Chapter 6
Dr. Franklin Terzini’s footsteps echoed along the corridor of his new laboratory in Santa Ynez, California. The layout was similar to his two previous research facilities, save for the fact that this one existed above the ground as opposed to buried deep within it.
The heels of his leather dress shoes clacked rhythmically on the pristine tiled flooring. He moved swiftly down a path in the center of his lab. On either side, stainless-steel tables loaded with magnification apparatus, centrifugal equipment and computers lined the walls. Beakers of every imaginable size, along with innumerable test tubes in holders, sat atop shelving units and occupied the far wall. His new space, though organized, immaculately clean and nearly identical to the others, still unnerved him. The work area was far too bright. Despite room darkening shades installed at each window prior to his arrival, abundant sunshine still permeated minuscule gaps in the treatments and managed to light the room.
Terzini despised sunlight and daytime in general. He hadn’t relocated for the lightness or beaches. He had selected Santa Ynez for its obscurity and although it was just a car ride away from the densely populated city of Los Angeles, it offered rustic anonymity without sacrificing modern convenience. An additional element also added to the allure of his proximity to a major city as well: defiance.
Nestled in the Santa Barbara Wine Country, he felt as though he were hiding in plain sight. Such a notion amused him given that his creation had had the audacity to banish him from his previous residence, as if he were a subordinate and not the other way around. Gabriel had attempted to blackmail him into leaving the country and living out his remaining days in exile in an isolated niche of the planet. While Gabriel had succeeded in banishing him from his stunning residence in Harbingers Falls, complete with a state-of-the-art underground facility, he had not succeeded in chasing him to the far reaches of the planet. He had been driven, instead, to Santa Ynez.
Terzini loathed Santa Ynez and all of its quaint shops and folksy inhabitants. Others flocked to such places and adored the western-style architecture and the niceties exchanged with every person who passed along the narrow stretch of land that served as the main artery of the community. The only reason he had selected such a ghastly location was because of its scarce population and the expansive land upon which he could develop. With roughly four thousand four-hundred people in the area, few eyes were on him. It was unlikely that he would be recognized.
He had selected a modern home set on twenty acres of semi-rural property. The house boasted seven- thousand square feet in the main living space and an additional twelve-hundred feet in the guest quarters and gave Terzini ample room for his laboratory. After brokering a deal several years earlier with sellers who had relocated to Austria, he had begun construction on his lab as soon as the deed was his.
He had maintained the home befitting his unique needs and taste unbeknownst to both Gabriel and Eugene. For years, the house stood empty but at the ready for his occupancy. Complete with all the amenities he required, he had contracted a company years earlier to renovate the guest suite to a laboratory.
His laboratory was vital to his residences as it was the place he spent most of his time. And since his work area once existed as a guesthouse, it already had a bedroom for the infrequent times he elected to sleep.
The rest of the living space was impressive. He appreciated the spaciousness and luxuriousness of it, though he had no use for the floor-to-ceiling windows in nearly every room, each offering a view of the land it was situated on. He guessed other humans would enjoy the vista. He, however, held little esteem for nature, least of all in a state as garish as California.
Looking around at his new research facility and all of its sophisticated equipment, he knew he outclassed all other humans, that they were lesser beings. He knew he ought to belong to the new breed of beings he was creating, despite their disappointing performances of late. First, Gabriel presented with a flaw, and then Eugene. Eugene’s failure had been shocking.
Eugene had been defeated, a fact that had haunted Terzini in the days after his relocation to Santa Ynez. He lived now because of the quick-thinking and talent of his maker, but had been beaten by Gabriel. Gabriel had been designed for battle only not as deliberately as Eugene; he did not possess the inherent instinct or the training that Eugene maintained, yet still managed to adapt and best a trained killer. Had Terzini not been present to rescue Eugene, he would have perished.
He had barely made it to his new facility with Eugene in time to save him. His ferocious creation had retained a pulse, but it had been weak. Once in the van, he had been submerged in Terzini’s unique development fluid in an enormous cistern to begin the process of healing. He could have let Eugene die. The thought had crossed his mind. But cloning Eugene would have been far too precarious an undertaking. Even for a geneticist as exceptional as he was, there would be no guarantee that the end result would be as perfect a predator as Eugene. And to train another, possibly inferior fighter, would have taken too long. Based solely upon practical, rational factors, he opted to save Eugene from Gabriel’s conquest.
