by Rena Marks
Things were coming to a head quickly.
Chapter Twelve
The Esson Four group were in the exercise room where they used to gather for her teachings. But there was no laughter and teasing this time. They stared at her, hard and suspicious.
Steele appeared cold.
“I wanted you to hear it from me because I have no idea what you’re being told behind my back. I had to revive eighteen more Xeno Sapiens. Director Meade is introducing them to the others now, and I’ll bring them here to familiarize them with you.”
“Why would you do such a thing?” Beast snarled. “For all the times you try to act as if you are on our side.”
“I am. When you’re not enraged, you’ll be able to see that.”
Only Pax looked at her with less anger than the others, but that was because he studied all situations carefully.
“At least they are alive and well. We will help them adapt and will keep a lid on our anger until we see them for ourselves.”
She nodded briefly before being paged. “Dr. Robyn, please report to the main lab.”
The intercom could be heard from the exercise room. A tic throbbed in Steele’s jaw. Still, Robyn tried to smooth things with these four. “I understand none of you trust me. But you did before, though you only have my word for it. But please, trust Amanda. She has nothing to do with any of this. She had nothing to do with the eighteen and will be completely surprised out in the lab. You’ll be able to see her reaction yourself.” She flipped on the small screen on the wall that she’d redirected to show the lab. Dr. Meade stood, chest out and belly expanded. Next to him, Amanda stared, her eyes wide as she looked around the room. Her surprise was as real as any. While she knew of the plans, Robyn never told her of the success. The sheer number of revivals—eighteen in total—was astounding. It was all credited to sleepless nights.
Robyn left the group, heading back through Beast’s room and into the main lab. The eighteen new Xeno Sapiens were bound and gagged, their eyes darting back and forth frantically.
“Congratulations,” Meade boomed as she entered. “I wasn’t sure you were telling me the truth, but here it is! It changes plans, of course. I had Dr. Roman contact our source, but we found the communications to the outer levels aren’t working. And with these eighteen, we should have quite the bonus—enough to fund the next step. A handful of us will head up to the surface tonight to secure the credits and will return tomorrow morning for the next phase.”
Robyn smiled, pretending she had no idea what the next phase was. Amanda stared blankly ahead, no expression at all. After her initial shock, she’d managed to school her features.
That shock worked well in her favor. It separated her and Amanda as a team, if only in the eyes of the scientists.
“We’ll secure these eighteen while you’re gone,” Robyn said smoothly.
Meade smiled thinly, leading the main doctors from the room. In the commotion of people getting up to leave, Amanda made her way to the newly revived Xeno Sapiens, softly soothing them. Robyn stood next to her and whispered. “Watch the car as it leaves for the surface. Let me know how many leave.”
Amanda nodded carefully, so Robyn turned her attention to the newly woken woman.
“Hello, beautiful. I’m Dr. Robyn. With those glorious eyes, you should be called Sunny.”
The woman stared at her, her magnificent golden skin bright. If someone had lifted the golden brush strokes from Beast’s body, they could have used them to create Sunny.
“It’s okay, Sunny. I know you’re scared. Anyone would be. But I’m going to take you to meet some of your own people.” She leaned in close to whisper. “And then we’re going to break you out of here. Shh.”
For the first time, she saw some emotion in Sunny’s eyes. Something lit up in them, like a connection had just been made.
She wheeled her into the exercise area where Esson Four still sat. The four sprang up when she entered.
“Please welcome Sunny.”
“Why is she tied?” Steele snarled.
“Because she didn’t have a choice,” Robyn snapped, tired of the aggression. God, she missed her Steele from before. Gingerly, she untied the strap at Sunny’s midsection.
“Get away from her. We’ll do that,” Steele said, even though Renegade placed a hand over his forearm.
“No,” Robyn said calmly. “I’m going to introduce her to you, but you four men need to keep your distance. None of us has any idea how she feels about males right now. We don’t know what she’s been subjected to, now or in the past.”
