The Deep Beneath

by Natalie Wright

  “Are they near?” Jack asked.

  Tex did not immediately answer. He stood entirely still with his arms at his sides. Finally he said, “I believe they are. I am getting mental images again. They are telling me to stay here.”

  Despite being afraid of him, Erika felt a twinge of sadness at the thought that he’d disappear into a wormhole. And worse still, she wondered what would happen to him if no wormhole appeared. He’d be on the run from Commander Sturgis and H.A.L.F. 10 for the rest of his life. It was only a matter of time until they found a way to round him up and return him to his underground life. If Sturgis found him, Erika would feel as though she had failed at saving him.

  The air exploded with a crack that sounded like thunder. There wasn’t a cloud in the sky. The ground shook and the sky rumbled with a deafeningly low sound. Erika’s hands flew to her ears, but it did nothing to muffle the noise. It was as if the sound was more within her than outside her.

  Tex remained still. He showed no sign that he heard the earsplitting noise.

  Wind swirled around them. It blew the red-orange dust into dirt devils that whipped at her face. The dirt flew into her eyes and obscured her vision. Erika reached for the hands of both Jack and Ian, and they each squeezed her hand into theirs. Despite the wind, Tex’s willowy body stood strong and still, seemingly impervious to the mega storm that blew around them.

  There was another loud crash of thunder. Erika’s legs trembled. She was glad the guys held her hands; otherwise she may have fallen. Through the slits of her eyelids, she saw a small swirling disk of matter that whirled a few feet in front of Tex. It grew larger but was no more than the size of a toaster.

  Is that the wormhole? She wanted to shout the question out to Tex, but she knew that he’d never hear her over the loud rumbling and shaking.

  As the disk grew larger, Tex inched toward it. It looked as though he was on a conveyor belt. His feet didn’t appear to move, but he inched toward the portal just the same.

  His arms were outstretched and his head tilted upward. As the portal grew, his feet left the ground entirely as he was drawn to within inches of his door to a new life.

  Above them was a new sound. It was also low, but it was the unmistakable fft, fft, fft of helicopter blades. A black helicopter hovered mere feet from where Tex floated over the ground. Another helicopter hung in the air even higher but carried something on a long rope. Erika wanted to run and shove Tex into the portal, but when she tried to take a step, the violent wind held her back. Tex continued to float toward the doorway to another world, seemingly oblivious to what was going on. It’s like he’s in a trance. “How’d they find him?” Erika shouted.

  “They must have tracked the Hummer,” Jack said.

  The high helicopter let loose its cargo all over Tex and them. They were doused in a torrent of water. As the water hit the red chalky ground, it splashed red mud all over them. Even though the sun was now above the horizon, the air was still cool and dry. Her wet skin prickled with goose bumps and she shivered.

  Tex was nearly to the portal but in an instant spit out like a bit of tobacco juice. He let out a loud, high-pitched guttural sound that was more wounded animal than human. Tex landed on his front, his face covered in the muddy red dirt. The rumbling and quaking had stopped, but the air still swirled around them from the copter blades.

  The Black Hawk helicopter was suspended above Tex like a dragonfly. He tried to push himself up, but he fell back into the wet dirt.

  The air was split again by a loud sound; only this time, it was Commander Sturgis’ voice amplified by a megaphone. “Stay where you are. Take one step and you’ll be blown to bits.”

  Erika had been so busy watching Tex and shivering with the cold brought on by the unexpected shower that she’d been unaware of what was going on around her. Feet shuffled behind her and she whirled around. Armed soldiers dressed entirely in black surrounded them. There had to be at least a dozen of them. They soon surrounded Tex too.

  Jack pressed her hand more tightly and leaned closer to her. Erika glanced at Ian. He stood tall and looked calm though she could feel his fingers tremble in her hand.

  The Black Hawk landed on the wide, flat rock, and Commander Sturgis disembarked. She stood over Tex, with her hands on her hips. “Tsk-tsk. Such a naughty boy. Pick him up.”

