Max sat at her computer and surfed the Internet, looking for anything that would engage her interest for a moment. Since she had been fired at the paper for not returning any phone calls life had been dull, Max filled up her time watching TV and playing on the computer. Fortunately her financial status was sound, money had begun to accumulate in her bank account after her father's death and the newspapers monthly salary insured at least three or four months of trouble-free living when it came to buying food and paying the gas company.
Max rubbed her eyes sleepily, her contact lenses itched slightly but she did her best to ignore them. She turned her chair around and looked out the window, her heart began to race as a car pulled up, Max grabbed her bag and keys, and this could only mean one thing. Three armed men came out and approached the door, Max jumped up as a loud thump emanating from the door echoed around the house. Damn she though, why the hell didn't put the Aztec around the back?
Max needed to create a distraction, she quickly ran over to the back exit and opened it, and then slammed it closed again. The three men ran around the side, thinking that she had gone out back, so Max took this opportunity and quickly opened the front door. She leapt into the Aztec and roared it up into second gear. The car sped out of there, Max looked back at the house before turning onto the highway.
When Max had put enough distance between her and the house she picked up her mobile and dialled in the number of the woman who had called her. Again nobody answered, so Max left another message.
"This is Max again, a car came to my house an hour ago, I've had to leave in a hurry…I left your message in the answer phone memory, sorry, I had no time to delete it before I went. I'm at your mercy now, I guess so I await a call to tell me where to go"
The call came another hour later as Max was passing through the central of Seattle, headed out further in an effort to escape from the unmarked units. In picking it up she heard a woman on the other end, she didn't have a chance to confer with her when the mystery caller just told her to be at a gas station around twenty miles outside of Seattle at four o'clock. The phone went dead after that.
Max sat in a small diner in the gas station, waiting for the one person who maybe able to cast some light on whether Logan was truly gone or not.
"Max?"
She looked up to see a young, black woman standing over her.
"My name is Jace, I'm Logan's little sister"
She sat down and took off a pair of dark shades, revealing her emotions shown in her eyes.
"I take it that the primary reason why you agreed to this meeting is because you want to know whether Logan is still alive"
Max nodded slowly, she wasn't sure if she wanted to know. Max brushed back her hair, and gripped her hands around a cup of coffee.
"He is"
Max closed her eyes and breathed out deeply. A smiled played at her lips, but something told her that the worst was still to come.
"It would've been a lot better for him if Cindy had killed him there and then. Manticore needs Logan back as the leader of the SMS, and there's only one way of getting a good soldier back…"
Jace paused, her eyes showed a mass of deeply buried anger and grief. Jace rubbed a lump on her neck, and lent back in her seat.
"Logan will be reprogrammed. This is the worst thing that can happen to us, Max. He will be a soldier with a mind full of orders…discipline…he wouldn't remember you, me or his life outside. There's also another problem with the procedure Manticore are unaware of. I suffer from seizures, a result of my reprogramming, it's complicated to understand but that isn't important right now…I want to you come with me to my house, we can devise a way to proceed from there"
…Whispers echoed around the room…a blinding white light shone in his face…he opened his eyes…and saw a mass of needles in his arms…he felt a tiredness run over his body…a sleep came over him…
Max stared at Jace as she drove. So this was genetic perfection…she thought. Max had been quiet up until now, and when Max cleared her throat Jace seemed to jump.
"Were you and Logan close?"
Jace turned her head slightly, but with her eyes still fixed on the road.
"Until I was ten all of our family were close, not especially Logan and I…but…Max, you have to understand that I am not doing this for the simple reason of bringing Logan back to you, I am planning to bring down Manticore and free all my family"
Max stared at her for a moment, and fiddled with her bag.
"Jace, you aware that there are over 200 SMS now?"
"An unfortunate twist"
"What does that mean?"
"I have no duty to them"
"What the hell are you planning?"
Jace suddenly stopped the car and pulled over to the side.
"Listen…Norm" she said with contempt in her voice, "I'm doing you a favour, and I want to make it ABSOLUTLY clear that I don't intend on taking orders or answering to anyone, especially you. If you want Logan back then you are going to have to follow what I say with out trying to second-guess me. Do I make myself clear?"
"Now you listen. I will not be pushed around and told what to do. I am sensing that you are going to need my help in getting Logan otherwise I would not be here right now. I am perfectly aware that you are only concerned with your immediate family but I have a right to know what you are going to do to the other 200 men and women trapped behind those walls. You realise that they will have to live an existence as you and Logan did while you were in Manticore, do you really want them to go through that?"
"You don't understand. Manticore won't make more lines of what they would deem 'faulty' soldiers. We, the original six were individual and that's why I'm here, because I had a mind of my own and I wanted what was best for me. They will improve upon that…they will simply fiddle around with our genetic code and program the next generations to accept Manticore as their life and Sketch as their leader without pausing to consider the alternatives as we did. Helping them too would be suicide"
"I see, so you're not going to even try and help them? Godammit Jace, from the little Logan told me about your life growing up in Manticore it sounded as if you couldn't help but dream of a better life. You can't presume that the others kids in there aren't doing that too"
"Max you have to understand this. Those scientists in there can program people like me not to dream at all. Hell, I experienced that at one point, mindless following of orders…simple 'yes sir, no sir' answers…I only over came that because of my younger brother Dennis, who still had the individuality of a young child, showed me that I needed to wake up and challenge the boundaries set by my reprogramming. But what if there are no kids like Dennis in there anymore? There's nobody there to hug you when you feel a twinge of loneliness, or be there to give you a mental slapping when your mind seems to be focussed on following orders"
"Then that's what we have to do," Max said, dropping her voice to a low and calming tone, "we have to break down those mental boundaries, or at least try"
Jace looked at Max, and without a word turned back onto the road and started again down the road.
