Amoeba (The Experiments)

by Jacqueline Druga

  Jake dropped the pen and rubbed his eyes. “It sounds too simple.”

  “We’ve been working it out to the finest detail for a while.” There was a hush of silence and Greg leaned his face close to the camera blocking out everyone and everything in the backdrop of the control room. He was so close that Jake could see the tickle of sweat on his brow. He looked serious, and he spoke with passion. “But don’t kid yourself, Jake. Anything can go wrong. We’re crossing our fingers here, balancing on an eyelash. We’ve only got one chance to make this work. After that, it is so far out of our hands, you don’t even know. We have got to do this in four days, and we have to do this right. And trust me when I tell you that four days is borrowed time.”

  CHAPTER NINETY

  Caldwell Research Center - Los Angeles, CA

  August 27th - 9:00 a.m.

  With arms folded to his body, Greg, standing next to Colin, looked up to the monitor screen and gave a tightly closed proud look to him.

  “Looks good,” Colin commented.

  “And right on schedule. Start the clock, Lyle.”

  “You got it.”

  “No matter where Jake is when that timer goes off, you tell him to get back in there,” Greg informed him. Watching Lyle nod his agreement, Greg saw something else, Colonel Johnson holding up a phone.

  “Sir, the President.”

  Upbeat and optimistic, Greg raced to the phone. He retrieved it. “Dr. Haynes . . . yes, sir. As we speak, sir. Yes. Right now they’re getting ready to mist the island up. We’ll lower the weapons down and get things set up. Oh. Oh that is great news.” Greg clenched his fist. “Thank you, sir. I will.” Greg hung up the phone, turned to Colin and the investors, and gave a thumbs up. “We’re validated. The President just informed me that Russia is gonna wait and see what we produce tomorrow before they make a decision on what they are doing at the end of the week.”

  Near cheers emanated in the room.

  Greg spun back around to Lyle laying a hand on his shoulder. “Get Stan to hook him and Jake up. I want to do a radio check before we send them out.” Greg peered up at the screens again and smiled.

  I-S.E. Thirteen - The Island

  August 27th - 9:12 a.m.

  Putting on the leather gloves, Jake’s head turned down the hall when the sound of Billy’s deep gurgling cough carried up to him. He adjusted his headset. “I hear you, Haynes. You’re breaking up some, but I hear you.”

  “Good,” Greg said through the radio. “We have that dish turned down, we don’t want it iced up too much. We’ll run another check after the nitrogen is dropped.”

  “Got it.” Jake pulled on the last glove, turned his head to another cough, then to Cal who stood with him. “You’ve been moving Billy, right?”

  “Yes.”

  “Prop him up more when you get back there,” Jake instructed her. “His lungs are filling up now.”

  “I’ll do that.” Cal reached up and touched Jake’s face. “Why aren’t you wearing that suit?”

  “I can’t, sweetie.” Jake turned his head to bring his lips to her palm. “It’s going to be cold. Slick. And I have to move. Besides, we’ll get an all clear beforehand.”

  “Be careful.” Cal leaned out to kiss him.

  “I will. Then when I get back, we pack.” Jake smiled.

  “Sarge!” Rickie called up racing up the hall. “Dude! Can I please go? Please.”

  “Rickie, no.” Jake shook his head. “You stay here with Cal and help with Billy. I need you here.”

  “But dude, I’m, like, a monster. I can zip about out there.”

  “Yes I know,” Jake told him. “But zip about in here. This is where . . .” Jake looked up to the ceiling when he heard the chopper go by. He had to wonder at first if they even sprayed anything at all. But he soon found out they did, when a loud ripping cracking occurred which signaled the entire building icing up.

  “Oh shit.” Cal looked around. “Tell me this building isn’t going to break like those flowers we used to dip in school.”

  Jake shook his head. “No, it won’t. It may get cold for a while. Just for a while. Hold it.” He pressed the earpiece more into his ear. “I read you, Haynes. I’m on it.” Jake leaned down to Cal and kissed her softly. ‘They’re lowering the stuff.”

