by Rae Thomas
The Scientist towers above him. “Do you have any idea what you’ve done?” His anger has caused the blood to rush to his face, creating a stark contrast with the white scar that extends from his cheek to his ear. Was this scar caused by my father’s weapon?
The fear on Ezra’s face changes to defiance. “You have to tell her! It’s not your right to keep it from her! She has to know!”
The Scientist raises his hand to hit Ezra, but his aggression leaves him and he allows the hand to drop to his side. When he speaks, his words drip with disdain. “Get out of my lab. Get out of my sight. Don’t even think about coming back around here until you’ve learned your place.” Ezra leaves.
The Scientist stands there for a few more moments. He looks down at the floor. My eyes travel back to the center of the room. Back to the girl lying in that bed. The girl that looks just a little too much like me. I cannot wrench my eyes from her face. My face.
Apparently noticing where my attention is focused, The Scientist crosses the room and draws the curtain back to its original position, removing the girl from our sight. I look at his face. He looks pained. He looks tired. He looks much older than my father had; no doubt his face was worn with more rotations of anguish than my father had suffered. My father may have had much to suffer for, but at least he spent his last days in the beauty of Eligo… This man had to live in an underground cavern beneath a collapsed building.
The Scientist is the first to speak. “Violet. And…” He looks at David.
David stands up and helps me to my feet. He extends his hand to shake with The Scientist. “David.”
The Scientist shakes David’s hand and motions to some chairs near his desk. “Please, have a seat. We have much to discuss.” His eyes dart toward the curtain, and then back at me. “Violet. I knew you’d come sooner or later. Where is your father?”
A twinge of grief stabs me in the chest. “My father is dead.”
The Scientist looks shocked for a moment and then says, “They found you?”
I nod. “Yes, a few days ago. David and I have been running since then. We saw the symbol of The Third Stone in this picture of my mother…” I reach into my pocket to retrieve the watch, and then I remember that I left it in the common room last night. David reaches into his own pocket and draws out the watch.
He places it in my hand and says, “I thought you might want it back later.” I nod.
I press the latch and the cover swings open. I show the picture to The Scientist. He nods. He recognizes the picture. “Violet, did you ever regain your memory?”
I shake my head. “I know only what my father has told me, and what I have learned since I woke after the explosion.” I pause for a moment. The Scientist looks disappointed, but not particularly surprised.
I continue, “I am hoping that you can help us.”
The Scientist promises nothing, but nods as if to say, Perhaps. First tell me what you need.
“But before you do, I really need to know why I’m lying in that bed over there.”
A small and fleeting smile crosses his face. “Violet, I will tell you everything you need to know in due time. For now, tell me how I can help you and your companion.”
I nod. “When The Alter was questioning me—”
The Scientist stops me by holding out his hand. He looks alarmed. “You’ve spoken to The Alter?”
I nod.
“And he let you go?”
I shake my head. “No, we…”
David finishes my sentence. “Escaped.”
The Scientist looks even more confused.
“We stole a ship,” I say, but when I see the anxiety on his face I quickly add, “A small transport.”
The Scientist laughs a true, genuinely delighted laugh. “It seems that you’ve been busy in the past few days. Maybe you should start at the beginning.”
I take a deep breath and look at David. He clasps my hand in his and nods his approval.
I tell The Scientist everything that’s happened to us starting from the point when I became suspicious of my father. I’m ashamed, now that I know the little that I have discovered, that I ever questioned his motives. I still wonder if we were found because of my inquiries. I tell him that David learned of our false identities. I recall the day that my father died. Only a few days ago, but it seems like so much time has passed. I tell him that my father ingested the Bahaya blooms to keep from revealing any information to The Vox. I describe the minimal amount of information that I gleaned about The Cube from The Alter. I tell The Scientist everything that has happened, and everything that I have learned. When I finally finish relaying all of the recent events, I falter, but then decide to be completely honest with The Scientist. I tell him about my dreams, the ones I’ve had while sleeping, but also the waking visions. Finally, I’ve told The Scientist everything that I know.
Throughout my entire explanation, The Scientist has been sitting quietly, sometimes nodding. When I finally run out of words, I just wait.
The Scientist leans forward and rests his elbows on his knees. “You’re right, Violet. The artifact that your father named The Cube is at the center of all of these recent events. It possesses great power, and The Vox will stop at nothing to get it.”
“What can you tell me about this Cube? Why does everyone want it so much?”
The Scientist sighs. “As you saw, The Alter approached your father to do some research on The Cube. At that time, they believed that it was some form of technology used by an ancient, extraterrestrial race. Your father was never able to discover more about its origins, but he did learn what it is capable of. The Cube creates life where none exists. Your father saw great potential in this technology; we could heal genetic sicknesses, create disease-resistant crops, perhaps—eventually—we could expand our limited knowledge of the universe.
