Maxwell Huxley's Demon

by Michael Conn

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  Mr. Newton walks out the French doors at the back of his house and heads to the north gardens. The drabness of the winter vegetable beds makes him impatient for spring. Mid-January means it’s time to harvest the cabbage and cauliflower be ds. He heads to those beds , pulls on his gloves, takes a knife out of his tool belt and cuts out the mature cabbage, placing each one into a wooden crate. Servants take care of most things around the estate for him . But when he can , if he’s home, he does the gardening himself. When the wooden crate is full , he carries it to a nearby wagon and takes another empty crate back to the garden bed. Back in the garden , he leans over the next row of cabbage. “Hello, Max.”

  Max appears out of a fog. “Hello, Isaac.”

  “If you insist on calling me Isaac, I’m going to start calling you Harry.”

  “If you call me Harry, I’m going to call you Voldemort . How did you know I was here?”

  “You left footprints and cane marks in my favourite garden bed. I must s ay I’m most impressed with you, r unning around the world like you have. Held up by treachery and injury. How are your . . . bouts , ” Mr. Newton taps his temple, “. . . t hese days?”

  “They’re as useful and horrifying as ever . . . c an we go inside? I’m cold.”

  ---

  Max pulls out a chair and sits at a round table. He looks out the window overlooking the gardens. “Where is she?”

  Mr. Newton places hot chocolate in front of Max and sits down facing him. “She’s safe and comfortable. What are you going to do, Max?”

  “I’m going to find her and take her away from you, from everyone . I’m going to protect her and keep her with me.” Max wraps his hands around the mug of hot chocolate.

  Mr. Newton pauses for a moment.

  Max can almost see the thoughts pass through Mr. Newton ’s mind .

  “Max, listen to me for a minute. As good as you are there are too many layers to this. Any way I look at it, you lose. I know Pirelli keeps saying things like that, but I control much more than Pirelli. Before you do too much more , you should familiarize yourself with the phrase ‘ton of bricks.’”

  “I’m good with layers and bricks; you trained me to be good with them.”

  “That’s the first layer. The training you knew. But what do you know about the adjustments we made to you. Almost nothing . We know everything about that, we k now more about you than you do . . . Wha t do you know about your mother? Nothing.”

  Max sips his hot chocolate, hoping it will warm him . “This is what I learned in your school. When reverse-engineering an obscure complicated process, f ind the core first; find the most frequently used sub-process . Ignore the rest and isolate that process. The rest of the layer s don’t matter. If you can decode the core then you can control the rest.”

  “Are you paying attention to the technology we are stealing from you? How does Virginia fit into this? Why doesn’t there seem to be anyone on your side , Max? You’ll never work through the maze of all this. Especially n o t on your own.”

  “It doesn’t mat ter what layers you think apply, ” Max replies “I’ve bypassed them all. Good luck re—applying them.”

  Mr. Newton shifts in his chair. I t looks like the cold weather doesn’t really agree with him either. “Well then here is a pro cess for you to think about . Some children gradua te from my schools, others get Processed. You’re graduating , congratulations . This whole thing was a final exam .” Mr. Newton leans toward Max.

  Max focuses on Mr. Newton’s face. The room shrinks as Max’s thoughts quicken. See, you keep missing things. You didn’t think about this? He tightens his grip on his cane. I don’t want to do this. “Do you want to know what I think evil is? Evil isn’t just doing bad things. Evil is forcing others to do bad things . . .”

  Max and Mr. Newton lock eyes for a moment. In that moment , Max realizes Mr. Newton graduated long ago. Then w ho forced him to do this?

  “. . . you don’t have any children or even a wife.” Max continues. “You have the schools and your gardens. I’m g uessing that the schools are 99 percent of who you are.”

  Mr. Newton sits back. “And?”

  “I see your p hone in your pocket. You should check your email.”

  Mr. Newton does so. “OK, you broke my email; I can’t check it, so what?”

  “I’m sorry , but it’s so much more than that.” Max takes out his cell phone and dials, and then hands the phone to Mr. Newton. “I called your executive assistant for you. Your phone won’t work anymore.”

