The Pursuit of the Pankera: A Parallel Novel About Parallel Universes Read online

  “But, guest or not, he was someone who knew that Doctor Burroughs would be at your party. Hilda, who knew that key fact?”

  She answered with uncustomary seriousness. “I don’t know, Zebbie. I would have to think.”

  “Think hard.”

  “Mmm, not many. Several were invited because Jake was coming—you, for example—”

  “I became aware of that.”

  “—but you weren’t told that Jake would be present. Some were told—‘No Brain,’ for example—but I can’t imagine that old fool booby-trapping a car.”

  “I can’t either, but killers don’t look like killers; they look like people. How long before the party did you tell ‘Brainy’ that Pop would be present?”

  “I told him when I invited him. Mmm, eight days ago.”

  I sighed. “The possibles include not only the campus but the entire globe. So we must try to figure probables. Doctor Burroughs, can you think of anyone who would like to see you dead?”

  “Several!”

  “Let me rephrase it. Who hates your guts so bitterly that he would not hesitate to kill your daughter as long as he got you? And also bystanders such as Hilda and me. Not that we figure, save to show that he didn’t give a hoot who caught it. A deficient personality. Amoral. Who is he?”

  Pop Burroughs hesitated. “Doctor Carter, disagreement between mathematicians can be extremely heated … and I am not without fault.” (You’re telling me, Pop!) “But these quarrels rarely result in violence. Even the death of Archimedes was only indirectly related to his—our—profession. To encompass my daughter as well—no, even Doctor Brain, much as I despise him, does not fit the picture.”

  Deety said, “Zeb, could it have been me they were shooting at?”

  “You tell me. Whose dolly have you busted?”

  “Hmm—I can’t think of anyone who dislikes me even enough to snub me. Sounds silly but it’s true.”

  “It’s the truth,” put in Sharpie. “Deety is just like her mother was. When Jane—Deety’s mother, and my best friend until we lost her—when Jane and I were roommates in college, I was always getting into jams and Jane was always getting me out—and never got into one herself. A peacemaker. So is Deety.”

  “Okay, Deety, you’re out of it. So is Hilda and so am I, as whoever placed that booby trap could not predict that either Hilda or I would be in blast range. So it’s Pop they’re gunning for. Who we don’t know, why we don’t know. When we figure out why, we’ll know who. Meantime we’ve got to keep Pop out of range. I’m going to marry you as fast as possible, not only because you smell good but to give me a legitimate interest in this fight.”

  “So we go first to Reno.”

  “Shut up, Sharpie. We’ve been on course for Reno since we leveled off.” I flipped on the transponder, but to the left, not right. It would now answer with a registered, legal signal … but not one registered to my name. This cost me some shekels I did not need but were appreciated by a tight-lipped family man in Indio. Sometimes it is convenient not to be identified by sky cops every time one crosses a state line.

  “But we aren’t going to Reno. Those cowboy maneuvers were intended to deceive the eye, radar, and heat seekers. The evasion against the heat seekers—that rough turn while we were still in glide—either worked or was not needed, as we haven’t had a missile up the tail. Probably wasn’t needed; people who booby-trap cars aren’t likely to be prepared to shoot a duo out of the sky. But I couldn’t be certain, so I ducked. We may be assumed to be dead in the blast and fire, and that assumption may stand up until the mess has cooled down and there is daylight to work by. Even later it may stand up, as the cops may not tell anyone that they were unable to find organic remains. But I must assume that Professor Moriarty isn’t fooled, that he is watching by repeater scope in his secret HQ, that he knows we are headed for Reno, and that hostiles will greet us there. So we won’t go there. Now quiet, please; I must tell this baby what to do.”

  The computer-pilot of my car can’t cook but what she can do, she does well. I called for the display map, changed scale to include Utah, used the light pen to trace route—complex as it curved around Reno to the south, back north again, made easting over some very empty country, and passed north of Hill Air Force Range in approaching Logan. I fed in height-above-ground while giving her leeway to smooth out bumps, and added one change in speed-over-ground once we were clear of Reno radar. “Got it, girl?” I asked her.

  “Got it, Zeb.”

  “Ten-minute call, please.”

  “Call you ten minutes before end of routing—right!”

  “You’re a Smart Girl, Gay.”

