Journey of Rick Heiden Ch. 33-34

"So, you are John's son," said Magnar.

"That's wonderful news," I said. "You know, you sure talk more now than when we met."

"I needed time to recover. I still feel the effects of their little experiments. I believe many of them should have finished, but they haven't. If for no other reason, I had to return for that. I need a large dose of nano-suspension, and I can't get that on Earth."

"Magnar, will you please get a large dose of the suspension?"

I could hear Magnar grimacing behind me. "Yes, I can do that."

"Thank you," I said.

"Now that he's gone," said Pearce, "What makes Iris a problem? Does Magnar know?"

"Yes, he knows. She is compromised. Someone uses her to listen to anyone's conversations, whether they are talking via her service or not. I've begun keeping my connection turned off."

"I'll keep that in mind."

"While on Earth, you said they experimented on you. They used the NP device you brought with you, didn't they? What did they do?"

"Ah...I don't know for sure," said Pearce. "That's why I had no comment about what they did. Have you ever seen an NP device close up?"

I shook my head.

"You can use them two ways: manual and automatic. The manual setting requires genetic knowledge that I don't possess, but it can do far more if you know how. However, automatic is simple, and they contain a list of preprogrammed enhancements, some of which have variable settings and customizations. If you wish to enhance your height to two meters tall, you check the height enhancement and set it for two meters. The nanos are intelligent; they know your height, and they change you according to their programming. I went through two series of enhancements. For the first, I know what they did. It had to do with what they wanted from me. They couldn't comprehend it didn't work the instant you pushed the button, and unlike every device on Earth, this one gives no signals. So, they increased it and did it again. They thought it had a problem. I kept trying to get them to stop, but they had me tied down and gagged. Afterward, they hooked me up to their machine six days in a row. I owe David my life. If he hadn't called and threatened Jackson, it would have killed me. Before they released me, they enhanced me again. They said it would compensate me for my services. They wouldn't tell me what they did, but I know they did it with a rather juvenile sense of humor because some things are becoming obvious now. I know it put my hormones off balance, which has me a bit emotional. I don't know how far it will go, but the entire incident has left me nano-depleted for too long. The Foundational Enhancement gets priority over any new enhancement."

"I'm sorry you endured that," I said. "You had told David that you loved Jiyū because of him, but he couldn't outweigh the love from your family. What did you mean by that?"

"Do I detect a hint of jealousy?" he asked.

"No, you should detect curiosity about whether you have a family on Earth."

"You have that much confidence in your relationship with David."

"I know David. Do you evade the question?"

He lost his smirk, and once again, seemed overcome with the haunted look that I had witnessed on Earth. He clenched and unclenched his jaw, trying his best to control his feelings. "I broke my vow," he said. "I apologize."

"Tell me about them."

He had trouble taking regular breaths, and when he started to speak, he stared me in the eye, never blinking. "I had a mate named Oliver. He was 38." A tear ran down his cheek.

"He died?" I asked.

"They killed him the day before they released me." He restrained himself the best he could.

"Who are 'they'?" I asked.

"Phalin killed him attempting to remove the nano-stratum beneath his heart."

I knew the location to which he referred. "I'm sorry for your loss," I said.

"Thank you."

"Phalin. That name comes from the Gaelic word for wolf," I said. "They're also a mercenary security company with lucrative U.S. Government contracts if I recall."

"Right on both counts," he said, sniffing. "The research and development section attempted the removal against my warnings, and he died on the operating table."

"I'm very sorry to hear that," I said. "So, Phalin had you."

"Yes, that's Jackson Scott's company. He separated himself from it when he went into politics by dropping the Phalin last name, but the separation is no more real than his last name is Scott."

"Jackson Scott Phalin, my my," I said. "When someone says family, they mean more than just a spouse or mate. Do you have children?" I should have known better. I shouldn't have asked; he couldn't take it.