  Mr. Newton takes the phone. “Hello, Julie, it’s Mr. Newton here.”

  “Oh, Mr. Newton, I’m so sorry to hear the news. Please let me kno w if there is anything I can do, ” Julie says.

  “Wh at are you talking about?”

  “What? I’m confused. I’m talking about the email you sent me this morning, of course.”

  “Can you read it to me?”

  “You say, effective immediately you are no longer involved in MGA affairs . . . you go on to talk about illness and . . .”

  Mr. Newton hangs up. “Clever boy.”

  “Your access card won’t work anymore, and finger print and retinal scans won’t get you into MGA buildings. It isn’t just that you don’t work there anymore, you never worked there. The email to your assistant was the last trace of you at MGA and now even that is gone. I also have a package on its way to your lawyers. It details how to sell off your estate here. When they’re done you won’t have any assets left.” Max stands up. “Bring her to the west end of the reflecting pool tonight at ten.” Max moves to the kitchen door. “You can keep that phone; Catherine will make sure you can make the calls necessary to arrange things. Make calls for any other reason from any phone and Catherine will . . . make it difficult for you.”

  Max leaves the house.

  Mr. Newton sits at the table for a long time , wondering who Catherine is, before he calls Pirelli.

  ---

  Kristina runs back to her desk. She’s j ust out of a briefing where she received approval to implement her plan to clean the mainframes. She has the budget. Now she needs to pull the team s together. It will be no easy task to simultaneously shut down and revert all of the mainframes operated by three countries. Kristina calls her counterparts in Canada and Mexico.

  Chapter 31 –Exchange

  Mr. Newton and Lara stand by themselves at one end of the reflecting pool, with t he Washington Monument eerily reflected in the moonlit water behind them.

  Max watches from a distance. He releases commBots . After giving them time to reach Lara he says, “Lara, it’s Max. Look t o you r left if you can hear me.”

  Lara looks left.

  “If you speak, I’ll be able to hear you. I ’m coming to get you. It’s very important that no matter what happens, you don’t move. Look right if you understand.”

  Lara looks right.

  “Come on , Max. You ’r e twenty minutes late,” Mr. Newton says.

  Max looks for any sign of someone using fogBots . These bots still created minor distortions in the air.

  Max stands about twenty metres directly behind Lara and Mr. Newton, w aist deep in water. He still has to come out of the fog in order to use any other commands. Where did Keith get his fogBots from? Why did they work so well in bright light? Why can he hide himself and others? He only h ad two days to develop that. Who’s helping him?

  Max turns away from Lara , faces the other end of the pool and says, “Wave .” Catherine has programmed his fogBots to ‘listen’ for other command s, so Max only became vis ible for a fraction of a second while he summoned the wave. Max stand s still in the water. Looking down he sees the water sta r ting to flow away from Lara , a little current swirling around his waist. He leans forward . Timing , timing is everything tonight . Max waits.

  “Well, I guess your boy isn’t showing up. Sorry dear, I think you’re stuck with me.” Mr. Newton turns to walk away and then pauses. He can tell something isn’t right
. Max is here somewhere. He turns more and squints up the pool. Something doesn’t look right. The reflection of the Washington Monument is gone from the far end of the pool. There’s a dark line across the pool from one side to the other.

  Max walks forward. Don’t rush , and you’ll have her.

  “Twelve second s until you must become visible.” Catherine uses the same commBots to talk directly to Max.

  Mr. Newton looks down. The water level at this end of the pool is dropping. As he stand s there, still holding onto Lara, he sees the water recede from the bottom of this end of the pool, rushing away.

  Max walks on bare concrete now. You’re not this good.

  Mr. Newton tries to understand, tries to move, but the sight of a large wave rising up out of the pool holds him captive. It ’s actually quite beautiful, he thinks, the way the city lights reflect off the approaching wave, and then he comes to his senses.

  Max approaches , still at least ten metres away. He hears the roaring torrent of water gathering behind him. Without looking, he knows that a lmost twenty-five million litres of water have form ed a two-story wave which is rush ing toward him.

