PART SIX : " Recondite "
Max was so startled by Rebecca's unexpected declaration that it took her a few seconds before her body caught up to her brain sufficiently to react. In one smooth movement she flipped herself back behind the chair and quickly reassessed her surroundings, as well as the layout that she had memorized from the security computer. Nothing seemed amiss, but it wouldn't surprise her if they had armed guards or more X-series soldiers waiting outside the elevators and entrances by now. She felt foolish and stupid for letting herself be fooled this way, yet she needed to find out what was happening here. "If you plan to try to capture me, we already did that number before. Renfro and your brother are dead and I'm not going back to whatever program you whack-jobs have cooked up this time."
Rebecca, who wisely hadn't moved an inch since revealing to Max that SciTech was in fact another branch of Manticore, now stood slowly. "I promise that we won't keep you here against your will." she repeated. "The situation has changed a bit in the last two years. So has Project Manticore." She reached behind her and pulled out a pistol.
Max nearly dove into overdrive before realizing that it was facing her butt first, the woman was handing it over. "If you want, take my gun and search me for weapons before I "show and tell" you the facility and bring you up to date on what's going on."
Max looked at it and her without touching the weapon. "I don't do guns." Rebecca nodded and was about to put it back in the belt holster behind her when Max stopped her; "Put it on the table."
She paused, then placed it on the table the same way, butt towards Max. "In all honesty, I already knew that about you. But I'm being up front and want you to know it."
Max glanced out the window, but didn't see any signs of activity. Looking at Rebecca, she growled "Show me what you want but if I see anything that tells me I'm being set up, you'll be able to use your own head as a bowling ball before you can say 'Spare'. Got it?"
Rebecca nodded. "Can't blame you for not trusting me. Follow me if you want, or leave if you want."
She headed back towards the elevator, after pausing to refill her coffee cup, and Max walked after her.
Turning her cell phone in her pocket off, in case someone called during this little tour, Max kept an eye on this woman. The only, single thing that kept her here was that she wanted to know where her mother was. If she could get that from letting this woman take her on a tour of whatever this place was, she'd go along. And if this "Lydecker" tried pulling her chain, she'd have her for breakfast.
They stepped into the elevator, and when the door closed the elevator launched into movement, and Max felt it descend through the elevator shaft. "Let me guess, you have a secret underground lair. Don't you people know what the word 'cliché' means?"
Rebecca laughed and replied "How else would you host a top secret project on the side of hill-front property? Actually, the entire area is monitored, as well as all area's of the building. We knew you were here before you even pulled into the parking lot. Don't get me wrong though, I'm glad you're here. You're more important than you know."
Max looked at her; "Important enough to kill Hannah Sukova?" Rebecca's smile vanished. "I'm very sorry about that. We didn't kill her though, that was White's men."
Max nearly spat; "White? We haven't crossed paths for some time... why now? And why did he have to kill her?"
The elevator came to a stop. "Actually, we think he was using her to get to you." The doors opened, and what they stepped out into surprised Max. She had unconsciously expected some huge open expanse with some kind of huge wall monitor such as in Logan's old spy movies. What she saw turned out to be much the same as a normal office, with hundreds of cubicles.
Rebecca escorted her down one hallway past several cubicles, she only noticed a person in each with a typical computer setup. Some seemed to be monitoring satellite images of various countries at various ranges, some seemed to be perusing various forms of data.
Rebecca noticed her gazes and commented; "One of our duties is to monitor world events and activity. We get feeds off Norad, NASA and every militia ran by the United States... and a few the USA doesn't employ."
"Why should this interest me?" Max commented, though somewhat curious in spite of her caution.
"It will. Let's go into my office and I'll explain." She led Max into a large managerial office and closed the door.
Rebecca motioned to a seat as she took a chair behind a large desk.
"Max," she answered; "what I need to tell you relates to those inscriptions that appeared on you a year or so ago. You already know something about them, they were Sandeman's way of passing a message to you about your mission."
Max glared at her, and she corrected herself. "Sorry, your... goal. What you were designed to do, to put it bluntly. What you were meant to be."
Max rolled her eyes. "Please. I got enough of that from Logan when he deciphered what he could of it."
