Chapter 4
Stephan Apex knew he was moving but could not feel it. In his head, this reflected how he felt about many things. The project, he understood, made advances everyday, both within the BioSuit division, and in other areas as well. It had been 8 years since he had started things in motion, however, and he had still not approached his destination. The elevator felt the same way, though he knew, he thought bitterly, that he would arrive at his floor long before the BioSuit development was finished.
The doors parted, not the dull metal found in most corporate lifts but a much more ornate wooden door, like the entrance to an ancient chamber re-purposed. Stephan's eyes barely noticed; he had passed through the doors so often as to render them completely unimpressive to him. Beyond the door was a brightly lit lobby, comfortable chairs arranged against the walls facing in, works of art hanging above them. Two large doors, also wooden, automated to open slowly at approach led to the next room. The room had a massive oblong table that appeared to seat at least 20 people. Stephan crossed the room alone and took a seat at the end of the table. With the push of a button a small flickering light appeared above him and his entire head was cloaked in darkness, the number 1 appearing brightly in bold, now the only distinguishable feature about him.
"This meeting will now begin."
Around the table, one by one the various personalities that formed the Underground council appeared. Though the Underground moved by the will of Apex alone, the council had been formed for practical reasons, not least of which was the world spanning nature of the various ventures that made up the Underground's global conspiracy. It was also a courtesy, to the many very large very important people who had become involved with the Underground and felt that for all the money and material they had at stake, they deserved a say in its operation.
'They of course do not deserve anything, but sometimes I must bow in order to get my way," thought Apex, dreading already the inevitable conflicts that came up at each of the weekly meetings.
This one, he felt, would be particularly bad. He had gotten another call, making that three in one year, and given the persons involved he was rightly prepared for the worse.
'Hung and Engelmacht will be at each other's throats.'
He was in for a surprise. Despite all the losses in the past week, he could have smiled. Dr. Hung, part of the two person team that routinely made these meetings a living hell was missing, his chair empty. Apex had little trouble imagining why: The loss of the Type 06 was a shock to the organization as well. The boy had shown promise. Hung was obviously playing damage control.
Dr. Engelmacht, the other piece of the puzzle, was back to her normal, quiet self. She had been in varying moods for the past few months, but had immediately lost her passion at the same time her pet project had literally walked out on the Underground.
Stephan had paused to consider that for a moment. Though the meetings had become tense and less productive in the weeks following the activation of the Type 05B, Engelmacht had shown passion for her creation and the BioSuit program she had been lacking since the Type 03 accident.
"There is little to say. You are no doubt aware of the events that happened 2 weeks ago. Little has changed since then, but now is the time for us to retake the ground lost. The Type 05 series has been seen as a loss for some time, and returning to it is of little benefit to us now. We lack the man power to go and retrieve the Type 05b at this time anyway, and even if we did there would be little use in doing so, as we have no idea how or why the Type 05b acted as it did. There is little we could do to stop the events of 2 weeks ago from repeating even if we did return it. It should be fairly obvious that the Type 06 should be counted as a failure at this time, and in light of these events I have a new proposal."
Apex stood, the projector matching his movements, keeping his identity hidden. Behind him a large display activated, brightening the dark room slightly. On its screen appeared a nude, athletic young woman with dark hair and careless half lidded eyes.
"Since we have had problems and I have yet to figure out a concrete reason as to why the recent BioSuit lines have failed, I will be designing the next type of BioSuit personally. In the mean time I will be devoting most of our BioSuit project personnel towards the advancement of BioSuit technologies while I take a stab at the actual unit. The Type 07s will be female. They will be strong, agile, and they will be easily hidden among the populace."
His face, had it not been hidden, would have shown them how serious he was.
"I will not tolerate any more failure. The time to design and manufacture this suit will put us even further behind schedule than we are. This must succeed."
He turned the display off.
"I will keep you abreast of any new developments, but as it stands, we must cross the places we have stumbled thus far and move beyond them. We know we have created a weapon of unimaginable power. All that is left is to hone it, and harness it. Soon after, the seeds of our efforts will begin to sprout, and our plans will blossom beautifully."
