by Katz, ML
Enrico did share some of Pam’s concerns about Dr. Klein’s delusions though. This experiment might be totally bogus. He barely regarded it from any sort of spiritual angle, but only thought of profit. But even if she failed, she would still be incredibly rich. Perhaps Enrico could divert Dr. Klein’s energies towards some more practical uses for her famous name and resources.
Success or failure, Enrico would win.
“Enrico, what do you mean when you say we need to end the charade?” Did he want to end their affair? Her heart seemed to block her throat.
“Ada, I never want to lose you. I want you to be my woman forever.” He still whispered in her ear and allowed his hands to caress her with practiced ease. “You and I could marry so we wouldn’t have to pretend to simply be coworkers any longer.”
If only she would agree, perhaps he could leave his position here. The doctor could certainly afford to hire another engineer. He’d make sure his replacement was a woman, dowdy like Karen, or possibly an unattractive man. Then he could retire to manage her estate.
Sometimes managing Dr. Klein’s complex assets might even require some travel. He could see the world in luxury on the pretense of checking out investments or visiting relatives or something. He pictured cruise ships and luxury hotels around the world. Plenty of women would probably be happy to amuse him on his travels, and he would just have to come home intermittently to service the old hag.
“We could dine out together, and I could show you off.” His voice became a seductive low growl. “We will buy season tickets to the ballet, the symphony, and the ballet. Our life together would be a constant round of culture and entertainment. I could see you in a different beautiful dress every night. We would always have some novelty to anticipate.”
“Enrico, you’re about thirty years younger than I am,” she whispered. “You’re handsome and have a good profession. You could have your pick of young women.”
“I can only see you,” he said. “Don’t you know that your presence blinds me to everybody else? When I’m away from you, I still can’t think about anyone else. Besides, a woman like you should not be alone and unprotected.” His expression projected absolute concern and sincerity. “I want to take care of you.”
“You want to protect me?” she asked, suddenly turning to face him. His lips grazed hers and then moved to her neck. “Nobody has said anything like that to me since my father died.”
Enrico looked amazed. “I cannot believe it. I am sure you have broken a hundred hearts.” He stroked her hand. “Yes, I want to help you, protect you, and of course, romance you whenever you need it.”
Enrico paused. He had to be careful, but he needed to test the waters. “Also, I’m not entirely happy with your financial manager. I believe he skims your profits. You’ve told me that he always calls you with some investment scheme or another, and I think he just wants to suck commissions. You work so hard you don’t have time to babysit him too. You know, there are a lot of wolves out there, and I want to guard you.”
“Do you think Mr. Margolis is dishonest? He came very highly recommended.”
“Who recommended him, another scientist?’ Enrico shrugged as he allowed Dr. Klein to rest her head on his chest for a moment. He felt her stiffen a bit at the mention of her money so he eased off.
“We can save that discussion for another time. Your assets are your own. I only want to be your man.” Then he cupped her chin gently with one hand and stroked her cheek with his other hand. “Will you marry me, Ada? Then we can be a couple. We can go out to nice dinners and enjoy parties together. Perhaps we can take some time to travel. We don’t have to hide our love behind closed doors any longer. Let’s be free to love each other like we deserve.”
Apparently his question took the doctor by surprise. She had never intended to let her relationship with the handsome young engineer go this far. In fact, he had surprised her by pursuing her in the first place. She may have chosen him for his job over some other candidates because of his charm and good looks, but Enrico’s credentials were impeccable as well. She had not hired him to be her lover. It had just turned out that way.
“You know that I’ve never been married, Enrico,” Dr. Klein said. She pulled away slightly. “I have to get used to this idea.”
“I’ve never married either. Sometimes it takes time to find the perfect person. Fate has finally been kind enough to bring us together here.”
“People may wonder about us,” she whispered. “There is the age difference.”
“I’m not a child, Ada. You are still strong and healthy and best of all, beautiful.”
