Nobody Gets The Girl (10 page)

Before she could swing, Dr. Knowbokov slipped
up silently behind her and snatched the bat away. "Katrina," he
said. "We should talk."

Katrina spun around and slapped him. Richard
winced. The doctor stood stoically, unfazed by the blow.

"How dare you?" Katrina said. "How dare you
tell me we should talk when you know every word I will say?"

"I knew you would strike me," said Dr.
Knowbokov. "And chose to receive the blow, in hopes you would feel
better for having struck me. Whether I anticipate your words or not
won't negate the therapeutic effect of saying them."

"Sometimes I think you've spent the last
thirty years dreaming up ever more elaborate ways to break my
sanity," said Katrina. "How can you stand there so calmly and tell
me we should talk?"

"What other path would you have me follow?"
asked Dr. Knowbokov.

Katrina brushed the hair back from her face
and set her jaw as her lower lip trembled.

"No matter how you feel," said Dr. Knowbokov,
"it's unwise to start wrecking exhibits. Breathing the fumes of the
aqua regia fish could damage your lungs. And there are things you
could unleash here that would be even more dangerous to you."

"Nothing could be more dangerous to me than
you," said Katrina, slipping past Dr. Know, walking quickly, though
gracefully, back toward the library.

Dr. Know knelt down, sighing. He tilted the
overturned crib back onto its rockers. He said, "I'm sorry you had
to see that, Richard."

"I feel like I should be apologizing," said
Richard. "I didn't mean to spy on your wife. She just seemed so
upset. And in the kitchen, she was... I mean she—"

"She was talking about killing me," said Dr.
Knowbokov. "I know. I fear we have entered a terrible downward
spiral, she and I. The more I know and understand what she is
feeling, the more I attempt to react to it, to offer my help. But
this only serves to further remind her that I am aware of her
thoughts. Sarah didn't help matters when she used her powers on
Katrina the night you first joined us. That hadn't happened in
years. It stirred up unpleasant memories, I fear."

"Unpleasant memories?"

"I can only say that life has not been easy
for Katrina. Sarah and Amelia both demonstrated their powers from
childhood. Sarah was especially challenging for Katrina. Imagine
having your will subverted to the needs and desires of an infant. I
attempted to isolate Katrina from Sarah, but this seemed to trigger
even greater pain."

"I can see how this would lead to marital
strife," said Richard. "But, if I may ask a blunt question, why
doesn't she just leave you? Better still, why don't you send her
away? Set her up in a nice little house someplace far away from
your crazy little world and let her get back to a normal life?"

"She would never be safe from my enemies if
she left this island," said Dr. Knowbokov. "Her situation is
difficult, but I continue to have faith that one day she'll be able
to accept my 'crazy little world.’"

LATER THAT NIGHT, he went back to the museum
with Sarah.

"I don't even know where to begin asking
questions," said Richard. "What is all this stuff? Heck, let's
start with the winged snake."

"Quetzalcoatl," said Sarah. "It was some kind
of god to the ancient Aztecs or Incas or whatever. Rex Monday
triggered a spell that brought it back to life. Amelia killed it.
When it died, all of its feathers and flesh just turned to dust and
blew off, leaving the skeleton. This isn't even close to the
strangest thing I've seen in my life."

"As long as we're on the big exhibits, what's
up with the rocket ship?"

"Is that a joke? Up? Rocket?"

"Uh, no," said Richard.

"It's not a real rocket," said Sarah. "It
doesn't have any engines. Amelia just picked it up and moved it
around with her mind the only time she had to use it."

"OK. How about the dinosaurs in petri
dishes?"

"Some weird side effect of Dad's earlier
attempt at a time machine. I can only say that you've never really
itched until you've had microscopic velociraptors in your pubic
hair."

"Ew," said Richard.

Sarah took out a cigarette. Within five
seconds of her lighting it, a silver bumblebee-sized robot swooped
down from the ceiling and extinguished it in a puff of
lemon-scented mist. It buzzed away before Sarah could swat it.

"Damn it," she said. "Dad couldn't be
satisfied with a simple no smoking sign?"

