Mind Trace (36 page)

He went through the videos until he found one where he
could see most of her body reaching under the desk. Eric couldn't make out her
face, but he could see her hand, tentatively reaching out to get the pen she
dropped.  At the moment where her hand came into contact with the wires, she
jerked it back as if she had been shocked. That explained why she bumped her
head, but it didn't explain why she jerked her hand back.

Eric forwarded through the lab footage since that moment.
Alice seemed more distracted after that, and he found that she was often
twiddling wires or cables with her right hand. 

Even more peculiar than that, he saw that she would
randomly smile at nothing. Eric was growing more and more disturbed as he
watched.

What's going on in that mind of yours, Alice?

Then he came to part of the recording a few days before
when she actually laughed out loud. She seemed to be thrilled at something. But
what?

He noticed that her eyes flitted to the computer screen
right before her strange outburst. Had something on the computer screen given
her that reaction? Eric switched feeds until he found the camera that was
behind her, pointed at the screen.  He played it in parallel with the other
footage so he could see what was there the moment she looked at the screen.

Alice's hand had once again been holding the wires near the
computer. At the instant she turned to look up, he paused the playback and
looked at the other video. It was just some random diagnostic program running
on the screen.

He rewound the back footage and it was then that he noticed
something unexplainable. The program hadn't been running before that. The
computer screen was blank and on the desktop.

So, seconds before this unexplained laughter, she looks
up at the computer screen and notices that some program just starts arbitrarily
running. And her hands are nowhere near the keyboard or mouse… How is that
possible?

Eric sat back and let the full effect of his observations
sink in. It was as believable as any of his theories about her were, yet he
couldn't help but think it was true. Alice was like no one he had ever met. But
this? Could this really be the explanation?

If it was true, then she was beyond a doubt, the most
important thing that ever happened to him. She was the future and she was in
his
possession. She would be his, forever.

Of course, she would not remain in his possession long if
she had indeed discovered that she could manipulate data signals with her mind.
It was slightly comforting to notice from his observations that it seemed she
had to place her right hand near the transmissions in order to control them,
the same right hand that had been burned. She wasn't completely invincible.  

If he were Alice and he had such powers, he would be biding
his time until he could escape. If Eric waited until then to act, Alice would
be long gone. He would have to take measures to ensure that did not happen. 
How could you keep someone from escaping that could theoretically control every
electronic device within hand's reach?

Eric would be the last person to admit it, but in this
case, extensive use of technology seemed to put him at a disadvantage.  He would
have to start fixing those issues right now.

She would have to be completely isolated from all exterior
signals. They could retrofit one of the cells with their signal-blocking
technology. It was an expensive technology that essentially blocked all types
of radio signals from passing through a material. That way, she would not have
access to their wireless network. They would also have to shield all wiring in
the same material, so she would not be able to manipulate the data using the
electromagnetic fields surrounding the cabling. 

It was a start, and perhaps he was overreacting, but he was
not prepared to take chances. Eric picked up his phone and made the appropriate
calls to start the project. They would begin work immediately on this new "super
cell."

In the back of his mind, Eric was still incredulous. No
matter how much evidence he saw showing that Alice possessed extraordinary
abilities, he was not prepared to accept the fact that it could be real. If
only he could find some way to test her without her knowledge...  He would have
to think of something before his mind could rest.

Eric looked up at the clock on his desk. They had just
brought Alice her dinner and she would be sedated soon. He would not have time
tonight to test any of his theories. It was probably just as well because he
hadn't established how he would do that anyway.

Since he did his best thinking in his own lab, Eric shut
down his office for the night and headed to his estate. As he stepped outside,
he felt the normally refreshing cold wind hit his face, but it did little to
ease his troubled mind. 

The only thing that will fix this feeling is to get to
the bottom of this…and do so before Alice has a chance to act.

***

Alice woke up instantly when she heard her door open. She
held her eyelids shut and listened. There was no conversation this time and she
tensely waited to see what would happen.

She knew that it was 6:30am and she was still supposed to
be unconscious. Footsteps approached her and she heard a small clink as her
glasses were returned to the table.

Once the door shut, she opened her eyes and sat up. Her
stomach rumbled uncomfortably.  It was unfortunate that they didn't leave her
breakfast, but it was only a small inconvenience.

She sighed, squared her shoulders and stood up. She felt an
ever increasing need for urgency that she didn't understand. 

I have to get out of here now. I can't put it off
another day. The last time I didn't listen to my gut, I ended up here again. And
now it's telling me I'm out of time.

No one would expect her to be awake now, so it was the best
chance she would have for a while.  

Alice gazed around her small room. There wasn't really
anything there worth taking with her. Even the creations that she had so
ingeniously slipped through the hole in the bathroom wall were no longer
necessary.

Why am I even hesitating? It's not like Eric's going to
suddenly come to his senses, walk through that door and apologize for all the
wrong he's done, then just let me go, wish me the best, and move on with his
life.

 Not going to happen. There's no reason to wait another
second.

Alice knew he was inherently evil, but she had seen another
side of him…one that had the capacity for good.

But, the time for those thoughts had passed and Alice had
to look out for herself, as she had grown so accustomed to.

No one is going to do what's best for me, except me.

She reached up to disable her glasses once more, but was
interrupted when an all-too familiar voice began speaking inside her cell. The
initial sound made her leap up and left her heart rapidly beating in her
chest. 

It was Garrett's voice! But what on earth was he doing
here? She quickly realized it was coming from the intercom on the terminal near
her door.

"Alice, I hope you're in there. I've managed to hack
into EngineerCorp and upload a super-virus into their mainframe. It won't hold
them back forever, but it should give you enough time to escape without them
noticing. The security system should be down for at least ten minutes.

