Chapter Ten
PARANOID
Through the sky, Felix flies.
But he misses the call
And now he falls.
The end of his tale
Where his work will fail.
An Army of Darkness descends
Bringing Humanities end.
***
JULY 22ND 2369
Felix gasps himself awake, soaked in sweat. He fights against the covers which have tangled themselves around him. His efforts to free himself land him on the floor, banging his head.
He grumbles and curses as he releases himself, and clutches his head, which had already been throbbing before hitting the floor. Despite days passing, his head was still clogged up from the real alcohol.
It had made his lack of sleep even worse. If it wasn’t the pain keeping him awake, it was the constant threat of those nightmares.
He looks over to the door, a light shines through the cracks. Irene is still up, or had gotten up early. He pulls himself to sit on the couch, rubbing his head. They hadn’t spoken much since that night, that kiss…
He checks the time, five hours had passed since he lay down, but it had only felt like twenty minutes. Drowsy and lethargic he rises to his feet and shuffles across the floor.
At the replicator he orders himself a cocktail of stimulants and pain killers, knocks it back, orders another, and takes this with him down stairs, avoiding the room Irene is working in. He heads instead for the room with the suits.
He checks the countdown clock on the wall, less than thirty hours until the military arrives for the demonstration.
Felix swallows hard, the suits were in great shape, in-fact if it wasn’t for the Nanites, he’d say they were ready to test, not that they’d have the function for long term survival without their help.
“Ivor,” He calls to the AI, “how’s Irene getting on?”
The projected image of Ivor appears in front of Felix, he’d started to get used to that, he’d had to admit that it was nice to have a face to talk to.
Mrs Graves has successfully applied her genetic changes in six different species, all are showing positive results.
“Fantastic.” Felix says, turning away from the hologram and picking up a tool, and continues the work on a suit. “Have you looked into her claim about how long we have left?” He asks.
The government have suppressed this information from several stations to keep it out of public knowledge. I have accessed this and it does indeed support her statement.
So they really did only have a few months left. They were fast running out of time. He flicks his head around, looking into the shadows of the corners of the room, he thought he’d seen something, something on the edge of sight.
But there is nothing else in the room.
He turns back to the suit and continues working.
“Have the Nanites changed their attitude yet?” He asks Ivor.
They do not have emotions like yourself, their attitude is the result of the most logical outcomes.
“Well tell them that we’re doing a test tomorrow, and I don’t want them doing anything stupid. Just let the test run, don’t harm the soldiers, no harm no foul.”
I will relay the terms to their leaders.
Felix hopes that it will be enough to keep them in line. He’d attempted to write new code for them, but their operating language is foreign to him now. Ivor continued to suggest that he speak with them himself, but that would never happen.
After an hour or so of working, Felix straightens his back, cracking it, and asks Ivor “Has Irene said much about me?”
There is a pause.
Mrs Graves and I have had conversations regarding this topic, but she has sworn me to secrecy.
“So? You don’t have any coding to honor that. Tell me what she said.”
There is another pause.
It would be best if you were to speak with her yourself, I’m sure she has more to say than what she’s told me sir.
Felix sits back, staring at the clock on the wall. He doesn’t want there to be awkward tension between them when the military arrives tomorrow, but he has no idea know what to say to her.
For what he wants he can not have, so however the conversation goes, he wasn’t going to be gaining anything.
“Ivor, can you tell me who she’s married to?” Felix ask with a weak and defeated voice.
“Dr Frakes, sir.”
Of course it was him.
A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.
A surge of jealous rage clamps around Felix’s chest, but he breaths through it. He was the outsider, but he knew John and doubted he would make a compassionate mate.
Felix looks back at the suit hanging in front of him, why did he feel like everything he wanted in that moment was beyond impossible.
He sighs and puts down his tools, and leaves the lab to go find her.
***
Felix stops at the hydroponics lab, and raps on the open door, causing Irene to look up from her microscope.
“Oh, Dr Eisenmann,” She checks her watch, “I thought you’d still be asleep?”
“Can’t sleep these days.” Felix grumbles, “Plus my head still feels like it’s been electrocuted, crushed, and poisoned with radiation.”
“You’ve never tried real alcohol before?” She asks, astonished.
“No, I’d never even had synthehol until after I’d finished my studies.”
She smiles and shakes her head at him, “You should have come to the parties my dorm had, John used to ferment his own brew and we would get wrecked on the stuff, days would just vanish because of it.”
“You’ve known John a long time then?” Felix asks, unable to keep the emotion out his voice.
“Yeah, we went to the same school, different years but our Dads were friends so we hung out a lot.”
“Did you always want to marry him?” Felix ask, watching for her reaction.
Her hands still in the air as they reach for another slide. “No.” She says after a moment, then changing the subject, “How are the suits coming along? Will they be ready for tomorrow?”
