Perception

by Lee Strauss

  “It’s incredible,” Noah said. The view extended beyond the south gates of Sol City to the horizon of the Pacific Ocean.

  “I don’t like heights.” I turned my back to the window. “So we know Liam had access to Sleiman Tower offices.”

  The lights were dimmed, as most people who worked on this floor had the weekends off, but they shed enough illumination that we could find our way along the hall. About half way down we found an unassuming door painted the same white as the walls. A small glass plaque had M.I. Inc. engraved in it.

  Before Noah could test the chip in the door scanner, we heard a noise from down the hall. I pulled him into an indentation in the wall that barely concealed us. I risked a peek. A humanoid robot had turned the corner, pushing a floor cleaner. This unit was a more advanced model than the one I’d seen at the Pike residence. Its movements were more fluid and the silicon skin was eerily life like. So much so, someone had even decided to dress it in a house cleaner’s costume.

  I put my finger to my lips. The humanoid drew closer. The hum of the floor cleaner barely covered the loud thumping of my heart. I pressed into Noah more firmly.

  The humanoid reached the nook we stood in. Its eyes scanned us as we huddled together, standing statue still.

  Would it recognize us as intruders? Would it trigger an alarm? The hum of the floor cleaner continued as the humanoid caught my eyes.

  They were slightly larger than human eyes, though the pupils and irises were very convincing. I knew they weren’t really eyes, but cameras.

  We were caught.

  Then the humanoid pushed the floor cleaner towards my feet, bumping them slightly. It must’ve thought we were a new piece of decor. It continued down the hall fulfilling the purpose it was programmed to do.

  I felt Noah’s chest move as he exhaled.

  I wanted to cry, but we didn’t have time to give in to fear.

  After double-checking that the hall was clear, Noah waved Liam’s chip under the door scanner.

  It clicked. I glanced up at Noah, wondering what we’d find when I pushed open the door.

  Chapter 25

  Not much, it turned out. The room was small, like an over-sized janitor closet. White walls, a small window, a single desk with nothing but a lamp on it. Not even a computer.

  I swung my arms wide. “What is this?”

  “It doesn’t look like a real company to me,” Noah answered.

  “Maverick is a fake company?”

  “Looks like it’s a front to move money without looking suspicious.”

  I slumped against the wall. “This is bad.”

  “I’m sorry, Zoe.” Noah took my hand and just then his ComRing buzzed. He pulled his hand away and stared at his palm.

  My heart jumped at the stricken look on his face. “What is it?”

  “It’s my mother. She’s in the hospital.”

  I could barely keep up with him as he dashed out of the Sleiman Tower. I heard him cursing himself that he’d left her for too long, that he wasn’t nearby when she needed him.

  “Do you want me to come with you?” I offered as we rode the elevator down to the lobby.

  “No.” Noah’s firm refusal was like a knife blade in my chest.

  I jumped on the next pod with him anyway; someone had to pay the fare. He tucked his hands around his chest. Once we arrived at the northern gates, he disembarked with a quick goodbye.

  I swallowed the hard lump that formed in my throat, staying on the pod with no destination in mind. I didn’t want to go home. Maybe the beach. Let the roar of the waves drown out the accusations blaring in my head.

  If Noah’s mother died before he got there, he’d hate me for it. And I wouldn’t blame him. How selfish could I get, dragging Noah around on a wild sleuthing stunt when he was needed at home? From now on, I was doing this myself.

  I found myself getting off near Jackson’s house. We had unfinished business. I’d deal with that first. His mother answered the front door. She wore a pantsuit with long, gold chains draped over her large, enhanced chest. Golden tresses towered high on the top of her head. I was surprised to see her. She was usually busy with social clubs, charities and golf games.

  “Zoe! Come on in.” She gave me a tentative hug. “It’s so good to see you. I haven’t had a chance to talk to you since...your brother. I just wanted you to know how awful we all feel.”

  “Thanks, I appreciate it. Is Jackson around?”

