The Ascension Myth Box Set

by Ell Leigh Clark

  “Well,” she explained, “when someone behaves in a certain way, over time, people get used to it. Johnny told me that these women were reacting. This means that there is a change in behavior somewhere.”

  She paused, watching his reaction. “I think Mrs. Rek would normally stand around and talk… but all of a sudden, this isn’t happening.”

  Rogers nodded his head a few times, and almost started to smile. This girl was good. He wondered idly if she had an inclination for law enforcement.

  “This is very useful intel. Thank you very much, Ms. Johnstone. Would you mind sending those pictures and anything else over to my holo?”

  Maya nodded, obligingly. “Not at all,” she told him. “And if there is anything else I can do to help in the investigation, I’m here.” She hesitated, not wanting to sound melodramatic. “If I’m right, we’re all in danger.”

  Rogers let the last several minutes of the interview sink in.

  “Actually,” he said. “I do have one more thing.”

  Maya tilted her head, indicating she was listening, without interrupting him.

  “How does your girl in the Dewitt video tie into all this?” he asked. “Other than appearing on that other video. Someone wanted your editor to see the connection. What’s her role in all this? And who would want to expose her?”

  Maya smiled to herself. That was such a Bob set of questions. It was moments like this when she deeply appreciated the long hours of mentoring and researching to find the right questions - and answers - that make a story.

  She sighed. “Well, all I was able to find was that her name is Molly Bates…”

  Rogers didn’t react.

  What Maya didn’t notice was that he had checked himself, making sure he didn’t show any signs of recognizing the name.

  He knew exactly who Molly Bates was. But he wasn’t ready to let the press know that.

  Or that the police department hadn’t made the connection.

  Maya was still talking. “… and she authored a paper on exactly how to create a toxin by genetically manipulating the Yultok plant’s DNA. It’s one of the projects that Ventus could be working on. It’s difficult to tell exactly what they’re studying - their research departments and grants are pretty vague-sounding.”

  Rogers wondered briefly if she was single.

  Maya continued her discourse. “But, anyway, I think she, and potentially these others on the video, are working for the terrorists, in some capacity. How she was able to walk out of there with all that equipment, though… it makes it look like there is even potentially something going on within the ranks of Ventus. Otherwise, why would those scientists in the video be helping her?”

  Her eyes seemed pained at the possibility of a conspiracy to hurt so many people. Rogers felt the compassion in her voice.

  He nodded sympathetically. “Yes, it certainly looks like this from the footage. But you’re right. It’s interesting that they would leave through the front door in daylight. Something is certainly going on, and we will investigate.”

  Maya looked like she was going to ask a question, but she stopped herself.

  Rogers thought he could probably guess what she was thinking. “Look, I know this is hard… you’re onto a potentially explosive story. But this, what you’ve been digging into, it’s dangerous. And I’m not just talking about the toxin, but that is another reason to stay well away from this.”

  Maya nodded her understanding.

  He spoke gently. “You have to leave this with us, now. I really appreciate you sharing all your hard work and discoveries with me, but you need to let us take it from here. Do you understand?”

  He found himself wishing he could explain to her everything he and Chaakwa had discovered before he was reassigned. Intel not just about Molly Bates, but also about the people she was going up against. But that, he feared, would only put her in more danger.

  He waited for her to confirm she would leave the rest of the investigation to the police, and then stood up and shook her hand. Maya walked him down to the elevators and waved him off.

  He knows more than he is letting on, she thought to herself as the doors of the elevator closed on their conversation. And damn if she was going to sit back and wait for someone else to get to the bottom of this. Her life, and the lives of all her friends and relatives in this town, were on the line.

  She wandered back to her desk, deep in thought about what her next move should be.

  Spire Central Water Facility, Hlidargata

  Joel sighed as he and Pieter hopped out of the car with their gear.

  “Last one!” he announced.

