by Brett Baker
As the other sentinel climbed back to its feet, Lexi turned, an angry smile on her face. Much to her surprise, the second sentinel hesitated.
Seizing the sudden opportunity, Lexi hurled her hammer, and the mallet struck the second sentinel in the head, ending its operation as well.
Coughing and wheezing, the commander slouched forward on one knee as Rin stood over him. Lexi, leaning her massive hammer on one shoulder came over and stood beside her.
“Now” Lexi began, “You’re going to tell us what we want to know, or I’m going to pound you into a pancake. How does that sound?”
*******
Having made their escape, they navigated their way through the mostly-forgotten streets of Evanston’s industrial neighborhoods. Not long after that, they sat with Watanabe in his living room as a holographic menu hovered over the central coffee table, which was the focal point of the room.
Watanabe’s safehouse was a loft apartment hidden away in a nearby warehouse only a few blocks away. It had all the amenities, a large bedroom with several comfortable beds, living room with full holonet access, kitchen and bathrooms.
“So I didn’t miss anything when I was monitoring you remotely, right? All you were able to retrieve from the Commander was the name ‘Markus?’” Watanabe asked. Now with his hood down, they could clearly see his features. As his name implied he was of Japanese descent, with black spiky hair, small flecks of grey dispersed throughout, and deep, careworn lines around his eyes. His age was hard for them to guess, but if they had been forced to hazard one, both Lexi and Rin figured he had to be at least in his late 30s.
Lexi nodded, her arms crossed as she sat across from him on a white, curving leather couch. “He said it was all he knew. This Markus sent them the instructions remotely, and paid for their operations, but never appeared. He had never seen the man, and didn’t know anything about him.”
“He also said they had abducted us on his instructions.” Rin added.
“So who is Markus?” Watanabe said as he typed the name into a holonet keypad hovering before him.
A wealth of search results appeared before them, scrolling past their view.
“Who would have thought Markus would be such a common name?” Lexi asked.
“This is going to take some time,” Watanabe said.
“I’m very impressed with both of you,” he continued, changing the subject. “You fought well. And your ability, Rin, is intriguing. Almost like your body’s reflexes have developed a precognition of their own.”
“That’s it!” he cried, snapping his fingers. “We’ll call it precognitive reflexes!”
“Your abilities Lexi are clearly more telekinetic in nature.” Watanabe said, turning his attention to the elder Halloran sister. “Where did you learn to fight like that?”
“I’ve been in a fight or two” Lexi replied, “but I never fought with a giant hammer before. I just sort of, reacted.”
Watanabe crossed his arms and cupped his hand over his chin as he nodded thoughtfully. “I see. This is not unheard of. It’s called muscle memory programming. Basically, your captors have implanted false memories in your mind which instruct your body how to move in preset situations.”
“Is that why I’m having such a hard time remembering anything from before we woke up in those tubes?” Rin asked.
“It might be” Watanabe replied. “What do you remember?”
“I remember that my name is Rin Halloran, that Lexi is my sister, and other than that, I just remember a few random things from before, mostly about me and Lexi. I don’t remember the rest of my family, what schools I went to, what foods I like or don’t like…”
“It’s the same for me” Lexi added. “I don’t even know my age.”
“Well that’s easy enough to solve” Watanabe said as he waved his hand and a holonet keypad appeared before him. He typed in Lexi Halloran, and Lexi’s public profile appeared before them.
“Alexanrda Halloran” Watanabe read aloud from the profile. “Born in 2063 to Cassandra Halloran, father unknown. Last Attended St. Mary’s School for Girls in Portage Park, was expelled 3 months ago for non-attendance.”
“And what year is it now?” Rin asked.
“2077,” Watanabe answered.
“so we’re 14?” Rin offered.
Watanabe nodded in reply.
“Is that where these uniforms come from?” Lexi asked.
“I have a confession to make” Watanabe replied with a nod. “I did my research on you girls beforehand. I got the uniforms hoping they would spark some kind of memory or recognition in you.”
“Then you knew we wouldn’t have our memories?” Rin asked.
“I didn’t know,” Watanabe replied shaking his head. “But I did suspect. If this Markus was messing with your DNA, memory reprogramming was a logical leap to make.”
“So what now?” Lexi asked.
“Now, I dig through the results on Markus, and see what I can turn up” Watanabe replied. “Why don’t you girls get something to eat, or some rest. I’ll let you know when I have something.”
*******
Rin gradually became aware of the sensation of weightlessness. She floated on soft winds, with no ground below her, and nothing but shifting blues, greens, and purples to be seen in every direction. As if representing the passage from day to night to day again, the colors seemed to oscillate back and forth between lighter hues, and darker shades. And then she became aware of the music; the music that had been there the entire time, like a child hiding, playfully waiting to reveal itself. In a rising crescendo, the joyous, rapturous orchestral fanfare filled her soul full to brimming over.
And she became aware of a new melody as her own soul responded with its own music. The two songs soared and intertwined like a rising duet coiling around one another. She listened, and heard her own voice responding as it joined with a countless chorus of voices singing together as one in this orchestral magnum opus of infinite proportions.
