The Lethal Agent (The Extraction Files Book 2) (37 page)

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SEPTEMBER 16, 2232

Aida stared at Dr. Arrenstein in a mild state of shock. “I believe you’re mistaken. Perkins-196 is the most habitable exoplanet known to date. It very well could
save
billions of lives.”

“No. It won’t. Every person who tries to get to that planet will die.”

Aida reeled at the threat.

“Now, we have two options. I can take you through the whole thing, and then you’ll help us. Or you can save yourself an uncomfortable morning and just help us. Either way, this has to happen.”

Aida wouldn’t even consider turning her back on 196. They’d done too much work, searched too long to start over for nothing other than one man’s misguided opinion. “The colony is going to happen. The planet is suitable for human habitation. You have no reason to disregard my research. I won’t hear—”

As she spoke, Aida stood to leave but stopped when she heard, “Your research is unmatched, Dr. Perkins. No one can deny it.”

That gave her pause more than anything else. If he acknowledged the soundness of her research, how misguided could he be?

Aida sat back down.

Dr. Arrenstein rubbed his hands across the tops of his pant legs. He was a good twenty years older than her and lacked the polished perfection of a Scholar, but he had a kindness and warmth to him that she hadn’t expected. In other circumstances, she would have been tempted to like him. “I guess I’ll start at the beginning.”

“That would seem pertinent.”

He rubbed his hand across his mouth. “Now, whatever you learn here today, it can never leave this room. Aside from Dr. Filmore and the vicereine herself, you are the first person outside of my facility to receive this information.”

“I understand.”

“Your planet is home to a wide variety of local organisms,” he told her, like she hadn’t personally researched them. Still, he came prepared. From his tablet, he set four of them to hover in holograph.

“For the last twenty years, researchers at my facility have been looking for these four species. It seems they were on your planet all along.”

“Why those four?” They were just a handful of hundreds.

“First was this one, the Echo. It was first isolated in the throat of Dr. Grant Lilliwood after his untimely death at the age of twenty-four.” He tapped the insect-like creature so that its image filled the screen. “Since then, we have extracted sixty-eight Echoes from people on Earth and the LRF.”

“Extracted?”

Dr. Arrenstein nodded.

“And the others?”

“While Echoes are by far the most common, we have extracted a considerable number of this species. One we call the Gleam. It sits in the eye of the host and alters the signal to the optic nerve. This one, the Yield, affects motor function. And this, the Slight, alters memory patterns. It quite literally eats the neural connections in the temporal lobe of the brain.”

Aida blinked several times as the information washed over her. “Are you suggesting that a species from an exoplanet sixty light-years away and with no evidence of higher intelligence, managed to cross the entire cosmic sector to eat human brain cells?”

“Yes, that’s exactly what I’m saying.”

“This is ridiculous.” Aida stood to leave for a second time.

Theo was there to block her path. “Just listen to him Aida.”

She only looked up at him. “I thought you would be smart enough to avoid this kind of delusion. I’m disappointed in you.” She hadn’t forgiven him for calling her selfish. Or lying to her.

“It’s not a delusion. I’ve seen them myself. Everything he says is true.” It was the intensity of his gaze that made her consider it, the way he stood strong and refused to let her pass. Theo believed what he was saying.

By the time Aida sat, a young, blonde girl handed her a jar. It was filled with a honey-colored fluid and one of the creatures Dr. Arrenstein called an Echo.

“And who are you?” Aida asked the girl.

“Dasia Daugherty.” She spoke as if Aida should know the name.

Aida handed the jar back to her, refusing to look at it any longer. She had no explanation other than they must be involved in some sort of hoax. Even Theo had been convinced by their tricks.

“We don’t know much about the bugs. We don’t know how they operate, how they communicate, or how they got to Earth. We know they are organic but have high metal densities—”

“They’re clones,” Maggie offered from the back.

Dr. Arrenstein looked up at her. “You’re sure?”

“It’s the only explanation for their masses and composition.”

Then, as if he’d planned on saying it all along, he continued, “We know they’re clones. We know they tend to target Scholars, particularly those with a connection to your planet. Vince matched their physical compositions to those of your planet, and considering the subterranean structures, I expect they have a sizeable population. Otherwise, it’s all speculation.”

“It sounds like you have quite a bit more work to do.” Aida was satisfied to let a colony take hold on 196 while they figured it out.

Dr. Arrenstein winced before he continued. “At 1638 on September thirteenth, Dr. Filmore approved the colony on Perkins-196. At 1720, the first casualties were reported. In the fifty two hours since, there have been a record 429 deaths directly caused by bugs. With the dome attacks, Masry estimates somewhere between six and ten million secondary casualties. Sixteen domes have been compromised, two of them irreparably. Who knows what cities will be next.”

“And you think these organisms are somehow involved?” For the first time, Aida was afraid. Her hands shook, though she held them together to hide it. They were mentally unstable, delusional. They were hallucinating.

“Dr. Perkins, I
know
they are involved. Every person related to the colony is now dead, including your colleague Dr. Niemeyer, and your husband Dr. Sal Perkins.”

“Except for me.”

“Yes. You are the lone survivor. You and Dr. Hi—you and Vince,” he corrected.

“And what is your explanation for that?” Aida smiled inwardly. She had found an error to their logic. She could reason her way out of this.

“He performed several extractions on you. I apologize for that. He intentionally withheld that information from me. Had I known, I would have gotten involved much sooner.”

“He told you that? That he somehow isolated an alien species from my brain without my knowledge? On several occasions?” It would have been funny if she didn’t hate him so much.

“Yes, that’s right. I didn’t ask him to this meeting because I thought it would upset you, but if you would like to hear it from him, we can bring him in.”

