Mindguard (32 page)

“You’re lying,”
she shouted. The hate in the voice of this girl he loved like a daughter was
almost as painful to Nikolaos as Horatio’s betrayal.

“You’re lying,
you son of a bitch!”

She got up and
looked ready to hit him, when Sheldon’s voice startled her. It startled
Nikolaos as well. In the tension of the moment, both had forgotten that he was
even there. The mindguard’s voice sounded impossibly old.

“No, Sophie,” he
said with great difficulty. “He is telling the truth.”

The heart is
heaven but the mind is hell

Tom Waits

In his bedroom,
Horatio Miller was enjoying a glass of his finest wine. It felt at once like a
drink of celebration and one of consolation.

“Everything is
ready, Educator,” Emilia said timidly. He hated being disturbed while drinking
wine. It meant he was deeply absorbed in thought and he knew Emilia was aware
of that. He nodded slightly but didn’t say anything. He hadn’t spoken much in
the last few days, since all the madness had started.  

First, the Anderson
brothers publicly accused him of treason. His immediate reaction in front of
the media storm that ensued, was to retreat to his private quarters and refuse
any contact with the press. Meanwhile, he closely followed the development of
the situation.

The enforcers
had given only a single official statement, in which they specified that
Horatio Miller was under investigation and was to be presumed innocent until
proven otherwise. The investigation proved very unpopular with the public.
People were starting to believe that the enforcers set out on a personal
vendetta against the educator. Then, the Enforcement Unit made another move,
that was even more controversial.

Without a
presidential order, they seized the office of the Ayers-Ross Thoughtprotection
Agency, shut it down, took the employees in for questioning and declared
Maclaine Ross, Sheldon Ayers, Sophie Gaumont and the rest of Ross’ team
suspects in a case of treason against the IFCO. During all of this, they
managed to break every single protocol set in place for such situations. The
people were outraged and Horatio was fascinated.  

He realized that
he should be horrified. In a personal attack of unexplainable proportions,
Thomas Anderson had acted completely irrationally and unpredictably. And yet,
he wasn’t scared. Through his intemperate actions, Anderson managed to garner
such massive criticism that Horatio now felt he had the entire world on his
side. The citizens were his shield against this madman. They were his own
personal army, helping him fight a war for a cause they would never be allowed
to know.

Opus Caine was a
nightmare, a flaw of evolution. It could throw humanity into eternal
stagnation. Only in individuality could human values truly grow. That
individuality was now threatened, as were the rights of every man who, like
himself, stood for the freedom of personal identity. He had even specified in
his will that he refused to allow the informational content of his mind to be
uploaded to the Human Knowledge Archives. Nobody knew that but his brother
Marcus, who had drawn up the will, and Marcus was no longer a nuisance.

The thought that
everything he was could be stripped down to little pieces and then encoded, to
be shared with a nameless mass of information was appalling. He was the master
of his own mind. It was this mind that made him truly unique and he had every
intention of remaining unique. Equality was slavery and Horatio Miller would be
a slave to no one.

At first, he had
been terrified by the commander’s behavior. There appeared to be no logical
explanation for his excessive intervention, especially since it seemed to be
backfiring. He saw no reason why the commander would have acted the way he did.
Unless…
, he thought,
Unless he also knows about Opus Caine
.

For a brief
moment he panicked, then he calmed down. There was no way the Enforcement Unit
could know. Only two other people in the world knew about Opus Caine: Nikolaos
Apostolos and Sophie Gaumont. Sophie had just found out, and Horatio knew she
was the only person in the world he could trust to keep his secret. In her
blind quest for his approval, the girl would do everything he asked of her. If
the mission was successful, then in a short time Sophie would no longer be a
threat and neither would Opus Caine itself.

He was sure that
Nikolaos had not told anyone, because he knew his friend better than the man
knew himself. Regardless, Niko was probably already dead. Louis Larring was to
contact him in roughly two hours with the result, but he had no doubt that
Louis carried out his mission flawlessly. He always did.

Meanwhile,
Commander Anderson would fall into the grave he was trying to dig for Horatio.
The educator felt overcome by a feeling of calm, as if he were certain that the
universe was working just to please him. With that calm, came a sudden solution
to his problems: he had to die.

