Violet (16 page)

A twinge of grief stabs me in the chest. “My
father is dead.”

The Scientist looks shocked for a moment and
then says, “They found you?”

I nod. “Yes, a few days ago. David and I have
been running since then. We saw the symbol of The Third Stone in
this picture of my mother…” I reach into my pocket to retrieve the
watch, and then I remember that I left it in the common room last
night. David reaches into his own pocket and draws out the
watch.

He places it in my hand and says, “I thought you
might want it back later.” I nod.

I press the latch and the cover swings open. I
show the picture to The Scientist. He nods. He recognizes the
picture. “Violet, did you ever regain your memory?”

I shake my head. “I know only what my father has
told me, and what I have learned since I woke after the explosion.”
I pause for a moment. The Scientist looks disappointed, but not
particularly surprised.

I continue, “I am hoping that you can help
us.”

The Scientist promises nothing, but nods as if
to say,
Perhaps. First tell me what you need.

“But before you do, I really need to know why
I’m lying in that bed over there.”

A small and fleeting smile crosses his face.
“Violet, I will tell you everything you need to know in due time.
For now, tell me how I can help you and your companion.”

I nod. “When The Alter was questioning me—”

The Scientist stops me by holding out his hand.
He looks alarmed. “You’ve spoken to The Alter?”

I nod.

“And he let you go?”

I shake my head. “No, we…”

David finishes my sentence. “Escaped.”

The Scientist looks even more confused.

“We stole a ship,” I say, but when I see the
anxiety on his face I quickly add, “A small transport.”

The Scientist laughs a true, genuinely delighted
laugh. “It seems that you’ve been busy in the past few days. Maybe
you should start at the beginning.”

I take a deep breath and look at David. He
clasps my hand in his and nods his approval.

I tell The Scientist everything that’s happened
to us starting from the point when I became suspicious of my
father. I’m ashamed, now that I know the little that I have
discovered, that I ever questioned his motives. I still wonder if
we were found because of my inquiries. I tell him that David
learned of our false identities. I recall the day that my father
died. Only a few days ago, but it seems like so much time has
passed. I tell him that my father ingested the Bahaya blooms to
keep from revealing any information to The Vox. I describe the
minimal amount of information that I gleaned about The Cube from
The Alter. I tell The Scientist everything that has happened, and
everything that I have learned. When I finally finish relaying all
of the recent events, I falter, but then decide to be completely
honest with The Scientist. I tell him about my dreams, the ones
I’ve had while sleeping, but also the waking visions. Finally, I’ve
told The Scientist everything that I know.

Throughout my entire explanation, The Scientist
has been sitting quietly, sometimes nodding. When I finally run out
of words, I just wait.

The Scientist leans forward and rests his elbows
on his knees. “You’re right, Violet. The artifact that your father
named The Cube is at the center of all of these recent events. It
possesses great power, and The Vox will stop at nothing to get
it.”

“What can you tell me about this Cube? Why does
everyone want it so much?”

The Scientist sighs. “As you saw, The Alter
approached your father to do some research on The Cube. At that
time, they believed that it was some form of technology used by an
ancient, extraterrestrial race. Your father was never able to
discover more about its origins, but he did learn what it is
capable of. The Cube creates life where none exists. Your father
saw great potential in this technology; we could heal genetic
sicknesses, create disease-resistant crops, perhaps—eventually—we
could expand our limited knowledge of the universe.

“Working with only one piece of the artifact
proved to be a challenge, but your father determined that The Cube
has some type of consciousness. We theorized that it was an
advanced form of artificial intelligence, but most of our theories
were not confirmed. He worked with the shard for months, and he
eventually realized that it keeps some kind of record of things
that happen around it. He theorized that this was some kind of
defense mechanism—a way for its creators to keep track of how it
was being used.”

At this point, The Scientist takes a deep breath
and smiles sadly. “Your father had such high hopes for this
technology. He thought that harnessing it could be his way of doing
something great for the human race. The shard in our possession
showed your father lots of images—places where it had been kept,
mostly. But after a while, he began to see different things. He was
never able to get the whole story; it only showed him bits and
pieces, but it seemed that The Cube had not been fractured
accidentally.”

I recall one of my visions. I held The Cube in
my hands, minus one piece. I remember feeling the fracture lines
along the otherwise smooth surface. The Scientist continues, “Your
father saw that the one Cube shard in our possession held almost
unlimited potential. It showed your father that The Cube had been
divided into four pieces, and if all of the pieces were united, the
amount of power that it held could not be contained by the human
mind. The Cube had been divided so that its great power could not
be used by one group to oppress another. Its creators had not
foreseen that such power would be so corruptive. That is why, I
believe, The Cube warned your father.”

David and I are aghast. The Cube
warned
my father?

“The Cube began to show your father horrific
images of war, death, and disease. It showed him how its power
would be used by The Vox once your father learned how to harness
it. Your father was horrified. He saw legions of reanimated
soldiers being given a dark and unnatural form of ‘life.’ The Vox
would build an army of the dead that they soon could not control.
Your father decided that it was his responsibility to do something
about it. He had done the research that uncovered its power, so he
thought he had to be the one to get rid of it. He knew how
dangerous it would be if The Sententia were given such unlimited
power. He decided that he had to steal the Cube shard.”

Here, The Scientist laughs. “It’s kind of funny.
Your father loved your mother, as I’m sure you know, but he never
understood her dedication to The Third Stone. He never agreed with
her distaste for The Sententia and The Vox. He knew that their
methods may be unyielding, but he also firmly believed that they
always had our best interests in mind. The Cube showed him
otherwise. He knew that they would be corrupted. He
saw
what
they would do and the effect that it would have, and he realized
that your mother, and all members of The Third Stone, already saw
this potential in our government.”

