by Franklin, TG
They entered the pre-op ward, and she led him into room number four. "Dr. Ernst wants to do a quick brain scan before the surgery. Please remove all articles of clothing and jewelry and lie on the table. Have you made arrangements for someone to drive you home?"
"Yeah, a friend is coming." If David and Mary managed to make it out of Sensations okay. Couldn't think about it. Not now. Of course they'd make it out, and David would show up to get his biosynth refill. Not to play chauffeur, but Nurse Happy didn't need to know that.
Jonah made quick work of removing his clothes while Trish used the scanner on her porta-comp to get his vitals. "You're in excellent health, Mr. Sullivan." She raked her gaze over his chest and torso. "Excellent. But your blood pressure is a little high. Understandable under the circumstances." Her gaze went to his crotch. "Is everything functioning properly? Your biomechanics, I mean. Any problems?"
He flexed his arms. "There's a little nerve damage. I don't have the fine motor control I used to have."
"Not unexpected. How much of a loss?"
"Can't play the guitar, at least not anything faster than a ballad. Gotta take it slow when using a comp, texting, that sort of thing."
"Noted. Dr Ernst is working on some experimental regeneration techniques that look promising. Would you like to submit to a trial?"
"Not today. Maybe some other time."
"Perhaps we could meet sometime? Let me show you the advantages of getting that fine motor control back?"
Something about her wasn't right, but now was not the time to figure it out. "We'll see."
The smile faded, and she patted the table. "Okay, up you go."
The padded metal wasn't as cold as he thought it'd be, but the look in Nurse Happy's eyes gave him the chills. Like she wouldn't mind crawling on top of him. And clawing his eyes out while she screwed him.
"Relax, Mr. Sullivan." She smiled and positioned the mobile scanner over his head. "This won't hurt."
No, it tingled, like standing too close to a power line.
He heard the door open, but couldn't see who came in. Not that it mattered. Not much he could do with his head in the scanner.
"Dr. Ernst!" Nurse Trish didn't sound happy to see the doc. "This is unacceptable. You've broken sterilization protocol. I'll have to report this."
"You run along and do that," he answered. "I'll finish the scan and go through sterilization with you and the patient."
Judging by the strangled sound that came from the nurse, Jonah guessed she wasn't too happy. The slamming door confirmed it.
The tingling stopped, and the doc moved the machine away from Jonah's head. "Hello, Jonah. It's been awhile. You look well."
"Oh, hell no." Jonah started to get off the table. He'd never learned the name of the doc who'd ‘rehabilitated’ Dr. Kistner, and now the son-of-a-bitch stood at the side of the table and smiled as if they were old friends. "You are not going to dig around in my brain."
"Certainly not. This operation is a very delicate and complicated procedure. I am not going to dig."
"Damn straight."
Dr. Ernst walked to the door, checked the hallway, and turned the lock. "We don't have much time. I know you don't trust me, but you need to. I'm working with Dex, and so is Dr. Kistner. We're both going to be in the surgical suite."
"Don't try to bullshit me. You castrated Dr. Kistner, remember?"
"No, I didn't. Dex convinced me not to. He can be...very persuasive."
"Why should I believe you?"
"You believed Dex. You came here. Trust me. We're not going to hurt you."
"Like you said, Dex can be persuasive." He closed his eyes for a moment and took a deep breath. "Okay, let's do this."
"Before we start the surgery, I need to know when you blasted." Doctor Ernst pulled Jonah's chart up on the medi-comp.
"How did you know?"
"Dex told me, and the scan confirmed it. So, how long ago."
How the hell did Dex know? "About a year."
"What's your ability?"
"My brain turned into a freakin' comp. Stats, equations, if thens, calculations. I see them, like on a screen in my head, worked out with the answers. No matter how complex. And this is going to sound crazy, but sometimes I swear I can communicate with electronics and get them to do what I want."
"Technopathy? Amazing. There's no indication of this development in our report. When did you first notice it?"
