I gestured to the cabinets along the wall. “Take a vial of your blood and place it in the diagnostic machine in the table. Shaheen will set it up to test for the proteins.”
He frowned. “What are you looking for?”
“The infection,” I said. “Now do it.”
He sighed and gathered the necessary equipment. Within a minute he handed a vial of his blood to Shaheen. She inserted it into the device attached to the table.
I tightened my grip on the pistol as she performed the test.
“Step back a bit,” I ordered Higby.
He shook his head but complied. “The security team checked me yesterday. I assure you, I’m not infected.”
I glared at him. “You were alone with Riddel for thirty minutes. You told me you had removed his restraints. If the opportunity was present, he would have taken it.”
He seemed confused. “To do what, exactly?”
My brow creased. “To infect you, of course.” Did he really not understand?
A beep sounded and Shaheen studied the results.
“What does it say?” I asked. My hand on the pistol was sweaty. I couldn’t help but think about what had happened when we’d exposed Rickets in this manner...
I was ready to shoot multiple times to put him down.
“He’s clean.”
I arched my eyebrows. “Are you sure? You entered the correct proteins?”
She sighed. “I’m positive, Tanner. He’s not infected.”
I lowered the pistol slowly. I didn’t understand it. I had been so sure. After all, Riddel had infected somebody. The fact that the CCF had taken thirteen people from the hospital was proof. It just didn’t add up. “I guess an apology is in order,” I finally managed.
He looked confused and angry at the same time. “Why the hell would you aim a pistol at me? And why check me when you know I was just tested yesterday?”
“I only have your word for that.”
He frowned. “You don’t trust me?”
“Not if you’re infected, no.” I holstered the pistol and extended a hand. He didn’t take it. I grabbed Shaheen and pulled her away. “Thanks, Doctor,” I said over my shoulder. “I really appreciate your help regarding Jarvis Riddel.”
He fumed as Shaheen and I marched from the lab.
* * *
We left the hospital and descended the steps back to the main tunnel.
“Looks like it’s over,” I muttered. “The CCF must have received my message about the test. They’ve quarantined everyone infected.”
“What about us? What should we do?”
I grunted. “I’m a homicide investigator, Shaheen. It’s time to turn myself in and get tested. Debriefing on this one will take a while, maybe weeks. But after that, it’ll probably be business as usual.”
She stopped and stared at me. “Back to your regular life?”
I smiled. “Well, not completely.”
She punched me in the shoulder. “Say it!”
I grabbed her around the waist. “Want to see the solar system?”
“Why do you want me with you?” There was a sly expression on her face.
I paused for a long moment. Finally, “You could be my sex slave.”
She pursed her lips. “How about as an engineer on whatever planet they post you? We can determine what to call me later.”
“What do you mean?”
“Girlfriend, companion, wife...whatever.”
I frowned. “I guess that might work too. Though it wouldn’t be quite as fun.”
She gave me a coy smile. “There will be fringe benefits, I’m sure.”
I gazed into her blue eyes. Perhaps her suggestion would work, after all.
I grabbed her hand and we disappeared into Mercury’s dense network of subterranean tunnels.
Epilogue
Six months later, Shaheen and I sat at an outdoor café on Mars and enjoyed a cup of coffee as we soaked in the sights. I looked up at the hazy sky through the dome over our heads and realized that this wasn’t exactly the outdoors. It was on a thoroughfare, however, and I could see the sky, so I guess it qualified.
People who walked by were shopping at the local market. They chatted about the tourist attractions and laughed as they passed. They didn’t have a care in the world.
I sighed. It was a pleasant change.
“What are you thinking?” Shaheen asked. Her eyes sparkled as she studied me. We had been through an incredible ordeal, but after a lengthy debriefing we were finally on our own, to live our lives the way we wanted.
I winked at her. “That I like this way of life a hell of a lot better.”
“You seem a lot more relaxed than when I first met you.”
“Slightly.” I grinned. “I’m having a lot more fun too.”
“Shut up,” she said with a chuckle. “How’s the case coming along?”
She was referring to the reason I was on Mars: the CCF had posted me here five months earlier as homicide investigator. I would eventually move on as I followed new leads off the planet, but for the time being, I was enjoying the colony. “I should have it wrapped up by tomorrow,” I said. “I just discovered—”
“Hello, Lieutenant Tanner,” a man said from my side.
I looked up, startled. He was in his thirties and sported a brush cut and a strangely familiar tattoo on his neck. He looked more like a criminal or an informer than one of my peers in Security Division. I peered at him with a critical eye. “Do I know you?”
“In a way,” he said in a soft voice. “You know me, but we haven’t met before.”
I glanced at Shaheen. “Is that a riddle?”
“Maybe you know of him,” she suggested.
“No, that’s not it,” the man said as he pulled up a chair. “We’ve met, just not in the way you’re familiar with.”
