10 Long Time No See
1784 Words
“So…”
“So…”
“Hmm…”
“Uh…”
“Long time no see.”
“Yeah.”
“So…”
“So…”
Silence.
It was like this, repeated in cycles, for the past hour since the tank left the Sachly Institute grounds. Paul and Judith conversing in single words and phrases while Rahu grunted in between. And then the long minute's silence, only to be broken by either Paul or Judith.
When Paul was in Pakistan, he never really had any contact with Dr. Merkel unless it was inside the main laboratory and testing center. He was a patient—or a research sample, rather—not a friend. She did guide him through the process but beyond that, their connection was never personal.
Since they’ve saved both each other’s lives, Paul decided the cold and distant dynamic they had in Pakistan would not serve them well here now.
“How have you been, Captain?” Judith asked first. Paul thought he might have detected a hint of genuine concern there but he wasn’t sure. Dr. Merkel’s face always remained generally passive and her voice maintained at a pitch one usually heard from college professors. It wasn’t a drone yet not exactly an animated one, either.
“Good, considering,” he replied.” “I bet you didn’t expect to see me alive, huh?”
Judith gave a small shrug. “Nobody could have really predicted what became of you. I wasn’t there anymore to see the tests in their final stages.”
Ah. As expected of Pearse-Sachly’s premier researcher.
“I was a botched experiment, wasn’t I?” he teased. But Judith did not look like she ascribed to his sense of humor so Paul retreated.
“Again, I don’t know, Captain. I wasn’t there to oversee the project to the end.”
Sighing, Paul used another tactic. “Much as I had valuable experiences in Pakistan, I’d rather not remember much of it, to be honest. And, I’m no longer with the Forces. I’m not a Captain anymore so just call me Paul.”
Social etiquette dictated that when one is given leave to be informal with names, one is also obliged to be the same.
But Judith Merkel only nodded and said, “Okay, Paul.”
And that was it.
Paul could have sworn he heard Rahu cough to cover a laugh.
It was some time before Paul tried again. Maybe it was safer to talk about what just happened…
“Fancy meeting you again, Mr. Knight,” she suddenly said to Rahu. Paul looked from one person to the other, confused.
“Wait, you know each other? Why didn’t you tell me?”
“No time really with all those dead things coming after us,” Rahu growled.
“You’re not a scientist, too, are you?”
“Not of the biological kind, no,” Rahu said without much explanation. When Paul nudged him, Rahu sighed resignedly and continued, “I had business dealings with Pearse-Sachly some years ago.”
“The smoke bomb I deployed earlier came from a prototype Knight Industries developed and presented to the Institute,” Judith supplied, giving Rahu’s back a hard stare.
Paul frowned. “I don’t know why but I’m getting some kind of tension here…”
Rahu took his eyes from the periscope and turned slightly to look at Paul. “I built and owned Knight Industries, a weapons engineering, and development company. Much of what the government and the League of Nations’ armies and navies use today came from blueprints I designed. Yes, including the cleverly improved smoke bomb by Doctor Merkel.”
“Strange why a biomedical research institute would need a partnership with a weapons maker and arms dealer,” Judith said with an edge to her voice though her facial expression remained the same. “That’s why there’s a tank inside the grounds under lock and key. This came from a series of models Knight Industries provided for top-level research which I was kept outside of.”
“Okay, okay!” Paul said out loud. “Whew! I had no idea you really owned Knight Industries, huh? I mean, I thought your name sounded familiar. It should since all the firearms and armored vehicles I used in my military career had your name engraved in them. But what happened, Rahu? Why did you end up bleeding in the river?”
When Judith turned to look questioningly at Paul, he only said, “I’ll tell you someday.”
“I was betrayed.”
Paul and Judith exchanged glances. “Betrayed? By whom?”
“Someone I trusted,” Rahu replied without feeling. “I was infected with the virus and knowing it will place the company in jeopardy, perhaps it was short-sighted of me to keep it a secret. Even more short-sighted to reveal it to my betrayer.”
