Tripple Chronicles 1: Eternity Rising (36 page)

When she
returned, she sat in a chair and just stared at them until one of the men began
to stir. She froze and watched as the men slowly regained consciousness over
the next five minutes. They seemed disoriented and seriously pissed off. Then,
finally, one of them spoke.

“There you
are, you little bitch! Come over here, so I can kill you.” It was the man with
the burns on his face. Dana did go over, with some of the remains of Bearden’s
shirt balled up in her hands. She shoved a wad of fabric in his mouth to shut
him up and then did the same to the other, who still seemed out of it. The
burned man’s eyes pierced her with hatred. Dana grabbed her notes and sat back
down in the chair to wait for Lee, keeping the men in her sightline.
 
She pretended to be deeply involved in
her reading so she wouldn’t have to look at her gagged and bound prisoners. Her
shoulder throbbed and her hands were shaking, but she did not show fear on her
face.

Finally, Lee
came back into the kitchen, still barefoot, with a metal tray holding two large
hollow needles, each with a blinking light and attached to tiny glass tubes.
Next to the needles was a small glass dish with two red objects that looked
like miniscule pill capsules, and a silver device that looked like a one button
remote. He looked at the two men, bound from ankle to neck, then over to Dana
with a bit of confusion.

“It was the
best I could do,” she said.

“Very
effective, but not efficient. I need vein access,” Lee replied.

“Oh. I
didn’t know. What’s on the tray?” she asked.

“I’ll show
you. Find a knife to cut away some of this twine,” Lee said, setting his tray
on the table above the prisoner’s heads. Dana grabbed a knife from the kitchen
and also picked out one of the guns she had confiscated.

“Just in
case,” she said to Lee who had given her another funny look. The two men had
obvious fear in their eyes and the shorter one was almost hyperventilating.
Drool dripped from the corner of his mouth around the cloth gag and he looked
like he might go into hysterics. The other one, with the burned face, remained
as still as a statue. Dana almost felt sorry for them…almost. She knelt beside
the still one and started cutting through the twine near his elbow. Once the
twine was loosened, the man started to try and wriggle his arm free. Dana knelt
on his hand and pointed the gun to his head.

“Stop
moving!” she said. “Lee, whatever you are going to do, now would be a good
time.”

Lee crouched
over the man, his glasses sliding down his nose, and slapped the man’s arm so a
vein would pop up to the surface of his skin. Then, he stuck him with the large
hollow needle with the glass tube attachment.

“Hold this
steady, but don’t press the button on the front,” he said to Dana, who
immediately grabbed the needle with her free hand, careful not to touch the
front of it. With forceps, Lee grabbed one of the tiny red capsules and
inserted it into the glass tube. He placed his finger over the top and pressed
the lighted blue button on the needle. A slight whoosh of suction pulled the
red capsule right into the man’s vein. He made a sound of discomfort that was
stifled by the bit of fabric in his mouth. Lee drew out the needle and covered
the point of entry with bandage glue.

“There,
almost finished,”
Lee
said. “Tie his arm again and
let’s do the other one.” Dana did as instructed and they moved to the other
man. Dana and Lee both had to sit on top of him to keep him still enough to get
the capsule into his body. He tried to yell the whole time and Dana had to hum
a song in her head to distract her from his agony.

When they
were finished, Lee stood in front of his two captives with Dana slightly behind
him, her hands still wrapped around the gun. For a minute, they said nothing,
but Dana got impatient.

“What do we
do with them now?” she asked Lee.

“We will ask
them some questions and then let them go,” he answered.

“Are you
crazy? You want to let them go?”

“The capsule
I injected into their blood stream is a live virus in a remote explosive
casing. If they do anything that I find dissatisfactory, I will release the
virus into their bodies with a touch of a button and they will be dead within a
few hours.”

Hearing
their possible fates, the hysterical man started fighting against his bindings
again and yelling.

“Un-gag the
quiet one,” Lee said. Dana walked over and snatched the cloth from his mouth.

“Who are you
and what were you sent to accomplish?” Lee asked.

“They’re
government, Lee,” Dana said. “I saw the symbol on their badges.”

“That’s
right,” the man said. We came for the virus code, but were told the place would
be empty. Now untie us and give it to me or you can expect another break in.”

“No,” Lee
said.

“No? That’s
all you have to say, you crazy old man?”

Lee
scratched his head.

“You’ll get
nothing from us!” Dana shouted and approached the man until the gun was almost
in his face. “Go back to your government assholes and tell them that you found
nothing here. Tell them it would be pointless to try again.”

The man let
out a thin laugh.

“Not a
chance, girlie. You know, I recognize you. Where have I seen your face before?”

