Myth Gods Tech - Omnibus Edition: Science Fiction Meets Greek Mythology In The God Complex Universe (35 page)

Chapter
9

Uncle’s Report

Christos Foinos

I really
don’t know what to say. I have no idea what happened. Emma was
always a shy kid you know, not talking much, not messing around.
She even liked hanging around us grown-ups, she listened to our
conversations and kept quiet. It was always an issue with my
sister, “watch your language,” “don’t swear,” “mind what you say,”
I always had to be careful around the house cause Emma was sticking
around.

Yes, she
seemed to be on top of that microscope every waking hour from the
moment she got it. I remembered something about onion layers, that
they were thin enough to see by default, so we found an onion
together and played with the microscope. She was delighted to see
the cells so clearly.

It was
the last time she hugged me.

I missed
the next family event due to my work, I had to be out of town. My
sister called me and we spoke for hours. She was upset, she felt
something was happening to little Emma. She said they took away the
microscope, that she was hurting herself all the time. She was
studying her blood, that’s what she told her.

My
sister dragged her right away to a pedopsychiatrist, who did
nothing to help the situation. I admit I urged her to send her
there, it was only logical. I mean, the kid was basically cutting
herself.

The
doctor made a mess of the situation. He kept insisting to talk to
the kid alone, he was apparently convinced that she was abused and
wanted to “help her relieve the burden.”

The
burden was finally relieved when the kid told us grownups what we
wanted to hear, and accused her father of touching her
inappropriately.

I
couldn’t believe it. I still don’t believe it. I told Tina that it
couldn’t be true, that those doctors kept seeing things that
weren’t there but she was terrified. I told her to do nothing until
I came back, but I had one last meeting to go to so I was a day
late. By the time I came back from Athens my sister’s marriage was
ruined.

Chapter
10

The road
was mostly open. It was late, 3 a.m. I had cracked open a window
despite the chillness of the night air. Having a chain-smoker in
the car was not easy. I had curled a bit in my seat to doze off.
The radio was blasting loud teen-angry music.

“
If you wanna pee or something tell me, don’t be shy. It’s a
long way ahead, I’m driving slow.”

“
Nai, why not? Let’s stop at the next freeway
station.”

I dozed
off. Zoe poked me. I looked around and it was bright. The station’s
lights acted like a siren to all the sleepy/hungry/freezing
drivers.

The
toiled was exactly like I expected it to be. Three words: not clean
enough.

We sat
at the cafeteria and bought something to snack on.

“
Do I smell patsa?” I asked and curled my nose.

“
Nai, its on the special menu. That trucker guy who is staring
at my boobs took a nice big bowl,” Zoe said, not really minding her
volume.

Patsa
is… I’m not sure what it is. I do know that it’s traditional food,
it contains meat, or entrails, and it smells awful. Like, seep in
your pores awful. Common folk love it. People use to go eat some
after a night’s drinking. I guess it is supposed to make you feel
better or something, but I think you just vomit the whole thing
out.

“
So, have you ever been to Kilkis?” I asked, trying to occupy
my mind with something else.

“
Ohi, have you?”

“
Ohi. Thessaloniki yes, many times. I think there’s not really
much to see in Kilkis.”

“
We’ll see. It’s a small town, rural. It’s a hot zone for
rabies, we’ve had reported incidents in red fox vectors all around
the area.”

“
I see,” trying to look interested. I was tired. “So, what are
we gonna do once we get there?”

She
stacked the packets of cigarettes that she just bought in front of
her like making a castle. She liked the soft-package ones for some
reason. “We’ll interview the family, write everything down. Copy
the doctor’s report. Inform the doctor about the rabies infection
algorithm, we’ll leave some brochures and instructions on the
rabies shot. I think those guys have been informed already by Mr.
Epiktitos, but we’ll check. And we will educate the civilians in
the immediate area about rabies signs in animals, prevention, we’ll
post up a couple of posters in the city hall, things like
that.”

I stared
at her for a second. She actually did know what to do, to my
amazement. Her whole demeanour had me believing that Zoe had never
actually done a CDI’s job. “Sounds like a plan.” I processed her
words a bit more. “Hey, don’t tell me we’re gonna do shots to
people?”

She
pushed her little castle of nicotine with her finger and brought it
crumbling down. “Ohi, of course not. Vaccines are done at the
hospital. We just educate people, doctors and civilians. Generate
reports. Keeping the bureaucracy monster fed. Sometimes I think we
just work in order to have something to show for at our next budget
review. An endless cycle.”

She
began making her castle again.

Chapter
11

Reconstruction of Macro
Photography used by the victim

Video Transcript

ZV: You
are messing this up!

PN: Stop
shaking the table, this is delicate work.

ZV:
You’re dripping some water on your phone. How hard can it
be?

PN: Stop
shaking the table! I can’t stabilise my hands.

ZV: Just
throw it on the lens.

PN: It
needs to be a round drop, held by surface tension.

ZV: What
does this blogger know, he can’t even spell. He wrote “how dose it
work.”

PN: He
might not be a native English speaker. The instructions are good
enough.

ZV:
Stupid article. Isn’t there another?

PN: Stop
shaking the table!

ZV: All
right! Jeez… Touchy with our projects, aren’t we?

PN:
Wait… Got it. Now it says, turn the phone over…

ZV: Now
what’s your excuse.

PN:
Inexperience and shaky hands. I’ll try again.

ZV: Keep
the water drop on the phone lens. Don’t spill it.

PN:
That’s what I’m trying to do.

