2080
Sally drummed her fingers on the steering wheel and fought to keep her foot lightly on the gas. It had taken some rigging and cursing to override the autopilot - she was too enraged to allow the damn car to take the reins today -, and she didn't want to get caught speeding, especially since this wasn't her own car, but belonged to the university.
Besides, she didn't want to get delayed on her way to Hasslein.
She didn't know who she wanted to kick more, him, or herself. Three years! What kind of mother was she, that she hadn't suspected a thing for three years?
There were a lot of mitigating circumstances, but every time Sally went down the list, she couldn't accept any of them. Yes, she had been working full time since Alan had gone missing, leaving at six in the morning, and coming home at ten in the night; yes, she did try to make up for it on the weekends, but Chris had holed up in his room even then, and she had just shrugged it off and blamed teenager hormones - moody teenager years, when you cherish your privacy, or resentment for her absence due to work, or depression over the loss of his father... everything but Hasslein.
It had begun to rain, and the computer was warning her that she was driving too fast for the weather with a constant whine, but Sally found it easy to ignore the machine; she was trying to remember what signs she had overlooked in all those years - signs that he had led a secret second life, in the thrall of that psychopath. She couldn't find any.
Chris had taken care not to give her a reason to look more closely, hadn't he? No complaints from his teachers: he had good grades - excellent grades in the MINT classes, especially; Sally grit her teeth at that thought. He dutifully took care of his little sister... although she now wondered how much of that he had pushed on a willing Gina, so he'd have the time to go to Hasslein... No problematic friends - had he friends at all?, no drinking, or speeding, or partying... Chris was completely trouble-free.
That alone should've alarmed her.
Somehow, she had failed as a mother; failed Chris.
Failed Alan.
Alan would've noticed. He had been such a keen observer, such a sensitive husband - he had always known when something had been bothering her, sometimes before she herself had become aware of it. Alan wouldn't have left his son in the clutches of a dangerous narcissist for three years.
She angrily wiped the back of her hand over her eyes. Alan was dead. It was no use beating herself up over a fantasy of what he would think of her right now.
Besides, she couldn't break down now. She had to collect her rage, and use it to crush that sonofabitch in his physics lab.
By the time she reached the gate of the ANSA facilities, Sally had recovered enough of her wrath to steamroll the guard's attempt to turn her away for lack of clearance. "One of your employees has been meeting in secret with my son, on these grounds, and if you don't want me to drag ANSA into the spotlight for ignoring the indecent conduct with a minor of one of their staff, you let me in and deal with that... person myself."
In the end, she was issued a guard to accompany her - and probably protect Hasslein from bodily harm; Sally didn't care. Let them think she was ready to use physical violence over legal action. Let them fear for their reputation, their budget, their project.
Let them shake in their boots for daring to keep Hasslein after what he had done to the Icarus' crew.
He had fooled them all, but what made her shake, with rage, was that Hasslein had fooled her, had sunk his claws into yet another Virdon man.
You won't get this one, you piece of filth!
The guard ushered her to Hasslein's office, assuring her that the professor wouldn't be in the laboratory at this time of the day. Sally followed the man - if Hasslein wasn't behind his desk, she could still hunt him down in the labs, no matter if she'd have to knock out her escort for that. With wild plans of grabbing the guard's ID and his weapon flitting through her mind - not to kill Hasslein, just to make him squirm - she slammed her hand on the door plate. For once, she wished for an old-fashioned doorblade that one could smash against the wall while barging in. Sliding doors were way too civilized for her current mood.
Hasslein wasn't surprised to see her. He didn't even look up from his computer screen. "Ah, Mrs. Virdon. I had expected you much sooner. Please, sit down."
Sally wavered for a moment. Taking the offered seat would be complying with the man's request, but refusing would mean she'd stand before his desk like a student, while he stayed seated, and thus in a position of authority.
Grinding her teeth, she pulled out the chair and sat down.
Hasslein kept typing into his computer, his gaze fixed to the screen.
"You can either face me now, or face legal action," Sally said, cursing the tremble in her voice. Rage was rattling her arms, clenching her stomach.
Hasslein flicked her a cool glance, but didn't stop typing. "As far as I'm aware, teaching physics is still legal in this state. I don't know about Louisiana, though. But after twenty years, you should've acclimated here."
"I'm talking about meeting with a minor without parental consent," Sally growled, ignoring the slight against her home state.
"I assure you, my interest in Chris is of a purely academical nature," Hasslein said blandly. "As he will confirm, should you drag him before a court."
"It doesn't matter what you did in that laboratory, it only matters that you did it behind my back," Sally snapped. "I'm sure ANSA will love the media attention! They already cut your budget twice, they'll be happy to have a reason to plug that money drain once and for all!"
She smiled grimly when Hasslein shut down the computer and turned towards her. Did that get your attention now? "I'm keeping up with the news, professor. I wondered how long you would be able to string them along - after all, you managed to delude me with this fantasy for almost two years. Well, shame on me - I should've known better. But to rope in a child - that's low, even for you."
"Since we're speaking about new lows," Hasslein said evenly, "how about taking away the only chance of return for the Icarus' crew to satisfy your very personal thirst for revenge, Mrs. Virdon? In case you forgot, it consists of more people than just your husband. I'm sure Mrs. Jones would be overjoyed to be reunited with her husband again."
"Mrs. Jones has remarried," Sally said dryly.
"So naturally, she would feel indifferent about the fate of her former husband," Hasslein said, not missing a beat.
The only one indifferent about anyone's fate but that of your pet project is you. Aloud, Sally just said, "Let's stop pretending, professor. You and I both know that the crew of the Icarus is dead, ever since they vanished from the monitors five years ago."
