Occasionally, Mbaiso had seen Addison speak to one of the tree kangaroos who was now near the front of the gathered mass. Addison had given her the name Newton. Mbaiso signed for her to approach the human. When she was at Addison’s side, Mbaiso pressed his snout against hers. His instructions were too extensive for conveying by gestures. A packet of information he had painstakingly prepared passed into her consciousness through the point of contact.
Before this moment, Mbaiso had transferred this packet of information to only one other tree kangaroo. The man, Samuel, had recently come to the mbolop colony and had asked Mbaiso to allow one of the tree kangaroos to go on a journey with him, to find the humans who were the parents of Addison. Mbaiso had given the information to the mbolop he had chosen to accompany Samuel.
Newton pulled away from Mbaiso. She turned to the human creature and gazed up at him. Addison made a strange facial expression, exposing his teeth, and then he sat down on the ground with his legs crossed before him. He extended one of his forepaws and placed the palm on Newton’s head for a moment. It was something he had done to Mbaiso before, possibly a gesture of trust or affection.
Newton dug into her abdomen, breaking the skin with her claws. She pushed her paw in until it disappeared and then pulled it out holding a wet lump of her insides. She offered it up to the human.
Addison looked at the lump and then at Newton, hesitating. After a few moments he took the lump and placed it in his mouth. Mbaiso and the rest of the colony watched and waited. Mbaiso fretted, digging his claws into the soil beneath him and flicking his ears back and forth. Perhaps his plan wouldn’t work.
Addison suddenly straightened his back. He rolled to one side and sprang to his feet. Newton and some of the other tree kangaroos grunted in alarm and backed away. Addison began walking away, but then he staggered. He fell to his knees. He turned and looked toward Mbaiso but seemed unable to focus his eyes. Addison then fell forward, and his face struck an exposed root with a thump.
Mbaiso, Newton, and the others gathered around the body. Mbaiso sniffed the back of Addison’s head and then shoved it with his snout. Addison didn’t respond.
Mbaiso signed some instructions to Newton and then to the others. One of the tree kangaroos hopped forward and touched snouts with Newton. The two remained in contact until a packet of instructions had been passed on—instructions that had now been augmented by Newton’s encounter with Addison.
The two separated, and the tree kangaroo Newton had touched scampered off, presumably back to the task it had been engaged in prior to the gathering. Another came forward, and the instruction packet was passed on again. One by one, every member of the colony came forward and received the necessary information. Finally, when the shafts of sunlight penetrating the canopy were again at a low angle, Mbaiso and Newton were alone with the human’s still body. The two tree kangaroos waited.
Addison rolled over slowly and sat up. Newton hopped up to him, and they touched snouts. The human then extended a hand and slowly stroked Newton’s head.
Chapter Ten
Bobby gazed at the walls and ceiling as a woman wheeled his bed down a hallway. Everything here looked the same—white, painted concrete with nothing on the walls. The doors didn’t even have numbers or names. The place was definitely not a hospital.
The woman stopped the bed before a featureless door that looked like all the others. She held out a key attached to a spiral lanyard around her neck, unlocked the door, and wheeled the bed into the room. Three more beds sat next to one wall, occupied by Ashley, Peter, and Robert. They were all awake and sitting up, including Robert, and like Bobby they were restrained. Helmich stood facing the beds, his arms folded. Behind him were four small cameras on tripods, all pointing toward the beds. The woman parked Bobby’s bed next to Ashley’s and left the room.
“Are you okay?” Ashley said.
Bobby looked at Helmich.
“You may speak freely,” he said.
“I’m okay,” Bobby said. “Didn’t sleep much. I can’t even turn on my side on this bed.” He shot a look at Helmich.
Helmich nodded his stupid nod. “Have I asked you already if you like films? Consider Papillon, with Steve McQueen. McQueen’s character, a safecracker, is wrongly accused of murder and sentenced to life in prison in French Guiana. Worst conditions you can imagine—you should consider yourself lucky. But the character never gives up. He formulates one plan after another, sustained by his boundless hope. At last, after he has grown to be a much older man, he manages to escape.” Helmich looked at Bobby with a smile. “Perhaps you might take heart in such a story, and in the hope that perhaps you will find a way to leave this place. Fortunately for you, that will simply require your complete cooperation. Say, I’ll arrange a Papillon viewing for all of you. We’ll make it a festive occasion!”
Bobby had no idea how to respond to this, so he just glared at the man.
“Who are you, and what the hell is this place?” Peter said.
“Yes, it is time for questions.” Helmich gestured to the cameras behind him. “We are not alone today. I have invited my benefactors—my superiors, if you will—to join us. They are as excited to meet you as the rest of us have been. Please do not ask who they are. They would be here in person if they wanted you to know.”
“Hey, freak,” Ashley said. “Last I checked, real doctors don’t torture people.”
Helmich nodded his stupid nod again. “I am more of a freelance consultant. And yes, I am a medical doctor. A neurologist, specifically. I am also a somewhat accomplished psychologist. And I have a passing interest in exobiology, astrobiology, human-machine interfacing, American pop culture, and motion pictures. Some of those interests make me highly qualified to be here, others make me an interminable bore. Or so I am told.” He raised his eyebrows behind his red glasses like he was waiting for the next question.
