|
|
 |
2009 Separate the Sorrow-part 2
As the inevitable black GSA SUV allowed a view of Genomex, I gathered all the sarcasm I could manage, trying to make Rebecca defensive.
“ So, this is the place where all the dirty deeds were done.”
“More than you can imagine. If walls could talk, these walls would scream. Genomex-by-the-waters is the center, but not the limit of the biotech empire of Kurt von Schuler.”
Who?
“Kurt von Schuler?”
“That’s what Breedlove called himself in Germany when he was a Nazi at the beginning of his career in the unholy. His sins began at an even earlier age than Adam’s. Even by the end of the war he was so young the Allied tribunals did not prosecute him. He did the same blasphemous work as the other ‘medical researchers’. He should have been handled exactly as the rest of them.”
Adam worshipped the memory of Paul Breedlove. I didn’t know what to make of her comment, but clearly she did not think of him or Genomex as benign, certainly not the Genomex of Breedlove and Adam..
“Adam thought a lot of Breedlove. He talked about him all the time.”
“Breedlove duped a number of people, including your father, who is one of the sharpest judges of character I have known. Breedlove was a brilliant man. Unfortunately, he didn’t get around to growing a conscience until the last years of his life.”
“What goes on here now?” I asked.
“I don’t know if you’ll believe me or not, but I have access to every office, every desk, every lab, every storeroom, every workshop, every formerly hidden sublevel. As far as I can tell, only legitimate, ethical research goes on here now, involving work on plants of economic or medicinal interest, or domesticated livestock. Human research is strictly forbidden. Now, St Katherines, the hospital Genomex operates for the treatment of mutants does do human research, but none of involves genetics. Instead the work there is directed towards the extension of mutant lifespans and the alleviation of symptoms.”
“You’re right. I don’t believe it.”
“You probably won’t believe this, either, but Mason initiated the purchase of St Kat and he also organized the scholarship program that will train a number of mutants as MDs, who will not only be highly motivated and bring special insight to their patients, but will also be watchful for any abuses or perversions of St Kat’s purpose. The organizations that funded Breedlove still exist, Catherine. Mason is determined to stop any of them from infiltrating and re-starting anything like Breedlove’s work, during the time he is in charge and the times of his successors. He’s put a lot of safeguards in place, some of them arcane and wickedly clever.”
“The ‘wicked’ part I believe.”
“I thought you might. Mason’s seen –and suffered—more of the horrors of Genomex than anyone still alive. Probably no one on earth is more motivated to undo or reverse past unholy science than your father. Of course, that’s always been his motivation.
“You make him sound like a hero.”
She smiled slightly. “On balance, that’s what I believe he is. Mason’s flawed, but he’s not Satan’s best buddy, either.”
The GS agents drove us around to the front entrance of the complex and we exited the SUV.
“I’m going to have to sign you into the facility. You will be issued a visitor’s badge. Remember to keep it clipped to your clothing at all times. After Mulwray stormed in here and murdered several employees, security has become…tighter. If the motion sensors detect movement and the system cannot match that motion to a transponder in a badge, some really scary looking paramilitary types with serious weapons will turn up almost immediately. Ordinarily, they’re unobtrusive, but believe me, they are trained to respond hard and fast. Mason’s security people know what they signed on for, but the pointless slaughter of unarmed file clerks and microbiologists who presented no threat to Mulwray’s storm troopers was appallingly barbarous…the acts of pathological thugs who have come to enjoy killing and the sight of human blood.”
I could have said, ‘Yeah, I believe that. Brennan doesn’t see other people as anything special. Everything he does is about Brennan. While I was with Adam, I avoided Brennan because he doesn’t have a heart.’ I could have said that and meant all of it,but I didn’t want to agree with anything she said. She really hated Brennan Mulwray.
“Late start to the day, Dr Steyn?” The receptionist was young and polished. She was also behind a thick sheet of bulletproof material.
“Late finish, I’m afraid, Ellen. I’ve been up in the air most of the day. This young lady requires a visitor’s badge valid for at least twenty-four hours. I will bring her back to have another issued tomorrow. Please key her badge so she may accompany Mr Eckhart, Ms deLauro, any of the security force or me anywhere we wish to take her.”
