by Bryan Fields
I stayed quiet on the conference call, listening to the other team members and trying to decide if any of them sounded like good suspects. It didn’t do any good—I wound up suspecting them all. Deduction is impossible without evidence to work from. As the meeting wrapped up, the seeds of a plan took root. When Harry, my boss, asked if there were any other issues to discuss, I said, “There’s a matter I’ve been thinking about, but I’d feel better discussing it offline. Can you give me ten minutes after we wrap up?”
“Sure. I’ll call you back after I get some more coffee.” Harry closed out the meeting, ringing me back five minutes later. “What’s up?”
“I was thinking about the advisability of running a proactive data integrity audit,” I said. “Especially the change logs. There are a lot of jobs riding on these trials succeeding. I want to make sure our portion is squeaky-clean.”
“Interesting idea,” he said. “What did you have in mind?”
We talked procedures until Harry was satisfied he could bring the proposal to the executive level for consideration. Once we had everything nailed down, he asked, “How do you think Grover is going to react?”
Grover Trenton Page, MD, PhD, and PITA. Project director on the Loseitall trials and living example of how a little ignorance can go a long way in the direction of maximum harm. Somewhere along the line, God had anointed him Pope of the company’s research division, placing him above such petty concerns as budget, personnel, and resource limitations. All he cared about was getting the results he wanted. And he got them, by hook or by crook. The one thing we had in common was an ironclad insistence on data integrity.
“See if you can convince him it was his idea in the first place,” I said. “Just don’t tell him that his change logs are being examined too and he’ll be all over it.”
“I’ll sell it to him,” Harry said. “However, you don’t do anything until we get the official go-ahead. Are we clear?”
“Crystal,” I said. I hung up the phone and started copying the entire database to my private server in our basement. While that was running, I went downstairs for more coffee.
Rose was sitting at the kitchen table with her rainbow-haired mother, Arwydd, and two nearly identical teenage girls, both sporting sky-blue hair and wearing borrowed bathrobes. I waved and said, “Morning, ladies.”
Rose smiled. “Morning. These are my nieces, Lara and Zayda. They just got their tattoos done, so it’s their first day in Human form. We were going to go out and do some clothes shopping for their class.”
I sat down and set a second coffee on the table for the cat. “Your class? Living on Earth 101?”
“Masquerading as Human.” Arwydd scratched Thirteen behind the ears. “I’ve got seven younglings to set up this time around. That’s twice what I usually have, so I came to my daughter for help.”
Thirteen pulled the catnip stem out of his mouth and tried the coffee. He gave me a happy-sounding “Blerrt” noise and went in for more.
“Well, that makes sense,” I said. “I guess the clothes people wear back home would tend to stick out a bit here. Where were you going to go?”
“The secondhand store in Broomfield,” Rose answered. “I also wanted to take them to Critical Hits and let them meet some local males. They need to practice social interactions.”
The nieces grinned. “And practice kissing.” “Especially the kissing.” “Is a gaming store a place for kissing?” “If it isn’t, we should go someplace that is.”
I wasn’t sure which one was talking—their sentences seemed to blur together and spill out all over the place, like two waterfalls coming off the same cliff face. I smiled and said, “Just make sure the people you try to kiss are single. Nothing ruins kissing like an attack of the drama llamas.”
“Are drama llamas edible?” “What kind of attacks do they use?” “Red wine or white?”
I started laughing and topped off my coffee. “Sounds like you’re going to have a good time. I have to get back to work, so I’ll leave you to it.” I waved at the nieces and added, “Ladies, welcome to Earth.” I left the kitchen to a flurry of farewells and headed back to my office.
The database had finished downloading. I kicked off a full backup to an external drive and took the server off my network. Thirteen found a sunny spot on the windowsill and commenced his meditations. I brought up my ticket queue and started putting out the first fire of the day.
