The Devil's Fate

by Massimo Russo

  “Why are you crying? Aren’t you glad Grandma comes to visit me?”

  “Yes, my lad. Of course I’m glad. You’re a sweet boy.”

  “I can’t wait to meet her. In my dreams she’s so beautiful.”

  “Why do you say that? You have a life waiting for you. You mustn’t talk like that!”

  “I’m not afraid of dying. I know what my fate will be.”

  “Stop it! One way or another we’ll save you. I won’t allow anything to happen to you!”

  “You can’t fight what you don’t know or what your mind refuses to accept. Fate isn’t here to harm us, but to offer choices: it’s up to us to take one path or the other.”

  “First fate made my son sick and now you. How can you ask me to accept it?”

  “It’s called faith.”

  “Faith? It sounds as if the books you’ve read have explained plenty, my young fellow. But I think real life is very different from books.”

  “The books only showed me a way. But without faith, without believing, they’re just black marks on white pages.”

  “Your mother wouldn’t like hearing you say that!”

  “Why not? Soon I’m going to talk to her as well. I like talking.”

  “Well, I didn’t doubt that for a minute. But you can’t believe you know everything. You’re still just a child and you’re scaring me.”

  “It’s human nature to be scared of the unknown. But we also have boundless imagination. Haven’t you ever tried to imagine what heaven’s like? Haven’t you ever wondered what happens when we leave our bodies?”

  “Well, I ...”

  “I wonder every day. And I’ve come up with a theory.”

  “Let’s hear it then.”

  “Really? It doesn’t bug you to talk about it?”

  “I’ll admit I’m a bit dazed and confused by all this understanding of yours. But as it happens, I haven’t got much else to think about, so we can stay here all day, if you want.”

  “Cool! I think we come into this world for a purpose and we have to overcome lots of obstacles that we create for ourselves before we get here. We always have two alternatives for every problem; it’s up to us to choose one of the two. The choice is forced on us by fate when its role is disrupted by an evil power, which, if it succeeds, inevitably leads to failure. When this happens, we reach the opposite goal instead, and our soul tumbles into the abyss to wander around in the depths of darkness.”

  Jonathan sat motionless for so long it seemed almost an eternity. He wanted to die of shame before such enlightened ideas. Episodes of his life flashed before him as they tried to relate to such an obvious line of reasoning. He thought he was going crazy, listening to an angel giving instructions on how life should be lived. He was speechless. Will continued once he saw his grandfather was riveted by his arguments.

  “Take Grandma for instance. She chose to give her life for Dad and lose her own, which in any case would have been full of despair for not saving her son. Dad on the other hand, chose to look for answers he’s never found and apparently lost his faith. But now I’ve met him, I know he never lost it deep down. His poems prove that.”

  Jonathan gazed at him with the devotion of a pupil gazing at his master, dazzled by so much knowledge and insight. He would have liked to ask where he had got all those ideas from and who had taught him to reason in such a profound way, but the only thing he could do emphasized his full acquiescence. For the first time in ages, he was looking at love shining in the eyes of a child who had the courage of a lion and the imagination of a genius.

  “I love you, Will. You know that, right?”

  “Love you too, Grandpa. Are you OK?”

  “I’m always OK when I’m with you.”

  “Now will you tell me if you believe in the devil?”

  The child’s smile was instinctive, almost like the sensation Jonathan felt. The strangeness and the child’s determination to get an answer to that awkward question had undermined his confidence.

  “Why do you want to talk about the devil when you’ve just lifted me onto the highest rung on the life analysis ladder?”

  “Because you have to consider everything to get the full picture.”

  “All right then. This is the first thing I think I’ve understood properly since you started talking. I think you have to keep well away from the devil.”

  “I think you have to face him so that you’re not caught unprepared.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “Imagine you’re standing in front of a door and someone you don’t know offers you a load of money. So much that you could buy anything you wanted. But this money comes from a lot of bad deals and caused the death of a lot of people. If you open that door, you’ll meet justice and it’ll ask you to return it all and you’ll live a life of poverty with a clean conscience. But, if you open another door, you’ll have the chance to live without anyone ever finding out that you were given the money. What would you do?”

  “I think I’d choose the door of justice.”

  “You think or you’re sure?”

  “Well... I think I’m sure.”

  “And if I said that besides the money you’d receive all the power in the world? If there’s any doubt at all, even a tiny one, then the devil’s weaving his web. That’s why, if a person’s really ready to face him, he wouldn’t hesitate for one instant before choosing the door of justice.”

  This comprehensive analysis chilled even the room. That child was too good to be true. As if he had received instructions from God.

  “Will. One thing I’m sure of – you could teach a lot of people. Including yours truly.”

  “Really? I’d like to teach if I could.”

  “I think it’s time you gave your little big brain the chance to rest. What say we go home?”

  “I don’t think my fate will let me.”

  “Enough of that talk now.”

  Jonathan tried to stand up but was stopped by the heat of a boiling hot drink carelessly spilled on him by a waitress who was passing their table at that precise moment.

