Crisscross

Jack smiled. Perfect.

Back in the hall Aveline led him to a door labeled RF-3. When he asked, she explained that the RF stood for Reveille Facility.

Jamie Grant's words from yesterday, when he'd asked her if the Reveille Sessions were just a series of questions, came back to him.

Oh, no. There's so much more to it than that…

Her smile when she'd said it still bothered him.

RF-3 turned out to be a windowless cubicle furnished with a desk, two chairs, and a white mouse. The mouse's wire cage sat on a pedestal to the right of the desk. Aveline indicated the chair before the desk for Jack. He sat and found himself facing a horizontal copper pipe fastened to the front panel of the desk by six-inch brackets at each end. A wire ran from the middle of the pipe to a black box the size of a loaf of bread on the desk; another wire ran from the box to the mouse cage.

He didn't have to fake a baffled look. "You're going to explain this to me, right?"

"But of course," she replied as she seated herself on the other side of the desk. "As I am sure you know, if you have read The Book ofHokano, the purpose of the Reveille Sessions is to awaken your Personal Xelton, the hemi-xelton asleep within you."

Jack kept glancing at the mouse.

"Right. But what—?"

She held up a hand. "To awaken it, you must explore your present life and your PX's past lives." She pulled a folder from the desk's top drawer. "We do this by asking you a series of questions. Some of them will seem very personal, but you must trust that none of what you say will ever leave this room."

Not according to Jamie Grant.

Jack leaned back and rubbed his temples, using the motion to cover a look at the grille over the ventilation duct. Between two of the slats he spotted something that looked like a tiny lens pointed his way. Somewhere in the building an AV feed of the goings-on here was being monitored and most likely recorded.

"I trust you," Jack said.

"Good. This is your first step in a marvelous adventure of discovery. The memories from your PX's multiple lives will sound a reveille and awaken it.

After that you will begin the task of reco

She threw her arms wide at the end of her recitation and Jack jumped at the sight of a sea urchin in each armpit. Then he realized it was hair.

"Wow," he said, trying not to stare. "The GF is the Great Fusion, right?"

She lowered her arms and her accent thickened. "Yes. That is when the world as we know it will reunite with the Hokano world. It will be Paradise Regained, but only those who have fused their PX with its HX will survive."

"I want to be in that number," Jack said.

But what did the damn mouse have to do with it?

"Wonderful, Jack. Let us get started then. First you must grip that bar before you with both hands. Grip very tight."

Jack did as he was told. "What does this do?"

"This makes certain that you are telling the truth."

Jack looked offended. "I'm not a liar."

"Of course you are not. But we all hide truths from ourselves, oui? Repress acts we are ashamed of. We all have 'vital lies' that get us through the day. We must pierce our self deceptions and thrust to the heart of truth. And do you know where that heart is? In your Personal Xelton. Your PX knows the truth."

"I thought my PX was asleep."

"It is, but that does not mean it is not aware. When it hears an untruth it will react."

"How?"

"You will not notice it, and neither will I. Only FAs who have reached FL-8 can perceive it unassisted."

"Then how will we know?"

She tapped the black box. "This is an XSA—a Xelton Signal Amplifier. It ca

"Okay." Jack felt like he'd stepped through the Looking Glass and wound up chatting with the Mad Hatter. "But how will the mouse tell us?"

"Answer a question with an untruth and you will see." She opened the folder. "Let us begin, shall we?"

"Okay. But I've got to tell you, I lead a very boring life—boring job, no family, no pets, never go anywhere."

"And that is why you are here—to change all that, oui?"

"Oui. I mean, right."

"Well then, hold on to the XS conductor bar in front of you there and we will begin."

Jack tightened his grip. He felt unaccountably tense.

He kept his eyes on the little white mouse sniffing nervously around its wire mesh cage as Aveline asked a string of i

Then she stared at him and said, "Very well, Jack. This is an important question: What is the worse thing you have ever done?"

The directness took him by surprise. "As I told you, my life's not interesting enough for me to do anything wrong."

The mouse squeaked and jumped as if it had received a shock. Jack jumped too.

"What happened?"

"You told an untruth. Perhaps an unconscious untruth," she added quickly, "but your xelton heard it and reacted."

The untruth hadn't been unconscious. He'd done lots of wrong—at least by most people's criteria.

Aveline cleared her throat. "Perhaps we are being too general here. Let us try this: Have you ever stolen anything?"

"Yes."

The mouse didn't react.

"What was the first thing you ever stole?"

Jack remembered the moment. "When I was in second grade I remember stealing an Almond Joy from a Rexall drugstore."

The mouse was cool.

"Good," Aveline said, nodding. "What was the biggest thing you've ever stolen?"

Jack put on a show of deep thought, then said, "The Almond Joy is about it."

A squeak from the mouse as it jumped two inches off its cage floor.

A queasy feeling stole over him. The XSA was right. He'd boosted plenty of things, plenty of times—usually from thieves, but it was still stealing. So far the XSA had been right every time.

Had to be coincidence. But still…

"You're acting like I'm a criminal. I'm not."

The mouse jumped again.

This was getting spooky. He'd lied… his everyday existence was a criminal act… and Mr. Mouse had paid for it.

Jack released the bar and waved his hands in the air. "I'm telling you the truth!"

"The truth as you know it, Jack. What you say may be true in this life, but your xelton must have inhabited the body of a thief sometime in the past."

"I don't like this."

"It is all part of the process, Jack."

Mr. Mouse had backed into a corner where he crouched and trembled.

"Please don't hurt that mouse anymore."

"He is not being hurt. Not really. But I am doing nothing to him. You are. You are in charge here. Now please grip the XS conductor bar again and we will continue."

Jack did so. He noticed his palms were moist.

"Have you ever killed anyone, Jack?"

He stared at the mouse and said, "No."

No reaction from Mr. Mouse.

Gotcha, he thought. A number of people were on the wrong side of the grass because of him.

Somehow, maybe with a floor button, Aveline was triggering an electric shock in Mr. Mouse's cage. Pretty damn potent way to mess with a new member's head. The psychological impact of causing an i

"Are you heterosexual?" she asked.

"Yes."

Mr. Mouse maintained his nervous crouch.

"Have you ever raped anyone?"

Here was another one he could answer truthfully. "No way."

Mr. Mouse's squeal of pain was a signal to end this bullshit. A tantrum was in order.