  “Good luck.” Cal winked.

  “Thank you.” Laying his gloved hand on her face, Jake took a step back, turned, laid his hand on Rickie’s back for a moment, then trotted off down the hall where Stan waited by the front doors.

  Egg shells is what it felt like to Jake as he walked out of the building stepping on the frozen amoebas. They cracked and crunched, sounding like glass breaking with each stomping tromp Jake made over them with his boots. The air was cool, crisp, and it stung a little when Jake took a breath in.

  Two crates sat not far from the center, lowered by the chopper. And although the amoebas broke when Jake and Stan walked on them, it didn’t stop them from having a slipperiness to them. So with caution, Jake and Stan moved, reaching the crates, opening them, and as fast as they could, they began to implement the first phase.

  Caldwell Research Center - Los Angeles, CA

  August 27th - 11:33 a.m.

  Colin carried a clipboard and a pen clenched between his teeth as he paced behind Lyle in the control room.

  “The time,” Aldo called out. “It seemed short.”

  Colin removed the pen. “It was. Lyle, what was our freeze time?”

  “Two hours seventeen minutes, and then they started to revive.”

  Colin noted that. “That may have been shorter than expected, but we saved eight minutes spraying the island.” He turned to Aldo. “They’ll be fine tomorrow.”

  Aldo nodded in relief.

  Greg saw Jake moving about on the monitor screen. “All right. We ran a test of the link when frozen. Let’s give it the real test. Check it, Lyle.”

  There were six beeps that rang out. “Linked.”

  “Excellent.” Greg smiled. “We knew they would work in the cold. Under amoebas, well. How about our warhead?”

  “Working,” Lyle told him.

  With his hands on his hips, Greg faced everyone in the room. “I think as a team we deserve a round of applause. Phase one . . . successful. Now it’s time to deliver that good news to the President.” As those in the room clapped, Greg proudly made it to the phone and lifted it.

  I-S.E. Thirteen - The Island

  August 27th - 4:55 p.m.

  “God, Billy,” Jake bitched while he packed up the two fire cases of Billy’s journalism supplies. “How much shit did you bring?”

  “Keep in mind, Jake,” Cal said as she stirred soup in a pot on the small burner in the rec room. “A lot of that is six month’s worth of writing and pictures.”

  “Am I supposed to fit his laptop in here?” Jake asked.

  “It fits straight down on the side of one.” Cal turned off the little burner. She watched Jake smile. “What is it?”

  Jake held up a close up of Reed smiling, post-baldness, earless, tongueless, fingerless. “This guy is going to gave us hours of storytelling enjoyment.”

  “He was funny. Not that he meant to be. Remember how serious he was when we got here?”

  “Then he fuckin cracked.” Jake shoved the pictures in the case. “Just you and me again, Cal. Ending the experiment.”

  “Billy and Rickie.” Cal poured the soup.

  “They weren’t participants. At least they weren’t supposed to be.” Jake grunted with closing the firebox. “Twenty fuckin years in the service and never has anything given me so much trouble.”

  Cal snickered. “And speaking of Billy.”

  Jake grunted.

  “Jake, what is up with that cough he has now? You said his lungs are filling up.”

  “They are. He has pneumonia. There!” Jake nodded and smiled. “This will not open again.”

  “He’ll be okay until tomorrow right?” Lifting the mug she placed the soup in, Cal began to turn t
o leave the room.

  “He should be fine. Keep him sitting up. We’ve slowed down on the pain killers, and they didn’t help his lungs. So this time tomorrow he’ll be in medical care. He’ll be fine.”

  “Good.” Cal walked out of the recreation room, turning into the closet. “I have your dinner.”

  “I’m not hungry.” Billy looked up and coughed.

  “Tough.” Cal extended the mug down to him. “Eat or I feed you.”

  Billy slowly took the mug. “Did you guys get my cases together?”

  Jake rolled his eyes. “Yes.”

  Swinging the spoon slowly in the soup, Billy gazed up to Jake. “I’m feeling really bad, Jake. My chest . . .” Billy coughed and cringed. “It hurts.”