There was silence while that sunk in.
Robyn kneeled in front of Sunny’s chair. “Sunny? I need you to concentrate on your language. You know this, even though your brain is still foggy from the drugs. Are you with me?”
“Y-yes.”
“Remember me? My name is Dr. Robyn Saraven. These four men are Xeno Sapiens—like you. You are of two different breeds of DNA, human and what we call alien as a blanket term for the other portion of your DNA. You can trust them.”
Her eyes flickered back and forth. “They won’t…hurt me?”
“No,” Beast growled.
The growl made Sunny jerk.
Robyn patted her arm. “That’s Beast. And that is the first time I’ve ever heard him growl. Right now, the aggression levels have been increased in their brains, which is why they’re snarling and acting vicious. Beast is usually a joking, loving man. But the aggression levels are a good thing for you. It increases their protectiveness for those of their kind.” Robyn kept her voice low and soothing. “They’ll take care of you whenever I’m not around. And I’ll be around more often…later. I’m going to get you out of here. But for right now, I have to go get all those others that were awakened with you. As I bring them in here, can you help me out and explain everything to them?”
Sunny nodded, a wary eye on the other four males in the room.
Robyn patted her leg. “It’s okay. You can trust these guys. That’s Renegade on the end, and Steele is next to him. You know Beast. The one with him is Pax. Guys, this is Sunny. Give her some space for a few minutes, and when I can get everyone in the room, you can all discuss things freely.”
Robyn stood and then softly spoke to Sunny again. “Are you all right?”
Sunny nodded.
“Okay, I’ll be right back.”
Wheeling all the new Xeno Sapiens back and forth took a while, especially with her energy sapped. In the meantime, the lab slowly emptied itself of personnel. By the time she made the last trip, there were only two lab technicians left.
She’d finally reached the last person when Amanda approached her, shining a light into the eyes of the man strapped in the chair. “I’m worried about this one,” she said loudly, obviously for the benefit of two of the technicians still there.
She strapped a blood pressure cuff to his arm. The auto-read began to scroll through numbers. “He’s fine,” she whispered under her breath. “But I heard a whispering and a word that worries me. Tempered explosion. I think they’re up to something with this unorthodox trip to the surface.”
“Good point. It’s been too easy in the lab. And of all times for Esson Four to be suspicious and paranoid of our actions,” she gritted, frustrated. She felt hot and cold, both at once. Her heart rate began speeding up.
“Are you all right?” Amanda asked her pointedly.
“I think so. Just stressed. The lack of sleep from this week is catching up to me.”
“Are you sure that’s all it is?”
“Life couldn’t be so cruel as to throw one more curveball at us.”
Amanda straightened, just as one of the lab technicians walked by. “Take him,” she instructed. “He’s fine.”
Robyn wheeled him away. A fine sheen of moisture dampened her forehead, but she didn’t dare wipe it away. She was afraid she’d look suspicious.
The others in the exercise room had been unbound. Sunny came to her, taking the chair of th
e man to wheel him to where a small group was explaining their existence to others. Robyn smiled at her as Renegade approached.
As always, her gaze flitted around the room to see where Steele was. He was in a corner, conversing with a group of six. He never once looked her way.
“Robyn, we have a problem,” Renegade said, his voice carefully neutral to alleviate his aggression.
“Please, not another,” she groaned.
“Are you feeling okay?” His gaze settled on her forehead.
She wiped at her face with the back of her hand. “Yes, just some exertion. What’s going on?”
He signaled to Beast, who stood with another man. The two approached, Beast’s hand at the other’s shoulder.
“Hello, Eclipse.” She remembered each and every one of their names and would until the day she died. Which could be very soon.
“Dr. Robyn.” Eclipse nodded.
“Eclipse here has an overdeveloped sense of smell,” Beast says. “He’s been smelling something extremely powerful, but of course had no idea what it was. The smell became stronger when he was brought into this room. It’s a sharp smell…we’ve determined the word he’s trying to convey is bleachy.”
