Black Jack (27 page)

‘Yeah, I saw that, but look here. There is something weird going on around the world. In India, hundreds of gurus, some of whom have been meditating in the jungles and the Himalayan mountains for years, have come out to urge the Indians to vote no. And in Russia, an old, blind, eighty-year-old psychic has come out of her self-imposed exile to encourage all Russians to vote no. But here’s the bizarre thing. She has had exactly the same vision as many American psychics. She claimed to be have been visited by a blue-eyed, blonde girl who told her that the fate of humanity rests on our collective decision. From the Balinese to the Inuit, the indigenous psychics the world over are all telling their flock to vote no. The no votes are pouring in so thick and fast we are nearly reaching the five hundred million mark and the yes vote has almost frozen by comparison.’

Kim laughed. ‘What do you know? The boy is winning.’

‘I voted yesterday,’ Dan confessed almost shyly, and Kim launched herself at him.

Stunned by the swelling curves of the body under her blue sweater Dan held his hands around her awkwardly.

‘Thank you, Wells,’ she said, tilting her face up to him and laughing exuberantly. She had never called him Wells before. He grinned and hugged her back. Her hair smelt lemony. Kim had odd ideas, but this thing he had for barefoot gypsies was getting simply too great to resist. Maybe he will pick up the courage and ask her out to the Red Dragon.

Steve and Mary exchanged surprised glances. ‘I’m off to do some voting too,’ Steve said and scuttled off to his table.

‘Well, since everybody else is,’ said Mary with a wink.

‘Hey, you know what’s weird?’ said Kim disentangling herself from Dan.

‘What?’

‘China’s the only country that hasn’t changed its voting pattern. I wonder why?’

Black cat or white cat: if it can catch mice, it is a good cat.

 -
Deng Xiaoping

Chu Lai walked into his supervisor’s room with his laptop securely tucked under his left arm. It was a large room with a massive portrait of Chairman Mao hanging on one wall. He shivered slightly. The air-conditioning unit was always turned up to maximum.

‘What is it?’ Sun Li said without looking up. He was a fat man with a wife, four mistresses, and five children. His hair was thick and straight with a side parting and his small, suspicious eyes broadly scanned the page of the newspaper he was reading.

‘Our agents have detected that many of our citizens are playing the American death game. In total 675,000 people have voted yes.

‘The American death game?’ the leader asked, turning the page of his newspaper.

Chu Lai opened his laptop and carefully placed it next to the newspaper. Sun Li eyed the screen emotionlessly. When the screen went back to the image of the boy he turned his attention back to his newspaper. ‘And how many no votes?’

‘Three hundred. But to be honest this is a good opportunity for some of our citizens to make some money. After all, if the Americans are crazy enough to throw away their dollars our people should go for it.’

Sun Li turned another page. ‘Did I ask for your opinion?’

Chu Lai’s face turned red. ‘No sir. Of course not. I apologize profusely, Sir. It won’t happen again.’

‘Who is running the game?’

‘It looks like it has the protection of the black section of the American government.’

‘What are our figures compared to the other countries?’

‘Unfortunately sir, as it stands we are the only country that has more yeses than noes.’

His black eyes left the newspaper. ‘What? What about Nigeria with all its crooks and thieves?’ he demanded.

‘No, sir.’ Chu Lai turned the laptop toward himself. He tapped a few keys and turned the screen to face his superior again. ‘Here are the exact figures.’

But his boss waved his effort away. ‘India?’ he queried with the same unemotional voice. ‘Surely with so many beggars their people are poorer than ours.’

Chu Lai shifted uncomfortably. ‘No, sir. In fact, they have many millions more voting no than yes. Something in the region of a hundred million.’

‘Mmmm.’ Sun Li laced his fat fingers on his princely belly. ‘Do you see now how we look when we debase ourselves for a currency that has been so debased it is almost worthless? If they were giving an ounce of gold or silver it would be worth it.’

It might have been a joke, but Chu Lai did not dare smile. ‘Yes, sir.’

‘Send out a decree that anybody who votes yes from now on will be fined the equivalent two hundred American dollars in Yuan. And anybody who votes no will get a letter of commendation from the leader. Let’s see which country beats us for the kindness of our hearts.’

