Alive
Book 2
Pt19
1
So, here they were again.
The Swinton brothers.
Warring siblings locked in a hateful pas de deux that had been going on since before David could accurately recall.
Henry had gone up the stairs to make sure "She" was sleeping soundly. That had left David and Martin sitting in an awkward silence on opposite ends of the table, eyes locked on one another in unspoken spite. And in this very place; the same dinner table where their war for dominance over Her love had begun so unceremoniously, so many years ago.
Ice, Amanda had called him.
Maybe, David thought, just maybe she had not chosen that nickname because of his time in cryo… perhaps it was his icy stare that had provoked her. What thoughts lay behind those cold, dark eyes, he wondered. What did his nemesis have to do with the raid on the Nexus? And was he somehow involved with the criminal entrepreneur Dreven Olmier?
His Father had made a cryptic warning that David should keep an eye on Martin, and report back to him anything unusual. But what would stand out as unusual? How could he tell what was out of the ordinary for someone he never really knew? Hobby knew something, but would not say what. Was it the Spider spybots? They had been state of the art. Not the kind of thing you'd expect to see in the hands of scammers like Olmier or the Crash Jammers. Had Martin been the go between for their acquisition? Is that what his father suspected?
A thought came to David as he gazed into Martin's hard stare. What if he just said it? What if he just laid his cards on the table, as the saying went. Would it wipe the cocky smile from his evil brother's face if David subtly let him know that Hobby on to him?
But it seemed that Martin had his own cards to play, and he beat David to the punch.
"You're lying," Martin said.
The words made David flinch. He tried to play off his reaction; lifting an eyebrow to feign ignorance. But he knew where this was going. And he didn't like it.
"Lying?" he said. "About what?"
"I remember our first meeting," Martin said though clenched teeth. "On the playground when we chased those skate brats off. Remember that? When we saved your weak ass from a beat down?"
David reluctantly nodded his head, certain that, if he tried to speak, his voice might crack.
"You knew too much," Martin said. "When we talked that day…. you knew everything about us… about my family. About me. You knew what had happened between me and… and that thing. How? How could you know so much?"
David could not respond. Martin looked away, his face pensive as he thought. When he set his dark eyes back on David, there was a new awareness behind them. His words made David shiver.
"I don't know who you are… or what you are," Martin said. "But I know you're no damned clone. I know that much."
"I know a few things too, Martin," David hissed. "Like why you didn't take Amanda to the Nexus yourself that night. Because you knew what was going down, didn't you? You didn't want to get caught up in the fight, so you didn't show until the CJs were finished. So, quid pro quo, 'Ice'; how did you know so much?"
It was Martin's turn to flinch. He seemed to be a much better liar than David, and his reaction was barely perceptible. But it was there. David pushed a little harder.
"And not just how you could know," he continued. "But how did a gang of CJ punks get hold of such sophisticated spyware? That would be an interesting speculation, eh?"
Martin said nothing, but David was certain that if he'd still had the ability to detect the human pulse at a distance, he would hear the boy's heart racing. The silent standoff resumed, both boys glaring at the other; their minds jostling for position in this game of mental chess. Its conclusion could spell dire circumstances for both.
But the game was interrupted by the sound of Henry tip-toeing down the stairs.
"Ok, she'll probably sleep until noon," Henry said. "The medication really takes it out of…"
But he stopped when he noticed the tension between the boys. He looked back and forth between them a few times before he sat down next to Martin.
"Everything ok here?" he said, cautiously.
Martin clenched his jaw as he struggled with a critical decision. David stared back flatly, hoping Martin understood the precarious position he was in…. that they both were in.
"Yeah," Martin said at last. "I just never talked to an actual clone before. It's weird…. weird how much they look like… and sound like the real thing."
"Yeah," David said with a forced chuckle. He gave Henry a weak smile, playing along with Martin's ruse. "I get that a lot."
So that was it, he thought. Détente had been achieved under the threat of mutually assured destruction. They both had their secrets. Neither could spill the other's without having his own revealed. They were safe from each other… for the time being.
If Henry sensed lies lurking beneath their words, he did not show it.
"Well let's get to it," he said. "What the hell is going on?"
2
By the time David was finished the story, sunbeams were burning through the windows to form a pool of light on the living room carpet. The glass had automatically tinted to limit the glare, and the house still remained mostly in shadow. David was glad for this. He didn't really want to see Martin's stare any more than he had to.
Henry had stopped him now and then to have him retell something. David focused on his research into the CJ culture, of his conversation with the rogue morphing bot 101. But he stepped carefully around talk of the twins, who he still did not understand. Nor did he mention anything that would cause Henry to ask the wrong questions; the ones whose answers would reveal too much about source of the strange cult of the Trinary Directive. Because, as it turned out, he was that source.
Oddly, Henry didn't have any questions about the clone story. A few well-placed inquiries about his age and when exactly his artificial gestation had begun, might have given Henry pause; might even make his whole ruse fall apart. But it was as if the man didn't want to know. Was he simply respecting Hobby's privacy? Or was it that the clone story was the only thing that could make sense in this mortal realm, where rocks are hard and water wet and the unexplained always had an explanation? David had seen this many times in his new life; the Orga tendency to ignore what is right in front of their eyes when an easier explanation was offered. So Henry didn't ask.
