Strange Reflections

by Jay Mason

  Alex shook her head. “No, this time I think he’s as much on the outside as we are.”

  “That’s not good,” said Rusty. “Not good at all.”

  Alex’s phone beeped. She took it out of her pocket and scanned the screen. “Weird,” she said, “C0numdrum’s texted me to say he’s sent me an email. He never does that.”

  “Maybe it’s urgent,” said Rusty. “Open it!”

  Alex shook her head. “Let’s read it upstairs. Less chance of my dad walking in and asking to see it.”

  Alex,

  I realise I may have seemed harsh when I told you to sit tight and do nothing. I am certain Rusty, at least, was less than pleased. I have had time to reflect on the situation on my return journey. You will be pleased to know I have changed my mind. I do now believe that the experiment can be reversed, but I cannot do this alone.

  However, it is imperative neither you nor Rusty return to the Centre. Straker has returned and the place is swarming with security teams. I think our best hope is if you can convince your father to help us. His presence at the Centre will not cause undue attention. In fact his absence is more likely to be noted.

  The settings on the machine must be changed before it is started. I believe I now know what they must be …

  “He’s been busy,” said Rusty.

  But I require someone to also deal with the security cameras and guards. I have a plan so this can be done without anyone coming ‘under fire’, as it were. I suggest you inform your father that Straker’s current plan is to hope that once the sedatives wear off people will return to normal. This may be true for most people except those who have previously suffered from certain mental afflictions — which I believe is your mother’s case. Unless the machine sends out a ‘reset’ signal, there is little chance of your mother reverting to normal. Straker is not prepared to do this as he wishes to take the machine offline and have it thoroughly checked. He fears any attempt to send out a reset may cause more problems.

  Of course it is possible that if your father asks Straker for aid he will attempt to heal your mother, but I strongly doubt he would turn the machine on again merely for her. He is visibly angry that this experiment has gone wrong and caused so much disruption. He wants to limit the attention drawn to himself and the Centre as much as possible. I think if your father brings your mother here, Straker will likely admit her long-term to the internal facilities.

  I hope if you explain the situation as I have described it, to your father, he will agree to help me. If he does, tell him I will be waiting in his primary lab. I will go over the plan with him when he arrives.

  Alex, remember what you saw today. You cannot harm the Centre or its inhabitants without endangering what you saw and the on-going associated programme. You understand better than anyone that this is a matter of life and death.

  C

  “What you saw?” asked Rusty.

  For a moment, a split moment, Alex thought about telling him about the alien. But she didn’t understand the bond she felt with it — her — and with C0numdrum. She only knew it existed. As real as her physical form. She could find no words to explain it, so with guilt swelling up inside her, she lied

  “He means the sick kids”.

  “What are you going to do?”

  “I don’t think we have much of a choice. I’ll show Dad the email. I’ll have to explain about C0numdrum. That’s not going to be easy. Do you want to come and help me convince my dad to become a saboteur?”

  “You always ask me to all the best parties,” said Rusty with a grin.

  ****

  Lewis was not happy about the email or Alex’s friendship with C0numdrum. “This man works at the Centre?” he said. “How did you meet him? Some kind of internet site?” His tone suggested strongly that wouldn’t likely be approved of.

  “Pretty much,” said Alex. “We have similar hobbies. He was the one who told me about the lights over the cornfield.”

  “Ah yes, that mess,” said Lewis. “He isn’t sounding any better to me. Are you sure he wasn’t trying to groom you for something?”

  “Dad,” said Alex embarrassed, “I’m not twelve.”

  “More’s the pity,” muttered her father.

  “Isn’t the point,” said Rusty, “Mr Morgan, that he’s pretty clear that unless you do this your wife won’t recover?”

  Lewis glanced down at the phone “That’s what he says, but I don’t know why I should believe him. He asked me to help him sabotage a military project. I might not be an American citizen, but I expect there’s some equivalent to treason they could charge me with that would mean I would spend a long time in jail.”

  “Only if you get caught,” said Alex.

