Pulse

by C Scott Frank

  Holden squared on Black Suit, bowing up as if he was looking for a way to strike. Black Suit steadied the gun, aimed right at Holden’s forehead.

  “That’s a very, very stupid idea.”

  Holden hesitated. Kubitz looked back and forth from Holden to Black Suit during a pregnant pause. Finally, Holden’s shoulders slumped, and he shuffled out of the room, giving one last menacing scowl to Kubitz. As soon as he crossed the threshold into the corridor, two pairs of muscular arms grabbed him and held him in submission. Two large men in gray fatigues hauled him deeper into the corridor. Holden screamed as they gripped his shoulders. Once the sounds of protest faded, Black Suit broke the silence.

  “You’re welcome,” Black Suit said flatly. “How did you lose control?”

  “I… I’m not entirely sure. As you’ve no doubt surmised, Holden appears to be a clone. I think he was activated. But I don’t know.”

  “Activated?”

  Kubitz shrugged and tapped his head. “The implant.”

  “I see.” Black Suit paced around the room. “Explains why he wanted to kill you. At least at the end. You know he called me, too?”

  “What?”

  “Oh yeah.” Black Suit picked a piece of glass out of a keyboard on the desk. “Mumbo jumbo about you two being clones. Ready to turn you both in, easy. So tell me your side, Fritz. What did you call me for?”

  “You’re just in time, actually. We were waiting for the results, but then the hackers—Oh no!” Kubitz rushed to the terminal, but the status changed.

  [UPLOAD TERMINATED. (1) NEW QUERY RESULT]

  “Hey, looks like they stopped early.”

  “Very astute. When I arrived, we noticed the cyberattack in progress and shut it down. Pays to have resources. Not sure how much they got, but we injected a worm, anyway. Shouldn’t cause much trouble.”

  “Well that’s something at least.”

  Black Suit nodded. He looked bored, like he was late for a dinner reservation. “So what is it?” He gestured at the screen with his weapon.

  “That,” Kubitz said, swiveling his chair around toward the large screen. He was acutely aware of the weapon still pointed toward him, and his neck tingled. “Is what I planned to tell you. I have good reason to believe the clones have infiltrated our entire military. At all levels.” He pulled up a screen that scrolled through a table of names and service numbers. He turned to face Black Suit. “If this word gets out, it would be chaos on a scale we’ve never seen. This alone could end the war from the inside out. We don’t win that war.”

  “Is that so?” Black Suit seemed to be thinking of something distant, like an old memory that was missing some important pieces. “You’re right, of course. We mustn’t allow this news to leave. Here, upload everything to my datapad. Thank you for finding this. I’m sure it will prove most invaluable.”

  Kubitz linked his terminal to Black Suit’s datapad and began the data transfer.

  “I’m sending you the names of everyone whose DNA shows positive for the Code. I’m including the Code itself, so you can widen the search. You want my suggestion? Don’t waste any time.” Kubitz shook his head. “I’m worried what might happen if we do.”

  “Mm.” Black Suit paced the control room behind Kubitz as the data transferred. “Are you familiar with the old myths about vampires? Fascinating creatures. Evil, of course. Bad guys and all that. Mostly. But there is one trait I’m particularly fond of. Did you know it was said they could hear the heartbeat of their victims?”

  “I didn’t, but I don’t really—”

  “It’s true. Some myths even say they could identify their victims by their pulse, their senses were so tuned. Horrifying. If you’re a victim, of course. How can you hide?” Black Suit chuckled. “You can’t very well tell your heart to be quiet, can you? This—” he held up his datapad. The transfer was nearly complete. “—is the pulse of our enemy. They can no longer hide. You have done fine work here, Herr Kubitz.” He said this last in a mock German accent.

  Kubitz was convinced more than ever that the man in the black suit was insane. As soon as the console thrummed with the confirmation of the completed task, he felt the cool muzzle of a gun against the base of his skull.

  “It’s not personal,” Black Suit said with a neutral tone. “It never is. You said it yourself: ‘This news can’t be allowed to leave this facility.’”

  Epilogue

  Black Suit settled into a comfortable seat in the shuttle across from Titus, one of his favorite soldiers. The man was made from solid marble, it appeared. He kept his blond hair in an old-school flat top. Amber light flickered in the man’s hazel eyes.

  “Campfire is rolling,” Titus said and nodded out the window. “Some casualties. Enough to make the news for a minute or two. Looks like the rest of the station was running a bare crew. Astronomers and data crunchers don’t want to be in space in case the bad guys show up, apparently. This’ll all drop from memory as soon as some dog barks his owner’s name or something.”