“Nowhere,”
she said and turned away from him.

“Ahh, yes, I
remember, you are a wanted woman, murder right?”

“That’s none
of your damn business,” Dana said, and then turned to Lee. “I don’t think this
man has an ounce of self-preservation. I think you should just detonate your
little capsule.”

Lee was
looking out of sorts, so Dana picked up the tiny remote. The man smiled and
closed his eyes. The other man, still gagged was making more and more noise in
response to her threat. She went over and squatted down in front of him.

“Don’t
scream,” she said pulling the cloth from his mouth.

“Don’t kill
me!” he begged. “I’ll tell them what you want. I have a family. Just don’t kill
me.”

“Now we are
getting somewhere,” she said, “Lee, what should we do with the disagreeable
one?”

“Nothing.
They must both return unharmed or the government will just try again,” Lee
said.

“What if he
talks? What if he tells them about me?” she asked.

“C’mon,
Coop, these people are crazy,” the hysterical man pleaded with his partner.
“Just do what they want. I’m committed to my duty and the government, but I
can’t die this way. It’s not worth it, man.”

Lee and Dana
looked at each other then at the disagreeable man who was apparently called
“Coop”.
 
He showed slight concern
for his partner. Lee took the gun from her and with a quick motion pointed it
back to the disagreeable man’s head and started to pull the trigger. The man
flinched away.

“See, he
does have self-preservation,” Lee said. “We have nothing to worry about. They
don’t even have to lie. They did not find a virus code here.”

Dana went
over to Lee and took the gun back from him. She locked the rest of their
weapons in a storage closet and handed them back their badges as Lee untied
them with one hand, holding tight to the remote with the other.

“If there is
any suspicion about this young lady being here, I will press this button,” Lee
warned.

Dana did not
trust either of them untied and kept the gun at the ready. It was almost dawn
when the men left the lab willingly, with Lee and Dana at their heels. And when
they were just about to close and lock the doors behind their intruders, Dana
asked,

“Who was it
that sent you here
exactly
?”

“Major Mace
Magner.”

That same
morning, in the high office of the Daxian government, Director Fitzhugh opened
a small brown envelope he found waiting for him on his desk when he came in.
There was no indication of
who
it was from, but it was
marked ‘Urgent’. Inside, he found the recording Maeve had taken of the
biomachine’s
attack on Maile and the unfortunate fate of
their handlers. The director watched it through four times, knowing full well
who was behind the unauthorized attack. He made a quick call to the regent, and
then called Colonel Cline at the TRU Building.

“Good
morning, Director.” Cline said when he recognized the voice on the line.

“Colonel, I
want to congratulate you on the efficiency of your work at TRU. Getting that
outdoor facility ready for occupation for the weaponry program as quickly as
you did is no less than remarkable.”

“Thank you.
It was necessary.”

“I
appreciate your ability to do what needs to be done, Cline, which is why I’ve
called you today.”

“I see,”
Cline replied, wondering what sort of task the director wanted from him. “What
is it that you need?”

“As of
today, the biomer experiment has officially come to an end. The unit will focus
only on the new physics and space travel division until the rest of the
facility can be re-designated. And Cline, I need you to personally shut it
down. Arrange for the outdoor facility and the sub-basement to be cemented in.
I want no evidence of those uncontrollable beasts in Daxia. Then, I want every
bit of the leftover biomer that is in that building on the next shuttle to
Myris. Get rid of it all.”

“Does
General Pike know about this, sir?” Cline asked.

“He will
within the hour. But I need
you
to
get this done. Tyrine will never submit to our government if our own weapons
are turning against us.”

“There are
no shuttles currently scheduled for Myris. The mining was stopped and the
colonization project, well you know about that, sir, since it was you who cut
the funding.”

“Details.
Meaningless details. The shuttles will get the funding they need. You just
start with filling in those areas and taking an inventory on the leftover
material. I want to know how many shuttles will be necessary to get that stuff
off of this planet.”

“Will do,
Director Fitzhugh. You have a nice day,” Colonel Cline said.

“You, too,
Colonel. I’ll be in touch,” the director said and hung up.

Colonel
Cline got up and locked his office door. He didn’t want to be in the wake of
General Pike’s wrath when he got the news. Cline felt relieved that the program
was being shut down. He agreed with the Director and did not trust the
biomachines in a confined area, much less in war. He believed in the Daxian
government and wanted the Tyrinian takeover to happen as much as anyone, but he
had known from the first biomachine activation that these weapons were not
ready yet. He was sorry they were going to give up on them, though. He’d spent
the last five years of his life working to build this program, and was proud to
be chosen to bring it to a close. The one thing he didn’t understand, though,
was why the director had come to him for the job and not General Pike.

