Memoranda

28

Greta rose up on her back legs in order to lead me through the remains of the city as her prisoner. She walked behind me and a step to the left, slightly hunched, the tips of her long claws resting on the back of my neck. I could tell from the sounds she was making, beastly guttural rumblings, that it was a great effort for her not to kill me. I remained silent and followed the direction her claws dictated. At any other time I might have been unable to walk from fear, but in this instance there was something I feared far more than death. I had to get the memory book, and I knew she was leading me directly to it.

When we arrived at the laboratory, she shoved me through the entrance, and I tripped and fell to my knees. Looking up, I saw that the place was almost exactly as it had been when I visited it with Misrix to search for the antidote. The only difference now was that everything was intact, the glassware was unbroken, holding the various colored powders and liquids that, upon my previous visit in the other world, had been strewn across the floor and walls. The lighthouse contraption that projected intermittently the images of birds was there as was the operating table and metallic chair. Nests of wiring lined the ceiling, and, over the edge of one of the tables, I could see a stern female face framed by wild hair, staring down at me from where it floated within a huge glass jar.

Then a hand came into view, and I heard Below laughing. He helped me to my feet. "Wonder of wonders," he said. "If it isn't the Physiognomist."

"Master," I said out of habit, and nodded. Although he had lost much of his hair on top and had shrunk in stature somewhat from the days when the city was in one piece, he appeared quite vital, and his face, I dare say, might have looked younger than mine at the moment.

"I knew you would come back someday, Cley. I imagine life out there in shantytown must be a little tedious."

"Not at all," I said.

"As you can see," he said, "I've been keeping myself busy." He turned and swept his arm in a gesture that directed my attention around the lab.

"You always were a busy fellow," I said.

He looked sternly at me for a moment, then broke into laughter. "I'm a family man now, Cley," he said.

"You don't say."

"I thought you would be more surprised," he said, looking somewhat disappointed.

"I'm here for a reason," I said.

"Well, it's good to see you," he said. "I'm glad you came. Come, we'll go to my quarters, where we can talk."

I followed him out of the lab and around the corner of the building. Behind the structure, in a lot cleared of the ubiquitous rubble of the city, we passed a row of ten large cages, each containing a man. Upon seeing us, the occupants cried out to be released in the most pathetic voices. I noticed that the two at the end of the row were not men at all but had begun some process that was transforming them into werewolves.

"Silence, gentlemen," said Below to his prisoners. "Who needs a visit to the metal chair?"

His words made them cease their groaning as they cowered away from the doors of their cages.

"What is this atrocity?" I asked.

"Now, now, Cley," he said. "These men came to my city with the express purpose of robbing me. They are criminals. I'm helping them to become useful."

"What have you done to those two on the end?" I asked.

"Well, that's the way they are all headed. Greta needs some playmates. What better way to protect my city than a pack of werewolves? Consider the lesson they are all learning. They are being transformed from thieves into guardians."

"That's horrible," I said.

"Let's try not to judge each other while you are here, Cley. Ideological differences shouldn't come between old friends. I hope that we can agree to disagree."

It was hard for me to ignore the suffering I witnessed, but I told myself that there was nothing I could do about it. These men would become werewolves, and I, myself, would kill quite a few of them. I had to concentrate on getting the book. "Very well," I said.

"Very well, indeed," said Below, and patted me on the back.

We walked through the rubble, heading, for the Ministry of Information.

"I understand you have become a vegetable salesman," he said, smiling.

"I gather and trade herbs and other medicines of the forest."

"Primitive," he said. "But, you also deliver children. Now, being a father, I can appreciate this."

"Do you have a son or daughter?" I asked.

"A son," said Below, actually beaming with pride. "You might say he is much like me in many ways."

"I look forward to meeting him," I said. "And who is the mother?"

"She is wild and untamed …deep and mysterious, but paradise is in her heart."

"Who is she?" I asked.

"The Beyond," he said. "My son is the demon I brought back with me from the territory. I tell you, Cley, I am not lying to you in any way when I say that I truly love him."

"I beg your pardon, Master, but this creature …"

"I know what you are thinking. It is hard for you to imagine how I have helped him. He speaks human language. He no longer eats meat. He reads. He thinks. He is good, Cley.

You will approve of him, I'm telling you. Perhaps it was the last result of the white fruit. After it completely destroyed all of my possessions, it left me one gift. The ability to love. I would do anything for him."

"I am amazed," I said, and even though I knew the tale, to hear Below speak these words was a miracle I never thought I would witness. "What is his name?"

"Misrix. I named him after a certain adept who lived three centuries ago. A great man as I expect my boy to be someday." He stopped walking and put his hand on my arm. "You must try very hard not to react to his demon appearance. Please, treat him as if he were …"

"Normal?" I said.

The Master quietly nodded, and we continued. For the remainder of our journey, he questioned me quite specifically about the daily life at Wenau. He inquired about certain people he had known who might still be alive and also as to the whereabouts of Aria and Ea. When we reached the Ministry of Information, we did not enter through the remains of the public baths, but Below produced a key, and we went through a side door in a part of the massive structure that was still completely intact.

He led me down into the basement and to one of the rooms in the long hallway lined with doors, at the end of f which was the very place that in my true reality of the future, he lay wasting away with the sleeping disease. It twisted my thinking for a moment when I considered that if I went down the hallway to that room and waited long enough, I would meet myself.

