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Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 5
Part 6
Part 7
Part 8
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Part 4
Casually, oh so casually, I stopped by Dr Varady’s office and asked Emma if she could see me in 15-30 minutes. She suspected nothing. Rebecca’s birthday was approaching, and if Emma suspected anything, she suspected that. I certainly tried to think of Rebecca to put Emma off the scent of what I was planning.
This is the most hideous thing you have ever contemplated.
Emma all but floated into my office. She was content, healthy-looking, at peace with herself, the world, Jesse…and she liked me. She trusted me.
Emma was more than an employee, more than a friend. She was my almost-daughter, just as Jesse was my almost-son. I cared for them as I cared for few people. They were loyal to me, and I to them. They had once been my sworn enemies, and after today I would not be surprised if either of them tried to kill me.
I almost wished she had sensed my duplicity in Varady’s office, run away from Genomex and me. But no, here she was, smiling and cheerful.
Why do I always have to do the most terrible things? How can I do this to Emma?
“Is this about Rebecca’s birthday?” I’ve already thought some about that. I’ve got some good ideas.”
“No.”
Emma was silent for a long moment, recognizing something old and familiar in my voice, something she had not heard in years and something she believed she would never hear again. Something cold, unfeeling, and terrifying.
“What is this about?”
But she was suspicious. Too late for that. Her suspicions would not save her now.
“This child of yours—have you considered the possible consequences for society?”
Still the cold, commanding voice. Emma looked confused, deep trust conflicting with old instinct and memory.
“Yes. But I don’t think Jesse and I will raise a barbarian.”
“I agree. What about her grandchildren?” Who will control them?”
Emma was a highly intelligent woman…but she was thinking with her emotions. “I hadn’t thought that far ahead.”
“I have. Emma, you and Jesse are wonderful people, but surely you must understand that your abilities are too dangerous to be passed on, perhaps in greater numbers every generation.”
“Mason, what are you saying?”
“I’m asking you to voluntarily end this pregnancy.” I was slipping backwards in time, into a persona I thought I had abandoned with the people I cared about.
“Jesse and I want this daughter very much. We want a family.”
“And you will make wonderful parents…but not of this child.”
“Mason, I won’t do that.”
“I would use every ounce of influence I possess to hasten an adoption. You wanted that before.”
“But, everything’s changed. I want my child. Jesse’s child. I believed I’d never have that. Maybe we’ll adopt another, but we want Jessica.”
Her mind was made up and I was not going to persuade her otherwise. Just the same, I had to give her every opportunity, if only to convince myself there was no avoiding this betrayal of a truly good woman.
“You’re very sure? I cannot change your mind?”
“Mason, no. I don’t even want to talk about it anymore.”
I sat in silence for a moment. Once you set things in motion, there is no recalling it. Everything changes.
Using a prearranged signal, I summoned the pair of psionics who did not know Emma. Before she could focus energy, one of the agents seized her while the other implanted her with a governor.
Emma screamed in agony. I will never forget that scream.
“Mason! What are you doing? Are you crazy?”
My betrayal was reflected in her eyes. I said nothing, knowing if I talked to her my resolve would collapse. I owed Emma my life, and everything good that had come my way since Emma released me from stasis was because of her. What I had planned for her was cruel beyond thought.
Only a monster could think of this. Only a worse monster could do it.
“Does Rebecca know about this?”
I stood at my desk and shook my head.
No, if Rebecca knew, she would have shot me, the GS agents and gotten you out of here. She would conclude I was insane.
They injected Emma with a powerful sedative. A third agent pushed a wheel chair into my office. At first they grabbed at her roughly, like so much dead weight.
“Be gentle with her. She is not a criminal. She has done nothing wrong.”
I walked over to the wheelchair. She looked up at me with shining, glassy eyes. “What have I done, Mason?” I could not look at those eyes.
“Get her down to the infirmary. They should be ready for her.”
“Mason?”
I had planned on staying in my office. I’ve seen more than I wish of medical technology. The smell of such places brings to mind too many bad memories, close brushes with death. But I couldn’t allow Emma to go alone into that place.
I avoided looking at her, but took up her left hand in mine, and that way, Emma was brought to surgery, with me walking beside her.
Mason Eckhart, you are going directly, straight to Hell someday.
I had brought in a team of doctors and other medical personnel. I knew none of them and they did not know me. They were all going to be paid cash at day’s end. There are so many disappointing people in this world. How such people sleep at night I do not know. I may have a dark history, but I never sold my services.
First, do no harm…
A needle was inserted into one of Emma’s veins. I bent down close to her head as the fluid flowed into her, and whispered, “I am so sorry, Emma. I don’t know if you can hear me, I am sorry.”
She was quickly gone. I let go of her hand and stood up, watching her being wheeled away. I wanted to scream at them to bring her back, but held silent, thinking of generations I would never know.
I waited outside until they were done. I wasn’t going to accomplish anything in my office, and I didn’t want to talk to anyone.
To save the world for millions –billions—of children yet to be born, I must stop this one child from being born. How arrogant, grandiose –and yes, pompous- that sounds! But it is true. They why do I know I’ve just done cold-blooded murder of Jessica Anne? Why did they have to give her a name?
I closed my eyes, but I knew I wasn’t going to sleep, even though I had not slept well in weeks, even with medication. I was exhausted, and felt unwell, as if on the edges of an infection. How long until I will be able to sleep again?
I almost called Rebecca down to the infirmary to be with me, but I resisted that impulse. Two times I set aside the telephone. As well as I knew her, I was uncertain of her reaction to this.
Everyone I knew would be horrified and angry with me. But I knew that when the day began, and proceeded despite my reasonable projections of what specific individuals would think.
Why me? Because I have the stomach to do what is necessary. Others see the need plainly but could never act.
This was an internal dialogue of long-standing.
Am I only pasting an heroic rationalization over a nasty job no one should be doing? Am I no more than an unpleasant man striving to think well of himself?
There was never a resolution to this dialogue, and never a finish.
