by Kal Spriggs
“That’s out of the question for multiple reasons,” Colonel Givens said, her voice flat with suppressed anger. Halving noted the response and filed it away for later consideration. He guessed she had not convinced her superiors that Sheng’s misdiagnosis deserved punishment. That did not particularly surprise Jonathan, he saw plenty of the corruption and family connections that infected the bureaucracy of Amalgamated Worlds. It would have surprised him if the self-made Givens managed to accomplish even a slap on the wrist for the nephew of a Chairman. It didn’t matter much to Halving, he had already put into action his own revenge on the psychologist.
Still, he felt a warm glow in his stomach to see the ESPSec Colonel with her own irritations in life. “So that leaves me.” Halving said. “Unfortunately, the other subject has developed some kind of mental barrier.”
“So I understand from the notes you submitted,” Colonel Givens said. “Is his issue one that can be resolved through mental conditioning?”
Halving shook his head, “No. Quite the opposite, it appears to be a product of your mental conditioning.”
The Colonel frowned, her face puzzled, “How is that?”
“Your doctor programmed the boy to feel that psychics are freaks. He therefore distrusts psychics and view’s a lack of abilities to be desirable.” Jonathan Halving shrugged. “Essentially, he wishes he didn’t have any abilities.”
Colonel Givens pondered that for a long moment, “So he doesn’t want to use his powers?” She seemed to understand that concept remarkably well. Idiot, Halving thought, this is one reason I argued so heavily towards having a psychic do the programming, so we wouldn’t have such primitive superstitions in the way.
“At the most simple level, yes. But, it’s not something I can override in his mind, not without breaking a lot of other things Sheng programmed in. I can wipe everything clean and start over with a new personality or I can walk him through it.” Halving did not feel it prudent to mention the boy’s mind had become… resistant to further tampering. He wouldn’t go so far as to say that Shaden had developed Psi Gamma abilities, but it could be a possible sign of such development. That in turn would require further monitoring by Halving.
“So… you’re saying you can get one or the other functional, but not both at once?” Colonel Givens said. “Is it possible to put one of them on ice for a while and work on the other?”
“It is, but that’s rather pointless.” Halving answered, “Really, we’ve learned everything we need to know regarding the process. The rest is fine-tuning and that can be done on one subject. It would be easier to start over on a new set of subjects than break one of these two back to a base level and start over.” He watched her carefully as he spoke.
“So you want to terminate them?” The ESPSec Colonel’s voice went icy cold.
“Just one,” Halving said. He kept his voice light, as if he hadn’t noticed her change of tone and posture. “I can leave the choice up to you, Colonel. But two subjects are excessive at the present time. If you want, I could terminate both subjects and start over. I think we can avoid the current issues with a new batch.”
Colonel Givens shook her head. “No. We need at least one functional subject in order to move on with the project.” She grimaced, “My superiors want a demonstration – and soon – before they authorize further funding.”
“That certainly will require me to focus my efforts.” Jonathan Halving grimaced. It looked like he would work many late nights for the next few weeks. “Very well, which one should we keep? The male has shown definitively that his loyalties lie with Amalgamated Worlds. If you can believe it, he actually considered requesting a sentence to the camps if he feels he’s a threat to normals… or even a request for termination.”
Colonel Givens folded her arms and stepped back, her expression became dispassionate, “He wouldn’t last long there anyway and termination would just save us the cost of transport.” She shook her head, “From what you say, this mental block he’s developed could be hard to work around?”
Halving put his hands behind his back and paced as he spoke, his voice dropping into lecture mode, “Yes, it’s tied up in his emotions and preconceptions. Frankly, I’m surprised he’s been able to consciously harness his abilities at all.” He shrugged, “The female is more or less fully functional, on the other hand. She has become totally uncontrollable. It will take a great deal of work to make her manageable.”
Colonel Givens looked through the window at the unconscious girl. “Control issues can be worked out. Terminate the male. Will you use your security measures?”