Ellen looked up briefly from her task. “Welcome to Genomex. You’ve got to be a special young lady with that kind of access.” She studied me with intelligent eyes. Ellen had to be more than a nice smile to greet visitors.
Rebecca finished signed me in, and pushed the tray holding the visitors book back through to Ellen.
“With all of the high-tech equipment here, you might be surprised to see us using something as primitive as a signature. Most people are reluctant to sign their names to a lie. People who are lying or being coerced won’t be quite themselves. My heart rate is being monitored and compared with past typical values and past sign-ins of visitors. So you see, it’s not as low-tech as it may appear.”
Ellen flashed a smile as she placed the readied badge into the tray and pushed it back towards us. “And if I see anything I don’t like, I have long since summoned the cavalry and locked the front doors. Keep that badge on you at all times, Ms Hartman.”
“And you have something here, Dr Steyn. Your carnations arrived this morning. When you did not answer your page, I took pity on them and stuck them in water. I hope you don’t mind.”
“Oh, certainly not, Ellen.”
“I’ll pass them through to you on the other side.”
“Could you call Mr Eckhart and tell him I’m here with Ms Hartman and we will come by his office as soon as she has had an opportunity to shower?”
“Of course.”
“Thanks.”
Ellen released the steel door from the lobby to the interior of the complex, and met us on the other side, handing Dr Steyn her carnations.
“I wouldn’t want them to die of dehydration.” She smiled at Ellen.
As soon as Ellen was out of hearing at her desk, I turned to Rebecca and asked, “Mr Creepy send you flowers?”
“Frequently.” She smiled.
“I wouldn’t have figured him for something like that. It’s too sentimental and well, sweet. I figured he would send hell-bouquets of shriveled up dead flowers or dried up thorns and thistles.”
Rebecca laughed. “How do you know he doesn’t do that to people he doesn’t like? Me he likes. He’d better not send me thorns and thistles.”
I wasn’t sure if she was joking or not.
“Are you serious about me taking a shower?” I was disgusting myself with the grubby feel of my skin, but I wasn’t going to admit that, not to her.
“Yes. I’m not going to haul you in all the way from the west coast and have you meet your father with your hide unscrubbed for two days. With any luck, Emma will have found you some decent looking clothes. I don’t care if you wear jeans, so long as you’re clean and they’re clean.”
“I don’t care if I smell.” Not true. I did smell and I did care, because my aroma was disgusting me. However, if my reeking hide and hair offended me, Mr Creepy would be offended as well, and right now, I wanted to offend him.
“I care if Mason can smell you.”
I hadn’t thought of it that way. She led me through a maze of corridors. People greeted her as we passed. Some were merely deferential but many seemed genuinely glad to see her. She must be human on the job.
Her lab was darkened when we reached it, illuminated only by dozens of tiny lights on instrumentation. She punched in the combination to the door, entered first and turned on the overhead fluorescent lights.
I was impressed. “This place makes science fiction movies look primitive.”
“Ah! Emma was here!” She pointed to plastic bags from several stores.
“You operate all this stuff?”
“Sure. That’s what I’m paid to do. I’m a geek and proud of it. There are several more laboratories besides. I have people reporting to me, of course, I don’t do everything all the time, but I have to understand everything and sometimes perform repairs on some of it.”
I had never met a woman who did this kind of thing. My mother was perplexed by screwdrivers. Rebecca was busy placing the carnations in some lab glassware.
“What does it all do?”
“In simplest terms, all of this instrumentation quantifies or identifies or both, but no matter how slick it all looks, a smart human is still required to maintain it, and most important of all, recognize problems. They’re not magic. I’ll give you a proper tour, probably tomorrow, but now, it’s time to hit the showers. Grab some bags and follow me.”
The showers were not far. Rebecca sorted out a bathrobe, soap, shampoo, comb, deodorant and towel. I entered the shower, and scrubbed while she went through the clothes.
“Emma did well,” she said, after I had turned off the water.
While I towel-dried my hair, she pulled tags from the clothes, and handed them over the door to me, along with underwear and socks.
“I think a basic pair of blue jeans and the long-sleeved periwinkle t-shirt will be fine if they fit. That’s something like your ‘natural plumage’, isn’t it?”
“’Natural plumage’?” I giggled at her humor before I could catch myself and maintain unpleasantness.
