Mirza took note of the impolite stare. “Oh this?” she remarked. “You want to know why I never got it fixed? Why I didn’t just laser it away?” The olive-skinned woman smirked conspicuously at Athena. “One day, young lady, when you're older, you’ll learn that some things are worth remembering.”
Athena nodded politely, hoping to divert attention away from herself, but failed.
“Speaking of which,” added Mirza, “aren’t you a little young to be a PS officer?” Ms. Khan spun her index finger in a circle before drunkenly pointing it in Athena’s direction. She focused her eyes, and raised her eyebrows.
Captain Bell interceded. “She’s with me, Mirza. Now, can we please get down to business? You know why we’re here.”
A look of genuine personal indignation spread across Ms. Khan’s face. “I know no such thing!” She fully downed her glass and refilled it. The bird-like patterns on her silk robe began to move, ever so slightly, as if they were flapping their wings in slow-motion.
“Two nights ago,” Valerie declared, “someone stole the Lazarus Genome from the Helix mainframe. I can think of few people with a stronger incentive to do this than you.”
“Ahhhh, but that’s where you’re wrong,” corrected Mirza. “I have no love for meaningless action.” She finished her second glass and tried to refill it, only to find that her bottle had run empty. Examining the disappointing bottle closely, she tossed it behind her head. It landed with a thud onto the floor. With an outstretched arm, she began pulling discarded bottles into her hand, methodically searching for one that still contained a drop of alcohol. On the sixth try, she found success.
“Please tell me,” inquired Mirza, “what would be the point of stealing the Lazarus Genome? Those idiots would only make another one. You can lead a horse to water, but you cannot teach him to fish.” She looked up at the ceiling in contemplation of her mixed metaphor.
Athena’s display indicated that Mirza, not surprisingly, had no signs of being under duress.
“I know you didn’t take it,” Valerie confessed. “You’ve never hidden anything from me before. Moreover, if you did take it, you would be bragging about it, not concealing it.”
“Why, thank you!” With a swipe of her finger, Mirza induced an apple-red facial pigmentation to appear onto her cheeks, feigning a blush.
“What I really need to know,” Valerie continued, “is if you’re aware of anyone else who might have stolen it. Any of your associates from Women First seem like the type? They would have to be very technically sophisticated and a fan of mozzarella. I’ve prepared a list of everyone from your group who fits that description.” She flicked a list onto Mirza’s display.
“Names, names, names,” replied Mirza. “You cannot sincerely expect me to spend any time on something this boring.” She formed her hands into talking puppets and simulated them lecturing at her while she rolled her eyes.
“Mirza…” Captain Bell warned.
“I have an idea!” countered Mirza, as she again pointed dramatically at Athena. “I’ll go through your list if she has a drink with me.”
“What? Me?” Athena exclaimed. “Why me!”
“Because you have an innocence about you which is intolerable. It simply must be drowned away.”
Valerie gave Athena a look which seemed to say, Time to step up to the plate, rookie. Reluctantly, Athena agreed to the drink.
“Excellent!” cheered Mirza. “Where I’m from, we have a saying: ‘Drink wine, for long under the earth shall you sleep.’”
She poured a very full glass and levitated it over to Athena’s hand. Athena stared at the glass’ contents, hoping for a last-minute reprieve, but none arrived. With a tipped hand and raised eyebrows, Mirza egged her on to drink.
Athena took a sip. Immediately, she began gasping for air. This was no ordinary wine. It must have been at least 150 proof, and chemically spiked for extra potency.
“Yes, yes,” acknowledged Mirza while looking on. “It can take a little getting used to.”
Athena coughed repeatedly. “How can you survive this?” she sputtered.
“I get a freshly-printed liver implanted every month, of course,” explained Mirza matter-of-factly.
