Death's Twilight

by A. J. Leavens

CHAPTER TWELVE

  Igor's Hostel, Ural Territory, December 5, 2308 07:00:07 (T-Minus 00:04:11:04)

  Hotaru woke with a start. Her chronometer's alarm was beeping steadily, and she silenced it, looking at the time. Seven am. Her alarm had been going off for an hour and she hadn't heard it. Outside, the sky was beginning to lighten, and she could actually see traces of blue breaking through the penetrating dark of the previous night. She groggily untangled herself from the sheet that was wrapped around her legs, and got out of bed. She was momentarily confused when she saw her bare legs sticking out from her kimono, but then the memory of the dream came flooding back, and she shuddered.

  She walked into the washroom, the lights already on, and she found her pajamas and undergarments from last night clean and folded neatly on the counter. She hadn't planned on having another shower, but the sudden recollection of the night's events sent a chill through her that went all the way to the bone. She programmed the shower for forty-three degrees and stepped into the steaming stream, discarding her kimono to the floor as the door shut.

  Thoughts of Abujamal's office and the dream swirled in her mind's eye, refusing to let go and be banished with the daylight. She stood in the warmth of the water until it started to cool. Turning off the shower, she toweled off, wrapping the towel around her hair to absorb the water within. She dressed quickly, her Emissary uniform already laid out the night before.

  She sat at the dressing table, unwinding the towel and allowing her damp hair to fall on her shoulders. She retrieved the brush, and began to brush her hair with long even strokes. After a few minutes, there was a cascade of black hair around her shoulders. She set the brush down, and headed to the front room. She needed some food.

  Pressing a few buttons on the room's MKII netted her a fruit plate, some brown toast with cream cheese and a glass of apple juice. She ate quickly, and grabbed her Tablet, scanning the information she had gathered from Abujamal's computer. She looked at her chronometer. According to his schedule, he was due in the office in roughly an hour. Deciding that she wanted more information on the papers she saw yesterday, she quickly donned her parka, gloves, and glasses, and headed out into the snow.

  The market was just starting to come alive as vendors were uncovering their stalls, wrapping the nylon tarps up in bundles and securing them for storage. As she made her way to the office, Hotaru was greeted many times, and she replied, smiling and waving to the many people who, out of sheer kindness, welcomed her to their town. It was only a matter of minutes before she stood at Abujamal's office. Using her glasses, she quickly scanned the building. No change from last night. She broke in, and paused in the threshold, listening for sounds.

  The cat padded over to her, mewling and purring as it rubbed its head against her shin. She absently stroked the creature's head, and then headed straight for the back office. The door was ajar, light on. Had she forgotten to completely shut it last night? Not a chance. Hotaru reached the door, and cautiously peered through the opening into the lit room beyond.

  The room was in order - except the desk. It was completely empty. She popped her head through the doorway, glancing to the back wall where the list and cork board should be. Empty. Only the silhouette of the cork board remained on the wall, where time had faded the paint.

  What the heck had happened here? Was it Abujamal? Entering the room fully, Hotaru spun a slow circle, taking in the whole room. Only the desk and the cork board had been touched. Everything else was exactly where she had last seen it. She went to the desk, quickly opening and shutting drawers, hoping to find something that tied to the information she had seen.

  She found pens, pencils, a ruler, paper clips, and a stapler, but nothing else. Unless you counted the snifter of brandy and two glasses. No magazines were hiding in the drawers. Slamming the last two drawers shut, she focused on his computer. Hotaru hooked her Tablet up again, and let it work. While it did, she strode to the bookcases that lined the back wall. She frantically searched through the papers, files and books to find the magazines she had see last night in Abujamal's office. She knew they would be here somewhere. They had to be. But why couldn't she find them?

  Scanning the titles on the shelf, she realized there were books in many different languages, among them six editions of the venerable Gray's Anatomy - including one edition from 2004. Things had changed a lot since then, especially with modifications. Some people weren't people anymore - they were more machine than man.

  A chirp from her Tablet drew her attention back to the desk. She darted quickly to the desk, sitting in Abujamal's chair, and started keying commands into the computer. She searched the calendar again, but could find no record of any scheduled meetings, including Mrs. Popov's one pm appointment. Mysteriously absent also, were the notes and references to the findings that made up Abujamal's case. Had she dreamed it all? There was no way. She still had the magazine from Abujamal's desk. She started to dig deeper, using the internet to cross-reference keywords against the dates she remembered from the filing cabinets. She had just come upon a page about the history of smallpox when the door to the office opened.