Aida looked down at her feet. She didn’t know what to do. She didn’t want to see him. She wanted to spit on him. But there was a part of her that missed him, that wanted to go back to the way things had been before.

“Yes, I’d like to hear it from him.”

Dr. Arrenstein looked over her head. When she looked back, Aida saw Theo nod and jog from the office. Near the door, Dasia Daugherty stood whispering in Maggie’s ear.

“Am I to understand that my newest researcher is also an agent of your facility?”

“Maggie? Yes, she is. As is your brother, and Ms. Perch.”

Aida looked at Director Filmore with the realization that she hadn’t been the only one misled by Dr. Arrenstein.

When Theo returned with Calvin—or rather, Vincent—at his side, Aida could hardly look at him. It hurt to look at him, but she did it all the same. She wouldn’t be made to look a cowering fool in front of him.

Dr. Arrenstein directed him to the front of the office where he stood beside Director Filmore’s desk.

“Dr. Perkins has some doubts about your extractions. I was hoping you could walk her through them. I don’t think she quite understands what the process is like.”

Vincent looked like someone had stabbed him in the chest. He gazed at Aida with narrow, regret-filled eyes and said, “The first was an Echo. I extracted it and sent it back to you for evaluation.”

“No, tell her
how
you extracted it.”

He sighed and started again. “The first time, I squeezed my forearm to her carotid artery until she lost consciousness. I lowered her to the floor and laid her flat. I inserted the clamp into her throat and removed the bug. Then I sent it back to you for evaluation.”

Aida couldn’t believe what he was saying. He choked her? She would definitely remember that.

“Go on,” Dr. Arrenstein prompted, like he enjoyed the spectacle.

“The second was an Echo again, two days before Dr. Parr’s death. I didn’t want to use the stranglehold again, so I asked you for a gas canister. You sent it. I extracted it that night.” Vincent shifted his weight and looked at Dr. Arrenstein, eager to be finished. When Dr. Arrenstein sat in silence he continued. “The third was a Yield. I put her under with the gas and used a small set of forceps to pull it from her ear.”

Aida’s hand instinctively moved to her ear, as if she could somehow still feel it there.

“And the fourth?” Dr. Arrenstein asked.

Vincent shook his head. “She gets it.”

“She needs to know.”

“I did it,” Maggie called from the back.

“You did what?” Aida asked.

“I performed the extraction.” Maggie walked forward and knelt beside Aida’s chair. “You had a Slight. It was attached to your brainstem and was going to kill you. Calvin got the equipment ready. I went to your office and depressed the gas. You collapsed on your desk.” Maggie told the story, her eyes piercing Aida’s. She couldn’t help but believe every word. “I was supposed to cut the incision, and he was going to grab the bug. You bled a lot. There was blood everywhere, on his suit, on the floor. When it came time to grab it, he was too afraid to hurt you. He thought he was going to kill you if he tried to get it. So I reached the clamp between your vertebrae and pulled out the bug. You’re only the third person to ever survive it.”

Aida asked the only question she could think of. “Who were the other two?”

“My brother and me.” Maggie shrugged and returned to the back of the office.

“Thank you, Maggie,” Dr. Arrenstein said, though it was clearly not what he wanted. Aida couldn’t decide why he was so adamant that Vincent tell her the story.

“Anything else you can think to tell Dr. Perkins that might sway her?” Dr. Arrenstein asked her former lover.

He shook his head. “I don’t want to sway her. She’s intelligent, and she can make her own decisions. But she does deserve to know—”

“Know what?” Aida asked. Her mind swam. How much more could there be?

“How Dr. Parr died.”

Aida sucked in a cool breath to calm her racing heart, but it helped little.

“He had a Yield. When you reported 196, it caused him to change the coordinates of the planet, and then it killed him.”

“How dare you,” Aida seethed. It was lower than low to use Dr. Parr’s death and their relationship against her in this way.

Vincent took two steps toward her and stopped. “You know it’s true. You know he deteriorated in those last weeks, that he would never have made a mistake like that. You know he wasn’t himself—”

Aida huffed in anger—not because he was wrong, but because he was right. That Dr. Parr had been different, that he would never give the wrong coordinates. Somehow, it was easier to believe in brain-eating aliens than doubt her mentor.

“A bug in his brain killed him because of my report?” she asked him.

Vincent nodded slowly.

Her vision clouded with tears of unfairness. How could she be to blame? Even if it was true, how could she have known? She was only doing her job. She was trying to save humanity.

“Dr. Perkins, I understand that this is difficult, but each moment of delay, more bugs kill their hosts. In the time since we started this meeting, there have been seven deaths,” Dr. Arrenstein said barely above a whisper.

“I suppose those are my fault as well?”

Dr. Arrenstein’s mouth turned down as he shook his head. “No, Dr. Perkins. Yesterday, Dr. Filmore terminated a colony on Mars, a colony that held one of my very dear friends. A man who was a good friend to all of us.” He looked at Vincent. “He was Maggie’s brother and one of the first agents to become infected. I, for one, have had enough death at the hands of these bugs. You have the power to end this. So end it.”

His tone, his sureness and quiet strength gave her pause. He believed she could save people, what she had been trying to do all along.

Aida knew she would do it. If sacrificing 196 would save lives, then she would do it. They would find another planet. Maybe not in her lifetime, but someday.

Only, she couldn’t.

“I don’t have Sal’s access code if that’s what you’re asking.”

Dr. Arrenstein took it in stride. “No, not directly. The bugs killed Sal without realizing the colony had already been approved. We are hoping they have a contingency plan.”

“I don’t understand.”