by Atkins, Dawn
She was more than private. She didn’t exist. Maya and Naomi were one.
Rena sagged against the bureau. The wise and gentle mother she’d craved all her life didn’t exist. Another betrayal on top of so many. It was almost too much. She wanted to break in on them and yell and hit and hurt.
“Pull yourself together, Nigel,” Maya said, and Rena took the message for herself. “In a few minutes, we wave, we offer our toast, we send off our children, and move to a new future.”
“How can we leave them? Couldn’t we do more?”
“Our experiment has run its course. Each of them will eventually fail, as Penelope said. There would be anguish. There would be questions and evidence. Our fingerprints are all over their brains and blood. And if that weren’t enough, your dear Genevieve has set the dogs on us.”
“Genevieve would never act against us. She believes. She is faithful and loyal. Her heart is huge.”
“You don’t understand people, my love. That’s my job. And I’ve done it very well. Our plan will cover our tracks with the authorities. No one will be the wiser, I promise.”
Nigel’s sigh was long and resigned. “And Roland will wait a sufficient period?”
“Of course. He won’t start the…show…until they’re all dreaming of castle raids and dragon flights.”
The show? What did that mean?
“And it will be quick?”
“The fans are perfectly positioned.”
“And there’s no other way?”
“Nigel, please. Don’t make this harder than it is. We need an accident that speaks for itself—res ipsa loquitur, as the lawyers say. This is it.”
“It just seems so…unsavory.”
“Sometimes you are too weak for this world. I come from sterner stock, I suppose. My grandmother burned the farmhouse after they were released from the internment camp at the end of the war.”
Had to be World War II, Rena realized. She’d read that Japanese-Americans had been put in camps and treated like spies.
“They’d stolen her strawberry farm, all that her family had slaved to achieve,” Maya continued, her tone bitter and biting, “but she wouldn’t allow them the spoils. The American Dream is all well and good unless your eyes slant or your skin has tint. America is a hateful place. Why you cling to it I’ll never understand.”
“You’re too hard, Naomi.”
“And you’re too soft. For God’s sake, Nigel, take another pill. You can fall apart later.” She sighed. “Get dressed for the toast. I must finish packing.”
Rena’s eyes flicked to the suitcase on the bed near the red tunic. God. Maya would enter any second. Rena spun and whipped out the door and down the hall, braced for a shout or a grab, even a bullet, desperate to get downstairs, to complete the plan, to reveal the danger, which now was a matter of life and death.
She made it safely out and into the elevator, which moved so slowly she wanted to scream. What medicine had Nigel meant? Lifers would be dreaming, Maya said, so that meant drugged. And then they’d be killed? How? Maya had mentioned fans. There were fans for the mist…
Had they laced the mist with something? Poisonous gas? She’d said the accident would speak for itself, that authorities would be satisfied. How could that possibly be?
At the ground floor, Rena wanted to tear the elevator doors apart and lunge out. She checked her watch. The freestyle battles should be going on, so the Dome would still be packed with Lifers. Maya had mentioned waving to the crowd before enacting her murderous plot, but Rena didn’t dare wait for Zeke’s Watchers to battle Mason’s.
She had no time for careful explanations. She had to order everyone out, declare an emergency.
As she passed the break room, she noticed two Watchers guarding the door. “What’s going on?” She made as if to enter, but they blocked her way.
“No one goes in.”
Beyond their big bodies, she could see Lifers pouring E from cans into plastic glasses on two dozen trays. For the launch toast, no doubt. These cans had red lettering on a black design, the reverse of the usual can colors. Why? Before she’d known the truth, she’d have assumed it was to commemorate EverLife II, but now she suspected something more sinister. The cans must hold a special version of E, one that could knock out Lifers long enough to be killed.
Rena had to get everyone out of the Lounge before anyone took a sip. She ran for the Dome. As she flew by, she noticed a Watcher touching his earpiece, then looking in her direction. Were they onto her?
