“Fine, fine. No matter.” He laughed again. “I love the sea, you know. When I was a boy, my father took me sailing clear around the globe.”
Chase continued to study the implements in the room. He stood and walked to the far side of the lab. Probes and wires, some quite outdated, littered a metal table. He picked up an implement. “I’d like to talk to my mother.”
“Put that down. You might hurt yourself.”
Chase dropped the thing and returned to his seat. “What are we going to do?”
Dr. Fiender swiveled in his chair in an almost childlike manner. “We’re going to talk about your future.”
“My reassignment?”
“Yes, exactly—your role in SynVue’s new venture.”
“I’m a little confused about how all this happened, Bob. Can I call you Bob?”
“No one calls me that.” The doctor tapped his finger on the desktop. “But if it makes you happy, I suppose it wouldn’t hurt.”
“Do you want me to be happy?”
“Chase, please, stay on course.”
“OK, back to my confusion. You see, I don’t understand how we went from you helping me with my show to me being turned into some kind of showpiece for your benefit.”
“I saved your life. You sound unappreciative.”
Chase checked his tone. “I am grateful to be alive, Robert. I just want to know how we got here. You had to have been in touch with Kerstin, or someone at SynVue, before I was attacked. It’s like you were on notice to come and save me. How else could it have all happened so fast?”
“Chase, are you suggesting someone inside SynVue planned for you to be shot that night? Do you think I had something to do with it?”
“It’s all a little too convenient.”
“I can see how you would jump to conclusions, not knowing about my dealings with the network. Believe me, it’s not what happened. No one knows how the M-snipe got into the auditorium or who would have wanted to kill you. That’s why you’re under guard. If the person, or organization, wanting you dead could get a weapon in there, they might get one in here. We won’t allow that to happen.”
“Protecting your investment?”
The doctor tapped again and sighed. “I brought you here to discuss the future.”
“If you don’t know the truth about your past, you have no future.”
“Now you’re a philosopher. I didn’t program that into your exoself.”
“I’m a realist, that’s all. I was really, really happy with my life. And now everything is gone. My show, my purpose, my relationship with Kerstin. I can’t even talk to my best friend or to my own mother. You can see how I would be discouraged, can’t you, Bob?”
“Why would you think your relationship with Kerstin is over?”
“She’s moved on.” Chase slumped into the chair. “She has a new show with a new host. She treats me like a lab rat.” He picked at the frayed blue fabric on the armrest. “Besides, I said some things to her. I made her mad.”
The doctor didn’t ask any questions, only waited.
“I told her she should stop eating rats.”
“Like yourself? A lab rat?”
“Her feelings have changed.”
“She hasn’t mentioned that you insulted her. In fact, she speaks of you fondly. No doubt she’s quite busy with the new show, but her focus these past days has been your upcoming special with Larin. She wants it to be perfect. For your sake.”
“Everything Kerstin does is for her own sake.”
The doctor shrugged. “Then why don’t you move on, too? Why would you want to be involved with her on a personal level?”
“I guess it’s hard to let go.”
“Who is this best friend with whom you’re not allowed to speak?”
“Melody Reese, my assistant. Right now she is the only person I trust. If she told me to go into this thing wholeheartedly, I’d do it. I’d take what you’ve given me and use it to the best of my ability. But I have a feeling she’d tell me to…”
“To what? To run? There is no way out of this, Chase.” The doctor stood and studied one of the screens. “Turn on your data bank.”
“I have to be in the mood.”
Fiender gave him an impatient stare.
“Fine” Chase said. “What do you want to know?”
“Think of Melody. Do you know her assignment code?”
He thought for a moment, and there it was. “21076-44.”
“Put a tracker on that number.”
“I don’t know how.”
“Figure it out. You just pulled up a number you didn’t know. Now track the number.”
Chase’s thoughts merged into the exoself, and he took hold of a numerical program sorted by quadrants in the WR. He zipped through the northeast files, pulling up Melody’s number in seconds. “She’s working for a SynVue subsidiary,” Chase said. “Office is in Brooklyn. She’s got a desk job, no contact with the public. She’s a fact checker.” He folded his arms. “She’s better than that.”
“Does it matter?” Fiender asked. “You know where she is. You have her office number right there in your head. Call her if you want.”
“You’re really going to let me do that?”
“I don’t see what it could hurt.”
“I thought when you got rid of that nurse, Patty…”
“I don’t know anything about getting rid of a nurse. Was this person going to contact Melody for you?”
Chase hesitated. “I don’t know. We talked. Then she was gone—reassigned.”
The doctor shook his head and raised his brow. “Maybe she was needed elsewhere. I wouldn’t give it much thought.”
“What about my mother?”
“Pull up her number.”
Chase found the number assigned to Kim Redding. But it took him nowhere. “It’s not coming up in the southeast.” He checked the other quadrants. “I don’t understand.”
“How long has it been since you spoke with your mother?”
