As if by consensus, the other inmates found reason to drift from the communal area. Maybe they thought Max had been deposited among them as a trick, to incriminate them further.
Tania and her husband, Tod, stayed long enough to inform Max that anyone knowing about their experiment had been brought in, processed, and then released. They’d been hoping it would be their turn next, though their release seemed less likely now that their favourite terrorist had arrived.
Max didn’t tell them about the prerelease memory wipe. They wouldn’t remember if he had.
Tod frequently glared at the professor, as if their situation was the old man’s fault, but the old man was too intent at watching Lilly, maybe expecting the Tania’s young student to attack her lover’s husband.
No one, except Graeme, wished to discuss Max’s alleged crimes.
‘What were you thinking?’ Graeme asked, when only he, Max, Lilly and the professor remained.
‘That your wife is gorgeous,’ Max replied, but only in his head. He may have also sighed.
‘Did you want to ruin me? Were you jealous? Is that it? And what was the next step in your revenge – stealing my daughter? Why else would you go to my house in the middle of the night?’
Max’s face burned at this injustice and only a little through shame. He had really tried to help Graeme before the nano-quake, and now he was being accused of a personal vendetta. At least Graeme wasn’t aware that Max’s interest was for the wife and not the daughter.
The professor, slumped in his wheelchair, took no notice of Graeme’s rant. Maybe he had heard it before. Lilly continued to hold his attention. She was struggling with some sort of internal dilemma of her own. Her mouth twitched, as if to speak, and her usually languid eyes darted to and fro, focusing on nothing.
Graeme continued with his stream of vitriol, but, during a lull, Max raised a hand. ‘Doctor Taylor? Don’t you think we should resist any further development of the nano-quake technology?’
Graeme paused mid breath and stepped closer – his fists clenched. For a moment, it looked at though he might take a swing at Max. ‘What? Why only a cretin would throw away this kind of power. I’ve just about had enough of your kind.’
What kind? Max wondered as he stood up to his full height. Had someone else expressed an opinion ?
In the tense silence that followed, Lilly finally managed to utter something, though it was incoherant. Graeme looked at her, at the professor, and then strode off – presumably to seek support from his wife.
‘What was that, Lilly?’ the professor asked kindly in a surprisingly articulate voice.
She tried again, but failed.
‘You’re recovering from guilt,’ the professor offered. ‘It will pass.’
Lilly’s eyes swung to the professor, then she rushed from the room, crying out, ‘Sorry, so sorry Max.’
Max moved to follow her, but the professor shook his head. ‘There is nothing you can do – for either of them. Least of all for dear, honest Lilly. She has told me you made the alteration to the software, which I conjecture was the cause of the nano-quake. That is now being treated as fact, so she must have mentioned your action to Driesk. I imagine that he threatened deportation. Not that they would have – not now. She knows too much. She is probably more worried what will happen to her family once the Communist Party of China knows she is involved.’
‘Oh.’ Max sat down again. ‘Things do get complicated. I’d thought Josh would crack first.’
The professor nodded sagely. ‘Maybe he did. He’s hardly spoken since arriving.’
‘But do they have any proof that my code is responsible?’
‘Proof?’ The professor chuckled. ‘They don’t need proof. A general consensus is more than sufficient when laying blame. You’ve had help from an unlikely quarter, though. My foolish son-in-law has generously taken credit for the technology which stopped the world. I’d be proud of him, except his ambition has run wild. He claims it was his experiments and his years of hard work that gave you the means to create the global disaster, and, what’s more, Major Driesk believes him! So you lost the title of “Evil Mastermind”, and must make do with “Treacherous Villain” instead.’
Max smiled and shook his head. It was impossible to remain cross with the professor. ‘How are you doing anyway? The last time I saw you, I thought you were a goner, but you seem in good spirits now.’
‘My injury was much exaggerated, mostly by me.’ The professor demonstrated by tilting his head to one side and allowing some drool to fall, then laughed at his own performance. ‘A useful pretence to give an old man some rest. But don’t worry. I shall make a remarkable recovery if I’m needed for the final act.’
