Chapter Eight: A Spanner in the Works

“One can sometimes do good by being the right person in the wrong place.”

-Father Brown, The Sins of Prince Saradine

            “Doctor Nelson,” said Prosser as they rode up in the elevator. “Was the original owner of Matoul. He inherited it from his father, and when I bought it he had squandered all of his inheritance and then some on his, ah, experiments. I kept him on because he is brilliant in his way, though I sometimes regret that. But it’s far too late to send him away now, and he does occasionally produce something useful.”

            The elevator stopped and opened onto a long, straight hallway leading to a heavy-looking metal door. Prosser pressed his palm to the scanner next to it and it slid upwards with a hiss of hydraulics.

            They found themselves in a very large circular room. Windows ran all around the wall, interrupted only by the door. Below the windows were computer terminals, electrical equipment, radar, telephones, and other high-tech equipment. Above the windows were screens and monitors displaying an endless stream of information. In the middle of the room was a kind of pillar, around which ran other monitors and computer banks. At least twenty men were at work at the terminals, typing, entering information, and calling off data:

            “Power spike in Sector C. Diverting now…”

            “The Bore Worm’s enclosure has lost seven degrees in the last hour. Increasing input…”

            “Commercial flight inbound. Re-directing…”

            “This,” said Prosser. “Is the control room. The nervous center of this operation. From here, using the most sophisticated computer technology known to man, we can control and monitor the entire island.” 

            It was impressive, Hendricks had to admit.

            Prosser went over and sat down in a large, wingback chair near the front of the room. Ulla was lounging on a sofa nearby looking very sulky as though she were there against her will, her two servants standing awkwardly behind her.

            “Hello, Ulla,” said Charles. “You look lovely this evening.”

            “Thank you, Charles,” she said sarcastically. “So do you.”

 Outside the sun was just setting below the horizon. Hendricks couldn’t believe it; had it really been less than a day since he had woken up feeling so relieved to be alive? And now…

            “So, Ms. Marshall,” said Prosser. “You have seen some of my facility. You know what I am trying to accomplish. You see that I do indeed have the power to do what I say. Now I must ask for you answer.”

            Helen looked around at the room, with all its mighty technology, and at Hendricks and Ralph and Charles and Ulla, and finally at Prosser. She didn’t know what to say.

            “What about them?” she asked, indicated Hendricks and Ralph.

            “Naturally, if they like, they may stay on and aid me in my work,” said Prosser. “Though, only if you accept as well.”

            “Oh, please!” said Ralph. “Don’t bother on our account. Personally, I have no intention of aiding in mass murder, whatever you say.”

            Prosser’s face was impassable, but his voice was sharp.

            “I will give you an opportunity to recant that hasty assertion, Mr. Zanator.”

            “What happens if I say no?” asked Helen.

            Again, Prosser’s face betrayed no expression.

            “Then, I’m afraid,” he said. “We will have to kill you.”

            Helen’s face, which was already fairly pale, became paler and her breathing became shallow, but she composed herself well.

            “Don’t be silly,” she said. “You wouldn’t kill me…”

            “Keep telling yourself that, dear,” said Ulla.  

            “I assure you,” said Prosser. “There would not be the least difficulty in killing you, Ms. Marshall. I also suppose I must warn you that your death would not be a quick or easy one. I intend to make use of you in some way or another. We haven’t been able to test Python’s abilities on a live human being yet.”

            Helen’s breath was coming faster and shallower. Hendricks wondered whether she might be about to cry and he wanted to do something to comfort her.

            “Why, though?” she asked. “You were the one who brought me here in the first place, so if I’ve…seen too much or whatever, then that’s your fault, so why did you even…”

            “I should think that was obvious,” said Prosser. “The presence of a known prophetess would be intolerable enough for a plan such as mine. But one whose mother is a United States Governor who, if I’m not mistaken, may very well be President in a few years would simply be far too dangerous. As soon as I learned of your existence, I knew I had to neutralize you somehow. I am attempting to do so without ending your life, but if you will not accept my generosity, I shall have no choice but to eliminate you.”

