The Golden Couple (The Samantha Project Series, # 2) (36 page)

“Well, I guess it’s just me today.”

“You should really go with him, Samantha,” Walter said. “This is one of your last chances to get out and move about. Next week you’ll be transferred to a different room and confined to bed rest. There will be absolutely nothing to do. And no visitors.”

I sat up. “How do you know that?”
 

“I’ve seen your schedule for next week. And I won’t be attending to you in your new location. You’ll have someone new.” He smiled. “Oh, but I’ll still be attending to you, Erik.”

“Why do I need bed rest?”

“Because of your condition.”

“I’m barely pregnant. I feel fine. And why can’t I have visitors?”

Walter sighed. “I don’t make the rules, Samantha. I just follow them. Now can we go?”

“Wait,” Erik said. “So are you saying that I can’t see Sam anymore after this week?”
 

“Correct. Now we really should be going. Are you coming or not, Samantha?”

“Yes. I’m coming.” I got up and met them at the door.

Erik and I knew that if we were no longer able to see each other, we’d never escape. He took my hand as we walked to the lab.
“Stay calm,”
he ordered me in his thoughts.
“This is bad news, but we can deal with it. It just bumps up our timeline a little. We need to stay focused and get as much information as we can today. You okay?”

“No. But I’m determined to get out of here so I’ll do whatever it takes.”

When we got to the lab, Drew Chamberlin was waiting for us on the orange sofa. He got up and extended his hand to Erik. “So I hear you’re going to be a father, Erik. You must be thrilled.”

“Yes. I’m thrilled,” Erik replied, playing along.

Drew came over and hugged me, making my skin crawl. “Samantha, you must be so excited to be a mother.” He stood back and looked at Erik and me. “Congratulations to you both. This is such wonderful news. We’re hosting a special announcement event for the Founders to let them know.”

Dr. Siefert, the head of the lab, came up to Drew. “Are you still planning on staying for part of the testing today?”

“Yes. Absolutely. But I don’t have much time. Let’s get started.”

Dr. Siefert called for Alison to come over. “Why don’t you have Samantha and Erik try reading your thoughts? You haven’t done that yet, correct?”

“No. We’ve been doing the image response exercises the past few days.”

“I think you’ll find the telepathy very entertaining to observe,” Siefert said to Drew. He turned to Alison. “Perhaps you could even let Mr. Chamberlin give it a try, if he’s up for it.”

“Yes, I would enjoy that,” Drew said.

“Very well, then. I’ll let you get to work.” Dr. Siefert went to a different part of the lab.
 

“Go ahead and have a seat, Mr. Chamberlin,” Alison said. “I’ll have Sam and Erik demonstrate how the telepathy works on me. Then you can try.”
 

Alison turned off her brain wave scrambling device. Her thoughts were all about our surroundings.
“The man behind you is wearing a green shirt today,”
she thought. I repeated it back, hoping she would come up with something more interesting than that. But she didn’t. Her thoughts were all descriptions of things in the room.

Drew wasn’t impressed. He wanted to see if Erik and I could interpret more complicated thoughts. Alison tapped on her digital notepad, trying to find something more challenging for us.

“Okay, I’ve got an idea,” she said. “Erik, I’m going to imagine a diagram in my mind, and I want you to describe it. This will show Mr. Chamberlin how you’re able to interpret images. It’s a much more complex skill than interpreting words.”

Erik closed his eyes, as if really concentrating. A minute passed. “Sorry, but I’m not getting any type of image or diagram.” I knew Erik was lying. He’d seen and memorized maps of the building and the surrounding area from Owens’ mind. We both had.

“Samantha, did you try as well?” Alison asked.

“Yes. And I didn’t get anything, either.”

“Hmm, that’s odd. I was sure that would work. We probably need to tweak the software.”

Drew glanced at his watch. “Alison, although I’ve enjoyed watching this, I would like to give it a try before I have to leave.”

“Certainly. Go ahead and disable your scrambling device and then think whatever you would like.”

Drew turned the device off.
 

This is it! I thought. My one and only chance to get Drew to think, or even just say, the words needed to open the globe. Even if I could just get a bunch of words, I might be able to string them together to form the necessary phrase.
 

