Dues of Mortality (40 page)

“
The
image still tends to waver in sunlight. It works best indoors and at
night. Plus the unit has power problems. Only lasts a few s...seconds
before the diodes burn out.”

“
Still
looks awesome.”

“
My
uncle was a b...brilliant man. Even his throw-away projects were
ahead of their time.” Kelmer hit a switch on the inducer and
the image evaporated. “But it's not really my field.”

“
Well
this
house
sure was
ahead of its time,” Glenda remarked. “How did you end up
with it?”

“
The
government sometimes enlists the aid of 'gifted' people on certain
projects. I...I did some code cracking for them when I w...was in
college. They owed me a favor.”

“
Must’ve
taken you years to get all this in here and running.”

“
Almost
three, to be exact. Originally, this area was going to be just
another w...wine cellar w...with a couple of extra rooms for storage.
But he kept modifying the solar batteries even after the design
phase. By the t...time they broke ground, the batteries were
operating at well beyond their original design and capable of storing
twice the p...power supply. Seattle was the perfect place; with the
infrequent sunny days and the power problems they’ve been
having in the hydroelectric arena because of climate warming, he was
certain the project would have solid support. He never was cynical
enough, I guess.”

“
Wow.
So he had all this room left over and just decided to turn it into a
lab?”

“
No.
The lab was my idea. I...I’ve done a few minor upgrades to the
batteries myself over the years. As I said, engineering isn't exactly
my field. But what I did do gave me room to expand. In fact, I’ve
pretty much m...managed to duplicate most of the necessary features
of the labs at Millenitech so I’d be able to do the same work
here and still have the privacy I need. I even...”

“
Doctor...”
Xavier interrupted. He was truly impressed with the accomplishment,
but detailed tech talk accompanied by a speech impediment was the
absolute definition of cruel and unusual punishment. “We’ll
be sure to recommend that it’s featured in
Home
and Garden dot com
.
Right now, we just need to know why Wallace is after you and what it
all has to do with Glenda.”

Kelmer
dropped his chin, embarrassed. He did have a tendency to prattle on
when it came to his work. However, in his defense, Glenda had always
made him especially nervous. Even now, as he stood across from her
with far more pressing concerns on his mind, he felt the full weight
of the myriad insecurities he'd had whenever he was alone in a room
with her, running drills on the periodic table of elements. She made
him feel like the slobbering fourteen-year-old who couldn't control
his newly empowered sweat glands. He shook his head, trying to think
past it all. He thrust his hands into his armpits and leaned against
the table.

“
When
I was eighteen, my uncle suffered a severe cerebral hemorrhage that
left him physically and mentally handicapped,” he said. “I...I
witnessed him go from an engineering genius...at...at the top of his
field to a frail wisp of a man, who wore a diaper and could
hardly...feed himself.” Kelmer sank like an anvil. “He
was like a father to me. When my real father couldn't have cared
less, he was the one who inspired me to respect and appreciate
science.” He raised his chin and recovered. “I wanted to
know how it was that the brain—the most advanced computer on
earth capable of performing and maintaining all of its functions at
the level it does, could just...stop. Most of all, why
him
?
P...People with far more serious
brain injuries have recovered to virtually fully functional lives;
why...w...was my uncle different? For that matter, why d...did some
people recover from certain illnesses, like cancer while others
suffered and died within months of their diagnosis? Why did some
people with...spinal cord injuries learn to walk again while others
with less traumatic injuries never stood up at all? Was the theory of
mind over matter really that much more powerful than medical science
knew? If that was the case...then what if it were possible to
stimulate and direct that same...
cerebral
focus
? I...it
led me to develop and test some new theories about how an individual
brain relates to its body’s function. However, a lot of those
experiments involved the increased availability of high-yielding stem
cells, c...cloned tissue. When cloning therapy started to become a
more practical means of treatment, I figured I had an opportunity. I
wanted to go a step further from just replicating new brain tissue to
replace the damaged tissue. That p...procedure’s results were
too limited and unreliable. My idea was to use the brain’s
previously untapped power. I...it was a long shot, but I was getting
close; closer than anyone else had ever come.”

