GENESIX: THE TRILOGY

by Greg Logan

  “One drawback to partial integration is it makes it almost impossible to access our shape-changing ability. It wasn’t until I was fatally wounded by your son, back in eighteen-eighty, that I began unintentionally reverting back to true form. That wouldn’t happen with those who are fully integrated, like Ashley and Sara. You kill them, and all you have is two dead humans. And then once I was healed by the Iroquois woman you call Mother, I reverted back into this form without even trying, because of the partial integration..”

  “But this partial integration allowed you to at least know the human experience.”

  Alexander nodded. “And once I knew love, there was no going back.”

  “But..,” Jake wasn’t quite sure how to word this. “But... an android? No offense, but why not a human woman?”

  “Do you think of Sammy as only a machine?”

  “Well, no.”

  “Of course not. He’s very much alive. If what you describe as being human is living, breathing, having a consciousness, having emotion, having self-awareness, then he’s very much human. As much as you or Jeff or Scott or anyone else. So is Cassandra.”

  “Did you build her?”

  He shook his head. “She was assigned as an assistant. But as I grew to love her, her love for me grew, too. We decided together to join the rebellion.”

  “The rebellion?”

  “There is an organized rebellion. Only a small handful of operatives are on this planet, but there are others out there.”

  Jake’s wrist communicator beeped and an audio field began forming around him.

  “Captain?” It was Sammy.

  “Yes, Sammy.”

  “I have a communication from Agent Kincaid. He would like to speak with you.”

  “I’m on my way.”

  Alexander began to get wearily to his feet.

  “No,” Jake said. “You rest. If it’s anything important, I’ll call you.”

  Alexander nodded and dropped, almost fell, back to the lounge. “Thanks. I’m so tired it almost hurts.”

  Jake stepped into the bungalow, and into a small elevator that took him down to the basement level.

  Sammy was sitting at a computer console, and Kincaid was on the monitor.

  “Jake,” Kincaid said.

  Jake nodded. “Is everything all right?”

  “Just checking in.”

  It still struck Jake as odd to be talking so casually with this man.

  “Any problems?”

  “I think the president is about convinced to be on board with us. He’s not able to assign any agency to actively take part in the hunt for undercover agents, but he won’t get in the way of our searches.”

  “That’s big of him.”

  Kincaid chuckled. “Well, it’s more than I expected, really. Politicians in general don’t take risks. If it got out that he knew of a pending alien invasion and was trying to repress the knowledge, well, he’s doing badly enough in his approval ratings as it is. I think he was going to turn us down entirely, but it turned out three of his own secret service agents were undercover aliens.”

  “All right,” Jake said. “You’ve done good work.”

  “Would you like me to join your search team?”

  “No, I don’t think so. It’s important we keep you as a presidential liaison. At least for now.”

  “Understood.”

  Sammy said, “Jack, we have an incoming from Akila.”

  “Gotta go,” Jake said.

  “Understood. Kincaid out.”

  Kincaid’s image was replaced by Akila. It looked like there was a smudge of dirt on her face, but Jake quickly realized it was a bruise.

  “Jake,” she said.

  “Akila. Are you all right?”

  She nodded. She looked a little shaken. “We’re in Egypt. We just had a fire fight with a group of squids. Ion weapons.”

  “Was anyone hurt?”

  “Not really. A few minor scrapes. We went hand-to-hand at one point. There must have been twenty of them, and none of them agreed to join us. Even after Chloe disabled some of their controller boxes.”

  “None of them?”

  “No. Sixteen of them died in the fire fight. A few got away. At least four. Maybe more.”

  Alexander stepped in behind Jake. Apparently he had decided not to stay in his lounge after all. He said, “Loyalty.”

  Jake said, “To a species that intentionally wiped away emotion, to turn people in cooperative puppets?”

  Alexander shrugged. “It’s what they know. Sometimes people are afraid to leap into a better life. They would rather stay with what they know. It’s somehow safer.”

