"Delayed Death pt.1" by Michelle B. Lackey

The television set was unusually loud in the quiet room. Newscasters with commercial smiles related the news that no one wanted to hear. It was a quiet day, beautiful and peaceful as sunlight poured onto the hardwood floor. Outside, the countryside rolled easily as a breeze gently brushed the grass with a wayward hand. Mountains that barely topped the horizon with half-frozen caps sat commandingly atop clouds that hovered at their base, the last dregs of winter that refused to melt away.

But that is all in the distance and is of no concern to the single figure seated quietly on the faded blue couch. A few cans are scattered about her feet, beer logos shiny as the sunlight slid across them. Leaning back, coal black hair has fallen across her face in a languid manner. The woman is stuck somewhere between a drunken stupor and marinated. On the television, the weather is dancing across the screen while some blonde chick squeaks out the forecast in a voice that causes the dark headed observer to reach for the remote.

“Who wants to listen to this load of crap?” she murmured, head tilting dangerously. “You’ve never gotten the weather right. Why should you start now?”

“-and that’s the weather for today. Back to you, John.”

“Thanks, Patricia. As you are all aware, scientists have been studying the strange phenomena of delayed death. With us today is the esteemed Dr. Mauren who’s heading up the investigation. Doctor, is it true that there have actually been a few breakthroughs in this area of research within the past few months?”

“Where is that blasted remote?” slurred the drunk, words running together as if they were made of the same liquid she had been drinking.

“I wouldn’t really call them breakthroughs, John, but we can say that the delay has been shortened for some unknown reason. If you will recall, about twenty years ago, everyone died when they drew their last breath. Since then, the standard waiting time for actually dying has been anywhere between five and eight years. However, four months ago there was an exciting moment when Donna Brook, an elderly lady of eighty-five actually died only three weeks after her last breath. Within the past three months, six other people have followed her example though they still waited for a little more than a month and didn’t manage her astonishing three weeks.”

“That’s amazing, Doctor, and I’m sure our viewers are pleased to hear about this-”

“Oh, yes, thrilled,” the drunk managed. “Wow, I can rush into dying happy now, yay. Dumb remote, why can’t you be where I last remember putting you?”

“-but can you tell us why there are suddenly more people capable of dying in what many people are referring to as ‘correct death’? It has been so long since people died when their bodies did that many find it hard to grow accustomed to ‘dying on time’.”

“Though the evidence isn’t clear as to why people are suddenly growing closer to managing to die as they did twenty years ago, there is no evidence that points to people beginning to ‘die on time’, as you put it. There have been a few cases such as Donna Brook’s where they have begun shortening the delay time, but there has still been no evidence returning to the idea that people will die within moments of their last breath.”

“So, what have been your recent breakthroughs?”

“We have discovered that this delay is most likely a product of an evolutionary, or perhaps revolutionary, protein that has been found within the human body. It has always been present, but recently it appears to have completely permeated the humane gene pool and-“

“Relief,” the drunk cooed as she raised the remote and defiantly hit the mute button. “Morons investigating morons to find idiotic solutions for life’s mysteries, sounds like a regular funeral to me.” Rolling over, the figure bumped the coffee table. Random papers scattered all over the floor like a strange rain, but an identification card glinted innocently as it fell into the sunlight. “Perhaps I should show up late for my own funeral?”

The little card is deceptively innocent. Only a few lines of information are written out beside the snapshot of the drunkard. Beside her smiling face, the quick info is brilliant in the afternoon sun.

Name: Lynn D. Laurens
Clearance: 2nd Level Military
Status: Alive – Undead

“Huh, my luck I’d never even manage to find the stupid cemetery. Perhaps I should tell them to incinerate me. Get coated in beer and set a match, so it would… make sure… I… died.” Her snore echoed through the den as the media rambled on in silence.

“Ah, Miss Laurens, how are you doing this morning?”

She groaned. “Todd, I know you’re the security guard, I know you show up at an ungodly hour just so you can check IDs as we stumble through this retarded three-ring circus, but do you have to ask so incredibly loud?”

Chuckling, the morning shift soldier on post swiped her ID card as Lynn remained very pointedly within the shadow of her Jeep. Newer and more efficient cars had recently been released, but no one could convince her, as she put it, ‘that some new fangled piece of scrap metal could out maneuver an identically useless ridiculously old piece of scrap metal.’ That was just the kind of woman Lynn Laurens was – and Todd Rawson should know. He saw her every morning, whether she drank herself silly the day before or not, and had heard his fair share of witty comments from her sometimes scathing humor. How such an interesting person could be wrapped up in the secret work performed on this particular base, he had no idea. After all, a few snappy comebacks didn’t really reveal much about anybody. A bird chirped happily from the top of his little guard house and she groaned again.

“Don’t blame him, Laurens,” he laughed as she glared at him. “He’s just telling us that it’s a beautiful and good morning.”

“At this point, he is insane for thinking that it is a good morning,” she sighed as he handed back her ID. “If the light wasn’t bright enough to shock a blind man, I might agree with the beautiful.”

