Max's Journal
Project Manticore
Max's Entries
I went to the bar and found Cindy getting a pitcher of beer from the bartender. "Hear the good news? Normal gave Herbal his job back." Original Cindy informed me. "So, the slowdown worked?" I asked shocked that anything could change Normal's mind. "That and the fact that his boy Sam turned out to be a dud. Never made his deliveries, never came back, neither. Probably still out there looking for power nipple. Come sit with us." she said. I guess I wasn't the only person disappointed by Zack today. "No, I think I'm going to drink my coffee and go home. Kind of in my own head space. All right." I told her, I couldn't sit around and hear them chatting about Zack. "See you at work, boo." said Cindy seeing the look on my face.
I was turning to leave when I see Bling coming in. I wonder what he was doing here. "Hey, Bling, I didn't know you kicked it here." I said wondering if he really did. "I don't. Your roomie said this is where I might find you." said Bling. It would figure that Kendra would know where I was when Lydecker didn't. "Logan okay?" I asked knowing he didn't just come down to visit me. "Yeah... Considering the knowledge you dropped on him today." said Bling with a hint of accusation in his voice. Logan had to know the truth I told him. "You think somewhere not so deep down he didn't already know the truth? He was married to the woman." Bling said. "So, I'm the bad guy for saying it out loud?" I said not liking the way he was trying to portray me. "Man's been through a lot. Maybe he didn't mind...Pretending a little bit." said Bling more softly. We've all been through a lot I thought. "What am I supposed to do? Go over there and apologize?" I asked him. "It's my strong sense he's feeling very much alone at the moment. It wouldn't hurt for someone to let him know he isn't." said Bling with concern in his voice. So that's it...well I did owe Logan for all his help and any way it might be good to have my mind on something else besides Zack. "I'll go over there and read him a bedtime story. Hey, bartender...Give this gentleman anything he wants." I said leaving Bling at the bar. Original Cindy and the gang were way into their conversation to even notice me leaving.
I got to Logan's apartment just as the storm started to pick up. The rain was coming down harder now. I took the elevator up to his penthouse and stood outside his door pressing his buzzer for what seemed like an eternity. "Doorbell's broken." I said entering Logans apartment informing him. "No. I was just ignoring it." said a sullen Logan staring through the window at the pouring rain. "So, do you hate me now?" I asked worried that he blamed me for what happened between him and his ex. "Oh, I was pissed off at you for ten minutes maybe. You know... Kill the messenger." Logan said jokingly. "Or in this case, the nosy messenger... Rooting around in stuff that's none of her business." I said right back hoping to end the dismal feel of the room. "First time Val played me, ended our marriage and it was shame on her. This time, it's shame on me. Well, at least she's sober. Now, she's really got to live with herself. The truth is, it's more embarrassing than anything else. Having to face the fact that I keep wanting to believe in something that was never there in the first place." said a defeated sounding Logan. I certainly was in no better shape today than he was. "I know the feeling. Hooked up with Zack." I told him. "Sounds like it didn't turn out the way you wanted." he asked. "After all these years of waiting and wondering i guess I expected-- I don't know...That finding Zack would change everything. My life would finally make sense. Pretty stupid of me, huh? I just wanted somebody that was like me. Someone I can connect with." I said disappointed with what happened at the end. I guess I must have built up a image of Zack that wasn't ...the true Zack or maybe it was but now it's not. "Basic human impulse-- not wanting to be alone." said Logan trying to be philosophical about our situations. According to Zack, it's phony sentimentality. We're soldiers. This is enemy territory. We're constantly on the move. That's one way to live your life. I just don't know if I want to do that anymore. But maybe he's right. Maybe I don't have a choice.
The sound of thunder broke me out of my trance. Zack would have chastised me for wasting valuable time thinking on such nonsense. "There's some food in the kitchen if you're hungry." Logan informed me. I told him I wasn't hungry. "Me neither. What time is it?" Logan asked. I told him it was late. "You can crash here if you want. In the guest room." Logan offered. I wasn't tired I told him. "Me neither. Feel like going for a spin in the park?" he asked. "It's raining." I said stating the obvious. I think he may have been experiencing cabin fever. "I don't mind." Logan said. Maybe the rain would do us some good I thought. "Me neither." I told him as he started toward the door.
