by John Zakour
“According to blueprints currently on file, this is the main entrance,” HARV replied. “There is a similar, albeit smaller doorway on the southern wall as well as two emergency exits along both the eastern and western walls.”
“Air ducts?”
“Several, although gaining access will be tricky with the current air filtration system. All this information comes with the caveat, however, because there is evidence of recent construction within the casino. The extent of which is undocumented.”
“Okay, here’s how we play it. Ona, you’re our ace in the hole. You’ll enter through this emergency door, here.” I said, pointing to the blueprints. “HARV and I will come through the main entrance and create a diversion. We’ll make our move in five minutes. That should give you enough time to get into position. Make your entrance quietly when you hear the commotion. With some luck maybe we’ll be able to take Foraa by…”
The doors beside us suddenly opened wide and light so bright it nearly knocked me over, erupted from within. I heard a roar of a crowd mix with the deafening crack of the thunder outside and the earth trembled beneath my feet. And somehow above the din I heard a woman’s voice.
“Hello sister dear. You’re right on time.”
The voice was deep, sultry and utterly, utterly insane. It took me a nano to realize that it was inside my head.
“Foraa,” Ona gasped.
“You know, I definitely liked her better when she was dead.”
The Oblivion ballroom was huge, which was a surprise because it wasn’t supposed to be, at least not according to the casino’s blueprints. But, as HARV had mentioned just nanos before, there had been some recent, secret construction inside the casino and it was clear now that the renovations had been major.
For one thing, there was no ceiling, not one that I could see anyway. We were on the ground floor of a fifty story building but the ceiling to this room was nowhere in sight. Foraa had hollowed out the center of the building, turning it into a gigantic doughnut with the ballroom at the center as the hole. The ballroom did indeed have a ceiling but it was fifty stories up, well out of my sight at the nano. It was a lot like Ona’s office in her ziggurat, only higher, and I think that made Ona a little jealous.
“Her ceiling isn’t higher than mine, is it?”
And within the brightly lit confines of the room, a thousand people cheered and screamed. High rollers, card sharks, slot-machine junkies, tourists, cocktail waitresses, showgirls, lounge singers, cab drivers, and gangster-wannabes; the revved-up throng of on-lookers was a cartoonish cross-section of New Vegas society. And at the center of it all, standing atop a well-lit, elevated stage was Foraa Thompson.
Foraa was every bit a Thompson Quad. She was tall and lithe and purple skinned, beautiful by every conceivable measure (save for personality, but that too was true to the Thompson Quad DNA). She was dressed in black (of course), faux leather pants, and jacket over a tight shirt made of a shimmery fabric that sparkled like a star-field on a night sky. Her hair, dark as ever, was slicked down and back and hung straight from her head, so stiff, it looked as though it could cut you if you touched it the wrong way.
“Just once,” I mumbled, “I’d like to take a villain by surprise. Sneak up behind them unnoticed, hit them over the head with the butt of my gun, slap the cuffs on them and call it a day. Is that too much to ask?”
“That’s rhetorical, right?” Ona asked.
“Yes,” I sighed.
“He tends to talk to himself at times like this,” HARV said with a shrug. “You get used to it.”
Foraa was surrounded on stage by an array of machinery; lots of large tubes, flashing lights and such that fed into and/or connected to three cylindrical vessels, each one two meters tall and made of heavy transparent polymer. Not surprisingly, Twoa was imprisoned in one vessel and Threa in another. They were conscious, and aware of what was going on but I could tell from the anguished looks on their faces that they’d spent a lot of time trying to escape or break the polymer prison cells, clearly to no avail. It didn’t take a genius to figure out for whom the third cylinder was intended (but Foraa made it clear for us anyway).
“As you can see Ona, I’ve saved a place for you,” she said. “Come on down and join the family.”
“Thanks, Foraa,” Ona said casually, “but I’m happy where I am.”
“Suit yourself, dear, so long as we’re all together at last.”