  She froze, her head turning quickly to the door, one finger still depressing the left mouse button, He hadn't seen her yet. Releasing the mouse button, a quick press of the Option, Command, and Home keys put his computer back to sleep, and she surreptitiously ejected her Tablet, using her hand to cover the speaker as it chirped upon disconnect. Now he noticed her.

  "What are you doing in my office?" He asked.

  "Doctor Husain Abujamal?" She stood, hands behind her back, tucking the Tablet in a zippered pocket in the back of her uniform jacket.

  "Yes, I am he. Do I know you?"

  "Thankfully no, for your sake. My name is Hotaru Kogame, and I work for the government." She withdrew the magazine from the same pocket, bringing it around to the front of her body. "I have some questions to ask you about this."

  Abujamal glanced at the magazine, then to his desk. A look of surprise crossed his face.

  "What did you do with my notes? Those are private, and you have no right to-"

  "Actually, Doctor, I have the right to any information I need to complete my mission, private or otherwise. I'll say it again. I have some questions about this magazine. I trust that I have your full co-operation?"

  He paused, weighing his options. This woman, whoever she was, had given him no option but to comply. He glanced at the desk, the wall where the cork board was, and the still open door. Finally, he slumped slightly and took a step toward the desk.

  "May I be seated?" He asked.

  "Certainly, Doctor." She stepped away from his chair, and moved to the front of the desk, taking a seat in one of the chairs available.

  Abujamal sat in his chair, and reached for a drawer. Hotaru reacted instantly, her Boom Stick coming out of its sheath, resting on the desk top. Abujamal froze, a look of terror on his face.

  "I can release the power in this before you touch the drawer, Doctor. Please don't be foolish."

  "I-I-I..." He stuttered. Opening the drawer, he withdrew a decanter and two glasses. The amber liquid sloshed violently from his trembling hands. He set them down on the desk. "D-d-d-rink?" he asked.

  Hotaru disarmed the Boom Stick, and sheathed it.

  "No, thank you. I just had breakfast, and I never drink while on the job."

  Hands still shaking, he put the glasses and the bottle back into the drawer, shutting it. He looked up at her.

  "You said you had...questions?"

  "Yes. I do. My mother died of Cancer ten years ago. It was the worst thing I could imagine, watching her slip slowly away from me and realizing I could do nothing about it. I come here, and find a magazine about Advanced Detection Tools to help fight the battle, and someone's writing is all over the article, refuting the claims. Yours, I assume?"

  He nodded.

  "Care to elaborate with more than a nod?" She withdrew her Tablet, setting it in recording mode, and placed it on his desk.

/>   "By education, I am a geneticist. I came to Moscow to help a team of doctors study Cancer in many forms. To see if there is a genetic link between family members and generations."

  "Pre-disposition? But they've know for a fact that there is a connection. They've known that for almost two hundred years. Why would you study something that's been proven for so long?" Hotaru asked.

  "To work on a cure. To make sure that Cancer can once and for all be wiped from the face of the Earth. Every year we make new advances, and we save a few more people. The more we study, the further we advance, and the more we can save."

  "But your note says that Cancer has been cured for years."

  "It does, and here's where my propaganda speech stops. I graduated from University in 2299. The day I graduated was the fiftieth anniversary of the planet being Cancer free."

  Hotaru was stunned. "But my mother. I watched her die. It was definitely Cancer."

  "That's what they want you to think. If you've read the article in the magazine, you'll remember the Doctor I circled?"

  Hotaru nodded.

  "Doctor Viktor Frankl. He heads the research and development board for Northern Europe. He has been on the government's payroll for sixty years - since he got out of Stuttgart University, actually. He was also the head of the team that finally eliminated Cancer from the Earth."

  "But that's an amazing feat! Why would-"

  "Why wouldn't he accept that accomplishment and share it with the world?"

  She nodded again.

  "In simple terms: money. The government pays him handsomely to keep it quiet. Every year, he releases an infinitesimal portion of the "cure",” Abujamal made the sign for quotes in the air. "and the medical profession looks like geniuses."

