GENESIX: THE TRILOGY

by Greg Logan

  She knew these men were squids – Jeff’s colorful name for them was catching. The fact that their ion weapons were at their lowest setting meant they intended to capture the metas alive.

  Sammy charged at the squids. He got to one, grabbing his pistol and then throwing the man into two others. But not before an ion blast caught him, slamming him backward. He flipped over a lab table, taking with it a couple of microscopes, and they went crashing to the floor with him. He lay there, among the debris of the microscopes, twitching and shaking. But he was not getting up. Ionic energy is largely electrical, and Ashley thought it looked like Sammy had been short-circuited.

  Three more squids shimmered into view at the other side of the lab.

  Scott said, “They apparently have cloaking technology.”

  Ashley raised her hand toward the three who had just de-cloaked. She didn’t know how she could do this, she simply knew she could. She released the energy building up inside her, and one squid went flying backward and was slammed into a wall. She then went to aim her new-found power at the one who had shot Sammy. He flew backward, and crashed into another squid.

  Three more fired their pistols at the group. Their blasts flashed brightly, but Scott’s force field held up.

  Ashley raised her hand, and the squids were knocked backward. One ion pistol flew out of a squid’s hand and came to a skittering stop by Scott. He disengaged the force field and picked it up. “How do I fire this?”

  “Just pull the trigger,” Ashley said. “The technology is based on simplicity and intuitiveness.”

  Two more squids shimmered into view and fired at him, but his force field was once again engaged, and the blasts were harmless. One feature of his force field was that while it stopped stuff from coming at him, it didn’t work both ways. Scott aimed and fired the ion pistol and took out one squid, then another. Ashley raised her hand at a third, and sent him slamming back and into a wall.

  “How are you doing that?” April said to Ashley.

  “I really don’t know.”

  Three remaining squids turned and ran. One of the squids Ashley had taken out was rising to his feet, and Scott aimed his pistol at him. “Don’t take another step, or I’ll blast you again. Stand where you are.”

  The man stood his ground, raising his hands.

  Scott knelt by Sammy’s side, keeping his pistol aimed at the squid. “Sammy. Can you hear me?”

  There was no response. Scott risked a quick glance to Sammy, and saw he was lying with his eyes open, but not moving. He looked dead.

  “Is he going to be okay?” April said.

  “I don’t know.” Scott returned his gaze to the squid. “I hope all we’ll have to do is reboot him.”

  Ashley was now sitting up, her hair in her face. She reached one hand up to brush it away.

  April said, “Are you all right?”

  “I don’t know,” Ashley said, a little shaky.

  “April,” Scott said. “This group somehow got past Jake and Chuck. They could be in trouble out there.”

  “On it, Boss,” she said, and went quantum with a flash of light and was gone.

  Well, Scott thought. We have a prisoner. If they could get him to talk, then maybe they could learn some things. Like how many squids were attacking. What their plans were. But the first thing he had to do was disengage that controller box, which they couldn’t do until Chloe returned.

  Scott said to him, “We mean you no harm. We’re going to try to help you.”

  But then, the man’s eyes rolled back in his head and his knees buckled, and he collapsed to the floor.

  “What’s going on?” Scott said.

  Ashley was still sitting on the floor. Despite the fact that the energy of her new-found power was making her feel like doing cartwheels, her knees were still too weak from the ion blast for her to stand.

  She said, “Another function of the controller box. Once they’re taken prisoner, they’re dispensed with so they can’t give information.”

  “Would the same thing have happened to you and Sara?”

  Ashley nodded. “If Chloe hadn’t disabled our controller boxes. I doubt I had more than maybe a minute more to live, once Jeff brought me here.”

  Scott walked over to the now dead squid soldier. He was starting to transform. So were the others he and Ashley had taken out. Their heads were growing elongated, and their eyes were becoming simply black orbs. The nose of each was flattening into nonexistence. Their arms had become tentacles which extended out of their sleeves. Much like the dead alien back in 1880.

