The Face of Earth (8 page)

The first man shook his head and smiled. “Just think, with the technology Agnar sold us, we could have the key to immortality. The Lazarus League would be a force to be reckoned with, not just in this country, but all over the world.”

The lust for power gleamed in the second man’s eyes. “We could be gods.”

The first man laughed. “Well, maybe not gods, but at least kings.”

They concluded their examination and called to the man who had lifted her out of the coffin. “Take her to the tower,” one of them ordered. He nodded and lifted Karina into his arms, carrying her up the spiral hallway and into the foyer of the metal building. He exited and crossed the street to the opposite building.

Karina stared up in astonishment at the passing cars. They didn’t have wheels, and hovered several meters above the street. The man carrying her passed safely underneath them as they sped over him. She shook her head to clear it, wondering if she was hallucinating. She looked up again, but the cars were still there.

They entered the building and he walked to the elevator. A guard standing next to it pushed the button for him. The doors opened and he carried Karina inside. The guard leaned in and pushed the button for the top floor, pulling out just before the doors closed. The elevator sped to the top of the building. When they exited, Karina found herself back in her tower prison. Everything was exactly as it had been when she left it. The man deposited her on the bed and went over to the kitchen. She lay awake for awhile, watching the ceiling spin. Then she fell asleep.

When Karina awoke she was ravenous. Her head felt clear for the first time in ages. The smell of roasting meat filled the room and Karina’s mouth watered. She sat up, swinging her legs over the side of the bed. She looked around the bay, but the man who had brought her here was gone. She stood up and went to the kitchen. Opening the oven, she found a roast inside. The pan was warm, but not too hot to remove with her bare hands. She lifted it out, taking it over to the table.

Impatient to feed her gnawing hunger, she ignored the plate and utensils set out on the table and ripped off a chunk of meat with her hands, eating like an animal. Finishing that, she tore into the rest, devouring the entire roast. Feeling a bit better, she went to the fridge in search of something to drink. A pint of milk sat on the top shelf. She guzzled it right from the jug, finishing it in minutes. She set the empty jug back in the fridge and closed the door. After such a large meal, she felt tired again, but this time it was a comfortable feeling and not the exhaustion of a drug. She went back to her bed and climbed in, curling herself around a pillow before falling into a deep sleep.

Karina dreamt that she was wandering through a snowstorm. The white flakes blinded her, and she could see only a few feet in front of her. The hairs on her neck raised at the feeling of being watched. She peered through the storm but couldn’t see anyone. She kept walking, looking for shelter as her fingers and toes numbed. Each step became more difficult as her body froze. Putting one leg in front of the other became a burden, and all she wanted to do was lie down and sleep. But she stubbornly kept going until her muscles finally refused to obey her. She fell face first onto the ice, her frozen blood stalling in her veins, her heart stopping. The watchers observed and took notes. Then she was falling through the ice into a freezing lake. Lower and lower she sank, breathing frigid water into her lungs. She tried to call out to her watchers for help, but they just stared and whispered among themselves.

Karina sat up in bed, coughing. Her arms felt cold and she rubbed them. The late afternoon sun shone in through the tall windows. Karina got out of bed and went into the kitchen area for a drink. She helped herself to a glass of water, and as she drank from the glass, she felt the hairs on her neck rise. She was being watched. She turned and found a man she didn’t recognize sitting on the couch contemplating her. He smiled reassuringly.

“Karina,” he stated, as if he knew her.

“Who are you?” she asked suspiciously.

“I’m Daniel White.” Karina said nothing, eyeing him warily. “I’m the new leader of the Lazarus League,” he continued.

Karina finished drinking her water. “Is that supposed to impress me?”

Daniel laughed. “No. But I was looking forward to meeting you.”

“Why?”

“Because I was hoping you would impress me. And you have.”

“Really,” Karina answered sarcastically. “How so?”

“We knew your body survived the procedure, but we didn’t know how well your mind would. From your attitude toward me, I would guess that you are no different than you were on the day you were cryogenically frozen.”

