by Eliza Green
☼
Fifteen minutes later and with Clement’s help, Stephen removed the blockades covering the entrance to the tranquillity cave Tanya had used. The extra guards he’d ordered to be posted stuck around.
‘Are you sure about this?’ asked a worried Clement.
Stephen nodded. ‘I need to know what’s happening.’
‘At least let me come in there with you.’
‘No, I won’t have you risking your life for this.’
But Clement persisted. ‘I’m third generation. The virus doesn’t appear to be affecting me like the others.’
Stephen contemplated that offer. To go in alone would be riskier. ‘It might be good to have a second pair of eyes in there.’ He entered the cave and nodded to two units next to each other. ‘We take these ones.’
Stephen jumped straight into his hole, landing on all fours. He assumed a seated position and prepared to enter the Nexus. With his eyes closed, the rock face vanished and a bright orange lattice appeared in its place. A tendril came for him, lacking its usual bright white, and pulled his energy inside.
A strange silence greeted him. No users gathered at the centre of the Nexus. The wall pulsated with a slow energy, one beat every three seconds. Without any users, the space put him on edge. He waited for Clement’s bright energy to join him.
Clement’s energy floated to the centre of the rounded wall.
You know this design better than I do. Does it feel different to before? His ethereal voice, distorted by the new plane they inhabited, echoed more than usual.
Stephen looked around him. The pulse the Nexus wall emitted picked up a faster beat: one every two seconds. It was slower than the usual frenzied pulse that usually accompanied the presence of many Indigene energies. The dead space showed him how much the Nexus relied on the Indigenes. Did it respond to their energy, or was it the company it missed? When Serena had used the Nexus for the first time, it had reacted to her like a playful Evolver.
How about we float around for a bit, see what’s going on?
Clement agreed with a nod. I’ll start from the other side.
Stephen floated to one side of the Nexus, examining the dull orange wall face for micro-tears that might hint at injury. He also checked for any wisps of energy exiting the space through the ceiling. A similar occurrence had happened when Tanya had turned on her machine and stolen its power.
He stopped at the exact spot where Tanya had merged with the wall, and where he assumed the Nexus had destroyed her energy. He noticed an extra pulse in the spot where she’d been. Stephen reached out an ethereal hand to touch the wall. The pulse stopped.
Surprised, he drew his hand back. He watched the spot for a minute, waiting for the pulse to return, but it didn’t. Maybe he’d imagined it. His senses were off lately, and his restricted access to this healing space wasn’t helping matters. But he hadn’t come here to restore his health.
Clement re-joined him.
No issues on this side, Stephen reported.
None over there, said Clement. So she’s gone?
Movement to his right caught Stephen’s attention. He stared at the same spot, expecting to see that second pulse again. But all he saw was the slow beat of the despondent Nexus.
I think so.
So does that mean we can rule out the Nexus as the source?
Without answering Clement, Stephen floated to the wall and stuck himself to it. He allowed the Nexus to feed from him. In turn, he drew power from it. The pulse of the Nexus quickened. The energy felt strong and clean.
It feels fine—
A sudden jolt knocked him loose from the wall. He jerked away from it. The Nexus had changed from a slow pulse to a rolling one running the circumference of the rounded wall.
What happened? asked Clement.
The wall... it knocked me loose.
Maybe his energy had woken the Nexus up. But one Indigene wasn’t enough to produce that kind of output.
Clement pointed at the wall. Hey, what’s that?
Stephen looked over, seeing the extra pulse he thought he’d imagined earlier. As the rolling continued, the secondary pulse grew stronger.
Only one way to know what was going on. He floated to the wall and connected with it a second time.
This time the Nexus didn’t knock him loose but the roll increased, undulating and rolling his energy along with it. New tendrils emerged from the wall, greyer and dull in appearance to their usual bright white. They attached to him, feeding him a strange new energy that charred his connected body.
The pain blazed inside him. This was a mistake.
When the tendrils gripped him tighter, Stephen flailed and kicked.
Clement, he gasped. Pull me loose!
Clement rushed over and grabbed hold of Stephen’s energy, jerking him free from the wall. Stephen backed off, panting and in pain. He watched in horror as the grey tendrils came for him.
We need to get out. Now!
Stephen swam for his exit, barely reaching it before the tendrils did. A tendril swiped at him just before he pulled his energy out.
Back in his body and lying on the floor, Stephen sucked in new air. The fire in his body remained—a confirmation of the contamination he now knew existed. He heard Clement stir in his unit. Then, his face appeared over the top of Stephen’s unit.
‘You okay down there?’
Stephen nodded. ‘I need a minute.’
He needed more than that. He needed a way to extract the poison that was flowing through the Nexus’ delivery system, turning the white tendrils a murky grey. It had to be a consequence of the infection Tanya Li had unleashed.
The Nexus was fighting back. The poison it emitted? Self-preservation.
35
It wasn’t a terrible idea from Bill. When he’d returned to the apartment with Ben and the equipment Laura would need to get online, she’d first thought his idea to shadow Harvey would not work. But she’d brought Anton’s neurosensor with her, which would accelerate her lie detection skill, like it had done with Emile.
