"I understand that this is an extremely difficult decision to make, Mr. Bannon, but the facts are clear. Dr. Quest is comatose, his brain activity is next to nil, and he's only being kept alive by the machines."
Race eyed the group that faced him coldly. The doctor in charge of Benton's care wore an expression that Race had seen all too often and thoroughly detested . . . sympathetic in a distant sort of way and yet sadly firm and insistent. Standing next to him was the nurse in charge of caring for Benton and monitoring the equipment that kept him alive. Her expression was genuinely grieved, but still resigned. Aaron Sorenson, the family's attorney, was also there. His expression was bland and regardless of how hard he tried, Race couldn't tell what the man was thinking. And finally, standing alone and off to one side, was Barbara Mason.
As Race glanced at her, he felt his heart contract sharply in pity. Her face was quiet and withdrawn, and to someone who didn't know her well, she probably looked professionally sympathetic. But Race Bannon and his wife did know her well, and as a result, her expression told an entirely different story. The woman was in pain . . . serious pain. But she still held herself separate . . . aloof . . . struggling desperately to maintain her professionalism. Race had long suspected that Barbara Mason had feelings for Benton Quest . . . feelings that were probably tangled and confused, and a great deal more than friendship. However, she had always been careful to keep them hidden, particularly from Benton himself. From behind him, he felt Estella lay a gentle hand on his arm and he focused once more on the doctor in front of him.
"No," he replied flatly.
"Race, you know this isn't what he wanted," Aaron said gently. "He's had a living will for a long time, and his wishes are extremely clear. No long-term life support."
"I don't care. I will NOT give the order to turn off the machines."
"Mr. Bannon," the doctor began again, but Race cut him off ruthlessly.
"I've told you before. It's not my decision to make. It's his sons that have to do this."
The doctor shook his head. "Mr. Bannon, his sons are both still minors."
"His eldest son is 19 and the ruler of an entire country. And his youngest son lives independently and supports himself and his girlfriend. Both are old enough to understand the situation and make a reasoned decision. Even if I wanted to, I can't take that choice away from them." The doctor and Aaron exchanged a look, both prepared to continue the argument, but Race stopped them with a look. "Aaron, just forget it. Quit bugging me about this, okay? I'm not going to change my mind. Jonny and Hadji would never forgive me if I authorized the removal of the life support and Benton died before they got back from Bangalore."
"By law, it is your decision to make, Race," Aaron reminded him, trying to make his argument once more. "No matter how mature you feel they are, Jonny and Hadji won't be of legal age until they reach 21, and Benton's will makes you their guardian of record. I know it's hard, but it doesn't change the fact that you have to be the one to make the decision."
"Maybe I'm the one who has to give the final order," Race said, "but it doesn't mean that I have the right to make the decision and I won't do it. I'll leave that to Jonny and Hadji. If you need me to rubberstamp it once they make the choice, then I will. But not before then."
"And if none of them ever return from Bangalore?" Aaron asked carefully.
Race groped behind him blindly and felt Estella's hand grip his reassuringly. "Then I'll deal with it . . . but not before they bring me the bodies of those two boys. Now go away . . . all of you. We don't want you here any more." Turning his back on them, he sat down on the bed next to his wife and ignored them. There was a long moment of silence before one of them uttered a deep sigh and then quiet footsteps marked their retreat. Just as Race heard the door sigh shut, he felt movement again and another set of footsteps moved toward the door.
"Don't go, Barbara," he said quietly without looking around.
"I don't want to intrude . . ." Something in her tone caused him to twist around to look at her. With her co-workers gone, the shell of professionalism had fallen away to reveal the extent of the woman's grief. A few silent tears slid down her face, causing Race to rise hastily and cross to her. Putting an arm around her shoulders, he drew her over to the bed where Estella took her hand and squeezed it in sympathy.
"W-w-w-why?" she asked futilely, struggling to keep control. "He d-d-didn't deserve this."
"I know, I know . . ." Estella crooned to her, just giving her time to gather herself up again. Race handed her a handkerchief and waited patiently.
Finally, wiping her eyes and blowing her nose, she murmured, "I should go and give you some privacy . . ."
"No," Race said quickly. "You're family . . . just as much as Estella or me." For the first time, he looked at the woman directly. "You think I'm wrong?"
"To make Jonny and Hadji decide when to remove the support that will terminate their father's life?" When he nodded, she sighed deeply and rubbed her hand across her eyes wearily. "I don't know, Race. That's a hard call for anyone to make, no matter what their age."
"But do you think I'm wrong to make them do it?" Race asked her insistently.
Barbara was silent for a long time. Finally, she shook her head. "No, I don't think you're wrong. Both of them are old enough and mature enough to do it. And if the decision is taken away from them, I'm not sure they'd ever find any kind of closure."
Race looked down at Estella and saw the pain that hovered in her eyes. The emotion and reality there made him grimace. "That's assuming they'll ever forgive themselves for not being here to try to do something about it in the first place. Jonny, in particular, is going to have a really tough time with this."
"I know."
"That's why it's so important that they be given the chance to return home and review the situation themselves," Estella said for the first time.
Both Race and Barbara stared at the woman in astonishment. "Surely, you don't think there's anything they can do?" Barbara said incredulously.
Estella shifted, releasing her husband's hand, and shrugged irritability. "Probably not. But to allow the entire situation to run its course and end without giving them the opportunity . . . Race is right. If we do that, they'll never be able to make peace with what's happened. And who knows? Hadji's a damned fine researcher. Benton had made progress in clarifying the illness and maybe with his notes, Hadji can find something Benton missed. We all know that toward the end, Benton's analytical abilities were slipping."
"Yes, but -" Barbara started to say, but Estella interrupted.
"You said there was no brain damage."
"No tissue damage," Barbara corrected. "But something's obviously wrong because his brain is shutting down. We just can't figure out what it is."
Estella shrugged. "Be that as it may, if there's no physical damage, then there's still a chance that Hadji can figure out what's causing this and reverse it. At the very least, we owe them the chance to try."
After a long time, Barbara finally nodded. "You're right. And for their sakes, we have to at least try to -" The sudden sound of raised voices out in the hallway caused her to break off abruptly. "What in heaven's name -"
But Race was already out the door, his sharp hearing having caught what the other two hadn't picked up on yet.
"JONNY! HADJI!"
Both young men were facing the charge nurse that sat behind the desk at the nurses' station just off of the elevator, and their tense posture said they weren't getting the responses they wanted. They both whirled at the sound of his voice, and then sprinted for him, the three of them meeting midway down the hall. Race grabbed one in each arm and hugged them fiercely, his voice choked and husky as he kept repeating over and over, "You're alive . . . oh God, you're both alive."
The two of them returned the gesture with abandon, allowing the horrors of the past few weeks to recede for just a few moments and taking comfort in the well-known sense of love that had sheltered them both for so many years. Finally, Race cleared his throat, struggling to get himself under control and stepped back. As he did so, he looked around as if searching for something. Suddenly, he went white and rounded on Jonny.
"Where's Jessie?" he demanded.
