi and Walker launch themselves off the RV and over the edge of the overpass . They disappear from view and then reappear swinging back out in the same direction as the train. They let go and drop gracefully onto the top of the train.

  “Now Virginia, you can do this. I trust you.”

  Virginia rises, and takes three controlled breath s. Max closes his eyes. Virginia whips the rope out in front of them and launches off the RV. They follow a smooth arc over the edge of the overpass.

  Trust . What happened to Connor when he turned ten ?

  The rope pulls tight; Virginia absorbs the force , so Max can hol d on. Max looks back at Pirelli. Virginia ’s long hair blows across Max’s face. Max sees Pirelli’s face caught in an expression of disbelief. Molecules.

  Virginia waits for the rope to swing in the direct ion the train is moving and let s go. During the short flight , Virginia twist s to face the back of the train , so she can take most of the impact , protecting Max . As they descend, she pulls Max around and faces him. Her feet hit the top of the train. She feels it slam into her , and she kick s out and rolls , matching their speed with the tr ain. Holding Max tightly to her, s he hears and feels something snap and then s he and Max lie still on top of the train.

  She looks at Max. “Are you OK?”

  “You fly better than I do.” Max looks down at his leg. “I don’t think it’s meant to bend l ike that . . . don’t stop . . .” The obsess ed will never stop. Max faints.

  Virginia looks up and sees the end of the train pass under the bridge just before three men appear at the overpass railing.

  Chapter 10 –Train

  Walker, Virginia, and Naomi en circle Max on top of the train. Not exactly the best place to s et a bone. “We have to set that.” Virginia points at Max’s bent leg . “Walker? Naomi?” They both shake their heads, no. Virginia remembers doing this to a dummy as part of her Medic practical exam, but Max’s leg doesn’t feel anything like the dummy ’s leg .

  Walker and Naomi restrain Max as Virginia takes hold of Max’s leg. “I’m sorry , Max .” She pulls hard on his ankle and twists until she feels the ragged edges of bone sc r ape back into place . Max moans and retreats inside his head. Virginia looks closely at Max’s leg, “Does that look straight to you guys?”

  “Mostly,” says Walker.

  Max feels the train lurch. Not the regular kind of lurch, but his kind of lurch. The kind that feel s more like a roller coaster. Time slows. I think faster, see better, hear better, smell better , I become better . Smell s be come colours, sounds become feelings, and sights become information. Faces display what people are thinking or betray them if they are lying .

  Naomi is concerned about me and wonders if we trust her yet. Walker is annoyed that there’s no wireless on this train. Virginia is angry at herself.

  “We have to get off the train,” Max says a s loudly as he can.

  Yelling over the sounds of the train, Naomi says, “We just got on!”

  “Naomi, trains only goes one place, ” Max says, “When it stops , who do you think will be there?”

  “Where does this train go anyway?” Walker asks.

  “Prince George is the only place in that
direction , maybe five hours from here, ” Naomi answers.

  Max thinks out loud. “Well we can’t get off in the wilderness; I don’t want to starve while walking to Vancouver. They made this hard; these small town s are useless for hiding. We could get off the train as we enter Prince George, but they will be waiting for that. We could hid e in a boxcar and hope to escape while they search. Not very good odds . We won’t even make it to Prince George; this train will stop at the next tiny town or even at the next level crossing. We have to get off now. I see mountains, trees, water, snow, and a river . . . Guys, get me off this train, across the river and onto that highway. We have to double back. If we stay on the train we’re done. The first bridge we hit, we jump.”

  “Max, you can’t!” Virginia says. “You’ll hit the water and re-break your leg .”

  “We’ll have to splint his leg , ” says Naomi.

  “With what?” Virginia says .

  Naomi digs through their packs looking for something to help make a splint. She finds duct tape. Then she proceeds to cut and rip the frame out of one of the backpacks. Naomi tapes the metal bars from the backpacks to Max’s leg and foot .

  “Max?” Virginia says with her face close to his.

  “Yes.” Max smiles.

  “Where are you taking us?”

  “Trust me?”

  “I do.”

  “I have no idea.” An almost unbearable pain sweeps over Max. Nothing to do with his leg. His heart is broken. He knows exactly where he is going . But the one person he should tell, he won’t. “Tell me when you see a bridge.”

  ---

  Max watches Walker ba g everyt hing as well as he can. He tightly wraps the laptop , tablets, and readers in garbag e bags, and then put s them back in the backpack s . Lying on his side , Max rock s gently to the motion of the train. Funny, lying here I can’t really hear the wind anymore .

  Thump-thump, thump-thump. The rhythm of the train settles into his body. His connection to his friends gets more distant. Max sees a long bend ahead and then a blue arc of water. Max watches his friend s move and gather around him. Walker and Virginia on either side of him, Naomi behind him. Will the water be cold? Will there be a canoe? He feels himself lifted. He tries to stand , but the motion of the train is too much for his one good leg. Max looks at Walker . Who would jump off a bridge just because someone else said you had to?