Author: Milady Dragon
Disclaimer: It can't ever be mine.
Author's note: Glad to see you still with me out there. Thanks to everyone.
Chapter Twenty-five
Cameron and Elizabeth stepped from the elevator, their stun guns pointed at Andrew Greer. The man didn't appear to mind; in fact, he seemed to be thoroughly enjoying himself.
"You were expecting me?" Cameron inquired.
"Of course I was." The man looked decidedly smug. "Even if we hadn't detected your presence within the complex here, I would have known you'd come after Dr. House."
"Your cameras are very well hidden."
"Thank you! We've striven to make the security here as unobtrusive as possible. We've found it upsets the employees if they feel they're constantly under surveillance."
"'We'?"
"Those of us in charge here, naturally. By the way, you haven't introduced me to your charming companion."
Cameron glanced at Elizabeth. The other Tomorrow Person shrugged. "This is Elizabeth. Elizabeth, this is Andrew Greer, Intellex's Chief Financial Officer. "
"A pleasure to meet you, Elizabeth." The man inclined his head slightly. "May I assume you're from the Galactic Federation?"
"You may assume that, yes," Elizabeth answered.
"Then I believe the pair of you are at a distinct disadvantage in this situation."
"You can believe that, as well," Cameron countered. "However, we do have the guns here."
"Yes, you do," Greer chuckled. "But I seriously doubt you'd harm me when I have Dr. House in my possession…even if you could, in actuality, do me harm at all."
"Where is he then?" Despite her attempt at bravado, Cameron was very afraid for House's safety. Greer obviously intended to use him as a hostage – not that was so much of a surprise. She needed to find him before they could do anything else.
"Not far." Greer stepped aside, ushering the two Tomorrow People down the white corridor.
Cameron and Elizabeth accompanied him. As they passed each window, Cameron could see that the rooms beyond were obviously laboratories, designed to be clean rooms. She didn't even pretend to understand the various technologies she was seeing; all she knew was that the majority of it had to alien. Why else hide it under the "legitimate" research and development building?
The place appeared to be deserted. They'd timed their arrival perfectly.
"Aren't you a little concerned that one of the races this tech belongs to won't come looking for their property?" Cameron inquired innocently.
Greer chuckled. "I really don't think that's probable."
"What about the news reports stating that intruders were seen in the area?" She wanted to laugh, but refrained.
He waved it off. "Just looters and thieves trying to find something worth selling."
"And the so-called masks?" Just how blind could this guy be?
"That's all they are. After all, if you were up to criminal activity, wouldn't you do your best to be disguised?" Greer paused. "Not that you'd know anything about that, of course."
Cameron let the jibe go past her. "And it doesn't bother you, what you're doing here?"
"Not at all! We're tying to help humankind advance scientifically."
"By using stolen technology?" Elizabeth demanded.
"We need all the help we can get." Greer's voice became deadly serious. "There are races out there who don't mean us any good. We have to be able to take care of ourselves. And everything we've done here has been to that end…even the medical advances."
"That sounds really paranoid."
"My dear," he turned to look at the elder Tomorrow Person, "you've been out there. You've seen the alien worlds beyond our paltry solar system. Can you honestly say they're all benevolent?"
"Of course they aren't," Elizabeth countered. "But there are those out there who are looking out for Earth's interests."
"But they've failed before. You know they have. And when it happens again, the human race has to be ready."
"Humanity isn't ready for such advanced technology," Cameron replied. "We're still too young a race to be able to handle such power."
"I think you underestimate your own people, Dr. Cameron. But then, you're not really one of "us," are you?"
This was just great. Greer was playing the race card. "I was born here. This is my world as much as it is yours. And I don't want to see it damaged by well-meaning idiots who think they know what's best for everyone else."
"How can we do that?" He stopped, turning to look Cameron right in the eye. "How can protecting ourselves be a bad thing?"
"When you're the ones who bring the very aliens down on us, in the name of that protection!" She wanted more than anything to remain calm, but this smug, self-centered man was seriously getting on her nerves. "Can't you see? The technology you've bought was stolen! And eventually the owners of that property are going to come looking for it!"
"Please," Greer scoffed. "Even if what you say is true, we're a very small needle on a very large world. It would be impossible."
Cameron couldn't believe the obliviousness of the man. She wanted to reach out and shake him in hopes that some brain cells might rattle loose. Arguing with him wasn't going to do them a bit of good. "Just take us to Dr. House," she growled, motioning down the corridor with her stun gun.
