“Sounds great.”
Henry placed his laptop on the nightstand next to the bed and booted it up. “Ready, Dean?”
“Yes, Henry. Amaze me with your program.”
“I believe it will work. Especially the ear piece we’ll run it through. We had success this afternoon reprogramming the one SUT. Frank got all his beds made.”
Dean drew up an odd look on his face. “What does he mean by that?”
Ellen tapped his hand. “Frank had a butler for an hour when Henry ran the wrong program through. They did get a lunch out of it. Dean, are you sure you’re all right?”
“I’m fine. I just feel tired.” He turned his head to Henry’s sigh. “What?”
“You shouldn’t be tired, Dean.” Henry pulled the earpiece wire. “You slept a really long time.” He placed the earpiece in Dean’s ear. “In fact, you probably won’t sleep tonight.”
“It won’t be because I’m not tired.” Dean adjusted the piece better in his ear. “It’ll be because I want to see everything all over again ... I just heard a beep, Henry.”
“That was the program loading. In a second I will download it.” He placed his hands over Dean’s. “Good luck.”
“Thanks. El?” Dean called her, “tell me if I’m facing you. I want to see you first.”
Ellen turned his head slightly. “You’re facing me.”
Henry’s finger reached for the button. “Ready to ...”
“Wait,” Frank called out. “If he’s gonna see.” Frank stepped to the bed. “He needs his glasses.” He placed them in Dean’s hand. “There.”
Dean heard the grumbling. He figured that Frank’s interruption of the suspense bothered everyone. “Thanks, Frank. Go on, Henry.”
As confident as Henry was in his program, he was still filled with nerves. His stomach jumped and fluttered as he watched the screen read ‘downloading’. The fact that he lost all contents of his stomach earlier didn’t help.
Dean smiled as he listened. “It sounds really weird, a series of beeping.” His face cringed. “My headache is getting worse. Oh God.” He grabbed his head and grunted.
“Stop the program,” Ellen told Henry. “Stop it now, please, Henry, stop it now.”
“No!” Dean called out. “Let it ... light.” He gasped. “I’m seeing grey instead of black.” He smiled widely and grabbed Ellen’s hand. “Oh shit, shadows. I see shadows.” His words were rapid.
“Fifteen seconds, Dean,” Henry told him.
“Longest seconds of my life,” Dean spoke emotionally and breathy. The anticipation built. His heart pounded. “The shadows are becoming more defined. I have to be ready.” He lifted his glass and placed them on. “No.” His head dropped. “It’s black again. No!” His head dropped as far as it could get when Henry yelled ‘finished’.
Ellen reached to his lowered head. “I’m sorry, Dean. But ... try this.” She removed his glasses.
When she did, Dean saw the hand that took them off. His heart jumped and trembling took over his whole body. Shivering in his breathing, he raised his head and he saw Ellen in clear and complete focus. “I ... I see you,” he gasped out.
Ellen moved in to embrace him, but Dean stopped her. “Dean.”
“No wait, wait.” He laid his hand on her face. “I see you. Let me look at you.” He moved closer to her then, not being able to help himself, shifted his eyes down to the bed and grinned. “You wore the skirt.”
“I told you I would.” She laid her hand on his.
“Oh, El.” Dean plopped backwards onto the pillow. “This is unbelievable. Henry.” He looked at Henry. “Thank you. Thank you for this.”
“Thank Danny too.” Henry pointed across the room.
Dean looked over. “Oh my God! You look like Henry.”
Though the moment was a joyous one, Henry couldn’t help but let out an audible sound of annoyance. “See, Dean, I should have found a way to enhance the program to eliminate any racial ignorance you have. I’m Japanese, he’s Chinese.”
Frank rolled his eyes. “Henry ...”
“Don’t.” Henry held up his hand. “Don’t say ‘whatever’. Please.”
Dean bit his bottom lip and looked back at Ellen. “I don’t understand. Don’t my glasses work with this chip? Everything was ...” He looked down to his glasses. Perfectly cut out pieces of black cloth were secured to the lenses. “Frank.” Accepting the shooting of Frank’s middle finger with pleasure, Dean returned to Ellen. “I can’t help looking at you. I swear, right now ...” Suddenly something changed in Dean’s vision. “Right now I can ...” A shriek as loud as Frank’s body was big, came from Dean and he jolted back.
