Back | Next
Contents

Chapter Thirteen

Jessica paced back and forth like a caged animal. It had been several weeks since RJ had raided the supply train full of communicators. The train where RJ had come up against trained Elites and a GSH and had destroyed them all. They had found Jack's box at the scene—proof that RJ knew what Jessica had done and that it wouldn't work again.

Jessica was right back at square one. No clues, no edge, flying blind. She had no idea where or when RJ would show up. Jessica was unaccustomed to being helpless. It was a feeling she promised herself she was not going to get used to.

Theoretically, she and RJ should be identical, but they weren't. RJ embraced chaos, while Jessica worked to preserve the Reliance, the pinnacle of order.

Jessica sat at her desk, and once more studied the autopsy report. RJ had beaten the GSH nearly to death, and then slit its throat. It had been no more trouble to her than anything else they had thrown at her. This upset Jessica more than anything to date, because she wasn't so sure that she could live through a hand-to-hand encounter with a GSH.

Jessica had no doubt that RJ planned to build an army. Yet there was no such activity visible, much less activity on the scale that would be necessary to carry off such a coup.

Jessica didn't understand what motivated RJ. The reports indicated that she had refused to participate in a cleansing exercise, but she had no trouble killing Jack and all his guards in cold blood just to cover the stealing of his box. In Jessica's mind, the two things seemed to contradict one another.

RJ was a genuine threat to the Reliance—at least the Reliance here on Earth. Even if that fat idiot Jago didn't think so. His opinion didn't change the facts, no matter how much he might wish the problem away. Her meeting with the self-important Blob of Sector 11-N had been nothing more or less than a humongous joke.

"Come now, Senator," Jago had laughed, his blubber rippling like a hippo doing a hula. "Grant you this RJ person has been a dreadful nuisance, but to suggest that she can be any more that a trivial hindrance?" He laughed again. "Why, it's absolutely absurd!"

Jessica gritted her teeth. If he admitted RJ was a real threat, then he would have to inform the World Commissioner. So when you boiled it all down, Jago refused to do anything drastic to get rid of RJ because to do that was to acknowledge that RJ was a real threat. He didn't want to admit that RJ was a real threat because he didn't want to have to tell his big brother that he couldn't handle his sector and its problems.

"We need more GSHs. The only one who can sanction their manufacture is the World Commissioner," Jessica reminded him.

Jago managed to look thoughtful for all of two seconds before he waved a hand dismissively and declared. "No, we have plenty of GSHs in Zone 2-A. There is no sense in overkill . . .

Jessica lost it then. "Overkill? Over kill is what we've got right now! Over four hundred men, including Governor Bristol, several troops of Elites and at least one GSH have been killed to date. Not to mention whole shipments of arms and supplies and caravans of vehicles destroyed or stolen. This is just RJ! Can you imagine what will happen if she succeeds in building an army?"

Red faced, his jowls rippling with anger, Jago levered himself upright and cut her off. "Do you have any idea who you are talking to?" he replied shrilly.

For one delicious moment, Jessica thought about being honest: a fat pompous idiot. Fortunately, self-preservation pressed the answer to the back of her throat. "I'm sorry, Your Excellency, but this problem with the rebels weighs heavily on my mind."

"The death of your lover weighs heavily on your . . . mind . . . Kirk," Jago hissed, then sat down with a plop.

Jessica thought that his legs probably wouldn't hold him up any longer. She inwardly steamed. This fat bastard had a hell of a lot of nerve.

"I understand how you must feel, but it is time you picked up the pieces and got on with your life. You are obsessed with this RJ person, Senator. That is why you are so ineffective against her. You have made her out to be more than she truly is." He laughed. "Really, Kirk. 'Topple the Reliance!' Do you have any idea how ridiculous you sound?"

She left before she could do anything violent. Depriving herself of this pleasure was regrettable, but necessary for the sake of her career. As she left, she could hear Jago saying to Right, who had sulked silently in a corner through the entire meeting, "I thought you weren't going to bother me about this RJ person anymore, Right." He added with near-operatic melodrama, "You are ruining my day. You know how much this nonsense distresses me."

She heard Right mumbling feebly about needing him to get GSHs. He should have saved his breath. They weren't going to get any help. At least not from Jago.

He was a stupid pig. He wouldn't believe RJ was a real threat till she knocked down his door, stuck an apple in his mouth, and roasted the fat bastard.

 

Jessica put her head down on the desk. She was afraid. Afraid that she was going to lose the battle with RJ. Afraid of being found wanting. She needed Jack. She needed to feel loved and accepted. But Jack was gone. Nothing could bring him back, and she was alone.

She had never felt so inept or so vulnerable. It was RJ's fault. Everything was RJ's fault. Hate moved in rapidly to fill the space that had once held her love for Jack.

All that was important was to kill RJ.

Stewart had killed himself to protect RJ. Jessica still couldn't quite fathom that. Had she been somehow more that an experiment to him? Why should he care more for RJ than he did for her? There was only one logical answer. Stewart must have believed in RJ's cause. He, too, must have hated the Reliance.

Jessica realized, not without shame, that part of her growing hatred for RJ stemmed from the fact that RJ had somehow won Stewart's favor. Perhaps Stewart had loved RJ. But, what did it matter now? Stewart was dead. RJ had killed Jack, and Poley was off to join the Rebellion. Her family, such as it was, had given her nothing but trouble and grief.

She sat up straight, and dried her eyes. She couldn't afford the luxury of being depressed. If she was going to catch RJ, she was going to have to use all her skills and resources.

If she could just clear her mind of random thought, the answer would come to her. Unfortunately some of those random thoughts were of Jack, and she couldn't let him go. Not yet.

 

David couldn't be sure whether or not Whitey and RJ were actually lovers, but it was obvious that Whitey meant for them to be. If RJ slept on the floor, Whitey curled up beside her. If she slept on the bed, he crawled in beside her, even if it meant pushing David aside to do so. David no longer had trouble with that particular union. In fact, since RJ had all but attacked him in the middle of the floor, David thought it was a very good idea for her to have sex with someone—anyone but him.

As for RJ's brother . . . That guy was a real weirdo. He hardly showed any sign of emotion, and when he did, it only seemed skin-deep. He had no body language, and David found that unnerving. But David couldn't say that Poley was hard to get along with. In order to be hard to get along with you had to have a personality. If Poley had one, it was well hidden.

David's own relationship with RJ was changing. Times alone were scarce, and it almost seemed to David that RJ avoided situations where they would be alone together. When they were, there was an obvious tension that hadn't been there before.

One day they went for a rare walk alone on the beach. David reached out and put his hand on her shoulder, and he felt her flesh tighten.

"What's wrong with you?" David asked hotly.

"Nothing," she said with a shrug. She walked over and sat down on a rock, looking out at the ocean. "Nothing at all."

David walked up behind her and started rubbing her back. "You're so tense."

"I don't have a right to be?" She laughed. "We are preparing to wage war with the Reliance. I think we should all be a little tense."

"You and Whitey . . . is that the problem?" he asked, sitting beside her.

RJ sighed. "He loves me."

"So?" David didn't see that as any sort of problem.

"I don't love him. I'm not even sure I know him. If I did, I might not want to." RJ kicked at the sand with her boots. "I like Whitey."

"So, what's the problem, RJ?"

"I can't sleep with him." She almost mumbled the words, but David still understood her.

"Because you don't love him?" If David was shocked that they weren't already lovers, he was even more shocked that RJ might actually have such antiquated morals.

"You know I'm a hybrid?"

David nodded.

"Well, during love-making we . . . Well, we lose it. During orgasm Argy women have no idea what they're doing. I have inherited this gene."

"I don't understand the problem.

"The problem, stupid, is that I am also incredibly strong. Stronger even than Whitey."

David didn't understand that for a minute, but he was damned if he was going to argue with her. He shrugged, signifying that he didn't understand.

"There is a good chance that I could do him physical damage."

"Oh!" David winced at the implications.

RJ stood up and started to walk away.

David followed her. He put everything she had just told him through his brain one more time, and came up with a startling deduction. "RJ, don't tell me you've never . . ."

"No, I haven't, and if you ever tell another living soul, I'll rip your lungs out."

"How do you know you'll hurt someone if you've never . . ." He finished with a graphic hand gesture that made RJ blush.

"Would you want to be the one I find out on? I broke a bed once having a wet dream."

