The A.R.EX. Project:Transformation

by Angelo Facchin

  Jason was very excited, something Janiece hadn’t seen. She hadn’t told him about Arex, but Jason was falling in love with the guy anyway. She wondered whether or not he’d still feel that way if he knew the truth.

  They were escorted by F.B.I. agents wherever they went, and Janiece had mixed feelings about that. She felt safe, but also a little annoyed. It was having one’s grandmother hold one’s hand just to cross the street. The head of the Criminal Investigation Division, Corey Rodgers.

  When they arrived at the hospital, they were led to the third floor. After crossing a small hallway, they found their ward. Doctor Denis Kelly greeted them there.

  “They were in pretty bad shape when they arrived,” Dr. Kelly explained, “Some of Mr. Scatchard‘s lower ribs were slightly fractured and are causing him great discomfort and pain. He will have to remain in the hospital for at least a week, and have those bandages on for around two months. As for the…uh…other gentleman, his wounds have already started to heal. I have to say I‘ve never had to deal with this sort of thing before.”

  Janiece nearly gagged. The “other” gentleman? This sort of “thing”? Dr. Kelly was talking about Arex like he was some sort of animal. She had half a mind to chastise him for that. On second thought, though, she realized that that was exactly how she first reacted to Arex, thinking of him more as an object rather than an actual person. She resigned herself to biting her tongue and waiting for Dr. Kelly to finish his diagnosis.

  “I have noticed, however, that he seems to have a concussion. I will have to take an X-Ray to be sure,” said the doctor.

  “Why do you think he has a concussion?”

  “He doesn‘t know today’s date, the year, or the name of the president…”

  “Hold on,” she intervened. “Hasn’t anybody told you? He wouldn‘t know these things anyway. His memories have been erased.”

  Dr. Kelly double-checked Arex’s file on his clipboard.

  “Oh, I‘m sorry. I didn‘t know. It‘s not written here. I guess nobody in the ambulance bothered to ask him.”

  “I‘m not the one you should be apologizing to, but it‘s okay. I can imagine, though, that he was a little puzzled when you asked him these questions. Anyway, what are the details of his condition?”

  “Stable. Both of them are conscious but he’s already able to move around without reopening his wounds and bleeding profusely. There are a lot of bandaged scars, but at this point, the bandages might be more of a bother than anything else. For all I really know, he can probably take them off tomorrow, if he continues to heal this way. I can probably release him tonight without too much worry.”

  “Good. Thank you for your assessment. Oh, and, by the way, his name is Arex.”

  They walked around the flustered doctor, and got to the bed where Arex was lying down. Mike Scatchard was on the bed next to him. For a while, she couldn’t tell which one of them was in worse shape. Arex had what looked like thirty bandages of all sizes covering his body. Despite that, though, he sat up on the bed when he saw them, looking at them. She tried to guess his mindset at this point, and speculated that he was happy to see them. She noticed that when his eyes turned toward Jason, his head bowed. Was it shame? For what? What exactly had Sandlak told him? She wouldn’t know unless the F.B.I. released the tape recording of that conversation to her.

  “How are you feeling?”

  “I‘m alright,” he replied, “Mike told me these bandages make me look like a zebra. Whatever that is.”

  Of course. How could he possibly know what a zebra is? He doesn’t know anything about this planet. It was easy for Janiece to forget that Arex was somewhat clueless about many things that would be common knowledge to the average human being. She realized that it was going to take some serious dedication to educate a grown amnesic adult. He would probably have to take classes in order to obtain his grade, junior high, and high school diplomas, and maybe more, depending on what he wanted to do in life. Wait a minute, slow down there, brain. He’s not there, yet. On thing at a time. Right now, the important was getting a case together against BIOGENCORP. The lawyer in her decided that now was time to make it a priority.

  “You‘re both going to have to write down a statement about what happened,” said Janiece, “unless you‘d rather make a voice recording.”

  “I think I‘ll try writing it,” Arex replied.

  Janiece raised her eyebrows. She doubted that Patrick Sandlak had let Arex walk away with every one of Rick’s abilities. Then again, the Mind Shifter computer was only created for the purpose of erasing one’s personal memories. She decided she would test that thought. She reached into her purse.

  “Fine,” she said, “here‘s a pen, and a notepad. Write the first thing that comes to your mind.”

  “Thank you.”

  He took the pen and pad. Janiece’s eyes went wide. Seemingly without even thinking, Arex put the pen in his left hand, and started to write. He handed the pad over to Janiece. It read “Do you think it‘s true?”

  “I know what you mean, and I‘m not sure. One thing is for sure, he was right-handed. You‘re not.”

  As Arex was going to speak, Janiece heard Corey Rodgers walking briskly toward them.

  “It‘s a media circus out there. There are news reporters, camera crews, vans, and a huge crowd. Everyone wants to see the talking reptile.”

  Janiece sighed.

  “This isn‘t a good time,” she said, “please, tell them he‘s in no condition to be talking to the media.”

