by Jay Mason
Joe nodded. “Less likelihood of things being hacked.”
Mrs Gibson sat up on the sofa and began to draw. Her face furrowed in concentration. No one else spoke. Joe examined his shoes. The rest of them watched her and waited. Finally she tore off the bit of paper and handed it to Alex. “There,” she said, “that should show you what to do.”
“What is it?” said Joe.
Alex studied the circuit diagrams in front of her. “I don’t understand it all,” she said, “but I see how to locate this circuit,” she pointed at the drawing, “and how to–” she traced it with her finger –“how to link it up to create a feedback loop?” She looked up at Rusty’s mum.
“Exactly,” said Mrs Gibson. “Rusty told me you were the bright one. If they haven’t modified it greatly since I was there — and your silver-haired friend says they haven’t — that should destroy the experiment equipment.”
“Won’t they simply build more?” said Rusty.
“Without my help or your dad’s, I don’t think they’ll be able to manage,” said Mrs Gibson.
“That’s right,” said C0numdrum. “Everything they’ve been doing is an add-on to your parents’ original work. I doubt it could be replicated. It’s one of the reasons Straker visited your mother so often. Even though she wasn’t currently in play, she’s a valuable resource to him. As you father would be if we knew where he was.”
A shadow of pain crossed Mrs Gibson’s face.
C0numdrum dropped his head. “I’m sorry I couldn’t help on that front,” he said.
“But you can get them into the lab, can’t you?” said Mrs Gibson.
C0numdrum nodded. “I can. But it’s going to take all of us to see this through.”
An hour later, Alex and Rusty sat in her car, parked just out of sight of the Centre. “I don’t like this,” said Rusty. “We can’t trust him.”
“We could hardly tell the others he’d shown me an alien. Or what he said was one. Can you imagine Joe’s reaction?”
Rusty chuckled. “It would be like all his Christmases and birthdays had come at once.”
“Better than a bathtub worth of Oscars,” said Alex joining in the laughter.
“He wouldn’t doubt it for a moment,” said Rusty. “I mean if it was good enough to make you wonder …”
“I know,” said Alex. “I don’t know what to make of C0numdrum either, but it’s your mum’s intel we’re using, not his.”
“Oh, intel,” said Rusty. “Very professional.”
“What else am I going to call it?”
“No idea. Let’s just hope it does what she thinks it will do.”
“And our plan works,” said Alex.
Rusty checked his watch. “Let’s go through this one more time. Joe should be making a fuss and demanding to be shown the latest on the project he’s helping fund in the next few minutes.”
“A water-cleansing device,” said Alex.
“Yeah, that. While he’s distracting the guards, Cat gets in and mixes with the children we want to get out.”
“Yeah, she’s going to tell them there’s an evacuation drill when an alarm goes off. I’ve shown her how to take IVs if she has to.”
“Which C0numdrum will set off. Then they all trip out and by accident run into my mum’s friendly journalist, who will meet up with the kids and ask them what’s going on. Hopefully exposing that the Centre is working on kids. With luck that’s when they’ll call the police.”
“If all the mayhem is going to plan, you and I sneak in through a side door C0numdrum has opened and make our way to the MK-THETA lab where we set the equipment to implode.”
“That all sounds easy enough,” said Rusty. Alex noticed his hand on the door handle. Despite Rusty’s calm assurances, his knuckles shone white through his skin and she was about to make it worse.
“Not exactly,” said Alex. “I need to take a slight detour.”
“What? We can’t change plans now. It’s all about to kick-off.”
“I thought you might have guessed,” said Alex.
The colour drained from Rusty’s face. “You want to go and check on the alien.”
“I don’t think I’ll ever have a better chance. After today, I’ll be lucky if my parents don’t ship me off to some faraway land never to return.” She looked at him pleadingly. “I have to know.”
“Know what?” snapped Rusty. “Of course it wasn’t real. It couldn’t have been.”
“Then I need to know if my mind was playing tricks or it was a setup by C0numdrum and Straker.”
Rusty opened his mouth to protest, but his voice disappeared under the breaking sound of a wailing siren.
“We have to go,” said Alex. She opened the door and ran towards the Centre. Rusty, cursing under his breath, followed.
****
It turned out it was all too easy to sneak into the Centre. “This isn’t right,” whispered Rusty, as they paused behind a thicket in the grounds to let a second group of armed guards pass by. “There should be way more guards than this.”
“I’m not complaining,” said Alex. “Over there,” she pointed discreetly, “that’s the door, isn’t it?”
It wasn’t so much of a door, but a small crack that traced part of a rectangle in the outside, sheer white wall. “Yeah, that’s it. Let’s hope C0numdrum is right and a little pressure in the right place will make it pop.”
“Once we’re in,” said Alex, “follow me.”
“I memorised the way,” said Rusty.
“Not the way I’m going,” said Alex. The group of three guards disappeared around the corner and Alex made for the door.
She pressed her fingers against the cold smoothness of the shiny veneer and held her breath. With the barest hiss, the door opened onto a corridor. She waited for Rusty to catch her up, but before he got close enough to speak she dived inside, forcing him to do the same or risk being left outside.
He scraped through the door, barely missing being squashed flat by what proved to be a heavy slab.
Ahead of him, Alex had stopped and was fiddling with a door. He caught up with her. This time the door was the ordinary type, heavy, but with a glass panel in the side. Darkness waited on the other side.
“I can’t get it open,” said Alex in frustration.
