by Jeremy Flagg
Do it. Take all that power for yourself.
Jacob ignored the voice creeping into his thoughts. It was only a matter of time before he turned his attention on her. But in the meantime, he needed to do away with other loose ends.
“There is another mentalist. There is an entire team of Children who have no love for you.”
“The ones from the Facility?”
“Yes,” he said. “And I think they have a grudge against anybody involved in the Facility.”
“The Warden is dead.”
“You think he didn’t give you away? I’m sure he told them who placed him into the position. I would be surprised if they were aware of the Society. The man was a wretched human being.”
She rubbed her forehead, the loose skin moving back and forth. She was annoyed. Seconds passed as she considered what this could mean for her. If there was one thing he could rely on, it was her desire for self-preservation. She would go out of her way to survive. At seventy-five years of age, she had every intention of making it well past one hundred.
“Do you know any of the people on their roster?”
“One. It seems all facial recognition has been wiped. For all intents and purposes, they never existed. Somebody they’re in league with is extremely savvy with computers. The only person we know by reputation is Jasmine Gentile, the former Paladin.”
“Gentile,” she said with disgust. “I’ve met her before. She’s the lapdog for the General. He’d parade her about whenever he wanted to show his absolute control.”
“Well, she’s rogue now. She’s the only way they would know how to disable the computers at the Facility, stop the alarms, and prevent a call for help. I can assume the only person higher on her hit list is the General himself.”
“So what did today achieve?”
“We had a lead that Troy was a community of Children. When we sent in the synthetics, they wiped the town clean. Death toll 42. We suspect only a few managed to evade our efforts.”
“Why them?”
He smiled. “Who do you think has been locating these Children and sheltering them? Our teleporter and rogue Paladin. They’ve been rescuing Children and we wanted to make sure the backbone of their army was annihilated.”
She didn’t argue with his logic. He wondered if she was even aware he repositioned the synthetics to take the town. With her keeping a war off her front doorstep, he doubted she missed a few dozen synthetics. As she furrowed her brow, the wrinkles turned to dark lines, making her look even older.
“And what of the multi-billion-dollar, very public, very loud attack on Boston?”
It was his turn to frown. He didn’t like to admit it. He had taken nearly four billion dollars of machinery into the Danger Zone. Only minutes into making a visual, the group of Children destroyed half the fleet. The synthetics had been decimated within minutes. He underestimated the abilities of each Child and what they were capable of when working in tandem. Now he understood why they remained a group.
Her laugh was haughty, filled with arrogance. “They escaped? Even after you threw everything you had.”
His teeth ground at the sound of her cackle while his ribcage seemed to tighten against his heart. He wondered if his newfound abilities could work from this distance. He could reach out and with a stray thought, her hands would grip her own head and spin her neck. A long sigh escaped his mouth as the tension in his body vanished. Vindictiveness decided for him; he’d rather savor the look on her face when he tore her down as the president and stood atop her crumbled empire.
“No, we didn’t walk away emptyhanded.”
On cue, Lily entered the conference room. Her white gown matched his suit. She wiggled her fingers and the screens on the table rearranged themselves. With a couple swipes, the president was shown the back of an armored car. A medical team raced to save their patient. An uncanny amount of blood pooled where his legs should have been. His eyes were fixed on the ceiling, blinking in regular intervals, oblivious to the severed limbs.
“Who is this?”
“It’s one of the Children from Boston.”
“His powers?”
“We won’t know until we get him to Genesis Division.”
The emptiness in the woman’s emotions surprised even him. When she resolved to think deeply about an issue, not a whisper transmitted from her mind. He wondered if she had a way to dodge mentalists, or if some technology prevented him from hearing her. His mentor had been clear there were ways for humans to avoid his abilities, but they were few and far between.
“We will also be increasing our production of synthetics. Both the New York plant and the Jersey plant will be maxing their output. We will have more than enough units to replace everything I borrowed.”
The raised eyebrow gave away her surprise. When it returned, her eyes shrunk to slits. It was only a moment before her faculties returned and she realized there were no favors between them.
“My position is better secured with you in power than the General. For now, you still serve a purpose.”
“For now,” she echoed.
Lily waved her arm and all of the screens vanished. She lifted herself onto the table, folding one leg over the other. She eyed Jacob, studying him, her eyes going up and down his body.
“Yes?”
“Something has changed. Your arrogance has...” She paused as she pondered her options. “Become confidence.”
“Arrogance?”
“You’re anything but a fool, Jacob. You know exactly what I mean. Before, you were a petulant child, constantly fighting for approval. Whatever has happened to you, there is no longer a man looking for validation. Your doubts have been removed.”
Jacob waited for the little voice in the back of his head to whisper something, but he could only discern a content sensation from the darkness in his mind. She was right; before, he wouldn’t have had the confidence in his abilities to make such a bold move in the face of the most powerful woman in the world. Now, he wondered if he’d be capable of fear again. Underneath his skin, in the depths of his mind, he could only describe the feeling as limitless.
“I have a purpose now.”
