Captured (The Prometheus Project Book 2) (5 page)

“In five hours? That’s after ten on a Friday night,” noted Ryan.

Carl nodded. “It was the only time we could fit it in. They think they’ve made a breakthrough. They tell me they’ve perfected a chemical formula for an inhalant that will do the trick. They think it will erase all memory of the previous ten hours or so.”

“Considering everything, I think it’s a great idea,” said Regan.

“Yeah. It’s a lot better than putting someone who discovers the secret in a prison cell in Alaska somewhere,” agreed her brother.

Regan smiled and added, “I’m just glad you didn’t have this when we first discovered Prometheus.”

Carl grinned. “Me too,” he said warmly. “Me too.” He paused, and his expression became more serious. “So what did you want to see me about?”

“Go ahead,”
broadcast Ryan telepathically.

“You first.”

Ryan took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “You or your men didn’t happen to see or hear anything strange in the last few hours, did you?”

Carl laughed. “Strange? You mean other than an alien city and everything inside it?”

Ryan groaned. Maybe he should try that again.
“What I mean is … well … you didn’t happen to hear any kind of warning or … I don’t know … see anyone who shouldn’t be here?”

Carl furrowed his brow. “Nooo,” he said slowly, trying to figure out where this was headed. “Why do you ask? Did you?”

Ryan frowned. He wished he could just tell him the truth about the warning. If only it hadn’t been transmitted telepathically. “Actually, Regan and I thought we saw someone just a little while ago. We only saw him for a second, but he looked a little strange, like he might be an alien.”

Carl leaned forward in his seat. “Alien? Really?” He paused in thought. “But you were the ones who learned from the Qwervy that this city is off limits to alien species. Other than vegetation, we haven’t seen any alien life whatsoever since we’ve been here.”

“We know,” said Regan. “But we really think we saw something.”

Carl nodded. “Okay, what did he look like?”

Ryan changed position in his seat, a look of frustration on his face. “We’re not really sure. We didn’t get a good look at his face. So I guess it could have been a female for all we know. Anyway, the way he, or she, was moving was different—non-human somehow.”

“Right,” echoed Regan.

“Are you positive it wasn’t someone on the team? There are holographic effects all over the city and
strangely lit buildings. You catch someone at a strange angle in a strange light and your eyes can play tricks on you.”

“We can’t be
absolutely
certain,” said Ryan. “But we don’t think it was someone from the team.”

Regan nodded her agreement beside him.

“Boy, are we looking lame,”
complained Ryan telepathically.

“We don’t have a choice,”
responded Regan.

“Look,” said Carl. “The president is coming for a visit in the next week or two. Just prior to this visit I have to meet aboveground, face-to-face, with the Secret Service to assure them that Prometheus is totally secure. They won’t give the all clear for the president to leave the White House and make the short trip here in his helicopter, Marine One, until I do.”

“Cool,” said Regan. “When is he coming?”

Carl frowned. “I hate to do this, but I can’t tell non-security members of the team the exact date—except for Dr. Harris, of course. It’s on a need to know basis.” He paused. “The point is that before I meet with the Secret Service, we’ll be doing the most comprehensive security sweep of Prometheus we’ve ever done. If there’s an alien hiding out in this city, we’ll be sure to find him.”

Ryan knew that the security chief wasn’t taking their concern seriously in the least. If he really thought there might be an intruder, he would never be satisfied with waiting a week or two to conduct a search. “That’s great,
Carl,” said Ryan. “But is there any way you could do a sweep now, even just a quick one? I know we’re not giving you much to go on, but I’m asking you to trust us.”

Carl stared at Ryan for a long, long time. Ryan met his steady gaze without blinking. Finally, his eyes still locked on Ryan, Carl stood and said, “If you were any other kids in the world, I wouldn’t do it. But you and Regan have earned the right to be taken seriously.”

“So you’ll check it out?” said Ryan, relieved.

Carl nodded. “I’ll check it out. I’ll have four or five of my men do a sweep. It won’t be as thorough as the sweep we’ll do to satisfy the Secret Service, but if there’s an alien in this city, we should be able to find him by the end of the night. We have vehicles loaded with equipment that can pick up heat signatures and movement.”

