Immortal (24 page)

“Let your next rejuvenation be heavenly.”
Said a breathless voice, as the scene changed to clear blue skies
and swirls of clouds. Words swam into focus in the center of the
screen, and spelled out the word, rejuvenate. “Upgrade with the
newest bio improvement available.” Said the voice, as the word
changed on the screen to spell, upgrade. “Introducing…” The sultry
voice began, as the scene changed once again to show a large pink
and red blob that pulsed in rhythm. “The new Cardio One Thousand
B.” The blob pulsed and began to spin slowly in three dimensions.
“Genetically perfect and lab grown from specially selected and
tested cardiac cell tissue, the Cardio One Thousand B is the most
sophisticated heart replacement there has ever been. With an
expected life span of over one hundred years, this is the only
heart upgrade you will need for years to come.” The image melded
into that of a virile young man, in tight shorts. He flexed his
muscles. Then the image faded to that of a beautiful young woman,
with strips of tight cloth that barely covered her private areas as
she flexed her muscles. “The new Cardiac One Thousand B. Get yours
today.” The image changed back to scenes from the Ball.

“What was that?” Asked Jericho. Both he and
Gabrielle had come up behind Jonah and Vanessa. Jericho held a
mostly empty bottle, and half a sweet bun. Gabrielle still busily
chewed.

“A commercial.” Jonah responded.

“A commshell?” Asked Jericho.

“A Commercial. Comm-er-shul. It’s just an
advertisement.” Jonah saw that Jericho was still confused. He
continued. “It’s a way to get people to use a specific
product.”

“What’s a product?” Gabrielle asked, and then
drained her bottle.

“Well, let’s see if I can explain it like
this. That commercial was to entice people to pick that specific
type of new heart when they have a rejuvenation.”

“What’s a rejubenation?” Jericho and
Gabrielle asked in unison. Jonah couldn’t help but laugh.

“Re-Juv-enation.” He slowly pronounced.

“Rejuvenation.” Gabrielle repeated.

“Exactly!” Jonah said, and clapped his hands
together.

“What is a rejuvenation?” Jericho asked.

“A rejuvenation…” Began Vanessa, as she
returned from the kitchen with additional bottles for Gabrielle and
Jericho. “Is like a rebirth.” She handed the first bottle to
Jericho, who could not help but stare at her. She truly did look
exactly like Rebecca. Take away a few tiny wrinkles here and there,
and it would be her. It was uncanny, he thought. Vanessa handed the
second bottle to Gabrielle who stared at her intensely as well.

“Exactly.” Said Jonah. “Sound off.” The video
wall went silent. “Every twenty to thirty years, we go through
rejuvenation. Any failing organs are replaced with lab grown
versions. Skin is replaced, teeth, hair follicles. Eyes. Whatever
is failing. We just get it replaced, and then we’re good to go.” He
said.

“For another twenty or so years.” Vanessa
said, as she smiled. She had not recognized the horror that had
began to develop on Gabrielle and Jericho’s faces for what it was.
Jonah however, did see it.

“What?” He asked, as he pocketed his pipe,
and approached them. “What is it.”

“How can you do this?” Gabrielle blurted out
angrily. “What gives you the right?” She asked, as tears began to
stream down her face.

“What do you mean?” Jonah said, suddenly
alarmed by her outburst. Then suddenly he realized that Jericho had
swung the control stick in his hand, up under Jonah’s own chin,
just inches away. Though Jonah was still unsure what the metal
rod’s purpose was, it looked like a weapon, and after he had seen
what it did to the control panel in sector two, he was certain he
did not want to be touched with it. He raised both hands slowly and
took a step back. “Okay. Just calm down for a second. Let’s figure
out what’s going on here.” He had backed away far enough to be out
of reach, and stood beside Vanessa who was totally bewildered by
the sudden change in mood.

“You are murderers!” Gabrielle exclaimed.
Vanessa’s eyes went wide in disbelief.

“No. No, Gabrielle.” Jonah said, as he still
tried to remain calm. “We are not murderers. We haven’t hurt
anyone.” She rushed him. Her fists drove him back as he defended
himself but desperately tried not to hurt her as he protected
himself.

“Murderers!” She screamed, as her fury
overwhelmed her and tears streamed down both sides of her face.