  “Jake,” she said, “there’s one thing. Check this out.”

  She stepped to one side and held her wristband out. The wristband that served as a life signs monitor as well as a communication device. There was also an onboard camera that allowed them to see her for video communication. With her arm extended, Jake and Alexander had a view of where she was. Looked like a dilapidated apartment.

  She said, “This is a tenement, in a broken-down section of Cairo. We can’t stay long because the authorities will be coming. A fire fight with ion blasters makes some noise, and a fire got started. One building is burning now. I am grateful that it is deserted. But check this out. This piece of equipment.”

  Jake and Alexander could see it, mounted on a small table against a wall. A rectangular box. Beige in color. No dials or controls, but simply what looked like a long, oval strip of plastic in front. Jake knew enough about squid technology now to understand this was a sort of touch-screen. When needed, a series of animated buttons would appear and could be touched to control the device. Whatever the device was.

  “What is it, exactly?” He said.

  “I was hoping Alexander could tell us. The squids were defending it as though their life depended on it.”

  Alexander was standing silently, staring at it. A look of dread on his face.

  He said, “It’s a sub space communications device.”

  Jake said, “And this means..?”

  “It means things have just gone from bad to worse.”

  “Jake,” Akila said, “if Jeff’s available, we’d like to come home. Get our scrapes taken care of. Rick caught the edge of an ion blast. He was running fast enough that his momentum took him away from the biggest part of it, but he’s still a little shaken.”

  “Jeff’s busy,” Jake said. “I gave him the day off. But I’ll send Hasani.”

  Akila hesitated a moment. Then said, “Understood.”

  Jake was aware there was some sort of tension between Akila and Hasani, but it would have to be explored later.

  “See you in a few minutes,” Jake said. “Command out.”

  TWENTY

  Sara was in a white peasant dress that fell pleasantly off the shoulders. Her hair was loose and catching a slight breeze. She and Jeff were at a small table on a sidewalk under an awning. In the distance stood the Eiffel Tower.

  Sara was looking at Jeff with the kind of smile a woman reserved for the man she loved.

  She said, “Jeff, this is so incredible. An afternoon in Paris. What with everything going on..,”

  Jeff returned the smile. “The Captain gave us the day off. It’s not every day a guy turns eighteen.”

  “But it’s your birthday. Not mine. You shouldn’t be giving me an afternoon in Paris. We should be doing something for you.”

  “Believe me, we are. Seeing how incredible you look, and how happy you are. That’s the best gift I could ever ask for.”

  Her smile grew even brighter.

  Jeff was in a henley shirt and a blazer and jeans. It felt nice, he thought, to be out of his battle suit. He had been wearing it every day for weeks.

  In his hand was a glass of chardonnay. He raised it. “To us.”

  She raised her glass. “To us.”

  They clinked the glasses together and took a sip.

  She took a deep breath of the Parisi
an air. Not really different than the air of any other city, Jeff figured. Car exhaust. The smell of pavement in the warm sun. The smell of water from the river. But it was Paris.

  She said, “So, I hate to ask, but when does our fantasy afternoon have to end?”

  “Actually, it doesn’t.”

  She looked at him curiously.

  He said, “The Captain gave us not only the afternoon off, but the night as well. I took the liberty of renting a room at the Hotel du Louvre. Actually, Sammy booked it for us.”

  “Jeff.” She was smiling at him with wonder. “How can we afford this?”

  “It was a gift from Scott. He’s got millions stashed away in off-shore accounts.”

  “So..,” she was suddenly a little hesitant. Almost shy. She glanced down at the table. “We’re going to be spending the night.”

  He nodded.

  “I thought you wanted to wait until this whole thing was over. The whole alien thing.”

  He reached over and took her hand. “A guy only turns eighteen once. And after all we’ve been through the past few weeks, well, it’s got me thinking. Thinking a lot about what’s really important. I thought I knew what I wanted. But what I really want is right here.” He gave her hand a little squeeze for emphasis.