What good is it being genetically enhanced when you still have to brush your teeth in the morning? I thought staring at the mirror in the bathroom. All that brain power in Manticore and they still couldn't think of something so simple. Maybe Kendra would have some? She usually got stuff from tutoring maybe she even got some tooth paste. "I can't imagine a time when you could walk into a store and the shelves were full and buy what you needed." I told Kendra as I walked into the living room. Kendra mumbled a "yeah" response. "I mean if you ran out of toothpaste you'd go buy some toothpaste." I continued. Kendra headed for the kitchen and grabbed a small bowl and began stirring the contents. "Try this....baking soda and peppermint oil, does the trick." stated Kendra while holding out the concotion to me. I thought, why not? I've got nothing to lose at this point and thanked Kendra for the substance. "Yeah" Kendra replied as she headed for a pile of scattered papers on the floor. It just didn't make any sense to me about how our whole economy could be falling down around us with a toothpaste shortage and yet we are still able to get peppermint oil, go figure? I told Kendra. It depends on who you know she smiled back at me.
"How do you spell poly ma rose?" asked Kendra. P-o-l-y-m-e-r-a-se but it's pronounced "Poly ma raise" with a "z" like an enzyme. Which is what it is. Responsible for the duplication of the DNA molecule by allowing the ogli-necleo type primers to bind into the separated molecular strands. I know, I need a real hobby but it's not like I had a choice with genetics. "Your such a goof ball." said Kendra jokingly. I asked her what she was working on and she told me she was temping for some Japanese doctor who was in town to give a paper. Kendra handed some of the material she was working on to me to take a look. It seemed interesting ...gene re sequencing, manipulation of RNA nucleoli-tides and all the stuff that made manticore nightmares. "Don't ask me what any of this means, all I know is that I'm getting paid." said a happy Kendra. "Excellent" I said. "Actually it's kinda of dope, this ...doc..his name is Tanaka took this crack baby born 3 months pre-mature. The kid had the IQ of broccoli. Doc goes to work on him, six years later he's a boy genius. Isn't he a cutie pie? she says handing over a photo of the boy to me. The boy does seem healthy and if this worked for this kid it would work for me or I at least hoped but I needed more information. So they fixed him by fussing with his genes after he was born? I asked. "I guess" answered Kendra. I asked her if it was okay if I borrowed the documents and she said it was fine as long as I got her to the conference on time. "I got you covered" I said.
There was a lot of stuff to look at that Kendra gave me about the work of doctor Tanaka. There was a lot of repetitive nonsense about genetic transference that could have been removed from the paper but at the heart of it was some brilliant research that had developed a way to move genes around and allow the body to repair itself. I barely finished in time and still had to rush Kendra to the conference. I had to cut through several red light's to get us there in time on my motorcycle. When we got there I asked Kendra if it would be possible if she could get me in. "Not a chance" Kendra said. Oh well, if the paper was bogus at least I could gotten some unattended items like towels or something more valuable. "If I get invited to shower with anyone I'll see what I can do" said Kendra jokingly. I was about to leave when I noticed the boy from the photo staring down at me from a window. He looked sad, like he was trapped and then a guard took him away from the window. I really couldn't do anything for him now, I had to find a way into the conference and maybe then I could.
I decided to visit Logan to see if he could help me get into the conference. He seemed a bit restless the last time I visited him and the trip out into the rain storm helped a little at first, we even went window shopping and even promised to introduce me to the cultural aspect of the city in the future but then his mood turned somber again after I brought him back. I made it to his door and pressed his buzzer and continued to press but no one answered. Logan never mentioned he was going out today I thought. I decided to go in and see if he was there or maybe he needed help or something. "Anybody home?" I asked walking inside looking for signs of life. No, answer. "Logan?.....Logan?..." I asked still looking around for him. "Hi." I said seeing him sitting in his wheelchair and sweating. "Hi" Logan answered back. "Hard of hearing or something?" I asked jokingly. "Actually it's one of my many faculties that's still intact. I was just thinking." said Logan defensively. Maybe he just woke up on the wrong side of bed, so I let it go. "You have that Logan I need a favor look on your face" he said heading into another room. Great! I caught him on a bad day to ask him this but I had to get in I thought while following him. "Don't I alway's, I mean isn't that the only reason I come around." I said as a joke hoping to lighten his mood but instead I got a forced smile from him. I told him that I needed to get into a conference that a doctor Tanaka was giving on genetic research. "Yeah, I ...umm..think I heard something about that." Logan said. I told him that I really wanted to check it out but instead of being receptive to the idea he just said I had his blessing. If I wanted someone's blessing I would've gone to a church or somewhere religious. Whatever was wrong with him I couldn't fix right now, I needed to find out more about this treatment. "It's one of those things where you can't walk off the streets. I got to have credentials" I explained to him as I continued to walk. Logan said he would see what he could do and wanted to know why I wanted to go in the first place. What is he dense? I'm a genetic research project walking around with a flaw why wouldn't I be interested. I didn't say it to his face of course but I should've. "I read this guy's paper, he claims he can cure what ails you; by moving your genes around." I said calmly. "You think he can help you with your seizures?" he asked. "Worth looking into. You know you should come down with me. Doctor Tanaka talks about how by using the body's gene blueprint it can re-engineer itself. I mean if the man is on the level you be walking around in no time" I said stopping in front of his door. "You know what Max? I'm having a hard enough time dealing with the here and now! You wanna go listen to whatever pie in the sky "Doctor feel good" is hustling be my guest, just leave me out of it okay?" Logan said with a tinge of anger in his voice. Did I do something to upset him? I wondered. "Okay, I was just..." I said before he jumped in. "Just don't! I'll call you if I can swing the conference thing!" Logan said opening the door. If he was kicking me out then I'd leave I didn't need to take his abuse. I stormed out his penthouse and down out into the street. Does he just think it's so easy for me to ask him for help...I..I..trusted him or I wouldn't have gone to him. Maybe I'm beginning to see why Zack decided to be a loner. I decided to blow off some steam by riding around on my bike and wouldn't you know it I stopped at nearby broad and 4th Ave on the North side of the Seattle Center. The needle seemed so inviting but with so many people around even on sunday I didn't dare go up and anyway I decided to forget what Logan said for now. I decided to head over to Western Ave and see what was shaking at the market, maybe I could find some toothpaste finally. After getting my toothpaste I swung by over the hotel later on that day, picked up Kendra and headed home so she could tutor the kids.