“What!” Ellen widened her eyes. “I don’t look that bad.”
“You’re ... you’re.” Dean screamed again. “Something went wrong! Something went wrong! All I see is ... a pupil, a big giant pupil. It’s all I see!” Dean shouted with panic.
Frank stepped closer to the bed figuring he’d add that touch of calmness and explanation needed. “Of course that’s what you’ll see, Dean. She kind of is your student. But, Dean ...” Frank whispered, “She really isn’t that big.”
Wide eyed, Dean turned his head and screamed again. All he saw was a black fur streak taking up his entire sight. “This isn’t right. This isn’t right at all. What happened?” Asking in a panic, somehow Dean knew Henry was well aware of the answer for that. A subtle whistling came from Henry.
Joe watched Henry back up, hands in his pockets and staring at the ceiling. “Henry!”
“What?” Henry looked around.
Danny knew and Danny walked up to Henry. “You didn’t?” he whispered.
“I did.”
“No.” Danny shook his head. “I told you.”
“I know.” Henry spoke his answer through his clenched jaws.
“Henry.”
“I had too.”
“No you didn’t. I told you it wouldn’t work.”
“It did work, sort of.”
Dean heard enough of the murmuring, with the nauseated feeling in his stomach from his screwed up vision, he demanded his explanation. “What did you do Henry?”
“Well see ... OK.” Henry cleared his throat. “When I created the program, I based the program on information taken from Infantry Soldier: CM 101. I copied the optical portion of that program over to mine. Now there are certain numbering sequences for clarity, focus, and peripheral. Well ... last night it dawned on me that you wore glasses and I thought, wow how constricting. So see I ... enhanced your focus and speed of focus so you wouldn’t have to wear glasses anymore. Danny told me to change it back because we couldn’t figure out what the numbers meant. I just figured the higher the number the better the vision. Since you’re a scientist, I thought since you had bad vision I upped the numbers really high.” Hunching at the ‘whats’ that were thrown at him, Henry moved back farther. “Sorry.”
Dean shook his head and rolled his eyes slightly. “Henry, I appreciate the thought, but you’re gonna have to wipe out this chip and reprogram it. When I look people in the eye, I want to see more than the eyeball. I can’t walk around looking at huge body parts that are otherwise small unless of course Frank needs me to boost his ego.”
“That isn’t very nice, Dean,” Henry told him. “You don’t have to walk around looking at small things big. According to the Infantry Soldier Program it’s in the concentration. You were just concentrating too hard on seeing.”
“I’m not now.”
“Yeah but you’re tense. Relax,” Henry told him. “Boy, am I glad I didn’t add the target to his sight. Not only would he see big things but a little cross as well.”
“Henry, you still have to change it.” As Dean talked, he noticed the largeness of everything started decreasing, with that came the nausea. “I have vertigo. I can’t walk around having things get large all of a sudden on me. I’ll throw up.”
“You’ll get used to it,” Henry said.
“It’s easy for you to
say. You aren’t having that happen to you.”
“Oh sure it does, Dean, I throw up all the time. You’ll get used to it. The throwing up will cease once you learn how to control the focus. It’s all a matter of telling your eyes to focus or not. When you don’t concentrate on anything, you won’t focus in and therefore, you won’t zoom in on anything suddenly. I think I put the speed pretty high on that too. Sorry.”
“Great.” Dean watched his sight return to normal. “I don’t know, Henry. How close can I focus in on something?”
“I don’t know.”
“How far can I see?”
“I don’t know that either. I do know I made the numbers really high.”
“Dean.” Ellen grabbed his hand again. “This could be so useful. Imagine if Henry increased it so much that you obtained the ability to focus close enough to never ... need ... a microscope ... again.” She raised her eyebrows. “No smears, no waiting on it to pop up on the screen, just look at it and bam, you’ll know. You could be super scientist.”
“And ...” Danny added. “If you don’t like it, we can always erase the program and give you the plain one.”