Hendricks moved to do something for Helen, who was looking even more desperate. Before he could, though, Ralph beat him to it by putting a consoling hand on her shoulder. This seemed to give her new strength and resolve. She seemed to calm down a little and said, in a voice almost like a challenge,

“And what do you think will happen to your secret lair here when my mother comes looking for me?”

Hendricks thought, for a second, that she had struck a blow. But Prosser’s face remained as unreadable as ever.

“I see,” he answered. “The governor knows where you are, then?”

Helen opened her mouth, closed it, swallowed hard, and said “S-she’ll find out…”

“Oh, I don’t know,” said Prosser. “You covered your tracks quite well, and I have been able to fill in where you’ve made mistakes. I believe that, officially, you are in North Carolina right now. In any case, the trail leads in that direction; I doubt she’ll be looking for you here.”

Helen seemed to deflate. Her last and best defense was gone.

“I…can I think about it?” she asked.

“Of course,” said Prosser. “Take all the time you need. There’re some empty chairs over there, feel free to sit down and consider how much you enjoy living.”

Helen stumbled over to the indicated chairs and sat down, bent over, her hands clasped. Hendricks wondered whether she was praying. Charles, he noticed was watching her with an infuriatingly superior smile, as though he found her distress mildly amusing.

            “Just so you know,” Hendricks muttered. “You won’t hurt her as long as I’m alive.”

            Charles turned to him in surprise and laughed.

            “That’s not much of a threat,” he said. “Considering only one of us can die.”

“Well, we’ll…see about that,” Hendricks retorted lamely. Charles laughed again.

“Is he actually threatening you, Charles?” said Ulla gleefully. “Oh, that’s rich! The brave hero thinks he’s going to save the princess.”

She cackled.

“Haven’t you heard, Mr. Hendricks?” said Charles. “We’re building a new world; silly old stories like that are being swept away along with every other delusion.”

While all this was going on, Helen had been trying very hard to think. Truth be told, she was so scared that she was having a hard time stringing ideas together. The image of her funeral kept breaking in, and her mother and all her friends crying over her. This was usually followed by the image of Python.

That’s why there’s no body, she thought. Because I get eaten. Or dissolved by acid. Oh, God!

She shuddered, looking down at her hands and once again imagining there being nothing left of them.

But at the same time, Prosser’s plan sickened…and yet, fascinated her. Was it really possible, she wondered, to re-make the world like that? If things were different, if everything started over, with a clear structure and a brilliant mind behind it, then might there be no war or poverty or ignorance? She had worked with the poor for years; if the world were structured differently, might that sea of suffering never have existed at all?

But he’s going to kill them all, she thought. That doesn’t make it better! I can’t help him do that…

She wondered whether she might pretend to agree, and then escape at some later date…but somehow, she knew that Prosser would see to it that, once she joined up, she stayed joined. And what might she have to do in the meantime?

Then her funeral broke in on her mind again and she stifled a sob. She really didn’t want to die.

A warm hand touched her shoulder, and a low voice spoke in her ear.

“You know what you ought to do,” it said. “But you’re afraid to die. Don’t fear it! If you want to live, you must be willing to die; risk it, accept it, and then you can do what you must. It is not yet hopeless!

“Mr. Zanator!”

Ralph looked up complacently. Undercover of their mockery, he had drifted over to Helen and had been whispering something in her ear.

“Yes?”

“Please allow Ms. Marshall the courtesy of making her own decision,” said Prosser.

“I thought giving advice and encouragement was more the mark of courtesy,” said Ralph. “Especially in the face of such, ah, forceful encouragement on your part.”

“Ulla,” said Prosser. “Mr. Zanator’s presence is no longer required. Please remove him to the holding cells.”

