by T. R. Harris
“That depends on you, colonel. Just let me know where Silvia is and I’ll be on my way.”
Cross slumped his shoulders with resignation while straddling a pair of steps on the ladder. “Unfortunately, it’s not that simple, gunny.” He looked to a wide-eyed Lisa Frost, still in the golf cart. “Ms. Frost, please have my bags taken to my quarters and then bring us all back some of those sandwiches you mentioned. Come on Angus…and Olivia. Let’s get this over with.”
A minute later, Cross was ensconced in a high-back leather chair behind his desk, while Olivia and Angus took seats on the other side. Angus was bristling with energy and anger and sat on the edge of the chair, leaning forward.
“So where is she…and my kid?”
Cross curled up the corners of his mouth and shook his head slowly. “You don’t even know if it’s a boy or a girl, do you?”
“How could I? I’ve been on the other side of the Grid doing what I could to keep the Human race from being wiped out. And when I get back, you’ve hidden the mother of my child away somewhere I can’t find her.”
“She’s safe…as is your son.”
Angus looked at Olivia, his eyes wide, his mouth formed into an ‘o.’ “I have a son?”
“Yes,” replied Cross. “He’s healthy, as is the mother.”
“Why did you take her away?” Olivia asked.
Crossed frowned. “Look around you; is this the type of place to birth a child and then spend the first month or two of his life?”
“It’s one of the most-advanced medical facilities in the world, colonel,” Olivia countered, sarcastically.
“For REV research, not for raising children. Don’t worry. I have Ms. Eddington and the others at a facility in Denver receiving the best post-natal care. It seemed best to consolidate our resources in one place.”
“So when can I see them?” Angus asked.
Cross pursed his lips. “Like I said, it’s not as simple as that.”
“Bullshit…sir.”
“Gunny, you’ll find this hard to accept, but Ms. Eddington has been awarded a restraining order against you, preventing you from seeing either her or your son. It was signed off right after the birth six weeks ago.”
“A bloody restraining order!” Angus rose to his feet, feeling his blood pressure rise, along with other functions. “Why would she do that? I’ve never done anything to deserve that.”
“Calm down, gunny,” Cross said, noticing the early signs of cascading.
“And how? How could she do that without me being able to contest it?”
Cross smirked. “Seriously, Angus. All she had to do was tell the judge that the father was a REV and she couldn’t approve it soon enough.”
“That’s it, because I’m a fucking REV? Some crazed-killer who can fly off the handle at any moment?”
“You said it, gunny, not me.”
“This is insane,” Angus said, falling back into the chair. “I can go to the court. I can tell them what I am, that I’m not like that anymore.”
“But you are, Mr. Price. You may be able to control the rage—to a degree—but it’s always there. It’s there right now.”
Angus looked at Olivia, his eyes pleading.
“I’ll go to her,” she said. “I’ll see if I can get her to change her mind.”
“She won’t,” Cross said flatly.
“You made her do this!” Angus said, directing his venom at Cross.
The man sat behind his desk, unusually calm in the face of a cascading REV.
“All I did was present an argument. Silvia—and the others—made up their own minds. You have to realize all the women involved have direct experience with the medical realities of REVs. It didn’t take much convincing.”
“You fucking bastard!”
“Gunnery sergeant!” Cross snapped. “Belay that shit! I’m still your superior officer.” This was the Dr. David Cross Angus had witnessed before, as Zac and he argued on the way to Camp Slater. There were two versions of David Cross, a Dr. Jekyll and a Mr. Hyde. It also upset Angus that Cross displayed no fear of him.
Olivia put a warm hand on Angus’s forearm. “Calm down, Angus, please. This is doing no good. I’m sure things will settle out. We have to give it time.”
Angus acknowledged Olivia’s soothing voice, but he wasn’t done expressing his outrage. “This is some shit, colonel. I wasn’t expecting this.”
