Gene. Sys. (11 page)

“Fight back, you coward!” he spits at me.

“Atom, don’t!” I hear Ev scream, but it’s too
late.

I smile as Titan steps in and throws another
punch. I catch his fist with both of my hands and with one fluid motion I twist
his arm and slam it down against my leg. The crack of his bones breaking sends
a wave of gasps through the Genesys.

The screams coming from Titan are deafening as
he lies on the ground, nursing his now limp arm. I have to step closer to the group
so that they can hear me. “Sil, Ox, take him to the medical ward.”

It takes them a couple of moments before they pull
their stares away from Titan and look at me. A small hint of fear glazes their
eyes.

“Now!” I yell.

They hustle to pick him up and place him on a
mat. Together they use the mat as a gurney and carry him into the elevator. I
look at the rest of the Genesys and can tell that I have perhaps alienated myself
from them again. I might have let my emotions get the better of me, but if Rene
wants me to be the leader, I can’t let anyone challenge that.

For a few moments silence fills the room. I turn
my back to the Genesys as I try to regain my composure. I know that whatever I
do next will dictate how they perceive me. The struggle between wanting them to
be my friends and wanting them to fear and respect me as their leader weighs on
me. I take a deep breath and decide that…

“I hope that shuts him up.” I whip around,
startled by the female voice. It’s Hydro. I’m shocked and don’t know what to say.
The silence is broken by a few of the others mumbling their agreement. A smile
graces my face as I realize that I might still be able to salvage some
friendships.

“Ok, enough of that. Pick a sparring partner.” I
look at the group. “Ev, match up with someone, but take it easy.”

Cal and Al pair off with each other, leaving the
girls to form three pairs. Thankfully Ev does not match up with Fe, taking Mag
instead.

I work them through the very basic fighting
skills—stance, defense, weight distribution and transfer. Ox and Sil join
halfway through and I catch them up to the rest of the group. I make sure to
keep things simple this session. I want to make sure that they comprehend the
proper techniques before I start teaching them advanced moves and how to use
their physical skills to their advantage.

After an hour of sparring, I can tell that
everyone is getting tired and nursing injuries. “Alright everyone, I think
that’s enough for today.”

The group lets out a collective sigh. I look
around at the group and all of them except for Ev have blood on their face. My
heart reaches out to them, but I quickly brush it aside, remembering my first
time with Grant. I definitely looked worse.

“Be sure to shower off and have another protein
pouch before you crawl into bed. It will help speed up the healing process. You
won’t feel most of these injuries by tomorrow.” I smile at them, but most avoid
eye contact. Fe catches my glance and I see nothing but pain behind hers. The
guilt twists at my heart.

“Can we go?” Cal asks.

“Yeah,” I respond.

“Yes!” K turns for the elevator. Others follow.

“One more thing,” I say. The group groans. “Come
down here whenever you want to keep practicing your weapons. I won’t be going
over those again.”

They mutter their approval and head to the
elevator. Ev lets the doors close and then doubles back towards me.

“What the hell is your problem? Did you really
have to do that to Titan?” she blurts out.

I sigh and furrow my brow, not really wanting to
answer. “I was left in charge. I couldn’t let him challenge that authority.”

Ev stares at me, obviously taking in what I just
said. I don’t think she expected such a straightforward answer. Right as I
begin to feel uncomfortable with her silence, she smiles and gives me a kiss on
the cheek.

“Okay.” She turns and skips back to the elevator
and I can’t help but smile as she does this.

The second the elevator doors close I feel the
tingle on my cheek left over from her lips. They seem to spread from my cheek
to the rest of my body and I find myself wanting more. I want her to come back.
I want to hold her in my arms and feel the warmth of her body next to mine.

After staring at the elevator and realizing that
she isn’t coming back, I grab the envelope Grant left me and I head for the
elevator myself. I reach my hand up to my cheek, trying desperately to preserve
all I can of the kiss.

The elevator doors open at the top floor and the
smile that was beginning to hurt gets thrown off of my face by the sight of
Rene leaning on the wall. He pushes himself away and squares himself up to me.
I can tell that he has been waiting for a while. His expression lets me know
that he is aware of what I did to Titan and he does not approve.

