The Lucid: Episode Three

by Nick Thacker

  But it had also been batted around like a cat toy by that idiotic Humvee driver. Inertial compensators had been overwhelmed by the sudden jarring movements, and David had found himself whirling for a bit, getting dizzy and sick to his stomach. He wasn’t accustomed to much personal movement these days anyway, but spinning in that big, metal hamster ball had nearly made him throw up.

  Thank God he didn’t eat solid foods anymore.

  Now, back in the climate-controlled comfort of his MCU, David felt the flush of nausea ease, even as his irritation rose.

  He’d lost Bolland. And the girl, Sara. And the vials of her blood.

  There was a chirp from the communication console of the MCU, and David felt the nausea creep back in.

  The controls of the MCU were all tuned to his brain. He could think and every component of this machine would react to those thoughts. Here, he was in absolute control of the world.

  But there was a world outside of the MCU. And outside of this facility, and of Colorado Springs. And that world was currently ruled and controlled by Mrs. Halpern.

  David opened the video channel, and Halpern appeared onscreen, larger than life as always.

  “What in the hell are you doing to my facility, Priseman!”

  “Mrs. Halpern, I apologize, but an outside force …”

  “Would this be the same ‘outside force’ you told me your brain-dead soldiers could handle?” Halpern asked.

  David felt his face flush. He didn’t like it. “On your orders we only engaged the Gamma protocol a few days ago,” he said. “To that point most of my men were acting autonomously. You recall from the research that it takes several days for the protocols to completely engage. The heavy metal …”

  “Do not condescend to me about the research, Priseman,” Mrs. Halpern said. Her voice was that quiet, cold tone that made David respond automatically. It was the nature of their relationship—the tone and timbre of it. It had always felt somehow familiar to David, though he’d never quite identified why.

  “I have reports here,” Halpern said, waving to something just offscreen, “that tell me the facility has been severely compromised. Explosions. Gunfire. Escaped subjects. And I’ve just seen footage of Jocelyn Wu leaving the facility during your ridiculous battle in the parking lot.”

  “Wu left?” David asked. He couldn’t help the slight smile that played on his lips. “She was always infuriating …”

  “I hand-picked her for this project, Priseman. Be careful of your criticisms.”

  David said nothing.

  “You’ve screwed this up worse than I could have imagined,” Halpern said, disgusted.

  David suddenly felt something shift within him. He had flashes—mental images and impressions hitting him all at once. Maybe it was leftover adrenaline from his fight with Bolland and the others. Maybe he’d just had enough—the world, as everyone had known it, had ended just a few days ago. So why should he tolerate belligerent bureaucracy any longer? What could Halpern do, halt his funding? Money was meaningless now. Everything was meaningless now.

  He smiled, and mentally willed the cameras to zoom in on his face. It was the one part of his body he still controlled, without the assistance of machines. It was the last truly human part of him.

  “I don’t care for your tone, Halpern,” he said quietly.

  Mrs. Halpern opened her mouth as if to speak, but then clamped it shut again, peering at David as if she could set him on fire with her eyes. When she did speak, it was in cold and emotionless tones that set David back a bit. He cringed inwardly to hear her.

  “David Priseman, do not test me. I will have you and that entire God-forsaken facility removed from existence if you …”

  “I don’t care for your tone Halpern!” David shouted. “So shut up and listen. I am done with following the orders of a sociopathic princess who thinks she owns the world. This facility? It’s mine. As are the UVFs, the Suppressed military and police, and anyone and anything else I can control. And here’s a hint, Halpern—I control it all. This little operation of yours has produced some remarkable results, but I no longer need your services. I’ll take it all from here.”

  He was about to initiate a hangup, but hesitated. The anger, possibly fueled by that leftover adrenaline, felt amazing. He felt all of the things he’d held back start to bubble to the surface. He felt as if he’d just liberated himself from a weight that had held him down all his life.

  “Priseman, you’re a fool,” Halpern said. “Do you honestly think I’d let you take over an entire region without any failsafes in place?” She reached offscreen, and when her hands returned they were holding a smart tablet. She flicked her fingers across the screen, and tapped a few times, then smiled up at him. “This tablet lets me control that incredibly fancy mobile command unit you’re in. It also lets me shut it down, from anywhere on the planet. As I understand it, your life support is tied in with the systems of he MCU, isn’t it?”

  “Yes,” David said. He felt cold. He felt something gripping him from the inside. Something hard and strong and icy.

  “Goodbye, David,” Halpern said. She tapped the screen.

  And nothing happened.

  David smiled at her again, and this time his smile was terrifying, even to himself. Because behind that smile was a sudden knowledge—of who he was, but also of who Halpern was.

  Halpern was Mother.

  Not his actual mother. But she was the surrogate he had clung to, after the accident had taken his body from him. She was the same cold, icy bitch his mother had always been, until the disease had claimed her.

  Until he had recreated her.

  Until he had owned her.

  “I found your failsafe,” David said. “I found it years ago. Those little pings you send? The tiny little test interruptions that I always end up reporting as system glitches? I’ve known about them all along. I reprogrammed the system to send alerts and responses, so that you’d never know. You’ve never been in control, Halpern. I have.”