Greer smirked, then continued to lead the way. "We've been doing a lot of good here," he went on. "Many of our advances have improved our chances as surviving as a race. Of course, you might not think that's a good thing…"
It wasn't going to do any good to argue about her human-ness, either. Cameron just chewed the inside of her lip, trying to hold her retort in check. She glanced over at Elizabeth; the older Tomorrow Person appeared not to be noticing Greer's comments.
But then, Elizabeth was an experienced diplomat…
Greer stopped outside one of the labs. He placed his hand on the reader built into the jamb, and then used the touch pad to enter a code he was careful to hide from them. The airlock door's locks disengaged with a loud "clunk."
He pulled on the handle, throwing the door open with deceptive ease. Cameron waited for him to enter first, not wanting to find herself locked inside, with a laughing Greer on the other side of the glass.
There was another door within. Greer hit a control on the wall, and the outer door closed, accompanied by a hissing sound that Cameron recognized as a hermetic seal locking in place. "I'm sure you've been through decontamination before," the man said. He pushed some more buttons, and a sickly green light illuminated the tiny space. A low-pitched hum echoed around the chamber, putting Cameron's teeth on edge.
The light and noise faded, and the decontamination chamber returned to its fluorescent whiteness. The door leading deeper into the area unsealed itself, and Greer pulled it open the rest of the way.
The room beyond was like every other lab they'd passed: white, with a long chrome table covered with a flat screen computer and various pieces of glittering equipment. Lockers lined one wall; on another was what looked like a glass-fronted refrigerator and matching cabinets. Shelves were on the third wall, lined with other technological gadgets. Fleetingly, Cameron thought that John would have loved this place.
House was there.
He was perched on a stool, his elbows leaning on the gleaming table. He looked utterly fascinated by something that was scrolling across the computer screen. His hand found the mouse, and he double-clicked on an icon that appeared amid the text.
"As you can see," Greer replied, almost innocently, "Dr. House is just fine."
Cameron was torn. She wanted to ask him if he was truly all right, but at the same time she wanted to slap him sensible. Here he was, sitting in this lab and playing on the computer, apparently engrossed with whatever he was reading. Didn't he have any clue what kind of danger he was in?
"You should see this," House said, not even turning around. His tone was completely enthralled, as if he was looking at the answer to Life, the Universe, and Everything.
Despite herself, Cameron came to stand next to him. What she saw chilled her to the bone.
There, on the computer screen, was the familiar DNA double helix. The various chromosomal pairs were highlighted, and lines were drawn from each, text denoting which pair was for what purpose.
There were icons as well, and House clicked on one of them. The indicated pair enlarged into its own window, and an explanation scrawled across the page.
Cameron was looking at the chromosomal pair for telepathy.
This was the genetic matrix for Homo Superior.
She stared at Greer in shock. "How did you get this?" As far as she knew, there wasn't anyone on Earth who'd been able to work out the Tomorrow Person genome.
The man just smiled. "You can buy practically anything out there."
"You mean to say you purchased the DNA matrix for an entire species?" Elizabeth was just as outraged as Cameron herself was.
"Oh, yes. I believe the term is 'know thine enemy'."
"But we're not your enemy," Cameron cried. "We've done nothing but protect this planet, from alien incursions and its own inhabitants alike!"
"Oh, really?" Greer looked decidedly smug. "And yet you deny us the ability – no, the right – to defend ourselves."
"You can defend yourselves all you like. But the human race just isn't ready for the advanced technology you're dealing with!"
"So you say. Yet you deal with this 'advanced technology' all the time."
"That's because we're responsible enough to know what line we can cross."
"You and your high and mighty Homo Superior," Greer spat, his former glee becoming anger in a split second. "Even what you call yourselves is just so condescending! You think, just because you have a few new powers, you can dictate to the human race what we can and cannot do! You're in the minority here, Dr. Cameron. The human race doesn't need you anymore. We can take care of ourselves."
"Can we really?" House spoke up. He stood, retrieving his cane from where it had hung from the side of the table. "What you have here on this computer is the recipe for genocide, I assume you're aware of that?"
"It's just in case we need to defend ourselves against them, Dr. House. I thought you might understand that."
"And what happens if you have to use it? You'll be destroying an entire race. Last time I checked, we live in America, not Nazi Germany."
"How can you compare the deaths of a few hundred to millions?"
"It's fucking easy." House stomped past Cameron, to get into Greer's face. "Genocide is the same thing, whether you're dealing with a race based on religion or one that evolved naturally."