Acta est fabula, plaudite!

(The play is over, applaud!)

 -  
Said to be Emperor Augustus’s
last words

It was Carter who first showed Black that human beings kept colors around them. This must be what they call the aura, he thought. Carter’s was murky and splintered into many jagged bits. Ever since Black had touched Yuri, unusual things had been happening to him. Yesterday, while being cleaned he had felt the scrape of the washcloth on the soles of his feet. Ticklish. And last night, even more incredibly, it had taken him a whole minute, but he had actually blinked!

‘I thought you might want to see this,’ Carter said, coming into the room and changing the channel on the TV. ‘The President of the United States of America is giving an address about you. The message is being beamed all over the world: billions of people worldwide will be watching this.’

Black looked at the screen and there he was, the President of the United States of America. Tall, black and statesman like. He managed to sound at once caring and forceful. ‘My heart goes out to this poor child,’ he began. ‘How frightened and alone he must be. If you can hear us, we warn you that we, as a nation, will not allow this heinous travesty on our soil. We are looking for you and we will not rest until we find you.

‘To those who have perpetrated this crime, I say, “This is your last warning. Give up this sick game and free this innocent child, or you will feel the might of this great nation upon you. You can run but you cannot hide. We will hunt you down. You will not be safe no matter where you go.” He paused. Was that a tear that he was wiping away? ‘But this is also one of those moments that makes me proud to be human, to know that people from all over the world are coming together to rescue this innocent child with their votes. On behalf of him I thank you all.’

‘Does he know the truth about me?’

‘Not the details obviously, but he is an obedient worker to his masters; he understands that it is not the dastardly terrorist plot he pretending it is. Politics is a dirty game.’ He checked his watch. ‘Now I have to set up your TV. In ten minutes Kite will be calling to speak to you.’

‘Why has he not come himself?’

Carter shrugged. ‘Who’s gonna know?’ he said and began the process of setting up the video camera so it faced the screen; Black assumed so it would enable Kite to read his thoughts and responses.

A man Black did not recognize came on the screen. ‘Ready?’ he asked.

‘Yup,’ replied Carter.

‘OK, I’ll put him through.’

Kite’s pale face came on. ‘Well, it appears you won.’

Instantly Black felt a cold claw within him. It was not fear, it was like a warning. A premonition of danger ahead. Instinctively, he knew where he would find the cause of his uneasiness. He glanced at the screen and to his astonishment the yes figure had suddenly picked up enormous speed and was racing upwards so quickly it was almost a blur. He could not understand it. He was winning, and so far ahead, and now the game was going the other way. Then he understood. Foul play. His eyes swung back to Kite. ‘What are you doing to the results?’

‘Ah, that. The computer is now running on its default algorithm.’ He chuckled at Black’s naivety. ‘What do you think the stock market, the precious metals markets, and all the voting systems run on? We decide everything. Nothing is real. It’s all one big illusion. Didn’t your
friend
tell you that?’

‘Does the rule of free will still apply when one is playing with a cheater?’

‘I’m afraid it does. One should know better than to play with a…er…cheat. But in this case at least, there is no cheating involved. There was nothing in our agreement about what results the world would be given.’ His eyes were cold. ‘You won this one and you will get everything you were promised.’

Black remembered.
To win they must first destroy your heart
. ‘So that is what this game is really about. Tricking the masses into believing the lie that the human heart is such a cold and calculating thing that it would send an innocent boy to his death for a mere one hundred dollars.’

‘Through strange angles are the gates through which my ancient Lord may come. The killing of the god is a universal custom in my world. It is called Agarthi. God was created in man’s image so as to represent him and the sacrifice of one brings untold despair. The horror that comes of the killing of the god feeds the formless ones.’

Black glanced at the screen. The yes figure was already close to overtaking the no figure.

‘Won’t it look suspicious, all these yes votes coming in so fast?’

‘Mass media is the link between power and the masses. Without it to shape and mold ideas there would be uproar and resistance at every step of the agenda. They will do their job. And the sheep will believe everything they see and hear.’

After the euphoria of thinking he had won, Black felt sick with despair. He thought he had done something good for humanity. Instead he had evoked their participation in their own oppression.

