Stones: Experiment (Stones #3) (11 page)

Ryzaard nods. “Can we test it?”

“Of course.” Jerek takes the clear tube and drops it into a slot in the top of the Eiffel Tower device. “There’s a built-in sensor. We’ll know if it’s working.” Jerek picks it up and walks to an open area in the middle of the office, positioning it on the floor. He walks back and pulls two plastic mouth pieces from his pocket, handing one to Ryzaard and keeping one for himself.

“Once we begin the test, bite down on this as a precaution.”

“Got it.” Ryzaard leans forward. “How far back should I stand?”

“Two and a half meters should do it.” Jerek moves to his seat and picks up a slate, brushing its surface with his fingertips. “OK, ready. You can power up the Stones, like you did before. Create a bubble centered on the device large enough to engulf the victim.”

Closing his eyes, Ryzaard exhales slowly. In his mind, he sees energy flowing out of the Stones to form a perfect sphere.

The three Stones in the machine glow with a pinkish hue. A transparent film of white appears in the air above the device and drops to the floor like a dome, enclosing an area three meters in diameter with the device at the exact center. At first, the white sphere flickers in and out of view. After half a minute, the flickering stops.

Ryzaard opens his eyes. “I have it now. What happens next?”

“Put on your filter.”

As Ryzaard bites on the mouthpiece, warm plastic flows out from its center, making gentle contact with his skin, covering his face from the nostrils past his lower lip.

Jerek’s fingers dance across the slate. “Let me confirm the integrity of the seal.”

Blue telltales flash on the side of the device.

Jerek’s eyes drop to the slate. “Confirmed. The inside of the sphere is maintaining a constant pressure of 2,000 millibars, approximately double normal atmospheric pressure. Now we’ll release the reactant.” He brings the filter up to his mouth and bites down.

They hear the sound of gas escaping under pressure. The enclosed area inside the sphere takes on a slightly cloudy appearance.

Jerek nods and speaks through the filter. “It works. Readings indicate zero free oxygen. Anyone on the inside of the sphere will suffocate and pass out in less than three minutes.” His fingers move over the slate. “One more test. Please keep the sphere in place and stand back.”

Ryzaard hears the
rat-a-tat-tat
of a small machine gun blast. Sparks flare inside the sphere. A half dozen metallic balls the size of marbles drop to the floor and roll at the bottom.

Slipping off his mouthpiece, Jerek stares at the slate. “Internal integrity of the sphere confirmed. I’ve imbedded a pulse blaster on the device, just in case you need it. It will instantly shred anyone on the inside.” He looks up at Ryzaard. “I’d say we have a working device. Test complete.”

The sphere fades away. The odor of charred metal wafts past them.

Jerek walks to the device, reaches down and pulls out the Stones, one by one. “I’ll transfer the controls to your jax.” He hands the Stones back to Ryzaard with trembling fingers. “You should be able to use it as soon as you want.”

Ryzaard grins. “Tonight.”

“S
o, where else have you gone during the past few months?” Jessica walks up the broad steps of the porch and stops below the head of the golden unicorn that looks out above the front door.

Matt avoids eye contact by looking out at the green lawn and hedge that divide the yard from the jungle.

“I’ve been careful,” Matt says. “Mostly I just came here to take a few powder runs down the mountain and build this house.”

“You’ve been careful?” Jessica grabs Matt’s chin and pulls it so he’s looking directly at her. “Ryzaard knows about this planet. I’ll bet he comes here every now and then to check on you. You’ve been putting yourself in great danger. You could have died, and we’d never know what happened to you.”

“Remember, Jess, this is my world. It’s the safest place I can be. Ryzaard can’t kill me here. He tried before and couldn’t do it. And I moved the location so Ryzaard no longer knows the way.”

“Wait, you moved the entire planet?”

“Yep.” Matt reaches down and picks up her hands, pushing the door open with his shoulder. “Come in and have a look.”

They step into a large open receiving room. A huge chandelier hangs overhead. A broad staircase extends upward directly in front of them, dividing to the right and left at the top. The sign of the unicorn is everywhere, on the wooden banister of the stairway, in the moldings on the ceiling and walls, even embedded in the large carpet under their feet. The smell of roast beef and garlic floats in from a room on their left.

Jessica sees that dinner for two is waiting on a table set with delicate china and crystal. A large German chocolate cake is placed in the middle like a great centerpiece next to red candles burning atop golden candlesticks.

“Come on.” Matt’s arm finds its way over Jessica’s shoulder, diagonally across her back to the opposite hip. “Let’s celebrate your birthday.”

“Are you sure we have time for this?” Jessica suppresses a worried look on her face. “We told Leo and Yarah that we’d hurry as fast as we could.”

“I know,” Matt says. “But I need to talk to you before we go back to Earth. We don’t know what we’ll find when we get there. We’ve only been gone for a few minutes so far. Another half hour won’t hurt. We
need
this time together. I need it. It may be the last—”

“Don’t say it!” Jessica shakes her head and presses a hand over Matt’s mouth. “Bad karma.”

The food is delicious.

Matt looks up from a bite of filet mignon. “I picked all this up earlier this afternoon from
The Unicorn
, a restaurant in New York City. I’ve never had it before, so I couldn’t really imagine it.” He puts a forkful in his mouth and closes his eyes as it slowly melts into his tongue.

“So you
have
gone to New York. How could you do something so dangerous? You’re either crazy or stupid.” Jessica takes a sip of raspberry vanilla soda out of a fluted glass, shaking her head.

“And reckless. Guilty as charged, on all counts.”

“How do you know Ryzaard hasn’t been tracking you?”

