As quickly as the smoke storm had appeared, it was gone. There was one last strong gust of wind, and the air was calm and clear. The flying ship was gone, and so was the Secreteer. Jack, feeling dizzy and disoriented, leaned on Blue, struggling to keep his feet below him. As he looked around, he saw the train passengers were even more out of it than he was.
“Time to get going,” Midknight said to the group.
Jack regained his balance and motioned toward the witnesses stumbling around like they’d just gotten off a merry-go-round that was spinning at warp speed. “What about them?” he asked. “They look worse than they did before we patched them up.”
“They’ll be fine,” Midknight said. “They all came out of this relatively unscathed, and I’ve already called emergency services in the nearest city. Help is on the way, and we need to be gone before it gets here. Right now the norms over there are still in a daze,” he said, pointing at the people who could no longer be referred to as witnesses. “That’s our cue to leave, before they snap out of the funk they’re in.”
Blue grabbed Speedrazor by the collar and started dragging his unconscious body toward the Knightwing glider. Jack, Skerren, and Allegra followed after him and helped tie Speedrazor up in the back of the ship. After that, Jack took the glider up to reconnect with the other half of the ship, which was hovering in the skies overhead, and handed the controls back to Midknight. As Jack, Skerren, and Allegra strapped in for the flight home, the encounter with the Secreteer was the main topic of conversation.
“Well, that was different,” Allegra said as she buckled up.
“Yeah, it was,” Jack agreed. “The Secreteer wasn’t anything like I expected. Coming in on a flying pirate ship like that? That was crazy.”
“Pirate ship?” Allegra laughed. “What are you talking about? The Secreteer came in on a sleigh. I saw it. It was being pulled by a team of flying horses with huge wings.”
“You two need to get your eyes checked,” Skerren said, sitting up in his seat. “The Secreteer showed up on a flying carpet. I was looking right at it. I saw it perfectly.”
Jack looked back and forth between Skerren and Allegra like they were crazy. Flying carpet? Winged horses? What where they talking about? “Did you guys hit your heads in the train crash?” he asked them. “It was a flying boat with a huge hot air balloon. You couldn’t miss it.”
“I don’t think so,” Allegra said, shaking her head.
“I know what I saw,” Jack told her. “You don’t forget a thing like that.”
“Don’t be so sure,” Ricochet said. She and Midknight smiled at each other, snickering. Jack didn’t like not being in on the joke. Apparently, neither did Skerren.
“What’s so funny?” Skerren asked, frowning.
Ricochet leaned forward in her chair. “Ask yourselves this, all of you. Do you have any clear memory of what the Secreteer looked like?”
Ricochet waited patiently as Jack, Skerren, and Allegra all fell silent. Jack racked his brain trying to picture the Secreteer’s face. He couldn’t do it.
“Don’t waste your time trying to remember,” Midknight advised everyone. “It’s not going to happen. The Secreteer didn’t just alter the memories of the witnesses on the train. She altered our memories too. They always do.”
“What?” Jack asked. “Why?”
Midknight motioned with his hands. “I don’t ask that question anymore. The Secreteers like to play their cards close to their vests. It’s just the way they are.”
“It’s because they’re paranoid,” Blue called out. “Makes me paranoid.”
“Don’t worry,” Midknight said. “They might get a little extreme about how they stay anonymous, but really, we’re all better off this way. The less people know about the Secreteers, the easier it is for them to do their jobs. We trust them to keep our secrets, and so far no Secreteer has ever abused that trust.”
“Yeah, as far as you can remember,” Blue grumbled. Midknight gave Blue a you’re-not-helping look. “Hey, I tell it like it is,” Blue told him.
“I don’t get it,” Allegra said. “If they’re going to mess with our heads, why do it this way? Why make us all remember different things that are still wild and unusual? If they’re going to alter our memories, wouldn’t it be easier to just wipe them clean like they did those people back there?”