Karina’s eyes grew wide in horror. “What?”

Daniel examined his nails indifferently. “Oh, didn’t you realize you were our guinea pig for cryonics?”

“You deliberately froze me?”

“No, don’t be silly. We didn’t freeze you so much as rapidly lowered your body temperature to the point where your body functions slowed enough to put you into a stasis period.” He looked up at her and grinned. “And might I add that you look wonderful for your age.”

Karina stared at him a moment longer before rushing into the bathroom and looking into the mirror. She examined her face carefully. It looked the same as the last time she had seen it. She walked out of the bathroom and back to the living area. “What do you mean by that?” she demanded.

Daniel intertwined his fingers and set his chin on his hands, looking up at Karina from under his eyelashes. “You’re sixty years old.”

“Really,” Karina answered, not believing him for a second.

“Yes, really. I’m forty-two. I became leader of the League when I was twenty-two and my father found out that he was HIV positive. We froze him after the first time we brought you out of your cryonic state and discovered the experiment had worked. You were in stasis for five years before that and you were as healthy as you were when my father first put you into the cryogenic pod. With such a success, my father was willing to take the risk of being cryogenically frozen himself. He didn’t want to wait until his body deteriorated.”

Karina looked at him skeptically. “So you’re saying that I was in stasis for first five years and then another twenty years, yet I don’t remember any of it?”

“You don’t remember? That’s good. That means that passing time has no meaning for the subject. We were worried about experiencing the passage of time while in the cryonic state, and we didn’t know if our minds could deal with it. But if we aren’t aware of the time, then the point is moot.”

Karina could feel herself beginning to believe Daniel. He seemed so interested in exploring her perceptions of the experiment. Then she remembered crossing the street and the cars speeding safely over her head. She ran to the window and looked out. Buildings packed the skyline, and this was no longer the tallest building in the city. Cars sped by at different levels, flying along predefined routes. She gripped the bars tightly, unable to tear her eyes from the barely recognizable city. Daniel came and stood behind her, watching the bustling city from over her shoulder.

“A lot has changed since you saw it last,” he said quietly.

Karina was thinking about her friends and family, realizing that they probably thought she was dead. She hoped they were still alive. “Let me go,” she pleaded.

Daniel shook his head. “I can’t. We need you for the final leg of the experiment. We’ve seen that five years and even twenty years has no effect on your health, but we plan to keep our members in cryonic stasis longer than that, so we need to see how a longer time frame will affect you.”

Karina turned toward him angrily. “Twenty-five years have passed since I’ve seen my family. If you put me back in there, I’ll awaken to a world where I know no one.”

“Your family has already grieved for you. There’s no reason to disrupt their lives now.” Karina glared at him. His voice softened. “I have nothing against you; it was my father you crossed. But I will finish his experiment, and then you’ll be free to go, to find your family’s descendents if you so desire.”

Karina turned back to the window, watching helplessly as the sun set. There was nothing else to say. Daniel stood there for another minute, then turned and left. Karina heard the elevator doors open, then close, and then rumble as the elevator dropped down the shaft.

The sun set, and lights appeared all over the city. Karina turned and went back into the living area. She ran her index finger along the spines of the DVDs until she came to The Fifth Element. Opening its case, she put it into the player and plopped down on the couch. She watched it as she listened to the flying cars speed by outside, and suddenly it didn’t seem so futuristic anymore.

Karina sighed and turned off the TV. Even her favorite movie couldn’t improve her mood. She walked around the room, craning her neck to examine the ceiling. She stopped when she noticed a small tear in the wallpaper near one of the corners of the room, about eight feet above the floor. She dragged one of the kitchen chairs over, climbing up on it and standing on her toes to reach the tear. She yanked at it, and a huge section of the wallpaper tore loose, revealing a door. It looked like this bay had once been two levels, and the door was the entrance to the upper level. She tried to reach the knob, but couldn’t. She looked around the room for something to stack on the chair in order to reach the doorknob.

The elevator doors opened and two men stepped out. One of them pointed his gun at Karina. “Get down,” he ordered.

