Ice Shock by M. G. Harris Page A

table. His eyes turn cold, deadly, purposeful. I shut my eyes, steeling myself for the first blow, when I hear Ollie’s voice.
    â€œLet me try first. We should give reason a chance.”
    Madison stares at her. “He’s a liar!”
    â€œPeople lie under torture,” she remarks.
    â€œSoldiers lie; a kid like him isn’t going to lie to me, not after I’ve broken a few of his bones.”
    What Madison is saying is so unimaginably horrible that I can’t take it in. I blink, dazed.
    Ollie says quietly, “Josh, why do you think this is happening?”
    My voice cracks slightly when I reply. “You want the codex … you want to get into Ek Naab? I don’t know …”
    â€œWell, let’s try asking about you. Why are you involved in all this?”
    I stare into her eyes. “The end of the Mayan Long Count … the galactic superwave … I don’t want the world as we know it to end in 2012. Do you?”
    Ollie sighs, as though this were an old, tired argument. “Hasn’t it occurred to you that saving people is the last thing we should be thinking of? What the world needs is fewer humans using up resources. Fewer humans—just those whomake sensible use of what the planet has to offer. Fewer humans so that other species on the planet can actually live instead of being driven to extinction.”
    I’m stunned. “So … you want to just let millions of people die … ?”
    She doesn’t seem to have heard me. She continues, “We’ve made a mess of life on Earth. Climate change, wars, religious fundamentalism. One way or another, civilization is doomed. Why wait for it to happen painfully over the next century? I say we let it finish now, while the planet still has a chance to recover. Our civilization doesn’t need to be preserved—it needs to be
re-created
. By the right people.” Ollie throws me a meaningful look. “That could include you, Josh.”
    I find my voice. “Me? Why?”
    â€œYou really don’t know? That Bakab gene is just the tip of the iceberg. Have you any idea what you’re capable of, if only we could unlock your potential?”
    â€œWhat Bakab gene?”
    â€œDon’t be an idiot. The one that gives you immunity to the Erinsi bio-defense.”
    â€œ
Erinsi
?” I search my memory for the reference. I’ve heard it before. But right now I can’t remember where.
    â€œJosh, you’re forgetting how well I know you. Yes, the Erinsi—as in Books of Erinsi Inscriptions. The ancient people who actually wrote your precious Ix Codex—the Erinsi, the oneswho actually invented all that clever technology they’re so proud of in Ek Naab.”
    â€œItzamna wrote the Ix Codex … ,” I say, stalling.
    â€œHe copied them,” snaps Ollie. “
As well you know
. Maybe
you
should stop underestimating
me
. I know that by now you’ve decoded the pages from the codex. You would never burn it to a crisp if you hadn’t. We’re not stupid either; we’ve decoded it too. I don’t know how much you know about the Erinsi, but I’m certain that you’ve heard of them.”
    â€œHonestly, I don’t know anything. I read the name, that’s all.”
    â€œWell, it’s not for me to tell you things that even your own people won’t let you know.”
    I say nothing, thinking angrily of Montoyo.
    â€œOkay, here’s what we’re going to do. Simon and I will leave you down here for ten minutes, give you a good chance to think through your options. Then I’ll come down, and, Josh, you’d better start talking—and fast. And I better like what I hear, or Simon is going to use his own methods.”
    I say quickly, “If I do talk, what then?”
    A hollow silence descends. After a few uncomfortable seconds, Ollie says, “It’s not my decision. It was your choice to come here. We