"It was after a boost to the web. Not the one two days ago. The one before that. I was using my comp, and it started doing stuff on its own. Freaked me out at first, until I realized it was going to web pages I was thinking about, or opening a program I needed."
Doctor Ernst started to make a note on the chart, but deleted it. "I believe more study in this area is warranted, and it might be better if we kept this development to ourselves for now. It seems to be a natural progression of your ability, commensurate with the power emitted by the web. We've known for quite some time that the change in the light spectrum created by the web is the cause of the brainwave transformation, which precipitates the clots, and the increase of psychic abilities, but we don't know if everyone is experiencing an augmentation of their abilities the way you have, or even if the abilities will remain once the web is no longer active."
A sharp knock rattled the door. "Dr. Ernst!" Nurse Trish called. "Mr. Sullivan needs to be prepped. Now."
Dr. Ernst started to unlock the door, but stopped. "When you closed your eyes a minute ago, you were running the calculations? Determined I'm telling the truth?"
"Yeah, but don't get too cocky, doc. You didn't win out by much."
The doc grinned. "I'll take it. Now, let's get you prepped and in the sterilization room before Nurse Trish breaks the door down."
"Wait. Just promise me one thing, doc."
"Anything."
"Don't let Nurse Trish play with my dick while I'm out."
CHAPTER TWELVE
Mary glanced at the door. "It's been about ten minutes, and I'm going to need to hit some A pretty soon. Plus, I'm getting antsy about that guy upstairs. Let's make another sweep. See if any of the comps have gone to orange or red. It won't damage them as much if they're almost out of time, will it?"
"I don't know. May depend on the program they're running." David pushed off the wall, dropped his lighter into his pocket. "Try to find a junkie who looks calm. Might mean they're not stimming much, or coming down."
She headed to the back of the room. Better to find a comp where most of the controllers had their back to her.
"Mary."
Not David's voice, and she didn't know any controllers. She stopped and looked around for the source, but no one was looking her way. Must have been a fluke, some controller who's fantasy involved a girl named Mary. Didn't make it any less disturbing.
Trying to stay in the shadows, she took a few more steps and noticed all the controllers around her sat like statues. No movement at all. Even the ones having sex stopped moving. Like somebody pulled the plug on all of them.
"Mary."
Her name echoed through the room. Once. Twice. The voices kept repeating her name. Short, staccato beats firing at her from every cubicle, getting faster and louder until they spoke in one voice.
Hadrian's voice.
It rolled through the room and crashed over her in a solid wave.
The controllers turned toward her, their eyes open and glassy, pupils dilated. Black pools reflecting the ghostly light from the comp screens. Their expressions blank. "Hello, Mary." Their lips didn't form the sounds, and their tongues stayed flat in their mouths. Their jaws dropped with every syllable, like the dummies ventriloquists used. "How nice of you to visit my humble establishment."
Her breath caught in her throat. Taking a cautious step back, she searched through the dark for David, and watched in horror as he moved in her direction, disconnecting controllers as he went. "Yeah, well I was in the neighborhood and thought I'd check it out."
"Is that so? My
doorman indicated you came to...service a controller. Though, he was a bit more crude."
Following David's lead, she tried to unplug the guy next to her, but he grabbed her arm. His fingers dug into the tender skin of her forearm and held her in place. With her free hand, she tried to reach the tether and just got her fingertips on it when another controller hit her hand and knocked it away.
"Mary." Hadrian let out a little sigh, and the breath of sixty-odd bodies wafted on the air. "Please, stop struggling. I do not want to hurt you."
"Then let me go."
A few of the non-controllers looked her way, fear and confusion clear on their faces, but none of them moved.
"Why don't you tell me why you're really here, and how your friend fooled the mech detector." The controllers' expressions remained blank, but she felt the anger and malice in Hadrian's voice.
"What can I say? Just can't get good help these days."