“I can’t give you a child, you know,” she said. “I’m past those years. When I was younger I always thought I’d get married and have children eventually, but I’m past that now.”
“I am not concerned with your ability to have children,” Enrico said. “I am only concerned about you, Ada.” He lifted one hand to wave it dismissively. “Besides, if you want a child, perhaps we could adopt one. I still have connections in South America, and I believe they could help us. We could have our choice of lovely children who favored both of us.”
If I want children, I could father a stable of them with a dozen mistresses on your money. Enrico smiled at this secret thought. He imagined keeping families all over the globe, each one hidden from the others, and especially from his bride. He imagined fathering children in a dozen skin tones with a virtual harem of women. Each family would eagerly await his return from business travels, and only Enrico would know the truth.
Maybe I could even have one or two of my own natural children brought here under a bogus adoption scheme. To keep mother’s from squawking, I could hire then as nannies and tutors. They would be paid well enough to insure their silence. Besides a sensible woman would be sure to see how many advantages he could give to a child living on Dr. Klein’s wallet. He grinned at the irony of staffing and populating Dr. Klein’s home and business with his former lovers and their offspring.
Meanwhile Dr. Klein could continue her work and keep making them richer. His smile broadened even wider, but Dr. Klein thought his excitement was only at the thought of their upcoming union.
“Oh, Enrico,” she said. “You’re the most amazing man I’ve ever met.” Her open expression let him glimpse a vision of her former beauty. He remembered the striking younger scientist featured in all of the publicity about the virus blocker. If only he had met her then.
“Oh, Ada,” he breathed. He had been patient, and now his prey was almost trapped. The thought excited him, and he thought this might be a good time to seal the deal by servicing the old witch. His hands moved towards the fastening on her blouse as he touched his lips to her neck.
Then Dr. Klein’s cellphone chimed. To Enrico it sounded like an explosion. She had it set to produce different tones for each caller on her contact list. It was an efficient way to filter calls without having to retrieve her phone each time. Enrico moved his hands to massage her shoulders, hoping she would ignore it.
She pulled herself away with an effort. “That’s Ms. Stone.” Immediately her expression changed from the flushed look of a woman in the heat of passion to a stern and professional mask.
“What can Pam Stone want?” Enrico said. “She can handle the lab a bit longer, can’t she? Everything else is in order.” His voice was almost plaintive. “You said we’d have three hours.”
“Enrico, this experiment is very important,” Dr. Klein said. “I can’t afford to have a student ruin it.” She rose to read the text message that was sent just after the attempted call. Dr. Klein sighed and shook her head. “I have to go. Can we continue this discussion at dinner tonight?”
“Why do we have to wait?” Enrico asked, trying hard to plead with his eyes. “I want you now. I want to spend the rest of the day knowing that you have agreed to be my wife.”
Dr. Klein remained firm. “Perhaps you could grill up some wonderful vegetable kabobs for supper later and we will enjoy ourselves
at our leisure. If you don’t feel like cooking, maybe we can order out. There’s a nice little Greek Deli called The Mediterranean in my neighborhood with vegetarian platters fit for a prince. I ordered them last night for supper, but they are so good I could enjoy them every day. The actual cafe closes their inside seating after lunch, but the owner will deliver dinner if I ask. Apparently my virus blocker vaccine saved his mother’s life a few years ago, and he has vowed eternal gratitude.”
“So, I have a rival,” Enrico said with mock sincerity. “We may have to duel.”
“Well, he certainly knows his way around a kitchen. You might have a rival if he wasn’t almost as wide as he is tall,” Dr. Klein said. “He is an excellent cook, and he’s actually fairly interesting on the scale of deli owners, but I prefer my men a bit slimmer. His parents came from Greece, and the irony is his name is Hercules.”
“This Hercules sounds like an interesting character. Well, to assuage my jealousy over Hercules, if everything goes well today, would you consider taking a vacation day off tomorrow?” Enrico asked.
“I’ll consider it. We have a lot to get past today, you know. I might have to wait until next week until I can afford to take off.”
