Page 2 (1/2)
"That is so to consider I cannot vouch for the stability of any future artificial intelligences"
On the computer monitor, the photo of my Harry in the yellow hallway is replaced by a different photo of hiht have been in a newspaper
Ed says, "Harry’s real name is Odd Thoin of the na story We have no time for it now"
"How’d you learn his nanition software to all the photos in the files of the California DMV but could not find him there"
"That’s likedid that take?"
"Seven italized photo archives of the Associated Press"
The photo goes away and sohteenmall in Pico Mundo, forty-one wounded and nineteen dead A policeman says there would have beenman, who happens to be Harry I mean, Odd Thomas The policeman says hundreds would have died if Odd hadn’t taken down both gunmen and dealt with a truck full of explosives and all The reporter says Odd won’t talk to the press, he tells us that Odd says he didn’t do anything special Odd says anyone would have done what he did The reporter says Odd is as shy as he is courageous, but even though I’ht word isn’t shy
Earlier, you ht remember, I explained how I loved him because he see else about hi different And here it is I knew that he wouldn’t abandon us I kneouldn’t just run and save himself
Ed says, "I show you this, Jolie Ann Harmony, because in spite of all your brave and wise-ass talk, in spite of the fact that I did not detect phero, I did detect pheromones associated with despair I have developed an affection for you, and thus it painshope"
"Not anymore," I tell him
Over the years, when Hiskott has enteredI refuse to let him knohat it feels like when I cry My tears are mine, not his, never his I’ll save them forever rather than let the sick creep feel them hot on my cheeks or taste them at the corners of ht if I was ever free so that I can’t cry any from me Yet now my vision blurs, and there are tears, tears of hope and happiness, although nothing’s yet been won
After a while, I remember: "Hey, Ed, you said there’s someone else besides Harry … besides Odd Someone who can help us"
"Yes, Jolie Ann Harmony That would be me"
TWENTY-ONE
In the Jeep Grand Cherokee oncePerhaps Berrass-fire fumes happen to be two ether, neutralize each other More likely, now that the tie into Hiskott’s lair, I so dread the upco encounter that I don’t have the capacity to be annoyed by any scent or s squads, in the thrall of terror, have been observed to be oblivious of bees crawling on their faces even when the bees have stung the shot and dropped dead on the spot, sparing his executioners the expense of a, my brain is so packed with useless information that it constantly makes connections between bits of data that are at best tenuously linked So distracted by thoughts about bee-stung condeet me killed But if you can’t trust your own brain, what can you trust?
I shut off the air circulation in the Jeep to keep out as much smoke as possible, and I pilot the vehicle out of the trees, heading south across the high meadow Visibility is down to sixty or seventy feet, except when small shifts in the direction of the breeze cause clean currents of air to open narrow lines of sight to farther points of Harmony Corner, but these close up as suddenly as they open
Although I need the cover of s me to proceed slower than I would prefer--and much slower than I will need to drive a few minutes from now Visibility rapidly declines to forty or fifty feet, and if it gets ht as well steer with my eyes closed
Because I can’t see any landmarks and because the Jeep odometer doesn’t click off units of distance as short as three hundred feet, I rely on intuition when I turn the vehicle hard right and brake to a stop I think I’ directly west, and I think the cluster of houses far below is slightly north of ht be able to come in behind them
The difference bethat I think to be true and what is true, however, could lead to disaster The hills below offer entle slopes, but there are a few steep drop-offs If I mistakenly drive over one, the Grand Cherokee will at least tip into a catastrophic roll In spite of the fact that the vehicle has four-wheel drive, if it lands on its side or roof, it’ll be as useless as an airplane without wings
Under this white-gray pall, the day is darker than it would be in an equally thick fog, because sunshine doesn’t refract through shits way obliquely into Harmony Corner, aseous pluloom that creeps steadily toward darkness, in this disorder that thwarts the senses, the a around the Grand Cherokee seeions of harried spirits on sohts, but the bea visibility frohts are likewise useless And in the darkenings
If I am to find netism, which I trust won’t lead me to a cliff I don’t knohat he looks like, but I have his name, and I can picture the house he’s claie into et ready to ease up on the brake pedal and drift forherever my peculiar power leads me
What happens next is not easily described A cold draft but not a real one, the mental equivalent of a draft, the idea of a draft, blows through my mind, as if ahas opened Perhaps because I have been picturing the Victorian residence, I in fact see a ith sullen yellow light beyond and, in the light, a sleek silhouette that leaps toward the sill and the raised sash, eager to spring in uponthat I have drawn to me the enemy that I hoped to be draard, I slahts fro out the conjured ie of the house with a memory of Stormy’s face, because only she can fill my mind so completely that, in the moment of this assault, the puppeteer cannot find an entry point
Even though I repelled Hiskott, though he did not for a second see through my eyes to obtain a solitary clue as to my position or intent, I continue to hold Stormy in mind, because the memory of her and the pro machine--YOU ARE DESTINED TO BE TOGETHER FOREVER--constitute ainst fear
In this situation, psychic ift, I a to trade his quiver of expertly crafted arrows for a couple of rocks
Just then, Jolie Harmony speaks to me: "Are you there, Harry Potter? This is Jolie Are you there?"
Surprised and mystified, I am for just a moment reduced to the superstition of a renorant of the y, can conclude only that, by the use of ic, a shaman has reduced Jolie to the size of my thumb and has transported her into the radio of the Grand Cherokee
"Are you there, Harry?" she asks again
"Jolie? Where--"