Program Erin

by Alex Fall

  There was still a lot of sparring going on the building but eventually we collected ourselves and took only Abel and his escort, with orders being given not to communicate with him. A couple of our people were injured. Even Lori scored some bruises through that suit. Tetsuro led us away to an old mulch yard. The only sign that this overgrown patch used to be a mulching company were the couple of rusty tree grinders left behind.

  I dragged Abel out onto the grass and dropped him. He didn't seem to struggle much now that he was surrounded. Those of Nicolette's crew that could still fight joined in forming a guard around him, but in fact, everyone came out for the oncoming conversation.

  “YOU are the Big Man?” Nicolette scoffed. “If I'd have known, I could have taken you out months ago.”

  I touched her on the shoulder. “Hey, no communicating.”

  She put her hands on her hips and cocked her head. “Yeah? What are you about to do?”

  “...communicate.” I stood and approached the quiet, yet strangely well behaved man sitting between us all. I knelt before him and examined him a moment. He watched me as well. This guy was pretty dark hair for as pale as he is. He also isn't the smallest guy. He must have adopted the sedentary lifestyle recently. There's no mistaking he knows who I am, why is he so calm?

  I removed my helmet and sat down on the grass in front of him. There was barely a meter of space between us. We had a stare down, but not an intimidating one. I was trying to figure him out. Maybe he was too. His eyes are what I would describe as “beady.”

  “I don't suppose the Benevolents will surrender now that we have the Big Man?” I asked nonchalantly.

  He raised an eyebrow. “Is that what this is all about?” he replied with a raspy voice.

  “You are the Big Man Abel, are you not?”

  “Yeah I'm Abel. But I'm not the Big Man.” Nicolette sighed, but he added, “at least, not today.”

  This time I raised a brow. “Excuse me?”

  “You didn't do your research. There's a lot of Big Men. We just take turns being in charge.”

  “That won't protect you,” I stated.

  “It's not for protection. You can only be a Big Man if you were one of the originals. I'm the only original Bolt left.” He smiled as if proud of something.

  I narrowed my eyes. “I'm not from Lenburg. Your terminology is beyond me.” I leaned back and assumed a more comfortable sitting position. “Tell me a story, Big Man.”

  He raised an eyebrow again but shrugged. “The story of Big Abel?”

  “Mm...the story of Lenburg. From your perspective.”

  He glanced at the people behind me then sighed. “Alright. Once upon a time there were a group of radical geniuses who figured they could take care of Lenburg better than those bureaucratic slugs kicking everyone to the curb. Our ideas were grand and solid, but we lacked any real means of infiltration or military to remove the governmental problem. But one day we found a cheery kid who told us he could help us if we helped everyone else in turn.”

  I clenched my teeth to suppress my rage. He wasn't some cheery kid, and I know you didn't just “find him.” I acknowledged I would have to keep my anger in check if he was to bad talk Keegan.

  “So he shows us a miracle medicine, a drug that gives us powers. Not all of us got powers, but those that did led the way, and we replaced the government with a better one.”

  “Yeah right, what government?” Nicolette's guard scoffed. “You guys aren't doing anything in this city.”

  “I wasn't done with story, prince charming.”

  I raised a hand. “Continue.”

  “So anyway, the higher ups decided to bless the city with the same gift that was given to us, so we massed produced the drug and gave it to everyone, free of charge. Somewhere in there though, there were some unfulfilled expectations about rights and privileges, so us Benevolents started struggling with each other, which opened up to -you guessed it- yet another war.” Abel sighed and shifted in his sitting spot. “So tired of war…”

  “Wait, that's it?” I asked forcefully.

  “What do you mean, that's it? That's the story of Lenburg!”

  I sat forward. “What about the Dwellers? What happened to the government?”

  “Weren't you listening? The government fell apart, and the winning group decided the rights and privileges belong to the Benevolents.”

  “That is a very abridged version,” Nicolette said.

  “Why is the city so junked up?” I questioned.

  “Again, because of the inner struggles.”

