by Tex Leiko
“I see,” said Max, nearly dumbfounded.
“So you are telling me that my brilliant idea to be able to go on the offensive with my army was the worst strategic plan I could have made if I wanted to remain myself and take down the Faraza?”
“Correct.”
“Then I guess it’s a good thing that my hatred for them is so deep that I don’t care if I live or die! I don’t care if I become a puppet of Synaptix, just as long as the Faraza are destroyed.”
“Did you miss the memo when I said I seek to destroy them as well? I have higher goals. Don’t be stupid; hear out the rest of what I have to say and decide, please.”
“Don’t tell me what to do. You don’t know me! I don’t care about your, just mine.”
“We have the same goals! Mine, however, include destroying Synaptix as well. You see, the Faraza are the henchmen of the Polyhelix corporation. They kidnap people to experiment their gene manipulation further. This, Max, is where your patients are going. They are taking them from poor-afflicted areas such as the slums, or places that don’t govern themselves the way Alexandria does because they can get away with it. They are equally as sick, if not more so, than Synaptix. The point is, both are planning to raise an army and dominate as much of this planet as they can. It isn’t man’s place to play God such as this. Mindless armies on one side being controlled by nothing more than, to put it simply, radio transmissions. On the other side, a corporation with no soul that is building an army of chimeras out of people whom they’ve kidnapped. Both sides have, in the past, contributed to the betterment of man, but today, they have made themselves idols and gods to the people. My goal is their utter destruction. So, Zarfa, are you content to destroy only the Faraza, which is nothing more than the tail of the beast, or will you strike its head alongside me? I could use you; I could use your army.”
“Use, how appropriate. I thank you for telling me all of this, but it really seems as if you are simply telling me, don’t let someone else use you and manipulate you; let me do it. No thanks, I’ll take my risks doing my own thing,” Zarfa said calmly as he stood and faced the door.
“I am sorry that it ends this way. The next time we meet, we will most likely be enemies. I do hope, though, that I am wrong and that it will not be so,” Crimson said, sounding a bit hurt by his decision.
Zarfa began walking toward the door.
“Zarfa! You won’t bring them back,” she said.
“Oh? And who is it you speak of?” he asked, aggravated.
“All the loved ones they took. I read it in the missing persons section of the Ilyeion post the day after you were almost killed. I know they took someone from you, someone you cared for deeply.”
If she doesn’t goad me any farther, I can let this go. She hasn’t harmed the memory of my sister any. Face her and tell her how it is, let her know you mean business. All of this talk of enemies. She needs to know that I will fight her viciously if need be.
Zarfa turned to face Crimson, preparing the most dangerous expression he could conjure. In his head, he had even composed a mildly threatening speech and was ready to give Crimson a piece of his mind. But it all fell flat when he saw her soft face staring back at him.
She had so much fire, so much passion. She really believed in what she was doing, the way Sarah had when she used to dance the dances of the ancient days. Sarah believed she was preserving the culture of their people, something their parents had failed to do when they had Zarfa spliced with rhinoceros DNA as a child to make him stronger than average.
All of this desire to do what was right, spark a revolution, and give the poor working heroes a fighting chance to be free of their slavery and bondage. He knew that even if she succeeded, there would be much change to be made still, but it was at least something.
He was disarmed. Her fire, passion, zeal, care, and idealism melted him away. When he looked at Crimson, he saw Sarah standing there, requesting his aid in an oncoming war. His countenance dropped and his face softened back to the typical indifference he usually wore.
“They took her. Her heart beats, but my intent has never been to bring her back. It’s impossible. The things they do to the ones they capture make it so,” he said, sounding defeated.
“Oh? So what has your purpose in finding her been all along?” Crimson questioned.
“To see her dead.”
He was as curt as possible and the moment he finished his sentence, he returned on his way out the door. He remained calm, in control. He usually didn’t allow anyone to mention his sister. The room remained silent as he passed through the door and back onto the street.
* * * *
“Damn, he is moving away from the office,” said Zax.
“How far is the reconnaissance team from his location?” asked Badger.
After a brief communication telepathically with the team, Zax answered, “About ten minutes. Between my tracking skill and theirs, he should be easy to find.”
“Stay on his trail, intercept him, bring him here. I will probe him with my mind and see what he knows. Should be easy since he has had a round of the bots already.”
“Affirmative, sending the command. What will they do about Max and Crimson?”
“They’ve done all the damage they can do for now. It appears to not be as drastic as I thought it would be. Leave them be for now. We can stop them whenever we want. We could easily call ten thousand soldiers to our side at any given second if we use the frequencies; they pose no real hazard to us,” Badger said authoritatively and brimming with confidence.
“The team has received the message. They are changing course to meet Zarfa and bring him in.”
* * * *
“So, I bet you were expecting that to play out a little differently, huh?” asked Max; he was never one for tact.