There is something that’s bothering me. “Some of
my dreams contradict each other… Is my mind playing tricks on
me?”

“Tell me more.”

“For instance, in one dream, you and my father
were good friends. Later, I saw him fire at you as you stole the
Cube shard. Then, I saw myself discovering the shard in my father’s
possession. What does all of this mean?”

“Yes, I understand why that could be confusing.
The truth is, we meant for it to seem that way. Your father and I
were more than good friends; we were like brothers. When he told me
what the shard had shown him, and what he meant to do, I knew that
I couldn’t let him do it alone. I knew that The Vox would never
stop hunting him if he disappeared with their only piece of The
Cube. He had a young daughter to think about; the last thing that
your father would
ever
want to do was put you in danger. I
myself have no family of my own; your father was the only true
family I’ve ever known. We decided to stage my theft of the Cube
shard to remove suspicion from your father. We knew that The Vox
would watch the surveillance recordings and see that your father
had tried to stop me. I already had ties to The Third Stone thanks
to your mother, and we were certain that no one knew about the
underground safe house that your father had built beneath Tara
Labs; it would be a perfect place for me to go to disappear.

“Everything went according to plan; The Vox was
unhappy with your father for allowing me to escape, but they could
not fault him. After all, he’d taken a shot. The investigation was
closed. However, your father soon realized that he was being
watched; The Alter had not been fooled. Your father feared that The
Vox would do something to you to get to him. After what had
happened to your mother, he couldn’t bear the thought. He decided
that the only option was to stage an accidental explosion at the
lab that would have killed you both. The only problem was that he
didn’t want you to spend your life underground, and after your
mother’s banishment, he never wanted you involved with The Third
Stone. So we arranged new identities, and prepared for you to
die.”

I feel that I am being crushed by the shame that
I feel. How dare I suspect my father? Everything he ever did was to
keep me safe, and I had betrayed him.

The Scientist smiles sadly. “He didn’t
anticipate you going to the lab to surprise him that day. Your
father had rigged a spill that would ignite a chemical explosion in
his main lab. That type of explosion is very difficult to predict,
but your father estimated that he had about three minutes to get
the Cube shard from his office and get out of the building. He was
wrong.”

I shake my head in disbelief. All my fault. I
can’t believe that all of this was my fault. David squeezes my
hand… He knows what I am thinking.

“You and your father were saved because of the
reinforcements on his office, but the force of the explosion caused
you to be knocked unconscious. We brought you down here and
stabilized you; you had both sustained minor injuries.

“Your father sat by your bedside every day, and
he slept there every night, but still you did not wake. All of your
vital signs were normal; we couldn’t find a medical reason for your
coma. Your father was desperate to save you. You cannot imagine the
guilt that he felt. He clung to every shred of hope.

“Your father knew that you had been holding the
Cube shard when the explosion knocked you unconscious.” He adds an
aside. “I believe that this is why you currently have Cube-related
dreams and visions. In some way, you absorbed part of The
Cube.”

He continues. “Based on his previous findings of
some kind of recorded memory within The Cube, he developed the
theory that perhaps your consciousness had been transferred to The
Cube, or at least that perhaps a shadow of it had been stored
there. He worked tirelessly running tests and formulating
experiments, but still he could not wake you. He even tried putting
the shard in your hand and giving you mild electrical shocks in the
hopes that your coma would be reversed. All to no avail. Your
father was heartbroken. He believed that your consciousness, your
mind and your spirit, were trapped within the Cube shard. That’s
why he created her.”

With this, The Scientist gestures to the
curtain. Did I hear that correctly? He
created
her? It seems
that The Scientist has anticipated my thoughts. He chuckles. “Yes,
that’s what I said.” He gets up and walks toward the curtain. I
stand uncertainly, and David puts an arm around my waist for
support. We follow The Scientist to the bed; he has already drawn
the curtain. I look down at the girl; she is a mirror image of me.
How is it possible that she was man-made?

“Violet, you know that your father was an expert
in the field of bio-engineering. No one could build a BioMech like
he could. He was the best at what he did. He got the idea in his
head that he could create a replica of you and use the Cube shard
as part of its intelligence compound. He was afraid that your body
and mind had been irreversibly torn apart; he thought of this as a
way to free you from The Cube.

“As you can see, he completed the shell of your
BioMech counterpart. However, he was still developing the
technology necessary to work in tandem with the Cube shard when you
woke up. One day, without any change in your health or vital signs,
you just opened your eyes.

“You simply cannot imagine your father’s
elation. You were a miracle to him. When he realized that you had
lost your memories, he was crestfallen, but he believed that they
were not gone, only locked somehow in your mind. He abandoned his
work with the BioMech; his only concern was helping you to regain
your memories. The plan went on as we had originally intended; I
stayed here with the resistance and you and your father moved to
Eligo.”

I hear what he is saying, but I cannot look away
from her. Yes, my father was very good at his job; I cannot believe
that this girl is a BioMech.

“After your father left, I could not bring
myself to dispose of such an amazing piece of technology. It just
seemed wrong. So I kept her here; she requires minimal maintenance
to keep the outer tissues healthy.”

It’s difficult for me to wrap my head around
everything that The Scientist has told me. It’s hard to believe
that there is a robotic version of myself being kept in an
underground lab. However, I can’t refute it; I’m looking right at
her.

“My father was right,” I begin. “It’s our
responsibility to hide the Cube shard—to make sure that it is safe
from discovery by The Vox. I know they’re looking for it, and they
have all of my father’s work and documents. It’s possible that
they’ll find some hint of its location; we’ve got to get to it
before they do.”