Max stopped talking and covered his face with his hands again.
* * *
The desk lamp softly lit the small lab. Clothes were scattered on the floor. A blonde girl with lively blue eyes was sitting on the desk and dangling her legs. She was wearing nothing but a light woolen blanket, which Max had just put on her. She was gnawing at an apple and still managing to talk a mile a minute. Max was standing there listening to the trills of her voice, which interspersed with a really contagious laughter. Max always smiled when Sophie laughed. He loved her laughter, her eyes and hair. He reached for it and tried to neaten up her messy curls.
“Your wild hair,” he whispered in her ear.
“Of course!” she said with another trill of laughter. “You were like a caveman.”
“I wanted to see if this desk could take it.” He pushed against it.
“Well? How did it hold?” She squinted and smiled to show her even pearls of teeth.
“I wouldn’t mind testing it again,” he whispered in her ear.
He moved his hands onto her hips. The blanket, which was about to fall down anyway, did so, revealing her slim shoulders and the rest of her body. Her lips lured Max and he reached for them.
“Okay, stop.” She put out her hand to block him. “We planned to do something, did you forget?”
“No,” said Max with disappointment.
Of course, he hadn’t forgotten. Today they planned to run the first test of the portable Switch. They had successfully created a smaller version, which could be worn on the wrist. The first Switch was right on the table behind Sophie. The clumsy stationary unit could not be taken outside. To dematerialize, one had to enter a set of characters on the control panel, including duration, which could be between one and five minutes. The object was automatically rematerialized after the set period.
But the new Switch… It was gorgeous! Not only did it have a timer, there was something else. They had successfully created the touch-screen version of the control panel, which was very convenient.
Sophie jumped off the desk and grabbed the bracelet. Max tried to concentrate, but watching her graceful, dancing movements, it wasn’t easy. Her slim, attractive body always drove him mad.
“Wait!” he said. “Let me do it.” Max reached for the bracelet.
“Why?” Sophie dodged him and hid the device behind her back.
“Because it’s too big a risk.”
“Yeah, right…”
Max reached for the bracelet again but she kept stepping back and dodging him like a little girl who doesn’t want to give away her favorite toy.
“Sophie, listen to me…”
“Oh, come on! It’s all the same, but this time it’s tiny and comfy.” She made another step back, put the Switch on, and squinted playfully. “Besides, I’m totally ready.”
And this was true. She was standing before him, totally naked. The Switch, even if portable, didn’t belong on her fragile wrist, which she had already raised to activate the gadget. “We don’t even need to handle my clothes,” she added.
“Wait!” Max tried to stop her, but couldn’t.
His heart started to skip beats.
“Come on, don’t worry. It’s gonna be okay. We’re the greatest inventors and we’ve always succeeded!” Her eyes sparkled again as she activated the Switch and disappeared.
Max stood there for a while and stared absentmindedly at the spot where Sophie had just been. Then he snapped out of it, walked to one of the shelves, took the glasses, and put them on.
The familiar bluish shape across the room calmed him down a bit. Sophie looked at herself. “We made it!” Max could lip read. She was as happy as a child who’d accomplished something. And they’d been waiting for this for years. Max was happy too.
Sophie danced a bit and started to close in on him. When there were just a few inches between them, he backed off, but Sophie’s bluish figure came right up against him and they merged.
“Now, it’s time,” said Max, and raised his hands, as if trying to catch her.
Sophie dodged him again and stopped a couple feet away. Then she started to whirl like Tinkerbell.
3…2…1…
She was supposed to materialize, as had happened many times before, with the old Switch, when the timer reached zero. But she didn’t.
Max’s heart skipped beats again. “It didn’t work. Let’s wait four minutes more for the safety mode to activate.”
But four minutes passed, and still nothing happened.
The additional safety mode with a seven-minute timer didn’t work either.
Sophie raised her head, and Max saw something that scared him. She slowly turned her head left, then right.
“No! No!” he whispered.
They were struck with the same thought simultaneously. Sophie pointed at the computer and Max, as if he’d read her mind, was already rushing toward it.
The operating system seemed to be booting for an eternity… After it finished, Max started to hammer the keys frantically, opening programs and staring at an unending stream of code, formulas, and symbols on the screen.
What was wrong? Why didn’t it work? Where was the error? He looked here and there, catching calculations, charts, switching from one thing to another, his fingers hammering the keyboard.
At some point, Max froze, scrutinizing the calculations, and he saw Sophie’s hand, which had become totally transparent. The bluish outline of her hand pointed at the exact formula on the screen, where he was looking.
He seemed to have read her mind again. That was it: the procedure responsible for rematerialization…
Max felt dizzy. He quickly stood up and turned to Sophie. He knew what he would see.
Her flimsy silhouette…her face had already gotten too blurry to be recognizable. He could only see the outline of the head. Her hand reaching for Max’s face instead of the screen. It was almost too thin to be seen…
“Sophie! No! Sophie!”
He reached for what was left of her intangible body, trying to hold on to the barely visible, ghostly shape, which now looked like a pencil sketch being indifferently and inevitably erased with a rubber.
