Echo Effect

by Robert D. Armstrong

  “No, no more questions, doctor. Only a suggestion. You don’t have to use the whole goddamn bottle of perfume. See that giant sixty-foot rotor blade above us? That’s not an interior fan, as much as I wish it was right now.” The pilot tipped an invisible hat.

  Some of the lab workers outside the chopper attempted to hold back their laughter at the pilot’s suggestion, while others completely lost it, doubling over and laughing hysterically.

  The doctor didn’t respond, but she was visibly perturbed by the pilot’s smart-ass comment. She leaned out and turned toward two men holding their laughter, aggressively signaling them inside the chopper.

  “Get him down to quarantine for a full cleaning! After that, send him to alpha processing. Now!” The doctor sternly ordered the men into action, pushing some loose strands of hair behind her ears that had fallen out of her bun.

  The pilot’s eyes followed Michael’s body as he was transported right past her, she raised her eyebrows at him and slowly shook her head.

  The intercom system announced a new delivery as Michael approached his initial cleaning and sterilization phase. “All stations. Be aware of delivery. All stations delivery.” The message repeated a few times as Michael was pushed down the long hallway. His vision became spotty from the lights beaming down on him.

  People that noticed Michael briefly stopped to examine his condition. Both his legs were missing below the upper thigh, along with some fingers on his left hand. He was also badly scarred from burns and puncture wounds.

  Despite the sea of faceless onlookers, one man parted the waves to say hello. “Hey, guys. Hold up… Michael? Yeah, that’s him. Hey, I’m Keith Sanders. I’ve heard a lot about you.” The man stopped the workers transporting Michael.

  He genuinely seemed concerned with a kind, reassuring voice. He patted Michael on the shoulder.

  “Keith, we’re on a tight schedule, can’t this wait? You’ll have plenty of time with him anyway—” The female doctor suggested.

  “Did you actually welcome him here or are you treating him like a delivery? He’s a human being.” Keith growled.

  “For now.” The doctor mumbled. Keith stepped in close, eye to eye. “You treat him with respect, is that clear? We all know what he’s sacrificed.” Keith whispered, pointing at her sternly. She dipped her head away, then snapped back at Keith smirking. “Anything else Dr. Sanders?” She asked.

  “No. Notify Dr. Amery he’s here.” Keith ordered, narrowing his eyes at her.

  Chapter Six

  A young secretary entered the room. “Dr. Amery, the package has arrived. Keith asked me to keep you updated.”

  Dr. Amery was already aware of it, so he briefly ignored her, jotting down a few notes regarding Michael. He stopped scribbling mid-sentence, losing his train of thought. “I know, Emily. Thank you.” He faked a smile and nodded in approval. “That’ll be all.”

  “Oh good.” The secretary exited the room, slowly closing the door behind her. The sound of the door shutting still echoed throughout the great room. It was an office larger than a small house. Despite this fact, it was somewhat vacant, displaying only a few fishing photos. The walls were a midnight blue and the floors were carpeted in a lush green. An interior decorator he was not. He had a short game golfing setup that ran the length of the room and a few balls scattered about.

  Amery took off his glasses and rubbed his eyes and face. “Ahhhhhh.” His sigh was a blend of anxiety and moral conflict, an internal struggle on whether to abandon his ship or sail on.

  Amery was calculating and decisive. He was average height, but with a stocky build. It was his Turkish heritage on mother’s side to blame for that, he would always say. His hair was rather short and dark, but thick and wavy with a touch of gray spread evenly throughout. His skin was dark and leathered from summer fishing trips on the open ocean, and though he worked indoors, he yearned to be back outside.

  Amery was once a competitive surgeon at Vanderbilt University in Nashville. Success fueled his drive so much that he took on too much work. Eventually, he lost his touch. A couple of malpractice lawsuits later, he decided to invest in a new startup company, SolarSystems, where he bought out majority ownership early on.

  SolarSystems was already making strides in solar technology, but reverse engineered Star Rust propelled their research ahead at least three full decades. Now, Amery was considered the face of the corporate powerhouse.