  “Even knowing what I am.”

  “I have wanted you at my side ever since Chloe’s party.”

  Her eyes met his in a way that was serious and yet full of wonder. “And at your side is where I belong. And you at mine.”

  He nodded.

  She tipped her glass and finished her wine, and got to her feet. “Suddenly, I’m feeling tired. Why don’t you take me to our hotel room?”

  Jeff got to his feet. He didn’t have to be asked twice.

  Jeff awoke slowly. Morning sunlight was falling lazily through the glass doors of the hotel room’s balcony. He was lying in a king-sized bed with white satin sheets. Beside him, with sheets crumpled all about her, was Sara. She was sleeping gently. Her strawberry blonde hair was flying wildly about her pillow.

  Jeff smiled. She looked so angelic, lying there. Clothing deprived, the sheets falling away from one bare shoulder.

  He climbed out of bed and walked across the carpet to the bathroom. He turned on the shower and stepped into the hot spray and let it just soak his hair and massage his scalp and run down his neck and shoulders. A night with Sara in this room, drinking fine chardonnay and tumbling in the satin sheets. Dinner the night before in a little café within sight of the Eiffel Tower. He wanted it to last forever.

  This was all such a welcome break from the craziness of the past few weeks. The war in the future Jeff had witnessed. The destruction of the central computer at the facility, which was necessary because the squids had hacked into the computer and turned it against them. The eventual squid assault on the facility. The rescue of the metas from where Kincaid and his men had been holding them. The eventual abandonment of the facility. And now the rush to build the equipment necessary to carry out the plan Alexander and Scott had hacked together to save humanity. Everything had been bang-bang-bang. Hardly a moment to stop and think. Except for the occasional dip in the ocean outside of Alexander and Cassandra’s little holographic bungalow.

  He knew this luxurious escape with Sara would end soon and it would be back to reality. But he was in no hurry to see it end.

  Finally, with the shower done, he pulled on a white robe provided by the hotel and called room service and had them deliver a carafe of fine French coffee and some danishes. He conducted the whole business as quietly as possible, so as to let Sara sleep.

  He took the coffee tray out to the balcony, and was standing by the railing with a cup in his hand when Sara stepped out to join him. She wrapped her arms around him from behind and rested her head against the back of his shoulder.

  “Good morning, beautiful,” he said.

  She said simply, “Mmmm.”

  “Want some coffee?”

  He felt her head nod against his back.

  She lowered herself into a chair by a little table in front of the glass door. He poured her a cup.

  She was also wearing a robe, and as she sat she crossed her legs and the robe slid away from one leg. Funny how such a thing can seem so casual, and yet set a man on fire.

  She was still a couple of weeks away from eighteen. Jeff had turned eighteen just the day before. And yet, he thought he didn’t feel like a kid. And she sure didn’t look like a kid, sitting there a little groggy from sleep but somehow seeming naturally demure. She so belonged in this setting. Paris, on a balcony, in the morning.

  He supposed life over the past few weeks had caused them to grow up in a hurry. And now they were having some grown-up time together.

  He refilled his cup and took the chair at the other side of the table.

  He said, “How is it possible to look so incredible in the morning?”

  She said, “I don’t look incredible. It’s just that you’re in love.”

  “Could it be I’m in love because you’re so incredible?”

  She didn’t have a response for that. She gave a smiling shrug and took a sip of coffee. “I don’t want this to end.”

  “Me neither. I want us to go off into the sunset together. Make a life together. Some place away from everything that’s going on. Here. Or maybe Hawaii.”

  “That sort of thing costs money.”

  “Scott’s got enough to spare. He’s not going to use it anyway. He’s too busy discovering the universe to stop and live life a little.”

  “That’s not nice.”

