Murder Genes (46 page)

"One, two, or three times.
 
So one, two, or three kills." Kyle stated.

"Yes."

"What if I need to kill more than three?"

"They we'll do whatever is necessary.
 
Most documented traumatic changes, again, only need a few incidents.
 
But," Andre shrugged, "I suppose it is possible you'll need a few more."

"Does it change anything since you're telling me to kill?"

Andre shook his head.
 
"Yes and no.
 
Yes, the test parameters are changed, so they could potentially change the results.
 
No, because our goal is only to prove that The Code can be developed in a human who didn't originally possess The Code anyway we can."

"I see.
 
So we could use the kids you've kidnapped underneath here?
 
In the simulated forest?"

"No kids.
 
I returned them after the shock phase of your original experiment.
 
It'd be better for you to pick and execute a target of your choosing anyway.
 
A real murder you might say."

Returned?
 
A 'real' murder?
 
I've real murdered before.
 
"Where'd you get the other kids?" Kyle asked him.
 
And why didn't you get in trouble?
It was something he hadn't understood, how in a world when murder was supposed to be impossible, so many had been killed without anyone saying anything to anybody.

"I told the government the truth.
 
There is a lot of money in genetic enhancement and alteration.
 
It is not uncommon for harsh treatment and traumatic experiences to be paired with experiments that may alter epigene expression nowadays, within limits.
 
But with overpopulation and exploratory science as a public motivation, my reputation and long list of scientific contributions were all I needed for achieving funding.
 
This last study just resulted in above mean tissue mortalities."

"But those other kids...what about their families?"

Andre didn't turn away from the screen like he was thinking about something else.
 
He answered offhandedly.
 
"No families.
 
We don't consider the kids you saw 'persons' by law since they were children that would have been aborted--but instead of abortion, their live tissue is donated to science.
 
Some are for stem cells and organ development experiments, others are for experiments just like mine.
 
Exploratory genetic modification experiments."

"Oh."
 
Kyle paused.
 
"What about that one kid that I killed, the older high school student who was friends with Ryant?"

Andre made a gesture like his hand was an idea that just exploded.
 
He spoke to the computer for a bit very quickly with a lot of big words.
 
Then he answered Kyle.
 
"Marke was declared missing.
 
His parents never found him."

"So the only real deaths were him, Del, and El."

"Yes.
 
We were very proud of keeping the true mortality numbers down."

So out of the kids Kyle had killed, only one had been 'real' enough to have a family that cared and to be declared missing.
 
"What was the experiment Del was in?" he asked.

Andre shrugged.
 
"Fake.
 
Del and El and Marke, the high schooler you killed, these other tests where we manipulated subjects were solely done to plausibly manipulate you.
 
They weren't involved in any actual testing."

It seemed so complex.
 
"So why haven't we released the results of my last test yet?" Kyle asked.

Andre spun in his chair and leaned back.
 
He grinned at Kyle.
 
"Because, my oh-so-curious
son
," Andre said.
 
The word stung bad as he said it.
 
Kyle grinned back as Andre continued.
 
"If we released the data prematurely before we complete this current experiment, the chances are that both of us would be thrown into jail and any future research would be cut off immediately on the grounds of ethics."

"What about your wife in Murderer City?
 
The longer we wait..."

Andre brushed it aside.
 
"It is better to have a complete study.
 
She's probably dead, anyway."

Andre didn't really care that much for her.
 
It'd been an act in front of his kids.
 
Kyle understood.
 
Science was more important than anything to Andre Mollinda.

"After this current experiment and after we release the results we'll still be thrown in jail though, won't we?" Kyle asked.

Andre nodded.
 
"The price of science, my son.
 
I don't mind being named alongside Nazi-era Scientists if it means the change that we both hope and dream for.
 
The amount of information and science we developed and retrieved from the Holocaust Medical Experiments changed the face of science and psychology from that day forward.
 
As horrible and inhumane as it was, it gave us data that any scientist would dream of discovering.
 
Just like Einstein and the Atomic Bomb, in extreme times there must be extreme science."

"I see."

Ten forty-five.
 
Ryant would be collapsed about now.
 
In his bed maybe.
 
Callie had been sent away with Leena.
 
They were staying with an "Aunt" who lived out-of-town.

Jess though, she would be downstairs.
 
She'd be cooking soon for her late night snack.
 
Like she always did.
 
Noodles and soup.

"Father," Kyle said.

Andre gave him a strange, then pleased look.
 
It was the first time Kyle had ever said it.

"How did so many people come to believe in The Code?
 
It seems like all the people--the smart people..." Kyle admitted, using flattery.
 
"These smart people I've known never believed in The Code."

Andre shrugged.
 
"It's no new science to trick masses of uneducated people.
 
Propaganda gives a target for people to hate.
 
Psychology and politics.
 
It happens in every generation.
 
Large populations of people are brainwashed into believing something hardly recognizable as truth to any other generation future or past.
 
