by RJ Plant
“Becomes contaminated and can spread the virus,” I finished, which I felt earned me a pat on the head.
Apparently, it did not.
“But … it would be nearly impossible.”
“Explain.”
“Well, to affect only one of you, both the virus and vaccine would need to be specifically tailored to the respective genome, and I never finished the vaccine. I never had anything from you from which to pull a DNA sequence.”
“The Kazic data is missing …” I mumbled. “You think the vaccine and virus could be manufactured with the same information that helps to make Felix’s meds?”
Kaitlyn’s face fell. She leaned heavily against the window and rubbed her hands over her face.
“Of course,” she said quietly. “The way Rian reacted when he saw Dr. Esposito’s name in the file … He wasn’t asking about the doctor; he knows him. I bet Esposito is the one who manufactured Felix’s medication.”
“He is,” I confirmed. She looked skeptical, but I pushed on anyway. “Which makes it plausible that he finished the vaccine. Rian had to have known Esposito was in bed with GDI, right?”
“I don’t know,” Kaitlyn said. She inspected the puncture marks on my neck again. “But there is a serious chance you’ve been turned into a biological weapon, Conor.”
“I think it’s time for you to give Rian a call,” I said, though I hated having to go to him for help. “Sort some things out, tap some of those substantial resources.”
“What do I say to him?” she asked.
“Everything we know. Everything we assume.”
She made the call.
We needed time. We needed all the time we could get. Though the trip to Stockholm would take just over twelve hours—the airships only clocked between eighty and ninety miles per hour in good weather conditions, after all—it still wasn’t enough time. And with this fecking chip, I was even more screwed.
I’d just gotten free from Felix’s control. I wasn’t going to be made into someone’s toy weapon. C-chips, biological weapons? Fuck.
“We need to meet Seth and Shaina at the airstrip in Edinburgh,” Kaitlyn said.
She tucked the mobile, a pen, and a notepad into her bag. I tried to look inside, impressed with the sheer volume the bag could hold. Some sort of pocket dimension? Or was that not a thing? That should be a thing.
“Then I’d better tell the pilot there’s a change in flight plans,” I said.
I headed down one of the staircases and came to a door on my left that led to the forward keel corridor, and a door to my right with a plaque indicating b deck, crew quarters, and keel corridor. I took the corridor leading toward the front of the ship.
The corridor consisted of a suspended catwalk about three feet wide with massive triangular duralumin girders sticking out at forty-five-degree angles. There were crisscrossing steel cables about an inch or so around. The longitudinal girders running along the lower section of the airship were visible below.
I found a ladder that led down to the control room.
“No civilians allowed in there, sir,” a crewman said before I was halfway down the ladder. I looked at my warrant card to double check which name I was using: Felix’s, Mr. Evans’s, or mine.
“Agent Quinn, GDI,” I said, brandishing the shiny new warrant card. “Tell the pilot that he has a drop to make in Edinburgh. GDI-mandated order, no questions.”
I pushed past him—an acrobatic feat that should have thoroughly impressed, considering the confines of the catwalk—and walked away. I heard him climb down the ladder, muttering unpleasantries. Satisfied, I returned to Kaitlyn.
“Well?” she asked.
“They’ll either stop or they won’t. I didn’t wait around for an answer. Was I supposed to?”
“Could have been helpful.”
I retreated to one of the booths, closed my eyes, and leaned back as best I could. “Wake me when they come ’round for dinner, would you?”
*****
28 October 2042, Edinburgh, Scotland
It took just over two and a half hours to get from Dublin to Edinburgh, which pushed us into a pretty late hour by the time the airship hovered over the former city. There was no street lighting.
Shaina leaned against a roller—likely the one kept at the safehouse here—tall and lean and angry.
Behind her the remains of the castle stood out against the moonlight, a doleful view of a proud history that was crumbling to dust. It seemed a sad affair to lose pieces of history to such violence.
