Chapter Thirty One

Twists and Turns

 

            Sleep was not the escape that it is meant to be.  Matthew’s dreams were troubled.  He remembered Peter, his savior, his mentor, his best friend whom he affectionately called “uncle” throughout his childhood.  He dreamed of the good times they had, the first visit to a play ground, his first hot bath, the first trip to the dentist.

            His mind shifted to recent events.  He remembered the first day he met Malcolm.  There they all were sitting around the table.  Peter was nervous, more tense than anyone had ever seen the man who was normally well composed.  He remembered the musty odor of the simian guest and the fragrance of the coffee Peter served.  “You are a traitor,” Matthew told him. He remembered running out to his hybrid friends, only to smell the stench of exposed entrails.  The horrid distorted fact of fate caused his heart to boil.

            Out of nowhere ropes materialized on Matthew’s wrists and ankles.  The mad doctor pulled and tugged on them from above making him twist and contort,  as if he were a marionette.   Suddenly the ropes became taut, pulling him in all directions until he was suspended horizontally above the ground.  The ropes pulled tighter until his joints were out of their sockets.  Searing fire appeared below him roasting him alive.  One by one his limbs tore away until only his trunk was left.  He felt himself falling into the fiery pit below.  The horrid face and voice of the doctor filled the air.  “I control you!  I can kill you!  You are my numan!”

 

            He then thought he heard the voice of his old friend, Feeder.  “Wakes you up, Washer!  Wakes you up!”  Matthew woke to the violent shaking of Malcolm.  “Wake up Matthew!” he shouted.  “You’re having a nightmare!”

            Matthew woke.  “Malcolm?”

            “You were screaming!”

            “It’s morning.  What time is it?”

            “Ten o’clock!  You’ve been out for hours.”  Malcolm considered the looks of his friend.  “You look terrible!  What happened last night?  We heard you scream.  We figured you were in mourning.”

            “Oh, Malcolm,” he said, “It was horrible.  No nightmare could be as bad as what happened.”

            “Oh, I don’t know,” Malcolm said.  “Early this morning the hybrids and I were discussing things Chimp found on Peter’s com.  I hate to break bad news to you but I think you should talk to Jenny about him.  She has a lot to tell you, some of which isn’t very complimentary.”

            “That may not be entirely necessary,” Matthew said.  “The doctor contacted me last night directly.”

            “The doctor?  What did he have to say, more boasts?”                         

            “No.  But he told me about Peter.  Look.  We don’t have to talk about this right now.  We have more pressing matters this morning.”

            “Oh yes.  Jenny and I performed the task of burying the bodies of the slain heros in the pits you dug.  All we need now is the memorial service.”

            Matthew walked over to the shallow graves.  Malcolm, Jenny, Shep and Chimp took their places around the site.  They all solemnly bowed their heads.

            “Matthew, do you want to say a few words?”

            “Yes I would,” he said.   He stood in front of them.   “My dear family.  I call you family because beyond anyone else in the world, right now I feel closest to you all.  Even so when we lay to rest these hybrids we lay to rest our family.  Heroes who died to fight . . .”  Matthew abruptly stopped.  Confusion filled his mind.  They had just killed Peter, who up until the day before, had been his Dutch uncle.  “. . . who died to fight a man.  A human.”  Again, a discomforting pause.  Human.  What did that word mean?  “And although Peter was someone whom we did not really know, we lay him here, also, to rest.  May God have mercy on his soul.

            “And the Hybrids.  Though I knew them for only a short time, Moo, Silver, our beloved William, the tender and determined Tam Julius sacrificing himself to save his friends, though I knew them for only a short time, I grew to love them as siblings I never had.”

            A lump grew in Matthew’s throat.  Stray thoughts preoccupied his mind.  “I’m sorry that I am having trouble speaking this morning.  It is difficult to continue with so many contradictions.  They killed my mentor whom I loved.  Yet my mentor was a tool of Doctor Lincoln.  I saw hybrids that had animal bodies perform more honorably than any human I have ever known.  I am truly at a loss.  It is difficult to even make sense of what happened over the last twenty four hours.  I am still sorting it out.”  A cry filled his voice.  “I wonder if Shep or Chimp would like to say a few words now.”

            Chimp responded by taking Matthew’s position in front of the others as Matthew stood to the side.

            “Yes.  It is confusing,” he began.  “And I am at a loss for words too.  But one thing is for sure.  Our heroes died fighting Dr. Lincoln, not Peter.  And their sacrifice was not in vain.

