Carson Evolved Ch. 13

You have to find a way to deal with the stress, Carson. You can't bottle it all up inside like this. None of us are going to think any less of you if you say, 'No' once in a while. Better yet, do something that's just for you occasionally.

Carson couldn't meet her gaze, but tears leaked from behind his closed eyelids. How could he explain to her just how much he'd needed that kind of reassurance? That he'd lived in fear of alienating and losing the ones he loved for so long that he didn't know any other way?

I know you're right, down deep. But ever since my parents died, I've been on my own. Until I met Mara, I really didn't even think that I'd eventually have a wife, never mind all of this. I just expected to go to work, do a good job, and then come home to an instameal and watch the news-vid. Go to sleep, rinse, and repeat. I guess I never learned to lean on anyone else, because it was always up to me.

That's a hard way to live, Carson, she thought with pity in her eyes. Even the rocks wear down under an unrelenting wind.

They were discussing a few other things when Carson's stomach rumbled loudly, causing Helena to chuckle. "I guess that's our cue to wrap things up, huh?"

"I guess so," he replied. As he went to sit up, though, she placed a hand in his chest and gently pressed him back down.

Looking him in the eyes, she firmly said, "I love you, Carson. Now and forever." Then she leaned down and placed a sweet kiss on his lips. "Always," she reiterated.

Breakfast was an interesting affair. There was tension in the air, and it was clear that everyone felt it. Carson felt even more sheepish over his breakdown the previous night. He also felt guilty for ruining whatever their surprise had been for him. He could see the furtive glances that the Lionesses were making in his direction. He could hear the strained, almost forced positivity in their conversations.

Finally, he decided to address the elephant in the room. Clearing his throat, he asked, "Can I have everyone's attention for a minute, please?" The room instantly quieted as all eyes turned his direction.

"I, uh, wanted to apologize for last night..."

Several voices erupted in protest, but he stilled them with upraised hands. "Please. Let me finish. I'm not proud of what you all saw last night, but in a way, I'm glad you witnessed it. Helena and I had a very good conversation this morning, and she encouraged me to share some of what we spoke about. It will help to explain last night, I think.

"You are all aware that my parents were killed when I was 17 years old. From that point on, I felt like I had to be the best, set the standard, do the right thing, all of the above. And, I thought that I would be alone, because I didn't trust that others would always be there. It was just better if I did things myself. Even when I met Mara, I didn't really think we'd have a life together. No one was more surprised than I was that she fell in love with me and wanted to get married. I think, in the back of my mind, I always wondered when she'd realize the mistake she'd made."

Mara's eyes welled up with tears and she reached over to grasp his hand tightly.

Carson smiled sadly and continued. "I think maybe that's why I thought the worst of her when she wanted to introduce me to the project. If you're anticipating disaster, you begin to look for early warning signs. So, I read into her every action what I thought they should mean." He looked at his first wife. "I'm so sorry for that. It wasn't fair, and it wasn't right."

She assured him that it was forgiven and forgotten.

He looked around at the rest of the faces that were staring back at him in rapt attention. "If I didn't trust the first woman I fell in love with, how do you think I approached the rest of you? I expected all of you to eventually realize that this wasn't for you and leave. Quinn...it hurt a little when she left, but it wasn't completely unexpected, if that makes sense. I just kind of thought it would eventually happen with you all. And that's without even considering all the things that happen outside these walls. Orriri. Eisenfaust. Assassination attempts. Aria's plan to sterilize me. I just kept loading more and more stuff on my plate that I felt responsible for. It's what I've always done," he said, looking around apologetically.

"But a wise woman convinced me that maybe I am holding on too tight. When you all said that I was being selfish..." He was interrupted by several voices all speaking at once.

Sam began, "We didn't mean..."

Elsa interjected, "It's not like that!"

"You could never really be selfish," stated Mila.

