Donald Lydecker sat in his desk and stared at the fluorescent light that hummed above him. Only five minutes into the day and he could sense something coming. He drew out his Glock from the right drawer of his desk and stared at it in his hand. Marveled at the simplicity of a gun and its one ultimate purpose, to kill. To destroy everything in its path. Twenty rounds to a clip. He could sense a metaphor in his head: Every X-5 was like a bullet in this gun. Designed to kill and destroy and keep moving until it was forced to a stop. But like his Manticore kids the bullets were subject to outside influence. From the idea of happiness to the speed and trajectory of the wind. These effects cause you to miss your mark.
He sighted down the barrel of the gun until it pointed directly at the sliding, motion detecting doors in front of him. He sighted and simulated the recoil of a shot just prior to the doors opening and Madame X walked in. His superior. The fact she was inferior to him in every way did not make it any easier that she held the leash in her hand and the choke collar around his neck.
"Having fun are we Donald?" Madame X stated as she moved in through the door, "we do have better things that we could be doing."
Lydecker sighted down the gun and aimed at the center of her chest before holstering the weapon at his waist and replying, "I really can't think of something I'd like more to do."
She smiled, Lydecker hated when she did that, she liked it when he tried to talk big because ultimately he was a pawn in her mind. "Board meeting about your progress. Two minutes," she said before the sliding doors opened again and closed after her.
Lydecker sighed, this wasn't going to be easy.
Eight committee members sat behind a long crescent desk and stared at him as Lydecker stood at attention. He marveled at the ingenious of using simple things like lighting and furniture to attack ones thoughts. The desk was shaped so it seemed the board members were beginning to circle you and the floor lights around the door behind Lydecker gave the sense that their perception to you was perfect but you'd be blinded in an attempt to escape. None of this worked on him as he himself designed the office.
"We're quite worried about your progress Mr. Lydecker," an elderly man in his late fifties said as he leaned into his chair with an air of superiority, "constantly we have reports filled with excuse after excuse about why you fail to capture any of the X-5."
Lydecker was about to point out that Brin had been captured but thought better of it. He could see that they were hunting him to bring him down and would point out the condition they had "caught" her in.
"And yet with all this time we fail to see any sort of progress or even simply a light at the end of this long, dark tunnel," the man added.
Lydecker looked back at him through cold eyes and replied in a manner that was just as threatening as it was obedient, "One can not account the success of tracking down those who have the training not to be caught."
A middle aged black man was seated on the right side of the table and he leaned forward over the desk as he spoke, "Yet you keep tracking them down using insufficient methods."
A little smile escaped the mans lips, Donald knew he fell for their first trick, he'd have to be more careful. "I am using all of our available resources but what we need most is the resource you refuse to supply me with, time."
"The more time we wait the greater the chance that Manticore technology will fall into the wrong hands," Madame X stated. "Even as we speak now the Chinese or the Russians are racing to come even twenty-five years behind us. Imagine where they'll be if they had a genetic blueprint in front of them. We may have humored you before Deck but now this is a matter of urgency and no longer a personal matter. The X-5's are not important for reprogramming but need to be destroyed as the carriers of technology they are."
Lydecker smiled inwardly, the board members showed their hand before Lydecker had a chance to draw. He could get around this like he always has, "Even still we need to track X-5 down before we can decommission them and as the situation dictates I will use your judgment in how to handle the situation."
Lydecker's eyes flicked back and forth, he was the predator now in their own game.
"We're sure you will," the middle aged head of the committee stated, "but now we are changing the method of how you will track your children down."
Lydecker stung from that blow. The sarcasm literally dripped from the man's voice and he felt the hook connect as he realized they had maneuvered him into where they wanted him. "Just how do you feel we should track down the rouge X-5?"
Madame X sat straight up as she revealed the cards she was holding face down for Lydecker to see, "We're commissioning X-6 to the project. We feel that their tactical abilities will be useful in this situation."
The wind rushed out of Lydecker. It was as if he had taken a punch to the stomach as he stammered to compose himself, "But the X-6 aren't ready. They don't have the real world experience the X-5 have. They are only eighteen. Besides the X-6 aren't suited for search and capture missions."
He knew he had fallen into a larger pit and he couldn't see a way to get out as the head of the board picked up where Madame X left off. They were ganging up on him, circling him. "The objective is no longer to capture the X-5 but to destroy them. As you said earlier you would use our judgment as the situation recommends. Well, now you know that we'll be sending you with a message that you won't be able to forget or ignore. Your kids are too dangerous to stay exposed and every military in the world starts military recruiting before the age of seventeen. X-6 has a head start on them."
Lydecker had one last chance to evade the issue and he raised the stakes, "The X-6 have had more training than the X-5 but lack knowledge of the real world. I fear the X-5 will be at an advantage and we'll be sending more of our technology down the drain." Lydecker hated to refer to them as technology but he was still playing their game.
"That is why X-6 will be sent as a team. To annihilate X-5 one by one. I think you'll agree that they don't stand a chance. Now, you have your orders. Dismissed," the board head looked away and back at the papers in front of him giving Lydecker the hint that he wasn't needed there anymore. So he folded his hand and left the table knowing that he had been bluffed. He may have lost this hand but the game was far from over. He just needed to wait for his turn to deal.
