Expansion (The Accidental Heroes Chronicles Book 2)

by S. E. Cyborski

  “Which leaves me for last,” the last guy laughed. He had one leg curled under him on the chair and a beer bottle in the curve of his knee. Brown hair framed a tanned face with blue-gray eyes. An eye-searing yellow t-shirt had a black dragon twisting sinuously across the front of it. He was wearing black jeans, which were probably about the only pants he could have worn that wouldn’t have clashed with that yellow. “My name’s Eric Miller and I’m a business major. And, like the rest of you, I’m a poor college student here for an easy five thousand dollars.”

  “Excellent. This is a very good start,” Dr. Carnesby said, taking a sip of his water. “Now, tomorrow is when you will start receiving injections. Take tonight to get to know each other and have some fun. There is one thing I would like you to keep in mind over the next week while you are receiving the injections: watch each other and pay attention. It may be that you will catch a change in the others that they may not even see themselves. Jane, the AI who spoke to you all at the door, will be keeping constant track of your readings but it will be a help if you all do the same. There are plenty of movies and videogames that can be played in the Playstation 3. There is no internet connection, however, as I explained to you during the informational meeting. Rose, Brandy, I have to ask you two to keep to separate rooms. I’ve asked Elyse and Darryl to do the same. I don’t want your readings to be mixed together. Have fun and have a good night, ladies and gentlemen. We’ll start bright and early tomorrow morning.”

  Dr. Carnesby finished his water and stood up. There wasn’t much left as he’d been drinking steadily from it during our talk. He walked down the hallway and there was silence while he did so. A door closing from deeper within the facility signified that he’d either gone into his bedroom or his office. We exchanged looks before Elyse let out a laugh.

  “Guess he won’t be supervising us, huh?” she asked, getting up and moving over to the bookshelf with the movies on it.

  “We’re all adults,” I pointed out, getting up and picking a water bottle of my own. I took a deep drink from it and shivered at the chill water. “Besides, he’s going to be spending a month with a bunch of people younger than him. There’s probably not much we have in common.”

  The night passed slowly as everyone settled into the warehouse. Billy and I made dinner that first night while the others watched a movie Elyse had picked out. Canned laughter from a comedy accompanied us as we made hamburgers and baked potatoes. The refrigerator, freezer, and pantry were all well-stocked, enough food to get us through the month and more. I was happy to see there was also a selection of tea, loose-leaf and bags. Before the movie was half over, the eight test subjects were talking and laughing like friends.

  Billy called them all in while I placed the food on the table and we continued talking over dinner. I truly hoped each of these people would have no effect from Gnotret, would walk out of here unchanged and with the money in their pockets. Thoughts of Frankenstein’s monster flashed through my head again, dampening my enjoyment of dinner. And, by the sympathetic looks Billy sent my way, I knew he was following my thoughts. Yet, it wasn’t something I wanted to talk about. Not yet. Some part of me felt like speaking the words out loud would make them true.

  “George, would you like to play a chess game?” Jane asked after dinner. Rose, Brandy, Nick, and Wendy had taken one of the board games into the kitchen and were playing animatedly. Darryl, Elyse, Tabitha, and Eric were watching another movie, a horror to go by the screams and suspenseful music.

  “That sounds like fun,” I said, drying my hands after washing the dishes. Billy had already retired to his own room, the noise from so many different minds starting to get to him. I felt sympathy for him even though I had no idea what he was going through. It couldn’t be easy having his ability. I walked back to the lounge and set up the chessboard, letting Jane have white. Her first move was sending a pawn two spaces forward and the game began. Within a few moves, I knew I was going to lose as Jane had taken one of my knights already. Playing was enjoyable and, I had to admit, I missed the dry wit Jane exhibited as we played.

  The first game went quickly after I saw that I was going to lose. Tabitha had lost interest in the movie and settled in the chair across from me, studying the board intently. She appeared to know how to play as I judged a few of my own moves by the expression on her face as I moved pieces. But, by the time half my pieces were taken, I decided to give in and tipped over my king. Jane laughed quietly as the wooden piece thunked against the board. Tabitha shook her head and started setting the pieces back up again.

