Chapter 3
A/N: I got the game blink (OK, I know, not much of a game), from the play Equus by Peter Shaffer. If you want to be thoroughly amazed and disgusted by the sheer strangeness of the human mind, it's a good read. Not for the squeamish ones though. Or anyone under the age of about ten.
A very stressful week later and Parker was consolidating her hold on the chairmanship. The triumvirate had been very displeased to learn how clumsy Mr. Parker had been with some of his dealings. His downfall hadn't been particularly spectacular. He was given two weeks notice and a command to keep quiet about the Centre but he left within two days. Without his power he was just a weak old man with nothing between him and an assassin's bullet. Raines and Lyle had been so busy squabbling between themselves that they hadn't even seen Parker coming. And so she watched the sunset seven days later from the window of her father's old office. She had told her new secretary to give her fifteen minutes rest between the endless meetings of boot-lickers trying to establish their positions in the new hierarchy and now she was taking a breather and letting her mind drift.
Mentally she replayed the first order she had given after striding into the large, now empty office.
'I want Jarod moved down to SL-26 into one of the extra security cells. Bolt some manacles into the walls. Install some new cameras. Have a sweeper down there guarding him 24/7.'
So far Jarod hadn't escaped. Unfortunately he had stopped being so cooperative as well. So far, Parker hadn't been capable of ordering him tortured. She knew people were murmuring things behind her back but she ignored them and tried to prove herself in other ways.
On impulse she strode out of her new office, telling her secretary to cancel her next meeting. As she headed towards the elevator she mused that she probably should have ordered him to cancel the meeting after that too.
After traversing the twisted passages of SL-26 for a good ten minutes she finally reached where Jarod was now being kept and opened the outer door. Inside a sweeper jumped to attention. Behind a row of bars that cut the room in half, Jarod glared at her. His hands were manacled together and a length of chain ran from the cuffs to embed in the cinder-block wall. There were no less than eight cameras all trained on the pretender. His cast had been due to be removed three days ago but Parker had left it on, removing his crutches to make any running very difficult.
'Leave' she commanded the sweeper, not breaking the dark gaze. The man couldn't scramble fast enough out the door. After the heavy steel thing clunked shut all was silent in the cell for a long time. The two children of the Centre stared at each other from opposite sides of the bars.
'Has Lyle left yet?' he finally asked.
'Yes. Why?'
'And Raines?'
'Him too. Why?'
'Because if they were still hanging around you would have lost the chairmanship again by the end of this week.'
A small shiver ran down her spine. For her, now, to lose the chairmanship, would be to lose her life. She walked a dangerous high-wire and Jarod knew it.
'Why have you stopped simming Jarod? I don't want to hurt you but I will if this goes on for much longer.'
He gave a sardonic snort. 'I assume what you meant to ask was why I started simming in the first place. Something to do with the position you now hold.'
'What? You expect me to express gratitude?'
'I beginning to suspect that that is beyond you. But no, I don't want gratitude. Right now you're in far more danger than you ever have been before anyway.'
There was a pause that lengthened as Parker stared into his eyes trying to find the agenda behind his words. He was manipulating her. He always was. She just wanted to know to what purpose.
'It does seem like your plan has backfired Jarod' she set the barb, trying to test the waters.
'Hmm, maybe'
The non-committal answer annoyed Parker. He was in chains in the Centre's basement and he still wouldn't admit defeat.
'What do you mean 'maybe' labrat? You're completely at the Centre's mercy.'
'And so far that's been pretty merciful.'
There was a pause as this sunk in.
'You bastard. You've been testing me. To see how far I would go to get you to sim,' she spat.
Jarod gave an enigmatic smile and raised an eyebrow. This only raised her ire.
'I'm sick of dancing to your tune rat. Tomorrow morning you will be taken to the sim lab. Unless I see results, don't plan on keeping all your limbs for too long.' She hissed it in such a low menacing tone that Jarod was almost glad for the bars separating them. She turned on her heel and abruptly left the cell, the guard re-entering a few moments later.
'She scares me shitless' the nervous looking guard admitted to Jarod. Jarod smiled and nodded agreement. It was time to leave and lucky for him it looked like the guard hadn't been warned about listening to slippery pretenders.
