Project nexus, p.17
Project Nexus, page 17
The elevator door dinged and slid open the corridor was empty on the floor that held Dr. Freedlander’s office. The door to Dr. Freedlander’s outer office was open, an unusual sight, Dr. Ashford straightened up a bit and set his attitude to be more serious. Patrick must be freaking out by now. Dr. Ashford smiled inwardly, took a deep breath, put on a serious look and walked into the office of Dr. Patrick Freedlander.
“Patrick, you look terrible; here, take this kaff.” He handed the cup to Dr. Freedlander. “So, what has happened?”
“I’ve been reported to the Senate Ethics Committee the military wants to pull the funds on Project Nexus.”
“Any idea how they know anything?”
“It has to be Michaels.”
“But you don’t know for certain?”
“NO! I DON’T KNOW FOR CERTAIN!” Dr. Freedlander yelled viciously
“Patrick,” Elias warned, “I realize you are upset and nervous, but there is no need to take that tone with me.” He sipped his kaff.
Dr. Freedlander gave Dr. Ashford a dark, flat stare.
“You still don’t trust me, do you, Patrick?”
Dr. Freedlander growled in a low, guttural voice, “I don’t trust anyone completely.”
“Not even your own dama?”
“You can leave that old sow out of this.”
Dr. Ashford grunted in distaste at Dr. Freedlander’s sentiment, however, Dr. Freedlander misunderstood and took it that Dr. Ashford agreed with him. Dr. Freedlander took a sip of his cooling kaff. “Thanks for this,” He held up his cup then took another sip.
Dr. Ashford sat in the extra office chair, “Well,” He exhaled, “If it was Micheals, he’s going to blow you up. He knows everything.”
“Practically everything.” Dr. Freedlander corrected. Dr. Freedlander sat behind his desk, “How could he know about the cynates,” He paused, “Unless you told him,”
Dr. Ashford interrupted, “Or Saardi. He knows everything, and you replaced him with me; he hates you, Patrick. He quit, you know?”
Dr. Freedlander leaned forward in his chair, “He did?” He felt foolish like he had lost control of his own lab. It made him angry, and suddenly, he leaped up from his seat and slammed his hands on his desk, making his cup of cold kaff turn over. Kaff went everywhere, splashing his reports and his terminal.
“PATRICK! Control yourself!”
“DAMN THAT SAARDI!”
“Yeah, well, I told you your decision to put him in control of that project would come back on you later. It’s your karking fault!” DR. Ashford took in a calming breath and let it out slowly. He hadn’t meant to say that out loud, but it felt good to say it.
“Indeed, you did.” Dr. Freedlander responded quietly.
“What exactly did the indictment papers say? If you don’t mind sharing?”
Dr. Freedland sat back down in his chair, tapped his earcom waited a few sentos, “Yes, please send Noreen to my office; I spilled my coffee and could use her help in cleaning it up.” Then tapped the earcom again. He then looked at his kaff-covered desk, shoved a few soggy papers aside, picked up the folded indictment papers, and handed them over to Dr. Ashford.
Dr. Ashford read through the pages, knowing Dr. Freedlander was watching him; he schooled his facial reactions. Michaels really did bring the full force of the Senate down on Patrick Freedlander. “What has your representative said?”
“Excuse me, you needed cleaning?” It was Noreen who came to help clean the kaff off the desk. She saw the mess, “Oh my!” and went right to cleaning. The two men just sat and watched as she did her job. When she was finished, she stood back, “There you go, young man, all is good.”
“Thank you, Noreen.”
She nodded, turned, and left the office. Dr. Freedlander’s reports were salvaged, but he would reprint them anyway.
“I’ve noticed you are always so kind to Noreen. Why?”
“I don’t know, what does it matter why?”
“It doesn’t really; I was just curious.”
“To answer your question, my representative thinks I should try for a plea deal. But both you and I know that they will never offer one.”
“Then what are you going to do?”
“I’m going to go to the capitol and testify against Saardi.”
“How... does that work?” Dr. Ashford was intrigued and a little sick, Patrick just may well get out from under this indictment.