Terzini briefly considered Eugene’s near-death at Gabriel’s hands a failure on his part but soon realized failure was not possible for someone as gifted and talented as he. Eugene’s defeat was neither a failure nor a disappointment, but a testament to his genius. Gabriel’s adaptation, his ability to trump Eugene’s formidable brawn with his intelligence, was a result of Terzini’s brilliance. Gabriel was his most recent creation and therefore possessed his most recent improvements. Those improvements were invaluable to his future project despite the evolution of sentimentality in Gabriel.
Gabriel was meant to be the future of humanity. But he hadn’t guessed Gabriel would evolve beyond what he’d been capable of anticipating. He’d predicted enlightened thinking, possibly even his development of telekinetic powers in the future. He attributed any and all of Gabriel’s successes to his own genius, his ability to unlock and unleash areas of the brain heretofore unused. What he did not anticipate was that Gabriel would fall in love despite modifications made in his temporal lobe and the deep limbic system of his brain that prohibited him from emotionality.
Months of experimentation and analysis revealed the reason for Gabriel’s flaw. Terzini was reluctant to accept any responsibility for said flaw, but conceded that future creations would be developed with a greater sense of superiority, that Gabriel was far too humble, too modest. Terzini had wanted him to blend into society, which had been a grave oversight on his part. The purpose of future creations would not be to integrate, but to shun the humans that occupied the planet. The new race would regard humanity with the same disdain human beings regard insects and rodents. The thought of mating with one would be utterly repugnant, deviant. The only species they would be attracted to and mate with would be ones he produced and at his discretion.
It had been extremely difficult coming up with the formula for his new creations, especially since his attention had been divided. He needed to refocus his concentration and devote himself entirely to his new project. But before he could do that another matter needed to be addressed. He needed to dispose of Gabriel.
Gabriel’s existence was a constant threat to his body of work a threat that needed to be eradicated. Dr. Franklin Terzini needed to carefully root Gabriel out of hiding. To do so, he had a plan, a plan he was certain would be effective at drawing Gabriel from his lair.
He had cloned Kevin, Chris and John, the three teenagers Eugene had killed in the woods of Harbingers Falls. He had taken their corpses and used their DNA to replicate them with the assistance of his creation tank. After extracting the necessary tissue, he had disposed of the bodies by cremation. The three teenagers had been recreated for the sole purpose of returning to Harbingers Falls. Their bodies had never found, therefore their return would not generate suspicion.
Rebirth and rein
troduction to their peers had been the easiest part of the process for Terzini. The re-creation process had proved far more daunting than he had anticipated. When recreating them, he had been careful to not alter or augment their brains or make any changes that would have risked changes in appearance. Such restraint had been challenging. Dr. Terzini was a man who recognized the need for improvement among humanity, and made it his mission to remedy it.
He had refrained from tampering with their cognitive processes but had taken the liberty of enhancing their muscular development by upgrading their fast-twitch responses and speeding their recovery time capacity. The result was overall strength enhancement without any other modifications. Strength enhancement was a necessary component of Terzini’s plan. The three teens needed to be strong enough and fast enough to crush Gabriel.
With three of them, equally matched in strength to Gabriel and outnumbering him, his demise was all but guaranteed.
The rebirth of Kevin, Chris and John had been successful. Dr. Terzini had been pleasantly surprised to discover that when cloning a human being using their preexisting DNA as opposed to intermingling augmented genetic material it resulted in the preservation of the temporal lobe of the brain. With their temporal lobes identically replicated, their memories had been preserved as well as their appearances and personalities insofar as he could tell. Outwardly, they were exactly as they had been. Yet despite the seeming success of his endeavor, Terzini was reluctant to deem it a victory. He was hesitant to trust that the three flawed creatures could carry out his plan by themselves.
With such distrust weighing heavily upon him, Terzini, ever the pragmatist, decided to enact an alternate plan; a contingency plan.
He paused and stroked his chin as he stood before a massive stainless-steel tank that occupied the far corner of his laboratory. On impulse, he turned the large wheel affixed to it and began opening the container. Through the thick, opaque fluid, he saw that Eugene’s arm moved slightly. He knew it would not be long before his plan was set into motion.
His plan was to have the three teenage humans draw Gabriel out from where he hid. He hoped Gabriel was not certain the three had been dead when he had seen them in the woods. Uncertainty would pave the way for curiosity, a need to see for himself whether Kevin, Chris and John were, in fact, alive. If all went as planned, Gabriel would return to Harbingers Falls and find more than just the three teens; he would find Eugene and meet, ultimately, with his demise.
Dark Reality 7-Book Boxed Set Page 141