by Karl Morgan
Josh backed up against the wall of the elevator car and replied, “I just wanted to tell the President how much trouble the world is in and that I want to help.”
“Please try to refrain from such stupid games in the future, okay?”
“Just wait a minute, Chris. You told me I was going to save the world. You don’t expect me to do that sitting in my room in my parents’ house, do you?”
“I don’t think I ever said that, Josh. I think I said you were being led down a path that will allow you to make choices that could stop the madness in the world.”
“I don’t understand what the difference is, Chris. Why don’t you explain it to me?” The elevator doors opened and Chris stepped out and motioned Josh to follow him. “Where are we?”
“This is the headquarters of the Judah Corporation in Manhattan. I told you I wanted you to meet my family, so here we are.” Chris started walking down a wide aisle with private offices on the left and an open cubicle area on the right. Dozens of men and women sat at their desks working on computers or talking on phones.
“This is quite a place, Chris.”
“I’m sure my father will be thrilled to hear that.” As they approached the end of the aisle, an attractive woman with short gray hair stood up and smiled at them.
“Good morning, Chris,” she said in a heavy southern accent.
“Nice to see you again, Irene. This is Joshua Carpenter.”
Josh shook hands with the woman. “Nice to meet you, ma’am.”
“The pleasure is all mine, Mr. Carpenter. I’ve heard all about you.”
“Irene, are they ready for us?” Chris asked.
“Everyone but the boss, Chris,” she replied. “He is on an important call, but will join you all in a few minutes. Please feel free go right on in.”
“Come on, Josh. It’s game time.” Chris opened a door and walked through.
Josh followed him, but stopped and turned to face Irene. “It was nice to meet you, Irene.”
“Nice to meet you as well, but don’t worry, Mr. Carpenter, we’ll be seeing more of you, I’m certain.” Josh stepped inside and closed the door.
There was a large glass conference table filling the center of the room. Five women sat on the far side facing them. Four men sat on the near side, facing a window wall overlooking the city. “Good morning, everyone, this is Joshua Carpenter.” The others nodded and continued their small talk with their colleagues. Chris led Josh to the foot of the table and pointed to the single chair at the end. Chris sat in the empty chair on the male side of the table. Josh felt like he was about to be interviewed, or interrogated. He also knew he could not escape, which Chris had already proven by intercepting him and bringing him here, so he sat down. Chris looked at him and said, “Just sit there and listen, Josh. Don’t talk unless you are spoken to. This is very serious business.” He turned and began talking to the man next to him.
All of Chris’s façade of friendliness and warmth seemed to have been stripped away. Who was the boss anyway? Josh began to imagine the door opening and Hammond Finch, Armand Sattu, or the beast Adlat walking in. Suddenly, Josh had a burning desire for his powers to fade away and leave him a normal man like everyone else in the world. The desire to save or even rule the world had turned into a nightmare.
The door opened and everyone became totally silent. An older man with short white hair and a neatly trimmed beard walked in and said, “Good morning everyone!” The man was wearing a dark blue pinstripe suit with a white shirt and green tie. At least it was not Finch or Sattu, Josh reasoned.
“Good morning, Father,” the others replied in unison.
“Ah, Mr. Carpenter, I’m glad you joined us today,” the man said as he walked toward Josh. “Please stand up and let me have a look at you.” Josh stood up and smiled, extending his hand. The elder Judah ignored the hand and threw his arms around Josh and hugged him tightly. “Oh, my goodness, it is so good to meet you.” He stepped back and said, “I am Emmanuel Judah. May I call you Josh?”
“Of course, Mr. Judah, that would be fine.”
“Please call me Manny, Josh. No need for formality around here. Were you introduced to each of my children?”
“No, sir.”
Emmanuel frowned at the others. “Manners, manners, everyone. I’m sorry for that, Josh.”
“Father, we wanted to wait for you,” Chris said.