ZV:
Really? It seemed like you were trying to water that plant over
there.

PN:
Ghnn. Got it. Easy… Now gimme the blood slide.

ZV: I
don’t have it ready.

PN: Come
on, you took the blood slide duty, I took the water drop duty. It
is a clear and equal splitting of duties.

ZV: You
didn’t want to prick your finger.

PN: And
I didn’t want to prick my finger.

ZV:
Well, you sit still, don’t let the water drop and I’ll prick your
finger.

PN:
No!

ZV:
Haha, men and blood. Whatever. Wait a sec.

PN: Put
a tiny drop on the slide, spread it across and make it thin with
the needle.

ZV: Yes
Dexter…

PN: Then
put the glass over it, one side first.

ZV: I
know…

PN: And
then…

ZV: I
said I know!

PN:
Bring it here where there’s more light.

ZV:
Jeesh, a nine year-old can do this. Relax.

PN: OK.
Yeah, its blurry. Oh, here, that’s good I guess.

ZV: Just
take a bunch of pictures and we’ll sort it later.

PN:
That’s not very thorough, CDI Zoe.

ZV: Come
on, who cares? No-one’s gonna see this report anyway.

PN: I
just wanna do a proper and thorough investigation.

ZV: Why
did you have to be a historian? Couldn’t you have been a delivery
guy, like all the normal people?

PN: I
honestly have no clue why a deliv…

ZV:
Forget it. Take pictures. Thorough ones, quick as you
like.

PN: How
do I turn on flash?

ZV:
Here, press this.

PN: OK
got it.

ZV: Nai,
that’s looking good.

PN: Our
reconstruction shows that the victim could indeed carry on her
obsession with blood, even after her parents taking her microscope
away. It is of course nowhere near the magnification of a
specialised lens but we can see how she could carry on with these
makeshift tools.

ZV:
Seriously?

PN: The
video is on.

ZV: Are
you one of those guys that talk into a tape recorder all
day?

PN: We
are recording this!

ZV:
Moron. Here’s some more blood. Play with yourself.

PN: A
quick comparison shows that the images are similar to the hundreds
found in the victim’s phone memory. We can therefore conclude that
this was the method she used to carry on her obsession.

ZV:
-

PN: Zoe,
stop that.

Chapter
12

I was at
the wheel. Zoe had declared that she’d never let me drive her car
at first, but when the first light of dawn coloured up the
countryside, she caved.

She was
dozing of at the back seat. I could never actually get cosy back
there, but her smaller frame allowed her to find a relaxing angle
and snore quietly.

We were
nearing Thessaloniki, and I debated with myself against taking the
district freeway or cut through the city and see the
sights.

I
decided to detour through the city as it awakened. It was actually
taking us a few hours in the opposite direction, but traffic was
low and I could just breeze through the main roads.

Zoe woke
up and lit a cigarette before opening her eyes. “Did you miss the
turn?”

“
Ohi, I wanted to do a small detour.”

“
Cool. Lets get mpougatsa then.”

We
stopped at a place near the seaside and bought mpougatsa and
chocolate milk. It makes for a delicious breakfast that cures any
case of constipation you might have.

Then we
got lost.

Zoe took
the wheel, and we asked a taxi driver on how to get outta town and
to Kilkis. The taxis here are blue, but pimped up with electronics
just as well. The driver was kind enough to give us directions and
we were back on our way to our destination.

After an
hour or so of uphill climb we were at Kilkis. Yup, it was a small
town.

Turns
out it had two hotels to choose from, so we picked one at
random.

A boy
was at reception. He was playing a videogame.

“
Hello,” I said.

He
glanced at me and resumed killing zombies. “Mooommm! Customers.” he
said loudly.

“
Hey, you go to school right?”

He
nodded.

“
Do you know this girl, Emma Foinos? I suppose you were at
school together.”

“
Nai, I know her. Something happened to her,” he said but kept
on gunning things down.

“
Do you know what?”

“
The teachers said it was from mad dogs. They said to keep an
eye out for wild animals and not go near them.”

“
That’s right, I said. But what about before? Did you know her
before?”

The boy
shrugged like only kids know how. “She was a nerd.”

The
boy’s mother came up and smiled. “Hello there, nice to have
visitors this time of the year. One room or two?” She looked
alternatively at our faces.

“
Tw-”, I began to say and Zoe interrupted me.
“One.”

The
boy’s mother eyed me as if I was just another silly boy.

We took
the key and got comfortable upstairs.

“
Don’t get any ideas,” Zoe said while opening her bag and
taking out her stuff. “This is simply cheaper, I want to get left
with some cash out of this.” She took of her blouse and stayed with
a black t-shirt that was way too tight.

I raised
my hands in surrender. “No funny ideas. Promise.”

Zoe
picked up the hard plastic case we’ve been lugging around and laid
out the vaccines and leaflets. She saw me looking so she explained.
“These are rabies vaccines.” She picked up a couple of medical bags
of clear liquid. “These contain rabies serum. Think of it like
this, the vaccine is for prevention and treatment, the serum is the
heavy stuff, for treatment of a confirmed category III exposure.”
She gestured a rewind with her hand. “Lets back up. Category I
exposure is petting an infected animal, contact with saliva, feces
or urine but with intact skin. No scratches. It’s effectively a
non-exposure but you never know. Category II exposure is a scratch
or a bite, that does not bleed. Category III is the most severe,
the bite or the scratch that makes a wound and allows the virus to
get into the bloodstream, or contact of saliva, feces, urine or
brain matter with open wounds.”