Peter O'Donnell - Cobra Trap

"Oh, don't you encourage him," said Dinah. "It's bad enough having Dan and Sue always egging him on."

"Our children have a lively appreciation of their father's historical expertise," said Collier. "Now, as we hurtle across northern Montelero at five miles an hour, let us devote a few golden minutes to serious discussion. Here we are, two intelligent people, three if you count Willie, threatened with hours of boredom, so let us pool our thoughts on the subject."

Dinah paused in wiping her face with a damp tissue. "What subject, honey?"

"The subject we were just talking about, dozy. What happens to one when one shuffles off this mortal coilor has it shuffled off for one? Does one return? Is one reincarnated? Or not? And if not, then what?"

Dinah blinked. "That's a bit heavy for five a.m., isn't it?"

"Quite so. It will fully engage our attention, which you may remember is highly recommended by the Blaise/Garvin consortium for the prevention of adrenalin fatigue in stressful situations. You start, Willie."

With an effort Willie drew in tendrils of attention that he had been giving to areas of possible developments he felt he might have failed to anticipate. Throughout the night he had been uneasy about his responsibility for Dinah and Steve. There would probably be no danger to cope with, but you could never be sure, and he was realistically aware that he did not quite have the edge of years gone by.

Perhaps Steve had sensed his unease, and this had prompted him to quote the maxim he had learned long years ago from Modesty Blaise and Willie Garvin concerning adrenalin fatigue. Whether or no, it was a timely reminder, Willie decided. He had done all he could to prepare for whatever might arise, and he should now switch off until something happened.

"Let's start with a profound thought," he said cheerfully. "There's plenty of options on offer, but what 'appens next after we pop our clogs 'ere is anyone's guess. So that's the profound thought—it's anyone's guess."

Collier sniffed. "You get one and a half out of ten for that, young Garvin. But continue, lad. Name a few options."

"Well, sir, please sir, when the Grim Reaper calls your name, either you come to a dead stop or you go on. If you stop, that's it. If you go on, there's the problem that you're no longer in Time, and in our present state we're not smart enough to be able to imagine existing in some sort of eternal Now. Then there's the question, are you still you? And aware of it? Or are you just part of what someone once called a Gloomy Merging? I think it was Noel Coward of all people, but never mind. If you are still you, and aware of it, what do you do all day in your new situation? Except that without Time that's a silly question because doing something involves a sequence. So maybe you get the Baalbek option, and keep coming back as a caveman and a temple virgin and a balding statistician, or you get the Christian option, which is very nice but a bit vague, or the Islam option, which is either hellfire or a pleasurepalace mainly for men and even that lot's just for starters. Who's next?"

"Blimey, Willie," said Collier, "you've given it a bit of thought, haven't you?"

Willie looked mildly surprised. "Not really. It's all a guess, so I figured I'd just wait and see. Or not, as the case may be."

Dinah said, "You and Modesty spent time with that old Indian guru in the Thar desert, didn't you? And he imparted a lot of… I don't know, mental abilities, yoga powers. We've seen you both do things we wouldn't have thought possible. What did he say about being dead?"

Willie shrugged. "Only that it was a foolish question. "Can a beetle fathom the ways of the universe?" Old Sivaji never said much about anything. You used the right word, Dinah. He imparted. But he certainly reckoned he was going through a long cycle of incarnations, aiming for perfection so he could finally get off the wheel of rebirth."

"And attain Nirvana?" said Collier. "But then what? Eternal bliss? Wouldn't you get sick of it?"

Willie smiled. "I've always preferred contrast meself. But the Buddha never described Nirvana. He said it was a state of being that couldn't be expressed. I suppose that puts it with all the other heavens on offer that nobody can imagine."

Dinah said, "What does Modesty think? I know people don't get to talking about this kind of thing much, but surely the subject must have come up between you two."

Willie reflected for a few moments. Then he said, "Not in a big way, just the odd comment in passing. We've talked about old Sivaji quite a bit, and one thing he did speak of was what he called the interim. The time between incarnations. Modesty once said if he was right about all that, then she hoped there'd be something worth doing in the interim. She didn't fancy listening to cherubim and seraphim singing their 'earts out till the next incarnation came round."

Collier chuckled. "That wouldn't suit either of you. But what about the absence of Time in which to do anything?"

"Oh, she reckons if we do go on there'll be a substitute for Time. And for bodies."

Collier looked out of the window at the scrawny jungle set back no more than forty paces from the track. "Some of these neardeath experiences you read about are fascinating," he said. "Being drawn along a tunnel towards a bright light seems to feature in several accounts. Of course, the doubters say that's just a final flicker of the brain closing down, but who knows? As you said, it's anyone's guess."

Willie said absently, "It could be a bit individual. I didn't see any tunnel-" he broke off. "Sorry. Just thinking out loud."

Dinah said, "I'm not having that." She got up and moved to sit beside Willie, feeling for his hand. "Hey, did you have one of these neardeath things?"

"It's boring, Dinah. Like when people tell you their dreams." 'You tell us about it right now, Buster, or I'll beat you up something rotten."

Willie sighed. "I bet you were the school bully." Collier said, "You didn't find yourself walking through a drift of clouds, with checkin desks manned by angels in doublebreasted suits and ties?"

Willie grinned. "Like in a Hollywood movie? No, I didn't get that far."

Dinah said, "I'm not letting go on this. Please, Willie, tell us."

"Well… it was back in The Network days. A vice mob under a scumbag called Karnak started some terror killings so he could take over a lot of girls working independently. Modesty decided we'd take 'im out, and we did. It was an easy job compared with some, but I got unlucky and took a ricochet that opened an artery in me thigh—the only shot fired in the whole operation. They got me to our own Network 'ospital in Tangier with not much blood left, and that was only because Modesty got to me in the first ten seconds and rammed 'er thumbs in the wound till Krolli could get a tourniquet onare you all right, Dinah?"

She said softly, "Yes, I'm fine, Willie. I guess I jumped a little because… well, it suddenly hit me, the way we've all been sort of interwoven even before we knew one another. I mean, if Modesty hadn't been quick enough getting to your artery that day, then you wouldn't have been around to save me from Gabriel in the Pearl Islands years later, and I'd never have met Modesty, my best ever girlfriend, or Steve, or… oh golly, you never realise what a knifeedge you're walking. A minute late or a minute early and something could change your whole life."

Collier said, "There's always the theory of parallel worlds. You know, alternative universes where it all happened differently. One where the alternative Modesty was a bit slow with her thumbs, and—"

"Just cut the fantasy stuff and be glad you're in this world, Professor," his wife broke in firmly. "And don't interrupt when I'm listening to Willie."