Ill Wind

by Tal Turing

  But the vehicle did not move toward the construction area but found instead an old structure, pre-Maltiempo, long and narrow with a height of three stories. The building seemed to be formed from large metal sheets. A huge door took up most of one face of the building perhaps to accommodate some large craft of old.

  “It is a mystery how this old airplane hangar even survived the storms,” Donnie continued as they approached the battered structure from the air, landing near a small portal. “Perhaps that is how the city founders knew that this valley would be a good candidate for settlement.

  We are advertising that this will be a museum, an attraction to set us apart and it will. But for right now it is also the perfect cover for research and development which we have not yet announced.”

  The Humantis vehicle was equipped to tether to the specially designed portal. The door of the vehicle opened and they were able to directly move to the interior of the building without ever stepping outside.

  “Convenient for moving human cargo discretely in and out,” Donnie commented as he moved into the building. The Doctor followed quickly.

  Miriam followed, slowly, into the entryway of the building, a sterile room with a simple desk and a series of lockers. The ceiling was a coarse metal grating which separated the first floor ceiling from the vast attic space of the large building. She looked up, through the spaces in the ceiling. It was dark up there but she could see some light in a far corner, perhaps from an old window, a vent or even a hole in the roof. It never rained in a dome so it didn't matter.

  The men had left this room and walked down a corridor so she followed, slowly, taking the time to inspect everything. The hallway was also white and sterile with small offices and storage rooms lining the right hand side. But the left side contained only windows which looked into a large room beyond. She peered in to see more, finding a space not limited by a make-shift ceiling but extending all the way to the roof. The far side of the room contained the large, metal door she had seen from the sky.

  The impressive space was a laboratory, a huge one, filled with standard Humantis equipment: medical refrigerators, analyzers and even medical diagnostic stations. Miriam had seen it all in Techview, but these seemed brand new. Donnie wasn't kidding about making resources available.

  Still Miriam was not impressed. She knew that the development phase of Petyr's second experiment, Peithonova, was complete. She was living proof, though of course the Doctor would not reveal that fact to Donnie.

  What they really needed was test subjects, not medical machines. Perhaps she could even convince Donnie to volunteer? She was rewarded as she presented the Bugs with an image of Donnie bending to the Doctor's will. But he could not be so easily manipulated, could he? She watched as the Humantis officer stated, then re-stated the obvious: that he had a facility at his disposal.

  “Fine, we get it,” pouted Miriam trying to keep the boredom off her face. She was already tired of plans for greatness and product profitability and all that. She wanted to go back to Techview, back to their life, to their child. “But so far it is all just talk and I would think that you and your investors would want to see something concrete, something real. And for that, we need test subjects, which you promised, and that is why we came to this...this boom-town.”

  Donnie stopped and looked at her, clearly interested and Petyr seemed amused rather than worried He seemed to have complete confidence in her now...ever since Mirk.

  “Please continue, Miss...what should I call you?”

  Miriam's green eyes did not flinch. Assets did not have last names, they only had corporate identifiers. She used to be Miriam WIN23H. But now she was a full corper, so could she choose her own name? What would happen when they returned? Would she and Petyr marry? Would she take his name? The Bugs loved the idea but somewhere in her core, her gut had another reaction.

  “Miriam is fine, Donnie.” she smiled sweetly, happy to once again be the center of attention. She strode easily into the room to them, her heels clapping. “Humantis is publicly releasing Prianova, meaning that your rivals will be preoccupied with impregnating their actual spouses rather than the hired help. So they still won't see any return on their investment, any worker growth until, what, 15 years? We are offering you the opportunity to increase your loyalty base right now, among the villagers, within your company and even...” Miriam paused as she tossed a lock of her light brown hair and nodded to a monitor which displayed the ubiquitous daily corporate rankings. “Even with a competitor, a rival.” She smiled and continued. “Think merger, think acquisition or even hostile takeover. That is what the Doctor's research is offering so why not try it out, now? Put us to the test.”

  Donnie was nodding.

  “We could show you how it works...” Miriam began even in spite of her intuition. To be able to trap Donnie with the Peithonova would require much more subtlety and planning, but she was desperate for some progress and...to please the Doctor. And to get the Bugs off her back. It was too soon. But she couldn't resist. “And I am not talking about testing some asset slave who already has to follow your orders. It should be an officer...you might want...” Her train of thought broke and she lost her usual articulate flow. She was rushing this.

  “I like the way you think,” Donnie jumped in, smiling. “But I am a man of my words and I already have something lined up for you.”

  He led them back into the corridor and to the end of the hallway. There they moved through a security door into another, smaller passage, one with several, mostly closed, doors.

  One door was wide open, exposing a simple, small, room. She saw a sink, a locker and in the center of the room was a Humantis diagnostic station. It was very similar to the one which had held her while the Doctor performed routine tests, the one she had slept within when she was confined to the lab, before he had learned to trust her and the...the things inside her.

