by M. V. Kallai
“Sergeant Leitner, I would like to take a tour of the storerooms next if you don't mind.” Ganesh said. He smiled at the young sergeant and gestured for him to lead the way.
“Certainly, sir. This way.” They walked to the outer ring of the perimeter and stepped onto a moving ramp that zigged and zagged between the floors of the atrium, right lane going up and left lane going down.
As they toured the storerooms, Ganesh asked questions about the catalyst and the medical progress. His interest in Bearden's work seemed genuine and not at all suspicious. This frustrated Mace who was waiting for Ganesh to slip up by accidentally knowing his way around the corridor. They came to the room where the biomer had been stolen. Mace watched Ganesh's face closely...nothing...not even a sideways glance. Damn, he's good. Mace thought, convinced of Ganesh's guilt. When Ganesh turned to examine a freshly prepared sample, Mace caught Bearden's eye and gave him a nod, as if urging him to move on with the tour. Bearden nodded back.
“I'd like to show you the medical wing now, if you have the time. Colonel? Major?” Bearden said.
“Yes, of course,” replied Ganesh.
“I have a meeting in fifteen minutes but I am dying to hear your feedback on our operations here, Colonel,” Mace said in a voice that did not hide his sarcasm. Bearden pretended not to notice the now obvious tension between his two superiors but none the less, his eyes darted back and forth between them.
“Always a pleasure, Major.” Ganesh's voice was even and polite. Mace turned and left.
“Now, show me the medical unit, Sergeant,” Ganesh said.
“It's really not that impressive anymore,” Bearden said. “The lab space keeps getting reduced and scientists are being transferred next door to weapons. A year ago it was a different story. But now everyone is worried about the war coming up so we do what best serves us.”
“And you believe that creating weapons serves us better than our own evolution?”
“That's why I need your help with Dr. Tripple, sir,” he whispered, “because I don't believe that.”
“Humph. Well, good for you son, good for you.”
Chapter Eight
Captured
Camden faced a group of six government men walking toward him. As they approached, he nonchalantly leaned against his transport with his hands in his pockets. He looked relaxed and genuinely curious about the intent of his pursuers. Inside, though, his nerves were stretching thin. Ari was still grasping the steering unit of the transport looking overly tense. Camden hoped that his nervous looking driver would not create suspicion. Why does Ari look so nervous and guilty? Camden thought as he gave Ari a sideways glance. He knows nothing of the biomer sample. He did know about the meeting with Colonel Ganesh, however, and that made Camden a little uneasy. He doubted Ari had ever been in an interrogatory situation before.
“Professor Camden Riles?” The head official of this small group spoke as they came within a few feet of him.
“Yes, hello…officer…” He held out his hand and squinted his eyes a little as he offered his best fake smile to this man.
“Oh, right then… it’s Officer Aldretti.” Taken back, Aldretti certainly didn’t expect a pleasant introduction session from this sudden encounter. Aldretti looked to be in his mid-forties. He had small, closely spaced brown eyes and a long nose. His hair looked like a failed attempt at proper grooming and his skin was more weathered than the average person his age. Camden figured he was some kind of government version of a bounty hunter. Aldretti reached out and shook Camden’s hand cautiously. Camden pulled back from the man but Aldretti did not release his hand.
“Professor Riles, we need you to come with us. And we need to search your transport.” He leaned in forcefully and spoke softer now, close to Camden’s ear. He continued quickly,
“We don’t need to make a scene here, but we will if necessary.”
Camden recoiled and straightened his posture. His eyes tightened and his smile became almost sinister.
“I will be happy to accompany you gentleman this morning, but I assure you, searching my transport is not necessary.”
He was not worried about them finding his secret hiding place so much as he was concerned that Ari would crack under the pressure of interrogation. He didn’t know what Camden was carrying, but Ari was sure to remember the rolling suitcase that entered the transport with him this morning. In fact, Camden was counting on that. Ari must still get that suitcase to Lee; otherwise, the future of the human race could be in trouble. This last thought hit Camden like a rock and he felt selfish for previously considering withholding his findings from Lee.
