Amoeba (The Experiments) (31 page)

Holding a steaming cup of coffee, which he needed to stay awake after the long flight, Dr. Jefferson stood on the meeting level of the control room. He peered below, unnoticed, watching the two Caldwell monitors take notes on what they witnessed on the screen. He watched Greg sitting off to the side on the phone, obviously with Stan, watching a tape on a side screen, shutting it off and rewinding it some. His voice carried up, and Dr. Jefferson, because he was just that type of guy . . . eavesdropped.

“I know
, Stan. I know,” Greg told him. “Just a little longer. We can go with just touching upon the plans but no more. If we don’t proceed to break our main team, there’s no game, no competition. And we need the others to help . . . right?” Greg nodded. “Exactly. If they’re boggled with what we’re doing to them, Cal and Jake and that fifty thousand are no longer important. Just hang in there, and I promise we’ll roll soon.” Greg hung up the phone, tapping his fingers on the receiver. He stretched out, spinning his chair slowly as he did. When he brought his head forward and opened his eyes, he saw Dr. Jefferson walking down to the observing level. “You’ve arrived.”

“
You could say that. I’m here.” Dr. Jefferson, coffee in hand, sat down in Aldo’s observing chair. “Problems with the controllers?”

“Restlessness
,” Greg answered. “They want to move on, but . . .”

“But you don’t want to because of the Cal and Jake thing.”

“Yep. Let’s face it, these investors want a chance. The last thing they want is to see Cal and Jake as shoe-in winners. They aren’t going to come back if we don’t throw everything we can at the favorites.”

“We never did before
,” Dr. Jefferson commented. “It was by lot.”

“But tell me this.” Greg leaned forward folding his hands “I read your notes from the last experiment
, and you had Jake and Cal pegged to be enemies.”

“True.”

“What would you have done, say, had you had the keen foresight to see those two forming such an allegiance that together they became unstoppable?”

“I would have found it interesting and exciting, along with challenging. I probably would have intentionally targeted them more to chip away at the odds in their favor.”

“Exactly.” Greg moved back in his chair, rocking some. “And that’s what I’m doing now. It just takes a little bit of time. I don’t see it taking much longer. Stan is just concerned that his people up there are getting restless.”

“Sort of not wanting the control team to become subjects of an isolation experiment as well?” Dr. Jefferson asked with a chuckle.

“Nicely put. And you know as well as I do that the history of the experiment shows the controllers are constantly busy, and now they’re idle.”

“Plus there are more of them
,” Dr. Jefferson added.

“Eventually they’ll each have their part to play.”

“So . . . any luck yet with passing the drug along?” Dr. Jefferson asked. “I saw you watching a tape of Cal and Billy.”

“I’m certain the drug has been passed.”

“The Jack Daniels?”

“Nah, I think it’s those herbals Paul gives Billy.”

Dr. Jefferson shook his head. “But Cal doesn’t take them. No, if anyone knows, they know both of these two drink. I’ll say it’s in that bottle. Have you watched the tapes?”

Greg chuckled. “Yes
, and we have four people in and out of Billy’s room so much in the dark, it’s hard to see what they’re doing.”

A snicker escaped Dr. Jefferson. “Obviously these four people know what this drug does, and they know if the results are there, and Jake finds out
, it could mean a lot to them.”

“Fifty extra thousand . . .” Greg paused. “If
, of course, they make it.”

“Of course. Seems they’re all thinking
along the same lines. Not so much about killing them, just breaking them up.”

“Same difference as far as financial outcome goes
,” Greg commented.

“Let me ask you this. You know the drug better than
I do. I mean, you had our bio lab reconstruct it. What would happen if, say, all four of these people, thinking along the same lines, thought like me, and all four, without the other’s knowledge, kept spiking the same bottles of Jack with the drug.”

“To give you a factual answer would be impossible. We have no scientific indication at all on this drug. It’s new to us and this is the first test. But . . .” Greg held up a finger with a smile. “Theoretically
, what would happen if they got overdosed on this thing?” Greg winked. “More than just a ride between the sheets, I can tell you that.”

In his walk from getting a beer out of his small fridge, Jake paused to look, then stepped over Billy who slept on the floor in front of the fireplace. “Should we wake him up any time soon?” Jake asked as he untwisted his cap and tossed it in the waste basket.

“No
,” Cal answered as she sat at the table that Jake had stolen and moved inside. “Let him go.”

Jake walked to the table where the Scrabble board was, looking at Lou first who stood behind Rickie in a bodyguard mode,
and then sitting down. “Rickie, take your turn.”

“Chill
, Sarge. I’m Einsteining it here.” Rickie reached for a tile and Lou cleared his throat.

“Rickie!” Jake blasted. “Come on.”

“You asked for it.” Rickie grabbed his tiles. “Building off your ‘S’ to make the mega score here Sarge. . . . ‘S’ . . . ‘C’ . . . ‘U’ . . .”

