Zero Matter 9 12

Chapter 9 Half a dozen flashlights turned on, blinding me from as many directions. Soldiers in black stepped out from behind landscaping bushes and cars lining the street. All had rifles aimed at my chest. Several large black vehicles raced from behind the building and screeched to a stop next to us. After I entered the vehicle that looked like a rolling fortress combined with an R.V., a soldier frisked me and unceremoniously cut off my coat with his dagger like knife. He was ready to remove the shield suit sleeve as well to check for weapons. “Don’t you idiot!” Tanner barked at the over-eager soldier while pushing Laura into the van. The soldier sheathed his knife and looked ravenously at Laura, no doubt imagining the curves hidden by her coat. “What about her, sir?” I whipped around and grabbed the soldier by the throat. He fought against me at first but the strength of my left hand was unrelenting as I crushed his windpipe closed. “Let him go, Adam,” Tanner ordered coldly. “Let her go first,” I snarled. “Can’t do that. We heard your heart to heart. She’s part of our little club now.” I could feel the soldier growing weaker and his eyes were starting to bulge in his sockets. If Tanner was concerned at all, he didn’t show it. “Move out,” he said and the truck started to roll. “I’m not kidding, Tanner! Let her go!”

“Or what? You’ll kill Jacobs? You don’t have the stones for it, and even if you did, it wouldn’t make a difference.” “Adam, please, let him go. I’m okay, I promise,” Laura said and placed a cool hand on my cheek. Her touch calmed the fire in my chest and I released my hold on the soldier. He fell to the floor coughing and grabbed his throat. Another soldier helped him to a seat in the back of the command vehicle. It was only then that I noticed the soldiers had their weapons aimed, not at me but at Laura. I turned around to face Tanner. “Tell them to put their guns away.” “Why would I do that?” Tanner asked. “You’ve already assaulted one of my men. I can’t be too careful.” “Then aim the guns at me. She’s no threat.” “You’re right about that but since you and I both know that killing you is the last thing Uncle Sam wants, she’s the better choice for target practice. Her continued well being is completely dependent on your cooperation.” “Fine, you’ve got it but put the guns away. You have my word that I won’t do anything.” Tanner furrowed his forehead and cocked an eyebrow. “All fight but know if you even blink the wrong way, every man in this transport will have a bullet in the air before you open your eyes.” “Fair enough,” I said and sat down next to Laura. She looked brave and strong at first glance but when I put my arm around her shoulders, I could feel her trembling.

“Are you okay? Did they hurt you?” “I’m fine,” she answered coldly but did not shrug off my arm. Tanner twisted a pedestal mounted seat around to face us and sat. “How sweet, you found a special someone on your little vacation. She’s from that little town you were hiding in, right? Dirty Water or something like that.” “Go to hell.” “Easy, Adam. Language like that doesn’t really work for you.” I stiffened and saw rifle barrels lift. “How’d you find me?” “We actually weren’t looking for you. Thought you bought it during the last raid but we started getting suspicious after your library search. Not too many people remember Dr. Marcus anymore. We did a good job of making him look like a lunatic after we took him underground. We didn’t get on it fast enough though and you were gone by the time we got feet on the ground here but once your energy signal popped up in that little town, it was easy enough to connect some dots. We’ve had people covering your girlfriend here since breakfast.” “Where are you taking us?” Laura asked, her eyes darting to the tense soldiers. “Someplace safe, that’s all you need to know.” “What about Red Water? What about my parents?” she asked, her voice growing stronger with each word. “They’re fine. They don’t know enough, unlike you, to be a liability.” “That’s not what I meant. What about the Guardians? What are you doing about them?” Tanner shrugged and puckered his lips lazily. He smacked them audibly before answering.

“Not much we can do about them right now. They won’t be able to make the jump for a few more days but when things line up, there will be hell to pay. You picked a good time to get stupid, Adam. A couple more days and you would’ve had Source Guardians coming out of your ass.” “Yeah, lucky me,” I grunted. “Damn straight, lucky you. At least now we have time to lay a trail away from that little speed bump of a town so no civilians get hurt. We found your phone by the way but just to let you know, your residual energy trail will be completely gone by tomorrow so those sons of bitches would go back to the initial location and wipe everyone off the map. The energy signature from when you dropped your arm registered all the way in the Pentagon. You can bet the Source Guardians pegged it too.” “But you’re going to lead them away, right?” Laura asked before I could. “As long as Adam doesn’t give us any headaches, I’m sure General Brayton will stick with that plan. It doesn’t do us any good to have an inhabited town wiped off the map. Piss us off and who knows what will happen.” He shrugged and held up his hands dismissively. It took every ounce of control I had to not knock his face around to the back of his head. “They are innocent people. You can’t treat them like their lives mean nothing.” Laughing and shaking his head, Tanner pointed a finger at me. “You’ve really changed, kid. Almost year out of the nest and you think you’re all grown up, know all the answers. Here’s the thing though, everything comes down to dollars and cents and compared to the price tag on you, there aren’t too many things not worth sacrificing.” “Why?” I asked, my voice angry and gravelly.

“Why what, kid?” Tanner sneered back. “Why am I worth so much to you? What makes me so important?” Tanner smacked his lips again, smiled and leaning forward, whispered, “Cause you cost too damn much to put to pasture without doing anything for us first.” “What am I supposed to do for you?” I said back through clenched teeth. He leaned back against his seat, raised his arms like he was going to stretch but as he moved, his right hand pulled his pistol out of his should holster. He leveled the barrel at Laura’s head. “Honestly, I don’t have a clue. That’s General Brayton’s bit of knowledge. And now that I’m really thinking, I’m not sure the shielding of your little tape job there is going to keep you hidden very well. I think it’s time for you to get in the box.” He jerked his head towards the soldiers behind us. They parted to reveal the black coffin I’d been a passenger inside before, leaning against the back wall of the truck. “You don’t need to do that. I won’t give you any trouble,” I said, more concerned for what would happen to Laura if I wasn’t there than the choking claustrophobia of the box. I squeezed her hand, hoping she would understand my motivation. She applied light pressure back. “Think of what I’m aiming at, kid. Make this easy on all of us.” Tanner cocked the gun. “It’s okay, Adam,” Laura said, her voice trembling softly. “Do what he says. I’ll be fine.” “I’d listen to your girl, kid,” he said and then the creepy smile vanished from his face. “Get in the box.”

I stood slowly so my actions wouldn’t be misunderstood. I turned around and crouched to look Laura in her eyes. “I’m so sorry I pulled you into this.” “I know,” she said. “Don’t worry about me. I’ll be alright.” “Hurry up, kid.” I pivoted to face Tanner. “Her face better be the first think I see when you let me out or I swear…” “I know, I know. I’ll pay for it or something like that. You’ve got my word, as soon as we’re in a secure location, we’ll let you out for a cozy little reunion.” He stood and pushed me towards the back of the vehicle. One soldier opened the heavy lid like a door. I stepped into it backwards. Tanner leaned in close and whispered just loud enough for me to hear. “Her only value to us is in controlling you. Think about that while you’re in there.” The door slammed shut, cutting off all light and sound. # Countless bumps, jostles and an insanity inducing long time later, Tanner made good on our deal. Laura was right there when the box was opened. She barely had time to tell me she was okay before being escorted away and I was left alone in a room very much like the cell Dr. Marcus had helped me escape. I sat on the edge of the cot, the only furniture in the bare room and waited. I had no idea for what. I hoped it would be General Brayton, hoped I would have the chance to plant my fist on his jaw for allowing Tanner to bring Laura into this. I wanted to scream at the observation window, rage against the guards inside the booth but knew it would do no good, for me or for

Laura. There were so many things I wanted, so much I wished I could do but I was trapped, hopelessly stuck in a bunker I was certain was buried under tons of rock and dirt and in the middle of nowhere. So I sat and waited, pretended to be docile and compliant until the door to my cell opened. “Adam! I am so glad you are safe!” Dr. Swanson stepped gingerly into the room, leaning so heavily on a cane that her bulbous white knuckles were shining. I was so overjoyed at seeing her that I didn’t notice at first how curved her back was, how the gray had taken over her hair or the many heavy lines creasing her face. I wrapped my arms around her and lifted her from the ground. A pained grunt stopped my enthusiasm. “Are you okay?” I said and stepped back, finally recognizing the incredible age she’d gained since I’d last seen her. “That’s a relative term these days,” she said with a crinkled smile. “Where do you want your equipment, ma’am?” the soldier behind her asked. He was young, barely old enough to shave. His expression was stern but not as convincing as an older soldier’s might have been Dr. Swanson pointed with her cane towards the cot. “Just at the head of the bed should be fine and then you can go.” “Sorry, ma’am but my orders are to stay here with you until the exam is over.” She smiled sweetly when she turned to face him. “Did your orders tell you about the radiation that will make your testicles shrivel and sterilize you in less than a minute? Because that’s what you’ll experience if you’re in here when I take this sleeve off his arm. Were you warned about that?”

“No, ma’am. I was not,” the soldier answered stiffly and glanced at my left arm. “But if that is a risk, why aren’t you in protective gear?” “Do I look like I have any need of a functioning reproductive system?” Dr. Swanson said sweetly. “If I do, I’m free on Friday if you are.” The soldier’s face turned scarlet at being propositioned by a woman old enough to be his grandmother or perhaps even his grandmother’s mother. “General Brayton’s orders said…” “I’m sure he said a lot of things but I’ll tell you this. I am a doctor and I’ve worked with this young man all of his life. I am accustomed to the radiation he generates and close enough to death that even if I wasn’t, I don’t really care. But you have a long life and potentially many children waiting for you so let me ask you this: Does General Brayton pay you enough to sacrifice all that? Or does you paycheck entitle you to leave, lock the door behind you and watch the exam from the safety of the observation booth?” She turned her back on the divided looking soldier. Her swollen knuckled hands reached up to the tape around the top of my rubber sleeve. “Let’s get this off of you so I can have a good look.” I tried to stifle the smile I felt creeping up as I watched the soldier back towards the door. “Just raise a hand when you’re ready to come out, ma’am,” he said before sealing it shut. “I thought he’d never leave,” Dr. Swanson said softly as she continued to pluck at the fraying duct tape around my shoulder. “I can take care of that,” I said and put a hand on her back to guide her to sit on the cot. “Thank you. Lately, my fingers have stopped obeying orders.” “Do you think they’re listening to us?” I said once she was seated.

“Undoubtedly but we won’t let that stop us. What are they going to do? Lock us up for talking?” She laughed at her own joke. The soft chuckles turned into racking coughs. “What happened? How did you get so…” I paused on the last word. “Old?” She smiled wisely. “This is just nature, no gimmicks or special tricks. Still, I’d say I look pretty good for ninety-seven.” I pulled the last of the tape from the sleeve leaving a grid of sticky residue behind. “Ninety-seven?” I said, struggling to keep my voice down. “I never guessed. I always thought you were in your late forties, maybe early fifties.” “You are very sweet, always were” she said and sighed. “I was seventy-nine years old when I was recruited and had incurable cancer in both lungs. By the time you were three months old, the cancer was gone and my vitals were better than they’d been in ten years.” I stopped fiddling with my sleeve and sat next to her. “Wait, are you saying that I did this? Did that?” “Of course you did. They had to put us on a one-in-five day rotation so we wouldn’t deage so rapidly that you’d notice,” she said, sounding quite surprised. “Didn’t Keith tell you? I thought that you escaped together.” Her eyes were hazy behind a layer of tears, as if she had already guessed what I was going to tell her. “Dr. Marcus didn’t make it. There were Source Guardians waiting for us.” The dam broke and she buried her tear covered face in her hands. “I’m sorry,” she sobbed. “I knew…He knew that it was dangerous but I still hoped for you both. He always knew that someday he would need to break you out, need to help you get free and this would be the probably be the price but knowing he’s actually…”