“Why don’t you have your boyfriend do it?” Ulla said sourly.

“Now, Ulla.”

Ulla scowled at him and slouched to her feet, snapping for her bodyguards to follow. Ralph bent down and whispered one last word into Helen’s ear:

“Do not be afraid.”

He patted her on the shoulder and allowed the two men to strong arm him out of the control room.

Right before they left, Ralph turned back, caught Hendricks’s eye, and winked slightly.

Helen stood up. Ralph’s words seemed to have unblocked her somehow. She was still more afraid than she had ever been in her life and she couldn’t see any way out, but she knew what she had to do.

“I’ve made my choice,” she said, her voice shaking. “And it’s no. You’re insane, and I’m not helping you commit genocide just because you think it might makes things better in the future!”

She spoke very fast, hoping to get everything out before her nerve failed her.

Prosser’s face was as impassive as ever. Hendricks felt a surge of admiration and deepening affection for Helen, even as he also felt slightly sick as he waited for the blow to fall.

“That is your final answer?” Prosser asked.

“Yes,” she said.

“You are convinced that no further consideration or discussion will alter it?”

“No! I mean, yes! I mean…you’re a monster and I’d rather die than help you!”

Her voice broke a little as the full impact of the statement hit her, but she held herself together.

            “Disappointing,” said Prosser. “You would have been a great help. But, very well. Charles, take them down to Python.” 

            “Why not just kill them here?” Charles asked.

            “Because I’d rather not have to clean up all the blood,” said Prosser. “And I told you, after all the effort we put into bringing her here, I intend to get some use out of her.”

            Charles shrugged.

            “If you say so,” he said. “Come on, you two.”

            He pushed Helen and Hendricks out into the hallway and followed, accompanied by two armed guards.

            Hendricks’s mind was racing. Try as he might, he couldn’t think of a way out of this. But there had to be one! They couldn’t possibly die like this, could they?

            Beside him, Helen was drawing deep, shallow breaths and seemed to be fighting hard to avoid losing control completely.

            “Charles,” she gasped as they entered the elevator. “Let…let’s talk about this…”

            “If you wish,” he said.

            “You don’t really believe in…in all that stuff do you?”

            Charles shrugged.

            “Not really,” he admitted. “But it doesn’t make much difference to me.”

            “Then why are you working for Prosser?” she asked, speaking very quickly. “Whatever he’s paying you, my mother can double it. And what’s more, if you help us, we can give you immunity and…”

            “That’s enough of that,” said Charles sharply, and he suddenly looked very dangerous. “This may surprise you, Helen, but I’m not in it for the money. I work for Dr. Prosser because he’s my friend.”

            The elevator door opened.

            “Well,” Charles amended himself. “That and I really like my job.”

            He pushed them out roughly. Helen seemed to have exhausted her composure in attempting to reason with Charles and was now quietly sobbing.

            “Look, let her go, alright?” Hendricks said desperately as they headed down the corridor. “Do what you like with me, but let her go.” 

            “No!” Charles laughed. “Why would I do that? She’s the one we really need to kill; you’re just in the wrong place at the wrong time. If we were going to let either of you go (and we’re not) it would be you, not her.”

            They arrived at the door leading to Python’s cage. Hendricks had had no idea that time would speed up so much as his life approached its end.

            They moved into the observation room. The massive snake behind the glass and wire seemed to know what was happening. Its yellow, silted eyes fixed on Helen the moment she entered the room and stayed on her the whole time.

            “Open the feeding chamber,” Charles ordered.

            The technician obediently threw a switch and the massive double-doors opened, revealing a kind of concrete airlock with an identical set of double-doors on the other end.

            “Alright, in you go,” said Charles. “Helen, you first.”

            “What?” Hendricks snapped. “Why? There’s room for both of us…”

            “I know,” said Charles. “But your vows to protect her have been so annoying that I really want you to watch her die.”