“Bleachy.” Robyn closed her eyes, trying to access the super-fast intelligence she’d gained from Steele’s DNA. The answer was right there, on the edge of her mind, but not quite coming through. For a second she began to get frustrated, then bingo. The answer popped in.
“Potassium chlorate.”
“Robyn, you’re bleeding,” Beast growled.
Her finger flew up to catch a drop that gathered at her left nostril.
“Just a nosebleed. Not a big deal,” she said, smiling shakily as she reached into the pocket of her lab coat for a tissue.
“What does potassium chlorate do?” Eclipse asked.
“It’s used for making explosives,” she said.
Eclipse’s eyes widened.
“But don’t panic anyone,” she said, as she dabbed her nose. “First, you two have him walk around the room to see where the smell originates. Take my keys, and if no one wearing a lab coat comes in here, look inside whatever closet it may be in. Don’t touch anything! When Amanda or I come in here, you can let us know what you find and where, okay?”
She slipped her keys into Renegade’s hand, then made her way out of the room to search the properties of sodium chlorate before her intelligence levels dropped too drastically to figure out how to neutralize the bomb.
Because she had a feeling that’s what the Xeno Sapiens would find.
When she entered the lab again, there was only Amanda present. She raised her eyebrow questioningly.
“The lab techs are gone. Raced off like kids. Something’s up.”
“Agreed.” Robyn went over to her computer, leaving Amanda to follow.
“What are you doing?”
“What I’ve been doing a few nights this week. Gassing the upper levels so they’ll sleep. Originally, they thought they were sluggish from the virus you circulated. But I just wanted to make sure no one noticed the elevator being in use for hours at a time. Now, I don’t care if they figure it out.”
“That was a genius plan,” Amanda said. “And honestly, I can’t tell if it’s the Zetan intelligence or your Eve.”
Robyn smiled at her. “Sadly, we’ll never know. Let’s record the live feed we’re releasing on the underground internet.”
She adjusted the camera to aim at her and Amanda.
Amanda took a deep breath. “Wow, I can’t believe this is all happening now.”
“Smile for the world. Just follow my lead, okay?”
Amanda nodded, and Robyn hit the button.
“Welcome, citizens of Earth, to my live feed. I’m Eve. It’s time to expose my identity in a project that will shock and horrify you. Most of you know me in one form or the other, but will be quite surprised to learn of the connection between the identities.” She took a deep breath. “My registered name is Dr. Robyn Saraven. This is Dr. Amanda Becker. We have a story to tell that impacts every person on the planet. It brings to light dealings between Crested Utilitarian Laboratories and the Global Government.” She stopped the feed, and switched to insert a clip of the revival of each of the eighteen new specimens that she’d prerecorded while Meade was keeping the other scientists away from her. They lay cold and still, their variances oddly disturbing at first view. Naturally, one grew used to them.
“My God,” Amanda whispered. “Look at the views exploding.” Numbers were rapid dialing on the keypad.
“People are contacting each other, telling everyone they know to watch this. Right now, in the early stage, they may be wondering if it’s a hoax, but no matter. The news is exploding like wildfire. They’ll be glued to the underground feeds and that will force the regular media to show the clips. The entire world will know then.”
She flipped off the camera.
“Now we need to take care of another situation. Apparently, Eclipse has a super sense of smell. I think there’s a bomb that they left behind. I’m going to research how to neutralize it, if you want to go see how the Xeno Sapiens are doing. I’ll be in there in a few.”
“That doesn’t make sense. Why would they bomb their own people just to get rid of us?”
