Lineage - Part 2
"Ed, have you seen Sloan?" Walter Atwood came into the lab looking around as if he expected Sloan to pop out from behind a door.
"She's gone home." Ed answered without looking up from his computer screen. "She's got a hot date." Ed was surprised to hear the edge of bitterness in his own voice.
"I assume with Tom?"
"Yeah... I hope he appreciates it."
"I just hope that they're both careful." Walter sniffed skeptically and straightened his glasses.
Ed knew he did not want to follow up that topic, so he waved Walter over to look at his screen.
On it was an MRI of what could have been a human brain - if it hadn't been glowing like a 200 watt light bulb from the level of energy it was putting out.
"That's Tom." he said and then switched to another window, equally glowing. "This is Lewis when he was being held by your boss... and this is Mark." Again the MRI showed a high energy output.
He flipped the window again and the brain that appeared in this image looked much cooler and had areas that were positively dim. "This and the next three are random examples from a few of the university students in the group we scanned to help us get a baseline." All the university student scans appeared as if at a much lower wattage than the dominants.
"And your point is?" Walter asked. "We knew they were smarter than us. As well as being empathic."
"I'm not done. Now, our sample of dominant brain scans is extremely small and skewed - only three mature males. No children, no elderly,... no females. " He paused.
"My understanding is that the women are much less likely to mix with humans. They're a lot easier to spot if they're given a medical exam." Walter frowned. "Do you want me to talk to Mark about getting some of his people to come in for scans to broaden the sample?"
"Yeah that might help." Ed kept his eyes on the computer screen and clicked through to the next image. "Because I have no idea what to make of this."
The brain scan didn't glow as brightly as the three dominants, but it was much brighter than the students' scans had been. Especially the right hemisphere's Broca and Wernicke's areas, the language centers of the brain.
"This is Sloan."
"What?!" Walter shouldered in for a closer look at the screen. "How much energy is she putting out compared to our baseline sample?"
"Almost twice normal in these two areas, less than that, but still more than normal through the rest of her brain." Ed rubbed his face tiredly. "Look, maybe it doesn't mean anything. Sloan is smart. Brilliant. Maybe this is normal for her, compared to the rest of us mortals."
"We can't just assume that, Ed." Walter frowned he looked at Ed severely. "Is it possible that Sloan's genetic make-up has been tampered with? Do you think she could've been targeted with something like that tick they used on Kelly?"
"I don't know what to think..." Ed finally looked at Walter. "We're gonna have to test her."
Walter looked at him sharply. "Until you get the test results, don't tell her anything." He raised his hand to forestall any complaints. "If it turns out she's been altered, her behavior could become erratic, violent. We don't want to do anything to set her off or make her suspicious."
"How are we going to get a new blood sample without making her suspicious? And what about another MRI?"
"The blood test I can put down to an increase in security. We'll order everyone to take a new test." Walter grimaced, "Might not be a bad idea for it's own sake, anyway. The MRI I leave to you. Maybe just tell her a partial truth: you need another scan for the comparative study."
"She didn't want to take the time to give me the first one. She only did it because I kept complaining about how few women volunteers we were getting and how the base line was going to be skewed if we didn't get more women in the human-normal sample.... Walter," Ed looked him in the eyes, "What do we do if she has been altered? Or maybe this is something totally new that we haven't seen before..."
"We observe her and take whatever steps seem appropriate." Walter didn't flinch or look away. "You and Sloan are the two most valued minds we have working on our defense against the dominants. I don't want to lose either of you... but we can't let Lewis and his faction get control of Sloan. We'll do whatever is best for her and best for the research."
Ed was quiet.
"Well, I guess I better go start writing this memo on the new security test." Walter shook his head, "We'll figure this out, Ed."
Ed watched him go and then turned back to his computer screen with a sigh. "Why does that not reassure me?...."
***
It was much later than Sloan had intended when they finally got through with grocery shopping. Menu changes had meant ditching her carefully laid out shopping list and wandering up and down the aisles of her local market as well as a quick trip to the gourmet deli. The car was full of shopping bags and the smell of garlic bread and roast chicken.