I could tell that Erik had the same thought. We remained calm, acting like this was just another routine exercise.
 

In my head, I listed all the possible phrases Drew might use to open that globe. I tried to quickly think of anything he had said before that might be significant.
 

“Sam, did you hear Mr. Chamberlin just now?” Alison’s voice woke me from my thoughts.

“Um, no. I’m a little out of it today with the baby news and all.” I looked at Drew. “Sorry about that. Try again.”

“I can’t wait to tell everyone about the baby,”
he thought. I paid close attention, memorizing the pattern of his brain waves as he spoke each word.

I repeated it back to him. “I can’t wait to tell everyone about the baby.”

“Yes! That’s incredible!” Drew said to Alison. “Much better than just observing it. It’s so amazing to have them actually read my thoughts. It’s like some type of carnival act!”
 

I smiled to hide my anger toward his comment. Next Drew sent some thoughts to Erik and he repeated them back. The exercise allowed me to memorize Drew’s brain waves for several words, but the words didn’t seem like the ones that would open the globe. I felt hopeless again, considering how stupid it was to even imagine that he would say those words aloud or even think them. I wondered if I could somehow trick him into saying them.

“Does GlobalLife have a motto or something?” I asked, trying to sound completely innocent.

“Yes. Why do you ask?”

“Well, it just seems like if you’re sending us your thoughts, they should be more, I don’t know, impressive sounding. Rather than just random thoughts about what’s going on in the room or other everyday stuff.”

Erik picked up on what I was trying to do. “Yeah, like if you really had this power, you might use it to transmit a secret message or something.”

“Yes. I see what you’re saying.” Drew’s mind went blank for a second, then I heard him think a phrase.
“We’re only as strong as our weakest link.”

That was it! It had to be it! The motto for GlobalLife Genetics. The phrase Drew said all the time. And it was engraved right on the marble globe.

“I’ve got this one, Sam,” Erik said. As he repeated the phrase out loud, Drew thought it again in his head, giving me another chance to memorize his brain waves.
 

“Isn’t that the GlobalLife motto?” Erik asked.

“Yes,” Drew answered. “It’s the motto for GlobalLife Genetics. Just our division, not the entire organization. Well, that was fun! But I should get going now.”

Erik sensed my excitement, but I didn’t sense his. He didn’t seem to think those were the right words.
 

As Drew got up to leave, Rachel walked in and came over to where we were sitting. She was in a tight black dress and heels, looking gorgeous as always.
 

Drew smiled and gave her a peck on the cheek. “Darling, what are you doing here?”
 

“I had this announcement for you to look over. Do you have a minute?”

“Why don’t we go back to my office.” His tone implied that he wanted to do more than just discuss the announcement.

“No, I really need to get this sent out. Can you just review it quick?”

“All business today? Well, then I suppose. Give it here.”

Alison’s cell phone rang. She got up to answer it, leaving Erik and me sitting there with Rachel and Drew.

As Drew reviewed the announcement, Rachel talked to Erik and me. “I heard about the baby news. You two must be so excited!”

“Yeah. It’s a little unexpected. But you can’t always plan these things.” Erik smiled, putting his arm around me as if we truly were the elated couple. I wondered if these people really did think we were happy about the news.

Erik kept the conversation going so I could listen to Drew’s thoughts.

I could hear Drew reading the announcement in his head.
“And that’s why we’re so thrilled to announce that Samantha is expecting a child. This child will be the first offspring of a new generation. As you know—”

Drew’s cell phone rang, interrupting his thoughts. He answered it, setting the announcement aside. “Yes?” Pause. “I’ll be there shortly. I’m just reviewing something and then I’ll be over.”

“Who was that?” Rachel asked.

“Eve Taylor. She met with Preston this morning. She wants to go over what they discussed. I could look at this later, right?” He held up the announcement.

“No, Drew. It really can’t wait. Can you please just make your changes?” She smiled at him flirtatiously.

He smiled back. “Oh, all right. But it’s sad how I let you control me, Rachel.”
 

She laughed. “Oh, Drew. Don’t be silly.”

For someone who claimed to be breaking up with him, she sure played the girlfriend role well.

