Family History - Ch3
#3 of Family History
An ugly chapter of the history
Family History - Ch3
2197 A rainy day and I was behind on my writing. Some things can't be hurried, but this was starting to frustrate me. I was leaning back from my desk with my new glasses perched on my nose as the holographic display in front of me displayed some of the more... disturbing documents from the collection I had inherited. A lot of details about the "shifter containment units" had become public, but by no means all. Most of it, it seems, had been quietly swept under the rug at the cost of a few early retirements from government service and a few folks "deciding not to seek re-election to spend more time with the family." I was turning it over in my mind how to approach this. Do I be discreet or do I blow the walls down and tell it all?
"House, call Jenna Tarniyev."
"Calling."
"John, good to hear from you. The glasses suit you by the way."
I laughed. "You're not the first to say that. Maybe once my vision has stabilized I should just turn down the nanoadjustment and keep the glasses. Look like an old-fashioned geeky historian?"
"Well, considering you are a geeky historian... "
"Actually, that's why I called you. I need your advice. There's some very personal and disturbing stuff in some of these documents, about stuff that happened in the old government programs. Way more detail than was ever made public. I'm trying to work out how much detail should go in the book."
"I'm not so sure I could give you an answer. I don't even think Mikhail read them all before he gave them to you."
"These, I'm sure he didn't. It took me nearly three months to find - and in one case to have written - software that could decode these ancient file formats."
"Then you'll have to go with your conscience, dear. Mikhail trusted you with it and so do I."
2036
"Subject M2378, be seated and place your hands in the restraints."
Wearily he lowered himself into the hard seat and placed his hands on the table, the cuffs automatically locking closed over his wrists. As the far door opened and two men in lab coats entered, followed by the usual armed guard, he spoke. "I wish to contact an attorney. I protest the use of these restraints. They cause me considerable discomfort." Like the first time he had said it, he was ignored. The two scientists simply started fitting the electrodes of an EEG to his shaved head. Only when they were complete did they address him.
"For this series of tests we will require you to shift several times. Do so promptly on command. Failure to cooperate will result in loss of privileges and disciplinary action."
In another room, two others watched the scene on a video monitor. One was a skinny older woman, her iron-grey hair held in a tight bun. The other a younger man, his forehead furrowed, almost in a frown.
"Dr. Berensford, I fail to see the utility of another run of these tests. You have confirmed my work several times over. This seems a little extreme. Left to my own work I could have made more progress."
"Your work was funded by my agency and is now the property of my agency, as you are its employee. Also, as such, under my orders in the interests of national security. I will decide the utility of any experimental sequence.
"But, these people..." She cut him off with a glare.
"These creatures are not entirely human. They are research subjects and will remain so until we have found a way to counter the threat they represent." she paused, then added with a sneer "Maybe then they can be 'people.' As of right now, however, 'human' rights is something they do not qualify for."
"I understand their legal status, Doctor."
On the screen, the subject was ordered to shift. He yelped as the cuffs gave only slightly and were now painfully too tight. The EEG electrodes remained attached, the research team having already learned that to achieve this they had to shave their subjects heads twice, once in human form the second time as morphic.
"That is obviously painful. Have you observed any significant deviations from baseline recordings as a result?"
"No, and the injury is not permanent. No trace of any damage to their bodies shows once they return to humanoid form."
"No, you Ironclad bitch," thought Dr Harry Teale, "They wouldn't. You're only inflicting permanent damage on their morphic shape." He didn't let any of his revulsion show, however, just watched, taking notes, as the test sequence completed. On the video feed, the sweat-stained man looked up and spoke again.
"Please may I see my wife?" He was ignored. All three others left the room and the speakers on the wall came to life again.
"Subject M2378. Dress yourself and await escort back to your quarters." The cuffs snapped open and on the screen the man picked up an orange jumpsuit with "M2378" in large letters on the back.
"Dr Teale, I want the analysis of this sequence on my desk in the morning."
"Yes, Doctor. Will you be needing me this weekend? I was hoping to spend it with my wife."