  Jake moved closer, reached down, and slid his hand behind Billy’s neck to feel his body temperature. “When did you take the aspirin last, Bill?”

  “About an hour ago.”

  “How many?”

  “Three.”

  “Cal, go get him two more.” Jake twitched his head to the door. “I have another bottle in my bag.”

  “I’ll go get it.” Cal gave a quick smile and walked out.

  “What’s wrong?” Billy looked up to Jake.

  “Your temperature is really high,” Jake told him. “You have one hell of an infection raging through your body. It’s moved from that leg all around. I’d love to know how the hell you’re still sitting here right now, because you, Billy, should be a dead man.” Jake saw Cal with a scolding look walk back into the room. “What’s the glare for?”

  “You are so insensitive at times.” She handed Billy the aspirin and lifted his glass of water.

  Jake waved her off. “I am not. And I have to get the rest of the things together. I want to have to prepare nothing but him . . .” He pointed to Billy. “. . . come tomorrow lift up time.”

  Billy took his pills and handed the water back to Cal. He looked up at her with a smile, then to Jake who was leaving. “Oh, Jake.” He called out and followed it with a deep cough.

  Jake waited patiently for Billy to stop rumbling his chest mucus. “What?”

  “You asked how I’m still sitting here. It’s because of you.”

  Jake gave a semi smile after Cal’s ‘ah’. “Thanks Billy.”

  “Yeah.” Billy tried not to laugh because it made him cough worse. “After all, you did make that deal with me.”

  Jake looked curiously at Billy, not knowing what he was talking about. He nodded as if he did and turned, leaving the room. The second he stepped out into the hall, ‘The Deal’ he made with Billy hit him. Jake stopped, looked back in the closet, and saw Billy staring at Cal with that stupid puppy dog, enamored look he always got on his face. With a raise of an eyebrow, shake of his head, and a ‘Nah’, Jake chuckled it off as a bad sick-man’s joke and went back to finish packing up.

  Caldwell Research Center - Los Angeles, CA

  August 27th - 10:43 p.m.

  Elbows on knees, leaning drastically forward in a chair before a television, Aldo sat in the center of the other six investors who just about had as much distraught written across their faces as Aldo did. Aldo swore with every town or city Beth Chase read off, and he pulled the bottom of his eyelids further down with his finger tips.

  “ . . .Keanae, Hana, Wailakul, Hilo, and finally Hawaii.” Beth set the list aside. “In the past six hours, official confirmation has surfaced regarding the finding of the microorganism in those cities. President Wilson stated there will be no hesitation in handling this. Some experts are questioning, when will it stop? How far will it extend? How much death and destruction will it take before they search out another way to destroy these microorganisms? And there are others who believe and support the destruction, saying that every measure should be taken, no matter how far or extreme, to ensure that we, not these microorganisms, are the ones remaining when it is all said and done with.”

  Aggravated, Aldo slid his hands down his face the rest of the way as he stood up. “Someone ought to tell these people that every extreme step is being taken.” He shook his head slowly. “We just don’t know for certain . . . if extreme is even enough.”

  CHAPTER NINETY-ONE

  THE RESCUE - I-S.E. THIRTEEN

  The Island/Caldwell

  August 28th

  8:30 a.m.

  Jake zipped up what he knew would be the last of the bags. He had vowed the night before that he wouldn’t be packing anything, not even his toothbrush. Yet there he stood jamming a stack of papers into the only bag he and Cal would take. A small bag nonetheless. If it was up to Jake, he would have told everyone to just buy new things. But when Cal started complaining, so did everyone else.

  “Sarge, like, I’m ready.” Rickie dropped the small knapsack on the floor by Jake’s bag.

  Jake held his hand out to Cal. “Now see. That. That little bag right there is what I’m talking about. Not this.” Jake nudged his bag with his foot.

  “Jake, that’s Billy’s work in there. I can’t leave it behind.”

  “Disk, Cal. He has it on disk.” Jake raised his eyebrows.

