The Riser Saga

by Becca C. Smith

  My whole body squeezed in guilt. Even after everything I’d put her son through, Bill’s mom still wanted to help me. His parents were probably the nicest people on the planet, just like Bill.

  Turner pulled up a chair and sat across from me.

  So weird.

  I could tell he felt just as uncomfortable, but I admired the fact that he was willing to suck it up and have a powwow with me.

  “Our scientists are trying to figure out what was in the compounds that Elisha injected you with so we can come up with some kind of vaccine,” Turner started the conversation.

  Roberta walked over to us, standing behind Gramps. “The fact that you were able to leave your body speaks volumes about your ability. Elisha must have been pretty certain that you wouldn’t be able to.”

  “I think this drug is more specific than that,” I said, starting to rationalize out loud. “Elisha knew I’d jumped into Ryan’s body, in fact, she yanked me out of it. The drug definitely only works on telepathy, not astral projection.”

  Turner followed up on my thought. “An actual telepathy-blocker,” he said, nodding in agreement. “We’ve been developing something like that in our labs. Elisha must have perfected it.”

  Roberta nodded, too, agreeing, then added, “Combined with the loopy-juice she gave you, I’m amazed you had as much control as you did.”

  Grams was trying to compliment me, but I felt like a complete failure. My memory of what happened was: me acting like a flibberty-jibbet until I ended up passing out.

  “Elisha said I was going to have to kill myself. What did she mean by that, do you think?”

  I felt Nancy’s hand squeeze mine when I said that. “Can’t we just kill her?” she grumbled. “I mean seriously? I’ll do it. I officially volunteer.”

  “Nothing would give me more pleasure,” Gramps said in such a severe tone that it reminded me of why he used to terrify me so much. It wasn’t that long ago that I was on his kill list.

  “’Kay,” Nancy trailed off, picking up on the lethalness of Turner’s intensity.

  Roberta answered my question. “The short answer is that we have no idea why Elisha wants you to kill yourself. Revenge? For her own sick pleasure? She used to convince I.Q. kids to kill themselves as sport. We lost fifteen of them to her psychotic nature.”

  Seriously?

  Just when I thought I knew how evil Elisha was, I was hit with a whole new startling discovery.

  That’s when Ryan sat up in his bed and started screaming.

  We all turned at the sound. I jumped to my wobbly feet and ran over to his side.

  “Ryan! Ryan!” I tried to get him to stop screaming. I whirled my head around to Gramps, “What’s happening?”

  Ryan’s screams grew louder.

  Turner and Roberta stood there, both looking just as confused as I was.

  A doctor ran in. I moved aside to let him do his work.

  Just as suddenly, Ryan stopped.

  He was awake.

  Our eyes met.

  Ryan looked like he was scared. “Oh no,” he said with such horror it made my fingers and toes tingle with fear.

  “What is it?” I barely heard my own whisper.

  “I know where the I.Q. kids went.”

  This had everyone in the room’s attention.

  Roberta shooed out the doctor as the four of us stood around Ryan’s bed, waiting for what we knew would be horrible news. Even Jill stared at him from Max’s bedside.

  “Where?” I asked, my voice still unnaturally quiet.

  “Clones. They went inside the clones of a little boy. There’re at least a hundred of them.”

  Only my grandparents and I knew the true gravity of what Ryan was saying. Elisha had transferred the I.Q. kids into the clones of my father, Franklin Turner.

  And they all had my power.

  I quickly filled in Ryan, Nancy and Jill about the dad-clones. They looked terrified and sorry for me all at the same time.

  The building security alarm went off on cue.

  Turner and Roberta were already in strategy-mode. Gramps stared Roberta in the eye. “You are to go to the safe zone. I don’t want Elisha controlling you.”

  “Geoffrey, I can help. No one knows this facility better than me,” Roberta argued.

  “Precisely my point. You don’t think Elisha knows that? It is probably a part of her plan: to control you to get her and the clones out of here.” Turner wasn’t budging.