Aldretti motioned for the other men to enter Camden’s transport. Camden looked relaxed and smiled.
“I brought nothing with me today. Your men are wasting their time.”
“Well, they are going to your home next, so don’t worry, their efforts will not be in vein,” Aldretti replied.
Camden wasn’t concerned about them possibly finding the hidden lab in his flat. It was foolproof. Aldretti seemed to gain pleasure from exerting his power over Camden. Camden did not gratify him with a reaction of any kind, but was admittedly curious to know exactly what these men knew. However, he would wait to ask his questions, until they were in the confines of the government transport and out of audible range of Ari. The less Ari knew, the safer he would be. He had a family that relied on him, after all, three little ones and a beautiful wife. Getting picked up by the government would not benefit him in the least. Camden glanced over at Ari, who surprisingly, looked slightly more composed. He had wiped the sweat from his face and was a little less fidgety. Camden gave him a subtle nod with serious eyes. Ari sat up straighter and made his mind up to protect his friend and employer, at all costs.
Two of the three men went to the back of the transport where Camden sat moments earlier. The third walked over to Ari and asked him to exit the transport. Ari smiled and said,
“Of course, sir.”
Camden was silently impressed at his drivers’ rapid recovery from panic, but then again, Ari did not know about the stolen government sample from an alien world.
Just then, Aldretti took Camden by the elbow and escorted him to the government transport parked nearest to them. As Camden climbed in and sat down facing Aldretti, he looked to Ari once more and saw a confused look on his face when the men, desperately searching the transport, did not immediately pull a rolling suitcase out of the back. Camden grinned in spite of himself.
“Is something amusing you, Professor?” Aldretti asked him. Camden ignored the question and looked at him straight on.
“What is this all about, really, Officer?” He asked.
“That is not for you and me to discuss,” answered Aldretti.
“Ahh, I see,” Camden said, “You have no idea why you have picked me up this morning, do you?”
“It is not my job to know. I just deliver the goods, and today, you are the goods.”
Camden could see that he had intimidated this unrefined looking officer and relaxed his posture a little.
“And who am I being delivered to?” Camden asked. “You at least know that much, I presume.”
“Of course I know that,” Aldretti snapped, looking offended. “My orders came from General Pike.” He held his head up higher as he spoke this name.
“Well, if I knew I would be meeting with a General this morning, I would have worn a better suit.” Camden said coolly, crossing one leg over the other and folding his hands over his knee.
“Well, you are in luck then because we are reporting only to a Major today,” Aldretti snipped back with a slightly sinister grin emerging on his scruffy face.
“Oh?” Camden asked. “Major who?”
“Major Mace Magner, as a matter of fact, heads weapons division at TRU.”
Camden’s brain kicked into gear. He had heard that name before…
Ganesh mentioned him at breakfast – they know.
There was a tap on the window. Camden
sat upright again, realizing he had been twiddling his thumbs. Aldretti pushed a button and his window opened. One of the other officers leaned in.
“The transport is clean sir, nothing there but some very nice scotch and a couple of cigars. Should we confiscate it?” He asked. Aldretti looked annoyed and let out a short sigh.
“No, leave it. What did the driver know?”
“Nothing, sir. He says this guy (he pointed to Camden) is a real ass to work for and is lucky if he gets even a ‘hello’ or ‘good night’ from him. Says if it weren’t for the paycheck, he’d be long gone.”
“Do you believe him?”
“He seemed sincere enough, he has a large family to support, three children. Saw a picture.”
“Wow. Three. That’s rare,” muttered Aldretti. “Let him go, but set up surveillance on him around the clock. He may know something that he doesn’t realize he knows.”