“The White House?”
He smiled. “Why stop there?”
The edge of her lip curled. She was the voice of reason, but underneath her logic was a sinister lust for power. Her origin story started with a young poor wretch begging on the streets; now, she would never stop wanting more. And if he was to aim higher, she’d be the first to support him, pushing him to the brink. She might be the voice of reason, but there was a propensity for chaos at the root of her being waiting to spin out of control like an addict with an endless supply.
“Get Dikeledi. We’re going to Genesis Division,” he said. “I want to interrogate the prisoner myself.”
“Do you think you can break the mind of a Child?”
It wouldn’t be the first, the voice in the back of his head whispered. The silky smooth seduction of power wrapped about his being. Once upon a time, Jacob might not have been able to tear away the protection awarded to a Child’s minds, but now, he felt excitement at testing his abilities against a more formidable foe.
“It’s not the first time I’ve done it,” he echoed.
***
The doors to the elevator hissed as they parted. The bright white of the lobby nearly blinded him as he stepped out. It had been just over a month since he last set foot in the building, preferring to let the board run their company. With the change in plans, he had a feeling the path to the White House began here.
A woman in a white lab coat with her hair pulled back in a tight bun gave a slight nod. “Mr. Griffin, we weren’t expecting you so quickly. The lab directors—”
“I’m here to see the Child of Nostradamus brought in earlier today.”
She nodded again. Her disappointment was easy enough to read on her face, but her thoughts gave away its severity. She had been sent to greet him, but more, a group of researchers hoped s
he’d have the ability to bring him into their lab. He commended them on attempting to divert his attention.
“You may speak while we walk.”
“You’re so gracious,” Lily said in a sly tone.
The scientist’s eyes lit up. She flipped through her papers and he listened as she tried to prioritize the work being done in research and development. They moved through the lobby and into a long corridor with glass rooms on either side. The bright white lights gave it a sanitary appearance, removing their shadows from the floor.
“We’ve started to push forward with an upgrade in the Body Shop. We’ve found there has been a problem with underground bodyhackers stealing our technology and reverse engineering it. To keep the elite coming back for more, we’ve started to infuse nanites into the technology, allowed for overall endurance upgrades as well as speed. There have been extreme developments in the area of male virility enhancements.”
“You prioritize telling me your achievements in making a man’s cock work?”
Her face turned red and she tore the sheet off her clipboard. She shoved it into her pocket. Ignoring her, he faced the other side of the hallway. Inside were several synthetics, their bodies slumped, a familiar sign they had yet to be activated. They weren’t much different to the naked eye, their frames slightly slimmer, and where they had blank faces before, now they had eyes.
“Tell me about them.”
“You and your machines,” Dikeledi said.
He eyed her. She had never been fond of the Genesis Division. Where she typically was a mystery to him, he could sense the unease radiating off her. He stepped closer, lording over her slender frame. She didn’t flinch at him invading her space; instead she reached out, her fingertips touching the side of his face.
For a moment he was aware of the feelings of all two-hundred-and-thirty-two people on the floor working. His heart jumped, racing as if he had finished running a marathon. The sensation overwhelmed him. He knew her powers were like his, always active and reading the room, but he was constantly amazed by just her strength. While Lily exploited her abilities for her own gains, Dikeledi’s motives were rarely understood. For a moment, he grasped the amount of control the woman had, warding off the emotional intrusions of so many humans.
She leaned forward, grabbing the back of his neck to bring his ear close to her mouth. She whispered as softly as possible. “I can hear you in there.”
“We know,” Jacob whispered back.
As she rocked back on her heels, the smile spreading across her lips wasn’t missed. She appeared just as delighted as him with his newfound abilities. He could smell the respect wafting off her. For the first time, she saw him as an equal. It was the first time he realized she’d seen him as weak. For the years they had known each other, she never let on.
“Tell me about the synthetics,” he said, turning away from Dikeledi.
“These are the newest models. They’re completely integrated artificial intelligence. We’re hoping sometime in the next year, we’ll be able to remove the human operators. We’re finding the symbiotic nature of pilot and synthetic has become cost prohibitive and our technology has started to reach a place where it can move faster than human reaction.”
“Interesting,” he said. He knew very well the machines would be the gateway to his ascension. The same machines that protected the president against the West Coast invasion would be her downfall. He was thrilled they were making progress. “Why next year?”
“It’s much more complex than standard artificial intelligence. On a plane, the craft knows if it flies into a mountain, everybody will die. These have to make millions of threat assessments, some of them beyond even our understanding.”
“Children.”
She nodded. “If we send them out, we need to make sure they have the ability to adapt to unique abilities we haven’t encountered yet. We wouldn’t want to send them out and have them killing humans.”
She paused. He could hear her thoughts come to a standstill. She feared she had just insulted him and his friends. She was the executive director of research and development, and member of the Society, sworn in to perpetuate the exploration of science and a brilliant scientist. Like everybody inducted into their secret organization, they knew about the four mentalists and their involvement in the organization. The sense of duty was strong in the scientist, and the undertones of fear were almost as obvious.
