by B. C. CHASE
Gary had closed his eyes for the embrace, but when he opened them, he found himself staring at Doctor Stoneham, and he was immediately filled with a deep and terrible rage.
Doctor Stoneham must have noticed his altered demeanor, because he volunteered, “We've kept him very humanely; extremely positive conditions compared to the other primates.”
“Very humanely,” Gary repeated in a low voice. He could not believe what he was hearing.
“Yes, I mean really, under normal circumstances, I would have disposed of such a failure. But since he still retains his one-of-a-kind mind and is the one we will use in the event the duplicate Preseption doesn’t work out for some reason, I am compelled to keep him. He is receiving all the same conditioning and mind-training, mostly through virtual reality. Amazing technology that sends the mind into a dreaming state…”
Gary turned to hand his son over to Erika. And then, his blood boiling, he reached for Doctor Stoneham's neck. Feeling like he was on an overpowering drug, he slammed the scientist's head against the cage metal over and over again, screaming into his face as loudly as his lungs allowed. He briefly let the bloodied Stoneham up for air and he felt Erika's touch on his shoulder. She was shouting, “Ask him! Ask him!”
“What?” Gary said.
“Ask him where Amélie went!”
Gary immediately realized with alarm that the executive had sneaked away. “Where is she?” Gary asked Stoneham.
“Where do you think? Gone for help, I should bloody well imagine,” Stoneham said, pressing his hand to his dripping forehead. “At least, that's what I gathered before she left.”
With disgust, Gary shoved Stoneham down to the floor.
From his crouched position, Stoneham said, “They should be surrounding the building. There's no escape for you now. You'll be in custody within seconds.”
“Let's go,” Gary said to Donald, Erika, and the boy Jeffery. Erika handed him the monkey, Jeffery, and they ran for it.
As they ran down the hallway, Erika said, “Go to the roof. I'll meet you there.”
“Shouldn't we just take one of the exits?”
“No, he's right. The building would be surrounded. I've noticed extra security lately. The roof's your only escape.”
“How?”
“Just go! I'll meet you there!” Erika cried, veering off down another hall.
When Gary and Donald pushed open the door into the stairs, Gary was relieved to hear no one else there. They ran as quickly as they could which was admittedly not Olympiad speed, Gary carrying a child and an monkey and Donald's age and weight getting the best of him. On the fifteenth floor, they heard a door open far down below and dozens of footfalls on the concrete.
“Oh my. They're going to be fast,” Donald huffed, a floor behind. “The first generation was built for speed!”
“The first generation of what?”
“Soldiers. That's what this is all about! They're building an army!”
As Gary reached the next floor, he noticed that Donald stopped running. “Don't stop!” Gary shouted, dashing back down to help the older man.
“No, you go ahead!” Donald shouted. “I can't make it. Here,” he tossed Gary a set of keys. “It's a green Mini with white racing stripes, parked in the garage. Now get outta here!”
Gary paused for just a moment, and then breathed a “Thank you.” He spun around and ran up the next flight, seeing Donald turn to face the oncoming troop with his arms spread out from his body.
Gary made it to the door on the roof and forced it open. It was flat, weathered concrete. Gary ran to the closest edge, a distance of fifteen yards. When he reached it, he saw the front entrance of the building a dizzying distance below, the concrete jungle of the city beyond that, and the mountains far ahead in the distance cloaked by clouds. His monkey-son let loose a shriek and swung himself up to the back side of Gary's neck. A steady stream of soldiers was pouring into the entrance below.
Remembering that the building was close to the port, he jogged over toward that side, another forty yard run. When he looked down, he did see the water of the port, but there was an entire concrete platform between the building and the water. The distance down must have been over two hundred feet: it looked like close to three hundred. Even if he could make the distance across the platform, Gary was certain they could not survive a splash into water from that height. Even more alarming was what he saw in the water. It was ringed off by a concrete barrier, and very clear. Swimming inside were strange figures which Gary was sure he didn’t want to meet.