  Pieter repeated his statement of the obvious. “Last one.” Pieter was tired. They’d been running around for the last eight hours, sourcing cameras and fitting them to monitor the vulnerable locations. He wasn’t used to this much activity, and part of him felt a little foolish for suggesting he might have been able to defend one of these sites from an attack.

  Joel received a call on his holo.

  They kept walking to the area just off the main site as he answered it. This last location was an exposed pipe outside of the perimeter. Infiltrating these facilities had required all the tech kung fu Pieter could muster.

  Joel started talking on his holo. “Hi. Eugene?”

  “Hi, Joel. Yes, it’s me. I’ve got good news and bad news. Good news is, we’re all set to start producing the antidote just as soon as we receive the formula from Molly.”

  Joel waited half a second before asking, “…and the bad news?”

  Eugene’s voice wasn’t as confident this time. “The bad news is, the ‘powers that be’ in the company won’t authorize our use of security personnel.”

  Joel reacted, but Eugene couldn’t see his face on a voice call.

  He continued quickly. “I think their reasons are partly genuine. You see, those two people that took the toxins in the first place… they were compromised in some way. And the thinking is, if they can get to our scientists, they can damn well get to our security personnel. So, by extension, putting security on anything will only potentially let the terrorist know what we know, and would actually not help us protect the site, either.”

  Joel nodded. “Yes, I see their point.” He looked over at Pieter, shaking his head. “Okay, so we’ll be done over here in a few minutes. We’ll come straight to the lab, and see if we can’t figure out our next move. Expect us in about forty minutes.”

  “Okay,” said Eugene. “Stay safe.” The line clicked off.

  Pieter handed Joel the first miniature camera to place as they approached their site. “No joy?” Pieter asked.

  Joel turned the camera and fixture in his hands, examining the mechanism. “Not on the security front. They’re good to go on replicating the antidote, though. That’s something, at least.”

  Pieter nodded. “So we’re back to you and I guarding the most likely sites, then?”

  Joel drew a deep breath. “Yeah, it’s looking like that.” He stopped in his tracks and looked around. “Although… you know what?”

  Pieter looked around, trying to see what Joel was seeing.

  Joel continued. “Of the three places we’ve been, which is the easiest to access?”

  Pieter blinked. “Well. This one, I guess.”

  Joel raised a finger in the air, the camera grasped in his hand. “Exactly!”

  Pieter spun around, looking for signs of the facility monitoring the area. He looked down at his holo to search for any signals that might be being broadcasting. A moment later, he said, “Looks clean. I think we’ve found our target.”

  Joel found a floodlight post that was pointing back towards the facility. Taking the mini camera, he reached up to fix it to the post.

  Before his hand could touch the post though, something moved behind the structure and knocked him backwards. Unable to move with a dead weight on top of him, and the wind knocked out of his lungs, Joel kicked into attac
k mode.

  Camera now forgotten, rolling off the dust and hard grass, he clenched his fists and forced the weight off him. Realizing it was a man - a very heavy, muscular man - he felt he had lucked out. Pulling his right arm back to swing a punch, he pushed the man off his chest just enough to be able to swing at him.

  His fist connected with his attacker’s jaw so hard, he felt like he had punched a metal bar. The man’s head turned, but his weight still pinned Joel.

  For a moment, Joel was vaguely aware of Pieter shouting his name in the background. He pulled his left leg over the right leg of the man on top of him, and pulled it inwards while pushing off with his right hip. A second later, he had flipped the dense mass onto his side, and was able to scramble out from under him.

  Joel was in full attack mode now. “Who the fuck are you? Who do you work for?” he demanded. He clamped his left hand around the man’s throat, half his body weight behind him.

  The man was tattooed. Military. Joel subconsciously recognized one of the tattoos. He pulled his right hand back to punch him again, and thwacked down on the guy.

  The man, though built like a tank, took the punch, and his head lolled. Joel reached back into his utility belt and pulled out his weapon.