The thought came unbidden: Even if she is Mrs Creepy, maybe Rebecca’s okay. I hated to admit that to myself, but it might be true.
To my relief, everything fit. None of it was exactly my idea of stylish, but it was not dowdy or embarrassing. I emerged from the shower stall. She handed me a comb.
“Almost there…”
To my surprise, I was pleased and relieved to be clean and wearing clean clothes once more. My tough kid look vanished down the drain along with two days worth of sweat. Perhaps some of the tough kid was gone as well.
“You look fine, Catherine.”
I wasn’t going to tell her I was pleased and relieved, however. And I wasn’t going to admit to a moment, a brief, slippery moment of concern about what my father would think of me. I did not care what Mr Creepy thought about anything, did I? Of course not.
“Stand still for a moment. I’m going to do an inspection and be sure I have not missed any tags or stickers.”
She walked completely around me, nodding approval. “This works. The rest of it we’ll toss into my locker.”
We did that. Then, she turned serious on me. “Catherine, I know you’re hurt and angry. You have every right to these emotions. Please don’t turn your anger on Mason, not without allowing him some opportunity. I swear he means you well. I will warn you, your initial impression is likely to be incorrect. He’s a complicated, difficult man, at once the best –and the worst—man I have known. No matter what you’ve heard about him, he is not a monster.”
“And I have heard so much about him.” I had my sarcasm potential re-charged.
Rebecca visibly sagged, sighed, and tilted her head to the left, before straightening back up and making eye contact in the mirror while I combed out the last of my tangles. “Please, Catherine. Don’t savage him while he’s making an easy target of himself.”
I shrugged. I had not decided what I would do. With her special pleading, Rebecca had handed me a perfect plan for making this man thoroughly miserable. But I wasn’t sure I wanted to do that any longer. Oh, maybe at some other time I would shred him, but just not today. I had never known anyone quite like Rebecca before, but through the few hours we had known one another, I had delivered a lot of snotty comments that she batted back to me mostly fluffy and defused.
She was asking one thing of me: not to attack my father immediately. Maybe he had brainwashed her…but she gave every impression of being a really good person. If my father could inspire Rebecca’s respect and loyalty, just possibly he deserved a chance. Probably not. He was probably as dreadful as everyone said, but I would not lose anything by behaving myself initially. I didn’t have to be dishonest or phony. I just didn’t need to be snotty straight out of the box.
I finished my combing and turned around to face her. With her eyes, she was still begging me to behave. “I’m ready.” I lowered my eyes.
Rebecca sighed. “It’s not far.”
Well, yes, it is. All my life I’ve wanted to meet this man, and he turns out to be Mason Eckhart.
I didn’t know quite what I was thinking or feeling. The final part of the day’s crazy journal was just a few hundred yards through the maze of corridors (How did anyone find their way here? GPS units?) and I was in a fuzzy, dreamlike state.
We reached his office door, a wide metal portal worthy of a fictional starship.
“He has two armed guards outside of his office?”
Rebecca nodded. “Yes. All the time. Things have happened here. Sometime, I’ll tell you all about them, and what you lost here, which wasn’t trivial. Are you ready?”
“Yeah.” No. I was terrified. I couldn’t recall when I had ever wanted to cast a stealth aura more and run away to a safe hiding place. I even started to will the aura’s formation but caught myself before the dire effects of the governor could begin.
The door opened, and in we went.
I don’t know what I expected, but that office was the most stunningly unfriendly and sterile space I could remember. And it was cold in there; with my damp hair, it was chilly. I was thankful for the long sleeves.
No contemporary photographs of him were known to exist, but I had heard descriptions of Mason Eckhart all my life. I knew exactly what to expect, but that isn’t what I saw. He didn’t look up when we entered –his legendary rudeness-- so I took the opportunity to study and observe him. He looked small, dominated by his surroundings instead of dominating them.
“Thank you for the carnations, Mason.” I hadn’t heard her use that tone of voice all day. What a change.
Then only did he look up. “You’re most welcome, Rebecca.” He almost purred to her. This was disconcerting. He wasn’t supposed to respond to anyone that way, but I’d just heard him. The words were formal, but the emotion in them rang true.
Emotion? From Mr Creepy? Emotion of the boy-girl variety?
