Trapped!: The 2031 Journal of Otis Fitzmorgan (18 page)

“Hair!” said.

“And now you must know why I wanted this statue so badly.”

Judge breathed, “That hair…”

“Yes?” Asyla asked in a teasing tone. It was Like dealing with someone who had her finger on the trigger of a gun. And that
gun was pointed at us.

THE BOX HELD A LOCK OF HAIR

I said, “That hair belongs to—”

“Ah! Only now you understand,” she said triumphantly. “Only now when your time is up!” Her hand moved toward the lock of hair.

Judge and I dove forward at the same time to stop her. But we were too late. Asyla laid her hand on the hair.

There was a sharp hiss like the last bit of fuse burning down on a stick of dynamite.

I reached out toward her—

And there was a bright, violent explosion as the nanobots that made, up Asyla flew apart. It threw Judge and me backward off
our feet. We tumbled into Charlotte, and the three of us fell into a heap. As I tried to catch my breath, I felt something
near my chest clicking and clacking.

Before us, the disorganized nano-material swirled violently. And using the DNA in the hair, it reorganized into the shape
of a man.

Wearing a three-piece suit in the style of the 1860s, he looked to be about twenty-sirs. He had a head of curly brown hair
above an oddly pale but handsome face. His eyes were the most distinctive thing about him. They burned like hot coals.

It was a man any historian would easily recognize.

The assassin John Wilkes Booth was standing before us. He ran his hands over his face and made his was over to the window,
in the airlock door, where he could see his reflection. He touched his hair.

“My niece was right,” he murmured. “She said hair samples were like seeds that could be used to 'grow' people. She knew it
would take decades for science to catch up to the idea… but it did. And she brought me back.” Then he noticed us watching
him in the reflection. “Who are you?” he asked.

“We're the ones who brought you back,” Judge lied, stalling for time.

Booth smiled for a moment and the cocked his head to the side as if he were accessing some internal memory. “No, I don't think
so. My grand niece, Asyla, is still part of me. And like a wonderful director in my profession, that part of me is telling
me exactly what needs to be done. It's time for the curtain to come down.”

He took a step toward us. The dark gleam in his eyes made his violent intentions clear. Next to me, I felt Charlotte take
a defensive stance, and I braced myself.

Suddenly, Teddy burst out of my jacket on the attack. He must have clicked on during my fall Now he flicked himself off my
body with his tiny back legs and launched himself at Booth. His loud, sharp barking pierced the air.

TEDDY LEAPED AT BOOTH!

He was tying to save us—

But Booth didn't even flinch. He just lashed out with one foot and Kicked Teddy across the room. He bounced off a crate and
slammed against the wall with a sickening crack. His bio-real eyes sparked and went dark as he slid to the floor.

I didn't cry out. That would just waste the opportunity that Teddy had given us. Instead, as if we were all of the same mind,
Charlotte, Judge, and I rolled to Booth's right. We ducked behind a pile of crates, and crab-walked across the floor until
we were hidden behind a wall of giant industrial barrels.

We were all breathing heavily but trying to keep it quiet. “Now what do we do?” Charlotte whispered. “Bing back AI Capone?
How about Dracula?”

I didn't laugh at her joke, but she had a point. We had just helped to bring back one of the most notorious criminals of all
time.

I listened carefully to mate sure Booth wasn't nearby. I could hear him moving around on the other side of the level.

“If we can stall him long enough,” I murmured to Judge, “he might go to sleep tie you and Asyla did.”

Judge shook her head. “If that were the case, he would have gone to sleep by now. I think the direct DNA source has changed
things. I don't think he's going to have to stop to reboot.”

“In that case,” I said, “I need to get to my probe.”

“Why?” Charlotte asked.

“Two days ago, before the nano-material went from Judge to Asyla, I forced it to travel through an apple. As they passed through,
the nanobots picked up bacteria. The bacteria are a food source for the nanobots. All we need is a heat source to trigger
a reaction. I can use my probe to mat that heat.”

I was surprised when they didn't question what I planned to do. I guessed desperate times called for desperate measures.

“Okay,“ Judge said. “Charlotte and I will keep Booth occupied while you get the probe.”

They rushed back toward the airlock. “Judge!” I heard Charlotte call out to draw Booth's attention away from me. And it worked.
From around the edge of a barrel. Isaw him dart after them.

I ran over to the broken boxes that covered Ms. Jenkins and quialy began searching for SHARP TEETH. I had just spotted the
putrid green teeth when a hand wrapped around my ankle.

“Ah!” I shouted. The hand belonged to Ms. Jenkins and she was looking up at me with dazed hatred. Her grasp was weak, and
I jerked my leg free. Her eyes closed as she fell back into unconsciousness.

I reached carefully for SHARP TEETH and yanked it out of the debris.

The sound of Charlotte's screams filled the level.

I plucked my brobe out of SHARP TEETH and shouted, “I'm coming!”

“Otis!” she cried from somewhere nearby.

I ran toward the sound. When I reached her, I could see why she'd been screaming. Booth had Judge in a headlock. She squirmed
and kicked, but she was no match for him. He seemed to be squeezing the life out of her.

“Let her go!” I shouted.

“All right,” he said. To my surprise, he tossed Judge aside. She tumbled in a heap next to the airlock. Charlotte rushed to
her side. Booth cracked his Knuckles as he eyed me hungrily. “I want to savor every last second of this experience, anyway.”

Even then I thought, Am I really facing off against the man who Killed Abraham Lincoln?

“Stand back,” I told him and pointed the probe at him.

“And what do you have there?” Booth asked in a mocking tone as he took a step toward me.

I didn't want to be like the guy in virtual movies who talks too long and gives the bad guy a chance to attack. Without hesitating
another moment, I pointed my probe at John wilkes Booth and pressed the ON button.

Nothing happened.

“Ooooh, that was very frightening,” Booth said sarcastically. “Is that the best you can do?”

“Just wait,” I said, still holding out the probe. “It gets better. Much better.”

BLAM!

There was a flash of light.

The probe had taken a second to heat up, but now the nanobots were overriding their programming in a feeding frenzy. They
were disconnecting from each other as they desperately sought out a meal of bacteria.

It was as if someone had pressed a rewind button on Booth. His body began to shrink and his face to disintegrate. In his place,
Asyla appeared once more.

But the disintegration didn't stop there. Suddenly, we were looking at a much younger Asyla …maybe six years old.

Then that Asyla was gone as well. In a long arc of streaming material, the nanobots flew across the room and straight into
Judge's chest. She jerked slightly, and her body literally left the floor. She spun slowly as the whirlwind surrounded her.

Judge aged before our eyes. As she grew taller, her hair and clothes changed, and I could see decades ing by. Finally, the
nanobots' food source ran out and they stopped swirling. When Judge came to rest, she looked to be about thirty years old.

She was gazing down at herself, so I couldn't see her expression. Was she okay?

THE SWARMING NANOBOTS PLOWED INTO JUDGE'S CHEST.

“Judge…?”

She lifted her head. Her face broke out in a smile.

“You did it Otis,” Judge said, her voice more mature again. “Bully for your!” She stepped forward and gave me a hug.

I pulled back slightly and gestured to Charlotte. She joined us in the circle. “We did it together,” I said.

And just in time,” Charlotte said. Over her shoulder, I could set what she meant. Through the thick glass of the small windows
in the airlock doors, I could see that it was no longer black outside. Instead, it was cool blue with a yellow tinge.

We had just entered Earth's atmosphere.