Rebecca was subtle enough, but she wanted me to retire. She knew the price I paid staying in the job. With two of us living under the Genomex roof, we had set aside a fortune. I would be able to build my house, complete with upper deck housing my telescope, and we could live quietly, not agonizing over the fate of humanity, just writing our books, the primary excitement provided by visiting children and grandchildren.
At this moment, such a life seemed idyllic, but realistically, it was attainable. What’s holding you back? You’ve served here twenty-nine years –attending to your duties above and beyond reasonable expectation. Let someone else cope with this nightmare, this slow-motion plague. Most likely, several people will be required to do what you have done alone.
I looked down at my gloved hands. I’d worn gloves like these since I was thirty years old. I must have gone through a few thousand pairs of them. How strangely my life has played out. How fortunate I am for the good that has come to me, despite my condition.
Leaving Genomex was an attractive prospect, and I knew perfectly well that my mission of identifying the Genomex mutants and minimizing the transmission of their DNA to the future would not and could not be completed by me. This was a multigenerational mission, and possibly, impossible.
You’re a fool, Mason Eckhart. By forcing Emma to have this abortion and be sterilized, you’ve put your personal happiness at risk. After what Rebecca has endured with her failed pregnancies, can you imagine her reacting with other than horror and disgust? You weren’t easy to get along with when you were normal. Ask Jackie. Rebecca saw worth in you no one else perceived. She patiently made all manner of adjustments to accommodate you. She has never complained, not once. Other women of less character would have resented time spent with Grey, Michele, and Deidre, but not her. She befriended Catherine and helped her blossom from underachieving teeny bopper to promising, intellectual young woman.
And now, you would risk losing her?
Yes. Duty demands sacrifice.
I sat with Emma in recovery. I’m not a nice man, but I remain an honorable one. I had done something unspeakably evil to Emma. I wasn’t going to pretend it never happened or attempt to shift responsibility to someone else, not as Adam would do.
I owed Emma no less than my life. I had repaid her by destroying her daughter.
Emma finally opened her eyes. “Are you here to gloat?”
She startled me. I hadn’t been watching her.
“No. Would you like some water?” I deserved her harsh tone, but did not respond to it.
“I would.”
I poured a glass of water, then handed it to her. She took a few sips, then handed it back to me.
“Then, why are you here?” she asked.
“To be sure you came through this ordeal, and to do this.” I held up a governor extractor.
“You’re going to remove my governor?” she said, disbelieving.
“I wanted to do this myself. If you’ll tilt your head forward…”
She looked puzzled. “Very well.” She leaned forward.
I stood over her, and extracted the governor. Fortunately, the removal process was painless. “It’s done.” I threw the used governor into a trash bin and returned to my chair.
“You know you can’t control me now.” She sounded angry, hurt, betrayed, as well she should. But she wasn’t afraid of me with the governor gone. I was not sure what I felt.
“Of course I know.”
“I could kill you with a thought.”
Emma could do that, and make death lingering and painful.
“Is that what you want to do? That is what I deserve.”
She thought about that for a moment. I had come to this hour prepared to die. My will was updated and a farewell letter written to Rebecca.
“Guilt is eating you up, isn’t it?”
“Of course it is.”
“How could you begin to understand…but you do, don’t you?” Emma read the emotions surrounding Rebecca’s lost children, and my older children, lost to me physically for years.
“I believe I understand as well as any man is able. Rebecca has lost three of my babies.”
“I did not know. How could you do this to me?”
“With difficulty. I am sorry…for you both. An adulthood spent doing the difficult and distasteful did not prepare me. This is the most hideous act I have committed, and I’ve committed more than a few. I could not allow this child to be born, to possibly bequeath dangerous talents to future generations.”
“You’re sincere.”
She wasn’t completely surprised to learn that.
“Yes. Emma, I considered you a friend. I have never had many of those, and the ones I have I value highly. I am not in the habit of betraying them.”
She closed her eyes and thought in silence, taking in my emotions, sorting them, weighing them. I could not hide the truth from her, nor did I wish to do so. I wanted her to know. Then she opened her eyes. “I’m not going to kill you. I’m going to let you live with your guilt.”
“If I had not earned my way to hell before, this assures me where I’m bound. I am not fool enough to believe there is any way to atone for this deed, but I care for you as I do for my daughters. If there is ever anything I can do for you, I will do it.”
She knew I was telling the truth, without exaggeration and with every intention of delivering on that promise, whenever she asked.
“Mason, you must be cursed,” she said softly.
“I think I must be.” I rose from my chair.
“Am I a prisoner here?” she asked.
I shook my head. “I ask that you stay overnight, but if you really prefer to go home, I’ll provide nurses to stay with you.”
“I’ll stay.”
“Emma, you have no idea how sorry I am.”
“Yes, I do.”
“I’m going to go tell Rebecca what I’ve done, and pray she does not leave me.”
“She might, you know.”
“Yes. I know.”
Emma waited a moment before saying more. “I hope she doesn’t.”
“Thank you.”
For Emma to wish me well in any way after the atrocity I committed against her was the truest measure of the kind of friendship I had destroyed.
Rebecca
Typically during a workday Mason and I had few personal contacts. Maintaining this separation preserved some illusion of separate lives. At the end of a workday, we didn’t already know the other’s day. A lot of people at Genomex had no idea we were married and I preferred things that way lest people think I had been handed my position rather than earned it, and to discourage anyone from fawning over me in hopes of gaining favor with Mason.
This arrangement worked well, and provided unexpected humor if some hapless, unknowing soul told a story or joke about Mason in my presence. He inspired quite a mythology. Most of the stories were absurd and amusing if you knew the truth. Without naming names, I repeated these to Mason. The hurtful, cruel stories I kept to myself. He didn’t need to hear them. There were a lot of these, but they had been worse in 2007 and before.
