The Legend of Garison Fitch (Book 1): First Time (18 page)

"Naw. That there Bible's taken straight from the Greek—the language Mark wrote it in to begin with. A friend of mine named Rondall Smith and some scholars down Dallas way are working at putting the Bible into today's English so we can understand it more easily. You read that; see if it don't make more sense to you than all them 'thees' and 'thous'."

Tex whispered, "Maybe I shouldn't tell you this, but I think I can trust you. They've got more than a million copies of that ready to be smuggled into your country in the next few weeks."

Garison flipped through the small book, impressed at what he was able to see with just a cursory glance. Then, as if purposefully ignoring the book he held in his hand, motioned to the short stack of books and beamed, "I can't thank you enough, Tex. I know what it'd mean if you were caught coming here...and with books!"

"These folks ain't high on independent thought, are they?" Tex broached one of the subjects they had always danced around because he knew it made Garison uncomfortable, "What did you think of that Bible you read, Garison?"

Garison thought a moment, then decided to be honest, "I was...amazed. I had heard about the Bible, and had even quoted brief bits of it while practicing law—you know, the few little phrases that were allowed to creep into our society. Of course, when quoting the Bible in a Soviet court you never cite your source. But anyway, I was amazed. I went in as a skeptic, figuring it was just another religious crutch, but I was curious because it was a phenomenon that had lasted so long, and under such persecution.

"Still, I figured it couldn't possibly hold up to the scrutiny of a trained legal and scientific mind like mine. I took that so much for granted that I read it like you'd read literature—with interest but not necessarily with study. It sucked me in, though. I found myself absorbed in the stories and in its unabashed attack on sin. That's one thing that really amazed me: that that whole big book by all those different authors, written over all those years could have such a central theme."

Puzzled, Tex asked, "And that would be...?"

Garison gestured with the Book of Mark, "That God created man for companionship, but man separated himself from God with sin. Then the whole book is about God providing the means to overcome sin so that man can come back to God."

Tex chuckled and Garison asked defensively, "What?"

Shrugging, Tex replied, "I just think it's funny that you seem to have gotten a better grasp on the Bible than a lot of people I know who have gone to church all their lives." Seriously, he added, "I am curious, though. Did you believe what you read?"

Garison paused, then replied, "I'm still working on that, Tex. I think I do. And I'm really beginning to want to believe it; but I've also got a lifetime of brainwashing that tells me the Bible is a crock and religion is just—"

"'Opiate for the masses'?" Tex injected.

"Sounds like you know our works pretty well, too." Garison looked up at him and asked, "You didn't just come here to bring me books, did you?"

"Why do you say that?"

Garison thought about starting up the dance, but decided the moment had come for straight talk. He replied, "Because we're talking about things we always danced around before. Why?"

"How is your project going?" the man asked mildly.

"Nearing final testing," Garison replied proudly. In hopes of furthering the spirit of open, honest talk, he added, "I had hoped to make another test run today. Now it looks more like tomorrow."

"Another one?" Tex asked. He had tried and tried to be casual, hoping Garison Fitch would slip up sometime, but it never happened. So it was a surprise to have gotten such an open—if still a bit cryptic—answer. The thing was, Garison had grown up in a society where truth or information wasn't given up freely, so he was well trained in playing his cards close to his chest. Plus, Garison liked the cat and mouse game of keeping people—even his own government—guessing as to what he was doing. Subsequently, such talk had become as second-nature as breathing.

In the preceding months of investigation, Tex had come to like the young inventor he had been assigned to spy on. For his part, Garison never gave Tex enough information to give the man the slightest idea what Garison was doing, but just enough to keep the cowboy coming back. Garison told himself he was setting the stage for some counter-espionage work on behalf of his government, but the truth was that he genuinely liked the cowboy as much as Tex liked him.

Fitch nodded, "I was successful in a trial run two days ago. Unfortunately, I ran out of power and was forced to cut the experiment short. I think I have the power problem worked out, though."