            “Now I am not insensitive to Matthew and Jenny, who knew and loved this man.  I, also, came to admire him and think of him as a friend.  I know you both must have powerful emotions working through your minds.  But I am not here to condemn Peter.  He was a victim.  He was born as a numan and suffered, as we found out, at the hands of Dr. Lincoln.  He was forced to be a servant at Dr. Lincoln’s abortion clinics just like Harold Lincoln was.  He was responsible for strapping other numans to the pullers.   He was forced to start the machines.  He had to hand clean the machinery after each day’s use.  He was required to fill up and then dispose of the bio-bags.  Only God knows what torture that little boy went through as he had to deal day by day with death and dismemberment.  That’s bound to drive anyone crazy really fast.”

            At this Matthew openly wept.  “I didn’t know.  I didn’t know.”

            “None of us knew, Matthew,” Jenny sobbed, “until we went through his com’s personal logs.  He never talked about his life as a numan.  He said it was too painful.”

            Chimp continued.  “On that note I want to read to you something that Peter spoke into his com when he was only ten years old.

            “‘I is dead.  I been dead and am dead again.  I is human, but I ain’t.  I is worser than a snake.  I be a worm.  Doctor made me hurt Sniffle today.  Sniffle be wiping the floor.  She be too tired.  Doctor made me whip Sniffle.  Sniffle die.  She be bloody.  Now I be burned real good for killing her.  The fire be hot.  I deserve bein’ burned.  I is a bad numan.’”

            At this, Matthew remembered the unread mail Peter sent to him upon his death. He considered reading it to see if it had words that could be included in the service.  He opened it and examined its contents.  His heart was breaking.  The missive began, “This is urgent information to be delivered upon the event of my death.”

            “The fire Peter referred to,” Chimp continued, “was caused by the specialized com in his head.  As you know, coms are located in each of us at the nerve center at our temples. It serves to connect us to the Internet, among other things.  But Peter’s com was different.  It had extra circuitry.  From the location of Peter’s temple, when activated, it caused every nerve in his entire body to experience a false pain - the pain of fire.  Sometimes the doctor would leave that implant active for two seconds but Peter describes how it was left on for as long as three and a half seconds.  He would pass out and feel the full effect of the burn while he was asleep.  He imagined he was in hell.  We can’t judge Peter for what he did.  Even until the day he died he was constantly under the threat of being punished by the implant.

            “Peter wasn’t evil.  He was a victim.  He was not under Lincoln’s control entirely.  He did create a solution to the virus the transforms have.  He even created two solutions.  One, he theorized, was a new virus that would change a transform back into a human by manipulating the transform’s gene sequence.  The other solution, which he found later, involved an ingenious mixture of Genezol and a chemical cocktail that would cause the transformation to reverse.  You know that he must have been putting forth some effort genuinely, otherwise he would not have come up with these two solutions.  I have taken the initiative and posted these solutions on the Internet to give the world the benefits of our research should the doctor’s plan succeed.”

            The eulogy continued as every member of the group spoke their minds.  Shep was the last to speak.  He ended the eulogy with, “God bless Tam Julius.  God bless them all and may God enable these martyrs to rest in peace.  Does anyone else have anything to add?”

            Jenny responded.  “I do, but only to say this about my husband.  To me he was the savior of the Numans.  I will always think of him for the good that he did.  When he wrapped the wounds of the injured numans, he took great care.  I knew that he had love in him.  I think he was just making the best out of a bad situation.  Even though the numan camp was funded by the doctor, he took the money from Doctor Lincoln and did some good with it.  I will always remember him for that.  I am proud to be his widow.”

            She lowered her head.  Matthew walked up to her and gave her a hug.  “I love you Jenny,” he said.  “We will survive this together.”  He turned to the group.  “Listen, my friends .  I apologize for being abrupt.  I need your assistance.  If you will all follow me, I want to take you all to the main farmhouse.  I have something I have to do.”

            Without further words, Matthew marched toward the farm house.  The others, although puzzled at this, slowly followed.  They reached the front door.

            “I wonder what he has in mind,” Chimp said.

            Upon arrival, Matthew said  “Chimp.  I’m too big for the door and staircase.  Would you please go down to the war room and bring the resonator I was making before Commander Pock came?  You’ll find it.  It is in the first cabinet on the left.”

            “Sure, Matthew.  But why?”

            “Please.  No questions.  This is important.  Please hurry.”

            “What’s this about, Matthew?” Jenny asked.

            “Please, Jenny,” he said quietly.  “I need your trust.”

