by Jamie Davis
There were still a few investigative reporters working the story and occasionally they put out articles and news reports. They never seemed to amount to anything though and the authorities mostly ignored them.
Cass kept her mouth shut and didn’t say anything. If she had let out even a hint that pointed at her presence there, that was all her father and Mr. Cantwell would need to make the link to Shelby.
Cass had to finish dinner and get back to her room so she could access the hacked port through the firewall to contact Shelby and warn her. This all seemed to indicate their dinner guest was closer to solving this mystery than he let on. His mere presence here pointed to it.
Cass’s mother changed the subject, asking Simon about how things were with some of the people they both knew at the national Sapiens Movement headquarters. The conversation shifted away from the video, for which Cass was thankful. Her mind raced through possible ways she could contact Shelby before the dinner was over, but she didn’t want to get caught accessing her implant and sending a message while she was supposed to be paying attention at the table. She hadn’t quite mastered doing two things at once like that yet.
As soon as dinner was over, Cass glanced at her mother. “May I be excused, please?”
“After you help clear the dishes and fill the dishwasher. Then you’re welcome to do whatever you want as usual. You know the rules.”
Cass stood and started clearing her plate and silverware first.
Simon stood as well and picked up his plate and glass. “Let me help. I don’t get to do regular chores in a hotel room and I’d like to help out in exchange for this wonderful meal, Faye. Cassie, you don’t mind if I help you clear the table and clean up a little bit, do you?”
“No, of course not. Help yourself.”
Cass headed into the kitchen, setting her plate and glass in the sink before returning to the dining room to clear the rest of the dishes. Her mom corralled Elena to help out getting dessert together. It consisted of an apple pie and vanilla ice cream. The two of them worked in another part of the kitchen while Cass started rinsing the plates and putting them in the dishwasher.
Simon had taken off his sport coat and joined her at the sink. Reaching into the double-sided sink on Cass’s side and pulling out one of the plates, he ran it under the faucet to rinse it off and handed it to her. After the first one, he stopped for a moment and unbuttoned his shirt sleeve, rolling it up to keep it from getting wet. He picked up another plate to rinse it and Cass froze. There, on the inside of his arm, was a black tattoo of a clenched fist inside a circle.
All the memories flooded back to her at once and she realized where she’d heard Simon Cantwell’s voice before. He wore the tattoo of the Sapiens First terrorist organization and he was the voice she’d recorded on that stage during the rally. Simon had killed Eric and all the others in cold blood and Cass had the video in her implant to prove it.
Chapter 12
Cass’s mind raced. She stood inches away from a cold-blooded killer. Her hands started shaking and she accidentally banged one of the ceramic plates against the side of the sink, chipping it.
“Damn.”
Her mom turned around at the counter behind her. “What did you do?”
“I lost my grip on one of the plates, Mom. I’m sorry. I chipped the edge.”
Simon turned around, holding his wet hands away from his shirt. “It’s not her fault, Faye, I think I bumped her elbow when she was reaching for it.”
“Accidents happen. Try to be more careful next time, Cass.”
“Yes, Mom.” Cass glanced to her side at Simon. He smiled down at her as he handed her another plate. Something about his grin unsettled her and it took her a moment before she realized what it was. The smile was genuine enough, but it didn’t extend into his eyes at all. They appeared deadly serious, drilling into her as if staring through her to the depths of her soul.
Cass forced herself to return his gaze and took the plate from him. She turned away to place the plate in the dishwasher. She was almost finished. Just a few more dishes and she could retreat to her room and reach out to Shelby.
“Cass, I hope you don’t run off once you’re done cleaning up here,” Simon said. “I’d really like to pick your brain about your experiences at the University. Your father tells me you met some fascinating and diverse people there.”
It was no secret to whom he was referring. Simon had to know who Shelby was and she’d be willing to bet he’d made the connection to Eric, too.
A bitter chill replaced Cass’s momentary fear as she answered. “Oh, I did. I’m sure it’s nothing more unusual than what you’ve encountered in your travels, Mr. Cantwell. I don’t think I would have anything to say that would be of interest to you.”
“Oh, I don’t know about that. I think you have all sorts of interesting things you’d be able to tell me.”
“Simon is one of our best investigators, Cassie,” Her dad said from the doorway to the dining room. “He’s one of the leaders in helping us defend the movement from those that would slander us in the media. He makes it his business to know all about those people who might not see things the way we see them. That includes those from our movement who might have come in contact with them.”
Simon smiled and nodded. “We don’t need to beat around the bush, do we, Cass? I know it’s an open secret among your parents and their friends here in the enclave. Your father already told me about your roommate. It must’ve been fascinating living in such close proximity to a s…” Simon stopped himself short of saying “Sub.” He continued right away without missing a beat. “Let’s use friendlier words right now and call her a cyber human.”
Cass shot her father an angry glare. How could he have shared that with this man? “I am close friends with my roommate who does happen to have a few cyber enhancements, if that’s what you’re referring to, Mr. Cantwell. However, I really don’t think there’s anything you could learn from me that you haven’t already learned in your travels.”
