The Susquehanna Virus Box Set

by Steve McEllistrem

  Brosk caressed her arm with his fingers. When she looked up at him, he smiled at her and she settled her hand on his chest.

  “There you are,” Brosk said. “How long will you stay this time?” He arched an eyebrow and she wondered what kind of game he was playing. Did he know that they were conditioning him to love her? And was he actually falling for her or was she simply falling for him? Perhaps Sally2’s experiment had backfired.

  “You’ve been distant since you returned,” Brosk explained, “as if you’re not fully here.” He rubbed her arm gently. “Not that I mind the extra work it took to bring you into the present.”

  He glanced at the cameras before settling his gaze on her. What message was he sending? Did he know that she hated Sally2? Did he somehow glean that she was no longer a devotee? Maybe he was warning her to be careful.

  Perhaps, even though he no longer seemed to be resisting the controls, he still had some fight left in him. Sally23 hoped so. He radiated a calm assurance, a core of goodness and light so much better than human.

  Ultimately, it didn’t matter that she had developed feelings for him. After all, they would both be dead soon. On the muted screen, images of Indonesia and other parts of Southeast Asia played across the screen. Pakistan had become a haven for the virus, its porous borders making it easy prey. Brosk glanced at the monitor only occasionally, as if the world held little interest.

  “The programming of Brosk’s mind,” Sally2 spoke into Sally23’s ear bud, causing Sally23 to startle slightly, “has reached a critical juncture. We need to test a few commands.”

  “You okay?” Brosk asked her. “You’re a little jumpy.”

  “I’m fine,” Sally23 answered. “I just felt a shiver run up my spine.” She knew Sally2 couldn’t read her thoughts through the ear bud, but she wondered whether Sally2 had any idea just how much she hated her. Sally2 could monitor her pulse, blood pressure, even her emotions, but could she tell that Sally23’s rage was directed at her?

  “It’s getting cold in here. Perhaps we should get dressed.” Brosk slid out from the covers and quickly pulled on his shirt and pants. “Think we could go for a walk?”

  “Say yes,” Sally2 commanded.

  “All right,” Sally23 answered.

  “Do you think we could walk outside?” Brosk asked. “With all the controls they’ve implanted in my head, it would be impossible for me to run. And they can monitor everything I say just as well from outside as in here. Plus, I know your techs have figured out a way to nullify the CCTV surveillance system.”

  Sally23 smiled as she put on her slacks. Of course he would have intuited that. “They’ll tell me in a moment.”

  “It’s been so long since I’ve seen the sun.” Brosk bent down to put on his socks and shoes. When he straightened, he said, “The virus is bad in London too. Isn’t it?”

  Sally23 nodded as she thumbed the seam of her shirt.

  “When will we die?” Brosk asked, his voice carrying about as much emotion as if he were asking when dinner would be served.

  “I don’t know,” Sally23 answered.

  “Will it be painful?”

  “Probably.” Sally23 took Brosk’s hand and led him from the room.

  “Take him to Holland Park,” Sally2 spoke into her ear bud again. “Not the Orangery. Try the sculpture gardens.”

  “Okay,” Sally23 said as she led Brosk up empty stairs to the main level, which was also empty. “I just got permission to go outside. Let’s walk to the park.” She handed Brosk a jacket from a hook by the side of the door and let him help her on with her coat.

  When Brosk opened the door and they stepped outside, she took Brosk by the arm and said, “Let’s head toward Holland Park.”

  They walked along the quiet street. Many people kept indoors these days. And when they went out, they wore filtration masks. Two people up ahead spotted them and crossed to the other side of the street, no doubt hoping not to be contaminated. If not for the Las-cannon chill in the air, and the virus sucking the life out of every human on the planet, she might find it a pleasant day.

  “Why do you think they let us out?” Brosk asked.

  She looked up at his delicate face, into his eyes, immeasurably sad at the moment, and she felt a twinge of guilt. “It’s too late now,” she answered. “Even if we wanted to stop the virus, we probably couldn’t.”

