1 + 2

by Kristie Lynn Higgins

  "Hmm..." She glances at me then turns her attention back to the road.

  "While I was at Hades Cemetery, I... I came across your mom's grave."

  "Oh," she replies. "Sure, I'd forgotten my father said she was buried there." Kimberly's quiet for a few moments and then she asks me, "How was the grave? Was it kept up? Did it have flowers?"

  She must not have visited the grave yet; it must be too painful.

  "No flowers," I answer. "But it is being kept up; it's in a nice spot near a tree."

  "Oh." Kimberly pulls on her left ear lobe. "I'll have to go visit her one day."

  Her reaction surprises me; I expected more from her. Kimberly's a very private person, at least around me. I'm not sure what I expected; maybe some yelling or at least, some sign of anger. Is she holding it in? If so, what will happen when she erupts like a volcano?

  I sigh. I just hope I'm not around when she explodes.

  End Katharine's view...

  After a few more quiet minutes, Kim directed the car into the Genesis Arboretum's large parking lot. Both of them got out of the car and stretched after the long ride. Over a hundred vehicles filled the spaces and in the distance, people walked in and out of the main building. A tram stopped at a pick up station, waited as people boarded, and then drove to the main entrance, and they boarded the next tram which came by about five minutes later. They exited the tram at the main building and entered. Inside, they stood in line with about twelve people. Kat kept glancing at a mountain of a man in line about four people back as Kim purchased tickets for them at a window, they walked over and handed an employee their tickets, and they entered through the turnstiles.

  "Wait a second." Kat stopped at a gift cart and glanced back to the ticket line.

  Kim paused, thinking she only wanted to browse. "We can shop when we're done."

  Back in line, the man with a buzz cut stepped to the window and bought two tickets. He stepped out of line and shouted, "Tasha. I have them. We may enter now."

  Natasha walked over to her brother and wrapped her arm around his. She kept her long coat buttoned up. "Nikolai, I am so pleased we were able to come here. Even though I hate this dreadful Dark Half, I am very interested in Transgenics, and they have hundreds of tree and plant specimens here." She continued talking as they walked past two women at a gift cart.

  He glanced at the two women. "Then let us take our time and stroll through the Arboretum."

  Kat watched the couple as they passed.

  "Don't stare," Kim scolded. "It's very impolite."

  Kat moved to her side and whispered, "But he's carrying a gun."

  "I know. It's still impolite to stare. Anyway..." Kim noticed a key chain of a bunny rabbit for sale on the gift cart. "A lot of people have guns. It doesn't mean they're after you. They could have it for protection or they could be pursuing someone else. You're not the only person hunted in this world."

  "I know, but still... I have to be cautious." Kat continued to watch the couple. "And besides, he isn't the only one armed. The woman also has weapons on her wrists."

  Trying not to be obvious, Kim glanced at the woman. "Good eye. I had not noticed."

  Kat watched the couple as they strolled into the next room. "Maybe they're throwing weapons like darts or knives."

  "Come on." Kim started in the opposite direction the couple went. "They have nothing to do with us."

  Once they were some distance away, Natasha said, "I believe those women were staring at you."

  "I believe you are right. The plain looking one kept staring at me when they were in line for tickets." Nikolai went into his gangster mode, "The broads mean nuttin' to me. Honest. I have eyes only for you."

  Natasha grinned. "As you should."

  Kim and Kat followed the path lined with Transgenic Plant exhibits till they came across an employee, and Kim asked him, "Excuse me. Does Adam Greenhouse work here?"

  "Yes." He pointed down the path. "Keep going. Mr. Greenhouse's lecturing around the bend."

  They continued across the path till they came to a group of about a dozen people listening to a cotton-white haired man who towered over the crowd almost a good two feet. He wore a blue flannel shirt and jean overalls.

  "That's him," Kat said. "That's Mr. Greenhouse." She tilted her head and added with a hint of surprise, "He looks just like his picture."

  Kimberly's view...

  I ignore her comment. Finding him was easy, and now all we have to do is wait till he's done talking.