Jake, leaning one elbow on the table
, removed his beer from his mouth when he saw Rickie’s’s word. “Scuzbod? Rickie, what the fuck is that?”

“A word
, guy.”

Cal snickered. “Good,
and it’s a double score using that ten point . . .”

“Cal
!” Jake yelled. “It’s not a word. Rickie, take it off.”

“No
, Sarge, it’s a word. See, I’ll dictionary it for you.”

“Don’t.”

“Sarge, scuzbod means, like, okay, say I see this gremlin-looking babe waddling down the street, then I would say ‘Uh! Man, she has a Scuzbod.’” Rickie nodded and saw Jake’s glare.

“Jake.” Cal laid her hand on his. “It’s a game.”

“Yes, Cal, I am well aware of that, and both of you cheat. Rickie, I will tell you once more. Take it off.”

“Dude
,” Rickie said cockily. “Are you challenging me? Don’t challenge me, cause when I prove you wrong, it’ll cost you fifty points, which you can’t afford.”

“I challenge you
,” Jake told him.

“O
kay, guy.” Rickie picked up the dictionary already set on the table. “Now let’s see, ‘S’. Um . . . Yep, here it is. Scuzbod. A dirty, no-shaped, hideous figure on any gender. There.” Rickie shut the dictionary. “Cal babe, fifty points.”

“Give me that.” Jake snatched the dictionary from Rickie
, and in the same movement, he looked at Cal. “Don’t give him points!” he opened it up, flipping through. “It isn’t in here.”

“Made you look.” Rickie pointed with a laugh.

Reaching out with the dictionary, Jake smacked Rickie on the back of the head with it. “Take off your fuckin tiles, now.”

“O
kay, okay.” Rickie reached over and slowly picked up his tiles. As soon as he grabbed them all in his hand, a huge thunderous crack of lighting vibrated through the room causing Rickie to scream, jump up, release his tiles, and bang into the table disrupting the board.

“Rickie!” Jake blasted. “Fuck.”

“Dude.” Rickie grabbed his chest. “It’s, like, not rain time. I wasn’t expecting that. Sorry.” Rickie reached out to fix the board, stopped, and looked over his shoulder to a sleeping Billy. “But, like, I have one question. God’s fist just smacked our house, I screamed like a babe, Sarge yelled at me, and the Billy meister hasn’t moved. Like, is he dead?”

Grabbing his beer, Jake stood up, walked over and towered over Billy. “Bill
,” he called down. “Billy.” No answer, so Jake extended his foot nudging Billy with his boot. It took three nudges to get just a simple and slight moan. “Christ, remind me never to leave you in his protection at night, Cal.” Shaking his head, and more than a little bit annoyed at the company he was continuously forced to be around, Jake returned to the table and to the game of scrabble where all of the words on the board were now misspelled.

^^^^

The flickering of the lights in Judge’s room, made him want the candle he kept handy by his dresser just in case the lights went out, which they did sometimes with all the heavy storms they had. Judge set down the book he was reading, swinging his legs to the floor and limping over to his dresser. He lifted the candle and a pack of matches, carrying them back to place on his night stand. Two steps into the return to his bed, lightening flashed along with his lamp and Judge jumped back when he saw a figure looking in the window behind his bed. He blinked his eyes, and took a step.

Flash!

Judge dropped everything when the face could be seen. It was a man, and definitely not one of the participants. Trembling, Judge backed up and the thunder roared again, only this time when the spark of lightening lit the window, no one was there. Breathing heavily, Judge raced forward to the window where the rain now beat against it with a vengeance. He stepped so close to it that his breath fogged up the pane. Peering out into the wooded area behind his house, an area lit by the continuous flickering light of electricity bolts, Judge saw nothing but trees and the silliness of his overactive imagination.

It was a wall of rope carefully knitted and tied together to look like a quilt of small open squares, six feet wide and twenty feet high, secured tightly between two trees and spiked into the ground. Cal, legs straight and stiff, lifted herself to climb up that wall using only her hands, and she didn’t make it far.

Jake stood behind her. “Come on
, Hon, you’re stronger than that.”

“I can’t . . .” Cal grunted. “Do this.” It took everything she had to extend her hand to the next level up. Her face was red and sweaty. “Jake.” She grunted.

“Don’t use your legs.” He held his hands ready. “Come on. One more.”

With a painful struggling groan, Cal reached
for the next level and lost it. She slipped, caught herself, and slipped some more. Jake grabbed hold of her before she hit the ground. “Sorry,” she said with disappointment.

“That’s
okay, it’s new.” He kissed her on the cheek. “You’ll get it. We have to work on your upper body strength more.”

Leaning in toward the rope, Cal lifted her head when she heard
an annoying, sarcastic laugh. She looked over her shoulder to see Larry Kale. “Does he have to come up here and watch?”

“You know he followed Billy up here
,” Jake told her in a whisper. “Ignore him.”

