The Best of All Possible Worlds

by Richard D. Parker

  “It will have to go in the back with D,” Christine whispered. Adam nodded and pulled open the back door.

  “Climb in D…and I want you to lie down on the floor in between the seats,” Adam told him. D looked at him questioningly.

  “I get to ride in a car?” D asked and Adam nodded.

  “I’ve never been in a car before,” he informed them with great excitement. Adam grinned at him and helped him inside.

  “Lie flat,” he told the boy, “and be very quiet. We’re going for a little ride, but they’ll stop us if they see you. Don’t make a sound until Christine or I tell you to. Can you do that?”

  D nodded. “I can be very quiet.”

  “Great!” Adam told him then when D was flat on the floor Adam arranged the blanket over him, trying to make it look discarded rather than consciously arranged. He then pulled his bags over to the driver’s side and pulled them forward so that they rested against the back of the front seat and hid as much of the blanket as possible, then he climbed into the front next to Christine.

  “Mexico?” She asked as she started the car, suddenly very nervous again. Adam shook his head.

  “No, it’s an extradition country and we would stick out too much,” he explained. “We need to stay in the states and keep moving. We’ll leave out the south gate in any case…perhaps they’ll believe we are racing for the border and concentrate on searching that direction.”

  ‘Not Mexico,’ Christine thought and had a moment of panic, then it cleared. “St. Louis Adam! I want to go to St. Louis,” Christine said firmly

  “Drive,” Adam said and she backed out of the spot and began to pull around the building.

  “Paula’s in St. Louis isn’t she?” Adam asked once he was satisfied with his makeshift camouflage. Paula was Christine’s closest friend, though they rarely saw each other anymore. Both were busy with very demanding jobs that they loved.

  “D is still aging rapidly,” Christine said with a nod as she pulled around the main building and began to head south. She lowered her voice and leaned in closer to Adam. “The R89 gene has somehow been rendered dormant. If we’re to save D, then we need to head to St. Louis…what good is it to break him out of Cryogen just to have him die of old age in a year or two. Paula has the labs and resources I need.”

  Adam stared at his sister for a long moment. It was a risky move. The Genome Center at Washington University was a top ranked institution. If Colonel Bradford was smart he would have such facilities monitored…closely.

  “What about the stuff in the trunk?” Adam asked hopefully and Christine broke into a laugh. Adam smiled but Christine continued to laugh…harder.

  “Not…even…close,” she managed through her laughter, gulping for air. The guard house was just coming into view in the distance and Christine showed no signs of ending her hysterics.

  “Get a grip little sis,” Adam said and punched her hard in the leg. Her laughing stopped abruptly.

  “Ow…that hurt,” Christine howled. “I’m going to have a bruise.”

  “Live with it,” Adam replied as they pulled to a stop next to the guard house.

  “Hey Roy,” Christine greeted. Adam could tell by the pitch of her voice that she was nervous; he just hoped that Roy was not so observant. An automatic chain linked gate guarded the grounds and was at the moment closed. If they couldn’t convince Roy to open it, this would be the shortest escape ever attempted.

  “Dr. Dawkins…Adam,” Roy added as he bent down to peer into the window. He looked a bit confused. “You leavin’ your jeep?”

  “Yeah, I moved out of my apartment. I’m staying with her while I look for a new place. She’ll bring me back in the morning,” Adam said, his voice completely normal.

  Roy nodded and took a quick look around the interior of the car. He spotted the bags but Adam had already explained their presence so he thought nothing of it.

  “Kind of late,” Roy added.

  Christine nodded. “I know I’m starving,” she said hoping it would hurry the guard up a bit. Roy smiled at her. ‘Dr. Dawkins was a fine looking woman…if he wasn’t married…well hell she was nearly half his age…but anyway he could dream couldn’t he?’ He took a cursory glance at her breasts then straightened up. A moment later the gate began to slowly roll open.

