The Susquehanna Virus Box Set

by Steve McEllistrem

  “Fight it, Kyler,” Curtik urged. “Don’t go to sleep.”

  Kyler blinked a few times, then closed her eyes again. Curtik continued to call her name as Hack’emup injected her with the substance Dr. Wellon had prepared.

  “Wake up, Kyler,” Curtik pleaded. “Come on. Wake up.”

  The unconscious girl took no notice. Would she slip away without a fight? How could she not battle to survive? Again Curtik struggled with the bonds that held him. “Goddammit! Let me out of here.” Phan shook his head almost imperceptibly; Shiloh ignored him. Even if Curtik were to somehow break free, nothing he did would save her. Killing, it appeared, was not the solution to every problem. For the first time in a long time, almost as far back as he could remember, Curtik felt afraid.

  Chapter Twenty

  Lendra paced in one of the infirmary’s exam rooms, waiting for Zora, telling herself that the walls weren’t closing in on her. This is not a coffin. Does she know about my claustrophobia? And does she know my true mission? Three small steps, turn around, three small steps—Lendra fingered the glass bulb containing her neo-dopamine. If she didn’t get out of this room soon, she’d have to take a dosage regardless of the risk to the baby.

  She’d had no opportunity yet to access Eli’s hidden program to accelerate devolution in the cadets. How was she supposed to activate the program when she couldn’t get near the encrypted system?

  A loud crash sounded through the walls, and an anguished cry that sounded familiar. Jeremiah?

  Lendra opened the door just as Rendela and Dr. Poole approached. Rendela grabbed her, pushing her down the tunnel toward a hospital room a few meters away. Inside the room, Damon lay on the bed, his hair completely white. Jeremiah sat in his wheelchair at the bedside, bent over and sobbing. A broken monitor lay on the floor.

  Lendra’s stomach dropped. She’d never heard Jeremiah cry before. She wanted to rush forward and hug him. But Rendela held her arm tightly.

  Damon lay unmoving. On the other side of the bed, Zora stood quietly, her eyes on Jeremiah, frowning. Something about her looked different today. She was still a beautiful young woman, but suddenly more mature. Dr. Wellon lifted the broken monitor off the floor and beckoned Dr. Poole over, whispering to her.

  Lendra looked from Rendela’s hand to Zora and said, “Please.”

  Zora nodded and Rendela released her arm. Yet, now free to embrace Jeremiah, Lendra hesitated. She knew Jeremiah was still angry with her, so she eased over to his side and tentatively placed a hand on his shoulder. God, she loved him! She couldn’t remember a time in her life when she’d felt like this toward another person, as if Jeremiah were both lover and son. She knew this protective feeling was likely hormonal in nature but she didn’t care.

  Jeremiah’s shoulders shook as he cried. He didn’t turn toward her, but he didn’t push her away either. She rubbed his back gently until he quieted and his shoulders stopped moving.

  Finally he said, “Everyone I love . . .” and placed his head in his hands.

  Lendra wanted to say that Damon wasn’t his son, though she knew that wouldn’t make it any better. He’d chosen Damon for his own, which only made Lendra love him more.

  Yes, she had betrayed him. But she’d done it for his good as much as hers. They deserved a chance to make a family together. And he would love her the way she loved him if they shared a child.

  Jeremiah straightened himself and took a deep breath, then looked across the bed at Zora. “I’m sorry,” he said. “I don’t know what got into me.”

  Zora said, “You really are the sweetest man, aren’t you.”

  “No, I’m not.” Jeremiah lifted his hands and studied them for a moment. “I guess I deserved that. I’ve killed enough people that I can’t complain when the ones I love die.”

  Rendela said, “What happened?”

  Dr. Wellon said, “Massive systemic failure—brain, heart and lung function all ceased at the same time, along with kidney, pancreas, thyroid and . . . a coordinated attack by the nanobots. We couldn’t stop it. I’m sorry, Jeremiah.”

  Rendela said, “Is this going to happen to Curtik too?”

  “Curtik?” Jeremiah said.

  Dr. Poole shrugged. “It looks like devolution has begun for him as well. He’s in the next bay.”