“No,” he said, unsurprised at her choice. He thought the female showed more potential too and he had guided the conversation this path anyway. “Janecek is sick of playing nice and he gets annoying when he hasn’t killed anyone in a while. I’ll let him handle it.” Halving shrugged, “He’s got fine enough control to deflect any kind of PK attacks the male might manifest.”
Colonel Givens nodded. “Excellent. Notify me when the job’s done. Let me know of any further issues with the female. I don’t want anything to happen to her, not now that we’ll gamble everything on her.”
Halving nodded. He had made plans to retain the female subject, but the fact that Colonel Givens had went that route too, especially after all her previous preferences was another bit of data that he filed away. He gave her a crisp nod, “Understood, Colonel.”
***
Chapter 8
When you base your life completely around an idea or concept, rejection comes as a wake-up call. Had they kept me, I would have stayed their devoted pet. God knows what I would have done for them, just grateful for their acceptance and tolerance. Instead, they cast me out… and nothing causes you to reexamine your priorities like rejection.
--Memoirs of Shaden Mira
The most fascinating aspect of my studies has always been the outliers. I deal in projections and assumptions, based off gathered data and statistics. Yet, like genius, I can never be entirely certain when and where I will have a breakthrough. I can run the same procedure a thousand times on a thousand different subjects and there will always be the one unique result which throws all my theories into question.
--Dr. Jonathan Halving, Project Archon Notes.
“Hey man, wake up.”
Shaden sat up. He blinked sleep out of his eyes as the lights came on in his room. Mark Janecek stood in the open doorway with a broad boyish grin. The other man bounced on the balls of his feet.
“What’s going on?” Shaden asked. He rubbed at his eyes and glanced at his clock. It was just shy of midnight. He had not yet slept two hours. Utter darkness and the growling wind lay outside his window. Despite the rattling efforts of the old radiator heater, the air of his room still felt chill.
“Some training I don’t want you to miss out on,” Janecek said with a big smile. The wind outside moaned again. “Dress warm, we have a short little run to where I want to do this.”
“In that?” Shaden asked. The blizzard had started in the early afternoon. He could never have imagined that the snow drifts could pile up so fast. Ice had already locked up the waterfront for the past week. It went beyond just cold out there, a brutal winter storm had shut down the area, and possibly even all of New York City.
“Yeah, it’ll be perfect,” Janecek smiled. He possessed a strange light in his blue eyes, and a flush to his cheeks that made Shaden feel suddenly wide awake and nervous. He had felt the dark side of Janecek’s humor too many times in training trust the other man’s good humor.
Janecek stepped out of the doorway and pulled the door closed behind him as Shaden rolled out of bed.
The tiled floor felt icy to Shaden’s bare feet, but he knew outside would be worse. He dug into his wardrobe and pulled out a pair of warm woolen socks, then two layers of the issued gray sweats over his underwear and t-shirt. Some further digging turned up a woolen cap which he pulled tight on his head, and a pair of woolen gloves.
He felt sudde
nly warm in the confines of his room.
Even fully dressed, he waited a moment. Shaden tried to find some kind of inner fortitude to face the storm outside… and whatever malicious prank Janecek had in mind. He felt extremely uneasy, and his uneasiness only grew as he stood hand poised above the door handle.
Finally he straightened his shoulders, took a deep breath, and opened the door.
He stepped into the hallway and nearly ran into Angel, who stood arm poised to knock at the door. From the look of surprise on her face, she hadn’t expected to see him. “Good evening,” he said.
She ran a quick eye over him and showed no surprise to see him bundled up. A conflicted look crossed her face. She pressed her lips together, as if she did not trust the words that wanted to come out. “Going for a run with Janecek?”
Shaden nodded.
She gritted her teeth and looked away. “Be careful,” she muttered.
“Thanks,” Shaden said. He felt a little surprised that Angel cared enough to speak. She had shown no other emotions besides anger or indifference since they first met.
