Tammy had just stepped out of the shower in her building when the all call announcement startled her so badly that she almost slipped and fell. With a quickly barked, “Shit!“, she flailed her arms momentarily before miraculously catching the edge of the sink with her hand. Then, with her heart pounding from the sudden rush of adrenaline, she ran naked to her quarters and dressed quickly, yanking her scrubs on over the long surgical scars that crisscrossed her torso and thighs. Slamming her feet into her shoes she bolted through the door while still fastening her bra. As her feet pounded out the quarter mile between staff quarters and the underground facility entrance she marveled again at her health and the miracle of Eddie’s work.
It hadn’t been that long ago that running like this would have been unthinkable for her. When she arrived at the facility fresh from Rammstein and John Hopkins she had still needed forearm braced crutches to even walk. Getting to and from her barracks took almost an hour, and falls happened every day. But she refused to be assigned a golf cart transport or help of any other kind. She’d guided enough men through rehab to know that once you start making concessions like that your progress slows down, and sometimes just stops. Only the ones who refuse to accept anything less than normal ever get close to achieving it.
So she had slogged it out, week after week, month after month until she was down to one crutch and crossing the grounds in a half hour. Then, after almost a year of assisting Eddie and his crew in the biotech breakdown, he had taken her aside. He confided in her about an experimental traumatic injury treatment he’d been working on. Already in awe of the boyish scientist’s intellect, she was flattered that he was entrusting her with what was obviously classified information.
She had seen how he mentally devoured everything they pulled from the remains of the Sinai assailants. They would barely have gotten something extracted and tagged when Eddie would snatch it away to hook it up to his table full of gizmos. Then within days he’d be giddily running around the lab with it, showing everyone how it worked and how cool it was. She didn’t have the heart to remind him of how many people died for his new toys. He was just a kid and she knew he meant no disrespect. She had also seen how much he cared about people and how emotionally sensitive he was. If he knew how monstrously horrible the creatures he studied were, and the sadistic joy they took in the deaths of their victims, he might not be able to do this work at all.
On that afternoon though, he was uncharacteristically serious as he explained a new therapy he had devised. Apparently, each one of the assailants had been equipped with a synthetic hormone system. It kicked in for certain types of injuries once properly keyed to the DNA of the patient and Eddie had been shocked at how effective it was. From what he had seen in animal testing it was almost as effective on old injuries as new ones and stimulated healing far more complete than anything else he’d ever seen.
He had just gotten approval for a small scale, human trial and wanted to know if she was interested. She just needed to be willing to accept the risks and sign off on liability. Initially she had hesitated. The idea of putting anything that came from those abominations into her body revolted her. She also knew Eddie couldn’t guarantee anything. But he had been persistent, spending every lunch hour for a week talking about how confident he was that he could at least help her walk without pain.
But she still wasn’t comfortable and so he had shown her how the treatment didn’t actually use any Sinai Biotech. Apparently everything had been clean room reverse engineered. So in reality the end product wasn’t Sinai biotech at all, but Eddie’s new and improved version. According to Eddie and all of the data, her only risk was that nothing would happen - leaving her right where she was. So after an especially painful walk back to her barracks in the rain that day she had decided to go for it. At first she didn’t see a lot of difference except for the sore spots where she was unmercifully injected with 30cc’s of weirdly pink fluid every day. But then after two weeks she noticed that she was leaning on her crutch a lot less. After two months she had put it away in her closet. Three months later she was feeling pretty great, taking long walks around the grounds during her off hours and even jogging a little.
But then one night, after a particularly grueling shift, she awoke feverish, soaked in a cold sweat, and clutching at a horrible pain in her lower stomach. Half-rolling and half-falling out of her bunk she had shakily gotten to her feet and stumbled to the bathroom, feeling sweat pour out of her skin like a flood. Barely able to stand, she leaned against the wall by the mirror and lifted her night shirt. What she saw drew a gasp from her and her right hand instinctively slapped against her hip where her emergency alert signaler usually dangled. But it was a useless gesture. The device was carefully stashed in her foot locker along with all of her other equipment.
