"Isn't he going to die in a few days anyway?"
And then there's that. "He is. He has to power W.A.N.D. Blice decided to go ahead and activate it."
"Then I guess it doesn't really matter then, does it? Let him think the baby is his so he can die happy. Then you do what you want with it." Alexi says.
"I don't know if I'd be able to live with myself if I never apologized. It's been eating away at me and I can't sleep. It's so unlike me to do that. I don't know what came over me, but that night . . . I was drinking again. I had given it up, but I had some tequila and I fell asleep in her bed. When she came into the room, she took off her clothes and then her hands were all over me and from there, there wasn't anything I could do. I woke up the next morning with her in my arms, both of us naked. We stared in horror at each other when we realized what had happened. Then Isidore called for Clara and she hurried to get dressed so she could go be with her husband. Later that day, Isidore and I played cards and he told me how good of a friend I was for sleeping in Clara's room and keeping an eye on her. He thought I had been protecting her."
Alexi laughs. "One night can ruin a lot."
But that's the part that Byron feels even worse about. "It . . . wasn't just one night. It's been every single night that she hasn't been with Isidore. I love Clara."
"Oh God. But now she's your brother's wife, right?"
"Yeah."
"Damn. You have to get over her, Byron." Alexi says.
"I don't think I can. Now she's going to be the mother of my baby and I want to marry her."
"I don't know what I can say to help you. You're in deep."
"Too deep." Byron says. "I'm starting to drown."
"Just try to move on and forget about it."
"She reminds me of Leena. That's why I'm so attracted to her."
"I understand." Alexi says. "But you have to realize that she's not Leena. Leena is gone and she's never coming back. No one will be able to take her place."
"Can I tell you something? You have to swear not to tell Blice."
"I'm no friend of Blice's."
Byron has to get this off his chest. "I was with Clara last night after their wedding."
"Stealing away a bride on her wedding night? I always thought you were a better man than that, Erikson."
"Me too. I hate myself."
* * *
"Brother, get up. It's time to start the experiments!" Zach says as he shakes Xavier.
Xavier groans as he looks up from the sofa where he fell asleep with Katarina bundled up against his chest. "Go away."
"Give me the baby."
"Not yet. She's sleeping."
"Who cares? She doesn't need to sleep when she will be dying soon."
Xavier holds her tightly and hides her from his brother. "I'll bring her to you in a bit, okay?"
"Fine." Zach turns to the door then jumps up and down. "Daddy's back. Oh, and he's brought visitors."
"Visitors?" Xavier sits up and looks into the hallway as Damien removes his protective gear. Two other people in full radiation suits are handcuffed. What is going on? "Dad? What's going on? Who are they?"
Damien unlocks the handcuffs and gives orders to the two people. "Remove your gear then place your hands on the wall. If you move, I electrocute you both. Do it quickly."
As the two people step out of their protective gear, Xavier feels sick. He knows them both. What are they doing here? They undoubtedly came for Katarina.
"Don't say a word, Isidore. We know how to make androids be silent here." Damien says as he pushes him up against the wall and handcuffs him again. "Zach, be a good boy and handcuff Ms. Lifestone."
"It's McSage, now." Clara says as the handcuffs are secured around her wrists.
"Oh really? Interesting." Damien says. "Welcome to the family."
"Go to hell."
"That's no way to speak to your father-in-law." Damien turns to Zach. "Have 45 take these two into the other room to wait for us while we finish the preparations."
"Can I use the cattle prod?"
"Of course."
"Xavier, stay here with these two. I have some things to tend to first." Damien says as he pushes Clara and Isidore into the lounge before leaving the room.
Clara's eyes fill with tears. "Xavier, don't be like your brother. Please. I know you care. Don't let him kill us."
"You had your chance, Clara."
"Where's my daughter?" Isidore asks.
Xavier holds up the sleeping little bundle. "She's right here."
"What did you do to her?"
"Nothing. She's asleep. She sleeps a lot. You shouldn't talk in here. My father will cut out your tongue like he did to the other androids."