I could see Seth through the window, behind the wheel. I waved at him. He looked at ease, fairly good-natured given the circumstances. I almost felt guilty for knocking him out earlier.
Almost.
In the near-distance a helicopter rose high and loud before turning and fading away. Rian’s resources proving ever-helpful.
“Well, Shaina?” I said as soon as we were close enough.
She scowled at me as I escorted Kaitlyn by the elbow. We may have hit a breakthrough on the airship, but self-preservation outweighed a few moments of camaraderie.
Also, my backside was numb and my toes were tingling and she made a good crutch.
“Are you okay, Kaitlyn?” Shaina asked.
“Yeah,” Kaitlyn answered. “I’m fine.”
Shaina looked back to me. I smiled. She did not.
Kaitlyn got into the roller behind Seth. Shaina walked around to get in the front passenger seat and I climbed into the seat behind her.
“Nasty bruise,” I said to Seth.
He had a blossoming purplish-green spot on his temple where I’d caught him with my elbow. In the center was a little cut. He glanced at me, then quickly away.
“You all right, Kaitlyn?” he asked.
“It’s glad I am to know your underwhelming concern for Felix isn’t distracting you,” I said. “Downright heartwarming.”
“What did you expect?” Shaina asked. “A warm welcome? A thank you for not killing us?”
“Is this about what happened at the flat?” I asked. “Didn’t I say this would happen? You started it. All I wanted was the keys to the roller.”
For a moment I actually thought she was going to turn around and hit me, but she maintained her composure. I pulled my upper body close against Shaina’s seat, pressing my cheek against her headrest.
“Are we going to see Rian? It’s been ages since I had a word with him.”
“We’re not taking you to Rian,” Shaina said. “We’re taking you to the safehouse here.”
“Told Rian everything, did you?” I said to Kaitlyn. “And the bastard isn’t coming out? I find that hard to believe.”
Kaitlyn shrugged, never taking her gaze from the window.
“Call him,” I said to Shaina.
“It won’t do any good,” she said.
Something happened, my chest felt tight, I was shaking. I felt more awake than I had since surfacing.
This … This was anger. Physical anger.
It was damn near overwhelming.
I shot my left arm around the headrest and put Shaina in a chokehold. With my right hand I drew one of the pistols that Felix had so kindly stashed in his shoulder holster and shoved it into the bruise on Seth’s temple.
I was glad to be regaining my coordination. It’s probably bad form to knock out the driver.
“What the two of you don’t seem to realize is that, while I need the scientist here, I don’t need either of you. So consider every breath you take from here on out as a favor. Kaitlyn, would you be so kind as to call Rian and have him meet us at the old IGMM building?”
“That’s brilliant, Conor,” Kaitlyn said. “Assuming it hasn’t been completely destroyed or picked to the bone.” She didn’t even sound sarcastic.
“Baby steps,” I said.
She retrieved her mobile and made the call. It was short, and mostly one-sided.
“He’ll be there,” she said.
“Will I have more trouble from either o
f you two?” I asked.
I felt Shaina’s head shake as Seth answered, “Nah.” I released my hold on Shaina’s neck and put the gun away.
I leaned back into my seat as the roller bounced over the rubble that had spilled out from the collapsed buildings, their exteriors falling away to reveal their skeletons. I looked down as I opened and closed my hands, watching the muscles move and the color rush in and out of my knuckles.
The Institute of Genetics and Molecular Medicine was one of the most innovative facilities of its time sixteen years ago. I was just glad Felix had read about it, or I’d be out of options. Because I was not going to a safehouse with these two.
Like Dublin, most of Edinburgh had been evacuated. Though there were always those few brave ones who stuck around or came back, and the medical supplies likely had all been taken. But with any luck, Kaitlyn could find something to help with the C-chip and maybe find out more about this potential virus.
