Spanners - The Fountain of Youth (11 page)

“Brogg,” said Mayfly, “and you’re going to help him do it.”

/***/

There was a pounding at the door at midnight. Brogg growled
, and one of the Treys was already opening a cabinet filled with weapons. Another Trey took a gun and hid behind the door. The third Trey disappeared for a moment and then shut the lights off. Mayfly saw that Cattaga’s eyes glowed.

“I’ve increased the amount of rods in my eyes,” whispered Cattaga. “I can see in the dark now.”

“Both our back exits are clear,” said Trey from the darkness. “We can escape at any time.”

Something felt odd to Mayfly and he held up his hand for everyone to be quiet. He listened intently and then relaxed a bit.

“Adam, is that you?” he asked.

“Yeah it’s me,” said Adam.

Trey was still cautious and opened the door slowly to reveal Adam Parr, who soon had his hands up in the air. Another Trey frisked Adam, and Cattaga peered out into the darkness of the stairwell above the door.

“No one’s following him,” said Cattaga, “at least no one that I can see.”

“Looks like you’re good, Dr. Parr,” said Trey. “Sorry for the treatment, but these times are tough.”

“No problem, and times are worse than you think,” said Adam. “Good to see you guys. And great to see you, Mayfly; I’d thought I’d lost you.”

“You haven’t,” said Mayfly. “This world can’t seem to lose me, even though it keeps telling me it will.”

“All right,” said Adam, now looking at Cattaga. “Now show me the plan.”

/***/

“This could work,” said Adam, poring over the blueprints, “but there
are two flaws.”

“What are those?” said Mayfly.

“The first is that
you’re
rescuing the Fountain,” said Adam. “She’s highly dangerous, especially to your class.”

“They put her in the cold,” said Mayfly. “The cold mutes her powers.”

“Not nearly enough,” said Adam. “Once she’s outside in normal temperature, she could kill you with a glance.”

“I’ll be fine,” said Mayfly.

“No you won’t,” said Adam.

“
Fine
,” said Mayfly. “What’s the second flaw?”

“This raid takes twenty minutes too long,” said Adam.

“Twenty minutes is all I need to free a few prisoners,” said Mayfly.

“We don’t have that time,” said Adam.

“I’ll stay behind,” Mayfly.

“No you won’t,” said Adam. “Once we get the Fountain, we need to take her to the Surgeon, and he’s a long way off. Juan will be on our heels and we’ll need you.”

“There’ll be time,” said Mayfly, “and if there’s not, I’ll
make
time.”

THE KIDNAPPING

Balthasar was again awoken at 5
a.m.; someone had broken into the Fountain’s cell. He rushed over to the security room to see Juan peering at the camera display and was relieved to see that it had been a false alarm, or close to it. Cannon had entered the Fountain’s cell and was keeping his distance, but staring at her frozen bed. Two human guards had tried to remove him already, but he wouldn’t budge.

“Our cannoneer has a crush on this young girl,” said Juan, “and like most teenage crushes, he picks the unattainable flower, the one too distant to hurt him.”

“I shall personally remove him myself and—” said Balthasar, but Juan held up a hand.

“No need,” said Juan. “I’ve sent Drayne.”

Balthasar saw Drayne sneaking up behind Cannon; she slowly removed her right glove and then gently put her hand on his neck. It was hard to tell what was happening through the old black-and-white security monitors, but Cannon turned pale and fell first to his knees and then to the floor, his large frame gently guided by Drayne. Drayne looked at the camera and gave a thumbs-up; the whole action had taken only a few seconds.

Juan smiled and Drayne walked outside to tell the human guards outside the room to take Cannon away. They did so and then closed the heavy frozen doors behind them. The computer monitor blinked green to show that the doors were indeed locked.

“Drayne’s skill level has improved dramatically,” said Juan, “she’s no longer a lost whore with the powers of a scourge. She’s an assassin, and she’ll do what needs to be done to abet our cause. She’s even begun to learn Arawak in hopes of becoming the Fountain’s bodyguard.”

“Of course,” said Balthasar.

“Do you understand our cause, Balthasar?”

“Of course, sir,” said Balthasar.

“No, I mean do you
really
understand our cause?”

“Sir?”

Juan thought for a moment and then smiled.

“Come,” said Juan, “let’s have a glass of wine. It’s either late in the evening or early in the morning, but whatever the time, I could use a glass of wine.”

