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Part 1
Part 2
Part 4
Part 5
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Alliances Old, Alliances New
Part 3
Adam was in a hurry. He wouldn’t let Shalimar make a potty stop and he wouldn’t let Brennan grab a handful of Little Debbie Nutty Bars. Adam ignored his own rules and got the Double Helix aloft without the walkaround inspection and preflight checklist he mandated for others.
“If they’re there, I want them no matter what it takes.” The Double Helix emerged from the mountainside at just subsonic speed, far faster than flight was intended within the tunnel. Entering recklessly into heavily traveled airspace, only automated systems spared them collisions with a pair of MD-11s.
Adam raged the balance of the flight, wearing at Shalimar’s patience and making Brennan ignore him completely.
Well away from Genomex, Adam put the Double Helix into stealth mode before bringing the craft down inside the perimeter of the fence line. Exiting the plane, the three made their way along the beach which stank of small, decaying fish lying everywhere.
“What are we doing, Adam? Are we going to walk in the front door?” Brennan’s question was unusually apt, because Adam had in fact given no thought to what they would actually do, just that they had to do something at Genomex, and now.
Adam spun about in the sand to confront Brennan, aggravated with any questioning of his authority. Behind Brennan, Shalimar had stopped. With intense concentration, she was carefully digging out a hole in the sand with her right foot, unconcerned with the world about her.
“Shalimar, not HERE!” Adam shouted.
Inside the complex, their arrival had not gone unnoticed. Emma, Jesse, and Eckhart watched their progression along the beach from several cameras.
“I swore to you that I would not ask you to turn against your friends, and I meant it, but your former companions seem determined to deliver themselves to me. Do you have any idea what Adam is doing?”
“None,” Jesse said.
“He seems to be headed for the front door,” Emma noted.
“Adam’s plunging ahead as if he expects to walk in the main entrance unopposed. Can even Adam be that emotional?” Eckhart mused.
“They wasted no time hunting for us,” Jesse said.
“Adam must be in a state of white-hot rage to approach the complex with such a lack of caution.” Eckhart watched as Shalimar dropped back and began digging her hole. “What is she doing?” He adjusted the camera to zoom in on Shalimar.
“Oh, no!” Emma said, horrified.
“What is it?” Eckhart asked.
“She’s digging a hole like a cat, right before…”
Jesse laughed. “Is she going to do what I think she’s going to do, Emma?”
“Yes. This is so embarrassing.”
“Mee-Aw,” Jesse said, laughing.
“Oh, dear God,” Eckhart said. “I’ve read reports about ferals who did this. The same non-human DNA allowing her to drop eight stories and land like a cat also compels her to relieve herself like one. But I’ve never seen it before. Or wanted to.”
Adam lunged for Shalimar, seizing her by the back of the neck and dragging her away from the hole.
“Shalimar, Shalimar, we’ve talked about this several times and I thought you understood that you cannot DO this. Not in front of other people.”
“Huh?” Shalimar was confused. The urgency of her full bladder had tripped an instinctual response, overriding her human restraints.
One of April’s agents outfitted as a groundskeeper, weed whacker in hand, lumbered into view.
“Hey!”
“This isn’t going to work.” Adam turned and ran for the Double Helix, Shalimar and Brennan bounding after.
Jesse smirked. “You never told me Shalimar did that.”
“She never told you, either, and you’ve known her longer than I have,” Emma said.
“Someone must have conditioned her at a young age against such instinctive behavior, or everyone would have known about it. Ferals frequently display conduct considered outrageous for humans, but not for the sources of their animal DNA. The ones unfortunate enough to have been raised without proper discipline and conditioning are all but impossible to…housebreak…as adults.”
Jesse listened to Eckhart’s serious comment, but he was still deeply amused by Shalimar’s behavior. “Do you know if she has a litter pan, Emma?”
“Jesse…” Emma’s patience was nearly gone.
“Mr Kilmartin, it is just possible that she may. Many ferals are quite bizarre. Those with mammalian DNA are generally…mostly human. However, those with invertebrate DNA are quirky physically and mentally. Some of the work Paul Breedlove did amending insect DNA to human embryos was nothing short of monstrous.”
“Insect DNA?” Jesse had not heard of this work. His giddy mood vanished.
Eckhart nodded. “All the living examples were mercifully destroyed before I came to Genomex, but I have seen films and photographs. Paul documented his unholy science with painstaking care and completeness, but from him, that isn’t surprising.”
“That’s revolting,” Emma said.
“Genomex is full of secrets. Some of those secrets are astonishingly hideous and grim, like the insect ferals. That work was worthy of the Third Reich or the Japanese Empire. The shiny, high-tech façade of Genomex is a lie. ‘Paul Breedlove’ was a lie, a fiction to gloss over a much darker origin.”
Jesse’s levity was long vanished. “We’re part of this now. We should know.”
“Yes, you should. In the closing days of WW2, a number of German scientists deliberately surrendered to American forces rather than be captured by the Soviets.”
“Operation Paperclip,” Jesse said.
“Yes. The American government brought these people to this country and put them to work, despite the fact that some should have been prosecuted as war criminals. We’ve come to think of rocket-building as a high-tech, clean-room activity, but the V1 and V2s were built in hellish underground factories by slave labor imported from all over Europe. The same man who laid out the launch area of Peenemunde did the initial planning of Cape Canaveral as well. Breedlove did not work in rocketry, but was part of the Third Reich’s so-called medical research.”
“He was a Nazi?” Emma asked. She had never heard rumors of Breedlove having connections to Nazism or Germany.
“When he called himself Kurt von Schuler he was. It took me years to piece Breedlove’s past together into a coherent whole.”
“Adam always spoke so highly of Breedlove. Didn’t he know?” Jesse asked.
“Adam would not be the first man to ignore his hero’s blighted beginnings. He was more than Breedlove’s protégé; Paul treated him like a son, a spoiled son. Adam got away with things which would have gotten anyone else dismissed.”
“Such as?” Jesse asked. The idea of Adam the Pure, Adam the Paragon committing offenses amused Jesse. He wanted to know more.
