by Jeff Gunhus
“What you’re doing is wrong. No, it’s worse than that. It’s evil. You can’t just rationalize it away.”
“Spare me the ethics lesson. If you only understood what I was—”
“Nothing is worth killing innocent girls. Nothing.”
“Are you so sure of yourself?” Dr. Mansfield stared up at the barn’s ceiling for several seconds before he went on, his eyes never leaving some distant point far beyond the confines of the wooden beams above them.
“Suppose God came down to this barn and sat next to us. He says there’s been enough pain in the world and He wants to put an end to it all. He offers you the ability to cure all disease in the world, all infections, all genetic defects found in the human race. In essence, God gives you the ability to end the suffering of the world. He gives you the gift of immortality to share with the world.
“But the gift comes at a price. To develop this universal vaccine, you have to sacrifice the lives of over a thousand innocent children. One thousand lives to save the suffering of six billion. As horrible as it sounds, who in their right mind would say no to such a proposition? Would you? Would you refuse to deliver to God His thousand deaths so that you might save the world?”
Lauren stared at the doctor, not aware at first that he was waiting for her to answer. The look in the man’s eyes as he spoke had shaken her. It was the glazed, distant look of the fanatic, as if he had already created the world he described and he was looking at it through a window visible to only his eyes. Gone was the reasoned, rational man she thought she knew, replaced by a lunatic with a religion to sell. Lauren decided she was already beyond help and she’d be damned before she gave into his vile logic.
“I think that if God asked for a thousand deaths, it would occur to me that it wasn’t God at all. What you’re talking about is evil. Unjustifiable evil.”
“Saving six billion people is not justification enough?”
“You’re not saving six billion people. This is crazy.”
“Really? Do you want evidence? Would that make you understand?”
Dr. Mansfield produced a knife from his pocket. He held out his exposed forearm and slashed it with the blade. Lauren screamed as blood gushed out of the wound. The doctor grimaced from the pain but did not move his arm.
“It still hurts, but look. Look at what’s happening.”
Lauren didn’t have to be asked. She had already noticed how quickly the blood flow had stopped. Now the skin regenerated at the edges of the wound. Within seconds, the gash was completely healed. Lauren stared open-mouthed. “How is it… what did you…”
“Now you understand what I’m talking about. I’m working on a serum that could give this to the world. And you’re only seeing the surface of it. This same regenerative effect is taking place at the cellular level throughout my body. The serum halts deterioration. My body is immune to all viruses and bacterial infections. And without cellular breakdown, the body doesn’t age.”
“Are you trying to say that you can’t die? Are you saying you believe the same story Jack told me? About the Indians and the cave? That this is all about some sacrificial ritual that gives you immortality?”
“Immortality isn’t technically correct. We’re as close as we can get. There are limits, of course. Massive trauma can kill me if it’s more than my body can regenerate. But without being murdered, or the victim of a terrible accident, I could theoretically live forever.” He lowered his voice, as if aware of how incredulous his next statement would appear. “In fact, I’ve already lived for over two hundred years and have yet to show any sign of physical deterioration.”
Lauren matched Dr. Mansfield’s serious look.
“So you’re saying Jack’s story is true?”
Dr. Mansfield nodded.
“You sacrifice people so you can be immortal and you’re trying to synthesize the effect in a lab so you can cure the world of all disease?”
The doctor nodded again.
“And you’re going to sacrifice my daughter because you think she has some kind of special psychic powers that will help you with your study?”
Slowly, as if fearful of her reaction, he said, “Yes, that’s why she’s here.”
“And you’re 200 years old?” Lauren’s face turned red as she spoke the words. When the doctor nodded this time she erupted into laughter. “Jesus, you’ve gone off the deep end, you know that?”
Her laugh took on a maniacal quality to it, edged with tears and panic.