Emmanuel put his hand on Chris’s shoulder. “Okay, don’t worry. We can have a meet and greet at lunch or later.” He turned to Josh. “Would you like coffee or a soda?”
“I’m fine, Manny, but thank you for the offer.”
“If you change your mind, there is a coffee pot over there and a small refrigerator in the cabinet. If you need a restroom, just go back down the aisle and they are on your left, just past the elevators.” Emmanuel walked to the head of the table and sat down. “So Josh, tell me about your visit to the Oval Office.”
“There isn’t much to say. Before I could talk to the President, a bunch of Secret Service agents barged in.”
“Don’t you think you should have expected that?”
“That’s what I tried to tell him, father,” Chris echoed.
“No need to pile on, son.”
“I suppose I thought they might listen. I guess I was wrong. I’m sorry,” Josh sighed.
“No need to apologize to us, Josh,” Emmanuel replied. “I hope that we are on the same team, fighting for the same cause. We want to help you any way we can.”
“Your family seems to have enormous power, Manny. Why don’t you just stop the wars?”
“I’m sorry, but it doesn’t work like that,” Manny replied. “Connie, why don’t you explain it to our guest?”
The woman sitting nearest to Josh said, “Hi, Josh. My name is Constance Judah, but everyone calls me Connie.” She was very attractive with thick blonde hair pulled back into a ponytail and crystal clear blue eyes. “We endeavor not to directly impact the course of human events. We believe that people need to make their own choices and find their own way in life.”
“But you are all people too, and you run this major corporation which must affect millions of others. I guess I don’t get it.”
Josh gasped when he found himself sitting on a fallen tree in the middle of a dense forest. A light drizzle drifted down from the cloudy sky. Constance was sitting next to him on the log. “Appearances can be deceiving, Josh.”
“Where are we, Connie?”
“That really doesn’t matter, does it?” she replied as she stood up. “Is this more real than the office in New York or the airliner over the Pacific? Come on, follow me.” She began to walk away and Josh hurried to catch up to her.
They walked down the gentle hillside and over a small wooden bridge above a fast running stream, and then began to climb the next hill. Connie was quickening her pace as the sun was hanging low in the sky. Josh was panting for air as they climbed over rocks and tree roots. Halfway up the hill, Josh asked, “Connie, what can you tell me about Adlat?”
She froze in her tracks and turned to face him. “What do you think of him?”
“I’m not sure. On the one hand, his son Barsat almost murdered me twice. But Adlat said I could rule the world.”
“I suppose that is possible. Is that what you want? Do you want to be ruler of the planet?”
“He said that only a single ruler could stop the wars and end violence and suffering. Is that a lie?”
“Do you know why my father and Adlat are interested in you?” she asked.
“They think my special abilities will allow me to stop the wars and end the killing.”
“Everybody dies, Josh, but I agree that both would like to end the wars, however, their motivations are completely different.”
“How do you mean?”
Constance sighed heavily, and she put her hands on his shoulders. “Josh, instead of asking all these questions, why don’t you tell me what you think? Your opinion is what matters here, not mi
ne.”
“Adlat wants me to rule Earth so that he can have the real power, I’m pretty sure of that. But honestly, I have no idea why your family is involved.”
Constance held his hands and kissed him lightly on both cheeks, saying, “Because we love you and want you to be happy.” She began to climb up the hill again. “It’s going to be dark soon, Josh, let’s get moving.”
As he started after her, he said, “Why should I believe you are the good guys, Connie?” but she did not answer.
They reached the crest of the hill at twilight. The trees ended and they hurried across an open field toward a small wooden cottage a few hundred yards away. Light poured from a single small window, illuminating a small porch where a person was sitting waiting for their arrival. When they were within fifty feet of the building, Josh recognized Manny Judah as the man sitting on the porch. He stood as the two stepped up onto the porch, hugging them both. “I was afraid you’d be trying to climb that hill in the dark. Please come inside and sit by the fire.”
