Infinity Cage (6 page)

‘Now, I don’t know you folks from Adam. But
Cabbie
said you all came over here to visit with
me
?’

They were standing in what must have once been a restaurant or a coffee shop that would have looked out across the bustling space of Times Square. Tables and chairs were stacked untidily against a far wall and most of the cleared floor space was filled with scavenged boxes and cartons of packaged and tinned food.

‘Roald Waldstein,’ corrected Maddy. ‘We came here to see Roald Waldstein.’

‘Waldstein?’ The old man’s dark face wrinkled sceptically. ‘You ain’t talkin’ about
the
Mr Waldstein, are you?’

‘Yes,’ said Maddy, ‘the “W” of W.G. Systems.
The
Roald Waldstein.’

That dark face suddenly split with a bright grin and he cackled with bemusement. ‘You people for real?’

‘The
guy
 … who just dropped us off. He said
Walt
was living here.’

‘Yeah. I’m Walt, young lady.’ He offered her his hand. ‘Mr Walter M. Roberts Junior. This ain’t no W.G.S. Tower no more; this is Roberts Tower. It’s
my
tower now.’

She took his hand out of courtesy and shook. All the same she couldn’t help but let out a sigh of frustration. Clearly Waldstein was long gone from here. ‘Oh, I’m really sorry for
the intrusion, Mr Roberts … looks like we’ve made a mistake here. The boat guy said “Walt” … and we thought he meant –’

‘No idea where Mr Waldstein is holed up these days, I’m afraid, miss. The old man didn’t say much to me when he finally upped sticks and left Manhattan.’

‘“
Say much to me
”?’ Rashim stepped forward eagerly. ‘You have actually met the man? Spoken with Waldstein?!’

Walter M. Roberts Jnr’s eyes widened slightly at that. So did his grin. ‘Met him? Of course I met him. Hell, I used to work for him. I was Mr Waldstein’s personal
valet
.’

Liam found himself staring down at dry dirt between his hands. He looked up. Ahead of him was the dark form of a parched eucalyptus bush struggling for sustenance and moisture in the dry ground, shadowed by several twisted and squat olive trees. Above them, a full moon shone down from a clear, star-speckled sky.

I’m here. In the time of Jesus Christ.

He turned to his right and saw the support unit squatting on all fours and looking up at the moon. ‘Bob, you OK?’

‘I am fine, Liam.’

‘Beautiful night, eh?’

‘The stars, Liam. They appear –’

‘Yeah … yeah, they’re lovely too. Come on, you big old romantic. We should get moving.’ He got to his feet and looked around. They were standing amid a loosely spaced grove of stunted olive trees, their brittle leaves hissing gently as a soft, warm breeze stirred their branches. Down at the bottom of the slope, the vast ancient city was bathed in the quicksilver blue from the moon, but also spotted with thousands of flickering pinpricks of amber – the light from oil lamps and fires. A city every bit awake at night as New York. Beyond the large stone wall that snaked round it, up and down, over gentle rolling hills and troughs, he could see a dozen campfires and figures gathered round them.

Jerusalem
.

He spotted a train of oxen below, kicking up dust as they pulled a trader’s cart along a rutted road that led into the city through a large arch. Beyond the archway, the north-east gate into the city, he could see a marketplace alive with activity, and steps leading up to a vast square walled courtyard that overlooked it. The courtyard, surrounded by high stone walls lined with Grecian columns, was dappled with flickering light from hundreds of torches and braziers, and filled with people milling around what appeared to be traders’ stalls.

‘Looks like a busy place, over there.’

Bob followed his gaze and nodded. ‘That square area is known as the temple platform.’

In the middle of it, Liam could make out a tall rectangular building with towers on the corners. ‘Is that … is that the temple?’

‘Yes.’

‘I can’t see the big dome anywhere.’ Liam had checked out some images of Jerusalem’s Holy Temple, the Dome of the Rock, from their database. He had been expecting to see a huge gold-plated dome on the top of it.

‘That dome will be built nearly seven hundred years from now, Liam. It will be built on the ruins of the temple you see now.’

‘Ah, right. And … somewhere beneath that large courtyard and the temple …?’

‘Affirmative. In theory, we will locate the other tachyon transmitter.’ He turned to Liam. ‘If our estimation of the tangent of the beam was correct, that is.’

