It was a lot to take in all at once, but then Dr. Lazenbee stepped in front of us. Now, this was an impressive woman. Almost as big around as tall, and probably approaching two meters in height, she was Mr. Harutyunyan’s equal in size. Everything about her was larger than life: a huge cascade of auburn curls rolling down, dazzling blue eyes practically bugging out of her face, and bright red lips. She was in constant motion and compulsively chomping on little squares of some kind of snack she carried in a clear bag.
“Well, look at this little guy, isn’t he cute, Annika? You’re you, right? Superboy? I heard you can, what, levitate or something? Death rays out of your eyes? No? Come on, relax. I’m just putting you on. You can do some magic stuff, though, can’t you? Disappear, stuff like that? Annika, can he talk? Aww, settle down, I’m just having a little fun. I’m Leslie Lazenbee, but you can call me the famous Dr. Lazenbee. Hello, is this an audience or an oil painting? Come in, I will turn you into a fish. That’s what you want, right?”
4
DIRECTOR’S NOTES
CONVERSATION WITH SRB
121251 03:15
DIRECTOR’S NOTE TO TRANSCRIPT A.I.: We will continue with the practice of using coded initials to identify the members of the LFP to maintain anonymity.
-Is anyone aside from our team monitoring the father? The Chinese, Russians, anyone else?
-Everyone with the capability is monitoring him. Even the French, Indians, and what’s left of MI-6 have snoops nearby.
-Any of them in Nevada?
-Not that we can tell. Looks like they all still think he’s headed to Florida.
-And the four soldiers the Bright Hand released?
-There’s been a bit of a change since last report. As you know, they had them sequestered in San Diego, but somehow one of them escaped. Apparently vanished into thin air.
-Which one? Come on, you know I’ll want details. Don’t make me ask.
-Sorry. The name is… let’s see… David Concannon. And before you ask, get this: he has family in Nevada. Just outside Vegas. And yes, the Americans are watching, expecting him to turn up there at some point.
-Interesting. He may just do our work for us. Any wagers on who has him now?
-Can there be any doubt?
-And who was it who had the foresight to set them up to do our work for us?
-…
-You’re right, that was a bit cocky. Can you have someone rustle up a little late-night snack?
-I’ll get right on it.
****
I t seemed for a moment that none of us knew what to say or how to react to Dr. Lazenbee. She folded her arms across her considerable chest and giggled in a surprising, girlish way. “I know, right? Kind of a lot to take in all at once. Here, get a good look, fellas. And girls too, if you’re into that.”
She extended her arms straight out and twirled around, and I noticed that, although she was huge, she was also muscular. At the end of her spin she held her pose for a moment before saying, “All right, come on, I’m just putting you guys on. Come over here, Shorty, I don’t bite. Not unless you want me to.”
For some reason, out of all the things she said, I found her calling me Shorty funny, so I laughed, just a little, and that set everyone else off.
“Well, it’s about time. I was working up a sweat over here,” roared Dr. Lazenbee as she turned and waved for us to follow. She reached into her bag and continued to munch on the square snacks as she strode to a workstation on the far side of the clear tank. As we hustled past, the people in the tank with the weird devices on their face waved, and we returned the gesture.
When we reached the work station, Benji stepped forward and said, “Now, Les, seems you know a little ‘bout us, but what about you, then? Our boyo here, Shorty, as you called ‘im, is gettin’ ready for some serious business and we need your help, but not if it’s all a big joke. No offense.”
