Bad Jack ((Ascension: Book 1)) (20 page)

Chapter 52: Sex Tape

Billy was waiting for him when the elevator opened.

“I saw the artifact in your desk drawer. Can you get it out for me? It’ll probably kill me if I touch it.”

With almost inhuman willpower
Jack managed to renormalize.

“No problem. Thanks for not making a big deal out of it
while I was gone.”

Billy shook his head.
“If I’d told the General he’d probably start thinking about eliminating you. These artifacts are everything to him and you just tried to steal one right from under his nose. He’d have just cause too; it’s in your contract, same as mine.”

Jack nodded
but he didn’t give a shit about any of this anymore. It all seemed so petty now. Then he remembered the wisdom the shot glass brought. The clarity was surreal. He couldn’t just hand it back could he?

“Actually, I didn’t get started on my evaluation of it. D
o you know it refills itself? That aspect alone requires additional study.”

Billy didn’t buy it but he relented anyway. “Just have it back to me in an hour and no one will ask questions.”

He closed the door and posted outside as Jack got to work. He already knew what he had to do. He was going to drink the elixir, for the entire hour if necessary, and then watch the tape.

He opened his desk drawer and pulled out the lidded shot glass. He placed it on the top of his desk and pulled the
DVD from his pocket.

How did she record on a disc a decade ago? He couldn’t remember if they had that back then. Maybe she converted it, maybe Oliver did. He loaded it into his computer and was pleased when the player popped up. He hovered the cursor arrow over the play button then took the top off the shot glass. It was full to the
brim. He knocked the whole thing back.

He felt everything cloud and congeal and then just like that, clarity came at him like a Mack truck. Before he got too carried away he pressed play.

The video was surprisingly clear. That was her alright, but he was nowhere in sight. She was just as he remembered her; dark skinned, probably Hispanic since her name was Maria, and she had those streaks in her hair and the nose ring.

On tape she was
busying herself around her bedroom, lighting candles and incense. He could almost remember the stink of the incense. She held a copy of the bible up to the camera and after a few seconds walked over to the bed and tucked it between the mattress and the box spring. He could see scrawls on the opposite wall. He didn’t remember seeing them before. They looked like symbols but they were drawn crudely like finger paints but using tar or something equally messy. One of them was a cross. Another was a twinkling star. There were a bunch he didn’t recognize. For the first time in his life he wished he knew more about religion. The elixir didn’t help; he simply lacked the knowledge. The Goth chick blew a kiss at the camera and then left the room. She returned a minute later with another person in tow. It was him. He was young so he should have looked more vital and full of life but those were low days before heading off to college; he looked like shit.

The sex was about how he remembered. It didn’t take long.
It was the kind of sex sober strangers have together, all awkward and mechanical, with many restrictions in place as far as off limit zones. In a word: boring.

When she rolled off him
and left for the bathroom he found the camera. It was like looking through a wormhole at himself from a decade ago. He was staring at his own face staring at the camera. He saw the young cowardly Jack quickly get his clothes on and leave. A few minutes of stillness followed and then the girl returned. She didn’t seem surprised or saddened to find him gone. She appeared to be silently chanting, whilst holding her stomach with both hands.

Jack hit eject on the disc tray and
quickly put the disc back in his pocket when he sensed that Billy was coming in. He must have looked like the cat that ate the canary because Billy started to scrutinize him.

Then his eyes fell upon the refilling shot glass and he said, “Did you drink that shit Jack?”

Jack took it as an easy way out and acted caught in the act.

Billy seemed more
surprised than angry. “How can you do that? The last person to even touch that glass bled from the eyes and died of a seizure.”

Jack was about to say it was because the person who was pulling these artifacts from another universe was his
long lost son but he stopped himself. Then it occurred to him that it was true. Jessie was his child. He’d just witnessed the conception. The elixir gathered up the information that had been tumbling about in his head and grouped all the pertinent facts into an impossible to ignore truth.

Billy
added, “I’ll let you hang on to it for a while but I need to bring more artifacts or else the General will be notified by one of the door guards that we’re not working fast enough. Just don’t drink from it again, ok? Let it fill back up.”

Chapter 53: Clarity

Jack nodded but as soon as Billy left he picked up the glass and tipped it back. Maybe he could stock up on the stuff before it was taken from him. That thought made him angry. These objects had been conjured for him personally and yet he was merely allowed to see them or touch them and only under strict guidelines.

He realized just then that Melanie had told him the truth earlier.

He could recall the conversation like it was happening all over again. He could see the subtle twitches in her lips and fluttering of her lashes. He could see her gulp, almost imperceptibly. Each occurrence coincided with a truth she was afraid to reveal. Only once had she touched her face, a masking gesture to disguise nervousness, but he couldn’t tell if she was concealing something or just itchy. Otherwise, everything she told him was true. At least his serum addled brain told him it was.

