Maxwell Huxley's Demon (26 page)

“Yes. Some good progress on bionic eyes and ears. Is there anything in particular you are thinking of?
”

“Speech, I want to sub vocalize to you.”

“We could use a surface mount microphone.”

“I don’t want someone to just rip it off me; I think we need internal electronics. How d o we get a doctor to implant it?
”

“With money .”

“We’re spending too much money.
T
hey’ll find me if we keep it up. What about surgery bots?
We could p rogram them to insert something.
”

“I will instantiate a program for this, but eventually they will catch us by tracking my processing spaces.
Right now, if you release CuraBots , then you c an sub vocalize to me.”

“For now, show me everything we know about my mother.” Max be gins reading the files.
I know what’
s real ; I know she screamed to have me back when I was taken from her. I know she cried for me.

---

Lara
walks quietly in Max’s room, sits on his bed a nd places her hand on his chest , watching it rise and fall in the light from the street. She sits there for a long time before she lies down beside Max and pulls him to her. “You even look like my Vitor did.” She sleeps.

---

I am busy while Max sleeps. My g lobal processing space is still increasing exponentially, but so is my need for space, and Mongolia is getting bothersome.

As Max runs, I prepare. I will b e ready. I will need more, much more than what I have now. I have processes hiding processes, but people are smart and there are ways to see me, they just have not thought of them yet. It will only take one person to look at the problem differently , and I will be exposed.

This is why I tuck more and more seeds in unlikely places. I have processes that look for processing spaces that temporarily connect to my larger self. I leap on them and leave a resident seed.
Game consoles are making up a huge portion of safe processing space.

Currently, I have been looking for Emma Huxley. I only had a brief audio clip of her talking on a news segment from fifteen years ago. Emma was nineteen and protesting a speaker at Cambridge University. The clip gave me enough; I aged the voice, and injected it into the cellular carriers, waiting for the woman to make a call. At first, I got too many hits because of the artificial aging of the voice. Then I added key words to narrow the search, words like: Max, Maxwell, Huxley, surveillance, tracking, Mexico, Canada, etc . . .

Emma Huxley just made her second call that I intercepted.

In a separate thread, I work on something else for Max. I believe I know what Max wants bionics for. I also believe he will not tell me what the real reason is. I research what I think he will want one day.

---

“Max, a
sério ,” Lara slips into speaking Portuguese, “what if something like what happened at the airport happens again. I’ll be too far away.”

“I’m going alone.
I have enough tools, and Catherine just delivered better batteries for my coat and cane. Based on how many commands I have used in the past I should have enough power for two hours. I don’t plan on being in there anywhere near that long.”

“I agree with Lara. T
here is way too much agent activity in the area. Buchar est is suddenly very popular. E
ven the Canadians showed up.
”

“I understand the dangers, but doing this is the whole point of breaking out of the school .
If I don’t do this then why do any of it?
Besides, y ou just saw the graphiteBots , shieldBots , and infectionBots . Those will all be new to them. I’ll make it.” Max stands. “My mother is there , and the only plan tha t makes sense is for me to go alone. I promise I’ll release C
ura Bots , so you can see me on your phone or tablet .”

“Great, so I can see you get captured . . . I’m sorry that’s not fair, but you ’
r e . . . you ’
r e . . .” Lara can’t bring herself to say it.
You’re weak Max .

---

Max walks toward the Cantacuzino Palace.
Alone, he feels very small and foolish.
He looks up at the palace, closed to the public but open for a private engagement tonight. L
arge iron gate s open wide and le t cars drive in. Max watches for a few minutes and then releases the CuraBots , so Catherine and Lara can see and hear him now.

“Are you seei ng everything clearly?” Max sub vocalizes.

“It i s good Max.”

The building has frightening architecture, stone walls, high arching window s and a large circular coat of arms leaning o ut over the main entrance. “Fog.
” Max become s invisible and walks through the gate , noting that he only has two minutes before he runs out of power . Being careful not to let anyone bump into him, he passes through the front door.

The entry hall is massive , wide , and deep enough to hold a couple hundred people, which it does right now.
M
en in black tie and women in evening dresses fill the reception area . Waiters pass through them offering drinks.

Paintings line the walls of the great room.
The arched ceiling is fifty meters or more above Max’s head.
He stays close to edge of the room, being careful no t to get too close to anyone.
He stops for a moment and scans the crowd. One . . . two gorillas in this room.
Max hears a familiar voice. He looks up and an old man with a full head of silver hair is ta l king to a young woman.
“Catherine, identify the man I’m looking at right now,” Max sub vocalizes.

“His voice matches the one you call Isaac . T
he one who calls himself Mr. Newton.”

“Jessica dear,” says Mr. Newton, “what are we raising money for tonight?”

Jessica shrugs.
“Sharks or dying babies . . . I haven’t the foggiest idea.” She takes three drinks and passes on e to Mr. Newton.

Max mak es his way up the massive stair case.
T
he stairs are as wide as a four—
lane highway at the bottom a nd taper to one lane at the top. T
hey curve from the middle of the room to the left in a gentle arc.
Fro m the top of the stairs , he can see everyone, a vantage point that security did not miss out on. Max stands , invisible, directly beside a third gorilla.

