Gene. Sys. (4 page)

Hawk smacks the monitors a couple of times and
they come to life. “The outsiders.”

It’s hard to take in everything I see. The
monitors all show different parts of the compound. There are about fifty drones
shooting at wave after wave of people scaling over the exterior walls. All of
the outsiders have a piece of yellow fabric attached to a part of their body.
The ones who make it over the wall open fire on the drones. Their firepower is
inferior to that of the drones but their number seems to level the field. There
are hundreds of them.

It’s a never-ending stream flowing over the
walls. Bodies fall lifeless to the ground. The drones appear to be overpowered
but instead of retreating, they push forward into the mass of outsiders. It’s
as if they have no concern for self-preservation. Just as the original fifty
drones are torn apart by the mass of people, fifty more drones
march
out in unison from their barracks. I had been able to
see the barracks from atop the library roof but I had never ventured over
there. The shot of the barracks that I see on the screen, however, shows a
group of buildings much larger than I anticipated. Thousands of drones could be
housed there.

Behind the newest wave of drones, the ground
opens up and dozens of rolling machines pour out. I have never seen these
before. A drone sits in a clear case on top of a spherical wheel. The wheel
allows the machine to move in any direction and the case can spin around
completely. Each clear case is equipped with two guns.

“What are those?” I ask Hawk.

“Rollpods,” he says without looking up. The
rollpods speed into the crowd of outsiders and shoot recklessly at anyone
within, including other drones.

I’m so mesmerized by everything that is
happening that I haven’t realized that Ev is no longer holding my hand. I look
to see that she is sitting on the floor against the
side wall
.
She is visibly upset by this violence. I am about to go to comfort her when an
image draws my attention to the screen. Stepping out of the hole where the
rollpods came from is Rene.

“What is he doing?”
 
I lean closer to the screen.

Hawk seems as confused by it as I am. “He’s just
watching.”

“But it’s not safe!” I yell.

Ev quickly gets to her feet and looks at the
screen. “Get him to go back in!”

“I can’t do anything from here!” Hawk’s energy
has matched ours. He is on edge.

We watch the screens more closely. The rollpods
have seized control of the battle and many of the outsiders are
retreating.
 
Two outsiders break
free and run towards Rene.
 
He turns
to run back into the hole as a rollpod turns its aim at the two outsiders. One
of the outsiders gets a shot off before he is gunned down and we all watch as
Rene falls to the ground and into the hole.

“Dad!” I scream. I run to the door and push on
the filing cabinet. “Let me out of here!”

Ev falls to her knees crying. Hawk runs to me
and tries to pull me away from the filing cabinet. “Atom, stop. Stop! You can’t
help him. You need to stay here.”

I shake him off and continue pushing on the
filing cabinet. It starts to move. A rage has built up inside me. “I need to
get to him!”

“You can’t!” Hawk yells back as he puts his
hands on my shoulders and pulls me back. Before I realize what I’m doing, I
punch Hawk
square
in the jaw. He falls hard to the
ground. I’m instantly sorry that I did that but I have no time for remorse. I
have to get to my dad.

I push hard on the filing cabinet and move it
out of the way of the door. I reach for the door handle but just before I can
pull it open I see a shadow speeding towards my head. The blow of whatever it
was knocks me to the ground and I black out.

3

I open my eyes and the light amplifies the
pounding in my head. I sit up and look around. I’m still in the room
downstairs. Hawk and Ev are no longer here and the screens have been shut off.
It’s too quiet. I run out the open door and find myself surrounded by the
incubation tubes. The floor is empty. All the scientists are gone.

I’m about to run to the elevator when one of the
Genetic Systems catches my attention. Her long, blonde hair floats beautifully
in the liquid. I stop breathing for a moment because even though I can’t see
her face I know that it’s the girl from my dream.

I
walk to the side of the incubator but before I can get a good look Ev brings me
back to reality.

“Atom! Come on!” She’s standing on the platform
just in front of the elevator.

My mind can’t shake the thought of this blonde
girl but I turn and sprint to Ev. “What happened? How is he?”

She holds the elevator for me as I run in. “He’s
alive but he’s hurt badly.”

I feel a sense of relief run through me as we
ascend in the elevator. He’s alive and that’s all that matters to me now. I
don’t care how betrayed I have been feeling about the things he has hidden from
me. He still created me. He’s still my dad.
                

The door opens and Ev leads me down a maze of
hallways deeper into the scientist quadrant. She pushes through a set of double
doors and I step into the medical ward. People in medical masks and green
scrubs run around in a panic.

“He’s lost a lot of blood,” I hear one of them
say. My brief moments of relief have turned back to concern. I push my way
through towards a room where I can see doctors working on someone through the
window. It’s actually the only room where I see anything happening. Just before
I get there, Hawk and Grant cut me off, blocking my view.