Again, Carson raised his hands to cut them off. "I know. I took it the wrong way, and I'm sorry. That's why I told you all that stuff earlier. I was looking for the day to come when you'd be done with me, and it seemed at the time like that was last night. After talking with Helena earlier, I think that was the proverbial straw to my camel back. I didn't get a chance to tell you all last night, and I must ask you to keep this news to yourselves. Last night, I received the shock of my life: My father is still alive."

Simultaneously, the women (minus Helena) all exclaimed, "What?"

Carson nodded. "He's been in hiding for years. There are...people...who represent a threat to him. They killed my mother, and tried to kill him, too. If they found out who I was to him, they might come after me. They might come after you all, too. So, for the time being, we're going to keep our relationship a secret. But he's coming with Siubahn for dinner this evening to meet you all."

The others sat in stunned silence, contemplating what that news meant. Suddenly, his emotional fragility the previous night seemed so understandable.

Sam recovered faster than the others. With a grin on her face, she said, "That's great news! I'm so happy for you. But you know what that means, don't you?"

From the look on her face, he wasn't sure he wanted to find out the answer. Reluctantly, he replied, "What's that?"

"It's time to go shopping!" Looking around at the others, she made her case. "We can't very well meet our father-in-law for the first time in just any old thing, can we girls? And, of course, we'll need to get our nails done. Really, we need to be completely relaxed, so we should probably go for the whole spa experience."

The others began to jump on board with her plan enthusiastically, which made Carson feel an odd pain in his wallet.

Like a unit preparing to assault a target, Helena and her troops whipped out comm units and began coordinating spa and beautician treatments, hair styling for those that wanted it, and planning the shop crawl that would result in new outfits for each of them. Carson watched in bemusement, quietly finishing his breakfast before making his way towards the library. He obviously wasn't needed for this part.

From the serenity of his inner sanctum, he could hear the excited chatter of the women as this one found a great deal on shoes or that one found a jewelry store going out of business. It warmed his heart to hear them enjoying themselves like this. Then, things fell suspiciously quiet. He knew they were still there, because he could hear subdued murmuring, but couldn't make out what was being said.

Curiosity got the better of him, and he wandered back out to see what they were up to. At his approach, though, the murmuring stopped and like a mob of meerkats, they looked at him expectantly. That's when he knew for sure that they were planning something.

"What?" he asked innocently.

"Did you need something, dear?" asked Helena.

"Can't a man just want to spend time with the women in his life?"

Mara walked towards him with a smile. She kissed his cheek and said, "Absolutely. Just go do it somewhere else for now." Then she turned him towards the office and sent him on his way with a pat on the backside.

Carson took the hint, but made a show of straining to pick up what they were saying all the way out of side. The Pride appreciated his efforts and teased him with obvious misinformation.

Once he was gone, Helena turned towards the others. "Everyone ready? Let's do it." They broke the huddle and within minutes, the house was vacated as the Lionesses departed on their mission.

No sooner had they left, though, when Carson was stunned to hear his father's voice in his head.

Carson, can you hear me?

Yeah, Dad. Where are you?

I'd rather not say. Listen, I'm really sorry. Something's come up and I need to lay low for a week or so, try to shake some unwanted attention.

How're you doing this? I can't mind-speak over a very long distance.

Sure you can. I'll explain later, but for now, just realize that you have a kind of governor on your talents. It's breaking down, quickly. I'm sending Siubahn back to you, and she's going to help you work through some things that I taught her. But we can't be seen together just yet.

Even in mind-speak, Carson could feel the pain in his father's voice. It matched the pain in his own heart. Still, he sensed that this was important for the long run.

I understand. Stay safe, okay? I just got you back, and I don't want to lose you again.

I understand my boy. And Carson? I'm trusting you. Be good while I'm gone.

With tears in his eyes, Carson responded with a single word: Always.

Helena was surprised to see Carson's message come in on her comm unit. Our visitor had to cancel for tonight. Don't tell the others just yet. Let them enjoy today. —C

Her heart broke for her lover. He'd just gotten the man back in his life and already he was disappointing him? She hoped this wasn't a portent for the future. But, for the sake of the others, she fixed a smile on her face and determined to enjoy time with her family.