The only new science in this field, which is still a decade old, is Viral Memetics.
 
Viral Memetics is a theory that ideas can be spread like a virus between people.
 
Viral Memetics brought several new concepts to the table, but ironic as it sounds--Viral Memetics never 'caught on.'"
 
Andre chuckled to himself.

"So, what you were doing to me during the first test.
 
You were using science to trick me?"

"Yes, essentially.
 
Psychology and science mixed and became one in the time that the Natural Scientific Method grew to prominence.
 
I manipulated you and tricked you, recording your responses on cameras that I placed around you.
 
I had to use everything I could, with as little intervention as possible, while acquiring as much data as possible.
 
It is a difficult balance to maintain."
 
Andre beamed.
 
"Jess was a brilliant actress.
 
Because of her, we were able to accomplish much more in subtle manipulation, and simultaneously acquire an even larger volume of data than we would have originally.
 
She is going to be an incredible scientist, able to playact so well that she'll be able to study her subjects more direct than most can, when she grows up.
 
Much better than Ryant, I have to say."

Kyle let the subject drop, pitching at Andre another question immediately.
 
"So the whole time before and while I'm thinking about killing people, and before I actually do it, and when I finally
do
do it, I have to wear all this stuff?"
 
Kyle opened his arms and pointed at the monitors under his shirt.

"Yes," Andre said.
 
"They will monitor many things that will make it clear that you've had the intent to kill, such as your heart rate and neurological activity through cortical mapping."
 
He gave Kyle a frown.
 
"You don't understand.
 
I'm sorry for the big words.
 
Do you remember those video games in the park, where you could think about things and the computer could interpret what you were trying to do?"

Kyle nodded.

"Good, you get it now.
 
It's like that."

"Can you tell what I'm thinking now?"

Andre slid back to the computer.
 
"No, not exactly.
 
Everyone processes information differently and nobody thinks in actual words, not most the time at least.
 
But we can pull up patterns that tell us..."
 
Andre paused, staring at the image of what looked like a brain with a lot of colors flashing.
 
"Are you thinking about killing already, Kyle?" he whispered.

Kyle nodded.

Andre stared at him.

"Don't worry, it's not you."
 
Kyle laughed, making fists.
 
His hands were shaking and he felt a bit giddy and just really happy.
 
Because the time was almost eleven, and at eleven o'clock, every night, Jess turned on the stove.
 
He'd stalled Andre long enough, and Jess wouldn't know not to turn on the stove because Kyle had disabled the alarms.
 
You could learn a lot from the internet.
 
"I'm glad we had this conversation," Kyle said, watching the clock.
 
"Thanks for coming down here and answering so many of my questions."

That was when it happened.
 
Right on the dot.

A massive explosion that made the ceiling shake and things fall and break around them.
 
There hadn't even been a scream, not like Kyle would have thought there would've been.
 
Just the explosion and the horrified look on Andre's face.

"Sacrifice for science, right?" Kyle asked innocently.
 
"That's one and two.
 
So I just have to kill just one more?"
 
This is for the others who died.
 
Real or not.
 
All those who died EXCEPT for Del.
 
You should be thankful, just two lives for many.

Andre gasped and clutched at his chest.
 
Then he tore out of the room, running and screaming.
 
"Jess!
 
Ryant!"
 
Over and over, he screamed their names.

It was wonderful.

Ashes, fire, debris.
 
Flashing lights.

The old Japanese house on top of a mountain had a big hole in it.
 
Kinda like a volcano.
 
No more gardens and serene silence, no calming streams, no more...anything.
 
Only sadness.

"Father and I were in the basement study," Kyle answered the policeman.
 
"There was a loud noise and shaking, and then I stayed behind while Father ran upstairs to see what happened."
 
Sure, the computer had recorded their entire conversation, recording his confession.
 
But for
science
, Andre would tell the police the very same story.
 
"That's all I know," Kyle said.

The policeman thanked him and Kyle went to where Andre sat, head bowed, red hair stained ash-black.
 
"I'm sorry for your loss," Kyle said to Andre.

Andre didn't lift his head, but a whisper emerged spitting anger.
 
"You're a monster."

"You made me," Kyle answered easily.

"Yes...I did."

Kyle sat by Andre, and put an arm on the man's back.
 
Kyle patted a few times, noticing how large the man's back seemed in comparison with his hand.
 
"Do I need one more, Father?
 
Or do I actually have to see it in person and see the person die for it to work?
 
What happens if two incidents occur at once?
 
Does this one count as a single traumatic incident or two?
 
Or none?"
 
Kyle paused, but only briefly.
 
"And did I destroy any important stuff?
 
I assumed that the important things would be down below, but did I ruin any of the cameras that were watching me?"
 
The cameras that you only check at the end of each day?
 
"I'm sorry I didn't tell you, but I didn't think you'd let me, and then you would have been influencing the experiment.
 
And that's bad for
science
."