Chapter 35

Aimee was so wrapped in her thoughts it took her several seconds to notice the huge machine that had suddenly appeared in her entry hallway. The hallway was large with a high ceiling, but Solomon had to place the TDM carefully so as not to damage any of Aimee’s beautiful artwork.

“Oh my!”

“I’m sorry to startle you, Aimee Saito. I beg your pardon for such an unannounced and intrusive entrance. I must have frightened you terribly.”

It was the only explanation Solomon could think of for the terrible state of her lovely eyes. Even worse than when he had previewed the scene, her eyes were red and the flesh around them looked dark and puffy. He couldn’t tell if it was from lack of sleep, crying, or both. Whatever it was, he knew he was in some way responsible.

“Not at all!” she protested. “I was just ... thinking of other things. Yes, you startled me.” Her tone changed completely as she visibly pulled herself together. “So this is it, your fantastic creation,” the scientist in her took charge. “Could you please show it to me?”

As Solomon showed her the main features of the machine, he could not get over how tired and depressed she seemed. This probably was not the best mood to catch her in considering what he wanted to tell her, but he had absolutely no choice. Because they were both distracted, the tour of the TDM was brief. Very aware of the time limit he had placed on himself before the rest of the group would assume the worst, Solomon practically swept Aimee off her feet and onto the couch.

“Aimee, I have something critically important to tell you.”

“‘Critically!’ Yes, I assumed from your mode of arrival it must be so. Unless you’ve become quite the show off since you were a boy, Solomon.”

“Aimee, please don’t tease me,” Solomon pleaded. “I’m afraid I have a great confession to make, and you must take me seriously.”

“When was Solomon Barnaby Smith ever anything but serious? Oh, all right, Solomon,” Aimee hushed him as he started to protest again. “I’ll stop my little teasing while you tell me this terrible confession.”

Solomon wished he could just take her in his arms and kiss all of their problems away. In spite of her own evident distress, she wanted to cajole him out of his somber mood! How could he take a chance on ruining such a wonderful relationship before it really got going? Because he had no choice.

Solomon heaved a tremendous sigh. That was enough to make Aimee give up her attempts to lighten the mood. In spite of the pleasure of his visit and the unexpected sight of the TDM, her previous dark mood descended on her fully.

They stared at each other. The pain each saw in the eyes of the other wounded them more deeply than their own troubles. However, they knew words would have to be spoken before hugs could be exchanged. Aimee waited patiently for Solomon to speak.

He wanted to tell her of his love for her, that he didn’t want to turn her away from him. He wanted to ask her to understand his side of it, and to think about other points of view – not just his, but of the many billions of people who were suffering in enforced silence. But Solomon knew rationalizing things in advance would do no good. He just had to tell her and allow her natural reaction to dictate how the rest of the conversation would go.

“Aimee, the past few days when we were together ... I mean, other than the fact that it was wonderful and one of the happiest times of my life ... well, you have heard my views on the current social order.”

“If you mean your disapproval of the Zaibatsu and our socio-economic system, yes, I believe I understand your opinions.”

“Ah. Yes, I’m sure you do. Well, I understand that you probably don’t approve of those opinions.”

Her face seemed to personify the inscrutable Oriental character that was more legend than fact. But she betrayed nothing with words, so Solomon doggedly pressed on.

“And you must know there is a group called the Revos.”

“Yes, I’ve certainly heard of them.”

Solomon took a deep breath. No matter what the personal danger, he must venture everything now, on this one spin of the wheel.

“I don’t know if you suspected that I am a member of the Revos.”

This time, Aimee’s face registered a trace of surprise.

“I ... I don’t know. I suppose, with your viewpoints, it must certainly have been possible. I must admit, I had not consciously thought of that, no.”

“Aimee, my dear – I’m sorry, I shouldn’t use any affectionate terms at this point...”

She brushed that away with a slight wave of her hand. Solomon was encouraged by the gesture.

“Aimee, I’m more than a member. I’m one of the leaders of the Revos.”

The silence weighed upon them like a cold in the chest – enough to make their breathing heavier, but not life-threatening. They were both well aware they would survive the moment.

“One of the leaders! My goodness. I would have supposed you were busy enough with your work without leading a world-wide movement to overthrow the government.”