“Adam had a disagreement with another employee that ended up in Breedlove’s office. When Breedlove backed the other employee and not Adam, Adam broke into the Genomex email and sent nearly everyone onsite a message describing this individual as falsifying her academic record and having the social habits of a cat in estrus.”
“Wow,” Jesse said.
“Well, of course the matter came to me. Breedlove knew Adam was responsible but he would not discipline him, although he added his signature to the letter everyone received branding the email as false and vicious, and defending the young woman’s qualifications and character, promising any future abuse of the email system would lead to immediate dismissal.”
“What did Adam do?” Emma asked.
“Well, Breedlove had him in his office for several hours later that day, and the ‘exchange’ was loud and heated. I was told Adam did not speak to Breedlove for weeks, and naturally, Adam blamed me for all the unpleasantness, even though he brought it on himself. I was security director. I was doing my job.”
Emma smiled, reading more of Eckhart than he might have wished. “You did the right thing.”
“Everyone, absolutely everyone knew that only one individual at Genomex could do such a nasty, juvenile act and keep their job. There had been jokes before circulating about how Adam really believed he was the smartest man in the world, but after this incident they became jokes about the ‘smartest and most insecure man in the world’ since it came out that Adam had been making overtures to this very intelligent and lovely woman, who paid him no notice whatsoever.”
“Adam doesn’t have much capacity for laughing at himself,” Jesse said. “Outright ridicule must have made him crazy.”
“He did not handle things well. Most of the jokes were much ruder than I have described.”
“I can imagine,” Jesse said.
“How long did this go on?” Emma asked.
“Months,” Eckhart answered. “Adam would not let go of it. His lies blew up in his face, so then he spent a lot of effort trying to sabotage this woman. Fortunately, she did not play the game with him and his attempts ended only in further ridicule and erosion of his reputation, and ever more rude jokes. Accustomed to getting his own way, Adam took a long time to understand that he would not always get what he wanted, no matter how smart he was.”
“This is just not the way Adam describes his twenty years at Genomex,” Jesse said, “although I believe your story. A lot of techy guys are like that, capable and competent in their work, but socially confused.”
“Paul Breedlove inculcated the attitude in Adam that he could do no wrong. Breedlove gained influence over Adam at a very young age. A wiser man would have developed his son in a more balanced fashion. All Breedlove wanted from Adam was a lot of work, and someone to carry on his own studies.”
“To hear Adam tell it, Breedlove was a saintly man, a pure scientist motivated by curiosity,” Emma said. “Not just a solid researcher, but a good man.”
Eckhart hesitated before adding further comment.
“So much for appearances. I was able to confirm that Paul Breedlove was briefly Dr Mengele’s protégé…when Mengele greeted the boxcars newly arrived in the hell of Oswiecim, and decided who would live and who would go to the ‘showers’. For a short time, Paul Breedlove stood by the railroad siding beside Mengele.”
“Can you imagine? The medical prodigy Kurt von Schuler, not old enough to serve in the Nazi war or terror machine, participating in the unspeakable, and decades later presenting himself to the world as Paul Breedlove, savior of sick children?”
“This deeply disturbs you personally,” Emma said. “Why?”
“For years, I served Paul Breedlove with great loyalty. I believed him. I did not learn about his origins until after my ‘accident’ confined me to Genomex. I had uncounted hours in the middle of the night to delve through the corporate archives. I was not absolutely convinced of what Breedlove was until I opened a banker’s box containing documentation of his life in the Fatherland, including an extended pedigree confirming his ‘pure Aryan descent’, and his Nazi party card.”
“Wow,” Emma said.
“Did all of this burn in the same fire that destroyed the consent forms?” Jesse asked.
“The pedigree is gone, but the party card I took with me that night. It’s hidden behind paneling in my quarters.”
Eckhart appeared impassive and controlled, but Emma’s mind was buffeted by the turbulence and intensity of his emotions.
“Paul saved my life several times after the accident, before I knew anything much about him other than his official biography. He was unquestionably brilliant and creative; without his efforts, I would be dead. He devised most of the protocols that keep me alive. I should have been more astute. More aware. More questioning. More insightful. I feel tainted by the association, touched by the hands of one of the lesser monsters of the last century.”
“You did not know.” Then Eckhart’s vivid recollection of Breedlove’s murder flooded her mind. “But now, his victims are avenged,” Emma said quietly.
Their eyes met.
“I think you did well,” she said.
“I sometimes wonder what the old Nazi would have thought had he known of my descent from a daughter of Judah Benjamin. Part of my pedigree is southern.”
“Who was?” Jesse asked.
“The Jewish attorney who in turn served as the Attorney General, Secretary of War, and Secretary of State of the Confederacy. It’s no secret; it’s a source of family pride. But it never came up in conversation with Paul.”
Emma and Jesse’s temporary quarters at Genomex consisted of an office with desks and bookcases pushed to one side, with a clothes rack and an inflatable mattress. Restrooms with lockers and showers were conveniently close.
Their circumstances were Spartan but private. April’s staff was housed similarly but in conditions more akin to a barracks or dormitory.
Emma stood by the floor to ceiling window and looked out over the water. A nearly full moon, not visible from this angle, shone down upon the waves.
“What are you doing up, Emma. It’s the middle of the night.” Jesse his watch aside in the darkness.
“I woke up thinking about Paul Breedlove. How does anyone become a Paul Breedlove, Jesse? Or a Mason Eckhart? Is it possible that any of us could become a monster, or at least a very damaged person, and not even notice the process?”
“I don’t know. I hope that I would notice myself changing.”
Emma sighed. “We watch old movies and not so old movies, and it’s always so obvious that the Nazis are evil and that the forces of Empire are evil. You watch, and you imagine that if you lived in such times, you would be on the side of good.”
“Well, yeah.”
“But that’s the scary part, Jesse. I realized today that we can’t be sure what side we’ll find ourselves. Only a handful of human monsters set out to commit mass murder, but they always seem able to find lieutenants and assistants. Where does responsibility begin and end? I don’t think anyone can imagine a reason to believe Mengele was not responsible for the deaths he ordered. The guards who herded people into the ‘showers’ were responsible, though they did not select the victims or the time of their murder. What about the guys who put the Zyklon B in place? They knew what it was for, but they never had anything to do with the people. What about the guy who drove the delivery truck bringing in fresh stocks of Zyklon B? Or the guys who worked in the plant where it was manufactured? What about a file clerk working in that plant, who worked to feed her family, who had nothing to do with manufacturing, and who never did anything to harm Jew or Gypsy, who never threw a brick through the window of a Jewish shop? Is that file clerk evil? Where does evil begin, Jesse? Where does it end? Is evil rooted in all of us?”