Before he could concentrate on anything else he felt a presence. It wasn’t human but it was just as alive
, perhaps more so. It was the red death ball he had stashed with the beakers. Without thinking he held his hand out like he was about to catch a fastball. The cabinet door slowly opened and the ball hovered towards him. He snatched it out of the air and stood up. He chuckled slightly. He understood the ball more intimately because of the elixir. The ball was just like an appendage. He could control it as easily as he could control his hands and feet. It was physically linked to him. He stared at it intensely trying to see if he could make out the tether. Whatever linked him to it was invisible, even to his unrestricted eyes. He knew the link was infinite. He could put that ball on a rocket and shoot it into the sun and still be able to affect it from that distance. He willed the ball upwards by a foot and sent it slowly back to its hideaway among the beakers. He rolled his chair over to close the cabinet door with his foot.

Billy came in with a desk top clock that had all its hands missing. Jack put all extracurricular thoughts aside and got to work. To him the clock symbolized that time was up but he wrote it up in a less apocalyptic way:

A clock indicates that you should focus on speeding something along like an important task or decision. If a clock stops it suggests a fear of imminent death. A ticking clock mimics the human heart. The fact that it lacks hands suggests that there’s a feeling of misunderstanding (this relates only to actual human hands though).

Jack rubbed his temple and then instinctively reached out
to touch the clock. It didn’t contain the same energy that some of the other artifacts had. But it did possess something like a quietly patient power. The serum kicked in to help him figure it out. The clock knew what it was brought into this world for. It was brought here to help Jack realize that time was up and that action had to be taken. The fact that it lacked hands meant that there was no time left to waste.

He
sensed that the clock had been created over four months ago and that it was destined to be observed by Jack at this precise moment. How was it possible for Jessie to have known back then that it would end up on his desk today? He wondered if Jessie was conscious of what he’d done or if it was more akin to instinct. Maybe it was blind luck but it didn’t feel like it.

Billy knocked and asked if he was done yet.

“Yep. Ready for another one.”

Billy set the clock in front of the camera and snapped a picture for later reference
. Then he left with it tucked under his arm.

Jack
reached out to pick up the shot glass but it was still filling. It seemed like it filled more slowly each time, but then again, he could be imagining it since he was becoming increasingly desperate. He popped the lid back on and put it in his desk drawer. He’d check again in ten minutes.

Billy returned but he was empty handed. “Let’s get some lunch.”

Jack had the best cheeseburger he’d ever tasted. It was a simple patty but it was on a butter toasted bun and covered in grilled onions, mushrooms, thick slices of bacon and three different cheeses. Instead of ketchup it was smothered in steak sauce. He’d tried to go vegetarian several times over the years but man did he love a good burger.

Billy was making small talk
so Jack did his best impersonation of someone who gave a shit. His mind was on Melanie. He really thought he’d fallen for her. It seemed only fitting that it was too good to be true. Either she was a lunatic or else she was manipulating him. Either option broke his heart a little bit. Then again, what did he really know about her. He knew her parents and siblings were dead and that she was either in the military or ex-military; she knew too much about military procedure to be a civilian. He also knew she wasn’t the jealous type or she wouldn’t have offered to watch the tape with him. She liked to drink which he saw as a virtue, not a vice. She was cool as well as easy to talk to.

He’
d seen too many movies and read too many books where some dumbass dork falls for a beautiful woman only to be tricked into being a patsy for her evil plans to believe it was actually happening to him. He’d know if he was being manipulated. He was sure of it. Plus, she didn’t come across as calculating or insidious. Even on the juice he could see her motives were pure and innocent. Then the evil bastard part of him that had lain dormant for over a decade resurfaced and said, Jesus dude, just play along until the sex dries up. Then throw her away like the garbage she is.

“Shut the fuck up.”

Billy stopped mid sentence, a look of surprise instantly grabbed hold of his features.

Jack realized he’
d said it aloud. If he kept losing his grip it wouldn’t be long before he was ranting and raving like that poor old woman he’d met in here a few days ago.

“Sorry, I wasn’t talking to you.”

“So who were you telling to shut the fuck up then?”

“Myself I guess. It’s nothing. Let’s get back to work.”

Chapter 54: The General’s stripes

The General passed them in the corridor. He nodded kindly to Billy but he stopped Jack.

“
I didn’t see an update to your bio this morning. I thought you were going to take a little bit of time each morning to add to it.”

How mundane, Jack thought.

He remembered asking Billy to see if the General would let him skip it this morning but apparently Billy had chickened out. Jack didn’t bust him out though.

“So you still don’t trust me. I have nearly total access and I haven’t once abused
the privilege. Tell me what I’ve done to abuse the trust the Doctor has placed with me. Tell me why I’m still doing dirt work for you when I have more important shit to do?”