“They just like to mess with us,” Blue grumbled. “This is exactly what I’m talking about with these guys. I hate this feeling. You can’t even trust your own memories around Secreteers.”
“I think I do remember something, though,” Jack said. “The Secreteer … I’m pretty sure I saw her in the smoke.”
“Her?” Allegra asked.
“It was a woman,” Jack confirmed. “A beautiful woman with dark skin.”
“Jack …,” Blue said with a laugh. “If you really think you can remember a Secreteer’s face, you’re reading too much of your own press. Nobody gets close enough for that. Nobody.”
Speedrazor, who had woken up at some point during the conversation, found that extremely funny for some reason. He started giggling like a maniac, but Blue shut him up with a quick smack to the back of the head. “What’s so funny?” he asked. “Your big score is down there in a flaming wreck, and your gang left you to take the heat for it. I wouldn’t be laughing if I were you.”
Jack looked out the window at the blown-up cargo car. He couldn’t get any reading from whatever had once been inside it. His powers didn’t let him talk to dead machines.
“I still can’t believe you blew it up,” Allegra told him.
“I just hope whatever that train was carrying wasn’t some one-of-a-kind treasure,” Blue added. “As it is, you’re gonna hear it from your old buddy Jonas Smart when we get back to Empire City.”
“Jonas Smart?” Jack repeated. “What’s he got to do with any of this?”
“Intelligent Designs,” Blue replied. “It’s a front company for SmartCorp out in the Real World. Whatever you just blew up belonged to him.”
“No way,” Jack said. Blue gave him a look that said he wasn’t kidding. Jack leaned back in his seat and let out a heavy sigh. “Great,” he said. “That’s just great.”
Jonas Smart, a man who had once tried to have Jack executed and dissected because of his Rüstov infection … a man who was probably the last person left in Empire City who still thought of Jack as a Rüstov spy … he was the owner of the coveted cargo that Jack had just blown to bits. Ricochet was wrong. The Secreteers hadn’t tied up every loose end on this mission after all. Jack was going to have to answer for what he’d done on that train, and Jonas Smart was going to be the one asking the questions.
CHAPTER
4
The SmarterNet
As it turned out, the self-proclaimed smartest man in the world didn’t even wait one full day before he had Jack called before the Inner Circle, charged with the willful and malicious destruction of SmartCorp property. It was a ridiculous claim. Jack knew that SmartCorp had front companies operating out in the Real World, but he’d had no way of knowing that Intelligent Designs was one of them. The extent of the Imagine Nation’s involvement in the Real World was as much a mystery to Jack now as it had been back when he’d lived there. Still, Smart never let facts get in the way of his campaign against Jack, and this was no exception.
Jack stood in the pit of the Inner Circle’s sphere, staring up at empty chairs and waiting for the Circlemen to arrive. He wasn’t as nervous as he’d been the first time he’d been there, back when Smart had wanted to dissect him. Things were different now. Gone were the days when Smart could just say “Rüstov” and scare everyone into doing whatever he wanted, but Jack knew how quickly that could all change, and he wasn’t about to underestimate Jonas Smart. That was why, even though Jack’s friends regarded this hearing as little more than a time-wasting nuisance, he was still hounded by a tiny, nagging morsel of doubt. It sat there in the pit of his stomach like an ice cube that refused to melt.
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One by one the Circlemen began to file into the sphere. Stendeval was the first to arrive, materializing in an orange-white flash up at the ceiling. The red energy particles that swirled around him faded down to nothing as he lowered himself into his chair. “Hello, Jack,” he said, getting comfortable in his seat. “In trouble again, I see,” he added with a reassuring smile.
Jack shrugged. “I guess so,” he replied. “What else is new, right?”
“Indeed,” Chi said from across the table.
Jack’s head shot up, startled by the sound of Chi’s voice. One second ago his seat had been empty. Now the sensei Circleman of Karateka was sitting in his chair, calm and still, as if he’d been there all along. He put his hands together and bowed his head slightly. “Jack,” he said in greeting.