  “So there’s really no antidote?”

  “Not that I know of. I take medication that delays the onset of the virus and keeps me alive, but it won’t work for much longer—a few more weeks or months at most before the virus overwhelms it.”

  “I find it hard to believe Sally2 hasn’t come up with one.”

  “You don’t believe we’re serious about wanting to rid the planet of people?”

  “I believe Sally2 wants most people dead—and all the men. But I don’t believe she wants to die.” Brosk stopped and stared into her eyes. “And I know you don’t.”

  Sally23 smiled. Then she tilted her head in the direction of the park and they walked on. “That’s the beauty of the virus,” she said. “We knew we’d have second thoughts about all this. We knew we might be weak—that when the final throes reached us, we might fight for life. But intellectually, we know what we’re doing is right. The planet needs us gone.”

  “So you set up an irreversible system, where death is inevitable?”

  “We didn’t do it lightly. But you’ve seen what humans have done to the planet. Extinctions. Pollution. Radiation. Earth is a toxic waste dump.”

  “If we’re all going to die anyway,” Brosk said, “why shouldn’t I kill you now?”

  Sally23 caught the hint of an ironic smile. So there was some fight left in Brosk after all. “You know they’re following us too, not just listening to everything we say.”

  “Of course,” Brosk replied, his voice now as chilled as the air. “But they couldn’t stop me from killing you.”

  He gripped Sally23’s arm tightly and her stomach twisted in fear. Was this part of Sally2’s plan, to see if Brosk would kill her and try to escape?

  Brosk laughed as he let go of her arm. “Don’t worry, munchkin. I recognize the futility of action. All I could do is hasten my death. Whatever Sally2 has planned for me, I think I’ll wait to see it. Unlike you people, I have no desire for the grand gesture of mass suicide. I’m not going to push the envelope.”

  “Thank you,” Sally23 said.

  “Besides, you’ve been hurt enough. How many people abused you? Was it just your father or were there others?”

  “How did you . . .”

  “It’s obvious . . . well, it is to me.” Brosk smiled sadly. “People are terrible. They do awful things to one another. They always have. But they’re also great. Selfless. The man you want to kill, for example—Jeremiah Jones. He’s a good man. He’s done many bad things and yet he’s still a good man.”

  They reached the park. Brosk stared up at the security camera by the entrance as they passed. Sally23 saw it as well. It should have been pointing away from them. Was that a mistake, or did Sally2 want their images captured? They began to stroll along a walking trail, past flowers that had shriveled in the cool air, their blooms faded, but not yet gone entirely.

  “It’s a losing battle, you know,” Brosk said, his voice calm.

  “What?”

  “Trying to eliminate humanity from the planet.”

  “How so?”

  “Life always finds a way. And we’re long past the age of the dinosaurs—creatures that didn’t know how to avoid extinction. Your Sally2 knows the truth, though she perhaps hides it from you.”

  “What truth is that?”

  “That some humans will live. Sally2 intends to be one of them. She’s been enhanced. You knew that, right?”

  “You said that before.”

  “Trust me,” Bro
sk said. “She’s one of the Escala she rails against. She’s got animal DNA mingled with her own, making her immune to the virus.”

  “He’s lying,” Sally2 spoke into Sally23’s ear bud. “He’s trying to manipulate you.”

  Sally23 shook her head, a reflex action, though she suspected Brosk was telling the truth.

  “He’s trying to divide and conquer.” Sally2’s voice carried an emotional strain that Sally23 had never heard before. She looked up into Brosk’s face, noted his utter sincerity as he gazed upon her.

  “You couldn’t possibly know that,” Sally23 said to Brosk.

  “I was trained to spot small signs, inconsistencies, indicators of truth and falsehood,” Brosk replied. “I admit I have no definitive proof. But it fits. Sally2, whatever else she is, is still human. She wants to live. She’ll have built a safeguard into the system, something to insure that she survives, along with her friends. I think she might be that doctor I knew about back in Washington.