  I looked back at Wyatt and Lori, who just returned a confused look to me. “Why a Big Man?” I asked.

  “Eh, someone to take the lead rooting out power struggles and power up the new children. We take shifts.” He faced Nicolette. “You've been the source of a lot of headaches.”

  “I'm about to be the source of your most recent one. I stole your Seeker, what he says doesn't line up with your story,” I uttered.

  He faced me again. “Yes...the seeker. He was useful for a time but...Should have ended him when we had the chance.”

  I clenched my teeth and I heard Wyatt take some precautionary steps forward. “Why ignore the Dwellers?” I prodded. “They're your ancestors and progeny.”

  “Look, I'm not the biggest Big Man. Those guys decided that anyone who doesn't support them has to go, Benevolent or not. Who was I to say no? I'm not going outside the city with those…things.”

  “The word you're looking for is Leftovers.”

  “Whatever,” he shrugged.

  “So you mean to tell me you kicked out everyone of the city that you didn't like? Did that include the sick people that all died mysteriously?” I interrogated further.

  “That was an unfortunate side effect of the drug. Not my fault.”

  “It is your fault! You tested the drug on yourselves long before giving it to the city. You can't me you didn't know…” I growled.

  He paused for a moment, then smirked. “It must have slipped our minds.”

  “Are you serious!?” Wyatt shouted suddenly. “You killed that many people as a reward for winning, and then kicked out everyone who was mad about it? How were they supposed to live!?” Some of the others gravely agreed.

  Abel shrugged again. “They probably didn't. There were a lot more so-called Leftovers back then.”

  I felt my insides cringe. I know everyone else's did too. One group snuffed every sick person in the city, then kicked out all who opposed them to their supposed deaths? That could have been whole families! Children! Elders! Their own people! Only now do I understand what Keegan really meant about guilt. He shielded me from that knowledge. He knew it would make me angry. This is why you made me promise, isn't it? My blood boiled and I felt the aggression rise, but it was Wyatt who reacted. I caught the faintest glimmer of a spherical shield encase Abel, and Wyatt pulled out his weapon; an energy pistol.

  “You worthless…” Wyatt spat as he took aim.

  I disarmed Wyatt in an instant and pushed him back a step or two. The entire crowd seemed to tense. Wyatt blinked at me in surprise. “What are you doing!? Are you protecting this guy?”

  “I will decide what happens to him,” I stated calmly, even though I felt everything but calm inside.

  “Says who?” Nicolette butted in.

  “I will decide,” I repeated louder.

  The air grew tense as looks were passed from one to another and antagonistic comments were passed back and forth. I seemed to be the center of most of it. Nicolette tightened her fists. I dropped the energy weapon to the ground and offered one more comment, “Trust me…”

  I glanced over at Lori who, interestingly enough, seemed to approve of my action. Abel chuckled a tad behind me, forcing my attention back on him. Is he stalling? Was he trying to tear us apart? I knelt in front of him once again.

  “Shields down, don't make me say it twice.”

  Wyatt complied, but he was NOT happy. This may present future problem
s from him if I don't handle this correctly. “What do you think I should do with you?” I asked Abel.

  He chuckled one more time. “I don't know. Probably kill me.”

  A couple of Nicolette's fighters voiced their approval, a couple others offered more violent suggestions. I continued. “You're probably expecting that, and most other days I would compelled to agree. But lately I've been helped to see that killing is...uninspired.”

  Abel’s smile faded. I got up and moved towards my ship. “I've got a better idea,” I announced. “I will take away what you value most.”

  There was a long delay as I dug through a bag I left in my airlock. Abel stood to see what was going on, but I think someone forced him back to sitting. “How do you know what I value?” he yelled to me.

  “Educated guess,” I responded.

  I returned with seemingly nothing, but once I was close enough, I snatched up Abel and injected him with a special syringe. He tensed and held his breath until I was done. Afterwards I dropped him on the ground and examined the syringe to make sure I got it all in.