Several
floors up, Colonel Ganesh sat at his desk organizing his thoughts about the
space travel division aloud, while Quinn wrote his words on paper. They were
preparing a statement for the next press report about Camden Riles and his
progress with simplified space travel. They didn’t have much to say, since they
were no closer to being able to bend space than they ever were, but they needed
to make it sound like Camden and his team were on the road to success…per
General Pike’s orders. Ganesh kept glancing at the door to his office like he
was waiting for someone to walk in and it didn’t take long for Quinn to notice.

“Are you
expecting someone, Colonel?”

“What? No,
why do you ask?”

“I just
noticed you watching the door, that’s all,” Quinn said.

“Hmph.
I…um…well, I was just thinking about Sergeant Leitner. He usually drops in a
couple times a week and I haven’t seen him in a while. That’s all,” Ganesh
replied.

“Sir, didn’t
you hear?”

“Hear what?”
Ganesh asked with a straight face, despite the gush of panic he felt in
response to Quinn’s heavy tone.

“Bearden’s
gone. Major Magner had him dismissed yesterday. There was an administrative
memo.”

“What!”
Ganesh shouted as he stood and slapped the desk with both hands. Quinn jumped,
startled by the colonel’s reaction. “You’ve gotta be kidding me!” Ganesh
continued. “That sneaky son-of-a…” He squinted his eyes at Quinn. “Why didn’t
you tell me?”

“Sir, I’m
sorry. I just assumed you knew,” Quinn said, “And anyway, aren’t you
overreacting a little? I mean
,
I know you were kind of
his mentor, but he’s a scientist. Not even a
real
soldier.”

“What do you
know of real? You’re a…sp…well…you’re nothing more than a secretary!” Quinn
furrowed his eyebrows and gave Ganesh a suspicious look that he quickly masked
as shame from his belittling words. Ganesh couldn’t believe he’d almost slipped
up, hoping Quinn didn’t notice. Quinn stood up and put his hands behind his
back.

“Sir, I’m
sorry I’ve outspoken. I should have known this would upset you. You always
seemed so pleased to see Sergeant Leitner. Why don’t I go and get you some
coffee while you process the news?”

“Fine,
Quinn, coffee sounds fine,”
Ganesh
said without
looking at him.

As soon as
he was alone, Ganesh called Bearden, but there was no answer. Maybe he was with
Lee. It was still too risky to call the Tripple Laboratories. He didn’t know
Lee’s private number, anyway. He’d have to contact Maeve later. It was
important that Ganesh speak to Bearden before Mace Magner or General Pike did.
If Bearden had been caught with a message from Lee, Ganesh would also be
implicated in conspiring against the government. And since he was the public
face of the space travel program, he’d likely be locked up in a room next to
Rhys Krell until the general could find a replacement. Then, he’d be killed.

Ganesh was
pacing his office as these ‘worst case’ scenarios ran through his head. There
was a knock at his office door. He took a deep breath and sat down feeling
unprepared for the possible repercussions he could face.
 

“Come in,”
he called, expecting to see Major Magner. But instead, a young, strong looking
soldier walked in. He seemed antsy and in a hurry.

“Colonel Ganesh,
I have a letter for you,” he said.

“Ok. Give it
to me then, Soldier.”

He walked
over and laid the letter on his desk.

“It’s rather
urgent, sir.”

“Urgent huh?
What’s your name? I don’t think I’ve seen you before.”

“That’s
because I work in the weaponry unit. This is the first time I’ve even been on
this floor. I’m Corporal Andreas Vance.”

“Well,
Corporal, thank you for delivering this letter.”
 
Ganesh could tell that he was nervous standing there.
Perhaps he’d even waited until he saw Quinn leave before he came in.

“You’re
dismissed, Corporal,” Ganesh said and watched the young man practically run
out. Quinn would come back any minute, so Ganesh quickly tore open the letter,
expecting to read the general’s words spelling out his doom. Instead, he found
a handwritten note from Charisa, the programmer.

Dear Colonel Ganesh,

First of all, I hope I am not overstepping any boundaries by sending
you this letter.

I don’t know if you have yet seen, first hand, the horror of what the
weapons have done. I have all but given up hope in rectifying the situation
through programming. It seems that the biomachines are pre-dispositional to
random violence. I realize that you probably do not want to get involved, since
you did not respond to my last letter, but I need your help. The unit needs
your help. I fear that my team and the team of soldiers down here are being led
into a situation from which there is no return. I have done everything in my
power to enhance control over the weapons, but without success, and I need your
help. We are all afraid down here, not only of the biomachines, but also of our
leaders. I’ve done some research on your military career and I know that you do
not condone meaningless violence and loss of life. Please take some time from
your space travel project to do some good for this unit.

