“You’re a monster,” I tell the doc.
“Yes,” he says glumly. “I have had to become one.”
“No,” I retort. “Don’t try that crap on me. It’s not something you’ve been forced to do. You’ve chosen this path. You’ve already killed billions of people. Now you’re going to target the rest of them, then breed specimens just to eat. It’s because you enjoy it, because you’re sick in the head, even more so than your messed-up brother.”
“You misjudge me,” Dr. Oystein says. “This gives me no pleasure. I am simply doing what is required.” The doc taps the glass and points to the embryos in the freezers. “Each egg, once fertilized, has the potential to be a messenger of peace and love, a prophet, a saint, a philanthropist. But we all know that most would turn out to be vicious, self-centered and petty. History tells us this. Ever since the beginning of time, we have been creatures of conflict and hate.
“World War II was the final nail in the coffin. It was clear that the situation had spun out of control. I did not even need the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki to prove the point for me. We were on a one-way road to destruction and we were going to take the entire planet down with us.
“Life is a gift, B, and we have abused it from the start. There have been sparks of hope along the way, good people who showed us that we are not all bitter and cruel. But too little goodness, spread too thinly.
“I want to bring to this world the peace that the great prophets tried and failed to introduce. God hoped to show us the way through honest, decent people. When that failed, He decided to operate through a base, monstrous creature instead. Me.”
Dr. Oystein turns away from the freezers and starts walking again. We follow in silence, listening numbly as he makes his pitiful case.
“It’s a shame that the human race didn’t choose the path of truth and light, but I’m a realist and, if billions must be sacrificed to heal this world’s wounds, so be it. The babies will become the upstanding citizens that the rest of us have failed to be. My Angels will teach them to be good, and there will be no wars over land, race or religion, because those things will have no meaning anymore.
“Don’t you see?” he cries. “The babies won’t overpopulate the planet or poison rivers, oceans, the air. They won’t hunt animals to extinction or tear down forests to make a profit. They won’t go to war or persecute their fellow beings.
“They’ll continue to make scientific advances, and aim for the stars, as humanity has since we first began to dream. But they’ll do so because they want to spread love and joy, not because they yearn to conquer.”
“Hippie twaddle,” Rage mutters, then grimaces. I don’t think he meant to speak his thoughts out loud.
“Perhaps,” Dr. Oystein says with a little dip of his head. “But this world has been in pain for a long time. I believe that I’ve found a cure for its ills. If you consider it logically, without letting your emotions get in the way, you might find yourself starting to side with me, despite your moral objections.”
“Never,” I snap.
“You won’t even give me a chance?” Dr. Oystein asks sadly.
“Nope.”
He shrugs. “That is probably as it should be. You are tied to your path as I am tied to mine. I won’t claim that I knew how important you were when I first met you, but it swiftly became clear, even before I learned of your link to Albrecht and the babies.”
“No,” he says. “Zachary never told me.”
I glance at Owl Man with surprise and he pulls a whoops! expression. Then he laughs. “I returned to the fold, Becky, but I continued to work for my father as well as for my uncle. I had erred before, so I acknowledged that if I’d been wrong once, I might be wrong again. I tried to keep an open mind, to work with Oystein but to question our actions at every stage. I thought it would be dangerous to tell him of Albrecht’s love for you, or that the babies saw you as their mother.
“But, as destiny brought you, my father and the babies ever closer together, I saw that I was a fool to stand in its way. You have been the key from the start, the only one who could penetrate Albrecht’s defenses, find the missing vial and return it to us. I’m not sure if it’s the hand of God or a quirk of fate, but your purpose from the day you drew your first breath has been to lead us to this moment.”
“You’re a goddess,” Dr. Oystein says softly. “You will bring death to this world, as many gods and goddesses of legend did, but you’ll also bring fresh life and hope to its shores. You are the mother of the future and the executioner of the past, our greatest dread and our most glorious triumph.”
“How’s that for flattery?” Rage laughs as I gape at the pair of beaming men. “Don’t worry, Becky, to me you’re still an ugly, charmless troll. I won’t be building a shrine to you any time soon.”
“Thank heaven for that,” I sneer, then shake my head at the doc and his nephew. “You two are lunatics.”
Dr. Oystein smiles again, then stops at the door of a room with lots of laden bookshelves. “If so, this is where our lunacy reaches its towering crescendo.”
The doc pushes the door open and goes to a shelf. There are several Bibles on it. He takes one down and lays it on a table. Stares at it with a look that’s half love, half fear.
“Gods and goddesses cannot work alone,” he mutters. “They need help from their human servants. We all have a part to play. Zachary and I knew that destiny might require a helping hand. So when he was hypnotizing you, he…”
The doc raises an eyebrow and Owl Man takes over.
“I have spent decades studying my father’s mind. Because of our natural bond, he let me get close to him, but he never granted me access to the most intimate levels of his mental universe. Even so, I had a good idea of how to penetrate his defenses, assuming one could get close enough to strike the first blow.”
“You set me up to attack him!” I shout, seeing it now. “You stuck some sort of a time bomb inside my head, so that when we married and he opened himself up to me, I’d rip the location of the vial from him.”
“Yes,” Owl Man says proudly. “It wasn’t easy. You will have no recollection of it, but I had you under my wing for the better part of two weeks. I had to prime you, then hide all traces of my interference. We couldn’t be sure that it would work, but we did the best job we could.”
“After that we had to trust in fate,” Dr. Oystein says. “We were tempted to push you towards Albrecht, but he would have seen through such designs. Being so paranoid, he can sniff out a trap from miles away. So we did nothing to pitch you together. We were sure you would find your way to him in time. As I said earlier, you are a creature of destiny. This was always going to happen. It was simply a matter of when and how.”
“They make a persuasive case,” Rage murmurs.
“They’re nutters,” I snarl.
“Yeah, but the way it went down… me finding out the truth about the doc… teaming up with Dan-Dan… you following us to Battersea… If I wasn’t an atheist, I’d say that was all too much to be mere coincidence.”
I grin bleakly. “You know what they say—it’s a small world.”
“Anyway,” Dr. Oystein concludes, “that brings us to where we are now. All that remains is for us to see this through to its preordained finale. It’s time for you to hand over the vial that you took from my brother. Then we can draw a line in the sand, bid the living farewell and take our first tentative steps forward.”
The doc opens up the Bible. I see that it’s hollow inside. Something nestles within. He tenderly prizes the object out of its resting place and I spot a vial full of a dark red liquid. He shakes it at me. Pretends to drop it. Laughs when I gasp.
“It would not matter if it fell,” he says. “The container would hold. You’d need a jackhammer to even dent it.”
“Is that Clements-13?” I croak, even though I know it’s a stupid question.
“Yes,” he says, his smile fading. “The two viruses, together at last.”
I stare at the vial, fixated. I don’t know why he’s shown it to us, why he’s taken this risk and flashed his ace card when there was no need. He’s hidden the zombie-destroying virus all this time. Why display it now?
But this is my big chance. If I can swipe it from him, remove the outer tubes, smash open the inner vial and release the zombie-eliminating fumes…
“Easy,” Owl Man murmurs as I strain against his hold over me.
Dr. Oystein holds out the vial of Clements-13, gently teasing me. “Come now, B,” he says sweetly. “The time for games is over. This is where we get serious. I have shown you mine. Now you need to show me yours.
“Pass me the vial of Schlesinger-10, please.”