When Mason sent email asking me to meet him in our quarters immediately, I knew something terrible had happened. This was his way of handling bad news. We retreated behind steel doors to keep out everyone else, to cope with reality in private. He knew I hated showing vulnerability in front of coworkers, although my personal control did not approach his own. I worried that my sister-in-law Sherri had called with bad news about my brother Steve. I worried about Mason’s children; they were all strong, healthy individuals but accidents could happen anytime. In the blink of an eye, all of your life can change forever.
I half-walked, half-ran to our quarters. Mason was there waiting. Never particularly healthy looking, the strain on his face told me a great deal before he said anything.
“Rebecca, this morning I did something terrible. I promised you once that you would have no more darkness to bear from me. I have broken that promise. I weighed the act with care and reflection. I did not act rashly.”
A lot of people believed Mason had no conscience, an idea fostered by Adam’s insistence that Mason was a sociopath. If anyone fit that description, it was Adam.
Mason had a conscience, an exquisitely fine-tuned one. He also had a sense of duty that could override his conscience. Mason’s sense of duty allowed him to perform the dirty work required by his job, protecting the larger society from the excesses of the Genomex mutants and preserving human civilization by preventing, or at least delaying a genetic plague. Nevertheless, that did not mean Mason had a clear conscience. O, no.
“This is going to be bad, isn’t it?” I asked. I did not really need to ask. I could read the answer in his eyes.
“Yes.”
Mason was at once the best and the worst man I had ever known. The irony was that the same character traits drove him to both extremes.
I walked up to him, took a gloved hand in mine and led him to the cool, dark quiet of the bedroom. I threw my labcoat in the floor and didn’t worry about the escaping change from the pockets. I discarded my shoes and crawled beneath the comforter.
“If I’m going to be traumatized, at least I’m going to be comfortable, and warm.”
I didn’t have to prompt him to join me. What worried me was his clinging, tense hold. This was very bad news.
“I could not allow Emma’s child to be born. This morning, I had her seized, sedated, her daughter aborted, and a tubal ligation performed so this will never happen again.”
I felt like a sledgehammer dropped on my heart.
The rest of my life is changed, divided into the time before I knew of this, and the time after.
I processed the information, and its implications, all personally negative. “Given our history, how could you destroy this child?”
“With difficulty.”
“Why didn’t you talk to me before doing this?”
“I thought there was a fair chance you would talk me out of it.”
“I would have tried. You could not make a single exception?”
“A child combining the genetics of walking through walls and telempathy is just too dangerous. The bloodline had to end. I had Dr Lee at St Kats perform tests so I would know without question what qualities Emma’s baby possessed. Before doing this horrible thing, I gathered and weighed facts. Jessica Anne would have had the talents of both parents, and she would have been healthy enough to reach adulthood.”
“The logic of the deed is flawless, but Emma, Emma saved you from oblivion.”
“And look what I have done to her.”
“Would you have done this to Catherine?”
“Yes. To my own child and grandchild, I would do this. One of the primary criteria I used to make this decision was whether I could do the same to my own daughter.”
If Mason believed a particular act was necessary to achieve a required goal, I was convinced he could steel himself to do it. There are times when distasteful deeds are required to keep societies whole. Mason was one of the men who could do these necessary and terrible deeds.
Yes, you could do this very same thing to Catherine. You could not be inconsistent.
I had not blundered blindly into this relationship. I knew very well what Mason was, probably better than anyone else. I knew his crimes; he had confessed them to me. I had not cast him aside after the telling but took the poison into my own heart, sharing some part of the weight he carried.
I would not abandon him now. He didn’t need to tell me he feared my leaving him; the matter had come up before.
I turned to face him. Over years, I had disciplined myself not to do the things so natural for others, such as facing him at close range. But this was an extraordinary day, and I could not hold to the rules.
I suspect that if my resident flora was going to make you sick, by now it would have done so. Just this once, I’ll break the rules.
“I’m not going anywhere, Mason. I’m horrified, but I’m not going anywhere.”
He was drawn up into a fetal curl, eyes closed to shut out miserable reality. I kissed the top of his white head.
I stayed with Mason a long time. There was little else to say but he did not want to be left alone, and I was unready to face the world of Genomex. Eventually, I fed him a sedative and told him I’d be back after seeing Emma.
Lilith
Adam did not want to believe Paul Breedlove built a second creature like himself, an improved model. Where else could I have come from?
For days, Adam was in denial, irritable and not at all grateful for the risks I had taken and the fortune expended to free him from prison. Of course, I did not need to keep Adam if he became too unpleasant. I would never have broken him out of prison without a plan to rid myself of him, should that need arise. Adam knew nothing about that. Smugly sure of himself, he was likely working through plants to take Haven for himself and dispose of me.
While describing some of the finer points of my research, Adam expressed puzzlement at my egg-harvesting program.
“Well, Adam, in you Breedlove took great pains to make you indistinguishable from an ordinary human being. You can even consume food, although you cannot digest it, but this does make socializing with humans easier. He made you fully functional, taking some of his own testicular tissue as the basis for growing your own.
“That’s wild.”
“It’s true. You can review the original data anytime you wish. I don’t think Paul made you this way for your own benefit, however. I think he was acting to spread his own genetic material far and wide.”
“That’s a fantastic story.”
“Some fantastic stories prove to be utterly true. This is one of them.”
Adam rolled his eyes at me.
You will come to accept all of this as true.
“What about you?” he asked. “What are you, Eleanor re-created?”
“I am based on her mitochondria, but I am the result of a fusion of the DNA of hundreds of people. Breedlove took the best from all his employees over the years. Do you know what he gave me analogous to your own functionality?”
“I have no idea.”
“Nothing! Nothing at all. He left me sterile, like a mule!”
I surprised myself with my own vehemence.
“Not even Breedlove was good enough to fabricate artificial human ova.”
“No, but he did try to use mammalian eggs from various species, first extracting the native DNA, and then inserting human DNA, and eventually, DNA like mine, a fusion.”
“Some of the mutants were created that way.”
“Exactly. It’s old technology, Adam. I’m surprised you didn’t know about this work.”