He begins walking down the hall, away from me.
“We need to talk.”

“I’m sorry.” I trot to catch up.

“Not here.” He walks on. I do my best to stay by
his side, but his pace is awkward, somewhere between my regular walk and my
speed-walk pace. I find myself in a cycle of lagging and catching up. It’s
making me feel uncomfortable in my skin and the silence isn’t helping any.

He leads me through various halls, past the scientists’
quarters and the medical bay. We go through a second set of doors, which I have
been beyond once before.

As we pass the room with all the monitors, my
mind shoots to Grant. I think about where in the world he might be right now
and if he is safe. It makes me wonder if the outsiders in other parts of the
world are just as hostile.

Rene stops just outside a door along the side of
the hallway and places his hand on the scanner and speaks his name. “Rene
Anfang.”

The door opens and he walks in. I follow, not
sure of what to expect on the other side. What I see is not at all what I
expected. It’s a small room. Against the wall to my left are a bookshelf and a
desk. The wall directly in front of me is adorned with a dozen monitors. They
all show different parts of the compound.

What really throws me off is the bed I see to my
right and a door that I can only assume leads to a bathroom. This is Rene’s
bedroom and for the first time I see him as he is. A man. Nothing more.

“Take a seat.” He points to the chair at the
desk.

As I walk over, I see him grab a mask and place
it over his nose and mouth. He hits a button on the side and suddenly his
breathing becomes louder.

“It helps me get more oxygen,” he says through
the mask, his voice sounding deeper.

I stare at the man I once called my father. As
he sits on his bed, vulnerable, I notice just how old he is. He’s a dying man.
Though physically he could live another couple of decades, mentally he is worn
and knows that he only has a few months left.

He takes a deep breath and speaks. “What
happened with Titan—
”

I jump in, wanting to explain myself. “I’m
sorry. I didn’t—”

“—Let me speak.” His words come slowly.
“What happened with Titan was necessary. I commend you for taking charge and
making sure that they all know you are the leader.”

I’m shocked. I expected to be yelled at.

“However,” he continues, “you must understand
that you cannot do this alone and you need to make sure that you all come
together as a group. You will need to work together in order to survive and if
any of them don’t respect you, it will be difficult.

“I’m sorry Titan has been a challenge. As much
as we can manipulate your genes, we are not able to do anything about your
personality and demeanor. This is what makes you all so unique.”

“I understand,” I say as I process what he’s
told me. Deep down I know Rene is right but I hate the idea of having to make
amends with Titan and I know it won’t be easy. As much as he hated me before,
he must detest me now.

“Be a leader, Atom. Not a dictator.” He lies
down in his bed.

His words resonate deep within me. Through all
the lessons I’ve had and books that I have read, not one single dictator was looked
at favorably. “I will.”

Though the mask covers most of his face, I can
tell by his eyes that he is smiling at me. “You can see your way back.”

I stand and walk to the door, looking back at
him before I leave. If I didn’t know any better, I swear he was already asleep.
I can’t imagine the exhaustion he must constantly suffer from with running this
compound.

I slow down as I pass the room with the
monitors, trying to see as much as I can,
part
of me
hoping that I might catch a glimpse of Grant or 80 on one of the screens. No
such luck. Exhaustion has begun to creep through me and I decide not to linger
any longer and head back to my bedroom.

Thankfully the hallways are empty, so I am able
to walk back without a detour. After a quick shower, I crawl into bed with the
envelope Grant left me. The plastic feels smooth in my fingers. Unsure of what
I might find, I pull out the contents.

The first sheet I see is a list of simulations,
the jungle, a city, and the desert, among others. One of them stands out to me
and sends a chill through my spine. I read it again to make sure I saw it
correctly, ‘dead bodies’. I’m too tired to think too much into it, but I know
Grant would not have added it if he didn’t think it was important.

The second sheet is a list of instructions on
how to enter the simulations. It also includes instructions on something titled
‘Hologram Battles’. There isn’t anything indicating what those might be.