They were trapped on the edge of the roof like rats. Or, rather Gary thought, like a man, a boy, and a monkey.
What did Erika send us here for? he thought with annoyance. He should never have listened to her.
As soon as he thought this, a door on the far end of the roof swung open with a bang. Erika emerged and then stepped aside from the darkened doorway. What came next was utterly dumfounding to Gary.
With giant ears, huge beady black eyes, and a long dog-like snout, a creature lowered its head as it stepped from the threshold. Lopping on both its front claws and its long hind legs with immense wings folded upright, it squinted up at the gray skies above. With a clear view of its entire body, Gary could not place it as any specific animal, but rather an amalgamation of different fauna. The legs had a bend at the knee like a horse's rear legs, though it had talons rather than hooves. The wings were not feathered, but gray and bat-like, though the body was covered in short fur.
Erika quickly led it toward them, and as it approached Gary was amazed by how sizable it actually was, standing ten feet to the top of its head.
She said, “It's too large to really fly, but it can glide down, I hope.”
“Great,” Gary said unenthusiastically, eying the creature dubiously.
Guiding the beast to the edge, Erika directed Gary and Jeffery each to cling to a leg.
“What about you?” Gary asked.
Before she could answer, the door Gary had come from blew open and a soldier emerged. Assessing the situation quickly, its head snapped back and forth like a reptile. It lowered to one knee and fired a single round.
A small blood spot marked the point squarely between Erika's eyes where the bullet entered. Without a sound, she dropped face down to the concrete.
Gary didn't have even a second to express his horror because at the same time she fell, the crack of the gunshot startled the creature into spreading its immense twenty-foot wingspan and leaping off the edge, Gary and his boy-son clinging to its legs, his monkey-son shrieking from his perch on Gary's neck.
They plummeted down at an incredible rate, the cool wind whipping Gary's clothes. It felt more like falling than gliding, but it was clear that the wings were breaking their drop as they soared away from the building and over the water. With a guttural cry, the creature banked right, sending them on a trajectory almost parallel to the concrete platform lining the water. Then, a sudden wind sent it out of control and they spiraled precariously close to the buildings. Within seconds, they would hit the ground: Gary subconsciously squeezed the creature's leg in anticipation of a deadly impact, but at the last minute, they veered to the left and splashed into the water.
Gary had shut is eyes when they hit, but now he opened them and could see the boy Jefferey clinging desperately to the creature's leg as it paddled frantically. The wings above them were spread out over the surface and the animal was struggling urgently to stay afloat. Gary had to battle the thrashing legs in order to pull Jefferey free. He was about to kick toward the surface away from the wings when he realized that the monkey wasn't on his neck. He spun around in the water in search of it and spotted it slowly sinking downwards, unconscious. Not sure he had enough breath to pursue it, Gary paused for a second.
It’s just a monkey. We’ll all die if I try to save it.
But the sight of the little face with closed eyes slipping farther into the deep was enough to make up his mind.
Then he
spotted something even more horrifying. One of the swimming figures he had seen from the roof was showing an interest, slicing gracefully through the water toward his monkey son. It had long undulating hair, a human head and torso, and a scaly peduncle and tail. As it twisted around in the water, he caught a glimpse of its wide-open mouth, lined with razor-sharp teeth, and its human-like female breasts.
A mermaid? he thought in disbelief. This place was using genetic technology to create mermaids?
Its hands were outstretched toward the monkey Jefferey, each finger ending in a talon.
He shoved the boy Jeffery up toward the surface and struck down with wide strokes. He grasped his monkey-son just as he was about to slip beneath any hope of rescue and then kicked to the surface, breathing deeply as they popped out next to Jeffery. Gary was able to drag them to the water’s edge and clamber up onto the boulders. Then he made a quick dash to an alley between the nearest buildings where he was certain the soldiers couldn't spot them from the roof of the PLC building.
