by T E Stouyer
The giant looked so scary that Lucielle sprang from the sofa, ran over to Arianne, and hid behind her.
“Is this your idea of a joke?” Rock finally yelled at her.
“It’s not a joke,” Lucielle replied as she stuck out her head while clinging to her sister’s waist.
“Soran, Marvin … who cares?” Rock bellowed. “It’s the same damn thing!”
“No, it’s not,” the girl shouted back. “And his name is Myrvan, not Marvin.”
“All right, that’s it! I’m gonna squeeze your scrawny little neck,” the giant threatened as he marched towards her.
“Come on, big guy,” Doc said. “You know we don’t have time for this.”
The huge mercenary halted his advance and pointed a menacing finger at Lucielle before returning to his spot in the doorway.
“And you, stop antagonizing him,” Arianne told her sister. “Come on, let’s go sit down.” She turned to Marie and added, “You should have a seat, as well.”
Professor Fournier motioned the detective to come sit near him on the large sofa. “Please.”
Marie took a seat between the old man and Doc Chen. While Lucielle returned to the two-seater, along with Arianne.
“Don’t be afraid, kid,” said Kincade. “Rock may look scary, but he only hurts bad people.”
The giant grunted and looked away.
“It’s not his fault, you know,” said Lucielle.
“Who? Rock?” Kincade asked.
“No, my brother. It’s not his fault that he’s like this.”
“Yeah, yeah,” Rock said, sounding unsympathetic. “You were all imprisoned for a really long time and they did all kinds of weird experiments on you. We got it. But I don’t see the rest of you try to murder everyone because of that.”
“No, you don’t understand,” said Lucielle. “It was different for him.”
Kincade turned to Arianne, squinting as he searched his memory. “I remember you saying something similar the night we met with Soran, in that music bar. What do you guys mean? Different how?”
“Perhaps, I should be the one to clarify,” Fournier interjected.
Rock rolled his eyes. “Argh, here we go. You really like giving long lectures, don’t you?”
It wasn’t the first time that Rock had called attention to the professor’s propensity to indulge in profuse explanations. It made Fournier a bit defensive. And he felt the need to justify himself. “It’s just that, as one of the lead scientists at the Arc, I had access to information which Arianne and her siblings weren’t privy to. Not to mention they were only children when some of those events took place.”
“Don’t mind him, professor,” Sonar said, sensing the old man’s embarrassment.
“Yeah, pops! Don’t mind me,” said Rock. “Go on. Clarify away.”
The professor straightened up in his seat and paused to make sure he had everyone’s attention.
“Look how happy he is,” Rock whispered to his redheaded comrade.
“Shut up,” Sonar whispered back.
“You see,” Fournier began. “As a child, Myrvan wasn’t—”
“Don’t you mean Soran?” Kincade interrupted.
“I beg your pardon?” said the old man.
“You said, ‘as a child’. You meant Soran, right?”
Fournier stared at him at length before turning to Arianne and Lucielle.
The same look of realization washed over the trio’s faces.
“That’s right,” Arianne muttered. “We never said.”
Doc frowned with apprehension. “Never said what?”
“Soran,” she said. “His persona only appeared about eight years ago. The one we grew up with … it was Myrvan.”
Arianne paused when she saw the look on Kincade’s face.
He was shocked. But also irritated that he hadn’t been told something so significant.
She understood his reaction, and even felt bad about it. She knew she ought to have mentioned it sooner. But it had been an honest mistake, not a deception. To Arianne and her family—which included Professor Fournier—Soran was also one of Adam’s children. The same as the others. Which was why it hadn’t occurred to any of them to bring up his past.
Arianne accepted that Kincade would be upset. But after she cast an eye over the rest of the group, she realized his was not the reaction she needed to worry about the most.
Kincade’s comrades, as well as Marie, had all been equally stunned by what they had just heard. But having witnessed first-hand the carnage and mayhem caused by Myrvan in just a few short minutes, their astonishment soon gave way to far less benign sentiments.
When Arianne scrutinized the three mercenaries and the detective, she could almost hear the cogs turning inside their heads as the full implications of her statement began to dawn on them.
She sensed their anxiety and their misgivings. But most of all, she sensed their fear.
A deadly threat that had been described to them as distant and unlikely, suddenly seemed much closer and much more pressing. None of them had been particularly thrilled at the idea of staying in the same apartment as someone they considered to be a ticking time bomb. And that was when they thought the monster was hibernating in the depths of Soran’s consciousness. But as it turned out, he was merely dozing off just beneath the surface.
Aware of the tension rising inside the room, Lucielle tried to reassure everyone once again. “It’s OK,” she said. “You don’t need to worry. We’re all safe, now.”
“How is any of this OK?” Rock said. “You’ve just told us that ‘rampaging killer psycho’ is pretty much his default mode.”
Sonar stepped forward and declared, “I hate to say it, but I agree with the big guy. This isn’t funny.”
“Aren’t you guys overreacting a little?” Kincade asked.