After doing a few runs with Original Cindy the following afternoon we headed back to work. "Hey, girl you look kinda down is there something Original Cindy can do for you?" she asked. "Na, it's fine." I said hoping to avoid any questions today. I had more important things on my mind, I had to remain focused and find a way into that conference. I spent last night coming up with ways to get in but security was tight in that place. "If you need to talk Original Cindy's door is always open." she said. Original Cindy and I broke off the conversation as we saw Herbal and Sketchy at the lockers. "How was everybody's weekend?" asked Sketchy smiling from ear to ear. "Good...Good" said Herbal checking on his bike. "Speak for yourself. Original Cindy had a tragic saturday night. Finally got to kick it with my lickety boo. Okay,.." she said animated. "Chrisette." I said interrupting her. "Check it, we had a couple of beers, shoot some pool, sister girl drops she goes both ways." continued Original Cindy. I wondered why she blew me off on saturday night. "Yeah, so, aren't all women basically bi-sexual anyway?" asked Sketchy. I told Sketchy he was an idiot sometime I wonder if he was born with a brain. "I can live with bi-sexual. It ain't perfect but at least she's half way there, but then sugar tells me that she has this big old love affair with one of the other lickety chick's which ended badly. So her heart is broken. So she now celibate" said Original Cindy as I started walking away. "What's the point of being bi-sexual if your celibate." asked Sketchy in a rhetorical way. I decided to get out of hearing range before Sketchy said something that I would have to strangle him for.
I had to recon the hotel and maybe even slip by their security during lunch. Most folks tended to care more about lunch than work. "Cough..cough.. I'm gonna have to take the afternoon off. Medical emergency.....cough.." I said doing my best to sound sick. I know it was a pretty bad act but luckily Normal has this thing about germs. "Yeah, alright" agreed Normal squimishly. "I'm clammy and achy with chills, I've got a fever and I'm burning up. Feel my forehead." I asked him while he moved further away from me. "No, thank you. Get a note from your doctor." said Normal as my pager went off. It was Logan I wondered what he wanted. "Cough..Can I use your phone? Please..." I said in a whiny tone. "Just don't breathe on it." he said giving in. "Hi!" I said into the phone still wondering if I should forgive him for being a jerk yesterday. "Affirmative on those press credentials. You are Rachel Glasser from Bio-Tech Frontiers Magazine. I'll leave them with Bling if I'm not here." said Logan nonchalantly. "Thank's" I said. "Sorry, for being so pissy before." he Logan said apologetically. "Finally!" I thought. "No big dealio.." I said. Logan sounded like he back to his old self for now but I wonder if he was gonna do this Dr. Jeckle and Mr. Hyde thing a lot.
"I'm here to see Logan...Mr. Cale." I said to the slightly over weight security guard sitting at the desk, watching the monitors. "Oh, it's you. Mr. Cale said to let you up Ms." said the guard smiling. I arrived at logan's door to find Bling coming out to meet me. "Hi, Max. John mentioned you were coming up. Logan gave me this package to give you." said Bling. "John?" I asked. "Yeah, the guard downstairs. He's new. I think they shift them around just to keep them fresh and alert." said Bling. "Oh, how's Logan doing?" I asked Bling. He told me that Logan had a doctor's appointment to discuss about his rehab. Bling reassured me that Logan was fine and that his rehab was going according to schedule. I had a weird feeling that he wasn't telling me everything but I had to get over to the conference before it started. I left and headed back home to change into something more appropriate.