As the agony in her pelvis spiked again she realized she probably couldn’t even crawl back to get help. It took every ounce of her strength to remain standing as she tried to understand what she was seeing. Just above her right hip, pushing out against her almost translucent skin, was a dark object at least the size of her thumb. She watched as the flesh around it quivered and bunched up like a grotesque pair of puckered lips. It felt like the worst menstrual cramp she had ever experienced. Then with a sickening wave of nausea the pucker pushed out and the object surged forward again, making her scream in agony as she fell to her knees. Vomiting on the cold white tile, she sagged against the wall and quailed in misery as it puckered and shoved again.
The cycle repeated itself for several minutes while Tammy sobbed and screamed. Then finally, the object had erupted through her skin encased in a clotted gout of gelatinous purple blood. With a wet and heavy thud, it fell onto the floor and Tammy collapsed next to it, vomiting. Distantly, she heard the pounding of bare feet coming down the hall and her bunkmates Allison and Shelli had burst into the room.
Then everything had gone black.
Several hours later she had woken in a hospital bed at the main facility with Dr Ginney and Eddie standing over her. “What happened?”, she groaned, trying to sit up before a shooting pain in her gut forced her to collapse back into the bed. Eddie had grinned and replied, “Super cool Tam! Looks like you still had a chunk of something in you messing with your hip and the regenerative hormones stimulated your body to reject it!” With that he had reached into the plastic dish he held in one hand with a pair of forceps and held up the object - the last two inches of a rifle barrel.
“What? How... how could they miss that? It’s HUGE!”
Eddie had laughed and replied, “Battlefield surgery man! Stitch this one up and move on! There were a lot of people more messed up than you. So I guess they just pulled out what they could and sewed up the holes. Then they sent you off to Germany. Ginney had chimed in at that point. “I pulled your records from Rammstein off the mednet Tammy. They never X-rayed you below the waist. This object must have been down in your pelvis deeper than they looked. You should be glad they didn’t try to HDMRI you or your lady parts would probably have come out of you along with this thing.” Eddie interrupted him to add, “Yeah, so I got to thinking about whether or not there might be more. Then I X- rayed you - and holy shit Tam, you got more metal in you than the Terminator!”
Eddie flicked on his slate and a 3D X-ray of her from shoulders to knees floated above it in slow rotation. Embedded throughout the cool blue lines of her body were tiny yellow and red dots. “I sorta lost count at twenty-eight”, Eddie admitted sheepishly. “But the rest of them are all tiny, below the threshold for what’s supposed to be surgically removed.” Zooming in on her right shoulder he pointed to a triangle shaped red object near her collarbone. “This one’s on the move too. It should pop out any day now. Be sure you put it in a baggie and bring it in. I wanna check them all out and document them for the trial data.” Tammy had simply laid back in her bed, tuning out Eddie and Ginney as she tried not to scream. First monsters, then being blown up, now she had Eddie, who looked like a cross between Ichabod Crane and Andy Warhol, forcing her body to puke out spare parts like some horror movie version of a Pez dispenser.
It took time to get used to, but over the next year this sort of thing became almost routine for her. She’d be showering and hear something clatter to the tile. Or absently scratch at an itch, only to have some foreign bit pop out into her hand. Mostly she would find them lying on her blood spotted sheet in the morning. Fortunately, the ejection sites healed quickly and left little to no discoloration on her latte skin. She dutifully collected anything that came out of her and turned it over to Eddie. By the end of the year he had amassed quite a collection and displayed them morbidly in a jar on his desk, rattling it at her occasionally and telling her it was a hell of a way to lose weight.
Eventually all of the shrapnel inside of her had worked itself out and she was jogging every day. In time she started adding back in calisthenics and weights. No one had been more surprised by her recovery than she was. Just a few years after being blown off of a mountain and punched full of holes she was back to full strength. She had even re-qualified for normal active duty with her most recent PT assessment. Frankly, she felt better and stronger now than she had when she enlisted. Subsequent trips to the gym showed her strength continuing to climb beyond her normal limits, giving her a bench press that rivaled the male soldiers. Her speed had increased as well, and her times for completing the obstacle course approached Navy S.E.A.L. qualification. She hadn’t suffered so much as a head cold since then, and at times she felt almost... superhuman.