  Two of the soldiers reached down into the mud and plucked Tex up by his arms. His naked body was covered in the slick red mud.

  “Not much of a threat now, are you?”

  “More than you know,” Tex said quietly.

  “Oh, I know your capabilities. You’ve proven that you are of great use to the program. Soon you’ll be back at A.H.D.N.A. in the comfort of your very, very moist room. Get him on board.” Commander Sturgis turned to go back to the chopper.

  “What about them?” asked one of the soldiers.

  Commander Sturgis rounded back and looked Erika in the eye. “Leave no trace.”

  “Wait,” Tex screamed. “If you kill them, then I will … I will kill you.”

  Commander Sturgis laughed. “Go ahead. Kill me if you can.”

  Tex trembled, but whether it was from cold or concentration, Erika didn’t know. His back was rigid, the muscles rippled. But Commander Sturgis did not grasp at her neck or choke. She merely smirked at him.

  “It’s over, 9. Get in the chopper.”

  “You say you have need of me. If that’s true, then you will not be able to sedate me forever. And when you dry me out to do your bidding, my first action will be to terminate you.”

  Commander Sturgis’ smirk disappeared and she swallowed.

  “If you spare them, I will come with you. Willingly. And I will spare your life.”

  Commander Sturgis glared at Tex. Finally she sighed and said, “You win. They will not be terminated. But I cannot let them go free as yet. They have to be debriefed. We’ll take them back to A.H.D.N.A., brief them on a cover story, and they’ll be home in time for dinner.”

  “Don’t listen to her, Tex,” Erika shouted. “She’s lying. She’ll kill us and you’ll end up her prisoner again.”

  A few soldiers moved in closer, and a rifle barrel poked Erika in the back. Ian’s arm quivered against her though he continued to hold his head high. Erika straightened herself and thrust her chin high too. Jack squeezed her hand again, and he, too, stood taller.

  “Tex? How charming. She named you like a pet.” Don’t try to manipulate him. He’s far too advanced for your mental games. Besides, he’s outgunned. After the dousing I gave him, he lacks the strength to fight this large a group of armed men and he knows it.”

  “I would rather die than go back with you,” Tex said quietly.

  “Be careful what you wish for,” Commander Sturgis said. “Come, we cannot delay here any longer. We already have too many eyes that have seen too much. Round them all up and make sure this area is clean.”

  “Promise me you will not harm them or I will not come willingly with you,” Tex said to her back.

  Commander Sturgis walked back to Tex and stood mere inches from him. They were about the same height, so she could look him in the eyes. She reached out her hand and brushed her fingers gently down Tex’s mud-stained cheek. “My dear emotional 9. Or do you prefer the pet name that the humans gave you?”

  He did not answer.

  “Apparently you are quick to make friends. But also enemies.” She withdrew her hand from his face but continued to stare into his bottomless eyes. “You tug at me. Perhaps like Dr. Randall I have a soft spot for you, a victim of my human frailty. It will likely be my undoing.” She paused, then said, “You win. I promise. Now it’s time for you to go home.”

  Commander Sturgis put her hand out, but Tex did not take it. Sturgis withdrew her hand, her face etched with anger. “Are you coming or not?”

  Don’t do it. Don’t go with her. Erika lived by observation and action, not feeling. But her stomach was tied in a knot of nerves, and tears played at the corner of her swoll
en eye. She had to admit to herself a feeling that she would not be home in time for dinner.

  Tex walked to the copter without looking in Erika’s direction, still naked as the day he was born. Commander Sturgis followed after him. When Tex stepped inside the chopper, a soldier threw a dark blanket around his shoulders. A few soldiers filed into the helicopter behind them, and it lifted off. He stared out of the still-open door at Erika before it was slammed shut.

  The Black Hawk whisked Tex away. The chopper’s blades whipped the air as it rose and turned south. Erika pulled Jack and Ian closer, huddling against them in an effort to stop her shivering.

  Tex was on his way back to his underground prison. Commander Sturgis could call it his home, but Erika knew it wasn’t. A home is made by choice. Tex had no choice.