  Amery was poor growing up. His mother was a Turkish immigrant and his father was a subcontractor for a flooring company. His family traveled for work, living with relatives and friends throughout his childhood. Amery never had anything of his own when he was young. Often times, when his family would pick up and leave, his father would sell his personal belongings for travel expenses.

  Amery would hide things to the best of his ability, but his father would usually end up finding them. One time, early in his high school years, Amery worked hard enough during summer jobs to afford an Hphone6, the latest holographic phone that was all the craze at the time.

  He took hundreds of holographic photos, some of them very sentimental with his first girlfriend. However, his father found it and sold it for a down payment on construction equipment.

  He lived in a total of twenty-two states, mostly out of RVs and trailers, during the first sixteen years of his life. However, Amery was an avid reader, and he studied voraciously, graduating early from high school with a full ride to Vanderbilt.

  Needless to say, Amery enjoyed the finer things in life once he became an adult. He had things no one could take from him. Yachts, cars, and houses around the world. He had it all.

  But Amery was a conflicted man. There was a part of him that cared about others. He wanted to see them healthy and happy.

  However, a series of events unfolded that began to change him. Several years after becoming a practicing physician, Amery endured a horrible divorce. He lost nearly everything. Not just because of the divorce either. His ex-wife caught one of his houses on fire in a supposed accident, burning many sentimental items of Amery’s.

  Afterwards, greed overshadowed his consideration for others as he attempted to cling to his belongings. He didn’t let people into his life anymore either. He began to look at patients as jobs rather than people. It was a slow process over the course of twenty plus years, but eventually, he was nothing like that ambitious med student who cared for others. Even worse, he was beginning to make irrational business decisions. Recently, he’d fired a seasoned department head over a simple disagreement.

  “Emily, can you page Alpha to alert me when the package is ready?” Amery said. A pen dropped as her chair scooted away from the desk.

  “Yes, Dr. Amery. I’ll do it now,” she shouted back through the open door.

  Opening his top drawer, a small control pad automatically flipped out. He pressed a few buttons as a holographic display flickered while booting up. “Richard Amery,” he commanded.

  A voice activation responded back with a pleasant female voice. “Thank you, Doctor.”

  A screen showed various pictures of Michael Keller along with his medical history. Amery used his finger to glide through the various pictures. The first screen showed a brief summary of his official US Army final evaluation.

  SSGT MICHAEL KELLER

  US ARMY RANGER

  SILVER STAR

  PURPLE HEARTS (2)

  TWO COMBAT TOURS

  PRISONER OF WAR

  SERVICE MEMBER COMMENTS: M. KELLER DISPLAYS A COMBINATION OF INNOVATION, RESOLVE, AND LEADERSHIP THAT EXCEEDS US ARMY RANGER STANDARDS. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED FOR RETENTION. COLONEL RONALD OLIVER, US ARMY.

  Amery cycled through several pictures of Michael and his unit. Most were poses of the men in training. Amery’s staff had even dug up a few files of his civilian life too. They had found photos of Michael and Vala. It appeared that he was on leave during most of the pictures. They were smiling in every photo together, embracing each other and glowing with happiness.


  “Hmm, tragic… So young and happy…” He examined the photos with a jeweler’s eye.

  The next display showed a brief outline of the incidents involving Michael while in the service. One was a grisly scene depicting him after his return to allied forces. He was a POW in North Korea, captured after his unit disarmed a nuclear weapon.

  According to the official military report, Michael and his fellow Ranger Daniel Naben were rescued by US Delta Force, but Naben died due to his injuries.

  Amery shifted the hologram and drew up a 3D diagram of medical operating procedures. It showed insertion points of various cybernetic implants and gave options for each, considering Michael’s specific injuries.

  Suddenly, there was a knock at the door. “Richard.”

  “Yes, come in,” Amery said, recognizing the voice. A shadowy figure entered the room. He was a tall and lanky man, dressed in a dark, slightly oversized suit. He strutted in as Amery stared at him.

  “You’re gonna love this, you really are…” The man smirked.