  "And you think its time the world knew."

  It was his turn to nod. "I have a meeting with a colleague this afternoon at one pm to discuss how to best proceed."

  "But what evidence do you have? No one will believe you if there is no proof."

  Abujamal patted his blazer pocket, smiling. It turned suddenly to a frown. "My proof!" He said, suddenly remembering that the information from the cork board and the filing cabinet were gone. He spun in the chair to the back of the room, pointing at the blank space where the cork board had been. "What did you do with my information?"

  Hotaru thought of the pictures stored safely on her Tablet. She had a copy. But so did someone else. And what else was there that she didn't know about?

  "Safekeeping." She lied. "We had to ascertain how much of a threat you were to the existing government."

  "I'm a huge threat!" Abujamal said, his voice rising. "Frankl will be sunk when I release this information to the world. The citizens of Northern Europe will probably revolt." He stood, walking around the front of the desk. "Don't you see? Anyone who's had Cancer, or known someone who has will instantly turn on their governments. This is this biggest uprising since-"

  A chirp from her Tablet cut him off. She checked her chronometer. It was almost noon. Had she been here for almost three hours? She picked up the Tablet, glancing at it.

  "Sorry," she said. "Meeting reminder." She activated the recognition program, but left the recorder running. Abujamal still had information. "Uprising?"

  Realizing that he had maybe gone too far, he walked back to his chair and sat again.

  "There will be a revolt. Trust me."

  "I don't doubt it. I'm feeling slightly angry myself. But who's telling Frankl to hold back the information?"

  "That I don't know. I've heard rumors, but nothing more. One of them says that Frankl gets permission directly from the Principal of Northern Europe, but he's just a stepping stone."

  "A stepping stone?"

  Abujamal nodded. "The rumor is that he was put in power by someone. No one knows who, but his decisions are not his own. You can tell by looking at him. I think he needs permission to do up his fly in the morning when he gets dressed." He started to laugh.

  "And the deaths?"

  "That's a whole new ball game," he said. "My research points to the deaths being targeted. I found one case where a whole family had been wiped out. He used to work for Frankl, but they had a falling out about revealing the cure. Another case had a mother of two drop dead in her kitchen. No association to any government office, not even the post office. A third case had a man in his twenties die while riding his bike to work. Friends said the day before he was completely healthy."

  "What's the connection?"

  "I have no idea other than the guy who worked for Frankl. The young guy was known for questioning authority, though. Arrested twice for unlawful protesting."

  "And who gives these orders?" She needed a name.

  "That I do not know. Sorry."

  Another chirp from her Tablet. She stopped the recording, saving the file.

  "Doctor, I'm going to need your signature as to the veracity of these statements. Obviously the government is very concerned when there is a possibility of a large revolt."

  "Will I get my research back?"

  "I'll do my best, Doctor." She closed the recording program, leaving the recognition program running. She held out the Tablet to Abujamal. “I just need your signature to verify this is your research.”

  Abujamal took the Tablet, and the process began. A chirp drew his attention to the screen where the "Look Here" message was waiting. He collapsed to the ground, and her Tablet skittered to a spot just in front of her feet. With a last reserve of strength, he grabbed her pant leg. She looked down at the dying doctor.

  "I...was...right..." he wheezed, and then Abujamal stopped moving.

  Hotaru donned her glasses, activating the x-ray mode. She scanned the desk first, finding nothing. A supply closet behind the coat rack hid cork board and the papers, and the files from the filing cabinet were stacked neatly on the floor. She flung the coat rack aside, and tore open the door. Gathering up the files in one arm, she emptied a file box from the floor of the closet and dumped them into the box. It was time to get out of here. But not without that disk.

  She reached down to the dead Doctor, whose body was already showing small bumps on the backs of his hands and reached inside his blazer pocket and retrieved the disk. There were still some questions to be answered, but she had many more answers than she had had earlier this morning. And who moved the cork board to that closet? And why? She sat in the desk's chair once again, and hooked up her Tablet, making a complete copy of Abujamal's computer.

  Her last act in the room was to pull all the books from the bookshelves and scatter them on the floor. She wanted this to look like a crime. Gathering her Tablet from the desk, Hotaru exited the office, leaving the cat walking in circles around its owner's body.