“You’re not making much sense,” I said. I grabbed Shaheen and rose to leave. “Come on. Let’s get out of—”
“You knew me by a different name,” he continued. “‘Dr. Higby’ ring any bells?”
I froze. “I know Dr. Higby,” I finally managed.
He held out a hand. “Nice to see you...again.”
I stared at him, not completely understanding. “You’re going to have to explain what you mean,” I growled.
His lips curled into a smile, and he withdrew his hand. “Six months ago, on Mercury, you arrived at the hospital ward to check Higby for the infection, though that’s such a terrible term for what we really are.”
Shaheen gasped and a jolt shot through my body. My eyes narrowed as I watched his expression. Was he serious? If not, how the hell had he found out about the infection? “You’re saying you’re...”
He tapped the side of his head. “The nanos are here, yes.”
My hand darted to my side and closed around the grip of my pistol.
He gestured for me to stop. “Wait. Don’t pull your weapon. I’m not here to threaten you.”
I glared at him for a long moment, but I didn’t remove the pistol from my holster. Finally, I snarled between clenched teeth, “What the hell do you want?”
He smiled, and did so calmly; he clearly meant it to be disarming. It didn’t quite work. “We’ve been watching you, Tanner. Ever since your trip to see Higby. We knew you suspected the infection had escaped, and you were right.”
Shaheen said, “But Dr. Higby was clean! He didn’t have the infection!”
The man shrugged. “What you didn’t realize was that the bacteria only manufacture those proteins as they’re penetrating the blood-brain barrier. Once the nanos inhabit the brain’s neurons, they don’t need the proteins again until the next infection. They’re cleared from the body after a few weeks.”
My heart pounded. “Higby was infected all along?”
A nod. “He suspected the authorities would eventually test the hospital staff. He made sure not to infect anyone within the previous weeks, just to be sure. He helped you because he didn’t want you to suspect him, but he’d been infected five weeks earlier.”
“By Riddel.”
“Yes, he was one of us too.”
I frowned. “‘One of us?’”
The man scratched his head. “The nanos were in him as well.”
“But how do you know Higby?” I asked.
“You could say we all know each other.”
“You can communicate with one another?” Shaheen blurted.
“In a way, though not in the manner that you are familiar with. We share some memories. We pass knowledge with each new host taken. I have memories of hosts that have come before me, but we can’t communicate telepathically, if that’s what you mean.”
We had theorized on SOLEX that the nanos—once they had possessed a hundred billion neurons—would be able to communicate with each other and form a hive intelligence within the host. Now here was a man who claimed that not only could individual nanos communicate with each other, but that they passed memories to newly infected people!
“You’re saying Higby spread the infection to you, and that you have some of his memories?”
“Precisely.”
I paused for a minute. “Do you also have memories of being on SOLEX?”
He smiled. “Very perceptive. Yes, I remember SOLEX. I knew Brick Kayle and Jarvis Riddel.”
“You mean the nanos within you remember them.”
He tilted his head. “I am the nanos, Tanner.”
I couldn’t believe it. I had put SOLEX behind me after weeks of debriefing and the purges on Mercury. And yet here was evidence that the infection had spread, and it had approached me right out of the blue! Another shock passed through me as I realized the implications. The entire human race was still at risk! I shot a look at Shaheen. There was an expression of horror on her face. I turned back to the man. “What do you want?” I grated.
He sighed. “Only to live in peace. We’re leaving, you see.”
“I’m afraid I don’t.”
“We have enough people. We’re leaving the system to form our own colony.”
I recoiled. “A colony of...of infected people?”
He grunted. “Such a crass term. We’re human, just like you.”
“Not quite like me.”
He smiled again. He seemed quite calm. He had definitely not approached us in a threatening manner. “Whatever,” he replied. “We don’t mean you any harm anymore. We have enough people now to survive on our own.”
I was skeptical, to say the least. “But how will you spread? How will the nanos—or bacteria, whatever—take new hosts?”
“Through the normal methods.” He hesitated. “Procreation, same as anyone.”
“You mean you’ll have children, and they’ll be infected.” I shook my head. It was a disgusting thought.
His fists knotted at his sides. “Yes, but there’s that term again. Please don’t use it. We’re not infected. We’re a completely new life-form.” He pushed his chair back and rose.
“What the hell do you want?” I asked. My hand was still tight on the pistol.
His eyes flashed to it for an instant. “Stop looking for us. Tell your superiors we mean them no harm. We really are leaving.”
“But we stopped looking six months ago,” Shaheen said. “Why tell us now?”
A look of gloom passed across the man’s face. “There are still those who are persecuting us. We want them to stop.”
I paused as I absorbed that. The implication was that the military was still tracking down infected people and executing them. If they were doing so, I certainly hadn’t heard. I wasn’t privy to information the Council wanted kept secret, however, and this was definitely one topic that they would classify at the highest levels.
“So you’re leaving,” I said, dumbfounded.
“Yes.”
“And you’re done infecting people?”