Cass’s mom turned around, holding the pie plate in one hand and a serving knife in the other. “I think we should all sit down and have dessert. You, too, Cassie. Perhaps this is enough talk about any subs.”
Cass wanted to both shout at her mother for referring to Shelby that way, and thank her for trying to change the subject. It was even stranger when her mother glanced at her and gave Cass a bit of a smile, before she turned and carried the plate with the pie into the dining room. Elena glanced at Cass and shrugged before following her mother with the ice cream and scoop. Cass didn’t want to remain behind to receive any more questions. She darted around the island countertop in the middle of the kitchen and into the dining room beyond.
The conversation shifted to general talk of sightseeing trips Simon had taken in his travels. Thankfully, they didn’t revisit anything about Shelby during dessert, for which Cass was thankful.
She knew, however, it was only a matter of time before it came up again. She was more certain than ever that Simon had somehow connected Shelby to the video. Of course, it made sense. Her brother was one of the people in it.
Even though Simon was the one who put forth the cover story used to explain away the video, Cass knew he was aware of the truth. He also had the most significant reason to cover it up.
Cass sat back down at the dining room table and waited for her mother to serve up a slice of pie. Her father scooped a nice sized dip of ice cream on top of her slice and passed her the plate. Cass dug in immediately, staring down at the dessert as she ate, so as not to make eye contact with anyone else, especially Simon Cantwell.
After a bit of awkward silence, her mom asked their guest, “Simon, where are you staying?”
“I’ve got a place at one of the hotels by the airport.”
“That’s no good, right James? Why don’t you stay here with us? You’re probably tired of seeing the inside of nothing but hotel rooms with the way you travel around so much. We have a spare bedroom. That way you
could have another home cooked meal for breakfast before you have to head back to the airport.”
Simon smiled and nodded. “You know what, I’ve enjoyed spending time with your family so much, I think that’s a great idea. Are you okay with that, James?”
“Far be it from me to get in the way of my wife’s hospitality, Simon. If she says you’re staying, you’re staying.”
“Well, good. I have a layover for a couple of days and some work to get done. I don’t suppose I could ask for a corner of that spare table and an extra chair in your office?”
Her dad offered a broad smile. “Of course, you can. You won’t get in my way and we can talk about some things that we’ve needed to get done. This beats having a video conference anytime.”
Cass kept eating. She wasn’t paying attention to how fast she ate, though. Suddenly, Cass realized she’d started on the way to a monster brain freeze from eating the ice cream too fast. She winced and squinted at the sharp pain behind her eyes, especially the cybernetic one. It was worse because it seemed to travel straight into her implant. The pain caused her to gasp.
Her mom looked over at her. “Cass, honey, what is it?”
Cass put her hands to her head and rubbed at her temples. “Ugh, brain freeze.”
Elena laughed out loud. “Serves you right, the way you were shoveling that food in. I can’t believe all the food you’ve been eating lately, Cass. You are going to get fat if you keep doing that.”
Cass lifted her head, trying to wait the brain freeze out as she squinted at her sister. “You let me worry about what I’m eating.”
“She’s right, Elena.” Her mom shook an admonishing finger at her youngest daughter. “I think Cass has done a great job with eating while away at school. It doesn’t look like she’s gained the typical freshman fifteen at all. Considering how all her friends looked when they came back from campus, I think that’s an accomplishment.”
Cass smiled at her mom’s comment. The brain freeze headache started to fade. Gaining weight at school wasn’t an issue for her. That was one advantage to having cybernetic implants that ran off of the body’s blood sugar supply. She didn’t know many cyber humans who were overweight.
Cass slid her chair back from the table. “Mom, can I be excused? I think I need to lay down until this headache goes away.”
“Of course, dear. We’ll clean-up for you. I hope you feel better?”
Cass got up. “I will. Thanks, Mom.” Cass left the table. She made sure not to glance in Simon’s direction as she walked into the hallway.
Running up the stairs once she was out of sight, Cass turned the corner in the upstairs hall towards her room. As soon as she was inside, she shut the door and headed for the bed. She needed to get in touch with Shelby right away. The brain freeze headache had provided the perfect excuse for her getting away from the table and the awkward discussion about the events at the rally and the viral video.
Cass started to send the message without thinking to check the protocol one file to make sure the firewall hadn’t updated after dinner. She realized her error too late as the text started to go out.
In an instant, there was a flurry of alarms inside her head. The protocol one file opened on its own and began running in the background. She noticed it and then saw the warning message coming across her visual field right next to it.
Emergency disconnection protocol in place.
Firewall counter-penetration activity detected.
Recommendation: Remain off-line until the update is completed.
Cass cursed. How was she supposed to warn Shelby if her implant was now flagged by the firewall because she hadn’t been paying attention? Cass watched the protocol one file running in the background. Its icon flashed a glowing neon red as the status bar took much longer to cycle through its process this time around. Clearly, she’d triggered some kind of security response and now was paying the price for it.