            Hendricks tried to lunge forward, not sure what he was going to do, but the guards each grabbed him in an arm-lock.

            “Now come on, Helen,” said Charles.          

            “No…” she gasped. “No, please, just…just wait a minute…”

            Charles grabbed her by her arm so tightly that she yelled in pain and dragged her over to the chamber.

            “HELEN!” Hendricks screamed as he struggled with all his might against his captors. 

            Charles released her right outside the chamber. Python hissed as though in anticipation of his meal.

            “Good-bye, Helen,” he said as he pushed her towards the open chamber.

            With a strangled cry, Hendricks lunged forward. In his terror and desperation, he had found the strength to tear himself out of his captor’s grips and started running across the room toward Helen. He had no plans or even any thoughts at all about what would happen if he reached her, he just knew he had to if he could.

            Things seemed to be moving very slowly as he ran. He had the time to see Helen and Charles turn to him in surprise, to see them both raise their hands and shout a warning, to realize what that meant, and to throw himself aside just in time to avoid the wave of bullets from the two guards behind him.

            Helen threw herself forward under a nearby desk. Charles started forward, still yelling at the guards, as several of the bullets struck him harmlessly. The rest plowed into the wall behind him, shattering the power-boxes and control panels that were hanging there.

            “You IDIOTS!” Charles roared as he ran forward. Hendricks took advantage of his distraction to dart across the room and join Helen under the desk.

            “Are you alright?”

            Helen looked right past him, her eyes wide with terror, pointing and mouthing incoherently.

            “What is it…?”

            “THE DOOR!” she shrieked.

            Hendricks looked where she was pointing, just in time to see Python’s huge, flat head charge through both of the now-open doors of the feeding chamber. The great snake’s great yellow eyes met his own, and Hendricks thought for a second that they would be the last things he would ever see.

            Then a shower of sparks burst against Python’s scales as the guards opened fire again. Python screamed in fury and reared up like a cobra so that his head brushed the ceiling. Acid flew from his fangs, drenching Charles and the guards. The snake dove, snapping up both of the screaming guards and swallowing them whole in one swift motion. Charles had just managed to dodge Python’s bite by leaping aside, but the snake’s twisting body struck him in mid air, sending him flying into far wall.

            “Now!” Hendricks called to Helen. Seizing her hand, he pulled her along as he made a mad dash across the room, praying that they would escape while Python was distracted. A couple of the room’s technician’s seemed to have had the same idea. One of them shoved the two aside and made a mad dash for the door. Python spotted him and slammed his heavy body down upon the unfortunate man, crushing him to the floor. The man continued to scream hysterically, until Python bit down on his exposed head.  

            Hendricks and Helen scrambled over the snake’s hard, barrel-like body, and had just reached the door when Python looked up from his meal and spotted them. He gave a shriek of fury and spat his acid as they turned the corner, missing them by inches. He lunged after them, but the door was too small for his huge head. He coiled up and slammed against the concrete wall, cracking it. 

Meanwhile, Helen and Hendricks ran down the corridor as fast as they could go. The rounded the corner and Hendricks saw, with an exclamation of thanks, that the elevator doors were open and waiting for them.

            But Python wasn’t to be dissuaded so easily.  In two more blows, he smashed through the wall like a wrecking ball. He took a moment to clear his head with a shake, and then coiled after them with the speed of a locomotive and a noise like rushing water as his scales scrapped the walls and floor.

            They had reached the elevator. Hendricks jammed on the “door close” button and hit a floor at random. The doors slid shut as Python barreled around the corner, screaming. Helen and Hendricks screamed too as they huddled in the far corner of elevator, holding tight to one another.

            The elevator started moving downward. Hendricks just had time to entertain the idea that they had escaped after all when the lights flickered, there was a groaning noise, and the elevator plummeted.

Next Week:
Chapter Nine: Unforeseen Consequences