Tex laughed and said, "I still wish I knew what it was you were doing. But, I'm sure I'll read about it in the papers when you get another of them Nobel things. What is it? Two Nobels, now? We hear about that even in Texas."

Fitch shrugged shyly and said, "I really get embarrassed about those. I mean, I feel like I am doing the sort of things anyone could. Especially the food thing. And even particle physics is not really all that hard, once you get used to it."

"I doubt that." Tex leaned closer and said, "I did come of another purpose, though. I got some news for you." He paused and said, "And I swear, Garison, I'm giving you this as a friend, not as a..."

"Spy?" Garison broached the word in Tex's presence for the first time in their long association.

Tex shrugged, but didn't deny Garison's assertion.

"What is it?" Fitch asked with piqued interest. This had never happened before. If he learned anything from Tex, it was because the old man had let him learn it. Never had the man just come out and offered intelligence. Garison acknowledged that the man could have been a good actor, but Garison had a feeling down in his gut that Tex was fully on the level this time, though he couldn't have said exactly why he felt that.

"You know, I slip into Japanese territory occasionally, and I hear things. You may have already heard this, but the Japanese are about to sign a pact with the Argentines."

"I heard that rumor," Garison nodded. "You think there's truth to it?"

Tex nodded, "'Fraid so. The man I know is butler to the governor of New Misawa. His master is one of the dignitaries that's down there right now negotiating. They are supposed to sign the papers any day now. Might already be a done deal. My friend let me know because he's worried."

For just an old cowboy, Tex knew an awful lot; belying the idea that he was just an old cowboy. This was the reason he had never even been allowed near Fitch's barn. Garison genuinely liked Tex, and considered him a friend if anyone was. Still, all that indoctrination he had received made him hold back. So Garison had just let hints drop here and there that would do nothing more than confuse.

"How does Texas feel about all this?" Garison asked.

"Little scared, I think. If a war breaks out, Texas won't be in it right at first, but we will be right in the middle. We're bound to get dragged into the fray eventually." He forced a laugh and said, "'Course, some people think all the big countries are going to destroy each other and Texas will just step in and rule the world in the aftermath."

"Sounds plausible."

"We'll just have to wear radiation suits to work."

"Sounds very plausible," Garison nodded. He used to think it would be Argentina who would pick up the pieces, but now it seemed that they would be participating, too. Gravely, he asked, "Tell me the truth: do you really think it could mean war? I mean, I've heard this kind of thing all my life."

Tex looked at the floor and Garison could tell by the man's eyes and the furrows in his brow that he was more than just an old cowhand: he knew something. "It looks like it, Fitch. Things are just getting tense all over. Hirohito's gone and his successor's itching to make a name for himself like the old man. They've been resting on their victory in the Pacific for fifty years. And for all fifty of those years they've looked towards the Americas and tried to figure a way to drive the Russians off this continent. He's a hungry man, Garison, and I think he wants to make a move—any move—before he follows Hirohito into the great beyond."

"What if he dies before the war starts?"

"That might be just as bad. See, there have been lots of people in Japan who say the Emperor wasn't prudent those five decades, but chicken. That's part of why the current guy's planning this, to my thinking: to prove to them he's different. But if he dies, they're going to claim he's no longer holding them back. A lot of boys got a lot of glory in the last war and the young bucks want their piece of that."

"Don't they realize that a global war is an almost certain suicide for everyone who particpates?"

Tex affected a reluctantly wry smile and remarked, "The word kamikaze comes to mind. Suicide is honorable, if it's for the state. Plus, there's also the chance that—if the Emperor dies—they'll instigate the war in his honor. Like it's one last imperial strike from beyond the grave. Every victory in battle will be like a sign from heaven that he's still watching over them and leading them."

"What about defeats?"

"Glory."