“What the FUCK is wrong with all of you? I mean, I don’t know how you pulled off the little trick with the knife but that’s magic not medicine. What’s next? Are you…are you…I don’t know, going to put a woman and a box, stick it full of swords and when she pops out unharmed tell me you cured her?”
A dark cloud had come over the doctor’s expression, but she didn’t care. Tears poured down her cheeks. These men were insane. Both she and her daughter were going to die. Given the situation, she decided she might as well speak her mind. “This is the stupidest Goddamn thing I’ve ever heard.”
Dr. Mansfield turned, took one step toward her, and raised a hand as if to strike her. Lauren cowered to the side, fighting the rope around her hands in a reaction to fend off the coming blow.
Slowly, the doctor lowered his hand.
“People don’t speak to me like that. You’re lucky I need your help.” He knelt down until his face was level with hers. “This is the most important scientific find ever. You saw it with you own eyes and still refuse to believe it. How can you explain away what you saw?”
Lauren met his eyes and stuck her chin out in his direction. She decided if the bastard moved to hit her again, she wouldn’t move. She wouldn’t give him the satisfaction. “There are a thousand things. Hypnosis, for example. Or maybe you have developed a drug that put me into a hyper-suggestive state and are initiating my hallucinations.” Lauren said. “Give me a few minutes and I could come up with a dozen explanations.”
“But there wouldn’t be a single one that felt right. Come on, you know what you saw. You’re a scientist. Open your eyes to the evidence and let yourself look beyond the boundaries imposed by your limited knowledge of what is possible in the natural world. Make no mistake, this is a natural phenomenon. It’s not ghosts and magic, but a biological process.”
“This isn’t science. What you’re doing is murdering kids for an insane delusion.”
“But hasn’t science always been pushed forward by men who chased their ‘delusions’ and proved them right? Copernicus, Pasteur, Newton, Einstein. All delusional fools who found truth where others saw impossibility. Hasn’t truth always been victimized by the limited creativity of the scientific minds charged with uncovering it? Progress stalls until someone is willing to challenge the boundaries. Newton was heretic for saying Aristotle was wrong. Then Einstein came along and explained Newton was wrong. Then Stephen Hawking challenges everything once again. Think about it. Even our most basic understanding of life has changed. We had immutable laws that governed requirements for life to exist. Then organisms were found around volcanic vents at the bottom of the ocean, living in conditions that our laws told us were impossible. If it were up to you, scientists would have looked at the evidence and said, ‘Hypnosis’, ‘Drug-induced hallucinations,’ and left the laws as they were. But we didn’t. We rewrote the laws about what it meant to be alive.”
“That’s different. What you’re talking about is…”
“Is what? Impossible? Or just against the natural laws that you learned from medical textbooks? Maybe there are no laws, Lauren, only frontiers that we’ve reached. The spot on the other side of the frontier is not impossible, it’s just the unknown.” He slid closer to her. “You’re confused and scared and that’s understandable. But like it or not, I’ve found a way to take the life force of a human being and turn it into something tangible. Something storable. Something transferable.” Dr. Mansfield lowered his voice. “Can you imagine what we could do if we gave t
his gift to the world? Can you imagine how it would change everything?”
“Jack described a cave where women were kept in cages. Bred for this insane idea. Is that what you mean by changing the world?”
“Yes, yes,” Dr. Mansfield said with a wave of his hand. “A terrible thing. Very primitive. That’s why my research is so important. Once I develop a synthetic method to replicate the function of the Source in the cave, we can use manufactured genetic material. With this done, the Source will no longer be needed. Huckley believes there’s a supernatural force behind this, but I’m convinced it’s a biological process. The Source is an organism that absorbs organic material for its own survival and produces a fluid as a residual by-product. This fluid, when ingested, actually changes cellular function to protect from disease and deterioration. Somewhat like oxygen produced by plants: the by-product sustains human life. I’ve tried to replicate the serum, but you’ve sent the results.”
“Wait, you said manufactured genetic material. What do you mean?”