Clara doesn't look amused. "You're joking."
"Nope. Now all they do is scream, especially when Zach uses the cattle prod. He likes it. I'll be nice, though. I'll give you some hints so you won't be in too much pain until you die. First, don't speak. Ever. Even if Damien says you can speak, just don't. You'll get hit for not responding, but if you speak, you lose your tongue, so . . . it's up to you. Second, never scream when you're being punished. He hates that. He says that androids should learn to take pain in silence. Clara, you're not an android, so I don't know if that applies to you. Third, don't expect food or water. Um, that's about it, I think. Oh, and you are both going to die in here. You're not supposed to know that, but I'm a little mad at my father right now. Any questions?"
Clara opens her mouth to speak, but Isidore elbows her in the side and shakes his head.
Xavier smiles. "See? Isidore knows how to be submissive. He's been trained and conditioned for years to follow orders. It's quite the feat, actually. If he wasn't so stubborn sometimes, he would be very valuable as a slave. Just follow what he does and you'll learn in time. You'll be in here for a while. Damien likes to torture people before they die. It should take you a while."
A woman in a long black plain dress steps into the hallway and bows.
"Watch these two while I take the baby to my brother. They are not to leave, of course. Can you do that, 45?"
She remains silent as Xavier leaves the room.
* * *
"There he is." Byron says to Alexi as Clark steps forward and begins to get the crowd of protesters ready to fight. "Here's how I'm going to do this. You and the Rubble Rebels need to surround the area and keep Clark from running off. I will make my way through the mob until I am within arm's length to him. If everything goes well, I will be able to take one shot and drop him. I don't want to drag this out. I want it to be quick and precise. At that point, the crowd should dissipate."
"And if the assassination of their leader makes them want to fight more?"
"Well, then we unleash hell."
Alexi grabs Byron's arm and they stop in the street. "Are you okay? You're limping."
Damn it. He knew it was hurting, but not this much. "I'm fine. It's nothing."
"Is it your leg?"
"I said forget about it."
"It shouldn't be hurting you." Alexi says.
Yeah? Well it turns out that dark matter is spreading in his bloodstream and it shouldn't. "Let's just get this going. We don't have much time."
"You should have a medic check that out."
"Damn it, Alexi. Stop. I'm fine."
"I know you well enough to know when you're lying." Alexi says. "When Blice did that, I knew you had it bad. Do you think it's psychological?"
"No."
"What about-"
"Shut up and get moving." Byron moves through the crowd, trying to avoid eye contact with anyone, until he is at the front and he reaches into his bag on his back. He grabs his shotgun and quickly fires. Nothing. He swore he loaded this before leaving the palace. Pushing his way back through the mob, he checks it. Empty. What is going on?
Clark calls after him. "Something wrong with your gun, Byron Erikson?"
Well, this isn't at all how this was supposed to go. Byron freezes.
"Kill h
im."
Nope. He's not staying here. Byron runs down the twisting side streets until he finds a back door of a warehouse slightly open. As the roar of the crowd grows louder and the sound of gunfire fills the air, Byron sneaks inside and takes refuge inside an empty crate. It takes nearly all his strength to pull the top of the crate over him, but once it is in place, he lies down as best as he can in the cramped space and takes a deep breath.
Something explodes outside, making the building shake as more people scream. Byron wipes the sweat from his face on his shirt. They'll kill him if he leaves this place. He's not the fighter he used to be. Back before losing his leg, he could take that entire crowd on his own easily. It's not really even because he lost his leg. He feels that now he's not capable to do it. Maybe Alexi was partially right. The psychological aspect is that he is being held back by doubt and the fear of being injured again. Is he a coward? What happened to the Byron who would rob a military fuel station then set it on fire for the hell of it? Or the Byron who would risk his life to steal food from slavers out in the wasteland so his younger half siblings wouldn't starve to death? Most of all, where is the Byron who would never sleep with his best friend's woman?
