length, sus-
pecting, suspecting very damned strongly that the genius had been
compromised by BZRK.
“Are you sure you want—”
“Get him. And get out.”
Benjamin remained silent a while, judging his brother’s mood.
Charles, he concluded, was frustrated, but not yet ready to accept that
they were entering a new phase. Charles did not yet understand that
they were losing . In fact may already have lost.
Charles still half believed the silly cult they’d financed, Nexus
Humanus, was of some use. He still seemed to think that the work
of their remaining twitchers—no great prodigies among them—was
just marking time, doing damage control.
“You’re still trying to hide,” Benjamin said aloud at last. “Our
whole life, you always wanted to find a way to hide what we are.”
“What we are?” Charles said a bit pompously. “What we are is
two great men, who have—”
“We are freaks,” Benjamin said, but not angrily. “Everywhere
except on the Doll Ship . They’ve taken that from us. BZRK, the
94
BZRK APOCALYPSE
intelligence people, the police, all of them, all the forces of the normal .
They’ve destroyed the one, small place where we could be. Just . . . be.”
“We have this place, still,” Charles said.
“Our cage. Our gilded cage.”
“Yes,” Charles admitted. Then he heaved a sigh. “The tide has
turned, has it not, brother?”
“Yes,” Benjamin said. He reached awkwardly across their body to
pat his brother’s chest. It was as much physical affection as they could
deploy. You could not hug a man who was attached to you. “The tide
has turned. The governments have become aware. In secret we had
a chance. But secrecy is impossible now. They will come for us, and
they will take us. They’ll put us on display. They’ll call it a trial, but
it will be a carnival freak show. And then they’ll put us in a cell until
we die.”
The angled mirror that let them look in each other’s eye revealed
that Charles was crying.
So , Benjamin thought. Perhaps he sees at last.
“You were too softhearted, Charles. Always. You thought you
could improve them, as we did on the Doll Ship , and yes, it was a
magnificent dream, brother. But we now face Sodom and Gomorrah,
and no righteous man is to be found to justify their salvation.”
The silence that followed was long.
“What,” Charles asked finally, sounding exhausted, “would you
have us do?”
“We tried to gently show the world the error of its ways,” Ben-
jamin said. “We tried the carrot. Now comes the stick. Now comes
judgment. Now comes righteous wrath, brother. Or do we wait for
95
MICHAEL GRANT
our chance to star in their freak show?”
“No,” Charles whispered. Then louder. “No, by God. Now comes
Judgment Day. We hit them. We hit them so hard they can’t stand up.
And then we show them that we have worse still in store unless they
submit.”
Benjamin smiled. The doorbell sounded. “That would be the
good Dr. Burnofsky.”
In Rome, the Pope was working his way methodically through his
daily audiences. He was a humble man despite the pomp of his ancient
office, and he still, after many years in the job, felt a bit put off by the
need to play the kingly role.
First up there was the priest who had defied death threats to
keep an inoculation program going in narco country. The priest was
young and cocky and brave and offered to shake the Holy Father’s
hand rather than kiss his ring.
Then the two Little Sisters of the Poor, one of whom had been
attacked on a mission in Burma. The Pope rose from his seat to
embrace them each in turn and to whisper words of encouragement.
They left with tears streaming down their faces.
Then the usual collection of businesspeople and media people,
all of which would culminate in the Pope getting to meet a famously
good-looking actor to thank him for his charitable work. As far as the
Holy Father knew the actor was not a Catholic, but he
pecting, suspecting very damned strongly that the genius had been
compromised by BZRK.
“Are you sure you want—”
“Get him. And get out.”
Benjamin remained silent a while, judging his brother’s mood.
Charles, he concluded, was frustrated, but not yet ready to accept that
they were entering a new phase. Charles did not yet understand that
they were losing . In fact may already have lost.
Charles still half believed the silly cult they’d financed, Nexus
Humanus, was of some use. He still seemed to think that the work
of their remaining twitchers—no great prodigies among them—was
just marking time, doing damage control.
“You’re still trying to hide,” Benjamin said aloud at last. “Our
whole life, you always wanted to find a way to hide what we are.”
“What we are?” Charles said a bit pompously. “What we are is
two great men, who have—”
“We are freaks,” Benjamin said, but not angrily. “Everywhere
except on the Doll Ship . They’ve taken that from us. BZRK, the
94
BZRK APOCALYPSE
intelligence people, the police, all of them, all the forces of the normal .
They’ve destroyed the one, small place where we could be. Just . . . be.”
“We have this place, still,” Charles said.
“Our cage. Our gilded cage.”
“Yes,” Charles admitted. Then he heaved a sigh. “The tide has
turned, has it not, brother?”
“Yes,” Benjamin said. He reached awkwardly across their body to
pat his brother’s chest. It was as much physical affection as they could
deploy. You could not hug a man who was attached to you. “The tide
has turned. The governments have become aware. In secret we had
a chance. But secrecy is impossible now. They will come for us, and
they will take us. They’ll put us on display. They’ll call it a trial, but
it will be a carnival freak show. And then they’ll put us in a cell until
we die.”
The angled mirror that let them look in each other’s eye revealed
that Charles was crying.
So , Benjamin thought. Perhaps he sees at last.
“You were too softhearted, Charles. Always. You thought you
could improve them, as we did on the Doll Ship , and yes, it was a
magnificent dream, brother. But we now face Sodom and Gomorrah,
and no righteous man is to be found to justify their salvation.”
The silence that followed was long.
“What,” Charles asked finally, sounding exhausted, “would you
have us do?”
“We tried to gently show the world the error of its ways,” Ben-
jamin said. “We tried the carrot. Now comes the stick. Now comes
judgment. Now comes righteous wrath, brother. Or do we wait for
95
MICHAEL GRANT
our chance to star in their freak show?”
“No,” Charles whispered. Then louder. “No, by God. Now comes
Judgment Day. We hit them. We hit them so hard they can’t stand up.
And then we show them that we have worse still in store unless they
submit.”
Benjamin smiled. The doorbell sounded. “That would be the
good Dr. Burnofsky.”
In Rome, the Pope was working his way methodically through his
daily audiences. He was a humble man despite the pomp of his ancient
office, and he still, after many years in the job, felt a bit put off by the
need to play the kingly role.
First up there was the priest who had defied death threats to
keep an inoculation program going in narco country. The priest was
young and cocky and brave and offered to shake the Holy Father’s
hand rather than kiss his ring.
Then the two Little Sisters of the Poor, one of whom had been
attacked on a mission in Burma. The Pope rose from his seat to
embrace them each in turn and to whisper words of encouragement.
They left with tears streaming down their faces.
Then the usual collection of businesspeople and media people,
all of which would culminate in the Pope getting to meet a famously
good-looking actor to thank him for his charitable work. As far as the
Holy Father knew the actor was not a Catholic, but he
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