Apex nodded his head sharply, and began walking out of the room, the meeting obviously over. The other figures winked out one by one, the figure represented by Engelmacht pausing for a moment before winking out last.
---
Gabe pulled his hood as tightly to himself as possible. He thought he might freeze, though he realized the possibility was low, given the body he possessed. He assumed the fear was due to old genetic memory. Fear had often equaled respect, which in turn often brought survival. The winter winds blew around him, snow caking to every surface of his coat. He continued walking up the path he followed, feet disappearing a foot and a half down with each step he took. His muscles burned from the odd way he had to walk to get through.
'If I were a smarter man I would have bought snow shoes.' he thought, 'Hell, if I'm gonna be mister money bags I might as well buy a snow mobile while I'm at it.' he grumbled internally. Neither were an option for the cash strapped fugitive.
Gabe had made a very small amount of money doing odd-jobs as he traveled through Canada, making his way as north-west as possible. There was someone he needed desperately to see. Most of his funds went to traveling, very little to food. He felt like he was starving but he know his reactor, churning away in his guts, was more than enough for his cells to prosper. His hand dug deep into his pocket, keeping warm, something he was fairly sure he didn't need to do and yet, his nerves told him otherwise. His prosthetic hand hung wrapped in a bandage, in the unlikely event he stumbled upon someone.
In his pocket he fingered a receipt for a fishing boat he'd gotten passage on. The date on it said '01 jan 05'. He had ended up bribing the captain anyway to take him to land on Greenland. Gabe was fortunate enough to have purchased the thick winter coat he was wearing before hand; had the captain any inkling that the obviously desperate stranger had any more money else it was unlikely Gabe would have kept enough of it to purchase much of anything once he had arrived on land.
Gabe did not know for sure where he was going, but he had a pretty good idea. The wind picked up and he frowned, snow frozen into his thick eyebrows. If he was wrong it would be along way back
---
The snow was awful outside. Her lights continually flickered and she was worried that if the power failed she'd be fast stuck without light until morning-- her candles had been used the night before for that reason already and the snow was so bad she didn't think the general store would be open in town, even if she had wanted to brave the storm.
She cuddled herself under a thick blanket on her couch in her living room, looking sadly at a radio that sat where a television might in a more modern home. She wished she could turn it on and listen to some music to pass the time, but she knew very well that the storm would have drowned out the signal. She was far enough out that she had to contend with static even on a clear day.
She sighed, breaking her new years resolution for the incalculable time since making it only two night previous not to wish she had someone there to keep her company.
'That's selfish to think about,' she thought, 'and besides, pining away in my bed for the last few months hadn't helped a thing.'
There was a loud crash on the other side of the front door, and her whole body went tense. The sound abated, and she had to wonder if a tree had hit her little cabin. She pursed her lips and, not having much else to do, decided to take a look to be sure.
Sara Mason stood, leaving her blanket on the couch, regretting the need to but not wanting to catch it on fire accidentally as she crouched in front of her fire place to throw another log on. She played with her bright red hair, twisting it in her fingers as she watched the dry wood begin to burn.
In the half a year since Sara had left the Underground little had changed. Her face was still clear and soft and beautiful, her figure had not changed for that matter either. She was wearing insulated pants and a thick sweater, which contrasted with her personal style but fit much better with the climate she found herself in. Her hair had grown, long and bold, which she curled and tossed over her right shoulder. She looked back at the door and decided she might as well take that look.
'Then I can get back under the blanket.. brr!'
She peaked through the windows but couldn't see anything for the wind blown snow. She began opening the door but thought better of it, glancing through the crack and seeing that a drift nearly up to her waist had blown up against it. Preferring not to let the fall all over her floor and make a big mess, she tried to close the door.
She frowned and pushed again, door not budging. The door burst in, snow blowing through, the drift collapsing onto her floor.
"Who is it!" She yelled, her voice betraying a hint of nerves. The people in town didn't visit her, especially not on a night like this one.
A large man, as tall at least as Sara herself, stood in the doorway, snow blowing all around him. He had a thick winter coat, face hidden by the fur lined hood. He cut an imposing figure.