“Three months, maybe four.”
“We ran her number already, Chase. She’s out of the system.”
Chase stood and walked to the edge of Fiender’s desk. “What do you mean she’s out? She’s got a good job with the parks department. She’s not old enough to be put out, unless she’s sick or something.”
The doctor lifted his hands, his palms up. “We can’t find her.”
“So put some data thing in me that locates the ousted. There’s got to be a way to tell where people go, even if they’re not working for the WR.”
“Of course, those receiving assistance, people waiting for new assignments—they’re accounted for.”
“So let’s find her.” Chase walked aimlessly in front of the lighted screens. “Program me or something.”
“Your mother is not on those lists.”
“Which means?”
“She’s gone rogue—probably joined a militant group. Or else she just got tired of the system and removed herself. Either way, she’ll not be able to support herself or receive benefits from WR programs.”
“Militant group…Like the Constitution Rebels? My mother never objected to the rewriting.”
“There are other groups. Dissenters of the Republic. Or perhaps she found religion.”
“Not my mother. My father maybe, but he’s dead.”
“Could be that you don’t know her as well as you think, Chase. People change.”
“She must have heard about me being shot.” Chase ran his fingers through his hair. “I know she cares what happens to me.”
“I’ll leave you for a moment, and you can call your friend Melody. But you mustn’t tell her too much. Don’t reveal your identity to anyone else who may answer that number. And don’t even think about trying the hologram mode—it’s disabled.”
Chase nodded. “I get it.” He sat across from the doctor. “Not everyone involved in religious activities gets ousted. Not that I think my mother is involved in anything like tha
t.”
“You know anyone who is?”
“I just don’t believe the WR can oust everybody who says a prayer or helps the underprivileged.”
“It’s the responsibility of the government to take care of the needy.”
Chase thought about the poor souls gathered for family dinners in the field of vans. “People fall through the cracks.”
“I’ll go and get us both some lunch,” the doctor said. “When I come back, we’ll talk about your re-entry into society as the first man of the new form.”
“A living, breathing computer man. New wonder of the world.”
The doctor laughed. “That’s my boy.”
As soon as he was alone, Chase roamed the place looking for a way out. No back door, no windows. Plenty of cameras and motion sensors. He dropped into the blue chair. Scanning Mel’s data again, he came across a contact number under the heading WR/Brooklyn. He pulled his new VPad from his pocket and spoke the number into the small screen.
“WR Special Assignments, Brooklyn office. How can I direct your call?”
“Melody Reese, please.”
“Ms. Reese has gone home for the day.”
He closed his eyes. He had nothing to lose by telling the truth. He might even learn something. “This is Chase Sterling.”
“That’s not funny. Poor man is so bad off he’ll probably never wake up.”
Chase had to think fast. “It was worth a try. My sister was his assistant. Poor man. I thought maybe you’d give him Melody’s private number. But you wouldn’t give it to just any old guy saying he was her brother.”
“You’re right, I wouldn’t. If you’re her brother, why don’t you know her number?”
“She just got reassigned. She got a new number when she left Chicago and moved to New York. I didn’t get her new number programmed, and I forgot it.”
“Uh-huh.”
“I’m serious. What’s your name?”
“Hillary, but don’t think you’re going to sweet talk me.”
“I wouldn’t try that, Hillary. The thing is I need to talk to my sister. It’s about Mr. Sterling. I’m working here on the old Change Your Life set, and I know she’ll want to hear the news.”
“News?”
“Top secret stuff, Hillary. Please, just give me her number.”
“Well, OK, if it’s about Mr. Sterling. Poor girl tears up every time his name is mentioned.”
Chase swallowed hard. He was taking a chance getting hold of her number this way, knowing the powers in charge of his life were probably listening. “She’s been crying?” He swallowed again.
“Yeah. She’s all torn up over what happened. I think that’s why they sent her here.” The girl gave him the number, and he thanked her. Then he wiped the screen and spoke the new number.
“Hello, this is Melody’s number. Can I take a message?”
Chase couldn’t believe what he heard. He stood to his feet. “Mom?”
The call went dead.
22
Chase tried the number two more times but got no answer. When the doctor came back to the lab with sandwiches and colas and asked how the call went, Chase simply told him he wasn’t able to speak to Mel. But he wondered if Fiender knew more about the call than he let on.
“Too bad,” Fiender said. “But you’ve got her number. Try her again later.”
“Why? Why did you allow this?”
“You wanted to talk to a friend, and I gave you permission. You think I have ulterior motives?”
“Of course,” Chase said. “Did you listen in when you left me?”
“On the contrary, I turned off the program. I gave you your privacy.”
“Again I ask, why?”
The doctor cupped his chin with the palm of his hand. “I don’t understand you, Chase. I’m trying to be nice. I know this is hard for you.”
Chase wanted to believe him. “Thank you. I’ll try the call again later.”
