Dome Nine

by John Purcell

  * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

  Our second trip to Farragut West bore a strange resemblance to our first. Again we followed Mr. Wu in silence through the empty streets. This time, though, he hobbled so slowly that I concluded that he was doing it to annoy Dogan. For his part, Dogan kept passing Mr. Wu and then turning around and waiting for him, which made the pace seem even slower.

  When we arrived at Farragut West, Mr. Wu again led the way down the escalator and along the platform, to the bricked up archway. And when he opened the secret doorway, we again heard a voice from the shadows.

  “Wet floor, watch your step!”

  The JaniTron was well off in the distance, at the far end of the platform.

  Mr. Wu pursed his lips in annoyance. “Inside, quickly, before it spots us.”

  He edged through the opening first, and I let the Three go after him. This gave me a moment to study the latch plate. It was attached to the brick face with four screws. As I slipped through the opening myself, I got my fingers under it and gave it a yank that left it dangling.

  Mr. Wu let us all go past him, then swung the door closed. When it wouldn’t click into place, he swung it open again and crouched down, examining the latch plate. He muttered, “Oh, for goodness sakes,” and tried to push the screws back into place with his fingers. Realizing this was hopeless, he did the only thing he could do: he left the door closed but unlocked.

  He paused to lean his cane up against the wall. When he stepped away from it, Gutenberg’s face vanished. He began fishing in his pockets.

  We heard the JaniTron’s voice again, much nearer this time. “Wet floor, watch your step!”

  Mr. Wu found his spectacles and put them on. “Let’s keep moving.”

  He set a brisk pace down the passageway, making Dogan scramble to catch up. When we emerged into Farragut North, he headed for the second subway car, saying, “We have to access the DataStream from my living quarters.”

  Arriving at the forward doors, he turned and gave us a sheepish smile. “I’m embarrassed to admit it, but the place is a bit of a mess. Please give me a minute to tidy up.”

  He turned his back to us and pried the doors apart. Looking past him, I was surprised to see a stainless steel table, of the type found in operating rooms. Mr. Wu stepped over to it and picked something up.

  I heard Moto snarl and turned to see her charging at him.

  He whirled as she sprang, a pistol in his fist, and shot her through the chest.

  The force of the bullet shattered her body and sent the fragments flying backwards onto the platform. Only her head continued forward, clattering across the floor of the subway car toward Mr. Wu. He stopped it with his foot.

  By then, I was charging him myself, prepared to dodge his next shot. He raised his other hand and my arms and legs went slack. I sprawled onto the ground, halfway into the subway car.

  Mr. Wu was holding my remote.

  I couldn’t feel anything from the neck down. My head, however, was unaffected. No doubt he wanted to have a chat.

  The Three were frozen in place on the platform. Mr. Wu took careful aim and fired a bullet into the wall behind them, blasting a hole through it. Then he aimed the pistol at Dogan’s stomach. “You’ve seen what these bullets do to steel and concrete. Just imagine what they’ll do to you.”

  He looked to his right, gesturing with his head. Mrs. Po, his burly secretary, appeared next to him in the doorway. He handed her the pistol and she waved it at the Three, saying, “All right you brats, get in here! Move it!”

  Numb with shock, they stepped around me and filed obediently past her. She waved the gun again, toward the rear of the car. “Get back there! Sit down and shut up!”

  She followed after them and stood guard as they took their seats.

  Mr. Wu slipped my remote into his pocket and stepped over to me. Crouching down, he scooped me up in his arms and carried me to the metal table, gently lowering me onto it.

  He said, “I’m sorry it had to end this way, Teo. I’m really quite fond of you.”

  I said, “I thought I was supposed to save the world.”

  He took a step back. “An attempt to appeal to your vanity. I should have known you hadn’t any.”

  “You think the real Cassius is operating from the second complex.”

  “I’m certain of it. Taking him down will be my crowning achievement.”

  “Let my friends go and I’ll lead you to him.”

