H.A.L.F.: ORIGINS

by Natalie Wright

  Anna forced her out of the apartment and to the lab, where she sat in the small, cluttered staff kitchen. She had a knit cap over her bulbous head, which was further camouflaged by the hood of her jacket. She wore a pair of dark owl-eyed sunglasses, black pants, and sneakers. She could almost pass for human though she looked a bit like a late-elementary school child playing dress-up with her mom’s sunglasses.

  She was not reading a book or paper, and she didn’t stare at a phone or tablet screen. She sat with her knees to her chest, her arms wrapped around them, staring off at some unseen point.

  Anna sat across the table from her, and Jack took a seat between them. Alecto did not acknowledge their presence.

  Anna reached an arm across the table and gently touched Alecto’s arm. “Alecto, we need to speak with you. It’s about the procedure Dr. Randall would like to perform on you today.”

  She unwound her arms from around her legs. She removed her sunglasses and blinked her eyes a few times as though they were adjusting to the bright light of the fluorescents.

  “You want me to turn the lights off?” Jack asked.

  She shook her head. When she spoke, her voice was hoarse from disuse. “I need to get used to the light if I’m to live in this world.” She didn’t sound very happy at the prospect.

  “I want to make sure you’re okay with this and that you understand what’s going to happen,” Anna said.

  “Do I have a choice?” Her voice was flat and matter-of-fact, without a hint of regret or sarcasm or bitterness.

  “You do have a choice,” Jack said.

  Anna nodded. “You could remain as you are. You’d still be vulnerable to attacks by water and weakened by humidity. But it is your choice.”

  Alecto blinked her huge eyes, looked at both of them, then said, “You do not understand. Commander Sturgis created this cure for me. It is her directive that I undergo this change. I must do this. There is no choice.”

  Anna began to protest, but Alecto put up her hand and said simply, “Silence.”

  Though no force or anger existed behind Alecto’s words, Anna complied.

  “I do not expect humans to understand. I am not like you, Anna. I was not born into a world of freedom. My Conexus genes crave order. Structure. I need command. I will do this, and I do not need to contemplate whether it is good or bad for me—only that my commander wills it. That is all.”

  She did not wait for further protests from Anna or argument from Jack. She stood, put her glasses back on, and said, “Take me to Dr. Randall. I am ready.”

  Jack walked on one side and Anna on the other as they led her to the room in the lab where Anna and Dr. Randall had worked on the gene therapy. Dr. Randall had placed a stool beside one of the high tables. He had a steel tray there with two needles filled with liquid, a few cotton balls, and some flexible bandages.

  Dr. Randall wore a wide smile and greeted her warmly. “Alecto, you are looking good. I think the time out of the cave has served you well.”

  She did not reply.

  Dr. Randall nervously adjusted his glasses. “Yes, very well then. Please, have a seat here, and we will begin.”

  Alecto took the seat, her back rigid and her posture perfect.

  “I’ll need you to remove the sweatshirt so I can give the injections.”

  As Alecto unzipped the hoodie and removed it, Anna said, “Remember, doc. Informed consent.”

  After their conversation with Alecto in the kitchen, Jack figured the idea of informed consent pointless. Clearly, the young woman would drink cyanide-laced Kool-Aid if Commander Sturgis told her to.

  Dr. Randall did his best to inform the patient even though doing so would make no difference. “There will be two injections, one in each arm. I will not lie. It will likely hurt, and the liquid may burn as it enters your veins.”

  Alecto showed no outward sign of understanding or emotion.

  He coughed nervously. “After that, well, the truth is I do not know what will happen. This is, of course, a wholly unique situation, never been done before. But if other gene therapies are any indication, you may feel nauseous, even vomit for a day or so. You may feel weak and have stomachaches. You may run a fever.”

  Dr. Randall continued for nearly three minutes listing all the potential side effects she might suffer through. Alecto stoically listened though Anna and Jack both shifted anxiously on their feet. The cure seemed potentially worse than the disease. That point seemed especially clear when Dr. Randall cited the last of the possible effects.

  “And last but surely not least, it could kill you.”

  Even that did not cause Alecto to change expression.