“Master Chi,” Jack said, returning the gesture.
The appearance of the next two Circlemen was far less sudden. First there was Hovarth, the warrior king of Varagog Village, who grunted and grumbled as he stomped his way down the tunnel. Then there was Virtua, the glamorous light projection of artificial intelligence that governed the robotic borough of Machina. Jack heard the buzzing whirr of Projo, the mechanized orb who carried Virtua’s holographic image to the unplugged world, as they approached the sphere.
Jack looked up at the empty chairs on the circle, knowing that the Galaxis seat would remain unoccupied that day. Prime, the leader of the alien borough, was off-world on a diplomatic mission to Caltec, execu-world of the Calculan Planetary Conglomerate. Prime had gone there hoping to forge the first link in an intergalactic alliance against the Rüstov. He would be reaching out to all possible allies. Even the hated Draconians, longtime enemies of Prime’s former planet of Valor, would be offered a seat at the table. Prime’s mission highlighted the Imagine Nation’s clear shift in strategy for dealing with the Rüstov threat. There was now a willingness to try to set aside differences in favor of a common goal, a willingness that hadn’t existed when Jack had first arrived in Empire City.
After witnessing Jack defeat Revile, the Rüstov soldier whose very existence personified the enemy’s invincible strength, the people of the Imagine Nation were suddenly feeling hopeful and confident about the future. They were no longer going along with the politics of fear and division, and the old wedges that Jonas Smart had once used to drive people apart just couldn’t seem to find a foothold anymore.
As a result, Smart arrived in the sphere wielding considerably less power than he had when Jack had first met him. After persecuting Jack as a Rüstov spy so fiercely, Smart had ended up looking very foolish when Jack defeated Revile and became a hero in everyone’s eyes. A year later Jack was still a beloved figure in Empire City, and Smart’s policies were a thing of the past. When Jonas Smart entered the sphere, he didn’t get to sit up in his old Hightown seat. He had to stand next to Jack and wait around like everyone else.
Jack looked up at the tall, grim figure. Smart didn’t say hello to him or even bother to insult him. He just peered down at Jack with scornful eyes and blew a sharp snort of air out through his nostrils before looking away. Jack knew it was killing Smart to have to stand there with him as an equal. They waited in awkward silence as the footsteps in the tunnel leading from Hightown grew louder. After a lengthy wait Circleman Clarkston Noteworthy finally emerged from the shadows and took his place in Smart’s old chair. He was a tall, handsome man with slick blond hair and expensive clothes. Circleman of Hightown was the first job he’d ever held in his entire life. Jack didn’t know Noteworthy all that well. He was an Inner Circle member and School of Thought teacher, but he was hardly ever seen by the students. He taught Jack and his classmates even less than Smart used to, if such a thing were possible. All Jack knew about Clarkston Noteworthy was what people said about how he’d won the Hightown election—he’d bought it. Jack thought it was believable enough. In Empire City the Noteworthy name meant one thing and one thing only: money.
Smart scowled at the man sitting in his old seat. “You’re late, Circleman Noteworthy,” he said.
“Be thankful I’m here at all,” Noteworthy replied. “I wasn’t made aware that we would be entertaining your particular brand of nonsense in this meeting until well after my morning tea.” Noteworthy looked to his fellow Circlemen. “I’m here now. Shall we get on with it?”
“By all means,” Smart replied.
“He was talking to the other Circlemen,” Jack said.
“It’s fine, Jack,” Stendeval said, heading off a rebuke from Smart. “Being a guest in this sphere is a new experience for Jonas. It’s only natural that it should take some getting used to.” Stendeval turned his attention to Smart. “Jonas, you asked that this hearing be added to our agenda today, arguing that the matter could not wait. Out of respect for our past association, we have honored your request. Now, perhaps you could share with us the details of your grievance?”