"She's fine," Jonny assured him, gripping his shoulder reassuringly. "She and Kefira are holding the fort in Bangalore. When Mr. Blackman finally reached us, the situation was such that we couldn't all leave. Kefira stayed so Hadji could come, and Jess wouldn't leave her over there by herself." He gave Race a weary smile. "Believe me, she's safer there than anywhere else in the world right now. The people idolize both of them and would never let anything happen to them." Turning to the latest arrival, he said, "Hi, Dr. Mason."
Barbara caught him in an equally ferocious hug and whispered, "Thank God you're home safely. We were so worried." While a little surprised at the exuberance of her greeting, Jonny willingly returned the gesture. A moment later, she abandoned him to greet Hadji in the same fashion.
"If you ever do something like this again, I swear -" Race began shakily, but stopped at the sound of Estella's call, demanding to know what was going on. "Come on . . . before she climbs out of that bed and comes after all of us."
Eventually, after all of the initial greetings had been exchanged, the five of them settled in Estella's room and the two new arrivals demanded to know the situation. While Barbara described the escalation of the symptoms and Benton's subsequent decline, Race leaned against the window and watched Jonny and Hadji carefully. What he saw he didn't like at all.
Both young men looked infinitely older than they had the last time he had seen them, and there was no trace of that lighthearted spark that had been a hallmark of their personalities. They had lost weight and Race had the feeling they were almost at the breaking point. Dark circles shadowed Jonny's eyes and his shoulders slumped in a way Race had never seen before. And every so often his mind seemed to drift and he'd lose complete track of what he had been saying. He bore a long scratch down the left side of his face that had been treated but still looked fresh and painful, and something about the occasional way he winced at loud noises made Race suspect that he had a monster of a headache. And if Jonny looked bad, Hadji was worse. There was a haunted look about him, and once, when he reached out for something, Race saw his hand shaking noticeably. He also hadn't missed the sharp flinch when Barbara had put her arms around his waist to hug him. With gut instinct honed from years of working in black ops, Race knew that neither of them would be able to take the news of their father's condition right now.
"So what's the bottom line," Jonny demanded suddenly, cutting through Barbara's explanation. "Where do we stand."
Barbara shot Race a veiled look, and he knew immediately that she agreed with his private assessment of Jonny and Hadji's inability to cope with what they had to tell them. Before anyone else could respond, Race cut in, "When was the last time either one of you had any sleep? Or a decent meal?" Both stared at him blankly. "That's what I thought. We're going to wait and continue this discussion after the two of you have had the chance to recoup."
"I do not believe -" Hadji began at the same time Jonny replied, "We've wasted enough time -"
"No," Race responded firmly, cutting them both off. "You're both too exhausted to think straight and we need you clear-headed. Furthermore, unless I'm seriously mistaken, both of you are hurt."
"We're fine," Jonny objected quickly.
There was a metal rolling cart sitting next to Estella's bed, and Race smacked the side of it sharply, causing a loud clanging sound. Jonny couldn't control the flinch that resulted at the stab of pain that shot through his aching skull. Automatically, he pressed his fingers to one temple trying to ease the pain. "Fine, huh?"
"Jonny, you need to let Dr. Mason examine you," Hadji commented. "You never would see a doctor in Bangalore."
"I tell you, I'm fine," Jonny growled as Barbara rose immediately and crossed to him.
"What did you do?" she asking him, catching his chin and forcing his head up so she could check his eyes.
"He banged the back of his head on a tile floor and knocked himself out for several hours," Hadji replied for him. "And when he became conscious again, he promptly got up and went into a battle. He has rested very little since."
Barbara's incoherent sound of concern as her fingers probed at his skull caused Jonny to glare at his brother ferociously. "Look who's talking! Don't forget that less than a week ago, I put over thirty stitches into you after you were knifed in the side. And could you sit still and let it heal? Noooo! You had to go crawling all over the Bangalore countryside, taking on more guards with knives and climbing the palace walls. Not to mention that we had one hell of a time getting you to eat or sleep. You're damned lucky you can even walk!"
"That's enough!" Race said sharply as Barbara hit the call button on Estella's bed. "I thought both of you had better sense!"
"It is not like we had any other choice," Hadji said defensively.
A nurse appeared at the doorway and Barbara instructed her, "I need a set of instruments for a physical exam. Also, get me a dressing tray, two extra-strength Tylenol, and -" She paused, looking down at Jonny. "What had you been giving him?"
"Penicillin and morphine."
She raised an eyebrow, startled. "Morphine? Where did you get - No, never mind. How much and how often?"
"Knocked him out cold the first time because I had to stitch him up. Furthermore, he'd been bleeding like a stuck pig and he didn't want to stay put. He was out for close to 20 hours, but I don't think all of that was the drug's doing. I only gave it to him twice after that, once in a small dose that was just enough to ease the pain so he could rest and the last time, I knocked him out again. That was about three or four days ago, I think." He shook his head and pressed the heel of his hand to the bridge of his nose firmly trying again to ease the throbbing behind his eyes. "Time's run together so much, I'm not exactly sure."
"It's good enough. Bring me a bottle of tetracycline and a syringe, as well. Now, sit still while I see if your head's still intact. Hadji, I want you on your good side on the other bed over there. Race, help him get his shirt off and get the wound exposed. I'll be there in a minute."
"What about Jessie? And Kefira?" Estella asked with trepidation. "Were they hurt, too?"
"Jess is okay," Jonny replied through gritted teeth as Barbara probed the sensitive spot on the back of his head. "Kefira was shot, though."
"Shot!??" she exclaimed in horror
"She's not . . ." Race began hoarsely. His hand moved to the back of Hadji's head automatically, stroking his hair in an unconscious gesture of consolation.
"She will be all right," Hadji assured them hastily, smiling up at him in gratitude. "She was not badly injured. And your friend, Mr. Bussac, and his men stayed behind to be certain nothing happens to either of them."
Race looked perplexed. "Bussac? I don't think -"
"Paul Descarte," Jonny supplied with a sigh of relief as Barbara finished with him and handed him the Tylenol that the nurse had just brought. "Although how you could be expected to keep up with him is beyond me. He seems to have more names than countries we've visited!"
Race gave a half-hearted chuckle. "He always was a slippery one." Then his smiled died. "We heard about Kefira's parents."
"Yeah," Jonny replied with a sideways glance at his brother. At the mention of Kefira's family, Hadji had tensed and with an almost imperceptible movement, he seemed to curl up on himself. "Yeah, that was tough."
Race looked from one to the other and then some deep-seated feeling of dread made him ask. "And Neela?"
This time the withdrawal was obvious to all of them. The silence stretched for a long moment, and finally Jonny replied, "She was killed." He paused a bit more, and when it became obvious that Hadji wasn't going to elaborate, he added heavily, "By Kefira's sister, Daria."
The silence was stark and painful. "For God's sake, why?" Race finally asked hoarsely.
"She deliberately stepped into the path of a bullet meant for Kefira. They tried to warn us," Jonny said wearily. "Vijay and Mahavir . . . and even Kefira herself. They kept saying that we didn't understand the culture and couldn't trust her. We both just thought that people didn't like her. But they were right. The Rafiq family supported Birla and when she married into that family, she switched sides in the war. After her husband was killed, tradition dictated that the honorable thing to do was to follow her husband in death, and since the Janissary had told her that Kefira ordered Subir killed -"
"There was nothing honorable about it!" Hadji interrupted harshly, his body so tense it trembled constantly. "Not in the greed that spawned the conflict, not in the deaths of so many people, not in any of it!" His voice cracked and he stopped on a strangled sob. "She doesn't deserve this . . ." he moaned softly.
