Probe

by Douglas E Roff

  “You can do that now too?”

  “Oh yeah. Been talking to three of my four buds in the Orient and they have given me a path to some more advanced skills development. Non-linear thinking, totally unscientific. But holy fuck are they right. Of course, I haven’t mentioned any of these particular applications to them.”

  “Why not?”

  Two Eastern monks, a woman confined to an religious institution, and a very young lady in Europe. Not theater rated for them.”

  “I see your point. But let’s go find Misti. And Adam?”

  “Yes, luv?”

  “I’m sorry I got mad at you. I should’ve trusted you. I know better.”

  “Nope. My fault; I need to think these things through a little better. I have all my girls to think of now. Girls I love.”

  “I have a surprise for you tonight.”

  “I love surprises. Is it, you know, surprisy?” This was a new piece of nonsense entered into the lexicon of the extended family. Misti was constantly developing new words that always seemed to fit, even if they made no sense.

  “Very.”

  “Care to share? Hint?”

  “Later. Or it wouldn’t be a surprise, now would it?”

  ***

  They spoke in French, but the old man was furious in several other Romance languages. Neither was he shy or even very polite while unpacking his thoughts and objections. He acted as though all decisions, including any related to the marriage of his daughter, were his decisions to make, and his decisions alone. He had always suspected that this young French nobody with whom his daughter had become infatuated was at the root cause of all his family discord. That his wife had left him years ago and departed for Southern Spain was of no moment. She had her own money from a family trust established by her grandparents and had no need of him whatsoever. It infuriated him that he couldn’t control her, so he switched the focus of his attention to bullying his daughter.

  Marie was calm, petite and extremely beautiful. But she was neither fragile nor weak; she was tough inside and couldn’t be pushed around. She let her father make the decisions that she had already made, and her manipulation of him was truly a work of art. Chess strategy applied to an overbearing father. She always knew the day would come when she would have to make a clean break. She had hoped that was after his untimely death. But it turned out it was today.

  “Papa, what do you think you’re doing? This isn’t your business and you are not my husband. This decision is between Francois and me and the decision has already been made. If you behave yourself, I may come to visit. But not with you in a mood like this.”

  “You will come home right this instant! Leave that pathetic excuse for a man in England where he belongs. You will leave first thing tomorrow and be prompt. I will leave your tickets at the train station. I will have someone pick you up at Gare du Norde.”

  Silence.

  “Don’t be ridiculous, Papa. I’ll do no such thing. And you may not call or do anything else. Leave me alone and if you insult Francois one more time, you will never see me or the baby. Ever.”

  “Baby? What baby?”

  “Papa, you old fool. I’m pregnant. Now behave yourself and you can be a part of my life. Keep this up, and you will never see me again. Do you understand?”

  “I understand nothing. And you are cut off from your allowance from this day forward.”

  “OK. That’s fine. I have cleaned out my accounts and have no further need of your money.”

  “Is that troublemaker St. James at the bottom of this? Is this his revenge on me? On France?”

  “Listen to you. Always someone else to blame for your ill temper and bad manners. You have only yourself to blame. Dr. St. James has nothing to do with this. When you’re ready to apologize to me and my husband, we can begin to talk. Up to you Papa.”

  “Don’t you dare hang up. I’m not done talking to you young lady.”

  “Yes, I know Papa. Goodbye.”

  ***

  “So, Adam St. James is married to Misti, but he is having a baby with Nocera Lee,” said Marie. “Noki used to work for Hannah Parker, who used to be Adam’s girlfriend, but who is now married to that gorgeous woman over there, Vera Capri. Misti is pregnant and very often sleeps with the amazing redhead I just met. Both Misti and Alana, the redhead, sleep with Adam. Noki sleeps with Adam too. Adam has had a tryst with both Hannah and Vera with Misti’s approval. But not regularly. There is more?”

  “Nope that about sums it up, except that I have been friends with Adam’s wife for years. We used to compete together in Brazilian jiu-jitsu.”

  “And?”

  “And nothing. I’m married to Rod and I have incredible video sex with my hot French friend and occasionally have hot video sex with her husband, but only when she’s around. That’s about it.”

  “Ooo la la as you Americans like to say. And I thought that French was the language of love.”

  “It is Marie, definitely so. But English is the language of dirty sex talk.”

  “Apparently, I didn’t complete my English lessons. Can you teach me this ‘dirty sex talk’?”

  “Of course. Be my pleasure. You slut.”

