Both variants came from Huai Li and Cohen’s life’s work. It had started out simply enough, with the modest goal of helping humanity develop the ability to regenerate tissue and organs ravaged by disease and aging. In their struggling university laboratory, they’d worked for years, trying to stay afloat. The first grant had been a godsend, and before long, a steady stream of funding from a little-known company, BioGenetics, brought their vision closer to reality. Soon, they outgrew their labs, and BioGenetics brought them onboard into their organization. Cohen and Huai Li signed over their patents and properties for more money than they’d ever dreamed of. They willingly gave up control because it meant progress toward their goals would be accelerated, and their vision might actually be realized in their lifetimes.
The most crucial property of Z180B had been Huai Li’s contribution to the work. Her synthetic DNA additive would equip soldiers with the ability to regenerate tissues and become self-healing in the event of an injury. In testing, the results had been impressive. Research subjects, mice, in the beginning, demonstrated resilience just short of immortality.
Their successes exceeded Huai Li and Cohen’s wildest fantasies. Life was good with six-figure salaries, base housing, and stocks. Their son Mendel was born. Then came the first of the requests.
The research team conducted a series of studies to determine how to destroy the test specimens. Eventually, dismembering the modified mice and burning the tissues to the point of ash was found to be the only way to eliminate a subject infected with Z180B.
That wasn’t acceptable. “Too labor-intensive,” Rhodes had said. “We need something more efficient.”
Efficient, as it turned out, meant controllable, beneficial to population maintenance for maximum productivity. Addressable and targetable for behavior control.
“Damn it, Smith!” Rhodes had thundered. “We need them to do and think what we tell them to. Nothing more, and nothing less. When we’re done with them, we need for them to die. Quick and easy.”
Biogenetics needed non-intrusive, weaponless control for expedience and low overhead. That was the day of the meeting. Her research was getting them there, but not fast enough and not without unplanned and uncontrolled side effects. That was the problem. That had been the meeting before the incident.
Cohen and Huai Li had sat in the conference room, surrounded by suits and high-level brass. “Are you insane? No, absolutely not,” Cohen shouted.
“Be sensible, Dr. Smith,” a commander said. “We have to have death, or no reproduction. Can’t have both. Since we can’t guarantee that accidents won’t happen, and some humans won’t be accidentally eliminated, we have to maintain reproductive capability. We want them to handle that nasty business themselves. I’m not paying for test-tube babies, and those Eutero2050 incubators take up too much room. I’ve already scrapped that idea. The human uterus is much more efficient, so we have to let them breed.” He shook his head. “Death is the only answer, so we may as well create a means of culling the population in ways that benefit productivity.”
Rhodes sat at the head of the table, taking in the comments, drumming his fingers against each other as the group debated the topic at hand. “The commander is right,” he concluded. “We can’t have uncontrolled reproduction coupled with immortality.” He pointed at Huai Li and Cohen. “Aren’t you science types all green and what not? We have to maintain the population at a manageable level to control for climate change.”
“I thought you didn’t believe in climate change,” Cohen snapped.
Rhodes glared at him. “No, I only said I didn’t believe in it. What I say and what I think are typically two different things.”
Huai Li’s grip tightened on Cohen’s hand beneath the table. This wasn’t anything they’d seen coming. “But that murder,” she insisted, her voice cracking with emotion. “Cannot do that.” Anger raged inside her, and she hated how difficult it was to express her thoughts with precision when she became upset.
“We’d hoped you’d willingly come on board with this,” the commander said.
“Sorry to disappoint you,” Cohen spat. “Huai Li and I are done. We’re leaving this place and all of you. We’ll see you in court.” He stood up and slammed his fists onto the table.
Rhodes was the first around the table to chuckle. The others joined in as Rhodes clicked a button on his cell phone.
That’s when Stewart entered the room and tackled Cohen to the floor.