Ona turned to me and gave me a questioning look. “What do you want me to do here, Zach?”
“Get her talking,” I said. “Villains love to talk. Keep her attention focused on you. I’ll think of something. Just don’t make her more angry.”
Ona nodded and turned back to Foraa. She took a deep breath to calm herself and smiled. It reminded me of how she prepared herself for the splinterviews the day before. She was putting on her public persona.
“We were all together three nights ago,” she said, casually walking a few steps toward Foraa (and away from me). “And as I recall you ruined the evening by dying.”
“Your parties are boring, Ona. I made it interesting.”
“Oh, yes, nothing livens up a party like a little death.”
“Well then, sister dear,” Foraa said with a smile, “you’re going to love this party.”
While the sisters did their passive-aggressive banter, HARV and I were doing a quick visual reconnaissance of the room.
“Do you see him?” I whispered silently.
“I got him,” HARV said in my head. “He’s at the front, just behind the stage.”
HARV took control of my eye lens and zoomed in on the stage. Sure enough, at the foot of the platform, just behind Twoa and Threa’s polymer cells, stood Tony. He looked a little battered and bruised, but he was alive.
“Vingo. What do you think? Is he under Foraa’s control?”
“I don’t know,” HARV said. “I can’t tell whether or not he’s still wearing the psi blockers.”
“I knew you were up to something, Foraa,” Ona said. “That’s why I invited you to my home.”
“Yes, well, I knew that you knew,” Foraa said, “which is why I accepted your invitation.”
“Well…I suspected that you knew that I knew. That’s why I invited Twoa and Threa to the dinner as well.”
“I knew you suspected. But did you know that I knew that Twoa and Threa were plotting to kill me?”
“No, I didn’t know that.”
“Ah-hah,” Foraa shouted, “I knew you didn’t know!”
“Gates, I’m going to be sick,” I mumbled.
“You were almost there, Ona,” Foraa said. “Given time I think you would have actually figured it out. That’s why I had to do something to throw you off track. I needed to buy myself some time.”
“So you faked your death.”
“You have to admit, it’s a great alibi. No one ever suspects the dead person. I've been playing with all your minds for some time now. Making you all do what I wanted. Some of it was to help my cause. Some of it was just for fun.”
Tony was at least fifty meters away from me so it was hard to get a good reading on whether or not he was under Foraa’s control. Like the rest of the zombie-audience, Tony had his attention focused on Foraa and Ona as they spoke. And the unfocused gaze of his eyes made me fearful that he was indeed Foraa’s mental slave.
Then he glanced at me. It was fast, the briefest of nanos, and subtle, but I saw it distinctly. He was trying to catch my eye. Then he quickly touched his forehead with his index finger and pulled gently on his earlobe.
I smiled. “He’s with us.”
“How do you know?”
“That thing he just did; touched his forehead and pulled his ear, when we played baseball together as kids, that was our sign for hit and run. He’s letting me know that he’s ready to go.”
“That’s good to know. How exactly does that help us?”
“No idea,” I said. “Give me a couple nanos. I’ll think of somethin
g.”
“Why did you do it, Foraa?” Ona asked. “Why go through all of this?”
Foraa let loose a smile that, even from a distance, sent chills up my spine. She made a motion with her hand and the floor immediately in front of her opened as a glimmering metal device slowly rose from beneath the stage.”
“Oh, this isn’t good,” I whispered, “it’s never good when they bring out a machine.”
“Villains do seem to relish these dramatic nanos,” HARV said. “Any idea what the device might be?”
“No, but I’m sure she’ll tell us. They always do.”
“Foraa, what…?” Ona asked.
“Don’t you recognize it,” Foraa said with a smile. “It’s daddy’s greatest legacy.”
Ona’s face went pale, as did mine (and I think I saw HARV actually gulp).
“You don’t mean…”
“Yes, the D-Cubed.”
The throng of Foraa-controlled onlookers burst into a wild cheer that shook the walls of the ballroom. I, meanwhile, closed my eyes and gently rubbed my temples.
