Chameleon (The Domino Project Book 1)

by K. T. Hanna

  She waves his words away, already processing some other angle. “Of course. Of course. That’s beside the point. We’ll get them another way—your sort of way.” Her eyes gleam briefly with something close to glee. “It’s probably a good thing.”

  “A good thing.” Bastian shakes his head slowly. “A good thing they killed the one potential protégé I’ve had in the last few years?”

  “Oh no, Bastian.” Deign laughs for the first time since hearing the news. There’s no warmth in the sound at all. “They wasted a precious resource and funds I can’t even begin to calculate without sitting down to do so. The rebuilding of that block in UC 17, the hospitalization fees for her and her victims, her schooling, training... Oh, yes, they’ve squandered one of the potentially largest investments GNW has made in a long time. Her assignments hadn’t even scratched the cost of her existence yet.”

  “Then why is this a good thing?”

  “Because at least you had her to send. Just think what might have happened if they’d killed you.” Deign shakes her head. “No. It’s a harsh financial loss, and one I fully intend to extract from them, but at least it wasn’t you.”

  Bastian nods to acknowledge the backhanded compliment, not sure he can trust himself to speak.

  Deign glances at the clock, and scowls as she realizes it’s shattered along with the rest of her desk. “That is a bother.” She sighs and turns back to Bastian a bright smile on her face. “Be a gem and ask Harlow to commission me a new desk. It’s about time I got one anyway.”

  “Of course.” Bastian forces the words out and gladly takes his leave, Dom following in his wake.

  “That went well,” Dom says dryly when they’re out of earshot.

  Bastian raises an eyebrow. “Depends on your definition of well.”

  “The footage was convincing.” Dom shrugs. “There’s really nothing else to it.”

  “She even showed us her sunny side.”

  Dom grins. “Do you want me to head down to Harlow and catch up later?”

  “I’d better do that myself. Tag along? I’d prefer to have you with me when I ‘inspect’ the testing facility.” The mere thought of it gives Bastian a bad taste in his mouth. “You have a calming effect on me. Maybe I won’t kill all the doctors on the spot.”

  “I’ll make sure of it.”

  Harlow’s offices are on the ground floor, a huge see-through box in the middle of the cavernous concrete hall. Its walls are made from conductive glass, just like Deign’s former desk. Anything from any camera in any part of the entire region can be viewed on all of the glass surfaces. Expensive, but worth it.

  “What do you want, Bastian?” She pushes back thick strands of brown hair and adjusts her gaze to look at him, a flicker of color grazing her eyes as the implants switch into standby. “I’m a little busy today.”

  “You always are, Harlow. Deign needs a new desk.”

  The security chief stops short, her finger comically elongating a docking bay feed. “She what?”

  “She may or may not have accidentally flung a reader through it?”

  Harlow lets out a soft groan. “She’ll be the death of us all one day. This equipment isn’t as cheap as it once was. We keep losing our damn bioengineers. It’ll take a while.”

  “You tell her. I’m not a messenger.” As Harlow opens her mouth to protest, Bastian continues. “Unless you want to visit the testing facility in my place?”

  Harlow grimaces. “I’ll let her know.”

  “Great.” Bastian smiles at her. She’s one of the only members of the board he actually likes. “See you at the next meeting.”

  She smiles absently and waves him away, her attention already shifted to another task.

  It’s easier to face the trip down to the basement with company. “I didn’t think you’d make it back in time, and I’ve been putting this off longer than I should,” Bastian says quietly as the lift takes them down past the normal levels of operation.

  “It was a relatively simple operation. There was no need for me to stay afterward.” Dom’s eyes follow the ticking of the floors as they delve deeper. “You’d think humans could teleport by now.”

  He says it so softly, Bastian barely hears it. “What?”

  “Centuries ago, lifts were like this. Not exactly, but similar in style and structure. They’ve barely been refined at all.”

  Bastian shrugs. “Sometimes there’s only so much you can do.”

  “Sai hates small spaces.”