He did nothing to alleviate her fears.
“Take us to see the Child,” Lily said. She pushed past Jacob, giving the woman a slight nudge. Her fiery temper excited him, constantly allowing his lust to override his commonsense. For a moment he thought he could hear her thoughts, but as he pried further, he found himself butting up against her natural abilities to resist. The fact he lusted after something he couldn’t have was not lost on him either.
“Soon,” Dikeledi said as she followed.
The empath’s words excited him even more. He wondered how long it would be before he could force Lily into succumbing to his abilities. She already volunteered her body, but he looked forward to the moment he could take her mind and pull away the layers like one of her evening gowns.
They walked through several glass doors in research and development. The more scientists he saw working at lab tables and punching on computer screens, the more confident he became. Once they reached the metal blast doors, he was certain they could take the country by force if they must.
A card swipe, an eye scan, and a drop of blood opened the doors and the woman escorted them into a room with a single glass window overlooking an operating theater. Unlike the area by the elevator, there was little glass in the decor, replaced by thick steel. The strengthened structure warned him: this was where they worked with things far too dangerous for the rest of the world.
“He lost both of his legs,” she said.
“Did you sedate him?” asked Lily.
“No,” she said. “He’s been awake throughout his entire operation. We’ve been monitoring his brain activity and it seems he has the ability to shut off his pain receptors.”
Jacob wasn’t impressed. When one can hurl lightning and another can teleport through space, the ability to not feel pain seemed less than thrilling. “Is that all he can do?”
“The MRI of his brain throughout the surgery is showing more activity than we’ve ever seen in a human before.”
“You mean he uses his whole brain?”
She shook her head. “The idea that the humans only use ten percent of their processing power has been known as a myth for years. In fact, over the course of the day, you use nearly one hundred percent of your brain.”
“You learn something new every day,” Lily said as a woman in the operating room set the scalpel down in a metal tray.
“What is more captivating, we believe he has more neurons than any human on record. Typically the brain only holds about ten percent neurons while the rest of the mass are glial cells supporting its function. He, however, has more.” She stopped to see the glassed-over effect on Lily’s face.
“We are each computers. We are capable of incredible amounts of data processing, but if we had to write it out, it’d take forever. His brain can process, synthesize, and respond to that data in seconds. For all intents and purposes he’s a living computer.”
Jacob felt the sting of her dumbing down the science. She used words beyond his understanding as she thought about the situation. She flipped through papers on her clipboard and eyed the data, a smile appeared as she processed the information. Her jubilation was overwhelming and he almost sent her away to avoid the taste of her perky thoughts.
“Share, child,” Dikeledi said. Her hand snaked along the scientist’s shoulder. Jacob had no doubt the almost giddy expression on his companion’s face was a byproduct of the woman in the lab coat. He pitied the empath for having to constantly ride an emotional rollercoaster when in close proximity to people.
“I need to consult my team. This Child of Nostrada
mus might be the answer to our problems.”
Jacob didn’t care to listen to her babble. A doctor stepped from the operating room into the decontamination room. Jacob let his thoughts touch the surgeon removing her gloves. She was satisfied with the job and she was creeped out that the man was capable of enduring the pain without so much as a wince. Despite that, she was certain he’d survive the ordeal if he ever came out of his trance.
The surgeon came in and before she could speak, Jacob interrupted. “I need to talk with the patient.”
“He’ll be in recovery for the next few days. After that—”
“I meant now.” His voice echoed. She stepped out of the way of the door and held it open for him. He went past her and through the prep room into the operating theater. He was amazed with how much blood laced the white floor. He wondered if there would ever be a chance the Child could walk again or if he’d even be capable of a simple conversation.
“He’s there,” Dikeledi said. “I can sense his confidence. He knows we’re here. He has no fear. He hardly has any emotions. He’s either repressed or in control, I cannot tell.”
“I can,” Jacob said as he placed his hand on the man’s bloody thigh. He ignored the thick, wet sensation of the fluid and focused on his eyes staring at the ceiling. The Child and Jacob blinked in unison. Their eyes opened to an empty white room. Jacob’s formal suit transformed into a dark red, standing out against the nearly blinding emptiness of the infinite space around them.
“Who are you?”
“You don’t seem surprised to have your legs. Or that we’re standing on empty air.”
“Should I be?”
Of all the psyches he had delved into, this was the first where the owner didn’t seem shocked by the switch from one plane to another. The man wasn’t nearly as dark skinned as Dikeledi, but in the bright white room, he practically stood like a shadow. Even his scrubs maintained the blood stains, looking out of place on the pristine white.
The man grabbed onto the bloodied shirt and tore it away from his body. As the fabric vanished into thin air, he stood wearing a nearly identical suit as Jacob. The white room blinked out of existence. They were standing in the middle of decrepit street, the pavement cracked, grass forcing its way to the surface. Behind them a pyramid of steps led to the front door of a grand cathedral, its wooden doors seeming to stretch three stories high.