“Gardez, Dr. Smith,” Rhodes called out, as the hulking guard pulled the scientist from the room, spawning a new wave of raucous laughter. Huai Li then faced the group of powerful men alone.
“You ever played chess?” Rhodes asked Huai Li, when the laughter abated.
The woman’s pulse throbbed so hard that it distorted her hearing. The noise and speech around her fluctuated in volume in rhythm with the blood surging in her veins. Sick with fear, her head began to swim.
“It’s a game,” he said. “You know that, right?’
She nodded, her mouth so dry she couldn’t speak, and her chest constricted with fear.
“I’m a master chess player. I’m sure you didn’t know that, but did you ever wonder how people become chess masters?” A wicked smile crawled across his lower lip, causing the walrus mustache to quiver. “You have to know all the angles and eliminate every potential negative outcome for yourself. You recalculate every move as you progress toward your goal. Ideally, you set traps your opponent won’t see until it’s too late. The game has taught me everything I needed to know about the business. All of this is business.”
Rhodes shifted his weight in his chair. The men in the room mumbled in agreement. “You’re going to help us, Huai Li, and you’re going to do your best work,” he continued. “And yes, I know you’re the real genius on the Drs. Smith team, so Cohen isn’t a loss to me. As the most powerful piece, you’re the queen in this game, and I had you in check before I called this meeting this morning.”
Huai Li couldn’t breathe as she listened to him through her distorted hearing. What the hell had he done?
“Mendel, you’ll find, is no longer in your housing unit with the sitter. He’s with a special caregiver now, at a location I won’t disclose until our work is finished. So, you see, you are powerless to do anything but comply.”
“You can’t kill an innocent child!” Huai Li screamed.
“Oh, I can, but I might not, at least not as long as you cooperate,” Rhodes snarled. “I’ll use him, just like I use every resource, to my advantage. Surely you know that. Now let’s go check your mate.”
Rhodes withdrew his Sig and escorted Huai Li to the safe zone operating theatre, where she found her husband had been chained to a table. A team of surgeons rushed about the room with the kind of efficiency and speed seen in an ER setting. They’d begun their work, and Cohen’s body lay motionless, already connected to monitors, IVs, and a respirator.
Huai Li staggered on her feet at the sight of him.
“The subject is ready for you, Dr. Smith,” one of the team announced.
Huai Li’s body shook as she moved to Cohen’s side. He’d been lightly tranquilized, but his eyes remained open. “Cohen!” she cried, lunging toward him.
Two men in scrubs grabbed her and held her in vice-like grips, while a third rushed forward with a syringe. “Not yet,” he cautioned. “You’ll need the vaccine first,” he said. “Since you’ll be working with our team on humans now, you can’t be too careful.” He stabbed the needle into Huai Li’s arm and injected the serum. “But don’t worry, we’ll brief you and bring you up to speed on our work.”
Huai Li shot a terrified glance at Rhodes.
“What?” Rhodes asked, his voice dripping with nonchalance. “Did you think yours was the only lab work in progress here? Welcome to the human subject division.”
The men released their hold on Huai Li and shoved her toward the operating table. She stumbled to her husband’s side. “Oh my God, Cohen!”
C
ohen’s body was already sedated and lying still on the operating table. They’d secured him with chains and restraints. An assistant was making final adjustments on his breathing apparatus. Huai Li felt a hot tear spill from her eye.
“I’m Dr. Oakley,” a man in scrubs announced. “We’ll be partners in this work.” He gestured toward a cart covered with surgical instruments. “Of course, you’re already familiar with all the genetic components we’re using, since they’re based on your research. You’ll just need to get up to speed on our human subject work.” He gave a nonchalant gesture, sweeping his arm around the room as if delivering a mundane college lecture. “We’ll start out taking unexposed tissue and blood samples. Then, we’ll introduce Z180A and continue to take samples every day for analysis. We’ll need tissues first, then gradually progress to the organs. I’m sure you’ll understand why it’s necessary to keep the subject alive as we take the samples. The Z180A has to be able to run its course as we work, for staged observations. A living specimen is necessary to approximate real-world conditions as much as possible.” The doctor removed a tool from the cart and offered it to Huai Li. “We’ve decided it’s best for you to do this work. You need to learn the procedures so you can perform them in my absence.”