"Sara Mason?"
She looked into his face, blurred by sunglasses and a scarf. He looked impassive to her, she was unable to discern anything from his hidden face.
She crept backwards, away from him.
"Who wants to know?" She felt her heart beating like a drum in her chest, her face flushed. The man stepped in, closing the door. He pulled off his hood and pulled down his scarf. Sara felt as though she were looking into a mirror. Her eyes widened, her heart skipping a beat. She saw his left hand; metal, sticking out of his sleeve, bandages hanging down in a poor attempt to conceal it.
She flinched. They had come for her.
'They found me... finally. Oh god they found me!'
Her body wound up like a spring on the ground, head lowering as she looked up at him. She thought about what she could do. She was obviously at a disadvantage; he had a prosthetic. She made her choice and lept backwards, curling into a reverse somersault that brought her to her feet and put her back the the kitchen cabinet. The man raised his hand.
"Sara, stop!"
But she had already pulled a knife from the block. She held it upside down like a knife fighter, blade parallel to her forearm. Her eyes were amazingly sharp, blue irises twisting mechanically as the focused in on her target.
It passed her notice that she had pondered the question, "is killing ever okay?" night after night as she tried in vain to sleep. It escaped her that she had replayed the deaths she had cause numerous times in her head, whether she wanted to or not.
A part of her took over. She couldn't tell if it was her human self, her BioSuit self, or just her own disturbed personality. Sara felt the need to defend herself, and would accept the consequences later. She grabbed a second knife, flinging it under hand at the intruder. He side stepped it. She grabbed another, did the same thing. He stopped it with his metal hand. The knife reflected and embedded itself in the log wall.
"Sara, what are you doing? Listen! I'm not here to hurt you."
"Then why are you here, huh? Just want a friendly chat."
"That was part of the idea. You're my sister."
Sara's face ticked as she heard the man say brother. It hadn't crossed her mind in the harried seconds that this was more than just a pawn of the Underground. That it was her own brother... did that mean anything? What were blood ties between people who had never met before?
"So? Prove it. Take off your coat. Put your hands up and behind your head."
Gabe put his hands up, then back down, remembering the part about taking his coat off. He slowly placed it on the ground, giving it a pat for good measure. He sheepishly grinned up at Sara but her face remained stony. He sobered, unsure of how to defuse the situation.
She froze as she saw what was under the coat. The man's face was hers, the same nose, same shape of eyes, same strong eyebrows and same sharp chin. They even had the same softness of their high cheeks, and the same hairline. His hair was long, to about his chin, and dark purple. His eyes were green, whirring mechanically as hers did, watching her, anticipating what she would do next.
She was caught by his coat, however. Not the winter one he had placed on the ground but the green half coat he wore, fully buttoned, one arm long and the other short, exposing the metal length of his prosthetic claw. It was the uniform of the Underground-- she had worn that same coat in the time before her experiment.
Steeling herself, she made her decision. Brother or not, he was from the Underground, and he was a danger to here and everyone else here. She lunged for him. Gabe reacted with remarkable dexterity, spinning to the side and out of her way, tripping her in the process. He caught her around the waist holding her tight.
"Let go of me!" she struggled, just as he plucked the knife from her hands with his claw.
"Stop it!" he pinched her backside.
"What are you doing! Don't touch me there!"
Gabe started to laugh. Somehow he knew things would be fine.
"I'm telling the truth. I'm not here to hurt you."
"You're just here to talk to me then? About what?"
"I want to talk to you about that place. About what happened to you. I don't know the full story. I want to know why you're here, why they let you go. I want to learn from you abut the real world. Sara, I'm just looking for a friend."
Sara relaxed in Gabe's arms. He helped her back to her feet and let her go, careful to set down the knife he'd confiscated out of reach. Sara composed herself well enough and then nodded towards the couch. Gabe took it as a sign to sit and did so, adjacent to his sister.
"I'm sorry." she said after a few moments of silence.
"Huh? Why would you be sorry?"
