Binary, page 22
“No...” my head shook. “What is this? No...”
I had to be dreaming. A nightmare. My eyes watered as I pushed the side of my panties further down to reveal my hip in its entirety.
A black, plastic, yet metallic looking gear turned in my hip as I lifted my knee. Pliable metallic tubes, nearly too small to be seen upon its surface, matched what I saw on the Heart Device. My chest grew tight. I screamed and surged against the bathroom door’s frame and toppled into the shower, taking the curtains down with me, flailing frantically beneath them.
The screams continued as if somebody else were making them until I freed myself from the shower curtain to emerge from the bathtub. My world spun. Breathing became erratic until I hyperventilated.
“Just...” said Father. “Just breathe, Alexis.”
I could not speak. My head shook.
“What is it?” asked Dr. Landry over the speaker. “What’s wrong?”
I backed up, opened the hotel door, and bolted... running from a calling I could not escape in a world I no longer understood.
Chapter 30
Leveling out
I RAN FROM THE HOTEL with a spinning head and never turned back. I needed a moment to myself. Talking about it was something I irrationally wanted to avoid.
Father was right behind me as I rounded the corner and made my way into an old mom-and-pop diner with a sixties theme. Everyone’s heads turned when I burst through the front door, then stopped to walk casually to a booth, ignoring the lady that tried to greet me.
I sat. The short time that passed before Father found his way into the diner allowed me to settle my breathing a little. It was necessary. I was no longer ready to cry, but still thrown for a loop.
Father entered and searched the diner for a minute before he spotted me. I knew he was there, but I said nothing. My mind was juggling fact from fiction, possibilities from impossibilities.
Father sat across from me in the booth and said nothing.
“What can I get for the two of you?” asked an approaching waitress.
“Coffee,” answered Father. “Black. Two of them.”
“Anything else?” she asked.
“No,” he answered. “That’ll be all. Thank you.”
“My name’s Ann,” she said, “and in case you change your mind...”
She rested a pair of menus on the table and left. I waited for him to say something. A long moment passed with nothing more than our thoughts to keep us company.
The waitress returned with two cups in hand.
“Here’s your coffee.” She set them on the table. “The creamer, sugar, and other stuff’s right here on the table if you want some.”
“Thank you,” said Father.
Father played with his coffee while my head danced. He stirred it a minute before reaching for the little packs of sugar. Four of them. The most I had seen him use in years.
“Alexis,” he said, “you’ve got to talk to me.”
“I’m not...” I paused.
“Why did you take off like that?” he asked.
“Something cybernetic is growing inside me,” I answered.
“Don’t be ridiculous,” said Father. “I know you’re overwhelmed, but let’s be rational and stay grounded in reality here for a minute.”
“My hip,” I said. “It’s...”
“Remember,” said Father, “be rational. Use that mind of yours. Not your heart. Not instincts.”
“Something’s...” I paused to think.
“Is it as bad as your back is?” asked Father.
“It’s...” I answered. “Something’s there.”
“What kind of something?” he asked.
“Something...” I continued. “Something that’s... Tubes... These lights...”
“Tubes and lights?” he asked. “That doesn’t make any sense. I think you might be in shock.”
“I know what I’m talking about.” My voice rose.
Father fiddled with his coffee for a moment. He knew I was tense. He did not seem offended by the raising of my voice, but I felt bad about lashing out the way I did.
“I’m just trying to be here for you,” said Father. “That’s all.”
“Something’s in there,” I said. “In me. Like a gear or... I don’t know. It’s like what I saw with Bruce, but not quite the same. It’s more like what I saw on the surface of the Heart Device.”
“The object you mentioned?” asked Father. “The one built for the robot?”
“He’s not a robot,” I answered with still shaking hands, “and yes.”
“You think they put something inside of you?” he asked.
“No,” I answered. “They couldn’t have.”
“Could it be from the weapons you mentioned?” asked Father.
I thought about it. Anything was possible.
“I don’t know,” I answered.
“Did they do something to you at the compound?” he asked.
“They couldn’t have,” I answered. “I wasn’t even there a month, and I was awake most of the time.”
“You never know, Alexis,” said Father. “Some of the things you’ve mentioned are pretty advanced and—”
“I do know,” I interrupted. “Whatever this is, this thing in my hip, it’s not from them implanting something into me. That would have required a surgery. Healing time.”
I thought hard. So did Father. Two great minds racing the same race. One without a finish line.
“I showered there every night,” I continued. “There was never a mark. Nothing.”
I stood from the booth and walked towards the diner door. Father stood behind me, dropping a ten-dollar bill on the table before following me out.
“Come back to the hotel with me,” said Father. “Let’s call this Dr. Landry guy back up and get some answers. He knows something we don’t.”
I stood there.
“Alexis...” he urged.
It took strength to face him.
“Come on,” he continued. “I want to see what’s going on with your hip.”