Once the most critical items were dealt with, my curiosity got the best of me and I started searching for reports of violent assaults and cannibalism in the news. Two hours later, I’d found eight instances, all occurring since the Loseitall trial had begun, and all in cities where the trial was being held.
None of the news accounts mentioned Loseitall, but one of the articles mentioned that the accused had recently gotten a promotion at work, gotten back together with his girlfriend, and lost a great deal of weight. By all accounts, a happy, well-adjusted fellow, right up until he dismembered his roommate and ate his heart.
I did a search for all eight names in the trial database. I expected at least a few to come up, but all eight came back. That was bad enough, but all eight were coded as being in the control group. I ran another query through the change logs and came up empty-handed. Getting deeper into the data would take more time than I had right now. Still, what I’d found already stank to high heaven.
I’d have to keep all this quiet until Harry got the executive team to sign off on the audit. Grover might have some high-level backing, given the amount of money Loseitall would be worth once it went into production. It wouldn’t be the first time data was falsified or hidden to get a new drug on the market.
I went downstairs to get more coffee. While it was brewing, I snagged a few of Audrey’s gazelle horns and tried to stretch out my back muscles. Off to the west, a mountain wave cloud was building up, bringing gusting winds and the smell of imminent snow. I took another bite of gazelle horn.
Fear. Rage. I dropped the cookie, clutching my head. Rose was fighting something. Not hurt. Angry. Protective. Something was attacking her mother.
My sword appeared in my hand. I raised it up, staring at the blade. Focused on Rose. I gritted my teeth and whispered, “Take me to her.” The sword obeyed.
A guy in a plaid shirt had a Rambo-sized Bowie knife at Rose’s throat. He swore and took a swing at me. I dodged the knife and carved a path through and across his chest. He stumbled back, blood soaking the carpet, but didn’t drop.
He flipped the knife to a reversed grip and charged, trying to get close and grapple with me. My mind blanked and everything got silent. All I could see was the knife blade as it came up to level with my eyes. I kept thinking I should do something. Anything. His free hand touched my shirt. The knife started to come down…
I felt an impact in my hand. I still couldn’t move my eyes off the knife. Just beyond it, though, I could see my sword slide into the guy’s throat. It sliced through tissue and bone, emerging from the base of his skull. Muscle memory kept firing, pulling the sword free and casting blood from the blade. With his spinal cord severed, the guy collapsed to the ground, eyes wide and mouth still moving.
Time snapped back to its normal speed and I could hear again. I looked around, sword at the ready.
Arwydd was at the front of the store. A woman was on top of her, holding an Indian katar. One hand clawed at Arwydd’s eyes, the other stabbed again and again at her throat. The woman looked up at me and screamed, waving her knife. Rose pounced, grabbing the woman’s hand and driving the katar up through the bottom of the woman’s jaw. More blood surged. The woman sagged, falling forward. Rose tossed the corpse across the store and helped Arwydd up.
Everyone else in the shop was down on the floor. Screaming. Crying. Begging for mercy. Lara and Zayda emerged from behind a rack of lead figures. Arwydd hooked arms with them, heading for the door.
Rose gestured toward the others in the room. “Forget about us,” she said. She pointed to the shop owne
r, adding, “You saved everyone. Erase any security tapes and call the police.” She headed for the door. I followed, sword in hand.
We piled out the door and into the Land Rover. I pulled out of the parking lot and headed north. I took a few turns and side roads, winding around until I could get back on 120th and pull into a self-serve car wash. I parked in one of the bays and killed the engine. “Everyone all right?”
“Yes,” Rose said. “Mother, can you clean us up?”
Arwydd nodded, and bloodstains vanished from cloth, steel, and flesh. I sighed, leaning against the headrest. Not looking like the inside of an abattoir was a good thing.
I looked around and asked, “What happened back there?”