Dr. Freedlander smiled a very wicked smile. It made Dr. Ashford’s spine go cold. The sick feeling grew, and he felt like someone had gut-punched him. This podless-born piece of gos’n was going to get away with it. He was going to have to warn Michaels. It was all he could do to sit and listen, but he needed to gather the details.
One of the good things they had on their side was having Michaels working with them and having Saardi in their custody. If this was Patrick’s plan, they were going to have to put them to an end. Dr. Ashford was going to have to be very careful now; he had to remain in Dr. Freedlander’s good graces for a while.
Dr. Ashford realized that he had gone introspective and that Dr. Freedlander was staring at him, assessing his behavior. Elias shook himself free of his thoughts, “I’ll not ask you how you are planning this...”
“That’s good because I wouldn’t tell you anyway; what you don’t know, you can’t tell.”
“I told you; I haven’t told a thing to anyone.”
“Of course you haven’t.” Then Dr. Freedlander said something that DR. Ashford never thought he would ever hear come out of Patrick Freedlander’s mouth. “I have no choice but to leave the facility to go to the capitol and attend this hearing; I’m going to leave you in charge, Elias.”
Dr. Ashford spluttered, “You can’t!” before he could even think. He tried to cover with a cough, but DR. Freedlander began laughing hysterically. “Oh. But I can, and now you are on the line if anything happens, anything not scripted.” He got up and opened his office door, “I expect daily reports, I leave next cycle. The product should be ready to birth any cycle now, too, so you should have plenty to report on.”
Dr. Elias Ashford was stunned. He left Dr. Freedlander’s office in silence. What the kark is he playing at? He just made it, not impossible but nearly, for those hybrid natae to escape. He was going to have to forfeit his position at the lab in order to get those natae out, and once they were out, he would not be able to help them for quite some time. Dr. Ashford went back to his office, opened his terminal, entered dark mode, and tapped into his ecom; he began dumping all the information he had just learned; he sent the ecom to Michaels, who would let the others in their group know the details. He then pulled out his sanitized datatab and began composing a message to Jeb, the hybrid natae, who needed to know what was going on before they tried to leave.
Twenty-eight
The bell for eighth and morning meal chimed; Jeb was already up and dressed; they had a long cycle of unpacking and repacking their field packs. Jeb opened the link to everyone, “Everyone up and ready? We have a long cycle in PHQ.”
Levi groaned as he stretched and replied via the link, “Yeah, give me five minos, ok?”
“Sure, everyone else, you also have five minos.”
Lin and Kee replied together, “Ready.”
“We’ve been talking to Chelle; we’ll tell you all about it at morning meal,” Lin sent.
The twins were silent, but Jeb could feel them connected and listening. He stood and went to his door and left his room. There in the common room sat the twins, Kit and Kip, on the lounge, dressed and waiting for the others. Jeb went to the lounge and ruffled each boy's hair. The boy’s faces lit up with affection for Jeb.
“Well, look at how responsible you two are!” Jeb was impressed that he didn’t have to hustle them out of bed.
“We beat Lin and Kee!”
“That you did!”
“Who did what?” Levi came out into the common room; he ran his hands over his hair, smoothing it down.
“We,” Started Kit, and Kip finished, “Did.”
“Did what?” Levi sat down next to Kit on the lounge.
Kit turned to him, “We got up and came out here before Lin.”
Lin and Kee came out of Kee’s room, “So,” Lin said sharply. “we’ve been up for horas. We were talking to Chelle, right Kee?” Lin seemed offended that anyone should suggest she wasn’t on time or that she wasn’t being constructive in some way.
Kee yawned, “Yeah, we’ve been talking to Chelle. Let’s go eat, I’m starving!” She didn’t wait for any responses and headed for the common room entrance.
“I’m with Kee, let’s eat!” Levi stated and followed Kee. The others followed Levi. Once they were in the cafe, they all grabbed their food trays and made for their usual table. However, their table was occupied by Mekon and Dr. Ashford. Both sat with cups of kaff.
“Good cycle, natae.” Dr. Ashford greeted them. “Come sit down; we have to talk. Don’t worry, Dr. Freedlander is gone for a few cycles.”
