by C M Dancha
"Ah...I'm sorry, what did you ask me, Mr. Sweats?"
"Claudette, I was asking about the Director's condition. Is she in the hospital and how bad was the accident?"
"I didn't talk to her when she called in this morning, but the lady she talked to said Sophia could hardly talk. It was like she had a mouth full of marbles. Apparently, she spent all night in the hospital but was discharged this morning. That's about all I know, Mr. Sweats." With a big, sincere smile on her face, Claudette asked, "Are you sure I can't help you find something? You know that's my job and I've been doing it for, let's see now, it's been …"
Rollie tuned out Claudette's gibberish and walked away. As he got to the lift to go to his floor, he could still hear her muted voice. My god, does that woman ever shut up? He would have to remember what a gossip monger this woman was in case he ever wanted to spread a rumor throughout the company within a short amount of time.
"Rollie, wait up."
Rollie turned around and found Raul heading his way. He was half walking and running down the aisle from the Archives Department. When he got to Rollie, he asked, "Did you try to get into the Archives Department?"
"Yeah, I needed some information, but it looked closed. So, I tried my identification just for the hell of it."
"That triggered an alarm in my department, Rollie. I happened to be on this floor, so I responded to it. That red-headed woman who gets in your face when she talks told me you were at Archives and headed this way."
Rollie started laughing. Apparently, he wasn't the only person at Phoenvartis who thought Claudette's conversation boundaries were unusual. "She's really something, isn't she?"
Before Raul could respond, Rollie asked, "Have you seen Klaus today?"
"No, I haven't. Why do you ask?"
"Raul, walk with me to my office. I want to run something by you."
The two men walked to the end of the hall and got on the lift. As they rode to the floor with most of the executive offices, Rollie began explaining his meeting with Klaus. He gave Raul the same briefing on ReLife which Klaus received an hour earlier. He didn't bother saying anything about the monkey woman because he wanted to get to Klaus's physical condition as quickly as possible.
"Raul, someone kicked the crap out of Klaus. His arm is in a sling and his face looks like it went through a sausage grinder. He moved so gingerly around his office I bet his entire body is black and blue. He tried to make me believe it was an accident, but I'm sure that was a lie. There's no question he fought with someone."
"Did he say who he got into a fight with or where it happened?"
"No, not specifically. All he said was the other injured person was a woman. And here's the strange thing. I could tell he was happy that the other person got hurt. In other words, he enjoyed beating up a woman."
"A woman? Are you joking?" At first, Raul didn't know what to think of Rollie's story about Klaus and his physical condition. He was about ready to end the conversation and go see Klaus for himself when the woman from Archives popped into his head. Was she the other injured person?
There was no doubt in his mind that the Archives woman could give an out of shape guy like Klaus a damn good thrashing. He could tell that beneath her charm and sexuality there was a woman who was physically solid as a rock. The way she carried herself was a tip-off she was not your normal debutante who spent her childhood at a girl's finishing school. No, she grew up a tomboy who enjoyed rough-housing with the boys. She learned early in life how to inflict pain on anyone who looked at her the wrong way or said something demeaning.
It wasn't a coincidence that Rollie took a detour route after leaving Klaus's office. He must have suspected the woman from Archives was Klaus's sparring partner. And when he found the Archive Department closed for the day his suspicions grew.
Raul wondered how much Rollie knew about his lady friend's relationship with the CEO of Phoenvartis. Was it all suspicion until today or did he know he was involved in a three-person sexual liaison? Raul didn't give a damn about who was sleeping with whom. All he wanted to know was why this woman was involved with both men. It certainly wasn't because she enjoyed being beat up. She was getting something from these relationships and Raul hoped it wasn't confidential company information. He needed to discover her ulterior motive and do it fast.