I was beginning to realize Adam knew far less than his reputation implied, and that I was still angry with Paul for leaving me…a mule.
Mason
The sedative Rebecca fed me was strong, but it could not keep me in a stupor indefinitely. While she was gone, I woke up and had to move around after so many hours detached from reality. No matter how distasteful reality was, it was the only reality I would ever have.
I felt dizzy as soon as I stood up, and had to brace myself against the wall for a moment before walking out of the bedroom. I was unsteady on my feet. I was familiar with the side effects of this sedative, and I knew what was happening was not caused by the medication. I hoped the symptoms would cease before Rebecca returned, because she would fret even if she said nothing. I had lived with the fact that hardly anyone cared what happened to me, but I knew that Rebecca did. I hated admitting any frailties to her, not wanting her to worry.
Outside, things were grey and wet. A closer look would only deepen my depression, so I went directly to my computer.
Nearly all the email was routine and could wait for morning and more thoughtful replies. What caught my eye was an email from Catherine with multiple attachments. Email from Catherine was not unusual but she rarely sent pictures. The subject line was the mundane ‘Thursday greetings’:
Mason,
I don’t want to state here where I found the attached material, but I think it’s important. I sent the originals to you by overnight air, but scanned them first so you could review this material as early as possible. I may have found something recently lost.
C.
Already, Catherine was learning to be careful of the kind of records she left.
How formidable you will be.
Initially, I was puzzled by the scanned images, because they seemed to be the pages of a pamphlet promoting a religious cult, hardly Catherine’s style.
Temple of the Chosen Few. Why do these fringe cults always believe they alone have a direct line to God? Does God become angry with such arrogance?
The language was written to appeal to lonely lost souls, societal misfits, but a careful reading made clear that the true target of the Temple was the lonely lost soul Genomex mutant. Even this was hardly unique; some mainstream faiths in locations with a number of mutants or mutant progeny had attempted outreach programs, since mutants tended to be confused and troubled.
I had quietly informed people operating such outreach programs of the existence of St Kats, careful to never suggest I was looking for names. I was not hunting names, but I wasn’t being entirely altruistic, either, since I still pursued a program of suppressing the reality of the existence of mutants. Many mutants had serious medical problems and no idea how to receive treatment since most doctors would refer them to mental health specialists if they honestly described symptoms. Having an ailing Genomex mutant lose control of their talents while locked in a mental ward served neither the mutant nor my program.
I did not know of any other cult-like organization attempting to gather mutants except Ashlocke’s now-defunct organization. This ‘temple’ was probably worth watching.
The florid language required great patience to wade through, but even though I tried to read it all, my eyes skipped to the bottom of the page, which Catherine had faintly highlighted.
“Sister Lilith and Brother Adam invite you to join the Higher Humanity in the Temple of the Chosen Few.”
Very good, Catherine.
Adam had been a not completely legitimate scientist, with more than a whiff of the charlatan and huckster about him. Mutant X had possessed many cult characteristics. So, why not leap directly past the science into a cult to gain the adoration he so craved from the people whose misery he had created? Why trouble with the scientific sideshow?
Now, how does one find Sister Lilith and Brother Adam? What earthly good are these lofty saviors if one cannot contact them?
Rebecca
The Genomex Infirmary was not a place for the removal of splinters and dispensing bandaids and aspirin. It was a miniature hospital, set up to keep Mason alive. The obscenity performed on Emma had been done in complete safety with state of the art technique and technology.
The rent-a-nurse on duty first tried to block my entry, but relented after I told her I was Mr Creepy’s wife. Association with Mason could be useful. I could not identify her accent. Mason said staff had been brought in just for this, people who did not know him, people who did not know Emma, or even Genomex. She followed me into the room where Emma was, and deposited herself in one of the chairs. I hadn’t expected that.
“Could we have some privacy?” I glared at the nurse, and she silently rose from her chair and left the room, noiselessly closing the door.
Emma had been dozing. She opened her eyes as I pushed a chair close to the bed and sat down.
“He told you.”
“He told me what he did to you. Emma…if I had had any idea Mason was planning this, I would have gotten you away from him myself. I would have stopped him myself, somehow.” I meant that.
“Thank you, Rebecca.”
I shook my head. “He talks to me about everything. I don’t know why he keep this inside. There was no suggestion this was coming. Lately he has seemed preoccupied but I thought his health and Adam’s escape were on his mind. I should have known. I really should have known he would do something.”
“I read him. He sincerely believes he did the right thing.”
“So he told me, at some length. He believes it. He said he would have done the same to Catherine, which I think is true. Mason did not do this lightly. He’s a mess right now, and I’m worried about him.”
“At first, I thought maybe he had fooled all of us, for years, but no, nothing so simple. I don’t envy him. I don’t envy you.”
“Can I do anything for you?”
“I can’t think of anything now.”
“If you need to talk, I’ll listen. Any time. I understand, more than you know. Much more than you know. I’ve lost three babies.”
“Mason told me.”
That surprised me. Mason was an intensely private person, and I did not think he would share those painful memories with anyone else.
“I’m surprised he shared that. He usually cannot talk about them.”
“So am I. He feels intense emotion about those babies.”
“Emma…I’m not sure I can stay with him. I don’t know if I can trust him.”
“He has made himself the person Adam always claimed he was.”
Emma was right.
“Mason has poisoned everything now. He may have destroyed most of the good he’s accomplished the last half-dozen years. He’s done horrible things you know nothing about. He confessed them to me so I would know exactly what I was getting myself into. He promised he would never do anything so terrible again. I was convinced he was beyond those acts. Now, I know he isn’t.”
“By doing this to me, he betrayed you, too, didn’t he?”
I nodded. “If I trust him again, it won’t be the same. I’m sorry, Emma. I shouldn’t come here and tell you my troubles.”
“That’s okay, Rebecca; our troubles have the same source.”
