The Deep Beneath

by Natalie Wright

  Anyone who dared to venture into the gunnery range may find the spot. She had no doubt the UFO nuts may have already put out the word. They seemed to have an uncanny way of spotting her special Black Hawk helicopters equipped with the same stealth technology as the B-2 stealth bomber. MUFON, those so-called UFO investigators, may find higher than normal levels of radiation and the dead plants. They’d make a show about it and claim it was the landing site of an alien ship. But Commander Sturgis was unconcerned about the babblings of the alien enthusiast fringe. All she cared about was that no one find a clue about what had actually gone down in that spot. They would not discover any evidence of the alien-human hybrid she had created or of the dead body of 9’s victim.

  The cabin of the copter was quiet save for the sound of the blades chopping the air. The six soldiers looked straight ahead and remained silent. She was glad of it. She was in no mood for idle banter. Commander Sturgis kept her gaze on the bright white screen of her handheld. She had a message from General Bardsley, her commanding officer, asking for an update. Hell’s bells. He would go through the roof when he heard about the fiasco of 9’s escape. She did not respond to Bardsley’s message. I will have to consider how best to put this to him, but now I have more important things to think about.

  Like how to get 9 back into her custody. Commander Sturgis and Dr. Randall had created 9 to be a killing machine, unfettered by human frailties of the mind such as guilt and mercy. H.A.L.F. 9 had shown no mercy to her soldiers, but he had displayed a weakness toward the teenagers. That concerned her far more than the fact that he’d killed a man. It was exactly what she’d been worried about and why she’d chided Dr. Randall for treating 9 more like a human child than the weapon he was supposed to be. Dr. Randall made 9 soft. But Commander Sturgis was confident that with Randall out of the way, she’d be able to train the softness out of 9. First I have to retrieve him.

  The demonstration of the extent of 9’s powers surprised her. She’d had to keep him sedated for her own protection, as well as the staff’s. She had no way of knowing that he’d be so strong so quickly once beyond the artificially humid environment of A.H.D.N.A. No way of knowing that he could kill six men at once. His little excursion into the desert gave her proof of aptitudes that she could not test in a lab. She would have to work on his temperament, but clearly he had the power to be the weapon the Makers had asked her to create. I wonder what his limits are. A part of her wanted to go after him again with a dozen soldiers, maybe twenty, just to see how many he could handle. But she had enough trouble on her hands with one scumbag lying lifeless in the desert. Bardsley would go ballistic over a dead soldier.

  When she delivered her report to General Bardsley about 9’s capabilities, he’d get her all the funding she needed to begin the next phase of the project. And she’d finally get the full support of the Makers. They’d see to it that her share of the secretive black budget increased. All of them had doubted her. No doubt the fact that she was a woman played a role. I’ll show those chauvinists. I’ll show Croft. When General Bardsley saw the video of the operation shot from the helicopter … Well, he’d doubt her no more.

  In less than ten minutes the helicopter set down. “Freeman and Lopez, with me. The rest of you go back to the air base. And stay put. You may be called back out before the night’s over.”

  “Yes, Commander.”

  Sturgis disembarked with Freeman and Lopez. The helicopter silently took off and melded into the night. They ran to a small opening in the side of the mountain, trying to avoid running into any cholla or prickly pear cactus. They arrived at what appeared to be an abandoned mine shaft complete with boards nailed across the opening with the warnings “Extreme Hazard!” and “Keep Out!” They had been effective at keeping people out. Sturgis squeezed through a small gap in the boards and into a cave the size of a small room but with a large, black hole in the middle. She stood on a ledge of rock, careful not to fall into the abandoned mine shaft. A narrow ladder made of iron rungs descended into the darkness down the old mine shaft. Commander Sturgis was glad she did not have to use the ladder and climb down into a pitch-black hole. Though she was angry beyond measure at 9 for escaping, she had to admit that she was impressed that he had the mettle to make the long, dark climb on his own.

