Mass Effect™: Ascension

by Drew Karpyshyn

  The girl sat up slowly, looking around, her brow wrinkled in confusion.

  “Do you know how you got here?” Kahlee asked her.

  Gillian folded her hands in her lap and nodded, her eyes lowered so she wouldn’t have to look at Kahlee.

  “The cafeteria. I did something bad. I hurt people.”

  Kahlee hesitated, uncertain of how much detail the girl could handle. There had been a lot of property damage, and a number of twisted ankles and swollen fingers from people in the fleeing crowd who had fallen and been stepped on. The most serious injuries were to Nick, who had suffered a concussion and a bruised spine, though he was expected to make a full recovery.

  “Everybody’s okay now,” Kahlee assured her. “I just want to know what happened. Did someone make you angry?”

  “Nick spilled my milk,” she answered, though Kahlee already knew this from talking to the boy.

  “Why did that make you so angry?”

  The girl didn’t answer. Instead, she said, “Hendel was yelling at me.” She frowned and crinkled up her brow. “He was mad at me.”

  “Not mad. Just scared. We were all scared.”

  Gillian was silent, then nodded, as if to say she understood.

  “Do you remember anything else about what happened, Gillian?”

  The girl’s face went blank, like she was slipping deep inside herself, trying to dig up the answers.

  “No,” she finally answered. “I only remember Hendel yelling at me.”

  Kahlee figured as much. They’d taken readings from Gillian while she was unconscious, pulling the data from her smart chips to see if it could tell them anything. But what they’d seen didn’t make any sense. There was a sudden spike in her alpha wave activity in the days leading up to her outburst, but no logical explanation for the increase. Personally, Kahlee thought it could have been some emotional trigger: her alpha levels had climbed the day after her father’s visit.

  “How come Hendel’s not here?” Gillian asked, her voice guilty.

  Kahlee answered with a half-truth. “He’s very busy right now.”

  As the security chief, he was still dealing with the fallout of what had happened in the cafeteria. All attempts were being made to downplay the incident: a statement had been released to the media, staff and students were being debriefed, and parents were being notified. As a further precaution, Grissom Academy was still in full emergency lockdown. Yet as busy as he was, she knew there was something else keeping him away right now. It could have been anger, disappointment, or even guilt…quite likely it was a mix of all three. However, she wasn’t about to try and explain all that to a twelve-year-old.

  “When will he come see me?”

  “Soon,” Kahlee promised. “I’ll tell him you’re waiting.”

  Gillian smiled. “You like Hendel.”

  “He’s a good friend.”

  The girl’s smile broadened even further. “Will you two get married some day?”

  Kahlee laughed out loud in spite of herself. “I don’t think Hendel wants to get married.”

  Gillian’s smile slipped, but didn’t disappear completely. “He should marry you,” she insisted, matter-of-factly. “You’re nice.”

  This wasn’t the time to explain why that would never happen, so Kahlee decided to change the subject.

  “You have to stay in this room for a few days, Gillian. Do you understand?”

  This time the smile vanished completely and she nodded. “I want to sleep now.”

  “Okay,” Kahlee told her. “I might not be here when you wake up, but if you need anything you push that red button over there. A nurse will come help you.”

  The girl glanced over at the call button dangling from the side of her bed and nodded again. Then she lay back down and closed her eyes.

  Kahlee waited until Gillian was asleep before she stood up and left her alone in the room.

  TEN

  Kahlee remained seated at the desk in her room and ignored the knock at the door. She continued to stare at the computer screen trying to make sense of the numbers they’d pulled from Gillian’s implants. There was going to be fallout from what had happened in the cafeteria. Over the next few days people would be screaming for answers. They’d expect Kahlee to tell them what had happened, and why nobody had seen it coming. So far, she hadn’t found any explanation to give them.

  The knock came again, more insistent.

  “Door—open,” she said, not bothering to get up.

  She expected to see Hendel, but it was actually Jiro who had come calling. He was dressed casually, in a blue, long-sleeved button shirt and black slacks. He had a bottle of wine and a corkscrew in one hand and a pair of long-stemmed glasses in the other.

  “Heard you had a rough day,” he said. “Thought you could use a drink.”

  She was on the verge of telling him to come back later, but at the last second she nodded. He stepped in, waving the bottle in front of the access panel so the door slid shut behind him. Setting the glasses down on the table, he set about using the corkscrew to open the wine.

  “Any idea what happened?” he asked as the cork broke free with a soft but audible pop, his question a preview of the endless inquiries to come.

  “I really don’t want to talk about work right now,” she answered, getting up from her chair and crossing the room as he poured the wine.

  “Whatever my lady desires,” he said with a wink, handing her a glass.

  She took a small sip, letting the wine’s flavorful bouquet fill her palette. She tasted fruit, though it was more earthy than sweet.

  “That’s nice,” she said, taking another, somewhat larger sip.

  “I picked it up last time I was groundside on Elysium,” he replied with a mischievous smile. “I thought it might be a good way to loosen up my boss.”

  “This could get me pretty loose,” she confessed, downing the rest of the wine and holding out her glass for a refill. “Now that the bottle’s open, no sense letting it go to waste.”