"I'll log you as cleared out of the installation from 5pm Friday, contingent on completion of your assignments. Be back inside before 8am Monday."
"Of course, Doctor. Thank you."
That Friday, Dr Teale waited at the gate for his clearance to be verified, for his person and his vehicle to be searched for any paper records or electronic media. He handed over his access card and secure phone which were placed in one of the small lockers inside the guard post for the purpose. Taking the key-tag, he rolled out of the secret base leaving their security guards confident he was carrying no classified material into an insecure zone.
Unfortunately for them, Dr Harry Teale had an eidetic memory. He'd concealed it since childhood, when he'd once been tempted to show off. In the process he had angered the class bully and had been beaten into "admitting" that it had been a trick. As far as anyone knew, Harry had a perfectly normal memory.
On the way home, Harry hit an ATM, then leaving his car in the bank parking lot stepped into the discount phone store next to it. Without any undue delay to make anyone tracking his cars GPS suspicious, he drove on. It had been six months he'd endured working at that place. Three months being a good scientific drone before they would even let him off the base. Three more establishing a pattern of regular monthly weekends with his family without doing anything to arouse suspicion. Now he was wondering if he was ready to piss off another class bully.
That evening he stepped out of his house for an evening stroll in the nearby park, just as he did every evening. He walked around the lake to the woods and strolled down the path through the trees then briskly reversed his course for a few minutes. Then he reached into his pocket for the phone he had purchased earlier in the day and dialed a number from memory.
"Hello?"
"Hey, Junebug." and hung up.
Two minutes later, the phone rang.
"Hey, Sis."
"Harry? What's up? Why are you calling me?" gasped his half-sister.
"June, I need to get to a safe place for your people. Somewhere the government can't find me."
"Harry? Are you... Did you cheat on Mary with a shifter?"
"No. I'm in deeper than that. I've been inside one of those secret places they take you and I need out. Fast. By Sunday night. If I'm not back on base by 8am Monday, they come looking for me. Hard."
"Call me back on this number tomorrow night."
"OK, Sis."
June Lanigan stared at the phone for a long time after he hung up, then having made up her mind she turned to her desk. Ignoring the computer on the desk, she pulled a small laptop from the drawer and turned it on. Logging in, she connected to a chat site.
JBear52 : I have a friend who needs a friend. skwrl : Not sure anyone is on who can do that. JBear52 : Yeah, I know it's late. I'll try again in the morning. *** madCoyote is inviting you to a private chat. madCoyote : Details please. JBear52 : My half-brother. He's not one of us but he's been to one of the places they take us. madCoyote : possible setup? JBear52 : No. Nobody knows we're related. My mom had an affair with his dad. His dad didn't know she was one of us and didn't know he'd knocked her up. I found Harry when I went looking for my dad and discovered dad had been dead for a few years. Car crash. JBear52 : Far as anyone knows we're just friends and not that close, but he was one of the ones helped me when I ran. JBear52 : He said they'd start looking for him Monday morning if he wasn't back. madCoyote : Family? JBear52 : His wife. She has no idea and wouldn't come with him anyway. Solo pickup. madCoyote : Contact? JBear52 : he's calling me on my safe number tomorrow night. madCoyote : Forward it and leave it that way until Monday. Then leave this to me. *** madCoyote has left the chat.
June shut down the laptop, put it back in her desk drawer and then picked up her phone. Menu, Forward, All Calls.. then punched in a number. When the phone beeped, she tucked it into the desk drawer next to the laptop.
From the same spot in the woods, out of sight of anyone, Harry dialed. The phone rang only twice before it was answered.
"Hello, Harry. June asked me to be here to help you."
"Who the fuck are you?" Harry was panicking."
"I'm the person who's going to arrange for a vehicle to pick you up at the end of that woodland trail tomorrow evening. Think about it, Harry. If I'm on the level, why would I give you any substantive information until I know you're not setting up your half-sister and the rest of us? If I'm not on the level, you're blown already and have nothing to lose by taking a chance anyway."