  “He is, which is rare, I’ll tell you.”

  I already knew that. When Jackson wasn’t at my house, he was holed up at the university, and lately that meant the warehouse in the eastern sector. It was no fun hanging out in his big house alone.

  “He hasn’t been himself since the two of you, you know, argued.” Her eyes were wide and pleading. “He’s in a bad way. I hope you guys can work out your little misunderstanding.”

  Not likely. “Where is he?”

  “In his room.” She motioned to the sweeping stair case. “Go on up.”

  I remembered how Jackson and I used to ride down the banister when Mrs. Pike wasn’t around. Looking down from the top, I could see how stupid that was. Even a GAP head wouldn’t survive a crack on those tiles from this height.

  I couldn’t help but compare this mansion to Noah’s bungalow. Though Noah’s home was about the size of this foyer, and not nearly as richly decorated, it had a warmth and appeal Jackson’s house lacked. You could hear life happening at the Brody house. This place was a museum.

  Still, it was a step up from my house, which these days felt like a tomb.

  I knocked on the familiar door and opened it slowly when Jackson called for me to come in. His eyes widened in surprise but he recovered quickly. “Zoe. Didn’t expect you.”

  Jackson basically had his own suite. A king-sized bed took up a part of the room, and beside it was a sofa sectional that faced a large screen TV where Jackson had been playing games; 3D images of robotic soldiers were paused in midair. A mini-bar at the end was stocked with food and beverages.

  “You haven’t been answering my calls,” he said.

  “I know.”

  I noticed a bruise had formed on his left jaw. He saw me looking at it.

  “A gift from your natural.”

  I didn’t want to antagonize Jackson, so I let that one pass.

  He shook his loose hair from his eyes. “To what do I owe the pleasure of your company?”

  I ignored his platitudes and leaned against the back of the sofa. “You must be curious about the chip.”

  Jackson shrugged, turning his attention to his game. “Did it do you any good? It was de-activated.”

  “You underestimate me. I know about the experiment.”

  He stood suddenly, his shirt falling open to reveal his tanned, surfer’s chest. He reached out his hand, passing it through a soldier’s holographic face. “You should give the chip back to me.”

  I ignored his hand and kept my eyes on his face. “Tell me what happened first.”

  “Why should I?”

  I judged the distance to the door. Could I make it there before him if he came after me again? “Because, if you don’t I’m going to assume you killed Liam.”

  “I didn’t kill him.”

  “Then what happened?”

  Jackson closed his eyes, let out a defeated breath and dropped back to the sofa. He patted the seat beside him, wanting me to join him. I compromised by sitting on the arm.

  “Liam came to me in February, super-excited. He said he was on the verge of a breakthrough. That it was possible to augment human intelligence, speed up the process that researchers were working on now. Unimaginable powers of thought could be possible, far beyond the normal brain.

  “I was aware of the research, and I told him it was too young. Sure the theory has been around for a long time, but the technology wasn’t quite here. That’s when he went off about how the technology was here, and the government was holding back funding and restricting progress with
ethics. But he knew of someone who would finance unauthorized research and exploration. We just had to take it off-campus. Out of Sol City.”

  “Who financed it?”

  “Liam wouldn’t tell me.”

  I wasn’t sure if I believed him or not, but I let it drop for now. “How’d you find the warehouse?”

  “Liam contacted a guy on the outside. Some doper who’d do anything for money and keep it quiet as long as we kept paying him regularly. We had no way of knowing where we could take our operations on our own. The kid located the abandoned warehouse and arranged for us to get in un-noticed.”

  “Zack Dexter?”

  Jackson’s eyes popped open. “How...?”

  “Doesn’t matter. What happened next?”

  “We set up a lab and started going there practically every day. Liam was super enthused about the brain science and did a couple tests. He couldn’t wait to try downloading his mind onto a hard drive.