Karina stepped down off the chair. She noticed a syringe in the other man’s hand. “No! Not again!” She ran from them, dodging around the furniture. The man with the gun pointed it at her and pulled the trigger. A laser beam exited the muzzle of the weapon and connected with her chest, knocking her back and stunning her. She lay on the floor, breathing hard. The men ran over to her and the one with the syringe quickly inserted it into her upper thigh. Once it was empty, he pulled it out and stepped back. Karina was still staring at the man who had shot her. “What the hell?” she panted, pointing to his weapon.

He grinned and rubbed the gun affectionately. “Pretty sweet, huh? The laser doesn’t have enough power to kill, but it still packs quite a wallop. Bullet guns were outlawed and destroyed eleven years ago, and these babies were substituted for them.” He looked down at Karina with contempt. “We’re more civilized than you. We don’t kill.”

Karina drifted as the drug took hold. The two men pulled her to her feet and marched her to the elevator, boarding once the doors opened. When they reached the lobby, the one with the laser gun threw her over his shoulder and carried her across the street to the metal building. Karina faded out for a moment, and when she came to, she found herself already in the cryogenic pod with the lid securely fastened. In despair, she banged on the lid with her fists. She tried to remember if Daniel had mentioned how many years they planned to keep her frozen this time. He had talked about her family’s descendants, but he hadn’t mentioned a number. She knew it would be longer than the twenty they had kept her in the last time. Thirty? Fifty? One hundred? There was no telling. The drug overwhelmed her and she faded out again.

CHAPTER 5

Agnar woke with the suns. Megg, who had spent the night reviewing reports in bed next to him, leaned over and planted a kiss on his cheek. He grumbled at her and at the light streaming in through the window, and pulled a pillow over his face.

She giggled at him. “And that’s why I never drink too much at dinner.”

“I didn’t do it on purpose,” he groaned, “the Bellisimo wine is devious. You don’t realize you’re drunk until you stand up.”

Megg kissed Agnar’s chest and rolled out of bed. “Stay here and sleep, then. I have a meeting with a potential new assistant. I’ve delayed checking on my experiments for far too long.”

Agnar chuckled, his laugh muffled by the pillow over his head. “Too long? We’ve only been on Bellos for thirty-three years. That’s barely any time to you.”

“It’ll seem that way to you as well once you pass your thousand year mark. You still perceive life like a Yalsan. You’re way past your two hundredth birthday and you’re not dead. That alone should have changed your perception of life.” Megg went over to her luggage and rummaged through her clothes. “Speaking of life spans, I want to give you this before I go.” She pulled out the bottle of Stelairian youth elixir and set it on the nightstand next to Agnar. It rang out as its base hit the metal table.

Agnar peeked out from under the pillow. Seeing the bottle, he grinned and sat up, wrapping his arms around Megg’s tiny waist. He pressed his cheek against her bosom. “You do give the nicest gifts, my sweet.”

Megg stroked his hair. “Well, I like having you around.” She hugged his head tightly before stepping away. “I must go now. It’s been a pleasure, as always,” she purred.

Agnar smiled at her and watched as she gathered her things and left. Stelairians weren’t big on long good-byes; strange, since they did have the time. But he was glad to see her go. As usual, she had worn him out. He looked at the bottle of youth elixir on the table and grinned. It had been worth it. He went to the communication screen and connected with Jawol. The pilot answered, his youthful face filling the screen.

“It’s time to get back to our exploits, Jawol,” Agnar informed him.

Jawol shook his head and laughed. “It’s about time, Captain. Half the crew has retired since you left, which means we have a bunch of new recruits to initiate.”

“I’ll meet you at the spaceport in two hours.”

“Yes, sir. I look forward to seeing you again.” Jawol signed off and the screen went blank. Agnar busied himself with packing, humming as he carefully placed the bottle of elixir among his clothes. He thought about Megg, and was glad he had kept such a friend.

