Static Mayhem

by Edward Aubry

  Alec harrumphed. He was not accustomed to seeming ignorant. "Right, then," he said, and sat down. He turned to look at Claudia.

  Jake was looking at Claudia, too. She was sitting in the back, playing her Game Boy. The sound was turned very low, but it was clearly audible to everyone in the transport. They were all able to tell when she made whatever fatal error there was to make in whatever game she was playing, as the little machine sang its sad death song and she whispered, "Shit." She looked up to rest her eyes from the strain of watching the tiny screen too long, and found that everyone in the vehicle was looking at her expectantly. Harrison was well aware of her ability to juggle tasks and was sure she had heard their discussion. "Oh," she said, "I'm out."

  "Well, there's a pickle," said Glimmer.

  Alec scowled, and rubbed his forehead. "Delightful."

  "Back off!" said Claudia. "Don't go hanging this on me. Didn't anyone think of this ahead of time? We've been tracking this thing for two days!"

  "Apparently, some of us didn't know there would be a limitation," said Glimmer, shooting a pointed look at Alec. "And the rest of us assumed we already had a solution." Now she looked at Hadley, who only shrugged.

  "Jesus," said Harrison. "Is this a government operation, or what?"

  "You know," said Claudia, her hackles rising, "maybe you could-"

  Harrison put his hand up. "Save it!" He sighed. "You know what?" he said suddenly, angrily. "Let me out."

  "Oh, what, you're going to go sulk now?" said Claudia. Now she and Harrison were both standing in the aisle. "God damn! I can't figure you out, Cody. Half the time you're like the coolest person on the team, and the other half you're just a brat. Could you be any more of a dick about something that's not my fault?"

  He seemed stunned. "No," he said. "I mean, let me out."

  She stared back. Her expression slowly changed from enraged to incredulous. "Oh," she said, insufficiently, then added, "oh," and sat down again. She turned to look at the back hatch and raised her hand to her mouth.

  Harrison walked up the center aisle, making eye contact with no one until he got to Alec. "I need a knife or something," he said. Alec nodded and unsnapped a small sheath from his belt. It held a thin, short blade, easily concealed, very sharp. An assassin's weapon. It made Harrison cringe. He took it anyway and made for the door.

  Glimmer was still blocking the door. She shook her head with wide eyes and said with more kindness than she had given Alec, "It has to be a girl."

  Harrison pasted on his best humiliated smile. "Of course it does." He sat down in a nearby seat, and faced the window. How galling it was to discover that he had not yet run out of new ways to feel stupid.

  Alec stood up again. "Well then," he said, "I hate to be indelicate, but, Miss Mendoza?" Apryl shook her head apologetically. "Right. Doctor Lee? Too much to hope?" Jeannette was reading a book and did not even look up; instead, she merely held up her left hand. On the third finger was a plain gold ring, which she wiggled with her thumb. With a start, Harrison realized how little he actually knew about her. Alec also seemed surprised. Harrison felt sad to think that she had endured such a loss and hadn't wanted to talk about it.

  "Well," said Alec. "There it is."

  Louise was pinching the bridge of her nose. She seemed far more upset about this turn of events than anyone else, and Harrison wondered if this had anything to do with her strained relationship with Claudia. "Glimmer," she said, "please come here."

  Glimmer flitted to the president's side, Louise whispered something to the pixie; Glimmer shook her head and whispered back, "No, that wouldn't count." Harrison heard it clear as a bell. The mechanism Glimmer used to speak wasn't true sound, and it occurred to him that she might have slipped up, thinking she was being discreet, while absent-mindedly tweaking his eardrums. It was impossible to tell if anyone else had heard.

  Louise rubbed her face with both hands. "Okay," she said to Harrison, "give me the damn knife."

  Harrison had not known about Jeannette's marriage, but Louise's was a matter of public record. It had to be. She was a politician, even before last May. He even recalled a scandal from her days as a US senator, when her husband had been indicted for some sort of insurance fraud. She had stood by him and weathered it, but, obviously, whatever relationship she had had with that man had not truly been spousal. Perhaps it had been entirely political. Whatever the circumstance, she had spent many years parading him around before her constituents, apparently creating the totally false impression of a normal marriage.