“Yeah, I did. Oh well, things might change,” Crimson said in an annoyed tone.
“Well, you explained to him why you were interested in him. I guess I know what’s going on now…what does it have to do with me? Why are you interested in me? I’m a simple doctor whittling down his time in the slums.”
“What it has to do with you, Max, is the fact that you aren’t content. You want to make a change; that is why you are here. Your patients are disappearing from the area because of the experiments that Polyhelix is kidnapping them for. Before long, if they get their way, you won’t have a life here. You will be a slave to their corporation.”
“Great, so you want a personal doctor to keep you safe and healed while you go off and fight for freedom? Terrific, sounds boring, and you don’t even have an army. I don’t mean to be rude, but it sounds as if you’re going to fail. I can’t blame Zarfa for rejecting your offer.”
“Oh I’ve got some tricks up my sleeve, and I will be recruiting an army soon enough, and not with brainwashing or kidnapping the way the other two factions do business. I’m not that low of a human being. Look, I’ve got a plan and I am sure it will work. Furthermore, I am offering you the chance to take a stand in a revolution that will change the lives of the people not just in Alexarien and Ilyeion, but across the globe. These companies won’t be content if either of their plans for domination works in these regions; they will take it to a global level. Whoever said anything about me wanting a personal physician?”
“I guess I just assumed. So what then? What do you want from me if not that?”
“You and I know you have an intellect that surpasses many other doctors. You were smart naturally and science made you even more intelligent. I want your brain. I want you to design something for me. The task will involve you reverse engineering some nanobot technology for me then rebuilding it with a bit of an upgrade to both its hardware and its software. Interested?”
“And you think I’ll be able to do this?”
“I know you can. The question is, will you try? So how about it? I have all the facilities you will need back at home. That’s my main base. It would also explain why I reside in the entire top floor of a hi
gh-rise complex. Everything you need will be taken care of; I have the credits to back it. So what do you say? Want to make a revolution happen? Want to save more than you ever would in this small clinic?”
Max thought about it, thought about who he was and the reasons he was staying in this clinic helping the innocent and poor. He had seen death, but never caused one, even recently. There were times when he wanted to fight for a purpose, like last night at the Psyker Screams “concert.”
He thought about what accepting her offer meant. It meant killing either directly or indirectly. Some of those whom he would have to kill might be people he once recognized from around his part of town, maybe even a patient he swore to care for. Are they really still my patients if they’ve been brainwashed or mutated?
He thought about Crimson, who she was, what he knew of her. Not much, but she seemed trustworthy, and it didn’t hurt that he longed to be with her. She was beautiful outwardly and, in his eyes now, inwardly as well. He pondered for a good twenty minutes in silence as Crimson stood by not saying a word, letting him think.
She was standing on the other side of his desk. She was no longer leisurely sitting. She was staring at him, but her face was warm and inviting. Her piercing feline eyes somehow managed to seem warm and soft. Her bangs all hung to one side, swooping over the side of her face. As he got ready to speak, she wore a slight smile, revealing her overly exaggerated eye teeth.
“I barely know you, but I feel I can trust you. I’m in; however, I feel like you should train me how to use these,” he said, glancing to the floor beside him where the weapons she had given him earlier were propped against his desk. “It seems as if being your friend comes with some added danger to my health.”
“Without a doubt, friend. Also, the bots I need you to make changes to are the Psyker Scream nanobots. If you have any left around here, bring them,” she said, her smile growing even wider. “You know you can never return to this life now; this office needs to be demolished. Gather the things you might need and we shall go.”
“Why does it have to be destroyed? Why can’t I just leave and stop paying rent?”
“There is no doubt personal information strewn in the things here that the enemy will use against us. I want to see to it that we take every precaution to make sure they discover as little as possible about you. Additionally, after I do what I’m going to do to this place, hopefully the enemy will think you said no and I lost my temper.” As she finished her sentence, she reached under the back of her shirt and pulled out a device. “It’s a cluster plasma grenade. It blows apart into several smaller explosives seven seconds after I pull the pin. Everything in here will be vaporized.”
“Wow, you never fail to surprise me.”
This woman is an absolute lunatic carrying a weapon like that! What have I gotten myself into? I really hope I don’t regret this. She might be more volatile that I had ever imagined.
Max did as he was told. He looked around the office. He checked the exam room for things he thought he might need to take with him, but there wasn’t really much. In the end, all he had grabbed was a series of Psyker Scream injections.
He went back into the main office room and looked around. He really liked his desk, as well as a lot of the things he decorated this room with, but he failed to see the purpose in bringing any of that sort of thing. He stepped over to his desk and rummaged through the drawers. Finally, he opened the bottom drawer and looked inside.