  Tick .

  Mr. Newton pull s Lara . She stomps hard on his instep and he lets go of her arm. There is a moment when the y look at each other. He think s he might try to grab her, but the water looks too close, too threatening. He runs, leaving Lara to her fate.

  Max walks. Three more steps. Two. One.

  Tock.

  Max recalls the fogBots . He appears beside Lara. Three BB’s and two shockwaves are released toward him. Max puts his arm around Lara and says, “Shield.”

  Mr. Newto n scrambles up the steps toward the Lincoln Memorial. Looking back, he sees the wave front engulf the outline of Max and Lara, bullets and shockwaves lost in the water as it closes in front of them.

  Then t he wave crashes over Mr. Newton.

  With w ater rushing around them, Max holds Lara within a dome of shieldBots . The wave passes them , flood s up and around the Lincoln Memorial. Its energy dissipated , it floods the nearby lawns and begins running back into the pool. Lara helps Max out of the pool. She hugs him .

  From a round Lara ’s waist , Max watches Keith walk toward them. Max pushes away from Lara, saying, “Shield . . . don’t move Lara.” Max steps away from Lara leaving her protected by bots.

  “Max, you have a thing for being a show off. Did you know that?” Keith rub s his arm and winces. Blood runs from his scalp. “That wave was fantastic, ineffective, but still fantastic. I have to give you this, you’re creative. Who else would come up with something like that?”

  “I’m trying to not hurt people,” Max replies. “But I need them out of my way. You need them out of my way. You don’t know what they did—”

  “I don’t know?! I was there every day as they did it to me. Watching them give you more and more. I got nothing to help me. They gave you everyt hing—Bolas!” Bolas spins toward Max.

  “Infection.” The Bolas dissolve into nothing. “Everything they did to you they did to me. You’re fighting the wrong person. BB.” Max fires a dozen BB’s at Keith. Three strike his chest, and he staggers backward.

  In obvious pain, Keith says, “You don’t know what I know . Vulcan!”

  Max’s cane starts to heat up. “Cullen.” The cane cools. “Keith, you’re nine, you have eleven years left.”

  Keith raises both hands . “SHOCKWAVE!” The concrete crack s as the shockwave streak s toward Max.

  “Shield.” The shockwave splits and passes around Max. “Why are we doing this? You can’t win. Neither can I.”

  Keith screams , “Whip , ” over and over.

  Max has no defense; his shield doesn’t recognize the new markers in these bots. They pass through his shield and lash agains t his face, chest, and legs . He tastes blood and feels a whip wrap around his ankle . Keith yanks on the whip.

  Max slams to the ground , dropping his cane , saying, “Cullen,” as he goes down.

  Keith runs at Max. Ice forms on the wet concrete . Keith slide s and trips over Max , falling into the reflecting pool.

  Max rolls over. “Cullen.” The water crackles with a coating of ice. Keith starts to rise. The ice thickens. Keith screams and pulls harder, ice travelling up his arms.

  Keith’s arms and legs are trapp ed by the ice . “Vulcan !” Keith releases b ots under water; they heat the water near the bottom of the pool having little effect on the ice.

  “I ’m sorry , Keith . . . Cullen.” The ice thickens around Keith’s arms and legs.

  Max recalls the bots around Lara. She runs to him a nd helps him stand straighter as t hey walk away.

  “Max,” Keith says , sounding frantic. “MAX. I was there you know . . . I was there the night Walker died . . . you weren’t the only one with fogBots . . . your own bots let me get up on the roof . . . you made th e tool that let me make him fall . . . Max . . . MAX . . . I’ll hurt you Max . . . I’ll hurt you again.”

  They walk away , leaving Keith stuck in his misery.

  ‘Cura,’ Max says as he pulls out a tablet . “Five people are unconscious in the area . . . four people moving near us . . . two are converging on us . . . Catherine, will we make it to our car?”

  “Yes but they will see you. I see Hastings; the other person has not been close enough to a camera to identify. But, I assume it is Pirelli. There is also a helicopter in the area that may be on route here.”