“I’d like an honest and detailed report on Robert’s condition,” Peter said.
“I’m doing okay,” Robert said before Helmich could answer. His speech was a little slurred, and his neck and part of his face were still bandaged. “They’ve actually taken pretty good care of me. But I agree with Bobby about the damn straps on the bed.”
“Robert was struck by a nine millimeter rubber bullet just above his right clavicle,” Helmich said. “The round, which by the way was designed to be less lethal, did not rupture any major arteries, nor did it fracture any bones. I can now say confidently that he will recover fully, although the full range of motion in his neck may not be restored for some time. And although you haven’t asked, the woman you met on the road at the bridge—her name is Sabrina—is going to be fine as well. Some of the blood you saw on her was simulated, but some of it was real. She mustered a praise-worthy performance, did she not? I suppose she would be considered a method actor.” Again, he raised his brows, waiting.
Bobby spoke up. “What are you trying to do to the Lamotelokhai? Why did you want to split it up?”
“They split it up?” Peter asked.
Ashley said, “I had a dream yesterday, a vision that thing put in my head. If you idiots are trying to split the Lamotelokhai up, you need to know what I saw.”
“Yes,” Helmich said, “Bobby has told me of this dream. And I understand Mr. Wooley experienced the same dream as well. How do you suppose that is possible?”
“It doesn’t matter how it’s possible,” Peter said. “What matters is why we had the dream.”
Helmich pushed his glasses up on his nose and then stroked his chin. “I am beginning to suspect that you people have a profound lack of curiosity.”
Bobby said, “You haven’t answered. What are you trying to do?”
“Yes,” Helmich responded, “that is the question, isn’t it? You might say that our group has put all of its proverbial eggs into one basket. We have structured our efforts upon one primary premise, that the Lamotelokhai is nothing more than a collection of interconnected but potentially independent parts. If you sepa
rate those parts into subgroups—say ten subgroups—then the entity will be incapable of functioning as a whole. We also have hypothesized that the distance between the ten subgroups is important. That’s why we have constructed this facility, with a circular, subterranean space 324 meters in diameter. It allows us to increase the distance between the subgroups under controlled conditions. In case you are interested, in the space below us we can move each of the ten subgroups 162 meters from the center. This places them into a circular array 324 meters in diameter, with 100 meters between the subsets around the perimeter. It’s all quite fascinating, although I can’t say I was at all instrumental in its design. I’m not much of an engineer.”
Bobby shoved out a frustrated grumble from the back of his throat. “You need to put its parts back together. I still don’t know what you’re trying to do, but it’s really dangerous.”
Helmich sighed and frowned. “Perhaps you do not fully understand the idiom, putting all of one’s eggs into one basket. Consider the 1981 film, All The Marbles, with Peter Faulk. Faulk’s character is a sleazy manager of two female professional wrestlers.”
“Seriously,” Ashley said, “do we have to hear about another stupid movie?”
Helmich held up a finger as if he were lecturing them. “Patience. Yes, such films are often rubbish, but this one is an under-appreciated gem. The two wrestlers happen to be very good at what they do. But as you can imagine, the world of small-time professional wrestling is rife with drudgery, unglamorous gigs, and shady characters. This unlikely trio hits a low point when they are forced to accept a mud-wrestling match. But they finally manage, through one ruse after another, to obtain a chance at the tag-team title. The climax is a brutal, twenty-minute depiction of the match, one of the great sports scenes in cinema history. The two wrestlers, as well as their manager, know that this is their one and only chance. Nothing else matters. It is for all the marbles. They have put all their eggs into one basket.”
Helmich fell silent and waited, as if he expected applause or something. When no one responded, he went on.
“And so, you see, we know that we have only one chance. We will either succeed or we will fail. But there is no turning back. You tell me this is dangerous, as if we were not aware of that. Yes, it is a high-stakes match. But we are already ahead of the other teams. We have found the Lamotelokhai before any of them.”
Bobby, Ashley, and Peter exchanged confused glances.
“Other teams?” Peter said.
“Of course. There are at least sixteen other groups that I am aware of. We’ve even collaborated with some of them, although we certainly cannot reveal to them what we have accomplished here recently. They are scattered around the globe, funded by assorted governments and benefactors. Most of them have facilities as elaborate as this one, although with designs based upon entirely different hypotheses. One of them is even designed to convince the Lamotelokhai to construct a wormhole in space, so that the sponsors of the facility can be transported to other solar systems. Blithering idiots, if you ask me. Another I know of is designed to destroy the Lamotelokhai with a contained nuclear blast. I believe they are offended by its presence here.” Helmich laughed as if this were funny. “Honestly, you should be happy our team found you first.”
Bobby was too stunned by all of this to know what to say. Apparently the others were too. It was actually Robert who broke the silence.
“Why are you avoiding Bobby’s question?”