When they reached safety, Gary spread the limp form of the monkey out on the pavement. He couldn't feel any breaths coming from its little mouth or nose. The boy Jeffery asked, “He dead, daddy?”
“I don't know,” Gary said, kneeling down. He wasn't sure what to do. He was trying to feel for a pulse when the little animal's eyes fluttered open and it coughed up some frothy fluid. Quickly recognizing its father, it raised its arms up to Gary and said, “Up.”
He let it clamber up his arm to his shoulders.
The sound of shots caused Gary to look back into the water where the creature that flew them down was sinking in a barrage of bullets. Also visible were thrashing mermaids, their mouths full of flesh.
He took the boy-Jeffery by the hand and sprinted down the street. How he wished he had brought the machine gun with him and not left it with Stacy.
It didn't take long to run through the alleys back to the place he had originally sneaked into the parking garage. Once inside, he went to the spot where the girl's car had been, but it was gone. Stacy and Chiang-gong must have driven to their meeting spot. Gary took the key to Donald's Mini Cooper and pressed the beeper.
The car's answering honk echoed from across the garage. He rushed toward the sound. He remembered plenty of occasions in his life when he had been trying to find a car in a parking lot, but he did not recall any in which the stakes had been so high.
Fortunately, it didn't take long to locate the green Mini, and, as promised, it had two broad, white racing stripes on the top. As he approached, the racing stripes flared into a splash of colors that swept from the front to the back of the car. LEDs.
Inside, there was no kiddie seat—though he wasn't sure if one would do the small monkey he had with him any good anyway. Both juveniles clambered into the back and he started the car.
“Welcome. Would you like to go home?” a voice said.
“No, no thank you,” Gary said. “Manual drive.” The wheel automatically extended and lowered to a more comfortable position. A metallic arm lowered from the ceiling to his face, “Please breathe into the nozzle for breathalyzer blood alcohol test.”
Gary followed the instruction. The arm retracted back into the ceiling.
The voice said, “Blood alcohol levels are within acceptable limits. Warning: manual operation of a motorized vehicle can be extremely hazardous to yourself and others. Do not exceed indicated speed limits and obey all traffic laws. Check blind spots before changing lanes. Indicate prior to all turns. Do you agree that you are familiar with all traffic laws?”
“Yes, yes,” Gary replied impatiently.
“Have you acquired all appropriate and legally required insurance for manual operation of a motorized vehicle, and is said insurance currently active?”
“Yes!”
“Do you agree that you understand the considerable risks inherent in the manual operation of a motorized vehicle and you release BMW and its suppliers and/or affiliates of any and all liability?”
“Yes.”
“Please state, 'I release BMW and its affiliates from any liability' for recorded statement.”
Gary repeated the phrase, then there was a flash in his face as if something had taken his picture.
The voice said, “Do you agree that user input as well as vehicle movement, location, and other data will be cataloged by the vehicle's recorder and is subject to analysis by law enforcement and may ultimately be exploited for your criminal prosecution and conviction in the event of unlawful behavior or accident?”
“Yes,” Gary said.
There was a pause. Then, “Manual drive activated. Drive safely.”
“Thanks, mother,” Gary said under his breath. As he backed the car out of the parking spot, his monkey sitting behind him asked, “Where are we going?”
“To meet your mother,” he replied, and wondered what her reaction would be. He desperately hoped it would be positive.
Paradeisia
Giant jaws that could easily chop a man in half blew out of the water, the top row of brilliantly white, triangular teeth perfectly set in the pink gums. The bottom rows of teeth were jagged and irregular—shaped like giant meat hooks angled back in toward the gut.
With a loud chomp, the shark clamped its mouth over the huge chunk of meat that dangled over the aquarium before slamming into the water with an immense splash.
A single, enthusiastic round of applause came from one seat in the aquatheater. From where he stood, eye level with the side of the five-foot tall glass tank, Henry turned around to look at the source of the clapping.
Lady Shrewsbury, the only one sitting there, exclaimed, “Thrilling in the extreme!”