That's the one that hurts the most. If Isidore ever finds out, he's sure one of them won't be alive for long. Isidore will either kill Byron or himself. When he thinks about Isidore dying, he remembers W.A.N.D. There has to be a way to stop that from happening. Byron is the first to admit that he doesn't understand much about it or the alpha code or T.I.M.E.s or androids, but Isidore having to sacrifice himself for it? That just doesn't seem right.
Then he thinks about Blice, but his thoughts of Blice suddenly take a dark turn. Blice has been taking Byron's blood once a week. If the dark matter is in his blood, then Blice has been infected as well. They could both be dying and one of them doesn't even know. Byron slips his cell phone from his pocket and dials Blice's number.
Blice answers. "Byron? Where are you? The entire city is hunting for you."
"Blice . . . tell me you haven't been drinking my blood."
"That's why I took it. What's wrong?"
"Have your hands been shaking lately?" Byron asks.
"Byron, my hands always shake. You know the drugs I take."
"Can your dark matter hurt you?"
"Yes. I have to be very careful with it. Why?"
"My blood is infected with dark matter."
"What does that mean?" Blice asks.
You're dying, Blice."
22
Zach sticks a thumbtack through one of Yuri's wings and pins him to the table. As the tiny butterfly attempts to fly away, his other wing flutters furiously and he lets out a high pitched sound that Isidore can only call a scream.
Isidore can't watch this. "No! Stop that. You're hurting him."
"Shut up, 42. It's a robot."
"Please. Have a heart."
Zach giggles as he tears Yuri's free wing in half. "Says the android with a mechanical one. Nice."
Isidore could destroy this entire place with the new programs Kazimir installed, but he has to stay here until he has his daughter. The longer they stay in this cell, being forced to watch this demented kid rip apart his dear friend, the faster their chances of escaping fade. Even if he wanted to, Isidore isn't completely sure he could activate those programs again. Kazimir isn't here to say the activation words. Not only that, but there's something different about these handcuffs. He can't place it, but he can feel it. As the hours pass by, Isidore's strength wanes, almost as if they are draining his energy from him. He holds up his arms to look at them. They appear normal enough. They did hurt a little when they were first put on. Oh. That explains it. Just like his watch Blice gave him and his slave collar, they have connected to the veins and nerves in his wrists. So Damien is managing to weaken him with these. That must be why he can't open any files in his mind.
Zach stands in front of Isidore and shakes his head. "We told you not to speak, 42."
Isidore wants to punch this kid in the face, but he knows that if he tries anything, Damien will use his slave collar to shock him. He knows. It already happened once. That's not an experience he wants to live through again so he kneels down at Zach's feet.
Zach's sticky hands pet Isidore's hair. "There's a good android. Good boy."
Yep. If Isidore had one wish, it would be to hit Zach right in the nose. He fights back the growing temptation to shout at him, but he stays on his knees and lets the young boy pet him like a dog.
"If you're a good boy, I'll give you some water. Are you thirsty?"
Yes, he's thirsty. It's been nearly twenty hours without anything to drink. He looks over at Clara who is asleep on the hard tile in the corner of the room. How can she sleep in a place like this? Well, at least she's not suffering in her sleep like she was earlier. He sees the collar around her neck as well. This shows that not only androids can be slaves.
"Drink this." Zach slides a bowl of water across the floor with his foot. When Isidore manages to pick it up, Zach knocks it out of his hands and it spills over the floor. "I didn't say you could use your hands."
Isidore glares at him, but the slap across his face snaps him out of his rage. He closes his eyes and bows his head. "Forgive me."
"Say one more word and you'll never speak again." Zach says as he goes to the door. "I'll be back in a bit. We're starting the experiments on your daughter. Isn't that exciting? Now be good and lick that water up off the floor. That's all you're getting until tomorrow night. Bye bye!"
All night long, Yuri's normally harmonic music is instead slowing and growing sadder. Once an hour, Zach returns with a pair of tweezers and pulls one of Yuri's legs until it breaks free and the butterfly collapses to the table as it grows weaker.