‘Did you imagine that you would
save
everyone?’ Kite mocked. ‘Most of them are beyond hope. They don’t care about anything except the selfish thoughts and desires created in their tiny brains and what happens in their meaningless nine to five existences. They wake up in the morning, jump onto their technological leashes, punch some buttons, and actually believe that they are experiencing something valuable. Their pointless lives are not worth saving. They are fatted cattle that must be culled. Let the rider of the pale horse pass among them. Let them be the last of their kind.’

‘I thought that is what you wanted, obedient worker bees for your hive.’

‘This lot!’ Kite spat contemptuously. ‘Of course not. They are nothing, but a fornicating, lazy, stupid herd imbued with ideas of individuality and freedom. No, no, what we are aiming for is a scientifically created race that will be intelligent, hard-working, and free of sexual urges. They will be connected to a world brain. Control of all living beings will be from outside by us. And that day is coming.’

‘You sneer at them for their stupidity and laziness when it was you who made them like that.’

Kite’s horribly pale hand came up to wave away something. A fly that was trying to land on his face. Black noticed that he wore a black ring. In his head he heard the phrase:

And God had a ring. With his name on it. Until his ringed hand swept upon the air of heaven, fruit could not fall and die, because nothing could die.

Black looked at Kite in shock. The words formed on the computer screen without his control.

Your god is a demon.

Instead of being upset, Kite looked as if he was thoroughly enjoying himself. ‘Look around you. Does it look like your god is in charge or mine? My god created all of yours. We are the illuminated. We will inherit everything.’

‘Demons lie. You appear to be a big man, controlling so many and yet you are only a pawn of the real controllers, aren’t you? They tempt you with Earthly pleasures and power, but what of your soul? Will it burn in hell?’

Kite appeared genuinely amused. ‘Is that what your god taught you? I will not burn in hell. When I perform the rituals to leave this body, I will become one with my master, and be as powerful as him.’

‘So why did you want to meet Green?’

Kite’s eyes glittered. He must have been in a place where the temperature was quite high, because the pesky fly was back. He waved it away impatiently. ‘I suppose it can hardly matter now. He has the codes. I wanted them. I still do. ’

‘Codes?’

‘The codes to the matrix. They give one the ability to manipulate reality in the physical realms or what you and I understand as unlimited power. It will mean one suddenly has a 360° vision. Distance becomes void. You think of someone or someplace and they are there or you are instantly there. Time will be accurately viewed as an intentional fabrication. And, of course, the beauty of cyclical time is that it holds the secret of immortality.’

‘What makes you think Green has the codes?’

‘Both demons and gods jealously guard them.’ Kite smiled suddenly. ‘Goodbye, Black. If you see Green again give him my warmest regards.’

Carter stepped forward. ‘This won’t hurt,’ he said.

But it did. For the first time in his life Black felt the prick of a needle in his flesh. Then a kind darkness gathered him in her arms.

Aye, when the blood was offered, Forth came they to dwell among men.

 -
The Emerald Tablets of Thoth

The first thing Black saw when he came to - was it really all over? - was his mother’s tear-stained, worried face. Bent over him in his own bed. When she noticed his eye movement she gave an odd cry of joy. Yee-yah. He stared at her in amazement, not for the odd sound, or how much she had aged in a few days, but for the beautiful, glowing colors that surrounded her. Flashes of gold, white, blue, and a purple so royal and rich he did not think it existed. With no inkling of the astonishing colors she walked inside, she hugged him and cried and laughed and thanked a whole pantheon of Hindu gods for returning him to her. Her joy knew no bounds. Hours they remained together, she talking and he listening, as it had always been. What a joy. How much he had missed her. Tears flowed from his eyes.

When she saw them she dashed her own away roughly with the backs of her hands. ‘I know I shouldn’t cry, but I can’t help it. I thought you were dead, but out of nowhere they came tonight, drugged me, and while I was unconscious,  installed you in your bed. I really thought I’d never see you again when you lost the game. It was the most unbelievable thing: more than a billion people signed on during the last couple of hours and voted yes. I didn’t want to watch that man in the white mask and coat come into that room where you were to be injected with what they said was a lethal dose of poison, but I had to. I had to watch or I would never have believed that it was done.