  “What? I don’t have time for games. Any new Star Rust leads? Intelligence?” Amery asked.

  “Both,” the man said as he plopped down in a chair in front of Amery’s desk. “Done any golfing lately?”

  “Just spill it, you know we’ve lost a lot of field assets lately. I need Star Rust. Not in the mood.” Amery demanded.

  “Ahhh, all right damn. You’re getting crankier the older you get. Okay… so your, ah, Vala Thomas, the girl we’ve been following?”

  “Yes…”

  “Well, after she deposited her payout, she immediately went to Germany.”

  “For vacation? I don’t care what she does with the money.”

  “No, no… This bitch…she’s running Star Rust contracts as we speak. She went to Germany to undergo Cilan therapy,” the man said. Amery stood up, pushing his glasses forward and putting his hands out on the desk in front of him.

  “I want you to understand this is not a joking matter. It’s not funny.” Amery asked sternly, but softly. He looked a thousand miles away.

  “Kinda sounds like that, but no, no I’m not. She went off the radar when she went to Germany, then she popped up again, but she looked much different. We did some digging and turns out she’s been asking all over the place about a man named Michael Keller. She’s willing to do contracts for any information on his disappearance,” the man said.

  “This isn’t happening.” Amery bit his lip.

  “Oh, so that’s your boy? This…Michael Keller? The one we have here?” the man said, looking at a holographic display. Beside the human figure was another, one that appeared humanoid, but much more sinister.

  “You’re gonna turn him into that?”

  “Yes…DAMN!” Amery exploded, smashing his fist into the desk violently. A golf ball popped up out of a cup holder and rolled off the desk toward the man. He picked it up and placed it back in the cup. Amery’s face was red, boiling with anger.

  “You want me to deal with her?” the man asked.

  Amery paused for a moment before pacing the length of the room. The man waited patiently.

  “How many times have you tried to deal with a Cilan?” Amery asked.

  “Uhhhh—”

  “Exactly. You’ll be killed. She’ll kill you and your goons. Listen. I want you to find a way to lead her to me, anonymous and all that shit…as if I’m a contact point for information about Michael, an insider. Make it seem like I can find him,” Amery said.

  “Kinda risky, but that should be easy enough. Then what? Is there something in it for you, she’ll be skeptical otherwise?” he asked.

  “I’ve lost most of my Star Rust trackers this year, until we find some replacements… I have an idea. Two birds with one stone. Vala is going to do a lot of work for us…for free. When people do things for money, sure, they get things done, but when they do things out of desperation—well, they can move mountains. If she wants to play private investigator, then she’ll build us a mountain of Star Rust. I’ll keep her busy away from other sources. Then, we can deal with her, that’ll give us time to figure out how,” Amery said.

  “Damn.” The man shook his head, smirking as he stood up. He grabbed a golf putter leaning against the wall and lined up a shot. He took it, narrowly missing. “Ahhh, almost…” he said.

  He whistled at Amery as he ducked through the door. “Remind me never to piss you off.”

  “Shut the door!” Amery hollered. “Always leaves the damn door open.”

  Chapter Seven

  Two weeks later...

  “Keller.” A man said as Michael woke up.

  “Y-Yea?” Michael said blinking his eyes. He was heavily sedated.

  “I saw you looking under your sheets at your new legs. Amazing, aren’t they?” He asked.

  “I thought it was a dream, they’re metal, or something, why do I have eagle talons for toes…who, who are you?”

  “Dr. Amery. I’m the guy that gave you those legs. You’re fine. You did well in surgery.”

  “I can walk again?” Michael asked. Dr. Amery looked over his vitals on a small holographic display beside his bed.

  “You will, you’ll run too… you know, organic-like movements were probably the most difficult aspects of creating machines in the beginning. As you can see, it’s so advanced now, they exceed even biological life forms.”

  Michael glared at Amery, then back down at his new legs. “I’ve seen something like them…in a movie,” he mumbled.

  “Probably not like those.” Amery pushed his glasses forward. “Michael, it’s very possible you’ll be able to reach over 60 miles per hour in short bursts.”