A strange, tingling numbness fell about Huai Li’s shoulders and arms as she looked at the cranial drill in Oakley’s hand. Unable to move, she only stared at him, her jaw lax and motionless. They wanted her to perform vivisection on her husband! She felt her head shaking no, slowly at first, and then more emphatically as the nightmare engulfed her brain.
“You have to learn, as I did,” Dr. Oakley continued. “There are times I’ll need to leave the lab to help my wife, and you’ll be here working with Dr. White, so you have to know what to do. Didn’t Rhodes advise you of this? Mrs. Oakley is taking care of Mendel, and I need to bond with him, too, if we’re going to be his new parents. Don’t worry, though, my team will be here with you in case you have any doubts about your role. Take the drill, Dr. Smith. Mendel’s future depends on it.”
Huai Li’s brain processed the scene before her in fragmented bits as it tried to shut itself off, to not see or register the horrible thing they wanted her to do.
Hard, cold steel felt weighty in her grasp, as the buzz of a razor filled the room. Tufts of Cohen’s wavy black hair fell to the floor. The odor of Betadine wafted into the air as an assistant swabbed Cohen’s scalp. The high-pitched whir of the drill sounded loud, as Dr. Oakley flipped the switch and forced Huai Li to depress the control trigger. She felt Oakley pushing her arms forward and down. Somewhere in her consciousness, she resisted, and her arms locked to her sides. Her thoughts became a mangled collage of disconnected fragments as it shielded her from the horror taking place around her.
“She’s not going to be able to do this,” a disembodied voice said. “She might damage the sample.”
Someone cursed.
Huai Li felt a weight removed from her hands as her mind continued to numb itself. She went through the ordeal with her body in a self-induced state of hypnosis. Her eyes may have seen, but her brain was somewhere else, in a robotic state of disconnect.
A flurry of unrelated thoughts made rapid intrusions into Huai Li’s awareness. I didn’t wash my hands. Did I turn off the coffee maker before I left this morning? I could have majored in finance.
“We’ll need a good-sized core sample of the frontal lobe. Careful not to bruise the tissue,” Oakley’s words drifted about her like a cloud, and she wondered vaguely who that was and what they meant. Flashes of white lab coats flickered in her peripheral vision as the assistants followed Oakley’s orders.
I wonder if they took Mendel’s favorite books? He won’t be happy without something to read. It’s a bit warm in here.
As the gruesome team finished their work, the tissue specimen was placed in a sterile container and hurriedly taken away. “Always take tissue samples throughout the process. There’s a protocol, of course, and you’ll need to study that. The staff will prepare the anything you collect, for further research and application in our work,” Oakley explained. “Good job, Dr. Smith.” He clapped a hand across Huai Li’s back.
***
And so, began Huai Li’s nightmarish descent into the secret work of Rhodes’ organization. She went on to develop T1KT0K, a late phase serum additive for vaccinations that contained a technology so advanced that even she didn’t fully understand how it worked. T1KT0K, or “tick-tock,” as the team referred to it, had been given to all current military personnel, regardless of role, from privates to generals and admirals, in all branches of the military, without their knowledge or consent.
The additive had been developed, in part, under other departments, but when they’d reached a standstill in its progress, Rhodes determined it was time to hand the work over to Huai Li. “I know you can take this to the next level,” he’d told her. “We’ve developed the delivery system, but it lacks the addressability we need.”
Huai Li conducted the analysis and studied potential channels for forging a new substance, unlike any the world had seen.
It was a masterpiece of engineering that melded biological, chemical, and nanotechnology, into a living electrochemical substance, with the capability of installing itself into human DNA where it, like Rhodes, took advantage of all its surrounding resources to become self-sustaining. All for one simple purpose, to allow specific, addressable termination of any individual or group as needed.