“Working with only one piece of the artifact proved to be a challenge, but your father determined that The Cube has some type of consciousness. We theorized that it was an advanced form of artificial intelligence, but most of our theories were not confirmed. He worked with the shard for months, and he eventually realized that it keeps some kind of record of things that happen around it. He theorized that this was some kind of defense mechanism—a way for its creators to keep track of how it was being used.”
At this point, The Scientist takes a deep breath and smiles sadly. “Your father had such high hopes for this technology. He thought that harnessing it could be his way of doing something great for the human race. The shard in our possession showed your father lots of images—places where it had been kept, mostly. But after a while, he began to see different things. He was never able to get the whole story; it only showed him bits and pieces, but it seemed that The Cube had not been fractured accidentally.”
I recall one of my visions. I held The Cube in my hands, minus one piece. I remember feeling the fracture lines along the otherwise smooth surface. The Scientist continues, “Your father saw that the one Cube shard in our possession held almost unlimited potential. It showed your father that The Cube had been divided into four pieces, and if all of the pieces were united, the amount of power that it held could not be contained by the human mind. The Cube had been divided so that its great power could not be used by one group to oppress another. Its creators had not foreseen that such power would be so corruptive. That is why, I believe, The Cube warned your father.”
David and I are aghast. The Cube warned my father?
“The Cube began to show your father horrific images of war, death, and disease. It showed him how its power would be used by The Vox once your father learned how to harness it. Your father was horrified. He saw legions of reanimated soldiers being given a dark and unnatural form of ‘life.’ The Vox would build an army of the dead that they soon could not control. Your father decided that it was his responsibility to do something about it. He had done the research that uncovered its power, so he thought he had to be the one to get rid of it. He knew how dangerous it woul
d be if The Sententia were given such unlimited power. He decided that he had to steal the Cube shard.”
Here, The Scientist laughs. “It’s kind of funny. Your father loved your mother, as I’m sure you know, but he never understood her dedication to The Third Stone. He never agreed with her distaste for The Sententia and The Vox. He knew that their methods may be unyielding, but he also firmly believed that they always had our best interests in mind. The Cube showed him otherwise. He knew that they would be corrupted. He saw what they would do and the effect that it would have, and he realized that your mother, and all members of The Third Stone, already saw this potential in our government.”
There is something that’s bothering me. “Some of my dreams contradict each other… Is my mind playing tricks on me?”
“Tell me more.”
“For instance, in one dream, you and my father were good friends. Later, I saw him fire at you as you stole the Cube shard. Then, I saw myself discovering the shard in my father’s possession. What does all of this mean?”
“Yes, I understand why that could be confusing. The truth is, we meant for it to seem that way. Your father and I were more than good friends; we were like brothers. When he told me what the shard had shown him, and what he meant to do, I knew that I couldn’t let him do it alone. I knew that The Vox would never stop hunting him if he disappeared with their only piece of The Cube. He had a young daughter to think about; the last thing that your father would ever want to do was put you in danger. I myself have no family of my own; your father was the only true family I’ve ever known. We decided to stage my theft of the Cube shard to remove suspicion from your father. We knew that The Vox would watch the surveillance recordings and see that your father had tried to stop me. I already had ties to The Third Stone thanks to your mother, and we were certain that no one knew about the underground safe house that your father had built beneath Tara Labs; it would be a perfect place for me to go to disappear.
“Everything went according to plan; The Vox was unhappy with your father for allowing me to escape, but they could not fault him. After all, he’d taken a shot. The investigation was closed. However, your father soon realized that he was being watched; The Alter had not been fooled. Your father feared that The Vox would do something to you to get to him. After what had happened to your mother, he couldn’t bear the thought. He decided that the only option was to stage an accidental explosion at the lab that would have killed you both. The only problem was that he didn’t want you to spend your life underground, and after your mother’s banishment, he never wanted you involved with The Third Stone. So we arranged new identities, and prepared for you to die.”
I feel that I am being crushed by the shame that I feel. How dare I suspect my father? Everything he ever did was to keep me safe, and I had betrayed him.
The Scientist smiles sadly. “He didn’t anticipate you going to the lab to surprise him that day. Your father had rigged a spill that would ignite a chemical explosion in his main lab. That type of explosion is very difficult to predict, but your father estimated that he had about three minutes to get the Cube shard from his office and get out of the building. He was wrong.”
I shake my head in disbelief. All my fault. I can’t believe that all of this was my fault. David squeezes my hand… He knows what I am thinking.
“You and your father were saved because of the reinforcements on his office, but the force of the explosion caused you to be knocked unconscious. We brought you down here and stabilized you; you had both sustained minor injuries.
“Your father sat by your bedside every day, and he slept there every night, but still you did not wake. All of your vital signs were normal; we couldn’t find a medical reason for your coma. Your father was desperate to save you. You cannot imagine the guilt that he felt. He clung to every shred of hope.
“Your father knew that you had been holding the Cube shard when the explosion knocked you unconscious.” He adds an aside. “I believe that this is why you currently have Cube-related dreams and visions. In some way, you absorbed part of The Cube.”
