IN THE TIME OF FOG
PART TWENTY: (CONCLUSION)
Every day for the next few days, Maximus and Caroline went
out in the station wagon, gradually working him into driving in
more and more traffic and learning to park in various situations.
"You realize," she said, "you won't have a license?"
"A license?"
"Yep. A driver's license. Gives you permission to drive."
"You need permission to drive?"
"Supposed to keep the crazies and the incompetents off the road."
"How do I get one of those?"
"You can't. You have to have...paperwork."
"Explain."
"Papers that prove you were born, that sort of thing."
"Is is not obvious that I was born?"
"Not good enough, I'm afraid. They want to see for sure when
and where. You have to prove you are you."
His brow creased. "What happens if I do not possess one of those
license things?"
"Well, you don't want to get stopped by a policeman, that's for
sure. So drive well."
He smiled at her almost grimly.
"Where?" she asked. "Where are you planning on going?"
She knew the answer already. He was going to find Sid.
"Maximus?" she said softly, putting her hand on his thigh
as he drove. "This could be dangerous, couldn't it?"
Again the silent grim smile.
"I'm coming with you. I hope you know that."
He pulled off the road. "Caroline...."
"I am." Her chin was set firmly as she met his eyes levelly.
"But...."
"Nope. No buts. There's still a heck of a lot of things you
don't know, don't understand about 2007. You need me."
Her eyes sparked with tears. "You need me," she repeated,
her voice a mere whisper.
"I do need you, Caroline," he replied. "But I need you alive
and...whole."
"That's how I need you, Maximus. That's why you are not
leaving me behind. I can't be left behind. Not ever again."
He blew out a long breath, his wrists resting atop the steering
wheel. "What am I going to do with you?" He shook his head.
"You are going to take me with you," she smiled. "Now, you
ready to try a foray into the mall?"
He started the car again. Their mission of the day was to get
him more used to being around larger crowds of people,
interacting in modern situations.
"Just down there." She pointed to where a side drive turned
off the main road. A large enclosed mall loomed before them.
"Is it a city?"
"Nope, just another market place. Sort of like a whole bunch
of Wal-Marts all connected, with smaller shops scattered through."
Carefully, he parked the station wagon between two large SUVs
that rather reminded him of Commodus' armored transport
wagon. As he stepped out of the car, Caroline handed him a
Stetson and a pair of large dark glasses. "Pull the brim down
in front more," she suggested, then shook her head again.
"Damn!"
"Damn what?"
"You still look disgustingly handsome. Every female eye will turn."
She knew it wasn't just his look, but his 'presence.' He moved
with this natural, totally unselfconscious air of authority and
command. He couldn't help it. He would be about as unnoticed
as...as a lighthouse in a trailer park. "Can you...hunch?"
"Hunch?"
"You know, curve your shoulders forward a bit...sag."
He tried and she laughed. It was just way too unnatural. "Ok,
be yourself, but try not to...beam."
"Beam?"
"Yeah, turn your light off."
"You know I have no idea what you mean."
"I do," she sighed. "Just stick close to me and I'll throw
merchandise at the gawking women."
He was wearing well-fitted jeans, very well-fitted, boots,
a cream-colored shirt that set off his deep tan, and had a
blue bandanna knotted loosely about his neck. With the
Stetson and the dark glasses, there was not a Marlboro
man in the world that didn't pale next to him.
"Oh...God," she said, looking at him again before they
headed across the enormous parking lot.
He tipped his glasses down, peering over their tops. "You
have some need to invoke deities before entering this place?"
"You got that right, Buster," she moaned, wishing she had
a few hand grenades or a least some tear gas canisters. Then
she turned, staring at the mall, inhaled deeply and said, "We
who are about to die salute you."
"I never said that, you know,...not once."
"I know. But you never faced anything as fearsome as...this."
Hand in hand they entered the nearest mall entrance. The door
opened by itself at their approach and he had to walk back and
forth through it three times before he was satisfied. She stood
there gritting her teeth. Finally she grabbed his hand again and
pulled him off into the main part of the mall.
They were in a three-storied courtyard with big domed sky-
lights above it. A large fountain played in its center, with areas
planted in flowers and even a few palms around it. At one end
of the courtyard was a play place, filled with children climbing
on pretend castles and large animals as tired mothers sat along
the edges on padded benches, sipping cups of Starbucks.
"This is a market place?"
"2007 style, it is."
She took him through several different types of shops just to let
him have the experience of it. In Radio Shack she had him pick
up and try out various sorts of electronic gadgets, answering his
questions. In Barnes and Noble they looked through book after
book on every subject from NASA to polar bears. They had hot
dogs, funnel cakes and root beer in the food court. At FYE they
bought more Russell Crowe movies. In KayBee, she showed him
modern toys.