Before she agreed, she had one condition. ‘Promise you won’t leave Margaux alone with Jameson. I know nothing about him.’
‘He’s not as bad as Harvey, if that’s what you’re worried about.’
It was, but even with Bill’s assurances and Margaux’s insistence she could “handle one little doctor”, her agreement to shadow Harvey hinged on that condition.
Laura stood back while Bill and Ben set up her temporary office. She wasn’t planning on staying longer than it took for the cure to be found. The new light in Bill’s eyes hinted he thought she was back for good. Now wasn’t the time to burst his bubble. When the ever-restless Margaux was ready to return to the district, which she guessed would be soon, Laura would be going with her.
She left the apartment with directions to Harvey’s clinic and walked the fifteen miles to get there, foregoing Bill’s offer to use the car. The sunlight pinched her eyes, sensitive from being underground for close to a month. District Three had worked well to develop her Indigene sight, but had killed her ability to see in full sun.
Cars rumbled noisily on the street. Normal conversation sounded like shouting to her Indigene hearing. The sounds of the city barrelled through her mind like a freight train. She never thought she’d miss the silence between Indigenes, punctured by soft-spoken conversation.
Laura hurried on, making use of her speed while she was alone, and arrived at Harvey’s clinic. The grey, brick facade and steel door looked nothing like a clinic. More like a private domicile that should have a guard dog pacing outside.
Perfect for the man who inhabited it, she guessed.
She marched up to the door, needing to get out of the sun that was beginning to irritate her skin. She knocked on the brushed steel.
A scanner emitting a blue scan from overhead forced her gaze up. Bill hadn’t mentioned this. Maybe this was one of Harvey’s security additions. That meant he had connections with people who
could manipulate technology.
The door opened and she came face to face with the geneticist who had once tried to kill her.
‘Laura,’ said Harvey, frowning. ‘I didn’t expect to see you here.’
‘It was a surprise to me too.’
‘What are you doing here?’
She splayed her hands. ‘You wanted help? I’m it.’
Harvey laughed, not too loudly, which she oddly appreciated. ‘I asked Bill for someone in particular.’
‘Everyone else is busy. It’s me or nothing. You need help or not?’
Harvey appeared to ponder that. With a smile, he stepped back and let her in.
She followed him inside to the ground floor, which had been set up with a row of examination chairs, and a table with a DPad on it. The sign to the front read: “reception”. Harvey pointed to the table. ‘You can stand there.’
‘And do what—smile and look pretty? No thanks. I’ll take blood samples.’
Harvey rounded on her, his eyes void of emotion. ‘And you have how much experience doing that?’
She had none. ‘You’re going to teach me.’
Looking like he might throw her out, Harvey surprised her instead by assessing her clinically. Slow and steady.
She didn’t like it.
‘How’s that genetic mutation working out?’ he asked.
She folded her arms, to stop the shake in them. ‘Fine, how’s yours?’
Harvey laughed. ‘I see you haven’t lost your spark. You’re welcome, by the way.’
‘For what?’
‘For saving you.’
The last time Laura had seen him, she’d been caught between two species. Neither human nor Indigene. Harvey had given Bill five vials to halt her transmogrification.
It was Laura’s turn to laugh. She dropped her arms to her sides. ‘As I remember it, you didn’t save me. All you did was halt my evolution.’
‘Which would have killed you.’ Harvey stuck his hands into the pockets of his doctor’s coat. ‘After we’re done here, I’d like to study you more.’
That idea terrified her. ‘No chance.’ She walked away from him, grabbing a pair of latex gloves from a station area of supplies. ‘Now, how about you show me what we’re going to be doing here?’
Harvey gave in with a sigh. He walked her over to a trestle table separate to the supply area, with empty blood collection vials ready and waiting.
‘We need blood samples from whomever shows up.’
‘But everyone won’t show.’
‘That won’t matter. We only need a sample of the population to know if anyone’s presenting with the virus. Their antibodies should be off the charts.’
‘What will they be coming in for?’
‘A new anti-aging serum, to make them look young again. The alert went out last night.’
‘What will we really be giving them?’
‘Saline.’
Laura saw a problem with his ruse. ‘I think they’re going to notice when their appearance stays the same.’
Harvey smirked, his gaze too sharp for her liking. ‘That’s the beauty of placebos. They can trick just about anyone into believing something good is happening.’
Laura didn’t disagree with his theory. People generally lapped up the experts’ advice, even if it was bull.
Harvey picked up a needle. ‘Swab the crook of the elbow first to sterilise the area, then stick the needle in and draw blood into the attached vial.’ He demonstrated on himself to show where. He held it out to her. ‘Here, practise on me.’
Laura stepped forward, eager to stick something sharp in Harvey Buchanan. She tried to find his vein, but kept missing it. Harvey jerked and winced.
‘Sorry,’ she muttered.
He rubbed the spot where she’d stabbed him. ‘Okay, new plan. You get the patients settled in the chairs and swab them in the crook of their elbow.’
‘So where does the saline injection come into it?’
