The Dead Room Trilogy

by Stephanie Erickson

  Glancing at his watch, he stood. It was already after seven. If he left right away, he could be home in forty-five minutes.

  He grabbed his keys out of the small desk drawer, his coat off the back of his chair, as well as the journal he’d been going in circles with, and walked out the door, hoping to salvage part of the night.

  Judy was over it by the time he got home, all smiles and sunshine for him. She was even a bit flushed.

  She sat with him while he ate, saying she’d already eaten with Ashley, who’d gone out with some friends. They were alone for the evening.

  After so many years of marriage, they knew better than to squander such an evening. They sat on the couch and watched their favorite show together, getting nearly caught up.

  Around eleven, Ashley came in and kissed them both, heading off to her room. She was a beautiful girl, favoring Judy with flowing curves, long brown hair, bright green eyes, and a magnetism unique to her. Boys were always calling her, but lucky for Ashby, his daughter had the same level head his wife did, and she kept most of them at arm’s length.

  As Ashby lay in bed next to his wife, he thought of Mendi. Ashby had gotten the girl, but he wanted Mendi’s success. The desire drove Ashby to stay late that night and irritate his wife.

  “Judy, why do you think Mendi never married?” he wondered aloud.

  The question seemed to catch her off guard. “Well, I’m sure I don’t know. We don’t really talk about it much.”

  “No, we don’t either.” Ashby wasn’t sure why he even cared. Except that, maybe the distraction would slow the man down. Give Ashby a chance to fix his problems and get back on track.

  “Maybe you could set him up with a friend from your book club?” Ashby asked.

  “I most certainly will not do that,” she said, more than a little defensively.

  “I didn’t mean to upset you, dear. I’m sorry. I just thought Mendi might like some companionship.”

  “Chris is an attractive man, perfectly capable of finding a woman if he wanted to. Seems to me since he hasn’t done that, he doesn’t want to.” The certainty in her tone let Ashby know he’d struck a chord.

  He knew it has been hard for Judy to choose between the two of them, but that had been almost two decades ago. Maybe Mendi would always have a small piece of her heart. Ashby frowned at the thought.

  “Goodnight, love.” She ended the conversation and left Ashby completely in the dark.

  In the months that passed, Mendi decided it was time to submit his paperwork for human trials. He’d had success after success with his DNA editing, and finally felt comfortable enough moving forward.

  Ashby’s lab was in upheaval as it was being changed over to accommodate the chimps. He wasn’t sure how he’d gotten any work done during the transition, but by some miracle, he’d made progress, and was very excited to start working with the chimps.

  Just before they closed up shop for the day, Mendi popped his head into Ashby’s lab.

  “What’s that?” he asked, gesturing toward a small, black box.

  Frankly, Ashby wasn’t sure how he’d spotted it among the chaos. Chimp cages were all along the back wall, and they took up a tremendous amount of real estate. As a result, he’d be working with smaller numbers. Less room for error, that was for sure. That was the point of advancement though, once a scientist got to chimps, there should be less error.

  “It’s a containment box. If I’m going to think realistically about human trials, and the bots being at other facilities, I have to be safer about the containment of the bots. I can’t have them running higgledy-piggledy all over. They’d kill people.” The matter of fact way he said it had Mendi doing a double take at his friend.

  “Can’t have that,” he said cautiously as he walked over. “Perhaps some further programming would help with that little problem.”

  “That too,” Ashby admitted. The programming was next on his agenda.

  “What is this?” he asked, pointing to the material the box was made of.

  “NASA helped me out with it. It’s light, strong, and not something the bots can eat through. Exactly what the doctor ordered.” Ashby couldn’t hide the enthusiasm in his voice.

  “Look,” he said, turning the box over. A complicated mass of wires and circuitry were underneath. “I’ve taught them to heel.”

  “You did?” Mendi’s voice went up as his own excitement mounted.