“I wouldn't have supposed you to be fond of man-eating sharks,” Henry said.
“I am fond of anything man-eating,” she replied dryly.
Henry grunted, then turned to an awkward-looking youth who was standing nearby, the only other person in the theater. “Wouldn't it generate more excitement if you tossed something living into the tank? An old woman, perhaps?”
“How dare you, Henry.”
The boy cleared his throat, looking at each of them warily. He recited, “This is a bull shark. Common in the Caribbean, they are well-known as the most aggressive shark species, though they are not quite the largest.”
“Indeed? I should have thought the great white more aggressive,” Lady Shrewsbury said.
Gaining confidence, the kid said, “Actually, the great white is fifth on the list. I'd put Tiger sharks, also common in the Caribbean, black tips, and hammerheads much higher on that list: movies gave the great white a reputation it did not deserve. Even though it isn't the most aggressive, it is the largest meat-eater. Great whites average about fifteen feet in length. Of course, that length is nothing as compared with the giant megalodon shark of prehistory. It was essentially a seventy foot great white, though considered to be much more aggressive since it preyed on the—”
Henry interrupted, “Isn't this supposed to be a thrilling attraction?” He shook his head, “You're boring me to death, man.”
The boy slowly replied, “I'm sorry.”
“Show us the exciting parts. After the shark jumps out for the meat, what happens next?”
“Well, that's the highlight, I guess. We explain the science, the shark jumps out, and that's pretty much it.”
“Is it?” Henry said. “Little tip: next time throw yourself into the tank and spare your audience the factual dribble.”
The boy responded with a confused expression, “Uh ....”
“Go ask the show manager to come down here so I can speak with him.”
The boy strode away, his head hung low.
Henry looked into the tank. A sign on the concrete read:
NO! FEEDING FLASH PHOTOGRAPHY YELLING
The shark passed by the glass right in front of him over and over again as it swiftly circled the tank. It was gray with a white underside, had a large mouth with the teeth exposed, and small e
yes, which didn't even seem to notice him.
Henry continued staring into the glass as he said to Lady Shrewsbury, “You do realize that Ocean South was developed and totally vested by IntraWorld Capital Corporation. That means you should be especially concerned that this attraction be capable of generating income.”
The shark's fin broke the surface of the water as it swam, and at the same moment Henry felt a touch on his shoulder, causing him to flinch.
“Frightened?” Lady Shrewsbury asked coyly.
“I don't like people to touch me,” Henry said.
“I’m very much aware of the fact,” Lady Shrewsbury said as she turned to peer into the tank ruefully. She slowly exhaled and said pleasantly, “Have you ever considered a little tact?”
“Whatever do you mean?”
She looked at him benignly, “It can be advantageous to sweeten one’s speech.”
“I'm still not following you.”
She replied dead-pan, her face sagging, “With the boy. You practically ripped his heart out.”
“Did I say anything untrue?”
“It doesn't hurt,” she said, “to soften a blow.”
“Look, you have your way of doing things and I have mine. I don't see your reason for an intervention, and if you don't mind I would be obliged if you'd, well, bugger off.”
She pulled her head back, blinking. “Why all the menace? What have we all done to you that you feel you should bludgeon us with every word?”
“Don't pretend you're really offended by it. You certainly aren't one to shy away from a verbal fistfight.”
“True enough. But there are others ...” She licked her lips, “Aubrey, for example.“
Henry began shaking his head, but that didn't stop her.
“Aubrey would respond very well to a little flattery.”
“And what does that have to do with me?”
“You must understand, Henry, that you are afraid of pain. Rather than suffer it yourself, you inflict it upon others. You didn't want to tell the boy he was not an asset to the show, so you did so in the worst possible way. You don’t want to tell Ignatius the truth of his folly, so you humiliate him. You're afraid of wanting Aubrey, so you pretend to hate her. Why won't you try a little kindness with her—or anyone else, for that matter?”