  Commander Sturgis felt along the rock wall inside the cave for a small indentation. Her fingers found the small metal disc and pushed it. A row of blue LED lights set into the ground around the hole came on and illuminated an elevator on the other side. The elevator would take them nearly a mile underground to the world’s best-kept secret: A.H.D.N.A., the home of Project H.A.L.F. Of course, her budget reports used the official name, “The Alliance for Healthy DNA,” a genetic research project overseen by the air force. That was the official story. Unofficially, Dr. Lilly Sturgis was a brilliant geneticist who had been hired by the Makers to fulfill the mission of the above top-secret H.A.L.F. project: to create human-alien hybrids.

  She had done her job and done it well. And now one of her creations was out in the world, potentially being discovered by others and risking exposure of the project to the entire world. Commander Sturgis involuntarily shuddered at the thought that the high council of the Makers would learn of 9’s escape. Bardsley’s wrath was like a fleabite compared to the hammer that the leader of the Makers, William Croft, might wield on her.

  Sturgis entered the elevator and pushed the only button available. The two soldiers followed behind her and were quiet the entire elevator ride. It gave Commander Sturgis time to consider how best to handle the runaway hybrid.

  Her primary objective was to retrieve 9, but Bardsley would not like being kept waiting. Perhaps if I can get 9 back here tonight, General Bardsley won’t have to know that he escaped in the first place. Yes, Bardsley would have to wait. She couldn’t have 9 running around the desert or, worse, making it into a town. And there was only one weapon in her arsenal powerful enough to bring him in.

  The elevator doors opened to a long windowless and doorless corridor. The ceiling was formed concrete as were the walls. Overhead fluorescents flooded the hall with bright, white light.

  Commander Sturgis’ assistant, Sewell, met her at the elevator. His plump face was red and splotchy from hoofing it from his office in the administrative wing to the seldom-used desert entrance. Sturgis did not pause to allow him to catch his breath. She walked briskly down the hall, her heels clicking on the linoleum floor. Sewell followed behind her at nearly a jog, his breathing loud and ragged. “Containment crew is on its way,” he said.

  Sturgis looked at her watch without stopping. “A little slow, aren’t they?”

  “It’s been less than ten minutes since we received the transmission, Commander.”

  “That’s five minutes too slow. This is critical to everything we’ve worked for. If we don’t get 9 back tonight, we’re done.”

  “Yes, ma’am. What now?”

  “We bring 9 in.”

  “What is your plan, Commander?”

  Sturgis stopped and turned to face Sewell. “What’s the one weapon strong enough to go up against a H.A.L.F.?”

  Sewell’s expression went blank and his eyes widened. “You mean –”

  “Exactly.”

  “But how do we know that 10 is any more reliable than 9? She could end up doing the same thing that 9 did.”

  Commander Sturgis stopped and glared at Sewell. “No, she will not. She is my sole creation, and I did not allow Randall to taint her training with all his humanistic mumbo jumbo like he did with 9.” Sturgis continued the walk to her office. “Go get 10 for me. Take her to the H.A.L.F. study room. I need to have a girl-to-girl chat. Time for our little teenage alien hybrid to earn her keep.”

  5

  NO. NINE

  “Help us?” Erika asked.

  H.A.L.F. 9 approached them slowly. If Erika hadn’t been holding Jack, she would have taken a step backward. After what she’d seen 9 do to the soldiers, she was uneasy about him.

&n
bsp; “I can help your friend,” he said. “Lay him back down.”

  Though Erika’s right arm felt like wobbly spaghetti from holding Jack up, she didn’t let go of him and neither did Ian.

  “Your friend has lost a large quantity of blood. If he continues to lose blood, he will expire.”

  “That’s why we have to get him to the hospital,” Ian said. “So please, stand aside so we can get him outta here.” Ian’s words may have been polite, but his tone was clipped.

  “I can stop the blood loss.” H.A.L.F. 9 reached his hand toward Jack.

  Ian pulled Jack backward and away from 9’s touch. Erika almost toppled over from the sudden jerking of Jack’s body, but she caught her balance and remained upright.

  “What’re you doing? Keep your hands to yourself,” Ian said.

  H.A.L.F. 9’s brows came together in what could have been anger. But his face was so smooth, his features so small and his eyes so dark and blank that it was difficult to gauge his emotions.

  “Maybe he needs to touch Jack to heal him,” Erika said. “Am I right?”

  H.A.L.F. 9 nodded. “I will not harm your friend. If I desired to terminate him, I would have accomplished the task by now.”