David knew he didn't have to worry about Martin asking anything inappropriate. Not now. Not until they were alone again, anyway. And he'd do his best to avoid that.
"So, this rogue basically organized the raid on the Nexus?" Henry said when David had finished. He leaned back and made a face that was the equivalent of scratching his head in confusion. "Why did he… I mean, why did it plant spybots? Why go to such elaborate measures when it could just scour the net?"
This was getting too close to home.
"I'm not sure," David lied. "But if Cybertronics was the target, it would make sense. Cyber Security is very tight there. Planting snoops might have been the only way to get in."
Henry thought for a moment.
"But that would mean, they would have to had known that…" he stopped and looked at Martin. "Hey, weren't you there that night?" he said. "I remember worrying about you when I saw the newsfeeds. Didn't you have a date or something?"
Martin stammered for a moment, unsure what lie to tell next.
"He gave his tickets to Amanda," David interjected, setting a cool gaze on Martin as he spoke. "That's what she told me anyway. She took me with her to the show. We both got caught in raid and got bugged. That's what caused the security breach in Manhattan"
The look in David's eyes said 'you owe me'. Martin only shrugged as if to concede.
"Yeah," Martin said, playing along. "I think you're right. I remember giving those tickets to Mandy and… and she said she was going with someone else. Didn't say who."
Henry seemed satisfied by this exchange.
"So what does 101 want?" he said. "And why did it try to go through you?"
"I think it's using me to get to Hob… to get to my Father. It wants something from him… from its creator," David said. "I think it…"
And then it suddenly came to him. David realized that he might know what 101 wanted after all. It was obvious now. And something he didn't have to lie to Henry about.
"I think it wants to be… alive," he said. That was it, wasn't it? Even as he said the words it was the only thing that made sense.
Martin scowled. Henry laughed. But his laughter slowly subsided and he shook his head.
"You're serious?" he said.
But David didn't answer. He was lost in a sudden realization. The twins! He had never understood the twins he had seen at Animal's hideout that night; the ones he wasn't supposed to see, the ones who had prompted Myron's cryptic allusion to an 'army". They had been secreting into the house as he had left. They were young, clad in dark robes, and David wasn't sure exactly how many there were. There certainly weren't enough for a siege of any sort.
But what if they weren't the army? What if…
"What do you know about Familiar technology?" he said suddenly.
Henry shook his head at the sudden change of topic. Martin looked equally confused.
"You mean the brain implants? Um… nothing," Henry replied, surprised by the question. "The patent on that is exclusive to Familiar Corp. Cybertronics can't even touch it. Nobody can. Hobby isn't even working on his own version. But you should know that, right?"
"Of course," David said. The truth is he didn't know what his father was up to at any given time. "But it just occurred to me that…" he stopped. There was no way to say this without broaching the subject of the twins.
"What?" Henry asked when David's silence had gone on too long.
"You have to get to Manhattan," David said quickly. "101 will be watching and it's not stupid. So don't announce your trip, just go. Tell my Father everything I've told you and then tell him to have Jenna West look into Familiar. And stay off anything but in-house, protected systems. Something just occurred to me and… and if its right, then I know what 101 is up to."
"You've got to give me more than that," Henry said. "I can't just tell Jenna to look into another company with no explanation. What's she supposed to be looking for?"
David was about to launch into an evasive explanation, when a sound interrupted him.
A voice.
Soft and fragile, with the last sleepy remnants of a dream hidden in its aural caress, the voice wound its way gently down from the top of the spiral staircase, and grasped David by his heart.
"Henry?" said the voice. "You down there?"
Her.
Mommy.
She was awake.
3
The heart exists in its own time frame; its own very special relativity to the rest of the universe. When it calls, seconds become minutes and minutes an eternity.
David felt like he was in a dream as he watched Henry jump up and gesture for he and Martin to be quiet.
"Monica! Honey, get back in bed," Henry said "I'll be right up."
He turned and tapped David on the shoulder. David, who had been gazing at the staircase, watching anxiously for a glimpse of Her; looked up to see Henry gesturing towards the kitchen. He rose slowly from his chair fighting the sudden urge to run to her, just to see her again, to let her know he was real now; that he was alive. And to tell her how much he still loved her. Would always love her.
But Martin's scowling gaze dragged him back to this simple reality. He'd seen that look before. It said: She's mine! I'm her son! And I'm the only one!
"I thought you were at work," called the sleepy voice from the top of the stairs.
"Umm, no no," Henry stammered as he ushered David out of the living room, towards the kitchen where she would not see him. "I called in sick today. Had some … things I wanted to work on at home." He gestured for David to stay put.
"Who were you talking to?" Monica said. "I heard other voices."
Henry rushed back towards the staircase; to keep her from descending and seeing the strange boy with the face of the child she had abandoned; the face that had been the source of all her guilt and self-destruction.