Liam looked at the rest of the city, a carpet of terraces and flat rooftops that undulated with the underlying geometry of shallow valleys and gentle slopes. The temple platform, and the
temple in the middle, was spread on top of the city’s highest hill. He recalled the bowl-like shape of that Mayan city in the jungle, tucked into a concealed sinkhole or caldera, and, beneath the central plaza, that enormous cylindrical chamber; he could imagine a similar structure concealed somewhere deep within this hill. Looking at the shape of the city … it seemed the most likely place to hide something so big.

‘So … are your cat’s whiskers picking up anything yet?’

Bob cocked a thick brow at him. ‘I do not understand.’

‘Tachyons?’

He nodded his head slowly. ‘Negative. The beam is very tightly directed. If it is down there, beneath the temple platform, I will need to be much closer before I will be able to detect any rogue particles.’

‘Well then, looks to me like the temple is wide open for business, even at this time of night.’ He pulled the strap of his goatskin bag on to his shoulder.

‘Would you like me to carry that?’

Liam gave that a moment’s thought. ‘Aye … you’re right. What am I doing? You’re the big strong one.’

‘We chose to stay on here,’ said Walt. He smiled warmly at his wife sitting across the large marble dining table. ‘Myself and Charm. Our babies bein’ grown up and all with babies of their own – they got their own lives in other places. So it was a decision just for us. When the Manhattan authorities finally said there was nothing left of the city for them to run, and that we should all pack up and leave, me and Charm decided we weren’t goin’ anywhere.’

They were sitting round a circular table of rich dark polished marble. Sitting on ridiculously expensive-looking designer dinner chairs and all of them gazing out of the enormous floor-to-ceiling windows that circled them all the way round the top of the W.G.S. Tower. Darkness was beginning to set in already, even though it was only just gone four in the afternoon. Outside, in the gathering overcast gloom, were several dozen pinpricks of light and the flicker of movement coming from the tops of other abandoned skyscrapers, as others in this artificial-island community passed in front of their candles and gas lamps and electric lamps, preparing their evening meals.

Becks stood like a stone sentinel, silhouetted against one of the panoramic windows and studying the flooded world outside for any approaching signs of danger.

‘When did that happen, Mr Roberts?’ asked Maddy. ‘When did this place get flooded?’

He smiled at her. ‘
Walt’s
more than good enough for me,’ he said. ‘New York
officially
became an abandoned city back in ’61. But it was more’n dead already when them damn levee walls gave way the year before.’ The old man shook his head sadly. ‘Tidal surge that caused it. Tidal surge that rolled right up the Hudson and East Rivers like a freight train. Large section of them levee walls just gave up the struggle and caved in. Damn mini tsunami, twenty feet high if not more, washed down into all these streets.’

Charm, a handsome old woman with tight coils of grey hair held back by a thick hairband, pressed her lips together then spoke. ‘That wave went and flooded the Manhattan subway lines still being used by folks to get to work. Thousands of people were drowned. Those poor, poor souls; they never stood a chance. People in carriages, trapped in those long dark tunnels. All of them drowned in just a few seconds.’

‘God,’ whispered Maddy. ‘That must have been awful.’

‘Yes, miss, it was,’ she replied. ‘Ever since then, this place has remained underwater. Nobody ever reclaimed all those bodies. Somebody said that maybe five or six thousand folks died that day.’ She smiled sadly at her. ‘
New York
died that day. It just took that useless mayor and all his officials a year to catch up with the fact.’

Walt shook his head firmly. ‘City ain’t dead just yet.’ Clearly this was something they discussed and disagreed on frequently. ‘No way, Charm, this isn’t no dead city, nor is it an abandoned city, not while there’s so many of us island folk still living out here.’ He pointed at the large panoramic windows. ‘C’mon, you can see them lights on out there? OK, it ain’t all sparkly like it used to be years back. Sure, this place
isn’t lit up like some Christmas tree just as you see in the old movies. But you folks can see clear as glass, at night anyway, this city’s still got maybe a hundred … two hundred people living in it.’ He shrugged defiantly. ‘That makes it alive enough in my opinion.’

Charm huffed and rolled her eyes at her husband’s stubbornness.

‘Was Waldstein here when the levee walls broke?’ asked Maddy.

‘Not on that particular day. He came and went all the time; business trips and the like. I believe, though, that this was his favourite place to stay. He loved the view from the top of his tower.’