“Not to mention,” Henry interjected. “We can increase this one when you get used to it.”
Dean asked, “Is it right to mess with nature like that?”
“Dean,” Frank’s strong voice carried. “You got a fuckin microchip in your brain. How much more of messing with nature do you want? Try it.”
Dean nodded slowly. “OK. It stays. But no one is allowed to make fun if I puke all the time like Henry.”
Ellen embraced Dean. “I’m glad. I’m so glad you can see. I’ll bring the kids by. OK?”
“Please.” Dean smiled.
Andrea hated to do it, but she had to be the doctor. “He needs his rest everyone. We can stop by later and visit but I need him to relax or else I won’t let him out when he thinks he’s ready.”
Joe agreed. “Let’s let the super vision guy alone.” He walked up to Andrea and kissed her on the cheek. “Proud of ya, good job. Dean.” Joe reached down and laid his hand on his leg. “Glad everything worked out.”
Henry closed up his laptop. “I’ll let you be too, Dean.” He looked at Ellen who didn’t look back. “I’ll see you later.”
“Thanks, Henry.” Dean smiled at him watching him follow behind Jason, Andrea, Joe, and Danny.
With his hand out, Frank laid it on Ellen’s shoulder. “You ready?”
“Yes.” She tapped his hand. “Get some rest, Dean.”
“El.” Dean stopped her. “Could you just stay for a few extra minutes? I need to be alone with you.” He looked at Frank then back to Ellen. “I want to be alone for this moment with you.”
“All right.” She smiled. “Frank, I’ll see you later.”
Frank nodded as he stepped toward the door. “Oh, Dean? Remember, pity lays.”
“Frank.” Dean snickered. “Magnified sex.”
“Gone.”
“But not forgotten.”
“Never coming back.” Frank shook his head.
“Bet me.”
“Blow me.” Frank moved toward the door. “El, talk to you later.”
Ellen pointed back with her thumb after Frank left. “What was that about?”
“Inside joke.” Dean’s hand moved to her leg. “Thanks for staying.” His hand crept up and he moved the edge of her skirt looking down. “Ow wow.”
“Dean.” Ellen pulled her skirt back down.
Dean grinned. “This may definitely have its advantages.”
Shaking her head with a slight smile, Ellen stood up. “Can I came right back? There’s something I need to do and I should do it right now.”
“Sure. Go on.”
“Thanks.” She kissed him on the cheek and walked to the door. “Dean?”
“Yeah.”
“From this moment on, with your eyes like they are, you can no longer say these ...” she pulled her shirt out some flashing one breast at him, “... aren’t huge.” Receiving Dean’s laugh at her, Ellen walked from the room.
Stepping out of Dean’s room into the hall, Ellen thought she’d see him. It hadn’t been that long since he walked out. In search of him, Ellen moved down the corridor. As she rounded the bend that would lead to the hall with the main doors, she saw him walking out of the waiting room. “Henry!” she called to him, “wait.”
Still facing the glass doors and clutching the laptop, Henry closed his eyes briefly, then turned around. “Hi, El.”
“Henry.” Ellen walked up to him, smiled, and took a deep breath. “I needed to tell you, you did a great job.”
The grin on Henry’s face was huge. “Thanks, El.”
“And ...” She stepped closer to him. “I’m proud of you.” Tiptoeing up, she kissed him on the cheek.
Henry instinctively reached to hold her. One hug, he thought, that’s what Ellen was going to do. He really thought that. She was so close to him. As his hand moved to her shoulder and he stepped in, Ellen stepped back.
“Bye, Henry.” She lifted her hand in a wave, turned and walked down toward Dean’s room.
Henry watched her, a part of him feeling empty, missing something, and a part of him grateful for the moment that just passed. But he wanted more and he grew a little excited with the thought that he could very easily have that soon. With Ellen’s pride over his work, her lack of hatred shown toward him, how could Henry go wrong?
<><><><>
“Dean,” Ellen called to him over the radio that night. “How are you?”
“I’m hanging in there. It’s quiet.”
