Cheating Time

by T. R. Graves

Dad's triumphant smile had instantly faded. "I won't have foul language in my training room or in front of my daughter. Do you understand me, son?" he'd yelled.

  I still remembered the way Jayden had popped up and dropped his chin to his chest.

  "Yes, sir. I'm sorry, sir," he'd mumbled.

  Jayden adored Dad. The last thing he'd ever wanted was to disappoint the only man who ever cared enough to spend time with him and mentor him. I'd felt as sorry for him in those few minutes as I ever had.

  Dad's anger while speaking with Mac on the night I'd been eavesdropping had been ten times worse than the day he was irritated with Jayden. For me, the difference was I hadn't cared nearly enough about the Coxes to feel sorry for them like I had for Jayden.

  "Calm down, Sam. Let's hear them out. We only know what Barone has told us about the Shadow World. The two of you have been best friends your entire life. We've always trusted him… believed every last word he's said. It's time to take off our rose-colored glasses and listen to what others have to say," Mom had suggested.

  With Mom's permission, Mac and Elle had been off and running. They'd talked about SNP with the love, adoration, and reverence of founders who were extremely passionate about what they did.

  "You have to realize, Sam, these people are willing to become Citizens of Shadow because at least Shadow's leaders don't mandate by law that they put their newborn babies through a high-risk surgery in order to implant the MicroPharm, and they don't make those same parents expose their children to the constant flow of chemicals and hormones administered by the MicroPharm."

  "You know… I-I never meant for the MicroPharm to be mandatory. It was simply supposed to be an option. I wanted parents to be able to make the choice themselves, just like Sam and I did before we had it implanted into Carlie… just like Ron and Christi before they implanted it into Tawney. We knew every potential problem and side effect and felt the benefits were worth it. Just because we made that choice doesn't mean every Aspect citizen should be forced to make the same. I wish Barone hadn't made it a law," Mom had said loud enough for me to hear. As the inventor of MicroPharm, she'd defended the device, but I could tell her argument had been half-hearted at best.

  "That's just the thing. In the Shadow, the only chemicals floating through the babies' and children's bodies are naturally occurring. Treatments are isolated to the sick and immunizations are given to everyone the old-fashioned way. Through shots and nasal sprays. The MicroPharm separatists assume the act of helping the body before it needs help makes it weak and susceptible, exposing MicroPharm children to diseases that have yet to be named," Mac had claimed.

  On the heels of Mac's speech, Elle had said, "Selma, you're powerful. You offer more to the world than a choice that's not ours to make. Help us. The two of you have knowledge about the ins and outs of the Aspect government as well as technicalities associated with the device that might help us prove it's not as safe as Barone has led everyone to believe.

  "The way it stands today, we'll never be anything more than people who coordinate safe passages. We all know that getting these people to safety is nothing more than a Band-Aid because the Shadow World comes with its own problems. Famine and civil war being the worst.

  "It's our obligation to have the law repelled. That can't happen as long as Barone is president. You know that as well as we do. No one should have to live in fear that if they refuse to have this device inserted into their baby's heart, they will lose everything: home, job, freedom, and, if caught… their life."

  As much as I hated to admit it, the Coxes had been right. Mom and Dad were the perfect informants because neither would ever be suspected of being MicroPharm separatist sympathizers given the facts that Mom had invented the device herself and I represented everything they despised.

  I'd also known that Mom and Dad wouldn't have even been considering anything Mac and Elle were suggesting if President Barone hadn't released Mom from her job as the chair of the National Genealogists Committee without giving her the option of stepping down. Barone had said publically that it was for her own good right before he'd suggested she had some mental health issues she needed to sort out.

  In a solid show of support for Mom and against Barone's direct orders, Dad had resigned as Secretary of the Department of Defense. The entire incident had happened so fast that I'd learned about Mom losing her position on the committee and Dad's resignation while flipping through channels on my MicroGlasses, computerized glasses, while riding the lightrail home after school.