Race swore silently to himself as he sat down on the bed next to the young man and began rubbing his back consolingly. But for the first time since Hadji had come to live with them, he didn't respond. He remained curled up and withdrawn, sunken in his own misery. Race looked over at Jonny, but the gaze he got in return was one of utter helplessness.
Too young, Race thought in despair. Too young, too idealistic, and totally overwhelmed by the realities of the world. What do I do? Fervently, he wished Benton were there. This was what he always excelled at. But the decision was taken out of his hands. Barbara suddenly appeared at the door to the room with a syringe in hand. Race blinked, not even aware that she had left. She crossed to Hadji and quickly administered the drug. He seemed not to notice, but after a minute or two, Race felt the tremors begin to ease and the tension slowly seep away. A few moments later, he went slack, his deep breathing marking his descent into sleep.
Race released a pent up breath in a sigh of relief. "Thanks, Barbara. What did you give him?"
"A sedative. He has to get some rest or he's going to break." She glanced over at Jonny, who now sat beside Estella's bed with his elbows on his knees and his head held in his hands. "Both of them do." Barbara turned to the nurse that had followed her into the room and laid the hypodermic on the tray she carried. Crossing to Jonny, she swabbed his arm with alcohol and reached for a second syringe. He pulled away from her sharply.
"Hey! What is that?!?"
"Something that will help you get some rest," she told him, reaching for his arm again.
"I don't need it. I told you I'm fine!"
"Don't give me that shit!" she snapped back at him, her own pain and frustration erupting suddenly into rage. "For months, it's all I heard from Benton. 'I'm fine, Barbara.' 'Don't nag at me, Barbara.' 'There's nothing wrong with me, Barbara.' Well, I don't want to hear it any more, you understand me? I don't! Just shut up and do as you're told." She was on the brink of tears again when Estella stepped in and grabbed Jonny's arm.
"Don't argue, Jon. Just do as she says. It's important."
"But my Dad -"
"Is not going anywhere," Race replied firmly, putting an comforting arm around Barbara's shoulders. "You sleep first. When you both wake up, we'll get you something to eat and then I think we'll be ready to tackle the next stage of this whole mess."
It was mid-evening when Jonny wandered out of the bedroom of the three-room hotel suite in downtown Portland. He looked dazed and a bit bewildered by the strange surroundings. Race rose immediately and waved him to a nearby chair.
"Sit down before you fall down," he told him as he crossed to the wet bar. He poured a large glass of orange juice and carried it across the room to the young man. "Doctor's orders. Barbara says your blood sugar is somewhere in the sub-basement and that you're to drink this and then eat a substantial dinner. And before you say you aren't hungry, be warned that she's threatening hospitalization if you don't do what she says."
Jonny grimaced. "Okay, I got it. Just order something for me, will you? Right now, I really don't feel up to making a decision."
A short time later, Race hung up the phone and returned to sit down in a nearby chair. "Dinner's on the way. Feel better?"
"Yeah, a little. At least I feel more alive than I did earlier." He rubbed his head, as if trying to clear the cobwebs.
"Head still hurt?"
"No, not really. I just feel kinda . . . I don't know . . . .foggy, I guess. I need to call Jess. Should've done it when we got here. I told her I would."
"You can if you want to, but there's no urgency. I talked with her right after we got back here and she knows you made it safely." He grinned slightly at Jonny's look. "Sorry, but after seeing the state the two of you were in, I needed to reassure myself that my eldest daughter was okay."
"Your eldest daughter? So the baby was a girl. God, Race, I'm sorry. I never even asked. How is she?"
"S'okay. You can be forgiven after everything you've been through. She's doing well. The doctor says we may even get to take her home in about a month or so."
Jonny smiled slightly at the first positive thing he'd heard in weeks. "That's great. What's her name?"
"Emily Margarete."
"Nice. And Estella?"
"Doing well, too."
"Well, at least there's good news somewhere," Jonny said with a sigh. "As for Dad -"
"Jess said to tell you that she and Kefira are doing fine and that someone named Mahavir says that things have gotten downright dull since you left."
Jonny chuckled half-heartedly. "I'm sure Jess and Kefira are keeping things in line. You know, I think they're about the toughest two people I've ever met. All that they went through, and they don't even seem phased by it."
Race leaned forward and rested his elbows on his knees, looking at Jonny seriously. "Don't you believe it. The only reason they don't seem shaken is that they haven't been given the chance for it to sink in yet. It will hit them . . . sooner or later. No one can live through what the four of you did and not come out of it changed. Some of it will be for the better . . . some of it won't, but that's the way it works. I just hope that when it all catches up with those two, they'll be back home here with family, because I have the feeling that they're going to need all of the support they can get."
"I shouldn't have left her."
"You had no choice. Just let it go."
Jonny was silent for a long time, staring blankly down into the empty glass in his hand. Finally, he sighed deeply and replied, "Yeah. Okay." He looked up. "So, what's the real scoop -"
"Did you check on Hadji before you came out here?" Race asked, rising and taking the glass from him.
Jonny gave him a hard look, but answered readily. "Yeah. He's still dead to the world. Good thing, too. He needed the sleep."
"You both did." As Race settled back in the chair, he eyed Jonny critically. "Can't say I like the hair, kiddo. You trying to make a fashion statement?"
Jonny snorted. "Hardly. I blended into the crowds in Bangalore a lot better like this, particularly with my skin darkened and brown contact lenses."
"That must have been a sight."
"Well, you missed your chance. As soon as I can figure out how to get the dye out, it's history. Jess doesn't like it, either."
"You may be stuck with letting it grow out. Or you could shave your head."
"Oh, there's a wonderful thought. But Race, about Dad -"
A loud knock on the hotel room door interrupted him again and Race rose hastily. "There's your dinner."
Jonny growled softly in frustration, but let it go for the time being. Rising, he crossed to the wet bar, rinsed out his juice glass, and filled it with water. Then he went to the table where Race was laying out the plates he'd retrieved from the room service waiter. Just as Race finished, an unexpected sound from the other room caused both of them to look up.
"Eat," Race instructed him. "I'll be right back." And with that, he disappeared into the other bedroom.
Jonny contemplated the food spread out before him with distaste. He really wasn't hungry. But he'd also known Barbara Mason for enough years to know that her threat wasn't an idle one. And he did need to keep up his strength. As he began to eat, he contemplated the situation. It wasn't like Race to avoid the subject when there was something important going on, but right now he was playing duck and run like a pro. That couldn't be a good sign.
When Race returned a few minutes later, Jonny pointed with his fork at the chair opposite him and commanded, "Sit down." Race raised an eyebrow at the tone, but complied. "Now, enough evasion, Race. I want to know how bad off my Dad is."