  “Chelsan can take control of me. She’s much stronger than Elisha. I’ll be safe, trust me.”

  Um.

  Not feeling exactly the strongest right now. And talk about pressure!

  I decided to speak up, “If it was just Elisha, maybe, but what if all the I.Q. kids join her in trying to take over your body. I wouldn’t be able to stop all of them working together.”

  Roberta didn’t seem fazed at all by my doubts. “I’m willing to risk it.”

  “I’m not.” Turner’s position was unmoving. And I kind of agreed with him. Gramps would do anything to save Roberta if she was in danger. “I’m not going to lose you again,” his voice cracked.

  Even Jill looked away at that. The only humanizing trait Gramps had was his love for Roberta. I guess it ran in the family from my parents to Ryan and I. When we fall, we fall hard.

  In contrast to the loud security alarm, Roberta paused for a few moments of silence. Finally, she nodded, “Fine. I’ll stay in touch through Chelsan.”

  Turner kissed her lovingly on the forehead, then called for a couple of guards. They arrived promptly from outside the hall. “Take my wife to Section D,” he ordered.

  Before Grams left she turned to me one last time. “Remember, the clones aren’t dead, so the transfer won’t be like mine. We killed this clone so my essence could take over the body completely. The I.Q. kids are going to be sharing their existence with the Franklin clones. Maybe we can use that to our advantage.” She turned to Gramps and kissed him gently on the lips. “Be careful. I love you.”

  Turner hugged her desperately. “I love you.”

  Then she was gone, out of the room and off to Section D, wherever that was.

  Ryan started to get out of bed, but I pushed him down. “No. You’re getting your rest.”

  Ryan removed my hand from his chest, firmly but not in a mean way, and I could see he was determined. “I’m obviously still connected to these kids or adult-kids or whatever,” he said. “When they entered into the clones, I felt it surge through every nerve of my body. They’re not in my head anymore, but I’m still bound to them somehow. If you can reach the part of the clones that’s your dad and if I can reach the part of them that’s from the Farm… maybe we can stop them from doing whatever it is Elisha is going to command them to do.”

  “He’s right,” Turner agreed, ordering sharply, “Let’s go. We’re losing time.” Gramps apparently didn’t care if Ryan might get hurt. I guess I couldn’t blame him, though: the clones were active and trying to escape. We had to act fast.

  I nodded and helped Ryan to his feet.

  I turned to Nancy and Jill. “You guys watch over Max. We’ll leave a team of soldiers here with you.”

  Nancy looked like she was about to argue, but thought better against it. She simply nodded and sat across from Jill on the other side of Max.

  “Lead the way.” I put my hand out for Gramps to take us to the clones.

  Turner walked out the door and, with Ryan and I trailing behind, navigated our way through the giant labyrinthine infrastructure that was Population Control. No one seemed too alarmed by the alarm. Apparently, if you didn’t have direct orders from Gramps to actually do something about it, the standing order was “Business as usual.”

  The hallways were as eclectically designed as the whole complex. In some parts it felt like you were in an office building with generic holo-paintings and white walls and in the next you were in a modern art museum of minimalist holo-sculptures and striped wallpaper.

  “We
need Isabelle,” Gramps said on the move, apparently deciding to let us in on what was going on inside his brain. “She’s the only one who can kill that little brat.”

  Ryan’s hand was firmly wrapped in mine as we followed Turner in silence. Gramps was probably right, but I didn’t like talking about killing anyone. Even Elisha.

  I shook the thought from my head. It was making me ill and I needed to have all my wits about me if we were going to stop the I.Q. kids/clones from escaping. It was almost funny in a way. The I.Q. kids had to escape from this same building five months ago and now they were back in here, having to do the same thing over again.

  After a few more twists and turns through the building Turner led us into the same room I saw when I astral-projected to Roberta. Isabelle and Harry were both standing with their two other partners, Terence and Dean. They were all in a huddle, like they were already planning their own escape. I guess with the security alarm sounding off they figured it was a good time to bail.