“Aimee!” Solomon barked in disbelief. He didn’t know whether to laugh or to scold her for levity at such a serious moment. “This is not a joke,” he concluded. “I am perfectly serious. I am one of the three people most responsible for the Revos movement. I am one of the most sought after criminals of the World Council.”

“Are you trying to impress me, Solomon?”

Incredulity overwhelmed him. He did laugh. He laughed long and uncontrollably. After a moment, Aimee could not help but join him. The laughter became nearly hysterical as they fell into each other’s arms. They finally burned each other out in this great relief from their tremendous internal pressure. The outburst left them both limp, but much more relaxed than before.

“Aimee, you know I’m serious,” Solomon said, hating to spoil that wonderful mood. Nevertheless, he reluctantly released her from his embrace.

“Yes, Solomon, I do. With what I remember of you as a young boy, it seems rather unbelievable you could be one of the leaders of a revolutionary group.”

“Perhaps it is. But I freely admit it, Aimee Keiko Saito. In fact, I am rather proud of this above my other modest accomplishments, that I have opposed the corruption of the system in terms of deceit, suppression of the masses, and the creation of a virtual world prison.”

“Solomon, don’t you think that’s exaggerating the situation quite dramatically?”

“Not in the least. Aimee, it’s even worse than that. The Zaibatsu will actually kill people, they will commit acts of terrible evil to maintain their power.”

“You have personal experience of this?”

“You mean other than Robert Winston Wood?”

“That’s speculation, based on what he told you. You also have no evidence of what happened to him after he was E-termed.”

“Very well then. When Barnaby Smith and I left your office the night you caught us snooping – yes, I admit it! – we were walking down a hallway back towards the TDM. Aimee, please remember our crime at that time was breaking into the building and into your office. We had committed no violence, and had not even been tried. But the Security Force have listening devices in the walls. They may have even known what type of files we were trying to access. Aimee, they tried to kill us!”

“How do you know that?”

“They fired photon rays at us as we were walking away. Aimee, they blew a hole in a wall of your office building large enough for a flitcab! Surely, you must have noticed!”

Aimee nodded. “Yes, the next day I happened to witness the repair of the hole. There was some ridiculous story of a photon energy source ‘exploding’ as it was transported in the building. That didn’t make sense, but I couldn’t think of another logical explanation.”

“That wasn’t the end of it. My other persona ... I mean, something must have delayed them, but they finally found us as we were trying to jump out of there in the TDM. The SF had their own working model of the TDM, plus a black hole detector that allowed them to follow us through Time. They chased us to several locations. At each one, they used various weapons in an attempt to kill us. Quite frankly, I don’t think they had any concern for the innocent people around us, putting them in danger in their attempt to stop us. It was only because their machine was a crude model that they ultimately destroyed themselves.”

Aimee thought for a moment.

“Solomon, if they knew you were in the building because they heard you talking, how come they weren’t able to identify your voice? And, if you were talking about me, why didn’t they directly interrogate me about the incident? In spite of the fact you were in my office, I haven’t seen any evidence that I’m under suspicion.”

“Barney and I were wearing voice distorters the entire trip. And we never actually said your name during our conversation, so the SF would have no evidence linking you.”

“I see.”

“Aimee, I have no proof of my story. I can only give you my word, and hope you will believe me.”

It was Aimee’s turn to sigh deeply. Solomon could see she was deeply troubled, and waited anxiously for her reply.

“Solomon,” she finally said, “I have a confession as well. The night you and your relative were in my office did make me very suspicious. Your behavior during your recent visit especially made me question your dislike of our government. I mean, our last conversation before you left for the shuttle...” She smiled wanly. “Well, it was rather revealing, I do believe.”

“Yes, I thought so as well. But you obviously did not report me.”

Aimee frowned.

“No, I could not. Not only because ... well, my personal feelings for you, but because of all the information I was suddenly being exposed to. I mean, the incident in my office building, and the experience we had at the farm. I remembered their treatment of Jennifer and Thomas. Then, after all of the stories you told me ... I suppose I was starting to get a picture about the SF and their masters I didn’t like.”

“So you investigated,” Solomon stated.

Aimee gave a pale ghost of a smile. He knew exactly what her reaction would be – undoubtedly the same as his, if the situation was reversed.