Ellen looked around the crowded Social Hall. People sat in the chairs set up in meeting mode. “That’s because everyone is here.”
“You’ll keep the button pressed in, won’t you?”
“It’s already been taped. Nervous?”
“Praying.”
“I have faith. The odds are in our favor, Dean.”
“I know.”
“Dean? I’m gonna put the radio down now OK, Joe just walked in with Andrea.”
“Good luck.”
“You too.” Ellen took the radio and secured the tape over the button. After setting it down on the table, she walked to the wall and stood next to Frank.
As soon as Frank felt Ellen next to him, he pulled her in front of him and wrapped his arms around her from behind. “It will be fine.”
A long breath, a deep breath and Ellen settled into Frank’s hold.
In his walk to Council table, Henry stopped at Ellen and Frank. “I want to let you two know that with all of my heart, I am with you on this. I feel it too.” He nodded and began to walk away.
“Henry,” Ellen called him back. “We want you to know, that if none of our children are chosen, you as Council are not to blame.”
“I needed to hear that.” He gave a sad smile to Frank, then another to Ellen. “Good luck.” He reached down to Ellen’s hand, and gave her a reassuring squeeze. Without saying anymore, Henry walked to the front of the room where Andrea and Joe waited. “Ready.”
Joe stood up. “Do you want to do this?”
“No, Joe, I’d rather not.”
“I didn’t think so.” Looking that the large jug full of folded names, Joe walked outward toward the crowd. He really hated to bring up such a ‘down’ subject to the happy content faces he gathered in the room. “When my son Robbie was out there last on a sweep,” Joe paused, “he got very sick. For some reason, we don’t know why, The Society sent soldiers after him. The soldiers had, and a lot of you do not know this, the antiserum to what we believe is the virus The Society is going to hit us with.” Joe heard the joyful chatter, almost as if they misunderstood him and they did. “However ...” Silence drew upon the room. “Despite our best efforts, and we’re still trying, we haven’t been able to copy it. There were only four doses of the antiserum in the case. One dose was given to Robbie. One dose is still being used for experiments and replication. That leaves two
doses. Now our science team,” Joe placed his hands in his pockets, his voice dropped slightly, “they’re uh ... they’re a pretty good bunch.” He winked at Ellen. “They don’t want the antiserum to go to waste. That is why all of you are here. I didn’t tell you ahead of time as there was no need to build the anxiety but two people could be made immune to the virus. Two adults. But see, let’s look at this.” Joe held up a finger. “I’d like to know for sure that I am going to survive this, but ... hell, I’m fifty-nine years old. How many years do I really have left? It would be kind of a waste,” so sadly Joe spoke. “But our young people, they are our future. Since we already know that a few of our people are immune to this thing, then we know, should our children survive and none of us do, then they will be in the best of hands. Therefore it is best that we give the antiserum to the children instead of the adults.” It was so quiet in that room he could have heard a pin dropped.
“Two doses for an adult can be made into four children’s doses and that is what we intend on doing.” He walked back over to the table. “In this bowl, I have placed every child from our extreme youngest, which is the child Trish carries that will be born any day, to our oldest child of twelve, Lance. Because of their body size and weight, I could not include our teenagers in this. Now favorable to us, I’ve been told, is the weight factor. The doses are enough for a combined weight of four hundred pounds. So basic math will tell you, if Debbie’s baby born yesterday at nine pounds gets picked, and one of our other babies at twenty pounds is picked, we’re pretty much gonna be able to pick another name. Our biggest child weighs in at ninety-three pounds, that is Walt and he’s only ten.” Joe chuckled. “Big boy. Andrea will keep track of the weight, and if after four names we still have ninety-three pounds left, we will pick another name. We will pick until we’ve reached the four hundred pound goal. For the lives of our youngest, I would like the oldest member of this community to pick. Josephine, will you do us the honors?”
Slowly Josephine stood from her chair and walked to the front, her turtle pace heightened the suspense. She stood next to Joe and he brought the large bowl toward her. Her fragile hand, trembling, reached inside, digging deep and pulling out the first name. She gave it to Joe.
The Big Ten: The First Ten Books of the Beginnings Series Page 325