Lena’s bottom lip popped out, and tears threatened to spill down her flush cheeks.
“Come on, Lena,” said Sarah. “Let’s go play in your room and let Daddy get back to work.” Sarah tugged Lena’s arm and Lena slumped away.
Just as Lena reached the corner and was almost out of view, she looked over her shoulder, “You can’t keep me safe, Daddy. This place is not safe—out there is.”
I watched until she turned the corner and was out of view before her words sunk in. She was only a child; she didn’t know what was safe and what wasn’t. I blinked the thoughts away. I was doing this for her. I was doing this for us. And I’d keep her safe. I was the only one who could.
Wasn’t I?
Two more years of hard work and I had seen little progress. We had reached over seven hundred subjects and only one had been close to succeeding, but they had lasted only two days after being reborn when a virus threatened to take over their body and we were forced to end its life. There was no connection to what made Lena different. I tried anyone with her same blood type, same hair color, gender, skin tone, age even, but they never worked.
I had begun to think she was an anomaly and the only of her kind. I doubted my theories and test results, wondering if I had somehow imagined it all. What if Lena was actually not a Carbon and I hadn’t ever created anything as special as her. But every time that thought entered my mind, I’d go to the hidden room just past my office where Lena’s human host body lay still in the pod that kept her alive. It had worked, and it wasn’t all a dream.
I studied Lena more closely. We took scans, ran tests, anything to figure out what made her different. I thought I knew everything there was to know about the Carbons I was trying to create until the morning Lena exploded.
We were running a few more tests, and Lena had grown tired of it all. She did not enjoy being poked and prodded every day like some lab rat, and it seemed that day was the last straw. I was testing out the Carbon’s ability to regenerate itself when I took a sharp scalpel and slid it across her arm. I had done this before, and though she always winced for a moment, the wound healed itself and she was back to normal within seconds. But this time, the minute the blade touched her skin, she let out a thunderous scream, and I was pushed back, flying through the air before I connected hard with a wall.
I scrambled to my knees, my head pounding as a small cut formed where my skull had connected with the wall. Lena’s eyes were wide with fear and worry as she jumped down from the chair and ran over.
“Daddy, are you okay? I don’t know what happened!” she said at my side, and I took her hand for support as I stood on shaky legs.
“It’s okay, darling, I’m okay.” I dabbed my hand to my forehead where I winced. Lena grabbed me a towel, which I pressed against the wound.
“What was that?” I asked, mostly to myself.
“I’m so sorry, Daddy. I don’t know what I did, I just got scared and mad, and there was this burning in my chest that felt like a fire waiting to explode. And I felt it building and building until…I let it go.” Lena’s head dropped as she waited for me to scold her.
I put my arm around her and pulled her in close. “Don’t worry dear. I’m okay. We’ll figure out what happened. Don’t worry.”
Lena relaxed under my arm.
Peter came into the room to find papers and trays tossed over from the incident. I was still bleeding from the gash on my forehead.
“I’ll call in a MediBot,” Peter said as he ran over to the intercom on the wall.
“You might as well go play, Lena. We’ll have a look at everything and try again tomorrow.” I told her. She looked disappointed that the testing would still continue, but she knew it was important not just to me, but to her.
With a nod and another apology, Lena left.
The MediBot came in, and Peter directed it to where I sat at my desk. “How may I be of assistance, sir?”
“Just need a few stitches.” I pulled the towel away from my forehead where the bleeding had almost already stopped, but the gash was still there.
The MediBot ran a scan of my body before stepping forward. “I have detected three additional areas that need attending to. Would you like me to list them in priority sequence?”
Three more areas? I didn’t think I had hit the wall that hard, but maybe I had been injured somewhere else. “Uh, sure, what are they?” I asked.
“I have detected Stage IV cancer in the lungs, heart, and stomach. End of life transition is already in process.”
I nearly fell out of my chair.
“What?” Peter came beside me as I stared at the ground.
“The subject will die soon. No cure recommended.” The MediBot stepped closer as it placed a numbing gel across my forehead and stitched up the gash.
My hands were shaking. My entire body was shaking. How could this possibly be? I couldn’t even comprehend what the bot was saying.
“How long?” Peter asked, his voice a whisper against the ringing that had settled in my ears.
“Subject’s estimated time remaining is four-to-six months.” The bot placed a white patch over my stitched-up wound.
“How long if we try traditional treatments? Chemo? Radiation? Surgery?” Peter questioned.
“It is not recommended to waste time and resources at this stage,” the MediBot replied.
“We don’t care about your recommendations! How long, dammit?” Peter screamed at the bot as it made its way out the room.
“The subject’s life would only be prolonged a few more months,” it said before it cleared the corner and left.
I hadn’t moved from the spot I sat, in shock.
Peter paced in front of me. “We’ll find a way, there are others we can ask,” he reassured me, but it was no use.