“Who else knows?” Should I be trying to keep the story from getting out? If people did not know…
“No one else but Dr Varady. That nurse was brought in after the operation. She doesn’t speak much English; I’m not sure where she’s from.”
“I have cousins who are attorneys. They would help you find someone here to go after Genomex legally.”
I shocked myself saying that. Already I was distancing myself from Mason. An hour before he was the love of my life. What was he now? I wasn’t sure. I could not be sure. I was going to have to think very hard about that. I wasn’t going to abandon him, but I was not sure I could love him.
Emma shook her head. “I doubt that would work. Mason is very good at covering up the sins of Genomex. He’s had a lot of practice. Whatever he does, it won’t be public and it will be quiet and compelling. I expect I’ll be offered some incredible amount of cash. I think I’ll take it and move at least a thousand miles away to a mountaintop or somewhere in the middle of nothing, and make jewelry the rest of my life. No mutants, no Genomex ever again.”
Could he buy you, Emma?
I wasn’t sure if he would be buying, or if Emma was being pragmatic. Nothing changes what’s done; only the future can be altered. Perhaps taking a settlement would not be so terrible a thing. Perhaps taking the money was the wisest and most positive possibility.
“What about Jesse?”
“I don’t know what he’ll say.”
“Have you tried to reach him?”
“Not yet. I’m not going to tell him on the phone, anyway. I’ll have him come home early, and tell him in person.”
“Mason has done a lot to make the lives of Genomex mutants better…more than Adam ever did. St Kats and all the good things are at risk. Are you going to tell anyone else? I’m not talking about protecting Mason, I’m talking about salvaging the good.”
“I don’t know if I can keep this to myself.”
“Remember what it was like before St Katherine’s, before mutants came out of hiding. That’s all worth protecting.”
“You’re right.”
“St Kats is set up for operation long after we’re all gone. There will still be mutants who will need it then.”
“I won’t tell anyone. But I don’t know what Jesse will do.”
“Talk to him.”
“You’re a good friend, Rebecca. I won’t forget you, even on my mountain. I think you would have talked Mason out of doing this. And you know what is the oddest thing of all? I think he wishes you had. He could live with that.”
“Now, he has to live with something much worse.”
“Could you get Laura for me? Unless he’s told you not to.”
I smiled faintly. “Even if he had, I would anyway.”
Mason
I was so intent upon Catherine’s data that I did not look up when Rebecca returned.
“You’re awake.” Clearly she had expected me to sound asleep.
“Yes…I think…Catherine may have found Adam.”
“How?”
I pointed to the screen. “The combination of Sister Lilith and Brother Adam has to be unique, doesn’t it, especially with a sales pitch crafted to be alluring to Genomex mutants?”
“I would think yes.” She came and stood behind me, reading the material. “Higher Humanity. How humble.”
“Rebecca, I’m not going to lightly ask how Emma is feeling. I don’t need to ask to know she feels like Hell. My not asking does not mean I don’t care or that I have pushed aside the damage done.”
She said nothing at first, then placed her hands on my shoulders. “I know that. Asking in a lightweight fashion would make me wonder what was going on inside your head. However else people may damn you, they will never effectively accuse you of superficiality.”
They’ll never say that about you, either.
“Thank you.”
“It’s truth. Now, what is this silliness about the Higher Humanity?”
“A not atypical cult appeal to the lost and lonely souls among college-attending mutants. Being young is difficult enough; being young with freakish abilities, poorly understood, must be far worse.”
“So, Lilith and Adam are recruiting. Interesting that it is Sister Lilith and Brother Adam, and not the other way around, given Adam’s ego.”
“Good catch. I wonder if Lilith is running the ‘cult’? Could she be running everything?”
“She was very quiet, but very brilliant. Lili did not flaunt her mental abilities the way Adam did, but from what I recall, she might just be superior to him.”
“What could she be up to? What could be so important that she would commit multiple murders to advance her agenda?”
“I think we’ll know only when she tells us. Mason, finding these two is not your responsibility. This is a fascinating find, but turn it over to the hunter-seekers charged with putting this pair in cages.”
“Old habits.”
“Die hard. Don’t mention your source. Catherine did well, and I know you’re proud, but you cannot be sure just where this find will wander.”
“True. I’ll strip away all indications of the source before forwarding this information. ”
“She wants approval from you, anyway, not a law-enforcement agency. And one more thing: Grey and Julie are due in late tomorrow afternoon.”
I sighed. The visit had slipped my mind. “Familial pleasantries seem obscene at the moment.”
I loved Grey, but making nice with Grey and wife Julie was not a comfortable prospect. My soul was in a dark passage; serious talk with Rebecca or Catherine seemed more in order.
“They won’t be here long. Julie is gestating; you cannot ignore that.”
“I wish Megan had not dumped Grey. I liked Megan.” Neither of us much cared for Julie.
“So did I. Grey was too conventional for Megan.”
Megan was a brilliant girl. She majored in electrical engineering only to have a career that would pay her well enough to allow her to pursue classical painting. Grey did not understand why anyone would want to paint realistically in an age of perfect imaging by all manner of technologies. When he dropped a comment about Megan “getting over the silly art thing”, Megan got over Grey.
I wonder if the engagement ring Julie has was recycled from Megan?
“Megan would have made me a better grandson than Julie ever will.”
That was true, but Rebecca was one of the few people on earth I could freely say such a thing. Cultural fashion was set against the possibility that heredity played any part in determining intelligence, despite data accumulating to the contrary. Fashion is never a substitute for critical thinking skills.
“Mason, I’ve endured all I can of this day. I’m going to shower, sedate myself, and read until I fall asleep.”
“Wise. I’ll compose my missive to assorted law enforcement agencies, and then do the same. It is time for this day to end.”
Mason
I had to tell Catherine. I dreaded this. I was uncertain what she would say.
I would have preferred telling her personally, but I did not have that option. We had to rely upon computers.
Before I said anything, Catherine knew this was no casual chat. I never called her so early in my workday without a good reason.
“You’re alone, Catherine? None of this can go any farther.”