  “Wait!” the man shouted, as loudly as he could from his half concussed state. His pupils weren’t even. “Wait…” he said again, but with less force and more surrender.

  Joel stopped.

  “What?” he shouted down at him.

  “Joel? You’re Joel, right?” the man choked. “Molly’s Joel?”

  “What about it?” Joel scowled.

  “I’m Sean.”

  Joel slowed, and released his hand from his throat a little. “Is that supposed to mean something?” he asked, still not understanding how this man knew him.

  Sean gasped. “Molly didn’t tell you?”

  Joel felt a pang of pain in his heart. His brain was confused. What was happening?

  “Sean,” the guy said. “I came to see Molly the other day. I was on your ship. I gave her intel; we’re working together.”

  “Son of a fucking bitch.” Joel shook his head, his heart feeling like it’d been crushed inside his chest.

  “Sorry, man,” Sean said, realizing that Joel didn’t know about him. “She didn’t tell you? I’m working undercover for Garet’s office.”

  Joel started to climb off the guy. “No. She must have forgotten to mention it.” Though he was mad about not being in on the loop, in the same moment, he felt his depth of feeling for her. This was a work thing. It had boundaries. But, he wondered, what about when it’s a personal thing? He couldn’t think straight. Focus on the task at hand, he told himself.

  Pieter helped Sean to his feet as Joel straightened himself out after the mini-brawl. “Okay, so you’re also trying to stop this toxin from being deployed,” Joel asked him, still eyeing him a little suspiciously.

  Sean dusted himself off. “Yes. I couldn’t figure out what you were doing, but since you were pointing that device at the pipe that would be the sensible target, I assumed you were up to no good.” He rearranged his atmojacket, looking sheepish. “Sorry for tackling you like that.”

  Sean offered out his hand. “No hard feelings?”

  Joel took the hand, making an effort to hide his suspicion. “Yeah… Yeah. No hard feelings.”

  Pieter recovered the camera from the ground, and held it in his open palm to show Sean. “Camera,” he said simply, and shrugged, before moving back towards the post where Joel was going to fit it.

  Sean shook his head, with a small smile. “Guess I was just hyper sensitive.” He straightened his atmosuit jacket again, and dusted off the lower half of his legs. The ground was sandy and grassy, just like most of the wild parts of the planet. “I’m Sean Royale, by the way.”

  “Joel Dunham,” Joel said, a little more grudgingly than he would have hoped to sound. He tried to brighten his voice a little. “This is Pieter Alexander, our new computer specialist. He was going to link up these cameras to give us an alert if anyone showed up here.”

  Pieter and Sean shook hands.

  “Tech. Good thinking!” said Sean. “I was going the old-fashioned route, and guarding the most likely target,” he confessed.

  Pieter and Joel looked at each other. “Great minds!” said Pieter, smiling.

  Joel decided to move proceedings on. “Okay, let’s get this camera up, and then we need to get to the lab. Might have an antidote ready soon.”

  Pieter turned back and continued fitting it to the post.

  Joel opened his holo and nodded to Sean. “Gimme a sec. Just need to check in with the boss.”

  Joel wandered away off back in the direction of the car. He started recording a message. “Molly, Joel. I’m at the Hlidargata site, and a Sean Royale has just shown up, claiming to know you. Can you just give me a quick message to let me know that this is one of your contacts? It looks like he’s going to be guarding the post, but I’m wary about leaving him alone unless you have intel that would suggest otherwise.”

  He clicked off, marking the message urgent, and sent it to their server.

  Hopefully she’ll pick it up right away and respond.

  He wandered back over to Sean and Pieter. Sean was chatting with Pieter, as he watched him fit the camera.

  Sean looked impressed. “Antidote. That’s fantastic.”

  He thought for a second. “So Molly is creating it?” he asked.

  “Yeah,” confirmed Joel, joining the conversation. “She doesn’t mess around.” He smiled, proud of his teammate. “Hey, is there a way we can reach you, as we’re working on this?”