She choked up, unable to continue. Suspecting we probably did not have much time before our conversation would be stopped, I shamefully interrupted her sorrow. “He wasn’t able to tell me much before it happened. Dr. Swanson, I need to know who I am and why I’m so important to the Army and the Source Guardians.” She wiped her eyes clear and took a deep breath that I could hear rattling in her chest. “Of course you do. I’m sorry I didn’t start with that,” she said and pulled a small pair of scissors from a front pocket of her white lab coat. She started cutting at the twine around the thick sleeve. “Probably better to talk while I work. Tell me what you know.” “Not much. Just that I’m not radioactive and I’m guessing there was probably never an accident in a nuclear plant. I know the Army wants me under lock and key, the Source Guardians want me dead and that I’m not the only one like me.” “You really don’t know anything then, do you?” she said with grave sadness and started pulling the sleeve off my arm. “Are you sure this won’t hurt you?” I said before it went below my elbow. “Oh, dear boy, who do you think held you when you were a baby?” She pulled the sleeve free and dropped it to the floor. Her hand, placed directly in mine, changed the moment she touched me. Dark spots covering the fragile skin on the back of her hand paled. The bulbous knuckles shrank and her yellowed fingernails turned a healthy shade of rose. Wrinkles smoothed themselves and the constant shaking of age stopped. “This is part of why you had to wear that horrible suit,” she said, running both hands around my forearm, probing her fingers gently into my flesh. “You are perfection and whatever you touch realigns to match you. Every person has a zero-matter superstructure but it ages and

distorts to match the regular matter filling it in. But when we’re with you, our zero-matter acts like it’s reminded of what it is and corrects the imperfections. We all would have loved for you to run free, making us young and strong but they wouldn’t let us. The radiation story was General Brayton’s lie that we had to follow. But even then, kept behind glass or under the suit, your perfect order radiated and kept us all young and alive. Every one of us was near death when we sacrificed the rest of our lives to the project, never guessing how much more life you would give us.” I hated to rush her, what she was saying made sense of many things. Apparently being covered in coarse matter did not stop the healing effects of my superstructure. Gary’s leg mending faster than expected, Sheriff and Mrs. Dawson’s more youthful appearances, even the bumper harvest at the Baker’s farm made sense in light of this but it still didn’t answer the most important questions. Her probing reached the circle of normal flesh and the pleasant sensation of her fingers on my zero-matter forearm changed to sharp pain. I grunted, snapping her from her fascination and revelry. “Oh dear,” she said. “I’m sorry I was distracted. It’s hard not to be.” She withdrew her hands and flexed her fingers, smiling, I’m sure, at the lack of pain in her joints. “So how did this happen to me?” I asked as she opened a small case and produced several handheld electronic devices. She was silent as she passed the first scanner over my arm and then stared at the screen. “Please, Dr. Swanson, I need to know.” Her shoulders slumped forward and she kept her head down when she answered. “This didn’t ‘happen’ to you. This is how we made you.”

I let her imagine what questions her statement generated and waited for her to deliver the answers in whatever way made sense to her. “Dr. Marcus discovered zero-matter almost fifty years ago. When his family died, people thought he’d gone crazy because of the dramatic change in his work. He became obsessed with proving the existence of the anti-universe as an explanation for the unequal ratio of matter to anti-matter in ours. The more he obsessed over the natural discrepancy, he began to theorize that if there were two forms of matter exactly equal in mass but opposite in charge occupying different dimensions of existence, why couldn’t there be more subtle layers, where instead of a proton having a positive charge of one hundred sixty zepto-coulombs and an electron being the negative of that, those particles could have a charge of more or less magnitude. He broke away from the quantum physics based idea of multiple dimensions and focused on what he called charged physics to explain it all.” She finished taking recordings of my arm with her myriad of instruments and put all the devices back into their case. “I read almost of his publications and I’ll admit that I didn’t understand a lot of them but I don’t remember anything about an anti-universe or multiple dimensions,” I said. “You wouldn’t have, dear,” Dr. Swanson said kindly. “All that work was done after he left the public eye and then it was hidden. While many scientists have theorized about the existence of multiple dimensions, Keith was the first to prove it but before he could publish the existence of an infinite number of realities based on different elementary charges, the United States government stepped in and put the whole project under a heavy blanket of secrecy. With no family ties and only his work to keep him going, Keith accepted the new restraints on his

work as long as he was allowed to continue. Proving a new truth of matter and parallel dimensions was only the beginning to what he was actually looking for.” “And what was that?” I asked. “It was the zero point, the exact middle of the spectrum. His proof of varying elementary charges inferred a place in the center where instead of protons and electrons having equal but opposite charges, they would have no charge and be held together in atoms not by electromagnetic force but another, previously undefined force. His work led him deeper and deeper into the subatomic particles, sub-electron, sub-proton, sub-quark and beyond. Eventually, he developed a method to remove the charge from particles and when all the switches were flipped, the focused electromagnets fired, he was left with a single zero-charged electron circling a single zero-charged proton. His mystery force, holding the hydrogen atom together, was named the Marcus force and the atom was called zero-matter. That was when we heard from them, heard from the other side of the veil.” “The Source Guardians?” A slow nod. “Dr. Swanson, you have overstepped your boundaries. Complete the procedure and exit the chamber immediately.” I jumped like I’d been hit by lightning and looked to the observation room. Tanner was leaning over the microphone with General Brayton standing behind him. “No! I’m not ready for her to leave.” “Temper, Adam,” Tanner said softly. “Remember what we’re keeping safe for you.” I stared at the observation room, loathing the two men inside. Even more than the Source Guardians, these two were the bane of my life, ruining everything each time they appeared.

“Don’t worry, Adam. I’ll be back to check on you soon,” said Dr. Swanson. “For now though, I need you to absorb matter to your arm.” “That’s right, kid. Do what the doctor says and we’ll send your girlfriend in for a visit.” “Why?” I asked her and then turned to the observation window for the answer. “What does it matter? You guys always kept me in zero-matter state before. Why cover me up now?” Dr. Swanson answered before Tanner could. “We never experimented with this before. It was always all or nothing and I’m concerned that having just a part of your superstructure exposed might be damaging to your ability to assume matter.” She looked concerned but I wasn’t sure it was for the reason she’d just given. Still, I didn’t see any harm in absorbing matter and covering my arm. I addressed the control room. “You’ll send Laura in as soon as it’s done, right?” General Brayton nodded once. Tanner grinned like I was a weakling for wanting to see her. “Fine,” I said, the only thing more important than hearing what Dr. Swanson had to tell me was knowing Laura was safe. “What do I need to do?” Dr. Swanson patted the top of the bottom most piece of equipment on her cart. It was a box, two feet long by one foot square. One end had a circle in the center that shimmered like a suspended pool of black water. “I’ve loaded this with all the elements you’ll need. Place your arm inside and you should be able to rebuild it.” I pulled the sleeve of my shirt higher up on my arm, knelt on the floor and pushed my fingers against the glistening circle. The material made room for my hand but kept pressure

against it, keeping the box’s seal intact. I hesitated briefly before slipping my arm through the gelatinous barrier. I pushed until my entire forearm was in the box and felt the swirling elements inside. It took less than two seconds to replace what I’d shed. I moved to pull my arm out. Dr. Swanson coughed softly. “Take your time, Adam. Make sure you have a complete rebuild. Be certain you’ve picked up everything you need. Dr. Marcus was always concerned that you were not thorough enough, that you rushed and didn’t take the time to make sure you picked up everything you were supposed to.” She should have known how easy it would’ve been for me to absorb the matter and fix my arm. What she was saying didn’t make sense unless there was something else for me inside the box. I hoped Tanner and General Brayton were unaware of how unnecessary her words were. I tried to act naturally and took my time, probing the inside of the box to find whatever she was hinting at. My fingers rubbed over something different in texture from the smooth inner surfaces of the box walls. It felt like a piece of paper, taped to the bottom. I plucked it loose and palmed it. I twisted slightly to hide my arm as I pulled it out of the box. As soon as my hand was out, I dropped the inch by half inch piece of paper on the floor and stepped on it as I stood up. I held out my arm for Dr. Swanson to inspect. She opened her cases again and pulled out the same scanners she’d used just a few minutes earlier. “Does everything feel right? Any problems with picking everything up?” I tried not to cringe at the obvious nature of her question. As much as I wanted to believe otherwise, General Brayton was not a complete idiot.

“Everything’s fine. Good bonding,” I said before pivoting, making sure to keep my right foot planted on the note. I held up my hand to the observation window and wriggled my fingers. “Send Laura in now.” “Help Dr. Swanson with her equipment. Once she’s out, we’ll send Ms. Dawson right in.” I tried to remember if the note had fallen with the sticky side of the tape up or down but drew a blank. All I’d thought to look for was whether or not I could sit down after Dr. Swanson left without lifting my foot. Now there was a fifty-fifty chance that I would never see what information Dr. Swanson had tried to smuggle in to me on the tiny scrap. The white paper would stand out noticeably against the dark tiles of the floor the moment I moved my feet. “Is there a problem, Adam?” Tanner asked laboriously. “No, no problem.” I was stuck and hoping for the best, offered Dr. Swanson a hand up before grabbing the handle of the small cart. I had to tell myself not to look back just in case the scrap of paper was there but would go unnoticed unless I acted improperly. It was difficult to stay facing forward. Dr. Swanson leaned heavily on my arm, using her cane sparingly with her other hand. She patted the inside of my elbow for the short walk. “I wish I had more time and could tell you everything,” she whispered. “I wish you did too.” The door opened, revealing the young soldier she had tricked into leaving us alone, standing with his rifle ready. His jaw was sternly set, no doubt held there by residual anger at the tongue lashing Tanner or General Brayton must have given him.

“Push the cart into the airlock but make no attempt to enter yourself,” he ordered. The end of his rifle barrel was shaking and I had no desire to test how much control he had. I pushed the cart over the threshold with my arms extended fully. My feet stayed well clear of the doorway. Dr. Swanson had tears trickling out of the corner of her eyes. “I am so sorry, Adam,” she said as she hugged me, her wet face buried in my shirt. “Don’t worry,” I said. “I’m sure they’ll send you in here for another check-up soon. We’ll talk more then.” She nodded and tried to smile. I could see on her face that she believed what I said about as much as I did. Fat chance I’d be seeing anybody knowing anything important for a long, long time. She stepped over the threshold and the door slid closed. I had to concentrate on not looking too excited to turn around and head back to my solitary cot. Nothing exciting about that at all. My control turned to relief when I saw there was nothing on the floor. The slip of paper must have stuck to the bottom of my boot. I went far enough into the cell to get a good look at the observation window. General Brayton and Tanner were already gone. “Hey! What about Laura?” I shouted, knowing that even if I couldn’t see anybody, there had to be somebody listening and watching somewhere else. There was no answer. I shuffled to the cot, keeping my steps low to avoid any camera getting a glimpse of the bottom of my shoes. I sat down heavily, wondering if they would make good on their promise of sending Laura in to see me and then thought of how many different ways I could make them pay for not following through. I bent over and untied the laces to my boots and slipped my feet out of them. After pushing them under the cot, I laid back, stretched

out and put my hands behind my head. If I’d learned anything before Dr. Marcus broke me out, it was waiting was a big part of life and I might as well be comfortable. Ten minutes later, with no warning, the inner door slid open and Laura came stumbling into the room. “Laura!” I jumped to my feet, almost falling when my socks hit the smooth floor, “Are you okay?” She ran to me, right into my outstretched arms like we were in a movie. She said nothing for a long time, just held me and gently cried. I wanted to ask what they’d done to her, if she was hurt, if they’d given her anything to eat, but realized the questions needed to wait for a little while. I checked the observation window. Again, nobody there. After a few minutes, Laura’s hold on me became less desperate and her breathing became more regular. “I thought I might not see you again,” she said. “What happened? Did they hurt you?” “No, they just asked me a lot of questions about what you’d told me and who I’d told. They were definitely not nice about it but no, they didn’t hurt me.” “I am so sorry I dragged you into this mess. I wish I never came to find you. I should’ve found another way.” I pushed some loose hairs off of her face. Her eyes were red and puffy, her nose was pinkish and her upper lip looked dry and chapped. There were mascara laced tear trails running down her cheeks and her bottom lip was still quivering gently. “What are you looking at?”

“Just admiring the view,” I said sweetly. She pushed me away. “Ugh! I must look disgusting! I’ve been crying for the past hour!” “You look just fine to me,” I said and meant it. She shot me a dirty look before walking to the sink in the back corner of the cell. The piece of stainless steel bolted to the wall for a mirror wasn’t great but it gave her something to work with. She grabbed a few paper towels and started cleaning away the mottled make-up. I sat back on the cot and watched her. “Have they told you anything?” she asked as she rubbed water under her eyes to get rid of the raccoon like border. She was mildly successful. “Them, no but an old friend, Dr. Swanson, gave me some insight and helped me absorb an arm again.” “Oh, really.” “You sound disappointed.” “Well, yeah, a little. I was kind of hoping I could see it.” “Sorry you weren’t here.” “Me too,” she said and threw several spent paper towels into the garbage bin bolted to the wall next to the stainless steel toilet. “That’s better.” It certainly was but I would’ve still taken her with a snotty nose and black tear tracks any day of the week. This time she met my appraising look with a smile. “So what did your friend tell you?” she sat down next to me on the cot. “I’d rather not say.”