“It’s just me.”
“I’ve done something…dreadful. I need to tell you. I cannot lie to you, but I fear you will hate me.”
“Something to do with your job?”
“Everything to do with my job.”
“I’m listening.”
“Emma became pregnant.”
“I knew about that.”
“I had the fetus tested by the best people at St Kats. The child would have had the talents of both parents and healthy enough to reach adulthood. I tried to convince Emma to end the pregnancy, but she would not do that. I forced her to have an abortion, and a tubal ligation.”
Catherine didn’t say anything. She didn’t need to; everything was there in her eyes, the shock, the pain, the disappointment.
“You couldn’t change her mind?”
“I believe you did…but this is horrible.”
“Yes.”
“I don’t know if I could have done that.”
“Catherine, this is the most difficult and painful thing I have ever done.”
“But could you do anything else?”
I shook my head. “No. You understand the implication of the genetics.”
“Power like Emma’s, passed down to dozens, hundreds of people…that could not be. You had to do it, Mason. I don’t know how you did it, but you had no other real option.”
“Catherine, please don’t hate me for this.”
“I am shocked, but I see…the longer view, the way you do. I wish you hadn’t had to do this, but I can’t hate you for it.”
“Thank you, Catherine.”
“You’ve always told me the truth, even when it wasn’t flattering to you.”
“I was afraid of losing you over this.”
“That won’t happen. How is Rebecca coping?”
“She’s resilient, she’s tough, but she and Emma were friends. Rebecca is having a hard time. She went and talked to Emma afterward.”
“That took guts. I’m sorry you had to do this.”
“So am I.”
I had kept Catherine. She was…one of them. I dreaded she might consider Emma’s forced abortion as an assault on her own kind. I wasn’t at all sure she would understand, but she had. Yes, she would be formidable.
It wasn’t quite 10 AM, and I was exhausted. I drafted a proposal for a settlement for Emma deLauro. Clearly, she could not stay on at Genomex. I dreaded talking to her again, but I was not going to allow my personal pain stop me from doing my duty. I would not saddle a lower level employee with the task of explaining the terms of the settlement to Emma.
What are you going to say to Jesse?
I realized I had no idea what I could say to him except a bland recitation of the genetic facts.
Rebecca may be correct. The time may have come for me to retire.
Lilith
“Lili, I feel absurd wearing this.”
I looked up from the pamphlets I was packing into a leather tote bag. Adam looked miserably uncomfortable and uneasy.
“Adam, don’t whine. We need just a small amount of theatre in the way we present ourselves. What kind of impact would we make if we showed up in jeans and t-shirts? The new recruits will love it. You will see.”
Adam did look silly in a long, flowing black robe trimmed in purple, with arcane-looking alchemical symbols embroidered in gold, especially when he kept tripping on it. I could hear Kurt and Matthew laughing softly behind us; they were not tripping on their robes. I could almost understand the comments they were making about Adam, but they were careful to speak softly.
Adam nearly went down once more as we began to ascend a slight grade.
“Adam, lift up the hem until we’re back on level ground.” I controlled my impulse to laugh.
“I’m not used to wearing a dress,” he muttered.
“It’s not a dress, it’s the robe of a high priest of the Higher Humanity. If you persist in thinking of it as a dress instead of the sacred robe of a high priest, you will spoil the effect of an otherwise classy robe of high office.” The robes were not cheap and they were not cheap looking. I had borrowed from many sources to design them, using alchemical symbols, Hebrew letters, and some of the simpler Egyptian hieroglyphs.
“On Halloween, maybe this would work.”
“Adam, I don’t have the patience for this. We have things to do. You’re defeating our purpose before we get started.” Adam could be so annoying.
“The next time we meet gulls for the Higher Humanity, could we do it at some time other than the middle of the night?”
“Atmosphere is very important. Setting the meeting at 3 AM screens out casual gawkers, and makes the hardy folk who turn up feel special and select.”
Adam mumbled a comment about sleeping in the following morning.
“You cannot do that, Adam, we have about 175 embryos to check for healthy development. That is more than I can manage by myself.”
“Your wretched embryos can rot.”
“No, Adam. They cannot rot. They will not rot.”
In the gloom of the unused utility tunnel, I could discern eight figures standing by an electric lantern.
“Eight?” Adam whispered. “We went through all of this so we could talk to eight kids in the middle of the night?”
“Keep your voice down. If two of them become true believers, our outing was a success. Acorns, Adam. We’re planting acorns.” Paul had always been fond of talking about acorns growing into oaks, and I knew Adam probably became as tired of hearing it as I did.
He mumbled something unintelligible.
“Welcome, brothers and sister.” The kids looked well taken care of…soft upper middle class types and absolute lost souls, ripe for the guidance of some guru, some sage, someone who knew more than they did who could tell them something meaningful. Their present lives provided every comfort, but they were not content. When they were this vulnerable, they were so easily gulled. And if I read the signs correctly, three were Genomex mutants.
That night, we added three more foot soldiers to the Higher Humanity.
Mason
I had known Dr Laura Varady nearly all of my adult life. She was at Genomex the day I started. Laura was one of the best people I ever knew, and my oldest friend.
For a long time, Laura was my only friend. She believed in my humanity when everyone else was convinced I had become inhuman. (Well, Rebecca had her suspicions, but I did not know about them.)
Most everyone who knew Laura loved her, and with good reason. I loved her. She must have known why: she filled some of the painful hollow places carved out by my mother’s suicide.
After knowing her just a few months short of thirty years, I could not imagine that someday Laura Varady would no longer be my friend, not until I forced the abortion of Emma’s child. I knew whatever price I paid with Laura would be heavy. She and Emma had worked together for years and were close.
Shortly after 9 AM, Personnel sent me a brief email indicating Dr Laura Varady had resigned, effective immediately. I had not anticipated her exact response, but I was not surprised she had given notice suddenly.