*
         
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*

Megg breathed a sigh of relief as the door closed behind her. She had enjoyed her time with Agnar, but the relationship was purely physical, and she needed some mental stimulation soon. It was about time the Stelairian government sent her another assistant. She was anxious to get back to work. She walked down the overly opulent hallway and entered the lift. It was specially engineered to travel at high speeds without the sensation of any movement at all, necessary in a hotel the size of a small city. Within minutes Megg found herself in the lobby. A Stelairian man sat on one of the many round benches that dominated the room. He sat stiffly upright and looked extremely uncomfortable. When he saw Megg, he jumped up and rushed over, eagerly introducing himself.

“I’m Salgon. It’s a pleasure to meet you, and an even greater pleasure to work for you,” he gushed.

Megg narrowed her eyes at him. “Have you been briefed on our mission?” she asked.

Salgon stood proudly. “I’ve gone over every part of the literature you sent three times.”

“And what do you think?”

“I think your reasoning is not only sound, but inescapable. What should’ve been done, has to be done. I can see no other way to remedy the situation.”

“And what about the experimental species’ right to live?”

Salgon looked flabbergasted at the very idea. He seemed horrified that Megg would even ask the question. “But we created them,” he said, confused. “It’s our job to destroy them if the experiment fails, and it has. It wouldn’t be fair to force them to exist in such an imperfect state.”

“True.” Megg said, pleased with his answer. “Come. It will take awhile to get to Earth.” She led the way out of the hotel, Salgon following at her heels. They made their way down to the docks, Megg setting a leisurely pace, stopping to window shop every now and then. Salgon kept pace with her, standing respectfully behind her whenever she stopped. Satisfied that his loyalty was real, she dropped her pretense and hurried straight to the space docks and her ship. There was an experiment that was overdue to end.

Salgon followed Megg, trying to hide his excitement. He had been chosen to help the most famous Stelairian with her experiments. He felt like the luckiest man in the universe. He had heard of her trouble with the traitor Luvian, and was afraid that because he was around Luvian’s age he might be passed over for this assignment. He was overjoyed when he was chosen. He knew he had a large job ahead of him, earning the trust of the greatest Stelairian who had ever lived, but he was determined to be up to the task. They arrived at Megg’s ship and boarded. She led Salgon to the bridge, where he immediately sat at the helm and started the engines.

They left Bellos and headed toward the closest rim of the Vontyr Galaxy. The sooner they arrived in intergalactic space, the sooner they would be able to engage the distortion drive. He seamlessly switched from the system to the star drive the minute they were clear of the planets of the Hysterion System, glancing surreptitiously at Megg to see if she was impressed with his piloting skills. He thought he saw her nod slightly in approval, and he turned back to his task with a light heart. It wasn’t long before they were past the galaxy rim and able to engage the distortion drive. Salgon stopped the ship and initiated the drive. The universe blurred as it engaged. Then the Vontyr Galaxy sped away from them. He set course for the Milky Way Galaxy and sat back with satisfaction.

“Nice job, Salgon. We should be there in no time at all.” Megg giggled a little at her own joke, since the distortion that allowed them to travel great distances was outside of time. Here on the ship they would experience almost a full year before arriving at their destination, but outside the ship only moments will have passed for the rest of the universe. That was the only problem with this form of travel. Time would slow for a ship using a star drive, traveling past the speed of light, while the universe aged around them. But traveling using a distortion drive had the opposite effect. It was one of the reasons shorter-lived species rarely left their galaxies.

“Thank you,” Salgon beamed. The praise from Megg filled him with pride. He hoped to earn her respect along with her trust.

“It will be some time before we reach our destination. Feel free to follow your own pursuits until then,” Megg told him as she left the bridge. “Please inform me when we are close to the Milky Way Galaxy.”

“I will,” Salgon replied. Megg disappeared down the corridor as the bridge doors closed. Salgon pulled the data tablet with the Earthling literature out of his case. He wanted to be fully prepared for the task ahead.

