61

Loyd shook his head and looked around. He looked at Golowin.

"Serge?"

"Pleased to meet you, Mr. Loyd," Golowin said. "Actually, I'm your friend's grandson."

"Grandson! Then it worked? I've been brought back?"

"Yes."

"Fantastic!" He resembled Teddy Roosevelt, Marcia thought.

"But," Loyd said. "There was supposed to be more. There was supposed to be something happening. When I came back. Is there something ... forgive me, heh heh, getting reassembled from six parts tends to wipe your memory like an autoclave."

"You've had a nasty experience, Mr. Loyd."

"That's true, but I feel pretty good considering. I don't feel, uh ... hung over."

"On the night you were ... boxed up, was there much drinking?"

"In a word? Yes." he grinned. "Umm ... something to do with the senses. I worked this all out myself. I was the grand architect of how it all could succeed. And when I was brought back, it was supposed to be well in progress? The eyes, the ears? Does anyone know ..."

"Mr. Loyd," Deet said. "Hi, nice to meet you, I'm David Deet. I ... um ... I make movies."

"Movies!" Loyd said. "I've seen some movies!"

Deet nodded. "I made a movie out of what you mentioned, sir. I used all your ideas about the senses."

"A movie. And you had a little cadre of leaders, a little oligarchy, the eye, the nose, the mouth."

"Yes, sir."

"And did it work? We have Serpentines running the country?"

"Err ... not exactly."

Deet was intrigued and disturbed to find that Sam Loyd expected to be awakened during, or after, a coup. Lay out all the seeds, sleep a hundred years and wake up in a seat of power.

"No, something's wrong," Loyd said. "I don't even need to hear it from you fellas because I can feel that it is. The whole texture of the air, it's just wrong. Serge?"

"Yes, sir?"

"Please, Serge, call me Sam! Your grandfather would always have called me Sam."

"Okay."

"Well, you know, I'm sure you did your damnedest to make everything perfect, but something wasn't perfect. There's not going to be any coup, which means there's not going to be any Serpentines, which means I got myself reassembled for nothing."

Golowin looked hurt.

"I, uhhhhh.... is there something we can do?" Golowin asked.

"Well," Loyd said. "No, not really. You remember those little fellas, the shiny ones inside the boxes? They're all inside me now. And the gold? It must have taken at least a month to gather up that much gold. More than a month. And electrical power? I hope it was from the cycling method?"

"That's right, sir," said Madame Sparko with obvious pride. "We have several thousand Sams and Grahams cycling right now."

"Well, take them down! Send them home! You don't need them cycling anymore because I'm here! It just ... something got screwed up somewhere. This is not the kind of thing you get a second chance on. That's it, folks, one try. Thank you kindly for reviving me. But someone somewhere musta been sleeping on the job."

"Oh," said Golowin.

"So," said Puck.

"What happens now?" asked Bobby.

"Hmm," Golowin said. "If you need a few days to book your flights home, you're welcome to stay on my compound."

Puck blinked. "You're trying to tell me that our passage home isn't included?"

"Well, frankly, Wolf, I don't have any money. If you'll recall, you all paid your own way to get here. Or the box did it for you. But there are no boxes anymore. That stuff is all inside of Loyd."

"I could probably raise a few shillings, if you give me a while to hawk my puzzles and sundry amusements."

"Umm," Puck said. "But your 1916 money isn't going to get us very far, sir."

Loyd looked offended.

"Sorry, sir. But this is 2003. Mm, that's fine. Everybody charges it to me. You can reimburse me when you are able, otherwise, it's a gift."

"How sweet!" said Boo. "Muah!"