Chapter 4 : Solution
Joe woke up scared. He had heard the Voice again. The last time he had heard it was before there had been the immense pigeon attack on Paris. The Voice had said, as always: "Revenge. We will have Revenge."
He looked up at the ceiling. It was not the dirty-white ceiling of the hospital, but he was not worried about that. After six years at the hospital, he had been deemed fit to re-enter society. But now it was plaguing him again. All of a sudden he heard a voice. It was not the Pigeon.
"Joe."
"Leave me alone!" he screamed into the darkness of his room.
"Joe, listen. It's not the Pigeon. It's us. We are all the people who have ever existed. As the Pigeon once told you, we occupy the dimension that it occupies. We may have a way to exterminate the Pigeon."
"Leave me alone!" screamed Joe, certain that this was the Pigeon playing some game with him.
He quickly got up and ignoring the voice repeating "Joe" in his head, swallowed a couple of pills and slept.
As had happened five years ago, when he awoke, it was not in the comfort of his bed. The red eye looked at him.
"Hello Joe," it sniggered. "Long time no see. I see that you still have that strange ability of listening in on our conversations. It must stop Joe, it really must."
"Joe."
It was the other voice.
"Who's that?" The Pigeon was startled. Joe sensed a note of fear in its voice.
"Joe, you must listen."
Joe screamed and woke up. The damp feeling of his pillow comforted him. Then he heard the voice again. It was not the Pigeon.
"Joe, you must listen. It's taking all our strength to keep the Pigeon from listening. We have had a solution to this problem for some time. But you are the only person at present who can hear us."
Joe shivered, but sweat stood out on his brow. "Go on," he said.
"We have searched the memories of all of us for many centuries, ever since we perceived the evil of the Pigeon. The Pigeon grows, just like us. Therefore it must have an origin. We have found its origin. Through analysis of the memories of all of us, we have managed to remember thing none of us have ever seen. As you can predict the future by viewing the past, we have predicted the past by viewing the present. Every person gives his offspring some of his memories. This has happened since we were mere rodents. We have traced the origins of the Pigeon to one bird-like organism somewhere near the demise of the dinosaurs. We have found out that a predator came close to attacking and killing it. However, a small lizard was enough to scare the bird away. What we have to do is tell the predator to be there earlier. As the predator was one of the rodent-like ancestors of Man, we can talk to him as we talk to you. However, we need to know why you are so unique. How your mind can listen in on us and the Pigeon. You have to let us examine you properly. We can only examine you when you're asleep."
"What do you want me to do?"
"We want you to take those sleeping pills."
"Is that all?"
"All of them."
"What?"
"The more unconscious you are, the deeper we can delve into your brain. If you actually fall into a coma, we can have uninhibited access to your brain. You must do it Joe."
Joe hesitated. Then he made up his mind. He would either die and not know anything anymore, or he would get rid of the Pigeon and live.
"OK"
He woke up. He stepped out of his bed and emptied the box of pills into his mouth. He then took a large gulp of water, and lay down on his bed.
Read the Epilogue to this epic