Arthur Clarke - Rama Revealed

With astonishing celerity, Katie swept across the room to the other wastebasket. She pushed aside some papers and found the gun.

“…shi, go, ryoku…”

Her heart pounding furiously, Katie picked up the gun, tied around, and headed back toward Nakamura.

“…shichi, hachi, kyu…”

“This is for what you did to my father,” Katie said, sticking the barrel of the gun against his forehead. She pulled the trigger just as the astonished Nakamura opened his eyes.

“And this is for what you did to me,” she said, firing three bullets into his genitals in rapid succession.

The guards broke down the door in seconds. But she was too quick. “And this, Katie Wakefield,” she said in a loud voice, sticking the gun in her mouth, “is for what you did to yourself.”

Ellie awakened when she heard the keys rustling in the lock on her cell. She rubbed her eyes. “Is that you, Robert?” she asked.

“Yes, Ellie,” he said. He came into the cell just as she stood up. Robert put his arms around Ellie and hugged her fiercely. “I’m so glad to see you,” he said. “I came as soon as Herbert told me the guards had abandoned the station.”

Robert kissed his puzzled wife. “I’m terribly sorry, Ellie,” he said. “I was very, very wrong.”

It took Ellie a few seconds to gather her bearings. ‘They abandoned the station?” she said. “Why, Robert? What’s going on?”

“Complete and total chaos,” he said heavily. He looked utterly defeated.

“What do you mean, Robert?” Ellie said, suddenly afraid. “Nikki’s all right, isn’t she?”

“She’s fine, Ellie. But people are dying in droves. And we don’t know why. Ed Stafford collapsed an hour ago and was dead before I could even examine him. It’s some kind of monstrous plague.”

The octospiders, Ellie thought immediately. They have finally fought back. She held her husband against her while he wept. After several seconds he pulled away and spoke. “I’m sorry, Ellie. There has been so much turmoil. Are you all right?” v

“I’m okay, Robert. No one has questioned or tortured me for several days. But where’s Nikki?”

“She’s with Brian Walsh at our house. You remember Brian, Patrick’s computer friend? He’s been helping me take care of Nikki since you’ve been gone. Poor guy, he found both his parents dead the day before yesterday when he woke up.”

Ellie walked out of the police station with Robert. He was talking continuously, rambling from subject to subject, but Ellie was able to comprehend a few things from his almost incoherent chatter. According to Robert, there had been over three hundred unexplained deaths in New Eden in just the last two days. And the end was nowhere in sight. “It’s strange,” he muttered. “Only one child has died. Most of the victims have been old.”

In front of the Beauvois police station, a desperate woman in her mid-thirties recognized and then grabbed Robert. “You must come with me, Doctor, immediately,” the woman yelled in a shrill voice. “My husband is unconscious. He was sitting there with me eating lunch and he began to complain of a headache. When I came back from the kitchen, he was lying on the floor. I’m afraid he’s dead.”

“You see,” Robert said, turning to Ellie.

“Go with her,” Ellie said, “and then to the hospital if you must. I’ll go home and take care of Nikki. We’ll be waiting for you.” She leaned over and kissed him. Ellie started to say something to Robert about the octospiders but decided against it.

“Mommy, Mommy,” Nikki yelled. She ran down the hall and jumped into Ellie’s arms. “I’ve missed you, Mommy.”

“And I have missed you, my angel,” Ellie said. “What have you been doing?”

“I’ve been playing with Brian,” Nikki answered. “He’s a very nice man. He reads to me and teaches me all about numbers.”

Brian Walsh, who was in his early twenties, came £ around the corner holding a children’s book. “Hello, Mrs. Turner,” he said. “I don’t know if you remember me…”

“Of course I do, Brian. And I’m just Ellie. I really do want to thank you for helping with Nikki.”

“I’m glad to do it, Ellie. She’s a great kid. She’s kept my mind off a lot of painful thoughts—”

“Robert told me about your parents,” Ellie interrupted. “I’m terribly sorry.”

Brian shook his head. “It was so weird. They were both perfectly fine the night before, when they went to bed.” Tears came into his eyes. “They looked so peaceful…”

He turned away and pulled out a handkerchief to wipe his eyes. “Several of my friends say this plague, or whatever it is, was caused by the octospiders. Do you think that maybe—”

“Possibly,” Ellie said. “We may have pushed them too far.”

“Are we all going to die?” Brian asked.

“I don’t know,” Ellie answered. “I really don’t.”

They stood in awkward silence for several seconds. “Well, at least your sister got rid of Nakamura,” Brian said suddenly.

Ellie was certain she had not heard the sentence correctly. “What are you talking about, Brian?” she asked.

“You didn’t hear about it? Four days ago Katie assassinated Nakamura… and then killed herself.”

Ellie was stunned. She stared at Brian in utter disbelief. “Daddy told me about Aunt Katie yesterday,” Nikki said to her mother. “He said he wanted to be the one to tell me.”

Ellie could not say anything. Her head was spinning. She managed to say good-bye to Brian and to thank him again. Then she sat down on the couch. Nikki crawled up beside her mother and put her head on Ellie’s lap. They sat together quietly for a long time.

“And how has your father been while I’ve been gone?” Ellie finally asked.

“Mostly fine,” the little girl replied. “Except for the lump.”

“What lump?” Ellie said.

“On his shoulder,” Nikki said. “As big as my fist. I saw it there when he was shaving, three days ago. He said it must be a spider bite or something.”

“Benjy and I are leaving for the hospital,” Nicole announced.

The others were still finishing their breakfast. “Sit down, Nicole, please,” said Eponine. “At least finish your coffee.”

“Thanks anyway,” she replied. “But I promised Dr. Blue we would come in early today. There were a lot of casualties in yesterday’s raid.”

“But you’ve been working very hard, Mother,” Patrick said. “And not sleeping nearly enough.”

“It helps to stay busy,” Nicole said. “That way I don’t have any time to think.”

“Let’s go, Mama,” Benjy said, coming into the room and handing Nicole her coat. While he was standing beside his mother, Benjy smiled and waved at the twins, who had been uncharacteristically quiet. Galileo made a bizarre face and both Benjy and Kepler laughed.

“She hasn’t yet allowed herself to grieve over Katie’s death,” Nai said softly a minute later, as soon as Nicole had left. “That worries me. Sooner or later…”

“She’s afraid, Nai,” Eponine said. “Maybe of another heart attack. Maybe even for her sanity. Nicole is still in denial.”

“There you go, Frenchie, with that damn psychology again,” Max said. “Don’t worry about Nicole. She’s stronger than any of us. She’ll weep for Katie when she’s ready.”

“Mother hasn’t been to the viewing room since her heart attack. When Dr. Blue told her about the assassination and Katie’s suicide, I felt certain Mother would want to see some of the videos… to see Katie one last time… or at least to see how Ellie was doing.”

“Best goddamn thing your sister ever did, Patrick,” Max commented, “killing that bastard. Whatever else anybody could say about her, she had courage.”