“You didn’t see the bodies in that living room,” said Doc. “Or what happened after that. It seems to me this situation is far more serious than our friends would have us believe.” He turned to the professor and added, “If Myrvan’s the main personality, then I don’t see how any of you can guarantee he won’t show up again to finish what he started.”
“We know Myrvan won’t re-emerge,” said Fournier. “Because he doesn’t want to.”
“Do you people always have to be so damned cryptic?” Rock said in an exasperated tone of voice.
“If you would bear with me a little,” Fournier said. “The only way to make you understand is to start from the beginning.” He shot a quick glance at Rock and added, “I’ll try not to be too long.”
Chapter 18 – Secret
The professor explained that, as a child, Myrvan had always been aloof and introverted. Initially, everyone had thought that he had been afflicted with the same condition as Mitsuki: the inability to process emotions. But in time, it became clear the boy’s anti-social tendencies were a personality trait rather than a psychological impairment. It wasn’t that he didn’t know how to communicate his feelings to others, it was just that he didn’t want to. At least, not to everyone. He only truly opened up when he was alone with his siblings or their father, and on occasion, with Professors Karpov and Fournier.
A few military-appointed psychiatrists, and other so-called children specialists, had been brought in to analyze him. But, predictably enough, every single one of them had failed at their assignment.
Eventually, the specialists stopped coming. And Myrvan was simply categorized as one of the least responsive subjects. And that was that. After all, there were other, less complicated, subjects to study. And the boy still participated in every activity required of him. So what, if he was shy?
There was also another reason Myrvan had been able to get away with ignoring almost everyone around him. Adam.
In the project’s early years, when their father was still with them, the children’s everyday life was very different from what it would later become. Their situation back in those days could more accurately be described as a form
of house arrest rather than an imprisonment. They were free to roam around the living quarters, labs, training rooms, kitchens, and other areas of the main building’s sub-levels.
Obviously, they couldn’t leave, or have any contact with the outside world. But Adam insisted his children be allowed to move around freely, and even be granted permission to play outside, on occasion. Of course, that latter request was met with some resistance from the military brass. Words like ‘regulations’ and ‘protocol violations’ constantly resurfaced in every discussion. But their father remained adamant. Even convicted felons get to go outside from time to time, he argued, and those kids haven’t done anything to anyone.
Professors Fournier and Karpov sided with him. They pointed out that his proposal was necessary for the proper development of the subjects, which, in turn, would have a direct impact on their value to the project.
In the end, it was agreed that each day, under heavy surveillance, the children would get two hours outside, within the compound’s limits. It wasn’t ideal, but Adam knew it was the best he could hope for.
He also insisted that he be in charge of the children’s education. Every subject and every lesson had to be pre-approved by a specially-assigned team, but Adam would be the one to teach them.
This had been an easy concession to obtain in view of the children’s extraordinary learning capabilities. They were able to comprehend and extrapolate so much, based on so little information that, in truth, any other teacher would have quickly found themselves overwhelmed by such students. Though, at times, when he was too busy fulfilling his own duties, Adam would rely on his friends, Jerome Fournier and Aleksandr Karpov, to fill in for him. He trusted them. And they were the only other people for whom the children seemed to have any regard.
Just like their father, the children had a busy routine, and underwent weekly medical and psychological examinations. Their mental and physical aptitudes were tested on a regular basis via an endless series of puzzles, drills, exercises, and simulations. And from the age of five, they had been put through a rigorous combat training program, which included hand-to-hand fighting, weapons handling, and other specialist skills.
But as the children grew older, their strength increased to dangerous levels. The hand-to-hand combat training, in particular, became an increasingly delicate affair. By the time Damien and Darius were twelve- and eleven-years-old respectively, the best option was to have them spar against each other. The same later applied to the other kids, once they reached a similar age.
From the beginning, the scientists’ main focus had been on Damien. He was the eldest, and the only true replica of Adam. He was seen as the most important test subject, and as the best chance of success for the project. An assumption validated by his test scores. His comparative performance graphs were higher than those of his siblings, even after compensating for the age difference. And he alone had inherited Adam’s predictive ability. There was no doubt each of the children possessed both intellect and strength rivaling that of their father. But Damien was the closest.
Or so everyone thought.
It was Professor Karpov who first brought the peculiar observation to his friend’s—Professor Fournier’s—attention. He had noticed that Myrvan’s test results always fell around the group’s average, regardless of the activity. This was strange because, as Karpov pointed out, each child had exhibited a higher proficiency than the average in at least one specific area. Basically, each one had at least one thing that they could do better than all the others.
Out of curiosity, Fournier decided to investigate the reason for those odd results.
His first indication that Karpov’s instincts had been correct came during the following strength and endurance session.
The children were asked to push back against a metallic panel that was moving towards them and generating an increasing amount of pressure, the goal being to hold off the panel for as long as they could.