"OK"
"Take your usual stroll tomorrow evening at 6. Instead of doubling back to the lake just follow the trail to its end. There will be a red SUV with tinted windows parked in the lot there. Just walk up to it and get in the back. You'll be somewhere safe before morning. Do you have anything you need to bring."
"Only me. Can't take any evidence with me off site. They didn't know I've an eidetic memory. God above, I wish I hadn't." Harry heard a sharp intake of breath from the other end of the phone.
"Harry, I think if you check out then you and I need to talk in person. Very soon. Keep that phone with you at all times until we pick you up. If it rings, do not answer it. If you pick up the phone we will assume that you've been compromised. If it rings three times, then once we're telling you we've been burned. Ditch it and get out of there under your own steam somehow then contact June again from a new phone. Understand?"
"Yes. Answer the call to warn you off, three rings then one warns me off."
"You got it. All being well, you will be on your way tomorrow evening."
"Thank you."
"If you're bringing us what you say you are, Harry, it is we who should be thanking you." *click*
skwrl : Hey, JBear.. how's your friend doing? JBear52 : I dont know. He's off the grid. I guess he's on his own. skwrl : Sucks. Is he family? JBear52 : No, just a very good friend. One I'll miss if he doesn't make it. DevilDog : JBear, I know your name. If anyone ends up in any nets asking for you, I'll ping you for an ID. JBear52 : DD I think I might love you. *smooches* DevilDog : ok so NOW I have an incentive ;) JBear52 : in your dreams, pooch! DevilDog : LOL
June looked out of her apartment window.. This city was new, sitting in the middle of the high desert. It was all eco-friendly power, but it still bothered her how much light it spilled at night. She knew there was a company here working on street lighting that didnt pollute the sky but right now she needed to see stars. Instead she saw the running lights of a helicopter heading for her building. She turned to the closet and stripped off her human clothing. A moment later the mirror revealed a bear, black-brown fur, short tail, broad powerful muzzle. BIG paws. She gathered a few clothing items and put them on, then went out, hit the button for the helipad and waited.
She didn't have to wait long. The helicopter touched down briefly, disgorged a human male and then lifted off to continue its flight plan.
"Harry?"
"June.. can you get this mask off me?"
"Once we're downstairs."
"OK... June?"
"There's gonna be a big bear taking you down to me, ok? Then we can do this."
Slowly Harry opened his eyes as he felt the hood removed. There was a seriously large brown bear morphic in front of him.
"Where's June! June is supposed to be here! Where's my sister?"
"Right here, Harry.. " The bear said in June's voice. "This is my other shape. I'm a big-ass momma bear and I got the instincts to really do a number on anyone threatens my brother."
"June?"
"Yeah, Bro." She shimmered and changed, Harry's eyes popped for a moment and then he resolutely looked away.
"Geez, Sis!"
"Oh, fuck.. sorry.. It's ok, you can turn around now, I've got a robe on."
"June, you rescue my ass and they you stick those in my face.. I am officially in the twilight zone here, ok?"
"Come over here and sit at this computer.. you probably want to think of a screen name that doesnt reflect who you really are. Your name isn't exactly a good one in this community."
"NO! I need to be who I am for these people, June."