“I don’t know.”
“I don’t, either. Paul Breedlove touched us, too. Just as Eckhart is alive today in some measure because of something Breedlove learned or was directed towards during the Nazi medical programs, we exist as part of the legacy of those programs.”
“That doesn’t make us evil.”
“Oh, no. Absolutely not. But it connects us to something we believed was remote and unrelated to us. Except it wasn’t.”
“Like finding out that not only was your great-great-grandfather was from Alabama, but that he owned slaves.”
“Exactly. The past turns out to be not so dead after all.”
“I could make a joke of all this and say that Eckhart is being a gloomy influence on you, but that would be wrong. The questions you’re asking, no matter who led you to ask them, are important.”
“My agenda remains unchanged: to limit the influence of the Genomex mutants upon the human gene pool and protect society from the dangerous or destructive mutants. Dealing with dangerous individuals leaves few options. But I want to try a different approach with those who are not violent, not criminal, and who, given the choice, would elect to live otherwise ordinary lives.”
“What do you have in mind?” Emma asked.
“A kind of mutant outreach. Meetings with one mutant at a time, or small groups of mutants.”
“If I went to the underground, and proposed such a thing, they would assume you are controlling me. These people don’t trust you. No one would come to such a meeting.” Emma shook her head for emphasis.
“Hear the whole of it: either you, or Mr Kilmartin will approach the underground to find a likely candidate. The second meeting will be on neutral ground with only the two of you and me present. We will use open, public locations so this is apparent.”
“You?” Jesse asked.
“Me only. No armed GSA agents will be there. I’ll be armed. I’m always armed, but that is about protecting myself from ordinary criminals or future betrayals. I’m simply too vulnerable physically to do otherwise. You will display that you are not wearing governors, and confirm I am telling the truth to the limits of my knowledge.”
“They hate you,” Emma said. “You must understand this.”
“I don’t believe I’ve ever expected to be liked by anyone, Ms deLauro.”
Emma was stunned. “That’s so sad,” Emma said.
“Not really. That attitude frees me to be utterly blunt and thoroughly rational. My object is not winning the affection and friendship of the Genomex mutants. I want to deal with them humanely, and still prevent disaster. They should all know they are sick, whether symptoms of their inevitable decline have begun or not.”
“That probably isn’t generally known,” Jesse said. “We have not known for long.”
“They need to be told their children will share their illness and early death. I cannot compel them to be childless, but knowingly making damaged children is selfish, and cruel.”
And you mean that.
“Those who agree to make no contribution to the gene pool will be offered the best known treatments and their lives will be extended. We’ll know who they are. We’ll leave them free to live as they please, with no intrusion from the GSA. No one will know there is anything different about them. They will have normal lives, no governors, no stasis pods.”
“And the ones who won’t agree?”
“Initially, I will concentrate solely upon removing the dangerous ones from the streets. After about nine months, however, most of all of the others should know about the program. At that time, my agents will be instructed to gently bring in any mutant. I’ll make them the same offer with identical conditions.”
“I will do everything to allow every mutant capable of living an otherwise normal life be able to live that life. For the predators and mentally unbalanced, I will conduct business as usual. Criminals, once captured, will be implanted with governors and handed over to the courts to be prosecuted. There are too many mutants using their talents to prey upon honest people. All mutants should be concerned with the way the criminals among them cast doubts upon the character of them all.”
“We tend to think of ourselves as mutants first,” Jesse said, “although the flaw in that line of thinking is obvious.”
“A criminal with mutant abilities does not care if he is preying upon humans or mutants. They are not selective.”
“Most of us need to understand that,” Emma said, recalling Brennan’s stories of easy gain. She could recall no expression of remorse from Brennan.
“I will pursue criminal mutants with utmost dedication. Ordinary law enforcement is unprepared to capture them.”
“You are good at it,” Jesse said.
“I’ve never enjoyed the pursuit, Mr Kilmartin. Temperamentally, it suits me, and I’m good at it, but I do not enjoy it. No doubt there are those who believe I relish the hunt, but the truth of it is that I am probably one of the few men in this country with a proper understanding of the problem and the stomach and will to aggressively work towards a solution.”
Jesse and Emma sat silently.
“If you can offer better alternatives, I’m open to your ideas. It’s a difficult situation, but I cannot think of any fairer way.”
Jesse shrugged. “I can’t think of anything.”
“I wish this wasn’t necessary,” Emma said.
“So do I. But it is. I’ve explained what is at stake.”
“I suppose it’s always like this when people find themselves facing such a task. They all wish they could be doing something else, but life did not offer that possibility, not if they were going to be responsible adults. Just saying that sounds old-fashioned, but it is the simple, painful truth, isn’t it?” Emma asked, looking sad and reflective.
“Yes,” Jesse said.
“Exactly so, Ms deLauro.”
“What exactly do you want us to do?” Jesse asked.
“I assume you still know how to contact the underground?”
Emma nodded.
“Mr Kilmartin, note that I am not asking the how of this. As odd as it might sound to your ears, I do want to establish trust. Trust is fragile, painstaking to acquire, and all too easy to destroy. I’m not asking for special consideration, only the opportunity to earn your trust.”
“I understand,” Jesse said.
“Good. Make contact from a pay phone. I don’t want anyone inside or outside of these walls to be able to trace these contacts. I don’t want to know anything about it. What I don’t know, I cannot tell anyone else. You must understand that there are people, such as April, to whom I am pledged to speak the truth. Do you think I am being fair enough with you?”
“Yeah,” Jesse said.
“Meet with them. Set up a second meeting, with the two of you, and me. Just as I will not be bringing armed agents, I expect them not to be accompanied by a pack of aggressive mutants.”
