TW10 The Hellfire Rebellion NEW (21 page)

`"I'm hoping they'll keep him alive so they've got something to deal with if they're backed into a corner." Lucas said tensely, 'but I can't afford to worry about him now. The mission comes first. He'd have done the same in my place. But if you run into any Network people, try to take at least one of them alive."

`"You mind if they're wounded just a little?" Neilson asked. "Not in the least,"

said Lucas.

`"Good." said Neilson. "What about if we run into these Hellfire characters?" "Try not to." Lucas said. "But if you do . . . He took a deep breath "If they get to Macintosh before you do, don't interfere if it means shooting anybody."

"You mean let them hang him."

"Yeah. That's what I mean."

The room was silent for a moment."

"Okay." said Neilson, after a pause. 'If that's the way you want it."

"It's not the way I want it, but it's the way it's got to be." said Lucas.

"We're here to stop a temporal disruption, not create one," He hesitated. "Hunter.

I know that as a C.1.S. agent—"

"You don't have to say it, pilgrim." Hunter said. "We've got a deal."

"Yeah. I hope so." "What do you want us to do once we've warned Macintosh?"

asked Neilson.

"Warn Macintosh and tell him what the Hellfire Club is planning," Lucas said. "It looks like they're going after individual leaders of the Suns of Liberty in which case Adams is the most logical target. We'll have to keep an eye on him, but we can't keep track of all of them. If we can get the Sons of Liberty to do part of our job for us, so much the better. Tell Macintosh to assign some of his South End boys to watch the leaders. Have several people on each of them if possible. Hancock, Otis, Edes, Revere, all of them. Then get right back here.

We're going to have to play this by ear and I don't want to have to worry about where anybody is. Drakov knows we're here and that may force his hand. If our friend in the other room can't help us, we could be in a world of trouble."

Not long after Neilson left with Hunter. Moffat started to come around. They had all changed into colonial clothing by then, but their attempt at deception didn't last long, At first. Moffat was confused and disoriented. He awoke to find himself tied to a chair in a strange room with all the curtains drawn. As his eyes gradually focused and he realized that he'd been taken captive, his lips drew tight into a stubborn line and a defiant look came into his eyes:

"You have been captured by 'the Sons of Liberty." said Lucas. "We have some questions to put to you. If you cooperate, then you will not be harmed. But if you refuse to answer. it will not go well with you."

Moffat's gaze traveled around the room. taking in his surroundings, sizing up his captors.

"You don't fool me, "he said, "I know who you are." He gazed pointedly at Andre. "I should have killed you when I had the chance."

Andre stared at him. "You're the headless horseman." she said.

"That's right,” Moffat said proudly. "But killing me won't do you a bit of good. You're too late. You're much too late to stop it. I don't really matter anymore, so do your worst. I'm not afraid."

"Our worst could be much worse than merely killing you." said Lucas. "But there's no reason it should come to that. I don't think you know what you're really involved in. If you help us, perhaps we could help you."

Moffat gave a short bark of derisive laughter. "The way you helped my master, I suppose?"

"Your master?" Lucas said.

"Lucas . . ." Finn said. "He's a hominoid."

"Of course," said Andre. "It would make perfect sense. Whom else could Drakov trust to carry out his plans?"

"I may have failed," said Moffat, bitterly, "but my master will succeed.

There is nothing you can do to stop him. You've lost and in that. I'll take my satisfaction."

"Why?" said Lucas. "Why should you take satisfaction in a temporal disaster, in all the untold damage it could cause; in all the loss of life? What possible satisfaction could you find in that?"

"Forget it. Lucas.” said Delaney. “Drakov has him thoroughly programmed and conditioned. You'll never get through to him."

"Maybe not," Lucas said, "but it's got to be worth a try. He can still think. He can still feel. He's still as human as the rest of us."

Moffat stared at him. "What did you say?"

“I said that no matter what Drakov may have done to you, you're still a human being, with a mind and will of your own. Think for yourself, man. At least listen to what we have to say.”

Moffat glanced around at them in bewilderment. "What sort of trick is this?"

he said. “Why do you tell me that I'm human?"