  Lewis started pacing. “If only I could be sure this wasn’t one of Straker’s weird tests.”

  “MK-THETA seems weird to me,” said Rusty. “It’s mind control.”

  “I meant a loyalty test,” said Lewis. “He can be paranoid.”

  “Would he do something like that?” said Alex, raising her eyebrows.

  Lewis shrugged. “It comes with being the director of a leading edge scientific research Centre.”

  “During this emergency?” said Rusty.

  “Great time to test people,” said Lewis. “I’ve always thought there’s a whiff of the mad scientist about Straker.”

  “And yet you put me in his care,” said Alex.

  “He was the person you needed,” said Lewis. “He’s the best in his field.”

  Alex looked up searchingly into her father’s face. He doesn’t know, she thought, he doesn’t know about the alien DNA.

  “I don’t think you have much option, Mr Morgan,” said Rusty. “Not if you love your wife.”

  “No, I suppose not,” said Lewis coldly. “And it’s Dr Morgan.” He took a deep breath. “I have one condition,” he said.

  “What?” said Alex.

  “That you give me your word, both of you, that you’ll stay here with Irene and Joe. I will not be followed.”

  Alex and Rusty exchanged glances. “We agree,” said Rusty.

  “We’d only get in the way,” said Alex. “You and C0numdrum know your way around the Centre. We don’t. Besides,” she swallowed. “I’d rather stay with Mum.”

  “Okay,” said Lewis. “We have a deal.”

  ****

  Alex and Rusty sat in the kitchen with cooling cups of undrunk coffee in front of them. Alex’s gaze rested on the far wall, but in her mind’s eye she was seeing the face of the alien. “I thought it was a good idea,” said Rusty. “Keep us awake.”

  Alex blinked and turned her attention back to Rusty with a visible effort. “No, it was a good idea. I’m …” she shrugged. “I don’t know what I am. I had some crazy news tonight. This is the first time I’ve had a chance to stop and think about it.” Not only do I have alien DNA, she thought, I might die because of it. How can I tell him about that? Do I even believe it’s true? But why would C0numdrum lie? I feel fine. Rusty interrupted her thoughts.

  “Bad news? Worse than what’s currently happening?”

  Alex smiled slightly. “I don’t even know if it’s true, let alone if it will happen.”

  “Something C0numdrum said?”

  “Yes,” said Alex.

  “Don’t tell me. It’ll be almost impossible to find out if he’s telling the truth.”

  Alex raised her eyebrows. “You don’t like C0nundrum, do you?”

  “He’s about as trustworthy as Straker. The way he couldn’t help us, then he could, and he’s given you this ‘crazy news’ … It strikes me that he’s trying to manipulate you. The way you were staring at him earlier. It’s like he has some hold over you.”

  “I suppose he does,” said Alex.

  “Let me in,” said Rusty. “Let me help.”

  Alex stood up. She took her cold coffee and poured it down the sink. “It’s not that I don’t want your help,” she said, without facing him. “It’s not that I don’t trust you. It’s
not even that I’m worried about putting you in danger — for once. It’s that right now I don’t think I trust my own mind.” She put the mug in the sink. Her shoulders slumped.

  Rusty came over to her and put his hand on her shoulder. “You don’t seem mad to me.”

  “That could be because the treatment worked. Or maybe just that I’m in a lucid period.”

  “Alex, stop doubting yourself. Because, frankly, with all this crazy stuff happening, you’ve been my rock,” said Rusty. “You’ve been the one that despite everything has always been strong — has always come up with a plan. Maybe that’s all you’re feeling right now. I mean, we’re sitting here waiting; hoping someone else is going to set all this right. It’s the first time we’ve both been powerless. Don’t let it get to you.”

  Alex hung her head. “I wasn’t even sure C0numdrum was real. That’s why I brought him back here. What he showed me … He was real, wasn’t he?”

  “Oh, yes. Annoyingly so.”

  “But I can’t trust myself with what I saw and heard,” said Alex. “It was too incredible. Too impossible. How do I know I wasn’t hallucinating?”