Seth eased into the disarray that was the parking lot. Once Rian’s helicopter made it back to pick him up, it wouldn’t take him much time to get here. Though not as fast at GDI’s modified Sikorsky S-97 Raiders, it was still twice as fast as an airship.
Seth got out. I put a hand on Kaitlyn’s arm to stop her as she reached for the roller’s handle.
“Go on, Shaina,” I said. “Make sure it’s safe out there.”
Shaina narrowed her eyes but got out and slammed the door behind her.
“Was that temper tantrum really necessary?” Kaitlyn asked.
I didn’t answer right away, not sure that I agreed with Kaitlyn’s assessment of my behavior.
“I’ve heard it’s petty to carry a grudge,” I said, watching Seth and Shaina. “But I’ve got a lot to let go.”
Prison guards, that’s all they were. It’s amazing just how awful a prison the mind can be, seeing the world and not being a part of it. Who even knows you’re there? Who even cares?
“If you’re as bad as Rian says …”
“Do I really seem all that bad to you?” I asked. “Is Felix so much better?”
She didn’t say anything.
I nodded at Seth and Shaina. “Looks like it’s all clear. Come on, off you fuck.”
I got out and walked to the double doors of the building’s main entrance, one door lying in dirt and debris, the other hanging on by a hinge.
Kaitlyn stepped up beside me, eyes roaming over the face of the building.
“Can’t say I’m feeling too optimistic about this,” she said.
I looked over at her, unable to tell if my face was pinched in annoyance or pain as the C-chip activated. The timetable of this mission was impossible. Either that, or Bernard was taking too much pleasure in knowing he could fuck with me. I fell to the ground, convulsing. This was much worse than in Bernard’s office. It felt like years passed before my body stilled.
“Shite,” I breathed.
11
29 October 2042, Edinburgh, Scotland
I awoke strapped to a cold table under bright lights inside a loud clicking machine. A pretty familiar scenario, minus the straps—doctors generally don’t need to restrain a patient for an fMRI.
And I usually had at least a gown on, not just my pants.
The day you get used to waking up in horribly awkward situations is probably not your best day.
The cold hard plastic slid me out from the cocoon of the circular machine after a few minutes and I smiled up at Kaitlyn as she walked into the room.
She nodded at the straps. “I wasn’t sure whether the convulsions would start again.”
She unbuckled my restraints as I waited patiently for her to remove the contraption from around my head, what I thought of as the Head Cage. I swung my legs over the bench and stood up. The floor was cold and smooth under my feet. I felt naked without shoes. Even more so without guns. Still, the first thing out of my mouth was my surprise that the building was still on a functioning power grid.
“It’s not,” Kaitlyn said. “Seth found a couple of old generators in the basement.”
I followed her into the small cubby of a room attached to this one. Monitors displayed brain images, activity, colors.
“What’s the verdict?” I asked.
“Well, it doesn’t look like the chip is doing any permanent damage yet.”
“I thought maybe we were looking for a way to remove it. Wait, what do you mean, ‘permanent damage’?”
“The chips came off the market because they cause permanent brain damage.”
“What the fuck, Kaitlyn.”
“This isn’t my fault. In any case, I’ve been thinking—”
“That seems dangerous,” I said.
“Says the five-year-old.”
I smiled. “All right, what’s been going on in that brain of yours, then?”
“Well, Felix can’t just take over, right?”
“Correct,” I said.
“He has to take medication to keep you from taking control, otherwise you could just come and go as you please?”
I looked at her. Despite the cold my forehead began to itch as sweat sprang to the skin.
“You want me to let Felix out?”
“Well, we can’t just cut the chip out and I couldn’t find any anticholinergics, so I’m thinking outside the box here.”
It seemed like a thing we could try. Didn’t it? I hadn’t realized how desperately I didn’t want to go back into my cage. And on top of it, the virus business had me spooked.
“The virus business has me spooked,” I said. “If I let Felix out, there’s no telling what will happen.”
