Sole Scion - 4. Chapter Four: The First Exam

Chapter Four: The First Exam

Near a grove of willow trees there was a flash of purple light followed by a blast of hot air. Where there had been nothing but green grass and rose bushes a second before Daniel and Andrew now stood shuddering as they clung to each other. Afraid what might happen next; they kept their eyes shielded from the bright light that surrounded them. They didn’t dare move an inch. They didn’t know where they were but they did know how much it had hurt to get there.

If Andrew had opened his eyes he would have recognized where they had ended up. Though the ground around them was now blackened and smoking, the mansion of the Labatt Estate was clearly in view. The three hundred acre bio-dome complex was one of the free remaining nature reserves north of the Yucatan. With artificial sunlight provided by crystal panels built into the interior walls of the dome there was no lack of greenery. Though it was the 2^nd of November the light shining down on the pair was quite warm. Later on the lights would be dimmed so the trees and plants could follow their natural cycle of autumn and winter, but today at least, the dome was lit up like a bright summer’s day.

Not only were they blind to their surroundings they were deaf to the sound of barking dogs and shouting men approaching from the north. That should have told Andrew that his father’s people were searching for him but except for his need to keep clinging to Daniel, nothing else matter.

It was Lanyon Smith, Chief of Security for Labatt Industries who first found them. On reaching the pair he let out an ear piercing whistle. “By the Dozens… go get the master. Bring Doc as well,” he ordered one of his men.

After Tara had taken Daniel, Dr. Labatt had forbidden anyone from trying to get him back. Karl had loved Avery, but not so much his son. The only reason why he had fought so hard to keep him was out of spite and his son’s insistence.

Logan Smith, Lanyon’s father, whose history with the Winters dated back to Daniel’s grandfather, was not so willing to give up on Daniel as his son’s employer was. With his access to the Guardian Council’s teleportation device only Logan could reach Daniel in time to save him. Lanyon had assumed that Logan would insist on keeping Daniel. The Judicars must have their reasons for sending Daniel to us. Whatever those reasons are I am in their debt.

The boys were still clinging to each other by the time Andrew’s father arrived. “How… how?” was all that Karl could bring himself to say. Except for the bluish tinged grey ash that covered them, the boys were completely naked. At their feet was a circle of the same ash that had been created by their trembling. “Get blankets and get that damned doctor here. How could this have happened? How?”

Since the fall of the Azrael Meteor, corporations like Labatt Industries had bullied world governments to give them the power of quasi nation-states. Labatt was among the nine Mega Corps that formed a global corporate UN like body known as the Directorship. However as Karl gained more and more power, so had his list of enemies grown longer. There had already been several attempts to kidnap Andrew. Karl prayed this was another failed attempt.

When Doctor Peters attempted to examine the boys he found he could not separate them. Nor could he or Karl get the boys to speak, let alone open their eyes. Whatever had happened must have frightened them to death.

After several attempts Doc gave up. “I have to get them to the clinic so they can be examined. I can’t do that without separating them. Sir, I need your permission to sedate them.”

“You have my permission but keep the dosage to a minimum. I have questions that need answering. They cannot be answered if they’re drugged,” said Karl.

“I promise to use the bare minimum dose.” He turned to one of his aids. “One milligram of Ativan should do it. Given their size and weight, I wouldn’t want to give them much more than that.”

The nurse took out two vials. First he drew 10cc’s of the drug. He then added 90 cc’s of saline. When he had prepared both syringes he handed one to the doctor.

The doctor went over to the boys. As their arms were wrapped around each other he avoided the veins around the elbow and used the vein near the junction of the thumb and hand.

As the doctor feared the drugs didn’t take imminent effect. The two remained shaking in each other’s arms. He was about to order his nurse to prep a half milligram dose when he noticed the boys’ embrace finally slacken. He and his nurse were finally able to pull the boys apart but it was not without some effort. Even when they were separated their hands still reached out to the other.

Karl gritted his teeth as he watched the boys being carried off on a pair of stretchers. Once they were out of sight he barked at Lanyon. “How could this happen under your watch?”

