The Infected [Books 1-6]

by P. S. Power

  Mark waved at the woman, who had a handful of things with her. A syringe and a tiny bottle of something clear that she filled the needle from, taking all the air out without waiting. Then she handed the thing over. To Penny's teammate.

  He hefted the little needle and smiled.

  "It will help you relax. A lot probably. Try to remember what that feels like, if you can. You'll need to stand up for this, I think. It goes in your rump."

  Doctor Burrows seemed pretty happy about it but contradicted the man instantly.

  "The arm will do. I just always give him shots there so I can look at his tush. Don't tell him I said so though, since I'm pretty certain that's sexual harassment." It was clearly a joke, and Penny smiled even as she realized that her left arm was a little sore. Stasis had done his thing and already given her the shot, it seemed.

  "Don't worry, this won't take long..." Mark settled into the chair next to her, but the Doctor stayed, as if interested to see what would happen.

  Penny snorted, or tried too. It came out as a long slow hiss of air through her nose. She could feel all the stress go away then. It was something that she hadn't really noticed before, not in a long time. It was nice, but made her feel heavy too. That and slightly warm.

  "Ahhh... OK. I think I'll become a drug addict then. This is good. I feel nearly comfortable."

  They all sat and talked for a while, and then Mark patted her on the arm.

  "I thought that might be the case. Doctor? Try this out." The woman did the same thing, if with a bit more fondling than patting. It felt nice, if strange. Then she took her ear bud out.

  "All right Miss Cooper, say something, please."

  She didn't know what they wanted at all. "Um, sure? What are we doing? Does this involve tickling? Or is the treatment your giving my arm more personal than that? If it's the first one you'll want to make a move for the back of my knees. Just sayin."

  The woman tilted her head.

  "Louder please?"

  "What?" She nearly yelled the word, which got the woman to smile.

  "I heard that! Interesting. So that seems to work. The amount of muscular tension Penny feels seems to directly relate to how invisible she is? Or at least the other effects. I can't see her any better, can you? Not her skin at least."

  Mark allowed that he couldn't, which was kind of nice, since that would be embarrassing. Being noticed by the man like that.

  After a few second Penny smiled, her face feeling like it was buzzing a bit.

  "So, I should run off and have sex now? Or, like, you can give me one of these when I have a date? That would be cool."

  The rather cute woman in front of her let an eyebrow raise but didn't say no. She just made a bit of a face at Mark.

  "I think I got that. Dating... Well, if needed we can do that. Really, I'd like to see you work out how to do it on your own. It will prevent a lot of problems, addiction for instance, and be a lot more useful to you in the long run. All you have to do is become a meditative master. Easy-peasy."

  Penny coughed.

  "Wait, did you actually just say that? Easy-peasy? That's funny. In a very bizarre way. No one says that anymore, do they? What are you, sixty? You look about thirty..."

  There was a smile then and the woman stood up, her face smooth and unlined. "That's part of my power. I'm also a wonderful cellist."

  "Awesome."

  It really was. Then that was probably the drugs speaking, wasn't it? She wasn't able to play anything herself, or sing very well either. A bit in the shower, but that was about it.

  The Doc winked at her, not looking directly at her, but getting way closer than most people normally did. She walked away then, not looking back, leaving them alone together. Mark and her. Penny would have made a move on him, but she really didn't want her team leader to scratch her eyes out, or even try. That would make for unneeded stress for sure.

  Instead she wandered off to bed, that seeming like a very good idea suddenly. She wasn't really loopy, or even tired, but it felt right. The sheets were softer than normal, and warm. It was strange that she'd notice that, but it was true. Her whole bed was more comfortable suddenly, forming to her, instead of being flat and hard.

  That wouldn't be it, obviously. No, the change was in her. She hadn't realized how tense she'd been, for years, no doubt. It was like she hadn't relaxed at all in that whole time. It was her first mode, wasn't it? There were all these people around all the time here and she just couldn't stand it, could she? This was a lot better.

  Being drugged like this.