  Harry practically snarled when he saw Turner enter.

  Gramps didn’t even acknowledge him, though, motioning instead to Isabelle, “You. I need you.”

  Isabelle crossed her arms defiantly while Harry and the other two moved protectively in front of her.

  “You can’t have her,” Harry stood in the way, forcing Turner to make eye contact with him.

  “If Elisha accomplishes her goal, it will be on your head.” Gramps was livid.

  “What do we care if she steals something from you? We’re staying out of it.” Harry wasn’t backing down.

  Turner wasn’t fazed at all. “You may hate my methods, Harry, but you at least know that population control is a necessity to survive. People have to die.”

  That pissed me off.

  I didn’t care if it was true. My mother and everyone in my trailer park died because Turner was “controlling the population.” It was wrong and there had to be another way. I forgot sometimes that my grandfather killed with no remorse. He even looked proud. It made me want to throw up.

  Right now, though, Elisha was worse. I didn’t even want to think about what she and the I.Q. kids/Franklins were going to do if they escaped.

  I needed to step in before Harry and Gramps got into a fistfight.

  Apparently Isabelle had the same thought, because she beat me to it. She placed a restraining hand on Harry’s shoulder. “We’ll deal with Geoffrey later. Right now we need to stop Elisha. She killed Charlie. She would’ve killed the rest of us.” Isabelle nodded to Terence and Dean. Then she focused on Gramps. “What’s happening?”

  Turner couldn’t hide the triumphant smirk on his face and it looked like Harry was going to tackle him despite Isabelle’s plea. But he obviously thought better of it and turned his full attention to Turner.

  Gramps filled them in on what Elisha was trying to pull off.

  “I have confirmation that she is in the building and I want Isabelle to kill her,” Turner finished.

  To my shock, Harry’s little crew were all nodding in agreement, like an assassination order was the most normal thing in the world. Then I realized: to them, it probably was. Isabelle was a killer after all. And apparently so were Terence and Dean. It made me wonder…

  “And what are your special skills?” I asked on a whim. They’d either shut me down or confirm my suspicions.

  I was shocked again when Dean very openly said, “I can blend into any wall and he has true aim.” I didn’t exactly know what true aim was, but it wasn’t hard to figure out. And blend into any wall??? I wanted to see!

  Dean’s dark brown eyes bore into me. I felt uncomfortable under his gaze. He was pretty cute as far as soldier boys go, what with the shaved head, being super-ripped, and a bone structure that could cut glass. Everything about him was intimidating. I couldn’t imagine how Dean could blend in anywhere.

  Terence was a little less intimidating, but only because his demeanor was a lot more laid back. He was just as ripped as Dean, but his shaved head was grown out slightly. From the little hair that was showing, Terence was blonde, his eyelashes practically disappearing on his face they were so light colored with eyebrows to match. Add that to his five o’clock shadow and it gave him an overall scruff that made him pretty cute too.

  Terence’s baby blues were focused on Turner at the moment. “I need a sniper rifle.”

  Gramps was already barking orders into the holo-com wall.

  Everything was moving way too fast.

  “Hold up!” I found myself shouting.

  All eyes bore down on me.

  Um.

  The gentle squeeze of Ryan’s supportive hand gave me the added confidence I needed.

  “I know you are all in kill, kill, kill mode, but shouldn’t we talk about this? Elisha should be imprisoned, not killed. You kept her locked up for how many years? A hundred? You didn’t seem to have a problem keeping her in this very building back then?” I just couldn’t justify murder, even if I felt like murdering her myself.

  “Elisha and the I.Q. kids didn’t have your powers last time and if you don’t remember more than half my army is dead. So no, she will die and so will the clones.” Gramps had made up his mind and I knew nothing I said would stop him.

  A second security alarm went off making the blaring even more obnoxious as both sounds competed for which one could be the most annoying.

  Turner looked at Harry. They were on the same page. “The clones have broken through the second security level.”

  Harry nodded. “How many levels?”

  “Five,” Turner confirmed.