"I shouldn't have attacked you. You.. you..." Her eyes clouded over and she stopped speaking, pressing her head against her knees, trying to stop from showing she was crying.
"Don't be. I was..." he found it hard to continue as she sniffled, "I should have known there was a good reason you left the Underground. And I ought have known you didn't want one of us tracking you down."
Sara propped her chin on her knee, "Well we're both okay now. That counts more than bad first impressions." She pulled her blanket back over her, the adrenaline fading and her body feeling the cold of the storm outside again, "So, stranger, what's your name?"
Gabe thought about it for a moment.
"My real name is Gabriel Mason. Or at least, that's what they told me."
"Mason hmm? So you really are my brother... wait, what's you unit number?"
Gabe paused then responded mechanically, "Apath Underground BioSuit CompanionType 05B Gabriel Mason AI data..." he stopped, thinking, "AI data...Vindicator."
Sara leaned forward, "Vindicator? You mean you're not a Dummy AI?" Gabe shook his head.
"I guess not. That's what my head tells me, anyway. What are you?"
"Apath Underground BioSuit CompanionType05A Sara Mason AI data Dummy AI Plus."
Sara looked like a tent, covered in blankets, "I wonder what that's about. I'd never heard of them wanting to use an AI that was different than the dummies."
"I couldn't tell you, honestly."
Silence reigned for some time, each unable to think of a topic to continue with. Sara spoke first.
"How did you come to be here?"
Gabe thought about that. He thought about the underground, with Kathryn, with Bill. He thought about the strange way he had come to be in that situation, and deciding to leave to see what the world was really like.
"I think I have a lot to tell you."
He began from as early as he could remember, the cold floor next to the Cradle, and by the time the light of dawn had peered through the windows, his story had returned to the the present.
---
At some point in the night the two sibling had gotten closer to each other, sharing one anothers warmth in front of the fire as Gabe related the story of his time in the Underground. He had reached then end, had imparted all of his experience. He had felt oddly light, as if everything was no longer being held by just one person. It was as though he had through only telling his sister divided the burden of experience. He hadn't realized that he had felt that way before.
They both fell asleep on the couch. They had been sitting up, leaning against one another. Gabe was somewhat embarrassed to discover upon waking that he had nuzzled up close to Sara in the middle of his sleep, and had his face comfortably resting on her chest. He carefully lifted himself up, hoping not to disturb her, or worse yet to make her believe that he had done that on purpose.
Gabe slipped out of the blanket and stretched, his feet toasty if damp still inside his boots, which he had neglected to take off once they were well entrenched in his story. A small wave of guilt passed over him, as he realized he had broken into his sister's home, and then bombarded her with information for several hours straight. He shrugged it off as best he could, trying not to burden himself for the moment with those thoughts. He checked his internal clock, finding the time to be around 10am. The light shining through the blinds was bright, reflecting off the newly fallen snow. Gabe had only slept 4 hours before being roused. He untied his boots and pulled his socks off, placing them by the fireplace. He placed a few logs as discretely as possible on the remaining embers from the night, helping the wood catch. Satisfied once the flame was lit again, he slipped in next to his sister, and laid his head down against the arm of the couch. Sleep found him again quickly.
---
Sara's eyes crept open around 2 pm, her body willing to rise only after spending that much time recovering from the long night before, she felt a pressure against her and looked down to see the purple haired head of her brother resting comfortably against her chest. She stifled a laugh.
'He looks very peaceful. It must feel nice,' she thought with a touch of amusement.
Pinned for a moment, and unwilling to jostle her brother awake, Sara thought about the night before. She recalled the terror she felt when she heard someone at the door. What struck her more was the feeling of calmness and even warmth that invaded her when she and Gabe began to talk. Though all the the subject matter had not been cheery, Sara had enjoyed talking with Gabe. She felt connected again. After all the time away, isolated from the Underground by choice and from other people as a product of who she was, Sara realized she was quickly, maybe too quickly, growing attached to her long lost sibling. She tightened her lips, considering the danger that Gabe might be putting her in being here, or the possibly greater danger that he might be putting her in by getting attached to him.
