Dean Wesley Smith - Final Fantasy, page 5
Laughter broke out throughout the chamber. The sound was like a slap to Doctor Sid, but Gray watched as he stood his ground. Gray had to admit, the old guy was strong and knew his mind.
Councilwoman Hee banged her gavel, bringing the chamber to order. When she could finally be heard, she
said, “Doctor Sid, the Gaia theory has not been proven.”
“Even if Gaia does exist,” Councilman Drake asked, “won’t we still have to remove the Phantoms?”
“Yes, we will,” Dr. Sid answered.
“Then,” Councilman Drake said, “I think that if there is any chance of success, we should take it. Don’t you agree, Doctor? Much as we do with any patient?”
“Of course I do,” Dr. Sid said.
“So you agree we should use the Zeus Cannon?” General Hein asked, his words carrying to the back corners of the chamber.
“No!” the doctor said. “Not yet. I think there is an alternative to the Zeus space cannon that we must try first.”
“Another method? Another weapon?” Councilwoman Hee asked as again the audience noise increased, then hushed, waiting for Dr. Sid’s answer.
“Yes, a means of disabling the Phantoms.”
“Please,” Councilman Drake said. “Explain this to us.”
General Hein dropped back into his seat with disgust.
Dr. Sid nodded, then keyed a new holographic image to take the place of the meteor crater in the middle of the chamber. This new image was of an alien spirit, swirling in sharp, red tones. Gray knew exactly what he was looking at, because API had shown it to him.
The audience gasped and many sat back, as if just the image of the Phantom spirit could hurt them.
Dr. Sid pointed at the image floating in the middle of the council chamber. “All the aliens display a distinct energy pattern,” Dr. Sid explained. “Now it is a fact that
two opposing bio-etheric waves, placed one over the other, will cancel each other out.”
General Hein jumped to his feet as Dr. Sid went on.
“It is theoretically possible to construct a wave pattern in direct opposition to the Phantom energy.”
Beside the red energy pattern, a blue one appeared, very similar.
“The operative word there is theoretically,” General Hein said as the blue pattern started to match and move closer to the red pattern in the air. Gray was amazed at the idea of it all. Would it actually be possible to destroy the Phantoms simply by canceling them off the planet? After all the ones he had killed, that was hard to believe.
“We have been collecting energy signatures for that very purpose from a variety of sources,” Dr. Sid said, ignoring General Hein, “including animals and plants.”
Gray suddenly understood why API had said the weed she had gotten yesterday was worth all their lives. If Dr. Sid was right, it was.
“Doctor!” General Hein shouted over the audience noise as the two colored patterns started to merge in the air.
“We are currently assembling such a wave, and are nearing completion.”
As the blue wave covered and merged with the red one, both vanished.
The audience again burst into loud talking. Gray had to admit that the images Dr. Sid had put together were compelling. But the question was, would they be enough to buy Dr. Sid and Aki some time?
Councilwoman Hee banged for order, and slowly the talking dimmed.
“Members of the Council,” General Hein said, his voice holding the power of someone used to having his words listened to, “gathering plants and animals from around the world to fight the Phantoms is utter nonsense.”
Put that way, Gray had to agree. It sounded stupid. The audience agreed with their snickers and laughs. Clearly this was not going well for Aki and Dr. Sid.
General Hein went on. “The Zeus space cannon is a| proven, effective weapon. It will kill Phantoms. I ask you, can we afford to wait for some crazy invention, some army of touchy-feely plants and animals?”
Gray was impressed. Right now the general clearly had the audience and the Council right where he wanted them.
“Dr. Sid,” General Hein said, pointing at Sid and Aki, “offers no solid evidence that his idea will destroy the aliens.”
Aki jumped up from her chair. “There is evidence!” she shouted.
Dr. Sid tried to stop her, but she brushed him aside, Gray had no idea what she was about to do, but he had no doubt it was going to be dramatic. Aki never did| anything halfway.
General Hein stood, staring at her, as if his look could cut her down.
“What is your evidence, Doctor?” Councilwoman Hee asked Aki.
Aki stared at her. “Members of the Council,” Aki said. She then took a deep breath before going on.
“Our partially completed energy wave has successfully stopped Phantom particles from spreading through a terminally infected patient.”
A stunned silence filled the hall as everyone took in what Aki was saying. Gray was stunned as well. Before now the only way to save a person infected with Phantom particles, as Gray had been the day before, was to destroy those particles quickly.
Suddenly the stunned silence broke once more into loud talking, as Councilwoman Hee again banged for silence.
“Doctor,” Councilman Drake said to Aki, staring at her, “do you claim to have evidence that a terminal patient has been cured?”
“Not cured,” Aki said. “The wave, as Dr. Sid reported, is not yet complete. But we have succeeded in containing the particles safely inside the patient by using the wave as a shield the particles cannot pass through.”
Now everyone was talking, and Councilwoman Hee was making no effort to contain it. Aki just stood and stared straight ahead.
