Read Online Infinity One by Robert Hoskins (Ed.) - Free Book Online

Pete resumed his patrol.
    The next morning, resolved to help Maria in spite of herself, he bought a frilly dress, bundled it and food and Wizard into his car and went back to the house. He ‘called’ to let her know he was coming.
    There was no answer. The back room was deserted. Except for the de-stuffed armchair by the window and two Coke bottles on the floor under it, Pete could have sworn no one had been in the house for months.
    “Find Maria, Wiz,” Pete ordered.
    Wizard hunted around, sniffing, and with a yelp raced out the door. He sniffed around outside and seemed to find a trace. Pete followed him in the car. Wizard acted just as if he knew exactly where he was going. He got half way down the next block then stopped as though he had run into an invisible wall. He lay down on the sidewalk, put his head on his paws and whined. Then he slunk back to Pete at the curb.
    “Find her, Wizard!” Pete commanded. The dog crouched down and laid his ears back. It was the first time he had ever disobeyed that tone of voice.
    “Maria! We’re your friends! We want to help!” Pete shouted, oblivious to stares. He was sure she could hear him. He waited, apprehensive, unsure.
    No! came the one disembodied word, filling his skull til his head rang. There was no arguing it.
    “At least tell Wiz if you’re hungry, Maria. He can bring you food. I promise I won’t follow.”

    Twice in the next three weeks, Wizard darted into a deli, whining pathetically. It took Pete a minute or so the first time to grasp what the big dog wanted. Then he’d get a sandwich and a Coke-to-go, put it in a bag, roll the top into a handle for Wiz to carry. Then he’d wait til the dog returned. He was determined to prove to Maria he’d keep his promise. He didn’t want to lose contact with her.
    In the meantime he did a little judicious research on telepathy at the library, but the textbooks were too much for him. When he asked the librarian for something a guy could understand, he was shown the science fiction shelves.
    Maria didn’t act like fictional telepaths. According to the stories she should be able to get food when she wanted it, commit robberies undetected, start fires, transport herself and anyone else anywhere, aid society and perform minor miracles. Like heal herself, even. The prospects were magnificently endless. Yet she was stuck in some hideous, hot, horrible back room, half-starved and slowly dying of neglect.
    The one thing Pete had to accept was the fact that Maria kept in touch with Wizard but excluded him. Since Pete considered Wizard every bit as smart as most men, he wasn’t offended; but he felt powerless to help her as only a human could.
    The next set of inexplicable incidents began about four weeks after Pete and Wizard first encountered the girl. They were pacing the beat on the hotel side of Rodney Square when the dog got restless. He strained against the leash until Pete let him go to see where he’d head. At a dead run, Wizard streaked down Eleventh Street, right over into Harry West’s beat.
    Harry walked with Pirate, the biggest dog on the force. Pete couldn’t figure Harry in trouble. He was wrong.
    He heard the sullen rumble of an angry crowd by the time he reached French. Wiz was already around that comer and in the middle of a fight. Pete whistled for squad cars as he broke into the edge of the crowd, swinging his nightstick. He could hear Wizard growling angrily. He heard a yelp and then the growling of a second dog. He stumbled over Harry, bleeding from a head wound. Pete got Harry clear of the stampede just as the squad cars arrived.
    Both dogs were at work, snapping, snarling, darting around and the crowd thinned rapidly. In a matter of minutes, all but the bitten, bruised and brained had evaporated into the hot night.
    “How’d you get here so fast?” Harry demanded as he came to. “I heard Wiz just as some kook pelted me with a bottle.”
    “Well, Wizard just took off,” was Pete’s