  He folded his arms. “So you do know where he is.”

  “Not where he is. How to get there.”

  “Ah ha! I knew there was a railway! Does it connect to the White House?”

  “Not another word until I’m sure my friends are safe.”

  He smiled sadly. “It’s tempting, Teo, but I can’t.”

  “Why not?”

  “Let me count the ways. First of all, Bim knows much too much. He’s been in on it from the beginning.”

  “What are you talking about?”

  “Don’t be too hard on him. All this time, he believed he was fighting the good fight. You see, I rigged Cassius to appear in his room at Blessed Savior.”

  I looked past my feet at Bim. He met my gaze and held it, unashamed.

  I turned back to Mr. Wu. “You assigned him to get me Outside.”

  “Did you really think he could go traipsing about the storm drains without my knowledge? I brought Bim to Blessed Savior for that express purpose.”

  “Why?”

  “He’s a clever lad with a penchant for androids. Given enough information, and a chance to scavenge the parts, I thought he had a shot at building a TEO.”

  “That’s what this is all about, isn’t it? The first person to replicate it will have the world at their feet.”

  “Well said.”

  “You had us kill Queen Scarlett because she was getting too close.”

  “Not really. If she’d built one, she would have had to share it with me. That’s why I had nothing to lose by sending you to Baltimore. If she ended up with your skull, I’d get your TEO’s that way. If you killed her, I’d get them on my own. But I greatly prefer her dead. A most tiresome person to deal with, as you can well imagine.”

  “You just want to live forever.”

  Mr. Wu looked hurt. “Do you really think so little of me? This isn’t about my own personal survival.”

  “No?”

  “Do you remember what I said to you, when we first arrived at my quarters?”

  “You said, ‘I care deeply about my country, Teo.’ Then you lied about your sculpture.”

  “I’ve lied about a great many things. But I meant what I said about my country. China’s been playing errand boy to the Kims for over a century. Do you know how that galls me? I would do anything to restore her to her rightful place.”

  “You think replicating the TEO will do that?”

  “Our Beloved Leader may be unacquainted with reality, but the rest of the leadership is in a full-blown panic. They know they don’t have long. Once I prove I can give them new bodies, they’ll come crawling to me, and my terms will be very simple.”

  “The Kims have been protecting me for a long time, haven’t they? First through your father and now through you.”

  Mr. Wu displayed a caustic side I hadn’t seen before. “They’re insane in the most aggravating ways! They blithely let a billion people starve, but your father does them one favor and they pass the word down: ‘You can’t touch Teo! Nobody touches Teo!’ The planet’s about to burst into flames and the solution is right under their noses and they won’t let me open you up!”

  He took a deep breath, regaining his composure. “I don’t know why I’m complaining. Were it otherwise, their fate wouldn’t be in my hands.”

  “But you’re still supposed to be protecting me.”

  “Technically, yes
. But it’s one thing when you’re half-asleep in Dome Nine, droning away at school and work. It’s quite another when you’re attacking peacekeepers and escaping Outside. They don’t know where you are. As far as they know, I don’t know where you are. If you’re never heard from again, they certainly won’t blame me.”

  A voice came from outside, on the platform. “Wet floor, watch your step!”

  The JaniTron entered the subway car, catching Mr. Wu by surprise. It latched onto his arm and began dragging him. “You must pledge fealty to Queen Scarlett.”

  Mr. Wu let out an exasperated sigh. “Is there no end to these wretched things?”

  Squatting down, he groped the LobeBot’s right ankle. The JaniTron dropped to the floor.

  He got to his feet, rubbing his forearm, and stepped back to the table. “Now, where were we?”

  “You were explaining why you won’t let my friends go.”

  “Ah, yes. I’ve already explained about Bim. And I can’t let Dogan go, either. He’s just too disrespectful for his own good.”

  “What about Luma?”

  “She’s a sweet kid but I need her, too.”

  “What for?”