Again Gray was shocked, as was everyone else. His entire life he had lived with the fear that a single brush with a Phantom particle would bring on death if not caught and acted on quickly. Now Aki was telling him that might not be the case. It was world-altering news. It meant suddenly that the enemy he faced wasn’t quite as dangerous as a moment before.
General Hein shouted over the commotion, bringing silence with the power of his command voice.
“Doctor,” Hein shouted. “Where is this proof you claim to have?”
“Right here,” Aki said.
She opened her tunic to show her chest covered by what looked to Gray to be a metallic wrapping of some sort. It was shiny and had a few small readout meters just above her belt
“I’m the patient,” Aki said.
The council chamber was stunned into complete silence.
Aki stepped up to the holographic display, adjusted a few controls, then tapped something on the metal wrapped around her chest.
Suddenly, in the middle of the council chamber, a grotesque red shape writhed and twisted. Gray knew what it was instantly, as did everyone in the room.
Phantom particles.
“This is what is being contained inside me,” Aki said. “General, I am your proof, because I am standing here talking to you, very much alive.”
All Gray could do was stare in shock at the red, twisting mass of alien particles that lived inside the woman he loved.
chapter 6
The sounds of the council audience talking loudly and Councilwoman Hee hammering for order followed Aki and Dr. Sid out into the wide, white-painted hallway. Aki could feel her heart pounding and the sweat dripping off her neck. Dr. Sid was walking quickly, clearly not happy with what she had done. But Aki knew she had done the right thing. She was sure of it. General Hein couldn’t be allowed to fire that weapon of his. It might destroy everything they were fighting to save.
“Dr. Sid,” Aki said, “wait a moment.”
Dr. Sid stopped suddenly and turned to face her. “You may have bought us some time, but I wonder at what cost. Do you know the answer to that?”
He was as angry as she had ever seen him in the years they had worked together. But now wasn’t the time for her to back down. “No, I don’t,” she said. “But, Doctor, I can’t keep hiding in the background while you protect me.”
“Dropping into old New York isn’t what I call hiding ,” Dr. Sid replied.
Aki wasn’t going to let him go that easily. She had been right and she knew it. “At some point we both knew that what happened to me, and what you did to save me was going to have to come out.”
“In front of the entire Council and the world?” Dr. Sid just shook his head. “I can think of a better way oil doing it.”
“But not for something as important,” she said. “Look, I want what life I have left to mean something.” She stared at him, keeping her gaze locked with his. “Is that so hard to understand?”
“No, it’s not,” he said. “And when we find the seventh and eighth spirits-“
“If we find them,” Aki said. She knew what it was going to take as well as he did. “What we need now is some luck.”
Dr. Sid shook his head. “Luck has nothing to do with it. Faith and hard work is what we need, because I’ll be damned if you’re going to die before me. So let’s get back to work.”
With that he turned and walked quickly away down the corridor.
Aki stood and watched her mentor go, giving him the space he clearly wanted and needed. Maybe she had bought them some time. The Council would decide at some point, after a lot of arguing and shouting, she was sure. But at least now she didn’t have to go slink ing around, hiding.
And Gray knew her secret as well. She had no idea what he was thinking. She just hoped he didn’t hate her.
Or worse yet, was disgusted by her.
She followed after Dr. Sid, heading for the lab. If she was going to start the search for the seventh and eighth spirits, she had a lot of work to do to get ready. And the sooner she found those spirits, the sooner she would be out of the metal that encased her chest and kept the alien within.
And the sooner she could have a real life again. If that was ever going to be possible.
The barrier that covered the city was huge, protecting an entire valley and the city below from any invasion of the Phantoms. One-hundred-story towers shot into the sky, forming lines of posts that held the bio-etheric transmitters high in the air. Each transmitter sprayed out its energy in an umbrella shape that merged with the energy from the other towers to form the barrier. The entire barrier glowed a faint orange, making the city seem as if it was always in an eternal twilight under its protective shield.
Gondola lines had been strung between the towers during the construction of the city so maintenance workers could build and service the energy transmitters without having to climb up and down each massive tower. In one single gondola she could work her way over all of the area under the barrier.
Aki had now filled one of the large service gondolas with her scanning equipment. After the council meeting, she and Dr. Sid had figured out the exact pattern of the seventh spirit. She had decided that she might as
well start her search for it close to home and work out ward. A night in a service gondola would allow her to scan the entire city and all its human, animal, and plant life.
It was going to be a very long night.
“The Council decided to postpone firing the Zeus cannon,” Gray said from the doorway of the gondola.
Aki felt her heart race, but somehow she managed to not start and just keep adjusting the sensor equipment in front of her. “I guess I put on quite a show.”
Gray came in, his weight moving the gondola slightly. He moved around, looking over the instruments filling the outer walls of the car. All the sensors lead to one machine that she pretty much needed to tend one hundred percent of the time while the scanning was going on. The seventh spirit would show up for only a few seconds, as a green dot on the monitor, and she didn’t dare miss it.
He moved over to a point behind her. She could feel his presence, smell him, feel the heat from his body. She very much wanted to turn and look him in the eye, to see how he was feeling with her secret. But instead she kept working, adjusting, getting everything ready.