  “Let’s do this.” Isabelle took control and Gramps led the way out of the room and back into the hallway.

  I let all the crazy people go first, then Ryan and I took up the rear.

  We met a group of Turner’s dead soldiers along the way who armed Harry and Dean with several hand guns and gave Terence a ginormous rifle with a holo-scope sight. I felt like peeing my pants seeing all those guns, but I kept my mouth shut. Apparently, Isabelle had no use for a weapon, seeing as she could stop a beating heart with her mind! Yeah.

  Although we’d started out in the rear, Dean dropped back and made Ryan and I stay in front of him. I guess we were the weak ones of the group. Ryan didn’t seem to mind, but I felt a bit shafted. Elisha and the I.Q. kid/clones having my powers really sucked. It made me feel rather useless.

  I glanced over my shoulder to see how far back Dean was trailing, and I nearly jumped when he wasn’t there.

  I called out to Gramps, “Dean’s gone!”

  “I’m right here,” Dean’s voice was right next to my ear.

  He suddenly materialized inches away from me.

  Whoa.

  “Keep moving,” Dean ordered quietly.

  I think my eyes were stuck in permanent “wide” mode. Fortunately, Ryan recovered first and led me forward to stay with the group. I couldn’t help myself. I looked behind me, checking. Sure enough, I couldn’t see Dean. Dang. I almost wished I could swap powers with him. I’d much rather be able to disappear than to…I don’t know… deal with dead things all the time!

  I started thinking about how many Dad clones there were. I never did find out the exact number. All I knew was that more people than I cared to admit now had a power like mine, and they were all evil. I didn’t want to think about what they’d do with that power. The question was: what was Turner going to do with the clones? Kill them? I couldn’t bear to think of destroying what essentially was my father. Logically, of course, I knew the clones weren’t him, but they were made from him. From his DNA, from his cells. For all intents and purposes, they were all my dad. But if Roberta thought they were wrong before, now with the I.Q. kids consciences planted inside them…

  I shuddered.

  “Up here,” Gramps announced and pointed to our destination: the largest metal door I’d ever seen.

  This thing was huge, and I mean HUGE. I couldn’t even believe that a door this size would fit inside a building. The hal
lway we were just in looked distorted like it grew at its end to encompass the enormous door. It was at least a hundred feet tall and fifty feet wide. It was like someone had an enlargement machine and just hit the door itself by accident. The surface was completely smooth. There wasn’t even a doorknob or latch so I assumed it was a pressurized door that would open when Turner typed in the combination. I couldn’t for the life of me guess why Turner chose this particular design, but I was positive he had a reason. Psychos usually did.

  “This thing crytonsteel?” Harry looked awed.

  Gramps nodded. “Smallest piece I could get for level two. The walls of this level and the whole subbasement are made of the stuff.”

  Crytonsteel? What the…? Apparently this was impressive because even Isabelle and Terence looked amazed. I really couldn’t tell if Dean gave a crap since he was invisible!

  Then I noticed Ryan’s awestruck face and I really felt left out. I must have looked like a kicked puppy because Ryan melted when he glanced down at me. “Don’t feel bad, crytonsteel is more of a science myth than reality. Most people have never even heard of it. I just can’t believe it exists.”

  Turner motioned for Dean to come over to him. Dean materialized and walked to Gramps’s side. I really didn’t think I could get used to that.

  Ryan explained further, “It can’t break. It can’t be cut. It can’t be melted. It can’t be shaped. Basically, what you find is what you get.”

  “And it’s found in perfectly shaped walls?” My sarcasm was intended to make up for me feeling stupid.

  Turner spoke at that remark. “No, you silly twat, it isn’t shaped like a wall. If you’ll notice the door frame surrounds the metal not the other way around.”

  Oh.

  Now that he mentioned it, it really wasn’t much of a door after all. He was right, the regular door frame and plaster walls made a perfect rectangle around the metal.

  I hated to state the obvious but, “How do we open it?”

  Gramps didn’t answer, he just groaned at my apparent stupidity.