            Chimp soon appeared.  Matthew took the resonator and turned it on full power.  He stood several steps away from the group, then pointed its emitter in their direction. 

            “I must insist that you tell us what you are doing,” Shep said.  “What are you doing?”

            Matthew didn’t answer.  Instead he flicked a switch.  Immediately their tiny coms began to vibrate violently.  Within two seconds they fragmented.

            “My com!” Jenny shouted.

            Dr. Lincoln’s image appeared before Matthew.  “What are you doing numan?” he yelled.  “You can’t get away with this.  I can kill you on the spot!”  Lincoln took out his remote control.  Matthew didn’t wait.  He turned the resonator on himself.  Immediately the doctor’s image ended.

            “What’s happening?” Jenny asked.  Shep barked, Chimp made apish noises.

            “The coms,” he said.  “The coms.  They were like Peters!”

            “Like Peters?” Jenny asked.

            “Yes,” Malcolm said.  “It makes sense that we should have them too.  The doctor could have used them at any time to cause the fire Peter talked about, or to kill you.  It jibes with something he said on the day I escaped from him.  I thought he was making an empty boast but apparently he was not.”

            “The pain,” Matthew said.  “Jenny.  Remember some months ago he was getting regular yet unexplained pain every night about 8:00?”

            “He was being punished!” she replied.

            “Punished for defying the doctor in the Numan War.  No wonder he was so compliant to the doctor.  He had to go through terrible torture every night for three months.  He could have done the same to you,” Matthew said.

            “How did you know?”

            “The doctor told me.  I was afraid to talk about it at the funeral.  I realized he was monitoring us.” 

            Shep and Chimp stood very alert, and very silent.

            “When Chimp read from Peter’s files during the ceremony I remembered the message Peter’s com automatically sent me at the moment of his death.  I opened it to see if there was anything in it that would be appropriate to say.   It described how I could use the resonator to destroy the coms in our heads without triggering them in a manner that would kill us.  Peter said it was an unproven theory but I decided to try it.”

            “That explains it,” Jenny said.

            Shep approached Matthew.  Having no com, all he could do was to wag his tail.  Chimp, also, came near and patted his back in a show of approval.

            “But now the hybrids have no way to communicate,” Jenny said. Chimp quickly left, going into the farmhouse again.  It took less than a minute for him to return, this time with an old palm-top computer.  He held it in his left hand, using his right to type in commands.  The com began to voice his entries.  “Why didn’t Peter do this for us before?” he asked.”

            “He couldn’t,” Matthew said.  “First, we all needed our coms to come up with a solution to the virus.  The hybrids needed them to communicate.  The resonator was an unsure, untested way to remove them.  I don’t think he could have done it himself anyway because he was too closely monitored by the doctor.  But he did think to secure the plan in a final mail to be transmitted to me should he ever die.”

            “He was a confused man at his death,” Jenny said.  “You can tell he was struggling in his mind.  But ultimately he gave us the means of escaping the doctor’s control, even though he could never do it himself.”

            “I have a suggestion.” Malcolm said.  “Let’s take Peter’s com, and the coms out of Moo, Silver, Tam Julius and William.  We can disconnect the doctor’s torture device and any beacon devices he may have implanted, then place them into us.”

            “Sounds like a plan,” Matthew said.  “And since we need coms to do just about anything, I suppose we should start on it right away.”

            “I will examine Peter’s com,” Chimp said, “to determine what needs to be done to make it safe.”

            With a sense of urgency, Matthew and Malcolm once again went to the grave. They rapidly performed his gruesome task, first uncovering the carcasses, allowing Malcolm to then use a small surgical laser to remove the implants.  He placed the coms into a small plastic bag and took them to the stable as Matthew quickly reburied the slain hybrids.

            As Malcolm entered the stable, he found Jenny had prepared the necessary equipment for the com’s alteration, a table, a microscope and fine surgical lasers from the infirmary.  Chimp sat on a chair ready to make the adjustments.  Slowly but surely Chimp examined each com. With a surgeon’s accuracy he managed to sever several tiny wires that once were embedded into the hybrid’s nerves.  He examined and separated tiny adjuncts to the com which seemed to be homing devices.   Then, placing the tiny chip into a special syringe, he held it to his temple and pressed the activator.

            “I got mine back,” he said to the others. “Four to go.”

            Having experience from the first com, Chimp more quickly converted another com.  Having done so, he walked over to his buddy, Shep.  Again he used the injector to give Shep the power to transmit again.  “Two down, three to go,” he said.

            “Thank you,” Shep said.

