Devolution

A parched throat encased in a stiff neck rudely woke 3 from a much needed sleep. More like a nap. Soon he would be home and crashing in his own bed and sleeping deeply without even the possibility of any interruptions. He turned to look at Joshua beside him, listening to music with his eyes closed.

‘Would you like a drink sir?’

3 looked up into the warmth of a beautiful face. A flight attendant on her rounds following the switching on of the cabin lights, stood beside him.

‘Yes thank you. Coke.’

She handed him a chilled glass and moved on. Watching her go, reminded 3 of the flight to Australia where the attendants had gone mad. Surely an incident like that could not be repeated so soon, if ever. Smiling, he realized he would never board another jetcraft without thinking of that eventful trip. The action packed flight across the sea was only the beginning of a series of wild adventures that 3 would never have dreamed of being personally involved with.

Josh spoke to him. ‘You all right Ted?’

‘I’m not sure I’ll ever be all right after the last couple of weeks of thrills.’

‘Is that what you call it? Thrills?’

3 nodded in response to Joshua’s smile. ‘I feel like I have lived a lifetime in just thirteen days.’

Silence followed as the two friends now bound even more closely together shared a thought of sad remembrance for Veena. Without ever saying so, they both knew the other loved her. For now, it hurt too much to even mention her name.

‘What are you going to when you get home’? asked Joshua.

‘Sleep for a couple of days.’

‘After that?’

‘I don’t know. You?’

‘I don’t know. Look they’re showing the latest news. Tune in!’

Rebel Newtonian, Gareth Masterman, arrested in dramatic circumstances at Gosford in Australia two days ago, finally made his first appearance in court today. Initial charges include kidnapping, unlawful custody and manslaughter. Further charges are expected to be laid in the coming days.

Mark Whiteman is at Downing center district court.

In contrast to the pictures we saw of Gareth Masterman immediately after his arrest in Gosford where he appeared in dirty and torn clothing, bloody and disheveled, the accused was immaculately groomed for today’s appearance before chief magistrate, Kevin Armitage.

Showing no emotion at any time, he refused to answer any questions put to him either inside or outside the courthouse.

Accompanied by arresting officer detective Hatsis, Masterman was surrounded by security and rushed inside directly from the car which brought him here. No application for bail was lodged and the case is expected to be heard in full expeditiously. Possibly in one month.

This is Avatash Ramasinghe,’ began the first of the people web casts. ‘I heard the most serious of the charges is conspiracy to commit two counts of murder: senators 15 and Singh of Earth Parliament. The reason Inspector Jacobssen was here in Sydney was because of the possible involvement of the two senator’s children, Ted and Veena and a third party; a deist named Joshua.’

‘How do you feel about being famous?’

’Never wanted it, ’replied Joshua, ‘and especially not like this.’

3 nodded. ‘I hear you, Josh. I hear you.’

Another people cast;

This is Alan Steckl reporting from Sydney. Gareth Masterman should never be allowed out of prison. Even if he is innocent of the many charges leveled against him, his philosophy is destructive to society. Men like him were responsible for the inter-continental war, men like him, men like Hitler, Stalin, bin Laden, Hussein, Magus, Reece, Rostevski and Keating…

‘Did he say Keating?’

Joshua shook his head. ‘I can’t believe people think like that. To lump Keating in what that mob of murderous megalomaniacs is insane. Even Rostevski is a doubtful inclusion, don’t you reckon?’

‘He’s right about Masterman though. Hatsis told me he was working with my father. They were partners, even friends. Now that I know how mentally unbalanced he is and what his intentions were, it makes me wonder. He was only half Newtonian anyway and he sure as hell didn’t subscribe to our philosophy.’

‘You know what makes me wonder?’ said Joshua before continuing. ‘Why didn’t whoever contacted ICF and hired me to take the disc…’

3 noticed Joshua rubbing at the skin of his arm where the disc had been inserted. There were no visible signs left of the numerous intrusions made into his flesh.

‘…why didn’t they give what information they had directly to the police? To Jacobssen? That would have made more sense.’

‘Maybe Masterman wasn’t named, either because the original contractor, the insider or whatever you want to call him didn’t know his name or did not want to name him.’

‘I still think the information would have more useful in the hands of the police than on a disc in my arm.’

‘Maybe giving it to you and sending you to Australia was designed to draw out the person responsible-’

‘It’s Masterman we’re talking about. We know that now.’

‘Yes, what I’m saying is the existence of the disc and the potentially incriminating information contained in it was known to Masterman. What he didn’t know was the extent of the information and that’s what he had to find out before he could do anything else. He had to know the detail. If there wasn’t enough information on the disc to constitute hard evidence then he would not have to worry about it.’

‘The person who sent the disc knew that Masterman would react that way and therefore might expose himself in the process, without that person having to name him.’

‘Maybe he wasn’t sure,’ added Joshua impressed with Ted’s reasoning. ‘Maybe…’

3 finished his friend’s thought. ‘Maybe you were used as bait.’

‘A dangerous game.’

‘Deadly,’ said 3. ‘It cost two lives, and could have claimed ours as well.’

‘So,’ continued Joshua thinking out loud. ‘Masterman captured you and Veena to find out what you knew. And followed me to find out who I was meeting with and what I was saying or being told. He was getting desperate, so he sent Celeste.’

‘Indirectly,’ said 3. ‘She didn’t know she was working for such a bastard.’

‘When you escaped and made it to the police Masterman panicked and became far less subtle in his attempts to get me.’

‘I think he really wanted to kill you on the assumption, or desperate hope that you knew nothing and therefore he simply had to get a hold of the disc. He would have known that taking out the disc from a carrier without proper authorization was fatal to the carrier because of the inbuilt safeguards in the system, but by that stage he had stopped caring. You were totally expendable.’

‘Why did he keep Veena then?’

3 and Joshua exchanged quick glances and agreed that question was not only better left unanswered but better left unasked in the first place.

Joshua again, changing the subject slightly, ‘Do we know who tipped off Jacobssen about where Masterman was?’

‘Hatsis told me that Masterman named the source, or suspected source in an attempt to deflect some of the blame and guilt from himself.’

‘Who was it?’

‘A professional assassin by the name of Sid Burgess who according to Masterman actually carried out the deed. He killed my father and senator Singh.’

‘Are they going to go after him?’

‘Yes, but Hatsis reckons he’ll disappear. Assume a new identity with surgery, face lift, retinal transplants, new fingerprints and a vocal modulator. He doesn’t think they have a hope in hell of finding him, and Masterman ordered the hits so he’s the one they really want.’

Having finished their discussion, Joshua and 3 returned their attention to the news. It was all about them. 3 remembered his dream and how in it, Joshua had explained to him how to lose his anonymity. 3 had always wanted to be somebody famous, but now that he was, he wished he could crawl back under the rock of obscurity. How would he return to a normal life? What was a normal life? What would he do with his life now? Uncertainty had always disturbed him but now things were different, he was different. He had faith as an anchor and hope as a rudder.

Without turning his head, 3 said to Joshua, ‘Did I ever tell you about the dream I had on the day my father died?’