Sanctify
Chapter 10 - Covert

Miles away, Michel sat on the bed munching on toasted bread. He’d searched everywhere but found no way out other than the door that led to the rest of the living area. A bathroom connected to a bedroom, complete with a desk and some papers. Strangely enough, there were no pens or anything to record with, which surprised him mildly. Moreover, as he reflected, Rayner feared the older man who, oddly enough, seemed to know him. So that meant that the older man, which meant little to something to Michel, had employed Rayner. At that point, he shook his head and tried to think of the glimpses of the older man he had seen previously.

Tall with peppered hair and a tired look in his eyes. There was an edginess that Michel knew little of but recognized upon sight. Also, he had a ring with a red emblem on it. His hands seemed in good shape, though a bit wrinkled. He must be an avid computer personnel or something of the like. Everything in the room had order to it and was filled with perfectly symmetrical objects. So, maybe the guy liked math and calculations.

There was a light knock before Rayner opened the door and entered, holding on to the doorknob. Michel looked over at him and raised his eyebrows. “Can we talk or are you on a leash?” Michel asked, none too happily.

Rayner grimaced as the older man entered the room behind Rayner, his walking cane the same as before, though he seemed quite snug in his deep blue velvet vintage smoking coat. “I’m afraid he is here only as a protection detail. My protection detail,” the man replied with half of a smile on his thin lips.

Michel watched the man walk closer and then pass him, walking to the window. Rayner followed and stood about 10 feet away from them, a dark expression in his eyes. Michel didn’t know what to make of it but chose not to ask, not wanting to cause trouble for his friend. So Michel turned his attention on to the man and asked, “So, who are you? Why am I here?”

The older man let out a chuckle and asked, instead, “Are you comfortable? Did you sleep well?”

Michel swallowed and waited for his answers. But the man turned and looked Michel over before letting out a breath of nostalgia and stated, “By God, you look like him. Even the challenging nature of your expression is a shadow of his haughtiness,” he added wistfully.

Michel narrowed his eyes, “Who?”

“Your father,” the man replied, and then softly, “my brother.”

At this, Michel scoffed, “You must be mistaken. My father was an only child.”

“Yes,” the man agreed, and then corrected, “but he had two half siblings.” The man smiled sadly and then the smile crashed to the floor as he looked at Michel, this time, like a serpent would his prey. “Tell me, what do you know of computers?”

Michel shrugged, “A little more than the average person. What has that got to do with my father?” he asked, not enjoying not having control of the conversation.

The man shrugged and replied, “Just making casual conversation.” He waited for a moment before he turned to walk to the door. “Come, we should dine together. It has been a long time and I’m sure you’re eager to get out of this room.”

Rayner shifted, as though expecting Michel to make a run for it, but Michel had calculated the invitation in with the amount of protection to keep him from leaving the building and simply followed the man to the door. “What do I call you, sir?” Michel asked, noting Rayner being closer to him and not the older man.

The older man turned to Michel with surprised eyes and replied, “My name is Jordan Christensen, but I’m sure you’ve never heard of me. So, just call me, Uncle, of course.” He walked out of the room and Michel shut the door behind him, holding on to the knob. From the other side, he heard Uncle warn, “Rayner works for me, Michel. He will not help you here.”

Michel turned to Rayner and demanded, “So this is your choice, then?”

Rayner seemed to plead with his eyes, “Sorry, man.”

Michel swallowed the betrayal and nodded, “Don’t pretend to be my ally.” Michel opened the door and walked out of the room without another look at Rayner, who simply followed. His eyes were firm but his shoulders were hunched over and his body was tense. Michel knew better than to test his chances.

So he followed Uncle down the hallway and stopped for a moment before entering through a great door. Inside, there was a table with food on it. Instead of taking a seat, Uncle walked past the food and through another door. Michel followed, unsure why they were leaving the room with the food. When he passed into the room, Michel felt his stomach lurch.

In a great white room, computer cables and lines filled the space and travelled down to a smooth capsule, where a young woman slept in, more or less, an upright position. Michel stopped short of the capsule and frowned, very confused. The woman wore gauntlets and boots that kept her immobile, in place. Her long wavy blond hair fell off her pillow, brushed though loose and wild. The woman wore no makeup and so her skin appeared well taken care of, though a bit pale. Over her temples, two mechanical sensors looked to sit gently on her face but, upon closer inspection, he saw that the two mechanical devices had been lodged in her and her skin had healed around it. Michel swallowed, feeling disgusted to see a machine and human so fused.

Uncle, on the other hand, tapped on the glass and crooned, “My dear, Diane,” he smiled, tapping the keys of the computer attached to the capsule with familiarity, “do you want to have a meal with us?”

Out of sheer curiosity and horror, Michel took a step forward to see the brown eyes under the eyelids of the young woman move before her eyes fluttered open. “What is that?” he whispered, unable to mask his disgust. Upon closer inspection, he saw more wires went into her body, more scabs with skin healing around the wires.

Uncle replied, “This is Diane. She has been with me for some time now.” She looked around and then her eyes locked on to Michel. The terror and sadness reached him and he flinched. Misunderstanding Michel’s reaction, Uncle explained, “Don’t worry, she’s heavily sedated. Her hands and feet have been locked down to prevent movement and the two pieces on her temple control the animosity within her. She cannot move unless I allow her to,” he added, a sense of triumph in his words.

It clicked.

