by Wesley Cross
CHAPTER 33
Jason watched Engel’s face as the board members raised their hands. The billionaire’s smile was easy and relaxed. A smile of a man who always got what he wanted.
Not this time. In the middle of the neat row of outstretched arms, like a missing tooth in a big smile, was a gap.
“Steven, Steven, Steven,” said Alex, his smile turning venomous. “Are you with us or daydreaming?”
“He’s with us, alright,” said Jason, standing, “but he can’t vote. As a matter of fact, none of you can.”
“Please enlighten us, Jason.”
“Article 137.2 of the corporate by-laws,” said Jason, looking Engel in the eye, “shareholders in control of more than 55% of the company have the right to dismiss the board of directors without notice. Between my 54 and Mr. Poznyak’s 1.2% I believe we just made the cut. As a courtesy I did send you all a notice. You’ll find it in your offices when you get back.”
“Well, maybe you are your father’s son,” said Alexander, “I’ll enjoy putting you in jail so much more now.”
Jason watched him turn on his heels and leave the room without another word. The rest of the former board members followed, casting angry looks at him.
“I’m going to need my diapers changed,” said Poznyak after only two of them were left in the room, “and rent a bed in a place that takes cash and doesn’t ask questions.”
“Thank you, Steven,” said Jason seriously, “for everything. I owe you.”
“Sure thing. Just buy me a nice tombstone when the time comes,” said Steven, stifling a nervous laughter, “in all seriousness, it was satisfying to wipe the smile off that smug face.”
“Well,” said Jason, “can I see the three lower floors now?”
Leibowitz met them by the elevator and handed Jason a small magnetic card.
“Temporary access card,” he explained. “We’ll upload your biometrics into the system later today.”
Floor #18 was different than the others. Instead of opening into the big hangar-like floor, the elevator doors led them into a small room with a huge loud fan pushing brutally cold air. The doors leading to the main room were frosted over.
“You might want to put these on,” said Daniel, pointing to the row of fur parkas and matching mittens hanging on a wall. Jason looked at Steven and put his parka on.
Leibowitz leaned into the retina scanner, and the massive doors slowly opened, revealing a dark hangar inside. The air coming out of the room was so cold it almost hurt to breathe.
After a few moments when his eyes had a chance to adjust to the dim light, Jason stepped over the threshold, keeping one mitten-clad hand over his mouth to protect the skin. Neat rows of differently sized chrome-colored tanks stretched into what seemed an endless surreal field.
As they walked through the lab, their shoes making a crunching noise on the frost-covered floor, Jason felt as if in a dream. Some small windows on polished sides of containers revealed familiar animalistic shapes of frogs, mice, dogs, and chimps. Others offered a glimpse of forms so alien and bizarre, it was clear they weren’t birthed by Mother Nature.
“Hibernation research, as I’m sure you’ve guessed,” said Leibowitz, “one of the most advanced projects we’ve been working on. If we can figure out how to suspend life indefinitely, we might be able to prolong it forever. Or so we hope.”
“I think I’ve seen enough,” said Jason, his voice muffled by the mitten. “I hope the other two floors are not as cold as this.”
“The other two are much more fun,” said Poznyak, shivering in his parka.
They went back to the foyer room of the floor. The cold room felt as a hot sauna compared to the lab. Jason rubbed his numb hands trying to get the blood flowing again.
“What’s on the next floor?” he asked, taking his parka off.
“A shooting range,” said Leibowitz, smiling.
Like everything else in Asclepius Inc., the shooting range came with a twist. Jason looked in wonder at something that looked like a crazy mix of a machine gun and a crutch. Wires were hanging from the device, but as much as he looked, he couldn’t see anything even remotely resembling a trigger.
“How the hell does this work?” he finally asked.
“This is called a wet-wired weapon,” explained Steven, picking up the gun.
“What does it mean?”
“You put it on your arm.” Steven pushed his arm through the semi-circular openings and secured them, clicking the links in place. “Then these wires are surgically connected to your muscular system.
“Holy crap,” said Jason. “You cut the guy open and wire those things to his body?”
“Yes,” said Leibowitz, “and once the connection is established and you’re properly trained to use it, you will fire this weapon by simply thinking.”
“What do you mean by thinking?”
“Just like when you fire a regular gun. You don’t actually consciously say I’m going to pull the trigger now. You simply do. This works exactly the same. The gun becomes an extension of your body.”
“Wow.” Jason looked at the gun in amazement, “It sounds like science fiction.”
“It’s no longer fiction,” said Leibowitz, helping Steven take the gun off. “There were projects even at the end of last century that tried to figure out how to create that bridge between our bodies and machines. They were much more crude, of course, but in the nineties there were already some successful experiments where a paralyzed man would draw geometric shapes with a computer by thinking, through electrodes wired to his brain.”
“Such a pity,” said Jason, “that the first thing we make with this remarkable technology is a gun. Still, it’s amazing.”
“Well,” said Steven, unlocking the links and putting the gun back onto the shelf, “if you find this amazing, you are surely going to like the floor number twenty.”