She stared at Benji for a long moment and said, “Dr. Walker, I presume? I know all about you. Not to fluff up your skirt too much, but you’re my biggest hero. Well, you and Dr. Taylor, Shorty’s dad. I know how you try to stay out of the limelight, I know you disappeared for five years, I know your genius work on drawing on free energy sources no one else has been able to tap, perfecting small-scale thorium reactors, all of it. How do I know? Because aside from obvious physical differences, you and I are just the same. OCD in the extreme. You keep yours on the down low, and mine is out in the open for everyone to see, but it’s the same. There’s no way either of us could have done all this stuff otherwise, am I right? Of course, I’m right. You want to know about me? Well, let’s see… I like candlelight dinners, long walks on the beach, and puppies. My turn-offs are mean people and… that’s it, just mean people. Look, I can’t resist joking, ok? If you really want to know, you might remember a little thing called the Olympics. Remember them, before everything went to crap? I was a swimmer, I was in the Olympics, set a world-record in the hundred-meter breaststroke. ‘Ha ha, she said breast.’ I know. I was good. Why? Because I combined natural ability with severe compulsion, just like you. What happened? I injured myself in a diving accident, and that was the end of my career in aquatics, so I turned my compulsion to science.
“I know what happened to Shorty’s dad, too. I joke, but it’s not a joke to me. Dr. Bhat filled me in. You’ll get the best I have to offer, and more. We have to get Dr. Taylor back. If I can help, that would be the pinnacle of my career, I’d say. But look, I’m tiring of talking about me. Why don’t you guys talk about me for a while? All right, that’s an old joke, but it’s a classic. Of course, I know Chi; hi, Chi, but what about the rest of you?”
Benji introduced everyone, and when he got to Mr. Harutyunyan, Dr. Lazenbee interrupted. “Have a look at this guy, will ya? He’s even bigger than me, and I didn’t think that was possible. Do you have any bones, or did your muscles eat them all up?”
Mr. Harutyunyan’s face turned bright red, and Ms. Houng socked him in the arm.
“Aww, come on, just joking. Not about the muscles, though. Anyway, I hear Shorty’s going to Brazil, and it’s still a wild place, so what I have could come in handy.” Then she launched into an extended description of her device and how she was able to get it to work efficiently enough to be useful, with everyone asking questions as she progressed. When she finished, she called, “Annika! Get suited up and take Shorty with you. He’s going in the tank.”
I turned to Cheri and she shrugged her shoulders, then to Benji, and he said, “You good with a little swim, mate?”
I covered my mouth and whispered, “Ava…”
“You might want to ask me before you commit to stuff, you know. Suppose being underwater compromised your system? It won’t, but still… we’ll have to evacuate some gas first, otherwise we’ll have difficulty staying under. Then, let’s give them a little show. It’ll put Leslie Lazenbee in her place.”
“Whoa, that almost sounded like… I don’t know, jealousy, maybe?”
“Oh, please, don’t be ridiculous. I’m an A.I., remember? I’m not capable of jealousy.”
“Okay, if you say so.”
“I just did.”
Not even any metaphors? I think she is jealous… I wonder if my brain and hers are mixing more, somehow, and she’s becoming more, I don’t know… human, I guess… as the cells get replaced, maybe… I’ll have to ask her when I have time…
“Um… Dr. Lazenbee, I need to use the restroom first.”
“So, you can speak! Is that your super power, or are there even more wonders to come?”
“Well, after I use the restroom, I’ll show you a few things.”
“Oh, I can’t wait. It’s right through there. Annika, show Shorty to the john!”
As I walked away, I heard Benji say, “I tell ya what, Les, you’re my kinda Sheila. Ya fancy a little brekky with ol’ Benji?”
Dr. Lazenbee snorted with laughter and said, “You know who was the last person to call me Les? Well, no one has ever called m
e that… wait, this is a first. Are you asking me out on a date?”
“I reckon it’s a mite hard to call it a date in this bloody cavern, but why not, eh?”
After giggling from the rest of the group and an extended pause, Dr. Lazenbee said, “Oh, what the hell.”
5
DIRECTOR’S NOTES
CONVERSATION WITH SVC
121251 11:27
-Is the father in place yet?
-Just arrived. They flew him in. That seemed a bit risky to me.
-And we’re sure it’s him? Not a body double or other trickery?
-We have video if you’d like to see it.
-That won’t prove anything, you know that.
-Our man is there, in the room. We’re not going to get any better proof than that.