Then the chorus slowly faded, and the colors grew dark as they yielded to blackness along while the music fell silent. Rin’s eyes slowly opened. She was awake; sleep still lingering in her tired, heavy eyes. She was in the bedroom of Watanabe’s safehouse. Lexi’s side of the bed was empty, but she sat nearby on a chair, scrolling through a list of search results on a holomenu that hovered before her.
“What time is it?” Rin asked sleepily. A holomenu appeared, displaying that it was 5:37 am. “Lexi?” Rin began, “What are you doing?”
“Searching for information on this Watanabe” Lexi replied as she continued to scroll past public profiles in the citizen database.
“Why” Rin asked.
“I don’t trust him” Lexi replied. “Do you?”
“He seems to want to help us,” Rin answered. “And he hasn’t really given us any reason not to trust him.”
“There’s something he’s not telling us,” Lexi said. “I can feel it!”
“It’s late” Rin began. “Come back to bed.”
“Ah-ha!” Lexi exclaimed suddenly. “I’ve found him!” Lexi rotated the holomenu so Rin could see as a public profile expanded. It was certainly the same man.
“Kenjiro Watanabe” Lexi read aloud. “Born 2033. It says he works downtown. 410 Michigan Ave., Suite 133D.
“What are you going to do?” Rin asked.
“Get dressed,” Lexi replied. “We are going to go pay a visit to Watanabe’s office.”
II
The lights went on in Kenjiro Watanabe’s office. He was dressed in a grey business suit jacket, with a black, high-collared tunic underneath, and grey business slacks. As he settled in behind his glass desk, and began navigating through a jumbled plethora of holomenus, he remained completely unaware that from atop a nearby building, he was being watched by two girls using the zoom function on their netgoggles.
“Looks like Watanabe has a pretty boring job” Rin said.
Suddenly Watanabe’s voice came through their comms. “I ha
ve found Markus. But you girls aren’t in the safehouse. Why are you downtown?”
“We wanted to see where you worked” Lexi replied in a matter-of-fact tone as Rin cringed like a child caught with her hand in the cookie jar.
Suddenly, there was a yellow light, which grew into the shape of a man, and then morphed into the familiar form of Watanabe. He stood there before them, with his hood pulled up over his head, and seeing him, Rin twisted, looking back into Watanabe’s office. She found him still sitting behind his desk busily navigating through holomenus.
“Wait, what’s going on here?” Rin asked. “I’m seeing two of you.”
“The man you’re seeing in that office is not me” Watanabe replied. “He shares my face, and my name, but he’s made his own choices, and has lived a completely different life.”
“What are you talking about?” Lexi asked.
“Tell me,” Watanabe replied, “have you ever heard of the multiverse theory?”
“What’s that?” Lexi replied. “I barely remember my own name, remember?”
“It’s a theory that there are infinite number of universes coexisting at the same time” Watanabe answered. “The multiverse is real. The man you see is the Watanabe that was born on this Earth, in this universe.”
“Then, you’re from another universe?” Rin asked.
“Yes” Watanabe answered. “One that was destroyed. ”As far as I know, I may be the only survivor of it. Now come back to the safehouse before Markus’s people find us here.”
“Fine” Lexi replied, shaking her head in frustration. “But there’s more to this story, and I want to hear it!”
******
They rode the I-Train back; a monorail train that ran from downtown out to Evanston and beyond, to the north end of the city. Their rail car was mostly abandoned except for one older lady sitting at the back. The rhythmic klack-klack of the rails passing by beneath the car, and the hum of the train all around them created background noises, which the others barely, noticed, but in those sounds, Rin heard something different.
Focusing in on the hum of the car, and the rhythmic klack-klack of the rails, Rin could hear the pulsing rhythm that formed the backdrop for the soaring symphonic chorus that had visited her in her dreams earlier. That soaring chorus roared in her ears , its melody and harmony once again filling her soul…
“Rin, aren’t you listening to me?” Lexi asked as she sat next to her. Rin suddenly realized that Lexi had been talking to her for some time now, and she had been completely unaware.
“Sorry” Rin replied. “What were you saying?”
“Where was your mind just now?” Lexi asked in a curious tone. “You were just sitting there transfixed on something, like you were really far away.”
“Sorry” Rin apologized again. “I was hearing this music.”
“You’re hearing music?” Watanabe asked, leaning forward from where he sat across the car from them. “Fascinating. What did it sound like?”
“Oh you know, just like the sounds of the train and the city, but with this other music transposed over it, like some kind of epic orchestral composition.”
“Wait” Lexi replied, turning to Watanabe. “Why the sudden interest?”
“No reason” Watanabe replied, leaning back and stretching his arms across the rails above the seats on either side of him.
“Why do I always feel like there are things you’re not telling us?” Lexi said pouting as she crossed her arms in disgust.
“So how long have you been hearing this music?” Watanabe asked.
“It came to me in a dream this morning, and I heard it briefly once before. But this is the first time I’ve heard it like this when I was awake” Rin explained.
“You must tell me more when we’re behind closed doors,” Watanabe said.
Lexi sighed loudly as she continued to pout. “Why can’t we ever talk about anything right now? We always have to wait.”
