Cold Fire

Extreme stress could be every bit as debilitating as strenuous physical activity.

He found himself wishing The Friend would never return, wishing not in an idle way but with the wholehearted commitment of a young boy wishing that an upcoming visit to the dentist would not transpire. He put every fiber of his being into the wish, as if convinced, the way a kid sometimes could be, that wishes really did now and then come true.

He remembered a quote from Chazal, which he had used when teaching a literature unit on the supernatural fiction of Poe and Hawthorne: Extreme terror gives us back the gestures of our childhood If he ever went back into the classroom, he would be able to teach that unit a hell of a lot better, thanks to what had happened to him in the old windmill.

At 1:25 The Friend disproved the value of wishing by putting in a sudden appearance. This time no bells heralded its approach. Red light blossomed in the wall, like a burst of crimson paint in clear water.

Holly scrambled to her feet.

So did Jim. He could no longer sit relaxed in the presence of this mysterious being, because he was now more than halfconvinced that at any moment it might strike at them with merciless brutality.

The light separated into many swarms, surged all the way around the room, then began to change from red to amber.

The Friend spoke without waiting for a question: "August first Seattle Washington. Laura Lenaskian, saved from drowning. She will give birth to u child who will become a great composer and whose music will give solace to many people in times of trouble. August eighth. Peoria, Illinois Doogie Burkette. He will grow up to be a paramedic in Chicago, where he will do much good and save many lives August twelfth. Portland Oregon. Billy Jenkins He will grow up to be a brilliant medical technologist whose inventions will revolutionize medical care" Jim met Holly's eyes and did not even have to wonder what she was thinking: the same thing he was thinking.

The Friend was in its testy, I'll show-you mode, and it was providing details which it expected would lend credibility to its extravagant claim to be altering human destiny. But it was impossible to know if what it said was true-or merely fantasies that it had worked up to support its story. The important thing, perhaps, was that it seemed to care deeply that they believe it. Jim had no idea why his or Holly's opinion should matter at all to a being as intellectually superior to them as they were to a field mouse, but the fact that it did evidently matter seemed to be to their advantage.

" August twentieth. The Mojave Desert Nevada. Lisa and Susan Jawolski. Lisa will provide her daughter with the love affection. and counseling that will make it possible for the girl eventually to overcome the severe psychological trauma of her father's murder and grow up to be the greatest woman statesman in the entire history of the world, a force for enlightenment and compassionate government policies August twenty-third. Boston, Massachusetts. Nicholas O'Conner saved from an electrical-vault explosion.

He will grow up to become a priest who will dedicate his life to caring for the poor in the slums of India-" The Friend's attempt to answer Holly's criticism and present a six grandiose version of its work was childishly transparent. The Burkette bo was not going to save the world, just be a damned good paramedic, and Nicholas O'Conner was going to be a humble man leading a self effacing existence among the needy-but the rest of them were still great or brilliant or staggeringly talented in one way or another. The entity now recognized the need for credibility in its tale of grandeur, but it could not bring itself to significantly water down its professed accomplishments.

And something else was bothering Jim: that voice. The longer he listened to it, the more he became convinced that he had heard it before, not in this room twenty-five years ago, not within its current context at all.

The voice had to be appropriated, of course, because in its natural condition the alien almost certainly did not possess anything similar to human vocal cords; its biology would be inhuman. The voice it was imitating, as if it were an impersonator performing in a cosmic cocktail lounge, was that of a person Jim had once known. He could not quite identify it.

" August twenty-sixth. Dubuque Iowa. Christine and Casey Dubrovek Christine will give birth to another child who will grow up to be the greatest geneticist of the next century. Casey will become an exceptional school teacher who will tremendously influence the lives of her students, and who will never fail one of them to the extent that a suicide results" Jim felt as if he had been hit in the chest with a hammer. That insulting accusation, directed at him and referring to Larry Kakonis, shook his remaining faith in The Friend's basic desire to do good.

Holly said, "Shit, that was low.”