  Without comment, he handed her the knife.

  "Madame President," said Alec. He was ashen. "Respectfully, Mrs. Hatfield." He let the latter form of address hang in the air. It seemed to have gotten everyone's attention.

  She took the knife and stood up. "This is not to be a topic of discussion," she said to Alec, then she looked around the transport. "Are we all clear on that?" Everyone nodded.

  "Madame President," said Jeannette. Louise turned on her, ready to lash out. Jeannette was holding a pair of surgical scissors, and a small, clear plastic bag.

  "Thank you," said Louise. She took them and left the buggy.

  Jake's confused voice penetrated the stunned silence like a knife. "So, she was married, but she's still a virgin?"

  Harrison squirmed. "Thank you, Captain Obvious."

  Jake shut up.

  They sat quietly, no one looking at anyone else. Harrison looked out the window in the approximate direction he had seen Louise walk.

  Jake was up again. "Is this going to be a while?" he asked Alec.

  "Quite likely."

  "Is it okay if I step outside then? I could use some fresh air."

  Alec thought about this. "Yeah, all right," he said. "I'll go with you. Stay by my side," he added sternly. The two of them walked out the door. Harrison could see them out the window briefly, then they walked to the opposite side of the buggy, away from the unicorn. He felt the seat next to him shift under someone's weight and turned to see Apryl.

  "Hi," she said.

  "Hey," he said cautiously. He did not know her very well, but he liked her. He wondered if she was scared or just bored. "What's up?" he asked.

  "Do you like the way Alec treats you?"

  He had not seen that coming. No one had bothered to ask him that before, and he had no prepared answer. He did not want to be impolitic, but neither did he want to be dishonest. He settled for waffling. "What do you think?"

  "I think he's an ass," she said. "He has no respect for you, and he pushes you around."

  Harrison shrugged. "He's my boss."

  "And so you apologize for him. You're worth more than he gives you credit for, and everybody here knows it."

  This startled him. "You think so?"

  She nodded. "Yup. I think he's deliberately rude to you to keep your self-respect down. He finds you threatening, Harrison. He doesn't want to compete with you, so he keeps you down."

  "Huh. I never thought that. I really have felt like he thinks I'm an idiot."

  She nodded again. "Well, he doesn't, and you may want to keep that in perspective, because the way he treats you?" She paused, to make sure she had his full attention. "It's the same way you treat Jake."

  "What?" Harrison was shocked. "What are you talking about?"

  "I thought you might not be aware of it," she said. "That's why I'm talking to you about it. If I thought you were doing it on purpose, I'd just call you out. I think you're a good person giving in to a bad impulse." She stopped talking to give him an opportunity to defend himself or offer some other response.

  After a bit, he did. "Am I really doing that?"

  "Yes. You're very sarcastic with him."

  "I thought I was just being funny." But even he did not believe that.

  "You are," she said. "Sometimes. But he can't keep up with you, and when you put him down, it really affects him." She looked away for a moment, gathering her thoughts. "He really looks up to you," she said, "and the others are
following your lead. They're not giving him the time of day. It's been a very long time since he had a decent male role model. For most of the last year, it was just the three of us. I don't want him to feel under attack all the time. I think he has a lot to contribute, and not just to this group. But you've got to give him a chance, Harrison. If you don't, right now, he's going to have a rough time until we get to Chicago, and I don't want him to get there feeling down about himself."

  This was a lot to take in. Harrison had not been tuned in to his own behavior, and now somebody he had just met, somebody vulnerable, was hurt. Just what kind of relationship did these two have, he wondered. Apryl was talking about Jake like she was his mother. He was lucky to have so fierce an advocate.

  "I'm sorry," he said at last.

  She stood up. "I'm glad," she said, and she seemed to mean it. "But I'm not the one you need to tell." She went back to her seat and sat gazing out the window, waiting for Jake to come back in. A few minutes later, when he and Alec returned, Harrison wondered if she had engineered Jake's absence to have that talk with him. Or had she simply seized the opportunity? In either case, he was impressed.