“Now eat your lunch.”
The men shared some conversation, along with tuna on rye. But Chase didn’t forget the old rule about keeping your friends close and your enemies closer. Fiender talked more of his sailing adventures, and Chase told him about the beach where his father’s ashes floated across the waves.
“It’s a shame the man succumbed to cancer when the vaccine was in reach,” the doctor said.
“He died a month after the diagnosis. He thought he had more time. We all did.” Chase looked out the window on the far side of the room. “Speaking of cancer, what happened to the nurse I diagnosed?”
“She has a tumor in the intestine. Highly treatable. She’ll be fine, but she wouldn’t have known about the disease if you hadn’t told her.”
“How did she end up with cancer?”
“Just a random occurrence. Sometimes things happen that medical science can’t explain. There are about a hundred cases like hers discovered every year. You just don’t hear about it.”
“So cancer is still a problem. The public just doesn’t know it.”
“A hundred cases a year is not a problem. It’s a fluke. That’s all.”
“Unless you’re numbered in the hundred.” Chase bit off a chunk of the sandwich.
“I suppose.”
When the food and drinks were gone, Fiender took the conversation into the future. Chase tried to keep up, but his mind was on what he believed was the sound of his mother’s voice. Now that an hour had passed, he was less sure about what he’d heard. If it were her, why did she disconnect without saying a word?
“Kerstin has some ideas about a new show,” the doctor said. “Personally, I don’t think you need a show, but she says no one ingests information that isn’t presented as entertainment.”
“She’s the producer. But she’s busy with her new show. Hers and Larin’s.”
“You’ll be the one to start them off with the special prime-time program.”
“But the world thinks I’m all but dead. And soon I’ll be conducting a prime-time interview?”
“How do you know what the world thinks?” The doctor stopped. “You talked to someone in Brooklyn. Maybe it was a mistake letting you make a call. You’d better tell me what happened.”
“Nothing. That nurse, Patty—the one they reassigned—filled me in on what the public was told. As for the call, I got some receptionist who said Mel was upset about what happened. The girl referred to me as ‘the poor man who would probably never wake up.’ That’s all. I didn’t tell her anything and she didn’t know it was me she was talking to.”
“If Kerstin finds out about this…”
“I won’t tell if you don’t.” Chase smiled. “Are you afraid of her?”
“No, no. Of course not.” He drew a breath. “Mildly intimidated, perhaps.”
“She has that effect.”
“Next time you make that call, you may be monitored.”
“I know. Why is it that I can control the vision and hearing enhancers, and even the data bank, but I can’t turn off the—what do you call it—the thing that lets you or anybody else know what I see and hear?”
“Crypt offloading program, or COP.”
“Yeah, exactly what I would have called it.” Chase smirked. “What does that mean? Why can’t I turn it off? I can tell you about sensors and processors. I can read my own vital signs. I can tell you what time it is. I can use the night vision and super hearing at will. But I can’t stop you from monitoring my senses. Why is that, Robert?”
“Chase, I can’t explain to you how to turn off something that was designed to be left on.”
“You just don’t want me to do it.”
“I told you I turned it off earlier. I turned it off. It’s external.”
“But it’s also internal. It’s in me. So I can turn it off, too.”
“If that were true—”
“It is true.”
“If that were true, don’t you think you would have been able to do it by now?”
Chase leaned back.
“It took me two minutes to turn on the hearing thing and several hours to turn it off. But I figured it out.”
“Chase, accept the fact that you are not your own. Not anymore.”
“But I am. Nobody can own a person. Not even when that person is less than, or more than, human.”
“Which do you consider you are?”
Chase studied the doctor’s curious expression. “Both.”
“You must be tired. Let’s call it a day.”
“In two hours, will you check to see if the staff on duty has the crypt thing turned on? And if it’s on, will you turn it off for a while?”
“Tell me, Chase. Do you consider that I am your friend or your enemy?”
There was only one way to answer the question. “Both.”
The doctor smiled, and his bushy brows lifted. “Let down your guard, young man. In two hours, I will turn off the monitors.”
“Thank you.”
“We will come to an understanding, Chase. And then, the world.”
“I’d like to say I’m onboard, Robert, but you’ve got a lot of convincing to do before we take on the world.”
“You know what you need? A trip to my compound.”
“What’s there that you didn’t show me before?”
“The desert, son. And the spirit of the Helgen Institute. Very inspiring. Very peaceful.”
“Just because you can finagle a forbidden call to Brooklyn, doesn’t mean you’ll be able to take me out of here. Kerstin will show you who’s in control.”
“We’ll take her with us,” the doctor said. “The three of us have a lot of planning to do.”
Chase would not fight the idea. He’d take whatever chance he got to see the outside world, even if it meant another trip on the death jet. Even if the world was nothing but an eerie laboratory and a bunch of sand. No escape would come here. But maybe things would be different there.
Wake the Dead Page 10