/***/

Juan poured himself a chalice of Malbec and offered Balthasar one, but he refuse
d. Juan smiled and grabbed the tequila from the cupboard, which Balthasar accepted.

“I understand you drink only this
brand of tequila, which goes for a thousand dollars a bottle,” said Juan. “How did you afford this before I came along, when you were destitute?”

“I helped found the distillery in southern Mexico a century ago,” said Balthasar. “I visit and tell them that I’m the founder’s great-grandson, and they give me free bottles.”

“Marvelous,” said Juan. “You’re fortunate to have taken part in history for the past five centuries. My Argentinean wine and your distillery’s tequila are from two fiefdoms risen and then broken off from Spain, with whole histories to themselves; histories that I’ve missed during my time under the earth. All I know of them now is their products.”

Juan sipped his red wine and Balthasar took a taste of his
tequila, savoring its clear flavor.

“Both countries’ histories have been bloody, have they not?” asked Juan.

“Of course, sir,” said Balthasar.

“I would expect nothing else,” said Juan
. “Conflict is in our nature; it’s not good, it’s not bad, it just
is
. I was reading of the Maori of New Zealand, the Easter Islanders, the New Guineans and their histories. A violent, warlike people, all three countries, and that’s not passing judgment; the conditions of their islands could lead to nothing
but
constant conflict, blood feuds, perhaps even cannibalism. Before the Europeans came they weren’t a
violent
people, so much as they were human.

“The only difference between them and us
was our agricultural methods, which led to an explosion of European cities, which led to disease and advanced warfare and so on. But do you know what
really
set our desire for domination apart from the more savage islanders?”

“No
, sir,” said Balthasar.

“It was that our advanced agriculture allowed us to bring a priest or two along with every mission,” said Juan. “A man not needed to plow the field or fight on the front lines; his only job was to sit back and
justify
what we were doing, through religion. Ask a peasant to leave home to kill strangers and he’ll most likely pass, but ask him to ‘
join a crusade
’ and he’ll fight and die for you every time.”

“Indeed, sir.”

“Which brings an interesting question, Balthasar,” said Juan. “What is your role in our mission? Is it that of the priest? Or that of the foot soldier?”

“I am a steward sir, and nothing more.”

“The job of steward hasn’t existed for more than a century. I ask again, if you
had to choose
, which role would fit you better, that of priest or of foot soldier?”

“Then I would choose priest, sir.”

“Good,” said Juan. “We’re going to change the world and we need a priest, not for religious purposes, but to have someone who can prod our people to do ignoble things in the interest of attaining our goals. Are you comfortable with the ignoble, Balthasar?”

“I
’m comfortable with anything that supports our cause, sir.”

“Those are words, but would you actually do what needs to be done to take this world to its next evolution? Would you kill a child?”

“Sir, I—”

“That’s an unfair question
, I admit,” said Juan with a smile. “I wouldn’t want a child-killer by my side. But for argument’s sake, let’s say there was a button before you. If you press it, an innocent child dies, but a hundred elsewhere are saved. Would you press it?”

“I suppose, sir.”

“What if the button killed a million innocent children but resulted in a lasting world peace and eliminated hunger, disease and poverty?”

“Then I would press it, sir.”

Juan poured himself another glass of wine and looked out the window to watch the sun rise over the mayflies out in the yard.

“These are preposterous ethical choices, I know,” said Juan, “but they are choices you
will have
to make, because we are close to unleashing the Fountain’s full power. The life aspect of her being will magnify our abilities by a thousand until we’re like the gods of yesteryear. The only difference between you and Apollo is that you’ll be greater than he and you’ll be
real
.”

Balthasar didn’t know what to say, so he nodded instead.

“But I don’t wish to make us gods only so that we can be gods amongst mortals, with temples, worshippers and such,” said Juan. “And if we only use the life power of the Fountain, that’s the only outcome. A world crowded with mortals with our kind at the top; that would lead us backwards, not forwards.”

Juan smiled and took another sip of his wine.

“How can we become the gods of yesteryear without falling into the traps of yesteryear?” asked Juan.

“I don’t know, sir,” said Balthasar. “What would you propose?”

“I hope to make a perfect society,” said Juan, “and the only path away from the violence that lies within the human heart requires extensive
eradication
.”

Juan took one more drink from his wine and then poured Balthasar another glass of
tequila.

“Drink,” he commanded, and Balthasar drank.

