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2009 Separate the Sorrow part 3
When the phone woke me in the morning, as soon as I heard Emma’s voice the same question which plagued me the night before came to mind: how can I save my father and my friends from me? Adam had programmed me in some fashion that with the proper opportunity and trigger, I would lose my own will and do something horrible.
Emma sounded happy. Confident. The airy-fairy mysticism was gone. She promised to drop by in 30 minutes and we’d meet Jesse for breakfast in the cafeteria. Then I made my bed and lay back down on it and waited for Emma.
I pulled on the jeans I had worn the evening before, and a fresh shirt, taking care to clip the red visitor’s badge to it.
My gut instinct had been to refuse an implant in my brain as invasive and repugnant, but Adam had been insistent, and after all, it was Adam, so it must be a good idea and safe.
Except it wasn’t. Adam had been planning to use me all along. He probably had not schemed ahead to the grandiose possibility of getting me close to Mason, but he did want my stealth talents under his firm command.
Just because I’d been caught didn’t mean he’d lost interest in me, either. In fact, things had probably worked out better than he had imagined possible when he talked me into the implant.
Well, just because Adam is a devious, scheming fraud doesn’t make Mason a good guy. But it improves the chances of that possibility. I don’t want to hurt Mason. I don’t want to hurt Rebecca.
I picked up the phone and punched in 3 of the 4 extension numbers to Mason’s quarters. I could not punch in the fourth, not with the intention of telling about Adam’s implant in my mind. Adam doesn’t even need to be actively monitoring me to stop me. This is like belonging to someone else.
I was stunned when the door opened. Emma had always been exceptionally pretty, but now, with a tailored, adult dress and her hair tamed to flatter her sweet face, the effect was dazzling.
She swept into the room and hugged me. “Catherine, I’m so glad to see you! Jesse and I used to talk and wonder about happened to you, but we never had any way of finding out!”
All of this was genuine, I had no doubt.
“Emma, you look so…grown up.”
“I know. It’s quite a change from my former look of Excruciatingly Careful and Studied Casualness, isn’t it?” But you know, I really like it. Responsibility and respect are positives.”
This sounded almost too good. Emma sensed that.
“Oh, Adam probably told you some damn silliness about “selling out”. Adam’s time has come and passed, and he refuses to accept how much everything has changed. Let’s get to breakfast. I’m starved. Wait’ll you see Jesse.”
Emma’s keycard was linked to my own, so I was able to leave my room without security reacting, although they probably knew exactly where I was. Initially I found that overbearing and creepy until I recalled the way Adam and Mutant X invaded this place and wreaked havoc and worse, more than once.
“What exactly do you do here?”
“I do a lot of work with Dr Varady. After the disaster with Ashlocke, new hires are screened with extreme care. Also, Mason does not want the rebuilt Genomex harboring individuals of mixed or divided loyalties. We check out new hires back to high school for any sign of recruitment to a domestic or foreign agency. I can tell when people are doing some serious lying.”
“Does that happen often?”
“Yeah, but not for those reasons. The most common lie is about age. I don’t even say anything about that lie.”
We entered the cafeteria, nearly full during this hour of breakfast service.
“I’m surprised at seeing all these people.”
“The well-fed employee who has had breakfast is alert. He won’t overeat at lunch and be drowsy half the afternoon. The prices are almost at cost, but Genomex benefits all day.”
I hardly recognized Jesse. He stood up to greet us. He was formally dressed in a dark grey suit that fit him very well. I vaguely recalled Brennan laughing one evening, talking about the day he saw Jesse in a suit. I hadn’t believed him at the time he told the tale. Brennan said so much that simply wasn’t so.
“Doesn’t he look respectable?” Emma cooed for Jesse’s benefit. “You’d buy a used gene from this guy, wouldn’t you?”
“Sure.”
“Hi, Catherine. Let’s eat.”
We went off to the serving line.
“Do you live here, too?” I asked Jesse.
“Oh, no, we bought a house in the neighborhood a few months back. Only Mason and Rebecca actually live here, but Mason doesn’t have much choice.”
“Jesse has dedicated the entire attic to his computers and techno toys. The rest of the house is nearly normal.”
“And the attic looks impressive, too. Geek City, Arizona. Rebecca brought you back?” he asked.
“Yeah. She seems very nice.” ‘Nice’ hardly began to do justice to Rebecca.
“Isn’t she a dear? And the two of them are so cute together.”
“As much as I like Mason, Emma, I have difficulty applying ‘cute’ to him.”
“Not to Mason by himself. The two of them.”
“Okay.” Jesse rolled his eyes, unconvinced.
Emma giggled. “A few weeks before Fortier and Harrison betrayed Genomex, Mason and Rebecca started a secret life together and no one but Dr Varady noticed anything. Rebecca sold her condominium and was living here. Right before Ashlocke took over, they went on a long lunch and came back married, and even then not many people knew.”
