Six (9 page)

Bowveld picked up the microphone waiting for him on the side counter and then, as they had agreed, he took center stage, and Dr. Banks joined Lina at the other side of the room.

“Everything ready?” whispered Dr. Banks.

Lina nodded as Bowveld turned on the microphone and tapped it three times.

Boom. Boom. Boom.

“It's going to be okay,” said Dr. Banks, as much to himself as to Lina.

Lina opened her mouth to reply but was interrupted by Bowveld's voice, forceful and full of confidence, reverberating around the room.

“Good afternoon to you all,” said Bowveld, “and welcome to the heart of Avecto Enterprises. Before we begin, I'd first like to thank you for taking the time out of your very busy schedules to come here today. We are honored by your presence. I know that many of you have engagements to attend, so today's presentation will be quick but will, I am sure, put your minds at ease. Afterward, there will be a question and answer session. Before we begin, though, I'd first like to say a few words. I'll keep it brief, which, as you all know, will be something of a challenge for me.”

Bowveld guffawed at his own joke.

Dr. Banks turned to Lina and rolled his eyes. For the first time that day, Lina smiled.

“As you should all be aware from your monthly updates, work on SIX is progressing well. Only last week we sent parts to build ten new cranes. All damage from the sandstorm has been repaired, and we are working flat-out to ensure that we are back on schedule within the month. At this time, I'm delighted to announce that Great Bowveld—from which all central operations will run—is now completed. The progress of your own nations is also advancing well, as you will know from your individual reports. After almost twenty-five years of planning, preparation, and hard work, we can see the finishing line. Your new lives—
our
new lives—are within reach. No more red tape! No more having to bend over backward to please the common man! An existence of luxury and comfort await those who have earned it: you. We did our best here, but sometimes the courage is needed to say, ‘This didn't work; let's start again.' You here today are the courageous ones, and for that, you will be greatly rewarded. SIX is our opportunity to correct the mistakes that have been made here on Earth. Many tools are needed to build a house but only one to build paradise: hindsight. As the motto of SIX proudly states, ‘Practice Made Perfect.'  ”

Bowveld stopped, his face suddenly serious. He ran his hand through his hair. It sprang straight back up again.

“And now I'd like to address the reason you are all here today. I know many of you have concerns about the fact that you have not been able to visit SIX to see the progress for yourselves. I have been just as frustrated as all of you, I assure you. Avection, our patented form of teleportation, was first developed thirty-three years ago and yet, despite all the time that has passed, the ability to perform a second avection without any glitches has proved considerably more difficult than any of us could have imagined. Six months ago, we all sat together in a crisis meeting, and I promised you that I would solve the issue by today. As always, as you will see in just a moment, I have kept my word. The first return visits to SIX will be available to you next month, when you will finally be able to see the beauty, and wisdom, of your investments. And the man who has made this all possible, the man who finally got things moving—excuse the pun—is this man: Dr. Geoffrey Banks.”

Bowveld motioned to the side of the room. All eyes turned to Dr. Banks who, at the mention of his name, straightened and gave a tight smile.

“Dr. Banks,” continued Bowveld, “has been at the helm of some of the most influential and—”

“Can you get on with it?” called out a man's voice from the crowd.

Bowveld stopped abruptly. He looked around and, upon seeing the man who had spoken, visibly faltered.

“Oh. Yes, of course, Your Highness. My apologies.” He turned to Dr. Banks and nodded for him to begin. Then, without waiting for a response, he walked around the safety wall to his seat at the center of the front row.

Once seated, Bowveld pressed a button next to a small microphone on his armrest, and the loudspeaker clicked on. Bowveld leaned over to speak.

“Dr. Banks, you may proceed.”