  “Where you eatin’?” Roy asked and leaned back down so his face hovered in the open window just inches from Christine’s, and though she wasn’t aware of it he was trying to breathe in the smell of her. Adam could see that Christine was getting agitated, but at least now the gate was open; if it all went to hell at least they could gun the engine and be gone.

  Adam shrugged. “We haven’t decided,” he said. “See ya tomorrow,” he added and the car began to slowly creep forward.

  “Hey!” Roy yelled and moved along side. Christine noticeably jumped and her heart began to pound in her chest. “Dill’s is having two for one barbeque plates tonight. Margaret and I love the place.”

  “Sounds good,” Adam answered as Christine pressed the accelerator pedal a little too hard and they squealed away from the guard house and Cryogen. Adam turned around and gave Roy a little wave.

  “Easy,” he said to his sister.

  “Now I have to pee,” she answered and Adam rolled his eyes.

  “Hold it a while,” he said and Christine let out a nervous, nearly hysterical laugh.

  “D…you can sit up and take the blanket off,” he told the boy, who instantly popped up, his eyes out the window and wide with wonder.

  “You drive up to Albuquerque…then I’ll take us east. I’d like to get to Tucumcari before it gets too late,” he said and Christine began to calm as she drove east along highway sixty towards Socorro and I-25. “We shouldn’t drive too long, just a normal couple with their son. We need to be unremarkable…oh that reminds me. Do you have your cell phone?”

  “It’s in my purse…why?”

  Adam pulled open the center console, opened her purse and pulled out the phone. He popped open the back and quickly removed the smartcard then he pressed the switch that rolled down his window.

  “Cool!” D shouted from the back and held his hands up to the wind.

  “What are you doing?”

  Adam ignored her and stuck his hand out the window then threw the phone down at the pavement with all his strength.

  “Adam!”

  He ignored her a moment and snapped the card in two and then tossed it into the New Mexico night. “No cell phones; they can be easily tracked. We’ll buy a disposable phone when we get to Amarillo,” he told her and rolled the window back up.

  “You could have at least let me write down Paula’s number,” she said accusingly.

  “You don’t know her number?”

  Christine shook her head. “I just punch her name to call her…of course I don’t know her number.”

  “She still work at Barnes?”

  Christine nodded.

  “We’ll get it off the net when we get to St. Louis,” he said and then settled back and closed his eyes.

  Christine stared at him a moment…as if he was some sort of alien, and then shaking her head looked into the rear view mirror. “How about some music D?” she asked.

  D nodded and smiled at her. “I like the car Christine…it goes very fast!” he said.

  “Let’s hope,” she added and punched on the stereo.

  “Peyroux,” she said plainly and soft jazz began to play.

  “I like the car,” D repeated then fell quiet, just listening.

  †

  “What do you mean gone?” Colonel Bradford demanded immediately upon entering Crane’s office, apparently feeling there was no need for a greeting. Four burly men followed the Colonel in and took up strategic positions throughout the room. Not one of them said a word, but their mere presence unnerved Ian.

  Crane sighed. “He’s gone. Dr. Dawkins and her brother Adam, who works security, took him late last night.”

  “Took him?”
<
br />   “What don’t you understand Colonel?” Crane asked sharply then cast a quick glance around at the men, but they didn’t react to his tone. “My chief researcher apparently disagreed with your decision to terminate the boy. She took him and threw away her job…and her future because of it.”

  “Security…” Bradford said mostly to himself. “Are you telling me that a genetically engineered human being was allowed to just waltz off the property?”

  “Dawkins has been chief researcher at this facility for over six years. The guards would not question her decisions unless they were drastically against protocol,” Crane replied, wondering just what had gotten into Christine. She’s thrown away everything for the boy.

  “And just how did they get him out of the building?”

  Crane colored a little, but decided there was no point in trying to keep anything from the Colonel. He was bound to find out everything in any case. “They stepped out to look at the moon,” he said softly.