Rahu side-eyed Judith and continued. “Before the UCL virus came out, I became involved with the underground—“
“Didn’t know you were an activi—“
“No, Paul. I wasn’t an activist. I dealt with arms illegally.”
“But why would you do that?” Paul asked in an almost offended tone.
Rahu smiled bitterly. “Boredom? Too much money and power in my possession that I had no idea how to deal with? And when you get into that business, you also get involved in other more dangerous activities—fight clubs, gang wars, drugs, you name it. They called me something like the King of Dark Night. Somehow, Pearse’s people got wind of my unsanctioned activities. Some politicking and blackmailing came afterward and I found myself signing contracts and shaking hands with Ulysses Pearse and his wife. That was how my designs ended up with the Sachly Institute.”
“Quite difficult to imagine a man with your mind to have been easily betrayed,” Judith commented.
Rahu shrugged. “Perhaps illness does make you lose your senses. In short, once my infection reached Pearse’s ears, a violent takeover of Knight Industries happened. I suppose it wouldn’t have been violent if I had just let it go with me being sick anyway and with a survival rate of close to zero. But Knight Industries was my brainchild. I couldn’t let it go and not to my betrayer. That was how I ended up where you found me.”
A short break in Rahu’s story made Judith sit up straighter and ask, “You didn’t know what was going on inside the institute? You only provided the blueprints?”
Rahu nodded. “As far as the research your lab conducted, I wasn’t privy to those. Pearse-Sachly only bought my patents and designs and select prototype models like this tank. It was a decade-long contract I was initially approached for by the then Moira Sachly before she married Ulysses Pearse. I kept putting the deal with her off because some of my engineers could not resolve their issues with her and her team. The contract was only finalized and agreed to after their merger…and after my involvement underground was ratted out to Pearse.”
“Knight Industries does not only specialize in handheld weapons and vehicles, does it? You also develop micro- and nanotechnology?”
“Since five years ago.”
Judith stopped asking questions but the tension in her body was still very noticeable.
“Whoever betrayed you did you really dirty, Rahu,” said Paul, grabbing Rahus’s shoulder lightly. “One day, I’ll help you get Knight Industries back. We’ll get your life back.”
Rahu, as expected, grunted back.
As Paul was about to ask Judith on the attack on the institute, she blurted out, “We must find a way to inform the authorities. I think it’s impossible no one yet from the government, especially Pearse’s office, knows about what happened.”
Paul scoffed. “Didn’t you see the c*****e back there? It’s a miracle you’re even alive, Doc. I don’t think anybody was even given the chance to send out an alarm. And even if they did, from the number of soldiers’ bodies we saw on the way to the institute, I’d say even your rescue team didn’t stand a chance.”
He paused for breath and added, “Which makes me wonder why you’ve been attacked so viciously and thoroughly. Phase Fives don’t really think all that much anymore, right? They go where they smell living or fresh blood. And Sachly Institute is famously protected and monitored by the government through Pearse. Look, Doc, I don’t know much about science and all those experiments you do in there but from the looks of it, the attack was a systematic one.”
Rahu grunted in assent.
“What do you mean?” asked Judith. “It was planned?”
“It seemed like the plan was to leave no survivors or witnesses alive.”
“But why?”
“I don’t know. You tell me, Doc.”
When Judith shrank back in the turret basket without saying anything, Paul knew she was hiding something and that she knew why the institute had to be destroyed.
Still, it was not in his nature to pester and force the truth out of people. He left her alone with her thoughts and noted that Rahu’s fever had abated.
“I hope you don’t get much worse,” Paul said sincerely. Casting a glance at Judith’s form, he whispered to Rahu, “At least we have her with us.”
Rahu didn’t look convinced but he said nothing.
Paul stretched his neck on both sides and peered forward, grinning. “There’s strength in numbers, you know. We’ll make it through this. But first, I’m really hungry. Let’s try to get some food, get to know each other better, and take care not to get too bored, eh?”
Grunting, Rahu edged his face closer to the periscope. Judith said nothing.
Paul exhaled loudly.
Right.
- Writer
