The Pandora Effect

by Olivia Darnell

  “Surely you don’t expect to hold me here, Primus?” He asked.

  “I surely do, Primus,” Falco said as he walked around in front of the table. “I believe you will find my handiwork quite efficient.”

  Perry tried the bindings but found he could not break the rope.

  He sat up straighter. “What are you up to, Brother? Where is Maureen?”

  “She’s here.”

  “Where is here?” Perry asked him blandly.

  “Here and nowhere. Somewhere and everywhere. A place where dreams die and memories come true.”

  “How poetic. What does it mean?” Perry smiled at him.

  “It means nothing. You have something I want, Primus,” Falco told him. “I have something you want.”

  “You want to trade?” Perry asked him. “Why not just bargain with me? Why all this silly charade?”

  “This is not a charade, Primus. This is a test,” Falco explained. “I want to test your theories further. I believe that you have been testing some of these people to see whether there is any good in them at all. While others, you have been testing for integrity and loyalty. You have been testing them in a variety of ways. I will now take that testing one step further. We, you and I will test them in a more tangible manner. I will give them physical choices and they will perform for you. We will see what your precious tests are worth. We will see if your conclusions and recommendations are based in fact or merely ramblings of your imaginations. Are you ready?”

  Perry pulled on the cords and concentrated. All he could produce was beaded perspiration on his forehead.

  “What exactly do I have that you want?” Perry asked.

  “You have Maureen’s adoration.” Falco frowned and then smiled. “How did you manage to acquire that, I wonder? And you have the Optimus’ ear and his daughter. I think that is too much for any one man to have. I want to take some of it off your hands.”

  “Do you mean to kill me then?” Perry matched his frown.

  “I do not mean to do anything,” Falco shook his head. “I will allow all of your friends and acquaintances to do it for me.”

  “Do you think that you will gain Maureen’s adoration by killing me?” Perry asked in dismay.

  “Of course not,” he said. “You know, she is not like the others at all. In fact, I think we may have more in common with her than each other.”

  “That doesn’t make sense.” Perry shook his head. He could not believe what was happening. How had Falco managed to secure him to the chair? He outranked him. Only a little, but enough to keep this sort of thing from being possible.

  “But it is possible, Primus,” Falco told him. “Your supposed father-in-law-to-be gave me a promotion as they say here. It was supposed to be a consolation prize.”

  “I see,” Perry said and knew he was in trouble now.

  “As I was saying, I have already made the connection with Maureen,” Falco told him. “She will not be leaving with you. She doesn’t know it yet, of course. But it is a small matter.”

  “I see,” Perry said again.

  “As for Angelica,” Falco leaned to look at him. “I don’t know what will happen there. I don’t think she wants to marry you, Primus. And besides, what is marriage between two First Order Primes? Nothing. It means nothing. There are no marriages between our kind. We are either at the Center joined with all or we are wherever we are... alone. The Optimus has had a fine joke at our expense.”

  “I don’t know what you are talking about.”

  “Of course you don’t,” Falco said and smiled and stepped out of the light. “Let’s finish up your study, shall we?” Falco held out the Pandora Box again and then tossed it into the air where it simply vanished. “And that is that!”

  Perry waited. He had no choice. He felt Falco’s presence behind him as the figure of Mildred Morris appeared before him. She was dressed in a long, white gown of cotton with small green and yellow flowers on it. She held a magazine in her hands and wore blue cream of some sort on her face.

  “Mrs. Morris. Nice to see you,” Falco told the startled woman as she looked about in confusion. “I have a surprise for you.”

  “What in the name of God is going on?” Mildred asked Perry.

  “Don’t worry, Mildred,” Falco told her. “This is strictly off that record. Here is Perry Aliger. The man you secretly lusted after. The man who brought you fortune cookies and potpourri. The man who almost caused you to lose your only son. He can still cause you a great deal of trouble. He can ruin Sam Junior. He can file charges on him for assault, theft and harassment. He can bring suit in a civil court for damages and he can win. Your son will not only lose everything he has, but it will probably cost you every penny you have just to pay his attorney fees. You will be bankrupt. Sam will be bankrupt. You will be disgraced in front of the whole town. Can you risk allowing such a man to exist? Sam will never take over the family business and he is now courting that divorced bank teller, Dottie McMillan. She has three children, Mildred. What do you say? Can you allow it to happen?”