“Perhaps you shouldn’t drink so much then.”

“If I did that, Todd, I might regain my sanity. What business does a sane person have working in a place like this? I might as well walk in with a giant target painted on my back right above the words ‘Prime Psych Ward Subject: Just Add Stupidity’. No, thank you, but I shall most definitely keep my booze. Now open this gate so that I can rush to my doom all the faster and get it over with.”

“Oh, is there an important occasion?” he inquired gently.

“No, nothing special,” she answered gruffly as the gates slid open and she started forward. “I just have a beer with my name on it and a night to spend curled up beside it.” With a wave, she signaled for him to shut the gate behind her. He had no idea why she did that, but she always had for as long as he had worked in the guardhouse and known her.

“Tell you what, Miss Laurens,” he mused, “I would like to replace that beer at your side with something a little more substantial.”

“Corporal Rawson,” the radio suddenly said, making him jump. “I would like to remind you that the one known as Lynn Laurens is a civilian with special authority and was specifically granted military clearance so that she could work here on the base with us, not so you could fantasize about what you and her latest beer have in common.”

With a grunt – and a light blush – he answered, “You could have warned me that I left the radio on, Corporal Tanner. You don’t have to know everything about me on a second-by-second notice. I’m sure that my life isn’t that interesting.”

“No, but it is most definitely an entertaining thing seeing as how I’m going to see Miss Laurens in about two minutes. Besides, it’s not like you can be with her anyway, so I suggest that you forget lousy daydreams and get on with your job.” With an audible click, the radio hung up and the connection to the main base cut off. Sighing, Todd realized that Corporal Tanner, a female soldier who sounded stunning over the radio though he had never met her in person, was absolutely right in far more ways than he cared to admit.

He had taken his last breath nearly five years ago. With an expectant delay of only five to eight years, he could die at any time. The only reason his superiors still allowed him to be a part of the duty roster was the fact that he could safely walk from his home to the base within about fifteen minutes. With his cell phone always at his side, he could be easily located through satellites and other various towers should he fail to report in.

“Still,” he whispered to the little bird above him, leaning against the windowsill to watch the Jeep for as long as possible, “if I wasn’t going to die so soon, I would most definitely find out just how fast that woman could run and what it would take to make her mine.” He liked to think that the bird chirped in agreement with him as his own ID dug into his chest.

Name: Todd Rawson
Clearance: Corporal Military
Status: Alive – Dead

“Life wouldn’t be that bad with a jokester to keep things interesting.”

Unaware of her admirer behind her, Lynn pulled into the sparse parking lot and found her assigned space almost automatically. Squinting as she got out, she leaned against the door as it shut behind her. She knew that drinking a binge before a Monday was neither good for her health or her morale, but she didn’t really care. It wasn’t like it was going to kill her to have a few drinks anyway. With a final sigh, she headed for the entrance to the compound.

“Morning,” the secretary behind the desk said automatically without looking up.

“Same to you,” Lynn answered, putting her signature in the book on the counter. “Anything interesting happen overnight?”

“Nothing of note,” was the callous reply. The secretary wasn’t known for his talkative social skills. He was a master marksman stationed at the front so that he could eliminate any possible intruders. How he was supposed to do that, Lynn didn’t know or care. Without any more small talk, she rounded the corner and headed down the hall to her small lab. Filled with all sorts of flesh samples, her door was often left undisturbed while she was away since many found her interest in similarities between different organisms morbid and exceptionally disturbing. However, once the door was closed, no one knew what happened in her lab exactly and she had taken many measures to see that it remained that way.

Out front, however, the secretary was approached by another soldier. This time he rose to his feet and gave a quick salute. General stars glistened on the shoulders of the blue uniform. Wordlessly, the officer held out a photo for identification. The secretary pointed down the hall to Lynn’s door. Standing outside her door, poised to knock, the General paused for a moment and stared over his shoulder at his Lieutenant shadow.

“Nothing of note happened overnight, he says. Well, that is most definitely a certainty. None of my little cultures managed to grow with any consistency except that they are all completely beneath the accepted limit of reputable growth. Lord, you would think I was asking China to steal the Empire State Building or sell the Great Wall. Too bad these ladies and germs know nothing of eastern discipline. That way I wouldn’t get in trouble for chopping them into little pieces when I was finished with them. It’s been two crap filled months and all I’ve gotten any change out of is the number of beers I can drink before I start confusing Cary Grant for Marilyn Monroe. Heck, the cashier doesn’t even ring up what I buy anymore without quoting me the price so I can get out the money for it. Guy’s going to be an absolute whiz at calculating liquor prices by the time I’m done with him. He’s a rather cute blonde even in that ditzy green apron.”

“It would appear that she hasn’t changed a bit,” the Lieutenant commented dryly.

“So it would,” the General sighed. Knocking on the door – and knowing the response that he was going to get – he smiled with amusement as the voice on the other side continued without hesitating.