-And we’re sure of our man’s… compliance? We can’t take any undue chances with the father.
-We have his fam…
-No! I don’t want to know. Spare me the unpleasantness and just guarantee me we are as on target as we can be. Why are you always so literal?
-…
-Never mind. Isn’t it time for lunch?
****
I t took me about a minute in the restroom to get rid of my gas, and I turned on the water and flushed the toilet to cover the noise, but I was sure everyone in the area could still hear the weird whistling. Hopefully, they could not smell it, though, or they would be in for an even worse surprise. Annika gave me a bathing suit to wear, but it was a little too big, so I had to tie it up with my shoe string. Most of my group had seen me in my underwear before, and Cheri even saw my bare bottom, so I didn’t think much of it, but when they started giggling when I came out, I didn’t understand and got a little frustrated.
“Oh, don’t get mad, Lucas,” Cheri snickered. “It’s just that those shorts could probably fit Mardig. It just looks funny.”
I couldn’t see why it was so funny, so I waited for them to stop.
“Well, come on, droopy drawers. Time to get wet,” said Dr. Lazenbee. “But first, let’s get this little beauty on you.”
She was holding one of the artificial gill units, and on the inside, there was a tube with a mouthpiece, two plugs to go in the nostrils, straps around the back to hold it on the head, a small integrated face mask, and a tube about a meter-long curving around behind it. “Batteries power this baby, and motion partially recharges them. You can stay under for about ninety minutes; there’ll be a blip on the mask when the batteries are getting low. Benji tells me you can hold your breath for fifteen minutes. Is that true, or is he pulling my leg?”
I glanced at Benji before remembering that pulling someone’s leg was a saying and not something you really do. “Um, yes, I can hold my breath that long. Probably longer, that’s just the longest I’ve tried to hold it.”
“Okay, so talking is your super-power number one, and holding your breath is super-power number two. I can’t wait for super-power number three. It’ll probably be something great like being good about brushing your teeth.”
What is she talking about? That’s not a super-power… oh, boy…
“Okay, so this should seem fairly obvious, but this part goes in your mouth, these in your nose, and you must breathe in through the mouth and out through the nose. You’ll feel the impeller pulling water in from your right; you’ll get used to it. To separate out enough oxygen from the water for a person to breathe, we have to run a lot of water through there, and it’ll create lots of waste gasses, which make bubbles. That’s what the tube is for. It shunts the leftover gasses away from the face so you can still see. Because of how great your breath-holding super-power is, you should be able to stay under for maybe three hours before needing to recharge. Here’s a dumb question that I should have asked first: can you swim?”
“I haven’t been swimming in about five years, but back then I could swim okay.”
Dr. Lazenbee had a weird look on her face, but Benji said, “It’s a long story. Don’t worry. He’ll be fine, I reckon.”
“Okay, but if I have to dive in there and pull him out, I’m holding you responsible. Ready, Shorty?”
I nodded, and Annika pushed a ladder up to the side of the tank. I pulled the artificial gill unit on, but before going up the ladder, Cheri grabbed my arm and whispered, “Why don’t you show her another of your super-powers.”
I stared at her, and she motioned with her head. Oh, she means jump in from down here… good idea…
“Getta loada this, Les,” said Benji, who was now standing next to Dr. Lazenbee and giving me a thumbs-up. She was a whole head taller and probably double his size in every other way too.
I flexed my knees and sprung up and over the clear wall of the tank, did three forward somersaults on the way, and landed in the middle of the water. The three other swimmers in the tank, who had been watching as I jumped, scattered as I landed, then clapped and nodded vigorously while still submerged; Dr. Lazenbee grabbed Benji by the arm and shouted, “OhmyGawd! Forget teeth brushing. That was super-power number three! Why didn’t you tell me he could do that?”
Annika stood at the top of the ladder, her eyes wide and mouth open, and the rest of our group clapped and whistled.
Benji was bent over laughing at Dr. Lazenbee’s reaction. “Trust me, Les, he’s a beauty. You ain’t seen nothin’.”