The room, with the exception of the fact that there were no windows, was an exact duplicate of the parlor in which I first met Anotine back on the floating island. I took a seat at the table. He very cordially served me a glass of Rose Ear Sweet and pushed a pack of Hundred-To-One's, a box of matches, and an ashtray toward me.

"Relax for a moment, Cley. I'll be right back," he said, leaving me alone in the room.

I tried to appear calm, knowing that my only chance of snatching the book was in waiting and watching for just ^^ right opportunity, but every moment longer I spent exchanging small talk, Anotine withered toward a memory form I would no longer be able to touch. I sipped my drink and lit a cigarette out of nervousness.

The door opened, and Below entered. "Cley, I want you to meet my son, Misrix," he said.

I stood and put my hand out. The demon came forth with his head bowed and his hands folded in front of him. There would have been no hope for me if I had been seeing him for the first time. I probably would have run screaming from the room, but as it was, I think Below was impressed with my calm demeanor as I coaxed Misrix with a nod of my head to shake hands with me.

"I like your spectacles" I said to him. "You appear to be a very intelligent young man"

"Yes, the spectacles. A little much," said Below.

"No, I'm serious," I said.

"Thank you," said Misrix, his fangs showing in a bashful smile.

He sat down with the Master and myself at the table, and I asked him about the books he was reading. The demon took to me and was expounding on some of the more recent volumes he had gone through, when Below interrupted.

"He's quite a fan of the Physiognomy," he said.

"Your father is a genius," I said to Misrix, and from the corner of my eye, I could see Below smiling.

I offered the demon a cigarette from the pack lying in front of me, and though he immediately declined, I could see his nervousness when the subject was brought up in front of his father.

Finally, Below dismissed Misrix, telling him to go back to the lab and check on the prisoners. When the demon had left, Below turned to me, and asked, "All right, Cley, you handled yourself very well there. What is it you want?"

"I know you have been working on the production of a certain disease that induces sleep," I said.

"Very good, Cley," said the Master. "We have both been doing some spying I can see."

"I want the antidote," I said.

Below grinned and rubbed his chin. "You want the antidote," he said. "Well, I can give you that."

"You can?" I said.

"Why not. But first, for old time's sake, I want you to indulge in the beauty with me. I have perfected the drug to be a hundred times more powerful than it was. The tiniest droplet mixed with water will do the job that an entire syringe of the stuff uncut used to do. If you'll do this with me, I'll tell you anything you like."

I would be a fool if I wasn't suspicious of the deal he laid out for me, but there was no choice. Besides, the day had progressed to the point where I would soon be needing a fix to quell the urge of my addiction.

"Yes," I said. "Certainly, for old time's sake."

The Master seemed a little surprised at my willingness, but with a fluttering of his hands, he conjured two needles. "I haven't lost any of my magic," he said as he passed one of the needles across the table to me.

He immediately went for the vein in his neck as I had seen him do on many an occasion in the past. For me it was more difficult. I had not taken the needle in years, and I had to think for a moment through the process of self-injection. I rolled up my sleeve, bent my arm, and made a fist. The moment I lifted the hypodermic it all came flooding back to me. I got into the vein as easy as putting a key in a lock. In making love to Anotine the effects of the drug were somewhat delayed in comparison to the needle, which deposited the beauty directly into the bloodstream.

When the empty syringes lay on the table between us, and we stared into each other's bleary eyes, Below asked, "How did you know about the sleeping disease?"

"The same way I know about the metal, exploding birds," I said, and laughed at finally having the upper hand on the Master.

"You've been delving into magic?" asked Below.

"Just your mind," I said. "Now, you promised me the antidote."

"I've already given it to you," he said.

"I'm not that high," I said. "What is it?"

"I just gave it to you," he said.

"No …" " I began to protest, but then it came clear to me. "The beauty?" I asked. "Is it the beauty?"

He nodded. "It has many purposes. When you are awake, it makes you forget; but when you are asleep, it reminds you to wake up."

"No," I said.

"Cley, you somehow know about the bird and the disease, so let me tell you the rest. The antidote has to be the beauty, because once I infect the people of Wenau with the sleeping sickness, I can then show up on the scene and become a hero for curing them. They will learn to respect me because I will have saved their loved ones' lives. In addition to this, I will introduce the beauty into the culture of Wenau, and soon I will be a most necessary figure since I am the only one capable of making it."

"Your plan is to spread addiction?"

"Call it what you like," he said.

"But why?"

"I want your people to accept my son, and I know they won't unless I coerce them. I must persuade them to see him as part of your society. I won't live forever, and I need to be sure he will have a normal life ahead of him. If he stays here with me, he'll become as mad as I am, and when I die there will be nothing to stop him from reverting back to his savage ways."

"You mean, you are doing this out of love?" I said.

"He's my son. Not having had any children, I don't expect you to understand the depth of my feeling."

"But there is no need for this. He would be accepted anyway, on his own merits."

"Don't be a fool, Cley. They would drive him out of town, hunt him down, and kill him."

"You speak of love, but your methods are all about tyranny, slavery, murder."

"It's too late for me to change completely. I know now there is a better way, but I am too tired to go back to the beginning. Truth lies at the end of a circle, Cley. We both have learned that by now. It's also too late for you. I can't have you ruining this plan as well. I happened to have forgotten to water down the beauty that was in your syringe. When next you awaken, I will be making a wolf of you. So good to have seen you once more. After tomorrow, you, like the other thieves, will have become my guardian."

He stood up a little unsteadily, walked to the door, opened it, and left. I jumped to my feet, took two steps, and then my head exploded.