They’d found the error but had no time to correct it.
Max wanted to hug Sophie, to hold her tight. But her remaining outline was evaporating in front of him, turning into a wisp of smoke. Before long, even the wisp was gone.
* * *
“Why didn’t you use the beam?” Athena asked Max as he finished his story.
“The beam was invented later. After Sophie was gone, all I worked on was getting her back. I developed the beam, with which we rematerialized Osiris. But there was no way to save her.”
“But why?” quizzed Athena.
“Our calculation error… it resulted in the Switch being set up to self-destruct.” Max glanced at Osiris. “That’s why. I fixed everything and the next generation of the Switch, the one we use now, works well. But I kept the self-destruct mode. It can be activated on any bracelet. One just needs to know the combination.”
“So, can she return?” Athena asked again.
Osiris broke the long silence. “I doubt it.”
Max looked at Osiris with eyes full of pain.
“I can only imagine how long you studied this and how many times you’ve attempted to return Sophie,” said Osiris, “even though you’ve long since realized that it was all in vain.”
Max nodded.
“Your suggestion to use the Switch to get rid of Stinger is really a good idea, but we can’t use it,” said Osiris.
“Why?”
“Because there are others who will not leave both of you alone. Do you see what I mean?”
Max did. So did Athena. Linda and Stinger’s minions most likely would keep hunting Max. Knowing about his invention, they would sooner or later find him and obtain what their boss longed for. Information. And sure enough, they would get hold of the other Switches, which Stinger didn’t know about yet.
They
needed a different plan.
“There’s a single solution,” said Osiris. “But it is rather… how do you say it… inhumane.”
“Murder?” Athena asked.
“Not quite. There’s something that we need on Veles. Max, I need a sheet of paper and a pen.”
A few minutes later, Osiris was pointing at one of the squares that he’d just drawn. “So here is my module. There are some shelves on the wall. They can be opened with combination locks. The tools we need are in there. You need to open the box. Here’s the combination.” He drew several pictograms.
“In the box you’ll find the Eraser. It’s kind of a dematerializing weapon. It resembles a regular pen like this one, even in size. But it’s a little thicker. It is made of metal that is like your aluminum but a bit heavier. It can’t be found here on Earth.”
“A weapon?” Athena asked, fiddling with her hair.
“Yes, our weapon. It affects material objects, causing them to disappear. You’ll remember.” Osiris kept sketching. “You’ll need to get the antidote from Stinger, inject it, and then dematerialize the bad guys.”
“All of them?” Max recoiled.
“You have a choice: either you do this, or millions will die in a short time.”
“There must be another way,” said Athena.
“Probably there is, but we don’t have time to look for it,” answered Osiris. “Max, as a scientist, you must have wished mankind well. But remember: angels have two faces. You must learn to attack as well as defend. You must be able to give life, but you also must be able to bring death when it is warranted. Now it is warranted.”
Max didn’t say anything. It was beyond him to digest all this.
Osiris handed Max the space plan and he put it in his pocket.
Then he walked to Athena and kissed her. “Love you,” he whispered. “See you soon.”
A moment later, only Osiris and Athena remained in the room. Her eyes were full of curiosity.
“Tell me about… me,” she said, cozying up in the armchair.
Yes, Osiris did have a lot to tell the girl.
“Say, are you capable of something distinctive?” he asked.
Athena didn’t answer, but it was obvious that she was thinking about whether she should.
“I have a secret,” she said slowly. “And nobody knows about it.”
“Tell me.”
“This always helps me win tennis tournaments.”
“Intriguing.”
“I can see the trajectory of the ball before the opposite player hits it. In other words, I can somehow see the future a bit. Especially when I close one eye.” Athena said the last sentence as if she had just given up a sin that had long been a burden.
“I thought so. Each one of us had some specific ability, and we complemented each other well. That’s why we ended up on the same team.”
“Like the Fantastic Four?” Athena smiled.
“Kind of. Fantastic Six rather. Look, you were the best navigator I’d ever known. Not a single error in calculation, never a single inch off course… You were the best.” Osiris looked at her with respect.
“I remember nothing.” She looked down.
“Never mind. You will. You were the best one on the team. You were my right-hand man. And this isn’t our first mission. We’ve traveled the length and breadth of our galaxy. We’ve been everywhere! You have a unique ability to see the future. You used it when setting the course. You saved all of us several times. And you still have this ability.”
He paused. Athena needed a little time to digest all this. It was mind-boggling! Unique ability? She couldn’t believe it. As she listened, she tried to imagine it. And she tried to remember Osiris. She scrutinized his face, tried to find some clues in his eyes. She felt some magnetism she couldn’t explain. Magnetism that he emanated… She had another déjà vu feeling.
“Sweetheart!” said Osiris, and the word made Athena shudder. “We’re in a bind here, but it doesn’t mean that we can’t work it out. We will make it. We will get home…”
“I want to remember.” Athena stared into space. Her mind and body felt numb, as if hypnotized.
“You will. We just need to get to Veles.”