“Olivia’s right, gunny,” Cross said, a softer tone to his voice. “Things may change, but right now this is the way it is.”
Olivia narrowed her eyes at the doctor, realizing she now had the opportunity to ask the question that had been haunting her since the moment she learned of the pregnancies.
“Colonel…do the babies carry the mutation?”
Angus sobered up like a bucket of cold water poured over his head. He looked first at Olivia and then to Cross, waiting for the reply.
David leaned back in his chair and sighed. “I’m not going to lie to you, but that’s one of the main reasons the women were moved off-site. We needed to study the children—of which there are six.”
“Any girls?” Olivia asked. She knew the significance of the question, as well as the ramifications of the answer.
So did Cross. “Unfortunately, no. They’re all boys. And as to your first question, it’s too early to tell.”
“Go on,” Angus prodded.
“The mutation that allows for the production of natural NT-4 begins in the adrenal glands and interacts with adrenaline, aldosterone and cortisol. It then receives other hormones from the kidneys and liver, adding to the glucose levels of the steroids. From there it undergoes a transformation we’re still working to resolve.”
Angus’s eyes began to roll back in his head. He had no idea what the doctor just said. “What does all that have to do with whether or not my kid’s a REV?”
“It means the organs have to mature beyond a six-week-old before any of these processes can take place,” Olivia explained. “Right now, your son is in the process of producing what it needs as an infant to survive. Once that period is over, then the mutation may manifest itself.”
“When will that be?”
Olivia looked at Cross and sighed. “At puberty, gunny,” Dr. Cross answered. “If then.”
“So I won’t know if my son is a mutant until…when the ’ell is puberty anyway? I can’t remember.”
“It normally occurs between the ages of nine and fourteen in most normal boys,” Cross said. “However, we can’t be sure if the subject has the gene, for lack of a better word. With how natural NT-4 affects the body, it could come sooner; I doubt if it would come later.” He looked to Olivia for confirmation, as if they were now discussing the chart of a particular patient, and not some profound change in human evolution.
Angus slumped in the chair. What could he do? What was going to happen to his son—or not—wouldn’t be known for several years. And with Angus’s line of work, there was a good chance he’d be dead long before that happened. He began to accept the inevitability of the situation. Cross and Olivia saw the resignation in his demeanor.
“Sorry,” Olivia said.
“For what it’s worth, so am I, gunny,” Cross added.
The mea culpa wasn’t worth much; Angus was still mad and frustrated. He was also at a loss as to what to do next? He looked around at the walls of the underground office, looking for…something, anything that made sense. He was still in the military, yet without a unit or a mission. He was also a freak of nature which no one knew what to do with. His day had started with such promise; he was back on his homeworld and anxious to meet his child. That was something no REV could ever imagine. And now he was more lost and alone than ever.
The tension in the room was broken when Lisa Frost entered the office with a tray of sandwiches and soft drinks. Angus wasn’t hungry—correction, he was. He just didn’t want the distraction of eating. He wanted to savor his sorrow for a little while longer.
“Perhaps y
ou should show them the video?” Lisa said to Cross.
“What video?” Olivia asked.
It took a moment for Cross to realize what Lisa was referring to. Then his face lit up. “Yes, of course! That will help take your mind off of…things.”
Angus frowned as the doctor fingered his datapad and the monitor on the wall to Cross’s right lit up. He keyed in a few more words and then swiveled his chair so he could see the screen. Angus and Olivia did the same, while Lisa moved a chair to the left side of the desk and sat down.
“This is footage that was smuggled out of Borin-Noc a couple of weeks ago. It’s highly classified and only a handful of people know it exists.”
The video was shaky and grainy and showed a small group of robed figures standing before a crowd of Noc natives. Angus recognized the species; he’d killed thousands of them in his career. They were on a low stage, and a moment later, a shackled figure was led onto the platform and pressed down onto a stool.
It was Zac Murphy.