  I watch Mr. Greenhouse hobble along with a silver serpent-head cane. Hades... What is he like a hundred years old?

  End Kimberly's view...

  Adam moved slowly to a Transgenic Maple, and his cane thumped as he walked across the concrete floor, and then he patted the tree's trunk. "It is widely published that the first Transgenic Plant was the cross between the tobacco and the lantern fish; the report is in fact not true. The Transgenic Maple was the first, the Prime." He coughed, removed a red handkerchief from his pocket, and wiped his mouth. "I wanted to create a Transgenic Tree or hybrid that could survive without the sun, so I created this species by genetically modifying a Red Maple with the extra-genome of a firefly, yielding a tree who's trunk and branches produce its own light." Adam took a deep breath and wheezed as he exhaled. "Not only is this tree the Prime, but it is also the most abundant Transgenic in Noir." He put both hands to his cane. "Any questions?" For about twenty minutes, he answered their inquiries and when the crowd dispersed, Adam turned and started to leave through a door in the back.

  "Mr. Greenhouse." Kim moved toward the man who stood seven foot nine inches and had pale blue eyes. She didn't think she had ever met anyone that tall, and she asked, "Could I have a moment of your time?"

  He paused, turning to her. "You're a lovely one, sapling." His face brightened as he peered down at her. "Sorry, no autographs at this time."

  "My name's Kimberly." She pointed to herself. "I'm Theresa Griffin's daughter."

  "Theresa?" Adam squinted as he looked her over. "Yes, I see it now. I should have before. I guess I'm getting old." He continued to the door, bent, and walked through. "Come with me, please."

  They walked after him and noticed the name plate beside the door had Sapling Room written on it. They continued down a small hall into a rectangular room lit by sunlamps and within, thousands of pots of young Transgenic trees and flowers and other non-Transgenic plants filled a hundred or so rows.

  Adam leaned his cane on a work table that was covered with gardening tools and turned an overhead light on. "Let me have a look at you." He walked to Kim. "I see it." Adam walked slowly around her. "The spitting image of your mother." He rubbed his white stubbly chin. "I don't know why I didn't notice before. You look just like Theresa when we first met."

  "You worked with my mom." Finally, she was talking to someone besides her father who knew her, and he might know what happened to her.

  "Actually..." He put a finger to his lips in a hush-hush manner. "She worked for me on a top secret project."

  "On organic-mecha?" Kat questioned as she stepped forward.

  Adam glanced at the other woman and looked back to Kim, mumbling, "Not so top secret, I see."

  "Mr. Greenhouse, I need to know something." Angry at an imaginary figure, Kim inquired, "Did you know that my mom was murdered?" The sexless figure was of the person who killed Theresa.

  He bowed his head and deeply sighed as if she affirmed his suspicions. "It is as I thought."

  Kim gripped her knapsack. "I'm searching for who did it and..."

  "And the why?" Adam interrupted.

  "No, the why doesn't matter unless it leads me to who did it."

  "I see." He walked over to the work table and grabbed his cane. "Why have you come to see me?"

  "A clue led me to Etna Toys Distribution Station Bravo, and there I found a book." Kim held out her hand and jiggled it when
Kat didn't react. "For Ares' sake... The book."

  "Huh? Oh... You want me to–" Kat rummaged through her backpack and removed the Transgenic Text. "–give you the book." She handed it to her.

  Kim continued, "The book led me to you." She handed the text to him.

  He turned it over and studied the photo as if it was the first time he was seeing it. "It was so long ago. The Sphinx Corporation assigned Theresa to me back then, and it was her first job with the corporation."

  "What did you work on?" Kim asked.

  "At first, Theresa helped me engineer Transgenic Plants and then later, we were both put on the organic-mecha project."

  "Was it the Gorgons?" Kat questioned.

  "No, I never worked on that project." Adam squinted, getting a better look at the second woman. "The organic-mechas were under another project name."

  "What would that be?" Kim asked.

  He turned to her. "Sorry sapling, some secrets do need to be kept."

  "Were you successful with the organic-mecha?" Kat asked.

  "You could say we were, but organic-mechas were long ago abandoned as a viable weapon." Adam eyed the other woman again. "There were too many problems."