“He doesn’t even work in the produce aisle, so why should he wear such a stupid apron? There is absolutely no way I’m letting you people install any cameras in here. I talk loud enough for the earthworms to hear, so if you understand less than they do, I really don’t care. Personally, I think this particular culture leans more towards the DNA sequencing of that pear he was holding yesterday, but that must mean I contaminated it since the label says it’s supposed to be a duck. I wonder if he’s intelligent enough to tell the difference between a duck and a pear… eh, I doubt it.” The General knocked again. A suffering sigh echoed through the door. “Coming, coming, crazy tyrannical-”

“Hi there,” the General said easily as soon as the door opened enough for Lynn to realize who was standing there.

“-absolutely lovable and handsome General,” she finished smoothly. “Do pardon my bluntness, sir, but why are you here? Could they not find anything more interesting for you to do than annoy innocent little researchers such as myself?”

“Of course not, they can’t tell the difference between a duck and a pear, remember?” Lynn stood there, waiting. The Lieutenant was amazed by the woman’s insubordinate attitude. He had only met her for a short time before and her attitude seemed to have grown by leaps and bounds along with her confidence. “I am here about a very old promise that you made with me, Lynn. I have no desire to see you go back on that promise now, do you?” The woman remained silent. “Please leave us for a moment, Lieutenant.”

“Yes, sir,” he answered smartly before moving off down the hall.

“What do you want?” she demanded the moment he was out of earshot.

The General regarded her curiously. “What happened to the carefree girl that was talking about random cashiers through the door of a facility that studies and handles only classified material?”

“She’s still here, but I’m her evil twin back from the dead to deal with you so she doesn’t have to,” Lynn hissed. The General gulped. She made an intimidating picture with long dark hair that was left loose so that it could fall over her eyes. As for her words… he never really knew when she was being entirely truthful. He had trusted her words in the past and met with destruction, but he also knew that ignoring her advice had led many great men to disaster. “What do you want?”

“I am here about that promise and to see if this facility has met with any luck on discovering what has been causing the delay in death for the general populace. It’s quite simple.”

“Oh, really?” inquired Lynn, leaning against the door jam in a bored manner. “Last time I checked, General, nothing that involved you was ever simple. Whenever it involved the both of us… then it became something different altogether. What honestly makes you think that I would start believing that it was all a misunderstanding now?”

“Good faith, perhaps?” he suggested with a smile.

“You’d have better luck cramming it up your-”

“Now, Lynn, you know I’m not here alone. If my trigger-happy Lieutenant happens to hear you talking about this, I may not be able to prevent whatever happens next.” The woman glared at him. “Aren’t you going to invite me in?”

“No.”

“I insist,” he pressed. Casting him a sideways glance, Lynn moved aside and allowed the General to enter. Sprawled all over the room, various papers and strange contraptions that would have made better moonshine stills than laboratory equipment were scattered aimlessly as if the person who had dropped them didn’t care where they went. Only one stool was clear of junk. He assumed that the microscope and strange purple growth in the bowl beside it was evidence of her newest experiment. It vaguely had the shape of a heart. “Thank you, I think.”

Looking about in the hall behind him, she made sure the door was shut tightly and bolting it before turning to her unwelcome guest. “What did you need to talk about that the cameras in the hall couldn’t overhear?”

“It’s not what they couldn’t, more of a matter of what they shouldn’t,” he answered easily, perching on the stool and looking through the microscope in a distracted manner. “I understand that you don’t want anyone else to realize that, unlike everyone else who survives on their last breath for a limit of eight years, you have been on yours for at least the twenty-seven years that I have known you.”

Sighing, she rubbed the back of her head. “You know very well why I don’t want anyone else to know that. If word spread that I had managed to ‘beat death’ long before it stopped showing up for its daily appointments, I would become the new celebrity guinea pig.”

“Your reasons for not wanting to become the next big lab rat are of no concern to me, Lynn. What does concern me is that this base has been putting out interesting information regarding the matter of the young scientist who has worked here for ten years without aging a day. They’re starting to notice it here, notice that you aren’t quite like everyone else considering that when you were brought here you still looked like a pretty twenty-something. Therefore, you should be getting ready to jump forty with everything in you, but-”

“I’m not,” she finished. “So this is regarding my next assignment?”

“Yes, but I have a question for you first,” said the General, putting his full attention on her. “How would you like to study the very meaning of death itself and discover why this delay has come about?”

“I am studying death,” she hazarded, watching him more closely than before. “I have learned more about death in the human condition than anyone. Different species, different ethnicities, different family groups, different climate zones – I have studied it all, General. Well, except for the effects of violent television on elderly minds. Grannies tend to avoid that kind of thing in my experience.” From his place on the stool, the General watched the dark headed woman cautiously. She had been speaking so clearly only a moment ago and now she was rambling about nonsense yet again. However, once, a long time ago, she had attempted to explain it to him.

“Remind me again why you ramble.”