  “Welcome to our resident wing,” Donnie said simply. “We are still recruiting but we expect that it will soon be full. You asked for a test subject, one which had no reason to be friendly toward us. Well, I have the perfect patient.

  She is a village girl, one which caught the interest of one of our executives. He had hoped that she would be happy living as his consort but unfortunately she was less than thrilled with the idea. Worse, she comes from an influential village family so we can't really release her with her current...attitude. How is that for a challenge, my dear?”

  Miriam smiled the way she always had, the way she could when needed. It seemed genuine from the muscles around her mouth to the flash of her eyes. And months of learning to cope with the Bugs kept her theatrical talents in peak condition.

  She had hoped they would test Peithonova on some officer or better an executive, she had no problem with that. She had not counted on this. Why had she not foreseen it? Of course they would experiment on some villager.

  “Perfect, Donnie. Just perfect,” she beamed.

  The Conspirator

  “You are there? How much were you able to see?” Donnie spoke into the empty room after the Doctor and Miriam has left. He waited.

  The air in the far corner shimmered as the holographic projectors constructed the cloud, and began adding color and form, all from signals transmitted from a remote location. Donnie waited impatiently, he did not understand why his partner insisted on using this slow, visual communication mode when he could simply speak. The only reasons for the visual interfaces today was so that the Doctor could be observed.

  Finally the air cleared and the sparking image of a man appeared. He flashed a conspiratorial smile before beginning to pace the room. As if trying out his virtual legs.

  “He does not seem to possess the intellect that I was led to believe he had,” his tall partner began in his usual style.

  “You think everyone is beneath you,” laughed Donnie.

  “You must remember not to let the Doctor see the props we have installed. He would not understand our theatrics, he might mention it to som
eone.”

  “What is the point of hiding it from him? Petyr is a Humantis Officer, albeit from Techview, a rising star and keep in mind that, assuming he works out, we will want to strengthen that relationship. He could easily find other partners within our competitive ranks, you know that.”

  “I am very interested in this new procedure of his. But we must put him to the test. Let us see what he can do with the village girl. She is a feisty one, took a bite out of her lover's ear just today.”

  “I would have killed her,” muttered Donnie, his finger tracing the outline of his own perfect ear.

  “I wouldn't have. At least not at first,” laughed the phantom.

  Plans

  “Where are you...Dr. Petyr?” Miriam spoke over the communication link her AI had established between her implant and a similar one within the Doctor's skull, it was standard corper equipment. “We were supposed to meet with Donnie and he has brought along a friend.” She emphasized the last word slightly.

  “Yes, I recall, but I am stuck working to establish the bug lab, the shipments are arriving from home.”

  “But I can help you Petyr!” Miriam protested. “You have better things to do, I'm sure and besides, those things are dangerous.”

  “The Bugs?” Petyr laughed. “We are old friends, besides we now have some of our Techview equipment. I have a Colony Incubator and I'll set up the interlock chamber by the end of day.”

  “Breeding colonies is dangerous, Petyr. The number of times those things...”

  “Calm yourself, my dear,” the Doctor purred. “I understand your desire to protect me but I promise you I know how to manage the viral populations, you did an admirable job with them, but never implementing the exact mixtures I wanted...”

  That is because your formulas needed tweaking!

  Miriam couldn't help but think that and the Bugs allowed it even though they did not fully enjoy it.

  “Besides, I need you to guide our man, Donyden. You can handle him while I remain here at the lab.”

  “Petyr, I can't let you...” Miriam protested and now her voice had risen in desperation. She knew the dangers, better than anyone, he could be hurt!

  “That's an order, my dear, I know what is best.”

  When Miriam returned to the conference room, Donnie had left but his friend remained.

  “Donnie got called away, but I didn't want to run off without letting you know. I'm going by your hotel, I could even drop you off?”

  The man continued his pleasantries, thinking that Miriam was paying attention but she was considering. It was truly careless for Donnie to leave the subject unattended. But then he did not realize how far the project had progressed. She realized that this was a rare opportunity and she was prepared for it. Well, she was almost prepared for it, her secret batch of virals was kept in a security box at a local financial institution. If she retrieved it, she knew a private room would be provided while she inspected the contents. Very private.

  “Could you drop me by our bank?” She asked sweetly.

  Laboratory 8

  A man with an ego like Maximilian Petyr could not feel threatened, certainly not by a girl. But the success of his viral manipulators, after months of failures, did invigorate him with the desire to get back into the laboratory. Besides, it was better for Miriam to work on the implementation of Peithonova while Petyr worked on his new secret project, one he had not even discussed with her. If she knew he were working on a brand new formula, she would be frantic.

  The containment lab was constructed now - a series of interlocking chambers that ensured that technicians did not carry contaminants in or let anything harmful out. In the center was the 'Bug Lab' itself including the Colony Incubators that grew the virals. Previously there had been two formulas: Prianova and Peithonova. The first was a powerful pregnancy inducer and very specific. The latter was his second creation, a variant of which lived inside of Miriam. There would be other variants...but first he had to make sure he would have unfettered access to the lab and the test subjects. In short, he needed to convince his new friends of what he could do for them. He would start that conversation and he knew Miriam would bring it home.