Cass disconnected everything she could, but the access point used by the protocol one hacking system, and sat back in bed. What was she going to do? She had to warn Shelby somehow.
Cass went over and tried her tablet from school. Unfortunately, it was tied to her implant now. Shelby had helped her hack that system back at school so she could still use it to study in tandem with her enhancements. The device had her identifier code in it. While the code was anonymous, it was the same as her implant and now the tablet was unable to make the connection outside the enclave either.
There had to be a way to get past all of this. She had to work around it somehow.
Cass got up and paced around her room, pondering the problem, when there was a tap at her door.
“Who is it?”
“It’s me, Sis.”
Cass sighed. “Come in.”
“What’s wrong, Cass?” Elena nodded at the tablet on the desktop, its screen displaying a non-connection icon. “Are you going to try to call Shelby?”
“Yeah, but my tablet’s updating and I can’t get it to access anything outside the firewall.” An idea popped into Cass’s head. “Do you think I could use your tablet to call her?”
Elena smiled. “Of course, but you have to let me say hi.”
“You can if you want.” Cass rubbed the side of her head, trying to make the remainder of the headache go away. As she did, Elena gasped.
“Cassie, what’s wrong with your face?”
Cass froze, her hand flattening against the side of her cheek, feeling the place where the skin patch that covered her implant had lifted away where she’d been rubbing at her head.
“Oh, it’s nothing. Just a scab. I’ve got a bruise there I bumped into something this morning. I put some makeup on it until it fades.” Cass tried to turn away as her sister came closer, leaning in towards her face.
“Cassie, that’s not a scab. I saw something shiny.” Elena’s hand covered her mouth. “Oh my God, Cass. You’ve got an implant.”
Elena started to turn for the door.
Cass ran past her and closed it, standing with her back to the entrance so that Elena couldn’t leave. “Elena, you have to understand what happened. I was in a horrible accident and when I woke up, the doctors used it to fix what was wrong with me. I didn’t do it on purpose. I swear.”
“I can’t believe this. You’re a sub, now, just like Shelby.”
“Don’t call me that. Don’t call any of us that. I just told you, I didn’t do it on purpose. It was done to me by doctors to save my life. I’m still your sister. I’m still me, see? There’s nothing different.”
There was a long pause as the two sisters stared at each other. For a second, Cass feared her sister might scream or call out or something. Her mind whirled through possible ways she could keep her sister quiet until she could get away.
Elena reached up towards Cass’s face with her fingertips. “Can I see you?”
“What? You just saw.”
“Please, Cassie?”
Cass reached up and pressed at the magnetized points where the skin patch attached to her face. The edges lifted up from the nearly perfect seam it made with her actual skin. As she peeled the flap of synthetic skin away and took her hand from the side of her face, Elena gasped again.
“Whoa, Cass, that is so weird. Did it hurt when you got it?”
Cass shrugged. “I was unconscious. I don’t remember. I woke up in the hospital, after I was in a bad jet ski accident on my fall break trip to the Caribbean. The doctors down there on the island said my brain was so badly injured that this was the only way they could save my life.”
“So, you don’t have superpowers or anything like that?”
Cass shook her head. “Nope, just the implant there, oh, and my eye and ear, too.”
Elena took a step forward, leaning in closer. “Your eye? But it looks just like your real eye. You’re messing with me.”
“No, I’m not. Keep watching my right eye and I’ll prove it to you.”
Cass concentrated, activating a decorative f
eature built into her ocular implant. She never used it in public. As Cass enabled the function, the iris of her eye changed color and glowed with a deep blue around her pupil.
“Oh, my God, you’re right. You’ve got a fake eye. Can you see out of it?”
Cass smiled. “Of course, I can. It’s actually better than my real eye was. I can see things and even zoom in to things far away. I can also see in the dark without having any lights on.”
Elena went back to studying the metal implant in the side of Cass’s face. Her fingers probed gently around her sister’s cheek. “What are you going to do when Mom and Dad find out?”
“They’re not going to find out, Elena. I’m not telling them and neither are you.”
“You’re not going to be able to hide it from them forever, Cassie. Eventually, they’ll find out about it. They figure out everything we try to get away with.” Elena paused, as she went back to studying her sister’s face. “Hey, how did you get into the enclave in the first place? Aren’t they supposed to keep anyone with cybernetic implants out?”
Cass shrugged. “Actually, I used a friend of Shelby’s to help me find a guy who could get through the firewall. He wrote a program to help me and installed it so that I could fool the system while I was staying here.”
Elena snapped her fingers. “Wait a minute. You’re the reason Cadence’s father is pulling his hair out. She’s been telling me how he’s been running around trying to figure out who’s been hacking into the enclave’s system every day. Every time he updates something, the system gets hacked again and he doesn’t know how it’s happening.”
Cass didn’t say anything. She realized she’d already said too much. “Look, Elena, I just wanna talk to Shelby.” She gestured at her face. “And I need you to keep this a secret just between you and me, okay?”
Elena smiled. “Don’t worry. Your secret is safe with me. I want to hear more about what you can do, though. You haven’t even told me about your super ear.”