JBear52 : I need to introduce you to somebody.. My half-brother Harry. DrHarryTeale : Hi there. I owe you all an apology. RawCat : You brought that guy here? SlowFox : Jbear!!!!! hotBat : KILL HIS ASS madCoyote : SHUT UP. *** all chats muted by moderator madCoyote : Dr Teale started by announcing to shifters that IF THEY WANTED TO then he would try and discover what was happening to them. madCoyote : He may have been sucked in by the government just like so many of us were. madCoyote : Lets let him tell us how it really was. Then we can form our own opinions. *** you have been unmuted DrHarryTeale : I started by trying to learn about you. Trying to understand what had changed you. Why it had happened. Because I loved the sister I never knew I had until she came looking for our dad. DrHarryTeale : I didn't know who was funding my research, who was going to take it away and force me to be part of it. DrHarryTeale : The boss of it all is Dr Berensford. She's a fundamentalist hardass. She reports to the director of homeland security. DrHarryTeale : I've heard her say so many times lines like "These creatures are not fully human, so they don't have 'human' rights" DrHarryTeale : God forgive me, for a week or so I believed her. DrHarryTeale : They've taken my work, trying to understand what it means to be a shifter, and they've turned it into a nightmare - they are torturing your people. They are running tests that serve no purpose. DrHarryTeale : They are keeping husbands from wives, parents from children. DrHarryTeale : I've seen their dignity stripped from them. I've seen morphic kids killed in the process of proving they can't shift. DrHarryTeale : They don't even let them keep their names. DrHarryTeale : I've seen it. DrHarryTeale : I've seen the list that reduces a name to a number. Nearly forty thousand of them. DrHarryTeale : God forgive me.. I know you people never can.. they've made me a Mengele.. a concentration camp doctor. DrHarryTeale : You should kill me. At least then the memories will stop. I can't forget.. but I need to stop seeing them all every time I close my eyes at night. DrHarryTeale : I remember the names of every child that died in that place. Every shifter forced to transform while manacled and who is now permanently crippled in their morphic form. DrHarryTeale : Make the memories stop. DrHarryTeale : unmute them all. Let them say it. *** all chats have been unmuted. JBear52 : My turn to say shut up. My brother is crying in my arms, crying for your parents and your children that he couldn't save... and momma bear says you can all talk to him tomorrow, ok? *** JBear52 has logged out. *** DrHarryTeale has logged out.
"Geez trickster.. he's in no state!"
"I have to ask, momma bear. I need to know... "
"I'll pass him the phone. Harry.. the guy you talked to before, the guy who was madCoyote online.. he needs to talk to you."
"I'm here."
"I'm sorry for this Harry, but I need to ask about two names."
"Ask"
"David Williamson."
"David Williamson. Subject M2378. Timber wolf morphic. Currently resident at facility alpha."
"Zia Williamson"
"Zia Williamson. Subject F2379. Lynx morphic.... Oh my God... "
"HARRY!"
"Zia Williamson.. deceased in facility beta January 2036.... I'm sorry.. it's Ian isn't it.... you're their son... "
"Dont.. dont blame yourself Harry... you couldn't save any of them."
"June, get me blank media.. everything you can find. I'll send a message to the chatroom when I'm done. I've a lot to dictate"
skwerl : Anyone seen JBear lately? slowFox : Not in a few days. skwerl : Wasn't she going to bring her bro back a few days ago? slowFox : shit, I hope she's ok. *** JBear52 has logged in. skwerl : JBear!!!!! Are you ok? JBear52 : My... Jbear52 : My brother hanged himself this morning. slowFox : !!!!! JBear52 : I found him in the barn. Coyo, he left a huge stack of disks for you. madCoyote : I'm so sorry, JB JBear52 : give it a rest, Coyo. JBear52 : just FUCK YOU! FUCK YOU ALL! My brother is dead and between the damn government hunting down folks like us and you getting on his ass the other night you all killed him. madCoyote : JB.. please.. JBear52 : No. I'm done. JBear52 : Find yourself a new sysadmin, Coyo. I'm outta here. That was the only person ever cared for me as family, and now he's gone. FUCK THE LOT OF YOU! WE'RE BETTER THAN THAT! ***JBear52 has logged out.
The door of the house opened and she heard the halting footsteps across the kitchen. "Ian? I'm here love.. excuse me if I don't get up, your son is using my liver as a punchbag" He found her, laid his head on her swollen belly and she felt tears falling on her sensitive skin. "Ian? are you ok?"
"Mags.. They killed my mom. She's gone, Mags.. "
"Oh my God, Ian.. I'm so sorry... "
"Nothing like this is going to happen to our child, not as long as I live. Not to those that defend our kids either!"
2197
I saved the latest update and shut the computer down. I was crying too hard to see the screen.