  Another cadet devolving! Lendra might not have to get into Dr. Poole’s system after all. Perhaps all the cadets would devolve—their nanotechnology attacking them faster than Eli expected.

  Zora glared at Lendra. “Why are you so happy, Witchy Poo?”

  “What? I’m not happy.”

  “You’re practically glowing.”

  Lendra dug her fingernails into her palms. She’d thought her face was a mask. How could Zora have read her so easily?

  Jeremiah twisted his head to look up at Lendra. “That’s why you were sent here, isn’t it? You were supposed to ensure that the cadets devolved.”

  Lendra went still with shock. Her face flushed. She marveled at Jeremiah’s intuition even as it frightened her. “How could you say that?”

  “Ooh,” Zora said. “Look, Rendela. See how angry Witchy Poo is? Think she’ll attack us?”

  Rendela aimed her Las-rifle at Lendra. “Please do.”

  Lendra eased behind Jeremiah, using him as a shield.

  Jeremiah shook his head. “Eli didn’t send you up here just for me. You’re his insurance policy. What did he tell you to do?”

  Lendra glanced over at Zora, noted the hatred on the young woman’s face, and grabbed the handles of Jeremiah’s wheelchair to keep from collapsing. She realized she was dead now if she didn’t do something. “Please,” she said, putting a hand on her stomach, “I’m carrying Jeremiah’s baby.”

  “Some computer program, no doubt,” Zora spoke quietly, the menace in her voice clear, “you being a computer genius and all. I’ll want the access codes to that program. Now.”

  “It’s hid—,” Lendra’s voice cracked. She cleared her throat and tried again: “It’s hidden in Dr. Poole’s system—an encrypted program designed to accelerate devolution to a childlike state in forty-eight hours. It wasn’t supposed to be lethal. At least, that’s what I was told. And I swear I wasn’t going to activate it.”

  Zora turned to Dr. Poole, who raised her hands and said, “I didn’t know anything about it, Zora. I promise. Otherwise, I could have activated it at any time.”

  Lendra said, “Eli knew she would think of you as her children, so he didn’t tell her about the failsafe. I was sent up here to initiate the devolution.”

  Dr. Poole’s eyes widened. Zora looked at Rendela for a long moment, neither of them saying a word, before turning to Jeremiah. “When are we going to die?”

  “I don’t know,” Jeremiah answered.

  “But we’re going to devolve.”

  Jeremiah shrugged, wincing as he did so. “Almost certainly.”

  Rendela scowled at Lendra.

  Would she fire? Will my daughter die right now?

  Jeremiah grabbed Lendra’s arm and pulled her down beside him, putting his body in the way. “You’re either behind schedule,” Jeremiah continued as if nothing had happened, “or matters have accelerated so that Eli needs you to devolve sooner that anticipated.” He turned to Dr. Poole. “You saw nothing in Curtik’s analyses to indicate that this might happen?”

  “No,” Dr. Poole replied. “Everything was normal the last time we looked. My guess is that stress accelerated both Damon and Curtik’s devolution. Their cortisol, GH and norepinephrine levels were extremely high. Damon was too sensitive. He caught every nuance. And Curtik expected to be in charge, so when Zora took control, he felt enormous pressure.”

  “You’re also under tremendous stress,” Jeremiah said to Zora. “So you have to take care of yourself. Let Rendela and Aspen help you. Above all, fight the urge to commit violence. If you were
programmed to devolve, then . . .”

  Zora nodded slowly. “With a little creative hacking, we might be able to reverse the process.”

  Rendela shivered and said, “I don’t want to die, Zora.”

  “You’re not going to die yet,” Zora said.

  “I’m going crazy,” Rendela said. “I need to kill someone.” She aimed her Las-rifle at Jeremiah.

  “Not him,” Zora said. “Are you crazy?”

  “Then Witchy Poo.”

  Lendra trembled as Rendela’s Las-rifle centered on her chest. In a blur of movement, Jeremiah launched himself out of his wheelchair. He hit Rendela’s stomach with his shoulder, grabbing the Las-rifle out of her hands as she fell back against the wall. They both cried out in pain as Jeremiah fell on top of her. She fought against him, punching him over and over. But he just absorbed the blows, holding the Las-rifle away from her. Dr. Poole and Dr. Wellon backed against the wall, while Lendra stayed crouched near the bed.