Even when he stood up, he was neither tall nor imposing, although he certainly made an unforgettable impression, wearing all black with peculiar white hair. Outside in the wider world he would draw stares.
“Welcome, Catherine.” He sounded…genuinely glad to see me. I did not know what to think. I’m not sure how well I was thinking.
“Thank you.” I could barely hear my own voice.
“Please, sit down, both of you.”
He did something next which I would learn later was without parallel: he rolled his own chair from behind the desk so we could sit together as a compact trio.
“Rebecca, is there anything I need to take care of immediately? Problems? Crises?”
“No. We’re all caught up.”
“Good.” He sat down, fixing his eyes on me. He moved like someone who hurt. He certainly did not look like the happy, proud father holding the newborn Grey. He now hid behind those heavy-framed glasses, but if you looked carefully, the eyes were the same.
“I don’t know what to say.” I really didn’t. I must have spent hundreds of hours daydreaming about this moment, and now that I was living it, I could not think of a thing to say.
“Well, I prefer honesty to glib falsehoods. Charm is overrated.” He smiled. He was creepy-looking, but that smile was warm, human, and without doubt, genuine. “You have my mother’s hair, eyes, and coloring. I’ll show you photos of her. There is so much to tell you.”
Up until that moment, I was prepared to hate this man as I had hated never hated anyone. All my life I dreamed of this moment, at long last meeting my father, of having clear and definite connections to other people. Then, when I was told my father’s identity, I wanted my one-of-a-kind, singlet, unique status returned. I wanted no part of kinship to a monster. Who would wish that?
“I’d like to see the photos. Dr Steyn showed me portraits of…the others. (What was I supposed to call them?) They look like you.”
Most people rush to speak without clearly knowing their thoughts. Mason Eckhart was not like that. Accustomed to people waiting for his words, he formed his replies carefully.
“These circumstances are as awkward and difficult for me as they must be for you, Catherine. I apologize for the application of the neck restraints and the implantation of the governor, but both are standard procedures when ordinary humans are dealing with Genomex mutants involved in crimes.”
I lowered my eyes. Adam called them “missions”, but what Brennan and I had been doing was stealing.
“Adam called them something else.” Even as I said it, I felt foolish because as defenses go, it was lame, even silly. I felt overwhelming shame for being part of those ‘missions’.
“Theft is theft,” he said softly. Later, when I knew how much he despised Adam, and how disgusted he was with Adam’s lies and rationalizations, I would understand how gentle he was being with me. He wasn’t going to give me a free pass, but he easily could have launched into commentary about poor judgment (mine) and dubious companions (Adam and Brennan). But he didn’t.
I made eye contact once more. “I’m not trying to justify what I was caught doing, or shift the blame. I wanted to believe Adam was telling me the right thing to do. It’s still my fault.”
“And you will have to live with the consequences. Just what that will ultimately involve I do not know. One condition of your release to me is leaving the governor in place, at least until this matter is settled. I’m sorry.”
“I understand.” And the funny thing was, I did.
“I want you to know that I argued for the removal of the governor, but the policy of leaving one implanted is not unique to you but is in effect after a number of ordinary humans, police, guards, and others were hurt by Genomex mutants.”
In other words, Self, it’s not all about you. You’re simply colliding head-on with a society trying not to descend into chaos.
“It itches sometimes.”
“I know.” He reached into a pocket and pulled out a small metal tube. “This ointment will desensitize the skin around the governor and I’m told, make it more tolerable. It doesn’t smell foully and it won’t stain your clothes.”
He reached across the space between us to give me the tube. Reflexively, I extended my hand, then for a moment hesitated when I saw the oddly-cut black leather glove. Then I noticed the wrinkled biopolymer faux skin above it. I caught myself staring, I don’t know for how long, but long enough to be rude. I took the tube from him.
Very sloppy of you, Self. Whatever else he may be scheming, right now he’s only attempting to Make Nice. The bagels turned out to be Only Bagels, and fine bagels, too. This tube is likely Only Ointment.
“Thank you.” I hesitated. I had something more to say. “I’m sorry I…gawked at your…skin. That was rude.”
“Most people react similarly the first time they get a good, focused look at it. I’m inured to it.”
I shook my head. “Doesn’t matter. I shouldn’t have done it.”
