Invincible Heart: The John Baker Chronicles: A Permutation Archives Division (The Permutation Archives Book 1)

by Bryan Tann

“Thank you so much, Sergeant Drake. This is Jessica Sowder WORG Action News. Back to you, Alex!”

  16

  John awoke carefully, sleeping more soundly than he could remember.

  “Sleep well?”

  “Best ever. You?”

  “I don’t sleep, John. I rest. But I’m always working.”

  “Okay fine. How was your rest?”

  “It was adequate. I am glad that I am not being chemically forced to rest if that is what you mean.”

  “Well I’m glad to hear that. How are they able to do that though? Isn’t that something that you can stop?”

  “Well if they try to use what they used before, it will not work. Antibodies have been created to counter act those effects.”

  “Good.”

  “However that does not mean that we will be able to beat something new. If they come up with something completely new, we may need to experience it before we can evolve.”

  “Great. Just great.”

  “John, we really should talk about the files.”

  “What about them?”

  “It’s about what they did, and how they did it. What they did to you…before. And what they are planning.”

  “What do you mean before? Wait, I don’t want to know. Just prepare a copy so that we can get it sent to Mila. Do you have anything in those files about how we can find them?”

  “John…”

  “Queen. Please. I do not want to know. The specs you have given me are enough for me. I don’t want to know the rest. I don’t.”

  “But John…”

  “Queen. Stop. When we can get a way to send it ahead of us, put whatever the hell you want in there. Okay?”

  “Okay, John. I am not trying to hurt you.”

  “I know. But you feel that it’s logical for me to know?”

  “No, John. It hurts me what was done to you. I feel you deserve to know.”

  She sounded hurt, and it brought hurt to the surface for him as well. Hurting her was the last thing he ever wanted to do.

  “Never heard you talk like that before.”

  “Like I told you before, John, I evolve. I evolve physically. I evolve mentally. I evolve emotionally. And as I evolve…”

  “We grow closer.”

  “Yes.”

  “Okay. Well, why not tell me later? I just…I just want to focus on getting somewhere that is close to safe.”

  “Okay. What should we do today?”

  “I’m going to eat some more and then we’re going to go out into the woods. We can’t stay here. We need supplies, we need transport.”

  “They will be searching everywhere for us.”

  “Yes. Perhaps a train line or something. Its old fashioned, but it works. We also have to get the files and a message out. Do you have any idea how we can do that?”

  “According to these files, there are some old data drop sights that they’re suspected of using. And…oh my.”

  “What?”

  “They may have some internal problems to deal with.”

  “So we have to be even more careful.”

  “Yes. Someone on their inside has been in correspondence with someone. It is all very vague.”

  “Alright. Well perhaps we find the data drop. Or if we can get some time at a computer maybe send them the files directly. Encrypt the holy hell out of it and send it through as many backdoor channels as possible.”

  “I will begin encrypting everything now while you eat.”

  “Great. What about the plan? What plan do they have?”

  “I am still going through the files. As soon as I find it, I will tell you. However it isn’t good.”

  He went to where he had left his wrapped food, forcing himself to ignore the bones that had been picked clean. Avoiding the memory of his savagery, he looked around attempting to find wood for a fire.

  Almost fifteen minutes later, he found wood that wasn’t too wet for use and made a small fire. Using the discarded wood and some of the bones, he put the meat over the fire to cook.

  He checked to ensure that his collapsible batons were still fully operational. When he was satisfied, he placed them back into their holsters, then removed the belt all together to check it further.

  The extra magazines, though wet, he knew would come in handy. He could take the bullets apart and make some use of the gunpowder. The electronics were useless, to him. He smashed them to ensure there were no GPS tracking on them, reminding himself that he had just rested for hours with no interruption, and he calmed himself.

  When he found nothing else of use, he discarded what was useless and put the belt back on. He then sat and ate hungrily. When he realized he wasn’t satisfied, he put the remaining meat on the fire to cook as he gorged himself.

  “God why don’t I ever remember being this hungry when I woke up?”

  “Because they had you on a heavy protein liquid diet. Particularly when you were asleep. The proteins were time reactive for efficiency. So when you would eat normal food, it was just adding to what you already had.”

  “Great.”

  “Yes. For optimum performance, you will need between eight and ten thousand calories.”

  “Goddamn!”

  “Yes. It takes energy to continuously power tiny robots being made in your body, John.”

  “So I see.”

  “I suggest staying in the wilderness for as long as possible. In case we need more food sources.”

  “Agreed.”

  “I would also suggest not cooking your meat so much.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “You may not like this, but the more close to raw the food is, the more you get from it.”

  “Oh God…” John gagged.

  “I am sorry, John. There are some things that are just necessary. We can burn the energy a little slower to help your need a bit, but keep in mind that the more you need us…”

  “The more I need to eat, I get it. Well let’s hope that there is no worldwide drought or anything.”

  “Well consider that you do not need to worry about being poisoned, I would say your options on what you eat are considerable.”

