Darwin's Paradox

by Nina Munteanu

  Then Angel’s distorted face from that dream intruded: “I don’t need you. I can take care of myself now, Mother.”

  She jerked in her chair and blinked her eyes open, realizing that she’d drifted off for a moment. She caught Frank still watching her with ocean-deep eyes. She swallowed down the vision and commanded herself to stay awake. Too comfortable, she thought and sat up straight, swinging her legs out from under her. She shook her head to clear it and gave Frank a frosty little smile. Just enjoy yourself, buddy boy, she thought. He didn’t sneer. To her surprise his face pinched with raw emotion and the look in his eyes grew tender. Then—she couldn’t believe it—tears filled his eyes and spilled down his cheeks. She leaned forward and stared. She just about rose from the chair then pulled back. Can’t trust him. Drawing up her legs and gathering them in her arms, Julie turned resolutely away from him and refused to look his way again.

  Julie leaned her chin on her knees and stared vacantly into space. Snug in the chair in the quiet of the night, her thoughts eventually returned to Angel. Julie recalled the verbal retort Angel had hurled at her about growing up and being independent. They were the last words Julie heard from her daughter before she left them. Was that why she’d had the vision? Perhaps it wasn’t Proteus really talking to her but her own angst expressing itself. She could deal with that, she thought. Well, maybe. Had Angel already embraced Darwin? It had been inside her since she was conceived. If she had, which was it? The blind trust of a naïve girl or an intuitive wisdom that Julie herself lacked? What was Proteus, after all?

  Julie closed her eyes for a moment and inhaled deeply. Her head ached and she felt so tired...

  ***

  Victor shut the door behind him and ignored Zane who nattered to himself while undressing by the bed he’d already chosen, the one that wasn’t sunken in the middle. Victor stood transfixed at the door, his mind sailing to the image he’d left behind of Julie furled like a cat on the couch. To his delight and consternation he’d found every part of her exposed skin highly erotic. Her slender arms, curled around her waist to keep in the warmth, called to his own arms...that slightly guarded smile and the downy curls of hair at the temples sent a passionate shiver through him...the soft long lines of her neck that rose up in exquisite elegance to her exposed ears as she drew back her hair with a graceful sweep of her hands haunted him with a relentless desire to touch her. His thoughts all ran together and he seemed to melt under the gaze of those intimidating brilliant green eyes.

  Yes, he’d sent Aard to watch her. And he’d even rationalized why: she was indispensable and would no doubt prove useful in the future—which was true—but his visceral motivation was simply to remain connected to her in some way. She would never know how much she meant to him and what he felt for her, but she’d been his inspiration and his secret love for so long. And now that she was here with him in the flesh, her voice sweet like the nectar of a young flower, it terrified him.

  He jumped at Zane’s voice. “You coming to bed or are you going to stand there all night?” Zane asked, already comfortable under the covers. He yawned loudly. “Get some sleep, Burke.”

  “Yeah,” Victor murmured. “You’re right.” He quickly undressed, slid under the covers of the creaking bed and found his gaze drifting to his droid and the delicious memories stored inside it.

  ***

  Julie drags her feet slowly through the dark wet halls of what used to be SAM’s smooth crystal matrix. The overwhelming stench burns her throat raw and fills her with a fear. The hunched figure beckons her with a sweeping arc of its arm. She hopes desperately that it isn’t Angel. Angel?

  The cowl falls and Angel’s wizened face smiles at her with detached sympathy. She says in a voice that belongs to her but also to a thousand other voices, [Please try to accept Proteus like I have...]

  No. Don’t say that. I just can’t. I won’t!

  [Why?]

  I think Proteus is dangerous.

  [That’s like saying you’re dangerous. Ever since you were five, Proteus was part of you.]

  Not completely. Angel, don’t give in. Don’t let Proteus—

  [Please join us, Mother...I must go now to do my part...]

  No! Angel, wait! Julie lunges out but abruptly collides with something. She realizes it is a man’s arms, his vice grip hurting her as she fiercely struggles forward. Let me go! I have to help her! she screams, and clamors to get past.