Everywhere they went, eyes did turn, especially female eyes, but
mostly only female eyes between 15 and 95. Though she was sure
that one gal staring at him had to be at least 102. Thank goodness
no hue and cry went out that Russell Crowe was in the mall. From
time to time she figured a few people might have thought he was,
but were too well-mannered or too shy to approach. Those were
the ones who stopped dead in their tracks and stared, whispering
among themselves, sometimes pointing.
"You need to see a movie," she suddenly announced.
"Have I not seen many movies?"
"You have, but not like a movie was meant to be seen. Let's go
find out what's playing at the Cineplex."
A 22-screen theater was connected to the far end of the mall by
a glass walkway. She surveyed the choices. "Needs to be something...
big," she grinned. "Ah, 'Transformers' should do nicely to give
you a taste of the big screen."
"I thought you only liked older movies."
"I do," she grinned, "but you need to get the feel of what going to
a movie is like. I wish one of Russell's were playing right now so
you could see that, but we'll make do with robots today."
"Robots? Like Sid?"
"From what you say he's not really robot. Something else, some-
thing more like a person. These guys," she pointed to a couple
of large posters, one with Optimus Prime and the other with
Megatron, "are all metal."
She bought two tickets and as they walked through the giant
lobby toward theater 17, stopped and stared. "Oh...my!"
"What?"
"There he is."
"Who?"
"Him." She pointed at another set of two large posters and
Maximus slowly walked up to the one of a man in a white
jacket holding a gun. He took off his dark glasses to study it.
The man's face was cut off just above his nose but it was
unmistakably...his...nose.
"American Gangster," he read. "He has created another...
character?"
"So it would seem." She became aware a couple of people
were staring at Maximus, then at the poster, then back at
Maximus.
"Put your glasses back on...quick!" she snapped. She grabbed
his hand and practically sprinted for the darkness of the theater.
"This big?" His eyes widened as they took their seats. He'd had
no idea that a movie in its original form was so large. "Even my
movie?"
"Yes, you were that big, too." She wished she'd been able to
see him like that instead of just on her TV screen.
Two and a half hours later when the lights came up again, he
sat there blinking. "It...it was very like being in the middle of
a battle," he murmured.
"Now you see why I like 'How Green Was My Valley'," she
smiled. "But it's good for you to experience what can be done
today in the latest movie technology."
"The Captain," he said, staring at the now-black screen. "He
got home. He made it back to his family."
She put her hand over his. "That happens...sometimes." She'd
thought during the movie that that must be attracting his
attention. Even in the midst of the the most overwhelming
technology, there had been touches of humanity and that was
what he had noticed most.
It turned out, though, that he'd also noticed what it took to
destroy a robot. That's what he talked about as they drove
home. In fact, Caroline was rather disturbed by just how much
that was on his mind. Then when he immediately went out
to practice again with the guns, she knew for sure that what
lay in their immediate future was going to be no picnic.
That evening he wanted to see 'Virtuosity' again. He paused
and rewound parts over and over, studying Sid. "He has
changed," he commented at the end. "He is...more. This is
like watching some early version of him."
Caroline shuddered. The early version was horrid enough.
The thought of Sid...advanced...was not one she really wished
to contemplate.
"You say he seemed almost human, there at the last on the
island?"
"Something had happened to him, Caroline. He was sick
for a while. And he loved Brianna." He pointed toward the
TV. "That Sid could do neither."
"Whatever do you suppose could have made him more
human?" she wondered. "And why would he even want
that?"
"I have no idea," Maximus replied, his hand unconsciously
clenching and unclenching. "But somehow I am involved in
it and I mean to understand why."
"You say he loved the woman?"
An odd expression briefly crossed Maximus' face. "So it
would seem."
"And she loved him?"
He dipped his head silently.
"Then why did he send the two of you alone to an island?"
"I do not know."
"And you wish to?"
"I must, Caroline. I must know why he wanted me out of
Gladiator, why he arranged the 'palace', why I was on the
island."
He looked at her, his eyes clear green and steady. "Tomorrow.
Tomorrow I go into Emerald City."
"Tomorrow...we...go," she corrected, taking his hand.
DIRECTLY CONTINUED AS "TOO QUICK TO DIE"
WHICH IS ALSO THE MERGER OF "MONTANA CROSSWINDS"
AND "X-PROOF"...THE THREE STORYLINES BACK INTO ONE.
BACK TO LIBRISCROWE
BACK TO PART 19
BACK TO INDEX OF ALL NANOCORP STORIES