Forsaken World | Book 6 | Redemption

by Watson, Thomas A.

  “Why nitrogen?” Percy asked.

  “It was a gas we found that the organism didn’t do shit with,” Ian answered. “Oxygen, hydrogen, and the few others we tried, the organism can use for power and then the fluctuations start. Fluctuations with this shit are always bad.”

  “Real bad,” Jennifer scoffed.

  “What were you using as protein?” Percy asked.

  “Ground up pinto beans,” Ian answered. “I want to say our mixture matrix was evenly dispersed but on that scale, I can’t be certain.”

  “So, you’ve only used sucrose and beans?” Percy asked.

  Shaking his head, “No,” Ian smiled. “We found limestone works really well but it has to be very pure, like no living organisms in it.” Remembering them praising Jennifer about limestone, with his mouth hanging open Percy turned to Jennifer in shock.

  “What? I know stuff,” Jennifer snapped. “Limestone is fossilized marine life.”

  “So you got power from limestone?” Rhonda asked.

  “Yep,” Ian stated with pride. “More than sucrose, but you have to make sure the limestone is pure by baking it to kill anything. We actually got more power, but it’s more labor intensive than just boiling down some sugar in distilled water. Plus, we can grow sugar.”

  Looking around the area, “How much power are you generating up here with special batteries?” Rhonda asked. “Why call them batteries anyway? They’re really generators, aren’t they?”

  “Yes, they are generators and not really batteries,” Lance answered. “But if anyone ever hears someone in this group talking about ‘special batteries’, that’s what they’ll look for and think they are. As far as power, for the research area we have several ‘special batteries’ for forty-eight megawatts.”

  “Can one blow up?” Sandy asked looking at the last cube.

  “It would take a line of failures, but yeah,” Lance answered. “The main safeguard is if the housing starts to get hot because the vacuum pump failed, the vacuum is released.” Hearing that, Sandy turned to look at him. “When air floods in, the stinker nut juice goes from a thin liquid to a thick, cloudy honey paste. The best that Ian and I can come up with is, ‘When air is introduced, the organism is overloaded with particles to consume’. We know from the microscope, the organism is dead. The glass rods are hollow. I think this is a safeguard so the organism can’t be studied, and Ian agrees.”

  A loud slap sounded and everyone turned to Percy. “That’s why water kills them!” he cried out. “Our skin is permeable to water and it overloads the organism! They start eating what’s in front of them to produce power and die from overload!”

  “About what we figured,” Ian nodded. “When they go into overload is when they produce acid that can eat through anything but silicon, some silica compounds, or a close derivative.”

  “But they showed an active parasite on TV,” Rhonda pointed out.

  “One that was flash frozen,” Ian responded. “We did that and you can look at it but as soon as it thaws the organism dies, somehow making energy from water, ice, and the air it was exposed to before it was frozen. Now, freeze it under a vacuum and it won’t die when it thaws.”

  For several minutes nobody spoke, coming to terms with what they had learned. “Can anyone find this out?” Mary asked.

  “Sure. If they did what we did,” Ian answered.

  “Ms. Mary,” Lilly called out, getting her attention. “Nobody will go through all those steps. Yes, they’re smart, but also very lucky. Not only didn’t they get killed, but Lance and Ian went way overboard trying to get hydrogen sulfide to go for a ride.”

  Hearing Lilly say it, Heath and Dwain gave snickers.

  “Some may try to get fuel like they did,” Mary pointed out.

  “Oh, I’m sure some have,” Lilly responded, and moved over by the table and tapped the keyboard. She turned and pointed at a large screen, and Mary turned. On the screen was a metal coffin, but on the top of the coffin was a spout the size of a pencil with a blue flame. “Jennifer came up with this for our test to see how much hydrogen sulfide a stinker can make after being put down. If I wanted power, I could put water over that flame to generate steam, thereby power. There’s a one-way valve allowing air in at a steady rate and the flame’s rate of combustion is being monitored. Using both of those until it goes out and you’ll know how much hydrogen sulfide a stinker puts out. As we all know, even when put down, stinkers’ corpses stay around showing slow decomposition. We don’t know why so don’t ask, but we’re testing it.”