  Jiro obliged by refilling her glass. As he turned to set the bottle down, Kahlee leaned in and gave him a quick kiss. He responded by wrapping his arm around her waist and pulling her in close, so their hips pressed tight against each other.

  “I didn’t know this stuff would work so fast.” He laughed.

  “I can’t help it if I’m a quick study,” she answered, deftly undoing the top button of his shirt with her free hand.

  “They say you should let wine breathe before you drink it,” he whispered, nuzzling her earlobe.

  “Works for me,” she answered, setting her glass down on the table then leaping up to wrap her legs around his waist as he carried her over to the bed.

  Their lovemaking didn’t last long. Kahlee set the pace, fast and fierce as she tried to work off the stress and tension of the day, and Jiro was happy to follow her lead. When it was over they simply lay intertwined atop the sheets, naked and sheened with sweat as they tried to catch their breath.

  “You really know how to make a girl work up a thirst,” she panted.

  Taking the hint, Jiro disentangled himself and rolled from the bed. He returned a few seconds later with the wine.

  “Ready to talk about it now?” he asked as he handed over her glass and crawled back into bed beside her. “It might make you feel better.”

  “I wasn’t actually there,” she reminded him, taking the wine and snuggling up close against his body. “I only know what I’ve heard.”

  “Did you talk to Hendel?”

  As he spoke he ran his fingers along her shoulder and up the side of her neck. The soft caresses caused tiny goose bumps of pleasure to form on her flesh.

  “He didn’t have much time. I only spoke to him for a few minutes.”

  “Then you know more than me. So what happened?”

  “Gillian tore up the cafeteria,” she said simply. “Hendel had to disable her with his stunner.”

  “Any idea how it started? What set her off?”
<
br />   “We think Nick was teasing her.”

  Jiro shook his head. “Always looking for trouble, isn’t he?”

  “Got more than he bargained for this time. Hendel figures Gillian threw him twenty feet.”

  “Was he hurt?”

  “Roughed up. Nothing too serious.”

  “That’s good,” he replied, but the words seemed hollow, an automatic response. “Did you run Gillian’s numbers?”

  Kahlee nodded. “Her alpha waves began to rise the day after Grayson came to see her. They’re completely off the charts.”

  “Do you know what caused the increase?”

  Something about his tone made Kahlee uncomfortable. He seemed more excited than concerned.

  “Not a clue,” she admitted. After a moment’s hesitation she added, “Hendel said she created a singularity.”

  “Jesus,” he gasped in amazement. “That’s incredible!”

  She sat up quickly, shaking his tender hand from her shoulder and glaring down at him as he lay on the bed.

  “What’s wrong with you?” she snapped. “You sound like you’re glad this happened!”

  “It’s pretty exciting,” he admitted, with no hint of shame or apology. “A girl with no advanced training unleashes one of the most powerful biotic abilities? Damn. I knew she had potential. But nothing like this.”

  “You realize what kind of a PR nightmare this is going to be for the Academy, right?”

  “Let the board worry about that,” he told her. “We have to look at this as an opportunity. We’ve always wondered what Gillian could do if she learned to tap into her power. This could be the kind of breakthrough we’ve been waiting for!”

  Kahlee scowled at him, then realized he was just being honest. And he was only giving voice to the idea a small part of her was already thinking. She was worried about Gillian, of course, but the scientist inside her was already trying to figure out what this could mean for their research.

  She let the scowl slip from her face, and took another drink from her glass before settling back down against Jiro’s bare chest. She couldn’t get mad at him just because he had been honest with her. He was passionate about his work; still young and impulsive. The people running the Grissom Academy, however, were older and wiser.

  “Don’t get too excited,” she cautioned him. “After all this, the board will probably decide it’s too dangerous to keep her in the program.”

  “You’re not going to let them kick her out, are you? Not when she’s finally beginning to show progress!”

  “Gillian’s not the only student in the Ascension Project. We were lucky this time, but another outburst and someone could get seriously hurt. Or killed.”

  “That’s why we have to keep her here,” Jiro insisted. “Where else can she go to get the kind of help she needs? Who else is going to teach her to control her power?”

  “Her father can afford to hire private biotic tutors,” she countered.

  “We both know it’s not the same,” he answered, his voice getting louder. “They won’t have access to the kinds of staff and resources we have here.”

  “You don’t have to convince me,” she told him, her voice rising to match his. “I don’t get to make this decision. It’s up to the board. And her father.”

  “Grayson will want to keep her in the program,” he answered with absolute certainty. “Maybe he could make another donation to convince the board to let her stay.”

  “This comes down to more than money.”

  “You can talk to the board,” he continued, still pressing the issue. “Tell them the Ascension Project needs Gillian. Her numbers are so far ahead of every other kid here it’s like she’s a whole different species. We need to study her. If we can identify the source of her power we could advance the science of human biotics to places we can’t even imagine!”

  Kahlee didn’t answer right away. On some level, everything he said was true. But Gillian was more than just a test subject; she had an identity beyond the numbers on their charts. She was a person; a young girl with a developmental disorder, and Kahlee wasn’t convinced that keeping her in the program was the best thing for her in the long run.