After a brief glimpse at the body on the
gurney, Charles had left the room and entered another down the
hall. Amelia had almost passed out when the realization dawned on
her of who the body belonged to, and she was thankful to leave that
room. She steadied herself, as she placed her hand against the
hallway wall, and slowly followed him into the next room. Here, she
also had to place her hand against the wall to steady herself, and
then she noticed the hulking scarred Guardian that lay on the
floor. It might have been the acrid stench in the room that kept
her conscious. She didn’t know, but she was thankful that she did
not fall to the floor next to the huge metallic thing. Charles
completely ignored her, and focused his attention on the Guardian
on the floor. He did not even notice when another looming Guardian
walked by out in the hallway, as it pushed the blood stained gurney
from the other room. She however, did jumped when an arm fell loose
from the bed, and swung down as the Guardian passed the open
doorway. Charles continued to examine the Guardian, and opened an
access panel on its chest. He repeatedly typed commands on his comm
unit, until suddenly, a light flickered on within the access
hatch.

“There we go.” He rose up and stepped over
beside her. “Let’s see what we have.” He said, and showed her the
display panel of his comm unit as a video began to play. She was
able to see the image quite clearly on the small screen, and
watched in amazement as the image showed, evidently from the
Guardian’s viewpoint, the young woman as she was strapped down. The
machine over the bed had began to move, and then things became a
blur as images shifted and then swept by. She could no longer tell
what she saw, but Charles seemed to understand. At the end, his
mouth gaped open.

“How in the hell…” He had began, but stopped
and replayed the video again. “Here.” He said, as he pointed to the
device. “I’ve slowed this down. Tell me what you see.” She watched
as the video played, slow enough now that she could clearly see the
young man’s face, pursed in the perfect poise of hatred and anger.
The Guardian’s arm shot into the image, through the med-bots
manipulator arms. The control stick was extended, and headed
straight for the young man’s torso. Then suddenly, as if there were
frames of the video missing, he had moved. The Guardian’s arm
slammed into the med-bots manipulators, and as she watched, Amelia
saw the young man reach out and grab the end of the control stick.
The image instantly went black.

“He grabbed it.” She said in disbelief.

“Exactly.” Charles said. He pocketed the comm
unit. “So the question is, if he grabbed it, where is he.”

“Maybe he recovered before any of the other
units arrived?” She asked.

“Not a chance.” He said, as he shook his
head. “There was no time based on the data. How could he have not
been controlled?” He asked, and looked closely at the machine for
some solution. “It doesn’t matter, really.” He said, as he eyed the
char marks where it had been struck repeatedly by the Guardian’s
control stick.

“Sir?” she asked.

“It doesn’t change anything. We still have to
find them and eradicate them. Check with Guardian control and see
if they have any updates.” He said and turned away from her. She
pulled her comm unit from her tunic and tapped in a few
commands.

“Sir!” She said excitedly.

“What?” He said as he turned to her.

“They’ve found something, sir.” She said as
he walked closer to her.

“What? He asked.

“Unauthorized personnel, sir.”

“Who?” He asked.

“They don’t know, sir.” She replied.

Where?” He asked impatiently.

“Sector two, sir.” She replied. His
expression went from relief, to disbelief, and then to anger.

“Sector two?” He asked, enraged. “Have you
lost your mind, woman?” He yelled. “That’s where the hell we came
from!” He yelled, and stormed out of the room into the hallway. She
followed, even as she still stared at her screen.

“The Guardian’s dispatched there reported a
human male in the transport station sir, but they could not
identify if it was the specimen or not, sir.” She yelled ahead to
him as she followed.

“Have they captured it?” He asked, as the
anger fumed across his face.

“No, sir. He got away, and disabled the exit
door, sir.”

“Disabled?” He asked in disbelief.
“Disabled?” He asked again. “It has to be them!” He said as he
turned and walked briskly down the hallway. She ran to follow. “It
has to be them!” He stopped suddenly and turned around to her.
“There has never been a door disabled in all of New Sebastian
history, do you hear me?” He said, as he shook his finger at her.
“Never!” he yelled. “And today, we’ve got doors disabled
everywhere? You have got to be kidding me!” He turned and broke
into a trot and ran down the hallway. He pulled his comm unit from
his tunic, keyed a button, and brought it to his mouth.

“Premier.” He said, breathless as he ran down
the steps into the warehouse, and took them two at a time.