“We don’t even know that you actually have the virus.”
I touched my neck, the two puckering pinpricks. Kaitlyn snatched my hand away.
“Shit. I’d forgotten about that.”
“Yeah. Where’s Rian?” I asked, heading for the door.
Rian, Seth, and Shaina were posted outside in chairs lined along the wall. I must have been out for a while if Rian had already made it. That wasn’t very comforting.
Shaina and Seth came to attention while Rian remained in his chair. Shaina still looked quite upset. I grabbed Seth’s chair, setting it in front of Rian so I could sit facing him.
I looked at Rian for a long time. He looked back, ever patient, and in the end I couldn’t find any words for him. Maybe because I was here, sitting across from him, seeking some sort of permission or council.
Looking at Rian was like looking at a ghost. The man who raised me, the man I’d loved as my father and who, I’d once thought, loved me like his son. The man who threw me away for a version he liked better.
I’d had all the time in the world to figure out exactly what I would say to him, and here we were and the words were nowhere to be found.
“Conor,” he said.
I took a breath, a very deep breath, then blew it all out. I didn’t mean to blow it all out in Rian’s face, but it happened, and he didn’t seem too concerned. Which only seemed to make me angrier. Or more annoyed, at least. I cleared my head of the feelings, the emotions, anything that wasn’t useful to the here and now.
“Felix trusts you with his life,” I said. “Well, both of our lives are in my hands now, so. Kaitlyn has filled you in on pretty much everything.” This was more a statement than a question, but I looked back at Kaitlyn for confirmation anyway.
She nodded.
“Hypothetically … Kaitlyn, could you come sit by Rian?” I asked. “Thank you. Okay, now, hypothetically, there is a chance that letting Felix out will stop or diminish the effects of the C-chip. Bernard did manage to push Felix out, after all, so he probably doesn’t need him. Let’s face it, who really does,” I looked at Kaitlyn again, making sure I hit on what she’d been leading up to.
“Bernard,” she began, “or whoever is really running this project, needs the dominant genome in control of the body. In this case it’s Conor. So there would be no need to compel Felix if Conor is the one running things. Cycling f
rom Felix back to Conor could potentially break the control. Of course, neurotransmitters are neurotransmitters, so it may not do anything.”
It would have been nice if she’d mentioned that earlier. I frowned, touching my face with fingertips to make sure I was executing the frown properly. Then I put the full force of it on Kaitlyn. She shrugged.
“If I do have the virus and I let Felix out, one of two things could happen,” I said. “Outcome one, Felix contracts the virus, it attacks our body and we die. Outcome two, Felix contracts the virus and it stays within his genome.”
“Meaning Felix would essentially be dead to everyone and/or pretty much only available for use as a biological weapon,” Kaitlyn said. “Depending on the virus. But if it’s made to be a weapon, you can bet it’ll be nasty.”
“Can you run blood work?” Rian asked.
“I could run Conor’s blood work to see what antibodies are present, but there’s no equipment for that here. And working up anything on Felix without the proper biosafety measures is irresponsible at best.”
“And deadly at worst,” I added.
“Esposito will have everything you need,” Rian said, almost hissing the name.
His anger was actually quite satisfying. It made me smile. The expression must not have been nice one, because Kaitlyn shied away a bit.
“The closer we get to him,” I said, “the closer pretty little Kaitlyn here is to being on the business end of a gun.”
“Be that as it may,” Kaitlyn said. “I do think the best course of action is that we go see Dr. Esposito and find out what he knows.”
I shrugged. “Your funeral. But if I could get my clothes back first, that would be great.”
12
29 October 2042, Stockholm, Greater Scandinavian Territory
After waking up mostly naked on an fMRI table at three in the morning, followed promptly by nine hours of flight and a fuel stop, I was more than a little happy when Seth set Rian’s helicopter down by a decrepit marina on the south shore of Djurgården.
