Einsteiner

by V. K. Fourstone

  “Great! You live the good life alright!” said Isaac, beginning to feel less tense. He finally realized that he had achieved this incredible goal. He has found the man he had been searching for so methodically for so long. Found him alive and well. Out of all the people who had searched for the professor, only he and Bikie did it!”

  “The grass is always greener… That rule always applies without exception. This life has its minuses too. I do not go to big cities, and I miss their bustle and energy. I miss students. Intelligent listeners. I’m actually glad to see you. I’m sick of hiding. I pass the time splendidly, but it flows along too smoothly.”

  “And so, young people, I shall listen with pleasure to what you have brought for me,” the professor summed up. “And then you’ll tell me how you found me and why,” he added, puffing on a cigar.

  “The little magic key is right there in your mouth,” Isaac thought, then he spoke out loud:

  “We need your help.”

  “You wrote that already and I understand everything the first time around. I don’t like it when someone tries to explain something to me for five times as if I’m some slow-witted schoolboy.”

  “All right, I’ll try not to repeat myself. Professor, what you have created is both wonderful and appalling. But in the future, the appalling side could become a whole lot worse. You have created an epidemic, a ticking time bomb. The technology you have created means that the time remaining to totalitarianism amounts to no more than a couple of decades. We want to stop that.”

  “Appalling and wonderful. Interesting words,” said the professor, smiling wistfully. It was a long time since he had been involved in a serious debate.

  “And you will help us do it. Help us to stop your own creation,” Isaac continued. “Whether you want it to or not. And even if you couldn’t give a damn for your own life, something that is really important to you can be found. Only two of us have come, but we have allies. If necessary, they’ll find you again. So it’s not just a matter of us. By eliminating us or handing us over to the authorities, you’ll only gain a little time.”

  “There’s no need to threaten me, Isaac. I don’t intend to do you any harm, God forbid. I created the technology for honorable purposes and it has brought no less benefit to humankind than electricity or penicillin.”

  “But it will inevitably lead to catastrophe.”

  “An interesting theory…continue. You’re intelligent young guys. I could have done more with students like that. And you actually bluff quite well. Concerning the ‘group of friends’…” the professor smiled good-naturedly, “… you’re a bit short of practice. Tonight I will give you a book on poker, written by a friend of mine. It was published in a small edition and is very popular with the pros. It’s not as boring as textbooks on the theory of lying, much more popular in style and it better describes gestures people use when they lie or tell the truth.”

  “That’s theory, professor, but you are going to run up against the reality. Then we’ll see how true your conclusions are.”

  “Shush, calm down please, our conversation has got off on the wrong foot. So far there are no reasons for an argument. I can see that you’re rather hi-minded individuals, and so am I. Let’s relax and start over again. How about some rum and coke?” Link poured a dark, foaming liquid into a glass and added alcohol from a dark, heavy, thick-walled bottle.

  “Professor, I’m not really in the mood for drinking cocktails,” said Isaac, pushing aside the glass held out by Link.

  Link apparently guessed they were worried about poison and took a relaxed swallow from the glass he had just offered to Isaac.

  “For a start, I’ve realized that you’re Isaac, right? You work out a lot, I see?”

  Isaac nodded. The worldly professor was trying to lull their suspicions with his apparent kindheartedness, slipping compliments into the conversation.

  “And, judging from the hardline tattoos and the stubble, you are Bikie?”

  Even in the beach gear, who was Bikie and who Isaac, was as obvious as the moon on a clear night.

  “And I, as you know, am Professor Jeremy Link. But please, young people, just call me Link. Using the first name is a little too hobnob for me, and Mr. Link is way too official. So, simply Link.”

  “All right, Link. So now what do you have to say? Seven years is a long time, you’re a clever man, and you watch TV and read the news. What’s your opinion?”

  “You want to destroy the system for gathering Orange Energy – you do understand that we’re talking precisely about the system? It’s impossible to destroy an operating system if it’s installed on too many computers. Either physically or with some cunning virus. It’s a program. It is sold in thousands of shops. And Orange Energy is a program too, a technology. I’d even call it a form of knowledge. Knowledge is impossible to destroy if it has spread right round the world. It’s like trying to convince people all over again that the sun is nailed to the sky.”

  “If you want to destroy it, you have to make everyone stop using it. Make it unpopular. That is possible. I´m sure that you, being the most respected man in the world and a celebrated inventor, will be paid attention to.” Suddenly, Isaac realized why he actually had been looking for the professor so persistently. The man was the top authority, the one to make people follow him. “But to find the weakest point, the key minus, we have to understand how the technology works, and you are the one who does know. You can present this final “key minus” as a fact, correctly. You’ll be able to stop this!”

  “And this is why you searched for me…”

  “Yes. In order to understand it, we decided to find you. As Gogol says in Taras Bulba: ‘I gave you life, and I will kill you’. We want to know everything about the technology that you know. Its strong and weak aspects, the principles it works on, basically everything. The plan is to destroy it, to switch it off. We’ll figure out how as we go along. The world hasn’t been destroyed yet. Even if you refuse to do it, you’ll give the chance to the opposition, which is, to us. And we, by the way, may turn out just right in our conclusions.”