The twentieth floor could pass for a car factory assembly line. At least until Jason noticed exoskeletons in various stages of completion propped on workbenches throughout the floor.
“This floor’s unofficial name is the cyborg unit,” said Leibowitz, smiling. “This is where the real magic happens. Let me show you.”
They went down the long row of benches until they came to a small circular desk. On top of it sat what looked like a gleaming motorcycle helmet. Poznyak picked it up and fumbled with something on the inside for a few seconds.
“You might want to put it on,” he said, smiling. “Just try not to make any sudden moves.”
Jason picked it up. It looked nothing like a motorcycle helmet on the inside. What he saw was a crazy landscape of microchips, a pair of soft goggles, and something that looked like a row of sharp needles.
“That looks like it’ll chew my head off the moment I stick it in,” he said nervously.
“It might,” said Daniel with a straight face, but then he broke into a smile. “It’s a bit weird for the first time, but there’s nothing to worry about it.”
“Alright,” said Jason.
He pulled the helmet onto his head and Steve locked it in place. For a moment he was completely blind and deaf, then the soft inside of the goggles attached itself to his face. He felt a bit of suction as the goggles pressed themselves onto him. Something wet slipped into his ears, making him cringe, and he felt sharp prickles running down from the top of his head to the base of his spine. Leibowitz was right. It was weird. It didn’t feel mechanical; it felt as if some alien animal was slowly absorbing his head.
Suddenly there was light and the sound, and Jason was instantly disoriented and dizzy. He tried to blink and looked left and right to understand why. The goggles prevented him from blinking, and the movement made the dizziness even worse.
“I told you not to move,” said Steven. “Just stay still. Get used to it first.”
Jason did as he was told, trying to process the view, then it dawned on him. There were no blind spots in his line of vision. He was looking in every direction simultan
eously. What’s more, the view was enhanced. He could see the heat radiated by Steven and Daniel; he saw the power running through the cables on the floor, and when he focused on Steven’s face, it zoomed in, opening slices of different images and sounds.
It was like looking at the CAT scan, x-ray, normal, and infrared picture while listening to the flow of blood through the person’s veins, the beating of his heart, and breathing. All at the same time. It was overwhelming.
“Trippy, isn’t it?” said Steven, patting him on a shoulder. “You get used to it after a while, though.”
“It is crazy,” said Jason trying not to make any sudden moves.
“Let me show you something even crazier,” said Daniel. “I want you to stand on your hands.”
“What do you mean?”
“I mean exactly what I said,” said Leibowitz, chuckling. “Put the palms of your hands on the floor and lift your legs and torso into the air.”
“I can’t do that.” Jason wasn’t sure if they were making fun of him or being serious. “I couldn’t do it even when I was a kid.”
“Try,” said Steven. “Just try to visualize it in your head first. You might surprise yourself.”
“Well, if you don’t mind me falling and breaking your multimillion dollar toys,” said Jason, “I’ll give it a shot.”
He bent over, placing the palms of his hands on the cold polished floor, trying to imagine how he could find the center of gravity to at least attempt the stand.
The full panoramic view moved and flipped onto its head. He could see his torso and legs stretching toward the ceiling.
“Try to stand on one hand now,” encouraged Steven.
Jason picked one of his palms off the floor. It was the strangest feeling he’d ever had. He could feel his muscles straining, trying to keep his body in balance, yet he also felt detached, like in a video game, where he could make his avatar perform tasks he could never do in real life.
“How’s that feel?” said Leibowitz. “Is it mind-blowing or what?”
“Holy shit,” said Jason, standing on one hand in the middle of the white marble floor, his body in a graceful pose of an upside-down praying mantis. “I know Kung-Fu.”
CHAPTER 34
”You’ve got a few scratches this time,” said the gray-haired woman with a ponytail, “but nothing we can’t fix.”
He watched her eyes as she spoke. By now, he was getting good at reading people’s faces. Not that he saw a lot of people. She was the only one who wasn’t afraid of him. He knew he was different than the rest. After all, he saw himself in the mirror, but he also knew he wasn’t that different. He was taller, stronger, and faster than any human he’d met, and he knew he was built, but was it enough for them to be afraid of him?
“You’re doing it again,” the woman said patting him on the right knee. “I need you to stay still.”
He looked at her, not sure what was she referring to.
“You’re tapping your foot,” she said.
Now that she said that he could suddenly hear the clanking noise as his right boot continued to tap on the hard floor, then it stopped.
“Much better,” she said.
She continued to work on him for the next two hours. At some point two men came in and helped her replace a few armor plates on his chest, shoulders, and arms. They were quick and efficient, moving around with purpose as they disconnected the damaged parts and attached the new ones. He watched their eyes as they worked. They were scared of him.
When the parts were installed he was transferred to the table, his arms and legs secured with massive titanium locks.
The phone rang, interrupting the woman’s routine, and she frowned when she saw the number on the screen.
“Hello?” she said, answering the call. “I’m about to start the procedure. Can I call you back?”