  Ashley hadn’t struck them hard enough to kill them, and the ion pistol Scott held was at its lowest setting. They had apparently been executed through their controller boxes, and in death were morphing back to their true forms

  Ashley said, “They had copied human form, but they were copied only on the surface. They weren’t copied down to their genetic coding and locked in, like Sara and I were.”

  Scott said, “They have very little regard for life, apparently. Even among their own.”

  Ashley climbed to her feet. She reached out with one hand to the wall to steady herself. “They don’t have emotion the way we do. Love. Sentimentality. They don’t know any of this. They understand loyalty to an extent, and fear. Hence the effectiveness of the controller boxes. But they don’t know the gentler emotions. This is why they can’t effectively infiltrate society. So they have to have sleeper agents like Sara and me, copied down to our very genes. The drawback is, since we are capable of love, and we often find ourselves loving the people around us, our loyalty comes into question. So we have to be coerced. Hence, again, the use of controller boxes.”

  “Does everyone in their society have a controller box?”

  She nodded. “Even the government leaders, as I understand. Again, much of what I know about them is academic. And I have no problem with that. I consider myself human. I have no desire to ever go to their world.”

  There was a flash of light and April was suddenly back standing among them. “They had a hell of a fight outside. Jake and Chuck handled them, but there are like fifty dead squids out there, on the mountainside. Chuck was hit a number of times by ion blasts. The circuitry in his battlesuit is fried, and he had to take off his helmet so he could breathe. Until we get it repaired, he won’t be able to use his freeze power.”

  Scott said, “We won the battle, but just barely. With this place so disabled, we have very little defensive ability. Even less now, until we can figure a way to repair Chuck’s suit, and we can’t do that with no central computer and no power. And we can’t get the power back up if we have to be busy defending the place.”

  April said, “That was way cool, Ashley. The way you sent those three flying. I thought you said you didn’t have a meta-ability.”

  “I don’t. Or, at least, I didn’t.”

  Scott said, “The physical trauma of taking that ion blast must have done it. Triggered the genesis gene.”

  “But,” she said, “that quickly?”

  He nodded. “April’s ability manifested itself that quickly.”

  Scott looked over to Sammy, who was still lying motionless on the floor, his eyes open but not seeing. Scott walked over and pulled out his tricorder. He ran a quick scan, and said, “I think we’re going to need Chloe for this one. See if she can activate him.”

  April said, “There’s nothing we can do for him here?”

  Scott shook his head. “Not without the central computer. And there’s so much to do, if we’re to put my plan into action. But if Chloe can’t reactivate Sammy, and with the central computer down, my plan to move the Earth forward in time is going to be nothing more than just an idea.”

  April said, “We’re in bad shape, aren’t we?”

  FOURTEEN

  Approaching the warehouse was child’s play. The Darkness simply threw a shadow about them so they could move about unobserved. Anyone looking out a warehouse window toward the hillside would simply think the moo
n had gone behind a cloud.

  Jeff was in the lead and he was seriously powered-up. Snake was just behind him. Then came Chloe. Akila was pulling up the rear, and had her sword with her.

  They stopped a few yards from the warehouse. Jeff looked back to the others. Even though they couldn’t be seen, the Darkness’s energy field didn’t stop sound. They had to speak quietly.

  Jeff said in a hushed voice to Chloe, “Can you get a feel for what sort of tech is being used?”

  She closed her eyes and let herself reach out mentally toward the warehouse. “Computers are in use. And there is some sort of electrical discharge weapon. Like nothing I have ever felt. I can’t get a real feel for it. It operates on electronics, but that’s about all I can tell.”

  “All right. Let’s move in.”

  They found a window and it seemed to be unguarded. It was made of simple glass. Snake pushed his hands against the glass and pulled upward, and the window slid up and open.

  “Careless of them,” Jake said.

  “Almost too careless,” Snake hissed. “Be really on guard, people. Kincaid has been hard to deal with in the past, and full of surprises.”