After a moment Gray said, “Mind if I tag along on your expedition?”
Aki turned and looked him in the eye. Clearly he wasn’t mad or disgusted. She was very much relieved to see that, but she couldn’t afford to let those emotions show. “You’ll probably get bored.”
“I’ll take my chances,” he said, leaning against the support post in the center of the gondola.
“Fine by me then,” she said.
He said nothing more and neither did she as she finished her last-minute adjustments, made sure all the sensors were working. Then she moved around him and closed the door of the car.
The gondola shook slightly as it bumped from its station and moved out of the small building housing it. Suddenly it was hundreds of feet in the air and the sensors were feeding information to the main monitor. She pulled up her chair in front of the monitor and sat.
Gray moved over closer to try to look over her shoulder. “So what are you doing?”
He was so close behind her that they almost touched. She desperately wanted to just let him hold her again, as he used to do. Instead she said nothing.
“Oh, I see; you’re giving me the silent treatment. You’re right, this will get boring.”
She shook her head. It was clear he wasn’t going to just let things go. And a large part of her was very glad for that. “I’m scanning the city for the seventh spirit.”
“The sixth was the plant yesterday?” he asked.
“Yes.” She pointed at the screen in front of her. “All of these sensors patch into this monitor. If it’s down there anywhere, it will show up on here.”
Gray leaned past her and looked at the monitor. “So you stare at the monitor all night looking for the exact right animal, human, or plant?”
“All night,” she said. “Or as long as it takes me to cover the city under the barrier.”
“Sounds like a long night,” he said, moving back and leaning against the gondola’s center pole again.
She said nothing, and neither did he. And for the moment, that was just fine with her. She was just glad he was there with her.
chapter 7
Jane walked up behind the other two members of the Deep Eyes squad. Ryan had a scanner in his hand and had it pointed at a maintenance gondola moving slowly away from the docking area. Neil was working at the wiring on one of the control panels for the maintenance gondolas.
The darkness and the fact that their attention was focused outward allowed her to move right up on them. It wasn’t often anyone could sneak up on those two.
“Hurry up, Neil,” Ryan said.
“Relax, Sarge,” Neil said. “I almost got it.”
“Just what do you think you are doing?” Jane asked right in Neil’s ear.
To his credit he didn’t jump.
“You could kill a guy sneaking up on him like that,” he said, looking back at her.
“I’m considering it anyway,” Jane said. “So what ex actly are you two doing?” These two couldn’t be left alone for a minute without getting into some kind of trouble.
Ryan held out the scanner for her to look at. In it, she could see the images of two human spirits inside the maintenance gondola overhead. Nothing at all unusual.
“Who’s that?” Jane asked.
“The captain and that doctor lady we pulled out of the old city.”
“We’re just gonna strand them for a while,” Neil said.
“You’re what?” Jane asked, looking at Neil as if he had lost his mind, which she was sure he had.
“Hey, don’t look at me,” Ryan said. “It was his idea.”
“This was your idea?” she asked, turning to Neil.
“Just helping the captain out a little,” Neil said, giving her his boyish smile. “Where’s your sense of romance? Has it been too long and you’ve lost it?”
She glared at Neil and he just smiled at her. At that moment she actually thought about just beating the crap out of him and leaving. Then the feeling passed.
“You’ve seen how the captain looks at her,” Ryan added.
Jane had to admit she had seen that. And maybe giving them a little time together wouldn’t be that bad an idea after all.
A few sparks flew from the control panel and out over the city the gondola came to a swinging halt.
“Okay,” Jane said. “Lets get out of here as soon as one of you puts in a call to maintenance for them to fix this.”
“How about we call in ten minutes?” Ryan said, laughing. “That ought to give them enough time.”
“For you, maybe,” Neil said. “But if it was me up there, you’d need at least an hour.”
“In your dreams,” Ryan said.
“Ten minutes then,” Jane said, shaking her head. “You two are crazy, you know that?”
Neil winked at her as he closed the panel. “It’s amore, baby.”
The gondola suddenly stopped, swinging back and forth before coming to rest, hanging in the air over the city. Aki glanced around, but Gray hadn’t left his position against the middle pole of the car. He seemed as surprised by the sudden stop as she was.
She checked to make sure her screen was clear, then moved to the controls of the gondola. “What do you think happened?” Aki asked as she checked over the controls and found nothing that would help.
“More than likely just a glitch,” Gray said. “They have automatic teams that respond any time one of these cars is stopped between stations. They should have it up and running soon enough.”
Aki nodded, then went back and checked her monitor. Since they weren’t moving, there was no need to keep staring at it. And if he was right about the automatic teams, there was no point in calling anyone just yet.
“Listen, Aki,” Gray said. “I-“
“I’m still mad at you,” Aki said, interrupting him before he could go any further. If she was going to have this talk with Gray, she was going to take the offensive.
“You’re mad at me?” Gray asked, clearly surprised.
“Leaving your helmet on in the transport yesterday,” Aki said. “Not telling me who you were. Doesn’t that seem a little childish to you?”