So on this day she enjoyed making short work of the sprint to the facility. When she arrived she bounced impatiently on the balls of her feet as the system validated her digital dog tags, scanned her retinas and handprints, then did a voiceprint analysis as she gave clipped responses to the six random password prompts.
Finally, the heavy steel door slid back and she stepped into the elevator. Once the door closed she placed her hand against the blank wall above the buttons and waited. Two seconds later she felt a tingle as some new, mysterious identification scan, the nature of which she didn’t have clearance for, was run. As soon as the tingling stopped the elevator lights turned red and the compartment started descending. The first time she did this she had expected the elevator buttons to light up in descending order and then for the bottom one to switch off as she proceeded lower to the classified levels of the facility. But nothing like that actually happened. In typical boring military fashion, the buttons just didn’t light at all, leaving her to blindly wait out the time.
When the doors slid open a few moments later Tammy quickly headed towards the main lab. In the case of an all call the main lab was the only space large enough to hold everyone and so had been designated for that purpose. She knew that everyone on duty or off would be reporting there except a minimal crew to monitor patients. But even they would be able to watch and hear the briefing on their video monitors or work slates.
The atmosphere in the lab was highly charged when she arrived. All of the equipment benches and work tables had been rolled over to the far wall, leaving a space several hundred feet across and only slightly less deep. In one corner a podium had been set up atop a small stage and was flanked on both sides by flexible video screens so large they almost reached the thirty-foot-high ceiling. Technicians were hastily connecting them to thin segmented frames that ran around their edges and bracing them to the floor.
She watched as the techs on the left one connected it to power, causing the rippling surface to snap rigid and flat. After a bit of flickering it flared to full laser crystalline clarity and displayed a peaceful blue field with the R.A.M.B.U.S. logo spinning over it in 3D. Seconds later the other screen popped taut and began displaying the same animation. As she scanned the crowd she saw that people were standing around in their typical social or department groups and talking excitedly. But she also noticed everyone keeping a close eye on the door nearest the podium. They all knew from experience that Director Barnes would make his entrance there and go straight to the podium to start speaking. The man gave terse, compact, and efficient briefings that always ended as abruptly as they began.
Glancing around Tammy finally spotted several of the ward nurses and even Dr Sallinger clustered together near one corner. So she weaved through the crowd to join them. As she approached she realized that almost her entire department was there, but had been concealed behind one of the eight-foot-thick titanium alloy columns that ran vertically through the facility at key points to support its hexagonal layout. Tammy knew from her original site training that the facility could withstand a direct hit from a Tokamak category nuclear weapon, the highest yield nuclear bomb ever made.
The group seemed to be in a good mood with the noticeable exception of Sallinger, who merely seemed to have cranked his hate-meter down from eleven to nine.
With a sigh, she noticed that Theresa Vallard, a buxom redheaded nurse who came into the project from a civilian contractor last month, was using this opportunity to put the moves on Eddie again. She was standing so inappropriately close to him that the slightest sway on her part would have rubbed her ridiculously torpedo shaped breasts right up against him. After having supervised her for the last month, Tammy suspected the redheaded beauty of having traded in a couple dozen of her IQ points for that disproportionately huge bust.
But it looked like Tammy had gotten there in time to diffuse things. So far Theresa was just chattering away at the absently nodding Eddie. To give her the impression that he was actually listening he would add the occasional “uh huh” or “yeah” to his nod. But the effect was a bit marred by the double size snickers that he was also chewing slowly. Tammy could tell that he hadn’t heard a single thing the girl had been chipmunking at him. Probably for the best she thought, knowing Eddie, his mind was somewhere else completely.
It irritated Tammy that Theresa constantly tried to flirt with Eddie this way. Everyone knew he was married and Tammy really liked his wife. Although Eddie had managed to remain oblivious to the situation so far, Tammy knew that girls like Theresa were used to getting what they wanted. So sooner or later she would escalate her flirting to something else and it could cause a problem in her unit. Not to mention the problems it could cause Eddie at home. So after making a mental note to talk to Theresa in private, Tammy started thinking of excuses to split the two of them up as she headed over.
