Bad Jack ((Ascension: Book 1)) (13 page)

Chapter 34: Disclosure

The
Doctor turned to Jack after Oliver left. “For the purpose of full disclosure I have to tell you that I’m an agent of the government. Don’t think X-Files, nothing like that. I was a researcher with nothing tangible to work on until Jessie came into my life.”

“I’m only telling you this so that you understand the arc of my area of research. The United States government considers Jessie an asset but also a threat. If it was up to the brass he wouldn’t be here today, he’d be dead. Thankfully clearer heads prevailed. But in order to prove that Jessie’s an asset I need to try and give my superiors what they want.”

Melanie said, “I’m going to guess that
means weapons.”

“
Of course. But the closest we’ve come so far to anything truly dangerous are these red balls he created a few months back. I’m not even sure you can call them weapons. The government wants weapons but they also want proof that Jessie poses no real threat to National security. We’ve made gains with establishing this since he’s been here for almost a whole year without incident.”

Jack shook his head.
“I heard those red balls have killed people. Some of the objects are really dangerous, especially in the wrong hands. Are your superiors ok with that?”

“They only know what they need to know. We can explain the few deaths we’ve had here as perfectly normal
incidents.”

Melanie said, “So you keep it a secret from the government. That’s treasonous
, isn’t it?”

The
Doctor scowled. “I suppose you’d have me tell them would you? Because if I did there’d be men with flamethrowers and guns storming this building, removing every trace of evidence. Jessie is evidence, you and I and Jack and Oliver are evidence to these men. I don’t know how they’d get rid of the artifacts or specimens but they’d figure something out.”

“They could put them all in a shuttle and launch them into space” offered Jack.

Melanie slowly raised her eyebrows and it made him feel stupid for speaking that thought out loud.

“I suppose they could
,” The Doc sighed. “I’m telling you this so you understand the gravity of the situation. We need results in the worst way.”

Before
he could go on Oliver slid back into the room.

“He’s a feisty one. Can’t get him to eat, can’t get him to go to bed at a reasonable hour, he just wants to play those damn video games.”

“Sounds like normal behavior given his age,” offered Melanie.

The
Doctor sat at one of the consoles and began to click at the mouse bringing up a display with multiple readouts.

“We’ve been trying to influence what gets brought back with audible suggestions but we’ve made no gains so far.
Sure, we need a weapon to keep our superiors concerns at bay. But it doesn’t end there. The sky’s the limit if we can force our influence. What Jessie brings back is only limited by his imagination. We just need to tweak it a little.”

A monotone, hypnotic
female voice began to drone from the computer speakers. It was a recording made specifically for Jessie to hear:

“The earth’s in great peril. A weapon must be developed to ensure peace for mankind. The evildoers of the world need to be stopped. They can only be stopped with a weapon. Only someone of great courage can develop this weapon. The person who creates this weapon will be a hero for all of history. Jessie. Jessie. Save the world. We’re all counting on you. Jessie. Jessie. Help us.”

Melanie whispered, “This isn’t right. You can’t do this.”

The Doctor swiveled in his chair and leveled his gaze on her. “Dear. Need I remind you that you aren’t actually a key player in this? Jack’s necessary but you are not. Please don’t forget that.”

If Jack was paying attention he might have interjected with, “She goes where I go
,” but he was too mesmerized by the droning voice coming from the computer.

“So that’
s playing in his room?”

“Yep”

“Does it work?”

“Hasn’t so far but we’ve only just started to experiment with it.
We thought a female voice might make a difference. I guess it was a stretch but we need to exhaust every possibility.”

Chapter 35: The Breakthrough

Jack watched the monitor
intently. He saw the boy toss and turn restlessly. Just then a quick flicker of light emitted from beneath the bed.

Doc
Collins clicked the mouse as he moved the arrow cursor across the screen and brought up a camera that showed the room from a different angle. This one showed the bottom of the bed. There was an object there where before had been empty space. It was a toy tractor with a little plastic guy behind the wheel. Jack half expected it to move of its own accord but it just sat there immobile. It was a regular toy.

“It’s always the same
,” complained Oliver. “We ask for a weapon and he gives us a toy or a pillow or some jelly beans.”

“Has he ever succeeded with bringing back what you want?”