Only when he had been seated did Josh realize how chilled he was from the cool evening and his damp clothes. Emmanuel brought him a cup of steaming coffee. “Thanks, Manny. I needed this.”
“I’ll be on my way now, father,” Connie said.
“Thanks for your help today, Constance,” Emmanuel said as his daughter slowly faded away. He grabbed a bottle of bourbon and two glasses and sat down on a second chair facing the crackling glow of the fire. He leaned over and poured some whisky into Josh’s coffee and then poured two fingers into one of the glasses. He touched his glass to Josh’s mug and smiled. “All the best to you, Josh.”
“And the best to you, sir.”
Manny sipped his drink and watched the embers glowing in the hearth. “I love a warm fireplace. The glow and sensation of warmth are like first being in love. That’s why I come here often. It’s very quiet and I can be alone with my thoughts. Perhaps you should have a retreat like this, Josh? What do you think?”
“I spend a lot of time alone, Manny. I’ve always been the quiet studious type with not that many friends. Maybe that has something to do with me being a NEM. Most folks in San Diego don’t take well to NEMs.”
“I find the entire mechanization of humanity quite disturbing, Josh. When modification was first developed to help the infirm, I thought it was a wonderful thing, although even then I knew it could lead to this. Now they say that people are superior because they have sliced off parts of their bodies, isn’t that funny? Whenever people create a new technology, it changes the world. But that is never enough for them. They have to keep pushing the limits until they turn that wonderful thing into a hideous beast.”
“I don’t know about that, Manny,” Josh argued. “Most of the modified people I know are good and honest, like my own parents.” He set down his mug and poured some whisky into the other glass. “You should meet them. You’d like them a lot.”
“I would love to me them too. Perhaps I will visit you in San Diego soon.”
“That would be wonderful, sir.”
“But back to my original point, evolution follows a circuitous path at best. Many paths lead nowhere and fade away, and it is hoped that ultimately the best result succeeds. That has been happening for billions of years, but now it includes mechanical devices. In my opinion, each modification reduces a person’s humanity a bit. There is an exception for the infirm, I believe. Their disability has already hampered their experience of life and restoring it is a wonderful thing. Do you realize there may come a point soon when a person will be able to download their entire mind into a completely mechanical cyborg body? Then that person’s humanity will be lost forever.”
“Do you think that’s even possible?”
“Without outside interference, it might take thousands of years.”
“Someone is interfering? Who?”
“You already know that answer, Josh.”
“Adlat? What does he stand to gain?”
“Just the world, Josh, just the world; but he will not allow everyone to become machines. Their inhumanity would not nourish him. He will want enough cyborg soldiers to control everyone else. And with a superhuman NEM as the titular ruler, they will submit.”
“What can I do to stop him? Won’t he just kill me?”
“I doubt that, Josh. He needs you more than you need him. But he will likely try to force you to submit to him by threatening your friends and family. We will try to protect you and them, but the rest is up to you.”
“What do you expect me to do? Why can’t your family stop him?”
“If he directly intervenes, we will act, but as long as other people are willing to do his work for him, we must allow people to make their own choices.”
“I don’t know what to do, Manny. You have to tell me what to do!”
“Just follow your heart and listen to your spirit speaking within. We trust you. You will do the right thing.” Manny stood up and stretched. “Josh, I’ll be on my way now. You stay here and think about what you’ve learned today. When you awaken, you’ll be in your own bed.” The old man walked over to the door, opened it and left, closing the door behind him. Josh sighed heavily and refilled his glass.
§
A taxi pulled up to the curb at San Diego International Airport and Ted Dixon jumped out. He hugged Diane French and Shirley Cambridge and loaded their luggage into the trunk and all three climbed aboard. “Where to, ladies?”
“Can I go to Josh’s house?” Shirley asked.
“I don’t think he’s there,” Ted replied.
“I told Joe and Maggie that I’d stay with them a few days.”
Ted gave the address to the taxi and it floated into the air and shot southeast. “Did you hear the rumor that Josh showed up in the Oval Office?”