“Ramble? I don’t ramble. That’s a sport reserved for psychos and retards. I merely state the obvious to those who cannot see it, like the pattern of the blinds on the windows. I think they resemble the lines you see on those pretty store cakes, don’t you? There was once a study a few years ago done in an attempt to see if that terrible icing on store cakes, the stuff you need a sledgehammer to get through, in order to see if a few of the ingredients could possibly have led to this whole delayed death extravaganza. Naturally, there was nothing there. Afterwards everyone’s punch line involved ‘having a cake and dying with it, too.’ I thought it was rather stupid, but I also thought clapping for lights was a waste of time and that turned out to be quite a fad for a while. See? That isn’t rambling, that’s a statement of fact. If I were rambling, I’d explore every flavor in the world and my personal opinion of each.”

“Forget I asked,” he smiled, “just let me know your answer by tomorrow. If it is a ‘yes’, just go to the address on this card.” Reaching into his breast pocket, he removed a small business card and gave it to her. “If you don’t like the offer, just come back here. A few curious scientists will meet you here for your dissection as they will have been informed about your curious condition.”

“By you?”

“No, I wouldn’t do that to a friend,” was the sincere answer. “It’s just that you weren’t as careful as you thought you were and it has leaked out that you are different. I have heard whispers saying that you are a creature of interest that should be studied, patented, and produced as a soldier. There isn’t any conclusive evidence about anything.”

“My file still says I am alive, correct?”

“Yes, but since when have computers ever known anything?” Fingering the business card uncertainly, Lynn waited for the man to say something else. Her crazy mixture of words wasn’t baffling him enough this time for him to leave her in peace. It would be truly satisfying when he finally left. “By the way, I think that the project I’m proposing will be of particular interest to you, Laurens. It involves a person you might remember. See you tomorrow.” Without a salute or even a proper goodbye, the General let himself out and closed the door behind him.

Turning to a nearby pile of papers, she pushed the entire pile into the floor so that the monitor was clear. There was nothing unusual in the way that he left. He picked up his Lieutenant shadow at the front where he spoke to the secretary deftly for a moment. Then he exited the building with even less formality than he had entered with. Catching her breath, she considered what she had been told. Flipping the card over in her hand, she grimaced.

“Impossible.” Shrugging, she threw it to the floor.

The General had written her a message on one side.

I understand that you hate me, Lynn, and that I can never make up for what you lost, but you were a soldier and as far as my superiors are concerned, that status hasn’t changed whether your face has or not. They have already threatened coming to get in you person, but I advised them that such action would only be seen as hostility even though they only want you to work for them.

Don’t make them resort to that, they will if they feel they have to.

On the other side, opposite the image of a blonde headed man, it read:

Name: Unknown
Clearance: Patient – Classified
Status: Unknown

The General was waiting for her the next morning when she showed up at the business complex on the opposite end of the city. On a map, the military base and this installation were almost comical mirrors of one another in nearly every way possible. The good man had even gone to the trouble to get Todd Rawson transferred for her benefit. As the new gate man, but also a good friend of hers, he would know her on sight and allow her access when the regular guy would have questioned her to the point of exhaustion. What she couldn’t bear to tell him was that the only reason he had been transferred was to cover up her own exchange and the fact that, since he was already living on his last breath, his death would further hide her own movements within the military. After making her debut in the lobby and being introduced to the new security personnel that would have to put up with her, the General led her down the hall towards the lab where all her ‘mighty’ research was supposed to be taking place.

They walked… and walked… and walked…

“You haven’t referred to me by name,” the General suddenly said into the quiet. “Yesterday and today, you haven’t mentioned my name at all. Even when others have introduced me, you have simply referred to me as ‘General’. Have all the big brass just blurred together for you?”

“No, General, they haven’t,” she answered distantly. “You are who you are to me. When we met, I called you Captain for nearly three months before you told me your name. You have always been a station to me.”

He sighed. “I thought you were a spy at the time and that my name might lead you to people I was trying to protect, Lynn.”

“You should know me better than that, sir. If I really wanted something from you, especially that badly, I wouldn’t wait around for you to supply me with your name. What would I do with a thing like that anyway? It’s not like I can rip it from your mouth and beat you with it or anything. Therefore, it does me no good whatsoever. No, General, I know your name and that is enough for me. For you, it’s not needed, so I simply don’t acknowledge it.”

“That makes me feel so much better,” he chuckled. As he spoke, he pulled a card from his pocket and swiped it through the little keypad next to the glass door on the left. Lynn nearly ran over him since he stopped so quickly. “Sorry, we’re here.”

“Really?” she teased. “Here I was ready for another twenty miles, give or take, and you just make me rest after the first three thousand or so.”

“Shut your trap and get in here, scientist. This is the observation level for what will eventually become your private lab.” Shrugging, she followed him in and scanned the room. There was decent equipment, but she had better stuff in her old workplace. “I know it doesn’t look like much right now. None of the other guys really knew what to get you and pulling all the stuff from your old place would have aroused too much suspicion. Most of your experiments, however, were brought here per request. Don’t worry, I know you didn’t ask, but you would have eventually.”