O, Self, this is crazy! Five months ago with Mom, whoever would have imagined this conversation in this place, apologizing to Mr Creepy. Have you forgotten who he is?
“I appreciate that, Catherine.”
He’s not used to people caring if they hurt him. Except Rebecca, who cares very much.
Things were not going as I imagined. Eckhart wasn’t supposed to be human. He didn’t look human. Nevertheless, that was a human sitting there. Things were becoming complicated, more complicated than I thought things could be.
Am I somehow being craftily manipulated, herded, conned? I didn’t know. I couldn’t think of what they could get from me. It was confusing and maddening.
“To return to Adam for a moment: Adam can be persuasive. Don’t beat yourself up too badly. Learn from your mistake; don’t minimize it. Become more selective in choosing friends and those who influence you. Adam deceived me for years while he worked here, even though I had daily contact with him. Catherine, be wary of Charmers.”
He was not warning me against himself! His loathing of Adam was not subtle, but this was not about badmouthing Adam. This was about him giving a damn about me, because I was his. He was trying hard to act like a father.
A thought came to me, unbidden, unsought: Well, Self, you’re on the edges of having that which you’ve always wanted and craved. And look where it’s coming from. What are you going to do about it? Deny it? Pretend it’s something else? Well, Self, there is one other choice available.
“I’m confused. I don’t know what to call you.”
“Fair enough. Could you be comfortable calling me Mason? I would like that.” There was the faintest whiff of pleading in his voice, for acceptance, for familiarity.
“I’ll try that.”
Rebecca had been quiet, sitting so still I wasn’t much aware of her. I glanced her way and met those incredible eyes of hers, wide and brimming with tears. I looked away, fast as I could, too fast; Mason noted what I had done and he turned to Rebecca, who probably just didn’t want to be noticed at all.
Mason reached a black-gloved hand to Rebecca and took up her left hand. He could have ignored her, but he didn’t. Many people are born into families, clans, tribes, and never lack for a sense of belonging somewhere to someone. They take those connections and concerns for granted. Those of us less blessed with belonging, or worse, cursed with pathological kindred, place high value upon the good people who enter our lives. I was to learn Mason cared for few people; too many times his trust had been betrayed, or he’d been taken for granted or even abandoned. But he still fiercely defended those he cared about.
“You must be hungry, Catherine,” he said.
“Yeah.”
“The cafeteria staff have prepared what they are grandly calling a buffet, but which I suspect is lunch from the past few days re-heated. I had them start setting things up when Ellen called.”
“The food is usually pretty good,” Rebecca added.
“Why don’t the two of you go ahead, and I will follow shortly. I need to call April and thank her. We’ve been playing phone tag all day.”
“Good idea,” Rebecca said. “I’m ravenous.”
As soon as the office door closed behind us, I turned to Rebecca. “Aren’t you going to ask me what I think?”
“I suspect things went just fine…better than I hoped for.”
“Mason is not what I expected.”
“Hardly anyone sees any aspect of him other than the forbidding persona. I worked for him fourteen years before seeing more than a few moments of a human every few months, or years. That Mr Creepy persona is his primary means of coping with his afflictions and with people.”
“What should I call you?”
“Rebecca. Call me ‘Becky’ at your peril.”
The Genomex cafeteria was set up with long tables. One end of a table was covered with a white tablecloth and settings of silver, which I didn’t expect in a corporate cafeteria.
“My great-great-grandmother brought these from Germany a long time ago. I’ve never had a reason to use these settings before. They’ve been in storage since I moved here.”
“Do you have any family?”
“My brother Steve and his wife, Sherri. They live in Ohio, but they’re getting ready to move again, this time to Charlotte. Steve’s a corporate nomad. They never stay long in one place. I’m not sure who’s puzzled more by Mason, Steve or Sherri.”
“When does the bad part begin?”
“What bad part?”
“There has to be a bad part.”
“Not from Mason or me. I don’t have any understanding of the legal system so I won’t even guess what will happen with your arrest. What were you thinking?”
“I never did anything like that before?”
“I know. Mason dug up every scrap of information he could find concerning you, from your school records to your mother’s credit report. I read it all on the flight out. You’ve been a good kid. What happened?”