  “This led to advancing the cyborg-technology the government had worked on a couple decades ago, before the global peace policy basically made the need for robotic soldiers obsolete.

  “Liam worked day and night. So much that he insisted that we remove his chip because he was afraid the authorities might be tipped off with him leaving Sol City so often.

  “I didn’t want to do it, but I knew if I didn’t, he’d cut it out himself. The whole experiment was like a drug to him. He saw it as a way to preserve his mind indefinitely. He was consumed with the idea of creating a body for himself where each part would eventually be replaced with a mechanical part, ultimately creating a form of him that didn’t have to die.”

  “Liam already had a life expectancy of more than two hundred years,” I said. “I don’t understand. Why would he do this?”

  “Liam wanted to live forever. And he wanted to be the first to make it possible. He dreamed about a spot in the record books, and he wanted bragging rights. He wanted to eclipse the fame of his grandfather.”

  Liam’s own ego had killed him. He wanted to live forever, and he died young trying.

  “So what went wrong?”

  Jackson pinched his eyes together, and I could see his agony.

  “I don’t know,” he said. “The power went out. I don’t know how. We had emergency back-up. We checked and double checked everything. Part way through the full download...he had a seizure. Then he stopped breathing. We couldn’t bring him back.”

  I closed my eyes, imagining the stress and trauma of that night. Sorry for my brother, but also feeling a little sympathy for Jackson and Mitchell.

  Still, they had covered it up. Who were they covering it up for?

  “Do you think someone sabotaged it?”

  He didn’t answer the question. “I’ve missed you, Zoe. We need each other to get through this. I need you.”

  I felt sorry for him. I believed him when he said he needed me. But it wasn’t the same as saying he loved me, and I was certain now that I didn’t love him.

  “Did someone sabotage the experiment, Jackson?”

  He stared at me, then slowly nodded.

  “Who?”

  “I don’t know.”

  “Jackson, please.”

  “I can’t tell you.” His eyes had softened, almost apologetic. “They’d kill me. And they might kill you. I couldn’t live with that.

  Chapter 26

  When I hadn’t heard anything from Noah by the next morning, I tapped my ComRing and called him.

  “Is she okay?”I asked when he picked up.

  “Yeah. She stayed the night in the hospital, but we’re bringing her home now. Skye’s going to tend to her there.” It went quiet and I thought the line had been dropped, then Noah’s voice went hoarse. “We almost lost her.”

  I closed my eyes. “But she’s okay, now, right?”

  “They gave her a new med cocktail.”

  “I’m so sorry this is happening, Noah.”

  “I know.” Another long pause. “Hey, I gotta go. I’ll call you later.”

  I stared blankly at my DigiWall—gliders jumping off a mountain side, floating like birds to the valley below—and wondered if Noah actually intended to call me back. Maybe this whole thing with his mother was a wakeup call to him. Maybe he was wondering why he was wasting his time helping out a GAP.

  I was wondering the same thing.

  Noah’s new problems didn’t negate my own, older ones. I still didn’t know who killed Liam or why. The only new information I had was the existence of Maverick Industries, a shadow company, which had a facade office in Sleiman Towers.

  I thought about calling Grandpa V and asking him what it was all about. Would he tell me? Then I had an uneasy thought. I let myself consider it and then shut the possibility out. He might be an egomaniac, famous, rich presidential candidate, but even Dr. William Vanderveen wouldn’t risk the life of his own grandson.

  Would he?

  No, I couldn’t accept that. But he must know something. Maybe this trail led to the CEO, Ronald K. Smythe. Maybe my grandfather was covering for him. Or was it possible he didn’t know about everything that went on in his own company?

  I went downstairs just as Paul was shutting off his ComRing. “That was Noah Brody.”

  My heart pulsed at the sound of Noah’s name, even though I’d just gotten off the phone with him myself. Why was he calling Paul? “What’s wrong?”

  “He called to inform us that his mother’s too ill to come to work.”

  I already knew that, but I decided it was best to play along.