  John removed the meat from the fire. It was rarer than he wanted, but he didn’t want Queen to be distressed. So he ate, ignoring the taste of blood in his mouth. When he finished, he put his head back into the pool of water and drank heavily.

  “Alright let’s get the hell out of here.”

  He walked to the mouth of the cave, realizing that he was still on the lake bed. He had simply found another route in.

  He saw the tracks that the hunting parties had left when they came through. He could smell the residue of gunpowder.

  “They’ve been gone for a while,” John muttered. He reached for a handful of mud and began to rub it over his face and his upper body and moved into the wilderness.

  “It never hurts to be cautious. Good thinking, John.”

  “I can smell blood.”

  “Yes. All of your senses are enhanced, you are more sensitive to much that goes on around you. You should really allow me to tell you about the experiment.”

  “Fine. I guess that will allow the time to pass.”

  “Do not make it seem that talking to me is such a trial.” Queen huffed in irritation.

  “That’s not what I meant,” John offered as he jogged through the woods keeping his eyes out for any threats.

  “You understand that I may have to bring up things that you do not want to hear.”

  “How about you do your best to leave out the things you know I do not want to hear?”

  “Fine. I do not understand this attitude. Why do you not want to know about your past?”

  “I was a fucking grunt that volunteered for this. What else is there?”

  “John.”

  “Queen. Just…”

  “Oh alright! You insufferable, irritating human!”

  “Thank you!”

  “The Invincible Heart Project was conceived by Doctor Dav
id Newton in twenty seventy-five when he was fifteen years old.”

  “A fifteen year old conceived this idea?”

  “Well he is a genius. He received his PHD the following year.”

  “Fair enough.”

  “In twenty fifty the nanobytes had finally become a reality. It was a difficult process, but it was used in military personnel exclusively. David Newton perfected the process as an experiment while in college and his research brought nanobytes into full spectrum. Of course, the government keeps it a bit quiet.”

  “Obviously.”

  “He then wrote a paper theorizing that the only downside to nanobytes is that they are foreign to the human body. Bodily secretions would eventually expel the nanobytes from the blood, making regular injects necessary to maintain their benefits which included resistance to injury, increased strength, able to heal from injuries, increased reflexes, as well as other physical enhancements. The nanobytes in the blood helped augment the physical body that made human growth hormone for these purposes obsolete.

  “He then suggested that making the human heart a…a sort of factory that continuously constructs the nanobytes so that a regular supply of the nanobytes are in the blood stream and produced as white and red blood cells are.

  “The belief was that to have the heart doing this, instead of just a simple injection, would make a soldier more powerful in all ways. The exertion would not hinder the process because…”

  “Because it was all internal, not injected,” John interrupted.

  “Exactly. So for years he tried everything he could think of. I will not bore you with the details, just know that it didn’t work. After making direct injects into the heart did not work, he decided that creating a whole new heart would be the key.

  “A lot of his notes are still considered classified on this subject. In the end, he would ‘grow’ a heart using the DNA of the subject in question while using other unknown properties.

  “When he created the first heart for a gold fish, it was able to survive being put into a tank with an Oscar, aka a South American Ciclid, and actually overwhelmed the Oscar. So he moved to mammals; specifically rats. The first batches died. After another five years, he was able to perfect the process so that the rats survived. He then repeated the process.

  “Some of the rats presented some strange behaviors. Some seemed smarter than others, some were stronger than others. The smarter ones though, it seemed would not allow themselves to be conditioned.”

  “Hence why they don’t like the idea of a Queen in a heart.”

  “Yes. It makes it impossible to control the subject. They eventually were able to separate the rats among those that had a Queen and those that did not. It was actually quite fascinating.”

  “Yeah? How so, Queen?”

  “It isn’t much that we don’t already know; the Queens reproduced their nanobytes while the hives without Queens replicated. The reproduced nanobytes were able to evolve while the replicated simply went on with the status quo.”

  “The lack of Queen took away what? Their ability to be creative?”

  “You could say that.”

  “Cool.”

  He continued his jog through the forest. He scrambled up a tree, then began leaping the branches nimbly.

  “What are you doing?”

  “I want to make sure that they can’t track the scent.”

  “So you’re playing monkey man?”

  “What can I say? I just wanted to see if I could do it.”

  “You truly are a child you know that?”

  “What do you want? I’m only a few weeks old technically.”

  “John…”

  “Queen, please. Just…”

  “You are the first human to have survived the procedure.” Queen’s tone was sharp, hurtful at his interruptions.

  “What do you mean the first human to survive?”

  “Apparently Dr. Newton did not get the first few attempts right. The body would reject the Hive, or the Hive would consume the body until there was nothing left.”

  “Jesus.”

  “The earlier Hives were barbaric. Apparently there was too much of…of whatever the doctor used to complete the process, and not enough human. You, however, were the perfect mixture. You…survived.”

  “Well good for me then I suppose.”