He knew he fell into their trap as he stepped back into his office and collapsed into his chair. He knew the X-6 wouldn't fail him like the X-5 had. It just wasn't the way he wanted to end this.
He sighted down the barrel of the gun until it pointed directly at the sliding, motion detecting doors in front of him. He sighted and simulated the recoil of a shot just prior to the doors opening and Madame X walked in. His superior. The fact she was inferior to him in every way did not make it any easier that she held the leash in her hand and the choke collar around his neck.
"Having fun are we Donald?" Madame X stated as she moved in through the door, "we do have better things that we could be doing."
Lydecker sighted down the gun and aimed at the center of her chest before holstering the weapon at his waist and replying, "I really can't think of something I'd like more to do."
She smiled, Lydecker hated when she did that, she liked it when he tried to talk big because ultimately he was a pawn in her mind. "Board meeting about your progress. Two minutes," she said before the sliding doors opened again and closed after her.
Lydecker sighed, this wasn't going to be easy.
Eight committee members sat behind a long crescent desk and stared at him as Lydecker stood at attention. He marveled at the ingenious of using simple things like lighting and furniture to attack ones thoughts. The desk was shaped so it seemed the board members were beginning to circle you and the floor lights around the door behind Lydecker gave the sense that their perception to you was perfect but you'd be blinded in an attempt to escape. None of this worked on him as he himself designed the office.
"We're quite worried about your progress Mr. Lydecker," an elderly man in his late fifties said as he leaned into his chair with an air of superiority, "constantly we have reports filled with excuse after excuse about why you fail to capture any of the X-5."
Lydecker was about to point out that Brin had been captured but thought better of it. He could see that they were hunting him to bring him down and would point out the condition they had "caught" her in.
"And yet with all this time we fail to see any sort of progress or even simply a light at the end of this long, dark tunnel," the man added.
Lydecker looked back at him through cold eyes and replied in a manner that was just as threatening as it was obedient, "One can not account the success of tracking down those who have the training not to be caught."
A middle aged black man was seated on the right side of the table and he leaned forward over the desk as he spoke, "Yet you keep tracking them down using insufficient methods."
A little smile escaped the mans lips, Donald knew he fell for their first trick, he'd have to be more careful. "I am using all of our available resources but what we need most is the resource you refuse to supply me with, time."
"The more time we wait the greater the chance that Manticore technology will fall into the wrong hands," Madame X stated. "Even as we speak now the Chinese or the Russians are racing to come even twenty-five years behind us. Imagine where they'll be if they had a genetic blueprint in front of them. We may have humored you before Deck but now this is a matter of urgency and no longer a personal matter. The X-5's are not important for reprogramming but need to be destroyed as the carriers of technology they are."
Lydecker smiled inwardly, the board members showed their hand before Lydecker had a chance to draw. He could get around this like he always has, "Even still we need to track X-5 down before we can decommission them and as the situation dictates I will use your judgment in how to handle the situation."
Lydecker's eyes flicked back and forth, he was the predator now in their own game.
"We're sure you will," the middle aged head of the committee stated, "but now we are changing the method of how you will track your children down."
Lydecker stung from that blow. The sarcasm literally dripped from the man's voice and he felt the hook connect as he realized they had maneuvered him into where they wanted him. "Just how do you feel we should track down the rouge X-5?"
Madame X sat straight up as she revealed the cards she was holding face down for Lydecker to see, "We're commissioning X-6 to the project. We feel that their tactical abilities will be useful in this situation."
The wind rushed out of Lydecker. It was as if he had taken a punch to the stomach as he stammered to compose himself, "But the X-6 aren't ready. They don't have the real world experience the X-5 have. They are only eighteen. Besides the X-6 aren't suited for search and capture missions."
He knew he had fallen into a larger pit and he couldn't see a way to get out as the head of the board picked up where Madame X left off. They were ganging up on him, circling him. "The objective is no longer to capture the X-5 but to destroy them. As you said earlier you would use our judgment as the situation recommends. Well, now you know that we'll be sending you with a message that you won't be able to forget or ignore. Your kids are too dangerous to stay exposed and every military in the world starts military recruiting before the age of seventeen. X-6 has a head start on them."
Lydecker had one last chance to evade the issue and he raised the stakes, "The X-6 have had more training than the X-5 but lack knowledge of the real world. I fear the X-5 will be at an advantage and we'll be sending more of our technology down the drain." Lydecker hated to refer to them as technology but he was still playing their game.
"That is why X-6 will be sent as a team. To annihilate X-5 one by one. I think you'll agree that they don't stand a chance. Now, you have your orders. Dismissed," the board head looked away and back at the papers in front of him giving Lydecker the hint that he wasn't needed there anymore. So he folded his hand and left the table knowing that he had been bluffed. He may have lost this hand but the game was far from over. He just needed to wait for his turn to deal.
He knew he fell into their trap as he stepped back into his office and collapsed into his chair. He knew the X-6 wouldn't fail him like the X-5 had. It just wasn't the way he wanted to end this.