  “Are you sure you want to do this?” Jack asked. He wasn’t sure that, if he had to make the choice, he would choose to undergo a risky, untried therapy. She was about to put something in her system that would rewrite her genetic code.

  Alecto nodded her large head.

  Dr. Randall again pushed his glasses up his nose. “Yes, well, unless you have any questions then, we will proceed.”

  He lifted the first needle and was moving it toward her arm when she grabbed his arm with her other hand. The movement was so quick the action was nearly a blur.

  “I have just one question, Dr. Randall.”

  He stammered. “Yes, um, anything. What do you want to know?”

  “Did Commander Sturgis order that this procedure be done?” She let loose his hand, and he put the needle down to his side.

  “Well, since she was removed from command of A.H.D.N.A., I mean officially, Dr. Sturgis is no longer a commander, so she has no authority over you or anybody, really.”

  The answer made her brow furrow, the first sign of emotion Jack had seen from her since he first met her.

  “If she does not command me, then who does?”

  Dr. Randall put the needle back on the tray. He coughed lightly again and hesitated. “Well currently, I would say that no one is in command. You are—”

  Alecto’s face, normally as devoid of emotion as cold, hard stone, contorted with pain. Her mouth was twisted in agony, her eyes narrowed as though fighting back tears.

  Anna rubbed her bare arm to comfort her, and Dr. Randall stood with his mouth open like a fish sucking in air. Alecto’s eyes darted wildly, and she pulled her knees to her chest. She was getting ready to go into one of her trances.

  Jack blurted out, “He’s wrong, Alecto. Commander Sturgis is still in command.” He didn’t know what made him say it, but it had the immediate effect of pulling Alecto back from the brink of what may have been a mental crisis.

  “Explain,” she said.

  Jack thumbed through his mind, trying to find an answer that would appease her, and he came up with something that may have even been plausible. “You were created as part of the H.A.L.F. program, right?”

  “Of course,” she said.

  “Okay, so that was funded with taxpayer dollars. And this Croft guy, he seems to think he’s in charge of you, but he’s not even a US citizen. And since he had Commander Sturgis unlawfully imprisoned, any paper saying she was stripped of command is invalid. Therefore, she is still your commander.”

  Alecto sat quietly for a moment, her head cocked to one side. Finally, she asked, “And did Commander Sturgis order this procedure?”

  Dr. Randall fidgeted with the buttons on his shirt. “Well, order, I don’t know if you can say—”

  Anna interrupted. “She did, Dr. Randall. When I spoke to Sewell—who, by the way, has been acting supervisor of A.H.D.N.A. in her absence—anyway, he said—and these are his exact words—‘Commander Sturgis has given me notes on a gene therapy that she created to cure Alecto and Tex of their water vulnerability. She said to synthesize it as quickly as possible and administer it to Alecto as soon as you can.’”

  Alecto apparently heard what she needed to hear. “Then do not delay, Dr. Randall. Inject me as commanded.”

  Jack felt a bit guilty about manipulating her, but she had seemed to come unhing
ed at the thought of having no one to give her orders. Clearly, Commander Sturgis intended her to get the therapy, and Alecto seemed comforted to know she was still getting orders from someone. Alecto and Tex were as distinct from one another as Anna was different from Thomas.

  Dr. Randall let out a sigh and quickly set about injecting the medicine into Alecto’s vein. She winced only slightly as he poked the needle in. She let out a small moan of pain as the liquid burned its way into her system.

  When he had injected both needles, Dr. Randall said, “I suggest you take her back to the apartment now and have her rest. Someone should be with her twenty-four, seven, understand? Do not leave her alone, and at the first sign of any trouble, contact me immediately.”

  Jack attempted to help her up from the stool, but she shrugged off his help. She rose on steady legs and walked of her own accord to the elevators.

  Back at the apartment, Jack and Anna began Alecto Watch. At first, no ill effects appeared. Alecto took up residence on the couch again, engrossed in a reality TV show. But a couple hours after the injection, Alecto complained of an odd sensation she had never felt before. Before they could inquire further, she promptly upchucked all over the wooden floor.