  The instant I'd made it home, Mom waved off my questions of concern and announced her and Dad's plans to take us on a family road trip, one that required them to pull Tawney and me from school just so we could join them in touring Aspect Nation.

  The next morning, my parents had lived up to their words. Dad had claimed freedom and victory the entire time he packed our car, and right before we embarked upon a life away from the spotlight of the president and his remaining minions, Mom had shouted—within the confines of our car—wishes of ill will to anyone who'd been part of the professional sabotage against her.

  The first hundred miles, Mom had ranted, raved, and made it known that she'd been angry with everything she'd been forced to endure after the other scientists, ones she'd considered friends and colleagues, had convinced Barone that she was longer fit to hold any place on the committee. She complained that none of them cared that she'd been the one who'd envisioned the committee and that she'd been the one to insist it would be necessary in order to make sure the Aspect Nation's massive genetic database be used ethically… to make sure the information was never accidently accessed, sold, or shared.

  Right after that incident, Mom and Dad had been disgruntled and disillusioned, making them easily swayed. Realizing there was only one person Barone looked out for had been especially difficult on Dad because Barone had been his best friend since kindergarten. It had been hard on Mom because she assumed Barone's loyalty to Dad and our family would have been reciprocated.

  She'd been wrong.

  Without saying it aloud, I'd understood that the late-night conversation, the way my parents were even entertaining it, meant they'd made the conscious decision to follow Barone's lead and look out for themselves and our family. If that meant taking a stand against Barone, as had been suggested by the Coxes, they'd been prepared to do just that.

  As unbelievable and preordained as it seemed, we'd met the Coxes purely by accident. We'd been traveling for less than a day when Dad's military grade vehicle broke down a few miles from their farm. After Elle, a trained homeopathic healer, had realized Mom had been in no state for travel, they'd taken us in and offered us a place to stay overnight. Elle and Mom and Mac and Dad had become good friends almost immediately. One night turned into two nights, and two nights turned into six months.

  If Jayden had been with us the whole time and I didn't know the SNP was headquartered below the barn, I could honestly say the Coxes' influence along with the restful and relaxing atmosphere of the farm had turned us back into the family we should have been all along.

  The problem is I know what I know, and I need to tell Jayden. He's the only person who can help me get my parents away from the Coxes' brainwashing and back to the capital where we all belong.

  I cursed myself for not asking Mom the questions that had shot to mind as soon as she'd told me Jayden was at the farm.

  Where did he come from? Why was he here?

  If I weren't being pumped full of drugs to normalize my emotions, my head would be aching with anxiety. Rather than think much more about what was going on, I decided to put on my clothes, go downstairs, and ask my questions.

  See Jayden.

  Dressed and still in the dark, I was sitting on my bed and tying my shoes when my door creaked open again. I thought it was Mom and mumbled, "I'm coming, Mom. I'm almost finished."

  "Take your time, princess. We only have an entire army of soldiers coming for you. I wouldn't want to inconvenience you."

&
nbsp; JAYDEN!

  Chapter 3

  Separatists

  Carlie

  Squealing quietly, I jumped off the bed, ran in the direction of his voice, and flung my arms over the exact spot where I suspected his shoulders to be.

  "Oh my God, Jayden!" I whispered. "Oh my God! I can't believe you're here."

  At first, Jayden's entire body tensed. When he realized I wasn't letting go, not without a real hug, he wrapped his arms around my waist and hugged me back. When he did that, I squeezed him even tighter.

  Relaxing the tiniest bit, he laughed and gave me a bear hug to end all bear hugs and kissed me on the head. Thankful to finally be back together, we basked in each other's presence for several minutes. Long before I was ready, he pulled back.

  "Damn, Carlie, if I'd have known this was the welcome I was going to get, I'd have come for you long ago," Jayden said quietly.

  I laughed. All I could think was how comical it was that his first word to me was a swear word when I'd just been remembering how angry Dad had been when he'd cursed in front of me the first time.