“I’m afraid it can’t wait,” said the voice on the phone.
He could hear the conversation from the table as clearly as if it were playing in his head. The man spoke differently than the people he knew. The cadence of his speech, the way he said things.
“What are his levels?” asked the man.
“About 45%,” she said, looking at the screens.
“It’ll have to do,” he said. “I’m sending you the mission package. Please upload it immediately. Make sure his ammo is restocked. The truck will pick him up in ten minutes.”
“But if he drops below 20% we might get some permanent damage. At least give me thirty minutes.”
“No time,” the man said. “Get him ready. If anything happens, I’m sure you’ll be able to figure that out.”
The woman with gray hair hung up the phone and put it away. She looked down at him with an emotion Martin hadn’t seen before.
“I wish you didn’t have to do that. I’m sorry,” the woman said.
• • •
“Get me the Senator,” said Alex as he stormed through the doors of his office. “I have to talk to him right now.”
“Sir? There’s something you need to see first.” His assistant motioned to the massive doors leading to his private room.
“Susan, it’s going to have to wait,” he said, waving her off.
“I’m afraid it can’t wait,” she said, opening the door and holding it for him.
He went inside, and waited for her to close the doors.
“Our facility in White Plains has been hit,” she said when they were alone.
“What do you mean, hit? Something stolen?”
“Heavy weapons. Three casualties, structural damage to the building. Our servers were wiped clean.”
She picked up a remote control and turned on a giant TV on the wall. The footage of the siege of the warehouse started to play on the big screen.
“What the fuck is that thing?” he said, pointing at the shadowy figure as it leaned into the onslaught of the Vulcan gun.
“We don’t know, sir. The system stopped recording after the second sentry tower had been destroyed.”
“Anyone seen anything?”
“No sir,” she said. “There were only three guards. All dead.”
“When did it happen? Just now?” he asked looking at the grainy footage.
“No, last night,” she said, “We didn’t know anything until people started to arrive for work this morning. There were no police reports. The guards called for help, but someone re-routed their call.”
“Send the team in, secure the site, and get me the God damn senator on the phone,” he said, getting behind the desk. “For anyone else, I’m not here.”
“The team is already on the ground, sir,” she said, turning to leave. “I’ll make sure the senator calls you in the next fifteen minutes.”
After she left he watched the looped video for a few times, wincing every time the flash erupted from the shadowy figure bringing the sentry tower down. His experts would be able to tell what kind of weapons had been used. He had no doubt it was some kind of handheld rocket launcher.
His phone rang, disrupting his thoughts.
“Good morning, Alex,” said the senator, his well-tuned baritone filling the room. “I understand you lost control of a small company this morning. I’m sorry.”
“I’m under attack,” Alex snapped. “I don’t need words, I need action. The company was just the tip of the iceberg.”
“What do you mean?”
“One of my facilities was attacked last night. The place is in ruins, my guards were killed, and my servers were wiped out.”
“You’re kidding me.”
“This is a fucking war, Bill, and if we don’t strike back we might as well dig our own graves.”
“What do you propose?”
“Here’s what I need you to do,” Alex sat back and took a deep breath. “First, I need to take care of Jason Hunt. I need you to have him arrested for stock manipulation. Then—”
“Alex,” the Senator interrupted him, “you know just as well as I do it doesn’t work like that. Yo
u need to go through proper channels. I can call in some favors with the guys from the Securities and Exchange Commission and launch an investigation, but I can’t just have him arrested.”
“I don’t fucking care how you are going to do this, Bill. Get it done, and when he’s processed I don’t want him to be in some white-collar detention center with leather couches and large TVs. I want him with the general population, the scum of the earth, you understand me?”
“Fine,” the Senator said. “I’ll get it done.”
“Now,” said Alex, “we need to move the timetable for Stage Three. The time has come to move the pieces. The attack on my facility is just a beginning. We either start early or else we’ll lose it before we even begin.”
“When?”
“This Friday,” said Engel, “at midnight.”
“It’s impossible, Alex. And Alpha One would never—”
“Alpha One is playing for both teams,” said Engel coolly.
“I wasn’t sure about that in the beginning, but now I’m convinced this is what’s been happening. What I think he wants to happen is that we get ourselves bloody, then he’ll swoop in and take it all.”
“You’re scaring me, Alex,” said the senator in a quiet voice.
“It’s not the time to be scared, Bill. But if we don’t make the move now, this time next year we’re all going to be either in jail or dead.”
CHAPTER 35
Mike was fast asleep when the phone rang. Chuck’s cell phone number was displayed on the little screen.
“Any good news?” he asked.
“As a matter of fact, yes,” said Chuck. “I spoke to my buddy from the Bureau, and he believed your story. They’re alerting the President as we speak and will reach out to ISCD.”
“Alright, this is good news.”
“But they want to move us to a different location. He wants a team guarding us 24/7.”
“I can’t say I love the idea,” said Mike, “but it was to be expected. What do you need me to do?”
“Sit tight for now and wait for his team. They should be there in less than twenty minutes.”