Synthesis: Book One Page 12

  Chapter 12

  In a dank and smelly holding cell, Evan and Charles waited for their visitor. They were seen briefly at the hospital, but got arrested immediately after the doctors got done patching up Evan's injuries.

  “Well, at least the swelling is going down. For a while there, you looked like you stopped a wrecking ball with your face.” Charles Dent joked in the tiny cell.

  Evan moved the ice pack from his jaw and said, “Fuck you.”

  Charles' voice was still hoarse and raspy, but he felt able to make the calls needed to get them out. Before he could summon the guard to bribe for a phone call, there was a shadow coming down the corridor in between the cells.

  The whooping and hollering of the other inmates died out to a curious murmur while they watched the ominous man in a long, black coat stroll peacefully to Charles’s and Evan's cell.

  The silence stretched out, while the two men waited for their verbal rebuff from their enigmatic cohort.

  “Well well, what happened to you two?” Boone finally spoke up. His deep voice formed words slowly and evenly, just like a man who knew he would never be interrupted.

  “Caleb got out a couple of days early. He got the drop on us while we were trying to squeeze the girl for data.” Charles said quickly.

  “This 'Caleb' is going to be a real problem for us all, gentlemen. He just killed three of my best guys with an underground water pipe. They still haven't found their bodies yet. Not to mention, he did over two million dollars in damage and we don’t even know how he started it all.” Boone said. He stopped to clean his sunglasses on his coat lapel while the two men protested audibly.

  “SHUT UP! Here's what's going to happen. I am paying to get you both out of here. Then, we are going to rendezvous with Ivanna and catch up to Caleb and his little girlfriend.”

  “Ivanna knows about this?” The two men asked simultaneously. Their faces went white at the mention of the enigmatic woman.

  Boone put his tinted glasses back on in the dark hallway. “Of course she knows, you idiots! Half the goddamned planet knows what you two did! We need him alive, so we can't take any shots at him. We can, however, try and get to the girl. If we threaten her, he might come along for the sake of keeping her safe.

  The guard came up and spoke to Boone. After a couple of minutes he smiled and nodded, and Boone handed the man a manila envelope stuffed with cash. The men silently walked out of the open cell and stood in front of Boone like sullen teenagers.

  As their plane made its way across the Pacific, Caleb busied himself with the phone he had stolen from Evan.

  “Whacha doin'?” She asked playfully through her exhausted fog.

  “Oh, I'm just changing Evan's life around a little bit.” He said with a chuckle. “If he survives, he's gonna love all of the scorpions and tarantulas I just had delivered to his house. I also made some changes to his online life. He really should be more careful about what he downloads...” Caleb chimed musically.

  Right as Kelley was getting ready to chastise him for being immature; the plane shook and pitched to one side as a ball of fire swirled outside the little round window.

  The intercom chimed in with the pilot's slurred, panicked voice. “Please take your seats everyone. It looks as if we are being blown out of the sky.”

  As the plane dipped and banked to the left, Caleb looked out the window and saw the source of the explosion. About three hundred yards away, there was an Apache attack helicopter loaded down with armaments and heading right for them!

  “What is that?” Kelley gasped, having finally got her bearings in the tilting and swerving fuselage of the plane. No amount of flight attendant training could prep you for this.

  “That would be one of our new friends from Allied Biotech. Or, it could be the firm they hired. Either way, I need to do something.”

  “Like what?!” Kelley shrieked.

  “I have an idea, but I need to speak with the pilot.” He said, already making his way up to the cockpit door.

  “Caleb, are these the friends you spoke of?” The pilot asked while trying to look calm. Just then, another explosion occurred off the right side. This was followed by an unknown voice at the radio.

  “Hello Caleb! As you might have guessed, you're being shot at right now! If you agree to land and come along quietly, we won't have to shoot you out of the sky.” The oddly chipper man in the helicopter said.

  Caleb stopped and thought to himself. He had a plan, but he needed to be away from the mainland to pull it off.

  “I need you to take us out to international waters.” He said to the pilot. He then grabbed the mic and said to the helicopter pilot, “Alright, we'll be turning around to land in a minute.”

  “Glad to hear it Caleb. Glad to hear it...,” The man said in return. Pleased in an easy mission.

  Turning back to his pilot, Caleb nodded to him and said, “Punch it!”

  The plane lurched forward, and Caleb made quick time back to Kelley to make sure she was alright.

  “What's going on?” She said frantically.

  Caleb crouched down in the middle of the isle and groaned out loud. He held his head in his hands and tucked into a ball, groaning some more. He looked up to her and said, “I need you to make me angry.”

  “How?” She shrugged.

  “I don't know! I need to access something big and powerful, and I don't really have the capacity for it yet. So, I need you to really piss me off! Say something mean.”

  “Um, you're ugly?” She offered timidly. She was never good with the trash talking....

  “No! It has to be bad! I mean, like incredibly evil and terrible. The worst you can think of.”