“Not really. He’s given us the deadly balls and a couple other things that we don’t yet understand but he’s never come through the way we need him to.”

The
Doctor added, “Here, I’ll show you.”

He pulled a microphone out f
rom behind the computer monitor. “Jessie, think about a nice book. It’s your favorite book in the whole world. The book’s about human suffering. While you’re reading this book you realize the only way to end the suffering is to design a device that will stop all warfare. The device is a weapon of great strength.”

Jack watched as another pin
point of light flickered beneath the bed. The object materialized before their eyes but it wasn’t a weapon, it was an empty glass with a crack running through.

The
Doctor shook his head. “It’s harder each time to stay motivated. It’s frustrating.”

Oliver
nodded his agreement.

Intrigued,
Jack bent toward the microphone and on a whim said into it, “Jessie, think of a shoe...”

The
Doctor put his hand over the microphone and shot Jack a disgusted look.

“He’
s a human being. We don’t just blurt out whatever we want. What if you do irreparable damage to his psyche? What if you say the wrong thing?”

Jack realized his arrogant foolishness and apologized to everyone in the room.

“I wasn’t thinking.”

A light strobed brighter this time and when it faded away, a worn sneaker with dirty laces lay on its side under the bed.

“You’ve got to be joking
,” exclaimed the Doctor as his head moved closer to the monitor, his eyes wide. “It’s a shoe Oliver. I can’t believe it.”

The
Doctor stood up and embraced Oliver in a bear hug and Oliver reciprocated. They bounced up and down like they’d just won the Super bowl.

Once separated, Oliver looked at Jack
then at the Doctor. “This is big. We need to really think about this before we move forward.”

The
Doctor nodded enthusiastically. “Jack, we’re going to come up with a script for you to read. Don’t deviate from the script. Give us a few minutes.”

The
Doctor and Oliver rushed over to the little table that the guards had surrounded earlier. They started whispering frantically to one another. Oliver wrote everything down as they conferred.

Whe
n Melanie saw the look of exasperation on Jack’s face she sidled up to him and rubbed his forearm for reassurance.

Ever since her scolding from the
Doctor she’d remained completely silent.

Jack
instinctively put his arm around her shoulder and she didn’t stop him. He hadn’t meant to be so bold but now he was glad it happened and that she didn’t shrug him off.

Before they could get comfortable the
Doc and Oliver came back. Oliver put a piece of scribbled on paper beside the monitor as he beckoned for Jack to sit.

Jack read it over
. He cracked his neck from side to side.

“I won’t read that
” he said, a little too sure of himself.

Melanie read it
over quickly. “This is a joke. Jack’s a researcher. It says here you want him to get you a damned doomsday device.”

Doc
Collins lashed back, “Clearly you are unable to read my dear. There’s nothing there about a doomsday device. All we want is a weapon that will inspire fear in the enemies of the United States. The wording’s plain enough. Please don’t sully this experiment any more with your uninformed opinions or unwanted commentary. This is truly your last chance to save your job and I pray you are wise enough to take the threat seriously.”

To Jack he said, “If we don’t conjure a weapon
soon we may very well get shut down. We all know what that means. It means we might be asleep in our beds when all of a sudden this facility gets blown from the face of the earth without warning. The people we answer to don’t like to be let down. They’re all about covering their asses. They think ‘Why bother keeping the boy around when he just might be a threat to National Security?’ I’ll tell you why, because he can be of value to them. All we need in order to keep all of this going forward is to provide proof of his worth. As long as the value outweighs the concerns he’ll remain an asset and therefore remain alive, along with the rest of us.”

The doctor was red in the face and wheezing.

Jack shook his head. He’d have loved to break into a speech about how maybe he wasn’t the greatest human being to ever live, he’d made mistakes and had regrets, but this was asking too much and he was going to make a righteous stand here and now and refuse to manipulate a child to get a weapon that could kill millions.

Instead he pulled the mic closer
, cleared his throat and read from the short note. “Jessie, I want you to know how much this country loves you. And I know you love it too. When something you love is in danger you do what you have to to protect it. America’s in danger and only you can help. America can be safe again if it just had the right weapon; a weapon that will make its enemies think twice about attacking. I know you love America and I know you will give America the weapon it needs to stay safe. I need that weapon now.”