“Mason wears a ring, but you can’t see it under those gloves.”
“People are full of surprises.”
“You both seem so different. You seem happier.”
“Well, we’ve grown up a lot. Adam would have liked us to stay kids forever,” Jesse said. “Somewhere in his brain, Adam feels guilt over what he’s done. He set up Mutant X so he’d have the undivided attention of four of his creations, people who would not question his motivations or the version he told of the past.”
“It was time to live our own lives, not populate Adam’s fantasy universe,” Emma added.
“Where’s Shalimar?”
“She has a martial arts school downtown. She’s doing very well,” Emma said. “I’m sure Mason will let us take you to see her some evening.”
“Everything is different from what Adam told me.”
“I know. But it all comes down to Adam’s ego and refusal to accept that the work he did was other than benign. Adam becomes wildly emotional if cornered about the twenty years he worked at Genomex, ignorant of the uses to which his research was applied. He’ll rant about all the lives he saved, and he did save lives, but he cursed many more. Among those of us who had genetic changes, even in the best cases we’ve had difficult adjustments and in the worst, we carry traits making a normal life impossible,” Jesse said, selecting a pizza bagel.
“Or, as Mason says, ‘Adam blights every life he touches’.” Emma was not smiling.
“He’s right. Has Mason shared his theory about Adam possibly not even being human with you?” Jesse asked.
“Not human? No.” That was a shocker.
“Mason thinks he’s an android, constructed in part on the basis of Paul Breedlove’s DNA. Short of getting additional genetic material from Adam or better yet, a thorough examination of him, we’ll probably never be sure. The one sample Mason had examined was inconclusive.”
“Being an android would account for some of Adam’s thinking,” Emma said.
“And his complete lack of a past prior to showing up at Stanford at age twelve, all expenses paid by the Breedlove Foundation.”
“He knew Paul Breedlove that far back?” I had no idea.
“We can’t be sure but someone at the Breedlove Foundation knew him well enough to provide a complete scholarship. I’d be surprised if Breedlove didn’t at least know Adam’s name by then.”
“And he came here right after he finished at Stanford,” Emma said.
“Mason’s people did a thorough search of Stanford’s records. Care to guess what Adam put down for a home address in those years?” Jesse asked, smiling. “This is really good.”
“The front door of this place?”
“Better. Paul Breedlove’s home address.”
“That means something,” Emma said. “We just don’t know quite what.”
“And we may never know. Breedlove’s home address turned up in some handwritten dormitory records. The electronic records were mostly gone, either because of routine purging or by design.”
Emma laughed. “Rebecca’s convinced. She says she wants to pull out a circuit board or two and stomp on them!”
“Adam and Brennan are living out of the Double Helix now?” Jesse asked.
“Yeah.”
“I’ll bet Brennan is charming company these days now that he’s lost his fleet of junk Camaros.”
“How did you know? He talked about each of them like a lost child.”
“For him, they were possibly as important as a human. Brennan just isn’t conditioned or wired to believe people matter. He never pretended otherwise. Is he still putting away Moon Pies and Little Debbies?” Jesse asked.
“And Twinkies. He leaves the wrappers all over the Double Helix.”
Emma laughed. “That must make Adam crazy.”
“It does.” I smiled at the memory of angry Adam stomping the length of the Double Helix, picking up the wrappers Brennan deposited in his wake. What Adam’s swearing lacked in imagination or vulgar shock value he compensated for in volume and repetition.
Brennan did not care what anyone thought or said, and so was unmotivated to change. Adam needed him to steal things and zorch people, and would never turn him out.
Adam could stand inches away from Brennan, and scream at him about the messes he made and Brennan wouldn’t even look up from one of his martial arts magazines. One could safely conclude that their friendship had deteriorated.
“Who does the work on the Double Helix?” Jesse asked.
“Adam, mostly. When it flies. Keeping it up in the air is becoming more and more of a challenge. I heard a lot of bad language about the Double Helix when I was with them.”
“Keeping the Double Helix airworthy was too much like real work for Brennan. Real men burn their hours tinkering with rusting Camaros.” Jesse rolled his eyes.
Emma laughed. “He must have had two dozen of them scattered about the last time we were there. Most of them were probably hot, too.”
“Why worry over a technical issue like legal ownership, Emma? Shouldn’t the person who really loves those cars be the one to have them? Brennan said that to me once, I swear he did. I could not make that up.”
“That argument could be used to justify stealing anything,” I said.
“And in Brennan’s case, probably has. Good old unreliable Brennan. He’ll never be able to figure out how honest people behave well enough to imitate them and stay out of jail. What does Adam do with himself all day now that most of the mutants who aren’t crazy or criminal are out living open, relatively normal lives?”
“He tries to convince people everything Mason says is a fraud, and at some point, there will be a mass roundup of mutants. He locates ‘mainstreamed’ mutants, and tells them they are at great risk.”