“What?” she snapped and moved away from me. “I’m here because of you, buddy and don’t you think for a second that you won’t tell me everything you found out.” I immediately thought about the slip of paper clinging to the bottom of my boot. There was no way I could tell her about that without risking losing it. “I saw that look! What are you thinking?” “Laura, I’m sorry but I can’t tell you anything. The more I tell you the more you’ll get tangled up in all this. If you ever want out of this, you’d better get used to not knowing anything more than you already do.” Dr. Swanson’s words rang in my head, “…sacrificed the rest of our lives to the project…” It was a one way ticket to get in and I prayed Laura hadn’t bought hers yet. “That’s not fair. I’m only here because of you. Don’t you think I deserve to know as much as you do?” “Not if it means you’ll be locked up forever with me,” I said and stood, towering over her. “They can’t do that. People will notice we’re missing, they’ll look for us. I don’t care how deep this runs, Dad won’t stop until he finds me.” “I wish you were right, but you’re not. They kept me locked up for eighteen years and nobody outside of a few army jerks and the scientists that took care of me ever knew. They can keep you just as isolated and cut off as I was.” “But you didn’t know they were doing it to keep you in. You thought it was to keep other people safe so you let them. Plus, nobody knew about you or knew to look for you. We’ll get out of this. We’ll get out of here and put this behind us. Your arm is covered now and the

Source Guardians won’t be able to find you. If you refuse to help the army, eventually they won’t have any use for you and they’ll let us go.” Her face was so sweet and hopeful that I didn’t have it in me to argue with her. Even though I knew I wasn’t directly a danger to anybody, I wasn’t going to scramble any brains with personal radiation, there were still people that would get hurt if I didn’t play by the army’s rules. And it wasn’t just Laura. It was her parents, the Bakers, and everybody else in Red Water that were at risk. The only thing I could hope for was Laura someday getting out of here and never looking back. I needed to find a way to get her released and then figure out how to read the message stuck to the bottom of my boot. At the moment, I had nothing for either problem. “Maybe,” I said, pretending to give in to her faulty logic. “I really hope you’re right.” I sat down next to her and leaned back against the wall. She leaned back with me, snuggling into my chest. After a few minutes of silence, she was asleep while I worked feverishly to find a way out for us.

Chapter 10 Two hours later, Tanner’s voice woke us up. “Wakey, wakey little love birds.” I felt like something had crawled in my mouth and died. I rolled my tongue over my lips and tried to remember what I’d been thinking before I feel asleep.

Oh, yeah, hopelessly stuck. That’s what I was thinking. There was no plan for getting Laura out of this mess and definitely no chance of me disappearing again without putting her parents or the Bakers in further danger. “Time to go, lover boy,” Tanner said. “Where are you taking him?” Laura demanded. “He’s gotta pass a few more tests before we give him a clean bill of health. Don’t worry, we’ll bring him back to you soon.” “I’ll be fine, Laura. Try to go back to sleep - you look exhausted,” I said. “Don’t cooperate, Adam! If you don’t play their game you won’t be any use to them.” I leaned in like I was going to kiss her on the cheek. She tried to pull away from me but I had a hand on the side of her neck and held her still. “If I don’t play their game, they might decide to let the Source Guardian’s level Red Water. I don’t have much of a choice right now. We have to play along until that threat is gone.” I tried to keep my voice as low as possible, hoping it would escape the sensitivity threshold of their monitoring devices. It was a risk but I could tell I needed to give Laura something to hold on to while I was gone. She slumped back against the wall and crossed her arms. She was so convincing in her pout that I doubted she had heard me. I reached under the bed and grabbed my boots. I slipped my fingers under the sole of the right one and pulled the piece of paper off before pulling the boots out of hiding. Rather than go for a pocket, I dropped it inside the boot.

When I stood up, I tried to say goodbye to Laura but she ignored me completely. I saw Tanner stifle a laugh out of the corner of my eye. “Try to get some rest,” I said before walking to the door. It slid open to reveal two soldiers with weapons aimed at my chest and a third twirling a thick plastic zip tie. Once the tie was properly secured around my wrists, they led me down a short hall, through two doors that required palm and retinal scans to open and finally into a sterilized smelling air lock. The soldiers cut the plastic restraint and backed out of the small chamber. The opposite door opened, revealing a lab room like the one I’d been raised in. It was not identical since this new one was half the size of the one I knew intimately and all the living comforts like a bed, a couch, a television and books were missing. This lab was all business. There was the crucifix like table in the center with large electromagnets hanging from the ceiling above it. The walls, floor and ceiling all had the faint added radiance of a permanent layer of zero-matter. I faced the observation windows, set at eye level in this facility instead of twenty feet up. “So what now? Back to the way things were in the good old days?” I said. “That’s it, kid,” Tanner answered. “Take off your clothes and get on the table. Time to find out if you’ve still got it.” “And what if I don’t? What if dropping a hand or a foot is the best I can do now?” “How do you get to Carnegie Hall, kid?” I muttered, “Practice, practice, practice,” under my breath as I started to take off my clothes.

I started with my shoes, pulling them off slowly in case the note slipped out with my foot. I peered into the control room, hoping to see Dr. Swanson inside. Besides Tanner, the only other people were General Brayton and the three soldiers that had brought me here. “Where’s Dr. Swanson?” No answer. I stopped undressing, a symbolic gesture really since I was already down to my boxer shorts. “Where is she? Shouldn’t she be running this show since she’s the expert?” General Brayton tapped Tanner on the shoulder and took his seat at the microphone. “Dr. Swanson died shortly after visiting with you. The short burst of youth you gave her was too much for her organs to bear. There was nothing we could do to help her. Sergeant Tanner is fully trained to operate this laboratory and will do so in her place.” The pain of grief was quickly swallowed in anger. “Really? You’re saying I killed her then?” I snapped and marched up to the glass. “Her death is my fault, huh? It’s got nothing to do with you?” General Brayton looked like I’d slapped him across the face for a split second. Then his visage went dark. He offered no response, just stood, indicated Tanner should take the seat again and glared at me from the back of the control room. Tanner barked into the microphone. “Get on the table! Or have you forgotten your other friend here?!” I smacked the glass with the palm of my hand. “Drop it!” I snarled. “You’re not going to hurt Laura. You’re not going to touch a hair on her head because the moment you do, you’ve lost your power over me. So just drop it. Figure out a new trick cause that’s not going to play anymore. And while you’re at it, stop

threatening Red Water. You’ll save them, not because you’re decent human beings but because it’ll be easier in the long run to lead the Source Guardians away than to explain how a small Kansas town and all its citizens were annihilated.” “GET…ON…THE…TABLE!” “No, not until you tell me what you’re doing right now about Red Water. Tell me how you’re taking care of them and if I approve, then I’ll do what you want.” I could see veins bulging next to Tanner’s eyes and saw him tense, ready to shout at me again. General Brayton leaned forward and said something to Tanner before he could explode at me. Tanner shot icy looks my direction as General Brayton gave his instructions. One of the soldiers ran out of the control room while he spoke. Tanner got back on the microphone. “General Brayton wants me to deliver this message to you. That soldier he just sent sprinting out of here was Jacobs. You remember him, the one that really liked your girlfriend from when we picked you up? Just imagine where he’s going right now and how happy he looked to go there. Think about that for a minute while I tell you that you are nothing but a wetbehind-the-ears kid who has no idea who he is dealing with. You act like we can only hurt your girlfriend once and then we’ve got nothing on you. Same with all the people in that little town. You’re just too dumb to realize hurting people isn’t a one-time thing. Death is a one-time thing. Pain can be done over and over again in more ways that you can imagine. I’m only going to say this once. Get on the table now or you’ll find out just how much control we do have over you.” This time, I punched the window. Threw my whole body behind it and felt the knuckles and bones in my hand crack against the shatter proof glass. Pain pounded its way up my arm and into my head but I barely registered it. The only reason I was aware of it all was the sensation of my superstructure fighting to heal the broken bones.

“Clock is ticking, Adam. Jacobs is a hard man to control and once he’s set loose, I don’t know if we can stop him.” I looked from Tanner to General Brayton slowly and recognized differences in the two men I loathed. Tanner was delivering a message, I could tell, just doing his soldierly duty, following orders. General Brayton gave the orders and he liked it. He enjoyed seeing me angry. Enjoyed exercising power over me. He thought I was helpless, completely under his heel and for that moment he was. “Alright,” I growled and stepped back to the table that had moved to a vertical position. “I’ll do it but call Jacobs off.” “You don’t give orders,” Tanner said. “Please, don’t hurt her. Call him back.” It wasn’t hard to force fear and penitence from my voice. I hated to do it but knew it was what General Brayton would need to hear. His flickering half smile confirmed he was satisfied with my penance. He said nothing, just motioned towards the door and another soldier sprinted out to retrieve Jacobs. Both were back in less than ten seconds and couldn’t hide their smiles. It wasn’t hard to guess that Jacobs had run out the door and stopped immediately, waiting for me to crack just like General Brayton had planned. They weren’t as smart as they wanted to think though. If they wanted me to stay scared, the second soldier should’ve waited with Jacobs in the hall for a few minutes to make me suffer. I didn’t say a word, simply glared at them as I leaned back against the table and put my hands and feet under the thick fabric restraints that tightened automatically as the table tilted back to the horizontal. “Going for seventy-five percent shed,” said Tanner. “On my mark, three, two, one…mark.”

I smiled. Dr. Marcus had never given me a goal less than one hundred percent. I’d never tried for less, not matter what level of success I’d achieved. The goal was always to shed it all. I closed my eyes and tried to shut down my other senses. The low hum of the electromagnets faded, the chafing of the rough fabric of the restraints went away, even the drumming of my own heart disappeared as I pushed my focus deeper and deeper. Dr. Marcus had never given advice on how to shed since he was wise enough to know he would never experience the process the way I did but as I drew inward, I remembered everything he’d tried to teach me about the nature of matter and combined it with the fear I’d felt seeing the power line sparking on the road and the desperation of one minute earlier. All things connected and at once, I knew I was ready to make Dr. Marcus proud. For a moment I considered holding back, doing an incomplete shed like they were expecting and then letting the electro-magnets finish the job but once I started the process, I knew it was beyond my control. I wish I’d seen what Tanner saw, what General Brayton and the other soldiers saw through the windows. I like to think it must have looked like a human supernova, particles exploding out from a central source, turned to plasma by pure energy and then cooling into atoms and molecules. I felt the room shake as two hundred pounds of matter was instantly expanded from solid and liquid form to plasma and gas. There was no pain, no time for nerves to start sending signals of failure. It was done between beats of my heart. I took just a moment to enjoy the feelings of freedom and power as I flexed my muscles and enjoyed the sensations of my natural state. I thought quickly of Dr. Marcus and Dr. Swanson and how hard they had worked to get me to this point and then my mind inevitably went to

Laura, picturing her small and alone in my cell. Waiting for me. Scared for me, terrified for everyone she loved and lastly, scared for herself. The time for celebration was over. The restraints around my wrists and ankles broke like they were made of tissue paper and I was on my feet, charging the control room. Tanner was the only one to react before I hit. He managed to get his hands halfway to his face before I dove through the window and crashed into him. His head slammed into the floor, knocking him out and then I was on the rest of them like lightning, snatching guns from hands and cracking heads against the walls faster than they could move. They stood no chance against my zero-matter body. They thought they were so smart, tricking me with Jacobs but all they accomplished was delaying what I was planning on doing already. As long as I was covered in coarse matter, I was weak, I was susceptible. But now, they were at my mercy. The only thing their act had accomplished was making me angrier. I pulled the unconscious bodies together quickly, frisked them all and crushed whatever I found except for one handgun and one assault rifle. I piled the deformed and destroyed guns, knives and radios in a corner. Jacobs turned out to be the closest to me in size. I stripped his black combat uniform, all except the army issued underwear. I found several dozen two foot long, half inch thick plastic zip ties in their pockets which I put to good use. When I was done, Tanner and the three soldiers were tied together wrist to wrist, ankle to ankle and ankle to wrist in so many ways that they would never be able to move unless somebody else cut them free. I bound General Brayton separately, tying his hands and feet together behind his back. If he were conscious, I’m sure he would’ve protested loudly as I pulled his feet up to meet his hands and connected them with another plastic tie. After they were all secured, I went back into the lab through the broken window and pulled Dr. Swanson’s final gift to me out of my boot. All that was written on the slip was a ten

digit number. I memorized it quickly, repeating it in my head until I was sure it was locked away and then, for lack of any better way to dispose of the paper, put it in my mouth, chewed it into a ball and swallowed it. I slipped on my underwear and then Jacobs’ uniform. His boots and gloves were a tight fit but I could make them work for the time frame I needed them. I pulled his black, short brimmed hat down low on my forehead and flipped up the collar of the jacket. I would never pass close scrutiny but this way, only a small section of my glowing skin was not covered. The monitoring cameras in the corridors would probably not pick it up. I rolled my pants and shirt together, stuffed my socks into my boots and cinched the bundle together with a zip tie. I went back into the control room and put the packet of clothes on the counter. General Brayton was still out cold. After breaking the plastic bands around his wrists and ankles, I crouched in front of him and slapped his cheeks a little harder than I needed to wake him up. He came out of his stupor slowly but once he was aware enough to see I was right in front of him, he reached for the holster at his waist. I slapped his hand away. “It’s not there anyway,” I said. He eyed me coolly and then started to laugh softly but there was no humor in his face. “What’s so funny?” “Pretty soon this room is going to be full of soldiers and you’re going to be right back where you started except I’ll be pissed off. I’ll put you in a hole so deep even the devil won’t be able to reach you.” It was my turn to laugh. “That might be the case if Tanner had been able to trigger the alarm.”