  Outside the clear panes of the shuttle, an orange glow filled the windows of the research station. Soon the fire would cause a breach in containment and the vacuum of space would extinguish the flames and all but destroy the facility through rapid decompression. There would be no survivors.

  “In case…” Black Suit trailed off, thumbing his datapad.

  “In case what?”

  “Never mind. I knew I hired you for a reason, Titus.” Black Suit grinned sadistically. “You’re a lunatic. But deliciously efficient.”

  “Did Pearson tell you we tracked a transmission before we arrived?”

  Black Suit’s grin disappeared. “He did. What do we know?”

  Titus shrugged. “Very little, unfortunately. Came from that kid’s computer though. We should have the decrypted message soon enough. He didn’t do anything fancy with it, just used the lab’s standard.”

  “I want to be told first thing. I’m afraid the kid might’ve done something incredibly stupid.”

  Black Suit pulled out his datapad to catch up on the day’s news from Earth. Something had agitated the activists. Agitation was their natural habitat. Ignorant fools. If only they realized the real war going on above their heads. Maybe they’d have a little respect. Instead, they toiled away, begging for clone rights as if the echoes weren’t trying to wipe humanity off the proverbial map.

  It was sickening.

  If he had his way, he’d put the activists on the front lines and let them see how humane this war was. Up close and personal.

  Titus interrupted his internal rant. “We’ve lost contact with the Ceres base, sir. Looks like someone approved a squad of marines and a medic to the facility just in case. They’ll arrive in one day. Want to pay them a visit? We’re just a few days out ourselves.”

  Black Suit thumbed the datapad absent-mindedly as the medium-weight shuttle accelerated through the black of space around the moon. The blue marble of Earth with its unappreciative inhabitants hung quietly in the distance, untouched by the real war. That would all change soon.

  “Certainly,” he said. “Let’s go see some old friends.”

  If you enjoyed this short story, please leave a quick review, it sounds small, but every little bit helps!

  Acknowledgements

  Hailee, I am so blessed to have an incredible woman like you as my wife. You’re my biggest fan, my strongest supporter, and loudest advocate. Without you beside me, I’d never be able to do it. Also, thank you for letting me have time away from our awesome boys to make some words happen. It means so much to me.

  Bryan Todd, your sounding board and incredible support is so meaningful to me. Thanks for always being willing to read my stuff and tell me when it sucks.

  Matt Ward, I’m so glad we’ve been able to connect over the miracle of the internet! You’re such a talented writer and creative artist. I so value the times we spend brainstorming, discussing writing and life and everything. I can’t wait until you’re a NYT bestselling auth
or and I can ride your coattails to the top.

  To those who helped me refine, refine, and refine this to get it where it needs to be, I cannot thank you enough. David Clark, I’ve really enjoyed getting to know you through TL;DR over the years. Your support on and off the page has been so precious to me. Thank you so much for reading and giving incredible beta feedback. Jamie Mauchline, I always get so giddy when you tell me you’re available to give my work a read through. You’re so talented, it’s such an honor to know that your talents have been able to help me strengthen not only this piece, but also myself as a writer.

  Beth Dawson, you and the rest of the PFWs have been so incredibly helpful and supportive over the last few months. But thank you, especially, for your support and help in brainstorming and giving some awesome advice as I’ve polished this piece. You’re an absolute rockstar and I’m so thankful for you!

  I’ve absolutely missed some people, so feel free to yell at me on Twitter if I did. As an added bonus, that tells me who’s actually reading this far. ;)

  About The Author

  I like making things. I know a little bit about a lot of things, and a lot about almost nothing. I'm a writer, musician, designer, and professional dabbler.

  I love the Lord and I love my family. I live in Oklahoma with my wife, Hailee and my son. We have a few animals, but mainly so we can pay people to watch them while we're out of town. It's one of our favorite pastimes.

  I write things. I write fantasy things, sci-fi things, zombie things, and my wife and I write about faith, family, and fostering at www.afrankvoice.com.

  I love meeting people on Twitter (@C_ScottFrank), ignoring crazy family on Facebook (Facebook.com/CScottFrank), and making tens of cents from my Amazon author page. If you want to say hi directly, bring it on. I especially welcome emails concerning book deals with non-trivial advances.

  Other works by C. Scott Frank

  Echoes in the Black

  Echo

  Frequency

  Venison

  Venison: Season 1

  Chomp the Halls

  Legend of Varya

  Frosthammer (With Bryan Todd)

  You can connect with C. Scott Frank on Twitter (@C_ScottFrank), Facebook (Facebook.com/CScottFrank) or his website

  (www.cscottfrank.com).