  “To make you tell me where Cassius is.”

  “You mean you’re going to torture her.”

  He shrugged. “I’m not talking about anything elaborate. I happen to have a pair of scissors in my pocket. We’ll start with an earlobe and go from there.”

  “I don’t believe you’d really do that.”

  “Teo, do you understand how much work went into this plan? I had to reverse-engineer all the equipment needed to take over Cassius. It has literally taken me years. If I have to spend a few minutes snipping off bits of flesh, so be it.”

  “How long have you been controlling Cassius?”

  “I broke the code weeks ago, but I decided to hold off until you were on your way here. My Cassius imitation leaves something to be desired. Geff’s suspicious already. By the way, you changed the anagram, didn’t you? The best I could come up with was Ground cheese and beep.”

  “I took out the W, so you wouldn’t identify your own name.”

  “What was it really?”

  “Anger cubed knows hope.”

  “And the message was…?”

  “It said Wu Peng has broken code.”

  He nodded. “So you knew I wasn’t Cassius from the moment you saw me.” He chuckled to himself. “He’s a foxy one, that Gutenberg.”

  I said, “Mr. Wu?”

  He raised his eyebrows. “Yes?”

  “Please listen carefully to what I have to say.”

  He nodded.

  “I would do anything to save Luma, anything at all. You know that. I give you my word that I will lead you to Cassius. I give you my word that I will teach you how to build TEO’s. All you have to do is let my friends go.”

  He shook his head, smiling apologetically. “Teo, Teo, Teo, if only I believed you meant that. But you’re much too dangerous to be trusted. I’d never sleep a wink! No, it’s much simpler to open your skull and eliminate you from the equation.”

  “You’re looking forward to killing them, aren’t you?”

  “That’s very unfair of you. I’m simply trying to restore China to her former glory.”

  “But you do enjoy it.”

  “All right, maybe just a little. I used to help my father when I was a boy. I take after him in many respects…” He shook his head. “But this isn’t the time for nostalgia.”

  Turning to Mrs. Po, he said, “Bring me the girl.”

  He began searching his pockets, muttering, “Now where did I put those scissors…”

  Thomas had dropped within reach of Mr. Wu’s feet. He pulled them out from under him. Unable to catch the edge of the table with his hands, Mr. Wu caught it with his chin. Blood burst from his mouth and his spectacles flew off and then he was gone from my sight.

  An odd crackling sound came from below. As Mrs. Po gasped in horror, Thomas stood up with my remote in his hand, fingers flying over the keypad.

  Then came the moment I’ll always wonder about. Mrs. Po raised the gun, aiming it at Thomas’s head. Thomas glanced at her—I know he saw what she was doing—then turned his attention back to the keypad.

  The instant the feeling returned to my body, Mrs. Po fired. Thomas’s head exploded into a thousand pieces.

  As his body toppled sideways, I rolled off the table. Mrs. Po swung the pistol at Luma, her finger tightening on the trigger. I knew I wouldn’t make it in time.

  Dogan threw himself out of his seat, tackling Luma and taking her to the floor along with him. The bullet shattered the windowpane above them.

  As I reached her side, Mrs. Po was swinging the gun at Luma again. I twisted it out of her hand and tossed it away, through the broken window and onto the platform.

  Anger was surging through me now. Mrs. Po had killed Thomas for no good reason. Worse than that, she had tried to kill Luma. The thought of taking her life in return was tremendously appealing. There was a case to be made for it, as well. If we set her free, she would go back to the GR and reveal everything she knew, putting Cassius in jeopardy and making it impossible for Luma and Dogan to go home. The sensible course of action was to choke the life out of her and lay her to rest beside Mr. Wu.

  Instead, I drove my fist into her chin, knocking her cold.

  Luma was climbing to her feet when Mrs. Po hit the floor.

  She looked at me in shock. “Teo! What did you do that for?”

  I said, “She’s been rude to me for the last twenty-seven years.”