He sat there, his eyes closed, in a growing posture of immense pain from his near-perfect memory, and his face carried profound anguish that told me the depth of my mistake. "We have a little boy." He began to weep, which escalated into blubbering. "He just turned five." He looked me in the eye. "Don't do this to me, please. I can't talk about him. Not now."

"You don't know where he is, do you?" I asked.

"No," he said, unable to stop, "and I fear for his safety. Phalin has him, and he's unregistered."

"Oh my god."

"Why did you do this to me?" He began to make himself angry. Shutting his eyes tight and clenching his jaw, he pounded his fists on the table, shouting to himself. "Stop it! I can't do this now!" He shot to his feet and held onto the table, shaking, taking deep, intentional breaths.

He could cry at length when he got going. I could hardly blame him for trying to prevent that. I gave him time to regain his composure. "I'm sorry," I said.

"I get it."

I thought it best to return to pressing questions. "You took an exact duplicate of the Sancy diamond when you left. Why did you do that?"

He wiped his eyes and sniffed. "I took the diamond because I wanted to replace the one in the Louvre so I could give it to David, and we could keep the original on Jiyū. I didn't know if I could get it. They have tight security, so I worked on the idea for years.

"When I arrived, I inserted myself into the American system as our people showed me, which the Americans have now made impossible. I then worked as a doctor. I met Jackson Scott several times in the beginning --not in a private meeting, mind you-- but after having met him, I didn't dare tell him my name. He's intimidating as hell, and I never had an appropriate time anyway. So, I gave up on it for a while and just experienced Earth.

"Once my situation changed with the abduction, I needed to come home, but you had the mission. Then we had the delay in Venice and the ship, the idea of which scared the hell out of me. I'm sorry I lied to you. Phalin gave me the phone I carried. They monitored it. I had to contact them twice a day to report in, and they gave me instructions. That includes the EMP incident in Venice. They denied me the return of my son after I acceded to their demands, despite their promises. They abandoned me when they left Venice, but I still needed to get home."

"I betrayed you all, and you had left," he said. "I had no help and no chipped diamond. Over the years, I had developed the plan to get the Sancy, but my physical health had to improve before I could attempt it. I thought maybe I would have the opportunity one day to use the portal near London. When I got stronger, I recovered my copy of the diamond from where I hid it in Paris, and I planned to steal the Sancy. I should have realized, but they had me followed everywhere I went after Venice. They didn't stop me from stealing the diamond, but once I had it, they grabbed me and took it.

"As long as they have my son, they leave me no good choices. They could make me do nearly anything. So, I had to come back to get what will free me of them. One City has something I need besides the suspension."

Magnar returned with the glass of nano-suspension, interrupting the flow of the conversation. He set the glass before Pearce, who grabbed it and began guzzling like his life depended on it, which seemed curious. If I could believe him, he didn't know what they did to him. I thought perhaps he just wanted to get it over with.

"What took so long?" I noticed Magnar wore a sidearm that he hadn't earlier.

"People waylaid me with other business," he said, "and I had trouble finding the suspension. It seems the people in charge of such things have gone to the park at Painshill with their children. Laurel has some important news about the portal you will wish to hear. It's the containment areas, she thinks we don't need them. The last of the people are walking through to the park now. The final count is 55,492 people who have left. That's every child under ten years of age with at least one parent, and most with children under fifteen."

"Fascinating."

"I always thought containment and decontamination sounded useless," said Pearce. "The aliens who built the portals had no concern about it. I saw no reason that we should either. I do see why David had to go, though. That's a sizable group with no money."

"Indeed," I said. "It's getting late, Magnar. Pearce will need food and sleep. I don't know the time on Earth, but beddo is upon us, and I haven't rested well in two days."

"I will keep an eye on Pearce tonight so you can rest," Magnar said.

"No, you will not. Pearce will come with me to the penthouse. I have rooms he can use. I take full responsibility."

"Very well, if you insist," said Magnar, eyeing me. "Do you act like this with David?"

"Like what, assertive? I'm doing what I know David would have me do as his proxy."

"I guess I didn't expect you to take to it so easily," he said.