‘After. I take the blood sample and you can follow up with the “anti-aging” shot.’ He tapped his upper arm. ‘Here, nice and visible. You can manage that, right?’
Laura nodded. They discussed a few extra details.
Then Harvey said, ‘The alert said the clinic would open at eleven.’
Laura checked the time. It was almost that now. ‘Time to open the doors, I guess.’
The first patient, a man in his sixties, arrived half an hour later, clutching his DPad. ‘Is this the right place?’
He had a paunch and tired-looking skin.
Laura smiled at him, putting the man at ease. ‘Yes, sir. I’ll just get you to sign in.’
She held out Harvey’s DPad with an area to scan his identity chip. He eyed it with suspicion. ‘What’s this for?’
‘If you’re getting treatment, we need you in the system. It’s standard at any of the clinics on Earth. Too many treatments can undo the good work.’
‘Never used them.’ He glanced down at his belly then pressed his thumb to the plate.
Laura set the DPad at an angle next to the reception sign, to make it easy for new arrivals to sign in without her. She led the man over to one of the chairs and swabbed the crook of his elbow. She told him to relax and tended to the next patient, while Harvey took a blood sample from him. When he was done, she returned to the man to give him the saline solution.
His eyes widened at the needle in her hand. ‘What’s that?’
‘The anti-aging serum.’
‘And the blood sample? Was that really necessary? If I’d known there would be this much poking...’
‘We can’t give you the correct serum until we determine your blood type, sir. It works with your specific genetic makeup.’
He nodded. Laura jabbed him and injected the tiny volume of fluid. It would do no harm.
The man blew out a breath, flashing a nervy smile. ‘Can’t wait to see the results.’
He left the clinic and Laura gave the next fake patient her attention. For the next three hours they carried on, until Harvey had over a hundred samples. He closed the doors at a quarter to two, despite a queue of people forming outside.
‘Trial is over, folks. Go home. I’ll announce another date soon.’
The people left, but they didn’t sound happy about it.
Harvey returned to the clinic. ‘The samples we have should be enough.’
The number of people who’d come for the free treatment had surprised Laura. ‘I honestly thought we’d only get ten people. There must have been another twenty or thirty waiting outside.’
‘Yeah, people are vain.’
‘What now?’
‘Now, I analyse the results and rule out if this virus has extended to the residents of New London.’
Still in awe of their speedy results, Laura reminded herself of the other reason she’d volunteered for this role. While Harvey’s back was turned, she removed the neurosensor from her pocket and stuck it to the skin beneath her hairline.
Pressing her shaking hands together, she concentrated on Harvey. ‘What are your plans after all this is done?’
The eighty-year-old rounded on her. His gaze narrowed, like he was trying to figure her out. ‘Bill tell you to ask me that?’
She shook her head, expression neutral.
‘Plenty of work in the anti-aging business, as you can see,’ he said.
‘Is that what you want to do?’
Harvey shrugged. ‘Sure.’
A shadow jerked away from him, despite the brightness in the room. She shivered.
‘Something wrong with you?’
Laura composed herself, smiling. ‘I’m fine. Seems like a step down for you.’
‘What do you mean?’
‘You were a geneticist for the World Government, or at least a secret one. Would running an anti-aging clinic satisfy you?’
Harvey smiled. ‘Of course.’
The shadow separated farther from him; it looked weird to see it in a room with no other shadows
. Her eyes widened just as Harvey’s narrowed.
‘Why are you so interested?’
Laura shrugged, trying to downplay her interest. ‘It’s been a long time. I want to know if you’re planning on making trouble for my husband. He’s too polite to ask.’
‘Not my thing anymore. I’ve changed.’
The shimmering lie stayed separated, even as Harvey turned his attention to the vials.
Laura concentrated on his ghost. It had no discernible features.
He’s biding his time.
She frowned. For what?
He wants more.
She’d figured that out from the start, but to hear Harvey’s ghost confirm it shocked her. She needed to warn Bill, but not before they got the cure.
Harvey still had his back turned to her. He was fussing over a sample tray of vials.
‘You promised to stick around so I could study you,’ he said.
‘I made no such promise.’
He turned around, his hands hidden behind his back. ‘Your genetic code is fascinating; half human, half Indigene. I would love to see what that looks like.’
With that truth, his ghost disappeared.
‘If I ever decide to visit your fake clinic, you can take a blood sample then.’
Harvey wagged one finger at her. ‘Never say never. Now, are you sticking around to help? I’ve got a hundred blood samples to get through.’
‘That’s all on you. How soon can you have the results?’
‘In about a day.’
Laura nodded, turning away. ‘Send them to Bill—’
A prick on her arm wheeled her round. She saw a needle sticking out of a vein on her lower arm.
‘What the hell are you doing?’
She pushed a laughing Harvey away. He took the needle and the collection tube with him.
‘Turns out I’m not a patient man.’ He shook the vial of blood at her. ‘And you’re just too fascinating not to study.’
She lunged for the vial, ripping it clear from his grip.
‘I wouldn’t break that if I were you.’
Her chest heaved from the violation. ‘Why not?’
‘The Indigenes need me to figure out the cure. Think of this as a payment for that service.’