Fortunately, she was spared that unpleasantness by the arrival of Director Barnes, who strode through the anticipated door and went directly onto the small stage. After reaching the podium he simply switched on the mic and looked out at the assembled crowd. As usual the effect was immediate and the room fell silent. People shifted around to be able to see better but not a word was spoken. No one had fallen afoul of the Director so far, but it was obvious that no one was taking any chances either. The fear may or may not have been well founded.
Not much was known about the Director except that he had risen quickly through the complex political bureaucracy that constituted the leadership of the intelligence community. He was friendly and amicable whenever he interacted with the staff, but it also never went beyond the carefully cultured surface he maintained. Outside of that, Tammy held no opinion on him. She respected how well he had run R.A.M.B.U.S. so far and was particularly impressed by the ethical standards he had personally put into place. Considering the leeway and immunity this operation had, the man obviously understood how high the risk of human rights violations was. People were people and once you are operating outside some of the rules, the others tend to take on a far greyer appearance than before.
So Tammy turned her attention to him like everyone else and waited for him to begin. “Thank you all for coming so quickly”, he stated solemnly. “I wish that the reason I have called you here for was a happier one. So despite how the information I am about to share with you represents progress on a very important problem we have been tasked against, it also reveals to us that the gravity of that situation has just escalated exponentially. But we are going to face it, and we are going to find a way to overcome it. Because the mission of this operation has always found us dealing with the worst in humanity and today is no different.”
With that he turned to the screen on his right and the spinning logo disappeared, replaced by a grainy and almost sepia toned video. It had obviously been magnified significantly in order to focus on what was centered within it. Moving with a hauntingly liquid grace across what looked like a complex set of scaffolds was a group of dark shapes. Tammy sucked in her breath and felt her knees grow weak. Images flashed across her mind of bestial forms clambering over desert sands as they raced to deliver death and horror to her and her entire battalion. Tears streamed unbidden from her eyes and she felt everything growing distant and hollow.
Then several pairs of hands appeared, supporting her elbows on both sides and comforting her as she began to sag. Someone rolled over a lab chair and with a barely audible, “Thank you”, she sat down. Another pair of hands offered her some tissues and she took them to dab at her eyes as she fought to regain her composure. After taking several deep breaths, she looked up and was surprised to see that it had been Dr Sallinger and Theresa who had reacted quickly enough to tend to her. Remarkably the Director had also paused out of respect while she composed herself. Not a single soul on the base was unaware of the horrors she had been through and what it had taken for her to volunteer to come here and help to unravel the mystery of her attackers.
Embarrassed, she looked up at the Director and nodded.
Turning back he used a gesture of his hand before the screen to reduce the magnification. It became obvious that the scaffolding they had seen earlier was actually the supporting girder and beam system underneath of a bridge. The Director said nothing, and after a moment the entire room echoed Tammy’s earlier gasp. “My God”, someone said quietly, “They’re huge!” Swinging and crawling upside down, the five shapes on the screen were unmistakably human, but on a scale that caused you to doubt that what you were seeing was real.
As the video went into a loop and started over, the Director returned to the podium. “This video was turned in to the Cincinnati Police department at approximately oh nine hundred hours yesterday by one Daryl Hutchinson. Mr. Hutchinson owns a small fishing boat that he had moored approximately three quarters of a mile from the Combs Hehl Bridge that was destroyed by saboteurs in the eighteen bridges disaster. On that boat he had mounted a small battery powered security camera with a memory card. He had covered his boat with a canvas tarp to protect it over the winter and the camera was concealed underneath in order to thwart vandals.
Fortunately, Mr. Hutchinson failed to properly secure the tarp and on the night before the bridges were destroyed the wind blew the corner of the tarp over, it only stayed this way for two and a half minutes before the wind blew the corner back down and the camera deactivated. Mr. Hutchinson did not bring this video forward until now because he did not believe the camera had activated and recorded anything. It was only when his daughter asked to borrow it for a school project that she checked the memory card and discovered the recording. It is our belief that the individuals seen in this video are responsible for the destruction of the bridges and the murder of hundreds of Americans, including forty-two children. Based on an analysis of this video we have determined several things that I am going to let Dr Mathers explain.”