  Mrs. Morris frowned at Perry. She had already had some of these same thoughts herself. She didn’t need this other man, whoever he was, to tell her these things.

  “You can kill him, Mildred,” Falco’s voice was soothing, cajoling. “Pick your weapon. No one will ever know. This is nothing but a dream. You can do whatever you like.”

  Mrs. Morris took a step forward. Her eyes flickered over the items on the table. She dropped the magazine to the floor and ran her fingers over the hilt of the dagger as if admiring it. She reached to pick up the open bottle of champagne and poured two fingers in the goblet. She held up the goblet as if making a toast before drinking it.

  “Mr. Aliger,” she said looking down at Perry. “I want to thank you for opening my eyes to what I have become. I am not very proud of my life up until now. You may have saved me from myself. I love my son. That’s true. And I may not approve of his...friends, but I don’t want to lose him. He is all I have. If it had not been for you, I would have lost him eventually. Thank you.”

  Mildred’s form faded. Perry closed his eyes and let out a sigh of relief.

  “Do not be relieved so soon, Primus,” Falco told him. “There are more guests.”

  A shimmering vision in front of the table solidified into the astonished figure of Sam Morris dressed in a terry bathrobe. Water dripped into his eyes and he smelled of chlorine. Falco must have taken him from his hot tub.

  “What the hell?” Sam looked around and then held up both hands as if surrendering.

  “Relax, Mr. Morris,” Falco’s soothing voice told him. “I have a proposition for you.”

  “Who? Where are you?” Sam asked looked into the darkness above Perry’s head. “What is this?”

  “This is your chance to get even, Sam,” Falco told him. “Peregrin here is at a distinct disadvantage, you see? He has been neutralized, so to speak. You recognize him of course. The man who stole your fiancée and then made a fool out of you in front of the whole town. Your precious Maureen has fallen for a man incapable of loving her as you do. She is going to go to China with him. You will never see her again. Here is the only real threat you have ever faced, Sam. Someone who can ruin you financially, emotionally, professionally and physically. What would you do to him if you could? Would you kill him? The choice is yours, Sam. You are dreaming. You can do anything in your dreams. You won’t be held responsible. No one will ever know.”

  Sam looked at the table and then at Perry. He blinked as the water dripped from his hair into his eyes.

  “Your mother needs you Sam,” Falco continued when Sam hesitated. “She will always need you. You will be expected to take over your father’s business. She will never let you forget how she saved your life with the help of one of Mr. Aliger’s little boxes. She had to beg for that box and from Mary McDaniels! If you kill him, everything will return to normal, Sam. He will be gone and the memory of him will be gone.”

  Sam put his hand on
the hilt of the gun then drew it back as if it had burned him.

  “I am not a cold-blooded murderer and this doesn’t feel like a dream,” Sam said into the darkness. “I don’t know who you are, but I will not kill this man or any other for you. What has he done to you? Stolen your girl? Made a fool of you? No! I won’t do it. I’ve been an idiot long enough. If Maureen doesn’t love me for me, then there is nothing I can do about it. As for my mother, I will just have to live with it. I’ve been living with it all my life. To you, Mr. Aliger, I owe an apology. Notice I said I owe you an apology. Don’t expect to ever hear one from me.”

  Sam’s body faded to nothing.

  Perry blinked and closed his eyes.

  “Well, well, well.” Falco clasped his shoulder and he cringed under the touch. Normally, he would have thrown him off immediately, but he did not have the power to do it now.

  “This isn’t going too well, is it, Primus?” Perry asked him after Sam was gone.

  “Don’t start breathing easy yet, Primus,” Falco told him. “Your luck will surely run out sooner or later.”