David thought about it only a second. "Damn! No wonder you're so tense."

 

They called it "the Pier." Actually, it was all that was left of some huge old cable bridge. Flecks of orange paint could still be seen clinging to it. It now lay in the bay and was used to dock boats. The local fishing population ran across it as if it were a smooth and well-kept surface. It wasn't. It was a jungle of fallen rubble, broken cable and snapped steel. Only the very nimble dared come down here.

"You mind my asking what we're doing down here?" Alexi asked testily as he tripped for the third time.

"You always complain," Mickey said accusingly. From his perch on RJ's shoulder, he feared nothing, least of all Alexi.

"Shut up, you little freak," Alexi said with venom. Whitey did little more than give him a dirty look, but RJ had a special aversion to the term freak.

"You shut up, dickhead," RJ spat back at Alexi.

The Pier was alive with activity. People ran this way and that, carrying fish, nets, or the like. No one stopped in their labors to give the strange group more than a glance, but they all knew they were there.

David moved up even with RJ. "You know he purposely eggs Alexi on." David gave Mickey an accusing look. RJ just shrugged."He knows he is the son you and Whitey never had, and he knows one of you will come to his rescue, no matter what he does." It was obvious that RJ was paying him little if any attention. "RJ, are you listening to me?"

"No," she said flatly.

"Poley." The metal man was at her side almost before she finished speaking his name. "Poley, will that boat over there haul all of us?"

Poley looked at the boat thoughtfully for a few moments. "Weight and mass. Weather conditions, condition of the boat . . ."

"Yes or no, Poley," RJ sighed.

"Yes." The boat in question currently held a crew of three men.

"You there!" RJ hollered. "Get outta that boat."

"For God's sake, RJ. A little diplomacy," David said.

The three men just stared at them, not knowing whether it was a joke or not.

David laughed nervously, and pulled a fistful of units out of his pocket. "We'd like to rent your boat." It was more money than the boat was worth, so the men quickly got out. The leader took the units from David, looked at him as if he had lost all his marbles, and then he and the two others ran down the pier laughing.

"Great, now they think we're cracked," RJ said with obvious disapproval.

"I suppose you would rather have them think we're a bunch of thugs."

RJ just shrugged. She wasn't in the mood to talk about the etiquette of boat appropriation. They had the boat, that was all that was important. They all boarded, and Levits took the controls as RJ ordered.

"I don't see why I had to come along," Levits complained. "Any one of you could have driven this boat. Going to a haunted island in the middle of the night. Excuse me for my lack of enthusiasm, but I had really hoped for more from life."

"Not afraid of ghosts, are we, Levits?" RJ said teasingly.

"No. That's the least of my worries. There are lights out there, and lights mean there has to be someone out there. Since there isn't a huge, flashing sign saying 'Revolutionaries welcome,' I'm just naturally assuming that they want to be left alone."

"Start the boat, Levits," RJ ordered. She set Mickey down on the deck and took a seat.

"There are no such things as ghosts," Poley said with assurance. "To believe that the dead could be animated is absurd."

"We're not talking walking cadavers here, Mr. Take-Everything-Literally," Alexi spat, "we're talking the unquiet spirits of . . ."

"Bullshit!" Levits sang out. He had some trouble getting the motor to turn over, but it seemed to run fine after that.

David didn't like all this talk of ghosts. He did believe in them. He couldn't help it. Having grown up in a farming community, he had heard stories about ghosts all his life, and they had always been told as if they were fact.

"I believe in ghosts," Alexi defended.

"Hear that, Poley? Alexi believes in ghosts. Better revise your thinking," RJ said with a smile.

"Look, look everyone. Did you see that? Poley almost smiled!" David said sarcastically.

"Poley is not the most expressive person you'll ever meet. You might even go so far as to say he's just like Dad."

Poley's eyes almost shone with mechanical joy. He liked the idea that he was like Stewart.

They sped towards the island, and the closer they got the quieter they got. It was obvious that there were many lights, and there was a sinister feel to the buildings that RJ hadn't felt till they got closer. Suddenly, there was a horrible shrieking noise, and before them loomed a giant, twisted figure.

"Holy shit!" Levits screamed, swerving to miss it. Whitey, who had been standing, fell back onto the deck of the boat. David and Alexi shrank in terror, and Mickey climbed up RJ like a monkey and clung to her chest.

RJ looked calmly at Poley. "Poley?"

"Holographic image projection. The scream is the amplified sound of a blue whale fart."

"Well, they obviously don't want company, but at least we know they have a sense of humor," RJ said with a laugh.

David, Mickey, and Alexi were not put at ease.

"I thought you didn't believe in ghosts," RJ said to Mickey, who was still clinging with his head buried between her boobs.

He peeked up at her. "Did not, but cannot deny truth of own eyes." He returned his head to its place of safety.

Whitey hauled himself up off the deck of the ship. "It's a picture, Mickey." Mickey's head stayed where it was. "Like on a viewing screen, except without the screen."

Mickey still didn't move.

David and Alexi weren't convinced either. After all, they only had Poley's word that it wasn't some misguided soul from the netherworld come to devour them.

"Drive through it," RJ ordered.

"I don't know, RJ," Levits said, shaking his head.

"Go on, man. You know what a hologram is," RJ said impatiently.

"I know it's a little high-tech for a bunch of fisher-folk. I know that the same people who have that kind of technology probably have lasers and rocket launchers, and all kinds of big ugly weapons just waiting to blow our asses up."

"Go through it, Levits," RJ hissed. Levits still looked reluctant. "Go through, or I'll rip your arm off and shove it up your ass!"

"When you put it in such a charming manner, how could I refuse?" Levits drove on. In a matter of moments, they were through the hologram, and it disappeared into the night.

"OK, Mickey. We're through. It's gone," Whitey told him.

Mickey stayed where he was.

"It was just a picture."

Mickey looked up, smiling stupidly. "I think I'll stay here."

"Why you little lecher!" Whitey grabbed the midget and jerked him off RJ. He made as if to toss him into the ocean, Mickey screamed, and the whole boat rocked.

"Do you have to make so much racket?" Alexi asked angrily. "Why don't you send up flares so they'll know we're here?"

"They already know we're here," RJ said, matter-of-factly.

"That thing?" David asked, nodding back to where the hologram had been.

RJ nodded. "When we activated that, we alerted whoever put it there."

"We'll dock in less than two minutes," Poley informed them.

"Levits, kill the engine," RJ ordered.

"Why bother, if they know that we're here?" he asked in a doomed voice.

"Kill the engine."

"Maybe we should throw down anchor here and swim it," Whitey suggested. "We could wrap the weapons in . . ."

"No!" Poley said emphatically.

RJ moved up beside him, and patted him on the back. "It's OK, Poley, we'll pull in to shore."

They got as close to shore as they could.

"My feet are wet," Poley said in a nervous tone. "My feet are wet."

"We'll dock in a minute," RJ told him.

"My feet are wet," Poley said again.

"You'll be OK," RJ said. "What do you want me to do, carry you?"

"Yes," Poley said, nodding his head.

"Well, forget it."

"The dock has been very well maintained," Levits announced. "OK. I've seen enough. Let's go home."

"Just dock the boat," RJ ordered.

They docked without a hitch.

RJ helped Poley out of the boat. "Do you detect any life forms?" RJ asked him in a whisper.

The robot stared at his wet feet and appeared to be pouting.

"You're OK, Poley." She sighed. Why couldn't things be simple? "Do you detect any life forms?"

"Shielding makes it impossible to tell."

"Oh, great." RJ stared up the hill towards the building. The lights were on. It looked so inviting, but something told her she was not going to be invited in.

"We are being monitored," Poley informed her.

"Shit! Now?"

"No, but it suffices to say that they know we're here. We'll be scanned again shortly."

"Let's move." They followed her a little further inland. "Poley, can you stop them monitoring us?" she asked again in a whisper.

"I could emit a silent wavelength which should distort any picture they may be getting."

Behind them, where they had been standing only a few moments before, the night erupted in a shower of sparks.

"Do it, Poley," RJ said. "Let's move!" They walked rapidly up the old road that led towards the building. It was well maintained but steep.

Panting for breath, David moved up to walk beside RJ. "What the hell are you doing? Let's go back. Re-think this thing. Come back better armed . . ."