I took a cab to the hotel and memorized the content's of the package that Logan left with Bling. The credentials were excellent forgeries and a small brief on the Bio-Tech magazine was invaluable. I went up to the counter to inquire as to whether or not Gen Con 2 had started yet and the receptionist said that Dr. Tanaka had arrived only fifteen minutes ago. I was in luck maybe I still had a chance to catch him before he went in, there would be too many people for me to get a chance to talk to him personally later. A guard looked over my press pass and allowed me up to the conference. As I headed for the door into the conference I spotted a distinguished asian gentleman talking to two other's in Japanese. The other two seemed deferential in manner to the man near the door, so I took him to be Tanaka. I took a quick peek at my watch and noticed that the conference would start soon if Logan's info was right. "Hi! Rachel Glasser. Doctor Tanaka. Bio Tech Frontier's" I said introducing myself as I interrupted their conversation and shook hands with the doctor. "Sumimasen." said the man the the two others while bowing. "Excuse me" I said in a apologetic way to the two gentlemen. They left with a bow to the doctor. "How do you do?" said the doctor turning to face me. "I'm curious. You know how when you try to re sequence nucleo-tides you always end up with one stray entron? Have you ever considered using plasmids to trans-vect the new base type vectors directly back to the code on sequence? So that, that won't happen. I mean one bad entron can mess up everything." I said really getting into it. It had been a long time since I felt able to have an intellectual conversation with someone without them looking at me weird. "Interesting. I never thought of that." said the doctor as an announcer over the instructed everyone to enter the conference room sine the presentation was about to begin. "Please excuse me. Perhaps we could talk more more later." he said with genuine interest. "Yeah, I would like that." I said and bowed formally like Kendra showed me once. I guess it did come in handy learning about other cultures.
I was about to head into the conference when Kendra came up to me. "What are you doing here?" she asked. "You don't know me. My name is Rachel Glasser. I'm a journalist. Don't ask me how I got here." I said as quickly and quietly as I could to Kendra. "Your rich boyfriend, that's obvious." Kendra stated. "He's not my boyfriend." I told her trying to clear up whatever misunderstanding she had of Logan and me. "Yeah, yeah..yeah" she said brushing off my statement. I was about to say something more when a waitress carrying a tray into the conference room caught my eye. The way she moved and held that tray looked familiar almost like she was hiding something. Maybe she was undercover hotel security or something, I let it go. "Shall we?" I asked Kendra.
Once inside Kendra decided to get a better seat nearby a cute guy she saw. It was always like her to do this and anyway she needed to be closer in case they needed her with clarification on any of the translations she did. I choose a seat closer to the aisle just in case. It was something they drilled into us in Manticore about always having an easy escape route. Doctor Tanaka came out and stood at the podium and a projector started. "This is Jude Thatcher at birth. He weighed just three and a half pounds. He needed oxygen because his lungs were under developed. He had no swallowing reflex, so he had to be feed intravenously. He was addicted to crack cocaine . His mother incarcerated for drug abuse and prostitution, could not afford the most basic health care. Jude was heading for an early and unlamented grave, until our foundation stepped in and took over the health management of the child." stated Dr. Tanaka as pictures of a premature little baby boy stood out across the screen. I could see from the images that the boy stood little chance of surviving and if the Doctor really did save him maybe he could save me too. "We began an intensive course of..." said the Doctor as images of the medical staff using instruments and needles that seemed all too familiar. I had a flash back of Manticore when they used similar methods on me and the other X-5 members, at least this kid got anesthesia. "..surgical..pharmacological and genetic intervention. The results were encouraging. This is Jude at two years and six months. This is Jude at four years and this is Jude today. Living proof that there are no limits to what the human body can achieve!" said the Doctor to a round of applause. It was certainly impressive that the boy could just walk in the images but he also seemed alive. The same boy from the images form the screen stepped out from behind a curtain and began to introduce himself. In a way Jude was one of us. He had no family, he was genetically altered by medicine and he was constantly under scrutiny by others. I didn't pay attention to his introduction except to hear "Konichiwa, boku no namewa Jude desu, esta mas drago...." I was more concerned about how they were taking care of him. The only glimpse into his world was when I saw him at that window. What I got was a little boy looking for help and some freedom. Maybe I was wrong, I hope I was because my future may depend on the same people taking care of Jude. "...I hope you find the proceedings informative and enlightening. Hello Doctor Tanaka!" said Jude in a practiced manner. "Konichiwa, Jude san. Why don't you play something for us." asked the Doctor as Jude headed for a piano. Jude sat at the small bench and began to play. Now, I didn't doubt the science as much as I doubted the man or men involved. At Manticore Lydecker used to tell us the same thing. "There are no limits. The mind can conceive the body can achieve with the right training." he used to say. "Only we could still get shot and killed liked Ava, starve to death or drown." I used to think. I've often wondered why we didn't just turn on him? We were stronger, faster, anyone of us could've snapped his neck before he knew what hit him but we were too scared and he knew it.