The hybrid natae sat at their table; they were very curious as to what was so important that both Dr. Ashford and Mekon would be at their morning meal table. “What’s happening?” Jeb got straight to the point.
Mekon smiled, “I hope you all are prepared to spend the cycle in PHQ?”
“That was the plan.” Levi took a bite of his food.
“That’s good; we are going to try to get you as many provisions as we can.”
“We appreciate that,” Jeb replied after swallowing a bite. The others ate and listened, not really having anything relevant to say; not even Kee wanted to interrupt with a smart-mouth comment.
Mekon took a sip of kaff, “I’ll be in PHQ to help you this cycle,” He put down his cup, got up, and went out of the cafe.
DR. Ashford smiled again, “There’s been a little,” he paused, “wrinkle in the plans.”
The natae all sat up a little; Jeb looked, if it were possible, more serious, “What do you mean, wrinkle? What has happened?”
“Well, my plan to get Dr. Freedlander out of the lab for a while worked a little too well; he made me be in charge of the facility while he is gone.” A look of absolute guilt ran across Dr. Ashford’s face and settled there, leaving him with a sad expression.
“What does that mean for us?” Asked Levi cautiously, he still did not trust Dr. Ashford fully.
“That sounds like it would be to our advantage,” added Jeb.
“Well, it is, but it also isn’t,” Replied Dr. Ashford. “It complicates things.”
Dr. Ashford took a drink of his cold kaff, made a face, and got up to get a fresh cup. “You see.” He began as he sat back down with his new cup of kaff, “When you leave, that’s my job at the lab done; I won’t be able to work here anymore, I won’t be able to help you for some time, I’ll have to go into hiding for a while. You all will be on your own, out there in the world alone.”
It was Kit who spoke up next, “We don’t need anyone to help us.”
Then Kip began, “We can take care of ourselves.”
“I appreciate that, boys, but you don’t really know what is out there; you all have never really experienced the real world. You have only experienced what Mekon has created for you in simulation, in the FST room.”
“We have the library,” asserted Lin quietly.
“Yes, you do. But even the library can’t do everything.”
Jeb felt his anger rise and spoke in a harsh tone, “So what do you want us to do, quit? Not leave? Stay and let Chelle become some,” He struggled for the correct words, “Some...” he spit the word out, “EXPERIMENT?”
Levi caught on Jeb’s words, “Yeah, should we stay here so he can kill us?”
Dr. Ashford put up his hands in a calming gesture, “No! I want you all to live free! I just wanted you to know what was happening and why I won’t be able to help you for a while.” Dr. Ashford wrapped his hands around his cup and took a deep breath. “You natae are so very young; you don’t know the dangers you face out there,”
Kee, who had been quiet up till now, finally broke her silence, “I know,” she began, “We are young; Jeb and Levi are only 14 anos, I’m just 12, Lin just turned 11 the other cycle, and the twins are seven almost eight... and then there will be newly born Chelle... it will be a challenge. But weren’t we created for this very thing? Weren’t we trained for survival? What was all of this for if we can’t make it out there in the real world?”
Dr. Ashford looked at Kee; for the first time, he really saw her for the hybrid-being she really was; he looked closely at all of them now. He realized then that they were more capable than he had given them credit. These hybrid natae were ready to leave the lab. “I just,” he started quietly, “I just didn’t want you to think I abandoned you.”
“Like Michaels did,” Jeb added quietly.
“Michaels is in hiding. He’s helping us to defeat Dr. Freedlander. It just couldn’t be helped; he had to go away.”
“Oh!” Lin gasped, “I almost forgot! Chelle told Kee and me that Dr. Freedlander was in the pod room last cycle; he did something to her pod base. She didn’t know what it was, but she said she feels... different.”
Dr Ashford’s face drained of color. “What?” Then it registered that Lin had said she had talked to Chelle. “Wait, you talk to the podling?”
“Uh,” Jeb cut in, “Yeah, we can all talk to her; after the hack, we... could all talk to each other through a mind link.”