  “I do not believe in luck, Falco Atrox,” Perry said. He was growing tired of the game.

  The next visitor was a groggy Louis Parks. He stretched and yawned and then straightened up suddenly. He wore blue pajamas and held a cup of warm milk in his hand.

  “Oh, no,” he muttered as he looked at Perry suspiciously. “How the devil did I get here?”

  “The devil?” Falco chuckled softly. “That sounds more like it.”

  “Who’s there?” Louis squinted into the darkness dropping the milk to the floor. “What is going on here?”

  “Louis,” Falco began his pitch. “You are a rational man. You are a policeman. You know things other people don’t know.”

  “Maybe,” Louis said noncommittally

  “Yes. I believe you do. And you also know that nothing is free. Everything has a price tag, Louis. There are no free rides. No free lunches. Only free falls. You know that a man has to pay and pay dearly for everything he gets. You know what it means to lose everything and keep losing, but you also know what it means to get it all back.”

  “I know all that,” Louis nodded and his face darkened.

  “You also know the man sitting in front of you. Perry Aliger. Not your common, ordinary John Doe, right?

  Louis said nothing. He continued to squint into the darkness trying to figure out where the voice was coming from.

  “You know in your heart, by the way, a very dark place if I may say so, that he cured your wife, Julia, of that nasty little disease. You don’t know how he did it, but you know he did. You thought that he had exacted a certain... how shall we put it? A certain payment from her, but then you found out that this was not the case. You also know in that same dirty little place you keep all your secrets, that Peregrin Aliger saved your life. You still don’t know why he did it. You don’t understand why a man would do something like that for someone else. But you do know that there is a price to be paid. What is your life and the life of your wife worth, Louis? What do you think he will ask in payment?”

  Louis looked at Perry as if waiting for him to comment, but Perry could say nothing. He merely looked at Louis with that same amused look he had always worn.

  “It doesn’t have to be that way, Louis.” Falco continued in a smooth silky voice. “You’ve killed men before. It’s easy. Just choose your weapon from the table and do it. I am the only one who can hold him for you. Kill him... kill him and you are free from your obligations to him. No one will know. You can do whatever you like here.”

  “I don’t know...” Louis picked up the dagger and walked around the table. He put one hand under Perry’s jaw and tilted his head back. He laid the dagger against his throat.

  “Yes. That is exactly right,” Falco told him when he made no further move to carry through with the act. “You’ve killed before. In the line of duty. Consider this your duty to yourself. To your wife. To Julia. Think of her soul, Louis.”

  Louis closed his eyes and then opened them again quickly. He let go of Perry and tossed the knife into the darkness at the point from which he thought the voice emanated.

  “If I have been taken in by the Devil. Then so be it. This is not in the line of duty. This is murder. I refuse to do it. I won’t kill him. If he wants my soul, then he has it. All I ask is this. If I spare his life, I would ask him to leave my wife’s soul alone.”

  Louis was gone as suddenly as he came.

  Perry let out an unexpectedly loud breath. That had been extremely close. He hadn’t expected that one.

  “Uh, uh, uh!” Falco wagged one finger in front of his face. “There are more.”

  Tyler McDaniels approached the table with a terrible frown on his face. He felt of himself and looked at the table in fascination before raising his eyes to Perry’s face.

  Perry frowned at him. Why had Falco chosen to bring Tyler here? Certainly Tyler should have no ill feelings for him. Had he missed something?

  “Tyler McDaniels!” Falco said loudly and Tyler jumped back a bit.

  “What do you want?” He looked about the darkness and clutched his ribs.

  “You recognize this person sitting before you?” The voice of Falco sounded eerie like an angry parent or perhaps a teacher who had caught him doing something wrong.

  “Yes. I do,” he answered, plainly bewildered.

  “And what do you suppose he has done?” Falco asked almost accusingly.

  “I don’t know.” Tyler looked around.