  “Tell me what it was he told you. Showed you,” said Rusty.

  Alex turned round to face him. “You’d never believe me.”

  “Try me,” said Rusty. “I’ve seen a lot of weird things since I met you. How much weirder could this be?”

  “It makes everything we’ve seen seem like — ordinary,” she finished lamely.

  “Well, now you have to tell me.”

  “I don’t think so,” said Alex.

  “You still don’t trust me.”

  Alex shook her head. “No, if I tell you this you’ll never trust me again.”

  “Alex, we might get our brains eaten by zombie villagers tonight. I’d hate to have my last thought as some old crone bites into my skull be: now I’ll never know.” He gave her a grin. “You can’t do that to me.”

  Alex sighed. “If I tell you it will change your world.”

  “So rock me!”

  “He showed me an alien.”

  “Woah,” said Rusty.

  ****

  Half an hour later, both of them had completely forgotten about Joe and Irene. Instead Alex poured out the rest of her story to Rusty.

  Finally Rusty said, “I don’t believe it. It’s a trick. He’s setting you up.”

  “For what?” said Alex.

  “I have no idea, but it won’t be anything good.”

  “I have to go back. I have to see for myself without him being there. And you need to come with me.”

  “Of course,” said Rusty, “but not now. We promised your father …” He broke off at the sound of the front door opening. Lewis walked into the kitchen. “It’s done,” he said. “All we have to do now is wait and see if it works.”

  “Do you think it will?” said Alex.

  “Your friend, C0numdrum, knew what to do. Speaking of whom, and this goes for both of you, if either of you ever have contact with him again I’ll see that he’s severely reprimanded by the Centre. All this getting involved with things that don’t concern you finishes here, do you understand?”

  10. All Good Things

  A week later Irene was back into her normal routine. When Alex asked her what she could remember, all she said was that it was a bad week for everyone.

  Alex had midterm papers to complete, so she focussed on that.

  One evening, she saw her father peering through the window of her car in the driveway, a small notebook in hand. It took her a while to figure out he was monitoring her mileage. As soon as she understood the level of surveillance he had her under, she made a point of avoiding college and working at home. She helped her mother in the kitchen and she didn’t invite Rusty over.

  She decided that cheese scones would show her parents an appropriate level of domesticity. Her father loved them but her mother’s efforts could have been used to build a nuclear bunker.

  Lewis walked into the kitchen.

  “Attracted by the smell of cheese?” asked Alex. “You can have the end of the stuff I’m grating if you want.” She held it out to him. Her father took it.

  “You’ve become quite a homebody of late. I hope your studies aren’t suffering.”

  “No more lectures. Just some papers and a couple of exams next week. Then it’s almost Christmas.”

  “Indeed,” said Lewis. “Your mother and I were wondering if you would like a trip as a Christmas present this year.”

  “A trip?”

  “An all expenses holiday to a mutually agreed location. Venice? Paris? We could even pay for a friend to go with you. Though I’m not sure your mother would agree to Rusty accompanying you.”

  Alex gave him a quick smile. “I don’t have any other friends.”

  “Maybe I could talk her round. It’s not like you two are dating, is it?”

  “No,’ said Alex. ‘We’re just friends.”

  “Do you like the idea?”

  “Sure,” said Alex. “Why not?”

  “We think it’s time you broadened your horizons. You’ve only got the rest of this academic year and next at that college. Maybe you should consider studying abroad.”

  “This is abroad, Dad.”

  “I mean in Europe. Get some distance between you and …”

  “The Centre?”

  Lewis frowned. “I appreciate that you’ve stayed away from certain issues since I asked but I can’t help feeling that you’re biding your time.”

  “No, Dad, I …”

  “I don’t want to hear it,” said Lewis. “Accept the offer of a nice trip, Alex, and start thinking about where you’ll be going. Because whatever happens, you won’t be staying here.”

  Rage surged through Alex, and she gritted her teeth. “Let’s agree I’ll think about it,” she said in as level a voice as she could manage.