The last sheet is addressed to me and is written
like a formal letter. As I read it, a gambit of emotions compete for my
attention. I feel pain, anger, fear, but mostly shock and betrayal.

*****

Atom,

I write you this note
knowing that what
is
in it you will keep to yourself.
There are certain things that you need to know that are best not shared with
others, including Rene.

First, let me address
the hologram battles. I was working on a program that would allow you and the
others to fight against holographic foes. Though there might still be a couple
of glitches, it will still operate and will give you all the opportunity to
work together as a team.

As you know, I was in
charge of security at the compound. Most of my time was spent making sure that
the drones were properly trained and that everyone within the walls remained
safe from the threat of the outsiders. We monitored everything from the
surveillance room you followed me into.

I spent so much time
looking outside those walls that I failed to see what was right underneath my
nose. In the last couple of weeks before I shipped out, I heard whispers of a
cell of scientists who intend on sabotaging the plan. Rene was not informed of
this because he would most likely try to confront the scientists, driving them
deeper into the shadows.

Unfortunately, I did not
have enough time to find out who these people were. I don’t want you to search
for them. What I want is for you to be prepared. You might have to fight people
you have come to trust, so stay strong and remember that your survival and that
of the Genesys is the top priority.

I wish I had more time
to flush out the cell, but these weapons need to be activated as soon as possible.
I trust that you will succeed and I know deep down that what we are doing is in
the best interests of humanity. Take care of yourself, Atom.

I’m glad to have known
you.

Grant

9

The next few days I just work with the Genesys
in mastering the different weapons and working on hand to hand combat. I can
tell that a few of them are getting impatient, but I don’t want to move on
without Titan. As much as I don’t like him, my talk with Rene has made me realize
the importance of having everyone on the same page.

Sleep has pretty much left my schedule. The
added responsibility and Grant’s letter have made it so that my mind won’t shut
off. I head to the roof of the library instead of my room at night and I
welcome Cal and Al’s company.

We mostly talk about the training and the
information that Ev has been teaching them. Cal attempted to talk about Titan
but I quickly steered him off subject, letting him know not to bring it up
again.

Tonight, though, our conversation is about
something completely different and I’m not sure how comfortable I feel about
it. My body seems to be put on alert because the brisk air has given me goose
bumps.

“Well Al, I think it’s pretty obvious that you
and Hydro are hitting it off,” Cal says. “Don’t you agree, Atom?”

“I guess,” I mutter, trying to fake disinterest.
It is true though. Al and Hydro have been virtually inseparable since I first
met them.

“Yeah. Well what about you, Cal? Who do you have
your eye on?” Al asks, not denying his interest in Hydro.

“I don’t know. I guess I think K is cute,” Cal
replies as he drops his head in slight embarrassment.

“Really?” Al pries.

“Her hair is really cool,” I add.

“Yeah, but Cal knows nothing about her. I’ve
never even seen him talk to her,” Al blurts out.

“So, I still think she’s cute,” Cal says as he
turns to look at me. “What about you, Atom?”

I really don’t want to answer this question.
Images of both Ev and Fe pop into my head. How am I supposed to decide?

“Don’t be dumb, Cal. You know that he and Ev
were created to be together. Just like in that book we read,” Al declares.

“That’s just a story. Besides, I’ve seen him
look at Fe.” Cal pokes me. His confession makes me turn bright red with
embarrassment.

“So which one is it, buddy?” Al shifts his body
around to look at me.

I look around. Hoping for a way to not have to
answer. I wish for a distraction and on cue the wish is granted as a body makes
its way through the door to the roof. Unfortunately it only leads to further
embarrassment as Hydro makes her way through, followed close behind by Fe.

I have tried really hard not to show any kind of
bias to either Ev or Fe, but without Ev around, I find myself staring.

“Hey fellas!” Hydro stands up on the roof.

“I hope you don’t mind that I invited them up
here.” Al looks at me.

“It’s fine.” This place no longer feels like my
sanctuary anyway.

“What’s that?” Fe points off into the distance.
Without looking, I know what she is asking about.

“That’s the Great Pyramid of Giza,” I say
proudly.

“The one we read about?” she asks, her eyes
growing wide with wonder.