“Even if that were true, a mass roundup like that would be noticed and create an uproar. The last thing Mason wants is a panic about the existence of mutants. If you grab a few thousand well-behaved, honest citizens from their homes and jobs, questions will be asked. Does anyone listen to Adam anymore?”
“Not really. The crazies, the criminals, the people who are on the edges of society.”
“Adam sounds desperate. He wants to keep living in the days of flitting about in the Double Helix and pretending he was important. He wasn’t. His efforts set back Genomex mutants, grouping the lunatics and criminals together with people like Jesse, Shalimar, and me. We’re as varied as the wider population.” Emma looked serious.
“What’s going on with Adam is kind of sad.” Jesse shook his head. “Adam is rapidly becoming a tragic figure, all of his talents gone to waste and ruin. Pity he does not find some other cause, something worthy of his abilities to challenge him.”
Emma shook her head. “That might have worked for him a couple of years ago, but he’s been involved in too many crimes. He still has a few powerful friends, people who could have placed him in positive work, but he’s little more than a criminal himself. The underground has degenerated into a conduit for drugs and high-value stolen goods. The safehouses don’t protect people anymore. They’re warehouses and hideouts for thieves.”
All of what Emma said was perfectly true. It just wasn’t everything. Adam was doing things Emma knew nothing about, and I was too ashamed to tell her.
Adam seemed so different when I stood apart from him in time and distance. I had known most of these things before but the way Adam talked around the obvious had made me ignore the truth that he was no dashing, heroic Scarlet Pimpernel, saving mutants from the doom of the GSA. Adam was instead a thief, a destroyer of lives, and a manipulative liar.
I had planned to confront Emma and Jesse over orange juice and scrambled eggs about Adam’s claim they had sold out to Eckhart. After everything I’d heard during the last twenty-four hours, the notion of “selling out” was absurd. Emma and Jesse had outgrown Adam. They were spontaneous and natural, much as I remembered them both, but more mature and confident.
Emma had no business staying a little girl forever anymore than Jesse should have stayed and been the technical wizard while Brennan the street thug was Adam’s obvious favorite.
I looked very carefully while we were in the serving line: neither of them wore governors, and neither bore the tell-tale marks of recently removed governors. Adam swore Emma and Jesse could not be serving Mason willingly, but there was no sign of coercion or unwilling conduct.
“Do you know what you’re going to be doing?” Emma asked.
“Not really. I was arrested. Brennan got away, but I was stuck.”
“Mason told us. I hope you don’t mind our knowing,” Emma said. “He asked us to help you settle in here, since you knew us in the past.”
“No, I don’t mind your knowing. It would come out sometime. I had never stolen anything in my life, but Adam convinced me that stealing stuff from International Scientific was part of a “mission”. I should have seen right through him.”
I was becoming more and more angry with myself for ever being part of Adam’s science supply warehouse crime wave. I was beginning to hate Adam.
“I don’t know anything much about the legal system,” Jesse said.
“Brennan knows it well,” Emma said. “One of these days he’s going to know it even better.”
“Just be glad you’re not around Adam and Brennan any longer. Is Mason trying to get legal custody of you?”
“I don’t know.”
“It’s late, but it couldn’t hurt. I’ll say something to him, make sure the possibility isn’t overlooked.”
We were done with breakfast. Emma glanced at her watch. “Dr Varady’s probably waiting for us by now. Shall we go and meet her?”
“Emma, I’ll talk to you later. It’s good you’re here, Catherine. Laura Varady is no one to worry about. Bye.” Jesse got up from the table.
“She really is no one to worry about. Around here, she’s everybody’s mother or grandmother, even to Mason. Especially to Mason. You’ll see.”
“Adam said Mason drove his own mother to suicide.” I said that softly, not as an accusation but as a possible dark truth that I might not want widely shared.
Emma shook her head. “One of these days, Adam’s lies will catch up with him. Mason’s father was a nutcase, despite being a psychiatrist, and probably drove his wife over the edge. He did all kinds of things to Mason and his twin.”
“Mason has a twin?”
“Had. They were eight when Marc drowned. There are a lot of stories you’re going to have to know.”
“Why would Adam say what he did?”
“To be cruel.”
Emma was probably correct.
“First, I want to put your mind at east, Ms Hartman. I’m not here to hang some kind of label on you to define you as a crazy person. Mostly I’m here to direct employees with specific problems to therapists with special expertise beyond my own. In your case, we’re not talking therapy. Mason wants an evaluation of your past education, to get an idea where to go next.”
“He’s already talking to me about college or some other kind of training.”
“Your father is one of the most detail-driven individuals I’ve known. I’m not surprised.”
“My grades aren’t very good.” That was the sad truth.
“I saw your transcripts. You’re right, your grades are not good. But you are, aren’t you?” She smiled. She meant it.
“I’ve always been told I could do a lot better.” All my life I’d heard that. I wasn’t sure I believed it any longer.