Someone asked if the seat next to me was taken as my mind was slowly returned from Manticore and I told them it wasn't. I looked over at the occupant of the next seat and it was...it..was him....Lydecker. You only have nightmares at night right? Well, at least that's what I thought until then. I started to shake from all...all the memories of manticore and the constant experiments and the uncertainty of surviving day after day under Lydecker's "care". Jude was still playing the piano in the background but all I could hear was my heart nearly stopping and then racing out of control. I had to get out of there but I decided to wait until they took a break from the presentation to attempt my escape. Lydecker left the conference room chatting with some woman about what he had missed so far. He almost seemed human except I knew better.
"You aren't leaving? Dr. Tanaka has barely scratched the surface. You couldn't possibly have gotten your story yet?" he said smiling as I was about to go. "Excuse me?" I asked hoping he would take the hint I wasn't interested in what he was saying. "I said. You aren't leaving? You couldn't possibly have gotten your story." he repeated. "No." I answered him quickly, hoping he wouldn't recognize me. "It is amazing isn't it? To think that we can fix natures mistakes." said Lydecker. "Yeah." I said. "Donald. Lydecker." he said introducing himself. I would have laughed at his attempt to pick me up but it didn't seem like the appropriate time. "Rachel Glasser." I said introducing myself to him. "Bio-Tech Frontier's. I can't say that I've heard of that." he said staring at my press pass. "It's new" I countered. "I'll have to check it out" he said with interest in his voice. This was getting worse and worse. "Nice to meet you. excuse me" I said abruptly trying to end the conversation. He nodded and I left before he had any more questions; like asking me out for a date. I decided to take the stairs down, it would do me good and clear my mind after seeing Lydecker.
"Max?" said Kendra catching up to me. "It's Rachel. I told you." I said reminding her. "Right, Are you okay?" she asked concerned. "Yeah. why?" I asked her back. "Was that guy hitting on you?" Kendra asked in reply. He wasn't but he wanted to get his hands on me anyway. What was I doing running? I needed that cure and the only thing standing in my way was Lydecker and it's not like I'm a kid any more. They taught us in Manticore to use deception as a weapon and a surprise was the best tactical advantage one could have against an opponent. Lydecker didn't seem to know who I was. If I can just get through the conference with him here I could get the help I needed. Just maybe I could also get rid of Lydecker I thought. "What?" I asked her as my mind returned to the conversation. "You have to watch out for the older ones. Less testosterone and more charm. It's still all about banging the gong." stated Kendra. "Not a chance" I answered her. We headed back for the conference. I was now back to my old self.
Lydecker was talking to some woman about Jude's performance during his recital. He was always judging someone. Kendra decided to sit closer to the stage. She had to be available to answer translation questions if it came up. The woman talking to Lydecker left as I took a seat next to him. The element of surprise used as a weapon kept flashing in my mind. I was starting to cheer up, this was turning out to be a "The glass is half full deal" and all I had to do was exploit it. In a way I would be fulfilling his wildest dream. I would finally be the killing machine he's always wanted; at least for him anyway. "Is this your area of specialty? Genetics?" I asked him innocently. "I've done some work in the field." Lydecker said trying to be humble. To think all those years ago he made us think he was a god in the field. "Really?" I asked playing along. "With Children. Gifted children." he said. "How gratifying." I said warmly. "I guide them as best I can, but mostly I provide a frame work in which they can flourish." he stated. "Must be a challenge?" I asked. "Oh! it is. You know it's always the highly intelligent ones who lack the most discipline." he went on. "Maybe they figured they are smart enough to think for themselves." I questioned his theory. "Aaa...they're still children. They don't always act in their own best interest. What do you think so far? The conference?" he asked. He may be right about that if we did act in our own best interest we would have killed him many years ago after he had killed Ava. We choose instead to run and fight another day. I guess that day is today. "It's hard not to be impressed" I said returning back to his question as images slowly faded of him killing Ava from my mind. "Tanaka's recombinant technology is ground breaking. It's why I'm here. The children I work with; their genetic anomolies make them gifted and they also make them flawed. Have we met before?" he asked looking closer at me. My heart started to beat a little faster but I slowed my breathing. I was here on a mission and if I wanted a chance at being cured by Tanaka's treatment I had to stay and play this thing out and hope his memory of me a a child wouldn't surface until after the conference. "I don't think so." I answered him. "You seem awfully familiar.." he said as his mind tried to connect my face. "I get that a lot" I said blowing him off like he was some guy hitting on me. He looked like he was about to say more but the announcer asked everyone to welcome back Jude and Dr. Tanaka. People applauded as they returned to the stage.
