If he hadn’t lost his memory, Josh might have remarked thatfinally Henry was wearing one of his shirts in an appropriate setting, but inhis amnesiac state, he didn’t even know who this man was.
“Hurry,” said the new arrival, “into the bathroom. And don’tspeak, we haven’t much time.”
Josh immediately picked up that this mysterious strangerspoke in the same Australian accent as Vanessa. Curious, and more than a littleapprehensive, he complied.
“Who are you?” he asked as soon as the bathroom door wasclosed. “And what are you doing here? I thought everyone was supposed to bedead.”
“Keep your voice down,” whispered Henry. “Vanessa’s got thiswhole place wired for sound and your room’s under constant surveillance. Wecan’t let her know I’m here.”
“If that’s the case, won’t she have seen you come in?” askedJosh.
“She shouldn’t have,” said Henry. “I won’t show up on thecameras. Handy little device, this.”
He pulled the right-hand side of his shirt up, revealing asmall electronic gadget attached to his belt.
“It neutralises all electronic surveillance devices,” hesaid. “It’s a little something the Australian government had me knock up forthe secret service. I kept this one, you know, just in case I ever fanciedrobbing a bank or anything.”
“Very handy,” replied Josh.
“Unfortunately, you don’t have one, so that’s why you’ve gotto keep quiet. She’s got cameras and microphones everywhere, even in here.”
“You mean she can watch me when I’m on the toilet?” askedJosh, feeling slightly grossed out.
“In theory,” replied Henry, “but I wouldn’t worry too muchabout that. Vanessa may be many things, but she’s not a pervert. And right atthis moment, she’s in the shower, so we can talk freely but only for a fewminutes.”
“OK, well, perhaps you’d better start by telling me exactlywho you are,” suggested Josh.
“Henry Jones, at your service,” he replied, stretching out ahand for Josh to shake. But Josh didn’t reciprocate.
“Henry Jones?” he exclaimed. “The mass murderer who releasedthe virus that killed all of humankind?”
“Ha ha,” chuckled Henry, “is that what she told you? I’vegot to hand it to her, she knows how to spin a good yarn. Mind you, she’s soderanged she’s probably even convinced herself it’s true. No. I’m afraid I’mnot the monster she’s made me out to be.”
“What is the truth, then?” asked Josh, feeling bewildered bythis whole experience. He hated the fact that he had lost his memory, and nowit seemed there were two different people giving him two different versions ofevents.
“Vanessa was responsible for both the creation and therelease of the virus,” said Henry. “She was madly and obsessively in love withyou and when it went unrequited, she started killing people to get to you –including me, as it happens.”
“You’re looking remarkably well under the circumstances,”said Josh.
“It wasn’t the same version of me,” replied Henry. “I’m notfrom your universe. I’m from another one that’s extremely similar to this one.In that parallel world, you and I are good friends and I’m pretty sure that wasthe case here, too, before Vanessa went on the rampage wiping people out left,right and centre.”
“And she didn’t do that in your universe?” asked Josh.
“Apparently not. It seems that she tried to mow me down witha car but failed, crashed the car and was arrested at the scene. It seems thatshe succeeded here, and that is where the timeline deviates.”
“Assuming all this is true, why have you come here now andhow do you even know about it? It seems a lot of risk if Vanessa is asdangerous as you say. You could have just stayed in the safety of your ownuniverse.”
“That’s the thing. It’s not safe,” replied Henry. “She’s more dangerous than you can possible believe.”
“Perhaps you should explain why,” suggested Josh.
“OK. I was monitoring the multiverse from my own universewhen I noticed something extremely disturbing. Dozens and dozens of paralleluniverses were disappearing. As you can imagine, this was extremelydisconcerting because if my own had vanished, that would have been the end ofmy existence.”
“Disconcerting is probably an understatement,” said Josh.
“Indeed,” said Henry. “When I investigated further, Idiscovered that all the deletions were originating from your universe, andspecifically from this time and place.”
“The island?” asked Josh. “Which is where exactly? Vanessaskirted around that subject whenever I asked her. Not only have I lost mymemory, I don’t even know where I am.”
“You’re on one of a chain of small islands south of SaintVincent that make up the Grenadines,” replied Henry. “Once I tracked down thesource, it was a relatively simple task to nip across from my universe to findout what was going on. I had to travel to the island first, though, which wasquite a challenge. This place is somewhat remote.”
“You make it sound like you were just hopping on a bus,”said Josh. “The technology to do that must be amazing.”
“You should know,” replied Henry. “You invented it.”
“Really?” said Josh, feeling quite proud of himself. “I mustbe a pretty clever chap!”
“You are,” said Henry, “and you’re generally not shy aboutreminding people of that.”
“I wish I could remember,” said Josh ruefully. “But like Isaid before, I’ve lost my memory, a side effect of the plague.”
“Oh, I doubt that,” said Henry. “Your memory loss will bedown to her, mark my words.”
“I’d like to believe you,” said Josh. “You seem genuineenough, but it’s hard to know what to think really. She’s told me one thing andyou’ve told me another. My gut feel tells me you’re telling the truth, but howcan I be sure?”
“Quite a predicament for you, I’m sure,” replied Henry. “Youprobably want proof. I can’t give it you right now, but I can tell you how toget it. Like I said before, your memory loss is almost certainly nothing to dowith the virus. Vanessa will be behind it. This is just her latest way oftrying to seduce you. She would have known there was no way you would ever haveagreed to be with her knowing the things she’s done. Killing your wife, for astart.”
“My wife?” said Josh. “She said she was my wife.”
“No, she was mine,” said Henry. “Confusing, isn’t it? Now,listen. Memory wiping was another thing the secret service had