Sloan glanced over at Tom as they pulled out of the deli parking lot and started giggling all over again.
"I don't understand why you find this so amusing..." He said dryly, but his eyes were smiling as well.
"Oh, come on!" She was really laughing now, "It was priceless! I have got to take you grocery shopping more often..."
"I was just surprised." Tom's hint of a smile widened into a grin, "I thought your species was supposed to be civilized."
"You just can't admit that you're squeamish! I finally found something that you think is... icky!" Sloan lowered her voice and did her best deadpan Tom imitation, "Raw.... You mean you eat the oysters without cooking them?"
"Sloan, when I think of eating raw fish or meat, I think of survival training - not dinner for two at you apartment. The roast chicken will be fine."
Sloan laughed again. They stopped at a light and she looked at Tom. He was really smiling now, that rare, beautiful smile she wished she saw more often. Then there were his eyes, full of meaning and all the things he had trouble putting into words. It all slid like satin over her skin.
"I love you, too." She said.
Tom cocked his head and confusion clouded his expression. "Why did you say that?"
"Because I do, Tom.... you know that."
"How did you know what I was thinking?"
Now it was Sloan's turn to look confused, "I didn't, really. I just guessed. I mean, it was pretty obvious from the way you were looking at me."
The car behind them honked and Sloan realized she was sitting at a green light. "Oops!" She hastily stepped on the gas, "You are just to distracting."
"My apologies, Dr. Parker." He reached across the seat and gently brushed her cheek with the back of his hand. Then with one finger he delicately traced a path across the line of her jaw and then down her neck.. Sloan felt her heart speed up and a tingle spread from her heart to her belly.
"I'll try to do better." He said.
"That I'd like to see." She answered breathlessly, "but not while I'm driving."
Tom just smiled again.
***
God, my head hurts...
How had she gotten to this alley?
The day was a blur... She remembered leaving the motel in Burbank on foot and stealing another car from some shopping mall, even so she realized she had picked up a tail almost as soon as she hit Pasadena. She'd tried to shake them... they had chased her into a parking garage and she had tried to get back out to the street but they'd cut her off.
They would take her back if they caught her. She remembered thinking that.
She remembered stepping on the accelerator and driving straight for the dark sedan that blocked the exit. She'd hoped that they would get out of her way. They hadn't.
She didn't remember the impact or how she had gotten out of the car, but here she was: laying against the wall of an alley somewhere. Her head was throbbing and her watch said about 2 hours had passed. She must have knocked out the team in the car and been able to escape on foot as far as the alley before passing out. She felt the brush of a dominant mind, searching. This must be the back up team.
Being unconscious had probably saved her; they had been unable to sense her when they had first arrived.
She made her presence small and still. Her natural camouflage took over and she waited until she sensed them drawing away, and then finally out of range.
It was several painful seconds before she was able to sit fully upright and another minute before she even wanted to contemplate standing. She sighed. This would never work. The pain would not allow her to walk, much less move at the pace she needed to evade the hunters.
There was nothing for it, she would have to suppress the pain and take the consequences later.
Crossing her legs carefully she took a deep cleansing breath and focused on the image of a room: clean, bright, with blue walls and white ceiling and door. No furniture, just a pallet. She imagined herself lying on that pallet, feeling the warm glow of the beams of light that came up from the pattern of circles and squares cut into its surface. She breathed deeply and with each breath a little more pain and fatigue leached from her body and down into the pallet. The beams of light became darker and darker as the pain left her. When she felt completely relieved of pain she imagined herself standing and walking from the room. She shut the door behind her and taking a small key from her pocket she locked the door.
She took a final breath and opened her eyes. It was dark but the alley was clear to her now. She could see every bit of trash and litter. The dumpster she was sitting next to was cold against her leg and smelled of molding cardboard and rotten oranges.
The pain and exhaustion was still there, locked in her mind's room, but she would deal with it later. Now she had to find him. She went to end of the alley and took her bearings. She had memorized maps of the city before her escape and knew when she saw the street signs that the lab at Whitson University was too far and would be closed long before she got there. The human woman's apartment was more likely to yield results.
Scanning her surroundings for signs of the hunter team, she set off towards the apartment.