Maxwell Huxley's Demon (6 page)

---

Virginia pushes Naomi backward as Walker helps Max up. “You rat! S
tay away from him.”

“Why ? D
o you own him?” Naomi asks calmly standing up tall and facing Virginia who is at least six inches taller than her.

“What!” Virginia says . “You get in our way, tattle on us, wreck everything, and then you get snotty about it , how dare you —”

Walker touches her shoulder , and she stops talking.

“Naomi, why are you here?” Max asks as Walker and Virginia flank him.

“
I’m here to go with you , Max.”

Max winces at the rush of emotions coming from Virginia.

“
Ug h , seriously, ” says Virginia.
“Y
ou can’t come wit h us, what makes you think—”

“Virginia!” Max interjects , then facing Naomi he says . “You’re a smart girl Naomi, you figured out what we’
re doing , and how to get down here before us.
” Then Max predicts, “
N
one of the other doors will open for us , will they?
”
Smart people are all around me . . . and they all want something from me.

“
Nope , ” Naomi replies.

“You’re with us then.
Let’s go.”
Max runs to the door and looks over his shoulder.
All three are staring at him , open mouthed , not moving yet . “Well , come on!
We haven’t got all day to decide. She outsmarted us. That means she’s in.
”
Entrance exam passed .

---

Dr
.
Concilian meets two guards in the hallway. T
hey take the elevator to the first floor. Out of the elevator , they turn right and see the four kids in the main entryway beyond a set of sliding doors.
The guards slam their hands down on the scanners , trying to open the doors.
Dr .
Concilian directs the guards to leave the scanners alone , and open s the p anel covering the override switch , then he taps a code into his cell phone.

“Max,” he says into the cell phone, which now broadcasts his voice over the school intercom.
Max, Walker , Virginia, and Naomi turn and look at Dr. Concilian.
“Max, where can you possibly go? Y
ou’ve seen how much forest surrounds us, you can’t make it . . .”

“
I’
m done talking . G
oodbye Dr. Concilian .” W
ith that Max leads the four of them out of the building.

“
OK
, now we run,” Max says .
They run th r ough the gardens toward the w est gate.
The other three making sure to run only as fast as Max .
Walker grabs two digging bar s (
two metres of tempered steel bar sharpened at one end ) from the garden shed as they run past.
This arms the team with two fighting staffs.

“Max?
!
What do we do when we get out of the gate?” Virginia asks over her shoulder.

Max just shakes his head.
“
Now y ou ask that?”

---

Max,
Walker , Vir ginia, and Naomi arrive at the w est gate. “Are we on time?” Max asks no one in particular.

“Thirty seconds early by my watch, but she might have changed everything.
”
Virginia gestures toward Naomi.

“Well Naomi?” Max asks.

“So long as I scan out , the timing is the same as it was before I altered your intrusion and escape code .”

Virginia seethes, looking as if she might hit someone soon . Max faces Virginia and lays a hand on her arm.
She stop s moving and cease s giving Naomi the stink-eye.
This also means that the code will still clean itself up, erase its tracks, after we open this gate.
“Virginia! Virginia, t his is fine. Just a change in plans.
It’s OK
to bring her. Trust me?”

“I’m not good with change, ” Virginia spits out but Max feels her shoulder relax. “
You know this , but o f course I trust you.” She holds Max’s eye.

I feel her calm down.
I wish I could do that .
It must be nice to flip a switch and calm down .

“
O
K
, Max,” Virginia says.
“
But I don’t have to trust her. And she has to explain everything she did. And she better have her own stuff. And I won’t wait for her. And you, you . . . you . . .” Virginia’s eyes water.

“I know, I know, ” says Max.
“
I get it . . . I will.”
I know you want me to be more careful. I’m sorry , but I won’t be .

Naomi palms the gate reader, it opens.
They see the hint of an early sunrise , forest, and Dr. Hanson walking up a gravel path with a dog .

---

Dr. Concilian sits down at his desk and taps his computer screen; it reads his thumb print and th en wakes up for him. “Dial Frank Samson .” The computer chimes a few times.
“Your call is queued , please hold ,” a female computer voice announces. Dr. Concilian sighs.

A bearded face finally appears.
“
How can I help you ?”

“I have a few kids who have just broken out.”

“Which ones?” Frank asks.

“
Maxwell Huxley, Walker Northrop, Virginia Susumu , and Naomi Jacobs.
I already have a roadblock being setup about half way to town. I plan to —”

“I assume Maxwell is leading this?”
says Frank.

“Yes.”

“Stand down , Stan. Just go back to your usual work.
Let the roadblock stand .
If he doesn’t make it through the roadblock then he’s not good enough for us , and you should just process him .” The connection drops.

Cut free by the dropped phone call, Dr. Concilian’s mind wanders.
And what about the others?
If something is going to go wrong it always happens during final exams. If I have to stand down then I guess the least I can do is focus on the student s I still have in school. Make sure they’
re prepared.

…

Frank makes a call and waits for the voice -
only connection.

“Hello F
rank.”