“That’s part of what I’m supposed to assess. Mason isn’t like some parents who will be heartbroken if a child does not go to college. He’s a realist and knows that isn’t for everyone. But if you have talents and potentials, it’s best to find out now, and understand why your grades don’t reflect your abilities.”
“Did you know my Mom?”
“Why, yes. I’ve been here a long time.”
“She didn’t think school was very important. I always liked reading, but she never encouraged me much.”
“Now you know where that inclination comes from. Mason actually still reads books, a habit not much found among adults. Fortunately, he now has Rebecca, who reads the same sort of books. They actually talk about books they’ve both read.”
“Rebecca’s tried hard to be good to me.”
“I hope you’ve been nice back to her.”
“Not always. I didn’t know what to think at first.” I wasn’t sure what to think now. After all, I’d been at this place among these people less than day.
“Well, try to be nice to her. Rebecca’s been through her own personal hells. She’s understanding and patient with people in pain.”
“I noticed.”
“Good. For the first fourteen or so years she was here, she did little else except work hard. She opened up a little to a foreign-born PhD who was widowed with four small boys, but except for that, you could see she had decided people were not worth the risks. Watching her, it was obvious she had checked out of the human race. Several PhDs who worked here in the past were interested in her, but nothing came of that because she preferred her own company. She may not even have been aware of them. I had to explain Adam to him. Adam made an absolute fool of himself over Rebecca, but all she did was become irritated with his interruptions. Mind you, this was with three-quarters of the unattached women on site drooling over Adam.”
“She seems so fearless. I cannot imagine anything making her retreat.”
“Hiding and building walls are perfectly human responses to pain. The positive part is that she never became nasty. Even when Adam’s conduct sank to that of a rejected eleven-year-old, she just wanted things to stop. She could have gone to an attorney, and sued the company, but all she asked was that the silliness cease. I think that signifies high intelligence and a high order of logical thinking.”
“And you are telling me all of this because?”
“Ah, very good. Rebecca is key to recent changes in Mason. Three years ago, I think he would have gotten you away from the west coast, and probably deposited you in something like a convent school. Your bills would have been paid faithfully, but I don’t think he would have troubled to meet you. He would have kept his distance. I knew your father before Incident X, before his divorce, and he was a good, decent man. All these years he’s been protecting himself with this grim persona. I’m hoping his former self will still emerge more openly.”
“I never imagined that a technical center could have so much intrigue.”
“Most corporations have a surprising amount of intrigue. Political scheming inside of companies can be intense, even in businesses you might believe would be utterly boring. Any time you get a group of people together, there are allies, enemies, speculations, cultures, subcultures. It’s just our nature as human beings.”
“Amazing.”
“Yes. And endlessly fascinating, at least to me. Did you sleep well?”
“Surprisingly, I did.”
“Good. I’m going to get you started on those assessments.”
I spent the whole morning going through that tedious paperwork. I suppose it had to be done, but my head ached by the time I completed the last of it.
Rebecca claimed me for lunch. Afterwards, we took a walk around the perimeter of the property.
“Dr Breedlove had this walking trail built. It’s been here a long time.”
“What was Breedlove like? I cannot imagine being arrogant enough to tamper with human embryos and not be sure of the result.”
Something dark flitted through her eyes, something about Breedlove that she wasn’t about to share. A long time would come to pass before I would know the whole of it.
“Breedlove told everyone he was seeking cures for genetic diseases in children. To be completely fair, he did come up with a number of techniques still used today in pediatric medicine. But to be completely honest, much of his work was chamber of horrors material. I don’t know how he was able to get people to work for him. Long before my time, even before Adam’s time, he did his creepiest work.”
“Like what?”
“Human/insect intermediates. Mason used to prowl this entire complex in the middle of the night. He knows more of its secrets than anyone else, except maybe Adam. He found the preserved remains of the human/insect intermediates one night. Breedlove tried to hide the most unholy of his researches. Whole sublevels were sealed off, camouflaged as something else, with phony walls. Mason has spent years of sleepless nights discovering these things.”
“He used to walk around here all by himself in the middle of the night?” I couldn’t imagine wandering around the current labs late at night. The thought of prowling around and unearthing sealed levels was spooky.
“Yes. I had a night shift job once. After a while, the dark just isn’t scary anymore. I realized I could hide in the dark as well as anyone or anything else. The night becomes like day for you. One night, I was outside some distance from the main production building and one of the fun-loving production guys crept up on me from behind, thinking he’d scare me. I was the only woman on the shift. He tapped me on the shoulder –mind you, it was very dark, and I was crouched down to read the lot number on a solvent drum—and I didn’t even flinch. I just turned around to see who it was. He was very disappointed. That’s when I realized I was not afraid of the dark anymore.”