“Patience, Alexandra,” Watanabe replied. “There is a time and place for everything. Besides what you girls really need to be focusing your energies on right now is finding Markus.”
“Considering all that he has put us through, do we really want to find him?” Rin asked. “We might just be better off running away and making new lives for ourselves someplace else.”
“What about our mother?” Lexi asked suddenly. “You said my profile listed a Cassandra Halloran as my mother. Shouldn’t we be finding her to let her know we’re alive and well?”
“Clearly this Markus is a dangerous man,” Watanabe replied. “A man with his resources and the intentions he’s already displayed won’t give up so easily. Running away might solve your problems for the time being, but I guarantee you he’ll find you. As for your mother, it’s best not to go to her just yet. You wouldn’t want Markus to find her, and have him use her as leverage against you. Resolve your business with Markus first, then find your mother.”
“I… I suppose that makes sense” Rin replied.
Lexi said nothing. She just crossed her arms, and let out a “hmph!”
“Look, Alexandra,” Watanabe began, “I know you’re frustrated with me, and I understand why, but I really am trying to look out for your best interests. I didn’t ask you to trust me before, but now I am. Please, just follow my lead.”
“How can you expect us to trust you when we know so little about you?” Lexi asked in a tone dripping with accusation.
“What can I tell you that will calm your suspicions?” Watanabe replied patiently.
“How about let’s start with why you would help two completely random strangers?” Lexi shot back.
“How could I not? How could I stand by and watch as you girls were being turned into human weapons? As soon as I learned what was happening I knew I had to act.”
“You’re still not telling us anything,” Lexi replied stubbornly. “And until you play straight with us I will never trust you!”
Watanabe fell silent, and looked unflinchingly at Lexi as she glared back at him. And this sudden tension between them made Rin want to just shrink back into her seat and curl up into a little defensive ball. Mercifully, after a few moments, the train arrived at their stop, and they disembarked.
They returned to Watanabe’s safehouse without a word, and gathered in the living room.
“Okay” Watanabe began, as a holographic headshot of a blond-haired man with blue eyes, and a tattoo of a tear under his right eye appeared, slowly rotating above the coffee table.
“Peter Markus is a wealthy magnate with expansive assets in shipping, and contacts all around the world. One could say he benefits from relationships with friends in both high and low places. This puts him in a strategic place to help those friends by smuggling goods back and forth across borders. NAF, EU, Coalition, the third world, if you need something moved discreetly, he’s the go-to guy.”
“Doesn’t seem like the kind of guy who would dabble in genetic manipulation” Lexi replied.
“You may not be far off the mark there,” Watanabe replied. “Up until now, he’s shown no interest in genetic manipulation of any kind, what’s even more curious is that until 3 years ago, there was no Peter Markus at all.”
“What do you mean?” Lexi asked her brow furrowing.
“I mean exactly that. There’s documentation on file for him; birth certificates, licenses, everything appears legitimate, but then when you go back and you search the archives, all that documentation isn’t there.”
“So it was all added later?” Rin asked.
“Exactly,” Watanabe nodded. “Most likely Peter Markus is an alias this man is operating under; whatever his real name is.”
He hid it well, but Rin could see in his movements and mannerisms that Watanabe was really angry. Was he still upset about that confrontation with Lexi on the train? Or did this have something to do with this Markus fellow?
“Okay, so what aren’t you telling us about Markus?” Lexi prodded, crossing her arms again as if on queue.
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Watanabe sighed and shook his head. “This again? Alexandra, you are going to have to accept that there are things I just can’t tell you right now. If you not trusting me is the price I have to pay for that then so be it.”
“Why can’t you tell us?” Lexi shot back.
“Because I’m trying to protect you from the truth! The multiverse is a big, scary place. It’s kill or be killed, Eat or get eaten! I’m not answering your questions because you’re not ready to hear the answers to them. There are some things you are going to have to see with your own eyes first! Find Markus, and then we will talk.”
Definitely mad at Lexi, Rin confirmed to herself with a nod. But it did seem that there was something deeper, another irritant that was raising Watanabe’s ire, and causing his patience with Lexi to run short.
“How do we find him?” Lexi asked reluctantly after a long pause.
“He owns a nightclub here in town called Club Indigo. It’s run by an associate of his by the name of Tom Sullivan, or ‘Sully’ as he goes by locally.”
A second headshot of a bearded, dark-haired man appeared, scooting the headshot of Markus over so that they both rotated side-by-side.
“Sully is a trusted aid and Lieutenant. Squeeze Sully until he talks. Markus is not likely to be here in Chicago, but Sully should be able to tell you where to track him down.”
“So where is this club?” Lexi asked.
“In the New East Side. 10 East Randolph Street.”
“Then what are we waiting for?” Lexi asked, rising from the couch. “Let’s go!”
“Hold on Alexandra,” Watanabe said, extending the palm of his hand toward her. “Club Indigo is a nightclub. It doesn’t open until 9pm, and the fashionable don’t arrive until later. Rest now. Tonight we fight.”
*******
While Lexi settled in to catch up on her sleep, Rin went out on the rooftop of the building to listen.