“Fantastic,” she stated flatly, letting the word hit the General like a wall to cease his useless information. “This still doesn’t answer the question of why you needed me when you apparently had so many other people working on this. I know my personality is magnetic and simply irresistible, but you have always managed to keep me at arm’s length before. What is all this about?”

Moving to the window, he motioned for her to follow. “As for this complex, I am in charge of it. While you are on this base, Laurens, there is no higher authority. My superiors have no say in policy or anything that happens on the other side of this glass. That is why you will be doing your studies there. The same person can do research for a century if she wants and no one will ever say a word. You will be inspected every two weeks for some type of progress.”

“Wow, General,” said Lynn sardonically, “I learned to tie my shoes this morning and you know what, I put on the other shoe first.”

“You laugh, but that is all I need to hear in order to keep the lab open for you. All I need is something that can make me honestly say you learned something. As long as no one else knows the difference, you are safe here. As for your subject, he’s down there.” Finally approaching the glass, Lynn looked down into the large research facility and nearly choked. It was the same blonde as shown in the ID that the General had given her, but he was in a very sorry state.

The man hung suspended in midair by a curious combination of tubes, ropes, and chains on the far wall. His appearance was haggard and torn, blonde air matted with sweat and a rather decent amount of blood as if he had been beaten or tortured. With his chin resting on his chest, it was impossible for Lynn to see his face, but that was the least of her concerns.

“Marvelous, aren’t they?” her new commanding officer commented. She stared in awe; openly gaping at the fragile wings that sprang from the young man’s back and extended nearly fifteen feet out in either direction. They were like nothing she had ever seen before. Long like a falcon’s, they were also broad as if they had come from an owl or eagle. On the stark white feathers, there were randomized red markings that grew in intensity at the tips, fading completely away by the time the feathers touched his shoulders.

However, there was something strange about the way they were bent. She inquired, careful to keep her voice steady, “Are those talons?”

“I knew that you were very observant,” he chuckled. “Indeed, at the place where the wing fingers meet, the other scientists have stated that there is a single large ruby talon.”

“What do you mean by fingers and ruby?”

“That is something for the doctors to explain, I don’t half believe or understand them myself. If you’ll follow me.” Turning on his heel, the General led her down a flight of stairs that led from the observation room into the actual lab area where the blonde was being examined. Currently, there weren’t any scientists present, but the machines beeped along merrily with medial tasks. Even though these people – most notably the General – had been briefed on her expertise in different fields, someone had left out the fact that she wasn’t helpless in a hospital. Glancing at the machines, Lynn realized that they were all of the life-maintaining variety that had become obsolete when people had quit dying with their last breath. This man was trying to die and they were keeping him alive. Truly unusual given how rare it was to actually find someone who was fully prepared to die. “If you will remain here for a moment, I’ll round up a few scientists and you can begin working with them as soon as possible. I must warn you that between the sedatives and tranquilizers that the head scientist requested, this man is completely incoherent. We don’t even think that he can register anything happening beyond the edge of his nose, so don’t expect anything.”

“Thank you,” she murmured, but her eyes were trained on the subject hanging eight feet above the floor. She ignored her new commander as he left the room by the stairwell that they had just used, missing his edgy backward glance and the uneasiness in his parting words.

It struck her as odd that the room was so incredibly quiet. The machines were beeping, little mechanical instruments ticking away useless information, but the room still felt quiet as if all the sound was being muffled somehow. When the General had been present at her side, the room had felt alive and filled with sound. Staring at the quiet form above her, she crossed her arms stubbornly.

“So,” Lynn demanded, “what secrets do you hide? These eggheads don’t spend countless hours on tasks they think would be fruitless. What could you have possibly stored in that little blonde head that no one knows?” There was no answer, but then she hadn’t expected one. With a sigh, she leaned against a computer terminal and scrolled through the most recent readouts.

“Everything looks normal. You’ve got a nice heartbeat, a fancy blood workup that they seem to be obsessed with. Every five minutes? Good Lord, small wonder you didn’t run out of red stuff for them to analyze. Huh, seems you’re DNA strands are of particular interest to these dear souls, but I fail to see why. Looks like the regular twisted up, screwed up, and tangled up ladder to me. It just spins around and around and on and on.” Running her finger across the monitor, Lynn groaned. “Highly trained mercenary, sniper, bomb expert and I get sent to stare at a guy strung up by his puppet strings whose strangest feature is that he has chicken wings. Why can’t these people just order some take out?” She checked her watch. It had been five minutes.

“Fancy that, the scientists appear to have gotten lost,” she mused. “I wonder how they manage to find their own two feet in the morning when they can’t even find a room as large as my house. They’re insane, I guess, but then again that’s what I’m supposed to be. Have to be to take this job, I suppose.” With a groan, Lynn flopped down into a chair situated almost directly beneath the hovering man. Pushing back her stick straight hair, she looked at him a little more closely.