“I do not know sir. You’ve seen the footage. One moment your son was sound asleep in bed. The next ‘poof’ he was gone.”

“Gone… right under your very nose?” raged Karl. His son’s disappearance had him in a mood to fire anyone who didn’t give him the answers he wanted.

Lanyon knew exactly what had happened. Against his boss’s orders he had people keeping an eye on Daniel and his mother. When he saw what was happening in their apartment he called the last person he wanted to talk to, his father. Just as Andrew and Daniel had popped out of nowhere, Logan was able to use the same technology to be in the apartment in the nick of time to rescue Daniel. Lanyon wasn’t going to tell his boss any of that. Karl was a Neo and as far as the Guardian Council was concerned partly at fault for Avery’s death. He scratched the back of his head trying to think of something to tell his boss without spill the beans. He was getting too old for this kind of crap and he knew it. “Sir, given that your son was found clinging to Mr. Winters I do not think what happened was the act of mere kidnappers.”

“What are you suggesting?”

“I’m not suggesting anything. What I can say with some certainty is this was not the act of one of your rivals.”

“I don’t know… Walker comes to mind.” Karl mused. Travis Everett Walker used to be Karl’s business partner but they long ceased being friends. The possibility Walker was involved caused Karl’s head to throb.

“Would we have found the boys if this was Walker’s doing?” asked Lanyon.

Karl let out a sigh of relief. He didn’t know it but he had been holding his breath. “No, you’re right.” If he wanted to, Travis could have taken Daniel away from his mother long ago. Yet he hadn’t. So if this was not Walker’s doing, who else could have done it. Karl knew of only of two devices that could teleport a person from one place to another instantly. One, the Eye, had been destroyed with Daniel’s father when Azrael fell. The other, the Relic, was under Travis’s control in Antarctica. “Is there a third device that we don’t know about?”

“There must be. That’s the only explanation that makes sense,” Lanyon replied with hidden relief. He would let Karl keep himself distracted looking for a device he would never get his hands on.

Karl had not known he had spoken aloud. He grabbed the security chief by the lapels of his uniform. “We must find it before our rivals do.” Karl knew getting his hands on such technology would take away Walker’s monopoly on gravity generator and space drive production. With gravity technology becoming vital to the spaceship design and the speeding up of Mars colonization, the vital gravity technology market would make his company trillions. After losing Avery… money and securing his son’s future were the only things that mattered to Karl.

Lanyon took hold of his boss’s wrists and pried them from his coat with ease. “I will see that all relevant departments are informed. Now if you will excuse me I have other matters that need seeing to. Don’t you?” Other than the one his father had used Lanyon knew there was another transportation device but it only went one way and sent the person to only one location. He knew that because he had gone through that particular gate with Avery several centuries ago. His memories of the experience still woke him in the night screaming.

If Karl was offended by the man’s brusque manner he kept it to himself. Lanyon knew things about Karl that Karl didn’t want others to find out. The most dangerous secret Lanyon knew was that Karl Labatt was nothing but a clone. If it was found out it could lead to all sorts of legal ramifications. Could a clone be considered a real human being or were they nothing but the property of those who paid for the clone’s construction. Could they inherit? If it got out he was just another copy of several generations of clones removed from the original then he would lose all prestige and might even lose his company. It was out of that fear and Avery’s return to Earth that Karl had decided to break from the three hundred year tradition of passing the company to his clone and have a child the natural way. That child had been Andrew, whom, whether Karl liked it or not, loved Daniel with even more passion that the original Karl had loved Daniel’s father. “Yes… I need to see to the boys.” Karl ran his fingers through his greying hair. He was unsure what to do next.

“Doc will see to the boys. You need to see to the elections.”

Karl groaned inwardly. The elections… what do they matter?” But they did matter and both of them knew it.

Fascism, once exiled to the dustbin of history had returned to the political forefront. Ever since the brutal European and North American conquest of the southern hemisphere the victors had subconsciously searched for some sort of justification for the war to allay their guilt. As in the past they tried placing the blame on their victims. By claiming themselves the superior civilization they justified their actions on a revival of Social Darwinism. They even came up with a name for their self-proclaimed more evolved species… Neo Sapiens.