I left my office. How Laura hated my office. She claimed spending time in there would affect my character. She may have been correct. On the day she first saw it, she said all that cold steel and glass would make me more and more like the persona I wore, and less and less human. For about eighteen months, she gave me a series of low-light plants, remembering that once upon a time, I had been an avid gardener who could grow anything. Unfortunately, all of the plants Laura gave me died, even when she remembered to water them. Finally, she gave up, and said my office was deadly to plants.
I started walking to her office at a brisk pace. I could do that in the Genomex corridors because they were maintained at such a cool temperature. Employees complained, but it made my functioning so much easier.
This morning was different. I made it as far as the maudlin Eleanor Singer fountain, and was so exhausted I sat down and rested, watching the koi glide above the smooth pebbles. Sudden fatigue was not a good sign and not one I could ignore. I would need to see Dr Prodana. I willed myself to stand and walk on, slowly this time, until finally reaching Laura’s office.
Except for those few lost months when I had been podded and Laura committed to a mental institution under a false name and false papers by direction of Gabriel Ashlocke, Laura had occupied this office since 1978. Her arrival pre-dated that of Adam by several months.
Laura Varady knew where a lot of metaphoric bodies were buried.
Laura’s door was open, as it always was except when she was having a private conversation with someone. Everyone knew that and respected the convention, never knocking.
She was emptying the contents of a desk drawer into a box.
“Mason, if you’ve come to make sure I’m not leaving with Genomex property, check the cartons yourself.” Coming from her, that stung. She still had not looked up from her packing. She knew who I was by patterns of dark and light seen on the periphery of her vision.
“That is not why I am here.”
I had never seen her office looking like this. Her African violets were gone from the windows, the grandchildren’s ‘artwork’ stripped from the walls. She always kept brightly colored afghans she made herself in the office in case she or one of her visitors were chilled by the air conditioning. The gallery of photographs of family and friends was gone.
“I could have retired years ago. I probably should have. After Lou died, I kept working because I didn’t want to be alone in the house. It seemed so empty without him. Working wasn’t a bad idea, but staying on at Genomex was. I should have found another job. I know too much about this place for any one person to know. Don’t worry, though; I’m not going to write a book about it and do the damage Paul Breedlove almost did in 2007. Although I may turn to the writing of horror stories involving the perversion of science.”
“We all should have left years ago, as soon as we knew Genomex was not as claimed.” There was no doubt in my mind that I should have left in 1987, and endured whatever financial hardships followed the loss of the generous Genomex paycheck. Jackie would have made my life miserable, complaining about the disruption of our family and the very likely decrease in income. Matching my enomex pay would have been difficult in those early years. I would have heard more than any sane man would want to hear about how unfortunate it was that we did not live in a house as nice as the one her sister Barbara had Just possibly, we might have divorced earlier, and I might have lost my family sooner than I did. But I would not have spent the last 22 years living as I had, kept alive by heroic medicine, owing Paul Breedlove my life, fighting a crazy shadow war to prevent humanity’s demise.
Laura finally looked up from her packing.
“Oh, I don’t know, Mason. I believe circumstances have worked out for you much the same even if Adam had not tried to fry you, with peculiar results.”
“What do you mean?”
“I believe being the local tyrant suits you very well indeed, and that it is a role you would have created no matter where you were. I think it is who you are, who you want to be. You’re not a hero, Mason. You’re just a cruel man.”
She spoke calmly, surely, not in a white-hot rage, but with certainty and the deep chill of a glacier.
“Many difficult tasks needed doing.”
“Keep telling yourself that, Mason. Who knows where that could still take you? And think of the satisfaction you can derive along the way, making people squirm inside with a glance or a tilt of the head.”
I had not enjoyed much of what I did. “Whatever satisfaction this job brings is that of performing a nearly impossible, unbearable duty with steadfast purpose and dedication.”
Laura was trying to provoke me. She was succeeding.
“You know what I believe now? I think I’ve been wrong about you. Far from being repulsed or disgusted, I think you’ve relished every loathsome act.”
“That is not true.”
“As imperfect as Adam is, I think he was right about you having no conscience.” Bringing up Adam’s absurd rant about my being a sociopath was the most irritating thing she could have said.
“We’ve been friends a long time, Laura.”
“Only a monster could do what you did to Emma. She trusted you like family. Not that that would mean anything to you.”
“It means everything to me. I take neither friends nor family for granted.”
“You’re thinning the ranks of both and you didn’t have much to begin with.”
“Laura, you understand genetics. I had careful tests done on that baby to be sure before I acted. There was no ambiguity, no doubt about what she would be. Do you want to read the report? I’ll release a copy to you.”
“I’m sure the report was solid. But you were dealing with Emma. Emma and Jesse. Only a monster could have done what you did to them. I was wrong about you all this time. All those years when I tried to keep the human in you alive, I wasted the effort, because there never was a human inside past adolescence.”
“I think Rebecca would disagree.”
“Rebecca! Lost-soul, delusional Rebecca. How pitiful that an otherwise intelligent woman convinced herself to share your life of lies! You’ll hurt her when it serves you, too, and likely enjoy doing it. You’re a sick, sick man. Goodbye, Mason.”
I was in no mood to listen to anymore, and Laura made clear she was not about to change her mind. I turned away from her, and stalked out of her office.
But my day had just started. Early afternoon brought on my scheduled interview with Rob Abelmann.
Rebecca had not described my old neighbor Rob, but from her detailing of his years since leaving Genomex, I expected to find him worn and frayed. So I was astonished when he strolled into my office looking not much changed at all, except in the eyes.
“Good afternoon, Mason.”
He shook my gloved hand, hesitating as most people do.
He was doing his best to be cheerful, but my office was designed to produce anything but cheer. I wanted people off balance and uncomfortable, allowing me control of almost any situation.
“Dr Steyn told you this is not the Genomex of the past.”
Instinctively, I did not call her Rebecca, not wanting Rob to speak of her in familiar terms. He was surprised to hear me speak of her formally, but he knew better than to comment. Let him believe what he wished.