Captain Bell attempted to steer the conversation back to the genome. “We spoke with Dr. Antares yesterday—“
“That foolish woman!” Mirza interrupted. Her lips tightened. “If only that so-called doctor cared half as much for people as she does for fame. She should have refused to help with Project Lazarus entirely, not become its biggest supporter as soon as it became clear that the proposal would pass…”
While Mirza continued to lecture on the faults of Dr. Antares, Athena pleaded with Captain Bell via secret message to be released from her responsibility to imbibe:
You don’t seriously expect me to drink this, do you?
Captain Bell shot back:
You wanted to help, right? Well, here’s your chance. It’s not something I can order you to do, but this is by far the quickest way to get her to give us what we want.
Athena emptied her entire glass in a single gulp. It burned all the way down.
“Bravo!” exclaimed Mirza. “You know, I’m having a party tonight, and I’d love for you to attend.” She eagerly clapped her hands.
“I think I’m
“Pity. We’re having a party tomorrow night too. Would that work better? Or perhaps the day after? What day of the week is it?”
This time, Valerie came to Athena’s aid. “I’m sorry, Mirza, but no parties. We need this one at headquarters. It turns out she may be vital to recovering the Lazarus Genome.”
“In that case, I insist!” Mirza exclaimed. “I would consider it an act of true patriotism to detain anyone and everyone involved in the recovery of that vile creation.” She started rifling through a pile of discarded clothes near her feet. “I have just the thing for her to wear.”
“Mirza!” shouted Captain Bell. “The list?”
“Ugh. Very well. You can be such a bore, officer. You know that?” Ms. Khan pulled up the captain’s list of Women First members on her display. After several minutes, she eventually gave the captain all the information needed. “No, no, n….mmm, maybe this one. Ms. Langford? I think she was in Miami two nights ago, but I’d subpoena her recordings just in case. No, no, no. Mayb—no. No. I don't think there’s anything here, officer. Everyone else listed would surely have had the decency to tell me if they had pulled off something so heroic.”
“Yes, I came to the same conclusion,” stated Valerie, while crossing her legs. “And we already scanned through all of your communications for the past month.”
“You did?” Mirza cheered. “How thoughtful of you! I always worry no one is listening to me.”
Athena wobbled in place. She nearly fell onto the floor. Valerie caught her just in time. The alcohol had already taken its effect.
“Well, now that the dull part is over,” Mirza interjected. “We can move on to the dancing portion of this interview!”
High-tempo jazz pumped out from hidden floor speakers. The patterns on Mirza's robe began to move much more quickly. She stood up and swayed to the beat. With arms splayed, she shouted out, “Libations!” In response, twelve empty wine bottles lifted up from the floor and began to rise and fall with the music.
Growing unaware of herself, Athena began to swirl her head in a wide circle. Under her breath, she started to sing. “Mmmm, mmm, the truth is in the lib-rar-y, buh, buh, ba, baaa, must find the truth to save her, buh, buh, ba, baaaa.”
“See!” exclaimed Mirza. “There’s someone getting into the swing of things!”
Valerie grabbed Athena by the arm to steady her. “Thank you for your time, Mirza,” she declared, “but really, it's best that we were on our way.”
Growing more intoxicated by the second, Athena blurted out with her speech slightly slurred, “Why izz this place such uhh mess? Your Aasha unit could clean it ’nn TEN,” she held
up all her fingers on both hands and then counted them to make sure the math checked out, “TEN seconds. Poof! Clean!”
“And what would be the point of that?” yelled Mirza merrily. “Nothing that’s easy is beautiful!”
Sensing the situation had gotten completely out of control, Valerie grabbed Athena more firmly and inserted a black lozenge into her mouth. “Here,” she said, “swallow this to neutralize the alcohol.”
Athena spat out the lozenge, knocking herself over in the process. She toppled onto the floor. Valerie, who had been trying to keep her upright, came tumbling after. Their bodies and faces smashed together on the ground.
“Helloooooooooo, Officer!” sang Athena joyously.
“You are a dreadful dancer, Ms. Bell!” Mirza cried out over the music. She shook her head disapprovingly at the unrhythmic stack of bodies heaped together on the floor.