Rose said, “This woman wanted a blouse I’d picked out. She started arguing, trying to take it from me. I let her have it and we left. They followed us to the gaming shop and attacked. We didn’t have a chance to armor up. They were howling, screaming, waving knives around. Then the guy started licking my neck and growling. He moved his knife enough for me to armor up before he started trying to carve chunks out of me. That was when you appeared.”
Lara and Zayda both leaned forward. “How did you do that, anyway?” “That was impressive.” “It really was.” “Really, really.” “But Humans here can’t use magic.” Then, both together, “How did you do that?”
I shrugged. “I just told the sword to take me to Rose. It teleports to me, so I figured it could teleport me to Rose.”
“That sword is very powerful,” Arwydd said. “Do you know its name?”
I shook my head. “Not yet. I don’t know anything about naming swords.”
“You don’t need to,” Arwydd said. “The sword knows its own name. You just have to ask and listen for the response. Why don’t you let Rose drive while you talk to the blade?”
Let the Dragon win. I switched seats with Rose. While I walked around the car, I unslung the scabbard from my back and sheathed the blade. On the way home, I tried to meditate and listen for inspiration. When a name finally came to mind, I burst out laughing.
“What amuses you?” Arwydd asked.
“The only thing that came to mind was the word kindness. As in, killing them with.”
Arwydd didn’t laugh. “Speak the name in Dwarven.”
I opened my mouth, but nothing came out. I tried again, focusing on the sword’s hilt in my hand and the feel of using it. This time, I found the words. “Kháræl dûr.”
Arwydd nodded. “You would translate it as mercy stroke. Releasing another from suffering. Dwarves refer to such a blow as granting the kindness. Your blade is well named.”
I nodded and leaned back in my seat. Looking out the window at the familiar landmarks of Broomfield and Northglenn, I realized I hadn’t given the guy I killed a moment’s thought or regret. In fact, I felt good about it. He’d attacked me. I’d acted to protect myself and Rose.
I might not be feeling regret, but I was feeling a growing curiosity. What set these two off? What kind of blouse drives a presumably normal, stable couple into a killing rage? What inspired Rose’s attacker to attempt to carve slices out of her back?
Were the two of them on the Loseitall trial?
If they were…what the Hell have we unleashed?
Chapter Five
Talking With the Dead Man
Marcy Lancaster and Darrell Harris were all over the news for three days. I got to know more than I wanted about their families, hobbies, and the lives they left behind. The media never mentioned Loseitall and the toxicology screen didn’t test for it, but their names were in the trial database.
The guys at Critical Hits followed Rose’s orders and rallied around the store owner, proclaiming him the hero of the day. Video from the secondhand store showed Marcy and Darrell getting hostile and abusive with several of the customers and the staff, supporting the gamers’ claim of self-defense. Coming on the heels of the cannibal attack the week before, the news media embraced their story.
During one interview, the store owner pointed out five similar attacks, one of which I hadn’t known about. He was the first to bring up the idea of a zombie epidemic. Well, the first one who wasn’t a professional conspiracy theorist. I looked up the new attack he mentioned and found another name from the trail database. This one had been under the influence of bath salts at the time of the attack, but I couldn’t rule out the Loseitall.
Upper management rejected my audit suggestion and prohibited any examination of the database without direct consent of the VP of product development. The database was locked down by the information security team and keyloggers were installed on everyone’s computers, including mine. My entire team was angry and confused, but I was getting scared. Management knew about the attacks, and was actively covering them up. What I couldn’t figure out was why.
Loseitall had billions of dollars in potential market value, but would it be enough to offset the fines and class-action suits? People got freaked out over little side effects like anal leakage—psychotic episodes and cannibalism would bring out the lynch mobs.
The right thing to do would be to take the data I had straight to the FDA and the NIH and request whistleblower immunity. The right thing could also cost hundreds of innocent people their jobs. It would certainly cost me mine. That part I didn’t really have a problem with.
The more I thought about it, the easier the answer became. If I let Grover know I was going to go public, I could give him a chance to do so too. He was in this a lot deeper than I was—for him, there was nowhere to hide. His only chance to avoid total disgrace and jail time would be total cooperation.