  “That's it? What was that?” he demanded nervously.

  I shifted my eyes down onto him, full of confidence. “The cure.”

  Part 32

  “You've been pacing since we put him in there,” Lori commented from her chair.

  “No I haven't,” I said, stopping to scratch at one of my burns.

  “Yes you have. It hasn't been back and forth, but you've been moving around since we locked Abel in that room.”

  “I'm not pacing!”

  Nicolette sighed. “You're pacing…”

  I glared at the two of them. So what if I'm pacing? It's eating at my nerves to have brought him onto the Little one at all, and now everyone's just laid out like rugs in the rooms just outside of our captive’s. How long does this cure need to take effect? It's already been almost two hours. I moaned and returned all the way to my ship.

  “Are we leaving?” Sharon asked when I trotted in.

  “No, we're just waiting.” I threw myself onto the only couch-like chair in the room. “Sitting around, doing nothing.” Out of boredom, I found myself fiddling with the sleep pills in my pocket.

  “What are we waiting for?”

  “To see if the cure works. I don't know if it was supposed to go in the bloodstream directly. I don't know how long it needs to work. I don't even know if one injection was enough.” I let out an annoyed breath. The wait is killer. I tossed two white pills into my mouth and sat up to drink them down with some water. When I finished, I noticed Sharon watching me. She doesn't know what these are. There's no way she knows. DOES she know?

  “I found out what happened to Lenburg. As in, before I got here. Do you remember any of it?”

  Sharon shook her head no.

  “Hm...good.” A knock at the entrance of my ship distracted my thought.

  “Our boy finally passed out,” Nicolette said. “Does adrenaline cause a crash?”

  I leapt to my feet and ran out the ship. I even let out a quick laugh at Nicolette. She knows so little about medicine.

  “Was that a yes or no?” she asked in a huff.

  Abel was indeed out. I opened the sealed door and entered the room cautiously. We need a way to test if he has his powers still. Does that show up in blood work? Can it be physically discerned at all, aside from actually seeing the power? I ordered for him to be brought to the lab. If nothing else, I can think of one way to find out.

  After getting set up, I gave a small injection of medicine to wake him. Before long he began to stir, so I put on my helmet and entered the room fully armored.

  “What is this? Where am I now?” he grumbled as he was waking.

  “The operating room,” I replied. I also reached over and turned on a saw. The whirling blade filled the room with noise. It also consumed Abel’s attention.

  “What are you about to do?”

  “I'm about to find out what powers your power.” I lifted the saw and approached with injurious intention.

  “No you don't!” he tried to raise a hand but found himself cuffed down to a chair. Nonetheless, it seemed he was focusing. But nothing was happening. He glanced down at his hands as I drew nearer, like he was confused. He fought the restraints and seemed to be flexing against something inside himself, but still nothing happened. I reached out and took hold of one of his hands and made it appear as if I were going to split him lengthwise. Still, there was nothing he could do aside from thrash against his cuffs. I stopped before touching him with the saw.

  “I thought you were THE bolt…” I mocked.

  “What did you do to me!?” he demanded.

  I released the saw and let it turn off. “It seems I have cured you.”

  “...what?” He blinked in frustration and bewilderment.

  “Of your powers. Drugs gave them to you, and I have developed the drug to take them away. Consider yourself human again.” I moved to grab a needle. “Of course, there are tests to be done, notes to be taken, tweaks to be made. You were the first, after all.”

  “All done, captain?” Wyatt asked as he entered.

  “You can't stop my powers! You don't even know what the original drug is!” Abel pointed out.

  “On the contrary, I know the original drug better than you do. And I know how to cure it better than you do.”

  Wyatt halted by the door to listen. Abel glanced back down at himself in seeming contemplation. I returned to his side. “Hold still and this won't hurt.” I began to draw blood for testing.

  “You can't stop the Benevolents. You're just a Burn! Someone will kill you. Someone could even use this against you and cure you! You're just one person,” Abel growled.

