To Julie’s amazement, over the next hour Angel negotiated them through a comprehensive plan that made logical and thoughtful sense. Of course it did. SAM had drawn it up. How mature and forthright Angel had delivered her terms, Julie thought with swelling pride. She’d spoken like an adult, astutely argued her points, submitted to some and stood fast on others. A true leader, Angel was proving to be a great spokesperson for both the veemelds and the A.I. community—something Julie had never been because she’d failed to embrace their group and felt shame instead of pride for being a veemeld most of her life.
***
Julie wandered the leisure room of the apartment Victor had assigned to them to clean up and rest until the debriefing. She’d had a bath and felt refreshed but not relaxed. Daniel looked up at her as he went over his list of travel items he planned to request of Victor, and tilted his head with a curious smile.
“You’re not worried about what they want, are you?”
“No,” she responded half absent-mindedly. She glanced distractedly at the doorway of the room Angel was in. “I trust Victor. They’ll let us go, I’m sure. It’s just a formality, I think.” She knew she was rambling, keeping her mind busy as her mouth moved. “Although I can’t figure out why the Chair of the Circle will be there...”
Daniel knew what she wanted to do; what she needed to do. He gestured to the adjoining room with his chin and gave her a reassuring look.
Julie gave him a weak smile and peered around the doorjamb into the room where Angel was reading a book. She cleared her throat to indicate her presence and when Angel looked up, she said in a shy voice, “Hi.”
“Hi,” Angel replied and was about to return to the book when Julie entered the room and sat down next to her.
Julie offered a small smile, trying for humor to cut the thick tension that hung between them. “So, what’s this I hear about SAM looking like Manfred?”
Angel smiled with some embarrassment. “Yeah, he liked having a body. In fact, he seemed sad that you never gave him one.” Then she eyed Julie with a challenging look of inquiry. “How come you never visualized an avatar for SAM if he was your friend—”
“Best friend,” Julie corrected, responding to the sharp tone of Angel’s question with her own sharpness. After a pause, she exhaled and said in a softer voice, “I didn’t feel a need to visualize SAM. He lived in my heart,” she tapped her chest for emphasis. “He was so much like just another part of me, of my soul. It was like talking to myself.”
“Except SAM’s masculine,” Angel pointed out in that cool challenging voice, “and you’re not a man, so it couldn’t be like talking to yourself.”
“I suppose you’re right,” Julie conceded. “So, perhaps...” she trailed, letting the next words linger in her mind in silence. Like so many things back then, keeping SAM from materializing seemed the safest thing to do. Too late, she’d learned that what she thought was safe spelled disaster for her in the long run. Which brought her to the difficult subject she wanted to broach with Angel. She bent her head slightly and formulated her next words carefully. When she looked up into Angel’s cool eyes, she began in a voice that was hollow with remorse, “Listen, Angel. I’m not going to even try to ask your forgiveness and understanding for what I did twelve years ago. It was...” her voice stumbled, “...my darkest moment.”
“Mom, I know,” Angel said in a surprisingly soothing voice as she reached out to touch Julie’s shoulder. Her eyes had suddenly warmed and Julie thought she finally recognized her little girl inside. “The creep put your uncle in the Pol Station, where he died,” Angel went on. “Then he scoffed at you. He was so mean to you.”
“It doesn’t excuse my violence,” Julie said. “I responded to violence with more violence. It’s not the answer.” In that first act of violence, she’d set in motion a career of violence, right up to her recent killing of that Vee-radicator in the heath, Julie thought mournfully. It was the butterfly effect—the strange notion that a butterfly flapping its wings in Peking could set off a tornado in Texas. Her father’s creative-destruction theories of stable chaos seemed to haunt her at every turn.
Then she didn’t know how they got that way but she was crying in her daughter’s arms. They were both crying, Angel stroking her hair to comfort her. She was suddenly struck by an incongruent thought: how tall Angel had become!
