Gene Wolfe - An Evil Guest

He nodded. “As a good liar, you will know that there are times to lie and times to tell the truth. I want to give you a little guidance regarding those times. Before I do — don’t volunteer any information to anyone.”

“I’ve got it.”

“Fine. Remember it. If anyone asks, tell them the absolute truth about my coming here today and my leaving here. What time I came, how I looked, and when I left. Tell that to anyone who asks.”

“You’re sure that’s smart, Gid?”

“Yes. Certain of it. Regarding what I say while I’m here, you’ll have to pick and choose. Use your judgment.”

“I will.”

“Elaborate stories get liars found out. If you really are a good one, you know that. What you say should be the truth, though not the whole truth.”

Cassie nodded.

“To whom have you talked recently?”

“Recently being since you dropped me off here? The building super. You’d told me about that hole you cut in my wall. I told you I was going to get it fixed, and you said fine. The super said he’d send a man up right away, and he did.”

“Who else?”

“Margaret. I’d promised her an advance, and she came to collect it. I gave it to her out of my new account at Barclays.”

“What did she have to say, and what did you say to her?”

“All of it? Wow! We talked quite a bit, but I’ll try to make it short. She talked about needing the money, and I gave it to her. She taught me a church song, ‘Walk in the Reign.’ I sang it and got kind of carried away. The man upstairs called about the noise, and I talked to him.

“After that, I think it was, Margaret apologized for handing my bracelet over to you-know-who. He seems to have scared the heck out of her, and I told her I knew just how she felt. I said he might give it back to her, and if he did she should give it to you or me right away.”

“You said she should give it to me?”

“Or to me. Either of us. What’s bugging you, Gid?”

His right hand rubbed his forehead. “I’ve overlooked something, and I hate myself when I do that. I overlooked the possibility that Reis might return the bracelet to Margaret. You thought of it, and I should have. If he were to return it to you, you might think he was demanding you wear it. If he returned it to Margaret — ”

“I might think he was a good guy after all. You’re right.”

“I believe I understand the secret of that bracelet, Cassie. Before I say more, I ought to confess that I don’t really know. That’s why I wanted the bracelet; there are tests, and I know people I can trust to make them. They haven’t been made, so I can’t be sure.”

Cassie leaned forward. “How’s your leg?”

Gideon shrugged. “Not good. I should stay off it, and I haven’t been able to. Or not much.”

“Would a drink help?”

“Yes, but I can’t afford it. I have to keep a clear head, and the pain makes that hard enough. I think I’ve guessed the secret of the bracelet, as I said, and I had better tell you what I’ve guessed. There were two clues. The first was that there were no stones in it. The second — the thing that makes me feel certain I’m right — is that the box felt heavy. Not just the bracelet, but the empty box. That’s correct?”

Cassie nodded.

“I was born on Woldercan. I’ve been interested in it all my life as a result, although I was still quite young when we returned to Earth. Bill Reis was our ambassador there for eight years. Perhaps I’ve told you.”

“I don’t believe you did.”

“He was. When I talked to the president, his advisor made two statements which, although they were true as he intended them, were more than a little misleading. He said the Wolders were ahead of us in biology but behind us in physics.” Gideon paused, reflecting. “Statements of that kind depend on what we consider important. A girl who was hoping to marry soon might say that Jones was a better man than Smith, while a fashion consultant would say that Smith was better than Jones.”

“One’s a better catch but the other one’s a better dresser. You see that all the time.”

“Exactly. The president’s advisor said the Wolders were ahead of us in biology but behind in physics. The biology thing is interesting and I need to talk about that, but it’s physics that’s central right now.”

“Central how?”

“Remember Smith and Jones. To John, the president’s advisor, the warp drive that lets us probe the universe in hoppers is what’s important. He could make an excellent case for that, and so could I. We have the warp drive, and Woldercan doesn’t.”

Cassie nodded.

“Still, physicists on Woldercan know things we don’t, and as a result can do things we can’t do. One of the things they can do is transform other materials into gold by altering their atomic structure.”

“Wow!”

Gideon shrugged. “Actually we can do that, too; but the cost is very high and the amounts minute. Woldercan has brought the cost way down and the yield up. Endless riches?”

“You don’t sound like it is.”

“Correct. There’s a flaw. The flaw is that while you’re making large quantities of gold, which is what you want, you also make small quantities of other elements, and some are quite radioactive. The result is that the gold you make is radioactive for practical purposes. You can’t purify it enough to weed out everything. I don’t mean that one day’s exposure to that gold will kill you. It won’t even make you sick, unless there’s a lot of it. But months or years — protracted exposure...”

“You’re saying that’s what my bracelet was. I believe you.”

“I believe it, too.” Gideon looked glummer than ever. “As of now I can’t prove it, but I believe it. The first clue was that it was a massive gold bracelet without gems. You called it barbaric, but that’s not Reis’s style. The weight of the long box he kept it in made my conclusion almost certain. He wouldn’t have wanted to carry it around without some shielding. There are millions of craftsmen who could make him a long box of thin lead and cover it with leather. Ian Mersey might manage it. I wouldn’t be surprised.”

“Who’s Ian Mersey?”

“Oh. The man who repaired your wall.”

“You know him?”

“Slightly, yes. He seems a good all-around handyman; but I’d like to talk about biology, and we don’t have much time.”

“I’m not ready yet. Where do you think our friend got the radioactive gold?”

“I believe he made it. I suppose you’re right — it isn’t really clear that he did, but it’s what I think. I think it because it explains other things.”

“Like why the president wants him,” Cassie said.

“Exactly.” Gideon gave her a sad nod. “They want him, and they want him alive. Alive because they want him to tell them where his equipment is and how to operate it. Why they’ve found him so hard to catch is another question, one I can’t answer yet. May I talk about biology?”

“No. Where were you, Gid? What happened? I want to know about those things.”

He nodded. “You should know them, too. I was walking down the second-floor hall of my building, on my way to my flat. I heard a noise and saw a man behind me with a gun. I broke down the nearest door, hoping to hide in there. He shot me as I was going through the doorway.”

“You can’t be sure? I want to see your leg.”

“You won’t, because I’m not going to take the bandage off. Not yet. Anyway, he followed me in and I threw a cleaver at him. It hit him in the face and must have cut him pretty badly. He dropped his gun and ran.”

“And?”

“I tied dish towels around my leg and drove over to see a man I know. He’s not a doctor, but he knows a lot about treating bullet wounds. He told me I was lucky; the bullet hadn’t hit anything important and had gone through, so he didn’t have to worry about getting it out. He took out some scraps of cloth — tiny scraps, you understand — sewed me up, dressed the wounds, and gave me a couple of injections. After that, I came here.”