‘So when was the last time he was here? When was the last time you actually saw him?’

Walt settled back in his chair, and his eyes glinted the amber light of the candles set out on the grand table between them. ‘Over nine years ago. Not long after the big Manhattan flood. There were only a few of us left working here then. A skeleton crew, as they say. All the rest of the W.G.S. people had been made redundant by Mr Waldstein. Sent home. It was like he was winding things down here in New York. Almost like he knew Manhattan was running out of time.’

‘There was just a half a dozen of you left, wasn’t there?’ said Charm.

Walt nodded. ‘His pilot, three security guards, his cook and me holding the fort here back then. He sat us down and told us he was relocating us. Closing down this tower for good.’

‘Did he say where he was relocating you to?’ asked Maddy.

‘No. Just that he was moving his business affairs westwards, away from the advancing sea. He offered to take us all with him. Move us and our families too. But I said I wanted to stay on in
New York.’ Walt shook his head and laughed at himself. ‘Born and raised in this city. Damned if I was gonna just leave this place for a ghost town.’ He looked at his wife. ‘My wife thinks I’m a stubborn ol’ fool. Anyway, he took the others with him. Want me to tell you folks the last thing he said to me just as they all climbed into his personal gyrocopter …?’

Maddy nodded.

Walt hesitated, with a grin slowly spreading across his lips. His wife nodded resignedly too, clearly having heard this particular anecdote far too many times already.

‘The man said to me he didn’t need this place any more. He said since I was prepared to stay on here as the
caretaker …
the whole tower was mine, if I wanted it.’

Charm laughed softly. ‘Walt acts like he’s king of the castle now.’

‘Well … damn, it
is
my castle. And, when the flooding’s all done and the sea starts heading back out one day, then I’ll be the proud owner of some prime real estate. New York
will
be revived, you can count on that.’

‘You’re just a dreaming fool,’ she sighed. ‘Those ice-caps may be all gone and the sea may have finished stealing chunks of land. But sure as hell the sea isn’t going to start backing up the way it came. Not any time soon. Not in our lifetime at any rate.’

He shrugged that comment off. ‘You ain’t got any faith, Mrs Roberts. Good Lord gave us another flooding for a reason. I reckon His work’s done on that score now.’

Charm rolled her eyes again at her husband. ‘And you ain’t no Noah.’

‘Anyway,’ Walt continued, ‘I reckon we got it better than most, sitting up here. Most other folks were heading west, last
time I heard a digi-broadcast, it ain’t so good inland. Millions on the road, shortages of food and water. And in Colorado the FSA government’s struggling to look after them millions of migrants flocking in, and –’

Maddy interrupted him. ‘So, Waldstein just … 
gave
you this whole tower?’

Walt nodded his head, then furrowed his brow thoughtfully. ‘Reckon I got to know him better than almost anyone. You folks know he didn’t have no family, right?’

Maddy nodded.

‘He once had a wife and a son, if I recall correctly,’ said Rashim.

Walt nodded. ‘Oh yeah … you’re right, but that was a long time ago. When I started working for him, he was a very, very private man. Very lonely man too. Sometimes he didn’t see any other folks but me for days and days. So, I reckon I’d say we got almost close enough to be called friends.’ Walt looked out of the window at the darkening sky. ‘When he finally left? It was strange, the way he was with me.’

‘How do you mean?’

‘Like … well, that particular morning he was preparing to leave and he just gave me this tower? He was like … it was like he was someone getting set to face his own end, you know? Giving away all of his earthly possessions so he could finally go to God empty-handed. Naked as a newborn.’

‘You haven’t heard from him since?’

‘Nuh-uh. He just said to me, “
It’s all yours, Walt. Look after it for me.
” Then he got in the gyro’ with the others. Flew away. Never seen him again since.’

‘Can you tell us any more about what he was like?’ asked Rashim.

‘What he was like?’ Walt shrugged. ‘I was just his valet. What’s any multi-multi-billionaire like to wash and clean up after?’ He gestured at the large room. ‘He was human, if you know what I mean. Left his fair share of things around for me to clean or tidy. But I guess he wasn’t the clutter type. Liked things neat ’n’ spare. He kept this place mostly empty. There was a desk, a bed, a couch. This table and these chairs. He didn’t have many clothes or shoes or normal stuff. He wasn’t one for gadgets and possessions.’

