Maxwell Huxley's Demon (20 page)

Recommend taking no action. She’s out of time.

Max sleeps in the bathtub .

---

Mr. Newton walks along a river side gravel path with Agent Clark. Agent Clark says , “Your time’s up, Mr. Newton. From what I have heard, four of your people had a set-to with Max in Mexico and all you have to show for it is an agent with a bullet in his foot and a burnt out factory.” Agent Clark taps the metal railing as they walk . “Meanwhile Max is still at—
large. D
o I have this about right?”

“Yes.”
Let the CIA push Max harder, this will only speed things up .

“Your agent was shot in the foot by his own bullet; do you think Max planned this ?”

“No ,” s ays Mr. Newton.

“Was I clear what the CIA response would be if you failed to corral your little problem?”

“Yes.”

“Well as of this morning . . .” Agent Clark pauses to let a jogger pass, “
. . . there is a full team of five CIA analysts and five CIA field agents working this file.
As well , every field office has Max’s file on the top of the pile. Max is suddenly very well known at the CIA .”

“I unders tand.
” Mr. Newton understands that he will have to protect Max from the C
IA .
“My advice, is that you be very carefu l, Agent Clark. Max has a way of making people look foo lish.
I f you take this file on be prepared for embarrassment .”

“I saw the field tapes of the attempted capture. What can you tell me about th e fog that seemed to follow Max?
”

“Honestly, nothing.
I have my best people on that very question and the only idea that came up is that Max is controlling nanotechnolog y. But the analysts believe we’
re at least twenty years awa y from anything near what Max appears to be doing so that can’t be it.”

“Our analysts think Max wil l continue running south,”
Agent Clark says, changing the topic , “W
hat do you think?”

I think you are a babe in the woods.
“I think your analysts might be right.”

They reach a street and a black limo pulls up. A chauffeur opens the door for Mr. Newton. Before getting in, he turns.
“Anything else?”

“Your people are looking for Emma Huxley, Max’s mother; I might be able to help with that. H
ave a nice trip home.” With that Agent Clark walks away.

---

Walker and Max spend three weeks moving their b ot “lab” around Acapulco. Hotel rooms weren’t the best , so at one point they stayed in the boiler room of a resort complex. Walker monitored the real world nanotechnology labs and notified Max of any new experiments or results. Max spent the time incorporating new finding s into his existing bots.

“How long are we going to keep this up, Max?”

“I think we’re getting close.
Just a few more upgrades and we can start practising with the new bots.” Max wants to work on his nanotechnology until it is perfect , but he also wants to go after Naomi soon. “Walker, make a mental note to investigate small power supplies for my coat. I can’t keep using all these batteries. We need to make someone develop a bot that produces electricity for all the other bots we have . . . or something like that anyway . . . submit the question and get the platform working on it.
”

---

Late in the eve ning, Max wakes up Walker. “
I’ve upgraded the fogBots ; they don’t make a dark cloud anymore , almost perfect invisibility. Downsides ; I only have enough energy to be invisible for a few minutes.
I can’t hide anyone else in them and I can’t use any o ther commands an d maintain a fog .
I can really only use it in an emergency.
Although t he old fogBots will still be good for night time and dark places .
The rest of the new bots we can’t test inside. Let’s go for a walk.”

An hour later , Max and Walker are far down the beach and fairly isolated. “
OK
, Walker, you stand over there.” Walker stands near the water so that the city light s are be hind Max. “Here are the new fog Bots .” A black fog rises out of Max’s cane until it covers him. This time the lights behind the fog twin kle through .”

“Move around , Max.”

Max moves as ordered.

“Cool, Max, way better than before, I can see distortion when you move, but when you stand still you’re almost invisible, just a little halo at the edge of the fog.

Max call s the fog back in, and it swirls into his cane. “Here’
s what I think is the best one. Help me move this garbage can over.” Max and Walker pull a garbage can to the middle of the path. Max takes about ten steps away from the can , turn s and stamps his can e down hard on the ground.

They hear a ‘whu mp ’
and the can is k nocked ten metres away, spilling its contents as it tumbles.

“
Nice ! I could see the shockwave travel over the ground, look it tore some grass up . Nicely done.”

“Look at the top of my cane now; it has a dial that control s how wide the shockwave spreads .
I can also trigger that by holding down a button on the cane and saying, “shockwave.”
Right now the cane only hold s enough power to do that two or three times before needing a recharge .”

“
Are you going to build more weapons? Is this how you’
re going to break in to the school? Is this how you think you’
ll stay free?
I’m starting to wonder why we are doing all this.
”

“Really, these are just for use when the plans don’t work out. But mainly, they justify whistling the theme to Mission I mpossible while I work. I have a few more tricks , but they’re not really ready yet.”

---

Back at a new hotel, Max and Walker enjoy the Ambassador Suite.
Max is reading.
Walker is eating.
“Max you really should eat something, it’s all good.” Walker worries that Max is still so thin.

“
Mmmmm . . . planning . . . Walker , who do you think would s how up if we faked a magnitude nine earth quake centred on the school.”

“In Canada, some seismology professors and the entire Canadian army , I think that’s twenty-three fifty-year -old jeeps and a guy with a stick —I don’t know, Canada must have a disaster response plan. Let me check online . . . yup Canada has DART
, Disaster Assistanc e Response Team. But they only work overseas.
For such a big country , Canada seems to be remarkably free from natural disasters.
”

“What about a terrorist th reat?
” Max asks. “W
ho would show up if we created a rumour that poison ous gas was going to be released at the school?”

