The Oracle Year(83)

He paused.

“Will, your predictions were one of those tests. The agency working on this technology had a run-through about a year ago. Something went haywire in the satellite, and the transmission beam landed way, way off course. Where, exactly, the techs didn’t know, except that it was probably in New York City. Which, of course, it was.”

“But they all happened,” the Oracle said. He sounded bewildered. “The predictions all came true. It’s impossible.”

Leuchten nodded, molding his face into a sincere, earnest expression.

This was his masterstroke. The moment where he brought it all home.

He took a deep breath.

This was his destiny.

“Not impossible, Will,” Leuchten said. “We’ve been making them all happen. We needed to know how successful the test really was. Imagine someone hearing voices in their head, seeming completely real, with no idea where they came from—well, it opened up a new realm of applications for the device that we hadn’t considered.”

“Mind control, I guess?” Will said. “Pretend you’re the voice of God, put an idea in someone’s head to do something.”

Leuchten chuckled.

“The psych guys said you’d probably be smart. We kept expecting someone to start shouting from the rooftops that they could see the future. Then, we’d find that person for a chat. But you didn’t do that. We never expected you would keep your identity a secret. Or if you did, that you’d be this hard to find.”

“Why did you keep it going so long?”

“Because of you, Will. What you did. You’ve got the entire world believing everything you put on that website of yours. No one questions it, no one second-guesses, they just believe. That’s incredible power. Useful power.”

The Oracle leaned back in his chair, wincing a little—he was probably still hurting from the Taser.

“It sounds like you want me to lie for you—make up new predictions. And you need me to do it because you still haven’t figured out how to hack into the Site,” Dando said.

Leuchten leaned back, shaking his head—just a touch.

“You aren’t too far off. By carefully considering the effect a pronouncement from the Oracle might have, we—and by we I mean your country’s government—can influence world affairs in a positive way.”

The Oracle frowned.

“The only reason people trust me is that I’ve never lied to them. The first time something I predict doesn’t come true, they’ll never believe again.”

“Well, that’s sort of in our hands, isn’t it?” Leuchten said. “We can stop fulfilling the predictions any time we want. And then you’re just an ordinary guy again. One with a lot of enemies, I’d like to add.”

“I just . . . I just can’t believe this,” Dando said. “All this time, I thought . . .”

“I know, Will,” Leuchten said kindly. “But you’ve got nothing to worry about. All we’re asking is that you help your country. And we’ll compensate you for your services, of course. Maybe not as much as you were making by selling your Oracle predictions, but no one’s asking you to do this for free. If nothing else, you and your friends will be completely free from prosecution.”

Dando cast his eyes down to the table. He toyed with his glass of water, tipping it back and forth from one edge to the other, almost spilling it, but stopping so the water just barely lapped the rim of the glass. Finally, he looked up. He was smiling. His whole demeanor had changed, in fact. He was back to the cocky twentysomething asshole he’d been when he’d first walked into the room.

“Good try,” the Oracle said. “But I won’t be doing any of that.”

“Excuse me?” Leuchten said. “You don’t seem to understand, Will. We don’t have to let you or your friends walk out of here. In fact, most of the people I work with are firmly against that idea.

“The Oracle has disrupted the world in countless ways big and small. People are afraid of you, and you use that fear to achieve your goals. You know what that makes the Oracle? What that makes you in the eyes of the law, Will Dando? A terrorist.”

He waited, letting the impact of the word sink in.

“You’ve heard about those black sites the whistle-blowers say we have, right? Detention centers in the middle of nowhere, no one knows what the hell happens inside?

“Well, it’s true. All of that. We’ve got plenty of ’em, and the rules say we can hold you indefinitely. Guy like you, I think it’s pretty doubtful that you’d ever see the light of day again.”

The Oracle just kept smiling at him. It was unnerving.

Dando had just been told that all his predictions were trumped-up bullshit, and he clearly didn’t know any better, based on the interview notes he’d given the pretty black reporter. His friends were being held prisoner down the hall, and the idea that they might be used as hostages to secure his cooperation would surely have occurred to him. He was in the middle of a United States Marine base. He could be disappeared in less time than it took to sneeze.

But he was smiling.

“Is he listening?” the Oracle said.

“Listening?” Leuchten said. “What do you—”

“No, I bet he’s watching, through that. The red light’s been on this whole time.”