The Quantum Objective (14 page)

Colorado, USA
‘Here on level twenty-two are your quarters. Galen’s room is across the hall and there’s a kitchen and bathroom further down the corridor. Perun will be one floor up. Some of the other female researchers live on this level too, but they’re over on a parallel corridor, so it’s unlikely you’ll be disturbed. Levels fifteen up to four house the lab complex, though a recreation lounge occupies most of level twelve where you have the Mess hall. Most people head there on their breaks and hang out when they can. There’s not much of a social agenda, but I try to squeeze in a little 8-Ball from time to time.’ Their guide’s grin faltered as he took in the dour faces of the freshly delivered pair.
Beth passed her gaze around the sparse whitewashed room. The last four days had been a blur of pain, travel and then more pain.
I wonder if we’ll ever live in a house again; ever be anything other than lab rats, forced to conduct our own trials. Exhaustion robbed her of the will to care. Her bag dropped from limp fingers and she trudged towards the bedroom. Galen steadied her as the floor shifted beneath her feet.
His recovery on Diego Garcia had paralleled the subsidence of the tsunami. By day two his fever had disappeared, though she hadn’t seen him smile since. Not that there was much to smile about.
No celebration marked their rescue.
They’d been shepherded through medicals and informed of their fate. Consigned to an underground military research centre in the Rockies where they would be protected from Khoen and could complete their work. Beth’s pregnancy could be monitored and the baby delivered safely.
The two lab rats had said little. She didn’t need Galen to verify the lie. It was a new prison, with new guards. These ones just hid their demons better. It soon became clear that Liam, or Perun as everyone called him, was going to be joining them – lab rat number three…or was it four if you counted baby in? Certainly everyone appeared to be counting baby in. Beth had forbidden her mind to go near the subject.
The time difference to Colorado was crushing her. Perun and Galen weren’t the least bit affected; the sight of them drained her further. The fits of tearing DNA were less frequent, but Galen refused to leave her for more than a few minutes at a time. Whatever it was, it apparently wasn’t quantum entanglement. The boys would have to figure it out. Beth was convinced sixty-five rounds with the world heavyweight champion would be easier.
At least I might be successfully killed off. If I could just die, it might not hurt so much.
She crawled onto the narrow bunk and lay down gingerly on her stomach. She stared at the wall, frightened to shut her eyes. Every time she did, her mind exploded with visions of Khoen splintered into a billion fragments, no Galen to save him. Galen’s small hand pressed between her shoulder blades and Beth sighed in gratitude. The heat spread through her spine to her head, her mind filled with white noise, her eyes closed.
*
‘Ah, there you are! Lordy, what a miserable place this is. You fit right in honey B. I didn’t think you could look worse than the last time I saw you, yet here you are, achieving the impossible.’
Beth’s whole being sang at the sight and sound of her friend. She’d spent the last week moving from her bed to the medical lab for endless tests. Mimi swamped her in a tight hug, released her and smacked her hard on the butt.
‘Ow!’ She complained. ‘Don’t beat me. I’ve been thoroughly thrashed already.’
‘Beat you? Darlin’, I’m just getting started. I have a gift for you, my fertile friend.’ Mimi whipped out a bag and scattered every conceivable form of contraception across the breakfast table. ‘Now, I’ll walk you through each item. This here is called a condom.’ She waved a square packet under Beth’s nose and raised a perfectly plucked brow.
‘Ok, ok.’ Beth laughed, the snickers from the other diners heating her cheeks. ‘I can’t believe you’re here. They said you were coming, but you’re actually here. I missed you so much and thought about you often. I’m sorry I scared you. I kept meaning to call…honestly!’ She cringed under Mimi’s skeptical look. ‘I…just, things kept cropping up,’ she finished weakly, resting her head on Mimi’s shoulder.
‘Oh, so I heard. I mean seriously, do you actually have a grain of sense inside that big brain of yours? How do you manage to locate the biggest freaks on the planet and procreate instantly, producing more freaks? Oh, hi Galen. No offence.’ She bent to kiss Galen’s cheek. ‘Jeez, you smell like cookies and so handsome. Just like your deceitful daddy.’
‘Hi, Mimi.’ Perun smiled widely at her.
Sour, she flicked two fingers from her eyes to his and back, ‘Just because you brought her back, doesn’t mean you’re in the clear, mister mendacious. I’m here now, and I’ve got my eye on you.’
‘How long are you staying? Say you’ll stay for a while. There’s so much to tell you. I need someone I can trust,’ Beth pleaded.