Michel understood that what he saw before him was a prisoner. But why the man who kept her did was still a mystery. However, the name, her name, sounded familiar. As if he had read it in a file some time before. Whether it had been brief or longer, he couldn’t be sure. But he just knew, somehow, it was familiar.

Michel stepped forward, noticing how the woman’s pupils dilated every so often. And to this, Uncle smiled and murmured, “She recognizes you. Perhaps, human DNA isn’t completely useless.”

Michel frowned and asked, “What do you mean? Why would she know me?” He stepped to the right and found that her eyes followed. She was, indeed, trying to talk to him with her eyes.

Uncle watched her signals and stats and thoughtlessly replied, “You just look so much like your father. And,” he smirked to himself, “you’re involved with that creature. I’m sure it radiates off of you to her.”

Michel turned to Uncle and then to the woman. “You called her Diane just now. Is that her name?” he asked, and then added, “Does she know my father?”

To that, Uncle turned to Michel and, with shining eyes, nodded, “Of course she does. But we have some thing to take care of first,” Uncle added and turned.

Michel turned away from Diane and his eyes widened to see the thinker pads Jenna and he had worked so hard to organize on a table. Rayner had set them there and then walked to the side of the room. Michel watched as Uncle walked to the table and looked over the information gathered there. He smiled and picked up a goblet of water in the center of them all.

Michel frowned, “What are you doing?” he asked. When Uncle swirled the liquid in the goblet, Michel added, “That’s information that you’ve been searching for and hunting through the TriVerse system. It’s as precious to you as it is to TriVerse, right?” he tried.

But Uncle only smirked, “Everything I need is in this arena. Everything I’ve wanted is in place,” Uncle added, “finally.” Without hesitating any longer, Uncle tipped the goblet and let the liquid drip on to the surface of each thinker pad. When he finished, there was a sharp sizzle and then the liquid dropped through to the table as the thinker pads fell dead. “Strange, that such precious materials and intelligence can be ruined so easily with the most common of all liquids.”

Michel stared at Uncle, who replaced the goblet on to the table before walking over to the computer that connected to Diane. “Why would you do that?” Michel whispered, perplexed.

“To throw you off your game, my boy,” Uncle replied with a strange smile before he returned his attention to the computer. Feeling useless, Michel watched him work and noticed as Diane’s eyes fluttered before they closed and her entire body visibly relaxed. Uncle closed her console and turned to the capsule watching her sleep. Michel understood. Uncle had put her to sleep and only showed this to Michel to assert dominance. And, to Michel’s dismay, it worked. It may have caused Michel to lose his appetite, but the power play worked and Michel didn’t feel any desire to be stuck in a capsule of his own any time soon.

Horror stories kept curious eyes from wandering too near the old Los Angeles Zoo in Griffith Park. The myriad of remnants of a long lost past couldn’t be compared to the secrets beneath the earth’s crust. Hayden never liked the place much, but when Jenna headed down the staircase, he called out, “It’s locked. It’s always locked.” Disregarding his warnings, Jenna reached out and pulled off the grate. She put it aside and felt the wall behind the grate. Cool to the touch, she felt the sides for a nook or cranny. Hayden watched as she moved carefully and, as her fingers slid into a slight channel, the stone moved back, into itself, and revealed a corridor. Due to the movement, the lights turned on instantly. Hayden was floored.

When he walked through, Jenna replaced the grate and stepped back to watch the wall close itself from the rest of the world. She looked down one way and then down the other way. There were no differences. Both seemed to continue in an indefinite curve. But Jenna turned to her right and started walking. Hayden followed, wondering if anyone else would be able to figure that secret out. And how they must have reacted when the stonewall beyond the grate shifted open – no, it was unlikely to be discovered, even by the most prying of eyes. Secrets were kept secret for reasons.

Jenna stopped at a door and looked it over. Hayden smiled and placed his hand where the door’s surface would have been, but it fell through. Jenna stepped forward and entered a laboratory. It was empty. So they moved on, past a few doors and another couple empty rooms. They came to a split and he frowned when she took the staircase leading downwards.

“I’ll check over this way,” he called out but she didn’t respond. Instead, like in a trance, she followed the staircase down and then he heard her footsteps disappear. He sighed and walked on, having heard the crackling sounds of a radio in the distance.

He stopped at a solid wooden door and listened closely to hear the music on. He opened the door and peeked inside to see a young woman in a white lab coat dancing as she analyzed and sorted through data. He opened the door wider and stepped in. He made it to peering at her work from behind her when she, suddenly, jumped up, crashing into him.

As he fell back, she cried out, grabbed a wooden slab, and raised it in the air, ready to attack. Hayden raised his hands and cried out, “Hey, calm down! We were sent by Lady May!”

To that, the lady froze and her eyes widened, “Lady May sent you?”

Hayden nodded, “Yes! She said Jenna would know the way and, though I doubted her for some time, she got us here!”

The lady blinked and then looked around, “Who’s Jenna?”

Hayden backed away and replied, “She took the staircase down but I continued along the corridor.”

“Someone else is with you?” the lady asked and then she froze, as though a thought too terrible to admit aloud surfaced in her mind.

So Hayden added, “She’s tall, scary, and very serious. She’s just down the hallway!”

The lady, now very interested, exclaimed, “She took the staircase down?! She must be her!” The lady grabbed her clipboard and ran from the room. Baffled and bewildered, Hayden followed.