  "What's so funny?" he asked.

  I shook my head. "You. You're funny."

  "We've been apart for six months, and all you can say to me is you think I'm funny?"

  "It's not that… though you are funny," I insisted. "It's that I've been so worried about you. Seeing you now… i-it's made me delirious. That's all."

  "You've been worried about me. That's classic." He chuckled.

  "And now here you are making fun of me," I pointed out.

  "No, I'm not. It's just that I've been worried about you, too. I've been fighting tooth and nail to make it here and actually may have broken a few laws in the process."

  "You didn't," I exclaimed, giving him a good-natured slap on the chest resting beneath my palm and relishing in my complete and utter relief that he was finally near.

  "I did, and I'd do it again," he admitted, and there was no hint that he'd been joking.

  It was in that instant when I realized just how much I'd been missing him. I couldn't help myself. I flung myself around him again. He squeezed me back. Only it was much tighter this time. Everything about this hug was different because with it I felt just how glad Jayden was to have me back. He hugged me as if he might refuse to ever let me go again, and I was okay with that.

  "I have so much to tell you. You aren't going to believe any of it," I whispered near his ear.

  "We have a few minutes. It might be better if you tell me before we go out to the barn," Jayden whispered back.

  I pulled him all the way into the room and away from the door and vent.

  "Jayden… this farm isn't what it seems, and the Coxes are not who you think they are," I said quietly.

  As soon as the words were out of my mouth, he asked, "What do you mean, Carlie?"

  "The farm is a front for SNP, an organization geared toward helping MicroPharm separatists who are making their way to the Shadow border. Mom and Dad have been brainwashed by the Coxes and have agreed to help these people," I said as fast as I could.

  Time is of the essence.

  "I know," Jayden admitted. "I just didn't know you knew."

  I was stopped short. It never occurred to me that Jayden (or anyone other than my parents) would have any idea what was going on at the farm.

  "You know?" I asked.

  "Yeah… your dad called and talked to me. Your parents are willing to do whatever needs to be done in order to make amends for their part in getting Barone elected and for every MicroPharm law he's implemented," Jayden said. "What they're not willing to do is put you, Tawney, or Gran in danger. Your dad asked me to come here and get all of you away from the farm so no one will ever be able to associate any of you with anything they do. He's not going to be happy to find out you know all about SNP because it's going to be a lot harder for you to claim ignorance."

  "I only know what I've overheard." I defended myself. "Why didn't Dad talk to me? Why would he call and talk to you when you weren't even here with us?"

  There was no hiding the hurt in my voice. The reason I competed so ferociously with Jayden came slamming back to me. It was for Dad's attention. The only way he'd ever really noticed me was when I'd been competing with Jayden, his prodigy. Even hundreds of miles away, Jayden had been the one Dad had confided in when push came to shove.

  "I'm not leaving without them. I'm not leaving with you," I whisper-shouted. "It's like you said. I already know too much to leave and pretend I never saw or heard any of the illegal activities going on here."

  Jayden was silent for several minutes. "I'll let you talk to your dad about that. Right now, we just need to get going," Jayden said before grabbing my hand and pulling me toward the door.

  I wanted to tell Jayden more about everything I'd overheard, but there was no reason. If anything, he probably already knew more than me. I'd had to sneak around and eavesdrop in order to find out the first morsel about the activities going on around me.

  Jayden didn't have to do anything more than be the tight-lipped soldier he'd been born as.

  As Jayden led me down the hall and toward the stairs, I thought more about the conversation between my parents and the Coxes. It had been months, but it was one I'd never forget.

  After Elle's speech about the importance of repelling Barone's laws and giving people the option of refusing to have the MicroPharm implanted within their newborns' hearts, things had begun clicking for Mom.

  "All-all of the people who work on your farm are separatists… fugitives?" she'd asked hesitantly.

  "Yes," Mac had said. There'd been no mistaking the pride he felt for offering the separatists—criminals in the eyes of the Aspect government—respectable jobs. Ways to earn their keep so they wouldn't have to ask for handouts.