  At that instant he sent a command. The signal backtracked on the video feed, and activated a worm that David had planted in Halpern’s systems, using the very same failsafe she had used as a leash for him.

  Alarms started at Halpern’s location, and she stood, her head going out of frame until the systems automatically adjusted. “What’s happening?” she asked. She looked back at David. “What have you done?”

  “Your facility uses a lot of the same systems as my MCU, on a larger scale. You’ve protected yourself and your people from the heavy metal poisoning, and from outside threats. But that left you vulnerable to inside threats. Threats like me. I was never sure if I’d be able to go through with this, but I kept it as a contingency. You know how I am with contingencies. So let’s say that I’ve decided to terminate our relationship, and pursue independent research.”

  “Priseman! Turn these systems back on right now! There are thousands of people in this facility!”

  “For a while at least,” David said, and then shut down the open channel.

  The chair that served as his personal mobility now moved him away from the controls of the MCU, and into the chamber where he normally slept or just sat and reflected. It was a small space, but he didn’t require much room. He was essentially a head on an immobile life support system, wasn’t he? This chamber would have felt confining, if he had use of his body. But the dark, cool space mostly felt comforting at times like these.

  As if there had ever been times like these.

  But it gave him space to think.

  The facility was essentially a ruin. He could have it rebuilt—he had plenty of manpower. But to what purpose? Halpern’s mission was one of world domination. She wasn’t at the very top of that monster, but she was the one controlling all of its tentacles. With her and her people out of the way, there would be a power vacuum.

  David was actually in a unique position to fill that void. It was his systems, after all, that allowed for the control of the Suppressed. T
he technology he helped to create could turn the heavy metal particles into nanites, and then control those with a signal that David himself could tap into. Of all the resources at Halpern’s disposal, David was the only one who could be directly connected to the Suppressed.

  The world was his army to control.

  But what he wouldn’t give for a body he could control.

  And just like that, a new purpose arose.

  This facility had been dedicated to studying the effects of the heavy metal poisoning, and using it for military advantage. But they had learned so much more about all of this than they were using. And one new discovery in particular could be very beneficial to David.

  So this facility would be rebuilt after all. And its new purpose would be it’s only mission.

  David would have it all.

  Chapter Four

  The camp was nestled in among spires of rust-tinged rock that occasionally presented impossible-looking scenes—immense boulders that looked as though they should fall any second, and patterns of narrow gaps that allowed a xylophone pattern of light to fall on the ground. Adam had been here hundreds of times, both on his own and with his family. They had hiked here, and even camped here. There were lots of memories.

  Too many memories.

  He sat, silent and staring out of the Humvee’s windows, and he honestly wasn’t thinking of anything for a moment. It was the first time since all of this began that his mind had completely shut off, though it didn’t feel as peaceful or blissful as he might have hoped. Instead, the ache in his heart and the twisting in his stomach continued, even as his brain checked out for a moment.

  He glanced up to see Jocelyn Wu in the front passenger seat. She had pulled in on herself, as if trying to fold herself into something invisible and unnoticeable. For the fifteen minutes or so it had taken them to get to the camp, no one had said anything at all, and Jocelyn had stared out at the scenery as if she felt it might be the last time she ever saw it.

  Maybe it was, Adam though. Maybe it was for both of us.

  Except that didn’t make sense. These people had gone to a lot of trouble, and suffered a lot of losses, to bring Adam—and now Jocelyn—out of that facility. A lot of their people had been killed in that raid. So why would they go through any of that just to kill Adam once they got to the camp? Or Jocelyn, for that matter?

  They would need them alive, Adam decided.

  And he must have decided that early on, because he had jumped up to work with them when they took in Jocelyn. He had become one of them, instantly and without hesitation. It wasn’t trust—he still wasn’t sure he trusted Carl or even Jeff. It was more like survival instinct.

  The Humvee pulled to a stop, and the Jeep rolled in beside them, parking on the driver’s side. Carl stepped out, and Adam did the same. Jocelyn remained in her seat, unmoving.

  Adam looked up to see that there were several armed men and women standing with their weapons trained on him.

  Carl walked around to the the passenger side of the Humvee and opened the door, yanking Jocelyn out by the arm.

  Adam tensed, ready to fight if need be, but also ready to be gunned down. He wasn’t sure how he felt about either, but for the moment he stood his ground and watched.

  Jocelyn didn’t cry out or make any show of being afraid, other than keeping her silence and not struggling against Carl.

  Jeff walked up beside them. “Easy, Carl. They’re not going anywhere.”

  “Get his weapon,” Carl said.

  Jeff stepped up to Adam, and lifted the handgun out of Adam’s hand. Adam hadn’t even realized he was holding it.

  “Sorry,” Jeff said.

  Adam said nothing but stared at the crowd around them, wondering what was coming next.

  He still felt numb, but feeling was starting to return. The grief of his family was a constant now, but he was also starting to feel a little afraid and a lot angry.

  “What do you want?” he asked Jeff.

  “Just to ask some questions, for now,” Jeff said as he walked over to join the rest of the people of the camp—the crowd that was aiming weapons at two unarmed people.