For the time being she decided to try and keep herself from becoming too involved with him. The were brother and sister, but they had known each other for less than 24 hours. She would do her best to be somewhat pragmatic, she decided. She could not of course, she had to admit to herself, not enjoy the time that she did spend with the man. She realized to do so would be robbing her of possibly a once in a lifetime opportunity.
She sat back thinking for another twenty minutes, toying with various things, but at times simply letting her mind idle while she watched her brothers head rise and fall with the intake and exhaling of her breath. She had to keep herself from laughing, as she watched, for fear of bouncing her brother into wakefulness. She decide finally that enough time had passed, and that she was hungry enough, that he ought to wake up and let her get started with her day. She stroked his hair with the back of her hand, calling his name.
"Gabe? Gabe? It's time to wake up."
Gabe heard her and picked his head up, not nearly as coherent as he had been when he awoke earlier in the the day, his body having given itself into sleep fully, driving him deeper and deeper. He noticed with a flush of embarrassment that not only had he returned to his sister's breast, but that there was a small wet mark where he had drooled. He kept his mouth shut, doing his best not to call attention to either the fact that he had used his sister's chest as a pillow or that he had been so comfortable that he had drooled on it.
"Sara. Good morning" he said, sitting up, blinking away the sleep from his eyes.
Free of his weight Sara stood, stretching herself. She wrapped the blanket around her brother and walked around the couch into the kitchen.
"Not quite morning anymore." she said, amusement in her voice.
Gabe raked his hands through his hair, trying to get a hold of his grogginess and toss it out, succeeding moderately. He looked around, seeing her house for the first time in the full light. It was small and cozy, made like a real old cabin, as that is exactly what it was. Logs formed the outer walls, sealed together with concrete and enamel. The front door opened into the living room, with the kitchen directly behind it, where Sara stood looking through her cabinets. A small 4 person table sat in the kitchen. There were 3 doors along the wall, that ran the length from the front to the back of the cabin. Glitch assumed were two rooms and a bath.
"Cute place. You live here all by yourself?"
"What do you want for breakfast?"
Gabe stood, remaining in place for a moment as he debated leaving the blanket or not. He piled it back on the couch and went over to Sara.
"Well what do you have?"
"Dry cereal, some eggs, instant oatmeal, sausages, ham.." she listed as she paged through the cupboard and imagined what she had in the ice box.
"I'll have some oatmeal." Gabe was indirectly conscious of the fact that he wanted something warm in him, and how scarce fresh eggs and meat might be in the winter. He didn't want to put his sister our if he could help it. The thought of actual food in his belly was more than he could pass up on just the pretense, so he was more than happy to eat up what he assumed would be an easily replaceable foodstuff.
Sara dutifully pulled the oatmeal out and grabbed a pot from the cabinet under the kitchen counter. She went to the sink and sighed. She twisted the knobs but nothing came from them. Saying nothing she went to the front door, opened it, and filled the pot with snow. She rushed back in to the kitchen and put it on the stove to melt and boil for the hot cereal.
Gabe looked from the door back to her. Sara rubbed her shoulders vigorously to warm up.
"Problems with your pipes?" he asked.
"Well it's been cold, and I don't have much to use the water for, so they must have froze up last night."
Gabe thought for a moment and then nodded to himself, "You got a good supply of propane left?"
She knitted her eyebrows together and then nodded, "I don't use it for much, so yes I should have at least a months worth at this point."
"All right. After breakfast I'll see if I can't do something about those pipes." he took a seat in one of the kitchen chairs. Sara smiled, and went back to making their breakfast.
---
Gabe came in from the cold several hours later, looking a bit bushy eyed but overall cheery. He stripped out of his coat and glove and shook some of the remaining snow off of himself.
"Well, I think I'll have things ready to go soon."
Sara was reading a book on the couch, pulling the blanket tighter as Gabe came in the door.
"Oh, think you have it figured out?"
Gabe nodded his head decisively, "Yes ma'am. I've got a barrel fire going in your basement near the pipes, which should help warm them up, and every couple minutes I'm gonna pour some of that boiled water down the faucet. All I have to do after that is turn off the water to the pipe from the hot water heater a few times without bursting the pipes and we should be back in business!"