Max was reminded of Cathy’s theatrical terminology. ‘So, Graeme’s wife, she’s your daughter?’
‘I have that honour.’
Max sighed. Just the mention of her caused him heartache. ‘She speaks in riddles too. Did you teach her that?’
‘Anyone with our experience is cursed with that affliction.’
‘And what exactly was that experience?’ he asked but didn’t expect much enlightenment. Cathy’s behaviour had been bizarre from the moment he met her two days earlier.
‘Oh. Just death and rebirth. Though “rebirth” is not entirely the right word. Regret would be closer.’ The professor rested his chin on the fist of one hand and carefully chose more words. ‘I might be able to explain our point of view through analogy.
‘Back before you were born, before the age of the computer, or even the self-correcting typewriter … you may not have heard of those. They gave so many typists repetitive strain injuries. Anyway, back when I was a boy, there was a certain tolerance for error. The reader could forgive the odd typo, the split infinitive, or even a misinformed concept. But now, with our word processors, our grammar apps, and our on-line writers’ forums, we edit and edit, forever striving unto perfection. Only to push the level at which excellence is judged even higher.
‘Would we even recognise a Shakespeare in our ranks? Would he get published, or even try, when competing with so much perfect pulp? I think not. Of course, social media tries to lower the bar, but it can only do so much.’
Max had attended many conferences where the professor had spoken, and while he had never been concise, he had never been this obscure either – and there had been one only the previous week!
‘You’ve lost me, professor.’
‘Look around at what you see here. This is just another revision! I won’t speculate who has done this, but our lives have been edited without apparent favour, and last Wednesday, some of us – Cathy and myself included – were given a rare privilege. We were shown the drafts!’
Some of the professor’s spit now came from a genuine loss of lip control, and as Max wiped his face, he had a revelation. ‘This rebirth you mentioned. It has something to do with the nano-quake, doesn’t it?’
‘No.’ The professor levered himself up in the wheelchair. ‘Not directly at least. The crucial event, an awareness of our collective rebirth, occurred before then. Do you remember the GPS failure that morning, the strange reports from our off-world colonies? I believe the nano-quake to be an after-shock left by a far greater event.’
‘So we didn’t cause the nano-quake?’ Max wished it were true, but more likely the nano-quake, or the subsequent stroke, had affected the professor’s brain.
‘I didn’t say you weren’t part of it,’ the professor said. ‘I think the nano-quake is still crucial for further revision, so I’m sorry. I couldn’t take the risk Cathy had put you off. For there to be death and rebirth again, I needed to goad you into tampering with the experiment. Maybe this time we will get perfection. Maybe in revision four, she will live.’
It took more than a moment for Max to process what had been said. Even if this was part of the professors dementia, the implications to their on-going relationship were shattering. ‘So you think you knew the nano-quake would happen? That you wanted it to happen? And who do you think died?’
The professor didn’t get the chance to answer. The secure door to their area slammed open, bounced back and was then indented as Major Driesk impatiently elbowed it aside using his robotic arm. Behind him came two guards. One of them – the same one who had smirked when Phenalla mentioned Driesk’s former rank – had a roll of extra-soft toilet paper hanging over the barrel of his gun. Max wasn’t sure if this signified a punishment or an honoured duty.
‘Attention, everyone,’ Driesk shouted, then waited while one of the guards went to rouse those who were absent. He blinked twice at Max sitting beside the Professor, but recovered quickly and mumbled, ‘Must I do everything myself?’
Cathy returned to the common room yawning. ‘Please keep your voice down. Alla really needs some quiet.’
‘My pardon, Lady Taylor,’ sneered Driesk. ‘This is somewhat more important than your daughter’s beauty sleep. Another nano-quake must be created within the next hour or innocent Australian citizens shall die.’
Doctor Taylor was the last to rush in, zipping his fly. ‘What has happened?’