"How could we be better armed?" RJ asked. "Besides, they know we're here. I doubt they'll let us leave. We're going to have to fight them, or at the very least outwit them." She looked curiously at the building. "I don't think we're dealing with Reliance."

"Well, they're certainly not friendly," David said.

RJ shrugged. "I'm not so sure. After all, how would you react to a bunch of armed guerillas landing in your back yard?"

"I wouldn't just fire lasers on them without talking to them . . ."

"Ah, but I would," RJ said with a smile.

David nodded, although he wasn't sure at all that this was a comforting thought. They passed several smaller structures on their way to the main building, and David expected spirits or worse to jump out of any one of them at any moment. Finally they found an apparently unguarded door. As they approached a light came on, and they stopped dead in their tracks.

Instinctively, RJ held out her arm to stop them going any further."Poley?"

"I detect an automated defense system."

"What's that mean?" David asked.

"It means we're in deep shit," Whitey answered.

"Are we already in range?" RJ asked.

"If we were, we would be dead. It's triggered to fire upon the breaking of light beams," Poley answered.

"I don't see any light," Alexi said. He was totally ignored.

RJ took Poley and pulled him off a few feet to talk. This did not pass Alexi's eyes unnoticed. He whispered in David's ear.

"Why is she always asking him questions?"

David shrugged. "I don't know. I suppose because he's her brother, and she trusts his judgment," David said with a shrug. "She does ask him some pretty weird shit, though."

"And what's even weirder, is that he always seems to know the answers."

RJ and Poley walked back. RJ took a handful of rocks and threw them on the steps. Lasers flared immediately and the rocks were blown to bits. RJ drew her laser and fired four shots seemingly at the building. There was a loud hiss of fire at each shot, and David realized that she had shot out the weapons. She threw in another fist full of rocks; this time with no results.

"Poley, go and open the door."

Poley nodded and moved forward.

"Now that's a little strange, don't you think?" Alexi asked.

David just shrugged in mild annoyance.

"RJ just sent her brother to open the door. Odd, because she can't be sure that all of the lasers are deactivated. You'd expect her to send me."

"I would never send a hamster to do a man's work." RJ had no trouble hearing him, and she had no time for his shit. She was not unconcerned about the metal man.

"Well?" she asked Poley when he had been at the door longer than she thought he should be.

"It is too simple," he said.

RJ nodded and walked up the steps to join him at the door. "Well, Tin Pants?"

He pointed at the doorknob and she nodded. "Can you detect anything?"

"No."

"Oh, I hate this. You know what Father always said . . . ."

"If it looks too good to be true, it probably is," Poley finished. As always happy that he could answer her question.

"Exactly." She put her hand on the knob. "Cross your fingers."

"We learned many strange things from our father," the robot said as if it were a revelation.

RJ nodded and turned the knob.

#

In the depths of the ancient prison, a man stared at three blank screens.

"What's happened, Marge?"

All around him, machinery hummed and lights flashed. The noise and the lights didn't actually have anything to do with the operation of the massive computer which lined every wall of the room the man was sitting in, but he thought it added something to the feel of things.

"They're using a sonic wavelength to distort the picture." The voice was obviously a man trying to sound like a woman, and it issued from the computer's speakers.

"Funny. They didn't look the sonic-wavelength-emitting type." The man laughed and spun in his chair. "Anything else?"

"Specific meaning?" the computer oozed.

"Stupid machine," he mumbled. "Are you getting any reading from the weapon system?"

"Lasers at the front entrance were activated, no human tissue was scorched. Suggest infiltrators threw something into the field to check it."

"Hum." The man stroked his chin.

"What, Master?"

"Just hum. Can't a man hum around here without getting the third degree?" He calmed and smiled. "So. I wonder what she's up to now?"

"Suggest that, seeing the sophistication of our weapon system, the infiltrators have left."

"Suggest you are an idiot!" the man screamed at the computer. "If they have gone, why are the cameras still not functioning?" He rubbed his hands in anticipation. "No, she's coming on. I can feel it. It's all rather exciting."

 

The antiquity of the exterior of the structure did not match the sleek modern brightness of the interior.

"OK, I've seen enough, let's go," Levits said. "We could always come back another time, RJ."

"Quiet, idiot!" RJ hissed. Then she mumbled. "Idiots! I am surrounded, completely engulfed in idiots."

 

In the bowels of the computer complex, sirens wailed."Weapons deactivated! Door open! Infiltrators inside! Door open! Unauthorized entry at main door!" the computer squealed in a shrill voice.

The man jumped to his feet and clapped his hands in glee. "They got in! Any audio on them, Marge?"

For answer, Levits' voice came in over the loudspeaker.

The man flopped down heavily in his chair.

"RJ." He said the name almost reverently. "So, I wonder if that could be our RJ, Marge. Only one way to be sure."

"How's that, Master?" the computer asked.

"You are such a disappointment to me at times, Marge. We simply leave the security system as is. The real RJ will have no trouble getting through it."

"And if she can't?"

"Then we will have enjoyed a pleasant diversion for a time, and we'll have a nasty mess to clean up." He winced. "Turn off that bloody siren."

 

"We have to keep moving," RJ said. "But we're going to have to move with caution." She put Mickey on her shoulder.

"I detect an audio system," Poley whispered to her.

"Scramble it," she ordered.

"Done."

They were in a long, dimly lit hallway. There were no doors on either side as far as the eye could see, and RJ's worst fears were realized.

"We are in their security system," she announced.

"What do you mean?" David asked.

"This isn't a logical entrance. In other words, this is the security system," she said impatiently.

David had that I don't get it look on his face which she was beginning to find increasingly irritating.

"It's a trap, probably a series of them."

David nodded.

They started down the hall three abreast, weapons pulled. When they reached a corner, they went around it with care. On the floor before them for some twenty feet, the floor changed. Where it had been solid white, it was now a checkerboard of black and white tiles. RJ threw out her arm, and David crashed into it. She looked at the floor, then the ceiling. At ceiling level, she saw protrusions. Glancing back at the floor, she asked, "Poley, can you detect any difference between the tiles?"

"Some are black, and some are white," he stated proudly.

"I can see that." She took a deep breath, obviously restraining her annoyance. "Can you see any other differences? Are some of the tiles thicker than the others?"

Poley scanned the floor. "The black tiles are thicker."

"OK," RJ sighed. "See those gas jets?" She pointed. "I think stepping on the wrong tiles activates them. We have no idea what kind of gas that is. Now, I'm thinking that the black tiles' being thicker means that they are the triggering device. Of course, I could be wrong. So, I suggest that Poley walk over first and that we stand back at a good distance."

"I suggest that we all go back to Alsterase before you get us killed," Alexi said. "Who ever we're dealing with is our technological superior. The farther we go, the more devious and dangerous their traps will become."

"Perhaps I should stay here in case we are attacked from the rear," Levits chimed in.

"Oh, good idea," Whitey said, with sincerity.

"On second thought, maybe we shouldn't break the group up," Levits said, nervously realizing that there actually might be an attack from the rear.

"We go on, all of us," RJ said authoritatively.

"Oh, the Great Leader has spoken," Alexi said sarcastically. "Where do you lead us, RJ? Do you know? To our deaths, I think."

RJ just smiled smugly. "If you want to be leader, Alexi, go across the tiles first. If you want to leave, then by all means, do so. But who will follow you? You forget yourself, Alexi. The Reliance may do a lot of things, but they don't overlook leadership qualities. In your former life, you were a third-class soldier; I was an Elite Major. To lead, you have to put your neck out. Go ahead. Take the walk, Alexi. I say walk on the white tiles, but what the hell do I know? Be your own man! Go ahead, chose for yourself and take the walk."

They all moved a good distance back. Alexi walked up to the edge of the tiles. He could see the gas jets, but he couldn't see any difference in the tiles. RJ said walk on the white ones. He started to take the step and broke out in a cold sweat. She thought she was infallible but he didn't. She could be wrong or she could be doing this on purpose to get rid of him. He stepped back away from the tiles, wiped the sweat from his face and turned towards the group. "Why should I go? I want to go back. Remember?"

RJ smiled broadly. She moved forward and Poley grabbed her shoulder. "I should go," he said.

"I trust you, Tin Pants." She patted his face and ran across the white tiles. The others followed.

David moved up beside RJ. "You hit him where he lives," he whispered, smiling, "but is there really any purpose for us being here?"

