“The Liar and the Truthteller”

“Brain tissue?” asked Venus, clearly repulsed.

“Yes- a brilliant if crude solution,” replied Marvel Boy as he looked at the machine that had been influencing their dreaming minds. “Earth simply doesn’t have very sophisticated means of computing yet. Your greatest computer is the size of a small house and can barely calculate a square root. Data is stored on tape reels and one has to enter commands with a punch card. Seriously, a child with an abacus can do as much.”

Gorilla Man leered as he finished bandaging his arm. “Is all this anti-Earth propaganda going somewhere, or are you just cranky from being woke up at 3 AM?”

“I’m getting to it, Ken. So, to transmit specific imagery- as in a scenario where snakes bind you when a skeleton appears, say- you would need something to store those images. Dragging an enormous computer around would be nearly impossible. So what someone did with this device was use organic data storage from the greatest computer the planet has available… the human brain.”

“Holy smokes,” said Jimmy. “I wonder how they put the dream into the piece of brain in the first place?”

“The former owner of the brain merely observed the scenario. Then where the memory is stored, we extract tissue.” Jimmy and the others turned in the direction of the new voice. It was the man Jimmy had knocked unconscious minutes ago. Ken Hale scooped him up and held him tightly by the shirt collar. The man’s face looked considerably redder as he did so.

“All right, you! What’s this all about? What are you trying to pull here?”

“I have very little hearing due to… alterations made upon me. So that I would not be susceptible to the young lady’s power.” The man seemed oddly calm, resigned in fact. “I can only read your lips and the gorilla is too difficult for me. If you have questions, they should come from one of the others.”

“You say the brain tissue came from someone who saw the imagery?” asked Marvel Boy.

“Yes. We have many Datamen. They exist to use their senses to record information for us. Early on the process almost always necessitated the tissue donor’s death, but now we have it refined. They all have artificial access ways riveted to the backs of their skulls, and special liquids help them regenerate new brain tissue. This works even better. After a few transfers, the Datamen have no memories of their own that could possibly interfere with the intended storage.” The little man sat up more now, as if proud of this development.

Venus looked aghast. “Whoever you people are, you’re monsters.”

The man seemed puzzled at her judgment. “We only use indigents and drifters. No one who matters to society or the economy.”

“Oh, well that’s better.” said Gorilla Man. “For a moment we were afraid you were up to no good. Okay Jimmy, let’s turn him loose.”

“Take that act to the Poconos, Ken. Okay pal, now who were these Derskin and Oglethorpe guys that started us on the goose chase?”

“Those are their names, Mister Woo. They just do not work for the Federal Bureau, as you have surmised by now. Their purpose was to lead you away from paths that would have crossed with our own. You cannot combat this organization as you might ordinary criminals. Our planning is very layered and has many fail-safes built in.”

“For someone who was willing to kill himself to evade me, you’re being pretty helpful now,” said Marvel Boy.

“Because it doesn’t matter now. Now that you have captured me, my life is forfeit. I may as well tell someone the wonders and horrors I have seen in my time with the Foundation. I don’t think I realized until now just how much I wanted to share the arcane knowledge I have acquired.” The strange man looked aside a moment, then spoke again. “It must be a similar thing with monks who have taken a similar vow of secrecy.”

“Brother!” said the ape. “Now this guy thinks he’s practically clergy! Come on, let’s go introduce him to Jonas Salk and see if he’ll share his Nobel Prize!”

“Salk didn’t get the Nobel Prize, remember?” clarified Bob.

“Then he was robbed.” grunted Ken.

“He is indeed a brilliant man, and we are already putting his immunization work to good use.” countered the man, who was able to pick up on Hale’s last statement thanks to the especially animated delivery. “I do envy him the public acknowledgment of his achievements. I shall die soon with no one knowing the leaps I made in developing the Dream Ray. Likely, the existence of the machine will never be public at all.” The man seemed to be unaware of the others around him at this point, having a dialogue with only himself. “Still, I have always been well funded by the Foundation, and have had all the test subjects I needed. Not many scientists can say that.”

“So what is this Foundation?” asked Jimmy, kneeling before the man. “What do they not want us to interfere with?” He waited what seemed an interminable period, staring at the man’s glassy eyes. Jimmy finally realized that the eyes hadn’t blinked in almost a minute. He reached out and touched the scientist’ shoulder, and the man slumped over. In the moonlight from the still open window, the feathery plume of a dart could be seen at the middle of the man’s neck.

Jimmy bolted up to look out the window, then stepped aside just as quick with the realization that he could be the next target of a dart. Bob Grayson raised his arm and projected a bright beam of light to the buildings across the street, scanning for movement in any of the windows. Seeing no movement he dived down to street level and began circling the blocks. The bustling city was unusually quiet. Finally he returned to the large open window to see Venus checking at the man’s wrist and neck.

“I’m not finding the pulse.”

“Well I couldn’t find a suspect, so we’re even,” said Marvel Boy. “It’s like a ghost killed him.”

“So we’re back to where we were, with diddly-squat to go on,” said Ken, scratching at his itching forearm.