With that the director stepped to the side of the stage and Tammy was surprised to see Eddie take the podium. In the years she had known him she had never seen him speak in public and had never seen the look on his face that was there now. Turning back to the video, Eddie held up his work slate and flicked the program running on it to the large screens. Immediately the video froze and a series of bright green lines appeared. There were six that Tammy could see and they all radiated from the base of one of the bridge supports. “Cognitive AI analysis of the video shows that several lasers operating at frequencies outside the range of human vision were used to disable any security cameras in the area. We believe that the only reason this camera was not disabled was that it was not visible at the time the lasers were set up. The assailants believed they had gotten everything before they started”.
Eddie flicked something else from his slate to the screens and suddenly the resolution increased dramatically. “We then took several hundred frames from the video and had the CogAI overlay them and adjust the positioning of each pixel to match that of the first frame. With a little adjustment this gave us an image resembling something you would get from using a film camera with a long exposure.” Eddie gestured before the screen and the image zoomed in on two of the figures. Although the sharpness wasn’t perfect, an astonishing level of detail was revealed.
The two figures were hanging from the bridge by their arms, caught by the camera as they swung hand over hand across a span in the girders. One was obviously male, with wider shoulders and an overall greater size and mass, while the other was equally obvious in its femininity. Although neither had any secondary sexual characteristics like genitals or nipples, the female had breasts and the groin of the male was shaped similar to an athletic cup. Both were black, or such a dark grey as to appear black in the dim light and impressive musculature was revealed by how the light gleamed across them. They appeared to be wearing extremely lightweight helmets with slight bulges where ears would have been and a smooth glassy black visor over the face.
Again Eddie flicked from his slate to the screen and 3D wireframe outlines perfectly mapped over both figures. “There is a lot we can tell from these images, but we’ve only scratched the surface of what we need to know. All I can tell you is what we currently believe.”
“Although it appears that each of them are as completely unique as one human being is from another, they are each approximately double the height of the average individual of their gender. Based on the distance between those girders the male pictured here is approximately twelve feet and seven inches tall. They also seem to carry slightly more muscle mass than what would be proportionate in a human being. While we are on that subject it’s important to take note of the sophisticated nature of their skeletal and smooth muscle systems. Every indication is that they are virtually perfect replicas of human musculature with no mechanical substitution like we saw in the Mt Sinai assailants. This also tells us that there cannot be human pilots inside as there is not enough space remaining in the torso. Our best guess right now is that they are piloted remotely using an unknown low-latency technology. If that’s true then it tells us that whoever built these things can move petabytes of data wirelessly over great distances with enough speed that they might as well be pilots inside”.
That revelation drew a murmur and many concerned glances from the techs gathered at one side of the room. Eddie paused momentarily before continuing, “I say petabytes because the fluid motion of this biotech is so smooth and coordinated it can mean only one thing... direct neural interface.” This time it was the medical teams that stirred and whispered in astonishment. Eddie waited a moment for that to sink in before finishing, “All of this evidence combined with what we saw in the Mt Sinai assailants leads me to believe that we are looking at creations of the same entity or organization that sent the assault on the Corsica base. It appears that the technology examples we recovered from there were some sort of first generation effort at what we see now”.
“In the short time between then and now they have apparently made exponential advances in their methods and technology. For all intents and purposes what they have built here are nearly perfect synthetic human bodies. Only these bodies are made of vastly superior materials, have no vulnerability to disease or age, and are so tough that I’m at a loss to imagine how one could even be noticeably damaged. Light refraction analysis of their skin indicates a blend of micronite infused weapons-grade ceramiplastics, depleted uranium infusions, and titanium alloy plating. In my estimation they are practically unstoppable with conventional weaponry. Unless we learn more and find a vulnerability to exploit, the men and women serving in our armed forces, and the citizens of our country and our allies are in grave danger.” With that Eddie stepped down and the screens returned to playing the original video loop.
The Director returned to the podium and stood silently for several moments while the room settled. When he spoke his words carried a gravity that Tammy had not heard since she was a child and her father had sat her on his lap to explain her grandmother’s death. “Everyone, there are a few things I’d like to add to that. First, I have no doubt that significant unrestricted human experimentation was required to accomplish this level of biotechnological advance in such a short time. It is my opinion that hundreds, if not thousands of individuals had to die or be horribly maimed to accomplish this.