General Brayton’s eyes darted to the control desk and saw the truth of what I said. No lights were flashing and the large red alarm button was not depressed. “You screwed up when you built this place, General. You left the control room on a level I could get in. But everything else seems about the same. This room is at the end of a long hall and extremely heavily shielded by whatever you think will keep my energy signature hidden. Nobody, unless they were right outside the door, could have heard me break that window and since you brought your three soldiers in here, you made it easy for me. The cameras in this room aren’t wired to the regular security network because you don’t want all your men to know the full details of what goes on back here. Nobody knows except you, me and the human pretzel I made that anything unusual is happening. And now, you and I are going to walk out of this little room, get Laura and get out of your buried playground.” “You won’t get far without somebody noticing you’re a little different and that only becomes a problem if you can get past the hundred men I have guarding this facility. And then, even if you manage to get around these first two problems, what about your precious Red Water? You and your girl might be safe for a little while but it will be at the expense of that whole town,” General Brayton said as calmly as if he was lying on a hammock enjoying a cool lemonade. I could tell he had more to say, more fear he wanted to instill in me but even if I had any desire to hear it, there wasn’t time. And, anything I might say to him to argue, to prove that I knew better would not be heard. I jerked him up by his collar, lifting him from the ground with one hand until his feet were a six inches off the floor. I stuck a finger in his face, right between his eye brows. “You will do what I tell you or I will kill you.”

To emphasize my point, I pushed my finger into the bridge of his nose. I was gambling on something I had thought might happen but had never dared tried. It simply wasn’t in me to hurt anyone or anything to satisfy curiosity. Up until now at least. My finger tip touched his skin and I took a moment to feel all I could. Then I pushed forward, inserting my finger into his flesh and then his skull but stopped short of breaching the final layer before going into his brain. His eyes crossed at first, trying to see what I was doing but the expression quickly changed to panic and then tortuous pain. I could see the fight, the determination on his face preventing him from screaming but the grinding set of his jaw showed his body was suffering. I tried to keep my expression passive to not reveal how revolted I was by what I was doing. As much as he disgusted me, I didn’t want to hurt him but it was a necessary evil. I could feel him growing weaker so I slowly extracted my finger. The particles of his flesh and skull realigned naturally as my presence exited. I dropped him unceremoniously. “Now, General, with that memory fresh in your mind and the knowledge that even if I couldn’t do that, I could still crush your skull like a peanut, where are you hiding the shield suits?” “Go to hell!” “I’ll save you a seat.” # The shield suits were in a small room next to the lab. A small, clear plastic box on a table in the middle of the room caught my attention. I popped the lid and was pleasantly surprised to find Laura’s purse, both our I.D.’s and my roll of saved money inside. Tanner must have put the box in here assuming nobody without proper security clearance would find it in this restricted part of the facility. I stuffed the contents of the box into the many cargo pockets of Jacobs’

pants. I grabbed a shield suit from a peg on the wall and dropped it into a wheeled industrial case and threw in my bundled pants and shirt. There were no guards posted between there and my cell. No alarms were raised when we moved through the secure doors and no soldiers came running around corners with weapons at the ready. “After you, General,” I whispered at the outer cell door. He placed his hand on the palm scanner obediently. “You’ve been very lucky so far but once you go past this point, the security cameras won’t be on a closed loop anymore. The soldiers on night duty will see what you’re doing. Stop this now and I’ll forget what you’ve done.” I considered what he said. It was true. I’d been lucky but I also knew that no matter what he said, nothing would be forgotten, not be him and especially not by Tanner. “If there wasn’t a chance that this could work, you wouldn’t be offering a deal. Open the other door.” He scanned his hand again and the door slid open. I wrapped a hand around the back of his neck and told him to stay where he was. I flexed my fingers lightly to make sure he understood and felt his neck spasm. Laura was pacing against the far wall of the cell and almost jumped out of her skin when the door opened. She saw General Brayton and her surprised expression turned to abject anger. “Where’s Adam?” she demanded and stalked up to him like he was a petulant child instead of a two star general. I shifted my stance and looked over General Brayton’s shoulder. She noticed the movement and glanced at me, at first dismissing me as another nameless soldier. Then she

realized what she was seeing. As her expression changed, my worst fear was that it would be to fear when she saw me in my natural state, aversion to seeing a face she knew, changed and alien in nature. Sheriff Dawson had been awestruck at seeing my glowing hand. How would he have reacted to a glowing face with eyes shining like light bulbs? How would Laura process what she was seeing? She, at least, was somewhat prepared since I’d told her everything but hearing a truth is very different from seeing it. She swept away my fears when she walked slowly into the cell entry chamber, completely ignoring General Brayton. She planted her feet directly in front of me and looked into my eyes. “Angel. Definitely angel,” she said and reached up towards my face hesitantly. “Go ahead. It won’t hurt you,” I said when she stopped an inch away from touching me. “It’s not that,” she said. “You’re just so beautiful that I’m not sure I should touch you.” For a moment, I almost forgot that General Brayton was there, my hand tightly gripping his neck. All I could see was Laura’s face and the fact painted clearly on it that she was not afraid of me. She meant what she said and that was all that mattered at that pin point in time. The moment was gone too quickly. General Brayton made a gravely sighing noise in his throat bursting the bubble I was in with Laura. I should’ve been grateful that he lacked the discipline to take advantage of my distraction but the reminder of his presence made me angry and put me back on task. “Do you remember the way out? I’m afraid if I leave it to General Brayton, he’ll march us into the barracks.”

“I think so,” she scrunched her eyebrows together for a second, visualizing the path. “Yes, I remember but this place has to be loaded with soldiers. How are we going to get past them?” “Do you know what Houdini said about escaping from locked safes?” She shook her head no. “How about you, General?” I asked. He rolled his eyes to answer. “He said breaking out of safes was easy because they’re made to keep people out, not in. I’m betting this base was built more for keeping the Source Guardians out than keeping me in or at least that was the original intent. Plus, we’ve got General Brayton to open the doors for us. I think we’ll be just fine.” “I don’t know that you’re logic is bullet proof but I’m willing to give it a try.” “Good, now I need to put this on you.” I pulled a plastic zip tie from a cargo pocket and reached for her wrists. “What about you?” she asked. “I’m the guard, escorting you with General Brayton,” I answered, surprised that she’d missed the obvious intent of my outfit. She shook her head softly at my response and stood on her toes to whisper in my ear. “That might work if you didn’t glow like a nightlight.” General Brayton grunted a short laugh. I pinched his neck spitefully. “If I keep my head down and half close my eyes, is it still that noticeable?” “Just a little,” she said sarcastically and then ruefully. “I wish I had my purse.” I smiled brightly and reached into a bulging pocket. “This tiny thing? What am I supposed to do, wear it like a mask?”

She snatched it from my hand and smiled. “You’d probably prefer that to what I’m thinking.” She pulled out a small bottle and shook it several times before opening it and pouring a small amount of flesh colored liquid on her finger tips. “Hold still,” she said and started smearing the make-up on my cheek. She was right. I would have preferred cutting eye holes and wearing the purse to the foundation she spread all over my face. She even smeared a little just inside the rim of my nostrils. “Much better,” she said when finished. Fighting the urge to scratch my nose and wondering how girls wore this stuff all the time, I said, “Is it a good shade for me cause I don’t want to look silly with a dark foundation line around my jaw.” “Ha-ha. Very funny. I don’t think it will stand a close inspection but as long as you keep your mouth closed, you should be passable.” “Keep my mouth closed? Is that your way of telling me to shut up?” “No, I mean it. Unless you want me to apply foundation to the inside of your mouth, keep it closed. Every time you talk, it’s like there’s a flash light shining in the back of your throat.” “Good point. What would I do without you?” “Get caught pretty quick, I’d say,” she said and grabbed a pair of sunglasses dangling from my left breast pocket. She slipped them on my face. “Let’s get out of here.” “Move an inch and I’ll put my whole hand inside your head,” I threatened General Brayton before letting go of him. He rubbed his neck while I tied Laura’s hands.

“Too tight?” “I’ll survive.” “Let’s go then. General, you take the lead. Act just like you would if she was a just a regular illegal prisoner and I was a dutiful lapdog soldier instead of the man that will scramble your brains inside your skull if you sneeze.” I had General Brayton pull the case containing the shield suit and walked behind him with a hand on Laura’s elbow. Laura whispered at each passage that we seemed to be going the right way. I wanted to ask her how close seemed to be was to actually being certain but kept my mouth closed. We went through several locked guard-free doors before the even office like halls opened to a more expansive smooth floored cave. I didn’t look behind me but imagined what I would see was a very plain looking building set inside an enormous cavern. The tunnel we were walking in was thirty feet in diameter and our march was brought to a halt by an imposing steel door that completely sealed off the exit. There was a small shack set to the side of the door, barely visible behind a barrier of stacked sand bags. There were two or three men inside the guard shack, paying no attention to us since any threat would obviously come from the opposite side of the thick metal slab. A soldier closest to the gigantic portal turned slowly as we approached. At seeing General Brayton, he snapped to attention and performed a whip like salute. General Brayton returned the gesture wanly. The soldier dropped his hand and moved to the palm scanner on the right side of the door. He hesitated before scanning his palm and I feared he was waiting for a verbal confirmation or code to allow us to exit the base. This would be a perfect opportunity for General Brayton to give the wrong information, wrong alpha-numeric sequence that would mean

“Arrest these two idiots behind me” instead of “Open the door and get out of my way.” I could tell Laura was having similar if not identical thoughts as her arm tensed under my hand. As boldly as I could, I stepped forward behind General Brayton as if anticipating the door would open immediately. My real meaning though was to get closer to him so if he uttered a single syllable, I could incapacitate him and then the young sentry as quickly as I’d taken down Tanner and the three stooges. The concern was unwarranted as the guard quickly wiped his hand on his pants, presumably to remove nervous sweat. He placed it on a scanner next to the guard shack. General Brayton put his hand on an identical scanner two feet to the left. There was a light buzz of electricity a moment later and the huge pins locking the engorged door into the rock of the cave slid towards the center of the steel disk. General Brayton waited for the door to open just wide enough to allow us passage and stepped through the gap without a word. I stayed on his heels, not giving him a chance to disappear out of sight around the edge. The door slammed shut with a ground shaking boom the moment we were through and the pins clanked back into place. There was another guard shack hidden behind a mound of sand bags like the one on the other side of the door. Two soldiers snapped to attention as we walked past. General Brayton saluted them and kept moving. A large sign next to the booth warned “NO VEHICLES BEYOND THIS POINT.” I stepped close to General Brayton. “You have a car here, don’t you?” He grunted arrogantly. “I’ll take that as a yes. Lead the way.” He turned left, following a yellow line on the paved floor to an off-shoot of the tunnel. The lights turned on automatically as we crossed the threshold revealing several rows of armored

military vehicles, transports and tanks. At the front of them all, parked parallel to the perfectly spaced rows of rolling weapons, was a black sedan with darkly tinted windows. “I didn’t find your keys when I frisked you,” I whispered out of the corner of my mouth when we reached the car. “Generals don’t carry keys,” he said. “In the ignition then?” He glared at me with contempt that I’d even need to ask. After all, who would steal a general’s car in the middle of a cave housing a hidden army base. I opened the back driver’s side door and guided Laura into it. I stepped into the open space as she sat down, blocking the view of the ever present security cameras. I snapped the zip tie around her wrists and pressed the pistol I’d kept into her hands. She took it without surprise and moved across the bench seat to the far side with the pistol raised. I stepped back for General Brayton to get in. It took no coercion or warning. “Aren’t we being cooperative,” I said mockingly. “The odds are in your favor right now but as soon as that changes, you will pay for this.” “I’m sure I will.” He looked in the open door to see Laura pointing the gun at him and stiffened abruptly. The fact that he hadn’t noticed me giving her the gun reassured me that it had been missed by the cameras as well. “I wouldn’t try anything. She grew up hunting with her dad.” I closed the door hard after he got in. I opened the driver’s door, glad to see the keys dangling from their slot and that Laura kept the gun trained on General Brayton’s head. I popped the trunk and loaded the rolling case into it before getting in the driver’s seat and starting the car.