  “Jake, we’re leaving the experiment early. Do you think we’ll get paid?”

  “Oh, yeah.” Jake nodded. “I already checked on that one. I’d be really fuckin pissed if I went through this whole ‘the world’s gonna end’ charade and not get paid because they pulled us early to go along with their show.” Jake closed one eye and tilted his head when Rickie and Cal both whined his name at the same time. “Stop that will you.”

  Cal’s mouth dropped open. “My God, you are miserable. You know I am not recalling you being this bad last experiment when we were getting ready to leave.”

  “Cal, I don’t recall in the last experiment having to do all the shit I have to do now.” Jake looked down to the stuff they had to take. “Look at this. We probably have a little fuckin dingy. Let’s just hope Stan doesn’t have . . .” Jake’s words were interrupted when two suitcases and a smaller bag dropped to the floor. “Oh no. Only what you need. The last thing I want is my wife to sink into the ocean because you have to take your luggage.”

  “Jake, I’ll have you know.” Stan pointed. “One of those contains disks full of data for the experiment.”

  “Which one?” Jake asked.

  “That one.” Stan pointed to the smaller blue bag.

  “See the other ones?”

  “Yes.”

  “They stay.” Jake held his finger up when he saw Stan’s mouth open. “No. Say nothing. Now, Cal.” He turned to her. “Get those straps ready like I told you and the blanket. Stan.” Jake waved to him. “Come with me, we have to find that table to rig up. Rickie . . .” Jake walked backwards. “Take the rest of the illegal drugs and get Billy as high as you can. He’s not doing good, and the last thing we need is for his mental state to affect his physical state if this rescue gets rough.”

  “Got it, Sarge.”

  “And Rickie . . .” Jake reached the door. “Keep her out of that closet when you’re doing it.” He received a sloppy Rickie-salute, then Jake turned and walked out. He paused in his walking with Stan by the open closet door. Billy lay half awake, covered by blankets, his face white, eyes dark, and his body shook as he seemed to continuously cough. “Bill.”

  Billy slowly lifted his head and partially opened his eyes. “Jake,” he spoke weakly.

  “Get ready, pal. Rickie’s gonna hook you up, get you in the mood to travel. Cal’s gonna come in here, get you cleaned up, and then . . .” Jake gave a thumbs up. “We’re going home.”

  “Home.” Billy’s closed his eyes again, dropped his head to the right and fell back to sleep.

  Jake took a second to look and he started walking with Stan again. “They know he needs medical attention as soon as we land, right?”

  “Yeah, they do,” Stan said. “But is Billy going to make it till we land?”

  Jake really had to hesitate before he answered Stan. He reached to his gut, calling upon his instincts
for an answer. “I believe he will.”

  “Believe or hope?”

  Jake kept walking.

  10:47 a.m.

  There was a rush of excitement in the control room. Greg buzzed about. A hum of conversation filled the air instead of the dreaded news. Colin sifted through his final calculations. And Lyle worked with Kirk, the only other remaining monitor.

  “They’re in the air,” Lyle announced.

  “Yes.” Greg clenched his fist in a near skip across the room to the monitoring table. “Colin. ETA until we have an all clear and lift our people?

  Colin flipped a sheet of paper. “Seeing that were gonna do a thicker coat of ice, twelve-forty-five. One p.m. at the latest.”

  “Immediately detonating the napalm and the nuclear device . . .”

  “No later than one fifteen.” Colin smiled.

  “We’re rolling.” Greg twitched his head with a grin.

  “Sir.” Kirk called Greg’s attention. “President Wilson is on the line.”

  With all the optimism Greg was feeling he was more than happy to take the call. “Probably wants to check our progress. Put him on the speaker phone, Kirk.”

  Kirk pressed a button. “He’s there.”

  “President Wilson.” Greg spoke with a smile.

  “Greg.” President Wilson didn’t sound as upbeat.

  “Sir, we are in the air and on our way to the island now. Within two and a half hours we believe this whole episode will be put behind us.”

  “Greg.” President Wilson stated his name firmly again. “You may want to pull back your choppers.”