Eoin Colfer - Artemis Fowl - The Eternity Code

ICE AGE CRYOGENICS INSTITUTE, LONDON

Artemis’s memories were interrupted by a sly movement on the wall above. He peered out the rear window and fixed his gaze on the spot, watching through filtered eyes. There was a fairy crouching on a third-storey window sill: a Recon officer, complete with wings and helmet. After only fifteen minutes! His ruse had worked. Foaly had intercepted the call and sent someone to investigate. Now all that remained was to hope this particular fairy was full to the brim with magic and willing to help.

This had to be handled sensitively. The last thing he wanted to do was spook the Recon officer. One wrong move and he’d wake up in six hours, with absolutely no recollection of the day’s events. And that would be fatal for Butler.

Artemis opened the van door slowly, stepping down into the yard.

The fairy cocked its head, following his movements. To his dismay, Artemis saw the creature draw a platinum handgun.

‘Don’t shoot,’ said Artemis, raising his hands. ‘I am unarmed. And I need your help.’

The fairy activated its wings, descending slowly until its visor was level with Artemis’s eyes.

‘Do not be alarmed,’ continued Artemis. ‘I am a friend to the People. I helped to defeat the B’wa Kell. My name is —’

The fairy unshielded, her opaque visor sliding up. ‘I know what your name is, Artemis,’ said Captain Holly Short.

‘Holly,’ said Artemis, grasping her by the shoulders. ‘It's you.’

Holly shrugged off the human’s hands. ‘I know it’s me. What’s going on here? I presume you made the call?’

‘Yes, yes. No time for that now. I can explain later.’

Holly opened the throttle on her wings, rising to a height of four metres.

‘No, Artemis. I want an explanation now. If you needed help, why didn’t you call on your own phone?’

Artemis forced himself to answer the question.

‘You told me that Foaly had pulled surveillance on my communications, and anyway I wasn’t sure you’d come.’

Holly considered it.

‘OK. Maybe I wouldn’t have.’ Then she noticed. ‘Where’s Butler? Watching our backs as usual, I suppose.’

Artemis didn’t answer, but his expression told Holly exactly why the Mud Boy had summoned her.

Artemis pressed a button, and a pneumatic pump opened the cryo pod’s lid. Butler lay inside, encased in a centimetre of ice.

‘Oh no,’ sighed Holly. ‘What happened?’

‘He stopped a bullet that was meant for me,’ replied Artemis.

‘When are you going to learn, Mud Boy?’ snapped the fairy. ‘Your little schemes have a tendency to get people hurt. Usually the people who care about you.’

Artemis didn’t answer. The truth was the truth after all.

Holly peeled away a cold pack from the bodyguard’s chest.

‘How long?’

Artemis consulted the clock on his mobile phone.

‘Three hours. Give or take a few minutes.’

Captain Short wiped away the ice, laying her hand flat on Butler’s chest.

‘Three hours. I don’t know, Artemis. There’s nothing here. Not a flicker.’

Artemis faced her across the cryo pod.

‘Can you do it, Holly? Can you heal him?’

Holly stepped back. ‘Me? I can’t heal him. We need a professional warlock to even attempt something like this.’

‘But you healed my father.’

‘That was different. Your father wasn’t dead. He wasn’t even critical. I hate to say it, but Butler is gone. Long gone.’

Artemis pulled a gold medallion from a leather thong around his neck. The disc was perforated by a single circular hole. Dead centre.

‘Remember this? You gave it to me for ensuring your trigger finger got reattached to your hand. You said it would remind me of the spark of decency inside me. I’m trying to do something decent now, Captain.’

‘It’s not a question of decency. It just can’t be done.’

Artemis drummed his fingers on the trolley. Thinking.

‘I want to talk to Foaly,’ he said finally.

‘I speak for the People, Fowl,’ said Holly testily. ‘We don’t take orders from humans.’

‘Please, Holly,’ said Artemis. ‘I can’t just let him go. It’s Butler.’

Holly couldn’t help herself. After all, Butler had saved all their hides on more than one occasion.

‘Very well,’ she said, fishing a spare com set from her belt. ‘But he’s not going to have any good news for you.’

Artemis hooked the speaker over one ear, adjusting the mike stem so it wound across his mouth.

‘Foaly? Are you listening?’

‘Are you kidding?’ came the reply. ‘This is better than human soap operas.’

Artemis composed himself. He would have to present a convincing case or Butler’s last chance was gone.

‘All I want is a healing. I accept that it may not work, but what does it cost to try?’

‘It’s not that straightforward, Mud Boy,’ replied the centaur. ‘Healing isn’t a simple process. It requires talent and concentration. Holly is pretty good, I grant you, but for something like this we need a trained team of warlocks.’

‘There’s no time,’ snapped Artemis. ‘Butler has already been under too long. This has to be done now, before the glucose is absorbed into his bloodstream. There is already tissue damage to the fingers.’

‘Maybe his brain too?’ suggested the centaur.

‘No. I got his temperature down in minutes. The cranium has been frozen since the incident.’

‘Are you sure about that? We don’t want to bring Butler’s body back and not his mind.’

‘I’m sure. The brain is fine.’

Foaly didn’t speak for several moments.

‘Artemis, if we agree to try this, I have no idea what the results would be. The effect on Butler’s body could be catastrophic, not to mention his mind. An operation of this kind has never been attempted on a human.’

‘I understand.’

‘Do you, Artemis? Do you really? Are you prepared to accept the consequences of this healing? There could be any number of unforeseeable problems. Whatever emerges from this pod is yours to care for. Will you accept this responsibility?’

‘I will,’ said Artemis, without hesitation.

‘Very well, then it’s Holly’s decision. Nobody can force her to use her magic — it’s up to her.’

Artemis lowered his eyes. He could not bring himself to look at the LEP elf.

‘Well, Holly. Will you do it? Will you try?’

Holly brushed the ice from Butler’s brow. He had been a good friend to the People.

‘I’ll try,’ she said. ‘No guarantees, but I’ll do what I can.’

Artemis’s knees almost buckled with relief. Then he was in control again. Time enough for weak knees later.

‘Thank you, Captain. I realize this could not be an easy decision to take. Now, what can I do?’

Holly pointed to the rear doors. ‘You can get out. I need a sterile environment. I’ll come and get you when it’s over. And whatever happens, whatever you hear, don’t come in until I call.’

Holly unclipped her helmet camera, suspending it from the cryo pod’s lid to give Foaly a better view of the patient.

‘How’s that?’

‘Good,’ replied Foaly. ‘I can see the whole upper body. Cryogenics.

That Fowl is a genius, for a human. Do you realize that he had less than a minute to come up with this plan? That’s one smart Mud Boy.’

Holly scrubbed her hands thoroughly in the medi-sink.

‘Not smart enough to keep himself out of trouble. I can’t believe I’m doing this. A three-hour healing. This has got to be a first.’

‘Technically it’s only a two-minute healing, if he got the brain down to below zero straight away. But. .”

‘But what?’ asked Holly, rubbing her fingers briskly with a towel.