  Bastian steps through the doors into a dimly lit corridor. “I know,” he murmurs as he gets his bearings. The lights to the left flicker as they valiantly try to illuminate the path to the equally unstable exit sign. It’s the lights on the right that give off a constant, dull glow. A nurses’ station is situated halfway down the corridor, and the lighting gives the crisp white uniforms a yellow tinge.

  Two women stand at the desk, chatting with each other, oblivious to the men approaching them. Bastian clears his throat to get their attention. One of them drops the clipboard she’s holding with a gasp, and hurriedly retrieves it from the ground.

  “Excuse me,” he says softly.

  The women watch each other, eyes darting back and forth between Bastian and Dom. The blonde standing on the outside of the counter straightens her back and smiles tentatively. “Did you have an appointment, sir?”

  “How remiss of me.” Bastian doesn’t smile back. “I’m Bastian. Here for inspection.”

  The blonde visibly gulps, but squares her jaw. “I’m Marlena. This is Farah. We weren’t informed you’d be here today. I apologize.”

  “That’s perfectly fine.” Bastian softens his tone just enough to make the girl relax and recalls where he’s seen her. “I decided a surprise visit might be in order for my first one.”

  Marlena’s gaze drifts again to Dom and her lips move, but she purses them and nods instead.

  “This is Domino 12.” It’s fun to watch the reaction people give when they realize Dom is a domino. Their faces usually cycle through a myriad of emotions before settling on mild fear. Marlena is different.

  She nods again and smiles the same tentative smile, directly at Dom. “It’s an honor to have the prototype visit us. I’ve never seen you before, but we have many dominos who serve on guard duty down here.”

  “Of course,” Bastian murmurs. “I’d like to undertake that inspection now.”

  “I’ll be your guide.” She smiles brilliantly. “Please follow me.”

  Bastian wonders what on earth possessed the girl to get a job secreted away in the bowels of GNW. Then again, it’s not necessarily a person’s choice that gets them anything these days.

  They pass a few rooms, each one with a closed door and dust on the handles. Marlena pauses and takes the first corridor to the left. There are no doors in this area, just open arches with multiple rows of beds in the twilight beyond.

  Marlena stops to the side of one of the openings. “I’ll wait here for you, sir, if you’d like to take a look around.”

  Bastian nods, not letting on how relieved he is that she won’t be following them around closely. There are things they need to accomplish without a guide. Dom follows him as they enter the first room on the left.

  It reminds Bastian of a morgue, with bodies lying on flat metal beds, covered by cloth. Death and Shine linger in the air, its potency having long since stripped the bodies of their former strength. Like an alcoholic too wasted to think for themselves, unable to kick the disease, all that’s left are husks of the humans they once were. As soon as the dregs of their psionics are drained, these occupants will be left with the stench of rotting flesh and feces to torture them until they die.

  Soft illumination is embedded into the walls, and the room isn’t lit so much as glows. The low noises Bastian originally thought to be the hum of machinery prove to be the groans and whimpers of the room’s residents. He frowns and nods at Dom, who exits the room again. They need plans of this area. With no blueprints availa
ble in print or digital form, Dom’s memory is the next best thing.

  Bastian walks farther in. Every bed is filled. Though it’s difficult to tell from the doorway, the patients are bound, secured by their wrists, ankles, and midsections so they can barely move. In some cases the manacles have bitten into their skin and left reddish-brown smears stark against the white sheets. Tracking bracelets hang limply against flesh that tries valiantly to constrain it to the too-thin wrists.

  He stops several beds into the ward and takes in every nuance of the confinement. Patient 12089, as notated on his chart, has an unmoving metal band securing his head. GNW has always had a penchant for numbers.

  Bastian clenches and opens his fists numerous times to stay the anger boiling inside. The misery in 12089’s eyes synchronizes with his surroundings. Like so many times before in his life, Bastian reaches in with his mind and grips the man’s heart, holding his gaze. Patient 12089 smiles, and the relief reaches his eyes as Bastian wrenches the valves from the heart and brings the man peace.

  Their thoughts clamor at his mind, feeble and desperate, and Bastian squeezes his eyes shut to reinforce his shields. He can’t put all of them out of their misery. It’ll arouse suspicion and leave him drained.