"You will find me full of surprises."

"Neither one of you must keep an eye on me," said Pearce using his index finger to get at the remaining suspension from the glass as though it were cake batter. "I could stay at Mother's house. No doubt, my room awaits me somewhere under the stench."

"No, you couldn't," said Magnar, "because, one, we don't trust you, and two, because we demolished that house when she moved to the square after your departure."

The temple had turned quiet and shadowy before we began to leave level-two containment. The few people still there confined themselves to the observation wing.

We came upon the clinic where Yoncara gave me my enhancements. It reminded me of the promise I made to myself. Although closed at the time, the Temple had no locks, so I opened the clinic door, and the automatic lighting came onto full.

"What are you doing?" asked Pearce and Magnar.

"Earlier this evening, I watched David leave through the portal without me, and it occurred to me that if I had enhanced memory, I would recall that moment with perfect clarity. But does it help with remembering details of the past before having gotten the enhancement?"

"Yes, it does," said Pearce. "However, a darker side to the enhancement exists that you should know about."

"I know," I said, "Cadmar told me. I must use caution with what I cause myself to remember. However, I accept that life isn't always pleasant, and those times help to craft us as people. But if life merely consisted of one unpleasant ordeal after the next, then why bother living? For me, this enhancement holds an opportunity. I want to remember the details of my life for the future."

Before me, a glass-fronted display cabinet hung on the wall, with recesses filled with various technological instruments. I picked up the NP device from its cubbyhole.

"You should wait for a clinician and have it done tomorrow," said Magnar.

I looked at Pearce. "You know how this works. Will you do it?"

"You would trust him?" asked Magnar.

"I've suffered as a subject in the mishandling of that instrument," said Pearce. "I know how that feels." He looked Magnar in the eye. "I would never harm someone with it."

"I believe you," I said, holding it out.

He took it and showed me how simple the device worked on automatic. He insisted on transparency in showing both Magnar and myself the enhancement I would get on the readout.

He placed it just below my heart. "Are you certain this is what you want?"

"Yes."

Pearce pressed the initiate button, and a moment later, I had the enhancement.

We left the building to discover darkness, a more comfortable temperature, and a light breeze. We paused at the overlook on the way to the lift, where we began chatting. The city lights spread below us with streets glowing from scatter-lights along the edges of the sidewalks, and all the buildings lit their front entryways, and the walkways before them.

The more I experienced it, the more One City at night became my favorite time. It transformed into a different place, and brilliant in the way it could spark inside me an emotion of belonging and safety.

"I will tell you this," said Magnar, "because the reason not to tell you no longer exists, and it's something I think you will appreciate. David asked me not to tell you; he didn't want you to do something because he did it. He knows you think you must keep up with him. Before the two of you left the temple yesterday, David got his memory enhanced while you and I discussed the penthouse remodel. He felt it might aid him in the coming days of difficulty. You wanted to remember, and so shall he."

"That means a lot to me, Magnar. Thank you for that."

"I didn't think he would ever do it," said Pearce as we continued to the lift. "I tried to convince him to get that enhancement jears ago when I did, but he refused."

"Why wouldn't he do it?"

Magnar spoke up. "David still attended school when he inquired about it, and I told him if he got it too young, he would cheat himself. The enhancement should enhance the robust memory you innately have, not supplant it. One's memory grows robust through use."

"I might have known," said Pearce, "I wondered where he got that cheating nonsense. Your brain doesn't just serve as a storage device, Magnar. There's plenty of intellectual compensations in having the enhancement at sixteen when I received it."

Magnar's turned his perturbed gaze upon Pearce. "Sixteen? You shouldn't be getting any enhancements without a parent present until eighteen years of age, and don't tell me your mother accompanied you because I know better."

"Why not get it at sixteen?" asked Pearce as we entered the lift. "There's no law against it."

"The bloody cheek," Magnar mumbled to himself. "Earth has had a bad influence on you."

The doors to the lift closed, and we descended.