  Dr. Keith Sanders knocked on the door. “You’ve met Keith?” Amery glanced up.

  “I-I don’t know. Wait. Yeah. I was a bit out of it, but I remember,” Michael said, leaning his head up slowly.

  Michael took a deep breath. “Has she received her payment?” Michael asked, lowering his voice.

  “Yep, a few days ago,” Amery said confidently. “I thought you might ask. You put in your contract that you’d want to see this…and your Army buddy, Butch… Yeah, he’s a good friend, isn’t he? He won’t stop asking either. Thing is, I’m not sure you’ll remember any of this anyway.”

  “I-I want to see. It’ll put me at ease. I just, I can’t take care of her like this. I needed to find a way,” Michael insisted, zoning in and out.

  “Yes, Michael. I know. You did everything you could, and I admire a man like that.” Amery said. Then, he pulled out a tablet that detailed the contract’s transaction. “As you can see here, your Vala had booked a vacation. Looks like Germany. Ah, Munich, actually,” Amery said, smiling. Keith cut his eyes over at Michael, his head slumped low with his hand under his chin.

  Amery cycled through a slide of bank transactions with a photo of her at a local bank. “See, there she is just before the transaction, and now she’s been paid in full,” Amery said, showing Michael her bank account with over 3.5 million dollars. Michael’s face abruptly changed to panic when he saw her. It was a small surveillance photo of her inside a bank, but it was enough.

  Michael grabbed Amery’s lab coat. “Whoa… Hey, Michael, um…”

  Michael fought off his hyperventilation. Seeing the look on Vala’s face felt like a burning coal inside his chest. He’d never seen such sadness in her eyes. In that moment, he realized what he’d done was a mistake.

  “Noo-oo! I shouldn’t have. I-I’ve made it worse…I should just be with her, even like this. No! Please. She needs me! Can I please go to her? I don’t want this!” Michael said, holding his chest. His body shook. His face turned red as he pulled down on Amery’s coat, tearing it.

  “Whoa. Whoa. Keith?! A little help here,” Amery said.

  “Michael,” Keith said softly, putting his hand on Michael’s shoulder.

  “Let me see her. You have to let me see her...” Michael demanded.

  “Now, Michael, calm down. What—” Amery started.
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  “Now!” Michael tried to pull Amery towards him, but claws in his talons ejected outward, shredding the bed sheets.

  Keith darted over to the nurse’s station, grabbing a syringe.

  “Please! We’ll pay it back. We’ll give all the money back! I have to get back to her! Please help me! I-I’ve made a mistake here,” Michael pleaded desperately. His hands began to shake before he felt a hot jolt in his neck, loosening his grip on Amery.

  Keith clenched his arm, injecting a sedative into him. “It’s all right, Michael.” Michael almost immediately passed out.

  “Ahhh, didn’t expect that honestly.” Amery said.

  “You show a man the love of his life when he knows he can’t have her again. What the hell is wrong with you?” Keith raised his voice, pulling his hair back while pacing the room.

  “He put it in his contract, Keith. He specifically wanted to see her after the money was deposited. I told him after we had him here we would—”

  “After you had him at the point of no return then you would show him. How honorable, you kept your word,” Keith said, shaking his head.

  “Well, I needed to make sure he wasn’t going to back out. I need him here first. I just—didn’t expect this reaction. I thought he knew what he wanted here. I had him sedated enough where I thought he’d stay calm,” Amery said, staring at the floor.

  “What reaction did you expect?” Keith demanded.

  “I thought this was a win for all three parties. I’m not sure what he expected to see, of course she wouldn’t look happy,” Amery said.

  “Well, good luck in your next round of surgery now. You lay someone down in this state of mind and you already know the possibilities…” Keith said.

  “You let me worry about that,” Amery replied, walking out of the room.

  SolarSystems had always had the human option in their back pocket. They had researched and tested artificial intelligence, but it just couldn’t match the millions of years of evolution the human mind had undergone. However, this emotion, this attachment, was the price for all the dynamic intelligence the human brain offered.