Secondly, whoever is responsible would have to have access to significant resources. Really significant resources. There are no corporate or private entities that could undertake this without going bankrupt. Most nations could not undertake this without severely damaging or collapsing their economy. Lastly, and in my opinion, most importantly, they have managed to do this in complete secrecy. Not a single component recovered from the Mt Sinai biotech was traceable in any way. Even metallurgical examination of the base materials revealed nothing. We couldn’t even trace the metals back to where the ore was mined. That means our enemy has access to their own raw materials in significant enough quantities to build whatever they need. They have also managed to keep the dozens of mining sites necessary for this hidden.”
Again murmurs sprung up across the room causing the Director to have to wait, eventually putting his hand up to signal for quiet. “Now we have another factor to consider”, he said before gesturing in front of the screen again. Immediately they both shifted to a different, far higher quality video of the mysterious hero of the Brent Spence bridge collapse as he vaulted the four-hundred-foot gap to land on the remaining section. “This individual appeared at almost exactly the same time as the creatures we just discussed. He displayed physical capabilities comparable, or even in excess of them. He also demonstrated the ability to perform a controlled tesseract - he actually folded the fabric of space. From what we can see from the video he did that as an act of sheer will. We cannot assume that this was a coincidence or that his act of saving Jessica Saylor indicates he is not an enemy of the state. He may have saved her for reasons we have yet to learn. So it is imperative we locate him now more than ever, he may be the key to all of this. He may even be responsib...”
The director was cut off by a high pitched scream from the back of the room.
“DON’T YOU DARE TALK ABOUT HIM LIKE THAT! YOU DON’T KNOW HIM. YOU WEREN’T THERE. YOU... YOU… ASSHOLE!”
The room fell deathly silent, as everyone turned to see who had the stones to actually yell at the director, much less call him an asshole.
What they saw was Jessica, sitting defiantly in her wheelchair, and flanked on both sides by her aunt and uncle. Tammy, even though she was stunned to her core by the little girl’s accusation, couldn’t help but notice that for the first time she saw an emotion on the face of her Uncle Jacob. It wasn’t exactly anger, it was more of a look of stern disapproval and it was burning a hole in the director so visceral that she found it slightly terrifying. When she glanced back at the Director, she caught sight of something she could hardly believe. He had obviously looked for the source of the scream with everyone else, and then made eye contact with the white haired man.
Right before her eyes, the cool, controlled exterior of the Director was visibly flayed away layer by layer. His stern face collapsed from its normal visage of competent leadership to that of a man lost. His shoulders sagged, and she watched in amazement as he actually took a small step back from the podium.
The look on his face, and his body language sent the clear message that something very fundamental had changed. Jacob’s presence somehow affected things, and he wasn’t in charge anymore. In fact, he looked ashamed to even be there. Tammy turned back to Jacob, and was utterly at a loss to explain how he managed to achieve such an effect without his face seeming to change at all. There was nothing to note in particular, it was just intensity to the eyes, a slight shift to the set of his jaw, a miniscule change to the tilt of his head. Tiny things that alone would signify nothing, especially on someone else. But on this odd, hard, and eternally silent man they added up to something that would make Satan’s blood run cold.
She suddenly felt a little afraid, and felt the hairs on her arms stand up. Then with a shock, she noticed that several strands of Theresa’s flaming red mane actually were standing up. They lifted slowly, floating until they were extended from her head like tendrils from some exotic jellyfish. Above them, one of the fluorescent lights flickered. Then it flared and went dead, while several others began to buzz and strobe.
Then Jessica spoke again and broke whatever spell had come over them all. Everything seemed to return to normal, and the eye-watering staccato of the overhead lights ceased. Theresa’s errant hairs drifted back down to join the cascade of scarlet that flowed around her shoulders, the hair on Tammy’s neck settled, and everyone visibly relaxed. But it was short lived as Jessica’s words assaulted them with impacts that felt nearly physical.
“You.... you don’t have the right to talk about him. He’s a GOOD man! He was scared, and he cried when he thought he hurt me. I… I was dead. DEAD! I was just waitin’ for it. Then he came outta nowhere, and he SAVED me. When we disappeared to the hospital, he was so scared for me he covered my eyes. He told me not to look ’cause he CARED.”
She paused, and Tammy saw her struggling to not choke up, as tears began streaming down her cheeks.
“But you don’t care about me, or him, or nobody. I’ve seen you walkin’ around. You pretend so everybody thinks you’re so awesome... but you’re NOT. You’re a big fake…”
Again, she stopped to get her breath, and when her voice returned there was the telltale warble of emotions that threatened to overwhelm her.
“He’s worth a thousand of you... a million. He’s not like them. He did more good in just a few minutes than you’ve done with your whole fucking life. He’s… he’s a HERO! And those things that killed my mom and dad.... those were just.... just...”
The girl’s eyes squeezed shut as she battled to keep her control, but her voice choked. Her initial fury had been too powerful, and now the overwhelming level of anguish she felt had broken her off mid-sentence.
Seeing this, Tammy bolted from her chair. She ran quickly to kneel at the girl’s side and hold her while she wept. The room remained respectfully hushed, and Tammy felt ashamed. She was supposed to have safeguarded this child from this. She looked up at Janelle with pleading eyes, and saw her nod as she began to wheel Jessica gently backwards towards the door. Tammy rose to go with them, but with a hard slap of her remaining hand and the stump of her other arm, Jessica slammed down on the brakes of her chair, screaming, “NO!”
Then slowly and with great defiance, she raised her tear streaked face to lock eyes with the Director again. “You... you leave him alone. You leave him alone and do your job. You go out there and hunt down those.... those... MONSTERS!“, she cried. The last words flew from her lips at the Director, as viciously cast as venom.
Then she released the brakes on her chair, allowed her aunt to wheel her out, and a profound silence filled the room behind her. Standing by the door and watching them disappear down the hall; Tammy realized that she had seriously underestimated the girl. She wasn’t just hurt and angry, she was tough - and she had guts.
Turning back to the room, she saw that the podium was empty. Apparently the Director had decided to exercise the better part of valor while everyone’s eyes were on the unfolding drama. After a moment the staff silently broke apart in small groups and avoided eye contact as they drifted away, exiting through one door or another. Eventually the room was empty of all except one.
So with a slow walk, Tammy went over to sit on the edge of the stage next to Eddie. His long legs were drawn up, and he was resting his head on his arms as they lay across his knees. “Hey Eddie”, she prodded, “You OK?“. Eddie didn’t stir. “Eddie, are you alright? Eddie? Hey Ed, Ed?“, with the last prodding of his name in an adult form he looked up and she could see he had been crying too.
“She’s right”, he sighed. “We’ve been poking her and prodding her and acting like we all care, but the only reason we’re doing this is so we can get to those monsters - and get to him. Hell, I think Barnes would put that girl in a microwave and hit “Chernobyl” if he thought it would get him one step closer to what he wants.”
“Maybe”, Tammy replied softly, “But that’s him Eddie. She’s just a little girl to me. I never cared about your mystery man. Aside from plain scientific curiosity I don’t think you did either. You aren’t where you are, you aren’t who you are, because you wanted fame or glory. You just want to figure stuff out and help people.”
“Yeah I’m not really sure that makes me any better Tam, he whispered. “All that matters is why I was helping her and it sure as hell wasn’t because I cared. Barnes wanted me to study her to see if he could catch that Quantum Man. I wanted to study her to figure out how he did what he did. If he’d saved someone else’s little girl yesterday I would have been on a helicopter to pick that kid up myself and I probably would never have looked at Jessica again. Somewhere along the line she stopped being a person to me. All of them did. Every single one I studied or treated. Even you. Just another thing in a petri dish for me to poke and see how it jumps… What have I become Tam? Can you tell me? Because I sure as hell don’t know anymore.”
Tammy sat open mouthed in shock as he stood, tossed his slate on the stage and walked out. She felt herself wanting to go after him, but didn’t. She couldn’t. Part of her knew that he was right, and maybe some of that really did apply to her too. If she’d never been at Corsica would Jessica have been this important to her? She didn’t know and until she did she didn’t have any answers.
Putting her head in her hands she sat for a while and cried. Then she got up, turned the lights out and left.
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