For the briefest of moments, Dr. Banks wondered what would happen if he simply turned around and walked out. The consequences would be bad—undoubtedly so—but perhaps not as bad as if this demonstration failed. And then the image of Sarah, his wife, came to mind, and all his indecision disappeared. He had a responsibility to her, and to Parker and Emma. He had decided, when he had found out that his wife was still alive, that he wouldn't tell his children; it just wasn't fair to offer them that hope. They had already lost their mother once. Losing her a second time—strong as they both were—would destroy them. Until he was certain that they would see her again, there was simply no way that he could tell them. He hoped that time would come soon, which meant, unfortunately, walking out was not an option.

Dr. Banks gave a solemn nod in the direction of the audience. With Lina behind him, he walked over to the white metal box on the far left of the room and did his best to ignore the stares coming at him from the sea of white coats behind the safety glass.

The box was humming softly. Identical in appearance to the box at the other end of the room, the Avectrons looked not unlike large washing machines, except that each of these two machines came with a fifty-million-dollar price tag. It was a drop in the ocean compared to the amount of money invested elsewhere and that amounted to—literally—billions of dollars' worth of expectation resting on Dr. Banks's shoulders. He could feel every one of them.

“I checked everything,” said Lina in a quiet voice, though nobody could hear them from this side of the safety glass.

He was sure she was right, but just in case, Dr. Banks ran his eyes over the numbers on the control panel one more time. Everything was in order.

“You checked the harness?” asked Dr. Banks.

Lina nodded. “She's in there and ready to go.”

“Good.” He turned to face Lina. “Thank you. I'll take it from here.”

“Good luck,” she whispered.

Lina stepped aside and Dr. Banks, with his back turned to the audience, took a deep breath and knelt down.

“Dr. Banks will now open the Avectron.”

Dr. Banks flinched at the sound of the voice. He had forgotten that Bowveld would be commentating. He reached over, turned the heavy metal handle, and pulled the door open.

As soon as the pig saw him, she started squealing.

“Shhh,” whispered Dr. Banks, “it's okay. You're going to be just fine.”

“Ladies and gentlemen,” announced Bowveld, “I'd like you to meet Polly.”

There were a couple of small laughs from the audience and a light ripple of clapping.

The pig dangled helplessly from a harness. As Dr. Banks reached in to check the tension of the harness, she started to squeal louder.

“As you can see, she's quite the talker,” joked Bowveld.

Dr. Banks pulled on one of the straps and thought of Emma.
How she would disapprove of what I am doing,
he thought. If—
if
—the pig survived, he resolved to bring it home to her to keep.

“She'll take very good care of you,” he said, stroking the pig.

Calmed by the soothing voice, the pig soon quieted, and the room turned silent once more, heavy with the air of expectation.

Dr. Banks gave the pig a final pat on the head. “You're all good to go, Polly,” he said as he pulled his hand away. “See you on the other side.”

Polly stared at Dr. Banks but didn't make another sound as he closed the door and turned the handle all the way around.

Click.

“Polly is now ready for her first avection,” announced Bowveld. “In order to demonstrate firsthand how quick and painless avection is, we have placed cameras inside the Avectrons.”

On cue Lina pressed down on one of the buttons of the remote control she was holding, and the large white screen on the back wall of the laboratory came to life. Slowly, the image of the pig dangling under the dull purple glow of the Avectron's lights appeared above a flurry of constantly changing numbers and a continuous green line that spiked sharply every time the pig moved.

The entire room, Dr. Banks included, turned to the screen and watched as the pig wriggled about, desperately trying to squirm her way out of her harness.

Dr. Banks leaned over to the Avectron and pressed a button.

“The Avectron will now fill with the smell of lavender,” said Bowveld. “We wanted to make the process of avection as comfortable and pleasant as possible. Lavender—our extensive research determined—proved to have the most calming qualities of any scent. If you have a preference, however, you may, of course, choose another scent for your own journeys.”

Dr. Banks turned and, for the first time, allowed himself a good look at the audience. He spotted, amongst many other familiar faces, a past president, two members of the British cabinet, and a very well-known business magnate. Every one of them was staring intently at the screen, watching with considerable self-interest as the scent of the lavender began to take effect.