  They were led away then, into a small building that was built from both natural rock and commercial bricks. It blended well with the scenery of the area, camouflaging the camp. There was a sod roof on the building, with plants growing—a nod to a more green approach to insulation and building. And nearby there was a small farm of solar panels providing natural power to the whole space.

  It was something Adam had wanted to do some day—to build a home that was off the grid, using natural materials. He and Kate had a running joke about building something like this for the zombie apocalypse. He’d never expected those jokes to be prophetic.

  Adam and Jocelyn were led deeper into the interior of the place, to a small conference room with windows that overlooked the sloped side of the hill the facility was built into. It was beautiful scenery, and it felt surreal to be staring at it through a tinted window, in a climate controlled room of the visitors center.

  “Sit,” Carl said, waiving a gun to a couple of chairs.

  Adam and Jocelyn sat.

  More people entered the room. An older woman, maybe in her late fifties or early sixties, led a progression of three men, all armed. The woman was short, perhaps 5’8” or so. Her hair showed signs of once being fiery red and bright with life, but now it was a dull sort of dusty blond, shot through with steel grey. Her eyes were squinted as if she’d spent most of her life looking into the sun, and the wrinkles around them proved she at least spent that life outdoors.

  She looked Adam and Jocelyn over, her expression a bit sour. Then she smiled, and the wrinkles bunched around her eyes. “We went to a lot of trouble to get you here,” she said. She was looking directly at Adam.

  Adam said nothing, but waited.

  She turned to Jocelyn. “And you, Dr. Wu. We didn’t expect you, but we can certainly use you.”

  Jocelyn also said nothing, but stared.

  The woman shook her head. “Not even a thank you? I suppose I can understand. My name is Anna Tyler. I was a park volunteer here, before things started going to shit. I saw this coming for a while now,” she moved to the window, which Adam and Jocelyn could see from their seated position.

  Anna leaned forward, putting her hands on the frame of the window, which was around waist height for her. She stared out at the landscape, then turned back to them. “Those bastards at the facility—the cripple who runs that place, and all those police and solider drones he’s commanding—they wanted you for something.”

  Adam was listening, but wasn’t quite clicking. He thought, for a moment, that the woman was talking about Jocelyn. That would make sense—she was one of the researchers. She was studying this. She would be in high demand.

  But the woman—Ann Tyler—was looking at him when she spoke.

  “Do you know why?” she asked, as if she had expected him to volunteer the information to begin with.

  Adam shook his head. “No,” he said.

  Carl stepped forward then with the cooler and the vials. He handed them to Anna. “He brought this with him,” Carl said.

  Anna opened the cooler and took out one of the vials, studying it. “What is this?” she asked.

  “It’s blood,” he said.

  “Who’s blood?”

  “My daughter’s,” Adam said. “Sara’s.”

  Anna studied him for a moment before putting the vial back in the bag and zipping it closed. “Why did you take it?” she asked.

  Adam said nothing.

  Not because he wasn’t sure—he knew exactly why he’d taken it. He just wasn’t certain that it mattered. Here, now, as a captive of these people and with his entire family dead, would any of this matter any more?

  Finally he said, “I was taking it to Denver. There’s a professor there. Professor Milton. A friend of mine arranged for me to meet him and bring a sample of the chemical that I’d found at the water treatment
plant. But I was told that it was worthless. And those vials were destroyed. All I have left are those vials of Sara’s blood.”

  “And Milton … he was going to use those vials? Could he find a cure for all of this?” Anna didn’t seem enthusiastic about this. She seemed to ask only because it was part of the processes.

  “I don’t know,” Adam said.

  Anna nodded. Then looked at Jocelyn.

  “And what about you?”

  “She was one of them,” Carl said. “She was one of the lab coats at the facility.”

  Anna leaned against the window, resting on the frame. “What’s your name?” she asked.

  “I’m Dr. Jocelyn Wu,” Jocelyn said.

  “Doctor!” Anna smiled. “Well, that’s handy. And what are you a doctor of?”

  “I specialize in infectious disease, but for the past ten years I have been the top researcher studying the heavy metal poisoning that is causing this … nightmare.”

  “Heavy metal poisoning?” Anna asked. “Like lead?”

  “Something like that,” Jocelyn said. “Only much more dangerous. The Suppressed are suffering from a contaminant from a meteorite that leached a new and alien metal into the water supply. The effects have been spreading for years.”

  “Years!” Ann stood from the window, her body tensed. “You people have known about this for years?”

  Jocelyn said nothing.

  “Not one public announcement,” Anna said, stepping forward and staring down at Jocelyn. “Not one alert. Not one EPA investigation. Nothing public. I’ve looked. And now you tell me this has been happening for years?”

  “Yes,” Jocelyn said. “We were looking for a cure.”

  Anna laughed. “No, you weren’t. We can see that’s a lie.”

  Jocelyn shook her head, and looked down at the floor. “It’s not a lie. I was looking for a cure. I just … I didn’t realize.”

  Ann crouched now, which made Jocelyn look up and meet her gaze. “Didn’t realize what, honey? That the government had different plans? That they saw this as an opportunity?”