“No, we’re not totally licked,” said Jimmy Woo, walking over to shut the windows. “M-11, could you take this body downstairs to the infirmary?” The robot scooped up the corpse, carried it into the private elevator and down to the third floor. Jimmy stared out the window for a minute and then turned around.

“He said these people were worried about our paths crossing. What path were we on? It makes me think he was referring to what Bob was doing when he arrived the other night.” Jimmy walked a few steps from the window as if he were retracing Marvel Boy’s actions. “You had been to the new Space Administration in Huntsville.”

Bob Grayson’s headband pulsed quickly as he looked up at Jimmy. “You mean because I was advising on the space program.”

“Right. I’m thinking that’s what this is all about. Those fake FBI agents showed up, then I called for you to come back because there was suddenly a case to work on. Now, somebody is going to great lengths to pull off this caper, and they’re obviously pretty dangerous with magic and science.”

“That’s for sure,” said Venus. “If these people have the kind of science like this ray gun, they might not want competition like the new space agency will create.”

“It’s… the Russians…” said Ken, with his head much lower than usual. He wobbled forward as if his feet weren’t finding the floor easily. His massive frame began to sway from side to side. “No good… I shoulda known… they got that Sputnik…” Hale then reached out his hand to Jimmy Woo’s shoulder to steady himself, and fell anyway- bringing Jimmy to the floor with him.

“Ken! Are you okay?”

The gorilla’s eyes rolled around, not focusing on any one thing. Jimmy looked at the bandage, which was pulled open a bit, enough to show Ken’s blood bubbling into a froth around the knife wound.

“The knife!” shouted Venus. “It must have had poison on it!” She grabbed a glass of water from Jimmy’s desk and poured it on the wound, trying to flush out the toxic chemical. Ken Hale’s chest began to heave up and down in large motions.

“Bob! Can you do something?”

“Marvel Boy looked at a loss, kneeling over his teammate. “I… I can’t… it seems like I should know how but-”

Grayson was cut off by a loud howl, much higher pitched than any Gorilla Man had made before. The sound then receded as if he were moving into the distance. At the end of it, the team could only hear a small gurgling. The ape’s eyes went still and his limbs stopped where they were. Jimmy grabbed one of the massive arms and shook it. “Come on, big guy! Come back! You can fight it!”

A strange sensation played at Jimmy’s palm. Where he held the gorilla’s arm, he began to feel less fur in his hand. The form he touched also seemed to be moving inward. Looking to Hale’s face, Jimmy saw the massive brow begin to recede, along with all the dark hair. His snout sunk in and lips began to form. Ken’s whole body shrunk in size, though the form it took was big for a man, with muscular forearms and a square jaw. Ken Hale had once showed Jimmy a picture of himself when he was still human, and that was the face they all now saw.

Venus looked up to Jimmy and Bob, her eyes shimmering with tears that hadn’t yet escaped.

“He’s dead.”

The teammates stood in shock over the human form of Ken Hale, and Jimmy Woo became aware of an impact repeating against the floor. It was M-11, who had walked quickly across the room and now stood at Hale’s feet. His arm extended down, the hand halting over Hale’s chest. Then two of the robot’s fingers extended as well, connecting at symmetrical points on the upper chest. The cyclopic eye began to glow.

“700 VOLTS.”

Ken Hale’s body lurched where current entered his body. Venus jumped.

“M-11! What are you doing!?”

Marvel Boy looked up, wide eyed. “Get out of his way! Let him do this!”

“1000 VOLTS.”

The body now jerked up even more, causing Hale’s arms to swing outward. Jimmy Woo’s eyes raced between the figure on the floor and the machine known as the Human Robot.

“1400 VOLTS.”

At this discharge, the body arched all the way up off the floor. The robot’s eye grew brighter, and then his arm retracted to it’s regular position. Ken Hale’s eyes began to flutter, and his arm slid to the side. He coughed a large burst of air, then drew in an equal volume of oxygen. His eyes opened to see his four teammates looming over him. Wiping at his face he realized he was using a very naked looking hand. He held it further away to focus better, and then brought his other hand up to his face as well. He looked over his forearms for the dark chestnut fur that usually covered his body to see nothing but the skin of a man.

“You did it, M-11!” shouted Venus, who tried to hug the large robot. Jimmy Woo ran over from his desk with a glass of water and held it to Hale’s mouth.

“Here buddy, take a drink.”

Ken Hale raised his head and neck and braced himself on one elbow. He drank the whole glass down in seconds and gasped, then wiped at his small brow again. “I’m… I’m…”

Before he could reach his next word, he felt the strange sensation of his neck growing wider. He felt his body raise from the point where his elbow rested on the oak wood planks as his upper arm lengthened. His mouth pushed out and his nose flattened as it did. He had the sensation of sinking into himself from his eyes as his brow protruded. His wide field of vision was again restricted to the point where he’d have to turn his head to easily see an object at his side. His wide nostrils issued a loud sigh and he raised himself up on his knuckles. The ape’s head hung low for a moment, and then came back up. He moved a couple of steps forward to where M-11 stood and rested his massive hairy hand on the robot’s shoulder. Venus wiped tears from her eyes with big motions of her arm and then buried her cheek in the furry shoulder of her friend. Marvel Boy stood up and smiled at the robot, resting his hands on his belt. Jimmy Woo leaned back from his position on the floor against the nearby chair and exhaled as if he hadn’t been breathing for several minutes.