Lucas looked at him with surprise. "Because you are, of course." he said.

“You mean to tell me that Drakov told you you're not human? What did he say you were?"

Moffat's defiance started to slip away in his bafflement. He had expected brutal interrogation, but not this. "You're trying to confuse me," he said. “I know what I am. I am one of my master's hominoids, he created me."

"That's right." said Lucas. "but that doesn't make you a machine or some sort of subhuman creature. You're serious, aren't you? You really believe that's what you are?"

Moffat had been programmed and trained to resist interrogation, but this was something he had not expected. He swallowed nervously, and deep within his subconscious, a flicker of impassible hope appeared. "You admit that my master has created me. and yet you still say that I'm human? How can that her Lucas pulled up a chair and sat down in front of him, seeing a slim chance to get through to him, perhaps to circumvent his programming. No amount of psychological conditioning could be absolutely foolproof. The mind was a versatile, resilient thing. There
was
a chance. There had to be.

"What is your name?" he asked.

Moffat did not reply. "Surely you can tell us what you're called." said Lucas. That will give us no advantage over Drakov."

"My name is Jared Moffat." "What do you know of your creation, Jared?" Lucas asked.

Moffat swallowed nervously again. but said nothing.

"All right. let me tell you what
I
know of your creation." Lucas said, "and you decide for yourself if it rings true or not. You know about the parallel universe?"

Moffat hesitated, then nodded.

"All right, then." Lucas said. "Hear me out. The story of your creation began in the parallel universe. It started with a man, a scientist, called Dr.

Phillipe Moreau. He was a brilliant genetic engineer, a genius. He was the head of an experiment called Project Infiltrator, funded and established by the Special Operations Group, our counterparts in the parallel timeline. The scientists there believe that the way to overcome the confluence phenomenon is to try and create temporal disruptions in our universe, leading to a timestream split. They are convinced that this will result in our two timelines being forced, and quite honestly, they may even be right. Built might also make the situation worse. There simply is no way of telling.

"The point is," Lucas continued, "in order to accomplish their aims, they have to send soldiers through into our universe by way of confluence points, where our two timelines intersect. If those soldiers succeed in disrupting our timeline and bringing about a timestream split, then they will never be able to get back home again and the Special Operations Group had a plan to insure that these troops would be unquestioningly obedient ... and totally expendable. Moreau was part of that plan. He had originally intended to use genetic engineering to create humans who could be designed to perform specific tasks that ordinary humans couldn't do, to be stronger, more adaptable, able to survive environmental conditions that would be hostile to normal humans. He honestly believed that he would be introducing a stronger, more versatile strain into the human race that would eventually result in an improvement in the breed. But as often happens, his obsession gave him tunnel vision. He didn't foresee all the staggering implications of what he planned to do.

“The Special Operations Group established a top secret military lab for him to carry on his work." said Lucas, "and Moreau believed he had their full support, that they shared his aims, but in fact, what the Special Operations Group had, in mind was something altogether different. What they wanted were genetically tailored, cannon-fodder soldiers, intellectually inhibited and emotionally stunted, with their pain centers blocked and their minds programmed so they could fight like automatons. Moreau wanted no part of it and his frustration and sense of betrayal made him vulnerable to Drakov, who was working with the Special Operations Group at the time. Working with them entirely for his own ends. I might add. Drakov abducted Moreau from Project Infiltrator, along with all his notes and experiments in progress, and he brought him to a hidden laboratory he had set up especially for him. He convinced Moreau that he had the same goals as he did and that he shared in Moreau's sense of betrayal. What Moreau didn't know was that Drakov, himself, was already an accomplished genetic engineer, as well as a lot of other things, and a genius in his own right. He watched Moreau and worked with him and learned from him and then he took Moreau's work and carried on from there.

"A hominoid is nothing more or less than a human clone, developed from human genetic material. The only difference is that hominoids are mules, incapable of reproduction, and their genetic material can be altered or augmented to suit a specific purpose. Drakov took those purposes much further than Moreau ever intended. He created a wide variety of hominoids, some from ordinary human genetic material carefully selected for specific traits, some with human and animal genetic material combined, and he sent them back through time, so that they could mature and he could clock back and make checks on them at various points of their development."