  On the one hand, 9’s statement calmed Erika’s fears. But on the other, it reminded her that 9 could kill her – all of them – if he wanted to. Note to self. Don’t piss him off.

  “Let’s give it a shot, Ian. If he can heal as well as he can kill, he might save Jack’s life.”

  After a few seconds, Ian said, “Fine. But if he tries anything –”

  You’ll what? Erika kept the question to herself.

  They gently lowered Jack to the ground. Erika knelt and rested Jack’s head in her lap. He looked as though he was in a peaceful sleep. Or dead. The thought made her shudder.

  H.A.L.F. 9 knelt beside Jack. He put one of his thin hands on Jack’s chest. Now with 9 so close, his features were more visible. His lips were thin and pale. He had high, prominent cheekbones but a small bump of a nose. As she stared at him, 9 met her eyes with his. Although all his facial features were unusual, his eyes were unlike anything she’d ever seen. The nearly full moon shone like a reflection in a mirror off of the obsidian orbs in his head.

  Erika’s heart beat away in her chest like a runaway train. Her armpits were wet, her neck clammy. She was not only frightened for Jack, but unnerved by the strange being with his hands pressed against Jack.

  H.A.L.F. 9 kept one hand over Jack’s heart as he moved the other slowly from Jack’s stomach to his chest then his shoulder.

  “What are you doing to him?” asked Ian.

  Ian’s voice was shrill with worry. But as Erika observed 9’s gentle touch, her fear dissipated. Jack did not gasp for air or writhe in pain as the soldiers had.

  H.A.L.F. 9 closed his exceedingly large eyes. He moved both hands above Jack’s body, then hovered them over Jack’s right shoulder for several minutes. 9 spread his long, thin fingers wide and placed them on Jack’s shoulder. Erika thought she saw a faint glow around Jack where H.A.L.F. 9 held his hands.

  After several minutes, Jack coughed. It was the loveliest sound Erika had ever heard. 9 stood and took a few steps back as Ian knelt. Jack rolled to his side and coughed more as he took gulps of fresh air, then fell back into Erika’s lap.

  “I thought I’d lost you,” she said.

  “I thought you’d lost me too,” he said.

  Ian put a hand on Jack’s leg and gave it a light jostle. “How are you?”

  “Shot.” A small smile curled Jack’s lips, but his eyes looked tired and his face was more pale than usual.

  “Ha, ha,” Erika said. She gingerly ran her hand over his shoulder. She no longer felt sticky liquid. In fact, it was perfectly dry. There was a small scar, but the skin was closed. “Does it hurt?”

  “Only when you touch it.”

  Erika quickly drew back her hand.

  “I was kidding. No, it’s not bad. Just a dull ache.”

  “You healed him,” said Ian. He sounded surprised.

  “Who healed me?”

  “This … He healed you,” said Erika. She gestured to 9.

  Jack sat up and blinked as he stared up at 9. “What the … I think I missed something when I was out.”

  “That’s an understatement,” said Erika. “This is – well, the commander called it – him – H.A.L.F. 9.”

  “What … what is it?”

  H.A.L.F. 9’s face was placid without a hint of anger or upset over Jack referring to him as ‘it’. He remained so still and quiet that Erika might have forgotten that he was there if it weren’t for the creepy feeling she got from 9 staring at her with his freaky eyes.

  “We’re not sure yet,” said Ian. “It was a heck of a scene you missed. H.A.L.F. 9 here took out that filthy cretin Nacho. Then a Black Hawk helicopter came, and soldiers in black camo pointed AK-47s at us.” Ian nodded his head at H.A.L.F. 9. “And this guy almost killed six soldiers without touching them. I’m still not sure how he did that. But little miss ‘never take a life’ here begged him to spare them like she’d done with the scumbag Joe.”

  “Don’t start with me, Ian.”

  “What? You let him go? Erika –”

  “I do not mean to interrupt your discussion, but your friend is not entirely healed. I was able to halt the loss of blood, but a bullet remains lodged in his shoulder. I suggest that the foreign object be removed,” said H.A.L.F. 9.

  “Can you stand?” asked Erika.

  “I think so.”

