Jarod awoke on the chair and shouted, "No! You bastard, Lyle, no!" He struggled against the weight of Broots, Sydney and Parker. He finally collapsed, sobbing.
"Jarod," Sydney whispered, "Jarod, it's alright. You are safe here."
"Not then – Sydney, I keep remembering pieces of what happened. The device must have triggered something in the nanites. It brought back more of what Lyle… made me do."
"What do you remember, Jarod?"
He lowered his head, "I think Lyle made me choose between my father and the clone."
"Choose? What are you saying, Jarod?"
"I keep having memories of Lyle… he held a gun in my hand and asked me to pick between my father and the boy."
"Oh my god," Broots murmured.
"Can you remember what happened?" Sydney questioned.
"No…I, I mean I don't think that…"
Parker looked up at Sydney in horror, "Do you think that they are here? That Lyle managed to find them?"
"Wouldn't they have told us?" Sydney asked her.
"Why?" Jarod said, "Why would they have bothered to?"
"Remember Sydney, my brother has no soul."
Miss Parker caught a hint of leather turning the corner in front of her. She knew immediately who prowled there. Mentally, she made her decision to go ahead with her plan. She sighed.
"Brigitte!" She called out her rival's name. The figure in black turned, with an expectant smile on her face.
"Hallo luv, come to ask me something?"
"You know what so tell me why."
"I helped you because there is nothing you can do."
Miss Parker hid her confusion with a sharp glare. "Explain."
"Nothing's gonna save him – not this time." She spun around, turning a corner.
"I know you're pregnant," Miss Parker said.
The patter of heels stopped.
"Whose baby is it?"
"Not here, Miss Parker, they can't know."
"Who?"
"The same people pulling the strings, watching the cameras. The higher ups beyond your father." Brigitte came back to her.
"You'll get only one more chance to save Jarod before it's too late."
Miss Parker balked.
Brigitte shook her head. "Jarod is strong, but he can't prevent what's happening to him – he can only resist it. You have to get him out – you have to stop what's happening before you lose him forever."
"How?"
"Jarod knows – but he will not offer you the information. David will tell you, but only if you force him to."
Brigitte glanced up at the security camera, and then disappeared around the corner before Miss Parker could wonder who David was.
Jarod was annoyed already. The minutes seem to pass so slowly. He stared blankly ahead, not even listening to the man. Sydney, he corrected himself. What did it matter anyway? Sydney appeared unduly worried. Jarod alleviated his fears by simplistic consolations tuned to his specific needs at the time. But, unfortunately, Sydney was starting to catch on.
"Jarod, you haven't been listening have you?" Sydney accused.
"How dare you!" Jarod snapped.
Miss Parker entered and sensed the tension in the room.
"Jarod – what's going on?" she demanded.
Jarod tore the headset off his scalp. "I'm sick of this! Leave me alone."
"Jarod, if we don't help you now you may never recover."
Jarod threw the headset in her direction. "What if I don't want to remember!" Miss Parker glanced at Sydney, surprised by his childishness.
"What is happening here?" Miss Parker whispered. "Jarod, you never give up, never. It's not like you…"
"Maybe I'm sick of being me. Maybe I don't want to remember what I did or who I was…"
"Are," she corrected.
"Was."
Miss Parker motioned for Sydney and Broots to leave before continuing.
"Jarod, please, don't give up now."
He sat and folded his arms. She sat beside him touching his shoulder.
"Do you know how to stop the nanites?"
Jarod sat resolute.
She tried again, "Jarod, do you know how to stop them?"
Again, no response.
"Answer me, dammit!" she shouted, driving her fist into his leg.
He flinched but stayed quiet, scowling at her.
"Does David know how to stop the nanites?"
Jarod's eyes went wide in anger and fear. "Don't, please…"
Parker repeated her question.
Jarod inhaled sharply his face going blank, "Yes," he whispered.
"Who is David?" she asked.
Jarod looked down, a mental fight going on behind his furrowed brow. When he looked up, his eyes were dark. "A boy. He is part of me now. I died with him."
"What do you mean?"
"When I first came here, I pretended his death." His voice dropped in bitter anger, "Now he is the control Lyle has over me."
"How—"
"His name is that which activates their programming. The nanotechnology's purpose is to gain control over my personality. They are programmed to learn how my brain responds to stimulus and my own actions. It can reproduce the effects it learns. It has learned how to make me obey commands. If I accept the help I know will work, I risk teaching it what Lyle needs to control me."
"What can we do?"
"I can't answer you…"
"What can we do, David?"
He looked at her angrily, "Force me to accept your help, not to choose to be helped. The doctor working on the program knows how to stop them."
Outside the office, Parker was pacing the corridor.
"I don't like this, Syd. When did he suddenly go insane?"
Sydney had a worried look on his face. "Parker, try to calm down. It will not help the situation."
"Come on, Syd!" she accused. "Was I the only one hearing what he said in there? Nanotechnology? My brother hacking his brain? That's impossible!"
"No," answered Broots.
She fixed him with her best impatient glare.
"Miss, Miss Parker, I've been doing some, ah research into this since Sydney, ah mentioned it a while ago. What they've been doing it's, it's incredible, yes. But, but it is true. They are, in a way, hacking Jarod's mind. Um, think of it as a child. You can teach it things, and once it learns them, it will mimic them. Once it learns certain responses it will recreate them. So, so it's learning, ah, from Jarod, Jarod's physical reactions and will recreate them."
"How does this help us?"
"Well, I think Jarod's been trying to teach it resistance."
"But he's not succeeding," Sydney commented.
"No. The first Pretend he did here. It must have been enough to teach the nanites a powerful method of control," Broots finished.
Sydney closed his eyes. "It was a Pretend to save a child. Jarod said he couldn't help but try and save the boy."
"Lyle's using his pity against him," Parker grimaced.
"Broots, it there anything else we can do to stop them and destroy them?"
"I, I don't know, Sydney."
"Think, Broots."
"Well, ah, the best way to stop a computer is to pull the plug."
"We know we can't do that."
"Then the next best thing is to give it a virus."
"Bingo. Do it," Parker ordered.
"I'll, I'll have to see the software on these things. I don't know the codes yet."
"Sydney, how close of a friend are you with this doctor you mentioned?"
Sydney smiled grimly, "Very."
A knock sounded on the door outside a messy office. The man at the desk opened the door.
"Sydney! A surprise. How are you, sir?" the younger man asked, glancing behind him.
"Martin, my friend. Please, drop the formalities, there's no need."
The younger man grinned, "Sorry, been getting used to it lately. So, what brings you to this end of the Centre?"
"Jarod."
The smile on Martin's face faded.
"Ah," he spoke. "You plan on stopping the nanites."
"Please, Martin, we need your help. They're destroying Jarod. He's blind, and becoming suicidal."
Martin hesitated briefly. From out of his pocket he produced a small CD. "This contains a virus that will stop the nanites. Jarod will know how to load it onto the nanites. That's as far as I can help you, please don't come back down here."
Sydney took the disk. "You will not see me again," he spoke, sensing the fear in Martin. He dropped his voice to a whisper, "If you ever need my help you know where to find me."
Sydney turned and left, pocketing the disk.
From a door behind Martin, Brigitte watched him leave. She smiled. Martin looked back to her, smiling too.