CHAPTER FIFTY
"He is the Napoleon of crime, Watson. He is the organizer of half that is evil and of nearly all that is undetected in this great city. He is a genius, a philosopher, an abstract thinker. He has a brain of the first order. He sits motionless, like a spider in the center of its web, but that web has a thousand radiations, and he knows well every quiver of each of them." - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, The Final Problem
"Mother, it's really you?" She heard the voice in her head. "I've seen you before in dreams. I couldn't really remember you, but I knew."
The motionless body in the gel was one of her sons. Perhaps, in aid of the prophecy of the Messiah, the gelatin had found the Harry’s natural center of gravity and the result was that the arms stretched out like wings and there was a downward slope of the lower body. His body was submerged just below the glassy surface. Not a ripple in the gel, and not a hint of consciousness, yet she heard him speak. What she thought she heard sounded to her as if he was standing beside her. She knelt down by the oversized coffin-like cell and spoke to him excitedly, but tenderly.
"Harry, darling, yes, it's me after all these years." Her heart was about to burst it was so full of happiness. She hadn't lost him after all! Then she had to ask herself an important question: Am I imagining this?
"I understand, Mother, why you did what you did."
"You do?"
"Yes. It's all right."
"How?"
"I am remembering everything I ever wanted to remember. Dad loved you, Mother. He did. Always. Even after you left."
"I loved him, too."
"I don't want you to worry about me. I'll be fine."
"When you're strong enough to get out of there, we'll all be together—even if we have to hide deep in the shadows."
"I won't be able to be with you in the shadows, Mother, but I will be with you. Everything will be all right when Makr comes."
"What? I don't understand." The look of dread in her eyes...
"I can't survive out of this gel. It is Makr who is keeping me alive."
Sobbing...It can't be over...
"It's not over. My essence is stimulated in this gel. It's not over, Mother. This is who I am now, and who I will be as long as I am in the gel. This is the beginning."
"Can I stay with you, son?"
"For a while. Makr will come for me soon, and when he does, he may not understand why you have kept me from him."
"I don't understand." She felt entirely helpless for the first time in her life. Only one other time had she felt quite so lost. When she had taken Harry and little Jana and...
"Please, Mother, don't be sad. I am fine, really. I've never been more at peace."
There was happiness in his voice.
"Trust me. This is what I am meant to do."
Did she hear a slight giggle? She wasn't using words at all now. The two were communicating directly through the gel. Her hand had slipped inside the gel. It was pleasant, soothing. Warm. Loving.
"Don't worry, Harry. I'm fine, too."
"You found Jana?"
"She's with Carlos."
"Good, then she's safe."
"You know Carlos is..."
"My brother. Yes. And Marlene is Jana. I don't think she'll like that."
"Oh, don't be too sure, Harry."
Lost in the moment or held there by a spell in the gel, time stopped. Lara didn't hear the laser ax slicing an opening through the wall beside the door that had been welded shut. The wall was actually thinner gauge steel than the door. She did hear human voices coming through—especially Carlos?
"Mother, please, you must come with me now. It's not safe," Carlos said gently. He still hadn't managed to cut through completely yet, but to his mother, it was enough they were all there together.
Startled by the reality of emotion for the moment, Mother-General's eyes glistened with happiness.
"Is everyone safe in the shadows?" she asked.
"Jana and I came back to get you and Harry out of here." There was a little more to it, but it can wait, he thought.
"Harry's not going anywhere, and neither am I." She had an odd smile on her face.
At that moment, Carlos had opened enough to allow them to squeeze through.
"Mother, you must let me talk with my brother and sister." It was Harry's voice. "They must know the truth."
"What's going on, Mother?" Carlos asked?
"Something quite wonderful, Carlos. You'll see. Put your hand in the gel." Carlos was staring in disbelief. "Is that all right, dear?" she asked Harry.
Yes, and Jana's, too. She knew Harry meant that.
"Can he hear us in there?"
"He doesn't have to. Put your hand in the gel and you won't have to speak aloud either." Carlos stood back, skeptical. Marlene came forward and put her hand in the gel.
"Hello, Harry."
"Marlene? Jana? How shall I call you?"
"Marlene. I don't even remember being Jana. Besides, I've been too many people."
"Dar?"
"Yes."
"See? You answer to them all. I'm glad you're all right."
Carlos watched in amazement. Tears ran down Marlene's face. He didn't know if they were tears of joy or sadness. What did he say to her? He wondered. Mother has a strange contented look on her face. He had never seen her look so happy. Then, why was he nervous—even a little frightened about what was happening?
"Carlos, you have to do this," Marlene said. "He wants to talk to you."
"This isn't talking."
"It's better."