"Someone has worked very hard at making it damn near impossible to get in here. Therefore, whatever is here must be worth having."

David nodded. That made sense.

"Besides, we're not in any real danger as long as we stay sharp."

"Huh?" David was lost again.

"If the owners wanted us dead, we would be dead."

David gave her that confused look again.

"A weapons system such as this indicates a great technology. Great technology indicates great intelligence. Obviously, these weapons are being computer controlled, but would a wise man build such a system without a manual over ride?"

"So, if he knew we were in, he could have emptied the gas canisters into the hall, and we would have walked right into it." David made a face. "I still don't get it."

"Only some of the tiles activated the gas. If you have manual override, none of these traps would hamper your coming and going. So why not have all the tiles activate the gas jets?"

"It's like some sort of maze. A test!" David said.

"Exactly," RJ said. "And if we keep our wits about us, we'll pass the test and win the prize."

 

"Master, the infiltrators have passed the gas trap," The computer informed in its mock-female voice.

The man swiveled in his chair. "They're still scrambling audio and visual?"

"Yes, I am tracing them through their body heat."

"Well, they certainly are a persistent lot." He smiled. "I hope they make it. I have been so wanting to meet these rebels."

 

The pit spread out before them, blocking their way. It covered the whole width of the hall for twenty feet. Five feet below them they could see a lake of bubbling acid.

"So, what now?" David asked.

"They haven't beaten us yet," she said. "There has to be a door or a bridge. Remember, they have to get past it somehow."

Nearly fifteen minutes later, Whitey found a loose section of wall. He moved it aside to reveal a door. It was securely locked, but the mechanism was simple.

"I can do that!" Mickey informed them.

RJ put him down, and three minutes later the door was open. The hallway they entered was no different than the one they had been walking in—which was not at all comforting.

 

"Master," the computer chimed. "RJ has found the secret passage around the acid trap."

"Marge, you called her RJ. Why did you do that?" he asked.

"You said that if she could get through the traps, she must be RJ. She is getting through the traps."

 

The hall narrowed and shortened, then it started to descend.

"I don't like this," David said. They now had to go single file, and even then it was tight for Whitey.

"We must be getting close to wherever we're going," Whitey said lightly. "This keeps attackers from attacking in force. I've seen this sort of thing before."

RJ stopped for a second and looked at the air vent considering. It was small; too small for her. She pulled the grill off and stood close enough to feel the air being sucked into the vent. "Poley." He joined her. "What do you make of this?"

"It's probably pulling cool air into the computer complex."

"They probably won't be scanning the air ducts. Maybe we could use it to get to the main computer room undetected."

"In case you haven't noticed, none of us can fit into that air duct," Alexi said dryly.

"As you obviously haven't noticed, one of us can."

RJ picked Mickey up.

The midget smiled smugly at Alexi.

"Be careful. If you come to a junction, follow the air current."

Mickey nodded and scampered into the air duct.

"The midget! You're sending the midget as our advance party?" Alexi laughed.

Whitey took Alexi by the collar, and Alexi was quiet. "Laugh once more, and we'll just have to see if you can fit into the vent."

 

"Master, I have lost the heat signal on one of the party members," Marge informed him.

"Now, I wonder what they're up to." He shook his head, and sat back to wait.

 

Just when the hallway became uncomfortably narrow, they entered a small room. In the wall ahead of them was a door. They entered the room cautiously. There were no windows, and there was only the one door opposite the entryway they had just come through. There was a blue button next to the door, but RJ didn't believe for a moment that was the way out. Instead, she started to search the walls for the true opening device that just had to be there.

"What the hell are you waiting for?" Alexi strode across the room. Sure, he hadn't walked on the tiles, but he'd show them all now. "Let's just open the door and . . ."

"NO!" RJ screamed, but it was too late. Alexi had pressed the button. She ran towards the entranceway they had just come through. When she heard the click, she flung herself the last few feet—too little, too late. The door started to fall, and to make matters worse, she caught her fingers in the door just as it slammed shut. She was stuck, not to mention in a hell of a lot of pain.

Then there was a hum of power, and the room started to fill with salt water.

"I'll be damned if you're going to drown with the rest of us," Whitey started choking Alexi.

"Poley, quick! Do you see the opening device for the door?" RJ asked.

"I'm wet." He answered, as the water reached his knees. "Have lost control of audio and visual." Poley was in a robotic form of panic. While water wouldn't actually harm Poley, it made him unable to operate to full capacity, and he couldn't swim. For these reasons, Stewart had built in a strong fear of water as part of Poley's personality.

"I'm stuck!" RJ yelled as the water started to go over her head. She was, too. She couldn't get her fingers free. With her hands tied up the way they were she had no way of reaching her kit. She tried, but she couldn't pull her fingers off. They were just too well-made.

Everyone except Poley—who was dealing with his own crisis—and Alexi—whom Whitey dropped in the water like an abandoned toy—ran to her aid. The water was coming in quickly, and by the time they reached her, she was already under. Whitey and David both dove under to see what the problem was. They came up and looked at each other.

"What now?" David asked in a panic.

"We'll have to lift it up," Whitey said. He looked at Levits, and before he had a chance to order Levits to help, he had dove into the water. Even with the three of them giving it all they could, there was no way of moving it, they just couldn't get hold of the door enough to get any leverage. The door didn't budge. They broke the surface almost as, one gasping for air. They knew this meant RJ was in a really bad way.

They dove under the water again. RJ mouthed something urgently at Whitey, but he couldn't understand her. Her fingers were keeping the door from closing all the way. There was a gap, but it wasn't big enough for any of them to get their fingers under far enough to have a good enough grip to lift the door. If they could lift it at all and get out before they wound up in the same shape RJ was in.

Whitey came up for air at the same time as David and Levits. He pulled his sword. "We can use it as a lever. With all of us, we may be able to lift the door enough to get her free."

David nodded and they dove again. Whitey jammed the sword under the door, and they gave it all they had.

Her chest hurt from holding her breath. She was supposed to be able to hold her breath for twenty minutes. That was what she had been told. But it hadn't been even ten, and already she could feel her strength ebbing away. It was getting harder and harder to withstand the urge to take a deep breath. She tried to get Whitey's attention, and finally succeeded, but it was obvious that he had no idea what she was saying. Now they were trying to open the door with the sword. This just might work, but then the tip of the sword broke off. This time, she didn't even manage to get Whitey's attention.

"She's gonna die," David told Whitey as they broke the surface of the water for the third time.

"We're all going to die," Levits said hopelessly.

"We'll try again," Whitey said, and dove back into the water, which was now up to his chest. The others were already treading water. They followed him under.

RJ could no longer help. She was using all her energy to hold her breath. Finally, she even lost that ability.

They put everything they had into it. The sword was thicker closer to the hilt and—stronger this time—it bent, but it didn't break. The door moved. Not a lot, but enough. Levits grabbed RJ, and swam with her to the top.

As soon as Whitey broke the surface of the water, he jerked RJ's lifeless body from Levits. Whitey started to shake her violently.

David looked on in horror. She was limp, and her head jerked back and forth as if it might snap off at any minute. She was blue, and there was no sign of life in her. In his grief, David forgot that he, too, would soon be dead.

"God damn you, RJ!" Whitey screamed as he shook her. "God damn you, you can't die here Not like this. Not by fucking drowning!" Whitey started giving her artificial respiration; not an easy thing to do while treading water, but a lot more effective than screaming and shaking her.

RJ coughed, spitting out what looked like half the ocean, then she took a long, shuddering breath. When her eyes focused on Whitey, she threw her arms around his neck and clung to him.

Whitey held her tight. "I thought you were dead," he whispered.

"GSH kit, you moron!" RJ managed to cough out through her raw throat.

"You need Pronuses?" Whitey asked in a whisper.

"No." Even in her current condition, she knew she didn't want any of the others to see her ingesting what was, for them, a lethal poison. "The knife."

"Oh—OH!" Whitey couldn't believe his stupidity, but he was too elated to let it get him down long. "I kind of like you with your fingers."

Having saved RJ, David and Whitey had temporarily forgotten about their present predicament.

Alexi reminded them. "Good. Now we can all die together." Whitey had hurt him, but not so badly that he couldn't tread water."One big happy family."