*********************************************************************
The next morning, as was becoming routine, Parker went down to visit Jarod in SL-26. Against the routine, two sweepers flanked her. As she rode the elevator she concentrated on working up an anger that would blind her to those deep brown pleading eyes.
As a result when they found the guard steadfastly guarding an empty cell she very nearly shot him then and there. Luckily logic prevailed and she managed to control herself, reasoning that at least this time they might found out just how Jarod had escaped.
'Bring him' she ordered the two sweepers and had left the cell when she heard a scuffle behind her. She turned to see the lone guard desperately fighting the two sweepers, trying to stay in the room where Jarod had been kept. Parker was not in the mood. She walked back until her face was an inch away from that of the struggling guard. His eyes rolled in terror.
'If you're lucky you might get to keep your head. If I was you I would not be protesting.'
'But I have to guard the cell.'
'You fell asleep on the job and now the thing you were guarding has escaped'
'I have to guard the cell' the desperate man repeated.
'Fine' hissed Parker. 'Leave him here, lock the door. We'll go and look at the surveillance tapes.'
Funnily enough the guard didn't seem at all worried about being left alone in SL-26 to an uncertain fate.
Parker shook her head as she strode back to the elevator. She was genuinely curious to see just how Jarod had managed it. Soon she reached the surveillance room, having dismissed the sweepers to their other duties.
Every wall of the medium sized room was covered in monitors that showed the feeds from the hundreds of cameras all around the Centre. Parker glanced around once at the moving black and white images and then addressed the once person that sat in the middle of it all on a swivelling chair. 'The pretender had escaped. Why didn't any alarms go off?'
'Good... good morning Miss Parker.' The small nervous looking man greeted her, startled to realise she was in the room with him. 'Um, as you can see, it's a little hard to watch every feed at once. I mean, I do my best but...'
Parker brushed of his excuses with a flick of her wrist and he swallowed hard. 'Make yourself useful, I want all the recordings of Jarod's cell from when I went there last night to this morning.'
'Yes ma'am' he said and swivelled his chair around to the one keyboard in the room to begin hurried typing. In a wave around the room all the monitors went blank then eight lit up again to show eight different camera angles of her talking with Jarod.
'Fast forward until I leave the room.' He did so. The guard re-entered and said something to Jarod who nodded. 'Turn the sound up' ordered Parker impatiently before standing back to watch the scene unfold.
'Me to' said Jarod, on screen. The guard laughed.
'Yeah, well I suppose you would know'
All was silence in the cell for a few minutes. Parker told the security man to fast forward it for a while. There were small movements and the guard and Jarod had a few more conversations. Neither got so much as a wink of sleep. 'There goes my theory about him falling asleep on the job' thought Parker. After a few hours had passed on the tape the guard abruptly stepped forward, opened the door to the inner cell, walked in and unlocked Jarod's manacles.
Without her telling him to the small man quickly re-wound the tape and played it from just before the incident. All was silence in the small black and white room on the screens. Then Jarod turned to look directly at one of the cameras and with a small smile raised one hand to click his fingers.
The guard obediently walked forward to free him. Parker began to get an inkling of what had happened. 'Rewind back about half-an-hour'
Once again nothing happened for a few minutes. Parker's intense gaze switched from pretender to guard, trying to see if anything hidden was happening. It was nothing that subtle. 'Jason' said Jarod. Parker had never bothered to find out the guard's name but she assumed that was it.
'Yeah?' replied the guard.
'You bored?'
'Hell yeah.'
'Want to play a game?'
'What sort of game?' the man was curious, not cautious. 'Just my luck' thought Parker, 'I appointed a guard with the IQ of a common house plant.'
'It's called Blink. I tap and you close your eyes, then I tap again and you open them.'
The guard looked doubtful.
'Just try it. It's better than it sounds.'
'OK, sure.'
Jarod smiled encouragingly and tapped one of the manacles against the cinderblock wall. Obligingly, the guard closed his eyes. Jarod tapped again and he opened them. Tap, close, tap, open, tap, close, tap open.
The slow steady rhythm even began to lull Parker. Then Jarod began to speak softly. 'Jason can you hear me?'
'Yes' came the reply, although the voice was flat and devoid of emotion.
'Raise your right arm.' Jason complied.
'Good. Now do you remember the message I told you earlier?'
'Yes'
'When Parker asks you what the message is you will remember everything. Until then, just guard this cell, no matter what. Understand'
'Yes'
'Good man. When I click my fingers you will come in and unlock the chains.'