Lionel was on the Dome ground watching the fighters, so she bounded up the stairs. The control room didn’t lock, so she dragged a table of electronics to block the door. Looking out, she noticed the Watchers from the break room trotting toward the stairs. They knew she knew.
She grabbed the microphone. “Attention, Lifers. This is an emergency. You must leave the Lounge. Run. If you don’t leave you will die.”
The fighters stopped their battle. Heads swiveled her way, but the roar of so many people talking was too much for the sound system. The Watchers were lunging up the steps. She had only seconds, so she put her fingers to her lips and blew out her fiercest whistle. The room quieted.
“Leave the Lounge or you’ll die,” she said. “Don’t drink the toast. Don’t—”
The sound cut off, the booth lights went out. She looked out and saw a third Watcher drop the lid on a circuit box against one wall. He’d cut her power.
The Watchers outside the booth forced open the door, then grabbed for her. She landed a solid kick and broke a nose, but they soon had her arms yanked back so hard she feared they’d pop their sockets. The lights flared bright again, so she could see Lifers watching in confused silence, but no one moved to help her. Now what?
Chapter Nineteen
The Watchers dragged Rena down the stairs while she fought to land a kick. She heard an electronic crackle and buzz and the overhead monitor lit up showing Nigel and Naomi. “We welcome you, beloved Lifers,” Nigel said, his voice shaky, tears in his eyes.
They were starting early? “Don’t listen! It’s a lie. Save yourselves!” she yelled.
“Beloved ones,” Nigel said. “Our time together has meant everything to me.” He looked away and seemed to be trying to gather himself.
Naomi shot him a look. “Nigel is overcome by emotion.” Rena recognized that fake serene voice she’d heard through the wall when Maya had mimicked Naomi. Her head cleared of the fog of Electrique, Rena saw how false her hair looked—like it belonged on a doll. How had Rena ever been fooled? “This is a moving moment in our history.”
“Don’t listen!” Rena shouted as they dragged her across the Dome. Puzzled Lifers looked at her, then away. A few laughed.
“I must apologize for the disruption of our glorious night,” Naomi said. “It seems a Lifer we held close has had a breakdown. She will receive the help she needs. Do not worry. Do not allow this incident to mar our glory.”
Rena kept trying. “She’s a fake. That’s Maya. There is no Naomi. They drugged you. Don’t drink the E. You’ll never wake up. It’s all a lie.”
She passed Baker standing with a few managers. “Get out or you’ll die. I’m telling you the truth. I’m not crazy,” she yelled, sounding crazy as hell.
At the edge of the crowd, she caught the frightened faces of her girl Recruits and some Astra fans. “You know me. Get out. Save yourselves.”
They blinked, pale with shock. How could she expect them to believe her? They had the faith in Nigel and Naomi she’d helped inspire.
The guards dragged her to the employee exit. She glanced back to see the trays of Electrique moving in a line toward the crowd of Lifers, light glinting from the red liquid that swayed in gentle circles in the clear plastic glasses.
It was too late. She was too late. The Watchers lifted her into the elevator. “They’ll kill you, too,” she said to them. “They’re starting over in Asia. You know too much. They’ll get rid of you.”
The Watchers looked st
raight ahead.
“Take me back down at least,” she said. “Let me die with my Family.”
But they gave no response, walking her between them to the Blackstones’ quarters, chilly and dim, through the invisible door and down the hall to the control room, where Nigel and Naomi had their backs to her, glasses aloft, nodding at each other. Were they were still on screen? Was the sound still live?
“Wait, don’t do it!” Rena yelled. “Don’t drink! It’s drugged.”
Naomi turned to her. “Too late,” she said coldly. “The camera’s off.” She pointed at a switch beside an LED light. The Watchers released her arms and backed to the door to prevent her escape.
On the monitor behind Naomi Rena saw Lifers toasting their own doom, smiling, eager to play the new generation of EverLife, completely oblivious to the danger they were in.
“The E will knock them out, but how will you kill them? Poison in the mist?”
“You heard that much?” Maya’s brows lifted. “Our housekeeper saw you leave, but did not know where you’d been or for how long. Quite long, I see.”