“Thanks, Carl,” said Regan.

“Yeah, we can’t tell you how much we appreciate it,” added Ryan.

“It’s okay,” said Carl. “I know you’re only looking out for the security of the team.” He picked up a sleek walkie-talkie from off his desk, preparing to contact his men. “If your alien generates heat or moves, we’ll be able to find him,” he said confidently. “I guarantee it.”

C
HAPTER
6
Sleepover

R
yan and Regan stepped off the Prometheus elevator Saturday morning to find Lieutenants Miguel Sanchez and Cam Kincaid standing guard. Miguel was dark-haired and baby-faced while Cam was tall and thin with straw-colored hair and pale blue eyes.

“Hello kids,” they both said in unison.

Both kids returned the greeting.

“Did either of you hear anything about a security sweep last night?” asked Ryan.

Cam nodded. “Not only did I hear about it, I was part of it.”

“Did anyone find anything?” asked Ryan eagerly.

“Absolutely nothing,” said Cam, shaking his head. “And I was the last to finish, too, so I should know. I got the short straw last night and was assigned the biggest area to cover. Didn’t finish up ‘till after midnight.”

“What time did your shift begin this morning?” asked Regan.

“Five,” he answered.

“Wow. That stinks,” she said sympathetically. “I’m really sorry.”

“Nothing for you to be sorry about. You had nothing to do with it.”

“Well, maybe nothing to do with you getting the short straw,” agreed Regan. “But I am sorry that Ryan and I called a false alarm.”

Cam looked completely confused. “What are you talking about? What false alarm?”

“You know,” said Regan, looking sheepish. “We thought we saw something weird, so we asked Carl to do a security sweep.”

“Really?” said Cam, raising his eyebrows. “
You
asked for the security sweep. Carl didn’t mention that last night, and this morning he was acting very strangely. He’s working offsite for a few days, but could you do me a favor: the next time you see him, could you remind him that
you
requested the sweep.”

Regan glanced at her brother with a confused look on her face. “Remind him?” she said. “We won’t need to
remind
him. We had a very long conversation about it.”

“Well he doesn’t remember it, that’s for sure. Unless he’s pulling some kind of strange practical joke. Since I was the last one done, I collected everyone else’s reports last night to give to him this morning. He looked at the
reports and asked me why we had wasted so much manpower doing a sweep. I reminded him that he was the one who had ordered it. And do you know what he said?”

Both kids shook their heads no.

“He said he didn’t know what I was talking about. Why would he order a sweep? He said he was busy but that when he got back from his meetings in a few days he wanted to get to the bottom of this.”

The Resnick kids were speechless. This wasn’t like Carl at all. He couldn’t possibly have forgotten about their visit, so what was he doing? The answer hit them both at the same time.

Regan exchanged a knowing glance with her brother and said, “I think I know what’s going on. Did Carl ever tell you he was working on a project with some Proact scientists?”

“Yeah. The memory thing.”

“Exactly.”

“I know all about it. It’s his pet project.”

“Well, he was going to meet with them late last night. They thought they found a chemical formula that would erase memory. From what you’ve said about Carl, they must have been right.”

“Are you saying that he tested it on himself?”

Regan nodded. “He probably wanted to try it for himself before he gave it to anyone else. Or else he did it by accident. Either way, he’ll be really excited that it works so well.”

Cam was visibly relieved. “That would explain it,” he said. “I was worried he was going batty. But this is great news.”

Miguel had been silent up until this point, but had followed the conversation with great interest. He agreed with Carl that having the ability to erase memory could be of critical importance in maintaining secrecy. “Did Carl tell you the time-frame of the memory wipe?” He asked.

“About ten hours,” replied Ryan.

Miguel nodded. “Well, it’s a start. Hopefully they can come up with a version that can reach further back. A memory wipe of a few days would give us a lot more breathing room.”