Within a couple of minutes of talking with Raul, Rollie decided that there was no reason to hide his suspicion about Sophia being the woman Klaus assaulted. Telling Raul would probably lead to exposing himself as one of her lovers and a violator of company ethics policy, but it was a chance he had to take. Things were getting out of hand and it was better to trust Raul than saying nothing and feel horrible if someone ended up getting killed.
Now that Gretchen was in his life, he intended to end his relationship with Sophia. He needed to find a way to do it. Regardless of what she might be doing behind his back with Klaus, he still felt a deep affection for her and wanted to let her down easy. And if they could remain friends, that would be even better.
Rollie opened his mouth to tell Raul his suspicions about Sophia and Klaus when Ingrid cut him off.
Chapter Thirty-One
Surprise, Surprise
"Mr. Sweats, Ms. Weeks from the Congo would like to speak with you."
"Ingrid, tell Ms. Weeks I'll be right with her."
Rollie turned back to Raul only to find him gone. In a few short moments, Raul had scampered off. Rollie guessed that he was on his way to see Klaus and verify Rollie's story. Rollie was only half right. Raul headed to the Archives Department to find the woman he spoke to earlier. He wanted to know exactly why the Archives Department was closed. If there was anyone who knew the answer to that question it would be the woman who stood too close during conversations.
Rollie walked into his office to answer Callie's communication. It had only been a few hours since their first conversation. To Rollie, it was very important that they know beforehand how a clone may act compared to its host. And Callie was one of the few people on Earth who might be able to predict a human clone's behavior based on a study of cloned apes.
She initially asked for two days to figure out how she felt about helping with the ReLife project. But now she was getting back to him in less than a day. He tried not to read too much into this quick response. It could be that she only wanted to ask a couple more questions to help make her decision.
"Callie, I didn't expect to hear from you this soon. Have you reached a decision already?"
"I guess I have, Rollie. I'm not going to bore you with all the details of how I made my decision, but it came down to this. In principle, I'm opposed to what you are doing. I think it's morally and spiritually wrong. You are treading into an area which is reserved for the Almighty. In my humble opinion, only God has the right to create life."
Callie paused waiting for Rollie to respond with a comment or question. When he said nothing, she continued. "Rollie, I'm a throwback to a time when most people believed in a Creator of heaven, earth, and man. I'm in the minority now. Very few people believe as I do. Those who happen to agree with me keep their beliefs to themselves to avoid retribution from the government. Personally, I could care less whether the government knows I'm religious. Or I should say a religious nut, which is the term the government likes to use when describing people like me. What I'm trying to say is that you need a religious nut like me on your team. Someone needs to point out the potential repercussions and pitfalls of playing God."
Rollie made sure she was finished before he responded. "So you agree to come here and take part in the cloning project as we discussed before?"
"Yes, Rollie. My objections to what you are doing are trumped by my belief that you need a moral compass for this project. I know you're going ahead with or without me. So I thought it best to see if I could help spiritually rather than look back years from now and regret that I did nothing."
"That's great, Callie. I can't promise we'll do everything you suggest but I know we can use your he
lp. I know your involvement will be invaluable. And just so you know, I have a grandmother who is a religious nut like you."
"Rollie, I could tell by the way you talked to me that you have been around someone who knows the Lord."
Rollie didn't know if she was exaggerating for the sake of the conversation or not. It might be possible that Grandma LeeLee's spirituality had rubbed off on him and was obvious to other believers.
"When do you want me there and what should I bring?"
For the rest of their conversation, Rollie explained the travel arrangements and what type of DNA samples she should bring along. He stressed the importance of having multiple host samples and what type of samples were the easiest to clone. For the sake of expediency, Rollie decided to rent a private transport to fly Callie to Zurich. Not only would she be able to get to Zurich faster but there would be plenty of room for everything else she needed to bring. This would include host samples, tools, and equipment needed to teach and translate primate languages.
As Rollie continued his conversation with Callie, Raul was at the other end of the building speaking with Klaus's assistant.