"Shut up!" David screamed. He was trying to think. We have to look for a way to open the door . . . Poley said he lost control of audio and visual. I assume that means that they can see us and hear us right now. If what RJ says is true, they may let us live. "Listen, you filthy bastards. We're tired of playing your little game. We've passed all your little tests except this one. The least you can do is see us before you kill us. Give us a chance to explain what we're doing here. We don't want to hurt anyone, we just want some help."

"I don't know," a strange-sounding voice said thoughtfully. "I admit that you did rather well. But this last test . . . Well, it's the easiest of all."

"A member of our party acted against the orders of our leader," David said, giving Alexi an angry look.

"Hum," the voice said.

"What?" David asked.

"Oh, just 'hum.' Every once in awhile I like to do that. So, I take it that the rather limp-looking one is the one you call RJ."

"Are you Reliance?" David asked suspiciously.

"No. Prove to me she's RJ, and we can talk."

"How do you expect me to prove that?" David asked hotly.

"Oh, just anything. Visa, American Express, a major bank card . . ."

"We are running out of time down here. I don't want to play your games. Why not let us go? If you're not Reliance, what can you gain from killing us?"

"A clean entrance hall." He laughed at his own joke.

"You're a raving lunatic!" Whitey screamed.

"Really? I've always thought of myself as demented. Still, I suppose raving has a certain ring to it." He paused as if in deep thought. "Well, that does help me make up my mind."

"Thought it might," a familiar voice said. "Now, let them go, or I blow out brains."

"ALL RIGHT, MICKEY!" they all cheered.

The water started to recede. In a matter of moments, the "entrance hall" was little more than damp. The door opposite the one they had entered opened to reveal a flight of steps going upwards.

By now, RJ had recovered completely, but she still let Whitey help her. She told herself she did this to keep the others from becoming suspicious. She looked at Poley. He appeared to be undamaged, but still seemed to be having difficulty with the fact that he was wet. She looked at her laser—also wet and useless.

When she looked at Alexi, he shrank from her gaze and looked away.

"You almost got us all killed. I won't forget that, Alexi. The list of your mistakes grows daily. When I feel you have done more harm than good, I will deal with you in an appropriate and extremely violent manner."

Alexi nodded submissively. For once, he had no snappy comebacks. He had almost killed her. It shouldn't have bothered him; she was, after all, a giant pain in his ass. But it did.

They ascended the stairs slowly, weapons drawn.

"Come on, Poley," RJ ordered when she realized he hadn't moved.

At the top of the stairs they entered a long, narrow room. Along its walls—all around them, and ten feet tall, stretching endlessly in both directions—were the components of the biggest computer RJ had ever set her eyes on. Since she had been privileged to see the military computer at Capitol, this was saying quite a lot.

It was better than anything she had hoped for.

David didn't know what it was all for, but with all the flashing lights and whirring noises . . . Well, he was impressed.

 

The man sat up straighter in his chair to get a better look at his intruders. They were an odd lot, to be sure. Three held weapons on him, the other three did not. The woman should have drowned. So, for that matter, should the dark man in the leather suit, because when the water had gone over his head he had done nothing to keep himself afloat. He'd been nowhere in sight until the water receded. The giant was the only other one that didn't hold a weapon. Apparently, these three knew their weapons would be useless till dry. The others either didn't know their weapons were dysfunctional, or they assumed that he wouldn't know.

"Poley, strip your clothes off," she ordered. The robot started to comply. "Whitey, don't kill anyone till we figure out what's going on."

"But . . ."

"We need all this, Whitey. These people are not our enemies."

Whitey sighed and nodded.

Poley had finished undressing, and now stood buck naked for all the world to see.

"Feel better?" RJ asked.

"Yes, thank you very much," Poley responded.

"Then let us meet our host, shall we?"

"Damn!" Levits exclaimed. "Would you look at the way that weird fuck is hung?"

They all mostly ignored him.

The man sat in the very middle of the room surrounded by what could only be the control panels. RJ kept a wary eye on the two stories of catwalks above them. Behind the catwalks were what must have once been prison cells, and at the end of the row was a gun gallery. If there was to be an attack, it would no doubt come from there. However, she saw not even the slightest sign of life. The only flesh-and-blood creatures about seemed to be the man she faced, her companions, and herself.

"Like a spider in its web," she whispered to herself.

"What?" David asked.

"Nothing." She looked at the man. Even sitting he looked to be tall. He had a medium frame, with bright, wide, staring blue eyes and a large, aristocratic nose. His mouth was filled with straight, white teeth that seemed too large for his face. His curly brown hair framed a face that shone with boyish impudence and great good humor. This in spite of the fact that he was at least in his fifties.

"Hello," he said. Once again, RJ noted the strange quality of his voice. This time she recognized it as an accent, although it wasn't one she had heard before. "Awfully nice of you to drop in like this. Pardon me if I don't rise." He waived his hand towards the midget with the gun.

"Good work, Mickey," RJ said.

Mickey practically glowed.

"Where are the troops?" David asked.

"He IS the troops." RJ shook her head, hardly believing her own words. She found a blank piece of console and sat down. "I'm right, aren't I?"

"You seem to have solved all my puzzles," he said, putting on his best pouty face.

"Does it do all that I think it does?" she asked, looking around at the huge computer. She was all but drooling.

"Yes . . . and probably more."

"There is no one else here?" Whitey asked in disbelief.

"Just me," he smiled. "Sorry."

"Sorry!" Whitey boomed. "You cracked little creep! I oughtta . . ."

"Calm down, Whitey." RJ patted his back. "You know my name, and these are David, Whitey, Levits, Mickey, my brother Poley, and that stupid crawling worm is Alexi." She pointed at each of them as she spoke. "And you are?"

"Topaz."

"That's an odd name."

"I took it from an old Hitchcock movie."

Not only did he speak with a strange accent, he used strange words. "And all this is?" she asked, indicating the computer with a wave of her hand.

"Marge."

"What does that stand for?"

"A girl whose company I once enjoyed," Topaz said with a laugh. These young ones thought everything had to have a reason.

"Who built it?" RJ asked. "And for what purpose?"

"I built it because I was bored, and because I could," Topaz said with a huge smile.

RJ looked around her. He didn't seem to be lying, and he wasn't shielding. That much she was sure of. Still . . . he might truly believe what he said even if it weren't true. If he were "cracked," as Whitey had suggested, this was a possibility. His having built all of this himself didn't seem logically possible.

"By yourself?" She gave him a cynical look.

"By myself."

RJ wiped some water off her face. She looked again at the computer. "You lie. This could not be built in one lifetime by one man."

He burst into maniacal laughter. "Quite true. Quite true." He quit laughing, and jumped out of his seat, oblivious to Mickey and the laser he still had trained on him. He started to pace back and forth. They all kept a wary eye on him. Finally, he stopped in front of RJ, and tapped his chin with his finger. "It's a rather long story. Do you care to hear it?"

"Yes, please," RJ said as patiently as the situation allowed her to be.

"Well, it all started some time ago, when I used to be a guy called Bob. After the first five centuries, I got tired of being Bob, so I changed my name to Topaz—it being one of my favorite movies, don't you see. It's not my birthstone, if that's what you were thinking."

"See, I told you . . . cracked," Whitey whispered to RJ.

"Shh!" RJ ordered. He wasn't lying—or at least he didn't think he was.

"There was a crash and a ray of light!" Topaz started to ramble.

"So, Topaz. You have lived a long life. Long enough to have built Marge. How and why?"

"You are a very suspicious young woman. Are you married?"

"No," RJ answered with a sigh. It wasn't going to be an easy task to get anything of value from Topaz.

"In that case, how would you like to . . ."

Whitey interrupted him with a growl. "She's my woman."

RJ temporarily forgot all about Topaz and Marge and the Reliance. She turned and gave Whitey a cold look. "Your woman?" she spat."Your woman!"

Whitey smiled and pushed a strand of wet hair out of her face."My woman," he said lovingly.

RJ took a deep breath. This had been a very trying day, and it wasn't over yet. "I'm no one's woman," she grumbled.

Turning to Topaz, she resolutely pushed Whitey out of her mind and asked, "Could you please continue?"

"Well, to make a long story short, in 1986, or was it '68? Maybe it was '2002 . . ."

"Please," RJ begged.

"Anyway, I was a biochemist . . ."

"Biochemist?" RJ asked, looking around the room again.