Cameron opened her mouth to interrupt, but House was on a roll and she knew it. What he was saying was surprising, considering his feelings earlier, in John's room. He'd been pretty condescending himself, and it was most likely the reason he'd confronted Andrew Greer in the first place.
Yet here he was, defending her race to this crazy idiot. She was dying to know what had changed his mind, but she wasn't about to ask him. She'd only get the runaround from him.
House would always be House, and House managed to constantly surprise her.
She stood back and watched.
"It's to protect ourselves!" Greer was practically spitting.
"If that's the kind of protection you're offering," House answered, quiet to Greer's fury, "then I don't want to have a thing to do with it. The whole human race should go and screw itself if that's the way it's going." He leaned closer, speaking even more softly. "Honestly, I can't wait for evolution to wipe us out, and replace every last one of us with Homo Superior. This planet would be a hell of a lot better off if it would just get on with it."
Cameron wanted to hug him.
Greer had gone very red, then very pale, at House's words. He opened his mouth to make his rebuttal.
House didn't give him the chance. He turned his back, looking at Cameron. He raised an eyebrow. "And here I thought you the polite one of the bunch." He jerked his head in Elizabeth's direction. "Who's your friend?"
Cameron snorted in mock disgust, but she did introduce Elizabeth. She was surprised once more when House held out his hand to the older woman. Elizabeth returned the gesture. "A pleasure to meet you, Dr. House."
"You won't say that after you get to know me better," House snarked in reply. "By the way, our friend here isn't being completely honest with us." He hooked a thumb over his shoulder to indicate Greer.
"What do you mean?" Cameron wanted to know.
"I mean," House answered, his voice and expression both equally serious, "is that I've had time to snoop beyond what's on that screen there. According to what I've seen, they're planning on programming their electronic womb with this genetic code…and they're saying it's a fatal mutation to be repaired. I'm sorry, Cameron. Looks like you had a right to be worried about this technology."
The apology didn't register past Cameron's sudden jolt of fear. This was what she'd been so frightened of, that night in the Lab: that someone would come along and decide that her very race was, in fact, some sort of birth defect to be eradicated.
"I'll contact the Federation, and have this place cleaned out," Elizabeth vowed, her voice low with anger.
"Excellent idea," House replied.
"NO!" Greer shouted, making the three of them turn to look at him. His face was even paler than before. "You don't have the right to interfere with this planet!"
"I do when it means you're harming potential members of the Galactic Federation," the diplomat answered. "And that's exactly what you're doing. Every Tomorrow Person born is automatically inducted into the Federation. That, Mr. Greer, is an act of war that we will not tolerate."
"Not if they don't know what you've seen," he snarled. He backed away, pulling a gun from behind his back.
"Oh, I forgot to mention he had that," House murmured.
Cameron rolled her eyes. Then she shot Greer with her stun gun.
Or, at least, she tried to.
Her gun didn't work.
Greer laughed. "By the way, when we purchased the psionic dampener, we also got a deal on a little device that inhibits energy weapons. Your little toys won't work down here."
"You mean you can't –" House waggled his fingers, at the same time raising his hand.
Cameron smirked, getting the sign instantly. "No, we can't – " She copied the movement back at him.
"Well, that sucks."
"You're not kidding." She holstered the useless weapon.
Greer was beginning to look very much self-assured once more. "Looks like I have the advantage here."
"Elizabeth! Allison!"
"Tim!" the two women chorused, Cameron saying it out loud for House's benefit.
"Thank goodness I am finally able to reach you!" The biotronic computer sounded relieved beyond words.
Greer went from assurance to confusion in a heartbeat. "What the hell is going on?"
"Looks like your little machine isn't working anymore," House drawled. "You might want to re-think that whole 'advantage' thing."
"How did you get past the psi-dampener?" Elizabeth asked.
A noise that sounded like a pager going off echoed throughout the sealed room. Cameron jumped, startled.
Greer went digging in his coat pocket, bringing out what resembled a palm pilot. He used his thumb to touch one of the tiny buttons on its surface.
"The Sharrion are in the complex," Tim reported. "I contacted them when you were out of contact for more than an hour."
Cameron laughed out loud, even as Greer was staring at the tiny computer screen he held, his face white with horror. "What the fuck are they?" he moaned.
She let her lips settle into her best wicked grin. "Do you remember when you said it would be impossible for an alien race to find you and reclaim their property?" She gave him a moment to digest that, then went on, "Guess you were wrong, because here they come…"
Greer panicked. He fired.