Time passed, barely a drop in the bucket for a Stelairian life span, and they soon arrived in the Fourth Quadrant. Salgon watched as the Milky Way sped toward them. He called Megg to let her know that the galaxy was approaching. Megg acknowledged and joined him on the bridge moments later. They both watched as the galaxy in front of them grew larger, filling the viewscreen.

“Disengage the distortion drive.”

“Yes, Megg.” Salgon took the distortion drive off-line, and as soon as it completely disconnected from the engines, he engaged the star drive and took them into the galaxy.

Megg sat in the captain’s chair and watched as the stars stretched around them. It had been several decades since she had raced out of here with Agnar on her heels. She smiled at the memory. He had given her a good race up to the edge of the galaxy, but no one had better space distortion technology than the Stelairians. Child species like the Yalsans were too young to compete with her ancient species, and because of their short life spans, were unable to take on the lengthy time-dependent experiments that her species regularly conducted. Their advances in technology were gradual, while Stelairian advances were swift.

A few hours later they approached the Olympian Solar System. Helios shone brightly, lighting the planets and their moons. Megg marveled again at Earth’s position in the system. It had been easier to create experimental species here than on any of her other planets.

“Slow our speed and swap drives, Salgon,” Megg said.

“Slowing and swapping,” he repeated.

Salgon slowed the ship and efficiently swapped to the system drive. Megg settled back to wait, catching up on the reports from her subordinates on the other species they had sown across the universe. None of them had yet shown the attributes for which they had been created, but they were still on the path toward achieving them. She wondered what had gone wrong with the Earthlings. Why had their biological evolution stagnated so completely? Even before they started tinkering with their DNA, the evolutionary process had slowed to a crawl. She searched her data for some clue.

Salgon interrupted her work. “We’re here. Shall I initiate the lasso?”

Megg looked up at the viewscreen as they drew closer to Earth. “Not just yet. I want to check some more Earthlings to complete my data first. Head for a populated region on the night side, but set down in a rural area. We’ll pick up some isolated Earthlings.”

Salgon nodded and aimed the ship toward a continent in the northern hemisphere, where large patches of light showed heavy population. Strands of light stretched out from those centers, waning until there were only a few dots here and there. He headed for one of those dots. As they drew closer, the dot of light became the porch lights of a farmhouse. The ship silently came to rest next to the house.

“Make sure you render all of them unconscious with the serum before bringing any of them aboard,” Megg cautioned.

Salgon nodded his assent. “I read the report on your last assistant’s error. It won’t happen with me.”

“Good.” Megg went through the test room past its resin cradle and into the lab. She went over to the console and started going over the data as Salgon labored to bring her some Earthlings. The five metal tables gleamed at her in the dim light, awaiting their Earthling subjects. She could hear him test the first one. He poked his head around the corner of the door.

“This male has no soul,” he informed her.

“Throw him back and get the next,” Megg replied without looking up from her work. Salgon disappeared and she could hear him drag the man outside. He soon returned with another and this time brought her in and set her on the first of the five tables. Megg initiated the restraints. Salgon repeated his task nine more times before he found four more suitable subjects. Megg restrained them one by one, not willing to take the chance that they might awaken prematurely.

Salgon deposited the last Earthling on the fifth table. “There are more adults inside; this seems to be some sort of hotel. I had to give the serum to almost thirty Earthlings. They shouldn’t awaken for some time, so if you want to do more tests after this, there are more subjects available.” He inserted the thin extraction tube into the Earthling’s neck, pushing the end downward into the chest.

“Thank you, Salgon, but I don’t expect this batch to prove the experiment a success, so it’s likely that after this group we’ll terminate it.” Megg was silent for a few minutes as she tapped the last of the commands into the console. Looking up at Salgon she asked, “Ready?”

“Almost,” he replied, inserting the final tube into the last Earthling’s neck. He moved to the clear container where the souls would be captured if they were able to survive the deaths of the bodies. “Ready,” he announced.

Megg initiated the machine, and it began killing the subjects. They writhed in unconscious agony as they died. Soon they were dead, and Megg released the restraints from the lifeless bodies. “Well?” she asked Salgon, who was peering into the container.