***
“Come in, come in,” Victor said nervously as he drew the door open further for Julie, Angel and Daniel to enter his office-suite in the Admin-Center. He motioned for them to take a seat on one of his couches. Daniel’s still-cautious gaze swept the room, noting that several people were already there, most of whom he recognized. Carl looked serious, almost distracted, and barely met his eyes. Manfred smiled at Daniel but saved his brightest smile for Angel. Aileen Rourke, looking impeccable in her official Circle robes, nodded in greeting. Tyers leaned against the wall, looking enigmatic, as usual.
Victor pointed with his open hand to the two strangers standing next to Tyers, a bearded young man with large eyes and an attractive woman with a calm face, a female counterpart to Tyers. Neither smiled. The man let his gaze meet Daniel’s briefly before looking away. The woman grazed him with a fleeting but penetrating look before resting sharp eyes on Julie.
“This is Dr. Joshua Cole, Head Researcher, and Dr. Kristin Olafsen, Supervisor, of the Department of Progenesis,” Victor said.
Daniel felt Julie stiffen next to him, but she didn’t let her emotions reach her face. He knew that long ago she’d dreaded the DP, fearing that she would end up there as one of their subjects. It was a justified fear, Daniel thought, and wasn’t surprised to see that she still felt that way. Was she rethinking her assumptions about the purpose of this meeting? He knew he was starting to.
“Hello,” Daniel and Julie responded in near unison to the two strangers who nodded gravely.
“You know everyone else here,” Victor continued, hands sweeping the room. “The Head Pol couldn’t make it, but Tyers is here in his place. I trust you’re comfortable and refreshed and ready to go home?” he asked politely.
“Yes, thanks,” Daniel answered for the family as the three of them settled into the couch, Angel snug in the middle. Julie wrapped her arm around Angel like she never intended to let go of her daughter. Perhaps she didn’t, Daniel pondered. Since they’d reunited, Julie hadn’t let Angel out of her sight, except to go to the bathroom. He also thought that the two DP people might have rattled her a little. Was she afraid they might try to take Angel? He reached behind Angel to give Julie a reassuring touch with his hand and their eyes met briefly. Her expression was hard to read.
Victor cleared his throat. “We—Icaria-5,” then with a glance at Aileen, “all of Icaria, owe the three of you so much. Daniel, thanks to your information on the Vee-radicators and on Dykstra particularly. Tyer’s men have already reported considerable success in shutting down their major operations and a quite a few of their hidey-holes.” Victor nodded to Tyers who gave them a brief, curt smile. Victor went on, “With Dykstra incarcerated, Washington recovering in the Pol Station infirmary and the rest of their disparate group scattered and on the run, I don’t think they’ll bother you again.”
Julie firmed her lips into an appreciative smile. Although her face showed none of it, Daniel knew she still harbored some suspicion, particularly with the two DP researchers here.
“Angel, you and Manfred revealed Gaia’s conspiracy and helped us put her away. I also owe you a special thanks, Angel, for clearing my name.”
“My pleasure,” she said cheerfully, “but Manfred was the mastermind in that.”
Victor nodded. “We owe a lot to you, too, Manfred. However,” he gave Angel a large smile. “I must commend Angel on her skill in mending our relationship with the A.I.-core. If you ever want a job in politics, give me a call.” Then he looked at Julie again. Daniel noticed those intensely pale blue ey
es deepen with tenderness. “I know you came to acquire concessions for your family, but you ended up helping Icaria instead. I want to give you my assurance, and the Circle’s too,” he glanced at Aileen and let his gaze flicker between Julie and Daniel, “that you’re free to return to the heath. Your family will be left in peace, except for any assistance we can offer, of which I urge you to avail yourselves.”
Daniel caught a nervous exchange of looks between Carl and Aileen. With a terse look at the two DP people, Carl was about to interject but Aileen frowned slightly and shook her head at him. What did they know that they hadn’t shared with Victor and weren’t sharing now with Julie and Daniel? He noticed that Julie hadn’t missed this exchange either and their eyes met briefly. She raised a brow slightly.
Victor continued. He favoured Julie with a deeply thankful expression. “Twelve years ago you gave me back my city with your information on Darwin and Dystopians. This time you gave me back my life.” His voice had grown thick with emotion. In answer to Julie’s puzzled expression, he added, “...with your friendship and your trust.”