‘You said he seemed like someone facing “an end”? Do you mean …?’

‘Suicidal?’ Walt shook his head. ‘No … just sort of settled, resolved. At peace even.’

‘Did he seem, I don’t know,
agitated
? Did he ever do anything or say anything strange?’

Walt laughed. ‘Only all the goddamn time. Strangest man I ever met!’

‘Was there anything going on here in this building?’ asked Maddy. ‘Any research areas? Any floors with restricted access?’

‘Hell, no. This whole tower was just
corporate
. The boring stuff, you know? Finance, patents, human resources, administration. The interesting stuff, the research projects … all those things happened over in the Rocky Mountains.’

‘You mean the Denver campus?’

Walt nodded. ‘W.G. Systems’ research centre.’ He looked puzzled. ‘You said you were W.G.S. people? I’d expect you’d know about that place.’

‘Sure we do,’ replied Maddy quickly. ‘Yeah, we know of it. But we’ve been abroad most of the last decade.’

‘Which division you say you folks were from? Genetics? Energy? Licensing? Research and development?’

‘Foreign-aid projects,’ replied Rashim. ‘We were abroad mostly.’

‘Where?’ asked Charm.

Maddy, Rashim and Becks looked at each other.

‘Africa,’ said Maddy finally. ‘We’ve been over in Africa most of the time.’

‘Uh, yes … East Africa. Studying drought-resistant, high-protein-yield gene-crops.’ Rashim flipped his hand casually. ‘That kind of thing.’

Charm sat forward. ‘Guess it must be pretty bad over there too? All those inter-ethnic, inter-tribal wars in the east?’

‘Yeah.’ Maddy slowly nodded her head. ‘But then where isn’t it bad these days, huh?’

‘True, that,’ uttered Walt.

The conversation lulled for a few moments and they listened to the soft moaning of the gentle wind around the glass top of the tower and faintly, far below, the sound of a lively, choppy tide slapping against the base of the building.

‘Unlike Walt here,’ said Charm presently, ‘I never been one for believing in a God Almighty. Or believing in what some folks say is happening.’

‘Happening?’ Maddy looked back from the windows. ‘What do you mean?’

She shrugged. ‘End times. Like in the Bible. But … I don’t know –’ she pressed her lips together and shook her head – ‘I do sometimes wonder if things really will get better than they have been. All my life, far as I can remember, this world has felt like it’s been limping towards some sad ending.’

Walt laughed. ‘Don’t listen to my wife. No mistake that things are tough right now, but I guess I’m the optimist out of the pair of us. It’ll all get better one day, I’m telling you.’

‘So …’ Maddy looked at Rashim. She wanted to steer
the conversation back to what they needed to find out. ‘You think Mr Waldstein’s now holed up in this Denver campus place?’

‘Sure. Good a place as any. Remote, hard to get to. Hard to find.’

‘Could you give us the address?’

‘Address?’ Walt laughed. ‘An address for the W.G.S. Research Campus? You think there’s stationery just lying around with a hey-drop-round-anytime address printed at the top?!’

‘Now, Walt … no need to be making rude to our guests,’ said Charm.

‘True,’ he conceded, a smirk still on his face. ‘I’m sorry. Look, I got an address for the contracts and the legal office just outside Denver City. The actual research campus is located
somewhere
up in the Rocky Mountains nearby. Mr Waldstein made a big deal of keeping its exact location a need-to-know only. For obvious reasons. All kind of cutting-edge technology work going on there … or at least there
used
to be. You folks want to find him, then you probably need to go to Denver City, present yourself to whatever staff he’s got left working in Legal and I guess they’ll make contact with Mr Waldstein.’

Walt looked at Maddy somewhat suspiciously, she suspected. ‘If he
wants
to see you, you’ll know soon enough. Good luck with that.’

‘Thanks.’

‘You folks got some barter on you?’ asked Charm.

‘Um …’

She smiled. ‘I guess not. Barter … that’s what passes for money these days. You’ll need some luxuries to trade. Things like chocolate bars, nice smelly soaps. I’ll get you some things that you can –’

‘Hold on, Charm!’

‘Now, Walt … don’t get all mean on our guests. We ain’t sending these nice people out there, heading across the wilderness, with nothin’ to barter.’