  He shook his head with a guilty smile. “No. It’s not. Scott’s a great guy, and I don’t want to mooch on his money. I just don’t want the life we’ve been living for the past few weeks.”

  “No one does.”

  “Really? Have you seen the look in Scott’s eyes? He’s exhausted, but he’s loving what he’s doing. Defending mankind against invading aliens. It’s like what he’s born for. And even though Dad won’t admit it, he loves it too. And Akila, leading a team to round up squids and shut off their controller boxes. But me, all I really want is to share coffee in the morning with the lady I love.”

  She nodded. “Me too. I never really wanted any of the life I was leading. Most of the time, I got to live like a normal kid growing up in San Jose. Go to school. Do homework. Watch some TV. Text with my friends. I could even pretend this is all I was. But in the back of my mind, I always knew. I was a sleeper agent. And I would be called into service sooner or later.”

  “Well, at least that’s all behind you know.”

  “Thanks to you.”

  Not long after they had all relocated to the bungalow, Alexander and Cassandra had used a teleportation device to remove the controller boxes from Sara and Ashley. Sara had thrown hers on the floor and driven her heel into it.

  Jeff said, “I would do anything for you. I hope you know that.”

  She nodded with a smile. “I hope you know it’s likewise, too.”

  He glanced at his wristband. On a small screen was a digital readout. 9:38.

  He said, “Well, we have to check out in a couple of hours. Then maybe we can just stroll around Paris for a while before we have to go back.”

  She gave a devious smile. “I can think of some stuff to keep us busy until we have to check out.”

  But then his wristband beeped. An audio field engaged, wrapping around him. Because Sara was only three feet away, sitting across the small table from him, the audio field enveloped her, too.

  His father’s voice seemed to come out of the air around them. “Jeff.”

  “Hi, Dad. You have really lousy timing, you know that?”

  Sara giggled, and covered her mouth to repress it but too late.

  “Sorry to cut your vacation short, but a problem’s come up. We need you back at the bungalow.”

  Jeff let out a sigh. Suddenly he felt weary again. “When does a problem not come up?”

  “Sorry about this.�
��

  “That’s all right. We’re at the hotel. Just give us time to check out, then I’ll zip us back to you.”

  They were all gathered in one of the rooms downstairs. Since all of their equipment was a set of solid holographic projections, except for the holographic projectors, a simple computer command caused it all to disappear and to be replaced with a long conference table that looked to be made of oak. Cushy chairs appeared, one for each person.

  Everyone was here, except for Rick and Chuck. Even though sensors were continually monitoring a five-mile radius around the bungalow, Alexander and Jake both agreed it was important to have live security on hand, too. Rick was running through the hills, wearing his orange jumpsuit and with an ion pistol on his belt. Chuck’s battlesuit was still disabled, but he wanted to contribute, so he was on foot dressed in camouflage, moving about the terrain with a tricorder, a set of binoculars, and an ion gun. Both were in communication with the team in the conference room.

  Alexander’s seat was at the head of the table, but he chose to stand.

  “The aliens’ subspace communication devices are run on alien technology, but the end result is not much different than the communication devices you use. Different technology, similar results. The alien communication device is a lot more powerful, however. It can send a subspace message that can travel light years.”

  Jake said, “The squids Akila and her team encountered have been in communication with the fleet.”

  “I think it’s safe to assume that.”

  April said, “I would think alien infiltration teams would have been using subspace communications all along, to report back.”

  “The core worlds of their civilization are so remote the subspace signal couldn’t reach that far. Cassandra and I would occasionally monitor for subspace signals, but we never found any."

  “But now,” Scott said, “the armada is close enough to have received their signal.”

  Jake said, “I wonder how much they know of our operation?”

  Cassandra reached for a cup of tea that was on the table in front of her. “I doubt they have any direct information as to what we’re up to. But they know there are rebel cells on this planet, and they know of the technology you,” she looked at Scott, “have been developing.”