Julie said nothing but gave him a crooked smile. A silent message seemed to pass between them, and Daniel sensed that this pertained to some incident they’d shared during their sleuthing to re-instate the core.
Victor let himself be distracted by the holo screen behind him, which had just come to life. “Ah, this is the part that I want you to see,” he said, looking very intense as he pointed to the large screen. A NewsVee program had just started.
“Twelve years ago Icaria’s police force was chasing this young woman for murder and sedition,” a strong male voice began to accompany the image of a younger Julie dressed in her bright red Com-Center outfit. The newscast then proceeded to correct the erroneous accusations against Julie, one at a time, bringing in Gaia’s conspiratorial involvement, the tampering with vee-clips, and her and John Dykstra’s part in the murder of the previous Head Pol. The newscast continued to follow Gaia’s heinous actions backwards in time to her part in spreading Darwin and her cover up, which involved the murders of Vogel and Tsutsumi and framing Julie’s father, Leonard Crane. The newscast eventually returned to the present.
“Besides these criminal actions, Gaia was also found responsible for the slandering of Mayor Victor Burke, who had been accused of fraudulent practices and arrested by the Pol Station. With Gaia now in custody and Burke cleared, the Circle has reinstated him as mayor of Icaria-5.”
Victor switched the holo off and turned to the others. “What they won’t be telling the public is that John Dykstra’s son, Brian Dykstra, is being held in the Pol Station for collusion and murder and all the atrocious actions he is responsible for as the leader of the Vee-radicators.”
“What about Frank Langor?” Julie asked. Daniel stole a glance at her, but her face betrayed nothing.
“Langor remains Head Pol for now, pending possible suspension from his duties.” He didn’t look straight at Julie.
Daniel felt his face flush with rising anger.
“He’s on probation,” Victor continued. “His tenure will be decided during a thorough official investigation, involving his peers, the Justi-Center and the Circle. I think the panel will exonerate him due to his ignorance of the situation and his subsequent actions to redeem the situation. He was primarily following orders without knowledge of their seditious nature.”
Daniel’s anger spiked. What about what he’d done to Julie, though? When she’d somewhat reluctantly confided to him about how Frank had violated her, Daniel had erupted into rage probably why she’d hesitated in telling him and wanted to smash Langor’s face in. But—Julie had insisted he do nothing, not even speak of it again.
“But,” he started to protest and instantly felt Julie’s stern look on him, warning him to silence. He sighed and shook his head. “Never mind.”
“There are, in fact, extenuating circumstances to consider in Gaia’s case as well,” Carl said. Everyone turned to look at the normally quiet-spoken man, who’d purposefully drawn attention to himself with that contentious statement.
“What do you mean?” Victor frowned with obvious annoyance.
Carl drew himself up straighter, giving the DP people and Aileen a nervous glance and carefully avoiding Daniel’s and Julie’s eyes before choosing to address Victor. “I’m talking about her initiation and support of the research Zane’s lab and mine have been conducting. She’s solely responsible for our continued research into Darwin and Proteus. Certainly you recall, Victor, that once Darwin corrected itself and was perceived to no longer be a threat, the CDC was redirected toward research into Icaria’s emerging problem: the growth of infertility in Icaria. All Darwin research was scrapped.”
Victor nodded, looking impatient. “Yes, of course I remember. I was the one who issued the instructions. Once Julie’s old A.I., SAM, informed us of the gravity of this emerging problem through his new symbiont, Zane, I redirected CDC research toward that problem. The DP was already engaged in active research as far back as the seventies.” He glanced with a nod at the two DP people.
Kristin gave him a curt unsmiling nod.
“Right,” Carl agreed. “When Gaia took on the mayor’s position, one of the first things she did was hire Zane and me to research the current situation of Darwin, particularly in children who had the disease.”
“What’s that got to do with extenuating circumstances?” Julie asked. Daniel thought he detected an almost imperceptible tone of irritation in her voice.