“But how? How can we get there?”
“We have just one chance: find the others…”
“Find the others?” Athena’s eyes grew round and the numbness was suddenly gone. “You mean…?”
“The rest of our team. Without them, we won’t be able to complete the mission and leave this planet.”
“But why would we leave this planet?”
“We must go home! Sweetheart, they’re waiting for us…” His voice softened and his eyes radiated tenderness and love. He reached out and carefully touched Athena’s fingers. The touch made her shiver. She looked into his eyes. And at this second, the déjà vu feeling turned into recognition. No, she hadn’t remembered Osiris and the details of her own past life that he was telling her about. But she recognized him! And now she knew that he was the one she knew long ago and the one she’d been looking for all this time…
CHAPTER 17
The Temptation
For Eddie, time had stopped. His life had been calm and steady until these people had popped out of the blue and kidnapped him. Now his reality looked like a nightmare that he wouldn’t be able to forget, if he ever managed to get out of it.
He tried to push these thoughts away as he sat in the armchair in the guest room at Stinger’s place. His hands were automatically fiddling with the glossy magazine pages as he looked at them without purpose.
Suddenly, the door flew open and Linda entered. Eddie fidgeted and tried to find a place for the magazine, which he’d taken from the nearby table. But Linda had already seen the nude pictures on the pages. Eddie’s face flushed.
“Again?” she asked.
Eddie didn’t answer. He tried to be as small as possible and looked at his knees.
“Pleasuring your jagged ego?” she continued.
Silence.
Linda walked around the armchair and lightly touched his neck. Eddie jumped. She pulled one of the chairs and put it about five feet opposite him and gracefully sat down. Her light black dress was barely covering her hips.
Eddie swallowed. He had a hard time trying to look away from this thrilling view. With such beauty so close that he could hear her breathing and almost taste her subtle perfume…
“You must feel so lonely,” Linda said with a put-on sympathy.
Eddie took off his glasses with trembling hands and started to rub them with the lower part of his greasy t-shirt.
“Let’s talk about this.” Linda continued to demonstrate amiability.
“About what?” Eddie got anxious.
“About what I can do for you…” She put her foot on top of the chair. Her left hand graciously lay on her knee, and with the other hand, Linda slowly adjusted the dress to cover her underwear.
Eddie skipped a breath. Under the dress, on her left hip, Linda wore a tiny sheath. This accessory, normally hidden, was now exposed.
Eddie felt a lump in his throat, and his palms got wet. “What do you mean?” he asked.
Linda took a more comfortable position. The dress slipped up even more, totally exposing her hips. Eddie tried to look away from her curves, but his eyes kept coming back frantically.
“Sometimes I also feel lonely,” she whispered, leaning in to Eddie.
Each motion and each word were clearly a pretense. But Eddie didn’t notice that.
“I understand…” he babbled.
Linda set her hair right and then her hand slowly moved down her neck, lower, stopping on her chest. “In such moments I feel like confessing, unburdening my heart to someone…”
Eddie panted, unable to speak a word.
Linda crossed her legs, causing her dress to slip up even more and fully revealing the miniature sheath with the dagger in it.
Eddie jumped up. “What do you want from me?”
Linda sneered and sat back. “Sometimes, I really want to get rid of all my sins,” she said, fixedly gazing at him.
“This I really can’t help you with. You should go to church,” Eddie said irritated, moving away.
“When I was a child, I wanted to become a saint…” Linda said with a faraway look.
Eddie was pacing back and forth, to the window, to the door, casting nervous glances at Linda. She was still sitting in the chair and caressing the sheath. Her eyes glowed fiendishly. “You better sit down, buddy,” she ordered.
Eddie walked to the armchair and sat down, rubbing his wet palms.
“I wanted to be a saint, but life made me a sinner. And you know what the worst part is?”
He looked at her, haunted, and didn’t answer.
“I remember all my sins!” She slowly got up and walked toward the window. She moved the curtain, leaned on the windowsill, and looked at the yard. “Do you remember yours?”
Eddie attempted to look away from Linda’s buttocks, which were barely covered. “I have no sins!” he said, with some challenge in his voice.
Linda suddenly turned around. “Oh really?!” she sneered. Her left hand moved closer to the sheath. She pulled her dress up just enough to touch the dagger handle.
Eddie froze.
Linda examined him with disdain. At some point, she seemed to have lost all interest in him and started to turn around, but within a second, she changed her mind, produced the dagger, and threw it in Eddie’s direction.
Eddie didn’t even get what had happened as the small dagger plunged into the seat right between his legs, one inch away from his crotch. He squealed, looking at the dagger and then at Linda.
Her face was beyond recognition as she diabolically sneered. “I believe the biggest sin is being blind about one’s own sins. When you hide them.” She paused. “Even from yourself.”
Matter-of-factly, she walked to the window and drew the curtain with determination. Then she walked to the armchair where Eddie was sitting still struck, bent to show him a seductive look, and took the dagger out of the upholstery. Then she grabbed a magazine and threw it on Eddie’s lap.
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