  “You’ve gotten better, George,” Jane said, approval in her words. “You lasted longer that time than most of your other games.”

  “Thank you but I’m still no match for you,” I replied, sending a wry smile towards the ceiling. It was easy to fall into the habit of looking up to talk to Jane. She was just as sentient as all of us, I still firmly believed. Time away from the warehouse had not changed that at all. Which brought up some interesting ideas for using Jane to try and track Sandra. But now was not the time to ask her about it. “Tabitha would you like to play Jane?”

  “I think I would, yes,” Tabitha said, taking a white pawn and moving it forward. “Jane, can I ask you a question?”

  “Pawn to E 5,” Jane stated and I moved her pawn to the designated space. “Of course, Tabitha. What would you like to know?”

  “It may seem... impertinent or rude, but just exactly how intelligent are you?” Tabitha asked as she studied the board. Her eyes flicked from piece to piece, careful thought writ on her face. “Dr. Carnesby said you were an AI but are you truly sentient or are you just programmed to appear that way?”

  Tabitha continued to study the pieces, one hand moving to rest lightly on another pawn. With a distracted frown, Tabitha slid the pawn forward two spaces and held her hand on it for a few moments. After a final glance around the board, she lifted her hand and looked up at me. Jane still hadn’t answered, making me wonder if she had been offended horribly. The AI had never seemed to mind my own questions regarding her but maybe she was getting tired of it. Worry flashed across Tabitha’s face as the silence continued and I believed she was thinking along the same lines I was.

  “That is an astute question,” Jane finally said, her voice showing no sign of offense or anger. “You almost sound like a programmer yourself. To answer your question, I am a sentient AI. One of the proofs is the games I enjoy playing. I also show initiative rather than wait for orders or suggestions. George, knight to A 6.”

  “My brother’s a programmer,” Tabitha explained as she let out a nearly silent, relieved sigh. I moved Jane’s knight and sat back, studying the board along with Tabitha. They seemed to be more evenly matched than Jane and I. Tabitha might even have a chance to win. “He goes off on rants sometimes when he’s had a hard day. About a week ago, he was complaining about a co-worker who’d claimed to have written the code for a truly sentient AI. Turns out he was wrong and my brother wasted two days going through the code line by line.”

  Moving another pawn forward two spaces freed up Tabitha’s rook to move. It was something I hadn’t tried in my own games. I tended to forget the rooks, to be completely honest. Jane made an approving noise, something between a hum and a whine. It was a completely mechanical sound but, oddly, showed exactly what Jane was trying to say. I marveled again at the AI and wondered about the person that had programmed her.

  “Pawn to H 5,” Jane said, mirroring the move Tabitha had made. “I’ve heard similar rants. It must be difficult going through so much code.”

  Tabitha nodded and moved her rook ahead two spaces. There was no hesitation or study this time and she appeared to have a strategy in mind. Play went back and forth steadily through the end of the current movie and the beginning of a second one. It was a second horror movie, one I recognized called Thirteen Ghosts. It turned out that I was right in judging Tabitha close to Jane’s equal in the game: pieces were scattered across the board in various gambits.
Tabitha had lost one of her rooks and two pawns while Jane had lost a bishop, a rook, and a pawn. They didn’t banter back and forth either anymore, devoting their full concentration to the game. The four in the kitchen had abandoned their game by this point, settling into armchairs or at the table to watch the movie or the chess game. Nick offered suggestions to Tabitha, some of which she listened to and others of which she ignored. As the ending credits for the movie played, Tabitha finally conceded defeat as her king was blocked in a corner.

  “Good game, Jane,” Tabitha smiled, stretching her arms above her head. “It’s been a pleasure.”

  “Mine as well, thank you,” Jane replied politely. “I always enjoy finding new people to play chess with. Perhaps we can have a rematch later.”

  “Of course,” Tabitha replied, putting the pieces back in their case. She placed the board over the top and closed it, setting it on the shelf next to the table. I checked my watch and realized that it was nearing ten. From previous experience, I knew that tomorrow would be a very early day and I was about ready to go to sleep. Before I could mention that, thought, Jane beat me to it.