“Hello Mr. Newton.
The escape we predicted is happening .
Are you prepared for this?
”

“Of course we’re ready. I’m looking forward to this one. From what I have heard this will be entertaining , and the program should benefit greatly .
”

“
True enough.
I’ll stay as uninvolved as I can, but I know you understand how hard being involved is when you’
ve family taking final exams.
”
Frank opens a picture on his workstation as he speaks.

“
I’ll call as soon as I have word, ” Mr. Newton replies.
“
I’ll make sure you’
re in the loop on this one , every step o f the way .”

I know we have to d o this. We’ve done it a hundred times before, but when it’s family sometimes things get messy.
Frank looks at a picture , he’
s standing inside the gates of the Canadian school , holding a girl in his arms; she is not much more than a toddler.

---

Dr. Hanson makes his dog sit and looks at the group of kids, squi nting, like he’s not sure they’
re real ly standing in front of him . “Well this is interesting.
I don’t think you’re supposed to be out here.”

Max moves close r the Dr. Hanson.
“I’m sorry , Dr. Hanson, but I can’t stay in this place .
I like your class, but I won’t be a victim just because of you .”
I still feel bad about being rude in his class, about laughing at him. I didn’t mean to hurt his feelings.

“I don’t think you’ll ever be a victim, Max.”

“What happens when we turn ten? What happened to Jack and Sarah and Roland?
I spent years with them only to watch them disappear one-by-one.”

“
I can’t tell you exactly what happened. All I can say is they moved on.
If I tell you any more, it will hurt you. Y
ou have to trust me Max.”

“That right there. That vague answer is why I’m leaving. I’ll never be free if I stay here where everyone lies and hides the truth.”

“Here’
s some truth for you , Max.
I was in this school when I was nine, and I ended up doing what I love.
Not everything and not everyone is evil , Max. Sometimes things turn out well on their own.
Sometimes you need to just let things be.
”

“I’ll make thing s turn out well.”
Waiting on chance is defeat.
“
I won’t rely on chance, I’m sorry Dr. Hanson .” Max steps around him . “Goodbye.”
The other three join him .

“Goodbye, Max,” Dr. Hanson says to no one.
Watching them disappear into the forest carrying staffs, reminds him of a medieval party departing on a quest .
He chuckles to himself, shakes his head thinking of the anger he will face when he gets inside the school.

---

Max,
Walker , Virginia, and Naomi run a short distance into the trees and quickly discover it’s practically impossible to run in a wild mountain forest .
The thick undergrowth is hardy, snagging their clothes and scratching exposed skin. The vines and branches are bad enough, but i t’s also steep and the floor of the forest is covered with old snow, each step can be on solid ground or on a snow covered hole.
After Max is sure they can’t be seen from the gate , he stops. “Hold up .
”
When the y all stop , he leans against a tree and takes some time to catch his breath. The other s don’t seem to be winded.
“
OK
, so now we stay in the forest and circle to the south end of the building.”

“
Seriously ,” Virginia and Naomi say at the same time.

“Why don’t we head deeper into the forest?” Virginia asks , her breath visible in the frigid air .

“We can’t survive in the forest, not enough food, no map , no gear, it’ll probably go down to three degrees Celsius tonight, and we don’t know where we are .
I thought we’
d try something other than dying on our first night of freedom. W
e’re heading to the loading dock; there is a truck due in soon . I’ve been watching , every Saturday at six a tractor trailer delivers bread . I t’s here for about a half hour , and then it leaves. W
e’re going to be in the trailer when it leaves .”
Max looks at the time.
5:53.

---

Crouching against the loading dock under the back end of the trailer, t hey hear the bread racks rolling out .
Max whispers, “
He’
ll unload one side first, when he’
s done that side of the truck, he’ll put the empty rack s back inside to clear the loading dock , we go in then , and hide on the racks .
”

“Where is the truck going?” Naomi asks.

“Does it matter?” Max shrugs.

When the driver is half done, Virgin ia, Naomi, and then Walker slip into the truck.
Max stands up an d cracks his head on the bumper.
“
Owww .” Blushing, he then step s on the bumper of the truck and slip s, and scrapes his shins .
Six hands reach down and pull Max into the back of the trailer .
“Sometimes I hate being me.
” Max sighs .
They hide on top of the empty racks.

T
he driver , after loading the remainder of the empty racks back into the truck , makes a call and leaves a message . “Hi honey , I just unloaded at the government research building in the mountains . . .
I should be back in Kitimat in four hours, I’ll call you when I’
m close to town . . .
this place always gives me the creeps , I’ll be happy when I see you. L
ove you.”
He closes the door and locks them in.
The engine starts , and the truck pulls away.

“
OK
, so we should have a bit of time before the roadblock.” Max climbs down , leans against a stack of empty bread racks, and massages his shins.

“What roadblock?” Virginia asks.

“Standard protocol for an escape is to setup a roadblock,” Max says. “They’ll place it far down the mountain so they have the best chance of catching us —”

“Wait a second Max, the driver said we would be in Kitimat in four hours, where’
s Kitimat?”
Walker asks. Max shrugs.

“Man, you guys,” Naomi says, “
Kitimat is on the west co ast of Canada.
If you’d stop writing code so metimes you’d know this.”