David made his way past a several more controllers, their feeble attempts to hold him useless against his mech.
"Please tell your friend to cease. His violence accomplishes nothing." The controller let go of her hand, and the others stopped trying to attack David. "As I said, I have no wish to harm you."
Instinct told her to step out of the guy's reach. Plugged in to the comp, his speed and reflexes outmatched hers, but she didn't want Hadrian thinking his little trick with the controllers scared or intimidated her, even though it did. She nodded to David, and he dropped the controller he had by the neck, stepped over the guy's choking form, and walked to her.
"Thank you. I feared Dex's influence may have corrupted you."
"Dex's influence?"
"Do not insult me, Mary. I know Dex has been to see you and your brother. I had hoped to speak with you privately. Dex is unstable."
"What do you mean, unstable?"
"Are you familiar with the circumstances surrounding his brainwave transformation?"
"Yeah, Jonah told me." She shifted on her feet. If she could move just a little, get behind David, she could pull the drive out of her bra without the controller seeing her.
"Yes, your brother's love and loyalty to his friend is commendable, if not misplaced. But I wonder if he told you everything. If he knew everything." As he spoke, his voice softened and controllers went slack, like the strings had been cut, until only spoke through one controller. The one who had held her. The change of volume made their conversation more intimate. More obscene.
Hadrian continued. "Dex suffered a partial transformation. However, he had moments of lucidity, and during one of those moments, he begged to be implanted with the controller mech. In his deranged mind, he believed the mech would eradicate the psychic nightmares the way it eradicated emotions. Our doctors were intrigued by the prospect. Hadn't even considered such a thing possible. They agreed to undertake the surgery, and with some minor adjustments, it worked."
With David shielding her, she turned toward the wall and pulled the drive from its hiding place. "Congratulations."
"Are premature. It appeared to work, at first, but the nightmares returned. We tried other surgeries, more mech enhancements. Yet, we couldn't stop the psychosis. It has almost completely taken over his mind. Delusions. Paranoia. He's lost touch with reality, and I'm concerned about him. Afraid he might do something horrible. Mary, he's threatened to disarm the energy web."
Hadrian sounded desperate. And sincere.
She stood on her tiptoes and whispered in David's ear. "What if he's telling the truth? What if this whole thing is in Dex's head?"
"I don't know, Princess. What if it isn't?" David countered.
"Mary, I know you're confused." Hadrian's now single voice echoed through the room. "Dex hides the affliction well. Because of the mech, he does not exhibit the classic symptoms. He can maintain normality for short periods of time, a few hours at the most. It is all a ruse. He is not the Dex you knew. His mind is toxic. It's killing him, and if you allow him to manipulate you with preposterous theories about your parents' unfortunate deaths and my supposed treachery, he will kill millions."
"David." Mary's grip tightened and she lowered her voice below a whisper. "Dex never mentioned my parents' accident. At least, not the way Hadrian thinks. Dex told us our parents worked on the nanite project and that was it. How are your arms holding up? Can you get us out of here?"
"Shouldn't be a problem. There's a control comp close to the end of the first row where I managed to get the guy unplugged. We'll walk that way to get out. Get the drive in and keep walking. I'll take point at the stairs. I expect the muscle from the door will be waiting on us. He's not mech, but from the way he moves, I can tell he's trained to fight."
She stepped around David and stood in front of the cubicles. "Hadrian, I'm so sorry. We hurt all those controllers, because Dex...for nothing."
"Sshh. It's okay. It's not your fault. You were lied to and mislead. We must stop Dex before more damage is done. Do you know where he is, Mary?"
"No. He left the park before we did and didn't say where he was going."
"Don't worry, we'll find him. Right now, though, we need to get you to safety. The president's announcement will air shortly regarding the impending arrival of the wave in two days. On my recommendation, he will sign the order to re-institute martial law. Other world leaders are doing the same, and I expect a violent reaction. Two of my best security teams are on their way, and I've given them instructions to escort you to Palisade where you will be protected. They will meet you upstairs."