“Long enough to find out you were Naomi. Why, Maya?” Rena felt cold to the bone, paralyzed by the horror of all she’d learned.
Maya’s mouth twisted into a strange smile. “Maya is the fiction, Rena. Maya was my avatar, allowing me to freely move among Lifers. I am Naomi, the mother you needed to love, honor, and worship from afar.” She bowed, her long, fake hair falling forward. “At your service.”
“I never wanted this,” Nigel whined to Rena.
“You can stop it, Nigel,” Rena said, moving closer. “Tell the Lifers to leave. You can save your children. I know you want that.”
Nigel looked at her, his face full of sorrow, then at the monitor. He moaned and put his palms to his temples and pressed, as if to crush his own skull. “This is terrible.”
“If you’d rather not watch, darling, go lie down,” Maya said. “It will soon be over.” Maya looked at him tenderly. “Are you in pain, my love?”
She smiled sadly at Rena. “He’s as fragile as dandelion fluff. He suffers from a rare nervous disorder. If we don’t find a cure, he will die. We’ve spent millions and we need millions more. When you follow the rules, research is criminally pricey.”
Maya’s cell phone rang from her bag on a table near the door. She went to get it. The guards followed her movement, too. Nigel’s head was bowed. Rena had a blip of time to flip the switch Maya had indicated. She flicked it on. Most Lifers were moving to stations to play EverLife II, but there were some in the Dome who might hear the confession she hoped to get from Maya before the toast drugged them all unconscious.
“Are we set?” Maya said into the phone. The intimacy of her tone told Rena it was Mason on the line. “The accounts are a go?... The other funds?... Good…wonderful. You’re a dream. We’ll be down with our bags… A limo? You shouldn’t have.” She glanced back at Nigel. “A bit overwrought, but I’ll handle him.” She clicked the phone shut, then returned to the table.
“You don’t want to kill Lifers, Naomi,” Rena said loudly, moving to block Maya’s view of the glowing light—Lifers’ only hope now. “You’ve drugged their E. When they pass out, Mason’s Watchers will release poisonous gas to kill them, right?”
Maya stiffened at Rena’s tone, abruptly suspicious. She walked close, reached behind her to flip the switch off. “Haven’t you created enough trouble?” Maya glared at her.
Despair crashed over Rena’s head so she feared she’d drown. Then she remembered the tape recorder. She’d set it on voice activation. It could hold two hours. She had plenty of time left to get the truth from Maya. “You used us as lab rats,” she spat out. “Now you’ll kill us to hide your crime.”
“Those are bitter words, Rena.” Maya blinked. “I’m surprised at you.”
“Surprised because I can finally think? I’m clean, Maya. I went through detox. The Electrique is out of my system and the mood drugs won’t work without it.”
“You’ve been a busy girl, haven’t you?” She studied Rena like a specimen. “So, you passed through withdrawal. Interesting. We’ve wondered about residual effects and permanent changes in brain chemistry. You’re quite agitated at the moment, but how are you feeling in general?”
“Clear. Clean. Great. Why not keep studying us?” Rena said suddenly. “You could detox everyone and start over, using what you’ve learned.”
Maya smiled sadly. “Better to start fresh.” She looked out at the Lounge, where Lifers were playing and moving around, but Rena could see they’d visibly slowed. “We’ve done all we can here.”
“Don’t do this. Go if you want, but let Lifers live.”
“Too much evidence in all those brains. Our chemicals can be traced to certain labs. We’d be in danger.”
“You’ll be in danger anyway. When the police find all these people dead, they’ll have to investigate.”
“What the police will find, dear heart, is a terrible tragedy, a totally understandable one, and they’ll look no further, you can be sure.”
How could that be? What understandable tragedy could explain mass murder?
Maya smiled smugly, totally sure of herself.
“Tell me why,” Rena said, making fists of her hands, digging in her nails. She had to convince Maya to talk. “I deserve to know why we’re all to die.”