  She looked aghast at what she had done, as though her vomit was a hairy bit of moldy cheese someone had scraped out of the back of the refrigerator and thrown onto the floor.

  “Have you never vomited before?” Anna asked as she knelt to clean it up with paper towels.

  Fortunately, Alecto had not eaten before the procedure. The vomitus was mainly liquid.

  Alecto shook her head. “I am cold now. Very cold.” She shivered and wrapped her arms around herself.

  “You should lie down. I’ll get you covers,” Jack said.

  She allowed his help that time as he led her to the bedroom she shared with Anna. Jack piled two more blankets on her, and when she still complained of being cold, he ran to the nearest drug store and bought an electric blanket to add even more warmth.

  Anna called Dr. Randall and explained the situation. He said they could do nothing but give her comfort and wait it out. He hoped the discomfort would pass within forty-eight hours.

  Alecto slept fitfully and occasionally mumbled about being cold. Anna stroked her bald head as she shook with fever. Jack kept her sick bucket clean and watched her through the night so Anna could get rest.

  Jack had nodded off sometime in the middle of the second night. He awoke to the eerie sensation that he was being watched. He opened his eyes slowly. They were still bleary with sleep. Hazy, soft first-morning light filtered into the room through the gauzy curtains. A silhouette sat upright on the bed in front of him.

  Alecto’s black eyes stared back at him. “I require… water.”

  Jack rubbed the sleep from his eyes with the palms of his hands. “Not sure I heard you right.” He yawned. “Did you just ask for water?”

  She nodded.

  “You mean to drink?”

  “Yes.”

  Jack pushed himself up from the chair and fetched Alecto a tall glass of cool water. In all the time he’d been around her, Jack had never seen Alecto drink anything. She had told him she got the liquid her body needed from the food she ate and by absorbing moisture from the air.

  By the time he got back to the room, Anna was sitting upright in her bed, yawning.

  Jack handed Alecto the glass. “You may want to drink this—”

  She took the glass and downed the water in one long gulp.

  “I was going to say slowly.”

  She handed the empty glass back to him. “More.”

  Anna yawned as she threw off the covers. “No, I think Jack is right. You should take it slow. We need to wait to see what effect that water you just drank will have on your system.”

  “More water, Jack,” Alecto said. When he didn’t make a move to fill her glass, she looked up at him and blinked her wide eyes, her lips drawn into what may have been a sad frown. “Please. My lips and throat are—what is the word?”

  “Parched,” Jack said. He could believe it as her voice was hoarse and sounded as if she’d just swallowed gravel. “How about a half a glass?”

  “Maybe we should call Dr. Randall before we give her any more water,” Anna said.

  “Please,” Alecto said. Her voice was small and hoarse and pleading.

  “You call Dr. Randall. But I can’t let her go thirsty while we wait for him,” Jack said. He handed Alecto a half-full glass of water. “Drink it more slowly this time, okay?”

  She nodded and took just a sip. She closed her eyes, and her face relaxed. Her lips curled up in a small smile, and she appeared to be savoring the cool liquid as it ran down her throat.

  “Are you feeling any ill effects?” Anna asked.

  Alecto blinked her eyes slowly a few times then opened them and smiled more widely. “I always wondered what water would taste like. It is… it is good, is it not?”

  “That it is,” Jack said. As her glass was empty again, he took it from her. “How do you feel?”

  Alecto cocked her head to one side, her eyes staring off toward nothing that Anna or Jack could see. She was quiet and still for a moment, but abruptly announced, “I suffer no ill effects from the water. I am cured.”

  Jack chuckled. “It’s great that you’re feeling well, but I think Dr. Randall will want to run some tests before he pronounces you cured.”

  “Now you can’t be controlled by Croft anymore,” Anna said.

  “Or by Commander Sturgis,” Jack said. He recalled the ease with which Alecto had attacked Erika and Tex in Apthartos. Jack shuddered at the idea of an Alecto unfettered by a vulnerability to humidity. Now, nothing would stop her if she decided to turn on any of them.

  Alecto rose from the bed. “I want to cleanse myself with water?”

  “You mean shower?” Jack asked.

  “Yes. A shower.”