“They didn’t want any exposure from us, and they know we could easily flip and give all the intelligence to the government, who may turn on them,” Robyn said. “If the government did that, Meade would prefer all his beings were destroyed. He knew you and I are about to be killed when we leave, so no loss there. Now, the government would be indebted to them to create more Xeno Sapiens. Since the lab techs were hanging in the lab, they told them they assured them they were going to bomb us all in Level One, and the explosion would be contained here only. The techs hurried out to the upper levels, but I’d infused the chambers with gas. They’re all out cold. Wait a minute…”
Her fingers hurriedly typed across the screens. “That’s it. They didn’t just wait around in the lab. They’re the ones controlling Esson Four with the programming at night. However they’re doing it, they’re doing it from this lab. The cyborg programming comes from here.”
Amanda placed her hand over hers. “Then we should let the bombs detonate. Instead of researching how to neutralize them, figure out how to set them for later. A half hour, to be exact. We’ll all ride up the elevator and let the bombs blow.”
“That’s a great idea.” Robyn’s fingers flew over the keyboard. “Okay, feed sent. Next stop, the bombs. Then let’s all pack onto the elevator and hope we can make it top-surface before the gas overtakes us too.”
“Let’s hurry. I can feel it seeping through,” Amanda said. “I’m getting drowsy.”
She nodded, though honestly, with her strength seeping, she couldn’t tell if it was from the gas or if her body was just done. But there was no point in worrying Amanda. She found the file with the programming for the timers on the bombs and quickly scanned it.
“Got it. Let’s go.” The two of them hurried into the exercise room. The room was abuzz with excitement.
“What is going on?” Steele demanded. “We all realized we’re getting sleepy. All at the same time. Are we being drugged?” He was right to be paranoid, though he was still directing it at them. It made Robyn sad.
“In a way. I’ll explain,” Amanda said. “Robyn, go do your thing.”
By the time Robyn finished resetting the timers on the bombs, she felt like a wrung out washrag. The Xeno Sapiens had spread out, some of them watching her and some of them wandering through the main lab, walking to fight the drowsiness that spread.
Steele brought her laptop. “Amanda thinks you may need this.”
“Yes,” she said woodenly, leaning up against the wall. “We should stop feeling the gas soon. I stopped it, but it’s still being slowly recycled through the vents. Now I need to track the feeds. Make sure the main lobby and elevator are live to film our escape, and their attempted murder of us aft
erward when everything explodes.”
She tapped into the laptop, barely noticing when Amanda came up. “Robyn, you’re almost white with exhaustion,” she said.
A group of Xeno Sapiens stepped in closer to see what was going on.
Amanda waved everyone away, including Steele. “Give me a minute to examine her. Back off, please.”
“No time,” Robyn said, waving a hand at her. “Change of plans.”
“Not again.”
“I know,” Robyn said. “Meade, Sabin, Baratov, and Chen will notice the bombs didn’t detonate before they reach the surface. The timers were set for ten minutes from now, so now they’ll go off in forty-five. An explosion this big will have sent bubbles blasting everywhere. And as soon as they notice there’s no explosion, they’ll be close enough to the surface to be in communication with the outside world. Someone will tell them they’re exposed and they’re going to come right back down, reach us and stop that elevator before we can get to the surface. I’m going to stay behind and make sure they don’t get in.”
“Are you crazy?”
“No.” She dropped her voice to a harsh whisper. “I’ve lost the strength. Lack of sleep? I don’t know if that was the trigger. But it’s over for me, Amanda. Now it’s time for you to do your part. Your skills will kick in soon, hopefully in the next couple days. I left you a handwritten notebook in one of the solar caskets. Keep away from the elevator as soon as you reach the top because the explosion may expand outward.”
“Notebook?”
“Yes. Account numbers. Locations. Just remember, as soon as you leave the island, they’ll be able to stop your heart. It’s your choice, go down with the island in a month, or leave the island and let them do it. It will be painless.”
“I’m not ready,” Amanda said.
“I know. Neither am I. But I’ll make it right with the last thing that I do.” Robyn gave her a tear filled smile. “Go. Take them all. I’ll lock the outer door of the elevator. Once I see the lights engage, I’ll lock all doors.”