  A hand rests against his back, its weight familiar and welcome.

  “This is inhuman.” Dom’s tone is soft, only loud enough to reach Bastian’s ears.

  Bastian nods, unable to trust his voice from shaking like the rest of his body. He waits for a moment, and steadies himself before speaking. “Are the rest of the rooms off the other side of the corridor the same?”

  Dom nods. “Some aren’t completely full.”

  “Small mercies.” Even to his own ears, Bastian’s voice sounds bitter. “You’d think they could leave them with some dignity and put them out of their misery instead of draining every last drop.”

  Dom is quiet for a couple of steps. “If you’re not careful when you dose, you could disarm yourself completely. You’d think great things about them if you weren’t able to access your own defenses.”

  Bastian bites back all the heated comments that come to mind. “I’m not stupid enough to overstep my own limits. I do what’s needed.”

  Marlena stands where they left her, twisting her hair around her fingers in a way that echoes Sai. She smiles brightly as they approach. “Do you have any questions, sir?”

  “Do you like working here, Marlena?”

  Marlena stops and stares at Bastian, her hair and fingers stationary. “Not all of us get to choose our careers, sir. This is a job, and now my father has passed, I get more than a token of what I earn. I’m sure there are worse things I could do to earn a living.” She looks down at her feet, and her face flushes, visible even in this poor lighting. “I’m sorry to be so bold, sir.”

  “Please, be bold.” Bastian takes a step closer, making sure to keep the anger out of his voice.

  “I won’t lose my job?” she asks, her blue eyes brim with tears.

  “Never.”

  “They scream. Sometimes I hear them when I’m asleep at home.” She laughs nervously. “I know it’s supposed to be voluntary committal, but I didn’t sign on to learn the ropes of a mental institution. My father volunteered me into medical service to pay off his debts. I’ve been here since I was fourteen. Six years now.” She takes a deep breath. “It could be worse. I know. I could have to clean the retirement rooms...”

  “Retirement rooms?” Bastian asks.

  “The ones in this corridor. Where they put those who’re ready to die.” Her skin pales, and a tear creeps down her cheek. “We don’t talk about it. We all value our jobs, sir. We need them. But sometimes I wonder if some of these people are voluntary in the way I was when I was fourteen.”

  “Maybe some of them are, Marlena.” He looks at her a moment. “How does that make you feel?”

  “Sad.” She pauses and speaks even softer. “Even luckier, that I wasn’t born like them. I could have drawn that straw.”

  “Like them?”

  “Cursed with the gene...” Her voice trails off.

  Bastian probes her mind gently for a moment and smiles sadly. “You are fortunate.” He doesn’t tell her how lucky she is. Her psionic abilities, while minuscule, are definitely there, but not strong enough for Zach to latch onto. “Can we proceed with the rest of the tour?”

  “Sure!” She brightens up again and wipes her hand over her cheek. “Follow me,” she says as they head back to the main corridor.

  He’s fairly certain her tone is less exuberant than before.

  Marlena leads them back into the main walkway and down again halfway, toward the other exit. She stops just inside the next corridor and motions with her hand toward several doors which start about halfway down the hall. “I don’t have rounds in the actual testing facility today. If it’s okay, I’ll stay here.”

  “Thank you.” Bastian smiles briefly at her to put her at ease. “We’ll be back shortly.”

  As they venture farther in, a domino guards each door. A pulsating array of color ripples across their human forms, dizzying in effect. “Your brethren.” Bastian smiles as he speaks.

  Dom glances at him, his lips curling into a half-scowl before he schools his face.

  Bastian nods at the guards—who barely acknowledge him, but salute Dom—and steps into the first room. He takes a deep breath and wishes he hadn’t. Shine fumes permeate the area. It’s larger than he thought, more of a waiting section, which branches off to four other decently-sized rooms.

  He reaches over and grabs a mask off the ledge by the door. The last thing he needs in here is to be hazy about what he remembers. With any Shine in his system, access to his psionics is tapered, but if the dose is high enough, it’s non-existent.