The return of this particular racist social movement led to the formation of the Neo Sapiens Party, the NSP, which many of the party’s detractors referred to as the National Socialist or Neo Nazi Party. The NSP called for the unification of American controlled South America and European Africa and Australia to form a new empire. To provide more ‘breeding’ space for their superior race they believed in the sterilization of the excess population and the right to take a wife and reproduce limited to the elite. This new nation would be a police state. Its primary policies would focus on increasing the power of the NSP until it was the sole governing force in the world.

While the NSP was very unpopular with the general populace, they did have several influential supporters. Among them was Travis Walker and Sid Lenix, both of whom were sitting members of the Directorship.

Karl, for his part, claimed to be neutral on the subject of Neo Sapiens superiority. However, he strongly believed that democracy could no longer function on Earth. The people needed to be governed by the iron grip of an elite ruling class who could make the hard decisions for the over emotional and less informed underclass. Announcing that to the world however would make him reviled by the general population.

In time the master race would reveal itself but not yet. Before true Neo Sapiens could rule the people had to believe in their right to do so. It might not occur in his life time but Karl knew his son would be among the biggest benefactors of the new world social order where Neo Sapiens would be the dominate species who would rule all mankind.

While Dr. Peters and his medical staff examined the boys, Andrew kept both eyes on Daniel and a firm grasp of Daniel’s right arm. Daniel found it a bit of disturbing not to mention painful. Andrew’s grip was so tight it was cutting off the circulation to his hand. Shaking his arm was all he needed to do for Andrew to understand he was making his dearest friend uncomfortable.

Andrew feared Daniel wanting to be let go of was a sign of his disliking him. “Promise you won’t ever leave me.” Feeling insecure that Daniel wouldn’t disappear again left Andrew a few blinks away from bursting into tears.

Daniel wrapped an arm around Andrew’s shoulder and hug him tightly. He felt his hot tears mix with Andrew’s. “I won’t leave you.”

“Promise?” Andrew had gone back to clinging tightly to his dearest of all friends.

Once again feeling uncomfortable Daniel did his best not to squirm “I promise.”

“Forever and ever?”

“I don’t see why not.”

“Good.” As Andrew spoke neither boy noticed the sweet honey scent in the air, or the sappy thick blue ichor Andrew was drooling. His father did however and the sight of it did not please him one bit.

With the elections over Karl had come to the hospital to check in on the boys. When he saw the blue fluid flowing from his son’s mouth down to between their bodies he was enraged. During a different time and life he had shared the same experience with Avery but he was a clone… a copy of a copy of a copy. It had been the original Karl Labatt who had grown up with Avery and had been loved by him. Compared to the original, the present Karl could only enjoy the memories of a love that had been experienced generations ago, and with Avery’s death would never know it for himself. He hated himself for it but seeing his son with Daniel again reawakened the same bitter feelings of despair he had endured right after losing Avery. Why should they get a chance to have that which he would never have? Didn’t they owe their lives to him? When he had been forced to hand Daniel over to his mother it had felt like Avery had died a second time. Now that Daniel was back Karl wished the boy had never returned.

Unable to watch the two any longer he stormed out of the hospital in a fury. Along the way he punched one nurse in the stomach and slammed a data pad on the skull of another before he could get out the door. Outside he began pacing back and forth. He never thought he would find himself jealous of his son, let alone hate Daniel but that’s how he felt. Karl would not let Daniel take away his son’s love from him.

But how to do it?

His son was unique. He was the first member of the Labatt family in centuries who was not another clone. His birth was the end result of years of experimental genetic research. Karl didn’t know the source of the genetically engineered egg used with his sperm. He only knew the end result… Andrew. As far as Karl was concerned his son would grow up to become the perfect example of the ideal Neo Sapien and lead the company to greater glory. Right now the only threat Karl saw to his son’s destiny was Daniel.