  “She doesn’t need your help”, the man says behind her. The voice is strangely familiar, the voice of someone she normally trusts. She wants to turn to see who is holding her back but must fix her gaze on Angel who even now recedes into the living wall. Angel, don’t go! No! Oh—

  Julie jolted awake, almost falling out of her chair. Flushed and breathing heavily, she wiped her hair aside and spun an embarrassed look to the corner where Frank was tied up. The ropes lay there empty. She threw her gaze around the room.

  “Terrific!” She leaped up from her chair and bolted through the bedroom door. “Frank’s escaped! He’s—”

  She stopped in her tracks. Zane snored loudly in his bed, but Victor lay on his back under his covers with his Sentech-2 visor on his head and arm busily playing a lower part of his anatomy. His droid stood beside him, connected to his set via a cable. The switch for holo playback was lit. She glanced from the droid to Victor’s face through the transparent shield. His eyes were open but he didn’t see her. Their gaze and his face moved in a dumb expression of vacant ecstasy and he breathed in halting spurts. She could guess from what—she’d seen that stupid expression on Frank’s face so many times while he watched a sex vid on his vee-set instead of conversing with her. But this, of course, was Sentech-2, the next best thing to the real thing...perhaps better than the real thing for some, she thought, grimacing in disgust as she watched Victor’s face and body convulse in sexual excitement.

  Thrusting her hesitation aside, Julie shook him by the shoulders. Victor jerked up and removed the vee-set. He stared at her, fear punctuating his eyes, and blushed fiercely. At that moment she knew that she had been the subject matter and felt herself colour as well. She recognized utter devastation on his face at her undisguised revulsion. She didn’t care. He was disgusting. She commanded her surging anger aside and attended to the matter at hand. In a sharper voice than she’d have liked, she said, “He escaped. We have to do something.”

  “He’s—“ Victor said, the rest of his words strangled in a convulsive swallow.

  “I fell asleep,” she said in a clipped voice. “When I woke up he was gone. Can you find out where he is on...that?” She pointed to the vee-set he’d just taken off and to her annoyance she blushed more.

  His wide eyes flicked from her face to the vee-set and he blinked several times. His hands darted to and from his mouth as he stuttered a response, “Oh, of course. You mean now?” he ended in a shrill voice.

  “Yes, now,” she snapped angrily. “Maybe we can catch up to him.” She knew that was a long shot. “At least we need to know what he’s up to and whether he’s sent a Pol contingent here—”

  “Forget it,” Zane said behind her. “That’s a waste of time.” Julie turned to see him getting out of bed in his T-shirt and boxer shorts. “The bastard’s sent them,” Zane said, pulling on his clothes. “Count on it. He isn’t going to just let you go, Julie. You’re the key to it all, to all of this.” He waved his hand in a wide sweep. “We’ve got to get you back to the lab—”

  “No more research,” Julie said shortly.

  Zane frowned. “You don’t understand. Your communication with Proteus is the critical part we need to determine our course of action.”

  “I thought we’d already determined that. We were going to reinstate SAM and the A.I.-core tomorrow, then go from there.”

  “Why ask SAM when you can ask Proteus?”

  “Because I’d sooner trust SAM, that’s why,” s
he shot back.

  “You’re suggesting that Proteus is devious?” He stared at her and shook his head in amazement. She thought of Gaia’s possible plan with Proteus. If she’d thought of it, sure enough Gaia would have too. “Even my theories of viral sentience don’t go that far,” Zane said and raised his hands out toward her. “Listen, I have a device at the lab that can not only monitor sleep during REM but invoke communication between the sleeper and the agent monitoring them.” He flashed her a grin in response to her suspicious look. “It’s all okay and very safe,” he reassured. “Honest. I’ve used it a lot with patients. Besides, you’re pretty ripe for a bit of sleep. It’d be easy to hook you up, put you under and then let you have a conversation with Proteus.”

  She’d felt her muscles tense at his mention of sleep. “What’s that going to accomplish besides getting us caught?” she said in a voice that sounded defensive to her. She knew she was stalling.