  “I’m not stupid!” Jennifer cried out, even though nobody thought that or was looking at her.

  “Jennifer,” Lilly sighed. “The only one who thinks you aren’t intelligent is you. We know you are.”

  Perking up, “Thank you,” Jennifer beamed. Sandy turned to look at Mary and saw Mary just smiling at Jennifer blissfully. In that instance, Sandy made the decision she would never tell Mary what Lilly had told her about the boys and porn. Looking at Mary, Sandy was certain she would inform Ian of things Sandy, as a mother, really didn’t want Lance to know yet.

  Looking at the corner of the screen at the date and time, “That’s in real time,” Percy informed her.

  “Thank you, Percy, I didn’t know that,” Lilly replied in a flat tone.

  “How long has the flame been burning?” Rhonda asked.

  “Twenty-nine days,” Jennifer answered.

  “Lance, Ian,” Dwain called out. “You have no idea how this thing makes electricity on this scale?”

  Rolling his head on his neck, Lance dropped his gaze to Ian. “I’m so tired,” Lance groaned. Turning to face Dwain, “Have you ever seen Star Trek?” Lance asked and Dwain nodded. “This is like the Enterprise landed out there in the field and left the landing lights on. Ian and I come out and see the light and tell everyone ‘we got free light’. We don’t know it’s a spaceship and can do many things. All we know is we have free light over us.”

  “Damn. That was good, dude,” Ian admitted.

  Finally understanding, Dwain nodded and asked, “Do you think if someone got their hands on a special battery they could figure it out?”

  “They would know it produces power. Take it apart and we’ve told you what happens. Sure, they can use a microscope and find the empty shells, but they’ll have to figure out the ‘how’,” Lance answered.

  “Dwain,” Lilly chuckled. “Anyone opens one up to see the cloudy goo, they aren’t going to look at it under a microscope. They’ll put the goo in a mass spectrometer to find out what it is. No sane human would think of getting power from jelly. They’ll see the inside is glass and the plates are silicon graphite and ferrosilicon. Only Lance and Ian would think of looking in the liquid for answers because, for all intents and purposes, this organism is akin to nanotechnology.”

  “Um, this may be stupid, but,” Rhonda paused, “all the parasites came on that asteroid?”

  “Fuck no!” Lance cried out. “What gave you that idea?”

  “Uh, they have a shell made of glass?” Rhonda answered.

  “Silicon,” Lance corrected. “The organism makes it, but we have video under the microscope of them producing and they can do it at a very scary rate. When a person starts to get sick and is about to die, a person may only have three or four in their entire body. If the body is under stress and the electrical output of the brain drops in the space of two hours, there are millions of organisms. In four hours, billions.”

  “And that’s the only time they can reproduce? In us?” Rhonda asked and Lance nodded. “So this will go away? Because I heard those not dying were getting rid of the organism.”

  “I’m sure we don’t have any in us,” Lance said and saw Rhonda relax. “But this organism is here until the end of the Earth.”

  Startled, Rhonda just gave a blank stare at Lance as Lilly explained. “Rhonda, in the mouths of stinkers walking around, you wouldn’t believe how many inactive organisms there are. The inside of their mouths should
be black,” Lilly told her. “The stinkers that have been killed had some that weren’t even turned on and those will be in the environment forever. In a thousand years if a kid gets dirt in a cut where a stinker died, the glass rod could get in because they can last for millions of years just lying there, like they did across space. If that kid dies, it’ll get turned on. That’s what convinced me it was a weapon. It can’t evolve, and with what we’ve seen and found out here, that should be impossible unless it was created for that sole purpose, limiting the expansion of intelligent life.”

  “So, a bite will always be a death sentence?” Rhonda questioned.

  “There won’t be an immunization any time soon. Even if this hadn’t exploded across the globe and all our resources had been put on it, I’m sure an immunization would take half a century,” Lilly stated, but then smiled. “But, Mr. Johnathan had several interesting ideas on how to treat a bite.”

  “What?!” Sandy cried out.

  “In his notebook, Mr. Johnathan had several ideas on how to treat a bite with what he had heard on the radio, worked out, or just guessed,” Lilly told her.

  “Like what?” Sandy mumbled.