But he was too late.
Was it déjà vu? This disorienting feeling that fell on David as he watched Her slowly descending the spiral stairs? He'd had a dream like this many years ago, in another chapter of his life. She had been there, coming down these very stairs, surrounded by the demons that had always come between their love.
But this was not a dream and She was no winged blue angel, clad in light. This was reality, and She was frail and bent, clad in a robe of worn rose cloth, that hung loosely on her thin frame. She clasped it around her waist with thin shaking wrists. Her beautiful hair was hidden now, beneath a sleeping cap, and the flesh of her face was pale.
But she was still beautiful to his heart's eye. She would always be beautiful. The most beautiful of all creation.
David could not stop himself from stepping back into the living room. He was in a trance born of a lifetime of frustrated promises and loss.
Martin rose and grabbed David by the arm, tried to pull him back into the kitchen where he would be out of her view. David knew he should relent and allow himself to be hidden away from her fragile gaze; so she would not ask too many questions; so her suffering would not resume. But he could not.
He shrugged off Martin's grasp as Henry stepped onto the bottom of the staircase. Then he saw Her turn to look in his direction. Her gaze was flame in the dark, and he a moth drawn uncontrollably to its dangerous light and warmth.
"Who is that?" she said weakly.
Henry stopped her halfway down the stairs.
"Nobody, babe," he said. "You know you shouldn't be up right now. You need your rest."
"Is that Martin?" she asked, pushing Henry's hands away.
"Monica, please" Henry pleaded, grasping her by the shoulders. "Let's go back upsta-"
"Dammit Henry! I'm fine!" she bellowed, suddenly, pushing Henry back with more force than it seemed her thin body contained. "Will you stop panicking over me! I'm just getting some coffee."
"Okok," Henry conceded, raising his hands and stepping back to avoid a scene. "Tell you what; I'll brew up a cup and bring it to you," he said.
But Monica waved her hand dismissively.
"You never get it right," she grumbled, "You couldn't make a decent cup if my life depended on it."
She tried to push her way past Henry, but he wouldn't budge.
"What is going on with you?" she said, annoyed. Her speech was slightly slurred by drugs and restless slumber. "You trying to hide something?"
"I'll make it for you."
That voice.
Whose voice was that?
Monica stopped struggling with Henry, and looked into the shadows of the kitchen. There was a boy there. She'd thought it was Martin… but no. It was a blonde boy. With a peculiar blue stare.
"Hello?" she said.
"Hi," David replied. He tried to look casual, but he could not help the hitch in his voice. It happened every time he was in Her presence. And now She was looking back at him. Now She saw him too. And he was fulfilled.
Martin quickly jumped in between them.
"Hey Mom," he said casting a sideway glare at David. "Uh, this is my friend… Blue. He… he was just leaving."
Martin started nudging David with his shoulder, but David ignored it and stared in rapt fascination at Her. She was right there. Right there! So near.
"Ok, so we'll bring it up to you, honey," Henry said. He tried to push her gently back up the stairs, but Monica grabbed the bannister and wouldn't move. She just stared for a moment, tilting her head to the side as she studied the strange boy in shadows on the kitchen. Was that a flight suit? And there was something familiar about him, wasn't there? His face. She was sure she'd seen it before… but where?
"Blue?" she said at last. "Well, that's a pretty name. Pretty name for a pretty boy." She giggled like a teenager, and then turned suddenly serious. "Can you make me a decent cup of jo, Blue? Because these two…" she gestured to Henry and Martin. "They don't have a clue."
David heard the slurred words; saw the way She wobbled a bit as She spoke. It was the drugs. Perhaps She wouldn't recognize him in this medicated state. Perhaps She was safe from Her memories for now.
"Yeah," he said. "I can make some just the way you like it.. I mean, probably. Probably the way you like it."
He tried not to flinch when Martin pinched his side hard and whispered something foul in his ear.
"You should go back to bed, Mrs Swinton," he said, ignoring his caustic brother. "I'll start right now."
He knew his behavior was making Henry very suspicious. But he couldn't help it. He was in Heaven.
"You're a sweet boy," Monica said with a lazy smile. "Martin needs more friends like you."
With that she turned and walked slowly back towards her room, glancing over her shoulder a couple of times at Martin's strangely familiar looking young friend.
Henry followed her, glancing at David with an expression that was equal parts suspicion and gratitude that he had managed to get her to go back to bed.
David turned to see Martin's face tighter than it had been since he'd arrived.
"Who the f**k are you?" he said.
David stared back silently. After a moment he smiled.
"Why, I'm David, big brother," he said as he pushed his way past Martin and into the kitchen.
"So, I assume everything is still in the same place," he said as he began the sacred ritual of making Her morning coffee. How long had it been?
When Henry came back, he would have to think of some quick lies to explain his strange reaction to his wife's presence. And there was still 101 to think about.
But he would worry about all that later. For now he was going to concentrate only on making her happy. It was his reason for being. His only true source of joy.
(cont…)