I hadn’t expected anything like that out of Rebecca, but perhaps it made sense after all. Rebecca had looked deeply into darker recesses of the heart. The more I knew of her, the more unique I realized she was. She had seen something human in my father when everyone else (except Dr Varady) assumed his humanity was gone.
“What happened to the human/insect hybrids?”
“Mercifully, they were put out of their misery. Mason has films and photographs in safe storage. He said the work was obscene, and worse, that some of the individuals have had some long-term viability. They could have become adults and might be still walking among us.”
“Since they were part-human, putting them down could be considered murder, couldn’t it?”
“Strictly speaking. As I said, a chamber of horrors.”
“I don’t understand why none of this was ever exposed publicly. A lot of people had to know about what went on here.”
“A lot of people did know. To be fair to Adam, dozens of people worked with Breedlove before Adam came, and not one of them came forward. Mason’s tracked them down to be sure they aren’t creating their own chambers of horrors. The ones who haven’t retired are still working in biotechnology and pharmaceuticals.”
“Why wasn’t Breedlove ever prosecuted?”
“Because he was never charged.”
“Why didn’t Mason do anything about him?” Even as I asked the question, I surprised myself, sine I did not ask the question as an accusation. I asked out of puzzlement, out of the belief that seeing charges brought against Breedlove would have been the right thing to do, and what I would have expected from Mason.”
“By the time Mason knew the secrets of this place, he owed Breedlove his life several times over for devising ways to keep him alive dozens of times over. Mason should have died so many times. Only Dr Varady believed he was going to live. Dr Breedlove kept coming up with workable solutions to problems as they cropped up.”
“Was I conceived before or after Incident X?”
“Almost certainly before. Among other effects, Incident X left Mason sterile.”
“How many people like my mother did Breedlove and Adam make?”
“Adam might know, but I don’t know anyone who can answer that question confidently. Mason keeps finding more of them that do not appear in the Genomex lists, but obviously were created with Genomex technology.”
“And what do you think that means?”
“Technology developed here was applied elsewhere, with comparable results.”
“I suggested to Mason once the unpleasant possibility that Adam may not be unique, and that other “Adams” could be out there in the world, hatching Genomex-type mutants to this day. Nearly all of the original Nazis are dead now, but there are still enclaves in this world where they and their children are welcome, and where you’d never guess that the Third Reich was more than 60 years destroyed. Enclaves of a sick Germany. With their absurd racial theories, someone like Adam might have been welcomed.”
“Other Adams creating their own uber-mutants. What a thought.”
“Mason dreads finding out that this is the case. If true, then the problem is much larger than he feared, and probably unstoppable. If he found proof of other programs, he might even retire.”
“Is that what you want him to do?”
“I want him to be able to enjoy his grandchildren the way he could not enjoy his children. This task he has taken on is thankless and will not end in our lifetimes, or yours. And there are books he wants to write. He can’t do anything like that now.”
“What about you?”
“I haven’t really thought about me. I’m adaptable. There are books I want to write, too.”
“I don’t know quite what to make of all this. I’ve heard so much that’s opposite of what I’ve been told my whole life.”
“Change is the only certainty life promises, Catherine. While you’re weighing everything, look for consistency. Pay attention to what people do as opposed to what they say.”
“Do you go along with everything Mason does? Or did?”
“Not blindly. Don’t think there aren’t ‘lively’ discussions of practices and policies. I won’t argue with him in front of other people, but before he does something I consider unwise, I tell him what I think and why, especially if I think of a better way. Mason’s smart enough to listen.”
I hadn’t considered that Rebecca might have influenced the way Mason ran Genomex and the GSA, though the possibility was obvious.
“I feel kind of overwhelmed.”
“You have a lot to think about.”
“Yeah.”
“Fortunately, no one’s going to pressure you for a quick decision. Just take in the data, and keep evaluating where they lead you.”
I spent the balance of the afternoon with Emma. We went through ‘my’ new things, and evaluated what else I needed, and then we went off-site with a shopping list.
“I’m stunned that I’m allowed to leave.”
“Why?” Emma asked.
“Well, I might escape.”
“You aren’t planning that, are you?”
“No.”
“I could have stopped you. It wouldn’t have been fun for either of us, but I would have done that. I wouldn’t have taken on the responsibility if I thought you would run off, however.”
“All of your powers are intact?”
“Complete and undiminished.” Emma smiled. “If anything, they’re stronger. If you’re asking me indirectly if Mason’s had me tampered with, the answer is no. An unqualified no.”
“You’re certain? You don’t remember anything being implanted in your head?”
“I’d remember something like that. What an odd question. Where did that come from?”
“Adam was working on something like that. I thought these people might have something like that, too.”
“How creepy. But that sounds like Adam. He devised the governors and pods. Did he bother telling you about that?”
Adam designed the subdermal governors and stasis pods? I shook my head.
It’s not something he tells mutants very often. For someone who claims to champion our cause, he spent a lot of time constructing devices to control us. Fortunately, many people are seeing through him.”