“Is this real?” Olivia asked skeptically.
“The techs have verified it; it’s real,” said Cross. “It was taken by a rebel at the event.”
“And what’s going on?”
“From what we can tell, it’s a public showing of Zac to a few bigwigs on the various Colony Worlds, especially those with the most-active resistance, if you can call it that these days.”
“Why?” Angus asked, dumbfounded by the knowledge that his friend may still be alive.
“To counter our propaganda that all of Zac’s confessions are fake. By showing that the real Zac Murphy is alive, it bolsters the Antaere version of events.”
“He looks drugged,” Olivia pointed out.
Cross nodded. “I’ve studied the images extensively. He’s been activated, and probably more than once.”
“How can that be?” Angus asked. “Do the Qwin have NT-4?”
“They have their own version of the drug.”
“Won’t that kill him?” Angus followed up.
“It hasn’t so far, but I can only guess what damage its causing to his system. He has to be a mess inside, what with the alien NT-4, his own synthetic residual and the Delta drug all coursing through his body.”
“But he’s still alive!” Olivia punctuated the conversation.
“As of two weeks ago, and on ES-6, not Antara or one of the inner worlds.”
Angus immediately picked up on Cross’s subtle inference.
“We can rescue him!”
“It would certainly be easier than getting him off Antara, or even Iz’zar.”
Olivia stared open-mouthed at Angus and Cross. “Is that really possible, what with everything that’s going on in the Grid?”
“It’s worth a bloody try,” Angus announced.
“Bloody is what I’m afraid it could become,” Olivia said. “And you certainly couldn’t do it alone, and without a ship.”
Angus’s face was alive and animated. “I’ve got a ship,” he said, looking at Cross. “If your buddy will let me use it again. And I’ve got a team. Kyle and Donovan, wherever they are?”
“They’re on the way to Crious,” Cross announced. “I’ve been keeping track of them since we learned they’re still alive.”
“And I’ve got General Smith, if he’s willing to join us.”
“And me, too,” Olivia added.
Angus grimaced. “It could get pretty nasty, sweetheart. You sure you want to do this?”
“You might need a medic, and there’s none better at patching up REVs than yours truly. And look at Zac. He’ll need someone to keep him alive if you can pull this off.”
Angus looked at Cross, a wide grin on his face. The REV’s change in mood had been drastic and sudden. “Well, can we use the Zanzibar?”
“The Zanzibar?”
“Yeah, that’s what Amber says the ship is called.”
“Amber?”
“Never mind, sir. Can we use the ship or not?”
Cross laid his hands on the desk, a sign of surrender. “Of course, why not?”
“Well bugger me,” Angus said. “Looks like we have a mission after all.”
Cross turned serious. “Good luck Mr. Price, and Ms. Contreras. I’ll run whatever interference I can from my end, as well as get you the intelligence you need about Zac’s current whereabouts and enemy strength in the area. General Smith can pull other strings to get you clearance and supplies.”
“Bloody well all right!” Angus proclaimed, standing, nervous energy replacing the debilitating depression from only moments before. “Let’s get this show on the road.”
Lisa Frost remained in the office after Olivia and Angus had left.
“That was…effective, David.”
“Convenient might be a better word for it,” said Cross, the enthusiasm he’d displayed a few minutes before now gone. “I can’t have those two snooping around and asking more questions. Now, get me the Savage file…and the videos. When will the panel results be in?”
“They’re due this evening,” Lisa replied. “But the prelims are already here. It’s what you suspected.”
Cross grit his teeth and snarled. “How could this be happening? I thought we had this pretty well nailed down; something like this couldn’t have fallen through the cracks. If so, then our entire testing regimen is in question.”
“Let me get you some coffee,” Lisa said. “It looks like it’s going to be a long night.”
15
Olivia put Angus up in a room across the hall from hers. There were a lot of vacancies in the housing quarters as the drawdown of personnel in the Complex continued.