  “Well, I think I did. I need to run some tests.” He turned the box back over and set it on the table.

  “Do your tests tomorrow, Ben. Let’s go home.”

  Ashby fiddled with the circuitry. “Hot date tonight?” He didn’t know what had come over him. He never made flippant comments about Mendi’s love life. They had an unspoken agreement not to discuss it. So what possessed Ashby to violate that was beyond him.

  “Yes, with you and Judy,” Mendi said through a laugh. “We’re having dinner at your place, remember?”

  Ashby had forgotten all about their dinner plans. “Right. Well, let’s go then.” He looked longingly at the box.

  “It will still be here in the morning,” Mendi assured Ashby. He knew Mendi was right.

  Reluctantly, Ashby left his groundbreaking work behind, and went to have dinner with his family.

  Over the next few months, Ashby perfected his little black box, and the bots performed beautifully. Not only could he more safely insert them into the subject, but he could also recall them without destroying them. Rather than having them wasted, by just being sweated out, he could actually reuse them. Even better, the chimps took to it beautifully.

  Over a year went by with one success after another. Finally, Ashby felt ready to apply for human trials. In the meantime, Mendi’s paperwork had been held up. Something about lost paperwork, and then someone taking a leave of absence. It was frustrating to say the least. But Ashby held out hope that he might be able to catch up to the steely-eyed missile man.

  Still, time dragged on endlessly as he waited for his approval to start human trials. He’d miss the chimps. Even he’d become quite fond of them. They were much more affectionate than the rats, and they had personalities. A handful of them had been with him the entire time. Hope was, well, hopeless… already crying about their departure.

  And then, rather suddenly, his wait was over.

  He knocked on Mendi’s door. “Yeah!” his friend shouted from inside.

  Ashby went in, silently holding the piece of mail. He couldn’t believe he’d gotten his before Mendi. He’d applied over a year before him. And yet, here it was. Maybe that meant he’d been rejected.

  “What’s this?” Mendi asked, removing a pair of small, steel-rimmed glasses and putting them on the table next to the computer where he’d been working.

  Ashby didn’t respond. He simply held the mail out for his friend.

  Mendi smiled and let out one short chuckle, puzzled by Ashby’s behavior.

  Then he saw the return address. “This is it.” He turned the mail over excitedly. “Why haven’t you opened it?”

  Ashby couldn’t speak. His mouth wouldn’t form words. It was too dry. Or maybe he was drowning in saliva. He wasn’t sure. He couldn’t think.

  Mendi laughed again, putting an arm around Ashby. He didn’t show a trace of jealousy, or resentment. “Come, sit down. We’ll open it together.”

  That was just fine by Ashby, as long as together meant Mendi opened it for him.

  Positioning Ashby in a rolling stool next to his desk, Mendi pulled a gold letter opener from the drawer and sat facing him, holding his future as a scientist and engineer in his hands.

  “Do you think it’s a rejection? Since it came before yours?” Ashby asked, his mind reeling. “Do you think you should call them, and find out where yours is?”

  “This isn’t about me. I’m not worried. Mine will come when it comes. This is yours. And there’s only one way to find out if it’s a rejection.” He held the opener to the letter and eyed Ashby. How could Mendi
be so calm about it? Ashby was a total wreck, and he’d waited a quarter of the time Mendi had.

  “Do it,” Ashby whispered.

  Mendi took a deep breath. With one fell swoop, he opened the letter, releasing Ashby’s future into the world.

  With steady hands, Mendi took out the folded paper. Ashby didn’t know what his friend was hoping to read, but he was certainly calmer about it than Ashby. He rubbed his palms against his black slacks as he waited for Mendi to get to the point.

  “You have it,” he said. Was that disbelief in his voice? Or was Ashby just being paranoid?

  Mendi looked up at his friend, smiling widely. “You have it!” he said again, loudly and with clear enthusiasm this time.