There was no
other way. Horatio Miller could no longer exist. As long as he did, there was a
risk that the discovery of Opus Caine would be revealed. The safety of his
secret was more important to him than his own life, or the life of his
daughter. When Sophie will have finished her mission, destroying herself and
the Opus Caine in the process, the very memory of their existence will be
erased from history. With Niko and Sophie gone, with Opus Caine itself
eradicated, the only link to them would remain Horatio.

Thus, he also
had to die. A man with Horatio’s wealth and influence would have no trouble
staging his death. It would be difficult giving up everything he had amassed
throughout the years. That would be the ultimate sacrifice.

In the end,
Horatio Miller was but a name. It was a code with which he interacted with
other human beings. It was not who he was. His accomplishments, his
individuality, did not belong to a name, they belonged to a man. He would have
to change that code, become someone else, and start anew. Build new
accomplishments, make a new name for himself, one that would surpass the mighty
Horatio Miller.

He would be
reborn as someone else and live to see the departed Horatio Miller become a
legend, a martyr even. If everything played out perfectly, he might even manage
to incriminate Commander Anderson in the process. Perhaps it would be enough to
bring down the tyrant. That would be the swan song of Horatio Miller – the
name. And the man once known as Horatio Miller would relish in the defeat of an
enemy who once appeared undefeatable.

With that
thought, Horatio put down the empty glass and left his bedroom. He headed for a
conference room in the western wing, where dozens of reporters awaited his
speech like hungry wolves. Those would be the last words of the great Horatio
Miller. He would tell them how the enforcers persecuted him, how he felt
threatened and wronged.

When he will
have left the conference room, reporters will throw themselves on Anderson like
vultures on a corpse. He will retreat to his bedroom and call Louis, the only
man he could trust with a mission of such importance. He will tell Louis that
the next man who needs to disappear is Horatio Miller. He will vanish from his
bedroom, leaving behind only enough blood and DNA to cast suspicion on the
Andersons, and he will watch the sun rise on a new planet. The dawn of a new
life.

“Everyone is
growing anxious, sir,” Emilia said, when he made his appearance in the briefing
room, next to the conference hall.

“Oh, fuck them,”
he replied, much to the woman’s surprise. It wasn’t in his character to use
such language, but he didn’t care. It’s not like he will be seeing Emilia again
after today. This could even turn into one of those sappy news stories. He
could already picture Emilia interviewed by some sleazy journalist, maybe that
idiot, Rone Wilson: ‘He was acting very strange right before his disappearance…
he… he… used the f-word’. Horatio chuckled and Emilia stared at him like he had
gone insane.

“All right,
let’s go talk to those cocksuckers,” he said, just to confuse her some more. He
entered the conference room to the sight of a pile of greedy, inquisitive eyes.

“A great mass of
idiots,” he thought.  He had invited only the most accomplished names in
journalism to witness his premortem declaration, but even so, he had little
regard for them. Horatio viewed journalists as people too inept to become
writers or historians and never took them terribly seriously. Throughout his
career, he had done his best to patronize them, and still he was perceived as a
thoroughly polite, media friendly public figure. That served to equally amuse
and annoy him.

He wished he
didn’t have to be there in person. He hated the putrid smell of crowded rooms;
people with ambiguous hygiene habits simmering together. He could have sent his
holographic projection, but he felt that his presence in the flesh would add a
touch of drama to his speech and increase the impact of his subsequent
disappearance.

“Ladies and
gentlemen,” he said, taking a moment to look around the room and make important
eye contact with as many of the idiots as possible. He then nodded, as though
he had reached a conclusion, perhaps that  - yes - speaking to them was
the right thing to do. “I’ve called you here today to address my recent
seclusion, as well as the accusations formed against me by Commander Thomas
Liam Anderson and the Enforcement Unit.” There was a small, predictable murmur
in the room. “I would like to begin by stating that Commander Anderson and his
brother have contacted me before launching this malicious campaign, in an
attempt to intimidate me into -”

Horatio found
himself forced to stop his speech. There was some sort of agitation in the
back. One of the reporters, a young blond man with curly hair, stood up from
his chair and called out Horatio’s name. He had just enough time to see the
man’s face transform into one that he knew all too well, before somebody
screamed ‘He’s got a weapon!’