As seen before, Jarod looked up at one of the cameras and clicked his fingers. 'Show off' thought Parker.
Obligingly, the hypnotised man stepped forward, withdrew the key and unlocked the door.
'Now the manacles' Jarod's voice was a kind monotone, commanding but understanding. Jason found the right key for the chains and freed Jarod's arms. 'What's the code for the door?'
'3168293' replied the man, as though he was sleep talking.
'Thank you Jason. Now guard the cell OK?'
'Yes.'
And with that Jarod hobbled awkwardly to freedom, somewhat hindered by the hip to ankle cast. Parker watched with mild disgust, annoyed at how easy it had been for him to get free.
'Do you want me to trace his escape route?' asked the security guard
'Don't bother' Parker told him and went down to ask the hypnotised Jason what the 'message' was.
The guard was still happily guarding the empty cell. He didn't need to snap to attention when Parker entered, he was already there. 'What message did Jarod leave Jason?' She asked him sharply.
'Hi Miss Parker, thanks for the free lodgings although the food was terrible. Sorry about missing this morning's sim session but I'm looking forward to seeing you in San Francisco. If you're worried that there's too much work as the chairman to come chasing after me then put Sydney in charge. Have a nice flight.' The guard's tone and words left no doubt that it was Jarod. As soon as he had finished the message he took one look at the empty cell, one look at Parker and promptly fainted.
'Don't worry buddy, you're not the first person to be tricked by the labrat.' She told the unconscious form before leaving the cell to go pester Broots. She was in remarkably good spirits. Despite her loud and frequent objections, she did quite enjoy the thrill of the chase. And now she was chairman she would have other things to worry about at the same time, which would even the tables a bit.
'All in all, it turned out quite well' she thought in bemusement as the lift doors dinged open and she stepped in.
The End
A/N: thanx to anyone who reviewed this. You know who you are. If you haven't reviewed this, know that I hate you and will hunt you down at the first possible opportunity. I know the whole story was just one big unbelievable trip but that works on the principle of WYGIWYGAINGW (What You Get Is What You're Given And It's No Good Whining)
A/N: I got the game blink (OK, I know, not much of a game), from the play Equus by Peter Shaffer. If you want to be thoroughly amazed and disgusted by the sheer strangeness of the human mind, it's a good read. Not for the squeamish ones though. Or anyone under the age of about ten.
A very stressful week later and Parker was consolidating her hold on the chairmanship. The triumvirate had been very displeased to learn how clumsy Mr. Parker had been with some of his dealings. His downfall hadn't been particularly spectacular. He was given two weeks notice and a command to keep quiet about the Centre but he left within two days. Without his power he was just a weak old man with nothing between him and an assassin's bullet. Raines and Lyle had been so busy squabbling between themselves that they hadn't even seen Parker coming. And so she watched the sunset seven days later from the window of her father's old office. She had told her new secretary to give her fifteen minutes rest between the endless meetings of boot-lickers trying to establish their positions in the new hierarchy and now she was taking a breather and letting her mind drift.
Mentally she replayed the first order she had given after striding into the large, now empty office.
'I want Jarod moved down to SL-26 into one of the extra security cells. Bolt some manacles into the walls. Install some new cameras. Have a sweeper down there guarding him 24/7.'
So far Jarod hadn't escaped. Unfortunately he had stopped being so cooperative as well. So far, Parker hadn't been capable of ordering him tortured. She knew people were murmuring things behind her back but she ignored them and tried to prove herself in other ways.
On impulse she strode out of her new office, telling her secretary to cancel her next meeting. As she headed towards the elevator she mused that she probably should have ordered him to cancel the meeting after that too.
After traversing the twisted passages of SL-26 for a good ten minutes she finally reached where Jarod was now being kept and opened the outer door. Inside a sweeper jumped to attention. Behind a row of bars that cut the room in half, Jarod glared at her. His hands were manacled together and a length of chain ran from the cuffs to embed in the cinder-block wall. There were no less than eight cameras all trained on the pretender. His cast had been due to be removed three days ago but Parker had left it on, removing his crutches to make any running very difficult.
'Leave' she commanded the sweeper, not breaking the dark gaze. The man couldn't scramble fast enough out the door. After the heavy steel thing clunked shut all was silent in the cell for a long time. The two children of the Centre stared at each other from opposite sides of the bars.