“Adam made it sound so reasonable. But I should have refused, shouldn’t I?”
“Shalimar, to her credit, refused to be part of the raiding party Mulwray brought in here. Blindly following anyone is dangerous.”
Mason entered the cafeteria. “I’m sorry. The phone rang.”
All my life I had dreamed of a dinner like this one (and not because of the food, which was good but not extraordinary) with my father, but the reality was not as I had dreamed.
Mom wasn't there. While some variations of my dream allowed for a step mother, certainly I never imagined one like Rebecca, a formidable amalgam of intellect, dry humor, and kindness which I imagined must arise out of the pain and difficulties of her own life. I decided Rebecca deserved careful study.
I had never considered that my father might be someone whose name I knew, and I certainly never imagined he would be someone infamous for dark and evil deeds. When I first heard his name, I could think only that he must have raped my mother, but after today, I knew that was not true. Mom must have known the human hidden behind all of those walls. How angry that must have made Adam!
So, there we were, an odd little 'family' of three, a tiny bit of tenuously connected human community in the wider world of human apathy and indifference. I realized I was glad to be here-with these particular people. That surprised me. I wasn't quite where that was coming from, whether I was denying who was sitting across from me, or more surprisingly, changing my mind about him. I just knew I was adapting rapidly to my new circumstances.
"Catherine, I'm a pragmatic man. I'm asking you to give thought to what you want to do with your life during the next few days. We can sit down and discuss details of how to get you there. I've had the same discussion with my other three children."
"What exactly do you mean?"
"The old what-do-you-want-to-be-when-you-grow-up question, except with the sobering addition of what will be required to get there. I believe it is critical that one have useful, marketable skills, and I'm no snob about it. I do not care if those skills are acquired in a college classroom or in an apprenticeship program. I care only that it be useful and enable you to take care of yourself and your dependents."
Rebecca laughed. "Mason will gladly help you become a plumber or an orthodontist, but whatever you do, don't tell him you want to get a degree in something like 'Literature of the Post-Literate Age' or similar nonsensical hogwash, like the degree my sister-in-law Sherri has."
Mason laughed now. "Or 'Urban Anthropology'. Or 'Womon's Studies'. 'Wimmin's Studies'. 'Womyn's Studies'.
"'Literature of the Post-Literate Age'. I don't even have any idea what that could be," I said.
"I suppose it could be nearly anything," Mason said. "Advertising, for example. But to return to my serious point, Catherine. I want to help you with training or schooling. Make no mistake: I do not believe this compensates for the years lost between us. I want to do this because it is the proper thing to do now. I'm sure you would resent any presumption that throwing money at your needs makes fine and wonderful the fact you're nearly grown and that we only became aware of what we are to one another in the last forty-eight hours. Know that I feel cheated as well."
"Are you angry with my Mom for not telling you?"
"Some. But it's done, she's gone, and there is no changing the past, only the present and future."
Rebecca and I had servings from the buffet table, but Mason had been drinking a chalky looking pink slurry poured from a one-liter bottle.
"What is that?" I asked.
"A suspension of nutrients in relatively simple forms, amino acids instead of proteins, simple sugars instead of carbohydrates. I can eat whole food sparingly, but my gut flora copes much better with this formulation."
"How long have you been consuming that?"
"Since 1991, some variation of this. The earliest versions were foul-tasting concoctions. By now, the flavorists have gotten pretty good at masking the flavor of the components."
"I cannot imagine living that way."
"Most people cannot. I've made a host of other accommodations and adjustments as well."
He lifted his left sleeve, show me wear the biopolymer did not fit as well as it did about the face.
"This is not an impermeable barrier, nor was it engineered that way. The design is intended to keep living and near-living organisms out while allowing maximum transpiration of water -sweat-or I'd be at constant risk of heat stroke. I still do not dissipate heat with anywhere near the efficiency of other people. If I spend much time outside in warm weather, I have to wear a suit that circulates water and enhances the efficiency of the biopolymer. That's why my office is kept so cold. I require blood transfusions, though nowhere near as frequently as I did in 1991. Initially, I stopped producing red and white blood cells completely. Every year since 1997 I've shown gradual recovery. I can nearly get by with the blood cells I generate, but not quite. Fortunately, there are people here who donate blood, which is much safer than accepting pooled blood from strangers."