*****

Dr. Alexander Cross sat back from his microscope and rubbed his eyes. Another failed attempt at a cure. The latest failure was particularly disappointing. It had seemed so promising in the modeling software, but the transition from theoretical to practical is a wide bridge to cross. Sometimes—a lot of the time, actually—it didn't work.

Looking around at his laboratory, he shook his head. He simply needed for resources. He needed more space, more technicians, more incubators and cultures and more...more. Every day that went by without a cure was another day that was lost in the battle to save humanity. If only he had access to the base strains and equipment that NeoGenesys possessed. But authorities still had the place guarded while they continued their investigation.

He'd seen the white papers that the researchers at the now-defunct lab had written on the theory of the virus and its mitigation. He couldn't help but think that there was something missing from those papers though. From their starting point, he should have been able to replicate their findings by now.

So far, though, he hadn't been able to create an inoculation against the virus. Even the nanite machines that NeoGenesys described wouldn't seem to bind properly in vivo. There had to be something missing in the programming, or on the biological side of the biomechanical marvels. Since the programming seemed relatively straightforward, Dr. Cross was convinced that the active site on the binding fold of a key protein was not the one listed in the paper. As the failures piled up, he was beginning to suspect that someone had gotten to the files and changed the amino acid sequence to prevent the duplication of the technology. In the world of proteins, where changing a single amino acid could be the difference between a functional or non-functional protein, looking for the correct sequence would be a time-consuming and expensive endeavor.

Which is why he needed more. He'd been giving this a lot of thought, and he had a plan. He made the call.

"Hey, Dr. Cross! How's it going today? Any progress?"

"Carson, how many times do I have to tell you to call me Alex? You're my favorite son-in-law, so I think you've earned the right."

Carson grinned at the screen. "I'm your only son-in-law, Dr. Cross. So I didn't have to earn it."

"The point stands. Listen, I wanted to run an idea by you. Have you got a minute?"

"Of course. Let me head into the office and put you on the big screen. Give me a second." A dizzying view filled Alex's screen as Carson carried his comm unit along. Reaching his office, he pointed the unit at the wall screen and swiped the signal over.

"Ah, that's a lot better. Now I can see you. So, what's on your mind, Alex?"

The older man grinned in appreciation. "See, was that so hard? Anyway, here's what I am thinking. I'm pretty limited with the scope of the experiments that I can do in my lab. We're just not set up to do the kind of screening that we really need to do in the time frame that we have available. We need more of pretty much everything."

Frowning, Carson said, "I can see where that would be a problem. How can I help?"

"Well, what do you know about running a company?"

"Not much, really. I majored in poli-sci and pre-law before I got my J.D. What did you have in mind?"

Alex said, "You probably don't know this but the project has a lot of resources at its disposal. The public face of the organization, with the family planning segment, has been a huge success. From there, we've branched out into other medical and pharmaceutical areas. These are legitimate businesses that are owned by the project, but run by people we know and trust.

"I'm thinking that we should petition the council to purchase NeoGenesys from the Lund Forsvar, lock, stock, and barrel. It's basically worthless to them, now, so I think we can get everything for little more than the cost of the facilities, if we assume any debts they have. And, if we allow them to install safeguards that would prevent destruction of any evidence, we might be able to get the government to grant us access to the original materials and technology. That would greatly shorten the timeline for us to develop and produce a cure. At the very least, we could develop a treatment for the symptoms in the meantime."

Carson thought about it. It seemed like a great plan. With the Clemonte and Lund clans about to be removed from the council, it was hard to see how it could possibly fail. And, it would put Jozef van Heuval on notice that they were serious about undoing the damage that his organization had wrought. "Why me?" he asked. "Why would you want me to run the company?"

