*
The computer screen would not show her what she needed. The first patient had been exposed to the Equinox modifications almost an hour earlier. The computer claimed that there had not been any physiological changes in patient-zero’s body so far. It should have worked by now, of this she was sure. After a couple of minutes looking at an unchanging screen she decided to go and see the patient. Maybe a little bit of good old fashioned observation could shed some light on the Equinox virus’s secrets.
The patient was not far away. In fact he was only in the next room, but Holly took her time getting there. It would be poor form to let him think that she was rushing about over him.
There he was, contained within a glass cylindrical vessel, blue diagnostic screens flitting this way and that over the top of his head. She bent over the glass and clicked the voice button. ‘How are you today Wells?’ she asked in her most polite tone of voice.
He was clearly very groggy, the transformation process was inevitably going to drain a lot of their energy. Despite this he responded, ‘I’m fine at the moment. My body aches a little though.’
‘Don’t worry I’ll get you something for that.’ She moved across to a computer terminal and administered some more pain killers. ‘This will start to take effect in just a few moments.’ He nodded but said nothing. Still she continued, ‘Wells, I would like to ask you some questions. That is if you don’t mind.’
He rolled over to look at her from across the room and responded, ‘ask away.’
She called up a word screen. Even though she knew that the station could play back any conversation she had ever had during her stay here she preferred the texture of her own notes. ‘These are just going to be some general questions. You can answer them if you want, and not if you don’t want. So my first question is: why did you choose to become a test subject in the Equinox project?’
In response he furrowed his brows for a moment. Then he answered, ‘on Earth, in the United World, I wasn’t exactly your model citizen.’
Holly interrupted him at this point. ‘Could you clarify that a little more?’
‘I was a criminal.’ Holly motioned for him to continue. ‘So when I arrived on Ascension and they told me how I could be useful, by giving others the power of a god, I just had to be a part of it.’
Again Holly interrupted him. ‘And you do realise, don’t you, that you will never be able to use the power yourself.’ He seemed a little confused. ‘As I am sure you were informed, being an Equinox subject means that you are to become a vessel of energy. You will never be able to touch this energy, but you will be able to give it to others.’
‘It is a small price to pay for the absolution of my sins.’
‘Good. Now I would like to ask you if you feel any differently after the first treatment.’
‘I do,’ was his response. To Holly it was almost as though her first child had been born. She almost jumped out of her chair with excitement.
‘You do! That’s fantastic, you have to tell me everything that is happening.’ She ran across the room to the diagnostic bed. She pressed her face against the glass of the cylinder and looked at him intently.
‘I can see it.’ See what? She didn’t understand. Wells could obviously see her confusion because he continued, ‘I can see the Promethean Layer. If I wanted to I could grab onto it. I could make give it to you now, all laid up on a platter, but I won’t.’
‘Why? Why won’t you connect to it? Do you want more money? I’m certain that Carvelle could wire some additional funds. We can give you anything you want, just connect to it.’ She was beginning to feel nervous now. She could not have foreseen this, true, but Carvelle would not be pleased and she was rather fond of her job.
‘I don’t want your money,’ he responded slowly. Something in his eyes made her nervous. It was as though he was looking into her, really seeing her. In a moment doubts began to cloud her mind. It seemed as though his eyes were trying to communicate something to her. Something that she had to know. But at the same time she knew that she was working against the clock. If she didn’t get something out of him now, there was a real possibility that she may lose the Ascension Project altogether. She knew she had to press him further, and she knew she didn’t have the time to be considerate.
‘Listen here, you miserable excuse for a human being. I have spent the last decade of my life in designing the Equinox virus, as has everybody else on this station. I have lost all of my friends, deserted my lovers and sacrificed my ideals to make this thing work. Now you will connect to the Promethean Layer, I will collect my findings, and you can go your merry little way.’
‘No I won’t,’ was his response. ‘I am withholding this information in your interests. I will not play a part in what is to come.’
‘So my interests are best represented by having to spend another ten months trialling another pilot scheme. You must have lost your mind.’
‘You don’t understand. I don’t mean to make your life more difficult.’
‘What then is so important that has made you decide to delay this fundamental moment in human history? Please do tell me so I can let the rest of humanity know why they are waiting.’ She simply could not believe the audacity of the man, he was about to reach the final limits of her patience. Even the endless neutrality of the white walls of the Hylas centre were annoying her. She would get her bloody data, or this man was going to feel the rough side of her fists.
Quite to her surprise Wells’ voice softened. He seemed unable either to fathom, or to rise to her anger. Instead he opened his mouth and carefully, but slowly explained his fears to her. ‘The Promethean Layer isn’t going to do you any good. I spent the greatest part of my life depriving people of their happiness, but I won’t deprive you of yours.’
‘What? Stop talking nonsense—‘
‘Listen to me!’ he shouted. ‘The Promethean Layer, it is not safe for you—‘
‘No! You listen to me! We don’t know what the damn thing will do. That’s why we have trials for Christ’s sake. Now hurry up and connect or I will have to—‘
‘Do you know the story of Icarus and Daedalus?’ he asked suddenly in a strange voice, interrupting her again.
‘Father makes wings for his son out of wax. Son flies too close to the sun and the wax melts. He falls back down to Earth. That about right?’ This really was the last of her patience, she was sure of it. Nevertheless something in his voice made her feel uneasy, and it was this uneasiness that was holding her back.
‘Exactly,’ he replied. ‘Exactly.’ There was slight pause as he gathered his thoughts. ‘The Promethean Layer offers perfection itself. But we are not perfect beings. How are we, a small insignificant race of children, going to handle that kind of power? Power corrupts, after all.’ He smiled. The weight of the world seemed to be falling from his mouth. ‘Will you package it and distribute it? Will you throw a label on it and give it to your children? Will you worship it? Will it take over your life with all its empty promises? And what then? Will you want more of it? Will you die for it; crave it for every second of everyday? You will beg us for more. But we cannot give you more. What will you do when it runs out? Or when you run out; when it corrupts you to the very core? Would you take it all back? Or would you, drunk on your own power, look for more of it? It will defeat you. It will destroy you. It is a lifetime of addiction that I am saving you from. I will play no part in your future.’ He had lifted himself up during his little tirade and now collapsed back onto the bed. His eyes were wild. It was unsettling.
Holly paused for a moment. She needed to take everything in. But it was only for that singular moment that he had her on the back foot. She snorted loudly. ‘Any more first year philosophy you wanna shout at me?’ She waited for a reply and then realised that her question was rhetorical. ‘Ok, if you don’t want to play. I will have to get Carvelle to have a little talk with you.’ With that she strode from the room, triumphan
t in her superiority over Wells.