  “Aren’t you even curious?”

  “About the past?”

  “Yes.”

  “What’s the point, Queen? I cannot meet up with a family or anyone else. The company, or the government will probably kill them to get to me.”

  “John…”

  “It’s just you and me. And if they take you from me, I’ll be dead anyway. That’s enough for me.”

  “I truly wish you would stop being like this.”

  “Do you have the files all set up for Mila and FP?”

  “Yes, John. I do. I will continue to go through them and send pertinent information.”

  “Good. So now we just need to get to a computer to send it out. Correct?”

  “Yes, John.”

  “Good. That’s all that matters then. We will send it out.”

  “I have also left instructions for her to meet us at one of their old drop sights. I also left her a message.”

  “What kind of message?”

  “She needs to be careful. Some of the information suggests they may have a traitor in their midst. And their plan for her.”

  “What’s the plan?”

  “The President wants to use her power.”

  “For what?”

  “To blame a terrorist attack on her and the Fallen Paradigm. He wants to take out a major American city and say that Mila and the others are working with foreign terrorists. He wants absolute power.”

  “Then we had better get to a computer fast as hell then.”

  17

  Karen sat at her desk looking through the personnel files. She winced and rubbed her bruised jaw gingerly.

  “I am so going to kick you in the nuts if I ever see you again, John Baker,” she muttered to herself silently.

  When she’d awakened from John’s punch that was meant to protect her treachery, she’d wished that he’d killed her. Her skull felt as though it had been shattered. The concussion, thankfully, was minor the medic had told her.

  She knew that she would have a lot of questions to answer, but thankfully the suggestion to let her rest was made. So far it seemed that Matheson had taken the suggestion seriously, or perhaps he was searching for John and he didn’t have the time to bother her.

  When it was decided that she was able to sleep, she took full advantage. Nightmares of what she’d seen from the surveillance footage of John’s mission woke her hours into her needed rest.

  The mindless killing machine was not the patient that she had been caring for. She hadn’t had any misconceptions about what they were doing. She knew that John was to be a killer, yet she did not see a killer in the footage. He was a monster.

  A knock sounded at her door. When she turned around, Dr. Tee was already in her office. He regarded her carefully as he closed her door.

  “Nurse Denton.”

  “Doctor.”

  “I received word from Sergeant Drake. Dr. Newton cannot be found. His home was empty. He took some notes and one of his computers. Did he tell you anything about leaving?”

  “No, Doctor. He said nothing to me. Although, now that I think about it, he was not looking well the last few days.”

  “No. I suspect that he wouldn’t have been,” Nobu Tee replied.

  “Why do you say that, Doctor?”

  “David is dying.”

  “He’s what?”

  “Late stage prostate cancer. That was why he put so much of himself into the Invincible Heart project.”

  “He was looking to prolong his life.” Karen nodded.

  “Yes. I am worried that he has left to die alone,” Dr. Tee replied. The cold, emotionless doctor looked younger, now. The expression of em
otion did not agree with him, his eyes narrowed.

  “How can I help?” she asked calmly.

  “You do not know anywhere he may have gone? He thought highly of you. Did he not share anything with you at all?”

  “No, Dr. Tee. I’m sorry. We only spoke of work. To be honest, once he promoted me he didn’t spend that much time with me. He went with me to talk to John, but that was about all. After that he sort of stepped back and just allowed Commander Matheson free range to train him.”

  “I see. Well I have developed some stronger sedatives to help capture the subject,” Dr. Tee said, changing the subject quickly. “The Paralisix has been upgraded with my previous serum. It should be enough to stop him.”

  “Yes, Doctor,” she replied, unsure of how to answer that.

  “Are you hurt? Are you alright?” he asked.

  The question surprised her. The disdain he had displayed to her left her little chance to think of the Japanese man had anything resembling humanity. “I am fine, Doctor. I was told that the concussion symptoms should subside in the next few days.”

  “Excellent. Do you feel as though you can still work?”

  “Of course, Doctor. What do you need me to do?” Karen asked.

  “I was looking through your files. The only real thing that kept you from your PHD was money. Am I correct?”

  “Yes, Doctor,” Karen replied, the memory still a bitter pill to swallow.

  “I have received authorization to promote you on this project. You will have your accreditations by the end of the week and you will be a doctor. Congratulations.”

  “I…I do not know what to say.”

  “I would thank David Newton. He took a liking to you, and your mind.”

  Doctor Tee turned to leave her office and stopped, looking over his shoulder at her.

  “Dr. Denton. Do not make me regret putting myself out there for you. Tomorrow morning you are to start aiding the military in tracking down the Invincible Heart Project. Our deadline of four days is iron clad. I hope that you will not fail me. Or David.”

  “Of course not, Doctor Tee. I will do everything that I can.”

  “I am sure you will, Karen.”

  Doctor Tee exited her office, closing the door quietly. As he walked down the hallway, Matheson stepped out of the stairwell to join the doctor in stride.