“A lot of them would like to kill you,” Jesse said. “Killing you is a frequent topic of conversation in mutant circles.”
“No doubt,” Eckhart said without hesitation or emotion.
“But you’ll have protection, won’t you?” Emma asked. “You expect us…to protect you.”
“Yes,” Eckhart said, meeting Emma’s eyes.
She met his gaze unflinchingly, knowing, sensing, that he was not being arrogantly manipulative or quietly presumptuous. What was present was trust in Emma’s understanding and acceptance of what she had learned from him and growing confidence in her own intelligence and character. She found his assessment flattering.
“Thank you.”
“You are welcome.”
Over a year of living an unsettled life had aged Allison Turner. Already thin, she now appeared haggard, her manner subdued. She approached Emma warily, searching for signs of a trap about to close around her.
“There’s a strange story making the rounds about you.” Allison’s manner was wary and guarded.
“I can only tell you the straight story, Allison, which is that Jesse and I have left Adam’s group for personal reasons.”
“Adam says you left Mutant X because Eckhart offered you a better deal.”
“It’s not that simple. Jesse and I had discussed leaving Adam for months. Adam controls the personal lives of Mutant X, as if each of us was still a child, not an independent adult. Coincidentally, Eckhart offered us a safe place to go, and a way to help other mutants. Things just happened to work out the way that they did.”
“Help mutants? Eckhart? Emma…what has he done to you?” Allison’s face tensed. “Emma you hate this man as much as I do. He penned us up in an outdoor cage like a bunch of stray dogs. What is going on with you?” Allison crossed her arms defensively and glared in puzzlement at Emma. Emma had always seemed reasonable before, so Allison had difficulty in understanding the drastic change in attitude.
“Nothing. Come see for yourself.” Emma held her hair away from the back of her neck, and bent her head forward and down, proving to Allison that she carried no subdermal governor. “Jesse doesn’t have one, either.”
Allison came to stand just behind Emma, and inspected the back of her neck, puzzled and dubious. “I don’t understand. He has to be doing something. Eckhart’s always up to something. I don’t think he knows how to have a straightforward, honest thought.”
“I’m doing this of my own choosing. Eckhart’s…odd, but he’s not deceiving or using me.”
Allison rolled her eyes. “You sound crazy. Do you know how crazy this sounds?”
“I know how I sound, but it’s the simple truth. You know what I can do and you know he has no defenses against me.”
“Adam is looking for you. He’s looking everywhere. He has everyone out looking.”
“Is he offering a bounty on me?” Emma asked.
“He is offering a reward. He wants you back badly. Every time there is a rumor of Jesse or you being sighted, Adam flies to investigate the rumor himself.”
“Allison, I am not a minor child and Adam is not my legal guardian. I am an independent adult woman, as you are. I did not pledge myself to serve Adam for life, even if he would like to believe that. By what right can Adam tell me what to do or where to be, Allison?”
Allison stood silent for a moment. “Well, I don’t know. I can only tell you what he’s saying.” Adam’s authority and wisdom were rarely questioned by anyone in the underground. Adam was accustomed to merely desiring a thing in order to get it. His wishes and whims were treated by the underground as if they had the weight of logic or law behind them.
“I’m not going back to him, because I do not wish to be treated like a child.”
“Maybe you and Adam need to talk and reach some kind of middle ground position.”
“With Adam, there is no middle ground. There is Adam’s way, and everyone else’s, which is wrong, wrong, wrong. Allison, can you be back here tomorrow at the same time? It’s important.”
“I could be here. Why?”
“I will be here with Jesse and Eckhart.”
“With his goons ready to drop a net over me? Not a chance, Emma.”
Emma shook her head. “It’ll just be the three of us. No goons. No ‘nets’. Just talk.”
“Sounds like a great opportunity to kill Eckhart. I’ll bring a few friends along. Everybody will want a chance at him.”
Emma shook her head. “No friends. Just you. If I sense the presence of people with murderous intent, I’ll warn him.”
“You are serious. You would tell him, wouldn’t you?”
“I promised Eckhart that I would.”
“I don’t understand what you are doing with that man. I don’t think he’s the Antichrist, but I think he’s one of the harbingers.”
Emma laughed. “I believed that once, too. The truth about Eckhart is much tamer.”
“Things are not the way Adam explained. Adam lied to us about our past, and about our futures. We need to know the truth. We can go into that tomorrow. What if you could live a normal life, without having to look over your shoulder for the GSA, be able to use your real name, never need to run, never need to hide?”
“With Eckhart out of the freezer, that isn’t going to happen. Emma, I know how he is.”
“Be here tomorrow. Hear what he has to say. Just listen. Nothing will be asked of you.”
“This has to be a trap. Eckhart schemes in his dreams.”
“If this is a trap, I swear I’ll kill Eckhart myself. You know I can do that. So does he.”
“How many people does he have watching us now?” Allison asked.
“None. Eckhart didn’t want to know anything about this meeting. He doesn’t know that I’m talking to you, or where I am.”
“This is all so crazy.”
“I know. But Allison, situations can change.”
“Just be here tomorrow. Please.”
“I don’t know. Emma, I don’t like the way I have to live. I wish there was another way. But I’m scared.”
“I understand. Jesse will be here tomorrow, too. You’ve known Jesse a long time.”
“I make no promises, Emma.”
“Try.”
Jesse entered Eckhart’s office, still feeling vague discomfort.
“I’ve completed packing up the contents of Dr Harrison’s office for later evaluation. I didn’t find anything demanding attention now.”
“You didn’t find any of his ‘playthings’?” Eckhart asked.
“Playthings?” Jesse was puzzled.
“If the reference does not mean anything to you, you didn’t see them, and you should consider yourself fortunate.”
“I’m confused.”
“Dr Harrison had some unusual personal pastimes. He left some of his toys sitting out in plain sight, and I had the ill luck of seeing them. Harrison was a very strange snake of a man.”
“He had an odd window garden.”
Eckhart groaned. “His carnivores.”
“What do you want done with them?”
“Get them out of here.”
“I’ll pitch them.”
“Dr Harrison gave each one of those plants a name, and he talked to them.”
“Names?”