Dr. Banks joined the audience in watching as the pig began to calm. The green line jumped a couple more times until it finally evened out, barring only the tiny fluctuations for the movement of the pig's breathing.

“Polly, I believe, is now ready for her trip to the other side of the room. Is that correct, Dr. Banks?”

Dr. Banks nodded.

“Good. Then we may begin. Initiate scanning.”

Three weeks earlier, this part of the process would have required Dr. Banks to input long lines of complicated code. Now all he had to do was to press down on the glowing red button. It was just one of the things that Dr. Banks had done to improve the process, not that anyone was going to be giving him any credit for it.

Inside the pig's compartment, a green light began to sweep the box.

“The pig is now being scanned and its exact data is being recorded. This analysis will include the harness, which, in the case of yourselves, would be your clothes. We have done this so that you will be dressed exactly as you left. There will be no need to parade around naked upon your arrival to SIX, you'll be pleased to hear.” Bowveld laughed, then stopped abruptly when he realized that he was the only one amused by his comment.

He cleared his throat. “Dr. Banks, are we ready?”

Dr. Banks waited a few moments until the red button started flashing. He nodded.

“And off we go,” announced Bowveld. “Begin first avection.”

Everybody watched as Dr. Banks pressed down on the button.

There was a loud beep, and then the Avectron began to hum.

Polly looked around her enclosed space as the humming grew louder and louder and then, after only three minutes . . .

BOOM!

Everyone except for Dr. Banks and Lina jumped. On the screen, the green line went flat and the portion of the screen showing the dangling pig turned black.

The Avectron was empty.

There were a few murmurs in the crowd as Dr. Banks walked over to the second Avectron on the opposite side of the room. Dr. Banks knelt down, and everybody in the room, once again completely silent, watched as he reached out, pulled down on the handle, and opened the front of the machine.

There was a loud squeal.

“Ladies and gentlemen,” announced Bowveld, “Polly has arrived.”

As if to emphasize the point, Polly—still dangling, though a few feet away from where she had been only moments earlier—started to squeal louder. Dr. Banks saw a few smiles in the audience. There was, however, no applause—they had all seen this part of the demonstration before. It was the next part that they were all waiting for.

Dr. Banks reached into the Avectron and gently stroked the back of the pig again as Lina switched on the cameras in the machine. Polly, who had immediately calmed on being comforted by Dr. Banks, appeared once more on the screen, bathed in the dull purple of the ultraviolet lights and hanging limply in midair.

Knowing that it wouldn't benefit any of them to delay the next part of the presentation, least of all the pig, Dr. Banks reached under Polly's harness to check that it hadn't lost any tension following the first avection.

“We're nearly done, Polly,” said Dr. Banks as he withdrew his hand and closed the door for a second time. He stood up.

“Are we ready for the second avection?” asked Bowveld.

Dr. Banks hesitated as his heart suddenly began to race faster.

“Dr. Banks?” asked Bowveld. His voice was calm but controlled. Dr. Banks could hear the effort the director was making not to lose his temper in front of the investors.

Dr. Banks turned, and for a brief but almost imperceptible moment, the two men's eyes met. It was long enough for Dr. Banks to clearly read the message behind the director's narrowed eyes:
Do this or suffer the consequences.

Dr. Banks slowly nodded, and the director, visibly relieved, leaned into his microphone as Dr. Banks pressed down on the glowing red button a second time.

“For your security,” explained Bowveld as the green light began to sweep the inside of the Avectron, “the scanning process is performed for every teleportation. This ensures that everything about you—from the way your shoelace has been tied to the exact placement of each strand of your hair, arrives at your destination
exactly
as it was on your departure.”

There was silence as numbers poured across the screen. The sweeping green light switched off, and the red light began to flash.

It wasn't just the lives of the people here in the room that would change if this worked; it was also the lives of all their families and friends and of those they'd chosen to leave behind. The whole world would be different with the push of a button.