“Let’s see how fast you can swim,” Cheri cried.
Let’s see… it really has been a long time… nothing to it, though, it’s just like riding a bike… wait, can I ride a bike? Oh, boy…
I tried to whisper to Ava, but it was almost impossible to talk with the mouthpiece in, and all I could get out was “Awa…”
“Don’t worry, Submarine Boy, you’re fine. Let’s make some waves.”
Who’s Submarine Boy? Oh, I get it… I’m not sure I get it…
I started with just one lap around the huge tank, which took me about thirty seconds. I was finding it easy to breathe through the artificial gills, but I was holding my breath for the most part, and when I completed the lap, I stopped underwater in front of Dr. Lazenbee as a wave made by my swimming splashed over the side. Her hands were on her head and her eyes were bugging out; Annika was still standing at the top of the ladder and didn’t seem to know what to do. The two dolphins had taken notice of me as I swam and were now next to me chattering in their high-pitched squeaks.
Her hands still on her head, Dr. Lazenbee roared. “Okay, that was faster than I could have gone in my prime, and I was a world-record holder. I’m out of jokes at the moment.”
Benji put his hand on her elbow and said, “Ya look like yer still in yer prime, ya want my opinion.”
She glanced down at him and said, “Oh, settle down, Romeo. Wait, a minute… Shorty’s looking back and forth at us as we talk. Can he hear us out here?”
Mr. Harutyunyan stepped forward. “Lucas has many special abilities. Isn’t that right, Minh?”
“Oh, yeah, he hear us all right, no problem. Right, Lucas?” said Ms. Houng, waving at me. I nodded my head and gave them a thumbs-up.
Dr. Lazenbee turned to Benji. “Nano-tech? How’d you do it? Doesn’t seem possible.”
“Aww, we all helped, but it was mostly John, his daddy. He pulled all the parts together, made some major breakthroughs, and saved ‘is boy. He’s all of our boy, I reckon.”
Dr. Lazenbee grabbed Benji by both arms. “Look, I told you I’d help you, but I want in. All the way. We all know what’ll happen to his dad if he stays where he is. The Americans will use him up and toss him away and feel totally justified. I work for the Bright Hand and I’m happy to do it, but they don’t own me. This is a higher purpose. I don’t have any special talents with nano-tech, but I’m an engineer, and I can help. This guy over here, the one I’ve been disrespectfully calling Shorty? That’s… he’s… its evolution in fast forward, right? Look, even the dolphins can see it.”
I turned to find both of the dolphins just above my head, watching me, and I swear it seemed
like they were smiling.
Benji winked at me, or at least I think he did, patted Dr. Lazenbee on the arm, and, gazing up at her, said, “Now, slow down, Les. We’ve been a tight little family for a while now, and can’t just let people in on a whim, eh? You’ll need to know what you’re really gettin’ into, and we need to know what we’re gettin’ too, I reckon. Now, about that brekky…”
6
DIRECTOR’S NOTES
CONVERSATION WITH SVC
121251 17:05
-How much longer? Haven’t we seen enough? This isn’t some… what did they used to call that crap? Reality TV? You know what I mean. It all feels ickily voyeuristic, doesn’t it?
-You know better than anyone the tactical error we made. We weren’t careful enough with the dad, and now here we are. We overestimated our influence over the Americans and underestimated their lust for power. It would take us twenty years to backwards engineer what he and his team has done, and that’s best case, and if we scrapped every Bright Hand project and had them all working on it.
-Well, thank you very much for restating the blatantly obvious. You really couldn’t tell that my questions were rhetorical? So, in the meantime, we just sit here and wait for the kid to kill himself and ruin that precious tech? The tech we are hoping to rely on to save us all from absolute, certain death? I mean, no big deal, it’s just going to allow you and me and the rest of the LFP to effectively live forever, that’s all. If we’re allowing him to go on these death-defying missions for our entertainment, why don’t we just cut to the chase and send him after the father?
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