Everyone in the audience started talking at the same time.
Randall shoved her aside, nearly knocking her over. “What she's trying to say is—”
“The truth,” Kora hollered over him, “is that my friend Ishmael—who happens to be a squid—is the one who performed the operations. He's the only one who knows how to do it, and Randall has threatened to torture me to make him work.”
Confused laughter rumbled through the crowd. “What is this nonsense, Randall?” demanded a voice from the front row.
Randall plastered a smile over his enraged face. “Kora has had a stressful week and needs some rest. Don't you sweetheart? Why don't you come with me.”
He tried to grab Kora, but she evaded him. “I'm immortal,” she screamed, raising her left arm, “but if I take these pills in my hand, I'll enter a permanent coma from which I'll never wake. I'll be alive, but just barely, and Randall can torture me all he wants and it won't matter. Ishmael will know that I'm gone. I won't let Randall destroy the lives of those I love. Not anymore.”
Vaughn was fighting through a crowd of security to reach her, but he would be too late. They all would. This was the only way that she could free everyone from this madness. Kora was about to drop the pills onto her tongue when the projection of a hideous face appeared on the waterfall behind her like a vast movie screen. A monstrous man with long black hair that hung in filthy, matted chunks sat at a round, wooden table holding two delicate teacups in his massive paws. Caleb. How much he'd changed over the years. The wall behind him looked like jagged rock as if he were setting up a tea party in a deep mine. A naked electric light bulb dangled from a cord above his head, and every now and then it swayed as if touched by a light breeze.
Kora pocketed the pills for later and moved to the side of the stage. Randall, busy ordering guards to find out where the projection was coming from, had forgotten about her. At least for the moment. She could see why security was having so much trouble; the projection seemed to be coming from everywhere at once. An easy trick if you had the right equipment. Randall looked frantic, as if he recognized the clip. Kora focused her attention back on the movie to see why he was so eager to have it stopped. By now, the camera had turned away from Caleb and was focused on a younger Ruby who was drumming her long, black fingernails on the table. “Are we having a tea party together like little girls? I'd at least expected some cucumber sandwiches for the meeting.”
Randall's voice filled the theater and the camera swerved to show him looking so much older, Kora hardly recognized him. She'd done more surgery on him over the past ten years than she realized. “I wouldn't eat anything served in this morgue. I suppose this dreadful creature lives back here because he's nearly dead.”
“His name is Mud,” said Ruby. “He's the one who made the tea. I constructed him from an Englishman you gave me years ago. He has no ears or eyes, so just ignore him.”
“An Englishman?” Randall slid from his chair and circled Mud like a curious chimp, disappearing off the right side of the camera then reappearing on the left. “Absolutely hideous.” He tapped his chin with a finger. “I remember you wanted a Cyclops a while back. He’s definitely an early one where things went dreadfully wrong. Your creatures are all such miserable disasters, it's a good thing we cut you off when we did.”
Ruby pounded the table. “Can we start the meeting now? Or would you like to spend the rest of the evening insulting me?”
“Let's begin,” said Randall, sliding back into his seat. “You need blood, Kora out of your house, and in return I have about one hundred people I need to imprison who could feed your new vampire.”
“I'll need more than that,” said Ruby. “My vampire will kill his victims and suck them dry.”
Randall waved an elegant hand in the air covered with the same rings Kora had always seen on his fingers. “As long as these protests against Mirafield continue, you'll have as many as you want.”
Ruby leaned toward him across the table. “I don't want any trouble.”
“I've been giving you my enemies for years. Have you had any trouble yet?”
“No, but there's talk. Speculation about what happened to them. When people just disappear into the night, there's always rumors.”
“And where will these rumors lead?” said Randall, dusting off his sleeve. “The police? The government? I am all those things now, and talk will only lead here, to your dungeon.”
Ruby's eyes were sharp under hooded lids. “I want more than blood for Kora. She's brilliant. You saw Vaughn—just imagine how much you could get for a dozen of these superior creatures.”