  “Boss, I bet you tell that to all the girls. Over.”

  “Roger and out, Gay.” The display faded.

  Certainly I could have programmed my autopilot to accept a plan in response to a punched “Execute.” But isn’t it pleasanter to be answered by a warm contralto? But the “Smart Girl” aspect lay in the fact that it took my voice to make a flight plan operative. A skilled electron pusher might find a way to override my lock, then drive her manually. But the first time he attempted to use autopilot, the car would not only not accept the program but would scream for help on all police frequencies. This causes car thieves to feel maladjusted.

  I looked up and saw that Deety had been following this intently. I waited for some question. Instead Deety said, “She has a very pleasant voice, Zeb.”

  “Gay Deceiver is a very nice girl, Deety.”

  “And talented. Zeb, I have never before been in a Ford that can do the things this car—Gay Deceiver?—can do.”

  “After we’re married I’ll introduce you to her more formally. It will require reprogramming.”

  “I look forward to knowing her better.”

  “You will. Gay is not exactly all Ford. Her external appearance was made by Ford of Canada. Most of the rest of her once belonged to Australian Defense Forces. But I added a few doodads. The bowling alley. The powder room. The veranda. Little homey touches.”

  “I’m sure she appreciates them, Zeb. I know I do. I suspect that, had she not had them, we would all be as dead as canasta.”

  “You may be right. If so, it would not be the first time Gay has kept me alive. You have not seen all her talents.”

  “I’m beyond being surprised. So far as I could see you didn’t tell her to land at Logan.”

  “Logan seems to be the next most likely place for a reception committee. Who in Logan knows that you and your father were going to visit Hilda?”

  “No one, through me.”

  “Mail? Milk cartons? Newspapers?”

  “No deliveries to the house, Zeb.” She turned her head. “Pop, does anyone in Logan know where we went?”

  “Doctor Carter, to the best of my knowledge, no one in Logan knows that we left. Having lived many years in the buzzing gossip of academe, I have learned to keep my life as private as possible.”

  “Then I suggest that you all ease your belts and sleep. Until ten minutes before reaching Logan there is little to do.”

  “Doctor Carter—”

  “Better call me Zeb, Pop. Get used to it.”

  “ ‘Zeb’ it is, son. On page eighty-seven of your monograph, after the equation numbered one-twenty-one in your discussion of the rotation of six-dimensional spaces of positive curvature, you said, ‘From this it is evident that—’ and immediately write your equation one-twenty-two. How did you do it? I’m not disagreeing, sir—on the contrary! But in an unpublished paper of my own I used a dozen pages to arrive at the same transformation. Did you have a direct intuition? Or did you simply omit publishing details? No criticism, I am impressed either way. Sheer curiosity.”

  “Doctor, I did not write that paper. I told Deety so.”

  “That is what he claimed, Pop.”

  “Oh, come now! Two Doctors Zebulon E. Carter on one campus?”

  “No. But that’s not my name. I’m Zebadiah J. Carter. Zebulon ‘E’-for-Edward Carter and cal
led ‘Ed’ is my cousin. While he is probably listed as being on campus, in fact he is doing an exchange year in Singapore. It’s not as improbable as it sounds; all male members of my family have first names starting with ‘Z.’ It has to do with money and a will and a trust fund and the fact that my grandfather and his father were somewhat eccentric.”

  “Whereas you aren’t,” Hilda said sweetly.

  “Quiet, dear.” I turned toward Deety. “Deety, do you want to be released from our engagement? I did try to tell you that you had trapped the wrong bird.”

  “Zebadiah—”

  “Yes, Deety?”

  “I intend to marry you before this night is over. But you haven’t kissed me. I want to be kissed.”

  I unfastened my seat belt, started to unfasten hers, found that she had done so.

  Deety kisses even better than she tangos.

  During a break for oxygen, I asked her in a whisper: “Deety, what do your initials stand for?”

  “Well … please don’t laugh.”

  “I won’t. But I have to know them for the ceremony.”

  “I know. All right, Dee Tee stands for Dejah Thoris.”

  Dejah Thoris—Dejah Thoris Burroughs—Dejah Thoris Carter! I cracked up. I got it under control after two whoops. Too many.