The professor interrupted Driesk’s reply. ‘My guess is that New Zealand forces have reported to the U.N. that we, the likely culprits, are being hidden, and so a resolution has been passed that we must be handed over.’
Driesk laughed. ‘Good try. The U.N. Huh! Bunch of baby cats. Our situation is much more dire. A former close ally knows our exact location. We’ll investigate the security breach in good time, but he is threatening to nuke an Australian city each day until Mr Clerk here is publicly executed.’
‘So go ahead,’ said Tania. ‘No offence Max, but it would seem like the lesser evil.’
‘This situation is certainly different,’ said the professor and turned to his daughter. ‘Did this happen last time, Cat?’
When Cathy shook her head and frowned, the professor turned back to Driesk. ‘Surely you’re not going to submit to such a bully?’
Driesk shrugged. ‘This previously friendly nation has endured their manic dictator for many years, so we have every reason to believe the threat is real. Look what happened to North Korea. If it were my decision …’ He left his opinion unfinished. ‘The Government has given me an hour to demonstrate we have the bigger stick.’ His infant limb pointed accusingly at Max. ‘Mr Clerk. You can stay here, for now. I’ll be back to continue our chat later, once I’ve dragged Doctor Nelu out from whatever rock he’s slithered under. But you’ll be pleased to hear our technicians have restored the firmware you tried to erase.’
Max remembered Cathy saying that the software in his university computers had been taken care of. She, or more likely Lilly, must have made an attempt to cover his tracks.
Driesk continued, ‘I want anyone, apart from Mr Clerk, who was in the laboratory during the nano-quake to come with me. We’ve set up your equipment inside an isolation chamber, but need you to check the conditions have been replicated. There will be no time for trial and error. If we can shut the world down for just ten seconds, they won’t dare touch us.’
‘Right, team.’ Graeme stepped in front of the major. ‘Let’s show them what a weapon of mass destruction really looks like.’
Even the Major winced.
Tania took charge of the professor’s wheelchair to follow Driesk out the door. ‘Do you know what, Prof? I believe research turns men into monsters.’
The professor laughed. ‘Tania, my dear. You have that it the wrong way around. It is men who …’
Max didn’t get to hear what it was that men did to research, but assumed it would be negative.
Lilly dragged herself after them and an equally unhappy Tod went back to the room he shared with Tania. The competition for Tania’s affection seemed to cause nothing but misery.
The guard of the toilet paper waited until Driesk and the other guard had filed out, then stepped over and placed a phone charger in front of Max. ‘Compliments of Mr Fred, Sir.’
After the now buckled exit door had closed, Cathy came to sit with Max. She surprised him by taking his hand, but then grinned and placed Confucius in it.
‘Alla loves your phone,’ she said. ‘But evidently it’s flat.’
Max, disappointed that she would tease him like that, rose from the table and began hunting for a power outlet.
‘It is an amazing device, you have,’ she continued, her voice a little hoarse. ‘After years of expensive therapy, and nearly a year on those stupid prescription tranquillisers, your antique phone has nearly restored her in just a few hours. What kind of miracle self-help app do you have on it?’
Max shrugged. ‘I’m often surprised by what it can do.’ He eventually found an outlet behind the dishwasher. The phone lit up with the words, “Thank you.”
Cathy began coughing, and he took her a cup of water.
‘I don’t suppose your phone can cure cancer as well?’ she gasped between attacks.
A terrible thought crossed his mind, and the room suddenly chilled. ‘But you said you were free! That the cancer was in remission.’
She smiled weakly. ‘I lied. How could I ruin a perfect day when we had only just met. And it really was such a lovely morning.’
‘But you’re receiving chemo, right?’
‘No. Not this time round.’ She took another sip and made a sour face. ‘After two failed attempts, I’ve decided to die with some dignity. Please, don’t tell Graeme. I’ve been pretending to get treatment, shaving my head and all that, but I feel much better than at this moment than I did in my previous lives. I just wish I could continue to breathe fresh air until the war begins. I really didn’t intend to get stuck down here again.’