I had felt tired and weak the last few months, but I had also been working myself to the bone for years and never questioned when my body told me to slow down. I’d spent my life working to create a Carbon like my daughter, one that could save the world in so many ways, that it hadn’t ever occurred to me that I’d be the one in need of a miracle.
We spent the next month contacting doctors and specialists for any solution we could find to fix the cancer growing in my body, but everyone had the same reply. They could extend my life for a few more months than predicted, but no one could save me. No one could keep me alive with my daughter.
Peter paced back and forth while I sat at my desk in Sub 9, overlooking the city of Cytos. I had spent my entire life in this city, it was a place I had once loved, but it felt like a prison. I had done so much for these people, so much more than they realized, but when my time of need came, there was no one there to help me.
“There’s a scientist in Kuros working on a device that will circulate medication throughout the body on a continual basis. It says here that each cuff is specifically made for each patient with their DNA attached to it and that it can keep any drug circulating throughout the body,” Peter said, reading another email he had received from potential helpers.
“What is their success rate?” I asked.
Peter swallowed before he spoke, “22.4%.”
That was still not enough. By the time we reached this man and had him create a cuff for me, I’d already be too far gone for modern medicine to keep me alive. If I was being honest with myself, I was already too far gone in general.
I shook my head at Peter. “No, there is not enough time. There is no one else to ask. The last person who we could call upon would be ourselves.”
Peter stood in front of me. “Ian, I am the closest thing to a friend that you’ve got. I will do whatever I have to. Just tell me what to do.”
I looked up at my assistant who had grown a lot over the past thirteen years we’d known each other. My friend who was there for me in my darkest hour, willing to be there for me when the time came again. And I knew what we had to do.
“Set everything up. We will start the process today.”
Chapter S
even
It’d take a week for the microbots to collect all the data it needed from my body. Having more time than we did with Lena, we didn’t rush the process. I still had a few months left; she’d only had hours.
I took that week to prepare Lena for the worst and to ensure she’d be set for a long time. Sarah’s husband and their young son, Anthony, sat with me in my office one afternoon. I had called them in to ask them to sign papers stating they’d take full custody of Lena should anything happen.
Richard, Sarah’s husband, had already been given a job in Sub 9 as an information’s officer, and I’d ensure they had more than enough money to take care of my girl when I was gone.
Lena didn’t quite understand what I was telling her when I went to say my goodbye.
“But you aren’t leaving, why are you saying goodbye?” she asked.
“I may be gone, Lena. We aren’t sure what will happen, and I want you to know how much I love you. And that everything I have ever done has been for you. You know, that right, baby girl?” I brushed my hand against her cheek, and she frowned.
“Yes, I know that, Daddy, but you’re not leaving. You’re going to join me. We are always going to be together, that’s what you said. And you still haven’t taught me about my abilities or what happened that day.” Lena pouted.
In the midst of everything going on, I had forgotten how I even came to find out about this cancer spreading inside of me. Peter had been looking into the anomaly that had caused Lena to push me into that wall, but I hadn’t had the time to even look into the incident.
“Peter will take good care of you. And Sarah and Richard, you like them, don’t you?” I asked.
Lena nodded her tiny head once.
“Good. You and Anthony will be best of friends. He’ll look out for you.”
In the years that Sarah had taken care of Lena, she had introduced her to her son, Anthony, who was only a year older than Lena. He was a shy kid and didn’t say much, but he cared for Lena and watched over her like I did, carefully protecting her whenever he could.
“I won’t say goodbye,” Lena said as she stubbornly crossed her arms.
I knelt down so we were at the same level, and I pulled her into a hug. “You don’t have to, my girl. I will watch over you no matter where you are. No matter the distance between us, no harm will ever come to you. I love you, Lena.”
There was a slight jump in her shoulders as she let out a quiet sob before she wrapped her arms around my neck and hugged me tightly. “I love you too, Daddy,” she whispered.
My chest tightened, and it took everything in me to pull back and walk away from Lena, knowing I may never come back.
Peter was waiting for me with everything already set up. I lay down on the cold metal bed with a shiver. “Everything is ready?” I asked.
“It is.” Peter nodded. “I have upgraded the system to the new metal, the Alatonion, as you have instructed. And I have added the last thing you asked for…” Lena’s blood. Seeing as there was something different about her, the only factor I hadn’t tried was simply a part of her. So when the transition took place, a bit of her blood would transmit into me as well.
We had also been experimenting with a new metal that a scientist from the city of Kuros had discovered. Though it had made no difference on the Carbons we had tested the human hosts on, the metal was stronger and better. Even our base model Carbons had seen major upgrades with the Alatonion structure. If this experiment was to be successful, I wanted to ensure I had taken all the necessary precautions, just as I had with Lena.
“Then we are ready to go.” I nodded to Peter, my throat bobbed, and I swallowed back the emotions threatening to spill out.
Peter looked as though he was holding back as well. “It’s been an honor to work with you, Ian, sir.” And with a tight smile, Peter pressed the button, and I felt my lids grow heavy and tired.