She stood silent for a moment. She looked like she wanted to say more, but then she turned away. Shaden watched her depart. The whole encounter left felt off, as if he wasn't quite awake. Whe she disappeared around the far corner, he shrugged and set his shoulders. Whatever had given her reason for concern, he had put off Janecek long enough.
The halls of the facility seemed abandoned as he jogged down the stairwell to the ground floor. Normally there were at least a few human noises, but at the moment, a stillness lay over the old building.
He found Janecek where he waited in the foyer, only a thin pair of glass doors shy of the arctic gale. The other man’s breath steamed in the air. He gave Shaden a dark glance, “Took you long enough, what, decide to rub one out or something?”
Shaden grimaced at the other man’s crudity, “Couldn’t find my hat,” Shaden said quickly. He did not mention Angel’s odd visit, he doubted that the other man would tolerate interference in his normal pranks.
Janecek snorted, “Well, you have it now, let’s go.” He pulled open one of the doors and jumped into the maelstrom outside.
***
The world was white.
A deep layer of snow lay over everything. Tall drifts rose here and there, and the side of the building had snow nearly to the second floor windows. Shaden followed the vague form of Janecek as the wind lashed his face with icy daggers.
The wind cut through his sweats immediately. The snow lay knee deep until he reached the first drift. The two men stumbled up it. Shaden felt his feet grow wet and cold through his running shoes as snow seeped inside and melted.
“This is great, huh?” Janecek shouted over the howl of the wind. He gave a mocking laugh, secure in his boots and warm jacket. One of the lights caught his blue eyes, giving them a dangerous gleam.
For just a second, Shaden felt an urge to turn and run, but then Janecek turned and loped onwards.
Shaden cursed and continued to follow after him.
They ran onwards through the snow-covered grounds. The normally mundane buildings seemed to lurk in the storm like stalking beasts. Shaden did not grow warm as he ran, he only seemed to grow more damp and cold as he sweated from stumbling up and down the sides of the drifts.
Janecek always ran just ahead of him. He ran effortlessly and as they passed the last of the brown stone buildings and jogged up a hill, Shaden had to fight back a wave of anger at his tormentor.
To distract himself, Shaden tried to remember what lay this way, but he only remembered an area with a wrought iron fence and a guarded gate house that led off the facility grounds.
Soon enough the wrought iron fence appeared through the storm on their left as they ran. Ahead, the lights of the guard shack glowed out of the storm. Shaden started to slow as they approached. Janecek didn’t stop though, and Shaden had to speed up to catch the other man as he jogged past the guard shack with a wave.
***
“Staff Sergeant,” Specialist Carter said over the radio.
“Go,” Staff Sergeant Tommy King said.
“I got two exiting the perimeter. Hyena and the male survivor,” Specialist Carter said.
Shit, Tommy thought to himself. Hyena was what they called the blonde man, who seemed to be something of an enforcer for the contractors. He had taken some of the “failures” off the facility grounds before and both times ESPSec clean-up teams had followed him.
His team had taken to calling him the Hyena because he had a cruel, predatory scavenger kind of look. They’d seen him bully other contractors and he had even had run-ins with some of Staff Sergeant Shade’s squad. Well, he thought, that and his laugh is about as pleasant as a hyena’s.
“Let them pass,” Tommy said. He tried not to think too much about what would soon happen to the male survivor.
That’s what he and his squad had taken to calling the two of them, male and female survivor. Twice now they had been called to intervene with the girl. Given what they had seen of her abilities and the kind of training both of them were in, Tommy had begun to feel more and more nervous about this assignment.
He did feel a moment of pity for the boy. He had no idea why ESPSec had decided he was fair game for the Hyena, but it was his bad luck.
Tommy shivered as he stared out at the storm. He had fought on frontier hell-holes against desperate odds... and right now, he would rather be there than this place. Please, he thought, let me just get my guys out of this.