  Ashby was stunned. This was it. He was moving forward with his bots. And they would take the world by storm. He knew it.

  Months went by before he got his first test group. The process was intense, involving several doctors and scientists in the screening, carefully selecting each patient to make sure the treatment would not only have the best chance at success, but would also be easily duplicated down the line. The whole thing made Ashby impatient. If it were up to him, he’d just take the first cancer patient that came along, just like with the chimps. But his colleagues insisted on more methodology and red tape.

  In the meantime, Mendi got his approval to start human trials. Of course, they’d celebrated that with more champagne, and Judy made a special dinner for him.

  With Mendi getting his approval, they were neck and neck for beating this thing. Mendi always thought it was great. People would have two worthwhile options they could pursue. Together, they would wipe out cancer, as well as many other illnesses. They fancied themselves superheroes of a sort.

  That night, they sat together on Ashby’s balcony, sipping wine. “Do you think we’ll create an immortal society this way?” Ashby asked.

  “Well, that’s a question, isn’t it?” Mendi said, absently swirling the wine in his glass.

  Ashby waited for an answer as he daydreamed about the world they’d set in motion.

  “Immortal? Probably not. Not with our current developments. The body will still degenerate and die eventually, even if we cure things like cancer and Alzheimer’s.”

  Ashby nodded, but Mendi went on. “However, with more advances in our current fields, who knows where science could take us? The possibilities truly are endless.”

  The thought was exciting and exhausting all at once. He thought once this was done, once his creation was out in the world, he could rest on his laurels. But Mendi was right. There was always one more step to take, just a little further to push, one more discovery to be made. In spite of himself, Ashby loved it.

  “Cheers, my friend.” Ashby held out his glass, and Mendi responded in kind. They toasted the future that they had created together.

  That week, both Mendi and Ashby got their next subjects. They pored over the charts in Ashby’s lab while Ashby’s assistant kept them constantly fueled with fresh coffee.

  “I think yours are good. Most are sick but still relatively healthy, not good candidates for chemo due to a history of pneumonia or other variables. But I’m not all that good at the medical mumbo jumbo. That’s what you’re for,” Ashby said, trying not to focus on the fact that Mendi could beat him to the punch. Mendi was right. There was room for both of them in this world. Or so he told himself, repeatedly.

  “Mmm,” Mendi said, not looking up from the chart that had Ashby’s candidates.

  “What’s wrong? Think I should pass on this one too?” If he did, Mendi was sure to get there first, rendering his cure useless. It was one thing if they got there at the same time, but if Mendi proved it was possible first, no one would even want to hear about his bots. It would be yesterday’s news.

  “No. Actually, I think it’s a great group. In relatively good health, just like mine. Take this man, his specific type of cancer is nonresponsive to chemo, and he’s had an adverse reaction to radiation.” Mendi looked up from the paperwork.

  “Ben, you could save them.”

  And just like that, it all became real.

  On a warm May day in Northern California, Ashby and Mendi watched anxiously as doctors implanted the first nanobot into a human. Mendi clapped his friend on the back as they went to work. “Congratulations, Ben. I’m so proud of you.”

  Ashby beamed during the entire procedure, and he couldn’t wait to get the first scans.

  A few days later, Mendi started his treatments, but Ashby didn’t understand what was going on, or when to congratulate his friend. A lot of it was done through a microscope, or in a petri dish, and then reintroduced to the patient.

  But, late that night, after he’d watched Mendi inject the first subject with the mystery fluid he’d been working on all day, they sat together with the lights only half on, giving the lab a quieter feel.

  “Now, we wait,” Mendi said.

  “And now, we wait.”

  4

  Approximate year, 2346

  Elder Branneth walked the path without purpose. She’d never felt so out of control before, and she didn’t like it one bit. In a matter of days, the man she loved was dead, and his murderer had been made second in command of the elders. It made her feel like Elder Mattli was in on Wesley’s killing. She stopped and sat down on a huge stone.