She let out an exaggerated breath, hoping Hadrian heard relief. "Thank you."
The controllers who were still tethered went back to their programs, and the air reeked of Hadrian's smug sense of victory. Of control.
David joined her, put a finger to his lips, and pointed to the ceiling. "Probably still being monitored," he mouthed.
Nodding in agreement, she turned and walked toward the door. The controllers who had tried to stop David lay sprawled on the floor, and she stepped around them, not really paying attention to whether or not her shoes landed on a limb, or fingers. Her attention stayed focused on the open ports. Pretending to trip, she stumbled into a cubicle and inserted the drive into the port. Within seconds, all of the comp screens went from their current colors to blue, and all movement stopped.
"What the hell happened?" One of the professionals looked around the room. "My guy just went limp. I mean his whole body, not just his dick."
"Same here," another yelled. "Must be a malfunction or something. First the freak show, and now this? I'm not sticking around for the reboot." She straightened her dress, gathered her purse, and made for the door. The other partners followed her lead, and before Mary made it back to David, the stairwell was crowded with people desperate to leave.
A controller jerked in her seat, her jaw moved up and down, but no words came out.
"Looks like it’s working," Mary said. "Let's go."
At the top of the stairs, Mary squinted against the lights in the club and took a moment to let her eyes adjust. The three guys who were there earlier had left. Two of the people who were downstairs stopped by the bar for a drink, she didn't blame them, and the others went straight for the door.
David took her hand and led her to the exit. "We have a better chance if we're in the crowd."
The doorman spotted them and backhanded the woman in front of him to get her out of his path.
"Somehow, I don't think it's going to make a difference." Tables, chairs, people got caught in the fight. Mary barely escaped a wayward fist as she did the duck and cover through the free-for-all. The group surrounded the doorman, and it didn't look like they'd be much of a challenge against him. Their efforts to get out consisted of bouncing off his fists toward the door.
David let go of her hand and muscled his way through the stunned group. Some of them screamed, the lady on the floor sobbed, and his voice went from a low tone to hard authority. "Get to the bike, Princess. I'll be right behind you."
It was a lot like being a baton. Judging the speed and distance of the target, but instead of jumping to it, she used her skills to dodge and weave through the panicked crowd. Amazing how fear and desperation turned into five or six people into a mob. An elbow caught her in the ribs. Someone pulled her hair, tried to yank her out of their way. She twisted, rammed her knee into the woman's stomach, and pulled her hair free. A quick glance told her David had reached the entryway and the doorman, but the people still fighting to get out and the cramped space kept him from taking the guy out.
Sirens. Great. Meant Hadrian's security forces were close. She put her fingers to her mouth and blew. The sharp whistle quieted everyone. People stopped, stunned, and looked around for the source. She took advantage of their confusion, skirted around them, and ran toward the door. "David," she called over the crowd. "We're out of time. Put all of them down if you have to, but finish this."
He nodded in agreement and punched the woman blocking his way. "Sorry," he muttered as she corkscrewed to the floor, out cold. The rest of the crowd backed away from him, and David stepped over her limp body and stood nose to nose with muscle guy.
The doorman stood his ground in front of the exit. "I don't know how you got through the mech detector, but you're not going to make it out."
"Stay behind me, Princess and try not to slip in the blood." David took a step back, stayed on the balls of his feet, loose, while the guy tensed and charged,
Turning on his heel, David deflected the fist directed at his face, feinted with his left, and followed with a right to the guy's kidney.
The guy had opted to protect his face. Too bad the defense didn't work against a mech. With the increased strength, mechs fought with the intention of causing pain and breaking bones instead of going for the knock-out punch. The style had its advantages. Their opponents found the punches harder to deflect without hitting the protective fluid in the mech's arms and breaking a few fingers in the process. And this guy wasn't smart enough to figure out that David fooled the detector by draining the fluid.