lights-out in my head? Instantly?"
"Yes," he said. He sounded beaten and very, very tired. "Lights-out."
"No pain, though."
"Very little. About like a pinprick. It's over in about three seconds."
"I can't believe we're even talking about this," I said. "What's to stop me from undoing it, especially if I go all Team Evil on you? And once I know, Bad Bob could know. He could just disable the kill switch."
"I know," Lewis said. He looked very sad, and very guilty. "That's why I had to get you off alone before I did this. I needed to be sure I was the only one who knew about it." I didn't get it. "But I know about it."
He just stood there watching me, and the look in his eyes was intensely strange. "I need to say this," he said. "Just this one time. I love you. I've loved you for half my life, it seems like. And I always will love you, even though I know it's not possible for you to love me back. If you hadn't met David, it might have been - things might have been different. But I know when I'm beaten."
I was stunned. Lewis, of all people, was not a confessor. He didn't blurt out his emo secrets, not to anyone, especially not to me.
"I... have no idea what you want me to say," I said. "You know how I feel about you, you're - you're Lewis . God, why are you telling me this now ?"
"Because I can. Because you won't remember anything about it thirty seconds from now," he said, and reached out and touched his finger to the exact center of my forehead.
"No - "
The world exploded into jagged shards.
What the hell had I just been saying?
I'd somehow managed to hypnotize myself by staring at the waterfall for too long. I shook off the blurring fascination and gave Lewis a doubtful look. "Jeez, I just spaced like mad," I said. "I'm really tired. What was I saying?"
Lewis was leaning on the railing, staring into the falling curtain of water. "You were saying you'd die for us," he said. "For the Wardens."
You'd think I'd remember that. "Damn straight I would, bucko. Anything else?" He seemed tempted to say something, but then he shook his head and shifted gears. I could tell from the way his body language changed, from contemplative to decisive. "Yes. I want a thorough check of every Warden. Make sure there are none of Bad Bob's crew in our particular woodpile. When you're done, interview the passengers and crew. I want everybody, absolutely everybody, checked out by you and David." So much for sweet, sweet bed rest. "That's going to take all night."
"Oh, at least. Let me know if you find anything."
"You are such a bastard." I sighed. "Is that all? Want me to build the Sistine Chapel out of paper clips in my spare time? You know, you didn't need all this hush-hush privacy to tell me to do your scut work ."
"I know I didn't," he said. "I just wanted to show you the waterfall." I glanced at it. "Pretty," I said. "Anything else, O Lord and Master?" He continued to lean on the railing, staring into space. "That'll about do it." I walked away, still wondering why the hell he'd dragged me here. Maybe he'd been about to ask me something personal. Maybe he'd been about to declare his undying love for me.
Yeah, like that would ever happen.
Whatever it had been, he'd chickened out, and I could only think that was a good thing, given the circumstances.
I had a lot of work to do.
Sitting the Wardens down for their loyalty checks was easier than I figured it might be -
mainly because they were shell-shocked after the disaster of trying to control the storm.
Even the Fire Wardens, notoriously temperamental, and the Earth Wardens, notably hippie-nonconformist, decided to play nice.
I found nothing. If any of them were lying about their allegiances, it was beyond my ability - or David's - to discover. If Bad Bob and his crew could go that deep cover, there was no way we were coming out of this alive, so I decided not to worry about it.
That left some thirty-odd rich folks who were confined to their cabins - hopefully - and a whole bunch of ship's staff and crew.
It was going to be a long stretch. Luckily, I had David along with me, which meant he was paying more attention to my energy levels than I