“Well, buddy, here we sit. What a pair we make,” she laughed. “I’m trying every way in the world to not be found and not die, but I get dragged in to baby-sit the one person everyone on this base knows the location of whose body is doing everything it can to finally stop working. Makes you homesick for the good old days when dead was dead, doesn’t it? Personally, I find this ‘alive, but dead’ stuff rather confusing.” He didn’t even move a hair in response. Look at watch. Ten minutes.

“What do you think?” General Stuart asked the scientist on his right. They were standing in the observation area watching the two below them with exceptional interest. “Do you think that he will respond to her as we hoped?” The little twig of a man nodded, but he was deep in thought and didn’t answer. “Talk to me, Mark, what can we expect?”

“General, I can’t really tell you what to look for in this situation.”

“Call me Stuart, please. I get enough of that ‘General’ stuff from that woman.”

Chuckling wickedly, the scientist asked, “Oh, really? I would have thought that you two got along splendidly the way you were carrying on before. I do think you should realize, however, that when she discovers what’s happening, she’s going to be exceptionally angry.”

“That’s what we want, remember? We want to see the capabilities that have allowed her to live for so long without detection in a society that exists on the basis of the knowledge that everyone can be found at any given time in any given place. There is no record of this woman, but you have established that there are similarities between her DNA and the patient’s. I want to know what you think will happen in the extreme scenarios.”

“Well,” the little scientist started, leaning against one of the window support beams, “the DNA pairings that were found to be common between them were inhuman. I believe that some of the abilities we saw before in our boy down there will crop up again. Best case: they recognize one another somehow and are able to work together to help us create weapons for the military that will seal your career with perfection. That scenario will also allow you to bury her here once and for all. Worst case: they manage to figure out that this is some elaborate trap and escape from the base. To prevent that, we have drugged our little boy to the point of mental break down.”

“As for Lynn?”

“For the pretty Lady Laurens, we have established that – according to your own research and the footage we got off the camera you wore into her lab – she cannot be neutralized through purely physical or traditional methods. She requires a special touch which our wonder-boy has proven is a pleasant sedative.”

“What might that be?”

“Confinement.”

Lynn sneezed. “Oh, excuse me, someone must be talking about me. Do they honestly leave you hung up in here all the time this way? If you are sentient like they claim, I doubt those tranquilizers have killed your ears, but then you should have responded to my idiotic rambling at some point. Still, guess it’s better this way. It would bore you to tears to sit and watch them analyze your own blood with outdated equipment. Huh, ‘technologically adept’? My neighbor’s poodle could operate this stuff with his eyes shut.” Rubbing her eyes, Lynn stared into her hand for a moment as she massaged aching temples. “Wonder why they can’t have some kind of skylight down here anyway. All this artificial light makes my eyes water. Geniuses probably using some kind of all natural light bulb that releases some kind of kinky gas.” She looked up. “I bet if you had a real dose of sun-“

She froze. The man above her, the one they had claimed was completely unaware of anything that happened around him, had opened his eyes. Granted, they were only half open as if he were fending off incredible sleep, but they were open and focused on her with a kind of glazed interest. When she stopped talking, his right wing flexed awkwardly.

“Well, what do you know? You are in there after all.” He blinked, uncertainty in the lines of his otherwise bland face. “Nice pair of red eyes you have there. Wouldn’t happen to have gotten them as a matched set with those wings, would you? Same color, same shade, heck, I can’t even manage to do that with most of the suits I buy. Something always looks off.” He blinked again. “Don’t tell me. I screwed up my suit again, didn’t I?”

“Pain,” he breathed.

Lynn sat straight up, but remained calm. From what the General had told her and the short report she had been given, this man was already dead and the machines were the only thing keeping him from slipping into the final stages of death. “Yeah, I bet it hurts. Most of the time they say those who have already died and remain alive feel a great deal of pain that fades over time. I’m sure that it’ll go away after a little while. If nothing else, some twit in observation probably knows you’re awake by now and will bring a fresh sedative. Personally, I’d rather have a good beer anytime. Best painkiller in the world.”

“Pain,” was the repeated whisper. “Stop pain.”

“Look, buddy, there’s nothing I can do about it. I don’t have any meds on me. You’re just going to have to wait for the scientists to drag they’re little fannies in here with some killer sedatives and a half dozen Advil. There is nothing I can do until then. If you want, I’ll even give you the drugs myself. At this rate, I might need a few.” She winced as he shifted the wing again, white feathers matted from disuse and poor cleaning. Looking at it more closely, she realized that the area around the ruby talon was bleeding. The red marks that she had believed were completely random appeared to not be. Standing up, she looked up at his wing and scratched her head. “Do I honestly look like I’m twenty feet tall?”

“The man is awake?” General Stuart asked Mark as they stared down in fascination at the room. “I thought you said that there weren’t any stimulants that kept him coherent for any great amount of time with all those drugs you pumped into his system?”

“That’s correct, sir,” the scientist answered. He was staring out the window in total fascination as he leaned on the closest computer. He had the perfect vantage point and nothing was going to make him move. “Sedatives were used to silence his screams and violent flailing about. He simply hasn’t spoken since we dragged him down here. Her presence alone appears to have a profound effect on him.”