  Deety said sadly, “You said you wouldn’t laugh.”

  “Deety darling, I wasn’t laughing at your name; I was laughing at mine.”

  “I don’t think ‘Zebadiah’ is a funny name. I like it.”

  “So do I. It keeps me from being mixed up with the endless Bobs and Eds and Toms. But I didn’t tell my middle name. What’s a funny name starting with ‘J’?”

  “I won’t guess.”

  “Let me lead up to it. I was born near the campus of the university Thomas Jefferson founded. The day I graduated from college I was commissioned a second looie Aerospace Reserve. I’ve been promoted twice. My middle initial stands for ‘John.’ ”

  It took not quite a second for her to add it up. “Captain … John … Carter—of Virginia.”

  “A clean-limbed fighting man,” I agreed. “Kaor, Dejah Thoris. At your service, my princess. Now and forever!”

  “Kaor, Captain John Carter. Helium is proud to accept.”

  We fell on each other’s shoulders, howling. After a bit the howling died down and turned into another kiss.

  When we came up for air, Hilda tapped me on a shoulder. “Would you let us in on the joke?”

  “Do we tell her, Deety?”

  “I’m not sure. Aunt Hilda talks.”

  “Oh, nonsense! I know your full name and I’ve never told anyone—I held you at your christening. You were wet, too. At both ends. Now give!”

  “All right. We don’t have to get married—we already are. For years. More than a century.”

  Pop spoke up. “Eh? What’s this?” I explained to him. He looked thoughtful, then nodded. “Logical.” He went back to figuring he was doing in a notebook, then looked up. “Your cousin Zebulon—is he on the telephone?”

  “Probably not but he lives at the New Raffles.”

  “Excellent. I’ll try both the hotel and the university. Doctor—son—Zeb, would you be so kind as to place the call? My comcredit code is Nero Aleph eight zero one dash seven five two dash three nine three two Zed Star Zed.” (Zed Star Zed credit rating—I was not going to have to support my prospective father-in-law.)

  Deety cut in. “Pop, you must not call Professor Carter—Zebulon Carter—at this hour.”

  “But, my dear daughter, it is not late at night in—”

  “Of course it isn’t; I can count. You want a favor from him, so don’t interrupt his after-lunch nap. ‘Mad dogs and Englishmen.’ ”

  “It isn’t noon in Singapore; it’s—”

  “—siesta time, even hotter than noon. So wait.”

  “Deety is right, Pop,” I interrupted, “but for the wrong reasons. It doesn’t seem to be a matter of life and death to call him this minute. Whereas it might be a matter of life and death—ours, I mean—to make a call from this car … especially with your credit code. Until we find out who the Boys in the Black Hats are, I advise that you place calls from the ground and from public phones that you can feed with newdollars instead of your code. Say a phone in Peoria. Or Paducah. Can it wait?”

  “Since you put it that way, sir—yes, it can wait. Although I have trouble believing that anyone wishes to kill me.”

  “Available data indicate it.”

  “Agreed. But I have not yet grasped it emotionally.”

  “Takes a baseball bat,” said Hilda. “I had to sit on him while Jane proposed to him.”

  “Why, Hilda my dear, that is utterly unfactual. I wrote my late beloved a polite note saying—”

  I let them argue while I tried to add to available data. “Gay Deceiver.”

  “Yes, Boss?”

  “News, dear.”

  “Ready, Boss.”

  “Retrieval parameters. Time—since twenty-one hundred. Area—California, Nevada, Utah. Persons—your kindly boss, dear. Doctor Jacob Burroughs, Doctor D. T. Burroughs, Miz Hilda Corners—” I hesitated. “Professor Neil O’Heret Brain.” I felt silly adding “Brainy”—but there had been a row between Pop and him, and years before my best teacher had said, “Never neglect the so-called trivial roots of an equation,” and had pointed out that two Nobel prizes had derived from “trivial” roots.

  “Parameters complete, Boss?”

  Doctor Burroughs touched my shoulder. “Can your computer check the news, if any, on your cousin?”

  “Mmm, maybe. She stores sixty million bytes, then wipes last-in-last-out everything not placed on permanent. But her news storage is weighted sixty-forty in favor of North America. I’ll try. Smart Girl.”

  “Holding, Boss.”