  Each room appears to have one occupant strapped to a metal slab in much the same way as those in the retirement section, but with two exceptions. Their slabs rotate and tilt, allowing excellent access to the patient. There’s still some fight left in these people. Still something left to drain.

  The glass panes in the walls and doors make viewing easy and give better access to the area Bastian and Dom find themselves in. It’s an observation room. Bastian pushes his anger aside and cracks his neck to release the tension.

  At least this area doesn’t smell of death and decay. It reeks of Shine and disinfectant instead.

  And then the scream hits him, rebounds off his shields, and echoes through his head. Bastian stumbles back a step, only to be steadied by Dom.

  “You okay?” Dom asks, his brows furrowed.

  “No, I... Shh.” Bastian closes his eyes to track the echo and opens them again to rest on the far left room. The man inside is hooked to a huge machine, and the mental scream is so loud Bastian wonders how it doesn’t bother anyone else. But the occupants of the other rooms appear to be in their own dire straits.

  The attendants, unlike Marlena, seem to have no psionic talent whatsoever.

  “It was loud, Bastian, but surely you expected it in here?” Dom asks quietly.

  “I should have, but I didn’t.” Bastian shakes his head and strengthens his shields again.

  “I’ll be back shortly. Will you be okay?”

  “Go, Dom. I’m fine.” Bastian waves his friend away, shields clamped tightly around his body. But for a twist of fate, it could be him in one of those rooms. Or Sai. Or Mason. Or Aishke. So many people escaped. Far too many haven’t.

  He takes a deep breath as he crosses the corridor to enter yet another viewing room. The other areas hold the same arrangement. There are older patients, younger patients, and even a child.

  The boy sits, strapped to a chair, his eyes wide open, tears falling down his face as the three people in the room take blood samples while injecting different substances into him. From the scarring on the child’s arms, some of those injections have burned his veins.

  He must be a new arrival. There is no draining pipe hooked up to him yet. The brief glimpse Bastian takes o
f his mind shows nothing there but pain. Coherent thought and cognitive processes are no longer an option. The child is ruined.

  Some are stronger than others.

  Between the rest of the viewing rooms and their exhibits, Bastian fights the urge to be sick. His stomach clenches and he retches a few times, glad he decided not to eat before the visit.

  Dom joins him in the last one. “Took longer than expected. The others rarely see me.” He adds.

  Bastian nods, exhausted from clamping down on his shields. “Let’s go. I’ve seen what I needed to.”

  Dom glances at him for a moment. “Why did you let her talk you into this?”

  Bastian walks back the way they came. “Deign doesn’t exactly take no for an answer.”

  Marlena is still waiting for them, but her face doesn’t break into a smile this time. Instead, she seems relieved.

  “You don’t like this area?” Dom asks, and Bastian is grateful for the reprieve.

  “I don’t like the pain in there. It’s so obvious it’s tangible. Each nurse only pulls one shift a week in the lab. I had mine two days ago.” She smiles tightly. “Was there anything else you’d like to see, sir?”

  Bastian shakes his head, but reaches out and grabs her arm after she takes a few steps. Marlena flinches involuntarily, her eyes fearful as she looks up at him. He releases her.

  “It’s okay. I wanted to reassure you nothing you told me will be repeated. I sincerely wanted to know about the working conditions here, and I’d like to thank you.”

  Her answering smile is genuine. “Thank you, sir. The stories about you don’t do you justice.”

  Bastian laughs. “Perhaps, but some of them serve a purpose.” He winks at her briefly. “I’ll put in a good word for you,” he adds as they begin walking again.

  “Oh?”

  “Maybe we can get you a bit of a raise.”

  “Sir, that would be wonderful.” Her smile has almost returned to the wattage it was at the beginning.

  They arrive at the nurses’ station, and she rests against the counter.

  “Thank you, Marlena. We will see you soon.” Bastian turns on his heel and heads to the elevator with, Dom close behind. He waits until they’re out of earshot, and whispers, “A raise is the least we can do. When the time comes, we’re getting her out of here.”