"Fringey…"
Summary: Sarah and her sisters see there's an even darker side to Dyad's little cloning-fest…
(Not sure about this one but while I await more details for "Nessun Dorma" I'll play round with this darker one and see how it goes. Afraid you'll have to consider this the Allison-Donnie-friendly corner of the OB multiverse. After all, she can't be veering toward insanity and he can't be a rat in every universe…)
Disclaimer: No copywrite infringement intended.
Part XXVII…
Ok…Donnie thought as he made his careful way to the main resort area, anxious to avoid arousing suspicion should he be undersurveillance…Monitored myself, he thought ruefully…As he almost certainly was…
Ally's ok…No need to panic, they were fooled or this one would never try to take her place like this. However, the game may be up in about ten minutes or less when she finds no sign of Ally. Just hope my brilliant wife's plan B works…And they truly believe I'm as dimwitted as Leekie obviously did.
Lovely…Bet Dierden never has to suck up this kind of humiliation from them. But that's my one usefulness here, they find me ludicrous as an opponent. Just a pathetic tool…
But, Ally thinks differently, so…Who cares?
Hmmn…I smell food cooking, he eyed the main building, with restaurant/cafeteria.
Well, long as I have to be here…And we did pay for this place…
"Helena's sure to elude the APB for a while…" Ally sighed. "She'll just at worse play me or one of the others. She's as good at it as we are. Good coffee…" she sipped at her mug. "Thanks…"
"Beth was a fan of the gourmet stuff…" Paul smiled…Bit of a cloud a moment later… "Anyway…I think you're right. So? Now what?"
"Well, I'm a cop and I got duty, so I'd guess I'd better get to it. I'll call Art at the hospital on my way and see how he's doing…Maybe he'll have suggestions."
"I can see what my contacts can do…A few still have links to military intel, they might just show something if Dyad still has friends in the US military…And my guess is they do, though very hidden 'friends', doing all they can to keep their heads down."
"Paul…" Ally paused… "Helena said we were pre-disposed to violence. I mean she said it in a roundabout way, but she claimed we were controlled in some way, a little like those poor girls…That Beth…"
"What about Beth?"
"She claimed Beth killed Maggie Chen not to protect us but on Dyad's orders…Somehow they got to her, used her…And knowing that on top of…" hesitant look… "…everything else…"
"That's not possible." He shook his head. "No one ever controlled Beth. I don't believe it."
"She was on a lot of meds…Maybe that had something to do with it…" Ally noted. "Maybe she and I were programmed to use them or susceptible to it…Then, whenever they want…Push a button and…"
"That's not you, Ally…You're not a machine or tool. And neither was Beth…"
"I'd like to believe that…" she nodded, wistfully. "But Beth killed Maggie Chen and if Dr. Chen was turning against Dyad, fighting them, and worse, about to expose Tomas as a fraud to Helena…It would make sense they'd want her dead."
She looked at the wall…Pondering…Staring back at him…
"If they could do that to Beth, maybe they can do it to me…Maybe the moment they want me to, I'll kill Donnie…Or the other girls…"
"If they controlled you to that extent this would have been over long ago…Sarah would've killed me and you'd all be happily marching around the Dyad lab, hailing Leekie. Can't be, Ally." Paul shook his head.
"It could be more subtle. Helena is right on one point, we're all good with weapons and at fighting…Even I learned to shoot in a couple of lessons…And when I fought Anysley, it was as if I instinctively knew some moves…I did them badly…But I seemed to know. And there are a lot of indications that this was a military project…Back when Donnie met Claire Leekie that night, she told him the US military and the CIA had supported Project Leda and our creation. Cold War paranoia was good for Dyad, she said."
"It's likely they aimed for a certain level of athletic ability, reflexes, high metabolism…I can buy that." Paul nodded thoughtfully. "Just as they certainly did what they could to make you all very attractive, though we still can't say if that was deliberate or random or if they just dropped the ones…" he paused.
"The unfit got flushed…Yeah…" Ally sighed. "I'm sure that was the case."
"It would make sense they were aiming at a potential soldier/agent…Someone who could be deployed in large numbers, maybe as sleeper agents. That would interest the military and the CIA. But programming or mind-control…? And again, if they could, at such a level, why not use it with you guys?"
"I suppose…" she nodded, carefully. "But it could be very subtle…And maybe only tried in a few of us. After all Beth was a cop, with access to weapons."
"And Cos lives in the US, not exactly a place where weapons are hard to acquire…" Paul noted, with grin. "She's shown no urge to grab a gun and kill us…Or at least Delphine."
"Suppose each one of us were pre-disposed…Beth to becoming a weapons user or something like that, a cop or a soldier…Me, a family-orientation, a happy housewife and soccer mom, afraid of looking beyond her neighborhood…"
"Doesn't sound like you, to me." Smile.
"Cosima to scientific or math efforts, Helena…Well, she and Sarah are special…But they might have implanted some penchant for insanity or violence, plus that regenerative ability in the original egg and Sarah avoided the insanity and both of retained, or at least, in Sarah's case, passed on the regeneration ability."