I believe, the
major factor that causes the slow mental progress of the human race is found at
the very root of man’s existence. It starts with that first mentor in a
person’s life: the parent. Historically, parents have failed to be adequately
involved in the development of children. That leads to stagnation of the
child’s potential. For every child whose mind develops at a lethargic rate, the
intellectual advancement of the entire human race is slowed down. Children of
early ages are supremely analytical creatures, yet their parents rarely invest
more than a necessary minimum in the development of their highly susceptible
minds. Their hungry intellects are only provided with enough nourishment so as
to not starve, but not nearly enough to grow and develop at an effectual rate.
The notion that humanity lives in a scientifically and morally evolved world is
a mirage. Mankind is not in the 24
^th
century. It is stuck somewhere
in the 19
^th
, at a cognitive level suited only for comprehending the
social architecture of a barely industrialized world, if that. Instead, a small
intellectual elite has shaped the 24
^th
century and is carrying on
its shoulders the burden of an overwhelming, ignorant majority. I believe the
solution lies in a highly developed system of mentoring. Only when man assumes
the role of mentor for future generations, can mankind truly evolve at the rate
that evolution has intended for us.

Sheldon Ayers,
Thoughts,
Reflections and Patterns

Sheldon’s words
were the spell that brought her back to the world of the sane. They were also
the curse that threw her soul into the pits of hell. It was a heartbreaking
revelation. She had refused to believe Niko, even though she knew that what he
said made sense.

She hated him.
She hung on to the memory of the father she thought she knew, refusing to let
go even as she realized that it was, in fact, a false memory. She didn’t want
reason and she refused the truth. All she wanted was to be deceived just one
more moment. When Sheldon spoke, that moment passed.

As much as it
devastated her, she found it easier to imagine her father as a murderer than to
doubt Sheldon. He was the only person in the world she could truly trust.
Though she didn’t understand why, she trusted him with all her heart. Her
father, whom she loved and looked up to, was not the man she had thought he
was. He was not the man anyone thought he was. The person she imagined she knew
better than anyone else in the world became as mysterious to her as a name on a
headstone.

“Why?” she said
to no one in particular, and no one answered. With great effort, Sheldon
managed to pull himself up into a seated position, to better see Sophie and
Nikolaos. He didn’t look well at all. 

“Why?” Sophie
repeated. This time, the question was directed at Sheldon, as if the mindguard
held all the answers.

“It appears your
father feels threatened by Opus Caine.”

“I have also
tried to understand Horatio’s motives,” Nikolaos said. “Perhaps he is
desperate. His behavior reveals a man with a powerful phobia, in his case, the
fear of losing his identity.” Nikolaos turned to Sheldon. “What is your opinion
of the Opus Caine, Mr. Ayers?”

“It doesn’t
matter,” Sheldon answered. Sophie could tell that he meant it. 

“But then, why
is my father sending me to the Opus Caine? I am supposed to make contact with
them. My mission is to learn everything about them, so that I can introduce
their society to the world. I’m supposed to share information about the current
state of the IFCO. I have a holopad with a vast quantity of data, everything
they need to know about the last two and a half centuries of our history.”

“Perhaps he is
trying to gain their trust in order to manipulate them. He could be searching
for a weakness in their structure, one that would allow him to destroy them,”
Nikolaos suggested. Again, Sophie looked at Sheldon in search for answers, but
the mindguard said nothing. His eyes were closed. He looked like he was falling
asleep, though Sophie felt his very alert presence in her mind. She didn’t know
if he was still guarding her, or if he was trying to read her thoughts. 

“Why did you
read my mind?” she asked him. Niko’s eyes grew wide. He looked at Sheldon with
disgust.
What a wonderful paradox
, Sophie thought.
A man who welcomes
the Opus Caine as the ultimate salvation of mankind is still outraged at the
thought of mind reading
.

Sheldon said
nothing. He just stared at the floor. His shoulder-length hair fell over his
face, covering it like a curtain covers a stage.  

“Why did you read
my mind?” she repeated. “On Noriado 2, when you… when you defended us from
those men. You read my mind, you found out about Opus Caine. Why did you do
that?
How
did you do that? You were supposed to have a… that mental
limitation, the Weixman Barrier. Damn it Sheldon, answer me!”