  It was like being haunted, Petyr decided, as the dark cloud which had formed in a corner of the communications office and which was shaped like a humanoid, now began to move toward him, following.

  He supposed that the mock eyes and mouth were to give the impression that he was meeting a something real, something present, but he knew quite well that he was alone with a virtual projection emanating from some other place, the person's physical appearance and voice intentionally blurred as his guest, Donnie's silent partner, wished to remain anonymous for now.

  Donnie had told him to expect the visitor. It was if he were Scrooge on Christmas Eve, the Doctor snorted. He did not care if it was the Red Death itself, as long as he or she or it was willing to fund his projects.

  Once again, Petyr had proven himself a master of working the corporate game. He had used his first project to obtain resources and equipment for his second project and now he was using the same leveraging game for his all-important last project.

  A normal person might have waited for the phantom, recognizing its underlying humanity and perhaps a desire to walk together. But Petyr would not have done so for a flesh and blood guest, even an important VIP, so it did not come to his mind.

  Instead, he strode boldly through the empty lab, into a corridor and down to its end, to the security door. Soon Sams would be here and he would have his own security officer but right now Petyr would have to do it. He worked the code, stepped through and closed the door behind him. The door auto-locked after hardly ten seconds.

  He heard the ghostly voice and turned. The thing was still on the other side of the door. Interesting, so the security door even blocked the communications hologram? It made sense. Impressive. He opened the door and it stepped through.

  “You know the history of the subject, I assume?” the Doctor called out as he passed a series of closed cell doors and lowered his voice as he approached the last one.

  “Summarize,” the thing hissed as it caught up with him like a lazy, foggy shadow.

  “Certainly,” the Doctor replied happily. “This patient came to us from the villages after having a violent episode. She had attacked her boyfriend, biting off a piece of the executive's ear. She was restrained and sedated but her propensity toward violence remained strong.”

  It didn't matter to the Doctor that his words were false. He was merely describing the world the way his hosts wanted it to be seen. It was not the first time he had to show that he was a team player for corporate, and he expected the same from those who worked for him. Some of it was true, especially the part about his ear.

  “And...then?” It asked.

  “Then we administered the Peithonova to the man. He did exhibit some uncomfortable but ultimately harmless side effects before spewing out the compound through his nasal cavity. At the time my assistant was still playing around with the Exodus routes and so...”

  “Don't care.” the thing hissed again. It was as if it was loathe to speak or discuss anything in length. Who spoke in such brevity? Perhaps it was concerned that Petyr would recognize it from its speech? No matter, Petyr was accustomed to dominating a conversation.

  “Well, you can see the current state,” the Doctor spoke as he turned and flipped on the monitor.

  A large bed sat in the far corner of the room, strangely luxurious for a medical cell. A man and a woman were huddled together on top of the covers, the woman barely dressed. The man, older, wore bed shorts and a night shirt.

  “And this is from earlier today, fairly convincing I would say,” he played the clip but did not bother to watch it. He had seen it before. “You can see that the girl is still quite aggressive but it a decidedly more pleasant way. Of course if you...”

  “No. This is fine. We'll talk again. Later.”

  As Petyr watched, the thing dissolved and h
e heard the communication link close. Pleased that he had impressed the other investor, Petyr now decided to satisfy his own curiosity.

  He hurried back to the communications office in time to catch the communication ID on the display. It was not enough to tell him the identity of his unknown visitor but it would narrow down the sending location. Petyr had once tracked down an ex-girlfriend in the same way in order to cull some inaccurate statements she had been making. It took Petyr only a few moments of time with his AI to determine the source dome.

  Upon seeing his answer, Petyr laughed, remembering the company's slogan: 'All Roads Lead to Transom'. Indeed they do.

  Transom Downtown

  “I feel like I'm drowning!” complained Donnie. He was dressed in extravagant corper attire, lots of metallic tones but his face was flush with discomfort.

  “That's good. It's my new Exodus pattern, the virals are coming out in your mouth, it won't be so obvious that way,” commented Miriam as she examined herself in the mirror rather than being concerned about the tall officer's well-being.

  “And why do you give the stuff to me? That doesn't make any sense does it? Can't we give it to...you know, the subject?” Donnie complained.

  Why couldn't the Doctor find a more intelligent partner? Miriam sighed to herself. She knew she should be more respectful of a Senior Officer especially as she was at the bottom of the employee hierarchy with not even half a month as an officer.

  “Think about what it does, Donnie. The Bugs have to learn about you first. How else will our target be bonded to you and only to you? And the bond will be strengthened when exposed to your chemistry, your distinct fragrance and DNA markers; that is why it is important that you spend time together right after infection.”