  “It’ll give us the answer we need,” he reasoned. “Dream time is when you and Proteus communicate most lucidly. We need to tap into it. Plus, you need an outside interpreter. Someone to lend you a hand while you’re in the midst of it because I gather it’s a pretty emotional experience.” So, he’d guessed the source of her apprehension. “As for the Head Pol, he’d never dream we went back there. We’d be safe with Victor’s distraction, and we can travel the lower levels so much more easily now without having to lug him around with us.”

  She chewed thoughtfully on her lower lip for several heartbeats then finally nodded with a sigh. Zane had thought of everything. “Okay. Let’s do it.”

  “What should I do?” came Victor’s meek voice from behind Julie.

  She turned to him and inhaled deeply. “I think you should monitor the Head Pol. Once we get to Zane’s lab, set yourself up and find out what he’s up to.”

  He nodded, looking relieved that he’d been included.

  38

  As Julie reclined on the bed, Zane held out a device that fit on her head and looked ominously like Victor’s custom vee-set. “Okay, you need to put this on,” he said in a shrill tone that Julie hadn’t heard in him before. She thought his smile looked strained, too, pushed on to keep her from getting nervous. It made her more nervous.

  She took the vee-set in her hands, trying not to let them visibly tremble. “You mean right now?”

  Zane nodded and his smile relaxed a little. “It’ll be okay.” He glanced back and forth between her and Victor, who shadowed his every move, having already checked on Frank and establishing that the Head Pol was sleeping. “I just need to put in a few connections between your vee-set and my vee-set and the rest of the dreamtime analyzer.” He flexed his fingers. “Just relax, Julie. The low humming sound you’ll hear will help you to fall asleep. It’s been designed to do just that for nervous patients. Then, when you go into REM sleep, a signal will tell me to join you. We should be able to communicate to one another.” He smiled briefly. “I can’t tell you in what form that will take, because it’s different for everyone. I might just be a distant voice to you, or you might even see me vaguely. Same for me. Depends on the kind of dream you’re having, your relationship with your analyst and so on. Either way, we should be in constant contact throughout.” He turned to Victor. “If anything goes wrong—but it won’t—just turn off the machine. We should all come back off line. Okay, everyone?”

  Julie swallowed and commanded her muscles to relax. “Okay. I’m ready.” She drew in several deep breaths, pulled the vee-set over her head then laid her head back on the pillow. It was more comfortable than she’d imagined. The low hum was barely audible, but it was soothing. She found her eyes easy to close and couldn’t hold onto her thoughts. As if sifting her mind for vignettes, her thoughts flickered through a dozen images as she drifted off to sleep.

  ***

  She drags her feet slowly through the dark sultry hall, feet sliding in the muck. The overwhelming stench of rotting meat burns her throat raw. The hall writhes with tortured flesh and slime oozes down the walls, the viscous liquid congealing with the paste at her feet. Her stomach curdles with fear as a moaning sigh wisps past her like the caress of a dead man.

  “I’m here, Julie,” Zane whispers reassuringly at her side and Julie jumps, nerves frayed. She spins and catches his pale face looking at her. A faint smile pushes up. She isn’t alone this time. Zane gives her a shaky but supportive smile then lets his eyes roam the slithering bubbling hall. “This is some chaos you’ve conjured up.”

  “I suppose,” she breathes. She isn’t so sure she’s conjured it up. It’s too real and terrifying. And each time she comes here it gets worse.

  “I wonder where we are?” he says in a tight voice as he picks his way through the hummocky, slippery surface.

  “This used to be SAM’s house,” she says. “In my mind, that is.”

  “I’d say somewhere in your hippocampus,” he says. “You’ve got some imagination, coming up with this place.” Then he curls up his nose. “Why does it stink?”

  “Just around that corner is Proteus.”

  “Okay,” Zane says. He squares his shoulders and his clammy hand steals around hers as they step forward, feet sliding on the slippery muck. She’s grateful for his hand and his company.

  As they round the corner, Zane flinches and his hand tightens on hers.