"Helga, can I go in and see Klaus? This is pretty important."
"You better wait, Raul." Without saying another word, she pointed to her CPS halo screen and rolled her eyes toward it. Raul got the message. He followed her finger to the line which showed Klaus's communication was coming from Ickleford, home of the World Council. It didn't take a genius to figure out who Klaus was talking to. Raul looked at Helga, thanked her for the tip-off with a nod of his head and then took a seat in the waiting area. He might as well wait and see what developed. Klaus was going to need someone to talk to after his conversation with Slice. And Raul wanted to know what the red-haired little prick wanted.
Inside Klaus's office, things were off to a shaky start. "Mr. Ekstrom, is there a reason why you haven't turned on your vision mode?"
"No, no, I guess I forgot to turn it on, Mr. Slice."
"Well, please turn it on. I always like to see who I'm talking to. It's more personal, don't you think?"
Both men were surprised with the image on their halo screen when Klaus activated his vision mode. Slice had been told by his informant that Klaus was in rough shape, but he never expected to see the mess staring at him now. Klaus was almost unrecognizable compared to his company identification. One eye was completely closed with a huge bump surrounding it. The other eye was flooded with blood which contrasted vividly with the black and blue coloration of the nearby skin. It was obvious that Klaus's nose was broken and would need to be forced back into place. The other facial injuries were minor; a cut bottom lip and several bloody scratches on his cheeks. Klaus's contorted face reminded Slice of an old black and white boxing movie he saw years ago as a boy. One of the boxers was beaten savagely by an opponent using gloves packed with steel ball bearings.
Klaus looked at his halo screen expecting to see a full, oval face covered with a flaming red beard and a head topped with a massive tuft of curly red hair. Raul's description of Slice as a man who could pass for a leprechaun wasn't anything like this guy's appearance. Klaus was staring at an elderly gentleman with a pasty complexion covering a narrow rectangular head. He was almost bald and the remaining hair circling the sides of his head had long ago turned silver. This man wore nothing on his face other than a pair of antique, wire-rim glasses. These were the same type of glasses which people wore to costume parties or when they wanted to draw attention to themselves. Corrective eye surgery had long ago put the eyeglass industry out of business.
Klaus was ready to ask the elderly gentleman on the halo screen who he was.
"Ah, there you are, Mr. Ekstrom. Looks like you've had an accident. I would recommend that you have that nose put back in place before it sets up and has to be re-broken to straighten out."
Klaus decided to play along with whoever this guy was. "Nice to finally meet you, Mr. Slice. I wish we could have met a week ago, but apparently your schedule was too busy." Klaus wanted to add a scathing remark about Slice's unprofessional behavior of shunning the leader of Phoenvartis but decided to keep his thoughts to himself. Things were already too tense between the World Council and Phoenvartis when it came to the ReLife project.
"How can I help you, Mr. Slice?"
"I wanted to check in and see if the ReLife project is on schedule. As you know, you have one week left and there will be no extensions."
Klaus was thankful he had seen Rollie earlier and got a complete update on the ReLife project. He passed on the information from this update to Slice almost word for word. He even included Rollie's attempt to get the monkey woman to Phoenvartis to predict the psychological make-up of human clones. This was the only time during the conversation where Slice seemed genuinely interested in what Klaus said.
When he finished, he asked, "Do you have any questions, Mr. Slice?"
"Not one, Klaus. Everything you told me is very encouraging. But you haven't answered the most important question. Are you going to make the two-week deadline? Or, do I have to start thinking about making personnel changes at Phoenvartis to get the ReLife project completed?"
Klaus couldn't help thinking back to Raul's distasteful description of Slice as a prick. Raul was right. This guy was a first-class jerk and now he was thankful Slice hadn't bothered to introduce himself during his visit to Phoenvartis.
"We will make the deadline, Mr. Slice. I guarantee it."