  Kat noticed his quizzical looks.

  "We did find one file at Bravo Station." Kim held out her hand again.

  This time, Kat quickly removed the Lost File and gave it to her.

  "Most of it doesn't make sense." Kim handed it to him.

  Adam took the folder, flipped through it, and chuckled. "Like I said, some secrets need to remain hidden, but I will tell you one thing. The Sphinx Corporation hides information in plain sight, and one of their methods is to change the Greek name to their Roman counterpart." He handed the file back.

  Kim huffed. "This trip is a waste of my time."

  Adam questioned, "Was it?"

  Kat motioned to him with her head. "Ask him about your hand. Maybe he knows more."

  "My hand?" Kim glanced at her right palm and showed him. "Oh, right. Do you know what this mark is?"

  He took her hand into his large shaky ones. "I believe that is Ginn's Cipher." He raised a bushy eyebrow. "How did you get it?"

  "From a door knob. It was hot from an office fire and burned me."

  "Heat would make a very good catalyst. Do you know where the knob is now?" Sweat beaded his liver spotted forehead as he tried to contain his excitement.

  "No."

  "A pity." Adam released her hand. "I would like to study one of the objects that has the star mark." He pulled out his red handkerchief and threw it in a trash can and then walked over to the work table, removed a new handkerchief from a package, and wiped his face.

  Kim started to mention the music box, but her partner touched her back, and Kim turned as Kat shook her head, franticly pleading for her to say nothing.

  Adam noticed this.

  "You said catalyst," Kim said and then asked, "What did you mean?"

  "In your case, the cipher was not imprinted by a burn, but a virus that reconfigured the epidermis on a micro level."

  "I'm not sure I understand what you mean."

  "It is simple, sapling. You came in contact with a virus that genetically alters a localized area. The virus was designed to create the raised star in the center of the palm. It doesn't matter where you were infected, the virus was designed to place the micro cipher there in the center." He pointed to the star.

  Kat asked, "Did the Sphinx Corporation create it?"

  Adam laughed. "In fact, no. Ginn did." He threw the second handkerchief away, grabbed a third one from the package, and placed it in his pocket. "How is it delivered? I suspect Ginn put the viruses on different objects, and they lay dormant until some catalyst activates them." He deeply breathed in again and wheezed. "It's a pity you don't know where the knob is. I would have liked to..."

  "Did you say the composer created it?" Kat interrupted.

  "Yes, scientist believe Ginn L. Irynkissgthie created the virus five hundred years ago." Adam leaned on his cane with both hands. "They believe he's really the Father of Genetics among other things."

  "Composer, painter," Kat muttered. "Ginn's credentials are growing."

  Kim asked, "What are the ciphers for?"

  "Ciphers?" He cackled. "Sapling, you're lucky to see the one. There has never been two or more in a generation. In fact, there has only been three others in the past five hundred years." Adam stared at her hand. "If we were to have more than one at a time, that would mean something." He looked into her face. "As to what they are for... I believe they hold some sort of code or map. I'm not sure. The cipher wasn't my department. Whatever it holds can't be seen even at a subatomic level. You could say the enigma is encoded."

  Kat started, "You said to have more than one at a time means something." She placed her left hand in her pocket. "What does it mean?"

  Adam shrugged. "I guess that Ginn's Prophecy is coming true. Wouldn't that be something."

  "What prophecy?" Kat asked.

  He studied the second woman's face. "You'll have to find another to tell you that, you see this old man is going to bed." Adam started for a door in the back. "The Sphinx Corporation who owns this place has been good enough to let me live here. You should come visit me sometime in my treehouse. It's in the next area called the Sphere Room." He started through the door. "But not today." Adam left.

  Kat waited till he exited and asked, "Now what?"

  "Now we go home." Kim looked to the folder she held. "Do some research on the internet." She started out the way they came in.

  Kat followed, and they left the Sapling Room as Kat said, "Okay, but I can't stay up too late."

  "Why's that?" Kim asked.

  "I have to go visit Chad tomorrow," Kat answered.