"Who?" I asked before realizing how personal a question that was.
Rebecca answered. "Jesse and me."
"Jesse?" Jesse was giving his blood to Mason Eckhart? Adam would need a bag of antacids when he heard about this. Although it certainly seemed like the kind of thing Jesse would do for someone.
"I count Jesse and Emma among my friends, Catherine. I was not just invited to their wedding; I gave away the bride. They're not just my employees. You look so surprised."
"I am." I was. Perhaps I was wrong to be shocked, perhaps I had been told a lot of lies.
"They want to meet you for breakfast tomorrow. You can talk to them then." I wanted to see them both, but had no idea what to expect. Adam's predictions were not working out very well.
That would be interesting. Adam swore Eckhart had to be exercising some sort of control over them. I was beginning to doubt that, however. Maybe they had both gone crazy.
"What about your wigs?"
Eckhart laughed. "That's one of the oddest things. My own hair was dark like Grey's, but some months ago I began growing hair again, unpigmented. What you see is real. I know how it looks, but it's real."
I thought about it all for a moment, chewing on cheese-saturated broccoli. Adam had laughed about Eckhart's condition and required precautions. Even if Adam was not responsible -and I wondered now about that-his attitude towards Eckhart was needlessly cruel. Seeing him inches away from me now, drinking his pink chalk slurry wearing wrinkly biopolymer covering his arms, I could not think of Mason as a fit subject to laugh at. Laughing at his condition now seemed cruel, and if Adam was responsible, well, then who was the monster?
"Everything sounds very difficult."
"I'm used to it. The alternative is worse."
One thing I did wonder about but wasn't about to ask was about sex. They obviously adored one another, but did they do anything about it? I might never know, and I wasn't ever going to ask.
"I'd like to see the message from Adam." I caught Mason off-balance. Surprise registered in his eyes.
"Very well. The original is in my office, but we can go back there when we're done with dinner. I'll warn you, however, you may not care for the content." He wasn't hiding anything from me. He as trying to protect me from something. Adam?
"That's okay. You've warned me. I want to see it."
Well, that frosted the balance of dinner. Rebecca tried hard to make nice a couple of times, but backed off and retreated.
"Of course, one can always say that the disk is a fraud or tampered with, but that said, I swear that this is the original, unchanged since I received it. I'm sorry, Catherine, but you should know the truth."
Mason inserted the disk, and Adam's image appeared in moments.
I didn't know this Adam. I didn't like the smirk on his face or the sarcasm in his voice. Most of all, where was his care and concern, "I'll take care of it as if you were my daughter" promise? I was thankful for Adam's unusual brevity.
"Do you need to see it again?"
"No."
"Neither do I." Mason retrieved the disk and returned it to safe storage.
"I could learn to hate him." I was very angry with Adam. Of course, the message could be a complete or partial fraud, but I didn't think so. "Did he lie to my mother, too?"
"I don't know. Probably. He manipulates everyone. Don't waste your energies on negative emotions, Catherine. Adam claimed to be my friend, once upon a time, but dwelling upon his sins and crimes committed against me won't help me now. You are outside of his influence. Be glad of that."
"It's been a long day for all of us. I think Mason and I should show you to your room and give you some time to settle in."
"I'm going to live here? I'm not going home with you?"
"I am home, Catherine. I have a small suite of rooms with filtered air and other devices to keep the air very clean, which I share with Rebecca. We're not abandoning you in an empty building."
"You live here?"
"Ever since 'Incident X'. Since that time I have slept elsewhere only one night, the day I was freed from the stasis pod. Some people hid me overnight."
I turned to Rebecca. "Did you release him?"
"I'm afraid not. I was living in Ohio with Steve and Sherri. I had no idea Mason was in stasis. I thought Ashlocke murdered him."
"I'm not going to reveal my liberator's name, Catherine. I owe them that protection."
"Okay."
We recovered 'my' things from the locker room, and went on to the room that would be mine.
"I'm afraid this room has no windows. Rooms like this one were constructed for security purposes." Mason sounded apologetic.
"To keep people like me in?"
"To keep people like Brennan Mulwray out. I have a single window, but it is made of special stuff and would require a missile to breach it."
"What happens tomorrow?"