“Right away, sir.” He gave a quick salute to Aldretti and turned on his heel and walked back to let Ari go. Camden was filled with relief at this news. Ari was sharper than he gave him credit for. Now all he has to do is escape government surveillance and get the stolen government goods to Lee Tripple’s highly secured lab.
Camden’s relief was short lived. Maybe he was an ass, setting Ari up for such an impossible task, putting him and his family at risk…in the name of progress. He wished they had confiscated his scotch. He could use some right now.
Aldretti’s transport lifted skyward and Camden stared straight ahead and folded his arms across his chest. He would use the next several minutes thinking of what he should and should not say to Major Mace Magner.
Chapter Nine
Stood Up
Lee awoke with a start! The ringing of his phone pierced his ears unpleasantly. He wiped the line of drool from the left corner of his mouth and straightened his glasses. His ash brown hair was matted and sticking up and out on the left side. He ran his fingers through it only making it worse. His expression was startled and blank at the same time.
He picked up the phone and looked at the clock. 12:25.
“Hello,” he said in a gruff voice. “Mmm Hmm, I see,” he said to the voice on the phone that had just informed him that fourteen candidates for his assistant position would be arriving at 2:00. Lee hung up without saying goodbye, sat up straight, and placed both hands on his desk. The images of this morning’s failure were racing across his mind. He would start resetting for the next trial of the experiment this afternoon. An assistant’s help could keep him focused on the extreme science behind the project rather than the mundane maintenance of it. He needed the assistance, certainly, but knowing that he would have to interact with someone new and share his lab space created deep anxiety in the pit of his stomach. It was twisting into knots.
He ignored this feeling for a moment to concentrate on another feeling, also taking place in his stomach… hunger.
“Camden,” he said out loud as he remembered their lunch appointment. He looked at the clock again…perhaps expecting it to display a different hour than it did minutes earlier. 12:27.
Where is Cam? he thought to himself. He should have arrived over twenty minutes ago. It wasn’t like him to be late. This realization added more pain to the first discomfort in his stomach and he frowned. Two of Camden’s best qualities, in Lee’s opinion, were his promptness and predictability. And that was because it was easy for his logical mind to deal with these traits. Most people were irrational and emotional. Lee wasn’t able to relate well to that, which is why he chose a solitary life.
He sent an electronic message to the lady at the desk in the front of the building; he did not know her name.
I will be leaving for lunch in twenty minutes. Send the lab technicians in twenty-three minutes to clean and reset my equipment.
Lee did not like being there when the technicians worked so carefully to clean and maintain his equipment. He didn’t understand the small talk they always inevitably attempted or why they cared how his day was going. He certainly didn’t care about theirs. The technicians, who were hired by Camden, did not know the full nature of the projects that went on here, but they enjoyed sharing their theories with one another as they worked. Their guesses ranged from chemical bombs to creating new animal species by sewing together random parts of other animals. Of course, they were way off, but the speculations gave them a laugh and made their jobs less monotonous.
Lee spent the next twenty minutes carefully removing all biological samples, solutions, and data from the lab. He would lock them in one of the back rooms. He alone had a key. As he worked, he wondered again about Camden. He made up his mind to call him after he secured his workspace. Lee frowned again as he transferred the lifeless embryos to special freeze chambers. Most scientists would not save their failures, but Lee assumed that he would one day figure out how to control life and death, so these embryos were candidates for future re-animation. Recycling at its best, he thought. No one else knew he did this, not even Camden.
Camden did know, however, that Lee chose to work with human tissue, when possible and when his experiments didn’t require an accelerated life cycle. And even then, he worked with mostly just parts. When he did need a whole body, he called the nearby prison, which was so far, discreet. When he worked with monkeys, rats, and other animals, he went to his stock of small animals kept in a frozen stasis or ordered them specific to an experiment. He used the bare minimum of these stock animals simply because he did not enjoy the responsibility of nurturing living beings.