  Sean explained about his secure server and shared the coordinates. Meanwhile, Pieter finished installing the camera and powered up the interface with the camera.

  “All working,” he announced.

  Joel nodded at a job well done. “Right. That’s us then,” he said, and shook Sean’s hand again. “Good luck with the guarding. We’ll be in touch when we have the antidote and kit for deploying, in case the toxin is released.”

  Sean, shaking Joel’s hand with genuine respect, bid them both farewell, and disappeared off out of sight again. Joel and Pieter turned and headed back across the grassy plain to the car.

  “Nice guy,” said Pieter. “You really didn’t know anything about him?”

  Joel shook his head. “Nope. But you’ll learn this about Molly: A to B. And Sean wasn’t in the A to B we talked about, so she probably didn’t even think to mention it.”

  Pieter wasn’t sure, but even though Joel was matter-of-fact about how things were with Molly, Pieter sensed a hint of hurt in his voice.

  They got back in the car and drove off. Just around the corner, though, Joel pulled over.

  Pieter looked over at him. “We’re stopping?”

  Joel made a face. “Of course. You think I’m going to leave some random commando guarding our target without checking it out?”

  Pieter shook his head, realizing what had just happened. “Ah, right. You put in a call to the boss?”

  Joel smiled. “Hellz yeah.”

  Just then, a message came through on his holo.

  “Speak of the devil,” he said, winking at Pieter. Joel opened the message. It was text only.

  SEAN OK. LET HIM HELP.

  Pieter peered over at Joel’s screen. “Lady of few words,” he commented.

  “I’ll say,” agreed Joel. “Okay, we’re good. Let’s leave him to it, but be aware.”

  Joel started the car again, and headed off to the main road out of the area.

  Newstainment Offices, downtown Spire

  Maya sat at her desk, isolated by her cubicle walls. Her workstation was dimly lit as she wracked her brain, trying to figure out the missing pieces.

  Since Detective Rogers’ visit, there was something bugging her.

  Even apart from realizing that he knew more than he was sharing, ther
e was something else. He didn’t seem to have jumped on the conspiracy thing about Ventus… which meant one of several things: he didn’t think it was a possibility; he was working for Ventus himself, and wanted to keep the heat off them; or he knew something about why Bates would have been there.

  There was no doubt he thought that she was getting into something dangerous. Beyond the toxin, he said. That pointed to conspiracy. And him knowing more than he was letting on.

  Maybe this Bates girl was the dangerous person; but she didn’t look it. Not walking around in broad daylight, being helped by two scientists, with another, younger girl in tow.

  Then there was the Dewitt footage. She had knocked on the door. Assassins don't normally knock.

  Maya turned her attention back to the download of the thesis Johnny had managed to track down for her. Maybe there was something in the science she was missing.

  As she flipped open the 300-page report, she briefly recognized that most of her colleagues would have been put off even by the front page. Science was so core to their life here at Newstainment, and yet it always surprised her how reluctant folks were to get into the details that would often yield so much truth.

  She started reading, skimming over the abstract. Then she flipped to the graphs in the main method section. After about twenty minutes of reading, she felt she had an idea of the process Bates used. Not that she was a scientist. Heck, she could barely wire a circuit. But conceptually, she got it.

  Now to consider the motivation for such a piece. She flipped back to the introduction and scanned for narrative. Was it for industry, and therefore financially motivated? Was it a prestigious area to be researching? She didn’t think so. New genetics wasn’t cutting edge, and hadn’t been for over a hundred years… But there was something she was missing.

  She flipped back to Molly’s resume. It seemed she was only sixteen when she wrote this. Which meant she was gifted and talented. And doing bio chem. That stank of social isolation and over-achievement. But what would motivate a 16-year-old to create dangerous toxins? Her parents were still alive, so it was unlikely she had been trying to find a way to kill them…

  She flicked back a few pages, feeling she’d missed something. Her eyes fell on a passage that changed everything.