"When you get out, don't try to find me. It's not
safe. Make a new life somewhere where they can't find you, Alice. Now get out
while you can!"

At the end of his frantic message, the door to her cell
slid open. The terminal lit up and showed an error message, "MALFUNCTION –
DOOR MECHANISM UNRESPONSIVE."

She smiled in spite of her racing heart. If there was ever
a perfect time to escape, this had to be it. It didn't get much clearer than
this.

Alice was about to flee her cell when she remembered her
glasses and the bracelet. She had to disable them first! She knew she had to
calm down if she was going to be successful, but she found it was the most
difficult thing she ever had to do.

Pull yourself together! This is a limited time offer!

She breathed deeply and attempted to concentrate. Alice
dealt with her glasses first. Reaching her hand up to the frames, she worked as
quickly as possible to disable the transmitter again. Even though she had
become adept at the process, it took longer than it should have.

When the transmitter was disabled, she turned her attention
to the bracelet. It had already taken two minutes to handle her glasses… two
minutes that she couldn't afford to spare.  Her right hand hovered over the
thick, metal band as she opened her mind up to let the information flow.
Perspiration broke out on her brow as she worked.

Three tense minutes later, the bracelet clicked open and
she sat back with relief. She stared down at the opened manacle, glad to be
finally free of it.  She jumped up, bracelet still in her hand, and turned to
the doorway to make her escape. Her flight was cut short when she met a pair of
familiar, icy blue eyes.

She instinctively leapt backwards, appearing to be as
shocked as Eric already was. He was alternating between staring at her and staring
at the open bracelet in her hand.  She could see his mind whirring at the scene
before him, trying to make sense of it and not wanting to believe what he knew was
true. 

How did he always do that? Does he just inherently know
the worst possible moment to show up?

He still stood in the doorway, and Alice could tell that he
was not himself. She felt the window of opportunity closing before her and she
knew she had to do something. She was afraid to break him out of the strange
trance he was in, for fear of what he would do.

"I knew you could do it, Alice. Never in my wildest
dreams did I believe it, even though it was staring me in the face the whole
time. Do you know what this means? Do you realize how important you are? Do you
know what we can accomplish together?"

Alice stared dumbly at him, not sure how to respond.  He
stepped forward into the room, still dazed.

Speaking more to himself than her, he continued his rant. "I
don't know how you did it, but I'm going to find out. It will take a fair
amount of time, I'm sure…"

He turned abruptly to face her. "But with you on our
side, we will be unstoppable!"

Not to go all "Luke Skywalker" on you, but
no…I'll never join  you!

He came towards her, placing his hands on her shoulders as
he stared wildly into her eyes.

"Alice, this exceeds any expectation I ever had! You
are the future of a new age!"

Eric seemed to be completely immune to the fact that her
door was mysteriously stuck open and he interrupted her in the middle of an
escape attempt.

While he was still deep in his discussion of the future
that he envisioned for her, Alice made her move. She acted faster than she
thought she could, but her aim was true. She snapped the bracelet on Eric's
wrist and took two large steps back.

He stared dumbly down at his wrist. Alice knew he didn't
carry the deactivator with him. He told her that in the beginning. It would
have been too accessible for Alice to steal it and escape. Eric thought he had
sufficient foresight to only carry the activator. However, he saw too late the
truth of the matter.

His gaze turned cold. "You'll never escape Alice. I
don't know what you're trying to accomplish by this."

They were interrupted by the sound of alarms and the sight
of flashing lights outside her door. A voice sounded over the intercom system
in the hallway.

"LEVEL FIVE SECURITY BREACH.  NUMEROUS SYSTEMS
COMPROMISED. ALL PERSONNEL REPORT TO STATIONS IMMEDIATELY."

Thank you, Garrett!

It was like music to her ears.

Eric's face was contorted by rage.

"Alice, what have you done?"

Alice took that as her exit cue. She took one look at him,
stopping only to say, "I haven't done anything…yet. That doesn't mean I'm
going to let this opportunity pass me by. It's been nice, Eric!" and she bolted
for the door.

Eric moved to go after her, but stopped a hairsbreadth from
the door when he realized what he was about to do. The moment he stepped over
the threshold, the bracelet on his wrist would activate. Fury boiled up in his
eyes.

Eric's anger was exceeded only by Alice's own happiness.
The moment she had been waiting for was finally upon her.

Freedom!

Alice fled down the hall, leaving an infuriated Eric in her
wake. He already had his phone out, madly punching in numbers. It would take
him time to reach someone in the middle of the crisis that was going on.

Red emergency lights were flashing around her, casting an
eerie glow. The audio alarms had stopped sounding, but Alice paid no
attention.  Even though there was no small task ahead of her, she somehow knew
that it would work out.

It had to…

Chapter 22

From her most recent download, Alice knew that the
maintenance elevator no longer stopped on her floor, not that it mattered. She
had the power to do almost anything she wanted at her fingertips.

She was nervous and excited. Her heart was racing, but she
had something that eluded her before. She had confidence. Alice was confident
in herself and her abilities and knew she could do what she needed to when the
time came.

The plan that had been forming in her mind for weeks was
finalizing as she made her escape. She had always desired to exonerate Garrett
from his ruinous past. During her detainment, she agonized over how to do it.
Then, all at once, the perfect solution came to her.

EngineerCorp's diverse involvement in industry gave them
access to an extensive satellite network. What better way to broadcast the
information she needed, than to use their own network against them? She didn't
particularly care for the fact that she had to be inside the complex to use it.
She would have loved nothing more than to flee for the nearest exit, but she
had work to do.