He continues. “Based on his previous findings of some kind of recorded memory within The Cube, he developed the theory that perhaps your consciousness had been transferred to The Cube, or at least that perhaps a shadow of it had been stored there. He worked tirelessly running tests and formulating experiments, but still he could not wake you. He even tried putting the shard in your hand and giving you mild electrical shocks in the hopes that your coma would be reversed. All to no avail. Your father was heartbroken. He believed that your consciousness, your mind and your spirit, were trapped within the Cube shard. That’s why he created her.”
With this, The Scientist gestures to the curtain. Did I hear that correctly? He created her? It seems that The Scientist has anticipated my thoughts. He chuckles. “Yes, that’s what I said.” He gets up and walks toward the curtain. I stand uncertainly, and David puts an arm around my waist for support. We follow The Scientist to the bed; he has already drawn the curtain. I look down at the girl; she is a mirror image of me. How is it possible that she was man-made?
“Violet, you know that your father was an expert in the field of bio-engineering. No one could build a BioMech like he could. He was the best at what he did. He got the idea in his head that he could create a replica of you and use the Cube shard as part of its intelligence compound. He was afraid that your body and mind had been irreversibly torn apart; he thought of this as a way to free you from The Cube.
“As you can see, he completed the shell of your BioMech counterpart. However, he was still developing the technology necessary to work in tandem with the Cube shard when you woke up. One day, without any change in your health or vital signs, you just opened your eyes.
“You simply cannot imagine your father’s elation. You were a miracle to him. When he realized that you had lost your memories, he was crestfallen, but he believed that they were not gone, only locked somehow in your mind. He abandoned his work with the BioMech; his only concern was helping you to regain your memories. The plan went on as we had originally intended; I stayed here with the resistance and you and your father moved to Eligo.”
I hear what he is saying, but I cannot look away from her. Yes, my father was very good at his job; I cannot believe that this girl is a BioMech.
“After your father left, I could not bring myself to dispose of such an amazing piece of technology. It just seemed wrong. So I kept her here; she requires minimal maintenance to keep the outer tissues healthy.”
It’s difficult for me to wrap my head around everything that The Scientist has told me. It’s hard to believe that there is a robotic version of myself being kept in an underground lab. However, I can’t refute it; I’m looking right at her.
“My father was right,” I begin. “It’s our responsibility to hide the Cube shard—to make sure that it is safe from discovery by The Vox. I know they’re looking for it, and they have all of my father’s work and documents. It’s possible that they’ll find some hint of its location; we’ve got to get to it before they do.”
The Scientist looks at me skeptically. “Violet, this is dangerous. You and David really shouldn’t be involved. The Vox will not have mercy on you because of your age. They will hurt you. They’ll torture you until they know. They’ll kill him right in front of you if they have to.”
I know all this. My resolve does not waver. “My father is dead. I’m going to make sure that he didn’t die for nothing. I’ll do it with or without you, but I could really use your help. Where did my father hide the Cube shard?”
The Scientist avoids my gaze. He looks down at the BioMech. “I’m sorry, Violet. I just don’t know. Your father insisted that he be the only one who knew of its location.”
I’ve got to think. Surely something that I’ve seen, something that my father has told me will give me some indication of what my next course of action should be. It is imperative that The Vox never find my father’s piece of the Cube—or a
ny Cube shard, for that matter. Suddenly, it hits me.
There was one place that did not diminish.
Violet Massassi is the name my father gave me.
Massassi was the first woman on Earth.
My father told me where to go.
“Can you help us get to Earth?”
* * *
David and I are seated in the common room with Cecil and Arielle. When I told The Scientist that I believe my father hid a Cube shard on Earth, he was not exactly receptive to the idea. He told us that Earth is too dangerous. He told us that we would be robbed and murdered, and if we weren’t, we would die of thirst. “Earth has nothing for you,” he said.
But I will not be deterred. Why else would my father have given me this name? I know that he was trying to tell me where the Cube shard is hidden. If something happened to him, he wanted me to be able to find it. I will not shame him in death as I did in life. I will finish what my father started.
Arielle begins, “I’m sure you’re aware, but I feel the need to make sure that you two really, truly understand what you’re getting into. Earth is more than dangerous. It’s deadly. The atmospheric conditions are difficult to adapt to; either of you could die from the exposure alone. Do you understand?”
I nod, and then I look at David. “David, I want you to stay behind.”
David balks. “Violet, there’s no way I’m letting you go alone! We’re in this together.”
I shake my head emphatically. “We don’t have to be. In fact, we shouldn’t be. I pulled you into this mess before I really knew what it would entail. It’s one thing to have you with me in Summus. I’m risking your life on an entirely different level if I let you come with me to Earth.”
“Violet, are you hearing yourself? If you let me come with you? I’d like to see you try to stop me. You’re not going alone. That’s the end of it.”
I soften. “David, I can’t have another death on my conscience… Especially not yours. Don’t you understand? I just couldn’t live with myself if something happened to you.”