  “Wait a minute,” Arex interjected, “I thought we had established that keeping me a secret wasn‘t a good idea.”

  “It‘s not keeping you a secret per say, rather, letting you recover. Besides, you seem to need a press agent.”

  “A lawyer that can handle the media for you up to a certain extent.”

  Arex nodded his understanding, then added.:

  “Aren‘t you a lawyer?”

  “Are you asking me to be your press agent, Mr. Arex?”

  Arex gave a throaty chuckle. Janiece figured that it was much against his nature to laugh. He then stood straight up, put one hand behind his back, used the other hand to clear his throat, then stated.:

  “Yes, absolutely. Miss Ryder, will you please talk to the press on my behalf and tell them that I will address them when I feel the time is right.”

  Everyone in the ward Janiece knew erupted in laughter as they heard his voice trying to convey over-the-top businessman mannerisms he so obviously must have seen on TV. Mike, whose ribs couldn’t handle all that laughter, quickly winced in pain, but still kept a smile on his face.

  “Good one Arex,” said Jason.

  “Thank you. I was just trying to feel better, myself.”

  “Well, you sure made us feel better” said Janiece.

  Corey Rodgers made a whistling noise, trying to get everyone’s attention.

  “On a more serious note, Arex, we have to ask you to come with us to Albany. We need someone who knows BIOGENCORP headquarters better than we do, to escort us to where you were created and held.”

  “But I don‘t know where I was created,” Arex explained, “I doubt the transformation took place in the bedroom I woke up in.”

  “Nevertheless, you do know the place to a certain extent. Can you handle going there again?”

  Janiece watched Arex hesitate before finally saying.:

  “Yes.”

  “Good,” said Rodgers, “We‘ll leave as soon as miss Ryder gets the media out of here.”

  Chapter 9

  Monday, November 2nd, 1998, 8:07 AM

  BIOGENCORP Laboratories

  It had been almost two weeks since Mark Reeves was last at work. Being in the Bahamas with his family really helped to clear his mind up. He did have some insecurities about leaving the company in Patrick Sandlak’s hands, but it turned out not to be problem. As far as he could tell, the company was running smoothly. So smoothly, in fact that Sandlak had apparently taken the day off. Reeves tho
ught it was a good idea, seeing as Sandlak had to manage the entire company, while at the same time, working his normal shifts.

  Feeling elated, Reeves took a look at the journal he told Sandlak to write while he was away. Sandlak had managed to extradite Erickson Meyers from prison, the latter was now in a halfway house in New York City, awaiting the transformation. Sandlak also had the necessary documents for the next 14 volunteers, as well as the vouchers for the funding of the A.R.EX. project spanning the expenses for the next three months, which included the construction of a training center and housing facilities, as well the necessary staff to construct and man the buildings. On another note, the forensics and research teams were operating at peak efficiency.

  Everything seemed to be falling in place perfectly, it was almost too good to be true. The only black mark in the report was the firing of Daisy Carter. Sandlak wrote that she wasn’t working to the best of her ability, often wasting her time on the clock. Still, without her absence, the research team was meeting its schedule every day, so it was her loss she was fired, not theirs.

  Reeves decided to make a round of the building, going through every nook and cranny, practically trying to find something wrong that might have happened while he was away. He was going to gauge the staff’s morale as well as their level of fatigue.

  Everyone looked to be in high spirits, which was a good sign. Nothing seemed out of place, except for Daisy Carter’s office. Nobody had seen her clear out her things, and yet they were all gone. Not only that, but her office smelled of cleaning products and bleach. Maybe someone was a little pissed from getting fired, Reeves thought. Some kind of incident must’ve happened the day before. It looked like something went wrong during his leave after all.

  He got back to his office to read the documents Sandlak left on his desk, when his office phone rang.

  “Hello?”

  “Sir, you better come see this,” said a security guard from the lobby. “There are about a dozen or so F.B.I. agents here and they wish to search the premises.”

  What?!

  “Do not let them anywhere near the other floors. I‘ll be right there.”

  Surely there must’ve been some mistake. Why would the F.B.I. want to search his company’s building. They’d done nothing wrong as far as he knew.

  He made his way down to the first floor lobby. When he arrived, there were several F.B.I. agents amassed near the doors. What shocked Reeves was seeing what looked like an A.R.EX. soldier among them. That was impossible, since the next test wasn’t supposed to happen until he got back. That alone was surprising enough, but it also looked like it had just come back from battle.

  Reeves was confused until he saw one of the agents. It was Sora Takahashi. She was working for the F.B.I.? Her entire identity was probably false. He wondered what she had found in such a limited amount of time with them.

  When Miss Takahashi (if that was even her real name) saw him, she turned to the reptile and pointed at him. Words were exchanged and the reptile shook his head. Reeves then watched helplessly as a few agents converged on him.

  “Sir,” said one of the agents, “we have a search warrant for the premises.”

  “May I ask what you might be looking for?”

  “Evidence. It is my duty to inform you that the body of one of your employees was found in the garbage dumpster next to your building.”

  “What? Whose body?”