“What’s this St Katherine’s like?”
“State of the art.”
“Could they have helped my mother?”
“Very likely. Mutant afflictions are dealt with daily there.”
“What does Mason do with…the really dangerous ones?”
“If they’re out of control or insane, first they try governors and medication. If the medication works, they can go back into the world, but only if they live in one of the residences where their medication can be monitored and given consistently. That way, they can have nearly normal lives. Podding is the last resort, Catherine, but if they’re insane and capable of destroying half a city, it’s the only humane alternative. Mason spent months in a pod. Podding isn’t something he signs off on lightly.”
“I guess not. I don’t know what else could be done with someone like that.”
“We only admit this among ourselves, but it’s true: a percentage of us think we’re better than ordinary humans and don’t believe we’re bound by their laws. Such mutants think they’re above general population, the next step in human evolution. This dangerous attitude makes monsters of its believers, when taken to extremes. One of the lessons the very young ones are taught is that they are modified humans, not superior, not inferior, but modified.
“I think it’s sad we’re expected not to have children.”
“It is. But making another generation, possibly with mixed talents and unpredictable outcomes, well, that’s hardly fair or kind, is it?”
“I see the sense of it, but it’s still sad.”
“There are already a lot of orphaned mutant children whose parents have died young. That’s sad, too. Mason’s program is tough, logical, and probably the most human approach to dealing with the existence of Genomex mutants. The program includes placement of those mutant orphans with responsible mutants who will understand their abilities. Jesse and I have registered in the program.”
“Adam thinks Mason is controlling you and Jesse.”
“What do you think?”
“I think Mason has so much to worry over he doesn’t have time to watch what you and Jesse are doing. He simply trusts you.”
“Exactly.”
“Don’t let Adam get near you.”
“Don’t worry. Adam should be careful not to come anywhere near me. Neither Adam nor Mason have any idea just what I could do to them. Mason doesn’t want to know and doesn’t have anything to worry about since he’s always straight with me. Adam’s another story.”
“Adam’s always that way, isn’t he”
“Unfortunately, yes.”
That evening, I had dinner with Mason and Rebecca, but this time, things were quite different. We had a picnic out of sight of the complex with a view of the lake. Rebecca had changed into jeans, but Mason was formal as ever.
“Catherine, before even asking him if he has any other clothes, the answer is yes, somewhere at the bottom of his closet.” She was laughing.
“My approach does allow for simplicity and ease in planning one’s dress. Unlike some people.” He was playing.
We just talked that evening, beginning an almost unchanging pattern early every evening. Like a family.
Sitting outside in the fresh air made me sleepy. After dinner I took a long, soaking bath in some nice-smelling stuff I’d bought with Emma. I turned in early, falling asleep reading a book Rebecca had loaned me.
I was very annoyed when Adam’s voice woke me a few hours after I dozed off.
*Adam, I’m exhausted. I just want to sleep.*
*But we need to talk. You have to tell me what you’ve learned.*
*To begin with, the only one wearing a governor in this place is me. That includes Emma and Jesse.*
*You saw Emma and Jesse?*
*I had breakfast with them. They’re independent people. They’re not wearing governors now, and their necks don’t show any marks of their being recently removed.*
*How is Eckhart controlling them? Could he have implanted the next generation of control devices, like the one you’re wearing?*
*You said the technology was unique.*
*I believed it was.*
*Adam, Emma and Jesse seem spontaneous, genuine, and themselves. They don’t seem reluctant to talk about anything and they aren’t careful about what they say, either. Most of all, they appear to be happy.*
I enjoyed telling Adam that. I could almost feel his anger and aggravation, and that felt surprisingly good. He did not want to believe his “children” could be happy or succeed without his special guidance. The truth was that Emma and Jesse had been suffocating under Adam’s control, and they blossomed once free of Adam.
*What about that other sell-out, Shalimar?*
*Shalimar doesn’t work here. She never did. She has some kind of martial arts business. It’s doing very well.*
Adam didn’t want to hear that, either. He treated Shalimar more like a child than any of the others, since he met her when she was only fifteen.
*This is all so fantastic, Catherine.*
*But true, Adam. Either these people all had drastic personality changes as soon as you stopped seeing them daily, or your recollections are faulty.*
Of course, what I meant was ‘or most everything you’ve told me about them was a lie’, but I wasn’t prepared to argue with him, just let him know how much I questioned what he told me. From a distance, powerless to flash his I-Know-More-Than-You-Do Adam smile, he would be greatly annoyed. I could almost see him excavating his pockets for a roll of antacids. Admitting he was wrong was almost impossible for Adam.