A barely noticeable tremor took hold of the General’s body. His lips tightened. He
ordered Billy away. “Follow me to my office Jack.”

Jack felt like a school kid who had accidentally told his Principle to go fuck himself
in front of the class. He knew the General was going to tear him a new one and he deserved it. He was getting too big for his boots.

He
took a seat and folded his arms to shield himself against the forthcoming onslaught.

The General snapped on a fake plastic smile
. “To tell you the truth Jack, I don’t care about your biography any more. I was hoping to find a man with a more interesting past than you’ve shown me. I thought I might glean a reason why you are special from your history but everything I’ve read has been utterly pedestrian and boring to the point of nausea.”

Jack saw what the man was doing.
He had insulted him and the General wasn’t about to let him walk away without firing back in kind.

“Every interesting thing in that bio only happened because of circumstance. Not once did I read that you actually did something to better your life. Even college and grad school were for naught because you sabotaged your chances for a career before you even enrolled. Instead of blaming your
own actions you blame others. It’s tragic that your family died. It’s unfortunate that your uncle skipped out on you. These things do form the person you became but you were just a bystander throughout all of it. You get zero credit for who you’ve become as far as I’m concerned. Others have shaped you. Circumstances have molded you. Your relationships with women have either been entirely shallow or doomed from the start because you brought nothing to the table.”

The General paused and his smile grew when he saw how angry he was making Jack.

He continued with more vigor, “The only reason you’re here is because you won’t be missed. You’re a loser. You don’t even have a pet goldfish that’ll miss you. That brings me to my point; right now you are special. Once again, you didn’t earn it but here you are, the most important person in this facility according to the Doctor. And you’re even seeing a pretty guard down below. So you have a lot going for you all of a sudden, people are relying on you but you still walk around like the loser I met last week. You can’t maintain this level of irresponsibility. I don’t ask for much and God knows you give all I’ve come to expect from you. I just want you to know that I’d rather have ten ordinary scientists who try their very best than one who has all the abilities in the world and doesn’t give two fucks.”

Jack was dumbfounded. Where had all this hostility come from? He called upon the go-juice to help him figure this out because if he used his own stupid brain he’d probably just reach across the desk and start pounding on the General. He settled into his chair and felt the serum rise up in him like a wave. It wasn’t as strong as before but if he concentrated he could use it. Time slowed to a stop and everything became murky and thick and then just like before, clarity washed it all away.

He could sense the frustrations in the General. He felt like a failure. Others got ahead of him despite the fact that he tried his best to please his superiors at every turn. He rightly guessed that they saw limitations in him.

He’
d been given this post a year ago and even then his superiors had relegated him to second in command behind the Doctor. He was just as much a prisoner as anyone else, with limited access too. Jack could feel the injustice the General had felt when he found that out. The General knew innately that he was only here because he was expendable.

Then a week ago the
Doctor had him bring in Jack, another bozo who would inevitably fail to add any insight into the meaning of the artifacts, he imagined. But then Jack had shown his strange ability to interact with them without being caused bodily harm of any kind. The General had the foresight to tell the Doctor he might want to exploit said abilities. He had hoped he’d get credit for the find but the Doctor snatched Jack away without so much as a thank you. Jack was supposed to be his meal ticket to promotion or at least recognition but instead the Doctor would steal all the accolades. It was a recurring theme in his life. And now it was apparent that Jack had switched allegiances. The General had the paranoid feeling that Jack saw him as a tragically comical caricature.

Jack shuddered. He p
urposely pushed everything he’d just seen and felt from his mind. The General was a broken man. The quagmire of ugly political maneuvering and worry made him sick to his stomach. Jack felt pity for him.

“I’m sorry I haven’
t lived up to my expectations. I’ll get back to work now if that’s ok.”

The General looked lik
e he was about to explode. He’d prodded and cajoled and Jack had the audacity to let it roll off his back like it was nothing. But what could he do? Jack stood to leave and the General visibly wilted. He put his head on the desk like someone had cut his strings. “I wish I’d never brought you in,” he whispered.

“I know
,” said Jack as he quietly closed the door behind him.

His
chest felt like it was made of molten lead.

Billy’s smile vanished when he s
aw the mortified expression on his face. “What happened? I thought he was just going to ream you out.”

Jack said disgustedly, “He blames me for all his failures. He thinks I turned against him.”

“How could you know that? Don’t read into his goofy little tirades too much buddy, he’s just high strung.”

“Listen,
when I drank from that shot glass it helped me see things that used to not be so clear. It’s still in my system so it’s still working its magic.”

Billy went ashen.
“I knew I should have taken it away from you. What the hell were you thinking?”

“I guess
I wasn’t. It lets you see motives behind actions, siphon out important hidden thoughts, shit like that.”

“Prove it.” Billy said it like a challenge. “Use it on me.”

“You want me to?”

“I want you to try and to fail and then to get your ugly ass back to work.”