‘Well, we certainly can’t trust
your
judgment. You have the wisdom of a cat on crack, so I’m locked in for a while.’ She looked around at the little group. ‘I hear we’ve got a debrief with the full team on level five at zero nine hundred hours,’ her gaze flicked to her watch, ‘looks like you have four more minutes to chow down…what is that?’ She peered at the half-eaten omelette on Beth’s plate.
‘Who are you?’ Beth laughed uncertainly, ‘zero nine hundred?’
‘Man, I’d forgotten the food.’ She grimaced at Beth, then shrugged. ‘You know I grew up in the military. Actually, my linguistics have always kept me tied to the Mothership.’
‘Um…what?’ She knew Mimi spoke countless languages.
‘From time to time I get to do Uncle Sam a favour. They don’t understand a lot of the stuff they listen to and their translation programs don’t always cut the mustard. Sometimes they hit on remote dialects or a mishmash of languages that they can’t decipher. Multilingual people will usually meld their languages quite naturally. That’s when I step in. I’m far better at untangling the meaning than any program.’ Mimi glanced at her watch, ‘let’s walk and talk, honey. Punctuality is a big thing around here.’ The boys followed them out of the dining hall to the bank of lifts.
‘How many languages do you speak?’ Galen asked.
‘Too many to remember. After about thirty-five, not much seems unfamiliar. The key is to master the ancient languages as best you can. That makes everything else easier.’
She groaned, dropped her chin to her chest, ‘Just remembered the crack-of-midnight starts to the day around here.’ She turned fierce eyes on Beth, ‘I want to see some quick results on this research stuff of yours, B. I have a life to get back to, you know. I cannot be holed up here forever like you.’
‘What do you mean, forever? We’re leaving as soon as we can.’ In the lift, Mimi scanned her pass, jabbed at number five and studied the panel of buttons intently. Beth grabbed her arm, and spun her round, forcing the boys backwards.
‘We’re going to leave here, Mimi. Soon. Why are you looking like that?’ Beth’s voice rose enough to bring Galen’s hand to hers.
‘I don’t think you understand the profundity of the problem you’re facing. You’re pregnant, again, with a baby you didn’t plan for, who is likely to bring with it a shed load of problems none of us - and by that I mean Planet Earth - are prepared for. You have a psychotic lover who is trying to kill you and anyone in the way, a son who is going to be poked, prodded and tested for years to come; then there’s your ex-lover who is apparently, now ready to come in from the cold, to be a guinea pig alongside his son. None of you know what you’re dealing with. I mean, I’m on the inside, a normal non-freak human being born into the system and I have strict protocols that I will have to adhere to till I’m dead. Of course, I also know a few work-arounds, but you guys…basically, you’re screwed. They will never, and I mean never, let you go. Right now, I see no deal you can cut. The risk of letting you loose out there?’ Mimi jabbed her finger skyward, ‘the risk of public exposure, or worse you become an enemy, is about a zillion times greater than the government, any and all governments, will ever accept.’
The lift doors slid open, but no one moved.
They closed.
‘The only thing you can do is bust out if you ever get the chance. Don’t be fooled for a millisecond by the people around you. Security will be tight without appearing to be. This place isn’t as wired for sound as some, but you need to stick together. If you don’t move, think and act as a team, it’ll be game-set-match. I’ll help as much as I can, but at a certain point, my hands will be tied. My father…he helped us rescue you only when we revealed the powers at play. That put you and your family at priority number one for national security and biotech development. I guarantee half the people you get for your team will be working on how to control and weaponise your talents. Watch what you say. Always remember that you are the source of information and for now they won’t force you to talk - till they know they can control you, or more specifically, Perun and Galen. You have the upper hand. Don’t give it away. Stay amicable. Play the game, Beth. Now is when you need to play the game. No more feisty fits. Leave that to me, ok?’ She jabbed a button and the doors reopened. She strode off leaving the others to trail behind.
Play the game? I’m the most hopeless game-player there is. I always lose my cool. How am I going to pull this off? A tight squeeze on her fingers pulled her eyes to Galen’s.
‘We’re here too, mum.’
‘Yes. Let’s not panic about other people’s agendas. Just focus on getting what you need to figure this out.’ Perun said.
‘Why? Let’s say I figure out how Galen, you and Khoen do what you do. Then what? Turn it off? Doubtful. The information can only be used against us. Either to control you, or to recreate the powers in others. Mimi’s right. I’m not sure the technical details are going to serve our purpose.’