“Each animal’s physiology is different,” Lee would say, “If I am successful with a rat, it was still just a rat and does not necessarily equate success with a human.”
Now and then, speculation of the inner workings of Lee’s lab would stir up political debate, but with the complete secrecy in which Lee worked, it really was just speculation. The public at large remained unaware of the extent of evil being performed in here.
Lee Tripple was fortunate enough to operate with a special esoteric diplomacy, granted to him by one of the Heads of Government, several years before. Lee had devoted over a year of his life developing a cure for a particularly stubborn type of brain tumor that plagued the Director’s wife. It was a logical trade off for Lee, as diplomacy granted from the head of the government was not to be revoked. His cure, of course, became a global phenomenon and major scientific breakthrough. More importantly, it allowed Lee to conduct his experiments in peace without the government’s eyes looking over his shoulders. He had basically negotiated himself above the law, untouchable from all forms of government. Although this sometimes created conflict between other scientists and politicians, it had more or less become accepted. Lee was, after all, probably the smartest man alive and that should count for something. In addition, a whole new floodgate would open if a Supreme Leader’s lifetime diplomacy guarantee were to be revoked.
Lee walked around his lab, double-checking that he had removed everything he didn’t want the technicians to see. He decided he was satisfied with this task, and pushed the rolling metal cart that held his data and samples down a short hallway, to the right, then down a longer hallway and into his most private locked room, Lab A. He switched on the light and glanced around for an empty shelf. He needed more room, and more freezers. He made a quick note to himself in his electronic notebook and then went to work organizing his newest additions amongst the others.
A normal person would be taken aback at the sight of this room. It was raw and uncensored. Different stages of life and death were all around, ranging from cell clusters to embryos to fully-grown body parts and organs. Most of these things were in freezers with clear doors. Jars and jars of preserved biological science experiments also lined the shelves from floor to ceiling. Lee checked the clock on the wall above the door. 12:46. He quickly shut off the light and locked the door behind him. He would probably not have time to make his phone call to Camden before the technicians arrived.
“Damn it, Cam!” he said al
oud as he brusquely walked back to his office. Camden’s failure to arrive had upset the usual timetable of exiting his lab. Now he would now most likely be expected to engage in detestable small talk.
Lee picked up his phone and quickly dialed Cam’s number. “Ring…ring…ring… no answer.” It was not in Lee’s nature to worry, but when Cam didn’t pick up, he felt a little more than inconvenienced. He gathered up his brown wool coat and tweed hat, flung his satchel over his shoulder and left his office, closing the door behind him.
Getting out of Lee Tripple’s lab was almost as cumbersome as getting in. He walked through his and Camden’s private door, activating the unlock mechanism with a voice command, key card and fingerprints. At the main entrance, three of the lab technicians on staff were already having body scans performed on them and DNA samples taken.
Lee walked out to the main reception of the building and right through the front doors without acknowledging the “Have a nice lunch, sir.” coming from the lady at the front desk. He shoved his hands in his jacket pockets and tramped forward with his head down to his and Camden’s favorite meeting place, the private penthouse lounge. It was only a few blocks from the lab and that suited Lee nicely. When he arrived at the tall office building that held the penthouse lounge, he flashed his membership card to the doorman who ushered him in to the lobby and toward the elevators. Lee pressed the button on the furthest carriage on the right and the doors opened right away. A young man, whose job it was to know the members of the lounge scrupulously, stepped out as Lee stepped in. He usually rode up with the members, took their coats and made them feel welcome; however, Lee was a special case who preferred to ride up alone. The young man would call the elevator back down after Lee got off.
The lounge was dimly lit with a quiet atmosphere, no matter what time of day and Lee felt more relaxed the instant he stepped off the elevator. He unbuttoned his coat as the pretty owner, Enira, smiled warmly at him and called for someone to get his table ready. She was not intimidated by Lee’s coldness. She walked right up to him and took the hat right off his head and waited for him to hand her his coat.