Daniel might be the son of one of the original Double Dozen Neo Sapiens to be created but compared to his father he was inferior in every way. Unlike his father he showed no signs of leadership. While Daniel’s father had not been an ambitious man, he had commanded the loyalty of the original 24.

The billionaire’s Chief of Security, Lanyon Smith, might have a fondness for the boy, maybe too much, but Karl brushed his suspicions of the man’s loyalty aside. When Daniel was living in the slums with his mother Karl knew of no attempt by Lanyon to intervene on the child’s behalf. He knew nothing about Lanyon’s father or any inkling of the existence of the Guardian Council.

With the nails of his clenched fists digging into the skin of his palms Karl’s cunning mind, fueled by jealousy, came up with a solution. Daniel had to be gotten rid of. There was no helping it. The best way to do that was for Daniel take the Neo Examination Test. The eugenicist scientists at NET would see Daniel’s hemophilia as proof of his inferiority. In this new world created by Azrael, anyone they marked inferior was to be sterilized and be sent to the Arks to be used as slave labor in expanding the Arcologies. In such a dangerous work environment all sorts of accidents could happen.

It was not a complex plan. The only devious part of it was how Karl would try to divert his son’s rage by putting the blame on NET. The whole point of getting rid of Daniel was to stop him from taking Andrew’s attention away from his father and the future Karl planned for him.

As soon as Karl returned to the mansion, he locked himself in his private study. With night and day having lost all meaning he didn’t bother worrying about interrupting the sleep of the man he was going to call. Karl was a member of the Directorship, a man of preeminent importance. He therefore knew NET’s Chief Examiner would have to take his call regardless of the hour. When he had obtained a secure link to NET Central, he was quickly put through to Chief Examiner Scott Grey.

The person who appeared on the holographic projector had a face that would bring the bravest of men to their knees in fear. The figure was of medium height and possessed a slender build. His pale skin suggested his was of European stock. In fact he seemed quite normal looking. It was the Examiner’s slick waves of blood crimson hair that produced the disturbing effect. Only those know as Greys were known to have that particular hue. As simple as they appeared a telepathic Grey could rip apart a person’s sanity with a mere thought. They could and did destroy the minds of those who dare oppose them and the NSP.

“Dr. Labatt, how may I help you?” The hint of warmth in the Examiner’s demeanor was about as real as a slice of a fat free, sugar free, low sodium apple pie. You would be fooling yourself if you expected more than a millisecond of enjoyment.

“Chief Examiner Grey.” Karl nodded his head so low he might as well be kowtowing on his knees. “I hope I am not interrupting you.”

“Of course not… I always have time for a member of the Directorship. Once again… how may I help you?” The ting of anger in his tone was very faint yet clearly threatening.

Karl gripped the green leather armrests of the chair he was sitting on. He needed to remain calm. It would not do for him to let NET know how easily he could be rattled. “My son had reunited with an old friend.”

“…” Though the Greys’ telepathic abilities were believed to have a limited range, the slight arching of the Examiner’s left eyebrow suggested the Grey had sensed the emotional conflict Karl was struggling with half a world away.

Not knowing what else to do Karl took in a deep breath and continued. “I want to get rid of this friend of his, but I need the perfect reason to do so.”

“I see. You don’t want your son hating for whatever happens to the boy. Continue.”

“My people are trying to figure out how my son found him…” Feeling the sting of sweat dripping into his eyes Karl wiped his forehead with the sleeve of his suit. “…but from what they’ve reported it seems to involve at least one of the Nosferatu… maybe more.”

“You want my people to test your son’s friend to see if he’s carrier? That could have been easily arranged by contacting NET’s. Regional D.C. Office. There was really no need for you to take the time and effort to contact NET Central or me.” The Grey’s sharp crisp tone gave off the sensation of being stung by a swarm of angry bees.

Now Karl done it. Instead of doing what he should have done in the first place he had gone out of his way to irritate one of the most dangerous men on Earth. Why didn’t he think of calling the local office from the beginning? “Yes I should have.”