“That's it!” yelled the captain. She removed a micro-syringe from her belt and injected it into Athena’s leg. She rolled herself off of Athena and climbed back to her feet. “Mirza, it’s been a lovely visit…but we have a prior engagement and must be on our way. I thank you for all your assistance.”
Behind the captain, Athena used the divan to pull herself up. Silently, she began mocking Captain Bell’s upturned way of speaking. Her eyes rolled and her head bounced quickly back and forth, as her mouth exaggeratedly pretended to form words. Mirza saw the girl’s mocking performance and laughed herself silly.
“You!” yelled Valerie, spinning around in Athena’s direction. “Come with me!”
Captain Bell guided Athena toward the hallway. As they left, she called out behind her. “Mirza, stay out of trouble. And let us know if you hear anything from your associates about that genome.”
“I surely won’t!” shouted Mirza, cheerfully, to her departing guests.
Outside of the oak front-doors, Athena struggled to walk in a straight line as the syringe’s neutralizing agent gradually took effect. “What izz her deal anyway?” she slurred. “Why’s she have that giant scar—ooof—” Athena stumbled and fell onto the floor.
“Shhhhh,” hushed Valerie, helping the girl to her feet. “Let’s get you to a warm bed.”
The NAU Times
August 7th, 2094
Project Lazarus: Our Greatest Mistake
Full Transcript of the speech delivered today by Mirza Khan before Congress
Warning: The following contains mature content
considered unsuitable for younger readers.
Ladies,
There has been a lot of talk about how “wonderful” it will be to have men back in the world. On walks through the city, I often overhear young women speculating about what activity they’d like to do first once men have returned to our lives. Take a couples cooking class? Go on a trip? Make love? It all sounds so delightful and innocent. There’s only one problem. None of these women have ever actually met a man. They have no idea what they’re talking about. They don’t know what malice lies in the hearts of the demons they fancy. They’re too young to remember what the devils were really like. But, that’s ok. I remember. I've met lots of men in my life.
My father was a bread-maker and a good man. He used to bake all different kinds of loaves of bread and sell them in our small village in Syria. Every morning, I used to overhear him waking up before dawn to put the dough into the ovens. By the time the sun rose, our entire house smelled delicious.
Then, one night, there came a loud banging on our front door. I thought perhaps it might be some hungry customer who couldn’t wait till morning for their tasty loaves. In that way, I was like the women of today: young, foolish, and completely naive.
When my father opened the door, he was met by a dozen men in masks carrying long guns. They burst inside, bloodying his face in the process. They shouted at him, called him an infidel and a devil-worshipper. They said that their God had granted them the right to do whatever they wanted to him and his family. Then they tied him to a chair and beat him with their fists, never stopping until he was dead.
My father’s body was still tied to that chair when the men brought my mother and my sisters and I downstairs to look at him. I didn’t even recognize him at first; his face was so badly beaten. Then the men turned their angry, lustful gazes toward us, the women and girls left behind. They said their God required them to rape us all, repeatedly, and that we should prepare ourselves. I was nine years old.
In the decades since that night, I’ve asked myself more times than I can count: why did those men do that to my family? But the answer is simple. There’s no complicated mystery. That’s who men are. That’s who men have always been. When a man can get away with taking something he wants, he takes it. The men that destroyed my family were not ‘radicalized terrorists’, nor ‘mentally-ill sociopaths.’ They were just plain, ordinary men filled with anger, and vengeance, and lust, and greed. They saw an opportunity to take what they wanted without any consequences, so they did. That’s the kind of person you women of today are rushing to bring back into the world.
The next morning, those men took my mother, my sisters, and I, and held us all captive for months, raping us when they felt like it. They kept us restrained in dark rooms, sometimes with groups of other women, sometimes chained to a wall. If I had had the strength, I would have killed myself. But then again, I didn’t think I would have to. Surely, the men would think it fun one day to kill me themselves.