“The very same.” I smile as I recognize the same
emotions I felt when I saw it, within her. For a moment it’s just the two of us
on the roof. The crisp breeze seems to have stopped as if we are standing in a
cocoon of warmth. I want to reach out to her and hold her.

“So this is what you do every night?” Hydro
looks around. Her question snaps me out of my trance.

“Yeah. We pretty much sit up here and talk.” Cal
scoots over, having not stood up when the girls arrived. There was barely
enough room when it was just the three of us, so now we scrunch together. Al
and Hydro cozy up as he puts his arm around her and Fe sits between Cal and I.

“What was the worst part about being out there,
Atom?” Hydro speaks up.

Many things pop into my head at once. The filth,
the hatred towards us, being shot, but one thing has always made my stomach
turn. I’ve tried hard to push the images out of my head but Grant’s simulation
list brought it all back. “The dead bodies.”

I look away, but I can sense all their heads
turn to me. I have usually been pretty candid with Cal and Al. This, however,
is much more than they have gotten before. I don’t know why I suddenly feel
comfortable talking about it, maybe it’s because of Fe, but I can already feel
a weight lifting.

They all look at me, anticipating my next words.
With my sights set on the top of the Great Pyramid, I speak. “They just make
piles of them on the outside of the city. There were also a lot in the middle of
the streets. The smell stings your nose but the sight of the rotting flesh is
something you will never forget.

“When I snuck out there I had to strip one of
the bodies and wear its clothes. I still feel it on my skin sometimes, the
death. The outsiders struggle so hard to survive and yet they have no respect
for a life lost. I would say they aren’t worthy of survival, but they are no
better in this compound. They used to discard injured drones like they were
finished protein pouches.

“What’s worse is that it none of it matters. In
a few months all those who are living will join their former friends on the
streets. We will be all that is left and we will have to make our way through
the layer of corpses that will line the earth, to hopefully start something
better than what we left behind.”

Instantly I regret having spoken my mind, but
it’s done. Minutes pass without anyone speaking a word. If it weren’t for the
sound of their breathing, I would have thought they had left. Part of me wishes
they had. I feel this might have been too much for them to handle, though I am
glad to have gotten it out of my mind. I no longer carry that burden alone.

“Well, shit. That kind of sucks,” Al exhales. We
all look at him and the tension is lifted as he laughs and the rest of us join
in.

The laughter turns to shivers as the wind picks
up. We use it as our cue to head back downstairs and to our rooms. The second
my head hits the pillow I fall into the deepest of sleeps.

I wake up the most rested I can remember. My
body feels relaxed and my mind seems focused. Even knowing that I need to visit
Titan because he is being released, isn’t affecting me.

The next training session is in a couple of
hours so after a warm shower I head to the medical ward. The hallways are
mostly empty as I make my way. I can’t help but internally question the motive
of every scientist I pass. Even though Grant said I shouldn’t concern myself
with trying to find the group of scientists that plan to stop us, my curiosity
is winning out.

As I enter the medical ward I see Dennis, the
same doctor that helped Rene, do some final tests on Titan’s arm. Titan turns
his head towards me and I see the disgust in his face. Though I can justify
what I did, I am sickened by the fact that I did it. I would never have expected
such malice to come from me.

I decide to walk into the room while Dennis is
still in there to keep the tension low.

“Morning, Atom,” Dennis says without looking up.

“Morning. Hey Titan.” I’m not expecting much of
a response and, sure enough, he rolls his eyes at me.

“You’re good to go, Titan. Your arm is back to
about 95%, just be careful with it for a couple of days.” Dennis puts his tools
away and walks out, leaving the two of us alone.

“I’m sorry.” I truly mean it.

“I would have done the same.” He avoids eye
contact. Still, I can’t believe he just said that. I don’t know how to respond.

Both of us look up as we hear a small commotion
outside the room. On the far end of the medical ward, Brianna is yelling at
Hawk. Both of them appear red with anger. Hawk tries to get a word in, but
Brianna won’t let him.

I walk to the door of the room and poke my head
out to see if I can hear anything they are saying, but the second I do, an
older woman walks up to them and they get quiet.
 