  “The moon,” Bradford replied and his constant repetitious speech was beginning to irritate Crane. “Who let him leave the building?”

  “Williams, he was on duty in the east wing last night,” Crane answered. “But the boy’s been outside before. He went out to play in the snow just a few weeks ago.”

  Bradford seemed not to have heard; instead he turned to the man on his immediate right.

  “Lock down the building, no one leaves until the investigation is over,” Bradford ordered. The man saluted and left without a word.

  “Investigation?” Crane repeated in a fair imitation of the Colonel.

  Bradford nodded. “We need to know if they’ve taken anything else of a sensitive nature. Files maybe…or samples. The boy was a highly irregular experiment, not one we would like going public.”

  ‘Christ she would take her files...and hell maybe the samples. Surely she would take a sample of the R89 gene…if she planned on selling it to a competing lab…shit Christine,’ Crane thought. “But…”

  “What gate did they leave by?” Bradford interrupted.

  “The south gate,” Crane answered.

  “Shit…they could be to the Mexican border by now. Get in touch with Homeland Security,” the Colonel barked at another man and he nodded and quickly left the room.

  “You have video of all the vehicles that enter and leave the grounds correct?” the Colonel asked.

  Crane nodded.

  “Good, let’s get to the security office,” he added then to the two men remaining. “Get in touch with Armstrong…we may need his team. I’d rather not involve the FBI, but if the boy’s not in custody in 48 hours we may have to.”

  One of the men turned to Bradford and finally spoke, dispelling a notion that was floating in the back of Crane’s mind that they were all mute, “We could use the New Mexico highway patrol; watch all the main roads out of the state.”

  “Shit…this is a damned desolate state,” Bradford answered, knowing that if either Dawkins or her brother had a brain between them they would be out of the state by now in any case. “Alright see to it,” he agreed and they all moved out of Crane’s office.

  “And bring me Reverend Heyworth. I’d be surprised if he wasn’t behind this entire fiasco.”

  Crane considered the accusation and found no fault with the Colonel’s logic. Heyworth was a wild card alright; who knew how he’d managed to acquire a suitable sample of D’s DNA to begin with. As they moved down the hall Dr. Ian Crane rubbed at his temples. He had a headache coming on and all things considered it was going to be a very long day.

  IX

  “At the root of all unhappiness lies the illusion of control.”

  Gwaynn Massi

  December 29th 3217 Noble Island

  “Avi I’m not sure I want to anymore,” Arnot admitted. They were sitting on the grassy bank of the small creek which ran down the mountain not far from the cabin. Arnot would occasionally toss small twigs in the water and watch as they drifted slowly downstream.

  Avigail frowned. She needed Arnot; she knew that. Galen told her so. What she needed him for she did not really know, but deep inside her psyche she was anxious for Arnot to complete his own journey to the Far Lands. It was an inner compulsion surpassed only by the aching need to go to Galen…wherever he was in time…or space.

  Three weeks had passed since Avi’s first trip into the Far Lands and several times since, in her deepest dreams of the night, Galen appeared to her, pleading for her to come to him.

  ‘I’m not strong enough Avigail. I need you! Come to me Avi. Come to me!’ Galen implored in the midst of her dreams. Sometimes he would plead while he was holding her hands in his own, sometimes he would whisper as he held her, his mouth so close that his breath tickled her ear as he spoke.

  Avi shook her head to clear her mind of the memory, her eyes following the progress of a large leaf her brother sent on its watery way.

  “Arnot…it’s like magic,” Avigail said, trying to explain the experience, but instinctively she knew it was hopeless. How do you explain a life changing experience so that another could understand? Who could truly understand the horrors of war, the pure joy of giving birth to your first child, or the death of a soul mate, unless they experienced such an event for themselves? Avi was beginning to suspect that there was no possible way she could instill the wonder of the Far Lands into Arnot. He was going to have to go for himself. He must go for himself!