Melanie didn’t shoot him a disgusted look or run from the room weeping and for that
he was grateful. She actually crowded the monitor along with the two old researchers, gaping in anticipation.

Chapter 36:
A Weapon

A light flared bright blue, totally unlike the flickering flashes from before. The entire monitor went a bluish white and Jack flinched away from it.

The
Doc barked an order into his walkie talkie, “Quarantine the room immediately.”

Jack felt uneasy about the order but the
Doc helped fill him in.

“We’ve been desp
erate to get a weapon. If that’s it then we need to safeguard it.”

The light from the room went out instantly and Jack heard the heavy footfalls of the armed guards rushing past the office to set up security outside the boy’s door.

The Doc and Oliver rushed out the door leaving Melanie and Jack behind.

Melanie
angrily asked, “Why’d you do that? You just made the new and improved version of a nuke.”

Jack
replied sheepishly, “The Doctor said the boy might be killed if I didn’t do it.”

“Is that boy’s life more important to you than the lives of millions?”

Melanie was getting angry but he answered as honestly as he could. He wanted her to understand.

“I guess it is. Listen, I know the boy now. I’ve seen him, met him, he’s just an innocent in all of this. The people that might die from whatever weapon he’s created, well, to tell you the truth, I don’t care
about them the same way. They’re strangers to me. The boy isn’t anymore. That boy’s now well within my personal sphere so I obviously care more about what happens to him than I do about what happens to total strangers. I’m sorry if that’s not the answer you wanted from me but it’s the only excuse I have.”

Her
tightly knotted expression loosened ever so slightly.

“I
get it. I just thought you’d think that the welfare of the many outweighed the welfare of the few.”

He
shook his head. “Those are words only a politician would use. My ideals are simpler than that.”

She
stood still, staring at the floor. When she finally met his eyes, hers misty and elusive, she moved into him and kissed him full on the mouth.

His vision went wonky
; he knew he must have botched the kiss like a teenage boy but she seemed happy enough when she put his face in her hands, pulling away to speak to him.

“I think you
might have just taught me something.”

He didn’t have time to understand what the hell she was talking about before she moved in again. He couldn’t believe it. Her thigh was pressing
firmly against his groin in a way that left no room to deny that it was intentional.

He
pulled back saying, “If this is what you do when I disappoint you I’m pretty excited to see what’ll happen when I impress you.”

She kissed him again but this time he suspected it was to shut him up.

She was sliding her tongue against his lips just as the two old men returned.

“Oh for God’
s sake,” exclaimed the Doctor.

Oliver rolled his eyes.

Jack wanted nothing more than to just bum-rush the two old goats into the corridor and lock them out but he thought that might be seen as inappropriate so instead he unfastened his lips from Melanie’s and waited for his hormones to fall back to their normal levels.

Oliver had something in his hands
all wrapped up in a green towel that he rushed over to the break table and gingerly set down. The Doctor was right on his heals.

When Melanie whispered
“Next time, no interruptions,” Jack’s head felt like it might just pop off and float away into the stratosphere. His pants did a little jig near the zipper. Melanie smiled when she noticed the tell-tale twitch.

It had been a very long time for him.

He regained his composure as Oliver yelled, “How in the hell does it work?”

He and Melanie joined them
around the table.

The object that was bundled in the towel was about the size of a grapefruit. It was a dull black color with tiny wriggling spines all over it. It was in the shape of a
n icosahedron and seemed to emit miniscule vibrations but that might have been the swaying spines tricking the eye. It looked like an evil enlarged version of the dice that nerds used to play dungeons and dragons interbred with a sea anemone.

Oliver
gingerly poked at it with the eraser end of a pencil. The Doc looked like he was coiled to spring out of his chair in self defense at any moment. Jack sat down to get a better look as Melanie took the seat beside him.

He asked
, “Do you mind if I pick it up?”

Oliver raised his eyebrows.
“You actually want to touch that thing? Just look at it. It took every ounce of courage for me to pick it up with the towel. It’ll probably kill you if you touch it.”

Jack felt self assured though. Sure the writhing thing looked menacing, but what no one else in the room knew was that Jack could interact with even the deadly objects without incurring personal harm. He imagined this object would be no different.

He was certain.