“Tell me what’s happening!” I demand.

Grant grabs my arm and uses all his strength to
pull me back towards Ev. “Just let the doctors do their work.”

I’m about to give in to Grant’s strength when I
see the doctors in the room begin to panic. Another doctor runs by me. “He’s
crashing.”

I break free from Grant’s grip and run to the
window of the room. I see Rene, my dad, lying motionless on the operating table
in the middle of the room. The doctors strategically place patches on his body
and cover him with the glass top of the operating table. One of doctors presses
a button on the side of the table and my dad’s body convulses. I pound on the
window to the room. “Dad!”

Another doctor walks over to the other side of
the window and slides the curtains shut. I can no longer see what is going on.
“You have to save him!”

Grant and Ev have joined me by the window. Ev
puts her hand on my shoulder but I shrug it off. I don’t want to be touched.
Instead I slide down against the window and sit down against the wall. Ev joins
me on the ground. Grant pulls over a chair but sits far enough away to give Ev
and I some privacy.

“Why aren’t you upset?” I don’t look at her.

She shuffles her body closer to me. “It doesn’t
matter what I feel or how I show it. It won’t affect the outcome.” I look at
her. She’s right but I still don’t like how indifferent she seems.

“You don’t like him, do you?” I search her eyes
for the truth.

“Of course I like him, Atom. He created me and
has been nothing short of generous and kind with me. I have just learned not to
get too close.” She turns away from me. I have certainly hit a sore spot.

“Why is that?” I press on. I see tears forming
in her eyes. She tries hard to hide them.

“There are things that I know, that he hasn’t
shared with you yet. Things I’m not allowed to share with you … unless
something like this happens.” She stands and storms away. Grant doesn’t flinch
as she walks passed him; he just keeps his eyes on me.

“What is she talking about?” I walk up to Grant.
He stays seated in his chair.

“Not right now,” he says as sternly as I’ve ever
heard him. He’s concerned. Why wouldn’t he be? Ev and I aren’t the only family
that Rene has. I look around and realize that I was focused so much on my own
emotions that I didn’t notice the amount of people who have gathered. Every
scientist must be here. The number of people who work here is much higher than
I would have thought. There must be around one hundred scientists who have come
to support Rene. A couple dozen drones patrol the perimeter. They too seem to
be putting most of their focus towards the room in the center.

I pull up a chair next to Grant. “Why did those
people attack us?”

He sighs and turns to me. “They want to stop
us.”

“What do you mean? Stop us from what?” I’m
starting to feel like I have been kept in the dark my whole life. I know
nothing of what is going on here or who I am.

“They want to stop us from destroying the
world.” He turns his eyes away from me. He’s upset with himself at revealing
this information. I’m not sure what to think of it. Rene told me the world was
going to end and he always made it seem like we are the good guys, but good
guys wouldn’t destroy the world.

“Why are we destroying the world?” I ask. The
door to the operating room opens up. Grant is obviously relieved not to have to
answer and, right now, I don’t care. I run up to the doctor who walks out of
the room. He’s a bit portly, short and bald; he’s the antithesis of Grant. “How
is he?”

Grant has walked up behind me and he places his
hand on my shoulder. The doctor ignores me and looks directly at Grant. His
grip tightens on my shoulder. “He’s alive but he’s lost a lot of blood. His
status is critical but he should pull through as long as his body doesn’t
reject the new blood.”

“Thanks Dennis.” Grant takes his hand off my
shoulder and extends it to Dennis. They shake.

Dennis turns and heads back towards the room. I
reach out and grab his arm. “Can I see him?”

“Not yet, Atom.” He pulls his arm away and walks
back into the room. How does he know my name? I have never met him before in my
life. Do they all know my name?

I turn to Grant to plea my case but his look
keeps me silent. He speaks sternly. “Go tell Ev.”

I don’t want to leave but if Grant tells you to
do something, you do it. His anger is not something I want to deal with, so I
go.

 
I
pass Hawk and a group of scientists along the way. He avoids eye contact with
me. His chin is starting to bruise badly. I feel so bad about what I did. I’m
about to apologize to him but I hear Grant yell from behind me.

“Ev!” That’s all he says. Hawk looks at me
briefly and I shoot him a smile but it’s not reciprocated.

I walk out and weave my way through the maze of
doors and hallways. I pass many armed drones on the way to her room. The door
swings inward when I knock so I slowly push it open. Ev is lying on her bed
staring up at the ceiling.

“He’s alive,” I say as I sit on the corner of
her bed.

“Thanks.” She doesn’t budge. There are so many
questions that I want to ask her but I know now is not the time. She’s a bit
too emotionally unstable to deal with what I want to ask and I’m not in the
right place to receive the answers to those questions. I stand and she turns
her head to look at me. “Will you please stay for a little bit?”

I smile and sit back on the corner of her bed.
“Sure.”