  "Hey, people," said Jeannette. "Come see this." She was sitting on the same side of the buggy as Harrison and looking out the window.

  At the edge of the trees, still a considerable distance from the buggy but quite visible, stood the unicorn.

  Louise was riding it.

  She was sitting sidesaddle on his back (even from this distance Harrison could tell that it was male), stroking his mane gently. She leaned over and said something into his ear, then hopped down to the ground. Then she ran the entire distance back to the buggy and flung herself in the door.

  "Take these," she said, handing Sgt. Smith the scissors and the specimen bag. It contained a sample of white hair, which sparkled even in the dull light of the transport. Alec stood up. "You stay put," she said, pointing at him. Then she turned. "Harrison, come with me." She held her hand out, and Harrison felt momentarily uneasy. "It's all right," she said. "He said it's all right."

  She was talking about the unicorn. It was all right for Harrison to meet him. This much he understood. Still, there was something about her manner that made him hesitate. She was not herself. Then he put his finger on it.

  He had never seen joy in her before.

  Harrison stood up and walked to the door. Louise was grinning and holding her hand out to him.

  "Glimmer?" he asked nervously.

  "If he says it's all good, it's all good."

  He went outside.

  He was walking toward the trees when Louise suddenly began skipping. "Come on!" she laughed. Harrison turned to see the awe-stricken faces of the rest of the team in the windows, then he turned back. Louise was already at the trees, stroking the unicorn's neck and talking to him. Harrison chose to keep walking, but briskly.

  It's just like a horse, he thought, except for the part about the horn. And how everything about the animal radiates a sense of well-being and perfection. The sparkly effect he had seen in the small clipping was more pronounced on the live creature, and he somehow saw many different shades of white in the unicorn's coat, all pure, all brilliant. The horn itself appeared smooth, though it had a grain to it that suggested a spiral. It looked like it was made from mother of pearl, and it glinted as the beast shook his head.

  "His name is Émile," said Louise.

  "He's beautiful," said Harrison.

  Louise nodded. "He knows."

  And then Harrison felt it. The unicorn did know. He had expected the creature to speak, he realized, and Louise had implied that he could. But Émile didn't have to speak. His feelings were plainer than words could convey. Harrison reached out to touch him. His hair felt like goose down. He would gladly have curled up with this horse and gone to sleep. If such a thing were appropriate.

  "What did Glimmer say didn't count?" Harrison asked.

  "You heard that?" Not shock, anger, or even surprise registered in her voice. Just simple curiosity.

  "Accidentally, I think," he said.

  "Ah," said Louise. "I asked her if mattered that I've had sex with a woman."

  Harrison nodded. He had wondered if it was something like that. "Your marriage was a sham," he said. There was no criticism in his tone, no judgment. Just an observation.

  "My marriage," said Louise, "was a sham." She nodded thoughtfully, stroking Émile's mane. "I loved Peter dearly. He gave me what I needed. A public face. I do miss him." She closed her eyes and a tear rolled down her cheek. "But not the way I miss Charlotte."

  Harrison wasn't sure what to say. That he and the president of New Chicago were even having this conversation was unimaginable. He was sure it was a side effect of spending time with a unicorn. It seemed all right to talk about anything. He was completely at ease, but somewhere deep down he knew that would change as soon as they got back.

  "I won't tell anyone," he said.

  She touched his face and smiled. "I know," she said. "I trust you. In a lot of ways, I think you've become our conscience, Harrison." She sniffled, then straightened up. "I won't be admitting that again any time soon, so you should run with it while you can."

  He smiled. "Should we be getting back?" He looked at Émile. Neither of them wanted to leave him.

  "Soon," she said, resting her head against the unicorn's neck. "Why don't you head back? I want to take some time to say goodbye."

  "Okay." He hesitated, not really wanting to leave. She must be feeling the same way, he thought. "You will come back, won't you?"

  "Of course," she said, and he believed her. "He likes you," she added.

  "I know." He touched the unicorn one more time, a lingering brush of his fingers, then turned abruptly and walked back to the buggy. He could already see their questions, and he rehearsed his answer as he walked.