"Computers are a hobby," Topaz explained. "Anyway, I was looking for a cure for a disease called AIDS. It was being called the 'plague of the century.' Since initially it affected mostly homosexuals and needle users, at first it was vastly ignored by the government and became rampant in this part of the country. See, San Francisco . . ."

"San . . . fran . . . cisco?" David stumbled through the strange name.

"San Francisco. That's the real name of the town you live in. When the Reliance came into power, they changed all the place names, often distorting them. Alcatraz. That used to be the name of this island. They distorted the name to Alsterase, and it became the name of the town, not just the island." He had everyone's attention now. He sat down in his chair and felt rather like a father telling his children a bedtime story about the days of his youth. "Anyway, the disease was greatly ignored until it started to affect the heterosexual community. By the time they started to try to really cure the disease, millions had already died. I jumped on the bandwagon early and started experimenting with real cures. It wasn't easy. You see, AIDS – which stands for Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome—destroyed the victim's immune system, so I was trying to create a vaccine that would make the body regenerate itself. Everyone said I was mad. They were right, of course, but I didn't like the way they said it. I worked day and night trying to prove them wrong. What I wound up with was something that caused near total regeneration. I gave it to a rat. I cut its leg off, and it grew a new one. I fed him deadly poison, and he got fat and healthy. I kept him up for days on end, and he didn't even get tired. I blew enough smoke into his lungs to corrode them six times, and he didn't even cough. Finally, I cut it in half . . ."

"And it lived?" David wondered in awed shock.

"No, it died. But I thought I'd never kill the bastard. Hell, I didn't even like the bloody thing. Had a dog I loved once, it caught cold and died, but this thing I couldn't kill . . ."

RJ coughed.

"At any rate, I took the stuff . . ."

"And became immortal," RJ said.

"I wanted to say that," Topaz said with a pout. "Unfortunately, I couldn't reproduce the drug."

"Why not?" David asked.

"Because apparently it wasn't my genius that created the serum in the first place, but the will of God. To be more specific, somehow something got into it that I didn't put in it. Something fell into it, or the weather caused an unrecorded reaction. Or maybe I did do it during one of those sleep-walking stages I drove myself into, and I didn't record it. I don't know. I only know that I was never able to reproduce the shit. And believe me, I have tried many times. It's just as well, I suppose. Man was never meant to live forever." He paused. "Although they used some of my research when they created the first GSHs. So, how mad was I?

"As for why I built Marge. Well, that is very simple. When one lives forever, one is constantly bereft of loved ones. I have watched friends, lovers, even my own children die of old age. Marge can't die. So, I can have a fondness for her without fear of loss."

RJ had no problem knowing what he was talking about.

"There is another reason." He looked at RJ. "I don't like the Reliance; I never have. I don't like what they've done to the world. I have been waiting for you or someone like you for five hundred years. The computer and this base, as well as my services, are at your disposal," he finished with a grand flourish and a bow in RJ's direction.

"You have a funny way of displaying your eagerness to help," Whitey said angrily.

"Letting Marge fall into the hands of an unorganized rabble would have been the same as letting the Reliance have her."

"You would have let us drown if Mickey hadn't shown up when he did?" David asked, accusingly.

"If he hadn't shown up, you would have flunked the test," Topaz said simply.

RJ caught Poley running his hand over the computer's console lovingly, and wished she could crawl under a rock somewhere.

Topaz saw where RJ's eyes rested and gave her a big grin, his teeth shining.

"Rather appropriate, really," he said.

So, RJ thought uncomfortably. He knows what Poley is. Well, of course he does. With this thing on deck he could probably reproduce old Tin Pants. It might even have told him what I am.

"Am I to be trusted? Before you ask, perhaps I should tell you that Marge has localized armaments. If I had wanted to kill you, all I would have had to do was say the word."

"I never doubted that."

RJ looked at Mickey and nodded her head. He put away his laser reluctantly.

"Come then, let us retire to some more comfortable surroundings. Marge, prepare the viewing room."

"As you wish, Master," the computer cooed.

RJ grimaced.

"I did that voice myself," Topaz explained. "I wanted it to be female, but didn't have a woman at my disposal, so . . ."

"I understand."

They followed him to a large room. Plush couches and chairs lined the walls. The floor was covered in elaborately decorated rugs. The walls were covered with tapestries depicting forest scenes as well as some depicting ancient forms of battle in which men wore metal suits and fought with all manner of sharp metal objects. On one wall was a huge viewing screen.

"I managed to save a great deal of our old culture by putting movies onto laser disks. I think you will enjoy it. Before the Reliance, we used viewing screens for entertainment purposes. Marge, put something on for our guests, and bring us some drinks." Then as an afterthought he added. "And do bring our friends some dry clothes. I'm afraid I find the nakedness of this young man," he pointed at Poley, "to be quite intimidating."

"As you wish, Master," Marge responded sweetly. In a matter of seconds, the wall lit up with an ancient movie about warriors like the ones depicted in some of the tapestries hanging on the walls around them. The men were immediately captivated. RJ had seen something similar at the pleasure station in Vector 6. Of course, the satellite in orbit around the planet Deaka was strictly off-limits to anyone who wasn't high-ranking Reliance personnel, so it was all new to the men.

A drone hustled in carrying a stack of khaki-colored clothing. RJ went through the clothes, sorted them by size, and handed them out. Poley dressed as she, Whitey, Alexi, Levits and RJ stripped. Mickey and David looked at each other and then at Topaz.

Topaz smiled indulgently. "There's a room right down the hall and to your right," Topaz said.

RJ looked up from where she was finishing wrapping the chain around herself.

"Oh for shit's sake," RJ said, a bit disgusted with them. "Look, I'll turn around and close my eyes."

When she did, Mickey and David quickly changed. Of course even the smallest clothes Topaz had on hand didn't fit the midget, but he was used to having to modify his clothing, and after a few rolls and tucks he wasn't tripping over them anymore.

"All right," David said when they'd finished dressing.

RJ turned around, mumbling something about the stupid modesty of civilians.

A second drone rushed in carrying a load of bottles and glasses. It went to Topaz first, and he grabbed a bottle and a glass and poured. He set the bottle back down, and took a sip.

"Ah," he smiled in pleasure. "Nothing quite like seven-hundred-year-old Scotch."

The drone stopped next in front of RJ, who was the only one who still hadn't sat down. She took the bottles one by one and read the labels. Topaz wasn't kidding. Some of this liquor was hundreds of years old. She finally settled on the bottle of whiskey and took the whole thing.

RJ took a seat somewhat removed from the others and was joined by Topaz.

"So, now that the others are busy, perhaps we can talk."

RJ nodded, but said nothing, waiting with interest for him to start the conversation.

"The Reliance is an unholy abomination. I would have thought there'd have been an uprising long before this. But I guess humankind sort of lost all its spirit." He got off the couch, and started to crawl around on the floor on his hands and knees.

"Can I help you?" RJ asked, intrigued.

"Do what?"

"Look for whatever it is you've lost."

"I haven't lost anything yet. I just want to be prepared when I do. You know, make a list of places to look. Did you ever wonder where those little balls of lint that get under everything come from?" he asked seriously.

"No, I really can't say I have. You were saying something about human kind losing its spirit?"

Topaz got up and sat back down on the couch next to her. "Well, the trouble all started with Earth's not having enough countries . . ."

David was enjoying the movie until he saw RJ and Topaz talking. He didn't want to be left out, so he got up from where he'd been sitting and moved to sit down beside RJ.

"Anyway, each country had its own government. This usually worked out OK, except that some countries got bigger than all the rest. Now the big countries tried to get along, but they never really did. We called them Super Powers. The reason they didn't really get along was that they couldn't agree on how you should run a country. They had lots of things called cold wars, where no one really fought, but it was really more scary than when they were really fighting . . ."

While Topaz talked to David and RJ, the others watched all of the first movie and a second one about a guy who wore a loincloth and fought with a really big sword. When it finished Topaz had Marge play something non-violent. The men watching didn't seem to care what was on. Topaz got the idea that they would enjoy a documentary on dirt as long as it wasn't sanctioned by the Reliance. Even the robot was watching intently. What was more, he seemed to be enjoying it.

But what Topaz found most interesting was the reaction of the hardened military bitch. While she had totally ignored the first two pictures, she could hardly keep her eyes off this one. Amusingly, this one was a romance.