“Are you doing okay back there?” “Just fine as long as he doesn’t move,” Laura answered brightly. I grinned at the sing-song tone of her voice as she implied she would shoot and caught a glimpse of it in the mirror. She was right about it looking like there was a flashlight in the back of my mouth. I sealed my lips closed. We drove through two more thick metal doors. At each one, the soldiers on duty recognized General Brayton’s car and opened the barriers the instant I rolled down the back window. None questioned why he was travelling with a young woman in the back seat or seemed to notice she kept her hands hidden behind her back. Only the general, Laura and I knew there was a gun there, pointed unwaveringly at him. After the second door, we drove almost two miles in a broad tunnel before reaching the exit. Two guards sat in an exposed shack with only a red and white striped bar blocking entrance to the cave. They behaved just like the others before them. Four miles down the road, we passed several barriers with signs warning people to stay out of the private property the signs protected. I went another ten miles and made several turns before stopping the car. “Get out,” I said to General Brayton. He stepped out of the car onto the shoulder of the snow banked stretch of back road. The only visible light came from the car, the stars, and my eyes and mouth. He looked at me warily and I knew what he was thinking. This couldn’t be where I would abandon him. We were too close to the base, only a few hours walk away at best. It made no sense to leave him here on the road back so this had to be where I was going to kill him. Laura slid out of the car and stood next to me. She left the gun in the car. “So what now?” she asked.

“The general’s going to get in the trunk.” “You’re not serious,” he said gruffly. I grabbed the trunk and lifted the lid. I pulled out the rolling case. He said nothing else but his scowl conveyed the message. Someday, I would pay dearly for this. The look was so intense that for a moment, I considered changing plans but quickly banished the thought. No matter what, whether I did this to him or not, I would pay a high price for escaping so I might as well enjoy what I was doing. I reached inside the trunk and tore out the release mechanisms on the inside and tested the strength of the back seat. It seemed solid enough that he shouldn’t be able to break it. “Hop in, General.” One final glare and then he was lying on his side in the trunk. I put ties around his hands and ankles before slamming the lid. I emptied my pockets before peeling off the borrowed uniform. Laura stuffed everything into her purse, both of our identification cylinders, her phone, the thick roll of cash I’d started carrying around Red Water in case I needed a quick escape, and her various bits of womanly paraphernalia. I opened the rolling case. The suit looked about as appealing as a wrestling match with a giant squid. I handed Laura my rolled clothes, stepped into the legs of the shield suit, and started slipping on the arms. “Do you have to wear that thing? You look so pretty without it,” Laura teased as I did the latches across the chest. “I wish I didn’t but past this point, I don’t want anyone to be able to track us.” “I know,” she said, “but how long will you have to wear it?”

“Until we can find a way for me to absorb regular matter but up to then, I can stay like this indefinitely. I don’t have any physical functions that I have to deal with while I’m like this. Let’s talk about it after we’re moving. I don’t know how sound proof the trunk is from here.” I picked up the mask but before I could set it in the hood opening and seal the suit, Laura was pushing down my hands and stepping into my body. She pushed back my hood and ran her hands through my hair and then kissed me hard. It was forceful and passionate and completely unexpected. I was so surprised by it I almost pushed her away out of shock. It ended with her pulling away abruptly and stepping out of reach. “What was that?” I asked, my heart thumping in my throat. “I couldn’t stand the thought of you being locked in that suit without doing that first. Who knows how long it would be before I had another chance,” she said, looking at her feet and tucking hair behind her ear. I didn’t know what to say. I was glad she did it, thrilled by it but was more than a little confused. I’d put her parents’ and the Bakers’ lives at risk, gotten her locked up by the army and two weeks ago, ran out on her when all she wanted was to get closer to me. I could not understand why she had kissed me at all, let alone so passionately. I thought the closeness in the base, in my cell, had been a combination of being scared and me being the only person she knew but now that I thought about it, she’d never actually seemed scared. She had been angry. She had been demanding. She had been upset but never terrified, never quivering and never weak. She held on to me, not as a result of having no other options, but because she wanted to. It had to be the same reason why she kissed me. “So you forgive me?” I asked hesitantly.

“For what? Endangering everyone I love and screwing up my life? Or for running out on me two weeks ago?” she said and paused long enough to make me fidget before continuing, “Not yet but I’m working on it.” “What was that then?” “That was because I know it’s not your fault. You exposed your arm to save my parents’ lives and no matter what happens, they’re alive and Ruth and her babies are alive. It’s all a big mess but you didn’t make it. You’re just doing the best you can with the cards you were dealt.” “Thanks, I guess, but that’s not all there is. Is it?” I stepped towards her and she looked down again. I got so close that I could feel the steam of her breath in the freezing night air. “No, it’s not,” she said and raised her head to stare into my eyes. I could see the light coming from mine reflected in hers. “Are you going to make me say it out loud?” “Yeah, I think so,” I said with a flippant smile. “You are a jerk.” “I know.” “And I think I love you.” “I know that too.” I dropped the mask, grabber her around the waist and lifted her until our lips met. This time, I delivered the passion. I pulled her into me and gave her all the feelings of love and adoration I could and she accepted it all. There was no sense of time and I completely forgot where I was and how I’d arrived there. She was the only thing that mattered, the only thing that existed for several wonderful minutes.

The rapture was shattered by a cracking branch behind us. Whether it snapped under the weight of thick mountain snow or the movements of soldiers looking for us, it didn’t matter. It was enough to snap us back to reality and get moving. I set Laura down, grabbed the mask, slipped it into place and sealed the suit. “You’d better drive,” I said after stuffing the uniform in the rolling case and throwing is as far into the trees as I could. Once we were on our way, I turned the stereo on and shifted the balance to come out the rear speakers thinking the noise would hide our conversation from General Brayton. “Call your parents. Tell them to get out of Red Water and evacuate the whole town if they can.” All of the migrant workers had left after the harvest so contacting the permanent families shouldn’t be too difficult for Sheriff and Mrs. Dawson. Laura immediately pulled her phone from her purse and turned it on. She had her parents on the line almost immediately. “Mom! Dad! Are you okay?...No, I’m fine but you need to get out of Red Water….No, I can’t explain right now and need to get off the phone…Yes, this is because of Adam but it’s not his fault… Blame the army, blame the government, blame whoever you want but it’s not his fault…Go to Aunt Christie’s. I’ll call you as soon as I can. Don’t take your phones. Leave them at home…I know…I know…I will…I love you too.” She ended the call and turned off the phone immediately. “Where are we going?” Laura asked once she was done. “A couple of turns back, I saw the lights of a town. If we keep heading this direction, we should find it.” “What about him?”

“That will depend on how soon we can get into a different car. I’m pretty sure they can track this one once they realize they need to. We need to ditch it as soon as we find a good spot for General Brayton.” The snow packed roads we’d been following gave way to salt covered pavement. We saw the occasional light from houses and cabins nestled in the thick trees. A large illuminate sign came into view. We had to drive past it to read what it said since we were obviously coming from the wrong side of the mountain. It was a ski resort, hotel and restaurant. “I’ve been here before,” Laura said, “a couple years ago with some friends.” “Really? What friends? Richard perhaps?” “No, pre-Richard, jerk,” she said and slapped my arm. “Besides, this place wouldn’t have been up to his standards anyway.” “Not four star accommodations then?” “Probably not,” she said and laughed. “The skiing was good but when it was time to go to bed, we all slept in our clothes on top of the covers. But the good news is, I know where we are. This place is about an hour east of Denver and on the east side of the Eisenhower Tunnel.” “Great, that would be too easy a place for the army to shut down and Denver’s a good big city to disappear into,” I said. “Back up and pull into the parking lot. Let’s check this place out.” I looked at the clock on the radio. It was almost eleven. Late enough that there should be few if any people in the parking lot. If we were lucky, we might find something we could use here and be rid of General Brayton. We circled the lot slowly, surprised to see a higher class of car than what Laura’s trip had indicated should be there.

“They must have updated the place,” she said as we passed rows of silver and black luxury vehicles. “All of these probably have security systems like a bank,” I said and then had an idea. “Pull around back to where the staff parks. I bet we can find something there.” My hunch proved good. The back lot was full of cars quite a bit less expensive than those of the hotel guests. One in particular was promising. It wasn’t the exact year of my truck, but had a similar body style and I was sure, similar workings. The only problem was its proximity to the building and the large light glaring from a pole in the center of the lot. There was an open spot next to the truck. Laura seemed to read my mind and pulled into it. I reached to the door handle, ready to pop out and take a look. “Hold on, Adam. You’re not exactly inconspicuous,” she said, grabbing my wrist and stopping me. “I’ll check it out.” “Good point. Just see if it’s unlocked. Whoever owns it might not be too concerned with a break-in with all the high-dollar jobs out front.” She hoped out of the car, took a look through the truck window and got back in the sedan. She rubbed her arms and turned up the heat. “You were right. Doors are unlocked.” “Good, saves me from breaking a window. Lets back up to the trees and take care of General Brayton.” Safe against a row of evergreens and out of range of the lot light, we got out of the car. I turned off the internal lights and snapped off the headlight switch before opening all the doors and tearing out the door release handles. I depressed all the locks and ripped the electronic controls out of all the doors before opening the hood and tearing out the horn. When I was sure

any way General Brayton could signal for help had been disabled and getting out of the car was near impossible, I opened the trunk. General Brayton was curled in fetal position and pressed against the back of the rear seat trying to absorb and maintain as much heat as he could. The dim light set into the trunk lid showed him shivering for a split second before he got control of his body. I grabbed him and threw him into the back seat of the car. “It would be so much easier to leave you in the trunk to die,” I said. “But I won’t out of respect for the people I love and admire. You have about six or seven hours before sunrise. I’m betting nobody will notice the car until then but who knows. The base might have figured out what I did by now and there are already helicopters on the way here. Either way, I’m leaving the engine running and the heat on so you won’t freeze to death. “Don’t try to find me. Don’t ever go near Red Water or Laura’s family. Don’t do anything that might make me regret leaving you alive. If I ever see you again, I will kill you.” His look was pure poison. I’d taken him prisoner, forced him to obey my orders and now I was leaving him with a death threat. I was supposed to be his property. He was the one that gave orders. He was the one that decided who did what and when. And now I’d taken that away from him. I’d reduced and humiliated him. He would never forget or forgive me. A chill ran down my spine. I slammed the door and walked to where Laura was waiting. I heard several thumps behind me and I imagined the look on his face as he tried to kick open the doors or break the bulletproof windows with no success. He might get out eventually, but it wouldn’t be easy with his hands and feet still tied. The gas tank was three quarters full and should last until morning when the black sedan backed up to the woods should be noticed. That was the best case

