side.
Volta held it up for Daniel’s inspection. ‘The lock. A radio-controlled nerve-gas canister. You noticed my tapping the nail. I was sending a coded radio sequence to deactivate it; otherwise it fires automatically when the door is opened. Solar trigger. Fires at the faintest hint of light. The gas isn’t lethal, but it’s instantly incapacitating and makes your recent bout with the flu seem like a Tahitian cruise in comparison.’
‘
‘But probably also includes that powder you threw in my face this morning.’
‘No, I’ll take credit for that. It’s the inner bark of a species of Peruvian pepperbush that is dried to parchment, then finely ground.’
‘Where did that and the cards come from anyway? I saw you roll up your sleeves.’
‘I’m a magician, Daniel, remember? When a magician rolls up his sleeves, it should arouse your suspicions, not lull them.’
‘I’ll watch that,’ Daniel said.
‘Do.’ Volta removed three flat black plastic boxes from a stack inside the safe.
Daniel said lightheartedly, ‘You don’t trust me alone with the family jewels?’
‘Actually, two boxes are the family crystals – we use them to modify our CBs. The other is a taped transmission to Ellison from a group in Canada.’
‘What sort of transmission?’
‘Confidential.’
‘To me, but not Ellison.’
‘You weren’t included in the confidence.’
‘I see.’
Volta closed the safe door and turned to Daniel. ‘I honor confidences. Sometimes it seems silly, given the information. Sometimes it’s literally torture – not physically, or not yet anyway, but heart and soul. But we can’t live without secrets and the trust that bears them. You’ve asked that your ability to vanish be held in confidence. It will be. Our Canadian friends requested their information be kept confidential. It will be. How could you possibly expect me to keep your confidence if I betray theirs?’
‘I didn’t, not really. Ever since I’ve been vanishing, I seem to want to know everything that’s going on, and act against what’s expected. In a weird way it’s made me sort of playfully impulsive.’
‘I thought that might be what was going on,’ Volta said. ‘But you’re fortunate. Your reactions – curiosity, perversity, and goofiness – are much sweeter than mine, which were fits of morbidity and crushing doubt.’
‘Another difference.’
‘Yes. You’re innocent, and I’m experienced.’
‘This morning we were equals.’
‘And so we are. And so are innocence and experience. As are space and time. But as much as I enjoy our little metaphysical chats, I must go explore possibilities for practical application in circumstances we do not control.’
‘And I stay here, working to improve our control and the possibilities for imaginative application. Any instructions?’
Volta said, ‘Walk down to the river and back every morning.’
Daniel waited for a moment before asking, ‘That’s it?’
‘Yes. Beyond that, proceed as you deem wise or as you damn well please or any combination thereof. You take responsibility now. It’s yours to do or fail. Just don’t mistake your abilities for the truth. Don’t worry about the transmissions coming in; they’ll be shuttled. I’ll be back within a week. Don’t run amok. Don’t delude yourself. We need you.’
Volta drove slowly down the mountain. Red Freddie, flying in from Big Sur, wouldn’t arrive at the airstrip till dark. Volta had left early to get away from Daniel and radios and his own weariness. He planned to wait down by the river at the airstrip. Just sit in the sunlight and watch it flow. The summons to New Mexico meant everything was going to start moving fast. He didn’t think Daniel was ready and he wasn’t sure he was either. He hoped the daily trek to the North Fork and back would slow Daniel down. Daniel was too enthralled with the power of vanishing. Certainly Daniel seemed to have the gift for it, if not always the necessary understanding. That was the trouble with youth: power without point. And Daniel still didn’t trust him. Volta smiled behind the wheel. Daniel would trust him even less if he knew that nerve-gas canister was actually one of Mott’s polyresin sculptures from his True Cubism period, a birthday present from ten years ago. But that was the good thing about youth: it was gullible.
It was a steep two-hour scramble down to the North Fork and a tough four-hour pull back up. Daniel had expected to see the river gliding smooth and bright along a wide plain; instead, high with the late winter runoff, it was brawling through a narrow, boulder-strewn gorge. The roar of the coffee-colored water was so loud he didn’t hear the bear crashing through the thin screen of stunted willows toward him. Fortunately, he saw it. He threw a piece of handy driftwood at the bear, and in the same moment vanished. He moved behind the willows, reappeared, and watched. The bear was standing motionless, peering at the stick Daniel had thrown, occasionally wriggling his nose along its length. He touched it with a paw. When it didn’t leap at him, he picked it up in his jaws. Daniel was astonished when the bear shambled down to the river’s edge and almost delicately released the stick into the swift current.