“So, Rachel, when is this big announcement?” Erik asked.

“Friday night. Since so many of the Founders were just here for the gala, few people will be able to attend in person. We’re hosting a live teleconference at 7. Drew will make the announcement and then we’ll send out more information following the event. For those people who are still in Iceland, we’ll be hosting a cocktail party.”

As she talked, I listened to Drew again as he reviewed the announcement.
“As you know, Samantha Andrews, Subject 46A, has been our biggest success and we’re so proud to—. Wait. I can’t say that.”
I watched as Drew crossed out a small section of the announcement.
“Oh, I might as well get rid of the whole sentence.”
He crossed it out and kept reading.
“This news puts us one step closer to achieving our goal. We will now truly be able to take the human race to a higher plane of being. Your generous support of this project allows you to be the first to reap the benefits of this technological breakthrough and join a new class of humanity. You will be part of an elite group that will rise above ordinary human weaknesses and frailties. And your future generations will become royalty—a new royalty chosen not by ancient bloodlines but by cellular superiority. Perfection above all else. The future has arrived. The time is now!”

Drew handed Rachel the announcement. “Splendid job, Rachel.”

“Thank you, Drew.” Rachel leaned over and gave him a long kiss on the lips. It was very odd and even surprised Drew.

“Not around the workers, Rachel,” he muttered to her.

“Oh, yes. I’m sorry,” she said, getting up. “I was just so happy that you liked it.”

Drew got up as well.
“
I couldn’t have written it better myself. It’s like you can read my mind as well as these two.”
 

As soon as he said it, a panicked look came across his face. He started searching his belt for the brain wave scrambling device. “Dammit! I had this off and I forgot to turn it back on.”

“Relax, Drew. It’s already on,” Rachel assured him. “See the green light? You must have turned it on without even thinking.”

“Yes, I see that now. All right. Well, I just had one change to the announcement. You’ll provide me with a revised version this afternoon?”

“Of course.” Rachel gave him a peck on the cheek. “You should head over to your meeting. I’ll see you at dinner.”

Drew raced off. I sat there wondering how I could have heard his thoughts with that scrambling device turned on. Did the device not work? But it worked when he first arrived. And as he left I couldn’t hear his thoughts, so it was working then.
 

“Sorry for the interruption, Alison,” Rachel said as Alison came back.

“It’s no problem. I had to take that call anyway. I’m getting the room prepped for next week. I have so much equipment to order. We weren’t expecting this so soon.”

“I’ll see you all later.” Rachel left. Alison sat down with her digital notepad.

“What room are you getting ready?” I asked, already fairly certain of the answer.

“
Your
room, Samantha. Yours and the baby’s.” She casually tapped on her notepad, not looking up. “We’re moving you on Sunday.”

I shot Erik a look.
“Sunday? Walter said next week! Sunday is only a couple days—”

“Just stay calm and act normal,”
Erik thought back.

“So why does Sam need to move to a different room?” Erik asked. “I thought you wanted us to stay together.”

She looked up. “No. We didn’t
want
you to stay together. We
needed
you to stay together. Simply for mating purposes. But now we don’t need that anymore, so she’s moving out.”

“But I need to be with Erik,” I insisted. “Don’t you think I should be with the father of my child?”

Alison took out her phone and began texting. “He’s a contributor of genetic material, Samantha. Not a father. In the future, we won’t be tied to such antiquated terms and conventions. You don’t need Erik now. His role is done.”

“But I need him for support. I can’t go through this alone.”

“Don’t be ridiculous. Of course you can. What decade are you living in, Samantha? Women have children on their own all the time.”

It was no use arguing with her. There was no way they would let me stay with Erik. The decision was made. I would be moved on Sunday. Just two days away.

“So what happens after you separate us?” I asked Alison. “Will I ever see Erik again?”

“We don’t know our plans for Erik just yet. I would think they’d still want you two to make a few public appearances together, given the whole golden couple thing. You could ask Rachel about that. She’s head of public relations, so she would be the one planning your appearances. As for you, Sam, you’ll be under constant monitoring because we’re not sure what to expect with this pregnancy. But that new equipment I ordered will allow us to run a variety of tests.”