  “Have you ever wondered how she ensures such a fanatical level of devotion and commitment to the movement? How many of you have been programmed to believe this is a good solution to our problems? Did she mess with your mind too?”

  She recalled early meetings with Sally2, when she’d been hooked up to a polygraph and questioned for several hours. Had that been more than a lie detector? Had Sally2 begun to condition her mind even then, to program her to want to die along with the rest of humanity? And if so, why was she questioning it now?

  “I can see your doubt,” Brosk said. “That’s honest. That’s real. So maybe she hasn’t conditioned you after all. But those other girls, and those techs, they believe everything she tells them. They’ve been engineered, just like those kids on the Moon last year. They don’t have any say in what they believe. You do. You get to choose. Think about that. You still have free will.”

  Sally2’s voice came stridently through the ear bud: “This experiment is over.”

  Sally23 stiffened and Brosk noticed. “She’s ordering you to go back now,” he said, “because she doesn’t want the truth out. I’m sorry to tell you this, because it puts you at risk now too. She may have to kill you sooner than she planned. Or she may force you to undergo conditioning. But you should know what’s really going on.”

  “Return to base,” Sally2 said.

  Brosk stopped moving. His eyes glazed over. He would have fallen if Sally23 hadn’t grabbed his arm. Sally2 must have remotely activated a block of Brosk’s motor functions.

  “They’ll be coming for us soon,” Brosk said, his face contorting in pain.

  Her ear bud crackled slightly, then went silent. Her legs wobbled. She spotted a bench and tugged Brosk over to it, somehow managing to keep him from toppling over. Settling him onto the seat and slumping down beside him, she drew her jacket in close against the cold.

  “Munchkin,” Brosk said, “she’ll try to convince you I’ve lied. Or she may kill you. I’m sorry. I didn’t lie. I just want you to know that.”

  They came from every direction—eight of them—all carrying disguised weapons down by their sides, none of them wearing masks. Andre, the head of security, walked at the point. He looked almost crazed, his eyes bugged out, his chest heaving. He’d brought his entire security team—Jarrod, Ron, Marcus, Sinda, Paul, David and Heather. The husband and wife team of Marcus and Sinda smiled at her. They’d always been friendly. The two new recruits, David and Heather, brought up the rear. Jarrod, Ron and Paul—similar-looking hard cases with crew cuts, angular faces and multiple tattoos on their thick necks—glared at her as if daring her to run. She made no effort to move. Neither did Brosk.

  Where was there to run to?

  Sally23 beckoned them over, her mind racing. If Sally2 had in fact programmed her and ordered her to succumb to the conditioning again, would she acquiesce? Or would she just force Sally2 to kill her?

  As the guards reached them, Andre put out his free hand and lifted an unresisting Brosk to his feet, saying, “That’s enough exercise for now.”

  No one spoke on the way back. Andre pulled Brosk along, the CINTEP agent’s legs stiff, his arms rigid against his sides. Sally23 walked beside Brosk. She held his arm—to steady him or herself?—but he no longer seemed to know she was there.

  When they reached base, Sally2 stood inside the door, arms folded across her chest, her foot tapping against the floor. She glared at Sally23. “Why didn’t you return to base?”

  Sally23 let go of Brosk’s arm. “What was I supposed to do, drag him back? Besides, I’m not your slave,” she said, anger bubbling up inside. “You preach that we’re all equals in the Sally Movement, that the chain of command is just for efficiency’s sake.” She studied Sally2, noted the way she stood, the tension in her body, the stillness—almost animalistic. Or was that simply Sally23 projecting onto her? She said, “Did Brosk speak the truth?”

  Sally2 maintained eye contact. “Of course not.”

  “So you’re not one of those pseudos?”

  Sally2’s eyes shivered. She shook her head. “I can see why Brosk is so dangerous,” she said, leaning forward, her hands clenching. “You don’t trust me, do you?”

  “I’ve never trusted you,” Sally23 answered, “or any human being. That’s why we need to go.”

  Sally2 relaxed slightly.

  “And if you conditioned me somehow, I won’t let you do it again. You’ll have to accept me as I am.”