Race sighed and replied, "Jonny, I don't think now is the time. We really need Barbara here. She's the one who understands -"
"I don't want all of the medical mumbo-jumbo. I got enough of that yesterday when she was telling us about the progress of the disease. I want to know the bottom line. How sick is he? When can we talk to him? What do we need to do to get him well again?"
Race leaned forward and rested his head in his hands, scrubbing at his face wearily. After a long moment, he looked Jonny straight in the eye. "I don't know that there's anything you can do, kiddo. There may never have been anything you could have done. That's the God's honest truth. Benton worked until he was ready to drop, but I don't think he ever found the key."
"So you're saying there absolutely no hope," Jonny said bleakly.
"No, but I think you need to be prepared for that possibility. As it stands right now, he's comatose and on full life support. There's next to no brain activity, although all the doctors say that they can detect no physical damage. They have no explanation for what's wrong with him or how it happened. It's like he's just been . . . turned off . . . somehow. And no one knows how to turn him back on again."
Jonny laid his fork down carefully and then rubbed his forehead. "There's got to be a way, Race. There just has to be. We simply have to find it." Race didn't reply; just sat staring blankly at the wall over Jonny's shoulder. "What does Dr. Mason say?" Jonny prodded, when his companion showed no sign of continuing.
Race forced himself to look back at the young man across the table and gestured vaguely. "She's a doctor and has to be a realist. But she supported my decision not to do anything else until you and Hadji got back."
"What do you mean?"
"Eat," Race commanded again, but his eyes slid away uncomfortably.
Picking up his fork again, Jonny stabbed a piece of meat as though it were an enemy and stuffed it in his mouth. Around the food, he said, "What aren't you telling me?"
When Race looked at Jonny again, the pain in his eyes was sharp and obvious. "You know your father has a living will?" Jonny nodded. "The doctors have approached me about making the call to cut off his life support. Several times, in fact. The last time, they brought Aaron Sorenson with them."
"Ah shit. What the hell's their hurry? They have someone in mind for the bed?" Jonny threw his fork and napkin onto the table with thinly veiled violence and would have stood, but Race's hand on his forearm stopped him.
"Take it easy, Jonny. They honestly believe that they're following Benton's wishes. You know that your father didn't want to live out his last days like this."
"But they aren't even giving us a chance!"
"Which is why I refused to give the order. They don't know you and Hadji the way I do. If anyone can find a solution to this, it's the two of you. But it also means that this is a decision that you may have to make, and I want you guys to be prepared for that. But only when you're satisfied that there's nothing you can do to change the situation."
Jonny leaned back in his chair, his burst of anger spent. After a moment, he asked painfully, "So what do we do now?"
"We take him home."
The new voice was so unexpected that both of them jumped.
"Hadji!"
Race rose and crossed to him hastily, but Hadji waved off the offered hand with a weary smile.
"I am all right, Race. I have slept and feel a bit better."
"Come eat," Jonny directed him. "We're both under strict orders to do that, and Race seems to have gone nuts when he ordered for me."
Obediently, Hadji came over and sat down in the chair Race had occupied just moments before. With a grimace, he began picking at the food on the table unenthusiastically.
"This first," Race said, setting a glass of orange juice down in front of him. "Home?"
Hadji took a swallow and then nodded. "Father always hated hospitals. If he is to die, I will not see him spend his last remaining hours in that place. We will take him home where he can do so in peace."
"He's right," Jonny agreed quietly when he saw Race's look of misgiving. "We can't leave him there. If he's in the condition you say he is, he won't be hard to care for. Furthermore, we'll need IRIS and the lab if we have any hope of fixing this."
"Do you really believe there is anything we can do, Jonny?" Hadji asked soberly.
"I don't know, but we're sure as hell gonna try."
Pulling up a chair, Race settled into it with a soft sigh. "I'll admit that it will be good to get home. Stel might even be able to come with us. Barbara seemed to think that Dr. Eftekari is about ready to release her, and she desperately wants to get out of there. It'd be a whole lot better for Maia and Vassey, too."
Hadji choked on the mouthful of food he was working on as Jonny stared at Race blankly.
"Better for who?"
"Maia and Vassey," Race replied, thumping Hadji on the back as he coughed. At Jonny's continuing blank look, he prompted, "Kefira's little brother and sister?"
"They are here?" Hadji wheezed.
"ALIVE???" Jonny added incredulously.
Race looked from one to the other. "Yes. You didn't know?"
"Vijay Patel told me Kefira's entire family was dead!" Hadji said shakily.
"That's what Mahavir told me, too," Jonny agreed.
Race shrugged. "I'd say they didn't realize the two of them got out."
"But how did they get here?" Jonny demanded.
"Jessie and Kefira sent them, and Paul Descarte flew them here." Race explained the circumstances surrounding the children's arrival in Maine, finishing his narrative with, "And they've been with us ever since."
"But why didn't Kefira tell me that they had escaped?" Hadji asked plaintively.
"Be fair, Hadji," Jonny said to him. "Neither of you had much chance to talk privately before we left. Furthermore, after that fiasco at the front of the palace right after we met up with them, any discussion about her family seemed to be totally off limits."
"Where are they?" Hadji demanded, deciding hastily that he didn't want to discuss that subject in front of Race.
"Maia's at the hospital. We can't pry her away from Benton. And Vassey's in the other room." Race sat forward abruptly, grabbing Hadji's arm and shoving him firmly back into his chair when he started to rise. "Don't you dare!" Race told him sternly. "It's only been within the last day or so that he's finally begun to let me out of his sight for any period of time, and I just barely managed to get him to sleep before the two of you woke up. I don't want to have to start the process all over again. Just let him be. You can see him in the morning."
Hadji hesitated, but remained seated reluctantly. "How are they?"
Race shrugged. "About what you'd expect. They're traumatized. Both of them have nightmares, and Vassey still refuses to talk. It didn't help that Maia bonded with Benton and then he collapsed and almost died on her before any of us realized what was happening. But most kids are pretty resilient. Given time, I think they'll bounce back." He smiled slightly. "Actually, they remind me of you two in a lot of ways."
Conversation died after that as Jonny and Hadji picked at the meal in front of them and all three contemplated the days to come.
"Home, huh?" Race finally said, breaking the silence once more. "When?"
"As soon as possible." "First thing tomorrow morning." The two replied instantly.
"Well, we definitely have a consensus," Race said dryly. Shoving himself to his feet, he added, "I guess I better starting making some phone calls."
"Home?" Barbara said uncertainly the next morning. "Are they sure about this?"
"Yes. In fact, they're absolutely adamant . . . they say that if there's nothing else the doctors can do, there's no point in having him here. To be honest, I don't think either one of them trusts the doctors here. They say that if all the medical personnel are so determined to turn off his life support, they want him out of here NOW."
"Now Race, you know that no one here would do something like that without the express direction of the family."
"Yes, I know that. But neither of them are prepared to think rationally about the subject or to be reasonable about it. Jonny, in particular, was seriously pissed when he found out that they were pushing me about it."
"Are you surprised?" Estella asked as she struggled to put on her shoes. "We all knew he wouldn't take this situation well."
"Here, let me get those," Race admonished and knelt beside the bed to slip them on her feet. "You know the doctor says you're still supposed to be cautious about bending over."