“That woman’s presence would have a profound effect on anyone, my friend. She has seen things you can’t begin to comprehend.”

The scientist laughed. “I am a researcher, Stuart. You are a military man. We both know that logic and science can answer more questions and silence ridiculous answers. It wasn’t so long ago that rainbows where thought to be mysterious creations. Now we know they are simply refracting light in atmospheric water droplets, visible when the conditions are favorable. Quit spouting that fantasized mumbo-jumbo at me and tell it to me straight.”

Turning to look at his friend, Mark fell silent as the General glared at him. There wasn’t any sympathy in his iron eyes, his mouth set in a determined fashion that reminded him of a cement wall. Something was wrong, but whether or not it was his words that angered the General, Mark wasn’t certain.

“Sir?”

“You had best watch your tongue around that woman,” the soldier said firmly. “It wasn’t so long ago that Lynn told me that science was the largest load of mumbo-jumbo she had ever heard. Her exact words were ‘scientists are men who have been deprived of their beers and are seeking to discover why by studying an empty bottle.’ She has no remorse and no sympathy whenever science is drawn into the equation.”

“But she is-!”

“She is only because I asked her to be. Remember that she is humoring us.” A new fear crawling up his spine, Mark turned his attention back to the woman below.

“Stop pain, please.”

“Yes, yes, pain, pain, agony, and so forth,” Lynn mumbled, looking about for a ladder. Near the man’s wingtip stood a perfectly good A-frame metal ladder. Dragging it across the floor, she continued, “Can’t believe I’m doing this, you know. Heck, we’ve known each other for what, ten minutes?” Look at watch. “Ok, thirty minutes. Where is that stupid man anyway? Oh well, guy’s losing out on some serious boredom.” Shimmying up the ladder once she had it in place, she regarded the white feathers for a moment before touching them. “You will understand that the only wings I’ve ever seen were normally attached to birds and not cute blondes, right?”

“Please, stop pain.”

“That’s fine, I just wanted to make sure we understood one another. Now then, let’s see what’s cutting you up like that. Roll up our sleeves, take a good look, examine the wound with elementary skill, suck on a pipe, and mention something about homework to a certain good fellow. Wait a minute, what’s this?” Upon closer examination, she realized that there was a small wire tangled about in his feathers. It was a thin wire like the ones doctors used for stitches in operations. “Could those morons have actually believed that operating on you was a good idea? Wouldn’t doubt it for a moment, actually, knowing what I do about scientists and their limited perspectives, but that means that these pretty beauties would belong to a chicken instead of you in truth. That would have definitely been a fat bird.”

Allowing her fingers to explore along the wire, she felt the delicate wing muscles flex with a subtle strength that only tender thin tissue could boast. It surprised her that his obvious awareness of what was happening around him had so easily escaped others who had been saddled with the job of observing and guarding him. Her ramblings also seemed to touch the man somehow which made him seem more real and alive than before. With a glance, she dismissed that notion as she realized that his half-open eyes were staring off idly into space. Though he responded to her slightly, it was still possible that he was unaware of who or where she was.

“Here we are,” she said idly as her fingers touched the place there the wire looped about the talon’s base. “Appears that they wanted to help you heal or something when they attached this ridiculous thing. After all, nature can’t possibly help itself, right? Good Lord, what were they thinking anyway? Leaving crap in a body like this is like handing out invitations for infection and practically putting shrapnel into a wound. Oh, isn’t this absolutely splendid? They didn’t even clean it correctly and it’s hanging limply through the skin. What are they, doctors or plumbers? Never mind, I wouldn’t trust them with my toilet if this is the best they can do.” Reaching into her pocket, she fumbled about for her trusty pocketknife. “I know the stupid thing is in there somewhere. I’d forget my name before I left it behind.” With a giggle, she playfully brandished it towards him.

“Name?” the man asked, his voice a little louder than before.

“Yes, my name,” she answered amiably. “It happens to be Lynn in case you were curious. I would say that you probably have a name as well, but I doubt I have the clearance requirement to know that. So, wonder-boy, meet Lynn. Self, meet the winged wonder-boy. Aren’t introductions just grand?” Careful to slice along the wire and not into his stained feathers, Lynn delicately separated the skin just enough to be able to pull the intruding wire loose. It was rather simple to remove, a feat she attributed to her wonderful sense of integrity and efficiency. That was easy to believe until she saw the man’s face. He hadn’t so much as flinched against the metal while she had performed her minor surgery, something she had attributed to inner bravery, but now she realized that the sedatives must have regained their hold. His face showed no expression or even the barest hint that he had actually felt anything happening to his wing. Turning sideways on the ladder, she regarded him more carefully. Either he had an extremely high threshold for pain or his nerves were completely dead. “You are certainly a curiosity, wonder-boy, and I think I understand why these men would want to study you. Cruel, I’m sure, but you are certainly one of a kind.”

“Told me that before,” he mumbled, eyes closing.

