by Dan Glover
"Kirk... maybe you should go find Nate. I want to get a closer look."
"Come with me."
"I'll be okay... go ahead. Have him come up here right away."
She didn’t have to ask him a second time. As soon as Kirk was gone, Karen removed her shoes to slide silently across the tiled flooring bending down as she did so as if hoping to make her body smaller and harder to see.
She realized the floor wasn’t cracked so much as it was melted. A puddle of black goo formed a thirty centimeter tall oblong ridge around the crater. As she came closer she noticed a network of what look to be spider webs crisscrossing the opening in the floor forming a sort of dense funnel as it went deeper. She sensed movement rather than actually seeing it with her eyes.
She realized she had been hearing a high-pitched squeal in her ears for some time now. It wasn’t until Kirk left that the sound began to grow more intense. She shook her head wondering if perhaps water had gotten into her ear canal.
A memory surfaced of a long ago day when she visited the university for the first time... she was expected on a Monday but arrived in New York City a day early. Not being able to contain her enthusiasm, she went to Cornell even though she didn’t expect anyone to be around. She just wanted to see the building, to walk about the campus, and become familiarized with the neighborhood.
Studying the history of Cornell University, she learned it was founded on the precepts of providing an education to all manner of people both rich and poor. It was one of the first universities to admit women. Students were free to study their own courses of study and encouraged to develop new and innovative solutions to the world's problems.
Much to her surprise, someone opened the door for her when she walked up to peer into the window.
"Oh... hello... I didn’t expect anyone to be here today."
"Oh, hey... are you the new student from England?"
The boy could not be more than twelve years old. His long dirty blonde hair hung over his shoulders and he kept spasmodically jerking his neck to keep it out of his eyes. His head was enormous compared to the rest of his body and he wore a pair of glasses set in a huge oversized black frame perched precariously on his nose. He had pinched nostrils as if he smelled something bad and a habit of rubbing his huge ears with his thumb and forefinger as he spoke. When he blinked he looked like an owl.
She assumed this must be some kind of prank and began to walk away.
"It's okay... I'm new here too. My name is Micah. I'm from Los Angeles. I'm the youngest student ever to be admitted to Cornell University. I heard a girl from Oxford is coming to visit. Your accent is a dead giveaway. Hey! I'm here running some experiments. Want to see?"
"What kind of experiments?"
"I'm into nanotechnology. The professors are pretty rigid about what work I can do. They're afraid containment might be breached. So I come here on weekends when only the custodians are around. They know me so they don’t mind letting me in."
Despite her misgivings she followed Micah into the building and up the stairs to the top floor. He was obviously very proud of the work he was doing and wasn’t a bit shy about telling her all about it.
"I call my nanotechnology creations Try-Rights. They are programmed to continually evolve. They essentially exist simply to try to be right.
"In the not too distant future, doctors will no longer be needed. Instead, as soon as someone is born they will be injected with nanobots, my Try-Rights. Once inside their body, these Try-Rights will immediately repair any cellular damage that occurs. Disease will be a thing of the past... aging too. We will be able to modify the Try-Rights by uploading new software programs any time we wish. We can even disable them if necessary."
"I'm sorry Micah but this all sounds a lot like science fiction. Are you being serious or playing a joke on me?"
"I'm as serious as cancer. In twenty years I'm going to revolutionize the world. You'll see. Come on over here."
He took her to a booth set up in a corner of a non-descript room full of equipment which had the look of being purloined from a junk heap. The box he pointed out sat on a solid wooden table. It seemed to be made of some type of alloy she had not seen before... the metal looked black as if it was painted and yet it was clearly not coated with anything. It was a perfect cube roughly thirty centimeters square on each side. She could not see any opening or door in it.
"This is my containment chamber. It's made of a special elasticized metal that is completely non-porous. That's important on account of my Try-Rights being smaller than the molecules of most metals. They could go right through it."
"There's no window in it. How can we see the Try-Rights, Micah?"
"We can't see them, not directly... an electron microscope will disrupt their programming. We can only infer them."
"But how do you make something you cannot see? How do you know they are even in there?"
"They are self-replicating semi-organic silicon-based devices capable of learning by trial and error. They basically assemble themselves. I sealed them inside the containment vessel two weeks ago. During that time, they should have evolved through more than a hundred thousand generations. Each new generation selectively breeds new and better ways of reacting with human tissue. That's their sole purpose... that's all they do... work toward the betterment of human beings."
"I'm beginning to see why your professors are wary of your experiments, Micah."
"But think of it, Karen... we will soon have the ability to cure cancer, to heal broken bones in minutes, to grow new limbs... the possibilities are endless."
She wanted to ask him if his invention would heal broken hearts too but looking into his excited eyes she changed her mind.
"What if these nanobots decide we're not worth the trouble, Micah? What if they evolve into an intelligent species that views our kind as a sort of competitor? They could turn against us."
"Now you sound like my professors, Karen. I use certain protocols to insure against that eventuality. I use a version of Isaac Asimov's three laws of robotics as a foundation in my work. Try-Rights cannot harm human beings under any circumstances, through action or inaction. They have to obey their programming except when it conflicts with rule one, and they must protect their own existence except when it conflicts with rules one and two."