'Has Lyle left yet?' he finally asked.
'Yes. Why?'
'And Raines?'
'Him too. Why?'
'Because if they were still hanging around you would have lost the chairmanship again by the end of this week.'
A small shiver ran down her spine. For her, now, to lose the chairmanship, would be to lose her life. She walked a dangerous high-wire and Jarod knew it.
'Why have you stopped simming Jarod? I don't want to hurt you but I will if this goes on for much longer.'
He gave a sardonic snort. 'I assume what you meant to ask was why I started simming in the first place. Something to do with the position you now hold.'
'What? You expect me to express gratitude?'
'I beginning to suspect that that is beyond you. But no, I don't want gratitude. Right now you're in far more danger than you ever have been before anyway.'
There was a pause that lengthened as Parker stared into his eyes trying to find the agenda behind his words. He was manipulating her. He always was. She just wanted to know to what purpose.
'It does seem like your plan has backfired Jarod' she set the barb, trying to test the waters.
'Hmm, maybe'
The non-committal answer annoyed Parker. He was in chains in the Centre's basement and he still wouldn't admit defeat.
'What do you mean 'maybe' labrat? You're completely at the Centre's mercy.'
'And so far that's been pretty merciful.'
There was a pause as this sunk in.
'You bastard. You've been testing me. To see how far I would go to get you to sim,' she spat.
Jarod gave an enigmatic smile and raised an eyebrow. This only raised her ire.
'I'm sick of dancing to your tune rat. Tomorrow morning you will be taken to the sim lab. Unless I see results, don't plan on keeping all your limbs for too long.' She hissed it in such a low menacing tone that Jarod was almost glad for the bars separating them. She turned on her heel and abruptly left the cell, the guard re-entering a few moments later.
'She scares me shitless' the nervous looking guard admitted to Jarod. Jarod smiled and nodded agreement. It was time to leave and lucky for him it looked like the guard hadn't been warned about listening to slippery pretenders.
*********************************************************************
The next morning, as was becoming routine, Parker went down to visit Jarod in SL-26. Against the routine, two sweepers flanked her. As she rode the elevator she concentrated on working up an anger that would blind her to those deep brown pleading eyes.
As a result when they found the guard steadfastly guarding an empty cell she very nearly shot him then and there. Luckily logic prevailed and she managed to control herself, reasoning that at least this time they might found out just how Jarod had escaped.
'Bring him' she ordered the two sweepers and had left the cell when she heard a scuffle behind her. She turned to see the lone guard desperately fighting the two sweepers, trying to stay in the room where Jarod had been kept. Parker was not in the mood. She walked back until her face was an inch away from that of the struggling guard. His eyes rolled in terror.
'If you're lucky you might get to keep your head. If I was you I would not be protesting.'
'But I have to guard the cell.'
'You fell asleep on the job and now the thing you were guarding has escaped'
'I have to guard the cell' the desperate man repeated.
'Fine' hissed Parker. 'Leave him here, lock the door. We'll go and look at the surveillance tapes.'
Funnily enough the guard didn't seem at all worried about being left alone in SL-26 to an uncertain fate.
Parker shook her head as she strode back to the elevator. She was genuinely curious to see just how Jarod had managed it. Soon she reached the surveillance room, having dismissed the sweepers to their other duties.
Every wall of the medium sized room was covered in monitors that showed the feeds from the hundreds of cameras all around the Centre. Parker glanced around once at the moving black and white images and then addressed the once person that sat in the middle of it all on a swivelling chair. 'The pretender had escaped. Why didn't any alarms go off?'
'Good... good morning Miss Parker.' The small nervous looking man greeted her, startled to realise she was in the room with him. 'Um, as you can see, it's a little hard to watch every feed at once. I mean, I do my best but...'
Parker brushed of his excuses with a flick of her wrist and he swallowed hard. 'Make yourself useful, I want all the recordings of Jarod's cell from when I went there last night to this morning.'
'Yes ma'am' he said and swivelled his chair around to the one keyboard in the room to begin hurried typing. In a wave around the room all the monitors went blank then eight lit up again to show eight different camera angles of her talking with Jarod.