“Gladly,” Smart said. He smoothed out the front of his customary black suit. “I’m here today to discuss a matter of great urgency. Something that, I’m sad to say, none of you seem overly concerned with anymore. Namely, the security of the Imagine Nation and the protection of its people.”
Jack rolled his eyes and groaned. A few Circlemen joined him. “Are you serious?” Jack asked.
Smart looked at Jack like Smart was actively resisting the urge to strangle him. “I am deadly serious,” he said. “Interrupt me again, and you’ll see for yourself.” Smart turned back to the Circlemen and continued. “Last night, while operating under the cover of a training mission with his fellow students, Jack Blank took the opportunity to destroy a very valuable piece of SmartCorp technology, a one-of-a-kind machine that was on its way here to the Imagine Nation. Given the specific nature of the technology in question and the purpose it was meant for, I can only conclude that Jack destroyed it with the intention of weakening the Imagine Nation and making us more vulnerable to attack.”
“Oh, c’mon!” Jack said. “I stopped Speedrazor from getting away with your property. That’s what I did. That’s all I did! I don’t even know what your contraption was.”
“Don’t insult my intelligence,” Smart said. “You control machines. You talk to machines. That train was running in the Real World. I placed no nullifiers on board. You had to have known it was carrying the key component in a device that would help fend off the Rüstov.”
“I couldn’t understand anything on that train. It was too complex,” Jack interjected.
“You knew it would bolster our defenses against your Rüstov brethren, and you destroyed it!” Smart continued, talking over Jack.
Jack threw his hands up in disbelief. “Here we go again. Congratulations, you made it a full minute before you brought up the Rüstov this time.”
“One day it’s going to be the last time,” Smart shot back. “Don’t make the mistake of thinking I’ve gone soft like everyone else. Unlike the Inner Circle, I’ve yet to slow down when it comes to the Rüstov.”
“No arguments here,” Noteworthy said, and grinned. “How’s that working out for you, Jonas?”
Smart narrowed his eyes at his successor on the Inner Circle. “I may have paid the price for maintaining a level of vigilance that has fallen out of fashion, but I have no regrets. I do what is necessary. No one else in this city cares to remember the events of the Rüstov invasion. No one else in this sphere cares about the ongoing Rüstov threat! I’m still watching for enemy agents. I’m preparing for the day their armada returns, and when that day comes, you’ll all see that I was right about this boy.”
Tired faces stared down at Jonas Smart from the Circlemen’s table. His fiery passion for the subject of Jack’s loyalty was starkly contrasted by the Inner Circle’s exhausted patience for the topic. “Still holding a grudge, I see,” Virtua said. “Bitterness doesn’t become you, Jonas. The smartest man in the world should at least know when to quit.” Jack knew Virtua had a grudge of her own against Smart for the way his Peacemakers had run Machina at th
e height of his power. Jack wasn’t about to complain about Virtua’s grudge.
“Jonas, please,” Hovarth pleaded. “Haven’t we been through this enough times already? Jack’s given us no reason to suspect anything close to what you’re suggesting. Og’s blood, the boy bested Revile in single combat! Hasn’t he proven himself by now?”
“A lot of people fought Revile, Lord Hovarth,” Jack chimed in, very eager to share the credit for that victory. “You were there too. You all were.”
“But you finished him,” Hovarth countered. “You won that battle.” He turned back to Smart. “Jonas, can’t you just admit that you were wrong about Jack? I have.”
Jack forced out a weak smile. He appreciated having the support of the Circlemen, but it always made him feel uncomfortable whenever one of them would commend him for defeating Revile. They wouldn’t be singing his praises if they knew the truth. What if they knew it was his face behind Revile’s mask? That he might grow up to be Revile one day?
“Hovarth, I mean you no disrespect, but I am simply stating a fact when I say you are not known as a great thinker,” Smart said. “You’re the one who’s wrong about Jack. You all are. The whole of Empire City might love this boy, but I see right through him. Jack is hiding something. I know he is.”
The Secret War Page 5