Washington, D.C.
October 15th
I awoke the next morning at 9:00am, and
already I knew that it would be difficult to obey his command not to use my
powers. My skin tingled with
anticipation, and with everything that I did to get ready in the morning, there
was a section of my brain that was telling me how it would be so, so, so much
easier with the Overnet, how I could heat the water directly instead of having
to reach all the way over to the faucet handle and moving it to the right…
I contacted Monitor.
Have
you been able to locate Padma?
“Yes, I have. I was able to find him and we had a conversation yesterday.”
Really? That is fortunate. Has he helped you to unlock your powers?
“To some extent. We are going to talk again today.”
Very good. Your powers will be needed very shortly. Please keep me informed.
I got dressed, had a quick bite to eat,
and then read the newspaper and killed time until a little after 12:00, at
which time I took a walk, purchased another ticket into the Smithsonian, and
waited by the room for Leonardo to show up.
He showed up shortly thereafter, bearing two vegetarian sandwiches
wrapped in thick white paper, and we took them into the room in which we had
sat before. We ate for a while in
silence.
After he had finished his sandwich, he
wiped his hands and mouth with a napkin, and then looked up. “I love those sandwiches. The thing I can’t get around is what Monitor
is expecting you to do.”
“I thought that was clear,” I replied. “I’m supposed to save the human race.”
“Right, right, of course,” he said. “Save the human race. But how?”
I
shrugged. “I don’t know. I suppose Monitor knows, or you do. Do you?”
“I think that it’s the wrong question,
really,” he said. “I mean, you have
these powers, and let’s say with practice that you can hone them a fair
degree. What are you supposed to use
them for? You just might be able to take out one member of
the Core, if he wasn’t suspecting anything.
You certainly wouldn’t be able to fight all off all of the grik holders, so that can’t be the
plan. Or maybe you’re supposed to be
invisible, just changing events slightly here and there as circumstances
dictate… but that can’t make sense, the
Core is changing the events of nations; minor events aren’t going to change the
outcome, and if you change anything major, you’ll be detected. No, I just can’t figure this out.”
“I asked Monitor about this once,” I
said, recalling.
“And what did Monitor say?” Leonardo
asked.
“The plans are too mutable to be
communicated beforehand. I will be
instructed as the situation dictates.”
Leonardo laughed. “Well, that is actually believable,
really. But it doesn’t give one great
comfort that there’s a good chance of succeeding.”
I shook my head. “No, I’m not wildly hopeful about my chances
of living through all of this, much less of being able to change the course of
the world. But… I finally believe that
this is real, with my heart and soul, and there’s nothing I want more than the
chance to try and do this. I’ve always wanted to have an impact on the
world for the better, ever since I was a young child.” And, not said: ever since I was a young child, I wanted to have a world where
mothers did not have to get beat silently so that their listening children
would not be afraid. I continued, “If I
have the opportunity to possibly save the world, then I want to take that
opportunity, even if it might kill me.
I’ve always wanted to be a hero, I guess.”
“But what are you going to do?” he
asked. “How would you change it?”
“I don’t know,” I said. “I think I’ll listen to Monitor, do what it
says if it seems like the right thing to do, do something else entirely if I
think it appropriate. I don’t claim to
any special knowledge. Maybe long term
I will try to instill some new cultural values into the human race; I don’t
know, more compassion, or a greater sense of ecological importance, or
something. I haven’t figured it out. I’m still trying to figure out what
capabilities the Overnet gives me.”
He looked at me, his piercing blue eyes
seemingly burrowing into my soul, as if to see what lay there. I stared back at him, not knowing what he
was looking for.
“Hold out your right hand,” he said.
A strange request, but I held out my
right hand, and then he did the thing that I didn’t expect:
He took off his ring and dropped it into
my outstretched palm.