“So long as they don't destroy the human race.” Randall took a suspicious drink from his tea, his eyes leveled on Mud. “Stephen Hawking once said that humans, who are limited by slow biological evolution, couldn't compete with superior creatures, and would be superseded.”
Ruby's face relaxed into a condescending smile. “Don't pretend to understand science, Randall. Your little brain can't handle it. Kora will find a way to make her synthetics safe. She's a malleable genius who is eager to please, like a child. And she'll make you more money than you've ever dreamed of. Kora will be Mirafield and because of that, I deserve half of the company.”
Randall made a choking sound. “Half? Are you insane?”
“I made her, and in ten years, I want her to perform the same procedure on me that she's planning for herself. I'll be seventy by then and ready for a new body. Ten years will give the girl enough time to practice.”
“If she even succeeds,” grumbled Randall.
“She will. If she doesn't, she'll die soon so she's highly motivated.”
Randall paused to think, and then stretched out his hand. “On the condition that she succeeds, you have a deal. If she fails, the whole thing is off. But before I deliver the fresh prisoners, I want all of the old ones killed.”
Ruby shook her head. “They are highly skilled craftsmen, now, in the middle of countless projects for my house.”
“You've got to be kidding?” Randall laughed. “You put them to work in a shop. I should have guessed. Still, I want them all dead, starting with this one.” He pointed a finger at Mud who flinched, making the camera shake.
Ruby gazed at Mud. “Why on earth do you care about him? He's nothing.”
“You may have destroyed him beyond recognition, but I still know my old business partner, Mortimer Rothschild,” said Randall. “Begin your killing spree with him.”
A woman in the audience screamed, “Morty! That's my lost husband,” but Kora couldn't tear her eyes away from the projection.
Ruby escorted Randall to the door, then returned to the table where she bent down and stared into the camera. “To think that at one time, this miserable cyclops was one of the richest men in England.”
“I'm not surprised,” replied Caleb. “Mud is brilliant. He and Kora have been close for many years.”
“Lovers? Just imagine those two together.”
Ruby laughed and slapped her knee, but Caleb scowled. “They are merely old friends.”
“Friends… I see.” Ruby slithered into her chair. “Funny you should mention old friends because I just happen to have one of yours with me.” She reached beneath the folds of her dress and drew out a massive hunting knife with a great, jagged blade. “Kill him, then all the others like Randall ordered.”
Caleb stared at the blade Ruby placed on the table before him. “Why must I do this?”
Ruby pursed her lips where wrinkles were just forming in the pale skin. She glanced at Mud who remained as immobile as a wooden post. “No one is better at bringing death back where it belongs than you, Caleb. The catacomb will return to a place of quiet decay.”
“Kora is my wife, and these people are my family. Mud is like a brother to me.”
“When are you going to get over this delusion that Kora gives a shit about you? And your family is lying in a tank upstairs in my lab. Have you forgotten about the little son I’m building
for you?”
The camera jerked slightly, then returned to stillness.
“I have not forgotten.”
“Then get to work. Or would you rather I dumped your little boy? You’ve seen me do that many times before. I believe we have an entire section of the dumped down here somewhere.”
“NO.” Caleb surged to his feet, nearly knocking the table over, but Mud remained as still as stone.
“Then kill this faceless doorstop.” Ruby paused in the doorway. “When I return here tomorrow, I expect a tomb. Understand?”
Caleb paused, staring into the camera while Ruby waited for his answer. “I will do as you ask.”
After she was gone, Caleb snatched up his teacup and smashed it against the wall. “Why can she not do it herself?” he signed in furious jerks, while a voice translator sounded the signs into words.
Mud didn’t respond right away, but the camera moved as if he was relaxing back into his chair. Then he reached out a beautiful hand and ran a delicate finger along the knife blade. “I believe this weapon and I have met before, long ago,” he signed.
“I am sure I stabbed you in the heart like the others before I brought you down here,” Caleb signed back to him.