Lucas saw a reaction in Moffat and realized that he had struck a chord.

"The result was that years would pass for the hominoids while they matured, but only days or even minutes would pass for Drakov. With some of those hominoids, at various points in their development. Drakov would bring them back to his laboratory for conditioning or biological augmentation brought about by complex surgery. At the end, some of them looked perfectly normal, but some of them were monsters. He created genetically engineered giants, harpies, werewolves, vampires, even a centaur. Because, you see Drakov may be a genius, but he is hopelessly insane."

"No." said Moffat, shaking his head, his voice barely above a whisper. "No, it cannot be.”

"What do you know about Nikolai Drakov?" Lucas asked him. "What do you know about his past?"

Moffat moistened his lips and shook his head. "Nothing." he said. "It was not my place to ask such things. It was—"

"I'll tell you about his past." said Lucas "I'll tell you who he is. Have you ever heard him mention General Moses Forrester?"

"Yes," said Moffat. "Often. I know that he is your commander. The director of the T.I.A. My creator's greatest enemy."

"And also his father," Lucas said.

Moffat stared at him with astonishment.

“Hle never told you that, did he'?" said Lucas. "Nevertheless, it's true. If you could see' Moses Forrester, if you could look at his face and eyes, you'd have no doubt that he is Drakov's father. When Forester was a young temporal soldier.

out on his first mission, he became stranded in time Trapped in 19th-century Russia. He was badly injured, crippled, and he believed he'd never get back home again. A young Russian gypsy girl nursed him back to health and they fell in love.

She became pregnant with his child. Forester planned to spend the rest of his life with her, but our people finally found him and he had to go back to the future. He did not belong in that time. Only Vanna, Drakov's mother, could not go with him.

Forrester knew that if he told his superiors that Vanna was pregnant with his child, they would abort the fetus. He simply couldn't do it, so he never told them she was pregnant. He said good-bye to her and tried to explain why he had to leave, and though their hearts were broken, they each understood it had to be.

"But in the brief time that he had with her." Lucas went on, "he couldn't fully explain all about time travel and the antiagathic drugs that extend our lifespans and make us immune to disease, and she would never have understood all that anyway. What she did understand, she told her son. but what she didn't understand, she filled in with her own superstitious beliefs and imagination. The result was that a young, impressionable boy came to believe that he was somehow the result of a supernatural union between his mother and some sort of a demon from the future. That, and the hardship that they suffered, and her subsequent death, and his failure to understand why he never became sick and why he aged so much slower than everyone else around him resulted in a raging hatred for his

'demonic' father and a deep self- loathing. Over the years, it drove him utterly insane.

"What Drakov wants,” said Lucas, "is to strike out against Moses Forester, against time travel, against the very world that brought him into existence. And you are an unwitting part of that insane plan of vengeance. And there's something else you may not know. The real Nikolai Drakov is dead."

Moffat stared at him with incomprehension.

"At least, we think the original Nikolai Drakov is dead." said Lucas, "but we really can't be sure. Because, you see, one of the things that Drakov did with the process he stole from Phillipe Moreau was to use his own genetic material to replicate himself. We don't know how many times. The man you know may be the original Nikolai Drakov, but for all we know, he might be a hominoid just like yourself.”

"No." said Moffat, his lower lip trembling. “No, that isn't possible.”

“It's not only possible," said Lucas, “it's very probable. Chances are he doesn't even know himself. But one thing is for sure. Nobody can make life out of nothing. You may not have been born in the conventional manner and you may not be able to have children, but you are the result of genetic engineering. You may have been cloned in a Petri dish and gestated in an artificial womb, you may have been programmed and conditioned with certain psychological imperatives, but you're as human as the rest of us. You think. You bleed. You feel. No matter what you've been conditioned to believe. Your own independent thoughts may have been subverted in some ways, but what do your
feelings
tell you?"