They were in Olivia’s room, at her computer, opening a high-speed video link with General Smith in Washington. It was well past midnight on the East Coast and they woke him from his slumber. Once Angus filled him in on the conversation with Dr. Cross, Smitty came wide awake.
“I’m in, of course. I’ll help coordinate TDY orders for the team and arrange to have the Zanzibar pick up the two of you in Colorado Springs.” The general was already in operational planning mode. “I’ll also stock the ship with the supplies I think we’ll need. It could take me all day tomorrow—I mean later today—to get all this done. Will you be okay hanging out at the Complex until then?”
Angus smirked. “As long as Cross stays out of my way. This whole rescue of Zac thing is great, but I’m still pissed at him about Silvia and my…son.” Angus had trouble saying the word son. It was such a far-fetched concept that it would take a lot longer for him to get used to it. He’d never imagined this moment coming, but more than that, he’d had trouble relating to people he knew who felt an unreasonable attachment to their offspring, especially if they turned out to be bad apples. For Angus, the epiphany had come an hour before. Now he had to fight to keep the idea of fatherhood from consuming him. Although it could be years before he met his son, just knowing that he was a father had changed him. What amazed him more was how quickly the change happened. The attachment was sudden, strong…and real.
He tried to shrug off the melancholy of this thoughts. He had a mission to plan and execute.
“What about Ashley?” General Smith was asking. “The woman has skills.”
Angus ignored the hidden meaning in the statement, although Smitty was right. “I’m for all the merrier, but the Zanzibar will be crowded as it is. If Kyle and Donovan come along, that will be five of us already.”
“Invite her,” Olivia said. “I’m going to need a counter to all the testosterone that’ll be clogging the air vents of the ship.”
“You’ll have Amber,” Smitty said with a mischievous smile.
“Who is this Amber chick?” She looked at Angus. “You mentioned her before.”
“Never mind. You’ll find out soon enough.” Angus looked at the screen. “About Ashley, it’s your call, general. I’m conflicted.”
Smitty snorted. “That’s assuming she’ll want to come along.”
Angus smiled. “I think we
both know what her answer will be.”
The general nodded. “Okay, I’ll get to work right now, if I can find anyone awake at this hour. But, hey, I’m a general. This star has to be worth something. I’ll contact you in the morning with a firmer timetable.”
After the screen went blank Angus turned his attention to Olivia. She looked exhausted, with dark circles under her eyes and a sallowness to her normally bronze skin. Six months of living in a cave was affecting her, along with the stresses of the job and the fate of the REVs—and one REV is particular.
Angus took her hand. “Hey, this is the best news we’ve had about Zac in a while.”
“I know,” she said. “But you heard Cross; he’s been shot up with alien NT-4. And the video. He looked like a vegetable. The drug may be frying his brain, if it hasn’t already. And now a handful of us are expected to go in and get him out. Why doesn’t Earth Command just send a fleet in after him?”
“That’s not their style,” Angus replied. He shrugged. “Too bad we can’t recruit more of the Deltas, you know, to go in with an army of superhumans.” He frowned. “Speaking of that, what’s happening to all the REVs that pass through here? There has to be fifty or more Deltas identified by now. What’s Cross doing with them? I haven’t heard of a new division of REVs with Delta-like abilities. Of course, I have been out of circulation for a while.”
“Neither have I,” Olivia said, “although there hasn’t been a big call for REVs recently, and certainly not for thinking REVs. But I have to tell you, not all the Deltas are like you and Zac. Some only have trace amounts of the natural drug in their system, with very little influence on the synthetic. Others have more, of course, but I know for a fact none have returned to their prior duty stations. But that could be from the drawdown.”
“They may be on Crious with the others,” Angus offered.
Olivia shook her head. “I don’t think so. I get reports on all the active REVs. I know where they are, and Cross is not putting the Deltas there. He probably has them hidden away somewhere here on Earth.”