  “The world cannot be destroyed. Sooner or later a tyrant dies. If a new tyrant takes his place, he will die some time too. Sooner or later there is a revolution. Even if the world goes completely to the dogs, humankind will survive in some places, invent everything all over again, and a new surge of evolution will begin. We don’t know what heights were scaled by the inhabitants of Atlantis if they existed. But the fact remains that mankind survived and was resurrected, and invented everything all over again. We fly into space, we talk to other continents on miniature wireless devices. We’ve surpassed Atlantis, that’s for sure. In the same way, the hypothetical crisis that I’ve created will pass off sooner or later. Even a nuclear war, capable of reducing cities and civilizations to dust, sooner or later will be forgotten. Life will start over again and completely restore itself. Where will the new cradle of civilization be? Maybe somewhere on the outskirts of New Zealand, maybe in Africa, or on Mauritius.”

  “That’s empty rhetoric, professor. We’re talking about here and now, not ten thousand years in the future. We want to win today, not through the whim of time’s endless flow. Our task is to halt evolution in the wrong direction. My sister is sick today!” Isaac started shouting.

  “What’s wrong with her?” the professor sounded considerate.

  “Something your Einsteiner couldn’t deal with or didn’t want to. Neither it nor the Agency are interested. She’s nothing for them, a blob! But she’s a person! And she doesn’t have anybody but me!”

  “I’m sorry to hear that.”

  “That’s what brought me to the downloading office. It was a miracle that I remained myself. Now I have a first-hand experience of your super-computer. I want to know if it is possible to bring it all back? Return people their creative energy? All those who came to the downloading office along with me are normal people, deprived of the choice in life. By you!”

  Professor grew
pensive. He closed his eyes and it looked like he was weighing up hundreds of pros and cons. His face was tense.

  “I’ve had enough time to assess the consequences of my invention. I disagree with your conclusions, although there is a grain of sense in them. In fact, it is hard not to agree with some of them. If everything were in my hands right now, I would use the technology differently. I agree that there are no guarantees. No matter how a system is constructed, sooner or later a villainous scoundrel will control it, this is quite possible, so what then? People in fact are not that deprived of choice as you think. You and Bikie are the proof.”

  “The proof? In seven years there have been just two people who managed to find you. That's not the proof, that's an exception.”

  “The world has always been created by exceptional people and not due to, but against things. There is always some kind of system. Masters and servants, inquisition. Army service. Even taxes: once you are born, you already are a financial slave, obliged to give part of your income and belongings to someone ahead of the game. Doesn't really make a big difference whether it's a president, parliament or dictator. History has no fear of tyranny. Every system is run by people, people get old and die, and new people take their place, it’s an endless process. And in infinite time, the probability of any event occurring is a hundred per cent. Sooner or later. If God exists, then probably he alone never changes and can offer guarantees, because he is eternal.”

  “I agree about eternity. I think so too. But God helps those who help themselves.”

  “Scientists are often faced with a choice: to give a technology to people or to destroy what they have created. Everything has an upside and a downside. Electricity is a good thing, but lots of people have been killed by it. Not to mention atomic power. There are power stations and there are atomic bombs. You can say the same about radio and antibiotics, GMOs and many other things. ”

  “We are in the present. Seven years have gone by. And everything is still in your hands. And ours. You can correct or adjust the world that has been steered off course by your invention. Time to stop. You got the world addicted to this morphine, which started to do harm after being helpful for a while.”

  “You can’t hold down science! Might as well try to hold water in your palms! Don’t be so primitive, for God’s sake!” Professor was clearly about to boil.

  It was clear that he was about to seethe, getting ready to protect his invention. But, having studied Isaac and Bikie closer, he changed his mind. His face was stiff with disapproval but then a little smile touched his lips and he continued with a soft voice, a bit sadly but amicably.

  “Well, yes. Everything that has happened is a catastrophe for me as the inventor. I created a universally accessible drug that is instantly addictive. The technology itself is unique and mega-useful, only there aren’t any instructions for use and my idea is not used as I wished.”

  “Professor, I understand that you’re disappointed, I understand about electricity, and about the drug, I just don’t understand how determined you are to put right the mess you have created.”

  “I didn’t create it, young man, I invented. God and humankind create. We always have what we deserve.” Professor’s voice instantly changed from soft and feeble to icy cold, he looked at Bikie with ill-concealed contempt.

  “Professor, let me repeat more courteously, as you requested. Sorry, Bikie, he got really tired looking for you and took things a little bit too far. Are you willing to try, let’s put it this way… to reboot the program? To correct its malfunctioning, especially since the program has already done a lot of good, and all the achievements will be retained?”

  The professor sighed and started pondering, shifting between a smile and a sadness. In the end, he glanced at his watch and replied:

  “I have devoted the last five years of my life to this and I’m willing to devote all the time I have left. Of course, it’s annoying for me to hear about the negative aspects of my invention from a pair of young pups, no matter how intelligent they are, but I’m a scientist and I studied the consequences intensely myself a long time ago. And I’m prepared to try to correct them.”