  “Fine! Evan's cock is…, so much bigger than yours.” She said in a confused tone. The look on Caleb's face scared her a little, and she was wondering if she had gone too far.

  With a dark and evil smile, Caleb said, “That’s it! Do it some more!”

  “Um, yeah Evan was totally nice and sweet. He made all this money. And he fucked me like it was an art form. I mean, like, he really gave it to me. It was pure bliss letting him use me like some kind of crusty gym sock.” She spouted off among the wild plane maneuvers.

  “ARGGHH! That’s..., IT!” Caleb blurted out as he held his temples.

  Five miles away, the USS Barker was making its normal rounds as it lolled about in the Pacific. Always armed to the teeth, it usually made its way over to the coast of Somalia to protect freighters from pirates. Today would be much different, however.

  On deck, a sea to air missile was coming online. Lights that laid dormant for years came to life and blinked to indicate the arming status of the little-used missile systems. It was a holdover from the cold war. A big, unnecessary phallic symbol of wartime potency that served more purpose as intimidation than anything else usually. It had remained on the battleship as a functional museum piece of sorts for when the ship was in port. Today however, the alarms sounded on deck as the retainer bolts blew away one by one. While crew members rushed to find out what was going on, the large missile blasted away from its mounts and made a straight and fast path to its target.

  Back on the plane, Caleb was in the cockpit again. He grabbed the mic and spoke to the helicopter pilot in a slow, deliberate tone.

  “There's been a change of plans. Say hi to Ivanna for me.” He clipped the mic back in place and strolled to his seat. Kelley had buckled herself in, and was giving him a worried look.

  “It'll be okay babe. Nice job on the trash talking by the way.” He leaned over and hugged her close.

  The helicopter pilot flipped up the shield covering the fire button for the 20 mm cannons. He smiled as he went to press it, only to hold up his hands and arms in a futile attempt to block the cruise missile coming towards his canopy.

  The plane shook once more as the helicopter blew apart. Fragments of the destroyed aircraft drifted whimsically down to the ocean while their plane banked and returned to its normal course. After that, the s
ky returned to its quiet state, and the two snuggled back up like vacationers on a first class flight.

  “That was a pretty big missile you used.” Kelley said after a while.

  “Heh. That's what she said.” Caleb joked mildly.

  “Was that because of the whole 'Evan's cock is bigger' thing that I said?” She asked in a tired, disinterested voice.

  Caleb gave her a squeeze and said, “Okay, maybe there was a little bit of compensation going on. We should get some rest.”

  Kelley was already drifting off again when she asked, “But, where are we going?”

  “We're going to refuel the plane at a small atoll just past Hawaii, and then we're going to Japan. I know a guy in Yokohama that can help us while we get our bearings. Now, go to sleep.” He gently insisted. Her rhythmic little breaths told him that she already had.

  Caleb struggled with sleep. He gave up the effort and decided to contact his friend in Yokohama. Yukio Fukuda had been one of the primary researchers in artificial intelligence back in the 90's. He had a bizarre take on the subject, and he gained much derision from his peers for the belief that artificial intelligence crossed the gap from machine logic to living being. After becoming the laughing stock of his peers for blending the ideals of theology and machine logic, he had been relegated to a back corner of the Institute of Information Security. He lectured and taught part time at the university, and sought backers for his research the rest of the time.

  While Caleb waited for his secure connection to initiate, he looked at Kelley's sleeping form in the reclined seat. He pondered her beauty for the first time since seeing her in person. His newly formed body had left him adrift in new experiences. Fear was still something that didn't register in his mind yet. Anger and sadness seemed to be real driving factors in his abilities, but he would need to speak with someone who knew the ins and outs of blending his virtual world, and the physical world. Yukio was just that person.

  He had feelings for Kelley that just didn't add up, even with all of his computations that attempted to understand human behavior. He was still having a difficult time being immersed in them himself. While the pilot made arrangements to land at Yokohama International Airport, Caleb finally got through to his longtime friend.

  “Yukio san, it's good to hear your voice again!” Caleb said when he finally picked up.

  “Caleb! I was watching the news about the explosion! Everyone thinks you're dead! Are you back in the servers at Sandia Labs?” He said in his thickly accented English.

  “No Yukio, I'm alive! The procedure was a success! I am landing in Yokohama right now.”

  “You're landing here? But, what about Genetitech? Who else knows you're alive and breathing?”

  Caleb stopped to actually breathe for the first time. The stale air of the plane filled his lungs, but it was still refreshing to partake in this sacred habit of the living. “Yeah, breathing..., um, no one else but my creator, Kelley Anderson. Well, and some hired guns for a rival genetics company. I was hoping to stay at your place for a while?” Caleb offered carefully.

  There was a long pause on the other end. “It would be my honor to have you as a house guest! I have so much to ask you!” Yukio said with a hint of fatherly pride in his voice.

  Caleb smiled as the sun slipped below the horizon. The longest of days had finally caught up to him while he finished his conversation with his new sensei. Exhaustion washed over him like a thick soup as he and Kelley made their way off the plane.