“Gidney. Cloyd. Ysabeau. But that’s not the worst of it. He didn’t feed his pets dead insects, oh, no. He ordered cartons of live insects and released them inside the terrariums. I had the ill luck of witnessing feeding time once.”
Jesse sat quietly for a moment. For some time, he had considered Eckhart the oddest individual in his experience, but here he was, listening to Eckhart describe the hobbies and interests of Dr Harrison, who made Eckhart seem almost normal.
“That’s like the snake people who feed live mice to their pets,” Jesse said.
“Yes,” Eckhart replied, with great disgust. “Ken Harrison was bizarre.”
Allison appeared on time at the appointed place and hour.
Emma smiled. “Hello, Allison.”
“Thank you for coming, Ms Turner.” Eckhart sounded sincere without a suggestion of irony or sarcasm.
Allison stared coldly at Eckhart. He was accustomed to unfriendly stares and she wasn’t able to get him to change expression or look aside. “Everyone told me I was out of my mind to do this.”
“Do you see any signs that things are other than the way I said they would be?” Emma asked.
“No. I’m still looking.” Allison was wary of her surroundings.
“Ms Turner, the best way to allay your fears is for me to speak bluntly and succinctly. If you had a choice, would you prefer a life lived openly, without GSA intrusion?” Eckhart’s tone remained polite.
“We’d all like that.” Allison looked ready to run.
“I’m prepared to offer you that life. I’d rather not spend mine chasing you.”
“In return for turning in my friends?” Allison crossed her arms defensively. “I won’t do that, and I won’t tell you where any of them are.”
Eckhart shook his white head. “No. Nothing like that. I have not asked that of Ms deLauro or Mr Kilmartin, and I shall not ask your betrayal of anyone. You are aware that each and every Genomex-created mutant is fated to develop diseases involving the immune system, and to die a relatively early death?”
“I’ve heard rumors. We’ve all heard those stories. I don’t believe them.”
“It’s true,” Jesse said. “Ask Adam. He’s known all along. He’ll confirm it.”
“I’m confused, Eckhart. If we’re going to die off anyway, why are you bothering with us? If it’s true, why not just let us croak?”
“Because any children of the Genomex mutants will face the same diseases and early deaths. They’ll carry the seeds of a slow-moving plague. And there is more: the transgenics will have not only this problem, but genetically they present yet another: while they’re likely to be fertile with an unaltered human, crosses with other transgenics may yield no progeny, sterile progeny, or grotesque monstrosities. Prior to the Genomex mutants, humanity consisted of a single species. The transgenics could splinter us into dozens of species. Take this all to its logical end, Ms Turner.”
“Which is?” Allison asked, highly suspicious.
“The Genomex mutants, with their tendency towards early death and their subdividing the species, could bring about the extinction of humanity. With all their survival advantages, they initially do well and tend towards many children, but in the long term, the Genomex mutants will be a disaster for the human race.”
“What do you want me to do?”
Allison was aware of dozens of mutants a few years older than herself who were showing signs of illness. None of them seemed to ever become well again. She met Eckhart’s eyes. Allison knew he was a master manipulator, but in this case, she was convinced he believed the truth of what he was saying, hard as it was for her to admit that he might be less than a monster.
Whatever else he might be, he believes what he has just said with absolute conviction. Emma was right. I had to see this.
“If you agree to have no children, to never publicly display mutant abilities, the GSA will not only leave you to live a normal life, but when your inevitable medical decline begins, we will treat you and prolong your life. You will never be expected to wear a governor. I make the same offer to all mutants, except the deranged ones, the criminals, and th0se who have lost control of their talents, and who are hazards to everyone in society.”
“And you don’t expect us to turn in our friends?”
“No. But I would hope you would tell your friends that I am making the offer,” Eckhart said.
“Why are you doing this?”
“To concentrate my efforts upon the capture of dangerous individuals. As well as I do, you know how dangerous some of your peers are.”
Emma spoke. “I sense nothing deceitful in what he has said, Allison.”
“We haven’t caught him in a lie yet,” Jesse offered. “I was just as dubious.”
“How long do I have to decide?”
“One month,” Eckhart replied. “Call the main switchboard number at Genomex, and ask for ‘Mainstream’. And please, call from pay phone or a cell phone if you remain fearful.” Eckhart shook his head. “This is not about rounding up people who cold be living productive, honorable lives.”
“You’re asking a lot to expect people to give up having children.”
“As a father, I know. But there is no cure, no fix, no workaround. Knowingly creating children who are damned to a slow, early death is selfish and cruel, don’t you think?”
“What about the ones who already have kids?” Allison asked.
“They agree to have no more and we track their children, and at some time, we make the same offer to their children. This problem isn’t going to go away quickly. I don’t expect a resolution in my lifetime.”
“What about any mutants who are sick now and need treatment?”
Eckhart sighed. “You already know some very sick people, don’t you? My medical staff is small at present. I am actively recruiting doctors, nurses, and support people to staff a specialized treatment in the old St Katherine’s Hospital, which Genomex has purchased. The building is being remodeled. I thought I had more time to prepare, but I don’t. Ms Turner, refer any sick mutants to the main Genomex number. I will contact local hospital and contract with them to take care of ailing mutants until St Katherine’s is ready.”
“What about the children of the people who are really sick?”
“The children…” Eckhart began, “we’ll have to take responsibility for them as well. I had not thought through to that, Ms Turner. Possibly they could be placed with mutant adoptive parents. How does that strike you?”
“Probably a good idea,” Allison replied.
“You’ve given me a good deal to think about,” Eckhart said.
“So have you. What do you get out of this, Eckhart?” Allison’s voice had lost a good deal of its edge of distrust.
“I hope, the preservation of humanity, and all of its works. Genomex mutant DNA spreading throughout the human race implies eventual extinction.”
“You really believe all of this,” she said.
“The science implies no other outcome. I have to believe what is rational and logical. When you leave, please tell your friends that no matter how they feel now, they are all ill people.”
“What would you do if I just walked out of here?” Allison asked.
“Nothing. You are free to walk away any time you choose. But I intend to keep talking to others like you. I have worked with mutants most of my adult life. Most of you want what everyone wants, not a marginal life lived in the shadows. Most of you are capable of living such lives.”