  Snake proved himself to be surprisingly nimble, climbing up and through the window. Jeff followed, then Akila. Chloe wasn’t quite as athletically trained, and needed a hand from Akila to get her through the window.

  Akila opened a door. A man was standing just beyond it, facing away. He was in full SWAT team regalia. Helmet, flack vest. He was holding an M-16. He turned at the sound of the door being opened, but Akila gave him a palm strike to the nose, which staggered him. She then struck a fist between his eyes, and with her enhanced strength, the strike was a lot firmer than it appeared. The man’s legs went out from under him and he landed on the floor unconscious.

  She picked up the M-16. “Inefficient weapon. Noisy. Of no real use to us.”

  She then saw a knife tucked in his boot. She pulled it out. It was a full twelve inches long, and double-bladed. “Now, this might have some use.”

  The hallway extended in either direction. Snake said, “You and I will take one direction, Chloe and Jeff can take the other.”

  The Darkness said, “I will scout about and see what I can find.”

  Akila nodded and started down the corridor. Her knife was in one hand, and she was stepping lightly as she moved. A predator, Jeff thought. Seeing her in action was impressive, and maybe even a little scary. Snake moved behind her, a reptile stepping silently along.

  “Stay behind me,” Jeff said to Chloe.

  They took the other direction. There were closed doors. Jeff tried each doorknob, finding them locked.

  They came to a corner, and Jeff peered around. Beyond was a door that was guarded by two SWAT guys.

  “Stay here,” Jeff said to Chloe.

  He then charged around the corner and at the men. Powered-up like this, he was on them before they could react. Pulling their guns from them. His strength was such that he struck at their helmets with his fists and knocked them unconsciousness.

  He hoped they weren’t hurt too badly. But this was war. And the goal was to prevent the even greater war he had seen in the future.

  He waved for Chloe to come on, and she did. He then tried the doorknobs and found the doors locked.

  “They must have been placed here for a reason,” he said.

  “Maybe we should find out.”

  Jeff was extremely powered-up. He placed the flat of each hand on a door and pushed. There was a splintering sound as the door locks broke free, and the doors opened.

  Jeff stepped in, Chloe behind him.

  In the center of the room was a row of tables. On each table was a meta-human taken in the raid. They were unconscious and dressed in hospital gowns. In each arm was a needle, attached to an IV bag suspended from a stand.

  “They’re being kept unconscious,” Jeff said.

  Chloe said sharply, “Jeff!”

  He turned to see Kincaid standing behind her. He had one arm crooked about her neck, and an automatic pistol aimed at her head.

  “Now,” Kincaid said. “You’re just where I wanted you. I want you to start powering-down, or I’m going to put a bullet in this pretty girl’s head. You have about two seconds to decide.”

  FIFTEEN

  Akila and Snake charged into the room from behind Kincaid, but Jeff held his hand out for them to stop.

  “Smart move, Superboy,” Kincaid said. “Anything happens to me and my gun might just go off. I want everyone behind me to step around where I can see you.”

  Akila and Snake looked to Jeff, who gave a nod of his head. They did as instructed.

  “Now,” Kincaid said. “I want the Calder boy to power-down, and all three of you freaks are going to surrender or I’ll put a bullet in this girl’s head. And if that Darkness freak shows up – if it starts getting darker in here at all – this girl is toast.”

  Snake hissed, “If you harm her, I’ll kill you.”

  “Very impressive, Lizard Man. But I’m the one with the gun. I’m making the calls.”

  Chloe suddenly looked to one side, as though she smelled something strange. But Jeff knew what the look meant. It meant she was detecting tech where she didn’t expect any to be.

  She then looked at him, her eyes wide with surprise. “Jeff. He has a controller box.”

  What? Jeff looked to Snake and then to Akila. None of them had been expecting this.

  Jeff said to Chloe, “Disable it.”