"Good, very good, Klaus. I'll hold you to that." Both men stared at each other waiting for the other to say something which might betray his real thoughts.
"It was good speaking with you, Klaus. I'm sure it won't be the last time. Remember, take care of that nose. And by the way, there's a good chance that a little less play time will result in fewer accidents."
Klaus's halo screen went blank. He continued to sit at his desk thinking over what Slice had said. The World Council member had been straightforward about the successful operation of the CR47 incubator by the assigned due date. His parting comment about a little less play will result in fewer accidents was unexpected and haunting. Did Slice know about Sophia and their tumultuous and perverted affair? There was a good chance he did. That meant someone at Phoenvartis was feeding him information.
Several thousand miles away in Ickleford, Sedgewick Slice sat at his desk thinking about the conversation with Klaus Ekstrom. Overall, he was quite pleased with the results. The information he received from his informants had turned out to be accurate. Claude was right about Klaus sneaking into Phoenvartis in the morning looking like the bad end of a traffic accident. His contact at the Black Cross finally figured out who the Phoenvartis informant was and sold her name to Slice. And Claude's update on the progress of the ReLife project matched perfectly with what Klaus described.
The only new information was Rollie Sweats' attempt to hire a monkey expert. Slice didn't know how he felt about this. From the standpoint of trying to predict how human clones will act, it was a great idea. But it could be a giant waste of time and money. Just because a cloned ape acts the same or different from its host was no guarantee that humans would react the same. Even if they didn't, it was an interesting theory to pursue.
"Mr. Ekstrom, Raul is waiting to see you."
"Send him in, Helga." Klaus reached for another cigar, so Raul could get it going for him.
Raul walked into Klaus's office and found a man beat about the head exactly as Rollie described.
"I ran into Rollie downstairs and he told me you had a bad accident. Thought I would come up and make sure you are okay. Anything I can do for you, boss?"
"Yes, could you light this cigar for me?"
"No problem." Raul took the cigar, snipped off the mouth-end and fired it.
After a couple of puffs, Klaus looked at Raul and said, "I just spoke to your friend at the World Council."
Raul knew who Klaus's sarcastic remark was about but acted dumb, so Helga didn't get in trouble.
"Who's that,
Mr. Ekstrom?"
"Mr. Slice. Sedgewick Slice. I’ve got to say Raul, your description of him as a prick was spot on."
"If you don't mind telling me, what did he want?"
"He wanted an update on the ReLife project. Besides that, he wanted to tell me what would happen if we don't make the two-week deadline. Klaus flicked the ash off the end of his cigar and took another puff. "Raul, I got the distinct opinion that he really enjoyed threatening me if the deadline wasn't made."
"That doesn't surprise me in the least, Mr. Ekstrom. During the four or five hours I spent with him, it was evident how much he enjoys using his power."
"Raul, the other thing I noticed was that he wasn't interested in anything I had to say. The only time he seemed interested was when I described Rollie's idea of getting a monkey scientist to help predict how clones will act. Everything else seemed like old news to him."
"That's exactly how I felt when he and I toured the cloning facility. In fact, I answered one of his questions with an intentional lie just to see how he would react."
"What did he do with your lie, Raul?"
"He tried to hide his surprise, but I could tell he knew I was lying."
Both men sat thinking about what had been said so far. Klaus was the first to say what both men were thinking. "Raul, we have a mole here at Phoenvartis who is feeding information to Slice."
"You're right, Mr. Ekstrom. Actually, that might not be such a terrible thing." Raul went on to explain his unusual comment. "Once we figure out who it is then we can use that person to our advantage. In other words, we can relay misinformation to Slice if we want."
"That's an interesting thought, Raul. But in the meantime, we better start looking for the mole."
"Will do." Raul wasn't going to say anything about his belief that Sophia was the mole. He was hoping Klaus would bring her out into the open when he tried to explain away his physical condition. And, there was the outside possibility that Sophia wasn't the only mole.