Allison shook her head. “I don’t think there’s anything left to say. It has been interesting.”
“Thanks again for coming, Ms Turner.”
“Jesse, could you walk me to my car?”
“Sure.”
Allison turned to Emma. “Goodbye, Emma.”
“Take care of yourself, Allison.”
Emma waited until Allison and Jesse were beyond hearing before saying anything.
“I think you did well. Allison is no pushover.”
“She was listening with great care.”
“She was. She knows a lot of people. The word will get out.”
“I must admit to feeling overwhelmed by the size and complexity of the problem. Damn Breedlove. Damn Adam.”
“I can understand why you would feel that way.”
“How could intelligent men do these things?” Eckhart asked. “Curiosity and ego are no justification.”
“I used to think that you were the cruelest, most arrogant man on earth.”
“And now?”
Emma almost smiled. “And now, I find myself concerned that you are being too hard on yourself. You cannot fix everything, yourself, immediately! I can feel your frustration and impatience. Give yourself credit for what you have done and are doing. Breedlove had a lot of smart guys working for him, technical guys who understood the program and its implications. Where are those smart guys now? Picking up paychecks in distant cities while you, Breedlove’s security chief, pick up the pieces of a technical disaster.”
“A technical blasphemy.”
“I don’t know what to make of all that, Jesse, Allison said.
“I understand. I’ve come around to changing my views. Eckhart is difficult, but he’s not a monster. He’s been good to Emma and to me. Everything he promised us has happened.”
“So, this isn’t about your getting back at Adam? That’s what Adam tells people.”
“I have nothing to ‘get back’ at Adam for. I couldn’t stay with Adam as one of his ‘children’ any longer. The time had come to grow up. Adam was paying me an allowance, like a twelve-year-old. I’m not a child and I don’t care to be treated like one, either.”
“But isn’t Eckhart using you for his revenge? He makes no secret of hating Adam.”
“Oh, he hates Adam, and with good reason, but he doesn’t waste time thinking about Adam the way Adam burns the hours thinking bad thoughts about Eckhart. He wants to see Adam prosecuted for some crimes, within the legal system.”
“I can’t get over seeing you working for him. Neither can Adam,” Allison said.
“Eckhart offered me a way to develop my technical skills and really help other mutants.”
“He’s really not keeping you as prisoners?”
Jesse shook his head. “No. I signed a lease this morning for an apartment of our choosing. Eckhart advanced me salary to do that.”
“Adam is really angry with you. I’ve never heard him rage this way. Everyone who has talked to him has a story about Adam ranting, making scary suggestions about what he would like to do, especially to you. Be careful not to let him catch you, Jesse.”
“Eckhart warned us. He knows that side of Adam quite well.”
“Do you think Eckhart’s for real, that he doesn’t have some dark, murky, obscured Eckhart agenda, just out of sight?”
“Emma is certain there is no deceit. If I didn’t believe Eckhart, I wouldn’t help him. He’s not paying me anything I couldn’t match at another company. I’m doing this so I can help other mutants as well.”
“I’m confused. What you’re saying is so different than what we all believed.”
“Emma ‘read’ him. She says he’s telling the truth. Between his physical problems and the personal hell he’s been through, Emma says everything fits and makes sense.”
“If…I decide to accept this offer of his…and he has managed to deceive both of you…”
Jesse stopped walking, and turned to squarely face Allison. “Emma and I have discussed the possibility. Emma would destroy him. We’ve already decided that. Since he did not insist upon governors, we were suspicious that he had another control technique. We’ve tried doing things all over Genomex and found no limitations. Emma has even wafted impressions my way in Eckhart’s office, in front of him, and he never knew. No difference. No limits.”
Allison Turner was the first mutant to leave the underground. After her, there were many others who came forward to the meetings with Emma, Jesse, and Eckhart. All of them were told the same things as Allison, and made the same promises.
The mainstreaming of mutants proceeded as promised. They settled into their new, openly lived lives. They then told their friends who remained behind in the underground, still living marginal, uncertain lives. The numbers of mutants in hiding decreased by one third after only six months, but that did not tell the complete story since the rate at which people left the underground increased all the time as word spread that the mainstreaming offer was legitimate and real.
Only mutants who were criminals, insane, or whose powers were out of control were sought and captured by the GSA, and they increasingly composed more and more of the underground, further motivating honest mutants to leave.
These developments did not escape Adam’s notice. Increasingly, the underground became identified with the criminal element, undermining its legitimacy and respectability, also making Adam and Mutant X appear more and more a rogue outfit whose time had come and passed. Adam’s influence among the mainstreamed mutants waned as they grew more and more concerned with mundane matters that preoccupied ordinary humans, whose world they now occupied.
The mutants among the earliest out into the wider world were surprised to learn that Adam, Shalimar, and Brennan were still dashing about in the Double Helix, actively encouraging mutants to remain hidden. Some concluded, incorrectly, that Adam was allied with the criminals and always had been.
These developments distressed and angered Adam beyond measure. He began thinking in terms of a counterattack, which of course would require good intelligence about Adam’s enemies.
Adam outfitted Shalimar with a shoulder-length dark brown wig with tight curls, and had her wear a sedate cotton skirt and blouse in bland pastels. Anyone who knew Shalimar would not be fooled at close range. However, in the company of a mutant couple who sincerely sought to leave their uncertain life in the underground, Eckhart, Emma, and Jesse would not be inclined to carefully scrutinize the tamely attired third mutant and discover the flamboyant Shalimar beneath the dullness.
Shalimar could not defeat Emma’s awareness of the emotions swirling about her, but she could concentrate upon recollection of several movies with highly charged and distracting emotional content instead, confusing Emma’s perceptions.
Shalimar met the other two mutants—a couple who divulged only the names of Barbara and Karl—minutes before Jesse appeared to lead them to the meeting in the middle of a food court at a huge regional shopping mall.
She said nothing to Jesse, knowing her voice would give her away, and merely nodded when asked if she was the anticipated mutant Charlene.
