“Ah, Mr. Essex.” Tiberius was standing in the center of the room. Theo didn’t see anyone else there. “Come in. Take a seat. Your friend Michelle was using one of them but I believe you’ll find that seat is no longer occupied.”
That was the push Theo needed. “Die!” he yelled. He fired the gun as close to Tiberius’s direction as he could manage in his condition. He discovered there had been three bullets left, and he fired them all. Two struck Mayor Lucas’s large desk on either side of Tiberius, piercing and splintering the expensive wood. The third bullet tore through the side of Tiberius’s left arm and buried itself in the wall.
Tiberius looked at the wound, which was bleeding freely onto the carpet. He frowned. “I wish you hadn’t done that,” he said. “I really liked this shirt.” He reached up with his right hand, grabbed the torn sleeve and yanked, ripping the shirtsleeve off below the bullet wound.
Theo stood silent, watching Tiberius. His one attempt to win through force had failed him. Now Tiberius studied the wound in his pale flesh. He made a clicking, disapproving sound with his tongue.
“Theo, Theo, Theo,” Tiberius said. He seemed sad. Theo noticed the bullet wound was not bleeding much at all anymore. “You think to stop me with bullets? Poor boy. You are out of your depth.” Theo stared in awe. Tiberius’s wound, deep if not life-threatening, was closing before his very eyes. Within thirty seconds after the gun had fired, the wound was just a scar, and even that was fading.
“I’ll ask you again,” said Tiberius, walking around to the far side of the desk, “won’t you sit and talk with me? Violence won’t get you anywhere with me, you see.”
“Why don’t you just kill me?” Theo asked.
Tiberius sat in Lucas’s chair. “I may. I haven’t decided yet. You fascinate me, Theo. Can I call you Theo?”
Theo didn’t respond.
“Very well, Theo. As I said, you fascinate me. You are like a cancer given life. A series of wrong ideas given voice and sent to inspire other people of limited mental faculties. And inspire them you have! Do you even know how many have died in your name tonight?”
“You and your men killed them,” Theo said.
“True. But this is where you forget your place in the world. I am the Supreme Leader. The Security Force represents the law. What we have done tonight is punish those who would commit treason against our country. We have done this at great cost, as I’m sure you know.”
Before he knew what he was doing, Theo found himself taking a seat.
“There you go,” said Tiberius. “Make yourself at home. Now, Theo, you have come so far to achieve this audience with the Supreme Leader. You must have some questions for me.”
“Why so much senseless death and violence?” Theo asked. “The gladiator battles. The rounding up of innocents. Taking people’s homes. There was a better way.”
“What better way?” asked Tiberius. “The way of Sam Lucas? Your beloved mayor believed too strongly in the inherent good of the people. For years, he and I argued over a city so violent, so broken that nothing could save it. Not the money from the casinos, not the influx of high-end shops and new condos. There was a sickness at the core of Atlantic City. The Event gave us a chance to change all that. To finally take action and eliminate crime across the island.
“And that is what I did. Sam Lucas fought me every step of the way, because he always thought the people, left to their own devices would do the right thing.”
“And you disagreed?” Theo asked.
“Of course! Human beings are an evil species, prone to violence and greed. Just look at what has happened tonight. What are your ‘rebels’ if not a group of randomly picked civilians who suddenly found they had it in them to murder other people in cold blood.”
“They are fighting for freedom. For a world where they don’t have to live in fear of their homes or their loved ones being taken from them.”
“So you question my methods. Fine. Where you, and Lucas before you, are wrong is that you don’t see that those methods are a means to an end. Lucas only thought about and saw the short term. Happiness for everybody! A chicken in every pot. A beachfront penthouse for every family. It was a mad, shiny notion that led him to the point where I had no choice but to remove him from the playing field. We always lived in a world of limited resources, Theo. Atlantic Island doesn’t improve that but complicates it to an exponential degree. If you had your way, we would all starve within a year.”
“It still doesn’t give you the right to kill people,” Theo said. He leaned forward. “It didn’t give you the right to kill the mayor.”
“I make the rights on this island!” Tiberius said. He slammed his fist on the desk, which Theo saw no longer had its glass top. The force of the impact shook the room. Theo could feel the vibration through his chair. “You are an ant, a worm, and you have no place to question me!” Tiberius’s face shifted suddenly, and he smiled again. “Forgive me, Theo, I seem to have lost my temper. I hold this all very close to my heart, you see.”
Theo gripped the arm of the chair with his good hand. He was in the presence of a profoundly dangerous person.
“Were there any other questions?” Tiberius asked.
Knowing that his inquiries might be the only thing prolonging the time before his death and delaying Tiberius from going after Kylee and the rebels, Theo asked perhaps the most obvious of questions.
“How…how did you get like this? How do you have so much strength…how do you heal from bullet wounds?”
Tiberius laughed heartily. It was a horrible sound. “I have to tell you Theo, not many have asked me that question. The few who did… well, they aren’t around to talk about it. Seeing as how you probably won’t be around much longer either…why not?”
Theo couldn’t believe it, but he found he was intrigued to hear what Tiberius had to say.
“A while back, a team of archeologists made a fascinating discovery. They sent robotic vehicles into underground caverns in Mexico, beneath an ancient temple. What they found was bizarre: a metallic orb. Thousands of years old. They could only speculate at its purpose.”
Theo began to think the man’s insanity had drawn him far off-topic, but he listened on.
“The bidding on such an artifact went on and on. Every museum wanted to display it. Every science lab wanted to analyze it. The orb remained carefully preserved away from prying eyes. Nobody dared handle it by hand in case it were to fall to pieces. For months, its future remained unknown. Finally, an inspired entrepreneur developed a strategy that appealed to numerous parties. The orb would go on a… road show. It would appear on display in one place, then move to the next to be analyzed for a while, and on and on.
“Well, the government of Atlantic City got to take its turn with the orb. Some people wanted to organize a huge tribute to the origins of Mexican culture at the Convention Center, and the orb would be the centerpiece. I was not directly involved in any of these discussions. I did not see the purpose of the whole idea. And then, fate smiled upon me, as I had always known it would. A package, incorrectly marked, arrived at my office in the old city hall.”
Tiberius left his chair. He walked over to the wall and removed a painting. A digital keypad was mounted on the wall. “I had this installed when I assumed command of this office after Lucas was no longer around,” he said. He typed in a code, and after a series of beeps a section of the wall slid back. On a wooden shelf was a small metal box. Tiberius removed the box and walked back to his desk. He placed the box on the desk with its front latch facing Theo.
“When I opened the package, I found this box,” Tiberius said. “Not knowing its contents, I opened it.” He unlatched the lid and raised it up. “I saw… this.” Inside was a sphere. It was not perfectly round, and Theo couldn’t make sense of what material it was made from. It appeared both metallic and ceramic.