Inside were several serenity boosts that he had yet to use. He craved one even now as he looked at them. He reached his hand inside and ran his fingers over the glass syringes they came in. He lifted a handful of them to reveal one orange strength boost he must have had from when he’d had to rearrange his office.
He pocketed the small orange syringe and dropped the blue ones back into the drawer. His hand trembled and his forehead began to bead small drops of sweat.
Not today. I am making a big change in my life. I have no need of the past.
Max then kicked the lower drawer closed and after grabbing his weaponry, looked up at Crimson who had not moved. She leaned over the desk and picked up the two strange devices that had been lying on Max’s desk.
“Having second thoughts?” she asked, genuinely concerned.
“Nope. Just realizing what this all means. C’mon, let’s go.”
As they stood at the doorway, Crimson let Max pull the pin on the grenade and toss it into his clinic himself. Max did so and slammed the door shut behind them. They started walking down the street before they even heard the blast, but before they were too far away, they did. A slight bang followed by a terrible fizzing hiss. That many particles being evaporated at once sounded like war. It sounded like a new beginning.
When they got back to Crimson’s home and base of operations, Crimson showed Max around. She showed him his lab area and all of the equipment she had already purchased. She didn’t explain exactly what she wanted him to do.
Last, she led Max to his bedroom. “You look tired. Get some rest; I will show you more and explain more later.”
He took her suggestion and collapsed onto his bed. He was fast asleep in seconds.
When Max finally woke from his overly long nap, it was about six-thirty past morning. He wandered down a small hallway and back into the main room where the kitchen and living room were situated. Crimson was standing there in front of a mirror, fixing the wrinkles on the tight red silk dress she was wearing.
“You look great. Where are you headed?”
He could see her face in the reflection of the glass as she answered him with a smile. “I’ve got more business to attend to. Don’t wait up. It may take me some time.”
“Oh I see, a date?”
I told you that you misread the situation yesterday, idiot. She doesn’t like you like that. You are nothing more than her fellow freedom fighter. But what the hell is she doing dating at a time like this? Right before she declares war. I hope I didn’t buy into her for nothing.
“That’s what he thinks it is. Trust me, Max. I wouldn’t be so dumb as to be trying to find love with some stranger at a time like this. What do you take me for? A normal girl who is about to start a war?” She couldn’t contain a small chuckle that trickled out of her mouth as she answered him.
Yes! Stupid! Of course she isn’t going on a date. I am so dumb.
“No, I didn’t think that for a second. Just curious is all. See you tomorrow then?”
“See you tomorrow. Enjoy this day. It will be the last one of rest you see in quite some time.”
Chapter Eight
Night at Blue Nami
“I’m glad you could make it tonight. I’m not a girl who likes to beat around the bush or pussyfoot about what I want. I had many questions back at the Barometrics office, but I know due to the nature of your job that your office would be filled with bugs.
I am just a client who wants some answers. You could call me a humanitarian, in all reality. I don’t want my weather orders to be affecting some poor souls to the south of us in Durban or something of that nature, so I have many questions regarding how exactly your technology works. It has been a mystery since your CEO invented it.
“Let me preface this by saying that I do not desire to sabotage you. I am no terrorist. I realize that globally, all forms of government have passed a law stating that only one corporation could possess this technology and use it or else the whole world would be thrown into chaos! I understand all of this; however, I want to know, what is at the root of this device?” Crimson leaned over the candlelit dinner table and narrowed her eyes at Brian.
“At the root of it? I’m sorry, I don’t believe that I grasp the meaning of what you’re asking,” Brian said as he cut his steak into bite-sized pieces.
“Okay, I get the point. What I mean is this. How do you prevent the storm, or lack of one, in one part of the world from affecting another part of the world? I heard your answer back at the office, but there are no bugs here. This isn’t
a press conference. I want some truth.”
“You mean our service areas? Well, that is easy; things are all mapped out quite precisely. The affluent nations who offer a populace that can afford our services are completely protected. We have ensured that ‘remnant storms’ won’t occur and ruin anyone’s day or cause a big disaster,” he said, stuffing a large bite of meat into his mouth.
“I don’t mean your service areas. I mean the rest of the globe. The blue zones, as our Alexarien government like to call them. How do I know my selfish desire for a particular weather isn’t causing a disaster elsewhere? In a place outside of your service area?”
He chewed as he spoke; he was far from graceful. Crimson couldn’t understand how this guy was even a salesman for the Barometrics company with services as expensive as theirs.
“Well,” he began to say as a small piece of meat fell onto the table, “if you read the contract carefully, we only promise for your orders to not affect any of our service areas. It isn’t illegal. Some countries are better than others; some people’s lot in life is a slave, others are billionaire assassins with an economic dynasty large enough to purchase our services. I am sure you understand.”
Despite his lack of grace, he still spoke like a true salesman. No soul, no care, no driving force other than greed. He tried to lead his audience into his train of thought and was no doubt very successful most of the time.