Rose snickered at the idea. “It would never work with a Dragon. You give me time to repent the error of my ways and I’m going to use it to silence you. If I can’t do that, I’ll kill you before you can turn me in. I don’t see why this Grover fellow would be any different.”
“For one thing, he’s Human,” I said. “He might be as arrogant as a Dragon, but he’s just as mortal and limited as I am. It’s not like he can send death squads after us, or launch flying monkeys out of his ass.”
Rose laughed. “Flying ass monkeys? I’d pay good hoard to see that.” She snuggled close and her face turned serious. “Do what your heart says is right. I can take care of the money. I want you to be happy in mind, body, and spirit, so take your time and find the right job.”
I sighed. “It could take some time, but, given my mom’s condition, not having to work could be a blessing right now. Spending more time with her …I’d really like that.”
Rose smiled. “Then we are decided.”
Of course, it wasn’t that simple. It took several days to get my evidence in order and prepare for my pending unemployment. Rose took a handful of uncut diamonds to her favorite gem dealer and came back with a check big enough for most people to retire on. She waved it at me and said, “Lawyer up.”
That process added another week to my preparations. In that time, Harry and three of my co-workers gave their notice. Each of them had a different reason, but they were still just the first rats off the ship. The response was immediate—all of them were cut loose the same day. We got together for an unofficial farewell lunch and made a pact to share any promising job leads.
I almost changed my mind about giving Grover a chance. My lawyer certainly argued against it. Hitting him by surprise was the smart thing to do. It was the logical thing to do. It’s what an Evil Overlord would do. Maybe that was why I couldn’t bring myself to do it.
I called Grover at home on Sunday night and told him I knew about the attacks, deaths, and cannibalism associated with the Loseitall trials. I told him I had the proof to back up my claims, and that I was going public. I told him he had until nine in the morning on Monday to turn himself in.
When I finished, Grover was silent for a moment. I’m not sure what I expected him to say, but it wasn’t, “I will heal your mother’s cancer.”
For a long moment, I couldn’t think or speak. I stared a
t the phone and managed, “What?”
“I said, I will heal your mother.” His voice was calm, half-distracted, as though he were filing his nails at the same time. “She’ll get to live for decades instead of weeks. And, I’m sorry to say, weeks are all she has. A month at the outside. So, this is my offer—I swear by those things my people swear binding oaths by, I will make her whole and hold your family harmless for one hundred years, if you but stay silent about the trials. Do we have an accord?”
My knuckles went white and the handset made a creaking noise. “That’s a bad subject to be making jokes about, asshole.”
“Oh, I agree completely, but it’s no joke.” He lowered his voice, speaking with slow, measured precision. “Your mother’s life and health, in exchange for your silence. Of course, that can also work the other way, but your mother has so little time left there’s no point in threatening to kill her. So, let’s just keep this a mutually beneficial arrangement. I’ll even make you wealthy beyond your dreams while we’re at it. Why don’t you think on it and call me back?” He hung up without waiting for a response.
I put the handset down and looked at Rose. “He offered to heal my mother.”
Rose pursed her lips. “Not good. Is there any way he could reasonably know about her?”
“No. I’ve never discussed her condition with him or anyone else I work with. It’s just…none of their business.” I stood up and started pacing. “Could he actually do it? Heal her, I mean.”
“We should assume he does, and that means a level of power unknown on this world. It also means he can do a lot of other things.” Rose looked around and added, “Right now the thing worrying me most is scrying. I never shielded the house because nobody from this world is capable of looking in on us. Let me take care of that before we do anything else.”
Rose pulled a crystal sphere out of her extra-dimensional storage space and set it on the table. “This will be painful, but permanent. My mother crafted the spell—all we have to do is pay the price. Grasp the globe, and do not let go. It will hurt, but don’t let go.”