Saying it out loud still hurt, although she had practiced it every night before the bathroom mirror for three years now, looking her reflection straight in the eye while saying it. But right now, the pain was pleasantly dulled by her rage. She could look Hasslein in the eye and say it without flinching.
Hasslein raised a brow. "You know that? Have you consulted with an oracle, Mrs. Virdon? Because scientifically speaking, there is no way to know what happened after the ship made its jump."
"I won't let myself get manipulated with fairy tales and false hopes again," Sally hissed. "And how dare you take a child hostage of this illusionary hope?"
"Hope is always an illusion, since it pretends that a potentiality is an actuality," Hasslein said cooly. "But we're not dealing with hope here - my extrapolation has a firm basis in reality, and obviously, ANSA agrees with me, or they wouldn't have provided the millions of dollars that this project will cost."
"It was my Bring Our Boys Home initiative that swayed public opinion - an initiative that you had bribed me into conducting, bribed with nothing but hope!" Sally rose, unable to stay still anymore. "I could kick myself every day for that idiocy!"
Hasslein leaned back in his seat and regarded her for a moment, and Sally tried not to feel as if she was an exotic particle trapped in a laser beam. "Have you really given up on your husband?" he asked, and for once, his voice didn't have the slightly sardonic undertone, as if he was conversing with an amusingly eloquent monkey.
And maybe it was the thoughtfulness in his voice that made her open up. "I had to move on, for the sake of my children," she said softly.
"Your lack of faith is regrettable," Hasslein said, and the dry, mocking tone was back in his voice, and Sally cursed herself for having fallen for his masquerade again.
"You don't understand the first thing about faith, or love!" She rounded his desk and loomed over him, fists clenched. The guard, alarmed at her sudden move, jogged after her and yanked her back. Then he began to drag her towards the door.
Sally dug her heels in and fought against the pull. "And the only thing you know about hope is how to use it to manipulate others to do your bidding! You're such a despicable creature!"
Hasslein rose and waved for the guard to release her. The man stopped pulling, but didn't release her arm. Sally ignored the pain that his grip caused her; she was ablaze, only focused on Hasslein, who now slowly stepped around his desk, and casually leaned against its edge.
"Even if you have abandoned your husband," he said conversationally, "Chris hasn't. Do you really think he'll just 'move on' if this project gets shut down? Do you really think he'll return into your arms, and love you as the one person responsible for cutting him off from his father for good?"
He smiled thinly at her silence. "Chris is fifteen; he's too old to forget such a betrayal. Why do you think he didn't let you in on his little secret? What does that say about his trust in you?"
Sally felt her throat tighten. Don't cry. Don't cry in front of this monster.
"If you want to salvage your relationship with your son, you should start supporting him," Hasslein was saying.
"I can't support this baiting," she said, and hated her choked voice. "That's what you're doing."
Hasslein regarded her, no doubt taking in the sheen that covered her eyes and threatened to roll down her cheeks. "If you can't support your son," he said finally, "at least don't stand in his way."
"Stand in your way, you mean," Sally huffed.
Hasslein shook his head. "Do you even know how gifted your son is?" he asked. "He could be the next Stephen Hawking, without the physical deficiency, of course."
Sally gaped at him, too shocked by the man's disrespect to come back with a retort immediately, but before she could say something, Hasslein continued.
"Independently from saving your husband, this project aims to save mankind from its own destructiveness. You're on the frontlines of this war, Mrs. Virdon, tell me - how long until you have to inform the public that the plankton mass has dwindled - globally - to a meager fifteen percent of its original amount from 2050, and that there's no indication that the rate of destruction is slowing down? Do you think I'm unaware of the developments out there? How long until mass extinction arrives in the cities?" He slightly shook his head. "This is the basis of the maritime food chain we're talking here. Already, the higher rungs are starving off, and the fishermen all over the world return with empty nets.
"If we want to have any chance at survival, we need to get off this dying world, the sooner, the better. Think carefully if you want to throw that door shut for mankind, just to soothe your hurt pride. It's the only door we have."
He nodded to the guard then, and this time, Sally didn't resist when the man led her outside.
She had lost - not just this battle, but the war. Chris wouldn't stop seeing Hasslein; ANSA wouldn't shut down the project. She should've noticed what was going on three years ago. While there still had been time to remove her son from this toxic man.
Helen had been right. Hasslein was a wizard, keeping them all enthralled with his magic, this inextricable tangle of truth and lies, threat and hope, despair and promise.
"Home," she told the autopilot; her sight was too blurred to drive herself.
She had lost Chris to Hasslein, just as surely as she had lost Alan to him back then, when he had followed the same poisoned vision of finding a new home for mankind.
But Sally was absolutely certain all of a sudden that there was no other home for man than the one he had devastated. God wouldn't let them wiggle out of this responsibility. They would have to stay here and face the consequences. If Earth died, mankind would die with her, and deservedly so.
When she came home, and called for Chris to come down into the kitchen, he was slow to respond; and when he finally appeared, his expression was wary.
He dreaded her.
The two steps towards him seemed to span an incredibly long distance. When Sally had finally reached him, she threw her arms around his neck as if she would fall back into the abyss if she let go. He was already as tall as her, she noticed suddenly; soon he would be as tall as his father.
"Everything okay, Mom?" he asked, as he hesitantly hugged her back.
She couldn't answer; couldn't tell him how much she loved him, because she was drowning in tears, and she couldn't breathe.
And so they just stood in the kitchen, clinging to each other, while she cried her heart out for the family she had lost, and for all the lives that would soon perish, too.