RJ tried to pay attention to what Topaz was saying, but she found that her eyes kept straying to the viewing screen. The first two movies hadn't interested her. She had lived battle all her life, and she didn't find it particularly amusing to watch. But this one enthralled her. The woman was singing part of the movie, and there had been very little song in RJ's cold, realistic life. It was an entertaining story, and she had to work on listening to Topaz.

"It was fear that allowed the Reliance to come to power. Fear that let the monster rear its ugly head. See, the Super Powers had created a weapon capable of destroying the entire planet. Nuclear warheads."

"What's that?" David asked.

"It's a bomb . . ."

"You mean an uncontrolled nuclear explosion?" RJ said in shocked disbelief. He had her full attention again. The concept was outrageous. Nuclear power ran many starships. It ran many electrical generating stations on the outer planets. She knew the power they contained; she had seen it at work. "Such a weapon would destroy everything for miles wherever it was dropped! It would make the soil infertile and cause mutations. Who can win a war fought with such weapons?"

"Exactly. And they didn't have just a few of them. They had many. Hundreds of thousands of the damn things. Unknown numbers were detonated as tests. At least two were actually deployed. Thousands were killed, and others were left scarred and diseased. The land was infertile for generations, and there were mutations. Still, they built more. Knowing that to use them would mean the end of our race, nuclear winter, and the destruction of the planet, didn't keep them from building more bombs in great numbers. Everyone was scared. The possibility of nuclear holocaust was something that generations grew up with, but that no one ever got used to. Someone might fire a rocket, and someone else would retaliate, and before you knew it—no more world. Some fool could push a button, and . . ." he snapped his fingers, ". . . BOOM! Instant Armageddon. Then, as one of the Super Powers started to collapse it caused even more tension, because no one was sure who had control of their buttons anymore. Just when they thought they had everything figured out and they could relax, the smaller countries—the ones run by all the crazies and religious fanatics—started to make weapons of mass destruction. They started playing with stuff even more frightening than the atomic bomb: chemical and biological weapons. While the Super Powers had been experimenting with the same crap for years, no one trusted these morons to even be able to keep their experiments contained. When you're talking about biological weapons, all it takes is one leak, one mistake. In a global economy, within days everyone's infected. In a few weeks—maybe less—everyone's dead."

"And into this uneasy climate crept the Reliance," RJ said, putting all the factors together.

"Precisely!" Topaz clapped his hands, delighted with his new pupil.

"I don't get it," David said. "What does one have to do with the other?"

"Everyone was so afraid of the threat of total annihilation that they would have done anything not to have to live with that terror over their heads," RJ answered.

Topaz nodded. "Exactly. Moreover, the truly ironic part of it is that the Reliance was behind the whole thing from the beginning. They had infiltrated the central governments of both Super Powers, and the news media as well. Therefore, when the Super Powers had their famous 'peace talks,' the Reliance was there—firmly planted in both houses behind the scenes—making sure peace didn't break out. The powers would make progress toward peace one minute, then backslide the next. This went on for decades, and the whole time the Reliance grew stronger. Like a sore, it festered and grew. It was nurtured on fear and discord. It was as secret and silent as cancer; then, early in the twenty-first century, it burst to the surface."

"What happened?" David asked.

"I would think a major assassination or two," RJ said, matter-of-factly.

Topaz looked at her in disbelief.

"A calculated guess."

"And a correct one. Mind you, it didn't look like it, but I'm sure it was the Reliance. First, Air Force One took a nose-dive into the Florida Keys, killing the American President. Then several key leaders of the former USSR died of an unknown and virulent disease that they contracted while attending a conference that was supposed to resolve the problems caused by the dissolution of the Soviet Bloc. China had so much internal discord that it was an easy mark. Their own citizens tossed their leaders out of power."

Topaz realized that the place names were lost on these two. Foreign words to them, but he couldn't tell the story without them. "People stepped in to take over the positions of the dead or ousted leaders, and amazingly they immediately signed peace accords. They compromised on a few ideological points, and with a little red tape here and there, good media coverage, some politicking where necessary, and one or two more assassinations in the former Soviet Bloc countries . . . Wham! Bang! Boom! You have the Reliance."

"But you said one of the Super Powers dissolved. Didn't you just say that the people of the other Super Power were self-governing and free? Why didn't they fight?" David couldn't fathom this. Here they were busting their asses to have freedom, and these people had willingly given it up.

"No, I said that was the principle that the government had started with. They let their officials make so many laws that there really were no freedoms left. Somewhere between the far-Left that passed laws to give lots of things to people who didn't work and let criminals run free, and the far-Right that made everything enjoyable illegal, the working class lost its freedom. People forgot that it was their duty to stay informed about what was going on at all governmental levels, and so these laws passed undetected. One day they woke up trapped; they had lost most of their personal freedoms. The saddest thing is that most of them either didn't recognize the trap, or simply didn't care. By the time the Reliance came to power, they no longer knew what freedom was. They'd forgotten that freedom isn't ever either free or easy. They had forgotten how to fight. The Reliance did away with the threat of war and death, and that made everything OK. By the time the people realized what they had settled for, it was easier – and safer—to go along with it than to fight."

"Once—only once—a small group of people tried to buck the Reliance. They might even have won; who can say? But we found Trinidad, and not long after that made contact with the Aliens. At the behest of the twin gods Economics and Security, the people bound themselves to the Reliance forever."

"Huh?" He'd lost David again. "What did the Aliens have to do with anything?"

"With the threat of an alien race, the people had a common enemy," RJ explained. "No matter how they might feel about the Reliance, they would stand united against this common foe. You see, the devil you know is better that the devil you don't know."

Topaz was startled again. "Where on Earth did you hear that one? I haven't heard that expression in . . . well, over five centuries."

"My father used to say it," she smiled, remembering him. "Come to think of it, he used to say a lot of strange things." Suddenly, all her attention was drawn to the screen where a couple was kissing passionately.

"RJ? You OK?" David asked, slightly concerned.

RJ's thoughts scattered like leaves in the breeze as she watched the couple on the screen. This was something she could never have.

"RJ?" David tried again.

"I'm feeling a bit tired . . ."

"Of course, how rude of me! Almost drowning would make anyone tired." Topaz stood up and helped her to her feet. "Come on, I'll show you to a room."

He had obviously knocked out walls and made three cells into one room. In the middle of the room was a king-sized bed covered in black satin sheets. Such elegance was usually reserved for high-ranking Reliance personnel, but RJ hardly noticed it. Topaz turned to leave then turned back.

"Are you OK, child?"

"Just tired."

Topaz nodded and left through the curtained doorway.

RJ unwound her chain and let it fall. She pulled her laser from its holster; it still wasn't dry. She sat down on the bed and started to break it down. It wasn't that she feared attack; she simply needed something reassuringly routine to do.

What a mess! How had she ever allowed herself to do something as stupid as to desire something that she could never have?

Romance, she decided, was not logical. She hated it.

Life sucked! No one ever got what they wanted. Well, maybe she shouldn't generalize.

My life sucks and I never get what I want.

She finished stripping, drying and reassembling the laser. She lay back on the bed and stared at the ceiling. As usual, as soon as she wasn't using it, her right arm started to jerk. Funny, it had never really bothered her before. Now it did. It was just one more obstacle on the road to normalcy.

She felt vulnerable again. God, how she hated that.

She'd almost died. So what?

Whitey had saved her. That must mean something.

Poor Whitey. She knew now a bit of what he'd been going through.

As if thinking of him had called him up, he appeared in the doorway. He smiled, and she felt like the world's worst bitch.

"How ya feeling?" he asked.

"Like an idiot. I never should have tried to catch that door. Thanks." She wasn't able to scrape up more gratitude than that. Not for her life.

He crossed the room and lay down beside her. She didn't have the heart to send him away. He ran his hand over the sheet.

"What's this?"

RJ shrugged. Fabric wasn't her forte.

"It feels good." He ran his hand over her arm. "I thought I'd lost you. We could have all died. Anything is possible, RJ." He was out of his clothes faster than RJ could protest. He covered her lips with his finger. "Look me in the eyes, and tell me you don't want me."

She looked him in the eyes, and prepared to tell the worst lie of her life. But she never got to it. He kissed her, and she responded. He moved his mouth away from hers.

"You couldn't say it," Whitey said smugly.