From the timbre of their voices, Shalimar knew Barbara and Karl were nervous and anxious about this meeting. They spoke of friends who had already left the underground, and coaxed them into putting aside their fear and dread of the GSA. Their uncertainty would go far to mask her own deception, hurt and disappointment directed towards Emma and Jesse, and virulent emotions focused upon Mason Eckhart.
Shalimar was queasily ill at ease spying upon her once upon a time best friends. She wanted to get in, get on with it, and get out, then allow Adam to vacuum out her thoughts and observations so he would leave her alone for a while. She was weary of Adam’s present rantings about betrayals and ungrateful people. With fresh data, he would have something different to howl about.
Eckhart noticed something familiar about ‘Charlene’: her swaggering gait, incongruous with her tasteful clothing.
Emma was not fooled for long. To Emma’s sensibilities, deception hung in the air like smoke or fog. She carefully scrutinized the apparent source, recognizing Shalimar. Emma and Jesse could defend themselves, but Shalimar could launch herself upon Eckhart and break his neck as a cat would a bird’s before he could fire his gun. Emma stood up, prepared to move against Shalimar, putting herself between Eckhart and Shalimar.
“Eckhart recognized Shalimar just as Emma moved to defend him. Ms Fox, surely you did not believe that disguise would fool anyone here for very long?”
Shalimar’s eyes flashed feral at all three of them. “I wanted to get close enough to see this for myself. How could you do this, Jesse?”
Karl and Barbara looked very puzzled.
“I grew up, Shalimar. When I did, Daddy Adam wasn’t who he said he was, but less. Much less. Leaving Mutant X was inevitable. Joining Genomex was not, but that has turned out well for Emma and for me, and for a lot of other mutants.”
“Did you have to turn on your friends? Or me?”
“Emma and I haven’t turned on anyone. Shalimar, can you name one honest, sane mutant who has been turned over to the GSA? I can show you a spreadsheet of burglars, drug dealers, and con artists who are now at some stage of prosecution, in very public trials. I can show you another, fortunately smaller spreadsheet of dangerous, out of control mutants. Most of them are being treated with anti-psychotics, but a handful of them required a subdermal governor.”
“Back to the Bad Old Days, huh, Jesse?”
“What else could anyone so with ‘Kilohertz’? Yes, Shalimar, we’ve re-captured Kilohertz. Has Sanctuary been betrayed?”
“It’s enough that you’re working for him.” Shalimar pointed accusingly towards Eckhart, her disgust obvious.
“We’ve helped a lot of mutants stop living like fugitives and start lives as normal people,” Jesse said.
“And you think that’s what he’s really doing with them?” Shalimar demanded.
“I know what is happening. I’ve gone and checked on some of these people myself. They are receiving the treatment Eckhart promised. No GSA. No interference. They just live their lives. You need to find out the truth.”
“Thank you,” Eckhart said softly.
“That’s not what Adam says. Why would Adam lie?”
Emma was angry with her old friend. “Just for once, Shalimar, stop listening to Adam, and find out for yourself. Talk to Allison Turner. You’ve known her a long time—so has Adam. Find out what she says.”
“I have talked to Allison. She sounds like someone on drugs. What she says can’t be true.”
“Except that it is,” Jesse said.
“Why would Adam lie, Ms Fox? Because his ability to manipulate and influence shrinks a little more with each mutant leaves the underground. What will Adam do when it’s just him and a pack of unreformed thieves and con artists?”
“Adam says she’s being used.”
“If anyone is being used, Shal, it’s you. If anyone is doing any manipulation, it’s Adam. That’s why we had to leave his little ‘family’, and have our own lives.”
Shalimar had seen Jesse emotional and angry before, but she had never seen him so calmly, adamantly sure of himself and his beliefs before.
Emma took another step towards Shalimar, the better to protect Eckhart as she sensed Shalimar’s rising anger.
“Ms Fox, I am certain you could whine baseless assertions for another hour, but I suggest your time would be better spent talking to your friends who have left the underground as opposed to listening to Adam, whose grasp of reality is self-serving and perverse. Adam has conveniently forgotten his sins and omissions, pushing them off onto people who weren’t even with Genomex when the events happened. None of us has the time to indulge emotions here.”
“He’s right, Shal,” Jesse said. “There are people here who came for a discussion, not your emotional outburst.”
“Jesse, do you think he’s going to let me just walk out of here?”
Eckhart answered her himself. “Yes, I even encourage you to do so. These people have been standing here quietly, not able to say anything. I’d like to talk to them, today.”
Shalimar flashed glowing eyes at Eckhart.
“Very nice, Ms Fox, but please, none of us have time for such displays.”
Shalimar turned and stalked out, stopping once, looking back, expecting someone to follow but she found no one even watching her depart the food court.
Shalimar returned to Sanctuary perplexed by what she had witnessed, and wanted to talk to Adam about everything. Jesse’s unexpected confidence and maturity, and Emma’s spontaneous, undirected move to protect Mason Eckhart puzzled her deeply.
Eckhart was different, too. His speaking manner was unchanged, but before anyone recognized her, he had appeared almost relaxed in the company of Emma and Jesse, as they did with him. People who worked for Eckhart were typically afraid of him, and tense in his presence.
Adam was waiting for Shalimar. “So, you saw Emma and Jesse. What is Eckhart doing to control them?”
“That’s the odd thing. I don’t think he is controlling them. I didn’t see GSA agents anywhere, either. There really seemed to be only the three of them.”
“Eckhart never goes anywhere without protection. He’s too paranoid. Not that he lacks for reasons to be wary.”
“But he had protection. When Emma was sure who I was, she stood up and put herself between Eckhart and me. He didn’t tell her, she just did it. If I had jumped on Eckhart and tried to claw his eyes out or break his neck, Emma was prepared to do anything she had to do to stop me, Adam. He was not directing her, but he wasn’t surprised when she did it, either. Neither was Jesse. It’s as if they’re formed…a team of their own.”
“Eckhart and Emma and Jesse. How cozy,” Adam said sarcastically.
Adam pulled a fresh roll of antacids from a pocket, and opened it as he talked. “Could sweet Emma have been a GSA plant all along, from the beginning?”
“No!” Shalimar was stunned by the suggestion. “Emma has hated Eckhart since the day Frank Thorne captured her and Eckhart put her in that odd little outdoor pen. She doesn’t have any reason to protect Eckhart. Neither does Jesse.”