  “Daisy Carter.”

  “Miss Carter? She was fired two days ago.”

  “Actually, Dr. Sandlak transformed himself into a reptile, attacked and killed her in cold blood. We are going to search for the evidence to support that conclusion.”

  What started off as a perfect day, was fast going downhill. Now he found himself in the midst of an F.B.I. investigation. Why was Daisy Carter murdered, and did Patrick Sandlak have anything to do with it?

  “Before we continue,” said the agent, “I would also like to inform you that according to our witness here,” he pointed toward the reptile, “Patrick Sandlak wanted him to kill miss Janiece Ryder. Dr. Sandlak himself admitted to murdering Daisy Carter.”

  “If he did those things, then I can obviously allow you to search his office, but not the rest of the building.”

  “Our warrant covers the entire building. You can‘t keep us from any room.”

  * * *

  As the F.B.I. searched the building, Reeves had to escort their supervisor, Corey Rodgers, and answer all of his questions. The entire company was put on hold while the F.B.I. invasion continued.

  “Where is the operation chamber?”

  “The door is on the third floor, at the end of the corridor.”

  “We have here a receipt for renovations done. We called up the contractor, and he said that he gutted the third floor ceiling, and the fourth floor…floor.”

  “Yes. We need the extra space for the main computer.”

  “How can you have a computer that’s over eight feet tall? This isn‘t 1950. Show me the chamber.”

  Chapter 10

  Monday, November 2nd, 1998, 2:47 PM

  Janiece Ryder’s apartment

  As the F.B.I. was searching BIOGENCORP Laboratories, Janiece had decided to look into what she could piece together. Whenever she worked on a case, she wanted to create a timeline. What she couldn’t really understand was why Rick Meyers was chosen for the transformation. Rick hadn’t received any military training. Nothing in his file suggested that he could be an efficient soldier. The only thing that might have made him a fighter was six years spent learning Aikido, obtaining a 3rd level black belt. That was it. What a waste.

  And now she had to make sense of the events that transpired. She made notes, writing down everything. She organized a timeline, figuring it would help put things in perspective and let her piece together everything that happened and why.

  A.R.EX. Project: Chain of events.

  1. March 1997:BIOGENCORP Laboratories is hired by the Pentagon (or so it seemed, that fact remains unclear) to create a deadly new weapon, that would be unique in every aspect, while also complying with laws banning the development of nuclear weaponry. The budget for the project is set at just over a billion dollars in research and development for the project alone.

  2. April: Despite my best efforts, Erickson Meyers is convicted of murder, and sentenced to 25 years in prison.

  3. October 26th: Patrick Sandlak arrives at Bare Hill and extradites Rick Meyers using a document showing my signature, which was forged (who his source was is currently unknown, but I suspect it is one of my colleagues. It would probably be that same person who later informed Sandlak that I had the A.R.EX. File in my possession.)

  4. October 27th: Daisy discovers the A.R.EX. Files while doing a routine maintenance checkup on BIOGENCORP’s computers. She downloads the file and faxes it to me. Patrick Sandlak finds out that I know about A.R.EX. and probably decides that it’s time for Rick to go through the transformation. Arex wakes up on the 29th, a completely different person from Rick, both inside and out.

  5. October 31st: After being thoroughly tested, Arex is dropped off in the abandoned apartment building a few block from my complex. He’s given the instruction to kill me as part of his first mission as a solider. That same night, he arrives at my apartment.

  As she wrote that part, she felt her forearm, where Arex had accidentally scratched her.

  But he doesn’t kill me. Instead, he warned me of the danger I was in. He saved my life.

  Janiece felt an incredible feeling of happiness and relief. She owed him her life. She had no right in her mind to doubt him and his intentions. Putting that thought aside for now, she continued with her next section. Her own little private investigation.

  Questions that need answering.

  1. Out of the many criminals held in Bare Hill alone, why was Rick Meyers chosen over everyone else?

  Reason1: Convenience.

  My signature was forged, presumably by one of my colleagues. Every one of them alrea
dy knew how vocal I was in believing in Rick’s innocence. It would easy for everyone to point the finger at me when the time was right.

  Reason 2: Experimentation.

  Rick was mute, that was pretty much known in the firm. Sandlak may have also had half a mind to use the A.R.EX. serum and promote it as a medical drug. It doesn’t matter at this point, since Sandlak seems to have taken the secret of the composition of the serum with him to the grave.

  2. Who is the one who forged my signature?

  It has to be one of my colleagues. One who would have access to my documents, anything with my signature on it. That same person found out that Daisy had sent me the fax with A.R.EX. file on it. It has to be a lawyer in order to have his or her sign the document. That person would likely have Patrick Sandlak as a client.

  She called Joe Henry.

  “Hello?”

  “I think I have something figured out. The person who forged my signature might have Patrick Sandlak as a client. He or she is one of us. Can you find me that person?”

  She hung up. In the meantime, she was still waiting for Arex to come out of the shower wearing the new clothes she bought him. She wasn’t even sure whether or not the clothes would fit him.