Gene Wolfe - An Evil Guest

Be in your room about 2:30. I will phone you then. If you are not there, I will have you paged.

It sounds juvenile, I know, but I cannot wait to be with you again. I have loved you for years but never more than now. I shall always love you with all my heart.

She smiled as she read it. Now she nodded to herself, still smiling, and got up. When a dressing gown had covered her, she dialed Room Service and ordered chicken nachos with a glass of skim milk.

What was it Gid had said? She had turned off the lights, saying she would not undress with them on, and he had said, “One day after you get to Kololahi, you’ll be wearing a bikini that covers three square inches. And every man who sees you will foam at the mouth.”

She giggled softly and sat down in front of the best mirror to put on makeup.

When she answered the room-service waiter’s knock, she saw that an envelope had been pushed under her door. She picked it up, but scarcely glanced at it until the waiter had gone and her nachos and skimmed milk were on the little round table that had stood beside the desk.

The note on the front of the envelope had been put there by a woman whose handwriting was clearer than her own.

Hi, Cassie!

This was in the paper I read at breakfast. You were still asleep, I’m sure, so I cut it out for you. It gives me the willies, but I have no idea how you’ll feel about it. Good, I hope.

Cassie opened the envelope with a nail file.

The body of Mr. Scott R. Zeitz, a resident of Marco, Florida, was discovered yesterday in woods near County H. He appears to have been attacked and killed by the pack of feral dogs reported sporadically in that area.

Sheriff Blunden’s office informs us that Mr. Zeitz was a guest at a hotel in this city, having arrived from Florida on Tuesday. The sheriff’s office has made no further comment, but confidential sources have revealed that portions of the body were devoured.

“I have questions,” Cassie said as the black hopper left the curb. “Do you have answers?”

“It depends,” Gideon told her. “Probably not. Try one and we’ll see.” He was watching the computer screen.

“Did you know the wolf would kill Scott?”

“Did he?”

“Yes. By which you mean you didn’t know he would?”

“I suppose. I admit it seemed probable.”

“If you had been sure he would, would you have tried to save him?”

Gideon glanced up. “That’s a hypothetical.”

“Would you?”

“By the time I learned the wolf had taken Scott — which was when you told me over dinner — he was almost certainly dead. Knowing that, and feeling quite certain Bill Reis had set everything in motion, I would have done nothing unless you asked me to.”

“Does your computer still make tea?”

“Certainly. Tea, please, for the lady you served last night. Prepared in the same way, I suppose.”

Cassie nodded.

“More questions? Would you like the grid coordinates for Kololahi?”

“No. Here come some tough ones. You’re still working for the government?”

“For the president, in conjunction with the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Correct.”

“They want you to... ?”

“Arrange for them to capture my employer, Bill Reis, alive or persuade him to give himself up.” Cassie’s tea had emerged, and Gideon handed it to her.

“You’re trying to do that?”

He nodded. “Yes to both.”

“Arthur whatshisname just shot Norma like you’d spray a fly. Couldn’t they do that?”

“Probably, although I don’t know with any certainty. I’m reasonably sure they’ve never tried.”

“Why not?”

“Because they want to learn what he knows. When I spoke to the president, he simply wanted to know how Reis had penetrated some supposedly secure research facilities. Nothing was said about invisibility, and I don’t believe they knew about it then. They do now, because I’ve told them.”

“Are we going where we went up from last night?”

Gideon grinned. “Is that one of the tough questions? Yes. If you know of a better place, tell me and we’ll go there.”

“I just wondered. It seemed like it.” Cassie sipped tea. “I’m not really going to put on one of those bikinis, you know. I’m too fat.”

“You have a question you’re afraid to ask. How’s your tea?”

“Like the questions. Almost too hot. Are you really trying to get Wally caught?”

“That depends on what you mean by trying. Twenty! Ten! Stop!”

The black hopper halted for a traffic light.

“Suppose you’d wanted to stop faster?”

“I’d have said it louder and twice.”

“You’ve been driving with your right leg. You said — ”

“I was wearing the wooden one. This is the modern prosthetic, metal and polymer, thought-controlled. I need to practice using it, too. That time I was thinking of something else, and talking was easier.”

“Can I ask what you were thinking of?”

“Certainly. What the question you’re afraid to ask is. Let me finish.” He touched the accelerator, and the black hopper glided smoothly through the intersection. “I’m not actively trying to get Bill Reis captured, because I don’t see a way to do it as things stand. He’s been out of the country pretty steadily, and by the time I learn he’s reentered, he’s gone again. I hope you’ll help me with that.”

Cassie said nothing.

“I’ve been trying to persuade him to give himself up, however, and trying to persuade the president to offer him better terms. I’m getting close there, or think I am.”

“What’s my next question?”

“What I’m doing for Reis. Pretty much the same thing. I keep him informed as well as I can about Washington and what the various agencies there are doing that bears on his operations. What the people who shot Norma are up to — when I know. What the CIA’s doing, and so on. The FBI feeds me a lot of that information because John and his friends don’t want their rivals to win.”

“But you’re spying on them, too.”

“Of course I am. Don’t think they don’t suspect it.”

They sailed through the last traffic light on green, and Cassie said, “I’ll be in the real South Pacific in just a few minutes? I can’t believe it.”

Gideon nodded. “I can do it, but I can’t make you believe it.” He hesitated. “I can’t make you go, either. Won’t. If you don’t want to go, just say so.”

“Wally will think you talked me out of it.”

Gideon shrugged. “Perhaps.”

“Then he’ll try to kill you. Since you’re working for him, it’ll be a snap. I want to go, Gid. Let’s not talk about that anymore.”

“I meant everything I said in my note.”

“I know you did.” Her lips brushed his cheek — and were gone. “A while back, you told me the president wanted to know how Wally disappears.”

He sighed. “Correct. It would be a grand tool for espionage, both international and domestic.”

“Doesn’t he care about the gold?”

“He certainly does. Even more than he cares about invisibility. He says he simply wants to stop Reis from making it, because he’s unbalancing the world market. The truth, I feel quite certain, is that he wants to make gold himself. He just won’t admit it.”

“None of this makes sense, Gid.” Cassie paused. “Did I just sound plaintive?”

“Very.”

“Good. I felt plaintive, so I thought I might. I have trouble with plaintive onstage, sometimes.”

“You’re the only one who’s noticed.”

“I’ll be a little bit better now if I can remember just how I did that.” Cassie sipped more tea. “What they really want from Wally is what he knows. Isn’t that right? They want to learn how he disappears and how he makes the gold.”