She smiled at him with fond exasperation. "Yes, I know. You're a worrywart, you know that? Does that mean they're going to have the support removed once we get him settled back at the Compound?"
"No. Hadji put in a call to Norman Rainey at the Quest Foundation last night and between the two of them, they've arranged for a full support system to be installed in Benton's bedroom, as well as a portable system that can be used if we need to move him. The guys from Rockport/Camden Fire and Rescue should be here pretty soon with a med-evac helicopter to handle the transfer."
"They could have contacted someone from here," Estella started to say, but stopped when Race shook his head.
"No. The boys really didn't want strangers caring for him. Jonny called Matt Evans last night, explained the situation, and asked if he could find a couple of local folks to help. When Matt called back a couple of hours later, the Rockport City Council had already called a town meeting, gotten everyone together, and had half the town ready to climb in their cars and come down here immediately. Jonny managed to stop that, but it's anyone's guess how many people will turn up this afternoon."
"It doesn't surprise me. Benton's very well liked," Barbara's voice cracked and she bowed her head, struggling to keep her composure. After a moment, the soft sound of footsteps and the feel of a hand on her shoulder caused her to look up again. Jonny knelt in front of her.
"Don't give up on us," he said to her softly. "We aren't finished yet." She blinked furiously, struggling to hold back the tears that threatened to overwhelm her as she nodded her head jerkily. Releasing her shoulder, Jonny caught her hand in a warm grip. "I don't believe Hadji or I have ever thanked you."
"F-For what?"
"For looking after all of us. For being a friend." He paused briefly and then added gently, "And for loving our father the way that you do."
It was the last straw. She gasped as if she had been struck and then she began to cry in deep racking sobs that shook her entire body. Jonny caught her in his arms, hugging her tightly as he gestured at Hadji.
"Close that door, would ya, Hadj?" The young man crossed quickly and closed the hospital room door before anyone could wander by. Then he returned and knelt down with his brother, adding his arms to the grip around the grieving woman. Finally, as her sobs began to ease, Jonny kissed her cheek gently, then leaned back and gave her a small smile. "We aren't giving up, you understand that, right?" She nodded wordlessly. "And we're probably going to need your help. Is that okay?" She nodded once more. "Good." He contemplated her for a moment, then glanced at his brother before saying softly, "You know, Dr. Mason, you make him happy in ways he doesn't even recognize."
"No matter how bad things have been, he has always seemed better after he has spent time with you." Hadji added. "It is very noticeable."
"I guess what we're trying to say is that we hope you can be patient with him," Jonny concluded. "He's pretty slow about this kind of stuff."
A small bubble of laughter rose in Barbara's throat and she gasped, swiping at her eyes with the back of her hand while both Race and Estella grinned. "Your father would be mortified at this conversation," she finally managed.
"Probably," Jonny agreed and Hadji just laughed. "But somebody had to say it!"
A light knock on the door interrupted them. As Barbara wiped her face and blew her nose hastily, Jonny rose to stand at her shoulder and Hadji crossed to answer the door. It opened to reveal Matt Evans.
"Hey, Hadji. Good to see you, man." He nodded to the others and added, "Jonny."
Crossing to his old friend, he held out his hand. "Matt. I don't know how to thank you for this . . ."
"You don't have to. We've got a team ready whenever you are."
The two young men nodded and then Hadji added, "Then let us take him home."
It was close to midnight when Jonny sank wearily into the large leather chair in his father's study. A single, dim lamp on the small table near the door cast the only light, leaving much of the huge, two-story room in blackness. He sat for a long moment in the silent darkness, feeling strange and somehow out of place. Certainly, he'd been in the chair before, both in his father lap and alone, but tonight it felt different somehow.
A shudder moved through him, thinking of his father. Jonny hadn't been back to this house or seen his father since they had parted in May. While the first tentative steps toward reconciliation had been taken, the preceding three months had been extremely difficult to forgive or forget. And the volatile nature of their relationship since he and Jessie had moved out hadn't helped any. Even thinking about it caused his stomach to churn and ache. So when he and Hadji were finally led to the hospital room where Benton lay, Jonny wasn't entirely sure how he felt or what his reaction to seeing his father would be.
For over 24 hours after he and Hadji had arrived at the hospital, Race, Barbara and Estella had contrived to keep them away from Benton. It had taken a while for Jonny to realize that they were trying to give both of them a chance to get their equilibrium back after their experiences in Bangalore and to acclimate to the seriousness of the situation. Both he and Hadji had appreciated their concern, but eventually they had been forced to insist that they be allowed to see their father. Jonny remembered being led down that long hospital corridor to the room at the far end and thinking to himself that after what they had just been through, both of them were prepared for anything. He couldn't have been more wrong.
Benton Quest had always been an active man . . . in good physical shape and with a mind that never seemed to quit. His laughter was quick and joyful and his face animated. The man that lay in that room was a stranger . . . a shell that looked vaguely similar to his father . . . and that was all. The body was emaciated and lifeless, much like a wax statue, and wires and tubes connected him to the machines that were the only things keeping him alive. They beeped steadily, their sound seeming to mock him because he wasn't capable of doing even those basic, life-sustaining functions for himself any longer. There was nothing of the man Jonny loved so much in that bed. He remembered hearing Hadji moan and turn away as he said to Race, "That's not my father." When Race reached out to lay a hand on his arm, he had jerked away, his voice shrill and panicky as he insisted, "It's not! It can't be! It can't . . ." But it was, and even as he had denied it, there was a little voice in his head that kept insisting over and over, You have to face reality. He's gone . . . And finally, it added, I caused this . . .
He sat forward abruptly, jerking himself away from that memory. Pulling the phone to him, he dialed swiftly, his hand shaking just slightly, and then listened to the beeps, pops, and soft hiss as the signal moved through the various circuits, making its way to the other side of the globe. He closed his eyes and leaned back in the chair, resting his head against the soft padding and breathing in a deep, calming rhythm just as the phone on the other end began to ring.
"Hello?"
Jonny didn't even open his eyes at the sound of the slightly hesitant, light voice. "Hello, Hemant. Is the Lady Jessica there?"
The boy was quick, Jonny would give him that. "She is down the hallway with the Sultana, Lord. Do you wish me to get her for you?"
"If you would. I'd like to talk with her."
"Yes, Lord." There was a soft thump as he laid the phone down and then Jonny could hear his footsteps crossing the floor, followed by the soft sound of a door being pulled open. Then for a while, the only sound he could hear was the distant, hollow hum of the open line. The edges of reality were beginning to go fuzzy as he drifted into a light doze when a gentle, much loved voice blew the shroud of fog away again.
"Hey, angel. You still there?"
"I'm here," he said as the familiar feeling of contentment replaced the unease and grief that hovered so close to the surface. "How're you?"
"Just fine. And you?"
"Tired. How 'bout Kefira?"
The pause before she responded was just long enough for Jonny to know she questioned his response to her question. "She's fine, too. Recovering well. She's on the phone with Hadji at the moment."
"Oh yeah? I wonder where he is. I'm using the phone in the study."
"You're back home then. Means he's probably out in the lab."
"Could be. We spent most of the afternoon out there. I thought he'd come back in, but who knows." "When did you get in?"