  I couldn't hear Mom's or Dad's responses, but I still remembered putting my hand to my mouth in shock.

  Holy crap! I'd thought. They're all so nice.

  I'd been suddenly irritated at the loose way the slur fugitive had been tossed around my entire life. I'd been brainwashed into thinking they were all horrible people who were the most dangerous of the dangerous. The fugitives I'd met at the farm were anything but menaces to our society. After being exposed to them, I'd learned they were loving parents and grandparents who'd done nothing more than refuse to allow Barone free rein when it came to their babies' healthcare.

  "You know as well as we do that the insertion of the device is just one of the many unpalatable features of Barone's Reproductive Law. There are other components that are offensive enough for people to defect rather than continue living with the law of our current government.

  "Their precious newborns—healthy and happy—are all that matter. They've convinced themselves that the MicroPharm implant and its drugs are unnatural… were designed to control their children by constantly injecting them with drugs meant to keep them docile and sedated."

  Mom had intervened again. "I agree with their right to decide. I really do, but I promise you the MicroPharm wasn't intended to be used as a weapon geared toward making these children submissive. I never meant for it to be used that way," she said definitively.

  "We're not suggesting it was, Selma. We're simply sharing these people's fears with you. If you join us, you'll be able to explain your side… you'll be able to help people make an informed decision because they, too, will know the real risks. Right now, Barone himself creates the propaganda associated with the insertion. In it, there's an insinuation that the baby without it will die at an earlier age than those who have it inserted," Elle explained.

  "That's just it, Elle. They might. Deadly infections and diseases such as MRSA, meningitis, septicemia, and HIV are nonexistent in the children with the device. Most of that is by design, but some of it has to do with the device's ability to evolve. To eradicate the disease from the host's body long before doctors and scientists would ever even be able to isolate the potential problem."

  "There are those of us who u
nderstand that MicroPharm has its benefits, Selma. We just believe people should have the right to decide. That's all," Mac had assured Mom.

  Mom continued as if he'd not said a word. "There are still lots of malignancies that the MicroPharm can't do anything about, and of course, there are accidents. For the most part, if the accident is bad enough, there's nothing the MicroPharm can do but control the pain. I've tried to do more. Sometimes… sometimes there's just not anything you can do," Mom had mumbled just loudly enough for me to hear.

  I'd been upstairs and in my bedroom supposedly asleep or I'd have gone to her. Her voice had taken on that faraway flat tone that told me she was about to get lost in one of the many things she'd not yet been able to accomplish, a cure for death.

  A freaking cure for death is the task Barone had given her.

  She'd nearly gone mad trying to do what he'd asked of her. She'd worked morning, noon, and night trying to maximize life expectancy. As one of her helpers, I knew she'd been performing research she'd called the Longevity Trials, naming her spinoff trials after Gran's Longevity Theory.

  The trials were geared toward looking at long lifespans in several different ways. First, Mom had been testing a few theories designed to prevent or minimize trauma- or malignancy-related deaths. Second, she'd been testing other theories aimed at manipulating the genetic makeup of cells in ways that might actually prolong life without inflicting life-long abnormalities in the subjects or their offspring.

  One of the theories—I may never know which one—had become an obsession of Mom's and had quite nearly turned her into a caricature of a mad scientist. By the time she had her breakdown, she'd been more than just sleep deprived. She'd gone years on barely any rest and over a week on almost none.

  On the day our car had broken down and as soon as Elle had laid eyes on Mom, she realized Mom needed rest more than anything else. The ease with which she'd diagnosed Mom's condition told me just how good of a clinician Elle was. It had been the quiet gentleness behind her explanation about how Mom had been physically and mentally exhausted that had me sitting up and taking notice… that brought Mom's bizarre behavior into focus for all of us that day. According to Elle, we'd all been too close to Mom and watched her downward spiral happen so slowly that we had no idea how close to suicide she'd been.