  It wouldn't last though, and she'd be herself again in the morning. Unless she could learn to be a different person. Which she'd already started, right? It might be enough and if it wasn't... hell, medical at the base would hand out drugs to almost anyone and she could just steal what she needed anyway.

  Arrrr.

  That got her to smile a bit as she drifted off, finally feeling nearly at home, which had only taken powerful pharmaceuticals to make happen.

  When she woke up it was still very early in the day. Enough so that the dining room wasn't open yet on her floor when she tried it. There was noise coming from within, and she could have waited, but she decided to give the restaurant on the first floor a try. Technically that was off limits, but so far they'd never turned her away, and they stayed open twenty-four hours a day. Of course most of the time they didn't know she was around, did they?

  She was planning to just help herself, but the man at the door, a fellow that she'd never even seen before, was sitting behind the front desk on a stool, with an ear piece in. He was also reading a newspaper, which was kind of special. She hadn't even seen one of those in years.

  "Hello. I don't want to interrupt, but I was wondering if I could grab something to eat? I know that we're supposed to do that in our own areas, but it's a bit early for my floor." She didn't think the man heard her for a few moments, but he stood and folded the paper, then nodded.

  "Well now, we can't let you go hungry, can we? We don't often have guests this early, but we can seat you and make almost anything you want. I think the night chef will be very pleased, ma'am. Normally he only gets to do various forms of prep work. This way?" The fellow had a delightful accent, sounding like he was from England, at least if she could tell from the actors she'd seen on television. He wasn't that old, maybe forty or so, and seemed a bit softer than most of the people on the base, but in a charming way.

  Instead of a waiter coming to the table the man brought a menu with him and then stood by the table, waiting for her to decide what she wanted. She had to move fast then, or he'd forget she was there and then she'd be back to theft and not a hot meal at all.

  "Could I have some eggs please? Bacon and crepes? Or... Are those hard to make?"

  The man smiled at the table, looking down at the floor, his smile very big and pleased looking.

  "Not for our chef. He won't have any difficulty with it at all. Would you care for anything else?"

  "Um... no, not really. That should be more than enough, thank you. I'm still waiting for someone to yell at me for coming in without makeup on."

  The man actually bowed to the table.

  "I won't tell if you don't. The truth is that almost no one we see at this time of day does. We have instructions not to notice things like that too closely. You know how it is. We don't even notice who's been drinking, or not." He sounded a little conspiratorial, but Penny had to agree. It was a smart plan, in general.

  "I never notice that kind of thing either. Or, rather, I do, but I try to keep it to myself. People would be surprised at the kind of things I see."

  "I... would imagine that to be the case. I guess I should come to you if I ever need to find out all the secrets, shouldn't I? I sell bits of news to the press from time to time. It's half the reason I took the night job here."

  It was an interesting admission. Also a good job opportunity, once she thought about it. He probably made a pretty bit of cash doing that. She coul
dn't, for a thousand reasons, but it was a smart idea. Brilliant in fact.

  "Well, if I find out anything I'll let you know. At least if it suits me at the moment."

  "Why thank you! Is it true that you're the new assistant of the Deputy Director?"

  "Gopher. Let's not call it anything more than it is. I mainly fetch and carry, sometimes pester and cajole. It's a living."

  The man laughed and waved a bit, then walked off, not taking the order down at all. He brought her water though and a cup of fresh coffee, just like she was a regular person or something. She wondered if the drugs were still working a bit. It was much nicer than normal, all things considered.

  The food came, and was much better than she thought it would be. Whoever did the cooking here was good. Very much so in fact. She finished it all very quickly, and made a point of speaking to the man at the door again, since they might be partners in crime some day.

  "So, what's your name? In case I ever need to find you again?"

  "Karver, ma'am. Jonathon Karver." He said it like people said Bond, James Bond. It sounded pretty cool.

  "I'm Penny. That goes both ways doesn't it? If you hear anything good, you'll share it we me? If that's the case I'm pretty sure that the quality of rumors I deliver can go up quite a bit. You understand me?"