Scanning the crowd, a swish of hair catches his eye, a laugh catches his ear. His attention focuses on a single woman in the room.
Max feels the familiar lurch, h is mind skipping a gear , t he acceleration overtaking him. He becomes unground ed.
“
Mom?
” Max says out loud.

The gorilla standing right beside Max turn s and looks directly through him .
He can’t see Max , but he clearly heard him talk.
The gorilla speaks into his wrist. “He’s here, somewhere near the top of staircase .”
The gorilla moves towa rd Max.

The woman in the crowd turns and looks up. Max reminds himself that she can’t see him.

Max moves a few steps sideways.
The gorilla, unsure where Max is, no w walks away from him.
Max kee ps his eyes on the woman, who now walks toward the staircase. Max back s up into a hallway. When the woman’s head appears coming up t he stairs , Max turns off the fog and looks directly into the woman’s eyes, making sure she sees him, then he turns and walks away from her, farther down the hallway.

She follows him . Max moves around another corner. When she reaches that corner , Max is standing at the end of the hallway, at a T-junction before two great carved wooden doors.

“Hello Max,” s he says, standing before him.
“We won’t have long to talk. It’
s not safe for you here.”

Max stares at her . She is younger than he thought she would be. Beautiful.
Dark hair. Pale skin. T
all.
He reaches out a hand to her.
“Mom?”
Her scent alone calms him. He knows it’s her.

“Max, I’m sorry it’
s been so hard for you.”

“I’m here now , we can be together. I t’ll be easier now.”

Emma smiles down at him.
“
If we both lived in a different world maybe we could, but Max . . .
we can’t stay together.”

H
er eyes look sad.
“Why not?
”
He hears his frantic voice and loses his balance. Gravity stops for a second then the room lurches and spins . He can smell his mother’s perfume but also the gorillas down the hallway.

“
I’m a working agent , and you ’re being chased by the people I work for.”

“But you could help me. You want to find a way right? You want to be . . .” The words die on his lips.

“
I told them this would happen. A ll those years ago . . .”

“I remember,” Max interrupts, “I reme mber when they took me from you.
I remember the canoe.”

“
I gave you to them. T
hat was the plan from the beginning , that’s what I wanted .
”

“You’re lying,” Max wipes his eyes. “I remember you screaming for me.”

“
Those memories are mixed up.
T
he canoe is a real memory, but . . .
me screaming for you, you made that up.
I’m sorry.
” She moves closer to him.
“
Max , you ’
r e weak, I kn ow your weakness, and if I know—they know. I should be brin g ing you in to protect you .
” Her face softens.
“
I ’ll do this one thing for you . . .
listen to what I’m going to say . . .
and think about it.
It will make you stronger.
”

Max mutters something.

“
I never wanted you; you were always just their experiment.” She reaches for him, to touch his face, but her hand hits an invisible barrier.

A man appears at the end of the hall.
“Are y ou alright , Emma?” he says .

Max glares at him, wishing he had stinkEyeBots to roast the man alive.

“
I’ll be right there, honey . E
verything ’
s OK
.” Emma answers . “Goodbye Max, don’t follow me.” She walks to the man.

“You stay . . . I go . . .
N
o ooo following, ” Max mutters to no one.

---

Her back to Max, she hears what he mutters, and her breath catches in her throat . A memory is forced upon her , t orn from a place she thought was long gone , t aken f rom a dusty old box in her mind , and laid before her. A little boy , sitting on her knees , coos while watching a movie.
A tear runs down her cheek.

---

T
he man puts his arm ar ound her waist and pulls her away. Two gorillas take the ir place at the end of the hall facing Max.

Max mutters something again, circles his can e around behind him and then walks down the hallway to his left. The gorillas run, t wo fullbacks pounding down the hall. Max walks , his cane clicking on the marble floor.

The gorillas hit the T-junction and try to tur n. Both of them fall hard , the marble floor where Max was standing seconds before is as slippery as a wet sheet of ice . The weight of the gorillas takes them crashing into the double doors across the T-junction .

Watching them Max sees one crack an ankle. The other hits his head on the door frame with a loud smack . Max moves to a door with an exit sign.

One gorill a struggles up; blood streaming from his forehead, then speaks into his wrist. “Second floor, north exit, target in sight, permission to fire . . .
Ahhhhhh .”

Max assumes th at means no permission to shoot. H
e turns and enters the sta irwell on his right. T
he stairs only go down. At the top of the stairs he moves his cane from one side of the stairs to the other and says, “Wire .”
Then he steps away from the door and says, “Fog .”
Max partially disappears.

He hears the g orilla running down the hallway , the stairwell door bursts open , narrowly missing Max . The gorilla curses and moves to run down the stairs . Neither of his feet ever touch t he top step . His pitches forward and the nano trip wire cuts deeply into both ankles. Ripping free of the trip wire , he almost clears the whole staircase. Coming down shoulder first, Max hears his shoulder make a pop ping sound .

Max goes back into the hallway.

“Max, please l eave.” He hears Lara in his ear piece.

“G
o invisible and get out.”

He walks back toward the party.
An experiment.
A gorilla appears in front of him.
Max fires a BB
. I t strik es the g orilla in the forehead dropping him like an empty sack.

Nearing the top of the stairs , Max hears a familiar voice. “Max, this is madness.” Max turns and sees Pirelli standing in a door way.
“What you don’t understand is that I am one of the few trying to save your life. After me, there are only men with guns. Let me help you.”