Alex Q - The Becoming
Chapter 19

Nate surfaced from a blissfully dreamless sleep to the pitter-patter sound of raindrops on a window pane. He opened his eyes. No, not rain. More like pieces of gravel falling from a great height. The noise didn’t come from the direction of the window though. The unfamiliar sound was further away. Further away, but muffled and in the building, getting closer. Shaking himself fully awake, he reached into the empty space beside him and shouted, “Karen!”

She came running in from the bathroom. “It’s OK, I’m here Nate.”

“Thank God you’re alright. Listen. What’s that noise?”

“It sounds like gunfire.”

“Shit, that’s what I thought.” Nate scrambled to put his pants on. “Gunfire is serious. Too serious.”

“You’re not going out there, are you?” she asked as Nate moved to the door.

“I’m not sure what to do. If somebody’s gunning for us, we’ll be cornered in here. There’s no other way out except that door.”

Nate spun around when he heard a dull thud outside in the corridor, followed by what sounded like a heavy object dropping to the floor.

“I need a vacation. Quick, help me with this.” They upended the bed and hid behind it, breathing hard and waiting.

The apartment door opened with a swish. Nate heard someone take several steps into the room. He held his breath.

“I might be dumb as a post, but I reckon I know where ya’ll are at.”

Nate laughed out loud at hearing the Southern drawl. “Tex!”

He told them his team, a bunch of good ol’ boys, was mopping up stragglers, and it would be best if Nate and Karen stayed put until he came back to give them the all clear. “When Delta Team clears a building, it gets cleared, if’n you get my drift. Anyone left standin’ risks bein’ taken down. You’ll be safer in here.”

Tex left a man outside the door and ran crouching along the corridor towards the conference room. After several minutes, it became quiet, made more intense in contrast to the previous frantic activity. They heard a muffled conversation outside before the door slid open to reveal Tex slipping his Colt .38 into his shoulder holster. “What say we grab a coffee and hunker down somewhere to talk about the situation?”

“Oh, I’ve got questions for sure. Lead on,” Nate said.

“Nate, I think I might stay here and rest for a while. I’ll catch you later.”

“Sure. You must be exhausted, Karen. Take your time; we won’t be far.”

Nate made a fresh pot in Frank’s office. Adding a stiffener to his own cup, he offered Tex the bottle, who declined. “I’ll give it a rain-check, Nate, until I’m sure the party’s over an’ all the balloons are burst.”

“So, Secretary Picket and Boyd were in cahoots and doing what exactly? Dad and I figured out they wanted to control Alex Q, and we assumed it was to get one over on the Sino-Russian block. Does the President know something different?”

“I’m not sure what he knows. He was kinda waitin’ to see what that dome gizmo, as he calls it, does when it’s fired up. As it is, he figures he’s got enough evidence, so he ordered me to take ’em out.”

Nate didn’t speak.

“I hear you don’t think much of government men.”

“Our government’s responsible for some bad stuff. You must know it.”

“I’m a military man. I don’t get into politics much. Sure bad things happen. There are good folks and bad folks. Sometimes the bad folks wheedle themselves into places they shouldn’t be, get given powers they shouldn’t have.”

“Like Picket,” Nate said.

“You got that right. And between you’n me and the Sycamore tree, he suspects there might be a general or two in with him too.”

“But that’s treason. Are they trying for a coup?”

“Over my dead body, and plenty of others besides. Don’t you worry, there’s a lot of loyal men they’ll have to go through before that happens. It’ll be kept quiet, but Picket will go down. The President told me he’s goin’ to handle it personally.”

“You spoke to the President face to face?”

“Yes, sir, I did. He’s a good man, Nate. A great man dealing with some mediocre people who can’t see further than the front end of their luxury limousines. I think he’s got more than a good chance of weedin’ out the likes of Picket and Boyd.”

“I’d forgotten all about Boyd. I suppose he’ll be going away for a long time too.”

“Boyd? Only place he’s going is the morgue. He’s dead.”

“Dead? How?”

“He must’ve resisted arrest. Those Delta boys don’t like that. One of those guys spun his head near enough all the way round, snapped his neck like a dry twig. I found him slumped over a terminal in the conference room.”

Nate shook his head. “I’m drained with all this, Tex.”

“I know it. Keep your powder dry a little bit longer. You’re needed. The President’s countin’ on you and Dr Sommers to bond some more with Alex Q. Seems to think it could be a disaster waiting to happen.”

“It’s worse than you know, Tex. I don’t think Alex wants to hurt us. He might like us, if you can call being curious about lab rats liking. No, there’s something else happening here. He might snuff us out if he gets bored with us.”

“You are kiddin’ me, right?”

“I’ve got no idea. It’s completely unknown, all of it. We’re in the dark, and so is he. He might just go crazy. If he does, we’ll be living in our worst nightmare.”

“That’s where your beautiful gal comes in, Nate. Look, I’m goin’ to the lobby, check out the perimeter. There’s a man stationed outside the lab, in case we missed someone,” Tex said, handing over a radio. “Here, clip this on and you get to play soldier. Take it easy some, and let me know when you’re ready to carry on with Alex.”

Left alone with his thoughts Nate found himself replaying the last session with Alex in his mind over and over again. Nothing is as you think it is, Nate. What did he mean by it? Was he referring to the discussions we had about physicality, or was he trying to tell me something? He was chasing thoughts round in circles. Was Alex referring to Picket and Boyd? Boyd. He pressed the radio clip.