"No, I can't."
"Yes, you can." The voice was coming from all around him. "I can talk to you without it, but it would be more private if you would just touch the gel. Carlos, my brother, my friend, I know why you have come back."
Mother looked at Carlos askance. "You think you need me to tell what is real and what is not."
"How do you know that?"
"It is a logical assumption since I can see through SensaVision and you can't. Besides Makr is fully aware of what is happening. He's weakening, but you cannot kill Him no matter how hard you try. Makr's not the real problem."
"How do you know so much? You've been there."
"Makr has spoken to me here from time to time. He uses the gel; it's full of nanotechnology."
"Nano-what?"
"Tiny cyberts...
"Cyberts?"
"...operating at a cellular-level to manipulate our antibodies and cells to heal quickly."
That's how it heals. It also communicates.
"But why would He help us?"
"I don't know all the particulars yet. He is concerned the entire planet will be lost if this fractured Bio revolution continues, although He is impressed with the Shadow, Touchable and Evangel co-operation. He cannot survive without Bios any more than we Bios can survive without Cyber."
"Then why has He forced our hand?"
"That's exactly what he did."
"Why must we do battle with the Cyber at all?" Carlos' angry fire was raging, but he was holding much back.
"We Bios have grown lazy and afraid. But look at us now. Amazing. Hardly lazy and I doubt you are very much afraid. Relatively speaking that is. Makr needs us to take back our world and control it. The bio cyberlinks alone aren't enough to give Makr the data He needs to reconcile the world's problems with creativity. Makr can make, but He can't create; not in the same way Bios can—that's Bio function, one that is urgently needed.
"I don't understand. Do you mean to tell me that Makr has been in control all these years—even in the shadows? Then all this is for nothing?"
"In some respects, yes. Of course, His control is limited, but not much. Not for nothing, Carlos. Our history before Makr is rich with accounts of atrocities that have provoked a peaceful people to fight back and even win in the end. He provoked you until you fought back. He provoked us all."
"Which is what He wanted all along."
"What better way is there to encourage leadership and inn
ovation? You and others have succeeded Carlos. You brought out the leadership qualities and inspired the dedication and organization necessary to run this planet again. Fifty years ago, it would have never happened."
"But you?"
"I've always known there was something very different about me, but I didn't know what. I am fully aware now. I remember everything that has ever happened to me—even while I was in the womb—although I don't know how that information could be useful. I am a plant—a Makr spy as you thought at first, although I never knew it until now. And, believe it or not, not the kind of spy you might imagine. In order to provoke us, He needed to know what would frighten us, what would make fighters out of us. In spite of all His advancements, Makr still can't figure us out. He is interested in Bio development where He does not exist. Makr knew I had been saved from the control chip, so He merely had me brought in and gave me a newer model, a more advanced design that would allow me to see the real world. Some of my memories he withheld until the time was right."
"People have died. Millions of them died Outside alone."
"The casualties served their purpose. Some had to die to bring out the best—the strongest, the smartest, the most creative, and most adaptive Bios. We have to build a new world. We need those who can start fresh. Maybe even those who have no past to remember when Bios ruled."
"Why didn't He just stop controlling everyone?"
"Easy. Most Bios, especially those on the Inside, couldn't accept the change and couldn't survive with it. They had become too dependent on Makr for everything. They didn't have enough confidence in themselves to survive. You proved you didn't need Him repeatedly, but you know there are many on the Inside who have never left the inside of their dwellings. Makr could have made it so no one had to leave their abodes, but he left room for us to discover on our own. Otherwise, we'd be as helpless as those who chose to never leave."
"This is too incredible. Why should I believe you?"
"Have you any better answers?"
"No I don't, but I do have a question. How many are going to die before we have a solution?"
"I can't answer that."
"I don't have time for this shit!"
"Patience, Carlos."
"My people are dying up above. Will you come with me? Help me make some sense of all this."
"Please, Carlos, place your hand in the gel so you may understand."
Carlos did as he was told this time, but his hand remained there only for a second before he had to pull it out quickly when he heard movement outside the steel walls.
Too late! Cyber! Just outside the steel wall on the other side of Harry. They were in the tunnel. At least they'd have to cut their own door in the opposite wall, from the factory side, Carlos thought. The cyberts were using several lasers at a same time and making short work of it. They'd be through in seconds.
We can run, Carlos thought. Out the way we came in. Make good time through the maze of the factory. Harry will be just another "casualty of war" to use his phrase. What if that’s the truth? Or, has that gel affected his brain? Another Makr trap.
"Carlos!" Mother heard the sounds of lasers burning through the steel of the healing room. It wouldn't be long now. The healing room's days were numbered in minutes.