Quite literally, with the simple activation of one line of code embedded deep in a secret computer in NORAD, a chain of satellite signals across the globe would be emitted, killing any specific one or more individuals who had been inoculated with tick-tock. It was so much more effective at controlling people than war ever could be. Even now, supplies were being manufactured for distribution within the civilian population. The additive would be provided to commercial vaccine makers world-wide. Biogenetics hadn’t even been required to pay for tick-tock’s initial development, as nonprofits and governments across the globe routinely clamored at the opportunity to get the latest vaccinations for the coming year. Léger de main.
Huai Li, who had unknowingly been the shining star of Biogenetics researchers, quickly eclipsed the genius of her mentor, Dr. White. Rhodes saw Huai Li’s promise, or perhaps usefulness was a better word. He began relying on her more and more, gradually phasing White out of the picture. Even he had not been privy to the accelerant gas she’d developed in secret, under Rhodes’ direct order.
The accelerant’s purpose was as a companion treatment for Z180B subjects during the initial phases of the population takeover. It would produce, in effect, zombies on steroids. It was still in late stages of experimentation and hadn’t yet been perfected on that fateful day the commander instructed Huai Li to use it. All of the previous test subjects had been destroyed…except one.
Harley Evans, the reason for Huai Li’s fall from grace.
Rhodes had severely punished Huai Li for her role in Harley’s escape, having his minions strip her of her credentials and licensure. Huai Li knew and understood fully that the only reason she was still alive was that Rhodes knew he might one day still need her for her brilliance. Huai Li only wished he hadn’t taken her out of the lab. It was all she knew, and her only source of power in this scenario. She couldn’t remain useful as a mere records clerk.
For now, Huai Li’s wings remained clipped, and here she sat, waiting for Rhodes to speak. Huai Li jumped at the sound of the door opening behind her. A hulking guard entered the office and secured the door behind him.
“Stewart,” Rhodes nodded.
“Sir,” the guard responded with a slight bow.
Sycophant. Huai Li wasn’t sure if her disgust with the guard was because of his sniveling servitude toward Rhodes, or whether he simply reminded her of the way she’d once kowtowed to the whims of BioGenetics. Early on, when Rhodes initially approached Huai Li with grant funding, she’d showed him this kind of respect. Now, if she
bowed at all, it was from fear. She knew, perhaps better than anyone, what this man really was.
The muscular guard moved to stand directly behind Huai Li, and she could feel his intimidating presence towering over her back. He was there to remind her of her place, what had happened to Cohen, and what would happen to her if she dared resist.
Rhodes turned to Huai Li. “What did I tell you about keeping your head down?” His voice remained calm, but still, Huai Li felt the shiver of his menace coursing through her veins. She knew what this man was capable of, and she had empowered him with her knowledge and research skills. In a manner, she’d taken the most demented man in the world and helped him become the most powerful.
“I know you think you’re being punished, but allowing you to fulfill a role here is a privilege.”
“I understand,” she said. “You were being kind.”
“No, you don’t mean that. I’m never kind,” Rhodes said. “Opportunistic is the word I think you were looking for.”
Huai Li focused on her feet. Playing these games with Rhodes was exhausting. She hated how he toyed with her, choosing to correct her over things that made no real difference. It was about control, not just physical, but mental. He reminded her at every opportunity that she lived in a cage without bars.
Rhodes gathered the papers that were strewn across his desk and put them in a pile, methodically straightening them with more care than was necessary. “What did you say to those people that upset them?”
“Sir, please let me explain first.” Huai Li’s voice squeaked. “I was asking them questions because I think they knew Harley Evans.”
“What if they did? Why would that matter? She’s not here, is she?” The mustache spread in a condescending smirk.
“No, sir, but the girl is calling herself by Harley’s name.”
The Viral Series (Book 2): Viral Storm Page 13