As was always the case during this type of exercise, Damien and Darius notably outlasted their younger siblings. But having kept a close eye on Myrvan, Fournier realized the boy had only pretended to reach his limit. In fact, it seemed so obvious to the professor, that he even wondered how he hadn’t noticed it before, in all the previous sessions.
Suddenly, Fournier glanced around nervously. If he could see it, wouldn’t his colleagues see it, as well? There would be serious consequences if it became known that one of the children had deliberately skewed his test results.
Thankfully, the other scientists remained none the wiser.
It surprised Fournier, at first. But then he thought, why would they notice?
Even though they had spent countless hours studying the children, none of the other scientists had any real interactions with them. And this was especially true of Mitsuki and Myrvan. It occurred to Fournier the only reason he had been able to see through the boy’s pretense was that he actually knew him on a personal level. He knew his habits, facial expressions, and a host of other details that help us shape our understanding of other people.
Fournier wondered what accounted for the boy’s deception. He told his friend, Alek, what he had observed, and they both agreed to keep it a secret.
But they had to let Adam know. Myrvan was his child. He would decide what to do about him.
After the death of Professor Engel, Adam made a deal with the project’s overseers. In exchange for his many contributions, he would have total autonomy over his lab. Of course, scientists and security personnel would still have access to it, but not to his research. All important documents were kept inside a safe fitted with a biometric lock, and all computers files were protected by a software encryption which Adam himself had created.
Before it was agreed, that deal had been the subject of many acrimonious debates. A lot of people had questioned the wisdom in granting him that level of autonomy. But the top decision-makers were concerned with one thing above all else: results. And as long as Adam delivered on his commitments, they were willing to overlook his eccentricities. Besides, the project’s scientists had themselves admitted, and on numerous occasions, that most of Adam’s research was far beyond them. Why upset the balance of a beneficial arrangement just so some frustrated scientists could have a look at files which they couldn’t really understand anyway?
The following day, when Fournier went to see Adam in his lab, he found him writing on a big whiteboard and thinking aloud. Fournier was about to call out to him when he noticed Myrvan standing at the other end of the whiteboard, with a marker in his hand.
The only presence Adam tolerated when he worked inside his lab was that of his children. Myrvan, in particular, seemed to spend a lot of time there, far more than his siblings. Like everyone else, Fournier had assumed that since Myrvan was his youngest—aside from Lucielle who was still a baby at the time—Adam indulged him more, and allowed the boy to disturb him more frequently, even while he worked.
Fournier had never really paid too much attention to Myrvan whenever he had found him inside his father’s lab. But that time, the professor decided to wait and observe. Father and son were so focused on the arcane numbers and symbols on the board that neither of them noticed him standing at the entrance.
From what Fournier could tell, Adam was working on some theory related to gravity. But those calculations were so far over the professor’s head that he couldn’t even be sure.
One thing, however, did become clear to Fournier as he continued to observe the pair. The professor realized that Adam wasn’t thinking aloud as he had previously believed. But that the silver-haired man was, in fact, talking to Myrvan. He was bouncing ideas back and forth with his son, as he would with an assistant.
Impossible, Fournier thought to himself.
“Oh, professor!” Adam exclaimed when he finally spotted him. “What are you doing standing over there?”
But Fournier didn’t reply. Instead, he just kept staring at the boy with a strange expression.
“Is
something wrong?” Adam asked.
Before Fournier could say anything, a young girl strode into the room, carrying a baby. She walked past the professor and went straight to Myrvan.
“There you are!” she said. “I knew it.”
Adam smiled. “Have you come to get your brother, Arianne?”
“Yes,” the young girl replied. “He’s late for a simulation.”
“I see. Well, go on, then,” Adam said to his son.
Myrvan pouted. “Do I have to? Those are boring.”
Arianne scowled at her brother. “Yes, you have to. We all do. We’ve already discussed this. Now stop being such a baby. Let’s go!”
Adam’s smile widened. “Speaking of babies,” he said. “Do you want me to take Luce?”
“No, it’s OK,” said Arianne. “I can look after her. I’m free for the rest of the afternoon.”
“Can I hold her too?” Myrvan asked his sister as the pair started on their way out.
Arianne hesitated for a moment and said, “All right. But don’t drop her or anything. And you have to be careful not to hold her too tight.”
“It wouldn’t be such a big deal if father had made her like us,” Myrvan said as he gently took the baby.
“I suppose,” said Arianne.
“At least she won’t be stupid like the grown-ups,” the boy remarked.
“Hey! You shouldn’t say stuff like that,” she chided him.
“Sorry,” he apologized.
“It’s not their fault,” Arianne added. And as they approached Professor Fournier who was still standing by the door, she stopped and gazed up at him, looking a little embarrassed. “Of course, he doesn’t mean you, Professor,” she said. “I actually think that both you and Professor Karpov are quite clever … considering.”
Fournier raised his eyebrows. Considering? Considering what? he wondered. “Uh, thank you … I think,” he replied.
Arianne turned to her brother and asked, “Did you say hello to the professor?”