Thank you. Thank you so very much. Jude is an extraordinary boy. A singular creation, who's very life is the culmination of decades of genetic research. Jude is also a messenger bringing good news to each and every one of us. How you ask? You sir. Would you please stand?" Doctor Tanaka asked Lydecker. "Me?" Lydecker asked. "Yes. I see you are wearing glasses." said the Doctor. Lydecker said he was. "How long have you worn them?" asked Tanaka. "A few years. It was fine until I turned 43, next thing you know I couldn't live without them." he said smiling for the audience. "Great! not only is he a sadistic killer he was also a giant ham." I thought. "Do you know why that is?" asked the Doctor. "Well I'm no optimologist but I think it has to do with the hardening of the crystal line lens. Which doesn't contract the way it use to." he said looking around for any disagreement. "That's right. Now, what if I told you that what you refer to was already written in the genetic code? and if I snipped here and grafted it there and use some of your own RNA to seal the graft. You could throw away your glasses?" asked Tanaka as he finished pointing out the specific parts of the DNA strand that need to be transferred to accomplish this miracle on the screen behind him with his laser pointer. "You would be my hero!" Lydecker said amused by the whole prospect. "Thank you. you may sit down. This same technique also allows us to treat and cure far more distressing conditions such as congenital blindness, deafness, even severe neurological conditions such as alzhimers, parkinsons, epilepsy all these can be remedied by manipulation of their genetic code. A minor rewriting...." said Tanka as I noticed a armed man sitting on the upper left section of the aisle. Three men rush through the door as a man next to the waitress I had spotted earlier drew out an automatic weapon. "What are you doing?.." asked a frightened Doctor Tanaka as they fired at him. Doctor Tanaka saved himself by diving out of the way but a guard died in the hail of bullets. "Go!, Go. Everybody stay calm. we are the May 22nd movement." said the terrorist leader as he ordered his people around to secure the conference room. "What are you doing asked Doctor Tanaka. "We are the May 22nd movement. We are here to liberate the boy. Stay calm. Stay out of our way and you will not be harmed." said the leader of the movement. "Take this." Lydecker ordered Kendra as he tried to shield the object he was passing from vision. "What?...No." said Kendra looking at a gun. Lydecker pushed it to her. "Hide it. They won't search you. Trust me." he said to Kendra. Kendra shoved it into her bag. I wanted to help her out but with Lydecker there and the terrorist still jumpy I couldn't risk it.
The terrorist leader headed for Jude and Doctor Tanaka. "Let him go!" ordered the terrorist leader. "No! You are not going to hurt the boy." screamed the Doctor while putting himself between the terrorist leader and Jude. The terrorist leader knocked the Doctor down and yelled at him to let the boy go again. "No!" said the Doctor emphatically as Lydecker pulled the fire alarm. A terrorist knocked Lydecker unconscious. The terrorist leader took the boy anyway. "Max..." said Kendra leaning into my shoulder with her head for comfort. "We're coming down. Bring the Van." ordered the terrorist leader over his walkie talkie. "Not possible. Hotel security is blocking the entrance. They're evacuating the place." said a voice over the walkie talkie back at him. "Disable the elevators and seal the stairwell's! No one get on or off the floor. Everyone on the ground. Now!" he ordered us and his followers. "Do it!" screamed another terrorist. I kept my eye on Jude as I slowly got down on one knee. There was no telling what these whack jobs would do I thought as the movement leader moved to the rear of the conference room. It seemed the movement leader hadn't anticipated this situation and now he was conferring with several of his people about a plan of action. On the bright side I noticed they did give Lydecker a good beaning on his head. I tried to reassure Kendra but she seemed still in shock.
We don't want to hurt anyone, cooperate-operate and you'll be all right. All we want is to free the boy. said the terrorist leader. "Free him? from what?" asked Tanaka sitting next to Lydecker. Their arguing scared Jude and Kendra huddled with him for security. "From you and your freak show. You've turned him into a poster child for your morally bankrupt techno state." said the leader. "What are you going to do with him?" I asked. God if these idiots didn't even have a back up plan I wouldn't be surprised if they hadn't made any plans for Jude. "Give him a home, a family where he can live like a real human being." spewed the terrorist leader. "Grow up to sprout slogans and shoot people?" asked Lydecker sarcastically. "This boy is my family!" declared Doctor Tanaka. "He's your lab rat." stated the terrorist leader. A phone call interrupted the sparkling conversation with our captor. "Police calling to negotiate." volunteered Lydecker. "This is John Darius. We're May 22nd, we're armed and we are holding 35 hostages." said the leader into the phone. "Detective Sung Seattle P.D." said the caller. "You try anything. Your men come anywhere near this building hostages will die. You got that?" asked Darius. "I understand" said the detective. "We want transport and safe passage. For ourselves and the child who's named Jude. If you don't meet our demands. We will kill one hostage every hour." warned Darius. "For what you're asking for, we are going to need more than an hour." pleaded the detective. "First hour is already up...."Terrence".." said the Darius ominously as another terrorist came towards Kendra. I was about to jump up and snap his neck when I noticed he was reaching for someone behind her. "Terrence" eyed Lydecker for a minute before grabbing Doctor Tanaka. The Doctor tried to struggle but it was no use, instead he turned to Jude and told him to be brave as he was taken away. A second terrorist accompanied them. Kendra and Jude moved closer to me now more than ever afraid of the terrorists. "They're just trying to scare us right? They're not going to really kill him are they?" Kendra asked me. I couldn't very well tell her the truth and especially with Jude there. I just said that everything was going to be fine. I watched John Darius pace back and forth as time ticked away. It was easy to see that he was ill at ease with being in command and the only way he had to prove himself to the others was by showing them he was willing to go that extra mile.