  "You mean that we might share information? Like spies? That sounds like more fun than my day job. I think I'd enjoy that very much. I was kidding though, earlier, about selling things to the press."

  "Oh, you were kidding, you were... Now I think we might be able to have some real fun. Start grooming those contacts Jon, you and I have some stories to tell."

  It got a laugh at least.

  That put her in the office early, but she took the time to check her e-mail. Shockingly she had some. One offer for Viagra, two for porn, and one from Christian Poures. She dumped the rest instantly so they couldn't infect her computer with any cooties, wondering what the heck Chris would want with her. She checked it twice, but it was to her, not Marcia.

  It was...

  Friendly.

  For a second she wondered if the woman had actually written it herself, but really... it made sense. E-mail meant that her team leader wasn't forced to be around her. She didn't like to have people too close, in a kind of strange way. It ticked her off or something. But she seemed kind and sweet on the computer. It was almost as if she were chatting with an old friend that actually cared about her or something.

  She just wanted to know about the upcoming trip for Team Two and offered to help with any expenses, if it went over budget. Because she was cool that way. Plus really rich. Or her parents were at least. Like billionaires.

  Penny answered that she'd keep it in mind and thanked her for thinking of it. Team Two got screwed over so much that it was really nice of her to even think about it. She put that in too, since it really was.

  None of the possible venues had gotten back yet, which was either just because it hadn't even been a full day since she'd sent anything yet, or a comment about the IPB. She decided to go with the first one. Why not? It cost her nothing to assume the best of people in a case like this. After all, it was just email.

  That left her ridiculously open for the rest of the morning. Marcia was in at eight, having managed to skip breakfast, which meant a run to get something for her without waiting. Then she just helped out with a bit of research on hate groups, trying to find their online portals, so that she could covertly join them, or at least get the newsletters. That was oddly fun, even though the hate she was reading left her feeling a bit slimy. Worse, most of the people she was reading thought that Senator Hooper was a great man, clearly framed for those evil crimes he was accused of. Very, very few of them even mentioned the idea that he might be guilty. She could see the general idea, since they were all tied to the man, but it was ridiculous at the same time.

  How could they so easily disregard all the facts?

  "Hey, Marsh, we should go on a hike later. Get a little bit of a work out. Maybe pack a lunch." She'd mentioned that idea before, but didn't know if it would be remembered at all. The woman sitting at her desk to the left stopped eating the breakfast sandwich in her hand and nodded.

  "Wonderful, another excuse to feed me? I suppose. You need to make sure you don't get soft, working behind a desk like this. We should get Lancaster in for it too, don't you think? He's your partner after all, it wouldn't do to leave him out."

  She nodded, then spoke, making sure it would be loud enough to hear on the pickup later.

  "True. Plus he's not hard on the eyes is he? Do you think you can arrange it so that he'll be going to D.C. with me in a week or so? Even if only at first. We could get a hotel room. You know... I mean, Mark and Doctor Burroughs figured out that if I can relax enough I can touch people and they'll realize it. Even hear me without the ear pieces in. It doesn't sound like it will be that easy to do without chemical help, but it's definitely worth looking into." She tried to keep her tone happy and a bit flirty sounding, which didn't exactly work, since she was caught by a wave of shyness most of the way through.

  That earned a bit of a chuckle though.

  "Seriously? So, do you become visible too or..."

  "Not that I can tell. I think it's just that I become a real invisible girl, rather than a super one. You know, like... maybe I could do the whole thing where I wrap up like a mummy and be seen? That would be cool. No one mentioned it yesterday, seeing my clothing, when I was drugged. Mark's working with me to help me with that though. So that I can maybe learn to do it on purpose."

  "Seriously? Well that's incredible Penny! We need to get with Director Moore on news like that. He worries about you being alone too much you know. You're one of his pets."