Again Helmich sighed and frowned. He then glanced at a smartwatch on his wrist. “I am providing context. I joined this team voluntarily, because I believe there is much to be gained by understanding the technology behind the Lamotelokhai. I am one of millions who believe that humankind is not best served by allowing this remarkable entity to hide out somewhere, making its own decisions about what we need and do not need. You want to know what we are trying to do? We intend to understand how the Lamotelokhai works. Once we understand that, we will have the ability to achieve on our own what the Lamotelokhai may or may not have decided to achieve for us. We will make our own decisions about what is best for us. If we succeed, humanity will reclaim its position of authority and autonomy on this planet. If we fail, well, then it won’t matter what happens. This is for all the marbles.”
Bobby felt the small amount of hope he still had slipping away. It was one thing for Helmich to be clueless about the risk he was taking. It was a very different thing for him to understand the risk but not care about it. It would be a waste of breath to try to talk any sense into him.
Helmich looked at his smartwatch again. “I now have a few questions of my own. I would very much like for you to be forthcoming with your answers, as I am not keen on expending additional time extracting them from you under duress.” He gave Ashley a meaningful look. “Can we all agree on that?”
After a moment of silence, Peter said, “Ask your questions.”
Helmich nodded and half-smiled. “Why were you moving the Lamotelokhai, and where were you planning to take it?”
Peter answered immediately. “We felt that it needed to be in a more secure location. We were taking it to a facility that I had constructed for that purpose.”
Helmich nodded, apparently considering this. “I see. It is fortunate then that we found you before you accomplished that. Now for my second question. You people are, I suppose, the world’s leading experts on the Lamotelokhai, at least for the moment. What role do you believe it should play in human existence? Please answer one at a time.” He nodded toward Robert first.
Bobby could hear Robert swallow a lump in his throat from several beds away. “I believe it can be a repository of knowledge, perhaps a database we can tap into whenever we have an important problem to solve.”
“So you think it should be a glorified encyclopedia, perhaps with an online interface like that of a search engine.”
“Well, I don’t know what it might—”
Helmich held up a hand to cut him off. “I get it.” He then nodded at Peter.
Peter sighed loudly. “Okay, I’ll play along. I don’t know exactly what role it should play. I would suggest that a consortium be formed, with representatives from every country, culture, and way of life. This consortium then could decide what role the Lamotelokhai should play that would benefit everyone.”
Helmich clapped his hands three times in fake applause. “Well done. You have described the most dysfunctional consortium imaginable, unable to make any decisions whatsoever due to the very human tendency to favor one’s own interests.”
Peter glared. “Okay, what is your—”
Helmich put up his hand again. “Let’s move on.” He nodded at Ashley.
“Go frack yourself,” she said.
Helmich smiled. “Well said. I suppose you are confident that I am in too much of a hurry to arrange things so that I can coerce you to give an honest answer.”
Ashley’s defiant look wavered a little.
“I suppose you’re right,” Helmich said. “All of that nonsense is so tedious and messy. Let the record show that you simply have no opinion on the matter.” He then turned to Bobby. “Your turn, young man.”
Ashley spoke up before Bobby could open his mouth. “You act like you don’t care what happens if things don’t go the way you want them to. But when it comes to not caring, the Lamotelokhai kicks your ass. That’s something you people just don’t get. You should probably listen to those of us who know.”
Helmich gazed at her. “I am listening. And so are my superiors.”
“Good,” she said. “All of you go frack yourselves.”
Helmich turned to Bobby.
Bobby considered backing up Ashley by repeating her words. But he didn’t want to pass up a chance to say something that might make a difference.
“The Lamotelokhai is smarter than us. Smarter than all of us, even you. What you’re trying to do proves it. You asked what role it should play. I think it should be hidden away somewhere so people like you can’t fi
nd it, and it should help us the way it thinks is best for us. Like it has been doing.” Bobby looked at the cameras and then at Helmich. “I think I understand what you’re trying to do now. Have you seen the movie, 28 Days Later? It’s a zombie movie.”
Helmich smiled but still managed to look skeptical. “Now you’re talking my language.”
“Well, at the beginning these people break into a research lab to let some chimpanzees out of their cages. They think they’re doing something good. They think people shouldn’t keep animals in cages. But they don’t know that the chimps have a disease called rage. Twenty-eight days after that, the main character wakes up from a coma, and he finds out almost everyone is either dead or has the disease.” Bobby paused for a moment to make sure Helmich was listening. “I think you’re the people freeing the chimps.”
Helmich puckered his lips and adjusted his red glasses. “With one important difference. The animal rights activists in the film had no coherent plan. We, on the other hand, not only have a plan, but our plan is proving to be successful.” He broke into a smile. “But extra points for effort, Bobby! Now, I have one more question for you folks. With the understanding that we intend to continue our course of action, is there anything you can tell us that might reduce the risks that you are so concerned about?”
“If you’ve split it up, put it back together,” Peter said.
“I’m afraid our entire hypothesis is based upon segmenting it,” Helmich replied.
Bobby realized this might be his last chance to say something. “Be careful what you ask it to do. It doesn’t think like you do.”
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