  Taking stock of her surroundings, she realized she was sitting where the elders would have left his body. She rubbed her hand along it, wanting to feel closer to him.

  When she looked up at the night sky, the stars twinkled brilliantly back at her, but they didn’t offer any comfort at all. If Mattli had been behind Wesley’s death, what did he stand to gain? He had gotten the head elder spot, but the two didn’t seem related. Plus, Mattli didn’t seem the type to kill his best friend just to gain status. He seemed genuinely distraught over the man’s death.

  So why play a part in Wesley’s murder? Was he threatened by Wesley’s brilliance? Branneth wasn’t; she only wanted to be a part of it. Stand next to him while he climbed to greatness. But all that had been stolen from her.

  Absently, she ran her fingers along the handle of a knife she’d gotten from home. She had no plan for the weapon Mason had used to kill the love of her life. It just made her feel better to keep it close.

  Control. That was what she needed. She’d stumbled along since Wesley died, revealed too much of her love for him, made too many mistakes. Well, no more.

  She’d lost control once before. When Wesley had been matched to that horrible girl Ashley. Ashley was nothing more than an orphan, and Branneth couldn’t get her head around why the elders would match a future elder with a woman like that. She’d found out too late to do anything about it. And she’d despaired for a bit, let herself wander aimlessly through her life, much like she was now.

  But then, she’d taken action. She’d found reasons to stop her own matches. Being an elder herself, it wasn’t hard to hold up the proceedings or find better matches for those who could be paired with her. Often, she found women who were more likely to make the man happier anyway, so she didn’t feel bad depriving them of the status they would earn being paired with an elder.

  After Wesley was married to Ashley, she held on to the hope that it wouldn’t last. He hated her, and she was bound to…turn up missing before long. Branneth only needed to bide her time before they could finally be together.

  They’d been friends for so long she didn’t even consider Wesley might not feel the same way about her. Of course he did. They shared common interests and goals. They were well suited for each other. They would make a perfect match.

  She often imagined them living together in her home, her bringing him coffee, reading by the fire together, just barely touching hands as their arms rested next to each other.

  But one fateful night, the now second-in-command elder took her control away and killed Wesley. The other elders didn’t think he was guilty. They thought Ashley killed him in self-defense, but she was
a half-wit, not nearly strong enough to do such a thing. Wesley would’ve killed her first. He should have killed her first.

  Well, Elder Hawkins, or Mason, or whatever she was supposed to call him now, couldn’t hide behind his title for long. He was nothing but a murderer, and she would find a way to be his undoing.

  “What goes around comes around,” she said into the night as a stray moonbeam found its way through the treetops and glinted off the blade of the butcher knife in her lap.

  Mattli and Mason were silent while they secured the dead room. What more could they say? Processing the fact that Ashby wasn’t quite the man they’d always thought was difficult at best.

  Mattli continued to be indignant about the revelation, but Mason tried to remain objective. Maybe it was easier for him, since he’d spent such a short time being an elder, and understanding the history of the island was all new information to him. What was one more shocking bit of news to add to the fire?

  “I’m going topside to get the bots.”

  Mattli nodded silently, and Mason started climbing the metal ladder that led to the outside.

  Every other time he’d been in the dead room, he’d always been anxious to get out, to breathe the fresh air. But this time, the island felt different, knowing how it was created, and why. A shiver passed through him as he stepped out into the moonlight.

  The hairs on his arms stood on end, and he shivered again. Rubbing his arms, he looked around the woods, feeling a sense of foreboding wash over him. Taking a deep breath, he shrugged it off as information overload and went to the pile of brush where he’d hidden the box.

  Whistling as he closed the distance, more to comfort himself than anything else, he stopped abruptly when he noticed someone was sitting on the preparation stone just ten feet ahead of him.

  Her silhouette was thin, rigid. Branneth. What was she doing out here at this hour? he thought.