"'Bout one."
"Who there? Dad? Mom?" There was a slight pause. "Dr. Quest?"
"Uh huh. Everyone but your new baby sister. Hadji and I both took the time to run up to the neonatal ward to see her before we left. Boy is she tiny. A cutie, though. Whole head full of hair."
"Really? What color?"
"Kind of a strawberry blonde, but Estella says that may change. Race is pretty besotted. I get the feeling he's going to be racking up some mileage on the vehicles for a while."
"I'll bet." He could hear the smile in her voice and the corners of his mouth quirked up in response. Her next question drove the smile away.
"How's your dad?"
"Bad."
"How bad?"
"Doctors want to turn off the life support. And if we do that, he'll die."
"Oh, angel . . ."
"We won't let them, though. Not yet. I'm not ready to admit that there's nothing that can be done for him."
"So what's the plan?"
"Hadji spent the afternoon going through his notes and we reviewed all of the tapes IRIS had kept of the work he'd done. Dr. Mason was right. He hadn't gotten very far. He'd managed to clarify the progression of the illness, so he knew what to expect, but that's about all. And most of that came from analysis of the British Health Service records. We can't find any notes on the analysis of the chip itself or how it operated. Seems strange. You would have thought that would have been the first place he'd start."
"But don't I remember Dad telling me that he didn't have any of that information? That Dr. Quest had destroyed all of Dr. Smallwood's research back when the whole thing happened?"
Jonny's eyes snapped open. "He did? I'm not sure I knew that. That might explain why we can't find anything."
"Ask Dad, but I'm just sure that's what he told me. And I'd think it would be really tough to reconstruct what Smallwood did if they didn't have any of his fundamental research to know where to start. And I am certain he told me they didn't have one of the chips."
"Tell me something. If this were you, where would you start looking for answers."
"Well, if conditions were ideal, I'd start with an analysis of the chip and how it worked."
Jonny chewed his lip thoughtfully. "Well, it had two electrodes that were inserted into the back of the neck between the second and third vertebrae, up near the base of the skull. The chip then emitted a series of electrical impulses that were picked up by the spinal cord and transmitted to certain regions of the brain . . . in Smallwood's scenario, those areas that controlled the more placid, calm emotions . . . so that people remained pleasant and even-tempered all of the time. The signal that Darcy added triggered the sites for aggression and uncontrollable rage. Those signals came through as a carrier wave piggybacked on Smallwood's signal."
"That's amazing! How do you know all of this?"
"I got my hands on one of the things. Plugged it into IRIS and had her analyze it in QuestWorld. It was pretty scary stuff."
There was strong excitement in Jessie's voice as she exclaimed, "But Jonny, that's the missing piece! That's what Dr. Quest didn't have. Do you still have that analysis?"
He sat up slowly. "Yeah, probably. IRIS would have saved it to the mainframe and I've certainly never purged it."
"Find it! Let Hadji see it. This may be exactly the clue you need!"
"I'll go out to the lab right now! Then we can start the analysis and maybe -"
"Wait a minute. Right now? What time is it there? Isn't it after midnight?"
Jonny peered at the clock. "Yeah. Close to two, actually."
Jessie sighed in exasperation. "Look, I know you're excited about this, but you need to get some sleep."
"I slept last night -"
"Sleep is something you're supposed to do daily, Quest . . . not once or twice a week. This is getting to be a really bad habit, you know."
"I'm okay, Jess. I'll just -"
"- go in and go to bed. Right now. You need to be rested to tackle this problem. If you go into it exhausted, you'll miss stuff . . . important stuff. You promise me, Jonathan Quest, or I swear, as soon as you hang up the phone, I'll call my dad."
"Jess -"
"I mean it! You promise me, Jon." Then her voice soften and took on a wheedling tone. "Pleeeaaase? I worry about you, particularly when I'm not there to take care of you."
Jonny smiled in the dark. "I love you, you know that?"
"I think you've mentioned it once or twice. Go to bed, angel. I'll talk to you again tomorrow."
"All right. You having any trouble over there?"
"No. Just dealing with bureaucracy. I hate bureaucracy."
He laughed softly. "I should let you get back to Kefira. Tell her I said 'hi'."
"I will. Tell Hadji I'm thinking of him."
"Will do."
"You're going to go straight to bed, right?"
"I'm going. I'm going."
"I love you," she whispered to him. "Good night." And then with a soft click, the connection was broken.
Jonny was swearing to himself in an assortment of languages when Hadji and Race showed up in the lab at 7:30 the next morning.
"Damn it, I know I didn't delete it. I know I didn't. Where the hell could it have gone?"
"Jonny?"
"Problem, kiddo?"
"I can't find it!" he snarled in frustration.
"Find what?" Hadji asked.
"The analysis of Smallwood's data chip."
"What????" Race exclaimed. "You have an analysis of that data chip?"
"Well, I did. Now I can't find it. When was the last time Dad purged files from the mainframe?"
Race ran a hand through his hair. "I have no idea." He paused, thinking about it for a minute. Then he continued, "He'd been pretty busy during the last six to twelve months, particularly after both of you left. I doubt he'd done any housecleaning recently."
Hadji threw himself into the chair next to Jonny. "Then it must be here someplace. What was it called? I need that file, Jonny."
"I know. I know. I'm trying! I think I just named it Smallwood. Or maybe Wychford. It's been over five years! I don't really remember. IRIS, are you sure you checked all of the active directories? Including any subdirectories?"
"AFFIRMATIVE. THERE ARE NO FILES IN ANY ACTIVE SUBDIRECTORY ON THE QUEST MAINFRAME WITH EITHER TITLE, OR ANY FILE WITH A COMBINATION OF THE SEARCH WORDS."
"Have you tried a similarity search?" Hadji demanded. "Maybe you abbreviated it in some way."
"Yes. Nothing. IRIS, do the same search on the inactive directories. Also, include all program file directories, too. Maybe the damned thing got misfiled or accidentally moved."
"WORKING . . . SEARCH COMPLETE. THERE ARE NO FILES IN ANY SUBDIRECTORY ON THE QUEST MAINFRAME THAT FITS THE SPECIFIED SEARCH PARAMETERS."
"Damn!"
"Hi. How's it coming?" Barbara asked, wandering into the lab.
"Wait a minute," Race suddenly exclaimed. "A couple of years ago, wasn't there was some kind of problem with the archival storage on the mainframe?"
"Yes," Hadji agreed. "About two years ago. A storm and an unexpectedly large power surge caused by lightning overwhelmed the surge protectors and circuit breakers, causing some problems. No data was lost, but we had a difficult time retrieving some of it because the file allocation tables had been disrupted."
"I remember that," Jonny said thoughtfully. "Dad was half-crazed because some of the data for a major 10-year project that was almost finished had been among the stuff that got lost. What about it?"
"Didn't you end up having to write some of that stuff to another medium to get it back."
"Yes, but then it was all written back to the mainframe once we had reformatted the sector drive that had been damaged."
"Not all of it," Race corrected. "I remember Benton telling me that he needed to keep all of the data on that project together so that he could back it all up again, just to be safe. And with all of the data that needed to be added to what was recovered, he was concerned about space on that particular sector drive. I'm sure he told me that when he reloaded the data, he only did it selectively."