"I'm no genetics guy, but I don't think there's genes like that Ally…"
"Maybe not genes…But they could have found some way…Some means of putting directives in our heads…"
"Ally…"
"Sorry…I know that sounds nutty." Sigh. "And I am off the meds, so I guess I'm not forced to take them…" wan smile.
"Beth was under terrific stress…In no small part thanks to me." Paul noted.
"I know…But I have to consider this seriously, Paul…" Allison shook her head. "If I may potentially be a danger to Donnie and the kids…"
"You haven't been, you won't be…"
Sigh…Smile… "I know that must seem a pretty dull goal to you…Just wanting to keep my housewifey life and protect my family...Someone like you must want a heck of a lot more from…"
"Please…" Paul put up a hand… "I admired Beth, even while I was betraying her but she hadn't found any key to happiness. As for Sarah, what she wants most really is pretty much what you have."
"With a lot more style…" grin…
"That's relative. I see her ten years from now pretty much you…Maybe even gaining a few pounds…" smile. "Don't sell yourself or what you have short, Ally."
"I don't…I'm proud of what Donnie and I made together…And it's meant a lot to me, to see how he's come thru for me, after that rough patch…And even then he was just trying to do the right thing by me."
"He's a good man, fundamentally. I get that. I wish I were."
"If Sarah believes in you, I do…And you've risked your life for us. Well, I've gotta get movin'…Crime doesn't sleep, after all…"
"Policewoman Hendrix…" he grinned. "And you know, Beth would be proud of you…And grateful you and Sarah have carried on for her."
"Please…I'm just lucky I didn't shoot myself with Art's gun yesterday. I'll call you at lunch time, ok?"
"Ok…But lets go out together…Sarah." He eyed her.
"Oy…Ay…" she replied. Uh…
"No, you aren't required to kiss me on the way out, Ally." Grin.
Hmmn…Donnie sighed at the buffet before him.
I did have to promise Ally I'd watch it while up here.
But heck, we paid for two people…As long as the credit card holds out, what the hell, she would want us to have our money's worth…He grabbed a plate.
He paused as his phone buzzed. An elderly woman following, frowning at the iceberg in her sea lane...He hastily dodging her …
"Yo, Hendrix…" he confidently answered…Expecting an unimportant, relatively speaking, call from the workplace.
"Donnie? Thank God."
"Ally?" cautious tone. "I don't think…"
"No, it's Sarah…Donnie, listen…" she hissed.
"Aldous?" Rachel's semi-prone form in the car hissed. After a pause, rather slowly, even painfully opening eyes.
Lord, this switching to and fro is not easy…
"Aldous…?" she called from the Olive-as-Alison body …To the Leekie and Simon now stealthily approaching the door…
"The bitch has flown the coop." she eyed them. "If she was ever here…"
"Huh…" Leekie stared. Simon looking nervously about… "Ally is gone, you say…?"
"I can't find her…So yes."
"And where is dear ole Hendrix, male?"
"I sent him off to the feeding trough."
"And he didn't seem surprised? Startled, to see you?"
"I don't know!" she waved hands frantically. "This foolish game…Maybe I can't use my senses as well in this thing…" she shrugged.
"You seem to be doing quite well." He noted calmly. "Now, now…" he put up a hand to her glare… "It's perfectly possible Ally just stepped out for a jog or something right? Did you check for clothes, that sort of thing?"
She paused…Finally shaking head… "No, I haven't…Just…When I saw no one was there…But Aldous…?"
"Well…If Ally wasn't here…Ever…Then we have to give Hendrix a slight apology for all the rather snide comments we've been making about him. He's fooled us, no question…If this is a set-up."
"Should I go, find him?" Simon asked.
"Among the other bourgeois bovines?" Rachel frowned. "What will you do, slaughter the herd?"
"That may not be outside the bounds of possibility…" Leekie noted. "After all, a mass killing here would be easier to cover than us shooting one rather obtuse suburbanite with no record or criminal connections."
Hold it there, Simon…He put out a hand to stop the eager Simon…Rachel eyeing Simon with a perturbed expression.
Rather a bit too eager, even for our people…
"Lets not rush into trouble here…Now…Suppose we have a look-see and see if there are any signs that dear Ally was ever here, let alone waiting for her possible return, how about that, folks?" he eyed the others.
"I think that's wise, Aldous…" Rachel sighed. "I may have over-reacted…And killing fifty or sixty of these idiots to cover up Hendrix's murder would surely be more of the same…"
"Right then, lead on…" he waved, a cheery smile…She nodded and turned…
Simon a bit down at the demonstrated lack of faith in his ability to discreetly eliminate a few dozen witnesses…
No…She brushed off the image on the edge of consciousness…Donnie smiling at her…The faintest ghost of feeling his kiss on her…Olive's…Face…
Oh, no…No…
God, no…