  Erika and Ian each took one of Jack’s hands and helped him up. He stumbled a bit, but Ian grabbed him and kept him from falling.

  “I’ve got ya,” Ian said.

  “I feel like I might puke.”

  “Let’s get him to the car so he can lay down in the backseat,” said Erika. As they walked, Erika reached into his pocket and got his keys out. “Here, you drive,” she said as she handed the keys to Ian.

  “Where to?” Ian asked.

  “The clinic closed hours ago. We’ll need to go to Phoenix. Get on eighty-five and take it to the eight,” Erika said.

  Erika and Ian helped Jack into the backseat of the car. 9 remained where he’d planted himself and made no move to either leave or join them. Ian got behind the steering wheel, eased the seat back to accommodate his long legs, and turned the key. The engine choked and spun but didn’t start.

  “Come on, you son of a …” Ian said. He turned the key, and again the engine refused to catch.

  “Be nice to my car,” Jack said.

  “I will if the P-O-S starts. You got a magic trick to start this thing?”

  “No. Turn the key and mash your foot to the floor.”

  Ian sat back in the seat and drew in a deep breath.

  Start, baby, start, Erika thought. Jack may have stopped bleeding, but they weren’t out of the woods yet. Commander Sturgis had promised to come back for 9, and she’d likely be more prepared next time. Erika had a strong preference never to see that commander woman or her soldiers again.

  Ian turned the key and the engine whined, but finally it fired up. “Get in, Erika. We gotta scoot,” said Ian.

  Erika still stood by the car, looking back at H.A.L.F. 9. In the vast expanse of moonlit desert, 9 seemed so small. His huge eyes made his face look almost childlike. Though she had witnessed him nearly choke six men to death, as she looked at him now he seemed so helpless and alone. If they didn’t help 9, he’d likely make it no further than a few more dusty miles before Sturgis had him in her grasp and returned him to what he had called a prison. Though she mostly stayed out of other people’s business, she couldn’t stand the thought of her rescuer being deprived of his freedom. “We can’t just leave him here,” she said.

  “Hell yes, we can,” said Ian.

  “We can’t take him with us,” Jack chimed in from the backseat.

  “Why not?”

  Ian didn’t wait for Jack to answer. “Hmm, let’s see. Because may
be it’s none of our business. And because we don’t even know what we’re dealing with here. But we do know one thing. He killed Nacho and was about to kill six guys without using a weapon.”

  “I am the weapon,” H.A.LF. 9 said.

  Ian pointed both hands toward H.A.L.F. 9 in a ‘thank you for making my point’ gesture. “Like he said. He’s clearly dangerous.”

  “Maybe. But he took out Nacho for us before he could fill you with bullet holes. He saved us from being shot by the soldiers. And he saved Jack’s life. So yeah, maybe I think it’s my business if he ends up back in what he called a prison after helping us like he did.”

  Ian sighed loudly.

  “Erika, do what you think is right,” Jack said.

  “Come on, Jack. Don’t suck up to Erika because you’re trying to get out of the ‘just friends’ status.”

  “I’m not sucking up to her.”

  “Whatever. Look you were out of it. You didn’t see what went down. And you didn’t hear that commander lady. She made it clear that she was going to come after him. And if he’s hanging with us, that means she’ll be coming after us too.”

  “She may come for us anyway, whether he’s with us or not,” said Erika.

  “Do not worry for me,” H.A.L.F. 9 said. “I will run. But all of you must leave this area. More helicopters may arrive soon, and next time, the commander will send more soldiers. I do not know how many of them I can hold off.”

  “Ian, I’m not going to leave him out here.”

  “Come on. Don’t be a –”

  “Do not say the next thing that’s about to come out of your mouth or so help me – I’m not leaving without him.”

  Ian slammed his hand into the steering wheel. “Dammit, you’re hardheaded.”

  “So are you.”

  Ian put his head over his hands on the steering wheel. Though she couldn’t see his face, Erika knew that Ian was fuming at her. They usually saw eye-to-eye on things, which was probably why their friendship had lasted as long as it had. Neither of them liked to lose or give in. And Erika wasn’t about to give in on this one. She didn’t even consume meat because she hated the idea of any living creature suffering just so someone could eat.