“I guess I should have seen that coming.”
53
I have to admit, the end-of-all-that-is certainly didn’t look like much. The D-Cubed seem to consist of a two meter high rectangular metallic pillar covered with electrodes and about a hundred thousand nano chips.
“That’s it?” I asked. “That little thing’s the Doomsday Device?”
“Don’t be silly,” HARV replied. “That’s the detonator. My sensors indicate that the actual device has been built into the sub-basement of the casino and currently extends ten kilometers into the earth’s crust.”
“Well, all right then,” I said. “That’s much more impressive. How do we disable it?”
“I haven’t even begun to scan its inner workings yet,” HARV said.
“I could shoot it. That’s worked before.”
“Yes, unfortunately, that’s not an option in this case since destroying the detonator would, in all likelihood, activate the entire device.”
“So what do we do?”
“I’m trying to scan it,” HARV replied, “but it’s heavily shielded, so deducing the safest way to disable it will take some time.”
“Isn’t it ironic then that time is the one thing that we’re short on right now.”
“Frankly, boss, I don’t think that’s the proper use of the word, ‘ironic.’”
“You’re killing me, HARV.”
Ona was clearly shaken by the revelation of the D-Cubed but she did her best to keep Foraa occupied while I formulated a plan.
“Why, Foraa? Why would you build such a thing?”
“To avenge daddy,” she said.
“Avenge?”
“They killed him because of this,” she said, motioning toward the device. “The world was afraid of his genius so they killed him.”
“They paid him a fortune,” Ona said. “They gave him a life of luxury.”
“In exchange for his brain!”
“Well, yes, but only a small part of it.”
“He was never the same after that,” Foraa spat. “He forgot about his work, he forgot about the life he had built. And he forgot about me. That’s what hurt most of all.”
“You see,” I whispered to HARV, “every insane villain’s problems always come from unresolved issues with their parents.”
“Let’s not go there, boss.”
“What do you mean by that?”
“If this is a family matter maybe we should just put all the Quads in a room and let them fight it out amongst themselves.”
My eyes went wide. “You may be on to something there.”
“The plans for the D-Cubed were destroyed by the World Council,” Ona said. “How could you build this?”
Foraa smiled. “I read Daddy’s mind,” she said. “Just before his operation.”
“The picture,” Ona whispered.
“Yes.”
“You’ve been carrying this knowledge around with you all this time?”
“I’ve been waiting, Ona. Waiting for the time and the funds to make Daddy’s dream a reality.”
“Your preaching was just a ruse, wasn’t it? You stole people’s fortunes to finance this.”
“I had to,” Foraa said. “Daddy didn’t leave me a fortune.”
“Oh, great, throw that in my face again. I’m rich, okay. Do you want your share? Fine, take it. Take it all. I don’t care anymore.”
“Funny isn’t it how a doomsday device inspires your generosity. It’s too late, Ona.”
“So you’re just going to destroy everything then? You’re going to commit simultaneous suicide and planet-cide as some sort of twisted vengeance-inspired homage to daddy?”
“Not exactly,” she said. “I’ve adjusted Daddy’s design, slightly. I’m going to destroy roughly ninety-nine percent of the world. The device will create a sub-space vacuum just a few shades shy of black-hole intensity. I call it a brown hole.”
“Very creative.”
The brown-hole will rip the planet to atoms in a matter of nanos, but this small landmass will be protected. The community of New Vegas and the outlying area will survive. A white peg in a brown hole. It will be daddy’s ultimate revenge. He always loved Vegas.”
“He did not,” Ona said.
“Well, he would have if he’d lived long enough.”
“I’ve had enough of this,” I mumbled, shaking my head. “Follow my lead, HARV.” I slid the wrist interface off my arm and hid it in the palm of my hand. Then I walked toward Ona.
“Excuse me, Ms. Thompson, I mean, Foraa. Hi. I’m Zach Johnson. We met when you were dead.”