After Zach leaves the room, Isidore does what he can to repair Yuri, but it's never enough. As he holds onto his dying robot friend, he swears that he will find a way to get out of here and take him to Kazimir. Surely Kazimir will be able to fix him. When Yuri's labored movements slow and eventually stop in the palm of his hand, Isidore gently lays him down on the table. It's still worth a try. He could be turned back on. At least now, Yuri won't be in agony.
Just as Isidore is able to compose himself, he hears the one thing worse than Yuri's struggling. Katarina is screaming and crying. He can't take this anymore. He leans against the wall and slides down beside Clara who is awake now.
"She's hurting." Clara says.
"I know. I know." Isidore leans close to her and holds onto her hand the best he can with the handcuffs around his wrists. "Tell me what I can do and I'll do it."
"I'm scared."
"Shh. I won't let them hurt you or your baby and I will save our daughter. I swear it."
When Zach giggles loudly in sadistic glee and Katarina cries louder, Clara hides her face in Isidore's shirt. "I can't listen to it anymore. They're killing her, Isidore."
"Close your eyes and I'll sing to you so you won't hear it anymore." As Isidore sings a hymn for her, the tears sting in his eyes and he focuses on the dark emptiness around them.
* * *
Blice sticks the needle in his arm and fills the syringe with his blood. That should be enough. He picks up a microscope slide and places a drop of blood on it and places under the lens. The more he observes it, the more he becomes both concerned and intrigued. He has to know if this is real. He pulls out a pocket knife and a pair of lead-tipped tweezers and goes to the wall where the dark matter is still glowing behind a picture frame. He takes down the painting and slice off a small part of the plaster then places it on a slide and replaces the painting on the wall. Blice looks at the new slide and shakes his head. He steps into the hallway and calls out for Kazimir. "Kazimir, take a look at this."
"What is it?" Kazimir asks as he steps into the office.
Blice replaces the slide with his blood and steps aside to let Kazimir take a look. "Look at this for me."
"What is this?"
"A blood sa
mple. What do you see in there that shouldn't be there?"
"Nanobots." Kazimir says. "Looks just like my blood. Whose is it?"
"Mine."
"Well, damn. Welcome to the slowly dying club."
Blice secures the second slide under the microscope. "Now tell me what you see in this one."
"What is this one?"
"Plaster from the wall." Blice says. "What do you see in there?"
"More nanobots."
"That's what I thought."
"Why are there nanobots on your wall?" Kazimir asks.
Blice takes down the painting again to reveal where the dark matter is eating away at the wall. "This is where I got the plaster sample from. Draw your own conclusions."
"Dear God. This can't be right."
"Why not? No one has studied dark matter much."
Kazimir switches out the slides again and studies Blice's blood more. "But . . . the concentration of nanobots that would be needed to do something like that is astronomical. Besides, you would have to be part computer in order to control it and harbor them in your body without them hurting you."
"Who says I'm not? If my father was able to change into another person, then there's no telling what he did to me when I was little. He used to experiment on me and I'd be out of it for days. There was one time I had a bad gash on my head that was stapled together." As Blice says it, he suddenly understands everything. It wasn't an accident like his father had always told him. "Kazimir, is there a way to see if I'm a T.I.M.E.?"
"Not right now. Shouldn't you be worried about your brother?" Kazimir asks.
"He's Byron. I'm sure he'll be fine."
"Is this what you've been doing this entire time while everyone else is fighting?"
"Is that a problem for you?" Blice asks.
"A bit, yes. While I approve of scientific research, I think you should be with Byron."
"He's fine. He's hiding until this blows over. I'm sure Clark isn't going to keep this up for long. He's not smart enough to actually use the weapons the Inquisition has."
A loud explosion rocks the building and Blice drops to the floor as the paintings fall from the walls. He hides his face from the shattered glass as the window shatters, scattering shards of glass on the floor.
Paradise of Lead Trilogy Page 71