  If that meant the people in his drawer with Death Warrants ready to go, it was a bit less than heartwarming, but she just sat as Marcia made some calls for her. The time delay thing was good for emergencies, but it wasn't exactly a great way to work day to day. Email was better for that, which reminded her to write something up and send it to everyone in the system, so that they'd know she was available that way now. For a second she wondered how Chris had known, but then it occurred to her that the woman was a telepath. She knew almost everything, didn't she?

  It was her job to get the food ready for lunch, so when she went to get Marcia her next snack she set that up with the pretty hostess that seemed to work most of the day shift at the restaurant. That it was for the Director and the Deputy got Jan the chef to come out, wearing a white smock with a funny looking hat.

  "Penny?" She was a nice looking woman, who was just a bit plump and stocky of build, but had a nice fresh face. She wasn't old really, possibly in her late twenties or so, and what little hair could be seen looked to be a dark blonde. That was hard to tell though, since most of it was clearly tucked under the hat. It wasn't one of the old fashion French chef kinds, but still looked a bit like she had a mushroom on her head.

  "Jan? Over here, near the desk."

  "Ah, OK." She walked over, her face a bit apprehensive. As if it was a new thing for her, meeting an invisible person. It wasn't about her being Infected, Penny didn't think. If the lady had issues there she wouldn't have worked at the base at all. It would have been like soaking in a vat of piranha, if a person was actually afraid that way. "You want a picnic? For four?"

  "Make it five." The voice in her right ear made Penny jump, but she didn't yelp about it or anything. Dharma kept talking, almost as if she just didn't notice it happening. "Brian will be coming. This might be important. I'll go tell him about it, so that he realizes the plan."

  Because this was normal now, wasn't it? Brian's ghost girlfriend talked to her too. Wonderful.

  "Five please? We just picked up another person."

  The woman nodded and pulled out a note pad, making suggestions as to what they could have. A lot of them. Penny had been thinking they'd just have some sandwiches or something. It turned out that Jan wasn't into that kind of thing
and wanted something a bit more impressive. The weather wasn't that warm out, so she worked out mats to sit on and a warming tray for the food too.

  Penny finally had to stop her.

  "Hey, I have to carry all this. I don't have super strength you know. Or a car. Take pity, will you?"

  Laughing the woman shook her head.

  "Right, streamline it a bit. No problem. Come back on your way out, at noon? I have something for Ms. Turner, to tide her over. One sec." She actually jogged behind the counter and came back with the eleven o'clock oil drink.

  The whole thing actually went remarkably smooth, once they started to leave the building, Marcia carrying the rather oversized woven basket for them. It had a big pad thing on the bottom that would fold out, and a blanket to cover that. The Director and Lancaster met them in the lobby and Brian showed up about ten seconds after they did, having taken the stairs. Right behind him was Rachel, who was looking cheery and wearing a red spandex jump suit that left nothing in particular to the imagination. So little in fact that Penny could tell she wasn't wearing either a bra or underwear for instance. She stopped looking as soon as she got that information though, since anything more would be a bit strange.

  "There you all are! Brian mentioned a picnic? I'm sure you meant to invite me, didn't you?"

  It seemed strange for a second, but the ghost girl explained it to her, yelling in her ear. It seemed a lot louder this time.

  "I told Brian we might need her to be in the loop. You know that she's one of the co-founders of the IPB, don't you? We can trust her in this, I think. I've been watching her for a while now."

  Penny didn't say anything. True, they didn't have enough food now, but that didn't matter really. She could eat later and no one would notice except Brian, most likely.

  "Just a bit of a hike, shall we go?" She didn't know if they all had ear pieces in or not, but no one seemed to have difficulty hearing her. That made her want to hide, of course, except for the fact that no one so much as tilted their head toward her in particular. It still stole her breath, forcing a tense feeling into her stomach. It wasn't fun or comfortable, so she fought to relax, like Mark had showed her the night before. It wasn't as easy right now, but she thought it kind of worked, a little. It wasn't the totally limpness of being drugged, true, but it was better and didn't make her feel like she wanted to throw up nearly as much as the stress did.