Agents of the Demiurge by Brian Blose Page B

Iteration. If he accepted Ingrid's assertion
that he had been off posing as a child bride in some backwater
country, then that meant seven Observers were accounted for. That
left four suspects. Even if the dreamy Mariana left her study of
animals, she couldn't act worth shit. Greg was a coward who hid
within academia. Mel hated Hess and didn't do much besides obsess
over art. Which left just San.
    San? Could she pull off an almost flawless
impersonation? The crazy bitch was a thrill seeker with no sense of
danger. She was also a close friend of Elza. But if San had been
there, why had she helped them catch Hess in the first place?
    None of the Observers had the guts, the
talent, and the motive to do it. Which left one other possibility.
“Actually, Simone, forget that last message. Instead, I want you to
tell Ingrid 'there is a twelfth'.”
    “A twelfth Observer?”
    “That's right, sister. We got ourselves a
sleeper agent. Guy aligned himself with the wrong side, cause I'm
going to find him.”
    Simone nodded. “And what do I get in exchange
for passing this message?”
    “There's a postage stamp up my ass.”
    “Erik . . . .”
    “Same deal as last time. Ask a question and
I'll give you an answer.”
    “Then I want to know what Hess did that was
so wrong.”
    “I told you before. He tried to change the
world.”
    “I want specifics, Erik, or your message
doesn't go.”
    He took a deep breath. “Dear old Hess has
always had a bit of a soft heart, you see. Took in orphans and shit
like that. Tracked down serial killers from time to time . . . .
Anyway, I never cared about any of that. I do a fair amount of what
the others deem participation .
    “But then, in Iteration one four three, Hess
makes himself king. He takes some tiny nation and conquers most of
the known world. Sets up national academies and a welfare system.
Gets his woman to do fancy accounting that bankrupts everyone
except them. Turns the entire world upside down.
    “He touched the entire world. Everyone was
either under his rule, under the rule of someone allied with him,
or under the rule of one of his enemies. I never had a problem with
the orphans, but this was too far. He stopped observing. The
Creator gave him a holy mission and he went rogue so pathetic
creatures like you would have happier lives.”
    “Is that really so terrible?”
    Erik laughed. “Hell yeah, it is. I don't
expect you to ever understand the big picture, but the lot of you
are ants living in the dirt. What would you think of a man who
bulldozed your house for the benefit of an ant colony?”
    “We are not ants.”
    “Oh, I know. Ants have better character.”
    Simone rolled her eyes. “Why did you take
that man's eye? Did you do it in revenge for the pain he caused
you? Or were you motivated by hatred?”
    “There were a lot of reasons to get pokey
with my thumb. I don't like you creatures to begin with, and your
whole Church opposes existence.”
    “Not existence,” Simone said. “The
Creator.”
    “I thought we were done arguing about what
you people want.”
    “So you put your thumb in a man's eye because
you hate us?”
    “And I like to see fear when my punishers look at me. Plus I'm stuck here. You know, the
whole prison aspect. I managed to get a hand free, so I had to take
advantage of it. Hess might have figured out a way to escape, but
the only option I could see was doing some damage.”
    She leaned closer. “Whatever you feel for
Hess borders on obsession. I can't figure out if it is hate or love
or some combination of the two.”
    “Don't go analyzing me like a person again. I
don't get into love or sex or even companionship. I'm not built
that way. I don't need another person to get me . The Creator
does that.”
    There was a knock on the door. Simone checked
her watch. “Our session is up. I will talk to you again tomorrow.”
Before she put a hand on the door, she turned back. “I finally
watched a sunset.”
    “Beautiful, right?”
    Simone