  “Addendum. First retrieve by parameters given. Then retrieve by new program. Time—backward from now to wipe time. Area—Singapore. Person—Zebulon Edward Carter aka Ed Carter aka Doctor Z. E. Carter aka Professor Z. E. Carter aka Professor or Doctor Carter of Raffles University.”

  “Two retrieval programs in succession. Got it, Zeb.”

  “You’re a Smart Girl, Gay.”

  “Boss, I bet you tell that to all the girls. Over.”

  “Roger, Gay. Execute!”

  “AP San Francisco. A mysterious explosion disturbed the academic quiet of—” A story ending with the usual claim about an arrest being expected “momentarily” settled several points: all of us were believed dead. Our village top cop claimed to have a theory but was keeping it mum—meaning that he knew even less than we did. Since we were reported as “presumed dead” and since the news said nothing about an illegal lift-off and other capers that annoy sky cops, I assumed tentatively that police radar had not been looking at us until after we had become just one more blip behaving legally. The lack of mention of the absence of Gay Deceiver did not surprise me, as I had roaded in and had been last or nearly last to park—and could have arrived by taxi, public capsule, or on foot. Doctor Brain was not mentioned, nothing about the row. Guests had been questioned and released. Five cars parked near the explosion had been damaged.

  “Nevada—null retrieval. Utah—UPI Salt Lake City. A fire near Utah State University campus in Logan destroyed—” Blokes in Black Hats again and Deety and her Pop were dead twice over, as they were presumed to have been overcome by smoke, unable to escape. No one else hurt or missing. Fire attributed to faulty wiring. “End of first retrieval, Zeb. Second retrieval starting.” Gay shut up.

  I said soberly, “Pop, somebody doesn’t like you.”

  He groaned. “Gone! All gone!”

  “No copies of your papers elsewhere? And your … gadget?”

  “Eh? No, no! Much worse! My irreplaceable collection of pulp magazines. Weird Tales, Argosy, All-Story, the early Gernsbachs, The Shadow, Black Mask— Ooooooh!”

  “Pop really does feel bad,” Deety whispered, “and I could manage tears myself. I taught m
yself to read from that collection. War Aces, Air Wonder, the complete Clayton Astoundings—it was appraised at two hundred and thirteen thousand newdollars. Grandpop started it, Pop continued it—I grew up reading them.”

  “I’m sorry, Deety.” I hugged her. “They should have been microfiched.”

  “They were. But that’s not having the magazines in your hands.”

  “I agree. Uh, how about the … thing in the basement?”

  “What ‘thing in the basement?’ ” demanded Sharpie. “Zebbie, you sound like H. P. Lovecraft.”

  “Later, Sharpie. Comfort Jake; we’re busy. Gay!”

  “Here, Zeb. Where’s the riot?”

  “Display map, please.” We were midway over northern Nevada. “Cancel routing and cruise random. Report nearest county seat.”

  “Winnemucca and Elko are equidistant to one percent. Elko closer by ETA as I am now vectored eleven degrees north of Elko bearing.”

  “Deety, would you like to be married in Elko?”

  “Zebadiah, I would love to be married in Elko.”

  “Elko it is, but loving may have to wait. Gay, vector for Elko and ground us, normal private cruising speed. Report ETA in elapsed minutes.”

  “Roger Wilco, Elko. Nine minutes seventeen seconds.”

  Hilda said soothingly, “There, there, Jake darling; Mama is here”—then added in her top-sergeant voice, “Quit stalling, Zebbie! What ‘Thing’ in which basement?”

  “Sharpie, you’re nosy. It belonged to Pop and now it’s destroyed and that’s all you need to know.”

  “Oh, but it wasn’t,” Doctor Burroughs said. “Zeb is speaking of my continua craft, Hilda. It’s safe. Not in Logan.”

  “What in the Name of the Dog is a ‘continua craft?’ ”

  “Pop means,” Deety explained, “his time machine.”

  “Then why didn’t he say so? Everybody savvies Time Machine. George Pal’s Time Machine—a classic goodie. I’ve caught it on the late-late-early show more than once.”

  “Sharpie,” I asked, “can you read?”

  “Certainly I can read! ‘Run, Spot, run. See Spot run.’ Smarty.”