With respect and gratitude,

Charisa Jean Lind

At the same
moment that Ganesh was reading Charisa’s letter, Mace Magner was sitting at his
desk and tapping his foot impatiently on the floor, not even thinking about
Colonel Ganesh. He was focused on the two men who had just walked through his
door, Cooper and Albert, the retrieval team he’d sent to Tripple Laboratories
the night before to obtain the virus code.

“Did you get
it?” Mace asked right away and then noticed Cooper’s burned face. “What the
hell happened to you?”

The two men
looked at each other for a second as if confirming that they would stick to the
story they’d concocted before seeing Major Magner.

“I was
scolded with a pot of coffee,” Cooper answered. “An honest accident, by a
waitress last night, after we left Tripple Laboratories.”

“You went
out for coffee? With the virus code in your possession?” Mace asked, fuming.

“No. We
didn’t get it,” Albert said. “We didn’t even get into the building. The access
card you gave us must be old. It didn’t work and the fingerprint casts weren’t
enough.”

“Dammit!”
Mace yelled. “Speak to no one about this. Leave me now, I need to think.”

An hour
later, Mace was in General Pike’s office, wishing he had the virus code to hand
over. The break-in he’d arranged had been an attempt to impress Pike enough to
reconsider his promotion. Instead, he was trying to make a case for why a
forced entry to Tripple Laboratories should be their next plan of action.

“Look,
Major, we both know that Tripple Laboratories has the stolen biomer, but we
cannot legally enter. That building is protected by amnesty from the highest
office,” Pike said.

“With all
due respect, sir, screw amnesty! We have to take the building. Lee Tripple has
gone far enough. We haven’t even developed the tech to disable these machines,
but the Tyrinians somehow have it?”

“And you are
absolutely sure that they got it from Lee Tripple’s lab?”

“Where else
would they have gotten it?”

“Maybe there
is a traitor on our science or weapons team. The Tyrinians could have developed
a way to attack the biomer if they found out about what we have built.” Pike
sounded remarkably calm for what they’d just seen and done in Maile.

“I don’t
believe that, sir, and I don’t think you do either. Why else would Camden Riles
choose to stay locked up here instead of admitting he had the stolen biomer,
and giving up Colonel Ganesh as his accomplice?”

“I don’t
know, Mace, but it really doesn’t matter much anyway.”

“What do you
mean it doesn’t matter? Of course it matters; now more than ever.”

The general
sat back and sighed and rubbed his exhausted eyes.

“I was on
the phone with Director Fitzhugh earlier. We’re out of time. The weaponry unit
will be cemented over. The unused biomer will be on the next shuttle off of
this rock.”

“You can’t
be serious! This is…is…impossible!” Mace started walking around the general’s
office. He looked as if he wanted to hit something. “I don’t believe it. What
are we going to do about this?”

“Well,
believe it. In a month’s time, this unit will be unrecognizable and there is no
changing the director’s mind, I’ll tell you that. But we still have a few
nights left, so you, Luke and I will have to work harder than ever to transfer
as many biomachines as we can to our own little holding facility before Colonel
Cline shuts the weaponry unit down for good,” General Pike said. “I have put
too much into this project to have it ripped away from me. I am not giving up
yet!”

“I’m damn
glad to hear that, sir.” Mace said. “I’ll be ready to move the second this
place closes up for the night. I’ll go inform Luke, so he’ll be ready too.”

The two
saluted each other and Mace turned to leave.

“Oh, Mace,
one more thing,” he said, “I need you to choose some capable soldiers to go on
the Myris shuttle mission, and pass your recommendations on to Colonel Cline.
They should be well practiced at handling the biomer and since you work closely
with those men on a daily basis, I’m sure you can put together a successful
team.”

“Yes, sir,”
Mace answered thinking of one soldier in particular he wouldn’t mind seeing
leave the planet for a while.

Mace went
straight to the weaponry unit to pay a visit to Charisa. He barged into her
office without knocking.

“I wanted to
tell you the good news in person, Doll. Corporal Andreas Vance has been chosen
for a shuttle mission. It’s scheduled to leave in a month, so he’s being pulled
off the floor tomorrow for mission training.”

“What? Is
this because of you?”

“He was just
chosen. That’s all. But look at it this way; he won’t be able to come between
us anymore. You’ll be spending your nights alone again.”

“I’m
surprised,
Major
, that you aren’t more interested in
your entire weapons program being a complete failure. I can’t say that I was
the least bit upset when Colonel Cline came to me today and told me that I was
no longer needed here. But you…you get off on the senseless violence, don’t
you?”