“I’ve always wondered why Kora saved me when I was the most pitiful wretch in the pile. I’ve often wished she let me die.”
Caleb sat with his massive head in his hands. “You finally get your wish.”
Mud paused before signing. “So I was his business partner, Mortimer Rothschild. I always knew he betrayed me.” The camera drifted across the room for a moment before it focused back on Caleb. “Typical, isn't it? Just when I finally learn my real name, my life is over. I’ve longed for death, which is part of the reason I've lived back here, but the possibility that I might one day have revenge on Randall kept me going. Now, Caleb, you’ll help me with both.”
“Both of what?” asked Caleb. Though his face was hidden, it was easy to see from the way Caleb gripped his hair that he was already lost.
“Revenge and death.” Mud folded his hands in front of him. “Did my eye just record Randall and Ruby's dreadful plans for Kora?”
Caleb looked up and studied Mud before answering. “When Kora and I installed the cybernetic camera so you could see, I hooked it up to a drive lodged in your brain, just as you asked. From the day of that surgery, many years ago, every moment of your dreary life down here was recorded.”
“You were a clever giant back then, Caleb. After you kill me, remove the drive and put it in a blue Tiffany's box, and place it here.” Mud pressed a hand against his heart and then crossed his arms over his chest. “Maybe with your help, Kora will find it. My final gift to her will be my death.”
“Why a Tiffany box?” growled Caleb. “You are my good friend, but that will be difficult for me to find. Ruby's jewelry was all crafted down here.”
“I may not have recalled my own name, all these years, but I remember my beautiful wife and the jewels I once gave her from that shop on Rodeo Drive. This is my last request, Caleb. Kora knows these stories and the box will assure her that it's from me.”
“Very well.” Caleb grabbed the knife handle. “I will find this Tiffany box and hide it as you ask.”
“Just be sure that Ruby never finds it.”
“I will be careful,” said Caleb, stripping off his ragged shirt to reveal a broad muscular chest, crisscrossed in thick scars. “Shall I cover your eye before I kill you, my brother?”
“Thank you, Caleb. You are as merciful as you are helpful.”
The giant paused, his ragged shirt in his hands. “I bring only misery and death to those I love.”
“Things will be different with your son. You will bring each other great joy.” Mud placed a hand on Caleb's massive shoulder and Kora felt a deep longing for her old friend. If only she could have said goodbye to him. If only she'd known all this before so she could have plotted Randall's agonizing death.
Caleb smiled revealing gruesome yellow teeth. “I will never forget today, my brother, and everything we have talked about. Someday, when all of my work is done, I will join you here in the darkness.” He leaned forward, holding up the rag, and the camera went dark.
Tears streamed down Kora's face as she turned to face the stunned audience. The old woman, who was presumably Mud's widow, stood on a chair wailing and beside her, in the center of the brewing storm, stood Alex, her arm still raised with the projection streaming from her wrist device. She had the drive that Kora lost. The disk of secrets.
Alex walked onstage, straight up to Kora. “I wanted to use this drive for selfish reasons, Doctor, but there are things I saw on here that changed my mind. I know I'll regret this later, but here.” She snapped the hard drive off of her wrist device and pressed it into Kora's hands.
Kora pocketed the drive as guards rushed toward them. “You've doomed yourself by coming up here. You should go, Alex.”
Alex took Kora's hand. “They will find me and dismantle me for what I've done, but that was bound to happen eventually. I am ready.” Randall's human guards tackled Alex and dragged her across the stage.
“Let her go!” Kora ran after Alex, who didn't bother fighting against the arms that bound her.
Ivan jumped out of his wheelchair to help, but Randall scooped him up and dangled him in the air. “We don't need anymore of your comments, sir.”
“Mirafield is the enemy!” Ivan screeched right before Randall punched him in the chest, knocking the wind out of him.
“You're one of Ruby's pitiful monsters,” said Randall. “I would have recognized you, but the lights were in my eyes.” He squeezed Ivan's neck until the tiny man's face turned a greenish color. Kora jumped on Randall's back to stop him, but his human guards grabbed her by the arms and easily pulled her off.