  “Good enough,” said Lewis. “For now.”

  After he left the kitchen it took all of Alex’s self-control not to throw the bowl at the wall. The phone in her pocket rang. Careless of her pastry-covered fingers she pulled it out and saw Rusty’s image flashing.

  “Hi,” she said.

  “Hi. Long time no speak,” said Rusty brightly. “I’m stuck on that maths paper we need to hand in next week. Do you think you could give me a hand?”

  “Maths?” said Alex. “I don’t remember …”

  “Oh yes, you do,” said Rusty. “You must do.”

  “Okay,” said Alex. “I’ll come over. Give me forty-five minutes.”

  Half an hour later, Alex presented warm cheese scones to her father. “Is it okay if I go over to Rusty’s to get some help on my maths paper?” she asked, knowing he would never believe Rusty needed her help.

  “You’re not under house arrest,” said her father. “Of course you can go.”

  ****

  All the way there Alex kept checking her rear-view mirror to see if she could spot any cars following her. You’re being paranoid, she told herself. But she couldn’t shake the feeling her father’s determination to keep her away from the Centre would lead him to take extraordinary action.

  Rusty’s house looked as shabby as ever. He still hadn’t got round to painting the windows. The old car stood in the driveway, doors sagging at the sides and refusing to shut properly.

  “Rusty,” said Alex when he came to the door in answer to her knock, “do you know how to alter the mileage on a car?”

  “That’s illegal,” said Rusty.

  “I know,” said Alex stepping into the hall, “but it’s that or go and live in Venice or somewhere.”

  Rusty closed the front door. “You okay?”

  “Just my father making his influence felt. How do you feel like coming to Europe with me on a short trip? Separate rooms — probably separate hotels if my mother gets her way.”

  “Eh, maybe. Sounds like an idea.” He stuck his head out of the door and looked up and down the street. “You need to come inside.�
� Rusty opened the living room door and Alex saw Mrs Gibson, Cat, Joe and C0numdrum waiting for them. Mrs Gibson lay propped up on the sofa. The rest of them sat uncomfortably on the edge of chairs as if they were waiting for something.

  “Shit,” she said. “If my father knows I’ve seen you he’ll make real trouble for all of us.”

  “If anyone besides us six knows I’m out of the Centre I’ll be in real trouble,” said C0numdrum.

  “He brought stuff for my mum,” said Rusty.

  “A gesture of goodwill,” said C0numdrum.

  “It’s the weirdest thing,” said Mrs Gibson, “I’ve only taken the one dose and already it seems like that brain fog I’ve had for years is lifting.”

  “If you finish the course I’ve given you,” said C0numdrum, “it should stabilise your condition permanently. I can’t guarantee it’ll fix everything, but it’ll make a difference.”

  “I’d rather you told us what it is before my mother takes anymore,” said Rusty.

  “I can’t do that,” said C0numdrum. “I wish I could, but it would put you in too much danger.”

  “Rusty, hon,” said Mrs Gibson, “if whatever it is can make this much difference to me in a few hours, I’m not going to demand to know what it is. I’m just going to be grateful. That place is full of classified projects. Sometimes it’s better not to know.”

  “I don’t know about that,” begun Rusty.

  “Besides, I have something you all need to do,” said Mrs Gibson. “Now I can think more clearly.”

  “Do?” said Alex.

  “About the MK-THETA project,” said C0numdrum. “That’s it, isn’t it, Mrs Gibson?” he faced Rusty. “Both your parents were heavily involved in it.”

  “There was no question of experimenting on children when I was there,” said Mrs Gibson. “That’s unconscionable.”

  “I agree,” said C0numdrum. He flicked a side-long glance at Alex. Alex did her best not to react. Was he talking about MK-THETA or the alien DNA experiment? Or were they both linked?

  “Cat, go and get my old workbook and a pencil from the desk, please,” said Mrs Gibson. She smiled at C0numdrum. “Some things are better done old-style.”