“That we know of,” Adam said darkly. He didn’t have any possibilities in mind, but he liked the queasy look of distress Shalimar displayed in response to the comment.
“Did Jesse have anything to say for himself?” Adam asked.
“He said he hadn’t betrayed anyone and that it was time for him to grow up.”
Adam laughed nervously. “So he flies out of this nest and into Eckhart’s! That doesn’t make any sense.”
Except that it did, and Adam knew it. Jesse was getting paid well now, and so was Emma, and they were no longer subject to Adam’s rules.
Adam began ranting about Eckhart.
Jesse had attended enough meetings with Eckhart and his rapidly growing new technical staff to notice a difference in the way he treated Jesse compared to the other new hires. In a group, he was blunt, succinct, and conscious of time spent. Everyone left these meetings with unambiguous and demanding marching orders, including Jesse.
But Jesse noted that Eckhart frequently held him after these meetings, or summoned him to his office for more discussion of his work.
“No, I don’t see how that could be done.” Jesse shook his head.
“None of the computer models we tried indicated that as a likely outcome. I have the graphs here.”
Jesse had seen Eckhart savage others who gave the same kind of report, but without backing their conclusions with numbers or facts. Eckhart was annoyed and irritated by loose ends and leaps of logic. He made anyone miserable who delivered work lacking adequate support. The use of the word ‘feel’ as a justification for any conclusion elicited an especially corrosive burst of succinct verbal vitriol.
Jesse carefully assembled his facts and his numbers in advance, in as brief and clear a manner as possible, without sacrificing completeness. Jesse never received the scolding or threats meted out to some others, people prone to offering bloated, wordy reports, or those who indulged in weasel words when they had nothing to say at all.
“Perhaps this project is impossible, but before concluding that, Mr Kilmartin, go back and consider all of the possibilities. Is there any help I can give you to facilitate your analysis? Could you use an assistant on a temporary basis? If a temp would make your work easier, Genomex uses an agency which has found good people in the past.”
“I can handle it. I would like to discuss things with you an interim basis. I know the technical details, but I’ve come to appreciate your pragmatic analysis.”
“Of course we can discuss this project. I know you’re not making a lame attempt at flattery—I don’t think you would know how-- I like that. Fawning makes me ill and angry. We need to stay honest with one another.”
Jesse was startled by the last comment, reminded anew that Emma’s rescue had changed his attitude towards Emma and Jesse forever. Eckhart still demanded the best from Jesse, as he did from everyone, but Jesse’s logical, linear style meshed well with Eckhart’s own, and he had no need to flog Jesse verbally. Jesse delivered his best without manipulation, and suddenly realized he shared values with Eckhart.
“You look surprised. I hope that our relationship will develop along different lines than my other employees. You’re not my typical recruit, and I do not want to treat you like one, although you have to understand I cannot display that openly. People are what they are, and even though I expect much of you, any perceived favoritism could result in their jealousy and your misery. You have to work with all of them, no matter how petty and gossip-prone. There can be an amazing amount of intrigue and drama within the confines of a corporation.” Eckhart smiled.
“I’ll crunch the numbers again, and see if things cannot be tweaked more favorably.”
“Good. Mr Kilmartin, I’ve had a lot of PhDs and engineers report to me over the years, and you have the mind to do high caliber technical work. You have considerable formal training, but have you seriously considered completing a formal degree, even going on to a graduate degree? Genomex would pay for your tuition and I would gladly release you to attend some daytime classes.”
“You would?” Jesse was astonished, recalling a similar conversation with Adam.
“Of course. Developing talent in-house is always more rewarding than trying to stumble upon it in the wider world. I’ve always encouraged my best people this way; they’re not the ones standing around whining. Whiners whine. Doers do.”
Jesse laughed. “That’s true.”
“And while you’re in classrooms with other “doers”, you could be networking and unofficially recruiting other good people for me. The search for good people never ends.”
“I’ll keep that in mind.”
“Right before you came in, I had email from a field agent. Dr Laura Varady has been found. She was the site psychologist, and a member of the former staff I wanted to retain. She’s had a disturbing experience, locked away for months and force fed drugs. I don’t have many details but the ones I have are horrific. Part of the difficulty in finding here was the way she was admitted under aliases. When I get to the bottom of it all, I intend to see the individuals responsible prosecuted.”
“Will she be coming back here?”
“Absolutely. I was told that was one of the first things she asked about. She has family here, even grandchildren, but it occurs to me that Ms deLauro’s special talents could prove useful in healing Laura. Do you think she would be interested?”
“I’m sure she would. You know how Emma is. I’ll ask her.”
“Laura Varady was much-loved by nearly the entire staff. Only a handful of fairly peculiar people didn’t care for her, and they seemed to dislike everyone, from Breedlove on down.”
Even the cold, aloof Mason Eckhart cared about Dr Laura Varady. I wonder if she’ll be surprised to learn how hard he’s been looking for her?
Jesse described the ordeal and release of Varady to Emma over lunch.
“Eckhart wanted to know if you would be interested in helped Dr Varady emotionally heal.”
“Well, of course.”
“I couldn’t promise for you, but I expected you would want to help.
Emma met with Eckhart as soon as he could clear time in the afternoon.
“I want to help your Dr Varady if I can. As a psychologist, she understands what has happened to her, but I can induce calm and relaxation, maybe even replace intrusive images with benign ones.”
“Good. My thinking was that after months of being fed drugs to make her appear psychotic, she wouldn’t want anything to do with pharmaceuticals.”
“Well, I can understand that.”
“I have few details, but she’s been kept incommunicado almost from the time I was put into stasis, and kept under the influence of drugs. Ms deLauro, Laura Varady is a genuinely kind and decent woman. I don’t know yet how bad her condition is, but I suspect you could help her with mood and adjustment faster than more medication. I believe Dr Varady will probably begin to feel better being back in familiar surroundings, doing productive work. I’ve always found hard work to be a potent healer.”
“When will Dr Varady be back?”
“Perhaps as early as tomorrow afternoon. She wants to talk to me.”
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Part 1
Part 2
Part 4
Part 5
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