  “The one I’m going to try is fluid overload,” Lilly answered. “Granted, it will be very dangerous but if the patient is going to die anyway, it’s a valid theory after what I’ve learned here. I really feel our bodies could handle the fluid overload but the parasite can’t. Using what Mr. Johnathan came up with and doing more research, I feel good about the chances.”

  Everyone was in awe as Lance mumbled, “Ian and I will go and get a sack of shit gang member to try it on.”

  Never taking her eyes off Sandy, Lilly gave a heavy sigh. “Now you see why I’ve never mentioned it, Ms. Sandy. Your son has no concept of ‘unnecessary danger’. ”

  Walking over, Sandy wrapped her arms around Lilly, hugging her tight. “Oh, I wish I could go back in time and kick my own ass for looking at you badly. You watch out for him, but he listens to you,” Sandy sniffled. “You are never allowed to leave Lance.” Surprised by the hug, Lilly returned it with a contented smile. “You can call me Sandy, Ms. Sandy, Momma, Momma Sandy, or even bitch. You’re allowed.”

  “Don’t you dare call my momma a bitch,” Lance chimed in grinning, but then mumbled, “unless she’s really acting like one.”

  Releasing Lilly and turning to Lance, “She has my permission,” Sandy informed him. “Oh, your daddy would’ve been so proud of your choice.”

  “She’s the only girl I’ve ever chosen,” Lance popped off. Sandy took a breath as she raised her finger, pointing at him. “Hey!” Lance shouted. “You’re the one who asked Jennifer’s mom to fix me up with someone for the Fall Formal! I was just going to go by myself!”

  “That slut Sabrina!” Sandy popped off. Jennifer looked at Ian, about to tell him they had to leave the research area but scratched that idea when she saw Ian trying not to laugh.

  “You tried to fix me up with Nina Banks, Mom!” Lance cried out. “She had one eyebrow that went across her forehead! It looked like a ten-inch-long fuzzy caterpillar just died on her forehead! Then we can mention the fact Nina had more hair on her body than everyone in our family put together!”

  Holding her chin high, “She wasn’t that hairy,” Sandy objected.

  “Yes, she was,” Lance responded. “The only good the fur did was cover up the ugly.”

  Crossing her arms, “She wasn’t ugly,” Sandy popped off.

  “Are you insane?!” Lance cried out. “Nina was so ugly her parents sat her in the corner and fed her with a slingshot just to keep her away from the table so they didn’t have to look at her!” Everyone was trying not to laugh, not to appease Sandy and Lance but because of where they were.

  “That’s being mean,” Sandy informed him.

  “Mean? I was being nice,” Lance corrected her. “Nina didn’t need a costume on Halloween to win any contest. The fact Nina thought she was a goddess was what I found to be a problem. Spandex is a privilege, not a right.”

  “She was a sophomore like Sabrina, and Nina wasn’t fat,” Sandy pointed out.

  Nodding, “No, she wasn’t fat,” Lance agreed. “It wouldn’t have mattered to me if Nina owned the globe, so I couldn’t care less about what grade she was in. She had a butt that was four feet wide, shoulders that weren’t even two feet wide, one boob was like a double D and the other was a C. She was over six feet tall and had feet bigger than Jason.”

  “Nina was always sweet,” Sandy informed him.

  “I would’ve broken my own leg before going to the Fall Formal with her since you told me I had to go, and the only way I wasn’t, I would have to be in the hospital,” Lance let her know. “You left me with no choice, I had to find someone to go with. I was going with Allie if Sabrina turned me down.”

  Chuckling, “Sabrina dumped Blake the day you asked her,” Jennifer snorted.

  Turning to Jennifer, “Is that why that fucker got in my face?” Lance asked, and Jennifer nodded. “Why didn’t you tell me then? She got back with him. At the ball field he got in my face saying I treated her like crap. I went out with her one time. You could’ve said something. I can sit down and figure out how many hours you talked to me on the phone after that,” Lance challenged.

  Flipping her hand at Lance as she rolled her eyes, “Sabrina was just pissed that you didn’t try to f-,” Jennifer froze, realizing what she’d almost said.