  Kincaid said, “Don’t anyone do anything, or I’ll shoot this..,”

  His speech fell away and his eyes widened. He drew in a deep breath and his grip on Chloe’s neck relaxed. She pulled free and ran to Jeff who took her by the shoulders and moved her around behind him.

  Kincaid was looking at them, his mouth hanging open. His gun was at his side.

  “I’m free,” he said. “I’m really free. I didn’t think it was possible.”

  Snake looked at Jeff and Akila. Jeff said, “Now, who saw that coming?”

  Jeff returned to the Colorado mountain base with Sara, Chloe and Akila. His father and Scott brought him up to date on the attack on the facility, and he told them of the surprise events at the warehouse where the metas were being held prisoner.

  Jeff said, “The prisoners have all been returned to the Boston community. Mother is working her healing ability on them, to remove any traces of the sedatives they were being held unconscious with. Snake is with them.”

  “Kincaid is a squid,” April said. “That’s just so hard to believe.”

  “He’s called off his men, and is heading to Washington to talk to his boss. See if there’s any way they can lend us any assistance from that end.”

  Scott said, “That’s certainly an unexpected turn of events. If Washington could throw some resources at us. At the very least, stop standing in our way while we try to prepare for that alien fleet.”

  Ashley was in a room that served as a lounge, sinking into a stuffed chair. She had one of the last beers in her hand. In was warm, but she didn’t really care at the moment. Sara was with her.

  “Who would have thought?” Sara said. “You’re a meta-human.”

  “It’s like Scott said. If one sibling has the gene, then all do.”

  Sara was sitting on the arm of the chair, her hand in Ashley’s. “So, what is it you can do, exactly? Slam people back?”

  “It’s a force beam, Scott told me. Not dissimilar to the force field he uses. It’s just that I can use it to repel objects from me. He thinks with training I’ll be able to wrap it around me like a force field, too.”

  They sat in silence for a moment, then Sara said, “Do you ever think about the original two girls? The original Sara and Ashley?”

  Ashley nodded. “Sometimes.”

  “They were killed. Murdered as infants. And we’re in their place.”

  Ashley drew a weary breath and let it out. She took a sip of warm beer. “It’s not our fault. We had nothi
ng to do with it. It’s the fault of the Controller, and those who work for him.”

  Sara nodded. “But it still feels weird.”

  “It does.”

  The two sisters sat in silence.

  Jeff stood in the hangar deck opening. He looked out at the night. It had that sort of still feeling the night gets right before dawn. Like the Earth was holding its breath, waiting for the breaking of the new day.

  He heard light footsteps on the concrete floor and looked over his shoulder to see Sara approaching.

  She said, “You don’t need to be out here standing guard, you know. Your dad and Chuck and Rick are out there.”

  “I just couldn’t sleep.”

  “I know how you feel.”

  His father was flying about in the night sky. Powered-up like he was, he didn’t need sleep. Chuck was too charged up from the battle to sleep. Even though his battlesuit was useless, and as such rendered his power useless, he was out on the mountainside somewhere with an ion pistol.

  Jeff said to Sara, “It could be dangerous out here.”

  Sara, standing behind Jeff, wrapped her arms about his waist and rested her chin on his shoulder.

  She said, “I have the feeling you wouldn’t let anything happen to me.”

  “I’ll never let any harm come to you.” He heard the words for the first time as he said them.

  “I have a confession to make.” She slid her chin from his shoulder, and he turned to face her. She was looking at her feet as she spoke. “I haven’t stopped thinking about you since Chloe’s party. Not for one minute.”

  “Same for me,” he said.

  She looked up to face him. He then drew closer to her, and lightly touched his lips to hers. Then she responded, wrapping her arms about his neck and pulling him in for a deeper kiss. His arms were about her, and it was as if they couldn’t pull each other close enough.

  When they came up for air, he said, “When this is over, I want to be with you. But not like we are here. I want us to be just normal, regular people. College kids. I want a normal life for both of us.”