She moves her feet and I lay back at the foot of
the bed, perpendicular to her. My feet hang off the edge of the bed and I can’t
help but swing them slightly. I feel comfortable next to her; she calms my
nerves.

We lay in silence for a few moments and then she
asks me something that hadn’t graced my mind yet. “Do you think they attacked
because of us?”

I know Grant said that the outsiders came over
to stop them from destroying the world, but Rene also told me that I was
created because of the end of the world. Am I the reason the world is ending?
Is Ev?

“I don’t know,” I say. I don’t like not knowing.
As we lay in silence all I can think about is how much has been kept from me. I
think about the lies and deceit that have been spent on me. I’m filled with an
overwhelming desire to find everything out. There will be no more secrets kept
from me and, if Rene doesn’t want to tell me, I will find out on my own.

I stay with Ev until she falls asleep and then I
sneak quietly out of her room. The library is the first place I want to go to.
I feel I need to learn more about the outsiders. Brianna is probably the person
I should talk to, but she’s probably with the other scientists in the medical
ward. Right now the library will have to do.
 

The number of drones in the hallways is much
less in this part of the compound. As I walk towards the wing that houses my
room and the library, a drone approaches me. “Is Dr. Anfang okay?”

A drone has never initiated a conversation with
me. They usually only speak in response to a question I have asked them. “He
will be,” I reply.

“That’s good.” He smiles. Another thing I
haven’t really seen but once.

“80?” I pry. I know I’m probably just making a
fool out of myself but he’s the only one I’ve seen smile.

“You remembered? How?” he asks.

“I guessed. You are the only drone who’s smiled
at me before.” I smile back at him.

He drops his head in shame. “I know. I’m sorry.
I won’t do it again.”

“Why would you be sorry?” Everywhere I go it’s
nothing but questions.

He doesn’t look at me when he answers. “We
aren’t really allowed to engage with anyone but our own. If they knew that I
asked you a question without you talking to me first I would get in trouble
again.”

“That’s horrible. Who made those rules?” I’m
getting angry.

“Dr. Anfang,” he says apologetically.

I stop walking. That can’t be right. Rene would
never do that. At least the man I called my dad wouldn’t. Rene, however, seems
capable of as much evil as good.

“Why would he do that?” I’m asking myself as
much as I am asking him.

Before he can respond, he shoves me behind him
as an outsider jumps out of a door down the hall and shoots his gun. 80
falls
back into my arms and knocks me to the ground.
Immediately the hallway is filled with more drones and they riddle the outsider
with bullets. I look down to see blood pouring from 80’s right eye.

“Help!” I scream.

Two drones run over to me. “Are you hurt, Atom?”

“I’m fine! 80
has
been
shot.” I lay him on the ground.

The drones look at 80 and one of them places the
barrel of his gun to 80’s head. “No!” I push the gun out of the way just before
it fires. “What are you doing?”

“What we’re supposed to do,” the drone replies
matter-of-factly.

“You can’t!” I plea. “He saved my life!” He
didn’t even hesitate to risk his life for mine. I can’t let him die. “We need
to get him to the medical ward.”

The drone steps towards me. “Sir. Atom. We
aren’t supposed—”

“—I’m not asking you!” I stand and push
one drone over to 80’s legs. “Pick him up and follow me.”

They lift him off the ground and I speed them
through the hallways to the research and development wing where the medical
ward is. Every drone we pass stares at us.

We reach the hallway that has the door with the
high tech lock and I see it about to close. “Wait!” The door latches but a
second later it flies back open. Hawk stands on the other side.

“What are you doing?” he asks as he holds the
door open.

“He’s shot!” I say as we run past him.

“But it’s just a drone!” he shouts after me.

“I don’t care!” I shout back. We reach the
medical ward and burst through the doors.

“Grant! I need a doctor!” I yell out to the
room. I’m not sure if he is in there, but if he is, I know he will help.

Grant runs over to me. “What happened? Who is
this?”

“His name is 80. He was shot.” I push passed him
towards the operating rooms.

He chases after me. “Atom, he’s just a drone. We
don’t—”

“—He saved my life!” I stop and square up
to Grant, our faces mere inches from each other’s. “I don’t care who or what he
is to anyone else, his life will be saved! If one more person protests, they
will be next on the operating table!”

The anger that comes out of me is nothing I have
felt before in my life. It scares me but at the same time I want to push it
further. The doctors and scientists must sense that about me because they
spring into action. They take 80 from the other two drones and rush him into
the operating room adjacent to Rene’s.

“He will survive!” I demand as they close the
doors.

“Atom.” Grant places his hand on my shoulder.
Instantly I feel myself calm down. He tries to get my attention but I keep
looking towards 80. “They will take care of him.” The tone in his voice
reassures me so I look at him. “Tell me what happened?”