She shrugged. “I’m sure they told you that at one point or another in an effort to claim that what they were doing was completely justified. Though it seems that without the pain to keep you awake my incessant rambling just isn’t enough stimulation.” She regarded his wound for a moment. It was already healing quite nicely without any outside aid. Apparently, it would have done that sooner had the wire not interfered. “Too bad, you know, seeing as how you were much better company than the walls and a few beeping machines.”

Mark leapt off the computer he had been using as a lounge chair, plummeted across the room, and skid into the chair before the security cameras. His sudden movement amused the General who stood watching the action with a smirk.

“Catch your attention, old friend?” he teased.

The scientist shook his head in bafflement as he watched the scene yet again on the replay. “We knew there was something interfering with his healing processes, knew there was something wrong with what could only possibly be our own tampering, but not once did he show the willingness to tell us what was hurting him. I swear, General, we searched that boy from wingtip to wingtip and we never found anything more than a feather out of place. There was never any evidence of wires or otherwise on his person!”

“Don’t worry about it, Mark,” the General laughed, looking down at the bored woman as she considered the hovering man with a little more scrutiny then before. “You know that my superiors wanted to bring her here. If they had thought you and your little herd of white coats could handle this situation completely on your own without ever touching the notion that you can’t find a hand grenade when it’s laying in front of you, they would never have agreed to my suggestion of bringing her here. She is here to assist in observing this man as well as your experiment.”

“They know what I intend?” the small man asked, voice careful as he watched the General warily.

“Nobody knows what you’re planning, Mark,” was the offhanded answer. “I, personally, have absolutely no desire to know why you wanted her brought here considering her colorful past and your obvious lack of knowledge concerning afore mentioned history.”

“Nobody has lived long enough for their life to be considered a history.”

Once again, the General gave him that unsettling glare. “Don’t forget, my friend, you are dealing with Lynn Laurens. I am going to tell you this one more time.” Crossing the observation room in three long strides, General Stuart got close enough for Mark to feel his breath. “That woman is not to be toyed with. All I am concerned about is you discovering what makes the two of them tick. I don’t care what your experiment is about and I’m not going to lose sleep over your methods of extracting information. Just understand that… that… thing is neither my friend nor a true soldier of our fine military. She is expendable and so is that winged blonde.”

“Which one is the ‘thing’?” Mark asked hesitantly.

“They are things. Plural. Continue your research, Mark, but they are to remain under close surveillance. That is all you need to concern yourself with.” As the General backed away, the small scientist felt as if a great weight were lifting from his chest. He knew that such a reaction was uncalled for on his part. After all, he had known Stuart for years and though the man had always been edgy, he had never personally hurt anyone before. They were friends. True friends like those relationships you read about in the books with happy endings. Yes, it was impossible to think that his old friend would ever entertain the notion of hurting him.

Satisfied with his logic, Mark turned to one of the machines at his side as the General moved back down the stairs. Through the security cameras, he watched as the soldier carefully explained to the young woman that none of the other scientists were available at the moment and that the lab was now officially hers. Curiously, she didn’t mention that the boy had spoken to her or that she had helped his injury. As the General ran through his practiced speech, Mark watched with livid curiosity, but Laurens didn’t ask any questions. After the General mounted the stairs yet again, she had already returned to observing the man and completely ignored the fact that the General was missing.

“How did it go?”

“She doesn’t seem to recognize that anything is out of the ordinary,” Stuart answered carefully, looking at the monitor. “I can’t understand why she didn’t respond to anything. Normally she picks up on lies faster than a blood hound and is far more accurate than any mechanical lie-detector. I don’t trust her.”

The stranger was gone now. He had been here before, but Self only acknowledged him as the stranger that he was. There was no feeling of goodness or tolerance from him, only a poisoned curiosity that made Self want to hide away in darkness to escape those painfully prying eyes and his chattering machines. None of the white figures had returned either and that made Self relax. They were worse than the stranger.

But then, She had arrived. It was impossible; She should have been somewhere else, anywhere but here. The Others had made it clear to Self that She was to be left alone and avoided at all costs. The Self wasn’t strong enough to deal with the kind of power that She wielded and She would see through what Self knew, understand the knowledge that Self kept so carefully concealed from the stranger and the white figures.

Now the world was a strange place indeed. Self watched through a strange hazy fog as the stranger brought She to Self remaining only long enough to see that She was comfortable before leaving. When the strange sensation whispered to Self of great pain, the only person there who could administer care was She. She should never have helped; She was the one to be avoided for She was corrupt and dangerous.

Yet, that was not what the Self had learned from the brief touch. When She spoke, She was calm and friendly, an easy manner interlaced through ridiculous sounding words that seemed to appear from nowhere with no particular mission other than to fill to the air. She had hands that eased away pain and reminded Self that not all touch was a bad thing. Self had forgotten this after spending so much time among the beeping machines.

When the darkness of sleep came to give Self reprieve from the stranger and his second leaving, there was a new sensation that whispered to Self and a single hope blossomed where there had been none before. Self found that it would be a good thing to wake up and see She waiting for the Self to talk to… She… Her… Lynn.