            Just then, Matthew came in.  “How’s it going?” he asked.

            “Chimp and Shep have their implants.  Chimp is working on ours now,” Jenny answered.

            “That’s good.  I feel naked without it.  So helpless.”

            “I know how you feel.  I haven’t been without mine for years.”

            “If you’ll excuse me now, I have to think a bit.” Matthew said.

            “I understand.  A lot has happened.  I think we all need a breather,” Jenny said.

            “That isn’t all I have to think about.  The doctor tried to sound noble when I talked to him.  It is unthinkable to think he was sincere.  He has to have an angle.”

            “What could that be,” Jenny asked.  “Are you sure that he hasn’t just mellowed in his old age?”

            “The doctor, mellow out?  No.  He has an angle.  I just have to figure it out.”

            “Well I can tell you one thing about being an ape that is quite bothersome and messy, Matthew.”

            “What’s that?”

            “You’re shedding!”

            Matthew stopped mid pace.  He thought deeply.  “That’s it, Jenny,” he said calmly.  “That is the key.”

            “That’s what?  Is he going to start harvesting your fur too?  Has he begun manufacturing pillows?”

            “Please.  It isn’t funny.  This is utmost serious.”

            Chimp stopped working on the coms.  He transmitted a message to the palmtop computer to make his voice heard.  “Yes, I see that it is, Matthew,” he said.

            “What do you have to say my friend?” He asked.

            “Your fur.  Your are the only one.”

            “Are you sure?”

            “Shep tried to bite Peter on the head during the battle.  He bit only a bunch of fur.  It didn’t come out.  His wasn’t shedding.  Nor, does it seem that Malcolm or Jenny is either.  I surely am not.  Apes shed just before Summer.  But this is Autumn when fur grows thicker.”

            “Having a good mind,” Malcolm said, “makes the obscure clear; the difficult concepts transparent; and hard problems, easy to solve.  It also makes the unthinkable thinkable.”

            “What are you guys saying,” Jenny asked.  “What does shedding hair have to do with anything?”

            “Chimp, please continue working.  We still need coms,” Matthew said.

            “One is completed.  I have two more to go.  Whom should I give this one to?” he asked

            “I suggest you give it to Malcolm.  Jenny and I can wait.  Until then, I have to think.”

            “We have to stand firm against the doctor!  Otherwise the world will be full of transforms!” Jenny said.

            “No,” Matthew replied slowly.  He turned away as though in deep thought.  “That’s not his plan.  It never was,” Matthew replied. He sat on the floor, leaning against a wall.

            “What are you saying?” Malcolm asked, quite puzzled.  “Where did you get that idea?”

            Matthew grabbed some of his chest fur.  With a tug, it came out. “Don’t you see?  I’m not shedding!  I’m reverting!”

            “Reverting?”

            “When I was a numan, the doctor noticed my immune system was vastly superior.  He needed to infect me with this virus so that my immune system could defeat it.”

            “So your body could defeat it?  You mean you’re reverting back to a human?”

            “I wasn’t told this directly by the doctor, but I do believe it’s so.  He kept talking about my immune system.  He probably believes it has the power to defeat his virus just like it defeats his cancer.  I don’t know.”

            “Being able to defeat the disease would make you a threat to him,” Jenny said.  “He should want you dead.  It doesn’t make sense.”

            “It makes sense,” Shep said.  He stood in the midst of the group now.  “I’ve been listening.  I understand.”

            “Then tell me,” Jenny pleaded.

            “He needs Matthew’s blood so that the dear doctor could provide an inoculate.  It would be better and far more useful than Genezol.  And besides that, it might even be a cure for dozens of other diseases.  Could it even be the cure for all cancers?”

            “And,” Matthew added, “an antidote for those who already began to transform.  An inoculate for himself because he has no intention of becoming a transform.”

            “I don’t understand,” Jenny said.  “So he could sell the cure?  He could have done that with a genetically designed flu!”

            “No,” Shep said.  “A flu kills its victims or at least weakens them.  A flu is uncontrollable.  The doctor wanted the world to be at war.  The humans would unite to destroy the transform army.  The transforms would, because of superior size and strength, survive.”

            “This disease is also uncontrollable,” she said.  “It will spread like wildfire should it ever get out into the open.”

            “I just don’t know,” Matthew said.  “I just don’t know.  He’s been deceiving us all along.  Maybe we’re still deceived.  Life is like a chess game.  We have to think.  I think that even Peter was deceived as to what the doctor was up to.  I wonder in what other major way that mad doctor has tricked us.  How do we know anything anymore?  Remember, the virus doesn’t seem physically shaped to be airborne.”