“He can’t, not with my cloaking box. See.” He flips the lid open and shows it to Jessica.

His Stone is inside.

“You went to Ryzaard’s office. To a store in New York City. To my house. And your house. You went to
your
old house, didn’t you?” Jessica takes another sip of soda.

“I had to.”

“But why? Ryzaard might have been monitoring it. He could have caught you, and it would all have been over.” Jessica lays down her fork. “You have to stop risking your life like that. It’s not just you anymore. We have a family.”

Matt nods. “You’re right. I
am
reckless. Always have been. I needed to pay a visit to my house to pick up some equipment.” He pats the backpack on the floor near his feet. “You never know what you’ll need.” He slips his hand into a pocket of the backpack and comes out with the exquisite green jewel in the shape of a miniature Stone encased in the center of the glass cube, bringing it up to his eyes.

“It’s beautiful.” Jessica takes it out of his hands. “What sort of an implant is it?”

“From what Leo and Yarah said, Ryzaard must plan to use it for mind control. Nasty stuff.”

Jessica takes a bite of bread. “Ryzaard just had it sitting out on his desk?”

“No, it was hidden.” Matt’s eyes rest on the German chocolate cake. “I found it in a locked compartment in the floor under his desk.”

Jessica cocks her head to one side. “Really? How did you know it was there?”

Matt sets his knife and fork down and leans forward. “I told you about my visit to the Allehonen world, after Ryzaard tried to kill me with a black hole.”

“Yes, I remember. And I’ve always had the suspicion that there’s a lot you didn’t tell me.”

“There’s a lot I saw and heard that I have no words for, no way of explaining.” Matt cuts a long section of asparagus into three pieces and skewers one with his fork. “But that’s not the point.”

“What
is
the point?”

“Dreams.” Matt looks up and shakes his head. “Maybe visions. It’s hard to tell the difference. Ever since I spent time in the Allehonen world, things come to me, especially at night. I saw Ryzaard hide this jewel in the floor under his desk. I saw where he put the key to the lock. At least a dozen times. I got tired of having the same dream over and over, so finally I decided to have a look.”

“And you found it?”

“Yep.” Matt munches on the asparagus as his eyes drift up to the ceiling. “Exactly as in my dream. Everything.”

Jessica takes another bite of mashed potatoes. “And you’ve had other dreams, other visions?”

“Lots.”

She lays her fork on the table. “Why haven’t you told me this until now?”

“Yarah.” Matt swallows a mouthful of potatoes. “She’s gotten too good at reading minds. I know when she’s probing me, like a swarm of ants inside my head. I’ve learned how to protect certain thoughts from her gaze, to build a porous shield with the Stone. There’s been plenty of time to work on it. Some thoughts she can read. Others are hidden away. It gets easier once you get the hang of it. If you have a Stone, that is.” He takes a long drink of the raspberry vanilla soda.

“But if you told me, I’d just be an open book. She’d see it all.” The hint of anger is gone from Jessica’s voice.

Matt pushes his plate to the side. “And she’d get scared. Like me.”

“About what?”

“Ryzaard,” Matt says. “His reach is growing stronger. I’ve seen bits and pieces in my dreams.”

Jessica’s hand slides across the table. “Tell me what you’ve seen.”

“Shinto shrines everywhere. Worldwide crisis. The old ways die. A brave new world begins, with Ryzaard in control.” Matt shakes his head. “None of it makes sense.”

“So that’s why you’re so anxious to go back to Earth.” Jessica pushes her plate to the side and picks up a knife.

Matt takes the cloaking box with the Stone out of his pocket. “I have to try. I can’t just do nothing. But there’s just one problem.”

“Only one?”

“I know I sound like I know what I’d doing, but you know the truth, don’t you?”

“That you have no idea where to start?”

“Everything I do is One Big Experiment. I never know how it’s going to turn out. Pretty pathetic, isn’t it?” Matt drops his fork on the table. “I’m a Stone Holder. I’m supposed to have all the answers.”

Jessica’s hand slides across the table to Matt’s.

“The Allehonen haven’t given you any specific instructions?” she says.

“I’ve asked and begged for guidance. Anything. Just an idea or two.” Matt squeezes Jessica’s hand. “But there’s been nothing. I don’t get it. The future of an entire civilization is at stake, and they give me
nothing
to go on.”

“I’ll give you something.” Jessica pulls herself around the table and sits next to Matt on his chair, shoulder to shoulder. “Actually, two things. First, my love.” Her hand slides up to the back of Matt’s head and pulls him down for a kiss.

“And the second thing?” he says.

Jessica reaches into her backpack, slips out the pieces of a pulse rifle, clicks them together and pumps it with one hand. “My life. I just appointed myself as your bodyguard.”

“Where did you get the gun?”

“Don’t you remember?” Jessica takes a sip of the vanilla soda. “From that battlefield in Thailand, before we jumped away from Earth. Soldiers were lying everywhere, and I helped myself to some of their weapons. I knew I’d eventually need them, since I don’t have a Stone.”

“You’re amazing, Jess. And a much better shot than I am.” Matt’s eyes drift back up to lock with Jessica’s. “There’s no turning back now, is there?”

“We can call the whole thing off. Go back to Yarah and Leo. Forget about Earth.”

Matt takes in a deep breath. “I wish we could go back. But I can’t. So many people have sacrificed their lives. My dad. Little John. His friend, Jake. Naganuma, the old Shinto priest. So many deaths. So much killing. When will it end?”

“I think it will end only when
we
end it.” Jessica’s hand goes up to Matt’s cheek. “The real question is,
how
will we end it?”

“That’s what we have to figure out. That’s why we have to go back to Earth.”

Jessica nods. “Let’s do it.”