"Are you saying that we've got some stuff written off to archive media that's not automatically accessible to IRIS right now?" Jonny demanded.
"Yes. There's about twelve full CD archive disks . . . you know, the big ones your Dad developed for long-term permanent storage? They're down in the vault."
"Where?"
"Just sit still. I'll get them." Registering Barbara's presence for the first time, Race said, "Oh . . . morning, Barbara." Then he disappeared down the spiral staircase.
"Morning, Dr. Mason," Jonny said with a smile.
"You all seem very excited this morning. Do you have some good news?"
"Perhaps," Hadji replied with cautious optimism. "Jonny says he has an analysis of Dr. Smallwood's data chip." In that instant, he sounded closer to happy than anyone had heard from him in days.
Excitement and hope flared in Barbara's eyes. "You do? But that's what Benton kept saying he needed!"
Hadji shook his head. "He must have forgotten that there was one somewhere in the system."
"No," Jonny corrected. "I'm not sure he even knew it was there. I did it right before I found out that Darcy's people had put one of those things on him. I took the chip off of the hotelkeeper's dog and had IRIS run the analysis. He wasn't involved and I don't know that I ever told him I'd done it. I saved the file to the portable laptop and IRIS would have automatically downloaded it to storage as part of the daily maintenance schedule."
"You are certain it got transferred back here?"
"I'm positive. I saw it once when we were working on deleting files for Dad. I remember thinking about getting rid of it, but something stopped me. Instead, I shunted it off to a long term holding folder in my personal subdirectory and forgot about it."
"And IRIS moves files around to maximize archival storage after a file hasn't been opened for a certain length of time," Hadji added thoughtfully. "So it could have ended up in the area that was lost for a time."
"We'll hope."
"Here they are," Race said, returning with his hands full. He handed the items over to Jonny, who crossed to a console on the far side of the room and began loading the silver disks into a carousel specifically designed to hold them.
After a few moments, he returned to his chair, turned back to his screen and said, "Okay, IRIS. Access the external media loaded in CD drive EA and run the same search. If you locate the file, load it to QuestWorld and hold for further instructions.
"ACKNOWLEDGED. WORKING." They all waited with bated breath while IRIS searched through the myriad of files. "QUESTWORLD GRAPHICS SIMULATION 'SMALLWOOD' HAS BEEN LOCATED AND TRANSFERRED TO MAIN SYSTEM. SIMULATION LOADED AND READY TO RUN. HOLDING FOR FURTHER INSTRUCTIONS."
"YES!" Jonny exclaimed. Spinning in his chair he stood and crossed to Barbara Mason. Taking her hands, he looked at her seriously. "I really need your help with this. I know it's a lot to ask, but can I ask you to view this simulation with me so that you can tell us what this thing is doing . . . medically speaking, I mean?"
"Of course! Jon, you know you don't even have to ask."
"Yes I do, because this is like nothing you've ever done before." He took a deep breath. "You know that a lot of what my Dad works on is highly sensitive, right?" Watching him intently, she nodded. "Well, much of it is stuff that the rest of the world knows nothing about. He's afraid of what uses it might be put to if it was made available." Jonny glanced quickly from Hadji to Race, but neither of them seemed inclined to raise any objections to what he was about to do, so he continued. "IRIS is one of those systems."
"Your computer?"
"IRIS is a whole lot more than a computer. She's what's called a fully integrated virtual reality system. It was what Richard Baxter was after last Christmas, although I don't think even he realized the extent of it. What I want to do is take you with me into the virtual reality environment where we can take a look at the chip and how it worked."
"All right," Barbara replied.
"I'll be with you the entire time. You don't need to worry."
She smiled at him suddenly. "I trust you, Jon. If you say this is important and that I'll be safe, then I'm not worried. Just tell me what to do."
He squeezed her hands gently and shook his head. "I swear, my father has to be densest human being on the face of this planet. He better not blow things with you, that's all I can say." Before she could think of how to respond to that, he turned away and crossed the room to a storage cabinet. Pulling out two headsets, he carried them back to her and then led her to one of the lounging chairs in the middle of the room. "Sit down here, lean back, and relax. This goes on like a pair of glasses. There. Are they comfortable?"
"Yes, it's fine."
"Good." Donning the second headset, Jonny settled into the chair next to Barbara. "Okay, Hadji, log us in. But bring us up into the gateway rather than into the program itself."
"Very well. QuestWorld logon, subjects Jonny Quest and Barbara Mason. Going hot in 5 . . . 4 . . . 3 . . . 2 . . . 1 . . ."
The headset flared to life and Jonny felt the familiar disorientation as the black and green wormhole formed before his eyes and he began the spiraling descent into the program. Beside him, he heard Barbara gasp involuntarily and he reached out and caught her hand.
"It's okay. It will steady in just a second. Hang on."
Even as he said it, the feeling of motion ceased and the familiar lime green on black gridwork that marked the gateway into QuestWorld formed around them. Jonny turned to look at his companion. Barbara Mason's vectorized form stood less than six inches away. As usual, IRIS had done an outstanding job and visually, the woman appeared almost exactly as she did in real life. Her shoulder-length dark hair even had the same soft traces of silver. He noted idly that the accent colors on her QuestWorld outfit had come through as a warm shade of dark rose, a color he'd often seen her wearing. It suited her. Glancing down at himself, he sighed.
"What?" Race demanded immediately, his voice seeming to echo around them.
"Orange. Why orange? I hate orange."
They could hear Hadji laugh. "One day we will figure out why IRIS changes your accent color every time you enter."
"And she chooses such god-awful colors, too. I swear, she hates me."
As if Race could read Jonny's desire to keep a bit of light-hearted banter going to provide Barbara with some time to get her equilibrium back, he snorted. "You know that's not possible. But if it were, it wouldn't be any less than you deserve. Considering the number of times you've blown this system up with some harebrained patch or program, I'd say it would be poetic justice."
"Yeah, yeah. Go ahead. Rub it in."
"This is amazing!" Barbara said, wandering away toward one of the nearby walls. Reaching out, she touched it experimentally. It appeared to give under the pressure of her touch, warping outward. "I can actually feel it! And you say this doesn't really exist?"
"That is not precisely true," Hadji's disembodied voice replied. "There are some theorists who argue that if you can perceive something, then in that space and time, it is real. If that is the case, then what occurs in QuestWorld is real . . . at least for that period of time in which it exists."
"My, aren't we getting philosophical this morning?" Jonny teased his brother.
"Oh, shut up," Hadji grumbled good-naturedly, which caused all of them to laugh.
"This really is all virtual," Jonny explained. "And because it's an integrated environment and you are actually placed inside of it, you don't have the problem with sensory overload or disorientation that you get with a lot of stuff you see in the marketplace. And we write programs specifically to run in the environment. Or, in the case of the Smallwood program, I plugged the chip into one of IRIS' sensors, and she triggered the thing to run, demonstrating how it worked. Then she created a graphic simulation and extracted it so that we can actually enter the program and watch the chip operate. Ready to go?"
"Absolutely! This is just incredible!"