“Cloning, of course. That’s why the time has come to reveal the serum to the world. Now that the human cloning has been successful, we can create specimens specifically for this purpose. Engineered for minimal brain function, subjects can be mass produced. An unlimited supply of material without the moral issues.”
“Without the moral issues. Just because science can do something, doesn’t mean it should. Why can’t you see that? Why can’t you sense the evil in all of this?”
He ignored her. “I’m close, so close to understanding it. Once I can replicate the process, it will be possible to mass produce the serum. I’m so close. I thought I had it with the Moran girl, but think I know what was wrong. With more test subjects, I can—”
“Test subjects? Is that what you call Felicia Rodriguez? Don’t try to make it sound respectable. She was murdered. She was just a baby for God’s sake, and you murdered her. And that poor girl in the elevator at the hospital was Scott Moran’s daughter? Jesus, don’t you understand, as soon as you go public they’ll lock you away in an asylum? Or, if there’s justice, they’ll fry you in the chair. You are a murderer, nothing more. How could you go this far for this…this stupidity?”
Dr. Mansfield stood up. His cheeks were flush. “I thought you, of all people, would understand what I’m trying to do. Sometimes sacrifices have to be made for the greater good.”
“I’m sure the Nazi doctors in the concentration camps said the same thing,” Lauren said. “You can’t justify murder. I don’t care how you dress it up.”
“Don’t be naïve. We justify murder every day. What do you think about all those Iraqis civilians killed in the war? All those Afghans? Just collateral damage, right? Not really murder? But weren’t they sacrificed so Americans could feel more secure? Weren’t they murdered so you could live? Take it to a different extreme. Didn’t a child die somewhere in the world today of starvation? Didn’t someone die because they didn’t get a ten dollar malaria shot? But you didn’t do anything to stop it, did you? ‘Not your responsibility’ is the rationalization. For the price of the car you drive, you could have saved a hundred children from starvation, but you didn’t. And you didn’t sacrifice them for science. You sacrificed them for your own comfort. Your own hypocrisy damns your argument.” He leaned forward and whispered, “This is science. It’s not personal. I want you to listen, closely, to me. We don’t have much time before the others come back in. There’s a reason I’ve taken the time to tell you all this”
“And what’s that?”
“Since you moved here I knew you were meant to help me to finish my work. I need your insights to finish what I’ve started.”
Lauren stared at him, incredulous. “You think I’ll help you with this madness? That will never happen.”
Dr. Mansfield glanced to the door and held a finger to his lips. “Before, when I asked you if you would sacrifice a thousand children to save the world, you said no. I wonder, does your conviction hold if we change the question to saving one particular child?”
Lauren choked back the emotion that surged inside her as she realized he was talking about Sarah. Only now, with this glimmer of hope, did she realize she had already given herself and her daughter up for dead. Maybe there was a way to save her. “Anything,” she whispered. “I’d do anything.”
“I can save Sarah. Huckley insists we sacrifice her. He believes she holds the key to freeing us from the limits we face, but I can control him.” He dragged his tongue across his dry lips. “If I spare Sarah, will you help me develop the serum?”
Tears swelled in Lauren’s eyes. Just the reference to sparing her daughter was enough to collapse the columns of morality that held up her belief system. Everything she had just argued against seemed to pale next to saving Sarah. Still, a force inside her fought against the abdication. How could she help a madman take innocent lives? What would her daughter’s life mean if it came at that cost? Slowly, her conscience beat back her maternal impulse and concluded that she had to refuse. She had to make a principled stand. But when she opened her mouth, the words that tumbled out were not angry defiance, but a mumbled defeat. “I’ll do anything you want. Just don’t hurt my baby.”
Dr. Mansfield eyed her carefully. “I’ll have to keep her somewhere until we’re finished on the work. In case you change your mind, you see.”
Lauren nodded.
“These other men, they can’t know about our arrangement. Huckley has filled them with promises about how Sarah will change their lives.”
