Shimmer

by Matthew Keith

Chapter 3

  Silas brought Alex directly to EMIT, the two of them riding together in the back seat of one of the company’s cars. Aside from the three brief sentences he’d spoken at the school, Silas maintained a silence so uncomfortable that Alex felt cowed into reticence himself. Silas had always been that way; quiet, withdrawn, aloof. His lack of conversation was not out of character. On the rare occasions that he actually spoke to Alex, it was in the least number of syllables possible. Normally, Alex didn’t care—in fact, he preferred it that way. Silas gave him the creeps and always had. The tall, pale man had a quiet voice that was silky, smooth, like a criminal from an old movie. In fact, there was something very old-fashioned about Silas in general. The clothes he wore, the way he moved, his manner of speech—all of it bespoke of an ancient soul trapped in a very dour, middle-aged exterior.

  Alex knew Silas would only provide information when he felt the time was right, so instead of trying to pry an explanation from his laconic escort, he continuously replayed the conversation he had had with his dad that morning. By the time they arrived at EMIT, Alex was convinced his father had known something bad might happen that day.

  EMIT’s headquarters was a modest, single-story, converted warehouse. It housed the main lab and all the administrative offices. The company owned other properties that were used strictly for testing, but most of them were empty parcels in the middle of nowhere—places where experiments could be done without fear of collateral damage. To Alex, their headquarters seemed inadequate for a company as massive and global in reach as EMIT, but his dad always scorned the thought of moving anywhere else.

  Alex could hear his father now: “This building is part of who we are. Our company’s culture, its memories—they were all made here and exist here still. We must always remember our roots, Alex, so that we remain grounded—even in the face of our successes.”

  Remain grounded in the face of our successes. It was a favorite saying for Dad, one that he used with almost every employee at EMIT. Alex had always found it odd. Like success was a bad thing, or something.

  His dad spoke like that a lot, constantly incorporating his philosophies and life lessons in his every-day conversations. Most of the time, for a teenager like Alex, it was annoying and repetitive. But right now, in light of what Silas had told him, Alex would be happy to listen to his dad preach for the rest of the day.

  As soon as the vehicle stopped moving, Silas got out of the car without so much as a glance in Alex’s direction and slammed the door closed. Alex flinched at the boom and abrupt silence left in its wake, alone for the first moment since hearing the news about his dad.

  Of all people, why would the company send Silas to come for him? Alex shuddered involuntarily. Silas may be an effective business manager, but he overwhelmingly possessed all the clichés of a classic horror movie villain. Pale, dark hair, quiet, a bit rude and condescending. It’s a good thing EMIT mostly handled government contracts, otherwise Alex could only imagine that Silas would scare away the clientele.

  Whatever had happened to his dad, it had to be pretty bad. They wouldn’t pull Alex out of school for something minor. Or… what if… no. Alex couldn’t even consider the alternative. They were at the lab, not a hospital or morgue, so at least there was that. It lent him a small measure of optimism.

  Still—all kinds of scenarios played through Alex’s mind.

  EMIT’s biggest current project was an ambitious undertaking, and one that could easily do harm to those working on its development. His father, as with all of EMIT’s large projects, had assigned himself Lead Researcher.

  EMIT was trying to perfect technology to beam non-lethal electricity through the air, much the same way radio or cellular signals work. If they succeeded and created modules for electronic devices to operate off those beams, the potential for everything to one day become wireless would become a reality. Not only that, and possibly most importantly, EMIT was developing collectors for stray electrical currents that went unused—depositories that would collect excess power and store it, to be redistributed and used again. Ultimately, there would never again be a single wasted watt.

  Their biggest issue was, and continued to be, the conversion of the electrical current from lethal to non-lethal. Electricity, in its traditional form, certainly could not be used. In that form, it needed a conductor to travel. EMIT’s goal was to find a way for it to travel through the air without harming anyone in its path. Dad and the rest of the researchers at EMIT were working on ways to alter its structure at a subatomic level, and then reconstruct it using the modules. It was exciting stuff, and definitely the most advanced technology they’d ever attempted to create, but also very dangerous. There’d been half a dozen small explosions in the past month alone.

  Alex took a deep breath and looked out the window. Silas was waiting rigidly at the front door, hands clasped behind his back. He met Alex’s eyes dispassionately.

  With a resigned grimace, Alex got out the car. He was stuck with Silas for now. Without him, Alex would only be able to get into the reception area in the front of the building. The rest was key-coded and bio-coded, and Alex didn’t have access. Even the administrative offices were on constant lock-down due to the sensitive data they contained.

  “Okay, what’s this all abou—” Silas didn’t even let Alex finish. As soon Alex was out of the car, Silas turned and entered the building. Alex had no choice but to follow or be locked out.

  Silas led the way to his office. He immediately closed the door, his words brusque and clipped, no-nonsense.

  “Alex,” he began without preamble, “you’ve spent a great deal of time at this lab with your father. Tell me what he was working on.”

  It was true that Alex had spent a lot of time in the lab with his father, but it had always been about quality father-son time, not about Alex actually getting involved with the research. He didn’t know the first thing about what his dad was working on except in the broadest of terms. Alex was a smart enough guy, but the things his dad did at EMIT were way over his head.