Carl turned to Julie and crossed his arms over his chest. “Everything, I’m afraid. But first we must go back in time.” He turned to Victor. “I’m sure you remember Gaia’s brilliant but controversial talk about co-evolution during a Circle meeting twelve years ago?”
“Yes, of course I do,” Victor said sharply, furious thoughts pinching his face tight, as though it had happened only yesterday. “She made it all up, about Darwin having co-evolved over the centuries with veemelds, when she knew all along that it had been manufactured by Vogel.”
“Then she invoked your father’s theory of creative-destruction,” Carl continued, glancing at Julie, “to explain the inevitable fall of Icaria, with veemelds rising up like phoenixes out of the ashes.”
“But that wasn’t true either,” Victor added with a scowl. “It was something Tsutsumi dreamed up and was just a ploy to get Circle members to convince their respective mayors to put veemelds into power—immune to Darwin’s destruction and ideally suited to a virtual world.”
Carl said, “Yes, but didn’t you wonder why Gaia’s interest in veemelds never waned, even after she lost her vehicle of power through them, such as Darwin correcting itself?”
Victor tilted his head at Carl and looked quizzically at him. Daniel glanced at Julie and found her looking at him with an equally puzzled look.
“Well,” Victor proceeded slowly, “she was always interested in one particular veemeld.” He met Julie’s eyes briefly with an apologetic smile then turned back to Carl. “I think her plan from the start was linked to controlling Proteus. She knew what Proteus was supposed to do. Once she saw the potential of controlling all Icarians by controlling Darwin through Julie or Angel, she went crazy with ideas. She brought Julie back certainly to shut down the core, but mostly she did it to provide a conduit to Proteus.”
Carl nodded, looking somewhat agitated. “Yes, of course that was her intention. That’s why she set us up to do all this research. But while you were incarcerated in the Pol Station, Zane and I made some independent discoveries—discoveries that link our research on veemelds and Darwin to what the DP’s been finding on infertility. I haven’t usually agreed with a lot of the crazy ideas Zane’s maverick lab comes up with but this time they’re on to something. Gaia’s lecture twelve years ago about co-evolution may yet apply—” He cut himself off and cocked his ear to hear a message on his ear-com. With a slight frown, Carl addres
sed everyone in the room. “I must excuse myself. An emergency calls—a patient.” Daniel figured he meant Zane. “I’m so sorry to disrupt the debriefing, Mayor Burke, Ms. Rourke. We’ll have to continue this discussion later.” Aileen gave him a tight-lipped nod, like she understood and expected the circumstances surrounding the call.
“That’s all right, Carl,” Victor said. “I’ll just ask everyone to return to their assigned quarters and we’ll reconvene the meeting when we’re all available again.”
As Carl briskly left the room, leaving in his wake looks of confusion from everyone, Manfred shrugged at Angel’s querying gaze.
Julie rose abruptly and Daniel gave her a puzzled look.
“Where are you going?”
“He just reminded me of someone I need to thank for saving my life,” Julie said, throwing a furtive glance at the DP researchers.
“I’ll come with you,” Daniel said, taking Julie’s hand. He understood who she meant; Zane. “I want to talk to Carl. That might be his patient.”
They slipped from the room as the remaining people talked amongst themselves.
47
There was no sign of Carl in his outer office. With a nod to her, Daniel let go of her hand and lingered, letting Julie continue into Zane’s room. He understood her wish for some privacy and she smiled thankfully and was about to open the door to his room when Aileen glided into the outer office from the hall and greeted them.
Daniel and Julie responded with a greeting, then Julie stepped aside from Zane’s door, thinking Aileen wished to enter.
“Actually, it’s you I came to see,” Aileen explained.
“Me?” Julie glanced at Daniel who, standing behind Aileen, shrugged.
“Victor suggested that you might be heading this way to see Mr. Nakita, so I thought I’d catch you before you did.”
“And so you have,” Julie said in a respectful if not relaxed voice. Daniel knew she was thinking of the two DP people and harboring suspicions of Aileen’s motives. “What can I do for you?”
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