Garison shook his head and said, "I still don't think it'll come to that, Tex. I mean, I've been looking over my shoulders for a Japanese zero all my life and they never come."

"Moskva and Tokyo are on alert, you know."

"Alert?" Garison asked with surprise.

"Ain't you heard?" Tex asked. It was his turn to be bewildered. After all, wasn't this Garison Fitch? The Soviet Man? Surely he knew everything there was to know about Soviet American policy. Tex would have been surprised to know how little even those supposedly at the top knew. Soviet society was a distrustful family and no one knew everything, especially if they were in a position where they should. And Garison was a man who purposefully knew nothing of the top anymore.

"I don't hear much of anything," Garison told him truthfully. "I don't have a phone and I have to go into town to pick up post, which isn't often. I only have a wireless out here for emergencies. Rarely ever turn it on."

"Well, you better start listening to it, son," Tex told him. He then admitted, "I'm going to come clean with you, Fitch. You probably guessed already, but I work for the Texas government. They've been sending me up here just to learn from you—and not just about your experiments, although we are interested in those, too. We just figured you probably knew everything that goes on in your country, you being as famous and important as you are and all."

"Time was, I did," Garison nodded. "Or, I knew what they let me know. But, I have...ah...become a little disillusioned. That's why I'm way out here. I don't bother them—and they don't bother me."

Tex slumped in his chair and said, "The whole world may be bothered pretty soon if a saner head doesn't prevail. Our election I was talking about may become a moot point."

"Sounds like it's a good thing my experiment is soon," Fitch said wryly.

Tex kept his poker face in tact, but inwardly he perked up at the comment. Did it mean Fitch's experiment was a weapon? Mankind had before built weapons that would "end all wars"—from the crossbow to the nuclear bomb. Had Garison Fitch finally invented the one that truly would? A doomsday weapon?

Tex found it hard to believe that the mild young man before him would be in on something like that. On the other hand, if anyone could invent such a machine, the legendary Garison Fitch could. With his track record, though, the thought perked up Tex that Garison might just have invented something for peace.

For his part, Garison was thinking selfishly that his invention might not bring peace to the world, but that it might take him to a dimension where there was no war—if such a place existed.

"Sure you won't stay for supper?" Garison asked as Tex stood to go for the door.

"No, I better head out." He looked at his watch for the hundredth time in the last hour.

Garison remarked, "You've got a chopper or something that's going to pick you up at a certain time, right?"

"Not exactly."

Garison shook Tex's hand and said, "Well, you take care of yourself, Tex. I hope you can make it back some day."

"Wouldn't it be great of we could get together without all this...stealth?"

"Maybe someday, Tex."

With a final shake, Tex darted out the door and disappeared soundlessly into the night. Garison gave Tex enough time to clear the yard, then closed the front gate by remote control and turned on the electric lock.

"And why do you think that day, over so many others, has stuck so firmly in your mind?" Sarah asked, after he had finished telling of the encounter in exacting detail. She had always been amazed at his ability to remember (or so it seemed) every word of every conversation he had ever had. He could also quote long passages of books he had read years before. And, once started, he seemed to remember things he would have claimed moments before to have not remembered.

But then, she had realized, there were some facts he couldn’t remember. She had wondered about this for a long time, but then had come to realize that he only remembered those things he wanted to remember. For whatever reason, things that he was not interested in, he just forgot—or put out of his mind until they were gone completely.

"I don't know. Maybe it's because I wish I had just told him the truth—about everything. For all our friendship, I never really did that. Or maybe it was because it seemed like that was the day not only that my old world ended, but maybe it ended for everyone—if war really came. Comes. That’s two hundred and something years from now, Maybe it was because it was then that I started believing what the Bible said."

"And why was that?"

"You really should have been a psychologist," Garison laughed. "You get right to the most important matter. I think it was just knowing that there were thinking people who believed it. I had always been told it was a belief for simpletons, you know. That smart people treated the Bible as they would a superstition."