*Oh, come on, Catherine, when did you ever hear anything good about Eckhart?*
*He’s treated me well. And if he was so rotten, what was my mother doing with him?*
*I don’t have an answer for that. Maybe he assaulted her in a drunken stupor.*
*Adam! He’s treating me with respect. I’m going to meet his other children.*
*The Progeny of the Beautiful Jacqueline. I wonder if they have Jackie’s sense and Eckhart’s looks? Hah. Danielle never told me anything that made me think Eckhart might be your father. This is very odd. I have to admit to continuing puzzlement over your pedigree.*
But you would not have wanted to consider that possibility, would you? No, not proud Adam.
*Adam, I don’t think I want to help you any longer. I know I don’t.*
I could hear his laughter in my head, not as if he was speaking to me in the same room, but thin and tinny, echoing from a distant place.
*Catherine, you don’t have any choice. I tell you what to do. I haven’t forced you to do anything yet because it hasn’t been necessary—yet. In my way of thinking, you have gained access to my enemy’s inner places and that is an advantage I intend to exploit.*
*You can’t make me hurt these people.*
*Who?*
*Mason. Rebecca. Emma. Jesse.*
*Care about them already, Catherine?* He mocked me.
*Yes.*
*Silly girl. That’s a human frailty. You’re a mutant. Be better than a human.*
*I am a human, and I won’t hurt them.*
*I can make you do anything I want you to do. You’ll see. Don’t question me.*
He shut down his half of the dialogue before I could respond. Hours went by before I could sleep again.
After a while, I became accustomed to Mason’s ‘Mr Creepy’ took. Since my relationship with him was positive, the look ceased to be frightening. After a little longer, I stopped ‘seeing’ it at all.
One evening after the Genomex employees had gone home, Mason and I went for a walk by the lake. I suppose he did not want his people seeing him do anything so human. I know it wasn’t about being ashamed of me because he made no secret of being my father.
“Dr Varady and I discussed your educational assessments today. You’re very bright, Catherine, but I doubt you’ll be shocked to learn your education to date has been hit and miss.”
“I’m not shocked. Mom and I moved a lot. Some of the schools weren’t very good.”
“Have you given any more thought to what you want to do?”
“I don’t have any clear idea. From what Dr Varady says, I have more possibilities than I thought.”
“I’ve always made my way with my mind. I’m not a snob about this, but it is what I know, and it is the direction I’ve encouraged my other children to take. I’ve also tried my best to make sure that whatever they did to make a living, they would be more than knowledgeable in their field. Having a rich interior life to draw upon made all the difference seeing me through the last eighteen years.”
“What do you mean?” He was telling me something important and I did not want to miss his meaning.
“During the darker moments of my life, such as Marc’s drowning, instead of losing myself in pop culture, I lost myself in learning. The more you know, the more varied and subtle connections you are able to make in your mind, not just about what you do for a living, but about everything. I’ve hired a lot of brilliant individuals with remarkable formal educations. Within the bounds of their expertise, some had no match in the world. Outside of those fields, many of them knew not much of anything, and could be readily gulled by propaganda and emotional appeals. I’m not saying I know everything, but I know a little about a lot of things, most of that not acquired in formal classroom settings. Is this making sense to you?”
“Some. I’ve never heard anyone say anything like this.” I don’t think anyone –not even my mother—had ever spoken so seriously to me before. I decided I liked the way he was speaking, realizing he respected my intelligence and was concerned about the kind of person I was and would become.
“That’s because it’s an old-fashioned attitude fallen out of fashion.” Mason smiled at me. He genuinely liked me.
This discussion wasn’t about his progeny having more degrees or credits than the cultural norm. No, this was about adaptability and survival in a difficult world.
“And you want me to always land on my feet, like a cat.”
“Yes. Surprise your friends. Awe your enemies. As I do. Everytime.” Smiling, he invested that reply with great emotion.
“I’ve seen people attempt to force a child to be someone they’re not. That’s why I am explaining things to you this way. I am prepared to put together whatever combination of classroom instruction, one-on-one tutoring, or organized reading program to develop your mind, but only if you want that. I won’t force you. It has to come from you. You would have to work very hard and develop a level of discipline I honestly do not perceive in your character at present. Talk to Rebecca as well. She doesn’t wear her scars as obviously as I display mine, but she has been through a lot. Life can be very hard, even if we strive to do everything right. She’ll tell you how she came through the worst of it without bitterness or even madness.”
“And if I say thanks, but no thanks to catching up on my education?” I didn’t really mean it. I wanted to hear what he would say.
“Your life is your own. The choice is your own, not mine.” He sounded disappointed.
I wanted to scream at him, ‘Adam has put this thing into my head, and is going to force me to bring harm to you, just as I’m beginning to surprise myself and care about you. Get this thing out of my head! Find someone capable of removing it or neutralizing it!’…but every time I started to say something, nothing would come out. I was making odd, involuntary choking noises.
“Catherine?”
“I’m okay.” Well, I wasn’t. Now I knew just how much of me Adam possessed.
How am I going to save you from me?
“I want to try, Mason. I just wondered what you would say if I refused.”