I nodded and followed him back to the hotel at a snail’s slither. We both wanted to find out more, but I was not in a hurry to make it happen. I was worried about what his reaction would be when he saw my hip. He thought I was in shock, misjudging, but he was wrong.
30-2
Seeking help
We reached the room and paused at the door, neither of us excited to move forward.
Father entered the room with me behind him, and my eyes went straight to his phone, interested in when it would ring again. He made a beeline for the bathroom to grab some tissues and more of the black salve. I shut and locked the door behind us.
They had turned my world on its head. I no longer knew if the weapons or scientists back at the compound had somehow altered me. For all I knew, I was actively changing inside.
The reasons did not matter. Change was coming. Not a force on Earth could stop it.
Father emerged from the bathroom with the first aid kit in hand, but I refused to let him inspect my hip. I could not bear the thought of him seeing it. It would have put him in the same overwhelmed state of mind I was in.
“Well,” said Father, “what now then? I mean, if you’re not going to let me look at your hip...”
“I will,” I said. “Just not yet.”
“Why not?” he asked.
“Because I don’t want you being as freaked out as I am right now,” I answered.
He looked at me. “I’m just going to have to take your word on that, aren’t I?”
“I need to get to Doctors Landry and Crane,” I said.
“Do you trust them?” asked Father. “After everything that’s happened?”
“I don’t know,” I answered.
“Is there anyone else?” he continued. “There must be other options.”
“None.” I shook my head. “Nobody.”
We talked about it for a bit, but I was steadfast in my decision. Father wanted to speak to Dr. Landry again and meet both him and Dr. Crane in person. He was right about one thing, though. I was not a hundred percent sure if I could trust them.
The phone rang. Father put it on speaker and handed it to me.
“Professor Platz,” asked Dr. Landry, “is Alexis back?”
“It’s me,” I answered. “How do I get back to the compound?”
“Go to the top of the parking garage behind 156 Wisenheimer drive in forty-five minutes,” answered Dr. Landry. “It’s close to where you’re at now. I’ll meet you there.”
“Will you be alone,” asked Father, “or are you just setting Alexis up to be nabbed and dragged back to this compound of yours?”
“She’s willing to come back now, Professor,” answered Dr. Landry. “What would I gain from having her abducted?”
“And you’ll be alone?” asked Father.
“Yes,” answered Dr. Landry. “I told the others I was going to aid in your search earlier today. A ruse for the greater good. I’m going to take you to a secret entrance into the compound, then I’ll let you the rest of the way in once I’m settled.”
“And no one else knows about it?” asked Father.
“No,” answered Dr. Landry. “They deliberately left it from the blueprints during its construction. I’m the only one left that’s been there long enough to know about it.”
Moments later, we were off the phone, and Father casted me a few last pleas to no avail. I was going. Nothing could stop me.
Dr. Landry could have been lying. It was possible they were setting me up, luring me back to the compound, but I could not let that affect my decision. I knew why I was going back. Whatever was happening to me, I needed them to stop it, and I needed to help Bruce.
Father would not let me leave without him. He insisted on coming and made quite the argument out of it before we left the hotel. No was an answer he refused to accept.
30-3
Heading back
We exited the hotel, and I followed him towards the parking area before he stopped.
“Listen,” said Father. “No matter what happens... No matter what direction this takes us, know that I love you. Know that I always have been and always will be there for you.”
“I know,” I said, “but don’t talk like you’re going to die. And they’re not troubled by your whereabouts. It’s me and Bruce they’re after.”
“I understand that,” said Father, “but I’m caught in the middle of it. Don’t think it’s me I’m worried about. Something’s going on with you, and I don’t think a hospital’s going to cut it.”
Like always, he was right. I ran the notions through my head as his eyes bounced back and forth between mine. He walked to open the door on a red 90s Toyota Camry with tinted windows at the other side of the hotel parking lot.
“Where’d you get this?” I asked.
“I bought it,” answered Father. “Twenty-five-hundred off Craigslist.”
“Why?” I asked. “Where’s your Brat?”
“About six miles from here,” he answered. “You got me too paranoid back at the house to keep driving it. Thought it best if it were far from here, in case they were looking for it.” He climbed into the car and shut the door, leaning over to open the passenger’s side for me to enter with him. “Are you coming?”
“Yeah,” I answered.
My hand came to rest on top of the open door. I paused long enough to take one last look around before climbing in and shutting it behind me—a personal farewell to a world of peace left behind, knowing going back to the compound was not entirely safe. Father would be with me, and ambiguity was strongly afoot.
The last few weeks had strengthened me. I was prepared for anything and accepting of whatever necessary to help Bruce and get my wounds looked at. Besides... Father, though I was worried about him coming along, gave me strength when I was weak.
Chapter 31
The secret passage
WE MET AT THE TOP of the parking complex and were riding in a reddish-purple Land Rover with Dr. Landry before we knew it, winding roads beyond the city nearly in silence. Father seemed calm, but not as calm as Dr. Landry, who had already told us he would explain things once he got back to the compound. It could not come soon enough.