“Mind link?” Dr. Ashford was stunned. He turned to Lin, “Let’s get back to what, uh... Chelle told you. Specifically, she said about the pod base?” Both Lin and Kee nodded in agreement. “This could be very bad; I’m going to have to check this out. Whatever happens next, go on with your escape plans. It may be the last time we get to speak, so good luck, and I’ll find you all again, eventually. I promise.” Dr. Ashford stood, took a long look at the natae, reached out and ruffled Kit and Kip’s hair, then left the cafe.
The hybrid natae sat at the table for a few more minos after Dr. Ashford left. Then suddenly, Jeb announced, “We need to get going to PHQ before anything happens.” Almost as one, they stood, grabbed their trays, deposited their trays, and hurried out of the cafe to PHQ. They arrived at PHQ’s doors just as a loud, shrill alarm began to go off. The door opened, and Mekon stood in the doorway, ushering them into the PHQ storage room.
“You all made it here just in time, the whole facility is going on lockdown. There will be a personnel check, but you’ll be ok because I assigned you to PHQ madis ago. Let’s get started; it’s going to take some time to get everything organized. I brought the extra packs from FST, so we can get those in order as well.”
“Won’t they question what we’re doing?” Kee questioned.
Mekon smiled a foxlike smile, “Oh, I hope they do. Now line up the packs; let’s see Jeb and Levi over there,” he pointed to the far corner of the long shelf-lined room. “Next, Kee and Lin, and then Kit and Kip.”
The group spent the next few horas emptying their packs, both main and smaller extra. The twins quickly grew tired of the tedious work, so Mekon turned it into a race to see who could repack their packs with their provisions but do so neatly and efficiently. Both Jeb and Levi disqualified themselves; having packed their field packs for several anos, they felt it would not be fair to participate.
Kip and Kit raced the girls, eventually though, Jeb and Levi, having finished repacking, began helping the twins. Kee and Lin both cried out, “Hey! That’s not fair!” Then began laughing at themselves for taking the race so seriously. Mekon stood back, evaluating how the hybrids worked together.
It was mid-mealtime when they finally stopped repacking; Kip sat back on his heels and proclaimed, “I’m starving! Can we eat now?”
Mekon looked up from his datatab, “Of course, young man, we can all go to the cafe together.”
“Are we still on lockdown?” Jeb questioned.
“Yes, and it will stay that way for some time. If you all are ready...” Mekon stood and put his datatab on the desk next to him.
The hybrid natae all stood, and they headed for the door. Mekon opened the door to PHQ only to find guards flanking each side of the corridor, “Well, this is interesting; are we under detainment?”
The guards snapped to alertness, and then one of them said in a calm voice, “No, Sir.”
“Then why are you hanging around my door?”
“Orders, Sir. It’s protocol. Assets...”
“Protocol?” He interrupted the guard. “Well, ok,” Mekon was slightly amused, well played Freedlander, well played. “You stay here and guard this corridor; we are going to the cafe. Do not let anyone in here until I get back.” Mekon gave the guard a challenging look that made the guard think twice about not obeying the countermanding order.
“Yes, Sir.”
“Let’s go.” Mekon motioned to the natae and they followed him down the corridor towards the elevator. The natae remained silent until they reached the cafe, and then Kee doubled over laughing; it was a nervous laugh at first, then turned to relief as the others joined in with her. Kee gasped, “I didn’t...” She wiped her eyes, “It’s just that... his face... the guard’s face, he looked so...”
“Conflicted?” Jeb finished for her.
They all took a deep breath to calm themselves from their laughing outburst.
Mekon offered, “Well, I do outrank them, after all.” Then he walked to the meal trays and picked one up, “Shall we eat?”
Kip scuttled forward and grabbed his meal tray, and everyone followed him. They sat at their usual table and began to eat. Mid-meal went by as uneventful as it could, being on lockdown.
Soon, they were done with mid-meal, cleaned up, and on their way back to PHQ. Kip and Kit, uncharacteristically, raced through the corridor back to the elevator. They ignored all of the adults telling them to ‘Not run in the hall’; as Mekon passed his colleagues, he just mildly gave them a nod, with no intention of reining in the two little boys.