“It’s going to be a lot of work. Hours of serious study daily. I suspect you’ll have to learn how to study to begin with.”
“I’m tired of being told I’m an ‘underachiever’. I want to find out what I can do.” And I wanted to prove I was as good as his other children. A secret part of me wanted to prove I was better.
“Very well.” He was pleased, more than his face showed.
I realized something at that moment: how important it was to me to please Mason, win his approval, and be a source of pride for him. I had not expected this.
“You must be curious about your half-sibs, yes?”
“I’m dying of curiosity. Especially about Grey. I’ve always wanted a brother, an older one, to stick up for me.”
“I have not said anything about this to Rebecca, but what you think of the idea of bringing them here for Thanksgiving, and Emma, Jesse, and Shalimar, maybe even Rebecca’s brother Steve and wife Sherri? A family kind of feast, with all the traditional trimmings, and all the traditional anxieties?”
“Wow.” Wow, indeed, considering Laura Varady’s description of his retreat from people. And what would Rebecca think? She did fine in business settings, but I was beginning to think that was merely camouflage.
“Last Thanksgiving with Rebecca was the first one I did not spend alone since 1990, when I was still with Jackie, and Grey was very small.”
All of the time I’ve been alive, and more.
“I’ve never done anything like that. A few times, Mom and I did Thanksgiving with one of her boyfriends and their children from assorted marriages and relationships, but never with the same guy twice, so it never ‘felt’ the way it’s supposed to.”
No, it hadn’t. Some of Mom’s boyfriends, were, well, no one I wanted ever to see again. Their offspring were frequently stupid (like their mothers; why are men surprised when the children they sire with witless women turn out much like their dams?) or top-heavy with emotional problems.
“I’m not intending to go anywhere or abandon you, Catherine.” Mason read people very well. No wonder he could instill such fear.
“I can tell. I just cannot believe my luck. My good luck. I’m glad I’m here.” I meant every word.
“I cannot believe mine. The evening before she flew out of here, Rebecca warned me not to raise my hopes too high, that you could be wearing nipple rings, obscene tattoos, and be carrying Mulwray’s twins.”
“Mulwray’s twins!”
“Yes. The thought of Brennan Mulwray as a de facto son-in-law inspired murderous fantasies. Not that I require much motivation to think unpleasant thoughts about Mulwray.”
I laughed. “When I first met Brennan, I thought he was pretty darn cool, but about a week after Adam took me in, I couldn’t stand him, and then things got worse.”
“What made you re-think Brennan?”
“He swiped my change. I don’t think he can walk past a vending machine without feeding. I could not leave change in my pockets overnight. I had to hide my wallet and change under my pillow overnight.”
“Mulwray’s a thief.”
“Full time! And he never forgets that. Then, there are his clothes. When I was younger, I thought it was cool, but there is something sad about a guy Brennan’s age wearing stuff you’d expect to see on a marketing-entranced fourteen year old. Seeing Jesse the way he dresses now convinced me.”
“Mulwray was never in the running as a potential son-in-law?”
“No. His name never passed the entry box.”
Mason laughed. “Can you tell me you don’t have any embarrassing tattoos?”
“Not a one. No tattoos of any kind.”
“That’s a relief. And your mother never said anything which made you think I was your father?”
“Nothing. Most of the time growing up I thought Adam must be my father, just from the way she talked about him. Well, she thought a lot of him.”
“I’m not going to presume to speak for Adam or know his mind, but he may well have used her as he did most other Genomex mutants, as research subjects. Adam always did his best to charm the ones whose traits intrigued him the most.”
Mason was trying to be gentle. But I already knew the truth of Adam. Everything he did was about Adam, not about anyone else.
“What was your father like?”
“My father –your grandfather—still is. He’s an MD, a psychiatrist. I have not seen him in 20 years. I have no wish to see him. He’s either insane or incredibly cruel. Dr Eckhart might even manage to be both. I blame him for Marc’s drowning and my mother’s suicide. He had a stroke years ago. I resolved a long time ago not to be like him, at least, not with my children. You are not missing much by not knowing him.”
Mason sounded bitter, and miserably unhappy. Rebecca had told me the story of Marc’s drowning and how Mason found his mother’s body. He had the intelligence to do his best not to be the kind of parent my grandfather had been, and that was a good thing.
“What happened to your father to make him that way?”
Mason shook his head. “I have no idea. Anyone who might have known is gone. Growing up, I never even heard any stories. Explaining him would not have excused his actions, although there is a story buried somewhere in his past.”
“That’s all so sad.”
“Yes. But all is not lost: I found you. You found me. If Adam had not sent me his nasty video message I would not have known you.”
Mason spent time with me without Rebecca. She was smart enough to understand and not be jealous, as some ‘evil stepmothers’ might become. I learned a lot of family material this way, and he learned my much shorter history.
2009 Separate the Sorrow part 4
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The Sun Never Sets on PureMX.net
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