'Fast forward until I leave the room.' He did so. The guard re-entered and said something to Jarod who nodded. 'Turn the sound up' ordered Parker impatiently before standing back to watch the scene unfold.
'Me to' said Jarod, on screen. The guard laughed.
'Yeah, well I suppose you would know'
All was silence in the cell for a few minutes. Parker told the security man to fast forward it for a while. There were small movements and the guard and Jarod had a few more conversations. Neither got so much as a wink of sleep. 'There goes my theory about him falling asleep on the job' thought Parker. After a few hours had passed on the tape the guard abruptly stepped forward, opened the door to the inner cell, walked in and unlocked Jarod's manacles.
Without her telling him to the small man quickly re-wound the tape and played it from just before the incident. All was silence in the small black and white room on the screens. Then Jarod turned to look directly at one of the cameras and with a small smile raised one hand to click his fingers.
The guard obediently walked forward to free him. Parker began to get an inkling of what had happened. 'Rewind back about half-an-hour'
Once again nothing happened for a few minutes. Parker's intense gaze switched from pretender to guard, trying to see if anything hidden was happening. It was nothing that subtle. 'Jason' said Jarod. Parker had never bothered to find out the guard's name but she assumed that was it.
'Yeah?' replied the guard.
'You bored?'
'Hell yeah.'
'Want to play a game?'
'What sort of game?' the man was curious, not cautious. 'Just my luck' thought Parker, 'I appointed a guard with the IQ of a common house plant.'
'It's called Blink. I tap and you close your eyes, then I tap again and you open them.'
The guard looked doubtful.
'Just try it. It's better than it sounds.'
'OK, sure.'
Jarod smiled encouragingly and tapped one of the manacles against the cinderblock wall. Obligingly, the guard closed his eyes. Jarod tapped again and he opened them. Tap, close, tap, open, tap, close, tap open.
The slow steady rhythm even began to lull Parker. Then Jarod began to speak softly. 'Jason can you hear me?'
'Yes' came the reply, although the voice was flat and devoid of emotion.
'Raise your right arm.' Jason complied.
'Good. Now do you remember the message I told you earlier?'
'Yes'
'When Parker asks you what the message is you will remember everything. Until then, just guard this cell, no matter what. Understand'
'Yes'
'Good man. When I click my fingers you will come in and unlock the chains.'
As seen before, Jarod looked up at one of the cameras and clicked his fingers. 'Show off' thought Parker.
Obligingly, the hypnotised man stepped forward, withdrew the key and unlocked the door.
'Now the manacles' Jarod's voice was a kind monotone, commanding but understanding. Jason found the right key for the chains and freed Jarod's arms. 'What's the code for the door?'
'3168293' replied the man, as though he was sleep talking.
'Thank you Jason. Now guard the cell OK?'
'Yes.'
And with that Jarod hobbled awkwardly to freedom, somewhat hindered by the hip to ankle cast. Parker watched with mild disgust, annoyed at how easy it had been for him to get free.
'Do you want me to trace his escape route?' asked the security guard
'Don't bother' Parker told him and went down to ask the hypnotised Jason what the 'message' was.
The guard was still happily guarding the empty cell. He didn't need to snap to attention when Parker entered, he was already there. 'What message did Jarod leave Jason?' She asked him sharply.
'Hi Miss Parker, thanks for the free lodgings although the food was terrible. Sorry about missing this morning's sim session but I'm looking forward to seeing you in San Francisco. If you're worried that there's too much work as the chairman to come chasing after me then put Sydney in charge. Have a nice flight.' The guard's tone and words left no doubt that it was Jarod. As soon as he had finished the message he took one look at the empty cell, one look at Parker and promptly fainted.
'Don't worry buddy, you're not the first person to be tricked by the labrat.' She told the unconscious form before leaving the cell to go pester Broots. She was in remarkably good spirits. Despite her loud and frequent objections, she did quite enjoy the thrill of the chase. And now she was chairman she would have other things to worry about at the same time, which would even the tables a bit.
'All in all, it turned out quite well' she thought in bemusement as the lift doors dinged open and she stepped in.
The End
A/N: thanx to anyone who reviewed this. You know who you are. If you haven't reviewed this, know that I hate you and will hunt you down at the first possible opportunity. I know the whole story was just one big unbelievable trip but that works on the principle of WYGIWYGAINGW (What You Get Is What You're Given And It's No Good Whining)