"I'm not making fun of you... but have you tried them out yet?"
"Oh no... according to my calculations, they need to evolve in the neighborhood of a hundred million generations before they're fully operational. I estimate that will take about four years. The problem is finding a test subject."
"What about using lab mice?"
"My Try-Rights are engineered for human tissue only, though in theory they should be able to evolve into being compatible with any living creature. Of course that will take many more years. So I'm considering trying them on myself if I have enough time. I have a terminal disease... the doctors say I’ll be in a wheelchair within a year and dead within five."
"Do you mind if I ask about your diagnosis?"
"They tell me I have idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis. Since you're in medical school you probably know there are limited treatment options... basically there are none that are effective."
"I'm sorry, Micah."
"Don’t be sorry, Karen. If I didn’t have this disease I would be like any other twelve year old. I'd be home playing video games and stuffing my face with fast food. Instead, I'm blessed with a purpose. I have a goal. I can change the lives of countless people with my work. I feel like the luckiest person on earth."
It wasn’t radiation and it wasn’t some kind of newly evolved spiders she was seeing in that crater in the floor. Suddenly she was sure that she was witnessing Micah's Try-Rights in the real world, free of their containment chamber.
She heard footsteps. She turned, expecting Kirk and Nate to be there. Karen prided herself on her ability to adjust to even the most trying of situations but when she saw what was approaching her, she opened her mouth to
scream but like in a dream, no sound emerged. The room was fading from view. She saw a chair in front of her but when she attempted to reach for it, everything went black and she remembered no more.
Chapter 42—Sleep
"Why would they leave their guns here?"
Natalia shined her flashlight on three rifles lying upon the workbench beside the stairway. Ever since entering the basement a feeling of dread had been building at the base of her brain, almost a numbing sensation, as if someone or something sought to drain the energy from her mind leaving her with the taste of metal in her mouth.
"They probably thought they were safe inside."
Lily started up the stairs when Natalia laid a hand upon her shoulder to stop her. Widening her eyes, she swept the room as she whispered as quietly as she might and still be heard. There was something wrong here and she seemed to be the only one who felt the warnings.
"Look how clean everything is, lovely Lily. Is it possible someone lives here?"
"The building is shut to the outside, darling Natalia. That's all."
"Think about our cabin in Lake Baikal, my precious Lily... in just the few years between visits it is chock full of spider webs and dust. It is shut off from the outside elements too. No... this place is too clean. I tell you there is someone living here."
"I think Natalia is right, Lady Lily. Basements are always musty and dirty. I know... we used to rummage through the basements at Orchardton Hall when I was a kid. This building could well be inhabited. The owners might not take too kindly to us breaking in. Maybe that's what happened to Nate, Kirk, and Karen. Perhaps the occupants are watching us even now."
"Well... we can't stay down here. Nate and Karen and Kirk might be in trouble. If there are people here, they may have taken our family hostage. Let's keep quiet but we need to go upstairs right now."
Natalia watched as Lily began ascending the stairs again, her rifle at the ready, tip-toeing to lessen any noise she might otherwise make. Delilah followed right behind Lily as Natalia brought up the rear.
A door stood open at the top of the stairs. A sign over the door read 'floor one.' Without saying anything Lily removed her shoes before moving out of the stairwell into a hallway. Natalia and Delilah did the same.
She was glad to be out of that horrid cellar but the quiet of the building played upon her imagination. Natalia kept thinking she saw movement out of the corners of her eyes but when she turned to look there was nothing there but shadows. Lily stopped so abruptly that Delilah bumped into her. If their situation hadn’t been so untenable Natalia would have broken out in laughter.
As she looked about the room, she noticed someone had removed a number of computers and stacked them on the floor as if for later... Nate, no doubt making good on his eternal quest for knowledge.
"Look over there... that's where that stuff that looks like blood is coming from. Watch out for the broken glass."
Lily pointed to a spot and whispered as Natalia shined her flashlight on it. Apparently a large jar had recently been dropped by someone or something. A tiny grotesque figure lay in a puddle of red liquid and sparkling shards of glass with its mouth gaping like a fish suddenly out of water. Someone stepped in the liquid leaving footprints leading back to the stairwell.
"They went upstairs, darling Natalia."
Lily raised a finger to indicate footprints on the stairs.
"It looks like they're in a hurry too, sweet Lily."
She could see that whoever it was had taken the stairs two at a time. Natalia wished they were back at Orchardton Hall or Lake Baikal or anyplace other then here. She felt a need to shout Nate's name yet she knew she'd betray their presence.
Silently, Lily began climbing the steps again with her rifle raised. Natalia followed Delilah as before glancing in back of them every step or so just to make sure nothing was following them. She couldn’t shake the feeling of being watched.
As they puffed up the stairs the footprints faded and then disappeared altogether. Lily stopped at each landing to try the doorknobs but they were all locked.
"They must have kept on going until they reached the top."