‘Which is what, exactly?’
‘Living a normal life! To just be ordinary for God’s sake. To walk to the supermarket for my shopping. I want to be able to worry about my bills, not whether evil forces are going to steal my child for experimentation or kill us or keep us locked up till the end of days. Is it too much to ask, to hope for?’ Her tight throat cut off her words.
‘I don’t think normal is going to happen for you, Beth. I’ve never experienced it, never will. I’ve accepted danger and malice as an everyday part of my existence since birth. I’ve seen what the monsters can do and you’re right to be afraid, but you have to overcome your fear. It will defeat you long before they do. We will get out of here. We can do it right now, if you want to. They wouldn’t be able to stop us. However, I don’t think you’d like the results - the collateral damage. A better way will present itself. Too much is happening too quickly. We need to regroup and plan our next move. And there’s one thing you haven’t considered.’ He shared a glance with Galen.
‘What?’
‘The baby. We need…it’s an unknown entity; to any of us. I think, given the parentage, we should just be careful.’
‘Will you stop demonising Khoen? He didn’t send the tsunami. And now the baby? Come on.’ Beth’s frustration quickly cooled as she remembered the problems she’d had with Galen as a baby. The screaming; the insects. A shudder ran through her. ‘Ok. We’ll not make any rash decisions right now. I might not even have this baby.’
They squawked with laughter.
‘What?’ Beth stopped outside the door Mimi had pushed through, irritation oozed from every pore.
Perun walked past her shaking his head. He held open the door for Galen and waited patiently for Beth to take her hands off her hips. ‘Sometimes I really wonder if you know yourself at all,’ he sighed, ‘now remember to keep your cool. The game starts here.’
*

California, USA
‘He was in too deep.’ Jamie leaned back in the chair and thumped muddied trainers onto the polished Blackwood desk. ‘I told you to leave it to me. You can’t trust an Arab not to get overheated.’
‘Shut up.’ Wesley pushed his silver hair off his face and narrowed his eyes against the reflection from the harbour below. Thank God they’d expanded their recruits. The soldier had at least remained useful.
‘Do you have orders?’ His voice echoed through the speakers.
‘Just stay local to the primary. With another one hatching, we need to be closer than ever. Keep us informed.’ He pressed a button on the phone to release the connection. He clicked another to bring Rob off mute.
‘You there, Rob?’
‘Yeah.’
‘So?’
‘So nothing. I’m doing my bit. They’re always screw-ups along the way. The main thing is we still have cover. They won’t see us coming. Where is the stone now?’
Jamie laughed. ‘You’re kidding right? He has it so far up his ass we’re never going to get it out.
‘Shut the hell up,’ Wesley kept his tone light. He knew the hour when he could kill Jamie and shut him up once and for all, would come soon enough. ‘The stone is with me and perfectly safe. What’s going on with Rebecca? I saw the Variety spread…she’s turning up the heat about the divorce. I think we should shut her down.’
‘No. I can handle her and she doesn’t know anything. A shut down will only raise more media hype. Let it cool off.’
‘Still no patter of little feet with the newest wife?’ Jamie sneered at the speaker phone. The silence widened his smile.
‘When you produce, you can talk.’ Wesley said.
‘I can’t believe they have another one coming. Why do they breed like flies? Does it mean something?’ Rob sounded fragile. This latest divorce was a train wreck even by Hollywood standards. Wes didn’t understand why the hell he kept marrying these bitches.
‘They just got lucky.’
‘Yeah, let’s hope this next one’s a dud like Wes’ little cherub.’
Heat crawled in Wesley’s innards. He’d savour Jamie’s last breath as much as the Richebourg Grand Cru he’d put aside for the occasion.
‘Touché.’ He smiled. ‘I guess I’ll see you next week at the group conference, Rob? I’ve nearly finished your presentation. It should be ready tomorrow. Where are you filming?’
‘Nova Scotia, the shoot’s overrun but it’ll wrap by then.’
‘Good. See you there.’ He clicked off.
‘You heading back to LA?’
Jamie drew the soles of his shoes slowly down the front of the desk, marking his attendance with brown streaks. ‘No, I was in Peru. I’m going to finish the trail before I go home.’
Wesley nodded.
Jamie stood. ‘Bye.’
He stepped forward and vanished like a dropped pin.
Wesley’s lips pressed together as he took in the muddy streaks; he picked up the phone, ‘Rosie, get house-keeping.’