After many months, after all three of my sisters had died from the abuse, one of the men became very sick. Then, several more became sick. Eventually, they all became too sick even to beat us. At last, they began dropping dead, one after the other.
News of the deaths spread rapidly. The imprisoned women all wondered aloud: what was happening? Why were all of the men dying? But I didn’t wonder. I already knew why. It was because the benevolent God above had heard and answered my prayers. The powerful divinity that watches over us all had arrived on earth to correct the greatest evil in history: that men were ever allowed to live at all.
My mother and I were lucky. With our captors dead, we managed to escape with our lives. We took what few belongings we had, and we ran. Eventually, we crossed an ocean and made it to the NAU. After some time, I learned English and got a job in fashion. These days, life is good; sometimes I can even sleep through the entire night without waking up screaming.
Ladies, representatives, I am not trying to be overly dramatic. I have not exaggerated one detail of my experience. You need to remember that the terrors I’ve described actually happened. They happened to me. But my story is far from unique. Across time and space, men have shown themselves, again and again, to be monsters of the worst kind. If you bring them back now, the horrors which happened to me will happen again. Only the next time, the victim will be someone else, someone young and hopeful and innocent, like I was. Think of that poor, naive girl. Think of the pain you will destine for her should you complete this horrific project.
The divine heavens sent the Y-Fever to earth as a holy blessing. To cure the virus now — to bring those male monsters back to life — that wouldn’t just be a mistake of the highest order. It would be sacrilege itself.
June 10, 2099
26
Hours later, Athena awoke from a dreamless sleep in unfamiliar surroundings. A cottony-taste lingered uncomfortably in her arid mouth. Marching bands practiced their routines inside her skull.
The room in which she found herself appeared to be a prison of some kind. It looked square-shaped and small, barely big enough to fit a bed and toilet. It had no windows, only a door lacking any type of a handle. The walls were a drab gray.
“Knock, knock,” said the door.
“Come in,” replied Athena.
She wasn’t sure who else she should have expected, but Athena was still slightly surprised to see Captain Bell enter the room.
“You were pretty out of it, Vosh, so I let you sleep it off here in one of our holding cells. I hope that’s ok
.”
Athena nodded without speaking.
“Listen,” said the captain, taking a seat next to Athena on the bed. “When you first showed up here, I didn’t want you. I thought the Core was playing some kind of cruel joke on me. But I was wrong. I can tell you’re just as committed to solving this case as I am.”
Athena nodded slowly. The two women sat for a minute in silence together on the bed.
“What’s next?” croaked the gray-eyed girl.
“Well, if you’re feeling up to it, I was about to go interview Dr. Kirilov at Helix.” Captain Bell stood up from the bed. “You want to come with?”
“I wouldn’t
“Take all the time you need. I’ll see you out front.”
As usual, the traffic moved quickly during the ride back to Hyde Park. To aid in her recovery, Athena had been given a highly-caffeinated detox-cocktail. Soon she felt much more herself — good enough even to pry nosily into Captain Bell’s past. “So….” she queried, “what’s the story with you and Mirza? It's like the two of you are old friends, but I saw from the records, you must have arrested her twenty times.”
Valerie smirked. “I've arrested dozens of women, Athena. Almost always, they are petty people trying to break the law to improve their petty lives, unhappy with their comfortable existence and dissatisfied with their lack of luxuries. Mirza is not one of those people. She's not trying to steal a little extra for herself. She's not trying to hurt anyone else with her crimes. And not once has she ever lied to me about what she's done. In fact, on multiple occasions, she's helped us to solve other cases.” Her head turned toward the window. “Whether you agree with Mirza or not, whether you think men are a danger to society or not, one must still respect the devotion she shows to the cause for which she so strongly believes.”
Athena paused. “And what…what about you? What do you believe? Is Mirza right about the project? Were men really as awful as she says they were?”
Athena's Choice Page 12