“Yes. I suggest you do so now.” With that last statement the Chief Examiner cut the line

It took a long minute before Karl got the courage to breathe again. At least I hadn’t called the Lord Praetor.” All sorts of rumors circulated of what the leader of NET did to those who dared to anger him. In each case a quick bullet to the head was preferable.

Once he had finished calling NET’s regional office he guzzled down a bottle of bourbon. The examiners would be here tomorrow to give the son of the man he loved the Neo Examination Test. Though Karl hadn’t asked them to they were bringing that hideous device of torture known as The Chair, with them. He knew he should have told them there was no need to use that particular means of examination. He didn’t hate Daniel that much. He only wanted to have a good excuse to send him back to New York.

Not wanting to be conscious when the screaming began he finished off a second bottle and then a third bottle and a half of a fourth. NET was coming for the son of the man he once loved and Karl had no one to blame for it but himself.

They came for Daniel while he was still in the hospital. With Lanyon away in New York investigating what had actually happened there was no one with the courage to stop the two black uniformed NET agents from taking Daniel into custody. Only Andrew did anything. Having spent the night watching Daniel sleep the moment he saw the insignia of the All Seeing Eye on the left breast of their black body armor, he jumped on the nearest one and flayed about as hard as he could. “Run Daniel run.”

Daniel, woke up with a start but when he looked around he didn’t quite understand what he was seeing. Unlike Andrew he had never seen a NET agent this close up let alone watch Andrew try to fight one off. For an eight year old Andrew kicked and punched with the skill of karate black belt but he lacked the strength to actually do any harm. Not against men dressed in body armor.

They must have been under strict orders not to harm Dr. Labatt’s son because they didn’t lift a finger to strike back. It took a while but Andrew eventually saw even his best punches were having no effect. If fighting wouldn’t work, maybe a pompous attitude would. “Do you know who I am? I order you to leave.” Seeing acting like a snot wasn’t working Andrew got desperate. Grabbing Daniel firmly by the waist he tried to pass the Agents. If they were under orders not to hurt him then they would have to let the two of them go.”

By this point the Agents had lost patience. Regardless of their orders they weren’t here to babysit. As the two children inched towards the door, one of the agents grabbed Andrew and lifted him off his feet while the other tackled Daniel to the ground. As the guard tied Daniel’s hands behind him with string cuffs the other one made sure not to let Andrew get his feet back on the ground.

With Daniel restrained he was wheeled out on a gurney to where a quarantine room had been converted into an exam room for the Neo Examination Test. The test required the agents have complete control of the room’s environment and the quarantine rooms was the only rooms available that met those specifications.

When Daniel saw The Chair he screamed at the top of his lungs for someone to save him. He was far too young to be taking the exam. Most children didn’t take for the first time until they were at least fourteen and even then The Chair was never used. According to rumor The Chair was only used when NET thought it was dealing with a Sleeper. In those cases it was not a test examiner who was sent but agents who worked in NET’s other major department, the Extermination Taskforce.

“I don’t have the Plague. I’m not infected. I’m not…” he repeated over and over again as they wheeled him into the converted exam room.

“Sure you’re not. That’s what they all say until they turn into monsters.” The agent said. He then patted Daniel on the head and told him to be a good little boy.

Daniel cried and cried. How had things gone so wrong? First it had been his mother and now this. Had he done something terribly wrong to be punished so harshly? Everyone told him what a good boy he was. Had they been lying? Was he really the worst boy in the world? “I’m not infected.” He wasn’t screaming anymore but was now whimpering like a windup toy that was slowly running down.

After they strapped in to the metal chair the two agent’s left, leaving Daniel to the tender mercy of the Examiner. “Good morning Daniel. I hope you had a good night’s rest. You will need all your energy to pass this very, very difficult test. Are you ready?” The man’s voice had the same warm if chiding tone used by Daniel’s teachers when they were about to hand out a quiz. Hearing something familiar to him Daniel straighten up, ready to be attentive.

“Good, now that I have your attention. Please pick a number between 1 and 10.”

“Any number?”

“Between 1 and 10.”

