Probe

by Douglas E Roff

  Her ruthless streak, however, had visibly diminished with her new life. What was that old hippy human expression? Make love not war? Motherhood and love had changed her; she didn’t always like herself because of it. She preferred the mythology of her old former self; tough, fierce, independent, and single minded.

  Let’s not forget ruthless.

  Her cell phone rang as she poked and prodded some tomatoes for ripeness. God, she thought, how far have I fallen?

  “Hello?” She answered tentatively as the number displayed wasn’t one she recognized. “Who is this?”

  Her tone was anything but friendly.

  “Why Saldana, dear, it’s me your old friend at the Vatican. Miss me?”

  This was Bellinelli talking. The venerable Dr. Musso was nowhere in sight, and even Saldana didn’t yet know this man’s true identity. He had become her eyes and ears inside the Vatican, the only organization old enough to have been around the Gens in ancient times, and still have an institutional memory of their existence. That fact had always been kept secret and many Popes had come and gone without having any awareness of the Collective. But certain members within the Vatican hierarchy were entrusted with the state secret, which was passed down from Cardinal to Cardinal within a small cadre of the faithful. Bellinelli was the latest, although, in fact, he was neither a Catholic nor a Cardinal.

  However, he was on the ruling body of an ancient organization whose sole purpose was to track and keep track of the Gens Collective. As the numbers of Gens grew, and later turned to science and technology, the role of the Vigilem, as they called themselves, also changed. Their sole purpose had been to watch and monitor the Gens Collective, nothing more. That had all changed in the past fifty years to a larger role of keeping humanity safe from the potential for a burgeoning Gens aggression.

  In the past decade, policy decisions were discussed by the Vigilem’s ruling body that the time had come to eliminate the Gens as a species before they could eliminate the species homo sapiens.

  “Ah, Cardinal. Still in the business of saving souls? Or are you still buggering little boys too? Can’t keep track of all your pious activities any more. Not enough paws in the world for that. So, to what do I owe the pleasure of your angelic voice today?”

  “Ah yes, Saldana my dear. I look forward to the day we’re rid of you and your kind. Then even I will sleep better at night. And I sleep pretty well now. But, let’s dispense with the pleasantries and get down to business. Shall we?”

  “Your dime. Go.”

  “Well today I have some information for you and maybe you can use it, maybe you can’t.”

  “The Pope is gay and coming out?”

  “Nope. Not this Pope anyway. He’s the real deal.”

  “Whatever.”

  “It has come to my attention that an academic and anthropologist somewhere in the USA has been inquiring with the Vatican into a certain incident in pre-war Italy. A place you folks call Gensarii. You know of it?”

  “Every Gens knows about the Gensarii Incident. It’s obligatory reading in the Progressions. You Papists know it too. So, what? Old news.”

  “Indeed, you are correct, we do know of it. Right away. But then you sneaky fucking Gens slipped through our fingers before we could deal with your cheeky behavior. Almost started another war. Fortunately for you, a world war was already in progress.”

  “Fortunate for us. There was a time you loved us. Needed us.”

  “Yes, and there was a time we thought the earth was flat. We’re not that ignorant anymore.”

  “Such hostility, Cardinal. Why all the anger so suddenly?”

  “Oh, I don’t know. Maybe because you’re trying hard to kill us all. Maybe there are just too many of you freaks of nature for my own taste. Maybe just because you’re an abomination and have no place in natural world. Something like that I guess. And you?”

  “Ditto. Time for you folks to move on. A seventh and final extinction for you and your kind. Then the planet can heal and get on with whatever it is your God originally intended.”

  “My God never intended you, of that I’m certain.”

  “Well, so what’s the purpose of this call? Just to tell me some random human academic is interested in my ancestors’ distant past? There’s nothing to the incident and nothing to discover. Even what you possess at the Vatican is mostly nothing. Something happened, some soldiers died, and the place was abandoned. We moved on. What’s there to tell?”

  “You miss the point, Saldana. As per usual. You need to see the bigger picture. More like Paulo. Now there’s a Gens we really need to eliminate. He’s almost as smart as a human. Good instincts too.”

  “So, I’ve heard. From frightened Gens and stupid humans. Make your point. I have grocery shopping to do. My ice cream is melting.”

  “If some random anthropologist has heard about the incident and is asking for Vatican cooperation, what else does he know? Then there was the loss of your precious Library. How does that factor in, if at all? A connection? Maybe. A coincidence? Maybe. Could be something, could be nothing. Just sayin’.”

  “No, you’re not. There’s always a point, a motive when it comes to you Papists. What do you know? What aren’t you telling me?”

  “Nothing so far. We’re content to watch and wait. We think he may just be nosing around looking for new grant material; something for a good old anthropologist to nose around for. Nothing more. But… you might consider, what if he isn’t some sort of random anthropologist. What then?”

  “Why call me, then? Why do you care all of a sudden?”

  “We don’t care but you risk exposure, and I’m pretty sure Paulo, and his comical little brother would love to hear about this. They’d send out their cartoon Captains and Trackers and all their little minions and kill this poor schmo. Who knows, maybe you will too.”