  "Him again. Just how old is this guy?"

  "He's twelve. Why do you ask?" Kat grinned. "Looking for a date?"

  "Funny." Kim sneered. "Let's go."

  They returned to the entrance and walked by Nikolai and Natasha.

  Kat glanced at the couple and turned her thoughts back to Adam. "Kimberly, do you remember when I pointed out Adam? Do you remember when I said he looked just like his picture?"

  "Sure." Kim shrugged. "What about it?"

  "I really meant it. Adam hasn't changed. He hasn't aged and looks exactly like his picture, and we know it was taken more than thirty years ago. Why hasn't he gotten older?"

  Kim said, "How am I supposed to know? Maybe he has an excellent plastic surgeon."

  "I'm serious. He hasn't aged."

  "Oh for Ares' sake! Don't you think we have enough on our plate without searching for his Fountain Of Youth?"

  "We did get Florida when Ponce de Leon looked for the original," Kat said. "Maybe we can get something equally of value if we look for Adam's Fountain."

  Kimberly's view...

  Why is that woman always talking in riddles? I was never very good in history, but Ponce de Leon and Christopher Columbus discovered Noir or the Neoteric World as it was called back then.

  Chapter Twenty-three

  Brownstone Street

  October 24...

  Sunday...

  8:41 A.M...

  Nile Sector, Commorance Vicinage...

  In a large cage beside the Bes Hotel, birds in a rainbow of colors chirped to an artificial morning. The hotel built a glass and steel aviary next to their main building so guest could walk out of the lobby into the center of a mock rainforest, and several lamps generated the sun of the Light Side. One of the upbeat regions of Noir, the upper-class part of the Nile Sector called the Commorance Vicinage, produced a wealth of hotels, fine restaurants, high class shops, and large residential properties. Business people and retail employees filled the sidewalks as they made their way to work, and children played along the well lit streets. A few dogs barked as their owners took them on walks, and a white Commercial Class He-Zeppelin glided over t
he brightly lit city. The helium-filled airship's twin engines roared, cutting through the thick atmosphere. Oxygen cells fed clean air directly into the intake valve, keeping the engines running in the polluted sky. A message in green neon letters ran across the He-Zeppelin's side. Buy Valhalla Water, the liquid from heaven. It comes from the purest source, underground springs in Iceland. So Buy Valhalla Water, H2O of the gods.

  Cars and trucks drove up and down the busy Brownstone Street in front of the Bes Hotel, and Kat got out of a taxi and walked up to the stoop belonging to Melissa's address. The house was across the street from the hotel. Earlier, she had taken a hover train to reach this part of Noir. Kat noticed a black van with dark tinted windows parked near Bes and panicked. She needed to get a hold of her paranoia. The Council and the Factory could no longer track her, so it was just a van. No one was after her, and Kat nodded as if she convinced herself and moved to the front door, keeping an eye on the van. She removed the white Bible from her bag and rang the doorbell.

  Before anyone answered, Stephanie walked up behind her. "Hello again." She wore a similar outfit as before, but this time the smiley face had a bullet hole in the center of its forehead, and blood trickled down from the cartoon wound.

  "Hello," Kat replied.

  Stephanie noticed her suspicious gaze and tried to divert her mistrust by asking, "Are you also here to see Preacher's sister?"

  Across the street...

  Two men in white uniforms and caps exited the black van, went to the rear of the vehicle, and opened the two back doors.

  On the stoop...

  "Yes, I've come to see Melissa," Kat replied, feeling a bit unsettled around Stephanie; their meeting before and now seemed too much of a coincidence.

  "Me too." Stephanie glanced up and down the street, spotted the van, and turned back to Kat. "Can't wait to see Chuck again."

  Kat corrected, "Chad."

  "Huh?" Stephanie was unsure why she seemed irritated.

  "His name's Chad," Kat said as she glanced over Stephanie and saw no evidence of any weapons on her person, but she did carry a bright yellow backpack large enough for several.

  "Right, Chad."

  Across the street...

  The two men unloaded a large rectangular crate as another black van pulled up behind the first. Two more men in white uniforms exited the second vehicle.