He nodded. “As I said, there are enough of us now to continue indefinitely.”
I thought furiously. I would have to report this to Earth CCF HQ immediately. “What about the kill code? Is it still your intention to—”
He chuckled. “We overrode Malichauk’s code when we took the first host. We became sentient, Lieutenant. We don’t plan to follow anyone’s commands but our own now.” He turned and began to saunter away. He didn’t seem to consider me a threat, despite the weapon at my side. “Stop looking for us now,” he called over his shoulder. “We don’t mean anyone any harm anymore. We’ll all be gone, very soon.”
He stepped into the surge of people on the thoroughfare, shot a final glance at me and was lost to view within seconds.
I knew I would never forget his face.
I didn’t say anything for several minutes. Finally, “Did that just happen?”
“Believe it or not, yes.” Shaheen stared transfixed at the place where the man had disappeared into the crowd. “What should we do?” she muttered.
There were many options. The first that occurred to me was to immediately follow and kill him in cold blood...but what would that accomplish? No doubt he had told me the truth. Otherwise, why just approach like that? If he had wanted to infect me, he would have done so at a more opportune time. After all, he could have achieved complete surprise. His reasoning made sense, but I still couldn’t bring myself to believe it.
It was too stunning to even contemplate.
Eventually, I grabbed Shaheen’s soft hand and locked eyes with her. “Let’s go have dinner,” I whispered.
“Dinner?” she said. “How can you think of dinner, after what just happened?”
I shrugged. “Maybe I’ll go after him. But if he’s right and we actually witnessed the beginning of a new species—one that wants to leave us alone and disappear from our affairs forever—then I figure he at least deserves a head start.” I winked at her. “A small one, maybe.”
“How small?”
I looked her up and down. “Maybe a few nights.”
After a long minute, a sly smile replaced the look on her face. She punched me in the arm. We stepped into the street and walked together, hand in hand. I grinned.
Life was good.
* * * * *
Coming soon from Timothy S. Johnston and
Carina Press: THE FREEZER, August 2014
A Note to the Reader
Any errors in regards to biology, bacteria, mathematics, space travel or the human body are mine alone.
Sergeant Paul Dubrulle’s quote is from
Horne, Alistair. The Price of Glory: Verdun 1916. Harmondsworth: Penguin Books, 1962, p. 135.
The graph was created with Microsoft Excel 2007.
Nelson Housden created the bacteria artwork in Chapter Twelve.
The exponential growth chart is adapted from
“The End of the Line.” Economist 336 (1995): 61. Accessed June 14, 2004 from Electric Library database on the World Wide Web. http://www.elibrary.com.
as well as
Varghese, Raju. “Exponential Growth.” Accessed June 14, 2004. raju.varghese.org/articles/powers2.html.
Exponential-growth stories are ubiquitous in history, science, folk tales and literature. They sometimes involve water lilies, noodles, computer processing power or even railroad tracks. The ones about rice seem to be the most common. They usually involve a raja in India (or a king in Persia). The chessboard story is Chinese, (with China sometimes referred to as an “ancient kingdom”) and most often involves a king and a minister.
The Indian expo
nential growth story is an old tale, but can be found in the children’s book,
Demi. One Grain of Rice: A Mathematical Folktale. New York: Scholastic Press, 1997.
The theme in science fiction of the alien masquerading as human—or one of them—is in fact quite common. It is the imposter theme. It began in 1938 with John W. Campbell Jr.’s wonderful novella Who Goes There? and continued with Robert Heinlein’s The Puppet Masters (1951) and Jack Finney’s The Body Snatchers (1955). Today the theme is most evident in film and television; indeed, the aforementioned stories have all been made into motion pictures. On TV, it has been used extensively in series such as Star Trek: The Next Generation, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, Invasion, The X-Files, and the new version of Battlestar Galactica, among others. Needless to say, this subgenre in science fiction is not new, but indeed it is incredibly popular.
John Carpenter’s movie The Thing, based on Campbell’s novella, is a favorite of mine; likewise, Finney’s novel astounds me every time I read it. I knew I wanted to write a novel of this type but decided early on that I didn’t want to use aliens of any sort as a plot device. In this way it would be different, despite being another story of “humans who aren’t really human.” It seemed impossible at first, but I eventually hit on the nano idea, and I think it worked well. There are of course hints and references to the previous contributions to the theme, but I will leave those for you to discover.
I hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I did writing it.
I self-published The Furnace in September 2011. Fifteen months later Carina Press acquired it and two others, The Freezer and The Void. I look forward to continuing Tanner’s journey in these two books, and to expanding the universe that I have created in future novels, as well. I would like to extend my deepest gratitude to Carina Press and to everyone who purchased and reviewed The Furnace. This version has been through a rigorous editing process, so it is slightly different than the self-published one of 2011/2012.
Visit my website at www.timothysjohnston.com for information about upcoming books and register for news alerts.
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Timothy S. Johnston
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