Enrico doubted that Dr. Klein would ever actually take a working day off unless she was so sick or injured she could not rise from her bed. She really is not so young any longer, and she seems the type who might work herself into an early grave. Of course, that might be convenient for him as well. Once he had married her, perhaps his South American connections could even assist him with that too. He believed they had access to poisons that could effectively mimic disease and eventually cause an early demise.
Poor Dr. Klein, a world famous scientist, might be found at the office in the morning. Enrico imagined headlines in the newspaper and all over the Internet. She would have stayed to work late and suffered an apparent heart attack from stress and overwork.
He wondered how long he would have to maintain their marriage so nobody would be suspicious that he was anything other than her grieving husband. Perhaps a slower poison would be safer. It might mimic a disease so that nobody would be surprised when Dr. Klein died tragically.
“I have to go now, my love,” Dr. Klein said. She frowned thoughtfully at the text message for a moment. “Can you get the clinic prepared and then meet me in Preservation Room 17 in a few minutes? I’ll need some techs ready to transport the clients, of course.” In an instant, Dr. Klein had returned back to her professional tone. She ran a hand through her loose hair, checked her face in the small mirror, added a quick swipe of lipstick, and then turned to leave.
“Anything for you, and for the advancement of human knowledge,” he said seriously. She nodded and left him to compose himself and straighten up his clothes.
He took his time in front of the mirror to arrange his hair and make sure his clothes were adjusted. Meanwhile, he whispered to himself, “It’s like romancing the dead.” Working in this place, surrounded by all of the frozen clients, made the phrase seem particularly ironic. Unlike either Dr. Klein or Pam Stone, he was an engineer and not a scientist with medical training. He found the dead bodies, floating in their sparking solutions quite distasteful. He could hardly wait until he could marry Dr. Klein, retire from his position, and spend his time as he chose.
When Pam Stone, the intern, had told him she felt like her job was like babysitting corpses, his agreement had not been entirely insincere. The young scientist was a fool though, unable to dismiss a bit of present discomfort for future gains. He did not care what happened to the young scientist, but he supposed she would manage to move on to some other grunt job, even if a well-paid one. Meanwhile, he could live out a fantasy, all financed by Dr. Klein’s estate.
He left the office to attend to his tasks. Meanwhile he pictured luxury cruises, yachts, and exotic destinations. He thought about penthouse apartments and beach villas. There would be fine dining, culture and entertainment, and above all – passion. He pictured young women of a dozen different ethnicities and nationalities, all waiting for his embrace.
“I could father a whole new race,” he practically sang to himself. “Maybe I will call them the people of Enrico.” He pictured children, all as handsome and charming as he pictured himself. The superior beings, all fair of face and brilliant, would eventually grow in numbers and spread through the world. I will only be doing the human gene pool a favor.
Perhaps if Pam is still around, I’ll even give her a couple of my offspring. She’s intelligent enough, if a bit blunt and naïve in a sort of corn-fed way. She has an interesting face. Any children we had together would surely be intelligent and handsome enough to please me. She seems like she could be a sturdy mother for my gifts. Maybe next week, after I have sealed this deal, I’ll go mend some bridges with the intern.
With that though in mind, Enrico emerged from Dr. Klein’s office and went out to meet his destiny.
Waking the Dead
Dr. Klein rushed back to Preservation Room 17 immediately after Pam called her. The younger woman noted that the doctor’s hair was now loose and her cheeks looked a bit flushed. Did she and Enrico actually find some quiet corner of the building to make a little romance? Pam remembered that Dr. Klein’s office suite contained a plush sofa. She tried to push the image of the two of them together on Dr. Klein’s office sofa out of her mind.
The older scientist fiddled with some controls for a moment. Then she paced back and forth between the two warming capsules. By that time it was obvious that the mouths had opened. Bubbles streamed out intermittently.