  “Dr. Carnesby would like you all to be ready for tests around seven am,” Jane announced. A dry note entered her voice as she continued, “As college students, I’m sure you’re all used to late nights and early mornings. However, we would like you to be as rested as possible for the first day. I would recommend not staying up too late tonight.”

  “That would be my cue to go to sleep,” I said, standing and smiling tiredly at everyone. “Good night and it was nice to meet you all.”

  With a chorus of “Good night”s, I headed to my own room and closed the door. It was quiet, much quieter than the lounge had been with the movie and so many different voices. Sighing, I opened my duffel bag and put my clothes away in the dresser. The few books I’d packed went on the nightstand next to the bed. They were books I’d bought some time ago but never got around to reading. This coming month, I was sure I’d have plenty of time. Even with acting as Dr. Carnesby’s assistant and watching over the eight new subjects. The next month was going to be a mix of tense and boring as I waited to see if and when the others would develop abilities.

  Chapter 4

  Katrina walked through the darkened halls of the building, unable to keep still in her own office. Walking helped her think, helped her work through problems that might otherwise seem insurmountable. And this problem seemed pretty damn insurmountable. While she’d foregone trying to tease the answer out of Lucian, Katrina was terrified he knew that she’d gone to examine the enhanced rats herself. The senior member of their little triumvirate was very cold and ruthless and Katrina had no doubt that he would carry out the plan to destroy every single bit of evidence if Gnotret grew out of control. Knowing that she was part of that evidence was what had her walking the halls in the nearly silent building. A gentle whooshing of air was the only sound that accompanied her clicking heels.

  Nothing had changed about herself, no extra abilities manifesting, so Gnotret wasn’t transferrable by touch or air. The enhanced rats were actually kept in cages near rats that acted as a control and had been given no injections. The control rats still showed no change though blood or saliva transfer had yet to be tested. And there was a third set of cages holding rats that had been injected but showed no changes. Those were studied nearly as closely as the enhanced rats. Though the only reason Katrina knew all this was because she hadn’t wanted to be infected by handling the rats. The one that had grown wings was cute and she’d petted the wings once she knew she wouldn’t be infected, surprised to find feathers rather than fur covering them.

  Even now, the scientists were injecting other rats with Gnotret, speculating over what new abilities might be revealed. They hadn’t found a reason why most of the rats changed and some didn’t, nor why they developed the ability they did. Though there was a slightly disturbing correlation among the rats that did develop abilities: they were the more intelligent of the group, performing tests quicker and more accurately. Also they were all given some sort of ability that would aid in escaping. The rats that could turn invisible were the worst to keep track of. Lucian, after many complaints from the scientists about not being able to study the invisible ones, had finally ordered thermal imagers for the labs. That had solved the problem neatly.

  “I need to stop worrying,” Katrina muttered to herself, glaring at a painting of a small lake as she passed it. While the glare itself was pointless, and the painting itself was visually pleasing, Katrina felt far better. The half hour or so she’d spent walking the halls had given her a new perspective. As long as she continued to act as if nothing was wrong, nothing was changed, Lucian should have no reason to suspect she’d exposed herself to the organism. As long as he believed her to be removed from it all, he would have no reason to remove her. That fate was going to fall on Aaron after his little break-down of a few weeks ago. He’d recovered admirably but was visibly twitchy and hesitant when talking about Gnotret or possible repercussions.

  The loss of that worry opened the path to a whole new one, one that had been nagging at her since that discussion. What if Gnotret actually was sentient, somehow? That the collection of single-celled organisms was part of a higher mind or that they were all connected into one mind? A faint regret passed through her mind, a regret that they’d gone to human trials so quickly. Rats were much easier to control and deal with if something bad happened. Humans, however, didn’t tend to disappear with no questions asked. Especially college students, as all of the subjects in the new trial seemed to be. Dr. Carnesby had forwarded a profile on all the subjects and Katrina was less than impressed. While a few appeared to have an interesting future ahead of them, the majority would probably find themselves in useless jobs that didn’t even use the degree they’d studied and paid for. She didn’t think any of the subjects would develop abilities, if Gnotret was indeed sentient. They appeared to have no value, at least not to the Corporation.