  “I watched over you as you slept Avi,” Arnot replied then tossed a small forked stick into the stream. They watched it bob its way downstream together. “It scared me Avi…for a while I was really afraid you would not wake.”

  “But I did Arnot.”

  “Yes, but what if I don’t?” he countered, finally expressing his true fear. “N’dori says it happens.”

  “Very rarely Arnot,” his sister chided. “You wouldn’t remain in the Far Lands; you’d miss me too much.

  Arnot smiled. “True…what would I do in the Far Lands without you?” He added and then turned thoughtful. “Perhaps find a woman…a good woman and make her my wife,” he teased.

  Avigail pulled up a clump of grass and threw it at him.

  Arnot swatted it away. “It’ll happen someday Avi. You’ll meet some boy and get all lovey-dovey, next thing you know you’ll be married…and I’ll meet some beautiful, exotic woman and…”

  “Thinking of Vio?” Avigail asked and laughed.

  Arnot threw a twig back at her. “Perhaps,” he admitted. “Maybe someone like Vio…only younger, softer…”

  “Probably with bigger breasts,” Avi teased then stood and quickly brushed the leaves and dirt from her rump.

  “Ha! Shows what you know,” Arnot answered also standing but he did not bother to brush himself off. “I happen to like small breasts.”

  “Small?” Avigail asked, intrigued. She’d never known this about her brother.

  “Smallish,” he admitted and they both laughed. “Come on. I’m getting hungry.” They moved out of the thin ribbon of trees and into the clearing that surrounded the cabin. N’dori was sitting quietly on the porch, and though she was nearby, they both knew that while she was sitting still with her eyes closed, her mind was far, far away.

  †

  A month later Arnot still had not visited the Far Lands, though he’d dutifully climbed the mountain each morning and spent nearly the entire day in contemplation. Each day Avigail remained below, waiting and hoping and each day Arnot would climb down from the mountain in the early evening. Avigail was already beginning to flirt with time and her control was increasing steadily. N’dori knew that it would only be a short while before she was able to stop it completely. It was a day the Solitary was looking forward to, for she knew that where Avigail led, Arnot would eventually follow.

  N’dori was sitting cross-legged in the middle of a field perhaps a hundred yards west of the cabin. Avigail had gone off into the woods as was her habit after their morning sparring practice. The Solitary did not expect h
er to return until the afternoon, but N’dori did not mind; after all she was very accustomed to the quiet. She was surprised then when her sharp ears caught the sound of steps moving slowly toward her through the tall grass.

  N’dori did not move or open her eyes as the sounds grew closer. The steps belonged to Avigail…that is unless a very talented Executioner of Sinis had somehow been reborn. The wind shifted slightly and N’dori inhaled the familiar scent of her female student…no Executioner then. The Solitary sighed, feeling she would have enjoyed having one more pitched life and death battle. Sometimes she missed the old lawless days of King Mastoc.

  “Why have you returned?” N’dori asked, speaking softly, her eyes still closed. Another warm breeze caressed her face and she was keenly aware of the tiny facial hairs on her cheeks rising from the soft contact.

  “I want to climb the mountain. I want to help Arnot,” Avi answered and then took a seat next to her teacher.

  N’dori opened her eyes. “Patience,” she commanded.

  “But Arnot is growing discouraged,” Avigail announced, “and I’m not sure his heart is in the endeavor.”

  N’dori turned her head to stare at the girl. “You will not help your brother by climbing the mountain. If…if, mind you, he’s to go, he must go alone. Your presence will only hinder his progress.”

  Avigail looked sharply at her teacher, then around at the landscape and N’dori could sense panic rising in the girl. She wondered why the girl was having such a strong emotional reaction to the conversation. “How can I help him? I need to help him?” Avi finally gasped.

  N’dori frowned; loyalty to her sibling did not entirely explain such a statement. The Solitary almost questioned the girl, but refrained at the last moment.

  “You can help him by controlling time,” N’dori finally said. “Stop time, and learn to control it so that you can defeat him in sparring every time.”