"Would you obey it?" asked Richard.

"Don't give me grief," said Sarah. "I smoke.
It's a bad habit. It pisses Dad off maybe even more than me using
my powers on Mom. But I'll stop on my timetable, not his."

"They say that every cigarette you smoke
takes a day off your life," said Richard.

"If that were true you wouldn't be the only
person in the room who'd never been born. I'd be, like, negative
forty-three by now."

Richard laughed, but then was hit by a
serious thought. "About your mother," he said. "Look, I don't know
if I should tell you this, but she seems to really hate your
dad."

"Duh," said Sarah. "She hates me, too. She's
been scared of me since before I can remember."

"Do you hate her?"

"No. Of course not. Jeez. She's my mother. I
feel sorry for her more than anything, I guess. When she married
Dad he was just a normal guy. A very smart physicist normal guy,
but he wasn't telepathic. When they were planning to have babies,
she definitely wasn't planning on the freak show she got. On the
other hand, Amelia and I didn't exactly get to pick whether or not
to have weird powers. I wish Mom had learned to deal with it. I
mean, some mothers give birth to babies who are blind, or who have
no hands, or who are retarded, but they still love their kids. Is
it mean of me to want my mother to display even a tiny fraction of
this acceptance?"

"No," said Richard. "It's not mean."

"How about this," she said. "I sometimes wish
my parents were dead."

"Now you're veering into mean," said
Richard.

CHAPTER EIGHT

RED AND WET

Mean or no, Richard enjoyed Sarah's honesty.
Sometimes when he was with her, he could completely forget he had
ever had another life. Waking up next to her was like waking up in
his proper place in the universe. Then, one morning, he woke up in
the dark and found only a note by his side.

"Father called with a mission," the note
said. "Will be gone for a week. Would have woken you but you looked
so peaceful. Plus, I think that if you looked at me right I would
have told my father to do his own dirty work and spent the day here
with you. I don't know that I'm ready for that confrontation yet.
I'll think of you constantly. Love, Sarah."

He couldn't go back to sleep. It was 4 A.M.
Nothing was on television. He decided to spend a little time in the
gymnasium he'd spotted on his ramblings around the mansion. Sarah's
energy had really been pushing him to his physical limits, and he
felt like perhaps he should start doing a little weight lifting.
Comic book heroes always seemed to be packed with muscles no matter
what their profession before they gained their powers. Rocket
scientists, geeky students, and physicians were revealed to have
long ago sent off for the Charles Atlas course the second they
ripped away their shirts to reveal their colorful underwear.
Richard felt a little cheated. He was the same skinny guy he'd
always been. Sarah and Amelia both could probably take him in arm
wrestling.

As he opened the door to the gym, he was
greeted with the solid thumping sound of someone murdering a
punching bag.

Amelia stood in the far corner of the gym, in
old sweats with her hair pinned atop her head. Her hands were bound
with tape, and she was dripping sweat and grunting as she lay into
the heavy bag.

"Kick its ass," said Richard. "America's safe
if Rex Monday ever attacks with an army of intelligent, radioactive
punching bags."

Amelia stopped and wiped her brow.

"Why?" she asked. "You going to talk them to
death?"

"Was that a joke? I don't think I've heard
you tell a joke before."

"There's not much in this world I find
funny," she said.

Looking at her sweaty, stern face, with her
hard, steel-gray eyes, Richard believed her.

"You're not much like your sister," he
said.

She leaned over and grabbed her water bottle.
"My sister's going to get herself killed one day. She doesn't train
like she should. She doesn't push herself."

"She seems healthy enough."

"Healthy doesn't count for much in this game.
Her powers are useful for certain missions, but when there's real
fighting to be done, the burden falls to me. I have to watch both
our backs. Now, I'll have to watch out for you as well."

"I guess," said Richard. "I didn't ask for
this life, you know."

"You signed on voluntarily," said Amelia.
"And you blew your first mission. All you had to do was follow your
target."

"Am I the only one who thinks that saving
those kid's lives was important?"

"My sister approves, apparently," said
Amelia. "She seems to have become fond of you."