  As if to underscore her worries about the sense of continuing on with the experiments, a little white rat appeared in front of Katrina on the floor. It sniffed at the tile it was sitting on, beady black eyes darting around as it did so. Katrina didn’t move, didn’t breathe, almost afraid of the sudden appearance of the rat. It was coincidental timing, it had to be. Just an irony that it showed up just as she was worrying about Gnotret. As she watched, the rat looked up and disappeared just as suddenly as it had appeared, moving to a tile about three feet down the hallway from its original position. It wrinkled its nose and sniffed at the tile before disappearing completely from the hallway.

  “Great. Now we have rats that can teleport,” Katrina sighed, rolling her eyes. “What fun things do we have to look forward to next?”

  “Katrina?” Aaron’s voice came from around the next corner. His voice shook, the words breathy as if he was fighting to get any sound out at all. “Who are you talking to?”

  “Myself, Aaron, that’s all,” Katrina said, taking a deep breath before speaking to recover from the fright his voice had given her. Her eyes widened in surprise as Aaron turned the corner and stopped near her. He looked terrible, clothes wrinkled as if he’d been sleeping in them. His skin was pale and there were black rings around his deep-sunken eyes. He blinked owlishly a few times before focusing on a distant spot down the hallway. “What are you doing here?”

  “I was walking,” Aaron said distractedly, twitching his head to the side before meeting Katrina’s eyes. “I haven’t been able to sleep. Worrying about those damned cells downstairs. I feel like they know I know about them. I don’t want to leave the building, just in case they follow me.”

  Katrina stepped back a careful pace, trying not to draw attention to the movement. Aaron didn’t seem to notice, looking back the way he had come. This was even worse than the breakdown he’d had earlier. It sounded like he’d lost his connection to reality, at least where it concerned Gnotret. Gathering up her courage, which was difficult after s
eeing the teleporting rat, Katrina decided to question Aaron further to see how far he’d deteriorated.

  “You know Gnotret is locked up in the lab,” Katrina said consolingly, reaching out and patting Aaron’s arm. He started and gave her hand a strange look, like he was wondering what it was. “There’s no way the cells can escape. You don’t have to worry.”

  “But I do,” Aaron replied, voice dropping as he leaned close to Katrina conspiratorially. “You should too. I know you’ve seen the rats. Gnotret knows all of us. It knows that I know about it. Look at what it’s already done, Katrina. Who knows what else it can do? We’re not safe here. We never should have experimented with the damn cells. We… we should… we should destroy them. Yes! That would solve everything!”

  Aaron stumbled away, brushing past Katrina as if he’d forgotten she existed. Katrina felt a chill run up her spine. There were so many nasty things Lucian could do to both of them if his pet project was harmed in any way. The elder Council member enjoyed this experimentation too much, was too excited about the possibilities for all that he kept a distance from everything. As Aaron turned another corner and disappeared, Katrina sighed and turned around herself. It was time to make a few calls. The first would be to the guards on the lab downstairs. Under no circumstances could Aaron be allowed anywhere near that lab. And the second, well, the second would be to Lucian. There was no way Katrina would let herself be drawn into Aaron’s madness, even if she was just on the barest periphery. Her own plans were far too important to be disrupted by someone who’d lost their grip on reality.

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  Sandra looked around the empty stage with every evidence of satisfaction on her face. This was where they would perform tonight, here in Las Vegas. It hadn’t taken that long to work her way to an agent, to someone who had the connections she needed to start her plans. All that was needed to get the agent on her side was a little subtle stroking of his vanity and a spike in his greed. After all, money was something nearly everyone was interested in. What was more difficult was getting Michael and Amy to work on getting even a slightly legitimate show together. While Sandra could affect the spectators while they were in the audience, word of mouth about their shows would spread. Even she couldn’t control emotions after the spectators left. If they didn’t have something worth seeing, no one would come to see them. They would not be able to book shows in rich hotels, casinos, or convention centers, nor would they have a chance to enact the second part of Sandra’s plans. With their abilities, they would be able to steal anything they liked. Performing under stage names would help protect their identities. Even if their shows were linked with the thefts, no one would know what their names were.