  “Actually, there's at least two people,” Wyatt said. Abel and I both glanced over at him. “Hello. Forget about me?” he said, waving.

  “And what's your power supposed to be?” Abel asked.

  “The power of awesomeness.”

  “Besides,” I added. “I doubt the cure would even work on me.”

  “If it works on me, it'll work on you!” Abel threatened.

  “No, it won't. I'm too awesome,” I replied, punctuating my statement with an innocent smile.

  “Get me out of here!” he demanded again.

  “We will,” I replied while returning to my work. “In fact, everyone that gets cured is going through our mandatory rehabilitation program. We're here to clean up Lenburg, starting with our very own Sapphire Eyes Equalization Effort.”

  Wyatt snickered at my antics, and Abel hardened his face. I finished up with the lab work, and returned to Abel’s side. “Starting with you Benevolents, we're going to give everyone in the city a new life. Sure it'll take a while, but we at the Decapolis are here to help.”

  “You're just making up words now.”

  “Am I? Or did I just cure you, proving myself right?” I smiled again and turned to exit the room. “Not much longer now and everyone in the city will get a taste of this drug.”

  As we left the room, Wyatt hustled up to my side. “So uh...what exactly is the plan again?”

  “We start curing Lenburg. We need to refit all of our old Leftover hunting gear with the cure, and I need to put a tracer within the cure to keep track of who has been injected and who hasn't. I think I'll need to set up some sort of triage for those that happen to be willing to cooperate. Maybe I'll leave that up to Nicolette…”

  “Ok. Sounds complicated. What about right now? I mean, it's been a long day…”

  “Tomorrow then.”

  Wyatt shuddered a little. “I don't know how you keep on the go all the time. Are you on drugs?”

  I turned and glared at him.

  “Vitamin B shots? Energy drinks?” he prodded.

  “Go take your rest. It ends bright and early tomorrow.”

  Which means, I have until tomorrow to iron out the kinks in the cure. It takes about two hours to take effect, based on one observance. It doesn't need to be intravenous from w
hat I can tell, but I'm not sure how injections will work on a tank. Plus I need to figure out a long term solution to tag people. There has to be a way to keep up with who this has been administered to, and I also have to put the Dwellers through it. I haven't thoroughly searched their biology, but I want to make sure the drug isn't affecting them either.

  The next day I woke up with aching burns and a taste for sleep meds, but it won't stop me. With the help of the Little One's crewmen, I was able to devise a simple isotope solution that was both non-toxic and easily detectable with the carrier’s sensors. In order to make the solution long term, I simply needed to make the solution “stick” to the body somewhere. For those that are willing, it would be simple. But for those that resist, I would need to use a special needle that might be a bit more painful than our standard darts.

  I updated my standard gear and made sure to ALWAYS have some of the cure on me. You never know what you might run into. Mass production of the cure was quickly under way, and soon we had enough to equip everyone with a batch of curative. Those from the Decapolis seemed fine handling the concoction, but it seemed to unnerve the Greaters helping us to be carrying it at all.

  Inquiring about good starting locations, we determined that it would be most effective to start with a Greater hub. I immediately knew where to start; the building I got burned on.

  Little One was flown high above the city and lowered. Though the clouds were very few, it still served as some cover as we descended upon the city of Lenburg. Buildings became discernable, the shadow of the carrier quickly overtook this section of the city, and soon we were hovering a couple hundred meters off the ground over our target building. The ship's sensors were already picking up lifesigns. Now was the time to mobilize. While Nicolette's people hastened to the ground with the aid of her smaller aircraft, I stayed behind for one simple reason: intimidation. That is, after all, why I brought the Little One in the first place.

  Using the Little One's speaker system, I made a special announcement. “People of Lenburg! This is Sapphire Eyes, your new redeemer. I bring a gift for everyone. If you are hearing this message, know that a time of change has already overtaken this city. The time of Lessers and Greaters is over! Those of you that cooperate will be welcomed. Those of you that resist, know that you can't fight me. There's nowhere you can run. You have already lost.”