  “Beg your pardon, sir! I’m so sorry!”

  She tried to wipe Jonathan down, but he stopped her.

  “It doesn’t matter, miss. I’ll clean myself up in the restroom. It was an accident.”

  “Forgive me! I really am sorry.”

  “I said it doesn’t matter. These things can happen. Will, stay here. I’ll be right back.”

  He strode off towards the restroom, leaving Will sitting there alone. As he went, he thought over the incredible ideas his grandson had shared. He hoped the future would be better. He knew that the world can sometimes be seen through the innocent eyes of a child who knows the truth. For the first time in all his years, he felt hope for a life that had only ever brought him pain. What he didn’t know was that fate, yet again, was going to deliver an infinitely greater pain than any he had ever suffered before.

  Chapter 34

  The guard thumped repeatedly on the iron door for permission to enter the room. Tommy granted it and gave new instructions to be carried out without question in the shortest time possible.

  “Get rid of those bodies right now.”

  “Yes, sir. Professor Claus is here, sir.”

  “Bring him in.”

  “Yes, sir.”

  Without turning a hair and with the impeccable demeanor of one used to receiving orders and obeying without hesitation, the soldier left and returned immediately with a fellow guard. Behind them was Professor Albert Claus who turned weak at the knees when he saw the bodies.

  “Don’t mind the mess, Professor. There was a problem to solve with all haste and I didn’t have time to use a cleaner method. Sometimes you have to get your hands dirty, isn’t that right?”

  The Professor made no reply, because he was intent on stopping his stomach from heaving up its contents. He had seen many a body since he had started working for Queen, but he had never been able to get used to aspects that went beyond h
is role of humble scientist; the only thing he inevitably and regularly felt was utter disgust for such brutality.

  The soldiers cleaned everything up in no time at all, removing some of the unease in his glance.

  “Come in. I’ve got some very interesting news, though I find it somewhat conflicting and far from clear. Maybe you can enlighten me.”

  He approached and Tommy handed him the sheet of paper.

  “O’Neal?”

  “I know you know who he is, and he’s got nothing to do with the research you’re conducting on prime numbers. But what if I told you that this name was written by a boy who hasn’t the faintest idea who O’Neal is?”

  “I don’t follow.”

  “We showed the problem of the numbers to a fifteen-year-old boy, a mathematical genius. With all due respect, he’s probably a damn sight smarter than you. No offence.”

  “I access all the internet sites and publishers throughout the world that deal with mathematics and science. If he’s as good as you say, why have I never heard of a fifteen-year-old prodigy anywhere?”

  “Because he’s autistic. His family protected him for as long as they could. They were very possessive.”

  “And where does O’Neal come in?”

  “When the boy saw the problem you’ve been trying to solve for years he fell into a coma for a month. When he woke up, he wrote that name.”

  “How can this help us? Maybe he woke up and wrote the first thing he heard on the radio.”

  “It happened again. A few minutes ago.”

  “Where is he now? Can I see him? My colleagues and I could find out how he knows O’Neal.”

  “No can do. His brain “fused” the second time he read the sequence of prime numbers. He’s dead.”

  “I see. But you’ll agree that as a solution it makes no sense. It’s as if you asked me what the weather’s like and I answered blue.”

  “We’re talking about an autistic boy. You know better than I do that the downside of their remarkable powers is their inability to comprehend and communicate like normal people.”

  “I agree, but his mathematical aptitude should have made him write a mathematical solution, not... wait a minute!”

  “What is it?”

  “What’s the boy’s name?”

  “Will. His name was Will.”

  “No! That’s impossible! It can’t be!”

  “What can’t be? What’s going on?”

  “Several years ago, when I was working at the university on a problem that was causing me untold difficulties, I came in contact with a man, a rather strange individual. I’d come to a dead end in my research and he offered me his help to solve the problem. He had me meet him in a restaurant. His eyes had a depth that made me feel he could read my soul. He succeeded in opening my mind so that I could see the problem from a completely different perspective. The following morning, I found the solution without even realizing I was doing it. I have to admit that the man gave me the creeps, but his ability to probe into my head fascinated me greatly. He seemed to have known me all my life. He said that one day a boy called Will would help me in the same way. He didn’t know when it would happen, because other forces would try to prevent it. To this day, I have no idea what he meant. He said that our nature inclines us think rationally about what we know and that it’s difficult for us to think of abstract things. Only a few succeed.”

  “What do you think this means?”

  “That in that limited circle there may be room for an autistic boy, one who’s completely free from the influence of human logic. Their ability to push beyond the bounds of imagination is staggering. No one, not even the most intelligent human being alive, could come close to their way of comprehending things.”

  “I’m sorry, but I’m the one who doesn’t follow now.”

  “I’ll explain more clearly. We’ve always looked for a solution to a problem that not even the greatest scholars in history managed to solve, and we lost sight of the goal a discovery of that magnitude would allow us to achieve.”