Max heard Jace whisper something under her breath, something like,
"I see why he likes you…"
Max rubbed her eyes sleepily, her contact lenses itched slightly but she did her best to ignore them. She turned her chair around and looked out the window, her heart began to race as a car pulled up, Max grabbed her bag and keys, and this could only mean one thing. Three armed men came out and approached the door, Max jumped up as a loud thump emanating from the door echoed around the house. Damn she though, why the hell didn't put the Aztec around the back?
Max needed to create a distraction, she quickly ran over to the back exit and opened it, and then slammed it closed again. The three men ran around the side, thinking that she had gone out back, so Max took this opportunity and quickly opened the front door. She leapt into the Aztec and roared it up into second gear. The car sped out of there, Max looked back at the house before turning onto the highway.
When Max had put enough distance between her and the house she picked up her mobile and dialled in the number of the woman who had called her. Again nobody answered, so Max left another message.
"This is Max again, a car came to my house an hour ago, I've had to leave in a hurry…I left your message in the answer phone memory, sorry, I had no time to delete it before I went. I'm at your mercy now, I guess so I await a call to tell me where to go"
The call came another hour later as Max was passing through the central of Seattle, headed out further in an effort to escape from the unmarked units. In picking it up she heard a woman on the other end, she didn't have a chance to confer with her when the mystery caller just told her to be at a gas station around twenty miles outside of Seattle at four o'clock. The phone went dead after that.
Max sat in a small diner in the gas station, waiting for the one person who maybe able to cast some light on whether Logan was truly gone or not.
"Max?"
She looked up to see a young, black woman standing over her.
"My name is Jace, I'm Logan's little sister"
She sat down and took off a pair of dark shades, revealing her emotions shown in her eyes.
"I take it that the primary reason why you agreed to this meeting is because you want to know whether Logan is still alive"
Max nodded slowly, she wasn't sure if she wanted to know. Max brushed back her hair, and gripped her hands around a cup of coffee.
"He is"
Max closed her eyes and breathed out deeply. A smiled played at her lips, but something told her that the worst was still to come.
"It would've been a lot better for him if Cindy had killed him there and then. Manticore needs Logan back as the leader of the SMS, and there's only one way of getting a good soldier back…"
Jace paused, her eyes showed a mass of deeply buried anger and grief. Jace rubbed a lump on her neck, and lent back in her seat.
"Logan will be reprogrammed. This is the worst thing that can happen to us, Max. He will be a soldier with a mind full of orders…discipline…he wouldn't remember you, me or his life outside. There's also another problem with the procedure Manticore are unaware of. I suffer from seizures, a result of my reprogramming, it's complicated to understand but that isn't important right now…I want to you come with me to my house, we can devise a way to proceed from there"
…Whispers echoed around the room…a blinding white light shone in his face…he opened his eyes…and saw a mass of needles in his arms…he felt a tiredness run over his body…a sleep came over him…
Max stared at Jace as she drove. So this was genetic perfection…she thought. Max had been quiet up until now, and when Max cleared her throat Jace seemed to jump.
"Were you and Logan close?"
Jace turned her head slightly, but with her eyes still fixed on the road.
"Until I was ten all of our family were close, not especially Logan and I…but…Max, you have to understand that I am not doing this for the simple reason of bringing Logan back to you, I am planning to bring down Manticore and free all my family"
Max stared at her for a moment, and fiddled with her bag.
"Jace, you aware that there are over 200 SMS now?"
"An unfortunate twist"
"What does that mean?"
"I have no duty to them"
"What the hell are you planning?"
Jace suddenly stopped the car and pulled over to the side.
"Listen…Norm" she said with contempt in her voice, "I'm doing you a favour, and I want to make it ABSOLUTLY clear that I don't intend on taking orders or answering to anyone, especially you. If you want Logan back then you are going to have to follow what I say with out trying to second-guess me. Do I make myself clear?"
"Now you listen. I will not be pushed around and told what to do. I am sensing that you are going to need my help in getting Logan otherwise I would not be here right now. I am perfectly aware that you are only concerned with your immediate family but I have a right to know what you are going to do to the other 200 men and women trapped behind those walls. You realise that they will have to live an existence as you and Logan did while you were in Manticore, do you really want them to go through that?"
"You don't understand. Manticore won't make more lines of what they would deem 'faulty' soldiers. We, the original six were individual and that's why I'm here, because I had a mind of my own and I wanted what was best for me. They will improve upon that…they will simply fiddle around with our genetic code and program the next generations to accept Manticore as their life and Sketch as their leader without pausing to consider the alternatives as we did. Helping them too would be suicide"
"I see, so you're not going to even try and help them? Godammit Jace, from the little Logan told me about your life growing up in Manticore it sounded as if you couldn't help but dream of a better life. You can't presume that the others kids in there aren't doing that too"
"Max you have to understand this. Those scientists in there can program people like me not to dream at all. Hell, I experienced that at one point, mindless following of orders…simple 'yes sir, no sir' answers…I only over came that because of my younger brother Dennis, who still had the individuality of a young child, showed me that I needed to wake up and challenge the boundaries set by my reprogramming. But what if there are no kids like Dennis in there anymore? There's nobody there to hug you when you feel a twinge of loneliness, or be there to give you a mental slapping when your mind seems to be focussed on following orders"
"Then that's what we have to do," Max said, dropping her voice to a low and calming tone, "we have to break down those mental boundaries, or at least try"
Jace looked at Max, and without a word turned back onto the road and started again down the road.
Max heard Jace whisper something under her breath, something like,
"I see why he likes you…"