  “I didn’t what?” Lance asked, but saw Jennifer wasn’t going to continue. “Hey, I told you I thought she was screwing with me when she put her tongue in my mouth. I can honestly say what Sabrina did wasn’t kissing. I’ve done that with Lilly and I like it. Sabrina was trying to stick her tongue down my throat and lick my stomach. She fucking gagged me! What the hell was I supposed to think?!” Knowing what Jennifer was going to say, Lilly wanted to help but Sandy had started this, so she wasn’t getting into it.

  “Lance?” Sandy called out because she had a good idea what Jennifer had been about to say before stopping. “Nina wasn’t ugly and you could’ve gone with her.”

  “You could’ve gone to the dance with Nina because I wasn’t going to,” Lance scoffed. “Even Dad said Nina was ugly.”

  Letting out a gasp, “Johnathan would never call someone, much less a young girl, ugly,” Sandy stated.

  “Yeah, you’re right. He didn’t say ‘ugly’. Dad called her genetically-challenged appearance-wise,” Lance told her. “That’s just a fancy way to say that bitch was ugly. I will say this, if Nina had shoved her tongue down my throat like Sabrina did, I would’ve found a gun and shot the bitch.”

  “Lance, you’re being an ass,” Sandy told him, seeing Ian was changing colors in trying not to laugh and Jennifer was trying to hide so Lance wouldn’t ask more.

  “No, I’m being honest,” he countered. “I wasn’t going out in public with someone who has to have a brush to comb the fur on her body.”

  “Ian,” Sandy called out, and watched Ian bite the inside of his cheek to keep from laughing out loud. “Was Nina ugly?” she asked.

  Shrugging, “Depends, Momma Sandy,” Ian smirked. “Compared to a sasquatch? No.”

  Everyone let out snorts as Sandy turned back to Lance. “Why did you ask Sabrina, of all people?”

  “Because she’d asked me a week before at church,” Lance replied. “I told her I was going alone. I didn’t give a shit who Jason fixed Ian up with, but then you told me I was going with a date whether I liked it or not.”

  “Ooops fixed you up with Tabitha?” Mary snapped and all laughter left Ian’s body.

  Looking at his mom and nodding slowly, “Yeah,” Ian mumbled, not sure if he should say more.

  “I thought you liked Tabitha,” Sandy whispered.

  “I did until I heard that,” Mary said. “Ooops had one thing on his mind about girls, and it wasn’t holding hands.”

  Knowing very well about Ooops, Sandy just sighed still looking at Lance. “One thing I can say, if Lilly ha
d lived near us, your father would’ve made you go with her. He could read people even better than she can. Oh, a fight would’ve ensued, but it would’ve been a fight your father would’ve won in the end.”

  Perking up with a smile, “Really?” Lance asked in awe.

  Nodding, “Oh, he would’ve slept at Doug’s a few nights, but I would’ve given in,” Sandy said and then smiled. “He always said you would know the one you were after.”

  Thankful for a reprieve in the conversation, Jennifer stepped between them. “We are way off topic and need to leave,” she told everyone. She saw Lance’s eyes get wide, realizing what had happened. “Don’t,” Jennifer warned. “It was a slip-up and didn’t hurt anything. No experiments are running, so drop it or I’m picking up a hammer.”

  “Okay,” Lance smiled and then headed out.

  Behind him, Lance heard Heath mumble, “They can have Robin if I don’t have to come back up here.”

  Chapter Ten

  The clubhouse

  Two days before Halloween, Heath pulled up at the clubhouse. “You know I don’t like being late,” Robin told him as he parked the UTV. Looking around at over fifty UTVs and golf carts parked in neat rows around the clubhouse, Heath parked at the end of a row.

  “Robin, we’re half an hour early, so chill,” Heath sighed, getting out.

  The rest of their group pulled in beside them, parking while Heath watched Robin grab dishes of food from the back of the UTV. Glancing around the parking area, or backyard of the clubhouse, he didn’t see the track or any vehicles from the cabin.

  “They aren’t here yet,” Dwain said stopping beside him.

  “They’re usually here an hour early just to go over the monitor logs,” Heath mumbled as Robin, Kathy, and the rest of the Bear Trap Clan filed past, heading into the clubhouse, but Percy stopped beside them.

  “Where are Lance and Ian?” he asked, then noticed no vehicles from the cabin there.