scenario. Worst case was rescue was already on the way. Since it had been less than two hours since I’d tied up Tanner and the others, I felt fairly certain we still had a window of opportunity. We had about fifty feet before we reached the perimeter of light radiating from the pole in the center of the lot. Nobody had come out of the building since we’d come to the back lot and I think we both had the same thought that it was about time somebody did. We hesitated before stepping out of the shadows. The wide receiving door stayed closed. I pulled Laura’s hand softly and we started running carefully across the icy parking lot. We were halfway to the truck when the door flew open, throwing a bright rectangle of light across the lot. A dark haired man dressed in a white tee-shirt, dirty white apron, dark pants and a hair net stepped out. He rubbed his upper arms against the cold, pulled a small packet out of his back pocket and lit a cigarette before looking our direction. He straightened up when he saw us. I thought about charging him and knocking him out just like I’d done to Tanner but didn’t get the chance to act on it. Laura was already on her way. “Hola! Como esta?” she called out, walking boldly up to the stranger. He returned her greeting a little apprehensively but soon, he seemed to relax as Laura started talking to him in rhythmic Spanish. I had no clue what they were saying but I could tell from how he moved and shifted his feet nervously that he was caught under the magic spell of her smile. After a minute or two of conversation, he motioned for her to wait, went to the open door and yelled something inside. Another man, this one slightly taller but dressed similarly came out. Laura and her new friend walked with him to a small car that had been yellow at one point but now looked like more rust than solid metal. The second man pulled keys out of his pocket and started the car. From where I was, the engine sounded a little rough and I could hear a belt squeaking but it did start on the first try in the cold. Laura was nodding approvingly and

pulled my roll of money out of her purse. She peeled off eight bills from the outside and gave them to the taller man who smiled like he’d just one the lottery. He pointed at me and said something that made all three of them laugh before running back into the kitchen with his friend. Both were talking excitedly and seemed pretty pleased with what happened. Laura motioned for me to come over and got in the car. After squeezing in through the small door, I asked, “What was that? I didn’t know you spoke Spanish.” She put the car in drive and turned the wheel to pull out of the lot before answering. “Kind of hard not to when more than half the people in Red Water don’t speak English during the growing season. I’m not fluent but I can hold my own.” “So you bought this car then, for eight hundred?” “Yep, I hope you don’t mind but seemed like a better alternative to stealing. This way we don’t have to worry about being chased by the police too.” “Good thinking. That leaves us with about four thousand dollars then. That should take care of us for a little while.” “Four thousand dollars? Are you kidding me?” she said. “That would take care of me for at least six months in school. I think we can make it last at least that long if we need to.” “You’re amazing,” I said and wished I could slip my mask off for just long enough to kiss her. “Yes I am,” she said and squeezed my knee. I leaned over and took a look at the dashboard. We had a full tank of gas, the speedometer seemed to be working, the heat was blowing strong and if nothing else, we had a

statue of the Virgin Mary on the dashboard to help us out if needed. I said as much to Laura. She giggled and reminded me of the last part of the car sale. “What were you laughing about before they left?” I asked. “He just said your snowsuit was the dumbest looking thing he’d ever seen and you’d probably have to take it off to fit in the car.” I couldn’t help but chuckle myself and thank the stars that I looked like an idiot in a weird snowsuit instead of something worse.

Chapter 11 While we drove, I told Laura about the locked information on my identification cylinder and the details of Dr. Swanson’s visit including the number she’d smuggled into me. “So you think the number is the password?” “Seems like it would be. Dr. Marcus must have given it to her in case our escape didn’t work. She didn’t tell my anything about it but made sure I found it. She was so insistent on it, she actually almost gave it away.” “I guess it won’t hurt to try.” “You sound like you don’t think it’s the password,” I said. “I think we should try it but no, I don’t think it will unlock the files. Did Dr. Marcus say anything about a number, hint at a number at all before he died? Seems like if the password was

a random ten-digit number, he would’ve given you a clue since there would be several billion possible combinations. You would never be able to guess it.” Her argument made sense but it still chafed a little that I hadn’t already considered it. “You’re probably right but I’d still like to try until we think of anything better.” “I agree. It would be stupid not too. We should be to hitting the outskirts of Denver in a little while. We should be able to find a truck stop with internet stations that we can use.” She yawned at the end of her last sentence, stretching her mouth wide closing her eyes. She stayed that way for so long I almost grabbed the steering wheel to keep us on the road. “Are you okay? Do you need me to drive?” “No. I’m fine, just a little worn out but I’ve got this. Why don’t you go to sleep?” “I don’t need to.” “Ever?” she asked and turned to look at me. I expected a skeptically cocked eyebrow but just saw genuine question on her face. “No, not ever. But less often. When I’m like this, I only need a few hours every week or so. That was actually one of the hardest things to get used to at the Bakers. Getting tired after a day’s work or halfway through a day’s work was frustrating.” I paused and smiled, remembering those first few exhausting days with Gary. At first I’d thought he had a vendetta against me and was working me to death but after a couple weeks, I realized he was having me do what he would’ve done if his leg had let him. “What’s it like?” she asked. “What’s what like?” “Being like you are, you know, versus being normal?” “This is normal for me,” I said. “From my point of view, you’re the freak.”

“You know that’s not what I meant.” She slapped my leg and then held my hand. “I want to know what it’s like to be you.” “I understand. I just don’t know how to put it in words really. I guess the simplest explanation is I’m more efficient. The way the zero-matter bonds is better than regular matter so from an atomic level up, less energy is wasted. My body right now is like a supercar ready to go over two hundred miles an hour but when I absorb matter, I feel more like this fine automobile you way overpaid for. My senses are different, enhanced to a point that I sometimes can’t tell exactly which one I’m using because they all work so powerfully. I remember one of Dr. Marcus’ tests when I was eight years old. He put a blindfold on me, plugged my nose, covered my mouth so I couldn’t taste the air and had me keep my hands behind my back. We spent about two or three hours that day identifying food by sound.” “Like is that soy or regular bacon sizzling?” she said with a small laugh. “No, just the sound of the food. The last one was probably the hardest. He put something on a table on the other side of the room and told me we would be done once I figured out what it was. It sounded a lot like an orange but I knew it wasn’t. Eventually, he let me off the hook when he realized I couldn’t identify it because I didn’t know what a tangerine was.” “Are you kidding me? You can actually hear an orange sitting on a table?” “Not while I’m wearing a shield suit. Being in this cuts me off from just about everything. Shielding works both ways.” “So which is worse then: Being in the suit or absorbing matter?” “Suit, no question. I loved how I was in Red Water. It took a little while to get used to but it was fantastic. I didn’t care that I got tired because I was okay after a good night’s sleep. If

I cut my hand, it hurt for a little while but it healed. Maybe I couldn’t hear the food I was eating but I could still smell it, touch it and taste it. I would take that over being in a shield suit any day.” “But you would still prefer to be natural, to be just zero-matter to having a regular body?” She sounded uncharacteristically sad as she asked the question, like she expected me to say yes, to say that there was nothing in the world better than having enhanced senses, superhero strength and needing almost no rest. Thinking about it made me realize something I had meant to say but had never actually vocalized. “If it was the price I had to pay to be with you, I would take on a regular body and never miss how I am now.” “I bet you say that to all the girls,” she teased but I could see in her eyes that she wanted more, needed to hear more. “I’m serious,” I said. “When you told me you thought you loved me…” “Me? That doesn’t sound like something I would say.” “I didn’t have the chance to tell you that I know I love you.” That did it. That was what she was looking for. The coy smile on her face morphed into one of pure joy and I immediately regretted saying it. I meant it completely but it wasn’t fair, wasn’t right for me to tell her that when she wanted to hear it. I couldn’t offer her anything beyond a miserable life of running and hiding. I couldn’t even touch her without half an inch of shield material between us. I was impulsive and stupid. I should’ve kept that to myself. “It’s about time you said it,” she said and pecked a small kiss on my face mask. “It took you long enough though. I guess you just needed to get your brain back to zero-matter so you could think more efficiently.”

“That’s the bad news. I’m just as dumb like this as I am when I absorb. Brain stays just a faulty and slow no matter what,” I said and tried to sound happier than I was. The words were out. No taking them back so there was no point in ruining them for her. “Or maybe you are smarter now but when you absorb matter, you get so dumb that you can’t even notice the difference.” “You’re probably right but how do you explain how I kicked your butt at Trivial Pursuits, Genius Edition 10?” “I let you win. Didn’t want to make you feel bad since you’d just bought me groceries and don’t even ask how you beat Andie. I think that’s pretty clear.” “What? Like her being three sheets to the wind?” “Who taught you how to talk? Nobody says stuff like that anymore.” “The group of eighty year old science geeks that raised me did. Besides, I think that’s why your parents liked me so much, hearing me talk was like a trip down memory lane.” Mentioning Sheriff and Mrs. Dawson killed the jovial mood of the short break we’d taken from the seriousness of our situation. “I’m sure they’re fine,” I said. “I hope so,” she said hesitantly and hastily changed the subject. “Traffics picking up. We’ve got to be close to the city.” It didn’t take long to see the lights of Denver and the smaller towns it merged with sprawled out over miles and miles. We took the first exit that looked promising and pulled into the brightly lit lot of a truck stop. Almost a hundred trucks were lined up behind the main structure and high bay fueling stations. The brightness of the lights and the bustle of the station

were enough to make one forget it was after midnight. The building looked clean and well staffed, allaying fears I had of Laura going in by herself. I recited Dr. Swanson’s number for her. She gave me a quizzical look before slipping out the door. “Be right back.” I slumped down in my seat, as much as the tiny car would let me. The overbearing lights ruined any chance of someone mistaking the shield suit for an over the top ski outfit but Laura had parked far enough back from the miniature mall like store that people would have to go pretty far out of their way to get a look but still close enough that I could watch her through the window. She went to the counter to buy some time on one of the internet station computers but stopped halfway there. She bent over to look at something out of my view and when she stood up again, she was smiling brightly. At the clerk counter, she waited until the heavy set middle aged woman was busy helping a teamster before advancing to be helped by a male clerk with stringy hair hanging to his shoulders, large loop earrings that deformed his earlobes and a tattoo taking up half of his face. I couldn’t see Laura’s face but had a good feeling by the way she moved and flipped her hair around that she was probably biting her bottom lip and asking for a favor. The rough looking clerk seemed to like what he saw and motioned Laura to another part of the counter and twisted a phone around for her use. She patted his arm when he handed her a pen and small pad of paper. He went back to his cashier’s station smiling. She punched a number into the phone and scribbled down a short message before hanging up. For a moment, I’d been afraid she was calling her parents to make sure they were out of Red Water and immediately felt terrible for thinking she would risk exposing our location.

But the call was too short for it to be that anyway. She thanked the clerk for his help and returned his pen. She pulled out some money but he waved her off and pointed to a row of computers along the back wall. It was easy to imagine him saying, “On the house” or something cheesy like “No charge for a pretty little thing like you.” I would guess it was more along the lines of the latter based on the dirty look from his female coworker. Laura patted his arm again and went to the computers. She was out of sight for what felt like a lot longer than the clock actually showed. She popped up again, almost running towards the door before stopping, grabbing a bottle of water and a several bags of snacks. Her friend was ringing up a different sale so she bought her supplies from the surly woman clerk. There were no friendly smiles. She scuffed her feet across the pavement as she ran back to the car. She opened the door and dropped her cargo inside. “I got so excited I forgot to use the restroom,” she said before throwing me a sheet of paper, slamming the door and running back inside. When she got back, she was out of breath and beaming. She twisted the lid off her water and started drinking like a parched camel. “Bathroom nothing,” I said. “You just wanted one more goodbye with your new boyfriend.” She almost spit her water on the steering wheel. “Oh, him. That was just a fling, but I couldn’t help myself. He’s just got this animal magnetism that I couldn’t resist.” “I could see that,” I said and held up the paper. “What is this?”

“That’s where we’re going. It’s just on the other side of town in an industrial park,” she said and started the car. “That number Dr. Swanson gave you wasn’t a password or a code. It was a phone number. I didn’t realize it at first when you gave it to me but when I got inside, there was an ad for a storage company and their number had the same first four digits. I thought it was worth a try.” “So that’s the call you made.” “You got it. I got an automated message telling me to call back during normal business hours and the company name – Custom Covers. It was easy enough to find them on the internet and print directions.” She tore out of the parking lot and punched the gas to the floor. The little car groaned and acted like it was going to die until she eased off the pedal. “This is going to sound like a stupid question but did you try the number as a password on my I.D. cylinder? How do you know it wasn’t just a coincidence that it was an actual phone number? We could be racing across Denver for no good reason.” “Aren’t you a downer?” She grabbed a bag of pretzels and tried to open it with one hand and her teeth. It split down the middle, spilling its contents all over her lap. “You drive. I’ll take care of the snacks,” I said and took the bag out of her hand and started picking pretzels off her lap. “Easy, cowboy, I’m not that kind of girl,” she said as my cleaning moved up her thigh. She laughed as I pulled my hand back like her leg was suddenly caustic to the shield suit. “Sorry, I wasn’t paying attention,” I said and then got back on subject. “So did you try it as a password?” “No, I didn’t. But don’t worry, I’m sure it’s not a fluke that it was a phone number.”