Smiling, Alex replied, "It's self-serving on a lot of fronts, Carson. First, I get access to all their technology and equipment after you make me the Chief Science Officer. But, closer to home, I think you have a bigger purpose for the world, Carson. From the moment I met you, I sensed that you're even more special than Sam led me to believe. The work you do for your firm is useful, but it's more or less reactive in nature. This would give you a means to be proactive. I know you well enough now to know you want to make a difference. This would be a way to do that. It doesn't hurt that my little girl would be that much better taken care of, either," he finished with a wink.

Mulling the proposal over, Carson couldn't help but get excited by the possibility. His father-in-law had read his audience well. Almost before he'd even agreed to do it, Carson began thinking about who he might want to get onto his executive team to help out. Orisa was a given as Chief Legal Counsel, and Dr. Cross would definitely be the CSO. Addison was probably more familiar with the IT infrastructure at NeoGenesys than the current director of IT, and she'd offer the extra benefit of being willing to pursue more clandestine activities if they needed it.

"I'd want to talk it over with my family, Alex. But on the face of it, I think that's definitely something I'd be interested in. How do we get the authorities to sign off on the deal? My understanding was that they've got the place on lockdown."

"Oh, Carson. You always underestimate the reach of the project. That part won't be any trouble, trust me. Listen, talk it over with the ladies and let me know. Obviously, time is of the essence. If we want to do this, we can call an emergency vote of the council and get this thing going. With Lund missing and Sal dead, I don't think we'll see much opposition, do you?"

"Probably not," answered Carson with a smile. He thanked his father-in-law for the opportunity and promised a quick decision.

*****

Carson hadn't really had much of a plan for the day, other than the visit from his father. With that now gone, and the women having their day off, he was left with a free day. He decided to make a long-overdue call.

"Well, well, well. Carson Jayne is still alive and well, I see." From her voice, Carson couldn't tell whether Orisa was actually angry or not. She wasn't giving away any visual cues, either.

"I deserved that. I need to apologize to you, but I'd prefer to do it in person. Would you and your kids be interested in spending the day together? I'm completely at your disposal and it's all my treat," he added, hopefully.

"Normally, that would be wonderful. Unfortunately, Taric's parents wanted to have them visit for the weekend and they won't be back until tomorrow night."

Carson grinned. "Hopefully that means that your schedule is open for the day then?"

After further discussion, they agreed to meet for lunch to catch up. Carson killed some time finishing up a couple of minor tasks in his office. He sent a message to the members of Exercitus Vindictae, asking for a meeting the next evening to plan their next moves. Over his objections, the group had settled on the name, more or less because no one really had a better alternative and they needed something to call themselves. Throughout, he kept glancing at the clock.

He was excited to see Risa. It had been a few months; when he realized that it had been that long, he felt like a jerk. She didn't deserve that kind of treatment. Even if they weren't going to be romantically involved, he thought of her as a friend. But he had designs on having a romantic relationship as well, and he was off to an auspicious start. The closer he came to the time to meet her, the more nervous he became about what kind of reception he'd receive.

As it happened, he had nothing to worry about. By sheer coincidence, the two of them approached the little bistro where they'd planned to meet at the same time, from opposite directions. Orisa's face lit up when she saw him. To his surprise, she flew into his arms and greeted him like a long-lost lover, wrapping her arms around his neck and planting a firm kiss on his lips. Carson did his best to fight through the shock, but Orisa still giggled at the look on his face when she stepped back.

"Wow!" he said. "I didn't expect that."

She cocked her head at him. "What did you expect?"

He took her hand and moved towards the door. "I guess I thought you'd be mad at me or something."

She didn't answer until they'd been seated. They had the place pretty much to themselves, so they had to speak in rather hushed tones to keep from telling the staff all their business.

"Why would I be mad?" she asked, with a twinkle in her eye. "Maybe because I thought we had a connection and then you disappeared? Because when we got approval to do what I wanted to do already, you were nowhere to be found?"

Listening to her talk, Carson began to feel like he'd been setup. His hopes for an amicable reunion were dimming. Swallowing hard, he murmured his agreement. "Uh, something like that, yeah."