  ***

  Adam convoked with Misti, his father Edward, Hannah, Alana and her father Edmund, and Francois an hour or so before their pre-dinner family walk. Alana thought that what Adam had learned was so significant, it couldn’t wait until morning.

  “Adam has something to say. It’s important. So, everyone, listen up.”

  Everyone’s eyes turned to Adam, who suddenly had stage fright.

  “What I have to say is that I have had a couple of breakthroughs. First, I have learned all the languages of the Gens Collective, all their codes and a lot of their secrets. Not sure how I will get all this from my unconscious mind and onto our computers, so it may take some time. Second, I have discovered the ‘what’ and ‘how’ of Gens transformation in either direction. I understand it at the molecular level but I’m not a molecular biologist. May need help there. Actually, a lot of help there.”

  Alana said, “You need to start connecting immediately with Misti who has training in both linguistics and molecular biology. We can start figuring out the ‘how’ tomorrow.”

  The room went silent.

  Alana said, “Geez, Adam, c’mon you’re not done. Not by a long shot. Tell them about the rest of your mind shit. This is going to blow you away. Not the, you know, sexy stuff, but the other stuff you showed me.”

  “Maybe we should wait. It’s not all completely thought through.”

  “Maybe nothing. You better tell them, or I will.”

  “I, uh, think I have maybe found…”

  “He’s found a way to do like ten cool things. One is joined with more than one other mind. He can at least do two, maybe more. Second, he has found a way to transfer knowledge, all of it from one mind to another. And, third, he is close to figuring out how to transfer it from his unconscious mind, to his conscious mind and record it in the physical world. This last bit will not be easy, but it’s totally fucking awesome!”

  Edward said, “Can you really do all this? It’s an unbelievable leap forward.”

  Alana continued, “That’s not all Papa St. James. Adam can connect his conscious mind to his unconscious mind at will now, instead of just going for a visit. Somehow, he can keep it walled off, separate, while he’s conscious, and use it in real time to solve problems. And he can teach us. Now that is a leap forward and it is, again, totally fucking awe-some. This will change the world. Change mankind. He’s going to practice on me tonight. And with Misti and Noki.”

  Misti said, “Damn right he is.”

  Noki said, “What she said!”

  ***

  Dinner followed the walk and even though work talk was prohibited, Alana, Noki and Misti couldn’t help but pepper Adam with a million questions. Alana gave Misti an update about the mental sex she had experienced with
Adam when he was connected to Helena. She also noted she was going to switch from ‘feel’ to ‘watch’ mode; too intense and too bat shit crazy at times.

  “You’re going to dig this sweetie. It’s awesome. God I’m using that word an awful lot. But that’s what it is.”

  ***

  Dinner was winding down, so Alana rose to address the assembled crowd. “Everyone, I have a final announcement to make tonight. New news, fresh off the presses.”

  Alana paused for effect and looked around the room, all eyes fixed on her.

  “I’m pregnant. With Adam’s child. Just happened this afternoon. We’re having a girl.”

  The room erupted in cheers and catcalls, with the women hugging and kissing Alana and the men shaking Adam’s hand. Edmund was oddly quiet, but happy still. Maria and Agustin were their normal selves. Agustin was delighted to be a granddad again. Maria, like Edmund was quiet, and for the exact same reason.

  Nobody noticed any disquiet and all the young folk were excited. Vera noticed a slight mood change in Hannah. They were both happy, immensely so. But Vera also knew that Hannah wanted children. Children Vera could never give her.

  Hannah was happy for Alana. So too was Vera. But when they went home that night, Hannah immediately went to bed crying.

  In her mind, the joy she felt tonight should’ve been hers. It was Hannah who should’ve been congratulated; it was she who deserved to be pregnant with Adam’s child.

  Hannah wasn’t jealous, nor did she begrudge Alana her happiness; she was just sad. Sad for what had been and sad for what might have been.

  Vera joined her wife an hour later. “Hannah sweetie, I know this must be hard. I understand how you must feel. But maybe we can fix this.”

  “How? This can’t be fixed. There’s nothing to fix. Adam isn’t my life anymore.”

  “That’s not true. Let’s talk in the morning and see how you feel then. I have a plan.”

  Vera did have a plan. Nobody would object, she believed. Not Adam, and not even Maria.

  ***

  Everyone started to leave. Suddenly, Noki stopped dead in her tracks.

  “Oh my God. I think my water just broke.”