Maya regarded her with what she recognized as Maya’s imitation of affection. She used to love it. Now it sickened her. “You were like a sister to me. That was real. You deserve to understand, I suppose.” She checked her watch. “We have a few minutes. Mason must finish up and we want to be certain everyone’s out. We don’t want any unnecessary suffering.”
“You only wanted me for my father’s money,” Rena said.
“Human motivation is more complex than that. Yes, we needed your money, but you were killing yourself and we saved you. You can’t deny that. We made their lives better.” She motioned out at the sluggish crowd. “These were throwaway kids, lost souls. We gave them answers, a purpose, and family. That’s all anyone needs, isn’t it?”
“But you did more than that. You dosed them with dangerous drugs.”
“We took all precautions, but we had to act. Scientists have the power to control human mood, to give everyone happiness, if they would only do the research that counts.”
“Making Lifers so sick they die?”
“That was unforeseen,” Maya said, her voice softening. “This failure has caused us great agony. You have no idea how this hurts us.”
“You’re a murderer,” she spat out. “A sociopath, according to your definition.”
“Rena, dear, your mood was much more stable while we were treating you. We learned a great deal here and we’ll do better next time.”
“You’ll risk more lives after this? In China?”
“Vital discoveries exact great cost. Think of the scientists throughout history who tested vaccines and new cures on themselves, sometimes dying because of it. They sacrificed themselves so that others might live better lives.”
“You sacrificed us, not yourselves.”
“Not true, darling. Nigel nearly killed himself in the service of our cause.” Maya looked down at him. He’d dropped into a chair, hanging his head. “We both worked for the military at a research lab in New Mexico. There was a poor outcome in Nigel’s project. In a misguided attempt to resolve his guilt, he took a massive dose of the drug.” She patted his bald spot.
Rena remembered Nigel’s story about his work in New Mexico.
“The price of his sacrifice is his deteriorating neurology,” Maya continued. “Far too costly.” She sighed. “Nigel tends toward the foolish gesture. He set the lab on fire, too. Luckily, I stopped him in time.”
Nigel groaned. “Let’s not discuss that again.”
“There were videotapes stacked on shelf after shelf. As a chemist, he should have known that magnetic tape gives off cyanide gas when it burns. One breath and you’r
e out cold. Two breaths and you’re dead. But I saved Nigel that day and we left the country, escaping prosecution.”
So much for the life of solitary study that Naomi was supposed to have been involved in when she met Nigel. They’d been running from the law.
“That led to everything that followed. Already, I knew the healing power of video games, the boost they offer to the brain’s enzymes. Nigel grew obsessed with developing games and in Korea, we found brilliant programmers. Bit by bit things unfolded as they should, didn’t they, Nigel?”
Nigel only groaned, head still hanging.
“We noticed the programmers worked nonstop, fueled by energy drinks, an idea we explored, along with drug delivery systems. Remember the patches, my love?” She chuckled, then looked at Rena. “They raised blood blisters—a complete disaster. However, in Bangkok, we watched a street tattooist use a syringe to apply his crude art and the idea was born.”
“You did this all on your own, the two of you?”
“We worked with chemists and labs, careful to mask our goal, funding our work with the profits from EverLife. Mason joined us early on and has been a godsend.”
“By cheating banished players, stealing trust funds, hiring guards to kill anyone who asks questions? And you two are so close.”
Maya shook her head, warning Rena away from mentioning the affair. Nigel didn’t look up. “It was Nigel’s idea to open arcades to help young people. So many lost souls flocked to us—homeless, broken, in poverty, addicted to drugs or alcohol, abused by family or friends. We saved them, Rena. You know we did.”
Her voice went low and she moved closer. “We saved you, too. You wanted to die that night and I gave you hope and purpose. I grew very fond of you. I still am.” She reached as if to stroke Rena’s hair.
Rena jerked away. “We trusted you. You took everything from us. For the money? For the power? To control us?”
“For the greater good, Rena. Haven’t I already explained?” She actually looked sad. “I thought you wanted to understand.”