"I think you're right, my lovely Lily. Take care... it looks as if we are nearly there too. Whatever happened to them might be waiting for us as well."
At the top landing Lily turned the knob and the door opened. She stood silently peering down the hallway as Delilah stepped up beside her. Natalia hung back just a few steps, reluctant to commit herself to the dread that had been steadily building in the pit of her stomach as she climbed the stairs.
Finally she summoned the will and stepped forward to follow the others. She found herself in a hallway with blindingly bright white walls. She could not tell where the light was emanating from... it seemed as if the paint itself was luminescent. The entrances on either side of the hallway were closed but at the far of the corridor a set of double doors stood open.
She had been hearing something for a few minutes without realizing it. Apparently Delilah heard the same thing as she put a hand out to stop Lily from advancing any farther as she whispered to her.
"Do you hear that hum, Lady Lily? It sounds like an engine running."
"It's probably noise from some type of power generator, darling Delilah."
"It sounds as if the noise is coming from in the room at the end of the hallway, sweet Lily."
"I think you are right, darling Natalia. Let us move carefully. We could be in danger."
When they walked through the double doors she noticed that, just as the basement and the first floor, this room too was meticulously clean. She expected it to be full of cob webs and dust like all the other old buildings they visited over the last one hundred years.
"I am telling you someone lives here, Lady Lily."
"You are starting to spook me, precious Delilah. Who could be living here? A century has elapsed since the Great Dying. It doesn’t seem possible anyone could have survived for that long alone in this building."
"But look around, Lady Lily. Everything is too neat and clean. Buildings begin falling apart when no one is around. This building is being cared for."
"I hear something... listen."
Natalia stood stock still with her hand raised to her right ear to signal silence from the other two. It soon became apparent to her that in a nearby room someone was pacing the floor.
"Maybe it's Nate, Kirk, and Karen."
Natalia's voice was little more than a whisper. The floorboards creaked as if some great weight was being placed upon them.
"Whoever or whatever that is walking around up there, darling Natalia, it is bigger than our people... a lot bigger."
Lily seemed unwilling to lead Natalia and Delilah into danger. Once again the desire to leave and never return came rushing over Natalia. But then she felt a mother's protective instinct kick in and she knew she could never leave without her son and the others.
"Maybe one of us should sneak through that door in front of us to see what's happening, my sweet Lily. They may need our help."
There was a faint odor in the air, a scent oddly familiar and yet odious, nauseating and sweet. Natalia's head was spinning, or perhaps it was the room. Out of the corner of her eye she saw Delilah reaching out for the edge of a table and not making it; instead, she collapsed on the floor in a heap. Looking at Lily, she realized her lover had already fallen. She seemed to be sound asleep even though they were talking but a moment ago.
"It's poison gas."
By the time the words are out of her mouth, Natalia felt herself floating to the floor too. Everything happened in slow motion. She scolded herself to get up, to help Delilah and Lily. But she was so sleepy.
Perhaps if she closed her eyes for just a moment she would find the strength to continue.
Chapter 43—Abandoned
"I can't believe you would do this to me."
Ena went in search of a fourth crew member since Lady Lauren informed her that she had decided to stay behind rather than s
ailing to America. Ginger was pregnant and she didn’t want to leave the girl all alone at Orchardton Hall.
The sailing ship Maon and Sileas discovered in a warehouse in Montrose on their way to Aberdeen turned out to be in surprisingly good condition. Within a week Maon pronounced it seaworthy, asking Ena and Sileas to sail with him around the old British Isles on a shake out cruise.
"My darling Ena, I believe we should have a crew of four. The three of us can probably handle everything unless we get in trouble. But a fourth member would come in handy if we run into rough weather. Do you think Alpin will come along with us?"
When her father spoke his name Ena realized she hadn’t seen Alpin for many days. When she asked around to try and locate him some of her friends seemed reluctant to say where they'd seen him. Finally she discovered him on the beach early the next morning. He was wading out of the ocean as a steady rain fell.
"Why do you want me to go, Ena?"
"We had four crew members but Lady Lauren isn’t going now. She found out Ginger is pregnant with Kāne's baby so she wants to stay here to help if she needs aid in giving birth."
"But you're pregnant too and you're going."
"It's her grandson, darling Alpin. And this is our baby... I thought you might like to come along if nothing more than to be around us in case something happens."
She touched her growing baby bump while looking down, not wanting to see the look of aberrance in his eyes that she knew was there, wondering where the love had gone that he once lavished upon her.
"I'm seeing someone else, Ena. I think I'm in love with her. It's Amanda. I'm sorry, Ena... I didn’t know how to tell you."
She wasn’t sure she heard his words correctly at first. It took several seconds to digest the news he was delivering this morning. Shaking her head she turned and walked away without uttering a word.
She heard the rumors but ignored them as simple prattle of the People. She told herself it didn’t matter. Everything she needed was provided for. She took his love for granted for all these years but now she knew it wasn’t the kind she desired. His love was twisted, somehow, and mean-spirited. Still, she always believed Alpin would come to see that he was wrong... that he really loved her as a wife and mother and not as just his sister.