Balancer (The Final Deity) by Wong Patrick

Author:Wong, Patrick [Wong, Patrick]
Language: eng
Format: azw3
Published: 2013-10-07T16:00:00+00:00

Anchovies Are Not a Laughing Matter

Ben pressed play on his computer, restarting the grainy footage of an old lecture on YouTube. Onscreen, a hundred or so academics of all shapes and sizes were seated in a Yale auditorium, applauding the arrival onstage of a wiry man in a tweed jacket and bow tie. He took a few moments to adjust his wire-rimmed glasses and then sip a glass of water.

This was Professor Barnard, Ben’s possible answer to Nicole’s mystery.

“Welcome to you all and thank you for inviting me here today. It’s an honor to speak to such a venerable audience.”

The sound of polite applause started up again. On his laptop, the video showed a close-up of the professor. Ben paused the screen and stared at the man. He tried to find the words for him. Was he majestic? No … mercurial. That was it.

The mercurial Professor Barnard sported a neatly trimmed beard and a shock of salt-and-pepper hair that contrasted against his dark skin. His shiny eyes were quick to find points of interest in a room, and Ben wondered what it would be like to come under his eminent gaze. Pressing play again, Ben moved across his bedroom to clamber onto his desk chair, which wobbled underneath his feet.

On the video, the applause died down and the professor cleared his throat. He was nervous — Ben had picked up on that each time he’d studied this lecture, and watching it through to the end, he had came to understand why. The polite applause belied an undercurrent of cynicism in the room, and Professor Barnard was preparing himself for instant unpopularity.

Ben sure knew what that felt like.

He affixed the last poster to the wall and carefully climbed down again, using the back of the chair for support. He stood back and proudly surveyed his bedroom.

Posters of The Lord of the Rings, M.C. Escher, and a map of the world had been replaced with hundreds of notes, drawings and printouts. Many ideas (including animal sacrifice) had been crossed out, and some (such as alien invasion and the end of the world) had big question marks next to them. One theory was emerging over all of the others. In large letters, a sheet of paper inscribed with “Fountain of Youth” was positioned at the center of the long wall next to Ben’s bed.

After his run-in with Nicole outside the cafeteria, Ben’s determination to get to the bottom of the mystery had increased. He had realized then that she was aware of everything that had been going on. Her reaction — implying that she had some control over those events — had been like dousing a smoldering barbecue with lighter fuel.

He’d let it go when she’d repeatedly yelled “stop!”, mainly because the whole scene was truly embarrassing, even by his standards. If she’d only realized that he was just trying to help. Now he needed the time to process the new information he’d gathered, namely the fact that it was a power over which Nicole had some choice.

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