  “Why not call Paulo yourself then? I can give you his number.”

  “Nope. Don’t need that kind of trouble. Just letting you know what’s out there. It would be sad if the war started before you were ready.”

  “You thinkin’ you’re ready?”

  “Heaven’s no. We need a catalysing event. Some fucked up situation where you overstep your boundaries and precipitate Armageddon. Then we’ll be ready. But for now, we’re content to watch and wait.”

  “For what?”

  “For you, Saldana my dear, for you. You’re going to start this war for us. Then when you do, we’ll clean up afterward. It will unite humanity against the Gens apocalypse. Better than commies and Nazi’s put together. Stalin was a piker next to you, luv.”

  “You’re insane Bellinelli. You know that, right.”

  “Now, now, Saldana dear, no need for hyperbole. That will come a little later.”

  “Anything else, you old fuck?”

  “Nope. Just thought I’d share. Whatever you do with this information is up to you. Use it, ignore it. I don’t care. But you have been warned.”

  “Thanks.”

  They both clicked off.

  Saldana stopped to consider what the good Cardinal had just revealed. It could be useful. She’d have to inquire more deeply into the background of this human, the Human, assuming she could find out his true identity. See if she could use it, or him, in some form or fashion. But if Bellinelli was ‘helping’ there was something dreadfully wrong.

  But there would be no sharing with Paulo or Enzo; that much was certain. Saldana was convinced that this was what Bellinelli really intended. But she wouldn’t take the bait. If this human anthropologist was inquiring into all things Gens, she might attempt to derail him and move him away from further inquiry. If stronger means of deflection became necessary, she would find a way to accomplish that without her fingerprints all over the metaphorical gun.

  She could engineer something. Something that landed on someone else’s head.

  Chapter 39

  The private jet touched down at Victoria International Air
port in early morning after a brief layover in New York. The group, comprised of Misti, Adam, Edward, Bethy, Edmund, Alana and Noki, were met at the tarmac by three black SUV’s populated by two men in each vehicle. They were dressed in smart suits, all wore aviator sunglasses, and all were armed with weapons in shoulder and ankle holsters. None smiled much as the group was ushered into a special building to hurriedly go through Canadian Customs and Immigration. That process was quick and painless, and they were soon on Highway 1 headed north up the eastern coast of Vancouver Island toward the newly tended, single entrance electronic gate to the Victoria Institute. Back off the highway, hidden in the thick underbrush was a new high fence, electrified with other motion detector laser gadgets and trip wires in profusion.

  For those who had lived on the grounds of the Institute before today, the place already felt different and strange. The Institute had always been a refuge of sorts for its residents: rural, pastoral, and quiet. It now felt more like Fortress Victoria and that wasn’t a good thing. All intuitively felt somehow that stealth and secrecy provided far better protection than visibility and firepower.

  Neither the group nor their government protectors had brought any more than a modest amount of attention to their arrival; it was simply that the presence men in suits wearing sunglasses with bulges all around attracted more attention, no matter how little, than was desired. However, the necessity of precautions was warranted and, as a result, no one was going to complain. The other residents thought it was exciting; most had never met a G-man armed and looking bad ass. The men and women of the new security details integrated into daily life at the Institute quickly and were soon accepted into the limited social life available within the compound.

  When Misti, Adam, Noki and Alana arrived at their home, they had a quick conference on the future and agreed that once the incident in Rome was settled, as far as it could be anyway, they would make plans to return to London and their new home at the Manor. They already missed Hannah, Vera and the Bentley boys, and felt strangely as if important family members weren’t with them and had been accidently left behind. They somehow felt incomplete.

  Adam said, “It’s settled then. We go back ASAP unless Dad tells us that things are more dangerous there than here. I don’t think we’re in any real danger anywhere for a while but, then, who knows? I think once we get the word from Hannah and Vera that the Manor is fully restored, and the new buildings completed, we should jet back to London and take up residence there.”

  Adam paused waiting for comments. There were none. They all had grown suddenly quiet.

  “For now, I need to see my Mom and Pops and get right with them. Misti, maybe you could go have a quick visit with Mark and Julia and get them warmed to the possibility of moving to the Manor with the girls. Dad says that Cindy and Rod are still out in the field with Team Suarez and may not be back for a couple more weeks. Maybe if we can get the girls excited about the move, Mark and Julia will be less reluctant to make the change. Do your best. Remind Mark that he’ll have even less to do here with all the suits hanging around than ever before. Retirement to a foreign country, all expenses paid, might not seem such a terrible thing.”

  “As for you ladies,” Adam continued looking at Noki and Alana, “why don’t you get settled and we’ll start all the introductions a little later after you’ve had a few minutes to rest and collect yourselves.”

  What Adam was most concerned about at present was the attitude that Maria had adopted about Noki and Alana, having never met them, but hearing second hand from Edward what had been transpiring. He knew that Pops would be welcoming and unfazed by anything he heard. Pops was seriously non-judgmental and would believe nothing he heard until he heard it from the source: Adam and Misti. Mostly from Adam, truth be told.