  “No more killing,” Jeremiah shouted. “No more killing!”

  Rendela stopped struggling as Zora took a step forward. When Zora held out her hand, he simply gave her the Las-rifle. What was he thinking? Or maybe, Lendra realized, he was far ahead of her. He couldn’t fight them all with a single Las-rifle. Whatever chance they had of survival, they now needed these cadets. Why hadn’t she thought of that?

  Zora lifted Jeremiah off Rendela and held him up while Wellon rolled the wheelchair over to them. As Jeremiah settled into the chair, he said, “Killing will only add to your stress levels. Believe me.”

  Zora handed the Las-rifle back to Rendela, who stood against the wall breathing heavily and rubbing her stomach. She aimed the Las-rifle at Lendra again. She said, “I gotta shoot somebody. I could just stun her.”

  “Please.” Dr. Poole raised her hands. “You have to control yourself.”

  “Why?” Rendela said, swinging her Las-rifle to cover Dr. Poole. “If we’re going to die anyway, why not kill you all now?”

  Dr. Poole backed up to Damon’s bed. Jeremiah rolled his wheelchair forward until Rendela turned her Las-rifle on him.

  “Zora,” Jeremiah said.

  When Zora focused on him, Jeremiah said, “What you’re feeling right now isn’t real. This anger was programmed into you—to be your default reaction to stress. But it’s not who you are. It’s something external. You can fight it. You just need to focus on other things—your friendship with each other, pleasant memories.”

  “We haven’t had a lot of happy times up here,” Zora said.

  “But you’ve had a few. You and Rendela are friends—and Aspen. Surely the three of you have some good memories. Like rescuing me from that crater. Didn’t it feel good to help someone else?”

  Zora shook her head and took a slow breath. “You keep surprising me. You should want to kill me. Why are you being so nice?”

  “You were created to become a weapon by a man who never saw you as a person, but as a tool to be bent to his will.”

  Zora sneered at Lendra. “And designed to break when we’d accomplished our mission.”

  Lendra shivered. She realized that her fear had kept her from thinking straight, whereas Jeremiah was playing it perfectly, getting Zora to trust him. The question now was whether Zora would let her live. Lendra had to find a way to make herself indispensable.

  “Eli has to be stopped,” Jeremiah said. “He probably showed you the old vids that he grew up watching—alien invaders, cyborgs with restricted life spans to prevent world domination. It all ties into his master plan of uniting the world into one force for good. But he twisted it so badly that it’s something unrecognizable.”

  “Well, at least you don’t have to worry about us blowing up the Earth. That’s not really an option anymore. Only one Las-cannon remains. The other two were destroyed.”

  “Perfect,” Jeremiah said. “One’s just enough.”

  Zora’s mouth twitched in what might have been a smile. “So,” she said, “this desire to kill you . . . or kiss you . . . is programmed?”

  What? Lendra thought. She wants to kiss him? The father of my child?

  Jeremiah smiled tentatively, that shy smile that drew women to him, and said, “If you want to kiss a man like me, it must have been programmed into you. Just mark that as another urge to avoid.”

  “I’ll try,” Zora said, with a hint of a smile. She looked down at Damon and the smile vanished as her jaw tightened.

  Jeremiah said, “The urges will probably get worse as the stress of our situation increases. I assume Curtik became uncontrollably violent like Damon?”

  “Not exactly like Damon,” Zora said. “But he definitely got aggressive.”

  “Which means any cadet who displays aggressive behavior should be monitored carefully.”

  Rendela scoffed.

  Jeremiah said, “You might not want to leave any of your people alone. I’d suggest you put everyone in pairs, if not in threesomes. Watching each other.”

  Zora looked at Rendela. “Spread the word. Everybody in twos and threes until further notice. And tell them why.”

  Rendela nodded as her eyes took on a glazed appearance. Obviously notifying her fellow cadets via implant.

  Zora turned to Dr. Poole and said, “Can you test us for devolution? Find out whether we’re likely to suffer the same fate as Damon?” She glanced down at the dead boy and touched his hand briefly.