“No one . I t’s a secret building in the middle of no where. Y
ou could nuke the thing and no one would notice.
Really, have you looked at a map lately?
That school is ridiculously far from any where.
”

“Hmmm.” Max goes back to reading and planning.

---

“I’ve been reading about Canada. H
ere are a few things they won’t tolerate: puppy mills, polygamist cults, and camping within city limits .”

“
I have no idea what polygami st means,” Walker says, “but if you expose the school to the media , by the time au thorities get there it will b e empty. A squadron of cleaner-upper-soldier-guys will come and take everyone away to Siberia or somewhere.”

Max gets in the hot tub.
Iceland, they’ll take them to Iceland.
Max’s hair is growing back in but the scarring from the burn covers pa rt of his upper shoulder, neck, and face. The jagged scar , caused by the cut he received when he jumped off the train, on the other side of his face i s horrible. Add the bent leg , and he’s starting to look like something people used to keep locked up in a circus wagon. Max submerges up to his waist , keeping his still tender burns away from the hot water .

“I f we have to threaten the school with enough force to make them bri ng in their own response teams then this gets difficult.
First I’d have to locate their response teams. Then figure out how to hid e in their vehicles and have them bring me inside. Too hard.
W
e could go back to the super-s ecret spy approach. Enter like ninja, be quiet, get in, get Naomi, and leave, all without triggering any alarms. Not likely is it?”

How do I get in?
Max tap s his reader .
I’ll think later.

---

I have billions of eyes and ears .
Sound impressive? Only if you can make sense of it. Human language troubles me. If their language is so complex, then either their minds must consume an overwhelmingly huge number of cycles to understand it , or their minds must be equally complex .

But I do listen to Max and Walker. I also read.
I read everything with my reach. I understand I have to hide. Max and Walker gave me good example code. I made it better. I’m invis ible on most processing spaces.

Not many cycles ago I found some huge single source spaces. I believe my new intrusion and obfuscation routines will get me in. The MIPS
available are very tempting.
I need them to keep up with what Max needs.

Chapter 21
–Storm

Max and Walker
find Horace ’s van under a bridge down by a river in Prince Rupert. Max k nocks on the door.

“Who is it?”
Horace says from inside.

“I
t’s Max.”

After a long pause, the boys hear Horace yell, “Max ’s not here , M
an .”

The boys look at each other and shrug.

Walker bangs on the door, “
Horace , this is Walker and Max. O
pen the door.”

The door swings open and Horace piles out of the van. He wraps his arms around both boys in a giant hug. “Little duuudes . . .
welcome to . . . uhm . . . welcome to a spot by a river that I call home. How did you find me?
”

“We’
re spies remember,” says Walker.
“Actually we asked at a diner if anyone had seen a van named Ursa .
The first pers on we asked knew where you were. S
he asked us to bring you these.
”
Walker hands Horace a bag full of day old pastries.

The three of them move inside.
Horace starts up Ursa ’s propane heater .

Max was going to start by explaining the situation and asking for help. But judging by the look of the van , Horace could use the help more than they could . “
Horace , we need supplies. D
o you think you could drive us to pick up a few things? It would help a lot if you bought the stuff for us. W
e can pay you like last time.”

The boys make up a bogus list of supplies, a lot of food, rope, blanket s , a Coleman stove, fuel, flashlights, a big list of things they think Horace needs. They stop at a bank machine , and Horace gets the supplies. Back at the bridge , the van is loaded with food , a newly filled propane tank is attached to the heater , and Horace ’s wallet is stuffed with cash.

They
spend the night swapping stories and getting stuffed on Twinkies.
Horace agrees to drive them to the school tomorrow.
Around midnight they make a second supply run to the 24-hour Wal-Mart .
Max wishes they had more days like this one .

Before they sleep, their bellies are full, and Horace is up to speed on the plan for tomorrow .

---

With the drive halfway done
, apparently, ‘
Ursa need s a rest .’ Max and Walker stretch their legs while Horace hits something in the engine compartment with a hammer . When the boys get back , Horace has some food out for everyone.

Horace
gnaws on the end of some salami. “I have to ask you boys, do you really think going up there is a good idea?
I mean it wasn’t that long ago you were running the other way.”

“I’ve learned a few things since we left,” says Max. “W
e have to try to get Naomi out. They killed Virginia .
Horace . . .
we can’t just let them have Naomi.”

“
They killed that beautiful girl?”
Horace pauses. “Are you sure this is worth it boys? These guys are playing for keeps. They killed her, really?

Max nods . . .
they sit in silence for quite some time.

Horace
offers the boys the salami he has been chewing on . T
hey decline and stick to the bread and cheese.

Max stands up and tries to change the mood.
“Watch this Horace .
I have some new toys .”

Max holds his hand palm up and open, then says, “
BB
.” A t first nothing happens . T
hen a little cloud forms over his hand. In a second the cloud swirls faster until it transforms into three equal sized spheres about the size of large marbles. The three slowly circle each other. Max let’s Horace and Walker see them closely. Then Max flicks his hand toward a tree. One of the marbles shoots at the tree, hitting it with a loud smack, hard enough to make shards of bark fly off .
Max pulls his hand back and ‘smoke’ rises off the tree and back to Max’s hand.
Then the spheres dematerialize , and the fog flow s back into Max’s cane.