“The suits are… No. That’s why I came to see you.”
“Is that the only reason?” An eyebrow rises.
“Isn’t there any way you can convince them to give us more time?”
Irene sets a hard gaze on him. “No.” She says. “It’s now or never.”
“But they’re not ready.”
“Seriously?” Irene sighs turning back to her slides. “They were ready to go before, what has the Nano-Union said about it?”
He doesn’t reply, she turns back, eyes wide.
“You’ve still not spoken with them?”
He shakes his head, “I can’t.” His eyes drop to the floor. “Is there no way at all we can post-pone the testing?”
“There isn’t any more time to post-pone it to.” She says, ice in her voice.
The room grows silent around them, the unspoken hanging over their heads. She looks at him, his fists clenched, lips sucked in.
“Felix,” She starts, “it will be fine I’m sure-“
“There’s nothing we can be sure about these days.” He snaps. “Like how long we’ve got left.”
She puts down the slide and turns to face him properly now.
“I am sorry, but it wasn’t my choice not to tell you, and I could still get into trouble for doing so.”
“Nothing your husband couldn’t sort out for you.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?” Irene says getting to her feet.
“He’s the lead on getting the hell off this planet, what trouble could you possibly be worried about? There aren’t even functioning prisons anymore.”
“What? Yes there is.” She shouts, trying to get a word in.
“No ,there isn’t!” Felix continues, “It’s not just the planet, the rules of society are collapsing, there is no establishment left.
Felix gasps for air, body rigid as he rants.
“They’ve abandoned the world, Irene, you don’t need to fear them, we’re the only two left who can turn this around…”
He trails off, mind awash with all the work the two of them had put into these projects, the nights and days slaved away for this one purpose.
“What is this really about?” Irene asks.
Felix avoids eye contact, trying to pin it on something, but he can’t say anything, because he knows it would be a lie.
“The suits are not ready for the task at hand.” He finally says after a minute.
Irene’s lips purse in at one side, not believing him.
“You have to let me in.”
Felix still avoids her eyes as he speaks.
“They’re not ready to face an alien invasion, we’re not ready.”
Irene sighs, “Then tell me what we’re up against, you were there, you know better than anyone else.”
He is about to, to tell her, but he can’t, memories of his dreams haunt every word he could say.
“Your just wanting something to report back to Johnathan with.” He says in a monotone.
“What?” Irene says, taken aback by the accusation, “I would never- it’s not like that at all.”
“Sure it’s not, you’re just here to spy on me.” Felix shouts, not knowing where this is coming from, but unable to stop himself, “I bet you both had a good laugh about the feelings I’ve shown you.”
“No…” She stammers, “It was just a kiss…. We were drunk.”
“Just a kiss…” He growls, “You know I haven’t kissed anyone since I was a teenager, never had time for it, too busy trying to save the world while everyone laughs at me, and not even behind my back, to my face.”
Irene tries to speak but he continues, anger visibly bubbling inside her.
“What really is your game here? You were supposed to help, not take over and ruin everything, then run back home to your idiot husband-“
“Don’t call him an idiot!” Irene shouts as she steps towards him. Hob rises into the air, hovering at her shoulder, growling. “Don’t you dare! He is a genius in his own right, he has proven himself more times than you have-“
“When he’s not stealing the credit from someone else you mean.” Felix interjects.
“At least he is actually trying to save humanity.”
Felix lets out a shocked laugh, “With those Ark’s? There’s no fucking way they will be able to leave earth’s gravity.”
“Yes they can, they will work, you’ll see.”
She breathes hard and has to hold back from striking him
“And if you ever dare to speak to me like this again, I’ll be gone.” Irene growls, her top lip curling. “I know more than you do, I could already be off this planet for one, but no, I had to demand that they give me some time to help you, to fucking help you save the planet Felix.”
Her words crash into Felix along with some spit. “I’m the fucking idiot here if I thought there was any chance of that happening.” She adds.
Hob chirps in a agreement.
“I… I know your here to help.” Felix stammers, looking between the two.
“I am,” She shouts, “But I can’t if you wont help yourself. Talk to the Union and sort your shit out or I’ll pack up and leave with the military tomorrow.”
Irene pushes him aside and leaves the room, covering her face. Felix leans against the wall, shaken by her response. Was he really the one holding them back?
Felix turns to leave, looking out the door to check she’d gone.
“Ivor?” he says softly, “I want you to gather all the information you can regarding the Ark projects, then cross reference the plans against the actual work that’s been done.”
I have begun as you requested. The AI’s voice thrums from the walls.
“And don’t tell Irene about it.” He says before leaving the room, heading back to the suits downstairs. He thinks about calling up the Nano-Union’s representative or whatever he was called, but he can’t bring himself to even imagine the being he’d somehow created.
But he had to, no more running, if he doesn’t face them, she’d be gone, forever.