  The shriveled figure before them rises like a shape-shifter into a towering giant. Taller than Julie has ever seen it. Arms fly out in a wild beating motion.

  Her breaths chop and Julie can’t help cowering. She feels Zane tremble beside her, pulling her back. A hot, cloying gale batters their faces as the figure bellows in a reverberating chorus of angry voices, [Your lack of trust in us—in yourself—is appalling, Julie Crane. First you refuse to join, risking our demise, now you defile the sanctity of our relationship by bringing this vile and corrupt intruder among us.]

  Abruptly, Zane gasps. He breaks hold and claws at his throat. His face flushes, eyes bulging, and he collapses on his knees, his breaths wheezing. “Julie help—”

  Stop it! He means you no harm. He’s a scientist. He wants to help me in my talks with you—

  [He is an abomination! He must leave NOW!]

  With a startled squeak Zane arches painfully as his body is lifted in the air then hurled unnaturally backward. Julie draws in a sharp breath as she watches him disappear around the corner. I should wake up now, she thinks frantically. This is crazy!

  Heart thundering in her ears, Julie breaks from Proteus’s invisible hold and dashes after Zane. As she rounds the corner, she spots his thrashing body flying into the dark maze. “Zane!” She runs, slips and falls, biting her lip. Slime splashes her face. She scrambles up, gulping in sobbing breaths and tasting blood. The halls slither around her like arms whipping out, then closing in. Her feet pound the squelching surface toward an ever-darker place. She’s lost Zane. Wake up! Wake up! The dream’s never gone this far before

  [You cannot escape us, Julie Crane...] the voices shudder through her like a million violin strings stretched across her taut body. The sour smell of congealed blood cloys through her nostrils as she plunges into the blinding darkness, a profound feeling of hopelessness shuddering through her.

  The ground beneath her gives way and she falls with a shriek into pitch black.

  ***

  Heart slamming against his chest, Victor rushed to Zane’s thrashing figure. Shortly after Julie had fallen asleep, the machine had signaled that she was in REM sleep. With a nervous nod to Victor, Zane had put the vee-set on and sat back in the chair beside her. Soon his eyes had glazed over as he obviously connected with Julie’s mind. Victor had glanced from Julie’s prone figure on the bed to Zane’s reclined figure on the reclining chair next to her as both their eyes fluttered in synchrony with a lively dream.

  Then Zane jolted violently back with a gasp. He slid off the chair, free of the vee-se
t that had connected him to Julie, and collapsed on the floor.

  Victor dashed to Zane’s twitching figure and felt for a pulse. It was strong but irregular, and Zane was pale with shock. Eyes rolled back, he curled on the floor in a fetal position, moaning and writhing.

  “Zane, what happened?” Victor said, shaking him. “Zane!”

  The young scientist shivered and resumed his moaning.

  A sidelong glance at Julie revealed that she was still asleep and in the grips of a nightmare. Her face pinched into an anguished look, then suddenly morphed into one of utter terror. She made a soft, plaintive sound that clenched his heart. He seized the vee-set on her and pulled it off. A golden cloud of hair spilled behind her with his motion but she didn’t come out of her dream. Victor stared at her stricken face, gripped in a trance of horror. He nudged her shoulder hard enough to wake anyone in normal sleep. She still didn’t open her eyes. Like Zane, her face had gone deathly pale and cold. Victor’s stomach twisted in fear. What had happened? How had the experiment gone so wrong and how had he now lost both of them, one of his best scientists and the woman he secretly loved?

  “Julie, please wake up,” he said, his squeaky voice desperate as he shook her again. “Julie!” Her expression had faded into vacancy and she grew eerily still. She looked dead. When he grasped her clammy hand for a pulse he could barely feel it, irregular and faint.

  Dropping her limp hand, Victor straightened and his gaze darted the room, searching madly for an answer. He thought of ditching secrecy and calling for help, then he had another, more terrifying thought. With a glance at Zane, who’d also gone still, Victor seized in a sharp breath and replaced Julie’s vee-set, then grabbed Zane’s set and, sitting down, pulled it over his head—