  “Oh. But she doesn’t usually work on Sundays.”

  “He meant ever again. I’m afraid the poor woman’s not going to last much longer.” He swept his feathery hair back with his hand. “Such a shame.”

  “Yes.”

  “And you should know that Noah won’t be coming back to replace her either.” The statement came with a stern look of warning.

  “I assumed that.” I let my gaze drop casually to the floor. “Like I told you before, I’m not interested in him anymore.”

  “Good.”

  “I suppose this means Mom can get that humanoid house-cleaner she’s been coveting.” I headed for the kitchen. The cook had prepared French toast and the aroma woke up my appetite.”

  “Good idea,” Paul said, missing my sarcasm.

  I sat at the table and added butter and strawberries to my breakfast. “Where is Mom any way?”

  Paul sighed as he joined me. “She’s sleeping. Losing Liam is going to take some time to get over.”

  That was right. No clone brother for me.

  “Have you learned anything new? How did Liam die, exactly? What was he doing in LA?” I was testing Paul. Would this be the moment my father told me the truth? I found it hard to believe I actually knew more than he did. The question was would he share? And if not, why not?

  His crystal blue eyes met mine, and I held my breath.

  Another moment passed before Paul swallowed. “Apparently he’d made a friend on the outside. I don’t know why he was going out there. The kids here call it slumming. He got in with a bad crowd.”

  So that was how he was going to play it. Fine. I took another bite and pushed my plate away.

  “You don’t mind if I go to Charlotte’s do you? She just got back from her vacation.”

  Paul seemed relieved that I didn’t ask any more questions and said quickly, “Okay. That’s a good idea. Thank them for the kind words they transmitted to Liam’s memorial.”

  “Sure thing.”

  I had every intention of visiting Charlotte. Except that Charlotte didn’t actually get back until tomorrow.

  Chapter 27

  I hesitated when I got to the north gate. Maybe this was a bad idea. Noah wasn’t exactly warm on the phone, and it was entirely possible he didn’t want to see me again. I should give him some time.

  Instead of walking through to the outside, I bought a drink from the vending machine and sat on a bench to people watch.
Lots of tall, well-dressed blonds passed me, and it wasn’t nearly as interesting or entertaining as people-watching in LA.

  I checked my messages again. Three from Jackson. None from Noah. I finished the last of my soda and tossed the can into the recycling depository. I could leave Noah alone, but I just couldn’t stand not knowing where we stood. Was he bailing on us? I had to know, either way, yes or no.

  And I wanted to hear it in person.

  I walked through the gates into LA like I’d been doing it for years. My mind was on autopilot as I hopped the pod transit to Noah’s neighborhood. Once there, I knocked softly on the screen-frame of his front door. When no one answered, I thought maybe they were still at the hospital or worse that maybe Saundra had...

  “Oh, hi.” Skye stepped outside, closing the door behind her. Her hair was pulled back, but a few chestnut ringlets had escaped, falling around her neck. “Saundra’s sleeping,” she whispered by way of explanation.

  “I’m happy to hear she’s well enough to be home again,” I said.

  “Well, she’ll be sleeping a lot now. It’s too expensive to keep her in the hospital, so I’m going to stay with her.”

  “That’s nice of you.”

  “I often do home care. So as far as they’re concerned, it’s just another job placement for me.”

  “Nice for Saundra to have you as her nurse, then.”

  Skye eyed me carefully. “Noah told me about the two of you. I have to admit, I’m surprised.”

  “We’re kind of surprised ourselves. Is he home?”

  “No, he left earlier. This whole thing with his mother is very upsetting for him. Plus, he seems really distracted.” Skye raised an eyebrow, indicating she thought I might have something to do with that.

  “Did he say where he was going?”

  Skye shook her head. “But if I had to guess, I’d say the church.”

  I thanked her and left, hoping that he’d still be there by the time I arrived. When I finally got off the pod at the square, I broke into a trot down the path leading to the back of the rugged building.