  A rifle poked her in the ribs. “Down the hill,” a soldier said.

  Erika didn’t think about her own fate as she was marched at gunpoint with Jack and Ian down the hill. She couldn’t let her mind go there. If she allowed herself to think about what was to come, she may start screaming and crying and never stop. Instead she focused on trying not to trip over her own feet as they trudged back down the hill.

  They were forced into a windowless white van that was waiting at the bottom. Jack sat to her right and Ian to her left. She was glad she couldn’t look into their faces. If she did, she knew she wouldn’t be able to keep herself from crying.

  The driver pulled out of the parking lot and onto the road away from Sedona and the beautiful rocks. Away from the place where Tex had almost made it to his freedom.

  Back on a road again to the unknown.

  PART II

  A.H.D.N.A.

  “The question is not ‘Can they reason?’ nor ‘Can they talk? but ‘Can they Suffer?”

  – Jeremy Bentham

  15

  DROWNED

  Flanked by soldiers on each side of the copter’s bench seat, Tex clutched the blanket close to his naked body and stared down at his lap. In that moment, he hated the human part of himself. It was the human in him that thrust pesky emotions up to his consciousness. Emotions like fear followed quickly by anger. And above all the feeling of defeat. He had failed himself and put the humans that had helped him in danger. He had not intended that. And he loathed that he felt remorse for it.

  Dr. Randall was the only human he had ever held positive thoughts about. But now he felt something new. It was strange and uncomfortable. Tex had a vision in his mind of Erika Holt with guns pointed toward her. The thought made a bit of bile rise in Tex’s gullet and he was nauseous. But he managed to keep the contents of his stomach within him and not embarrass himself further than he already had.

  As he sat and stewed, the sun rose and flooded the copter with warmth. While on Bell Rock, he’d taken off the sunglasses that Erika had bought for him. His eyes were exposed to the bright sun for the first time. He had longed to see the sun and feel its warmth on his body. It was the photographs of the Earth during the day that had most made him ache to escape the confines of A.H.D.N.A. But as the sun shone in the copter, it hurt his eyes, so he closed them. I do not belong in the light. At least with his eyes shut he could not see Commander Sturgis’ accusing glare.

  They had wrapped him in an already damp wool blanket that had sopped up the water they’d doused him in. The cold wetness made him shiver. As the moisture seeped into him through his pores, it was as if his lungs and brain were drowning. Tex was almost impressed with Commander Sturgis’ strategy to keep him in check. If only Ian had driven faster or he’d thrown himself into the portal sooner.

  The soaking had dampened his senses, and the wet blanket had put his abilities into near total lockdown. But the arid air counteracted some of the effects of the moisture. At least he had the ability to reach out with his senses to the world immediately around him. He could sense a change in the air as Sergeant Freeman shifted in the seat across from him. And as he concentrated, he could hear Commander Sturgis’ thoughts.

  It was not like a voice speaking in his head as it had been with the greys and Alecto. It was more like seeing a slide show of photographs that he had to piece together. He saw a vision of Erika, Ian and Jack. It was how Sturgis saw them. They were huddled together, crying and looking afraid. Then an image of the three lying lifeless on the ground. She will kill my new friends.

  His sacrifice on their behalf had been in vain. They would die, and he would be a prisoner at A.H.D.N.A. once again. It would be as though the events of the night had never happened.

  How could I have been so misguided? The only explanation was that between the heady experience of freedom coupled with the dousing, he’d misjudged it all. I should have listened to Erika. But as he recalled the scene and played it back in his mind, he knew that defying Sturgis had not been an option. The water had worked exactly as Sturgis had intended. He had been powerless.

  If she does not intend to keep up her end of the deal, then I do not need to keep mine. Tex imagined the copter’s engine seizing up, its blades faltering. Though he could picture in his mind the result he intended, he remained too weak to maintain the concentration needed to project his thought to manipulate such a large and complex machine. He had no means of escape.