            Malcolm had been listening to all of this, absorbing the information.  “That’s right.  Airborne diseases usually are transmitted through a cough or a sneeze.  Sometimes through blood contact.  A few, very rarely, are transmitted by sharing the same air and they have certain physical characteristics that are absent in this virus.  Question: If he needs your blood, how would he get enough serum?  He’d need more blood from you than he could possibly obtain.”

            “I don’t know.” Matthew said.  “Once he has some of my blood, in its present state, he may have the means of analyzing it, finding out why it works, and replicate it in his lab using a gene sequencer or creating the biochemicals by some other means.”

            “So once he gets a good enough sample of your blood as it exists now . . .” Chimp said.

            “That’s right,” Matthew answered.  “I’ll be expendable.”

            “I don’t understand, Matthew.” Jenny said.  “If this is true, why was I infected?”

            “I can guess at that,” Chimp said.  “Because he needed someone already infected to try the antidote on.”

            “Good thinking,” Matthew replied.  “It’s conjecture but it seems rational.”

            “And I suppose I was slated to die with the hybrids, right?  Damn!” Malcolm called out loudly.  “That man made me, used me and was going to throw me away when he was finished with me.”

            “You know, Matthew,” Shep said.  “What you said before.  About the doctor deceiving us all.  How do we know what he has ever told us or what Peter has ever told us is true?  How do we know Malcolm wasn’t given misinformation?  It seems like Doctor Lincoln has manipulated us through one deceit after another and, like fools who never learn, we seem to be falling for it every time!  Maybe we’re still deceived.  He even told me Peter was going to be rewarded for betraying us. All I see in Peter’s files is fear of the burning.”

            Malcolm replied, “You know I’ve been thinking about that myself.  I know you’re right.  Our weakness is that we have always been too trusting.  We take things on face value.  I think that everything we have ever thought we knew is now suspect.  We have to treat all our information that we have accumulated as non-information.  In fact, anything that we have been told up till now should be considered false until proven as true.”

            “That’s right,” Shep said.  “How do we even know there’s a virus?”

            “I know there is,” Matthew said.  “I saw it in the electron microscope.”

            “You saw a virus.  Are you absolutely sure is it responsible for the transformation?” Chimp asked.

            “No,” Matthew replied.  “That’s an assumption.”

            “Yeah,” Shep said.  “But Peter got that equipment for us.  Maybe it came from the doctor.  Maybe it was all just a part of his elaborate deception!  Maybe the virus you thought you saw was something the doctor made the microscope transmit.  Maybe it was a deception.”

            “And me,” Malcolm said.  “Are you saying I never had a contagious virus and didn’t infect anyone?”

            No one spoke.  Matthew put his hand to his chin, thinking.  “You know that is a possibility too.  Everything is up for grabs.  But I tend to think that it would take a virus to transform our DNA.  That’s the only way it can be done unless the doctor created a new science no one has ever heard of before.”

            “The coffee,” Shep said with sudden revelation.

            “What?  What about coffee?” Matthew asked.

             “Remember?  Peter served coffee!”

            “Oh, God,” Matthew said.  “Is it possible?”

            “Matthew!” Jenny said in amazement.  “You can’t believe he would infect us and himself with this virus through the coffee?”

            “A virus, a chemical, something.  I don’t know.  He might not have wanted to infect himself with this virus if he knew what it would do to him.  At least not intentionally,” he said. 

            “But remember, Jenny, he was deceived like we were.  The doctor said he promised him rewards, super intellect and immortality.  Who knows what the doctor told him to persuade him to give us that bitter brew.  He looked really surprised to find out about becoming like Malcolm, didn’t he?  Like it was the surprise of his life!”

            “That’s true,” Shep said.

            “Yes,” Jenny said.  “I can remember.  He was acting quite nervous that night.  He probably had some sort of ultimatum from the doctor.  The doctor can be quite intimidating.  He might have even threatened to kill us all with the coms.”

            “Why would he want us to think it was a contagious virus?” Shep asked.

            “Why cause Malcolm to come here?  Could it be that he just told that so we’d spend all of our time in this remote location and waste our time on a serum to cure us?”

            “I don’t know,” Matthew said.  “But it’s a good bet that we were told that for no other reason than to misdirect us. That doctor is very clever.  He didn’t want us to suspect Peter or the coffee.  He had to give us a more reasonable possibility to successfully redirect our attention. Maybe he did it because he wanted to find out if a cure was possible at all.”