“You don’t really believe that, do you Ted?” Diane asked.
“If I recall, he showed up on your airplane and saved you guys.”
“He’s got a point, Diane,” Shirley noted.
Ten minutes later, the taxi settled down on the ground outside the Carpenter residence. A single black SUV was parked outside with two agents inside. Shirley climbed out and recovered her suitcase and headed toward the door. The taxi floated into the air again and flew away. The agents in the vehicle did not move but watched her closely. She rang the doorbell and waited. Less than a minute later, Maggie opened the door and let Shirley come inside, closing the door after her.
Maggie hugged her and said, “It’s so good to meet you in person, Shirley. How was your flight?”
“Uneventful, and that’s a good thing,” Shirley replied. “Is Josh here?”
Maggie put her mouth next to Shirley’s ear and whispered, “I’m never sure they aren’t eavesdropping on us. Yes, Josh is here. I went to his room when I woke up this morning and he was in his bed, fully dressed, but here. It’s the top of the stairs and end of the hall.”
Shirley left her bag and rushed upstairs and down the hall. Josh was sound asleep. She kneeled next to the bed and kissed him on the cheek. “Josh?”
He peeked through half-open eyelids and then his eyes shot wide open. He put his arms around her and kissed her lips and all over her face. “I’m so glad you’re back here, Shirley. There is so much to explain.”
She kissed him and then stood up. “You get ready, and I’ll be talking to your mom downstairs.” She walked out of the room.
§
There was a knock at the door, and Monica Strauss, the lead assistant to President Carmichael opened the door. “Madam President, your one o’clock appointment is here.”
Alexis stood up and said, “Please show them in.” She walked around the desk to greet her guests. Hammond Finch and Henri Sattu walked in and shook hands with the President. “Gentlemen, it is good to see you. Hammond, how long has it been?”
“Almost a year, Madam President. Let me introduce you to Henri Sattu. His company is a tremendous resource to Finch Incorporated.”
“Madame P
resident, it is an honor to meet you,” Sattu smiled.
“Thank you, Mr. Sattu. I’m always eager to meet Hammond’s friends and colleagues. Please sit down and let’s chat.”
The door opened again and Phil Connelly, the defense secretary walked in. “Sorry to be late, Madam President; good morning, gentlemen.”
“No problem, Phil, we were just about to get started,” Carmichael replied. “Hammond was just about to unveil his new technology.”
After they were all seated, Finch cleared his throat and began, “Actually, Henri’s company created everything we’re going to see today, so I’ll let him go over the details.”
“Merci, Hammond, you are too kind,” Sattu noted. “First, please know that my father and I hope the current conflicts will end soon. The terrible cost in lives is a tragedy. My home city of Paris has been the site of multiple terror attacks, but in the meanwhile, we have designed some new electronic devices that may help in hastening the end of the fighting.” He removed a plastic bag with electronic chips and a small black box from his briefcase and set them on the table. “You will note the black casing over these processors. This is a new coating that will prevent the devices from being damaged by electro-magnetic pulses.”
“What strength of pulse can they survive?” Connelly asked.
“Phil, from our preliminary testing, these chips continue to function even when the surrounding materials are completely destroyed,” Finch replied. “My scientists believe they will survive any pulse that does not completely obliterate the device it is controlling.”
“Frankly, that seems hard to believe,” Connelly argued.
“Monsieur Secretary, I understand your concern. Please know that Hammond is continuing his tests, and I would be more than happy to provide as many samples as you need for your own verification purposes.”
“That seems fair, don’t you think, Phil?” Carmichael said. Connelly nodded, but did not look too pleased. “What’s on your mind, Phil?”
“I’m sorry, Alexis, and I’m no scientist, but it seems farfetched.”
“Please know that you may do your own testing, and my family is not asking for any money. We want to help, that is all. Even if these chips pass the testing, it is your decision alone to purchase them from Hammond,” Sattu smiled.