  Tex tried his best to shut himself off from the sensations coming to him from the world around him – the hum of the copter engine, the odor of human sweat and jet fuel, the acrid taste of the air. Best to forget the entire evening. Remembering his night of freedom – the exhilaration, the power, and the emotion of it all – would only make his captivity more painful to endure.

  Tex’s head slumped down almost touching his chest. His arms were pulled in tight to his body. He did not speak to anyone nor did anyone in the copter start a conversation with him. He tried to sleep, but his head ached and hummed.

  The feeling was familiar. He had experienced the throbbing pain and buzzing the night before. Tex concentrated on closing himself off further. If he could focus on it …

  The humming pounded in his skull. He wanted to cradle his head in his hands, but he dared not draw attention to himself. Tex had a thought that he tried to give voice to in his mind. One at a time! They must have heard him because instantaneously the cacophony of voices stopped and was replaced with a singular voice. “Retrieval,” the voice said.

  Retrieval? I do not understand.

  There was no response. Tex attempted to channel his thoughts again. It was difficult to think only one thought, as he typically had many swirling through his mind.

  “What do you mean by retrieval?”

  There was a symphony of voices in his mind’s ear as if a thousand people spoke to him at once. Little by little, the voices retreated until it was a small chorus that spoke as one. “Retrieve the half human,” the voice said.

  “I know you tried. I am sorry. I failed.”

  “The half human will be retrieved.”

  Tex paused to consider the words he heard in his head. Were they going to try to retrieve him or Alecto? And were they speaking of now or the future? And were they aware that Commander Sturgis was once again the agent of his destiny?

  Though he no longer felt as though an ice pick had been thrust into his skull, his head still buzzed unpleasantly. Sturgis had her eyes on her tablet, but if she looked up and over at him, she may notice something amiss. Tex worried that his face revealed his pain. He pulled the blanket around himself more tightly, sheltering himself from prying eyes.

  “I am not able to return to the red rock. I am being held again by Commander Sturgis. I am being returned underground to A.H.D.N.A.”

  It was a long and complex thought for him to convey. He hoped they understood him. Tex waited several minutes for a response.

  “The half human will be retrieved at A.H.D.N.A.”

  “At A.H.D.N.A.? But when I am there, they will have me heavily –”

  “This communication is terminated. The half human will await further instruction.”

  “But wait …”<
br />
  The voice was gone as was the buzzing. He was a bit dizzy but breathed slowly and deeply to keep himself from passing out.

  After a few minutes, the dizziness subsided but was replaced with a fatigue like he had never known. The concentration he had to maintain to communicate with the greys had sapped his last bit of energy. Now that he knew they had not given up on him, he could afford to let his mind relax. He allowed himself to fall asleep with hope that perhaps he would not remain a captive after all.

  __________

  The helicopter landed and jerked Tex awake. Sergeant Freeman picked Tex up in his beefy arms and carried him to the elevator and down to the bowels of A.H.D.N.A. The elevator doors opened and his senses were assaulted with the warm moisture that was typical for the underground lab. He could feel the heightened sensation he’d achieved in the desert above dissipate quickly. There would be no ability to free himself. I hope the greys understand that their ‘retrieval’ is a rescue mission.

  “Take the runaway to Aphthartos, Freeman. To the pool room,” Commander Sturgis said.

  Aphthartos? Tex had never been to a section of A.H.D.N.A. with such a designation. And he cared not for the idea of being in a room with a giant hole filled with water.

  Tex could have walked on his own two feet. He was strong enough for that at least. But he did not offer to carry himself to their destination. Best to let them think I am weaker than I am.

  Tex peered from inside the cocoon of his blanket and saw that they were in Alpha quadrant. All of the doors were closed, and no one walked the halls. Sturgis must have put them on partial lockdown before we arrived. Tex had been in this quadrant only briefly when he had mounted his escape the night before. He had been warned by Dr. Dolan to wait until after six o’clock when the daytime workers – administrative types and scientists – in Alpha quadrant would be gone for the evening.