55

Half an hour later, a crowd of people laughingly convened at Fashion Pizza, a busy restaurant near the airport. Annoying programs from Euro-MTV and the E! Channel were piped in on monitors overlooking phony marble tables. Six people, maybe eight, sat down.

"Welcome," said Golowin, "to the meeting of the ruling council of the Serpentines. I'd like to begin by saying that you're all doing a very good job."

"Thanks, Serg," said Wolfgang Puck.

"Jeez," said David Deet. "I mean, that box did a lot for me. I don't-"

"Did you bring it?" said Golowin.

"I brought mine," Deet said.

"Oh no!" said Bob B. Soxx."

"What's the matter, Bobby?" asked Marcia.

"I left it at home!" Bobby cried.

"Shit, you're kidding!" said Golowin.

"Actually, yeah, I am." He shrugged when nobody laughed, and pulled his Loyd box from a backpack.

"Anybody get cocky like I did?" asked Bobby.

"What do you mean?" Golowin said. "What did you do?"

"Well, I was gambling. We were gambling. That's how we got the plane fare. Is there anything that the boxes can't do?"

"They can't make an omelette, I'll tell you that much," Wolfgang Puck said.

His friend Boo, who hung off of his arm, giggled.

"Jeez," said Marcia. " I'm not sure."

"Well," Boo said. "What can they do?"

"Turn invisible," Golowin said. "Repel and attract magnets. Grow to fifty feet. Shrink to the size of an atom. Halt time. Teleport. Fly. Fire lightning bolts from their fingers."

"They have fingers?"

"Breathe fire. Make trees grow abruptly. Change the color of objects. Turn to stone. Make things so cold they freeze."

Jamie was frothing at the mouth. "Slow down! Oh my god. Slow down! The box can do all that?"

"Jamie."

"Can they do all those things all at the same time?"

"Sure, and that's only half the list. They can exert an influence over probabilities and likelihoods. That one is extremely cool."

Golowin cleared his throat. "Okay, people, if we could get on-topic for a while please. We don't have a ton of time. Everyone got their boxes? On the table please."

In fact, everyone did have their box and one by one, they pulled them out. The boxes just sat there on the table.

"Hmm," Golowin said.

"Maybe," Marcia suggested, "they aren't supposed to do anything."

"Do they open?" Boo asked.

"You know," Golowin said. "This is probably the first time all six boxes have been together in a long, long time."

"Decades," offered Deet.

"Decades, at least. So maybe they'd, you know, they'd like to be alone for a while."

"Fair enough," Bobby said.

"In the meantime," Golowin said. "Anyone want to shoot some pinball?"