  “No. I’m putting my foot down,” Anna said. “Drinking water is one thing. Your body is replenishing the liquid it lost during your illness. But standing under a blast of water is another thing. If your skin still draws water in, you could drown in a matter of minutes.”

  Alecto pushed past Anna on the way to the bathroom.

  Anna ran after her. “Alecto, stop!”

  Alecto stripped out of her clothes, unconcerned with modesty. She left a trail of clothing behind her but stopped by the tub, staring at the closed shower curtain.

  Jack wanted to look away from her naked body. Watching someone disrobe in front of people was awkward as hell, and staring seemed impolite, but stare he did. He couldn’t pull his eyes away. Her body looked human yet not quite. Her ribs were clearly visible, as was each nodule of her verterbrae. Her skin was pulled taut over her frame. She was gaunt yet well muscled. Her thighs were tightly wound cords of muscle, and her calves were also well formed. Her breasts were buds, barely there but enough to distinguish her from being male.

  Anna stepped between Alecto and the shower curtain. “I cannot allow you to do this. Not without Dr. Randall present. At least wait for him to get here to monitor you. Okay?”

  Alecto did not immediately answer but finally nodded in acquiescence. Jack found a robe and threw it over her shoulders. The modesty was more for their benefit than hers.

  Dr. Randall took less than half an hour to arrive. His face was flushed with excitement at the news that she’d drunk nearly two full glasses of water with no apparent ill effects.

  He stared at Alecto, wrapped in the robe and sitting on the sofa. He scratched his chin then pushed his glasses up his nose. “Fascinating.”

  “She wants to take a shower,” Jack said. He wasn’t sure Dr. Randall remembered that was why they had called him over.

  “Yes, well I think you should,” he said. “We can’t know if you are cured until we try it out.”

  “Shouldn’t she maybe dip her feet in first? Take it slow?” Jack asked.

  “If she drank that much water and has suffered no ill eff
ects, I think we can skip straight to a shower,” Dr. Randall said.

  Alecto did not hesitate. She stood and let the robe fall away. Tex had done the same thing on Bell Rock—just dropped trouser in front of all of them. Jack didn’t think he could ever get used to people just peeling their clothes off whenever and wherever they wanted.

  Anna ran the water until it was warm and helped Alecto step into the tub. With the shower curtain pulled, Jack no longer saw Alecto’s face. The only sound was that of the water pinging against the porcelain tub.

  The peaceful water sounds were interrupted by a guttural scream, like an injured animal yowling.

  Dr. Randall had been standing just outside the bathroom door, but he ran to the shower and threw aside the curtain.

  From the sound, Jack expected Alecto to be in a heap on the floor of the shower, her body limp and near lifeless. Instead, she stood tall with her arms outstretched to her sides, her face upturned, taking the force of the shower directly.

  Dr. Randall turned off the water and threw a towel around her shoulders. “Do not worry. We’ll get you dried out and—”

  Alecto’s lips were upturned in the first genuine smile Jack had ever seen on her face. “Water is… good.”

  Jack let out the breath he’d been holding, relieved her guttural scream was from happiness instead of pain.

  He helped her out of the shower, and Anna threw another towel over her head. Anna and Dr. Randall rubbed the water off her as she stood still, her eyes shining bright, wetness twinkling at the corners.

  Alecto still wore a broad smile, and her eyes were focused on a distant horizon none of them could see. “Nothing will stop me now.”

  14

  ERIKA

  Erika had fallen onto Niyol and Kai’s couch and slept for nearly fifteen hours. When she woke, the house was quiet, the only sound the crackle of a fire in the wood-burning stove. Her head felt full of cobwebs, and her mouth was as dry as cotton. That was some tea.

  She tiptoed down the hall of the small house, searching for Dana. The kitchen, two small bedrooms, and bath were empty.

  Erika stepped outside into a clear, cool late-autumn day. Tents had sprouted around the house, and people sat on lawn chairs around a small bonfire. They all appeared to be Native American though Erika didn’t know if they were from the same tribe as Niyol and Kai. Dogs chased each other or napped quietly on the ground by the fire. Despite a crowd of at least a dozen people, the morning was nearly silent, save for the pop and hiss of the fire fire and panting of dogs.