“
Doc,
I really don’t mean to sound rude here, but it’s got to
be getting pretty dark outside,” Xavier said. “We’ve
already been here too long.”

Glenda gave Xavier the look to
back off. Considering the hell they'd gone through
just to get to
Kelmer
, indulging him this bit of peccadillo was the easiest
part.

Kelmer
threw up a hand, discouraging anymore interruptions. “I...I was
still primarily on staff at Case Western when Millenitech first
showed interest in my work. Their department had the
most..s...state-of-the-art equipment and the financial backing that I
needed to make some
real
breakthroughs. Wallace threw a great deal of money behind his cloning
and gene technologies. Rumor had it that he was also using cloned
fetuses in his research.”

Xavier
finally looked interested. “That would be pretty damn hard to
do, considering the cloning of human beings is illegal.”

“
Yes.
I...it is. Isn’t it?” Kelmer said rhetorically.

“
And
that little proviso didn’t matter to Wallace?”

“
At
the time, it didn’t much matter to me either. I...I thought the
government was just creating laws against something it didn’t
understand...against something it f...feared. God knows it wouldn’t
be the first time.”

“
But
when you discovered the rumors were true, you still went along with
what he was doing?” Glenda asked.

“
He
gave this great speech about being scientific pioneers,” Kelmer
said. “He said we would be not just revolutionaries, but
‘evolutionaries.’ He said that we would...b...be the
company that would help usher in a new era of human existence, where
p...pain and suffering would be a thing of the past—a world
where nobody had to worry about being
incapable
anymore.”

“
Incapable?”
Xavier said. “Sounds more like code for inferior. You couldn’t
see through that crap?”

Glenda
hit Xavier with the look
again.
Apparently, his great instincts about
women
drained the swamp, leaving nothing when it came to men.

“
I
was t...t...t...trying to help people!” Kelmer said
defensively. “And even if I wasn’t...” He looked to
his feet in abject shame. “Well, I guess we all can’t be
like you. Of course, I...I don’t suppose you would know what
it’s like to have people look past you like you don’t
e...even exist, to be pushed aside, laughed at.”

Oh,
yeah, right
,
Xavier thought.
Like
a bum on the street who people actually make a physical effort to
step over, afraid that they’ll see something of themselves?
Nah, he wouldn’t know anything about that. “I wasn’t
trying to pass judgment, Doc.”

Kelmer
let it go. “I...I thought Millenitech...
I
was doing the right thing. I...I
did
only want to help people, but the experiments adopted so much more
profound procedures. It—cloning a person—became more
taxing than I thought. At first, it was just experimentation. But as
we developed the process further and further...”

“
You
couldn’t ignore the fact you were creating people,”
Glenda said.

“
I
knew they were just...mindless shells,” Kelmer sighed. “But
they were still...so...perfectly human. I began to think, what if
they were alive...somewhere in the deepest part of what we had
created; somewhere we couldn’t see or detect by any means? What
if their souls were fighting to get out, screaming for air?”
Kelmer turned green, sinking almost to a whisper. “What if by
not connecting all the wires, we were just condemning one innocent
soul after another? What if we were...m...m...murdering them before
they even had a chance to live?” He paused for a moment,
realizing he’d just confessed crimes that expanded well beyond
the statute of man. “For a while, I...I still thought I was
doing good work. I
was
until Wallace...” Kelmer
trailed off like he didn’t know what else to say.

“
Wallace
had other ideas for your work, didn’t he?” Xavier asked.

“
I...I
wanted to create a means for patients who were unable to manipulate
their m...muscles due to brain damage, to recover faster and with
fuller results,” Kelmer proclaimed. “After years of hard
work at the university and Millenitech...I came up with this.”
He picked out a palm-sized metal box from one of the security
cabinets. He then delicately removed from it a small device with four
tiny prongs, which were linked together, forming an oddly shaped
spider-web design. “I...It’s a cerebral implant. The
absolute latest in biomemetic alloys. When placed in a specific area
of the brain the cluster of micro-circuitry interacts with it to
restore voluntary muscle control.” Kelmer lifted a finger like
he always did with his students. “Here, let me show you.”