It’s not as regular as breathing, but some exchange of gasses is taking place. In fact the two bodies seemed to be working their mouths in a way that reminded Pam of fish in an aquarium. Repelled and fascinated, Pamela was sure she had seen Mr. Barnes’s hand flutter and Mrs. Bell’s eyelids twitch again. Somehow the bodies had become reanimated though Pam was not ready to go so far as to declare them alive. She certainly saw no evidence that either of them was aware of their surroundings.
Suddenly revived like a goldfish in a tank, wouldn’t their faces betray some emotion?
Enrico entered the room a few minutes later. He still looked immaculate, and every strand of his dark hair had been combed in place. Pamela imagined that his mouth curved up slightly in a self-satisfied grin. He glanced at her dismissively and then focused on his boss as if her face was the only thing worth viewing in the room. He barely even glanced at the suddenly animated corpses. What can he be thinking about to miss that elephant in the room.
“Thanks for coming so quickly, Enrico. We need to move Mr. Barnes and Mrs. Bell to the clinical suite soon,” Dr. Klein said. Her tone conveyed nothing but professional urgency now.
“I am here to serve you, Doctor Klein.” Then he pulled out his phone and called for assistance. In a moment two laboratory technicians wheeled in a pair of shiny steel carts. She had never seen these workers before, but she noticed that they each had their name embroidered on the breast pocket of their light blue work shirts.
The short, stocky, balding man was named George. He made up for the lack of hair on his head with a thick mustache. Pam thought it looked like upper lip hair that her old roommate used to call a porn mustache.
The taller blonde man was named Paul. He was clean shaven and looked about Pam’s own age. She could not be sure, but she thought he tossed her a meaningful glance. Then he seemed to casually flick his eyes from Dr. Klein to Enrico. Pam wondered if he genuinely wanted to chat later or was just here as more bait that Dr. Klein had cast about to set her up. Would a common worker even understand what this place was about?
As Pam watched, she saw the carts had been cleverly constructed to hold the cylinder shaped capsules. Under Enrico’s direction, George and Paul removed the capsules from their bases and set them securely on the carts.
Dr. Klein had Enrico and Pamela picked up the tanks of serum to secure them on a lower shelf of the carts so they could be wheeled along too. Th
e whole setup had been efficiently designed and Pam decided that Enrico must be a competent engineer despite his other faults.
After they finished getting the carts set up, Dr. Klein looked at Pamela sourly and said, “You can stay here and perform your regular duties.”
Pam was surprised to note that she actually felt a little disappointed. She did not believe that Dr. Klein could wake the dead, but she did want to know what the scientist actually had accomplished. As much as Pam despised Dr. Klein, she did respect her reputation. Her past work on the virus blocking protein had helped save millions of people from disease and even death.
But as she watched Enrico and Dr. Klein follow the two lab techs out of the room, Pamela felt a chill that did not just come from the low temperature in the room. “Bodies should stay buried,” Pam thought to herself. But would I feel the same if these people used to be somebody I cared about? She shook her head, undecided, and attended to her reports.
It took her two hours to complete her work In Preservation Room 17. She might have completed her logs and reports faster, but she found it hard to focus after what she had seen earlier. She kept closing her eyes and picturing the way that Mrs. Bell’s pale fingers had moved.
After she finally completed her last report, Pam logged onto the touchscreen monitor to check her schedule. She was supposed to move on and check readings in Preservation Room 18, and then she could leave for the day. Most of her work in this place turned out to be pretty dull and routine. A lot of days she could complete her assigned tasks and take off a little early. Pamela did not believe she had learned a lot at Future Faith, except for the fact that such morbid places even existed. But still, the easy job allowed her time to recharge before returning to her demanding schedules. And the place paid a lot of bills.
She had a lot to think about tonight. She certainly did not want to return to this place the next day but abruptly quitting a job went against her grain. Besides, she really did need the money. The same argument between her sense of duty and financial responsibility and her revulsion had distracted her all morning. It ran like a tape on an endless loop through her mind.