“Did you think it’d be left open?”
“No,” said Alex. “I didn’t think this would happen.” She held up a handful of broken lock picks.
Rusty crouched down and began to pull off his boot.
“What are you doing,” said Alex in a low voice.
“You’re not leaving this door, are you?” said Rusty.
“I’ll go and look for a key pass or something,” said Alex.
“Yeah, right,” said Rusty, picking up his boot. He thrust the boot hard at the glass. It split with a loud crack. “Steel toe caps,” said Rusty, hammering it again. “Watch the corridor.”
Alex bounced on her toes in frustration. She looked up and down the corridor while Rusty worked on the door. If anyone came there would be nowhere to hide. “I think I should go and look for …” she begun, when the glass finally imploded. Rusty pulled down his sleeve and reached through. A moment later the door swung open.
“C’mon,” he said, “that’s bound to have triggered an alarm.” He plunged into the dark room.
“Wait,” said Alex. “There’s steps.” She ran after him only to be drawn up suddenly.
On the other side of the room ran a lightening strip along the floor. It outlined exactly where she remembered the steps being. But this was the only part of the room that remained the same. Instead of a lab, she found herself standing in a dim, bare room.
“Nothing,” she said out loud. “It’s all gone.” She sprinted over to the steps before Rusty could pull her out of the room. She heard his following footsteps. She staggered, almost falling down the short flight. At the bottom she found herself in a lower section of the room — an empty lower section. “The morgue drawers,” she s
aid. “They were here.”
Rusty grabbed her by the arm. “Whatever you saw, it’s not here now and we don’t have time to search the entire Centre.”
“I’m sure this is the room,” said Alex.
Rusty pulled hard on her arm. His fingers bruised her flesh. “Now, Alex. The MK-THETA lab. The others are counting on us.”
“Okay,” she said. “I’ll come. You don’t need to drag me.”
Alex didn’t bother trying to shut the door. The break-in was far too obvious to hide. Instead they both ran as fast as they could towards the target lab. It had the same type of door, but thanks to C0numdrum, it stood open. Alex hurtled through. Rusty hung back, watching.
Banks of equipment lined all four sides of the walls. In the centre stood a large dish on a mechanical stem and next to it a raised dais. Alex made for this. She pulled the note out of her pocket and began turning knobs and flicking switches. Finally she looked over at Rusty. He nodded. Alex pushed the power button and bolted for the door.
The pair of them fled down the corridor towards their exit, but before they even saw it they heard the roar of the explosion behind them. Alex opened his mouth to speak, but a rush of heat and air lifted them both of their feet and flung them towards the ground and oblivion.
****
Pain. Pain throughout her entire body. Inside her. On her skin. In her mind. Nothing but pain. Then slowly the realisation that if she felt pain she had survived.
With a huge effort, Alex opened her eyes. A firm softness supported her. Her eyes focussed slowly on the whiteness of her surroundings. Hospital? The Centre? She swallowed — the slight action hurt. Her heart pounded blood into her ears. Please, no. Not the Centre. The dryness of her mouth prevented speech.
“It’s all right,” said a familiar voice.
Alex turned her head to see Mrs Gibson. “It’s all right, Alex,” she repeated. “You’re in the hospital. You had a concussion. So did Rusty, but you’re both going to be okay.”
“How long?” Alex managed to croak.
“You’ve been out three days,” said Rusty’s mum. “Rusty’s awake, but a bit shaken still. He’ll be in to see you later.”
Alex’s eyes flooded with tears. “He’s okay?”
Mrs Gibson nodded. “The MK-THETA lab exploded. No one knows why. It happened when you were up there with your Joe to see his project. You’re very lucky to be alive.”
“Joe?” said Alex.
“He’s fine,” said Mrs Gibson, her eyes flickered to the right. Alex glanced over and recognised her mother’s bag on a chair. “She’s popped out for a sec. Back any minute.” Mrs Gibson shifted slightly in her seat so she could see the door more clearly. “There has been such a fuss while you were out. It turns out the Centre had been experimenting on children. Of course, your mum and dad knew nothing about it.”
Alex focussed on Mrs Gibson’s face. She nodded very slightly. She’s afraid someone is listening, she thought. “How terrible,” she managed to say.
“Isn’t it?” said Mrs Gibson. “No one’s sure what exactly was going on. They can’t find Director Straker, but then his office was destroyed in the explosion.”
Alex opened her eyes very wide.
“No, don’t worry. No other casualties. Anyway, we’re all trying to pick up the bits and pieces as best we can. I’m even back on staff. Ah, here comes your mother. She’s awake, Mrs Morgan. Just a minute ago. Opened her eyes as if she’d been dreaming.”
Alex vaguely heard her mother speaking. Then her mother’s face lent over the bed. “Oh, Alex,” she said. “Of course it’s good you’re awake, but why did you have to go hanging around with that film star? What will your father say?”
Alex breathed a sigh of relief that her mother had so easily swallowed Mrs Gibson’s cover story. Her mother continued to speak. Alex barely listened. The words meant nothing. She could clearly see the relief in her mother’s face and that counted for a lot, whatever she said.
“What will your father say?” repeated her mother.
Alex frowned and shook her head.
“About this, young lady,” said her mother, holding up a strand of Alex’s hair in front of her eyes.
The once dark strand was now pure silver. Not white, but silver, like C0numdrum’s. Alex shivered. He hadn’t lied to her. She had alien DNA in her body just like him.
And she had begun to change.
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