  “I’ll try, Zora. But until the devolution begins, I may not be able to spot any anomalies. I suggest you examine Eli’s program to see if that holds any clues. And it would help if we can autopsy Damon.” She looked down at the body on the bed.

  “I can do that,” Dr. Wellon said. “I’m sure Quekri will agree. She’ll be here any moment.”

  Jeremiah and Zora looked at Damon, then stared at each other. They appeared equally distraught, having bonded over the dead boy. Lendra felt like hitting someone. And yet when she looked upon Jeremiah’s face and saw the loss there, a heavy sadness came over her.

  She put that thought aside and concentrated on Zora. How soon would she devolve? Zora was no Curtik. In this kind of stressful situation, if Curtik were in charge, he’d have attacked anything and anyone, strewing random destruction about him like a tornado until he devolved into an unreasoning animal—until his excesses destroyed him—whereas Zora just might have the emotional control necessary to survive.

  Dr. Poole said, “I’ll get started. I need another sample of your tissue. Rendela’s too. We’ll compare it to Curtik’s and Damon’s.”

  She opened a small case on the desk beside her, removed a collector pad and pressed it to Damon’s hand, obtaining a small quantity of cells. She did the same for Zora and Rendela.

  As Rendela escorted Dr. Poole out, Zora walked around the bed to Jeremiah’s side. She said, “Will you help us?”

  “If I can,” Jeremiah said. His focus on Zora, if anything, intensified. Lendra’s stomach lurched, whether from the growing baby or the scene before her, she couldn’t say. She felt an urge to reach out and grab Jeremiah, but she was afraid to draw Zora’s attention.

  So she only watched as Zora’s hand reached out tentatively toward Jeremiah, then withdrew. The bitch! Obviously she was sending subconscious signals to Jeremiah. But Zora’s sexuality had not yet awakened. Had it? Was Jeremiah being drawn to her even without that? And if her sexuality was awakening, could Jeremiah resist her? Could any man?

  Zora said, “What do we do now?”

  “We survive,” Jeremiah said.

  “We want that too,” Quekri said from the doorway as she stepped into the room, Quark trailing her. Lendra hadn’t heard either of them approach, they moved so silently.

  Zora turned to face her. “We need your help. We believe we’re going to devolve like Damon. Curtik has already shown signs of it. And we don’t have the scientific expertis
e to run every permutation, test every genetic possibility, to determine if it’s going to happen or how to stop it.”

  Dr. Wellon said, “If I autopsy Damon, I might get some answers into the systemic collapse of his organs.”

  Quekri nodded. She stepped over to the bed, looked down at Damon and said, “Damon, I remember you.”

  Quark and Dr. Wellon echoed her words, paying respect and saying a final goodbye.

  “Wellon will help you,” Quekri said, “but the rest of us are trying to prepare for our journey to Mars, which you promised we could undertake. And we need the rest of our team working on that.”

  “I’m sorry. But we can’t survive without you.”

  Quark stepped around Quekri, scowling, his body seeming to grow even more massive and threatening as he pointed at Zora. “You intend to force us?”

  Zora put out her palms in apology. “We have the Las-rifles.”

  Quark’s hands clenched into fists as he glared at the young woman. His body tensed, a coiled spring. Zora looked back at him—unarmed, unafraid. For a moment Lendra thought Quark was going to break her neck. She had no doubt he could do it, no matter how fast Zora was. A voice in the back of Lendra’s brain shouted to Quark to do it. Zora stared up at him with a look on her face that said she didn’t care whether she lived or died. She certainly made no move to escape. Was she calling in backup via her implant? Somehow Lendra doubted it. What a brave girl. What a dangerous rival.

  “Quark,” Jeremiah said.

  Quark glanced at Jeremiah, unclenched his hands and stepped back a pace.

  “We’re all in this together,” Jeremiah said. “We fight the rage too, Quark. Don’t forget that. These kids aren’t so different. They’ve been altered and programmed and made into what they are. They weren’t even given a choice like you were.”

  Quekri said to Zora: “Eli’s war will be here soon. You know that, don’t you?”

  Zora nodded. “Earth will try to destroy us. They’ll take out the entire lunar colony if they can. Don’t worry, we’ll get your ship ready in time.”