“Yes, Charles.” Roger said calmly. “Is it
done?” He asked

“Not exactly, sir.” Charles said reluctantly,
as he bound down the steps into the warehouse. Amelia was close at
his rear.

“What do you mean, not exactly?” Roger asked,
as impatience bled into his voice.

“We believe they just left sector two,
sir.”

“What?” Yelled Roger. “Sector two? That
means…that means they are here. Here in New Sebastian?” He said, as
anger shifted to concern. “I must have misunderstood you, Charles.”
He said, as his voice rose in pitch slightly. “Am I to understand
you? That the specimens are now here? Here in New Sebastian?” Roger
asked, as he held his comm unit in front of him, and looked at it
in utter disbelief.

“Yes, sir. That is what I said.” Charles’
voice responded from the device. Moments of silence passed as Roger
tried to digest the information as he sat at his ornate desk in his
massive office. He ignored the intricate glamorous artworks that
littered the space. His anger fumed at the ridiculous ineptitude of
his Chancellor. His heart raced with the ramifications of what
would occur if the specimens made contact with the citizenry.

“Activate the Guardian defensive squad.”
Roger said decidedly.

“We already have Guardians in sector two sir.
There are six there now, and I’ll have another six there in a few
minutes.” Charles responded.

“Charles?” Roger asked, as he shook his
head.

“Sir?” Charles responded through the comm
unit.

“Did I ask if you had any Guardians here?”
After a moments hesitation, Charles’s breathless voice
responded.

“No, sir.” He said.

“That!” Yelled Roger. “Is! Because! I don’t
care!” He said defiantly. “Now where was I…oh…yes. Charles? Are you
there?”

“Yes, sir.”

“Can you hear me quite plain, Charles?”

“Yes, sir.”

“Activate the squad!” The Premier yelled, and
slammed his comm unit onto his desk, and he knocked over the lamp
in the process. It crashed to the floor, blinked out, and left him
in the darkness in the vast room. He sat there silently in the dark
for a moment. “Idiot.” He said under his breath.

It had taken quite a while to calm Gabrielle
down after her exclamation that Jonah and Vanessa were murderers.
Once fairly calm, Jonah was able to get them to tell of their lives
in the village. The living conditions, the plague, and how births
were authorized and that embryos were implanted. As they told of
the trip through Quarantine, the warehouse, the embryo tanks, and
of Sarah, it all began to come together for Jonah. Even Vanessa had
listened wide eyed, and couldn’t help but cry when Gabrielle spoke
of the tiny hand of the baby against the wall of the tank. Jonah
had surmised that the village was where the embryos were raised,
for eventual selection and ultimately, death and disassembly, so
that their organs could be used to rejuvenate the citizens of New
Sebastian. His mind tried to fight the thought, that their whole
society had become one of monsters, like the vampires of lore from
centuries ago. But hardest for Jonah was the realization that this
had to be stopped. Some way, some how, this had to come to an end,
and it had to end now. His heart had hurt as he had listened to
them tell of their lives. The confines that they were forced to
live in, and the realization that even the simplest of pleasures
like to have an option of what food they would eat, had been denied
them. With his hand in Vanessa’s, he spoke to them all.

“This has to stop now.” He said. Jericho and
Gabrielle looked at one another as she slipped her hand into his.
They looked back to him and nodded. Jonah looked at Vanessa.

“Jonah.” She said. “But how? It’s just us.”
She got up and began to pace the floor. “Even you said that Roger
and Charles are in on this.” She said, as her eyes pleaded with
him.

“I don’t know.” He said, as he shook his
head. “But some how, it has to stop now. Those are people over
there. Just like us. They have every right to live and love, just
as we do.” He stood up. “It is up to God, or Jesus, or Allah, or
natural selection…” He pounded his fist against the other. “Take
your pick! But it is not up to man to decide who lives and who
dies.” He turned back to Jericho and Gabrielle, and quietly said,
“Just look at these kids. So young. So innocent.” A tear came to
his eye. “They didn’t ask for any of this. They didn’t ask to be
alive. But they are. And, here they are. And they have hopes and
dreams, and they know there is more to life than what’s been given
them. More to life than the lie they have been made to live.
Vanessa, they deserve the same chance every man has. Every human
has. They deserve the chance at life and love.” He said, and then
turned away, as emotion overcame him. Vanessa stepped over to him,
and placed her hands on his shoulders from behind, and leaned her
head against his back.