"Time with Emma and Jesse. Time with Dr Laura Varady. She's a psychologist, but don't panic. She's nice. She's probably more concerned about the effect you will have upon me than about looking for odd things about you. Dr Varady has been looking out for me since 1991. Assuming you stay here, we have to figure out how to complete your high school education. That will be part of Dr Varady's job."
"There will be plenty to do," Rebecca said.
"Sleep well, Catherine. Any onsite location, including my quarters, is listed by your phone."
"Thanks."
The door locked automatically, but had an alarmed panic release. I was contained, but I didn't feel trapped. I busied myself with inspecting and putting away all of my new things. None of the clothes were junk but they seemed more sedate that I would have expected from Emma.
I put on one of the new nightgowns and wondered what to do with myself after I brushed my teeth. I wasn't used to having this much time with nothing much to do, so I began reviewing the day.
Things had not gone the way I had expected. Or the way Adam had planned.
As long as someone else was talking, I had been able to shut out the small voice in my head, but now that I was alone, I could no longer shut out Adam's insistent voice. He sounded far away, at the bottom of a deep pit.
Adam must have watched me being transferred to the GSA, because as soon as I was along in my 'cell' I began to faintly hear his voice in my head. He told me I could be a great help to the cause by infiltrating the GSA.
*You lied to me, Adam.*
*About what?*
*Nearly everything."*
*That doesn't matter.* I could easily imagine Adam saying that, smug, confident expression on his face, certain everyone around him was either inherently stupid or easily gulled, and so, readily brought around to Adam’s position.
Adam just did not understand that his lies did matter. Making things up as he went along always worked in the past when he surrounded himself with people who did not know any better, so he saw no reason to change what he did.
*I don't want to be part of this anymore.*
*You don't really have anything to say about that, kid. I decide what you do, to whom, and when.*
"*I'm, he's my father. I think I like him.*
I could hear Adam's laughter echoing through the ether, rising up out of the dark hole in the distance. *That makes you just about unique in the universe. It’s been a lot of years since anyone liked Eckhart.*
*Even that's not true. There are people here who care a great deal about him.*
*Mr Creepy has friends?* Adam sounded more disbelieving than surprised.
*He has friends. And he has Rebecca. I think I like her, too.*
*Rebecca Steyn? She must be getting old and desperate to take up with Mason Eckhart.*
*She’s neither old nor desperate. You’re being nasty because she didn’t want anything to do with you, and you just aren’t used to rejection. She one of the most intelligent women I’ve ever met, and she’s been very kind to me.*
*Really impressed you, did she? I always thought Mason had a thing for her, but his condition precludes women.*
Does it really?
*They're married, Adam.*
He laughed again. *Mason was always conventional, but this sham beats all.*
*Adam, I think it's real.*
*Kid, what would you know? Your mother slept with everything with mismatched chromosomes. What could you have learned from Danielle about anything real and apply it to a pair of psychological oddities like Mason and Rebecca?*
*You’re cruel. They’re more human than you are.*
Psychological oddities. They were both unusual, different people, and from what I could discern, both had endured more than their share of pain and grief. Calling them psychological oddities was extreme, especially from Adam, who had managed no enduring relationship with anyone.
*It doesn't matter. You cannot shut me up. You have a mission to perform. I'm reminding you.*
*I don't want to harm these people. We had dinner tonight, like a family.*
*How charming. Did you consider what ties the three of you together?*
*No.*
*Mason's libido. That's funny, Catherine.*
*I won't do it, Adam. I won't hurt them.*
*You don't have much choice.*
*I'll find a choice.*
*You haven't got the inherent intelligence or the technical training to stop me.*
*Even if I can't stop you, someone else will.*
*Hah, no one else thinks outside of the bounds of morality and technology the way I do. The combination is hard to defeat.*
*Someone will beat you.*
*Perhaps. But it won't be you or Mason Eckhart.*
*I'm getting a terrific headache, Adam. And you know when I have a headache, I cannot function. Can you just leave me alone for a while?*
*Of course, Catherine. I'll check in tomorrow.*
As always, communicating with Adam was extraordinarily exhausting. I tried to watch some television, but could not stay awake.
2009 Separate the Sorrow part 3
|
|
|
|
|
The Sun Never Sets on PureMX.net
|
|