  "Oh, nothing," he whispered. "Oh, nothing."

  Chapter Twenty-Seven

  Chain of Command

  For two days after their encounter with Émile, the team continued its quest to gather the items on the shopping list. Some of the articles were banal, such as specific kinds of rocks. Others proved more challenging. The team had to rely entirely on Glimmer and Hadley to identify the necessary magical objects and point them in the right direction. It was thus slow going at times, and more than once Harrison found himself envying the old man. At least when he had been setting out to build his doomsday contraption, he had only needed to find ordinary, earthly things. Glimmer and Hadley had both pointed out that the device was constructed entirely out of nonmagical items. This was evidence that it predated May 25.

  Late on their fourth day out of New York, the team took a break. Glimmer had led them to a meadow, near which was a sample of a special type of mushroom they needed. It grew on the underside of a fallen tree, and in order to be harvested, it had to be coaxed out of its hiding place. Glimmer told them to expect the process to take hours, and they took turns, working in half hour shifts, saying nurturing things to it, singing it songs, promising it ice cream.

  While that was happening, those not on fungus detail had ample time, and a perfect environment, to relax. The area where they were parked was on the verge of a brook, flat, grassy, and tastefully decorated with a smattering of trees and flowering bushes. Pointing out that it was ideally suited for a picnic, Apryl promptly spread two blankets on the grass.

  She and Jake sat on one and had omnis for lunch. Harrison and Jeannette soon joined them. After a bit, Jake went for a walk by the brook. Harrison had noticed him becoming more withdrawn. Since his conversation with Apryl, Harrison had been much more careful about the way he talked to him, but he had not taken Apryl up on her suggestion that he apologize. He hoped that fracture would heal on its own.

  Harrison saw Claudia coming up the bank of the stream in the opposite direction. Her shift on the mushroom must have just ended. Harrison waved at her. Apryl was sitting with her back to her, and she turned to see what he was doing. "I don't think
she sees you," she said.

  Harrison agreed. Claudia seemed to be focused on something else. He stopped waving and shifted his gaze to Jake, who was standing upstream and skipping stones on the surface of the water. He, too, seemed to be in a world of his own. Harrison estimated that, unless one of them shifted out of introspection mode, they would collide in just under two minutes.

  "So," said Apryl, "what's the housing situation in New Chicago? Is there going to be room for two more when we get there?"

  "Sure will be," said Jeannette. "There are still three hotels in the city, and at least five more office buildings that have been converted to living space. Louise also started the Cabin Project last summer, and there are, so far, I think, about three hundred cabins built. We've actually managed to catch up with the population, and then some. You two should have quite a few choices. I live in a cabin, myself. You can't beat the privacy."

  "I'm in a hotel," said Harrison. "I'm not quite enough of a country mouse to set up in a cabin. The view is awesome, too. It's kind of cramped with my kids, but if it's just the two of you, you should be all right. If that's what you want." He popped an entire chocolate chip cookie into his mouth.

  "You have kids?" asked Apryl. He nodded as he chewed. There was much about the day to day life in New Chicago that she couldn't know, and Harrison supposed she might think Mitchell and Dorothy were his own. He would explain the adoption process as soon as he swallowed. "How many?" she asked.

  Before Harrison could hold up two fingers, Jeannette said, "Thirty."

  Harrison nearly gagged. He tried to swallow. When he looked at Apryl, though, she seemed less shocked and more intrigued.

  "That sounds like a story," she said.

  "It is," said Jeannette with a mischievous smile.

  Harrison finally got the cookie down and came up gasping for air. "Two," he said. "I have two kids. I live with two kids, a boy and a girl I adopted on my way to Chicago."

  "And the other twenty-eight?" asked Apryl.

  Harrison did not want to be in the spotlight on that topic. He was still feeling the injustice of his treatment by Alec following his impromptu rescue of the girls in Texas. It would be impolitic to open that can of worms right now. "It's a story for another time," he said. Apryl did not press the point. When Harrison tried to give Jeanette a scolding look, he saw support in her eyes. She hadn't been teasing him. She had been trying to make him look good. It was nice to know that someone other than Claudia thought he had done the right thing.