The two terrorists that escorted Doctor Tanaka out came back without him. One of them even seemed happy. The one named Terrence. He must be more loyal to Darius and his cause than the others. I could only comfort Kendra by stroking her hair as she laid her head on my lap. "59 minutes than another one goes after him." stated Darius as he talked into the phone. I thought there wouldn't be someone I hated as much as Lydecker but there he is I thought. This guy ruined any chance of me getting a cure for my seizure. Someone was going to pay. We waited for their next move but all they did was pace and threaten anyone who talked. I checked the clock it was 4:15 as Darius paced. "Forty Five minutes. Are they gonna wait until they kill someone else?" asked Kendra about the cops. Lydecker slow inched closer to us, keeping a careful eye on any terrorist that might spot him. "Give..me...the gun...carefully" Lydecker said in a soft and slow tone as he out stretched his hand towards us. Kendra took out the gun and handed it me to pass to Lydecker. I remember vividly the last time I saw him with a gun at manticore. He Killed Ava for trying to escape. "It's okay" Lydecker said trying to reassure me. I was tempted to just turn and kill him with it but I had Kendra and Jude to worry about. I turned slightly behind and handed him the gun reluctantly. I turned back not wanting to see his face. Would Ava forgive me for this? I hoped so and I hope I made the right decision in giving Lydecker the gun.
"How can we kill one person an hour? I never agreed to this. It's crazy!" said the female terrorist to Darius. "Are you Questioning me?" Darius asked. "Yes!" she said as the phone rang. Darius moved to the other side of the room, too far for me to hear what he was saying. I couldn't hear but I could see that whoever he was talking to was someone he knew. He even smiled and became animated with the conversation. The conversation didn't last that long and at the end I could hear Darius mumble something about giving it time to think about it before he hung up. Darius seemed nervous but not scared anymore like who ever it was on the line was a friend. I wonder if he had someone on the inside of Seattle PD. Darius ordered the lone female of their movement to go guard the stairwell. I think he just wanted to avoid their previous conversation. Darius seemed to be wrestling with some kind of decision as the deadline approached to kill another hostage. All we could do was wait.
It was 4:50 and the Darius still seemed to be weighing a decision of some kind. "You okay?" I asked turning to Jude. "I'm thirsty." he said in a small voice. "Come on, let's go see if they will let us have some water." said Kendra taking Jude to a water fountain in the hallway. "Go with them." a terrorist ordered another. "He's a good little soldier" commented Lydecker as he watched Jude and Kendra leave. I wondered if that's how he see's all kids. "He's just a scared kid" I said to Lydecker. "Fear accomplishes nothing. I hope he learns that lesson now. If he hasn't already." said Lydecker. "Is that what you teach those kids of yours? To shake it off and move on. Like if nothing happened?" I asked him as he slid over to a seat next to mine. Of course that's what he thought. What else would a monster like him think. A terrorist came over and gave Lydecker another blow to head for getting up. "You look like you were around in the day before the pulse? Parents brought you over to visit your little friends, car pools, the soccer games, art schools. Do you really think Ms. Glasser that your childhood prepared you for the life that you have to live now? asked Lydecker. He must have been talking about someone else because mine was filled with military training, the ability to survive almost any condition if he did his job that is. "My childhood wasn't quite that like that." I said truthfully. "In a way the pulse had some positive aspects. Toughened the world, strengthened the species." he said. "Pretty grim view of things." I said to him. "Not grim. Realistic. We can't pretend the world runs on love it's survival of the fittest." said Lydecker in a bitter tone. He was Darwin run amok. "Yeah, it's all about survival." I answered him. "I do hope that boy gets out of this in one piece." said Lydecker. "Hope? that's a strange word coming from a man with your take on things." I said to him. "Anachronistic language. I wish I could speak digitally, point is it would be ashame to go see Tanaka's work go to waste. I would like to observe the boy for my own research. Ha..I should known, for a moment there I thought he had a conscious.