“That’s enough, Randall,” said Vaughn, climbing onstage. “Let Ivan go.”
“God I hate vampires,” said Randall, dropping Ivan so he could punch Vaughn in the jaw.
Kora struggled against the arms that bound her as Vaughn tumbled to the stage floor, his face dazed and eyes unfocused.
“You let that bastard hit you,” wheezed Ivan, laboring to breathe.
Randall waited as Vaughn staggered to his feet. “I know Ruby pampered you like a precious poodle, but it’s time you got used to how things are around here for synthetics.” He plunged his fist into Vaughn’s stomach and he fell helplessly onto his back where he lay writhing in pain.
Ivan, still a sickly shade of green, crawled toward Vaughn. “What's happening? Why aren't you fighting back?”
“Synthetics can't fight humans,” said Alex, grabbing Ivan and drawing him back into her arms. “Don't even try to interfere. They're too strong.”
Vaughn dragged himself up once again and stumbled, nearly falling back to the floor as blood streamed down his face.
“Why are you letting him do this to you?” cried Ivan.
“I’ll tell you why,” said Randall, delicately rolling up his sleeve. “Because Kora, bless her heart, made sure that her synthetics couldn’t hurt humans. Good for me—bad for you. I'm sorry that I'll have to dismantle Alex because I enjoyed beating the shit out of her, especially during the early days when she tried to fight back.”
Ivan shook himself free of Alex and raised his tiny fists. “Get ready to die, you slime ball.”
Randall buckled with laughter. “Why Alex! You have a knight in shining armor.”
Ivan streaked across the stage and Randall drew back his arm. He swung as hard as he could at Ivan’s head, but it never made contact. Vaughn grabbed Randall’s fist a mere inch from Ivan’s jaw, and Randall screamed as he watched Vaughn crush the bones. The human guards, still holding Kora, huddled in confusion as Vaughn rose up from the floor, dangling Randall upside down by one ankle.
“I’ll tear his arms and legs off if any of you make a single mistake,” said Vaughn in a loud voice as the audience cheered. “First, I want you to let go of Kora, then I want my friend
s released from prison and escorted to Kora's lab. When we're done there, I want transportation back to Malibu for all of us, including the squid.”
“In a copter,” said Ivan, a huge grin on his bruised face. “And we get to keep it.”
The guards released Kora and she ran to Vaughn, careful to avoid Randall who was struggling like a caught salmon in Vaughn's grasp. “I totally forgot that you're unchipped,” she whispered, kissing him on the cheek.
“How can you do this?” asked the lead guard, staring at Vaughn in wonder. “You are synthetic and Randall is human.”
“Vaughn beats up humans all the time,” said Ivan with his hands on his hips. He gave Vaughn a little shove. “I knew you were faking it.”
Several shots rang out and Vaughn jerked forward with each hit. Everyone in the audience gasped and Kora tried to shield him, but she wasn't fast enough. He'd been hit by at least three lasers from a dismantling gun and in a matter of seconds, Vaughn's blood would boil and his heart would burst in his chest. She threw her arms around him, expecting him to fall at any moment but to her amazement, he stayed up.
“Throw down your guns,” hollered Vaughn, “or I'll do this, but much harder.” He bonked Randall's head on the floor.
Randall, upside down and cradling his mangled hand, screamed at his guards. “Do everything he says. Everything!”
The crowd burst into applause. “Oh my god,” said Kora, jumping up and down. “It just came back to me! I built you like Ishmael. You don't need to breathe and you can't be dismantled!”
Vaughn bent down and kissed Kora on the lips, careful to hold Randall as far from her as he could. “That's because he and I are brothers, remember? He wasn't kidding when he told us that back in your lab the day you fixed my stomach. I just wish I had six other arms right now.” He wagged his eyebrows up and down and shot her a devilish smile. “Just imagine the things I could do.”
Synthetic: Dark Beginning Page 27