  They cross a sopping wet lawn. “I can see our car.” Lara drags Max toward it . The soft wet lawn grips his cane and slows them.

  Max looks at his tablet . “Someone is closing in on our left.” They reach the car . Max looks left. Hasting is bounding at them in a full run. “Lara, we should get in the car now.” She fumbles with the keys. Looking across the parking lot in the opposite direction , Max sees Pirelli round the end of a parked van. “Lara?”

  She drops the keys, picks them up , and presses the wrong button. The car starts honking, lights flashing.

  “Seriously.” Max smiles at her. “Alohomora.” The doors click open. Lara scoops up the keys , and they get in the car. The y squeal out of the parking space, scraping the car on their left. Max sticks his tongue out at Hastings as they drive past him.

  “Wrong way. Lara, turn around.”

  “What?” say s Lara. “The exit is this way.”

  “You’re not taking the exit. Turn around and drive onto the walking trails on your right.”

  In the side view mirror , Max sees Hasting s and Pirelli jump into identical cars . They pull smoothly out of their parking spots and quickly gain on Max and Lara. Like in Kitimat , the cars remind Max of sharks. This time there are two of them , and this time they ’re trying to flank Max and Lara .

  “Lara, go faster. Get us on the path!”

  The car lurches forward, picking up speed, beginning to go faster than the poor little rental has any business going. Lara cranks the wheel , and they smash over the curb and onto the path. Max falls forward out of his seat.

  “Max , ” says Lara. “Put your seatbelt on!” She pulls him back up on the seat .

  “My what?” Max looks around and figures it out while the car speeds down the n arrow path. Max tries to understand how Lara can avoid the trees. Light illuminates Lara from behind. Max turns and sees headlights behind them.

  “Go straight across this next path and then keep right. Driving faster is recommended.”

  They speed up . Bouncing around on the front seat, Max holds onto anything he c an find. The path straightens but gets rougher. The car makes horrible noises. Max wonders if the wheels are still attached. Small building s fly past in the dark.

  Th e car following them catches up. I ts lights on high beam put Lara and Max under a bright glare. The path turns from gravel to concrete. Max feels the car slide sideways.

  Tick.

  Max p ulls into himself. Sounds recede from him. The car feels suddenly quiet. There is nothi ng I can do now.

  Look
ing over at Lara, he watches her, arms moving rapidly as she steers, feet stomping from one pedal to the other. What would I want?

  Tock.

  Max reaches over and holds onto Lara’s shoulder. Together. The car following them smashes in the back of their car.

  Time goes back to normal , and the sounds of the car flood back over Max.

  “. . . at the roundabout coming up .”

  The car lurches to the right; Max sees concrete bench es fly past on the left . The force of the turn throws Max against the passenger door; he feels his lip split as he hits the glass.

  Max hears metal crunch from behind them and looks back to see the car following them partly airborne and missing a front wheel . Then it’s lost in dust, debris, and darkness after it hits a parked car.

  “Go right, stay on the path.”

  Lara turn s the wheel but nothing happens . The car leaves the path. It’s quiet for what seems a long time , and then the front wheels touch down on the lawn. Lara says something in Portuguese . The car spins. Max wonders why he didn’t understand what she just said. Were there some Portuguese words they didn’t teach him in school? Max sees a car flash past them.

  The spin stops. The car moves forward again .

  “Angle right . . . more . . . OK straight that way.”

  The Washington Monument appears out of the darkness. “We’re going there.” Max points at the monument.

  “Get around the far side of the monument.”

  Lara aims for the monument, thinking neither of them understand anything about cars or driving. The grass ends and the front wheels hit concrete, bursting both front tires . Lara pushes her foot down hard on the gas. The monument looms closer.

  Max hears the other car smash up onto the concrete surrounding the monument. He sees a wall and then everything explodes. The windshield crumbles and his tablet flies through it smashing against the base of the monument.

  Lara pulls Max across the seat and out the driver’s door.

  The car chasing them skids too far and slides down a set of stairs to their right.