“Oh really? How do you know that?” “When I looked up the website, I clicked on the company info link. Under the address, in very small print, it said Custom Covers was a subsidiary of Source Zero Incorporated. Still think it’s a coincidence?” She gave me a triumphant look that begged me to challenge her and grabbed a fistful of pretzels out of my hand. “Sounds like you’ve got it nailed down,” I said, “but I still wish you’d tried the cylinder with the number.” She flicked a pretzel against my mask. “I knew you wouldn’t be satisfied if I didn’t but thought if Dr. Swanson went to the trouble of getting you that phone number and if she and Dr. Marcus went to the effort of setting up a dummy business for you to find, they would probably have made plans to get you the information you need. Plus, whatever is on that cylinder is meant for you and I didn’t feel like it would be right to open it with you hiding in the car. I’m one hundred percent sure that when we get to this place, we’ll get all the answers we need.” As she continued to chow down on pretzels and glance periodically at the directions she’d printed, I tried to find problems with her reasoning. It wasn’t because I wanted to argue about it or prove to her that she should’ve checked the cylinder. I was pretty certain no matter what kind of defense I could raise on my behalf, her enthusiasm and excitement would destroy it. I liked seeing her like this. She was always beautiful, but now, she radiated and her eyes sparkled. The exhaustion was gone and she was smiling brightly. I knew the exhilaration she was feeling had to be from a mixture of things. One part, unquestionably, had to be anticipation that whatever answers we gained would bring us closer to keeping Red Water safe and reuniting

with her parents. Another part had to be the hope of getting out from under General Brayton’s scrutiny since we both knew my threats against him would not have carried much weight. And the last part, I knew without asking, was genuine excitement for me to know who I was. She finished off the bag of pretzels and tossed me small canister of nuts and raisins to open. “I feel like I haven’t eaten for days. Sorry I didn’t leave any for you,” she said without thinking. “Don’t worry about it. It’s not like I could eat right now anyway,” I said and audibly tapped a finger against my face mask. “Sorry, forgot for a second you were in that,” she cringed. “Speaking of which, how’re we going to take care of that little problem.” “Your guess is as good as mine right now. Going back to your lab is out of the question and it’s not like I can walk into a grocery store and buy what I need.” “Why not? Why couldn’t that work? Chemically speaking, humans have almost the same proportions of broccoli. Can’t you just pick up a few pieces and pull out what you need, kind of like eating through your hands?” “I wish it was that simple,” I said, “but there a few problems with that, even forgetting the fact that I can’t take off the suit to do it. First, I can’t break down complex molecular structures by touch. Dr. Marcus and I tried it many times. I need almost pure elements, preferable in a gaseous state. Second, whatever I absorb, I need the same number of atoms as my superstructure to fill in every opening. So I would have to absorb about two hundred pounds of food for it to work and that leads into the third problem. It has to be fast. When I absorb matter, or shed it, I’ve got a short window, less than ten minutes each way, to complete the process. While I’m like this, I’m pretty much bullet proof but when I take on coarse matter, I’m

susceptible to everything you are, especially during the changing process. If the absorption is too slow, say I fill in my heart first but can’t support the veins or nerves or make enough blood, the heart will die. It’s kind of like changing gears in a car. If you go from first to second or back the other way in a normal amount of time, you lose very little power. Wait too long to get it back in gear and the car will come to a complete stop.” “But you shed your arm and that didn’t seem to hurt you?” “That’s a good point but my arm didn’t contain any life supporting organs and where the regular matter met the zero-matter, it felt like an open wound the whole time. I’m actually surprised that I didn’t do any permanent damage. As far as absorbing a new body goes though, I am kind of stuck without pure elements to work with.” “So let’s hope Dr. Swanson and Dr. Marcus considered that and have what you need waiting. Custom Covers is probably a reference to covering you.” We’d been so lucky so far, I wasn’t sure that I should allow myself to hope for such an easy solution. I tried to think of other avenues to get what I needed and short of breaking into a university lab or professional facility, had no ideas worth considering. “What does it feel like?” Laura asked, interrupting my depressing spiral of thoughts. “When I shed or when I absorb?” “Both.” “You know how when your arm or leg falls asleep and it feels like a million pins and needles poking you when blood starts flowing again. Imagine every atom in your body, from the inside of your bones to the ends of your hair, being a pin prick. That’s pretty appropriate for shedding. The only way I can describe absorbing is the exact opposite of that. Try to picture

how an anti-pin prick might feel. Instead of a short little burst of pain, you get a little pop of pleasure.” “So you’re saying it feels good to become mortal like the rest of us?” she asked in disbelief. “Yep, and hurts like hell to go the other way.” “I would’ve thought it was other way around.” “I know. If I hadn’t been through it, I’d think like that too. I guess we’ll just chalk it up as proof that I’m not supposed to be like this.” # The industrial park was mostly dead. One large warehouse situated towards the entrance had lights on and a half full parking lot. Several freight trucks were backed to open doors and teams of men drove a steady stream of pallets into the trailers. The rest of the buildings were dark. The Custom Covers building was in the back of the park between a cabinet company and a small engineering firm. The exterior lights were off and the building itself looked deserted. We drove around the building once to see if there were any signs of habitation or use before parking the car. The headlights showed a thick coating of rust on the roll-up doors that would’ve served for shipping and receiving if this was an actual business and the front door had a plain plastic placard with the company name spelled in block letters in two rows. “Where do you think they hid the key?” Laura asked. I curled up my arms in a body builder pose after getting out of the car. “The keys are right here, baby!” She laughed and pushed me towards the door.

“Sometimes I feel like I’m on the run with a frat boy.” “Sorry, couldn’t help it,” I said while I inspected the door. The knob didn’t have a key slot and the deadbolt lock above it was covered by a welded metal plate. “As much as you’re going to hate this, I think my arms are the keys.” I grabbed the knob with both hands and got ready to pull. Laura stepped up next to me and put a restraining hand on the knob. “Or,” she said. “We could give this a try.” She held up my I.D. cylinder and pushed it into a small opening set into the wall next to the door. Nothing happened and I was about to go back to forcing the door open when there was a loud mechanical clank followed by the clicking of rotating gears. The door popped open half an inch before stopping against the accumulated ice at its base. I pulled it open the rest of the way, slid into the dark space behind Laura and snapped it closed. The heavy locking mechanism went into reverse gear. By the sound of the heavy gears spinning and thick bolts sliding into place, I was convinced that forcing the door would have ended up with me falling on my butt with the door knob in my hands. Lights flickered on automatically revealing a horror movie set in the middle of building. Large Tesla coils made the corners of a twenty foot square and a fifth coil hung suspended from ceiling equal distance from the other four. A clear glass cube with heavily braced corners stood in the middle of the square with several tanks and cases inside. Outside the square against the left wall of the building was a small line-up of electrical equipment with large circuit breakers equipped with foot long handles to assist in closing them. Thick cables ran from the panels to the Tesla coils and more delicate braids of multi-colored wire led into the glass chamber and connected to the equipment inside. There was a five foot thick wall of sandbags between the

Tesla coils and the control and electrical panels. All the assembly needed was a frizzy haired scientist with goggles, a white lab coat and elbow length black rubber gloves to make it complete. “Is that what I think it’s for?” Laura asked. “I think so but it doesn’t look like what I’m used to.” “Very Frankenstein, don’t you think?” “You took the words right out of my mouth.” “So what now? Do we just turn it on and hope it’s what we think it’s for?” I looked back to the large Tesla coils and shook my head. “Let’s look around a little more first. Maybe they left some instructions on how to work this system.” There wasn’t much more to the building than what we saw at first. It might have been surprising to Laura that it was such a Spartan arrangement but if she had ever met Dr. Marcus, she probably would’ve thought the conditions were extravagant. As we looked around, I was left with very little doubt that this is where he would’ve brought me if he’d made it past the Source Guardians alive. On the opposite wall from the electrical equipment, behind another bank of sandbags, was a small living area. There was a small bathroom with a shower, a camping stove, two cots and two metal cabinets. One cabinet was loaded with freeze dried military meals and the other contained several changes of clothes in my and Dr. Marcus’ sizes. A small safe with an old fashioned turnstile combination mechanism was bolted to the floor next to the cabinets. At the head of one of the cots was a small desk and a personal computer. It was the first thing I’d noticed but I could not force myself to turn it on until Laura and I had finished inspecting the

building. She didn’t rush me, apparently realizing how conflicted I was. A large part of me hoped that I would find all of the answers I needed. And an equally large part was afraid that there would be a password that I was too stupid to figure out leaving me stuck in the exact same place but with more frustration. I ran out of reasons to not turn on the computer too quickly since the lab gave up its secrets easily. I pulled the chair out from under the table and pressed the power button on the console. I sat down without looking while the computer began to whir to life. “Adam, you’re sitting on something,” Laura said and pushed me forward to pull the object out from under me. “It’s a Bible.” “A Bible?” I took the offered book from her hand. It was a pocket sized volume bound in old leather that had cracked along the spine and folded edges. The gold embossing had worn off the cover almost completely but the indention of the words “Holy Bible” and a crucifix were clear. The bottom right corner had the imprint of a name: Evelyn Marcus. I opened the front cover gently, afraid the worn material might split. There was a note written inside. “My dear Keith,” it said. “While you work on solving the mysteries of the universe, please keep in mind that there is One who already knows the answers. Love, Mother.” The note was dated May 5, 1962. I showed it to Laura. “I think that’s when he received his doctorate,” I said. Laura nodded and flipped through the first several pages of the book. She scrunched her eyebrows together and pursed her lips slightly as she flipped through more pages. “What is it?” I asked.

She held up her index finger and mumbled, “Just a minute.” By the time she reached the back cover, the computer was on and the screen projection showed a generic background. I’d grabbed her purse from the cot she’d dropped it on, found my cylinder and dropped it into the hole in the keyboard. My personal information screen opened just like it had in Sheriff Dawson’s office. I clicked the access data toggle and held my breath while I waited to see if the computer was set up to bypass the security of the I.D. cylinder and access its files. That wishful though was destroyed when a dialog box popped up asking for my password. I had one more hope and typed in the phone number. “Invalid Password,” flashed across the display. “Damn it!!” I shouted and jumped up. I wanted to hit something, destroy something to vent my frustration. The easiest thing would be the computer but I knew I needed it. I spun around looking at the metal cabinets, the safe, the cots, and then the sand bag barrier. By the time I’d identified the stack of sand filled sacks as something I could vent my frustration into harmlessly, the initial rage was gone and instead of punching through the mound, I leaned into it with my head on my forearms, defeated and depressed. Laura was so surprised by the outburst she almost fell off the cot she’d sat on as she studied the small Bible. “What’s wrong?” she asked and then must have seen the screen, “Oh, that would be it.” She came up behind me, wrapped her arms around my waist and leaned on my back. I know she meant to comfort me but it was further reminder and insult. I couldn’t feel anything but the weight of her body through the thick rubbery material. It was further reminder of how stuck we were. We were safe but cut off from each other. Take off the suit to be together and

invite the enemy to my door. Ten feet away was everything I needed to solve this problem but I didn’t know how to work it. Answers were hypothetically in my hand but might as well have been on the bottom of the ocean. “We will figure this out, Adam,” Laura said soothingly. “I think I might have just found the answer.” “Unless it involves you running out of here and never looking back, I don’t know if it’s going to help you much.” “No, dummy. It’s in the Bible.” “What is?” I said and then it dawned on me. “The password? He wrote it in there?” “Not directly but I think I figured it out.” She led me to the cot and handed me the Bible. She picked up the overturned computer chair and sat down. “Open it up, take a look,” she said. I thumbed through the pages like a flip book. Almost everyone had markings on it in red pencil. Most were simply underlined verses but every once in a while, there would be a short note in flowing handwriting that was definitely not Dr. Marcus’. His writing looked more like epileptic chicken scratchings. Obviously, the notes and markings had been made by his mother before she gave him the Bible as a gift but beyond that, I wasn’t struck by anything. “What am I supposed to be looking for?” “Go to the first page in Genesis, verse twenty-six.” “Where’s Genesis?” “What? Didn’t you go to Sunday school?” I cocked an eyebrow.