  The girls started moving luggage around, Noki into the room she would occupy with Adam, and Misti and Alana in one of the two other upstairs spare bedrooms. Workspace was set aside, with Alana and Adam taking up most of the large basement, now filled with electronics they had either moved from upstairs or acquired for Alana in their absence. Misti kept her old office upstairs and Noki would begin working with Misti from Adam’s old upstairs office on her projects.

  Within days everyone was settled and reasonably happy.

  Adam set off immediately to Mom and Pops house across the street from where Edward and Bethy had taken up residence in an almost empty home. They had hoped to have months to decide how to make bare walls into their new abode; now they couldn’t even be sure how often they would actually be around.

  Both Edward and Bethy welcomed Edmund into their home, sparse as it was. Edward agreed to build Edmund a cabin up near where Adam and Misti lived with Alana as soon as it could be arranged. Edmund would likely not travel at all, as most of his work would be with Maria and Agustin on the engineering, and materials side of things. The work he might do with Marcus, Tawney and the Detwilers regarding quantum encryption was mostly speculative, and probably not likely to be of any immediate practical value. Maybe later.

  His original passion for the physics of light and heat was a different story. His expertise there had immediate practical implications.

  ***

  When Adam arrived at his Mom’s house, she was expecting him. Pops surfaced from his subterranean Lab a few minutes later to hugs and abrazos. Pops looked normal; Mom did not.

  Adam saw the pursed lips that were the telltale signs of an unhappy or even angry Mom. His experience with Mom’s unhappy side was tiny; she didn’t often get or remain upset with her son for any reason. Until now, Maria thought, there had never been a reason. But now…

  There were two new women in Adam’s life, neither of which was his wife. One was now pregnant with his child. Pregnant. How could this be only a few weeks after Adam and Misti had just gotten married? And that Misti was now taken up with another - a woman - was almost more than she could wrap her mind around. When Edward relayed the original news about Alana, without thinking much about the impact on family, Maria had gotten very upset and distressed. Then the news of Noki, and fatherhood for her son had driven her to distraction. Being so far away from her son had made her days too long and too miserable. She wanted her boy back home and explaining himself.

  To Maria, it seemed that everything she had worked so hard to construct for her large and joyful family over more than two decades had begun to unravel too quickly and too thoroughly. Maria thought that, with the wedding now over, everything was exactly as it needed to be. As she and God intended.

  As per usual, Pops said nothing, and counseled everyone in the family to relax and wait for Adam’s explanation of events. Pops was unworried and believed his son had the good judgment and sense to do what was right, even when the family didn’t initially understand his thinking. To Pops, all that mattered was whether Adam’s actions and decisions made sense to him. To Adam.

  Everyone else in his mind, Pops included, didn’t have a say. Input, yes. Motherly advice, of course. Judgment, no. His son Adam was wealthy, successful, a genius and tough as nails. He was a good boy. That Maria didn’t like one of Adam’s lifestyle choices was just too bad. He would never, of course, say that out loud to his wife of thirty plus years. He wasn’t that stupid. But he would calm and mediate, if and when necessary.

  It was likely necessary now.

  “Mother.”

  “Son.”

  “I understand you’re upset with me. Is this true?”

  “Papa says I need to try to understand and not judge. Help me understand.”

  “You’re not going to believe what I’m going to tell you. But it’s all true.”

  They all sat down at the kitchen table, the place for most serious family discussions in the Suarez/St. James family.

  Adam continued, “When I’m done, you’ll understand, be amazed and ashamed you ever doubted me. Ready?”

  “Go,” both Mom and Pops said in unison.

  Chapter 40

  Adam
began by explaining the new “gifts” he had discovered, although the context in which he had to describe its origins and previous use was no less upsetting to Maria. Pops, on the other hand, just smiled.

  Maria said, “When you were fourteen, Klara Wainright, Gemma’s mom, called me with this same strange story. Something Gemma had said when she and her mom were fighting one day. Klara thought it was hilarious, but still thought something was up. You know, between you two. Thought I ought to know.”

  Adam said, “I remember.”

  “Why didn’t you ever tell me about this?”

  “Seriously Mom? Dad wanted to drill my head for my memory ability. God only knows what he would have tried to do to me if he knew about this.”

  “I would’ve kept it secret. You know that.”

  “No, I don’t. And no, you wouldn’t have. You’ve have told Dad and Pops and then decided something. About me and without my input. That’s how things worked back then. I suspect not much has changed.”

  Maria said nothing.

  “Am I right Pops?”

  “You are, son. You are.”

  Maria shot her husband a “just wait ‘til later look”.

  “Be that as it may, Mom, what I have to tell you now doesn’t leave this room. Ever. I need your word on that.”

  Pops nodded as did Maria.

  “Sign of the cross Mom.”

  “Really, Adam. That isn’t necessary.”

  “Sign of the cross, or I walk out right now and just tell Pops.”