“I’m was shocked when she described the changes, but the shock was a pleasant one.”
“Our work here is no less serious. If anything, it is more urgent, and focused.”
That was truth. That was part of why I stayed on, no matter what was required of me.
“You’re actually working to extend the lives of the Genomex mutants.”
“Without serious medical intervention, most of them will have attenuated life spans. We cannot cure them. We can only lessen their miseries, and discourage them from making more doomed souls like themselves. We are the clean-up crew.”
“I’m not sure it is possible to clean up this mess.”
“Neither am I. But I must try. As few people do, you know exactly what is at stake.”
Yes, Rob knew. Neither of us wanted to talk about what the Genomex mutants implied. I wasn’t going to lie to Rob or pretend the program had an endpoint. Short of undreamed-of medical advances curing Genomex mutants and making them ordinary humans, I could not imagine an end to the program.
After a pause, I continued. “Since late 2007, I have worked to bring the Genomex mutants out of the shadows. In exchange for a promise…to have no children. We have placed the majority of known mutants in real-world jobs, allowing them complete lives lived as normally as possible. They do not wear governors and I do not monitor them or interfere in their lives. St Katherine’s is available to them when their mutancy creates medical problems, as it inevitably does for all of them.”
“That’s drastic.”
“It is pragmatic. Living in the so-called ‘underground’ was to live in a state of fear, frequently to live in squalor, and to have no future in particular. Some of them were already quite ill and had nowhere to turn for effective treatment. The lives they’ve gained are fuller, with far greater personal possibilities. Few of them regret leaving their past lives. Only a handful have gone back into the ‘underground’, individuals who could not adjust to the demands of ordinary life, or found making an honest living too much trouble. The GSA actively pursues and captures only individuals who are a threat to everyone. I now pod only the untreatable ones who are uncontrolled and dangerousThe criminals I channel into the courts after surgically implanting a governor not noticeable to the casual observer and constantly active.”
“You have Angela working for you, Rebecca said.”
Rebecca. I did not care for the way Rob spoke her name.
“Dr Angela Fontenelle has been on the staff of St Katherine’s for awhile now. We’re fortunate to have her. She brings high skill and unique understanding to her position. She is not unique. There are several MDs and nurses on staff who are themselves mutants. I have a scholarship fund for highly qualified mutants, to train and educate more in any medical specialty applicable to the treatment of Genomex mutants, so that I may have more on staff in the future. The ordinary human staff are the best I could recruit, but we have found the insights of the mutants to be valuable.”
“You’ve set up an ambitious project here, Mason.”
“Yes. It needed to be done. No one else was doing it.”
“I’d like to talk to Angela.”
“St Katherine’s is open to the public. You can walk in the front door much as anyone. However, I do not know her work schedule.”
“You have no objections to my meeting her?”
Why would he think that?
“Certainly not. Dr Fontenelle can remove any lingering doubts about Genomex and St Katherine’s.”
Or me.
“Is there a chance of my being hired here, Mason? I’m almost afraid to hope.”
Until Rob said that, I had not realized how desperately he wanted to return to Genomex. Rebecca told me about the dreadful jobs he’d been forced to take. He hadn’t exaggerated.
“That depends upon whether Drs Lukather, Wasson and Watanabe want your skills, and whether you have committed any unforgivable sin since leaving Genomex. We are careful about whom we hire.”
He was curious about that, but not bold enough to ask, not with something of importance at stake.
“Rebecca and Laura Varady are the only other people left from the old days.”
“There is a good reason for that. I have had problems in the past with employees who served two masters. You are not quietly in the pay of Adam Kane, are you?”
I had to ask, and I had to watch his reaction to what should have been a stunning question.
“Hardly. We were not friends. You know what Adam is like.”
“All too well. Over time, his endearing qualities have become exaggerated, and even more annoying.”
“But he’s in prison.”
“Not any longer. Like a character from an ancient horror movie, he walks among us again. He is likely to return here, as he has several times in the past. As in the past, his visit could be violent. If you become an employee here, are you prepared to deal with a violent Adam?”
“Meaning?”
“In 2007, Adam and a thug of his invaded this facility and injured Dr Steyn badly enough to send her to an emergency room. In 2008 he invaded with what may be best described as mercenaries, killing several employees. Adam is very dangerous. After a year on the job, employees are offered, but not forced, to take GSA range training and are authorized to carry onsite. Security cannot be everywhere. I will not have my people slaughtered with no means of personal defense.”
“Isn’t that extreme?”
How easy to stand back from a safe distance and proclaim my measures extreme.
“Not when you have to look at the blood and the bodies. Dr Steyn has all the authorization of a GS agent, even though she draws only one paycheck.”
“Rebecca?”
We’ve all changed, Rob. Rebecca is prepared to use those skills. I do not doubt it.
I nodded my head.
“She hated guns.”
I allowed myself a small smile. “She’s as good a shot as I am now.”
“Wow.”
“I just want you to know that while Genomex is no longer in the Chamber of Horrors line of business, there remain risks.”
“Thank you. I never would have guessed most of this.”
“We need good people, Rob. After all, we’re trying to save humanity. Nevertheless, there are people –individuals—working against us. As long as you understand what you would become part of…”
“You’ve been open and honest about it.”
More than you ever expected me to be.
“My assistant will escort you to the lobby. Whatever Drs Lukather, Wasson, and Watanabe decide, I wish you well.”
And I meant it. But I did not like the way he spoke of Rebecca, though such familiar usage was typical at Genomex. His presence took me back to the miserable years in the 1990s, when Adam and Rob were competing professionally, and for Rebecca’s attentions as well, although she wasn’t much aware of that. But I had not known that then, watching unhappily from an impossible distance.
So, knowing the whole of the truths, all of the truths one could know of a thing, why do I feel threatened now?
I had no good answer for myself. I returned to business and found an email from Rebecca reminding me of the arrival of Grey and Julie in the afternoon.
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Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 5
Part 6
Part 7
Part 8
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