  And besides, he didn’t appreciate the way Silas was speaking to him.

  “I’m not telling you a damn thing until you tell me what happened,” Alex blustered. It was a bluff, but he didn’t like anyone telling him what to do. And it didn’t help that he didn’t like Silas in the first place.

  Silas narrowed his eyes, but didn’t answer. The silence in the room stretched on.

  “Besides the big one—the energy project—I really don’t know,” Alex finally replied truthfully. He frowned, grudgingly adding, “To my knowledge, that’s the only thing he’s working on right now.” He bit his bottom lip, thinking. “I’m pretty sure he’s close to a breakthrough.”

  Silas leaned forward, bird-like. “And why do you believe that? What did he tell you?”

  Uncomfortable with what was turning into more of an interrogation than a discussion, Alex went on the defensive. “I just know,” he replied indignantly. “I know my dad, I know how he is. Whenever anything big is about to happen, he always puts in stupid hours. He spends weeks barely getting any sleep. That’s why I’ve been here so much. I’d never see him, otherwise.” Alex frowned. “I want to know what this is about. What’s going on?”

  Silas regarded him like he was measuring his honesty, his eyes keen and calculating. Alex didn’t like it. “Did your father ever speak with you about teleportation technology?” he asked.

  “Sure,” Alex replied instantly. “He always said it was the driving principle behind the energy project. He said finding a way to emit non-lethal charged electrons was almost like finding a way to teleport matter. Sending those electrons away from their source was nearly the same thing, and he said he’d almost done it, but he still needed to find a way to bring back the unused ones so that the surplus energy didn’t get wasted.” Alex faltered for a moment, surprising himself at how much he knew. Maybe he’d been paying more attention than he thought. “He also said that if he could do that, he might be ab
le to pick up stray bits of other energy too, stuff like static cling, and store it. He said he’d be collecting energy that, in the past, had never been useable.”

  “That’s right,” Silas said impatiently, as if it didn’t matter. As if it was a boring, unimportant part of what they did at the lab. Alex was shocked—it was the project for EMIT. It was what the government was paying them for. It was the future. “But teleportation,” Silas pressed, “specifically, did he ever speak of it to you? Anything? Anything at all.”

  “No,” Alex answered, pulling back from Silas, feeling like even if his father had, maybe he shouldn’t mention it. Silas was making him extremely uncomfortable. “Mostly we talked about me, my day at school, that kind of thing.”

  Silas squinted at him again, and finally Alex was fed up. Something had happened to his dad, and Silas wasn’t telling him what it was. Silas worked for his family, not the other way around.

  “What the hell is going on?” he demanded, finally raising his voice. “What happened to my father? I want answers! Where is he?”

  “We don’t know,” Silas answered just as impatiently and dispassionately as he’d told him the rest. “He’s missing. And we need to find him. Did he ever speak to you about anyone else? Anyone who may have approached him regarding teleportation technology?”

  “What? No!” Alex’s heart dropped and his stomach clenched. His father was missing? A primal fear grew in his belly, and he began to get angry. Silas didn’t have the right to withhold information, especially not information as important as this! “What do you mean he’s missing?” Alex stood, aggressively clenching his fists. “How do you know? How long has he been gone? I just saw him this morning!”

  “Are you sure he never mentioned anything at all about teleportation?” Silas demanded.

  “Yes!” Alex yelled. “He only ever spoke to me about the government contract, but that was always in relation to the energy project.” This wasn’t happening again. It couldn’t be! “Tell me what happened!” Alex shouted.

  Silas turned away, staring toward the wall. He was deep in thought, infuriatingly calm. “You say you saw him this morning,” he murmured, still facing the wall. “Did he say or do anything out of the ordinary?”

  Alex wanted to scream. He wanted to shout and punch something or someone—preferably Silas—but forced himself to calm down. His father always told him that anger clouds judgment. Never make an important decision when you’re mad.

  Alex took a deep breath.

  Something wasn’t right. Yes, his dad was missing, but there was something more. Silas was acting far too calm in the face of a situation that could easily mean the end of EMIT. Alex’s dad was EMIT. Without him, everything would grind to a halt.

  Alex thought about how his father had hugged him and said goodbye. He’d felt his father’s tears when they hugged. At the time, he’d thought it was because Dad was thinking about Mom, but maybe it had been more than that.

  Had his father known something might happen?

  With a terrible, indefinable and stomach-clenching certainty, Alex knew he shouldn’t tell Silas anything else.

  “Nothing at all,” Alex finally answered in a tight voice. “Dad just told me to have a good day at school.”

  Silas turned back to face him. Alex sensed that Silas knew he’d pushed too hard.

  With a twist of his pale lips, Silas took a single sheet of paper from the top drawer of his desk and slid it across to Alex with long, bony fingers. Alex noticed for the first time that Silas had long, sharp fingernails. Long like a woman’s, but ragged, chipped, and a little dirty. He couldn’t take his eyes from them. The sight of them made him even more uneasy.

  “This is a document your father had prepared by EMIT’s legal staff and filed with the state of Utah. He had this done just after your mother went missing,” Silas told him. “It states that in the event anything should happen to him, you are to become my ward.” His eyes went cold and hard. “Since you are still a minor in the eyes of the law, you’ll be living with me until your father is found.”