“We need to
finish the mission,” he said. His voice no longer belonged to a weak and
injured man but to Sheldon Ayers, the world’s greatest mindguard.

“What?” Sophie
shouted. “We can’t finish he mission, you’re… injured.” She had meant to say
‘dying’ but she managed to stop herself at the last moment. Niko looked at her
with a sad smile. She understood the message: ‘He knows’.

“No,” she said
adamantly. “We need to get you off this island and to a hospital. Niko -”

“There is no
other option,” Sheldon said with no emotion. “A hospital will have records of
my presence. The enforcers will quickly track us down. After the events of the
last few days, I believe they will use deadly force. You can’t remain here.
Your father will most likely send another assassin after Nikolaos, when this
one fails to report back.” Nikolaos looked sad but peaceful, a man resigned to
his fate.       

“If I could just
talk to him…” Sophie said, but she knew as she spoke that it would be
impossible.

“There is also a
strong possibility that the enforcers went after your father with the force
with which they came after us. He might be in their custody right now. Or he
might be dead.”

The thought was
unspeakably painful to Sophie.  In spite of everything she had found out
about him in the last hour, she still loved her father. She felt that if she
could just see him, just talk to him, everything would be all right again, as
if his physical presence could somehow undo everything that had happened. 

“Sophie…”
Sheldon said. For the first time, she could sense emotion in his voice, though
she couldn’t tell what it was. “There is no longer a place for you in this
world. Your only alternative, is to finish the mission. Find the Opus Caine and
stay with them.”

“What about
you?”

Sheldon’s
silence was the saddest thing she had ever heard.

“Sheldon? What
about you?” she repeated, tears flowing down her face. From the corner of her
eye she saw that Niko was also crying.

“I will guard
you until the end.”

She knew what
that meant. Suddenly, she felt dizzy, like she was going to faint.

“I won’t let it
end like this,” Nikolaos said. “I will speak, I will tell the world. I will do
what I have been too cowardly to do from the start. Go to them, Sophie! Only
then can our cultures truly understand each other. You must become one of them
and wait for me. I will come for you, and this time I will bring the world with
me. And if I should lose my life, know that someone else
will
come for
you. I promise you this, Sophie. And you too, Mr. Ayers.”

Sheldon seemed
indifferent to Nikolaos’ promise but Sophie trusted him.
Like a father
?
she wondered, thinking of her own father’s betrayal. She looked out the window.
It was a wonderful spring day on Kalhydon. Her love for spring would become
just one of the many gifts she would bring Opus Caine.

“We will need to
take the same route you used to get here,” Sheldon said to Nikolaos. “Miller
doesn’t know it. Can you retrace your steps and calculate the coordinates?”

“Mr. Ayers, I
haven’t always been a village doctor,” answered the man formerly known as
Brother Torje. Sheldon nodded. “Then we must leave now.”

“Niko,” Sophie
said, “there is something I need to know before we leave.”

“Of course.”

“Why did you
hide? Why didn’t you tell anyone? Surely you could have sought protection from
my father. You could have gone to the authorities.”

“Because,
Sophie, in spite of everything… I still care about Horatio… maybe more than I
should. I couldn’t hurt him. Telling the world about Opus Caine meant exposing
your father’s crime. I couldn’t do it. I couldn’t bring myself to hate him.
That was my weakness.”

“But… you hid
from him in order to escape death. Yet, you said yourself that you believe it’s
a miracle you haven’t yet contacted Soixtet’s on Kalhydon. It seems to me like
a choice between death and death. That’s not much of a choice at all.”

Nikolaos smiled.
It was a smile that contained nothing but love. It made him look much younger
than he was. “I have come to terms with my death, Sophie. I understand that
it’s inevitable and I thank the Lord every day that I am still alive and
healthy. But I know my health won’t last much longer, nor will my life. I’m
close to death and I have accepted that. It’s just… I  don’t want it to be
your father.”

Sophie took a
step forward and hugged him tightly, with all her remaining strength. His
embrace took her back to childhood. It was a bittersweet memory. Her past was
now forever lost to her. She prepared to face a future she did not even have
the ability to imagine.

“I love you
Niko,” she said.

“And I love you
Sophie. I always have.” He looked into her eyes. “My daughter.”

“We need to
leave now,” Sheldon said. His voice sounded like a distant memory.