  “You’re talking about evolution, right?”

  “Perhaps that kind of achievement might allow us to make astonishing progress in future scientific discoveries, but that’s not what we’re really after. Every single one of us would do one thing, and one thing only, if we had information like that at our fingertips.”

  “What?”

  “I’m talking about absolute power. Total control over the whole of mankind. I’ll summarize for you. Do you believe in God?”

  “God is merely an illusion.”

  “Perfect. Your theory about the existence of God is the same as anyone else’s. But you’re an exception, as is a very small percentage of the world population, because you possess power and it can replace any form of religion. Those in power don’t need to believe; their only ambition is to take complete control. Now think of those who have no power. The only thing they can cling to is hope. If you take this illusion away from a billion people, you kill them. Now, let’s consider Mr O’Neal.”

  “He’s the most powerful man in the world and he can control people’s minds like no one else can.”

  “Why?”

  “Because he’s written a book about emotions.”

  “So thanks to his message, he’s managed to worm his way into the hearts and minds of a lot of people, probably many more than we’ll ever realize. The power is now in his hands and anyone who is attracted by what he says or writes and believes in him will from now on take it as the truth. Or rather the law! Whoever controls that doesn’t need mathematical formulae. He’s got what he wanted.”

  “But O’Neal doesn’t know that and he’s looking for a mathematical formula to make up for something he lacks.”

  “Like most men of power, he’s got a blinkered and subjective vision of the concept, which arises from his nature; he’s probably never looked at what he has from another point of view. If he knew, he’d doubtless stop looking for anything else, including the perfect formula. When it comes down to it, what’s the point of solving the equation? Granted, all the principles based on those numbers would collapse. All the security codes that are embedded with enormous prime numbers and impossible for ordinary mortals to find would be wiped out in banks, internet sites and the whole world of modern technology. Whoever possessed that knowledge would restrict his power to absolute control in accordance with a concept based solely on the material aspect of mankind. History, however, teaches us that man’s lifestyle changes. Who’s to say that the current organization of the world won’t change in the future? So, what we know and control today will be useless tomorrow. Maybe there’ll be a new form of society that won’t bother with numbers and they’ll become obsolete. On the other hand, controlling the minds of people today will bring unlimited advantages in the future. If you think about it, even Hilter tried to take the place of God. He didn’t succeed, whether luckily or unluckily depends on your point of view. Let’s say, for argument’s sake, that he had succeeded, the true God would now be him; his word would be law.”

  “Are you telling me that Will knew perfectly well what he’d written? The solution lies in control?”

  “His mathematical brain elaborated the problem from all angles, like a computer, and came to the only possible conclusion as to a plausible answer, based on his concept of perfection. As soon as he saw the prime numbers, he understood what no one else had, and that is, the true nature of the question. He didn’t look for an equation that could establish control over one branch of life. He found the equation that could control life itself.”

  “It’s funny, you know. His mother often told me her son spoke to God.”

  “I don’t think there’s a better explanation for what happened.”

  “The mystery remains of how he came up with the name of a perfect stranger.”

  “Perhaps he heard it on television. We can’t know what a person in that condition can or cannot comprehend.”

  “Well, your scientific training shoul
d incline you to have serious doubts about his learning capacities. Even if he had heard or read one of O’Neal’s poems, I hardly think he’d have understood the message.”

  “Right. But still, that’s exactly what’s written here. And it’s written very clearly. Ryan A. Mr. O’Neal holds absolute power over mankind.”

  Those words echoed off the walls of Tommy’s mind. He still couldn’t believe such an absurd statement, but its line of reasoning was so logical that he understood the gist. Man’s real challenge had always been co-existence with his fellows, but his instinct compelled him to impose his will on others, whether they liked it or not. The Professor was right. What they were really looking for wasn’t an equation made up of numbers, but a much more powerful solution that would ensure supremacy and personal influence over present and future generations. Gooseflesh spread over his body and he was seized by a surge of excitement such as he hadn’t felt since he bullied his companions into total submission at school. He remembered the man he had met in the restaurant; the Professor’s story was curiously similar to his own. The stranger had opened both their minds. His instinct led him to investigate that odd coincidence more thoroughly.

  “Can you remember the name of the man who helped you by any chance?”

  The answer confirmed his suspicion. Now he was certain it was the same person.

  A man called Luc was helping him along the road to absolute power, something he had always desired. Now there was nothing else for it but to contact the last hurdle he needed to overcome in order to succeed. He would call O’Neal and he would rob him of his place on top of the world.

  “One last question before you go.”

  “What’s that, Mr. Queen?”

  “Have you ever seen Mr. O’Neal?”

  “I think that only the chosen few have had this privilege. His face doesn’t appear anywhere. He’s never been on television and no one has ever managed to interview him. I think he’s a ghost.”

  Tommy felt as if a door were opening onto the home stretch towards his goal. He would steal the position that was his birth-right without making any waves.

  “And what if I told you I was Mr. O’Neal?”