  The professor was writhing out uneasily. There was clearly a struggle going on inside of him. Agreeing, he would cross out all his achievements, acknowledging their extreme danger.

  Those words took a huge weight, a massive burden, off Isaac’s mind. The immense rock that had been hanging over his head crumbled to dust. He struggled to contain the emotions welling up inside him. Until today he had been obsessed with the idea, and now he saw a hope ahead. He was successful in generating an opposition. Not a radical opposition of fanatics, but a powerful, conceptual opposition by intellectuals. And from the part of this genius even “intelligent pups” sounded flattering. He felt terribly sorry for the professor, understanding him very well as an inventor. He was aware that at that moment Link was renouncing the apple of his eye.

  Isaac suddenly felt ferociously tired, he couldn’t even move an arm or a leg the right way. As if the burden has been lifted, and his body demanded a rest, a well merited time not to be disturbed for a while. He was tired. Very tired. The constant adrenalin has left his bloodstream.

  Link's spirit was as hard as granite. Having taken hold of himself and fixed the final data, he quite soon gathered his wits and continued the conversation with Bikie, who had apologized. Bikie and Link continued arguing and agreeing about things; Professor commended his conversant several times. Isaac saw Bikie take out his mobile phone and press something on it. He was sending the text message to cancel the publication of information about Link on the Internet.

  As for Isaac, he simply looked at the glitter of the waves, incapable of either listening or thinking. At that moment, he was not even thinking of Vicky or Michelle. There was only peace, peace and the splashing of the transparent blue water.

  He could not see the land or the yachts beyond the horizon. Only occasional silhouettes of fishing boats, and a distant expanse of light-blue. The tabula rasa of the sea, he thought. Genoa was somewhere over there, not far away.

  “I will definitely reach my shore, I’ll reach it and discover my own America, completely new and not fucked-up, and I’m going to build a new life there,” Isaac decided firmly.

  His mobile phone rang. The number did not display, but Isaac answered it reluctantly. Something might be wrong with Vicky.

  “Good afternoon, my name is Pellegrini, I’m a commissioner of police and the head of Orange Energy Department. I need to talk to you about the incident that happened in Monaco.”

  “I think I already told everything," began Isaac, but the Commissioner interrupted him sharply.

  “I inform you that you must appear for the interrogation in your local police station.”

  “I'm not there," said Isaac. “I'm in Spain... at a friend's place,” he lied.

  “When are you coming back?”

  “I don't know yet.”

  “Young man!” pressed forward aggressive Pellegrini. “If you do not come voluntarily, I will declare you wanted, and I promise you will be delivered to me nicely strained by small iron bracelets. I do not advise to mess with me!”

  “I... I'll be back to Monaco in a week, and I will go to the police station,” promised Isaac.

  “Okay. I'll wait.” The Commissioner disconnected. He was pleased with himself. He heard fear in the voice of Isaac and did not doubt, that he will break him instantly. Isaac’s comfort and fatigue vanished as if by magic. Who was this damn Pellegrini and what did he want? It was more than two months since the attack at the Monaco branch of the Agency. Why in the world can’t they all just relax at Cote D’Azur?

  Although did he really need to worry about it when professor Link himself promised to work it all out and put an end to downloading? He had Michelle and Bikie and soon, when he got the patent money, he would be able to pay for the surgery and dear little Vicky will be fine.

  Isaac shivered – what if Link cheated and disappear
ed again? He still had to be on the defensive to make sure everything was all right.

  Link looked quite relaxed, talking to Bikie, who, in his turn, seemed rather nervous, asking his questions in a cocky manner, as if trying to offend the professor. Link didn't seem offended at all, though, spoke calmly, his every word logic, facts brought in just in time. He was behaving in a very friendly manner, clearly happy to welcome his guests. He also was quite lavish with praise, comparing Isaac and Bikie with his students and lab-assistants. When he found out that they were staying in an ugly cheap hotel, he invited them to move to his villa.

  After returning to the port in the evening, professor's assistant took them to fetch their things. While packing, Bikie looked sullen, as if he wasn't anymore happy to find Link. Isaac asked his friend what happened and if he was ok, but Bikie just grumbled he was fine.

  Professor served some gorgeous dinner, made from the fish they had caught during the day. It was totally delicious, especially after their usual daily pizza they felt so much tired of. After eating all he could, Isaac went to sleep in a cool air-conditioned room professor had offered him and immediately passed out on a decent soft bed – finally.

  Chapter 21

  Hardly had the morning smile faded from the commissioner's face, when his mobile rang. The number was that of Monaco – must be from the hospital, Pellegrini thought and picked up.

  "Commissioner Pellegrini? Good afternoon! We didn't have the chance to speak a few days ago, sorry about that. This is the attending doctor of Victoria Frank, you asked me to get in touch with you.”

  “Yes, thank you for calling back. The thing is that her brother, Isaac Leroy, is our suspect,” Pellegrini had already made his decision.

  Probably because of different kinds of medical equipment, the doctor's phone wasn't working very well, issuing background noises, which made him miss the last word, so he continued: