Encompassing Reality (7 page)

He tried to blink it away.  Then he heard her in his head.  “Now I know. I don’t like Gentlemen.”

He turned and looked at her as she shrugged at him.  Then she said out loud, “But I understand, for now.  Also, I kind of like the way you smell.  Why not leave some of it on you?”

“Because the more we smell, the more other things can smell us.  Some of those things I would prefer not to approach us while we are asleep.”  Adam explained.

Tomorrow’s mood changed as she considered those words.  She got out of the water and grabbed her clothes and headed back to the water behind Adam.

“Tomorrow, I have to tell you something.”  Adam’s eyes narrowed on her.

“Okay, that sounds ominous.  Are there rats in the water?”  Tomorrow asked sarcastically.

“Technically, I would advise against standing in the same place you evacuate, if you’re trying to suggest you have.  Just a basic warning.”  Adam noted and looked back down into the water.  “Not to mention the whole reason you’re washing your clothes in the river is to reduce how much they smell like you.”

Tomorrow moved towards him.  “So there are rats in the water?”

“I doubt it, but yes, rats can swim.  That is the least of what the issues are.  That’s another topic.  If you did, just don’t again.”  Adam replied.

“Something has been bothering you for a long time.  It has something to do with me, doesn’t it?”  Tomorrow noted.

“You look shockingly like someone I used to know.  More than I can explain, but younger.”  Adam looked at her for a reaction.  He noted there was none.

“Did you spend better time with her than you do with me?”  Tomorrow quipped as she bent deep down and grabbed a rock.

Knowing what she meant Adam replied, “Yes, I’ve told you about her.  We had a daughter.”  At that statement, Adam’s mind went into overdrive.

Tomorrow suddenly felt bad for her retort and responded, “I’m sorry.”

Adam looked at her.  “It’s okay.  You don’t know, but now I think I know.”

“Know what?”  Tomorrow asked.

“You can do what she did, but you…something is not right.”

“Thanks for the compliment.”  Tomorrow headed for the shore feeling thoroughly insulted.

“No, I don’t mean that.  Something Stephen did.  It effected everything across timelines.  I’m not even sure what I am talking about.”  Adam yelled after her, but knew the misuse of words was going to be an issue for some time.

CHAPTER 11

“The obvious plan is to have a plan or at least plan on having a plan.”  -- from the Book of Phillip

“I’m going in there.  Don’t follow me.  I think once I see what’s in there I can click before they even notice me.”  Phillip said to Venetia.

“If you can’t and you get caught, I have no way out of here.  Why do you want to check out that room so bad?  You said you can hear thought in there.  Thoughts come from people.  If there are people in there you could get caught and then I would be too.”  Venetia was whispering but her anger at his insistence on going in there was clear.

“Whatever their thinking about, they are thinking about it intensely.  It’s very important to them.  Which means it’s important to us.  That also means they won’t notice if I am quite in getting in and can find a good place to click to quickly.”  Phillip whispered back, without any doubt in his voice.

Venetia looked at him and produced a knife.  “I knew this was going to happen.  You’re very predictable.  Fine, go in.  You’re going to go regardless of what I say.”

Brian had already opened the door and was on the other side, closing it slowly.  Venetia pushed her back to the wall as if it made her more invisible.  Then she sighed as she could feel her heart pounding in her chest.  Brian noticed a rafter and clicked up to it quickly.  He looked down and noticed that this room was quite large.  He listened, but he wished he could get a better view of what they were looking at.

“We have all the models we need.  We have decided on all of the category lines we want to continue.  The rest will make food for the continued lines.  As for those that have evaded the hunters and the sky crawlers so far, this line of hunters will be interesting.”

“What did your team do different with these, Dr. Pilnisky?”

“We found an interesting set of genes in one of the ones we have on the line now.  We’re not the only ones who have noted she is different.  The security team has noted a young man coming in and sitting by her every day.  We don’t know why, but we assume she is family to him.  I’ve told them to leave him alone, for now, but at some point we need to capture him and look at his genetic profile too.  I’m going to assume he is among the few who escaped from here some time back.  The security team agrees.  They’ve seen him in other parts of the city and he seems to know it pretty well.”

Dr. Tenari looks at him.  “So what are the genetic anomalies?”

“I’ll show you.  A demonstration will explain better than I can.”  Dr. Pilnisky goes on to explain what they are going to see.  “These are the latest round of hunters.  They handle very high levels of adrenaline and multiple stimulants well.  They are the most aggressive of what we have produced so far.  They are very high in testosterone, as you know, which is why they are very hairy like their predecessors, but we got around the calming factor in testosterone surges by increasing their cortisone levels.”

Dr. Sadar notes, “So basically, their psychotic?”

“Yes and no.  They still take basic orders through the synaptic connection.  What I want you to note may not be obvious at first.”  Dr. Pilnisky reaches down and presses a button.  The secondary door opens leaving only 15 inches of Plexiglas between them and what he is about to release into that staging area.  “Don’t worry, it sufficient, it’s pliable, so no matter how strong they are, it has a tendency to radiate the impact.”  Then he reaches down and pushes to more buttons, one with each hand, simultaneously.

The room burst with action as two similar looking models burst towards each other at lighting speed.  They begin to rip at each other, throwing each other and tearing at each other.  The room echoes with the sound of it, even through the acrylic barrier.  Dr. Pilnisky raises a hand and points.  “Now notice the depth of the gash on that one’s arm.  Note the midsection rip on the other.”

They all concentrate on those areas.  They’ve seen these battles before.  While not quit as agitated as this one seemed to be, they all had the same result.  One would kill the other or they would eventually both bleed to death.  The acrylic was becoming covered in blood, but they focused on the two areas the Dr. suggested.  Then they watched them both fall.

Dr. Tenari said, “What were we supposed to notice?”

“Wait for it…”

Then they saw both of them jump back up and continue fighting again.  The midsection wound on one seemed to have healed a bit and the arm of the other was healing as they watched.  The two things tore at each other more and then Dr. Pilnisky spoke into a microphone.  “Ok, order them back now.  We don’t want these two dead.”

Dr. Sadar said. “Regeneration.  And you say this is from a gene set you found in one of the people on the line?”

“Yes.  Although she is past the stage where we can question her.  There, were a lot of other interesting markers, but this is the first set we were able to isolate and could understand since it is similar to lizards re-growing their tails.  Although as a full set, it’s not like that, really, it was at least identifiable because of the similarities.”

Dr. Tenari said, “Have we done any experiments on the subject with the gene set?”

“Some.  I am waiting for her next level of the process of her becoming a synth.  Right now, she is too delicate for us to try too much on her.  But then will be a good time and she will be less resistant to our trials.”  Dr. Pilnisky explained.

Both Dr. Sadar and Dr. Tenari nodded at the wisdom of that decision.  Dr. Sadar said, “How long until you begin cloning those?”

Dr. Pilnisky looked at them.  “We’ve already begun.  I just wanted to assure you that what I am working on is worthy of the time I and my team have been spending on it.”

Everyone nodded.  Phillip clicked, grabbed Venetia’s wrist and clicked again.  When they appeared, Venetia asked, “Did they see you?”

“Not this time, but apparently they’ve been seeing me.”  Phillips eyes were wide as he made his way to a chair and slumped over a table to gather his thoughts.

“Well was it worth it?”  Venetia asked.  Then she looked at his face and had her answer.

“Get everyone together in a few hours, I’ll explain.  Right now I need to think.”  He looked at Venetia.  She looked back at him and he stated quietly, “Alone, please.”  She nodded and then began to leave the room.  “Wait!”  Phillip looked at Venetia and sighed, then he said, “Let’s go to bed.”

Venetia pushed her head toward her shoulder and looked at him oddly.  “It’s been a long time since you’ve asked for that.”  She waited to let the impact of what she meant sink in with him. “What if I said, I wasn’t interested?”  Phillip began to change the look on his face, but she held out her hand. “Never mind, don’t tell me.  Come on.”

Phillip rose and took her hand.  As they walked she asked, “Your quarters, I assume?”  He nodded.  Then unable to help herself she said, “Will it smell like Tina in there?”

Phillip walked faster but did not let go of her hand as he answered over his shoulder, “Probably.”

“I’m angry with you, but she won’t be.”  Venetia states.

“No.  It’s not like she doesn’t know I remember us.  She and I are pretty open.”  Philip answered back, slowing his pace.

“And if she were to be with James again?”  Venetia stops still holding his hand.

Phillip turns.  “He’s perfectly happy with Marla.”

“That didn’t answer my question.  But now that we’re on that topic, you apparently were not happy with Marla.  If I recall.”  Venetia decided to open an old wound.

“Marla and James get along well and they work well together.”  Phillip answered.

“Like Tina is good at working on your cockpit?”  Venetia flares back.

“She does know what I like.  She takes care of it well.  She even set up a feeding system in it.”  Phillip replies while letting go of Venetia’s hand.

As he turns to walk away, Venetia says, “You never did answer the question, but I suppose I already know the answer.”  Then she runs to catch up with him but notices he has changed direction.  She watches as he walks out to the area of his craft and Tina looks up at him.  She runs to catch up to him, but he continues to walk even faster.

Tina takes in the scene and yells, “You to fighting again?  Why don’t you too go to bed and work it out already?”

Venetia looks at Tina trying to mask the look her face wants to show towards her.  But then she says, “Actually, we were about to do that.”

Tina doesn’t blink and replies, “Okay.  Well, I have a lot of work to do, so you have a few hours.  Just be gone by the time I get back.”

Venetia feels the sting of the casual phrasing.  She grabs Phillip by the wrist and leans in to his ear.  “I don’t care.  I do want you.  Just for a while is more than I thought I would ever want from you again, but it will do.”

Phillip replies, “Wait here then.”  He walks over leans into the cockpit and kisses Tina.  “Give us some extra time, deal?”

She kisses Phillip back.  “You’re an idiot, but if you get yourself back into it, it’s up to you to deal with.  I’m not getting involved.”  She looks up at the sun.  “I’ll give you until one tick up of the moon with no sun.  Then I really am going to be tired and I don’t want to come back and have to deal with the way the two of you are going to be.  No offense, but I don’t see how you can’t understand it’s not going to go the way either of you expect, deal?”

Phillip nods and turns to walk back over to Venetia.  “Are you sure we should do this?”

“It was your brilliant idea, fly boy.  Although you were right.  It really doesn’t bother her.  Hard to believe, but I guess dealing with James long enough makes her accepting of anything besides James.”  Venetia turned and began walking towards his quarters.  Then she slowed and waved her hand down at him from her hip.  He caught the gesture he knew all too well and stepped up his pace to hold her hand.

As they walked, Phillip thought to himself, “Tina’s right.  This isn’t going to go well.  And why did I choose now?”  He looks at Venetia as she turns to look at him and smiles.  He twists and grabs her hand with the other waling backwards and blowing a kiss to Tina.

Venetia asks, “Did you do that to make me angrier or because you are gleeful that she’s so good to you?”

Phillip notes the last part of her sentence and remains quiet.  He hears Venetia huff, but she doesn’t break her stride.

CHAPTER 12

“People are resilient.  In almost any situation they adapt, improvise and overcome.  Some are better trained to do so than others.”  -- from the Book of Tomorrow

“I like bear!  Very scary though!  And very hard to kill, even with what we can do.  It was sad though.  They seem kind of cute in a cuddly way. Like you!”  Tomorrow laughed as she said it.

“Very funny.”  Adam replied chewing the last bite of his portion for the evening.  “We have to get this up high in the trees or we’ll end up fending off scavengers instead of sleeping.  Also we don’t’ want to sleep near it.  They can smell it.  We can eat the rest in the morning if we scorch the meat first, but after that…”

“I know.”  Tomorrow said, waving her hand for him to stop.  “I do like the deer better, by the way.  When do we find a cow?  You keep saying that’s the best.”

“Cows are domesticated.  We won’t find any here.  However, with the lack of people around to raise them now, I can only think of a few places we might find them in the wild, these days.”  Then it’s his turn to raise his hand in a gesture meaning stop.  “Domesticated means they are dependent on humans, like the synths were dependent on the implants to decide what to do next and when to eat and what they would be fed, etc.”

“What are you looking at?”  Tomorrow asks him seeing his attention wander from her.

His hand moves quickly and all that Tomorrow sees is a bright flash of fire and a very loud boom.  Then it happens again and it comes from his hand.  She drops to the ground as Adam stands.  She hears the thump of something fall behind her.

Tomorrow looks in his hand and sees a piece of metal with a tunnel on the end.  “What is that?”

“Last resort”

“How did it...?”  Tomorrow tries to find words for what she has just seen.

Adam simplifies the questions by answering the one she is staring at, “That's how it works.”

Tomorrow clicked to his side and held the weapon.  “It's heavy.  How did you pull it so fast?  Where did you have it?  I’ve seen you many times without clothes.”

He looked at her with extreme anger and yet control at the same time and then he grabbed the weapon in a snap of his fist and pushed the end to the ground.  It fired again and her arm buckled with the recourse

“Don't ever do that again, and now I am down to three!”  Her face went white and she stared at her hand.  Adam said, “This is not a toy and it’s the beginning of a lot of bad stuff.  That’s why I don’t resupply it.  Don’t ask about it.”

“What in the lords is that?”  Tomorrow pointed at the body laying on the ground.

“I assumed all the Hunters were gone.  I was wrong.  We need a new camp now.  Even if we dragged that body away the blood would still be an attractant.”  Adam walks to the back and begins packing it.

“Is that what used to bring the people to the city?”  Tomorrow asks.

“Yes, but this is only one of the many.  This one was acting without orders.  That’s troublesome.  It’s dead, let’s move.”  Adam replied.

As the night came he laid down and as every night she grasped him and held on tight.  Adam asked her, “Didn’t you have any friends down there?”

Tomorrow strokes her face across his chest as she answers, “Yes, Valerie.  She and I watched each others backs.  She uh...”

Adam looked at Tomorrow, “Your face tells me she mean a lot to you.”

Tomorrow puts her head down on his chest and answers, “She was like a sister, not that I’ve ever had one of those, but...”

Adam strokes at a lock of her long hair, “I understand. I'm sorry.  What happened?”

“Lift job.  I told her not to do it, but...”  Tomorrow’s tone changes.

“What do you mean lift job, like boobs or stealing?”  Adam asks not sure of the reference.

“You’re kind of dumb for an old guy.  She used her boobs for stealing idiot.”  Tomorrow looked at Adam’s face.

“Oh, I see.”  Adam rolled his eyes.

“No you don't.  You just want to pretend you’re intelligent enough to keep up in a world you didn't understand.”  Tomorrow shot back.

“If you liked it so much, why don't you go back?”  Adam slipped the phrase but regretted it immediately.

“Are you threatening me again?”  Tomorrow sat up, fully in awake mode.

“It was never a threat, it is always an option.”  Adam tried to counter his own words.

Tomorrow let him off the hook.  She decided to push the real issue, but one she knew would make him uncomfortable.  “I'm fine.  I could use more water, you know, back there…” 

“Back where?”  Adam looked around, dumfounded.

“By the lords, you’re so stupid!”  Tomorrow slapped at her own forehead and pushed her hand into his chest.

“If that’s an issue just get into the river!”  Adam finally realized her reference.

“By myself?  I like the way they taste, but I don’t want them to know how I taste!”  Tomorrow rolled her eyes at Adam.

“The snakes?”  They aren’t hunting you, their just around.  Just be aware.”  Then Adam says, “Okay, I’ll make a trip and bring back baby wipes.”

“What are those?” Tomorrow pauses to consider what he is referring to, then she attacks with, “I’m not a baby, Adam!  Just because you know things I don’t!”  Tomorrow was red with embarrassment and anger.

Adam holds up his hands in defense, “Unfair, that’s not what I meant.  How about we watch the sky together?”

Tomorrow’s eyes light up and her arms curled around him again.   I’d like that.”

The two lay back and look through the break in the trees they have found and sleep under for the view.

Then she turns to him and asks, “What are those?”

Adam traces her finger movement to gauge what she is looking at.  “Oh, bats.  Don't bother.  Hard to catch and not very good eating.  The basic equivalent to a rat with wings, but they eat insects, so for now they are our friends.  Less bites to contend with.”

“Why do they move like that?”

“They use sonar.  Hmm, echolocation.”  Adam realizes she doesn’t know either word or it’s meaning and continues, “Bah, they scream and listen to what bounces back. They aren't blind, but they use the sound to their advantage.  Since they swoop so quickly they need a faster method of zooming in on their prey.  Sight isn't so great at locking in on things like mosquitos.”

“What if they poop on us?”  Tomorrow asks.

Adam looks down at her with her fingers in her mouth as if that is some defense.  He chuckles and replies, “They move fast enough that I never thought of that.  I suppose we would then be shat upon.  I don't know of too many incidents of that.  Are you afraid?”

“Do they work like hawks?

Adam notes that in the face of fear, her inquisitive nature still takes over, “Hawks are avian in nature.  These are mammalian.  So they think differently.  Three quarters of all mammalian life is based around, to avoid a long explanation, either a bat or a rat.  Again, neither is good eating.  They are fun to watch though.”

“Have you eaten one?”  Tomorrow’s curiosity over why some living things are good to eat and some are not shines through.

Adam begins to chuckle, “No, I suppose you would have to ask Sir Osbourne how they taste.”

“Who?” Tomorrow looked at him thoroughly confused.

Adam grinned, “It’s a joke.  He was a rock star.  Someone threw one on stage while he performed.  In the light and noise, Sir Osbourne assumed it was rubber and thought it would look particularly cool if he bit the head off of it.  It wasn’t rubber, much to his chagrin, but it did make the history books!”

“You said stars were made up of mostly gasses.”  She looked confused.

“Yeah, like you.”  His hand went over his nose as he wafted his other hand while looking at her bottom.

Tomorrow laughed at his ridiculous gesture but said, “That’s not funny!”

Renfield replied, “I’ve stepped into this one.  A rock star is a person who makes music and does well enough to become recognized.  Rock being a specific style of music.”  Adam explained.

“Do they have teeth?”  Her face became serious.

Adam realizes Tomorrow is grasping at reasons to be afraid of the things that fly over them at night.  “Rock stars?  Not all of them.  The bats, yeah.  Some have larger teeth than others, but it's not likely the would bother us.  I suppose now is a good time to explain rabies.  Although it's not likely to transfer via a bat.  They pretty much eat insects. Insects can't get rabies, therefore, it's rare a bat would actually get rabies unless it was, never mind…avoid rabies.”

“What's that?”  Tomorrow looked at him even more confused.

Adam thinks of a short response, “It’s something that takes over your mind and makes you spread it.  Because nature fools us into thinking we are in control until it takes control” Adam was searching his own mind for a way out of explaining all of this.

“I don't understand.”  She knew there was more, but she knew what was coming next.

“I do.”  Adam realizes this is a longer conversation for another time.  “We are not what and who we think we are.  So, how about we stop talking and you go to sleep?”

Tomorrow’s eyes look up at his and she says, “I like having you next to me.”

Adam replies, “It gets cold.  It makes sense.”

Tomorrow corrects him, “Even when it's morning.”

Noting the look in her eyes Adam fumbles for a response that would not be hurtful nor would it encourage where she is going in her line of commentary.  “Watch the bats, I'm going to sleep.”

“Okay.  Tell me about this place. Can you teach me about this fishing thing?  I’ve yet to taste a fish and we’ve been here a while.  You said it was an important skill to learn.”  Tomorrow points out.

“Yes, it is.  Deal.  Tomorrow I teach you stream fishing.  The next day, lake fishing.  After that we change locations and I will teach you sea fishing from shore and then if we are lucky, I can find an old craft and perhaps get us out to sea so you can learn to fish from within the sea.”  Adam ticks off the schedule for the next few days.

“Are they all different?”  Tomorrow asks.

“The fish are different and even taste different.  The tactics change depending on the way the water moves and the type of fish you want to catch.”  Adam picks up the meat and says, “If you aren’t going to sleep, help me get this impaled, so we can scorch it.”  He looks at her as she slowly rises.  “You look tired.  You did a great job today.  You stayed focused and didn’t let the fear cloud you’re clicking.  I was very impressed.”

“I wasn’t that impressed by you!  You kept losing your focus watching my front side and backside jiggle.  I can hear your thoughts clearer now, Adam.  Not very Gentlemanly.”  She laughed at him as she walked over and held the meat up while he thrust the poker into the meat and then she grabbed onto the poker and helped him push it as deep in as they could.  Then she changed positions and held it off the ground while he finished.  She smiled at him with satisfaction as they both picked it up and put it over the fire.  “It’s dripping.  That’s going to smell.”

“Which is why we need to store it somewhere other than here and then ourselves other than either place.”  Adam remarked.

“So we have to build another hut?”  Tomorrow asked.

“No, tonight we’ll sleep on the ground.  When you wake up move very slowly.  Watch me first. When I spring up, do the same.”

“Snakes?”  She asked.

Adam nodded.

Tomorrow said, “But they won’t bite us while we’re asleep?”

“Usually no, they just curl up under us for the heat.  Just try not to toss and turn while you sleep.  As long as they don’t perceive a threat they are usually fine with just taking advantage of the chance to heat themselves and restore energy.”

“Right, because they can’t make heat themselves.  I get it, but it still seems creepy to me.”  Tomorrow said as she watched him spin the meat around on the fire and she fed it with bark and other incendiary items to raise the flame level.

“You dealt with it the first few nights.  Before we built the hut.”  Adam noted.

“But you know I was scared out of my mind those first few nights here.  I know you think the desert is harsher, but this place is very scary.”  She gestures at the trees.  “Plus, I had to get used to not seeing the sun.  Which is odd, since I spent most of my life not seeing it.”  Tomorrow pondered while feeding the fire.  She heard him think it was time to take the meat off of the fire so she stopped throwing things into the fire and gathered a pile of leaves then helped him pull the bear meat off of the fire and lay it down on the leaves to cool.  “So tell me one of your stories while we wait.”

Adam said, “It will cool down fast.  I’m thinking a tree far from the river is a good spot.  Someplace already high, terrain-wise.”

“Didn’t you say that there are big powerful cats in the higher areas?”  Tomorrow squinted her eyes at Adam trying to get clarification.

“Yes, but not much else.  Then we come back here and get the smell of the bear fat off us and then we find a new area to sleep in for the night.”

“It’s already dark.  You told me never to get in the water when it is dark.”  Tomorrow again squinted at him.  He was going against all the rules he had taught her.