“Violence and depravity are in our nature, you know, and they’re both unavoidable. Academics seem to cast us conquistadors as villains, but they’ve missed the big picture,” said Juan. “Before we came, the naturals were killing and raping each other in a sort of constant equilibrium, with no end and no purpose other than instinct. The same could be said for the Maori warrior, the Guinean headhunter or the Easter Island cannibal. We did ignoble things, but our ignobility ended their equilibrium of constant warfare and cleared the path for history to proceed. I awoke five hundred years later to be greeted by Malbec, tequila and an endless array of crowded cities, but
history has proceeded
in Argentina, Mexico and countless other vassalages. How? By becoming friends with the naturals and trading with them? By being nice? No; by wiping them out when we could and having them conform when we couldn’t.”

Balthasar sipped his
tequila and then poured another glass.

“Tell me, Balthasar, have you been to Mexico City?”

“Yes,” said Balthasar. “I’ve been many times.”

“And what do you think of it? Be honest.”

“It’s quite large, overpowering and—”

“It’s an abomination,” said Juan. “We ended the natural’s equilibrium of constant war, established our cities and gave them lives of poverty, prostitution, endless garbage and crime. History happened to the city, but it didn’t happen to its fullest extent. You can say the same of São Paulo, Johannesburg
, Manila and everywhere else. Humanity has taken a step in the
right direction
, but we’ve not gone far enough, and whatever the case we have currently
stalled
. Do you agree?”

“Of course, sir,” said Balthasar.

“We need a drastic measure to move this world forward, perhaps more drastic than our exodus five hundred years ago, when the overflowing population of Europe took shelter in this western land.”

“Of course, sir.”

“This is where the Fountain comes in, not just her
good half
, but the half that brings
death
. Death is important to humanity, and though we ignore it,
death
is the notion that allows for the new to spring up. Death makes space, and if it weren’t for
death
we’d be sipping neither Malbec nor tequila, but rather sitting in some mud hut somewhere, grunting at each other. Do you agree?”

“Of course, sir.”

“Perhaps death will come in the form of a
battle
. The Arawaks have a prophecy that there will be a great battle for the Fountain to decide the fate of humanity, and perhaps that will be our vehicle to bring death. Perhaps it’s just another yarn from an illiterate tribe and should be ignored.

“Regardless of the legend, we’
re headed forward to our own destiny. Once we have separated her powers, we’ll take a sip of life from the Fountain of Youth ourselves and become gods, and then take the death in its unadulterated form and work on the rest of humanity. I don’t know if we will make a poison, a disease, or some sort of weapon, but we will bring death. We’ll do it quickly and cleanly, putting minimal destruction on the environment.”

“Sir?”

“We’ll kill every single human but ten thousand children,” said Juan, not missing a beat. “Ten thousand will be left, children of all ethnicities, too young to remember anything but us as their parents. These children will be our wards, and once grown, they’ll be the bulk of our society. We’ll bless them with the power of the Fountain’s life, and they’ll live the lives of gods themselves, though we will leave certain controls in place.”

“Controls?”

“I haven’t quite thought of the details—that will be your job,” said Juan, “but we’ll need strict and clear controls to ensure that in this new society, there will be no crime because we won’t allow it. There will be no more war because we won’t allow it. There will be no more disease and no more suffering because we
will not
allow it
. We’ll live in perfect harmony with our natural surroundings, because pollution, species-extinction and expansion won’t be allowed.”

Juan smiled for a moment and stared at Balthasar.

“Again, I know not the details,” he said, “and I know not how the Fountain’s bifurcated powers will abet this, but I know that it can and will happen. This new society will have powers and we will forever be its
parents
, as it were. Our children will have the freedom to fly to the moon and back if they so desire, but we will have instituted certain
controls
that allow us to stop them if our children should do
anything
to threaten our permanent utopia. Does this make sense?”

“Of course, sir.”

“Good,” said Juan. “We’ve yet to unlock the Fountain’s power, but when we do, I’ll need you to be just as fervent in bringing this utopia about as a Spanish priest was when he trekked into the Amazon to baptize a hundred children of the forest. You must
know
you are ultimately doing the right thing, even when the path gets arduous. You must
know
that the cost to make this society is great, and you must not waver, even when a million cry out before you. When the time comes, will you do what is right to abet the future?”

“Of course, sir.”

“Good,” said Juan. “For you will have to do dirty and dark things, things that will make our own past misdeeds look like child’s play. When the time comes to press a button that will cause a million innocent children to suffer, you must press that button, for doing so will get us one step closer to a world where no one will ever suffer again.”