* * * * *

THE BOOK

Morning began at the “It’s Tops” Diner down on Market. M-11 had already left in the back of a truck with Bureau drivers who would take him to Chabot Observatory in Oakland, where Marvel Boy’s rocket was hidden. There he would he would clamp his large feet into two recessed areas of the cockpit and await the other’s arrival at the Silver Bullet. Back in the city, Venus lowered a new pair of sunglasses before her eyes. “Lamp my specs, boys, they’re all the rage in Italy.”

“Venus, you don’t really have to tell people to stare at you. It just kind of happens.” Ken Hale pulled his porkpie hat down lower on his head. “Don’t hide yourself, I need you to draw attention away from me.”

“Aw, thanks Ken.”

Jimmy Woo’s agents dressed in civilian apparel so as not to attract attention. Ken Hale wore a hat, sunglasses, and a trenchcoat with the collar flipped up, and he still got looks at 7 in the morning. Their favorite waitress Edie led them to the most private booth in the restaurant, though it still was near a window. Jimmy Woo tapped at his own forearm as he spoke to his friend. “How’s that arm this morning, Ken?”

The gorilla pulled back his sleeve to show a nearly perfect simian arm. “Barely even a scar now.”

“Whatever the poison was on that blade, it must not be as strong as the ancient curse that makes you a gorilla,” said Bob Grayson.

“You mean the blessing that keeps me from having to be a man?” The ape worked his way into the clamshell booth and rested his long arms on the backs of the padded seats. Though it was no secret that Ken Hale longed to be human again, he almost never complained about his condition around the team. In his days as a Soldier of Fortune, Hale was known to walk around with serious injuries that he would hardly mention. Still, Jimmy knew that the brief moment of humanity had only rekindled Hale’s hopes before dashing them again. Picking up a newspaper that someone had left on the table, Jimmy saw something that would surely take the ape man’s mind off his condition for a bit.

“Hey Ken, you haven’t seen the paper since we left the other day, have you?”

“Nah, I’m giving up on reading. It’s overrated.”

“You don’t have to read. Here. Just look at this photograph.”

Jimmy slid the sports section into the gorilla’s field of view. Hale looked down to see a horse with a smiling jockey on its back, and a large horseshoe shaped collection of roses around the animal’s neck. Ken Hale stared blankly at the image, and then his eyes widened to offer the rare view of white around his pupils.

“Tim Tam! He did it! Ho boy, look at that! YEAH!”

Any effort to be inconspicuous was dropped as Hale went on for the next ten minutes about the Kentucky Derby, horses and racing in general. Then he leapt over the table and grabbed his hat from the hook on the wall.

“Hey, where are you going?” asked Jimmy. “We’ve got to get to the rocket after breakfast and head out to the Space Center.”

“I’ll meet you there! My bookie has something for me–Scratch that. He’s got a LOT of something for me!” With that the ape rushed out the door and loped quickly up the street. From the window Jimmy watched his friend amble away, and took a drink of his coffee. Over the edge of the cup he noticed something through the glass. Across the street, a man in a dark coat and cap watched the ape as well, and pulled his lapel out to speak discreetly. Jimmy could see a small transmitter with an antenna just inside the man’s coat. Woo erupted from the booth and ran through the door.

“Jimmy, what’s up?” asked Venus, too late to be heard.

The man with the transmitter saw Jimmy Woo coming through the doorway of the diner and ran. He made his way down the block and turned, and then crossed the street. Jimmy Woo was closing the distance quickly when the man ran into a small brick and iron structure. It was an entrance that led below street level, possibly a train access. The door clicked shut just as Jimmy reached it. Jimmy pulled on the handle but it wouldn’t budge, having been locked from within. Marvel Boy flew down with Venus on his arm.

“Jimmy, what is it?”

“Some guy was spying on us, and reporting in to somebody,” said Jimmy who was now kicking at the lock. Finally he produced his gun from his jacket and shot the handle. The door swung open.

The three ran down a long series of steps. The stairway was pitch black, but Marvel Boy’s wristbands soon made it as bright as the street above. “How deep does this go?” asked Venus.

“It’s probably an old unused train entrance.” said Jimmy, skipping steps to move faster. “We’ve gone much lower than the platform would be though. I know there’s tunnels under the city, but they’re not supposed to be this far down.” The group emerged in a large area of tiled wall. A quick look around revealed no exits or even vent shafts that someone could climb through.

“We didn’t run past any doors did we?”

“No.”

The three grew quiet and listened. No footfalls or breathing. Jimmy saw a faded image on the large wall. Walking closer he could see that it was an antiquated version of the globe, held by the kneeling god Atlas. He touched the wall, which was covered with dust.

“I feel like I should know some magic word. Open sesame.” The wall and its artwork remained still and silent.