"It's hard to talk with your mouth full," RJ said with a crooked grin. "Besides, it's hard to look a naked man in the eyes."

He ran a finger over her lips. "I'm not afraid of you, RJ. I never have been. I love you. Let's try again. After all, if anyone's going to be able to do it, it's going to be me."

He wasn't very good with words, but he did love her. She could feel it radiating from him. It felt good. He felt good. She wanted him, wanted his love. Jessica had had a human lover, and Whitey wasn't entirely human. She wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him.

He held her tightly for a second, then let his hands slide down over her body, seeming to have not much more trouble getting her out of her clothes than he'd had getting out of his.

She loved the smell of him, the feel of him, the way he touched her. She could do this. She started to relax. This time, things were going to be different.

 

She'd surprised him in many ways. He knew she'd be different from human women, and she was. He had expected her to be demanding, and she was. What he hadn't expected was that she would be so giving or so loving.

He lay on his back in the exhausted and ecstatic state she had left him, and this time it was she who clung to him.

For RJ, it was as if she now knew where she stood in the world. Suddenly she had some normalcy. Whitey was her lover now, and she admitted to herself that she loved Whitey in a very comfortable, if less-than-romantic way. He loved her, and she—Argy bitch that she was—loved sex.

"I have never felt . . . so relaxed . . . so at peace with the world. I feel fabulous. I love sex."

Close enough, Whitey thought. As close a RJ was likely to get. He kissed her and found his second wind.

 

David was enjoying the cartoon with talking dogs and mice. He decided that, in ancient times, mice must have been bigger than dogs. It must have something to do with the mutations that RJ and Topaz had been talking about. It finally occurred to him that RJ had been gone an awfully long time. With an effort, David pulled himself away from the viewing screen and went to check on her. He asked Topaz where he'd taken her, and was pointed in the right direction.

David hadn't seen Whitey leave, so it was safe to say that he wasn't prepared for what he found. He heard strange sounds coming from the room, and doubled his pace. When he flung the curtain open, ready to kill, one thing was crystal-clear. Whitey and RJ were lovers. There was no other interpretation for the tangle of flesh under the black sheets. He shut the curtain quickly and stood there in stunned silence. RJ started screaming in ecstasy, and David hurried off down the hall, his face beet-red.

"She OK?" Mickey asked when David re-entered the room.

"Huh?" David asked, startled.

"RJ. She OK?"

"She's, ah . . ." He started to laugh. "She's sorta busy." The others looked around quickly, and noticed for the first time that Whitey was missing.

"I guess she really is his woman," Topaz commented dryly.

"She is now, that's for damn sure!" David laughed.

"Way ta go, Whitey!" Mickey cheered.

"Father will be so pleased," Poley commented.

"Your father would be pleased that your sister is fucking a huge albino? You come from a weird fucking family," Levits said in disbelief.

Suddenly, it all melded in Topaz's mind. The robot, the girl: it all made sense now. "Stewart's children? You're Stewart's children!"

Poley's head snapped quickly around to face him.

"I'm not authorized to give out that information."

"Ha! Then I'm right!" The triumphant smile left Topaz's face. "I was sorry to hear of Stewart's death."

"My father is not dead!" Poley said emphatically.

Knowing what Poley was, Topaz was a little shocked at this show of irrational behavior.

"I saw his obituary. It went into the Reliance files some weeks back. I'm sorry. I assumed that you knew."

"My father is not dead," Poley insisted.

"I'm sorry." Topaz looked at David.

"How did he die?" David asked.

"They said that he had some terminal illness. He shot himself. They found him in his laboratory."

"That's a lie!" Poley screamed. "My father would not shoot himself. Therefore, he is not dead!" With that, he sat down on the floor and covered up his ears.

David motioned for Topaz to follow him, and Topaz complied.

"RJ's father really killed himself?" David demanded.

"Yes, but I doubt now that it was because of any illness."

"What do you mean?"

"Well . . . when I read the report, I had no way of knowing that RJ was Stewart's child. She is, and therefore that changes everything. If they knew she was his, they might have tortured him to death. The autopsy could be nothing but a lie. Or, more likely really . . ."

"What?" David prompted when Topaz hesitated.

"He probably killed himself to protect RJ."

David nodded. That made a horrible kind of sense. He looked at where Poley sat, still covering his ears. "I don't see any reason to tell RJ. If Poley wants to tell her . . ." He shrugged. "Well, I don't think any of the rest of us should. I can't see that it would do any good."

"Of course," Topaz said. He looked at Poley in a troubled way. "I'm going to turn in. Make yourselves at home. You'll find sleeping quarters just about anywhere you look, some big and fancy, some small and simple. Take your pick. Makes no difference to me; the drones do all the housework." Without further ado, he left.

 

Topaz walked through the halls of the old prison. The echoes of his footsteps resounded off the walls till it sounded like a small army was walking with him. He liked that. He always had.

Most nights, he liked to imagine that he could hear the voices of those callous prisoners from centuries past. The mutterings going from cell to cell. They'd even used the toilets as a kind of telephone system. Kind of gross, but it had apparently worked. Still, the vision of one man listening to a toilet while another talked into one always brought a smile to his face.

Then he would think of the generations of tourists who had walked through here. Not long after the Reliance took power, the tours stopped. For one thing, such leisure-time activities were discouraged. For another, next to a Reliance prison, Alcatraz seemed like the Holiday Inn.

Not long after the tours stopped, the earthquake hit. It was the worst one to hit in all the shaky history of the Bay Area. It left the city in ruins. The Golden Gate Bridge crashed into the sea, but not till after the Bay Bridge collapsed. The Reliance saw nothing worth saving, so they condemned the "City by the Bay" and relocated the survivors. Topaz, however, did see something worth salvaging. The prison was not only in one piece, it had been virtually untouched by the quake. Besides, all available information indicated that the fault had settled without sinking the entire state, as many in his day had believed it would.

He had worked diligently to prepare for this moment. He'd built a fortress for a revolution. A foundation for a rebellion that would topple the Reliance and bring back a way of life that only he now remembered.

He'd watched through the centuries as San Francisco had become Alsterase, and Alsterase had become the capitol of the discontented. Happily, he had watched as he saw the once-great city become a home for refugees of every type. RJ's crew was a prime example of the variety of misfits that the city attracted. They developed their own values and their own laws. They built up businesses and homes. They were a community unto themselves. Granted, they were mostly undisciplined and unruly, but at least they had spirit.

He'd been monitoring RJ's progress from the beginning. Marge had calculated that there was a sixty-percent chance that she would wind up in Alsterase. When he heard of the death of a GSH, he'd figured she was here. He calculated she would be lured to the island by the lights. He counted on her being able to get through his traps.

He hadn't counted on her being Stewart's child.

He'd never been one to believe in predestination. He didn't believe that the Fates ruled a man's life. Or at least he never had before. Now he wasn't so sure. After all, if he had never made the acquaintance of a rather dark beauty in an even darker tavern . . .

It didn't bear thinking of. It was speculation at best. It was a coincidence, that was all. Nothing so supernatural about coincidence, right?

Serendipity, a happy accident. He smiled. He was happy. The old place was alive again.

He roamed on down the halls. Clint Eastwood had made a movie here, or was it two? He couldn't remember. Perhaps he'd ask Marge later if it still bothered him. Somewhere on the grounds outside Tyne Daley had done a magnificent death scene.

How many movies had used Alcatraz as a backdrop? How many actors and actresses had listened to their footsteps echo through these dank halls as Topaz was doing now? Were they even now playing out roles? Shakespeare had said that all life was a stage, all men and women merely players.

He looked out a barred window at the City by the Bay. "The City that Rocks, the City that Never Stops," he mumbled. It was true. Battered and weary, it was still very much there, and very much alive. Through earthquake and hostile takeover, the city still stood. Though decay reached to overtake it, it hung on to the last vestiges of its pride and cried out, I AM A CITY!

In point of fact, it was the most important city in the world.

The inhabitants of Alsterase had broken the rules and condemned themselves in one way or another. They were wanted men and women. Their lives weren't worth spit outside of Alsterase.

And yet they were the only free people in the Reliance.

Right now, they were nothing but a discontented rabble. But with RJ's leadership and David's charisma they could soon become a force to be reckoned with.

Yes, he and this old city had been through a hell of a lot together.

But the party was just starting.

 

 

Back | Next
Framed