Jonny grinned, delighted at her enthusiastic fascination with his father's greatest achievement. "IRIS, give me one large hoverboard, please." The requested item materialized in front of him and Jonny stepped onto it easily. Holding out a hand to Barbara, he added, "Come on up." Without hesitation, she climbed onto the board right in front of him.
"Okay, I've got you," he assured her, putting an arm around her waist and pulling her shoulders securely back against his chest. "Just lean back into me and let me take care of guiding us. IRIS, launch graphic simulation 'Smallwood' now."
Almost immediately, the room around them disappeared, reforming into a seemingly empty black void. Then, off in the distance, something flashed and Jonny immediately set off in the direction of the light. As they drew closer, they began to see what looked like a large ovoid structure on a stalk. Steady currents of energy flowed up the stalk and suffused into the attached structure, causing it to pulse with light. It took a moment for Barbara to register what she was seeing.
"Oh my God," she exclaimed suddenly. "That's a -"
"Brain. Yeah, I know," Jonny said grimly. "Hadji, you gettin' this?"
"Yes," Hadji replied, sounding as astonished and fascinated as Barbara.
"I need to get closer," she said, trying to lean forward on the hoverboard so she could see better.
Obligingly, Jonny sent the hoverboard sailing toward the image before them.
"The current must be the normal electrical impulses of the brain," she said in excitement. "See the way they travel up the spinal column and then diffuse across and through the tissue?" Abruptly, a crackling bolt of lightning erupted from the base of the brain and enveloped it in a fine net of radiant white energy. As they watched, the net shifted from pure white to a dull orange, and finally to a deep, angry red.
"What is that?" Barbara demanded. "That's not right!"
"That's Smallwood's tampering," Jonny replied grimly. "The white net was his signal. It was the one that triggered the pleasant, docile behavior in the subjects."
"And the orange and red?"
"The orange was caused when Darcy activated his carrier wave. It piggybacked on Smallwood's signal and interacted with it, bringing the subjects under his control. When he turned it up, overriding Smallwood's programming, so he could turn the subjects into a violent mob, the net turned red."
"This . . . this . . . I can't . . . it's an abomination!"
"You'll get no argument from me. Can you tell what it's doing? Or what damage it's causing?"
Suppressing her gut reactions ruthlessly, she leaned forward again, staring at the simulation intently. "IRIS, are the foreign impulses we're seeing electrical or some other form of energy?"
"THEY ARE ELECTRICAL."
"What kind of voltage?"
"THE CHIP APPEARS TO BE PROGRAMMABLE ACCORDING TO THE TYPE OF LIVING CREATURE ON WHICH IT IS INSTALLED. ASSUMING IT OPERATES CONSISTENLY ON EACH DIFFERENT SUBJECT, THE STRENGTH APPEARS TO BE EQUIVALENT TO NORMAL BRAIN IMPULSES. HOWEVER, IT SHOULD BE NOTED THAT THERE IS A STRENGTH RANGE INHERENT IN THE CHIP ONCE IT IS SET FOR THE INDIVIDUAL WHO WEARS IT."
"So he could strengthen or weaken the force of the command," she said thoughtfully.
"That would make sense, wouldn't it?" Jonny asked. "I mean, it would probably take more force to get someone to do something they would be unwilling to do normally . . ."
Barbara glanced over at Jonny. "Like forcing a man to try to kill his own son?"
Jonny cleared his throat. "Uh . . . yeah . . . something like that."
"Yes, I would think that would take quite a bit more." She stared at the simulation with intense concentration, thinking out loud. "The disruption of the normal electrical activity could cause a breakdown of the receptor sites within the brain, but that should have shown up as a chemical imbalance or a change in the activity pattern in the EEG, but it didn't. And there was no tissue damage. It's also possible it could have altered the transmitter sites' receptivity to normal impulses, but it that's the case, why did it take so long to show up?"
She looked up at Jonny suddenly. "You said this wasn't the chip that had been fitted on Benton?"
"No. This one was on Winston, the innkeeper's dog."
"Did you run this same analysis on the chip that had been on Benton?"
Jonny shook his head. "No. I yanked that one off in the middle of a fight. He came out of it immediately, but we still had the entire town chasing us. By the time things settled down, we'd disabled Darcy's transmitter, the townspeople had come back to their senses, and the police were on the scene. It didn't seem like there was any reason to go any further, particularly since Dad wanted Smallwood's work destroyed."
She stared thoughtfully at the simulation for a long time. Finally, she sighed. "I don't know. I think I need to do some research and think about this for a while."
"We're done here, then?"
"Yes, I think so."
"Okay. Hadji, log us off, would ya?"
"Logging off."
A moment later, the simulated world around her disappeared and Barbara blinked, bringing the lighthouse lab back into focus as Race gently removed the headset. She looked around, a bit dazed. "Good heavens . . ."
Race chuckled. "You do get used to it after a while. And as you can imagine, the kids love it."
"Oh, I'll bet they do. Good thing that system isn't on the market. I know a lot of parents who would never get their kids out of it!"
"Another good reason to keep quiet about it," Race said. Eyeing her apologetically, he added, "I'm sure I don't need to say this, but -"
"Don't worry. I won't say a word. I recognized a long time ago that anything I see or hear here goes no further."
Race smiled and squeezed her hand gently. "Thanks. Now, you said you needed to do some research. If you don't mind, we'll head back to the house. I really don't want to leave Stel over there by herself for too long. Mrs. Evans is there, but she won't be able to control my wife if she gets it into her head to do something she shouldn't. You can work in Benton's study."
"Actually, I was planning on using the study," Jonny said apologetically. When Race looked at him in surprise, he shrugged. "Somebody needs to take a look at the ongoing projects Dad's supposed to be working on. Some of them may require action, and for those that can be postponed, we need to notify people that we have a problem." He glanced at Hadji. "I can handle the review of the timetables and allocation of resources, but I'm outta my league on the actual experimentation and the science."
Hadji nodded. "Review the projects and any that appear to need action you can forward to me out here. I will review Father's project notes and deal with the next stage of the research."
"Good. On those we can postpone, I'll contact the sponsor, let them know Dad's sick, and find out if they want to pull the contract, have us subcontract, or wait for a while to see what happens."
"You know about Father's project hot file?"
"Is that the one with all the urgent stuff in it?" Hadji nodded. "Yeah. I'll start with there and work my way outward. Anything you know about specifically?"
"You might check on that project for Langley that Father finished up last Christmas. I believe Dr. Meyerson contacted Father several weeks ago with a request to run additional tests on some of the earlier samples. I do not know if that ever got done."
"Will do." Turning back to Race and Barbara, he said, "We can set you up to use the work station in Dad's room, Dr. Mason. If that's okay?"
"That will be fine. It will also allow me to keep an eye on Benton."
"Great. We might as well get this show on the road. You ready?"
Race looked at him without moving for a long moment, then said quietly, "Your father would be very proud of you right now . . . both of you."
Hadji looked away, taking a hard breath, as grief twisted Jonny's face. Then his expression hardened with determination and he shook his head. "Dad always told me that anything was possible as long as you wanted it badly enough and were willing to work for it. Our father isn't going to die. We'll find a way out of this, one way or the other."