The siblings finished their conversation with the two guards and entered Prometheus once again, feeling far better about things than they had the day before. The strange telepathic warning had turned out to be a false alarm and Carl’s team of neuroscientists had been successful. They still felt uneasy by the absence of any sign of the Teacher in their minds, but they were getting used to it and there was nothing they could do about it in any case. Perhaps the Qwervy didn’t approve of the Teacher maintaining even this slight connection with them.

They stayed in the city as much as they could the entire weekend, as usual, and were exhausted getting up for school on Monday morning. It was a busy week at school and they were only able to visit Prometheus twice
during the week, and only for short periods. They never even had the chance to thank Carl for doing the sweep.

Finally, Friday came and they immediately headed to the city. They had been there for only an hour when their parents announced that they all needed to leave.

“Sorry kids,” said their mom. “We forgot to tell you. We’ve invited several key Proact scientists to the house tonight for dinner. We want to get to know them before deciding if we should ask them to join the team.”

Ryan groaned. He and his sister had just arrived! And they had plans for later on. He decided not to give up without a fight. “When are you coming back in the morning?”

“Early,” said their father. “Probably around six. Why?”

“Regan and I offered to help Dr. Meadows with some experiments tonight,” he complained. “And you know we’ll just be in the way at your dinner. So I was thinking … what if Regan and I spent the night here? You could wake us up when you got back in the morning.”

“Absolutely not,” snapped their mother immediately. “Under no circumstances am I letting you stay in this city overnight by yourselves.”

“We’re hardly alone, Mom,” argued Ryan. “Everyone here knows us. And we’ll be protected by the highest level of security on the planet. We’ll be safer here than at home.”

“Please, Mom,” chimed in Regan. “We could stay
here—in your lab. You have cots in the next room and a refrigerator loaded with food. You and Dad practically live here.”

Recently their parents had put in a makeshift sink and all four family members now even had spare toothbrushes in the alien building.

“What experiments is Dr. Meadows planning?” asked their father.

“He’s gonna study the walkway,” said Ryan.

The team’s first discovery upon entering the city had been a walkway that was made of a super-springy material that catapulted a person forward in a perfectly controlled fashion, greatly accelerating their pace.

“He wants to do a bunch of things,” continued Ryan, “like putting sensors on us while we walk on it so he can record exactly what happens. We promised we’d help him.”

Ben Resnick pursed his lips together in thought. “They do make some good arguments, Amanda,” he said. “And we did forget to tell them we were leaving early tonight. I’m sure Dr. Meadows is counting on their help.”

“What if we promise to stay with Dr. Meadows the whole time?” pressed Ryan. “Until we’re ready for bed. Then we can just come back here and sleep on the cots. You can wake us up early tomorrow when you get back and we can tell you all about the results.”

“You told us you didn’t think we needed special
treatment because we’re kids,” added Regan. “Were you just saying that?”

Amanda Resnick looked into the eyes of her husband and two children and knew she was beaten. She shook her head. “This is against my better judgment, but I suppose we could try it—just this once.”

“Thanks, Mom,” said both kids happily.

“I suppose you want us to bring a change of clothes for you tomorrow morning as well?”

“That would be great,” said Ryan. “You won’t regret this. You’re the best, Mom.”

“Sure,” said Mrs. Resnick wryly. “The best. I’m sure I’ll win the mother-of-the-year award for agreeing to let my children spend the night without their parents in an extremely dangerous alien city.”

Ryan smiled. “It’s not that bad,” he said.

“Yeah,” added Regan. “It’s a single night. And you’ll be back here for us early in the morning.” She looked at her mother reassuringly. “Really, Mom, just how dangerous could it possibly be?”

C
HAPTER
7
Invaded

R
egan awoke, yawned, and rubbed her eyes. She was wearing the same jeans and lavender t-shirt she had worn the night before, and her hair was pulled back into a ponytail. She was looking forward to telling her parents about the experiments they had conducted with Dr. Meadows the night before. Not only had they learned more about the walkway, but surprisingly, they had learned more about the nanobots as well.

These tiny robots, which looked like mutant ants with the teeth and attitude of piranha, had become quite a nuisance in the early days. Their incessant repairing of things drove the scientists crazy.