  Sally2 nodded. “Of course.” She gestured off to the side and led Sally23 away from the others.

  “You’re not like the rest of these people. I need you thinking clearly. I know you’re angry with me, but that’s okay.”

  Sally23 said, “Things aren’t progressing the way you promised they would. Indonesia hasn’t been completely destroyed. Jakarta still has millions left alive. It doesn’t seem like the virus has hit any country that hard yet.”

  “We’re approaching the tipping point,” Sally2 said. “Have you seen the news lately? There’s been a fourfold increase in the numbers of deaths in Europe and Asia, and almost as much growth in the death rate in North America. Only South America and Africa are lagging behind at the moment. Patience. We’re almost there.” She called over to Andre. “Take Brosk to my lab.” Then she returned her gaze to Sally23.

  Sally23 stared back. She felt no fear. On the walk back, she realized that Brosk had used the only weapon left in his arsenal—his words, his truth. And she now realized the only means she had to carry out any resistance was to be Sally23 on the surface, no matter what her thoughts. She smiled.

  A small frown of confusion crossed Sally2’s face. “Get packed. Be ready to leave at a moment’s notice. I’m expecting company before the end of the day.”

  “CINTEP?”

  Sally2 bowed her head, acknowledging Sally23’s guess.

  “When I saw the security camera at the park,” Sally23 said, “I realized what you were doing. CINTEP will spot the vid of Brosk.”

  “And they’ll send Jeremiah Jones to check it out.”

  “What if they send the Army instead?”

  Sally2 smiled. “You don’t know these people like I do. They’ll send Jones. They still think they can win.”

  Perhaps they can, Sally23 thought as she turned away. And then another thought hit her. Could Brosk have threatened to kill her as a way of protecting her? She didn’t trust Sally2, but with Brosk it was all a bit unclear. He may have been trying to sow discontent, but he may also have been trying to help her. It was too bad she couldn’t get him alone somewhere to talk, to find out if he could help her in some way, if he was even willing to help her. The only thing she knew for certain was that she was now completely alone. Whatever she did, she couldn’t rely on anyone’s help.

  Chapter 13

  Curtik fidgeted in his seat as the purple-haired bio-technician carefully fitted the neo-skin mask over his fac
e. He listened to the Crystal Skull Bangers via his implant. Here at the edge of space he could see the Moon out the window. He wished he were back there. For a moment he felt fear. Strange how he hadn’t been afraid when he was piloting the LTV to Earth through a horde of missiles, when Rendela had sacrificed herself and her shipmates to save him—well, to save Zora.

  “Sit still,” the technician said.

  “How much longer?” he asked, shifting again to try to get comfortable. His hips and back ached.

  She sighed. “Your bone structure is the same as your father’s, so it will only take a few more minutes.”

  “No, I meant how long till we get to London?”

  “Half an hour,” Zora answered as she and Ned Jefferson came into view from behind him.

  Curtik stared at her. She looked like an old woman, with dark chocolate skin and heavy wrinkles. She could be Jefferson’s wife . . . or mother. He laughed at her, stopping almost immediately as his chest tightened up on him. “God,” he said, “it even hurts to laugh without the painkillers.”

  “Jeremiah has it a lot worse,” Zora answered. “We only got infected with one strain. And we have nanobots to assist with healing.”

  Jefferson shook his head. “You didn’t have to stop taking the pain meds.”

  “If he could do it,” Curtik said, “I can do it. Besides, I have to see what it’s like so I can act like I’m in pain during the operation. I’ve never experienced anything like this before. I don’t think I like it. Hey, after we’re done with the operation, can we go see the Crystal Skull Bangers?”

  “What are they, a British band?”

  “Oh, they’re wicked, Neddy. The best.”

  “We’ve got more important things to worry about,” Jefferson replied. “You want me to give you a pain pad now?”

  “In a minute. Just gimme a little longer to get acclimated to what it’s like.”

  “Okay. Let me know. Meanwhile, Lendra will be calling soon and we still don’t have a plan.”