It wasn’t a hard question. Daniel already knew his numbers up to a million. Even so he hesitated. It was far too easy a question to not be a trick. He was tempted to remain silent when he was hit with a small electrical jolt.

“Pardon me for doing that but we must stay on task.” The Examiner actually did sound apologetic but then he continued. “Let’s go over the ground rules. If you take too long answering a question or fail to do as you are instructed you will get a jolt. With each additional jolt the level of electricity will increase. As this was your first offense the voltage was very low. Next time it won’t be. Now pick a number.

“Seven!” By the time the Examiner got to explaining what would happen if he didn’t do as he was told he had already picked seven. Seven was supposedly a lucky number so hopefully whatever happened next wouldn’t be so bad.

“Seven it is then.” The Examiner pressed the number seven on his computer pad and stepped out of the room.

While he waited for the Examiner to return Daniel didn’t know if he had picked the right answer and the exam was over or the man had left to bring back whatever he needed to continue the exam. As he sat waiting Daniel began to notice the room was beginning to heat up. From the wall facing him blasts of hot humid air hit him in the face like an overheated hairdryer. Soon he was sweating buckets. With his hands chained to the armrests he couldn’t do anything to stop the salty drops from stinging his eyes. He eventually decided to keep them close.

As the temperature continued to rise the metal frame of the chair began to burn his skin. He cried and begged to be released but the temperature continued to rise and the door closed. It was just as his skin began to blister when everything suddenly changed. The room went suddenly dark. The blast of hot air from the walls died down. Daniel heard a loud hiss followed by sprays of cold water. Caught off guard Daniel was so relieved he actually started laughing.

When the Examiner returned he asked Daniel the same question. He was to pick a number between 1 and 10. This time Daniel picked 3 and as a result was given a glass of water. He began to wonder if there was a pattern. Maybe low numbers were good and high very bad. When he was asked the question a third time he picked the lowest number available…one.” If he assumed he would like the result he quickly learned otherwise. Instead of burning temperatures or glasses of water, a pair of over the ear earphone were put on. Daniel didn’t know if he should expect music or more instructions, what he got was a series of high frequency tones specifically chosen to trigger a nauseating physical reaction.

During each portion of the test the NET Examiner had observed everything in the observation room adjacent to the room where Daniel was taking the exam. He was surrounded by the half dozen computers and readouts that were measuring and correlating the test results. By this point the Examiner was confused enough by the results to call NET Central.

Taking individually the results seemed to suggest Daniel was a normal Homo Sapien but when the collected data was correlated the end result formed a perfect line in a part of the Neo spectrum that only existed in theory. This in of itself would not seem unusual but given the earlier results and the extreme perfection of the line something had to be wrong. Either the equipment was faulty or it was the boy.

Though he already knew what the higher-ups at NET Central would tell him he wanted the orders to be made official. As he expected he was to continue with the exam as if everything was normal. He was not, under any circumstance, have the boy take the test over to see if he got the same results. Not so soon after his first exam. He would be tested again in two years and see if the results were different. What the Examiner didn’t expect was the second set of orders. Though Dr. Labatt had asked the exam be performed in order for him to have a legitimate excuse to get rid of Daniel, the NET Agent was to tell the industrialist that NET, and in particular, the Chief Examiner would consider it a favor if Karl continued to allow Daniel to live with him and Andrew. Of course when the Agent told Dr. Labatt that he didn’t need to tell Karl what would happen if the CEO didn’t do NET this minor favor. Having NET owe you a favor was one thing. Defying them could be deadly.

Giving the industrialist some time alone to accept the situation, the Examiner returned to the makeshift exam room to finish the test. Removing the headphone off Daniel’s unconscious body he had one of Dr. Peters medics give the boy a stimulant to wake him up. “Hello Daniel.”

“…” When Daniel saw who was speaking to him flinched and lowered his gaze to his lap. He would had stayed that way if it wasn’t for the jolt the Examiner trigger.

“Now Daniel, it isn’t polite not to respond when someone says hello.”

“Hello…” Daniel croaked.

“That’s a good boy… Now pick a number between 1 and 10.”