Bonaparte
carefully scanned the perimeter through his night-vision as he cowed
behind the cover of the broad full-bloomed maples surrounding the
property. Why did the damn place have to be so far off from the
trees? he thought. He and Pedro would have to close in eventually and
that meant a good twenty-second trot across open ground. And
Bonaparte didn't care that there were so few windows. Shit, it only
took one to get spotted or even popped if there were sentries. He'd
learned that the hard way, back when he was working for the cartel.
According to Gabriel, the threat of an armed response was minimal,
but it was up to Bonaparte to be prepared.
That
asshole, had some nerve
,
Bonaparte thought.
It wasn't enough Gabriel had to ruin he and
his partner's trip to Vegas, but he had to insult them too.
I
swear if wasn't for the money
.

Bonaparte
positioned himself behind another, tree, closer to the forest's edge.
He pulled out his MAG and doubled checked it's firing settings. At
its lowest setting, or velocity, Bonaparte's custom-built 3mm could
fire forty rounds of ammunition, with the stopping power of your
average 9mm pistol, before the rails were too warped to fire and the
clip had to be ejected. However, at its
maximum
setting, it could fire up to ten rounds with each capable of
destroying the engine block of a semi. Needless to say, Bonaparte
couldn't wait until the technology was such that it allowed him to
bring down a passenger plane with a single shot. That wouldn't matter
with this bunch, though, he thought. Instructions were to keep it
clean. Bonaparte would eliminate the targets without breaking a sweat
and be back in bed with Pedro before eleven.

“
Got
anything?” Bonaparte asked, tapping at the two-way's bud
plugged into his ear.

A
gruff male voice carrying a South American accent hummed in reply
through a thin band of static. “No. It’s hard to tell
what’s going on through these small-ass windows. Why don’t
we just rush the place?”

Bonaparte
pulled up a pant-leg and released the safety on the 380 Ruger he kept
strapped above his ankle. “Not until we confirm all three. And
it's even harder to hear you now, so better to have solid targets
before we completely split up. Just give it a few more minutes, and
then we’ll go.”

“
Alright.”

****

Kelmer commanded the computer—one
of many in the basement lab—and it began playing a recording of
himself and three other people. One was Dana Holliman, and another a
plump, brown-skinned woman in a nurse’s uniform. It seemed they
were in the physical therapy ward of a hospital or something thereof,
judging by the room’s accouterments, which included a barred
stationary tread to Kelmer's right. They were positioned at the start
of the tread, around a stoic man who looked to be in his mid-fifties
or so, seated in a wheelchair. The man was slumped awkwardly in the
chair with his limbs curled beneath him like dead vines. Languidly
drifting eyes appeared to be his only signs of life. The on-screen
Kelmer placed himself in full view of the camera as he presented the
demonstration.

“
My
name is...is Dr. Richard Kelmer, PhD, in microbiology, biochemistry
and bioengineering.” He motioned left. “This is my
assistant Dana Holliman of Case Western Reserve University with
advanced study in biomechanical engineering,” he motioned
right, “and licensed practical nurse Da'Vesha Brown.” He
touched the wheelchair. “Our patient is one,
fifty-four-year-old...C...Cassius Tyler of Cleveland, Ohio.
Approximately three months ago, Mr. Tyler suffered a severe stroke,
which damaged the basal ganglia region of his brain resulting in
extensive loss of motor control, as is very common in stroke
patients.” Kelmer held the same spider-web device up to the
camera. “Less than forty-eight hours ago, Mr. Tyler underwent a
unique surgical procedure, which involved the implantation of this
biocompatible, n...neural control unit. This revolutionary implant is
s...specifically designed to intermingle the sensory input of the
cerebral cortex and translate it into specific functions within the
motor cortex. The goal is to not only allow the patient to walk under
his own musculoskeletal energy, but also perform at least some of the
more common daily tasks of which he was capable before his stroke.
I...It is my belief that should the implant prove successful, it
would reduce a patient’s recovery time from similar injury by
well over 80 percent and would, for all intents and purposes,
eliminate any atrophy of the muscles, which usually...occurs in such
cases. The implant is also designed as the bridgework between the
brain and an intricate software program, which interprets bioelectric
impulses and enacts them as physical movement.”