"Fond isn't quite the word," Richard said
with a grin.

"You don't seem to take much seriously," said
Amelia.

"Why try? I'm some sort of time-ghost, my
girlfriend flies, and I'm talking with a woman who can pick up
trains with her mind but still feels like she might have to rely on
her fists in a fight. It's easier to just roll with it."

Amelia took a drink from her bottle. "Have
you ever been in a fight, Richard?"

"Not really," he said. "Don't guess I'm
likely to, since no one can touch me."

"I can touch you," said Amelia.

"You wanna fight?" said Richard. "I don't.
You'd whip me from here to next week."

"Worth one shot," said Amelia.

Before Richard could even blink, she had
crossed the twenty or so feet that separated them and planted a
punch squarely on his jaw. Stars flashed before his eyes. When his
vision cleared, he was flat on his back. Amelia knelt over him.

"You're sleeping with my sister," she said.
"I don't approve."

"Ow," said Richard, shaking his head to clear
it. "I don't care what you approve."

He sat up, looking at Amelia warily. "That's
the second time I've been taken out with a shot to the jaw. I don't
like it."

"I suspect you'll grow used to it."

"What? You really think threatening me is
going to make me stop sleeping with Sarah?"

"No," said Amelia. "I'm not threatening you.
I'm making you an offer. Right now you're weak and have zero combat
skills. You're more dangerous to yourself and my family than you
are to any of our enemies. You need martial training. I can provide
it. Who knows? I might train you well enough that I won't be able
to take you down with one punch."

"You must learn your negotiating style from
your father. He destroys my world then sells me on what a great
opportunity it is to make this world a better place. You knock me
out with one punch then want to train me until you can hit me three
or four times before I’m down."

She held out her hand to help him to his
feet. "You went along with father's plan. You want to sign onto
mine?"

"Let me think about it," he said taking her
hand. "I'm not all that eager to be your full-time punching bag.
Why don't you approve of Sarah and me? She's a grown woman. Let her
live her own life."

"As I said, you're weak. I don't want Sarah
getting killed because she's looking out for you in battle."

"Does your father know about Sarah and
me?"

Amelia shrugged. "I don't know. For a man
who's close to omniscient he can sometimes be blind to the
obvious."

"So he didn't send her off on some solo
mission just so you'd have a chance to punch me in the jaw?"

"Father has sent Sarah to Jerusalem. He's
decided to bring her unique talents into play in his efforts to
broker peace."

Richard scoffed. "Christ. Your father wasn't
joking about wanting to save the world. But, c'mon, how long do you
think a peace she negotiates using her powers is going to last over
there? A week, tops."

Amelia walked away from him, back toward the
punching bag. She placed her hand on it to steady herself as her
muscles slackened. She took another swallow of water.

"You're right," she said. "Father hasn't
given up hope, but I'm starting to. I've been fighting for my
father's dream of a perfect world all my life. But I've been to
Jerusalem. I helped bring a riot under control in the Old City. You
can see it in people's eyes. The old grudges there can only be
satisfied with blood. But Father thinks Rex Monday is supplying
arms to the factions there. He'll do whatever it takes to stop
Monday's schemes. If my sister fails, it's only a matter of time
before my father sends me there."

"What can you do that Sarah can't? She is
the, um, persuasive one."

"I can kill people," said Amelia.
"Eventually, it will all boil down to killing people."

The door to the gym opened. It was Mindo.

"Your father sent me for you," Mindo said. "A
situation has developed."

"WOW," SAID RICHARD. "You must make the stock
holders of Radio Shack very happy, Dr. Know."

Monitors and instruments filled the room.
Along the far wall, a bank of televisions displayed broadcasts from
all over the world. In the center of it all was a large padded
chair in which Dr. Know sat.

"This is the first time you've been to my
command hub, Richard," said Dr. Know. "This is also the first time
you've called me by that irritating nickname Sarah finds so
amusing."

"Ah, hell. I knew it was only a matter time
before I slipped up and said it to your face. I'll watch out for
it." Richard silently resolved to use the nickname anytime the
doctor was in earshot.