Authors: Robert C Ray
Demigods
Demigods
By Robert C Ray
Table of Contents
Emancipation
Three weeks earlier . . .
Captain Ryan Pierce was a highly decorated marine, with an equally high security clearance, which was required where he was currently stationed. It was a small facility about a fifty-minute drive outside of Tallahassee, Florida, and the public had no idea what was transpiring there. For that matter, the President of the United States had no idea what was happening, because the act of creating genetically altered humans was a bit on the controversial side of politics.
Only one G.E.O. (genetically engineered operative) had ever survived the growth and birthing process, and it had been one month to the day since she had been awakened from the lab. Under normal circumstances, this would be cause to celebrate, though at the end of the day, he regretted that he would have to tell her something that she was going to dislike as much as he did.
Pulling into his assigned parking spot, in an unfenced lot designed to attract little attention, he stepped out of his sports car. The day was to be a beautiful one, so he did not even think about raising the top of his convertible.
Walking across the blacktop, he pulled from his wallet the one thing that would allow him into the highly secure building, while thoughts of her began to race through his mind. They were pleasant thoughts indeed, yet he understood that he would soon have to push them as far back into his mind as he could, and it would certainly not be an easy task.
Sliding his clearance card, he stepped into the main lobby, where two armed security guards sat behind a large counter.
"Don't even try to tell me that there are no doughnuts back there," he said with a grin as he approached them. "I know what day it is."
"Next Friday," one of them joked, as he tossed the box upon the counter, "it's your turn to bring 'em."
Flipping open the lid, he looked them over until he found the glazed one with the custard filling.
"Of course it is," he returned before biting into the sweetness. The fact was that it was always his turn to bring them in the next time, yet they never actually expected him to do so. Being a captain had its perks when dealing with a couple of corporals.
Walking down the long hall to the right, he reached a door where a retinal scan was required along with his clearance card. It was simply routine, and he soon stepped into the most classified area of the complex.
Offices lined the hallway on both sides, and one was his own, though he was not going to rest behind his large desk just yet. What he needed to tell Mirage could wait until the end of the day, and since it would be the last time that he would ever see her, due to the fact that he had become emotionally attached to her, he would enjoy the time that he had left.
Certainly, it was not a choice that he had made for himself, but he understood the reasoning behind it. She was, after all, the property of the government, and since she was not completely human, no one was to become emotionally involved with her. She was designed to be exceptionally attractive, as well as charming, and he felt that the scientists had done their job far too well.
His job had been to be her firearms instructor, and today he was to pass that task on to someone else. He could not wait to see the look on the man's face when he briefed him on just what he would be training.
Turning to the right, at the end of the hall, he continued until he reached the lounge that was outside of the indoor firing range. This was where he was supposed to meet Lieutenant Lamb, but when he got there, he was not to be found.
Four sofa and chair sets with coffee tables sat in the long room, with a door at the far end. Only Charlie Hall, one of the resident geeks, was there pecking at his laptop.
"Hey, Hall," Ryan began, before reaching the spot where he sat. "Have you seen the new guy in here?"
"He wanted to get to know the one that was important enough to have a personal instructor," Charlie explained with a sly grin on his face, as he pushed his glasses up on his nose. "He's on the range with her right now, seeing what she can do."
Captain Pierce shook his head, knowing that this had to be an interesting sight to see. He could only imagine how Mirage might be messing with his head.
Grabbing safety glasses and hearing protection that hung on the wall next to the door, he put them on, and entered. There they were in front of the last alley, and Mirage was looking as beautiful as ever, in her navy blue skirt suit, with her hair pinned up. Even the protective gear could not mask her radiance.
The lieutenant just stood there with a stunned expression on his face, staring at a target that did not have a hole in it. This, of course, could only mean one thing.
As he walked up to them, the stunned, older man turned with the target in his hand, and gave it to him.
"She just wrote my name with a mac10, from thirty yards," he said without blinking. "What am I supposed to be able to teach her?"
Looking up from the unused target, he threw a smile at Mirage, who simply stood there with a grin of her own, which enhanced the beauty of her Asian eyes.
"That wasn't very nice," he told her with a chuckle, as he handed the target back to the lieutenant. "Don't you think that it's time to show him the truth about what you can do?"
"Only for you,” she replied with a slight accent, and voice normally reserved for angels.
At this, Lieutenant Lamb, who was still staring at the target, watched as the bullet holes simply faded away, and his amazement quickly turned to confusion.
"We'll be waiting in the lobby when you finish securing the weapon,” Ryan told him as he held out his arm to escort Mirage from the range. "You'll find that she never actually fired a shot."
With a gentleman's touch, he led her to the lobby door, and held it open. One of the best things about being polite to a lady is that she gets to go through the door first, and she was as beautiful to behold from behind, as she was face to face.
As they entered, Charlie Hall was obviously frustrated about something, as he brought his fist down on the coffee table, next to his laptop. Mirage had a personality that always wanted to help someone in need, so she motioned to the captain that she would only be a moment.
"Is there anything that I can help you with, Charlie?" she asked, as she sat down next to him, without paying any attention to the computer.
"You certainly are a talented one, Mirage, but this is a problem that no one seems to be able to solve," he explained before looking up at her. "Trying to calculate a unified field theory is a hobby of mine, yet it can be rather frustrating."