Sara bite her lip without saying anything, nodding, and went back to her book, "Just try not to break anything."
Gabe hesitated, and went about what he was doing. In theory things should be fine, but now he was keenly aware that if he screwed up, Sara might vary well be without hot water for the winter, which was a frightening prospect after spending the last 3 hours in the cold. He'd be very sure not to burst the pipes.
---
Sara took her shower later than usual, but she had to smile, Gabe had come through. He'd unfrozen the pipes without breaking something, and had even taken some old carpet that was sitting rolled up in the cellar and used it to wrap them, which he said should help it keep from freezing as easily next time.
The shower felt good. The scars running up and down her body were exposed, but Sara had grown accustomed to ignoring them. She washed her hair and her body with her eyes closed, a nearly perfected routine. The scars were a part of her, but she didn't have to acknowledge them.
---
Gabe sat in his new bedroom, contemplating the strange turn of events from the day.
"So, are you planning on staying Gabe?"
"Well, I hadn't really thought about it"
"You are so full of it. you came all the way out here and you weren't planning on staying with me? Where were you gonna stay huh? In a tree?"
"I actually hadn't thought about it."
"Wait are you serious? What if I wasn't here?"
"I guess I'd have to stay in a tree. I just knew I wanted to meet you. I didn't think further than that. This is all new to me after all, so I got a goal in mind and I went for it. I just happened to be lucky."
Sara had held him close, placing her head against his.
"So long as you like you can stay with me. You can stay in the other bedroom."
A smile had split Gabe's face, and Sara interrupted him before he could begin thanking her,
"We'll have to clean up the other bedroom, but I really don't own much so it's not like it's a big task. mostly just that it hasn't been lived in. You can borrow some of my bed sheets and things, but we need to get to town and pick up some for you. I wasn't planning to have guests so I'm not very prepared for it."
Gabe felt the bed under him. He had spent the rest of the evening cleaning out the room, dusting away cob webs, and making the bed up so he had a place to sleep. The bright moonlight reflecting off the snow poured into his room. It was quiet, and a bit lonely out here, but Gabe was happy. It was simple, and he had someone like him who could understand what he was going through. It was a comforting thought.
In the next room he heard the water turn off, and the sound of Sara's feet slapping against the linoleum floor in the bathroom. Gabe couldn't help but smile. She was an interesting girl, and she seemed genuinely kind. When he though about her in the same breath as Engelmacht there was no comparison. There had always been this caveat about Engelmacht that gave him pause. Sara seemed to be the opposite. Her kindness didn't seem to have attachments, the same implications. That made Gabe smile.
'I'll make sure to help her any way I can. Once some of this snow melts I'll go into town and maybe get a job. I think she'll appreciate that,' he thought.
He laid on top of the sheet in his bed, staring into the wooden ceiling, smiling as he thought of the days to come. He heard his sister call goodnight from her room. He responded in turn, and shifted himself to get comfortable. Sleep found him easily that night.
---
Sara wrapped her towel firmly around herself, peaking her head out of the bathroom into the living room while steam billowed off of her in the cool air. She saw that Gabe's door was closed and breathed a small sigh of relief. Her arms held the towel tightly to her, black veins running up and down her exposed forearm. She quickly passed over into her room, closing the door behind her. She unwrapped the towel and began drying her hair with it, her naked body reflecting what her arm had exposed earlier; a black crisscrossing network of veins looking ready to burst from her skin. She kept her mouth in a thin tight line, eyes closed. There were no mirrors in her room.
She sat on her bed, finished toweling off her hair. She tentatively said "Good night" to Gabe and heard his chipper reply a moment later. A small smile crossed her lips, before her face became expressionless again.
She opened her drawer, pulling out underwear and pajamas. She slid into her panties and put on a soft top and insulated bottoms. She put socks on her feet, slipped her hand under her pillow.
'There, it's done.' she thought.
She fell asleep quickly, body well covered, wondering what life with her brother would be like.