  “Yes. You know. You have it all figured out. The test? The baby? You know you don’t need Doctor Peterson to tell you what you’ve known half your life. You can’t be the father of Paula Anne’s baby, Tyler. You can’t be the father of anyone’s baby, can you, Tyler? But what about Perry Aliger? Could he be the baby’s father? Is he just waiting for the right moment to take the baby from her? From you? What will Paula Anne do? What will she think? What will she do when Doctor Peterson tells her to stop taking the pills because it’s hopeless? What will you do then, Tyler?”

  Tyler’s face had no color. He looked as if he would be physically ill any moment. He held onto his ribs and his face registered nothing but shock.

  “You have it in your power to correct this situation,” Falco continued.

  Perry looked at the table. The dagger, the pistol and the champagne were back as if no one had touched them. He had never, ever seen this one coming. Falco was beyond belief.

  “What can I do now?” Tyler asked in confusion. “It’s too late.”

  “It’s never too late,” Falco’s voice had taken on the soothing tone again. “All you have to do is pick your weapon. Rid yourself of this awful situation. Kill him. He can’t take her baby if you kill him, can he? He took something very precious to you, Tyler. He took your wife and he’s going to take her baby. If you kill him, the baby will be yours. Paula Anne need never know about this.”

  “You’re crazy,” Tyler said and looked up. “Whatever you are, you are crazy! I don’t believe you. How do you know all this?”

  “Does it matter?” Falco asked him.

  “Yes, it damn well matters!” Tyler shouted at the darkness. “It matters to me.” He lowered his voice. “If I believe you and you are lying, then my baby will have a murderer for a father. I won’t take that chance. If what you say is true, then I’ll deal with it when it’s time, but I won’t kill anyone in cold blood. Not now. Not ever.”

  Tyler’s form wavered and shimmered and disappeared.

  “Enough of this!” Perry shouted at the darkness himself. He had been astounded at what Falco had said to Tyler. Where had Tyler gotten such strange ideas? Perry could not believe that Falco could be so cruel. Of course, Tyler’s ideas weren’t so far-fetched after all, were they?

  Without warning, Mike Padgett stood before him. He rose up slowly, sawdust filtered down from his clothing. He stared around bug-eyed and then glued his eyes on the table in front of him

&n
bsp; “You can relax, Mike,” Falco’s voice startled him. “There is nothing here to harm you.”

  “Are you abductin’ me?” Mike looked at Perry. He seemed to think that Perry was talking to him without moving his lips.

  “No, it’s nothing like that, Mike,” Falco laughed and Mike cringed.

  “Then what’s all this about?” He asked. His voice cracked and he caught the edge of the table to steady himself.

  “I have to ask you something, Mike,” Falco told him. “When you’ve answered my question, you can go right back to your workshop. Deal?”

  Mike nodded.

  “You see, I have a problem. Mr. Aliger here is a real problem for me. He’s done some things that are highly... irregular. What I mean is, he has done some things that are not allowed. I need your help to set things right. Will you help me?”

  “I don’t know,” Mike answered the unseen voice.

  “I understand that you are a special sort of person, Mike. One who has the sight. The seventh son of the seventh son. Isn’t that right?”

  Mike nodded solemnly.

  “I’ve done all I can do to stop him, Mike. My powers are not strong enough. I can hold him here for only a short time. When he leaves here, he will finish what he came to do.”

  “What’s that?” Mike asked hesitantly and stared at Perry wild-eyed.

  “He intends to take over, Mike. He wants what you have. He only set you up so that he could work through you to get what he wants.”

  “What does he want?” Mike’s voice was barely above a whisper.

  “He wants your body. He wants a real body. You see, his body is only temporary. He can’t maintain this form indefinitely. He needs to take over a real human body. If he don’t get yours, he’ll take someone else’s. Maybe he’ll take Sam’s body or Tyler’s body or even Billy Johnson’s body. He don’t care. He has to have one real soon.”

  “So what can I do?” Mike asked almost in a panic.

  “Either one of those weapons in front of you will do the trick.” Falco told him. “All you have to do is pick one up and use it. Your choice. You’ll be doing everyone a favor. Hell, you might even be saving the world.”