The woman is tall and slightly
overweight. Her hair is a sharp black, which allows the many white hairs she
has to stand out. She is obviously older than both Brianna and Hawk.

The woman points over in my direction and says
something quietly to the two of them, causing them to look over. Without saying
a word to us, they walk out of the medical ward.

“What do you think that was about?” Titan asks.
I hadn’t noticed that he walked to the door with me.

“I have no idea and I don’t know who the other
woman was.” I try hard to place her face, but I don’t recall seeing her
anywhere. Not even while passing in the hallways.

“So what now?” Titan rubs his arm.

I begin to walk towards the hallway. “I want to
catch you up on the weapons training. We are doing the first simulation today
and I want to make sure that you are on the same page as all the others. You
learn fast, so I don’t think it will take long.”

He jogs to catch up to me and out of the corner
of my eye I see a smile on his face. I walk quickly to the elevators that will
take us to the simulation room. Neither one of us says a word to each other.

Titan eventually breaks the silence. “I want to
focus on close combat, like knives and hand to hand. I’m already pretty good
with the guns, so we can skip that.”

His arrogance is something that I am going to
have to get used to, but he is right. Still, he needs to remember that I was
put in charge. “Titan, if this is going to work, you are going to have to
listen to me and do as I say.”

“Why?” he asks as he leaves the elevator and
walks to the center of the room.

“Because they put me in charge!” I ball my fists
in anger as I follow to the center of the room.

Titan turns to face me. “Are you better than I
am?”

All I want to do is scream ‘yes’ in his face,
but I know it’s not true. We were created from the same mold. I take a deep
breath to calm myself down. “No I’m not, but I have been around longer and I
have more experience. So I will leave it up to you. I can leave you down here
alone and you can try to figure it all out for yourself or you can let me teach
you what I know.”

I stare at him as he processes his options. I’m
about to turn to walk away when he speaks. “Wait. I’m sorry. I’ll listen.”

I turn back and head straight for the weapons. I
start him off like I did before, on the knives. Then we move toward the longer
handheld weapons. We don’t really speak to one another. I just explain and he
listens. As I anticipated, he picks up on everything quickly. With a few more
days of practice, he could be as good as I am.

I check the time and see that we have about ten
minutes before the rest of the group arrives, so I decide to use the little
time we have left to give him some pointers on hand to hand combat.

I square up to him. “The first thing to know is
that you never attack, you counter. A smart fighter studies his opponent.”

“That’s why you wouldn’t fight me?” He pries.

“Exactly. I was looking for your patterns. All
fighters have patterns. What hand they lead with, how many punches per combo, whether
they always charge, and so forth. Once you know a fighter’s pattern, you can
anticipate and counter.” I reach for his arm and he flinches. “I won’t do
anything, just going to show you a counter.”

I grab the arm I broke and gently pull it
towards me as if it were a punch. “When someone throws a punch, you roll into
it.
Never away.
By rolling into it, you are taking
both of your opponent’s arms out of the equation.”

I roll off his arm and slowly move a fist
towards his face. I stop right as my knuckles touch his cheek.

“That makes sense.” He pulls his arm away.

Just then, the elevator doors open, spitting out
the first of the Genesys. We both look towards the incoming group.

He walks over to greet them as they see that he
has recovered, but before he gets too far, he turns. “Thanks.”

“No problem. Let me know if you want any more
one on one training.” I watch him as he turns back to the groups. Cal keeps his
distance but remains close to the group. I’m glad I’m not the only one who
doesn’t like Titan.

I walk over to the control panel and by the time
I reach it, Ev has caught up to me.

“What are we doing today?” she asks.

“First simulation. You and I will pick teams and
we will be using the longer hand held weapons.” I begin to enter codes into the
panel.

“What’s the simulation?” She looks over my
shoulder at what I’m entering. Before I am able to answer, the room begins to
change into a dark and dense forest.

“The one we slept in before.” I smile at her and
she smiles back.

We both look at the group that has gathered in
the center of the room. They are all looking around in wonder. The blizzard
simulation we had before wasn’t very detailed, so this is certainly an
inspiring sight.