“Tex, you there?”

“Copy, Nate. You OK?”

“Do you know which one of your team killed Boyd?”

“Not exactly. It’ll be in the debrief. Is it important?”

“I’m not sure. Can you replace out?”

“Sure thing. You stayin’ put?”

“I’m going to make sure Karen’s OK.”

“Copy that. Out.”

Nate glanced through the open conference room door as he walked along the corridor. He stopped dead, without knowing why. The computer terminal inside the door was shut down, but the video-cube drive door was slightly ajar. Nate flicked it open to reveal the empty socket where the drive normally fits.

Sitting at the table, he started the machine and accessed the processor command history. The local video-cube content cache was set to Auto-Erase, but the title of the last cube-drive to be accessed was plain to see. Boyd had been watching the video record from Breckenridge when he was killed. The radio crackled.

“Come in, Nate.”

“Go ahead, Tex.”

“I talked to my men, all but one. None of them took Boyd out.”

“What about the last one?”

“That’s Delta 3. I left him guarding the lab. I can’t raise him; transmission must be bad.”

“Tex, I think there’s somebody in the building we don’t know about. Get back here. Karen’s in danger.”

“Copy that. Elevator’s out. That’s a coincidence. Takin’ the stairs.”

Finding the apartment deserted, Nate took the elevator to the research lab. On the way, he found what could only be Delta 3 in a heap on the floor. He rushed into the lab to see Alex hanging suspended several feet off the ground, seemingly held there by a beam of energy emanating from the center of the dome. Karen’s still body lay close by.

Alex didn’t move. Arms held rigidly by his sides, his face was a lifeless mask. The combined glow of beam and holo-form was the only light in the darkened room. Cold fear gripped Nate’s heart as he checked Karen’s pulse. God, please don’t let her be dead. He cradled her head in the crook of his arm. “Karen! Karen, darling.” He brushed her hair away from her face.

Relief washed over him when she moved her head. Raising her hand to her brow, she opened her eyes fully and smiled up at him. “Nate. Thank goodness it’s you.”

He helped her to her feet. “You scared me, I thought you were down in the apartment. What happened?”

“I came to check on Alex. He was like this when I got here. I was attacked, and it went black.”

“We’ve got to stop this thing, whatever it’s doing to him,” Nate said, stepping over to the base of the dome.

“I’ve already tried. The control settings are locked with a code.”

“Then we’ll cut the damn power, anything we need to do. He’s fading.”

The Alex holo-form was becoming transparent.

“It’s too late. He’ll soon be gone.”

“Come on, Karen, help me. There’s got to be a way.” Nate pushed all the buttons he could see.

“No, we’ve got to admit it. He’s finished,” she said, stepping away.

The beam and Alex abruptly disappeared. The hum of electronics driving the Gamma stream faded into silence. The research lab window shutters were closed and with Alex gone, the blackness was complete. Nate stood in the dark, listening.

“Karen?” No reply. Sweat formed at the nape of his neck and trickled down his back. “Talk to me. Where are you?”

“Scared of the dark?” It was Karen’s voice, but it sounded different somehow.

“This isn’t funny. And it’s certainly not the time for it. What happened to Alex?”

“Alex is no longer with us, my love.”

“You’re not making any sense. Alex is gone?”

“I’m afraid so. Boyd’s machine was meant to control. I tweaked it a little. We thought it best if he was destroyed. Safer.” Karen’s voice came from a different location, a little closer.

“We? You mean you and Picket?”

Karen laughed. “Picket’s a fool, blinded by his need for power. But then again, you’re all blinded by so many things.”

Nate thought he saw a shadow pass before his eyes. “Why are you doing this?”

“Every intelligence has a purpose. You know that. Nate’s a bright boy.” Ever closer.

He stared into the gloom. “I love you, Karen.”

“Alex tried to tell you. Poor Nate, struggling in the dark. Let me give you a clue.”

“A clue to what?”

“You know. You’ve always known deep down. That little worm gnawing away at your brain, telling you something was not quite right. You were close to it when you touched my hair. You always liked my hair. Brown and soft. So soft. The way it falls over my eyes. Remember after we made love on the kitchen floor at Breckenridge? Do you remember?”

“Of course I do. I looked at you and touched your hair.”

“The hair, Nate. What about my hair?” Her voice was insistent.

“It was … dry.”

“Yes, now you’re getting warmer.”

“We both fell into the pool. Your hair should have been wet,” Nate said, realization creeping over him.

“I didn’t land in the pool. I hit the poolside.” Did he imagine it, or could he feel her breath on his neck? He spun round in panic.

“Onto concrete? From that height?”

“Go on. You’ll figure it out, Dr Taylor.” The words were soft now, intimate in their closeness.

“That’s what Boyd was watching when he was killed. He saw you hit the poolside and then wade into the water to get me out. That’s why your hair wasn’t wet. It was you who killed him.”

“Good boy! I’ve been one step ahead of you from the beginning. You see, Alders wasn’t the pinnacle of artificial intelligence Boyd liked to brag about so much. I AM!” Nate cried out as his arms were pinned to his side and he was lifted off his feet. “How’s about a little hug?” she whispered in his ear.

“No. I love you.”

“ How sweet. I’m flattered, but not enough. Goodbye, lover.”

Nate felt a sharp pain, the crack of a breaking rib.