  “I’ll talk to the board,” she finally promised, choosing her words carefully. “But I can’t guarantee what my recommendation will be. And they might not listen to me, anyway.”

  “You could always get your father to talk to them,” he said with a wry smile. “I think they’d listen to him. After all, they named the school after him.”

  “I’m not bringing my father into this,” she said with cold finality.

  For several minutes they sat there in silence, but then Jiro spoke again, not quite willing to let the topic of Gillian die.

  “I heard they’re keeping her in the quarantine ward.”

  “Just for a few days. Hendel thought it would be safer until he’s had a chance to sort this all out.”

  There was another long silence, broken when Jiro said, “She’s probably scared. I’d like to go see her.”

  This was the other side of Jiro: the compassionate young man who was worried about the feelings of a twelve-year-old girl rather than his research. Kahlee rolled over and kissed him on his bare chest.

  “She’d like that. You can go tomorrow. I’ll make sure you have clearance.”

  When Kahlee woke the next morning her head was pounding from the aftereffects of the wine. Jiro was gone, and she was shocked to see from her bedside clock that she had overslept by a full hour.

  You know you’re getting old when half a bottle of wine makes you sleep through your alarm, she thought as she slowly rolled out of bed and stood up.

  It was then she noticed a note on the table, held in place by the empty bottle of wine. Pressing her hands against her throbbing temples, she staggered over to read it.

  Gone to see Gillian. Turned off your alarm. Figured you could use the sleep. J.

  She crumpled up the note and dropped it into the recycling bin as she made her way to the bathroom.

  By the time she was showered and changed, the last of her hangover was gone. She wanted to speak to Gillian again and see if she remembered anything else, but first she needed to check on Hendel. Glancing at her watch, she knew she’d find him in his office.

  “How you doing, kiddo?” Jiro asked, poking his head into Gillian’s hospital room.

  She was wearing a hospital gown and sitting up in her bed, staring straight ahead at an empty wall. But when she heard his voice, she turned toward the door and smiled.

  Early on, when he’d first started treating her, Jiro had worried she’d get a bad vibe off him. Her condition made her more perceptive than other children, and he was afraid she might sense the ulterior motive behind his interest in her. As it turned out, however, Gillian’s reaction was just the opposite—she genuinely seemed to like him.

  Jiro had developed his own personal theory to explain her reaction. He was fascinated by the research Cerberus was conducting in the field of human biotics; he couldn’t wait to see what results their latest serums would have on Gillian. As a result, he was always upbeat when he came to check her numbers. He suspected she was feeding off this energy and excitement, making her more responsive to him than most of the other techs.

  “Nice place you got here,” he said, coming over to stand by the side of her bed.

  “I want to go back to my own room,” she answered in her familiar monotone.

  He studied her carefully as she spoke, looking for signs she was somehow different now. No visible changes in alertness, he noted silently.

  “You can’t go back to your own room quite yet,” he told her out loud. “Everybody’s still trying to figure out what happened to you in the cafeteria.” Including me.

  When Grayson had given him the vial of unfamiliar fluid last week, he’d had a feeling something major was going to happen. He couldn’t explain it, but somehow he’d known they’d made a breakthrough. Something they wanted to test on Gillian right away. B
ut he hadn’t expected anything this soon…or this big.

  There was no doubt in his mind that the girl’s remarkable display was linked to the mysterious Cerberus elixir. Unfortunately, the incredible success of the treatment had thrown a wrench into the experiment. He was supposed to give Gillian another dose of medication today, but he couldn’t give it to her here. Too many people, and too many security cameras.

  “I hate this room,” Gillian informed him.

  “Would you like to go for a walk?” he suggested, seizing on the opportunity to get her out of the quarantine wing and somewhere more private. “We could go to the atrium.”

  She pondered the offer for a good five seconds, then nodded once, definitively.

  “You get dressed,” he told her. “I’ll tell the nurse where we’re going.”

  Leaving the room, he made his way over to the admissions desk. He recognized the nurse on duty from seeing her around the facility, but he didn’t know her name. However, that hadn’t stopped him from flirting with her when he’d first arrived and signed in.

  “Leaving so soon?” she asked, smiling brightly. She was small, with dark skin and a round, pretty face.

  “I’m going to take Gillian down to the atrium. A little break from that room will be good for her.”

  She frowned slightly, wrinkling her nose. “I don’t think we’re supposed to let her leave,” she said, apologetically.

  “I promise to bring her back when I’m done,” he joked, flashing his most charming grin.

  The frown fell away, but she still looked uncertain. “Hendel might not like that.”

  “Hendel’s as bad as an overprotective mother,” he told her with an easy laugh. “Besides, I’ll have her back before anyone even knows we’re gone.”

  “I don’t want to get in trouble.” She was wavering, but she wasn’t quite there yet.

  He reached over the admissions desk and set a reassuring hand on her arm. “Don’t worry, Hendel and I are good friends. I’ll protect you from him,” he said with a sly wink.

  After a moment’s hesitation, she relented and handed him the patient register. “Just don’t be too long,” she warned as he signed Gillian out.