“Yes, Mr. Johnson. I’ve found you quite annoying during the past few days,” Foraa said. “What can I do for you?”
I turned my back squarely to Foraa and gave Ona a hug. It surprised her and she stiffened until I whispered in her ear.
“Tony Rickey is down by the stage,” I whispered, slipping the wrist interface into the pocket of her jacket. “Use your telekinesis and get this to him.”
“I don’t have telekinesis,” she whispered.
“Yes, you do. You just haven’t used it yet.”
She nodded ever-so-slightly. I let go of her and took a few steps toward Foraa to keep her attention.
“Tell me when you get to Tony,” I mentally whispered to HARV.
“Will do.”
I nodded and turned my attention back to Foraa.
“So, Foraa,” I said. “Can I call you Foraa?”
“Certainly,” she said. “Can I call you Toad?”
“I’ve been called worse.”
Out of the corner of my eye I saw Ona remove the wrist interface from her pocket and hide it in her hand. Then she closed her eyes and concentrated as she dropped the interface. It fell but didn’t hit the floor. Instead, it stopped in mid-air few centimeters from ground as Ona’s telekinetic power took hold of it. She smiled at her new ability and concentrated again. Very slowly the interface began floating, low to the ground, through the crowd of on-lookers, toward the stage.
“First of all,” I said. “I just want to compliment you on masterful job you did making all of us look like idiots.”
“It was easier than you think,” Foraa said with a smile.
“No, don’t sell yourself short,” I said. “There aren’t a lot of people who can, you know, plot the end of the world while being dead. But I just want to make sure that I fully understand your plan. You built your father’s doomsday device, right?”
“Modified ever-so-slightly, correct.”
“And to make up for what the world did to him, you intend to detonate it.”
“Correct.”
“And destroy everything.”
“Everything except New Vegas and the immediate surroundings.”
“And that’s your entire plan?”
“Yes.”
“I’m sorry, but…I don’t get it.”
A gasp swept through th
e throng and they all ducked in unison, expecting Foraa to let loose some fiery retribution. Foraa however remained calm.
“What do you mean?”
“Well, you’re going to destroy the world out of vengeance. I get that. It’s sort of an overly dramatic statement, but at least it’s clear. My question is why save Vegas?”
“So that I can create a utopia and be absolute ruler over it for all eternity.”
“Utopia? Foraa, this is Vegas? Of all the places on earth, this is the place you’re going to leave intact? Do you really want to look at crushed velvet and neon for all eternity?”
“Well…”
“And what kind of utopia are you going to create with a bunch of two-bit gamblers and Elvis wannabes. They weren’t that interesting before you turned them into zombies. They’re really boring now. And what do you think is going to happen when they start to inbreed. Three generations from now you’re going to have a hunka-hunka genetic defectives.”
“I suppose that may be true, but you can't always pick your mindless slaves.”
“And what are you going to do for food?”
“I don’t need food,” she said. “My body has evolved so that it functions on solar energy.”
“What about them?” I said, motioning to the throng of followers. “The all-you-can-eat shrimp cocktail isn’t going to last forever. What do you do long term?”
“We’ll set up a food system, probably agricultural.”
“You’re going to turn Vegas into a farm community? Is that how you really want to spend the next few generations, teaching slot machine junkies and their offspring which end of a hoe to use? That’s utopia?”
“Boss,” HARV whispered in my head, “I’ve reached Captain Rickey. What’s the plan?”
“Get him up on the stage, while I hold Foraa’s attention and tell him how to free Twoa and Threa.”
“That’s your plan?”
“It’s evolving as we speak.”
Foraa, meanwhile had taken a nano to ponder my argument.
“Your point is well made, Toad,” she said. “But you fail to see my larger purpose. This isn’t about me creating a utopia. This is about paying the world back for what they did to my father.”
I saw Tony carefully move toward the containment vessels that held Twoa and Threa. The throng of followers were too entranced by Foraa to notice him and he began fiddling with the machinery at HARV’s instruction.