***
Shaden felt an immediate sense of disorientation as he followed Janecek off the facility grounds. None of his trainers had ever led him off the grounds before. His tired mind sought a reason why tonight held a difference even as his body fought the cold.
They crested the hill. As they started downward the air cleared somewhat. The hill blocked some of the force of the storm, reducing the howling gale to a silent snowfall. Shaden looked left and right, surprised to see suburban houses lining the street. They seemed awfully close to Halving’s facility.
He wondered if the locals had any clue about the psychic nature of their neighbors. Certainly it wouldn’t be something that the Bureau of ESP Security would advertise, but that didn’t mean they wouldn’t notice some of the activity.
The road grew steeper and Shaden had to turn his attention back to the run. He slipped twice, once sliding three meters down the steep road before he caught himself, but Janecek never slowed. They reached the bottom of the hill and turned to the right and followed a tree-lined road. A stone wall ran along their left until they reached an open gate.
Janecek turned there and jogged through. Shaden followed. He felt soggy and cold. His feet felt like two blocks of ice, and his sweats clung to him in a damp icy mess. They jogged into a park of some kind, past benches buried in snow. The bulk of the hill behind them and the dense trees blunted the storm’s wrath. It could have felt peaceful except for the groans of the wind through the trees above them.
Janecek ran up the path until they reached a large open area, where he stopped.
It took Shaden a moment to realize what it was. The park had a large basin or lake, connected to the ocean at the far end. A barely-visible covered footbridge crossed the narrow opening. The entire basin lay under a sheet of ice and was further buried in snow from the storm. The ice beyond the bridge spread out of sight into the storm.
He looked over at Janecek who rotated his neck back and forth and stretched.
“What now?” Shaden asked.
Janecek laughed. He sounded like a hyena. “Now I have some fun.” He turned away from Shaden and knelt in the snow. Out of the snow he pulled a backpack he’d clearly left there earlier. Shaden frowned as the other man dug through it.
He took several steps back as Janecek pulled out a pistol and then what looked like a machete. “What the hell is going on?” Shaden asked in shock. The other man spun to face him, both weapons held loosely in his hands. Shaden recogn
ized the pistol, it was a M17, a suppressed pistol, maybe even the same one he had seen Janecek steal when they checked his weapons training.
Janecek tilted his head back and rolled his eyes, “Ah, where could I even start?”
Shaden raised his hands in a calming gesture, “Look I’m not sure what exactly you think we’re going to do—”
“Oh shut up you little fuck,” Janecek growled. “Don’t try to patronize me. You’re nothing more than a fucking lab experiment. You're like a petri dish.” He giggled at that, “Hey, maybe that's what I'll call you, how do you like that, eh, Petri Dish?”
“What?” Shaden asked. He stared at the other man in confusion. He wanted to believe that this was either some kind of training or some kind of sick joke on Janecek’s part. Something warned him, however, that something much worse lay behind his tormentor’s behavior.
“Oh, my God. So stupid, even now!” Janecek shook his head. He stepped forward and Shaden backed away. Janecek waved the hand that held the machete. “You’re so naïve, too stupid to live. You think Halving has his school for psychic boys and girls set up to help people?” Janecek laughed, “You think that ESPSec wouldn’t have its finger in there, to stir the pot?”
Shaden stared at the other man without comprehension.
Janecek laughed again, his face drawn back in a rictus of cruel humor. “Oh, even now, their mental programming works. You’ll probably die thinking they’re the good guys.” Janecek closed the distance between them suddenly and jutted his face into Shaden’s. “Let me tell you boy, there are no good guys.”
Shaden stumbled back. “Look, I’ve got no clue what you’re talking about—”
“I know… and that’s at least half the fun,” Janecek said. “But I’ll explain it simply.” He raised the pistol and waved it in the air near his head, “You can get it quick: painless, and easy with this; or,” Janecek lifted the machete, a brutal chopping blade with a heavy, studded hand-guard, “I can have a bit of fun with you.”