“Oh yeah, right,” she said, took the Bible out of my hands and flipped to the front. She passed it back and said, “Check out verse twenty-six.” I read it out loud. “And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the fowl of the air and over the cattle and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.” “Very nice. I did not know that God made the creeping things too. I was always unclear on where they came from,” I said when I finished reading. “When the lightning strikes, you’re going to regret that,” Laura said and shuddered comically. “Did you notice the note on the verse?” I looked again at the page and saw what she was talking about. I had missed it as I read since I was too intent on mocking the passage. In light pencil, over the word “God” were the letters “cstlng” written in Dr. Marcus’ familiar hand. “That’s the only note I saw that’s not red and not a complete thought or sentence.” “So you think these letters are the password?” “Seems like it a message to you, Adam. I don’t think it’s a coincidence that you are named after the first man and Dr. Marcus just happened to make his one note in his mother’s Bible over the verse about his creation.” “I see your point but I’m not sure…” “It can’t hurt to try,” she said in exasperation. “Let me finish,” I said and held up my hands in surrender. “You’re right. It can’t hurt to try but I was thinking there is something more to it. The letters don’t make sense. They could be a code for something else or the key to a cipher.”

“Well, while you try to figure it out, I’m trying it.” “Go ahead,” I said and sat back with the Bible. I looked through page after page hoping to find another gray pencil note that Laura might have missed. I was dimly aware of her frustration as her first password entry was not successful. She kept trying and I assumed each attempt was some different combination of the letters but I didn’t know for sure. All that was clear was each attempt failed. I wasn’t doing much better with my search and gave up, deciding to accept Laura’s analysis that there weren’t any other similar notes. Laura got up and went to the cabinet filled with food. “Hungry?” I asked. “No. I thought I saw some paper in here before. I can’t keep track of what I’ve tried and I think I’m repeating myself.” She returned to the desk with several sheets of white printer paper and a pen. I went back to my study of the actual verse. By the fiftieth time reading it, trying to find a clue in the text, Laura had had enough. “Was Dr. Marcus always this much of a pain?” she asked and threw down her pen. “You have no idea,” I said and put down the Bible. I stood behind her at the table and looked over her shoulder as she rubber her eyes with her finger tips. One sheet of paper was covered with different combinations of the letters and another had the complete alphabet scrawled across the top with corresponding numbers underneath. The rest of the sheet was full of number combinations representing the letters. The third sheet was half full and caught my eye. “Did I ever tell you that I hate the games in the newspaper? Never liked Sudoku. Always hated the crossword. I don’t like solving problems where somebody else knows the

answer and makes the set-up as difficult as possible for me to figure it out. This feels like that times a hundred.” She slumped back in the chair and let her head flop back until she was staring at the ceiling. “You are amazing,” I said after scanning the third sheet. “Oh really? Cause as far as I can tell, we still haven’t found the password.” “No but we’re almost there and it’s because of you.” I pointed to the second word on the sheet of paper. She’d been inserting vowels into the string of consonants trying to create actual words. Most of what she’d put together were gibberish to me but her second attempt had been right on the money. “Castling? Sorry, but I tried that already. It’s a dud.” “It’s not supposed to be the password. It’s how we find the password,” I said and showed her the Bible. “The password is the verse. Genesis 1:26 or Gen 1:26. When Dr. Marcus was dying, I thought he was saying Jen, J-E-N, but he was trying to say Gen, G-E-N, for Genesis. And instead of saying it was his mother’s name he was trying to tell me about his mother’s Bible. If he’d just given me the chapter and verse, it never would’ve worked. I need this particular book to know how to make the password work. Castling is a chess move. We used to play all the time. The first time Dr. Marcus used it, I thought he was cheating because it didn’t make sense. The pieces weren’t moving in their set ways. He knew I wouldn’t forget it.” “I don’t know what that is,” Laura said. “I was never much of a chess player. Too boring for me.”

“It was boring for me too but when you grow up in a twenty by twenty box, you take what you’re given. Castling is when the king and the rook switch places. Is not an exact switch and there are special rules but that’s the basic principle. Dr. Marcus wants me to castle the verse.” I motioned for Laura to get up and took her place at the keyboard. I typed in the first line. And God said, Let us make man. “Now switch the king and his rook, or servant.” And Man said, Let us make god. “Are you sure about the punctuation and word count? The capitalization could be wrong or we’re not using enough words from the verse. There are still thousands, millions of other combinations.” “Then we’ll try all of them but trust me. This is it. I know Dr. Marcus and how he thinks. I know this will do it.” I hit enter and the display filled with alpha-numeric codes that rolled and overrode each other until the screen cleared, showing a menu of thirty files. Each one was represented by number except for first which had an additional title of “Open First.” Laura rested her arms on my shoulders and her chin on my head after giving my hood a kiss. “Good job, farm boy,” she whispered as I double clicked on file one. Dr. Marcus’s face appeared on the display. Behind him was the Tesla coil configuration and clear chamber.

Chapter 12 “My dear boy, Adam,” he began in his almost monotone voice, “If you are watching this, then obviously things have gone very badly. I hope that I was able to tell you these things in person but doubt that is the case. The only way you would be able to access these files is if Tabitha helped you and according to the plan we created together, she would only do that as an absolute necessity. I am sorry. Again, I hope what I am going to tell you is not new information but on the chance I was not able to tell you this in person, I am making this recording. I will attempt to answer the questions I would want answered if our places were reversed. First, you are human. Never believe any differently. You were created by us but in the same manner as all other humans. Sperm and egg were combined just like every other conception. In your case though, it was done in a laboratory and the sperm and egg had been stripped to their zero-matter template. When you absorb terrestrial matter, you become just like every man, woman and child on the planet: zero-matter wrapped in unrefined substance. I apologize sincerely for the lie we were forced to tell you. I always believed it was wrong to keep the truth away from you but had to sacrifice my honor to stay by your side. If I or any of my team had told you who you are and why we created you, the military would have taken you from us and turned you into a monster. My second regret and apology is for not preparing you with knowledge for your journey. The army believes you are its property. I am sure you know this fact but not the reasoning

behind it. In short, it is because they funded my research, recruited the dedicated staff to help me and allowed me everything I needed to create you. But you are no person’s property. You are, as I said, human and have the same rights as the rest of us even if you are made of different materials. As far as the army is concerned, however, you are a weapon as valuable as all the nuclear missiles of the Cold War. They say they hope to never use you, but I can see in General Brayton a desire to turn you to conquest. This leads of course to a question of war. It is not a war that will be fought between countries but worlds and for this I must offer my gravest apologies. When I first discovered zero-matter and isolated it, the barrier between dimensions was parted and contact was made, not with me, but with the leaders of our country. They were congratulated on the discovery but told there would be no assistance in furthering our knowledge of zero-matter. They were told to cease all work in the field and abandon it as zero-matter, or Source material in the message’s words, was sacred to all planes of existence and not to be desecrated. The issuers of this warning called themselves the Guardians of the Source, a religious order in a parallel dimension. I sincerely hope, while knowing such hope is foolish, that this is the first you have heard of them. They are immensely powerful and are the reason you were moved from your home to the military bunker. We are virtually powerless to stop them and yet they operate on a very discrete level, seeking only to control those directly involved with zero-matter or that have become aware of their existence. I am sure you are asking yourself why we would create you if we had been warned to stop in the field of zero-matter by more advanced and powerful beings. The simplest answer for my part is I did not know. The message, the existence of these Source Guardians was kept from my team until after your birth. You were almost three years old when we became aware of the

threat and by then, the military had full control of the program. You do not remember him but you had a brother named Seth, a twin that we separated from you at that time. We did this to keep the Source Guardians from destroying both of you at once if they ever learned of your existence. It saddens me profoundly to tell you of a forgotten brother and also to tell you Seth died in an accident when he was twelve years old. His body has been preserved and I plan to use it to help in your escape. Please forgive me for the defilement but I believe it will be necessary to save your life. After I lost my family, my whole purpose in life, in discovering zero-matter, was selfish. I wanted to find a way to prolong life, push death so far into the future that it might never arrive. My goal was to find a perfect material, perfect matter that could survive the eons. You are the result of that work. You are the realization of my dream. You are my son and by creating you, I nearly damned you. The army will always pursue you for your abilities. The Source Guardians will not rest until you are destroyed because you are the ultimate abomination. The password to these files is not a bitter irony or personal philosophy. It is an accidental truth for which I bear the blame. Your ability to absorb matter, to step down to the level of the rest of your human family is the only mistake I’ve ever made for which I am truly grateful. It is a gift I never calculated as possible and is perhaps the grace that will save me. I beg you, please, forget your past. Absorb a body and live your life as the good man you have become. This is my greatest desire, but I have learned from my mistakes and will not force that decision on you. On this cylinder, I have included every piece of information I believe you will need to make your own choice. Go through the files in order and I hope you will find answers to all your

questions. The building you are in is safe, purchased and equipped in secret and as far as I have been able to test, General Brayton is unaware of its existence. You will be able to stay here as long as you wish. This was your true eighteenth birthday present. Our hope was to get you out of the lab and bring you here. The identification cylinder was a tool to that end. When you have made your decision, you will find everything you need for a new life in the safe next to the computer terminal. The combination is the same password that opened these files. I am proud of you and I love you.” Dr. Marcus’ face was covered in tears when the video ended. Laura was wiping her face on sleeves. I swore as I reached up to wipe my eyes and was bluntly reminded that I couldn’t even touch my own face. Laura moved from behind me to sit on the cot. She reached out for my hand. It was another painful reminder of how different I was. We sat for a long time in silence before I finally spoke. “We need to figure out how to work this equipment.” “Don’t you want to see the rest of the files first? There could be something important you need to know,” Laura said softly. “I will after. I promise. Right now though, all I want to do is get out of this stupid suit and be normal.” I clicked on file thirty and proved my guess right. It opened with another video of Dr. Marcus. It looked like it had been made before the one we’d just watched. His face was not drowning in overwhelming sadness.

The instructions were easy enough to follow. Most of the system was automated but the starting sequence had to be performed in the correct order to properly charge the Tesla coils. Dr. Marcus gave final direction. “This is a crude assembly, built by hand and it has the potential of failure. I have not been able to test it but the theory is sound. If you are still wearing the suit with the matter dispersion tanks, please use that first but I do realize that may no longer be an option. If you are wearing a standard shield suit, wait until the Tesla coils are operating to remove it. The electrical field they generate will disrupt whatever sensors the military and Source Guardians will be using to find you.” The video ended. “That makes sense,” I muttered. “What does?” “The lightning storm the night I ran into the Bakers’ plow. That’s why the Source Guardians never showed. The electricity masked my energy signature. Dumb luck, nothing more.” I stood up and stared at the computer projection for a minute, debating whether I should view the rest of the files at all. I wanted exactly what Dr. Marcus wanted. Forget the past. Forget everything except the idea of living a normal life with the people I love. It would be complicated but the first step was crystal clear. “Are you ready?” I asked Laura and held out my hand. # The Tesla coils were humming when I went into the glass cube. Laura stayed on the other side of the sandbag barrier watching through a twelve inch thick glass window. I gave her

the signal to close the last circuit breaker. The lights dimmed in the building and the humming of the coils became a thunderous roar. Lightning bolts fired from all five coils and jumped from tip to tip like they were dancing, surrounding my glass cage with disrupting energy. The sound drummed into my ears and shook my body. I peered through the whipping snakes of electricity to see Laura through her small window. She had both hands clamped over her ears and looked like she was in pain. I slipped out of the suit as quickly as I could and dropped it to the floor. I signaled again that I was ready and watched Laura trigger the release of the elements in the glass chamber. I took a deep breath in and started building. It felt more fantastic than I could ever hope to express. When I was done, I started to sweat from the heat of the process and the arcing electricity all around me. I waved my hands in front of my face. She jumped to the main breaker and threw it open. There was a tremendous bang and the building went black. “Laura!” I screamed, fearing the equipment had malfunctioned and hurt her. I grabbed the door handle of the glass cage and pushed it open, barely noticing the flesh searing heat. “Laura! Laura!” I shouted frantically as my eyes adjusted to the dark. “I’m okay. I’m over here!” she yelled back. I ran to the sound of her voice and crashed into the wall of sandbags. Laura met me on the floor where I fell. Lights started to flicker on overhead as the power grid corrected itself. “Are you alright? Did it work?” she asked. “Yeah, it worked perfect…” I said but didn’t have a chance to tell I’d burned my hand.

Her mouth was on mine and her arms wrapped around my back. She pressed me into the floor, pushing her body into mine. I pushed back just enough to get to my feet, picked her up and carried her to the cots.