“But I thought you were the leader.”
“It’s more complicated than that. With these men, I can’t afford to look weak. I have to plan this carefully. If you want to save your daughter, not a word, understand? No matter what happens.”
Lauren nodded her head, remembering the analogy Dr. Mansfield had used earlier about God. She looked up at the doctor and realized she had done exactly what she had accused him of doing. She had made a deal with the devil and there was no going back.
She looked up as voices approached from outside. The door swung open and she saw Huckley, the sheriff and Deputy Sorenson, whom she recognized from the first night in the hospital with Jack.
Janney called out. “What about her, Boss? Are we taking her down with us?”
Dr. Mansfield shook his head. “She stays up here. I’m going to convince her to help with the project.”
Huckley snorted and hawked a gob of spit against the wall. He wrinkled his nose at Lauren as if she were a spoiled piece of meat. “She’ll never help.” He nodded to Deputy Sorenson, “Maybe the kid here can break her spirit a little while we’re gone.”
Sorenson smiled. “Are you saying what I think you’re saying?”
Lauren looked to Dr. Mansfield but he avoided her eyes. He had his arm over Janney’s shoulder was walking him outside, talking softly in his ear. Huckley watched them walk out and then turned back to Sorenson. “You’re a big boy. I’m sure you can figure it out. Just make sure she’s alive when we get back. Don’t be too gentle though. She won’t learn her lesson unless you bloody her up at least a little.”
“Don’t worry. It’ll be my pleasure,” Sorenson said, stepping toward Lauren, his eyes roving over her body.
“Not right now you idiot. Later, when we go down.”
“How long’s that going to be?”
Huckley shot Sorenson a glance that told the deputy his tone of voice alone was enough for Huckley to consider killing him. He shook his head. “We’ll go when we’re ready. When the two of them are done with their little secrets,” he said, jutting a chin toward the doorway through which Dr. Mansfield and Janney had disappeared. “We’ll head down in about fifteen, give Butcher and Moran time to finish up. And son, no matter what happens, don’t you dare come down that elevator shaft.”
Sorenson was still staring at Lauren, shifting his weight from side to side, dragging the palms of his hands across his chest. “Don’t you worry about that. I have plenty up here to
keep me occupied.”
Lauren closed her eyes, praying that Dr. Mansfield wasn’t lying and that there was still a chance she could save Sarah. She would endure any pain and indignity from these men, but only if it meant Sarah could go free. Otherwise she thought she would go insane from helplessness. She thought of her poor Jack, locked up in the Midland prison. How terrible the last day must have been for him. But at least he was safe, the publicity of his arrest probably the one thing keeping him alive. At least Becky would have one parent at the end of it all. It was a small consolation, but given the circumstances, it meant everything to her. You stay alive, Jack, she murmured under her breath. You stay alive for our girls.
Lauren jumped when the scream erupted on the floor beneath her. Her heart sank knowing, as only a parent can, that the sound meant her daughter was in pain. She looked down and saw Sarah struggling to her feet, the shriek coming from her mouth reaching an impossibly high pitch. When Sarah turned toward her mother, Lauren shuddered. Her daughter looked right through her.
“Sarah. It’s all right. Come here,” she called out, trying to reach out toward her.
But her bindings made it impossible to move. Even without the rope around her wrists and legs, she would have frozen in place when she realized Sarah’s screams were actually words.
The same words.
Over and over.
Daddy’s dead! Daddy’s dead! DADDY’S DEAD!
SEVENTY-SEVEN
At first he thought there was some kind of mistake. He had felt the water rush over his lips and slide over his tongue on the way down his throat. He remembered knowing the moment had arrived when there wouldn’t be another moment to follow. Time was through with him. It was over.
But there he was, still in the tunnel. Still floating in the dark water. Everything was the same. Except the burning in his chest was gone. And he breathed freely. It didn’t make any sense. It didn’t make any sense at all.