There was no way that I could let Jude fall into Lydecker's hand and become one of his victims I thought. "Maybe you should do something with that gun before someone else gets killed." I suggested. "It's tactically premature.things are going to get worse before they get better." warned Lydecker slouching in his seat. Darius stopped his incessant pacing, seemed to have reached a decision of some kind as he headed for the phone. "Get me Cale!" said John Darius into the phone. Did he just say "Cale...like Logan...it couldn't be....could it?" I thought. I couldn't hear the whole conversation but it seemed that Darius wanted to exchange this Cale person on the other end for us. "Because we're fighting for humanity. We're making a gesture of humanity. The women are free to go. You'll be escorted to the lobby. Any games and you'll be shot." said Darius magnanimously as he walked to the front of the stage. I stood up and took Jude in hand. I couldn't leave him with either Lydecker or Darius. "We're taking him with us." I said to the Darius. "No, your not." said Darius. "Then I'm going to stay with him." I declared. "I don't think so. Come on Jude" said Darius taking Jude from me as he pointed his gun at my head. The terrorists started to gather all the female hostages and herded us through the exits. "Move it." ordered a terrorist as he shoved me from behind. As we are leaving the conference room I see Logan. It really was him but what was he doing here and how did he know Darius? I wondered. I wanted to run up to him. Two terrorist flanked him and there was no way I could get to him in time without one of them getting a shot off. Logan shook his head and mouthed the word "Go". I turned and left with the others. "Was that?" asked Kendra as we neared the stairwell. "Yeah, I'm gonna say hi. Don't tell" I said to her.
I faked twisting my ankle as I stood near the top of the stairs. "Ow!..my ankle" I said in pain filled voice. "Keep moving!" ordered one of the terrorist's. "I'll take care of it." said another terrorist. "I think I twisted it" I said pulling down the zipper of my shoes and rubbing my ankle for effect. "Here." said the terrorist offering his outstretched hand. "Your such a gentleman." I said as I grabbed his arm and yanked down hard making him tumble to the next floor. "Too bad I'm not a lady!" I quiped to his unconscious form as I zipped up my shoe and headed out to find Logan. I work my way back to the conference but there are guards posted nearby so I head over to the projection room. Luckily it was unguarded, I entered and carefully made my way to the window. I could see Logan and Lydecker were talking to each other. I saw Darius race up to Logan's side. "What the hell is going on? They killed some of my people. they tried to land on the roof. Their word means nothing. Neither does your life. Take him away!" ordered Darius. One of the terrorist's took Logan as another guarded him with his gun.
I had to duck down as another terrorist was walking past the door of the room. I had to get to Logan and hoped that Kendra wasn't hurt during the shoot out. After the guard passes I follow close behind Logan and his party. One of them mentioned the roof as they entered the elevator. I took the stairs and ran up to the top. When I got to the roof I noticed some repelling equipment. Military issue I thought as I headed for it. The only reason for them to be up here was if they intended for Logan to be made an example in front of the public. A guard knocked away Logan's hand as he tried to slow down his wheelchair. I secured the line to the roof and tied the end to my waist. I jerked it once to make sure it was secure. The two terrorist started to pick up Logan and throw him over. I ran at full speed and leapt off the roof after Logan. I rotated my body to match Logan's angle and reached out to him with my right hand. I got a hold of him just in time as the line snapped straight as it had reached the end of it's length. Logan held on to me tightly as we were driven towards a window. We crashed through the pane of glass and landed on top of a bed. " Max you alright?..Logan you okay?" we both asked in unison. "What are you doing here?!" I asked as I sat up. "I was going to ask you the same question. I went through a lot of trouble to get you released." said Logan. What is it with men do they think we can't handle things ourselves plus I'm a genetically enhanced killing machine as he likes to point out. "What were you thinking? exchanging yourself for us?" I asked him as I slapped him in the arm. Does he think I would be grateful if he got hurt. "You should be thanking me." said Logan puzzled at my reaction. "Thanking you?! You would have fell off the roof if it wasn't for me....You would still be with those moron's if it wasn't for me!" we both said in unison again. "Forget it." I said slapping once again for being so dense. "Never mind." Logan said. I was getting up off the bed when Logan yanked the line putting us face to face. Funny I'd thought of this happening but not now. I had to save Jude and find out if Kendra was okay, plus there was Lydecker. "I've gotta go save the kid....let's go save the kid." we said in unison. Maybe another time I thought as I got up and pulled away from him. As I left I brushed off the any particles of glass form my suit. Why is it that my timing is perfect when delivering a kick but not with guys? I thought as I looked at Logan sitting on that bed.
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