Rebecca looked at her, "No joke. It couldn't be more serious. But I'll leave that for now. You're up to date, for the most part, about the Conclave. You know they have been involved in a selective breeding program for literally thousands of years. The result is what you've encountered; a breed of man that is stronger, faster, smarter than your typical Joe. What you don't know are two things. One is how many there are., and two; who they are ran by. First news flash; there are tens of thousands. We don't have an exact number because they are as secretive as we are. Maybe more so. Enough to take over the planet if they worked as a group, and they DO work as a group. I believe White commented on this when he captured you, before the hostage situation at Jam Pony." Max hesitated, then nodded. "The Conclave intends to control every major form of government in the world. This is a fact. Now for the second and unbelievable part. The Conclave is ran by people of apparent biblical influence."
Max looked at her blankly. "Meaning what? They know the Pope?"
The woman sighed and shook her head. "This is where we stand. There is an essence of good that lives in our world, and an essence of evil. From time to time either or both manifests itself in one form or another. The Flood. The Inquisition. Christ. The Black Plague. Both forms appear in some way every so often throughout history, physically or by manipulation. One of those manifestations is where the origins of Christianity developed, and other forms of moralistic religions. The Conclave is also such a manifestation, beginning roughly seven thousand years ago. But as all things in the universe, for every action there is an equal but opposite reaction."
Max scowled, "You're talking about Manticore."
She nodded. "Except originally it wasn't called Manticore; that was a name devised for the secret project that has ran for the last 25 years. What I am referring to is bigger than that. Manticore was only a facet of a larger equally secret organization that has been keeping the Conclave at bay for thousands of years, almost since the beginning of the Conclave."
Max absorbed this information, albeit with some difficulty. It was one thing for Logan to rattle off information like this, but another for a total stranger to do so.
"Most of the Conclave believe that they are destined at the superior race of homo-sapiens because of the abilities their selective breeding has caused. What they don't seem to realize is that the religion they subscribe to is window dressing; they are actually soldiers, like you."
Max couldn't help but take the bait, "Who's in command of their little snake worshiping group, then?"
Rebecca looked at her. "The same force that caused the terrorist attack of 2001. The Vietnam War. The Third Reich." She continued naming events of atrocities; "...the world-wide corruption before the great flood. The infidelity at the Tree Of Knowledge. Whether you want to call them God and Satan, good and evil, right and wrong; there are two forces that have been in conflict as far back as intellectual recordings of time have existed. It doesn't take religious insight or practical genius to see what has been going on through history, it just means opening your eyes. It sounds cliché, but that's what our organization has been fighting throughout time. The Conclave isn't the first, and if we defeat them this time they won't be the last; but that's the nature of the Beast."
Max was looking at her cynically. "You're telling me the Devil made them do it?" she said sarcastically.
Rebecca shrugged. "Or whatever force governs the acts that we moralistically define as 'evil'."
Max stood. "OK, I've listened to your story, and I'll be sure to pass it on to any kids I want to keep up at night. Where can I find my mother?"
Rebecca looked at Max for several long seconds, then scribbled on a Post-It note and handed it to Max. "You'll find her at this location." She picked up the phone and pressed one of the many buttons. "Miss Guevara will need an escort to the first floor."
She put down the phone and her gaze fell on Max again. "I hope you reconsider. Sandeman didn't just put you together for military tactics; you were meant for great things. Maybe to eliminate the Conclave. Things have changed since you destroyed Project Manticore's Genetic Development and Training Center. We need you, and are willing to deal on your terms. Who do you think influenced the government to drop it's crusade against you, in spite of the Conclave spies in the ranks of Washington DC?"
Max looked surprised.
"That's right," Rebecca stated. "It's a whole new game."
Max's eyes took in Rebecca's expression and decided that even if she was a nutcase, she seemed at least to be a sincere loony. On the other hand, this was the sort of thing Logan and she debated, regarding the Sandeman mystery.
"Max..." Rebecca called. Max waited for her to finish. "Elizabeth Renfro and my brother died trying to protect you. Even if you didn't like them, you should think about why they would do that. You decided that the safety and rights of the transgenics was more important than yourself. This is something like that too."
Max turned and walked past the guard, who escorted her out of the building. On the way out, she geared herself in case the guard attacked her or tried anything funny. She was almost surprised when he left her at the main exit door, and he went back in without a word.
Just when my life was beginning to get comfortable... she thought to herself as she walked towards her motorcycle.