Billy
, who was seated far away getting in his workout by watching them, walked to Cal and Jake. “What’s next?” He tried, like Jake wanted Cal to do, to ignore Larry.

“Stasis training
, “Jake answered.

Larry, hating the fact that he
was going unnoticed, stepped forward. “It was really pitiful watching you do that.”

Jake turned
around slowly to face him. “If it’s so easy, you do it.”

“Jake
,” Cal beckoned in a low voice. “The last thing I want to see is him actually do it.”

“Cal.” Jake shook his head. “Go on Lar. Do it.” Jake stepped out of his way and motioned his hand to the wall of rope.

Arrogantly, Larry wiped his hands on the sides of his jeans and stepped to the wall. “Watch little girl,” He said to Cal. “This is how it’s done.”

Jake crossed his arms, watching Larry, without using his legs, climb up the wall. “Impressive
,” Jake told him.

Cal shook her head in disgust and started to walk away with Billy. “Come on Jake.”

Jake watched Larry make it up ten feet, fifteen.” Very impressive.” Jake started to follow Cal, paused, bent down, and lifted the securing spike of the rope. He laughed and continued walking when the wall of rope rolled, causing Larry to lose his footing and fall with a hard smack to the ground.

Billy could see it all from the tree
-top seat Jake helped him get. He had rules to follow, though, and he was only allowed to take pictures and keep his mouth shut. No calling out to help Cal or doing that female-style shriek he did that annoyed Jake. So Billy quietly sat there, watching and wondering if when Jake and Cal were all done, would someone help him down?

With feet moving slow and almost sideways, Cal made her way through the wooded area. She tried not to make a sound, keeping her eyes peered ahead and on alert for whenever Jake would surprise her and jump out.

And
Jake did just that. Cal shrieked, causing Billy to shriek, causing Jake to yell as Cal ran to make her escape.

“Billy
, what did I . . . “ Jake saw Cal booking. “Cal! Stop!”

Cal slid to a stop.

“What the fuck, Cal.” Jake marched to her. “What are you doing? This is Stasis training.”

“Yes.” Cal caught her breath and turned to face him.

“Okay, I’m the Stasis,” Jake told her. “So what are you doing?”

“Running.”

“Running? Why?”

“Because, Jake
, if I’m unarmed, no gun, there’s no way I can beat the Stasis.”

“You have your knife.” Jake pointed to the stick that they were pretending was their weapon.

Cal laughed. “I’m little, Jake. What am I supposed to do, say, ‘excuse me Mr. Stasis, could you bend down so I can reach your brain stem?”

Irritated
, Jake looked up to the tree at a laughing Billy, and then glared back to Cal. “No, you aren’t supposed to ask him to bend down.
You
.
Cal, are supposed to take him down.”

“Right
, Jake. You can take him down.”

“What if something happens to me?”

“Then I’m out of here, game over,” Cal stated. “I’ll hide out until the helicopter arrives.”

“You think?” Jake asked. “If you think they’re coming to save your ass if I die, you’re thinking wrong. You have to take him down. Running from him isn’t going to eliminate him. And eliminating the Stasis is the only way to beat the game.”

Billy yelled down from the tree. “Sort of like achieving and beating the top level of a video game?”

“Yeah. Fuckin Mortal Caldwell Combat. Now
, are you ready, Cal?”

Reluctantly
, Cal answered. “Yes. Come and get me again.”

“Good girl.” Jake smiled and trotted off ahead of her.

Cal had started to walk when she heard Billy’s ‘psst’ from above. She looked up and saw Billy pointing. She smiled, gave a thumbs up, and quietly walked backwards sneaking deep into the woods.

After timing it
, Jake walked out into the path. No Cal. He tossed his hands up. “Cal! Did you run a . . .”

Whap!

Jake’s knees buckled when, like a batter, Cal jumped out of the trees behind him, swinging out and down a tree limb directly into the back of Jake’s knees. Seeing that he only wobbled, Cal swung out again, nailing him once more. And this time, while Cal laughed in victory, Jake crashed knees first to the ground.

She had him
, and Cal was cocky. Lifting the pretend knife from the waist of her pants, she leaped onto Jake’s back, raising the knife up as she grabbed onto his head. Before she could touch the stick to the skin on the back of his neck, however, Jake flipped her over.

Cal hit back first, but not hard to the ground. No sooner did
the dust fly up from her landing, than Jake grabbed her wrist, brought her arm to her chest pinning her down, and in his towering kneel over her, brought his hand to her throat and his face close to hers. “Too slow. You lose. You’re dead.” He kissed her quickly and stood up. Still holding Cal’s wrist, he brought her with him. “But great try.” Jake grinned at her.

Cal brushed herself off. “Thanks. Again?”

“Yeah.” With a smack to her backside, Jake ran off.

Billy
, in the tree, witnessing it all, just shook his head with a one word thought of the very physical spousal team. “Sick.”