‘Previous lives? Not you too! But your father didn’t mention anything about war!’
Cathy sighed. ‘Somehow it always ends with war. Competing nations, each trying to seize the secret of your all powerful nano-quake.’ She paused and became thoughtful. ‘In my first life, I died naturally in a hospital full of radiation victims who were dying unnaturally. Terribly ironic, considering I’d been there a month earlier for radiation treatment. I died alone, so to speak. I assume Graeme had been brought here – I never saw him again after the quake.
‘For my second life, and death, I was sick, but not really dying. Graeme, Dad and I were being brought here when that drone struck – on a similar bit of road too. We survived by running from the car, much as we did this time – only my dad was too slow and got killed.’ She laughed. ‘And you won’t believe where they’ve brought us. I only found out near the end. I don’t want to ruin the surprise, but, believe me, this is the last place where you’d want to die.’
Max wondered if her disease affected her mind. What he found really odd was that she appeared to have a similar delusion to her father.
‘Did you know me in your previous life?’ he asked, if only to humour her.
‘Lives,’ she corrected him. ‘No, not in the first one.’ She began fiddling with her wig. ‘You were just another young nerd working for my husband. As you know, he goes through post grads more often than… well, you know what I mean. I stayed away from the lab. I knew Tania would be there, and we have history, she and I.
‘You see, in that first life, she destroyed my mother’s marriage, and I had little contact with my father after that.
‘In my second life, Tania and my father only had a brief affair. I made their lives miserable until they stopped. In that way, I got to see more of my father and remember him saying he had forced Graeme to take you on as a student again. Later, once he knew I knew, he told me you were the key to this riddle.’ She looked up from her cup to study him, as if doubting her father’s assessment.
‘In this, my third life on Earth, I scuppered Tania’s relationship before it even started. He’s a terrible flirt, but didn’t fight me. Of course Tania can’t see why he gave up on her so easily. I think she still loves him. She certainly thinks I hate her, but I don’t. Not really.
‘With each iteration the situation before the nano-quake improves. For instance, I have a child in this cycle. Alla was a fantastic surprise for both me and my father – his first and only grandchild. So I can’t believe Dad rolled the dice again. Will Alla even exist next time? I’d rather not have taken that risk.’
Obviously he couldn’t live her delusional past, but Max had been hoping to hear more about himself – that maybe his relationship with Cathy had developed into something more interesting in her imagination. It certainly had in his. Pure fantasy! Had he even known her at all in those previous lives? It was hard to imagine that he hadn’t, but it would have been vain to ask.
Trying for something more positive, he asked, ‘What do you think will happen this time? Maybe you’ll get better, and there’ll be no war.’
‘Then this will be my last time,’ she replied. ‘The last I remember. Only those who die in the next few days get to remember anything in their next lives.’
He raised an eyebrow or two.
‘I’ve met a few others. I went looking for them, you see – those I knew had died. Some of the guards here, though I’ve not spoken to them yet. The guy who was just here, the one who has to wipe the major’s bottom – he shot me, the rotter, but I’m sure he bled to death before I did.’
Before he could recover from this latest revelation, she went on. ‘I wouldn’t mind this being my last life, if it could end outside, somewhere with good food. If what they gave us this morning is any guide, I’d rather die of starvation.’
His stomach growled. ‘What was it?’
‘A Chunky Chicken combo,’ Cathy replied with a grin. ‘For breakfast, if you please?’
He grinned too, though he wouldn’t have minded a drumstick just then.
‘I’m sorry I brought you here,’ she said, echoing her father’s apology. ‘My brilliant idea that you turn yourself in – which, I should add, you didn’t do in your previous lives – isn’t going to prevent the war. The only improvement is that I’m with you. I didn’t meet you properly before, but I know you escaped after they caught you. If you do again, escape that is, could I come? Could you take me somewhere nice to die?’