We turned into a narrow pathway with overgrown grass and shrubbery, allowing barely enough room for the Land Rover to pass. A few minutes later, we teamed up to move a few fallen trees from its path. They were old and dried out. Lighter than they looked. Dr. Landry said they were deliberately placed there years ago.
The trail was clear. We got back in the vehicle, turned from that path, and headed down another beneath the cover of nature’s awning.
“Father,” I said, “you don’t seem as surprised by all of this as you were earlier.”
“I’m trying to suppress my reservations, said Father, “because I know you need someone other than a doctor right now, but part of me always knew something crazy was to come of your future.”
Dr. Landry watched him from the rearview mirror as I turned to talk.
“Why would you think that?” I asked.
“Because I never thought your parents’ death was an accident,” answered Father.
My heart stopped as I turned over the seat to face him square on. “What are you saying?”
“Your father didn’t just ask me to raise you,” he continued. “He asked me to protect you. The way he said it was more than paternal. There was worry in his eyes.” Father looked to the driver’s seat. “Isn’t that right, Dr. Landry?”
Dr. Landry contemplated his response. “Yes. That’s right.”
“What are you saying?” I turned to Dr. Landry with squinting eyes battling water flow. “You mind explaining that to me?”
“I’ll explain everything once we’re inside,” answered Dr. Landry.
“No,” I insisted. “You’ll explain it now.”
“Alexis,” said Dr. Landry, “we have to hurry. For Bruce. For yourself.”
The SUV came to a stop and Dr. Landry got out. I watched him with questioning eyes. His expression matched mine as we exited, both knowing we were heading into the lion’s den.
We walked fifty meters through the surrounding woods nuntil Dr. Landry approached an old stump.
“Once you’re inside,” he said, “it’s going to be at least an hour before I can get back down to you. I need to drive around and enter through the main entrance as if nothing abnormal is happening, link up with Dr. Crane, and find a moment we can slip off together before we can come down to meet you.”
He pulled up a small piece of bark on the large stump and pushed at the top side of it. “Would you mind giving an old scientist a hand?”
“A hand?” I asked.
“Yes,” he answered. “To lift the stump. This is your ingress. I’m afraid the hydraulics are as old and unused as I am. It tilts towards that tree over there.”
Father smirked as if Dr. Landry were crazy before he leaned in to help. They leaned into it, pressing the stump to raise a couple of feet. Father reached his hands under it for a better lift.
I moved in to help, and we lifted until it pivoted back on hinges to stand upright. I walked around the stump as Dr. Landry lowered his brittle frame slowly to a hidden hatch beneath it. He inserted a key and turned it, breathing life into a nearby keypad before entering a code.
A burning smell filled the air as the mechanical components within the hatch came to life and released their grip on a vault-like frame. The hatch was unused for ages, and the smell of old oil entered my nostrils, wrinkling my nose with stench.
“Why do I have a bad feeling about this?” asked Father.
Dr. Landry watched the automated hatch rise. “Ease your concerns for now. No one knows of this entrance.”
I stared at the ladder leading down beneath the stump. It disappeared into a hole. Swallowed by darkness.
Dr. Landry headed down first. It tempted me to take his hand to help as he made his way onto the ladder, but I did not want to be insulting. If he wanted help, he would have asked for it.
He disappeared into the blackness below. We waited. Lights flickered at the base of the ladder from old florescent sources somewhere close by.
“Come on down,” called Dr. Landry.
I moved to the ladder, but Father stopped me. He went in first, giving in to a protective instinct that left me alone in the woods again for a few brief seconds. A half-grin swept my cheeks before I followed him down.
31-2
The old labs
Father and Dr. Landry were awaiting me near the bottom of the ladder. I stepped off it, and Dr. Landry pressed a button under a small covering on the wall. The hatch closed.
“This way,” said Dr. Landry.
We followed him through a drab corridor wizened with lead paint decades past its prime. Old fluorescent lighting harassed dust particles to cast a yellowish-white tint at our feet. A straight passageway with no intersecting corridors stretched out in front of us.
“Do you have to use the bathroom?” asked Dr. Landry.
“No,” I answered.
“I’m fine for now,” said Father.
“Suit yourself,” said Dr. Landry. “Are you sure?”
“Yes,” answered Father. “Why?”
“Because there are no pipes down here,” he answered. “Potential leaks would have meant someone coming down here to repair them.”
We moved through a door on our right after he turned another key and entered a code. The room was basic, like one would find in a waiting room at a local doctor’s office, only it was much larger. There was an old gurney with small steps at its feet, standard medical equipment like blood pressure cuffs, stethoscopes, an otoscope/auriscope, a small metal cart on wheels, a sink, cabinets, and lots of stale air to breathe. As far as doctor’s offices go, it was bare bones.
None of it mattered. I wanted to remember my parents, get my wounds checked, and find Bruce. I watched Dr. Landry and Father interact, but my mind was on the formerly mentioned.