I don’t know what dying feels like…but I could tell you what being reborn felt like. It was as if I had woken up from a deep sleep and was suddenly aware of every part of me. My eyes blinked at the ceiling before I thought to move my head. My limbs felt foreign and distant, yet they moved when I wanted them to and did what I asked them to.
I pushed myself up to a seated position. The metal table under my bare legs felt cold, and the little hairs on my arms rose at the cool air blowing down on me. The sensations filled my body and my mind with an awareness I’d never known someone could feel.
“Sir?” Peter spoke tentatively beside me, watching my every movement from a safe distance.
I stood. My bare feet felt light against the floor. As I took a few steps forward, it felt as though my entire body was gliding with me and I was weightless.
I stepped around the metal table toward my desk. I flexed out my hands in front of me and wiggled my toes as I walked. Each movement felt amplified and heightened.
“Ian?” Peter drew my attention again. It was only then that I noticed how gray his hair had become in the years we’d been working together. It was as if this new body made me notice the things I had pushed away for so long.
I looked down at the metal table that shone back my reflection and my speckled gray hair. I wasn’t a tall man and often I forgot how short I was, but I felt a power within me that hadn’t been there before.
My eyes met Peters once again, and I saw him tremble. “It worked,” I said.
Peter let out a lengthy breath as a smile spread across his face. He pumped his arm in the air as he let out a little whoop. “I can’t believe it…Say something else. I need to hear your voice.”
“What else do you want me to tell you?” I asked with a roll of my eyes. Every word was dripping with sarcasm, and every inflection could be heard.
Pete’s eyes widened with delight. “It’s really you! You’re…you!”
I nodded. “It’s really me.” And I knew it was, I felt it deep within me. I remembered everything. Every moment, every feeling. Every inch of pain and loss, love and hope. I felt it all.
And what stood out the most…vengeance.
Chapter Eight
My first task was to find out what had made this work. There was a clear connection between Lena and me that allowed us both to become Carbons, but there was no true indication of what. But I’d find out.
I tasked Peter with continuing to look into Lena’s incident from over a month ago. Truthfully, it was the last thing on my mind, but it was still something to investigate. Inside of my body, I felt an energy moving through it, like a vibrating current surrounding my body as a mini-force field would. I couldn’t explain what it was or how it worked, but this energy felt like it was a part of me.
“I think I found something,” Peter interrupted my thoughts as I poured over data from my transformation.
“What is it?” I asked with impatience.
“I re-watched the security cameras from Lena’s incident, but this time I checked out the thermal views to see if there was anything peculiar. Check this out.” Peter pulled up the video on my computer and changed the image to thermal views.
The screen showed nothing unusual at first. Both my body and Lena’s body showed normal thermal images. But then Lena’s began to glow. Her body temperature rose and the silhouette of her body was almost entirely red. Then in the blink of an eye, the red heat from Lena seemed to expand from her and push out like a giant balloon being popped. My body was tossed harshly into the wall.
I paused the video and rewound it. Putting the speed down to slow-motion, I watched again. And this time I saw the red heat transfer from Lena to a dome surrounding her like a shield that pushed me, and anything else, away from her.
“How is this possible?” I asked.
Peter shook his head. “Maybe it’s something all Carbons have? An ability to transfer their energy externally?”
“We need to test her again.”
Lena had been leery of me since I had returned in my Carbon body. I had explained to her what had happened and how I was l
ike her, but she still said I was different. As a child this would all be quite confusing to understand, so I tried to let it go. But she kept saying the same thing, “You feel different daddy.”
It had me on edge a bit, confused what she could mean by that, but she wasn’t wrong. I felt stronger, more powerful and beyond what my human body was ever capable of being. But it was the look in her eye and the flinch she tried to hide that caught me off guard.
Despite that, she was willing to continue letting us work on her and find out if what she did was something all Carbons could do, or only her.
We tried to recreate the scenario again, but she seemed less afraid this time, and whatever protective energies she had once shown were no longer there.
“Maybe we need to increase the stakes?” Peter said quietly so only I heard.
“In what way?” I asked, watching Lena over his shoulder as she played with the hem of her skirt.
“What if we used a bigger knife or a larger weapon?” Peter suggested.
My eyes widened. “Are you crazy? She’s just a girl.” I wouldn’t allow things to get out of hand. A small cut here and there for the sake of science was already enough. I wouldn’t push her any more than that.
Peter cowered at my scolding of his suggestion, and his shoulders drooped. But then he perked up. “What if it was just the illusion of something worse? She hadn’t even been cut that time before, her body panicked before it even happened. Maybe that would stir up the emotions,” Peter suggested.
I thought about this before I nodded my agreement, and Peter left the room to find a gun.
“Sweetie, we are going to try a different experiment, okay? You trust Daddy, right?” I squeezed her shoulder.
“Yes, of course,” she responded, though her brows crunched. She had grown so much in the last few years, a budding teenager stood before me, but the voice of a young woman came out of her mouth.
Untold: The Complete Watcher Series Mini Novellas (Watcher #4) Page 7