"Perhaps you are missing some key information," she said with a smile, though he simply stared, awaiting her explanation.
"If you consider a subatomic particle field," she continued, "with the property of the particles repelling themselves from other like particles, while coming closer to other like particles within the presence of common matter, you might find that the universe begins to make far more sense."
For a moment, he simply stared at her with a confused expression, until he finally ended what was to him alone, an awkward pause.
"Where do you come up with this stuff?"
Not feeling the need to answer, she smiled and patted him gently on the back, before standing up to rejoin the captain.
Then Charlie focused his attention on Ryan, as the same look of confusion remained on his face, yet the captain simply shrugged his shoulders.
Quietly, the computer wiz wondered what was harder to figure out: a unified field theory, or how Mirage was even able to have such thoughts, having only been introduced to reality a month earlier. This in itself made him wonder if she could actually be correct.
Walking to the next seating area, she sat gracefully down, and Ryan was quick to sit beside her. He knew the dangers of getting too close to her, though he could not help himself. She was the perfect woman, and despite his disciplined training, he still carried the burdens of a man.
"You are leaving me, aren't you?" she asked with a somber tone. She did not need him to answer, because she was quite capable of seeing deeper into his mind than he was able to do himself. This was how she was able to project illusions into the minds of others, though she never felt the need to reveal how it all worked to anyone.
"It's not like I want to," he told her, saddened by her expression of sorrow, "but I do understand why it's necessary."
"Do I not have the right to love you?" she asked with a passionate smile that could hardly hide the tear that escaped her eye. "Why should I not be allowed to choose my own path?"
This caught him completely off guard. The feelings that they had for each other had always been unspoken, which made it easier to pretend that they did not actually exist, yet now she had made it an undeniable reality. Fortunately, for him, this was the moment that the lieutenant arrived, and sat in the chair next to them.
"Would someone care to explain to me what just happened back there?" he inquired with the same confused expression that he wore when they had left him.
Pulling herself slightly away from Ryan to conceal her feelings, she smiled at the gray-haired gentleman.
"Whatever do you mean?" she teased, but the captain spoke up before the lieutenant could answer her.
"There's a reason that we call her Mirage," he told him as he stood to his feet, and offered a hand to the lady. "It will be easier to simply show you."
At this, he led them out of the lounge, and down the hall, until they reached a door with a sign that read "Lab One".
"This is my apartment," she told the lieutenant, which seemed to create more questions to float about in his head.
Opening the door with his clearance card, Ryan allowed Mirage to enter first, and then followed behind her. Lieutenant Lamb was the last one to enter the room, and seemed simply amazed by what he saw.
The first thing that he noticed was the large, cylindrical, glass tube that stood empty against the wall to his left, with elaborate computer systems on both side.
"That is where I was born," she chimed in, and Ryan determined that it was likely her place to lead this particular part of the tour.
To the left of that, nestled in the corner, were various machines, which he seemed to have no idea of their use, other than the microscope, and some test tubes, sitting in a small rack. Other than that, the entire setup appeared to be a mystery to him.
"That is where I was conceived," she told the lieutenant, seeming delighted by his amazement, as he walked up to examine the area, only to determine that it was well beyond his understanding.
Turning quickly, he looked straight into her eyes, and it was as though he had a revelation.
"You're not real, are you?"
"She's as real as you or I," Ryan interrupted, not knowing how Mirage would have taken his comment. Even though many people in the building considered her an object, she was as sentient as any of them, and far more intelligent.
This is when the lieutenant noticed the modest living area that sat on the other side of the lab. There was a rather comfortable looking recliner that sat next to a small end table, and across from it was an entertainment center, with a personal computer beside it. Against the wall between them was a small refrigerator, with a bottle of unopened wine and a wine glass sitting on top.
"You sleep in your recliner?" he asked, as he stepped past the two of them, to examine the living area a little more closely.
"I do not require sleep," she said from behind him.
"Why?" he asked without turning to look her in the eye this time.
Ryan was about to tell him that it was a mystery that their scientists could not figure out, but before he could, Mirage decided to answer him.
"Your brain cannot replenish your soul without dreams," she told him, which did cause him to turn, and lock eyes with her once again. "My brain is capable of doing both tasks at the same time."
"What?" he asked, still confused, as Ryan's attention quickly focused upon her as well.
"When you are awake, your brain creates electromagnetic energy, which then travels throughout your nervous system to tell your muscles to move as you want them to," she began, before sitting in her recliner, and propping up her feet. "When you dream, the energy created is used to replenish the energy that your spirit expends throughout the course of the day, with every thought that you have."
Both of the men stood there for a moment, looking at her with blank expressions upon their faces, before she decided to continue her explanation.
"My artificially created brain is capable of projecting images that are not there, into the brains of others, so why can you not understand that I can do the same for myself?" she said while addressing the lieutenant. She then stood gracefully and addressed the man that she had fallen in love with. "Isn't there something that you wanted to show me as well?"
Ryan opened his mouth to ask her how she had known such a thing, but caught himself, and decided that it was in his best interest not to do so. Instead, he quickly gathered himself, and answered her question.
"Of course there is," he said with a charming smile, as fake as they come. It was not as though it was faked from the lack of desire. It was because the one that he had been falling for was now beginning to scare him slightly. "On to the next lab."